Come Back to the Lord and Build - ZECHARIAH STARTS

God constantly calls His people to Himself. The prophet Haggai called on people to restore the Temple so that proper worship might once again live in the land. As he did this, the prophet Zechariah called the people back to whole-hearted devotion to the Lord. 

Zechariah 1:1–3 (ESV) In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 2 “The LORD was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore, say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.

Yes, God sent them away in His anger over their sin. But the exile was a temporary discipline to destroy idolatry in their hearts and ultimately bring them back to Himself, rightly restored to a proper relationship. 

Zechariah 1:4 (ESV) Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

The people are reminded that their fathers are no more because they did not return when God called.

Zechariah's prophetic book is filled with imagery. We don't have to read far to see it. The first vision is that of a man riding a red horse, leading other colored horses to patrol the earth. Persians employed horse-mounted patrols as part of an ancient network of intelligence and communication. God has His own such network.
Zechariah 1:8–10 (ESV) “I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.’

The horsemen patrol the Earth and find it at rest. This rest ignites the fury of the Lord, who announces His intention to bring justice on the nations that were satisfied (at rest) in Israel's demise. The Lord also announces retribution for their overbearing hardness toward Israel as His instruments of judgment. Later in the chapter, through the image of four horns that are terrorized by four craftsmen sent by the Lord, God points to the building of the city as a powerful work against those nations that abused Israel in the past. 

Zechariah 1:14–16 (ESV) So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. 16 Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.

The symbol of the measuring line means God will restore the city soon! 
Zechariah 1:17 (ESV) Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’ ”

The Lord seeks to bring us back for OUR good. That is the message that begins Zechariah. But let us not miss the image of building as central to the work of God's promises and prosperity coming to Israel. 

Zechariah 1:21 (ESV) And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these (craftsmen) have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
As noted before, the craftsmen, those who refined and rebuilt the house of worship, sent the nations into terror through their work. God doesn't need a military; He needs people who are willing to build His house. When we prioritize God's house and work to build and beautify it, the enemy is turned back, and God's people come home in restoration!


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