Day 263 (Zechariah 1-4) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Yesterday we met Haggai, the first of two prophets who were prophesying to the returned exiles of Judah. And today we met his pal Zechariah, another minor prophet who also happens to be a priest. We haven't read through all the prophets yet, but in what we have read so far, we've gotten a good sampling of different ways that God communicates to them and through them. Sometimes he calls them to preach sermons. Sometimes he commands them to do sign acts. And sometimes he speaks to them via dreams and visions. Zechariah at least falls into the latter category. He's a dreams and visions guy. But first, God starts out by telling Zach how angry he was at the past generations of Israel. He wants the current generation to know just how much their ancestor sins impacted things. And he begs them not to walk that same path. He says, those people are gone and even the prophets he sent to warn them are gone. But he's still here with the same truths and the same message, because the truth doesn't die. He says their ancestors eventually repented while in exile and acknowledged that their sins deserved punishment.

Then we launch into Zach's first vision. There will be nine total visions in this book, and he probably had the first eight visions back to back, maybe even on the same night. And his visions are among the strangest in Scripture, so buckle up. Vision one is a bunch of horses. They're sent out to patrol the earth, and they come back reporting that everything is at rest. That sounds great, except the problem is the nation should not be at rest. They've mistreated God's people, and he's not going to let it slide. God says he has returned to Jerusalem with mercy, but that mercy is for his people, not for those who oppose him. He says he will comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem, not his enemies. For those who oppose him, his anger has increased. Verse 15 says, While I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. One thing worth noting in the midst of all this is that man in the trees. Verses 11 and 12 referred to him as the angel of the Lord, so it's quite possible that this is a Christophany, and that this man who is acting as a mediator between God the Father and his patrolling horses is God the Son, before he was born on earth as Jesus.

Vision number two is of horns and craftsmen, which refers to a broader range of skilled workers like stonemasons and blacksmiths. The four horns represent, guess what? Nations and empires, more specifically, the nations and empires that have scattered God's people. And this could be specific, as in Assyria, Babylon, Greece and Rome, or it could just generally apply to any and all nations that harm his people. The blacksmiths come to smash them as punishment. In vision three, a man is measuring Jerusalem, just a regular man with a regular tape measure, not a man with eight heads covered in eyes or something like that. Savor it. Then two angels show up and tell Zach to let the man know that God is going to fill Jerusalem and that he himself will be their protection all around them. He tells the exiles to return home to Jerusalem because he'll personally deal with anyone who messes with them. They are the apple of his eye.

And in 2.11, he reiterates what we've heard him saying all along. It says, Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people.

We are reminded again that God will bring people from other nations to join with Israel as his people.

The high priest, Jeshua slash Joshua, is a key figure in Vision 4 He's standing in front of the angel of the Lord, who is probably God the Son, and Satan is right there too, making accusations against Jeshua. The word Satan means accuser. So it logically follows that the accuser is there accusing. But despite the fact that Jeshua is there wearing filthy garments, the Lord rebukes Satan for his accusations against Jeshua. Then God refers to Jeshua as a stick that was snatched from the fire. That's some powerful imagery. God gives him clean clothes and a clean turban to wear, then tells him, If you obey my ways, you will have the inside scoop on the redemption story I'm writing here. You'll be a part of it.

God's references to his servant, the branch, are almost certainly pointing us to Christ, who is called the branch elsewhere in scripture. And when God mentions the day when iniquity is removed, that's a reference to Christ's triumph over sin. God is letting Jeshua know that he set up to be a part of ushering in the kingdom, and God calls him to be faithful.