Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Zechariah sees a vision and talks with the angel Gabriel, who shows him the Lord's plan to rebuild the temple and send a Messiah.
In the second year of King Darius, the word of the Lord comes to Zechariah the prophet. The Lord tells Him he has been angry with their fathers. So they Lord tells them, "Return to Me.. and I will return to you. Do not be like your fathers... they did not hear or heed Me." He says that His words and statutes which He commanded the prophets overtook their fathers, and they were forced to acknowledge that the Lord had dealt with them according to their deeds. Then, the word of the Lord comes to Zechariah again. At night, he sees a man riding on a red horse, and it stands among the myrtle trees in the hollow. Behind him are horses colored red, copper-red, and white. Zechariah asks, "My lord, what are these?" The angel who talks with him says he will show him. "The man standing among the myrtle trees says, 'These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.'" These answer the angel and say, "We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold! All the earth is resting quietly." The angel answers, "Oh, Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which You are angry these seventy years?" And the Lord "answers the angel with good and comforting words," and he says to Zechariah, "Proclaim, saying, Thus says the Lord of Hosts: 'I am zealous for Jerusalem and Zion with great zeal. I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease. For I was a little angry, and they helped, but with evil intent.'" The Lord says He is returning to Jerusalem with mercy, and His house will be built. A surveyor's line will be stretched out over it. He says His cities will again spread out through prosperity, and He will again "comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem." Zechariah sees four horns, and he inquires of the angel who says that these are the horns which have scattered Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. Then, the Lord shows him four craftsman, and he asks what they are coming to do. The angel says the horns scattered Judah and terrified them "so that no one could lift his head," but the craftsmen "are coming to terrify them and cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against Judah to scatter it."
Then, Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. He asks him where he is going, and he says he is going to measure Jerusalem. The angel who had been speaking with him goes out, and another comes to meet him. The other one tells the first angel to tell Zechariah that Jerusalem will be inhabited in towns without walls, because the Lord says, "For I... will be a wall of fire around her. And I will be a glory in her midst." The Lord tells Zion to escape from the north, from out of Babylon. The angel says he has been sent with glory to the nations which plundered them, because "He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye." He tells Zion to sing and rejoice because the Lord is coming and will dwell in their midst. "Many nations will be joined to the Lord in that day, and they will become My people, and I will dwell in your midst," the Lord says. "Then, you will know that the Lord of host has sent me to you." And the Lord will take possession of Judah and His inheritance in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. "Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord."
Then, the angel shows Zechariah Jeshua, the high priest, standing before the him and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. The angel says, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan!" Jeshua is clothed in filthy garments. Then, Zechariah says to take away the filthy garments from him. The Lord says He has "taken away the filthy garments and will clothe them with rich robes." Zechariah says let them put a clean turban on his head. Then, the angel stands by and admonishes him. He says the Lord says if Jeshua will walk in His ways and keep His commands, he will judge His house and have charge of His courts. He will walk among the angels. He tells Jeshua to hear and that the angels are a sign. He is bringing forth His Servant, the Branch. He has laid a Stone before Jeshua, a Bond Stone having seven eyes (explained later.) The Lord will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. "In that day.. everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree."
The angel comes back and awakes Zechariah as out of a deep sleep and asks him what he sees. Zechariah says he sees a lamp stand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand are seven lamps with seven pipes to the lamps. There are two olive trees on either side. He asks what it is, and the angel says it is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "'Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." The mountain will become a plain before Zerubbabel. He will bring forth the capstone with shouts of, "Grace! Grace!" to it. The word of the Lord comes to Zechariah, and He says that Zerubbabel's hands laid the foundation of the temple, and his hands will finish it. Then, he will know the Lord has sent the angel to him. "For who has despised the day of small things?" asks the Lord. He says that the seven eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord which look to and fro throughout the whole earth. Zechariah asks about the olive trees and the olive branches which drip into the pipes, and the angel says it is the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
"'Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord" and "Grace! Grace!" are words we should speak often over the situations in our lives!
We should not despise "the day of small beginnings." The Lord can do much through our lives if we will yield the little we have to Him.