God’s Right to Speak
Zechariah 12:1
July 16, 2023
I loved my mom and learned so very much from her. She was a gift of great grace from the Lord to me. But she had one habit that I could never adopt, even though I understood it. One day I saw her reading a book that I thought she had just begun, but she was already almost at the end of the book — “Wow, mom! You’ve really read that book quickly!” “Oh, I’m not finishing it; I’ve just started.” “But you are at the end of the book.” “Yes — I read the last chapter first.” “You can’t do that — that’s cheating!! Why do you do that?” “I read the last chapter first to make sure the story ends well; if it doesn’t have a good ending, I don’t want to waste my time reading the whole book.”
I loved mom, and I understood why she did that, but I just couldn’t get myself to do that. Until today. Kind of. Today we read God’s “end of the story.” And it will reinforce the value of not only reading everything He has to say, but it will also reinforce the value of enduring all He sends our way in this rocky, difficult world. Life has hard and harsh moments. But for the believer in Christ, it can only end well.
Zechariah 11 is one of the more difficult sections in the book of Zechariah. It is difficult both to interpret and to accept — the message is somber and heavy. But as heavy as chapter 11 is, chapters 12-14 are that encouraging and hopeful. As we begin this final section of the book of Zechariah, we find in 12:1 that —
As sovereign Creator, God has authoritative right to speak.
His declaration is that He will fulfill His promises.
One of the main words spoken by God in Zechariah 12-14 is His promise related to “that day” — the day of the Lord. The concept of the day of the Lord has already been revealed in the book (2:11; 3:9-10; 8:23; 9:16). But the day of the Lord becomes a dominant theme in chs. 12-14 (22x — 12:3–4, 6, 8–9, 11; 13:1–2, 4; 14:1, 3–9, 13, 20–21). The phrase denotes that God is going to act for Israel in the final day (eschatological future); but what is His right to act in the final day?
- God Will Act in “That Day” (v. 3)
- The Old Testament Use of “the Day of the Lord”
- Zechariah’s use of “the Day of the Lord”
- Where “the Day of the Lord” fits in God’s prophetic plan
- The key elements of God’s prophetic plan in Zechariah
- What is God’s Authority to Act in “That Day?” (v. 1)
- He is sovereign Creator of all things
- He is sovereign Creator of all mankind
Download the rest of this sermon on Zechariah 12:1.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.
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