Establishing God's Kingdom on Earth
Zechariah 6:1-15
Take your Bible if you will and let's look at the 6th chapter of Zechariah. Now, this book, as we well know...and I'll take a minute or two to review...but as we well know, it is a book that presents to us in many ways and by many details, the plan of God as He looks at the destiny of Israel and of the nations.
Everybody wants to know the future. Christian people have that unique gift of God, His revelation, which does detail for us much about the future.
But it isn't just Christians that are interested in the future. Our whole society is, in fact, man has always wanted to know something about the future.
But only God knows the future and only He knows the end from the beginning. And only He determines and charts the course of the ultimate destiny of man and His world. Only God knows that.
And so God has laid out a plan. Many of the details of this plan for man's destiny are outlined for us in the Bible. And particularly, God has revealed much of the future to His prophets. Much of what you read in the Bible now, which is history past, was future history to the writers when they received it. All of the prophecies to the Old Testament writers about the coming of Messiah were great prophetic truth.
Now, let me use that as kind of an introduction to Zechariah.
There are four categories in which God revealed the future.
Number one, God gave the prophets prophecies concerning the spiritual destiny of Israel. If you study the Old Testament you will find the Old Testament is just loaded with the spiritual destiny of Israel.
Secondly, God gave prophecies about the Messiah. He told us much about the first coming of Christ, which came to pass during His earthly ministry, and about hHis second coming which are still ahead of us.
Thirdly, we have prophecies about the last days and then
Fourthly, you have many judgment prophecies that are based upon what God is going to do to ungodly nations and individuals.
That is a quick overview of Old Testament prophecy. That is about the sum of it: prophecy related to the spiritual destiny of Israel, Messianic prophecy, last day prophecy and prophecy related to the judgment of the ungodly.
There is another way to look at prophecy also and that is chronologically.
1. We have prophecies already fulfilled.
2. There are prophecies being fulfilled. Right now, there are some Biblical prophecies being fulfilled.
One that I can think of is the statement of Jesus that when He went to the Father, He would send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would come and indwell His people and empower them for worldwide witness and that's being fulfilled right.
Then
3. We have prophecy not yet fulfilled. This is the prophecy that is still in the future, and there are four categories of these.
Number one is the prophecies of the recovery of Palestine by Israel. Isaiah 27, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel talks about this in 37 and so forth. But there is a prophecy area or category that says in the future, Israel will recover Palestine.
Secondly, there is also a set of Old Testament prophecy that says Israel in the future will be saved and so we call that the national salvation of Israel.
Thirdly, there is Old Testament prophecy and New Testament as well that says Israel's enemies will be destroyed.
And fourthly, there is much Old Testament prophecy that says Messiah's kingdom will be established.
So of the prophecy yet unfulfilled, you have these four: Israel will gain her land, Israel will be redeemed, God will judge the enemies of Israel and Himself and establish the Messianic kingdom.
Now, as we've been studying Zechariah, we have seen Zechariah deal with every one of the elements of Old Testament prophecy that I've just read to you.
In these eight visions that we've been looking at that began in chapter 1, we have seen, these last four categories.
We have seen God talk about Israel taking the land. We've seen God talk about the national salvation of Israel. And tonight we're going to see the last two, the destruction of God's enemies and the establishing of the Messianic kingdom.
And so there is, in a sense, to these visions, a chronological order. The visions also record for us those first four categories I gave you of all prophecy in the Old Testament. We've heard the prophet speak of the spiritual destiny of Israel, the coming Messiah, the last days and the judgment of Godless nations.
So it's all here and that's why Zechariah, historically, has been such a loaded book. It's been just studied and studied and studied because of the tremendous impact that it makes on the prophetic picture of the Word of God.
Now, in that last little group of four, we saw in the visions already past, the total recovery of Palestine by the tribes of Israel. Remember how we saw the man with the measuring line who measured the city and we saw the people being brought back and Jerusalem being enlarged and they occupied their own area?
And the second one, the promise of national salvation, we saw that in the vision of chapter 3 where we saw Joshua, the high priest, who represented Israel and his garments were cleansed and he was given a clean robe to put on.
That was the picture of the cleansing and the salvation of Israel. So we've seen those two. That leaves us two more where we will see the destruction of Israel's enemies and the establishing of Messiah's kingdom on the earth. That is precisely where history is going. History is moving to the time when God acts in judgment against His enemies and establishes His kingdom on the earth.
So tonight we come to chapter 6 and a most fascinating vision. And it helps us to see how God is going to judge the world and set up His kingdom.
Can you imagine a world where justice always prevails, where righteousness and goodness is the rule and dominates, where there is total and lasting peace, where joy reigns, a world where health is widespread and somebody who dies a hundred years old, dies a baby, a world where children can play in snake pits and lions and lambs can walk together with bears and cows and all be led by a little child?
Can you imagine a world where agriculture is profuse and food is plenty even with the greatest population explosion in man's history? Can you imagine a world ruled by the loving, saving, perfect Ruler, Jesus Christ? Can you imagine a world where all the people of God are the exalted rulers and the unbelieving are judged by the rod of the divine Judge, the Lord Himself?
If you can imagine that world, then you are thinking about the millennial kingdom. That is God's plan for the future. It's coming. It's the new world that comes when Jesus returns.
Now, in this chapter there are two elements involved in setting up the kingdom. On the negative side, there is the destruction of the enemy; on the positive side is the establishing of Christ on the throne.
God, as it were, dethrones the world of all of its Godless monarchs. God wipes clean, governments, and establishes Christ as the great final Ruler. It's like a divine coup, if you will. God just usurps the earth, taking it back, if you remember the history of the Bible, from the one who usurped it in the beginning, Satan himself. So you have two elements, the negative and the positive and I want to look at them from two words. One is condemnation and the other is coronation.
First of all, the condemnation of God's enemies,
chapter 6:1-8
That’s easy to understand right?
What you have in this vision is the condemnation of God's enemies. This is a recurring theme throughout the Bible. In fact, in Revelation, chapter 14 and verse 6, you have a statement there that an angel is flying through Heaven preaching the everlasting gospel. And I guess Bible commentators have hassled about what the everlasting gospel is for a long time.
But if you really study the context, it isn't that tough a problem. Because if they would read from chapter 14:6 where it mentions the everlasting gospel, simply to the next verse, verse 7, they would find out what it is.
Because when the angel preached the everlasting gospel, he said "with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come.'"
Listen. The everlasting gospel, the message that God has been giving from the beginning and is giving to the end, is God punishes sin and God rewards righteousness.
Ultimately, prior to the setting up of the kingdom, there comes a condemnation of the world system. That is an ageless truth. From Lucifer and his initial fall right on through to the establishing of the new Heaven and the new earth, the everlasting gospel will continue to mark God's dealing with men. He will punish the sinner; He will reward the righteous. This is basic. And you can find it over and over and over in the Scriptures.
Now, I want us to look at the vision that unfolds this element of the everlasting gospel.
First of all, let's look at the symbols in verses 1 to 3.
First of all, we have these four chariots and they represent war. Chariots in those days formed the storm troops of an ancient army. And so he looks and he sees these four war chariots and they represent vehicles of divine judgment on the nations.
In other words, you remember the vision in chapter 1 where you had four horses and the four horses with their four horsemen were just sitting outside the city of Jerusalem. And they weren't really doing anything.
They had just surveyed the whole world and they had come back and they had reported in. Well, those same four horses that weren't really doing anything, all of the sudden now are transformed into four war chariots. And God is not just standing by watching; God has called His vehicles of divine judgment into action. And so they advance to the final judgment.
Now, notice, it says they come out from between two mountains and the mountains were mountains of bronze. Now, interestingly enough, in the Hebrew there is a definite article here. And it is stipulating definite mountains.
Now, mountains speak of strength. And the fact that they are bronze speaks of judgment because bronze repeatedly appears in Scripture as a symbol of judgment.
And so you have here a powerful scene of judgment. And the war chariots come firing down this valley between these two mountains. What mountains are they?
Well the general consensus of Bible scholars is that the two mountains are Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives which means that these chariots are literally roaring down the Kidron Valley.
And so it is likely that Zechariah literally sees these war chariots of God plummeting down the Kidron Valley between Zion and the Mount of Olives. And this has been the common Biblical interpretation.
That is underlined by the prophecies of other Old Testament prophets.
Joel talks about that and so does Zechariah in another place. In fact, Christians, Jews and Muslims agree on very little, but they all agree that the final judgment of the world will take place in the Kidron Valley.
In fact, if you look to Zechariah 14:4,, you’ll see that when Christ returns,
14:4
In other words, the little Valley of Kidron is going to split wide open and half of the mountain remove to the north and half toward the south, and God is going to create a whole new valley there, and that is where the judgment will take place.
So in Zechariah's vision (back to chapter 6) he sees, Olive and Zion and coming down that valley, the four war chariots of God.
Now, what about the horses?
Verses 2-3
First of all, there are four. Why always four? Basically, four speaks of universality. Isaiah 11:12 talks about the four corners of the earth. The Bible talks about the four winds of Heaven, north, east, south and west. And so it's just the idea of global judgment.
Then notice the colors. We have a corollary here to Revelation 6.
Do you remember that when the tribulation period begins, there is immediately an introduction to four horsemen? They are an interesting parallel in terms of color and meaning.
You have red horses here in Zechariah. The first chariot was pulled by red horses. And in Revelation 6:4 you have red horses. And in both cases, red horses speak of war and bloodshed.
Secondly, black horses pull the second chariot. In Revelation you have the same thing. Chapter 6 of Revelation, verses 5 and 6, the black horse speaks of famine.
So God will judge the world in the end times, says Zechariah, by war and bloodshed and by famine and that's exactly the message echoed in Revelation 6.
Thirdly, we have white horses. This parallels, again, Revelation 6:2 where you have the white horse, which speaks of victory and speaks of conquering and speaks of triumph.
And then you have the dappled horse or the dappled strong horse, and that leaves the pale horse in Revelation and there it is a reference to death and to Hell.
So you can see there's a consistency in the mind of the prophets because there's a consistency in the Holy Spirit who's doing the revealing.
And so we see four war chariots pulled by four sets of horses and the horses speak of bloodshed and war and famine and victory and triumph and death.
That's the symbols.
Secondly, let's look at their significance, verses 4-5.
These are four angels, four divine agents of judgment. And the angels are coming out of Heaven to carry out God's judgment.
Notice, they are four spirits who "go forth from standing before the Lord..." And that little phrase is a give-away that these are angels because that is the role that angels have. They stand before the Lord to do His bidding.
Incidentally, in Revelation, chapter 7, you have a similar designation of angels in the first two verses. "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."
In other words, here are four angels waiting to release judgment. Here, again, in Zechariah, four angels are pictured by these four horse-drawn chariots. And they move out from standing before the Lord of the whole earth.
Now, that phrase at the end of verse 5, as a footnote, is a millennial title for the Lord...the Lord of the whole earth. It's referring to the day when He takes over the whole earth.
Now, verse 6 gives us further detail about this and this is where it gets kind of tangled up and I'll do my best.
Remember now, the horses are symbols of divine judgment. The chariots are symbols of angelic spirits. So angelic spirits drawn out by divine judgment against the ungodly world is the picture.
The black horses, famine and death, and the white horses, victory and conquest, go to the north. Why?
Well, because historically, that's where the greatest foes of Israel always came from. Nobody ever attacked Israel from the east, never. In the first place, they were practically impregnable from the east because of the tremendous distance that you had to march straight up to get to the city of Jerusalem, which sat on a plateau, and because you would have to cross the worst part of the Arabian desert.
So whether it was Assyria or Babylon or later in history, the Seleucids, or the Romans, the worst of Israel's enemies always came down from the north.
They never attacked from the west. That was the Mediterranean Sea. They never attacked from the east because that was the Arabian Desert. But they would come down from the north.
Now the dappled strong horses went to the south because Israel had had great enemy to the south and that was Egypt.
And so you find here that God is then bringing about a final judgment of vengeance particularly upon the nations that have mistreated Israel.
In the 12th chapter of Genesis, the Abrahamic Covenant, if anybody blesses you, he'll be blessed; if anybody curses you, God says he'll be cursed.
So the armies of God's angelic hosts go to the north and they go to the south. None of them go east and west simply because the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert prevented any kind of thing like that.
Now, notice also, you don't have any red horses going anywhere. Why not the red horses? For some reason they're kind of held in check until the black and the white and the dappled gray have done their work and then comes in the terrible bloodshed that follows.
I personally think they are included in verse 7 where they all go out and walk to and fro through the earth.
Now, it's interesting to mention that even though these angelic hosts just go north and south, that is merely the exit and they cover the globe. God's final judgment will cover the world. Nothing escapes; nothing is left out, worldwide judgment on the nations.
And remember we are looking at a time after the return of Jesus. We read about it in Matthew 24 and 25. Christ will come in His glory. He'll stand on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives will split wide open and at that point, the nations of the world will be gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat and they will be judged by how they’ve God and His people, and will be condemned and punished by being sent to eternal perdition. That's the judgment that's going to happen.
Then later on at the end of the kingdom there will be a final resurrection and sentencing and delivery into the lake of fire.
The last verse of the vision, verse 8, offers us the best key to the interpretation and there we see
The Satisfaction.
The symbols, verses 1 to 3, the significance, 4 to 7 and the satisfaction, verse 8.
Verse 8
What does this mean?
That means God is saying that my spirit was always in turmoil until vengeance was accomplished, and now God's spirit is at rest. He is appeased by judgment. He is satisfied, particularly...notice verse 8...He is particularly satisfied from those who have gone to the north country because it was from the north that the worst of all enemies came...Babylon.
And, listen. In the book of Revelation what does the writer of Revelation call the final form of evil?...Babylon. And so it is when the ultimate Babylon is put down that God's spirit is at rest.
In Zechariah, chapter 5, in our last study, we saw that God was going to deal with Babylon and He called it there the land of Shinar, that ultimately, evil will be summed up under the name Babylon because that's where it all began, at the Tower of Babel, organized, systematic, worldwide evil.
And so when God at the end comes and goes with His host against Babylon, the final system, and wipes it out, then God's spirit is at rest. Now, Israel can never come into its kingdom till this happens.
Now, that brings us to point two. Point one, the condemnation of the nations, point two,
The coronation of the King.
Verse 9
Now think about what is happening here: This remarkable series of eight visions is now over, and now it is time for Jesus to be crowned King of kings and Lord of Lords. This is the time all creation has longed for and looked for since the fall of mankind. Finally, everything will be set right!
And by the way, this is not a vision beginning in verse 9; this is a word from the Lord the morning after the visions. The visions are gone now. It's the morning after. Zechariah has arisen from seeing these marvelous visions of future and there is a beautiful act that takes place on that next day that actually did happen historically, no doubt, to symbolize the coronation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this has got to be one of the most marvelous passages in all Scripture on the exaltation of Jesus Christ. And I want to remind you of something that we need to keep in mind:
The climax of history is not an event. The climax of history is a person. To the Jew, the climax of history was always the arrival of Messiah,.
Notice verse 9
See, it isn't a vision. This is a direct revelation from God. The visions are over. This is an historic event. "The word of the Lord came," but it came again in a symbol or a picture or a type.
Verse 10,
Let me tell you what's happening. Although there were many people back in the area of Palestine and many had come back from the Babylonian captivity, there were still many who were there. And every once in awhile, a new caravan of people, Jewish people, would come back to Israel from Babylon.
Now, this particular day a caravan like that had arrived. These were latecomers leaving Babylon years after the first group had come back. And this group was made up of some individuals who proved to be very interesting, Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Josiah.
Now, these men had come back and they weren't coming empty handed. They had come from Babylon loaded up with gold and silver and the reason they had the gold and silver was they wanted to make a contribution to the rebuilding of the temple. And so they came back ready to give this to the temple that was going to be built by Zerubbabel.
In fact, I want to tell you something interesting. As I began to study these names, I found out that all of them have very, very God-honoring names. Heldai means "the Lord's world." Tobijah means "God is good." Jedaiah means "God knows." And Josiah means "the Lord supports."
So they all had God-honoring names, names that spoke of the character of God.
Now, right after the vision, on the very same day, this caravan arrives. Divine providence dovetails this beautifully. And Zechariah is told to go and meet them.
Now notice verse 11
In other words, they'll be bringing you silver and gold for the temple, but you take it..."and make an elaborate crown". Some translations say “crowns” but the Hebrew is not meaning to say that there are multiple crowns; it is meaning to say there is like a composite crown. Take the silver and the gold and make a silver crown and gold crown that is really a composite of one crown.
So they want the silver and the gold to be made into one crown "and set upon the head"...now, watch this one..."of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest."
Now, when I first read that, that was shocking to me. And the reason it was shocking to me is this. In the Old Testament, the priestly office and the kingly office were always kept separate. A king was not a priest. A priest was not a king. Those two were distinct. You say, well, then what is this all about? Why are they crowning Joshua the high priest? It is only a picture, that's all, only a picture.
Listen, there will be in history only one king who is a priest. Who is that?...Jesus Christ. And all you need to do to know that is to read Hebrews 7:1.
"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God..." He was the only other one which was way back before Israel was even a nation. He is the one who was what the Messiah will be like. And it says he was a "king of righteousness" and a "king of peace. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but is made like unto the Son of God..."
Melchizedek was a picture just as Joshua here is a picture, but Christ is the fulfillment, the only King Priest. And so you have here a picture of Christ, the coronation of the great High Priest.
And I want to show you something interesting.
Verse 12. Here is the significance of the symbol or the type.
“Branch” stop there for a minute. Do you remember somebody else who said "Behold the Man"?
Who was it?...Pilate in John 19:5. The words of Pilate when Pilate said "Behold the Man," he didn't know it, but he was echoing the prophecy of Zechariah, that the Messiah, the ultimate King Priest would be a man. If the assembled Jews had not been demonically blinded by hatred and unbelief, they may have recalled the prophecy of Zechariah.
Once again, He wears a real crown, a real diadem as a man...God incarnate. Then it says, "whose name is The Branch," or literally, the shoot, the sprout. Now, that is a Messianic title for Him that is used in several places in the Old Testament, here and in Isaiah, and it's also used, as we saw, in chapter 3 of Zechariah and verse 8.
Here is the restored kingdom of God, the fallen tree of David, that in the end time puts forth a new shoot and the fallen tree of David revives in the new life in the form of Messiah King, Jesus Christ.
Now, in this chapter that deals with the exaltation of the One whom we adore, Jesus Christ, eight things are said about Him.
First of all, "and He shall grow up out of His place”
That echoes for us the words of Isaiah in chapter 53 and verse 2, "for He shall grow up before Him like a tender plant and like a root out of a dry ground."
What does it mean? It means that from His own people and from His own land, He shall grow up. And what did they say in the Bible of Jesus when He was 12 years old?..."and He grew in wisdom and stature and"...what?..."favor with God and man." He grew up as a man among men although He was God of very God. The prophecy says the Messiah will grow up out of His own place. He will be one of the people of God, one of the people of Israel. He will come where you would expect Him to come from. He will sprout from the fallen trunk of David to reign and rule.
Secondly, it says of Him in verse 12, "He shall build the temple of the Lord".
Do you know what happened after the first time Jesus came? When Jesus came the first time, He cleansed the temple and then just after He left, God came in 70 A.D. and did what?...destroyed the temple.
But there's coming a day, beloved, in the future when God is going to send the Messiah back to rebuild the temple. And if you will read Ezekiel 40 to 42, you can read a description of the temple He will build on the earth during His kingdom. And what's beautiful here is the contrast. In spite of His lowliness, in spite of the fact that He is just a shoot, in spite of the fact that He comes from the common people, rising out of His own place, He...and it's emphatic in the Hebrew...He, Himself shall build the temple of the Lord. He isn't going to need any help.
Why? Because there's coming a day when Christ rules in the world that the whole world will worship God, or they will be judged instantly.
The third thing it says about Him, verse 13, again it says, "Even He shall build the temple of the Lord" emphasizing the emphatic character of that statement. And then it says, "He shall bear the glory..."
Boy, that's such a great statement. He finally will be laden with majesty. He finally will be laden with glory and with honor and He will receive what He is due and it will be then that the choirs of Revelation 4 and 5 can shout their hallelujahs. It's certainly a deserved day when He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. "He shall bear the glory."
What a deserved day for the humiliated One.
Then further it says about the Branch who will come, He "shall sit and rule upon His throne,"...now, watch this..."and...shall be a priest upon His throne..." Boy, that's new. Listen, as I told you earlier, kings and priests just didn't mix.
There was no way that someone could be both of those, but the end time comes and the Messiah comes to be the King and the Priest.
Fifthly, it says about Him at the end of verse 13, "and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." What it means there is He'll make peace between the office of king and the office of priest.
What does that mean? Think about it this way: In America today and in many countries of the world there is a clear separation between church and state. Not in the kingdom. He will harmonize both. He will bring both into one. And even in Israel, throughout Israel's history, how many times the king was vile and the king was rotten.
On the other hand you had the priests and the prophet crying out to God and there was no harmony. And how many times in the history of the world has there been a terrible dichotomy between religion and politics? Not in the kingdom because the same One who rules with the role of King is the same One who intercedes and makes the worship of the true God the measure of every man, the Lord Jesus Christ. No discord, no disharmony.
Sixthly, it says of Him, and this is in verse 15 at the very beginning, "And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord..."
To a Jew, who was the one who was far off? A Gentile. You have that very same phrase in Ephesians. You have it in Romans. Those who were far off have become near. The far off are the Gentiles and you know what it's saying? I like this.
Remember: verses 12 and 13: He shall build. ..
Then verse 15, those who are afar off will build. So what does it mean?
Who's going to build the temple? Christ is. But in that kingdom there will be a delegation of Gentiles worshipping the true God. There will be a people who were not a people who will become God's people in God's kingdom.
He’s reminding us that many nations, all nations in the kingdom coming into the presence and the true worship of the one true God. And so, Christ will be worshipped by nations from all over the world.
Gentiles will come in that day to worship God.
And so, we see the marvelous picture of Jesus Christ.
There's one other thought.
Look at verse 15 again. When He comes, it says, "you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me unto you."
Listen, I'll say it again. "You shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me unto you."
Listen, when Jesus comes to set up His kingdom, there isn't going to be any question about the fact that this is an absolutely accurate fulfillment of God's prophecy. Now, there are many people today who will deny the literal return of Christ. There are many people today who want to deny the actual physical literal kingdom on earth.
But here, Zechariah is saying...really, the Word of the Lord is saying...in that day, when He comes, you will know that God's Word has come to pass. Christ comes, then, as a confirmation of God's Word. In fact, I'm convinced that Christ is actually speaking here. You say, why so? Look at the phrase again. "You shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent"...what's the next word?..."Me unto you." I will come as a confirmation of God's truth.
And then this condition, "And this shall come to pass if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God." You say, what is He asking there? What is He saying? Is He saying that the kingdom is dependent on us? No, He's not saying that at all.
What He is saying is that your participation in the kingdom is dependent on you. The fulfillment of the kingdom is going to happen because God has so planned it. But whether or not you're a participant of it or not is going to be dependent upon whether you obeyed His voice.
Now, it is true that the kingdom cannot come until God judges and God saves Israel. But listen, that's God's plan to carry out. What He's saying here is, this is going to come to pass for you if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. Not all will.
Did you know that when Christ comes...and it says all Israel shall be saved...do you know that doesn't mean every single Jew; it just means the nation in general. Why? Because Ezekiel 20:28 says even then there will be Jews who will rebel and God will purge out the rebels.
You see, the kingdom will come and God will bring it to pass but only the obedient will enjoy it.
And so, what do we learn about the Christ? He grows up out of Israel, He will come to build the millennial temple, He will bear the glory, He will rule as King and Priest, He will make peace between those two offices, He opens the kingdom to the Gentiles, all nations of the world, He comes to corroborate God's Word and finally, He demands...what?...obedience to His Word.
And so we see the symbol, the crowning of Joshua, the significance, it's a picture of Christ, lastly,
The shrine, verse 14.
"And the crown shall be to Helem"...which is simply another name for Heldai back in verse 10...and many people in those days had multiple names so it's just another name for him..."and to Tobijah and to Jedaiah and to Hen"...and, incidentally, Hen is another name for Josiah...the crown shall be to those four "for a memorial in the temple of the Lord."
You tell those four fellows to give you that gold and silver. You make a crown and after you've put it on His head and it's made its symbolic statement, take it off His head and put it in the temple as a memorial. Zerubbabel's temple, according to Jewish tradition, had a big high window in it up somewhere on the wall. And hanging in that window at the height of the temple, says Jewish tradition, hung that crown for years and years. Why? So that it might be a constant reminder that the King was coming.
Well, Zechariah has taken us on a long trip from the troubles of Israel in the time of his life to the kingdom. What are the implications of this? Well, I guess there are two. Let me remind you of them.
One, the message the Spirit of God would speak to you tonight is, are you a part of that kingdom? Is it true of you that you belong to God's kingdom? Is Colossians 1:13 a reality in your life? Have you been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son? Are you a child of the kingdom?
There's only one condition and that's to be obedient to the voice of the Shepherd, obedient to the voice of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the first thing we need to say then is, it's going to happen and soon. Will you be a part of it? You have to be a son of the kingdom to be in the kingdom and that comes by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly, you say, I'm already a Christian. Well, that's good. But may I remind you of this, that there is some great responsibility for being a child of the kingdom.
You see, if God has called you to His kingdom, that has implications. You can't run around saying, Say, everyone, I'm a child of the heavenly kingdom. I belong to the King and I want to dwell with God in His kingdom, and then live a life that mocks God. So, you see, if you're not a Christian, you need to become one so you can be in the kingdom. It's coming. And then, if you are a Christian, you need to take seriously the responsibility of walking worthy of one who is called into His kingdom. That's a high calling.
