A CALL TO REPENTANCE (Zechariah 1:1-6)
INTRODUCTION:
It is not often that we turn to the pages of the minor prophets, or the twelve as they are called in Hebrew. Beginning with this Sunday we will be in the book of Zechariah for however long it takes us to get through it. Zechariah covers a large portion of time, from the return from exile in Babylon until the glorious reign of the Messiah at the end of the age. Zechariah is second only to Isaiah in the writings about the coming Messiah.
We do not know a lot about the personal history of Zechariah. His name means “Yahweh remembers” and was a common name in the Old Testament. The references to the time of his writings put him after the return from exile in Babylon. His contemporaries were the prophet Haggai and possibly Malachi, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Zechariah was of priestly lineage, being a descendant of the first high priest Aaron. Zechariah was a member of the Great Synagogue which was a council of 120 that was started by Nehemiah and presided over by Ezra. This council was later reduced to 71 members and developed into the ruling elders of the nation, called the Sanhedrin.
In 539 B.C. the Persian Empire conquered Babylon and gained political dominance in the ancient Near East. Cyrus the Great issued an edict allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. In 538 B.C., the first group of about 50,000 Jews returned to Judah under the leadership of Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the High Priest. This group included Haggai and Zechariah. A short time later the Jewish returnees restored the altar and the sacrifices and laid the foundation of the temple and began to rebuild. Soon they faced challenges and obstacles that brought the construction efforts to a halt. Continued threats and hostilities from neighboring enemies intimidated the people, discouraging them from continuing in the hard work. Added to that was the realization that the temple they were building would be smaller and less impressive than Solomon’s. As a result of these issues, work on the temple stopped, and it remained incomplete for sixteen years.
To restart the work, God sent the prophet Haggai in 520 B.C. to call the people to finish building the temple. Two months after Haggai delivered his message from God, Zechariah was sent to reiterate the same call to finish the temple. Zechariah encouraged the people by revealing to them that their work on the temple was a crucial feature in God’s plans, culminating in the ultimate reign of the Messiah in the millennial kingdom. The people responded to the Lord’s messages delivered through His prophets and they completed the building of the temple in 516 B.C.. four years after the rebuilding effort had resumed.
In chapter two Zechariah is referred to as a “young man,” so it is believed that he was quite young when he began his ministry. In addition to being a prophet, he was also a priest. His priestly lineage adds to his interest in the building of the temple and his excitement in the vision of the High Priest Joshua. Zechariah ministered over a period spanning about fifty years, from 520 B.C. until 480 or 470 B.C. Jesus in Matthew 23:35 tells us that Zechariah’s life ended when he was murdered between the altar and the sanctuary of the temple.
Throughout Zechariah’s prophecy we will come across several central features or themes. One of these features is Yahweh which is rendered in our English Bibles as LORD in all capital letters. This covenant and personal name of God appears 133 times in Zechariah’s prophecy. This name which means “I AM” conveys God’s loyalty, love, and relationship with His people, and because of this God desires Israel to repent and be reconciled to Him. 53 times Zechariah uses the title “Yahweh of hosts” or “LORD of hosts” which reveals to us the Lord’s supernatural activity in commanding the angelic hosts to accomplish His plan. The Lord’s promises are therefore backed by the full force and authority of the Commander of heaven’s angelic armies. “The Angel of Yahweh” or “The Angel of the LORD” appears six times in Zechariah and is identified as God Himself, and He is none other than the second Person of the Trinity.
Another feature or theme is remembrance which is reflected in Zechariah’s name which means “Yahweh remembers.” The Lord does not forget what He has declared, He will also fulfill every promise He has made. With this wonderful phrase “Yahweh remembers,” the prophet calls his readers to rest in the Lord and look for hope only in Him. He is the one who remembers His promises so that His people will remember Him.
A third theme is repentance, this book opens with a call to repentance, and the theme is carried throughout the entire book. The people were called to return to the Lord and to embrace the Messiah, the Angel of Yahweh sent by God.
Another theme is the temple or the house of the Lord. This was the historic and immediate reason for Zechariah’s prophecy to call Judah to continue the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Zechariah revealed to the people that the humble temple they were building anticipated the future glorious temple of the millennial kingdom.
An over-arching theme is the Messiah. Zechariah speaks of both the first advent and the second advent of the Messiah and emphasizes two messianic roles, the role of the Good Shepherd and the role of the Priest-King.
One last theme is the millennial kingdom. He prophesied that it would be earthly and climatic. Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt, and God’s glory will dwell in the midst of the city and God will be a wall of fire around it. When the Messiah establishes this earthly kingdom, Jerusalem will be known as the City of Truth.
God sent Zechariah to proclaim that Yahweh remembered His covenant to Israel and would fulfill it through the Messiah; because of this, the returnees were to be faithful to God by continuing to rebuild the temple as a part of God’s testimony and witness to the world. The prophecy begins with a call to repentance; this had to be the starting point if the people of Israel were to fulfill what God had called them to do. Genuine repentance, consisting of a radical change of heart and mind, is a gift of God’s mercy and grace. It includes an immediate change of affection, causing the heart to turn away from sin and idolatry and to turn toward the living and true God. The call to repentance is a call to sinners to turn from their idolatry and sin and instead love and worship the true God and walk in His ways. It is to cry to the Lord for mercy asking Him to receive the change of heart that only He can provide. That call to repent is how this book begins. If they did not repent, they would be punished like their wicked ancestors before them. Let’s pray and then read the opening verses of Zechariah.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Zechariah 1:1-6. It comes right before Malachi which is the last book of the Old Testament. If you find Matthew, then go back a few pages. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Zechariah 1:1-6,
“In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying, ‘The Lord was very angry with your fathers.’ Therefore say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return to Me,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I may return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ ” ‘But they did not listen or give heed to Me,’ declares the Lord. ‘Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, “As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.” ’ ” (Zechariah 1:1–6, NASB95)[1]
RETURN TO ME (Zechariah 1:1-3)
Zechariah opens his book and introduces his prophecy by giving us a very specific date. He writes, “In the eighth month of the second year of Darius.” (Zechariah 1:1a, NASB95)[2] This is an important detail because it links Zechariah’s prophecy with events in Israel’s history following the Babylonian exile and specifically places Zechariah’s prophecy and ministry alongside that of the prophet Haggai.
The remnant that had returned from exile was at first enthusiastic to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple and to repopulate the city. The altar of the Lord was constructed, and they began to offer the prescribed sacrifices upon it within seven months of their return, seeking to return to the worship that God had commanded. In the second year they began to rebuild the temple, laying the foundation, in doing this they met strong opposition from the neighboring peoples. The mention of the second year of Darius was a reminder that Isarael was still under pagan rule, under the Medo-Persian Empire and its current monarch, Darius the Great. Cyrus had been the king who allowed the exiled peoples to return to their own lands and rebuild. Upon his death his son Cambyses succeeded him as king. He is best known for conquering Egypt. He had no sons and he ended his own life. Darius the first or Darius the Great was a prince from another family and had been a general in Cambyses’ military. He rose to the throne after Cambyses took his own life. Darius defeated two other factions vying for the throne and put down a rebellion in the first two years of his reign. By the third year Darius was fully in possession of the empire. This was the Darius that is mentioned by Zechariah. Without a king of their own, and in the face of rising antagonism, the people of Judah grew fearful and discouraged. As a result, they stopped construction on the temple.
God first sent Haggai to minister to the people, and he gave four short messages that challenged, exhorted, and encouraged the people to act on God’s will. Haggai wanted the people to know that their obedient actions would be part of God’s much grander plan. He revealed that God would do a worldwide work and a temple will be built that will be far greater than any previous temple. He encouraged the people that the rebuilt temple in their day was a step toward the millennial glory that was yet future.
Then God raised up Zechariah to reiterate the message the people had heard from Haggai. Zechariah’s message was timed specifically to build on the revelation God had given through Haggai. The prophet writes, … the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying…” (Zechariah 1:1, NASB95)[3] A true prophet spoke only what God revealed, and that is what Zechariah did, speaking the very words of God to the people. Zechariah was the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. These names of Zechariah’s father and grandfather provide us with another reminder of God’s character and the purpose of this prophecy. Berechiah means “Yahweh blesses,” foreshadowing a key theme in this book, which is the ultimate blessing of God for Israel in the future. Zechariah’s grandfather was Iddo, meaning “in its time.” This name reminds us that God will accomplish His promises according to His perfect timetable. As already mentioned the name Zechariah means “Yahweh remembers” which sums up the entire message of this book. Zechariah’s mission as a prophet, one who proclaims God’s Word, was to declare that the Lord remembers. The Lord will work everything out so that the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former and in this place the Lord will give peace.
Though it was a message of hope and encouragement, Zechariah’s prophecy began with a sobering reminder for the people, especially in light of the recent return from exile. The prophet declared, “The LORD was very angry with your fathers.” (Zechariah 1:2, NASB95)[4] This phrase “very angry” expresses the idea of extreme annoyance, contempt, intense displeasure, almost to the extent of abhorrence and hatred. In other words, the Lord is holy and furious against sin. In His anger, God promised to curse idolaters and eject them from the land of Israel. The point that Zechariah was trying to make was though the LORD was very angry against your fathers, a reference to past generations before the exile, the same did not have to be the case for the people in Zechariah’s day. Unlike their ancestors, they could experience God’s blessing rather than His judgment. Zechariah was offering the people hope. He went on speaking the Word of God to them and what God expected of His people, that they might enjoy His blessing instead of experiencing the displeasure of judgment as the prior generations had done. The Lord’s call to repent and return was clear. “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return to Me,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I may return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 1:3, NASB95)[5] The one speaking is the LORD of hosts, a title used three times in this verse. This repetition emphasized that this command was backed by the sovereign authority and supreme majesty of the King of the universe, who rules and commands the hosts of heaven. The command “return” underscores the heart of repentance. To repent is to turn away from sin and back to the Lord. This is not simply an external change, but an internal change of the heart. And note what is said, the people were not just to return to a certain way of life, they were to return to Me, namely, to the Lord Himself. Those who returned to the Lord would show it by the fruit of repentance.
This call to repentance was evidence of the Lord’s goodness and remembrance toward His people, indicating His gracious desire to save and bless them. In all times, repentance is the gateway to blessing. By giving this command, God was showing that He had not forgotten His people or His promises to them. The Lord assured His people that if they returned to Him, then He would return to you, to the people of Israel. The repetition of the word return tightly ties Israel’s repentance together with God’s restoration of the nation. One will not happen without the other. That this command was declared by the LORD of hosts reinforced its certainty since He possesses all the authority and power to accomplish His plan as promised.
In this time of fear and discouragement for the nation, Zechariah’s opening verses reminded the people that the Lord had not forgotten them. The Lord called His people to repent and return. This is the opening of this book because it introduces what God’s people needed to know as a baseline for this entire prophecy. As the prophet unfolds the amazing blessing of grace that God has in store for His people Israel, both historically and eschatologically, they needed to know how to respond rightly. The Lord revealed the answer at the very beginning: Israel needed to repent and return to Him.
LEARN FROM THE PAST (Zechariah 1:4-6)
God continued His call to repentance by not only telling them what true repentance is, but also what it is not. The LORD warned them: “Do not be like your fathers.” (Zechariah 1:4a, NASB95)[6] The fathers represent the prior generation that went into exile, those whom the LORD was very angry with and who had suffered His judgment. The LORD speaking through Zechariah pointed out that the present generation was in the same danger as the fathers had been, and as Zechariah was warning them, so had the previous generation been warned by the former prophets, all the prophets that came before the exile including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, these prophets had proclaimed to the people of their day, the former generation with some form of this divine warning, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ ” (Zechariah 1:4b, NASB95)[7] While Zechariah commanded the people to return to God, the former prophets urged the people to return from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Turning to God and turning away from evil are two sides of the same coin of repentance. The condemnation of the former generation for both their general conduct and their particular actions provides an important reminder; true repentance is thorough. It means a change in one’s entire lifestyle and also puts to death specific sins. Both are necessary parts of genuine, God-honoring repentance.
The former generation was warned but Zechariah reminds his generation that they did not listen, nor did they heed the command to turn from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Zechariah was warning the people of his day not to be like the stubborn and disobedient former generations. Their response to God’s warning and command needed to be different.
To impress upon the people the importance and the urgency with which they needed to respond, the prophet again pointed to the past with two rhetorical questions. The first, “Your fathers, where are they?” (Zechariah 1:5a, NASB95)[8] The answer to this question was obvious especially for those who had just returned from exile in Babylon. The people of Judah understood the historic consequences of the wickedness of their people. They knew their forefathers had been slaughtered by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies or forced into exile. Ezra 9:7 says, “Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day.” (Ezra 9:7, NASB95)[9] The people of Judah knew well that the past generations had been killed in judgment. Zechariah’s point was that if they were unwilling to repent and return to God, they would be no better than their unfaithful forefathers. If they did not respond by retuning to God, they also would face God’s judgment.
The second question, “And the prophets, do they live forever?” (Zechariah 1:5b, NASB95)[10] In contrast to Judah’s ancestors, the prophets were God’s servants in a right relationship with Him. The point of this question is not to emphasize God’s judgment but rather to demonstrate human frailty and the absolute authority of God’s Word. Even though the prophets faithfully declared God’s message, as sinners they too faded away and died physically. They did not live forever in this world. If even servants of God die, surely no person has the ability to overcome the effect of God’s direct revelation. No one is above God’s Word, not even the prophets who proclaimed it. Since no one can defy God’s Word, its warnings are true and unavoidable, and Zechariah’s readers and hearers need to take it seriously.
In contrast with man’s fallenness and frailty, God reminded His people about the nature of His Word. The statement, “My words and my statutes which I commanded My servants the prophets…” (Zechariah 1:6b, NASB95)[11] describes the authoritative nature of Scripture. The phrase “My words” emphasizes that God is the author and authority of Scripture. The meaning of “My statutes” has the idea of a boundary, as God’s law sets the line between good and evil, defining the very standard to which God holds someone accountable. God’s Word is not only authored by God but is authoritative and absolute, and to show how sovereign it is, Zechariah reminded the people that God’s Word is that which God commanded His servants the prophets to deliver. No one has influence over God’s Word, not even the prophets who declared it. They were not peers or co-counselors with God, rather they were commanded by Him and were His servants. Because it comes with the power and authority of the divine Author, Scripture dominates all.
Given Scripture’s absolute authority it is not surprising that its warnings overtook the fathers. This phrase describes how a person is suddenly overtaken from behind. Sinners might assume, at first, that the consequences laid out in God’s Word are far behind and will never catch up to them. But the Word of God is always fully operative and triumphant. The judgment on the former fathers provides historic proof of this. God had warned of exile, and the Babylonian exile is irrefutable evidence that God’s judgment will fall on sinners just as it is declared in God’s Word. The judgment that overtook the sinful, unrepentant forefathers will ultimately overtake any and all unrepentant sinners.
Any survivor of that historic judgment would have acknowledged this truth. As the end of verse six explains, “Then they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’ ” (Zechariah 1:6c, NASB95)[12] Those who remained confessed the sovereignty of God as they referred to the LORD of hosts or Yahweh of hosts, whose powers and resources are unlimited. The word purposed refers to God’s predetermined and decreed plan that cannot change and always comes to pass. Specifically, the survivors acknowledged that what the LORD foreordained and set out to do to us is exactly what He has done to us. Furthermore, God’s judgment was perfectly appropriate, as it was in accordance with our ways and our deeds. This admission showed not only that God’s punishment was just but that it was exact. It precisely fulfilled what the earlier prophets had predicted would happen if the people refused to turn from their evil ways and deeds. Not one of them could say that he had not been warned.
Let me end by making one final observation about verse 6. My version the New American Standard Version states that the survivors of the exile repented and said. A better translation of this is “returned and said.” The sense of the word in Hebrew in this context is “returned,” and it is the same word that appeared in the opening verses of this passage, calling Israel to return to God even as He would return to them. By using the word return here, Zechariah continued the wordplay he had been making throughout this passage. The prophet was calling upon those who had returned from the land of Babylon to return also to God. Judah’s physical return to the land needed to include their spiritual return to love and obey the LORD, so that He would return to them. But within this, the wordplay equally carried a warning. If they failed to return to the LORD in repentance, they could only return to their land in shame, as mere survivors lamenting the reality that God had judged them just as He did their fathers.
CONCLUSION:
Because God’s Word is always effective, the call to repentance is a call either to blessing or to judgment. Those who turn away from sin and turn to the Lord, embracing Him in faith and love, will experience His blessing. But those who reject His invitation to repent and turn to Him, walking instead in rebellion against Him, will in His perfect time face His wrath and judgment.
As we enter into this New Year, now is the time to return to the Lord. Even we who are believers need to at times repent and return to the Lord because we have taken our focus off our Savior who suffered and died and rose from the dead on our behalf. We have wandered our own way. When we do this we need to come to the Lord and repent and return to Him and at the beginning of the New Year is a good time to evaluate our lives and get back on track with our God.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.