Passage: Zechariah 7
The Big Idea
For seventy years, God’s people had kept fasts He never asked for, mourning their past and trying to make it up to Him. God’s answer: “Did you really do it for Me?” You can’t pay for your failures. He already did. What He wants is your heart, and a life of mercy that flows from it.
A New Section
Chapters 7-8 are a historical interlude. They’re not visions of the future, but more like a sermon, God speaking directly to His people like a pastor to his flock.
A Question from Bethel (Zechariah 7:1-3)
Two years after the night visions, things were finally looking up for the returned exiles. A delegation came from the town of Bethel to ask the priests and prophets: “Should we keep weeping and fasting in the fifth month, as we’ve done for so many years?”
Bethel had been part of the northern kingdom, which had broken away from worship in Jerusalem. Now these people were coming to Jerusalem to do things the right way. God was working in their hearts. But what they were about to hear would be hard.
Fasts God never commanded
God only instituted one fast day in the Law: the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31). Yet for seventy years they had kept several others, mourning tragedies from Jerusalem’s fall:
| Month | What they mourned |
|---|---|
| 4th month | The breach of Jerusalem’s walls (Jeremiah 52:6-7) |
| 5th month | The burning of the city and Solomon’s temple (2 Kings 25:8-10) |
| 7th month | The murder of Gedaliah, the governor (Jeremiah 41:1-3) |
| 10th month | The start of Babylon’s siege (2 Kings 25:1) |
They’d wake up and refuse anything comfortable. They’d be sad all day. They’d weep and wail. And they were good at it.
They felt bad about the past, so they were trying to make it up to God, to prove they were worthy to be blessed again.
Do I do this? Do you?
You Can’t Make It Up
How long should we mourn over our past? Paul said he forgot what was behind and reached forward to what was ahead (Philippians 3:13).
God doesn’t want us trying to make up for our mistakes. He already did that. He paid the price. You can’t pay for it, fix it or make up for it.
In fact, it’s offensive when we try, because we’re rejecting His provision in favor of our own.
“Did You Really Fast for Me?” (Zechariah 7:4-6)
God answers with a question: all those seventy years of fasting and mourning, was it really for Him? And when they eat and drink, isn’t it just for themselves? (Zechariah 7:5-6).
In other words: “You’re only interested in proving your worth. I can tell, because you invented your own way to please Me.”
It’s like trying to win the heart of a lovely woman by throwing mud at her. You’re not just going about it wrong; you’re offending the one you claim to care about.
Notice the emphasis: for Me. It’s about Him, not us. Did you mess up? Yes. But the answer isn’t trying to make up for it. It’s changing your focus. Put your eyes and heart on the Lord. Then a fast might mean something, and if you mourn, it won’t be without hope.
How can you keep mourning for seventy years when the solution is right in front of you? That’s how biblical counseling works: focus on Jesus. Anything else is like these fasts. Even sincere efforts to get right can be done for ourselves rather than for the Lord.
And the rest of the year, their lives were selfish. God sees. Nothing is hidden from Him.
What a Heart for God Looks Like (Zechariah 7:7-10)
Shouldn’t they have listened to the earlier prophets, back when Jerusalem was still prosperous? (Zechariah 7:7).
Then God shows them what a real life with Him looks like:
- Execute true justice.
- Show mercy and compassion to one another.
- Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.
- Don’t plot evil against each other in your hearts.
This isn’t a new rulebook. It’s the fruit of a heart in love with God. Don’t harbor bad opinions of others, envy them or nurse grudges. The people weren’t loving one another. And John tells us that loving one another is how we show we know God (1 John 4:7-8).
How Hearts Get Hard (Zechariah 7:11-12)
They refused to pay attention, turned a stubborn shoulder, plugged their ears, and made their hearts hard as flint (Zechariah 7:11-12).
Outward religion without inward reality leads to spiritual hardening. Here’s the tragic progression:
- Refusing to pay attention. Not in the Word. Ignoring God.
- Shrugging the shoulder. Pulling away from conviction. Refusing to let God’s Word have the final say.
- Stopping the ears. Removing yourself from any chance of hearing truth. Avoiding church and Christian friends. “Everyone’s judging me! Poor me!”
- Hearts like flint. Hard as stone.
It still happens today.
The Silent Treatment (Zechariah 7:13-14)
Just as God called and they wouldn’t listen, they would call and He wouldn’t listen. God scattered them like a whirlwind, and the pleasant land became desolate (Zechariah 7:13-14).
Hard hearts are so sad. God is more interested in relationship than religion. They offered Him religion, and He responded the way relationships respond: silence. He spoke, but they considered their own complaints more important than His words.
A scattered, desolate life awaits anyone who won’t listen to God and respond in relationship.
What Is the Spirit Saying to Us?
Outward religion is a danger for all of God’s people. How can we tell if our hearts are hardening?
- We focus on rules and rituals God never asked for.
- We go through meaningless activity in the name of spirituality.
We need to ask why we do what we do. Why do I pray? Why do I read my Bible? Is it to earn something, or to know Him?
Grace Takeaway
You can’t make it up to God, and you don’t have to. Jesus already did. Stop mourning a past He has paid for. Turn your eyes to Him, let His love soften your heart, and let mercy toward others flow from there.
← King and Priest | All Zechariah notes | God Changes Things, Even Hearts →