Morning Light – December 20th, 2017 – Zecheriah 1: The Introduction of a Seer

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Today: [Zecheriah 1] The Introduction of a Seer. In the book of Zecheriah we have an excellent example of a seer prophet. Zecheriah experiences several visions during the time that Haggai was prophesying. Zecheriah’s ministry is quite different than that of Haggai, but his message confirms the call to rebuild the temple, and the promise that the ancient enemies of Israel and Judah are about to be brought to heel.
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[Zec 1:1-21 KJV] 1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and [from] your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. 5 Your fathers, where [are] they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. 7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which [is] the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that [were] in the bottom; and behind him [were there] red horses, speckled, and white. 9 Then said I, O my lord, what [are] these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these [be]. 10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These [are they] whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. 11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
Zecheriah began prophesying the same year that Haggai did in 520 BC, the second year of the reign of Darius of Persia. We know from Haggai that this was a time that the rebuilding of Jerusalem was quite under way, but the reconstruction of the temple had been delayed by the people. In verse 2 Zecheriah reminds the returnees of God’s displeasure with their fathers who had languished for 70 years in Babylonian captivity. This was intended to address what had become a tepid commitment on the part of the people to the temple project and to assure they did not repeat the sins of their fathers. This is an important lesson because with the passing of older generations we tend to white wash the shortcomings of our forebears, and because we are loathe to criticize them, we inadvertently fall into the same sins and shortcomings generationally that they did, with the same results.
The word of the Lord from Zecheriah is “turn to Me and I will turn to you”. The the message has not changed, for it was the same cry that went out over Jerusalem before the captivity, yet the people would not hear. Zecheriah asks the question, where are their fathers? Their bones lie in funeral niches in the catacombs of Babylon. Babylon means “confusion”. It is more than a historical reference, for we find 4 chapters of the book of Revelation speaking of the principle of Babylon alive and well in our times. The fathers and grandfathers of these returnees fostered an attitude toward the things of God that resulted in horrific loss and decades long captivity, as v. 6 states the command of God and the words of the prophets took hold of them. Rather however, than repent in Jerusalem they repented in Babylon, but one way or another repentance came as they declared “according to our ways and according to our doings so has God dealt with us…”
This is the purpose of the law revealed according to Gal. 3:24 – the law is our school master to bring us to Christ. These people lived under an Old Covenant economy where God dealt with them according to the works of the law. Where obedience is not forthcoming, retribution was the end result. What is the answer? In the fullness of time Jesus came and in Christ the occasion is afforded us not only to be called to outward obedience, but to receive the spirit of adoption that changes our nature and enables us to be like God, dependent upon God and in relationship to him in ways that were not available to the Old Testament peoples.
In verse 7 then, a new vision comes to Zecheriah of a man sitting astride a red horse in a stand of myrtle trees. Behind this rider were more red horses, that were speckled and white. Here Zecheriah is demonstrating the character of a seer. He doesn’t understand what he sees and asks for an explanation. The answer comes from the vision itself as the man on the red horse among the myrtles declares that they are spiritual beings sent by God to walk to and fro in the earth, for the purpose of reporting back to the throne of God in this instance that all is quiet and still in the earth. This is not acceptable however, because it is a state of affairs where the people of God are still in captivity, and those who have returned are struggling to move forward with the temple project in the newly reconstructed city of Jerusalem. The rest is not the rest of God but the rest of the enemies of God – the nations at war with Israel who feel they have now conquered and reign supreme with the saints as their bound captives.
What is the meaning of the myrtle trees as the setting of this encounter? The myrtle tree is a sweet fragrant tree that represents blessing, peace and prosperity. Remember that Haggai described the state of affairs in Jerusalem at this time as exactly the opposite. Things were not going well; the crops were minimal. Wealth was elusive, all because the people were caught up in their own affairs to the exclusion of commitment to the larger purpose of coming to Jerusalem, which was to rebuild the temple. The message from the myrtle trees is that prosperity and blessing were available as Haggai prophesied, but only as the people reform their priorities according to the word of the Lord through Haggai and commit themselves wholesale to the broader purposes of God in this case, till the restoration temple is erected.
12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? 13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me [with] good words [and] comfortable words. 14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen [that are] at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. 16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. 18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. 19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What [be] these? And he answered me, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20 And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. 21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
After the initial explanation given to Zecheriah by the rider on the red horse standing among the myrtle trees, the rider throws back his head and cries out asking God how long will the enemies of God be at peace and the mercies of heaven not be manifest in the city of Jerusalem? It has been seventy years of indignation against the people for the sins of their fathers. The greater majority of those who were driven from Jerusalem died in captivity by this point and these returnees were a new generation who had never seen the land of their forefathers, yet had now come to claim their inheritance in God. To the angel’s question the Lord answers with words that are not specified, but are nonetheless characterized as good and comfortable language of promise regarding the struggles of the peoples.
The angel then turns and gives Zecheriah a prophecy to return to the people of Jerusalem. God is a jealous God. He is jealous over Jerusalem and He is jealous over Zion with a great jealousy. Though the enemies of God prosper, God is nonetheless sore displeased by their ease, and His anger is redoubled by their conduct toward His chosen people. For this reason, the promise is that God will return to Jerusalem and show mercy and give occasion for the temple to finally be rebuilt. For us we know that natural Jerusalem is the shadow, of which the book of Hebrews affirms to us the church is the substance. Jerusalem in the middle east is superintended by the hand of God as an echo of what God is doing among His people the church of the living God which is the heavenly Jerusalem come down from on high.
In verse 17 prosperity is promised, as in the book of Haggai we find the reminder that the gold belongs to God and the silver belongs to God. The earth indeed is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. When we ask where all the money comes from, remember that the wealth of the heathen says God is laid up for the just!
Finally, in our chapter Zecheriah sees a new vision of four horns that represent the four empires whose policies brought the people of God into captivity and resulted in the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. These were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia. Each of these are spoken of in the New Testament as representing the Flesh, the Anti-Christ, Religious Confusion and World Domination. To bring these forces to heel as God promised, there are four “carpenters” or “artisans” who shred the four horns that plagued the people of God and bring them to failure in the ongoing purposes of the established plan of God for Jerusalem and by extension for you and I. What are the four “carpenters”? Jesus remember was a carpenter. The four horns are the four gospels, the power of whose message literally swept the ancient world into the dust bin of history and brought forth a geopolitical landscape in the early centuries of the church in which the people of God figured prominently in world affairs even as they do today in spite of the efforts of men to exclude Christian culture from the public square.