Zechariah 6:1-15
Selah: Follow Jesus
We come this morning to the last scene in the vision Zechariah had one night two and a half millennia ago and one of the reasons I wanted us to listen to this song by Selah before the sermon was to illustrate the message of this vision. This is a vision that gave hope to the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon, but it is also a vision that celebrates the work of Jesus to bring the nations of the world into his kingdom.
This song by Selah is sung in Kituba, a widely used bridge language in Central Africa. (A bridge language is a language used to communicate between speakers whose native languages are different.) It is based on Kikongo, a family of closely related Bantu languages, and is an official language in Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I love this song and it is an appropriate message for a song just before preaching, so that is one reason I enjoyed sharing it with you. But the reason for sharing it with you this morning, just before this sermon, is because it is part of the fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah.
When Zechariah wrote down his vision, he was among a small number of Jews in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had once been the proud capital of a great nation but now it was in ruins, the people who returned from exile were discouraged, and the Jews were not sure if they were still God’s beloved chosen people.
Zechariah’s prophecy blew away the doors of discouragement the Jews had and spoke of a time when the distant lands of the earth would stream into God’s temple. And here we are at RIC. The gospel went out from Jerusalem into the Mediterranean lands. It went south into Ethiopia and east into India. It went north into Europe and then west into the Americas. From Europe and the Americas it has gone around the world and now countries like Korea, China, and Brazil, who received the gospel, are taking it around the world. The forty or so nations represented at RIC this morning are the beneficiaries of the good news of Zechariah’s prophecy. The gospel has gone around the world and the last people groups on this planet are having the Bible translated into their language.
Let me, once again, give a quick summary of the scenes in the vision so far and then move into the final scene of the vision.
Scene one: a man among the myrtle trees
Zechariah 1:8
During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
These horses went out into the world and came back to report that the world was at rest. This, however, was not a good report. The rest in the world was a false peace. Injustice and sin still prevailed. God assured the Jews that he would be their God, the temple would be rebuilt, and Jerusalem would prosper.
Scene two: four horns and four craftsmen
Zechariah 1:21
I asked, “What are these coming to do?”
He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”
The countries that God used to judge Jerusalem were themselves to be judged. The Jews had suffered at the hand of these nations and it was comforting to know they would suffer for their cruelty.
Scene three: a man with a measuring line
Zechariah 2:1–13
“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
God promised to be present with Israel and God announced that people from the nations of the world would come into his kingdom.
Scene four: clean garments for Joshua, the high priest
Zechariah 3:8–9
“ ‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
The high priest was restored to his position but Joshua was symbolic of Jesus who was to come and would be our high priest who would remove sin in a single day.
Scene five: gold lampstand and two olive trees
Zechariah 4:6
So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
This is a picture of the Holy Spirit who fills us and allows us to burn with the light of Christ in the darkness of the world.
Scene six: the flying scroll
Zechariah 5:3
And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished.
God gave hope to the Jews who were discouraged by the ruins of Jerusalem and the temple that lay at their feet. God promised peace, protection, and prosperity and now, because of the work of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit he began to make their hope a reality. The first step was to judge the sin of the land. Before the land could be cleansed, it had to be judged.
Scene seven: the woman in the basket
Zechariah 5:7–8
Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! 8 He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.
In this picture of a basket containing the sin of the land, it was taken away to a distant land. The sin of the nation was cleansed. Because of the work of Jesus on the cross, our sin is removed from us “as far as the east is from the west”.
This brings us to the final scene in Zechariah’s vision.
There is not a lot of detail in this final scene, but it is followed by a word that came from Zechariah and we will talk about that as well.
In this chaism of Zechariah’s vision, scene 1 had horses and the eighth scene also has horses. In the first scene the horses went out into the world and reported back that the world was at rest. As I mentioned, this was not good news. It was a false peace with injustice and sin prevailing. In this eighth scene, sin would be judged, cleansed, and then there would be true peace.
The number of horses in the first scene is not specified, but in this eighth vision there are four chariots, each with more than one horse, perhaps a total of eight or twelve horses.
I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black, 3 the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful.
There is a lot of speculation about the colors of these horses. One speculation that I find creatively interesting is that the colors of the horses in the first scene: red, white, and brown are the colors of a sunset. The colors in the eighth scene: red, black, white, and dappled are the colors of a sunrise. So this commentator speculated that the colors make the point that the vision began at night and ended in the early morning.
The chariots are the vehicles of judgment against the world and the fact that there are four of them means this is a universal judgment. The first scene of the vision saw a world full of sin and injustice; this eighth scene is God’s judgment against the sin and injustice of the world.
The chariots came out from between two mountains of bronze. There were two large, bronze covered pillars in the Temple, the dwelling place of God on earth and it is out of the Temple, out of the Holy of Holies that contained the Ark of the Covenant, out of the most sacred part of the Temple, that these chariots come. It is very clear that God is judging the nations.
Remember in scene three when Zechariah said, (Zechariah 2:13)
Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
This is now the Lord who has roused himself. He comes out of his holy dwelling with power and might. Everything about this vision is wrapped in images of power. The bronze pillars of the Temple are described as mountains. This is perhaps a reference to Mt. Zion and the Mount of Olives that stood on either side of the valley where Jerusalem was located.
I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”
There are varying interpretations about what this means and I thought we would look at what John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, thought this meant when he wrote his Revelation.
Revelation 6:1–8
I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
John expanded the vision of Zechariah but in both Revelation and the vision of Zechariah, these horses are a picture of the judgment of God against the sin of the world.
In scenes six and seven, the flying scroll and the woman in the basket, sin is cleansed from Israel and the judgment of sin is part of the process of the cleansing of sin. Sin cannot be cleansed without judgment. There are many who want Jesus to take away our sin but do not want to face judgment. We want people we love and even people we do not know to come into God’s eternal kingdom but this cannot happen without the judgment of sin.
So both in Zechariah and in Revelation we see the power of God working to judge sin. Revelation does not present Jesus sitting with little children in his lap, telling everyone to love each other. Revelation presents Jesus in a very different way. (Revelation 19:11–16)
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
king of kings and lord of lords.
There is one Jesus. There is Jesus who loves and Jesus who judges. Jesus does not have a split-personality. Jesus judges out of love and Jesus loves with judgment. Love and justice are both who Jesus is. They are both essential to his character. Jesus cannot not love and Jesus cannot not be just. Love and justice are who Jesus is.
In this eighth scene of Zechariah’s vision, we see God’s cleansing of sin in the nations that we saw in scenes six and seven where God cleansed the sin of Israel. The flying scroll announced God’s judgment against sin and then the woman in the basket was a picture of God removing the sin from Israel in a single day, as far as the east is from the west.
In order for sin to be cleansed, justice must be done. Only then can there be peace.
7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”
When my father was twelve years old his father bought him a horse. Big Vine was a powerful horse. He was able to kick his left rear hoof almost up to his nose, so someone had to hold up one of his feet so when you swung up into the saddle you didn’t get kicked. Eventually my father learned to swing over the hoof that was coming up so he could mount Big Vine without anyone helping him.
My father used a double bit with four reins and sometimes came back with his fingers bleeding from trying to hold back and control Big Vine. When he stopped to talk with someone, within two or three minutes all the grass under Big Vine’s hooves was destroyed because he kept pawing the ground, eager to set off at a gallop. He was a thrill to ride and I wish the thrill had been mine.
The powerful horses in this eighth scene are like Big Vine. They were tearing up the ground under them, straining to go out into the world.
Are you tired of the suffering and injustice in the world? Do you wish it would come to an end? We have tasted a little bit of injustice and suffering, some of us more than others, but everyone of us is distant from most of the suffering and injustice in the world.
But Jesus is in intimate relationship with all the people who suffer in the world. He is not distant from any of the suffering in the world and he bears the pain of that suffering.
Jesus wept at the grief of Mary and Martha when Lazarus lay in the tomb and he weeps for those who suffer today.
But Jesus knows the time is coming when suffering will come to an end. Jesus knows when his judgment will be exercised and there will be peace on earth, a real peace. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and the devil will be cast into oblivion.
Do you think Jesus is eager for that time? Are the angels who serve Jesus eager for that time? They are like powerful horses, tearing up the ground beneath their hooves, eager to bring justice and an end to the suffering of the world.
And then, after hundreds of years, thousands of years, the starter’s gun went off. (Verse 7)
And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
This is the day of the Lord Joel prophesied about. (Joel 2:1&11)
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
11 The Lord thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
God’s judgment is like a volcano that sits day by day, year by year, century by century. The hillsides of the volcano are covered with trees and wildlife abounds. People build vacation homes that overlook lakes on its hills. It is a beautiful place to live. But underground the pressure is building. The magma is like a powerful horse straining to be set free. The pressure builds and builds. There are occasional tremors and then one day there is an explosion and the volcano wreaks devastation on all life that surrounds it.
The pending judgment of God against the sin of this world is building and growing and one day it will erupt. That day is coming and when it comes it will be the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And who can endure it? John spoke of this day in his revelation. (Revelation 6:15–17
Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
That day is coming and then there will be peace, a true peace. Zechariah concluded his vision:
8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”
The enemies of Israel came from the north so the inference is that if there is rest in the north, then there is rest all over the earth.
This vision took the Jews who returned from exile in Babylon from the restoration of the Temple that had been destroyed seventy years earlier, all the way through to the end times that we are still longing for. At the end of this vision a word of the Lord came to Zechariah.
9 The word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. 12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’
I think most of you have seen the Lord of the Rings films. Some of you may have read the trilogy of books that the films were based on. The first film begins in a sleepy little village of hobbits and Frodo, a hobbit, is taken out into an adventure with dwarves, elves, wizards, and others. He is taken into great and small battles where the outcome is not at all clear. Finally there is one last great battle and at the end there is victory. The third and last film of the series has a scene where Aragorn, from the race of kings, and his bride Arwen, from the race of elves, are honored and Aragorn is crowned as king. And the four hobbits in the tale are honored as well.
It is a very satisfying ending. After all the struggle and fear and anxiety there is now peace which produces great celebration. I wonder if one of the reasons it is so emotionally satisfying to us is because God has put within us a longing for this event when we will be gathered before the throne and with every knee bowed we will honor our King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus.
We long for this celebration on the other side of suffering and rejoice when we catch a glimpse of this celebration here on this side of suffering.
The crowning of Joshua in Zechariah 6 clearly points to this time. The crown is made up of interwoven circlets of gold and silver and placed on the head of the high priest, Joshua.
This is strange because the high priest was not crowned. The king was crowned, but never the high priest and some commentators have speculated that there has been a mistake made over the years and some early copier of Zechariah wrote the name of Joshua rather than Zerubbabel. It should be the head of Zerubbabel, the king mentioned in scene five of the vision, who is to be crowned.
But this is not a mistake. This vision points to Jesus who is both our high priest and king and brings the two roles into a wonderful harmony.
12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’
Joshua will rebuild the Temple that will be destroyed 570 years later in 70 AD, but Jesus will build the eternal temple that will never be destroyed. Peter wrote: (1 Peter 2:4–5)
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the cornerstone and we are the living building blocks of that temple. The temple grows every day as new sons and daughters are brought into God’s kingdom.
This is the vision Zechariah received. How does the message, as a whole, help us?
I have been anxious this past week about the children from the Village of Hope who are now living in Meknes. They are facing great pressures and temptations and I am not able to be present with them to help them. I am grateful that others are able to see them but it is painful to see them struggle and not be able to do anything directly to help them.
I have been anxious because of some spiritual warfare that is taking place and I feel terribly inadequate to deal with it. I love the people involved and want to help but I feel helpless.
I know that you have your own situations and relationships that are causing you to be anxious.
This vision of Zechariah helps me because I need to see the larger picture. Like with Frodo, there are skirmishes, great and small battles that are being fought and we can become fearful and discouraged in the midst of the conflict. We worry about the outcome. We can wonder how it is going to end. We can fear the worst for us and for those we love.
I want you to know there is a victory coming. On your darkest days, I want you to know there is a victory coming. There is a celebration that is being planned. It will be a beautiful celebration, beautiful beyond our imagining. We will stand on the other side of suffering. This world of suffering and conflict is not where we will spend eternity. The suffering we experience on this side of heaven is temporary.
Peter wrote to followers of Jesus who were being persecuted and told them (1 Peter 5:10–11)
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Our suffering is for a little while. God will heal all our wounds, make us whole, make us strong, firm and steadfast.
Lift up your eyes. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. The outcome has been determined and when we are with Jesus, we know we are on the winning side. Move through spiritual conflicts, battles, struggles with the love of Jesus in your heart and mind. Know that you are a beloved daughter, a beloved son of God. Hold on and look to the finish line where Jesus waits to welcome you lovingly and victoriously into his kingdom.
