Journal Through the Bible: Week 99 Monday

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Zechariah chapter 1

Two months after God spoke for the first time to Haggai He spoke to Zechariah concerning the temple rebuilding. In this chapter we read of Zechariah's of two visions. The first vision is of men on red and speckled horses who have been on a survey mission throughout the nations. The second is of 4 horns and the 4 carpenters sent to destroy them.

Does God issue any commands?

• God sent Zechariah to tell the people to turn  to Him (meaning to repent) and He would return to them.
• Zechariah had a vision of a man on a red horse leading speckled and white horses on an inspection of the nations. The man on the horse, also identified as the angel of the LORD, held a conversation with the LORD concerning the 70 years of punishment that had been accomplished. The LORD sent Zechariah to cry out to the people and tell them that His cities would prosper and His house would be rebuilt.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised that  His house would be rebuilt, His mercies were returned to Jerusalem, a line would be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, His cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and He would comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.
• Through Zechariah's second vision God promised to remove the kingdoms of the Gentiles responsible for scattering and persecuting the Jews.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the man on the red horse who is also known as the angel of the LORD.
• Jesus (called the angel of the LORD) prayed (or spoke) to the LORD asking for mercy for Jerusalem. Here we see the 2nd Person of the Trinity making intercession to the 1st Person of the Trinity on behalf of His chosen place and His chosen people.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• The walking to and fro of those on horseback is similar to John's vision in Revelation chapter 6 where riders on horses are sent out from God to complete acts of judgment.
• Jesus intercedes in verse 12 for Jerusalem. An angel shows the Apostle John the Lamb's bride, New Jerusalem, in Revelation 21:9-27. This is evidently the final answer to the angel of the LORD'S prayer made in Zechariah 1:12. It also ties everything from the Old Testament together with the New Testament since throughout the Old Testament the LORD says He "married" the land, but that Jerusalem played the part of an adulterous wife which had brought about punishment such as the Babylonian captivity, then was promised forgiveness and restoration such as is revealed to Zechariah.
• The Morris study Bible equates the 4 horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem to the 4 kingdoms of Gentiles revealed to Daniel, namely the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Roman confederacy (shown as mixed nations of iron and clay). If this is correct, 3 of these have been destroyed by the carpenters sent to deal with them (the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, the Persians by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Roman Empire and the nations into which it disintegrated). Only the Roman Empire disintegration, which was ultimately destroyed by the large rock in Daniel's prophecy, is yet to be fulfilled. The Rock is the coming Messiah who will conquer the kingdoms of the world.