10-4-2025 Zechariah Chapter 1
Israel had
been in bondage for some time when God comes to Zechariah “Let’s start
rebuilding my temple, my body”.
King Darius
was a king who ruled between 522BC thru 486 BC which included Macedonia in the
west to the Indus in the east, and from the Black Sea in the north to
northeastern Africa in the south.
On the
eighth day of second year of King Darius’ reign, the Lord came to Zechariah,
the grandson of the prophet Idda. The
Word of the Lord tells Zechariah that He is displeased with Israel. They have not listened to the former prophets
who warned their ancestors to turn from their evil ways and their evil doings
and turn back unto God, the Lord of Hosts.
Have your ancestors lived forever?
Didn’t the words and statutes which My prophets proclaimed mean anything
to your ancestors? They even declared
that God has dealt with them according to their works and deeds (1-6).
On the
twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah
again “At night, I saw a man riding a red horse among the myrtle trees and it
was twilight. There were red, speckled
and white horses”. Zechariah asked “Oh,
my Lord, what are these?” And the angel
said “I will show you.” The man among
the myrtle trees said “We had walked to and fro through the earth and behold,
the earth sits still and is at rest” (7-11).
Then the
angel of the Lord said “”Oh, Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah upon which you have shown your indignation
these past seventy years?” (12)
Then the
Lord answered the angel with good and comforting words (13).
Then the
angel talked with me and said “Tell the people ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts; I have
la great jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion.
I am sorely displeased with the heathen who are at ease (comfortable in
their ways) and who had helped my children increase their affliction. Therefore says the lord of hosts, I have
returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My
house shall be built in it and the Lord of hosts shall stretch a line
(measuring) upon Jerusalem. And yet says
the Lord of hosts, through prosperity, my cities shall b be spread abroad and
the Lord shall comfort Zion and yet choose Jerusalem.” (14-17)
I (Zechariah)
lifted my eyes up and saw four horns and I asked the angel, who talked with me,
what are these? And the Angel responded
“These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem (18-19)
And the Lord
showed me four carpenters, then I asked “what are these to do?” And He said “These are the horns which
scattered Judah so that no man could lift his head up. But these (carpenters) who are come to
frighten them and cast out the horns of the Gentiles which lifted up their horn
to scatter Judah’ (20-21). (the
carpenters have come to repair the damage)
So, what do
we care about what happened with Israel over 2000 years ago?
This passage
implies that Israel is the “apple of God’s eye’. But because of Gentile influence, Israel
strayed from God’s laws and statutes.
Through His prophets, Father tried to get Israel back on the right track
so He ‘reprimanded’ them (Israel).
After He brought
them out of Egypt and Israel strayed and God put them under subjection to other
powers.
However, consider
that after God brought Israel out of Egypt (the Exodus), God allowed Israel to
live among the Gentiles which yet remained in the land which God had promised
them. Gradually, Israel adopted the ways
of those amongst whom they lived and forgot the ways of the Lord. But, when Israel cried out God raised up
judges to deliver them (Book of Judges).
Over time, God raised up twelve judges to deliver His people from
oppression, a period which ended when finally, at the people’s request, God
gave them a king, Saul (1Sam.chptr 10).
The people
strayed from Father’s Word and statutes.
Father is love (1 John 4:8) and not a tyrant so He gives us a choice
to follow Him or not. Father told
Israel that He has called heaven and earth to testify that on this day, He gave
them a choice: life or death, blessings or cursings (Deut. 30:19). Or if it seems
evil to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, Joshua chose the
Lord) … (Josh. 24:15). Or Trust the Lord with all your heart and
don’t lean unto your own understanding.
Acknowledge God in all your ways and He will direct your path (Prov. 3:5-6). Temptation is common to man but God is faithful
that He will not try us without providing an escape so we can bear it. Beloved, flee idolatry, that is worshipping
anything other than our heavenly Father (1
Corinth. 10:13-14). Father tells us
to rejoice in our temptations for this grows our faith. When faith is perfected, we find ourselves
wanting (needing) nothing. Don’t revile
people but freely give and ask God for wisdom and He will freely give it to
us. Don’t let our faith waver like the
wind driven sea. A double minded man is
unstable in his ways and won’t receive anything from the Lord (James1:1-8).
What kind of
choices do we make today? What about
today’s churches?
Zechariah
was commissioned by God to start gathering the materials and rebuild His church
building, His temple. We are God’s
living temple (1 Corinth. 3:16). Are we in a construction or even a
reconstruction period in our lives? Is
Father foremost in our hearts and minds?
Our dads and moms gave us instruction and direction when we were young. An heir does not differ from a servant when
he is a child even though He inherits all things for he is yet under tutors
land governors until Father’s appointed time. Are we still bound by the elements
of the world (Gal. 4:1-2)? In other words, we are still children until
Father says otherwise. Do we remember or
teen years when we thought we knew everything?
But truly we knew nothing (in perspective).
Father works in us and through us via the Holy
Ghost. Jesus tells us that the Holy
Ghost will be in us (John 14:16-17). Jesus tells us to receive the Holy
Ghost (John 20:21-22). Jesus received the Holy Ghost when John
baptized Him in water, the Spirit of God came upon Jesus in the form of a dove
(Matt. 3:13-17). The apostles and about 108 disciples received
the Holy Ghost in the upper room (Acts 1:15,
2:1-4). Paul encountered twelve men
on the road to Ephesus (who had been baptized by John) and the twelve received
the Holy Ghost after their encounter with Paul (Acts 19:1-7). Philip
preached in Samaria and many received Jesus but it wasn’t until Peter and John
came up from Jerusalem that they receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:5-17) And how can we
forget Cornelius and his household who received the Holy Ghost even while Peter
was preaching, that is before water baptism (Acts 10:34-48). Consider the
thief on the cross beside Jesus who received neither water baptism nor baptism
in the Holy Ghost, but he had received Jesus in his heart so Jesus told him that “this
day, you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke
23:43).
Paul tells
us not to quench the Spirit (1 Thess.
5:19), that is prohibit the Holy Ghost from doing His job. For the Holy Ghost will lead us into all
truth (John 15:13), help say what
needs to be said (Matt. 10:19-20), help
us commune with the Lord (1 Corinth.
3:16) and confirms our salvation within our own hearts (Rom. 8:16) and even more.
Father gives
us what we need to get the job done.
After all He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). All we have to
do is ask and follow His diection.
As Joshua
said “This day me and my house, will serve he Lord (Josh. 24:15). Zechariah was
on his way in starting to construct the temple of God. As we have Jesus into our lives, we ARE the
living temple of our Lord (2 Corinth.
6:16).
Are we
allowing the Holy Ghost to construct or perhaps reconstruct our temple? How have our choices been?
Amen