1991 Issue 6 - Sermons on Zechariah: Came the Word of the LORD - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1991 Issue 6 - Sermons on Zechariah: Came the Word of the LORD - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Kenneth

L

Gentry Jr. Th.D.

SERMONS

ON

ZECH RI H

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) ingeneral.

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 n an historical context.

Our God 'created the heavens and

the earth

and

all that in

them

is, as the

material

ofhistory --

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 n the relentless

ebb

and

flowofhistory--

for you (Gen. 8:22). He

has

set man

in

the

world

as

acreature 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

tomeetAhaz,

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 od 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

ha l l u c i n og en i c

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 putman in and

over

His world:

What 15 man that thou art mindful oj

him

.. Thoumadesthimtohavedomillion

September 1991 t lHE COUNSEL of

Chalcedon

t 5



over the

works of

thy

hands;

thou

has put

all things

under

is feet"

(Psa.8).

Now

I

have

said all of this because

Zechariah himself opens with a

particular

historical reference.

Zechariah 1: a reads: In

the eighth

month, in

the secondyear of

Darius, came

the

word

of

the Lord unto Zechariah.

Zechariahcame 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 inScripture,

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 f repentance

that

will

occupy our attention

as we

survey

Zechariah

in

the

next

few months.

There

Is

an historical

reason obligating

Israel .

o

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

psalmistinforms

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

specifichistorical

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 buchadnezzar

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

6

j TIlE OUNSEL o

Chalcedon

j September

99

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

s

to

be

noticed that Zechariah

dates his prophecy different from

the pre-exiliC prophets. For

instance, Isaiah begins: The vision

ofIsaiahthesonofAmoz, whichhesay

concerning

udah and jerusalem

in

the days

of Uzz\ah, jotham, Ahaz,

and

Hezekiah,

kings o 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 o

joash

king

of

srael, 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

Egyptianbondage 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

clearlywarned what would befalllsrael

if she rebelled against God,

But by the time

Zechariah writes,

Israel is no longer in exile under the

tyrannical dominion ofBabylon.

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 s 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 t 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 99 TH OUNSEL of halcedon 7

Documents

1991 Issue 6 - Sermons on Zechariah: Came the Word of the LORD - Counsel of Chalcedon