Hoping in the God of restoration

The remainder of the book of Zechariah deals with prophecies of judgement and restoration: more of what we’ve come to expect from the prophets sent by God to His people.

The time for oppression is over. All eyes are on God to see what He’ll do. The time has come for God to act – and when the one true God acts, nothing and no one can stand against Him.

Though they are very skillful…

Though they have built a stronghold…

Though they have riches beyond measure…

But the Lord will take away her possessions
and destroy her power on the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.  Zechariah 9:4

No nation, no ruler is indestructible. Pride in human institutions and human leaders will prove to be misguided.

Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
for now I am keeping watch.  Zechariah 9:8

‘Now I am keeping watch’ – isn’t that a weird thing for God to say? Hasn’t He been with His people and watching over His people the whole time? Isn’t that what He promised?

I wonder if He’s saying this in a way the people will understand. They have felt abandoned by God in their exile. Now He’s saying that things are different, that things will feel different. As humans, we can’t ever begin to understand the ways of God. Why He allows the suffering that He does is beyond our understanding. There have been times through history, times right now, where it appears that God has abandoned His people – individuals and whole nations -, where He’s handed them over to their enemies. We can’t begin to understand that. We pray and pray and God doesn’t seem to answer. God doesn’t deliver these people from their unspeakable suffering.

Where is God now? The cry rises up.

Just as Jesus cried out in his suffering –

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

God hadn’t abandoned him. God was there the whole time. What God was doing or not doing, that we cannot begin to explain. It felt in that moment like abandonment, like neglect, like God was turning the other way. But God was always there and is always there. How can it be otherwise when God is all around all of the time, the life force in all living things?

Zechariah goes on to announce that a new king is coming. It’s time to celebrate. But this is a king like never before.

See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  Zechariah 9:9

This king will be righteous and victorious, but not in the way people are used to seeing righteous and victorious king. This king will come in humility, not riding on a strong black stallion, but on a donkey.

This what Jesus did. We know this as Palm Sunday. Have a look at Matthew 21 – this passage from Zechariah is quoted there. This prophecy came true in a very real way. In Jesus, God will overthrow the way of the world. A world in which kings rule with might and armies and material wealth. In God’s upside down kingdom, the weak will be strong, the humble will be raised up. Peace and love will be the way forward. We’ll struggle to get this because every day, the world is conditioning us to believe the opposite. We’re brought up on a diet of media influence and peer influence to believe that wealth and strength and power and beauty and success are what really matters. We have to be strong enough to swim against that tide, to stand for love and justice and equality – to value what God values.

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.  Zechariah 9:12

How often do people look back over their life and are able to say ‘Some good came out of that’? At the time when you’re suffering beyond what you can bear, that’s the last thing you need to hear and people need to keep their mouths shut. But what God’s saying here is what He proves time and time and time again throughout history – that in God, all things are working together for good. Whatever life looks like for you, for your nation, for the world right now, this is God’s trajectory towards good and restoration and wholeness.

I’m a living result of that: I would never have been born if my mum had not lost my brother John at birth. It was so strange thinking about that as I stood at his grave for the first time earlier this year. My mum never got over that loss and I can understand that completely. Losing a child to me is the most horrific thing imaginable. And I didn’t ever replace him, I know that. Who could? But I am here because of that horrific loss that my mum had to endure – still trying to get my mind around that.

No suffering is in vain. Good can come out of it. I’m not saying that God causes us to suffer, but that God is the God of restoration. He can rebuild something incredible out of the ruins and the mess and the chaos. I find hope in that.

This is the promise.

This is the future.

The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown.
How attractive and beautiful they will be!  Zechariah 9:16-17

This is the hope that we can cling to, today and every day.

This is where we’re heading.