In that Day…God Remembers

In That Day…God Remembers
Zechariah
October 22, 2023

In his book, The Body:  a Guide for Occupants, Bill Bryson tells us about our memories:

Short-term memory is really short—no more than half a minute or so for things like addresses and phone numbers.…Most people’s short-term memory is pretty abysmal. Six random words or digits is about all that most of us can reliably retain for more than a few moments. On the other hand, with effort we can train our memories to perform the most extraordinary stunts. Every year the United States has a national memory championship, and the feats performed there are truly astounding. One memory champion could recall 4,140 random digits after looking at them for just thirty minutes.

That memory feat is well beyond me, and likely you, too.  We are prone to forget; we are not prone to remember.  Which means that we need to work at remembering.  We particularly need to work at remembering God and His provisions.  Why should we work at remembering God’s provision?  Because godly remembrance fortifies us for present faithfulness.  When we remember God’s nature and what God has done in the past we are emboldened to persevere in present problems.

After the nation of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon/Medo-Persia for 70 years, the nation began returning to the land of Israel.  The foundation for a reconstructed Temple was laid very quickly, and then opposition arose.   And because they forgot the promises of God (or thought He forgot His promises), the nation became fearful and did no work on the Temple for nearly 20 years.  The empty foundation became a testimony of Israel’s fear and unbelief.

Into that forgetfulness, God brought a series of men, including two prophets, to exhort and encourage the Israelites of God’s promise and care for His people.  One of those prophets was Zechariah whose message encouraged and exhorted his readers (and us) to be hopeful because,

In every day and in His sovereignty, God remembers and will fulfill all His promises.

One of the most significant aspects of Zechariah is his name — it means “God Remembers.”

• Both the name and the message of the prophet were the same: God has not forgotten you; God has not forgotten His promise to Abraham; God will fulfill all His covenant promises.
• Specifically, God will remember to install His King, the Messiah, on His throne in Israel (ch. 14) out of His faithfulness to Himself and out of the loyalty of His love to His people.
• Every time the people saw Zechariah, they were reminded that God keeps His promises; and every time they heard Zechariah speak, they heard the message that God keeps His promises.

One of the most significant aspects of the book is the emphasis on God’s care of His people in that day — in the Millennial Kingdom.  Combined, the name of Zechariah and the emphasis on the certainty of the coming Day of the Lord give the hearers confidence to endure in their present circumstances.  

Last week we finished the exposition of the book; this morning, we want to do a final overview of the book and remind ourselves of three lessons to remember from the book of Zechariah:

1. Remember the Message of Zechariah

• The history into which the messages are spoken
• The message of the visions (chapters 1-6)
• The message of the (foolish) question (chapters 7-8)
• The message of the oracles (chapters 9-14)

2. Remember the Purpose of Zechariah
3. Remember the Lessons of Zechariah (what do we need to remember from this book, “God Remembers?”)

• Remember God’s revelation of His character
• Remember God’s provision for “today”
• Remember God’s provision for Israel “tomorrow”
• Remember God’s provision for the nations “tomorrow”
• Remember God’s provision of the King

Download the rest of this sermon on Zechariah.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.

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