AGAIN THE WORD of the LORD Almighty came to me. 2This is what the LORD Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”
3This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”
4This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. 5The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
6This is what the LORD Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the LORD Almighty.
7This is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. 8I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
9This is what the LORD Almighty says: “You who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were there when the foundation was laid for the house of the LORD Almighty, let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built. 10Before that time there were no wages for man or beast. No one could go about his business safely because of his enemy, for I had turned every man against his neighbor. 11But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD Almighty.
12“The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. 13As you have been an object of cursing among the nations, O Judah and Israel, so will I save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”
IN ZECHARIAH 8 there is some confusion over the direction of the prophet’s thought. I have argued elsewhere that the original oral continuation of 7:14 is represented in 8:14–19, where the prophet clearly refers to God’s discipline on the former generation and then announces a change in intention toward a present generation that responds to the ethical demands rejected by the former generation.1 This intervening section contains two collections of oracles drawn from two periods in Zechariah’s ministry (8:1–8, 9–13). In their present position they begin the transition from the past disaster to future blessing by focusing on God’s saving activity (8:7, 13).
The first collection (8:1–8) is drawn from an earlier period of Zechariah’s ministry, possibly in connection with the first night vision (cf. Zech. 1:14).2 It speaks in general terms about a glorious future in Jerusalem for those who have returned from exile. The second collection (8:9–13) assumes the challenges experienced by the first waves of exiles. The deliverance mentioned here is not from the nations but rather from the curse the exiles experienced among the nations. There is a hint, however, of something more as the prophet declares that this community “will be a blessing” (8:13). This lays the foundation for 8:14–23, which speaks of a future in which the fasts commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem and the Exile will be replaced with feasts. These feasts will be occasions not only for the Jews but also for all the nations who will join the Jews in Jerusalem. Here the blessing of 8:13 is realized.
God’s Salvation of the Remnant—Oracles (8:1–8)
THE MESSENGER FORMULA in 8:1 signals the beginning of a new section. We are then presented with a collection of short oracles that orient us to the coming change in the flow of redemptive history (8:2–8). Each of these is introduced by the formula “This is what the LORD Almighty says.” Although these oracles may have come from various periods in Zechariah’s ministry, they are drawn together into a unit, offering hope to the skeptics in the community.
Oracle 1. The initial phrase of the first oracle echoes the words of the first night vision in 1:14.3 In chiastic fashion the prophet pours out a succession of emotional terminology from the heart of Yahweh.4 We find three instances of the root qanaʾ. This root is often translated as “jealous” or “zealous” and has a semantic range across these two emotions often distinguished in English. Yahweh’s zeal for his people expresses itself in a passionate demand for exclusivity in relationship (Ex. 20:5; Josh. 24:19) and a passionate protection of his people (Isa. 42:13; Ezek. 36:5–6). Zechariah also uses ḥemah (NIV, “I am burning”), a word that indicates God’s wrath.
Qinʾah and especially ḥemah speak of God’s judgment on his disobedient people. Thus, after having just encountered Zech. 7:4–14 with its description of God’s discipline of the former generation, we expect an oracle of judgment directed at Judah. The surprise, however, is that Zechariah follows Ezekiel in using the combination of qinʾah and ḥemah to speak of Israel’s deliverance (Ezek. 36:6). The wrath (ḥemah) here is similar to the anger (qeṣep) of Zechariah 1:15, which is directed toward the nations who abused Israel.
Oracle 2. The emotional outburst of 8:2 is followed by the purposeful action of 8:3. Again echoing oracles from the night visions (1:16; 2:10–11), Yahweh promises to return and dwell in Jerusalem. He abandoned this city so that it fell to the Babylonians (Ezek. 10), but Ezekiel envisioned his return to the city and temple (43:4). Zechariah’s vocabulary of God’s return to Jerusalem is closely linked to Exodus 25:8, which uses the same Hebrew phrase to describe God’s dwelling in the tabernacle (“God will dwell [šakan] in the midst [betok]”).
God’s presence in the city will transform its status, a change typified by its new names. The faithful city (“City of Truth”) speaks of faithfulness in contrast to the infidelity of the former generation (Zech. 7:9–14). “Holy Mountain” reveals the holiness of this site, a place set apart for God’s purposes. The allusion here to the mountain (the site of the temple) and the promise of God’s dwelling assume a temple structure, but interestingly is not the focus of this oracle. Instead, the prophet is concerned with the renewal of a city (and ultimately its inhabitants) worthy of the God who will reside there.
Oracle 3. The third oracle describes the human element in God’s renewal of Jerusalem. The prophet uses two images that represent life at its two extremes (childhood and aged), the periods of greatest vulnerability. The existence and activity of these two types of people paint a picture of renewed prosperity and peace for the city. Old men and women with canes in hand alongside excited young boys and girls playing in the squares symbolize a new day.5 These images reveal life far above the subsistence level many have known since the judgment of 587 B.C., a life with abundance of provisions and protection from harm.
Oracle 4. Yahweh’s passionate zeal results in his return to dwell in Jerusalem, transforming it into a city with the qualities of his character and with a renewed life of prosperity and peace. This is clearly so beyond the experience of the Jewish community in the early Persian period that Zechariah has to confront the incredulity of his audience in the fourth oracle. Between the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and the early Persian period (539–520 B.C.), the former state of Judah had shrunk not only in physical size but even more dramatically in population density.6 The greatest contrast between the two periods is represented in the city of Jerusalem itself, which was merely one-fifth of its pre-fall size in population and in dire need of physical rebuilding.7
The great challenge of the renewal of Jerusalem is displayed in the consistent appearance of skeptical and discouraged responses to rebuilding in the literature from this period. Ezra 3:10–13 speaks of the weeping that accompanied the joy at the refounding of the temple. Haggai’s questions in Haggai 2:3 and his encouragement in 2:4–9 assumes a community struggling under the weight of the rebuilding burden. Zechariah must also face the challenge of skepticism and doubt.8 Continuing his focus on the future, he contrasts the reaction of those who will experience this renewal “at that time” with God’s reaction, using a chiastic form to accentuate the contrast:
A Thus says the LORD Almighty
B It will be marvelous
C In the eyes of the remnant of this people
D At that time
C′ In my eyes
B′ Will it be marvelous
A′ Declares the LORD Almighty
Reference to the “remnant of this people,” a term speaking of those who survived the discipline of God, a purified community, provides even greater motivation to trust this miraculous God. Baldwin notes the similarity of this oracle to earlier challenges to the faith of God’s people: Abraham (Gen. 18:14) and Jeremiah (Jer. 32:27).9 In each of these cases the answer to doubt and the challenge to faith is focused on the person of Yahweh in the face of insurmountable circumstances.
Oracle 5. Having identified the ultimate picture of a renewed Jerusalem, Zechariah now proclaims the means by which this miraculous God will fill his city. He will rescue his people from their exile and return them to Jerusalem. The term “save” (yašaʿ ) here is the climactic moment in this collection and matches the similar appearance at the end of the next oracle (Zech. 8:9–13). This first appearance of “save” reverses one aspect of the discipline of Yahweh in 7:14: the scattering of the people as a whirlwind over the nations. The Hebrew construction here appears elsewhere only in a refrain in Jeremiah, where it anticipates (as in Zechariah) the return from exile (Jer. 30:10–11; 46:27–28).10
The image for the nations in Zech. 8:7 is a merism (two extremes to refer to all), which utilizes the pattern of the sun to cover the entire cosmos: the land of the rising (“east”) and the land of the setting of the sun (“west”). Zechariah is unique in using this idiom for the return of the exiles, but the use of multiple directions is common in Isaiah (Isa. 43:5–6; 49:12). It is more universal in its scope than the idiom Jeremiah uses (“the land of the north”; Jer. 16:15; 23:8; 31:8; cf. Zech. 2:6).11 These people scattered since the Exile will be saved and return to Jerusalem.
Zechariah uses the identical Hebrew construction here to refer to the returned exiles as he used in oracle 2 to refer to God’s return to Jerusalem (“live in Jerusalem,” šakan + betok + Jerusalem). This creates a bracket around the entire complex providing closure to the overall flow of the section and providing the foundation for Zechariah’s final statement: “They will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
This statement is a familiar formula drawn from the covenant tradition of Israel, emphasizing the relational purpose behind God’s redemptive activity (cf. Ex. 6:7; Lev. 26:12; Jer. 7:23; 11:4; 24:7; 30:22; 31:1, 33; 32:38; Ezek. 11:20; 14:11; 34:30; 36:28; 37:23, 27). Zechariah’s rendition expands this formula by emphasizing the character of God: He will be “faithful” (ʾemet) and “righteous” (ṣedaqah). He will consistently hold up his side of the covenant relationship,12 following his core values. This section closes with God and his people reunited in the city of his presence. Note the contrast to the situation at the end of chapter 7, where the people refused to listen to appeals from Yahweh and were scattered to the nations.
God’s Salvation of the Remnant—Sermon (8:9–13)
THE MESSENGER FORMULA (“This is what the LORD Almighty says”) at the beginning of verse 9 signals the beginning of a new oracle. In contrast to verses 1–8 with its staccato style of presentation, verses 9–13 are more prosaic and free of the earlier interjections of the messenger formula.13 The content of this section also stands in contrast to the setting of chapters 7–8. Here we return to the style familiar from the book of Haggai with its regular use of the phrase “let your hands be strong,” “do not be afraid,” and an emphasis on rebuilding the temple and agro-economic woe and weal.
The language in the section indicates that Zechariah is reflecting on an earlier message connected with the refoundation ceremony.14 It is uncertain whether Zechariah includes himself in this group of prophets, although the dating scheme in 1:1 indicates that his work began prior to the refounding ceremony. The rehearsal of the message here is designed to encourage those involved in the rebuilding project. As Haggai encouraged those working between the initial clearing and the refoundation ceremony, Zechariah encourages those active between the refoundation ceremony and completion.
The ceremony of refoundation was a key event in the rebuilding of ancient Near Eastern temples, marking the end of the preparation process and the beginning of the new structure. As in Haggai 2:10–23, the day was to demarcate a turning point in the experience of the early Persian period community. The agro-economic challenges of the community were to be replaced by blessing from Yahweh because of the people’s obedience in rebuilding the temple.
The contrast motif between the past curse and the future blessing is presented in verses 10–11. Zechariah depicts a period of economic collapse where there were no employment opportunities for people or their animals. This is linked to the anarchic conditions of this period, which find their ultimate cause in the disciplinary action of God.15
Zechariah’s depiction, although bearing some similarities to Haggai’s, is different. Haggai spoke of economic difficulty because of high inflation and crop failure. Zechariah speaks of economic inactivity and social unrest. To some these depictions may seem to reflect different eras. However, Zechariah is also aware of Haggai’s crop failure but only makes this clear in his promise of verse 12. These two perspectives on the hardships of the early Persian period are easily related. The crop failures mixed with the taxation policy of the Persian rulers caused economic hardship and in turn produced high inflation, reducing the power of any wages acquired and ultimately bringing a halt to economic activity and producing social unrest.16 Common to both Haggai and Zechariah is the declaration that these conditions are to be interpreted as the discipline of God to awake his community to the priorities of rebuilding.
Verse 11, with its opening construction “but now” (weʿattah) represents a turning point typical in prophetic speeches. As with Haggai, the refoundation day marked a new day in the lives of this community, a point emphasized by the use of the phrase “the remnant of this people.” This phrase also appears in Haggai 1:12, 14; 2:2 and is a theological term for the community purified through the exilic discipline.
God’s new stance toward the community will be expressed through renewed blessing of the land (Zech. 8:12). This blessing is typified by a renewal of processes essential for agricultural bounty. The first phrase, “The seed will grow well” (NIV), is zeraʿ haššalom (lit., “seed of peace/prosperity”). Rather than the first of four signs of agricultural bounty, this phrase functions as a general description of the new era as a time of agricultural prosperity, especially considering that “seed” (zeraʿ ) can be used for the produce of both tree and plant (cf. Gen. 1:10–11, 29).17
Zechariah covers two major kinds of produce in Yehud: the “vines” that grow in the mountainous terrain and the “ground . . . crops” that grow in the valleys and plains (Ex. 22:5; Num. 16:14). Production of fruit from vines is especially noteworthy because it required a significant expenditure of energy and care over a period of time (Isa. 5:1–7). Not only will plants and ground cooperate with humanity in this new era of prosperity, but the heavens will provide the moisture necessary for farming. The “dew” is the result of the overnight temperature differential in Palestine and provides necessary moisture for plants to survive between the rains.18 These evidences of prosperity are linked to covenant blessing and cursing in Leviticus 26:4, 19–20.19 Zechariah is prophesying a renewal of covenant relationship in this new era.
In Zech. 8:12b Yahweh makes it clear that these will come “to the remnant” from his hand directly. The use of the verb “give . . . as an inheritance” is reminiscent of the conquest of the land (cf. Josh. 1:6; 13:32; 14:1; 16:4) and casts this in Second Exodus and Conquest language so familiar from the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
The final verse repeats the contrast motif in terms of the theme of blessing and cursing and represents the main reason why this prophetic sermon was chosen for this particular place in Zechariah 7–8. Zechariah contrasts their experience among the nations as an object of curse (an example of God’s judgment and discipline) with their experience in the coming era in which they will become not only an example of but also a conduit for God’s blessing to the nations.
The language in this verse is linked to covenant blessing/curse texts (e.g., Deut. 11:26–28; 28:2, 15; 30:1, 19). Clearly Zechariah is alluding here to the future signs of blessing already reviewed in Zechariah 8:12. Deuteronomy 30:19 defines curse and blessing in the strongest of terms: curse, the result of disobedience, is death, while blessing, the result of obedience, is life. The people are called to obedience and thus to experience life in the blessing of the Creator. God’s promise of blessing in Zechariah 8:13 is a promise of life for a community that was once in the position of death among the nations.
Nevertheless, the way the language of blessing and curse is constructed creates an unmistakable link to another tradition of blessing and curse: the Abrahamic tradition. Although the word pair curse/blessing is typical of the Deuteronomic covenant texts, the verbal phrase in which the word “blessing” occurs in Zech. 8:13 (“you will be a blessing”) is reminiscent of the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2. There God promises to bless Abraham, and he will in turn become a source of blessing to the nations. Zechariah represents a similar trend. The people had been an example of curse among the nations, but they will now become a source of blessing to the nations. This is the first sign in this passage of the universal implications of this new era in redemptive history (see also Zech. 8:20–23).
The transformation from curse to blessing is accomplished by the redemptive action of Yahweh (“so will I save you”). As at the end of the previous collection in Zech. 8:1–8, so here God declares his intention to “save” (yašaʿ ) his people. The nation is referred to as “Judah and Israel.” Although this shows the priority of the southern tribe in the new economy of God’s people, Zechariah’s vision is for the salvation of the entire Jewish community.
Zechariah’s sermon, drawn from the refounding ceremony, comes to a close by repeating the first words from 8:9: “Let your hands be strong.”20 In its original oral setting Zechariah encourages the builders by declaring the promises of God’s blessing in their present experience and the impact of their faithfulness on the nations as a whole.21
As with the oracle collection in 8:1–8, the sermon in 8:9–13 has been chosen for its suitability to this transition spot between 7:14 and 8:14. Whereas 8:1–8 connected with and transformed the scattering of the people throughout the nations (7:14a), so 8:9–13 connects with and transforms the desolation of the land.22 The community in the early Persian period is depicted at the tail end of God’s discipline on the land. The desolate and impassable land of 7:14, which continued into the recent experience of the remnant community (8:10–11), will now be transformed into its former bountiful state. Verse 13 foreshadows an expansion of a renewed Yehud as it looks to the role God’s people will play in the blessing of the nations.
Bridging Contexts
THESE PROPHECIES STAND in stark contrast to the ending of the prophetic sermon in chapter 7. Here we are offered a positive vision of God’s intentions for his people, which prepares the way for the prophet’s invitation to obedience in 8:16. This positive vision focuses attention on the great saving work of God in delivering his remnant from bondage among the nations, restoring covenant relationship with them, and blessing them in their own land.
Many Christian interpreters have treated Zech. 8:1–8 as an idyllic picture of a future millennial kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital.23 This is based on an approach that links Old Testament passages similar to Zechariah 8 (e.g., Isa. 2; 5; 11; Mic. 4) to the picture of the thousand-year reign of the saints with Christ in Revelation 20:1–6. In the introduction to the commentary (Bridging Contexts section), we have dealt extensively with this issue and have argued that although these passages have implications for the ultimate destination of history, one should not ignore the way they should shape our vision of the community (Israel, Jerusalem) that Christ came to establish through his death and resurrection.
In addition, one should interpret the images in these passages as symbolic of the prosperity of God’s community in the era established by Jesus that culminates in his second coming. This hermeneutical orientation to this passage highlights the relevance of this text for Christian communities today as this text describes the reality we can already experience through Christ, rather than only a distant hope for the future. Several themes shared by both prophetic pieces in 8:1–13 (remnant, salvation, nations) help shape our response to this passage.
Remnant. Both prophecies refer to the “remnant of this people,” a phrase used in the Old Testament to describe the community purified from discipline—in this case, the discipline of exile. This theme can be traced into most of the prophetic traditions of the Old Testament,24 but a closer look at Isaiah 6 provides a good orientation.
In Isaiah 6 the prophet is confronted with the overwhelming experience of the presence of the Holy One of Israel, an experience that will fundamentally shape the content of his message (cf. Isa. 30:10–18). The prophet overhears the proceedings of the divine court and the question of God: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (6:8a). Isaiah signals his willingness to accept this calling (6:8b) even before he understands fully its details (6:9–13). Then we learn that he is being called to proclaim the destruction of the kingdom (6:11–13a) because of a holy God’s discipline of a rebellious people.
This destruction is described in two waves. (1) The land will be ruined, ravaged, and utterly forsaken as well as without inhabitant. (2) The tenth that remains in the land will again be devastated by discipline. However, God does offer one ray of hope: “As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land” (6:11b). Although great trees have now been destroyed (the kingdoms of Israel and Judah), there will remain a “holy seed,” which represents hope of renewal out of the ashes of discipline.
As an introduction to the great prophetic collection and tradition in the Old Testament (Isaiah to Malachi), Isaiah 6 foreshadows the events that befall this rebellious people. But at the same time it reminds the reader of two important truths. (1) It establishes the prophetic message on the holy character of the God of Israel who is high and lifted up and yet whose robe fills the temple and glory fills the earth. (2) It orients that message toward the creation of a holy people (holy seed), whose character matches their God. This holy seed is the expected remnant of the prophetic tradition, the remnant that is spoken of in Zechariah 8 near the end of this great prophetic collection and tradition.
In the New Testament this remnant is identified with the followers gathered around Jesus. In reviewing the rejection and acceptance of Jesus by the Jewish community, John 12:41 alludes to the prophetic ministry of Isaiah and claims that Isaiah gazed on Jesus’ glory in Isaiah 6. In Jesus, the high and lifted-up One has inhabited the earth in order to create a holy remnant.
Peter makes this clear in his sermon on Pentecost when he links the outpouring of the Spirit with Joel’s promise in Joel 2:28–32, where the Spirit is poured out “on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem . . . among the survivors whom the LORD calls.” So also in Acts 2 the Spirit is poured out on survivors from the nations gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. Joel 2 contains several fascinating links to Zechariah 8 as the promise of the Spirit on the remnant is preceded by the call to genuine repentance (2:12–17) and God’s zealous (qinaʾ ) mercy and restoration of people and blessing (2:18–27). In light of the use of Joel 2 in Acts 2, we understand that the remnant promises of the Old Testament now relate to the church as the community of Christ.
Salvation and blessing. This understanding of the remnant from the New Testament perspective has implications for our appropriation of the message of Zech. 8:1–13. In 8:7–8, 13 salvation is clearly a physical salvation from the nations. On one level this has been fulfilled in the early church on the Day of Pentecost as the community returns to Jerusalem for salvation. But in New Testament theology Jerusalem becomes equated with the church (Heb. 12:22–24; Rev. 21:2), which becomes the destination of God’s remnant community from among the nations. In this way, then, the image of prosperity is one that needs to be understood in terms relevant to the new Jerusalem. Unquestionably, this is a picture of the ultimate experience of the church when Christ returns. But we should not ignore the opportunity to experience a foretaste of this experience even in this age.
Nation and nations. Both prophecies also share the theme of the nations. However, the emphasis in each of these is not identical. The first piece focuses on the rescue of Israel from the nations and God’s blessing on them. It is exclusively internal focused. The second piece also emphasizes the blessing of God on the remnant saved from the nations, but at the end foreshadows God’s purpose in this blessing: to bring blessing to the nations. This prepares the way for Zech. 8:14–23, in which we see the impact of God’s blessing on the nations of the world. In this Israel fulfills its role in God’s great plan of redemption initiated in Genesis 12:1–3.
Character of God. The foundation of all of this hope in Zech. 8:1–13 is clearly the character of God, in particular, the intensity of his love for his people, expressed through the explosive expression: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her” (8:1) as well as the reassuring refrain: “I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God” (8:8). It is easy to forget that these are the declarations of the God who seeks true worshipers who will worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). In light of the revelation of Zechariah 8:1–13, we turn now to response.
INTIMACY WITH GOD. Zechariah 8:1 locates Yahweh’s intention in moving from discipline to deliverance in his passionate zeal for his people. This reminds us that although this passage emphasizes human response, God is the One who must enact salvation for his people. He does not do so begrudgingly, but rather fervently desires to save and know his people. This revelation of God’s heart is the greatest source of hope for every generation. God’s discipline flows from the heart of a parent who desires intimate relationship with his children (Heb. 12). He does not take sin lightly, however, for it violates his very character and threatens to destroy his children.
God’s zeal also leads to a renewal of covenant relationship (Zech. 8:7–8). This relationship is possible because God will return to his city and dwell with his returned people (8:2, 8). Such a relationship lies at the core of Old Testament theology. The foundational act of salvation for Israel, the Exodus, also had covenant relationship as its goal (Ex. 3:12) and established a pattern regularly repeated throughout the story and witness of Israel. Christ’s death and resurrection represented the climax of this pattern, issuing into the intimacy of the new covenant.
This relational goal is the greatest benefit of salvation for, as the Westminster Catechism reminds us, our chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. So often we turn covenant relationship into dutiful religion. The fasts of the exilic period lost their way because they did not see this dimension. They had become a ritual to be performed to get one’s way rather than to be a means to relationship with the covenant God.
This passage, then, highlights two characteristics in God that support intimate relationship with him. (1) We catch a glimpse of God’s passionate engagement in this relationship. Often we view God as a distant Father whose love is assumed but never expressed, and this inevitably impacts our own intimacy with God. (2) We catch a glimpse of God’s permanent commitment to this relationship. He reassures his people in Zech. 8:8 that he will be “faithful and righteous to them as their God.” Not only is his passionate love deep, it is enduring.
On a recent speaking trip to the west coast of the United States, I slipped into the back pew of a church led by a childhood friend. That day he was preaching on the intimacy expressed from the Father to the Son at the baptism of Jesus in Luke 3:21–22: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” He then shared the story of his own father, who grew up in a home broken apart by my friend’s alcoholic grandfather. Because of these experiences, my friend’s father expressed little intimacy with his children as they grew up in his home.
While at seminary, however, my friend and his wife joined a Bible study group led by one of his professors. One night while the group was meeting at the professor’s home, one of his sons came home. Before going upstairs to bed, the son and father expressed their love for one another in a way that showed it was a natural part of their relationship. That night when my friend went home, he took his one-year-old son in his arms, looked him in the eyes, and slowly said the simple words: “I love you.” He admitted that at first this phrase did not come naturally to him, but he persisted each night for the next week until it became a natural part of their relationship.
This kind of passion and intimacy is not alien to the Lord God. He expressed it through his prophet Zechariah to his people, he expressed it to his Son Jesus Christ, and through Jesus he expresses it to his people today. He is passionate for us in relationship, and this kind of vulnerable passion enables us to respond with the same kind of passionate abandon in our relationship with God. Furthermore, for a generation that has experienced not only superficial relationships within their families but also inconsistent relationships because of divorce or separation, this declaration from God is also essential for fostering intimacy in our relationship with God. The Lord is a God who is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 12:8), and on that basis invites us into intimate relationship (“they will be my people”).
Creation of a community. On the basis of this revelation of God’s relational passion the prophet Zechariah discloses the kind of community that God desires for his people. Attainment of the values of this community in their fullness awaits the new Jerusalem at the end of time, but God’s intention is to showcase these values in the church today.
According to Zechariah 8 this community is one that accentuates the presence of God, “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem” (8:1), and a relationship with him, “They will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God” (8:8). This kind of presence and relationship is fostered not only through individuals who pursue intimate relationship with God in their individual lives and homes, but also through communities that make this a priority in their corporate experience.
The early church’s impact on their generation is clearly linked to the fact that they were a people marked by the presence of God. The Sanhedrin, astonished by the courage and brilliance of the disciples, “took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). After being released from prison, they gathered together as a community to seek the face of God. “The place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (4:31). The impact of this community cannot be separated from the fact that they were a people who not only experienced but also sought God’s presence. This should prompt us as leaders of Christian communities to evaluate our corporate experience. Is it characterized by the presence of God? How do we foster intimacy with God in our corporate experience?
The community in Zechariah 8, which is characterized by that presence, is a community portraying the values of their God. Jerusalem is thus called the “City of Truth” and the “Holy Mountain” (8:3). As we noted above, the term “truth” focuses on the fidelity of this community to God’s core values, while the term “holy” underlines the fact that this community is set apart for God’s purposes. In a way these two values are the same, for they refer to a community that takes seriously their calling as God’s sacred people and thus follow him faithfully. Here status and action are intertwined as a holy people walk in holiness.
This community is also a community characterized by new and abundant life. They revel in the salvation they have experienced in God and enjoy the prosperity he offers to them by his grace, expressed in Zechariah 8 through multiple images of life: long human life (“men and women of ripe old age”), new human life (“boys and girls playing”), and abundant agricultural life (“the seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruits”). The community of God is thus a place where people experience life as God intended it—eternal life, abundant life.
Frederich Nietzsche, in one of his last treatises, The Twilight of the Idols (Götzen-Dämmerung), caricatured Christianity as “Anti-Nature.” He accused the church of never asking: “How can one spiritualize, beautify, deify a desire?” but rather always laying “the emphasis of its discipline on extirpation (of sensuality, of pride, of lust for power, of avarice, of revengefulness).” It is this that Nietzsche despised most, for “to attack the passions at their roots means to attack life at its roots: the practice of the Church is hostile to life.”25
Whether this was true in Nietzsche’s church experience is a matter of debate, but it is certainly not true in biblical theology. Here we find a robust view of life presented in its fullness in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2), rejected through human disobedience (Gen. 3), restored through the sacrificial act of Jesus on the cross, who breathes the re-creative life of the Spirit (John 20:22) into his people destined for the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21–22). Because Christ is “life” (John 14:6) and has been granted “life in himself” (5:26), he invites humanity to “come to me to have life” (5:40). The one who believes has “everlasting life” (6:47), a condition that is not only quantitatively greater (eternal) but also qualitatively greater (life “to the full,” 10:10). Through Christ we can truly be fully alive, that is, experience life the way God intended it in creation. But this only is possible as we experience the life-giving touch of the Spirit available to us through the resurrected Christ and become “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Paul Hoon challenges us to consider this qualitative difference that the resurrected Christ offers to us today. In his book Integrity of Worship, he reflects on the post-resurrection appearance of Christ with his disciples:
Jesus Christ continually contradicts us in the way we experience ourselves as alive, and compels us to radically redefine what we mean by life. He encounters us the way he encountered the disciples on Easter Sunday. They were the ones marked out for death. Those who survived him were really the “dead.” He the “dead” one was really the living.26
It was in that encounter that Jesus breathed into them the re-creative life of the Spirit and they became fully alive, and in the same way the Creator Christ continues to breathe this new life into his people, an act foreshadowed by the images of eternal and abundant life in Zechariah 8.
This description of the community in Zechariah 8 may suggest to some a “holy huddle” cut off from the world and critical of those who are not citizens of this new city. However, this is a people who are well aware that this new status and action is based on the loving grace of the God of salvation. Therefore, there is no room for pharisaism in those who have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This is suggested by one of the final phrases in 8:1–13: “So will I save you, and you will be a blessing” (8:13). This community of life is destined to be a community of blessing as was promised to Abraham of old. This will be the focus of our attention in 8:14–23.
Beyond our imagination. This description of God’s plans for his community and world would have seemed incredulous to Zechariah’s audience, as God himself says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” (8:6). Even for those of us living after the first advent of Christ, this vision of a holy and faithful community experiencing abundant and eternal life as they bless the nations is a stretch. However, as God said to Zechariah’s audience, he says to us today that he is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20).
For Zechariah it was a matter of faith in the promises of God, a response to which we are called in our day and age as we face challenges beyond our human capability, whether that is the evangelization of nations resistant to the gospel, the renewal of inner cities devastated by drugs, or the relief of countries reeling from natural disasters. He is the God of the impossible, who will accomplish his will in us by the power of his Spirit.