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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Chapter - Chapter 6
Verse
1 takes us right into Zechariah’s next vision.
He sees four chariot’s passing through a valley between two
bronze mountains. Verse
2 tells us the colour of the horses that are pulling the chariots.
The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black
horses, the third by white horses, and the fourth by dappled, or spotted
horses. It’s next to
impossible to understand how to translate the colour of the last horse
from the Hebrew into English. The
word “dappled” means “spotted”.
The word “dappled” seems to be the best and most favoured
translation. This
vision is clearly prophetic of future events to the day in which
Zechariah lived. Some of the
prophecies so far in Zechariah had both a present day significance and a
future significance. Most
scholars say this is pure futuristic.
We
see two mountains here. They are bronze mountains.
In Scripture bronze and brass for the most part is symbolic of
judgment. So this
vision might well suggest a time of judgment. The
next question asked in our minds is, “what are these two mountains?”
Because mountains often represent Gentile kingdoms in the Old
Testament some people suggest that these two mountains may be two
Gentile nations. More
commonly accepted is the idea that these two mountains are literal
mountains, Some
people compare these two bronze mountains to the two bronze feet of the
man in Daniel’s vision. (Dan. 10)
This means that the two mountains represent the last great world
empire that the anti-christ will rule from at some point.
We
have four sets of coloured horses pulling the chariots.
They are red, black, white, and spotted.
Some people think that these are the same horses that we see in
chapter one but I don’t think so because for one thing, the colours
don’t match up. Secondly
the chapter one horses were not pulling chariots. Some
suggest, and this is a little more probable, that these are the four
horses in Rev. 6. In both
Rev. 6 and here there are red, black and white horses.
Yet the last horse here is spotted while the last one in Rev. 6
is pale. So Zechariah’s
vision might not be referring to Rev. 6 either because the horses
don’t seem to match up in their colours either. Also,
the horses in Rev. 6 weren’t pulling chariots. I
don’t think it is. I think it’s simply a separate prophecy. In
verse 4 we see Zechariah once again asking the explaining angel “what
are these?” In
verse 5 the angel says that these horses and chariots are the four
spirits standing before the Lord. In
various Old Testament passages you see the term “four winds of
heaven”. (Isa. 49:36, Eze. 37:9, Dan.7:2 and 8:8)
Rev. 7:1 suggests there are four winds of the earth, from the
four corners of the earth. In
Matt. 24:31 Jesus said that He will send His angels to gather the elect
from the “four winds”, that is “ four winds of the earth”.
So in my thinking there seems to be four winds in heaven and four
winds on earth. These four
spirits might well have something to do with the four winds of heaven.
They might actually be the four winds of heaven. The words winds,
breath, and spirit are all translated from the same Greek and Hebrew
word. Since
these four spirits are standing before the Lord, that would mean that
they are in heaven, not earth. This
might well be another reason why these four spirits are the four winds
of heaven. Note
that these spirits stand before “the Lord of the whole earth”.
This phrase is seldom used of God in the Old Testament.
Normally God is referred to as the Lord God of Israel, or Abraham. Here He is not
just the God of Israel, but the God of all the earth.
This then might suggest that the judgment taking place here is on
the whole earth, not just on the In
verse 6 we see the black horses and chariot head north, the white horses
and chariot head west, and the spotted ones head south. There is no
mention of the red horses going anywhere.
There is no easterly direction mentioned here either. Some
suggest that these red horses might well have some relationship to
Jesus, but I question that. The
NIV has a foot note concerning the white horses heading west. The
alternative reading is “or horses after them”.
This would mean that the white horses actually might have
followed the black horses to the north, or simply mean that the white
horses went somewhere after the black horses left. Some suggest that
this is significant because north and south do have prophetic and
spiritual significance in the Bible and the west doesn’t seem to have
the same importance. Verse
7 tells us that these three horses head out each in their own direction,
but in the end, they go out throughout the whole earth.
Lastly,
in verse 8 we see the angel say that the chariot who went to the north,
gave rest to God’s Spirit in the north. It’s
hard for me to really know what this vision means.
We would all agree that this is an end time vision, but we might
disagree on the details. This might well be the time when Jesus speaks
of in Mat. 24:31 when He sends out His angels to the four winds to
gather the elect. It’s hard to say, but it is possible. This
ingathering is in the time of judgment, that is, world wide judgment as
seen in Revelation. Verse
8 is difficult as well. In
Scripture the land of the north often refers to This
ends the visions given to Zechariah, all in one night. A
Crown For Joshua (ch. 6:9 - 15) In
verses 9 through 11 Zechariah receives a word from the Lord.
This is not a vision, but a direct word.
Apparently certain Jewish men came from God
told Zechariah to receive the gold and silver they were bringing and
make a crown out of it and set it on the head of Joshua
the high priest. Just
for interests sake, many scholars say that gold in the Bible represents
Deity while silver represents blood. Although
the English text doesn’t say this, the Hebrew word for crown can
easily be translated in the plural here.
In
verse 12 God tells Zechariah to tell Joshua as he receives the crown on
his head that “here is the Branch.” We’ve
seen “the Branch” mentioned earlier in Zechariah and elsewhere.
There is no debate over this.
The Branch is Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.
This tells us something about Joshua and what is happening here.
This actual event took place. The crown was placed on Joshua’s
head prophetically. It spoke
of the crown that would be placed on Jesus’ head as seen in Rev.
19:12. In Rev. 19:12 we note
that Jesus had “many crowns”, and this is why I pointed out that the
word crown used here in Zechariah is actually in the plural. Also
in verse 12 Zechariah was told to tell Joshua that the Branch would
build the temple. Now Joshua
helped in the rebuilding of the temple in 520 AD, but this is not the
temple that is being spoken of here.
The temple that is being referred to here is the temple that
Jesus Himself will build and it will be in In
verse 13 we see the Branch ruling, sitting on His throne in this temple.
This clearly speaks of Jesus as He rules during the thousand
years of peace. Jesus
will be both king and priest as He sits on His throne in the temple.
Usually the temple only speaks of priests.
It doesn’t speak of kings ruling from it, but not so in the
millennial temple. When
speaking of branches, and especial this “Branch”, we should
understand that branches branch out.
They spread out. They
produce other branches. And
this is clear with Jesus the Branch at the end of this age when He rules
from The
last phrase in this verse says that “there will be harmony between the
two”. What “two” is
being spoken of here? The
two that is being spoken of is the king and the priest.
Usually king and priest are two separate people, but not so in
this case. Jesus will be
both the civil and religious ruler during this thousand years of peace
on earth. In
verse 14 we see that after the crown is placed on Joshua’s head, it
will be given to other certain men and placed in the temple as a
memorial. This would be a
prophetic memorial of what would some day come on earth in the city of Jerusalem. Verse
15 says that “those who are far away” will come and help build this
temple in One
thing we should note at this point.
There will be a temple in Jerusalem
during the thousand years of Jesus’ rule on earth.
This will be a time period when Jesus will show us all how things
were meant to be on earth. He
will have His people, both Jew and Gentile who will help Him rule
throughout the earth. Once
this thousand years is over, and the New Jerusalem comes down from
heaven, and the New Earth created, there will be no temple, because God
Himself will dwell among men and He will be the temple, as seen at the
close of the book of Revelation.
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