THE MESSAGE OF ZECHARIAH
Number 20
GOD'S DEALING WITH HIS PEOPLE
Zechariah 8:12-13
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GOD'S promise was to deal with his people differently. We considered this in verses 9 to 11. In these two verses, through Zechariah, God tells his people what this will mean for them, and it is this we are to consider now.

THE PICTURE.

The picture that is painted for us is a wonderful picture of prosperity and blessing. The picture is given in physical and earthly terms. Israel whose life and land had been blighted by the direct hand of God in judgement would be changed. The land would be prosperous again. There would be plenty of food, for God would make the land fruitful. From this the picture assures us that this blessing would spread to every activity of the people, and the nation would grow rich and prosperous, for just as God was making the land fruitful, he would prosper all the other efforts of his people in business and commerce. The picture extends in verse 13. Israel will not only be rich and prosperous themselves, but such was the abundance of blessing that God gave them that their prosperity would spread and become a blessing to the people around.

So great would be the promised blessing and prosperity that the whole attitude of the nations around towards Israel would change. Instead of being objects of pity and contempt because of their poverty, now people would be speaking of Israel in terms of praise and commendation. People would want to be associated with them and do business with them, instead of despising them and treating them with contempt.

These blessings are all wonderful, and God did give them according to his promise, but they are all temporal and physical. What we need to appreciate is that this picture of earthly prosperity is an illustration of the spiritual inheritance that God pours out in blessing through Christ and the Gospel. It is a picture of spiritual revival, and the blessing that results by the free and sovereign grace of God when he determines to bless his people. This is a picture we need to hunger for and seek God for in prayer, and just as God answered the prayers of his people Israel in exile, and brought them back to their land and prospered them there, so he will answer the prayers of his people now, and bring to them the spiritual reviving that we long for, though we don't deserve, and which God gives in sovereign grace.

GROWTH.

The picture in this promise is of growth. "The seed will grow well". Not only will the seed grow, but it will grow well. In other words the crops which are produced will be abundant and of excellent quality.

In times of reviving when God comes in sovereign grace the seed of the word of God which is sown will grow and bear fruit and will do it abundantly. This is the assurance of the Gospel in Christ. The promise of God in Christ, this word of salvation, is that whosoever believes has eternal life. There is no ifs or buts. There is no conditions which depend on human effort, but instead the promise is free and abundant. Nothing less than life and abundant life is promised, and is received the moment we believe in the Saviour. Jesus said that people who believed in him would receive living water springing up within them unto eternal life.

All that the Jewish economy, handed down through Moses, could not do to bring people to God and give them new life is found in Christ and at the moment of faith. The seed of life is given and from small beginnings the soul grows in the life of heaven to know God and dwell with him.

The Gospel provides a fertile seed. It is the Gospel of God which is the power of God unto salvation and which is received by faith alone. It is a seed which brings forth the fruit of heaven, which is joy and peace and holiness of life. It is a seed which contains the life of heaven and brings the soul into the heavenly realm, the kingdom of God; and because it is the seed of heaven it will grow and cannot do anything else but grow.

This is the seed of the Gospel that we have been given for our blessing and life, and it is the seed we are privileged to sow. It is a fruitful and good seed which brings forth fruit some 100%, some 60% and some 40%, but what is sure is that it bears fruit unto eternal life.

FOOD.

From this seed of the Gospel, God feeds his people. Life is given and that life is nourished by the seed of the word. The word of God given through Moses was divine and nourishing, but it did not sustain life in the soul, and this is why the Israelites were constantly departing from the Lord. The seed of the word of the Gospel in Christ truly nourishes the life it brings, and causes spiritual health. The vine will yield its fruit. Our souls are fed and we grow in the Lord and we will bring forth fruit unto the glory of Christ and the Father.

This food is Christ himself. He is the bread of life. When received by faith, Christ causes his people never to hunger and never to thirst. In Christ we have bread that gives eternal life and sustains us in eternal life. This is the promise God makes through Zechariah. The old order was passing, the promised Messiah was to come, and in him the people of God would be nourished is a sovereign way that would overcome the corruption and impotence of fallen humanity.

HEAVENS DROPPING DEW.

Why is this seed of the Gospel of Christ so abundantly fruitful? The reason is plain. God waters this seed with the dew of heaven. This is nothing less than the dew of the Holy Spirit poured out so that the ground of the human heart is prepared by repentance, and broken up with true humbling of soul, and then planted with the seed of Christ, and then watered by the Holy Spirit so that it is understood, appreciated, believed, and received.

It is the Holy Spirit who comes with power - the dew of heaven, and makes the seed of the Gospel to bear fruit in peoples lives. This is all bound up in the promise of dealing in a new way with God's people that is promised here. There is nothing in the sinful human heart which will allow the seed of the Gospel to even enter the soil of our hearts, let alone grow and be fruitful. It is the Holy Spirit who comes with conviction of sin, the breaking up of the soil of our hard hearts, and causing real sorrow for sin and sinfulness within, and making the heart tender to receive the message of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who opens the mind to see how God has done the impossible and provided in Christ the remedy for sin and the gift of pardon. It is the Holy Spirit which gives us the grace to receive this truth, and believe it unto salvation.

Without the dew from heaven of the Holy Spirit the seed of the Gospel would not have any hope in our hearts hardened by sin.

FERTILE GROUND.

The picture is so vivid. Ground needs to be fertile if it is bring forth a good crop from the seed sown. There must be in the soil the nourishment which the seed needs for growth. Again the Holy Spirit's work in the soul brings this about. The soil of our heart becomes rich by the gift of true repentance so that our heart is open to receive the seed of the Word of God. The soil of our heart is made rich by the nourishment of faith, for without faith we are unable to please God and receive his word. The soil of our heart is made good by bringing us to appreciate and understand that in us dwells no good thing, and that there is no good work that we can do which can contribute to our salvation.

The poison of pride and dependence on our own efforts for our acceptance with God is that which kills off any hope that the word of salvation will bear fruit in our lives. It is by grace we are saved through faith, not of our ourselves. It is the gift of God. Introduce any dependence on our own merits for salvation and the seed of the word of salvation will die.

It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to the point of coming empty handed to Christ, and depending only on his work for us, and his righteousness imputed to us, for our acceptance with God, and are being accounted righteous before God.

THE REMNANT.

All this is the promise of God, embodied in this dealing of God with his people, which is different to the way God dealt with his people under the Mosaic law, and indeed the original covenant of works which Adam was originally under. But it is to the remnant of his people that God makes the promise. God always had a remnant in Israel even in the darkest times. When Elijah complained that he was the only one left who was faithful to the Lord, God told him that he had his remnant who had not bowed the knee to Baal. This remnant are the people of faith who trust in the Lord and follow him. It is by such faith that we are those who receive the promise of salvation and in whose heart the seed of the Gospel grows and is nurtured.

THE RESULT OF ALL THIS.

There is no doubt that Jesus did not promise his followers that the Christian life would be easy. Indeed he warned them that to follow him would result in the world hating them as it had hated him. The hate of the world crucified Jesus, and so to follow Jesus brings about suffering from the world in many cases. However the result outlined here of the church being received and made a blessing in the world is also true. In the midst of the hate of the world, the church blessed in this way shines with the hope of the glory of God, and because of this people in the world are drawn to the glory of God seen amongst his people, and so the church to them is not something to despise and be an object of contempt, but rather to be affirmed and to be attracted to, and a place where blessing is to be found.

This promise is there always. We have a gospel which is life to dead souls, and the Spirit of God is drawing people into this light all the time. At times of revival this blessing to the people around is more marked as God draws into his kingdom those who are being saved. However we must always believe the Gospel will shine as light in this dark world which attracts people into the blessings of eternal life, and seek that this may be evident.

CONCLUSION.

Why is this revelation of God's dealings with his people being given to us. The answer is before us in verse 13. The reason is that we may not be afraid as the people of God in our world, but be courageous. It is to strengthen us in faith to live for Christ and make him known, and not be afraid what the ungodly may do to us. Let us so meditate on this blessed dealing of God with us that it may fill our hearts and minds so that we believe it unto the glory of God.