Survey of the Bible - Zechariah
Text: Zechariah 1:3-6
I. The book of Zechariah begins in the same time frame as Haggai.
A. For over a dozen years, no work has been done on the Temple only the foundation has been laid.
B. Haggai and Zechariah were sent to stir the people up into completing the project - Ezra 5:1
C. Zechariah was a popular name. About 29 people in the Bible were called Zechariah.
1. The name means “God Remembers”
2. Throughout Zachariah, emphasis is made on the fact that God remembers His covenant
D. Zechariah was born in Babylon to Berechiah, the son of Iddo - Zechariah 1:1
1. Iddo and his grandson are mentioned in a list of priests who came back with Zerubbabel - Nehemiah 12:4, 16
2. He is called a young man - Zechariah 2:4
3. According to Jesus he was murdered like an earlier Zrchariah - Matthew 23:35
E. Because of a change in writing style and mentions of Greece, it appears that chapters 1-8 were written early in Zachariah’s life when the temple was on hold, about 520 to 518 BC.
1. Chapters 9-14 were written after the Temple was completed, about 40 to 50 years later.
2. Darius I would have died and Xerxes, the one who deposed of Queen Vashti and made Esther queen would be the current ruler.
II. Eight Visions - Zechariah 1-6
A. A call to repentance - Zechariah 1:1-6
1. Date is about a month before the construction on the Temple restarted
2. It is about a two months after Haggai’s prophecies began - Haggai 1:1
B. A man and horses among the myrtle trees - Zechariah 1:7-17
1. Date is about two months after the construction on the Temple started.
2. The man turns out to be an angel, sent with others to observe the nations - Zechariah 1:10-11
3. The question is when would God turn from His anger with Israel - Zechariah 1:12
a. God is angry with the nations at ease - Zechariah 1:15
(1) Confirms Haggai 2:20-22
b. But He will return with compassion to Jerusalem - Zechariah 1:16-17
C. The four horns - Zechariah 1:18-21
1. The horns are the nations (powers) from every direction that scattered Israel - Zechariah 1:18-19
2. Four craftsmen come to scatter the scatterers - Zechariah 1:20-21
D. The measuring line - Zechariah 2
1. Builds on the idea from Zechariah 1:16
2. Jerusalem would be repopulate to overflowing - Zechariah 2:1-5
3. God calls His people home - Zechariah 2:6-9
4. The return of joy - Zechariah 2:10-12
5. A call for silence as God is about to act - Zechariah 2:13
E. The cleansing of Joshua, the High Priest - Zechariah 3
1. Joshua stands in filthy robes before the angel of the Lord, with Satan beside him. Satan is rebuked and Joshua is clothed in clean robes - Zechariah 3:1-5
2. Joshua is admonished to live righteously - Zechariah 1:6-7
a. The priesthood and its duties are restored
3. God is going to bring the Branch, the Messiah - Zechariah 1:8-10
a. He will be a stone – the chief cornerstone - Isaiah 28:16
b. With perfect vision - all knowing, all seeing
c. To remove sin
F. The golden candlestick and two olive trees - Zechariah 4
1. The vision - Zechariah 4:1-4
2. The explanation - Zechariah 4:5-14
a. A message to Zerubbabel that the temple will be finished, not by men’s might or power but by God’s Spirit - Zechariah 4:6-9
b. God will rejoice to see it - Zechariah 4:10
G. The flying scroll - Zechariah 5:1-4
1. A large banner about 35x17 feet.
2. It is a curse. On one side it declares that thieves would be purged from the land and on the other side that oath breakers would be purged.
3. These are the sins that brought down Israel - Hosea 4:2-3; Micah 2:2-3
H. The woman in the basket - Zechariah 5:5-11
1. A woman is thrust into a basket that is carried by two women with wings to Babylon (Shinar)
2. She is wickedness - Zechariah 5:8
3. Sent away permanently to stand on a base that isn’t of God
I. The four chariots - Zechariah 6:1-8
1. Angels patrolling the nations
2. Only on the one to the north, Babylon, has God’s anger been appeased - Zechariah 1:8
J. The crowning of Joshua - Zechariah 6:9-15
1. A symbolic act with Joshua representing the coming Messiah, the Branch
2. Though they are building a physical temple, the Branch will build the Temple, reigning as priest and king
III. Questions about Fasting - Zachariah 7-8
A. We are now about two years later - Zechariah 7:1
B. For seventy years while in exile, the people remembered the destruction of the temple with a day of tears and fasting - II Kings 25:8-9.
1. The question is should this continue - Zechariah 7:3
C. Was the fast for God or for themselves? - Zechariah 7:4-7
1. They were feeling sorry for themselves - Colossians 2:20-23
2. But the destruction was exactly what God said would happen
3. What God wants - Zechariah 7:8-10
4. But the people refused and were scattered - Zechariah 7:11-14
5. If they had followed God, there would have been no need for fasting.
D. Instead of a fast, it should become a celebration
1. God has zeal for Jerusalem - Zechariah 8:1-3
2. Jerusalem will be a place of safety - Zechariah 8:4-5
3. God is going to save people across the world - Zechariah 8:6-8
4. His people won’t repeat the mistakes of the past, they will become a blessing - Zechariah 8:9-13
5. God wants them to live righteously - Zechariah 8:14-17
6. So the days of fasting are to become feasts - Zechariah 8:18-19
E. As a result, people from all nations will seek God - Zechariah 8:20-23
IV. Two Burdens- Zechariah 9-14
A. First Burden - Zechariah 9-11
1. Judgment against the nations around Israel - Zechariah 9:1-8
a. Protection for Israel - Zechariah 9:8
2. The coming Messiah - Zechariah 9:9-10:12
a. The triumphal entry - Zechariah 9:9
3. The rejection of the Messiah by Israel’s leaders will result in the destruction of the nation - Zechariah 11
a. The payment to Judas - Zechariah 11:12-13
B. Second Burden Zechariah 12-14
1. Some time in the future God will use Jerusalem as a means of punishing the nations, but God will save Jerusalem - Zechariah 12:1-9
2. God will bring salvation - Zechariah 12:10-13:9
a. Look on the one they pierced - Zechariah 12:11
b. Will open a fountain for cleansing - Zechariah 13:1
c. Idolatry, unclean spirits, and prophecy will be cut off - Zechariah 13:2-6
d. Persecution that will refine - Zechariah 13:7-9
3. The nations will battle Jerusalem - Zechariah 14:1-2
4. God will battle the nations - Zechariah 14:3-7
5. Living water will flow from Jerusalem in all directions - Zechariah 14:8-11
6. God will strike at those who battled Jerusalem - Zechariah 14:12-15
7. Those who survive will come to worship God, those who don’t will be punished - Zechariah 14:16-21
8. The second burden is about the church as the new Jerusalem - Hebrews 12:22-24
