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Zechariah, Prophet of God's remembrance, part 18

Zechariah 8:1, 2 says,

¹ Then the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous [qana, “zealous”] for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous [qana] for her’.” ³ Thus says the Lord, “I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”

The NASB above translates the Hebrew word qana (or Cana) as “jealous.” The word has a broader meaning, and translators thus have a choice of ways in which to translate the thought. The NASB chose to link this prophecy to God’s “jealousy” in Exodus 34:14,

¹⁴ For you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Nonetheless, context usually tells us how we are to understand words that have more than one meaning. In this case verse 3 above gives us that context. It is a reference to the ongoing work of building the second temple from which place the “Truth” of God’s law, revealing His nature, was to be spoken and taught to the nations. This context is further revealed in Zechariah 8:9, where God again speaks of the temple more directly.

In regard to the temple, God is more zealous than jealous.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

When God says Zechariah 8:3, “I will return to Zion,” it is a messianic prophecy, similar to what we see in Malachi 3:1, “the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple.” Both of these messianic prophecies were fulfilled when Jesus came to the temple in John 2:13-21 and cast out the moneychangers who had turned the temple into a house of merchandise. We read in John 2:17,

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”

This was a direct quotation from Psalm 69:9, where qina is translated “zeal.”

Recall that the gospel of John is structured around eight miracle signs, each followed by commentary that explains the sign. When Jesus zealously (qina) cleansed the temple, it was part of the commentary on the meaning of the first miracle sign at the wedding feast of Cana [qana].

The truth of man’s transformation into the image of Christ is thus pictured when Jesus turned water into wine. The temple was Christ’s body itself (John 2:21), and secondarily our own bodies, for our bodies too are temples of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). Our fleshly temples need cleansing, just as the temple in Jerusalem was cleansed, in order to make them “Holy.”

The setting at Cana suggested that this was done through Christ’s “zeal” (qina). Men were unable to cleanse their own temples through their own zeal. Their Old Covenant vow in Exodus 19:8 was an expression of their zeal and good intention, but no one could fulfill their vow by the power of their own will. It requires the zeal of God’s zeal and His New Covenant vow to accomplish this cleansing.

This gives us a prime example of the zeal of God in regard to His temple. Hence, I believe that Zechariah 8:2 points to God’s zeal, rather than God’s jealousy. This, in turn, points to the New Covenant fulfillment of the prophecy as a whole, and it shows that Zechariah was prophesying about the true temple yet to come. It was not the physical structure but the body of Christ and the spiritual temple described in Ephesians 2:20-22.

Of course, the people in Zechariah’s day—including the prophet himself—could hardly be expected to know the New Covenant manner in which God’s word would be fulfilled. All they knew at the time was that they were building a temple in obedience to the Lord’s command. The actual fulfillment was obscured until it was revealed by Jesus and His apostles.

Because of the people’s lack of full understanding, modern Bible teachers tend to interpret these verses as they would have done in the days of Zechariah. So they think that in the latter days a “third temple” must be built on the same temple mount in Jerusalem. The solution, of course, is to see that when prophecy is fulfilled after Christ’s resurrection and ascension, it must be fulfilled in a New Covenant manner. It is necessary to account for certain changes in the law (Hebrews 7:12) to reflect the better promises.

“Jerusalem” will be called the City of Truth. This does not speak of the earthly city but of the heavenly city. (There are two Jerusalems.) The “mountain” (government) under the Old Covenant was Mount Zion; but the New Covenant “mountain” is symbolized by Mount Sion (Hermon, Deuteronomy 4:48), where Jesus was transfigured.

Peace and Prosperity

Zechariah 8:4, 5 says,

⁴ Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. ⁵ And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets.”

Under the Old Covenant, it was the dream of every Israelite to see the city as a happy and prosperous place, where children could play in the streets and the elderly could sit and watch them play. Unfortunately, sin had disrupted the peace and prosperity of the earthly city. Hence, this could be fulfilled only through the New Covenant and in the heavenly Jerusalem, whose glory John saw coming down from heaven to earth (Revelation 21:2).

Zechariah 8:6 continues,

⁶ Thus says the Lord of hosts, “If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?” declares the Lord of hosts.

This implies that it was too difficult to achieve peace and prosperity by the zeal of the remnant of Judah that had returned to the land to rebuild the temple. Why? Because the Old Covenant lacked the power to bring the glory of God into the earth and to make the city holy. But “will it also be too difficult” for God to accomplish this by His New Covenant vow? No, because God is able.

Zechariah 8:7 says,

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; ⁸ and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.”

Under the Old Covenant, Exodus 19:5 says that the Israelites could be His people if they were obedient to the laws of God. However, after 40 years in the wilderness, they had still failed to be His people. So God made a second covenant with them in the plains of Moab (Deuteronomy 29:1), based not on the vows of the people but upon the vow (“oath”) of God Himself. This second covenant was a precursor to the New Covenant, because it was based on God’s oath.

In Deuteronomy 29:12, 13 God swore an oath to make them His people and to be their God. The success of this covenant was no longer based on the will of man but the will of God alone. Nonetheless, in the broader perspective, this could be fulfilled only after the New Covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ. To be His people in the way God intended is to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, with the law written in their hearts. If we claim to be God’s people today, it is only because God is imputing righteousness to us by faith. In other words, this promise has yet to be fulfilled in practical terms.

Zechariah’s prophecy, however, was meant to encourage the people by reminding them of God’s promise in spite of their fleshly failures to fulfill their Old Covenant vows.

Zechariah 8:9 says,

⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.”

We know from Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 3:11,

¹¹ For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The remnant of Judah in the days of Zechariah were encouraged by prophetic words when the foundation of the second temple was laid. However, they saw dimly through the Old Covenant veil (2 Corinthians 3:13, 14). We who are of the New Covenant can behold the glory of God without that veil, for we now know how the true Foundation Stone for the true Temple was laid when Jesus was buried in Joseph’s tomb.