Called to Joy
Zechariah 8:18–23
📖 Scripture
18 The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.
19 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”
20 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come,
21 and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’
22 And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.”
23 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “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.’”
💡 Scripture Summary
The Lord promises to turn times of fasting into joyful festivals. He urges the people to love truth and peace. Many nations and peoples will come to seek the Lord in Jerusalem. Ten people from different languages will take hold of one Jew and ask to go with him because they have heard God is with them.
📜 Memory Verse
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey.”
– Zechariah 9:9a
🔎 Reflection
Sorrow to Joy (8:18–19)
God proclaims that fasts will become festivals for the people of Judah. Therefore, He instructs His people to love truth and peace. This love is not an emotional response; it is a commitment and an expression of their devotion. Fasts were an occasion to display or express sorrow whereas festivals were an occasion for joy. God’s promise and command show that He is the one who will turn all sorrow into joy. In Jesus, He turned the sorrow of our sin and condemnation into the joy of forgiveness and freedom. We celebrate the salvation and transformation that Jesus alone brings. And because of the joy that He gives, we find the strength to live as people who love truth and pursue peace.
What about your life in Christ gives you joy? Look back over the past few days and see if any of your choices go against a commitment to love and peace.
God Draws Seekers (8:20–23)
Zechariah tells of a time when people from many cities and nations will encourage one another to seek the one true God. When they hear that God is with His people, they too will long for His presence. Those who follow Christ are given the mission to call people to turn to God. We are to be driven by the desire to see many receive His forgiveness and live at peace with Him. God’s promises in this passage are an encouragement to us as we share God’s message with others. When we face rejection and opposition, we can remind ourselves that God is at work in people’s hearts throughout the world, drawing many to Himself, and He invites us to work with Him.
Whom did God use to draw you to Himself? Ask God to create a desire to know Him in the people around you and to use you to lead them to Him.
💬 Today’s Inspiration
“Men . . . will not read their Bibles, and we are called upon to live Christ so that as they read us they will see that there is reality in the gospel and the message we preach, because of the change that has come in our lives.”
– H. A. Ironside
🙏 Prayer
Dear Father, thank you for washing away the sorrow of my sins. I pray that the joy that only You can give will fill my life every day. And I pray that You will use this evident joy to draw other people to Yourself. In Jesus’ name, amen.
🖋 Essay
The Difference a New Life Makes
How did you come to know Christ? Were you born into a Christian family? Or did someone share the gospel with you? Or did you seek out Christ as a last resort, after trying everything else? Or is it a combination of any of these? Whatever the case, the story of your coming to Christ will show that somehow, someway, you felt the need for Christ and you learned of saving faith through another. It could have been a parent, a friend, someone’s writings, or a sermon.
I am reminded of John’s account of Nicodemus visiting Jesus in John 3. Nicodemus was attracted to how different Jesus was from all the other teachers. From His teachings to how He talked to people, to how He conducted Himself, Jesus’ life and ministry were radically different from what Nicodemus was accustomed to. And when Nicodemus approached Jesus, Jesus taught him the way to gain eternal life.
So how do our lives become something that attracts others to God? We are to live differently from those who do not know Christ because our hearts have been changed. God replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26). And because of that new heart, we are no longer in bondage to sin and can live different lives. We live our lives in a new way both because we are grateful to God and because He has given us new desires. And it is these changed lives that attract other people and lead them to ask, “What is different about this person?”
Written by James Eppley