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Zechariah & Thomas: Behind the Music
Fri., Mar. 4. 2016 12:58pm EST
Our latest single features parodies about two underrated men of God, Zechariah and Thomas. Here are the stories behind the songs:
Many people know that the last book of the Old Testament is Malachi, but they sometimes get lost in a haze trying to remember the books right before that. "Haze" is a good way to remember those books, because there are two HA-ZEs right before Malachi -- HA-bakkuk, ZE-phaniah; and HA-ggai, ZE-chariah.
Zechariah is the penultimate prophet in the Old Testament — next to last in order of books and chronology. He prophesied at the same time as Haggai (Ezra 5:1, 6:14), but scholars believe Zechariah was probably the younger of the two. However, his book is tied with Hosea for the most chapters (14) of the 12 minor prophets and also has the most prophecies about the Messiah and the end times.
Some people might get Zechariah mixed up with Zacharias, John the Baptist's father. Both were priests and both did speak prophetically, but Zechariah lived about 500 years before Zacharias ... who lived about 2000 years before Ravi Zacharias, a noted apologist whom we greatly respect. :)
And then there's the Apostle Thomas. Isn't it amazing how we still refer to him as "Doubting Thomas," even though he had been ready to die for Jesus earlier, when hostilities were rising against Him in Jerusalem, before Passion Week (John 11:8-16)?
Yes, Thomas did doubt that Jesus was resurrected until he saw Him with his own eyes (John 20:24-29). But after that, his doubting was done. And Thomas wasn't the only Apostle to doubt Christ's resurrection (Matthew 28:17, Mark 16:13, Luke 24:11).
From what we understand from historical sources, Thomas went on to become a great missionary for the early church (in Babylon and, most notably, India) before finally being martyred. In fact, in his book "The Search for the Twelve Apostles," Dr. William Steuart McBirnie says, "it may be said that we really know more about St. Thomas than we do about almost any other apostle, with the exception of John and Peter."
Nevertheless, hundreds of millions still know him best as "Doubting Thomas." Imagine you unintentionally belched at a prayer meeting and were rechristened "Belching Bob" or fell asleep during a sermon and were forever known as "Sleeping Judy"! Come to think of it, there was a guy who did that ("Sleeping Euty"). But that's for another song.
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