A Call to Repentance
Zechariah 1: 1 – 6
Zechariah
(Yahweh remembers) is an appropriate title for this book because the
reader of the book is told the good news; Yahweh remembers His
chosen people and His promises and will be faithful to them. It is a
book of comfort and hope, beginning with a call to repentance and
ending with prophecies concerning the return and reign of Christ.
Like Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, Zechariah was both a priest and prophet. Nehemiah tells
us he was the head of a priestly family when Joiakim, who succeeded
Joshua, was high priest (Nehemiah 12:16). He was probably born in
Babylon and returned to Judah with Zerubbabel and Joshua. He
succeeded his grandfather Iddo, who returned to Judah in 536BC, as a
leading priest in Judah. He began his ministry in Judah two months
after Haggai began his ministry. His ministry supplemented Haggai’s
ministry. Both prophets compared the present with the past and the
future. Haggai stressing the rebuilding of the temple as a sign and
source of the Lord’s blessing and Zechariah emphasizing the need to
repent and spiritual renewing. Haggai and Zechariah’s ministries
followed the ministries of Ezekiel and Daniel who ministered to the
captives in Babylon.
The purpose of
Zechariah’s ministry was to motivate the captives that had returned
to Judah and Jerusalem to finish restoring the temple and to
rededicate themselves to the Lord of hosts.
The central
theme of the book is encouragement and hope. The key to this hope is
the coming of Messiah and His overthrow of ungodly forces and
establishment of His kingdom on earth. The bases of his ministry are
divine authority, “the word of the Lord” (Zechariah 1:1). He
received a divine commission to be the Lord’s spokesman, with
instructions what to say to the returned captives and he delivered
to the people what he received.
Chapter
One
Verse one and
two - “In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of
the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the
son of Iddo saying, The Lord was very angry with your fathers.”
Why was the Lord
angry with the fathers of the returned captives? Two reasons are
given in 2nd Chronicles 36:14-36; idolatry and a failure to give the
land seventy sabbatical years of rest. Every seventh year the land
was to have a Sabbath rest (Leviticus25:2-7). It was for this reason
the wrath and anger of the Lord “were poured out and burned in the
cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 44:6).
The Lord through Ezekiel told the Israelites He would deal with them
“in wrath” and His eye “will have no pity nor shall” the Lord will
not spare them even though they cry out for mercy. He will not
listen to them (Ezekiel 8:18).
The captives who
have returned to Judah and Jerusalem are aware of the reason for the
Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel and their fathers told them why they
were born in captivity and the wrath and anger of the Lord poured
out on the cities of Judah, Jerusalem, and the people. They told
them why the temple was destroyed. They have come to Judah and
Jerusalem and have seen the results of the disobedience of their
fathers.
This should be a
warning to all Christians. There is a time when the Lord can no
longer permit the disobedience of His children and though we find it
hard to believe the Lord will deal harshly with the disobedient He
will do as He did with the ancient Israelites. We have been warned
of and witnessed the consequence of disobedience has its
consequences. The prophets have warned us. The apostles have warned
us. Above all others Jesus has warned us. Today, the Holy Spirit
warns us. Are we listening and heeding the warnings? Before you
answer look at the conditions in the world, in our cities, and in
our families. The returning captives looked at the destruction of
their cities, Jerusalem, and the temple. We are witnessing the
results of disobedience in the world, our cities, and families. The
judgments of those who have gone before us should be a warning not
to follow their example if they lead us to the same situation the
captives found themselves.
The word of the
Lord told Zechariah, tell the returned captives:
Verse three -
“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.”
The captives who
have returned to Judah and Jerusalem are to turn to the Lord in
faith and repentance and make their peace with the Him if they will
do this the Lord will extend His mercy and favor to them. They will
find peace and be reconciled to Him. The Lord of hosts told Malachi,
tell the builders of the wall around Jerusalem, “From the days of
your fathers you have turned aside from My statues and have not kept
them. Return to Me, and I will return to you.” (Malachi 3:7).
The Lord told
these backslidden people through Zechariah:
Verse four - “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.”
In Psalm 78
psalmist speaks to the people about the early history of the nation
in order to warn future generations they are not to be like their
fathers who he said, were a stubborn and rebellious generation “that
did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God”
(v. 8).
Although the
fathers had forsaken the Lord He sent prophets to them but they
would not listen to the prophets (2 Chronicles 24:19). “They
continually mocked the prophets of the Lord and despised the words
of the Lord and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord
arose against His people, until there was no remedy” (2 Chronicles
36:16).
If the children
of the captives expect to escape the penalty for their acts of
disobedience, they must turn from their evil ways and their evil
deeds. They must not harden their hearts as their fathers did. The
results of the hardening of the heart by their fathers should have
caused the children to turn from their evil ways and evil deeds. To
this point and time in the lives of the children, the price their
fathers had to pay for their disobedience had little or no effect.
Parents need to understand the examples of life they set before
their children can have a lasting impression on the life of their
children.
Why should the
children listen to and heed the words of Zechariah? While it is
true, the fathers who did not listen to or heed the former prophets
and went into captivity they were able to live a comfortable life.
They were able to build homes and business, marry, have children,
and even have an informal form of worship.
Zechariah, asks
the returned captives:
Verse five -
“Your fathers where are they? And the prophets, do they live
forever?”
Where are the
fathers? They are dead, buried in Babylon. They no longer walk the
streets of the cities and towns, seen shopping in the shops and
stores or the worship service, their voices are silent. Where are
they? They are somewhere. When they left the physical world, they
entered the spiritual world, an unchanging and unchangeable world.
They are either in torment or in paradise.The captives who have
returned to their homeland will follow their fathers if they do not
turn from their disobedience.
Have you
considered where you will be when you enter the spiritual world?
The third
question Zechariah asks the returned captive concerns the words of
the Lord.
Verse six - “But
did not My words and My statues, which I commanded My servants the
prophets, overtake your fathers?”
Both the fathers
and prophets are dead, but the word of the Lord is still alive. Not
one iota or title fell to the ground. The judgments the Lord can
upon the fathers of the returning captives. The fathers of the
captives experienced what they would not believe or fear. The words
of the prophet could not bring conviction upon the fathers but the
calamities threatened overtook them and they could not escape them
or get out of their way. “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’” (v.6).
Zechariah’s
point is, pay attention to the Word of God because, through prophets
die, it endures, and the proof that it endures is that its warnings
come true.
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