Zacarias 4

Zacarias 4

Zechariah 4:1 Commentary Zechariah 4:2 Commentary Zechariah 4:3 Commentary Zechariah 4:4 Commentary Zechariah 4:5 Commentary Zechariah 4:6 Commentary Zechariah 4:7 Commentary Zechariah 4:8 Commentary Zechariah 4:9 Commentary Zechariah 4:10 Commentary Zechariah 4:11 Commentary Zechariah 4:12 Commentary Zechariah 4:13 Commentary Zechariah 4:14 Commentary Chart from recommended resource Jensen's Survey of the OT - used by permission Zechariah Chart from Charles Swindoll Another Zechariah Chart ZECHARIAH ("Yahweh Remembers") Timeline on Zechariah Zec 1:1-6 Zec 1:7-6:8 Zec 6:9-6:15 Zec 7:1-8:23 Zec 9:1-11:17 Zec 12:1-14:21 Return to Me Zec 1:3 Messianic Kingdom Visions The Branch Four Messages Two Oracles or Burdens Zechariah 1-6 Zechariah 7-8 Zechariah 9-14 Apocalyptic Ethical Prophecy 1) Rebuke 2) Reminder 3) Restoration 4) Return Predictive Prophecy 1) Burden Against the Nations 2) Burden For Israel Call to Repentance Eight Visions (Picture) Crowning of Joshua Question of the Fasts (Calendar) First Burden: Rejection of Messiah Second Burden: Reign of Messiah The Way of Salvation Messianic Kingdom Visions The Bringer of Salvation Commands Concerning Present Things Oracles (Burdens) Concerning Future Things Behold the man...the Branch Love, Truth and Peace The Day of the Lord PICTURES PROBLEMS PREDICTIONS ISRAEL'S FORTUNE ISRAEL'S FASTING ISRAEL'S FUTURE "My house will be built in Jerusalem" Zec 1:16 "Let your hands be strong" Zec 8:9 "HOLY TO THE LORD" PLACE: JERUSALEM Written During the Building of the Temple 520-518BC Written after the Temple Was Completed circa 480-470BC Charles Feinberg summarizes his Zechariah studies... "And throughout the prophecy there is presented to us on every page the spotless, blemishless Holy One of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and King of Israel. See Him in..." Chapter one as the Riding One; Chapter two as the Measuring One; Chapter three as the Cleansing One; Chapter four as the Empowering One; Chapter five as the Judging One; Chapter six as the Crowned One; Chapter seven as the Rebuking One; Chapter eight as the Restoring One; Chapter nine as the Kingly One; Chapter ten as the Blessing One; Chapter eleven as the Shepherding One; Chapter twelve as the Returning One; Chapter thirteen as the Smitten One; Chapter fourteen as the Reigning One. Borrow Feinberg's Minor Prophets - Zechariah commentary on page 272 (note may say "unavailable" which means it is checked out) Walter Kaiser - “Zechariah is not only the longest of the books of the twelve Minor Prophets, it is one of the most frequently quoted. There are seventy-one quotations from or allusions to Zechariah in the New Testament. One third of these appear in the Gospels and thirty-one are found in the book of Revelation (including twenty from chapters 1–8 and eight from chapters 9–14). Of all the Old Testament books, Zechariah is second only to Ezekiel in its influence on the book of Revelation.” — Mastering the Old Testament Charles Swindoll - “Zechariah is second only to Isaiah in its number of messianic passages. Among Zechariah’s explicit references to Christ are the angel of the Lord (Zech 3:1-2); the righteous Branch (Zech 3:8; 6:12-13); the King-Priest (Zech 6:13); the cornerstone, tent peg, and bow of battle (Zech 10:4); the good shepherd who is sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zech 11:4-13); the pierced One (Zech 12:10); and the coming Judge and righteous King (Zech 14).” George Klein - “One of the great ironies concerning the book of Zechariah is its relative obscurity to the modern church contrasted with its profound significance to the early church. Unfortunately, students of the Bible rarely study Zechariah today. However, strong reasons exist for suggesting that the book ascended to a place of paramount importance to the writers of the New Testament and to the early church at large. “The book of Zechariah exerted a profound influence over the New Testament, particularly in the realm of Messianic passages—a point long noted by New Testament scholars. Several important themes from the book figure prominently in the New Testament. One of the most important of these is the shepherd-king. From Zech 9:9 the King who rode into Jerusalem on a “donkey” reemerges in Matt 21:5 and John 12:15. C. H. Dodd even suggests that Zechariah provided the Gospel writers with material of equal importance to the very testimonia [their eyewitness accounts] of Christ’s ministry.” — NAC, 61-2 Zechariah 4:1 Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. KJV Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, BGT Zechariah 4:1 καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ ἐξήγειρέν με ὃν τρόπον ὅταν ἐξεγερθῇ ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ LXE Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me returned, and awakened me, as when a man is awakened out of his sleep. NET Zechariah 4:1 The angelic messenger who had been speaking with me then returned and woke me, as a person is wakened from sleep. CSB Zechariah 4:1 The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep. ESV Zechariah 4:1 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. NIV Zechariah 4:1 Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. NLT Zechariah 4:1 Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep. NRS Zechariah 4:1 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. the angel: Zec 1:9,13,19 2:3 3:6,7 awakened from his sleep: 1Ki 19:5-7 Jer 31:26 Da 8:18 10:8-10 Lu 9:32 22:45,46 NOT A DREAM BUT AWAKENED BY AN ANGEL Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. - Zechariah is a bit overwhelmed from the previous vision and now comes vision number five. Angel in Zechariah - 20x in 19v - Zech. 1:9; Zech. 1:11; Zech. 1:12; Zech. 1:13; Zech. 1:14; Zech. 1:19; Zech. 2:3; Zech. 3:1; Zech. 3:3; Zech. 3:5; Zech. 3:6; Zech. 4:1; Zech. 4:4; Zech. 4:5; Zech. 5:5; Zech. 5:10; Zech. 6:4; Zech. 6:5; Zech. 12:8; Charles Feinberg - The prophet was aroused as a man is awakened out of sleep, because the period when visions are not presented to prophetic messengers is likened to that of sleep. (Cp. Dan 10:9-11.) (Borrow Minor Prophets) Fred Hartman gives a helpful background on Zechariah 4 - Vision Five: Israel As God’s Shining Light - Since the day the Lord created Israel, His desire has been that she be the repository of His Word as well as the light that would take the message of that Word to all people. Because of her sin, she failed at this task. In fact, the events of the Book of Zechariah took place shortly after Israel’s return from the 70-year Babylonian captivity into which God had sent her as a chastisement for her disobedience. The remnant who had returned to their homeland still wondered if the Lord had forsaken them. The first four visions given to Zechariah offered some hope. The Lord promised to choose Jerusalem as His own city. He promised to remove and destroy the enemies of Israel. Jerusalem would be very great, dwelling in a peace that the Lord promised would come. Zechariah’s fourth vision involved the cleansing of Joshua the high priest, indicating that a day is coming when that nation and people will be forgiven and cleansed. However, the purpose for which God chose Israel-to be the shining light to the nations-had not yet been accomplished. There was still a question to be answered: Can Israel become the shining light God purposed her to be? The fifth vision provided the answer and, in the process, dealt with their immediate need to rebuild the Temple James Smith - THE SUPREMACY OF THE SPIRITUAL Zechariah 4:1–7 This vision of the Candlestick, or Lampstand, teaches us that there is in God’s purpose a real and vital relationship between spiritual and visible things. We might look at this vision in connection with— I. The Temple of God as a Witness. The temple was not yet built, but God saw it already as a perfected thing, as the prophet saw the Golden Candlestick—complete with its bowls, and lamps, and pipes; with its oil, and the two olive trees standing by as living, unfailing source of supply for the lamps. This is what the temple of God was to be for His people: a witness for Him. But a lampstand is not all that was needed. There must be lamps and a plentiful supply of oil if light is to shine. Without the oil (emblems of the Holy Spirit) even a golden lampstand might become a stumbling block. So the message of this vision is: “Not by might, nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord of Hosts” (v. 6). How applicable this truth is to— II. The Church of God as a Witness. The secret of the Church’s power lies in the constant flow of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit, like the oil, comes from the living and abiding Sources, the Father and the Son (John 14:16–18). Let us give heed to Jehovah’s warning that this building is not to be reared by mere human might or power, but by His Spirit. In these days there are many substitutes for the power of God’s mighty Spirit in doing Christian work. Some trust the power of money, some education, some organisation, some legislation, and some the power of numbers. None of these are to be despised, but none of them, nor all of them together, can do the work or take the place of the Holy Spirit. None of these can convict the world of sin, or righteousness, and of judgment. None of these can quicken a dead soul into newness of life and reveal the things of Christ. None of these can clothe the message of the Gospel with power to win souls for Christ. None of these can be a “Comforter” to the troubled spirit or make intercession for us with unutterable groanings. None of these can breathe the breath of life over a valley of dead bones (Ezek. 37:9). In this great God honouring work it is the SPIRIT that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The secret of the Church’s power is the operation of the Holy Spirit. What is true of the Church as a whole is true of the individual life. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1:8). “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2). ILLUSTRATION - Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined San Francisco Bay on September 25, 2013, to watch two boats battle one another for the oldest trophy in international sport, the America’s Cup. That year, Oracle Team USA overcame a 1–8 deficit to defeat Emirates Team New Zealand 9–8 in the largest comeback in the race’s 162-year history. Larry Ellison, the billionaire who sponsored Oracle Team, reportedly spent more than $100 million to win the race. He commissioned a 72-foot catamaran yacht that weighed seven tons, sported carbon fiber sails 131 feet tall, and reached incredible speeds of over 50 miles per hour. He hired an experienced 11-member crew to man the ship and put veteran captain Sir Ben Ainslie in charge. But none of those things were the most essential part of the ship’s victory—not the expert crew, not the high-tech sails and engineering, not the big money, not even the tactics of the captain. None of those things were the most essential part. As with any sailing race, victory ultimately depends on the wind. (Exalting Jesus) A W Tozer - An Unchanging Book in an Ever-changing World Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6) One area of thinking that needs reform is our practical beliefs about God’s design for mankind. I emphasize practical beliefs, because there is a difference between nominal beliefs and practical ones. A nominal belief is what you hold in name, and the practical belief is what you hold in reality and what holds you. While probably there are not many faults to be found with the nominal beliefs, there are a great deal to be found with the practical beliefs. These practical beliefs need restoration to their happy and bright state with faults and abuses purged. It has been a long time since Jesus was born in Bethlehem, died on the cross, rose again the third day, ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty and sent the Holy Spirit to establish His church. Since those days there have been changes in the world so radical, sweeping, all-pervading and revolutionary as to be entirely incredible to anybody living in Jesus’ day. Restoration to belief in the truth Today’s world was entirely unimaginable to the people of those times. Have these changes forced God to modify His plans for His church and for mankind? Here is where we have fallen by the wayside. Here is where we need a reformation, a purgation, a removal of the faults and a restoration again of the faith of Christians to a belief in the truth. Many Christians say, without a question, “Yes, that is true.” Actually, I suppose they would not like to have it put to them like that: People do not like the most realistic constructions. What would the liberals and modernists say if you backed them in a corner with the question, “Do you think God has been forced to change His mind?” I do not think anybody would quite have the courage to say yes. Nevertheless, they do say it little by little until they have brainwashed their people. In effect, they say that the Bible must be interpreted in the light of new developments. A book that was written in the day when people rode donkeys must be reinterpreted to mesh with contemporary society. They say that the prophets and apostles mistook what God intended to do. The Bible is outmoded and largely irrelevant. Irrelevant means that it is not related to anything. Outmoded means we have new modes of thinking and living now, so the Bible is out-of-date—a back-issue magazine. We must, therefore, reassess its teachings and rethink our beliefs and hopes. I am not overstating this at all. This is what is being taught today. It gets into the newspapers, and people are saying that the Bible must be interpreted in the light of all these changes. The apostles and prophets were mistaken. They had ideas that were good and advanced for their day, but not advanced for our day. We know more about ourselves, human motivation and the nature of things than they did back then. Therefore a book written when people thought the earth was flat and the sun rose in the morning, crossed over the earth and went down into the sea cannot possibly be taken seriously. While it certainly contains some beautiful poetry and some marvelously inspiring thoughts about human nature and the world in which we live, nevertheless all this is to be understood and reinterpreted, reassessed and rethought. I challenge the idea that we are advanced. I know the majority of modern educators, newspaper writers, TV personalities, radio reporters, politicians and all the rest do not agree with me. Nevertheless, I challenge the idea that we are any further advanced than they were in the days of Jesus. If we are so advanced, then I want to ask some questions. Why do we kill thousands of human beings each year with automobiles? Because we ride automobiles instead of donkeys, we are advanced? If we are so advanced in our day, why are the penitentiaries packed full and the mental hospitals crowded? If we are so advanced, why is the whole world a powder keg? If we are so advanced, how is it that we have weapons that can annihilate the world? If we are so advanced, why is it that people cannot walk alone in the parks anymore? Why is it that workers who get out at midnight never walk home alone anymore? Why is it in this advanced age that drugs, violence, abortion and divorce are soaring? There is a mind-set that thinks every motion is progress. Every time you move you are progressing. Then there is the mind-set that thinks whenever you move in a straight line you are going forward, forgetting that you can move in a straight line and be going backward. The tragedy of the century The tragedy of the century is that Protestants have accepted this as progress and actually believe it. The children of the protesters, children of the Reformation, have been brainwashed and indoctrinated by those who believe that changes have made a difference in God’s plan, a difference in Christianity and a difference in Christ. We have been brainwashed to believe that we cannot read the Bible as we used to. We must now read it through glasses colored by change. We have been hypnotized by the serpent, the devil, into believing that we no longer have a trustworthy Bible, so Protestantism is no longer a moral force in the world. Protestantism is not a force in this world because we have sold out to the brainwashers. Instead of being the sons and daughters of the protesters, we are now yes-men and yes-women. Running our Protestant world are people who talk solemnly about Christ but who do not mean what the Bible means. They talk about revelation and inspiration, but they do not mean what our fathers meant. The second prominent tragedy is that the gospel churches are confused and intimidated by numbers. They accept the belief that there has been change and that Christians must adjust to the change. The word used is adjustment. We must get adjusted, forgetting that the world has always been blessed by the people who were not adjusted. The poor people who get adjusted cannot do much anyhow. They are not worth having around. In every field of human endeavor progress has been made by those who stood up and said, “I will not adjust to the world.” The classical composers, poets and architects were people who would not adjust. Today society insists that if you do not adjust you will get a complex. If you do not get adjusted, you will have to go to a psychiatrist. Jesus was maladjusted Jesus was among the most maladjusted people in His generation. He never pretended to adjust to the world. He came to die for the world and to call the world to Himself, and the adjustment had to be on the other side. The contemporary world is a result of radical changes down the generations amounting to revolution: the scientific revolution, the industrial revolution, the communications revolution, the philosophical revolution and the social revolution. Are we going to accept the belief that the Bible must be interpreted anew in the light of these developments? Are we going to allow ourselves to accept the doctrine that the prophets and apostles were mistaken about God? Are we going to allow society to tell us that the Bible is outmoded and largely irrelevant and must therefore be reassessed in the light of modern advancements? Has God changed? Are we going to accept it? Is there a change in the purpose of God? Have the changes in human society startled or shocked God? Must we, in order to remain intellectually respectable and have good standing with these who doubt the Word, humbly say, “Well, I do not believe in miracles”? Or have we got enough of our Protestant protest and courage to stand up and say, “I believe in miracles whenever God Almighty wants to perform them. I believe that whenever God wants to do anything that is out of the ordinary and contrary to or at least above the common processes of nature, He is able to do it. I believe the miracles of Jesus Christ were real miracles. I believe the miracles of the Old Testament were real miracles.” Are we going to allow ourselves to be brainwashed along with all the rest? Or are we going to dare to stand and protest and be known over this country as being Protestants indeed? We would be people who refuse to adjust but who make the world adjust to us. When you adjust, you are dead. The same is true if a church adjusts to these ideas. If you adjust, you are done. But if you dare to stand, the world will adjust to you. I can promise you that. Not all will adjust to you, but at least some will. Some have asked themselves, “Is communism the unforeseen and unpredicted invasion? Is that what God did not know about, what Christ did not foresee?” Has Christ, after having come down the centuries triumphant, at last met His Waterloo? What is your answer to that? My answer is a loud, roaring, resounding no! He has never met His Waterloo and He never will. He, the Lord Christ, is going to ride the sky on a white horse, and upon His thigh will be written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). The rich men, the mighty men, the scientists, the doctors and the lords of finance will cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them, to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb and the fury of His power. Have God’s people at last been plucked out of His hand? He said we would never be plucked out of His hand, but did He know enough to tell us that? Have there been some new advancements and developments that He did not foresee? The answer again is no! Shall we surrender? Shall we surrender to the world? No! Shall we surrender to liberalism? No! Shall we surrender to apostate Protestantism? The answer is no! Shall we surrender to the brainwashed churches whose preachers are afraid to stand up and talk as I am? The answer again is no! Our church is going to go the way of the gospel. We are not radicals nor fools. We do not fast 40 days. We dress like other people, drive vehicles and have modern homes. We are human and like to laugh. But we believe that God Almighty has not changed and that Jesus Christ is the same. He is victorious, and we do not have to apologize for Him. We do not have to modify, adjust, edit or amend. He stands as the glorious Lord, and nobody needs to apologize for Him. If our answer to the questions I have asked is yes, then we leave to our children a heritage of nothing but death. I say now, shall we believe the ringing words, “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6)? I believe them. Shall we believe that “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8)? I do. We must believe the words that say, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” (2:11). “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne” (3:21). We are not going to be sheep running over the precipice because other dumb sheep are running over it. We see the precipice—we know it is there. We are listening to the voice of the shepherd, not the voice of terrified sheep. The terrified, intimidated sheep are going everywhere. I stand solidly and protest this. I believe we need a reformation back to the belief that God knew what He was talking about in the first place. We need to get back to the belief that Jesus Christ did not miss anything but foresaw it all, back to the belief that the apostles spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. We must return to the belief that our fathers who gave us the great creeds were not fools but wise saints who knew what they were talking about. We must get back to the belief that Protestants are to protest, dissenters are to dissent and nonconformists must refuse to conform. How the covenanters stood Read history and see how the covenanters stood and died rather than give up to the enemy. Are we satisfied to be degenerate sons of great fathers? Consider A. B. Simpson who walked the shores of the Atlantic Ocean with cardboard in the soles of his shoes because he did not have money to buy new ones. He prayed and groaned in spirit and cried to God for people of all nations who had not heard the gospel. He prayed “Oh God, I believe Jesus Christ thy Son is the same yesterday, today and forever.” We are his descendants, but we ought to spend a day in sackcloth and ashes. At 36, Simpson was a Presbyterian preacher so sick that he said, “I feel I could fall into the grave when I have a funeral.” He could not preach for months at a time because of his sickness. He went to a little camp meeting in the woods and heard a quartet sing, “No man can work like Jesus/ No man can work like Him.” Simpson went off among the pine trees with that ringing in his heart: “Nobody can work like Jesus; nothing is too hard for Jesus. No man can work like Him.” The learned, stiffnecked Presbyterian threw himself down upon the pine needles and said, “If Jesus Christ is what they said He was in the song, heal me.” The Lord healed him, and he lived to be 76 years old. Simpson founded a society that is now one of the largest evangelical denominations in the world, The Christian and Missionary Alliance. We are his descendants and we sing his songs. But are we going to allow ourselves to listen to that which will modify our faith, practices and beliefs, water down our gospel and dilute the power of the Holy Spirit? I, for one, am not! I am cheered to know so many of you are with me on this. We are going to go to the New Testament and be Bible Christians. We are going to sell out to God and not the devil. We are going to pray more, read our Bibles more and attend prayer meeting more. We are going to give more and break bad habits by the power of God. We are going to become Christians after God’s heart. We are going to be protesters in an hour when the smooth, sickly, slippery, rotten, backslidden, degenerate, apostate Christianity is accepted. We are going to stand for God, to act like simple Protestant Christians, to act like our Presbyterian Scottish forebears, to act like our English Methodist forebears, to act like the dear old Baptist who broke the ice in the creek and baptized people in the freezing water. They had a saying in those days, “Nobody ever caught a cold getting baptized in the ice.” God Almighty saw to it that nobody ever died of pneumonia. Those Protestant forebears made these two nations, the United States and Canada. They made this continent. Are we going to be descendants of which they should be ashamed? Or are we going to say, “Lead on, we are following. You followed Jesus Christ, and we are following you.” John Thomas was a dear old Welsh preacher I used to hear. While he preached he would raise his hands and say, “You supply the grit and God will supply the grace.” He was right. You’ve got the grit; God has the grace. (from Rut, Rot or Revival) Steven