Part 57 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series 

David Pawson says that Zechariah overlapped Haggai by one month, and had some similar prophecies but it is not an easy book to understand. It has apocalyptic prophecies. David explains that describing something in the distant future requires pictures and symbols such as Revelation, Ezekiel and Daniel have. How would you describe television to somebody who lived a thousand years ago? Whereas Haggai dealt with the current problems, much of Zechariah’s messages were looking far forward. Zechariah was a priest as well as a prophet and for the next 400 years there would be no direct word from God via prophets so priests would assume more importance. The book divides into 2 halves, the first 8 chapters concerned with the current situation in Israel. He reminds them that ignoring the prophets had caused their forefathers to be deported to Babylon. There were angels involved in messages to Zechariah. He was told that there was a window of world peace, so it was an ideal time for the Jews to get the temple built. Zechariah assures his people that the Lord will deal with the nations who harm them, but also, some Gentiles will join them. David explains symbols in the book. This is an encouraging study.