Zechariah 8:16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.
It is a good thing we have the Word of the LORD. We can trust Him. He has proved Himself to be Truth since Genesis 1:1. There is no lie in Him. By contrast the devil is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. The sad reality is that lost people follow the lead of their god.
Yesterday, our P.M. stood before the cameras with produce as his backdrop. He stood there and promised the “moon” to the “poor” people of Canada. The Liberals are counting on the hope that Canadians have a very short memory. We have had 10 years of oppressive government where the government stole from its citizens and lied while doing it. Now the P.M. is trying to blame the “pandemic” which his government brought upon this country, for the financial woes that his party also brought upon this country. It is time for the taxpayers to wake up and realize that the Liberal party cannot be trusted at all. The only thing we can count on them for is to continue to lie and cheat to get what they want.
I do not believe there is any party in Canada that will fix the mess we are in. They are all in it for themselves. They just have a little different way of getting there.
In the book of Zechariah, Zechariah was told to address the children of Israel that had recently come out of exile. They were supposed to be involved in building the Temple, but they were distracted. They needed to get back to the important work. They needed houses, but they needed the house of God more. They needed to know how to speak every man truth to his neighbour. They needed to know how to execute judgment of truth and peace in their gates. Prior to the exile, the priesthood had been severely corrupted. Isaiah wrote that truth is fallen in the street. Corruption was in the palace and in the Temple. The people were being oppressed by their own leadership. The people were not innocent either. They chose to take what they thought was the easy way. They all discovered that the “easy” way is not the good way. The seventy years of exile had not broken them. However, God was gracious and merciful.
He raised up men like Zechariah to remind the people that they needed to change. They needed to forsake their wicked ways and turn to God. He was merciful and He would forgive if they would turn back to Him.
In verse 17 the LORD told Zechariah to tell the people not to imagine evil in their hearts against their neighbours. God wanted them to respect one another. He raised up the nation of Israel to show the world how people can be blessed when they submit to Him.
You may recall that Jacob and Esau did not get along. Esau was the firstborn, but God said the blessing would go to Jacob. Isaac and Rebekah knew that but they were hesitant to obey God. God used the deception of Jacob and Rebekah to get what He had told Rebekah would happen. They did not need to use deception. They could have used truth.
The result of the deception in the life of Jacob and Esau caused hatred between the two brothers. Jacob had to flee from his family for a time, to allow Esau to cool off. The Edomites never became friends of Israel. Jacob and Esau mended their rift to a degree, but the descendants of Esau never got along with Israel.
Now these many years later, God was working to bring the children of Israel to love one another. The north and the south had been feuding for many years. They needed to come back together and treat one another as true neighbours. The only way they could do that was by turning back to God first.
They could not love any false oath. God hated falsehoods. He did not want them to use deception or trickery to try to gain the upper hand over a neighbour. They needed to learn to speak the truth one toward another. God was well able to bless them all. They did not need to cheat and steal to try to get an advantage over someone else. The Jews needed to have a genuine care and love for one another.
In the New Testament:
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
I John 3:10-14
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Christians will not always agree on everything. How we approach differences is important. We do not approach them through compromise. We approach them by humbly submitting to the Word of God, which Is Truth. We can humble ourselves. We can agree that God’s Word is Truth. This is again why it is so important to have God-fearing leaders who teach the truth. We need to hear them and listen to them. The world needs to see how God’s people can get along.
God never uses coercion or oppression to gain people’s trust. He is Truth and He uses the Truth to show us His way is the only way and those who humble themselves and submit to Him will be blessed now and into eternity.
Pastor Bartel