Restored

Zechariah 8:1-15 
 
Again, Zechariah hears from God.
 
In verses 1-6: 
Jerusalem had fallen due to the sin that the people had allowed to come in. Not only was God jealous for Zion (the place) but also Zion (the people). God protects those He loves but He does allow things to happen to get His people back in line. God wants us to be faithful to Him and follow His guidance. Although God loves His children, He will chastise them if need be. Jerusalem will be a city of truth when Jesus returns.
 
In disturbed occasions, the old and the youthful are the main to suffer and die. Yet, the two groups are ample in this vision, filling the roads with their typical ordinary daily lives. This is an indication of the total harmony and thriving of God’s new earth.
 
The remnant was the little gathering of outcasts, exiles, who had gotten back from Babylonian captivity, to reconstruct Jerusalem and the Temple. Attempting to get by in the land, they got debilitated and discouraged over the resistance they regularly faced from antagonistic neighbors. It was difficult to accept that one day God himself would rule from this city and that their land would appreciate incredible harmony and bounty.
 
Another way to say verse 6 is “What seems inconceivable to you is not a hard task for me.” God helped Zechariah to remember this fact while anticipating his redemption of Jerusalem. Our God is almighty; he can do anything. While facing apparently unimaginable undertakings or circumstances, we should remember that “with God, all things are possible.”

• Jeremiah 32:17, Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.
• Jeremiah 32:27, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
• Matthew 19:26, But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. 

 
In verses 7-9: 
God needed to give the Temple laborers a little push to make them move. They had heard the prophets’ uplifting statements; presently they needed to stop simply tuning in, they needed to get to work. We need to tune in to what God says, yet whenever he has made our strategy plain, we need to “be solid and strong” and do what he wants us to do.
 
I will bring them back (saving from east and west). The covenant relationship will be restored, and the entire local area will be filled with God’s presence. This promise of pardoning and rebuilding alludes to the entirety of God’s people any place they might be found.
 
Here these verses are telling us that the Jews were told to remember their lives before the temple was being rebuilt, when they were in exile. The prophets gave encouragement from God to the people. What was our lives like before we accepted Christ? We should heed the Word of the Lord, be strong, and do what He has called us to do.

• Exodus 6:6-7, Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
• Leviticus 26:12, And 1 will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
• Deuteronomy 7:6, For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
• Jeremiah 31:1, At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 

 
In verses 10-15: 
Once again, encouragement is given. For over 15 years God and His prophets had been encouraging the people to wrap up building the Temple. Again, God supported them with dreams of things to come. We are enticed to back off for several reasons: the workers are not reacting; we feel truly or sincerely depleted; the workers are uncooperative; the work is tacky, excessively troublesome, or not even worth the exertion. God’s promises about the future ought to support us now. He understands what the consequences of our works will be, and hence He can give us a point of view that will help us proceed in our work for Him.

• Isaiah 19:2, And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
• Genesis 27:28, Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
• Daniel 9:11, Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
• Jeremiah 29:11-14, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

  
What will the Lord have to do, or allowed to be done, for Christians of today to repent and be restored? 
 
Remember what was... Look through what is... And see what will be.