Introduction: God is in the heavens and does as He pleases. ESV Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. He is Sovereign over all things, all the time. His saving purposes march on, even as His plans for nations and people march on, regardless of what has happened on the world scene. His decrees and promises are never in doubt because they are never ultimately dependent on the will and choices of people. God produces what He promises. THAT IS A REASON FOR GREAT JOY IN THE MINDS OF HEARTS OF ALL WHO KNOW HIM. The same God who is despised by the rebellious, is worshipped by those who love Him. The same glorious attributes that guarantee the doom of God’s enemies, guarantee a future for God’s redeemed servants. In 538 B.C. a prominent priestly family returned from Babylon to the land of Israel when God put His desires into the heart of a king named Cyrus. Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, opened the way for the Jewish resettlement of Judea and the rebuilding of the temple. Zechariah, a priest and prophet, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo, would have made that trip with his prominent priestly family when he was just a boy. Zechariah was then chosen by God to serve as a prophet to his people as a young man (2:4). His ministry began in the eighth month of the second year of Darius (520 B.C.). He was tasked with exhorting His people to believe God unlike their fathers. Preaching alongside the ministry of Haggai, Zechariah encouraged His people to rebuild the temple and to look to the future of blessing that God was promising in the Messiah, a future that would be enjoyed by all who proved faithful. He was preaching to a people who were discouraged. He was preaching to a people who were struggling to believe, who had lost all of their initial enthusiasm. He was preaching to a people who didn’t see any evidence of any great work being accomplished but instead thought of their endeavor as something small (4:10). But in the initial sermon we meet with in this book, we find a strange twist. The same character of God that had brought about their discipline, their ruin, their deportation, is now being set before them as a reason for their renewed obedience. If God’s Word proved true in your undoing, then God’s Word can be believed about your renewal. The same God who is dreaded by the rebellious, is the strength and hope of believers. In this first sermon we meet with an encouragement to return to Yahweh and to experience His blessing. That encouragement rests on the knowledge that His Word had proven true in judgment. We will look at the opening of this book under four headings. (1) Reception (2) Remembrance (3) Reasoning (4) Repentance I. RECEPTION (vs.1) Zechariah’s ministry is explained by God. It began with God. A false prophet is described in the Old Testament as someone who ran without being sent. A false messenger — claiming to be from the sovereign — running to deliver a message that didn’t come from God at all. A false message explained by his own fleshly mind or by demons. ESV Ezekiel 13:6 They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'Declares the LORD,' when the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ESV Jeremiah 23:21 "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. That wasn’t Zechariah. The Word of the Lord “CAME” to Zechariah the prophet. God delivered the message that Zechariah was to deliver. There are no prophets today, but the standard for faithful messengers hasn’t changed. DO THEY CARRY GOD’S MESSAGE? ARE THEY DELIVERING WHAT GOD TRULY DELIVERED FOR HIS PEOPLE? DOES THEIR MESSAGE REPRESENT THE WORK OF A FLESHLY MIND, OR THE LIES OF DEMONS, OR ARE THEY SAYING WHAT THE LORD TRULY SAID? Zechariah was a faithful messenger. But he was also a faithful man. Faithful servants prove to be faithful messengers. Zechariah is more often identified with Iddo (his grandfather) than his father. It leads many to wonder if perhaps his father died when he was young. This is a young prophet (2:4) who has seen difficult things, belongs to a group of people who chose a difficult but exciting opportunity, and now God will use Him to strengthen His people.