From Fasting to FeastingZechariah 7:1–8:23

Main Idea: Experiencing God’s living presence requires deep transformation in our lives.

1. Transformed from Fasting to Feasting (7:1-3; 8:18-23)
2. Transformed from Serving Ourselves to Serving Him (7:4-7)
3. Transformed from Pursuing Religion to Pursuing Righteousness (7:8-10)
4. Transformed from Listening to Our Desires to Hearing His Voice (7:11-14)
5. Transformed from Trusting Our Capabilities to Trusting His Faithfulness (8:1-17)

A few years ago, Michele and I were invited to a picnic for our church’s preschoolers and their families. The picnic was on a Saturday morning in a grassy park area on the church campus. It was a fun event, with baskets filled with sandwiches, chips, and cookies, dads and moms sitting on blankets on the ground, and children running around everywhere playing games and laughing.

After we had been picnicking for about an hour I noticed a group of people walking past us on the sidewalk. They were headed toward our church’s worship center wearing dark suits and dresses. In contrast to the laughter of our picnic, they looked somber and subdued. It was then I realized that they were going into the worship center for a funeral.

What do you do when you’re having a picnic and someone else is going to a funeral?

We did our best to quiet things down for a few moments as the funeral-goers passed by. But the preschoolers pretty much kept laughing and playing. After all, it was a picnic.

I have kept that Saturday in mind ever since. It’s a reminder of a reality in life: When you’re having a picnic, somebody else, somewhere, is having a funeral. And when you’re having a funeral, somebody, somewhere, is having a picnic. At the moment when you’re celebrating the greatest joy of your life, someone else is experiencing their greatest sorrow.

Here’s the good news about our God: He can take a funeral and transform it into a picnic. He can take our mourning and turn it into dancing. He can take our sorrows and transform them into joys. He can take our times of fasting, and turn them into seasons of feasting. That’s the truth we discover in Zechariah 7 and 8.

Transformed from Fasting to Feasting (Zechariah 7:1-3; 8:18-23)

It is important to understand that about two years have passed between Zechariah 6 and Zechariah 7. In the first six chapters of the book the Lord gives Zechariah a series of visions. The eight visions told God’s people that the Lord would be faithful to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and that God was going to do something great in the middle of the city of Jerusalem 70 years after His people were carried away into captivity.

As chapter 7 begins, it is now two years later and the temple is about halfway through construction. A delegation of men comes to Jerusalem from the outlying town of Bethel to ask Zechariah and the other priests and prophets who were there, “Do we keep on fasting? Do we keep on mourning? Do we keep on remembering that our city, Jerusalem, was torn down, and that the temple was torn down? Do we keep on fasting now that the temple is being rebuilt?”

When Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, it became traditional for the Jewish people to fast four times during the year. There was only one fast God commanded His people to observe, the fast on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:16-32). No other fast was mandated or commanded by the Lord. But when Jerusalem was destroyed, the people began to fast at four other times of the year:

• They fasted in the tenth month to commemorate when the Babylonians had begun to lay siege to the city of Jerusalem.
• They fasted in the fourth month to commemorate when the city walls of Jerusalem had been broken through.
• They fasted in the fifth month to commemorate when the temple in Jerusalem had been burned.
• Finally, they fasted in the seventh month, the month when Governor Gedaliah had been assassinated.

The delegation of men from Bethel came to Jerusalem saying, “Listen, the fifth month is coming, and we’ve always fasted in the fifth month to commemorate the burning down of the temple. Now that the temple is being built back up, do we continue that fast?” The answer that God eventually gave is found at the end of chapter 8. The prophet answered the men’s question by telling them the day was coming when all of Israel’s fasts would become “times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah.” All of Israel’s fasts would be transformed into feasts. And God promised that people would come from all over the world one day just to experience the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem. The culmination of Zechariah’s message comes in verse 23, as the prophet envisions a time when “10 men,” a Hebrew expression that implies “many, many men,” would come to Jerusalem from the nations of every tongue, from every direction, and of every nationality. God graphically promised these multitudes would grab the robe of a Jew and beg him to take him to the temple because “we have heard that God is with you.” In short, God was going to transform their fasting into feasting, and everyone would know that God was with them.

For the nation of Israel, this day that is prophesied in Zechariah 8 has still not yet fully come. It will come one day when, for a thousand years, Jesus Christ reigns on the throne of David in Jerusalem, and all nations will come to worship and serve Him. But even now, when Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning on the throne of our lives, He can transform our fasting into feasting. He can take the most difficult circumstances, the most broken times of your life, and turn them into times of feasting and fruitfulness through His power.

The opening verses of Zechariah 7 and the closing verses of chapter 8 serve as a frame for understanding all the verses in between. Between being asked the question “Do we have to keep fasting?” and giving the answer “You can start feasting,” Zechariah addresses the heart attitudes of the people that had to change in order to experience the living presence of God. The intervening verses unfold with the central idea, experiencing God’s living presence requires deep transformation in our lives. By the power of the gospel, God transforms us. Some believers make the mistake of thinking that God’s transforming work begins and ends at the moment of salvation. But throughout Scripture, God reveals His desire to work in His people, day by day, to transform our lives into what He desires us to be. In order to move from fasting to feasting, there is a deep transformation that we have to allow God to work in our lives. Zechariah 7 and 8 reveal four ways that God wants to transform His people.

Transformed from Serving Ourselves to Serving Him (Zechariah 7:4-7)

God wants to transform us from serving ourselves to serving Him. The men from Bethel came to Zechariah and the priests asking, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?” (v. 3). Upon asking, the men discovered the Lord had some questions of His own. He asked, “When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me?” The tone of the question seems to imply its own answer: No, the people were not truly fasting for the Lord. The next question makes the Lord’s meaning even clearer: “When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?” God took the occasion of their question to reveal what was truly in the hearts of the people. Yes, they were fasting faithfully in the fifth month and during the other times that they had set aside, but their religious activity was designed primarily to please themselves. The Lord reminded the people that the earlier prophets, who had ministered prior to the exile, taught the Jews to perform their acts of worship and devotion to God from something deeper than a sense of duty, obligation, or tradition (v. 7). Even back in the days of Samuel, God had sought to impress upon the people that He desired obedient hearts more than acts of sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22).

When God’s people observe a fast or any other religious tradition to please ourselves or to win the admiration and approval of others, God is not pleased and the activity is wasted. If we are serving ourselves instead of serving Him, our activity becomes empty, no matter how outwardly commendable our actions may be. For many of the Jews in Zechariah’s day, fasting four times each year had become a meaningless tradition or, worse yet, a type of idolatry. Our attachment to traditions usually shows up most powerfully when we are asked to break the tradition. For example, at my church a long-lasting tradition has been for the congregation to stand in worship for the reading of Scripture. There are beautiful reasons for this tradition, including a biblical precedent in Nehemiah 8:5. I believe standing to read Scripture can also help us to focus on what we’re reading. Standing can also be a way of showing reverence for God’s Word. But, most agree, standing to read Scripture is just a tradition. It may be nice and meaningful, but it’s nonessential . . . until the pastor doesn’t have everyone stand when he reads the text for his sermon! One Sunday I preached the very text we’re discussing in this chapter and I left my congregation in their seats as I read the Scripture at the beginning of my message. There was an almost tangible tension in the room. I could see the questions and objections on the people’s faces: “I was expecting to stand! I had put down all my stuff so I could stand, and then we didn’t. What’s going on? Did he forget? Could he be doing this to make a point later on the sermon?” The tension came because I was stepping on their tradition.

The danger of any religious tradition—whether it is keeping a fast or singing a certain song or praying with certain words at a certain time in a certain way—is that tradition easily degenerates into traditionalism. In an interview with U.S. News & World Report, theologian Jaroslav Pelikan once said, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living” (Vindication of Tradition, 65). Here is what he meant: Tradition is what those who have gone before us have done to express their living faith in the living God. They established those traditions because it meant something in their own hearts. But traditionalism is when we take the form of what has been done before and we just go through the motions without considering the meaning.

Experiencing God’s living presence requires deep transformation and we begin to say, “Lord, I want to serve You and not myself. I don’t want to just go through the motions. When I pray, I want to communicate with You. When I fast, I want to prepare my heart to meet with You. When I worship, I don’t want just to come to church and stand up and sing and sit down and listen to a message. I want to see Your face. I want to hear Your voice. I want to know Your heart.”

In essence, God asked the people of Judah, who had been fasting dutifully for 70 years, four times a year, “Were you fasting to honor Me, or were you fasting for yourselves so that you would feel and appear godly? When you feast and eat, are you feasting to give praise and glory to Me, or are you just having a good time for yourself?” God wants to transform us from serving ourselves to serving Him.

Transformed from Pursuing Religion to Pursuing Righteousness (Zechariah 7:8-10)

Zechariah reminded the people that their ancestors had been very faithful in their appearance when practicing their religious rituals in the temple, but they had failed to pursue God’s righteousness. He gave the people a series of tests to show where they really were spiritually. The first test is, “Make fair decisions.” This instruction involves treating others fairly and legally in business and commerce.

For the second test He said, “Show faithful love and compassion to one another.” The term for “faithful love,” often translated “kindness,” is the Hebrew word chesed. The word speaks about the faithful and compassionate love that God has for His people and that God wants His people to have for one another. This type of faithful love and compassion should govern all of our relationships as God’s people.

The third test is, “Do not oppress.” That’s the general command. Then the Lord listed some of the weakest and neediest, most defenseless and most disadvantaged people who had to be protected. He said, “Don’t oppress the widow. Don’t oppress the fatherless. Don’t oppress the stranger, the person not of your nationality, who’s living there with you. Don’t oppress the poor.” God was warning His people not to mistreat or take advantage of those who have no power.

The last test cautions against taking advantage of other people or seeking revenge. God said, “Do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.” Righteous living requires letting go of grudges and refusing to devise ways of hurting others, even those who had inflicted hurt on God’s people.

God gave these tests so that His people could hold up their hearts to His pure and holy standard, to make sure they were not just being religious, but instead, pursuing righteousness. Zechariah 8:16-17 contains a similar call to practical righteousness in the way God’s people live. It lists actions God approves and those He hates. We can pursue religious activity all day long and yet be far, far from God. A transforming relationship with God will cause hearts to act rightly toward others.

Early on in our marriage, when we were trying to decorate our apartment, Michele bought pieces of Chinese pottery to put on display. She bought plates, bowls, pitchers, teapots, cups, and all kinds of things. The pieces were white with pale blue designs all over them. While they were pretty, the pieces were also very inexpensive. Michele put them up on the shelves in our house, and they were beautiful and ornamental. One day I noticed that every one of these pieces had either a sticker or even words painted on the piece in the blue paint with a warning message: “For decorative purposes only. Do not use for cooking, drinking, or eating. Could result in poisoning.” The blue and white Chinese cups, saucers, plates, and bowls looked like something you could eat on or drink from, but something inside of them was poisonous and very dangerous.

Pursuing religion without righteousness is much like that. Too many times, our faith is for decorative purposes only. It may be attractive and impressive on the outside, but on the inside the poison of sinfulness and selfishness remains—just like the Pharisees Jesus described who cleaned the outside of the cup and plate but left the inside filled with greed and self-indulgence (Matt 23:25-26). For the Lord, the issue is not what I show everybody on the outside but what is going on in my heart, on the inside.

Only the power of the gospel can cleanse us from the inside. We can give ourselves a spiritual makeover or a religious face-lift and attempt to make ourselves look better but we cannot change who we are on the inside. But God can. He makes us right with Himself through the blood of Jesus Christ, so we can live transformed lives that move beyond our greed, self-indulgence, and selfishness. Through the transforming work of the gospel, we can begin living with selflessness, kindness, and compassion toward others.

Transformed from Listening to Our Desires to Hearing His Voice (Zechariah 7:11-14)

A third way that God moves us from fasting to feasting is by teaching us to hear and obey His voice rather than following the voice of our own desires. This passage talks about the people of Judah before the exile, describing their unwillingness to listen to God’s voice. After stating that they “refused to pay attention,” the Lord portrays His people’s deliberate inattention with several powerful and picturesque phrases: (1) They “turned a stubborn shoulder.” This phrase, also used in Nehemiah 9:29, describes the rejection communicated by unmistakable body language when a person turns his back to someone who is speaking. The people had turned their backs on the Lord with a defiant attitude that said, “God, You can talk all You want, but we’re not listening.” (2) They “closed up their ears.” The Hebrew here is literally, “They made their ears heavy.” Similar language is used in Isaiah 6:10:

Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.

Like a disobedient child plunging her fingers into her ears to keep from hearing her mother’s instruction, the people of Israel had worked hard not to listen to what God was saying. (3) They “made their hearts like a rock.” The Hebrew word for “rock” is also translated “diamond” in Jeremiah 17:1. The word denotes an extremely hard, impenetrable, and unbreakable stone. The people had made their hearts as hard as the hardest stone.

Though by His Spirit God had sent multiple prophets as His messengers bearing His Word to the pre-exilic Jews, the people were determined not to hear the Lord (v. 12). In effect, they were telling God: “We won’t hear You. We’re not interested in what You have to say. We’ll keep our rituals and we’ll do the religious things that make us feel spiritual, but we’re not going to change the way we live our lives. We will do whatever it takes not to listen to You.”

The subsequent verses reveal God’s response: (1) God became angry with the people (v. 12). (2) God stopped listening to Israel when they called on Him (v. 13). (3) Ultimately, God scattered them “with a windstorm,” a reference to the attacks of nations such as Assyria and Babylon, and “pleasant land” became a “desolation.” Now, decades later, God reminded the current generation of Jews that the reason they were having to rebuild the destroyed temple and the ruined city of Jerusalem was simply because their forefathers had not listened to Him. God’s judgment in Israel’s history stands as a warning to people who are more intent on obeying their own desires rather than obeying God’s voice.

The anechoic chamber at Orfield Labs, in Minneapolis, is the quietest place on Earth. You enter the room by passing through two sound-proof vaults. Once inside, there is absolutely no sound. The chamber has a sound level of negative nine decibels. The human ear can only detect sounds above zero decibels. While a quiet place like that may seem appealing when compared to the busyness and noise of our world, the truth is, you would probably hate it. Though you cannot hear any sound in the room, you will hear things. You will hear your heart beating. You will hear your lungs functioning. You will hear every single noise your stomach makes. You will hear your own ears working. The silent room can actually cause hallucinations. What might seem like a peaceful place actually becomes a torture chamber. No one has ever been able to stay in that room, by themselves, for more than 45 minutes. Human beings cannot take that kind of silence.

Imagine what it would be like if God were to become absolutely silent. What if we stopped hearing from Him at all? What if the only things we could hear were our own thoughts, our own flawed ideas, the echoes of our own past and guilt, and the clamoring opinions and empty words of other people? What if God were simply to become silent? We would drown in hopelessness, despair, and lostness. We can praise God today that He is not silent. Our God is speaking. By His Spirit, He speaks through His Word. The question is, are we, His people, listening? Are we obeying our own desires, or are we listening to His voice? Are we able to tell the difference between what we want and what God wants? Are we able to tell the difference between our own voice and His voice? As we walk with Him, and as He transforms us, He wants to teach us how to follow Him rather than our own desires. He wants to transform us so that we learn to obey His voice.

Transformed from Trusting Our Capabilities to Trusting His Faithfulness (Zechariah 8:1-17)

The fourth way that God transforms His people is by teaching us to trust His faithfulness rather than our own capabilities. In Zechariah 8 the prophet begins to tell the people exactly what God will do as He transforms their fasting into feasting. In the opening verse God reminds His people of His jealous love for Zion, that is, Jerusalem. These words point back to God’s declaration of holy jealousy for His people and His city in 1:14. This jealousy is what moves God to righteous anger and judgment (8:2). In the verses that follow, God makes promises to His people, revealing His faithfulness to accomplish what they are incapable of doing on their own.

(1) He will return to Jerusalem (v. 3). The Lord’s return to Jerusalem is a recurring theme in Zechariah (see 1:16; 2:10). This promise especially anticipates the personal reign of Christ on the throne of David during the millennial kingdom. Indeed, all of the promises made in the verses that follow will have their fullest completion in the future.

(2) He will bless the residents of the city with both long life and new life (vv. 4-5). When a community is filled with only senior adults, it is a sign that youth and vitality have left. However, I have been in countries with a very low average age and was surprised to be told it is actually a bad sign, showing that few people lived to old age. God told the people of Jerusalem, “You will have both. You’re going to have people who live long, but your city will be filled with children as well.” God acknowledges that His intentions toward His people may seem “incredible to the remnant this people in those days.” Yet, in the same verse He inquires, “Should it also seem incredible to Me?” The implied answer is clear. Nothing, including all of the blessings promised to His people here, is too hard for the Lord.

(3) He will bring the nations to Jerusalem and make them His own (vv. 7-8). God’s plan has always been to bring nations far beyond Israel to Himself. By shining the light of His goodness and mercy through the Jewish nation, God desired the Gentiles to come to Him (Gen 12:3; Isa 49:6). Through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, everyone can come to the living God.

(4) He will bring peace, productivity, and power to His people (vv. 9-13). In verses 9-11 the Lord encouraged the people to “let their hands be strong” so that they could complete the building of the temple, fulfilling the “words that the prophets spoke when the foundations were laid,” a reference to the prophetic ministries of Zechariah and Haggai. The work of rebuilding had been unproductive and dangerous in the early stages, but now God promises a different outcome for His people: this remnant of Israel will be blessed and will be a blessing to the nations.

(5) He will drive away the fear they have experienced (vv. 14-17). Because of the sin and rebellion of their ancestors, God had judged them and given the people reason to fear. But now, just as He had once resolved to treat them badly, He resolves to do good to the people of Judah. The verb resolved, used in both verses, derives its meaning from the idea of talking to oneself in a low voice in order to arrive at a conclusion. By the using this word, God was indicating that His decision to do good to Judah was deliberate, fixed, and settled. For that reason, He assures them, “Don’t be afraid.” Then in verses 16 and 17 the Lord warns the people against repeating the kind of evil and dishonesty that had gotten their forefathers into such trouble to begin with.

The prophetic words that fall between the question from the people of Bethel in 7:3 and God’s promise to replace His people’s fasting with feasting in 8:19 are a strong reminder that, in the midst of our brokenness, discouragement, and heartbreak, God can do a renewed work of transformation. He meets us in our broken places to transform us from serving ourselves to serving Him, from pursuing empty religion to pursuing His righteousness, from listening to our own desires to hearing His voice, and from depending on our own capabilities to trusting His faithfulness.

Several years ago our family discovered a lemon tree in our backyard. One summer I was walking near the tree and I saw that its biggest limb had broken. In fact, the limb was broken at least three-quarters of the way through. When I saw that cracked limb, my immediate reaction was to go get my saw and cut the limb off. But then I noticed something: there were lemons all over that broken limb, and the leaves were still green. So I picked all the lemons off of the limb and filled a large basket with the fruit. A few weeks later, I went out again to the tree. The break had gotten even bigger, but there were more and more lemons on that one branch that was broken. So again, I harvested another basket full of lemons. All summer long, I kept getting fruit off that broken limb. It was, by far, the most productive limb on the tree. In fact, because the broken limb bowed itself to the ground, I was able to get even more fruit off of it than I could have if it was standing up straight.

That limb was a reminder from the Lord that just because we’re broken doesn’t mean we can’t still bear fruit. Just because you’ve experienced times of devastation in your life and have gone through seasons of fasting, those times when life became lean and when you were sorrowful, it doesn’t mean that God still can’t use you for incredible things. The Lord can take those times of brokenness in our lives, those times of fasting, and transform them into seasons of feasting, as we trust in Him.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Why is it so easy for God’s people to turn spiritual disciplines like fasting, prayer, or giving into self-serving activities?
2. Can you think of other places in Scripture where people did spiritual-looking things for their self-interest? What areas of commonality can you identify in those passages?
3. From your perspective, what is the difference between spiritual tradition and religious traditionalism? What values do you see in tradition? What dangers in traditionalism?
4. What are the tests that God gave the people of Judah in Zechariah 7:8-10? How well would you or the believers who are closest to you do on those tests?
5. What areas of practical righteousness do you need to strengthen and emphasize—personally and as a leader?
6. Can you identify some ways churches make it easy for people to pursue religion rather than righteousness? How can pastors and leaders create a church climate that is focused on gospel-centered living?
7. God wants His people to hear His voice. If it were possible for God to stop speaking, and He became absolutely silent at seven this morning, how long would it have taken you to find out? Why?
8. What other voices can we allow to substitute for God’s voice in our lives? How can we tune our ears and heart to hear Him speak daily?
9. This passage culminates with the Lord returning to reign in Zion, to accomplish what He alone can do. What in your life can you attribute only to the faithfulness and power of God? What would it take for His work in your life to increase?
10. Understanding that both seasons can be spiritually profitable, is right now a season of fasting or feasting for you? What type of season does it need to be? How does God use times of brokenness in our lives to produce fruitfulness?