Zechariah 8

The Lord of men and angels is jealous. This is a confusing concept for us. We have seen people who are sinfully jealous. They are envious of others, and bear malice towards those that they see as threats to their position. We can't imagine God being like this. Some people are confused by the thought of God's jealousy, supposing that the Lord is somehow jealous of them, in the sense of His being afraid that they are getting too much attention, and that their greatness is an unsettling threat to His feelings of well-being.

Of course God is not jealous of us, He has a jealous love for us, yet without any sin. There is nothing wrong with this divine jealousy. In fact it is an expression of His powerful love and care for His people. He is not willing to see them enticed away by false gods. The Lord loves us and wants the very best for us. Zechariah tells us that this great jealousy that the Lord has for His people is expressed against there enemies with a great wrath.

God's jealous love has caused Him not only to fight against our enemies, but also to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. His communion with the city of God is not just as an Observer. He who is faithful and holy in His very being, must be the Source of our future faithfulness and holiness. It is a very exciting gift to us that we will one day be not only a beloved bride, but also a bride who has been perfected by our divine Husband. This is the destiny of the Lord's city.

God's good plans for us are wonderful for us to anticipate. We should surely expect that they are marvelous in His sight as well. We are given words that tell us of a place with human physical delights, with the pure joys of people that age with grace and of young ones who fill the streets with the good sounds of joyful play. When we are able to anticipate the fullness of these future days because of some experience that we have the pleasure of enjoying even now, it is such a blessing to our souls, which were made to long for the perfect goodness of the resurrection. It means so much to us to really know that our Lord will not only gather us together, He will live with us, and He will be our God in faithfulness and righteousness. That is such good news.

In this report of God's words to His people we hear about work for our hands, and our God's blessing upon that work beyond what we experienced in former days. We know from other passages that there were times when the people of God were not attending to the Lord as the chief desire of their hearts, and things were not going well for them. God is not content to allow that kind of mixed mess to be the final chapter of the existence of His people. No, there will be fruitfulness, peace, and security. They were once the object of scorn to others. Now they will be a blessing. As it once was His purpose to discipline His people, it has now become His purpose to bring them some great eternal blessing.

The plan of God for us is one of blessing and holiness, of fruitfulness and righteousness. Of course we will live in the midst of a people that hear and follow the Lord. There can be no secure peace without that kind of obedience. We will not be doing what the Lord hates, but what He loves. We will not mark our time from one fast of mourning to the next. We will have feasts of joy, feasts of gladness and cheerfulness, feasts of truth and peace.

As the kingdom of the Lord is being gathered, there will be those who will associate themselves very closely with the God of the Jews. There will be a buzz of excitement among those who have this holy anticipation of the life to come. This is something that we all should greatly desire.

As an expression of this great desire, the Lord speaks of people who will be very eager to associate themselves with one Jew. This was exactly what happened through the ministry of Jesus Christ. In His earthly days we remember the testimony of one woman who wanted to remain secret. She had told herself that great good would come to her if she could just touch the hem of His garment. This is what she did, and she was healed.

We have come to Him in our weak and sin-sick condition, and we have touched the hem of His garment by faith, and experienced new life. This moves us past the fear of death, since our judgment has already been experienced by Him when He took His place on the cross as our Substitute. Now our expectation immediately at the point of our death is an experience of wonderful life that we should not allow ourselves to imagine as being less than our current existence. It was not bad news, but very good news to the thief on the cross when Jesus said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Yet beyond that wonderful joy, we have something greater still in the renewal of the earth and the fullness of resurrection life with all the people of God. The City of God shall not disappoint us, for our Lord will be there with all His blessings for the fullness of His holy Jerusalem. Our jealous God will not let His beloved bride be kept from the glory of that day. He loves us too much to give us over to some false suitor. He is willing to fight for us.