STUDY NUMBER TWENTY – ZECHARIAH 1:1-4:14      NOTES

1:v. 1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:
v. 2 “The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.
v. 3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.
v. 4 Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’  But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 
v. 5 Where are your forefathers now?  And the prophets, do they live forever?
v. 6 But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers?  “Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.’”
v. 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.
v. 8 During the night I had a vision—and there before me was a man riding a red horse!  He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine.  Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
v. 9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”  The angel who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”
v. 10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth.”
v. 11 And they reported to the angel of the Lord, who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.”
v. 12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”
v. 13 So the Lord spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
v. 14 Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,
v. 15 but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.  I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.’
v. 16 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt.  And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
v. 17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”
v. 18 Then I looked up—and there before me were four horns!
v. 19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these?”  He answered me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”
v. 20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.
v. 21 I asked, “What are these coming to do?”  He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”
2:v. 1 Then I looked up—and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand!
v. 2 I asked, “Where are you going?”  He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
v. 3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him
v. 4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it.
v. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
v. 6 “Come!  Come!  Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the Lord.
v. 7 “Come, O Zion!  Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!”
v. 8 For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—
v. 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them.  Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.
v. 10 “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion.  For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord.
v. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people.  I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
v. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
v. 13 Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
3:v. 1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
v. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!  The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!  Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
v. 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
v. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”  Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”
v. 5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.”  So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
v. 6 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua:
v. 7 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
v. 8 “‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.
v. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua!  There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
v. 10 “‘In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
4:v. 1 Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep.
v. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”  I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights.
v. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
v. 4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
v. 5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”  “No, my lord,” I replied.
v. 6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
v. 7 “What are you, O mighty mountain?  Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.  Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it!  God bless it!’”
v. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
v. 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it.  Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
v. 10 “Who despises the day of small things?  Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.  “(These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range throughout the earth.)”
v. 11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
v. 12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
v. 13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”  “No, my lord,” I said.
v. 14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”

QUESTIONS:

1.  Read Zechariah 1:1-4:14 and in your own words pull out the main thought of this passage.

2.  Read Zechariah 1:3.  What does the Lord ask them to do?

3.  Read Zechariah 1:6 and outline the Lord’s discipline program for Israel and their response to it.

4.  Read Zechariah 1:12 and then answer the question: Who is the angel of the Lord and what does he say?

5.  Read Zechariah 2:10 and outline what the Lord is saying to them.

6.  Read Zechariah 3:4 and make a clear statement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from this verse.

7.  Read Zechariah 3:8 and make a statement about who you think this passage refers to.

8.  What promise does the Lord make through His prophet, according to Zechariah 3:9?

9.  What verse in the study has meant the most to you?

10.  What lesson have you learned from this study?

LESSONS FROM THE PASSAGE:

What are some of the lessons we can learn from this particular study?

LESSON #1:  God is sovereign and He means what He says.

LESSON #2:  The key to blessing from the Lord is first to repent and then in repenting, return.

LESSON #3:  Zechariah begins with a blast from the past in order to get the people in a position for the Lord’s blessing.

LESSON #4:  The children of Israel were guilty of “evil ways” and “evil practices” (Zechariah 1:4).

LESSON #5:  You can count on God’s purpose to ultimately prevail.

LESSON #6:  The Lord confesses that He is “very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion” (Zechariah 1:14).

LESSON #7:  Even the Lord asks the Father “How long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem?” (Zechariah 1:12).

LESSON #8:  God the Father judges the nations on the basis of their treatment of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

LESSON #9:  “Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling” (Zechariah 2:13).

LESSON #10:  Satan is the accuser of the brethren.

LESSON #11:  What joy at the point of salvation do we hear from the Lord, “Take off [your] filthy clothes . . . I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments [of my righteousness] on you” (Zechariah 3:4).

LESSON #12:  The branch and the stone are symbols of the Messiah.

LESSON #13:  “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).

LESSON #14:  What a privilege to be anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: