THE MESSAGE OF ZECHARIAH
Number 23
THE ATTRACTION OF THE GOOD GOD DOES IN CHRIST
Zechariah 8:20-23
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THE closing verses of this section of Zechariah (chapters 7 & 8) follow naturally from the message and promise of the previous verses. When this great good, which God has done for us in Christ, is made known in the church, both in the lives of the people of God, and in the message that is proclaimed, then people are attracted to the church of God and the church grows.

THE PROMISE OF GOD.

Again God, the Lord Almighty, is speaking. He is making a promise and declaring a certainty, because it is part of what he determines to do. The picture given here is very strong and vivid. God says that many people of every nation will seek to be joined to the people of God. It is God Almighty that declares this and so we are being told that it is God in his almighty power who is engaged to cause this to happen. The effect of this work of God is that many people of all nations will seek to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. This work of God will cause people to be humbled before him. These people will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord and to entreat him, and this entreating is the earnest request to be part of this good God is determined to do. Jerusalem is mentioned as the seat of God's blessing on earth, and so in the widest context it speaks of the true church of God, the company of those who believe only on Jesus for salvation.

Then in verse 23 we have this extraordinary statement of ten men taking firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and saying, "Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you."

The picture is of people seeking, seeing the greatness of this good which God has determined to do, and seeing it to be the hope of all people, and so entreating the Lord to be part of this good, and benefiting from it. The original Hebrew is expressed in such a way that it denotes great earnestness and hunger for this blessing and to be recipients of it.

FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROMISE.

In fact this promise was not fulfilled in any deep sense at the time of Zechariah. Even though by the time of Nehemiah God had raised the profile of the Jews together with bringing about not only the building of the temple but also the rebuilding of the walls around the city, yet this could not be said to be on the scale of the promise given in the verses we are considering.

It remained for around 500 years to pass before it was fulfilled, and this was after the Christ had come, and had given his life a ransom for sinners, had risen from the dead, ascended into glory, and from the throne of heaven poured out his Spirit to bestow the blessings of his great work on earth in the salvation of sinners. It began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when people of several nations heard the preaching of Peter, and were convicted of their sin, humbled before God, and repented and believed in Jesus. The promise has gone on to be fulfilled as the Gospel has spread throughout the world, and people of every nation and language have heard the Gospel and believed unto salvation.

The prophecy that ten men of all nations, symbolic of great numbers, would take hold of one Jew by the hem of his garment and said let us go with you has been wonderfully fulfilled. The Jew is undoubtedly Jesus Christ our Saviour, who according to the flesh was a Jew. All who believe the Gospel are doing this thing. We are taking hold of Christ and seeking to go with him and place ourselves under his saving rule and guidance.

LESSONS.

What lessons do we learn from these verses and the understanding we have arrived at?

a. Christ is the focus of this blessing.

The good which God determined to do expressed in verse 14 is centred in Christ. He is the Jew to which people come and to whom people seek to go. It is Christ given by the Father as the Saviour of the world who is the good which God determined to do, and the good for salvation is provided and found in Christ and his great work for us. The good which God determined to so is what we have already noticed in previous sermons which is that God provided Jesus as Saviour. This Saviourhood rests in the fact that Jesus came as the second Adam to represent and act on behalf of his people as the first Adam did. The first Adam acted to the destruction of all humanity. The 2nd Adam acted for the salvation and gift of life for all his people.

In Christ, this one Jew, God provided everlasting righteousness for his people. This righteousness is perfect and meets all the demands of the holiness of God, and this righteousness is put to the account of all who believe in Jesus, and by this we receive this eternal good of being declared as righteous in God's sight for ever, and members of his eternal kingdom with the gift of everlasting life. We receive eternal life which is the life of God in our souls, and so with it we have bestowed upon us eternal joy and peace.

b. Christ is for all.

We learn further in the promise that many cities, and powerful nations, will seek the Lord that God has provided this good in Christ for all peoples, indeed to all who will believe. No more is God's saving blessing restricted to one nation, but now under the terms of this good in Christ everybody who will can enter in and receive this blessing. Those who entreat the Lord and seek him will be blessed with the blessing of that which Christ has one for his people.

c. Christ's power causes people to entreat of the Lord.

From the fact that it is the Lord Almighty who makes this promise and does this good and gives us the gift of eternal life through his Son we can understand that it is by the power of God, his sovereign power, that this promise is fulfilled. The Holy Spirit was poured out to make the disciples witnesses to Christ to the uttermost places of the earth. It was God by his Spirit that made Peter's sermon at first Pentecost so effective. The people were cut to the heart and said what do we do? This response was not by the might and wisdom of men but by the power of God. God was in the whole procedure. The Holy Spirit gave Peter the understanding of the truth as it is in Jesus, and it was the Holy Spirit who gave Peter the wisdom and gift to preach it. Not only this, but it is was the Holy Spirit who caused people to stop and listen, and brought understanding and conviction to their hearts and minds, and caused them to seek the Lord and entreat him.

Not only does God provide salvation through his Son, but God applies salvation to people. There is no response to even true and powerful preaching unless the heart of people are prepared and made ready to receive this word of truth, and then moved to receive and believe it by God, the Holy Spirit.

d. Christ made known is the only way of God for people to receive his good in Christ.

At the end of verse 19 of Zechariah 8 God calls people to love truth and peace. From this, and the fact of the centrality of Christ, and that the one Jew, Christ, is the one who is entreated by us and then bestows his salvation, we can see that it is only in Christ set forth in his death and resurrection for us that this salvation is realised. It is Christ who saves and Christ who delivers, and people must go to him the one Jew, and be pointed to him. We can only point people to Christ by making Christ known in witness at all times.

MESSAGE FOR TODAY.

We live at a time of great religious activity. Great are the number of books that are written setting forth the way to bring salvation in Christ to people, but in all this religious activity there seems to me to be a great lack of setting forth Christ as our good. The concentration is upon means, and the doing of the church in providing these means, and calling people to come to these services and ministries. Faith seems to be directed at the means, and not at Christ the Saviour.

Preaching today is more plentiful than ever before. Many are the sermons that are preached, and in every church to which a person may go there will invariably be a sermon. The sermons are of good quality and informative, but in all this preaching there is little of Christ in all his saving power. We do not hear sermons where Christ is the theme, the beginning and the end. We do not hear sermons where Christ is set forth in his offices of prophet, priest and king. The great themes of salvation in Christ, of Christ being to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, are rarely heard, and when they are there seems to be a superficiality about how they are dealt with and taught. The great doctrine of new birth in Christ is not preached and when it is, it seems very poorly understood. The great and certain blessings which Christ has won for us are not expounded and explained.

If we are to see in a true and powerful way this blessing of people seeking the Lord and entreating him, and so entering into the good which God has determined to do, which good he did in and through Christ, then the church must return to preaching Christ and setting him forth in all the glory of his saving work. Clergy and ministers must be lovers of Jesus, not just in word but in their hearts, and be those to whom Christ is precious. Clergy must have drunk deep of Christ and know by faith the wonder of his saving grace in all the depth which is set forth in the New Testament and indeed the Old Testament also.

The church must, through its ministers, teach Christ and point people to Christ as Saviour and healer, and not to means and services and activities. Healing of the ills of the soul are not found through engaging in an activity or service, but in Christ and his victory of the cross with all this means in salvation, deliverance and healing of soul. We must not point people to a ministry for their healing, but all services must point people to Christ as the healer and his work for us as the medicine for our souls. Faith in Christ as Saviour, Shepherd, King is where healing, peace and life is found.

The people of God need to engage in earnest prayer to the Lord that such setting forth of Christ may return to the churches, and so that Christ may be at the centre of all we do, and our hope is only in him.

CONCLUSION.

We have the promise. We have the good in Christ which enables the promise to be realised. Let us set forth Christ and hold him high in his cross and resurrection, then no doubt people of all nations will seek the Lord and entreat him.