Daily Thoughts from Zechariah: Giving God Rest (Zechariah 6:1-8)

Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.” When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.” (Zechariah 6:1-8, ESV)

Does God concern Himself with the nations?  It is hard for us to see what He is doing in Bangladesh, let’s say, from our vantage here in the United States.  But just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean He is not at work.  Zechariah and all Israel have been at the mercy of the Babylonians and Persians in succession, but God is now moving them back to the Promised Land and He has used the Babylonians and Persians to help cure His people of idolatry.  But they have been cruel rods of discipline and acted in arrogance and pride, thinking their own might had won the day for them.  They saw themselves as kingdom builders and they invested in their gods this same pride.

So God’s concern now, the thing that keeps Him from being at rest, is the necessity of righteously judging these nations.  Because of Israel’s situation geographically, with the Mediterranean on the west and the desert on the east, all conquering enemies came either from the south, from Egypt, or from the north, the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians.  So Yahweh sends his armored vehicles, His chariots of angelic piloting, north and south to accomplish His purposes of judgment.  We are not told how this was accomplished, or where, if anywhere, the red horsed chariots went, but as a result His Spirit finds rest, particularly in the north.

God’s concern for the nations is not all about judgment.  Jonah is testimony to that.  He was sent to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, to offer mercy in lieu of judgment if they repented.  Jesus’ great commission to the church (Matthew 28) is similar evidence that He desires the nations to come to repentance and faith, and He gave Zechariah a vision of a Jerusalem in which all nations worshiped Him (chapter 2).  Revelation 7 gives us a picture of a future in which those from every tribe and nation on earth come before the Lord Jesus having their robes dipped in his blood, a sign of their conversion to faith.

Having traveled to several countries outside our own it is evident that God is raising up believers in every place and their burden is to reach others with the gospel message of life in Christ.  We all have a part to play.  It may seem small in our eyes but it is all designed by God to tell the world He cares and they can know Him.  Advancing the gospel is another way to give His Spirit rest.