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Zechariah 6

¹And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

²In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

³And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.

⁴Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?

⁵And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.

⁷And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.

⁸Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

⁹And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁰Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;

¹¹Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;

¹²And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:

¹³Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

¹⁴And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.

¹⁵And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

on Zechariah 6

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chosen people as a husband is jealous over his wife and as parents over their children (Ex. 20:5; Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15). This explains why the Lord accused the Jews of adultery and unfaithfulness whenever they were guilty of worshipping heathen gods (Jer. 2:1–3; 3:14; 31:32; Hos. 1). Worldliness on the part of Christians is also pictured as “spiritual adultery” (James 4:4–10).

The Lord was angry with the Gentile nations because they had been unnecessarily brutal toward the Jews. True, God had called Assyria to punish the northern kingdom of Israel, and Babylon to chasten Judah; but these nations went beyond what God called them to do and tried to destroy the Jews. Other nations, like Moab, had also joined in the assault (see Ps. 83; 137).

But the Lord’s most heartening words had to do with Judah’s future, not her enemies, for God promised to return to His people and prosper their nation. He would comfort Zion and prove to the enemy nations that Jerusalem was indeed His chosen city. This promise is repeated and expanded in the rest of Zechariah’s prophecy.

When our situation appears to be hopeless, we must remind ourselves that God identifies with our sufferings and is in charge of the future. Our responsibility is to repent, confess our sins, and believe His “comforting words.” His responsibility is to respond to our faith and work out His perfect will for us.

God And The Nations

The previous vision ended with the interpreting angel calling Israel’s God “the Lord of the whole earth”

(4:14), a title that is also used in Psalm 95: and Isaiah 54:5. Zechariah’s purpose in writing is to tell us about the future of the Jews and Jerusalem, but the future of the whole world is involved in the future of the Jews, for God called Israel to bring blessing or cursing to all the nations of the earth (Gen. 12:1–3).

The prophet describes three key events that give evidence that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is indeed “the Lord of the whole earth.”

God Judges the Nations

The images in this vision are similar to those described in 1:7–17, but the details are significantly different. The emphasis here is on the horses and chariots rather than the riders, and their ministry is that of accomplishing God’s purposes rather than reporting on conditions in the Gentile world. In the first vision, there were many horses and riders but here, there are only four chariots, each with their horses.

The four chariots with their horses represented the “four spirits” from God, that is, four angels (Heb. 1:14) assigned to different parts of the world to do God’s bidding. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels” (Ps. 68:17). The presence of chariots suggests battle, and this implies judgment. “For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render [bring down, ] His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire” (Isa. 66: nkjv).

If the horses’ colors are significant, then Revelation 6:1–8 can assist us. The red horses symbolize war; the black horses, famine; and the white horses, death. There are no dappled horses in the vision John had in Revelation 6, but they could well symbolize plagues. During the “day of the Lord,” God will use wars, famines, plagues, and death to punish the nations of the earth.

Since the two mountains (Zech. 6:1) were made of bronze, they are symbolic, for there are no bronze mountains in the Holy Land or anywhere else. In Scripture, bronze often symbolizes judgment. The altar of sacrifice in the tabernacle and the temple was made of wood covered with bronze, and that’s where sin was judged when the sacrifices were burned. The serpent that Moses put on the pole was made of bronze (Num. 21:9), and when our Lord appeared to John and was about to judge the churches, His feet were compared to bronze “as if they burned in a furnace” (Rev. 1:15).

So, the cumulative effect of this vision is that God will judge the Gentile nations for their sins. This will occur during the period of time called “the tribulation” or “the day of the Lord” that precedes the return of Christ to the earth to set up His righteous kingdom. In the latter chapters of his book, Zechariah will describe many of the events that will occur during “the day of the Lord.”

When Zechariah saw the horses, they were straining to go to their appointed destinations and do what God had ordered them to do. However, judgment is in the hands of God, reserved for the right time and place (see Rev. 9:15). The black horses were assigned to the north country (Babylon) and the white horses would follow them, while the dappled horses would go to the south (Egypt). Nothing is said about the red horses, so apparently the Lord was holding them back for another time. God was angry with the nations in the north (Zech. 6:8; see 1:15), and His messengers would see to it that His holy purposes there were fulfilled. This would bring peace to God’s heart as His justice was satisfied.

The ministry of angels among the nations and in dispensing God’s judgments is clearly taught in other parts of Scripture (Dan. 4:4–18; 10; 12:1; Rev. 8; 14; 16). Zechariah’s vision assures us that God is in control of the future and will judge the Gentile nations during “the day of the Lord.” God is longsuffering (2 Peter 3:9), but there comes a time when nations “fill up the measure of their sins” (Gen. 15:16; Matt. 23:32); and then God’s judgment must fall.

God Crowns His King-Priest

The eight visions came to an end, but there was yet another message from God to His servant. In the visions, God had assured His people that He would cleanse them and protect them from their enemies. But there was a message for the future as well. During the “day of the Lord,” the nations would be punished for their sins, but Israel would be delivered. At the climax of that day, Messiah would return, the Jews would see Him and trust Him, and the nation would be cleansed. Then Messiah would be crowned as King-Priest to reign over His righteous kingdom (Zech. 9—14).

Confrontation (vv. 9–11). We aren’t told when God gave Zechariah these instructions, but it was probably shortly after he had seen the eight visions, for this event is really the climax of the revelations given in the visions.

God told Zechariah that three esteemed Jews would arrive from Babylon, bringing gold and silver offerings to the Lord for the building of the temple. They would stay at the home of Josiah, who had the wonderful nickname “Hen,” which means “gracious one” (v. 14). After they arrived in Jerusalem, Zechariah went to see them.

We can only imagine what transpired when the prophet told the visitors what God had commanded him to do: take their silver and gold offerings and make an elaborate crown. He was then to put this crown, not on the head of Zerubbabel the governor, who was of the royal line of David, but on the head of Joshua the high priest!

The visitors no doubt faced two problems: (1) the money from the Jews in Babylon was supposed to be used for the completion of the temple; and (2) there was no precedent in Scripture for a priest to be crowned king. Was Zechariah trying to oust the governor and make Joshua ruler of the struggling nation? How would this better the situation of the remnant and hasten the completion of the temple?

Coronation (vv. 12–13). Zechariah saved the explanation until he had fully obeyed the Lord. He made the crown and, taking the visitors with him, went to Joshua the high priest and conducted a coronation service. We don’t know if all the elders of Israel were invited, but since the message this act conveyed was such an important one, it’s likely that they were.

Then Zechariah explained God’s message to the high priest and the witnesses. He must have told them that both Zerubbabel and Joshua were “men symbolic of things to come” (Zech. 3: niv). Even though Zerubbabel was from David’s line, he wasn’t the one God chose to be crowned. God chose Joshua, and for the first time in Jewish history, the Lord united the monarchy and the priesthood.

All of this refers, of course, to Jesus Christ; for He is “the man whose name is the Branch” (6:12; see 3:8). Looking down to the time of the kingdom, God announced that Messiah would be both King and Priest: He would sit on the throne and reign, but He would also build the temple and serve as a priest. In fact, many Jews and Gentiles will come from afar off and help build the millennial temple (6:15; Isa. 60:5–12; Hag. 2:7–9).

No priest in Jewish history ever served as king; and the one king, Uzziah, who tried to become a priest, was severely judged by the Lord (2 Chron. 26:16–21). Only in Messiah does Jehovah unite both the throne and the altar. Today, Jesus Christ serves in heaven as both King and Priest, ministering “after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 7—8). This is in fulfillment of the Father’s promise to the Son recorded in Psalm 110:4.

But during the reign of Christ on earth, there will be a restored temple and priesthood (Isa. 2:1–5; 27:13; Ezek. 40—48; Zech. 14:16), and Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of His father David as King and Priest (Luke 1:32–33). This will be the fulfillment of God’s covenant promise to David that he would always have an heir seated on his throne (2 Sam. 7).

The statement in Zechariah 6: that “the counsel of peace shall be between them both” is translated in the NIV, “And there will be harmony between the two.” In the kingdom, there will be perfect peace and justice because all civil and religious authority will be harmonized in one Person, Messiah, the King and Priest.

Commemoration (vv.14–15). Zechariah then took the crown from off Joshua’s head and gave him his priestly miter (3:5). Why? Because the symbolic act was over and the crown did not belong to Joshua. It belonged to the coming Messiah. Zechariah placed the crown somewhere in the temple as a memorial (reminder) of the Lord’s promise of a King-Priest who would bring peace and holiness to His people.

God will be faithful to His promises even if His people are unfaithful (2 Tim. 2:12–13), but they will miss out on the blessings. He didn’t put any conditions on the wonderful promise of a future KingPriest, but Zechariah 6: seems to limit God’s working to the obedience of His people. “This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God” (niv).

This statement is a reference to God’s covenant recorded in Deuteronomy 28: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God” (v. 1). The remnant of Jews then in the Holy Land had to obey God’s laws so that He might protect them and bless them as He promised, for the Messiah had to be born from this nation. Within a few centuries, the angel Gabriel would visit Mary and tell her she had been chosen to bring the promised Messiah into the world (Luke 1:26–38). The faithfulness of one generation assured the blessing of the next generations and ultimately the blessing of the whole world.

The visions are ended. We have seen a vivid panorama of God’s plans for Israel, culminating in the King-Priest on David’s throne, ruling over Israel and the whole world.

Remember these prophecies the next time you pray, “Thy kingdom come.”