INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH

Introduction

Tonight we begin a new study in the book of Zechariah.

This book is a prophetic book and is categorized as one of the Minor Prophets.

There are 12 such books in the OT.

Now they are not minor because they are unimportant, but because of their length.

Each of the minor prophets is relatively short compared to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

The messages of these Minor Prophets are of great importance.

Zechariah’s message is a message of hope, pretty significant.

And in the message of hope is Messiah, Jesus Christ the Savior, the King.

As such, Zechariah exalts the name of Messiah, expands our understanding of Messiah, and helps us to proclaim Messiah.

Anytime I am in the OT I am reminded that it is about Jesus.

Jesus said the Pharisees, If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.

Just prior to that in verse 39, Jesus said, You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.

What scriptures was He referring to? The OT, the NT had not been written when He made this statement.

In while the resurrected Jesus was walking with two of the disciples who were distraught over His death, Jesus said to them...

O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ so suffer these thing and to enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the thing concerning Himself in all the scriptures.

What scriptures? The OT

How? Through the writings of Moses and the prophets .

So what I am trying to point out is that the OT is His story, it is all about Him.

And as we work through the book of Zechariah, we are going to pay close attention to what it teaches us about Jesus Christ.

WHO WAS ZECHARIAH?

Well we know he was from the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, and immediately the book links Zechariah to the priestly family.

Zechariah’s name means “YHWH remembers.”

This was a very popular name, and represents around two dozen different men in the Bible.

John the Baptists dad for example was named Zechariah.

And there were man more.

This name proclaimed a message that was very appropriate for the times.

The Persian King Cyrus had given the Jews permission to return to their homeland, rebuilt their city, and rebuild their Temple.

But it was not easy, there was significant opposition, and the people were discouraged.

So much so that the work had stopped.

They need hope and encouragement.

The title of this book then was more than just a man’s name, it proclaim a theological messages about God and His relationship with His people Israel.

God remembers you, He has not forgotten or forsaken you.

It was meant to remind the people that their God was a covenant keeping God.

And that is good, right?

Aren’t we glad that God upholds His promises, His covenants?

We are recipients of the blessings of the New Covenant in Christ’s blood.

But the title also implied that the people had a responsibility to keep their part of the covenant.

Which can be boiled down to one simple statement, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might.

ZECHARIAH WAS A PROPHET

This is a very important reality that Zechariah was a prophet.

A prophet was literally a mouth piece for God.

This is a very important reality that Zechariah was a prophet.speak the same words to the people.

Thus throughout the OT prophetic writings you see phrases like “Thus said the Lord” or “The Word of the Lord came to me”

Zephaniah begins this way, The Word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah”

Joel begins this way, The word of the Lord that came to Joel.

Ezekiel says in 23:1, The Word of the Lord came to me again.

Zecharian opens by dating when the Word of the Lord coma to Zechariah.

It was serious matter to be a prophet.

In Moses outlined that the penalty for speaking something that God did not speak was death.

In the life of Elijah we see this death penalty carried out on all the false prophets who represented Baal, a god of the Amorites.

Fire rained down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice that Elijah had offered, proving that God was God.

Then it says, they seized the prophets of Baal, and put them to death.

A just penalty according to the Bible.

ZECHZARIAH WAS A FAITHFUL SERVANT

You say how do you know?

Well for starters, he declared that he spoke for God and he lived.

Second, the word Zechariah gave, came true, or will come true.

Nowhere can you point to and say Zechariah’s prophecy failed.

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Zechariah ministered in difficult and desperate times.

The people were so far from God that they did not understand why all these horrible things had happened to them.

Their spiritual and political leaders had been telling them Jerusalem would never fall, the Temple would provide protection.

Did you get that the Temple, not God would be their protection.

False prophets were speaking lies, and the lie was that everything was just fine.

But we know everything wasn’t fine because God sent them into exile.

Listen to what one commentator wrote.

The New American Commentary: Zechariah 3. Historical Era

The prophets rooted their teaching in the Torah where God ordained political defeat and exile for his people whenever they proved unfaithful. The momentous chapter on the blessings and curses destined for God’s people when they chose either to obey or disobey the Lord’s covenant, Deut 28, sets the stage for what God would do much later in biblical history. Among the manifold curses listed, this chapter mentions several of great significance for God’s people, including: defeat before the nations (v. 25), flight from their enemies (v. 25), being displaced from their own homes and fields (vv. 30, 33), loss of their prized property (vv. 30–31), and their children being taken exile with them to another nation (vv. 32, 36, 41, 49–52, 64–68). Deuteronomy 28:45–47 reiterates the message that these curses will only befall Israel if she chooses to spurn the Lord’s commandments. Jeremiah continued the same themes, devoting most of his ministry to warning Judah to repent in order to forestall judgment. Jeremiah delivered one of his most significant messages on the theme of the exile, stating,

Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones, and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jer 25:8–11)

And with amazing accuracy, 100% accuracy this is exactly what happened.

When the Babylonians came, they slaughtered the priests and other religious leaders.

The took most of the people captive into other lands.

Thus, the Jewish people were left without the means to worship God.

Now to be honest, prior to the exile, they weren’t real interested in worshipping the one true God.

And when I think about these times and circumstances,. I am reminded of the reality that you don’t always value something until it is gone.

This was the greatest single crisis in the history of the nation.

God had given them over.

Thus when God speaks through Zechariah, it is a much needed message of hope.

is one of my favorite verses, The kings heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.

This truth played out in the life of Judah in exile.

Just as God had promised, the exile came to an end after 70 years.

The Persian King Cyrus, decreed that the Jewish people could go home.

By the way, God foretold this through Isaiah 44:28

Thus proving that even the Kings are under His sovereignty.

Folks, if Biblical history teaches us anything, it is that God is in control.

This is how we got to where we are in history.

The exile is over, though sadly only 43,000 Jews came back.

God has once again proven Himself faithful.

And a new beginning is on the horizon.

The message of Zechariah, and Haggai were meant to encourage.

As I mentioned previously, because of opposition, the work on the walls and the temple had stopped.

Both Zechariah and Haggai wrote to confront and challenge the people to complete the Temple.

Their messages were very similar and certainly unified.

These two prophets wrote and ministered during the same time period.

And their messaged were complementary.

One major difference was that Haggai was less focused on the sins of the past, where as Zechariah began his prophecy with a somber warning and reminder that sin had been Judah’s undoing.

Thus Zechariah stressed the importance of rebuilding the people spiritually with great zeal.

Zechariah stresses a very important principle that is equally true and applicable to us today as it was to them today, the priority must be the worship of the Lord.

This is why rebuilding the Temple was so important to Zechariah, so that worship could resume, and lives could be transformed.

Therefore, Zechariah focused on the spiritual well being of the people far and above over their physical well being.

In takin this approach, Zechariah was well in line with former teachings of the scriptures.

offers great insight into this truth.

In verse 5, it is declared that the people must restrict all formal worship of the Lord to “the place the Lord you God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for His dwelling.

Zechariah mentions two men who were instrumental in this work.

Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest rallied the people to actionl

We will talk more of them later in the book.

THE THEOLOGY OF ZECHARIAH

There are three approaches to understanding the theology of the book.

The first approach is the non literal approach.

In this approach the interpreter ignores the historicity and spiritualizes everything.

This results in statements like, well it doesn’t really mean what it says,

It means this or that.

We reject this method because ultimately if you take that stance you can make the Bible say anything you want.

And if the text does not mean what it says, then how does anybody know what it means.

Second, some interpreters treat Zerchariah as though they had a contemporary meaning for the time it was written and a spiritual meaning for the future.

According to this method, only a spiritual fulfillment takes place in the future.

Thus this view almost always replaces Israel with the church.

Again, this view makes the word of God irrelevant.

The third view, and the only view that treats the Word of God with respect takes the stance that there is both a contemporary element that occured, and a future element to be fulfilled, literally.

For instance, the message of hope may speak to the people then, but it will also have a literal fulfillment sometime in the future.

In other words, the promises of God made through Zechariah to the nation may far exceed the scope of the historical significance of their day and find their ultimate fulfillment in the future.

This view is the only viable way to look at the book and it upholds the faithfulness of God.

With great frequency and force Zechariah proclaimed that God would be true to His promises made to Israel.

Even though the book contains many expressions of God’s judgment, it is almost always balanced with words of great deliverance and blessing.

The bottom line is that if God did not care, He would simply wipe them out forever.

But through judgment God’s goal was to always bring them back into a loving and intimate relationship with Himself.

The Messianic Theme receives a great deal of attention in the book of Zechariah.

Theologically this is huge.

We shall see Messiah in several passages and will spend ample time unraveling their meaning and significance.

We shall discuss the Angel of the Lord, the Branch, the Stone, and many other Messianic statements and titles in this great book.

The Messianic theme is so evident and prominent in this book that the NT writers relied on it often, but none more so than Matthew in his gospel.

In this book we see His Triumphal entry, a reference to His crucifixion, His return, and so much more.

And of great importance, that Messiah will finally be received by His people Israel.

I think it will be fun and exciting for us all.

Zechariah makes significant contributions to our understanding of eschatology.

During our study in the Revelation we looked at these briefly.

One tremendous truth that comes through often in this great book is the peace that will exist during the reign of Messiah and on into eternity.

Another great truth is that the offer God’s salvation will extend to all the people of earth, both Jew and Gentile alike.

But the greatest of all truths Zechariah presents, is that God is on the throne, He is sovereign and in control.

We also need to recognize, that even the Day of the Lord, the Day of God’s wrath, has at its heart the goal of repentance.

God makes Himself very clear in this book, that He wants Israel to return to Him and then He will return to them.

He wants to be their God and for them to be His children.