OCTOBER 2

Zechariah's Futuristic Prophecies

There  is no indication at all as to when the final prophecies of Zechariah are either received or recorded. It is not likely that they would have come later than about 460 B.C. Since the historical record is otherwise virtually silent for about 35 years, Zechariah's last prophecies will be set forth at this point.

 

The prophecies, in the form of two oracles, are once again highly figurative. They are undoubtedly messianic and give some of the clearest details about the life and death of the Messiah. For example, in contrast to the present kings and their chariots of war, this spiritual King will come gently in peace, riding on a donkey. He will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, and he will be pierced at the time of his death.

Zechariah addresses a number of themes past, present, and future which lead to an apocalyptic view of the great battle between good and evil, the destruction of the wicked, and the salvation of the righteous.

 

DESTRUCTION OF OPPRESSORS. zech. 9:1-8   

The word of the lord is against the land of Hadrach

and will rest upon Damascus— for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel

are on the lord and upon Hamath too, which borders on it,

and upon Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful. Tyre has built herself a stronghold;

she has heaped up silver like dust,

and gold like the dirt of the streets. But the Lord will take away her possessions

and destroy her power on the sea,

and she will be consumed by fire. Ashkelon will see it and fear;

Gaza will writhe in agony,

and Ekron too, for her hope will wither. Gaza will lose her king

and Ashkelon will be deserted. Foreigners will occupy Ashdod,

and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take the blood from their mouths,

the forbidden food from between their teeth. Those who are left will belong to our God

and become leaders in Judah,

and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. But I will defend my house

against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,

for now I am keeping watch.

 

COMING OF ZION'S KING. Zech.9:9-13

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king'' comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war-horses from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River' to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope;

even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to

you. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow

and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion,

against your sons, O Greece,

and make you like a warrior's sword.

 

APPEARANCE OF THE LORD. Zech. 9:14-17

Then the lord will appear over them;

his arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign lord will sound the trumpet;

he will march in the storms of the south,

and the lord Almighty will shield them. They will destroy

and overcome with sling stones. They will drink and roar as with wine;

they will be full like a bowl

used for sprinkling the corners of the altar. The lord their God will save them on that day

as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land

like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be!

Grain will make the young men thrive,

and new wine the young women.

 

RUIN BY LEADERS. Zech. 10:1-3

Ask the lord for rain in the springtime;

it is the lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men,

and plants of the field to everyone. The idols speak deceit,

diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false,

they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep

oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

"My anger burns against the shepherds,

and I will punish the leaders; for the lord Almighty will care

'That is, the Euphrates      

for his flock, the house of Judah,

and make them like a proud horse in battle.

 

REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL. zech.10:4-12

From Judah will come the cornerstone,

from him the tent peg,

from him the battle bow,

from him every ruler. Together they' will be like mighty men

trampling the muddy streets in battle. Because the lord is with them,

they will fight and overthrow the horsemen.

 

"I will strengthen the house of Judah

and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them

because I have compassion on them. They will be as though

I had not rejected them, for I am the lord their God

and I will answer them. The Ephraimites will become like mighty men,

and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful;

their hearts will rejoice in the lord. I will signal for them

and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them;

they will be as numerous as before. Though I scatter them among the peoples,

yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive,

and they will return. I will bring them back from Egypt

and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,

and there will not be room enough for them. They will pass through the sea of trouble;

the surging sea will be subdued

and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyria's pride will be brought down

and Egypt's scepter will pass away. I will strengthen them in the lord

and in his name they will walk,"

 

declares the lord.

 

LAMENT FOR SHEPHERDS. zech.11:1-3

Open your doors, O Lebanon,

so that fire may devour your cedars! Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;

the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan;

the dense forest has been cut down! Listen to the wail of the shepherds;

their rich pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions;

the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

 

THE GOOD AND BAD SHEPHERDS. zech.11:4-17

This is what the lord my God   says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the lord, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them. For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land," declares the lord. "I will hand everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the land, and I will not res­cue them from their hands."

 

So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock. In one month I got rid of the three shep­herds.

 

The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said, "I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh."

Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the lord.

 

I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

And the lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter" — the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the lord to the potter.

Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Then the lord said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shep­herd. For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.

"Woe to the worthless shepherd,

who deserts the flock!

May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!"

 

An Oracle

 

SALVATION OF JERUSALEM. Zech. 12:1-9

   This is the word of the lord concerning  Israel. The lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reel­ing. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure them­selves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the lord. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the lord Almighty is their God.'

 

"On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a wood­pile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.

"The lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the lord going before them. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.

 

MOURNING FOR ONE PIERCED. Zech. 12:10-14

 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit1" of grace and supplica­tion. They will look on" me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.

 

CLEANSING FROM SIN. Zech. 13:1-6

"On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

"On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more," declares the lord Almighty. "I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother, to whom he was born, will say to him, 'You must die, because you have told lies in the lord's name.' When he prophesies, his own parents will stab him.

"On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his prophetic vision. He will not put on a prophet's garment of hair in order to deceive. He will say, 'I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth."' If someone asks him, 'What are these wounds on your body?' he will answer, 'The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.'

 

THE SCATTERED SHEEP. Zech. 13:7-9

"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the lord Almighty. "Strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land," declares the lord, "two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.

 

This third I will bring into the fire;

I will refine them like silver

and test them like gold. They will call on my name

and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people

and they will say, 'The lord is our God "

 

 

THE GREAT BATTLE. Zech. 14:1-7

A day of the lord is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

Then the lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.

 

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake'? in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the lord. When evening comes, there will be light.

 

THE KING'S REIGN. Zech. 14:8-11

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusa­lem, half to the eastern sear and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.

The lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one lord, and his name the only name.

 

The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. It will be inhab­ited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

 

PUNISHMENT OF WICKED. Zech. 14:12-15

This is the plague with which the lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sock­ets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day men will be stricken by the lord with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quanti­ties of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

 

CELEBRATION OF RIGHTEOUS. Zech. 14:16

Then the survivors from all the Zech. nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship 14:16 the King, the lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

 

ALL WILL ACKNOWLEDGE KING. Zech. 14:17-19 

If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The lord f will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

 

HOLINESS OF KINGDOM. zech. 14:20.21

On that day holy to the lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the lord's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite" in the house of the lord Almighty.

 

What a grand picture of the age to come! And what a perfect way for Zechariah to end his ministry. Like Daniel, Zechariah undoubtedly will rest for a time, then awake to meet the exciting fulfillment of his own words from God.