Morning Light – December 28th, 2017 – Zecheriah 6: The Four Living Creatures

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Today: [Zecheriah 6] The Four Living Creatures: In Zech. 6 we are introduced to the four living spirits that stand before God’s throne. They represent something of God’s making not only in the heavens but also within our own lives. They are tasked with “quieting the Lord’s Spirit in the earth”. The meaning of these things has implications for us more impactful than we could ever know, as we will see in our study of Zecheriah 6.
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[Zec 6:1-15 KJV] 1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains [were] mountains of brass. 2 In the first chariot [were] red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What [are] these, my lord? 5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These [are] the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The black horses which [are] therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. 7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. 9 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 10 Take of [them of] the captivity, [even] of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; 11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set [them] upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name [is] The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. 14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD. 15 And they [that are] far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And [this] shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.
In chapter 6 Zecheriah sees a vision of four chariots riding between two great mountains of brass and heading into the four corners of the earth. The chariots are drawn by red, black, white, and spotted horses. When Zecheriah asks what the chariots and their horses represent, he is told by the angel that they are the four spirits of the heavens that otherwise are posted to stand before the Lord of all the earth. It is important to interpret this vision in the context of the culminating vision of the previous chapter. In chapter 5 there is a picture of universal sin being dealt with by the Messiah. The visions involve local situations in Zecheriah’s life but they have connotations of a much broader perspective, speaking of God’s dealings with the affairs of men throughout time and ultimately answering the sin question brought about by Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
The mountains of brass speak of the judgment man brought upon himself because of the fall. Notice that there are two mountains and not just one. In the fall man did not merely partake of the tree of evil, he partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Whatever good and evil represent in this tree they arise from the same root, and their fruit when partaken of produces in us the fallen nature. Being good in this context then is as much a manifestation of fallen nature in us as being evil. God hates evil and He has no need for the good in us that arises from the root of this tree of disobedience. It is all about the judgments that men make. The mountains are made of brass. We choose that which we perceive as good and we reject the evil. Eve when she looked upon the tree saw that it was good and reached out for it. She was seeking what she thought was a good thing but the end was destruction. When you ask someone how to get to heaven, many times they will make reference to the need to being a good person. That is the fallen nature expressing itself. This is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil manifesting its influence in our lives.
The condition of the fall was brought about not by man trying to be like God. He was already like God and he knew it. The temptation was to be like God independent of God. To sit in judgment without any need to look to God for wisdom or for direction. These mountains of judgment (of good or evil) represent the tree of the knowledge of good and evil itself. When these four chariots, these living spirits come from God’s throne into the earth they must pass in between these two mountains of brass, of man’s judgment, and judgments.
What more do we know about these four chariots representing the four “spirits of the heavens”. John the Revelator saw them in another form:
[Rev 4:6 KJV] 6 And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
The four beasts full of eyes in Rev. 4:6 are the same as the four chariots of Zecheriah 6:2-3. What do they do day and night? They cry “holy, holy, holy” before the Lord. Bear in mind that they not only represent something of God’s prophetic timeline, they also represent something on the inside of us. The 24 elders in Rev. 4 correspond to the 24 ribs encasing our heart. Our heart has four chambers corresponding to the four living creatures of Rev. 4 and the 4 chariots of Zech. 6. In Luke 17:21 Jesus declared that the kingdom (whatever He considered it to be) is within you. That includes the throne room. That which causes your heart to beat proceeds from the uncreated life of God and cries “holy, holy, holy” night and day before the throne of your heart.
Verse 5 tells us that these four spirits periodically go forth from standing before the Lord of the whole earth. How many times have you awakened from a night’s sleep and know that you have been somewhere other than in your bedroom? Your human spirit is like God because it is God’s house. It never slumbers and it never sleeps. It is the one part of yourself as a believer that is untouched by fallen nature because God could never live in your heart if it did. It arises in the night and it goes forth from between the mountains of judgment in your soul, or your mind and it searches the earth with the purpose (verse 8 tells us) of quieting the Lord’s Spirit in the north. What does the north represent? The judgments of God Himself. God sits in the sides of the north in judgment over all the earth. How are the judgments of God quieted? By the expiation of the shed blood of Christ in our behalf. Your human spirit communes with God in the heavens making the case for forgiveness, clemency and blessing in your life by the shed blood of Christ and in so doing quiets the Spirit of the Lord where the matter of divine judgment is concerned.
In verses 9-13 Zecheriah, having witnessed the quieting the Spirit of the Lord in the north is instructed to put a crown on the high priest Joshua’s head in order to depict him as “the BRANCH”. The BRANCH is none other than the Messiah. When the judgments of God are quieted in you by the shed blood of Christ the Lordship of Christ becomes a possibility in your life. Until the sin debt is paid and the sin principle in you defeated, you are incapable of obedience, you are incapable of being brought under the lordship of Christ because you are in your person a child of disobedience. When however, the sin debt is paid and the judgment of God satisfied in your behalf by the work of the cross it is now possible for Jesus, your Joshua to be crowned in you for the purpose (v. 13) of building you to be His temple individually and just as important to be a lively stone of His temple corporately by means of your placement and commitment to the body of Christ.
This chapter depicts what Jesus came to do. These verses constitute the passage where Jesus as a child discovered His assignment from the Father to build a temple, which represents the church of the living God. When He said He would build a temple it was upon this reference that He was standing, because Joshua in Zech. 6 is a type and shadow of Jesus that was to come and the temple that He was to build, specifically the church itself.
Having laid this foundation, notice what verse 15 says: “they that are far off shall come and build in the temple…” Who is this speaking of? It is speaking of the apostles, as wise master builders laying upon the foundation that is none other than Jesus Himself. Let Me ask you the question, who is the apostle in your life? It isn’t enough to be tended by a shepherd. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. God doesn’t just want us to be tended, He wants us and intends us to be builded together according to His corporate purposes into a house of God and that requires an apostle, the ministry of an apostle. We need more than just one ministry. In Eph. 4:11-12 Jesus gave not just one, but 5 necessary anointings and office callings that each one of us should be exposed to and open to and shaped by if we ever hope to be a part of this temple depicted that the Messiah is come to build in the earth.