8
A message came to me from the Lord who rules over all. 3 He continued, ‘I will return to Zion. I will live among my people in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City. And my mountain will be called the Holy Mountain.’
4 He continued, ‘Once again old men and women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem. All of them will be using canes because they are old. 5 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls. They will be playing there.’
6 He continued, ‘All of that might seem hard to believe to the people living then. But it will not be too hard for me.’
7 He continued, ‘I will save my people. I will gather them from the countries of the east and the west. 8 I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people. I will be their faithful God. I will keep my promises to them.’
9 The Lord who rules over all says to his people, ‘Now listen to these words, “Let your hands be strong so that you can rebuild the temple.” This also was said by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. They spoke to you when the work on my temple began again. 10 Before the work was started again, there was no pay for the people. And there was no money to rent animals. People could not go about their business safely because of their enemies. I had turned all of them against one another. 11 But now I will not punish you who are living at this time. I will not treat you as I treated your people before you,’ announces the Lord who rules over all.
12 ‘Your seeds will grow well. Your vines will bear fruit. The ground will produce crops for you. And the heavens will drop their dew on your land. I will give all these things to those who are still left alive here. 13 Judah and Israel, in the past you have been a curse among the nations. But now I will save you. You will be a blessing to others. Do not be afraid. Let your hands be strong so that you can do my work.’
14 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘Your people of long ago made me angry. So I decided to bring trouble on them. I did not show them any pity. 15 But now I plan to do good things to Jerusalem and Judah again. So do not be afraid. 16 Here is what you must do. Speak the truth to one another. Make true and wise decisions in your courts. 17 Do not make evil plans against one another. When you promise to tell the truth, do not lie. Many people love to do that. But I hate all these things,’ announces the Lord.
18 Another message came to me from the Lord who rules over all.
He said, 19 ‘You have established special times to go without eating. They are your fasts in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months. They will become days of joy. They will be happy times for Judah. It will happen if you take delight in telling the truth and bringing about peace.’
20 He continued, ‘Many nations will still come to you. And those who live in many cities will also come. 21 The people who live in one city will go to another city. They will say, “Let's go right away to ask the Lord for his blessing. Let's look to him as our God. We ourselves are going.” 22 Large numbers of people and nations will come to Jerusalem. They will look to me. They will ask me to bless them.’
23 He continued, ‘At that time many people of all nations and languages will take hold of one Jew. They will grab hold of the hem of his robe. And they will say, “We want to go to Jerusalem with you. We've heard that God is with you.” ’
1:1–8:23 God gave some messages to Zechariah by speaking to him. He gave Zechariah other messages through visions. Zechariah shared these messages while the people of Judah were rebuilding the temple. The story about this is recorded in Ezra chapters 5 and 6. The messages had two main points. The first main point was about the Mount Sinai covenant. The people of Zechariah's time needed to be faithful to the covenant. Their people from long ago hadn't done this. They hadn't worshipped only God. They hadn't treated others the way God taught them to in the Law of Moses. They hadn't listened to the prophets who warned them to stop doing evil deeds. They hadn't turned away from their sin and repented. That is why God brought judgement against the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The Assyrian government had taken control of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Babylonian government had taken control of the southern kingdom of Judah. The temple had been destroyed. Many of God's people had been forced to leave their land. They had been scattered among other nations and lived in exile. Many of God's people understood that God's judgement against them was right and fair. The people had shown how sad they were about God's judgement. They showed it by mourning and going without food at certain times. Zechariah explained the way that God wanted them to show their sadness. It wasn't by fasting. It was by treating people with justice. This was like the message about fasting recorded in Isaiah chapter 58. God had explained how to treat people with justice in the Law of Moses. After the exile God's people were still required to follow those laws.
The second main point of God's messages to Zechariah was about bringing comfort. The Jews living in Judah needed to hear God's words of hope and comfort. God comforted Joshua and Zerubbabel and the people and encouraged them to continue building. God made it clear through the visions that the time of judgement and exile was over. God forgave his people's sin. The nations that had attacked the northern and southern kingdoms had been destroyed. God's people were allowed to return to their land. Joshua and Zerubbabel were faithful leaders. God had anointed Zerubbabel. This showed that God remained faithful to his covenant with David. The temple and the city of Jerusalem were being rebuilt. The Holy Spirit gave the people and their leaders the ability to do this work. These were kind and comforting words for God's people. They showed that God still had tender love for them. God described what Jerusalem would be like. God would live among the people of Jerusalem. They would follow God faithfully. They would enjoy all the covenant blessings. They would also bless all nations. People from every nation would live in Jerusalem. They would become part of God's people. These blessings would come if God's people were careful to obey the Lord their God. But God's people didn't always follow the Mount Sinai covenant faithfully after the exile. Stories about this are recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Jews came to understand Zechariah's messages of hope as prophecies about the future. They were about the time of the messiah. Joshua was a sign for the messiah. Joshua was described as the Branch. In Isaiah 4:2 and 11:1–2, Isaiah had described the Branch. Isaiah described the Branch as a king from the family line of David. Jeremiah had described the Branch that same way in Jeremiah 23:5–6 and 33:15. Joshua himself never became king in Jerusalem. But Zechariah made a crown for Joshua. This was an action of prophecy. It showed that Joshua was a sign for someone God would bring to his people. That person would be both a priest and a king. New Testament writers showed how Jesus was the priest and king God promised to send.