Fall Preaching Series on THE MINOR PROPHETS

God's Mechanic: ZECHARIAH

Historical Context

            Zechariah prophesied to the people of Judah after they returned from their seventy years of exile in Babylon.  Zechariah’s dated visions and messages in chapters 1–8 all take place in the same general time period as Haggai’s, beginning in October–November 520 BC with a call for the people of Judah to repent (Zechariah 1:1). He then received eight visions on the restless night of February 15, 519 BC (1:7), followed by four messages that he preached on December 7, 518 BC (7:1). Though his final messages in chapters 9–14 go undated, the mention of Greece in 9:13 suggests the prophecies came much later in his life, presumably sometime in the 480's BC, before Ezra (458 BC) and Nehemiah (444 BC) arrived to again revitalize the Jewish people.

            Because of his family lineage, Zechariah was a priest in addition to a prophet. He, therefore, would have had an intimate familiarity with the worship practices of the Jews, even if he had never served in a completed temple.

Message/Theme/Audience

            Zechariah's name means “Yah(weh) has remembered,” which is the essence of his message to Jerusalem after the exile. While Haggai called on the people to erect the temple of God, Zechariah summoned the community to repentance and spiritual renewal. Zechariah provided specific prophecy about their immediate and distant future—no doubt a great encouragement. Their nation would still be judged for sin (5:1–11), but they would also be cleansed and restored (3:1–10), and God would rebuild His people (1:7–17).

            Like many of the prophets, Zechariah saw isolated snapshots of the future; therefore, certain events that seem to occur one right after the other in Zechariah’s prophecy actually often have generations or even millennia between them. The book of Zechariah contains the clearest and the largest number of messianic (about the Messiah) passages among the Minor Prophets.  In that respect, only Isaiah had more messianic prophecies. 

"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. Zechariah 1:4

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." Zechariah 12:10

"I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages." Zechariah 11:12

"Then he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 4:6