Prophecy – Zechariah 1-7

Our reading of the Minor Prophets takes us to Zechariah today – the 2nd last book of the Old Testament.

I must confess, when I read this book, I have very little idea of what the prophecies meant and I will not be trying to interpret any of them.  Instead I will just give a brief overview before we read.  This book is the longest amongst the minor prophets.

It is made up of 2 parts.  The first part (Zech 1-8) records eight visions and three messages – exhorting the people who had returned to continue with the work of building the temple.  The second part was written in the latter years of the prophet (Zech 9-14) – prophesizing the coming of the Messiah and the revival of Israel.

Today we will read …

Bible Passage:  Zechariah 1-7

Did you read about the visions?

The 8 visions are found from Zech 1:7 – 6:8:
a.    The vision of a man riding a horse (1:7-17).
b.    The vision of 4 horns and 4 craftsmen (1;18-21).
c.    The vision of a measuring line (2:1-13).
d.    The vision of Joshua, the high priest (3:1-10).
e.    The vision of a gold lamp stand and the 2 olive trees (4:1-14).
f.    The vision of the flying scroll (5:1-4).
g.    The vision of a woman in a basket (5:5-11).
h.    The vision of 4 chariots coming out from mountains of bronze (6:1-8).

Challenging Our Perceptions…

It is hard to read Zechariah and not think about the famous verse in Zechariah 4:6.  But normally, we would just focus on this one verse.  Today, when I read it, I read it in the context of Zech 4:6-10...

So he answered and said to me:

“ This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:

‘ Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the LORD of hosts.
‘ Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he shall bring forth the capstone
With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
“ The hands of Zerubbabel
Have laid the foundation of this temple;
His hands shall also finish it.
Then you will know
That the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
For who has despised the day of small things?
For these seven rejoice to see
The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
They are the eyes of the LORD,
Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”

And I realised that I had missed out several other important lessons that challenges our perception of things.

Many of us find it hard to accept thoughts and ideas that contradict our own point of view.  I am sure that after almost a year of reading the Prophets, we find that they had a hard task of confronting the people with realities that was hard for the people to take.

But as messengers of God, it was the prophet’s duty to present the truth, even if it was something that challenged the people’s perceptions.

This is quite evident from this passage when Zechariah presented a word from the Lord to Zerubbabel that confounded accepted ways of thinking.  Let’s see what he said….

• The first is quite familiar to us.  Brute force is not the way that God accomplishes His work.  The Holy Spirit is the empowering strength of His activity (Zech 4:6).

  We can be very creative, plan very well, think widely and have high energy.Our first response when things get tough is to double our efforts.  Or relook at our plans.  Or get more manpower.

  Or…. there are so many things we will look at…But the message of God is very clear – without the Holy Spirit and its power, it counts for very little (compare Ezekiel 37:1-14).

• Grace can move the greatest mountain that we face, reducing them to easily travelled plains (Zech 4:7).  Zerubbabel saw examples of this in his own day when God graciously removed a number of people who stood in the way of the temple’s completion and obstructed the work (Ezra 4:1-6:12).When faced with our ‘mountains’ before our eyes, we tend to forget that we have access to this Grace of God.  Let us remember and hold tightly onto Jesus.
• Small things can be just as much as an evidence of God’s work as great accomplishment (Zech 4:9-10).  The temple that Zerubbabel and the people were rebuilding was a far cry from the magnificent structure of Solomon’s day.  Yet, the project was significant because God was in it.Man tends to only consider big things as evidence of success and God working with us.  But we are reminded that as long as God is with us, working along with us – no matter how small or insignificant our work may be – it is something to rejoice over – cause God is there with us!

  In yesterday’s passage on Ecclesiastes, Treasureinearthernvessel talked about how we often long for the ‘good old days’ because it seems so much better than what we have or are in now.

  It was the same during Zechariah’s time when the people lamented about the good old days where the holy temple that Solomon built stood as a grand symbol of God’s sovereignity and presence with the people of God.

  But a contemporary of Zechariah, Prophet Haggai reminded them (as we have read last week) in Haggai 2:9…
  
  ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

  The past is not always better than the present.  Where God is… that is what is most important.  And the future where God is…  in His heavenly kingdom where He has gone to prepare for us a place… that is far better than anything we have in the past and in the present.

• True standards, like straight buildings, are ultimately determined by God (Zech 4:10).  Like a carpenter using a plumb line, the Lord evaluates the whole earth.

  Zechariah’s word was similar to Amos’ description of God measuring His people’s worship and integrity (Amos 7:7-9; compare 2 Kings 21:13).So the measure of what is right or not is not done by our own standards of will. At the end, it is not our word that matters, but God’s.

  It is not whether we think is right or not that counts… what God thinks matters.

That is why reading the Bible is so important to us because the Scriptures are revelation from God.  And what is disclosed in His Word are truths that we would otherwise not know because of sin which has blinded us (Job 42:3; Rom 1:16-20; Heb 1:1-2).

God’s Word will challenge, and corrent us of our perceptions.

The question is… are we willing to hear those kinds of realities and see where we stand?

It takes humility to accept tha God is right and that we are often wrong.

But accepting His truth will lead us to life (Prov 3:5-8).

May God grant His mercy on us all.