Promise in the Prophets 411: Comfort and Choose

411. Comfort and Choose

Zechariah 1:17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

God promises prosperity, spiritual prosperity, for the “cities of God,” that is, the Church. The Church will spread abroad, which she has done even unto the ends of the earth. The Church, and we ourselves individually, may not appear to be living in prosperity according to the world’s standards. However, the spiritual and eternal blessings we have received are way beyond counting. Who could put a number of forgiveness, life and eternal salvation? And, furthermore, it grows.

God promises that He will comfort the Church. The people of God, wherever they are, whenever they live, and whoever they are, will find comfort in the cross and resurrection of Christ. Many Biblical promises deal with comfort, the kind of comfort that comes from unconditional love and personal tender care, the kind of comfort that actually calms and secures the troubled heart, and the kind of comfort that enables me to live securely and happily in the presence of our loving God.

God promises that He will still choose Jerusalem, the Church, the believers in Christ. This is actually a bigger deal and a more wonderful promise that it might seem to us at first blush. First, God has chosen me; it is much more comforting and assuring to me that He chose me, not that I chose Him; I can change my mind, but God won’t. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you [John 15:16].” My salvation is all of God; God has done it; God will finish what He started. Choosing means that God could have done something else; He didn’t have to choose me, but he did so assuredly because He set His love upon me. I can live happily and well all the time simply in the assurance that the Lord has chosen me specially. We may rejoice with exceeding joy, “I am special; I am chosen; I belong to my Beloved. A loving God chose to create and redeem me. He made me to be just what I am, and He chose me to be just who I am.”