Zechariah 1 and 2 ~ the Lord, for He has roused himself from His holy dwelling

Light by Alexander Gardere

Just as a new year allows us to have a new beginning, Zechariah speaks of rousing God in conversation - we would call this prayer. It's fascinating - a conversation between an angel of the Lord and the Most High.

We had an excellent sermon today, a vision of renewal - 37 local Christian Churches and their Senior Pastors have all felt revival in their souls. They are going to participate in prayer and fasting for 10 days at the end of January, to come together from months of conversation (prayer).

This week I've spent time re-reading JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit." My son, a freshman artist studying at Baylor University, said he began drawing because his father read him "The Hobbit"; it was a pictorial event playing out for him, in pictures, throughout his entire childhood. What is this book, if not a journey where comfort is discarded and personal growth achieved? As I read this novel with new eyes, today the most vivid conversation of Zechariah's became new again. You are encouraged to read Zechariah 1 and 2 to yourself out-loud, with enthusiasm, and feel the encouragement of the Vast, Might Loving Father for you.

Art by Alexander Gardere

Zechariah 1 and 2

Zechariah 1

Listen - click for new tab for Zechariah 1 and 2

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying,

“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’

But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?

So 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.”


Sun by Alexander Gardere

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, “I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’ And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’

Art by Alexander Gardere, used twice for emphasis

Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ And the Lord answered.... Gracious and Comforting Words to the angel who talked with me.

So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster.

Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.

Rising February by Alexander Gardere

Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”

And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns! And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Zechariah Two

And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.”

And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me [he sent me after glory] to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: “Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

Growth of Time by Alexander Gardere

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord.... for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Alleluia.

<><