Bible Books Explained

Book of Zechariah, Background

Quick Rundown

As Haggai encouraged the discouraged Jewish exiles to rebuild the temple and repent, Zechariah encouraged them to repent and renew their covenant with God and to finish building. Zechariah is the lengthiest and most positive of the ‘minors.’ It is interesting to note that during the rebuilding of the temple Zechariah also received great insights into Messiah’s Advent. Spiritual renewal was of necessary first emphasis for the people of God to repent and rightly worship the Lord God before the temple was rebuilt. The people were guilty of the very thing their ancestors had done before their exile, so repentance was the only way to receive the blessings of God to reconstitute the temple (1:5-6). Despite their intense internal and external opposition Zechariah assured them of God’s abiding comfort and care and that God would renew and continue covenant with Israel and the rest of the world. Messiah’s hope in Zechariah’s writing further highlighted for Israel and the world God’s plans beyond the temple in Jerusalem.

Title

Zechariah’s authorship is traditionally and universally held by Jews and Christians. His name is common to more than 29 Old Testament men. His name means “The Lord remembers.” More on that later. Zechariah’s prophecy is second only to Isaiah in the breadth of prophets writing about Messiah.

Author and Date

Zechariah was also a priest like his earlier cohorts Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Nehemiah 12:12-16). According to tradition that would have meant he was a member of the Great Synagogue council of 120 originated by Nehemiah and presided over by Ezra. This council later developed into ruling elders of the nation, known as the Sanhedrin. According to Nehemiah’s record in 12:16 we see that Zechariah was born in Babylon during Israel’s exodus, joining his grandfather Iddo in the group of exiles who first returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest (Nehemiah 12:4). Other places in Scripture mention Zechariah as “son of Iddo,” (Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Nehemiah 12:16) unlike in Zechariah 5:1. This means it is likely that his father, Berechiah died at an early age before he could succeed his father into priesthood.

In the second year of Darius (1:1), dated 520 B.C. Zechariah penned his opening words. The Persian emperor Cyrus had died and was succeeded by Cambyses around 530-521 B.C. who conquered Egypt! He had no son and killed himself, and Darius rose to the throne by quelling a revolution. Zechariah was Haggai’s contemporary and began prophesying 2 months after Haggai. Zechariah 2:4 suggests the prophet was younger than Haggai. The last dated prophecy in 7:1 came approximately two years after his first, making them identical in time with Haggai’s prophecy around 520-518 B.C. Chapters 9-14 are generally thought to have come at a later period of his ministry, evidenced by differences in style and references to Greece indicating a date between 480-470 B.C. This would have been after Darius I who reigned 521-486 B.C. and during Xerxes’ reign from 486-464 B.C. (remember this was the king who made Esther queen of Persia). It is unknown how long Zechariah’s ministry lasted but according to Matthew 23:35 he was murdered between the temple and the altar, similar to his earlier namesake (son of Jehoiada) mentioned in 2 Chronicles 24:20-21 who had been stoned to death.

Background and Setting

The historical background and setting of Zechariah are the same as Haggai. In 538 B.C. Cyrus the Persian freed the captives from Israel to resettle their homeland and about 50,000 returned from Babylon (Ezra 1:1-4). They immediately began to rebuild the temple according to Ezra 3:1-4:5, but opposition from neighbors followed by indifference from within caused the work to be abandoned (Ezra 4:24). Sixteen years later Haggai and Zechariah were commissioned by the Lord to stir up the people to rebuild the temple. The temple was completed 4 years later in 516 B.C. (Ezra 5:1,2; 6:15).

Historical and Theological Themes

Zechariah joined Haggai in rousing the people from their indifference, challenging them to resume building the temple. Haggai’s primary purpose was to rebuild the temple; his preaching had a tone of rebuke for the people’s indifference, sin, and lack of trust in the Lord. He was used to start the revival while Zechariah with a more positive and overt Messianic tone was used to keep the revival going, calling the people to repent and assurance of future blessings for renewed covenant. Zechariah sought to encourage the people to build the temple in view of the promise that someday Messiah would come to inhabit it. The people were not just building for the present, but with the future hope of Messiah in mind. Zechariah encouraged the people, still discouraged and beaten down by the Gentile powers (1:8-12), with the reality that the Lord always remembers His covenant promises to them and that He will restore and bless them. Thus, the name of the book aptly written by its rightful author “The Lord remembers,” contains the seed form of the theme of the prophecy.

The “apocalypse of the Old Testament” as it is often called relates both to Zechariah’s immediate audience as well as to the future. This is borne out in the structure of the prophecy itself as each of the 3 major sections shows (1-7, 8, 9-14). Zechariah appropriately begins historically and then moves forward tot the time of Messiah’s Second Advent when Messiah returns as The Temple and Branch and sets up His earthly kingdom. Zechariah reminded the people that Messiah and both an immediate and long-term commitment to His people. Thus, Zechariah’s words were gracious, comforting words in 1:13, both to the exiles of his day and to the remnant of God’s chosen people in that future day.

Zechariah’s oracles are the most messianic, apocalyptic, and eschatological in the Old Testament. In this context, it is interesting to note that of the prophets Zechariah is the one who mentions Jerusalem the most. The first most prominent oracle of Jerusalem comes from Isaiah. So, it is significant that Zechariah’s prophecy is primarily about Jesus Christ, focusing on His coming glory as a means to comfort to Israel and the world (1:13,17), the focal source of salvation geographically located in Jerusalem. While the book is filled with amazing visions, prophecies, signs, celestial visitors, and the voice of God it is also richly practical, dealing with issues like repentance, divine care, salvation, and holy living. All prophecy would soon be silenced for more than 400 years until John the Baptist. God used Zechariah to bring a rich abundant outburst of promise for the future to sustain the faithful remnant through those silent years, which it did!

Interpretive Challenges and Application

While there may be numerous challenges to the reader, two passages within Zechariah’s prophecy present notable interpretive difficulty. In 11:8 where “the Good Shepherd” is mentioned annihilating the “three shepherds in one month.” This is not easy to understand but it is helpful to keep the context in mind in this section suggesting a correct view that identifies these shepherds of the priests, elders, and scribes of Israel (Matthew 23). During Christ’s earthly ministry He confronted the hypocrisy of Israel’s religious leaders, disowning them with scathing denunciations, followed by the destruction of the whole nation in A.D. 70. Since Christ’s first coming the Jewish people have had no other prophet, priest, or king.

There are also considerable discussions surrounding 13:6 and the identity of the individual who possessed “wounds between your arms.” It may be tempting to identify this person as the Messiah, referring to His crucifixion. However, given the context Christ neither denied that He was a prophet, nor could He have claimed He was a farmer, or that He was wounded in the house of His friends. Therefore, it is a reference to a false prophet as the context determines in 13:4-5, who was wounded for his idolatrous worship (problem of Israel). The zeal and light of the Lord will always be so great in the kingdom of the Messiah that idolaters will make every attempt to hide their true identity, while their scars telltale evidence of their iniquities.

Outline

I. Call to Repentance (1:1-6)

II. Eight Nigh Visions of Zechariah (1:7-6:15)

A. Man Among the Myrtle Trees (1:7-17)

B. Four Horns and Four Craftsmen (1:18-21)

C. Man with Measuring Line (2:1-13)

D. Cleansing of High-Priest (3:1-10)

E. Gold Lampstand and Two Olive Trees (4:1-14)

F. Flying Scroll (5:1-4)

G. Woman in Ephah (5:5-11)

H. Four Chariots (6:1-8)

I. Coronation of Joshuah the High Priest (6:9-15)

III. Four Messages of Zechariah (7:1-8:23)

A. Questions about Fasting (7:1-3)

B. Four Responses (7:4-8:23)

1. Rebuke for Wrong Motives (7:4-7)

2. Repentance Required (7:8-14)

3. Restoration of Favor (8:1-17)

4. Fasts Become Feasts (8:18-23)

IV. Two Burdens of Zechariah (9:1-14:21)

A. Messiah’s Rejection at First Advent (9:1-11:17)

B. Messiah’s Acceptance at Second Advent (12:1-14:21)

Source: MacArthur Study Bible, NASB, Updated Edition. 2006. Nelson Bibles, Thomas Nelson. La Habra, CA.

Introduction to The Bible

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Tim 3:16,17

The Bible is the Word of God. This maxim is very familiar in most Christian circles and for the most part, deeply revered in many hearts. The Scriptures are the Words of God, a love letter to us. God loves us and greatly desires, and even commands us, to know His mind and heart. By studying the Word(s) of God we grow closer in relationship to Him.

I’ve created this online resource, surely one of thousands on the web, as a means by which you have an introduction to all 66 books of the Bible at the tip of a click. I hope you find richness and true understanding in your daily Bible reading.

Think of the academic rigor of studying the chapter introductions as a humble and thirsty approach to finding out “What does God mean?” As one of my favorite pastors exhorts, “It's not enough to read the text and jump directly to the application; we must first determine what it means, otherwise the application may be incorrect.”

Sixty-Six books comprise the Bible. These documents are gathered into two testaments, the Old (39) and the New (27). Prophets, priests, kings, and leaders from the nation of Israel wrote the OT books in Hebrew (with two passages in Aramaic). The apostles and their associates wrote the NT books in Greek.

The Old Testament record starts with the creation of the universe and closes about 400 years before the first coming of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures take on a timeline in the following chronology:

- Creation of the Universe

- Fall of man

- Judgment flood over the earth

- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) - fathers of the chosen nation

- The history of Israel

~ Exile in Egypt - 430 years

~ Exodus and wilderness wanderings - 40 years

~ Conquest of Canaan - 7 years

~ Era of Judges - 350 years

~ United Kingdom - Saul, David, Solomon - 110 years

~ Divided Kingdom - Judah/Israel - 350 years

~ Exile in Babylon - 70 years

~ Return and rebuilding the land – 140 years

The details of this history are explained in the 39 books divided into 5 categories:

~ The Law – 5 (Genesis thru Deuteronomy)

~ History – 12 (Joshua thru Esther)

~ Wisdom – 5 (Job thru Ecclesiastes)

~ Poetry – 2 (Psalms and Song of Solomon)

~ Major Prophets – 5 (Isaiah thru Daniel)

~ Minor Prophets – 12 (Hosea – Malachi)

After the completion of the Old Testament, there were 400 years of silence, during which God did not speak or inspire any Scripture. That silence was broken by the arrival of John the Baptist announcing the arrival of the Promised Lord Savior. The New Testament records the rest of the story from the birth of Jesus Christ to the culmination of all history and the final eternal state; so the two testaments go from creation to consummation, eternity past to eternity future.

While the 39 Old Testament books focus on the history of Israel and the promise of the coming Savior, the 27 New Testament books emphasize the person of Christ and the establishment of the Church. The four gospels give the record of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Each of the four writers views with distinctive perspective, the greatest and most important event of history – the coming of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Each are listed below:

~ Matthew looks at Jesus through the perspective of His kingdom

~ Mark through the perspective of His servanthood

~ Luke through the perspective of his humanness

~ John through the perspective of His Deity

The book of Acts tells the story of the impact of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord Savior – from His ascension, the consequent coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the Church, through the early years of gospel preaching by the apostles and their associates. Acts records the establishment of the church in Judea, Samaria, and into the Roman Empire.

The 21 epistles were written to churches and individuals to explain the significance of the person and work of Jesus Christ, with its implication for life and witness until He returns.

The New Testament closes with Revelation, which starts by picturing the current Church Age, and culminates with Christ’s return to establish His earthly Kingdom, bringing judgment on the ungodly and glory and blessing for believers. Following the millennial reign of the Lord Savior will be the last judgment, leading to the eternal state. All believers of all history enter the ultimate eternal glory prepared for them, and all the ungodly are consigned to hell to be punished forever.

To understand the Bible, it is essential to grasp the sweep of that history from creation to Christ's consummation and beginning of the church age. It is also crucial to keep in focus the unifying theme of Scripture. The one constant theme unfolding throughout the whole Bible is this: God for His own glory has chosen to create and gather to Himself a group of people to be the subjects of His eternal Kingdom, to praise, honor, and serve Him forever and through whom He will display His wisdom, power, mercy, grace, and glory. To gather His chosen ones, God must redeem them from sin. The Bible reveals God’s plan for this redemption from its inception in eternity past to its completion in eternity future. Covenants, promises, and epochs are all secondary to the one continuous plan of redemption.

There is one God. The Bible has one Creator. It is one book. It has one plan of grace, recorded from initiation, through execution, to consummation. From predestination to glorification, the Bile is the story of God redeeming His chosen people for the praise of His glory.

As God’s redemptive purposes and plan unfold in Scripture, five recurring motifs are constantly emphasized:

~ The character of God

~ The judgment for sin and disobedience

~ The blessing for faith and obedience

~ The Lord Savior and sacrifice for sin

~ The coming kingdom and glory

Everything revealed on the pages of both the Old and New Testament is associated with those five categories. Scripture is always teaching or illustrating: 1) the character and attributes of God; 2) the tragedy of sin and disobedience to God’s holy standard; 3) the blessedness of faith and obedience to God’s standard; 4) the need for a Savior by whose righteousness and substitution sinners can be forgiven, declared just, and transformed to obey God’s standard; and 5) the coming glories end of redemptive history in the Lord Savior’s earthly kingdom and the subsequent eternal reign and glory of God and Christ. It is essential as one studies Scripture to grasp these recurring categories like great hooks on which to hang the passages. While reading through the Bible, one should be able to relate to each portion of Scripture to these dominant topics, recognizing that what is introduced in the Old Testament is also made more clear in the New Testament.

Looking at these five categories separately gives an overview of the Bible.

1. The Revelation of the Character of God

Above all else, Scripture is God’s self-revelation. He reveals Himself as the sovereign God of the universe who has chosen to make man and to make Himself known to man. His standard of absolute revelation is established in this self-revelation. From Adam and Eve through Cain and Abel and to everyone before and after the law of Moses, the standard of righteousness was established and is sustained to the last passage of the New Testament. Violation of it produces judgment, temporal and eternal.

In the Old Testament, it is recorded that God revealed Himself by the following means:

~ Creation – primarily through man – who was made in His image

~ Angels

~ Signs, wonders, and miracles

~ Visions

~ Spoken words by prophets and others

~ Written Scripture (Old Testament)

In the New Testament, it is recorded that God revealed Himself again by the same means, but more clearly and more fully:

~ Creation – the God-man, Jesus Christ, who was the very image of God

~ Angels

~ Signs, wonders, and miracles

~ Visions

~ Spoken words by apostles and prophets

~ Written Scripture (New Testament)

2. The Revelation of Divine Judgment for Sin and Disobedience

Scripture repeatedly deals with the matter of man’s sin, which lead to divine judgment. Account after account in Scripture demonstrates the deadly effects in time and eternity of violating God’s standard. There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. Only four of them do not involve a fallen world: the first two and the last two – before the Fall and after the creation of the new heaven and new earth. The rest is the chronicle of the tragedy of sin.

In the Old Testament, God showed the disaster of sin – starting with Adam and Eve, to Cain and Abel, the patriarchs, Moses and Israel, the kings, priests, some prophets, and Gentile nations. Throughout the Old Testament is the relentless record of continual devastation produced by sin and disobedience to God’s law.

In the New Testament, the tragedy of sin becomes clearer. The preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles begin and end with a call to repentance. King Herod, the Jewish leaders, and the nation of Israel – along with Pilate, Rome, and the rest of the world – all reject the Lord Savior, spurn the truth of God, and thus condemn themselves. The chronicle of sin continues unabated to the end of the age and the return of Christ in judgment. In the New Testament, disobedience is even more flagrant than Old Testament disobedience because it involves the rejection of the lord Savior Jesus Christ in the brighter light of the New Testament truth.

3. The Revelation of the Divine Blessing for Faith and Obedience

Scripture repeatedly promises wonderful rewards in time and eternity that come to people who trust God and seek to obey Him. In the Old Testament, God showed the blessedness of repentance from sin, faith in Himself, and obedience to His Word – from Abel, through the patriarchs, to the remnant in Israel – and even Gentiles who believed (such as the people of Nineveh).

God’s standard for man, His will, and His moral law were always made known. To those who faced their inability to keep God’s standard, recognized their sin, confessed their impotence to please God by their own efforts and works, and asked Him for forgiveness and grace – there came merciful redemption and blessing for time and eternity.

In the New Testament, God again showed the full blessedness of redemption from sin and repentant people. There were those who responded to the preaching of repentance by John the Baptist. Others repented at the preaching of Jesus. Still others from Israel obeyed the gospel through the apostle’s preaching. And finally, there were Gentiles all over the Roman Empire who believed the gospel. To all those and to all those who will believe through all history, there is blessing promised in this world and the world to come.

4. The Revelation of the Lord Savior and Sacrifice for Sin

This is the heart of both the Old Testament, which Jesus said spoke of Him in type, picture, and prophecy. The New Testament gives the biblical record of His coming. The promise of blessing is dependent on grace and mercy given to the sinner. Grace means that sin is not held against the sinner. Such forgiveness is dependent on a payment of sin’s penalty to satisfy holy justice. That requires a substitute – one to die in the sinner’s place. God’s chosen substitute – the only one qualified – was Jesus. Salvation is always by the same gracious means, whether during Old Testament or New Testament times. When any sinner comes to God, repentant and convinced he has no power to save himself from the deserved judgment of divine wrath, and pleads for mercy, God’s promise of forgiveness is granted. God then declares him righteous because the sacrifice and obedience of Christ is put to his account. In the Old Testament, God justified sinners that same way, in anticipation of Christ’s atoning work. There is, therefore, a continuity of grace and salvation through all of redemptive history. Various covenants, promises, and epochs do not alter that fundamental continuity, nor does the discontinuity between the Old Testament witness nation, Israel, and the New Testament witness people, the Church. A fundamental continuity is centered in the cross, which was no interruption in the plan of God, but is the very thing which all-else points.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Savior and sacrifice are promised. In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman who will destroy Satan. In Zechariah, He is the pierced one to whom Israel turns and by whom God opens the fountain of forgiveness to all who mourn over their sin. He is the suffering substitute spoken of by the prophets. Throughout the Old Testament, He is the Messiah who would die for the transgressions of His people; from beginning to end in the Old Testament, the theme of the Lord Savior as a sacrifice for sin is presented. It is solely because of His perfect sacrifice for sin that God graciously forgives repentant believers.

In the New Testament, the Lord Savior came and actually provided the promised sacrifice for sin on the cross. Having fulfilled all righteousness by His perfect life, He fulfilled justice by His death. Thus God Himself atoned for sin, at a cost too great for the human mind to fathom. Now He graciously supplies on their behalf all the merit necessary for His people to be the objects of His favor. That is what Scripture means when it speaks of salvation by grace.

5. The Revelation of the Kingdom and Glory of the Lord Savior

This crucial component of Scripture brings the whole story to its God-ordained consummation. God controls redemptive history, and it will culminate in His eternal glory. Redemptive history will end with the same precision and exactness with which it began. The truths of eschatology are neither vague nor unclear – nor are they unimportant. As in any book, how the story ends is the most crucial and compelling part – so with the Bible. Scripture notes several very specific features of the end planned by God.

In the Old Testament, there is repeated mention of an earthly kingdom ruled by the Messiah, Lord Savior, who will come to reign. Associated with that kingdom will be the salvation of Israel, the salvation of Gentiles, the renewal of the earth from the effects of the curse, and the bodily resurrection of God’s people who have died. Finally, the Old Testament predicts that there will be the “uncreation” or dissolution of the universe, and the creation of a new heaven and new earth – which will be the eternal state of the godly – and a final hell for the ungodly.

In the New Testament, these features are clarified and expanded. The King was rejected and executed, but He promised to come back in glory, bringing judgment, resurrection, and His kingdom for all who believe. Innumerable Gentiles from every nation will be included among the redeemed. Israel will be saved and granted back into the root of blessing from which she has been temporarily excised.

Israel’s promised kingdom will be enjoyed, with the Lord Savior reigning on the throne, in the renewed earth, exercising power over the whole world, having taken back His rightful authority, and receiving due honor and worship. Following that kingdom will come the dissolution of the renewed, but still sin-stained creation, and the subsequent creation of a new heaven and new earth – which will be the eternal state, separate forever from the ungodly hell.

Those are the five topics that fill up the Bible. To understand them at the start is to know the answer to the question the question that continually arises – Why does the Bible tell us this? Everything fits the glorious patter of those five topics. As you read, hang the truth on these five hooks and the Bible will unfold, not as 66 separate documents, or even two separate testaments – but one book, by one divine Author, who wrote it all with one overarching theme.

(MacArthur Study Bible, NASB. Quoted and Paraphrased. xi-xiv.)

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