Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of studying the Book of Zechariah, which focuses on Jerusalem's destiny and God's fervent love for the city. He explains that every chapter reveals God's plans for Jerusalem, highlighting its role as the center of His eternal throne and the model for the nations. Bickle encourages believers to engage with Jerusalem emotionally, rejoicing in its glory and mourning its struggles, as this city is pivotal in God's unfolding plan for the world. He stresses that understanding Zechariah is crucial for grasping God's heart and intentions for Jerusalem, especially as global tensions rise around it. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper connection to Jerusalem, urging believers to pray for its peace and recognize its importance in God's narrative.

Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. Lord, this glorious book that came from your heart. That you gave your servant, the prophet Zechariah. Jesus, the things that burned on your heart for this city that you call your city, Jerusalem. We ask you let us see what you see and feel what you feel about the prophecies. In the book of Zechariah, and we ask you Holy Spirit to touch us now in Jesus name. Amen. Well, this first session is going to be more conceptual. Meaning we're not going to look at Zechariah, any of the passages in this session, but we're going to lay a foundation of framework. So in the next 11 sessions in this 12 part series, it will make more sense to you as we're looking at the various verses. Paragraph A, the whole book of Zechariah is actually about the book of about the city of Jerusalem. Every single chapter is focused on the destiny, the peril, the journey, the glory of the city of Jerusalem. So somebody asked, why do we care about Jerusalem? I'm asked that question regularly. As folks come and join us and they go, you know, I'm believing God for Revival. I want to be part of the prayer movement. But what's this Israel thing? And even more specific, this Jerusalem thing. Well, Zechariah chapter 8, verse 2 and 3, which I consider to be the keynote passage of the entire book. It's the main truth of the book of Zechariah. The Lord declares, this is Jesus declaring, I am zealous for Zion. Now Zion and Jerusalem are used interchangeably throughout the book. He says, no, I'm not zealous with great zeal. I burn with fervor and desire for this city. He goes on in verse 3 and he brings it up a notch. I not only have deep passion for this city. I'm going to live there forever. Beloved, that's an amazing reality that Jesus is going to live in one city for billions and billions of years. And he picked that city way back in Genesis 1 or pre-Genesis 1. He picked the city and he developed the nations and the whole earth around that city because he knew it would be the place of his eternal throne. So he didn't set up the nations and then pick Jerusalem, but he did it the other way around. He determined where his throne would be, then he set the nations up around that location and all the bodies of water and all the conflicts in the nation, but he picked the city first. He said, father, that's the city of the great king is what he calls it. In Matthew 5 35, that's my city. That's where I want to live. So let's build the rest of the earth around that and all the continents and all the geography. He has great affection and great purpose for the city of Jerusalem. So I asked the Holy Spirit to teach me and I'm encouraging you to use the set take the same prayer. I want to see what you see Holy Spirit. I want to feel what you feel about the city of Jerusalem. I want to see what you see Jesus as I've read through this passage and just basically lived with it these last months this book I stop regularly and say Jesus. What are you thinking? And what were you feeling when you put this in the plan any particular verse because he started with a blank canvas so to speak and he filled in the gaps according to what was in his heart. So I stop and I say let me feel what you were feeling when you decided this for the city of Jerusalem paragraph B B his worldwide government will be will flow out of the city of Jerusalem. He said the city shall be called the throne of the Lord. It's not just that his throne will be in it which it will be but the city itself will be declared by the nations as the throne of the Lord the entire city will be his his governmental complex and Center for the whole Earth all the nations. They will gather together to Jerusalem. Now Jesus went on to say in Matthew 19 verse 28. He said my throne of Glory. I'll put my throne of Glory. I mean, I don't think we can even imagine how glorious the throne of Glory will be but it will be in that city. Paragraph C now we can easily neglect this city. Many people who love Jesus and love the kingdom. They neglect Jerusalem because they don't see how it connects with their personal ministry. They go, you know, my money my relationships my ministry. That's what I'm focused on and that's a good thing to be focused on that. That's that's not negative. But how does it affect how's it connected Jerusalem and they can't see the connect so it doesn't make sense this whole thing about Jerusalem. Well, God raised Jerusalem up to be a witness to the nations of his root of his leadership what he does in Jerusalem reveals his heart. It reveals his relationship. It reveals his sovereignty. It reveals his faithfulness to the world word what he does in that city the land that the geography itself as well as the people. It's a picture. Picture. It's a statement a history of what he's like his patience his kindness with the city his plans of grandeur his faithfulness to follow through his patience with the city is a picture of his heart and his leadership. He put his name on the city. See only city in the earth. He put his name on he attached his glory in a unique way to that city and that people I mean eternally he connected his glory to what happens in that city. So if we care about the glory of God and we do then we care about Jerusalem even though it's new and we don't feel it or we can't see it yet. But what we want to do in this 12 part series here is just let the Lord touch our hearts woo us mark us to be loyal to him and therefore to his purposes in that city. Paragraph D Jerusalem is unique in so many ways. It's a model for the nations. It's a picture of what God will do in the nations meaning what God does in Jerusalem in blessing what he does in Jerusalem in judgment is a picture of what he'll do in the earth in blessing a judgment. I call it. It's just a principle. I that a term. It's not a biblical turn. The concept is biblical. I call it like kind but lesser degree meaning the glory that God puts in Jerusalem lets us know that's what's on his mind to do the earth. So we know he'll put his glory in the cities of the earth. So I studied Jerusalem and the glory in the other cities won't be near to that degree, but we know it will be of the like kind the judgment that he was releases in Jerusalem over the years we know that's the sort of judgment that will be released in the nation. The glory is greater. The judgments greater, but it gives us insight to how God thinks and how he feels and what his heart is like. So when I studied Jerusalem, I mean, I want to do it as an Indian itself, but I also gain insight into my own city and into the nations of the earth what God is capable and what the sort of thing is in his heart to do for the nations both in the positive and in the negative sense of judgment. Let's go to paragraph F Isaiah 66 verse 10 I want to encourage you just to lock into to that verse in a particular way. I mean to make it a familiar verse the Lord says rejoice with Jerusalem all you who love her then he goes on and says mourn with her the Lord says I want you to have both emotions both extremes. I want you to rejoice with her and I want you to mourn with her in other words to rejoice with her don't be critical of the city of Jerusalem. It doesn't mean we can't see it's the faults in the city. That's not what it's saying, but having a critical spirit. Don't be disinterested. Don't be disengaged with what's happening in the city. Because to rejoice with the city we have to be informed and we can't have a kind of a despising critical attitude like you know what I don't care about Jerusalem. It's just you know, it's the other part of the world the Lord says no I don't want you to live disengaged from that city. I don't want you to be disinterested. Now most of you are aware that Jerusalem the the heat around that city is really things are heating up right now. Is it this very day this very week and I believe in the next few weeks and months things could get far more intense the body of Christ should be the most interested of everyone as to what happens in that city because our King tells us rejoice in it. See the good that I'm doing in that city. We see the body of Christ in the city. We say well, it's weak. Well, the body of Christ in many ways is weak all over the earth, but we don't look at it say all how weak it is. We say look how much stronger it is than it was 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. We rejoice with the victories. We're engaged. We're paying attention. But not only do we rejoice we mourn and by understanding her pressures we mourn with her by understanding her failures we mourn with her that's not the same as just criticizing with a mocking spirit like the nation's do when we mourn for her part of that is the intercessory burden where we take time to cry out for that city because we mourn for her now as we rejoice and mourn for this city it postures our heart to gain understanding and to be strengthened so that what Joel chapter 3 verse 14 calls the Valley of Decision the whole earth is being brought into the Valley of Decision the Valley of Decision is actually talking about standing with Jesus for his purposes in the city of Jerusalem now right now you can kind of be disconnected and uninformed and seems like we get away with it but in the days that are coming Jerusalem that city will be like a vortex that will pull in without anybody's permission it will suck us into the battle every single family and every neighborhood of the earth will be drawn into deciding to stand with the Lord or against the Lord for that city now you think how are some you know family in some faraway island going to be brought into this conflict with the city of Jerusalem I don't want to go into it right now but I could spend a few minutes on it politically, economically from the oil, spiritually there's going to be such a conflict around the city every single family in the earth will have to decide they are for God's purpose for that city or they're against it but nobody will be neutral before it's over now that may be a while before it comes to that but already things are heating up and what Isaiah is really saying here he goes if you will rejoice with the city and mourn for the city through our spiritual life just as the years unfold we will be so prepared to stand with Jesus in that city if that great intensity of the value of decision happens in our lifetime but we want to be postured for it we want our children to be postured for it by rejoicing in mourning for that city ahead of time and there's no book except for Isaiah that will give us more insight about the city of Jerusalem it's peril it's glory it's destiny than the book of Zechariah Zechariah and Isaiah stand alone in giving us divine insight on that book like no other books of the Bible do and so we want to study Zechariah because we want to mourn and rejoice for the city because we want our spirit marked we want to be gripped with what God's gripped with and we want to be prepared to stand and make right choices as the battle heats up as the days unfold paragraph G Psalm 87 verse 2 the Lord loves the gates of Zion again we're talking about Jerusalem he loves Satan hates the city or he hates God's purpose for the city is another way of saying it he wants to control the city and he's going to cause there to be a world war around the control of that city well it's not really going to be a world war it's going to be all the nations against Jerusalem I mean it will be a world war but all the nations will be on one side and Jesus and Jerusalem will be on the other side and the body of Christ will be standing with Jesus but not all the church will because most of the church is completely unaware uninformed as to what's going on when they read Zechariah they mostly they don't read it but if they do they would just spiritualize it and make it all symbolic of the church and they would miss the greater glory of the message of that book it's interesting that Jerusalem is mentioned over 800 times in the Bible it's the one city in the Bible that says it will last forever there might be other cities that last really a long time but Jerusalem will last forever that's a commitment from the Lord he makes it a number of times a billion years from now that city will be continuing to prosper in the glory of God paragraph H the battle for Jerusalem the battle for the control of this city is a spiritual political military economic battle for this city the devil's going to be involved in it the body of Christ is going to be involved Islam all the religions of the earth but the devil is leading a battle for the control of that city and he will seduce and trick the nations into believing things that are not true about that city to get them to join his side against the Lord well right now we can already see all the nations beginning to gather against the city of Jerusalem we'll look at Zechariah 12 it says all nations will gather but as all the nations are gathering right now just in the early stages politically and economically in a military way the church needs to be gathering spiritually around that city an intercession and commitment of good works and and love and throwing our life into what Jesus wants to see in that city so as the devil is gathering the nations in the negative sense the Holy Spirit is gathering the body of Christ in the nations in the positive sense Genesis chapter 12 verse 3 we've heard this through the years God says I'll bless those that bless you I'll curse those that curse you the Lord made unique commitments to glorify the city to cleanse the city to protect the city and to bless anyone who blesses that city Jerusalem has a very unique impact on world history. There's no other city like it many nations rise and fall related to their posture and their attitude towards that city I believe the most recent great decline is the nation of England and it was the most loyal nation to the city of Jerusalem at one time and they turned on Jerusalem in a very radical way. I'm talking about God's purpose for Jerusalem and there was a immediate decline of their world Empire and I believe the two are related I believe there's other issues involved, but I believe it's dynamically related as well America's in the balance I have a, I got a little different view Jerusalem doesn't need America Jerusalem has Jesus but America needs Jerusalem meaning America's not going to save Jerusalem, that's never going to happen America doesn't have the power or the ability to save Jerusalem the war's going to be far greater than anything that America could withstand but America and every nation every city of the earth needs loyalty to Jesus related to that city for their own prosperity their own welfare so I want our government to stand for Jerusalem not because Jerusalem's in the balance because we're in the balance nations are weighed in the balance not the city of Jerusalem. It's the other way around but the problem is there's a time delay meaning the Lord lets individuals he lets nations make their choices and he gives them time to reevaluate their choice to undo the choice and make a different one they make the right one he'll give them time and he'll give them every opportunity to change the right choice and he'll go the other way if they make the wrong one he'll give them a chance to make the right one he'll give them time to make the true choice of their heart and in that time delay sometimes we assume well doesn't really matter I guess the Lord's not paying attention he goes oh I'm really paying attention my books are up to date every family every nation on the earth I know where they stand or I know their disinterest and their total disconnect I see it all but the Lord says I will bless those who bless you now I think that the IHOP ministry God gave us a sovereign mandate to stand with Jerusalem again when I mean Jerusalem I mean Jesus' purpose for Jerusalem there's many purposes for Jerusalem I mean God's and when the Lord did that 1983 almost 30 years ago I remember I was very mystified I said what Jerusalem Israel why I remember when Bob Jones spoke to me goes God's going to cause singers and musicians to gather from around the whole world and he's going to do this and do that and do this and do that and he's raising up a prayer movement for the city of Jerusalem around the earth and God's going to use Kansas City not only Kansas City, but he's going to use you I thought how boring that's really what I thought to be honest about singers and musicians he says you're going to Grandview and you're going to sing about Jesus and his revival touching Jerusalem I thought whatever now my mind was uninformed but here here's what I see now Genesis 12 verse 3 I'll bless you in our the very DNA of this prayer movement he put a mandate that would end up blessing us I'm so grateful he could have given us a very different mandate now I can't I didn't like it I didn't understand it took me a while to grow into it but now that I see it a little bit more clearly I go wow there is spiritual financial supernatural blessing in many levels related to this mandate of praying for Jerusalem it's not only praying but it begins there and I can just imagine the Lord smiling saying I did good for you didn't I I gave you a mandate that's going to return blessing on you in an unusual way now anybody can have that mandate I'm just so grateful because I didn't have enough sense to pick it myself but the Lord insisted on it Psalm 122 pray for the peace of Jerusalem may they prosper who love you now it catch this verse 9 because of the house of God I will seek your good there's many points to be made here. I'll just make one or two the Lord says if you'll pray for Jerusalem, I'll prosper you now, this is a promise you know given maybe 3,000 years ago now the Lord knew there would not be peace in the city of Jerusalem and the way that he's has purposed until Jesus returns but for 3,000 years it's like praying thy kingdom come thy will be done while his kingdom will not fully come until the Lord returns but for 2,000 years the church has been praying that prayer and those prayers are being collected in that bowl around the throne thy kingdom come thy will be done all over the earth we're actually praying for the birthing of the age to come yes, there's a breakthrough of the kingdom in this age for sure but we're praying for not only the breakthrough now and even peace now in Jerusalem but there's a bigger answer that's accumulating around the globe as the prayers are going forth but the Lord says even though I may not answer fully that prayer you may not see peace in your lifetime in the city of Jerusalem but you'll be prospered just by engaging in it with me so all the saints for the last near 3,000 years when this psalm was written approximately he says I'll prosper you even if the peace doesn't come in your lifetime why? why do we pray for Jerusalem verse 9 tells us one reason there's a number of reasons but if we get one because Jesus's temple his throne and his worldwide worship center and his own throne will be in that city forever when the Lord returns he's going to build a worship center we call it the temple but it's going to be a global worship center where he will be worshipped and his father will be magnified in the nations under his leadership and it will come out of that city he goes you pray for that city for peace there'll be breakthroughs of peace even now there's a great breakthrough coming but you're prospered nonetheless regardless whatever measure the breakthrough comes you're still prospered because you loved her because the Lord sees this continuity of prayers throughout all of history with that city there meaning the prayers of a thousand years ago the prayers of a hundred years ago the prayers of today they all come together with a continuity in God's heart let's look at page 3 well let's look at just a briefly historical context of Zachariah we'll just look mention Zachariah himself and then a little bit of the storyline so why Zach why the book of Zachariah because it's all about Jerusalem why Jerusalem God's zealous for it he will bless us he will govern or world history itself will be determined by its responses to Jesus related to that city that's not the only issue but it's a major issue that's on God's heart and Zachariah is all about Jerusalem so if I care about Jerusalem I care about Zachariah and I care about the book of Isaiah that's the the other book these two go hand in hand they live probably 200 years apart something like that but they would those guys would really I'd love to I can't wait in the resurrection to see Zachariah Isaiah me and Avner all sit around the table talking about Jerusalem I don't know Hebrew fluently then I hope paragraph a that's a fascinating story by the way the story of not just Zachariah but the house of prayer because the building of the house of prayer or the temple and I'm going to use those words interchangeably because God called the temples the Roman bells temple he called it the house of prayer and Isaiah that was the building of the house of prayer the Zerubbabel's temple he was talking about he called it the house of prayer he said my house will be the house of I mean Jesus affirmed that talking about Zerubbabel's is what I mean paragraph a Zachariah was from a priestly family he's a prophet and a priest so as he's prophesying about the temple and the priestly office he really understands what he's saying at the time of the prophecies he was a young man and that becomes significant we'll look at later he prophesies together with Haggai Haggai I'm assuming is an older man I'm guessing I don't know for sure the angel called him a young man. I'm guessing he's in his 20s when he begins his prophetic ministry his family had returned from the Babylonian exile just a few years earlier he was probably a young boy and he made that four-month trip took him four months walked across the desert. He maybe was five years old six years old. He's a but he was hearing the story of his family members his parents and all the devout that were making that trip. He was hearing the story about the future of Jerusalem. I'm sure he had no idea he'd be a prophet as a young man God calls him as a prophet paragraph B he's eventually martyred in that city right in the temple that he prophesied the rebuilding in the very temple that killed him as a young man he prophesied it and as he became older I'm guessing I'm just just assuming he's probably 50 60 70 some years later his own peers and contemporary leaders they turned on him at the end of his life and they murdered him in the very temple. He prophesied which tells you a whole lot about what happened a few generate. I'm in a few decades later the hostility against the true message of the Lord there are more prophecies messianic prophecies prophecies about Jesus the Messiah and Zechariah than any other book of the by any other Old Testament book besides Isaiah Isaiah is the only one that has more terms of one man being the author there's many in the book of Psalms, but various authors Roman number three Zechariah has five messages you can read that on your own he gives five distinct messages in the book top of page three okay, the storyline Zechariah's message is set in context to Israel's greatest national crisis in the Old Testament in terms of the Old Testament. There was never a crisis that surpassed this one in the nation of Israel's history they were taken as captives to Babylon as slaves to be put in what I would call consider work camps meaning Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian armies took them against their will as prisoners enslaved them in their own nation and they were there for 70 years and it wasn't a pleasant time it's an unprecedented tragedy that they were there on many levels but then suddenly the word of the Lord comes and that tragedy is over that 70 years is over and now they're to go back to Jerusalem and start all over again paragraph B now the dramatic story of returning after 70 years and they're going to rebuild the house of prayer they're going to rebuild the temple because Nebuchadnezzar who's the king was the king of Babylon he completely destroyed Solomon's temple. It was just a heap of rubble Solomon's temple was one of the great wonders of the ancient world it was like the convention center downtown bigger than that and when they took the nation into slavery to Babylon Nebuchadnezzar's armies reduce that to complete ruins and rubble so now 70 years later they come back and all they have is a heap of rubble and rock and debris and weeds and thorns and thistles and the whole city is complete desolation I mean, I can't imagine how despairing the site was when they first returned, but they came back the 700 mile walk approximately four months through the desert or whatever region part of the desert not entirely they come back to their city the city has no economic system has no agricultural system. The fields are not cultivated and producing the livestock that's not working the city infrastructure nothing is working and they're going to have to clear the city but the first mandate is to build a house of prayer to get a place where God is worshipped in that city and where he's honored in the way that's described by Moses in that tabernacle of that temple well the story of their journey and what they went through and the obstacles they faced is a story that applies to the whole kingdom of God in every sphere of the kingdom of God since that time but it has real particular application to the building of the prayer movement before the Lord's return worldwide there are many parallels to building that temple which in essence was a house of prayer was more than a house of prayer, but it was in fact a house of prayer. It's what God called it. It's what Jesus called it paragraph see the drama started when God told Jeremiah a few years ahead of time before they even go into captivity just a couple years ahead of time actually he says you're going to go into Babylon you're going to go as prisoners to Babylon that was not very popular matter of fact. They were so upset with Jeremiah. They threw him in a dungeon. They said this is this is anarchy you're you're on the other guy's team. You're saying they're going to win and he said they are going to win and the leaders of Israel said no, they're not we're going to win God's on our side. He goes now God's going to send you to Babylon to as as in slavery to Babylon against your will but look what he says in Jeremiah 29. This was really bad news the day he gave it but 70 years later. It was good news. But when he gave it they didn't like it. He said you'll be in Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq. Imagine a guy standing up in Jerusalem. You're all going to Iraq for 70 years imagine a guy prophesying that you know, the Iraqis are attacking Jerusalem and a prophet gets up says we're going into slavery for 70 years to Iraq. Thus says the Lord really horrible message, but he said don't worry. God's the God of the big picture. He's got this massive long-term plan. He's working from 70 years will come and go and I will visit you. I love that word visit I'll visit you by the anointing of the Holy Spirit and another in by the favor of God. I will break in and do unusual things and set up a situation to bring you back to Jerusalem to build the house of prayer to build the temple. You will return to this place paragraph D the story is told in three major passages. You have them there. Do you want to see the whole story? And beloved it's our story what I mean our story. I'm talking about the whole body of Christ. It's our story, but in a secondary way the prayer movement occurred in the ends of the earth. It's the story of how God cause people to overcome insurmountable obstacles to build the house of prayer and the biggest obstacle they had to overcome was their spiritual lethargy and passivity. That was the biggest obstacle of all in that day. And that's the biggest obstacle today. The story highlights four leaders who work together Zerubbabel he was the governor everybody says Zerubbabel Okay, good. You got it. If you're new with this you might go who say it again Zerubbabel there you go. He's the governor. He's a man of God. He's the one over the building of the physical building of the temple. Then there's Joshua. He's the high priest. He oversees all the priests in the day-to-day work that goes on in the temple. Then there's Haggai. He's the older prophet. He gives four messages in a very short period of time August to December. He gives four messages and those four messages are very applicable to the prayer movement today. Then Zechariah he's the young prophet throughout the 14 chapters. He gives five messages throughout in terms of that which are recorded in the Word. Now we have to study the four messages of Haggai and the first three messages of Zechariah because they all happen in the same time frame while they're building the house of prayer. Remember Zechariah gave five messages, but the first three and I have all this written down. So you if you can't follow those numbers, that's okay. Do you want to learn them? They're all written down there. Haggai's four messages and Zechariah's first three messages those seven messages are all given while that building the house of prayer is being built. So those seven messages really are applicable to the prayer movement. Every leader, every person in the house of prayer needs to know those seven messages. Be familiar with them. Then in paragraph E, there's two kings Cyrus and Darius. Cyrus is the one that financed them and Darius financed them later. Two Persian kings. So those are the main personalities in the rebuilding of the temple. Top of page four. God told Jeremiah, he says, I'm going to visit you in 70 after 70 years. I'll visit you. What a rich prophetic storyline. There were the prophecies of Isaiah, the prophecies of Jeremiah and Daniel, the Holy Spirit moves Cyrus in the most unusual way. You put them all together and they it's an amazing storyline, which is the storyline that we feed from even seeing the prayer movement in the earth in this generation. First, about 200 years, I'm making the numbers round numbers so that you can kind of remember them. They're not precise. 200 years before Cyrus, the king released the exiles, the Jewish exiles from prison and sent them back home. 200 years before he did that, Isaiah described it ahead of time. Paragraph two, it should be about a hundred years after Isaiah. Jeremiah, then he tells his story. That should be a hundred years. Then number three, about 60 years after Jeremiah, then Daniel, he weighs in. Then number four, the king Cyrus. I just said he gave him millions of dollars. He gave him wealth, tremendous wealth. We're talking about the king of Persia because the king of Persia conquered Babylon. So now he's the head of Babylon. He's really the king of Persia. Modern-day Iran, but he conquered modern-day Iraq. But all the Jewish captives were in modern-day Iraq. Just using those terms just so you can kind of get it more, you can picture the unusual nature of this. So king Cyrus says, not only am I going to free you, I'm going to give you gold and silver and I'm going to help you get there and I'm going to help you, I'm going to help finance the house of prayer when you get back. Can you imagine an Iranian king building the temple in Jerusalem? Well, that's what happened if we're using modern-day terms. Paragraph B, well, 50,000 Jewish exiles. They said, okay. Nobody knows the number but there are, they say, historians, everyone has to guess, but there's some good educated guessing from the Jewish historians as well as the other secular historians. There are about a million Jewish people now living in Babylon, some number like that. I know it's a large number. And 50,000 of them said we're going back. The others said, well, since we're set free anyway, king Cyrus has liberated us. Why don't we just stay here and live here? Why go all the way back to a desolate city that has no agriculture, has no, you know, the livestock isn't up, you know, the water systems aren't good, the economic systems aren't, why don't we just stay here and continue on? About a million of them did that, the Jews in Babylon. They said, we'll just stay here. Again, we don't know the actual number, but it's a vast number. 50,000 said we love God and we're going all the way. The prophets have prophesied it. Isaiah said it, Jeremiah said it, Daniel said it. God moved on Cyrus in a supernatural way. God told Cyrus that we should do it. He told him to fund us. We're going for it. I mean, these were men and women of faith, men and women of conviction. So they said we're going. Here's the point. The 50,000 that went and the million or whatever the numbers had stayed are two very different types of people. But the 50,000, they were the fiery ones. They were the prophetic believers. They were the ones that said, we're going to build the prayer movement in our generation. The reason I'm telling you that, because many of you can relate to that. But in about two years, those 50,000 became so discouraged, they gave up and quit. They went all of that way with that great dream in their heart, and once they got back, the obstacles were so intense, they quit. I can imagine. I'm just guessing. You know, Zechariah was probably five years old, something like that. We don't know. Comes back with his parents, because now he's in maybe mid-twenties. Again, I'm just guessing because they call him a young man. He was probably in his mid-fifties if he was called a young man. But anyway, thank you. Thank you. But Zechariah can imagine, Mom, Dad, what are we doing? We're going to Jerusalem. What's Jerusalem? Well, that's back where Grandpa and Grandma used to live. We're leaving Babylon. We're going all the way back. Okay, why? Because the God of Israel, we're going to worship him, and we're going to give ourselves to him. Okay? Five-month walk, four-month walk. Mom, are we almost there? In a few months, we'll be there, son. I'm tired. I'm thirsty. What's in Jerusalem? What is Jerusalem? It's where Grandma and Grandpa used to live. Okay, what's? Is it? It's the glory of God. We'll be there. Okay, okay, good. So now, Zechariah, again, I'm just kind of throwing in the time frame just to kind of make it, to humanize it. Five, six, seven, eight years old, maybe. He gets there and like, oh, the city is a heap of rubble, ruins. Everybody's working hard. They go back about a year or two. That's all they make it. They all quit. So now, Zechariah is 15, 20 years old. Hey, Dad, why did we come back here anyway? Well, we were going to build the temple and we kind of got sidetracked. It's been 16-year delay. Where they gave up. I mean, the prophetic people that sold out everything, incredible sacrifice. When they finally got there, they gave up. Beloved, it is the story, isn't it? It's just how the people, it's how we are, besides the grace of God. Well, God didn't visit Zechariah. Again, maybe he's his mid-twenties. I'm just guessing. The Spirit begins to move on him. Thus says the Lord, I want to build this house again. So after a 16-year delay, Haggai and Zechariah, they got together and began to prophesy over the leaders and said, God's going to give you a new beginning, if you will. Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor, they said, Hey, we're in. We came back to do this. Are you sure it's been 16 years? How did it become 16 years? You know, because I'm sure they were just waiting one year at a time. And they were always going to start next year. I just guessed that. One year turns to five, five turns to ten. And God raises up two prophets and these two prophets go and they stir up the nation and they now begin to build the house of prayer. And God gives Zechariah a whole bunch of visions to encourage them to build the house of prayer. Amen. We're going to end with that. Now, we're going to take a break. We're going to come back and start with the visions that Zechariah had to help encourage them to build the temple, to build the city, to build a place where God would be worshipped day and night. Amen. We're going to take a 15-minute break. We're going to put that on the countdown up there. Then Misty's going to come out and sing right after that. And then we'll go right to Zechariah 1.