BIBLE STORY Zechariah, Prophet to Judah

September 28, 2014

35LG Lesson–Unit 21, Session 4

SESSION TITLE: Zechariah,
Prophet to Judah / Bible Passage: Zechariah 1-14
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER / What was Zechariah’s message? Zechariah spoke about the coming Messiah.
UNIT CHRIST CONNECTION / God saved His people who were in physical captivity as He would one day send Jesus to save and restore His people who are in spiritual captivity.
MEMORY VERSE
NEW – We’re adding a verse each month until we finish the whole chapter! / “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
Psalm 23: 1-2 ESV

BIBLE STORY -- -- Zechariah, Prophet to Judah

Zechariah 1–14

The exile in Babylon was over. A group of God’s people had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple. Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest led the people. When they stopped rebuilding God’s temple, God sent prophets to give His people a message. One of those prophets was named Zechariah (zek uh RIGH uh). God told Zechariah what would happen in the future, and then Zechariah told the people what God said.

This was God’s message for His people: “Return to Me, and I will return to you.” God reminded the people about their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents. “The prophets told them to stop sinning,” God said, “but they did not listen.” So God had punished the people for their sin. “Don’t be like them,” God said.

One night, God gave Zechariah some messages through visions. Zechariah saw eight visions; each vision was a different message from God about something that was going to happen. In the first vision, Zechariah saw a man riding on a red horse. Behind him were other horses. They had been patrolling the earth. Everything was calm and quiet. But soon the Lord would punish His enemies. The Lord’s house would be rebuilt, and His cities would be blessed again.

In the second vision, Zechariah saw four horns—these stood for Israel’s enemies. Zechariah also saw four craftsmen, who would defeat those enemies. Next, Zechariah saw a man going out to measure Jerusalem, but the city could not be measured because it was too big for walls. Instead, the Lord would be a wall of fire around it.

God then showed Zechariah how He would forgive His people if they would follow Him. In the fifth vision, Zechariah saw a solid gold lampstand, which showed how all the Lord’s plans would happen because of His Spirit.

Then, Zechariah saw a flying scroll, which was a curse on everyone who disobeyed God. In the seventh vision, a woman sat inside a basket. She represented the wickedness of those who worshiped false gods. She was lifted up and taken back to Babylon. In the eighth vision, Zechariah saw four chariots. Like the horses of the first vision, they would patrol the earth.

God then told Zechariah to collect silver and gold from the people. “Use the gold and silver to make crowns,” He said, “and place them on the head of Joshua, the high priest.”

The crowns on the head of Joshua were a sign to the people that a special king was coming to bring peace for everyone. “Look, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey,” Zechariah said.

God promised to bless His people and punish the rest of the nations for their sin. One day everyone will worship the Lord.

Christ Connection: God was going to help His people and give them a different kind of king. Jesus is the King who came and rode humbly on a donkey, just as Zechariah said. Because Zechariah’s prophecy came true in Jesus, we can have hope and forgiveness of sins when we trust in Jesus.

BIBLE STUDY

Zechariah was a priest who had been born in Babylon. He had returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. At this time, the prophet Haggai was bringing God’s message to His people. The Judean exiles were struggling to finish rebuilding God’s temple. In fact, several years had passed without progress on the temple when God called Zechariah to prophesy to His people.

Zechariah’s message was twofold: first, look back and remember the past. Second, look forward and prepare for the future. God wanted His people to learn from the mistakes of their parents and grandparents who had ignored the prophets’ warnings. Zechariah set out to encourage the people.

The Book of Zechariah is organized into eight visions, four messages, and two oracles. The visions Zechariah saw each symbolized something God would do—such as rebuild Jerusalem, judge Israel’s enemies, and remove national sin. (See Zech. 1–6.) A couple of years later, God spoke to Zechariah again. This time, God spoke four messages to respond to a question the people had about fasting. (Zech. 7:3)

In the last six chapters, Zechariah changed the subject to the future of God’s kingdom. Chapters 9–12 are rich with Messianic prophecy; the words are quoted often in the New Testament. Compare Zechariah 9:9 with John 12:15; Zechariah 11:13 with Matthew 27:9-10; and Zechariah 12:10 with John 19:37.

As you teach kids about Zechariah, emphasize God’s promise: “A king is coming.” Zechariah’s visions were significant to the reality of God’s people at that time, but a greater reality awaited. Zechariah pointed to Jesus, the coming deliverer who would be struck and pierced to take away sin. God would deal with His people’s enemies. He would cleanse His people. “They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say: They are My people, and they will say: Yahweh is our God” (Zech. 13:9). Under the rule of King Jesus, their future is incredibly bright.

COUNTDOWN TO LARGE GROUP

VIDEO: Countdown Video

Countdown Timer will play for 3 minutes before Large Group begins. The Worship Leader will talk on the mic encouraging children to move towards the front of the room as it plays.

WORSHIP

Worship leader: Welcome to kidZone! I am so glad you are here today.God is so good to us and we gather each week to praise and worship Him altogether. As we begin our worship with songs, if you brought offering today, please worship God with your gifts by coming forward and placing your offering in the basket.

PPT/Video:

PPT/Video:
Worship Leader: Awesome job today. I can’t wait to hear our story today. Let’s welcome ______who is going to teach us our Bible story today.

MEMORY VERSE REVIEW

Bible Story Teacher: Good morning, kids! It’s great to be with you here today. Let’s continue our worship reciting our memory passage, Psalm 23: 1-2. As we say our verses together, let’s praise Jesus who promises to always be with us as a Good Shepherd. So, let’s say it together.

PPT: Psalm 23:1-2

(If you need help “signing” the verse, show the video.)

Video: Psalm 23:1-2

(Instruct the kids to sit down for the Missions Moment.)

PPT: Mission Moment

MISSIONS MOMENT

***more info to come

BIBLE STORY

**Optional opening: Have you ever had an important announcement or message to give and you couldn’t wait until you could tell someone? Think about that time as you watch this video.

Video: Daily Dilemma

Who wants to know what the special announcement was? Me too. I don’t know what it was either. Well, today in our Bible story, you’ll be learning about an special announcement that God made sure His people heard.

But before we hear about who gave the message and what it was, let’s do a little review.

Where have the last two stories taken place? In Jerusalem or in Babylon? Right -- Jerusalem! Some of the Israelites have left Babylon. Because the Israelites had disobeyed God over and over again, they were captured and taken into exile. But after 70 years in exile, they were getting a new start in the Promised Land.

PPT: Big Picture -- Unit 21, Session 2 -- Zerubbabel Leads the Captives Home

A Persian king named Cyrus released the Israelites so they could go home. It was the answer to a promise God made to His people even before they were taken to Babylon.

PPT: Big Picture Question and Answer -- How did God keep His promise to the Israelites? God changed King Cyrus’s heart so the Israelites could go home.

We learned that God kept His promises to the Israelites by changing King Cyrus’s heart so the Israelites could go home.

PPT: Big Picture -- Unit 21, Session 3 -- Haggai, Prophet to Judah

The Israelites started off well when they returned to Jerusalem. They began to rebuild the temple as soon as they returned. However, some of the people living in the area didn’t want the temple rebuilt. They made work difficult for the Israelites, so they stopped. They built their own houses and forgot about the Temple. God sent a prophet named Haggai to remind them that God wanted His people to put Him first.

PPT: Big Picture Question and Answer -- How can we honor God? We can put God first in our lives.

And we learned that today, we, too, can honor God by putting Him first in our lives.

Now, we turn our attention to another prophet -- a man by the name of Zechariah. Anyone want to guess if Zechariah was a major or a minor prophet? I heard the right answer! Zechariah is one of the twelve minor prophets. Who remembers the difference between a minor prophet and a major prophet? Right! The major prophets are LONG books in the Bible, but the minor prophets are SHORT books. The messages God gave in BOTH the major and minor prophets are just as important. The difference between the two is how long they are.

In the Bible, Zechariah comes right after Haggai. In fact, God’s message to Zechariah came about the same time as His message to Haggai. The people were struggling with life in Jerusalem and other parts of Judah. It wasn’t the same place they had left. Rebuilding was a struggle. God first encouraged His people to obey and worship Him better than their parents and grandparents. God made several other promises through the visions He gave to Zechariah. He was giving Zechariah promises about what was going to happen in the future. What were those promises and what was Zechariah’s message? Well, that is our Big Picture Question today.

PPT: Big Picture Question -- What was Zechariah’s message?

What was Zechariah’s message? Let’s watch our Bible story video and find out.

Video: Bible Story Video

Zechariah had a lot of visions. He saw some cool stuff. He saw some interesting stuff. He saw stuff that sounds weird to us today. But everything Zechariah saw in one of his visions was meant to share a message with God’s people -- a message about the coming Messiah.

Zechariah didn’t just say one or two things about the Messiah. Zechariah spoke about the coming Messiah in several parts of the book he wrote. Zechariah reminded the people that the Messiah was coming.

One of the messages that Zechariah shared at the very beginning of his book was that God wanted His people to follow Him. God told Zechariah to tell the people to return to God. “Return to Me, and I will return to you.”

God’s people had a pattern. They followed God for a while. Then what happened? Right. They sinned. They quit following God. They worshiped false gods. They didn’t obey God’s commands. So what happened? God sent prophets to tell the people to stop sinning and turn back to God. Did the Israelites usually listen to the prophets? No. They usually ignored the prophets. Then God had to punish the people for their sin.

God told Zechariah to remind the people about the history of their ancestors. God didn’t want the people to be like their grandparents and great-great-great-grandparents. What did God say? “Return to Me, and I will return to you.”

God wants His people to follow Him. God loves His people. He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to pay the price for our sin. Jesus was our sacrifice. He paid for our sin. He healed our relationship with God. When we repent of our sin and trust in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we have returned to God. We are a part of God’s family. We are with Him, and He is with us.

What was Zechariah’s message? Zechariah spoke about the coming Messiah. Did Zechariah’s message come true? Yes. Jesus did come. He will come again one day, and everyone will recognize that He is the Lord over all of creation.

Our big picture question is, What was Zechariah’s message?

PPT: Big Picture Question -- What was Zechariah’s message?

Zechariah shared many things, but we want to remember What was Zechariah’s message? Zechariah spoke about the coming Messiah.

PPT: Big Picture Question -- What was Zechariah’s message? Zechariah spoke about the coming Messiah.

The people in Zechariah’s day were still a few hundred years away from Jesus’ coming, but God was already preparing His people for Jesus. In the New Testament, we see Zechariah’s words again when Jesus entered Jerusalem the week of His death and resurrection. Jesus paid the price for our sin. When we repent and trust in Jesus, we are forgiven and will spend eternity with Jesus!

PPT: Prayer

PRAYER

Before you go back to your small groups, let’s pray together. So, quietly now, circle up as a small group.

(Once kids are in their groups – encourage the kids to QUIETLY share their requests with their group.)

PPT: Pray – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication slide

In addition to asking God for things – which He does want us to do – remember to ADORE God that He is a God who always keeps His promises, to CONFESS your sins to Him, and to THANK Him for all the good gifts He gives us. And then, lastly, we ask God for all that we need for ourselves and for others -- that is SUPPLICATION. This is the time when we pray for Helen and Siras. Let’s pray.

PPT:Helen, Siras

Ok, ______, (Sound booth guy) let’s start the music.

SFX: Music from hidden slide

PPT: Time for Small Group