Advanced Lesson 2 - Book of Zechariah

MESSAGE FOR PEOPLE TODAY FROM THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH

                                                                    Lesson 38 of 39                                          

Background Information:

ü  In the book of Haggai, the prophet Haggai warned people how contagious sin is, so people would build a temple where they could consider their ways. The governor, the high priest, and the remnant considered their ways by hearing and believing the truth. After hearing and believing the truth, God “stirs up” their spirit to awaken their heart.

Statement of Faith to Say Amen to for the Book of Zechariah:

I can remember how God “stirred up” and awakened my heart with the spirit of truth; I will turn to God, and build an internal temple on a plane so God can weigh my heart and measure my spirit by love.

Essential Question

How can I have behaviors that align on a plain with the headstone shouting of grace, grace, grace?

Book of Zechariah

Have students read pages 20-44 in the book, Turn or Burn.

After students read the information ask them, "What do you want to talk about?"

Remember the Issue:

In the Old Testament, the purpose of the temple was for God’s people to see God’s glory. In the New Testament, as it is written in John 1:14, the word became flesh and lives within us. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Now every believer’s body is a temple for God. Christ came and taught us how to present our body as a living sacrifice with love. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, we are to glorify God. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and we are to honor God with our bodies.

Remember the Truth Jesus Brought:

After our spirit is “stirred up” it will awaken our heart. God then offers grace for faith. With this understanding, we can build our internal temple with might and power (prosperity, pride, vanity, unfaithfulness, Jezebel spirit, and prejudice against the word of God) or with a spirit that understands the truth (righteous behaviors). After our spirit is “stirred up”, we will line up our witness testimony with the headstone (Chief Cornerstone) on The Rock of Faith with righteous or sinful behaviors. Because faith works by love, we can increase our faith in God by love: Loving God, Loving our neighbor, praying for our enemy with love, husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church and wives obeying their husbands, loving the family of God, and loving the word of God. Jesus, the Chief Cornerstone, will shout grace, grace, grace for anyone who turns to Him with love.

The physical world needs to remember there is a spiritual realm, and the unseen and unheard dark side is trying to get us to continue in sin by experiencing sin as the best feeling in our heart, so we will not turn to God. When we turn to God, we will be betrothed to Jesus. The church is responsible for teaching believers to turn from the world and to know the spirit of truth. After you consider your ways, you are to turn away from the world and awaken and turn to God. When you turn to God, He will turn to you: Then He will betroth you to Him. When you are betrothed to God you are to be a servant who bears witness to how God can weigh the heart and measure the spirit by love. God would “stir up” and awaken people in the Old Testament. After God awakens and “stirs up” our spirit, we are to be a servant and build an internal temple for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are to bear witness by “stirring up” and awakening other people’s spirit to have them turn to God.

Remember the Rock God Established:

The prophet Zechariah heard a message from the unseen spiritual world as the word of the Lord came to him saying, “The Lord of hosts is displeased with your fathers because they would not turn from intentional sin; however, God will turn to you if you turn to Him!” Zechariah told the people that God shows grace to those who turn to Him. God knows the unclean spirits will contaminate the clean spirits, so He is about to push the action and come out of holy habitation. When the church is quiet, the unclean spirits, heathens, will push the action to the danger line. Zechariah explains how God will have great jealousy for a remnant. Zechariah said that the watchers (the angels who go to and fro in the Earth) gave God a report, “We have walked to and fro through the Earth and the Earth sits still and is at rest.” When the Earth is still it is quiet, we are at rest because we are not witnessing to God’s grace. When the church is quiet, Satan will take his line and run as far as possible because false teachers will contaminate the church culture with the world’s culture.

Zechariah then explains how God has stretched a surveyor’s line over Jerusalem. A survey line is a way to divide property. It was a one-dimensional line symbolizing Old Testament salvation through the law and the sacrificing of animal blood. God just put the line down and then punished the people who went past it and protected the people who did not. Then with church-age salvation, the surveyor stretched forth a plane which has length and width. This is how we can have the sacrifice that Christ made and the word of God to know how to include love with the law. Now we have a two-dimensional message that can measure how faith works by love. We can measure if we accept our spiritual gifts to determine if we have righteous behaviors that increase our faith in God or sinful behaviors that decrease our faith in God to be lukewarm.

This is a reference to the line that Satan is given to run with. Satan could get more line with a one-dimensional line as it is infinite. However, a two-dimensional plane confines Satan more than a one-dimensional line because it is not infinite. The latter three-dimensional line is a reference to Satan being confined in a hellish box with all his demonic followers. Just as there is a surveyor’s line with boundaries, Satan has a line that has set boundaries. We choose whether we will cross the surveyor’s line that God stretched out across Jerusalem or stay within the perimeters of the lines. Our reaction to sin defines if we will cross the danger line (surveyor’s line) and give Satan more line to run with. Is sin the best feeling in your heart or the worst feeling?

As it is written in Zechariah 4:6, “The Lord of hosts saith that Zerubbabel would be like a plain who will bring the headstone therefore with shouts of grace, grace, grace!” Jesus will sing about His bride who turns to Him and obeys him with a faithful heart. Zechariah had a message to turn to God and God will turn to you! This is when spiritual gifts will be offered by God. With spiritual gifts, we can measure faith by how we love.

Activity:

The activity directions are located in Appendix 3.

Students will play a game called Sin.

Conclusion:

Zechariah wants people to realize that through building the temple of the Lord they are laying the foundation for the city without walls or borders because Satan will be in hell.

Next Lesson:

Malachi explains how God will be jealous for people who are faithful to Him.