Zechariah 1:3
Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah is a difficult book, one that I haven’t visited for years and years, to my detriment, for the book is rich with encouraging visions, complex prophecies and providing messages that still haunt us to this day.
But for our time in this book today, I would like to consider the initial plea Zechariah started the book with, his desire to see the nation return to God.
But Zechariah, the nation has returned to God, by leaving behind Babylon and venturing back to the promised land. The portion of Israelites that did not stay in Babylon would be considered the faithful, the remnant, the ones who sought the Temple and the promises!
So what gives Zechariah? Why can’t you be happy with what is going on?
Yes this remnant was in the land, as were their fathers before them. But that is a very low bar to judge themselves by. For their fathers were in the land, but had refused to return to God, and were vomited our of the land. It seems this remnant were their fathers children, in that they too had walked away from the covenant. The covenant each Jew entered into under God, in the keeping of the law and following God’s ways.
It seems that though they were in the land, and that they had returned from Babylon, God expected more. He seemed to want this remnant to return from their evil ways and evil deeds!
Zechariah 1:4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.
Some may see this passage as an initial call to salvation, and not necessarily a call back from a backsliden condition. Well and enough it may be, yet the passage speaks of “returning to God”, not coming to God in the first place. To return is to come back to the source or place one originally existing in.
Some may say that the returning was directed to the nation and not individuals. Well and enough it may also be, but this call to return, speaks of the condition of back sliddenness, whether it be for a nation, or as I suspect for an individual.
My friends, it was decades ago when I searched out the Scriptures concerning the teaching of repentance, and found that a majority of time repentance is called for in the New Testament, it is for the saved, the covenant people of God. There are a number of times that it is clearly intended for those who have never known the Lord, but that is in the minority. A little study that may be of interest to the wondering soul may be found in an old blog post I wrote in 2020 – Repent of Your Sins – Introduction
Nevertheless, however you understand Zechariah’s call to return, there is within that call to return, a plea for God’s people to stop their evil ways and doings. We are to be a people that want to do righteous acts (per God’s righteousness) think properly (according to God’s will), and live a life of deep love for those who know and don’t know the Living God!
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