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Around 520 B.C.

We were introduced to Zechariah in the book of Ezra, as he and Haggai had encouraged Zerubbabel and the rebuilders of the temple in Jerusalem. But whereas Haggai’s pronouncements were practical and direct, Zechariah’s are anything but.

This book resembles much of Ezekiel and Daniel, full of visions that serve as symbols and metaphors and lenses through which to view the past and future. But it begins with the LORD’s charge for Israel to act differently than their fathers had. He reminds them of the power of His words and His statutes, which overtook – outlived – their fathers. Only after being overcome did they acknowledge “As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.”

Keep this history in mind as Zechariah encounters an angel, myrtle trees, and a man riding a red horse… four horns, four craftsmen, and a man with a measuring line in his hand… and a new Jerusalem, filled with people from the nations, with a wall of fire around her. He witnesses the battle being fought over Joshua the High Priest, and receives a word for Zerubbabel, before whom a great mountain shall become a plain. This is the LORD’s promise: "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.”

Our verse for this week is Colossians 3:23: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Zechariah 1 through 4. Now let’s read it!

Zechariah 1 - 4

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, Jehovah's word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, "Jehovah was very displeased with your fathers. Therefore tell them, Jehovah of Armies says: 'Return to me,' says Jehovah of Armies, 'and I will return to you,' says Jehovah of Armies. Don't you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Jehovah of Armies says, 'Return now from your evil ways and from your evil doings;' but they didn't hear nor listen to me, says Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn't they overtake your fathers? "Then they repented and said, 'Just as Jehovah of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'" On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, Jehovah's word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, "I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are." The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones Jehovah has sent to go back and forth through the earth." They reported to Jehovah's angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace." Then Jehovah's angel replied, "O Jehovah of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?" Jehovah answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Jehovah of Armies says: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity." Therefore Jehovah says: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says Jehovah of Armies, "and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem."' "Proclaim further, saying, 'Jehovah of Armies says: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Jehovah will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'" I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." Jehovah showed me four craftsmen. Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it." I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then I asked, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." Behold, the angel who talked with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him, and said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,' says Jehovah, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her. Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,' says Jehovah; 'for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,' says Jehovah. 'Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.' For Jehovah of Armies says: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Jehovah of Armies has sent me. Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! For behold, I come and I will dwell within you,' says Jehovah. Many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Jehovah of Armies has sent me to you. Jehovah will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!" He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Jehovah's angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. Jehovah said to Satan, "Jehovah rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Jehovah who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?" Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, "Take the filthy garments off him." To him he said, "Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing." I said, "Let them set a clean turban on his head." So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and Jehovah's angel was standing by. Jehovah's angel solemnly assured Joshua, saying, "Jehovah of Armies says: 'If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua: on one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscription,' says Jehovah of Armies, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,' says Jehovah of Armies, 'you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.'" The angel who talked with me came again and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. He said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it." I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, "What are these, my lord?" Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Don't you know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, "This is Jehovah's word to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says Jehovah of Armies. Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace, to it!'" Moreover Jehovah's word came to me, saying, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Jehovah of Armies has sent me to you. Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are Jehovah's eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth." Then I asked him, "What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?" I asked him the second time, "What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts that pour the golden oil out of themselves?" He answered me, "Don't you know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

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