Zechariah 2:6 Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.
7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
The year 2026 is certainly not beginning as a sleepy year. We have had the invasion and arrest of the president and his wife from Venezuela. Yesterday we had a death threat enacted against a U.S. ICE agent. The terrorist was shot and killed. Of course both the corrupt mayor and governor of Minnesota have condemned the ICE agent, not the terrorist. Minnesota is a picture of what a state should not be. However, bad government at the state level for the past number of years and federal government in the past, have brought about this chaotic situation in that state. It should be a warning to the rest of the U.S. but we know there are other states that have also accepted people into their state who do not want to be U.S. patriots. They want to come in to tear down the States and bring in sharia law.
Canada is no better off. We are of less significance than the U.S. If Islam can topple the U.S. then they have free sailing everywhere else. We will see how far the Lord allows this to go. We know there is trouble ahead. The answer is trust in the true God.
In our text, verse 6 begins with the words “ho, ho”. The Hebrew word there speaks of drawing attention to something. It is not a term of laughter. It can also be a warning. We can see from our text that God is drawing attention to the need for the Jews to go back home. They had been in exile in Assyria and Babylon. Notice that God says He spread them abroad. God drove the children of Israel from the land He had promised to Abraham. Why had He done that? It was because they had insisted on rejecting Him. That land was His land and He expected His name to be glorified in that land. Israel had decided that they were not going to exalt Him. They had adopted pagan religions and tried to mix that with the true God. They had a form of ecumenism. God is never pleased with that.
In verse 7 God challenged them to deliver themselves out of the hands of the Babylonians. Of course they could not do that. It was God that was giving them the opportunity to go back home. They needed to understand that and they needed to follow Him. They needed to turn to Him with their hearts and trust in Him as their God and Saviour.
In verse 8 God addressed them as the LORD of hosts. The LORD is over all. There is no other God. God sent Zechariah’s message to speak to the nations into which Israel was scattered. They needed to be reminded that anyone who attacks Israel is attacking the LORD. The apple of the eye is the central part of the eye. In the human sense, it could refer to the pupil of the eye. To touch that and damage it is critical. No one would be happy with that. In the spiritual sense, Israel was the key nation to God. All other nations were to be blessed through Israel. We know the Messiah came from Israel. Those nations that were trying to bring harm to Israel, were in big trouble with God.
As we have noted before, God sent the Assyrians and the Babylonians into Israel to capture the people and kill some of them, as well as to destroy the important places in the land. We also noted that the enemies of God had taken pleasure in attacking Israel. They should have stopped to think about why they were able to enter Israel and plunder it. It was not because of their gods. It was because God removed His hand of protection from His land for a time, and allowed His enemies to come in and punish them. They needed to understand they were not in God’s good books by what they had done. They needed to repent and trust in the true God.
In verse 9 God warned His enemies that He would shake His hand at them. They would not continue to survive. We know the Babylonian empire did not last. Some years ago Saddam Hussein tried to revive Babylon in Iraq. He failed to do so. Iraq has a lot of oil reserves, but they do not have a strong, stable government. The Medo/Persian empire conquered Babylon and yet they did not remain either. The Greek empire conquered them and expanded their territory, but they too did not last. The Romans came along and defeated the Greeks and they too did not last. No empire can last apart from knowing the true God.
If it was not for God’s promise to Abraham, Israel would not exist today either. Israel has not been faithful to Him. However, God has chosen to continue to work with them to show His power and authority. He is still the only True God and He is still wiser than anyone and everyone. He allows man to choose whether to know Him or not. He is still working through Israel to show the world that without Him, life is not good. He also shows the world that those who do choose to know Him have eternal blessings. Be sure you trust in Him today.
Pastor Bartel