The God Who Marches: Judgment, Salvation, and the Pride of Man Text: Zechariah 9:1-8
Introduction: God's Geopolitical Sovereignty
We live in an age that is simultaneously obsessed with and terrified by geopolitics. Men watch the news, they track the rise and fall of nations, the shifting of borders, and the saber-rattling of proud empires, and they do so with a knot in their stomachs. They see the world as a chaotic chessboard, with godless men moving the pieces according to their own lust for power. And from a certain limited perspective, they are not wrong. But their fundamental error, the error that breeds all the anxiety, is that they think the chessboard is ultimate. They think the players are sovereign. They have forgotten that there is a God in Heaven who governs the nations, who raises up one and puts down another, and who moves the kings of the earth like pawns for His own glorious purposes.
The prophet Zechariah is writing to a small, beleaguered remnant of Jews who have returned from exile. They are surrounded by hostile neighbors, living in the shadow of massive empires. They feel small, vulnerable, and insignificant. And into this situation of geopolitical anxiety, God speaks a word of absolute, world-shaking sovereignty. This is not a word of comfort that says, "Don't worry, the big bad nations won't hurt you." No, it is a word of terrifying comfort that says, "I am the one who directs the big bad nations, and I am coming to judge them, to save you, and to incorporate even their remnants into my kingdom."
Zechariah 9:1-8 is a prophetic map of God's victorious march through the Levant. It traces a path of judgment that mirrors, in many ways, the later conquest of Alexander the Great. But we must not make the mistake of thinking this is simply a prediction of Alexander. Alexander was a tool, a divine axe in the hand of Yahweh. The ultimate actor here is God Himself. This passage is a declaration that God is not a local deity, confined to Jerusalem. He is the Lord of Hadrach, Damascus, Tyre, and the cities of the Philistines. He judges them for their pride, their idolatry, and their self-sufficient wisdom. And in the midst of this fiery judgment, He makes two staggering promises: He will preserve His own people, camping around His house as a guard, and He will purify a remnant of the pagans, bringing them into His covenant family.
This is the pattern of the gospel's advance through history. God marches, He judges, He saves. He humbles the proud and He incorporates the humble. He tears down the strongholds of human arrogance and builds His church with the rubble. This is not just ancient history; it is the blueprint for our own time. Our secular empires, with their accumulated wealth and their sophisticated, godless wisdom, are no different from Tyre. Their pride is no different from that of the Philistines. And God's purpose is the same: to cut it all off, and to save a people for His name.
The Text
The oracle of the word of Yahweh is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward Yahweh),
And Hamath also, which borders on it; And Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.
So Tyre built herself a tight fortification And tied up silver like dust And fine gold like the mire of the streets.
Behold, the Lord will dispossess her And strike her wealth down into the sea; And she will be consumed with fire.
Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza too will writhe in great pain; Also Ekron, for her hope has been put to shame. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.
And those of illegitimate birth will inhabit Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
And I will remove their blood from their mouth And their detestable things from between their teeth. Then they also will be a remnant for our God, And be like a clan in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite.
But I will camp around My house because of an army, Because of him who passes by and returns; And no taskmaster will pass over them anymore, For now I have seen with My eyes.
(Zechariah 9:1-8 LSB)
The Northward Judgment: Pride of Place and Mind (vv. 1-2)
The oracle begins in the north, in Syria, and establishes the principle of God's universal gaze.
"The oracle of the word of Yahweh is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward Yahweh), And Hamath also, which borders on it; And Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise." (Zechariah 9:1-2)
An "oracle" or "burden" is a heavy word of judgment. This divine word comes to "rest" on Damascus, the capital of Syria. It settles there like a storm cloud, ready to burst. But notice the parenthetical reason: "for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward Yahweh." This is a foundational statement. God acts in history so that men will look to Him. Judgment and salvation are never ends in themselves; they are revelations of God's character, designed to draw the eyes of the world to Him. He is putting on a show, and the whole world is the audience. The special focus is on Israel, His covenant people, who are being taught to trust Him and not the shifting political winds.
The judgment then sweeps down to the Phoenician city-states of Tyre and Sidon. And the reason for their judgment is explicitly stated: "because they are very wise." This is not a condemnation of wisdom itself, but of a particular kind of wisdom, a self-sufficient, arrogant, technical, and commercial wisdom that has no room for God. Tyre was the ancient world's New York or London, a hub of global trade, brilliant engineering, and immense wealth. Their wisdom was in shipbuilding, in navigation, in creating fortifications, in accumulating capital. But their wisdom was godless. It was a wisdom that said, "We built this city. Our cleverness is our salvation." God always sets Himself against this kind of pride. The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, and He loves nothing more than to demonstrate it publicly.
The Fall of Humanistic Security (vv. 3-4)
The focus narrows to Tyre, the epitome of man's self-made security.
"So Tyre built herself a tight fortification And tied up silver like dust And fine gold like the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will dispossess her And strike her wealth down into the sea; And she will be consumed with fire." (Zechariah 9:3-4 LSB)
Tyre's confidence was twofold: her military strength ("a tight fortification") and her economic might ("silver like dust"). The original city was on the mainland, but after being besieged, they built a new city on an island offshore, thinking it was impregnable. They trusted in their walls. And they trusted in their wealth. They had so much silver and gold it was as common as dust and mud. This is the essence of all paganism and all modern secularism: trust in what you can build and what you can buy. Trust in your military and your markets.
But God's response is simple and devastating. "Behold, the Lord will dispossess her." The Hebrew word for "dispossess" is the same one used for God driving the Canaanites out of the land for Israel. God is the ultimate owner of all property, and He reassigns it at will. He will strike her wealth "down into the sea." The very source of her power and pride, the sea from which she drew her wealth, will become its grave. And she will be "consumed with fire." This was fulfilled historically when Alexander the Great did the unthinkable. He built a causeway out to the island city, breached the walls, and utterly destroyed it. But the prophecy is greater than the fulfillment. It is a timeless principle: any security system built in defiance of God will be dismantled by God, and He will often use the very thing you trust in as the instrument of your destruction.
The Philistine Panic and Purification (vv. 5-7)
The shockwaves of Tyre's fall travel south, causing panic among Israel's old enemies, the Philistines.
"Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza too will writhe in great pain; Also Ekron, for her hope has been put to shame... I will cut off the pride of the Philistines." (Zechariah 9:5-6 LSB)
The Philistine cities see the fall of the "unbeatable" Tyre, and their own false hopes are "put to shame." When the world's idols fall, those who trust in them are terrified. Their entire worldview collapses. God's judgment on one proud sinner is a warning to all the others. And God's stated purpose is explicit: "I will cut off the pride of the Philistines." This is the goal of all God's judgments in history. He is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He orchestrates the rise and fall of nations with the singular intent of humbling the arrogance of man.
But then, in the middle of this fire, something astonishing happens. God promises a salvation that comes through purification.
"And I will remove their blood from their mouth And their detestable things from between their teeth. Then they also will be a remnant for our God, And be like a clan in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite." (Zechariah 9:7 LSB)
The "blood" and "detestable things" refer to their pagan idolatrous practices, specifically eating meat from sacrifices offered to false gods, some of which may have been unclean animals. God says, "I am going to perform spiritual surgery. I am going to rip the idolatry right out of their mouths." This is a violent grace. It is a forced purification. And the result is breathtaking. "Then they also will be a remnant for our God."
This is the gospel. God doesn't just destroy His enemies; He converts them. He takes proud Philistines, washes their mouths out with soap, and adopts them into His family. They will become "like a clan in Judah." They will be fully incorporated. Ekron, a chief Philistine city, will be "like a Jebusite." This is a reference to the original inhabitants of Jerusalem whom David conquered but also incorporated into his kingdom. God's kingdom expands not just by birth, but by conversion. He takes foreigners, pagans, and enemies, and He makes them sons. This is a direct prophecy of the Great Commission, when the gospel would go out to the Gentiles, cleansing them and bringing them into the one new man in Christ.
The Divine Protector (v. 8)
While this storm of judgment rages all around, God makes a specific promise of protection for His own people.
"But I will camp around My house because of an army, Because of him who passes by and returns; And no taskmaster will pass over them anymore, For now I have seen with My eyes." (Zechariah 9:8 LSB)
As the conquering army, whether it's Alexander or any other, marches through, God Himself will set up a garrison around His "house," which refers to His people and the temple in Jerusalem. He will be their divine bodyguard. While the nations are being judged, His people will be kept safe. This is a picture of the doctrine of preservation. The world is a dangerous place, and God's judgments are real and fiery. But for those who are His, He is a wall of fire round about them. He sees their plight, "For now I have seen with My eyes," and He acts to ensure that "no taskmaster will pass over them anymore."
This finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Church. The Church is God's house, His temple (1 Cor. 3:16). And as history unfolds, as empires rise and fall, as persecutions and tribulations come and go, Christ has promised to build His church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). He is our divine protector, encamped around us. Our security does not lie in our own wisdom or wealth, which is the folly of Tyre. Our security lies in His sovereign, watchful care.
Conclusion: The March of the Gospel
This prophecy provides us with a paradigm for understanding all of history. God is on the march. His Word goes forth as a conquering army. And as it goes, it accomplishes two things simultaneously: it judges and it saves. It is a word of judgment against the proud, the self-sufficient, and the idolatrous. It exposes the foolishness of the world's wisdom and the bankruptcy of its wealth. It brings the mighty to nothing.
Our modern West is Tyre, swollen with riches and proud of its technical skill. It is Philistia, arrogant in its rebellion. And the Word of the Lord is against it. We should not be surprised when we see its institutions crumble, its economies falter, and its hopes turn to shame. This is the judgment of God, cutting off the pride of the nations.
But that is never the whole story. As God marches, He also saves. He is in the business of creating a remnant out of the rubble. He is taking pagan Philistines, washing them, and making them clans in Judah. The gospel is the power of God to do this. It is the announcement that the true King has come, not on a warhorse, but on a donkey (Zech. 9:9). He came to absorb the fire of God's judgment in Himself, so that enemies could be made sons. He is the one who camps around His house, protecting His people. And He is the one who sends His Spirit out into the world to remove the blood from the mouths of idolaters and bring them into His kingdom.
Therefore, we are not to be anxious spectators of geopolitics. We are to be confident participants in the mission of God. We know how the story ends. The pride of every Philistine will be cut off. The wealth of every Tyre will be thrown into the sea. And the kingdom of our God will be filled with former enemies, cleansed by His grace, who have learned to put their hope not in fortifications and gold, but in the Lord who sees, who judges, and who saves.