Zechariah – Page 2 – JumpstartCPC.com

February 4, 2020

Today you should read: Zechariah 10

The first main section of the book of Zechariah consisted of a series of visions. We have now entered into a section consisting of two different oracles. The ESV Study Bible says, “The twin themes of the purity of God’s people and the fidelity of their leaders—often termed “shepherds”—run throughout these oracles. The community and its leaders suffer turmoil: this turn to the Lord faces opposition, tearing at the fabric of society and the natural world.” Our verses today are looking at the unfaithfulness of the current leaders and the need for God to remove them.

The end of verse 2 and verse 3 helps put the predicament in context:

“So my people are wandering like lost sheep;
they are attacked because they have no shepherd.

My anger burns against your shepherds,
    and I will punish these leaders.
For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has arrived
    to look after Judah, his flock.
He will make them strong and glorious,
    like a proud warhorse in battle.”

The leaders of the people of Israel have failed, and God is beginning a process to correct them. God says in verse 6:

“I will strengthen Judah and save Israel;
I will restore them because of my compassion.
It will be as though I had never rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God, who will hear their cries.”

God cares about the people of Israel and shows the value of good and godly leadership and how it affects the every day lives of people. This passage can certainly relate to the need for godly leadership in the church today, but even more points to our need for Christ, who is the head of the church. Even the best and mostly godly leaders must rely on the Chief Shepherd who has the true and great power that we all need.

By: Graham Withers — Pastoral Ministry Associate

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February 3, 2020

Today you should read: Zechariah 9

This is such an encouraging chapter that we have today and one that shows us God’s heart and God’s plan. The people of God had endured hardship for some time as they were in exile. In this chapter we see God’s character.

1) THE JUSTICE OF GOD (v.1-8)

God reminds them that He is just. They had endured much injustice by their enemies and God wanted them to know that this did not go unnoticed and it will not go unpunished. One thing we see in this is that sin does not slip under the radar of God. He sees it. Either we will have to give an account for it or we can receive the forgiveness that Jesus offers.

2) THE PLAN OF GOD (v.9-13)

God was not just seeking justice… God was seeking restoration and salvation. He was sending them a King. This king was to be righteous and bring salvation. This King is Jesus. We see the prophecy of Jesus riding on a donkey lived out in Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke, 19 and John 12. God’s plan was to send Jesus, the savior of the world to redeem, restore, and bring salvation. The people Zechariah was writing to had to look forward to this in faith and hope… we get to look back on it in belief and place our faith in it!

3) THE SALVATION OF GOD (v.14-17)

We see in this last section of Zechariah 9 that God was going to bring salvation and deliverance through King Jesus. God was going to bring salvation (v. 16) through Jesus because of His goodness (v. 17). God was going to be their place of safety when they had felt so unstable. And the good news of salvation is that we don’t have to endure it but we get to flourish in it (v. 17b).

This is the kind of God we serve. He does not sit back apathetically and watch. He is engaged in the details of our lives. He has a plan. He has a purpose. He wants us to know Him, experience Him, love Him, and walk with Him.

How did God speak to your heart today?

By: Nick Parsons — Pastoral Ministry Associate: College

February 1, 2020

Today you should read: Zechariah 8

“In chapter 7, Israel was to repent and live righteously after the punishment of her captivity; here in chapter 8 she is to repent and live righteously because of the promise of her future restoration.” (Quoted in Constables Notes, NETBible.org)

Zechariah 8 pictures a work that only God could do. That is, after the devastation of the Babylonian Exile, God promises what he will do to restore Israel. Depending on a person’s view of the end-times, this chapter may be disclosing the future earthly reign of Christ when he returns for a second time. This period is referred to as the Millennial Kingdom. It is the time when the Lord will “return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.”

If you have a pen, underline the phrase “Lord of Hosts.” Let me rephrase, if you’re reading a paper Bible, underline “Lord of Hosts,” not the computer. That phrase appears 18 times in this chapter alone. The Lord is jealous for his people and in fulfilling His promise, “with great wrath.”

The jealousy of the Lord confuses some people. It is not a jealousy from an inability to have what He wants—though that’s how we often experience it. I think of God’s jealousy as a divine frustration that someone would want less for themselves than God wants for them. God is not jealous for things; He is jealous for the affections of people’s hearts. He wants the best for them, He is the best for them, when they choose anything less than worshipping God, they’re not experiencing God’s best. When it comes to God being the “Lord of Hosts,” any person that would thwart God’s best is in danger of experiencing the wrath of heaven’s armies.

If I had to summarize this chapter in a word, it would be “hope.” Today remember that we have a God who will fight for us. He is the Commander of Heaven’s Armies. And while I see many of the good things this chapter promises as future, that does not mean God doesn’t fight for us in the present. God has provided every weapon of war we need (Ephesians 6) to succeed against the unholy trinity—the world, the flesh, and the devil. When Zechariah says, “Love truth and peace” (19), God’s Spirit wants to produce that as fruit in your life (Galatians 5).

We don’t have to wait to experience the victory of the Lord of Hosts. However, it’s that victory that is our hope. Romans 8:18 reminds us that anything we face in life won’t be worth comparing to what we’ll experience in that day.

Spend a few moments and praise God for who He is, the Lord of Hosts, and the hope we have in Him.

By: Tyler Short — Connections Ministry Associate

January 31, 2020

Today you should read: Zechariah 7

Today we read Zechariah 7 – and Zechariah reminds us that our obedience is more important than our ritual. It’s what Samuel says in 1 Samuel 15:

But Samuel replied:  “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices  as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  To obey is better than sacrifice,  and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22

Zechariah gets right to it by confronting the sin of religious hypocrisy. He raises a question about fasting in verses 1-3, and then rebukes their hypocrisy in it in verses 4-7.

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?

Zechariah reminds the people (and us) that God wants people who will listen and obey. This is the conduct He desires.

Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.

But once again… God’s people rebelled.

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.

So… God brings judgment on their disobedience.

Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts. “But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.

Do you find yourself in the pages of this chapter? Do you worship ritual and religion, more than simple obedience to the Word of the Lord? Is your service for Him or for you? Are you listening to the Word of God and obeying it? Not just hearing but doing?

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22

What is the Word of the Lord to you today? Will you obey?

By: Tim Parsons — Lead Pastor