Minor Prophets Major Lessons – Zechariah

At the Perfect Time

Zechariah has 14 chapters, though I told the first service not to look because it might make you nervous. The title of my message was At the Perfect Time, because God works at the perfect time. The book starts in the second year of Darius, the Persian king, about 520 BC, two months after Haggai began prophesying. The Babylonians had taken the Jewish people, and the Persians, who defeated Babylon, had let them go home to rebuild. Haggai said, build the temple. Zechariah goes a little deeper. The temple was important because the Spirit of God resided in the Holy of Holies, and one man could enter once a year. When Jesus died, that curtain was torn in two. Now we are the temple, because the Spirit lives in us. But behind the temple building was a heart issue: they were not putting God first.

The Names

The first verse gives three names: Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. In Jewish culture names were significant. Zechariah means the Lord remembers, Berechiah the Lord blesses, and Iddo timely. Put together they give the theme: “the Lord remembers and will bless at the perfect time.” Judah was in exile because of judgment for falling away. But in judgment God never forgot his people. A human would have said, you have failed me too many times; I’m done. God remembers.

The Purpose: Return to the Lord

Haggai commanded outward obedience, and Zechariah says to return to the Lord. Chapter 1 verse 3 says, “return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.” We need to do this daily. That is why we read our Bibles and pray: we are returning to him. The busyness and frustrations of life can easily make us fade from being close. I don’t read my Bible to check a box. I read it because I need to be close to him.

But we are imperfect, like those before us. “Do not be like your fathers,” God says, to whom the former prophets cried out and who did not listen. They repented, and then fell away again. Have you ever been frustrated with yourself? You confess something and say, I’ll never do that again, and then do the same thing, sometimes the same day. We get angry with our kids, say unloving things, and forget God in decisions. We are not alone. “We as people are desperately imperfect.” The worst thing you can do is move further from God. Return to him.

A Flyover of the Book

Chapters 1:7 through 6 have eight visions Zechariah saw in one night, about the time between the rebuilding of the temple in 516 BC and the coming kingdom. Each has a question, what does this mean, and God answers. They are all over the place, and your brain will spin a little, so I would challenge you to read them.

In chapters 7 and 8, a delegation from Babylon asks whether to keep a fast set up after the exile. God’s answer is, in effect, “I don’t care whether you fast or don’t fast. I want your heart.” He gives four messages: rebuke (understand our sin), repentance (turn from it), restoration, and rejoicing, which is the true joy of living in God’s salvation.

Chapters 9 through 11 introduce the Messiah, who is rejected by his own people. Chapters 12 and 13 say that despite that, God still redeems his people. Chapter 14 is the return of the Messiah as king, when he will make all things right. Pain and sickness and death were never the norm, they are only because of sin.

The Central Theme: Jesus, the Perfect Messiah

Zechariah 2:10 says, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst.” Matthew 1:20-23 fulfills it: they shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. Salvation was always by grace through faith, but when Jesus came it changed how we interact with God.

The perfect leader. In 6:9-14, Zechariah is told to take silver and gold from the exiles, make a crown, and set it on Joshua the high priest. Kings were crowned, not priests. The Branch, the Messiah, would be both king and priest, and the counsel of peace would be between them. A leader like that would not need to split his time between national and spiritual leadership. The crown stays in the temple as a reminder.

The perfect shepherd. A king tells you what to do, but “a shepherd leads by relationship.” In chapter 11 Zechariah is told to shepherd a flock doomed to slaughter. Shepherds were not cute: out in the cold, the smell, and the sheep always in trouble. He takes two staffs, Favor and Union. He gets rid of three shepherds, the prophets, priests, and kings who did not love the people. But the sheep detested him. So he breaks the staff of Favor, because the old covenants depended partly on people doing their part, which they could never do. He asks for his wages, and they weigh out thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave gored by an ox. He throws them to the potter in the house of the Lord. And Judas threw thirty pieces of silver into the potter’s field. The leaders who paid Judas knew this prophecy and fulfilled it. Only God could do that.

What We Do

First, evaluate your heart. Have I been drawn away? Is my relationship with God close, like a sheep with a shepherd? Second, am I giving it the place it deserves? Do I worship Jesus only one hour a week, or at my job, at home, and in the yard? God calls us to care what he thinks, not what others think.