From Curse to Blessing: The Economics of Obedience Text: Zechariah 8:9-13
Introduction: The Cause and Effect Kingdom
We live in an age that has declared independence from God, and as a result, it has declared independence from reality. Modern man wants to live in a world of effects without causes. He wants prosperity without work, peace without righteousness, and blessing without obedience. He wants to plant thistle seeds and harvest figs. He wants to sow to the wind and is then perpetually surprised when he reaps the whirlwind. This is the very definition of insanity, and it is the operating system of our secular, unbelieving culture.
But the God of the Bible is the God of cause and effect. He has hardwired the universe to run on the tracks of His own character. This is what we call the covenant. God's covenant is His sworn oath, His binding commitment to relate to His people in a particular way. And this covenant has two sides, clearly laid out for us in places like Deuteronomy 28. On the one side, there are blessings for covenant faithfulness. If you walk in My ways, God says, I will bless your basket and your kneading bowl, your children and your livestock, your coming in and your going out. On the other side, there are curses for covenant rebellion. If you turn away from Me, He says, all these blessings will be reversed. Your economy will collapse, your society will disintegrate, and you will become a byword among the nations.
The book of Zechariah is addressed to a people who had lived through the bitter reality of the covenant curses. They had been exiled to Babylon for their idolatry and rebellion. Now, a remnant has returned to Jerusalem, but the work of rebuilding is hard. The temple foundation is laid, but progress has stalled. The people are discouraged. They are looking at their circumstances, which are still bleak, and they are tempted to give up. Into this situation, God speaks through His prophet Zechariah to remind them of how His world works. He is calling them to remember the direct, unbreakable link between their faithfulness and their flourishing. He is telling them that the difficult past was a direct result of their sin, and that the glorious future He is promising is directly contingent on their obedience in the present.
This passage is a powerful lesson in the economics of God's kingdom. It teaches us that true, lasting prosperity, peace, and fruitfulness are not the result of clever economic policy or political maneuvering. They are the result of a people hearing the Word of God and getting to work. It is a call to roll up our sleeves in faith, knowing that when we obey God, He is covenantally bound to bless the work of our hands.
The Text
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built. For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of the adversary, and I set all men one against another. But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. And it will be that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’"
(Zechariah 8:9-13 LSB)
Get to Work (v. 9)
The central command of this passage is found right at the beginning.
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built." (Zechariah 8:9)
"Let your hands be strong." This is a Hebrew idiom that means "Be courageous, get to work, don't quit." It’s a call to diligent, faithful, persevering labor. But notice the basis for this strength. Their strength is not to come from within themselves, from some sort of positive thinking. Their strength is to come from hearing the Word of God. He says, "you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets."
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And what does faith do? Faith works. True, biblical faith is not a passive, pious sentiment. It is an active, obedient trust that gets its hands dirty. The prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, had been preaching to them, reminding them of God's promises and commanding them to rebuild the temple. The foundation had been laid years before, but fear and apathy had set in, and the project had ground to a halt. God is saying, "You've heard My word. Now act on it. The strength for the task is found in the promise attached to the task."
This is a foundational principle for the Christian life. We are not called to sit around and wait for feelings of strength before we obey. We are called to obey in faith, and in the act of obedience, God supplies the strength. The work here was the rebuilding of the temple, the center of worship and covenant life for Israel. For us, the work is the building of the new temple, the Church of Jesus Christ, through the faithful preaching of the gospel and the discipling of the nations. God's command to us is the same: Let your hands be strong. Preach the Word, love your neighbor, build faithful households, start businesses, create culture, and do it all with courage, because you are listening to the words of the prophets and apostles.
The Economics of Disobedience (v. 10)
Next, God reminds them of what life was like before they started to obey. He paints a picture of economic and social collapse that was a direct result of their covenant unfaithfulness.
"For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of the adversary, and I set all men one against another." (Zechariah 8:10 LSB)
This is a description of total economic futility. "No wage for man or any wage for animal." This means that all their labor was fruitless. They would work hard, but there was no profit. They would plant, but there was no harvest. This is a direct echo of the covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28 and the preaching of the prophet Haggai, who told them, "You have sown much, and bring in little... He who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes" (Haggai 1:6). When God's house lies in ruins while His people pursue their own paneled houses, God blows on their economic efforts. He frustrates them.
Not only was there economic chaos, but there was social breakdown. There was "no peace because of the adversary." This refers to both external enemies and internal strife. Travel was unsafe. Commerce was impossible. And God takes direct responsibility for this: "I set all men one against another." When a people abandon God, He removes His hand of common grace and turns them over to their own sinful impulses. The result is envy, strife, litigation, and factionalism. Society disintegrates from the inside out. This is precisely what we are witnessing in our own nation. As we have abandoned God's law, we see economic stagnation and increasing social hostility. God is setting men one against another. This is not random chance; it is the covenant curse in action.
The Economics of Obedience (v. 11-12)
But then comes a glorious turning point, introduced by the phrase "But now." God promises to reverse the curses because His people have begun to repent and obey.
"But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. ‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things." (Zechariah 8:11-12 LSB)
The contrast is stark. The "former days" were days of judgment. The "now" is a time of grace and restoration. And what does this restoration look like? It is described in terms of comprehensive, creational flourishing. The "seed" will have peace, which means it will be sown in security and will grow without being destroyed. The vine, the land, and the heavens will all do what God created them to do. They will be fruitful. The dew will come, the crops will grow, the grapes will ripen. This is a picture of holistic prosperity.
Notice the verbs. The vine "will yield." The land "will yield." The heavens "will give." And God says, "I will cause" them to inherit this. This is not the result of their own ingenuity. It is the direct, supernatural blessing of God poured out in response to their obedience. When God's people put first things first, when they prioritize the building of His kingdom and His worship, God takes care of everything else. This is precisely what Jesus taught: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). All these things, food, clothing, economic security, are the direct result of putting God's kingdom first.
This is a profoundly counter-cultural message. Our world believes that prosperity comes from godless pragmatism. But God says that true, lasting prosperity is a byproduct of righteousness. When we obey, the dew falls. When we are faithful, the vines bear fruit. This is how God's world works.
From a Curse to a Blessing (v. 13)
The final verse of our text summarizes this great reversal in the most dramatic terms possible.
"And it will be that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’" (Zechariah 8:13 LSB)
In their disobedience, Israel had become a "curse among the nations." This means they were a living object lesson in what happens to a people when God judges them. When other nations saw the ruin of Jerusalem, they would say, "That is what happens when you defy Yahweh." They were a byword, a cautionary tale.
But God promises to save them for a specific purpose: "that you may become a blessing." This is a direct callback to the Abrahamic covenant. God told Abraham, "I will bless you... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:2-3). Israel was always intended to be God's instrument of blessing to the world. Through their rebellion, they had become a curse. But through God's gracious salvation, He would restore them to their original purpose. A restored, obedient, and prosperous Israel would be a powerful witness to the nations. The world would look at their peace and prosperity and be drawn to the God who was the source of it.
This promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Church of Jesus Christ. In Christ, we who were once cursed, children of wrath, have been saved and made a blessing. We are now the "Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16). And our task is to be a blessing to the nations. How? By living as a faithful, obedient, and therefore flourishing community. When the world sees Christians whose families are whole, whose businesses are honest and productive, whose communities are marked by peace and charity, they see the blessing of God made visible. Our fruitfulness is a powerful apologetic.
And so God concludes where He began: "Do not fear; let your hands be strong." The promises of God are the fuel for the obedience of God's people. Because God has promised to turn our curse into a blessing, because He has promised to make our labor fruitful, we can work with courage and without fear. We don't have to be afraid of the opposition, or the economy, or the political situation. Our hands can be strong because they are resting on the unshakable promises of Yahweh of hosts.
Conclusion: The Gospel Reversal
The story of this passage from Zechariah is the story of the gospel in miniature. It is a story of a great reversal, from curse to blessing, from futility to fruitfulness, from death to life.
We all, by nature, live in verse 10. We are born into a world under the curse. Our labor is ultimately futile, we are at war with one another, and there is no lasting peace. We sow to the flesh and reap corruption. This is the state of every man and woman apart from Jesus Christ.
But God, in His great mercy, says, "But now." The great "but now" of the gospel is Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus took our place. He became a curse for us, as it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). He entered into the ultimate experience of verse 10. He labored and received no wage but death. He was surrounded by adversaries. He was abandoned by His friends and forsaken by His Father. He absorbed the full weight of the covenant curse that we deserved.
And why did He do it? He did it so that we, in turn, might become a blessing. He took our curse so that "the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:14). Through faith in His finished work, we are transferred from the realm of the curse to the realm of the blessing. We are moved from the "former days" of our sin into the "now" of His grace.
Therefore, the command to us is the same. "Do not fear; let your hands be strong." Because of the gospel, we are free to work, not in a desperate attempt to earn God's favor, but in a joyful response to the favor we have already received. We are free to build, to create, to plant, and to serve, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. God has promised to bless the work of our hands. He has promised that the vine will yield its fruit, and the land its produce. He has promised to take our cursed lives and make them a blessing to the nations. So let us hear the word of the Lord, take courage, and get to work.