This sermon explores Zechariah, the eleventh of the Minor Prophets, showing how his message points directly to Jesus Christ, both in His first coming and second coming.
1. Themes Shared Across the Minor Prophets
Zechariah echoes the major themes found throughout the Minor Prophets:
God’s sovereignty — He is King over all creation.
God’s judgment — righteous and inevitable, beginning with His own people.
God’s grace — He is compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, and invites repentance.
Repentance — a call to return to God, turning from sin to life.
The coming Messiah — all Scripture ultimately speaks of Jesus.
2. Setting & Background
Zechariah prophesied alongside Haggai around 520–518 BC, when Israel had returned from exile but stalled in rebuilding the temple due to hardship, opposition, and discouragement. Zechariah calls them not only to rebuild but to live faithfully as God’s covenant people.
3. Zechariah’s Structure
The book includes:
A call to repentance (chapter 1).
Eight night visions revealing God’s plans, His presence, and His rule.
Exhortations toward justice, mercy, compassion, and true covenant living (chapters 7–8).
Two major oracles (chapters 9–14) about the Messiah’s first coming, His rejection, and His future return to reign.
4. Zechariah’s Prophecies About the Messiah
Zechariah gives some of the clearest Old Testament predictions of Jesus:
a. The Humble King (Palm Sunday prophecy)
Jesus enters Jerusalem “humble and riding on a donkey”—a king who identifies with His people, not displaying earthly power.
b. Betrayal & Rejection
Zechariah foretells:
The Messiah sold for thirty pieces of silver.
His people’s abandonment.
The piercing of the One they rejected.
All fulfilled during Jesus’ passion.
c. The Stricken Shepherd
“I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.” Jesus Himself applies this to His arrest and crucifixion.
d. The Coming King in Glory
Zechariah also looks ahead to Christ’s return, when He will stand on the Mount of Olives, defeat evil, gather the nations, and reign as King over all the earth.
5. What This Means for Us
The sermon calls believers to:
a. Worship first
Recognizing Jesus as King begins with worship and devotion.
b. Examine allegiance
Is Jesus truly our King? Or do our fears, loyalties, politics, comforts, and cultural pressures take that place?
c. Live as Kingdom citizens
Because Christ’s Kingdom has already begun with His first coming, we live now as His people—marked by humility, righteousness, compassion, justice, and care for the vulnerable.
d. Engage the world differently
Christians don’t seek worldly power but serve in overlooked places, aligning with those God values: the widow, orphan, foreigner, poor, and oppressed.
e. Embrace daily repentance
Repentance is not just a conversion moment—it is the continual turning from sin and idols toward the living God who restores and forgives.
6. Final Call
As Zechariah begins with a call to repentance, the sermon ends with Jesus’ first words in Mark’s Gospel:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”