Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Th.D.

SERMONS
ON ZECHARIAH
"CAME THE WORD OF THE LORD"
With this message we begin a new
series on the prophecy of Zechariah.
Zechariah is one of the so-called "Twelve
Minor Prophets," which are found
collected together at the end of our Old
Testament The reason these prophets
are called "minor" is due to the relative
brevity of their books, when compared
with the much larger works of Isaiah,
Jeremiah and Ezekiel. These prophets
are minor in size; they most definitely
are not minorinsignificance.
It is unfonunate that so
few Christians today are
familiarwith either the minor
prophets in particular or
even the Old Testament
(beyond Genesis) in general.
Does not the New Testament
often draw before us from
the Old Testament negative
examples for warning and
positive illustrations for
exhortation? Does not
Zechariahhimself emphasiZe
36 times in his book that his
Writing comes with a "Thus
saith the Lord"? Should
modern translations
paraphrase 2 Timothy 3:16 to say: "All
Scripture is inspired of God and is
profitable -- except for the Old
Testament"? Thenhowisitthatmodern
evangelicals are so unfamiliar with the
Old Testament, which contains 70% of
all the words in SCripture?
May God be pleased to give us eyes to
see and ears to hear as we enter this
neglected portion of His holy Word.
The Significance of mstory in General
We will introduce our series from
Zechariah with a survey of the historical
environmentinwhichZechariahoperated.
This is a vital consideration given the
critical, disbelieving mind of our day. The
skeptic views orthodox Christianity as
naive in its commitment to "the old, old
sto11," which in the skeptiC'S view could
be little more than myth and legend. But
the fact of the matter is, prophecy from
God always appears in a rational way
and in an historical context.
Our God 'created the heavens and
the earth and all that in them is," as the
material of history -- indudingyou (Exo.
4:11) . He set the sun and moon in the
sky to mark off the passing of day and
night in history -- for you (Gen. 1:18).
He has ordained the seasons and the
years that pass in the relentless ebb and
flowofhistory-- for you (Gen. 8:22). He
has set man in the world as a creature of
this marked and passing time -- even
you (Eccl. 3:1-12). Consequently, time
and history are significant concerns for
man as ordained by God.
And the faith of Scripture is one that
is concerned with time and history, the
real world. God's prophets were not
mystiCS, detached from history. They
spoke to men in history, like you and
me. They confronted real people with
real problems, like you and me.
By way of illustration of this fact
note that Isaiah records with meticulous
care exactly where he was to go in order
to receive God's word. Isaiah 7:3 says,
"Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go
forth now to meetAhaz, thou,
and Shear-jashub thy son, at
the elld of the conduit oj the
upper pool In the highway oj
thefuller'sfteld." God'sword
is a revelation from God to
flesh and blood men in real
history.
This is one major reason
why God forbids sorcery in
His Law. The word for
"sorcery" in Greek is
pharmakeia. It is the word
from which we derive
"pharmacy." Sorcery was a
function of witchcraft and
the occult, which employed
hallucinogenic,
mind-altering drugs. The use of
hallucinogenic drugs is at base an escapist
attempt to avoid reality as God created
it. This isasinagainstthe God of history,
Who has put man in and over His world:
"What 15 man that thou art mindful oj
him .. .. Thoumadesthimtohavedomillion
September 1991 t lHE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 15
over the works of thy hands; thou
has put all things under his feet"
(Psa.8).
Now I have said all of this because
Zechariah himself opens with a
particular historical reference.
Zechariah 1: la reads: "In the eighth
month, in the second year of Darius, came
the word of the Lord unto Zechariah."
Zechariah came to lsrael at a particular
time with a specific message. Here in
Zechariah, as in all the prophets, we see
that our God is the God Who speaks in
history. He is concerned for our
historical predicament. He speaks to
His people through His prophets in
history, not apart from or despite
history. We are not mystics passing
time; we are lovers of the God of history
seeking to live for Him in His world.
Because of the nature of the Lord,
neither were his prophets irrelevant:
Their message confronted His people
where they were tn time and on earth.
His prophets spoke to His people in
terms of their specific needs. Their
message provided particular directives
for the people then, as well as including
general directives and abiding principles
. for us today. This is the whole idea
behind the forceful "thus saith the Lord,"
which appears 430 times in Scripture, as
well as 36 times in Zechariah.
The particular message of God
through Zechariah to Israel was a call to
repentance: Zechariah 1:3. Note the
repeated emphaSiS on the "thus saith the
Lord." It is this message Of repentance
that will occupy our attention as we
survey Zechariah in the next few months.
There Is an historical reason obligating
Israel . to repentance; there will be an
historical effect based on that repentance.
Thus, our God gives us
authoritative directives for life in the
real world. Those who despise His
word and neglect the worship of His
Name are essentially escapists, for they
deny that "the earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world and they that
dwell therein" (Psa. 24:1).
Worse still, they are rebellious
escapiSts, for they refuse to hear God
speak to them. The psalmist informs us
. that "the heavens declare the glory of God'
and that "day unto day uttereth speech"
(psa.19:1-2). Paul warns us that "the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth
in unrighteousness; because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them;
for God hath shewed it unto them' (Rom.
1:18-19). There is no escaping the
presence of God, according to Psalm
139:7ff.
The Background of
Zechariah's Message
N owwhat was the specific historical
circumstances of Zechariah and Israel?
These will help us understand the book
itself, and to derive an appropriate
message from it to us today, as we
consider historical parallels with and
apply its principles to our time.
In the year 605 B.C., Judah was
attacked, defeated, and some of its
citizens carried off into captivity in a
display of Imperial power by King
N ebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Daniel
was taken into captivity at this time
(Dan. 1:1-2). Eight years later this
military drubbing happened again. This
time Ezekiel was among the captives .
(Eze. 1:1-3). Babylon was roughing
Israel up to let her know to whom she
had to concede authority.
Twenty years after the first attack
and demonstration of military
dominance by Babylon, the whole of
Judah was attacked and fell to Babylon.
Intheyear586B.C.,afteryearsofsolemn
warning and urgent calls to repentance
from idolatry by such prophets as Isaiah,
Amos, and Hosea,Jerusalem was sieged
and destroyed, Its temple sacked and
demolished, and large numbers of its
choicest citizens were enslaved by
Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chron. 36:15-21).
In addition to the twenty years since the
first assault by Babylon, for fifty more
years thousands of Jews languished in
16 :j: TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon :j: September 1991
captivity in Babylon, dragged in chains
from their burning homes and out of
the land of theii tathers, their beloved
Promised umd .
Zechariah himself was born in
Babylon during this captivity, as is
evident from his being a "young man'
as he writes his prophecies (Zech. 2:4).
That era of captivity and devastation
was adark era in Israel's history, as is
evident in the poetic lamentation of
Psalm 137.
It is to be noticed that Zechariah
dates his prophecy different from
the pre-exiliC prophets. For
instance, Isaiah begins: "The vision
ofIsaiahthesonofAmoz, whichhesay
concerning Judah and jerusalem in
the days of Uzz\ah, jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, kings of judah' (lsa.
1: 1). Amos dates his: "The words of
Amos, who was amongtheherdmen of
Tekoa, which he say concerning Israel
in the days of Uzz\ah king of judah,
and in the days ofleroboam the son of
joash king of Israel, two years after the
earthqllake" (Amos 1 :1). Thesedate
their prophecies in the reigns of
Jewish kings.
But since the Babylonian Exile,
the prophets dated their prophecies in
terms of pagan, foreign kings. lsrael
had sunk low; her calendarno longer
reflected freedom, it no longem!volved
around the rule of her own kings, but
of foreigners. For any citizen in any
land who loves his homeland, this is a
terrible situation. For a nation who
had been marvelously redeemed from
Egyptian bondage Into a land promised
by God, this was nothing short of
covenantal curse.
lsrael had breached God's gracious
covenant with her. In Deuteronomy
28:25,36,48-50, and 58 the covenant
clearly warned what would befalllsrael
if she rebelled against God,
But by the time Zechariah writes,
Israel is no longer in exile under the
tyrannical dominion of Babylon. She
finds herselfretuming to her own land,
although she still' is not allowed
self-rule in it. In 536 B. c., after the
overthrow of Babylon by the Persian
ruler Cyrus, the Jews were allowed
to begin returning to their homeland.
The pagan ruler Cyrus even gave
them permission to rebuild their
temple (2 Chron. 36:20-23), along
with some other limited freedoms.
Zechariah returned to Israel with
the first company of released exiles
in 536 B.C., which numbered about
50,000 (Ezr. 2:64-65). His
contemporary was Haggai, with
whom he aimed at encouraging the
Jews in the work of rebuilding the
temple, follOwing its destruction at
the overthrow of
Jerusalem at the
beginning of the
Babyloniancaptivity
(the temple inJesus'
day was the second
temple).
Surely things
were looking up for
Israel. From exile to
their homeland;
from abject slavery
to rela tive freedom
under foreign rule.
Surely now Israel
would be obedient
to God, haVing
learned her lesson.
But there is a maxim
that says, 'The one
thing man learns
from history is that
man does not learn from history."
Such is the case with Israel. And
how often is it the case with us today!
Do we learn from our past failures?
According to Ezra 3: 11-13 the
foundation for the new temple was
laid as soon as the exiles returned to
the Land. Initially, enthusiasm was
high for the rebuilding project (Ezr.
2:68). But the rebuilding had been
suspended due to harassment from
Samaria, whose half-Jew ,half-gentile
inhabitants had wanted to help with
the rebuilding. The work had been
suspended under Cyrus, king of
Persia, in the year 538 BC. The
suspension lasted almost 14 long
years.
Haggai was ZechaIiah's contem-
porary, who preceded Zechariah by
only two months (Hag. 1: 1; Zech.
1: 1). Haggai's prophecy opens with
an assessment of the sinful reluctance
of Israel regarding the rebuilding of
God's temple (Hag. 1:2-5, 9). God
had caused the period ofIsrael's exile
to cease. He had returned Israel to
her land. But after initial excitement,
the people lapsed into self-centered
concern with their own wealth,
forgetting the worship of God. They
had not learned well the lesson of
covenantal curse.
The Concern of
Zechariah's Prophecy
Zechariah's main concern in his'
prophecies is to offer consolation to
weakened Israel. He is compassionate
to his fellow Israelites. But at the
same time he urged Israel to repent
and put God and His worship back
at the center of her life. This call to
ethical obedience is a common theme
repeated in Zechariah 3:7; 6:15;
7:7-10; 8:16,17; 10:1,2; 11:10;
l4:20.
Too often we think of the
prophets as little more than palm
readers and astrologers, who attempt
to prognosticate the future. But for
them the future was revealed with an
overriding ethical purpose in mind:
to exhort men to covenantal
obedience to the Lord of glory. The
prophetic foreview is not for tickling
the ears of the curious or for trivial
pursuit for the superficiaL It was
related in order to drive men to the
fear of God and submission to His
law word.
Ethical conduct
rooted in spiritual
values derived from
God's Word is a
pre-eminent concern of
the prophets and
apostles in both
testaments. This eth-
ical concern is here in
1: 1-6 set prominently
as an introduction to
the whole collection of
prophecies. The pro-
pheCies of Zechariah
looked ultimately to the
renewal of holiness in
all the people of God:
Zechariah 14:20-21.
As we study
Zechariah, let us be
mindful that God calls us to
obedience to His holy Name. May
we hear the call of Zechariah 1 :3.
May we live our flesh and blood
lives in history as unto the Lord.
May we who are called by the
Name of Christ long for the glory
of the Lord and obedience to Him
among the nations, so that
everywhere in the world "holiness
to the Lord" will be inscribed on
the hearts and lives of men.n
September 1991 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 17
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