THE MESSAGE OF ZECHARIAH
Number 28
THE TRUE CHURCH CAN NEVER DIE
Zechariah 10:6-12
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THE VERSES before us speak of a restoration of the people of God. The question that is raised in the mind is what is this restoration referring to. Some think it is a prophecy of some restoration which happened before the time of Christ. Others see in these verses a promise of the future restoration of the nation of Israel and their turning the Christ, the Messiah whom they rejected. Others like myself, and I believe also the great reformer Calvin, see these verses as a declaration of God's attitude to the church of God down the ages, and see here a promise of spiritual restoration. Whatever the right understanding of this prophecy may be, the church in every age can draw from it truths which have lasting application for the people of God, and this is what I propose to do.

The reason why many feel this prophecy refers to the nation of Israel itself is because God speaks of the house of Judah and Joseph as being the subject of this prophecy, and refer it to the smaller half of the national divide which happened back in the time just after Solomon. Then they include the ten northern tribes because Ephraim, the largest of these tribes of the northern kingdom, is named in the next verse as being included in this restoration. For this reason Christians down the ages have believed in a spiritual restoration of the nation of Israel, and have found indications of its nearness in historical events. However it has not happened yet, even though the nation has in part been restored to Palestine. I myself find I am unable to have this expectancy. Firstly, because there is much evidence in the bible that the special nature of the Jews as the chosen people of God ceased after Christ, and this for two reasons. The first is that the Jews cast themselves off from their Messiah as a nation when their leaders crucified Christ, and took the responsibility for this action for all their posterity. This is further confirmed because there is every evidence that the special chosen nature of the nation of the Jews ceased to be needed after Christ had come. The choice of the the nation had this specific purpose that God should preserve the line of the Messiah, and that the coming of the Christ should not be hindered.

The second reason is because it is made plain through both Old and New Testament that the true Israel of God, the true Judah or Ephraim, are the people of faith, who have the faith of Abraham. There has never been any idea in the bible that salvation is localized on a nation, but only on the redeemed of God who are given faith. So Paul declares in Romans 9:6ff that it never was the case that all the nation of Israel were the true Israel, which has always been a spiritual people.

There is another reason why this passage is looking at the spiritual Israel, the redeemed of God through Christ, and it is because in the last verse we read "I will strengthen them in Jehovah, and in his name will they walk, says Jehovah. Jehovah speaks of Jehovah as if there are two Jehovah's. The only way that this can be rightly understood in harmony with the bible revelation is that God is speaking of his Son, Jesus Christ. Both are Jehovah, but all the blessings of God come to God's people through Jehovah Christ. Again the doctrine of the Trinity is expressed. There is but one God, but three persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this verse.

So what do we learn from this passage? Some very important truths. Let us see if we can learn them.

God does reject his people from time to time.

In verse 6 God declares that after this restoration his people, the true Israel, will be as if they had never been rejected. For this to be true, a rejection must have happened first. Again in verse 9 God speaks of scattering his people into distant lands. In the history of Israel while they were still waiting for the coming of Christ, God judged his people for very good reasons, but it was very important that restoration of the nation should happen before the coming of Christ, because the promise of the Messiah depended on the nation not being lost. So we have this truth, that the people of God, the people of faith, and the expression of this people in the outward body of the church, do experience rejection from God and scattering and affliction.

This seems very hard to accept, specially as Christ promised that he would never forsake his people, and none should pluck the redeemed from the hand of God. As we face this fact of rejection we need to see from the passage, that in such rejection there is no permanent rejection. God's people who truly have faith are still God's redeemed people. So how do we understand this rejection? It can only be understood as the chastisement of the Lord. In the history of Israel God called his people to repent of their departing from him by going after other gods, and not loving him only. When they refused to hear the call to repentance, God scattered his people and afflicted them. The purpose was to bring them to a sense of their loss, and bring them to repentance as they saw why the loss had occurred.

The church's devotion to Christ continually seems to go through periods of decline. Satan's work brings a coldness towards Christ, and introduces within the church teachings which insult Christ and diminish the perfection of his saving work. The church is infiltrated by unbelief and a lowering of standards, and although the people of faith still remain true, even many of them are caught up in a coldness of heart towards God. At such times God removes his presence from his people, and the church goes into decline. The blessing ceases. The number who worship drops. The number of ministers decline, and what ministers still remain often are of poor quality. In this situation, which certainly could be said to be afflicting the church today in Great Britain at least, we see the hand of God's rejection. The purpose is to bring the church to repentance and to return to the Lord and his truth, and to seek the Lord with all the heart. What is sure is that such times of seeming rejection are not permanent, because God always remembers his people, and brings them back to true allegiance to Christ (v.12).

True people of God remember the Lord in judgement and trial.

In verse 9 we read this truth that the people of God, even in these times of rejection, remember the Lord, and cling to him in faith. The sentence is "yet in distant lands they will remember me".

It is a fact of faith that those who have truly been called to faith in Christ, and have been born in the spiritual realm of God, never lose their faith. We may grow cold towards Christ. We often have times when we depart from Christ and wholehearted reliance on him, because we feel we can do things on our own. Pride in our abilities is always present in our sinful nature, and we too easily listen to our sinful nature in this respect. Even the people of faith can be overcome by a love of worldly things for a time. This is why in love we are chastised by the Lord. This is why the life of the church is brought low by the Lord. We only learn from adversity and falling flat on our faces as we find our efforts hopeless, and the blessing of God lost.

But at such times we do not lose our salvation and new life in Christ, and in our despair we remember the Lord, and return to him in prayer and repentance, crying to him that we are sorry for our waywardness, and mourning the wickedness of our sinful nature, and the fact that we have not mortified this sinful nature by living in the Spirit.

The promise of God in the rest of verse 9 assures us that the true church of God will survive these times of rejection and will return to the Lord.

God hears the prayer of his afflicted people.

At the end of verse 6 we read these assuring and comforting words "for I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them."

There are two things here to reassure us when we find ourselves under the affliction of the Lord. The first is that even though the Lord may reject us for a time, and depart from us and remove his blessing, he never forsakes us, and still calls us his people, and still remains the Lord our God. How comforting this is. When by grace we were brought to faith in Christ, and rested our soul upon Christ as our only but all-sufficient Saviour, God raised us to new life into his family and became our heavenly Father. We were given the privilege of sons and daughters in the family of God. This blessing is forever and permanent. God never forsakes his redeemed children. We are his family and we are his off-spring. Even when his hand is heavy upon us and we wander far from his home and care, he still loves us for he has redeemed us, called us by name, and claimed us as his own. Even though he afflicts us, it is always to bring us to repentance, and he will always bring us to remember him and seek him, and he will bring us back to himself.

The second thing is that God's ear is always open to our cry. God is just waiting for us to cry to him in our need, and he will answer the true penitent cry for forgiveness and love.

In the midst of affliction and rejection from God there is one avenue always open to us and that is the avenue of prayer. We can always call upon God in prayer. The way into the most holy presence of God is open to us through the blood of Jesus. We have only to come and from the heart say with the wayward son in the parable "I will return to my Father and say, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son'". We will find the Father there waiting to receive us. He will hear our prayer and restore us. He will kill the fatted calf and celebrate with us in a spiritual banquet of blessing.

This is the truth that the way of prayer is always open to us, and when we prayer God will answer. This is what we must do when the church is in decline. We repent and pray, and God will be found by us.

God restores his people.

The message of this prophecy is that God restores his people. This promise stands out in verse 6 "I WILL RESTORE THEM". How could God give up and cast out for ever those who he has chosen and redeemed in Christ. He gave his Son for us. He afflicted his Son with all the pain and death our sins deserve, and having done this will he let his love be wasted. We have been saved by sovereign grace, and God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We are his.

Why he loves us we can't tell, but he does. None of us are anything but vile sinners in his sight. It was not because he saw any good in us that he saved us and gave us an interest in the Saviour's death. He chose us by sovereign choice. The chorus some of us used to sing expresses this so well -
    Why did he love me I never can tell,
    Why did he suffer and save me from hell.
    Nothing but infinite grace from above,
    Could have conceived such a story of love.
    Grace, grace, infinite grace flowing to you and me;
    Grace, grace, from the cross at calvary.

Although God afflicts he brings his people back to himself. He saves his people. He strengthens his people to love him and return to him. He restores because he has compassion for his people. Oh! the wonder of God's compassion. He looks on us and pities us with an eternal Fatherly love.

When rejection comes it is never a permanent things. God promises that his children will survive and will return to him. Why is this? It is because God calls with an irresistible call. In verse 9 we are told that the Lord will signal for them and gather them. The word translated call is really 'hiss', and it is taken from bee keeping where a bee keeper can hiss in a certain way, and gather the swarm of bees together, so that he can bring them into his hive.

What promise of blessing God gives here when he revives his church. In verse 7 the promise is that the redeemed will be glad in their hearts, and they will be joyful. It is the expression of this joy which is particularly wonderful. Their hearts will rejoice in the Lord. This is the promise that is given. It is a mark of true revival that the joy of the Lord returns, and the people of God find their joy in God and in Christ, and just want to praise and meet with him. They just want to sing his praise and hear his truth. They just want to express this joy in Christ to all around them.

CONCLUSION.

We never need despair when we see the church in decline, and the blessing of God departing. This passage assures of this. However, what this passage also teaches us that the people of God need to learn what the Lord is saying in his affliction, and remember the Lord, and seek the Lord in prayer, so that in repentance and returning to the Lord we may receive his love.

For all of those who mourn in the affliction and loss we see in the church today, let us remember the Lord and ask him for the rain of the blessing of his Spirit again.