The subject of prophecy has hit the headlines this week. But the end of the world has been moved to 21^st October so we can breath again. That is, unless you blew all your cash expecting the rapture last week. Too often people burrow into the Old Testament and the New looking for clues and missing the main message. This American poster at least reminds us that the prophecy of Jesus rather spoils that sort of hunting.

 In studying Zechariah we are listening to the Word of God spoken in the struggles of Israel re-establishing itself after the exile.  The book is one of the 12 ‘minor prophets, written at the point when the people of Israel returned from Babylon to the promised land. It is one of the last books of the Old Testament to be written. As such and like Malachi, it looks forward as much to Jesus coming and the New Covenant as back to the old.

So what do we expect to find here. Not a date and time but a challenge to live as God calls us and to understand that in all the confusing world and family events that surround us, God is working his purpose out.

 The Book comes in 2 very distinctive parts. Part1 as we have seen is full of apocalyptic pictures of the grand designs God has for this world.

 

Last week Andrew opened up the last two parts of it where we learnt about the need for faith to be matched by works of faith or as the prophecy is to a nation fasting matched by true justice, rightful care for the weak and vulnerable.

 

There are some important clues in the text. Notice chapter 9 begins “ An oracle”

So does chapter12

These divide the second part of the book into two oracles or messages from God.

 

The first of these oracles speaks about the coming of a new type of King who will save and beautify his people and the end of the old order – the failed herd and the failing shepherds. As we saw last week the New King was Jesus.

The second of the oracles is about the future for Israel and the world.

 

So lets get started.

Read 10:1-2

The God who listens

Don’t tell me prophecy is out of date! But hear the word of the Lord. It is he who brings blessing. So ask him. Whether it is weather or salvation for your family or neighbours, or whatever. He listens, so pray!

 •The Gods who don’t 10:2

The point here is that there is only one God. The rest are the product of human imagination and simply do nothing. They are the substance of our dreams.

That explains the reason why there is so much fear in religion. Atheists have a field day knocking religion because so much of it is our invention. The Atheists are wrong. But we must be careful here. Our God is real. He is not the creation of our imaginations so thinking that it would be nice if God was more like I want him is not on. We need to know him by revelation. And that revelation is in this book. Read it and understand God through it.

 •What God will do 10:3-12

Shepherds in this book refers to leaders and they are not the nice guys. God is against false leaders and he says he will step in. The key verses in this graphic passage are verse 6 and verse 12.

⁶ "I will strengthen the house of Judah

and save the house of Joseph.

I will restore them

because I have compassion on them.

They will be as though

I had not rejected them,

for I am the LORD their God

and I will answer them.

 

¹² I will strengthen them in the LORD

and in his name they will walk,"

declares the LORD.

I want to pick three things from here.

1.      God will strengthen them

This is a reminder of 6:6

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

 

2.      I will answer them

God is not silent. He has spoken through Jesus. He speaks to us through his word and he speaks to us by his Holy Spirit. Are you listening? Are you listening selectively only rating an answer if it suits you?

3.      In his name they will walk

This returns to the 1^st chapter

³ Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty.

And we need to keep all three in view. That God is the power; that he speaks and when he does we should obey in his name.

 

 •The lament 11:1-3

What follows is a lament that the leaders have fallen and failed. And that moves into the metaphor of Israel being a flock of sheep marked for slaughter. Actually all sheep  come into this category, but the language here is intended to be grim.

•Shepherding a rebellious flock 11:4-9

God is seeking to lead his people but look at the trouble he has. He has two staffs, grace (or favour) and Union. Grace is God’s way of salvation; Union is the intended outcome of the shepherding. But he can’t find a reliable shepherd and the flock goes its own way! He is so frustrated he lets them have their own way and end up slaughtering themselves. That is what humans do. They go there own way and end up in disaster.

 •Breaking the covenant 11:10-14

This is a bit of a shock. We tend to expect to keep his covenant whatever we do but here we are reminded that he will judge those who reject his grace. And then we launch into a vision which makes no sense to us now without the dealings of Judas and Caiaphas. Jesus, the Messiah, was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver that were thrown back to the priests as Judas left to hang himself. They were used to buy the potter’s field. Sin , in all its forms, is destructive and ends in death. Whether you are Judas or and other unrepentant sinner, unless you come to Jesus for forgiveness, you are on the road to misery and self-destruction. Grace provides the way out. Jesus offers you abundant and eternal life.

•Breaking the Union 11:15

The breaking of the Union reminds Zechariah’s hearers that the consequences have always been division and distrust.

 •The worthless shepherd. 11:16-17

these verses are hopeless and tragic. They are in deep contrast to the verses 3-12 – What God will do.  God does not force himself on his people. If they choose the wrong way, they get bad leaders. That is a warning about democracy. We get the government we deserve, as flawed and corrupt as we are.

This sets the scene for the second oracle.

 2^nd  Oracle 12-14

Look through it and pick out the phrase “ On that day…” I occurs in 12:3,4,6,9,11,13:1,2,4,14:1,6,8,9,20, and so it obviously a clue to the whole oracle. “That day” is a prophetic expression which finds its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus both when  he came  lived and died for our sins and rose again and when he returns to earth to take those of us who remain to be with him and all the saints who have died. We are just looking at the first part of this oracle and Anthony is completing the task next week.

 Jerusalem empowered 12:1-9

Don’t skip God’s self declaration. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him.  He is proud of his creation and in particular that he breathes spiritual life into us. Your salvation is that important. The God who creates and forms the spirit of man within him says His people are invincible. And he uses a number of pictures to describe them.

                    a cup

                    a rock

                    maddened horses

                    a brazier

                    a shield

The language may surprise us but more concern is to what it refers to. Jerusalem does not seem to have had any significant period of security. It could refer to the period of the Maccabees but up the present day there seems no time that fits this description. Which means one of two things either this is a rubbish prophecy or it has yet to happen. That is when American Christian radio host Harold Camping and his like get carried away with there calculating and interpreting and come up with 21^st May followed by 21^st October as the rapture. Whether this refers to Jerusalem or the church is not clear,  what is clear is that God’s people are kept secure in troubled times. Jesus taught that we would have trouble but he has overcome and is with you.

 

 Jerusalem mourns for ‘the one they pierced’ 12:10-14

This passage is quoted in John 19:33–37 and Rev 1:7 which identify the pierced one with Jesus. That is a good place to start.

 

Look at verse 10 with care. Who is speaking? God

So they look on me means they look at God who is pierced. That is an amazing prophecy. No-one could expect that. It makes no sense until Jesus reveals himself as God’s son and the one who dies on a cross.

 

But what is this And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.? What does it refer to? It sounds familiar if you have read Joel 2:28

²⁸'And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

²⁹Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

 

This is quoted in the Acts 2:16-21 by Peter on the day of Pentecost.

 

So 300 years before the day of Pentecost, we have a clear description of that day’s events. So consider what God identifies as important.

First he pours out his Spirit of grace and supplication. Grace is his great quality revealed in Jesus. Supplication is us seeking God.

Mourning is the effect of the work of God as we recognise that he was pierced for our transgressions (That was written up in Isaiah 53) So in essence the day of Pentecost is marked out by people responding to grace, calling in God for salvation and mourning the sin that necessitated Jesus dying for us. I can only note that the description of mourning for our sin here suggests the most intense mourning. Few of us are called to experience it. The loss of an only son. God did for you and me. His sorrow and pain can only be properly reflected in our sorrow and pain over our sin. But it is in that mourning that that the Spirit of grace pours its healing balm of forgiveness and restored relationship. That is our gospel, that as we mourn over our sinfulness, he reaches out to us in love and grace and responds to our prayers and faith with new eternal life.

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