But before we judge the first century people for failing to see beyond their situation, let’s remember that God had brought about political change in the past. For example, when Hezekiah was king, God rescued the people from the advancing army of Sennacharib.
So it’s not unreasonable to see God’s promises in the context of present circumstances.
Let’s continue what we started last week by putting our reading into its historical context.
A short history of Israel
In 587BC Jerusalem finally fell to the Babylonians and the people were taken into exile far from their homeland. Amongst these captives was a young man called Daniel and his three friends. Most of know the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den, a story about God’s faithfulness to Daniel who had been faithful to God. For 70 years Daniel lived out his life as a servant to a foreign king in a foreign land. While others might have been tempted to think that God had deserted the people, Daniel, Ezekiel (the prophet of the time) and Ezra, among many, knew differently.
As the story of Daniel comes to a close the Babylonian empire falls to a new empire ruled by kings from Persia.
The OT book of Ezra begins with this new empire and the story of the new king’s favourable view of Jerusalem. But this is not the king’s idea, this is an idea planted in him by God himself.
God was, as Ezra points out, fulfilling his word spoken through Jeremiah as he ‘moved the heart of Cyrus’ the new king to declare it was time to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Setting off with gifts from the people and the items that had previously been removed from the Temple, Zerubbabel lead the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem.
You might have expected them to have enjoyed great success, but life isn’t like that and it would be a long process of rebuilding the Temple, then the city walls and their relationship with God. They faced opposition in Jerusalem that caused them to stop building the Temple for 15-20 years. When Nehemiah returned some years later, he too faced local opposition as he rebuilt the walls of the old city. And between the Temple project and the walls being built they faced possible annihilation at the hands of Haman in the story of Esther, the ultimate trophy wife who turns out to be God’s chosen spokesperson to act to save the people. Fancy that, a woman saving all the men, as John Ortberg once pointed out!
While the history gets a little complex as we try and match Biblical names of Persian kings to their kingdoms, it’s clear that the returning exiles didn’t have everything go their way. As one king supported them, another denied them support. How hard it must have been to keep faith with God’s promises when there seemed to be no let up in the pressure. Just like the people, described by Isaiah, who walked in darkness in the north of the country, these people would have had a tough time seeing the hope in the midst if their situation.
Zechariah’s role
Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai, speaking to the people during the time of rebuilding the Temple after the return from exile in Babylon. God uses Zechariah to encourage the people to keep going with the rebuilding despite the opposition they face and sadness they feel over past glories and past failures. Zechariah does so by painting the bigger picture of God’s eternal purposes through a series of visions and prophetic narrative. The picture he paints is of real life, with real ups and real downs. It’s about pressure and faithfulness, of failure and restoration. But ultimately it’s the story of God’s triumph and God’s purposes.
Three key points along the way
#1 Recommitment
Chap.1 Tell the people this: this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Return to me,” declares the Lord Almighty, ”and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
#2 Restoration
Chap.8 “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem”
#3 Resolution
Chap.14 A day of destruction and a day of glory: “The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.”
The coming King
This then is God’s framework into which he introduces the coming king. It’s a framework of prophetic hope and present experience of return and persecution. And into this context of God speaks these amazing words of hope and restoration in chapter 9. A king will come on the colt of a donkey rather than a horse. A symbol for some of peace rather than power. And the peace this king will proclaim will be peace to the nations plural, not peace to the nation of Israel alone.
A covenant of hope
All of this comes about, not because of what the people do, not even because of what the promised king will do, but because of what God has already done. He has made a covenant with the people. A covenant that goes right back to Abraham and is renewed and developed through Moses and and the monarchy God established. All of this points forward as prophecy does towards a future event. The king of which Zechariah speaks is none other than Jesus himself, who rides triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt.
Prisoners of Hope
Who are the prisoners of hope?
In Zechariah’s prophecy they are the ones who benefit from God’s blessing (I will restore twice as much to you); they are the ones who will rise up against ‘Greece’ a symbol of those who seek to oppress them; and they are the ones who will become warriors instead of a frightened weary group of folk who can’t even complete a building project out of fear of their neighbours. In other words, for a prisoner of hope, how it looks is not how it is going to be. Everything can change because God is bigger than any circumstance or situation, everything will change change because God is working out his plan.
What imprisons you?
Fear: fear of lack, fear of failure, fear of someone?
Greed: you cannot serve two masters.
Sin: Put simply doing those things that separate you from God. Hebrews 12 talks about the sin that so easily entangles. Easy to get into, difficult to break free from.
But in Christ God has done everything necessary to set you free. He has done everything necessary so that you don’t have to do anything except believe.
Getting free
The good news is that Jesus came to set prisoners free. And, as John's gospel points out, if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.
How free do you want to be?
Just like the people to whom Zechariah spoke you do not have to be defined by your current circumstances. You can become a prisoner of hope, a captive of God’s kingdom, rather than a prisoner of your present worries and concerns. The Bible says the process of finding freedom is very simple.
First of all you need to recognise that you need the freedom.
Second that true freedom can only be found through Jesus Christ. He is, as Paul points out, the only true mediator between God and humanity.
Third you need to confess your sin and turn away from it all. Sin separates us from God, it’s all those things we do that we know deep down inside are not the things God would have us do.
Sin is our rebellion against God.
Sin is our rebellion against God.
Fourthly you need to trust God to do what he has promised. If you believe then you will have the life he promises.
This is not a get out of jail free card, but a live life to the fullest card. This is not about doing the minimum you need to do in order to secure a place in heaven when you die, but a choice to live your life totally in the hands of God rather than your own. A choice to become all that God intended you to be or settle for being manipulated into that which the world wants you to be.
A choice about real freedom with God or imprisonment with the world.
A choice about real freedom with God or imprisonment with the world.
Your choice, so choose well.
