Zechariah 8:20 Commentary and Bible Study

The temple is now under construction; the people can already see the footings and the groundwork has been laid out; perhaps by now some of the walls are beginning to be erected, and they can see – the very elderly among them – that it is much smaller than the temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians, and they are inclined to be very pessimistic and discouraged. And also they cannot see how it will ever be completed, because of the hostility, the animosity, of the nations immediately around, who are continually sending marauding parties into Jerusalem to obstruct the work, and to pillage and so on. So there is a general gloom, and an atmosphere of unbelief in the worthwhileness of this whole project. However it is vital and it is necessary that the temple should be constructed, and that Jerusalem shall be restored and preserved, because prophecy is to be fulfilled, God's purposes are to be brought to pass, and Christ has to come, and he has to be born, and he has to minister in this place, and the events of redemption have to be carried out in Jerusalem, and the word of God has to go forth throughout the world at the beginning of the gospel age from Jerusalem. All this has been prophesied by others also, so many times, and so it is the purpose of God to end the period of discipline and to begin the reconstruction. Sadly, there will be another, and even worse, period of discipline ahead for them, but the ultimate preservation of Jerusalem until the coming of Christ has to be brought about. Here then is the part of the prophecy calculated to cause them to lift up their heads and to look to the future and, by faith, to praise God for what he is going to do. There is a great purpose, even for a diminished temple, even for a mere remnant of the people in Jerusalem only, and of some of the countryside immediately round about. They are a link with the future; they hold the flag, and, under the hand of God, keep everything preserved. This is about 30 years before the second return of another remnant that will come with Ezra and then some 10 or 11 years after that will come Nehemiah and the building of the walls. This is really between the two settlements: the first return and the second return, and Jerusalem is now underway. Here is the prophet’s picture of New Testament. Soon we will come to Christ and here will be a time when Gentiles are speedily absorbed into church. Pentecost and the sign gift of tongues will take place. How quickly the gospel spread in those early days. There was an urgency about it. The calling of the Gentiles is a great theme of several prophets, particularly Isaiah. ‘There shall come people’ – and the idea is many people, as the text goes on to say – ‘and the inhabitants of many cities.’ These are not just villages or towns: the word hints at capital cities, major cities, world cities. This will be the character of pagans coming in from cities everywhere. We see it specified that they are pagan nations just a little later: ‘And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD’, and the word in the Hebrew translated ‘speedily’ – yes, it can be translated that way, but it means more ‘let us go constantly’. It is a permanent undertaking that is in mind in the original. Our translators have chosen the speedy ingredient in the word, but the constant nature of this is important. ‘To pray before the Lord’ – again the Hebrew is more elaborate. It says something like, to pray before the face of the Lord. It particularly describes intimate counsel seeking. This is not just mechanical prayer or even – dare I say it – temple prayer. It is not liturgy or recitation. This is very intimate communion with God that is being promoted, ‘Let us go speedily [or constantly] to pray before the very face of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts.’ The cities say this to one another, so it isn't all coming from Jerusalem. The word goes from Jerusalem, and then it goes from city to city and the idea behind this is that this is all voluntary. This is about a conversion process. This is about people who are converted to God among the pagans and they receive such feeling and enthusiasm, that they witness to others, also. This is the church of Christ, which is being predicted in these verses. And the so the word of God will go out starting at Jerusalem.Yea many people and strong nations.’ Now here is where it is more definite about the Gentiles – strong nations. By ‘strong nations’ the prophet is designating empires: the Babylonians, the Persians, the Medes, the Greeks, in due time the Romans. Strong empire building nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. It is very interesting in Zechariah: he repeatedly says ‘in Jerusalem’, but as you go on through the chapters, the language opens up a little, and, although he doesn't exactly say, he is virtually saying ‘from Jerusalem’. We interpret these verses in the light of, say, Isaiah 2:3: ‘For out of Zion shall go forth the Lord, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.’ So the language of the prophets varies. First of all, this is going to happen in Jerusalem, and then you realise all this is incapable of literal fulfilment, because all nations are coming into Jerusalem – as Zechariah goes on to say, people that are so numerous they cannot possibly be accommodated there. It seems contradictory. They will come to Jerusalem, and then the language changes and you realise that you are looking at something which is figurative. Things that happen in Jerusalem will be pivotal to world history and the establishment of the gospel. The events of redemption will take place in Jerusalem. The church will be inaugurated in Jerusalem. The messengers will go out from Jerusalem, but the language so very often of the Old Testament prophets is to see it as though it is all happening in Jerusalem, though their very language indicates this is actually a literal impossibility.