I’ve been leading my church’s preaching team through series on Jonah and Nahum over the last few months. I’m really enjoying the Lord’s messages for us in the minor prophets.
And I once considered Zechariah to be the most difficult book of the Bible to grasp. Perhaps it is, but Steven McCarthy is here to help.
McCarthy broadly walks through the book’s structure, explaining the main idea of each of the visions before covering the oracles of the book’s second half. Here is a taster:
Zechariah, along with his counterpart Haggai, speaks from this period of return from exile in Babylon and rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. (Ezra 5:1-2) He does so with a broad scope and a heavily symbolic style. Whereas Haggai’s burden is laser-focused on the specific priority of rebuilding God’s temple, Zechariah’s burden is more generally for the people to be spiritually and morally disposed for God’s renewal and fulfillment of his covenant relationship with them. Indeed, God’s grace trains us “to renounce ungodliness”. (Titus 2:11-14) The book of Zechariah leads us to the conclusion that only Christ’s coming itself will make God’s people into a fitting community for the LORD’s dwelling.
My only hesitation is that McCarthy is quick to suggest that the second half of Zechariah is “about” Jesus and his work. Certainly, the New Testament shows the fulfillment of Zechariah in the work of Christ. But I would prefer to first clarify what the text meant to the original audience (who did not know who Jesus was), and only then talk about the fulfillment in Christ.
But despite this minor qualification, McCarthy’s brief comments are well worth your time. He will enable you to get your bearings in this important book.
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