Welcome to Bible study online! Zechariah is a terrific book to study, especially as we see the Day of the LORD approaching. I like to think of it as the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament”, because it contains so many parallels with the New Testament book of Revelation. There are plenty of Scriptures to look up, so grab your Bible, and thanks for joining us!
ZECHARIAH LESSON FIFTEEN
The final two chapters of Zechariah seem to me to present something akin to a series of snapshots of end time events. Suppose you went on vacation and took pictures of all the things that you did. After getting the film developed (if you are a dinosaur like me who still uses the film-type camera!), you lay all the pictures out on a table. They are not in chronological order, of course, but each one clearly shows something that you did while on vacation. I think these final two chapters are something like that. They show individual events that will occur during the Day of the LORD, but they are not necessarily in chronological order.
THE END OF IDOLATRY
Verse 1 says,
“In that day, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”
A fountain is a wonderful thing, and there are precious few of them in this world. A fountain is not like a cistern, a pool, or a lake. It doesn’t just hold water that is hopefully drinkable; it actually brings forth fresh water from beneath the earth. It is not stagnant, dirty, bug-infested, mossy, etc., but is pure water. This verse says that a fountain is going to be opened up especially for the Jewish people and this fountain is going to be for sin and uncleanness. What exactly is this fountain? Jeremiah 2:13 says,
“My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
Jeremiah 17:13 also says,
“O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.”
So we see from these verses that the Lord is Himself the Fountain of Living Waters. So, what is the implication that the fountain is going to be for sin and uncleanness? Water is used not only for drinking, but also for cleansing. Hebrews 9:22 says,
“And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission (of sin).”
How is sin to be cleansed? Can washing with water in an ordinary fountain get the job done? No, of course not. The Bible makes it plain that sin can only be atoned by blood—meaning death. That is why sacrifices were offered from the very beginning of man. But these animal sacrifices were never more than symbolic sacrifices, because we learn in Genesis 22 that God Himself was planning to provide the required sacrifice.
Genesis 22 tells us of the testing of Abraham when God commanded him to go to Mount Moriah and there offer Isaac his son as an offering. Abraham demonstrated his faith by obeying the Lord’s command, but just as he was about to kill his son Isaac, the Lord intervened and showed him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. This substitute became the sacrifice and Isaac walked home with Abraham. However, on the way up the mountain, Isaac had asked Abraham what they were going to use for a sacrifice, whereupon, Abraham made a very important statement:
“My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:8)
If God is the Fountain that cleanses from sin and sin is only cleansed by blood, it is the blood of God Himself that we are seeing in this first verse of Zechariah 13. The unbelief that has characterized Israel for all these centuries will finally become faith and they will see the sacrifice of Messiah for their sin.
As a result of their newfound faith, idolatry will disappear from the land along with false prophets and unclean spirits. Verse 2 says,
“It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.”
On the face of it, we may look at Israel, and all western nations, as a matter of fact, and think that they do not participate in any kind of idolatry. But an idol is anything that you trust in for life other than God. It looks to me like the biggest thing that we trust in for life is ourselves, followed closely by money, government, jobs, the economy, 401K’s, unions, etc. While God does expect us to work and use our earnings to provide for ourselves and our families, He is the One who gives us the ability to work. Isn’t it sad that when we are in some sort of distress we pray, but when God solves our problems, we often forget to thank Him for it? Concerning Israel, haven’t we heard them express the determination not to allow another holocaust to occur, but they never seem to voice any faith that God will preserve them no matter what? That will change when they see their Messiah and the fountain is opened for them.
Verse 2 also says that prophets will disappear from Israel along with idols. Most translations insert the word “false” in front of prophets, indicating that only false prophets will disappear from the land. I have a little different view of this, however. Since Jesus will return and sit on His throne in Jerusalem, ruling over all the world, there will be no need for prophets. A prophet is merely one who speaks for God, and with Jesus here in person, He will speak directly to the people for Himself. There will be no need for any prophets. I Corinthians 13:9-10 says,
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.”
Jeremiah 31 speaks of the new covenant, of which we as believers now partake, but which will come to Israel when the fountain is opened. Concerning this coming covenant, Jeremiah 31:34 says,
“No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”
So there will be no more spokesmen for God, because God will speak for Himself directly to every man!
Verse 2 also says that the unclean spirit will depart from the land. The word for “spirit” here is “ruach” and it means “wind, breath, mind.” The word for “unclean” means either ritually or morally impure. I think that the term “unclean spirit”, therefore, could mean the demonic beings or it could mean any sort of impure way of thinking. When the uncleanness of man’s ways and thinking have left the land, then the land itself will be healed. Isaiah 65:25 says,
“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.
And likewise, Romans 8:19 – 22 says,
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. . . because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. . .”
So we see that the land, the earth itself, will be delivered along with the people of God in the Day of the LORD! Environmentalism will never deliver the earth from its bondage, but the coming Messiah will do so!
THE FALSE PROPHETS
Anyone who continues to claim to speak for God during the Day of the LORD will be considered a false prophet, because the Lord will be speaking for Himself from Jerusalem. You can’t upstage Jesus, so it will be time for prophets, teachers, and preachers to look for other work. Verses 3-6 deal with this reality, but it appears on the face of it, that it may be a problem that will have to be handled decisively. Verse 3 says that if a person continues to prophesy during the Day of the LORD, his own parents will kill him because he has spoken lies in the name of the LORD. Jesus warned when He was here on earth that faith in Him would cause division among even the closest families. Faith, unfortunately, is not always passed on from parent to child, but the loyalty of believers must far exceed family love or loyalty.
Verse 4 says that prophets will no longer be prophesying. The hairy garment mentioned is a cloak that characterized prophets. II Kings 1:8 talks about Elijah’s mantle, and Matthew 3:4 mentions the distinguishing clothing of John the Baptist. Although Elijah and John were true and faithful prophets, there were always those who were in it just for their own gain. Verse 4 makes it plain that there will be no more deception in the land.
QUESTION: How many people have claimed to speak for God, but have actually been practicing deception? How many have claimed to work miracles, but have really just been flim-flammers? How many have taken the Word of God, but have turned it on its ear to mean whatever suited the speaker? How many have tried to use the Bible to tickle people’s itching ears and get a following, rather than using it to expose sin and bring in repentance and true faith?
Verse 6 describes the calling of false prophets to account for their sin by exposing the evidence of their deceit. The wounds between the arms refer to ritual cutting that was done on the chest and back of false prophets in an effort to get pagan deities to respond. This is mentioned in I Kings 18:28 when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. The resulting scars would be irrefutable evidence of their deceitful practices because God never called His prophets to engage in such behavior.
QUESTION: What evidence is there today that will be presented in evaluating the work of prophets, teachers, and preachers? Will they be confronted with their many books, sermons on tape, video lessons, internet sessions, etc. and asked, “Did you teach the truth, or were you in it for your own gain?” Are they building on Jesus Christ and His Cross, or something else?
THE SHEPHERD
We have seen a snapshot of the Fountain, and the land without idols, and the judgment of the prophets. Now, we learn a little more about the coming Messiah. Verse 7 says,
“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.”
This verse is a clear prophecy that the coming Messiah will be fully human (the Man), but also completely divine. The word translated “Companion” is “amiyth” and it means “associate, kindred.” -- in other words, God’s close kin. It also says that this coming One will be struck down and that God is the One calling for this to happen—remember that Abraham said that God would provide for Himself the sacrifice. After Jesus was struck down, Israel was eventually scattered by the Romans and the Lord’s hand was against them for a very long time. But the good news is that His hand will not be against them forever. In the Day of the LORD, He will again be for Israel, and His new covenant will be established with them.
THE REMNANT
Verse 8 says,
“And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the LORD, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it.”
I believe that this verse is a snapshot that describes what is called “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble” in Jeremiah 30 and “the Great Tribulation” in Revelation. Daniel 12:1 describes it,
“And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.”
In speaking to His people in Matthew 24:21-22, Jesus said,
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened.”
I think these verses are saying that a time—the Time of Jacob’s Trouble—is coming during which two-thirds of the Jewish people will die. One-third will survive as a remnant. Ezekiel 5 also describes a judgment of the people of Israel in which only one-third survive, but this, I believe, referred to the Babylonian siege/exile.
PURIFIED
Verse 9, the concluding verse of this chapter, is one of ultimate satisfaction. Terrible things have happened, but they were unfortunately necessary to achieve the glorious end described here.
“I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”
When the refiner starts his work, he puts a chunk of ore into the fire. The dross melts off and the pure gold/silver is left. As I understand it, silver is put into the fire seven times before it is pure, and the time of Jacob’s trouble will last seven years, according to Daniel and Revelation. Two-thirds of the people will be dross, but one-third will be pure. Revelation 7 says that during the Great Tribulation, 144,000 (12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel) will be sealed with the seal of God because they are His servants. I think that these are the leaders who will lead the one-third remnant during these dark days for Israel. They will call to the Lord and He will answer them during that time. Today, very few Jews call on the LORD, and even fewer have believed in the Messiah, but in that day, they will. The new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31 will be established, and the Lord will accept them as His people. They will answer, “The LORD is our God,” and finally—it will be the real truth! He will forever and truly be their only God. Amen, and amen.
Thanks for following along. The book of Zechariah ends with an awesome finale and our final lesson next week will cover the end of this Age and the coming in of the next Age.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
ZECHARIAH LESSON FOURTEEN
Welcome to Bible study online! Zechariah is a terrific book to study, especially as we see the Day of the LORD approaching. I like to think of it as the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament”, because it contains so many parallels with the New Testament book of Revelation. There are plenty of Scriptures to look up, so grab your Bible, and thanks for joining us!
ZECHARIAH LESSON FOURTEEN
Let’s take a moment to recap the last couple of weeks study. Beginning in chapter 9, a new division of the book of Zechariah was introduced. This division foretells the future of Israel in regard to the coming Messiah. Chapter 9 outlined the conquest of Alexander the Great and prophesied that Jerusalem would be spared by him. The Coming King was introduced and it was prophesied that He would be lowly, riding on a donkey, signifying peace, but it was also prophesied that He would have dominion over the earth. Thus, a two-pronged message regarding Messiah was presented, and this is being fulfilled in two manifestations. Chapter 9 also hinted at the Maccabbean Revolt/Hasmonean Dynasty that was to follow the Greek rule. Chapter 10 decried the shepherds of Israel who had dealt in lies and self-promotion, but again predicted that a King was coming and that Israel would be strengthened. A future scattering and re-gathering was also predicted. Chapter 11 foretold the future desolation of Israel, due to their rejection of the Good Shepherd, and it prophesied the judgment of the worthless shepherd.
THE DAY OF THE LORD
The final three chapters of Zechariah deal with what the Bible calls “the Day of the LORD.” Although we won’t see that exact terminology until chapter 13, we will see the phrase “in that day” repeated over and over in chapter 12, and that phrase is referring to “the Day of the LORD.” What is meant by “the Day of the LORD”? If “this is the day that the Lord has made,” why is today not now “the Day of the LORD”? To understand why this is not “the Day of the LORD,” we have to go all the way back to Genesis. In Genesis 1:28b, after God had created all the earth and man, God said to man, “fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” In the beginning, man had dominion over the earth and everything on it, except himself. He was to submit himself to God as his authority; it was not intended that man rule himself. This happiness did not last very long, as we know, because the devil came along in the guise of a serpent, and persuaded Adam and Eve to do the one thing that God had forbidden them. When they turned to the devil instead of God, an unholy relationship was formed and the devil became known as Satan—the accuser. At that point, control of the earth was ceded to Satan by man through disobedience and he became the “prince of the power of the air.” (See John 12:31-32; 16:11; 14:30 and Ephesians 2:2) In order to oust Satan as the world’s ruler and reinstate man in his intended place, the problem of sin—rebellion against God—had to be corrected. Sin could only be defeated by a Man living a sinless life before God on earth; this is just what Jesus did. Having defeated sin, He was qualified to carry the sin guilt Himself and atone for it through sacrificing His own life, and this is also what He did. His resurrection from death is the proof that God was completely satisfied, both with His sinless life and His offering of Himself for the sins of mankind. Thus, the ruler of this world was defeated at the cross. In Matthew 28:18, immediately before His ascension, Jesus said, “All power has been given to Me in heaven and in earth.” He had won back man’s place of dominion upon the earth and the power of Satan was destroyed. So, why does evil still thrive on the earth today? Revelation gives us the key to understanding that question. In Revelation 5, we see a scroll sealed up with seven seals, and there is no one worthy to open it, except Jesus. Now the scroll, I believe, is like the title deed to the earth, and only Jesus can open it because only He lived that perfectly sinless life. He takes the scroll and starts breaking open seals, and all sorts of cataclysmic things start happening on earth. After the seals, there are angels that sound seven trumpets, sort of like a king’s herald, and more terrible things happen on the earth. After the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11:15b-18 says this:
“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Notice the phrase, “You have taken Your great power and reigned.” Although Jesus has overcome and the power is His, He is still at this moment, I believe, holding a sealed title deed. He has not yet begun His official reign. He is waiting until the time is right, and then He will begin His reign. That day, I believe, will mark the beginning of the Day of the LORD. It will not be a single day, but an era of 1,000 years. But for now, He requires us to persevere in our faith, knowing that He has triumphed and that His kingdom is coming.
Forgive me for laboring long in my explanation of the “Day of the LORD”, but it is the main theme of the final three chapters. Chapter 12, we will find, represents a kind of overview of the events of that era, and the final two chapters will fill in quite a few details for us. Verse 1 says,
“The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel, ‘Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heaven, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,’”
First, we see that this is a prophetic burden, or judgment, against Israel. One of the biggest details that we will see throughout these final chapters is that the Day of the LORD will be bittersweet for Israel; although God is for Israel and will deliver her in a mighty way, Israel will grieve and mourn in that day. This seems like a contradiction, but we will see the why of it at the end of this chapter. God identifies Himself in verse 1 in three ways. He says that He stretches out heaven—notice the present tense verb. I find this statement fascinating in light of the expanding universe theory that propounds that the universe is expanding somewhat like a balloon, and here God plainly says that He is stretching out the heaven. How much more might scientists know if they just paid credence to the Bible? God is also identified as the One who lays the foundations of the earth. All of the scientific laws of matter and energy He has put into place and continues to maintain moment by moment. He has formed the earth especially to support carbon-based life and we have never found any credible evidence that there is any other planet so designed. Why did He do this? The third description says that He forms the spirit of man within him. I think that man was the real purpose of His creation. So what is the purpose of man?
1. God is creating a kingdom for His Son (Daniel 7:14)
2. God demonstrates His character in sending a Redeemer (Romans 5:8)
3. Man is given a choice, while on earth, regarding serving God or serving self (II Corinthians 5:20). Adam was created innocent (sinless), but innocence is not a virtue. Virtue is obtained through testing. The triumph of Jesus in His testing opens the door for all who believe in Him to turn back to God from self. We are here on earth to make that choice.
4. We are here to work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). This does not mean work in order to be saved, but to advance in our faith because we are saved. Testing brings growth and maturity because it is God’s intention to bring many sons and daughters to glory. (Hebrews 2:10) The term “son” does not denote “child”, but rather a mature person.
Verses 2-3 sound a special warning that many today ought to heed:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”
This is describing a future event because the Roman siege in AD 70 against Jerusalem was successful. A cup of drunkenness indicates that those besieging Jerusalem are going to be in a stupor, unable to control themselves or their activities. Notice this siege especially seems to involve Israel’s surrounding neighbors—those very neighbors who today say they want to sweep Israel away into the sea. This verse is the strongest possible warning to them to keep away and change their attitude. Whoever touches Jerusalem will be smashed to pieces—God will finally take up His great power, in that day, and begin to reign and these people who have resisted Him and hated His people will be destroyed—even if it has to include every nation on earth.
I think that these verses are describing the end time battles of Ezekiel 38-39 and the battle of Armageddon in Revelation. I do think that they are two separate battles because the groups of nations involved are different. In reading the headlines of today, I believe that Ezekiel 38-39 is being set up right down to the last detail. The main player in this battle is Russia, together with Iran, Libya, Turkey, Syria, Sudan, and a few others. If you look at what is happening in Russia, the drive for national glory has been resurrected under the leadership of Vladimir Putin out of the ashes of their failed attempt at democracy, and they are generously supplying all these terrorist-loving, Israel-hating neighbors with all the arms and missiles they can afford. In return, these nations are allowing Russia to build military bases and establish their presence on their land. Though I certainly don’t attempt to predict any particular details outside of those specifically given by the Bible, it would seem likely that Russia will have to make a move to unite this coalition in an attack against Israel before Ahmadinajad, the present leader of Iran, decides to launch a nuclear missile—and I do think that he will. Crazy dictators can almost always be trusted to do just exactly what they say they will regardless of the consequences. Saddam Hussein is the most recent example, who ordered his air force to drop all their chemical and biological weapons on Israel, even though the Israeli air force would shoot down most of the incoming planes over Syria and Lebanon. The planning for this attack was aborted when the United States invaded Iraq and all WMD’s had to be hidden in Syria. (This is detailed in Joel Rosenberg’s book, Epicenter—a must read.)
What will happen in the end times when these invaders come against the Lord’s beloved Jerusalem? Verse 4 says,
“In that day, I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.”
In the Bible, horses symbolize warfare. During times of peace, kings rode on donkeys, and they reserved horses for war. Solomon had many horses and chariots (II Chronicles 9:25) and Proverbs 21:31, as well as Psalm 33:17, indicates the importance of horses in warfare. While this end time battle may indeed use horses, I think that the term “horse” would apply to any type of war machinery. Striking the attackers’ horses with blindness would indicate a great confusion and lack of control. Also, the men of the attacking armies will be stricken with madness. This battle in Ezekiel is described as an end time battle and the result is a total wipeout for the attackers. God literally, supernaturally wipes the floor with them in such a spectacular way that the whole world will know that He has done it. The result, however, I believe, will be that the Antichrist, who comes from the resurrected Roman Empire (the European Union), according to the prophet Daniel, will immediately see his chance to push European dominance all the way to Iraq and possibly further east. Thus, the battle of Armageddon, when the real Christ returns, will involve European armies and armies from eastern Asia (probably China and India). God wipes the floor with them, too!
Verses 5 and 6 have special significance for the Prime Minister of Israel and his advisers today.
“And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.”
The governors of Judah will acknowledge the Lord’s ability to deliver His people. A firepan was used to carry hot coals in order to start a fire quickly. A torch could set an entire field afire very quickly. Judah’s governors will no longer have to go around getting the world’s permission to defend their people. They won’t be obliged to trust in “allies” because they will be trusting in Jehovah Sabaoth—the ruler of all the armies of heaven and earth. They will be seen as the “movers and shakers”, not as those dependent on the good graces of other nations. The result will be that Jerusalem will be established as the capital of the Final Kingdom.
Verse 7 indicates that God intends to save Judah, the surrounding district of Jerusalem, first, so that the Davidic line and the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem will not exalt themselves. Isn’t it human nature to want to consider ourselves better than others. I think that city dwellers, and those born into affluence and power, and the well-educated sometimes tend even more to look down on the lowly “country bumpkins.” God will nip this tendency in the bud by saving Judah first because pride is unbecoming. Humility and faith will characterize the future Jerusalem. In Matthew 19:30, Jesus said, “The last will be first…”
Verses 8-9 say,
“In that day, the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God; like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
Does it seem impossible that the weakest in Israel will one day be as strong as David, the warrior king? Does it seem impossible that the line of David will be given the strength of the Lord? Remember the feats of Samson, who was energized by the Spirit of God, and of Elijah, who in the strength of God could outrun King Ahab’s chariot. The modern thinking of today has studied the laws of science, but has foolishly imprisoned itself in those laws, failing utterly to realize that the One who lays the foundations of the earth (its physical laws) can intervene at any time and in any way He deems appropriate.
Verse 9 ends with a warning to any nation that comes against Jerusalem. This lesson is so timely for this week because Prime Minister Netanyahu has just come over for a visit with our President to discuss the present critical situation in the Middle East. Far from getting the support that he wished for in dealing with the Iranian threat, there is a report circulating that President Obama, at a meeting in Cairo next month, will declare that it is time to divide Jerusalem and create a Palestinian state. This puts the United States on the wrong side of this warning. Jerusalem is absolutely off limits to any meddling on our part, and I am afraid that if this report proves true, we will pay the price for failing to support Israel.
So far, it seems like a pretty sweet deal for Israel, so where was the bitter part that we talked about in verse 1? Verses 10-11 say,
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.”
Pouring the Spirit of grace and supplication indicates a lavish abundance of both grace and repentance. In John 16:8-11, Jesus said, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” When the Holy Spirit finally has His way with them, they will see Jesus for Who He really is. The veil spoken of in II Corinthians 3:14-18 will be torn away and their hardness (Romans 11:25) will be gone. A flood of grief and mourning will result, indicative of true repentance. They will realize that for 2,000 years they rejected their true King. Incidentally, the reference to the mourning in the plain of Megiddo probably refers to the death of King Josiah. He was the last of the good kings of Judah, and he was killed by Pharoah Neco as recorded in II Chronicles 35:20-25.
Verses 12-14 describe the mourning and lamentation that will occur when the people of Israel see their Messiah. It is all done at one time, but it is a very personal sort of grief. Each tribe and family will grieve alone, and each husband and wife will grieve alone. Salvation is a personal experience. Although all Israel will be saved in one day at that time, it will be individual experiences for each. Salvation is always this way—many may be saved in one day, but it happens individually, person by person.
I hope this lesson will motivate all of us to pray for Israel’s peace, but also to pray for our President. There is still time for him to change his mind and respect the true will of the God of Jerusalem and Israel. Let’s pray that he will see truth.
Thanks for following along. There will be two more lessons in Zechariah, and the next one is scheduled to post in one week.
ZECHARIAH LESSON FOURTEEN
Let’s take a moment to recap the last couple of weeks study. Beginning in chapter 9, a new division of the book of Zechariah was introduced. This division foretells the future of Israel in regard to the coming Messiah. Chapter 9 outlined the conquest of Alexander the Great and prophesied that Jerusalem would be spared by him. The Coming King was introduced and it was prophesied that He would be lowly, riding on a donkey, signifying peace, but it was also prophesied that He would have dominion over the earth. Thus, a two-pronged message regarding Messiah was presented, and this is being fulfilled in two manifestations. Chapter 9 also hinted at the Maccabbean Revolt/Hasmonean Dynasty that was to follow the Greek rule. Chapter 10 decried the shepherds of Israel who had dealt in lies and self-promotion, but again predicted that a King was coming and that Israel would be strengthened. A future scattering and re-gathering was also predicted. Chapter 11 foretold the future desolation of Israel, due to their rejection of the Good Shepherd, and it prophesied the judgment of the worthless shepherd.
THE DAY OF THE LORD
The final three chapters of Zechariah deal with what the Bible calls “the Day of the LORD.” Although we won’t see that exact terminology until chapter 13, we will see the phrase “in that day” repeated over and over in chapter 12, and that phrase is referring to “the Day of the LORD.” What is meant by “the Day of the LORD”? If “this is the day that the Lord has made,” why is today not now “the Day of the LORD”? To understand why this is not “the Day of the LORD,” we have to go all the way back to Genesis. In Genesis 1:28b, after God had created all the earth and man, God said to man, “fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” In the beginning, man had dominion over the earth and everything on it, except himself. He was to submit himself to God as his authority; it was not intended that man rule himself. This happiness did not last very long, as we know, because the devil came along in the guise of a serpent, and persuaded Adam and Eve to do the one thing that God had forbidden them. When they turned to the devil instead of God, an unholy relationship was formed and the devil became known as Satan—the accuser. At that point, control of the earth was ceded to Satan by man through disobedience and he became the “prince of the power of the air.” (See John 12:31-32; 16:11; 14:30 and Ephesians 2:2) In order to oust Satan as the world’s ruler and reinstate man in his intended place, the problem of sin—rebellion against God—had to be corrected. Sin could only be defeated by a Man living a sinless life before God on earth; this is just what Jesus did. Having defeated sin, He was qualified to carry the sin guilt Himself and atone for it through sacrificing His own life, and this is also what He did. His resurrection from death is the proof that God was completely satisfied, both with His sinless life and His offering of Himself for the sins of mankind. Thus, the ruler of this world was defeated at the cross. In Matthew 28:18, immediately before His ascension, Jesus said, “All power has been given to Me in heaven and in earth.” He had won back man’s place of dominion upon the earth and the power of Satan was destroyed. So, why does evil still thrive on the earth today? Revelation gives us the key to understanding that question. In Revelation 5, we see a scroll sealed up with seven seals, and there is no one worthy to open it, except Jesus. Now the scroll, I believe, is like the title deed to the earth, and only Jesus can open it because only He lived that perfectly sinless life. He takes the scroll and starts breaking open seals, and all sorts of cataclysmic things start happening on earth. After the seals, there are angels that sound seven trumpets, sort of like a king’s herald, and more terrible things happen on the earth. After the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11:15b-18 says this:
“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Notice the phrase, “You have taken Your great power and reigned.” Although Jesus has overcome and the power is His, He is still at this moment, I believe, holding a sealed title deed. He has not yet begun His official reign. He is waiting until the time is right, and then He will begin His reign. That day, I believe, will mark the beginning of the Day of the LORD. It will not be a single day, but an era of 1,000 years. But for now, He requires us to persevere in our faith, knowing that He has triumphed and that His kingdom is coming.
Forgive me for laboring long in my explanation of the “Day of the LORD”, but it is the main theme of the final three chapters. Chapter 12, we will find, represents a kind of overview of the events of that era, and the final two chapters will fill in quite a few details for us. Verse 1 says,
“The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel, ‘Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heaven, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,’”
First, we see that this is a prophetic burden, or judgment, against Israel. One of the biggest details that we will see throughout these final chapters is that the Day of the LORD will be bittersweet for Israel; although God is for Israel and will deliver her in a mighty way, Israel will grieve and mourn in that day. This seems like a contradiction, but we will see the why of it at the end of this chapter. God identifies Himself in verse 1 in three ways. He says that He stretches out heaven—notice the present tense verb. I find this statement fascinating in light of the expanding universe theory that propounds that the universe is expanding somewhat like a balloon, and here God plainly says that He is stretching out the heaven. How much more might scientists know if they just paid credence to the Bible? God is also identified as the One who lays the foundations of the earth. All of the scientific laws of matter and energy He has put into place and continues to maintain moment by moment. He has formed the earth especially to support carbon-based life and we have never found any credible evidence that there is any other planet so designed. Why did He do this? The third description says that He forms the spirit of man within him. I think that man was the real purpose of His creation. So what is the purpose of man?
1. God is creating a kingdom for His Son (Daniel 7:14)
2. God demonstrates His character in sending a Redeemer (Romans 5:8)
3. Man is given a choice, while on earth, regarding serving God or serving self (II Corinthians 5:20). Adam was created innocent (sinless), but innocence is not a virtue. Virtue is obtained through testing. The triumph of Jesus in His testing opens the door for all who believe in Him to turn back to God from self. We are here on earth to make that choice.
4. We are here to work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). This does not mean work in order to be saved, but to advance in our faith because we are saved. Testing brings growth and maturity because it is God’s intention to bring many sons and daughters to glory. (Hebrews 2:10) The term “son” does not denote “child”, but rather a mature person.
Verses 2-3 sound a special warning that many today ought to heed:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”
This is describing a future event because the Roman siege in AD 70 against Jerusalem was successful. A cup of drunkenness indicates that those besieging Jerusalem are going to be in a stupor, unable to control themselves or their activities. Notice this siege especially seems to involve Israel’s surrounding neighbors—those very neighbors who today say they want to sweep Israel away into the sea. This verse is the strongest possible warning to them to keep away and change their attitude. Whoever touches Jerusalem will be smashed to pieces—God will finally take up His great power, in that day, and begin to reign and these people who have resisted Him and hated His people will be destroyed—even if it has to include every nation on earth.
I think that these verses are describing the end time battles of Ezekiel 38-39 and the battle of Armageddon in Revelation. I do think that they are two separate battles because the groups of nations involved are different. In reading the headlines of today, I believe that Ezekiel 38-39 is being set up right down to the last detail. The main player in this battle is Russia, together with Iran, Libya, Turkey, Syria, Sudan, and a few others. If you look at what is happening in Russia, the drive for national glory has been resurrected under the leadership of Vladimir Putin out of the ashes of their failed attempt at democracy, and they are generously supplying all these terrorist-loving, Israel-hating neighbors with all the arms and missiles they can afford. In return, these nations are allowing Russia to build military bases and establish their presence on their land. Though I certainly don’t attempt to predict any particular details outside of those specifically given by the Bible, it would seem likely that Russia will have to make a move to unite this coalition in an attack against Israel before Ahmadinajad, the present leader of Iran, decides to launch a nuclear missile—and I do think that he will. Crazy dictators can almost always be trusted to do just exactly what they say they will regardless of the consequences. Saddam Hussein is the most recent example, who ordered his air force to drop all their chemical and biological weapons on Israel, even though the Israeli air force would shoot down most of the incoming planes over Syria and Lebanon. The planning for this attack was aborted when the United States invaded Iraq and all WMD’s had to be hidden in Syria. (This is detailed in Joel Rosenberg’s book, Epicenter—a must read.)
What will happen in the end times when these invaders come against the Lord’s beloved Jerusalem? Verse 4 says,
“In that day, I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.”
In the Bible, horses symbolize warfare. During times of peace, kings rode on donkeys, and they reserved horses for war. Solomon had many horses and chariots (II Chronicles 9:25) and Proverbs 21:31, as well as Psalm 33:17, indicates the importance of horses in warfare. While this end time battle may indeed use horses, I think that the term “horse” would apply to any type of war machinery. Striking the attackers’ horses with blindness would indicate a great confusion and lack of control. Also, the men of the attacking armies will be stricken with madness. This battle in Ezekiel is described as an end time battle and the result is a total wipeout for the attackers. God literally, supernaturally wipes the floor with them in such a spectacular way that the whole world will know that He has done it. The result, however, I believe, will be that the Antichrist, who comes from the resurrected Roman Empire (the European Union), according to the prophet Daniel, will immediately see his chance to push European dominance all the way to Iraq and possibly further east. Thus, the battle of Armageddon, when the real Christ returns, will involve European armies and armies from eastern Asia (probably China and India). God wipes the floor with them, too!
Verses 5 and 6 have special significance for the Prime Minister of Israel and his advisers today.
“And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.”
The governors of Judah will acknowledge the Lord’s ability to deliver His people. A firepan was used to carry hot coals in order to start a fire quickly. A torch could set an entire field afire very quickly. Judah’s governors will no longer have to go around getting the world’s permission to defend their people. They won’t be obliged to trust in “allies” because they will be trusting in Jehovah Sabaoth—the ruler of all the armies of heaven and earth. They will be seen as the “movers and shakers”, not as those dependent on the good graces of other nations. The result will be that Jerusalem will be established as the capital of the Final Kingdom.
Verse 7 indicates that God intends to save Judah, the surrounding district of Jerusalem, first, so that the Davidic line and the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem will not exalt themselves. Isn’t it human nature to want to consider ourselves better than others. I think that city dwellers, and those born into affluence and power, and the well-educated sometimes tend even more to look down on the lowly “country bumpkins.” God will nip this tendency in the bud by saving Judah first because pride is unbecoming. Humility and faith will characterize the future Jerusalem. In Matthew 19:30, Jesus said, “The last will be first…”
Verses 8-9 say,
“In that day, the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God; like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
Does it seem impossible that the weakest in Israel will one day be as strong as David, the warrior king? Does it seem impossible that the line of David will be given the strength of the Lord? Remember the feats of Samson, who was energized by the Spirit of God, and of Elijah, who in the strength of God could outrun King Ahab’s chariot. The modern thinking of today has studied the laws of science, but has foolishly imprisoned itself in those laws, failing utterly to realize that the One who lays the foundations of the earth (its physical laws) can intervene at any time and in any way He deems appropriate.
Verse 9 ends with a warning to any nation that comes against Jerusalem. This lesson is so timely for this week because Prime Minister Netanyahu has just come over for a visit with our President to discuss the present critical situation in the Middle East. Far from getting the support that he wished for in dealing with the Iranian threat, there is a report circulating that President Obama, at a meeting in Cairo next month, will declare that it is time to divide Jerusalem and create a Palestinian state. This puts the United States on the wrong side of this warning. Jerusalem is absolutely off limits to any meddling on our part, and I am afraid that if this report proves true, we will pay the price for failing to support Israel.
So far, it seems like a pretty sweet deal for Israel, so where was the bitter part that we talked about in verse 1? Verses 10-11 say,
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.”
Pouring the Spirit of grace and supplication indicates a lavish abundance of both grace and repentance. In John 16:8-11, Jesus said, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” When the Holy Spirit finally has His way with them, they will see Jesus for Who He really is. The veil spoken of in II Corinthians 3:14-18 will be torn away and their hardness (Romans 11:25) will be gone. A flood of grief and mourning will result, indicative of true repentance. They will realize that for 2,000 years they rejected their true King. Incidentally, the reference to the mourning in the plain of Megiddo probably refers to the death of King Josiah. He was the last of the good kings of Judah, and he was killed by Pharoah Neco as recorded in II Chronicles 35:20-25.
Verses 12-14 describe the mourning and lamentation that will occur when the people of Israel see their Messiah. It is all done at one time, but it is a very personal sort of grief. Each tribe and family will grieve alone, and each husband and wife will grieve alone. Salvation is a personal experience. Although all Israel will be saved in one day at that time, it will be individual experiences for each. Salvation is always this way—many may be saved in one day, but it happens individually, person by person.
I hope this lesson will motivate all of us to pray for Israel’s peace, but also to pray for our President. There is still time for him to change his mind and respect the true will of the God of Jerusalem and Israel. Let’s pray that he will see truth.
Thanks for following along. There will be two more lessons in Zechariah, and the next one is scheduled to post in one week.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
ZECHARIAH LESSON THIRTEEN
Welcome to Bible study online! Zechariah is a terrific book to study, especially as we see the Day of the LORD approaching. I like to think of it as the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament”, because it contains so many parallels with the New Testament book of Revelation. There are plenty of Scriptures to look up, so grab your Bible, and thanks for joining us!
ZECHARIAH LESSON THIRTEEN
As we have studied through the book of Zechariah up to this point, we have seen that Israel was down and out, but that God was ready to return and bless His people. We have seen that God was ready to judge the nations that had delighted in oppressing the His people. But all along, we have seen little hints that a future scattering will occur—things are not going to settle down and be glorious and stable over the long term just yet. Chapter 11 will take these little hints and make them abundantly clear.
Verses 1-3 say,
“Open your doors, O Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars. Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty trees are ruined. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has come down. There is the sound of wailing shepherds! For their glory is in ruins. There is the sound of roaring lions! For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins.”
Fire, destruction, desolation, and mourning all lie ahead for the land of Israel. Why? Wasn’t the Babylonian and Assyrian destruction and captivity enough? Yet these Scriptures clearly prophesy a great destruction, and I believe that it is the Roman invasion that resulted in the ultimate scattering of Israel over the entire earth for nearly 2,000 years that we are seeing in these three verses. What will cause this desolation that will go on for so long? The remainder of chapter 11 contrasts two shepherds that will come, and I believe the answer to this question lies in the story of these shepherds.
THE MESSIANIC SHEPHERD
In the lives of the Old Testament prophets, God often asked His spokesmen to do strange things in order to illustrate a point to the people who watched them. For instance, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute to illustrate the prostitution of Israel. He told Jeremiah to dig a tunnel through the floor of his house that would come up in the middle of the street. In the same manner, God tells Zechariah,
“Feed the flock for slaughter.”
He has just said in verses 1-3 that Israel is destined for slaughter, and we are left to wonder about it because He has spent so much time encouraging them to rebuild the Temple and prepare to be visited with the presence of God. Slaughter will come, but verse 4 tells us that God still cares about His people. He wants to send them a good shepherd who will care for them and feed them. As stated before in a previous lesson, the metaphor of a shepherd symbolizes civil, religious, and spiritual leadership. Kings, priests, and prophets were all considered to be “shepherds” from a Biblical standpoint. Zechariah is being told to start leading the people and to direct them to God—their ultimate source of nourishment. God has a serious judgment to make regarding the shepherds of Israel:
“Their owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich’, and their shepherds do not pity them.”
On the face of it, it appears that the powerful—those entrusted with leadership—are using their position, not to lead and help the people, but to enrich themselves. They are getting rich at the expense of the poor and have no pity on them at all. In fact, they are so callous that they go around thanking God that they are rich, when in fact, their riches are acquired at the expense of those whom they have been entrusted to protect and care for.
QUESTION: Does any of this sound familiar? Don’t we have political leaders whose only principle seems to be self-promotion, with no regard for the rights of the people who elected them? Don’t we have businessmen who have stolen the retirement funds entrusted to their care? Don’t we have a double standard of justice that allows the wealthy to buy their way out of trouble in the courts? Don’t we have lawyers that care more for money than justice? Don’t we have parents who neglect or oppress their children, rather than nurture them? Don’t the general news media and the Hollywood elite use their influence to lead people toward godlessness and moral morass? And don’t they get rich while doing these things? Don’t we have religious leaders who seem to care more for money and a high profile than for prayer?
Then the Lord says in verse 6,
“For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land. But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”
Now, on the face of it, this seems hard to understand. We believe that the patience of God is virtually inexhaustible, so why does it seem to be that He is giving up on Israel? The actions of Zechariah, as he carries out the job of being a shepherd will, I believe, give us some insight into this question. Verse 7 says,
“So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called “Beauty”, and the other I called “Bonds”; and I fed the flock.”
The food for God’s flock is the Word of God, and so I believe that Zechariah gave to the people God’s word—He preached and taught them. He paid particular attention to the poor of the flock. I think by the “poor” of the flock, Zechariah meant the depressed, down and out, financially poor, and those suffering in some way. Generally, it is those who are in some way poor who are most open to the word of God. Those who are distracted with worldly things are not usually open to God because they are otherwise satisfied. A person who has a full stomach does not normally go rummaging in the refrigerator. But the rumbling stomach almost always motivates a person to look for something to eat. As a good shepherd, Zechariah wants to give the hungry something nourishing.
Along with good food, sheep have to be guided in the right direction, and so Zechariah took two staffs—one was probably a shepherd’s crook and the other a club to ward off attackers. I think that Zechariah probably did walk around with these two staffs as symbols of what he was doing. I think the names of these staffs are very significant because they describe how God has dealt with Israel. “Beauty” could also be rendered as “Grace”, and the Amplified Bible does use both terms for this staff. God took Israel as an infant people and carried them along and brought them every kind of grace. He gave them His Law, His presence, His protection, a land flowing with milk and honey, and at their zenith, with Solomon as king, they were among the wealthiest and most highly favored people ever. They enjoyed peace and enormous prosperity. The other staff was “Bonds” or “Union” and describes the unity of the twelve tribes as a nation, as well as their union with God in covenant. God had initially joined Himself to them in covenant at Mount Sinai, but they broke that covenant, so He is about to offer them a new covenant through a Messianic Shepherd as prefigured in Zechariah’s activity.
Then Zechariah says in verse 8,
“I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.”
Some commentators feel that the three shepherds represented the civil, religious, and spiritual leaders—governors, priests, and prophets. It sounds to me like he did the same thing that Jesus did in regard to the leaders of His day—He condemned their leadership for its self-centeredness. He called King Herod a fox (Luke 13:32) and He said that the Pharisees were “whitewashed tombs.” (Matthew 23:27) The Bible teaches that all leaders are appointed ultimately by God; but God’s purpose is that they care for the people over whom they have authority. It is never intended that they should use their authority to abuse their people and aggrandize themselves. Those in authority will ultimately give account of their stewardship to God.
QUESTION: We are all at various times in places of authority over others. How do we handle our position? And do we in turn respect those in authority over us?
Another note in connection with verse 8 is that there is almost always enmity between the good shepherds and the bad ones. The leadership and teaching of the good shepherds exposes the wickedness of the bad shepherds and this makes for trouble. Examples would include Jesus and the Pharisees; Micaiah and King Ahab in I Kings 22; and Jeremiah and the men of Anathoth in Jeremiah 11.
Verse 9 returns us to the original question of “Why?”
“Then I said, ‘I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.’”
Why does he stop feeding them? Why is he so willing to let them die? I think this verse is foretelling the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans which became so severe that those in the city who survived sometimes did so by killing and eating the flesh of others—even their own children. Why would such a terrible thing be allowed?
Verse 10 says,
“And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.”
Beauty—God had dealt graciously with His people, forgiving their sin and building them up as a nation until when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she was completely amazed. His very Presence had dwelt with them in His Temple, but they had been bored by His grace. His Presence became ho-hum and they sought excitement and gratification among the pagan deities. God had disciplined them through captivity, and a remnant had returned, but things still weren’t right. The Old Covenant—the Law of Moses—did not have the power to end sin, only to expose it. But Grace was not finished. Beauty had one more covenant to offer that would remedy the problem. Notice that it was the poor of the flock who understood Zechariah’s message. The Lord reveals Himself to babes, not to the worldly wise. (Matthew 11:25)
“Then I said to them, ‘If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—that princely sum set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter. Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”
Here is the crux of the problem and the answer to the question we have been asking all through this lesson. Zechariah has been prefiguring the Messianic Shepherd—Jesus. He has judged the wicked shepherds and fed the poor of the flock. But the flock has rejected the good pasture of God’s Word in favor of the thorns and briars of the world. As long as Jesus did miracles to feed the people’s stomachs and heal their ills, He was adored, but when He turned to giving them the hard medicine of the Truth, they stopped following Him (John 6:35-69) and ultimately rejected Him as their King. (John 19:15) The New Covenant offered by God through the death of Jesus was largely rejected by the nation, and there remained for them—NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SIN. (Hebrews 10:28-29) They had sinned away their day of grace and rejected the only possible means of their own salvation. (Acts 4:12) So, the second staff was cut in two symbolizing the imminent dissolution of the nation. The people counted Zechariah’s ministry of the word as being worth only thirty pieces of silver—the price of a slave--and the same price paid to Judas as the betrayer of Jesus. It is no coincidence that Zechariah was instructed to throw his silver to the potter, because it prefigured the fact that Judas would throw his own blood money into the Temple, and the priests, not wanting to “pollute the Temple” with blood money, would use it to buy the potter’s field.
THE WORTHLESS SHEPHERD
In contrast to the Messianic Shepherd, the closing verses of chapter 11 describe the coming worthless shepherd.
“And the LORD said to me, ‘Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.’”
The people have rejected God for centuries. From the golden calf in the desert to the pagan idols during the days of the judges, to the idols worshiped during the days of the kingdom, they ran after other gods, even when the Shekinah Glory filled the Temple. Even after the captivity, their hearts remained divided between worldliness and the ways of the Lord, until they finally rejected the promised Messiah and cried out for His death. The only alternative to God as their Shepherd is the worthless, self-serving shepherd, and that is what they will end up with. God never forces Himself on people, and so we see that He is giving them what they want. Now we see why God stops feeding the people and allows what is dying to die. He has given all He has to give, and they have repeatedly rejected Him. What else can He do?
“Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye; his arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blind.”
Will the worthless shepherd profit? No—it may appear that he will, but in the end he will not. The right arm that should have protected the people will wither and the right eye that should have been vigilant will go blind. God will call all rulers to account in the end. Has someone in authority over you oppressed or abused you? They will have to account to God for it. Has justice been denied because justice is sometimes for sale to the wealthy or prominent? There is a final judgment. Has a spiritual leader used his position to bring oppression to you or to promise blessings in exchange for financial support? He will have to answer to God.
The final question as we come to the end of this lesson would seem to be, “What about Israel?” Did God make promises that even He could not keep? Will all the Scriptures be fulfilled, or were the prophets at odds with one another? There is hope in the last three lessons of Zechariah. “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart,”—because He will become The Desire of your heart!
Thanks for following along! I am posting early this week because we are going on vacation, but I think the next lesson will post around Memorial Day.
ZECHARIAH LESSON THIRTEEN
As we have studied through the book of Zechariah up to this point, we have seen that Israel was down and out, but that God was ready to return and bless His people. We have seen that God was ready to judge the nations that had delighted in oppressing the His people. But all along, we have seen little hints that a future scattering will occur—things are not going to settle down and be glorious and stable over the long term just yet. Chapter 11 will take these little hints and make them abundantly clear.
Verses 1-3 say,
“Open your doors, O Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars. Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty trees are ruined. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has come down. There is the sound of wailing shepherds! For their glory is in ruins. There is the sound of roaring lions! For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins.”
Fire, destruction, desolation, and mourning all lie ahead for the land of Israel. Why? Wasn’t the Babylonian and Assyrian destruction and captivity enough? Yet these Scriptures clearly prophesy a great destruction, and I believe that it is the Roman invasion that resulted in the ultimate scattering of Israel over the entire earth for nearly 2,000 years that we are seeing in these three verses. What will cause this desolation that will go on for so long? The remainder of chapter 11 contrasts two shepherds that will come, and I believe the answer to this question lies in the story of these shepherds.
THE MESSIANIC SHEPHERD
In the lives of the Old Testament prophets, God often asked His spokesmen to do strange things in order to illustrate a point to the people who watched them. For instance, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute to illustrate the prostitution of Israel. He told Jeremiah to dig a tunnel through the floor of his house that would come up in the middle of the street. In the same manner, God tells Zechariah,
“Feed the flock for slaughter.”
He has just said in verses 1-3 that Israel is destined for slaughter, and we are left to wonder about it because He has spent so much time encouraging them to rebuild the Temple and prepare to be visited with the presence of God. Slaughter will come, but verse 4 tells us that God still cares about His people. He wants to send them a good shepherd who will care for them and feed them. As stated before in a previous lesson, the metaphor of a shepherd symbolizes civil, religious, and spiritual leadership. Kings, priests, and prophets were all considered to be “shepherds” from a Biblical standpoint. Zechariah is being told to start leading the people and to direct them to God—their ultimate source of nourishment. God has a serious judgment to make regarding the shepherds of Israel:
“Their owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich’, and their shepherds do not pity them.”
On the face of it, it appears that the powerful—those entrusted with leadership—are using their position, not to lead and help the people, but to enrich themselves. They are getting rich at the expense of the poor and have no pity on them at all. In fact, they are so callous that they go around thanking God that they are rich, when in fact, their riches are acquired at the expense of those whom they have been entrusted to protect and care for.
QUESTION: Does any of this sound familiar? Don’t we have political leaders whose only principle seems to be self-promotion, with no regard for the rights of the people who elected them? Don’t we have businessmen who have stolen the retirement funds entrusted to their care? Don’t we have a double standard of justice that allows the wealthy to buy their way out of trouble in the courts? Don’t we have lawyers that care more for money than justice? Don’t we have parents who neglect or oppress their children, rather than nurture them? Don’t the general news media and the Hollywood elite use their influence to lead people toward godlessness and moral morass? And don’t they get rich while doing these things? Don’t we have religious leaders who seem to care more for money and a high profile than for prayer?
Then the Lord says in verse 6,
“For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land. But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”
Now, on the face of it, this seems hard to understand. We believe that the patience of God is virtually inexhaustible, so why does it seem to be that He is giving up on Israel? The actions of Zechariah, as he carries out the job of being a shepherd will, I believe, give us some insight into this question. Verse 7 says,
“So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called “Beauty”, and the other I called “Bonds”; and I fed the flock.”
The food for God’s flock is the Word of God, and so I believe that Zechariah gave to the people God’s word—He preached and taught them. He paid particular attention to the poor of the flock. I think by the “poor” of the flock, Zechariah meant the depressed, down and out, financially poor, and those suffering in some way. Generally, it is those who are in some way poor who are most open to the word of God. Those who are distracted with worldly things are not usually open to God because they are otherwise satisfied. A person who has a full stomach does not normally go rummaging in the refrigerator. But the rumbling stomach almost always motivates a person to look for something to eat. As a good shepherd, Zechariah wants to give the hungry something nourishing.
Along with good food, sheep have to be guided in the right direction, and so Zechariah took two staffs—one was probably a shepherd’s crook and the other a club to ward off attackers. I think that Zechariah probably did walk around with these two staffs as symbols of what he was doing. I think the names of these staffs are very significant because they describe how God has dealt with Israel. “Beauty” could also be rendered as “Grace”, and the Amplified Bible does use both terms for this staff. God took Israel as an infant people and carried them along and brought them every kind of grace. He gave them His Law, His presence, His protection, a land flowing with milk and honey, and at their zenith, with Solomon as king, they were among the wealthiest and most highly favored people ever. They enjoyed peace and enormous prosperity. The other staff was “Bonds” or “Union” and describes the unity of the twelve tribes as a nation, as well as their union with God in covenant. God had initially joined Himself to them in covenant at Mount Sinai, but they broke that covenant, so He is about to offer them a new covenant through a Messianic Shepherd as prefigured in Zechariah’s activity.
Then Zechariah says in verse 8,
“I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.”
Some commentators feel that the three shepherds represented the civil, religious, and spiritual leaders—governors, priests, and prophets. It sounds to me like he did the same thing that Jesus did in regard to the leaders of His day—He condemned their leadership for its self-centeredness. He called King Herod a fox (Luke 13:32) and He said that the Pharisees were “whitewashed tombs.” (Matthew 23:27) The Bible teaches that all leaders are appointed ultimately by God; but God’s purpose is that they care for the people over whom they have authority. It is never intended that they should use their authority to abuse their people and aggrandize themselves. Those in authority will ultimately give account of their stewardship to God.
QUESTION: We are all at various times in places of authority over others. How do we handle our position? And do we in turn respect those in authority over us?
Another note in connection with verse 8 is that there is almost always enmity between the good shepherds and the bad ones. The leadership and teaching of the good shepherds exposes the wickedness of the bad shepherds and this makes for trouble. Examples would include Jesus and the Pharisees; Micaiah and King Ahab in I Kings 22; and Jeremiah and the men of Anathoth in Jeremiah 11.
Verse 9 returns us to the original question of “Why?”
“Then I said, ‘I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.’”
Why does he stop feeding them? Why is he so willing to let them die? I think this verse is foretelling the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans which became so severe that those in the city who survived sometimes did so by killing and eating the flesh of others—even their own children. Why would such a terrible thing be allowed?
Verse 10 says,
“And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.”
Beauty—God had dealt graciously with His people, forgiving their sin and building them up as a nation until when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she was completely amazed. His very Presence had dwelt with them in His Temple, but they had been bored by His grace. His Presence became ho-hum and they sought excitement and gratification among the pagan deities. God had disciplined them through captivity, and a remnant had returned, but things still weren’t right. The Old Covenant—the Law of Moses—did not have the power to end sin, only to expose it. But Grace was not finished. Beauty had one more covenant to offer that would remedy the problem. Notice that it was the poor of the flock who understood Zechariah’s message. The Lord reveals Himself to babes, not to the worldly wise. (Matthew 11:25)
“Then I said to them, ‘If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—that princely sum set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter. Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”
Here is the crux of the problem and the answer to the question we have been asking all through this lesson. Zechariah has been prefiguring the Messianic Shepherd—Jesus. He has judged the wicked shepherds and fed the poor of the flock. But the flock has rejected the good pasture of God’s Word in favor of the thorns and briars of the world. As long as Jesus did miracles to feed the people’s stomachs and heal their ills, He was adored, but when He turned to giving them the hard medicine of the Truth, they stopped following Him (John 6:35-69) and ultimately rejected Him as their King. (John 19:15) The New Covenant offered by God through the death of Jesus was largely rejected by the nation, and there remained for them—NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SIN. (Hebrews 10:28-29) They had sinned away their day of grace and rejected the only possible means of their own salvation. (Acts 4:12) So, the second staff was cut in two symbolizing the imminent dissolution of the nation. The people counted Zechariah’s ministry of the word as being worth only thirty pieces of silver—the price of a slave--and the same price paid to Judas as the betrayer of Jesus. It is no coincidence that Zechariah was instructed to throw his silver to the potter, because it prefigured the fact that Judas would throw his own blood money into the Temple, and the priests, not wanting to “pollute the Temple” with blood money, would use it to buy the potter’s field.
THE WORTHLESS SHEPHERD
In contrast to the Messianic Shepherd, the closing verses of chapter 11 describe the coming worthless shepherd.
“And the LORD said to me, ‘Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.’”
The people have rejected God for centuries. From the golden calf in the desert to the pagan idols during the days of the judges, to the idols worshiped during the days of the kingdom, they ran after other gods, even when the Shekinah Glory filled the Temple. Even after the captivity, their hearts remained divided between worldliness and the ways of the Lord, until they finally rejected the promised Messiah and cried out for His death. The only alternative to God as their Shepherd is the worthless, self-serving shepherd, and that is what they will end up with. God never forces Himself on people, and so we see that He is giving them what they want. Now we see why God stops feeding the people and allows what is dying to die. He has given all He has to give, and they have repeatedly rejected Him. What else can He do?
“Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye; his arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blind.”
Will the worthless shepherd profit? No—it may appear that he will, but in the end he will not. The right arm that should have protected the people will wither and the right eye that should have been vigilant will go blind. God will call all rulers to account in the end. Has someone in authority over you oppressed or abused you? They will have to account to God for it. Has justice been denied because justice is sometimes for sale to the wealthy or prominent? There is a final judgment. Has a spiritual leader used his position to bring oppression to you or to promise blessings in exchange for financial support? He will have to answer to God.
The final question as we come to the end of this lesson would seem to be, “What about Israel?” Did God make promises that even He could not keep? Will all the Scriptures be fulfilled, or were the prophets at odds with one another? There is hope in the last three lessons of Zechariah. “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart,”—because He will become The Desire of your heart!
Thanks for following along! I am posting early this week because we are going on vacation, but I think the next lesson will post around Memorial Day.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
ZECHARIAH LESSON TWELVE
Welcome to Bible study online! Zechariah is a terrific book to study, especially as we see the Day of the LORD approaching. I like to think of it as the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament”, because it contains so many parallels with the New Testament book of Revelation. There are plenty of Scriptures to look up, so grab your Bible, and thanks for joining us!
ZECHARIAH LESSON TWELVE
As we have seen over these past weeks, the road that Israel has traveled has been a rocky one with many ups and downs. As the chosen people of God on earth, they have faced the opposition of other nations, but the worst threat has always been the enemy within. The lure of worldliness, the desire for more stuff, the longing to be “like everybody else,” compromise with paganism, and the unvoiced but obvious belief that God is too far away to involve Himself in their daily activities—all these things have eaten away at their spiritual life. It has left a form of godliness, but without the power of God behind it.
QUESTION: Are we any different?
Chapter 10 opens with this verse:
“Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.”
On the face of it, it appears that the men who assigned chapters and verses to the Scriptures ought to have included this verse in chapter 9, the end of which foretells the great prosperity of the coming Messianic kingdom. Lots of rain ties in nicely with grain making young men strong. I think that it is actually a pivotal verse, but it does illustrate very well the need to read Scripture as a single unit, rather than chapter by chapter. The key to the verse is the first three words—“Ask the LORD.” The verses that follow this one will point out where the people went wrong in the past as well as the problems that plagued them in Zechariah’s day and afterward. This verse makes it plain that the Lord is willing to bless His people; He wants them to depend on Him and trust His provision for them.
OBSERVATION: As Christians, it is always tempting to take the Old Testament promises that God made to Israel and apply them in the exact same way to us. I don’t believe that we can apply them in the same way. Israel is the earthly chosen people of God and they are His people through the covenant made first with Abraham and then through Moses at Mount Sinai. We are not the earthly elect; we are the heavenly elect. We are the offspring of Abraham by faith, not by physical birth, and we were never included in the covenant made at Mount Sinai, but thankfully, we are included in the covenant made at Mount Calvary. We were never promised the earthly, physical blessings that Israel was promised as a nation, but we are promised greater things in the spiritual realm. God wants first to send the rain of His Spirit into our hearts to produce a great harvest of faith and righteousness, but like the Israelites of old, we are drawn away to the more worldly side of things.
Verse 2 of Chapter 10 tells us that the problem for Israel has been lies, lies, and more lies. First, “the idols speak delusion.” The word there for “idols” is “teraphim.” Teraphim were household gods that were thought to give power and direction to the house (meaning the head of the house.) Whoever had possession of these teraphim was considered to be in control of the house. Genesis 31 relates an interesting story regarding teraphim. As Jacob takes his two wives, concubines, and children and runs away from his father-in-law Laban, Laban chases after him because something important has gone missing with Jacob—Laban’s teraphim. It seems that Rachel, one of Jacob’s wives, has stolen the teraphim unbeknownst to anyone else. She recognized the importance of these idols in that whoever had them had control of the house, and she wanted as much for Jacob, and therefore for herself and her own children, as she could get. Laban, of course, recognizes the significance of the loss of these idols, and chases Jacob, not for his daughters and grandchildren, but for the teraphim. Rachel contrives to hide the teraphim successfully, and the story ends in a covenant between Jacob and Laban, but it illustrates the power that faith in these idols exercised in the minds of the people, and gives us a real clue into why God hated the idols so much. The people placed great faith in these worthless idols and ignored the leadership, planning, and direction of God.
After the teraphim, verse 2 tells us that “the diviners envision lies.” Divination has been an age old problem that we still run up against today. People want to have the future foretold to them so that they will know what to do. In ancient times, diviners consulted stars and checked the shapes of animal livers in order to predict the future. Over the centuries people have consulted mediums, read tea leaves, read tarot cards, done astral projections, consulted ouija boards, and read zodiac signs to try to predict the future. These are all substitutions for the One who has made us and planned out our futures. Whatever He wants us to know, He is willing to tell us, if we will only ask Him. He is not willing to tell every detail, because He requires us to trust Him moment by moment—there is a certain romance in it, if you think about it. Actually, worse than substitutions, these occult practices are Satanic imitations and those who use them are getting their information from evil, rather than from God. At the very least, these practices put people in spiritual bondage, hindering any true faith, and at worst, they can result in direct encounters with Dark Rulers and even in demon possession. Our missionaries serving in lands where these dark superstitions hold power have often reported encountering demon possession, and I believe these occult practices open the door to it. This is why God so strongly condemned any form of witchcraft or necromancy in the Old Testament, requiring the practitioners of such to be put to death.
The third lie in verse 2, behind idols and diviners, is the false prophets. “They tell false dreams and comfort in vain.” All through the Old Testament, God sent prophet after prophet to warn Israel to turn from sin and return to Him, but the false prophets far outnumbered the true prophets and their messages were always comforting. They were so encouraging. Their message was “Don’t worry; be happy.” Anyone who proclaims that our sin doesn’t matter, that God will just be happy to keep on forgiving us as we neglect to repent, and that He just really wants us to be happy in life---is a liar. ‘Nuff said.
In verse 3, the Lord begins to deal with another sort of problem.
“My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the goatherds. For the LORD of hosts will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His royal horse in the battle.”
The shepherds were the ones that had been entrusted with the flock, and the Bible refers many times to national and spiritual leaders as shepherds. Why is the Lord angry with His shepherds? Is He talking to Zerubbabel and Joshua? Or is He looking into the future? There is no clear reference to any particular person at that point in time, so I think He may have been looking ahead. He said that He would “visit His flock”, and when Jesus came to earth, what did He find in regard to the shepherds that were entrusted to lead His people? During Jesus’ ministry on earth, those who received the greatest condemnation and warning were the Pharisees—the spiritual leaders of Israel. All the people looked up to them as the most spiritual, most blessed, and most important of all the people. Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs.”
Who were the Pharisees, anyway, and where did they come from? The Pharisees were a religious sect that arose during the days of the Maccabbean rule—also called the Hasmonean Dynasty. This was a relatively brief period of time when the Greek rule over Israel was overthrown by Judas Maccabbeus and his family, around 165 BC, and this family ruled Israel until the Romans came in around 63 BC. This occurred during the 400 years of time between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. The name “Pharisee” literally means “separated ones” and describes these men who sought to separate themselves from the Hellenistic influence of the day. The Greeks sought to assimilate conquered peoples by forcing their own culture on them—called hellenization—but some of the Jews would not submit. The Hasidim, a militant religious sect dedicated to strict obedience of the Law, arose during this time, and it was from the Hasidim that the Pharisees came. They accepted all the Old Testament writings as divinely inspired and sought strict adherence to the Law. Sounds good so far, right? So what was their problem in Jesus’ day? Well, they also accepted a lot of oral traditions and made up their own “rules” for keeping the Law perfectly. They respected their own “rules” as much or more than the Law of God. Over time, instead of keeping the Law out of reverence and love, they kept it in pride and walked in arrogance as the “spiritual leaders” of their people. They forgot their need for repentance and forgiveness, and even went so far as to find legal “loopholes” to allow them to circumvent the real intent of God’s Law. Ezekiel 34 is an indepth exposition of Zechariah 10:3, and it is well worth one’s time to read.
QUESTION: Do we have any religious leaders today who present their own ideas, rather than the word of God? Do we have any pastors or teachers today who walk in pride and arrogance, or who peddle the gospel for worldly gain? Do we have any teachers or preachers today who, although their message seems perfectly Scriptural, so much of their personality is interjected into their teaching that we come away thinking about how wonderful that teacher/preacher is, rather than how wonderful Jesus is? Do we have any well-meaning leaders today who load people up with all sorts of guilt as a means of manipulating them to do what they think is “right”?
Verse 4 of Zechariah 10 gives us four pictures of the Coming King. First, the Cornerstone. The cornerstone is critical to the structure of the building. It holds the weight and keeps the other stones in place. It has to be strong and perfectly placed—it is the starting point. Acts 4:11, Ephesians 2:20, and I Peter 2:5-7 all tell us that Jesus is the promised Cornerstone and that we are living stones being built up on Him. Next, Messiah is presented as the Tent Peg. II Corinthian 5:1 says,
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
In this verse, our bodies are compared to a tent. Tents are not intended to be permanent structures, but move from place to place—and they wear out. While we are on earth, we are in a tent—camping out, while we wait to reach our heavenly home. But what stabilizes the tent and keeps it from blowing away in any little gust of wind? In addition to a tent pole and ropes, you have to have tent pegs that are firmly driven into the ground. The pegs are independent of the tent—in fact, the book of Judges describes how Jael killed the enemy of Israel by driving a tent peg into his head while he slept (strong stomach for a woman!)—but the tent desperately needs to be firmly tied down to the pegs. So we see from this second illustration that, although Jesus doesn’t need us, we desperately need Him to tie on to. The third picture of Messiah in verse 4 is the Battle Bow. Whether we want it or not, the truth is that we have been born into a war that has been raging almost from the beginning of the race. Ephesians 6:12 says,
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Into this dark war between God and Satan, in which Satan wants to smirk and fling in the face of God such accusations as, “they only serve You because You give them what they want”, as he did concerning Job, I think God wants to fling back arrows in the form of faithful servants who have no personal agenda and truly love God with all their hearts. Where is the power to be found to fling such arrows? The Battle Bow is Jesus—He is the Source of the power for those who will trust Him. Are we willing to be loosed into the war, to fly true and hit the mark, shattering the lies of the enemy by living lives of true faith and perseverance, regardless of the circumstances or consequences? Finally, the Messiah is presented as the One from whom every ruler comes, and thereby, the Ruler of all—Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts. Not only does Revelation tell us that Jesus is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, but in John 19:10-11, Jesus reveals His own faith in the Lord’s ultimate rulership by saying to Pontius Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Jesus acknowledged in that one sentence that He had given Pilate the authority to order His own crucifixion! No wonder we are commanded to respect and pray for our leaders—even if they are often misguided or even flat out wicked.
Verses 5-6 again predict the victory of Israel over her enemies and their restoration into the Promised Land. I think that the success of the Maccabbean revolt was a small prefiguring of this promise, but the coming of the Messiah in triumph will be the obvious fulfillment. Verse 5 says, “they will tread down their enemies,” and is echoed in Revelation 19:15 when Jesus “treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” in His return to Jerusalem. The reference to the “house of Judah” in verse 6 refers to what was the southern kingdom, carried into captivity by Babylon. The “house of Joseph” would refer to the northern kingdom, carried away by Assyria. Though the northern kingdom is often referred to as the “Lost Ten Tribes”, this Scripture again makes it plain that there are no lost tribes—God had His hand on every one of them all the way through, and He will return them all to the land of promise. Verse 6 makes it plain that God is doing this for Israel because of His mercy, not their goodness. The same is true for us as Gentile believers, because salvation is a result of God’s mercy and love, not our deservedness. Then the Lord says an amazing thing in verse 6,
“They shall be as though I had not cast them aside.”
Israel will be so completely healed and restored that there will be no scars left. After Jacob spent the night wrestling with God, he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. That wrestling match left him with a permanent injury. When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, they could see and touch His scars—they remained as proof of His identity as their Savior. As believers, I think we all carry various scars as proof of who we are in Christ, but I believe that in our new bodies, they will be beauty marks, not disfigurements. But in regard to Israel, we see her as though nothing horrible had ever happened. To me, I see a totally new beginning for her as a nation—a fresh start on a new basis as the physical and spiritual people of God.
To those who love the Lord, verse 7 should just make for a glad heart:
“Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad, their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.”
Don’t you get tired of seeing Israel treated like some wart on the world’s nose? Don’t you get tired of hearing all the hateful rhetoric against them, and how they are blamed for everything that goes wrong—just like God gets blamed for every problem? Doesn’t it grieve you when the nations tell Israel that it is up to them to give up their land and let their sworn enemies plot and plan against them in their own backyard? This verse foretells the day when Israel will be respected above every other nation and their children will be uplifted, not discouraged and afraid. But it will come about only when “their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.”
Verse 8 reminds me of Matthew 24:31 when Jesus said,
“He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
The Lord’s “whistle” will sound like a mighty trumpet on earth, and all the remaining elect will return to Israel. As stated in a previous lesson, the Bible describes two different groups as “elect.” The Old Testament calls the nation of Israel “elect” and the New Testament calls those who have trusted Christ as Savior as “elect.” Thus, there is a heavenly elect and an earthly elect. The heavenly elect will meet Jesus in the air when He comes to claim them. The earthly elect will meet Him in Jerusalem when He returns to set up His earthly kingdom.
Verse 9 says,
“I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; they shall live, together with their children, and they shall return.”
This verse clearly prophesies a future scattering of Israel among all the nations, and so it has been for almost 2,000 years. They were scattered as seeds among the nations to test the nations, and the nations will be judged at the end by how they treated Israel when they were scattered among them. The marvel of Israel is that in all those centuries, they were never assimilated into the cultures that they were sown in. They remembered the Lord and His word and were never absorbed into the nations. The truth is that they would never have suffered as they did if they had allowed themselves to be assimilated—to become the same as those around them. It was their stubborn “differentness” that aroused persecution.
QUESTION: How do we treat those who are different? Jesus said, “Whatever you have done to the least of these My brothers, you have done to Me.”
Verse 10 says that they will be gathered back from the land of Egypt and Assyria. The Israelites found themselves in Egypt because of circumstances—they were trying to survive a famine. Ultimately, because they stayed in Egypt after the famine was over, they were enslaved. In Assyria, however, they were captives—prisoners of war who had been relocated in order to prevent them from regaining their place and power in their own land. So we see that some of the Jews have stayed away from the Promised Land because of circumstances—things were better elsewhere, until persecution arose. Others were forced out of the land against their will and were not able to return. But in the end, God will bring them all back, because that is where they truly belong. When they are all returned, they will fill up their borders, and Ezekiel tells us that the borders will be as follows:
Northern Border – north of Damascus, present day Syria
Southern Border – south of the Dead Sea in Kadesh
Western Border – Mediterranean Sea
Eastern Border – Gilead – east of Jordan River
Verse 11 says,
“He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the River shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.”
Revelation pictures the “sea” as symbolic of the nations. This verse, I believe, is a capsule form of the battles described in Revelation where the Lord will return and kill all His enemies and deliver Israel from those who are trying to destroy her. The “sea” will be struck with a mighty blow because the Bible tells us that the blood will swirl as high as the horse’s bridle throughout the valley of Armageddon—that’s a lot of killing. It also says that He will rule with a rod of iron—that means that His kingdom will not be a democracy. Now, this can get really offensive to people who only want to embrace the “love” of God (which they understand to be warm, fuzzy, and smooshy) but reject the judgment and rule of God. But the truth is, one cannot know the love of God without first understanding His right to rule and His demands for righteousness. It is only by understanding these harder truths that one can honestly be driven by desperation to the real love of God expressed on the Cross.
What a triumphant verse for the heart of God ends this chapter!
“So I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they shall walk up and down in His name.”
They will finally be where He wanted them to be all along. They will walk in His name and in His strength—not their own. They shall be for His glory and never again be led astray. He wanted them for His own people, but they would not be faithful. Finally, they will be the faithful ones He always longed for and planned for. Don’t you love those stories where somebody’s dream comes true? Well, in the end, God’s dream comes true! Won’t it be great to see it happen?
Thanks for following along. I am going on vacation in a week, but I hope to post the next lesson before I leave.
ZECHARIAH LESSON TWELVE
As we have seen over these past weeks, the road that Israel has traveled has been a rocky one with many ups and downs. As the chosen people of God on earth, they have faced the opposition of other nations, but the worst threat has always been the enemy within. The lure of worldliness, the desire for more stuff, the longing to be “like everybody else,” compromise with paganism, and the unvoiced but obvious belief that God is too far away to involve Himself in their daily activities—all these things have eaten away at their spiritual life. It has left a form of godliness, but without the power of God behind it.
QUESTION: Are we any different?
Chapter 10 opens with this verse:
“Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.”
On the face of it, it appears that the men who assigned chapters and verses to the Scriptures ought to have included this verse in chapter 9, the end of which foretells the great prosperity of the coming Messianic kingdom. Lots of rain ties in nicely with grain making young men strong. I think that it is actually a pivotal verse, but it does illustrate very well the need to read Scripture as a single unit, rather than chapter by chapter. The key to the verse is the first three words—“Ask the LORD.” The verses that follow this one will point out where the people went wrong in the past as well as the problems that plagued them in Zechariah’s day and afterward. This verse makes it plain that the Lord is willing to bless His people; He wants them to depend on Him and trust His provision for them.
OBSERVATION: As Christians, it is always tempting to take the Old Testament promises that God made to Israel and apply them in the exact same way to us. I don’t believe that we can apply them in the same way. Israel is the earthly chosen people of God and they are His people through the covenant made first with Abraham and then through Moses at Mount Sinai. We are not the earthly elect; we are the heavenly elect. We are the offspring of Abraham by faith, not by physical birth, and we were never included in the covenant made at Mount Sinai, but thankfully, we are included in the covenant made at Mount Calvary. We were never promised the earthly, physical blessings that Israel was promised as a nation, but we are promised greater things in the spiritual realm. God wants first to send the rain of His Spirit into our hearts to produce a great harvest of faith and righteousness, but like the Israelites of old, we are drawn away to the more worldly side of things.
Verse 2 of Chapter 10 tells us that the problem for Israel has been lies, lies, and more lies. First, “the idols speak delusion.” The word there for “idols” is “teraphim.” Teraphim were household gods that were thought to give power and direction to the house (meaning the head of the house.) Whoever had possession of these teraphim was considered to be in control of the house. Genesis 31 relates an interesting story regarding teraphim. As Jacob takes his two wives, concubines, and children and runs away from his father-in-law Laban, Laban chases after him because something important has gone missing with Jacob—Laban’s teraphim. It seems that Rachel, one of Jacob’s wives, has stolen the teraphim unbeknownst to anyone else. She recognized the importance of these idols in that whoever had them had control of the house, and she wanted as much for Jacob, and therefore for herself and her own children, as she could get. Laban, of course, recognizes the significance of the loss of these idols, and chases Jacob, not for his daughters and grandchildren, but for the teraphim. Rachel contrives to hide the teraphim successfully, and the story ends in a covenant between Jacob and Laban, but it illustrates the power that faith in these idols exercised in the minds of the people, and gives us a real clue into why God hated the idols so much. The people placed great faith in these worthless idols and ignored the leadership, planning, and direction of God.
After the teraphim, verse 2 tells us that “the diviners envision lies.” Divination has been an age old problem that we still run up against today. People want to have the future foretold to them so that they will know what to do. In ancient times, diviners consulted stars and checked the shapes of animal livers in order to predict the future. Over the centuries people have consulted mediums, read tea leaves, read tarot cards, done astral projections, consulted ouija boards, and read zodiac signs to try to predict the future. These are all substitutions for the One who has made us and planned out our futures. Whatever He wants us to know, He is willing to tell us, if we will only ask Him. He is not willing to tell every detail, because He requires us to trust Him moment by moment—there is a certain romance in it, if you think about it. Actually, worse than substitutions, these occult practices are Satanic imitations and those who use them are getting their information from evil, rather than from God. At the very least, these practices put people in spiritual bondage, hindering any true faith, and at worst, they can result in direct encounters with Dark Rulers and even in demon possession. Our missionaries serving in lands where these dark superstitions hold power have often reported encountering demon possession, and I believe these occult practices open the door to it. This is why God so strongly condemned any form of witchcraft or necromancy in the Old Testament, requiring the practitioners of such to be put to death.
The third lie in verse 2, behind idols and diviners, is the false prophets. “They tell false dreams and comfort in vain.” All through the Old Testament, God sent prophet after prophet to warn Israel to turn from sin and return to Him, but the false prophets far outnumbered the true prophets and their messages were always comforting. They were so encouraging. Their message was “Don’t worry; be happy.” Anyone who proclaims that our sin doesn’t matter, that God will just be happy to keep on forgiving us as we neglect to repent, and that He just really wants us to be happy in life---is a liar. ‘Nuff said.
In verse 3, the Lord begins to deal with another sort of problem.
“My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the goatherds. For the LORD of hosts will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His royal horse in the battle.”
The shepherds were the ones that had been entrusted with the flock, and the Bible refers many times to national and spiritual leaders as shepherds. Why is the Lord angry with His shepherds? Is He talking to Zerubbabel and Joshua? Or is He looking into the future? There is no clear reference to any particular person at that point in time, so I think He may have been looking ahead. He said that He would “visit His flock”, and when Jesus came to earth, what did He find in regard to the shepherds that were entrusted to lead His people? During Jesus’ ministry on earth, those who received the greatest condemnation and warning were the Pharisees—the spiritual leaders of Israel. All the people looked up to them as the most spiritual, most blessed, and most important of all the people. Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs.”
Who were the Pharisees, anyway, and where did they come from? The Pharisees were a religious sect that arose during the days of the Maccabbean rule—also called the Hasmonean Dynasty. This was a relatively brief period of time when the Greek rule over Israel was overthrown by Judas Maccabbeus and his family, around 165 BC, and this family ruled Israel until the Romans came in around 63 BC. This occurred during the 400 years of time between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus. The name “Pharisee” literally means “separated ones” and describes these men who sought to separate themselves from the Hellenistic influence of the day. The Greeks sought to assimilate conquered peoples by forcing their own culture on them—called hellenization—but some of the Jews would not submit. The Hasidim, a militant religious sect dedicated to strict obedience of the Law, arose during this time, and it was from the Hasidim that the Pharisees came. They accepted all the Old Testament writings as divinely inspired and sought strict adherence to the Law. Sounds good so far, right? So what was their problem in Jesus’ day? Well, they also accepted a lot of oral traditions and made up their own “rules” for keeping the Law perfectly. They respected their own “rules” as much or more than the Law of God. Over time, instead of keeping the Law out of reverence and love, they kept it in pride and walked in arrogance as the “spiritual leaders” of their people. They forgot their need for repentance and forgiveness, and even went so far as to find legal “loopholes” to allow them to circumvent the real intent of God’s Law. Ezekiel 34 is an indepth exposition of Zechariah 10:3, and it is well worth one’s time to read.
QUESTION: Do we have any religious leaders today who present their own ideas, rather than the word of God? Do we have any pastors or teachers today who walk in pride and arrogance, or who peddle the gospel for worldly gain? Do we have any teachers or preachers today who, although their message seems perfectly Scriptural, so much of their personality is interjected into their teaching that we come away thinking about how wonderful that teacher/preacher is, rather than how wonderful Jesus is? Do we have any well-meaning leaders today who load people up with all sorts of guilt as a means of manipulating them to do what they think is “right”?
Verse 4 of Zechariah 10 gives us four pictures of the Coming King. First, the Cornerstone. The cornerstone is critical to the structure of the building. It holds the weight and keeps the other stones in place. It has to be strong and perfectly placed—it is the starting point. Acts 4:11, Ephesians 2:20, and I Peter 2:5-7 all tell us that Jesus is the promised Cornerstone and that we are living stones being built up on Him. Next, Messiah is presented as the Tent Peg. II Corinthian 5:1 says,
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
In this verse, our bodies are compared to a tent. Tents are not intended to be permanent structures, but move from place to place—and they wear out. While we are on earth, we are in a tent—camping out, while we wait to reach our heavenly home. But what stabilizes the tent and keeps it from blowing away in any little gust of wind? In addition to a tent pole and ropes, you have to have tent pegs that are firmly driven into the ground. The pegs are independent of the tent—in fact, the book of Judges describes how Jael killed the enemy of Israel by driving a tent peg into his head while he slept (strong stomach for a woman!)—but the tent desperately needs to be firmly tied down to the pegs. So we see from this second illustration that, although Jesus doesn’t need us, we desperately need Him to tie on to. The third picture of Messiah in verse 4 is the Battle Bow. Whether we want it or not, the truth is that we have been born into a war that has been raging almost from the beginning of the race. Ephesians 6:12 says,
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Into this dark war between God and Satan, in which Satan wants to smirk and fling in the face of God such accusations as, “they only serve You because You give them what they want”, as he did concerning Job, I think God wants to fling back arrows in the form of faithful servants who have no personal agenda and truly love God with all their hearts. Where is the power to be found to fling such arrows? The Battle Bow is Jesus—He is the Source of the power for those who will trust Him. Are we willing to be loosed into the war, to fly true and hit the mark, shattering the lies of the enemy by living lives of true faith and perseverance, regardless of the circumstances or consequences? Finally, the Messiah is presented as the One from whom every ruler comes, and thereby, the Ruler of all—Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts. Not only does Revelation tell us that Jesus is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, but in John 19:10-11, Jesus reveals His own faith in the Lord’s ultimate rulership by saying to Pontius Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Jesus acknowledged in that one sentence that He had given Pilate the authority to order His own crucifixion! No wonder we are commanded to respect and pray for our leaders—even if they are often misguided or even flat out wicked.
Verses 5-6 again predict the victory of Israel over her enemies and their restoration into the Promised Land. I think that the success of the Maccabbean revolt was a small prefiguring of this promise, but the coming of the Messiah in triumph will be the obvious fulfillment. Verse 5 says, “they will tread down their enemies,” and is echoed in Revelation 19:15 when Jesus “treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” in His return to Jerusalem. The reference to the “house of Judah” in verse 6 refers to what was the southern kingdom, carried into captivity by Babylon. The “house of Joseph” would refer to the northern kingdom, carried away by Assyria. Though the northern kingdom is often referred to as the “Lost Ten Tribes”, this Scripture again makes it plain that there are no lost tribes—God had His hand on every one of them all the way through, and He will return them all to the land of promise. Verse 6 makes it plain that God is doing this for Israel because of His mercy, not their goodness. The same is true for us as Gentile believers, because salvation is a result of God’s mercy and love, not our deservedness. Then the Lord says an amazing thing in verse 6,
“They shall be as though I had not cast them aside.”
Israel will be so completely healed and restored that there will be no scars left. After Jacob spent the night wrestling with God, he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. That wrestling match left him with a permanent injury. When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, they could see and touch His scars—they remained as proof of His identity as their Savior. As believers, I think we all carry various scars as proof of who we are in Christ, but I believe that in our new bodies, they will be beauty marks, not disfigurements. But in regard to Israel, we see her as though nothing horrible had ever happened. To me, I see a totally new beginning for her as a nation—a fresh start on a new basis as the physical and spiritual people of God.
To those who love the Lord, verse 7 should just make for a glad heart:
“Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad, their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.”
Don’t you get tired of seeing Israel treated like some wart on the world’s nose? Don’t you get tired of hearing all the hateful rhetoric against them, and how they are blamed for everything that goes wrong—just like God gets blamed for every problem? Doesn’t it grieve you when the nations tell Israel that it is up to them to give up their land and let their sworn enemies plot and plan against them in their own backyard? This verse foretells the day when Israel will be respected above every other nation and their children will be uplifted, not discouraged and afraid. But it will come about only when “their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.”
Verse 8 reminds me of Matthew 24:31 when Jesus said,
“He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
The Lord’s “whistle” will sound like a mighty trumpet on earth, and all the remaining elect will return to Israel. As stated in a previous lesson, the Bible describes two different groups as “elect.” The Old Testament calls the nation of Israel “elect” and the New Testament calls those who have trusted Christ as Savior as “elect.” Thus, there is a heavenly elect and an earthly elect. The heavenly elect will meet Jesus in the air when He comes to claim them. The earthly elect will meet Him in Jerusalem when He returns to set up His earthly kingdom.
Verse 9 says,
“I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; they shall live, together with their children, and they shall return.”
This verse clearly prophesies a future scattering of Israel among all the nations, and so it has been for almost 2,000 years. They were scattered as seeds among the nations to test the nations, and the nations will be judged at the end by how they treated Israel when they were scattered among them. The marvel of Israel is that in all those centuries, they were never assimilated into the cultures that they were sown in. They remembered the Lord and His word and were never absorbed into the nations. The truth is that they would never have suffered as they did if they had allowed themselves to be assimilated—to become the same as those around them. It was their stubborn “differentness” that aroused persecution.
QUESTION: How do we treat those who are different? Jesus said, “Whatever you have done to the least of these My brothers, you have done to Me.”
Verse 10 says that they will be gathered back from the land of Egypt and Assyria. The Israelites found themselves in Egypt because of circumstances—they were trying to survive a famine. Ultimately, because they stayed in Egypt after the famine was over, they were enslaved. In Assyria, however, they were captives—prisoners of war who had been relocated in order to prevent them from regaining their place and power in their own land. So we see that some of the Jews have stayed away from the Promised Land because of circumstances—things were better elsewhere, until persecution arose. Others were forced out of the land against their will and were not able to return. But in the end, God will bring them all back, because that is where they truly belong. When they are all returned, they will fill up their borders, and Ezekiel tells us that the borders will be as follows:
Northern Border – north of Damascus, present day Syria
Southern Border – south of the Dead Sea in Kadesh
Western Border – Mediterranean Sea
Eastern Border – Gilead – east of Jordan River
Verse 11 says,
“He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the River shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.”
Revelation pictures the “sea” as symbolic of the nations. This verse, I believe, is a capsule form of the battles described in Revelation where the Lord will return and kill all His enemies and deliver Israel from those who are trying to destroy her. The “sea” will be struck with a mighty blow because the Bible tells us that the blood will swirl as high as the horse’s bridle throughout the valley of Armageddon—that’s a lot of killing. It also says that He will rule with a rod of iron—that means that His kingdom will not be a democracy. Now, this can get really offensive to people who only want to embrace the “love” of God (which they understand to be warm, fuzzy, and smooshy) but reject the judgment and rule of God. But the truth is, one cannot know the love of God without first understanding His right to rule and His demands for righteousness. It is only by understanding these harder truths that one can honestly be driven by desperation to the real love of God expressed on the Cross.
What a triumphant verse for the heart of God ends this chapter!
“So I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they shall walk up and down in His name.”
They will finally be where He wanted them to be all along. They will walk in His name and in His strength—not their own. They shall be for His glory and never again be led astray. He wanted them for His own people, but they would not be faithful. Finally, they will be the faithful ones He always longed for and planned for. Don’t you love those stories where somebody’s dream comes true? Well, in the end, God’s dream comes true! Won’t it be great to see it happen?
Thanks for following along. I am going on vacation in a week, but I hope to post the next lesson before I leave.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
ZECHARIAH LESSON ELEVEN
Welcome to Bible study online! Zechariah is a terrific book to study, especially as we see the Day of the LORD approaching. I like to think of it as the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament”, because it contains so many parallels with the New Testament book of Revelation. There are plenty of Scriptures to look up, so grab your Bible, and thanks for joining us!
ZECHARIAH LESSON ELEVEN
Zechariah chapter 9 marks the beginning of the final segment of this fascinating book. Chapters 1-6 gave us ten visions explaining God’s dealings with Israel in the past and His plans for their future. Chapter 7-8 constituted an historic interlude during which the issue of fasting was addressed. We will see that the final segment will focus primarily on the coming Messiah. An interesting note about these prophecies is that His first appearance as the Redeemer and His second coming as Sovereign are so intertwined that they can only be separated as we look back to the first coming. As a personal note, I was able to hear a rabbi from Jerusalem speak this past January, and it seems that the rabbis today can clearly see that there are two different types of prophecies regarding Israel and the Messiah, but they do not believe that all the Scriptures will be fulfilled. Instead they believe that there are two possibilities—if Israel repents and begins keeping the Law again, Path A will be fulfilled; however, if Israel does not begin keeping the Law, Path B will be fulfilled. As Christians, we believe that all the prophecies will be fulfilled—the prophecies concerning Messiah as Redeemer have already come to pass and the prophecies of Messiah as the King during the Millennium are drawing close.
THE COMING JUDGMENT
Zechariah 9:1-2 opens with a prophetic warning:
“The burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus its resting place (for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD); also against Hamath, which borders on it, and against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.”
The phrase “burden of the word of the LORD” means a prophetic warning of judgment. These nations have earned the Lord’s wrath due to idolatry, greed, and hatred of Israel and He is about to deal with them. The first eight verses actually outline the campaign of Alexander the Great so closely that unbelieving “scholars” often try to place the writing of these verses at a much later date in order to “explain” how the prophecies were so accurate.
Let’s take a look at the geography that is mentioned in the first eight verses. Hadrach and Hamath, with Damascus as the capital city, was what is present day Syria. Damascus is still the capital city today. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician coastal cities located north of Israel in present day Lebanon. Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod, and Gath were the five Philistine cities located in the southern part of Israel near the Mediterranean coast. All these places are located immediately around Israel. Over the centuries, they had traded with Israel and fought with Israel. They were steeped in paganism and enjoyed wealth from trade. Tyre and Sidon especially were wealthy due to commercial trade through their sea ports.
Alexander the Great marched across Europe and came through modern day Turkey. He was marching with a relatively small army of 50,000, so in order to protect his flank, he destroyed or crippled every city he passed through. He is remembered as cruel because of the way he destroyed everything in his path, but he was determined not to leave behind him any force that could come up and attack from the rear. After passing through Turkey, he came through Syria and wiped them out fulfilling the prophecy of verse 2.
Verses 3-4 say,
“For Tyre built herself a tower, heaped up silver like the dust, and gold like the mire of the streets. Behold, the LORD will cast her out; He will destroy her power in the sea, and she will be devoured by fire.”
Tyre was a city that was considered to be impregnable because it was built on an island. The Phoenicians were famous for their seafaring skills, and had used these skills to build tremendous wealth through commercial activities. Alexander besieged them for seven months and defeated them by using the ruins of their ancient city to build a causeway out to the island.
After finishing off the “impregnable” city of Tyre, Alexander turned south to the land of Philistia, and we read in verses 5-7,
“Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; and Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.”
As prophesied, Alexander destroyed these cities. Although there is a new city named Ashkelon today, the ancient city is still uninhabited. These cities are now part of modern day Israel. From verses 3-4, we can see that Tyre’s problem was that they trusted in wealth and their own power and genius. The Philistine’s problem was idolatry as seen in the reference to the abominations between their teeth, and the ruins of the ancient temple of Dagon can still be seen today.
After destroying the coastal cities, Alexander was ready to head east because his ultimate goal was to capture the Persian Empire. Next on the list would be Israel, but what did the Lord say through Zechariah? Verse 8 says,
“I will camp around My house because of the army, because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with My eyes.”
The story of Alexander approaching Jerusalem has to be one of history’s most fascinating moments. Everyone traveling with this great, victorious army supposed that Jerusalem would be destroyed just like all the other cities in the path of Alexander, especially because the High Priest had continued to pay the agreed tribute to the Persian Empire rather than to Alexander. Flavius Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, related this encounter in The Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter VIII. He says that the High Priest was instructed in a vision that he should go out to meet Alexander when he came to the city. So, as Alexander approached, he was quite surprised to see a venerable procession of priests, clothed in fine white linen, together with the High Priest, clothed in his designated purple and scarlet clothing with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate engraved with the name of God, along with many of the leading citizens. Alexander approached the High Priest alone—amazing thing to do—and saluted him and then worshiped the Name of God. His army thought him temporarily insane, but one of his military advisers, Parmenio, approached Alexander and asked what he was doing. Alexander then explained that while he was in Macedonia pondering how he might achieve his goal of conquering the world, he had received a vision of this High Priest dressed in these exact clothes. He had been told to bring his army and come for he would be given dominion over the Persians, so Alexander considered that the God served by this High Priest had given him his victories and would continue to do so. After this, Alexander went into the city and offered sacrifices and worshiped at the Temple. Don’t you just love it when God leaves everybody with their mouths hanging open!
THE COMING KING
These first eight verses have predicted the successful campaign of Alexander the Great, who was a brutal conqueror. At the age of 32, after conquering the world, he cried because there were no more cities to conquer. Then . . .he died of alcoholism. Let’s see how he compares to the coming King in the following verses.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
These two verses are a classic example of how the prophets viewed history as a series of mountain peaks that, to them, looked quite close together, but as history approached the actual moments, they were revealed to be peaks with great valleys of time in between. In these two verses we have both the first coming of Messiah and His subsequent return compressed and standing side by side in the Scriptures. Verse 9 is quoted by Matthew (21:2-7) and John (12:12-15) as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for His final Passover.
Verse 9 says, “Your King is coming to you.” God has always been Israel’s true king. From the beginning, the government of the nation was set up to be a theocracy, with God ruling over them through the priests. But in I Samuel 8:5, the people demanded of the prophet Samuel that he appoint over them a king so that they could be like all the other nations. I Samuel 8:7 says, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” They rejected Him during the days of the judges, and now He is coming to them again, riding on a donkey. Horses were the chosen animal during times of war, but the donkey was a noble little animal that kings rode upon during times of peace. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, just as a king would during days of peace. Did they accept their king? Not only did they reject Him as they did so many years before, they flat out killed Him. So why should there be any rejoicing, as the beginning of verse 9 indicates? Because God handles rejection a whole lot better than we do! He just doesn’t give up, and verse 10 is the proof. This verse looks ahead to the Millennial Kingdom in which Jesus will rule, finally and forever. Micah 4:1-4 looks ahead to the coming days when the King will receive His Kingdom, and they are words to cause rejoicing, not just for Israel, but for all the earth.
WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL?
Verse 11 says,
“As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.”
God has not forgotten His covenant with Israel—He will be their God and they will be His people. We live in a day where people make promises that they don’t keep, but God never forgets. He has had to discipline Israel for their own good, and even that was a sign of His covenant with them. The mention of the “waterless pit” reminded me of Joseph who was thrown by his brothers into a pit. What a helpless feeling that must be. In a deep pit, one cannot help himself at all. He cannot climb out without assistance, nor can he find food or water. He must depend totally on someone else. In captivity, the Jews were at the mercy of their captors, but God is ready to set them free.
Verse 12 says,
“Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.”
Even though Cyrus allowed all the Jews who desired to leave, only a remnant returned to Israel. I believe the stronghold is Jerusalem, but when Zechariah wrote this, Jerusalem’s walls were in ruins; it was anything but a stronghold in the earthly sense. So I believe that he is speaking of a spiritual stronghold. God is telling the Jews to return to the Lord in the land that He has given to them. He wants them to get out of Babylon and leave behind its worldly ideas and ways of doing things. Get the spiritual part right first, and then the physical side of things will be made right. The prison of hope is a good place to find oneself incarcerated, because we know that “hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).
Verse 13 is very interesting, and I think we can find its fulfillment:
“For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man.”
We have just studied about Alexander’s conquest in the Middle East and how Jerusalem was spared, so this reference to Greece is some time after Alexander. I think it refers to the days of the rule of the Seleucid kings. After Alexander died, his kingdom was divided among four generals. The Ptolemies took Egypt and the Seleucids took Syria and they fought over the land of Palestine. The Seleucids finally came out on top, but eventually oppressed the Israelite people, demanding that they forsake their own religion and embrace Greek ways. Eventually God raised up the Maccabbean family and they overthrew the Greek rule until the time of the Romans.
In the final verses of Chapter 9, I find a dual fulfillment. The coming oppression of the Greeks, and particularly in Antiochus IV Epiphanes, will be put down through the Maccabees. I also think that it looks forward to the coming of Jesus when He will ride in, this time on a white horse, and destroy the Antichrist and his armies. Verse fifteen describes the thrill of victory that Israel will experience in those days. I think God gets tired of seeing the nations kick His people around and treat them like they are the lowest of the low. In verse sixteen, He sets it all straight, “for they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land.” Even after all their failures and rejection of Him as king, they are still His precious jewels, and He is Jehovah Nissi – their banner of victory.
Verse seventeen concludes with the restoration of the land of Israel. No more will it be barren; no more a wilderness in desperate need of water. It will be beautiful and fertile with all that people need to thrive. That final verse makes special reference to young people being satisfied with the produce of the land. Youth needs a lot of food in order to grow and develop. How tragic to see malnourished young people and children, but how tragic also to see so many young people who do not have proper spiritual nourishment. The best time to introduce a person to Christ is when he is young, and yet how few parents, comparatively, bother to attend to their children’s spiritual development. The majority cannot be bothered to get up for church on Sunday, and of those who do, many are only concerned with finding a church that is “fun” for their kids, seeking spiritual dessert rather than spiritual bread and meat for them. Is it any wonder that the moral structure of our nation is imploding? Thank God the day is coming when He will remedy all these ills, and youth will have the opportunity it needs to thrive in every sense of the word.
Thanks for following along with me! The next lesson is scheduled to post in about one week.
ZECHARIAH LESSON ELEVEN
Zechariah chapter 9 marks the beginning of the final segment of this fascinating book. Chapters 1-6 gave us ten visions explaining God’s dealings with Israel in the past and His plans for their future. Chapter 7-8 constituted an historic interlude during which the issue of fasting was addressed. We will see that the final segment will focus primarily on the coming Messiah. An interesting note about these prophecies is that His first appearance as the Redeemer and His second coming as Sovereign are so intertwined that they can only be separated as we look back to the first coming. As a personal note, I was able to hear a rabbi from Jerusalem speak this past January, and it seems that the rabbis today can clearly see that there are two different types of prophecies regarding Israel and the Messiah, but they do not believe that all the Scriptures will be fulfilled. Instead they believe that there are two possibilities—if Israel repents and begins keeping the Law again, Path A will be fulfilled; however, if Israel does not begin keeping the Law, Path B will be fulfilled. As Christians, we believe that all the prophecies will be fulfilled—the prophecies concerning Messiah as Redeemer have already come to pass and the prophecies of Messiah as the King during the Millennium are drawing close.
THE COMING JUDGMENT
Zechariah 9:1-2 opens with a prophetic warning:
“The burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus its resting place (for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD); also against Hamath, which borders on it, and against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.”
The phrase “burden of the word of the LORD” means a prophetic warning of judgment. These nations have earned the Lord’s wrath due to idolatry, greed, and hatred of Israel and He is about to deal with them. The first eight verses actually outline the campaign of Alexander the Great so closely that unbelieving “scholars” often try to place the writing of these verses at a much later date in order to “explain” how the prophecies were so accurate.
Let’s take a look at the geography that is mentioned in the first eight verses. Hadrach and Hamath, with Damascus as the capital city, was what is present day Syria. Damascus is still the capital city today. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician coastal cities located north of Israel in present day Lebanon. Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod, and Gath were the five Philistine cities located in the southern part of Israel near the Mediterranean coast. All these places are located immediately around Israel. Over the centuries, they had traded with Israel and fought with Israel. They were steeped in paganism and enjoyed wealth from trade. Tyre and Sidon especially were wealthy due to commercial trade through their sea ports.
Alexander the Great marched across Europe and came through modern day Turkey. He was marching with a relatively small army of 50,000, so in order to protect his flank, he destroyed or crippled every city he passed through. He is remembered as cruel because of the way he destroyed everything in his path, but he was determined not to leave behind him any force that could come up and attack from the rear. After passing through Turkey, he came through Syria and wiped them out fulfilling the prophecy of verse 2.
Verses 3-4 say,
“For Tyre built herself a tower, heaped up silver like the dust, and gold like the mire of the streets. Behold, the LORD will cast her out; He will destroy her power in the sea, and she will be devoured by fire.”
Tyre was a city that was considered to be impregnable because it was built on an island. The Phoenicians were famous for their seafaring skills, and had used these skills to build tremendous wealth through commercial activities. Alexander besieged them for seven months and defeated them by using the ruins of their ancient city to build a causeway out to the island.
After finishing off the “impregnable” city of Tyre, Alexander turned south to the land of Philistia, and we read in verses 5-7,
“Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; and Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.”
As prophesied, Alexander destroyed these cities. Although there is a new city named Ashkelon today, the ancient city is still uninhabited. These cities are now part of modern day Israel. From verses 3-4, we can see that Tyre’s problem was that they trusted in wealth and their own power and genius. The Philistine’s problem was idolatry as seen in the reference to the abominations between their teeth, and the ruins of the ancient temple of Dagon can still be seen today.
After destroying the coastal cities, Alexander was ready to head east because his ultimate goal was to capture the Persian Empire. Next on the list would be Israel, but what did the Lord say through Zechariah? Verse 8 says,
“I will camp around My house because of the army, because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with My eyes.”
The story of Alexander approaching Jerusalem has to be one of history’s most fascinating moments. Everyone traveling with this great, victorious army supposed that Jerusalem would be destroyed just like all the other cities in the path of Alexander, especially because the High Priest had continued to pay the agreed tribute to the Persian Empire rather than to Alexander. Flavius Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, related this encounter in The Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter VIII. He says that the High Priest was instructed in a vision that he should go out to meet Alexander when he came to the city. So, as Alexander approached, he was quite surprised to see a venerable procession of priests, clothed in fine white linen, together with the High Priest, clothed in his designated purple and scarlet clothing with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate engraved with the name of God, along with many of the leading citizens. Alexander approached the High Priest alone—amazing thing to do—and saluted him and then worshiped the Name of God. His army thought him temporarily insane, but one of his military advisers, Parmenio, approached Alexander and asked what he was doing. Alexander then explained that while he was in Macedonia pondering how he might achieve his goal of conquering the world, he had received a vision of this High Priest dressed in these exact clothes. He had been told to bring his army and come for he would be given dominion over the Persians, so Alexander considered that the God served by this High Priest had given him his victories and would continue to do so. After this, Alexander went into the city and offered sacrifices and worshiped at the Temple. Don’t you just love it when God leaves everybody with their mouths hanging open!
THE COMING KING
These first eight verses have predicted the successful campaign of Alexander the Great, who was a brutal conqueror. At the age of 32, after conquering the world, he cried because there were no more cities to conquer. Then . . .he died of alcoholism. Let’s see how he compares to the coming King in the following verses.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
These two verses are a classic example of how the prophets viewed history as a series of mountain peaks that, to them, looked quite close together, but as history approached the actual moments, they were revealed to be peaks with great valleys of time in between. In these two verses we have both the first coming of Messiah and His subsequent return compressed and standing side by side in the Scriptures. Verse 9 is quoted by Matthew (21:2-7) and John (12:12-15) as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for His final Passover.
Verse 9 says, “Your King is coming to you.” God has always been Israel’s true king. From the beginning, the government of the nation was set up to be a theocracy, with God ruling over them through the priests. But in I Samuel 8:5, the people demanded of the prophet Samuel that he appoint over them a king so that they could be like all the other nations. I Samuel 8:7 says, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” They rejected Him during the days of the judges, and now He is coming to them again, riding on a donkey. Horses were the chosen animal during times of war, but the donkey was a noble little animal that kings rode upon during times of peace. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, just as a king would during days of peace. Did they accept their king? Not only did they reject Him as they did so many years before, they flat out killed Him. So why should there be any rejoicing, as the beginning of verse 9 indicates? Because God handles rejection a whole lot better than we do! He just doesn’t give up, and verse 10 is the proof. This verse looks ahead to the Millennial Kingdom in which Jesus will rule, finally and forever. Micah 4:1-4 looks ahead to the coming days when the King will receive His Kingdom, and they are words to cause rejoicing, not just for Israel, but for all the earth.
WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL?
Verse 11 says,
“As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.”
God has not forgotten His covenant with Israel—He will be their God and they will be His people. We live in a day where people make promises that they don’t keep, but God never forgets. He has had to discipline Israel for their own good, and even that was a sign of His covenant with them. The mention of the “waterless pit” reminded me of Joseph who was thrown by his brothers into a pit. What a helpless feeling that must be. In a deep pit, one cannot help himself at all. He cannot climb out without assistance, nor can he find food or water. He must depend totally on someone else. In captivity, the Jews were at the mercy of their captors, but God is ready to set them free.
Verse 12 says,
“Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.”
Even though Cyrus allowed all the Jews who desired to leave, only a remnant returned to Israel. I believe the stronghold is Jerusalem, but when Zechariah wrote this, Jerusalem’s walls were in ruins; it was anything but a stronghold in the earthly sense. So I believe that he is speaking of a spiritual stronghold. God is telling the Jews to return to the Lord in the land that He has given to them. He wants them to get out of Babylon and leave behind its worldly ideas and ways of doing things. Get the spiritual part right first, and then the physical side of things will be made right. The prison of hope is a good place to find oneself incarcerated, because we know that “hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5).
Verse 13 is very interesting, and I think we can find its fulfillment:
“For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man.”
We have just studied about Alexander’s conquest in the Middle East and how Jerusalem was spared, so this reference to Greece is some time after Alexander. I think it refers to the days of the rule of the Seleucid kings. After Alexander died, his kingdom was divided among four generals. The Ptolemies took Egypt and the Seleucids took Syria and they fought over the land of Palestine. The Seleucids finally came out on top, but eventually oppressed the Israelite people, demanding that they forsake their own religion and embrace Greek ways. Eventually God raised up the Maccabbean family and they overthrew the Greek rule until the time of the Romans.
In the final verses of Chapter 9, I find a dual fulfillment. The coming oppression of the Greeks, and particularly in Antiochus IV Epiphanes, will be put down through the Maccabees. I also think that it looks forward to the coming of Jesus when He will ride in, this time on a white horse, and destroy the Antichrist and his armies. Verse fifteen describes the thrill of victory that Israel will experience in those days. I think God gets tired of seeing the nations kick His people around and treat them like they are the lowest of the low. In verse sixteen, He sets it all straight, “for they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land.” Even after all their failures and rejection of Him as king, they are still His precious jewels, and He is Jehovah Nissi – their banner of victory.
Verse seventeen concludes with the restoration of the land of Israel. No more will it be barren; no more a wilderness in desperate need of water. It will be beautiful and fertile with all that people need to thrive. That final verse makes special reference to young people being satisfied with the produce of the land. Youth needs a lot of food in order to grow and develop. How tragic to see malnourished young people and children, but how tragic also to see so many young people who do not have proper spiritual nourishment. The best time to introduce a person to Christ is when he is young, and yet how few parents, comparatively, bother to attend to their children’s spiritual development. The majority cannot be bothered to get up for church on Sunday, and of those who do, many are only concerned with finding a church that is “fun” for their kids, seeking spiritual dessert rather than spiritual bread and meat for them. Is it any wonder that the moral structure of our nation is imploding? Thank God the day is coming when He will remedy all these ills, and youth will have the opportunity it needs to thrive in every sense of the word.
Thanks for following along with me! The next lesson is scheduled to post in about one week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
