Two Comforting Visions (Zechariah 1:7-21) Series

Today, we enter into week 2 of our Zechariah study. Last week's verses were kind of an intro to the book, and my guess is that that prophetic word felt "normal." Many of you have heard my earlier series on Haggai, Nahum, and Zephaniah, and Zechariah starts off sounding a lot like them. It's a different prophet, but the message was familiar. Last week perhaps felt like slipping on a pair of old jeans; everything just feels right. And the message last week, was one we find scattered throughout the Bible: "Return to God, and He will return to you. Don't follow in the evil paths your ancestors walked. Don't harden your hearts, and close your ears to what I'm saying. Instead, take the road that leads to God."

This week will have a very different feel. As we leave the intro behind, and enter into the meat of Zechariah, we will find two different types of material (form criticism here). The first, is prophetic messages/oracles from God to the people. Those messages will sound familiar. But the second type, and the type that sticks out the most in these chapters, is called "a vision report" (*Michael Floyd). In these reports, the prophet is given visions of spiritual realities. Zechariah sees things, and hears things, that aren't visible to anyone else.

Now, the book doesn't quite tell us this, but it gives the impression that Zechariah sees all these things at night (Zechariah 1:8; arguably, but I'd say wrongly, Zechariah 4:1). And so what Zechariah sees are often called "night visions." It'd be easy to get a little off-track, and think that we are seeing and hearing Zechariah's dreams. But what Zechariah sees is NOT a dream. You see visions from God when you're awake.

I know a couple people who have had visions from God, and the way they describe them is something like this:

Some of you have bifocals. You struggle to see things, either far, or close. And with bifocals, you're able to clearly see far and close, but not at the same time. The thing you're not focusing on is still there. You're aware of it. You can still make out parts of it. But it's not the focus. That's sort of how I think visions work. When God gives you a vision, you're still aware of your surroundings. If you were out walking when God gave you a vision, you'd be able to put one foot in front of the other. You'd be able to dodge fallen trees, or even open doors. You'd know where you are. But when the vision comes, you'd almost certainly stop, and let God reveal his vision to you, because that vision almost entirely fills your vision.

The other thing I should say about visions, is that sometimes, they are like a photograph. You're given this picture (Jeremiah 1:11). Other times, they're like a movie, and you might or might not be a participant in that movie.

I say all of this in part because I expect that some of you, maybe many of you, will receive visions from God at some point in your life. The expectation in Acts 2:17, which quotes from Joel 2, is that "in the last days, which are happening right now, "God will pour out his Spirit on all people, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young people will see visions, and your older people will dream dreams."

If this happens, my hope is that my words right now will somehow come to mind, and you'll be able to understand the crazy thing that just happened to you. God gives visions and dreams as a way to communicate to his people. And it seems to me that I'd much rather receive visions, than dreams, because dreams are a lot more tricky, as far as knowing what's from God, and what's just me eating too much sugar before bed. But let me just encourage you to believe that God still speaks to his people, just as he spoke to Zechariah. Sometimes, he speaks through visions that are like pictures and movies. And that's one of the things we should seek out, and be able to recognize when we receive them.

So, Zechariah receives these visions, maybe mostly at night. Today, we will work through the first two visions, starting in Zechariah 1:7:

(7) On the 24th day of the 11th month-- this is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius-- the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah son of Berekiah son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:

(8) I saw at night,

and LOOK! A man! A rider upon a reddish-brown horse,

Now, he [was] standing still among the myrtle shrubs which were in the shadowy place,

and behind him reddish-brown ones, sorrel ones, and white ones,