Last week we began a study of the book of Zechariah.
(1) We discovered the THEME of the book in Zechariah’s name. Zechariah means “Yahweh [covenant name of God] Remembers.” God remembers his covenant with his people, even when they forget it. He remembers his promises to them, even when they have lost hope of those promises being fulfilled. In an earlier time,i Isaiah recorded this faithfulness of God to his people by prophetically declaring, “Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.”ii That was a word of comfort for people who felt discouraged and forsaken. The next verse in Isaiah 49:14 records how they felt: “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.” Then verses 15-16 give God’s response: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.” The NLT paraphrases that last statement this way: “Ever before me is a picture of Jerusalem's walls in ruins.” That passage in Isaiah 49 approximates Zechariah’s message to Israel: God Remembers!
(2) Drawing heavily from the book of Ezra, we examined the HISTORICAL CONTEXT of Zechariah’s message. He is a postexile prophet. He is preaching to people who have come out of the 70-year Babylonian captivity. This small remnant who returned to Jerusalem began with great zeal and enthusiasm. But they encountered fierce opposition. The task was more difficult than they thought it would be, and the support from other Jews in Babylon was less than hoped for. They became discouraged and then got distracted by other things.iii
During their first two years back in Jerusalem, they settled into homes, built a temporary altar, faithfully worshipped God, and laid the foundation of the temple by 536 BC. It was an excellent start. But how many know, starting a worthy project is often easier than finishing it. The opposition from the local Samaritans and the limited support from other Jews who remained in Babylon, left them discouraged and disillusioned. Ezra 4:24 says, “Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.” For 16 years they made no progress on the work God brought them there to do. They lost their zeal for God. They still claimed Jehovah as their God. They still went through the motions. But their hearts were not in it like it was in the beginning.
That’s where the book of Zechariah begins. In 520 BC God did something to turn that situation around. Ezra 5:1 records it this way: “Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.” That statement corresponds with Haggai 1:1 and Zechariah 1:1, tying the three books together historically.
Born in Babylon in a priestly, devoted family, Zechariah came to Jerusalem as a child. When he reached maturity, he began his public ministry in Zechariah 1:1. “In the eighth month of the second year of Darius [520 BC], the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet. . . .”
Today we will begin with: I. THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
When leaning anything that is complex, it is helpful to identify the individual parts, analyze each part, then make sure we know how those parts connect as a whole. Zechariah is one of the most difficult books in the Bible to interpret.iv It is full of visions, symbolism, and end-time prophecy. That’s why many people skim over it and fail to reap the benefits of what God is saying through this prophet. But God has given it to us as a revelation. He wants to speak to us through this book, and the message is particularly relevant for where we are today as God’s people.
Look with me at the OUTLINE of this book provided below.
First notice the book is organized into two major sections:
(1) Chapters 1-8 reflect Zechariah’s early ministry and
(2) Chapters 9-14 were probably given much later in his life.
The literary style of the two sections is very different. Additionally, chapters 9-14 contain later historical references. For those reasons, some liberal scholars say that portion of the book was written by someone other than Zechariah. But the most likely explanation of the differences is that Zechariah’s prophecies in chapters 9-14 came much later in Zechariah’s life than those in the first eight chapters.v
The first six chapters convey eight night-visions that Zechariah received in one night (1:7) about three months after he began his public ministry (1:1).vi That had to be a very busy night for him. These were visions rather than dreams.vii They are filled with the assurance of God’s good intentions toward his people.
Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the issue of hypocrisy.
Chapter 7 confronts the problem of hypocritical fasting, and chapter 8 declares the blessing that accompanies sincere fasting. The issue of fasting is representative of all our religious activities. Are those activities done from a heart of love toward God, or are they done for other more selfish motives?viii
The last section of the book (chapters 9-14) is full of prophecy concerning the coming of Messiah. Chapters 9-11 predict Israel’s rejection of Messiah at his first Advent. For example, Zechariah 9:9 says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15 apply that prophecy to Jesus. Chapter 12-14 predict the ultimate salvation of Israel and the Second Coming of Christ.
At this point we just want to get the general flow of the book.
At the beginning we said the theme can be summarized with the simple phrase “God Remembers.” A thread of comfort runs all through the book assuring Israel that he has not forgotten his covenant with them. And that assurance culminates in chapter 14 with the defeat of Israel’s enemies and the establishment of the millennial reign of Christ.
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OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH
I. (Ch. 1-8) Visions and Oracles
A. Introduction (1:1-1:6)
B. Eight Night Visions (1:7-6:15) (1) The Horseman among the Myrtle Trees (1:7-17) (2) The Four Horns and the Four Craftsmen (1:18-21) (3) Man with a Measuring Line (Surveying Instrument) (ch. 2) (4) Clean Garments for the High Priest (ch. 3) (5) The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees (ch. 4) (6) The Flying Scroll (5:1-4) (7) The Woman in a Basket (5:5-11) (8) The Four Chariots (6:1-8)
C. Symbolic Crowning of Joshua the High Priest (6:9-15)
D. Oracles Concerning Hypocritical Fasting (7-8) (1) Hypocrisy of False Fasting/Religion (ch. 7) (1) Blessing of True Fasting/Religion (ch. 8)
II. (Ch. 9-14) Messianic Prophecies
A. First Word: Advent and Rejection of the Messiah (chs. 9-11) (1) Advent of the Messianic King (chs. 9-10) (2) Rejection of the Messianic Shepherd-King (ch. 11)
B. Second Word: Advent and Reception of the Messiah (chs. 12-14) (1) Deliverance and Conversion of Israel (chs. 12-13) (2) Messiah’s Second Coming and His Kingdom (ch. 14)ix
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Now let’s consider the invitation God extend to his people in Zechariah 1:2-7.
II. THE INVITATION OF THE BOOK
We will begin reading in verse 1. “In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 ‘The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Return to Me,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts. 4’"Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’ ‘But they did not hear nor heed Me,’ says the Lord. 5 ‘Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? So they returned and said: 'Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.'”
God’s Invitation to his people is recorded in verse 3: “Return to Me," says the Lord of hosts, "and I will return to you." There is in that message a promise from God: “I will return to you” and a condition that must be met: “Return to Me." This invitation flavors the whole book of Zechariah.
The exhortation is “Return to Me.” That is the key to everything. Our most fundament problem is our relationship with God. If we get that right, the other problems will get resolved.
We have already seen that these people had grown lax in their service to the Lord. They had not totally denied him. To put it in our terminology, they went to church every Sunday. They put something in the offering plate. They were not involved in any gross debauchery. But their lives had become self-centered. Their devotion to God had become lukewarm.x Instead of passionately pursuing the Lord and his purposes for their lives, they gave him a little token service, then lived to have more for themselves.
That Laodicean attitude is what Haggai was confronting when addressed the fact they were building bigger and better houses for themselves, but they were not concerned for the work of building the temple (Hag. 1:2-5). Keep in mind what the temple represented. It represented the presence of God. It represented the worship of God.xi Failure to build it revealed the condition of their hearts. That was the real issue.
God’s solution to the problem is REPENTANCE: “Return to Me.” That is always the first order of business. Turn from the direction you have been going and turn toward God. Repentance is a negative word in the minds of many people. They almost interpret it in terms of rejection. But repentance is the Doorway to promise. We see that in this verse, and we see it all through the Bible. What if God offered no opportunity for repentance? What if God’s attitude was simply, “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.”
Repentance means there is opportunity for something better. Repentance means a sinner does not have to continue on the road that leads to death. In our text, repentance is a demand from God. But it is also an offer of something better. That’s why both John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries (as Zechariah does here) with the call to repentance. Matthew 4:17 says, “From that time [after Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness] Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” That was a declaration of opportunity—an opening of the door to the kingdom.
Listen to the positive way the apostles used the term repentance in Acts 11:18: “When they heard these things [Peter’s testimony of how the Holy Spirit was poured out on gentiles at the house of Cornelius] they [the apostles and those gathered with them] became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’” Repentance is something God must grant if we are to have it. Repentance requires a decision on our part, but no one can repent without God graciously granting that capacity. And no one enters into eternal life without going through the door of repentance. If God has granted to you repentance, be thankful. You didn’t do him a favor; he did you a favor. When preachers throw repentance out of message, they are closing the door to Kingdom.
So, in these words we have both a demand and an opportunity: “Return to Me.” You have to go through this door called repentance.xii You have to do an “about face.” You have to stop going the wrong way and start going the right way. You have wandered away from God. Now you must repent; you must turn to him. It is a requirement; but do not miss the fact that it is an opportunity for something better—an invitation to greater blessing and intimacy with God.
Most of us can relate to the last verse of that old Wesleyan hymn entitled: “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
Oh, to grace how great a debtor, Daily I’m constrained to be
Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heat to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.xiii
Repentance is not a one-time thing. In our initial entry into the kingdom, we must repent. But repentance is a lifestyle for the child of God. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray daily, “And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation But deliver us from the evil one” (Luke 11:4). The people Zechariah brought his message to were not enemies of God. They were God’s people, but they needed to turn from some things, and they needed to turn their focus back on the Lord.xiv
God’s PROMISE follows: “and I will return to you." The same Hebrew word translated “return” is in the promise that was in the requirement. “Return to Me," says the Lord of hosts, "and I will return to you."
The only thing that is separating any of us from God is our persistence in sin—our insistence in going ours own way. If we repent and return to God, he will return to us. Like the father of the prodigal in Luke 15, God stand ready to receive those who return to him. He will love them and treat them good. God’s thoughts toward us are “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer. 29:11 KJV). Jesus put it this way, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:29). Every one of us is living as close to God as we choose to live! God is not distancing himself from us. We are distancing ourselves from him. But the invitation is presented: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
Zechariah reinforces the invitation by reminding his hearers of what happened to their FOREFATHERS. In fact, he begins with this statement in verse 2: “The Lord has been very angry with your fathers.” Their experience, the consequences of their disobedience, should convince Zechariah’s generation to turn to God with all their hearts. Zechariah presents God’s invitation in verse 3. Then comes back to the forefathers in his appeal. Zechariah 1:4: “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not hear nor heed Me,’ says the Lord.” Returning to the Lord always involves a turning from evil. We cannot turn to the Lord and at the same time pursue evil ways and evil deeds. We cannot serve two masters.xv Our turning to the Lord must be sincere.
The reference to their forefathers accomplishes THREE OBJECTIVES.
(1) It provides an Example of what not to do. Look at what happened to them when they did not turn to God. It serves as a Warning to the current generation because God is no respecter of persons.xvi
Paul does something similar when he talks about the judgment the Israelites who came out of Egypt experienced. They were God’s people.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:1-3, “all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” To put that in our terminology, they all said the sinner’s prayer, they were all born again, they all were partakers of Christ! Then in 1 Corinthians 10:5 he makes his point, “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” Previous spiritual experiences did not exempt them from obedience to God. And when they drew back from God—when they went their own way—when they refused to do what God wanted done, “their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” The result was judgment. The application for us is in verse 6, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”
Zechariah is doing the same thing Paul did. He is pointing to the forefathers of these Jews, and he is saying, “The Lord has been very angry with your fathers.” Even though they belonged to God, He judged their sin. They persisted in their disobedience, and God sent them into captivity for 70 years.
(2) It affirms the Justice of God in his dealings with their forefathers. Their captivity was right and only came after many appeals for repentance. The former prophets preached repentance to them. They were given the warning. They were given the word of the Lord. But they chose to ignore that and continue going their own way. Verse 6 says, “According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’” It was not arbitrary; it was not capricious; it was just. And that had to be acknowledged.
We have raised a society of victims. Everybody is a victim. Everybody deserves reparations. Nobody is responsible because somebody else has harmed me. It’s a sad state of affairs, and it is no way to correct the problems. Correction in your life and my life always begin with an honest acceptance of personal responsibility. On the surface those Jews in Babylonian captivity may have looked like victims. Later in this chapter we will find that they were victims of excessive cruelty by those how took them into captivity (Zech. 1:15). But God was altogether just in his dealings with them. It never helps to get mad at God. First, he is never wrong. There’s something about the situation we’re not seeing. But secondly, anger toward him tends to distance us from him and leads us in the wrong direction. In the final analysis, he is our solution. He is for us, not against us. He has the words of eternal life and the wisdom we need for navigating this life. Anything that distances us from him, distances us from the solution we need.
(3) This reference to the forefather’s experience also affirms the enduring quality of GOD’S WORD.
Look again at Zechariah 1:5-6: “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers?” The word of God will stand! If God says it, then that’s the way it will be. Zechariah begins by calling people to a respect for the word of God.
In our humanistic society people tend to worship the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). They tend to respect the word of man rather than the word of God. But where are all those great people? They are dead and gone. Even the godly prophets don’t live forever. But the word God gave those prophets comes to pass even if it is several generations later.xvii
All the way back in Deuteronomy 4:25-27 God warned Israel:
“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.” But even in that passage God declares the invitation in verse 29: “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Isaiah prophesied: “All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:6-8). We have been given a sure word of prophecy in this Bible.xviii We would be wise to respect its authority and heed its admonitions. It will be health to our bodies and eternal bliss to our souls.
Conclusion:
We have reviewed the overall structure of this book. We have also examined the invitation God presents to his people in Zechariah 1:3 “‘Return to Me,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will return to you.’” Our turning to God—our seeking him is not in vain. God promises to respond in mercy and kindness. If you have wandered from the Lord, hear his gracious invitation to you: “Return to Me. . . and I will return to you.”
ENDNOTES
i “Isaiah: “ He prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, Isa 1:1, covering probably 758 to 698 B.C.” (from Smith's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
ii All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
iii When we are discouraged spiritually, we may be tempted to deal with that by turning to other things that distract from God’s purpose for our lives. Cf. John 21:3.
iv Cf. H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971 [1956]) 5.
v Eugene Merrill writes, “Kenneth Barker and other scholars account for some of the differences between Zechariah 1-8 and 9-14 by suggesting that the prophet may have lived well into the fifth century, possibly into the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.). This can be supported by the reference to Zechariah in the genealogy of Neh. 12:10-16. The passing of at least 30 or 40 years from the time of Zechariah’s earlier oracles can easily explain the allegedly later historical references (such as to Greece in 9:13) and the clearly more eschatological perspective of the last six chapters.” Eugene H. Merrill, An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994) 63.
vi “The book of Zechariah as it stands makes plain the eight visions of chapters 1-6 came to the prophet in the course of one night, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (1:7).” Merrill, An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 65.
vii NIV Study Bible, “Zech. 1:8,” 1401.
viii Cf. Isaiah 58; Matt. 6:16-18; 23:13-29.
ix This outline is an adaption from the NIV Study Bible, Andrew Hill’s commentary, and Eugene Merrill’s commentary. Barker, Kenneth L., ed., The NIV Study Bible, 1985 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995) s. v. “Zechariah: Outline” by K. L. Barker and L. L. Walker, 1400; Eugene H. Merrill, An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994) viii-x; Andrew E. Hill, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, vol. 28, David Firth, ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012) 119-121.
x Cf. Rev. 3:14-22.
xi Cf. Ex. 25:22; 2 Chron. 7:1-3; Ps. 5:7; 65:4; 132:7; 138:2.
xii Cf. Acts 2:37-39; 3:19; 17:30; Rev. 2-3.
xiii Robert Robinson, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” in Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003) 64.
xiv 2 Chron. 7:13-14; Jer. 29:13.
xv Cf. Matt. 6:24.
xvi Cf. Acts 10:34.
xvii The book of Zechariah moves toward the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel in chapter 14.
xviii 2 Pet. 1:19-21; 2 Tim. 3:15-17.
