Zechariah's Second Vision Series

Life is not fair! The godly suffer unjustly, and the wicked seem to get away with their evil deeds. Unbelievers point to all the pain and suffering in the world and defiantly say, “If God is a just, loving God, why does he allow war? Why does he allow disease and famine? Where was he during the holocaust? Where was he when my loved one passed away unimpededly? These are valid questions that the Bible answers.i They are legitimate question when asked sincerely. But sometimes they are only asked as as an excuse for continuing in ungodly own behavior. Sadly, those questions are sometimes used as an argument against the gospel.

As Christians we sometimes wonder why God does not intervene and fix our problems. Why does God allow politicians who advocate abortion and promote anti-God behavior to be in power? Why doesn’t God give that power to godly people? These are very real struggles in our lives. Read the book of Job; read Habakkuk; read Psalm 73; read about Paul’s struggle with his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthian 12. This is a significant theme in Scripture. The Bible has a lot to say on the subject.

In Romans 12:19 God promises the oppressed saying, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (NKJV). ii What would the world be like if everyone truly believed that? The criminal steals because he thinks he’s going to get away with it. The adulterer commits adultery because he thinks nobody will find out. But what if—what if everybody really believed the statement we just read from Scripture? They wouldn’t violate other people because they would know that the all-powerful being who created the universe had guaranteed retribution.

Christians have a hard time forgiving offenses because down deep they are not fully persuaded of this either. But the Bible clearly teaches that in the end justice will prevail. Ultimately, nobody gets away with anything! “Do not be deceived,” Galatians 6:7 says, “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” The Apostle John saw the end of the matter in Revelation 20:11-12: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”

Solomon observed in Ecclesiastes 8:11: “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (NKJV). It’s the delay in justice that causes people to assume justice is not going to happen. It brings discouragement to the godly, and it convinces the ungodly they’re going to get away with the wicked deeds. But Solomon continues in the next verse, “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God” (NKJV).

This is the core issue behind our study today. We now come to Zechariah’s second vision recorded in Zechariah 1:18-21.

I. This vision naturally flows out of the first vision and flows into the third vision.

The first vision revealed God’s anger against the nations that abused Israel and his plan to bless his people. The second vision focuses on his judgment of the oppressor nations, and the third vision in chapter 2 focuses on the blessing he intends for Israel, especially Jerusalem. Those connections need to be understood.

We will not repeat all the background information processed in our previous studies. But a few brief reminders are in order. Zechariah and a remnant of Jews have returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. On February 15, 519 BC Zechariah received eight visions. We studied the first one in our last lesson.

Four months earlier (Hag. 2:1) God had promised to shake and overthrow the foreign powers that had scattered and oppressed Israel. Haggai 2:6 begins, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while. . . . .’” That phrase left Zechariah and the others in Jerusalem expecting an immediate retribution on Babylon and the other gentile nations that had mistreated them. Haggai continued with a declaration of what God would do. “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while, I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Notice how the exaltation of Israel is linked with God’s judgment on the nations that had scattered them. “‘. . . and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.”