In today’s episode, we explore Zechariah chapter 8, a profound chapter rich with promises and instructions from God. Through the words of Zechariah, God reassures His people in Jerusalem of His continuous presence and His plans to restore the city. We discuss how the remnants of Jerusalem received a vision of hope and future joy amid their current struggles, reflecting on the historical context during the period of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in Zechariah 8. We’ll listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of Zechariah 8-23. Zechariah 8
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And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. Thus says the Lord, I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of Hosts, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets, who were present on the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast. Neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their due. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things, And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus says the Lord of hosts, as I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath. And I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts. So again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear not. These are the things that you shall do. Speak the truth to one another. Render in your gates judgments that are true, and make for peace. Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath. For all these things I hate, declares the Lord. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace. Thus says the Lord of hosts. Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I myself am going. Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, In those days, ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
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Back in 1991, I read Zechariah 1 through 9 in one day, but I did refer to a couple of verses here in chapter 8. I referred to verse 16. These are the things you should do. Speak the truth to one another. Judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. Then also verse 19. I will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts, so live truth and peace. And verse 23, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Ten years later, in 2001, I read Zechariah 7 through 9 on the same day, and I did not make a reference to chapter 8. Hard to believe, because this is such a great chapter. Ten more years later, in 2011, I also read Zechariah 7 through 9 on the same day, but I do have some references to chapter 8. I wrote, but once again, God comes back to us, according to verse 3, and his blessings return, according to verses 13 through 15. And then I wrote, God hates, and I quoted verse 17. We are to love truth and peace, verse 19. Do we walk in such a way? that people say, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And I was, of course, referring to the last verse of the chapter, verse 23. So those are my journal references for chapter 8. Here we are in about the middle of Zechariah, so it’s good to go back to our context, and that is that Zechariah was writing this at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah when they had stopped rebuilding the walls in the temple in Jerusalem. And these are great verses showing that Jerusalem is going to be inhabited again. There’s going to be people in the streets. There’s going to be joy in the streets. God is going to be present once again in Jerusalem. These are very encouraging words from Zechariah to the people to get back to work. Let’s look at some of these encouraging verses. Verse 3, Thus says the Lord, I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city. Remember, this is a city in rubbles right now with the wall broken down, the temple torn apart. What a vision Zachariah is casting for the people. Verses 7 and 8 say, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness. So he’s calling the people back to Jerusalem. Verse 9 says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets. And he’s talking about hearing from him and Haggai. Let your hands be strong means use your hands to build again. Verse 15 says, So again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear not! All those verses are such encouraging words from Zechariah, from the Lord, for the people to get back to getting the job done of building the walls and rebuilding the temple and re-inhabiting the faithful city, Jerusalem. And lastly, the people are instructed to do certain things. And these things are also our application today. Let’s look at them and apply them to ourselves. Verse 16. These are the things that you should do. Speak the truth to one another. Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. And love no false oath. For all these things I hate, declares the Lord. What are we to do? Speak the truth. Be fair. Be peaceful. What are we not to do? The things God hates. Devise evil in our hearts. Lie. These are the things I hate, declares the Lord. So the Lord uses a very strong word here, doesn’t he? He hates these things. And then he says about the fast. When they fast, they should be seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. That’s how it ought to be when we go to church. It should be joy and gladness and cheerfulness. And continuing in our application of this chapter, the last verse says, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Is that what people say about you? They want to do what you do. They want to be with you. They want to go with you because they know that God is with you. That should be our testimony for the Lord, that God is with us and people see it, and that they want what we have. Oh, if Christians acted like this, there’d be a lot more of us in the world, wouldn’t there? Your challenge may be as a Christian to be joyful, walk in gladness, and be cheerful. Become a contagious Christian. Lord, we thank you for such encouragement in Zechariah chapter 8. Encouragement, yes, to the Jews of that day, but encouragement to us as well. You very clearly in this chapter give us some things we should do, and you also admonish us to not do some things that you hate. And then you tell us to be such a good example of you that people want to come with us. They want to follow us because of our love, our expressions of joy, gladness, and cheerfulness because of our relationship with you. Lord, let it be so in our lives. Let us be contagious Christians for you. We’ll give you the praise and the glory. In Jesus’ name, amen. ADDBIBLE is sponsored by the Ezra Project, connecting God’s people to God’s Word. We are financially supported by friends like you who believe we need to provide quality Bible reading resources to enhance Bible engagement in your community and across the world. We pray you will consider partnering with us to keep ADDBIBLE on the radio where you are listening and to expand our outreach to more listeners around the world. To do so, visit EzraProject.net and locate the Donate button. 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