The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Zechariah

  • Lesson 6: Zechariah and Ezra 6 God’s Plans for the Future and the Temple Completed

    Key Verse

    Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

    —Philippians 1:6

    Key Verse Thought: Read the Key Verse. Try to understand that God promised to help His people. When we give our heart and life to Jesus, He will help us live faithfully for Him.  Perform means “to complete; to finish.” In this lesson, we will see the Israelites finish rebuilding the Temple. They had laid the foundation, but then the enemies stopped the work. Nevertheless, God sent someone to encourage them to finish. God promised to help us complete the work He has for our lives.

    Emphasis: Christians are to read the Bible, understanding that God will encourage us through His Word. We are to remember that God sent Jesus, just as He promised, to take away the sin of man.

    Lesson Summary: As we begin this lesson, we need to remember that the building of the Temple had been stopped. Haggai encouraged them to begin again, but the enemy had returned to stop the work. The governor of the land had sent a letter for the king to search the records and find out if the people had permission to rebuild. In the meantime, God sent another prophet to encourage His people.

    Zechariah was a priest and prophet. He prophesied at the same time as Haggai also encouraging God’s people. He wanted to let them know that God was not finished with them yet – for God had many mighty plans in store. Many of those plans were revealed in the visions that God gave Zechariah. Among the most familiar: a man with a measuring line, Joshua with the filthy garments, a golden candlestick, and the flying scroll. For lack of time, we will not study them all, but we will look at Joshua with the filthy garments. 

    Joshua was the high priest at this time, and he was a representation between sinful man and God. We will learn that the Angel of the Lord (remember we learned through previous lessons that this is the pre-incarnate Christ) removed the filthy garments from Joshua. We will find out the significance of that event today.

    Zechariah understood that Jesus would come – just as God had promised. Just as Isaiah was the Major Prophet with the most prophesies about Christ, Zechariah was the Minor Prophet with the most prophesies about Christ.   

    Zechariah especially had words of encouragement for Zerubbabel. He especially reminded Zerubbabel that when God asks His people to do something, he gives them the strength to complete it. Zechariah had a message of encouragement to the people as well. With those words of encouragement, the Temple was completed.

    Y2Q4 – Lesson 6 Questions

    Y2Q4 – Lesson 6 Children’s Worksheets

    If you are teaching this to younger children, the following is a craft idea to help them remember this lesson:

    We made frames with stickers and the verse Zechariah 9:9 to remember that Zechariah gave a great prophecy of Jesus that was fulfilled on what we now call Palm Sunday.

  • Turn unto Me

     “Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.”
    Zechariah 1:3

    Have you ever made a wrong turn in traffic? Did you lose time with the error? Could you potentially become lost? If you have a GPS system that helps you find your way, it is much easier to stay on the chosen path. Moreover, if you make a wrong turn along the way, you may hear a voice say something like, “Wrong turn; recalculating your route.” Or maybe something like, “Make a U-turn at the next available intersection.” The idea is to let you know, immediately, that you are on the wrong course heading in the wrong direction. The sooner you correct the course, the fewer delays you have and the quicker you return to where you should be. The same is true in a Christian’s life. God has a plan (a course) for you to take. When you detour from that plan, it can cause you to lose time, or potentially become way off course. In the Old Testament, God often sent prophets to remind the people of God’s Word, to turn them around and put them back on the correct course (the plan God had for them).

    When God’s people were allowed to return home after the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, they once again needed to be reminded to turn back to God. See some of the prophet’s words from the Lord to the Israelites: “2. The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 3. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. 4. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. 5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6. But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us” (Zechariah 1:2-6)

    Today, we are privileged to own our personal copies of God’s Word, the Bible. It is our responsibility to read our Bible, daily, to stay on the path God has for our lives. He is not going to send a prophet to you personally to remind you of what He has told you to do. Each Christian is to read their Bible to remember what God has told them to do according to His Word.

    The Israelites still failed to do what God asked them to do. They needed reminding – just as we often do.

    The following is a quick check list to consider how you are doing:

    • Do you have Jesus in your heart?
    • Do you read your Bible daily?
    • Do you obey what it says in God’s Word?
    • Do you realize when you are doing wrong?
    • Do you correct your course when you recognize you have detoured from what God has planned for you?

    Answering these questions will help you look at your own heart and life. God does – daily. Remember Job 7:17-18: “17. What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? 18. And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?” The word try here means “to test; to investigate, to examine, prove.”

    God loves those who belong to Him. He checks on you each day (much like a loving parent checks on a child) to see how you are doing.

    How are you doing?

    Are you keeping your life on the course God has planned for you?

    How to be Saved

  • Righteousness from God

    “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”
    Ephesians 4:24

    We often hear how important it is to confess our sins, seeking forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). However, have you ever thought about how this is even possible? It may be easy to say the words, but what does it take to be really forgiven? “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is the only one who can take away one’s sin, making that one righteous before God.

    In order to fully understand this, one must remember back to an even that took place in Zechariah. God revealed to the high priest, Joshua, something quite amazing. “1. And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 4. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. 5. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. 6. And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying, 7. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. ” (Zechariah 3:1-7).

    In this event, recognize that although Joshua was the high priest, the only one who could stand before the God representing the people in the Old Testament, he was not worthy to stand before God. He was “clothed with filthy garments” (revealing he was a sinner). The angel of the Lord (as a defender in a court) in this instance was the pre-incarnate Christ (Jesus before He was born as a human being on earth to die to take away man’s sin). This was much like a court of law where the angel of the Lord (Jesus) represented Joshua (guilty, for he was a sinful man). The adversary (much like a prosecutor) here is Satan, the enemy, the accuser of Christians (Revelation 12:9-10). When Jesus took away the filthy garments, the sin was gone, and Joshua was given a change of raiment (see Romans 8:1). Jesus then had a “fair mitre” set upon his head. The high priest in the Old Testament had “… a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre …” (Exodus 28:36-37). This mark upon his head (the golden plate) was to be a reminding that he had been set apart and consecrated to God and His purpose. This meant being devoted to God, choosing God’s plan over his own.

    How is the event with Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3:1-4 depicted in Ephesians 4:22-24? “22. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

    Jesus is our Advocate. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). This reveals that the same thing can happen for us today – if only we will trust in Jesus!

    Have you asked Jesus to be your Advocate, forgiving your sin and clothing you with His righteousness?

    How to be Saved

  • Lesson 11: Three Post-Exile Minor Prophets: Haggai – Malachi

    Key Verse

    “Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 1:3

     

    For younger children:  Hand out the first worksheet.  Help them complete the maze.  Review the memory verse with them.  Show them that just as they had to choose the right path on their maze, we must choose whether or not we will obey what God’s Word teaches.

    For Youth:  Ask the following: What happens when you make a wrong turn in traffic?  Can you get lost if you are traveling a new road and take a wrong turn?  In life we can’t always see what is ahead.  If we make a wrong turn, we need to immediately correct our course.  Today we see words of warning and encouragement from the prophets.  (Refer to the key verse.) They echo a call from God for the people to return to Him and he will turn to them.  Hand out the worksheet to reinforce the memory verse.

    In this lesson we look at the last 3 books of prophecy (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) are post-exile – after the people had been carried away captive and have now returned to their homeland.  These books take place in history during the time of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.  Once they returned, they had an important task ahead of them, but they quickly become tired.  God sent prophets to tell the people that God should be first and foremost in their lives. These prophets also, once again, reminded the people the importance of fearing God and obeying His commands.  They are reminded of the promise that the Messiah is coming, and that God isn’t finished with His people yet.  The Old Testament ends with a warning of a curse for those who do not remember the words of the law and the prophets.

    Today emphasize that we must choose to turn to God and not the things of the world. 

     

    Optional Worksheets to be downloaded:

    Lesson 11 – Volume 1 Children’s Worksheet 1

    Lesson 11 – Volume 1 Children’s Reinforcement Worksheet

     

    Ideas for children:

    In any lesson, you may want to work on your coloring timeline – especially when it relates to the lesson.

    Review the 3×5 cards if you made them, practicing the divisions.  Focus on putting the Minor Prophets, emphasizing the last three, books in order for today’s lesson.

    Another idea for today would be to have blocks for the children to build with in class.  Remind them that the people had to rebuild the Temple, their homes and the walls around the city during this time.  The Minor Prophets spoke words of encouragement to them.

    Display the poster of the books of the Old Testament (may be downloaded from the Lesson 4 Blog). Review the Minor Prophets (showing them on the poster).  You may have them write or draw a picture of their favorite event from the last three of the Minor Prophets, or you may find a coloring picture that fits today’s lesson.  There are many free coloring sheets online.  Just type in a favorite and search away!  Another idea would be to have some building blocks for them to build with in class.  Remind them that the people had to rebuild the Temple, their homes and the walls around the city during this time.  The Minor Prophets wrote words of encouragement to them.

     

    Mural idea: 

    Have the students think about how faithful they have been in their walk with God.  Do they have Jesus in their heart?  (Be ready as teachers to briefly share the “Plan of Salvation.”)  If they are a Christian, do they read their Bible?  Do they obey what it says in God’s Word?  Do they realize when they are doing wrong?  How is their relationship with their family?  Ask some of these questions to help them take a look at their own hearts and lives.  God does – daily (remember Job 7:17-18?)

    On the wall you have chosen in your classroom to become a huge mural:  For this week, have them each choose a Post-exile Minor Prophet.  Have them write a few things (on a large puzzle piece or construction paper) that they learned that helps identify them from the other prophets. And/Or, have them write down one area in their life they will work on this week to try and live better pleasing to God.

    Continue to have them bring a picture, a news article, a poem they have written, a picture they may have drawn, etc. of something that is relevant to each week’s lessons.  Encourage everyone to participate.  Watch as it grows weekly, as they express what God is revealing to them through our study of how the Bible fits into His plan to help us become more like Him.

    Old Testament Bible Bookshelf