DBG - October 2 - Zechariah 6-9

In this chapter is the eighth night vision.

vs. 1-8 – The eighth night vision.  Here four chariots are seen.  The two mountains are thought to be Mount of Olives and Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.  The picture here is of judgment against the enemies of Israel at Armageddon. 

vs. 9-15 – After the eight night visions God directs the prophet to crown Joshua the High Priest.  This is a symbolic action.  There was supposed to be separation between the high priests from the tribe of Levi and the kings from the tribe of Judah.  What is being foreshadowed here is the rule Christ the Messiah.  He is our high priest (Hebrews 4:14).  The rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel is a prophetic picture of the restoration and exaltation of Israel under Christ during the Millennial Kingdom.

In this chapter God responds to whether the Jews should continue to mourn the fall of Jerusalem

vs. 1-3 – We jump about two years further in the reign of Darius from where we have been since Zechariah 1:1.  The timing is probably our November.  The Temple would not be complete for another year or two (Ezra 6:15).  Two officials, Sherezer (“prince of the treasury”) and Regemmelech (“official of the king”), come to Jerusalem.  Since the fall of Jerusalem some 68 years prior, the Jews had made it a custom to fast during the month of Ab to commemorate its destruction.  The question is now pressed whether this custom should continue if the Temple is rebuilt.

vs. 4-7 – God acknowledges the custom of fasting in the fifth month as we noted and also the seventh month, which is almost certainly related to the death of Gedaliah in Jeremiah 41.  God however asks what their purpose was in doing so.  He accuses them of acting selfishly and not in humble obedience to Him.  Basically, He is telling them that they should not be mourning the fall of their nation but their terrible sins that led to it.

vs. 8-14 – God reveals what the Jews should have done but had not.  He did not want outward signs of religious performance.  He wanted true repentance from the heart. 

In this chapter God reveals the glorious future of Israel.

vs. 1-3 – Instead of looking backward at the destruction of Jerusalem, God directs their attention to the glorious future of the city and its people.  As we continue it will become more apparent that this does not directly refer to the return from the Babylonian Captivity, but rather to the restoration of Israel under Christ the King.

vs. 4-5 – The peace and prosperity of Jerusalem in the future.

vs. 6-8 – The regathering of the Jews from the Diaspora. 

vs. 9-23 – The future blessed state of Israel.  This is yet to come.  In vs. 19 it is said that all remembrance and mourning of their destruction under the Babylonians will be forgotten and turned to joy.  This is what is in store for the Jews in Millennial Kingdom. 

In this chapter judgment is declared against the nations surrounding Israel.

vs. 1-8 – God declares judgment against the pagan nations surrounding Israel.  Hadrach was in modern Syria.  The nations that dwelt there in ancient Syria and Phoenicia would be destroyed.  In vs. 5-6 Philistia is the target.  The details match Alexander the Great’s conquest of the region around 333 B.C. that it seems certain that is the fulfillment. 

vs. 9-12 – The nations around Israel may not have hope through judgment, but Israel is promised a deliverer in Christ.  In vs. 9 is a prophecy of the Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:5-7, Mark 11:7, Luke 19:30-35, John 12:14-16).  This passage then jumps from His first advent to His second and the victory over the enemies of Israel.

vs. 13-17 – This section is another classic example of a prophecy with double fulfillment.  Historically, it refers to the struggles of the Maccabees against Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 8).  It also speaks of God’s deliverance of the Jews from the Antichrist and his armies.

I find the question addressed in Zechariah 7 to be fascinating.  To an outward observer, the Jews seemed to be acting out their piety in fasting in memory of the fall of Jerusalem.  But God sees the heart and not just the hands of men.  Their worship was performative and not transformative.  They mourned the punishment but not the sin that led to it.  They had not truly repented.  We can deceive ourselves and others by acting like a faithful Christian, but God knows exactly who we are.

Our hymn today is “The Advent of Our God”.  It was originally written in Latin by Charles Coffin and was translated into English by John Chandler in 1837.  It celebrates the first and second advents of Christ.

The advent of our God
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must meet Him on His road
With hymns of holy joy.

The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be;
Himself a servant’s form puts on
To set His people free.

Daughter of Zion, rise
To meet thy lowly king,
Nor let thy faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.

As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again,
And all His scattered saints unite
With Him in Heaven to reign.

Before the dawning day
Let sin’s dark deeds be gone;
The old man all be put away,
The new man all put on.

All glory to the Son
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever One,
Through all eternity.