The Night Visions of Zechariah

The prophecy of Zechariah was written towards the end of the Old Testament time period and is anticipating the coming of the Messiah. It was a dark and difficult time for God’s people, who were in a low state spiritually. They had just returned from 70 difficult years of captivity in Babylon. Eight visions and additional prophecies by Zechariah were given to encourage God’s people to persevere through these dark times. They were instructed by God to rebuild the Temple and the broken walls of Jerusalem. God, through Zechariah, presents a hopeful view of the future. This was not only very encouraging to the Jews 2,500 years ago, but also to us today. This spiritually rich book calls on the Jews to return to God, and God promises to return to them. It proclaims that God is fully in control. He is ruling the nations and the future for his church is bright and encouraging.

Lessons

Lesson Number Title Summary
1 Introduction: Turn to Me and I Will Turn to You Recently someone asked me which was my favourite book of the Bible to preach from. I replied that it was the prophecy of Zechariah. Why would this be the case? Zechariah is not a well-known book of...
2 The Man on the Red Horse Some three months after the first revelation with which we dealt in the first lecture, a new revelation is now given to the prophet. This time the Lord uses a vision rather than simply words....
3 The Second Vision: The Four Horns God’s people have many enemies. Sometimes we feel beaten and battered, and our head hangs down. Should we be angry with God for allowing this situation to develop? Should we allow hatred in our...
4 The Man with the Measuring Line—Church Growth Jerusalem, at this time, was in ruins. The Chaldeans from Babylon had broken down the walls, destroyed the palaces, and burnt the temple. The inhabitants had been carried away captive. For seventy...
5 Joshua the High Priest Today we come to our fifth lecture on Zechariah’s visions. This one is concerned with “Joshua the High Priest,” and it is to be found in Zechariah chapter 3. So in Zechariah chapter 3, we have the...
6 The Golden Candlestick In these days in Scotland and indeed in the whole Western world, it is easy to become discouraged. Church attendances are small. The vast majority of the population shows no interest in God. We...
7 The Sixth Vision: The Flying Scroll The first five visions of Zechariah are full of encouragement but the next two are more challenging. We all need encouragement, but we also need rebuke and correction. Too many ministers today...
8 The Seventh Vision: The Ephah Today we come to our eighth lecture in our series on The Visions of Zechariah, and our lecture today is entitled, “The Ephah,” and it deals with Zechariah, chapter 5, verses 5 to 11. In the sixth...
9 The Eighth Vision: God Reigns The church today appears very weak. Huge forces are arrayed against it. Satan is always very busy. He hates God and all that belongs to God. He tries all he can do to hurt the cause of God, the...
10 Climax of the Visions: The Crowning of Joshua We now come to our final lecture in this series on Zechariah’s visions. This lecture is entitled, “Climax of the Visions,” and it tells of the crowning of Joshua, and it’s to be found in Zechariah,...