Zechariah 2:8,9 - The apple of His eye

2:8

We now get the reason why it is so important for them to leave Babylon. “Verse 8 is difficult to translate, most versions have “after glory” or something like that, though it could be ”with glory”. Either way, this doesn’t really seem to make sense in terms of God sending Zechariah to the nations. It would seem to make more sense if we take it as looking forward to Jesus being sent to the nations, which is what had happened with the gospel going to all nations. Or referring to God in general going to the nations, ie how the Lord will deal with the nations. Whatever the case, the Lord will judge the nations. Israel is precious to the Lord, she is the “apple of His eye”. Again, whatever view of Israel we may have, we must remember that Israel is precious to God, any view that discounts that is wrong.

2:9

God will judge the nations. We should remember that the ultimate result of the gospel is judgement upon the nations. If you don’t believe that read Revelation! In fact, read the gospels. A call has gone out for the people to get out of the world and come into God’s kingdom, to come to Christ. It is an urgent call, for judgement is coming. To Israel it may have seemed that Babylon was the safer place to be, and the “facts” may have pointed that way, but in the end it would be Israel that plunders the nations, not the other way round. Trusting in Christ will prove to be the wisest thing we ever do.