Zechariah

Chapter One

*Israel was taken into captivity to Babylon

-Zechariah was born and educated in Babylon

-Zechariah returned to Israel after 70 years of captivity to a destroyed city & temple

-The Lord raised up 2 prophets to speak to Israel – Haggai and Zechariah

-the work on the temple had stopped for 3 reasons:

1. Selfishness – a me first society
-Haggai 1:1-9

-Put the Lord first

2. Spiritual Decline – Israel lost their hunger for the lOrd

3. Opposition – opposition for their enemies inside and outside tried to stop the work on the temple

v1 – 8th month is November
– 2nd year is around 520B.C.

Darius – a Persian ruler

-a Word from the Lord – means a spoken piece of advise and counsel & communication

-God spoke directly to Zechariah

Zechariah – means the Lord remembers
-the remembers all things

1. The Lord works on His timing

2. The Lord is waiting on us to grow in our faith and mature

Berechiah – Zechariahs dad means God has blessed

Iddo – Zechariahs grandfather means God’s friend

prophet – means an inspired speaker

v2 – the Lord is speaking about the generation before Zechariah

angry – means to be displeased at someones behavior and actions
-the Lord was not pleased with the past generations because of their sin and disobedience to Him

v3 – when the Lord speaks you never know what He is going to say
-repent of your sins

Lord of Hosts – means Jehovah of armies
-this is the One who directs the angels

-Hosts – means an army organized for war & involved in a military campaign

v3 – An Invitation

Return to me – repentance
-this is a soft word spoken out of love

-Isaiah 30:18-26

wait (v18) – means to tap the foot. We must repent and then the Lord will bless us

v4 – the past generations did not listen to the Lord or His Word. They were chastised by the Lord and went into captivity. The Lord was saying not to follow their ways…

they were warned not to follow the past generations sins and ways before captivity…

turn now – same word as in v3- repent

evil ways & deeds – a road or path of wrong conduct and behavior

give heed – means up with the ears – hear and obey the lord

v5 – fathers – their ancestors have died

– prophets – the prophets are dead also

-the people respond to the Lord and say none of this is relevant

2 Mistakes
1. the people thought it was Zechariah speaking

2. The Word of God is relevant for each society

v6 – they finally admit the Lord was right and they were wrong. It took 70 years of captivity to find out…

the Word will overtake you – means reach you…catch up with you…convicts you