Life's Inanities and Ironies

Zechariah 4 The fifth vision is among the most familiar and most needed in the entire book. Zechariah sees a golden candlestick (lampstand) with a bowl on top and seven lamps, and beside it two olive trees pouring oil into the bowl (4:2–3). When the prophet asks the meaning, the angel answers with the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (4:6). The great mountain of opposition before Zerubbabel will become a plain. He will bring forth the headstone of the temple with shoutings of “Grace, grace unto it” (4:7). The hands of Zerubbabel that laid the foundation will also finish it (4:9). The two olive trees are “the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (4:14)—almost certainly representing the dual offices of king (Zerubbabel) and priest (Joshua), both ultimately fulfilled in the one Person of Jesus Christ, who is both King and Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This vision is pure gold f...

  Zechariah 3 The fourth vision brings us into the heavenly courtroom. Joshua the high priest stands before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stands at his right hand to resist him (3:1). Joshua is clothed with filthy garments—symbol of the sin and defilement of the priesthood and the people. The Lord rebukes Satan: “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” (3:2). Then the command is given: “Take away the filthy garments from him.” To Joshua the Lord says, “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment” (3:4). A fair mitre is set upon his head. The high priest is cleansed and restored to service. Yet the vision does not end with Joshua. The Lord of hosts declares, “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest… for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch… For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eye...

  Zechariah 1:7–2:13 Three months after the opening call, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Zechariah received a series of night visions that form the heart of chapters 1–6. The first three visions establish God’s heart toward His people and His city. In the first vision Zechariah sees a man riding a red horse among myrtle trees in a bottom (1:8). Behind him stand red, speckled, and white horses. These are the Lord’s patrol, sent to walk to and fro through the earth. They report that the whole earth sits still and is at rest. The angel of the Lord then intercedes: “O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?” (1:12). The Lord’s answer is full of comfort: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy… I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it… and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerus...

  Zechariah 1:1–6 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius (520 B.C.), the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. The remnant had returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest. The foundation of the second temple had been laid years earlier, yet the work had stalled. Discouragement, opposition, and spiritual lethargy had settled over the people. Into that silence the Lord spoke through His prophet. Zechariah’s opening message is not a soft word of encouragement. It is a summons: “The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 1:2–3). The Hebrew word for “turn” is the classic call to repentance. God does not merely invite them to rebuild a building; He demands that they return to Him with their whole heart. The prophet then reminds them of the tragic his...