Minor Prophets

Zechariah
GOD GIVES HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Along with the prophet Haggai, Zechariah was one
of nearly 50,000 Jews who returned to Judah from
exile in Babylon in response to the decree of king
Cyrus (538 B.C.) to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
The people had begun work on the temple, but after
laying the foundation, discouragement set in and
sixteen years passed with no progress. So, God called
first Haggai and then Zechariah, often referred to as
“prophets of the restoration,” to call the people to
return to Him and resume building.
God first raised up
Haggai who pointed out
the people’s sin and
selfishness in failing
to complete the work
they had been called
to do, to call them
back to work, and to
convey God’s promise to bless them as they labored.
Haggai’s prophecy was both an exhortation to
motivate the people to return to work and a word of
encouragement to complete the job.
Zechariah prophesied after the people had resumed
rebuilding, and his main purpose was to give the
people moral support, confidence in the Lord,
and hope for the future as they obeyed Him and
completed their work in the midst of opposition from
their pagan neighbors. Zechariah’s prophecy begins
with an oracle and eight visions calling the people
to return to the LORD and serve Him with sincerity
of heart. His theme is, “look to the future.” It was
vitally important that the temple be built because
one day in the future the glory of the Messiah would
dwell there and fill it. That day of blessing could never
come unless the people were obedient to God. As
one commentator put it, they were not just building
a temple. They were building the future. The Messiah
was coming, and they should work on the temple with
whole-hearted joy and enthusiasm.
Zechariah’s is a prophecy of encouragement.
Zechariah conveys “the word of the LORD” to
entreat and encourage
the people. In the
Don’t we all need encouragement?
And we see in the prophecy of
Zechariah that the Lord our God
is our great encourager.
prophecy of Zechariah,
we see what a great
encourager our God
is. He never leaves us
alone to amble blindly
through our sojourn
here on earth, but
He speaks to us through His Word. He spoke to his
people who lived 500 years before Christ through
the prophets He sent. In His Word, He speaks to us
through those prophets also, as well as through the
gospel writers and apostles and his disciples in the
New Testament. He has spoken to us through His
servants through the ages to encourage us right where
we are here and now in the twenty-first century.
And His message way back in the days of Haggai
and Zechariah is the same message He encourages
us with today. Jesus is coming to save us and set
things right. He’s coming to deliver us from evil. He
is coming to revive us, restore us, and renew us. He
is coming so we can rejoice right here and now in the
knowledge and hope that He gives us in His Word.
Zechariah means
The Lord
Remembers
The final chapter of Zechariah’s prophecy is an
oracle about the Day of the Lord - a future day seen
by many of the prophets - a day of judgment for the
wicked but of salvation and joy for God’s people.
Zechariah tells
us it will be a day when the remnant of all nations
will worship the King, the LORD of Hosts (Zechariah
14:16-21) and it will be a day of “HOLINESS TO THE
LORD.”
Do you need encouragement? Do you need
encouragement to get through your day, to go to
work, to care for your children, to get your school work
done, to be faithful to you ministry at church, or even
just to go out and face the world and other people in
your neighborhood, at church, on the freeways, in the
supermarket? Don’t we all need encouragement? And
we see in the prophecy of Zechariah that the Lord our
God is our great encourager.
Did you know that soon after Zechariah prophesied
there was a period of 400 years of silence when
there was not one word from God to His people?
God did not raise up any prophets for 400 years! It
was not until John the Baptist came, as a forerunner
of Jesus, the Messiah, that God again spoke to
the people. But He had given them amazing
encouragement through the message of Zechariah.
Even Zechariah’s name, which means, “The LORD
remembers” was an encouragement. And that should
be an encouragement to us as well. The LORD does
remember. He remembers you and He remembers
me, and He remembers every promise He has made
to us in His Word. And He will keep every one of those
promises. So, do not ever be discouraged. Sit down
for a few minutes (or as long as you like) every day
and encourage yourself in His Word. I promise that as
you read and soak it in and apply it to your life, you
will experience the encouragement of the LORD
26 INTRODUCTION TO MINOR PROPHETS DISCIPLERS BIBLE STUDIES 27