Zechariah 8:1 Commentary and Bible Study

This chapter is about all the positive things that God will do for that generation, but that does not entirely fulfil the prophecy. What God will do in the age of Messiah in the New Testament church: that fulfils it even further. But best of all, it is about what God will do with his kingdom in eternity: that is the ultimate and the complete fulfilment of the chapter. It works on three levels. It speaks of the reform of worship that they could enjoy right there and then, if they are faithful to God in rebuilding the temple. This is symbolically fulfilled in the coming New Testament church where, hopefully, there is a regenerate membership in the church, and true bonds between believers. Finally it is perfectly fulfilled in the eternal hereafter when all sin will be done away with and believers will relate to one another and to the Lord without hindrance. The use of the word Zion is always a clue that the prophet has more than just national Israel in view, and usually refers to the godly remnant.All Judah’s hope and all their future blessing starts with the willingness of God to bless them. This is something that is so essential, but is so far beyond their power to affect. Therefore the assurance of the Lord that he is well disposed towards them is of inestimable value. In chapter 1 we saw that the nations that had hurt Judah were at rest, and this caused the interceding angel to plead on behalf of God’s people. Was he indifferent to their suffering? Not at all, God assures them. He is very displeased with the heathen that are at ease. But here again, God assures them that in spite of the judgment of the exile, he has not deserted his people. He is jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and this jealousy is the engine behind the future blessing that they are going to experience. God looks upon them and sees his beloved people being oppressed by their enemies and he will not let that continue as if they were nothing to him. He will intervene to protect them. He also has fury in this heart. Although it was his purpose to let their enemies punish them for their sin, now that the punishment is complete, God will turn his attention to the enemies who he almost reluctantly allowed to do such things to his people. They will suffer an even greater punishment. But the way in which God’s love for his people will be expressed is not what the nation as a whole would have expected. They will not be promoted to national prominence, but the blessing will be mainly for the believing remnant. Yes, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and the nation will continue to exist for hundreds of years before Christ comes, but eventually it will be destroyed in an even more thorough way, and there will be one flock consisting of elect Jew and elect Gentiles. God is returning to Zion, the spiritual Israel, and will dwell in Jerusalem, the international New Testament church (Galatians 4:26). Any attempt to force the language into a literal mould betrays an ignorance of how the prophets spoke. This is not taking liberties with the prophets; it is understanding the way they described New Testament realities in the language of Old Testament types and shadows. They could not speak of those gospel age realities before the time that God had fully revealed them, for they would not have been understood. The prophets continued to use these God given pictures of future things in their days. Thus when the fulfilment came, it would be seen to be more wonderful than anything literal that might have been understood.