The Salvation of Israel

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Let's open the Word of God to Zechariah chapter 12, Zechariah chapter 12. While you're turning to Zechariah, he is quite a remarkable prophet, Zechariah. Prophesied in about 520 to 518. Prophesies after the Babylonian captivity is over and the people of Israel have been released from Babylon by Cyrus. They've come back to the land. He's what we call a postexilic prophet. He's prophesying to the people in the newly constituted nation of Israel. They've gotten their life back. They're in their country, and he encourages them to restore their love for God, their worship of God, and to build the temple. And he encourages them in that by prophesying the Word of the Lord to them--that the Messiah will come, the Messiah will come.

The theme of the coming Messiah runs all the way through Zechariah. The opening nine chapters or so focus a lot on the first coming of Messiah--features of the first coming of Messiah. But chapters 12 to 14 focus on the Second Coming of Messiah. So he gives them this amazing vision of the wonderful future that Israel has in the plan of God, a future of national salvation when the Messiah comes to establish His Kingdom and fulfill all the promises given to the patriarchs and to David and all the prophets in the past...