Teacher: Pastor Chet Lowe

Main Scriptures: Zechariah 1, Isaiah 42, 2 Chronicles 36

• The New Testament quotes Zechariah over 40 times
  • This prophecy is a word from the Spirit for the Jewish nation (2 Peter 1:21 ESV)
    • The church does not replace the Jewish nation—His covenant with Israel is forever
• The book is broken into 4 sections
  • Return to Me (Zechariah 1:1-1:6)
  • Be encouraged by Me (Zechariah 1:7-6)
  • Celebrate because of Me (Zechariah 7-8)
  • Rule the world with Me (Zechariah 9-14)
• Zechariah records prophecy about the Messiah, the apocalypse and the Second Coming
• Zechariah 1:1-3
  • The people had rebelled against God’s word and rejected God’s prophets (2 Chronicles 36:14-16)
  • Context for the book
    • Pre-Exile
      • The people of Israel wanted a king
        • Saul > David > Solomon > Rehoboam and Jeroboam
      • The kingdom divides
        • Jeroboam leads the Northern Kingdom
          • Kingdom of Israel (AKA Ephraim which was the largest tribe)
            • Composed of 10 tribes
            • Was taken over by the Assyrians
        • Rehoboam leads the Southern Kingdom
          • Kingdom of Judah (Which was the largest tribe in the south)
            • Composed of 2 tribes
            • Was taken over by the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar
    • Mid-Exile
      • Assyrian captivity of northern kingdom
      • Babylonian captivity of southern kingdom
      • Babylonians fall to Persians and Cyrus makes decree to return to Israel
      • Timeline
        • 606 BC 1st Captivity (Daniel’s captivity)-Luke 21:24
        • 597 BC 2nd Captivity
        • 586 BC Temple destroyed
          • God spoke Isaiah 40:1 and 43:1-3 to this people
        • 539 BC Babylon falls to Cyrus
          • Cyrus is introduced in Isaiah 41:2-4, 25; 44:24-45:5; 45:9-13
            • This was written 150 years before Cyrus was born (Ezra 1:1-3)
    • Post-Exile
      • 1st Wave: Zerubbabel returns to rebuild the temple at Cyrus’ decree (46,000 Jews came with him)
        • Zechariah is a part of this wave
        • His prophecy was written during this time
      • 2nd Wave: Ezra returns to reestablish worship
      • 3rd Wave: Nehemiah returns to rebuild the wall
      • Then there were 400 years of silence until God speaks to Zechariah the priest in the Gospels
  • v. 1
    • Zechariah’s name has meaning and promises the Messiah’s coming
      • Zechariah means “The Lord remembers”
      • Berechiah means “To bless”
      • Iddo means “At the appointed time”
    • He started his ministry when was a teenager (Zechariah 2:3-4)
    • His ministry was to communicate God’s word to the Jewish nation
      • He was a prophet, a priest (Nehemiah 12:1, 16) and a “type” of Christ
        • He was murdered in the temple for his ministry (Matthew 23:35)
      • He was a part of the first wave
        • The first wave was responsible for completing the altar and laying a foundation. This happened in two years
          • The work was stopped for 16 years by the Samaritans who wrote a letter to the new king—not Cyrus (Ezra 4)
            • The Jews built their own houses when they stopped work on God’s house
              • God raised up Haggai to exhort them to continue work on God’s temple
                • Two months after this exhortation, Zechariah begins his work of encouragement about the future of the nation
  • v. 2-3
    • His message from God was “Return to me and I will return to you”
      • God wants relationship with us and calls us to draw near Him (James 4:8)
        • The people responded to Haggai’s exhortation and started the work again
          • The Samaritans were upset again and went to King Darius to get the Jews to stop building
            • King Darius found Cyrus’ decree, allowed the Jews to start building again and required the Samaritans to pay for the work (Ezra 4-6)
    • Messengers of repentance must count the cost of preaching the Gospel and depend on the Spirit
      • Zechariah was murdered
      • Jesus was crucified
      • The disciples were martyred