Zechariah 1:12-14 (ESV)

[12] Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ [13] And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. [14] So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.

God’s discipline sometimes feels endless. God says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Rev 3:19). That is what he was calling his people to in Zechariah 1:1-6, but now the message changes. Starting in verse 7 he moves from discipline to protection. God’s principles and promises always come with two sides, discipline and defense. He will not let his people stray without working to bring them back. Neither will he allow them to be disciplined forever, but works to defend his people.

For the Jews in this case it has been seventy years of discipline. God will now act to punish those who opposed his people as he restores them in their land. Not all bad things that happen are discipline in the sense of a response to something we did wrong. Just read Job again. God calls him a righteous man, yet bad things happened to him. Still, God is faithful. He will discipline those he loves, and he will defend those he loves. Those who oppose the work of God will answer to him.

That is why we, as believers in Jesus Christ, do not need to defend ourselves. Who is a better defender than God? As our world turns more oppositional toward Christianity, we need to learn to trust rather than responding in kind. Why is it hate speech to speak of one world religion as violent while on the other hand it is perfectly acceptable to post despicable things about Jesus? How should we respond to this? Do we defend ourselves? Do we demand that such things be removed? Do we go to court? I wonder if we are not short-circuiting God’s defense when we run off to defend ourselves. The world can get angry and lash out in reaction to opposition. That is not the heart of Jesus. The only people Jesus was harsh with were the religious people who claimed to already know the scriptures but missed their point.

Seventy years is a long time to wait for justice, but God is jealous for his people. He will not allow them to be opposed one minute longer that he knows is appropriate, yet he is often giving their opponents time to repent. He says, “I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster” (Zech 1:15). God gave them opportunity to hear him, but they refused to yield. Maybe the discomfort his people are experiencing is simply because God is giving our enemies one last chance to turn to him. Maybe we need to learn to love our enemies as much as God does. He desires to make his enemies into his friends. Trust him in the hard times. He is faithful. He will defend his own. His purpose is higher than ours.