In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, “The LORD has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says 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 preached, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the LORD. “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? “So they returned and said: ‘Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ” Zechariah 1:1-6

Today we begin our journey through the prophet Zechariah, I think he’s probably one of the forgotten prophets, yet might be one of the most important prophets with regards to the second coming of Christ. Zechariah, by the Holy Spirit, gives great details about the death of Christ and His return, including the exact location. Zechariah was an actual priest, he was alive during the restoration of Israel from exile in Babylon, and he was preaching during the time of the rebuild of the 2nd temple, with the prophet Haggai

According to The Lord Jesus , in the gospel of Matthew, , the prophet Zechariah was eventually murdered by the religious leaders  in the temple courtyard (Matthew 23:34-36) This is no surprise as they eventually crucified The Lord for preaching the truth also!

The prophet Zechariah begins, like all the prophets and apostles, a message of repentance “Return to Me, says The Lord and I will return to you” A very simple message of repentance, if we would just turn from our sins and turn to God, he will forgive and save us. However the human heart is stubborn and hard, just like Israel always fell away, we see the same behavior in the Church, a call to repentance is necessary for all mankind!

This is consistent with the same message Christ had preached from the very beginning “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) And while the call to repentance is so offensive to the human heart, its actually a beautiful thing that God is willing to forgive and restore us back into relationship with Him, despite all of our failures and short comings

Despite the countless times God called Israel to repentance , he reminds them “they did not hear nor head me” What’s it going to take for us to repent to God? When are we going to turn from our evil ways and turn to The Lord Jesus Christ for salvation? 

God reminds them, Israel repented before and they can restore their relationship with God again “So they returned” a beautiful reminder of Gods love, patience, and mercy. However , everyone then seems to forget their covenant with God, as the Apostle Peter stated “Like a dog going back to their vomit” (2 Peter 2:22) Just like Israel, we need to break the cycle of sin and Return to The Lord!