INTRODUCTION

1. A preacher’s first sermon is usually difficult to deliver, but in Zechariah’s case, his first message was doubly difficult because of the theme—repentance.
1. God commanded His young servant to call the discouraged remnant to turn from their wicked ways and obey His Word.
2. Zechariah boldly proclaimed what God told him to say - the Lord couldn’t bless His chosen people until they were clean in His sight.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

1. Our Lord’s last word to the church is ‘Repent.
2. It’s one thing to ask God to bless us but quite another to be the kind of people He can bless!

1. Zechariah, =  “whom Jehovah remembers,”
1. Son of Berechiah, =  “Jehovah blesses,” #. His father was the son of Iddo, =  “the appointed time.”

                                          i.    God REMEMBERS and BLESSES at the APPOINTED time.

1. Zechariah was a young man at the time of these visions

Zechariah 2:4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:

1. Zechariah was a COMMON name among the Hebrew people
1. Twenty-eight Zechariahs are MENTIONED in the Old Testament #. Some say Zechariah of this book was KILLED 

Matthew 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.    

1. Jewish Targum says a Zechariah was KILLED in the sanctuary and that he was both PROPHET and PRIEST.

                                          i.    Josephus (Wars, iv. 5, 34) REPORTS of  the MURDER of a ‘Zecharias, the son of Baruch,  

                                        ii.    If that was the case, he certainly had a difficult life, we just don’t know

1. We have acquired a mindset that if you are a Christian, i.e. saved, life will always be nothing but a bed of roses                                           i.    Yet the Bible is full of examples of God’s children suffering

                                        ii.    Yes, suffering often comes with the walk 

1. Zechariah’s PROPHECY practically CLOSES the Old Testament
1. It is next to the FINAL book  
2. The prophecy was written in 520 b.c.
1. Zechariah was CONTEMPORARY with Haggai 

Ezra 5:1  Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.

1. Yet Zechariah was the OPPOSITE of Haggai.
1. They KNEW each other
2. They prophesied to the same PEOPLE at the same period of TIME.
3. Yet their prophecies are just about as DIFFEERENT as any two could be

1. Zechariah spoke from visions received of God
1. HAGGAI was entirely PRACTICAL.
2. Both SPOKE for God
3. Both spoke to the same PEOPLE
4. Both spoke during the same TIME
5. Both spoke about the same PROBLEM.

1. God still uses many ways to communicate His message
1. For example,

                                          i.    We see this is the styles of preaching

                                        ii.    We see this true the different personalities of preachers

1. Yet, thru it all God is glorified

1. In a single night Zechariah saw a series of visions
1. Each were interpreted by an angel #. Each described the future of the nation Israel.
2. God’s spiritual blessing set forth in the visions bridges centuries

                                          i.    From the rebuilding of the temple in Zechariah’s day

                                        ii.    To the restoration of the kingdom to Israel under the Messiah  

1. Our understanding of the teaching of Zechariah is helped when we recognize that the prophet gives pictures of the future in snapshot fashion
1. The pictures are not in any particular sequence.
2. When we read a passage, we see only what is happening in that snapshot,

                                          i.    Not how it relates to other snapshots.

the vision of the red-horse rider among the myrtles (1:7-17)

Zech. 1:1  In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying

1. “In the EIGHTH month, in the SECOND year of Darius”
1. This is the period of the RETURN of a remnant of Israel BACK to their land AFTER the seventy-year captivity in Babylon.
2. There is NO king in either Israel or Judah now.

                                          i.    The line of David is no longer on the throne

1. “The second year of Darius” is would be the same year in which HAGGAI prophesied.
1. Remember, BOTH Zechariah and Haggai prophesied to the same people during the same period of time.

Zech. 1:2  The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers

1. Zechariah is tells them that the REASON they had been in captivity was that “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.”
1. Their fathers had SINNED against God, and
2. Zechariah is WARNING the returned remnant NOT to follow in the footsteps of their pre-Captivity fathers.

                                          i.    He is WARNING them against making the SAME mistakes.

1. Message is still loud and clear

                                          i.    Repent or Perish!

Zech. 1:3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts 

1. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts.”
1. It occurs FIFTY-TWO times in this book #. The word hosts =  “service” or “strength” or even “warfare.”

                                          i.    SPEAKS of the boundless resources at His command for His people

1. Just think of the resources available to us today

                                          i.    Love, Joy, Peace

Zech. 1:4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord

1. Look at this WARNING.
1. God is saying, “Your fathers paid no attention to the prophets whom I sent to them. I sent Hosea. I sent Joel. I sent Amos. I sent Isaiah and I sent Jeremiah. I sent all of these prophets, but your fathers did not listen to them nor heed their message. #. That is the REASON they went into captivity.
2. No repentance

1. Just because the older generation was unfaithful to God is no reason for their sons and grandsons to be unfaithful.
1. We are free to choose for ourselves.

1. Is there any excuse for a person being lost today?
1. Everywhere you turn – one is confronted by the Gospel
2. Our newspaper – running on a daily bases Bible quotations
3. Our TV – flooded with religious programming
4. Our Movies – From Passion, to Narria, to Esther, to Birth of Christ;  there seems to be a steady flow
5. Books – book stores and libraries abound with books pointing one to Jesus
6. Literally man stands without excuse in his rejection of Jesus Christ
7. Since one has rejected Jesus

                                          i.    God asks a very simple question QUESTION

Zech. 1:5  Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever?

1. The VOICES of their fathers, of the FORMER prophets are NO longer sounding.
1. They are dead

1. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Joel and Amos are GONE.
1. They are DEAD, and their voices are SILENT.
2. But there is ANOTHER question: “your fathers, where are they?”
3. ANSWER:  they are buried BACK in Babylon.

                                          i.    That is the WRONG place for an Israelite to be buried

                                        ii.    Israelite wants to be buried in his OWN land.

                                       iii.    The hope of the patriarchs and Israelites was to be IN their land at the time of the RESURRECTION of the dead.

Zech. 1:6  But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us

1. “Did they not take hold of your fathers?” = “did THEY not OVERTAKE your fathers?”
1. The JUDGEMENT for their SINS is WHAT overtook them.

1. “And they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.”
1. They were FINALLY willing to admit that the JUDGMENT which had come to them was JUST and RIGHTEOUS  

                                          i.    GOD had WARNED them

                                        ii.    But they had NOT listened to Him.

1. The Message is still loud and clear
1. Yet the response is so often the same
2. Refusing to believing
3. Refusing to repent
4. Refusing to be saved

FIRST VISION - RIDERS UNDER MYRTLE TREES

Zech. 1:7  Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying

1. The Hebrew months do not begin with January, the eleventh month would be equivalent to our February—in this case February 24, 520 b.c.
1. Yesterday some 2,527 years ago

1. FIVE months PRIOR to this vision, the Lord appeared to Haggai and had given him a message of CHALLENGE for the remnant to RESUME the rebuilding of the TEMPLE.
1. Haggai’s MESSAGE was a rebuke for their delay in building and their hesitation in moving forward with it.

                                          i.    Time to get to work

1. Haggai told them about the coming destruction of gentile world power before God would establish His Kingdom here upon the earth.
2. Haggai told them that the one who would rule would be the Messiah

                                          i.    That the Messiah was coming from the line of Zerubbabel,

1.    Zerubbabel was the civil ruler of Jerusalem at this time

2.    He was in the royal line of King David.

1. Now it was during this time - while the temple was being rebuilt - that Zechariah was given these visions.  

Zech. 1:8  I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white

1. “I saw by night”—he doesn’t say, “I dreamed by night.
1. These were not dreams, but they were visions #. He was wide awake!

                                          i.    In sleep the mind is released, and it generally wanders back over some experience that produces the dream.

1. Zechariah said, “I saw.”

1. “Behold”—Zechariah introduces his vision  
1. Behold = “to look.” “Look! There’s a man riding upon a red horse!”  
2. “A man riding upon a red horse.”
1. Who is this man?

                                          i.    He is the Lord Jesus Christ before His incarnation.

                                        ii.    Identified as the “angel of the Lord” in verses 11 and 12.

                                       iii.    In the Old Testament the angel of the Lord is designated as God.

                                       iv.    The, the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament.

1.    He is God Himself, the Messiah.

1. Zechariah sees Him watching over this world.

                                          i.    Satan is called the prince of this world,  

1.    The world today is all under Satan’s control

2.    But God has not given up this earth to Satan.

                                        ii.    Even at this very moment, the Lord Jesus Christ is standing in the shadows, keeping watch over His own.

1. Isn’t it a great to know that, out of all the galaxies about us which are beyond number,  that the God of the universe is watching over His own.  

1. The Man that Zechariah saw was riding “upon a red horse.”
1. Why the color red?                                           i.    Red speaks of blood and bloodshed;

1.    In the book of Revelation it speaks of bloodshed in war.

                                        ii.    But here it speaks of this one who is riding the red horse,

                                       iii.    Here it speaks of the riders own blood that was to be shed.

                                       iv.    The Rider, Jesus is watching over this earth because He would die and shed His own blood for you and me.

                                        v.    A vision to Zechariah, history to you and me

1. “Behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.”

1. It does not say that there were riders on the horses

                                          i.    If each horse had a rider.

                                        ii.    We can assume that the riders are angelic beings under Christ’s command

                                       iii.    Their job was to watch over this earth and report their findings to Him.

1. The colors of the horses—mixture of red and white; speckled.                                           i.    Red horses would be symbolic of warfare.

                                        ii.    White horses would probably represent victory,   

1. “He stood among the myrtle trees.”
1. Certain trees and plants represent the nation                                           i.    The olive tree, the fig tree, the myrtle tree, the grapevine  

Isaiah 41:19  I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the olive, and I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together.

Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle: and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.

1. In modern Israel there is a tremendous planting of trees

                                          i.    Most of them are myrtle

1. The myrtle branches together with palm branches were used in the ritual of constructing booths in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.                                           i.    Myrtle is the Hebrew word from which the name of Esther, comes from

1. “The myrtle trees that were in the bottom”
1. “The bottom” = down in a valley.                                           i.    The grove of myrtle trees would be in a valley where there was water
2. The myrtle trees in the valley speaks of Israel,

                                          i.    Israel was certainly down in a valley at this time.

1. So many people are in the valleys of their lives                                           i.    Living without hope

                                        ii.    Living without direction

                                       iii.    They are down in the valley

1. Jesus is just waiting for the day to come when He will take over this earth.
1. In the meantime He is patrolling the earth,                                           i.    Watching over it.

                                        ii.    Watching over you and me

Zech. 1:9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be

1. “Then said I, O my lord, what are these?”

a.    That is what we are asking

a.    Jesus says that He will show us what these things are

b.    That we shall find out Lord willing, next Sunday

b.    The big question this evening is, ‘What will you do with the grace of God?’

a.    He has offered you salvation, free and complete in every way.

b.    His love is so great that He is willing to forget our sinful ways, utterly and completely, through the sacrifice of His only beloved Son.