Zechariah 1
Chuck Smith on Zechariah 1
Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-3
Shall we tonight now get into our study in the book of Zechariah beginning with chapter 1. Now if you remember when we studied the book of Haggai last week, Haggai was dating his prophesies in the second year of Darius the king. His first prophecy was in, I think, the sixth month of the second year. He had another prophecy in the seventh month, and his last prophecy was in the ninth month. Now Zechariah also dates his prophesies in the reign of Darius, the Medo-Persian king. So between... and at the same time that Haggai was prophesying, you remember he prophesied in the seventh month, in the ninth month.
In the eighth month, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, the eighth month, and the second year of Darius ( Zechariah 1:1 ).
So Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries. They were both prophets of the post-exilic period. The children of Israel had returned, that is a portion of them, 50,000 of them from their exile in Babylon. Seventy years of Babylonian captivity had more or less weaned them from their idolatry. For it was because of their idolatry that they went into captivity. But the Jews learned something in Babylon of commercialism. It seems that the Jewish people are very adaptable, and whatever they do, they learn to do it well. Babylon was the commercial center of the world. When the Jews were taken captive to Babylon, they began to go from the agrarian culture to a more commercial, and they began to excel in the commercial field. So much so, that by the time the seventy years of captivity was over, many of them had no desire to return to the land at all. They were now wealthy merchants. They controlled the commerce of Babylon. They had learned well the lessons of commerce, and they have not forgotten them and still are very successful many times in the commercial field. It is interesting that when the nation Israel was reborn and the people went back to the land, that these people who had excelled so much in the commercial field, wherever they went in the world, they were always involved in commerce. But when they returned back to the land, many of them returned to the soil, and some of the most advanced agricultural techniques in the world are now being practiced in Israel, and they teach the world the art of agriculture. Now here were a bunch of bankers, and businessmen, and store owners, and all, they go back to Israel, and they go back to the farm, and it isn't long before they've developed the drip system of irrigation. They've developed the sprinkling system of irrigation, and they've begun to farm the desert, and they have become extremely profitable now in their farming interests. And they actually fill Europe with fresh fruit and vegetables all year round. So they're a fascinating people. They were so successful, as I said, in their commercial ventures that many of them did not return. This will be brought out in some of the prophecies here in Zechariah. But those that did return were not really prepared for what they found. You know, it is interesting when you leave a place, so often in your mind you have memories of that place, and usually it was when you were a child. You grew up in a particular locality. There always seems to be within the heart of a person a yearning to return to the place of your childhood. "Oh, it was this, and it was that," and you build it up in your mind over the years of absence. But sometimes one of the most disillusioning and disappointing thing can be to go back to the place of your childhood. Especially in these days, and especially if your childhood was in Orange County. You find the whole place has changed; it's not at all as you remember it. Where you used to go hunting for cottontail and all, now there are busy shopping centers, and the whole thing has changed. Those who returned came back to a desolation like they never dreamed. The destruction of Jerusalem was so thorough by Nebuchadnezzar that there wasn't any rebuilding, really, of the city. All they could do was cover the rubble and the waste of the past and start building anew on top of it. They started the rebuilding of the temple, but they soon became discouraged. When Solomon built the temple, he had hired 150,000 men with 3,000 superintendents and an unlimited supply of money. He was able to build a beautiful, glorious temple unto the Lord, which was one of the sites of the ancient world. The queen of Sheba, when she came and saw it, she said, "Oh, I heard of the glory, but the half was not told to me!" He used great stones, cedars from Lebanon, covered everything with gold. But, of course, the gold was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. The huge brass pillars were broken up and taken to Babylon. All that was left were the huge stones that they could hardly move around. After a time of attempting to build the temple, there were a lot of people that were there in the land that were harassing them. They finally just gave up. They thought, "Oh, it can't be done. We're just not strong enough. There's not enough of us." They just gave up the attempts to build the temple. That's when Haggai started them. "Hey, you people look around, check things out. Your crops have been bad; you're planting a lot of seeds, harvesting a little. Does it seem like your purses have holes in the bottom? Your money is just disappearing? The reason why is that you are dwelling comfortably now in your ceiled houses, while the house of God lies desolate." Haggai was encouraging them to get back to the building of the temple. Promising them that when they would, that God would begin to bless them. "Mark this date, put it on your calendar, and see if from this time God doesn't begin to bless you as you return to the work of building His house." At that same time, Zechariah came on the scene. Zechariah was probably a young man at the time that he prophesied. Zechariah of the minor prophets has the clearest insight concerning the coming of Jesus Christ than any of the other minor prophets, and writes more concerning Jesus Christ than all of the rest of the minor prophets combined. As we get into Zechariah, you'll be amazed at his prophecies concerning Jesus Christ, both the first and the second coming. Zechariah makes amazing predictions that we will be getting in our third study and final study of the book. Predictions that are coming to pass right now. Predictions that have come to pass in the last few years. And as we read them, you'll see how clearly God gave him an insight into the history of the nation of Israel at the present time. So let's get into Zechariah. "The eighth month, the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah,"
the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts ( Zechariah 1:1-3 ).
This basically is God's message to the people through the ages. "If you'll turn to Me, I will turn to you." When the king Asa had come back from great victory over the Ethiopians and the Nubians, the prophet of God came out to meet him and he said, "The Lord is with you while you are with Him, and if you seek Him, He will be found of you. But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you" ( 2 Chronicles 15:2 ). Through the ages this is always the case. God is always waiting for man to come. And if you will come to God, you can have fellowship with God, and the Lord will be with you. But the Lord does not force Himself on people. God does not force you to love Him. God does not force you to come to Him. He does not force you to serve Him. He just tells you of His love for you. And because of His love for you, this is what He will do for you if you're walking in fellowship with Him. But when it comes right down to it, you are the one that has to make the decision. God has done all that He will do to save you. He has provided all that you need. But you must initiate now. God has already done all the initiating He will in providing the way. Now He waits for you to come, and He invites you to come, but you have to do it.
So, "Turn to Me, saith the Lord, and I will turn to you. Your fathers, they forsook Me. I was displeased with your fathers. But now if you'll just turn to Me, I'll turn to you."
Don't be as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings ( Zechariah 1:4 ):
Verses 4-5
That's what they were crying to their fathers, but their fathers did not turn.
they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. And your fathers, where are they? ( Zechariah 1:4-5 )
Learn the lesson. Your fathers perished because they did not turn to Me; your fathers were carried away to Babylon because they would not turn to Me.
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, they did not take hold of your fathers? [Your fathers wouldn't listen.] and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us ( Zechariah 1:6 ).