Zechariah 1:3,4 - Return to me, and I will return to you

1:3

“Return to me and I will return to you”. This is a common message in the Bible. We often blame God, asking “why doesn’t God do something?”, we think the problem lies with God, when in reality it lies with us. There can be a passivity in religion, thinking that God will look after us and we don’t need to do anything. This can come in in various ways. There can be an entitlement approach, thinking God has a duty to forgive or help us, or it can come in through a wrong Calvinist type of approach (I am fairly Calvinistic in my thinking, by the way), thinking that the sovereignty of God means that we do not have a part to play. None of this thinking is Biblical. We are utterly dependent upon God, but the Bible always lays a responsibility upon us as well. The term “Lord of hosts” (literally “lord of armies”) emphasises the omnipotence of God, His almightiness.

1:4

“Do not be like your forefathers ..” God had sent many prophets to Israel in the past, they had received many warnings but had ignored them all. A relatively small number of the Israelites had returned from exile, but the physical return did not deal with the real problem. The real problem was the sin in their hearts. They needed to return from their evil ways and their evil deeds. Sin is a matter of our actions and a matter of our nature. We need a change of heart and a change of actions. Previously the people had ignored the warnings of the Lord, now He urges the current generation to respond. So we see again, as we see in every book in the Bible, the centrality of repentance to God’s message to His people. So often today our preaching finds little place for repentance. If that is the case then we can be sure that we are not preaching the gospel.