The City of Truth Text: Zechariah 8:1-8
Introduction: The Rubble of Discouragement
The book of Zechariah is addressed to a people who were profoundly discouraged. They had come back from the Babylonian exile, full of the grand prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, expecting a glorious restoration. But what they found was a Jerusalem in ruins, a half-finished temple, hostile neighbors, and a great deal of internal bickering. The glory seemed very far away. Their reality was rubble, and their mood was disillusionment. They were tempted to believe that God's promises were perhaps a bit overstated, or maybe just for another time.
It is into this fog of low expectations and spiritual fatigue that the word of Yahweh of hosts crashes like a thunderclap. God does not offer them a gentle pep talk. He does not give them a five-step plan for improving their outlook. He confronts their small-minded unbelief with a series of massive, earth-shaking declarations about what He is going to do. He is reminding them that history is not driven by their morale, or by the political situation, or by the state of the economy. History is driven by the covenantal zeal of Almighty God.
This passage is a divine corrective to all forms of timid, retreatist, and sentimental Christianity. Our God is not a passive well-wisher. He is a jealous husband, a mighty warrior, and a city-builder. And the promises He makes here are not wispy spiritual abstractions. They are about streets, and old people, and children playing. They are about a tangible, visible, public reality transformed by the presence of God. This is a promise of civic righteousness, civic peace, and civic joy, all flowing from one central fact: God will return and dwell with His people. This is the logic of the kingdom. First the King, then the Kingdom.
The Text
Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came, saying, "Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘I am jealous with great jealousy for Zion, and with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ Thus says Yahweh, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’ Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares Yahweh of hosts. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land where the sun rises and from the land where the sun sets; and I will bring them back, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’
(Zechariah 8:1-8 LSB)
The White-Hot Zeal of God (vv. 1-2)
The prophecy begins by establishing its authority and its driving force.
"Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘I am jealous with great jealousy for Zion, and with great wrath I am jealous for her.’" (Zechariah 8:1-2)
Notice the repetition: "Yahweh of hosts." The Lord of Armies. This is God in His capacity as the commander of all the angelic powers of Heaven. This is not a God to be trifled with. He is speaking from a position of absolute, military authority. What follows is not a suggestion; it is a battle plan.
And what is the motivation for this plan? "I am jealous with great jealousy for Zion." Our modern ears hear "jealousy" and think of the petty, insecure, sinful envy of a jilted lover. We must purge that from our minds. Divine jealousy is the righteous, passionate, and protective zeal of a husband for his covenant bride. It is God's refusal to share the honor and affection of His people with any idol. Zion belongs to Him. He has set His name there. He has betrothed her to Himself. Therefore, any attack on her, any defilement of her, any rival for her affection, provokes His holy jealousy.
And this jealousy is not a passive emotion. It is accompanied by "great wrath." God's love and God's wrath are two sides of the same coin. Because He loves Zion with a fierce and protective love, He is filled with a fierce and destructive wrath for those who have harmed her. This should be a profound comfort to the people of God and a stark terror to their enemies. God takes the abuse of His people personally. The restoration of Jerusalem is not just a construction project; it is an act of war, fueled by the white-hot zeal of God for His own name and His own people.
The King Returns to His City (v. 3)
The central promise, upon which everything else depends, is given in verse 3.
"Thus says Yahweh, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’" (Zechariah 8:3)
The problem of the exile was not, fundamentally, a geographical problem. It was a theological problem. The glory of the Lord had departed from the Temple (Ezekiel 10). The disaster was God's absence. Therefore, the heart of restoration must be God's presence. "I will return... and will dwell." This is the Immanuel principle: God with us. This is the goal of all redemption.
And what is the consequence of God's presence? The city gets a new name. It will be called the "City of Truth." A city's character is determined by the character of its god. When the people worshiped idols, the city was a city of lies, injustice, and hypocrisy. But when Yahweh, the God of all truth, dwells in her midst, she will be transformed by His character. Truth will permeate everything: business dealings in the marketplace, justice in the gates, worship in the temple, and relationships in the home. The city will be defined by its fidelity to God's revealed Word.
Likewise, the mountain will be called the "Holy Mountain." Holiness means to be set apart, consecrated for God's use. God's presence makes the place holy. It is no longer common ground. It is His ground. The return of God means the sanctification of the city, a civic consecration.
A Portrait of Civic Shalom (vv. 4-5)
God then paints a beautiful, concrete picture of what this City of Truth and Holiness will look like in practice.
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’" (Zechariah 8:4-5)
This is a portrait of profound peace, or shalom. It is a picture of a society where the two most vulnerable demographics, the very old and the very young, are safe and flourishing in the public square. When a city is dangerous, the elderly lock themselves indoors and children are kept under constant supervision. But in God's city, the old can sit in the open without fear. The text is specific: their staffs are "because of age," for support, not for self-defense. They have lived long lives, a sign of covenant blessing, and they can enjoy their final years in tranquility.
And the streets are filled with the noise of children playing. This signifies joy, freedom, and, crucially, a future. A city full of playing children is a city that believes it has a future. Parents are confident enough in the stability and security of their community to have children and to let them be children. This is the fruit of God's reign: security, longevity, fruitfulness, and joy. The gospel is not hostile to this kind of earthly, civic blessing; it is the only ultimate source of it.
God's Perspective vs. Ours (v. 6)
God anticipates the reaction of the beleaguered remnant. He knows this vision sounds impossible to them.
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares Yahweh of hosts." (Zechariah 8:6)
The Hebrew word for "difficult" can also be translated as "marvelous" or "wonderful." God is saying, "I know this sounds like a fairy tale to you. Looking at the rubble, this vision of peace and prosperity seems beyond belief." He acknowledges their limited, discouraged perspective. But then He throws down the gauntlet with a rhetorical question that ought to shake them to their foundations: "will it also be too difficult in My sight?"
This is the same question the angel asked Sarah when she laughed at the promise of a son in her old age: "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14). God is confronting their unbelief by contrasting their weakness with His omnipotence. Our circumstances do not define God's capabilities. Our feelings of impossibility are utterly irrelevant to the God who speaks worlds into existence. He is the Lord of Armies, and His plans are not constrained by our lack of imagination.
Covenant Renewal (vv. 7-8)
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land where the sun rises and from the land where the sun sets; and I will bring them back, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’" (Zechariah 8:7-8)
The vision expands. This is not just about the remnant who returned from Babylon. This is a promise of a global ingathering. From the east ("land where the sun rises") to the west ("land where the sun sets"), God will save and gather His people. This points forward beyond the immediate historical context to the great missionary expansion of the New Covenant.
And what is the goal of this great salvation? It is to bring them into the city, into the community, into His presence. And there, the covenant is renewed in its most classic and beautiful formulation: "they shall be My people, and I will be their God." This is the endgame of all of God's work in history: a restored, intimate, covenantal relationship between Him and His redeemed people.
But notice the crucial foundation upon which this relationship rests: "in truth and righteousness." This is not a relationship based on mere sentiment or ethnic heritage. It is a relationship grounded in the very character of God. Truth (emet) here means covenant faithfulness, reliability, and fidelity. Righteousness (tsedeqah) means justice and conformity to God's holy standard. God will be a faithful God to them, and He will make them a righteous people for Him. This is the promise of the New Covenant, where God writes His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
The City of Truth Today
As Christians, we read this passage and we know its fulfillment is in Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate return of God to His people. He is Immanuel, God with us, who tabernacled in our midst (John 1:14). He is the Truth (John 14:6), and His presence establishes the Church as the "pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). The New Jerusalem is His bride, the Church.
The great ingathering from east and west is happening now through the Great Commission, as the gospel goes forth and gathers a people for God from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And through Christ, we have been brought into that covenant relationship: He is our God, and we are His people. He is making us a people of truth and righteousness.
But we must not spiritualize away the tangible nature of these promises. The gospel is meant to create a certain kind of culture, a certain kind of city. The presence of Christ among His people, by His Spirit, ought to produce communities where the elderly are honored and safe, and where children flourish. The gospel creates shalom. It builds cities of truth.
The question for us is the same one God posed to the remnant: does this seem too difficult for us? Do we look at the rubble of our decaying Western culture and think that a City of Truth is a pipe dream? God's response is the same: Is it too difficult for Me? Our task is not to be discouraged by the rubble, but to be emboldened by the promises of the Lord of Armies. We are called to live as citizens of that city now, to build our families, our churches, and our communities on the foundation of God's truth and righteousness, confident that the one who promised is faithful, and that nothing, absolutely nothing, is too difficult for Him.