Zechariah 1:7-21

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Zechariah 1:7-21

Comforting Words from a Merciful God

February 18, 2024 • Nick Steinichen • Zechariah 1:7–21

Three months after that first oracle of Zechariah’s ministry, recorded in Zechariah 1:1-6, he receives the first of eight visions that come to him in the night. Each of these visions follows a basic pattern: Zechariah sees something, asks the angel about it, and is told by the angel what it means. The general idea of this first vision is that God will overcome whatever difficulties Judah is experiencing. He will rescue His people.

Zechariah 1:1-6

February 11, 2024 • Nick Steinichen • Zechariah 1:1–6

Scripture teaches that “for everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The book of Zechariah begins with a specific time stamp: “In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius” (Zechariah 1:1), which means the book dates back to October or November in the year 520 BC. During this time, God’s people, who had returned sixteen years earlier to the land He had given them, were still under Persian rule. Israel was in disrepair with broken-down walls. Just two months earlier, through the Word of the Lord given to the prophet Haggai, work on the temple had resumed (Haggai 1:8). God has already begun His movement towards His people, and now He is about to begin the movement of His people toward Himself. To do this, God raises up another prophet by the name of Zechariah, whose name means, “the Lord remembered.” Zechariah was a younger man who had been born during the exile and raised under Babylonian and Persian captivity. He was of the priestly line of Levi (Nehemiah 12:1-16). We learn in the New Testament from the mouth of Jesus that he was an innocent man who was “murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35). Zechariah was chosen and called by God to speak the Word of the Lord to God’s people at this divine time.

Zechariah 2:1-13

February 25, 2024 • Nick Steinichen • Zechariah 2

Same evening. Another vision. We have all seen the city limit signs on the side of the road as we drive down the highway. They indicate the boundaries of the city, telling us where the city begins and where it ends. These signs represent defined borders that distinguish a city from other areas around it. Imagine a city with no boundaries, no borders, and no limits. The city is what the prophet Zechariah sees in his third vision of the evening, which is meant to provide great hope and comfort to God’s remnant who are in a very discouraging situation.

Zechariah 3:1-10

March 3, 2024 • Nick Steinichen • Zechariah 3

Imagine that a dear friend you have not seen in years comes by as you are doing yard work. You’d love to throw your arms around your friend, but your clothes are caked in grime and muck and you smell like a barnyard. What you want at that moment is to stop time, go shower up and get a change of clothes! Here in Zechariah 3, God continues to restore His people, whose priests are unclean and unable to stand before Him in worship and sacrifice. God alone can provide the cleansing and the righteousness that they need in order to draw near to Him.