THE MESSAGE OF ZECHARIAH
Number 27
THE CHURCH WHICH IS BLESSED
Zechariah 10:1-5
******

THIS chapter presents to us the promise of blessing to Israel, and as we seek application for today it is a promise of blessing to the church. In these first five verses we have laid out for us the principles on which blessing for the church is founded. God gives the blessing, but the blessing is to the church which has the qualities set forth in these verses.

So how may we know the promise of blessing in the church today?

1. The church which is blessed is the church which prays.

This truth is found in verse 1. Through the prophet Zechariah God calls his people to pray and to ask for his blessing upon them. In this verse the blessing is couched in terms of farming and the provision of a fruitful harvest. A fruitful harvest cannot be realised unless God gives the rain to germinate and cause the seed to grow. God calls his people to prayer and the prayer is to ask the Lord for his blessing.

In the church we look for a spiritual harvest, and so we need the rain of the Holy Spirit to come and quicken the hearts and minds of people, to convict of sin and lead people to Christ. We need the Holy Spirit to revitilise the people of God so they seek the Lord and hunger for his presence, and are moved to serve the Lord with all their heart and soul. 

Prayer where we ask the Lord for his blessing is an expression of real life in the soul. Sometimes we feel that asking in prayer is the least important and least glorifying to God, yet God calls his people to come and ask him for his blessing. The fact is that when we come in prayer to ask the Lord for his blessing we are giving him great glory.

By the asking prayer we acknowledge that God is author of all good things, and that we depend on God for everything in life. This is particularly so in the spiritual realm. By the asking prayer we acknowledge that we can do nothing of ourselves, and so in asking we come to God with humility casting ourselves on his mercy and grace. This is the only right way to come before the Lord. We commence with this when we first approach God, for the only prayer we can utter is 'God be merciful to me, a sinner.' We go on in this humble seeking of his mercy for we are debtors to mercy alone all the time and through out our life.

In the spiritual realm there is no way we can enliven our own hearts but by the mercy and gift of God, let alone be the means to enliven the soul of anyone else. Only God can give life. We are all dead in sin before we are given faith to believe, and so if we are to have saving life it must come from God by gift of his grace. If this blessing is to be known then God must give it. If we depend on our own skill and hard work, we may gain some outward success but there will be no real spiritual life. The evidence of blessing is not necessarily a full church, but whether the spirit of Christ is revealed in the life of that church, and this can only come through the gift of God.

So we must ask for it, and the church which earnestly asks is the church which is blessed, because God calls us to such asking and promises to give the rain of his Spirit in answer to such praying. So we conclude that the church which prays earnestly and often is the church which knows the blessing of God. The church which does not seek God for his blessing, because without God we can do nothing, will be a church which will know little rain of the Spirit.

b. The church which is blessed is one which remains faithful to God.

In the second verse of the passage before us we are told that idols speak deceit and people who speak from their own wisdom are false, and the result is that people are led astray and wander in a wilderness of doubt and fear, and lack the blessing of God. From this we learn the importance of being faithful to the revealed Word of God.

To turn from the living God and the truth of Christ to any other sort of teaching is to be led astray and to miss the blessing of God. God only blesses the people who believe and live by his revealed word. The revealed word of God is given to us in Christ and in the testimony of God and Christ in the Bible. Anything that deviates from this word of truth is departing to idols in some form, and to teaching and ways that can only lead to loss. The blessings of God are bound up in his revealed Gospel.

In this we have something that is not very acceptable in the religious life of today. It is felt to be arrogant and unloving to say that the belief of others may be or is wrong. The argument is that after all we all believe in God and are seeking to serve him, and if we are sincere in our beliefs then God will accept this. However neither Christ or the Bible hold to this opinion. The Apostle Paul spoke very strongly at the beginning of his letter to the Galatians about any deviation from the Gospel. He said let anyone or any teaching that departed in even a small way from the Gospel he preached, let him be cursed. Paul saw so clearly that there is only one Gospel, and only one way to be reconciled to God, and every departure from this pure Gospel was to lack salvation.

God has revealed himself in Christ, and has set forth Christ alone as Saviour and the answer to the condemnation we deserve because of our sins. There is no drawing near to God except through Christ.

This truth encompasses all other religions and faiths, and tells us that whatever good points they have, and however devout their adherents, there is no salvation or knowledge of God in these faiths, and those who follow these religions are lost eternally and separated from the blessing of God.

This truth also encompasses all those deviations from the one Gospel which is revealed in the Bible in Christ, deviations which are still found within the compass of the visible church. Although there may be many differences of opinion on minor issues without peril to the soul, yet to deviate in the smallest way from the Gospel way of salvation will lead a soul away from the blessing of God, and church which espouses such errors cannot know the blessing of God. To be blessed is to be obedient to and believe the Gospel of Salvation which has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

c.  The Church which is blessed is the church which has faithful and true leaders.

Verse three of the passage before us speaks of God's anger and judgement on unfaithful leaders in the church. God has a care for his people called here his flock, and so his anger burns against leaders that do not care for the sheep, the people of God, properly.

If the leader of a congregation is a false or an untrue leader, and the congregation bring the matter to God, then God will answer the prayers of his faithful people, and work so that this blemish on that church is corrected. The unfaithful leader will have opportunity to change, but if he does not then he or she will be judged by God. This shows what a solemn and serious matter it is to be a minister and leader in the church. Leaders are appointed to teach and to guide and care for the flock of God. If they fail to do this by failure in duty or in holding to the truth, then God's anger will burn against such leaders. The seriousness lies in the fact that when the teachers are false then the people of God, and immortal souls, are led astray, and their eternal security is in jeopardy.

The trouble is that a congregation who has a leader who teaches things contrary to the Gospel will lead the people astray. The congregation look up to their leader and follow his or her teaching. If that leader is leading his people away from the saving truth of Christ, then the people perish. The church with poor leadership in the sense of departure from the truth will not know the blessing of God.

In this dilemma we have assurance from God in this third verse that God cares for his people, and if they cry to him in their need, he will hear their prayer and provide them with good and true leaders. Here is the blessing of prayer again. Pray is taking God at his word and pleading his promise before him. This verse before us assures us that when we pray concerning false teachers, the Lord will hear us.

We have here the great responsibility which rests on all ministers within the church. It is laid upon us to be faithful to the true Word of God. We must know the power of the word in our own lives first, for if we do not we shall never be able to lead faithfully the people to whom we minister. We must also be faithful in study and teaching of the Word of God, so that people to whom we minister are faithfully taught the truth of God, and led into the way of truth.

d. The church which is blessed is the church with leaders raised up by God, and appointed by God.

There is a promise in verse 4 that God will provide out of his church leaders for his people. The verse speaks of a cornerstone, the tent peg, the battle-bow, the ruler, will come forth from Judah. This speaks of ones who will be raised up by God from within the church to be leaders of God's people.

I can not help but see that this promise was first and foremost fulfilled in Christ. He came from the tribe of Judah. He is the one true ruler of the people of God. He is the cornerstone of our faith, for on the truth which is Christ our salvation depends. Christ is the tent peg, for it is only in him that the tent of our lives will stand all the gales and storms of life. Christ is our battle-bow for he is our defence and our Saviour. A church which is blessed by God is built on the foundation of Christ, and faith and obedience to him must be central.

However the verses also lead us to understand that the church which is blessed is the one whose minister is called and appointed by God. Only such a minister will be made by God to be a cornerstone, a tent peg, a battle bow, and a true leader. Unlike Christ the minister does not rule his people, he or she is only a shepherd and a guide. However unless he or she is called and appointed by God, there can only be disaster.

The ministry in the church is a vocation. The vocation or the calling must come from God. God must call, and God must appoint. The appointment of ministers is in the hands of men, but those who have the responsibility of appointing ministers must place themselves under the mighty hand of God, so that the appointments they make may come from God and not from their will and wisdom.

What is true is the fact that the church which knows the blessing of God must be a church whose minister and leaders are appointed and called of God, for God can only bless those he has called and sent.

e. The church which is blessed is the one which combines all these factors.

Verse 5 gives a picture of the people of God truly blessed of the Lord. They will be like mighty men overcoming all the forces of the evil one and gaining victory over the kingdom of Satan. Difficulties will be overcome. People will be added to the church regularly. The people will grow strong in the Lord. 

From where does all this blessing come? It comes from the Lord. Such a church has the Lord with it, and he will pour out his blessing. The church will grow, people will be saved, the members will grow in holiness and be strong in the Lord. The world will look on and see the work of God in the midst of such a church.

Conclusion.

Isn't this the church which all of us desire and wish to belong to? If we acknowledge this we need to work that these characteristics outlined in these verses are realised in the life and work of the congregations to which we belong. We must become a praying church, and not be afraid to ask of the Lord for his blessing. We must acknowledge our need and that we depend on the Lord for everything, and express this faith and knowledge in earnest prayer. We must seek to be faithful to the truth of the Gospel and plead with God that we are given a minister who faithfully leads us and teaches us in the truth of the Gospel. It is then that we shall find God blessing us and our fellowship.