Zechariah: Burden against Israel
Minor Prophets Survey Series • Sermon • Submitted
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· 16 viewsAim: To finish our survey of Zechariah and some difficult scripture to grasp
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“I Don’t Know”
“I Don’t Know”
I Don’t know. I just need to be honest this last section is filled with what is some of the most difficult sections of the Bible, and I don’t know the exact answers.
Previously we have seen:
Burden against Jerusalem’s enemies (Zec9:1-11:17)
Today we will look at the burden against Jerusalem (Zec12:1-14:21)
Literal, figurative, I don’t know.
Is this to come, has it come, or is it both? I don’t know for sure.
Aim today: to survey the prophesy, glean from main points then look at some thoughts on it.
I want to give credit where credit is due, Homer Hailey and his commentary, Mark Copeland and his writings as well as Warren Wiersbe and his commentary too. I think I would draw conclusions that the scripture does not draw if it were not for these men.
The Burden of Israel
The Burden of Israel
As a survey goes, we will read, grab, maybe a little discussion along the way.
The Lord’s care for Jerusalem (Zec12:1-9)
In this section Jerusalem shows to be under attack at some future time by other nations, is this AD70? Is this some other time?
In this section we can see a term start to be used “in that day” and let that be defined as to identify what follows with what proceeds. You will see this term used 9 times in our entire passage.
1 The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, 2 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.
Can you see the Lord of creation (v.1)?
Can you see the Lords intentions for Jerusalem even under the seige, attack to come (v.2)
3 “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. 4 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
Can you see the Lord’s promise (v.4)?
I will watch over the house, I will strike every horse
5 “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God.’ 6 “In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem.
7 “The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. 8 “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.
9 “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Can you see the promise of destruction in (v.9) Who is it against?
I will set about to destroy all the nations
Those who come against Jerusalem
Remember theme of the book is “God is Zealous for Jerusalem and Zion.
What we can learn from these verses is “in that day” (v.6, 8, 9) that the Lord will defend Jerusalem, and destroy her enemies. So can this be AD70? No, since that is Rome against Jerusalem. Could this be the fall of Roman empire in 395AD? Could be, but the scripture does not tell us, so our best answer here is “I Don’t know.” - what we do know is God will protect.
The Lord’s cleansing of Jerusalem (Zec12:10-13:9)
Now in this next section we can see the cleansing of her sins and the pouring out of God’s grace
We will also see more of “in that day” in (12:11, 13:1, 2, 4)
10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
What is the Lord going to pour on and on whom (v.10) and why?
Now in looking at (v.10-11) Could this be a picture of Messiah? Or maybe a look back at how Israel looked at the death of Josiah (2Chr35:20-25) whom was pierced. I don’t know.
12 “The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves;
14 all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.
What we can know is the house of David is noted (v.12) House of Nathan (v.12) House of Levi, and Shimeites, and the wives are listed separately. Exactly why, I don’t know. It may be the combination of the royal and priestly families, but it is not explained more so we cannot say for sure.
Now we get to “in that day” again.
1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. 2 “It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
In that day (v.1) what is going to happen?
A fountain will be opened up to deal with sin and impurity.
In that day (v.2) The idols, the false prophets, the unclean spirit will be removed from the land.
3 “And if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord’; and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies. 4 “Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive;
Point of reference in the reading on (v.3) it states about the parents condemning the false prophets and saying they are not worthy to live, it is not saying that the parents are going to kill their own children.
The false prophets will be ashamed and won’t even be identified as prophets anymore as seen in (vv.5-6)
5 but he will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, for a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’ 6 “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’
And now we can see some refining, testing that happens through the persecution of Jerusalem
7 “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. 8 “It will come about in all the land,” Declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”
Even Jesus references about the striking the shepherd and the sheep will scatter (Mt26:31-32)
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.’ 32 “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
The Lord has always used certain testing to refine the people of God, note down (Heb12:3-11) for your notes, it’s a great section of scripture you can look at and consider on your own.
The Lord’s deliverance for Jerusalem (Zec14:1-7)
1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
The day of the Lord here (vv.1-2) could this be a look to AD70? I Don’t know for that was just the Romans, not every nation against Jerusalem.
What we can know is that there will be a remnant, that is not cut off (end of v.2) And with that, hard to think this would be AD70 since the city was destroyed with not one stone left on another.
3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.
What we can know is the Lord will go and the Lord will fight and now read on and see what more the Lord does.
4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!
This is another of the “in that day” passages, but it is also a I Don’t know for we cannot with confidence draw a conclusion of it all.
What can we know in looking at (v.4)?
He will have his feet on the Mount of Olives
STOP! There is a whole portion, major portion of people that from this passage right there believe the return of Christ is noted here and the physical return to the Earth to stand on the Mount of Olives, but there is no reference in the N.T. to this, and what it says in Act1 is contrary, so how is that assumption being made? I don’t know
What more we can know, is God will make a way of escape to East, West, North and South (vv.4-5)
Is the way of escape provided Jesus as He said “it is finished” on the cross and there was great earthquake? Or it is just a reference back to Uzziah and the earthquake then? I don’t know, it would seem the latter not the former, though spiritually speaking the former works too, just not literal.
6 In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.
In that day, what can we know (v.6-7)?
It will be a day of no light, a unique day that is known to the Lord.
On the day of the crucifixion it was dark for 3 hours, is that what this is pointing too? I don’t know?
The Lord’s glory for Jerusalem (Zec14:8-11)
8 And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.
In that day (v.8) we can know the living waters that will flow, eternally and the Lord will be king over all the earth.
In that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only name.
Does this seem to point to the rivers of living water that came after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; as noted by Jesus in (Jn7:37-39)
The name in which man must be saved (Act4:12)
It would seem plausible, but we don’t know for sure.
10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.
This describes the land from 6mi NE of Jerusalem (Geba) to 35mi SW of Jerusalem (Rimmon) and Jerusalem will be built up, but wait, while some people think this is yet to come, has it always be in the O.T. that no matter where you come from it was always “up to Jerusalem and the house of the Lord?” So, what does this passage tell us for sure, that people will live in and be secure, is this physical Jerusalem, or spiritual? I don’t know, but it will be or is good. I lean toward the latter here the spiritual Jerusalem
In that day what is said for Jerusalem enemies (Zec14:12-15)
With limited time left let me read and give quickly
12 Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.
14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15 So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.
God is going to strike them with plague, cause panic, Judah will fight, the plague will be severe even impacting the animals
In that day what is said about Jerusalem (Zec14:16-21)
16 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
18 If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
20 In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.
There is going to be a change, those left will turn to the King, the Lord of hosts
Holy to the Lord will be on the bells of the animals and the pots in the houses
In that day there will be no Canaanite, is that because all are the same in the Lord, no Jew, no Greek, etc.?
Is this all fulfilled, partially fulfilled, not fulfilled and yet to come? I don’t know, but what we can do is God is zealous for His people and has made a way for them!
(Prayer) (exit)