Four Points Church

Zechariah 7 - "A Call for Renewal" - Brent Stephens / April 14, 2024

Chapter 7 begins almost two years after the last of the eight visions Zechariah received. Things have been going well in Jerusalem. The temple is being rebuilt and is just a few years at this point from being finished. Leadership is established through Zerubbabel, and the priesthood is active through Joshua. Word has reached all around the surrounding areas that the prophets, speaking for God, have returned to the holy city. These are exciting times in the city, but also for local areas that once benefited from the prosperity of Jerusalem in her flourishing days of old. Things are really turning around and future fortune seems just around the corner. These new times bring new questions to the minds of those living in the vicinity of temple progress. And who better to answer these questions than the leaders and prophets of Jerusalem?

Zechariah 6:9-15 - "A Priest With A Crown" - Brent Stephens / April 7, 2024

In Zechariah 3, Zechariah’s visions introduced a character called “the Branch,” who will bring about restoration and new growth in God’s people. In Zechariah 6:9-15, the Branch is spoken of again, and we learn that the Branch is a priest who is crowned like a king. This brings hope and purpose to the exiles of Judah, who are charged with restoring the city of Jerusalem and its temple.

Zechariah 6:1-8 - "The Four Chariots" - Brent Stephens / March 31, 2024

We’ve seen horses before in Zechariah (see Zechariah 1:7-17). In his eighth and final vision of the evening, Zechariah again sees horses. This time, the vision is not against the background of darkness, as it was in chapter 1. Rather, Zechariah’s eighth vision is set against the background of dawn. Hope is breaking through for God’s discouraged people. They are to get their eyes off of their bleak circumstances and onto their sovereign God, who is working out His rule and reign in this world for the benefit of His people. Our circumstances are never beyond the reach of hope!

Zechariah 5:1-11 - "Cursed, Covered, and Carried Away" - Jeremy Brannon / March 24, 2024

As we begin chapter 5, we see the prophet Zechariah having two separate visions, the sixth and seventh that are recorded in this book: the Flying Scroll, and the Woman in a Basket. Though the two visions are different, they clearly go together to form one bigger message: that sin is revealed through the law, sin is judged, and then sin is removed.

Zechariah 4 Part 2 - "Not by Might, Not by Power" - Brent Stephens / March 17, 2024

In Zechariah’s fifth vision, he is shown a golden lampstand. The Hebrew word for this lamp is “menorah.” The fact this particular lamp is gold is symbolic of the lamps included in the temple furnishings: one in the tabernacle and later, ten in Solomon’s Temple (Exodus 25:31-40; 1 Kings 7:49). It was the job of the priests to ensure these lamps were filled with oil and kept burning at all times (Leviticus 24:1-4).

Zechariah 4 Part 1 - "Not By Might, Not By Power" - Brent Stephens / March 10, 2024

In Zechariah’s fifth vision, he is shown a golden lampstand. The Hebrew word for this lamp is “menorah.” The fact this particular lamp is gold is symbolic of the lamps included in the temple furnishings: one in the tabernacle and later, ten in Solomon’s Temple (Exodus 25:31-40; 1 Kings 7:49). It was the job of the priests to ensure these lamps were filled with oil and kept burning at all times (Leviticus 24:1-4).

Zechariah 3:1-10 - "Clothed By Another's Garments" - Daniel Pernell / March 3, 2024

Imagine that a dear friend you have not seen in years comes by as you are doing yard work. You’d love to throw your arms around your friend, but your clothes are caked in grime and muck and you smell like a barnyard. What you want at that moment is to stop time, go shower up and get a change of clothes! Here in Zechariah 3, God continues to restore His people, whose priests are unclean and unable to stand before Him in worship and sacrifice. God alone can provide the cleansing and the righteousness that they need in order to draw near to Him.

Zechariah 2:1-13 - "The City With No Walls" - Jeremy Brannon / February 25, 2024

Same evening. Another vision. We have all seen the city limit signs on the side of the road as we drive down the highway. They indicate the boundaries of the city, telling us where the city begins and where it ends. These signs represent defined borders that distinguish a city from other areas around it. Imagine a city with no boundaries, no borders, and no limits. The city is what the prophet Zechariah sees in his third vision of the evening, which is meant to provide great hope and comfort to God’s remnant who are in a very discouraging situation.

Zechariah 1:7-21 - "Comforting Words from a Merciful God" - Brent Stephens / February 18, 2024

Three months after that first oracle of Zechariah’s ministry, recorded in Zechariah 1:1-6, he receives the first of eight visions that come to him in the night. Each of these visions follows a basic pattern: Zechariah sees something, asks the angel about it, and is told by the angel what it means. The general idea of this first vision is that God will overcome whatever difficulties Judah is experiencing. He will rescue His people.

Zechariah 1:1-6 - "Return to Me" - Brent Stephens / February 11, 2024

Scripture teaches that “for everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The book of Zechariah begins with a specific time stamp: “In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius” (Zechariah 1:1), which means the book dates back to October or November in the year 520 BC. During this time, God’s people, who had returned sixteen years earlier to the land He had given them, were still under Persian rule. Israel was in disrepair with broken-down walls. Just two months earlier, through the Word of the Lord given to the prophet Haggai, work on the temple had resumed (Haggai 1:8). God has already begun His movement towards His people, and now He is about to begin the movement of His people toward Himself. To do this, God raises up another prophet by the name of Zechariah, whose name means, “the Lord remembered.” Zechariah was a younger man who had been born during the exile and raised under Babylonian and Persian captivity. He was of the priestly line of Levi (Nehemiah 12:1-16). We learn in the New Testament from the mouth of Jesus that he was an innocent man who was “murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35). Zechariah was chosen and called by God to speak the Word of the Lord to God’s people at this divine time.