The Lord promises to bless Jerusalem with old age and youth
The word of the LORD Almighty came to me. 2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her."
3 This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”
4 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. 5The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
In the 23 verses of chapter 8, the statement “This is what the LORD Almighty says” is repeated ten times. And twice, in verses 1 and 18, Zechariah says, “Again the word of the LORD Almighty came to me.” One of the proofs for the inspiration of the Bible is just this fact: the Bible claims to be the Word of Israel’s covenant God. The testimony almost labors in this chapter. Twelve direct references to this being God’s Word in these few verses! God is making a point.
Usually we hear the word jealous in a bad context. Usually the one who is jealous is at fault. But in verse 2 the Savior-God calls himself jealous: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.” His people brought him to righteous jealousy. He did not want them flirting with other gods. He means business with his First Commandment.
This anthropomorphism of God being the jilted lover is one we all understand clearly, and the Bible uses it often throughout its pages. History is woven full of examples of men and women vying for each other’s complete love and reacting with different expressions of jealousy when the love they wanted got waylaid. Disappointed love causes such acute feelings. “I am burning with jealousy for her.”
But isn’t it a great thing to know? True, we do not want to make God jealous and see him burn with jealousy. But, at the same time, it is a comfort to know he can get jealous over us.
No one gets jealous over someone he has no love for. An object of disdain or disgust stirs up no feelings of jealousy in us. But one we love dearly and want for our own, one we cannot stand the thought of losing to another causes us to be jealous. And so it is with God. He loves us so much he can’t stand the thought of losing us to some false lover. His love is so great that he even comes looking for us when we have been unfaithful to him. His sense of jealousy is sharper and fiercer than ours; his forgiveness spans greater canyons of transgression than ours. He even forgives us when we cannot forgive ourselves. “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
The truth of this last statement rests on the evidence of verse 3. “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem.” God came back. We sing these words: “Thou hast not left me oft as I left thee. On to the close, O Lord, abide with me” (CW 588:4). The result of God’s coming back was that the foundation of peace (which is what Jerusalem means) was once more coupled with those two lovely words, truth and holiness. Jerusalem knew truth; Mount Zion knew holiness. Both were a picture of God’s beloved, his church. To know once more what true love is! To stand before the Bridegroom in white and have it signify the truth— completely forgiven and clean! “Faultless to stand before his throne” (CW 382:4). What a great Advent thought these words are. Our King is coming, and he will love us!
The city of God’s people will be lovely, lovely because of the only thing that can make a city lovely—people! The old will be there with canes in their hands. War and violence and disease will not snatch their lives away. They will be able to say with the psalmist, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). And the young will be there too! There will be games, laughter, and energy. There will be exuberance of youth! What a fine place—a lovely place—where God will live with his people.
Is it too good to be true?