Continued Encouragment and Instruction.

Zechariah’s task, his calling was to continue building on the message Haggai had started, giving direction to the continued building of the temple and instruction of obedience in following God. God used Zechariah to provide the people with a better understanding of how they were to respond to His faithfulness in bringing them to this place. Zechariah had the privilege of sharing with them the things that God had planned for them; the judgment on their enemies, the promise of blessing on Jerusalem and the hope of the coming Messiah.

Reading the first six chapters of Zechariah has given me a glimpse into the faith and trust that Zechariah had that the Lord would continue to provide. I appreciate the fact that through the 8 different visions that Zechariah experienced he had to depend on and ask an angel to interpret them. We have it written for us in scripture, this for me is a reminder that we have the responsibility to bring everything before God for understanding. God used the visions and the angel to help Zechariah to understand and deliver these messages to the people. Today we have the word of God that helps us communicate the good news with others.

We continue to wait on the second coming of Christ, we long for the day when He comes to take us home. Is this the same longing the people of Zechariah’s time had for the first coming? We like them continue to have the same struggles around sin and disobedience, God still cries out for us to have repentant hearts turning to Him. Zechariah begins with a call to repentance and finished with a word of hope that one day we (the faithful) will sit and eat together with our Heavenly Father. Our message is the same today, it is my job to communicate that same call to repentance, to give that same picture of hope for something better.

Father I pray that as I grow you give me the strength and courage to boldly proclaim your message of hope and love to a city of lost and lonely people.