Tag: Zechariah

Bless the Lord, the God of Israel

As we approach Candlemas tomorrow, I’ve picked as today’s hymn “Bless the Lord, the God of Israel”.  The reasoning is that at Candlemas we sing the priest Simeon’s song on seeing the baby Jesus (Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, Luke 2:29-32).  There is a direct parallel in Zechariah’s song (Luke 1:68-79) at the circumcision of his son Jehohanan (known to us as John the Baptist).  Zechariah, had received an angelic message that he would be the father of a prophet but was struck dumb until the day of the boy’s naming and circumcision ceremony, after his wife had without prompting confirmed the boy’s name.  His very personal song starts with praise to God but is partly addressed to his son – “and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way”.  The hymn version of it puts that into the third person – “this child will be a herald making ready all God’s ways”.  

Zechariah’s song looks back as well as forwards – back to God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and would always be free to worship God.  The rest of the story of the Bible after that is a series of repeated fallings and risings, as Abraham’s people forgot God’s commandments or deliberately broke them, and had to be brought back through either the exhortation of prophets or being broken by wars and plagues.

John’s role as the forerunner of Jesus Christ was as a prophet, certainly, like all those before who had called on people to turn round (repent) and come back to God.  But Jesus called John “more than a prophet” (Luke 7:26), explaining “This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”   

The ‘light’ theme of Candlemas appears in verse 3 – “So may all who dwell in darkness see the shadows disappear, while he guides our feet in pathways where his peace is ever near”.  At a time when the ‘darkness’ falls all around the world in households stricken by Covid-19 (including, now, our own) and in countries oppressed by violence and persecution, the light and peace of Christ that John the Baptist heralded is never more needed.

The Bible in a Year – 25 June

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

25 June. Zechariah chapters 8-14.

In the first couple of chapters of this section, Zechariah’s prophecy follows the now familiar pattern of promising to restore Israel’s fortunes with Jerusalem as its capital, and judgement on their enemies.  It is within the latter – the triumph of the Jews over the surrounding nations – that there come perhaps the most-quoted  verses of this book of the Old Testament: “your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey …  he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (9:9-10).  That is because Jesus was seen to fulfil them, probably quite deliberately, when he entered the city the week before he was crucified.  Those who thought of the whole context of Zechariah’s message may have been encouraged to think in terms of military strength, but these verses are actually about God’s ultimate purpose of achieving peace on earth.

 

Earlier, we read the following: “Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets” (8:4-5).  Again, this is a vision of a peaceful city, one in which its most vulnerable citizens (the old and the young) can live without fear.  Even in our societies today we are far from achieving that. It is more common for the old to live in “sheltered” accommodation as much for their safety as for the nursing care they may need, and for children to be kept indoors for fear of assault or abduction, than for them to be able to sit or play unsupervised in the street.

 

So was the prophecy a false one?  No, but it has always been the understanding of the Christian church that only when Jesus comes a second time in glory will true peace be established.  Zechariah seems to have foreseen that too, for in the last chapter his prophecy becomes ever more apocalyptic (telling of the last days), when the mountains near Jerusalem would split in two to allow the citizens to escape from a coming disaster, after which “the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him … And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” (14:5,9).

 

The Bible in a Year -24 June

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

24 June. Zechariah chapters 1-7.

Zechariah is not to be confused with yesterday’s prophet, the similar sounding Zephaniah, although the latter is mentioned in his writings, and they lived at the same time.  Whereas Zephaniah’s style of prophecy was like many others in hearing the word of the Lord in both judgement and mercy, Zechariah was a prophet more like Ezekiel, or for that matter John the Divine (author of Revelation) who saw symbolic visions.

 

Such visionaries are rare, and given an understanding of the spiritual truths “behind the scenes” of human life.  So in his visions Zechariah saw angels and spirits of various kinds, represented as people, horses or other animals.  Some of these were God’s messengers, sent to “patrol the earth”, and surprisingly they report that the whole world is at peace (1:11) – a rare situation, then as now. It reminds us of Noah’s dove which brought back an olive branch to show that the flood had receded and new life could start.  Here it seems that the report of world peace is the sign for God to start a new movement, of the Jews back to their homeland.

 

Another of the visions reveals Satan to be stood next to Joshua the high priest accusing him, so that he felt dirty before God.  That is always the devil’s accusation, to make us feel unworthy of God.  So another angel is told to dress him in fine clothes and a clean turban, and he is tasked with rebuilding the temple.  Coming out of the vision, Zechariah does something practical and has a crown made for Joshua as a physical symbol for the whole community of the spiritual truth that he had understood.

 

The lesson from this? That whatever accusations people or spirits may level at us of being unclean and unworthy, in God’s sight, if we trust in him we are quite the opposite – not only clean but honoured, and called to God’s service in whatever way he has chosen.

 

The Bible in a Year – 7 June

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

7 June. Ezekiel chapters 24-25

It is easy to forget, reading through this book of prophecies, that since the end of chapter 3 Ezekiel had been silenced by God.  That was in the fifth year of his exile, and it is now the ninth. For four years he has been hearing the voice of God but has had to act out his prophecies like a mime artist.  Only on the day that a messenger would come from Jerusalem bearing news of its final destruction, as his unspoken allegories had predicted, would his mouth be opened so that he could speak again.

There is a parallel in the Bible in the story of Zechariah, a priest who received an angelic message that he would be the father of a prophet called Jehohanan (known to us as John the Baptist).   He too was stricken dumb until the day of the boy’s naming and circumcision ceremony, after his wife had announced that their son would bear that name.   It seems that sometimes, those who are given a revelation from God (whether the good news of the birth of a prophet, or the bad news of the destruction of a city) have to remain silent until the appropriate time.  It is enough to be aware that God is planning something, and best to leave him to it rather than tell everyone.

 

There are times in our own lives when we have to keep secrets, too.  A confidence shared, a commercial secret accidentally seen at work, something overheard on a bus.  There may be a temptation to seek a financial reward or manipulate a relationship with this information, or just to gossip. But St James had strong words to say about our speech: “no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (James 3:8-10).