Zechariah 10:7

The Bible says in Zechariah 10:7-8, “And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.” These are great Bible verses that tell us some of the things that God is going to do for His believers. Many times people think of religion as made up of what you must do for God. Of course, true believers know that true religion is rather made up of what Jesus has done for us and will do for us. As we see everywhere in the Bible, these verses give strong support to the concept of eternal security. God said in verse 8, “I have redeemed them.” And then He says right after that, “and they shall increase as they have increased.” If you have been redeemed, then you are going to be conformed to the image of Christ. There is no doubt about it. It is predestined. As a matter of fact, it is one of the few things that are predestined. Some people get the concept of predestination confuse with salvation. Salvation is not predestined. Everyone can be saved, and everyone is given a choice, but unfortunately some people refuse God’s offer of love and forgiveness through His Son. But once you are saved, you become predestined to be like Jesus. That is exactly what is taught in Romans 8:29-34, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Look at the things that God is planning to do for us. He says that Ephraim “shall be like a mighty man.” God wants His believers to be strong, and God is working in the lives of every single believer to bring each one from weakness to strength. Remember that God said in Zechariah 8:13, “Fear not, but let your hands be strong.” When you are first saved through faith in Jesus, you are a weak Christian. The New Testament calls new Christians “babes in Christ.” You start out weak, and then God works in your life to make you strong. This principle and how it works is explained in First Corinthians 3:1-20, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” You are strengthened by the Word of God, but you must listen to the right teachers, and you must value the Word of God and turn away from the wisdom of the world.

God said in Zechariah 10:9-11, “And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Labanon; and place shall not be found for them. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.” These verses mention both the dispersion and the re-gathering of the children of Israel. The Israelites were dispersed when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, and then there was a re-gathering seventy years later. And then the Jewish people were dispersed again when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. After this dispersion by the Romans 2000 years ago the Jews still have not been re-gathered to Israel. Only a small portion of the Jewish people have returned to what is called Israel today, and the Israel of today is much smaller than that which has been promised to be the full boundaries of the Jewish state. At the return of Christ is when the final re-gathering will take place. The final re-gathering will be a great supernatural event that God Himself will cause to happen. Perhaps there will be one or more other dispersions before the final re-gathering.

It is interesting to notice what the Lord said in Zechariah 10:11, “And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up.” This sounds just like Moses and the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea, and yet this verse in Zechariah chapter 10 is looking forward. Moses passing through the Red Sea was an event that happened a thousand years before Zechariah’s time. But that is exactly how God’s promises work: you see what the Lord did in the past to bless people, to guide them, and to protect them, and you can be sure that the Lord will do the same kinds of things for you. Jesus loves you just as much as He loves the believers of other ages. The lesson of the Red Sea is: God provides a way when there is no way. In other words just when you think there is no answer for your problem or your situation, God will change things. Jesus will open the door that no man opens.

The Bible says in Zechariah 10:12, “And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.” This is an amazing Bible verse. It supports both the trinity, and the deity of Christ, and gives a couple of very important principles of how to live for the Lord in this life. Who is speaking in this verse? We know that God is speaking because it says, “Saith the Lord.” About whom is God speaking? He is speaking about the Lord. The first phrase says, “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” This is similar to other verses in the Old Testament such as Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” And as it says in Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” How can you have more than one Jehovah? The words translated “LORD” in Zechariah 10:12 are the words for “Jehovah.” You can only have more than one Jehovah if there is such a thing as a trinity. You can only have more than one Jehovah, if Jesus is Jehovah. Jesus said as much in John 8:58, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” Notice the words, “I am.” When God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush, for the first time God revealed His name as “Jehovah,” and Jehovah said to Moses, “I am that I am.” The word “Jehovah” means “the eternally existent One,” in other words, “the I AM.” When Jesus said, “I am,” in John 8:58 Jesus was saying in effect, “I am Jehovah.” The Jews knew what He was saying. That is why they wanted to kill Him as it says in John 8:59, “Then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

There may be no more important doctrine in the Bible than the one that answers the question, “Who is Jesus?” Jesus said to His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus was both man and God. In keeping with His humility about Himself, He called Himself Son of man, because He came to the earth to identify Himself with man and man’s sin. Let’s think about the phrase “Son of God.” If a human being has a son, that son has all the characteristics of a human being. Therefore, if God has a Son, that Son has all the characteristics of God. That Son is God. Always remember that some of the statements that Jesus made while He was on the earth, He was making from the standpoint of His humanity. For example, Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” The reason for this seems to be the fact that Jesus gave up something when He left heaven and came to be born of a woman: He did not give up His divine nature but perhaps He gave up some of His divine prerogatives. As it says in Philippians 2:5-7, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

God said in Zechariah 10:12, “And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name.” Believers need to be strengthened. Notice where the strength comes from. It does not come from themselves. Strength does not come from other people. Strength comes from the Lord. Believers have a source of strength that no one else in the world has. The strongest people in the world should be Christians. Of course, they are only strong as they learn how to be “in the Lord.” Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” The Apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”

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