Good and Bad News

1. Victory is in sight

Zech 10:8-12 “I will whistle and gather them because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they once were. Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember me in the distant lands; they and their children will live and return. I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, but it will not be enough for them. The Lord will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they will march in his name— this is the Lord’s declaration.”

God will call His people from across the earth to return to Israel. Today there are thousands of Jews who are “making aliyah” or returning to Israel. In 2020, during the height of the Corona virus pandemic, Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog announced that approximately 250,000 people were expected to immigrate to Israel in the next 3-5 years. In 2021 4,000 Jews immigrated FROM America TO Israel. In Zechariah God said He would bring them back from Egypt and Assyria, two of the nations where Judah and Israel had been in bondage. So many would return that “the land of Gilead and to Lebanon” will not be enough to hold them all. Both of these were outlying regions of Israel which together would not hold all the returnees. Today Israel is seeking to annex areas on the West Bank to bring them under the governance of elected leaders of Israel. This is possibly a move to accommodate those returning to Israel today. Could this be a precursor to the Millennial Kingdom? It is an interesting question worthy of our attention.

2. Judging and Humbling (Zech 11:1-6 “Open your gates, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars. Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the glorious trees are destroyed! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the stately forest has fallen! Listen to the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roar of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed. The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord because I have become rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them. Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.””

This is a prophetic poem depicting the judgment of God upon the entire land of Israel because of their rejection of Messiah. The mention of Lebanon, on the northern border of Israel and Bashan which is east of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan Valley to the southern border indicates the vastness of the judgment. The shepherds” are the political and religious leaders of the day who lament their personal losses and could care less about the people they are supposed to be leading. John McArthur believes that this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the Romans under Titus when over one million Jews were slaughtered.

The application for us today is clear. Because we, as a country, have removed prayer and the Bible from our schools, and have championed the killing of unborn babies by the millions, have embraced same-sex marriage and transgender-ism, and have turned our backs on God and His Son Jesus, we have been given over to “shepherds” who care only for their own wealth and care nothing for those they supposedly represent.

3. God’s Intervention: (Zech 11:7-17 “So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the oppressed of the flock. I took two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is perishing perish; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. It was annulled on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver. “Throw it to the potter,” the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter. Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. The LORD said to me, ‘Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear their hooves. Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind. ”

Zechariah then said to the people essentially; “I’m done with you! I have tried to shepherd you, but you have refused my leadership. So, if you die, you die. If you turn on each other and riot, so be it. I’m done!” He then illustrated his point. He spoke of the “rod and staff” of a shepherd. The rod was to ward off predators, and the staff was to guide and retrieve wayward sheep. One staff Zechariah called “Favor” which represents the favor of God toward His people Israel through His covenant with them. Zechariah cut it in two as a symbol of God’s covenant being annulled. This as the Mosaic Covenant. This was based on the Law. Essentially God was saying through Zechariah “You reject My Law and I withdraw my protection and care from you.

Zechariah then asked for his wages as a shepherd. They gave him 30 pieces of silver. Sound familiar? Also God instructed Zechariah to throw the silver into the temple. Does that also sound familiar? Zechariah referred to the 30 pieces of silver as a “magnificent price” which was obviously sarcasm. In that day 30 pieces of silver was the compensation paid for a slave who had been gored by an ox.

Finally Zechariah cut his other staff, called “Union” in two. This prophesied the division of Israel into two kingdoms…Judah and Israel. They became arch enemies. We see the same thing happening in our country today. States are pitted against states over the question of abortion on demand and on dealing with illegal aliens and those seeking to “transition” from one sex to another. The possibility of another “war between the states” is very real today.

The “foolish shepherd” is a fore-shadowing of Antichrist. “I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear their hooves. Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind. ”

In John 5:43 “I have come in my Father’s name, and yet you don’t accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.”

In 2 Thess 2:3 “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”

When we reject the “Good Shepherd” John 10:11 ““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” We become sitting ducks for the bad shepherds (kings, politicians, self-centered preachers).

Application: (How should I respond to this message?)

Are you “grafted in” to the root of Israel? That happens when you surrender to Christ as LORD.

Are you praying for the peace of Israel?

Are you keeping your eyes on the events in the Middle East?

Are you voting for candidates who support the Bible and who support Israel?