Overview of the Book of Zechariah

So the overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of Zechariah. Zechariah wrote in the 6th century

B .C. and he was a contemporary of the prophet Haggai. So they were ministering after the

Jews returned from Babylon. So he had a deep interest in the temple and a desire, like Haggai, a desire to see the temple rebuilt.

Zechariah, like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, was also a priest.

And no other book has more prophecy about Christ packed into such a small amount of space.

Now there are 14 chapters, but it's just packed with rich content. The theme of this prophecy is the advents of the

Messiah. And I say advents plural. Of course, the Jews at that time were unaware of the two advents of Christ.

They had what has been described as a telescoped view of prophecy.

Just for a moment, if you can think of a mountain range from one vantage point, you could have one mountain in front of the other from a distance.

It just looks like one mountain. But from another angle, you can see that there's two mountains.

So it is with the advents of Christ. So Zechariah wrote of the first advent, for example, in chapter nine, where he speaks of the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday.

And then in chapter 11, he speaks of Christ's betrayal for 30 pieces of silver.

And then the second advent in chapter 12, verse 10, where he speaks of how all

Israel will look upon him whom they pierced. But it is in chapter 14 where we see what is perhaps the most striking words of his prophecy, where he tells of the future day of the

Lord and how Christ will return at the second advent. And Jesus will return, according to Zechariah, from the same place from which he went up.

Jesus will step foot on the Mount of Olives. So I'll close with these words from Zechariah 14.