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1. What is the time setting? (7) What is the first vision? (8) Who do you think the man is? (8,11; Ge 16:7,11,13; Ge 18:1,2; Heb 13:2) What do the myrtles symbolize? (Neh. 8:15; Isa. 41:19; 55:13)? How does the conversation progress? (9-13) What message is the prophet to proclaim? (14-17) Think about the three messages. 2. What is the second vision? (18-20) What are four horns and four craftsmen? What message does it contain? (21) 3. Next what did the prophet see? (2:1) What will happen to Jerusalem? (2-5) What command does the LORD speak to Zion? (6,7) What will God do against the nations that have plundered them? (8-9) What hope does God give to them? (10-13) How was the promise fulfilled? Think about the blessing of “I will live among you”.

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Message

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In the first lesson we thought of God’s gracious promise, “Return to me, and I will return to you.” Today’s passage contains the first three visions Zechariah saw. In these visions God declares his jealous love for his people of Jerusalem. He assures them that he will return with mercy and his house will be rebuilt. In his sovereignty the nations that scattered Judah would be thrown down. Yet, God’s vision is beyond the people of Israel. Many nations will be joined with the LORD and will become his people. And the LORD himself will live among them. This vision is truly the hope of all mankind; it has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ whom God sent. Let’s think about this amazing blessing of God. First, a man standing among the myrtle trees (1:7-17). The time setting is three months after the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the first time. Look at verse 8. “During the night I had a vision—and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.” A vision must be interpreted; otherwise no one will know its meaning and the vision will have no effect to people. Who can understand the meaning of a man riding a red horse among the myrtle trees in a ravine with the red, brown and white horses behind him? So after seeing this scene, Zechariah asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was talking with him answered, “I will show you what they are.” Then the man standing among the myrtle explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to go throughout the earth.” So the vision was not only visible but also audible. However, the explanation was very short. According to this brief explanation the LORD is patrolling the earth. Just as the earth does not stand still but constantly rotates, so the LORD is working diligently – he knows what is going on on the earth. He knows all the happenings in the world, big and small. He is indeed omniscient. (HBC, more accurate and detailed and fair than BBC, ABC, CBC). Now the deeper meaning of the vision is revealed through the oracle at the conversation. Look at verse 11. “And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, ‘We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.’” Here we see that the man among the myrtle trees is the angel of LORD. Myrtle trees were evergreens used in the feast of Tabernacles to picture future endless messianic blessings that would come to Israel (Lev 23: 40; Neh. 8:15; Isa. 41:19; 55:13). So the myrtle trees can be the symbol of Israel, and the myrtles in a ravine show the low state of the nation. But the angel of the LORD was standing there with the horses behind, which are like heavenly troops. What an encouraging scene to the Israelites who were the exiles in Babylon. There was a reporting system in the vision and the riders of the horses reported to the angel of the LORD standing among the myrtle trees: “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.” What kind of report is this? They did not know that there was a great earthquake in Haiti. Since man’s fall, the world has never been at rest and in peace. We don’t know why the report was like that. But we do now that though the world is full of troubles, apparently it looks peaceful and most people in it live with no sense of problem. They want to live at ease and rest forever in the world. However, the angel of the LORD standing among the myrtle trees knew all the happenings in the world said, “LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?” The angel of the LORD was so pained to see Jerusalem ruined for the past seventy years. Even after the liberation from the oppression of Babylon, Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were in ruin. He knew it was the matter of God’s mercy. He was pleading with the LORD to release mercy. So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with Zechariah. God does not ignore the pained hearts and earnestly plea of his servants. Look at verse 14. “Then the angel who was speaking to me said, ‘Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry but they added to the calamity.”’” Here we see two emotions of the LORD: “jealous” and “angry.” The LORD is the God of love and anger. But he is abounding in love and slow to anger (Ex 32:6). And his love is a jealous love (Whatever my lover does I don’t care). This love of God is like that of a mother hen that gathers and protects her chicks under her wings (Mt 23:38; Lk 13:34). When anyone or anything attacks one of her chicks, the mother hen becomes furious and fights risking her life. No one can snatch God’s people out of his hand (Jn 10:28, 29). In the Ten Commandments God said, “I am a jealous God” (Ex 20:4). He expects the jealous love from his people. He cannot bear his people when they love both God and other gods or the world. Because of his jealous love he punished his people of Jerusalem for a certain period of time. In this love he let the nations of the world invade and ruin Israel as punishment for their sins. Yet, it did not mean that his love was gone. No. His jealous love is still there. They are still the apple of his eye (2:8). His jealous love is unfailing and unchanging, never growing cold like human love. The vision of a man standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine is the excellent picturesque expression of God’s jealous love. Though his people were in the lowest point, the LORD God was standing among them. This vision can be compared to Jesus’ standing among the lampstands in Revelation (Rev 1:12, 20). At the time of severe persecution this vision was shown to the Apostle John and the people of Christ’s church through him. Praise God for his jealous love. Look at verse 16. “Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the LORD Almighty.” This is a very encouraging word to the returnees who were very much discouraged at the opposition of the work of rebuilding the temple. Here is the sure promise, “I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuild.” In his love and mercy, the temple of God’s house would be rebuilt. God’s encouragement does not stop there. Look at verse 17. “Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.” The prosperity and comfort and irrevocable calling were assured. In this part we see that the key point of God’s patrolling the earth was to watch his people and his house in Jerusalem. In his jealous love for Jerusalem, his house of the temple would be rebuilt and his towns prospered. We thank God for his jealous love for us through his Son Jesus Christ, and for his mission to build his house in U of T campus pioneering work. May we believe in his jealous love at any human circumstance. May we also believe that in his love and mercy this house of God will be built and prosper to serve his purpose in this generation. Second, four horns and for craftsmen (1:18-20). Look at verse 18. “Then I looked up—and there before me were four horns!” Zechariah asked the angel who was speaking to him, “What are these?” The angel answered him, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.” In the Bible horn is symbol of power and strength (Ps 18:2; Mic 4:13). Judah, Israel and Jerusalem all refer to the same nation of God’s chosen people. The horns impaled God’s chosen nation again and again until the people of the nation were scattered. The four horns represent four kingdoms by which Israel was dispersed into the world beginning with the Babylonian Kingdom, and then the Medo-Persian Empire, and then the Grecian Empire, and finally the Roman Empire. However, the four horns could well mean all the nations that scattered Judah. Then the LORD showed him four craftsmen (blacksmiths or metal-workers). Zechariah asked, “What are these coming to do?” He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down the horns of nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.” Historically the four craftsmen were the kings like Cyrus of Persia, whom God used to destroy Babylonia Empire and liberate his people from its oppression. So the four craftsmen would well mean all God-raised servants to deliver his chosen people from the power of nations of the world. The vision of four horns and four craftsmen also must have been a great encouragement to the returnees, who looked so weak and trivial to the eyes of the world power nations. Any nations or organizations that suppressed the people of God have been smashed and crushed and gone. Daniel saw in his vision that an enormous dazzling statue of the world power nations were smashed by a rock that came from heaven. The power of the four craftsmen can be the same with the power of the rock. The rock represents the kingdom of Christ which will be forever. So the people of our Lord Jesus Christ should not be afraid of any power of the world. Third, a man with a measuring line (2:1-13). Look at 2:1. “Then I looked up—and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand! This vision seemed to be very ordinary with nothing special. This time Zechariah did not ask, “What are these?” He asked, “Where are you going?” It was a direct asking to the man in the vision. How did he answer? Did he say, “I am going to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple there using the measuring line?” No. He answered, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.” The temple was already competed. Now he was going there to measure the city Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is. At this time of measuring the angel who was speaking to Zechariah left and another angel came to meet the man in the vision and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’” Now the measuring line was of no use because Jerusalem city was immeasurable with no boundary. Yet, there would be the invisible wall around the city with God himself as the wall of fire around it. The wall of fire reminds us of the pillar of cloud and fire by which God visualized his protecting presence at various times throughout Israel’s history (Ex 13:21-22; 40:38; Isa. 4:5-6). And God would be its glory within. The greatness and majesty and glory of the city of Jerusalem would be beyond any city in the world, incomparable. There would be no limitation to the number of the residents. This vision, along with the first two visions, looks forward to the great future to come. When we read Revelation, actually the new Jerusalem was measured. Revelation 21:15-18 reads, “The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gate and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia (2,200 km) in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits (65 m) thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.” Here the point is that the new Jerusalem is real, though it would be majestic and glorious beyond human. And it is big enough for all the redeemed people of Christ to reside in and completely safe. At the time of Zechariah God’s chosen people of Israel looked so poor and helpless. But God’s vision through Zechariah was truly great. The another angel continued to speak of the LORD’s declaration, “Come, come! Flee from the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven. Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!” This was a call for the Jews still living in Babylon to return home in Zechariah's day and help rebuild their nation. But it is also, because of the context and lack of fulfillment, a prophetic call to those living in the end times to abandon the Babylon of their day (cf. Rev. 18:4-8), for the judgment of God on Babylon is imminent. This teaches how God’s people should live in this world. They should not try to settle down mingled with the daughter of Babylon. They should have the attitude of escaping from evil, although they had to have a godly influence on the people of the world. Look at verses 8-9. “For this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘After he has honoured me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.” This reminds us of Jesus’ great commission for his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. He believed that they would conquer the world with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for man’s sins and rose again from the dead. And he promised that surely he would be with them always to the very end of the age (Mt 28:19-20). In the end every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, whom God sent. Look at verses 10 and 11. “’Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the LORD. ‘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.” Human beings live with other human beings. But how can it be possible that God lives among humans? But God’s living among people came true. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” The promise, “I will live among you,” became real in Jesus. The LORD is the God who lives among his people, the God living together with them. Christian life is the life together with Christ whom God sent. This is the reason Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead. He lives in each believer in the Spirit. This concept is very important. This is one of the main teachings of Jesus’ Upper room dialogue with his disciples and those of the Apostles. Jesus said in John 14:23, “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.” He also said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus wanted his disciples to abide in him. Paul said in Colossians 2:6,7, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him…” He also said in 1 Thessalonians 5:10, “He did for us so that, whether we are awake of asleep, we may live together with him.” He even said in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ…” According to the Bible, Christ Jesus is the most gentle and wonderful bridegroom to each of his people. It is unthinkable that married people do not live together. They are to live together every day, day and night, and all the days of their lives. To live with him is to walk with him, work with him, study with him, eat with him, sleep with him, think with him, to speak with him, listen with him, etc. It is through his words and by the Spirit. We can say that Christian life is not how I live by myself but how I live with him. May God help us to realize the utmost blessing of “I will live among you,” and learn more and more the secret of life together with Christ Jesus our Lord. The promise, “I will live among you,” will be completely fulfilled when Jesus comes again, as Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Look at verses 12-13, “The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” According to Romans, the Jews will accept Christ Jesus in the end and be saved. All mankind are given the opportunity to become the people of the LORD through Jesus Christ whom God sent. God’s work of world salvation will be fulfilled as well as his righteous judgment. Thank God for his wonderful visions through Zechariah. The vision of a man standing among the myrtle trees--his jealous love, the vision of four horns and four craftsmen--his smashing power against nations of the world, and a man with a measuring line—his hope of living among his people in boundless Jerusalem. May we believe in his jealous love and his mighty power and live with him intimately in the hope of many people of nations being joined with the LORD and residing in the boundless new Jerusalem.

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