Encouragement, Instruction, & a Warning from the Book of Zechariah

A Chapter a Day

• Sunday, February 14, Zechariah 10
• Monday, February 15, Zechariah 11       
• Tuesday, February 16, Zechariah 12
• Wednesday, February 17, Zechariah 13
• Thursday, February 18, Zechariah 14
• Friday, February 19, Galatians 1
• Saturday, February 20, Galatians 2

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Where are we in the timeline?

The prophet Zechariah provided encouragement and instruction  during days of .

1. God’s word when you face a of . . .

Then he 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. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ” (Zechariah 4:6-7, ESV)

2. God’s word when you face a of . . .

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. (Zechariah 4:8-10, ESV)

3. God’s word when we are the questions.

 Zechariah 7

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. ² Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the Lord, ³ saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” (Zechariah 7:1-3, ESV)

1) Their question was about a that had not been explicitly commanded by God.

 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’” (Zechariah 7:4-7, ESV)

2) God is more concerned about our motives, than merely “ the ” of outward religious ritual.

And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, ¹⁰do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” (Zechariah 7:8-10, ESV)

3) “The test of true is a life of to God” (ESV Study Bible, p. 1759). 

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. ¹² They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. ¹³ “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, ¹⁴ “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.” (Zechariah 7:11-14, ESV)

4) The for us as we rebuild is that we will our ears and our hearts to the clear commands of the Lord in his word.

God is more concerned about life-transformation than the box-checking of mere religious ritual.

Obedience leads to blessing and favor, while disobedience brings discipline and judgment. By God’s grace, listen, trust, and obey the Lord.