Zechariah 8: 21 - 23

''The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying 'Let us go at once to entreat the favour of the Lord and to seeks the Lord of Hosts; I myself am going' Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the Lord. The 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, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' '' Zechariah 8: 21 - 23

I found this passage particularly poingnant and relevant as have continued my reading of Jonathan Edwards on Revival. Often it is said in criticism of religious experience, that peoples religious affections are defunct and not genuine because they appear to be under the influence of the emotion, actions and words of other religious believers around them. Indeed I have tended towards criticism in this area myself being in various religious meetings where wailing, crying, laughing and shouting at first begun by one person, then becomes unusually common place and contagious.

This stance towards religious affection seems to prevail often in more conservative streams of Christianity. Edwards, much the patriach of modern conservative and reformed theology, does well to assert that we should not be to quick to jump to criticism in this area of religious experience. He does this by primarily by reminding us that the purpose of words is not the words themselves, but in fact the meaning and ideas that they convey. Indeed often our ideas can be consumed and become blurred by the words we use to describe them; it would much easier if we could convey them experientially. Edwards writes, 'There is a language in actions; and in some cases, much more clear and convincing than words. It is therefore no argument against the goodness of the effect, that persons are greatly affected by seeing others.'

Indeed this texts exhorts us to be believers who are wonderfully contagious in the example that we set to others around us. That as we live out our lives we are to exude something of the aroma of Christ in the actions that we perform, that points unbelieving people towards God. How amazing would be if the text in Zechariah here became reality for us in our own lives, that the people around us who do not know the light of Christ, cling to our very clothing saying 'Let us go with you because we have heard that God is with you.'