“Those who are far away will come and help build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God.”
~ Zechariah 6:15
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you always understand why a teacher is teaching you what he or she wants you to learn? Do you always understand why a coach is coaching you the way that he or she wants you to play? Do you always understand why the Bible is telling you what is going to take place one day? A teacher expects guys, gals and kids to gain knowledge from what he or she is teaching them. A coach expects guys, gals and kids to execute what he or she is coaching them. The Bible expects guys, gals and kids to get a glimpse of what is going to take place one day. Even though the Bible is thought of as being just a ‘book’, the Bible is just as alive as teachers and coaches. Just as teachers and coaches talk, the Bible talks. What did you learn today from your teacher? Did your teacher teach you today how to spell a new word? What did your coach have you recently do? Did your coach recently coach you on how to throw, pass, hit and/or kick a ball? What is something that the Bible has told you? The Bible will be talking to you today through an Old Testament minor prophet. The Old Testament’s minor prophet’s name is Zechariah. God gave Zechariah eight visions. Zechariah recorded the eight visions that God gave him in a short book. The beginning of the eighth vision that God had Zechariah have is recorded in Zechariah 6. Your grandpaa does not know what Zechariah’s eighth vision is saying but . . . God may have – as God the Spirit, breathed on Zechariah a vision that told Zechariah what was going to take place after the return of a number of God’s specially chosen guys and gals to the city of Jerusalem from Babylonia where they had been taken years earlier as captive exiles. This same vision that God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Zechariah may have told Zechariah what is going to take place sometime in the future. The core focus of the message that is in the eighth vision that Zechariah had God – as God the Spirit, breathe on him is God wanting Zechariah to know that He is going to destroy all the nations and people groups of guys and gals who have opposed and are now opposing His specially chosen guys and gals.
Do you learn from visuals? Do you learn from doing? God uses visuals to teach. God uses doing to enforce what He is coaching. In the eighth vision that God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Zechariah, God used four chariots that were being pulled by teams of horses to teach. In the eighth vision that God gave to Zechariah, Zechariah saw the four chariots suddenly come out from between two mountains of bronze. Some guys and gals think that the two mountains are probably the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion – with the Kidron Valley being the valley between Mount of Olives and Mount Zion. The Mount of Olives was a favorite place where Jesus would go to pray. God by using bronze – which is a symbol of judgment, may be communicating that He fully intends to inflict judgment once and for all on all the countries and people groups of guys and gals that had plagued and were at this time haunting His specially chosen guys and gals. The teams of horses that were pulling the four chariots – which your grandpaa thinks were being driven by angelic spirits who are agents of God who He uses to enact His divine judgments, were different colors. A team of red horses were pulling the first chariot. A team of black horse were pulling the second chariot. A team of which horses where pulling the third chariot. A team of dabbled horses were pulling fourth chariot. The four different colored teams of powerful horses may signify four different kinds of divine judgments. The chariot that was being pulled by black horses was assigned to go north. The chariot that was being pulled by white horses was assigned to go west. The chariot that was being pulled by dabbled horses was assigned to go south. Even though Zechariah did not record the direction that the chariot that red horses were pulling was to go, your grandpaa thinks that the direction has to be east as the other chariots went in the other directions. Zechariah heard God in the eighth vision telling him to look to the north where the chariot that black horses were pulling had gone. Zechariah saw that the chariot that was being pulled by black horses had triumphed over the countries and people groups of guys and gals who were persisting in invading the land area – which was Palestine or Canaan, that God had given to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . the defeat of countries that included Assyria – which today is the country of Syria, and Babylonia – which today is the country of Iraq, in the north pacified and appeased God’s burning displeasure against these countries.
This chapter concludes with a crown or turban being made for a kingly priest. Here Zechariah has God – as God the Spirit, breathing on him a message that told him that when the ‘Branch’ – Who would be Jesus, arrives that He will be the priestly Messiah and Davidic king. If you were teaching another kid about what the Bible says, what would you teach the kid first? If you were coaching another kid on how to live the kind of life that the Bible says to live, what would you coach the kid to do first? Verse 15 may be a help to you, “Those who are far away will come and help build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God.””
Zechariah 6 (757)