Reformed & Expository Preaching

The question that we can always ask is how do I know if the Lord's redemption is mine? We know that God promises to redeem, but how does that promise become my promise? This is where faith is the essence of assurance. This means that when we have faith in Christ we have assurance. The reason is because faith in Christ takes hold of Christ and all his blessings.

Zechariah prophesied that the Lord's judgment is going to come to all people. This means that it is upon those outside the believing or covenant community as well as those inside the community or the church. Zechariah warns the false shepherds they will be judged. Zechariah also points out a troubling time when his people treat one another as commodities to be traded rather than fellow members of Christ. Zechariah leaves us to see that our only hope is bowing our necks under the Lord's redeeming mercy.

There is one Gospel promise throughout all the scriptures. This is something that has been debated in church history with the extreme of Marcion denying the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. The struggle to see the unity of Scripture is addressed in the letter to the Hebrews. Christ is the character and the radiance of God. The Old Testament looking to his coming and the New Testament assures us that God's promise is set in stone because he has spoke through his word.

The prophet Zechariah gives a warning to the false shepherds. This is pretty scary considering that Joshua is not a perfect priest as we witness the vision in Zechariah 3. The assurance that the prophet gives the Lord's people is to pray and ask God. Zechariah assures us that God does in fact listen to our our prayer and God will provide for us. God desires a people who wrestle with him. We know that God will prevail, and so we seek to conform to his image. We do not make God in our image.

God's wrath is kindled because of Adam's fall into sin. This leaves us with the question: how can we get out this predicament? The answer is only through the means that God prescribes: Christ. Christ is God and man joined together in one person. He has to be God to endure the eternal punishment on behalf of his people. He has to be man because man offended God. God cannot simply overlook sin, God will punish sin. The solution is God's redemptive provision. God is the one who pays the redemption that we take hold of by faith.

Christ rides a donkey into the holy city of Jerusalem. This is upsetting to the rulers, but we might wonder why is riding on a donkey so upsetting? Why do the people chant praises to Christ as their king when he is on a donkey rather than a war horse? Zechariah provides the backdrop to this prophecy. Zechariah declares that the Lord will establish his vision of peace unlike the fallen nations. It is not through the war horse, but through the king laying down and taking up his life to establish the Lord's eternal kingdom.

The Lord finishes his creation and he calls it good. The Lord is pronouncing that all that he created is good. This means that Adam and Eve were not lacking a single thing to obey God. However, when Satan entered the garden they accepted his invitation to evaluate the Lord's word.

Zechariah receives word regarding some cities that we barely know. However, these cities better pay attention because the Lord's judgment is coming against them. This is not just a prophecy that declares death, but there is assurance that the Lord will establish his heavenly city as symbolized in Jerusalem.

We might think that God does not see the injustice in this age. We are tempted to cry out to God, "How Long O Lord?" The reality is that injustice is upsetting. We have a problem in our human perspective. We think God has lost sight of everything, but we fail to see the bigger picture. Psalm 14 assures us that God does in fact see all things in this world and can even peer into the heart. This does not make God a busybody, but shows that God is bonded to his people. God will establish his promised eternal rest.

The prophet tells us about the promise of eternal life. The prophet makes a very pregnant promise that the Lord's people will be from the nations. The Lord's great feast will be an international community joining together as a new Israel. The Lord truly has wrestled and the Lord has prevailed to bring his people into his rest.