Zechariah 9

The Scriptures are full of a sense of destiny and hope for the covenant people of God. In the Old Testament times the covenant people were the descendants of Israel, worshipping God and calling upon His Name as He had revealed Himself in the Law and the Prophets. In the New Covenant era, the people of God are all those in the church of Jesus Christ, worshipping the same God as the Jews of the Old Testament, yet now according to the ways of the gospel age revealed to us in the New Testament. No longer is the temple in Jerusalem and the sacrificial system of Leviticus our place and means of approaching God, for we worship the Lord in Christ who is our Temple and our Sacrifice.

It is a fact that there have always been those who appeared to be a part of the covenant people of God, who the Lord will judge to be outside of His final redeemed assembly. Thus in the days of Jeremiah, there were those who were proclaiming "Peace! Peace!" when there was no peace. And in the days of the Apostle Paul, we were reminded that not all "Israel" was truly Israel. Christ Himself taught us that there would be some who would one day attempt to call Him "Lord" who would yet be called evildoers by Him, and that they would be excluded from His assembly. This is the confusing problem that we face inside the covenant community, a problem that can only be finally sorted out by the Lord Himself.

The problem outside of the visible covenant people is much clearer, and it is very desperate. There are many millions throughout history have made no pretense of connection with the God of the Jews. They are mentioned by the names of various nations in Zechariah 9, and they are slated for judgment. They haves names like Hadrach, Damascus, and the towns of the Philistines. They may have had wisdom and military advantages, or great riches like Tyre and Sidon, yet none of these things can win them a true connection to the great promises of God. Their only hope is to be brought into the company of those who are truly Israelites through vital association with Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews.

Given these facts, how is it that some of these peoples of the earth seem to have a place as a remnant for the true God as servants of the Lord and His people. The only answer that the Bible gives us is that there will be those who are drawn to the way of peace through the one who is recognized in Zechariah 9 as the King of the Covenants, the One who comes as a humble servant of the Lord, mounted on a donkey. Do not be fooled by His humility into thinking that He has no power. He has the power of a perfectly righteous life, and He has salvation in His hand, ready to give blessings to those who are far off, and good gifts to those who are near. It is He who speaks peace to the nations who were without hope. It is He who shed the better blood of the covenant, by which prisoners of sin and death have been freed from a hopeless pit where they were once trapped without the water of renewal and life.

This does not mean that everything is safety and prosperity for everyone. There are still many who will be utterly outside of the covenant blessings of the Lord, unwilling to be marked by the waters of baptism in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. There are also sadly some who have lived within the protection of the church who will be found to be her enemies on the day when the Lord separates the world and His Israel. But today is the day to return to the Lord as our true stronghold and to reject the safety of false gods. The Lord stands ready to bless those who will repent. He knows His own, and He will not let them go. He will restore to them double of what they have lost in the sufferings and persecutions of this world.

But for those who refuse His protection and His kindness, for those who continue to rail against Him, to abuse His people, and to deceive the weak, He will come with power and glory to rescue His beloved Jacob, and to defeat His enemies. In that fight He will use His true Judah and Israel somehow as a weapon of His power. We see an expression of this force even now as the word of the gospel goes forth to Greece in the early years of the New Testament era, and beyond the Mediterranean to all the ends of the earth. Now is the day to surrender to the message of God's love through the cross of His Son, and to be counted as those who repent and believe.

For all who love His Son's appearing, not only will those who trouble them be defeated, and not only will the enemy within their own ranks be found out and cast out, there will be great blessings of joy and life that will never be taken away. Our God will save us in Christ, and we will be the flock of His people forever. As the tribes of Israel were jewels on the breastplate of Aaron, the Lord's people will be precious royal stones in the Land of Resurrection. We will behold the greatness and beauty of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and we will enjoy the bounty of His gifts as those who are permanently and clearly united to the Son of God.