Shabbat Shalom. Let's open our Bibles today to a portion of Scripture that we haven't touched for quite a while, to the Old Testament, to the Tanach. We will turn to the book of the prophet Zechariah. And I would like to begin today introducing that book of Zechariah. His Hebrew name is Zechariah, Jehovah had remembered. We're going to read this ministry meeting only the first six verses just by way of introduction. We're going to give a little introduction to the background of the book of Zechariah and begin by reading these six verses in which God is appealing to his people, to the Jewish remnant, through the prophet Zechariah, after they return from their captivity in Babel, in Babylon.

So we read in verses 1 to 6 of Zechariah, chapter 1. In the eight months, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying, The Lord has been so displeased with your fathers. Therefore, say thou unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts. Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings.

But they did not heal, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my word, and my statutes, which I commended my servants, the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned, and said, like as the Lord of hosts thought, to do unto us according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. And I'm stopping right now with the sixth verse of the first chapter of this book. A very beautiful book, we will see that as we're going to go over this book, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, thought by thought.

And you will see, beloved brothers and sisters, that Zechariah, the prophet, have prophesied to our Jewish people who came back from Babel, in view of encouraging them to continue on to build the house of the Lord. And the lesson that you and I will learn from that, you will see this as we study this book, that the application in the study of the prophet Zechariah is parallel to what the Lord would do in speaking to us today. After the church was born already 2,000 years ago, and things have gone apart, and the people of God have turned away from the Lord in the church age, the fundamental truth of the message of the gospel that are written to us in the Brita Hadashah in the New Testament over in the dark ages have been set aside.

And now in the time in the time in which we live in, where there is a recovery of the truth, and there is a time where the word of God is now in our hands, and we can touch it and handle it and listen to the word. The lesson is that just what Zechariah did to our Jewish people of old who returned from Babylon, the New Testament writers are doing to you and I today in the present day of the recovery of the truth that had been given to the body of Messiah. Let me just say a few things by way of introduction and then I'm going to go over those six verses.

You know that our Jewish people Israel had many prophets that have spoken to our people. We have what we call the pre-exile prophets who spoke to Israel, both to the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, and appealed to them, turn to the Lord, walk with the God of our fathers, live for him, before he will discipline you and will take you and allow you to go to the galut to be in exile. Those are what we call the pre-exilic prophets such as Yeshayahu, Isaiah, Yirmiyahu, Jeremiah, Hosea, Yohel, Amos, Ovadia, Yona, Micha, and Nachum, and on and on, Habakkuk, and Sephaniah. Those were pre-exilic prophets who presented God's word to our nation Israel before Israel had gone to the galut to exile.

Then time had come to pass and God had to discipline our own nation Israel. He sent the northern kingdom who was now divided from the southern kingdom, we read about in 2 Kings, to exile by the Assyrians. The Assyrians took these ten tribes and took them captive and they have gone and many of them have lost the privileges of being in the land and many of them have mixed with the Samaritan, the Shomronim. Then we have the southern kingdom, Judah and Benjamin, who have also gone down to captivity to Babel, have been taken by the Babylonians. In Babylon, in Babel, there were those what we call them during the exile prophets who have preached messages to the Jewish people who were in exile now and they gave them the promises of the Lord.

Those prophets were prophets such as Yehezkel, Ezekiel, and Daniel. They have preached the message of God's word to the people of Judah when they were in exile, in captivity, in a time when they were outside of the land of Israel. Now time has passed by and God said to Israel that 70 years he will allow them to experience his discipline in Babel and after 70 years he will restore them back to the promised land. And sure enough, Israel had been restored. The Jewish remnant had been restored and they came back to the promised land. About 42,300 of them came back to the land of Israel. It was Cyrus.

In Hebrew we call him Koresh. Koresh gave a message in the book of Ezra we read about this. And he said to the Jewish people, and in fact I would like you for a second turn to Ezra chapter 1, and I want you to see what Koresh has said. Listen to this. It says in chapter 1 of Ezra verse 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Yirmiyahu might be fulfilled. The Lord stir up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing. And now notice verse 3.

Thus saith Cyrus, the king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdom of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem. This is the temple, the house of God, which is in Judea. And he asked a question, and he said, "Who is there among you? Of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem." Then the proclamation went. Cyrus has called the Jewish community who were in Babylon.

Who is among you? Who is now willing to go back to Jerusalem and to build the temple at Beit HaMikdash, the house of the Lord? And you know we read in scripture that out of the millions of the Jewish people who have been in Babel, in Babylon, only 42,000 plus another 7,000 servants and so on came back to the city of Jerusalem, to the land of Israel, to rebuild the temple of the God of Israel. Very small group of people who were willing to leave Babel, to restore themselves to the land of Israel and to build again the temple in the city of Jerusalem. The rest of them were satisfied to live in Babel.

In the book of Esther, we read of our own Jewish people who remain in Babel, and the name of God is not mentioned even once in this book of Esther. But the hands of God, in the protection of his Jewish people, we can see throughout the book of Esther. Why? Because God has a plan for Israel to restore them back into their former glory. And beyond the former glory, when the Messiah Yeshua will come and take his rightful place among the Jewish people in the coming day, among the people of Israel. Here we have now the post-exile community who came now to the land of Israel and they began to build the house of God in the city of Jerusalem.

But as they were building, opposition came in. Those of the area who lived, the Shomronim, the Samaritans who are mixed breed, they began to oppose the building of the house of the Lord. They began to challenge those Jewish communities that began to build the house of the Lord. And we find, beloved brothers and sisters, that they laid the foundation in Ezra chapter 3. But what happened is that in chapter 4, there was a lot of discouragement among them. Why? Because they had problems from without and they had problems from within. And they were so discouraged that the Bible tells us in chapter 4 that for a season they stopped building the house of the Lord.

And the book of Ezra tells us, as it says in Ezra chapter 4 and verse 24, "Then seized the work of the house of God which was in Jerusalem." "So it seized unto the second year of the reign of Darius, the king of Persia." Now the Jewish people were discouraged. They began to build the house. They were so discouraged. Because there was an opposition from the Samaritan, the Shomronim, who wanted to build wisdom. And they said, "No, we are not going to allow you to build with us the house of the Lord. We are going to build alone the house of our God." And when the Samaritans, those who live in this area, saw that they didn't allow them to do so, then they are called in the Bible in Ezra 4:1, they are called the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin.

They sought to stop them from building the house of the Lord. And at that time, beloved brothers and sisters, when they stopped to build the house of the Lord in the city of Jerusalem, then the Lord raised two prophets. Ezra 5:1 says, "Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Idor, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judea and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them." Now they began to preach to them, those two servants of the Lord. One of them was Haggai. But today we began to share together from the prophet Zechariah how he was raised as well by God to speak to the remnant of Israel who stopped to do the building of the house of God and who needed some sort of encouragement.

Let me just make for a moment an application to the body of Messiah. The Jewish remnant who came back from Babel, about 49, 50,000 Jewish people, are really in type and in picture those in the present-day church age who have been called by God to come back to the foundation of the Word of God. While the vast majority of Christendom, the professing church, have left the truths that have been given to us in the scriptures, in the Brit HaChadashah, the 50,000 Jewish people, remnant, who came back to the Promised Land are in a picture, a type of believers in the church age who were called to come back to the principle taught in the Word of God.

Coming back to the Word, to the truth of the Gospel, to the ABC of the Word of God, and seeking to build the house of God. Now, for the believers in the church today, it's not merely a physical temple in one locality. For the believers today, it is the house of God is known in the Bible, the church of the living God, the assembly. Every member of the body of Messiah is part of this assembly. And those of us, those remnants, if you will, who seek to understand the Word of God, and to seek to practice this, are pictured by this remnant who came back to build the house of God in the city of Jerusalem.

Now, when they were building, and they sought to build, and to edify, and to give a place to God in the city of Jerusalem, and to honor Him, opposition came. Immediately, Satan opposed their work. Just the same, like when you and I are trying to teach the Word of God, and to live for the Lord, the opposition is coming. They're coming from without, coming from within. It's coming from without Satan, and the attractiveness of the world, and its system. Coming from within, it's the friction that existing among believers, who in pride, in self-will, instead of submitting to the Word of God, they have an internal friction among the people of God.

And so, this is the background. You can just imagine the background. Here is a remnant of Israel, already now in the land. After 70 years of being in dispersion, in the Galut. Now they are back in the land of Israel. And they had an opportunity to build the house of God. But instead of it, they gave up. And they were discouraged. They stopped from building the house of God. And they began, each one of them, to take care of his own affairs. In fact, when we continue on, you will notice that those two preachers, Haggai and Zechariah, were two servants that were called to preach there, Later on, Malachi had also preached to them.

And Malachi, he was the last prophecy of the Tanakh, the Old Testament, until there were 400 and something years of silence between the Old Testament, the Tanakh, Malachi, and the Gospel of Matityahu, Matthew. God did not raise a servant for Israel until he introduced the Messiah by Yohanan Hamadbil. John, the baptizer, Yohanan Hamadbil, says, "Be ready! The kingdom of God is at hand." And the Messiah, Yeshua, came and presented himself to the nation of Israel at the time of his first coming. And so, we are looking at this study of the Prophet Zechariah, and the background is the story that I just shared with you. So, 70 years, from about 605 to 536, the Jewish people have been in Babel.

And when they were in Babel, they have spent a time of sorrows and trials and sufferings, and they have dispersed among the nations in Babel until the recovery had began, and the prophets Zechariah and Zechariah had begun to preach to the restored remnant of Judah. Now, about the dates. Notice Zechariah 1:1, it says, "In the eighth month of the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berachiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying." This year, at about the eighth month of the second year of Darius, it's about 520 B.C. is the time in which Zechariah began to give his messages to the Jewish remnant.

He spoke at the same time when Haggai was preaching. Haggai was preaching about three months or so. His prophecies was not really too long. But Zechariah have shared in prophecy to our Jewish people who came from Babylon between 40 to 50 years. while they were in the land, stirring them up to build the house of the Lord. Now, I want you to notice one or two things in addition by way of introduction. Go back to Haggai for a second. Haggai has spoken to the nation of Israel in chapter 1 and verse 1 in the second year of Darius, in the sixth month of the first day of the month.

This is again this 520 B.C. The word of the Lord came unto Haggai the prophet. In chapter 2 and verse 1, In the seventh month in the 1 and 20th day of the month came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai again saying. Notice Haggai preached first of all in the sixth month of the first day of the month in the second year of Darius. But he also spoke in the seventh month and the 21st day of the month. So he spoke to Israel one prophecy in the sixth month of the second year and the second prophecy in the seventh month. There was about a month and a half almost two months in between them that he gave those two messages specifically to the nation of Judah, to the nation of Israel.

On the other hand, Zechariah, he presented the word of God to the people of Judah in the eight months and in the second year of Darius. First of all, Haggai ministered the word and then Zechariah immediately after him. Now, what I found very interesting here in these two men is there was a difference between Haggai and Zechariah. Haggai was more a man who was down to earth. He was really a practical man. He was saying to them, consider your ways. You have stopped to build the house of the Lord. And listen, you are building your own houses. You are taking care of your own things, but you don't take care of the house of the Lord.

He said, look for yourself. He said to them, you look for much and low it came for little. He said, when you brought into your home, I did blow upon what you brought. Why sayeth the Lord of hosts because of mine house that is waste and you run away every man unto his own house. In other words, they had time to build their own home. They had the time to take care of their own affairs, but they didn't take the time to build the house of the Lord. He was more a hands on man. He was a practical man by way of application. We have time to take care of everything in our lives, but very little time to take care of the body of Messiah.

To use our gifts in the midst of God's people. To be a blessing to the saints who in many tribulations and trials and frictions and problems in their lives, they had the time to deal with their own personal affairs, but they didn't take the time to build the house of the Lord. That was Haggai. That's the kind of prophet Haggai had been. We read of him in those two chapters that he challenging Judah to be restored to the Lord and to build the house of the Lord. Now on the other hand, Zechariah was a little bit different. He was a man that received visions from the Lord.

He was a man very similar to John, Yohanan, the apostle who received the book of the Revelation. He received visions from the Lord concerning the events that will occur among the nation of Israel. From the beginning when they have been taken by Nebuchadnezzar all the way to the second coming of the Messiah at the Messianic kingdom. He received visions. He received all sort of information from the Lord and interpretation of these visions concerning the first coming of the Messiah and the second coming of the Messiah. The way of God dealing with his people Israel all the way to the time that he is going to restore them.

Two different kinds of men. Two different personalities. One was more hard and strong and aggressive. The other one is more gentle and more speaking to the heart and to the conscience, seeking to restore the people of Israel to the Lord. You know, it's very similar to what we have in the Brita Hadashah in the New Testament. There were three men that we oftentimes find them writing to us. Shimon Petro, Simon Peter, John, Yohanan, the one that leaned on Jesus' breast, and Shaul Paul. All of them were different kind of a man. Each one of them was a servant of God, a servant of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, but each one of them was different.

John was much more a man of affection, a man of love. We read in scripture, he said of himself, "I am the disciples whom Yeshua loved." On the other hand, Peter was the opposite. He was a man of action. Remember, he said to Yeshua, "Though everyone will deny you, I will not deny you." He was the one that was on the ship when everybody was afraid. In Matthew chapter 14 from the storm, it was Shimon Petros who says, "Lord, if it is you, call me that I will walk to you." And he walked on the water. He was the one that when he ran into the tomb of Yeshua the Messiah, John was slowing down, but Peter went right through.

He was a man of action. He was a man aggressive more, while John was a man of affection. And on the other hand, Paul, Shaul, he was a man of knowledge. He was the one that knew information. He was a student of the Word of God. He was a disciple that had received revelation from the Lord. Remember what he said in the book of Corinthians, "I do not know whether it was in the body or out of the body, but I knew a man was caught to the third heaven." He was the one who was the man of knowledge. In fact, brothers and sisters, when all these three men in the New Testament speak about Yeshua the Messiah, the man of action, Peter, said about Yeshua, "He did no sin." The man of affection, John said about Yeshua the Messiah, "In him there was no sin." And then Paul, the man of knowledge, spoke about the Messiah.

He said he knew no sin. Everyone expressed himself in a different way concerning the person of our Lord, Jesus the Messiah. And yet, all these three men, Shimon Petros, Yohanan, and Shaul Paul, and all these two men, Haggai and Zechariah, all were servants of the Lord with a different personality, but always was used by the Lord for the glory of God and for the blessing of the people of Israel. Now, you and I are very much the same. All of us do not have the same personalities. Some of us, perhaps, are more calm. Other ones are more aggressive. Other ones are more thinking through before they take any action.

Other ones are more personal feelings and emotional and so on. Every one of us is different. Just the same like Zechariah and Haggai and Shaul and Yohanan and Shimon Petros. All were different men with different personalities, but all were used by the Lord for the benefit of the people of God. So here, beloved brothers and sisters, we see Haggai was a man of action, Zechariah was a man of visions. He received from the Lord visions concerning the future events that are going to happen with the nation of Israel. Now, what is the reason? This is the next thing that I want to mention here. We have the date, it's about 520 BC, where Zechariah presented his prophecy to the restored people of Judah in the city of Jerusalem.

And he preached for quite a long time, much longer than Haggai, the prophet. But thirdly, by way of introduction, that I would like to present what is the purpose of the writing of the prophet Zechariah. Why did God raise these men to preach to the nation of Israel? Well, I would like to suggest that the prophets who were raised by the Lord to present a message to the nation were raised because the Jewish people needed to be encouraged. We need to be encouraged. If we do not get encouragement from the word of God, how can we continue on? How can the Jewish remnant continue on to walk with their God unless they will get some encouragement in the midst of so much discouragement?

Now, how do you and I, as believers in Jesus the Messiah today, continue on to go on for the Lord? Why do we come here every Shabbat meeting to hear the word of God? Because we need to be encouraged. Because we need to be encouraged. There are many disappointments here in this world. The body of Messiah is here in this world with many, many disappointments. We get disappointment from the people around us. We get disappointed from ourselves because we oftentimes fail the Lord as believers. So we need encouragement. And this is what Zechariah is doing here in this book. He encourages the Jewish people to finalize the building of the temple.

And if you will just turn to chapter 4 for a moment of Zechariah here in chapter in verse 8. It says this, listen. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. For who has despised a day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro throughout the whole earth. They needed encouragement to build the house of the Lord.

To continue on. Zerubabel started to build, but they stopped. Well, let's continue to build the house of the Lord because God sees the eyes of the Lord run to and fro. He sees everything that is going on. He knows the problems people of Judah that you experience from those who oppose you. He knows the discouragement that you have from within you. He knows that. He knows that. His eyes see. Walking to and fro. And he's able to see and discern. And you will finish to build the house of the Lord. The word for to and fro comes from the Hebrew word meshotetim. It means he's traveling all around to go from place to place and to see and to understand everything that is going on in the life of the people of Judah.

You know what? The Lord knows everything that's going on in our very own lives. He knows your problems. He knows your challenges. He knows your disappointments. He knows the problems you have at home. He knows the problems you have at work. He knows your spiritual state. He knows the problem that you have within. He knows everything. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro. And he can see everything that is going on. And he desires to be an encouragement for the people of God. So, one of the purposes that Zechariah was preaching in those days to the people of Judah is to encourage the Jewish people to build, to continue and finish the building of the house of God which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar over 30 years or even more before when they went to Babylon.

But there is a second reason of giving us the prophet Zechariah. Turn with me to Luke chapter 21 and verses 20 to 24 where Yeshua is speaking to the Pharisees as well as to his disciples. "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. And let them which are in the midst of it depart out. And let not them which are in the countries enter there into." "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.

For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon these people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations." And listen to this last expression in verse 24. "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This expression, the times of the Gentiles, is a period of time. which began in the time where the Jewish remnant were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babel. from that time 6 or 5 BC. and earlier even, all the way until the time when the Messiah will come again in his second coming to restore Israel in the future day to himself.

The Bible calls it, the times of the Gentiles. It is a time where Israel will constantly be under Gentile rule. Even today, where our nation is still in Jerusalem and in Israel, where the capital of Israel is the city of Jerusalem, Israel is still under what is known to be as the times of the Gentiles. Yes, we have a country and a state which is recognized by the United Nations, but yet Israel and the Jewish community is still scattered around the world. Israel not dwelling in safety. There is constant wars, constant death, constant issues and problems, and that will only end at the second coming of the Messiah, where the king of kings and lord of lords, Yeshua himself going to rule over a restored nation, a regenerated nation at the time which will begin at the end of the tribulation and at the messianic age.

The times of the Gentiles. Now, don't mix this expression, the time of the Gentiles, with the expression found in Romans 11:25, the fullness of the Gentiles. These are two different period of time. The fullness of the Gentiles is an expression that applied to the church age, where the full number of Gentiles is going to come in to be part of the ecclesia, or the body of Messiah, which will culminate, which will end at the rapture of the church, before the tribulation begins. So, the time of the Gentiles applied to Israel from Nebuchadnezzar to the second coming of the Messiah. The fullness of the Gentiles is an expression that applied to the body of Christ, to the church, which began when the church was born and will end when the church will end at the rapture of the body of Messiah.

Now, this is just by way of introduction because it is so much important for us to see this. So, here we learn in these verses, this earlier part of the book of Zechariah, by way of introduction, that the author was Zechariah, the date was about 520 BC and on. The purpose is for Israel to rebuild the house and that the time of the Gentiles, Israel will receive prophetic messages about the period of time of God dealing with Israel. One more thing that I want to give by way of introduction, how this book is being divided. You will notice that the first six verses that we read, God called Israel to return to him.

Then, from chapter 1, verse 7, till chapter 6, verse 15, we have a series of eight visions and their interpretation that was given to Zechariah for the encouragement of the remnant. Visions after vision, and God gives the interpretation. He tells us what's going to happen and why it happened and how it's going to be fulfilled. Then, the third division of the book is found in chapter 7, verse 1, till chapter 8 and verse 23. In these two chapters, God challenges Israel concerning fasting. You know, they were fasting, but there was many times not reality in the fasting. Sometimes they have done things outwardly, but there was no reality in that. It was really not for the purpose of the glory of God.

So, he challenges them concerning the fasting that the people of Israel or the people of Judah have done. And finally, chapter 9, verse 1, to chapter 14, verse 21, God give Israel promises after promises concerning both the first coming of the Messiah and the second coming of the Messiah. To show you this, turn to chapter 3, verse 8. He said, Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee. For there are men wondered at, and listen to this, For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. That is one of the messianic titles of Israel's Messiah. He is called the branch or Tzemach. A shoot will come forth out of Jesse.

We read this every time, every Shabbat, where we read Isaiah chapter 11. He calls him the branch. This is the title of the Messiah. Look at chapter 6 of Zechariah. In verse 12, he says, And speak unto him, saying thus, speak as the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch, the Tzemach. And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. He takes them all the way to the kingdom, where the branch, the Tzemach, the Messiah, will establish the house of Jehovah in the future day. That is one of the messianic titles of Yeshua, the Messiah.

Go to chapter 9 in the prophet Zechariah. In verse 9 and 10, he says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Yerushalayim! Behold, your king cometh unto thee! He is just, and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass upon the colt of a fall of an ass. This is the first coming of the Messiah, when he would ride to the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. And they are going to say Hoshana to the son of David. But notice immediately in the next verse, he doesn't talk about the first coming of the Messiah. Notice verse 10, I will, God is saying, cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and a horse from Jerusalem, and a battle bow shall be cut off, and he, the Messiah, he shall speak peace unto the heathen, and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

That's the second coming of the Mashiach of Israel, where he will rule from sea to sea, and from shore to shore, and from river to river. In his first coming, he came riding on a donkey, rejected and despised. In a second coming, he's going to rule, and he's going to reign, his dominion will be even unto the end of the earth. He's going to rule as king of kings, and as lord of law. Turn for a moment to chapter 10 of Zechariah. Here's another title of the Messiah. He's called in verse 4, "Out of him come forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.

One of the additional titles of the Messiah is like a nail, and a battle bow, where he's going to come in judgment upon this earth that rejected him, and the world that inflicted upon the people of Israel persecution. We're going to see how God will deal with those who oppress the Jewish people over the generation. He's going to show this to us in chapter 12 of Zechariah." In verse 10, again, he's speaking about the Messiah in the future, and as it was in the past. He says in verse 10, "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourners for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." That takes us to the second coming of the Messiah.

when Israel, when our own nation, should look upon him, and they will look back, and they will remember when our forefathers had rejected the Messiah at his first coming, and they will mourn, confessing their sins, and they will look back and they say, "How have we rejected Yeshua from Natseret for many, many generations?" He was pierced. He was bruised for our iniquity. And they will quote Isaiah 53, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to his own way, but the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all." This is the day of atonement, the national day of atonement, the national Yom Kippur of our nation Israel at the end of the tribulation, when they will recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Look at chapter 13 of Zechariah. Verse 1. When Israel will confess, when Israel will acknowledge the Messiahship of Yeshua, it says in verse 1, "In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." And it shall come to pass, "In that day sayeth the Lord of hosts." I will cut off the names of all idols. There will no longer our people worship any idols. They will no longer turn away from the Lord. The fountain of grace will be open to Israel. And a stream of God's mercy and chesed and grace will flow for our nation of Israel, who will recognize the Messiah Yeshua.

Now, one more verse in chapter 14 of Zechariah. And verse 4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, towards the east and towards the west. And there shall be a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall be removed towards the north. And half of it towards the south. And you can see here, it says in verse 9, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth in that day." There shall be one Lord. And there shall be one name. And his name shall be one.

Takes us all the way to the kingdom age. Where the Messiah himself, his feet, will stand upon Mount of Olives, Ha-Zaytim. Where he once was already, 2,000 years ago. Taught his disciples from Mount of Olives. From Mount of Olives he had been taken to heaven, as we read it in the book of Acts in chapter 1. But he will return in the same manner to the land, but ultimately will come and climb upon Mount of Olives and restore the nation of Israel, where there will be one Lord, one king over all the earth. And there shall be one name. No longer division between Israel, the nation, and Jehovah, their God, in the coming days.

So, brothers and sisters, this is just an introduction which is very important to present before us to understand the purpose of the book of Zechariah. The purpose of the book was twofold. Number one, to restore and to build the temple in Jerusalem. And number two, to give us an overview of God's dealing with his people Israel in the time of the Gentiles until they will be restored to him in the coming days. Now, let's go over, please, to the first six verses that we have here that I'm going to highlight a little bit here in this ministry meeting. First, we find out in verse 1 that the date of the prophecy of Zechariah began at 520 BC.

And we read, "In the eighth month of the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berachiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying." Now, pause here with me for a second. And it is not coincident where we have those three names mentioned here in this first verse. Zechariah, son of Berachiah, son of Edo. Three Hebrew names. You know, in Israel, when a child receives a name, most of the time there is a meaning and a purpose behind the name of a person. I'll give you a clear example. All of us, I trust, are believers in Jesus, the Messiah.

Matthew 1 verse 21 said, "And thou shalt call his name Yoshea, for he shall save his people from their sins." Yeshua's name is salvation, a savior. You will call his name Yeshua. Why? Because he is going to give Yeshua to give salvation unto his own people. Every time when a Jewish boy receives a name, there is a meaning and a purpose behind it. It's not coincident. Well, look at the names here that we have Zechariah ben Berechiah ben Edo. Who is this man and what does his name communicate? First, the word Zechariah comes from two Hebrew words. Zechariah means remembered. Yah is a short form of the word Jehovah.

Jehovah. Jehovah will remember. Zechariah, that is the meaning of his name. But then he was the son of Berechiah. And Berechiah is come from the Hebrew word Levarech, means to bless. Zechariah. So, Zechariah, Jehovah remember. The son of Jehovah will have blessed. And thirdly, we have the son of Edo. In Hebrew, the word Ed means that he is a witness. That Jehovah is a witness who is going to bring about his purposes for Israel in his time. Zechariah, Jehovah remembered. The son of Berechiah, Jehovah will bless the nation of Israel in his time. Remember that brothers and sisters. Sometimes we sing that wonderful song. In his time.

In his time he makes all things beautiful in his time. And through the name of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Edo. Or God is saying to his people, the Jewish remnant who returned to the land. He says, "Listen, things might not seem to be so right right now. Things seem to be falling apart. You have a lot of issues, a lot of problems, a lot of opposition." But we have to remember that God is intending to bless you. He remembers his promises to our forefathers. And in his time. And he is a witness to it. He will bring about the blessing that he promised the nation of Israel.

And the people of Judah. Same thing brothers and sisters for you and I. The Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah made many promises to us. One of the promises that he said in John 14. In my father's house there are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and will receive you unto myself. That where I am in glory, there you may be also. He made the promises. But you know, unfortunately, over the generations, many come and say. Remember we just had it in the book of Peter. Where is the promise of his coming?

From since the beginning of the world, everything continued the way they were. And nothing seems to come to fruition. God made promises and he didn't fulfill them. Well, Zechariah is a testimony that God will remember the promises that he had given. And he will bless his people in a suitable time in his time. And he is a witness to the promises that he gave. 520 BC. Zechariah is receiving and he heard the word of the Lord. Luke now verse 2. The Lord is reminding Israel that he was not pleased with their fathers. The Lord had been so displeased with your fathers. Now, why was he so displeased?

With our fathers, the nation of Israel's fathers. And remember, not with all the fathers. Because many were servants of the Lord who loved the God of Israel and did serve him. But when he's talking here, he's talking about the specific fathers in the history of Israel whom God was not pleased with. Why wasn't he pleased with them? Why wasn't he happy with those individuals, their fathers, with what they have done? Because they shifted their life away from him. They have set him aside. They wanted the blessings of God. But they didn't obey him. And they didn't live for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And in the history of our people, we know that this is true. And we know it is very much the same in the history of the body of Messiah. When we look back in the church age, how many times we can say truly that God, that the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, was not pleased at all with the professing church who deviated from the truth of God's word. Let me turn back for a moment, please, to 2 Chronicles 36. The Lord was not pleased with the fathers who were already in the city of Jerusalem. It says in verse 15, And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them his messengers, rising up bedtimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God. They despised his words. They misused his prophets. Until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people. Until there was no remedy. They despised the prophets. They despised the messengers. They treated them in a bad way. And God, there was no remedy. The time had been risen for God to unleash his judgment upon his people. So it says in verse 17, Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Calades, who slew their young men with a sword in the house of their sanctuary. And he had no compassion upon young men or maiden, old men or him that stooped for age.

He gave them all unto his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes. And all these he brought unto Babylon. He said that they burned the house of God. And they break down the walls of Jerusalem. And they burned all the palaces thereof with fire. And they destroyed the goodly vessels thereof. And them that have escaped from the sword. He carried away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land have enjoyed her Shabbats.

For as long as she lay desolate, she kept Shabbats to fulfill the 70 years. So what we learned, beloved brothers and sisters, from these verses, that God was not pleased with the fathers and their behavior. They didn't keep what God has asked Israel to keep. They did not allow the land to rest every seven-year cycle. They have followed all sorts of things and all sorts of idols that were not acknowledged by the Lord until there was no more remedy, as we read in 2 Chronicles 36. And he allowed the king of the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, to take them unto captivity. This is important to understand that God was not pleased.

And now, sometimes we look at ourselves and we say, well, when we look at the church age and we see, you know how often time God was not pleased with our fathers. Now, this is not our physical fathers, but our spiritual fathers. Those who were part of the assembly of God, of the church of the living God. And the way that had been going on and how things have been dealt over the years by professing Christians. Those who claim that they belong to the body of Messiah. And now look at us today, in the days in which we live in, look at the condition of the body of Messiah, the dispersion, the division that existing, the false doctrines that are rising up every hand, and the lack of submission many times in our very own lives, in our walk with the Lord.

The Lord had to discipline his own people, even in the body of Messiah, in this present day in which we live in. Now, notice the next verse, beloved brothers and sisters, look what he's saying to them now, Zechariah is speaking to them by the word of the Lord. And look what he's saying to Israel, to the Jewish people who are now restored to the land, stopped to build the temple. And he's saying, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, turn ye to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, says the Lord of hosts. He's telling now the remnant that are here in Jerusalem, you turn to me, and I'm going to return back to you.

I promise you. By the way, the Hebrew word for turn back unto me, and I will turn unto you, is shuvu elai ve'ashuv elechem. It comes from the Hebrew word teshuva, to repent, and to turn back to God. 180 degrees, to turn back to God, and to face him, and to confess, and to repent before him. And he promised, as it says here, I will return unto you. Now notice what he used here. He used the word the Lord of hosts. The Hebrew word for the Lord of hosts simply means Adonai Tsevaot. The word for hosts comes from the Hebrew word Tseva, armies. He's the Lord of the armies.

This expression is mentioned 52 times in the prophet Zechariah's writing to the Jewish remnant. Jehovah of hosts, the Lord of armies. In other words, what the Lord is assuring the Jewish remnant here in this passage, that if they will turn to him, he will turn back to them. And he is the Lord of the armies. He's able to restore the nation of Israel back to himself. They look around, probably, and as they stop to build the temple in Jerusalem, they look around, they see all those adversaries that we read about them in the book of Ezra. And they say, what's the use? Look at the enemies around us.

They are already here. He's going to attack us. We are not able to continue to build the house. Let's carry on, do our own thing. Let's stop the building of the house of the Lord. We cannot do it. We are unable. So God is saying to them by way of encouragement. Don't worry. I am Jehovah of hosts. I'm Yehovah Tsevaot. I am able to have sufficient enough power to deal with all those that are around you. And I'll take care of you. You just go back to business. Continue to build the house of the Lord. And over the long period of the time of the Gentiles, he really saying to Israel, Israel, you turn back to me.

I promise you that I'm going to turn back to you in the coming days. You just turn back to me. Accept me. Follow me. And I can assure you that you will be restored because I am the Lord of the armies who is able to deal with every opposition that you have in your life. Again, by way of application, Paul said to us in Ephesians chapter 6, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the heavenly places, which we are unable. But he says, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand against the wiles of the devil, with the strength of the Lord.

And at the end he says, Praying always, depending upon God, upon the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who is able to fight against the people who are the enemies of the people of God. By the way, this expression, the Lord of hosts, first time is mentioned in 1 Samuel chapter 1 and verse 3, and last time it's mentioned in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 3. It's mentioned many, many times in the Hebrew scriptures to encourage the people of Israel to follow the Lord, because he is Jehovah of all the armies. He is Jehovah Tzevaot. He is the God who has power to enable, to restore Israel and to fight against all their enemies.

So we have in verse 1, Zechariah's name mentioned. Verse 2, The Lord was not pleased with their fathers. Verse 3, The appeal to turn unto the Lord. Now, I want to say this to us here. If some of us might have gone astray from the Lord, and have gone away from the Lord, in your life you have somehow have disappointed the Lord. And you feel it in your life. You know it in your heart. We all know our own hearts. If you did, don't stay out there. Don't stay away from the Lord. It is not an answer for your life. The answer for our life is when we failed the Lord and sinned against Him.

1 John 1 says, Verse 9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And He is able to restore us to Himself. And to use us again. So we can live for Him. We can be a testimony for Him. So we can be a people that are pleasing to the Lord, and receiving the blessing of the Lord. Because He remembers, He will bless in His own time. Because He is a witness to His very own promises. So now, in our next verse 4, He is now telling this Jewish remnant, Don't be like the way your fathers have been.

Don't be like that. He said, Be not like your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried. They say, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings. But they did not heal, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Don't be like your fathers. I spoke to them. I've challenged them. I've sent my messengers again and again to restore them. But they didn't listen. And when they didn't listen, it made it necessary for God to discipline His people. And you and I are not always listening to the word of God. And He's saying to Israel, saying to us by way of application, Don't be like your fathers who disobeyed.

There were good fathers, which we should be like them. But He's talking about those who disobeyed. Don't be like them. Don't be stiff-necked. Don't follow in this. Why? Because if you're going to follow in this direction, and you continue on your evil ways, and your evil doing, then God will have to judge you and discipline you. Don't be like them. The writers of the New Testament, throughout the New Testament, said it many times. Peter, Paul, Jane, John, Jude, all mentioned this again and again. All writings of the epistles were written to give us instruction and correction. So we, in the church age, in the present-day dispensation, will not be like those in the past who have failed.

We should be like those in the past who have been godly and an example to our lives. Here He's saying to them, Be not like your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried. Now, even physically, brothers and sisters, all of us have fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers. And if they didn't follow God, and if they didn't accept Yeshua the Messiah, it doesn't mean that we have to be like them. It doesn't mean that we have to follow in a wrong direction. We shouldn't, in fact, thank God for some young people who have turned their lives to Yeshua and then the Lord used them to lead their fathers and mothers to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus.

What a beautiful example it is. That's what He's really saying to those. Don't be like your fathers whom the former prophets have cried. I can just imagine. You know, Jeremiah, they took him and they threw him in a pit. Isaiah, sown a sandal. Many of the prophets have suffered as they were proclaiming to the people. It says, Shuvu, turn back. Don't go in your evil way. Turn to the Lord. And instead of listening to them and take their counsel, they rejected them and despised them. And of course we know the saddest thing is the story of Yeshua Himself. When He was reviled, He reviled not again.

He was threatened. He was despised. He was rejected by men. He appealed unto our nation in His first coming. And unfortunately our nation, as a nation, did not accept Him in His first coming. Very sad commentary on what's happened in the history of both Israel and the church in the past history as the people of God. Well, look what's happened here in verse 5. It's almost like a dialogue. God is asking Israel and Israel is responding to God. God says to them, "Your fathers, where are they?" And the answer is, they died. They've gone. So the people, in a sense, answering God and they say, well, what about the prophets?

Do they live forever? Even the prophets who preached to our fathers, they also died and they are not healed. So what's the difference? In a sense, they are saying, if the fathers died, were disobedient, and the prophets that preached the word of God died, well, what's the use? All die anyway. But what's the difference? What is the difference from God's people if you walk with the Lord and you die, or you don't walk with the Lord and you die, all die anyway, all live this sin anyway. But let me tell you, there is a difference between, as a believer, to live a disobedient life, and God will not be pleased with us, or to live a life that is pleasing to God, and it gives joy to the heart of the Father.

It's a big difference. Yes, we are all going to die. Look, those that have gone before us, the godly men and women, they passed away. They are not here anymore. And there are those who did not obey the Lord, they were believers, but they did not live for the Lord, they also died. And the difference is, that those that live for God, gave joy to the heart of God. Those that live for the Lord, have been a testimony. They follow Yeshua. They lived for Him. And in our forefathers, among the nation of Israel, we remember them. We remember Moses, our lawgiver. We remember Abraham, our father.

We remember David, with all his failures, our king. We look back historically. We look at Peter, James, John, Jude, who lived for the Lord. We remember them, for what they have done for the Lord, here in this world. There is a difference. Yes, all die. Physically speaking, all are going to die, unless the rapture comes, and they are going to be taken out, of this sin, without dying. But, there is a difference, between a testimony, that one gave, and another gave. They have been a good testimony, for God. For the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Beautiful. The truth to grab, into our hearts, that it's good to be, a testimony, to the God of our fathers.

And finally here, in verse 6. the word of God, still, remain the same. It doesn't change. It says, "But my words, and my status, which I commended my servants, the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned, and said, like as the Lord of hosts, thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doing, so hath he dealt with us." And what the Lord is saying, through the chariah, to the remnant, "My words, that I spoke, through the prophets, to your fathers, look, my statues, and my word, did they not take hold of your fathers? In other words, what I said, will surely come to pass, even though the fathers died, the prophets died, but what I say, will surely come to pass." You remember what Yeshua, the Messiah, said in Matthew chapter 24, he says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word, will not pass away." God's word will remain, true to him, because what he said, will surely, come to pass, because the Lord is true, and his word, is true.

And I'm going to close, with the reading of Isaiah, in chapter 40, in verse 7 and 8, where we read, "The grass withered, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it, surely the people is grass, the grass withered, the flowers fadeth, but the word of God shall stand forever." God's word will remain, his word will come through, will come to pass. But where are we standing, in relationship to his word? Do we listen to the voice of the prophets, he is saying through Zechariah? Do you listen to them? Return unto me, I promise you, I will return unto you, because my word will surely come to pass.

And from here on, beloved brothers and sisters, after the introduction, and the call for Israel to return, he giving us visions and interpretation, concerning the first coming of the Messiah, the second coming of the Messiah, and an overview of what is called to be the time of the Gentiles, until Israel, as a nation, will be restored. restored.