Zechariah: God Planned It. Series

The book of Zechariah

Zechariah 12:10-13 and 13:1.

When we first started the series, A Deep Dive into Scripture back in January 2024, yes folks, we’ve been doing this for that long, with Genesis. It was decided as part of the reason for this “deep dive into scripture’ was to increase our understanding of the rescue plan that God has for humanity through Jesus. You may remember that I stood in roughly the same place I am now and talked about how the first eleven chapters of Genesis are about the fall of mankind, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, through to Noah and the great flood and onto the Tower of Babal and then. Then there is a character, an unlikely, a little bit shady character introduced, a bloke by the name of Abram who becomes Abraham. From chapter 12 of Genesis we come to understand that the rest of the Bible describes and highlights God’s rescue plan for humanity and through Abraham’s lineage would come the Chosen One, the Messiah who would save mankind from the curse that befell them through their original ancestors in a garden long-long ago, for us in a place far-far away. Sorry watched some Star Wars this week.

So here we are near the end of the Old Testament at the second to last book. The book of Zechariah, now this book is on your average reading scale a bit weird, well it contains strange imagery, things like stones with eyes and a woman in a basket who is called wickedness who gets carried off by two women with stork wings, mountains of Bronze and chariots with various coloured horses ranging over the whole earth. But relevant to Christians is that Zechariah told the remanent of Judah and tells us about ‘The Coming Servant of the Lord.’ At this time, with Easter approaching the first weekend of next month it is relevant. Where we sit in the history of the world, we have this deep understanding of God’s rescue plan culminating in Jesus.

So, Zechariah has some truly weird and wonderful imagery contained in it, what one commentator described as a wild ride. We have the angel of the Lord with Joshua the High Priest standing before him, and Satan standing to his right hand to accuse him. Then the Lord rebukes Satan. We see then Joshua receives clean garments and a new turban. Joshua is then told that if he conforms to the ways of the Lord and carries out his duties, administers God’s spiritual business correctly and takes charge of the courts, that if he follows the Lord’s commands and direction that, God will “….bring [his] servant, The Branch.” He says, “In one day, I will wipe away the guilt of the land. On that day, says the LORD of Hosts, you shall all of you invite one another to come and sit each under his vine and his fig tree.” (3:9-10).

We as readers are to remember that this is a prophetic message, spoken before Christ, and that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. The book was written at the same time as Haggai wrote his book to the remanent of the people returning from Babylon around 520BC. Of real interest is that the message that both prophets Zachariah and Haggai brought was around those things Rochelle spoke about last week; a couple of my take homes were “Put me first and see what I can do.” And “Whenever we place God first, everything else will find its place.” These messages were to a remanent of the people of Israel who were now settling back in Judah after their exile in Babylon. This remanent returning was also part of God’s rescue plan.

Almost exactly one hundred years earlier before the people were taken into Babylon the prophet Zephaniah spoke these words; Chapter 3:12 says “But I will leave within you the meek and humble who trust in the name of the Lord.” And verse 20 of the same chapter says “’At that time I will gather you; at that time, I will bring you home. I will give you honour and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,’ says the Lord.”

So, there’s this remnant of the people who return, they are now home in Judah suitcases unpacked, if I was listening and heard correctly last week, around fifty-thousand people, people who had been in exile for seventy years as forecast by the earlier prophet Jeremiah around 620 BC, He said this:

“’This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.’

‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, ‘and will make it desolate forever.” (Jeremiah 25:11-12).