Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Zechariah tells the people to ask the Lord for rain. The Lord would provide it, but they had to ask for it first. James agreed with him (James 4:2). If they asked, the Lord WOULD provide. He would give them showers and much green grass. Why does he stress this? Because idols don’t. Diviners speak lies. They sell false dreams and comfort in vain. They leave the people like sheep without a shepherd, going to and fro aimlessly (Matthew 9:36). The anger of the Lord was toward those who either did not lead the sheep or led them astray. The Lord would be with His people. He would strengthen them so they would be like mighty men. He would strengthen them and bring them back to His Land – remember this prophesy was to the FIRST Jews who had returned from captivity. They would be back in one place and increase so that the Land would barely hold them. He would strengthen them in His ways and they would walk in His name.

Then the Lord led Zechariah through a vision. A vision of when the people were rebelling against them and the nation broken in two. His readers/hearers would know Zechariah was speaking the truth. Then the Lord had Zechariah say to them (the ‘them’ isn’t specified) to give him his wages. They counted out thirty pieces of silver (the price of a slave and what Judas was paid for betrayal – Exodus 21:32; Matthew 26:15). The Lord told Zechariah to throw it to the potter and he did (Matthew 27:3-10). Zechariah was told to dress as a shepherd ill-prepared for his work, and he did. The Lord prophesied that a shepherd would come who didn’t care for the sheep and took from them. Woe to that shepherd. His eye would be blind and his sword arm would wither.

The nations would come against Jerusalem, but they would not succeed. Judah would be established and then Jerusalem. They would be strengthened and those who came against them would wish they hadn’t. Then the Lord spoke of the coming Messiah. The One who would be pierced (Jesus). The One Yahweh would mourn as a Father mourns His Only Son. There would be great mourning in Jerusalem that day. The Land itself would mourn.

But on that day (the days in which Jesus will have died and been resurrected to life) a fountain would be opened for sin and uncleanness to be cleansed (John 7:37-39). The idols would be cut off from the Land and no longer remembered. The false prophets and the unclean spirits would depart. Their own families would turn against them for their lies. The Shepherd (Jesus) would be struck and His sheep scattered (John 16:32). Two-thirds of the Land would perish, but one-third would be a remnant and He would refine them and test them. They would call on His name and He would answer them.

“Look! A day is coming for Yahweh, when your plunder will be divided in your midst. I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, and they will loot the houses, and the women will be raped; half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, like when he fights on a day of battle.” (Zechariah 14:1-3)

When the Day of the Lord comes, the Lord will fight for His people. It will be a terrible day, but not for the believer. Only for the wicked. THEY would hide, THEY would cower, but the believers and trusters in God would rest and shelter in Him. The Lord will go forth and stand on the Mount of Olives and it would be split in two. The people trusting in Him would escape through the valley and the Lord would go with them. Living water would flow from Jerusalem. The Lord would be King over all the Earth. Jerusalem would be safely inhabited. There would be a plague on all those who fought against Jerusalem and they would be struck and consumed quickly. There would be a great panic among them. On them and their livestock. It would be great and sweeping. A day of terror and panic. But all those who survived would go up to the Holy City every year to worship the Lord. If they choose to NOT go up, they would suffer drought. If they do not keep His feasts, they would suffer drought. In that day ‘Holiness to the Lord’ would be inscribed on the city. There would be no foreigners in the Temple, only those believers who fully trusted in God Almighty (Romans 1:16).

Summary

Key Players: God, Zechariah

Key Verse(s): Zechariah 10:1-5; 11:4-6; 12:10-14; 13:1-1-6; 14:12-19