Zechariah 1

The Lord sent His people into exile in Babylon, but then according to His promise, He brought them back to the Promised Land. Here in Zechariah, God calls them not merely to be those that have returned to a very special land, but to be those who have returned to Him. The failure of Israel and Judah to keep covenant with God had been going on for centuries. Generation of Israelites had abandoned the Lord in their hearts and in their lives. Even in the wilderness before they had ever entered the Promised Land, the people were turning to false gods and ignoring the Lord who had brought them out of the house of bondage. This went on for many years, and even now at this late date, God sincerely urges His people to make this new start something truly new. It is time for them to return to Him. He assures them that He will return to them if they do this. Do they wish the Lord to fill the temple again and to bless them as His special people?

Former generations of the people of God had refused to repent. They had the benefit of the warnings from earlier prophets who had called them back to God and to His Law, but they spurned His Word and His servants the prophets. When they rejected these ambassadors of God, they rejected the Lord Himself. Now these earlier generations were gone. They had finished their days in their mortal condition on this earth. Yet the testimony of those earlier prophets remained for all who were willing learn of those who had rejected God's Word from earlier generations and had faced the expression of His discipline in former days. Amazingly, the people of the restoration heard this message from Zechariah and were willing to receive it. They showed this by turning toward God in repentance, and by acknowledging that the Lord had dealt with their fathers justly in His acts of correction. This is an important admission and a good step in recognizing God and in committing to follow Him in their words and deeds.

What follows through the end of chapter six are several apocalyptic visions with interpretive comments from an angelic messenger. The first two of these visions are included in this chapter, beginning with a vision of a man riding on a red horse and a brief description of the environment around him. The details of visions such as this one are hard to interpret, though we are given some help when similar images are used in other places in the Bible where they may be accompanied by more explanation. In this case, horses of various colors are used in the book of Revelation in connection with the coming judgment of God against the world and the rescue of His covenant people. This kind of suggestion seems consistent with this first vision in Zechariah. Here we have a visual expression of the Lord's knowledge of the affairs of the nations. We should expect that these visionary passages would be consistent with the messages that we have been given in clearer teaching sections of the Old Testament prophetic books. The empires around Israel have been used as agents of God's discipline against His covenant people, yet He has not forgotten His promises of old and His love for Israel and Judah.

The Lord's holy angels know about God's faithfulness to His covenant promises, and they are not afraid to remind Him of His discipline and His continuing love for His children. The mention of seventy years here is in accord with the prior message of God through Jeremiah and the fulfillment of His promise to restore them after that time period which has already begun to take place by the time these words are heard by Zechariah. The purpose seems to be that God's gracious and comforting words would be delivered to His people. He was angry with His covenant people, but they have been disciplined by their time of exile. It is time now to tell them again of both His special love for them and His determination to judge the nations that He has used as agents of discipline against them. Those nations have gone too far, and they will have to answer to the God of Israel for the way they have treated His people. God will see His temple completed. His city shall have prosperity. He will comfort Zion with His presence and His love.

A second vision speaks of four horns. The analogy provided through other portions of sacred revelation help us to identify these as world powers or specific kings that personify these powers. These horns represent those that have scattered Israel and Judah. As with the former vision, we are reminded that the world has stood against the people of the Lord. God has used them in His providence as agents of discipline, but the day of their doom approaches.

The Lord God had His purposes for His chosen people of the Old Covenant. Chief among them is the provision of a Savior who would be the personification of the comfort and encouragement that the Lord speaks to the exiles who have returned to the land in the days of Zechariah. This comfort is more than moral support. It is the strong encouragement that comes from a sovereign God who has appointed kings and nations for their purposes and who will judge that nations and vindicate His love for His people at just the right time.

This is also the story of the cross of Christ, through which we have been crucified to the world and the world to us. Here we have the basis for any words of encouragement that could come to sinners, for the sin that separated us from the Lord has been completely atoned for through the blood of His great Son. It is because of the justice of the cross that the Lord could have anything good to say to those who have so badly violated His precepts. Let us hear His word of love calling us to faithful living again today, and let us return to Him as those who not only hear His warnings, but who also believe in the love of the cross.