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J. Gerald Harris
Zechariah 1:1-6
In a cafeteria line in a Catholic school, there was a pile of apples with a sign that said, ‘‘Take only one apple. God is watching.’’ Further down the line, there was a pile of cookies and someone had scribbled, ‘‘Take all the cookies you want, God is watching the apples.’’ Well, this probably isn’t a news flash, but God doesn’t have any trouble watching the apples and the cookies at the same time. He sees all and He knows all. That makes me smile because the more I read the Bible, the less I worry about the world because I realize that God has a master plan for this planet. And we discover the details of the Master’s master plan in the pages of the Bible.
Zachariah encountered the people of Israel in a very critical time in her history. The children of Israel had been held captive in Babylon for 70 years. Then along came Cyrus the Great and conquered the Babylonian Empire. When Cyrus had defeated the Babylonians, the Israelites were given permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their capital and their cherished temple. However, most of the Jews had become comfortable in Babylon and only a remnant returned to Jerusalem. This remnant worked hard and made great progress in the rebuilding process, but in the second year the Samaritans rose up against the Israelites and disrupted their work.
Eventually, the Samaritan ruler who had disrupted the work was assassinated, but the people seemed to be reluctant to continue the word of rebuilding the city walls and the Temple and for 16 years no progress was made in rebuilding the Temple. To spur them on God raised up a great prophet - Haggai and he exhorted the people to rebuild the temple. His exhortation ignited fires of revival among the Jews in Jerusalem. Then God raised up another prophet - Zachariah to give further messages to the people. And his messages were strong and direct and stirred the people to action.
I. The Devoted Prophet
According to Zach ...
J. Gerald Harris
Zechariah 1:1-6
In a cafeteria line in a Catholic school, there was a pile of apples with a sign that said, ‘‘Take only one apple. God is watching.’’ Further down the line, there was a pile of cookies and someone had scribbled, ‘‘Take all the cookies you want, God is watching the apples.’’ Well, this probably isn’t a news flash, but God doesn’t have any trouble watching the apples and the cookies at the same time. He sees all and He knows all. That makes me smile because the more I read the Bible, the less I worry about the world because I realize that God has a master plan for this planet. And we discover the details of the Master’s master plan in the pages of the Bible.
Zachariah encountered the people of Israel in a very critical time in her history. The children of Israel had been held captive in Babylon for 70 years. Then along came Cyrus the Great and conquered the Babylonian Empire. When Cyrus had defeated the Babylonians, the Israelites were given permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their capital and their cherished temple. However, most of the Jews had become comfortable in Babylon and only a remnant returned to Jerusalem. This remnant worked hard and made great progress in the rebuilding process, but in the second year the Samaritans rose up against the Israelites and disrupted their work.
Eventually, the Samaritan ruler who had disrupted the work was assassinated, but the people seemed to be reluctant to continue the word of rebuilding the city walls and the Temple and for 16 years no progress was made in rebuilding the Temple. To spur them on God raised up a great prophet - Haggai and he exhorted the people to rebuild the temple. His exhortation ignited fires of revival among the Jews in Jerusalem. Then God raised up another prophet - Zachariah to give further messages to the people. And his messages were strong and direct and stirred the people to action.
I. The Devoted Prophet
According to Zach ...
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