A Call to Repentance

Zechariah 1:1-6

I remember the first time I was asked to preach. As a natural introvert, the thought of standing before a congregation was daunting. Still, I reluctantly said yes and spent an entire month preparing my sermon. On the day I was to preach, I walked up to the platform, tripped, and spilled my notes all over the floor—only then realizing I had forgotten to number the pages. After frantically arranging them into what I hoped was the right order, I finally began. I spoke for an hour on the first two chapters of Genesis. When I finished, a collective sigh of relief rose from the congregation—and from me.

I swore I would never preach again. But two weeks later, the church asked me to speak once more. I’m convinced they asked out of desperation because the regularly scheduled speaker was unavailable. At least that time, I managed not to trip on my way to the pulpit. Still, as the sermon wrapped up, I could almost hear the same sigh of relief drifting across the room.

More than twenty years have passed since then. I’ve preached hundreds of sermons, but even now, there are moments when delivering the message God has placed on my heart feels heavy, difficult, burdensome—especially when it cuts close to the heart. Every pastor knows that moment when a listener says, “You went from preaching to meddling today.”

There are certain prophets in Scripture whose courage I deeply admire—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist, Paul, and, of course, Jesus. Their prophetic or preaching assignments were never easy. It is one thing to preach when the message pleases the ear. It is quite another—and often dangerous—when the prophet must call the people to repentance, as Elijah did to Ahab and the northern kingdom of Israel, or John the Baptist to Herod.

Zechariah is one of the most popular names in the Old Testament, attributed to some two dozen individuals. The name Zechariah means “Yahweh Remembers.” God was about to remember His people by asking the prophet to deliver a series of messages, or sermons, to the people. But Zechariah was also from a priestly family. This is why the prophet addresses issues surrounding the worship of the Lord, and partially explains the great attention the prophet often gives to matters concerning the priesthood.

Zechariah’s first message was one of those difficult sermons. It was not comforting, popular, or easy to deliver. God called him to confront the people with a clear call to repentance. Just before Zechariah began preaching and teaching, Haggai began to prophesy. Both started during the second year of Darius the Great, king of Persia:

“In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, ‘The LORD has been very angry with your fathers.’”
—Zechariah 1:1–2

“In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ‘Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, ‘The time has not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.’’”
–Haggai 1:1, 2

Both prophets had difficult messages. Haggai’s message was that it was time to start doing what God had asked them to do.

When Haggai and Zechariah stood before the people, sixteen years had passed since Judah’s return from Babylon. Haggai had already rebuked the people for allowing their priorities to shift away from obedience to God. The Lord had commanded them to rebuild the temple, yet instead of investing in God’s house, they invested in civic buildings and luxurious homes of Jerusalem’s governmental leaders. Through Haggai, God declared His displeasure because the people had placed their own interests above His.

Now Zechariah took the pulpit with a sobering reminder: “God has been very angry with your fathers.” (Zechariah 1:2). Perhaps he echoed the timeless words of 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14:

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain,
or command the locusts to devour the land,
or send pestilence among My people,
if My people who are called by My name
will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”[1]

Haggai had already delivered a similar warning:

“Consider your ways!
You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough…
he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
—Haggai 1:5–7

It was an unmistakable indictment of Judah and Jerusalem for failing to do what God required.

The people returning from Babylon knew their history well. They were aware God had sent prophet after prophet, urging their ancestors to abandon idolatry and return to Him. They knew their ancestors refused, and judgment by God followed. Both Haggai and Zechariah could see the proverbial handwriting on the wall. Ezra and Nehemiah would echo the same message nearly 60 years later. Yes, the people understood the warnings given through Isaiah and Jeremiah, and they knew that if the people repeated the sins of the past, God could permit them to yet again fall under foreign domination.

While Haggai called the people back to the work God had assigned, Zechariah’s opening message called them back to God Himself—a direct and urgent appeal to repentance. The prophet was about to speak in ways that would feel deeply personal, leaving the people extremely uncomfortable. But it was also a message designed to get the attention of Zerubbabel, the Governor, and Joshua, the High Priest. God’s messages are not always easy to hear, but they always flow from His desire to restore, bless, and shape His people for good.

Because the people were repeating the failures of earlier generations, God gave Zechariah a clear message:

“’Return to Me,’ declares the LORD of hosts,
‘and I will return to you.’”
—Zechariah 1:3

The phrase “LORD of hosts” appears twice in this short verse, emphasizing the seriousness of God’s call. When you think of the word “return,” what comes to mind? This isn’t a minor course correction but a complete reversal—a 180-degree movement away from disobedience and back toward God. The Lord promises that as the people turn toward Him, He will meet them where they are and draw near again.

It isn’t that God had abandoned them; instead, their actions had placed them outside the flow of His blessings and protection. Yet if they would turn back, God was ready to restore them and bestow the blessings He was eager to give.

The next logical question is, “What is the first step in returning to God?” Zechariah does not spell it out directly here, but the words of James, the brother of Jesus, offer a fitting parallel:

“Submit to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands… purify your hearts…
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and He will lift you up.”
—James 4:7–10

We draw near to God when we turn around, confess our sins, and humbly come before Him. When we do, God promises to draw near and comfort us.

This is why Zechariah asks the piercing question:

“Your fathers—where are they?
And the prophets—do they live forever?”
—Zechariah 1:5

Their fathers were dead, slain by the Babylonians. The prophets were dead as well—some killed by the very people they tried to warn. But God’s word does not die. It always accomplishes its purpose. Eventually, His word “catches up” with the rebellious, as it did before Zechariah’s time when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. As it was during Zechariah’s time, it is within our time. God is asking us to stop, turn around, repent, and start walking with God. For as it was with Judah of old, once God’s longsuffering reaches its limits, His living word brings judgment.

Zechariah’s appeal was clear: Do not repeat your father’s mistakes. Turn around. Walk back toward Me, and I will meet you where you are.

Unless our hearts are right with God, we cannot hear His Word with spiritual understanding. This is why Hebrews reminds us:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
—Hebrews 3:7

It is one thing to ask God for blessings; it is another to become the kind of people God can bless.

We saw this in the days of Habakkuk. The nation repented superficially during Josiah’s reforms, but because their hearts never fully turned to God, judgment eventually came through Babylon. And Babylon, in turn, received its judgment from Persia. Repentance that lasts only until the crisis passes is not repentance at all. God is looking for a deep, heartfelt repentance that allows him to change us from the inside out. He is asking us to allow Him to walk with us, live inside us, and change us into His image so we can love others as God the Father loves us.

This is why the people finally admitted:

“Just as the LORD… determined to do to us,
according to our ways and according to our deeds,
so He has dealt with us.”
—Zechariah 1:6

They acknowledged that God’s discipline had been just. The question now was whether they would finally turn and remain faithful. Haggai urged them to get to work on God’s house. Zechariah urged them to get their hearts right with God. One prophet called for obedience; the other called for repentance. Together, they remind us that doing God’s work begins with returning to God Himself and establishing a relationship with God.

A Call to Repentance

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