Once again, another voting cycle is here in America. Lawn signs are all around the community where I live telling me who to vote for and where to place my political allegiance for a better life. I remember many years ago listening to what comedian George Carlin had said about voting:
“The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice.” – George Carlin, Life is Worth Losing (2005)
There is some truth to this. But, it is also true that politicians are truly put into office via the election process, so our votes really do matter. What I have learned over the years though is that it is not wise to assume that all will be well simply if the people we want to get into office actually get into office. Such thinking only brings an empty comfort.
Back in the late sixth century BC, after the Babylonian exile, some of the exiles were returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple which had been destroyed. Their world had been severely rocked by Yahweh’s departure from their geographical presence in the temple about 70 years prior. This left them absolutely desperate to restore what had been lost to them. Their desperation had gotten to the point where they as a community were surprisingly turning to other elohim (gods), rather than the Elohim of elohim (God of gods) in order to bring themselves comfort. The prophet Zechariah talked about this..
Zechariah 10:2 (HCSB)
For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
What is interesting is what Zechariah had written leading up to this verse and also after…
Zechariah 9:9 – 10:12 (HCSB)
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
He is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The bow of war will be removed,
and He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River
to the ends of the earth.
As for you,
because of the blood of your covenant,
I will release your prisoners
from the waterless cistern.
Return to a stronghold,
you prisoners who have hope;
today I declare that I will restore double to you.
For I will bend Judah as My bow;
I will fill that bow with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece.
I will make you like a warrior’s sword.
Then the LORD will appear over them,
and His arrow will fly like lightning.
The Lord GOD will sound the trumpet
and advance with the southern storms.
The LORD of Hosts will defend them.
They will consume and conquer with slingstones;
they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine.
They will be as full as the sprinkling basin,
like those at the corners of the altar.
The LORD their God will save them on that day
as the flock of His people;
for they are like jewels in a crown,
sparkling over His land.
How lovely and beautiful they will be!
Grain will make the young men flourish,
and new wine, the young women.
The LORD Restores His People
Ask the LORD for rain
in the season of spring rain.
The LORD makes the rain clouds,
and He will give them showers of rain
and crops in the field for everyone.
For the idols speak falsehood,
and the diviners see illusions;
they relate empty dreams
and offer empty comfort.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
My anger burns against the shepherds,
so I will punish the leaders.
For the LORD of Hosts has tended His flock,
the house of Judah;
He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.
The cornerstone will come from Judah.
The tent peg will come from them
and also the battle bow and every ruler.
Together they will be like warriors in battle
trampling down the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the LORD is with them,
and they will put horsemen to shame.
I will strengthen the house of Judah
and deliver the house of Joseph.
I will restore them
because I have compassion on them,
and they will be
as though I had never rejected them.
For I am Yahweh their God,
and I will answer them.
Ephraim will be like a warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.
Their children will see it and be glad;
their hearts will rejoice in Yahweh.
I will whistle and gather them
because I have redeemed them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.
Though I sow them among the nations,
they will remember Me in the distant lands;
they and their children will live and return.
I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead
and to Lebanon,
but it will not be enough for them.
Yahweh will pass through the sea of distress
and strike the waves of the sea;
all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
The pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
I will strengthen them in Yahweh,
and they will march in His name —
this is Yahweh’s declaration.
Our political leader, our King (Jesus) already came 2,000 years ago just as Zechariah had described…
John 12:12-16 (HCSB)
The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: “ Hosanna! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One — the King of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: Fear no more, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.
His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
May we understand by never looking to an empty comfort.
Godspeed, to the brethren!
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