God’s Word for You
Zechariah 8:7-13 Let your hands be strong
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, August 2, 2022
7 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “Behold, I will save my people from the land of the sunrise and from the land where the sun sets, 8 and I will bring them to dwell in the heart of Jerusalem. And they will be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”
One of the great attributes or qualities of God is that he does not lie; his word is truth (John 17:17). So when he promises a thing, we can rely on it. When he says he will save his people and bring them home, he will do it. Very often, he is talking about the eternal rescue from sin that will bring us home to heaven. Here, he does not leave that promise behind, but he is also speaking about the immediate future on earth, in the physical city of Jerusalem. He is giving comfort to the returning exiles. Many of you have come, he says, but I will bring back even more.
He uses old-fashioned language for east and west, calling them “the land of Mizrach,” which is the land of the sunrise, and “the land of Mabo ha-shemesh,” which is the land of the setting sun. How far away is the land that sees the sunrise? It is the distant east, beyond the horizon. Isaiah mentions the Land of Sinim once (Isaiah 49:12), and this is faraway China. And the land that is so far to west that it sees the final setting of the sun? Here we think of Cadiz on the Atlantic coast of Spain, which Solomon and Jonah call Tarshish (Psalm 72:10; Jonah 1:3). As far away as God’s people have been taken, he will call them home again. If he had a son exiled to the moon, he would bring him back. This is his promise. In the same way, if a certain man committed every sin in the commandments, violated all of the Laws of Moses, moral, ceremonial, and civil, and was deserving of death dozens of times over, and if that man had so much blood, guilt, grift, false teaching, adultery, lying, idolatry, theft, and more, all on his conscience, and if that man repented, God would still bring that man’s soul up from the grave to eternal life. He is the God who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance (Micah 7:18).
And God says he will do this “in faithfulness and in righteousness.” He is not the God of the wicked or the unrighteous. Those who do not repent have no promise from him except punishment. This is also his justice. His will is universally upright and true. But this also leads us to see the depravity of our sinfulness and our need for a Savior, and such a Savior has been sent to us, to bless us and to set us free.
9 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “You who hear these words today from the mouth of the prophets and who were there on the day that the foundation was laid, the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts, let your hands be strong so that the temple can be built. 10 For before those days there were no wages for man or beast. There was no safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I turned every man against his neighbor.
Here the Lord is scolding his people and leading them toward the work he wants them to do. “You heard about rebuilding all the way back seventy years ago when Nebuchadnezzar’s general burned the temple down. All these years you’ve been thinking and talking about doing nothing else, so now get to work!” (Haggai 2:4).
Is it easier to be confident about God’s ordinary, everyday promises, or about his eternal promises? Man is so fickle and so double-minded that truly, when he wants us to trust in him for our daily bread, we doubt him, and we think only about our eternal blessings. But then, when he invites us to trust in forgiveness, the resurrection, everlasting life and joy and peace in heaven, our hearts quail because of our sins, and we rely on his daily bread but not his true and eternal manna from heaven. This makes us admit our sinful imperfection, and we are blessed by his gospel, which turns us back to trusting in him for everything. There is no better cure for the troubled, dark, double-minded and doubting spirit than to go to the Lord’s Supper and receive the Lord’s forgiveness directly from the hand of his servant. For the blessings of Holy Communion are there in the words: “‘Given’ and ‘poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ Through these words we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in this sacrament. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”
11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the past, declares the LORD of hosts. 12 There will be peace for the seed. The vine will give its fruit, and the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew. I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. 13 And just as you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you will be a blessing. So do not be afraid, and let your hands be strong.”
We have two thoughts growing from the same words here. This is about the immediate future for God’s physical blessing on Israel. The seed won’t be trampled or lie on barren soil. It will have peace and rain and time to grow. The land will be green with leaves and growing things; the fields will turn to gold with grain. The sea and the rivers will hiss with constant splashes as fish are drawn out with line, hook, and net. The people who live here will benefit from the many blessings that fall under the general heading “our daily bread.”
In addition to this, God has spiritual blessings in mind. Seed will bring vine, vine will branch out into many places, and the kingdom of God will grow from what was once small into something large and thriving, forever blessed.
In verse 13, we see a reminder of our place in God’s kingdom: “I will save you,” the Lord says, “and you will be a blessing.” God uses us to bless other people. We don’t always know how much this will be, or in what way. It may not be in a way that pleases us, but if it pleases the Lord, then what does it matter if it was my intention or not? After all, as the proverb goes, “The one who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off” (1 Kings 20:11). This means a soldier should hold off on his boasting until the battle is over. The same goes for cooking, cleaning, taking a class, getting a degree, getting a new job. Lincoln said something like this about one of his generals: “The hen is the wisest of creatures, because she doesn’t cackle until after she lays the egg.” Our statement should be: “I desire to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8). So we ask him to make our hands strong and our resolve stronger, and do whatever task is before us to his glory.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.