Chapter 1-8: Through return to restoration…
The message of Zechariah is perhaps the most Messianic in nature of all of the prophets. The prophet’s name is significant. It means “The Lord (Yahweh) remembers”. “Yahweh” is the personal, covenant making name for God. That gives us an immediate “heads up” that we’re dealing here with the unbroken continuity of God’s ways towards His people, and them to Him. The message of Zechariah focuses on the absolute sovereignty of God in the past, present and future. Like with the message of Haggai, encouragement is a central theme as God’s people are called to “Return to the Lord” (chp. 1), to totally focus on God (chp. 7), and so be ready for the blessing to come (chp 8). The message of Zechariah leads us towards Advent as we “prepare the way for the coming King”.
Chapters 9-14: Through suffering to glory…
With the groundwork done in the first half of Zechariah, the remainder of his message is focused on the coming Messiah. Chapters 9 & 10 focus on the personal nature of the King, not just His presence as a national figurehead. He will be the one to bring righteousness, salvation and peace to the ends of the earth. Yet, rejection will still be very real (chp. 11). But that’s not the end because chapters 12-14 focus on nothing being able to stop the cry of “Let the King reign”. Zechariah’s prophecy highlights that the coming King – Jesus – will show the world the full extent of God’s love. See how all that will come into place – Luke 1:26-50 – through the servant heart of the one who will say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as You have said”.
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; Luke 2:8-11. “Today, you will find Him and so see how to have your own living experience of the Lord”. That was the message of the Angel of the Lord to the shepherds (slightly paraphrased!). It’s a message we need to hear, and respond to, in the midst of our Christmas celebrations. […]
Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1-5, 14; John 3:16. The familiarity of Christmas Carols will draw us in closer to the truth of the gospel message of God’s salvation plan, and “Christingle” will give an opportunity to consider how we experience that in our lives. When we bring the two together we are dealing with something that […]
Luke 1:26 to Luke 2:20. Whilst being in the audience at a Nativity Service can be heart-warming as we experience a cuteness overload of small children retelling the Biblical narrative, that’s far from the reality of how things were when the birth of Jesus was announced. It wasn’t a time when most of the community […]
Zechariah Chapters 12 to 14. There are two core themes in the final chapters of Zechariah: The Messiah will come, and His Kingdom will reign. Our gracious God goes on reaching out to all people, despite their rejection of Him, because He has a comprehensive renewal plan to transform, protect, guide, and save. This is […]
Zechariah 11. The first 3 verses of chapter 11 are probably a poem of lament over all that is not as it should be with how people have received the Messianic King. Seeing those verses in that way help us to understand the rest of the chapter where we are shown the worthlessness of the […]
Zecharia Chapters 9 and 10. The Messianic King is coming! He will bring righteousness and salvation (9:9), peace to the ends of the earth (9:10), and unity will be restored through the King as the true shepherd of His flock (10). This will all be more than just a national thing. The Messianic King will […]
Zechariah Chapters 7 and 8. As the people of God begin to ask questions, they seem to be more focused on themselves than they are on God. That was happening at the expense of others, something that God will never be pleased with. God loves to see justice, mercy, and compassion. The Lord’s people needed […]
Zechariah Chaps 4 – 6. And so the visions keep coming! In chapter 4 (vision 5) the people of God are encouraged to keep going and rebuild, knowing that they have the resources to do what the Lord was asking of them. Chapter 5 (visions 6 & 7) explains that those who oppose the ways […]
Zechariah 2 and 3. Where chapter 1 had a heavy emphasis on what was destroyed, lost, and missing, the third and fourth visions lift the heads of the people of God so that they can see the restoration and blessing that the Lord will bring to His covenant people. Yet, there is a small hint […]
Zechariah 1: 7-21. Zechariah 1:7 begins with the first of a series of 8 visions that Zechariah saw. In the first two (to the end of chapter 1), the main concern of the people is that they would see Him do something to bring about their restoration. Verse 12 holds their main question – “how […]