TOMS: Zechariah 6-9

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Nov. 27, 2006

It's good to be back. I've been home with my folks for a few days, which is always good, but also means no internet, which is both good and bad. It's nice to unplug for a while, but it's also good to get plugged back in. It probably wouldn't have mattered much anyway, because I was so sick this weekend I couldn't have thought straight enough to put my thoughts together.

In Chapter 6 Zechariah has one more vision. It is of four chariots. Two of them go north, one goes south, and the last one patrols the whole earth. I don't pretend to have any idea what this means. I'm looking forward to the New Testament, where I am more comfortable. I'm sure someone does, but I have not done enough study and the meaning is not obvious to me. The rest of the chapter is about a special ceremony God told Zechariah to perform upon Joshua the high priest. This was a very important time for the Jewish nation. Everything they knew was destroyed. But God was not through with them, and they were to continue serve Him.

Chapters 7-8 is a very interesting conversation. The people who had resettled at Bethel came to Jerusalem to ask if they should continue to fast in the fifth month, as they had throughout the captivity. Zechariah's response gives us all something to think about:

"When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" (7:6-7)

God was saying that things done to make ourselves feel good and impress others are worthless to God. They were going through rituals that made themselves feel spiritual, but the rest of their lives they forgot about God. A lot of times I wonder how much of what we do in our churches is a lot of the same. Fasting was not a bad thing, but apparently it was done for the wrong reasons, not to pray and bring honor to God. God gives them an alternative that is more pleasing to Him:

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against one another in your heart." (7:9-10)

God is more concerned about our love for each other than He is about our outward show of service. God says it is better to enjoy His gifts and share them with others:

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace." (8:19)

Chapter 9 is a pronouncement of judgment on Israel's enemies and a prediction of the future glory of Jerusalem and Israel. There is also a prophecy of the coming of Christ:

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (9:9 ESV)

TOMS: Zechariah 1-5

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Nov. 21, 2006

The first section of this book is a series of visions the Lord shows the prophet. There are seven visions in these first five chapters, and one or two more in the chapters that follow. In the first vision, he sees a man on a red horse and a group of men on horses behind him. The man on the horse announces that the Lord will restore Jerusalem. The men behind him are those who run and see all over the earth.

The second vision is of four horns that represent four nations that oppressed Judah. The Lord sends out craftsmen to cut down these horns and remove the threat. The third vision is of a man with a measuring line, who cannot measure Jerusalem because of its enormous size. The city is bigger than its walls, but God says He will be a wall for Jerusalem. This is most likely a vision of the future Jerusalem in the time of Christ's kingdom.

The fourth vision is of Joshua the high priest. He is standing before the Lord with dirty robes as Satan is calling on God to kill him. But God commands that new robes be put on him. Of course, Joshua is symbolic of all the people of Israel. They had been soiled by sin, but God was going to clean Israel up and make it new again, despite their former sin.

The fifth vision is of a golden lampstand and two olive trees. This vision is a word of encouragement to Zerubbabel that God is going to use him. Zerubbabel must have been terribly unsure of himself. In the previous book, Haggai encourages Zerubbabel to be strong and that God is going to use him to lead the people of Israel as they return. This vision by Zechariah is similar.

The sixth vision is of a flying scroll. This scroll is a new law, which will chase down those who steal and lie and destroy them. This could be a reference to Christ's reign, in which He will impose perfect justice all over the world, or it could be a reference to "the new heart" of conscience that Jeremiah talks about or it could be something else entirely. Somebody smarter than I probably has a definitive answer, but not me. Sorry.

The seventh vision at the end of Chapter 5 is the strangest of all. Zechariah sees a basket which the angel with him calls "iniquity." The man opens the basket, and there is a woman inside called "Wickedness." Two women with wings pick up the basket and carry it to Shinar. Shinar is usually a reference to Babylon, and that's really all I can tell you. Whether this is a reference to the Beast of the tribulation or something totally different, I have no idea.

I am sure that one day the Lord will make it obvious to us what these prophecies are about, but for now they are so shrouded in mystery that it is dangerous to be dogmatic about what they mean. It's fine to talk about them - why else would God have put them in the Bible? But people who think they have all these things figured out and who make a big deal about it, looking down on those who disagree as fools for not studying it more, do no service to the cause of Christ. Let's do our best to be charitable to everyone who actually makes an honest attempt to study these difficult passages.