coming out of exile:

Coming Out of Exile:Coming Out of Exile:Returning to the Returning to the Promised LandPromised Land

Coming Out of Exile:Coming Out of Exile:Returning to the Promised LandReturning to the Promised Land

Part 1: Have We Learned Our Lessons?Part 1: Have We Learned Our Lessons?• November 13—Going Into ExileNovember 13—Going Into Exile

• November 20—Surviving the ExileNovember 20—Surviving the Exile

• November 27—Break: November 27—Break:

Thanksgiving Eve EucharistThanksgiving Eve Eucharist


Part 2: The Prophets of the ReturnPart 2: The Prophets of the Return• December 4—Haggai December 4—Haggai

• December 11—ZechariahDecember 11—Zechariah

• December 18—MalachiDecember 18—Malachi


Session 4—

The Prophecies of Zechariahor

“No More Hummus Right Before Bed!”


The Book of the Prophet Zechariah is tied with Hosea as the longest book in the Minor Prophet with fourteen chapters!


The Book of the Prophet Zechariah is tied with Hosea as the longest book in the Minor Prophet with fourteen chapters!

You could put Malachi and Haggai together along with Zephaniah and Habakkuk and still have room for Obadiah before you got to the same length as Zechariah.


The Book of Zechariah has four parts:


The Book of Zechariah has four parts:• A Prophecy on Repentance



• Eight Visions in One Night




• A Pair of Prophecies about Jerusalem’s future




• A Pair of Prophecies about Jerusalem’s future

• Prophecies after the Temple had already been rebuilt.


Zechariah 1:1 begins, “In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,…”


For context:• The 2nd year, the 6th month, the 1st day—Haggai’s 1st

prophecy

• The 7th month, the 21st day—Haggai’s 2nd prophecy

• The 8th month, [day unknown]—Zechariah’s 1st prophecy

• The 9th month, the 24th day—Haggai’s 3rd & 4th prophecies


The word of the LORD came to Zechariah … saying, “The LORD has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah 1:1-3


“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.”’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the LORD.”

Zechariah 1:4


“Your fathers, where are they?And the prophets, do they live forever?

Yet surely My words and My statutes,Which I commanded My servants the prophets,Did they not overtake your fathers?”

Zechariah 1:5-6a


“So they returned and said:

‘Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us,

According to our ways and according to our deeds,

So He has dealt with us.’”Zechariah 1:6b


Haggai’s 3rd & 4th prophecies came on the 24th day of the 9th month of the 2nd year of Darius’ reign.


Haggai’s 3rd & 4th prophecies came on the 24th day of the 9th month of the 2nd year of Darius’ reign.

On the 24th day of the 11th month of the 2nd year of Darius’ reign, Zechariah had eight divinely inspired visions during the night.


The First Vision

The Four Horsemen (1:7-17)


The Second Vision

Four Horns and Four Craftsmen (1:18-21)


The Third Vision

A Man with a Measuring Line (2:1-13)


The Fourth Vision

The High Priest (3:1-10)


The Fifth Vision

A Golden Lampstand and Two Olive Trees (4:1-14)


The Sixth Vision

A Flying Scroll (5:1-4)


The Seventh Vision

A Woman in a Basket (5:5-11)


The Eighth Vision

Four Chariots (6:1-15)


Almost two whole years after his night of divine visions, “(Now) in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, …”

Zechariah 7:1


Now a full twenty years after the exiles who chose to leave had returned from Babylon, “they” send two Babylonian officials, along with their men, to pray before the LORD and ask the priests and the prophets if they should continue fasting in the fifth and seventh months as had been their tradition throughout the Babylonian Exile.


Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?


When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?’”


‘Execute true justice,Show mercy and compassionEveryone to his brother.Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,The alien or the poor.Let none of you plan evil in his heartAgainst his brother.’


“But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.”

Zechariah 7:4-13


Again the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying,

“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘I am zealous for Zion with great zeal;With great fervor I am zealous for her.’

“Thus says the Lord:

‘I will return to Zion,And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.’”

Zechariah 8:1-3


“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Old men and old women shall again sitIn the streets of Jerusalem,Each one with his staff in his handBecause of great age.The streets of the cityShall be full of boys and girlsPlaying in its streets.’


But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ says the Lord of hosts.

‘For the seed shall be prosperous,The vine shall give its fruit,The ground shall give her increase,And the heavens shall give their dew—I will cause the remnant of this peopleTo possess all these.


And it shall come to passThat just as you were a curse among the nations,O house of Judah and house of Israel,So I will save you, and you shall be a blessing.Do not fear,Let your hands be strong.’

Zechariah 8:11-13


Thus says the Lord of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’

Zechariah 8:23


The Lessons


The LessonsThe First Prophecy:

Be mindful of the prophets and, when needful, REPENT!


The LessonsThe Visions:

God has set this time, and this people for rebuilding, and is

purifying his people.


The LessonsThe Second Prophecy:

Be mindful of the lessons of the prophets, and God will bless us and restore us once again!


The LessonsThe Second Prophecy:

“Let us go with you,

for we have heard that God is with you.”

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