Chapter 8

This unequivocal statement that God is still looking after Israel:

3 Thus says the LORD: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain. [Zec 8:3 ESV]

He returned to Jerusalem with the exiles, and He dwells there to this day.  The last of the verse is still future, but will be fulfilled in those last days of the Millennial reign.  This is why I want to go to Jerusalem.  God is there!

2020-I believe the selection of Jerusalem as the place where God will dwell is formally re-chosen here, because God at this point had completely rejected Israel as a nation under the Mosaic covenant.  Now, we are dealing with the seed of Abraham and we are moving towards fulfillment of the unconditional promises God made to Him.  Jerusalem is still the city God chooses.  There will still be the same Holy Mountain as the nation of Israel had.  But it is not about the nation anymore, but about the descendants.  If the Mosaic Covenant was to be in any way preserved, there would be sacrifices today in Jerusalem, and there are not.  In the Millennial, sacrifices of remembrance will be made.  They will look back at the covenant that was broken as motivation to hold on the Abrahamic, and not to do anything that might delay still further the consummation of that covenant.  The Millennial sacrifices are reminders of past failures, and of the results that are guaranteed when we rebel against God.  I really think this makes good sense.  This verse:

11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the LORD of hosts. [Zec 8:11 ESV]  The Mosaic is gone.  Different rules now.

In the future, very old men and women will sit peacefully in the streets, and children will play there.  Vss 7,8 foretell the return to Jerusalem, from east and west (remember that the chariots went north and south...) and then repetition of the ancient covenant between God and Israel - "...And they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

Then begins some encouragement.  God says that once they began to lay the foundation of the second temple, hearing the words of the prophets God had sent to urge them on, things changed.  This verse:

11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the LORD of hosts. [Zec 8:11 ESV]  God's wrath toward them is spent.  They are not restored to former glory, but He is no longer against them, as He was during the long decline from Manasseh to the exile and back. 

They are to work on this temple, to build it and the land, because the days are coming...days of restoration to the former glory.

Seems to me that vss 16, 17 contains the "interim covenant", setting forth the behavior required to continue preservation of the remnant, until the original covenant is reinstated in the Millennial: 

16 These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; 17 do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the LORD." [Zec 8:16-17 ESV]

Many questions as to whether those who at least keep this much - who are faithful to God in their hearts though still denying the Messiah - will be saved for heaven, or are just "connectors" from the covenant at Sinai to the reinstatement in the Millennial.  As a rule, I think they are keeping this interim covenant even today.  They are a pocket of righteousness in the midst of evil.  They are surrounded by those who would replace God with Allah.  Yet He protects them.  They must be keeping this covenant!

2020-Or does this speak instead to the requirements during the Age of the Gentiles?  Is this about NT salvation, as opposed to the sacrifices made year by year.

Vss 18, 19 say that the fasts of the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th months are to be kept with joy.  Are these the four that will continue into the Millennial?  Are these the four that Ezekiel lays out in those last few chapters?  I bet there is complete consistency here.  THIS IS A NEEDED STUDY!

From vs 20 to the end of the chapter is the explanation for why so many of us, including me, want to go to Jerusalem.  And this inner urging to do so is I think only an inkling of the attraction to that city that will overtake all who live in the Millennial age.  I have got to go there!

2026 - I can't believe I have not previous seen this:

23 Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" [Zec 8:23 ESV].

How could we not read this as the 10 Kings in Revelation who do not yet have power?  Or...were they in Daniel?  Find those 10 Kings and see if the link to this verse in Zech is pretty certain.