Zachariah

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Zechariah Chapter 9

 

  • Zechariah  9:1 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.

The Day is coming when all Israel shall turn toward the Lord. What a glorious day that will be.

There was a time recorded in 2 Chronicles where Israel had their eyes toward the Lord for help and deliverance:

  • 2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

Until the word of God goes forth and brings forth fruit and the will of God is done, there will be no peace on the earth. Not only will no peace come to the above lands and to Israel but no peace will be in any part of the world until the eyes of man (woman also) are toward the Lord. If we continue to go our own way and do our own thing as a nation or as individuals, there will be no peace.

Am I advocating the use of force to make people fear God and seek Him? NO. For that never works. True conversion to Jesus Christ can never be forced. We have to enforce the law of the land in order to have law and order but true conversion to Jesus has to be done by the Holy Spirit and cannot be forced upon any individual. God changes a heart. Man cannot change anything on his own. There is hope coming when Israel's eyes turn toward the Lord.

I witnessed a young girl go forth in one of our meetings to seek God and she began to weep. It brought back memories of my own conversion as a child and the real experience of receiving Jesus Christ into my life. It is a real experience and is more than a conversion from one religion to another. It is a life changing experience when one meets the Lord for the first time whether we are adults or children. We may not weep as she did and we may not be saved in a church service but in order to be saved from sin and enter into eternal life, we must have a one on one encounter with Jesus Christ.

  • Zechariah 9:2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
  • 3 And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
  • 4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

No matter how rich, how powerful or how popular a nation becomes, they are nothing in the face of God. At His word nations rise and at His word they fall. We cannot boast even in the United States of our armies, navies and marines. In the hand of God, we are nothing. Ezekiel prophesies of the above:

  • Ezekiel 26:17 And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!

When God brings judgment upon the nations surrounding Israel the rest of the world will wonder after what they see. In the days of TV and Internet, the whole world will see if everything is working and not knocked out by power failures. 

  • Zechariah 9:5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

When we pressure the nation of Israel into giving up land for peace, we don't realize who we are dealing with. Can we give away what God had promised to Israel? Can we go against the will of God? We dare not do so. We are nothing in the face of God. Pride turns God off. We must humble ourselves, repent and turn to God fervently seeking His ways and His will.

  • Zechariah 9:6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
  • 7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.
  • 8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

A day is coming when all oppressors of Israel will be cut off according to the bible prophecies both Old and New Testaments.

  • Psalms 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Now we come to the prophesies concerning the Messiah. Many times both the first and second coming of Christ are joined together like it is the same prophecy but many years separate the two.

  • Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

This prophecy is of the 1st coming of the Messiah we know now to be Jesus or Yeshua. His first coming was not to take over the world but to die for the sins of mankind. His death for sins only benefit those that choose to receive and believe in Him as the Messiah and savior but whether or not we believe doesn't change what He did on our behalf. He is the stone which the builders rejected, the Holy One sent from God, God's Son, Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of this prophecy is told of in Matthew 21. John and Luke also tell of this.

  • Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
  • 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
  • 3 And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
  • 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
  • 5 Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

Jeremiah tells of the coming king:

  • Jeremaih 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

The King will rule from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth.

  • Zechariah 9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

In the Old Testament the prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah is all one prophecy even though His first and second coming is separated by at least 2000 years. Verse 10 tells us of the second coming in which Jesus Christ rules over the earth. This coming is the one the Jews were looking for the first time. They did not recognize a savior from sin but were looking for a savior to save them from Roman oppression. However, the sin problem had to be dealt with first. We can't expect to enter into the reign of the Messiah and rule with Him if we are still in our sins and unworthy to enter that kingdom.

We must repent or turn from sin and believe in Jesus to save us from sin before we can rule and reign with Him. In other words, "We must be born again, by the spirit of God," which is the only true conversion.

When Christ comes the second time He will save Israel without using armies of other nations:

  • Hosea 1:7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

The blood of the covenant.

  • Zechariah 9:11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

The New covenant requires the shed sacrificial blood of an innocent one before salvation can come upon all who believe. This was fulfilled when Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead so that all who believe can be saved. We now await the time when He returns to reign upon the earth. I personally believe His second coming will be first to rapture those who are counted worthy to escape the future tribulation and go to be with Jesus just before He returns to rule the earth for 1000 years. To be worthy one must be saved from sin and be faithful and obedient to God's word. 

I believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. That is what I see in the word. Others do not see this but see a rapture just before the wrath of God is poured out, others see a rapture at the very end of the tribulation. Others do not believe in any rapture. I do not argue about this, I do not accuse people that believe different than I of being false teachers or evil in any way. We have to study God's word without demonizing each other over differences in bible prophecy. Yet we need to study it because the closer we get to the coming of the Lord, I believe more and more will be revealed as we faithfully seek Him for understanding. Never should we stop seeking, searching and finding. Never fall out with someone over these things.

  • Zechariah 9:12 Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

The tribulation will be such a time of trouble never before seen upon the earth. It will probably make the holocaust seem trivial. The 2nd coming of Jesus will put a stop once and for all time the oppression of Israel. I do not believe any nation will stand with Israel at this time but the Lord Himself will save them from annihilation. The prisoners shall have hope and be eternally set free from all oppression. God will render their enemies double of what they did unto Israel. 

  • Zechariah 9:13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

Here is a hint of a revived Greece that comes against Israel most probably along with the revived Roman Empire. The antichrist will rule over all for a short season. We know from history that Israel was delivered from the Grecian Empire which was the first fulfillment of this prophecy but all was not fulfilled at that tiem. They faced the rule of the Roman Empire next so that was just a partial fulfillment and a hint of the final fulfillment in the latter days. After that no one or no country will ever destroy or scatter them again.

  • Zechariah 9:14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
  • 15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with slingstones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.
  • 16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
  • 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

All bible prophecy shows us who wins in the end. These prophecies go along with the books of Daniel and Revelation showing us the final reign of Jesus and how He saves Israel from being destroyed from upon the earth. No weapon formed against them will prosper. The stone which the nation of Israel rejected will be the only one to save them in the time to come.

I don't know what happens to the United States or why we do not help Israel during the tribulation period but I do know that the Lord alone will be their savior. I just hope our country isn't stupid enough to join with the armies of the antichrist and surround Israel in that day. In the battle of Armageddon, the Lord wins.

So far starting in the last few presidencies, we see our nation of the United States abandoning Israel and putting pressure on them to give up land for peace. Woe to us for doing that. Since the  the election of Donald Trump for president, he has reversed some of that. I do hope he keeps that up. It will bless our nation if we stand by Israel according to the promise given to Abraham way back in the book of Genesis. Those that come against Israel will suffer judgment.

Joel also prophesies these things:

  • Joel 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
  • 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
  • 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
  • 20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
  • 21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

Some of the above comments about bible prophecy are my own comments and may not reflect the whole truth. It is my speculation. The part about salvation through Jesus Christ however, is truth. There is only one way for individual souls to be saved and that is by repenting of sin and believing in the one God sent to save them from sin, Jesus Christ.

Why do we need to turn from sin? Because sin cannot enter heaven or the coming kingdom of God.

Why do we need to believe in Jesus, why can't we just stop sinning? Because Jesus is the savior God provided to die for our sins in our place. He is the only deliverer and there is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved from the wrath to come and eternal judgment. We have no power in ourselves to overcome the penalty for sin. We have to let Jesus do that for us. If we do not believe in Him, there is no salvation.

Zechariah Index

 

 
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