Hello and welcome to our program. Today we start another series in the book of Zachariah. Stay tuned. The year was 520 B.C., and the condition of Israel could be put into one word, apostasy, and that apostasy led to their bondage, and they were in bondage in Babylon for 70 years. Well, things changed, and they were allowed to go back to Jerusalem, but only a small remnant returned. When they got back, they were surrounded by powerful enemies, and God's remnant soon got discouraged, and they were in need of revival. Many of those who returned were born into captivity, and life in Babylon was not all bad. Most of the Jewish people in Babylon gradually began to focus on the materialistic things that Babylon had to offer, and they went in that direction. Most gradually lost interest in spiritual things as they took an interest in material things. However, there was a remnant that had not forgotten their heritage, and they longed and prayed for the day when they could return to Jerusalem. And when the Persians defeated the Babylonians, the Persian king allowed them to go back. Well, the Jews were allowed to return, but only a very small remnant chose to go back, and the majority had accepted the lifestyle of the Babylonians, and so they just stayed there. The returning remnants started with excitement to rebuild the temple, but they soon quit. Opposition set in and other things that brought discouragement, and in a period of time they began to focus on building their own homes. Well, God's man for that hour was a young man by the name of Zechariah. And in Zechariah number one, chapter one and verse one, we read, in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of Bechariah the son of Iddo the prophet. Now first of all we see here that God says it was in the second year of Darius. Now the reason that he's mentioning Darius here he's using heathen kings for a timeline because Israel had no kings at this time They were all in bondage to heathen authorities. Darius is mentioned 10 times in Ezra, once in Nehemiah, 8 times in Daniel, 3 times in Haggai, and 3 times in Zechariah. It says when he was in his second year that the word of the Lord the Word of the Lord came unto Zechariah. You'll find that phrase, the Word of the Lord, 255 verses in the Bible. Zechariah is mentioned 39 times in the Bible, and not always the same person, but the name means whom the Lord remembers. Zechariah, his father, is mentioned here, and his name means the Lord blesses. And then Zechariah's grandfather is mentioned also, and his name means at the appointed time. The fact that he is his grandfather is mentioned again in verse number seven, where it talks about Zechariah, the son of Bechariah, the son of Iddo, the prophet. Now, as you get the picture here, and they're coming back, it's a long trail heading back from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's a dusty way. They're traveling along and you can see tagging along with the family is this young fellow named Zechariah. He's with his dad, he's with his grandpa as they come down that dusty trail. And his lineage was that of a prophet we see in verse one. And so Zechariah would have understood the worship practices of Israel. There are four people mentioned in verse one, and they all made their choices, and now here we are 2,500 years later, and they're either happy or sad about the choices they made, and they will be happy or sad about those choices for eternity, and so will you be, and so will I be, concerning the choices we make today. Well, the word of the Lord came to this young man, Zechariah, he's been in Jerusalem for some time by this time, and it says the Lord came to him and the Lord had been sore displeased with your fathers, he says to Zechariah. Now, the Lord has been sore displeased. The word sore here has been translated wrath. It's a serious thing. Displeased, that word has been translated anger twice. And so what God says to this young prophet is, the Lord has been very displeased with your forefathers. Therefore, verse three, 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. Now, thus saith the Lord, that is found in the Bible 413 times. This isn't just some message from some upstart young prophet, this is from the Lord through Zachariah to his people. They will choose, as did everyone in verse one, they will choose, they have to decide. And so the message is, turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you. Now, God always waits for our action and He reacts accordingly. There's hundreds of verses in the Bible that show us that. For instance, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, and he shall direct thy paths. Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, that's our action, and his righteousness, that's our action, and his reaction, all these things shall be added unto you. So he says here, turn ye unto me, that's our action, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord. Now, why would he have to tell this remnant to turn unto him? Well, it's one thing to return to Jerusalem, it's another thing to turn unto the Lord. And their forefathers had been very active in the religious activities in the temple and going through the motions, but they became apostate because they were very religious, but very wrong. They ended up in Babylon because They did not worship the Lord, they worshiped their religion. And so God says in Zechariah 1 and 4, be not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, lest saith the Lord of hosts, turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings, but they did not hear nor hearken, saith the Lord. Now, back in Isaiah 65 and 12, we read that God said, I called, ye did not answer. When I spake, ye did not hear, but did evil before mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delighted not. In Isaiah 66 and 4, God said, I also will choose. I also will choose their delusion and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear. but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not." It says in Isaiah 65 and 12, they chose. It says in Isaiah 66 and 4, I also chose. God said, you choose, I choose. And so He waits for our action, and He reacts accordingly. And then he says in Zechariah chapter one and verse number five, your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? Isaiah 19 and 12, he asks the same question. Where are they? Where are the wise men? And let them tell thee now. Yeah, they've been dead. Well, their bodies are dead. They're very much alive somewhere. And God says, where are they? Bring them back now and let them tell you. Bring back the ones that did things the way God wanted them to done, and they'll tell you they're glad they did. Bring back the ones who wouldn't listen to God and rebelled against God and chose to go their own way, and they'll tell you that they're very sad that they did things the way they did them. In verse 6, God says, all right, we're going to do things according to how you act. I'll react accordingly. He said, but my words and my statutes, which I commanded 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. Now, he says here that the prophets spoke, did they listen? No, they didn't listen. They returned, now that word has been translated withdraw five times. They withdrew, they wouldn't listen to God. and said, like the Lord thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. So at least they're admitting, as they sit there in bondage in Babylon, that God was right. You should have listened to them in the first place. And so as we get into the next chapters here, we see that Nehemiah has eight visions in one night. And we're not going to go into depth in this series. You need to compare it with the book of Revelation and prophecies, very interesting visions here. But for the purpose of this program, we're going to skip on down through to the messages that Zechariah preached. And for those messages, we'll begin in our next program. Be sure and tune in.