Zechariah 7:14
But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
God Himself drove His people away with sweeping force among foreign peoples they did not know, leaving the good land empty and untraveled because they would not listen to and obey His words, law, commands and warnings. Their refusal was to harden the heart against His law and reject what His Spirit sent through the earlier prophets, turning from justice, compassion and merciful dealing to follow their own unsanctified way and neglect His purpose for them. In great wrath He turned from them, withdrew the blessing and protection they claimed as a right, let enemies humble them without protection and freedom, and they themselves brought the ruin upon the good land. The ruin of the land shows that the powers of nature obey His word to bring harm as well as good, so that drought and other calamities punish human wrongdoing and even animals suffer for people's sins. When men deliberately turn from God and the messages He sends He turns from them, not as a hard master but by the fixed working of cause and effect, so safety lies only in earnestly cultivating spiritual life by accepting light, walking in the light, praying for wisdom and searching the Scriptures, rather than drifting to join in interest with those who do not know and love the truth and will not receive it.
Disobedience Brings Scattering Judgment
Zechariah 7:14 describes God's own act of scattering His people with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. It was because they refused to hear and obey His words, law, commands and warnings that the pleasant land was left desolate, with no man passing through nor returning. Their land was left desolate, deserted and abandoned because of their disobedience and their own actions.
That refusal included hardening the heart against His law. It included rejecting the warnings and messages sent by His Spirit through the former prophets and refusing to heed the prophets. Their disobedience in refusing to hear His word and rejecting those prophetic warnings brought great wrath from the Lord upon them.
It also included turning from justice and compassion and refusing to practice just and merciful dealings. They followed an unsanctified way of their own instead of the Lord's warnings, and neglected God's purpose for them, which brought judgment upon the land. Their refusal to practice just and merciful dealings itself brought that judgment.
The scattering was an expression of great wrath in which God turned away from them. He withdrew the blessing and protection they had treated as a right, permitted their enemies to humble them, and left them without protection and without freedom. The land became desolate, deserted and abandoned, and they themselves laid the pleasant land desolate and made it desolate.
The desolation of the land shows that nature's agencies obey God's word and bring destruction as well as blessing. Drought and other calamities can punish human iniquity for wrongdoing. Even livestock suffer because of people's sins.
Warning and Present Application
When people deliberately turn away from God and from the messages He sends, He turns away from them and scatters them with a whirlwind among all nations, as happened to the Jews. This turning away is not harsh mastery on His part but simply the declared effect of the cause, an eternal necessity of results. He afflicts by withdrawing the blessing that has been treated as a right and made a hindrance. Unless spirituality is earnestly cultivated by accepting light, walking in the light, praying for wisdom, and searching the Scriptures, light already possessed becomes darkness. Drifting until interest is united with those who do not know and love the truth and will not accept it brings this scattering.
Because refusal to hear God's law and the words sent through the former prophets led to scattering among nations not known and left the pleasant land desolate and deserted, refusal of His instruction still brings judgment and ruin. That same outcome is to be averted by acting to help an institution in peril.