Read Zechariah 8
Background: Yesterday we looked at the first two responses of God to His people's question about fasting. In this chapter we find the second two. Thirdly, God promised to restore His people to the city of Jerusalem, but even more importantly, His presence in the city with them. They city would come alive with families and God's one big family. Fourthly, He was promising to bring peace, protection, and productivity back to the city, so that it would no longer be a place of shame, but instead one of prosperity and success.
Key verses: 14 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, 15 so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. 16 These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; 17 do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”
Thoughts: Since God was making all these promises to them, and not continuing with the judgment He had been carrying out on their forefathers, He was calling on them to live differently than they had: lives full of justice, truth, and kindness. He then closes the chapter by saying that they were no longer to fast, but to feast and celebrate all that God was doing. He was going to bless them so much that other peoples would come and want to be a part of what God was doing. God was not done with them as His people.
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