Zechariah was a prophet of the restoration. When the Jewish exiles came back from Babylon he urged them back to fidelity to God. He did so by holding up the image of the Messiah, the anointed one of God, who would make all things new. Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. How remarkable the confidence the prophet had in the midst of what must have been a very discouraging situation. The returning exiles basically needed to rebuild their lives from scratch — and do so in the midst of others who had settled in the promised land in the three generations they were away. This had to have caused no end of squabbling yet Zechariah provides a message of hope in what God can do. When we get down looking at our situation we should recall that God’s people have been through worse and God always makes a way.
