Day 982: From fast to feast - Zechariah 8 vs 18 - 23

18-19 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.

20-21 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favour of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ 22-23 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” Zechariah 8:18-23 English Standard Version

Today's verses go back to the question asked at the start of Chapter 7. The people of Bethel had sent a delegation to Jerusalem to ask the priests and prophets if they should still weep and abstain in the fifth month, as they'd done during the years when they were in exile.” God had responded through the prophet by asking them: “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years . . . was it for me that you fasted?”

Fasting was never meant to be a ritual to replace true repentance. God had spoken about this before and said: “Isn't this the kind of fasting I have chosen - to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. When you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58:6-7) So, in vs 16-17 of this chapter, God told Zechariah to say to the people “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgements that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.” Now, if the people took those words to heart, what do verses 18-19 of today's reading say the joyful turn of events would be?

Their fast would be changed to a feast! I suspect this implies that the joyful feasts of old would once again be celebrated in Jerusalem. When the love of truth and peace was embraced, joyful times would be restored. Verses 20-21 go on to say that this is exactly what would happen, and vs 22 promised that “Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the Lord.”

The following chapters of Zechariah are going to develop this wonderful theme of how Jerusalem would become a place of blessing to many nations. Indeed, on the Day of Pentecost, after Christ's resurrection and ascension, people from nations of every tongue heard the good news of God's salvation in Jerusalem. But, for today, I want to finish with how Jesus' words in Luke Chapter 15 give wonderful examples of situations for fasting which were turned into feasting.

In that Chapter the Scibes and Pharisees grumbled because 'tax collectors and sinners' were flocking to hear Jesus, and He welcomed them! So Jesus told three stories. The first was of a man who was overjoyed when he found a sheep that had gotten lost. He invited his friends and neighbours to celebrate with him. The second was of a woman who'd lost one of ten precious silver coins. She too invited others to celebrate with her when she found it after much searching. The third was of a son who had rebelled terribly, wasted the inheritance his father had given him, and ended up starving. But when he repented and returned to his father, the father was so happy that he arranged a feast of celebration. And in vs 10 of that Chapter Jesus says: “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

True repentance turns sorrow into rejoicing. It turns a life that was as sad as a fast, into a life that feasts on God's peace and truth.