Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, the hosts methodically show how Scripture is one cohesive story. Critical Thinking with a little bit of theology and apologetics and you have what this podcast is about. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity today must address woke, deconstruction, and progressive Christianity, all topics that are addressed if we go purposefully through the Bible. Join Glenn and Steve weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S4|| Balancing Anger and Grace || Zechariah 1:13-21 || Session 4 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
Can you imagine balancing righteous anger with compassion and grace? Discover how the Old Testament book of Zechariah, specifically chapter 1, verses 12-17, guides us through this divine balancing act. This episode promises to unravel the profound teachings that reveal a God who, despite His anger, offers compassion and grace. We explore the timeless plea, "How long, O Lord, before you have mercy?" and discuss how this ancient cry for divine intervention still echoes today, offering us comfort and assurance in times of suffering and doubt. Through our discussion, we emphasize the importance of faith and trust in a God whose grace remains sufficient, even when immediate relief from trials isn't visible. The episode culminates by illustrating a dynamic God depicted in Zechariah—actively engaged with the world and our lives. This portrayal challenges the notion of a distant deity, instead showcasing an ever-present and involved God.
Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. My name is Glenn and I'm here with Steve. We are in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, chapter 1. So if you have your copy of the Word of God, turn there. We've been discovering that there's a very, very interesting and rich ground here where we can pick up some gold nuggets that apply to our lives today. Very interesting things in these Old Testament books that have been largely ignored. But they're so wonderful because it is God's Word. Let's go ahead and pick up where we left off. Steve, if you could start at Zechariah 1.12 and read down to verse 17.
Speaker 2:Then the angel of the Lord said O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with which you have been indignant these seventy years, the cities of Judah with which you have been indignant these seventy years? The Lord answered the angel who was speaking with me with gracious words, comforting words. So the angel who was speaking with me said to me Proclaim, saying Thus, says the Lord of hosts I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations who are at ease, for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster. Therefore, thus says the Lord, I will return to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and I, measuring mine, will be stretched over Jerusalem Again.
Speaker 1:proclaim, saying thus, says the Lord of hosts Again proclaim, saying Thus says the Lord of hosts my cities will again overflow with prosperity and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem. In verse 12, we have this angel who has come down in a ravine under these lowly trees, and he's pleading the case of the Jewish people up to God. How long, o Lord, before you have mercy on these people? Remember, earlier in the chapter, the message that God had given to Zechariah is tell the Jewish people I was angry with your fathers. We have here a God who has anger. He repeats his anger in the passage we just read. For some of the nations around them, god does have anger. He had punished Israel for its disobedience, but now he has come down and he is pleading their case. How long, o Lord, before you have mercy?
Speaker 1:The very next answer to that in verse 13,. The Lord answered this plea, answered the angel with gracious words, comforting words. We have here a God that, yes, has righteous anger, as he should be, but when there is a need for compassion, he has compassion. I guess the first question is is it okay to open our heart and say, lord, I'm hurting here? How long before I can get comfort? Will he then respond with comforting words?
Speaker 2:He will respond with comforting words and compassionate words and encouraging words. He later gives the encouragement that the city of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah once again going to be ones that he chooses. Yes, god wants to have a relationship with us. He created man so that he might have a relationship with us. While he is provoked to anger based on the actions that we take, the walk that we take as earlier it said, our walk of their forefathers in the evil ways, meaning the ways that they were taken away from God, he's calling them back, he's giving them encouragement, he's showing compassion with them. Why? Because he wants to have a relationship with us. He doesn't want to be angry with us. He doesn't want to be wrathful it's not his desire but he has to have justice with us. He doesn't want to be wrathful, it's not his desire, but he has to have justice with sin. But that's not something that he wants to do. He wants to have a relationship with us.
Speaker 1:I also find it very interesting here this plea in verse 12, where the angel is saying how long, o Lord, before you have mercy? That is the same plea that people have had century after century since the first problems occurred how long, o Lord, before you're going to fix this situation? We still have that. We have today both atheists and skeptics, and just good-hearted people that have been hurt by a tragedy, that scream out with the same question how come God doesn't fix this? Look at all of the issues in the world, Look at all the pain and suffering in the world, look at all of the tragedies and God's not acting. I find it interesting, steve, all the way back here in Zechariah they had the exact same question how long, o Lord, before you're going to fix this? I actually take comfort in that, in the sense that what does God do? He comes after that with words of comfort and he talks about a man with a measuring line. Well, measuring lines were before you're going to go build something, you would go out and survey.
Speaker 1:God answers he had been silent for a number of years. The angel cries out how long Probably wasn't the first time that cry had been cried out to God? God, how long before you rectify our pain here? Well, the answer to the atheist and the skeptic, the answer to the person that is ready to walk away from the church because of some tragedy God is not silent. He does give us tests and sometimes the tests are quite painful. But do you trust him? Are you willing to love him, even when times are lowly down under a myrtle tree, in a ravine? Are you willing to follow God? Are you willing to lean on him or are you going to walk away? That's the lesson back here.
Speaker 1:How long, the Lord, before you fix it? How did he answer? With comforting words, gracious words. He answered with his grace. This was the same question that over in the New Testament, the apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He pleaded three times Lord, take this away from me. He answered with gracious words my grace is sufficient. He didn't necessarily make it feel any better immediately, but God has a purpose, he has a plan. He has more wisdom than I and more wisdom than you. God doesn't reveal to us all of his plans, thank goodness, because we'd probably mess it up. He does answer us with gracious words, with comforting words. That I find just tremendous. He says here in this passage my house will be built upon this compassion or this mercy. And the house there, of course, is not just a physical building. It's talking about his lineage, his group of people. The house of David was his family. Therefore, he says to them my house will be built upon compassion and mercy. Is that true today, steve? Is the church, is Christianity built upon God's?
Speaker 2:mercy. It is built on his mercy. He has mercy on us and has provided a way for us to have a relationship with him and to have everlasting life through his son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. That is a merciful act on his part. Jesus was the propitiation, the satisfactory sacrifice, so as in Romans, it says in chapter three God could be just in the justifier himself. It was the only way for that reconciliation to take place. One other thing when it says here that he's going to come back with compassion and rebuild the city, Compassion sometimes comes in the form to overthrow the injustice that has been happening.
Speaker 2:And God says I was angry with the nation of Israel, but the nation then used the nations as punishment. But they went further. They went further than what they were supposed to do. I'm going to come back in compassion, but the picture we have here is that the compassion that he comes back with is going to be one that he's going to take care of these nations. He's going to have a judgment on them. That's a way that sometimes that compassion is shown, in a way of overthrowing injustice.
Speaker 1:So again, summary of the vision there was one man on a horse later calls him the angel of God. There were other horses that were sent out on patrol and they came back. The message that came back was the earth is at peace, the earth is at ease. However, god had said up in verse 2, I was angry with your fathers, your forefathers. He says in verse 15, I am very angry with the nations around you that had taken over and taken advantage of Israel because they went further than what I had intended.
Speaker 1:We have here a situation where the world is at peace, the world is at ease. That's what the report was from the patrols, but meanwhile up in heaven, god is angry. There's a situation here where God is angry and he is about to do something, but the world doesn't know it. The world is at peace, the world is okay, everything's calm, everything's at peace. But no, god is angry because they have disobeyed. They didn't follow God's commands, they didn't follow God's instructions. Steve, we have a time today where we have many people just going about their lives. They're not worried, they're at ease, they're at peace, life's just fine. But is God sometimes angry with our disobedience, even though we're not aware of it?
Speaker 2:Look at the world around us. How is the world reacting to God? Is the world going the way of God and doing the things of worshiping God, or is the world going the way of itself? The answer to that is the world goes the way of itself. We're told over in 1 John that the things of this world are enemies of God. While we might be believers in Jesus Christ and in this world today, we need to take heed as far as what's going on around us, and that even goes for unbelievers. What is the relationship that the world has with God? It's that enmity with God. Therefore, we need to be aware that God is not pleased with the things and the activities that are going on in the world today. If that's the case, we need to know one. What are those activities that God's not pleased with? We're told what they are very plainly Many of the epistles in the New Testament.
Speaker 2:We just went through a study in the book of Galatians In the latter part of that. There's a list of things there that Paul relays. God is not pleased with these things and we should stay away from them. We should not practice those things. That's being aware that, while, yes, we might have peace and know that we have compassion, know that we have security. We also need to know that God is angry with the disobedient things that the world is doing and there's going to be a time of judgment for those things. We need to be aware of that and also want to take our friends and family and ensure that they're not going to have to be a part of the judgment that's going to come.
Speaker 1:In the vision, the world is at ease. But God's not just angry, but very angry. Verse 16,. Therefore, thus says the Lord, I will return to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem. Now we said earlier, when it calls himself the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem. Now we said earlier, when it calls himself the Lord of hosts, it's the Lord of all the heavenly powers, the military forces, the heavenly beings that will go out and do God's will. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's very angry. Therefore, I will return to Jerusalem and my house will be built on compassion. But he says there, he's going to get out his measuring line, he's going to get his measuring tape, he's going to get some of the translations say, a surveyor's line.
Speaker 1:You only measure things or survey things when you're about to do something. You're about to build something or make something. That's when you pull out and start surveying. Is we're about to do something? You're about to build something or make something? That's when you pull out and start surveying. Is we're going to build something? Here Again, the picture is my house. The house is not just a physical building, but it's the family, the lineage, the people group. He continues the word picture. We're out here measuring. We're going to build a building. We're going to build a house. We're going to build Jerusalem. I'm going to come back to Jerusalem and we're going to do something.
Speaker 1:The surveyor line, quite clear, he's about to do something. Hasn't told us what yet, other than he's going to return to Jerusalem with compassion. Now, steve, back to our question is this past, present or future? It just seems to me that Jerusalem means Jerusalem. He's mentioned Jerusalem. He's mentioned Zion. He's talked about Judah Really tough to spiritualize those into anything else. The measuring line is a measuring line. Now, he was seeing a vision of a measuring line. But God is saying I am angry with these nations and I'm going to go and rebuild Jerusalem. I'm going to go back and do something here in Jerusalem. He's promising a literal thing here that he's going to go literally do something to the nations around Israel and he's going to do something in Judah. He's going to go back and bless these people. He had compassion on them because they were in a low spot. How long, lord, his answer is?
Speaker 2:I'm about to do something. The context that's here is that the people are coming back from Babylon, from their captivity in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon in 586, had come into Jerusalem and completely destroyed it. The temple instruments were taken back over to Babylon. The temple completely destroyed, along with the city.
Speaker 2:Zechariah's time period starts two months after the prophet Haggai, so they're in the same timeframe. When you look at Haggai, the construction on the temple had ceased for a little while. In Haggai, god is reprimanding the people, saying you're living in paneled walls, what you're doing is you're living a nice lifestyle, but yet look at the temple. The temple is still unfinished and we see God giving a word of compassion to the people that Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt and the cities are also going to become more prosperous, like they were before. The people again get the picture they're back, but their temple and their city is not complete. Their city itself, the city walls, are down In a point of depression. What's going on? Yeah, lord, we're back, we've come back, but yet everything around us is destroyed. He's giving them a word of encouragement that he hasn't forgotten about them. He's remembered his promises to them that he's jealous for Jerusalem and that the city's going to be rebuilt and that the cities in Judah are going to be prosperous once again.
Speaker 1:This will mean a little more if we put ourselves in the shoes of the people at that time and remind ourselves of their history. The first temple was built in the time of King David and Solomon. Really, solomon finished David's plans, but that was around roughly 900 BC. That was the first temple. It was destroyed when Babylon came in and destroyed the city of Jerusalemy years went by when God punished Israel for its disobedience by allowing Babylon and Assyria to take the Jewish nation away into captivity. Zechariah is at the tail end of that, where some of the people had come back and they had started to rebuild the temple. So at the time he's speaking, the temple had started to be rebuilt and the walls were still down. It wasn't like 80 years later, I believe under Nehemiah, the walls were built. At the time Zechariah is speaking, the temple still wasn't finished. It wasn't finished until, say, three or four years after Zechariah speaks this. That's the context In verse 17 here in Zechariah 1, god says he will bring the people back to the land until the cities overflow with prosperity.
Speaker 1:The Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem. God is saying that he will again bless Jerusalem and bring prosperity there. Verse 17 does not say when this will happen, just from the immediate context. It could have been during the time of very soon, when he said, or during the time of the Maccabees, or could have had a double fulfillment for in the future.
Speaker 1:What there is no textual clues for is to take these passages and say that this is a primary application is for the internal Christian state of an individual Christian and the church age. There's no textual clues for the amillennialists to say that this is saying nothing about the nation of Israel, but it is entirely about the salvation in Jesus Christ in the church age. That he's some symbolism of Jerusalem being the Christian life. Now we can apply it to that. Steve and I have been doing that all along here. We can take these messages and apply them to the Christian life. We've been doing that all along.
Speaker 1:But the primary meaning to the audience in context is that he was going to come back to physical Jerusalem and rebuild this physical city until it overflowed with people, which is the house of the Lord that he's going to bless again. He's going to come back to physical Jerusalem and bless it with people and cattle and prosperity again, because it had been torn down and was in basically a very low state of destruction and disaster. The angel's plea was how long are you going to leave it like this? Oh, here's what I'm going to do. I've got out my surveyor's line and I'm going to rebuild it, and it's going to happen here. That's the context here, am I?
Speaker 2:right, steve. Another way to add to that is that if the city is tangible Jerusalem if the city is tangible Jerusalem Zion is another term for Jerusalem he mentions the cities of Judah. If the area and everything he's talking about are actual cities, then the actions he's going to take are tangible actions related to those actual cities. It's not that he's just talking about prosperity or the cities of Jerusalem and the jealousy that he has, and also he shows his anger to the nations that they went further than what he had intended them to do as far as punishment with the nation of Israel. Those are all tangible entities. Well then, the actions that God is going to take, those are tangible entities too. So, as we go through here, we can look and not only say, okay, are the physical cities and the physical things that he's talking about actual things that are going to happen, but the actions, are they actual? Things that have happened, are going to happen or have yet to happen? Those are included as we go through and talk about these verses.
Speaker 1:The things that people in our day can take away and we can be confident of this is there was a bad situation. They pleaded with God. The angel of the Lord pleaded how long, o Lord, before you have mercy? God responds and says I had judged these people. I am very angry with these people and I'm going to judge them, but I am also going to have mercy and compassion on my people and I'm going to bless them. That pattern of appealing and praying to God that will then result in him taking action in his anger and taking action in his compassion and mercy and blessing his people, can that happen today? That pattern I think we find all throughout the Word of God, all the way back to even the Garden, through the book of Judges and Joshua on into Zechariah and the New Testament. We find that pattern everywhere, do we not?
Speaker 2:I was just fixing to mention that all of the book of Judges is to show the human nature through the nation of Israel and the pattern of who God is and what our relationship can be with Him. In that book of Judges, over and over again, the people, the rulers, went and did what was right in their own eyes. God brought about a judgment on them through other nations. Then the people, when it got to a point that they were oppressed to an overbearing part, they cried out to God. God sent a deliverer, a judge at that time, and overthrew the nation. Then they had a period and time of peace. Then, after that, a little while, again it says people went off and did what was right in their own eyes, while at that time God sent judges. Later the people said we don't want judges anymore, we want to have kings like all the other nations. God was disappointed in that.
Speaker 2:These are all things that show through God's interaction with the nation of Israel. Us Judges is a microcosm, I think, of our life. How many times, glenn, have you and I decided to go off and do something in our history that we thought was right but it wasn't God-pleasing and somehow it got us into a situation where we finally woke up and we repented of it and we turned back to God. We have a period of peace Through that cycle. Finally it dawns on us and says you know what? It's just better to stay close to God and not go off and do something that we think is right in our own eyes.
Speaker 1:We can take comfort in knowing that God still has anger, still has compassion, and he will still bless his people and have mercy and compassion on us. That's a wonderful, wonderful lesson that we can take away from this passion on us. That's a wonderful, wonderful lesson that we can take away from this. The next vision is a vision of four horns and four craftsmen. Now some of the older translations say four smiths. Since my name's Smith, I can trace my ancestry and lineage all the way back to the book of Zechariah. Saying that my family was in the Bible. He says with tongue firmly in cheek. Let's go ahead and read.
Speaker 1:Zechariah 1, starting in verse 18, says this Then I lifted up my eyes and looked and behold, there were four horns. I said to the angel who was speaking with me what are these? He answered me these are the horns which have scattered Judah, israel and Jerusalem. Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen and I said what are these coming to do? He said these are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head. But these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it. Who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it. With this it mentions horns and we can be very confident what the horns are because, he tells us in the passage, the horns are the nations or kings that were the ones who took the Jews captive. And it says it twice there in that passage that we just read, that the horns were nations that came up against Israel. That symbolism of a horn being a nation or a king, especially ones that are out there, away from Israel and the Jewish people that are coming up against it, that theme is here. It's also in Daniel's visions over in the book of Daniel, and it's used as kings and nations.
Speaker 1:Remember, the land got surveyed back in verse 16. So now God is sending craftsmen in to terrify the nations that came against Judah. Again, the summary of what's going on, the cry out was how long, o Lord? He then sends in surveyors, a measuring line. They took all the measurements. Now he's sending in the craftsmen to actually build something. That's the picture here, steve, is it not? It?
Speaker 2:is you alluded to before the nations. Which nations are being depicted here? Assyria came in and took the northern nation of Israel into captivity first, and then, decades later, babylon came in and took the southern nation of Judah because there had been a divided kingdom. That had happened in Israel's history. Then Persia defeated Babylon. That's the era that they're under. Right. Now is Persia. They're a province of Judea under Persian occupation. After that, we know from history that Greece comes along and Rome comes along. These four horns represent these nations. Could be Assyria, through to Greece, or it could be Babylon, through to Rome, but in any case, god is clear here that he is going to take judgment on these nations. He says there in verse 19, these are the horns which have scattered Judah, israel and Jerusalem. It's very clear that the horns of the nations. They're the ones who have dispersed the people.
Speaker 1:Under God's judgment, remember that he had sent in the Assyrians and the Babylonians as judgment. God called the pagan king, nebuchadnezzar from Babylon. He called him my servant and sent him out as a judgment against Judah. He uses that language in Jeremiah 23, verse 9 and 43.10. He called them my servants. Who's in charge here? Who's in charge of these nations? God is. He can send in nations in judgment and he can then say you went too far and he's going to then judge Babylon and Assyria because of that. God is the one who is in control of things. The angel earlier in this chapter cried out how long, o Lord? So okay, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to get out my surveyor, I'm going to send in my craftsmen. We're going to do something. We're going to take care of these nations around here and I'm going to bring my people back to Jerusalem and it's going to be overflowing with prosperity and I'm going to be the defense. That's the message here. Zechariah was asking how long? What are these people coming to do? He's going to act. God will act.
Speaker 1:It had been a long time to the Jewish people in the time this was written, since they had seen God act. But the Word of God tells us that God is not slow. He tells us, quote God is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance. He tells us that in 2 Peter 3.9. Even over in the New Testament we have the same concept. People are crying out how long, o Lord. There's times, steve, where I've had the same cry. How long, o Lord. I really wish, with all this mess that is around us and in us, I really want him to come back and clean things up. If we but cry out to him. I really want him to come back and clean things up If we but cry out to him. He is not slow, as some count slowness, but when he acts he is going to act swiftly and surely and he's going to take care of things and he's going to do it righteously, and his anger is going to be spent on his enemies and his blessings are going to be spent on his children, and we can take comfort in that.
Speaker 1:At the end of chapter one, here we have these visions. We said before we started that yes, there's imagery, yes, there's symbolism, but as we've gone through this, you can see the imagery is explained in the text and it can be clearly interpreted. When he says I've got a measuring line and I'm sending it craftsmen and I'm going to bless Jerusalem, it's very clear what he's saying Throughout chapter 1, verse 10,. God has sent patrols out to see the condition of the earth. He knows what's going on. Verse 17, god has come to comfort the Jewish people Verse 21, god is about to do a great work of throwing down the nations which had previously scattered the Jews. Verse 17, god will bring the people back to Jerusalem and it's going to overflow with prosperity. There's really no doubt about the main thrust of what these visions say. Am I correct?
Speaker 2:You are correct, glenn, and so, as we finish up this session that we're doing today, we should not get lost of trying to figure out who the angels are and the other situations that we talked about through here. Those are the details, but the overarching things are just what you talked about. We're seeing a God who is knowledgeable of what's going on. He's interacting with the people. He's remembering the promises that he's made to them, he's been compassionate with them, but he's also going to be judgmental to the people that have gone too far, that have been used as his instruments. We just get a picture here, in the first chapter of Zechariah, of a God, again, that's not off in a distance, but a God that is fully involved in what's going on here on earth.
Speaker 1:You know, Steve, when I was preparing for this, and you look up what other people have taught of Zechariah, the vast majority of it is arm wrestling between the past and the present and the future. They really oftentimes, many of them, miss all these wonderful teachings that we can take away. We'll stop for today, but we will be reasoning through chapter two of Zechariah next time.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening, as always. May God bless you.
