Zechariah: I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt

 Zechariah 1:1-17

“The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. 

Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.

During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?” So the Lord spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.’

Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord Almighty.

“Proclaim further: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”

The date is October/November 520BC. Zechariah began to speak for God at the same time as the prophet Haggai. This first message falls between the speech recorded in Haggai 2:1-9 and Haggai's last recorded message.

Zechariah was probably a young man at the time. V2-6 relates past history, warning the present generation not to behave as their forbears had done.

Eight visions are recorded in chapters 1-6. Each contributes to a picture meant to be seen as a whole.

Zechariah's first vision, dated 15 February 519, is of four horsemen patrolling the world on God's behalf, like the mounted patrols which 'policed' the Persian Empire. The significance of the colours, if any, is now lost. God used other nations to execute judgment on his people. But they went too far, stirring God's compassion for his people. Now those nations will be judged and God will comfort and restore his own, This message is reinforced in the chapter that follows.

Why?

The Lord is righteousness and with mercy, so any sins will be getting rid of and God's love is more than we expected.

God's word gave to Isreal to comfort their heart for God's compassion is come upon his people.

Return to me, return to the Lord, for God is good!

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有許多異象，但是也都說明。

騎馬的人的異象，紅，白，黃馬都是多數，遍地查看。安息平靜是指國內平靜，統治者權力穩固。對被統治者而言是壞消息，無法重建聖城。這樣子的哪喊要到幾時呢?

耶和華沒有不理人，火熱沒有停止，比人還要著急。神不允許人惡待以色列人，神已經要重建聖殿。

神的工作沒有停止，而且不斷在查看。除了帶隊者以外，至少有9匹以上的人騎馬在查看。

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How?

God loves his people forever, his nation will be built forever.