Sermon Notes, August 28, 2016 PM
Minor Prophets with a Major Message
Zechariah
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. Robert
Munsch wrote a delightful story of a loving mother cradling her newborn son.
As she looked into his eyes she softly
sang, “I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for
always. As long as you’re living my baby
you’ll be.” Munsch went on to describe the
baby’s growth through the stages of
childhood and teenage years. At each step of his
life, even when difficulties arose, she
would slip into his room at night and quietly sing
the song as a reminder of her devoted love.
One evening the grown son went to his
aged mother’s room and found her unable to
sing. He tenderly embraced her and
sang the reassuring words. He then returned
to his home where he held his newborn
child and tearfully sang, “I’ll love you
forever, I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m
living my baby you’ll be.”
B. None
of us outgrows the need to be reassured of love.
1. An old pioneer couple was riding in
their covered wagon. The old woman looked at
her husband’s weathered face and said, “Do
your still love me?” He replied, “I told
you forty years ago I love you. If I
change my mind I’ll let you know.”
2. We need the reassurance of love in
difficult times of fear and uncertainty. .
C. Ours
is not the first generation to experience anxiety about the future.
1. We are concerned about the upcoming
elections.
2. We are concerned about the spiritual and
moral climate of society.
3. We are concerned about the quality of
life our children and grandchildren will
possess.
4. We are not the first generation to have
such concerns. When the remnant of Israel
returned from exile in Babylon and
Persia (approximately 537 B.C.) they found their
capitol, Jerusalem, along with the
Temple of God in ruins. Both had been destroyed
by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar
in 586 B.C.
a. Now a remnant returned..
b. As the Jews returned they were filled
with apprehension. What did the future hold
for them? What would be the future
of their nation? What would happen to the
succeeding generations?
c. They started rebuilding the temple
but ran into opposition from the Samaritans.
Work stopped and for 15 years
nothing was done. God raised up Haggai who
preached four messages and motivated the
people to resume construction on
the temple. Just a few months after
Haggai’s prophecy there came another
prophet named Zechariah.
1.) Haggai’s message was brief. Zechariah’s
was much longer.
2.) Like Haggai, Zechariah also
urged the people to complete the temple but He
went further.
5. Zechariah reminded Israel’ of God’s love
for them and His desire to bless all
nations through them.
D. Zechariah
is a difficult book.
1. Jerome called Zachariah the most obscure
book in the Old Testament. Others
have said it is the most difficult book
in the Old Testament.
2. One of the reasons it is difficult is
because it contains a great deal of apocalyptic or
symbolic language. Zechariah is like the
second half of Daniel and the book of
Revelation in the use of symbolic
language.
E. In
this message I am going to use some broad strokes to give you an overview of
the
man and His message.
I. THE MAN
A. The name is one of the most familiar in
the Bible. There are 27 other Zechariah’s
in the Bible. The name Zechariah means “God
remembers.”
1.
We know that his father’s name was Berechiah meaning, “Jehovah blesses.”
2. His grandfather was Iddo meaning “In
His time.” The three together mean, “God
remembers, God blesses, “In His
time.”
B. We read about Zachariah in Ezra 5:1-2 –
“When the prophets, Haggai the prophet
and Zechariah the son of Iddo,
prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and
Jerusalem in the name of the God of
Israel, who was over them, 2 then Zerubbabel
the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son
of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the
house of God which is in Jerusalem; and
the prophets of God were with them
supporting them.”
C. Zechariah is mentioned by Jesus in
Matthew 23:35 – 36 – “Therefore, behold, I am
sending you prophets and wise men and
scribes; some of them you will kill and
crucify, and some of them you will
scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from
city to city, 35 so that
upon you may fall the guilt of
all the righteous blood shed on
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel
to the blood of Zechariah, the son of
Berechiah, whom you murdered between the
temple and the altar.”
II. THE MESSAGE
A. Outline of the book. There are two sections to
the book. Chapters 1 – 8 (quoted
most often in Revelation) and Chapters 9 –
14 (quoted most often in the Gospels).
1. Introduction – Chapter 1:1-6 - Return
to the LORD and He will return to you.
2. Eight Visions Chapter 1:7 through
Chapter 6:15.
a. The Horses in the Myrtle Trees
1:7-17
b. The Four Horns 1:18-21
c. The Measuring Line 2:1-13
d. The High Priest 3:1-10.
e. The Lampstand and Two Olive Trees
4:1-14.
f. The Flying Scroll 5:1-4.
g. The Woman in the Basket 5:5-11
h. The Four Chariots 6:1-15.
3. Observance of Fasts – Chapters 7-8
4. The coming of Christ – Chapters 9 –
14.
B. Great themes of the book.
1. Zechariah is one of the most
Messianic of all the prophets. John McArthur says
that Christ can be found on almost
every page of the book.
a. Christ is referred to as God’s
Servant in 3:8.
b. He is called the Branch (3:8;
6:12).
c. He is the Stone (3:9).
d. He is the King (9:9).
e. He is the Shepherd (13:7).
f. Zechariah prophecies that the Messiah
will come on a colt (9:9).
f. He predicts the betrayed for 30
pieces of silver which are then thrown in the
temple for the potter field (11:12-13).
g. Zechariah calls the Messiah a
fountain for cleansing (13:1) and said that His
hands and feet would be pierced
(12:10).
2. Zechariah tells us that Israel’s
enemies will be destroyed in 14:12-15.
3. Everything Zachariah says is prefaced
by a call for repentance.
a. The key to the entire book is in 1:2-6:
The Lord was very angry with
your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of
hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,”
says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Do not be like your fathers, to whom
the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return
now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.”’ But they did not listen or
give heed to Me,” declares the Lord. 5 “Your fathers, where are
they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But did not My
words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake
your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to do
to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’
b. God had been angry with their
fathers who had forsaken Him.
1.) The anger of God is directed
at sin because it separates us from God.
2.) If you want to make me angry
do something to harm my children.
c. Now He issues a call to
repentance. According to verse 4 the former prophets
had cried out for the people to
return to God but they did not. Ultimately
judgment came upon them.
d. Zechariah said, “Do not let this
happen to you.”
4. Repentance is a constant theme in the
Old and New Testaments.
a. Noah called people to repent.
b. Jonah called the people of Nineveh to repent.
c. The pre-exilic prophets called
upon people to repent.
1.) Jeremiah 3:13 - 14 – “Only
acknowledge your iniquity that you have
transgressed against the
Lord your God and have scattered your favors to
the strangers under every
green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’
declares the Lord.14 ‘Return,
O faithless sons,’ declares the Lord.”
2.) Ezekiel 18:30-31 - “Therefore
I will judge you, O house of Israel, each
according to his conduct,”
declares the Lord God. “Repent and turn away
from all your
transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling
block to you. 31 Cast
away from you all your transgressions which you have
committed and make
yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will
you die, O house of Israel?”
3.) Isaiah 55:7 – “Let the
wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts; and let him
return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on
him, and to our God, for He
will abundantly pardon.
d. Now the post-exilic prophets are calling on
the people to repent. Malachi said
“From the days of your fathers
you have turned aside from My statutes and
have not kept them. Return to
Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of
hosts” (Mal. 3:7).
e. After Zechariah and Malachi there
were 400 years in which there was no word
from the Lord. When we come to
the New Testament what is the first message
we find being preached?
1.) John the Baptist came
preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand” (Mt. 3:2).
2.) Jesus came preaching
repentance (Mt. 4:17).
3.) When Paul preached to the
Athenians he preached repentance (Acts
17:30).
4.) Peter said, “The Lord is not
slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all
to come to repentance.”
5.) J. W. McGarvey said if he
were to die preaching he hoped to be preaching
repentance. If he died when
he was not preaching he hoped to be
practicing repentance.
f. Many people do not understand
what repentance consists of. Repentance is
not merely contrition it is
conversion. It is not simply being sorry and asking for
forgiveness. It is ceasing the
practice of sin.
g. God had wonderful blessings in
store for Israel. Through them would come the
Messiah who would bless
humanity. In order to receive the benefit of these
blessings they needed to repent.
CONCLUSION:
A. In
chapter 1:13-14 we read how the Lord spoke with “gracious words, comforting
words” as He declared His passionate love
for His people. Later, in 1:17 He said,
“My cities will again overflow with
prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and
again choose Jerusalem.”
1. God is like the mother in the story we
began with. He loves us forever. He will
spare no expense to demonstrate His love
for us.
2. Because He loves us He wants us to live
with Him forever. He calls us to
repentance and to the cleansing that can
only come through the blood of Christ.
B. If
we may assist you in your obedience to the Lord come to Him today.
