When God dwells among his people they become a light that draws others to them. That is the idea at work in this chapter. God had promised Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Isaiah saw Israel fulfilling her role as a “light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6). Jesus then tells his followers, “You are the light of the world’. This is why they, and we, are called to be holy (Leviticus 19:2; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:25-26), that is, distinctly reflective of God’s character. This is essentially what Zechariah is calling for here. For when the light shines brightly on the ‘hill’ (Cf. 1:3 with Matthew 5:14) those in darkness, seeing the great light (Isaiah 9:2), “will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.” This is of course what happened from the day of Pentecost onward as a small group of Jews, filled with the Holy Spirit, went and shone in dark places. What Zechariah envisages here was exactly fulfilled: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” This promise can be true of us too. This is God’s priority for us. If we make it our priority and if we seek God for it above all else, then we can expect wonderful things!
Ask God to fulfill these promises in and through you.
Read Zechariah 8
