2. Encouragement from God
Among God’s characteristics that can be overlooked is that He is our Great Encourager.

3. Encouragement from God
We need to turn to God to hear the encouragement He offers to His people.

4. Encouragement from God
A brief history of Zechariah:
He is a prophet who is sent to speak to the people in Jerusalem after the exile and during the reconstruction.
He is a contemporary of Haggai.
He is the prophet who speaks the encouraging message that the people need.
He is sent to encourage the people to finish what they have started. God is going to give them good reason to finish the work.

5. Encouragement from God
Throughout his message to Jerusalem he repeats the phrase, “thus says the Lord”. This is said to ensure the people that the message of encouragement comes directly from God.
God knows that His people need encouragement and He offers them the very words they need to hear.

6. Encouragement from God
Zech. 8 – God encourages His people in Jerusalem
Vss. 1-5 – God tells the people that He is zealous for Zion and He is returning to Zion
These are the people that Ezekiel prophesied to when he told them that God was leaving Jerusalem because of the rebelliousness of their fathers.

7. Encouragement from God
v. 6 – God simply tells them that if they cannot fathom this, He is able to do it. It would seem insurmountable in human terms but God can accomplish.
Rom. 8:31 – If God is for, who can be against us?
Matt. 19:26 – “…with God all things are possible.”
Phil. 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

8. Encouragement from God
Vss. 7-8 – God tells them that He will save His people
2 Tim.2:19 – God knows His people
1 Cor. 8:3 – if you love God, He knows you
Gal. 4:9 – it is not that you know God but that God knows you

9. Encouragement from God
Vss – God offers encouragement in very specific ways
He tells the people to be strong.
Josh. 1:6-9 – God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous because He will be with Him
God is telling the people of Jerusalem the very same thing.

10. Encouragement from God
Matt. 28:20 – we must believe that Jesus is with us to the end of the age
Rom. 8:38-39 – nothing can separate us from the love of God

11. Encouragement from God
God offers His people five specific ways in which he will show them that He is with them.
1. God would deal with them differently from former days
2. The seed (of peace) shall prosper
3. The vine shall give its fruit, the ground will give its increase
4. The heavens with give its dew – for crops
5. The people will possess the land
These things were taken from them as they were cast into captivity, but now God will restore them.

12. Encouragement from God
Vss – What God determines He will do
God had warned Judah over and over again that He would punish them for their disobedience. Judah went through a roller coaster of faithfulness and God tired of this and cast them away. He now tells them that just as He was determined to punish them for disobedience he was now going to bless them.
Why? Simply because He said He would.

13. Encouragement from God
Today God has said that He will bless all mankind though His Son.
Rom. 5:6-11 – We have salvation through Jesus Christ.
Titus 3:4-5 – we are saved not because we have worked righteousness but because of the mercy of God
Eph. 2:8-10 – we are saved by the grace of God – Jesus Christ – not by the works of man
Rom. 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

14. Encouragement from God
Rev. 21:3-7 – God gives us specific words of encouragement
1. Every tear wiped away
No more death
No more sorrow
No more pain
No crying
He who overcomes will inherit and be His son.

15. Encouragement from God
Just as God offered encouragement to Jerusalem in the days of Zechariah, He offers encouragement in the days of (insert your name) through obedience to His Son.