The book of Zechariah explained, could this be true?

Introduction

The book of Zechariah, is one of three books written to God's people at the close of the Old Testament. In order, these three books are Haggai, Zechariah, and then Malachi. All three books are named after the men who God ordained to write down what God dictated to them. In that sense they are simply recorders, or stenographers. But respectfully, they are prophets of God, and recorded prophecies from God, on the various subjects that God spoke on. The things they wrote are not their own words or ideas. They are the words of God, and thus, it is The Word of God who actually spoke them. All three prophecies were given to the Jews that came out of Babylonian captivity, and exile from the holy land, and who returned to Judea after the 70 year stipulated time of punishment, to rebuild the temple, the wall, and Jerusalem, according to the Word of God spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. (And for the record, this contingent of people included a good many Levite’s and Benjamite’s also, but we understand that they are collectively referred to as “the Jews”).

But I wonder if we can say that the books were written to them, or written to us. The very concept that the books are prophetic implies that there is more meaning to the writings than may be plainly understood by simply reading them. They were written to literal, physical people, and the content has to be pertinent to them in the day and age that it was written. And the things God says they are to be doing, must be doable to some degree in their day and age. But the messages of these books are dualistic and spiritual also, and have another more significant meaning for the latter days. And the people they are written to are dualistic also. One is more physical than spiritual, and the other is more spiritual than physical, but both are both, to some degree. The books can’t be understood unless the reader appreciates that they are spiritual in nature. If you read Zechariah, and it seems hard to comprehend, it’s because it is written with a lot of metaphors, imagery, symbols, types, and other mysterious descriptions of things. This is God’s often used method when He does not want something easily understood until some future point in history. I call it a “figure of speech language”, and it goes without saying that you must understand the language to understand the message. It is enigmatic to say the least, and I have come to understand that only God can grant the true understanding, and does grant it according to His purpose, and will, and timing, and to whomever He chooses, regardless of their human IQ. It certainly does help to be familiar with the scriptures, and I would dare to say that it is a minimum requirement. Nobody puts something of great wealth or power in the hands of a babe. But even if we spent all our time just studying the mysterious portions of the bible, it may not result in getting us the understanding we desire. If our hearts were right, (and since God looks on the heart), He may grant us our desire to some extent, as a reward perhaps (for loving His word),  if for no other reason, and yet God is full of reasons.

The messages then, of the three books, are spiritual, and the people they are written to are spiritual. The original people they were given to were a “type”, of a people that would come later on, (in the latter days). The original people were physical Jews and Israelites, and the ones who would come later are spiritual Jews and Israelites, (although neither of them represent all the spiritual Israelites, just as the original returnees from Babylon were not all the physical Israelites, so the modern day exiles are not all the spiritual Israelites). The greater family of Jacob had been scattered across a physical landscape of the world, (with some coming back to the place of Gods temple, who were mostly Jews), and the spiritual Israelites in the time of the end, were also scattered across a spiritual landscape of the world, (with some having come back to the place of God’s spiritual temple), (even if only the foundation is laid so far). Although the book of Zechariah is so very mysterious, (implying that it was mostly prophetic), it had to also have a certain significance to the ancient Jews who received it originally. We must try to understand the dualistic parallel if we are to understand what God intends. The prophet Zechariah is mentioned in combination with the prophet Haggai. They are almost like a tandem, or a tag team of prophets, which are mentioned together as such a few times. Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 are two places, where they are referred to without their names being mentioned in Zechariah 8:9.

Why did God send 2 prophets to the remnant? We will try and discern that. God could have just sent one to stir the remnant to action. So they must have had different roles and purposes, and yet they operated in tandem as Zechariah 8:9 infers; quote: “This is what the Lord of heaven armies says: Be strong and finish the task! Ever since the laying of the foundation of the Temple of the Lord of heaven's armies, you have heard what the prophets have been saying about completing the building.” They were contemporaries of Zerubbabel, (the assigned secular leader as governor), and Joshua, (the spiritual leader and high priest), of the physical remnant. Since they are mentioned in the book of Ezra, they were likely contemporaries of Ezra also, but may have been deceased by the time of Nehemiah. A good many things seem important to mention, even if only briefly, without in-depth comment, because there is the early day, (more physical), and latter day, (more spiritual), fulfillment of scripture, and the dualistic, early understanding, and then the latter day understanding, (which must be spiritually discerned). There are many many types. For instance, both Zerubbabel and Joshua were literal physical types. And if we were to ask, types of who? The answer is Christ, who in many scriptures, is portrayed as both the secular ruler, and the high priest. As the earlier literal servants of God, they were weak, (as men are). We see this in the history provided in Ezra, and Nehemiah. Remember, when the enemies of the Jews were successful in getting a stay of construction on the temple rebuild project done, it appears that all the Jews including Zerubbabel and Joshua, just settled into their existence in Jerusalem, content with only having laid the foundation of the temple; (although they had also built the altar for sacrificing on). And this went on for up to 20 years. During this time, as Haggai says, they kept busy just building their own houses, and farming the land (both of these pastimes also being spiritual types). Lots of back sliding was going on too (as can be seen by reading Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi), and the priesthood was largely leading the way. Some of Joshua’s own children are mentioned as pretty high up prime compromisers, and conspirators. Many servants of God, (actually all except for Christ), have carried out their missions for God imperfectly. Many of them also served as imperfect “types”, of the latter day “perfect” anti-type, that being Christ. Zerubbabel and Joshua; like Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon, Elijah and maybe Elisha, were exactly that. Again, why God chose to send 2 prophets to stir Zerubbabel and Joshua and the remnant, (read Haggai 1:12), to action, is for us to come, by God's will and grace, to understand. But there is a reason. Even consider this; the book of Haggai is only 2 chapters long: (albeit two very powerful chapters though). The book of Zechariah is 14 chapters long, and goes very very deep into mysterious imagery, metaphor, allegory, and covert drama as God lays out in advance much of world history as it pertains to Israel in the latter days. Also, it is curious to me that we know little or nothing about Haggai, but with Zechariah, we are given the name of his father and grandfather. And that they appear to have been prophets and priests. We do not know for sure what happened to Haggai and Zechariah after their missions were completed. There is no mention of Haggai, but Christ did reference Zechariah as having been murdered by the Jews in Matthew 23:35.

This is a controversial subject with men, because there is no indication in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, or Malachi, that the prophet Zechariah was murdered. Also, there is not any indication that there was violent conflict or resistance to his prophesying in the book of Zechariah. I will mention that there is a famous recounting of the murder of a priest and prophet named Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24:19:22, which matches up quite well with Christ’s description of it, but the problem is with the name. The 2 Chronicles incident names that Zechariah, as the son of Jehoiada the priest. In the book of Matthew, Christ refers to him as Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet. How about Zechariah’s name? It means Yahweh remembers, or Yahweh has remembered. This might seem insignificant, but I’ll use a famous two word cliché, and say, “trust me”, nothing is insignificant where God is involved. Names have a very serious purpose with God. That’s a subject for another time, but I think some other renderings would be fitting here such as: Yahweh has not forgotten, (as in, about you), or Yahweh does not forget, (again, as in, about you), or (as in, about the Jews, and the prophecy that they must rebuild the temple). I will digress just a little to mention something that is interesting to me. That is that the book of Zechariah is in what is called, the minor prophets. It is the 11th of 12 books. Interestingly, Zephaniah is the 9th, and his name means  Yahweh hides, or Yahweh has hidden. So in a manner of speaking, Yahweh hides for His own purposes, and for His own stipulated time period, and then Yahweh remembers, or uncovers when the time is right. Hopefully, the time for God's uncovering of the book of Zechariah, is now here, because as has been stated already, it is a deep, mysterious book. And like the other two books that God gave specifically to the church, it is dual in nature. Understanding it has to work, (at least to some physical extent), for the original remnant, and then it has to work for the latter day spiritual remnant as well. The original physical remnant would not be capable of understanding some of the imagery any better than the spiritual remnant could, until God “opened up” spiritual understanding, just as He has done for the books of Haggai and Malachi. Also, something else that I have noted before we get into it, is that the book of Haggai seems to be motivational, like a stir to action dissertation. Whereas the book of Zechariah seems to be more of a deep explanation of the “what, where, when, how, and why” of the whole controversy; both anciently and futuristically. But both books are spiritual and must be spiritually discerned. And as needed, since Haggai and Zechariah carried out their missions in tandem, we may contrast them a bit. So, without any more delay, let’s get into the book of Zechariah. And like in the other articles, I will be summarizing the story flow quite a bit. And as I admonished in other places, please read along with your bibles and concordances open.

Zechariah Chapter 1:1. First let’s consider these dates a little. The word of the Lord comes to Zechariah in the 2nd year of Darius in the 8th month. This coincides quite well with Haggai. So if Haggai speaks to them first, (with the purpose of shaking them out of their spiritual sleep), you would expect him to do it a little before Zechariah speaks to them, and it was. Notice Haggai 1:1. The first part of Haggai’s message comes in the 2nd year of Darius in the 6th month. Then in Haggai 2:1; the 2nd part of Haggai’s message, comes to them in the 7th month. The message God sent by Haggai has been corrective, and there is a very positive response that results. Then in the 8th month, Zechariah’s message begins with a whole bunch of reasoning and reminiscing from God, and more reassurance of His dedication and commitment, such as He always does as we seen in Haggai 1:13 and 2:5, and also as He does in Malachi 1 (later on), when He tells them He has loved them and that He has always loved them. But lest they (and we) get puffed up, before Haggai moves on, we see in Haggai 2:10, Haggai speaks to them again in the 9th month, one month after Zechariah has started his message. We see that God has some very important things to say to them. It isn’t going to change what God is going to accomplish through them, (especially in the latter days), but if they take it to heart, it just may save them a great deal of heartache, on a harder path than what we could call, “the easier path”, if they would just listen and obey.

Now Zechariah 1:2-3. God’s message through Zechariah is very different from Haggai’s. Two months have passed since Haggai’s first speaking to them to stir them to action. Now God speaks to them through Zechariah, saying, “The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore, return to Me and I will return to you”. I have talked about this theme of turning and returning, and shown in other articles that it is all throughout the Old Testament. To clearly understand where they were at with God, from God’s perspective, you must read the article on Haggai, because they are right in the process of “returning”, as this is being spoken. In real-time, back when this was happening anciently, they were in the process of “considering their ways”, as God through Haggai was helping them to see. Zechariah 1:4-6 is a summation of things all the way back from Moses original warnings to them, (and all the other prophets God sent to them), unto their present day, with the reasonable admonition by God, in as much as to say, (or rhetorically ask), ‘well, has it all come to pass as I said it would’? And their answer is, yes, it’s all happened just as You said it would. Now how does this compare with God's latter day church? Just as there was an earlier and latter day comparison in Haggai, so there is one in Zechariah. To try and help us understand, I will zero in on verse 4, where God says, “turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds”, or as it says in the NLT, “turn from your evil ways and stop all your evil practices”. Let’s consider what happened to the WCG in the 10 years after the passing of HWA. Have you ever wondered, why God allowed all that to happen? Why would He not have intervened in HWA’s choice of men to replace him as Pastor General? I could go through all the “why’s”, but surely you have wondered about them yourself. But there are many bewildering questions. Were we not God’s church, keeping all His statutes, ordinances, and judgments? Does not logic dictate that there must have been something wrong with our idea of being a pleasing body of Christ? What could possibly be a more realistic scenario? If the remnant anciently, is a type of the latter day New Testament church, then there must be similarities.

What Mr. Armstrong was led to start in the early 1930’s was pure, like a child is pure until it matures into adulthood, when human nature takes hold and the purity of childlikeness gives way to adult human wickedness. In humans, that process covers a period of about 20 years give or take some years. That brings us to about the 1950’s. And by this time, the original church HWA started in Eugene (and had become the Radio Church of God), was undergoing changes in various ways, (relocating to Pasadena, changing its corporate name, expanding nationally and internationally, and growing rapidly). A hierarchical ministry had formed after the pattern expounded on in the writings of Paul, with ranks ranging from apostle down to evangelist, down to pastor, down to elder, and then down to deacon. Organization and orderly methods created at headquarters were swiftly spreading through the church all around the world. At the same time, official church teaching on everything was also spreading throughout the church worldwide. In theory this all sounds good, and I think, in principle, it is good. But something was wrong somewhere, else God would not have let happen what happened. And the answer is in the seemingly secret confines of the hearts of men. Instead of true meekness and humility in the ministers and students, (who always represented the next class of ministers and wives), there existed ambition, and desire for power, and prestige, and status. (A party mentality, in some ways quite similar to the Pharisees). But only God knew the true motivations of people's hearts. There was a lot of self deception. People thought they were being righteous. And of course, as always, it was the devil craftily working us over. God knew what was really going on, and that it, like leaven, was spreading throughout the whole church. There was politicking and manipulation going on, ministers trying to climb the corporate ladder, maneuvering to get closer to Mr. Armstrong and headquarters. And often there was injustice, and all in the name of Christ. I know we don’t want to admit it, and it’s hard to hear, (and hard for me to say), but it’s the truth. God was not pleased, and although even HWA publicly proclaimed that he doubted that even 10 percent of the membership were truly converted, we didn’t believe him. And when God allowed satan to attack the church, (through the administration that followed Mr. Armstrong’s), and figuratively impacted the church with such a massive blow to all our doctrines, traditions and beliefs, the result was that only a small percentage of the church did hold fast (to varying degrees). But even that small portion of church members were scattered as the church fractured into many splinters and slivers. The percentage of those that did not hold fast, figuratively went back to spiritual Egypt, where most perished, or are perishing, even if some few, by God's mercy, (since He looks on the heart), found their way back, and (“returned”), to God. This is a summary of the spiritual parallel. There is a whole lot more to the story, but this is a basic summary. I reiterate God's words to both of the remnants, “turn now from your evil ways, and all your evil practices”. But we didn’t, because we were self deceived by our establishment, our institution, our traditions, and our self righteousness. God knew that we had to go into a captivity of sorts ourselves, for correction. The remnant that came back from captivity in Babylon are a type of the remnant that are in place right now, in exile in the latter days. And we shall see that although God sent us into an exile because of our ways, He also foreseen it, and predicted it over 2500 hundred years ago (which we see from the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Revelation).

Back to Zechariah 1:7-11 now. The message going forward is prophetic and mysterious. I summarize; Zechariah sees a vision by night, implying that he is asleep at the time, or is awoken, but it is at night. I’m not sure of the significance of night visions, but they are not uncommon with God. Perhaps our minds are somewhat more vacant during sleep, and God can instill a vision, and an instruction when we are less mentally preoccupied. Zechariah sees a man riding on a red horse, who is standing amongst some myrtle trees in a hollow or valley. Behind the man mounted on the red horse, and standing in the hollow amongst the myrtle trees, are some other horses of various colours, red, sorrel and white. Zechariah is a man, and this rider appears as a man also. Zechariah asks him a question, and introduces it with “My Lord”, what are these? Then the man in his vision said, I will show you what they are. Then he said to Zechariah, “these” are the “ones” whom The Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth. Then in verse 11, it says “they” answered the Angel of the Lord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, we have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly. So, the man has been identified as the Angel of the Lord.

I should mention that the NKJV translators chose to capitalize the term "Angel of the Lord" in verse 11. Let’s explore that first. And let’s clarify what capitalization means to Christians and Bible enthusiasts when reading the Bible. This good practice identifies when we are referring to The Father or Christ or The Holy Spirit or any of their titles. But there are places where we are not sure if the reference is to God or to one of the angelic servants. This can  cause confusion, with a possible wrong inference. In this case it can appear that there is a three way conversation going on, (actually four way if you count the reply of the horses in verse 11, who are likely angelic beings). The Hebrew word for angel is H4397 “malak”, and means angel, messenger, representative, and theophanic angel. It can be used to refer to God’s angelic messengers, but also to a more superior, even Devine Messenger. So, if we tried to think of Christ, before He was Christ, we would say things like, He’s The Word of God, and He’s The Lord of Host’s, or He is Yahweh, or Jehovah, or The Holy Spirit who talked invisibly many times to many prophets, or He is The Angel of The Lord. But how do we discern, (using the word H4397 malak), between an angel/messenger of God, and when He chooses to represent God the Father Himself? Because in this instance, we actually see the Lord of Hosts speak with the Angel of The Lord, who in turn speaks to Zechariah, and also speaks to the horses, who reply with a response relating what their assignment has been. (Think of scriptural examples like Psalm 110:1, where David in an instance of spiritual inspiration said: “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool”). How do we discern? One thing to keep in mind is that both The Father and Christ are Lords of the most supreme rank over all creation. I think the NKJV adjustment, (because the KJV does not capitalize it), is a correct adjustment. And here’s why. I will need to digress a little and cover something I covered in another article.

The things on this earth are very much a copy of the things in the heavenly realm. Of those things that are copies, let’s go specifically to the living beings. In the spirit realm there is the God kind and the angelic kind. On the earth, there is mankind and the animal kind. In the Garden of Eden, when God was finished creating the animal kind, at a point, He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” Genesis 1:26. This statement begs a question. If He made man after His own image and kind, who’s image and kind did He make the animals after? It seems to imply that He made them after the angelic kind. God is the Supreme Being kind in the spirit realm, and all the angelic kind are spirits of varying degrees of power and glory under Him. In the same way, men are the superior beings on the earth, and the animals occupy, to varying degrees of power and glory under them. ie: the lion, the eagle, and the powerful oxen, typify powerful angelic beings. We can see this in the description of a powerful angelic image in Ezekiel 1, and again in Rev. 4. But also in Daniel 8 where the vision of the ram and the goat occur, these animals typify very powerful arch demons who are really behind the physical kings of Persia and Greece, (as some other bible translations clearly note). Then there are the various descriptions of the devil as a serpent, as a dragon, as leviathan, or as an idol with a man's body, but with the 2 horned head of an oxen, (a typical rendition of Baal), and there are various others. Then there are the many detestable creatures mentioned in Ezekiel 8:10 and there are the unclean birds of Rev.18:2. The vision in Zechariah involves horses, and we see them mentioned in other prophetic scripture such as the 4 Horsemen of Rev. 6, and Zechariah 6.

I would like to comment on horses because I have seen them curiously inferred (as if there was more intended meaning to the infer-ment than initially “meets the eye”). Notice Isaiah 31:1-3 in the NKJV. The heading says, “The Folly of not Trusting God”. The NLT heading says “The futility of relying on Egypt”. Both headings are accurate, but I like the NKJV heading more than the NLT heading because it gets down to the crux of the matter. However, the NLT verses express the sentiment of God who is speaking through Isaiah better (at a time when Israel was starting to lose their kingdoms to the Assyrians in the north, and the Babylonians to the east, and were looking to Egypt for an ally against them). I’ll quote all three verses from the NLT, but I want to draw special attention to verse 3. Quote: “What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help, trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers and depending on the strength of human armies instead of looking to the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. In His wisdom, the Lord will send great disaster; He will not change His mind. He will rise against the wicked and against their helpers”. (And here’s the innuendo I wish to bring out which the NLT makes clear). Verse 3: “For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God!” (so God draws the comparison of fleshly strength to mighty God Spirit strength). And then the second part of the verse: “Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits!” (God shows here that many mighty spirits in the invisible spirit realm actually appear in the image of mighty physical beasts on this earth). The implication is that just as we are copies made in God's image, so fleshly horses are just a copy of a spirit anti-type that is mighty in comparison. Check out 2 Kings 2:11, and 7:6, Jer. 12:5, Joel 2:4 and there are more. In fact if one just does a Strong’s Concordance search on the word for horse’s, it is amazing to see what kind of companion creature the horse was to be to men (possibly man's best friend). Certainly a man’s horse was his primary method of transportation at one time, and intimate relationships between a man and his horse were common.

In this modern age it has become more common for men to say that dogs are a man's best friend. To men this might be true to a degree because men have made it so, and western society has certainly placed dogs very high up on the list of the most privileged pets list. But the scriptures do not support this claim or status in any way. And it isn’t true in every culture, just some; the ones who like it. I like dogs and have owned a few. But there is not one single good remark from God in the bible about them. In fact it is quite the opposite. God places them quite low on the "animal cleanliness" and animal "glory list", and often reserves them for shameful scenarios. I know these statements will not be received very well, and I do not say this to beat up on man's best friend, but to show a contrast between dogs and horses, and their respective roles as friends and servants of men. Horses are spoken of in the bible over and over in a glorious, courageous, purposeful way. In both the physical realm and the spirit realm, they are one of the most serving helpful creatures to their respective superior beings. And I wonder if you ever thought of this; they do not qualify as creatures clean for men to eat, for horses neither chew the cud or have split hooves. Yet they are an incredibly clean animal in what they ingest. They eat grasses, hay, grains, and love fruits such as apples, pears, etc, and carrots. It seems clear to me that not all animals are either for eating or not, simply because they’re on this earth. (It’s not all about eating). Horse’s are a more majestic creature, which God put on this earth to serve men in a way that is very similar to spirit horses, which serve the God kind in the heavenly realm. It’s a side point, but it has been noted by those who do eat horse flesh, that it is a very tender flavourful meat. That does not make it ok to eat them though, in fact it’s an insult, to eat a servant creature that is so loyal, and a true friend to man. Now that does not mean that they can’t be used for evil which men have surely done, and likely satan too. We cannot see all the truth between the spirit realm and the physical realm, but some, and horses exist in both, and are generally powerful servant creatures in both. That’s why God made the comment in Isaiah 31:3, that the Egyptian horses, as powerful a tool as they might seem to an army, (as the Israelites were thinking they were), are just flesh, and not mighty spirits. And Christ rides a magnificent white horse in Revelations 19:11-16 as King of kings, and Lord of lords. And so does His army, which by the way, are arrayed in white linen garments, which we know that depicts righteousness. I will also refer you to a most peculiar section of scripture found in Jeremiah 12:1-5. The context is a young Jeremiah, (declared to be a prophet even before he was born Jer. 1:5), who in chapter 12, questions God on His tolerating of the seeming prosperity of the wicked, Jeremiah 12:1-4. It is peculiar because God does not answer Jeremiah the way Jeremiah would expect according to human reason. At this point in Jeremiah's ministry, he is still young and does not see all that God is doing with Israel or the rest of mankind. Notice how God answers him in Jeremiah 12:5. I’ll quote it in the NLT: “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?” I don’t want to go deep into what God’s intention is as He corrects Jeremiah's viewpoint, except to say His reference to horses is very curious. God wants Jeremiah to understand something. The warfare that Jeremiah is being trained to fight in is a spiritual warfare, and if he cannot contend with mere mortals, how will he be able to contend with much more powerful spirits, who are motivating those mortals? But moving on, and with this rather long diversion about horses expressed, let’s go back to Zechariah 1:7-11 and summarize.

Darius was the king and had firm control of the Persian Empire, which stretched east, west, north and south. And although the political intrigue and campaigns of men continued to go on, there was a type of peace for a while, and maybe that’s what the reply of the horses who were patrolling the earth was meant to pertain to. Anyway this is the setting for the word of the Lord which comes to Zechariah. In verse 12 there is another person in the vision, who is identified as the Lord of Hosts. And it is the Angel of the Lord that asks the Lord of Hosts how long, (or how much longer), will the desolation of Jerusalem last? And in verse 13 it says that the Lord (of Hosts), spoke comforting words to the Angel (of the Lord), who talked with me. And in verse 14, the Lord of Hosts, says “shout this message for all to hear”, "My love for Jerusalem and Mt. Zion is passionate and strong. Once again God reaffirms His love and commitment even in correction. And in verse 15-17, He pretty much says; let’s get something else straight, the nations that carried out My correction of Israel went way overboard and inflicted way more harm on them than I intended. And in verse 16, God reaffirms that He has returned to show mercy to Jerusalem, and that the temple will be rebuilt and the city too and in fact the towns of Israel also, and they will overflow with prosperity. And God will again choose Jerusalem as His own. When is this talking about? It’s talking about both an earlier and latter day fulfillment. Jerusalem and the temple, and the wall did get rebuilt, and Judah (or Judea), and its region did become bustling with towns, villages and people. All was in place before the first coming of Jesus Christ, and He did come. But this book of Zechariah is also prophetic, and the words, of The Lord of Hosts, are for the future also. There was a spiritual aspect and a physical aspect to the original occurrence in history, and there will be in the latter days also. Even today we see the nation of Israel, (largely Jews though), occupying a modern day Judea. But they do not represent spiritual Judah, (and yet God has not forgotten about them). In Haggai, it was clear that God was talking about a spiritual temple, and the city Jerusalem is spiritual as well, and the wall has a spiritual anti-type also for that matter. (Here’s a side note about walls. We may try and get into walls a bit, but walls protect, or they can be used to confine. You’ve probably heard saying’s like”walls of lies”, and “walls of truth”. One protects, and one confines or imprisons). One of Nehemiah’s main missions before Jerusalem could be rebuilt was to first rebuild the walls. You’ll see that if you read Nehemiah. There is a huge spiritual meaning to walls of truth and righteousness, but enough of that for now.  Back to Zechariah. We ended at verse 17.

The conversation has been going on between Elohim and the prophet Zechariah (with a short bit of input by the spirit horse’s patrolling the earth). And by Elohim, I mean the Angel of the Lord, and the Lord Himself. I don’t know of any other way to explain this conversation, unless we maybe bring Gabriel into it and say it was a four way conversation, but the reference to the Angel of the Lord is not real frequent in the bible, and when we see it, it is distinctly different from references to Gabriel. The Angel of the Lord is almost always portrayed as a man, sometimes with linen garments on to express the “type”, actually the “anti-type”, man actually being the “type “, of the God kind so to speak. I know this might seem confusing, but to be exact, man is the type, and God is the real thing. So, at verse 17, the stage has been set for 7 mysterious visions to follow, which we will now look at and hopefully God will provide the truth about. Verse 18.

The first vision then is a vision of four horns. And Zechariah does not know what they signify. And the Angel tells him they are the four horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. So let’s consider that statement and the possibilities. What was the Angel referring to? Historically, the northern kingdom, (Israel), is no more, it is scattered, and the southern kingdom, (Judah), is no more, it is scattered, and Jerusalem, the true centre of their spiritual and secular domain, is destroyed and lies desolate. Consider further, is the Angel talking about four horns that accomplished this? Or is He talking about four horns that have traditionally always scattered Israel? I’ll not take the time to go into the Hebrew for “horns”, but they can symbolize empires, governments and power. I know that quite a few bible enthusiasts go right to the image of Daniel 2 here and say it must be the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greco Macedonians, and the Romans. But I am not so sure of that, because this leaves out the Assyrians who most surely have scattered Israel. Also, in real time, the Greco Macedonians and the Romans have not entered the stage of world history yet. I think it may be plausible to go with the four winds first, (which are a physical type of spirit), as in the four directions. North, south, east and west. Also consider that satan is behind this scattering of God’s people and prods the nations on through arch demons who compete with one another to hold sway over nations and their kings and their higher echelon. It is always spirits in high places that are at the root of men’s actions. So in the North, we have the Assyrians, and the Medes (Germany and Russia), who have scattered Israel and Judah, and tried to destroy Jerusalem but failed by God's decree. In the south, we have the Egyptians, (representing Ishmael and Esau/Edom), who also have scattered Israel and tried to scatter and destroy Jerusalem too. In the east, we have the Babylonians and the Chaldeans, who scattered Israel and Judah and did destroy Jerusalem and the temple according to God's decree, (and we also have the Persians who have always hated and tried to destroy and obliterate the Jews, (and incidentally, were they to understand who America really is, they would know why they hate them so much). And another incidental, is that Edom’s bloodline is also mingled with the kings of Persia). And in the west we have both the Greco Macedonians and the Romans, (representing Eastern Europe), who also have hated and destroyed Israel, and hate them to this day. So then, the four horns, (representing the four winds, or spirit, “ruach” in the Hebrew), really are the whole known world at that time, except for the children of Japheth, (all the Chinese stock), and although they hate us too, their time comes later on in history. I am going to be very direct here to simply express a point. They, (Japheth), represent the completely godless nations, (and the religion of atheism), and yet not all of them, because there are people in every race that turn to God and the truth.

 Now where do I get this possible concept from? (The 4 winds). Can anything in the bible be found to back it up? Let’s look and see. There are quite a few references in the bible that speak of the four winds of heaven in a metaphorical sense. God always has a literal intended meaning when He speaks figuratively. Some examples of the mention of the four winds of heaven are Revelation 7:1, Daniel 7:2, Ezekiel 37:9, Zechariah 6:9, Jeremiah 49:36, Matthew 24:31, and there are more. The four horns are clearly powers, or more accurately stated; empowerment’s. And Zechariah 1:21 says they are “the horns of the Gentiles”, so they are the empowerment’s of the Gentiles, or Nations, and have had a history of scattering God's one Nation; Israel, the one satan especially hates. And we’ll be coming back to the concept of the 4 winds a little later. Now let’s get back up to Zechariah 1:20, to ask who are the four carpenters, or craftsmen? Since they counter what the horns do, they must be powers also. And since the real powers behind the horns of the Gentiles are spiritual powers, or empowerment’s, and since man is no match for spirit powers, these must be spiritual powers also, with the power to overcome the spirits which empower the Gentiles. The goal of satan and his spirits has always been the destruction of Israel, and they have failed to achieve that even if they have been able to scatter Israel around the world. On a spiritual note, Christ said of spiritual Israel, referring to them as “the church”, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. We should understand the correct meaning of this, because I have found that many people get the impression by this that the church is some kind of powerful institution which the gates of hell shall not prevail against. More correctly though, it means that in spite of all satan’s relentless attacks and efforts to destroy the church, he shall not be successful or prevail against it. The church shall not die or be destroyed, but it will suffer many attempts to achieve its destruction for sure. This brings us to the end of Zechariah chapter 1, and the beginning of chapter 2, and the next vision.

2:1-5. Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. I do not know who this is but some possibilities are: it could be Zerubbabel. He had the task of rebuilding the temple anciently, but he did get stalled. It could be Nehemiah. He too was involved in the reconstruction of the wall and then at least the initial effort to rebuild the city. All I feel I can comment on in these 5 verses, is that Zechariah, as one of the two prophets that God sent to help inspire and motivate Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant, did here prophecy that Jerusalem would get rebuilt, and become inhabited by a multitude of men and their livestock. And this all did happen. It was a bustling society by the time of Christ’s first coming. But the prophetic duality of it becomes predominant from verse 5 on. God proclaims that He will be the wall around it as a wall of fire, and that He will dwell and be the glory in her midst. And it continues to read as highly prophetic from verse 6-13 on. God very emphatically says, in various versions, (ho, ho, or up, up, or come, come, or woe, woe, or alas, alas, etc) flee, or escape, from the land of the north. He refers to them as Zion, and, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. We may think of Babylon as a city, and although it was, it would be also wise for us to think of it as not only a city, but in a more expanded way; as a system, a culture, a dominion, and also metaphorically,  as a “her”, or a she, and a woman; and in this case, a daughter of a woman, meaning she is the modern day version of her ancient mother. This would be similar to when God so many times refers to the daughter of Jerusalem; another system, culture, and dominion, and refers to her also as a she, a her, and a woman. So, the daughter is born of a mother, which implies “comes after”. Verses 6 and 7 show us that it is ultimately God who controls what goes on between the nations. For although God uses nations to punish other nations, God uses the demonic powers to persuade the earthly rulers to execute His will. For as God said: "He has scattered Israel like the four winds of heaven".  

Verse 8-9, most translations imply that “after the glory”, someone would come, who would punish the nations for their harsh treatment of Israel who is here pictured as the apple of God's eye. This is vague translating, and by almost all of the translations. A lot of Zechariah is like this and perhaps God allowed it to conceal the fuller meaning until the latter days. Even the Hebrew word for "after", which is H309, "achar", is defined as: "to remain behind" or "to tarry", and has been used to say "delay or delayed" as well as be late, or linger. And the word for "glory", which is H3519b, "kabod", is defined as: "abundance, honor and glory", but is taken from the root H3513, "kabad", which is defined as "to be heavy, weighty, or burdensome", and then can get translated as: "abounding, achieve honor, became fierce, became distinguished, glorious, glorified, honored, hardened, respected", and there are other English words used that it can translate to.

So let's use our God given common sense and logic, combined with God's Holy Spirit, and if it's time, then suggest the most likely explanation of this section of scripture. First of all, let’s get into the shoes of the original exiles, for it would seem that Zechariah is confusing them here. But if they have the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and have some degree of knowledge about the prophetic word of God, then they know a Messiah is eventually coming, and that they will be rescued by Him, and go on to become a great nation again. But they know (and we know), that it is going to take time, and many things must transpire first. So the word "after" should be understood to imply the concept of "tarry, delay, wait and later on", etc—BEFORE— the period of glory, not after it, which allows for the concepts of "weighty, heavy, burdensome" life experiences that must be endured whilst "they" the original physical exiles, and "we", the spiritual exiles, wait for the Messiah, because this is definitely a Messianic prophecy as verses 10-13 portray.

Zechariah 2:9-13 seems to be a synopsis of the whole latter day controversy with men. God will shake His mighty hand against them (the nations), and the shoe will be on the other foot, and it will be God’s people that plunder them this time, and God's wayward people will finally know that the Lord of Hosts has sent The Messiah, and God will dwell in their midst, and many nations will turn to The Lord and become His people too, and He will dwell in their midst, and then they too will know that it is The Lord of Hosts that has sent Him as Messiah for this cause, and The Lord of Hosts will again take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem as His capital. And then verse 13 is peculiar. I don’t know what its significance is, but I will say that as I read it, and contemplate it in May of 2020, I am struck with how the world is in a sense, "silent and still", from it’s usual activity of busily running to and fro, and  grabbing and getting all it can from Gods planet earth. Only God can say “be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation”. COVID 19 has made the world be silent and still, and it is almost surreal and eerie, (and timely), as I read this with that in mind. And the word “aroused” is possibly better translated, “God is ready to act”, as various other bibles do translate it. That brings us to chapter 3, the third vision; the vision of the high priest.

Verse 3:1-5. This is another difficult section of scripture that is prophetic and dualistic. I am inclined to read it firstly as it would pertain to the time and place that Zechariah originally received it in. Remember that he is working in tandem with Haggai, and their assignment is to inspire the remnant of the Jews who returned from Babylon with the commission of rebuilding the temple, to get back to work and finish the temple. Remember that an altar for offering sacrifices did get built, and the foundation of the temple did get laid, but that the work stalled (by the king's decree), due to resistance from enemies. And the remnant settled into this existence and became preoccupied with building their own houses, and this went on for up to 20 years until God sent Ezra, Haggai and Zechariah to them. Zerubbabel and Joshua were still there amongst them (the remnant). This is the setting in which Zechariah received the visions from God. I will summarize the vision. Joshua the high priest is standing before the Angel of The Lord, and satan is present in the vision standing at his right hand to resist him. (Remember, satan has provided the resistance that has stalled the work on the temple now for up to 20 years). So this is something that has been ongoing, and satan is standing there ready to keep it so, (that is keep the resistance going). But it is now God's timing to intervene to end the resistance. Verse 2. The Lord rebukes satan, and to add emphasis, it is said twice. And then The Lord, refers to Joshua as a brand plucked from the fire. The definition of a firebrand is, a person who is passionate about a particular cause, typically inciting change and taking radical action.

And the Hebrew word for “plucked”, most commonly means “delivered”, or “recover”, or “snatch away”, but there are numerous other applications. And fire is simply fire whether figurative or literal. But the whole expression implies that Joshua has been chosen for a specific mission, and that he is passionate about it and thus he is figuratively "on fire" about it just as a "firebrand" is. But Joshua like all men is stained by sin and his raiment or garments are used to portray that. Pay close attention to all Gods directives. God commands those who stood before Him (so, ministering spirits), to take away the filthy garments, and replace them with a change of raiment, meant to signify that his iniquity has been removed from him. This is an imagery concept that is supported in various places,  ie: Revelation where the saints are arrayed in white garments depicting righteousness.

Verse 5 is another very poorly translated scripture. Most of the translations word it in such a way as to imply that Zechariah is suggesting that they "should" place a clean turban  (or headband) on Joshua's head as well. I like to use biblehub.com for access to numerous bible translations and many other study tools. And out of 32 translations, 25 of them word verse 5 in such a way as to imply that it is Zechariah suggesting that a clean headdress be placed on Joshua. But there are 7 translations that strongly imply that it is the Angel of the Lord that is giving that instruction. And logically speaking that makes sense, for why would Zechariah be allowed such input? Here's an example of how the expression of words can affect truth. Most of those 25 translations begin verse 5 with "And I said".......And most of the 7 disagreeing translations begin verse 5 with "Then He said'', (continuing the narrative of the Angel of the Lord). This might seem to some bible readers to be a small point, but I am covering it to show that men have negatively affected scripture, and we should be more careful in trying to come to understand what God is saying, because God's word must make sense (especially when He has deemed it is time to make sense). It's true that He has left us in our own self induced blindness and stupor until He was ready for us to come out of it. And you might insist on siding with the 25 translations that imply the remark came from Zechariah and not the Lord, but that doesn't make sense, and it doesn't sound right either, and when something doesn't sound right, it is our cue from God to diligently search it out. Godly logic, combined with the Holy Spirit dictates that it is God doing the talking, and any input we see from Zechariah is in the form of queries, not commands, (and in this case, we have 7 translations backing it up).

This all leads to what the Angel of The Lord says in verse 6. First I will quote verse 6: "The Angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua''. And here’s where I believe one simple little translation mix up occurs and changes everything. There is one Hebrew word, (a conjunction), in verse 7 that the translators used, that connotes a “conditional” or “condition conjunction". That conjunction in Hebrew is H518 “im”, and it most often generally means “if”. But even Strong’s says this conjunction can express a hypothetical condition, or an actual condition, and that it has the potential to convey many different nuances, or possibilities of desirability. The reason I bring this up is because the way it reads or flows, does not make sense to me. Consider: God has just waited for the historical timing to happen where He intervenes.He has just rebuked satan, (basically saying, your resistance to the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem is coming to an end). He has just gotten Zerubbabels, Joshuas, and the remnants attention (recall in Haggai, where it says they finally did consider their ways, feared, and listened and obeyed The Lord). And He has signified the change (from sin to righteous obedience), by changing out all the high priest's raiment. And now, ask yourself, is it all going to be contingent on an “if”? Remember, God is working on His own perfect time schedule. A revival has already been ordered, and the time for it is now. We can read about this revival's occurrence in the books of Ezra and Haggai. The players God has put in place with their respective roles to fulfill His will are on the scene (Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Joshua, Zerubbabel and others). They have been born for this. And this connotation of "if'' is where I am forced to pause, because it presents a “logic” problem. (And whenever there’s a logic problem when reading the bible, it is caused by men being swayed by satan). For one thing, if it is all dependent on “if'' Joshua walks in all His ways, and keeps all His commands, then why doesn’t God say what will happen “if” he doesn’t? Consider the famous “if” chapter in Leviticus 26, where God says in Leviticus 26:3, “if” they walk in all His ways, (and then He says all the blessings that will follow). And then in Leviticus 26:14, He says, “if” they don’t, (then all the cursing that will follow). Considering all that God has said in Zechariah 3 leading up to verse 7, and considering that nothing was even mentioned afterward should Joshua fail; now imagine verse 7 reading like this, (having changed the nuance of the conjunction), and see if the flow doesn’t better match the words of God spoken previously regarding Joshua. (Since Joshua, like Zerubbabel, is a “type” of Christ, and “if”, is really not very possible with Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of this, as God’s prophecy regarding Zerubbabel says in chapter 4), now see how the words would read; "Surely" "you will" walk in all My ways, “and” "you will" keep My command, “and” "you shall" also judge My house, “and” have charge over My courts, “and” I will give you places to walk among these who stand here. (I can hear you hollering "blasphemy blasphemy", he's changing scripture! He's taking out words and adding in other one's, "blasphemy blasphemy"). Yes I know what many of you are like.

But hear me out please. The Hebrew word for "if" is H518, "im" and it has been translated as "if" 588 times in the Old Testament, so yes it seems like it is the most likely conjunction to be used, and it seems very human to decide that way, and indeed all 32 translations went with the nuance of "if" you follow My ways and obey Me, then etc etc etc.

But……H518, "im" has various other possible renderings. The word has been used 786 times (of which 588 have been used to translate the nuance "if"). That leaves 198 times for all the other possible renderings. One of which is "surely" at 35 times. The reason I am searching this out is because something doesn't seem right here, and I'm simply searching for the truth. And please recall that I have said on various occasions that real truth is incredible, which means "hard to believe", even impossible for some. Now please consider something else: chapter 4 which follows this does not have the conditional conjunctive nuance "if" written in, just in case Zerubbabel (Joshua's counterpart), should fail to hold fast in his assignment to finish building the temple. (Since Joshua was high priest, his assignment was to admonish the people and the underling priests). God knows history already, and has planned for these preordained servants to succeed. That's the case for Zerubbabel, and almost certainly, that's the case for Joshua too. As we shall see when we read chapter 4, God tells Zerubbabel clearly how things will unfold and that nothing (not even a mountain), will stand in his way of completing the temple. It makes no sense for Joshua's side of the mission to be contingent on him holding fast and staying true. (Remember, his role as high priest is a type that foreshadows Christ's role as the ultimate High Priest). So if we re-read Zechariah 3:7, and are daring enough to suggest the conjunction should have been "surely" (or some derivative of it), even though it seems incredible, it changes the flow of the whole scene, and shows God is actually prophesying what is going to happen, and no one can stop it. Simply put; the resistance is over, as He told satan previously, and a revival resulting in the completion of the temple, and a re-energizing of the people’s passion (even if short lived, as Nehemiah and Malachi portray), is ordained to occur.

And now continuing the same thought in verse 8), "Hear now O Joshua, the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you are a wondrous sign", or, (symbols of things to come), as the NLT words it. (But further to that), I am bringing forth My Servant The Branch. And continuing the same thought (or furthering that thought), verse 9, “and”, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon the stone are seven eyes. And I will engrave its inscription, says The Lord of Hosts. And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day". And verse 10, “and” in that day, says The Lord of Hosts, everyone will invite his neighbour under his vine and under his fig tree. Now doesn’t that sound more like it? Doesn’t that sound more like God absolutely stating what’s going to take place, and how the whole thing is going to end up? Except, what do we do with the conjunction “‘im”, generally meaning "if"? I don’t know, but it doesn’t fit here, because all I did was remove the word”if” from before the word “you”, and replace it with H518 "im" translated "surely", and it reads like God does not even pause to consider that Joshua might fail. I could just as easily insert the conjunction “and” in place of “if”, and see how it changes everything? But can you imagine if he did fail? Can you imagine if Zerubbabel were to fail too? We will be covering him in the next chapter. Remember these imperfect humans were types; of the perfect Devine anti-type, Jesus Christ, our eternal High Priest and Ruler, just as Joshua and Zerubbabel were high priest and ruler for the remnant who came out of Babylon. So you have to make up your own mind about what God is truly saying. But I have doubts about the translator's choice of nuance, having chosen to make the meaning rest upon a conditional connotation conjunction. I feel that that just as the evil one got Eve to coax Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, and got Sarai to coax Abram to sleep with Hagar, and got Rebecca to coax Jacob to deceive Isaac, and likely hundreds more incidents of manipulation, so he could just as easily got the translators to lean towards this rendering of scripture. And I don't know if you've ever considered this; but as Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and is thus the absolute Mastermind of words, linguistics, expression, communication methods, manners and techniques, and the King of all languages and their diction…..so satan (although being much much lesser in the craft, and sinister in its usage), is nevertheless a genius in "contra diction", and since he is opposite to God in nature and purpose, he is therefore in constant "opposition" to God, and as Christ is The Word of God, so satan is the adversary of God, and a great part of his work is to corrupt, twist, misapply, and defile the written word of God using unsuspecting men to do it. But if you’re bent on the scriptures being off limits to his craftiness, then that’s your choice, but the scriptures attest to the fact that satan has been sowing weeds into God's garden since his own personal fall from grace, and God has allowed it and uses it to fulfill His overall purpose.

Now, what  shall we say about the symbols in this vision? Once again we see the mention of The Branch, and The Stone, (that was cut out without hands and also the Stone which the builders rejected), and we see the number 7, conveying the 7 eyes of God, or the 7 spirits of God, (spoken of in various places in scripture), and we see the end of the matter summarized again, (the controversy of Israel), and that God will remove the iniquity of that land in one day, and every man will invite each other to sit under their vine and fig tree, implying peace finally. Just consider brethren, how many times In the scriptures, that God reminisces about the end of various things, from the beginning of things. It’s a constant thing He does, over and over and over, in most of the prophetic writings.

Now, how does it all relate to God's church in the latter days? Well, as I write this in May of 2020, (in the midst of  COVID 19, but don’t get blown off onto a tangent, I only mention that  because God said “be still” all flesh at the end of chapter 2, and we pretty much are being that). But as I write this, I feel that we too, the Church of God, through the work of HWA, have only laid the foundation of God's spiritual temple. And we too, are a church that is scattered and divided, and the groups are still preoccupied with building their own spiritual houses, while God's house lies in ruins, (compared to its previous glory). We too, are waiting for our High Priest and Spiritual Ruler to intervene, and bring us back together, get us focused, and finish building the spiritual temple. And the remnant that returned from exile in physical Babylon are a type that foreshadows a latter day remnant that is in exile in a figurative Babylon. But with that said, let’s move on to chapter 4, and vision 4; the vision of the lampstand and olive trees, and Zerubbabel.

Zechariah chapter 4.

The very first verse implies something. The Angel of The Lord went somewhere, and time has passed, because it says He came back. And He must have been gone for some time because Zechariah went to sleep, (possibly spiritual sleep also). But he is awakened out of his sleep by the Angel of The Lord, who asks him what he sees in this vision. And what he sees is not unfamiliar to us, but it seems to be to him, and that confuses me, because I thought he came from the priesthood. Here’s the vision of what he sees: Verse 2, he sees a solid gold lamp stand, with a bowl on top of it and 7 lamps with 7 other pipes to the 7 lamps. And there are 2 olive trees by it, one on the right of it and one on the left of it. Let’s try and understand what this lamp stand signifies. There is a lamp stand referred to in scripture both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the old, we must go back to the book of Exodus, and the making of the tabernacle. In Exodus 25:31-39 we see the instruction by God of how the pure gold lamp stand was to be made. Like so many things, it  was a copy  of something in the heavenly realm. We see it in the book of Revelation also, Revelation 1:12-20, where the lampstand we see there is clearly said to be the churches. But in Exodus there was no church yet, unless we want to call them “the church in the wilderness”. But there was something that already existed in the heavens which it was to be a copy of. It was a special piece of the furnishings of the tabernacle. Let’s consider it; it was to be made of pure gold, hammered out, or into its shape in one piece. The number 7 plays into things again, because there were to be 7 bowls, each of them able to provide a cup for olive oil with which to keep that bowl lit. And what does a lamp stand do but provide light. We could start drawing spiritual parallels and conclusions, because we know the Holy Spirit is pictured as oil, and an enlightening spiritual substance, of the highest quality, like gold, but these are all speculations. What does this lamp stand picture that already existed in the heavenly realm, before the church ever existed? Revelation 4:5 says that 7 lamps of fire were burning before the throne of God, which are the seven Spirits of God. These things are very mysterious to me and the meanings are not clear to me. But I have spent hours praying, studying, meditating, and being frustrated about these things. The best I can do is share some thoughts, some of which are more of a question than a comment, for which I have no answer that I am comfortable with. Going back to Zechariah 4:2-3, the first thing I would say is that the lampstand of Exodus and this lamp stand are not exactly the same. This lampstand, unlike the lampstand of Exodus, has 7 pipes to the seven lamps. And there are 2 olive trees standing close to the lampstand, one on the right of it, and one on the left of it. That’s what Zechariah says that he sees. In verse 4-5, Zechariah asks what these things mean?And the Angel of the Lord replies in verse 6-7. I will quote it, and summarize it: verse 6,  “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, (remember, He is speaking to the original Zerubbabel here), (and Zerubbabel and Joshua have had some serious resistance to getting the temple built), (and God wants this Zerubbabel to know the following): it’s not by might of men, nor by power of men, but by His Spirit, that the resistance is going to collapse before their eyes. Verse 7, God continues, “Who are you O great mountain”? Or, "who do you think you are, O great mountain"? I ask, what mountain? Who else but the Medo-Persian Empire? What other mountain was calling the shots during the efforts to allow, or disallow the building of the temple? Sure, we could say satan, but we already know that it was him working in humans to get all his resistance done; (we know that from chapter 3). God continues: “ before Zerubbabel you, (the great mountain), will become a plain”, (which is just the opposite of a mountain). God continues: “and he, (Zerubbabel), shall bring forth the capstone, with shouts of grace, grace to it. Or with great celebration, that the temple shall be completed. Verse 8, and that’s not all, says The Lord, verse 9, it’s Zerubbabel who laid the foundation of this temple, and his hands shall also finish it. Then “you” will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. Who’s “you”? I digress for a little. This saying, (“then you will know”), is one of the most famous sayings in the bible, and it’s, like, everywhere! “Then “you” will know that The Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you”. The “you” it’s always talking about, is God’s people Israel. They’re the ones who have always doubted Him, and rejected Him. And it’s talking about both physical Israel and spiritual Israel. God’s people have always had great difficulty believing. (Remember, "incredible" means impossible to believe, and God's people have always found the depths of truth, and God's capabilities to be too "incredible" to believe). That’s why it says, “then” you will know, over and over and over and over, in the bible. And who is it always talking about? You know all too well, Jesus +Christ, The One and only True Lord, Master, and Saviour. And it’s not only Israel who has to finally find out who is the real Lord and Master, but the whole world has to find out. “ Then verse 10, which is another somewhat mysterious expression as it is translated into English. “For who has despised the day of small things”? “For these 7 rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. (and), They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.” The connotation is to “not” despise the day of small things. Remember that Zerubbabel is a “type”of Jesus Christ the Branch. (It is no coincidence that he is in the bloodline of David and Christ). When Jesus was on the earth as a man, He talked about the kingdom of God beginning small even like a mustard seed. And He also talked about a “little flock”, and in Zechariah 11, there is a “poor of the flock”, and In 1 Corinthians 1:27, it says God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the mighty things of the world. These things match up well with Zechariah 4:10. And what are the 7 it is talking about?  Possibly the same 7 that verse 2 was talking about in describing the lamp stand, with its 7 bowls and its 7 pipes. And then they are somewhat identified, as the eyes of The Lord which scan the whole earth all the time.

But let me share a curiosity that I have. I will have to digress to share this and you might as well get ready to hear another "incredible" thing. I have noted that things on earth are largely, (but not exactly), copy’s of the more real things in the spirit realm, including man. And man has commonly been attributed with possessing 5 natural senses. They are touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. It is accepted that knowledge largely enters man's mind through one of these senses. But man's advancement of knowledge in these latter days has discovered, and corrected this number to be 7 senses, having added “vestibular”,  (having to do with the inner ear function), and "proprioception”, (having to do with the extra sensory functions within muscles, tendons and ligaments, that make us athletic and automated somewhat), (what happened to simple terms?) But these other two senses, once explained, no one would argue with, so, ok on the difficult words. And I encourage you to look them up, if you want to, (I know I needed to). "Vestibular", the function of automated sensing of balance, which God designed to function as part of a brain function located in the inner ear, men have identified as our 6th sense. "Proprioception", the extra sensory functions within muscles, tendons and ligaments, allows us to do such athletic things as leap to catch a ball without visually directing our hand to the point of its arrival through midair (and many other such automated things we are designed to be able to do), and it is identified as our 7th sense. So we really have 7 common senses.

Now let’s go to the Hebrew word for "eyes", as in “the 7 seven "eyes" of God". I will be talking about it again in the vision of the woman in the ephah. But the Hebrew word is H5869, ‘ayin’, and its translation count is 887 times, with the most common being “eye”, and the second being “sight”, but it has numerous other possible renderings, and nuances. When you check out some of the scriptural usages, you will see that it is commonly used to depict a viewpoint on something, as in, “in my sight”, or , “in my view”. It can be used figuratively, to convey “comprehension, perception, awareness, cognizance and other similar concepts. Since we are made in the image of God, we should not be surprised to learn that as God has 7 spirits that scan to and fro throughout the whole earth serving as His senses of super comprehension and super awareness, so we have 7 senses that continuously provide a knowledge flow to our control centre; our brain. (You could call it data if you will). Can we see the similarities, except that our 7 senses are micro compared to His, and yet they still provide our brains and spirit with its method of physical sensing, and His is all encompassing, making Him Omniscient and Omnipresent, and of course He is also Omnipotent. Incidentally, His extrasensory perception extends throughout the universe, not just the earth. Now that might seem too incredible for you to consider to be truth, but it is a speculation that came to me after praying for understanding of what these scriptures mean. I had no idea what the 7 spirits of God could refer to before I prayed for understanding. As I said, take it for what it’s worth to you.

Let's get back to Zechariah.Then in verse 11, it is implied, that Zechariah pretty much says ok then, so the lamp stand with it’s 7 branches, and it’s 7 bowls, are the eyes of The Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth, but, what are these two olive trees at the right hand and the left hand side of the lamp stand? In verses 13-14, the Angel of the Lord says, "These are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of all the earth". So, now let's try by God's grace to have an understanding of what these symbols portray. I have said before that the book of Zechariah is very mysterious. I've also said that there is really only one great project that God is accomplishing on this earth, and all of the books of the bible contribute information to its completion. In effect, the bible is a synoptic compilation of the plan of God. Certain prophetic books of what we refer to as the Old Testament, have "some" of the symbolism that God used in them, semi-revealed in other places; most especially in the book of Revelation. So, if we ask; who might these two anointed ones mentioned in Zechariah 4:11-14 be, we could go to Revelation 11, and there we would find two individuals described as two witnesses, or end time prophets, who also stand beside the Lord of the whole earth, who have missions to fulfill during the very end time tribulation which the world is prophesied to go through. We could then conclude that they are the same individuals which Zechariah 4:11-14 are referring to. As for the gold lampstand; we see the first references to this in Exodus 25:31. All the articles of the temple which God commanded the Israelites to make were copies of things in a more “real” heavenly spirit temple, but knowing that does not reveal what they symbolize on this earth. But in Revelation 1:20, The Lord reveals that the gold lampstand is a symbol for the church (actually, the 7 churches in Revelation 1, but it still reveals that He is talking about the church). So that tells us what the vision in Zechariah 4:11-14 is about as well. And since Zechariah (and Haggai’s) message was to the original exiles, (who are a "type"), of the latter day exiles, then the message of getting back to building the temple, is ultimately to the church, and the message is the same.

In verse 12, the translators mention something referred to in English as “golden oil”. And I have not found another scripture where the term golden oil is found. However, it should be mentioned that it is an inferred thing by the translators, (that it is golden oil that is being spoken of). Because here’s a peculiar thing about the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word for “oil”, used so many times in the OT, is H8081, and is used 193 times, but it is not used here in Zechariah. So I thought, where do we get the “golden oil” translated from then? It turns out that “golden” is translated from verse 12 where the Hebrew word for gold or golden, which is H2091 is used, and oil is implied, and thus inserted, because the question isn’t fully answered until verse 14, where the Hebrew word for “anointed” H3323, is used, which means “upon the oil”, and is a derivative of “fresh oil”, and can carry the connotation of “anointed”, thus we get the two anointed ones. The golden oil itself is The Holy Spirit which drips and flows through the two branches, into the pipes, and then into the bowls of the lamp stand. The lamp stand is the method by which God “illuminates”, (or grants understanding), with the precious oil of the Holy Spirit, (as in golden), providing the precious knowledge of the truth.  

You may have to spend some time reading over these things in Zechariah with your concordance and lexicon handy, to see how the translators chose to infer, and imply certain things, especially regarding “oil”, “golden oil”, and “anointed”. Now, a summary of how all this, (chapter 4), is also, and even more significantly, prophecy for the latter days. Zechariah is awakened out of sleep because time must elapse between approximately 430 BC and the latter days. He sees the lamp stand, which as Christ said in Revelations, is the latter day Church of God. The timing of the fulfillment is in the time of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. Christ is here on earth, invisibly though, working with His church and with His chosen individuals, (not just the two witnesses). Christ is building His spiritual temple, and is the latter day fulfillment of Zerubbabel, just as He is the latter day fulfillment of Joshua, the High Priest. Previous to His full intervention with His church, the church, (being all splintered up as we see right now), is struggling along for years, trying to do a work, but it can never grow large for many reasons, which are covered in other articles from Haggai and Malachi. But it is still very important, and God says that we are not to despise the day of small things. And God often starts with very small things, and often small, (as in insignificant), people too. But His people, (His church), rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, (remember, a type of Christ). But the work is going to explode under Christ’s end time intervention, and the gospel is going to go viral, or worldwide. God and the church are super busy at this time on the earth. The eyes of God are scanning scanning scanning the whole earth. The two witnesses are on the scene and the Holy Spirit is flowing from God The Father, and Christ, into the lamp stand, (the church), and there is an illumination, or brightness of truth going out to the world like never before, and Christ is in charge of it, (even though He is operating invisibly). He is The Lord of the whole earth and the two anointed ones are standing beside Him. Zechariah 4:14. Now that’s my thoughts on this and I may stand corrected and if God corrects me I will rejoice, because after all, if you’re a true worker and son of God, who wants to be wrong? 

Let’s now move on to chapter 5, the vision of the flying scroll. The message is ultimately for God’s spiritual people, not the world’s people. Chapter 5:1-2. The very next thing Zechariah sees is a flying scroll. It is said to be 20 cubits in length and 10 cubits in width. This is estimated to be 30 ft long and 15 ft wide. Scrolls were the common way that messages were sent throughout the empire. If an edict came from the king in Persia, or even from a governor, it would have come as a scroll. I looked into the history of scrolls a little bit, and found that they usually unrolled for reading horizontally, (although they could unroll vertically, but rarely), and they were usually read from left to right, and usually had writing on only the front side. As I thought about this scroll, it occurred to me that in Zechariah’s vision the scroll was flying, and was opened from left to right, and it had writing on the front and the back. Perhaps the fact that it was flying signified that it came from God and not from man. In fact the Angel of the Lord confirms that it is sent from God, and that it is an oath from God. Some translations chose the word curse because of the negative consequences for those who do what is mentioned. The oath is specifically addressed to liars, with the writing of it on one side of the scroll, and secondly to thieves, with the writing of it on the other side of the scroll. And another very significant thing mentioned in verse 4, which amplifies the transgression, is that the liars swear falsely in God's name. And we might ask, who are those who swear falsely in God's name? It seems likely that they would be people who consider God to be their God, and not just any people living in the land. Further to this, the main ones who would have the frequent occasion to swear falsely in God's name will be the one's doing the talking, and that is the priesthood, (or the ministry in our day). The ultimate end for these liars and thieves is that they will be cut off, expelled, or banished. In verse 4 God says “I will” send out the curse. And “it shall” enter the house of the thief, and the liar, and “it shall” remain in the midst of his house and consume it with its “timber and stones”. I have been emphasizing “I will, and it shall”, to show that this is God's intent, if the liars and thieves do not alter their ways. Now, let’s consider the delivering of this message to the remnant in place at the time. Remember, Zechariah is working in tandem with Haggai. They’re mission is to awaken, and stir to action the remnant. Both Haggai and Zechariah have been inspired to initiate their efforts by getting the remnant to recall what got them into this mess in the first place. (In Haggai it is said like this: “consider your ways “,  and is said repeatedly. And in Zechariah it is said like this:, “the Lord has been very angry with your forefathers”, and then the leading questions of, “why do you think”? etc) God is speaking to the both remnants collectively as individuals, and He is speaking to them as a group, or as a company of groups. In 500 to 400 BC it was to individuals, as the article on Haggai shows. But prophetically it is speaking to groups, as Haggai also shows. Some clues are in Zechariah 5:4, do you notice that it is liars that swear falsely in His name, (or by His authority)? Also, why would the curse remain in the midst of their house? It’s because, as we saw in Haggai, God is upset with them because they are all preoccupied with building their own houses, while His house lies in ruins. And that’s why the curse will kick in, and destroy, (consume), their “houses”, including the “timber and stones”, which are metaphors for what their houses are built from. And I am referring to their spiritual houses. Anciently it was their physical houses, but in the latter day, it is referring to their spiritual houses, of which there are many, who should be united into just one house again, which would be God's house, but in fact in the latter days is still currently divided, (for various reasons). But we might ask a serious question; how are they all, (or at least some of them), liars and thieves? To portray this, I will use a metaphor. It’s one of God’s most common  metaphors and I have mentioned it before. In this common metaphor, sheep are God’s people, shepherds are God’s ministers, and God of course is the Farmer and Landowner. Like any farm on a landscape, there are predators lurking on the landscape seeking to devour the most defenceless creatures and that is sheep. We could take this further, bringing in unclean creatures, birds, trees, wheat and tares, etc etc. But let’s just focus on sheep, shepherds, and The Farmer. Farmers select and employ shepherds to protect and feed the sheep. But shepherds can turn bad, for various reasons, and can actually steal the Farmers sheep for themselves, and try and start up their own farm, and can shear the sheep, and milk the goats, (metaphors for collecting their tithes and offerings), and even slaughter the sheep for themselves. (In this way they steal God’s tithes, offerings, and other resources), and of course they must employ all sorts of deception to fool the sheep, and claim that they still work for The Farmer; (in this way they lie in His name, and misrepresent Him). And since God does not consider their spiritual houses to be representative of His house, therefore their houses are portrayed as being built without any precious metals. They are just “timber and stones”. And so we see the curse that is being spoken of, is directed to the COG’s, (their houses), and their leaders in the latter days, before God intervenes, and reunites His church, reviving the church, and growing it dramatically, as the prophecies of Haggai and other scriptures portray. How God is going to do this is all in the scriptures, and I expect we will get to that if God wants us to. This is basically, what I believe God has revealed, is the meaning of the vision of the flying scroll. It makes sense, and matches the message of Haggai, who as I said, was sent by God to work in tandem with Zechariah just before the temple was rebuilt.

I will jump ahead a little just to mention a scripture that is curiously mentioned as if it was deliberately intended to tweak the interest of the latter day disciple. Turn to Zechariah 8:9, NKJV: “Thus says The Lord of Hosts: let your hands be strong you who have been hearing in these days, these words by the mouth of the prophets, who spoke in the day that the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord of Hosts, that the temple might be built.” The spiritual content of the message is clear: we are to be strong in faith, and hear and understand the true meaning of the prophetic messages of Haggai and Zechariah in the latter days. (And Malachi, Ezekiel and all the rest for that matter). I could go on, but there has already been a lot of breakdown for 4 verses. Let’s go on to the vision of “the woman in the basket”.

It begins in Zechariah 5:5. I will mention again that this is prophetic. So whatever the meaning of this vision is, it must be relative to both the ancient remnant, and the latter day remnant. Zechariah is told to lift his eyes again to behold another vision. The Angel of The Lord asks him what he sees, and he sees an “ephah”, or more correctly, a basket that can hold “an ephah”, (a dry measure of grain). And it is “going forth” or “coming out”, or “proceeding forth” etc. Then the Angel adds a curious remark. He says, “moreover this is their resemblance in all the earth”. Let’s pause to try and understand something here. A Hebrew word used here, for “resemblance”, has caused me, and I assume others, to scratch our heads. The word is H5869 – “‘ayin”. It has a lot of possible usages. Its translation count is 887 times. The most common usage being “eye” used 495 times to intend an eye, and secondly “sight”, used 216 times, and thirdly “seem” for 19 times, and then all the rest. And the word “resemblance”, or as some other  translations prefer, “appearance” (which are two common preferences by most translations), isn’t even counted, except as “miscellaneous uses”. I don’t understand why translators prefer those usages (of either “resemblance” or “appearance”). Is it because they can’t make “eye”, “sight”, or “seem” work?  And then some other translations, just jump right to words like “sin”, or “iniquity“, (in place of resemblance or appearance). They imply that because we will see that the woman in the basket is called iniquity, that this is cause for translations to just leap forward with the leading thought and concept, that the basket is full of sin, (or, the sin of the people, or the land). And I spent some time stumbling about trying to figure what this could mean. So I started reading some of the many other scriptures where “eye” is used; (I didn’t need to read them all to be hit in the face with something). And the same conclusions came to me where “sight” was used. (And I didn’t need to read them all either), to grasp the concept, that it is talking about perception, comprehension, and understanding. The earliest usages kept saying things like, in God’s eyes, or in Adams eyes, or in Abrams eye’s, implying thoughts like, “in my view”, or “here’s the way I see it”, etc. Or, in so and so’s sight etc. So the understanding is: “this is how what is inside the basket appears”, (“ayin”) or, “will appear”, throughout the earth. Or possibly, just simply, this will be recognizable, (“ayin”), once opened up, throughout the earth. And then it’s as if the Angel lets Zechariah have a quick peek inside, to discern that there is a woman sitting down inside the ephah, and then the Angel slams a led disc cover over the ephah, and seals her inside of it, until the time in history when the cover will be taken off, and the woman will be free to go out and do the wicked work she is destined to do. And she is called “wickedness”, and, (at the time of the writing), her time is not yet, but off in the future. This is all imagery, allegory, and metaphor, but does have literal intended meaning. We know that God uses women to typify certain things in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old, she can be His wives (Jerusalem and Samaria), but it literally comes down to His people. In the New, the woman may typify a church or churches. We may not know for absolute certain who or what the woman in the epha typifies, but we know she is prophetic and futuristic, and were we to speculate based on the book of Revelation 17, we read the story of the great prostitute that sits on many waters and rides the beast, which does her wicked bidding for her, and many conclude that she is representative of a great worldwide church and religion, which most speculate is none other than the latter day version of Catholicism. With that said this brings us to Zechariah 5:9-11 to finish the chapter.

The vision continues; Zechariah lifts his eyes to behold two other women who are coming out, and they are portrayed as having the wings of a stork, and have the wind in their wings, and together they lift up the ephah between heaven and earth and carry it somewhere. There is a lot of imagery going on here. Let’s ponder it; I again reiterate that woman is a symbol God has used to portray wives, mothers, daughters, people’s, nations, kingdoms, governments and their systems, ie: (Babylon the great is a woman and a system, and so is latter day Jerusalem, also a woman and a system, and both are portrayed as a woman). They are also portrayed spiritually as churches and brides etc. And they can be portrayed as whores and harlots. The book of Zechariah is not veering off the track, (so to speak). It is talking about the same ultimate story as the rest of the bible. God has one great master plan, and one great choreographed story of how it all plays out, and when reading His Word, we need to stay “close to home”, so to speak. So then, “wickedness” is none other than the same wicked woman of Revelations. Think of how the book of Zechariah ends, with a summary of the same climactic battle of Revelations. The two women (of Zechariah and Revelation) are the same. The whore, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth in Revelations is the same wicked woman. She is a church, and her origin goes all the way back to ancient Babylon, all the way back to Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz. She is in rebellion and represents rebellion. She is the church of the evil one etc. So the two women in Zechariah 5 who lift her up are also churches.

Who might they be? We could suggest some possibilities. I have heard one man, (a false apostle), say they are the Catholic and the Protestant churches that lift her up and carry her off. And I’m not the authority to say who they absolutely are, but I would say, in thinking about it, let’s stay close to the context of what Zechariah and Haggai were prophesying about. Their subject was Israel and Judah. I have written an article entitled “There’s nothing new under the sun, Baal worship anciently and modernly, could this be true”? A long title, but self questionably explanatory. In it, Israel and Judah are shown to be, (among other things), two churches, who embrace the ancient religion of Babylon. In the modern age, Babylon, (or Mystery Babylon the Great), has been identified as the Catholic Church. It’s a big article, and it explains in detail the whole story. But suffice it to say, that I would be more inclined to call the woman in the basket, the Catholic Church, than one of the women carrying it. Back in the day when God dealt with ancient Israel and Judah, sending them both into exile and captivity from the promised land, there were basically three players, Israel, Judah, and Babylon, (which includes Assyria who ran Babylon for a time, and the Chaldeans who ran Babylon for a time). We might think of them as brother nations who together form Babylon, much like Israel and Judah form Jacob. So when the books of Zechariah and Haggai were written, once we spiritualize the meaning, we still look for the same three players. If we do that, true or false, we end up with the Catholic Church in the basket, and Israel, (the Protestant Church) on the one side, and Judah, (Judaism), on the other side as the two women carrying the basket. And this leaves us theoretically, and doctrinally, with The Judaeo-Christian Concept. Now this does leave out one church, and that is the true Church, the true spiritual remnant. She is constantly in this story big time, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. But since 31 AD had not come yet, that church is not officially present, only her type, as part of the Jewish remnant. Notice also in Zechariah 5:9, that these two other women have wings like a stork and have the wind in their wings. I’m not sure about this symbol, but storks are unclean, (they are even in the abominable list of birds in Lev. 11:13-19), but they share the longest wingspan of all birds with the Condor; up to 10ft. In their migratory flights, they fly up to great heights and then just soar on the wind. Their nests are huge and can be 6 ft in diameter and even 10ft deep. (That’s starting to look like an ephah).  And of course Zechariah asks the Angel where these two women are taking the ephah in Zechariah 5:10-11. And the Angel said, to build it a house in the land of Shinar, the original place where Nimrod built Babylon. It’s not talking about geography, it’s talking about spiritual Shinar, but you get the message. The Angel goes on to say, it will be established, and set there upon her own base. In the other article I spoke of, I tried to show how Protestantism came out of Catholicism, which it did. But in this vision, we see that, firstly, Catholicism came out of Judaism, and the doctrines of the true church, in due time after the apostasy of  100 AD. In that sense, they carried her off to the land of Shinar, (Rome), and she did get established, and she did get set up on her own pedestal, and went on to dominate the Christian world. And then in due time, Israel’s continuation of Baal worship did morph into Protestantism which came out of Catholicism. Not to confuse things, and to try and be more clear, it wasn’t exactly the true church that helped carry her off into the land of Shinar, but who she, (the true church), became after the apostasy of the true church in 100 to 300 AD. There was a remnant even then that was running for her life, as the apostates called for her head for keeping the Sabbath and the law etc. As for what the ancient remnant thought Zechariah was writing or prophesying about, I can only wonder. Maybe they thought their immediate ancestors were the woman in the basket, who was wicked, and got carried off to the land of Shinar until a place was prepared for it etc. But who they thought the two women were, that carried it away, I don’t know. That’s all speculation. The greater fulfillment of the prophecy still remains in the not too distant future, at which time we may see the wicked woman launched unto the world seen by miracles and events, that find support from both Protestantism and Judaism together. There is a bond between Israel and Judah, that is symbolized in chapter 11 as a staff, that at a certain point in history, God is going to break the staff, which symbolizes God breaking the bond between Israel and Judah. (We’ll get to that later).

For now, let’s go to chapter 6, the vision of the 4 chariots. And once again, let’s start by staying close to home in the original delivery of the prophecy. The time is the return of the remnant to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, the wall, and the city. The Babylonian Empire has been conquered by the Medes and the Persians, and they now control and rule the Babylonian Empire. God is facilitating this through Cyrus, (and Darius in his footsteps). The resistance to the project is being facilitated by satan through his human instruments. And although the project is stalled at just the foundation having been laid, it is God's time for it to move on to completion. And then finally, it is all a physical type for a greater spiritual fulfillment in the future. So in Zechariah 6:1, he sees 4 chariots, coming from between 2 mountains which were made of bronze. Mountains are likely a symbol for empires, kingdoms, governments and rulership. There are many scriptures to support this. So the question would be, who are the kingdoms then? Bronze is a fairly precious metal but less precious in value than gold or silver, and likely pictures a kingdom of lesser greatness or glory than one of gold or silver. Going to the 2nd chapter of Daniel, and the tall statue of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, we see a description of kingdoms very similar to what is being spoken in this vision. And from Daniels explanation of Daniel 2, we see that the Babylonian empire was the head of gold, the Medes and the Persians were the chest and arms of silver, the Greco Macedonian empire were its belly and thighs, which were of BRONZE, the Roman Empire were its legs which were of iron, and its feet which were partly of iron and partly of clay.  So it would seem that the 2 mountains of bronze, in Zechariah 6, are the Greco Macedonian empire. (Which at the time of the giving of Zechariah’s prophecy), were not yet in rulership). And the chariots symbolize something that carries men, or that they ride in as they rule. The fact that there were 4 of them may picture the 4 rulers that came out of the Greco Macedonian empire, and divided into 4 smaller kingdoms, when Alexander the Great died leaving no heir to take over. Having the benefit of history to look back on, let’s consider who or what the two mountains symbolize. The two mountains of bronze are most likely the Greco Macedonian empire of King Philip the 2nd of Macedon, and his son and heir Alexander the Great, who conquered the Medo Persian empire, thus extending the Greek empire throughout the whole middle east. And as verse 1 says, the four chariots come out from between these two bronze mountains. So who or what do these four chariots symbolize? It seems likely, since in the wake of Alexander's untimely death, and having no born heir yet, and history showing that his four main generals that controlled their assigned sectors of the empire under Him, now maintained rulership of those quadrants of the empire. Their names are Antigonus, who maintained rule over Greece and western parts of Mesopotamia. Next was Cassander, who maintained rule over Macedonia, southern Greece and some other territories. Next was Ptolemy, who maintained rule over Egypt and as much of the territories pushing up the Mediterranean coastline as he could hold on to. And the fourth was Seleucus, who maintained rule over Syria, Iran, parts of India, and as much territory that he could compete for going south through Judea towards Egypt. There is much historical data regarding these kingdoms if one wishes to search it out. The formation of the Greco Macedonian empire and its breakup are predicted by God decades before it actually occurred right here in chapter 6:1 of the book of Zechariah. And a synopsis of their wicked competition with each other to hold onto power is incredibly predicted in detail by God in the book of Daniel chapter 11. But there is much more to these four chariots, with these four men, and the horses that pull the chariots, than is initially revealed by verse 1 and 2. In hindsight I now see that the region that is in conflict here is what we might call "the known world". It is not the "whole world", but it is that portion of the world that God is currently dealing with, which is the people’s and culture's His chosen people are immersed with. God is dealing with the people in the far east, far west, far north and far south also, but since they are not significantly involved with Israel yet, there is little or no mention of them yet.

The region God is specifically dealing with (the known world), is basically stretching from Ireland in the west to Iran and India in the east, and from Europe in the north to parts of Africa and Arabia in the south. And this represents the world at that time. And like the four winds, it is divided and these four chariots depict that. And as the winds can symbolize spirits, so these mountains, men, chariots and horses symbolize the actual powers behind the men, which are actually arch demons competing with each other for power, and at the same time competing with archangels, (who enter into the contest whenever God sends them), in order to accomplish His "overarching" will in the whole affair. The men who the invisible powers control, all eventually die, and are replaced by new pawns (if you will), but the powers, (like the four winds), remain and continue on with, and into, the unfolding of history. This will become evident as we proceed with the vision.

So going into verse 2, we have the situation playing out during the point in history during the Greco Macedonian empire, which in type is representative of the whole world eventually. The deeper meaning of the four horses that empower the chariots which carry mere men, must be spiritualized to comprehend it. Please keep in mind something about men and their chariots. Whether the chariots are modern like cars and trucks, or ancient like wagons and wheeled chariots, they always need a source of power to make them move. (In the modern era, a motor if you will for a physical chariot, but a spiritual power source for a spiritual chariot). So please try and spiritualize this concept to understand the deeper meaning of the next verses.

Verse 2 then, we have 4 teams of horses pulling the chariots, (serving as the ancient motor if you will). It is the horses that empower the chariots. And the horses (like in many other scriptural references), are actually very powerful living spirits. But it is the colour of them that is significant here. We must ask the question: what do the colors symbolize? The first team are red, the second team are black, the third are white and the fourth are dappled, and noted as being especially “strong steeds".

Keep in mind, that this division of 4 is also representative of the 4 winds, (or directions), of heaven; that being north, south, east and west, (even if all 4 are not always mentioned together). The empire that all of the rulers of Daniel's vision ruled over, was pretty much thought of as the centre of the world at that time, or at least most of the “known” world. I reiterate that it was where God was working with men because it was where Israel and Judah were. It was where the destiny of mankind was being worked out. The focus of God was on mankind in the region of the holy land, and directly north, south, east, and west of it, and that comprised the empire at that time. As I previously stated, the whole “4” concept here has to do with the 4 directions, (or the four winds), and also; 4 spirits, because the Hebrew word used in verse 5 for “spirits” here is H7307, “ruwach”, and means wind, breath, mind, spirit. So it is the 4 directions of the known world at that time, and the 4 spirits that have been sent out to do God's work. And the directions that the 4 spirits go in is vague in most translations and leaves the reader unsure of what to make of it.

But God has revealed the truth in our day and age and here it is. Get ready for an astounding explanation of what He intends by these verses. It is a little long and deep, but should be interesting to the thirsty bible advocate.

Therefore, just because the Angel does not say what direction the red and white horses are to go in, we can assume that it must have to do with east and west, because the black clearly go north, and the dappled, (or spotted), clearly go south. Let’s consider them one at a time. The black horses that come out of the bronze mountains, and head north, bring a certain satisfaction to The Lord, (verse 8). So what does the color black symbolize?

The colour black, is associated with power, fear, mystery, strength, authority, elegance, formality, death, evil, aggression, rebellion, and sophistication. (These associations are not my own views, but are available for anyone to search out). Why would the black horses bring a certain settling, (or satisfaction), to God's Spirit? Consider; God was angry with Israel and Judah, but they are still the apple of His eye, of all the human race, because He brought them forth from His friend Abraham, and had a purpose He was working out. 2 Chronicles 20:7 and James 2:23. And because of Abraham’s obedience, God pretty much implied of Abraham; (I will summarize and imagine God speaking something like this): “that’s him”, (Abraham), “he’s the one”, “We’re going to use his gene pool to create a chosen race”. (Isaiah 5:2, it’s metaphorical, but Abraham is the choicest vine here). Next: God needed to punish them, (Abraham’s descendants, Israel), and He used the Assyrians to do it, and then the Chaldeans to punish Judah. But go back to Zechariah 1:15 and you will remember that God said He is exceedingly angry with those nations because they executed way more harshness and cruelty than He had intended. And many scriptures tell us they are in the north country. Next; consider how the colour black describes their national nature. Assyria and Chaldea both originate with Nimrod, (and black describes him well, and I’m not referring to his skin colour, but more to the occult etc). He built the original Babylon. The Assyrians and the Chaldeans were both conquered by the kingdoms that came after them; first by the Medes and the Persians, with the completion of their destruction being exacted by Alexander the Great, and to a further degree, by the rulers that succeeded him, and thus we could see how God’s heart was gratified somewhat. Also, let’s keep in the back of our mind, that it is the King of the North, and the King of the South, that will command the world's attention eventually, both anciently, and then futuristically, in one final gigantic struggle, reminiscent of The Crusades, (there’s nothing new under the sun). But for now, we can keep that in the back of our mind.

Next, let’s consider the dappled, (or spotted) horses, that head south. What do we know about them? Since we explored colour to help connect the dots with the black horse, (ok, pun intended), let’s see what the colour dapple could mean. My search connected it to “dapple grey”, meaning different shades. One description is, grey with a mottled pattern of darker grey markings, a neutral achromatic colour midway between white and black. When applied to people, the colour grey can signify emotionlessness, moodiness, and could even figuratively be associated with loss or depression. It can also imply dull, dirty and dingy. And even in the modern computer world it is used for “grey areas”. What else did the Angel say to describe the dappled horses? He added that the dapple horses are “strong steeds”. Let’s understand that all of this language is figurative. One meaning for strong steed from the Longman dictionary of contemporary English says: “a strong fast horse", also, but another definition is: “panting and snorting like a mad battle steed”, that has lost its rider; also if applied figuratively to describe the ocean, “the masterless ocean overruns the globe”.  I could say wow, pretty intense sounding descriptions. Can some connection now be made to these horses heading to the south country? I think so, but you be the judge. If they are a distant reference to the King of the South, as possibly the black horses were to the King of the North, then who is it? In my view, it is none other than the union of Ishmael’s and Esau’s blood lines, which were conjoined together through Esau’s marriage to Uncle Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath, (Genesis  28:6-9). This is a huge neglected story in the bible. Certainly not neglected by God, who has a lot to say about it all in various prophecies, but neglected by men, even His own spiritual people. You will recall the animosity and hatred carried over in the gene pool from Ishmael to his descendants because he was rejected as Abraham’s heir. And you will recall the animosity and hatred carried over in the gene pool from Esau when he also was rejected as the heir once it went down through Isaac to Jacob. And to know the story well, and read all the between the lines information, you will have to go back and read it all from the birth of Ishmael and Isaac, through to that of Esau and Jacob, and then on further to Genesis 36, the whole chapter which is now devoted to describing how huge a people Esau becomes.

And this is another side point, but now that the two blood lines are joined together, (Esau and Ishmael’s), there’s no need for God to use terms like Esau and Ishmael, since just saying Esau, (or Edom), includes Ishmael. This is the same as when a God uses the term Jacob, we understand that it includes Isaac. I look at what God gave us in words regarding the vision, and I know there’s some sort of emphasis on the four directions, but God only gives us words on the directions of north and south. That is very curious. So I pause to consider what might be the connection regarding north and south, and especially one that is relative to the time period of the Jews exiled to Babylon, and the remnant that return. And what came to me, is the prophecy in Daniel regarding the King of the North, and the King of the South in Daniel. It is also interesting to note that in Daniel, and Esther, we see that the seed of Esau has spread pretty much throughout the whole middle eastern Arab and Muslim world. And so, for the other chariots, the one pulled by the white horses, and the one pulled by the red horses, for which we lack words of information in Zechariah 6, there is something implied. It seems reasonable to think that the directions of east and west must be involved, even if not mentioned. Since the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy does not fully occur until the latter days, we must look to the west, and to the east for clues as to what people’s these chariots with their horses could be referring to. The west is where God determined the children of Joseph would go. There are scriptures to back this up. I’m not going to dig everyone out but I will mention a couple. The book of Hosea is an incredible description of the culture and society of modern day Joseph, and specifically Ephraim. It is a great read and study of our own peoples here in the west. It describes in detail what we will go through to get corrected with God. Notice in Hosea 11:10, (quote, “they shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons will come trembling from the west“). It says this in describing where we will come from as we are humbled by the effects of terrible defeat in war. Then also notice in Numbers 2:18, where God describes which side of the tabernacle the 12 tribes of Israel were to set up their standard, and their camp. Brethren, it is no coincidence that Ephraim was assigned to the west side of the tabernacle.

But since we looked at what meaning we might derive from the colours God chose to use with the black horses and the dapple grey horses, let’s look at what some of the meanings there are, in the using of white horses. And curiously, there is so much commentary on this colour that I cannot write it all down, and I am inclined to just summarize it, and suggest you search it for yourself to back it up. White pictures purity, innocence, virginity, righteousness, heavenliness, religiousness, cleanliness, virtuousness, morality, uprightness, dignity, integrity, propriety, high-mindedness, honour, etiquette, ethics, and there are many more descriptors. As an example of a culture that powerfully feigned this whiteness, one can’t help but think of the Victorian era of the British Empire and its world wide commonwealth. And who were they except the children of Joseph; Ephraim and Manasseh. And where did God plant and grow them into the greatest empire the world has ever known, but in the west. Think of how much the colour white depicts these people. I don’t mean to imply that they lived up to it, but that they made a "feigned" effort to. Who spread the bible around the world? Ephraim and Manasseh did. You might say that Zechariah 6:6 says that the black horses are going to the north country, and the white horses are going after them (as it says in the NKJV and KJV and many others). But this is not a very clear explanation. What does that King James statement mean after all? And did you know that there are some bible translations that just out and out say that the white horses are going to the west? A few are the NIV, the NLT, the CEV, the GNT, and there are likely more. In my meditations of the greatness of God’s mind, I just see Him working, and as He works, putting so much incredible detail and masterful design into world history, and we puny little humans are not really very aware of it. And He is under no obligation or responsibility to fill us in on all He does. Just look at this scenario. It all played out (to a degree) anciently, and is being set up to play out in duality in the latter days. The king of the north, (Assyria and Chaldea, with the satellite nations of that alliance), will rise again. It will likely be motivated by a religious movement that very well could be an evolved form of Catholicism, bent on dominating the whole world. The king of the south, (Esau/Edom and Ishmael, with the satellite nations of that alliance), will rise to challenge it. It will likely be motivated by a religious movement also, that is known as Islam, also bent on dominating the whole world. This may be divided between Shites and Sunnis, which may cause some to side with Assyria. But here we have the same old same old struggle of the Crusades grown into an epic, more global struggle. Incidentally, there are an estimated 1.8 billion adherents to Islam in the world. Does it seem reasonable that God would not have talked about this in the latter day references in the bible? Consider; if there is a physical type, and a spiritual type, of nations like Israel and Judah, and Assyria and Egypt, and Babylon etc. Does it not seem reasonable that there is a physical type, and a spiritual type of Edom as well? And just as Mystery Babylon with its harlot woman (likely some form of Catholicism) exists, and Israel is still stuck in a modern day spiritual form of Baal worship, and there is still Judaism, so there is spiritual Edom which is Islam, with its 1.8 billion adherents. Yes Esau and Ishmael hate the real Lord and Master, and the people He has chosen, (who He chose not because of their righteousness, but because He had already purposed to produce one special people through Abraham). And Esau and Ishmael have created their own version of God and they call him Allah.

Now, where are the great powerful nations of Joseph, and their “western” alliance, as this conflict between the north and the south rages? Again, God is not obliged to tell us anything, but He has told us a lot, but it's “here and there” throughout the scriptures. And we could write a pretty big volume on just that subject. And I trust that if you have been motivated to read this article, that you may already know of a good many of them. But to put it in a nutshell, the west will likely be conquered by the time the king of the North destroys the king of the South. Esau and Ishmael have seethed with vengeance towards Isaac and Jacob, since they both first felt disenfranchised by their respective brothers, (and by God when it comes right down to it). And the scriptures say they will have their day of vengeance, (not in righteousness though), but God will allow it as a tool for punishing and correcting Jacob; (Israel and Judah). As a human father, Isaac favoured Esau over Jacob, and under the inspiration of God, was moved to say to Esau in Genesis 27:39-40. “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven above. By your sword shall you live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from off your neck”. And of Ishmael, it is written (after the incident between Hagar and Sarai), in Genesis 16:11-12, “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, (which means  God hears), because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren”. And as I noted, the two seeds came together in time, and then their seeds intermingled with most of the Middle East even into the lines of the kings of Persia. Esau and Ishmael have served their brothers throughout history and lived in the presence of them, but their revenge has never been exacted, but it will be just as the scriptures say. (quote, “you shall break his yoke from off your neck,” Genesis 27:40). So I’m just speculating, but I expect to see the mighty USA and their brother, the UK (Great Britain), and the rest of Jacob enter the fray when it happens, but to their surprise, it is not going to go well for them, and that is an understatement. And I suppose “the fray”, would be a reference to the conflict which so many refer to as World War Three. And also what the bible calls, as it pertains to modern day Israel as, “the time of Jacobs trouble”. Jeremiah 30:7 (look it up). So the white horse is none other than the alliance of the kings of the west; that being Jacob. Before going on to the red horses, I would like to say a few more remarks regarding Esau. Out of all the families of the earth, it appears from scripture, that God is most displeased and angry with Esau/ Edom, and then, within the family of Esau, angrier with some Edomite tribes more than others. Esau is mentioned in various places prophetically. His spirituality is also mentioned and his world wide religion of Islam is implied. One whole book, (albeit not a large book, is devoted just to Esau/Edom. That is Obadiah. Malachi also mentions him in a very negative light, and Isaiah too. God has harsh words for Esau. I dare not pass judgment on any of the families of the world, but there are not good words by The Lord pertaining to Edom, because of their hatred for their blood relatives from Jacob, and if we could know all the accounts in history where they have been involved in the effort to genocide Judah, we might be surprised, but God knows them all. And if they only knew who the Americans really are, (Judah's lost 10 brothers), they would know why they hate them so much too, (have you never wondered why the Muslim world hates Americans so much?). Genesis 36 bears the information of the tribes of Esau. Notice in Genesis 36:12, we see a son of Esau named Amalek born to one of Esau’s concubines. He is the father of the Amalekites, who hated Jacob bitterly. He was also known for his cruelty and mercilessness, which is mentioned and implied here and there. God passed judgment on them, and during the reign of King Saul, God commanded Saul to wipe out the Amalekites for their merciless chasing of the Israelites when they were escaping from the land of Egypt. There is a connotation in scripture of them lacking honour on the battlefield, as well as they prefer bushwhacking, and killing women and children, and the stragglers who cannot keep up with the pack, so to speak. This of course means they are conniving manipulators as well, seeking to gain access and favour from kings and monarchs so that they may advance their hateful desires to murder, and take what belongs to other nations, and they especially lust after Jacobs land and resources. Undoubtedly, their ancestors have told them that great grampa Ishmael, and dear old dad Esau, were ripped off by Isaac and Jacob, and that God stood by and let it happen. (At that time, there was no Allah yet). Through lack of obedience, dedication, and love for God, Saul failed in this assignment (and many others), and was rejected as king over Israel. Samuel had to personally execute wicked Agag, king of the Agagites, who was part of the  Amalekite tribe of Edom. Saul chose to spare him against God's specific decree because Saul thought that they were both kings, and they deserved some sort of mutual respect from each other, and it was that thinking that caused his judgment to overrule God’s judgment; 1 Samuel 15:33. I could go deep into the failed thinking of Saul here, but the point is that Amalek is in God's bad books for a reason, and God wanted them erased from the human race, and Saul failed to get it done, and really Israel failed to get it done. And notice how it came back to haunt them in Esther 3. We see an Edomite named Haman, from the Amalekite tribe, from the family of Agag, who had risen up in the Persian court to a position right under the king of Persia, who conspired to hatch a plan to genocide the Jews who were still subjects of the Persian empire. God intervened through Mordecai and Esther to stop this satan inspired effort and flipped it on the head of Haman. But it shows how this particular tribe of Esau hated Judah with such a passion, which had been passed down to them. It was harboured for hundreds of years since the brothers went their separate ways after Isaac and Rebeca died, and then surfaced while they were weak as slaves in Babylon of the Persians (and various other times in world history). It also shows how the seed of Esau has spread even to the kings of Persia, which also shows why Iran hates the Jews and the Americans (Judah and Joseph). (Incidentally, there is much evidence showing how their seed has entered the monarchy of all of Muslimism). And today there are many Edomites, (and specifically Amalekites) still out there, and their hatred of Judah and Israel is still just as strong.

Now let’s consider the chariot pulled by the red horses, for which there is curiously nothing said about its direction or its purpose. It seems reasonable to conclude that it must go east because that is the only direction remaining. Let’s first consider what the colour red symbolizes. Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, as well as passion, desire and love. Red is a very emotionally intense colour. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs and stoplights are red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a colour found in many national flags. Dark red is associated with vigorous, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice and wrath. I would also add from a spiritual standpoint, that red can picture sin, and there are many scriptures where God uses it for just this purpose. He says, "though your sins be red like crimson, they will be white like snow, or wool". Now, what people live far to the east, even far away from where God is working with people from the Middle East during the rise and fall of Israel and Judah? The Asian race. And do they perhaps in some way picture red? There is quite a case for this possibility to be exactly what this chariot pulled by red horses is symbolizing. The Chinese consider red clothing to be a symbol of high status and wealth since ancient times. It is associated with weddings. Unlike the west, where white symbolizes the purity and virginity of a bride, thus wedding dresses are white; the Asian bride is more likely to wear red at her wedding. For the Chinese it symbolizes a badge of rank. It is used to portray honour. In Japan, red is the traditional colour for a heroic figure. It denotes strength, passion, self-sacrifice, and blood. Their national flag is a white fabric with a big bright red sun in the middle of it. In Communist Red China, one of their symbols of strength is a bright red star and you will see it on their military aircraft and other equipment. North Korea’s flag is mostly red with a red star in the centre of it. Vietnam’s flag is bright red with a yellow star in the middle of it. And in regards to red depicting sin, (I do not say East Asians sin any worse than the rest of us), but nationally, they reject God the creator, they reject that He made man in His own image, and generally speaking they embrace atheism over a creator. And generally speaking, there is an abject ignorance altogether regarding Jesus Christ and His teachings. We could take this much further, and yes there are many other nations and churches that use red to symbolize something. Can we also connect the Asian race to the theme of the great world wide conflict that the other chariots are going to be embroiled in? The books of Daniel and Revelations both refer to “the kings of the east”. While the king of the North, and the king of the south, are making war with each other, (and the kings of the west are not even being mentioned, because they’ve likely been destroyed by the king of the South and the king of the North), the kings of the east are being portrayed as getting prepared to enter into the world wide conflict in a much bigger way.

This subject is widely covered in scripture and by many commentaries. I just don’t know if it has been connected to the vision of the 4 chariots in Zechariah 6. This is what I think the vision is talking about, and I think God revealed it to me. I did not have any idea what the meaning of the colors was until I begged Him continuously to show me. And I had little or no idea what it meant before I began to write. These things came to me as I was writing. I have spent a lot of time premeditating about them, but I had nothing concrete to write. And I would have to imagine that the Jews that Zechariah delivered the message to, did not know either, and neither did Zechariah himself. Now maybe there is somebody out there that would say to me, I knew these things too, but if there is, I just have never run into them yet. You could say that in a sense, God dictated, and the prophets of old wrote it, not necessarily knowing what they wrote meant. (Just think of how frustrated Daniel was and expressed it). Then in the latter days, God dictates the explanation, and different prophets write the explanation, and those prophets did not know what it all meant either, until God did the dictation. (But He may not literally speak face to face. He may just inspire through His Spirit). Now that takes a lot of the human imposed glory out of being a prophet doesn’t it? Good thing too, lest we puff up. This is really comparable to a company executive dictating, and his secretary writing it, and often not really knowing all that her boss is saying, (and just think of some of that jargon that lawyers use that nobody knows what it means). Can we see the comparison? This ends the 8 visions of Zechariah, and we will move on.

It is interesting that it ends in the middle of chapter 6. The reason I say that is because verse 9 almost begs to be the beginning of a new subject by The Lord, and almost seems like it should start a new chapter. It begins with: "And the word of The Lord came to me, saying", and then it gets into the context of the remaining verses of chapter 6. Men are the ones who put the chapter breaks in, and it almost seems like there should be one here, but I will leave it there, and get into the new subject that starts there. Verse 10. It starts off with: “Receive the gift from the captives” NKJV. I must reiterate again, that I do not know for sure what this means. I can only plead with God for the truth and start writing. There are going to be things we have to consider, so let's proceed slowly. What do we have to remember? First of all, Zechariah is working in tandem with Haggai. Their commission is to stir to action the remnant that came out of Babylonian exile. (That remnant is a type of the remnant that must come out of exile in the latter days, which I believe scripture implies is the latter day Church of God, which is currently divided). The ancient remnant is preoccupied with building their own houses, (which is a type of the spiritual houses that the divided spiritual remnant is preoccupied with). Meanwhile, the temple lies in ruins and only the foundation has been laid. The building project is stalled due to satan’s resistance, and the people’s complacency. The remnant is in need of various interventions by God to get things going, and God is ready to intervene because the time has come. Those interventions begin to happen. God sends Ezra, and the 2 prophets, and He gives them favour with the monarchy in Persia, and the resistance to building the temple ends, and the Samaritan enemies that satan was working through just seem to fade from the story line. You see 3 specific ones mentioned in Ezra 4:7. Later on in Nehemiah 2:19, you see 3 other enemies, (Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem), take up the mantle of resistance, but to no avail, for God has intervened. But satan does still sow some seeds into the lives of God's people. Zechariah 6:9 is the setting of the stage for the end time events to rock this world. Between this point in Zechariah 6, and Zechariah chapter 14, God again summarizes what is going to occur in bringing His will to be done. His plan is described in various places in the bible, but it’s always the same plan. There are stages on the world scene where God’s plan gets carried out. I’m not sure how many stages, but God knows. I will mention what I think are the main stages, but there could be other ones, maybe smaller stages, yet still important, where God will work out other things. One big stage is the geopolitical stage of the (Gentile) nations of the world. On this stage, the world's nations, with their agendas and economies and military’s, will be guided into their positions, from which they will carry out their roles. Certain alliances will form, which were planned long ago by God, and certain role players or actors will be put into their places according to God's purpose, and history will occur like a script, or scroll, written out long ago. God will get mankind from point O, (for origin), to point D, (for destiny), regardless of all other forces. Another key stage is His church, and I would add with that, all the spiritual bodies of the realm, ie: (above the earth, on the earth, and under the earth). On this stage, many key things must occur, and it too will have its predestined actors and role players, and again, God’s plan will be carried out to the “T”. No power will successfully interfere with His will. Another key stage, is the stage of the spirit realm, especially where satan and the demons, (the powers of persuasion), are so invisibly active. To me, these are the three main stages. The world stage, the church, and the spirit realm.

Getting back to chapter 6. This may seem hard to follow, and can only make sense by understanding what was happening in ancient Judah at the time. So Ezra and Nehemiah will be important books to assist in understanding the duality. As I start writing, I have confusion over what God means, when He says, “receive the gift from the captives, - from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon”. Pausing here, I don’t know who these individuals are yet. But they are Jews, and likely leaders, and likely priests or Levite’s or both, and have come to Jerusalem some years after the original remnant came with Zerubbabel and Joshua, and have come from Babylon. Haggai and Zechariah have also been in Jerusalem prophesying previous to their arrival. And when God says, “receive the gift from the captives”, who is He talking to? In the prophecy, as it seems to be written, it seems He is talking to Zechariah. But I think more accurately, God is talking to who the prophecy is being written to. That would mean that Zechariah is here, more the recorder, and not the intended recipient in the latter days. The entire book is dualistic, and has meaning for both the day it was written in, and then another more profound meaning for the latter days.

As I prayerfully try and consider what the possibilities are regarding these 3 returnees, and the offering they bring with them, I am moved to think of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah for answers. Ezra is not introduced in the book of Ezra until chapter 7 and in quite a unique way. I find more confusion in this particular section of scripture (in the book of Ezra).

Consider, after 6 chapters (in the book of Ezra), of describing the first return of the exiles from Babylon to Judah, with all of the detail of who came, how many, some of the challenges they faced upon arrival, and then also some of the trials and enemies they faced since getting established, the NKJV says, in Ezra 7:1, “Now after these things”. But let’s pause to consider what some other translations say. The NLT says, “Many years later”, the Berean Study Bible also says “Many years later”, and there are a few others that word it that way. Which is it? After these things, or many years later? Continuing though: “during the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia”, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazor, the son of Aaron, the chief priest”. This is a pretty significant breakdown of a blood line, because this tracing of Ezra's bloodline makes Ezra a brother of Jehozadak, the father of Joshua the high priest, and therefore an uncle to Joshua the high priest . See 1 Chronicles 6:14-15. Also, the historical context of this introduction of Ezra, is regarding a second wave of Jews coming from Babylon, (with Ezra), and Ezra was a direct descendant of Aaron, the original high priest. And he, (Ezra), was considered to be a scribe who was well versed in the law of God, and not only by the Jews, but by the king of Persia himself. Ezra 7:6.  And he is portrayed as the key individual that the king of Persia has chosen to spearhead this second wave of returnees to Judah. I have said before that names are important, and yet it’s not always obvious. But Ezra’s name  means “help” and could possibly mean “Yahweh helps”. Another interesting thing to note is that Ezra brought people back with him that were priests and Levites, and he brought offerings back with them, some of which were silver and gold, Ezra 8:24-29. Although it’s not stated, I’m suggesting that the 3 men of Zechariah 6:10 who came later, could very easily be a part of the same group who returned with Ezra. We are not told a lot about them, but they also brought an offering of silver and gold, (as did Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah of Zechariah 6), so, (could they be one in the same)? And God told Zechariah that a memorial crown was to be made with some of it, and was to be ceremonially placed on the head of Joshua, and kept in the temple of God for a memorial. But the Hebrew word for memorial is H2146, “zikrown”, and carries the connotation of remembering, or reminder, more than the English connotation of a memorial. So it was to serve as a “reminder”, (more than how we think of a “memorial”), to these 3 individuals, as Zechariah 6:14 says. And there are a good many bible translations that refer to it as a reminder more than as a memorial. And there is a fourth individual suddenly mentioned with these other three (in most translations). His name is Hen, the son of Zephaniah. There is possible confusion here also, which is due to the translators. Because in verse 10, the son of Zephaniah is said to be Josiah. So, are there two sons of Zephaniah? This appears to be explainable. First of all, Hen means “favour”, and he is said to be the son of Zephaniah, (H6846), which means “Yahweh has treasured”, but it comes from two Hebrew words; H6845 meaning “hide”, and H3050 meaning Yah, the sacred name of the Lord, so we can get “Yahweh has hidden”. Recall that Ezra means “Yahweh helps”, and he is the son of Seraiah, which means “Yahweh is ruler”.

What I’m suggesting is that all of these men are players, and types. And these three men who come later with Ezra are different from Josiah or Hen. The memorial is to serve as a reminder, because we sheep, (people), going all the way back to Israel coming out of Egypt, have a proclivity to forget. And these 3 men who come later are Levite’s, or priests, or both, and are leaders. Their job is the welfare of the sheep, or congregation. If your leaders forget, what chance do the sheep have? (As I said previously, the stage is being set here for serious things that are described in chapter 10 and 11, and in other books of the bible such as Malachi). These three men, in type, could very well picture the three shepherds, that in the latter days, God is forced to cut off, because they are totally obstructing His purposes for His church, and by their very actions, showing, as is portrayed in chapter 11, that they are the servants of satan, and thus enemies of God, and for all intents and purposes hate God. They will not relinquish the power they hold over the sheep that are in their control. In the latter day situation, they are likely the heads of their respective Church of God group. (Or they are a trio or a triad, since that is what the Hebrew word for "three" means in the instance that it is used in Zechariah 11:8 which will get covered in detail in chapter 11).          

Remember, the Church of God is scattered and divided in the latter days, and has been so for nearly 40 years, and God is ready to bring them back together to finish the work on the spiritual temple, wall, and city, as well as launch the work that will go viral and world wide, as Christ said in Matthew 24:14. When Christ brings His church back together to become unified, as Paul portrayed that the church should be, there will be typical, (political), “men type struggles”, over who should be in charge under the invisible Jesus Christ. The leaders of the COG groups will think that they are the one Christ has selected to lead. They will think, (as they do right now), that their organization is “the one true church”, and that all the others need to come to their “spiritual house” to become unified. They will agree that it is ridiculous and wrong for us to be divided, and that we should be one spiritual house again, but will not humbly and meekly present themselves before Christ, to choose who, (if any of them), that He wants to lead for the short term. It’s possible that not all will be like this, but Zechariah 11 says there are three of the most prominent that are, and then suggests that there are other shepherds that must also similarly be cut off and moved out of the way. These shepherds simply disagree with things going forward because they don’t agree with or desire what’s happening. Their mindset is described in the early verses of chapter 11. When the organizations come together, they will bring their resources together too. So they will bring a gift, or “offering”, so to speak, to the place where God wants it brought to (similar to the Jews who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Ezra). So there will be one organization that the other groups all come to. It will be the one that God intends the others to come to. I suppose you’re thinking, and who might that be? Yes it begs for doubters and judges doesn’t it? But really, there must be one group don’t you think? Christ will be here (on earth), working it out, albeit invisibly. But He will be working by His Spirit (the Holy Spirit). He said “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit”, (the temple will get finished), says the Lord. It does not mean that the one group He is bringing all the rest of the scattered sheep to is faultless. That is not how to describe it or identify it. To identify it, we should look for a group that is pretty much in the same state it was in when it was scattered in the first place. It will be holding fast to what little it had. Its leaders will not have gone off on any tangents. They will not have exalted themselves to any positions above others, such as declaring themselves apostles etc. The most identifying characteristic will be a level of meekness and humility, even if it’s not in all of them, because it rarely is. Generally speaking, they will not have grown spiritually too much, but neither will any of the other groups either. In a sense they have been living like captives live, doing time, pacing back and forth; waiting, (so to speak), and holding fast to what little they had. They will be under the notion that they have been doing the work, but as is clearly explained in Haggai, it has been a pitiful effort, with very little fruit gathered into the barn. There are other descriptors, but this is the gist of it. Remember, we all are "types"of spiritual houses in captivity. Similar to the return of the exiles from Babylon, at a certain time, God will have reserved one, to bring the rest back to; a “spiritual Jerusalem type” if you will. In real history, there were returnees that came at the first, but then more came with Ezra, and then more came with Nehemiah, and there were stragglers that found there way back from the places they had moved to, to get away from Judah, back in the days of its conquering by the Babylonians. I reiterate that chapter 6 is just setting the stage for what happens in due time. So let’s now continue from where we left off in chapter 6.

Recall that I asked the question, who is Hen, mentioned in verse 14? And remember, I said that his name means “favour “ or "grace" as in grace granted, and his fathers name was Zephaniah, which means “Yahweh has hidden, as in “hidden and treasured”. Names mean something to God. Humans may just call their offspring various names indiscriminately, but God is purposeful in everything He does. Also recall that there is another name mentioned in all this interaction and this instructional from God. That name is Josiah, which means “whom Yahweh heals”. But it is interesting that it is derived from 2 Hebrew words, H803, which means “foundation, buttress or support”, and H3050, Yah, which means, The Lord, Yahweh, or Jehovah. So now, to try and explain the quandary of two sons of Zephaniah. The answer is that the Hebrew word for Hen, was not intended to imply a name, but a characteristic of the son of Zephaniah named Josiah. So if one were to take the time to read the 10 translations that implied the characteristics of favor or grace, it might read like this: from the Berean Standard Bible, quote 6:14, "The crown will reside in the temple of the Lord as a memorial to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and the "gracious" son of Zephaniah" (who was Josiah). That removes the confusion and explains the intent of the scripture. There are not two sons of Zephaniah, just one; Josiah who is a "gracious son "favored" by God to carry out this task. Now ask, what is a crown? What is it meant to symbolize? There is a lot of imagery going on here, and I suggest that it is meant to symbolize ordination and authority, and power.  It simply is that God is ordaining, authorizing and empowering His church to come together to complete the work, and all that is a part of God's will, and that Joshua and Josiah, represent the group He is doing it through.

But back to chapter 6:12, the message that the latter day church is to comprehend, is that the Branch, the One who became Jesus Christ, who was a man for a little while, and was then glorified and returned to His place at the throne of God the Father, will branch out from that place, and shall return to this earth, and to His church, (albeit invisibly as the Holy Spirit), and shall build the temple, (the spiritual temple), of the Lord. Verse 13. Yes He shall build the temple of the Lord, and bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne. He shall be both High Priest (in the order of Melchizedek, as He always was), and shall be King of the entire world also. And the responsibilities of both offices will be borne by Him. There shall in due time also be an incredible physical temple as well because many nations shall come up to Jerusalem to worship The King, and He will judge them and establish justice from His royal throne. Verse 14, we already covered. But verse 15 completes this part of the prophecy, by speaking of many who are afar off, who shall come and work to help build the temple of the Lord. And it says, then you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This is a referral to the many people in the latter days who will be a part not only of the coming back together of the Church of God, but also the revival that will take place (producing a harvest of converted people), which is spoken of in the book of Haggai chapter 2.

Now, on to chapter 7. It starts by dating this encounter with the Word of God. It is in the 4th year of king Darius. As far as we know from the bible, his last encounter was in the 2nd year of king Darius. And that was right in the same time period that Haggai’s encounters with the Word of God took place. And through their joint prophesying, the temple rebuild project did get going. Remember, the foundation had been laid, and then work stopped for a period of time. Then God intervened, and put an end to satan’s resistance, and got the temple project going again. That was in the 2nd year of Darius. Now, the Word of the Lord is coming to Zechariah again in the 4th year of Darius. So the rebuild has been going on for some 2 years. And Ezra 6:15 says the temple was completed in the 6th year of King Darius. So the setting must be that they, (the remnant), are right in the middle of it all. And the key players right now are Zerubbabel and Joshua, and Haggai and Zechariah. Ezra 7:8 says that he came to Jerusalem, (with the second wave of returnees), in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. There is a problem here with the record of the kings of Persia. I will be trying to avoid going deep into it because it is controversial, and such an involved explanation. If I seem to get caught in it though, I will have to cover it. But for now, let’s get back to Zechariah 7:2-7. The word of the Lord comes to Zechariah again in the 4th year of Darius, (so they’re right in the middle of the temple rebuild), and it comes to Zechariah for a specific reason. First of all, let’s identify these particular people, (that chapter 7 is talking about, and referred to as “the people” in chapter 7:2), because they are not residents of Jerusalem. The great majority of bible translations, (but not the KJV or NKJV), say “the people of Bethel”, sent representatives from their town to inquire something from the priests and the prophets. So these representatives came to Jerusalem to make their inquiries. These people were largely Benjamites, who came back from exile in Babylon, and occupied their previous towns and villages. Nehemiah 11:31 importantly identifies them as Benjamites. Bethel was approximately 12 miles north of Jerusalem.

The town has a huge history. It was given to the tribe of Benjamin by Joshua. Bethel was within Benjamin’s territory, but just on the southern border of Ephraim. Benjamin was the youngest brother of the twelve, and very special to Jacob, (as Joseph was too, they being the children of his true love Rachel), and Benjamin was also loved by God. In Deuteronomy 33:12, Moses was inspired by God, to say Benjamin would dwell between “His” shoulders. This was to imply that the shoulders of Israel’s physical strength nationally, would be Judah on the one side, (of Benjamin), and Joseph on the other side, and this has been proven throughout history at various times. Bethel has history going all the way back before Abraham. But after it became Benjamin’s inheritance, and going forward from that time on, its history was not very good. The tribe of Benjamin have been misguided at times, and were very nearly completely wiped out by their fellow Israelites at one point, but God saved them and brought them back to respectable numbers. Then Saul, (the first king of Israel), came from Benjamin, and we know that did not work out wonderfully for that tribe either. And Bethel became a centre for worship well before the temple in Jerusalem was built. It also became a centre for idolatry, and especially so in the days of Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom after the split (one of Jeroboam's 2 calves was put there). It became a major centre for Baal worship after that, competing with Jerusalem. It is mentioned in scripture many times previous to the destruction of Jerusalem, and generally not in a good light. It has been a thorn in the side of God, (so to speak), throughout all the years of the controversy in ancient Israel over, “who is the true God in Israel, The Lord, or Baal? Bethel became the dwelling of many priests of Baal, (counterfeits of the priests of The Lord). I’m not implying that these representatives coming to Jerusalem to inquire of God had not learned their lesson in Babylon just as the Jews had. But God does have some choice words for them, and wants them to know something, and pretty much pulls no punches as He strips off their piety regarding their fasting and weeping. Also, I will digress a little, to talk about an irony. (Remember that the book of Zechariah is also prophetic, and has latter day meaning). Here’s the irony; in the latter day Protestant world of Christianity, it is common for them to name their churches after Biblical names, and “Bethel”, or some derivative of it, (like “House of Bethel") is a common one. There is one mega mega church in the U.S. named Bethel. In another article entitled “There’s nothing new under the sun, Baal worship anciently and modernly, could this be true?”, I show that Protestantism is nothing more than modern day Baal worship. And they have no idea that they have chosen a name like Bethel, (meaning "house of god", but actually representing Baal worship anciently), to piously portray their counterfeit ideology of Christianity. Can you see the irony, and the duality? Ancient Bethel, one of the most prominent Baal worship centres, is spiritually still the same in the latter days of the latter day spiritual remnants. I will likely come back to this, but now let’s get back to Zechariah 7. As I said, God sees them sending their representatives to Jerusalem, and He knows what’s on their minds, and He sees their hypocrisy, and He sends Zechariah in there with His word on things. We’ll pick it up at 7:5. God tells Zechariah to say to them, but notice, “and to the priests”, (so this fasting was a nation wide tradition that they were all doing while in exile); and God calls them on their real motives regarding their fasting. They were suggesting that now that the Temple is nearing completion, could they stop the weeping and fasting they traditionally did in the 5th and 7th months. God wants them to know that He has not been impressed. And that their feigned sorrow about what happened to the Temple does not get to the root of the cause. God wants them to look at themselves in the spiritual mirror and see that ultimately, they brought this on themselves. In all likelihood, they look at the now destroyed Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar, (because the Persians are in power now), and think it’s mostly all Nebuchadnezzar's fault. But he was just the paddling stick of God, and God wants them to “get it”. Their 70 years of piously weeping and fasting was somewhat vain. Verses 8-10 express what God wants to see, not worthless fasting and weeping. God has not yet answered their question. I wonder, what is their motive for asking? And I wonder, “do they”, really believe they are hearing from the Lord, or just some priest? (Real true faith was rare then and still is today). Most of these people would have been the children of those who suffered God's judgment. I can’t prove it, but my feelings are that their faith, and the faith of most of the remnant was rather shallow. But let’s continue with the last 4 verses of chapter 7. I will summarize; God says that they stubbornly refused to listen to Him over and over until He brought on them the punishment. And when they cried out to Him, He would not listen to them, but scattered them with a whirlwind to all the nations that they ended up with. Now, since this ancient remnant is also a "type", of a latter day remnant, what does this all have to do with a modern remnant? The more I study God's Word, and the more I meditate and pray about what I’m reading, and consider what God might truly be intending, the more I understand that God's word is focused. It is not all over the place. There is one great epic story to it. It is one great epic “work” that He is accomplishing. And all the books of the bible point to, and lead to the completion of His great project, contributing to its completion, in their own unique way, and are not about a different story, project, or subject. I see the representatives that are sent to Jerusalem from Bethel, as representatives of a part of the family of Israel at that time, but not so close knit that they are a part of the spiritual body, or spiritual temple, that in the latter days, is the body of Christ. They’re from Bethel, which is spiritually, a place of worship, but not of the true Lord, but of the counterfeit lord. And just as these descendants of the exiles, don’t really “get it”, (which God makes plain by His words to them), so the latter day remnant does not fully “get it” (yet). Their initial question about fasting has not yet been answered (but it will be). Let’s move on to chapter 8.

Chapter 8 is very spiritual and very prophetic. Verse 2 is very emphatic. God begins to make some proclamations about His intentions going forward. But they are not new things being expressed. They are the same story as expressed in various other places in the bible. I’m not going to all of them. If you’re still reading this article, you’re already familiar with them, and if you want to do the exploration, you can find them. But they are in many books of the bible such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Psalms, Hosea, and many other places. God says that His love for Mt. Zion is very passionate and strong, and in fact, He is consumed with love for Mt. Zion and Jerusalem. And that He intends to return to dwell in the midst of her. Remember that God chooses to refer to Jerusalem as a “her” more than an “it”, even if she lies desolate, and is sometimes likened to a prostitute.

But in verse 3, she will be called the Faithful City, the mountain of the Lord, the city of truth, and the holy mountain. Verse 4-6, Looking into the future, God says that Jerusalem will again be inhabited with His people, and old men and women will walk its streets in joy and peace watching the boys and girls playing joyfully and safely in its streets. God knows that their current situation is one of desolation, or at least, their city is a mess, not rebuilt or cleaned up, and He sees that they have a hard time believing that things could be so good again, so He comforts them and assures them. He basically says, hey, if this seems marvellous in your eyes, don’t you think it’s marvellous in My eyes too? It may seem impossible to you, but God, the Lord of Hosts, will make it happen. Verse 7. Looking way into the future, God says He will bring the people home, (He will rescue them), from all the places in the world where He has scattered them to, and will fulfill this beautiful promise of inhabiting Jerusalem again. Verse 9. But for now, He says, be strong and finish the task at hand, which remember, they are in the middle of, and that is rebuilding the temple. But the way verse 9 reads in the NKJV, it has a peculiar feel to it. It reads almost like it has a special spiritual message to it for some special “hearers” of it. Quote, “let your hands be strong, you who have been hearing in these days, these words by the mouth of the prophets, who spoke in the day that the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord of Hosts, that the temple might be built”. I suggest that it is a people in the latter days that are to be hearing this message. Yes God is speaking to the ancient remnant, but it is a latter day remnant that He wants to be tuning into this message. They are the ones to be strong, and to hear the wording of the prophecies, and the temple is the spiritual temple, the body of Christ. And their Jerusalem is also lying desolate, and that latter day temple, which still has its foundation in place, needs the temple rebuilt. Verse 10. But before the day and time of the rebuild, there was no wages for man, nor any hire for beasts, and no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in, because God had set everyone against his neighbour. This is an accurate synopsis of the state they were in. God expresses it with greater detail in Haggai. But it can also be seen in the spirit, for the latter day remnant, and it is made clear in the articles written on the book of Haggai, and on the latter part of the book of Malachi. “There was no wages for man”, simply means that there was barely any fruit born from almost all of the labour of any of the COG groups to preach the gospel. A trickle, but for the effort put out, hardly a rewarding wage. Similarly with the phrase, “and no hire for beasts”, is simply meant to refer to beasts of burden, which in our day it is not beasts that pull plows and wagons; it is technology, methodology, transport, communication, finance, and any other means of getting it done. And “no peace for whoever went out or came in”, is just a reference to all the spiritual labourers who go out and come in from the spiritual fields, in the constant struggle to overcome the resistance of the enemy’s, and although the human faces and names change, it’s always the same enemy, the adversary. Verse 11-17. To me, it seems to be quite clear that God is addressing the latter day remnant in the upcoming expression. It starts with the word “but”. That word  should always make us pause and consider. God says He will not treat this remnant as He treated the former remnant. Once again, the metaphor of the ground producing fruit and grain will be used by God, but His intended meaning is not a harvest of fruit and grain, but that which Is the focus of His eye, the apple of His eye, the “pupil” of His eye; and that is mankind made in His very own image; starting with His select people; Israel and Judah. Verse 12—, for the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew. I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these. The curse upon us shall end, and the houses of Israel and Judah shall be blessed and lead the way for the rest of the world. The destiny of our people both physically and spiritually is ordained, so do not fear, and let your hands be strong. Just as surely as God brought the necessary punishment and correction, so He will surely bring the blessing. Again, do not fear but speak up one to another in confidence, and encourage one another, and be sure to exercise truth and justice. Do not live the old way, which is still the way of the world, for God hates that way, and we must too. And now, in answer to your question regarding the fasts you have been traditionally doing; (and then notice in verse 19), God not only mentions the fasts of the 4th and 7th months, but of the 5th and 10th , and I dare say, if there are any others, (except for His commanded one, the Day of Atonement). They shall all end, and be replaced with celebration, gladness and feasting. For God knows that no one enjoys fasting, least of all Him, (that is, observing it). Does anybody really think God gets any delight in watching people fast? It has its purpose, but it is not necessary when  people are corrected. I could go deep into this subject, but that is not the purpose of this writing. But to cap off this long 2 chapter segment of the book of Zechariah, God wanted them, (and us), to understand that no amount of fasting can ever provide us with the righteousness we seek. And to fast and behave pious, and think that it is expressing some form of true humility and righteousness, does not fool God, but only ourselves, both inwardly, and outwardly. So let us understand this, and move on to real true growth, in grace, knowledge and understanding. Verse 20-23 is another declaration by God that the time will come, when people from many nations far and wide will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord, to pray to the Lord, to seek His guidance and blessing. And they will understand in that day, that there is a chosen people, and that chosen group of people know God personally, intimately, and accurately. They will understand that God intends, that this special people were prepared by God, for the purpose of assisting in helping all people to return to God their Creator. And now, on to chapter 9.

Once again, I see confusion, and I think it necessary, to once again go back to the concept, that what God is saying in the scriptures, must have some sort of significance for both periods of time, and both remnants. So with that said, what is the significance for the ancient remnant? Why is God talking about Aram, (Syria), and Tyre and Sidon, and then all the famous Philistine cities?  Verse 9:1. And another question, or issue, is in the second half of Zechariah 9:1. Most bible translations say, (and imply), that the eyes of humanity, and all the tribes of Israel, are on the Lord. But there are a few translations that say, (and imply), that it is the eyes of the Lord that are on mankind, and especially the tribes of Israel. This seems significant! Which one is true? Let’s see how significant it really is. They both have ample reasoning when the reconstruction of the Hebrew wording is considered. But it seems to me that it is pretty important to know whose eyes are on who here. Let’s ask, is there much significance to saying the things said, to the nations they were being said to, or to the remnant, back then?

Consider, Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed all the nations, and subjugated them. The Babylonians were a hammer in God's hand to the whole region. Then after 70 years, He punished the Babylonians, destroying their hold on power, and installed the Medes and the Persians. Cyrus The Great was the first king to rule the empire. Darius the Mede was the second to rule the empire, and he (Darius), created in its zenith, upwards of 127 provinces in the realm. Their kingdom was in power when this was being prophesied. And when we read in Zechariah 9 what God's intent towards these nations is, it is at this point in time, already past in its earlier day fulfillment. So what is being spoken of, must therefore be for a latter day fulfillment. Since these nations do not physically exist in the same way, but still do exist as descended people, then the understandings of these things must be spiritually discerned. Even some of the nations must be spiritually identified. This is not a simple task. For example, we know that in the latter days, that references to Israel (or Jacob), refers to the 10 tribes of Israel that were exiled from the northern kingdom by the Assyrians, and eventually were established by God in the west and the northwest, lead by Ephraim and Manasseh.

But they are also a type of spiritual Israel who lost their knowledge of the true Lord, and in His place inserted Baal as their god. Another example, are the Jewish state of Israel, or physical Judah, who are still “spiritually”, the embracers of the faith we call Judaism. Another example are Edom (Ishmael and Esau), mixed with all the children of Ketura (Abraham’s second wife), and many other bloodlines who make up the greater Muslim race, and have as their faith Islam. We could keep digging, to try and determine who everyone in the latter days is, but that is a huge topic, and would require much revelation from God. If He wants it done some day, it will get done. Now, regarding whose eyes the second half of verse 9:1 is talking about, the only thing I could suggest is to focus on the context, to see which eyes best suit the context. The context of Zechariah 9 is a short synopsis of the coming kingdom of God, and the end of mankind’s rule and mismanagement of the earth. I say a short synopsis because as I said before, there’s just one great colossal story, with one great project that God is doing, and it’s referred to in various books of the bible, and much more elaborated on in some other books too. I can see why the bible translations vary on whose eyes it’s talking about. It could work both ways. Think about it; when God brings all His agenda to pass, the eyes of mankind will be on Him, and especially the eyes of Israel and Judah. On the other hand, God’s eyes are on all mankind continuously, and especially on His special people Israel and Judah. With that said, I do not think it is an issue of contention then, and will leave it alone.

Verse 2-4 is another prophecy about Tyre and Sidon, but not really another. First of all, since Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Tyre and Sidon, this must be spiritual Tyre and Sidon. This is not a major breakdown of what God has in mind for Tyre and Sidon, but more of a reference to it. Can you find the bigger breakdown about Tyre and Sidon that I just implied this is referencing? Yes, but there is something that must first be appreciated. That is that latter day Tyre has morphed into latter day Babylon. This may seem like a bit of an unauthorized proclamation, but it can be substantiated by scripture. There are prophecies in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the book of Revelation, that connect them together. It is important to see these two city states (Tyre and Babylon), more as “systems”, that mirror each other, than as just cities. And for that matter, it is accurate to view Jerusalem in the latter days, as a “system”, more than it is to view it simply as a city in a fixed geographical location. But to make the point, compare the description of Tyre in Ezekiel 27, to the description of Babylon in Revelation 18. Please read them both in full to appreciate how much they resemble each other, (one being about an ancient system, and the other, about a modern system, and yet, they are the same). But also read Isaiah 23 as well. The mention of these prophecies in Ezekiel 27 and Revelation 18 serve to show us that Tyre and Babylon are the same systems, one ancient and one modern. But to appreciate the full breakdown of God's sentiments and meanings regarding these nations that pretty much surrounded Israel and Judah, we must read what I call, the longest righteous rant in the bible. It is done by God Himself in the book of Jeremiah. Remember that I said that this reference in Zechariah is just a little reference in comparison. The big one is in Jeremiah 46 through to Jeremiah 51, and God goes into it big time. I have it on audio and the rant takes 35 minutes for the narrator to express it. If you would like to hear a very good narrator execute the rant, just contact me and I will hook you up. Or you can just go and read it, and appreciate that it is God's word to all the surrounding nations that He speaks these words to. After hearing it, or reading it, you will understand why I said that Zechariah 9 is not a stand alone prophecy, but a brief synopsis of the controversy. What is “stand alone” in Zechariah 9 though, begins in Zechariah 9:9-10 and is a prophecy that we see the fulfillment of it in all four of the gospel accounts. It is usually described as the “triumphal entry”, and describes how Christ came into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, humble, meek and lowly. The fact that God is able to make this happen, just like it was predicted to happen, shows us how sure the more dramatic predictions of Jeremiah 46-51 are also. And just as God scraped off the old system of a Tyre, (into the sea), so He will destroy the latter day system of Babylon the Great. It too will go away forever, (including the adversary, who is its king). Incidentally, Tyre means “rock”, and that is no coincidence. It is another counterfeit of the true Rock, Jesus Christ. And who is the counterfeit rock? The same old impersonator who deceives the whole world, satan the devil. He is the rock of a Tyre, (the king of Tyre), and its system of how the world should function, which is a rebellion to how God said it should function, and it will be destroyed, and the kingdom will be given to Christ who is worthy to actually rule it. Every one of satan’s institutions will be destroyed. Must I list them all, or can you just sum them up on your own? The simple summation will be “everything, everything, everything”! All of it will be scraped off into the spiritual sea, if you will. (Ezekiel 26:4). And Christ will replace all of it with God’s way, and God’s institutions, Everything! Did I say everything? Yes, everything? Every way we have of doing things is influenced by satan’s mind, and is foul, corrupted, defiled and contaminated. In verse 10, God speaks about cutting off all the methods of carrying out warfare, (first from Joseph, but eventually throughout the earth), and that Christ’s kingdom and dominion will be from one end of the earth to the other.

Now, look at the curious reference in verse 11 to “you”. “As for you also”. Someone is supposed to say, “who me?, or, who us?” God is speaking to a special group of people. They are a people “within” His people. In verse 12 He calls them prisoners of hope. This is talking about the great time of trouble such as there has never been, or ever will be again. It is “the time of Jacob's trouble”, and the time following it, when the victorious Christ will be assuming rulership over the entire world. He will be defeating every enemy. There will be more dead people than anyone would ever believe. In Isaiah 13:12, God says that He will make humans more rare on earth than the finest, purest gold. There are various scriptures that powerfully imply that God will tithe on the human race. If He will tithe on Israel and Judah, which there is ample scriptural proof of, it’s highly likely that He intends to tithe on the whole human race. That would mean the death toll in this time of trouble “such as no other”, could be in the range of 6 to 7 billion people! If that sounds hard to believe, remember that In Matthew 24:21-22, Christ said that unless those days of tribulation were shortened, no flesh would be saved alive, (that means no one), but for the elect's sake, they would be shortened. So then, who are the “you”, and “the elect”, that Christ is talking about? The book of Revelation speaks about what seems to be various groups of people. I will draw your attention again, to a principle found in Jeremiah 24:1-10; it is the analogy of the good and the bad figs. Please read it, and then you will understand how God views the humans of His creation. It will help some out there to take off their rose coloured glasses, and quit judging God Almighty, the Potter, and help get “we”, the clay vessels, into correct perspective. We are not as special as “we” think we are. With this said, it is reasonable to assume that God will have an “elect”, in various different groups. There will be good and bad figs in every group. The good figs in any group, do not mean that they are spiritually pure people, it means they are not rotten. It means they are salvageable. It means with work and correction, they can attain salvation. But some simply cannot be salvaged. I’m sorry if that upsets you. It is human emotionalism and human reason that thinks things like, oh how could God let all these people just die? Yet humans don’t mind reserving that kind of prerogative unto themselves. Now why would we think like that? Because we have been deceived into thinking that we’re extra special, just because we’re human beings. We have “human rights” don’t you know. So there are numerous special groups that God could be addressing in prophetic scripture when terms like “the elect”, or, “you” are used. Some examples are: regarding Israel, God has said in various places that He would allow one third to die by the sword, (war and violence), one third by famine and disease, and one third would be scattered to the wind, and would be pursued by the sword, (or death). They would go into captivity, where the sword would chase them, and most of them would continue to perish. But within that group, in captivity, “an elect”, would repent, and cry out to God, and would be saved, and rescued by Christ, and return to make up a remnant of God's people who would go on into the millennium, as God's people, corrected and refined in the furnace of suffering, a figurative spiritual fire. This scenario I am painting is in many places in scripture. As I have said before, there’s really only one story, expressed in different places in the bible. Another example of an elect group is that of the spiritual sons of God, who will be protected from this hour of trial to befall the whole earth. And there are more elect groups, such as the 144,000 in Revelation 14 etc.  

But, getting back to Zechariah 9. Much of this expression by God through Zechariah is mysterious. I know that God knows exactly what He means when He speaks. The challenge for us is to understand the truth of what that is. I have prayed and prayed and prayed, to understand the simple truth in the things that God says. I have compared all the translations, and no one translation in particular provides the full answer to what God intends by His wording in verses 11-13. I will write my inclinations with a lean towards the spiritual, because the books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, are intended to be understood not only physically, but spiritually. Doing that then, leads me to imply, that the “you”, in verse 11, who God calls prisoners of hope, in verse 12, who have made a covenant of blood, in verse 11, and are still yet prisoners in a waterless pit, but are going to be released, and receive a double measure of relief, are a spiritual type, of the physical remnants in both 500 BC, and in the latter days, (very close to right now). There will be a physical remnant of Israel that will survive to go on into the millennium, which is a latter day type of the ancient physical remnant, but there is the spiritual remnant, (the church) also. They are the ones who have made a covenant of sacrifice (here called a covenant of blood), with the Lord as Psalm 50:5 says, quote "Gather My saints together to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice". The fulfillment of it is soon, but not yet. We are still in waiting mode. Verse 13 shows us there are things to occur first, or at least in conjunction with each other.

And why does God contrast the sons of Zion, to the sons of Greece in verse 13? It is not talking about geography here, (which is our initial thought when we see the word “Greece", and this can mislead). It is a spiritual reference. The sons of Zion are the Godly sons, and sons of Greece are the Godless sons. The Hebrew word being translated as Greece is H3120, and is actually the word “Javan”, who was a son of Japheth. Notice Genesis 10:2, God greatly expanded Japheth for His own purposes, (Genesis 9:27), and to show His glory in the latter days. (We’ll not get into it here, but consider the scriptures on Gog and Magog, and the titanic battles to come). We know that the East Asian people’s descend from Japheth, and migrated far north, and far east. But notice in Genesis 10:4, that “Javan’s” sons were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, and scholars highly suspect that some of these people went as far west as Spain and Portugal, and as far south as the Arabian peninsula. We see the four directions come into play again. Physically then, they were dispersed away from the spiritual centre of known godliness, (that being Zion, (Jerusalem), Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Israel and Judah). So then, they, “Japheth”, and specifically, “Javan”, were sent in all 4 directions far away from the holy land. In that sense, they are the “sons of Greece”, and are contrasted here to “the sons of Zion”. But the true spiritual sons of Zion, are God's elect, the church. Every category of sons has a purpose that God is working out, and salvation is available for many; all in God's timing, and according to His plan. There are many analogies that could be used to get this concept across. I will use only one. Before the great invasion to take back the European continent in WW2, there were personnel who were prepared to go in first, to be instrumental, according to the plan, to assist in the overall assault, and goal. God has a group, or maybe, “groups”, that are right now, being trained for His great purpose. One is the true church that Christ said He would build. Others are not even in training camp yet. There are some, who will be refined in the great tribulation, who will be involved in the millennial rebuilding, or restoration of the planet. So God has many things He is doing, and many people already earmarked for the future. The survivors of the time of trouble like no other, are not as random as some may think. We see very dimly, all that He is doing, and I advise us not to limit God. Just be awake and watchful, and responsive to His direction, for He is the Great Director. Verses 14-16 paint the picture again, (because as I said, this is a brief synopsis of the one great story). And it is expressed in various places in the bible, and in greater detail in some other places, although the latter chapters of Zechariah are pretty detailed as well. But verses 14-16 are fairly self explanatory, showing that God will get the whole saving thing done. And then to conclude the chapter, verse 17 simply says, “for how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty”, and then, (I summarize), how great is going to be our joy and happiness.

Now chapter 10. The context does not seem to have changed. It is the time of the end. The timing is the great conflict, the time of world trouble “like no other”, in the time of the end. God has some specific things to say to the remnant about the ministry within the remnant.  Remember that the remnant back in the day of this prophecy, was very small in numbers. To put into contrast how large their numbers used to be, in their better days, before idolatry and Sabbath breaking, and all their other sinful ways dominated their landscape, consider the story of David numbering Israel which is found in 2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21. We are only referencing a sum here, not the context of that story. But the sum of eligible fighting men was found to be 1.3 million fighting men between Israel and Judah. Now when you add in the women and children, and the older ineligible men, the population of the nation must have been somewhere between 5 and 10 million people. Then in due time, God had emptied the land of them, sending both the northern kingdom, and the southern kingdom into captivity, scattering them across the known world at that time. Then after the 70 years internment of the Jews, God brought back a remnant, mostly of Jews, Levite’s and some Benjamites. And that number was under 50,000 initially. That is a small number compared to how great their population used to be. (50 thousand compared to 5 million)? At the time of the original prophesying by Haggai and Zechariah, the remnant was suffering from famine and blight and mildew, and their physical harvests were very poor. Their population was low and dispersed and they were surrounded by enemies. With this said, let’s read chapter 10:1. But, keep in mind that this is prophetic, and has a dualistic meaning. The rains that God is speaking of are the latter rains of spring, which are required to realize a harvest, and God is the provider of these rains. And remember  that in the “latter days”, it is similar but figurative, because it is a spiritual harvest the latter day remnant is working towards. Winter is typically the longest season. Without getting into all the descriptors, It is also typically the most unenjoyable. Eventually spring comes with renewed anticipation of better times to come. Of planting new growth, and much new green life, to be followed by much colour in all the blossoms and flowering. Then comes summer with all of its early sunrises, beauty, fun, busy life, activity, and work. Then comes the fall with all of the great harvesting and satisfaction, and feasting and rejoicing. With this said, let’s see how Jesus Christ showed us in the gospels, how much the 4 seasons were to portray the coming of the kingdom of God. It is the parable of the fig tree, and is found in Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, and Luke 21:29-33. In all three accounts, the context is the time of the end, the great tribulation, the return of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. The parable implies certain things though. I will summarize it, but if you’re not really familiar with it, I suggest you read all of each chapter until you come to the parable. Christ has been describing the events to take place prior to His return. In Matthew 24, He says to learn this lesson from the fig tree. When its branch has become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. And, “so you also”, when you see these things beginning to occur; (the things He has been describing in Matthew 24), know that it is near, (summer), even at the door. But what is summer? Ok, let’s review it in Mark 13. It’s very similar to Matthew and so there’s no need to break it down. And in Luke 21 it is similar also except for a couple of significant things. In Luke 21:29, He says, look at the fig tree and “all the trees”. But more significantly, in verse 30 and 31, He identifies that summer, which is near when you see all these things occurring, is a type here of the kingdom of God, which is near. Although only the seasons of spring, (when the budding takes place), and summer, are referenced in the parable, it is implied that the long, dreary, time of man's rule on the earth, is typed by winter, and the great harvest, feasting and rejoicing, to come after the wars and tribulation, and work of summer, is the fall. It may seem like I have digressed, but I wanted to show that Christ is the revelator, and did reveal in the gospels, how to understand Zechariah 10:1. For the ancient remnant, it was an outpouring of physical rain that they needed, but for the remnant today it is an outpouring of spiritual rain, to produce the green growth of salvageable souls.

And as we get into chapter 10, we will see that just as God repopulated the holy land between the time of the remnant, and the time of Christ, so He will repopulate the land of Israel after He rescues them from captivity for a second time. But in verse 2 and 3, we see that God is angry with the shepherds. God’s great seven thousand year long project, is the salvation of as many men as possible. They are often typed as sheep to God. Sheep need shepherds, otherwise they are just prey, and are fit for the slaughter. This reference to shepherds is not an isolated mention. It occurs in numerous other books of the bible. (Ezekiel 34, the Gospels, and many other places). If you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, you will see that maintaining a solid consistency in the priesthood has always been a problem. Even after the New Testament church was well established, Paul made mention in the book of Acts 20:28-31, that it would happen again from within their own midst. I will quote verse 28-30 because the shepherd and sheep analogy is still in use: “therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, amongst which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood”, for know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in amongst you, not sparing the flock, and also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves “. I could also go to more references by Peter, James and Jude, but it’s not necessary.

The problem existed in 500 BC, in 100 AD, and still exists today. As the prophetic scriptures in Ezekiel 34, and Zechariah 10, (and other places show), Christ will, (at a certain time in history), intervene, and find, and shepherd His sheep Himself.

Chapter 10:1-3, like so many other places in the book of Zechariah, can seem to be confusing to understand. But in these latter days, God has made what He is saying understandable if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. But before breaking it down, I must reiterate that the real truth of many prophecies is "incredible", which by definition, means impossible (or very difficult) to believe. And this breakdown is going to appear that way to most sheep and shepherds. And especially because, to piece the true meaning of His word together, requires digging into numerous translations to deconfuse verse 2. So, here is what God has shown me. Firstly, let’s quote verse 1, and we could use any number of translations to get the meaning across. I will use the English Standard Version for this verse, quote: "Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and He will give them showers of rain, and to everyone the vegetation in the field". Remember, God sent Haggai and Zechariah to the remnant to speak inspirational words to them meant to stir them to action to complete the rebuilding of the temple. The latter day remnant is supposed to read the words of the prophets and be similarly stirred up to complete the building of God's spiritual temple. The ancient remnant is experiencing a physical drought, while the latter day remnant is experiencing a spiritual drought. So, once we spiritualize the words, we comprehend that just like the physical crop requires the blessings of the physical rains to realize a harvest, so does that which we are working in our fields trying to grow, require His blessing (of spiritual life giving rains), to produce the desired results as well. We are not trying to grow grain though, but converted people. So what verse 1 said, is that it is God who blesses the landscapes (physical or spiritual) in order to realize a harvest, and it is "implied" that that is what He truly desires to do. Now, the ever confusing verse 2. I will first quote it, but please notice that initially, it does not seem to intelligibly mesh with verse 1. Quote ESV again, "For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd". Hopefully you've seen and agreed that the 2 verses don't "seem to"mesh well. And I suggest you read the 2 verses in various translations. But, here is why it seemingly does not mesh. Most traditional translations begin (that is, "connect), verse 2  to verse 1 with the conjunction "for". The Hebrew word is H3588 "ki" and has many conjunctive renderings. Some are: “that, for, because, when, as though, BUT, except, surely, since, indeed, nevertheless, forasmuch, therefore”, etc etc etc. My purpose in tediously pointing this out, is to show that although God is willing to pour out the spring rains to physically or spiritually germinate a harvest, there is a BUT that interferes with Him actually doing it, and the conjunction “for” does not bring that sentiment out very well. (You may have noticed when I listed the possible conjunctions for the word "ki", that I capitalized the English word "but". In my view it would have been a more accurate word to describe why God cannot yet pour out the blessing which results in the harvest. So why doesn’t He pour out the blessing that the thought implies that He actually “wills to”? It's because the household gods speak delusion and…….reread verse 1 and 2 again with the slightly different nuance that the conjunctive word "but" implies. Then we can go on to an explanation of the rest of verse 2, and it will be "incredible" for the shepherds to accept. Who are the household gods who utter nonsense, and the diviners who see lies, tell false dreams, and give empty consolation? As I was seeking to know what this mysterious wording meant, I firstly went into Strong’s to see what the translators did with the Hebrew to English. Remember that Strong’s Lexicon translates the Hebrew to English but can use various original translations to do it. Since I am using Biblehub.com to do this study, they are using the Berean Standard Bible which came out in 2016 and is an excellent translation, bridging between the more traditional translations, and the more modern translations. But Biblehub.com could have just as easily used the NKJV or the KJV wording because the Hebrew words do not change, just how various scholars translate the words into English does. So using the BSB, here's what the Lexicon says (and there's no need to stop at every word, I did and you may want as well). "For", idols speak deceit. So, who or what does idols refer to? The Hebrew is H8655, "teraphim" and is defined as "(a kind of idol), most likely a household idol". But also: "idolatry, idol, image or images, teraphim, family idol, a kind of idol used in household shrine or worship". The intended meaning is that it's not a "big" god like Baal, or Molech, or Chemosh, or Dagon, or even Yajweh. If you need an example from scripture, then think of the "household" gods that Rachel stole from her father Laban when Jacob was leaving Haran to return to the land of Canaan. But, we must spiritualize this to know what God is revealing. And the truth comes out when we compare numerous bible translations. This exercise may seem tedious to some, but if you love truth, and the more difficult scriptures in the Bible, (as well as the obvious), then you will suffer it out. Remember, the question is who and what are the "household idols"?

We've already read the ESV translation. It is the noun and the verb in the first sentence that is telling: quote: "For the household gods utter nonsense". Next is the NIV: "The idols speak deceitfully". Next is the NLT: "Household gods give worthless advice". Next is the BSB: "For idols speak deceit". Next is the KJV: "For the idols have spoken vanity". Next is the NKJV: "For the idols speak delusion ". Next is the NASB: "For the idols speak deception, and the NASB 1997: "For the teraphim speak iniquity". Next is the LSB: "For the teraphim speak wickedness". Next is the Amplified Version: "For the teraphim (household idols) speak wickedness, emptiness, and worthlessness". Next is the CSB: "For the idols speak falsehood". Next is the Aramaic Bible In Plain English: "For the learned have spoken evil". Next is the Douay-Rheims Bible: "For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable". Next is the God's Word Translation: "The idols speak lies". Next is the ISV: "Truly the family idols talk nonsense". I could continue to say "next" until all 32 translations were quoted and you would hear the same narrative. And here's the amazing, "incredible" truth; the household, or family idols, also called the "learned ones", also called the household gods, are none other than the ministry in the latter day true church of God. They are the ones who are the learned amongst us, who do all the speaking, leading and directing of things. And God who pulls no punches, but says things as they are, says that His summation of what they speak and teach is lies, nonsense, delusion, wickedness, unprofitable doctrine, and basically evil concepts. Their teachings are narratives that they create from the scriptures, but are often at variance from what God's narrative is. For us sheep who look up to them, they appear to have good intentions, and some messages are good to an extent, but God does not operate by mixing good and evil. That's what humans do since the garden of Eden: we mix good and evil. And when God says we idolize them, it's because that's what humans do when we improperly "look up" to other humans and honor them more than we do our Creator. I'm not suggesting that we are not to respect them, but as we are prone to do (as little sheep), we elevate them (figuratively placing them up on pedestals). They are the authorities after all, and the most "learned ones" amongst us), and we should look to them to teach us God's way, but they must make sure they are in tune with God before they teach. Now, it must be stated that unbeknownst to them (and us), the devil has cunningly tricked us all into thinking that they teach approvingly in God's sight. But God says differently in prophecy. And since these prophecies are being opened up now in the latter days, God knew and aloud for His own purposes, this to go on for 400 to 500 years since the Protestant Reformation (when the true church came out from hiding), and began to grow into its own again, under the umbrella of the great false Protestant movement. I could dig much deeper into the work the devil has done throughout this time and prove these things even fuller, but really that subject requires its own article. God’s true narratives are in the Bible, but few men ever let Him speak at length. Our shepherds tend to cherry pick the scriptures that support their own narratives, which as I said, although they may be biblically based, and formulated with decent intentions, they are corrupted and defiled spiritual food in God's view. And let's face it brethren, we have idolized many of our church ministers (as have the Protestants). But I feel that this will be rejected by most, and I will be called a heretic, and the ministry will counsel the sheep in their sphere of influence to shun me. (I'm already shunned anyway). But God said to tell them whether they are willing to hear or not. But the conclusion of verse 2 is simply stated thus: NLT: "So My people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd"! That's how God views our church ways and means: we have no shepherds that are doing the job as He would have it done. And now in verse 3 He says: "My anger burns against your shepherds, and I will punish these leaders. For the Lord of heaven's armies has arrived, to look after Judah, His flock. He will make them strong and glorious, like a proud warehouse in battle". This will of course be fulfilled both physically and spiritually, for the prophecy is dualistic. The ancient priesthood was very problematic. This can be seen by studying Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. But its latter day fulfillment is carried out by a modern priesthood, which we would commonly think of as the ministry of the spiritual Jews. And I have stated before that God is the Mastermind of everything, and that includes all languages, linguistics, communication methods and techniques, expression, articulation, and manners of thought transmission. It is no coincidence that English is the worldwide language of the end time, and it is the language of the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and that is the empire of the birthright nation of Joseph, who in the latter days is the UK (with all its satellite nations), and the USA. I have also said before that the Word of God, the Master of words, plays upon words as He sees fit and always with His ingenious purpose. It is my view that He did this very thing by using words like "house-hold gods", because the Church of God groups are all busy running after the building of their own spiritual "houses", while God's "house" lies in ruins. This Revelation became apparent to me as I studied and prayed earnestly for understanding of the more mysterious things in prophecy, and when I was inclined to read all 32 different translations of Zechariah 10:2, and I was astounded. And if you can see it, then thank God who has opened your eyes. As for me, God has placed the responsibility of telling you on me, but not the worry of whether you believe it or not, for which I am grateful. As incredible as it is, this is the true meaning of Zechariah 10:1-3.

Now we will continue with Zechariah 10. Chapter 10:4-7 are looking forward to Christ’s conquering of the enemies of God, with mention of Judah and Joseph being quite involved in the whole assault on this world. So many things could be talked about. But here’s just a couple of brief comments. Remember that God previously made mention that Judah and Joseph are likened to the two strong shoulders of a capable man, (or warrior). Also remember that when the holy land allotments were given out, that Joshua was inspired by a previous prophecy made by Moses in Deuteronomy 33:12, that Benjamin (who The Lord had a “guardian like” soft spot for), would dwell between “His” shoulders. And so where did Joshua place the tribe of Benjamin? In a swath of land right between Ephraim on the north, and Judah on the south. And from a more secular standpoint, some have noted that the greatest soldiers in the world come from modern day Israel, and those from America and Britain. And if we spiritualize the thought, then we know there are spiritual Jews and spiritual Israelites, which some of one, or maybe both, (because we don’t know for sure), will be resurrected before the great day of His wrath when He descends on the Mount of Olives for that titanic battle. Verses 8-12 continue the narrative regarding the restoration of Israel, which is also found in numerous other books. This is simply an elaboration of those events, provided by God, to this specific people, (the remnant), in their day and age, similar to the elaboration of the same events that God provided down through time to different groups of His people, through different prophets. It seems that God took the focus off of the sheep and shepherds in verse 4 to verse 12, and went to a wonderful synopsis of the victory that He will bring about when He returns in glory to face mankind in battle at the Mount of Olives. I will just say that this synopsis sounds somewhat descriptive of King David's battles. And it's just a thought, but I wonder if David's "mighty men" were not a "type" of Christ's latter day saints who rise to meet Him in the air, and then accompany Him to the Mount of Olives for that great day of battle. I don’t think there’s anything too hard to understand, so we can move on to chapter 11. This chapter is perhaps one of the most enigmatic chapters in the book of Zechariah. It must connect to chapter 10 contextually, but does not connect to the synopsis which chapter 10 ended with. God returns to that subject in chapters 12 to 14, but chapter 11 is more of a continuation from chapter 10:3. But keep in mind that it is men that divided the bible into chapters and verses (for better or worse). By that, I just mean there's both good and bad in that.

Nevertheless, chapter 11 starts out different, with a reference to majestic cedar trees in the mountains of Lebanon. Obviously, God is not talking about trees. And why the reference to Lebanon? This seems like a fitting time to remember that God often speaks in figurative language. This whole chapter is very much like that. But let’s continue down to verse 3. These 3 verses all seem to express the same sorrowful sentiment, in three metaphorical manners, but all on the same subject. The overall metaphor that God is using, is one that He uses often, maybe the most often. It is that of life, and landscape, where He uses symbols of landscape and the living things on it, to portray His real intended subject, which is usually mankind. Let’s review some symbols also. For example, mountains can be governments and kingdoms, towering trees can be monarchs or leaders, wheat and grains can be a harvest of little people, tares and weeds can be bad people or enemies etc, or sheep can be the people also, and then shepherds can be the tenders of flocks of sheep and goats, and the predators on the landscape can be lions, wolves, snakes, and filthy birds etc). So this is the basic imagery of chapter 11, and although we struggle to know what God’s true intended meaning is, He knows exactly what He intends by His writings. Therefore, He wrote it this way for a reason, part of which was likely to hide the true meaning until a time when He wanted to reveal it. Otherwise, He would come out and say it straight up. So then, if God permits, we will try and understand what chapter 11 is talking about. Since He begins by saying, open your doors O Lebanon, this must firstly mean that Lebanon is a reference to something He intends for it to portray, and also, since the doors, (or gates), must be opened, they must have been figuratively closed, (possibly, as in “protected”). He then goes on to say, “so that fire may devour your cedars”. So, Lebanon was a mountainous region with many great forests and some very tall majestic cedar trees. The Hebrew word for Lebanon is H3844, and primarily means “whiteness”, and secondarily, means white mountains, as in “snow covered”. And the cedars likely refer to something of stature, (with men of stature occupying positions of stature). This is implied by verse 2 which continues the sorrowful sentiment by showing that men of lesser stature (portrayed by the lesser forests), are wailing because the more mighty cedars of Lebanon are falling. Some establishment, portrayed in verse 2 as “the thick forest” which has come down, being destroyed by fire. And it is implied that it is ordained by God, because He is the one removing the protection by commanding that the doors that have protected this establishment, be opened. Verse 3. There are shepherds wailing about this, because their glory is being ruined. What they have "looked up to", and what they have thought was so solid, and indestructible, is not. (Recall that in chapter 10:2, we seen that God views our tendency to lift up our talkers, teachers, speakers, leaders, and "learned one's", as a form of idol worship, because they do not represent Him approvingly, and because they take His glory unto themselves). Back to chapter 11. It is not talking about geography, as in geographical Lebanon, since God chooses to switch the wailing metaphor over to Bashan, which was in Gilead, and then to the Jordan flood plain, which ran down from northern Israel to the Dead Sea. If it’s talking about geography, then it’s pretty much all of the land of Israel at their Zenith. But it’s really talking about an establishment, and likely a spiritual one, with shepherds and flocks. Before going into verse 4 and beyond, let’s step back, and try to relate it to the remnant of that time. Remember, they are in year two of a four year rebuild project. God has gotten their attention through Haggai and then Zechariah’s prophesying, (as well as all the physical hands on pushing of Ezra and eventually Nehemiah). The people can, and have been motivated for good works, but are huge huge backsliders. They have a mixture of hot and cold people in their remnant, and enemies within and without. They’ve even sent a group of representatives from Bethel to inquire of the Lord, with a bit of a sneaky agenda, which He called them out on. They need dedicated, devoted, committed shepherds, to keep pushing them forward, and to protect them from enemies, (which they are surrounded by). (Just for the record, if it were not for God intervening through Cyrus, Darius, Mordecai, Esther, and others, they would have been genocided by now). This and more, is the setting of the chapter 11 prophecy. And the reason I lean towards a spiritual understanding of this, is because it’s dualistic as well, and pertains to a latter day remnant also, and as we will see, more significantly. Now, verse 4. God tells "someone", to feed the flock for slaughter. His thoughtful expression continues into verse 5, but let’s pause, and ask who is He talking to, and who is the flock for slaughter? Let’s first check a few other translations. I am compelled to digress for a few minutes. You’ve probably heard the saying, “we’ve got to keep them honest”. It struck me as I wrote, let’s check a few other translations first, so that is what we are doing, keeping the translators honest. But how can we dare say such a thing, and at the same time, say that the bible is every word of God, and pure etc etc. I will say again, that I do not question that every word of God is pure. I’m 100 percent sure of that, but I’m not so sure that men have translated every word of God so perfectly. We’re all entitled to some opinions, and that’s one of mine. Back to checking a few other translations now. They mostly all say that someone is told by God to feed the flock intended for slaughter. Let’s first consider the possibilities of who could be the “someone” who is supposed to feed this flock. Is it Zechariah who is receiving the correspondence from God? I don’t think so. Is it Christ? I would say yes, but qualify it by-saying, it is the “Word of God” speaking prophetically, to “One” not even born in the flesh yet, (at the time), Who will actually carry out the work by the Holy Spirit. What about the flock intended for slaughter? Is it modern day Joseph,  or Judah, or the whole of modern day Israel? I don’t think so. What are those groups all being fed? They are not on much of a spiritual diet. Oh, they are also intended for slaughter, and they do have secular leaders, and spiritually merciless shepherds. But they are not being fed anything spiritually truthful or nourishing. Is the flock intended for slaughter identified in scripture in some other places? Yes, in Romans 8:36 it says: “as it is written”, “for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter “. As it is written where? Well let’s start at Psalm 44:11; “You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations”, Psalm 44:22; “yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered“. And then quite a few lesser references, but if you choose to check them out, here they are: Acts 20:24, 1 Cor. 4:9, 1 Cor. 15:30-31, 2 Cor. 1:9, 4:10, 6:9, Phil. 3:10, and then a few more directly related to Christ: Isaiah 53:7, Jeremiah 11:9, and 12:3, and there are likely many more implied. I think that there’s ample evidence that the flock intended for slaughter is a spiritual flock more than it is a physical flock. And if it is a spiritual flock, then it is highly likely that it is the true church, as the apostle Paul implies. So then Lebanon  (which means whiteness), is the church, and the “mighty cedars” are the ministers in charge, and the lesser “thick forest”, is the establishment in general with all its doctrines and traditions, lesser ministers and men of stature at the top. The shepherds are ministers, (both good and bad), and the sheep are the flock, (also both good and bad). The time period is prior to the second coming of Christ. And God is ordering the doors be opened so that fire may devour the cedars and the thick forest. This sounds very similar to Malachi, and Ezekiel, and that makes sense, because it’s all the same story, expressed through different prophets according to God's own prerogative. Verse 4-5. God commands that the flock of slaughter be fed. The someone feeding the flock is The Lord, even if it is the Holy Spirit working through men some time in the future. The reference to “whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt”, is quite an indicting remark by God. Firstly, let’s see what God says about them. They slaughter them and feel no guilt. They trade in sheep, selling and buying  them, and pitying them not, and all the while, they are under the impression that they are pleasing the Lord and are thus blessed in all that they are doing. Verse 6. God identifies them as men, and identifies their enemies or predators, and has come to a point in His plan where He removes a special pitying, or protection, that He has generally been providing unbeknownst to them. (God is very patient and tolerant of us for long periods, sometimes, until time runs out).

Verse 7. God makes a distinction. He says He fed the flock, but in particular, “the poor of the flock”. Who are the poor of the flock? They are described in many places in the bible, both Old and New Testament, but just for one reference, you could go to Matthew 5, and read Christ’s famous words called “the beatitudes“. The beatitudes describe them to a degree, but that is not all that describes them. They are a group within the group, and they love God with all their heart, mind, soul, spirit, body, strength, and being. They love God’s laws and tremble at His word. They love His presence and hope for it in every waking and sleeping moment. This may sound odd, but they also like God (we never actually talk about "liking" God, we just talk about loving and obeying Him). They know God’s purpose and plan in creating man on this planet, and are completely invested in it, and they do not love their own lives more than God or His purpose and plan. These things, (and more), characterize them. God calls them the “poor” of the flock because they are meek and humble, and in this sense, they are poor. God says, in Isaiah 66:1-2: “Thus says The Lord: heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool, where is the house that you would build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist, says The Lord. But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word.” It is interesting that this scripture is spoken in the context of temple building (which is what the remnant was right in the middle of), and also in the context of Zechariah 11, speaking about the poor of the flock. God’s plan is so great, that even as great as this earth is, and all the amazing things that exist in it, He downplays all that for the purpose of saying, (I will summarize), yeh yeh, these things all exist, I know that because I’m the One who made them, but on this one will I look; and then He speaks His words about the humble and contrite ones. That’s the poor of the flock.

The following expressions by God are very mysterious. Remember that I said that to know the intended meaning of non-obvious scripture is not an easy task. It must be revealed by God. There are a lot of men’s ideas out there, and I don’t feel totally comfortable with most of them. I know I have prayed and prayed for understanding, and have studied this for years, and for hours and hours within those years, and I still do not feel real confident that I know all God's true intended meaning. If God ties something up, you cannot untie it on your own. The Revelator must do it. With that said, here are some of  my minimal comments on what the words say. So God fed the flock; in particular the poor of the flock. Then He took two staffs or rods: the one He called “beauty”, (or grace or favour, and we could say, undeserved favour), and the other He called “bands”, (or unity), and I’m not sure of this translation of the Hebrew word for bands. But then there’s no explaining or even implying, of what the two staffs mean yet. All we know is that this is a spiritual shepherd talking, and it is the Word of God talking, and the Word became flesh, and the Word of God is Christ, and He operates invisibly through the agency of the Holy Spirit. (Shepherds often have staffs, but let’s leave that alone for now). I have a question; why are there two staffs? Let’s leave that alone for now too but keep it in mind for later. But right after telling us He has two staffs with their own names, and thus their own meanings and purposes, He tells us in verse 8, that He cut off 3 shepherds in one month. Verse 8 is also very mysterious, and you cannot rely on any single bible translation to provide you with the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They vary this way and that because there’s too many possible usages of the Hebrew words. It is clear that God cuts off 3 shepherds in one month. The next part of the verse’s meaning is translated by some bibles as meaning that God, and the 3 shepherds, either mutually abhorred or loathed each other. Other translations say it should be expressed as God became weary of them, but they did mutually abhor or loathe Him. I would lean towards the second rendering, because the Hebrew word chosen in the KJV and the NKJV for God “loathing” them, is only used once and is way down the list of possible meanings for H7114 “qarsar”, which more accurately means, reap, reaper, shortened, to be short, be impatient, be vexed, be grieved, and a few others. And it makes sense that God has grown weary of something that has been going on that is very displeasing in His sight. And that it is something that involves the flock, the poor of the flock, and shepherds, (some in high places of authority). And it has been said that actions speak louder than words (or thoughts and intents), and by their actions these 3 shepherds abhor and loathe God. And a curious thing to wonder about, is that the Hebrew word used for "three" in this instance, carries a different nuance in its usage than the simple cardinal number "3" nuance. It is H7969, "shalosh", and is more accurately defined as "a three", or "a triad". This could mean that the three shepherds that God must remove, operate as a group within one house, as opposed to various houses, or possibly, that they have united in opposition to God gathering His flock back under one roof. (And incidentally, the word chosen for their emotion is H973 “bachal”, and it really does mean to loathe or abhor, and interestingly also, to gain by greed, or gain hastily). Who these shepherds could be in the latter days, (because we are talking about a latter day fulfillment here), no one except God knows. But keep in mind that God’s house is divided and scattered even right now. And His church exists as a fractured group, or splintered group. For all intents and purposes, they are a denominational group, similar to their spiritual big sister: the Protestants. (Spiritual Israel being the big sister: Samaria, and spiritual Judah being the little sister: Jerusalem). I know this flies in the face of the church’s accepted doctrine of unity as taught by Paul. And our Lord did say, a house divided against itself cannot stand. Well, is our house, the church, which is God’s house, standing? Some insist it is, but in Haggai, (Zechariah’s co-prophet), God says, My house lies in ruins, while you all run to the building of your own houses. I know that in the LCG, where I attend and serve, we would say we are not divided. And I expect that most of the other groups would say something similar. But I ask again, why are we not one group, instead of many, because anyone can see that we are actually divided! And these divided groups have shepherds running things, and they are not facilitating a repair of the breach, and some are outrightly standing in the way, in opposition to unity, all the while espousing unity, (in their own spiritual houses). I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again; what Paul taught regarding how the church was to be, is the ideal to strive for. There is no doubt in my mind that the Bride of Christ will be completely united one day, but it is not what I see yet, and it is not what I see in the past since 31 AD, and it is not what Paul constantly fought for until he died. But there was a “poor of the flock” then, and there still is. I’ll reference one scripture where God refers to them without using that name. It is in Malachi 3:16-18, please do read it. So much more could be said just about verse 8 of Zechariah 11, but I’ll end it there for now.

The mystery of God’s wording continues into verse 9. “Then He said, I will not feed you”. Who could this “you” be? God seems to be deliberately confounding here, unless the translators messed it up again. He is speaking to some group. I would suggest by what follows, that it is that part of the flock that is not characterized the way I described the poor of the flock a few pages back. Remember as we read on, that this is spiritual. He says, “let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh”. There are some other translations that express the thought better. I will use the RSV to express it. And try to think of it like He was speaking to two groups who were standing in front of him, one to the right, and one to the left, who were both a part of the same group but were distinctively different. And He spoke to the one group and said, I will shepherd (or feed) you. And then He turned and looked at the other group, and said I will not shepherd (or feed) you. Here is how the RSV expresses it: Zechariah 11:9 “So I said, I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those who are left devour the flesh of one another”. So, the first ones spiritually die due to lack of spiritual nourishment and water. This is Truth and the Holy Spirit. The second group is destroyed. They are being cut off by God's decree. And the third group also perish over a period of time spent bickering, backstabbing, arguing, gossiping, and competing for power (figuratively devouring each other), in the pitiful spiritual organizations they have been scattered to. Remember that everyone has choice and free moral agency, and these people could have moved, (to a safer spiritual house on the spiritual landscape, so to speak). God is patient with us and has given time (likely 40 years) for us to do something. Let’s take a step back for a moment and reflect and consider. God is speaking through Zechariah, in the time of the Jewish remnant. And they are an earlier type, of a latter day remnant, which has in this chapter 11, been called a flock for slaughter, which has been spiritually identified in the New Testament by Paul, and in the Psalms as the church. And in the church, there are two groups. One is the poor of the flock, and the other are lukewarm, or unmotivated to move into deeper, hotter waters, such as the re-uniting into one house again. They are comfy and like it where they are, and do not believe that God is behind this, because they won’t believe the parallel meaning of the messages of Haggai and Zechariah. And the flock is being shepherded by ministers. God appears to be angry with the shepherds, especially the top ones. It isn’t clear if He is angry at all of them, but He addresses them as if He is, but possibly because He is addressing their establishment. (For a similar view on this, go to Ezekiel 34). I repeat, this is not easy to hear. And it's not easy for me to write. But if this message is to the church, and God wants it explained now at this particular time in history, then it must be written and it must be read. I do not savour being singled out to say these painful things. Now, verse 10. God has previously set the stage with the two staffs. He is now going to carry out some act’s which all have meaning and purpose. He takes His first staff, the one He called beauty, and cuts it in two. The Hebrew word for beauty is H5278, “no’am”. Strong’s definitions give it these possible meanings; agreeableness, delight, suitableness, splendour or grace, beauty and pleasantness. All very nice descriptors, but who do we attribute them to? And God’s cutting of the staff was to show that He was revoking, or annulling, or breaking the covenant He had made with all the people. Now some translations translate “all the people”, as “the nations”. But God has not been talking to the nations here, but to the remnant; the flock of slaughter. And He never made a covenant with the nations.

I do not know for sure what covenant is being spoken of here. Let's consider the possibilities. God made a covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. It was for all intents and purposes a marriage covenant. Marriage covenants could only be legally annulled because of adultery. Christ reaffirmed this in Matthew 5:32. It seems to me, that if it is this covenant being spoken of, then without a doubt, Israel’s history has been that of a brazen adulteress. And if God, in this analogy, chose to picture the covenant He originally had with Israel as a staff called beauty, (but picture all those other adjectives too); then that seems very fitting that that is what it could have been for both the Israelites and God. But there is another possibility to consider. It's quite long to explain, and it actually came to me after this original writing was finished. It came to me while I was writing the article "Open Letter To The Remnant", which I feel I was inspired to write most recently. To save time typing, I am inserting what I wrote in that article regarding the exact same section of scripture we are studying here in Zechariah 11.

Insert: What we have studied is meant to serve as a warning to all of us who count ourselves as part of the remnant of the true Church of God, whether we are sheep or shepherds, and no matter what “spiritual house” we find ourselves in. And I will have to cover it to a degree because God has more to say. But I will try to summarize it as best I can. I will start at Zechariah 11:9.

Zechariah 11:9 Quote: NKJV “Then I said I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.” This may also be translated as “I will no longer shepherd you”, as most of the translations prefer to word it. The two key words in the verse are the pronouns “I“ referring to God, and “you” referring to a certain contingent of the flock. In Strong’s there’s no need for us to break down the word “shepherd”, but the pronoun “you” used here is not the more common Hebrew word, which is H859 “ata”, and means “you”, “thou”, “thee”, “ye”, and then there are too many derivatives to mention as it expands to words like “yourself” etc etc etc. But in Zechariah 11:9, the word “you” is implied. It is not written as in “ata”, but instead it is implied, by the definite accusative marker again, following the word “shepherd”, which again is the marker H853, which is a deliberate identifying of the sheep that are not considered to be part of the “the poor of the flock”, who are meek and humble and willing to listen to the Shepherd. In other words, the poor of the flock He will still feed and shepherd. So when He says, “I will no longer feed you”, He is specifying a certain group within the flock. And the rest of the verse is self-explanatory if you just spiritualize the wording, for it is written figuratively, (we don’t literally eat each other's flesh anymore than we literally eat Christ’s flesh). Verse 10 is also a challenge to know the full intent of God’s meaning. And various translations mislead because they interpret the Hebrew word for “people”, (at the end of the verse), as “nations”, or “peoples”, (the plural), of people. These translations then go on to make the reader think God is talking about breaking a covenant He has made with all the nations. But let’s quote the verse first, Zechariah 11:10 quote, NKJV: “And I took My staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples”. As I said, there is a misleading that goes on by way of the translators, generally because of a deliberate pluralizing of the word "people", and then choosing to render it as "nations" instead. I will grant the translators this much; it is hard to know for sure. In such a situation, I said previously, that we must try and ascertain the truth, (if God is willing), by prayer, wisdom, Godly logic, reason, context, and guidance by the Holy Spirit. Also, when too many possibilities seem to be on the table, then we should figuratively clear off the table and begin simplistically. Let’s start with the context and break that down. The shepherd has a shepherd's staff named "Beauty" or "Favour", which he is in the process of breaking or cutting asunder, to symbolize his breaking of a covenant that he has made with all the people, or "peoples". We know what beauty means. And we know the shepherd is Jesus speaking as the Word of God, (because a contingent of the people are going to value and pay a measly sum of thirty pieces of silver for his life fulfilling scripture). And we know a shepherd's staff is a long rod, sometimes with a hook on the end designed to protect sheep and ward off predators. And we know that there is a small contingent of people, (sheep), called "the poor of the flock" who will be watching the shepherd, and will know that this is the word of the Lord being fulfilled. But here's two things we're not quite sure of: what covenant is the shepherd talking about, and who are the people the shepherd is ultimately speaking to?

Let’s answer the second question first. Zechariah was sent to the remnant that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. He and the prophet Haggai were sent as a team of two, a tandem if you will. Their express purpose was to deliver messages from God, which was designed to stir Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the "people", (the physical remnant), to action, to get back to finishing the temple of the Lord, which was lying in ruins with only the foundation completed. They had gotten off to a good start a generation previous, but resistance from the servants of the devil had succeeded in getting a work stoppage ordered from the king. Their combined efforts, and God's Spirit, stirred the "people" to action as we can see from Haggai and Ezra 5:1-2. The "people", although being a mix of Jews, Levites, and some Benjamites, can be grouped together under the name "Jews". So the "people" Zechariah is speaking to (in the name of the God of Israel, as Ezra 5:1 says), were physical Jews. They were not "the Nations", as so many translations erroneously imply. Since this is also prophecy and dualistic, that means that the words that the shepherd is speaking are also directed to the spiritual Jews who are part of the remnant who are presently still in exile right now, and that is us. Now we will try and answer the first question; what covenant is the shepherd talking about that he is cutting asunder? There have been a few covenants between God and His "people". But this covenant is one that this remnant must relate to as Zechariah is expressing it, even if our interpretation of it becomes spiritual. Since the whole context of Zechariah 11 is about God's flock of sheep, (both the good and the bad, and the weak and the strong, and the lost and the lame), and about their shepherds not protecting and feeding them, then the breaking of a covenant has to do with that context. It may be necessary for you, (the reader), to go back and refresh yourself with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and possibly even Malachi. If you do, you will see that there was a good deal of injustice, game playing, and politicking, greed and selfishness, and many other wrong practices going on in this remnants relatively new established culture in Jerusalem at that time. And the priesthood, (the shepherds), who wielded the power down at the "street level" of society, were the main benefactors. There was a God ordained drought going on as Haggai says, which we already saw what the spiritual parallel to it actually meant. They were selling Israelites to each other as slaves, and intermarrying with Gentiles, and charging interest on loaned money, and stealing land from one another, and buying and selling on the Sabbath, and various other practices. This is all brought out in Nehemiah and Malachi.

I will digress to point out a fact of truth, which has been proven out by history over and over various times. And that is that we Israelites, whether physical or spiritual, have a tendency to backslide. You can see it over and over. The church in the wilderness backslid over and over, and so has the church in the New Testament era. This is brought out in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. As the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and Ezra, so the prophet Malachi was a contemporary of Nehemiah. And if you read Nehemiah alongside Malachi, you will get an accurate feel for the backsliding that went on after they got "back on track", (as Mr. Armstrong used to say). It just seems to be what we do, even after God stirs us to action. That is what happened after the work of Zerubbabel, Joshua and Ezra was done. The message of Malachi is also dualistic. If you've not read it with your spiritual 3D glasses on, then it's time you did, for as it is largely written to the priesthood in the fifth century BC, and is a message to the priesthood and the flock previous to Christ's first coming, so it is also a message to the spiritual priesthood previous to Christ's second coming, and is going to happen again. It's just that it must be spiritualized to comprehend it. I have written a whole article on this book as well, which anyone wishing to read it may. It is entitled “Who is the Book of Malachi Written to, and what is its Message”. (Please understand me brethren, that when I say things like "I have written", I truly do mean that it was done by God's Spirit, or, Christ working in me, if you will. All I've really done is I've been led to "unpackage" something that God had Malachi record and then "package up" until the time when knowledge would be increased). Back to Zechariah 11 now.

So, we were trying to ascertain what covenant God was talking about that the staff Beauty pictured. And as satan is the one behind all our "tripping up", and "backsliding" as he resists us, so he is at work trying to make us misunderstand and misinterpret God's word all the time. I have noted in previous articles that his craftiness in twisting God’s word usually involves trickery, such as; if God intends something to be figurative, satan will trick us into seeing it literally, and then vice-versa. (I digress to provide a well known example of this found in the book of John 3, where Christ explained to Nicodemus that one must be literally "born again" as "spirit" to enter the kingdom of God. Although God does more often speak in figurative terms, in this case He was being literal. So what did satan deceive Protestant Christianity to believe and teach? That we are "born again" "figuratively", while we are still in the flesh). That’s why you have certain missionary minded Protestants asking flesh and blood humans if they have been born again. Back to satan's trickery. If God wants something to be understood simplistically, then satan will trick us into thinking it is complicated and then vice-versa, or if God deliberately makes His word mysterious, then satan will try and make it appear straightforward, and then vice-versa. Since he is the adversary, it is his nature to be the “opposite”, with his ultimate distinction of "opposition" being his character trait of “evil” against God's character trait of “good”. So then it would be his trick to try and make us think that the covenant to be "cut asunder" in Zechariah 11:10 is one of God's landmark covenants. And I have spent about five years searching for which one it could be. I went over the covenants I knew of asking myself, could it be the covenant God made in Genesis 8 with creation after the flood? That didn't make sense. Could it be the covenant God made with Abraham? He did say in Genesis 18:8 that all the nations of the world would be blessed in Abraham. But that too does not fit the context. In fact none of the covenants that God made with Isaac and Jacob, or Israel at Mt. Sanai, or His covenant with David fit the context. And the New covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31, (which was quoted almost verbatim by Paul in Hebrews 8:8-11), does not fit either, because what God inspired Zechariah to write had to work for that remnant, and then the latter day remnant as well, because that's how duality works. And I reiterate that the shepherd said, (in verse 9), that He would no longer protect and feed them. And then in verse 10 it says that He broke the covenant that He had made with all the people. Let’s first look at the Hebrew word for "covenant". In Strong’s it is H1285, "berith", and the definition is a little bit long but worth quoting. Firstly it means "a covenant", but the definition continues to include; an alliance or a “pledge”, between men, or a treaty man to man, but also a constitution or ordinance - monarch to subjects, or it can mean an alliance of friendship, or an alliance of marriage (even between God and man), and there is a bit more but I will nip it there. Since we can't find a special covenant that fits the context, is it possible that there is a "pledge" or a "promise" that God made that does fit the context? And yes, there is. It's found in the book of Jeremiah in the letter that God inspired Jeremiah to write and send to the exiles in Babylon. It too is a little long, and I ask you to read along in your bible, but I will summarize part of it (Jeremiah 29:1-3), so that I may also point out some little, but significant things along the way. Verse 1 says the letter was sent from Jeremiah in Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders, the priests, (and notice now): "all the people", whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. (I harken back to Zechariah 11:10, just to show the phrase "all the people" again). Jeremiah 29:2-3 then goes on to say when it happened, and who some of those involved were who were taken. It was the first captivity, which incidentally was when Daniel and his three counterparts were also taken, (and Ezekiel was taken then as well). The pledge, agreement, covenant, or promise which I am suggesting fits the context of Zechariah 11, is found in the next 11 verses of Jeremiah's letter, and I will quote it: Jeremiah 29: 4-14 NKJV:  "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husband's, so that they may bear sons and daughters - that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them says the Lord. For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive ". End of quote. So brethren, you can believe whichever way you choose, but I submit to you that this pledge by God fits the context of Zechariah 11. God kept all His promises. He raised up Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Babylon, and placed them in high places of authority to help facilitate the Babylonians being favorable to the Jews. He raised up Jeremiah to be on the main stage in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel to be on the main stage in Babylon, and many other servants working backstage, and He did too many miracles to count in keeping all His promises. He is the ultimate "Promise Keeper", and makes a way for everything to happen, and thus He is the ultimate "Way Maker" also. But! It is His righteous prerogative to terminate His pledge if the other party once again shows themselves to be unworthy of His grace through betrayal. It's happened again and again and again to God, and He always makes a way for His people to return to Him. In fact the Old Testament scriptures are full of verses where God says "return to Me and I will return to you". (So often said that it is cliché - like). And since this is also prophecy and dualistic, it is going to happen again. When the shepherd cuts asunder the staff Beauty, It is yet in the future, (but the not too distant future). I will say again; God is on a time frame with many things that must transpire. But when the time for this to occur happens, He says in 11:11, that "the poor of the flock who were watching Me, knew that it was the word of the Lord". We don't need to go over their nature again right?

Verse 11 simply says that the staff was broken by God's decree and that the poor of the flock, “who were watching Him”, knew it was done by Him. Now verse 12. God makes a prophetic reference to the thirty pieces of silver, and the betrayal incident, and the potter’s field thing, all to happen in the first century AD. It is curious at the beginning of verse 12, when the scripture says, “then I said to them”; I ask, who is “them”. When it happened in real time, it was the Pharisees. They’re the ones who paid the betrayer the thirty pieces of silver. All through the gospels, we see them as the ones who could not be characterized as the poor of the flock. So we have that, but also, verse 12-13 is another amazing reminder to us, to show how God made certain things just happen to a “T”, (similar to the riding into Jerusalem on a colt incident), and that should strengthen our faith, that all the rest of prophecy is going to happen as well. I don’t know why else God would have inserted that into the story flow. Verse 14 continues the story flow.

Now God deals with His other staff. This staff He, (according to the translators), has named “bands”. It is chosen from the Hebrew word H2254, “chabal”, Strong’s definition says, to wind tightly, to bind, specifically by a pledge. But figuratively, there is a very negative connotation attached to its usage, as in, destroy, ruin or spoil, and also figuratively, to deal corruptly or offend. I checked some of the other translations and although some of them favour translating it as “unity or union”, there seems to be a general agreement, that bonds, binds, or bands, describes the meaning of this staff. And as verse 14 says, God is cutting or breaking this staff as well. And this staff pictures a bond of unity that exists between Israel and Judah. Now what bond might He be referring to? There has always been a brotherly contention between Israel and Judah. They were united under David and Solomon, (even though there was a brotherly contention). Even when David counted Israel in 2 Samuel 24, and Joab reported back with the count, he said there were 800,000 men who could carry the sword in Israel, and 500,000 who could in Judah. I mention that to show there was even then, a small separation between the two, as they counted them separately, (but they were unified). But after Solomon’s reign was finished, under the reign of Rehoboam, the kingdom split into two kingdoms, and became Israel in the north, and Judah in the south. And from that time they were not very united. They had brief moments when they allied against a foe, (usually through marriage). And this situation went on until they were both exiled out of their lands by God. How about a bond of unity that existed that God might be referring to in the future then. A unity was inspired by God, to develop after the USA, (Manasseh), became established, (along with the UK), to provide a safe haven for the scattering Jews, in the 1800 to 1900 hundreds. And to facilitate a return to their original homeland in what is now modern day Israel. Could this be the unity that God is talking about that He is going to break or cut asunder? The left wing mentality in both the USA and the UK, (and the Israelite nations in the EU), seem willing to break it. That is a possibility, and there very well may be a duality of physical and spiritual fulfillment to this breaking. (There was with the staff of grace or favour too when you analyze it. Ask, why have the nations of Joseph not suffered some of the calamities that the Gentile nations have suffered over the years? Could it be because they have been deliberately favoured)? What would be the spiritual break being referred to? It could be the Judeo Christian bond that has developed and existed since 31 AD.  And remember that within both of these faiths, there is the counterfeit and the true, or spiritual Jews and spiritual Israelites. If this is the bond of unity that God is referring to, the breaking of it is still in front of us yet. I would advise that we stay ever so close to God, stay spiritually awake, and keep our eyes wide open.

Once again, I am inclined to insert here, a section of writing from the article I wrote entitled: “Open Letter To The Remnant Of The WCG, Wherever You May Be”. In that article I explained things more thoroughly regarding the two staffs, and feel it will be helpful to insert it here in this article as well, because there is more to the mysterious meaning of the terms “Beauty and Bonds”.

Insert: First of all, Strong’s Hebrew for “beauty” is H5278, and is defined as: kindness, pleasantness, delightfulness, beauty, and favor. And some others were “sweet”, “mercy”, and “graciousness”. And most of the translations have chosen the descriptor of “favor”, but they all work and are all really nice descriptive adjective terms. They imply a very good intention by God towards this staff, which ultimately is a metaphor for a group of people. God is willing to be all these things towards this group. Now, before contrasting the other staff, we must focus on a word which in the English vernacular we use all the time and probably take for granted. The translators used the word loosely here, in such a way as to cause us to take it for granted. And that word is “calling” or “called”, and they used it like this; “the one I “called” beauty, and the other I “called” bands. The word is H7121, and although I don’t enjoy some of these long definitions, they are sometimes necessary. Here goes: “to call, call out, to recite, to cry out, to proclaim, to utter a loud sound, to call unto, to cry out for help (even in the name of God), to proclaim, to read aloud (even to oneself), to summon, to invite, to call for, to call and commission, to call and appoint, to call and endow, to call and give a name to, to be called, to be read aloud, to be summoned, be named, to be called out, and to be chosen”. These are all verb phrases depicting action, and it was necessary to include these definitions here to understand that it is a verbal calling by God that is being emphasized here and not just the naming of a staff. And the verbal action, (of a calling), being defined is the nicer, more hoped for action.

Now let’s contrast the other staff. It is not so simple to get straight. This same Hebrew word leads it off, which again is H7121, and you know the definition. And the majority of translations chose the English word “union or unity”, “bands or bonds”, for the name of the other staff, but a few chose some other interesting words, which are based on the definition. The Hebrew word is Strong’s H2256 and means, “a cord, a rope, a territory, a band, a company, a line, a measuring cord or line, a measured portion, a lot, a part, a band or company, and then figuratively, it can mean: pain, sorrow, travail, pangs or pains, pains of travail, sorrows, destruction and union. Note that initially they are nouns and figuratively they are somewhat negative as compared to beauty or pleasure or pleasantness. (God does not enjoy exercising this kind of action as no parent does either). It is interesting to note how one of the translations contrast the two staffs. It is the Aramaic Bible in Plain English, which worded it this way; “the one I called “Sweet” and the other I called “Agony”. I thought that was a telling contrast and worth mentioning. And another interesting thing to note for us to be thinking about, is that Strong's definition suggests the meaning has to do with “a measurement, or a measured portion, or a lot, or a part, or a band. And in Revelation 11:1-2, one who is the counterpart of John in the latter days, is told to measure the temple of God, the altar, and to count the number of worshippers there. But I do not want to go into Revelation 11 here so I will leave it alone for now. I only mentioned it because of the definition of this second staff, and its emphasis on “a measured lot”, and because of its characteristic of “pain and travail”. There is one more Hebrew expression being used too loosely here which we should look at before moving on. It is translated as: “Then I took”, (for Myself, two staffs). It is H3947, “wa.’eq.qah”. The definition of it is very long so I won’t write it here. I suggest you look it up if you like. And I won’t make too much of it here either except to mention that although its main meaning is “to take”, it is interesting to note that one of its common usages is in the taking of a wife, or to get married, or to take in marriage. And as we know, God considers both Israel and Judah, (the people), to be His wayward wives, who He will have back again. And the church, once she is ready, will be the Bride of Christ. So we have the two staffs simply contrasted, even if a fuller explanation is desired.

Now verse 15-17. These are some pretty frightening verses. Let’s consider the verses previous to them. God is steadily doing things in an orderly fashion, and in a timely fashion. He’s opening the way for Lebanon (meaning whiteness), with its great cedars and thick forest to be burned down. He’s intervening to take over the feeding of the flock, and especially the poor of the flock. He’s cutting off shepherds as He sees fit, and especially three powerful ones who are standing in the way of His purposes being worked out. A vetting out process is going on in the church. Perhaps a pretty massive revival is transpiring as He brings the wayward groups, the wayward sheep, and perhaps a host of others from the world, all together. Just think of the parables in the gospels of going into the highways and the byways, and bringing in many diverse people. (And at the same time there is much He is doing in a geopolitical Gentile world, with 3 massive counterfeit religious movements all ramping up; false Christianity, Islam, and Atheism (godlessness); plus massive world confusion and conflict. The titanic warfare to come upon this world is not only physical but spiritual also. Back to Zechariah 11:15-17 and the church. God has allowed false leaders to gain influence, or even take over for a time, the true church. We saw it in history in the 100’s AD, and to a greater degree in the 300’s, and more recently in the 1900’s. And we see God reference it by Paul in 2 Timothy 3, and in 2 Thessalonians 2, (the man of sin), and in the gospels, and in Daniel, and in the Psalms as the flock of slaughter, and in Ezekiel and many other places. But Christ promises that in spite of all the attacks, the gates of hell shall not prevail against His church. Here it is described again in Zechariah 11:15. And think of the flow of events in God’s own timely fashion as we break into verse 15. It could almost say “next”, take up the instruments of a foolish shepherd. What are the instruments of a foolish shepherd? The word for instruments is H3627, “keliy”. And Strong’s meaning is very long. I ask you to look it up yourself if you wish. I’ll try to keep it a bit shorter. It’s been translated 325 times as all physical things such as: vessel, instrument, weapon, jewel, armour bearer, stuff, thing, armour, furniture, carriage, bag, and miscellaneous. Interestingly, they’re all physical. How can these be the instruments of a foolish shepherd? However, the word comes from another Hebrew word, H3615, “Kalah”, a very close relative, and it is almost all figurative. Strong’s defines it as: consume, end, finish, fail, accomplish, done, spend, ended, determined, away, fulfil, faint, destroy, left, waste, and miscellaneous. And I’ll mention some of its Biblical usages: to: accomplish, cease, consume, determine, end, fail, finish, be complete, be destroyed, perish, waste away, exhaust, use up, to cause to fail, and there are many more. Now based on the context of what this foolish shepherd is going to do in verse 16-17, these sound more like the implements of a foolish shepherd. And the word for foolish is H196, “evilly”, and does mean foolish. But it too comes from another root H191, “eviyl”, and the Biblical usage goes a little farther adding: (besides being foolish), one who despises wisdom, one who mocks when guilty, one who is quarrelsome, and one who is licentious. Now listen to verse 16 about what this shepherd will do to God's flock. He will not care for those who are being cut off, to try and pull them out of the fire, nor seek to help the young spiritual babes who need so much care and council, nor heal those who are spiritually lame, blind or in some other way broken, nor feed those who are still spiritually healthy. But he will eat the flesh of the sheep and tear their hooves in pieces. (It must all be spiritually interpreted). He is an agent of the destroyer, and has deceived his way into the flock at a very high level. He may have started out on a truer path, I don’t know, but by the time he climbs the corporate ladder in the church, his ambition is just power. He likely has the support of the majority of the ministry, for God’s true flock, the poor of the flock, is as Jesus said, “a little flock”. But he is fulfilling a purpose in the vetting out of God’s elect. In verse 17, God tells us what will become of him. Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock, (Who are being devoured, because they are after all, the flock of slaughter). The sword shall be upon his arm. I’m not going to go into a breakdown of the Hebrew word for sword, you can if you like. I will just say it means a sword to cut with, but its root means drought, or parched, and decay etc. I’ll just summarize it and say, his arm is a reference to his right arm, the source of his strength, and ability for “doing”, which shall be clean and dried up. And his right eye is a reference to his mental capabilities to discern wisdom, and good and evil, which shall be utterly darkened. God will destroy this foolish shepherd.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 says Christ will destroy him with the brightness of His coming. That pretty much concludes the thoughts that I believe God has granted me on Zechariah chapter 11 up to this point. I believe it is the truth, but I also understand that everyone has their own views, and if you don’t agree with these explanations, that’s your prerogative. I did begin this long article with the little remark of, “could this be true”? That was not for the purpose of inviting a bunch of alternate views, but just to remain humble and non pushy with what I think God has revealed to me. Moving on to chapter 12 then.

God begins by distinctly mentioning three things, as part of, or as an introduction, to a message regarding the future of Israel, and then specifically, within Israel, the house of Judah, and Jerusalem. This message is not new. It has been spoken of by God previously in other books of the bible. I am inclined to emphasize again, that God has a great great great great purpose, that He is working out in humans made in His image, on this incredible earth, within this universe, (this expanse of stars, planets, moons, spheres and the countless other phenomena out there). That is how He chooses to open up chapter 12; by stating that it is He who lays the foundations of the earth, stretches out the heavens, and forms the spirit within man. I am going to digress just a little, to point out that some have cherry picked this scripture, to place a great deal of emphasis on the fact that there is a spirit in man. The church that does this, is motivated to do it, because they feel they need to defend that doctrine, (that there is a spirit in man, and that it is uniquely, “the human spirit”). I do not disagree with that concept. But I think every creature of God has some form of spiritual energy that is behind its physical machinery, so to speak. But there most certainly is something spiritually extra special in humans that allows us to possess all the superior faculty’s that we do, over the other worldly creatures on this earth. And I would point out that as we are made in God's image, and possess such superiority over the other living creatures in this earth, so God is similarly highly superior to all the living creatures in the spirit realm, which this earth and all life on it are a little tiny copy of. But, I don’t think God intended for us to cherry pick this scripture and run away with the spirit in man part of it, thus separating it from the three fold statement He intended for us to comprehend, as an introduction to the message, or oracle, that will now preoccupy the remainder of the book of Zechariah, chapters 12-14. Let us just try and focus our attention on what God has done, and what He is doing, and what He is going to do. He stretched out the heavens, He laid the foundations of the earth, and He formed the spirit in mankind. All three of these things are huge to contemplate, and I don’t know right now at this moment if God wants me to go into them individually, or just mention them. Because I never, ever, in my wildest imagination, thought that this writing would be as long as it already is. I may someday talk about the immensity of God stretching out the heavens like a curtain, but for now I am going right into verse 2. Suffice it to say that God's great purpose involves His creation of the universe, and one unique and incredible little planet, (which is sort of like a womb), and the little teeny weeny humans on it made in His image, for a great purpose. And at the centre of it all, (both geographically, but also figuratively, is Jerusalem and Judah, and by extension Israel). Let’s ask a question; what’s so special about Judah? I already went into this a bit, but please recall that there wasn’t anything spiritually special, as in “pure”, about Judah. But God has His prerogative, and someone had to be chosen by God to type the poor of the flock, within the flock, within the bigger flock of Israel, within all the children of Abraham, within all the families of Shem, within all the families of the earth that come from Noah, all the way down to Adam. And mankind who has no right whatsoever, to have a prerogative on this, nevertheless has one. And man has butted in throughout history, (inspired by the devil), interfering with what God is doing, trying to do his own will over God's. This we could call the controversy of Zion, and also of Jacob. So, skipping over mountains of relative topics, let’s cover verse 2-3. God is going to make the world focus on Jerusalem. It is going to be at the centre of the world's problems. The world wants to be rid of it and will try to make that happen. But Jerusalem will be to them like a heavy rock that makes them stagger and fall as they try to heave it away. It is a  time in history that God refers to many times, and in these verses He calls it, “on that day”, verse 4-6. He will gather all nations together against it, and they will all be hurt by it. They will bring everything they’ve got, and God will frustrate their efforts. Their horses, (a symbol for their war making methods), He will cause to fail, and be blind. None of their sophisticated communications systems or satellites will work for them. (Remember, this will be both a physical, and a spiritual war, waged on the earth, and in the heavens). For instance, if we look at physical Judah today, we do not see a spiritually pure people. They’re as bad as their big brother in America. But the world hates them, and God is not going to allow the world to genocide them. But there is a spiritual Judah also, and they are working on purity. The verses say what they say. In this great conflict, (whenever this actually is), God pictures Judah as being like a flame in a woodpile, that sets the nations on fire and destroys them as fire does to flammable things. The nations, (the wood), are no match for Judah, (the fire here). Now verse 7. It says there is something else the Lord intends to do, and that is save the tents of Judah first. I have to ask, what are the tents of Judah? And what does the word for tent really mean? The Hebrew is H168, “‘ohel”, and it does mean tent, tabernacle, or covering. But God is not talking about physical tents here, or physical houses. There may be a lot of physicality going on in real time as these things play out, but this is talking about spiritual things. Also, when God says, I will “save”: the tents of Judah first, I am more inclined to think that the usage of the word “save”, is meant to imply salvation. The Hebrew word for that can be used for both meanings. But going back to the Hebrew word for tent for a minute, H168, “‘ohel”, it is interesting to note that it comes from the Hebrew word H166, “‘ahal” , and means “to be clear” or to “shine”. That is interesting to me because God says He does not want the “glory”, of the house of David, or the “glory” of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to magnify themselves against Judah, (or the tents of Judah). If this is talking about spiritual things, (even if there is some form of duality going on in real time as God prevents the nations in a time of titanic world war 3 activity, from destroying a physical Jerusalem at the same time), but if it is talking about spiritual things, we have certain New Testament references that could apply. Consider that the Judah, that God is talking about, is spiritual Judah, the church, but refined down to the poor of the flock, the little flock, referenced many times, but I will mention just Malachi 3:16-18, where we see them pictured as jewels that “shine”, and have “glory” etc. They would be that contingent of 'the saints', that must live through the time of trouble like no other. A small group that according to God's great purpose would witness right down to the end. They would be the group Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 15, and especially in 15:50-53, at the last trumpet, and then again in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, again at the last trumpet. God wants the final group of living  saints to witness the resurrection of the dead saints, and then all together the whole group will be changed; that is born again. (And I would dare say, they will be shining in glory in similar fashion to Christ). I cannot say for certain that this is what Zechariah 12:7 is talking about, but as I said, I am inclined that way more than any other. Now verse 8 fits quite well with verse 7, saying what God is going to do, and there are other scriptures that imply that the saints will be there at that great battle. I don’t want to get ahead of chapter 14, but  who do we think the army that accompanies Jesus Christ in Revelation 19 is? We know that the saints, once they have overcome and have been resurrected, are portrayed as wearing fine garments of white linen etc. Revelation 19:13-14. And notice that Christ rides a white horse in verse 11, and so does His army in verse 14. Now I could take us off on a tangent and prove that white horses are incredibly majestic angelic beings. They are typed by horses on the earth. And just as God gave them to us to serve us, and we, to care for them, it is similar in the heavenly realm. (As a side note, horses are not unclean animals, they are not intended to be eaten, and they do lack cloven hooves. But God did not intend for us to eat one of our most loyal beasts of burden. I leave the rest for you to contemplate). Back to Zechariah 12. Verse 9. God is talking, and this verse is very brief and explicit. (As God has said in many many places in the bible, He is gathering the nations to the place of His indignation). I will mention just Zephaniah 3:8. God is going to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Next verse 10-14. I don’t think that God is talking about the resurrected saints here. I think it is talking about a different elect; the fleshly elect, who has come through the great tribulation, whom God has sifted and vetted and brought to this point in world history. They will witness this colossal event, and survive, and go on to begin the physical side of inhabiting a renewed, healed, and rebuilt planet. But first they will have their hearts circumcised, and will come to fully understand what they/we, have all been a party to. There will be an outpouring of God's Spirit, and grace and forgiveness and then supplication, and they shall look on Him whom they pierced, and finally realize, and oh, oh, oh, the sorrow and bitterness, and mourning. They shall loathe themselves for a history of rebellion and rejection of their Creator and Saviour. I don’t think we should tie ourselves up trying to understand the specifics regarding the mentioning of all these family names and their wives etc. I do know God always knows exactly why He says certain things even if we don’t, and I have experienced many times that that understanding sometimes comes later on after the fact. With that said, I am inclined to move on to chapter 13.

It would seem to me that in chapter 13, God is speaking about the physical remnant of the latter days, not those who will make up the immortal saints who will reign with Christ for 1000 years. The whole restoration of a nearly destroyed world is a process. It begins at Jerusalem and spreads out from there to the surrounding land of Judah, and then all of Israel, and eventually the whole world. Verse 1 says there will be a fountain opened up. I don’t think He is talking about the fountain of life, but a fountain of healing. It will heal sin and uncleanness. It may be the same stream of healing, spoken of in Ezekiel 47, and really in many places in scripture: Ps. 46:4, Joel 3:18, Zechariah 14:8, and Rev. 22:1, and there are more. Back to Zechariah 13, verse 2. Another thing that will be a priority that God will implement speedily, is an end to all false religion. And their prophets, with their spiritual power will be rounded up and disempowered and very possibly cut off. In verse 3 God does say that those who wish to persist in false worship with all of its trappings and methods, will be cut off even by their own parents. But verse 4-6 indicates that the majority of the ex-false prophets will quickly denounce their previous preoccupations, for which they are overcome with shame for, and embrace the true right way. I’m not sure what verse 6 is saying. If it’s still talking about the cleaning up of the false religion and the false prophets from the land, then it may be one more reference to the shame of having been so involved, and maybe even a reference to some of the retribution required of some of them. God changes the subject in verse 7 from the cleaning up of all false religion and their teachers, to a brief reference to the Messiah, in the form of a prophecy. If we’re familiar with our bibles, we know that it is replete with prophecies about the Messiah in many different books. That is what verse 7 is about. God is speaking, and says awake O sword against My Shepherd. And how do we know that it is a reference to His Shepherd, Jesus Christ? The Hebrew word for shepherd is nothing out of the ordinary. But the Hebrew word for “man”, and then “fellow”,  are different. For man, we usually just see H120, “adam”, but this word for “man” is H1397, “geber”, and means man, strong man, warrior with emphasis on strength or ability to fight. And interestingly, it’s root comes from H1396, “gabar”, (only one variation from 1397), and gabar means, to be strong, by implication to prevail, act insolently, exceed, confirm, be great, be mighty, be valiant, be stronger etc. This sounds like a reference to the 2nd Adam, not the first. But verse 7 continues; I’ll quote the whole expression: Awake O sword against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the Lord of Hosts. So, what does fellow mean? It is H5997, “amiyth”, and it means, companionship, hence a comrade or kindred man, (or fellow or neighbour). So to me it is clear, that this not is just any man or shepherd, but it is the Lord of Hosts, speaking  of His suffering servant, the Messiah. This is confirmed anyway as we read Him prophesy: “strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter”. This of course was fulfilled in the garden of Gethsemane, and was quoted by Christ in Matthew 26:31, so that we might see once again that God predicts things hundreds or thousands of years in advance, and then brings them to pass. God changes the subject again in verse 8-9. Recall that I have said at various times, that there’s really only one great story and work that God is doing, and that He speaks of it in various places in the bible. Sometimes He goes into deep detail and other times He only mentions things. Here in Zechariah, He makes mention of it again. That is that two thirds (of latter day Israelites), are going to die by sword, famine and disease, and the third that are left, He will bring through the fire, vetting them further, and will refine them as silver and gold are refined in the furnace. We have already spoken of this vetting out process. In the end He will have a physical people prepared for the Lord with which to rebuild the human race on earth starting with Israel. This has been a brief synopsis of Zechariah 13. Now we can move on to chapter 14.

And the heading of it in many translations is “The Day of The Lord”. This is one of the most famous, yet ominous themes in the bible. It has been anticipated in the scriptures in many books of the bible. It has been described and portrayed as a most fearsome time in history, because God finally ends His patience with rebelling mankind, and deals with us in incredible wrath. Chapter 14:1 announces that the day of the Lords is coming. Verse 2 explains that God will bring all the nations of the world against Jerusalem to battle. Initially the city shall be taken, rifled and ravished, and its people captured. Verse 3. But before a God hating, Israelite hating mankind can genocide the people, the Lord shall intervene, to rescue His people, and fight against those nations. Verse 4 depicts His miraculous intervention. It is the time of His return to this earth, and is accompanied with earthquakes, and other incredible earth shattering physical phenomena occurring. Verse 5. God provides an escape for His fleeing people as He arrives in the nick of time, and the saints are with Him, so we know what is transpiring and the timing of it. Verse 6-7 is familiar to us having been spoken of in various Day of the Lord scenarios. Verse 7-8 jump ahead, past all the details of the battle that ensues, but its description is available to us in various other places in scripture. Verse 9 also declares another major theme of the bible in the very near future now; that The Lord shall be King over all the earth. Verses 10-11 briefly describe how the land surrounding Jerusalem shall be lowered, and Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, shall be raised. And it shall be inhabited and there shall be no more danger of destruction, or fear of war. Verse 12-13 briefly describes the manner of warfare that God used to instantaneously decimate the nations that rose up to challenge Him on that great day of the Lord. It is a brief  description of the horrific but swift plague that He smites them with. Each verse is the briefest description of what is going to happen. In verse 14, God says that Judah shall fight at Jerusalem also. It does not make sense that He is talking about the physical tribe of Judah here. They, along with the other tribes of Israel, that have survived captivity, and the tribulation, and make up the physical remnant, are the people He is rescuing. The Judah that shall fight alongside The Lord, are the spiritual Jews who are now glorified, and are a part of His army, and were described in Rev. 19:14. And the abundance of wealth that the nations possess, shall become the Lords. This too has been declared and described in many books of the bible. In verse 15, God says that this plague of supernatural performance and execution, shall strike all the flesh in the camps of the enemy. In verse 16, God says that it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations that came up against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship The Lord, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Yes, finally the world will learn who the real Lord and Master; God Almighty is, and what are His laws, and what is their purpose, and why did God make the world, and what is man's purpose on it etc etc etc. It does not cover it here, but satan and the demons will be gone, (for a long time), and their influence will be gone. But men themselves also have choice, and possess the potential to cooperate or rebel, according to their own hearts, and verse 17 indicates that there may be some who still reject the King of Kings and His new world order. Some of them will be able to amass a following of dissenters in their respective nations. If this occurs, (and it seems some will), God will punish them with drought. They will receive no rain. And unlike today, they will receive no aid from the nations about them, as they suffer the effects of famine. God will correct them. Verse 18-19 go on to suggest that one such family, (or nation), that will initially reject the new world order, religion and King, will be Egypt. It describes the correction that will be used to turn any nations that insist on doing things their own way. Egypt will eventually come around as God says in Isaiah 19:24-25. I could go off on tangents to speculate on why certain nations will be harder to get through to than others. Some of it may have to do with resentment and unwillingness to forgive, so that age old scars may heal and be covered over and the pain of it may end. And I’m talking about the deeply ingrained things still existing today in the hearts of Abraham’s other children, (and relatives), from Ishmael to Esau, to Ketura’s children, and the seed of Ham through to Canaan, that they all eventually mingled with, to produce a people that unanimously hate Israel with a bitter hatred. The book of Zechariah concludes with a brief description of the general way things will be done in and around Jerusalem going forward. Generally speaking then, it will be a place of Holiness, and everyone will know it. All the descriptors of a setting of complete holiness, with all of its extravagance, and pomp and ceremony, are not described here, but they are in various other places. And everyone who turns to The Lord in true righteousness, repentance and motive of heart will be welcomed, to come to Jerusalem to worship The Lord, and get close to Him. And then the last remark may seem curious. It says in the KJV and other translations, that there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the House of the Lord. Some may go to the race card when reading this, and break down the ancestry of Canaan etc. But I am inclined to interpret this spiritually, not physically. This would mean that God is speaking about spiritual Canaanites, which would mean, what they practice. And when you explore the name using Strong’s, you see it is talking about trading and trafficking. You can take this further and see then that it is really all about human nature, and specifically being focused on “get” and greed, and “take” if necessary, as a means of how to conduct life. This is the way of the old man, and will be removed and replaced with the way of the new man. It is in that sense, that there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord. And for that matter, it is not totally clear what “the house of the Lord '' means. Does it mean the physical temple of The Lord, (because there will definitely be one, it’s described in Ezekiel, chapter 40 to chapter 48). Or does it mean the House of the Lord, as in the House of Jacob, or the House of Esau, or the House of anybody who have a continuation of their own selves descending from them. In any case, the way of trading and trafficking will no longer be done in either scenario of the House of the Lord. We will  live life for the real reason, and it will be refreshing and liberating beyond our imagination. As always, there is so much more that can be said, but I feel I should end this article here. I know it’s long. I didn’t expect that, but it just happened. Zechariah is one of the very mysterious books of the bible, with all of the symbolism and imagery. It seems to me that God deliberately kept it covered up until He chose to uncover it. At least I think that is generally what this article has tried to do. I was not motivated to do it by myself. Having read it many times in the past, I can honestly say that I didn’t even know what to write from the very beginning. And even if you choose not to believe what has been written, believe this, it just kept coming out line after line, (albeit sometimes I went days waiting for understanding). And it makes not much difference to me how you receive it. I mean, I do care for everyone, and know that God does not desire that any should perish, but that all should be saved, through belief in Jesus Christ. But just like you, I might selfishly care about my own salvation quite a bit too, and in that sense, that being my greatest concern, it makes lesser difference to me what you do with what you learn through writings that I pen, that I feel God motivated me to write, and provided the revelation too. So with that said, thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Glen Clarke.

July 12, 2000

Re-edited in December 2023.