Well now that we come to the book of Haggai and Zechariah, we find them writing in a time period when the 70 years of exile was ending and the people were returning to Jerusalem. What a time to have been alive, right?! Seeing God’s people be able to return to their homeland, the land God promised them surely had to be exciting. And it was! But Haggai and Zechariah wanted to warn them too. They tell the people that God has great things planned, His promises are still true, if the people commit to the Lord and His ways as they return to the land.

Haggai focuses on the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and how it’s important that they do it the right way so that it’s holy and honoring to God. Remember that the temple was where God’s presence would dwell, so it’s important to get it right! That’s what Haggai was communicating. And God cheers the people on through Haggai’s words by saying things like ‘be strong’ and ‘don’t fear, my spirit remains among you.’

And then there’s Zechariah….like any good prophet, Zechariah has all sorts of crazy dreams with crazy images. Things like horsemen and horns and a guy who has a measuring tape and a gold lampstand and olive trees and my favorite, the flying scroll…. but these dreams were like symbols and confirmations to Zechariah and the people of God’s plans for them. And while these dreams spoke of things that would happen Zechariah’s lifetime, they also pointed forward to when Jesus would come both as Messiah and Conquering King. Almost like setting the stage for God’s grand plan that He’s writing throughout history.

This classic episode helps us get excited for Easter where we celebrate Jesus' resurrection! The best news ever is that Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins, and rose to life again. He conquered sin and death and now offers us the victory and hope of eternal life!

Listen to this podcast with your kids and get ready for Easter!

Have you ever played a game of telephone? Where you whisper something to someone and then they whisper that same message to someone else and it goes on and on until you get to the last person and they say the message out loud. It’s usually pretty funny because the last person never gets it right. They say some gibberish that’s totally different from what the first person said.

Well, in some ways, the Bible for thousands of years, was like a game of telephone. They didn’t have it written down like we do today. For thousands of years they just told the next person and they told the next person and they told the next person. Like a game of telephone. So, how do we know that the Bible we have today isn’t some gibberish version of what the first person said? I think that’s a great question to ask. So let’s talk about how we know the Bible can be trusted today.....