Zechariah – Part 1 of 5

The Protection of God

Zechariah 1:3 – Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.

This has been the Lords refrain for over 4000 years; not just a few decades or even a few centuries but thousands of years of mankind doing his own thing and going his own way. The saddest thing about this is that among those going their own way was, and is, God’s own people. Over and over he calls out – ‘Return to me.’ Why do we constantly insist in wandering off? What can we achieve on our own that God cannot give ten-fold?

The God that calls us to return is El Elyon, Shaddai, Olam; the Most High, Almighty, Eternal God. Go’el, Rophe, Jireh and Tsuri; my Redeemer, Healer, Provider and Rock. And this only skims the surface of who He is! When you really stop and think about this, it is us who should be pleading with God to let us come to Him.

Zechariah was in Jerusalem at the same time as Haggai and their messages to the returning exiles went side by side. Haggai was part of the older generation who encouraged the people not to reminisce and mourn the splendor of the temple that once was but to build for the glory of God. Zechariah was part of the younger generation who encouraged the people not to repeat the sins of the fathers. What had been was now gone and the sins committed were now paid for, for ‘they repented and said, “As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.”’

This was a fresh start filled with new hope and possibilities. The Lord had provided everything they needed for building the new temple; He also gave Zechariah a vision of the new Jerusalem, inhabited once again by God’s people –

“And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst” (2:5).

This was God’s promise to protect His people. He would surround them by his power and dwell in their midst in glory.

Take that promise and believe, as a child of God, he is the armour around you and the power within you. Let his glory be seen through you today.