Two years have passed since the Lord last gave Zechariah a word to be recorded in the Scriptures. Regem-Melech is Hebrew for king’s official. It could be a person’s name or a title. The main point is that the people sent Sherezer, the king’s official and his men to God’s house to pray. Wonderful things happen when people call on the Name of the Lord. The people wanted to know if they needed to weep and fast during the fifth month as they did in the past.
“Then the Word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ‘Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those 70 years, did you really fast for Me—for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have obeyed the Words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?’” Zechariah 7:4-7
Have you ever had someone do something for you, but you sensed that it was really more about making themselves feel better about themselves, and not because they truly cared about you? When I did volunteer work among orphans in China and among Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, I needed the Lord to remind me that these deeds were not about making myself feel better, but about providing a demonstration of God’s love for these hurting souls. I needed to sit and listen to them, shed tears with them, pray with them, and listen to the voice of my Heavenly Father so that I would have relevant and helpful words to give them. They needed to feel heard, seen and loved.
“Then the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’ But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the Law and the Words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus, great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus, the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned. For they made the pleasant land desolate.” Zechariah 7:8-18
“Should we weep and fast as we did in the past?” The people wanted their priests and prophets to answer this question. Zechariah had a Word from the Lord. It was the same message that the former prophets had commanded them, namely, do justly, show mercy and have compassion.
Rather than fast and weep, they could advocate in lawcourts for those who had no legal representation. They could do charitable deeds for refugees, widows and orphans.
Love matters to the Lord!
In Luke 13:10-16, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. A woman there had been crippled by a spirit for 18 years. Jesus healed her. The synagogue leader was angry at Jesus for healing her on the Sabbath. How did Jesus respond? He said, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” The hard hearts of the leaders angered Jesus.
Zechariah reminded the people of the wrath of God they experienced when Babylon leveled their city. He scattered them like chaff in the wind. He removed them from the Promised Land.
Rather than keep useless traditions and rituals, the Lord commanded them to show mercy and compassion toward one another. In John 13:3-5, on the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus got up from a meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.
In John 13:12, 14-15, 17, after Jesus finished washing their feet, He said to them. “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
It’s something how some will cut themselves off from others over baptismal and communion differences, but no one seems concerned about how perfectly foot washing is done.
In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you love one another.”
The command to love is not a new command. In Matthew 22:38-39, Jesus condensed the demands of the Ten Commandments into two actions: love God, and love people. The new expectation is to love as He loved us. This means to humbly serve as He humbly served. Help as He helped. Speak as He spoke. Forgive as He forgave. Such expressions of love please God and attract souls to Christ.
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