What must it be like for our God to condemn sinners? Of course we can't fully explain God. We don't understand him fully. What we do know for certain from Scripture is this. God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, has decreed that people must be faithful to his commands. Because of man's sin, God decreed that man was cursed. He has provided one way, and only one way, revealed in Scripture, to release people from the curse of sin. That one way is by trusting in the perfect righteousness of Christ on their behalf. Abraham trusted in God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. We are saved by grace through faith. It is not of works. That's what the Bible reveals to us. It isn't my idea. It isn't the idea of a bunch of theologians who wanted to dominate society. It was written at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by people who had nothing at all to gain and everything to lose in earthly terms. By faith in Christ all the apostles except John were executed. By the testimony of Christ crucified and raised from the dead the early Church was persecuted by the world. This is not some sort of power grab. It's quite the opposite.
So when God says he does not delight in the death of sinners, when God says that he hates sin and that the sinner along with the sin will perish, what should we do? I guess we'd better take him at his word. Is God cruel? No, but he is being consistent with the way he created the world. He requires nothing but trust in him to redeem us from the curse of sin. If we try to be the mediator of our own salvation, he allows us to do so, but warns us we will fail.
How much does it grieve the Lord? Look what happens in Zechariah. Picture yourself. You are able to be a good master, a good shepherd of a flock. You are able to care for the foolish but endearing animals. You are able to see them thrive, grow, reproduce, and live to be an ever-increasing resources, suitable to profit from in a wise manner forever. Yet against your desire, you are to let the selfish people who have been exploiting them go ahead and run the flock to destruction. You are commanded to warn the people about their impending destruction. You even inflict penalties on some of the pseudo-shepherds who exploit the flock. You then withdraw your favor and allow the bad shepherds to engage in their destructive behavior without restraint. All you have ordered, all you have prepared, all the delight that would be possible is squandered by those you allow to go on in their sinful ways. Do you think this would grieve you? I hope it would. It certainly grieves our Lord, but he lets sinful man go in his sinful way, bringing the ultimate fruit of that sinful life, destruction, upon himself.
To this very dark period in Israel's history, our reading in Zechariah gives us no direct light. We are left with a message of destruction and defeat. But let us remember the good shepherd our Lord raised up, the shepherd Jesus Christ, whose flock hears his voice and turns to him in love and trust. May we, like they, look to the good Shepherd, not to the bad shepherds who are all around us. May we see that he in fact is the one who leads us, who provides us with all our needs, who comforts us, and who will see us grow and multiply, providing for the life and well being of many in this world. Let us look to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thanks be to the true Shepherd of this flock of humanity.
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