Zechariah 1

Ayoung preacher in his first pastorate phoned me for encouragement “Most of the people in the church are older than I am,” he said. “I wonder if they pay any attention to me. I feel like I’m out of place preaching to them.”

Since I had faced the same situation in my first church, I was able to give him the same answer a vet-

eran pastor gave me when I asked for help. “As long as you’re delivering God’s message, don’t worry about how old you are. When you open that Bible, you’re over two thousand years old!”

Zechariah was a young man (Zech. 2:4) when God called him to minister to the struggling Jewish remnant trying to rebuild their temple in the ruined city of Jerusalem. The elder prophet Haggai had delivered two of his messages before Zechariah joined him in ministry, and the two of them served God together for a short time. Haggai had gotten the building program going again after a sixteen-year hiatus, and now Zechariah would encourage the people to finish their work. God gave the young man “good and comforting words” (1:13, 17) to assure the people that, in spite of the hard times, God was with them and would see them through.

The prophet had two major emphases as he began his ministry to the remnant: God was calling them to repent, and God was assuring them of His personal concern. In a series of eight night visions, God explained His involvement with His people.

A preacher’s first sermon is usually difficult to deliver, but in Zechariah’s case, his first message was doubly difficult because of the theme—repentance. God commanded His young servant to call the discouraged remnant to turn from their wicked ways and obey His Word. Zechariah boldly proclaimed what God told him to say, for, after all, the Lord couldn’t bless His chosen people until they were clean in His sight. If Zechariah had wanted to quote a text for his sermon, it could well have been 2 Chronicles 7:14, a verse the Jewish people knew well.

Zechariah invited the people to look back and recall what their forefathers had done to provoke the Lord to anger and judgment (Zech. 1:2, 4). The Jewish people who had returned to the land knew their nation’s history very well. They knew that God had sent prophet after prophet to plead with their forefathers to turn from idolatry and return to the Lord, but the nation had refused to listen.

Isaiah had warned the leaders that God would discipline the nation if they didn’t change their ways (Isa. 2:6—3:26; 5:1–30; 29:1–14). Jeremiah wept as he warned Judah and Jerusalem that judgment was coming from the north (Babylon) and that the Jews would be exiled for seventy years (Jer. 1:13–16; 4:5–9; 6:22–26; 25:1–14). “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:15–16 nkjv).

Then, Zechariah shared God’s promise with them: “Return to me … and I will return to you” (Zech. 1: niv). God had left His people to their own ways, and that was why they were experiencing so much trouble. Haggai had already told them this in his first message (Hag. 1), but it was worth repeating. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4: nkjv). A. W. Tozer reminds us that “nearness is likeness,” so, if we want to be close to God, we must be obedient and develop godly character. The remnant had not put God first, so He couldn’t bless them as He desired to do.

At this point, Zechariah asked them two questions: “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?” (Zech. 1:5). Had the listeners answered honestly, they would have said, “Many of our fathers are dead because they were slain by the Babylonians, and some are still in exile in Babylon. Some of the prophets are dead because our ancestors killed them.”

But the point Zechariah was making was that the death of the prophets indicated the loss of opportunity for the nation. God gave the Jews ample time to repent and escape punishment, but they wasted their opportunity, and now it was too late. However, the Word of God, spoken and written by the prophets, can never die, and that Word eventually “catches up with” rebellious sinners (v. 6; “take hold of”; “overtake” niv). Once God’s longsuffering runs out, His living words will track down the offenders and judge them.

Some of their forefathers did repent (v. 6), but their repentance came too late to prevent the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the people. Some Jews may have repented when Nebuchadnezzar and his army arrived at the gates of Jerusalem, while others turned to God while exiled in Babylon. They admitted that their punishment was deserved and that God was just (see Lam. 2:17).

By calling the people to repent, Zechariah was preparing them for the messages he would give them, for unless our hearts are right with God, we can’t hear His Word with true spiritual comprehension. “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3: nkjv).

We occasionally hear evangelists calling lost sinners to repent, and this is good and biblical. But we rarely hear preachers calling God’s people to repent, even though this was the message of the prophets, John the Baptist, and Jesus. “The last word of our Lord to the church is not the Great Commission,” said Vance Havner. “The Great Commission is indeed our program to the end of the age, but our Lord’s last word to the church is ‘Repent.’” It’s one thing to ask God to bless us but quite another to be the kind of people He can bless!

chosen people as a husband is jealous over his wife and as parents over their children (Ex. 20:5; Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15). This explains why the Lord accused the Jews of adultery and unfaithfulness whenever they were guilty of worshipping heathen gods (Jer. 2:1–3; 3:14; 31:32; Hos. 1). Worldliness on the part of Christians is also pictured as “spiritual adultery” (James 4:4–10).

The Lord was angry with the Gentile nations because they had been unnecessarily brutal toward the Jews. True, God had called Assyria to punish the northern kingdom of Israel, and Babylon to chasten Judah; but these nations went beyond what God called them to do and tried to destroy the Jews. Other nations, like Moab, had also joined in the assault (see Ps. 83; 137).

But the Lord’s most heartening words had to do with Judah’s future, not her enemies, for God promised to return to His people and prosper their nation. He would comfort Zion and prove to the enemy nations that Jerusalem was indeed His chosen city. This promise is repeated and expanded in the rest of Zechariah’s prophecy.

When our situation appears to be hopeless, we must remind ourselves that God identifies with our sufferings and is in charge of the future. Our responsibility is to repent, confess our sins, and believe His “comforting words.” His responsibility is to respond to our faith and work out His perfect will for us.

About three months later, during the night of February 15, 519, Zechariah had a series of eight visions that God gave to encourage the remnant and motivate them to finish rebuilding the temple. These visions focus primarily on God’s ministry to Israel and His judgment on the Gentile nations that have afflicted Israel.

The army (vv. 7–11). In the first vision, the prophet saw a man on a red (bay) horse, leading an army astride red, brown, and white horses. This “man among the myrtle trees” was the Angel of the Lord (vv. 11–13), the second Person of the Godhead, who in Old Testament times made temporary preincarnate appearances on earth. As the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God appeared to Hagar (Gen. 16:7–14), Abraham (18; 22:11–18), Jacob (31:11, 13), Moses (Ex. 3), Gideon (Judg. 6:11–23), and Samson’s parents (Judg. 13).

But there was also an “interpreting angel” there who explained various things to Zechariah (Zech. 1:9, 13–14, 19; 2:3; 4:1, 4–5; 5:10; 6:4–5). Ten times during these visions, Zechariah asked questions of this angel and received replies (1:9, 19, 21; 2:2; 4:4, 11–12; 5:5, 10; 6:6). “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1: nkjv). “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant” (Ps. 25:14).

In this first vision, the Angel of the Lord taught Zechariah the meaning of the horsemen (Zech. 1:10): they are God’s angelic army that patrols the earth and carries out the decrees of the Lord (v. 11; and see Deut. 33:2; 1 Kings 22:19; Job 1:6–7; 2:1–2; Dan. 7:10; Matt. 27:63). Jehovah is “Lord of hosts,” the Commander of the armies of heaven and earth.

The messengers reported that the Gentile nations were “at rest and in peace.” After the upheaval of empires and Persia’s conquest of Babylon and other nations, this would appear to be an encouraging report, but it really wasn’t. The Jewish remnant was in distress, while the Gentile powers were at ease. Haggai had promised that the Lord would shake the nations and redeem His people (Hag. 2:6–9, 20–23), but this important event hadn’t occurred yet. The kingdom promised by the prophets seemed to be a dream that would never come true.

The appeal (v. 12). A remarkable thing happened: the Son of God interceded for the people of God who were in great affliction! For centuries, “How long?” has been the cry of suffering people, especially the people of Israel (Ps. 74:9–10; 79:5; 80:4; 89:46; Hab. 1:2). “How long?” is even the cry of the martyred saints in heaven (Rev. 6:10). That the Son of God should so identify Himself with the cries of His people reveals His compassion and concern. “In all their distress he too was distressed” (Isa. 63: niv).

Jeremiah had promised that God’s blessing would come after the seventy years of captivity (Jer. 25:8–14; 29:10–11), but the nation was still suffering. Why? Because they forgot that God had attached conditions to that blessing: the people had to repent, call upon God, and seek Him with all their heart, the very thing Zechariah had preached. Intercession for Israel should still be a part of our prayers. Moses (Ex. 32; Deut. 9:18), the prophets (1 Sam. 12:23; 1 Kings 18; Jer. 9:1; Hab. 3), Jesus (Luke 23:34), and Paul (Rom. 10:1) all prayed for Israel; good examples for us to follow. “You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth” (Isa. 62:6–7 niv). “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee” (Ps. 122:6).

The answer (vv. 13–17). After interceding for Israel, the Lord gave “comforting words” to the angel to give to the prophet. He affirmed His jealous love and

God encourages His people to trust concern for Jerusalem (see 8:2). God is jealous over His

Over the centuries, the Jews have suffered repeatedly at the hands of many nations, and yet they have survived. But every nation that has sought to destroy the Jews has discovered the truth of God’s promise to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Gen. 12: nkjv).

That’s the message of the second vision that God gave to Zechariah: the nations that have scattered the Jews will be terrified and thrown down by God’s agents of judgment. In a letter to President Ronald Reagan, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin wrote, “My generation, dear Ron, swore on the altar of God that whoever proclaims the intent of destroying the Jewish state or the Jewish people, or both, seals his fate.” But it’s the Lord who does the judging, not the armies of Israel, and His judgments are never wrong.

In Scripture, a horn is a symbol of power, especially the power of a nation or a ruler (Ps. 75:4–5; 89:17; 92:10; Jer. 48:25; Amos 6:13; Dan. 7:7–12; 8:1ff.; Rev. 17). The four “smiths” (artisans, craftsmen) represent nations that God uses to defeat the enemies of the Jews. They would use their “tools” to cut off the horns and render them powerless.

The concept of four horns (nations) reminds us of Daniel’s visions of the image (Dan. 2) and the beasts (Dan. 7), both of which speak of four empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. In 722, Assyria devastated the northern kingdom of Israel, but God raised up Babylon to defeat Assyria (Jer. 25:9; 27:6) and eventually take Judah into captivity in 586. Babylon did indeed oppress the Jews, but then God raised up Cyrus to conquer Babylon in 539 (Isa. 44:28; 45:1); and in 538, he permitted the Jews to return to their land. The Persians were conquered by the Greeks, under Alexander the Great, and Greece was conquered by Rome.

This scenario suggests that the “horns” also became “smiths” as each empire conquered the previous oppressors. It also reminds the Jews of God’s providential care in the past and His promise of protection for the future, for God will not permit any nation to annihilate His chosen people. In the last days, when Antichrist, the “dreadful and terrible beast,” establishes his kingdom (Dan. 7:7–8, 15–28) and persecutes the Jews, he and his kingdom will be destroyed by the return of Jesus Christ in glory and power. Zechariah will have more to say about this in the last part of his book.