Zechariah 9:11 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Zechariah 9:11

Comments

Zechariah tells us when he speaks of future events, and then here he returns to his own present time. He shows that the blessings they are to fix their hopes on are yet future. There will be a delay before the King comes, and yet God will keep them as a nation until that glorious day. Addressing the nation, or rather the spiritual among them, God says that it is because of the covenant he has made with them that he has brought their suffering to an end and brought them back from Babylon. Babylon was a pit in which was no water, and where they were prisoners taken from their land and separated from all the privileges of the ceremonial law which God had given them. Now they have returned to Jerusalem and there is a task before them, but no earthly temple can satisfy their longing for God’s presence within them. He goes on, ‘Turn you to the stronghold’. Just as I brought this generation physically out of captivity in Babylon, so I will deliver any in future who run to the spiritual Jerusalem under the blood of the new covenant. So that is all predictive of Christ entering Jerusalem for his final redemptive acts, to enable the gospel to be broadcast far and wide, so that Jews and Gentiles may be saved by the blood of the covenant.

Application

The people of God do not need to rein in and constrain their hopes as if God were unable to supply all that they wish for. The opposite is the case: we cannot even conceive of the wonders he has in store for us; the half was not told us; and the best is saved till last. For now, the remnant in Judah were prisoners of hope – they had to live on their hopes until the Messiah came, but when he was announced by John the Baptist they would say to each other: ‘We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’ (John 1:45). God will render double to his elect, for he will more than compensate her for all the troubles she has been through.

Questions

Which covenant is in mind? Was it Sinai by which they were constituted as a nation, a legal covenant, or was it the covenant of grace, the promise made to Abraham and ratified by Christ on Calvary? Although God gave the nation assurances of his provision and protection, it was for the sake of the promised seed that they were kept together as a nation, delivered from Babylon, and spared when the scourge of Alexander’s army swept through the land. The national covenant would last for a time, long enough to serve its purpose in bringing forth the Messiah and preserving the Scriptures, but the new covenant would last forever. The blood of the temple sacrifices had no efficacy of its own, but looked forward to the infinitely efficacious sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Zechariah 9:11 Commentary and Bible Study