Before we get into today’s passage,
I need to present some disclaimers. Nothing you haven’t heard from me before,
but I need to emphasize them. First, please keep in mind that this is a
devotional, not a commentary. In no way do I feel called to do a verse-by-verse
commentary. Second, as a devotional I’m going to keep this as practical as
possible. If it doesn’t affect your walk with Christ, I’m not going to dwell on
it much.
That’s why I’ve skipped vast
portions of the prophets, and why I won’t be discussing every verse in
Zechariah. His book describes a lot of visions which can be interpreted in
different ways. I have my own interpretations of them, but a lot of them relate
to the End Times (or at least how I’ve taken them), and getting into the
specifics on that is beyond the scope of this blog. I’m going to mainly keep to
thing on which all (or most) Evangelicals would agree.
With that in mind, we still need a
little background on this book, since understanding will thus be made a lot
easier. Zechariah is another post-exilic prophet, a contemporary of Haggai and apparently a colleague. The people he
faced were largely discouraged: They had to rebuild their nation practically
from scratch, they were surrounded by hostile nations, and they’d never been
weaker. Therefore the post-exilic prophets tend to focus a lot on God’s
sovereignty and how to avoid discouragement. But lest you think that they went
easy on their audiences, such was not the case. Jonathan Edwards considered
despair a sin, and obviously it can lead to other sins.
That leads us to today’s passage.
The Lord spoke through Zechariah, and the first words quoted from God could
really summarize much of the prophetic literature: “Return to me. . . and I
will return to you.” All day long he’s been holding
out his hands to a stubborn and rebellious people.
Then he points to the past, and
that’s my main point for today. Nothing we haven’t talked about before, but it
bears repeating. There are lots of stories in the Bible to which we’re supposed
to read and respond thus: “I sure don’t want to end up like that
guy!”
That’s the main point of today’s
passage today. The audience knew their history, or at least they should've
known it. The Lord had sovereignly called Israel out of bondage in Egypt, had
provided for her, protected her, and gave his Law for their benefit. And their
response had been to rebel and sin against him, taking every opportunity to
worship everything but him.
And then he sent prophets, and their
reactions ranged from indifference to violent opposition. The prophets warned
time and time that their rebellion would cost them dearly.
It did. Every word came true.
And now he’s asking them two
questions. First, he asks them to ask themselves: “Where are my ancestors?” The answer:
The grave, many of them in a foreign country. They'd gambled that they could
play games with God, and they lost. Moses, in one of my all-time
favorite lines of all time, solemnly warned
and predicted to his
generation of Israelites that "you may be sure that your sin will
find you out."
The second question he asks is a bit
more mysterious: “Do the prophets live forever?” Obviously no. They’re also in
their graves. So what’s the point of the question? Based on what the Lord says
in vs. 6, it seems that he’s emphasizing to them that unlike the prophets, his
word does live forever. It'll eventually overtake everyone who ignores or opposes
it. People have compared it to an anvil: Skeptics come along and swing a hammer
at it, attacking it with all their might, and all they end up with is a broken
hammer in their hands.
Hopefully most of the people who’re
reading this know that the Bible is true, both its promises and warnings. But I
thought it’d be a good reminder for all of us: No one in all of human history
has done things God’s way who ended up regretting it. And the
converse is true as well.
Father God, I know that your way is
best, and I certainly have enough examples to learn from, both positive and
negative. By your grace, I want to follow it. And I will.
No comments:
Post a Comment