Theological Commentary: Click Here
In Zechariah
8. God promises His blessing. He tells
Zechariah that He is past judging the Hebrew people for the iniquity in their
midst. Instead of bringing the nations
to the door of the Hebrew people in judgment, God says that He will spare them
from the nations. In fact, going to the
end of the passage gives us an indication that the world will come to the Hebrew
people because they know that God is among them.
What brings
about the change? God tells His people
to speak truth to one another, to render just judgments, to seek peace, to not
devise evil against one another, and to not love false oaths. In other words,
God asks us to deal righteously with one another. He wants us to live out peace, not merely say
we live out peace. He wants us to
practice what we preach. He wants us to
live out His will rather than focus on our own selfishness.
Having quoted
most of Zechariah 8:16-17, it makes sense to finish the list. God says that these things are what God
hates. God hates it when we speak
lies. He hates it when we seek
violence. He hates it when we plot and
scheme against our neighbor. He hates it
when we take false oaths. Perhaps I’m
alone in this, but that sounds like a fairly decent summary of a significant
portion of the Ten Commandments.
In the end,
what is the point of it all? The world
will come to God. The world will see the
greatness of God and recognize where He dwells.
People will seek Him out.
However, they will seek Him out not out of fear of His judgment but
because they see the way that His people live.
The world will see God’s peace, His righteousness, His grace, His love,
and His mercy in the way that His people exist.
It is about people coming to Him; we are invited into that most holy
purpose.
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