Zechariah 6:14

The Bible says in Zechariah 6:14-15, “And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD. And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.” These two verses are a reminder of what to look for when studying Biblical prophesies. Often there is a local and short-term situation that God is addressing through the prophet and then there is a long-term prophecy that is intermixed with the writings about the short-term. The short-term situation in the book of Zechariah was the fact that the Israelites were returning to the land of Israel after having been held captive in Babylon for seventy years. In the short term they would come back to Israel, they would have an opportunity to rebuild a temple, and they would reestablish the nation and get back on the path of doing what the Lord wanted them to do. In the long-term the Messiah would do these things, but do them the way they should be done, and do them permanently. That is why the nation of Israel is in the center of all Bible prophecy. The Messiah will re-gather the people from where they have been scattered throughout the earth. The Messiah will rebuild the temple and make it the center of the worship of God on the earth. The Messiah will be King of Israel and will rule the whole earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem. Israel will become the greatest of all nations because the Messiah will rule from Israel for one thousand years.

But until the Messiah does these things, He gives us the privilege of working with Him and serving Him. Zechariah 6:14 speaks of “crowns” that some of these people would wear as they served God. The crowns are symbolic of the authority that God gives to us. Building the temple is symbolic of the fact that God gives work for each of us to do for Him.

Concerning these people who lived during the time of Zechariah and their service to God, the Bible says in Zechariah 7:1-7, “And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?” The spiritual problem that these people had is very similar to the problem that we have today: people have certain religious activities that are part of their lives, but they are not genuine because of what is going on in their hearts. They have outward religious activity without having an inward spiritual relationship with the Lord.

Notice the religious activities that these people had performed. It says in Zechariah 7:2 that they went “unto the house of God.” This would be similar to “going to church.” At least the phrase used in the Old Testament was an accurate phrase: they went “unto the house of God.” That describes a building: the temple. You might go to a particular building every day, but that does not mean that you are truly serving God. Unfortunately, in the day in which we live the phrase, “go to church,” is not an accurate phrase and is not even a biblical phrase. The word “church” does not refer to a building. It refers to a group of people. The word church literally means “those who are called out.” Of course, they are called by the Lord and they are called to come out and be separate from the world. These believers gather together in the name of the Lord and that makes them a church. Jesus said about the church in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” The church is not a building, and a building is not a church. There is such a thing as a church building, and that is the meeting place of the church. It is both inaccurate and unscriptural to call the building the church. The people are the church, and the building is the meeting place of the church. Therefore, you cannot “go to church.” You become a member of the church by believing in Jesus Christ, but you cannot “go to church.” Even the signs in front of church buildings are inaccurate. Instead of saying “Baptist Church” or “Methodist Church”, etc., they should say “Meeting Place of the Baptist Church,” or “Meeting Place of the Methodist Church.”

Anyway, one of the major mistakes that is made by people involved in religion is thinking that because they go to a certain place or a certain building, that such an action of going there is serving God. It is not. All true service to God principally involves the heart. Notice other things that the people during the time of Zechariah had done, and yet they were not serving God. Zechariah 7:2 says that they prayed. Zechariah 7:3 says that they wept. And Zechariah 7:5 says that they fasted.

Zechariah 7:7 tells the people what they should have done instead of going to a particular place, instead of praying, instead of weeping, and instead of fasting. It says, “Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets” They should have listened to the Word of God. If you are a believer in Jesus, there is nothing more important in this life than having the Word of God as part of your life. Prayer is important also, but it must be prayer that avoids the error made by the Israelites: it must be from the heart, and it must be genuine. Prayer cannot be just following a form so that you can say that you have prayed. Jesus spoke about the abuse of prayer and Jesus taught in Matthew 6:5-8, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” It is not enough to be religious, and it is not enough to pray. Your heart must be right with Christ. You must not pray to be seen of men. That is one of the dangers of public prayer.

Zechariah 7:3 spoke of the people weeping. One might think that if someone is weeping, then surely they are genuine and surely they are being repentant, but not necessarily. Someone might feel sorry for himself or herself, but not have any true sorrow about their sins. Second Corinthians 7:10 says, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” There are two types of sorrow: sorrow for oneself that is self-centered in nature, and sorrow unto God that is spiritual and Christ-centered. A criminal might be sorry that he got caught, and sorry that he got punished, and sorry that he now must bear the consequences of his actions; but that does not mean that he has truly repented. The tears that are pleasing to God are the tears of true repentance: the tears of a godly sorrow. Those are the tears that God honors. It says in Psalm 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Fasting is mentioned in Zechariah 7:5. It is revealing that the spiritual principle brought out in Zechariah 7:5 is simply this: it is not so much what you do, but why you do it. Fasting is not better than eating, and neither is eating better than fasting. What is better than both is to do what you do as unto the Lord. It says in Zechariah 7:5-6, “When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” Anyone who says that it is important to fast in order to serve God has got it all wrong. This is what is important: whether you eat or do not eat, do what you do as unto the Lord. As it says in Colossians 3:3, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”

Notice the one spiritual activity that the people were to make sure they were involved with. It says in Zechariah 7:7, “Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets.” We can never over-state the importance of a believer having the Word of God as a part of their lives. The Bible says in Luke 4:4, “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” The Word of God feeds us, it builds us up, and it strengthens our faith. Jesus speaks to us through the Word. No good can come out of us unless the Word of God comes into us on a regular basis. It is impossible to serve God without the right diet of His precious Word. As it says in Second Timothy 3:15, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” God has spoken, and He has spoken for a reason. All of your supposed religious activities are of no value if you are not taking in the Word of God.

If you do hear the Word of God, then God will lead you to do the other things that He wants you to do in order to truly serve Him. It says in Zechariah 7:8-10, “And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” Once you are honest in your relationship to the Lord Jesus, and have a sincere attitude towards Him from the heart, the Lord wants you to also think about your relationship to your fellowman. There are basically two commandments that cover everything that you think and do: one has to do with your relationship with God and the other has to do with your relationship to your fellowman. Notice the answer that Jesus said to a very important question that was asked in Matthew chapter 22. It says in Matthew 22:36-40, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

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