THE
NEED OF REALITY (Zechariah 7)
Royal
permission had been given for the completion of the temple, and the work went
on with some degree of energy. See Ezra, 5th chapter. Already there had been
some effort made to revive the ancient feasts and likewise to keep the more
modern fasts. Concerning one of the latter, a deputation of Jews came to
consult Zechariah and the elders, both of the priest and prophets. Their
Chaldean names tell that they had been born in captivity. As representatives of
the people, "Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men," came "to
pray before the Lord, and to speak unto the priests which were in the
house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the
fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?"
(Zech. 7:2, 3).
There
seems to have been propriety in the question. For the fast of the fifth month,
as also for the fasts of the fourth, seventh and tenth months (Zech. 8:19),
there was no direct authority in the word of God, and the returned remnant had
been learning to inquire, "What saith the Scriptures?" as to both
command and teaching.
During
their Babylonian sojourn they had kept the four fasts mentioned commemorating
various events in their past sad history, all connected with their punishment
for their sins. None need doubt the piety that prompted the observance of these
special seasons of humiliation before God.
The
only trouble was that formality so readily took the place of reality and
genuine self-humbling in the presence of the Lord. On the tenth day of the fifth
month, Nebuzaradan burnt the temple and the city of Jerusalem. On the yearly
anniversary of that solemn event they fasted and wept, beseeching the Lord to
have mercy and restore the house and the city.
Naturally,
now that they were again in the midst of Jerusalem’s ruins, and their prayer
seemed answered in measure before their eyes as the house of God neared
completion, the question of the righteousness of continuing the self-appointed
fast of the fifth month came before them.
The
word of the Lord of hosts came through Zechariah in reply. But there was no
legislation regarding the fast at all:He neither forbade nor enjoined it. In
itself, such a fast was without positive scriptural authority. On the other
hand, it was in full keeping with the general tenor of the Word. It was
extra-scriptural, rather than un-scriptural. If the people met in true
self-judgment and brokenness of spirit before God on that day or any day, it
would have been acceptable. If they met simply as legally observing a fast which,
after all, He had never appointed, it was a weariness of the flesh and
worthless in His sight. Therefore Zechariah presses home the need of reality.
What had been their object and condition of soul as they kept the fasts in the
past? When they commemorated the burning of the temple in the fifth month (2
Kings 25:8; Jer. 41:1,2)* did they at all fast unto Jehovah all the years of
the captivity?
(* I
have thought that possibly commentators in general are wrong in applying
"the fast of the seventh month" to the lesser fast commemorating the
murder of Gedaliah, and that it really refers to the great fast of the day of
atonement. In that case the prophet would be showing that whether directly
appointed by God In His Word, or added by pious consent, no observance was
acceptable apart from reality. But as the Jews themselves apply the passage as
in the text, I have left it at that.)
When,
on the other hand, they kept the appointed feasts in place of the fasts,
was it His glory they sought? Or did they simply come together for social
enjoyment, eating and drinking without one thought of honoring Him whose power
and grace they were supposed to be remembering? (vers. 6, 7).
Surely,
if all before had been unreal and hollow, now, with such marked evidences both
of divine grace and government before them, they should turn to God with all
their hearts, remembering the words which He had cried by the former prophets,
who had testified to their fathers before Jerusalem was destroyed and when they
dwelt therein in peace, and prosperity was in the land (ver. 7).
This
is all the answer that was given for the moment. It was left to them to decide
whether they should keep the fast or not. And this is most significant and has
a voice for us whose lot is cast in a similar day, if we will hear it,
emphasizing the fact that mere formality will never do for God. He must see a
true turning to Himself if He would find delight in the gathering together of
His people. There may not always be chapter and verse for every practice, but God
will graciously accept all that springs from true self-judgment and that is not
opposed to the plain letter of His Word. It has become the fashion in some
places to ask, "Where is the scripture for a Bible-reading, or where the
direct verse for gathering the young together to teach them the knowledge of
the Bible and thus to lead them to Christ?" We need not be troubled by
such cold-hearted queries as these. Rather let the Sunday school worker ask
himself or herself, "Why do I thus labor among the children? Is it with me
but a weariness of the flesh and a matter of form? Has it become simply legal
drudgery which I carry on because such work is now customary? Or do I seek thus
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ? Is my purpose so to minister Him to those young
in years that their tender hearts may be drawn to Himself ere they become
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin?" If this be the case, let there be
no further question but go on joyfully with your service, doing it heartily as
unto the Lord.
The
same principle applies to the meeting appointed for the study of the Word among
believers. There is no scripture directly saying that such meetings are to be
held at stated intervals; but there is plenty in the way of scripture warrant
and example to make it clear that when such meetings are convened by earnest,
loyal-hearted saints, who come together hungering for the precious truth of God
and ever letting it sit in judgment on them and on their ways, it is truly
pleasing in His sight. Otherwise it is but a work of the flesh — religious
flesh, no doubt, but flesh still for all that.
What
has been said is equally true of the assembly meeting of 1 Corinthians 14 and
the meeting for the breaking of bread of 1 Corinthians 11 and Acts 20:7. It is
quite possible to sit down at the Lord’s table, where the bread and wine speak
of His body given and blood shed for us, and yet not eat the Lord’s Supper at
all, because the mind is so fully occupied with other things that there is no
true remembrance of Christ. One may go from the meeting-room eased in
conscience because he has not neglected the table of the Lord and
superciliously regarding himself as superior Christians whose light and
privileges seem of a lower order, when all the time there has been nothing for
God in it all, but the whole thing was a perfunctory and empty ceremony,
detestable in His eyes, if indeed there has not been an actual eating and
drinking of judgment to oneself.
But if
there is to be reality when saints are gathered together, there must be righteousness
in their daily lives. So Zechariah again speaks the word of the Lord, saying,
"Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his
brother:and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the
poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart"
(vers. 9, 10). Solemn words are these! Would that they had been oftener called
to mind by the people of God in all ages! He has said, "Woe unto them that
decree unrighteous decrees!" (Isa. 10:1), yet how frequently has
ecclesiastical authority been invoked to enforce the most palpably cruel and
unholy decisions! Oh, the crimes that have been committed in the name of the
Lord and His truth! The cruelties of those who have vaunted the exclusive mind
of the Lord will make a terrible and a humiliating record at the judgment seat
of Christ. When will saints learn that nothing is of God which is unholy; that
nothing is right which is not righteous; that nothing is bound, or ratified, by
the Just One which in itself is unjust! Neither is anything to be owned as
having divine sanction which outrages the mercy and compassions of Christ.
Because
Israel forgot all this and "made their hearts as an adamant stone,"
the former prophets had been sent to warn them, and they would not hear;
therefore great wrath came upon them. As they were indifferent to the cry of
the distressed and calloused as to the sorrows of the needy, God gave them over
to learn in bitterness of soul what distress and need really meant. In the day
of their anguished cry, He refused to hearken even as they had refused to hear
His voice of entreaty and warning. So they had been scattered with a whirlwind
among all the nations (vers. 11-14). Would their children learn from the sad
experiences of the past, or must they too be broken and driven forth because of
indifference to the claims of the Holy and the True?
To
Christians of the present day the same questions may well be put. May God give
us grace to profit by the failures of the past and to walk softly and in
charity, according to truth, in the little while ere the Lord Jesus comes
again!