Zechariah 1-4: Snatched from the Fire

We trace Zechariah’s early visions during Judah’s return from exile and explore how God moves a shamed people into restored purpose. Joshua’s acquittal, Zerubbabel’s call, and a wall of fire reframe our doubts about guilt, weakness, and small starts.

• post‑exile timeline and why Zechariah matters
• call to return and God’s comfort for Jerusalem
• horns broken and the city measured for growth
• wall of fire and many nations joining the Lord
• Joshua accused, cleansed, and commissioned
• not by might but by the Spirit for rebuilding
• small beginnings honored and mountains leveled
• John Wesley’s “brand from the burning” and personal application

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Transcript

Why Haggai And Zechariah Matter Now

Free Kings And Prophets Timeline

Zechariah’s Opening Call To Return

Horses, Horns, And Hope For Jerusalem

Wall Of Fire And Many Nations Join

Joshua Accused, Grace Declared

Not By Might: Zerubbabel’s Promise

The Two Olive Trees Explained

A Brand Plucked From The Burning

Clearing Shame To Build Again

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. We're reading through some more of the minor prophets. We haven't been going through in the exact order they appear in the Bible. We're roughly putting them into a timeline of how the prophets and the kings and the events of the exile kind of unfold. And right now we're in a period of time where the Jews are returning from their 70-year exile in Babylon, which then was conquered by Persia, and now are coming back in different waves. And they are led by leaders like Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and there are prophets in this time as well to help guide people spiritually through these times as well, because they carry the word of the Lord and the instruction that God has for them. He's delivering through the prophets. So Haggai, which we read last time, and now Zechariah are two of these prophets, the main prophets in this time of coming back to Jerusalem, back to Judah to rebuild the temple, to rebuild the wall, to rebuild their culture after uh generations have passed, but without people even knowing how to live in the land and how to please the Lord. So uh it's a really important time and really reflects times in our lives where we feel like we're coming back to the Lord, or times that we feel like we need to act on something for the Lord that we've maybe been putting off for a while. This is uh a lot of great applications from these minor prophet books and from the history books like Ezra and Nehemiah. We have more to talk about when we get to Nehemiah. Um, but this this Haggai and Zechariah time, uh, really, really great nuggets hidden in here. Books we don't read all that often, uh, but I think we should because there's a lot of great takeaways for us as we consider our work and our position in the kingdom uh compared to how the Lord sees us. And uh, I won't say anymore. I think we we got more to talk about as we get into it. So we're starting the book of Zechariah today. I also wanted to remind you, we have uh something free for your download at the website outloudbible.com. It's called Kings and Prophets. It's a timeline, a visual timeline of how these prophets and kings and the exiles uh really kind of line up. So as you read these minor prophets and uh really a large chunk of the old testament is uh around this time. So if if you're a visual person and want to see who lines up with who, that's a great resource. Uh people have enjoyed it so far, and I hope you can too. So you can go to the website outloudbible.com, go to resources, just look up kings and prophets there, and you'll find it. And uh that could be even be helpful for today's reading. So today we're in the book of Zechariah, and not to be confused with Zephaniah, two different prophets, two different times, but Zechariah, we're gonna read chapters one through four in the New English Translation. In the eighth month of Darius's second year, the Lord's message came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Barekiah, son of Ido. The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore say to the people, The Lord of Heaven's armies says, Turn to me, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, and I will turn to you, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. Don't be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies has said, now turn from your evil wickedness, but they would by no means obey me, says the Lord. As for your ancestors, where are they? Hm? And did the prophets live forever? But have my words and statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? Then they paid attention and confessed the Lord of heaven's armies has indeed done what he said he would do to us because of our sinful ways. On the twenty fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shivat, in Darius' second year, the Lord's message came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Barekiah, son of Ido. I was attentive that night, and I saw a man seated on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees in the ravine, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. And then I asked one nearby, What are these, sir? The angelic messenger who replied to me said, I'll show you what these are. Then the man standing among the myrtles spoke up and said, These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk about on the earth. The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and we've been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet. The angel of the Lord then asked, O Lord of heaven's armies, how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that you've been so angry with for these seventy years? The Lord then addressed good, comforting words to the angelic messenger who was speaking to me. Turning to me, the messenger said, Cry out that the Lord of Heaven's armies says, I am very much moved for Jerusalem and for Zion, but I'm greatly displeased with the nations that have taken my grace for granted. I was a little displeased with them, but now they've only made things worse for themselves. Therefore, this is what the Lord says, I have become compassionate toward Jerusalem, and will rebuild my temple in it, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. Once more a surveyor's measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. Speak up again with the message of the Lord of Heaven's armies, my cities will once more overflow with prosperity, and once more the Lord will comfort Zion and validate his choice of Jerusalem. Once again I looked, and this time I saw four horns. So I asked the angelic messenger who spoke with me, What are these? And he replied, These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And next the Lord showed me four blacksmiths, and I said, What are these going to do? And he answered, These horns are the ones that have scattered Judah, so that there is no one to be seen, but the blacksmiths have come to terrify Judah's enemies and cut off the horns of the nations that have thrust themselves against the land of Judah in order to scatter its people. I looked again, and there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. I asked, Where are you going? He replied, To measure Jerusalem in order to determine its width and its length. And at this point the angelic messenger who spoke to me went out, and another messenger came to meet him and said to him, Hurry, speak to this young man as follows Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls because of the multitude of people and animals there. But I, the Lord says, will be a wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem and the source of glory in her midst. You there, flee from the north land, says the Lord. For like the four winds of heaven I've scattered you, says the Lord. Escape, Zion, you who live among the Babylonians, for the Lord of Heaven's armies says, For his own glory he has sent me to the nations that plundered you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of his eye. Yes, look here, I'm about to punish them, so they will be looted by their own slaves. Then you'll know that the Lord of Heaven's armies has sent me. Sing out and be happy, Zion, my daughter, for look, I've come, I'll settle in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, and they will also be my people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all, and then you'll know that the Lord of Heaven's armies has sent me to you. The Lord will take possession of Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he will choose Jerusalem once again. Be silent in the Lord's presence, all people everywhere, for he's being moved to action in his holy dwelling place. When it says there are many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, and they will also be my people, could that be referring to Jesus' death, resurrection, day of salvation, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? When he says, Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all, could he be referring to the Holy Spirit, where he gets to dwell in the midst of us all in our hearts? Well, that's that's interesting thought. Here's chapter three. Next I saw Joshua the High Priest. This is not Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, by the way, this is another Joshua who is actually serving as the high priest at the time here of Zerebel and Zechariah. I saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, May the Lord rebuke you, Satan. May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Isn't this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire? Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel. The angel spoke up to those standing all around, remove his filthy clothes. Then he said to Joshua, I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you in fine clothing. And then I spoke up, let a clean turban be put on his head. And so they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him while the angel of the Lord stood nearby. Then the angel of the Lord exhorted Joshua solemnly, the Lord of Heaven's armies says, If you follow my ways and keep my commandments, you will be able to preside over my temple and attend to my courtyards, and I'll allow you to come and go among these others who are standing by you. Listen now, Joshua the High Priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you are a symbol that I'm about to introduce my servant, the branch. As for the stone I've set before Joshua, on this one stone there are seven eyes. I'm about to engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, every one will invite his friend to fellowship under his vine and under his fig tree. The angelic messenger who had been speaking with me then returned and woke me as a person is wakened from sleep, and he asked me, What do you see? I replied, I see a menorah of pure gold with a receptacle at the top. There are seven lamps at the top with seven pipes going to the lamps. There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the receptacle and the other on the left. And then I asked the messenger who spoke with me, What are these, sir? He replied, Don't you know what these are? So I responded, No, sir. Therefore he told me, This is the Lord's message to Zerubul, not by strength, and not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of Heaven's armies. What are you, you great mountain? Because of Zerubul you will become a level plain, and he'll bring forth the temple capstone with shoutings of grace, grace because of this. Moreover, the Lord's message came to me as follows The hands of Zerubul have laid the foundations of this temple, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven's armies has sent me to you, for who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes will joyfully look on the tin tablet in Zerubabel's hand. These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth. Next I asked the messenger, What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the menorah? Before he could reply, I asked again, What are these two extensions of the olive trees which are emptying out the golden oil through the two golden pipes? He said, Don't you know what these are? I said, No, sir. So he said, These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Well, there are more visions and prophecies ahead in the book of Zechariah, but I want to pause on one of the scenes that appeared here in this episode. You may have heard of John Wesley. He was a theologian, he was an evangelist, and he led a revival movement within the Church of England back in the 1700s. Well, when John Wesley was five years old, his family's home caught on fire, and the parents worked to get all the children out, but then outside, as the building was burning, they were counting their kids, and John was missing. And now a neighbor spotted John looking out of the window, upstairs, upstairs window while flames were coming out of the window. And so several neighbors worked together to climb on each other's shoulders until the man on top was able to grab the boy, pull him out of the flames to safety, and return John, Wesley to the rest of his family. And then just moments later the entire house erupted into flames. And from that point on, John Wesley referred to himself, quoting Zechariah 3.2 as a brand plucked from the burning, or as our translation said it today, a burning stick snatched from the fire. While John Wesley can relate directly to this situation, he acknowledges that this is all of us, all of us who are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ have been saved and like a like we're a burning stick just snatched from the fire. We deserve a punishment of burning for eternity, yet he snatched us from that. And not only has God saved us from sin and from death, he defends us from the accusations of Satan saying, Hey, you may have snatched them from the fire, but they're still dirty, they're still sinful, they're still mine. And God says, No, no, no, no. I'm removing these filthy clothes that are burned, that smell of soot and smoke, and I'm establishing you for service in my kingdom. That's what God does for us. But Satan is the accuser, that's one of his main roles, that's his hobby. He accuses, just like he accused Joshua the high priest. Now we don't know exactly what he was accusing him of. We don't have the dialogue there, but we do have God saying, The Lord rebuke you. This man is like a burning stick snatched from the fire. And he says to Joshua, I have freely forgiven your iniquity, and I'll dress you in fine clothing. So we can assume that Satan is railing off these accusations of, well, Joshua is dirty. He has sin. He's he's committed sin that disqualifies him for service, disqualifies him from being your son, and he is a sinner, and he is not fit to do anything for you. He's not forgivable. You should just forget him and cast him out because you're you're too good and too clean of a God to have this guy around you. Well, I gotta ask, have you thought these things about yourself? The sins you've committed in the past? Do you still think about them and and think about how they disqualify you from God's love, from serving in the kingdom, from doing anything good now? Do you still feel guilt and shame over the past? Well, if you have asked God for forgiveness, then he has forgiven you. He's given you new clothes. The accusations can't stick anymore. But if you're still agreeing with Satan's accusations about you, then it doesn't matter what clean clothes you're wearing, you're still aligned with Satan's accusations against you. Go back and read chapter three here, see what God says to Joshua, and know that this is how God views you. If you are saved, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, if you have asked God for forgiveness of your sins, then there is no more accusations that can stick. Don't entertain them in your own thoughts. God was having the people led by Zerebbabel to rebuild the temple of the Lord, and Joshua was gonna be the one ministering to people in that temple. As long as Joshua was still thinking that he was disqualified, that he was too sinful, that the sins of his past disqualify him from serving the Lord now, then he was not going to be able to serve the way the Lord was wanting him to serve. The same goes for you. What are you still accusing yourself of from the past, and how is that stopping you from serving the Lord more readily and enthusiastically now? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.