Steve Webb  0:00  
Return to me and I will return to you. 

Steve Webb  0:04  
It's time for another episode of the Lifespring! One Year Bible. I'm glad you're here. Podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. It's Prophecy Friday and our reading today is Zechariah 1 through 7. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and I'll have contact information at the end of the show. Before we read, let's pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for our time together, and we thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for revealing to us who you are. I pray, God, that as we read you would draw us closer to yourself. Bless us as we read today, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, are you ready? Let's begin.

Steve Webb  0:46  
Zechariah, chapter 1. 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.’”’” On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet: I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white. Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.” And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.” So they answered the Angel of the Lord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.” Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?” And the Lord answered the angel who talked to me, with good and comforting words. So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I am zealous for Jerusalem And for 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.” ‘Therefore thus says the Lord: “I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it,” says the Lord of hosts, “And a surveyor’s line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’ “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; The Lord will again comfort Zion, And will again choose Jerusalem.”’” Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns. And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” So he answered me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. And I said, “What are these coming to do?” So he said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Steve Webb  3:58  
Zechariah, chapter 2. Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him, who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying: ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,’ says the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” “Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,” says the Lord; “for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven,” says the Lord. “Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.” For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me. “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the Lord. “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!”

Steve Webb  5:37  
Zechariah, chapter 3. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, And if you will keep My command, Then you also shall judge My house, And likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk Among these who stand here. ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH. For behold, the stone That I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor Under his vine and under his fig tree.’”

Steve Webb  7:18  
Zechariah, chapter 4. Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.” Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”

Steve Webb  9:08  
Zechariah, chapter 5. Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according to this side of the scroll; and, ‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according to that side of it.” “I will send out the curse,” says the Lord of hosts; “It shall enter the house of the thief And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones.” Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.” So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”; then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead over its mouth. Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?” And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”

Steve Webb  10:41  
Zechariah, chapter 6. I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?” The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.” When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth. Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.” The word of the Lord came to me: “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Steve Webb  12:36  
Zechariah, chapter 7. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’” And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry. “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”

Steve Webb  14:22  
Did you know that Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries? Well, they were. Both were called by God after the Seventy Year Exile. Zechariah’s prophecy came two months after Haggai’s first prophecy. And where the prophecies of Haggai were primarily to do with the temple, Zechariah’s were about the people. And the language of Zechariah’s messages were very similar to that of the book of Revelation with symbolism, types, and visions. Now, Zechariah, which means “the Lord remembers”, is a common name in the Old Testament. And we don't know much about the author of this prophetic book. We do know from the book of Ezra that he was the son of Iddo. Now in chapter 1, God's message to the people is: “Return to me, and I will return to you.” Did you happen to see Zechariah’s references to Jesus in these chapters? In chapter 1, verse 11, he's the man who stood among the myrtle trees. In chapter 2, he's the man with a measuring line in his hand. Here, Jesus is going to measure the physical size of Jerusalem, because many are going to be added to the city because those who have been spread abroad like the four winds of heaven are being called back. So Jerusalem will increase. Then a second angel comes to Jesus and tells him to tell Zechariah, that Jerusalem will be like a city without walls because of the multitude of the population of people and livestock. But the people should not be afraid of having no walls, because God will be their protector, like a wall of fire around them, and his glory will be in their midst. Beloved, this is a vision of what is to be. God is not just calling the Jews but anyone who will put their trust in his Son Jesus. In verse 11 of chapter 2, the Lord says, “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become my people, and I will dwell in your midst, then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.” This chapter is a call to all of us to rejoice in God's plan and his promises. And then in chapter 3, Jesus is referred to as the Branch. And then we read again of the Branch in chapter 6. There he’s referred to as the Branch who will build the temple of the Lord. Let me ask you, what temple did Jesus build? He built the church. How's that? Well, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19. And then in chapter 7, the Lord through Zechariah said that his people ignored him, so he ignored them and scattered them among the nations. There are several times in these chapters that we read references to the Messiah. Remember, Jesus as the second person of the Trinity is the I AM. He has always been and he will always be. He was at the creation, and he has always been active in the affairs of man. For Zechariah, or actually any of the prophets, to have seen Jesus in visions is really not surprising when you look at it like that, right? Now, *I* myself am looking forward to the day when *I'll* see him face to face. How about you? Are you looking forward to that day? You have thoughts or questions? Let me hear from you. Send a boostagram or call the Lifespring Family Hotline or go to the comments page, or write an email. I'll tell you how to do all that stuff at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Gospel Saturday and we'll read Acts 15 and 16.

Adam Curry  17:58  
Boost boost boost boost boost boost boost. 

Steve Webb  18:00  
Lifespring family Berean Brother Sean formerly of San Pedro, sent in 13,319 sats, 13319 sats, on the Psalms 131 through 133 From Pride to Peace episode which was episode number s13e319, 13319. Brother Sean said, "Show number boost. Great idea. I'm getting better about carving out a daily listening time and it feels good." Well, thank you, Sean. And thanks to Jamie the Trucker for coming up with the idea of a show number boost. I'm liking this. And Brother Sean, I'm glad you've apparently gotten somewhat settled in there in Phoenix so that you can get back to listening to the show on a daily basis. I missed you, Brother. God bless you and your family. And if you're a No Agenda listener and have listened to the latest episode, you may have heard the Associate Producer donation from the Lovely Lady LeeAnn in their first donation segment. You know, I very rarely mentioned the date of my birthday online anywhere including this show. But LeeAnn with her donation there in which she wished me a happy birthday? Well, with the size of their audience, I think it's safe to say that she let the cat out of the bag. So yes, it's true. Tomorrow is my 69th birthday. Yikes! Hard to believe I'll soon be a septuagenarian, yeah. So anyway, if you would like to help me celebrate my 69th birthday, $69 Happy Birthday donations would be greatly accepted and acknowledged here on the show. And here's where you can do that. 

Steve Webb  19:29  
Lifespringmedia.com/support

Steve Webb  19:30  
At the beginning of the show, I told you I'd let you know at the end of the show how to reach me. The best way is with a boostagram using a modern podcast app. Another way is to call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. And for prayer requests and praise reports, you can also go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. If you've got a comment or question, you can go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Or you can even send an email to me at steve@lifespringmedia.com.

Steve Webb  20:16  
Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, Jason Paschall, and Sister Brittaney are the team and I thank them so much for what they do. Jason Paschall did today's show art, And thank you, Beloved, for making me a part of your day. Lord willing, I'll be back with another episode tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Steve Webb  20:41  
Lifespring! Media, bringing the message of hope, love, and good news since 2004.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai