The Two Sides of Prophecy

This Sermon was delivered on December 3 to All Saints Anglican Church, Barboursville, WV. It is based on Zechariah 14:4-9; Luke 21:25-31


If you’ve ever been a parent of teenagers, or worked closely with young people, who know what it’s like to spot trouble up ahead and to want to prophecy: …”If you don’t shape up, you’re going to…come to no good, waste your life, or perhaps even die.

When God sends prophets to his people, He’s doing a similar thing. The first phase of Prophecy is a Warning. ‘If you don’t change your ways Israel, calamity will come upon you. The worst calamity was the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of her people into 70 years of Babylonian captivity – all because of the disobedience of His people.

But because God is gracious and desires relationship with his people, He also gives us words to encourage Hope, just like a coach or a Scout leader who looks at a young person’s potential and sees that something good will come of their lives. Through predictive words of Prophecy, God gives people glimpses of what’s up ahead so that they may preserver in the present and keep on pressing toward the eventual goal – victory over adversity.

Through the Prophet Zechariah God told Israel what was coming. He gave them specific things to watch for to keep them looking up and ahead. Many of them pertain to the success of a rebuilt Jerusalem. For under King Darius of Persia, Israel had been allowed to return home to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding. Under Nehemiah and Ezra, the work prospered but wasn’t completed. King Zerubbabel completed the basic restoration of the city and started in on building the Temple, but the people were struggling to keep up the work after just a month of labor and so the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them with visions that God had shown them. The immediate purpose of the visions was to let the people know they would succeed in their task of rebuilding - and so the stories of Jerusalem being filled with the returning exiles from Babylon and that God Himself protecting Jerusalem were very comforting and inspiring.

But into the mix, the Lord also adds details that can only point toward Jesus. In the Chapter 3 of Zechariah, we have the vision of Joshua – Yeshua – Jesus the High priest clothed in filthy garments, but then having those garments removed – symbolizing the forgiveness of our sins in one day (v.9). The Coming of the Branch of David is foretold, who will be the Messiah, the promised one. He will be pierced and a fountain (filled with blood) will be opened. (12:10; 13:1-9).

Chapter four contains visions of a candlestick (the house of God being built by Zerubbabel, and later , the Church bearing light to the world) and two Olive trees – Joshua and Zerbubbabel initially, and later echoed as the two witnesses in Revelation 11. The descendant of Zerubbabel, the Branch, Jesus, will build a more glorious House in the future.

Rev. Halley, in his Bible Handbook also points out that are specific glimpses of Jesus Christ in Zechariah:
His Atoning Death for the Removal of Sin. (3:8-9;13:1)
As Builder of the House of God (6:12)
His universal Reign as King and Priest (6:13;9:10)
Triumphal Entry (9:9 cf.Mt. 21:5; Jn. 12:15)
Betrayal for 30 pieces of silver (11:12, cf. Mt. 27:9,10)
His Deity(12:8).
His Hands Pierced (12:10;13:6 cf. Jn. 19:37)
A Smitten Shepherd (13:7, cf. Mt 26:31, Mk 14:27)

These, says Halley, are all instances that refer specifically to the Personal, Visible, Bodily, Literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ,

the coming Day of The Lord, which is a reckoning and a full revelation of his Sovereign Kingship.

Last night we went to see the movie, the Nativity. Coming out of this movie left Cindy and I both very pensive – even more so than going to see The Passion. There was a feeling of “I just want this thing to be over”. This is the sort of longing that we feel as we look for His coming. It must also have been what the people of Israel felt as they waited for the first Advent, or appearing of Jesus: How long O lord? It is expressed well in the Hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel – the sense of longing for his Coming.

Prophecy sets up a hope that the suffering of the present time will eventually come to a close. It helps us to believe that the yoke of the oppressor will be broken.

Ps 2 comes to mind: “Come let us break their bonds, Let us cast off their yokes… You shall break them with a rod of Iron…

The prophecy is that the Shoot of Jesse, the Branch of David will rise up and help his people cast off the yoke of oppression. But the yoke of oppression is not just the political ruler, it is Sin itself, which enslaves us to the power of the evil one.

The people of Israel yearned for a deliverer who would set them free from their political enemies.: In Zerubbabel’s time and following, it would have been the Medes and the Persians, the Babylonins, the Greeks and the Romans, and those such as Herod who collaborated with the Romans. But into this system arrives Jesus and becomes the Hope of the Nations in that he has come to his people and set them free – from Sin and all its enslaving effects. As a result, we may now worship God in Freedom and peace, despite whatever political turmoil exists around us.


Even as the Jewish people looked ahead to the promised Messiah, so too must we look ahead to a promised time of ultimate deliverance. Our impulse is to cry out How long O Lord – will you forget us? How long will you hide your face? How long must I bear grief in my soul, This sorrow in my heart day and night? How long shall my enemy prevail? (Ps 12).

But the same Psalmist goes on: “As for me I trust in your merciful love. Let my heart rejoice in your saving help. Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me, singing Psalms to the Name of the Lord the most High.

We are to have hope in the saving help of our God, who sustains us with his goodness and who help us to sit in the darkness waiting for his second advent. Those who waited patiently and expectantly for his saving help were Awake to the irruption of God into their lives. They won the victory because of this perseverance. They placed their faith in their God and because of it, will one day come back with Jesus in a great triumphal procession.

Just like Coach Pruett and the Marshall football team, when they won their first Championship. The whole town turned out to watch them in a great victory parade. All of Huntington had become one in yearning that some day, our disappointment and grief would culminate in eventual success. It was as if the Marshall community was saying “O Come O Come O Thundering Herd”… We are like that in our waiting upon the return of Christ. We are to be Awake and Watching, Alert to the signs of His coming and hopeful that it will one day come about.

Zerubbabel, Jeremiah, Joel , Micah and Jesus himself have given us signposts of Christ’s Coming. WE are to heed these signs as the Day approaches. We say that the return of Christ is Imminent: It could happen any time, suddenly. But there is evidence to think that there will even be time to prepare for His return after some key events begin to take place. For it seems that there will be a gathering of the nations against Israel and a victory over the City, but just when the enemies of Jerusalem are getting ready to divide up the spoils, then the Lord will come in the Clouds with all His saints in Victory, leading captivity captive and ushering in the great and Terrible Day of the Lord in which Jesus shall be the Light and Judge of the World and every knee will bow before him in worship.

Brothers and sisters, the time approaches. Make room in your heart for Jesus. Watch hopefully and expectantly for His return. Be ready for Him to Come Again. Amen.