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Zechariah, Prophet of God's remembrance, part 20

We know from the New Testament that the earthly Jerusalem, pictured as a fig tree, was cursed and that the nature of the curse was that it would not bring forth the fruit that God requires to be truly blessed. This is in accordance with many Old Testament prophets as well, who affirmed that Jerusalem was cursed.

The reason for the curse is given in Jeremiah 7:9-11, which says,

⁹ “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? ¹¹ Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.’

For this cause, God added, He was to forsake Jerusalem in the same way that He forsook Shiloh, where the ark of God had been placed originally. Recall that the ark of God was taken by the Philistines, and on the same day a grandson of Eli was born. They named him Ichabod, “the glory has departed” (1 Samuel 4:21, 22).

The ark never returned to Shiloh. It was moved to various other places for the next 80 years until King David placed it in his tabernacle in Jerusalem. When Solomon built the temple, the ark was placed there, where it remained until Jerusalem was destroyed. Meanwhile, Jeremiah told the people why God would treat Jerusalem as He did Shiloh. A short time later, the city and its temple were destroyed, and the ark disappeared from history—never again to return.

The Second Temple Lacked God’s Glory

Hence, when the second temple was dedicated 70 years later in 515 B.C., the glory of God did not return to its Most Holy Place. When King Herod rebuilt the second temple, making it a beautiful structure, a stone was placed in the Most Holy Place to mark the spot where the ark should have rested.

The great biblical scholar, Alfred Edersheim, wrote in his book, The Temple, page 314,

“In the first temple the ark of God had stood there with the mercy-seat overshadowing it; above it, the visible presence of Jehovah in the cloud of the Shekinah, and on either side the outspread wings of the cherubim; and the high priest had placed the censer between the staves of the ark. But in the Temple of Herod there was neither Shekinah nor ark—all was empty; and the high priest rested his censer on a large stone, called the ‘foundation stone’.”

When Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, He referred to Jeremiah’s prophecy, saying in Matthew 21:13, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you are making it a robbers’ den.” A robbers’ den is a hideout, where men can be safe while breaking the law. By referencing Jeremiah 7:11, Jesus affirmed that the temple in his day was still under the curse and would suffer the same fate as the original temple.

Nonetheless, those who followed Jesus Christ were able to break free of Jerusalem’s curse. They began to worship at the altar of the heavenly city and the temple in heaven (Revelation 11:19). These believers received the glory of God on the day of Pentecost and will experience the fullness of Spirit when the feast of Tabernacles is fulfilled at the end of the age.

What qualifies those believers? They have not become lawless. They do not hide in a temple that is actually “a den of robbers.” They do not say, “We are delivered [“saved”] to do all these abominations.” They have not cast aside God’s law but see it through New Covenant eyes.

Reversing the Curse

Zechariah 8:14, 15 says,

¹⁴ For thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I have not relented, ¹⁵ so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear.”

This is the good news (gospel). However, the manner in which God will fulfill this promise is little understood, because many think this promise applies to the earthly Jerusalem and to biological men of Judah. They do not know that there are two Jerusalems, and they have also adopted men’s definition of Judah.

We have already shown that Yerushalayim is a Hebrew dual that means “two Jerusalems.” If the earthly city has the name Ichabod written on it (as did Shiloh before it), then it is plain that this city will not receive the glory of God and therefore will not be able to bear fruit. The reversal of the curse comes only through the heavenly city that Abraham saw.

Secondly, Romans 2:28, 29 tells us that “He is NOT a Jew” who claims citizenship in Judah by reason of his outward circumcision. “He IS a Jew” who has heart circumcision, as even Moses himself prophesied, and who, therefore, truly praises God. (Judah means “praise.”) Because Zechariah’s prophecies are being fulfilled after Christ ratified the New Covenant, we must use God’s definition of a “Jew” (i.e., Judahite) instead of the world’s definition.

This is the only way that we can interpret the word of God without contradiction.

The Blessed Path

Zechariah 8:16, 17 says,

¹⁶ “These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment [justice] for peace in your gates [i.e., the courts]. ¹⁷ Also, let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,” declares the Lord.

Of course, there are two ways that we might try to fulfill God’s requirement. The Old Covenant manner is where we discipline the flesh to make it conform to the law/nature of God. This method is only partially successful because self-discipline can only change one’s behavior—not one’s nature (or heart).

The second method is to rely upon God’s vow to make us His people and to be our God, as we read in Deuteronomy 29:12, 13. This path was revealed and ratified by Jesus Christ, whom God sent to fulfill His own oath. True faith is believing that God is able to fulfill His promise and to make it happen by the power of His own will (Romans 4:21, 22).

The Apostle Paul tells us further that we are begotten from above and that we are now new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), that is, we have a new identity, no longer being children of our earthly parents. We are now the sons of God (1 John 3:2), no longer children of the flesh.

Our behavior changes as the Spirit of God lives in us. Our new and different works, or lifestyle, is evidence of the Spirit’s work in us. We are not justified by our works, but our works give outward evidence of the inward work of the Spirit. It no longer requires discipline to follow God’s law, because we are being conformed to His image by our very nature.

When others see how we have changed and how we now do what God requires (in His law), then they know that the law of God is written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).

Exchanging Fasting for Rejoicing

Zechariah 8:19 says,

¹⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, “The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.”

If we focus specifically upon the feast of the seventh month, it is the Day of Atonement, a day of mourning and fasting that commemorates the time when the Israelites refused to enter the Kingdom when Caleb and Joshua urged them do so. That was actually the 50^th Jubilee from Adam, and the law of Jubilee would have released them to return to their inheritance. But their unbelief turned the Jubilee into the Day of Atonement.

Zechariah tells us how to reverse that problem, how to turn the day of mourning and fasting back into the Jubilee. Jubilee means a time of rejoicing, or jubilation. In effect, by having faith in the promise of God and by conforming to His nature, this day will no longer need to be celebrated with sadness but as a day of “cheerful feasts.”

Those who remember God and His word will find that God remembers them as well.