Zechariah 1:2 (part 1)

Now, good morning, dear friends. It's a great privilege to be with you, to see you all, and many of you have traveled quite a distance to be here, and perhaps some of you have not just slept as well as you might have done in your own home. One or two might have had a bit of a rough night.

Well, none of you's had a night like Zachariah did, and I'm sure you've read through the book before you've come to the conference today, and you perhaps feel a bit like the Ethiopian eunuch who, when Philip came to him and said, understandest thou what thou readest, and he says, how can I except someone explain it to me? And maybe perhaps of all these Old Testament books, Zachariah's the one that would most strike us like that, because some of the imagery is really beyond what we can rightly understand. Now, the task, the pleasant task, the privileged task that myself, Brother Gideon in particular, but other brethren as well, the task we have is really to try and steer you through these things, and we can do it the same way as Zachariah did. He kept asking questions, and the lovely thing is that though he was given these eight successive visions, as far as we understand, in one night, all the time there was divine enablement given by means of an interpreting angel.

We'll find that angel speaking from time to time in these passages. God doesn't leave us to our own resources. This is not a book that any human mind or intellect can sort out.

We have arguably, no, not arguably, we have definitely a far greater resource than dear Zachariah ever had. He had an interpreting angel. You and I, by the grace of God in this age, have the indwelling spirit of God, the author of the book, and with his gracious help, we might not understand every detail.

We won't have time to go into every detail, but nevertheless, we can come away with an appreciation of this book in which, apart from the initial introductory six verses or so, is very much about the eight particular visions that are all recorded in chapters one to six. We're not going to be covering all of them, but there's eight visions given consecutively in chapters one to six. In chapters seven and eight, there were four particular messages given by God to Zachariah to pass on to his people.

Again, not the subject particularly of our discussions this weekend, but then when we come to chapters nine to fourteen, there are two particular burdens that Zachariah has. So, he's only a young man, we know that from chapter two, and he's got a very heavy weight of responsibility toward the people of God. Now, just a few minutes to remind you of what the circumstances were in which Zachariah ministered.

They were momentous days. In fact, as you read your Old Testament Scriptures, particularly after Genesis 12, the call of Abraham and the development of the nation, you will find that what's recorded is all building up by way of explanation as to why the northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians and dispersed. And then 120 or so years later, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, and that glorious temple that Solomon had built for God, that temple which seemed to be the climax of the nation's history and showed what a unique people they were and some of the greatness of the God they worshipped, and Judah had sat complacent, knowing that their northern neighbors, brethren, had been taken into captivity for idolatry, and they sat complacent and thinking to themselves, God's never going to let that happen to us.

We've got the temple. We've got Jerusalem. And they didn't understand the holiness and righteousness of their God, who would sooner see that temple flattened by a Gentile power than His people profane it and rob Him of His glory.

The temple was gone. Jerusalem was gone. The people are down in exile, and even those whom they're exiled amongst are saying, come on then, you Jews, sing us a song of Zion, the grief of their hearts.

How can we sing the songs of Zion in a strange land? Utterly, utterly bereft. False prophets were coming amongst them. They'd been amongst them and said, this is only temporary.

Don't worry. We'll be back soon. And God raised up men to come and say to them, you settle down.

You build your homes. You dig your gardens. You're going to be here for a good while.

Daniel found out, of course, by reading Jeremiah's writings that it was going to be 70 years. And we mentioned last evening, as we were thinking about the purpose of the prophetic Scriptures for God's people, that God had already made this tremendous prediction that He said, I'm going to raise up a man called Cyrus. He's going to be king of an empire that doesn't exist.

And though he's a Gentile who doesn't know me, I'm going to use him as the catalyst for the rebuilding of the temple. And so God named the man 150 years before he was born. And Cyrus, indeed, did come to power, the head of the Persian empire that defeated the Babylonians.

And Cyrus gave the instruction. A company of exiles under Joshua and Zerubbabel, they went up, and they began to rebuild the temple. Remember, 70 years had elapsed.

The majority of those exiles who took the two-month journey to Jerusalem to rebuild, they'd never seen the former temple. One or two of them had. Maybe Haggai had, possibly.

But for most of them, this was a tremendous venture. They were going to come and rebuild for God. But we must always remember when there's a work done for God, behind it there's the adversary working.

You look at it from his point of view. Humanly speaking, what God had for His glory in the devil's domain, because He's the God of this world, what God had for His glory in the devil's domain was a nation, and their center was Jerusalem and the temple. Now it's gone.

The temple's gone. Jerusalem's wrecked. The people are in exile.

It's not by coincidence that at that very time we had the dawn of Confucianism, we had the birth of Socrates, we had the beginning of Buddhism, we had all these religions that suddenly erupted because the devil takes his chance. He says, there's no testimony for God upon the earth, and I can now flood the world with my doctrines. And against that background, this small company travels westward, and they come to Jerusalem, they began to build.

You know that in Ezra chapter 4, the devil shows himself in his true colors. Ezra's recording how that having got the foundation finished, first of all, the devil comes, we see him in three ways in the New Testament Scriptures particularly, he comes as the angel of light. The Samaritan brethren came and they said, let us build with you.

We worship the same God as you do, have done for ages. I mean, yes, there's differences, but, you know, we can ignore those. We'll build with you.

And Joshua and Zerubbabel and the other men, very wise, he said, away you go, you've nothing to do with us. We ourselves together will build. And very quickly, the angel of light now turns to the adversary, and Ezra records they troubled their hands in building.

That didn't stop the work. But where he'd failed as the angel of light and where he had failed as adversary, now he succeeds as the accuser of the brethren. Because men opposed to the work, who hate the well-being of God's people, they write to the king, Artaxerxes, or Ahasuerus.

They write to him. And they say, oh, oh, king, you'd better watch out for these folk, you know. They're up there in Jerusalem.

They're rebuilding the city. And if you go back through the records, you'll find that these people have got form. They never paid their taxes, you know.

They never paid their revenues when they were a strong city. And so you'd better do something, because otherwise it's going to hurt the economy. No, that was all lies.

For a start, they hadn't gone to rebuild the city at all. That was going to be Nehemiah's job. They'd gone to rebuild the temple.

But through that lying letter, the work came to an end. And the people sat back. And we mustn't think harshly about them.

We must not. I think we might have behaved just as they did. They were dispirited.

They were discouraged. After all, they'd given up a lot now to go back, or not even go back, some of them, to go to Jerusalem for the first time. They'd given up a lot.

And they'd seen God's hand in it all. And now the enthusiasm has waned. And there's all these difficulties.

And it's never going to get done. They could easily sit back and say, well, we've done our bit. For 14, 15 years, the weeds start to grow over the foundations they've laid.

The time comes for Haggai to come along. And Haggai chastises them. He said, you think this is the time? You're saying, oh, it's not the time to build God's house.

Well, you see, you're finding the time to build your own houses. And Haggai, he's not brutal with them, but he's very firm. And they feel ashamed under his ministry.

But you know, whilst there's times when the people of God need to be corrected, it must always be balanced with encouragement. There's got to be a purpose behind it. That's where Zechariah comes on the scene.

He says, look, I want you to understand that for you today, it's hard, it's difficult, you can't really see the way forward. But I can now show you the way forward, not just to the temple that you're building, but something that's ultimately going to be for the great glory of our God, and hence the reason for Zechariah's ministry. So before I sit down and we participate in the normal format of a Bible reading, we're going to read together the first six verses.

I'm not going to read the two chapters all in one, for I think fairly obvious reason. We will read a section, then we'll comment on it, then we'll move on, if that's okay. So before ever we come to the visions in Zechariah, there's a very important opening section, and it's verses one to six.

And it's been well entitled by many a commentator, it's an obvious title in one way, it's a call to repentance. And we're very familiar in the gospel message, calling sinners to repentance, repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But dear saints of God, we must let these lessons write themselves upon our hearts.

The very complacency, the arrogance, and the discouragement, and all the feelings of God's people in the day past, they're all recorded for our instruction. Because with deep respect to you all, we're made of the same stuff, and we can all react in the same ways. And so in days of discouragement, in days of difficulty, in days where they genuinely can't see the way ahead, what are we supposed to be doing? In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Ido the prophet, saying, the Lord hath been so displeased with your fathers, therefore say thou unto them, the people, thus saith the Lord of hosts, turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings, but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned and said, like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. We're very thankful to the Lord for the liberty still to read the Word of God in public, both in your country and ours.

We trust you'll bless our readings today. So, in this opening section, Zechariah is catching the ears of the people, takes them back to days when God spoke to their fathers, and He spoke to them through the prophets, and He's appealing to the people today. He says, look, don't make the same mistakes that your fathers made.

God spoke to them, and yet God says, they didn't hear me, and they certainly didn't obey me. That's why you, my current audience, Zechariah might say, that's why you're here. That's why you're in the state that you're in.

No one's blaming you for this. How thoughtful, how gracious. He's not piling a guilt trip on top of all the other problems they've got.

It's because of your fathers that you're here. But don't hide behind that as some kind of excuse. We recognize that's the case, but now there's nothing we can do about that anymore.

They're gone, and the prophets that spoke to them are gone. But you're here, and the Word of God is still here, and God is speaking to you now. And what He's saying is this.

It's there in verse number four, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I beg your pardon, verse three, thus saith the Lord of hosts, turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Now, in our good English language version, that might seem to suggest God is saying, if you do this, I will do that. But grammatically, it's not a conditional thing.

God is giving an imperative, turn ye unto me. And He's making a promise. I will turn unto you.

Whether or not you turn back to me, I will turn to you. And immediately in these opening verses, we're getting the sense of Zachariah's name. God remembers.

God remembers. And He's saying, I'm going to turn back to you now. Yes, my face has been away from you as my people.

My face has been away from you as a nation because of your behavior, your evil doings, your evil ways. But the time has come for me to turn my face back to you. What an encouragement.

Just to be reminded, God hasn't forgotten them. God is on their side. And it's not down to them and to their strength that will come out later.

In one of my brother's readings, I think, no, it won't actually. We're thinking more perhaps of the vision with the oil coming down through the great lampstand and the promise that it's not by might and it's not by strength. It's by my Spirit, saith the Lord.

That God isn't leaving them in this situation to find a way out by themselves. I know that some of you come from very small assemblies. So do I. And discouragement quite often comes upon us.

There's no shame in admitting that. We're thankful for a God who knows our frame, and He knows our fears, and He knows our concerns. And what He's saying is, turn again to me.

Not so much that you have neglected me, although they had, in a sense, in their behavior. But He's really saying, turn away from your own devices. Turn away from your own thoughts.

Turn away from the things that would limit my working through you. Turn again to me and recognize that what you're involved in is the work of God Himself, the great, the living God. You turn again to me.

For sure, He says, I will turn again to you. And with divine power and divine strength, they could go on as they did and rebuild that temple. So I've said more than enough by way of opening.

And we're going to look at these first six verses together. You'll appreciate, we're not going to be able to deal with every detail as we go down through these chapters. But particularly when we get to the visions, the way Zachariah learned about them was by asking questions.

And that's the way we'll learn about them as well, God willing. So we won't ignore this first section, this opening section, that was in the eighth month in the second year of Darius. It's my habit usually just to say, if I'm leading a Bible reading, brethren, please observe the ABC of a good Bible reading.

A stands for audibility. And I know that Nathan will do all that he can to see that we can hear, but you must speak up if you've got something to say. B stands for brevity.

I know what you're saying, physician, heal thyself. Well, B stands for brevity and C stands for context. So you might have a nice line on Habakkuk but we're actually in the book of Zachariah today.

And so if you just remember those things, please, audibility, brevity, context, and we'll do our best to help. So I would also, as a matter of habit, courtesy, and genuine respect, ask my brother Gideon, first of all, if he's got something to say by way of introduction as he'll be leading a later reading. Thank you.

Thanks, Brother Phil, for your helpful introduction. And I was just quickly wondering, by this time in Zachariah chapter one, and the date is given there in the eighth month in the second year of Darius, if we compare that with Haggai, and there in chapter one, it's the second year of Darius, the king's sixth month, and so on. By the time you're in chapter one of Haggai, that's before this date in Zachariah, the rebuilding effort had already started.

So by the time Zachariah is giving this word from the Lord, they're already beginning to rebuild. And yet there was that need here for them to turn and God's call upon their heart. And so I was thinking, the theme of Haggai, as you mentioned before, consider your ways.

And it means consider the heart your ways. So the heart is involved. And if there was anything to compare in Zachariah, as you know, the whole book is divided chapter one to chapter six, and then seven and eight as one group, and then nine to 12 as another group, there are three sections.

So one to six is the visions as we're considering the eight of them. Nine to 12 is pretty much a fulfillment of these visions in the future events. So they're written in event format.

And then chapter six and seven in the middle is perhaps a spiritual part that is closest to Haggai one and two. So Haggai one and two, consider your heart your ways. Zachariah six and seven, God is rebuking them in some ways.

There are men that come and say, well, you know, we've been fasting and all that, is it worthwhile? And you know, do you not know that we're sincere? And the Lord rebuked them and says, are you truly sincere? Are you fasting not because of your own objective and your own motives? But at the end of chapter seven, he says, well, the days will come when the months and the feasts will not be fasting or weeping, but fasting of joy and rejoicing. So that is what God wants for them to rejoice. And so you have the heart being appealed to in chapter one and two of Haggai, but the heart again appealed to the middle of Zachariah.

So to comply to your brevity, what we're trying to say is this section of chapter one, verse one to six is again appealing to the heart. It's not away from Haggai, it's appealing to the heart. And then the sixth and seven chapters of Zachariah is appealing to the heart as well.

And then blend in with this whole prophetic framework. We're not away from the message of Haggai and the purpose there that God is looking first into the heart, turn ye, return to me and I'll return to you. Very good.

That's very helpful. Thank you for adding to that introduction, brother. Thank you.

So it has been 66 years since the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and Haggai has given his opening salvo, if you will, in that style. And now we have Zachariah coming in and the date is specified by reference to a Gentile king. Not like some of the earlier minor prophets that were dated according to such and such a king of Judah and so on.

But it's lovely to note that by the end of this book, he's anticipating a time when the Gentiles will no longer reign and the kingdom will be established under the Lord Jesus. Yes. Thank you, brother William.

That brings out another helpful point. Remember the Lord Jesus in Luke's gospel referred to the times of the Gentiles and that particular period of time began with Nebuchadnezzar, began with the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, because God had always intended the nation of Israel to be at the head of the nations. They were to be, according to Exodus 19, they were to be a priestly people.

Theirs was a mediatorial role. God would deal with them. They would show the character and the ways of God to the Gentiles.

Now, they miserably failed in all of that. And so God removed them as being at the head of the nations. We're still living in those days now.

The times of the Gentiles, and they will not be complete until the Lord Jesus comes to establish his millennial kingdom. In that day, the nation will be set back as the head of the nations, but not today. And so that's a reason why, as our brother William has hopefully observed, that the time reference is now to a Gentile monarch.

Israel itself is without a king, and it's without an identity effectively, and so it's a Gentile monarch by whom these things are dated. Thank you, brother. You've helpfully pointed out, brother Phil, last night and just now as well, that despite the fact that it was the enemy that came in and stopped the work of the building of the temple, but when you come to Hiagai, the Lord also exposes the other dimension of why the work stopped and continued to stop.

It was their relaxation and their going into their normal day-to-day. They're building their own seal houses. So they pass by perhaps the temple site every now and then and looked at the work that has stopped, and they probably just console themselves and say, what can we do? It's the enemy.

It's the enemy. And over time, they just blame the enemy, but God says, look into your heart, it's you. And therefore, the reason perhaps here in Zechariah 1, the beginning section, consistent with that message, turn ye.

The work has now restarted by this point here. There's the spiritual condition, the lethargy probably that is still there. And the Lord continues to encourage them to turn.

The practical point is this, we can sometimes resort to blaming other things and things around us, why the work of God is not what it should be. But here, the practical thing is the Lord often asks us to consider your ways, your heart, and turn to Him. Looking in is important for the continuation of the work of God.

Yes. The reason that they were removed was because of their spiritual condition. As they're brought back, God is dealing again with their spiritual condition.

And what we can appreciate is that there were those that had spiritual exercise, but they weren't all at the place that they should have been. It's kind of like an ongoing work still, and ultimately ends with Daniel's 70th week that the spiritual condition is finally dealt with. So there are still challenges, even with these people and their spiritual desire.

They're not at the place that they should be yet. You're right, Brother Ike, and that's helpful. And again, we're always interested in an application if you want, because we should consider our own ways.

You might have thought when Zechariah said this to the people, be, God says, don't be like your fathers. They're evil ways, they're evil doings. And these folk could have said, ouch.

Hey, come on. You know, our fathers, they'd lapsed into deep idolatry, and were going into all kinds of manifestly ungodly behavior. We're the folks who've come back from Babylon.

We're the folks who've made that sacrifice. We're the folks who've labored to do what's been done so far. Why are you comparing us with them? Because it's the same spiritual condition.

The heart's not right. And dare I say it, brethren, we could be a little bit like that. Oh, you know, there's those who don't put much into the local assembly, and there's we folks, and we put everything in, and you can get to a stage of spiritual pride and spiritual complacency.

And so there's a great work going to be done for God. And the prerequisite is this. Turn back to God.

It's not necessarily repentance like we speak to the sinner, you know, a complete vault fast and turning away from wicked behavior and wicked ways and so on. But it's just realizing, hey, we've drifted. We've gone quite a long ways away from God.

And though it was manifest with our fathers, we've got no room to speak because we've let complacency take over. And maybe these big new homes that we've built are our idols. So anything that detracts from worship of the true God is idolatry.

So these are things we need to take to our own hearts today. And so they might have felt, ouch, you're being pretty vicious with us, Zachariah. You know, we haven't fallen into the same things that our fathers did.

He said, no, but the problem's the same. And you need to turn back wholeheartedly to your God, because when you do that, well, Daniel, who Zachariah draws on a lot, it was Daniel, wasn't it, who said, the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. A quick question, brother.

There is an obvious emphasis upon the Lord. Came the word of the Lord. And for the sake of newer believers, where you have Lord in capitals, that is indicating the title Jehovah, the name Jehovah or Yahweh.

Right. So there's an emphasis upon Jehovah. There are verse one, verse two, the Lord hath been sought as please, turning to the Lord and then the Lord of hosts and so on.

What is the significance of Jehovah being brought in as opposed to El or Elohim? Why Jehovah being emphasized? Well, you're the kind of man who knows full well you never ask a question in the Bible even unless you've got the answer. So you can give the answer in a moment. But the answer I would give to that, brother, is that Jehovah is that relationship that emphasizes God's covenant-keeping promises with the nation.

His special relationship with them. I am. I'm the covenant-keeping God.

He's the one of whom Paul says to Titus, God cannot lie. And here it's emphasized further. He's the Lord of armies.

He's the Lord of hosts. So it's not just his covenant-keeping power, but also his might to act on behalf of his people. But tell us what you had further.

No, that's what I had in mind. Yes. It's emphasizing the covenantal relationship that God has with his people and he will accomplish his purpose for this nation.

Yeah. Yeah. And the title you mentioned, brother Phil, the Lord of hosts.

Is that title often associated with Israel in relation to the Gentiles? Yes. Especially here in Zechariah. Absolutely.

That he's sovereign and still he's in control over the whole earth, despite the fact that he has used the Gentile nations to be part of his program, to teach Israel and to execute governmental judgment. But he's the Lord of hosts that controls all things. Very good.

Thank you. So we'll just come to the, I'm moving us on because we've a lot more to deal with. But in verse six, my words, my statutes, which I commanded my servants, the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? The thought there is overtake.

Um, the, the idea being that God had spoken, they had failed to hear, they had failed to act. But the time came when the words God had spoken, overtook them. It will happen.

And, and, and when those words overtook them, uh, then they said, like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, he told us he would do it according to our ways and according to our doings. So has he dealt with us. They had to recognize that God had a case against them.

They'd failed to address it. And he was not, he was not, I was going to say, not joking. That'd be a wrong word to use, but, but he meant what he said when he said, if you don't depart from your wicked ways, I will judge.

Brethren, even today, the God we worship, the God so good to us, he's a God of grace, but he's still a God of government. And, and so these things are always true that the timeless that God will move in grace, but the time will come when he acts in government. And that's what happened when Jerusalem was ruined.

So these people are now on the right side of, uh, an act of great divine judgment and there's a big rebuilding work to be done. And if they will turn to God with all their heart and seek him and seek his ways, then they can be a wonderful part of it. Maybe just to point out, I think sometimes when we use the word heart, the thought that goes to our mind is emotion.

And that's not what we're referring to. I don't think that's what our brethren are referring to. When we think of heart, it's the thought of your will.

Yes. That goes further. Your emotions will fluctuate day to day, minute to minute, hour to hour.

But what is your devotion? Where is your will? And they might've had a heart for the things of God that came back maybe with great emotion, but now he's calling upon, where is your desire? We've already mentioned that they've been building their own houses and that seemed to be where their desire was for a little while. And he's trying to call them back to have a desire for the things of God. So when we refer to heart, it is your will, your emotion can fluctuate.

But if you are consistent in your will to try to serve the Lord, that is a thought I think that we're getting at, correct? That's very good, dear brother. And that's certainly true of the love of God for us. It's not an exercise of an emotion.

It's the exercise of a will. And so it should be for us. If you love me, keep my commandments.

That's not some fluffy emotional feeling. That's an expression of the will. That's very helpful.

Thank you. Let's read on then please. In chapter one, we've got another date and it's the fourth, the four and 20th day, the 24th day of the 11th month.

So some three months or so has elapsed since God spoke to Zachariah of the things we've just discussed. But now upon the four and 20th day of the 11th month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord unto Zachariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Ido the prophet, saying, I saw by night and behold a man riding upon a red horse. And he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom.

And behind him were there red horses, speckled and white. Then said I, oh my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me. So we spoke about that, didn't we? We've called him the interpreting angel.

The angel that talked with me. You'll see him there in verse 13 as well. He's in verse 14, he's in verse 19, verse three of the next chapter.

So he's got this angel beside him who's interpreting things to him. Verse nine, then said I, oh my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show you what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered.

So we have another personality now. We've got this man in addition to the interpreting angel. The man that stood among the myrtle trees, that's the man of verse eight, of course.

He's on a horse. The horse is stationary. So he's standing amongst the myrtle trees.

And although the angel that spoke with Zachariah said, I will show you what these be, in verse 10, it's the man on the horse that speaks. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, these are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord.

So now those who accompany the man on the red horse are speaking. They answered the angel of the Lord that stood amongst the myrtle trees. So the one who's on the red horse and the one who has introduced his companions as those who walk to and fro through the earth is now identified to us in verse 11 as the angel of the Lord.

Now the angel of the Lord is none other than a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus himself. By that we mean when the Lord Jesus came to Bethlehem in fulfillment of the prophetic scriptures and the purpose of God, he came to be manifested. God was manifested in flesh.

But prior to that wonderful occasion when the Lord Jesus first came into the world, on a number of occasions he had appeared momentarily, had appeared in the form of a man. He did so to Hagar, Genesis 16. He did so to Abraham as he sat in the tent in the early part of the day before Sodom was destroyed.

And so the angel of the Lord who encompasses his people, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. So, so far in this vision we have the Lord in a pre-incarnate appearance. He's sitting on a red horse.

It's stationary. It's amongst myrtle bushes. It's in a ravine.

He speaks about those with him as being other angels who go to and fro through the earth. They are now speaking to him in verse 11. They answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees and said, we have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.

Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. We're going to pause the reading there so that we can concentrate our minds on what we've just read. There, I'm sure, must be some significance in the different colors of the horses.

Brethren might want to bring some of that out, particularly perhaps in reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse so-called in Revelation and so on. May I suggest, though that will be of interest, it's not the point of this vision. The point of the vision is this, that under the direct control of the Son of God, who's here introduced to us as the angel of the Lord, there is going on in the spirit realm this patrolling, this reconnaissance of what is going on in the world.

Remember in Job chapter 1, how that the sons of God, the angels, the devil amongst them, they come before God, that there is this, where have you been today, God says to Satan? Well, I've just been wandering up and down through the earth. He says, no, you haven't, you've been at Job's house. What were you doing there? So this is going on, brethren, it's going on behind the scenes.

We don't see this. And it's why Zechariah's got visions rather than dreams. If there's going to be a difference in this, a dream is something obviously you have when you're asleep generally.

Many a dream was played out and interpreted by different people but a vision. Remember Paul had a vision. He was a man about 14 years ago and whether I was in the body or out of the body, I can't really tell you.

So I just know this, I saw things and I heard things and there's interaction here. As Zechariah is experiencing this, it's like an out-of-body experience. He's seeing things, he's talking to an angel, an angel is talking to him and he's in the scene even though in the body he's still wherever he happened to be at the time.

So he's seeing this and he's getting impressed upon his heart that while the people are complacent and saying, well, nothing's happening, God isn't moving and we've got this foundation built and yes, the work has started again at Haggai but how's it going to go on? And the first vision Zechariah has is that the Lord knows exactly what's going on. He's watching, he's got his angelic realm with him and he's moving amongst them. Now symbolically I think the fact that he's there in the myrtles, other references to myrtle, you can look them up in your concordance, it would seem to be a picture of the nation of Israel.

The myrtle in the ideal, a low-growing bush, it's fragrant, it's fruitful, it's ubiquitous throughout a certain part of the land. You could see really how that could be a symbol of Israel in a good condition but they're in a deep ravine, they're in the bottom. They're in a deep ravine, they're enclosed, it's dark, it's low.

You'd wonder if it could get any darker or any lower down. God's people suppressed, God's people oppressed and just as they're there, there in the depth of that ravine the Son of God appears and the angels who are constantly patrolling, they bring this this report back of their reconnaissance and they said we've been amongst the nations, they're all still and they're at rest. What's the insignificance of that? I take it the significance is simply this, the nation knew that before they would come into blessing again that God would deal with the Gentiles.

Doesn't the scripture say, Malachi for example, I will shake the heavens and the earth? Well the nations are still and at rest, so all that saying is the time for your open recovery, the time for God to lift you out of this ravine of darkness and lowliness, the time is not yet. The nations are still at rest, there's a complacency about the thing, they're sitting at their ease and so just wait. God's timing is perfect, the fact that the nations are still means that the time of your public recovery has not yet come.

That seems to be the message that comes out of this encounter. So let's look together please at verses 8 through 12 in particular. Again in relation to the date brother, Haggai closed in the ninth month with a notation there in chapter 2 verse 18, consider now from this day and upward, the 24th day of the ninth month, even from this day, I will bless you, end of verse 19.

So Zechariah now is giving the main body of his message from verse 7 all the way through the book after that promise had been made. So my point is this, that the content of what Zechariah is about to bring out in his ministry will be a blessing to them. God will bless it.

That's nice. Yeah, good. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. This myrtle tree brother Phil, is this not Esther's name as well? It is, Hadassah.

Yeah. So perhaps the thought is in the book of Esther is the providential hand of God. Yeah.

And here a similar context, you know, how long will you not have mercy? There seems to be a thought as if the Lord is doing not enough. But yes, he remembers as you said, it's still under his supervision. And here the picture of a man, which as you say, the Lord himself is in the midst of the myrtle trees.

So just in comparison with the context of Esther, God is in there, even though his name is not mentioned. And the Lord is in there in preservation and still in overall control of all these things. Very good brother Gideon.

And it's very relevant because we made reference to Ezra 4, the work of the adversary and all that kind of thing. Remember when you get to Ezra chapter six, between Ezra chapter six and Ezra chapter seven, there's a 57 year gap. And it's in that gap between chapter six and seven that all the events of the book of Esther take place.

So, so not only is there being all this satanic assault seen in chapter four, but one of the most nearly successful plans to exterminate the, the Jew is all there in the book of Esther, which is between chapter six and seven of the book of Ezra. So all this sort of gathers together. All this is in the memory of these people.

And, and it's lovely to see that the Lord doesn't only know, but in verse 12, the angel of the Lord answered and said, Oh, Lord of hosts. So the angel of the Lord, our Lord Jesus in a pre-incarnate appearance is interceding with God on the part of his people. This is a play of, not a play.

It's the, it's the action. We're getting a glimpse of the action of the triune Godhead, one God, distinct persons, and the Lord Jesus co-equal, coexistent, co-eternal with the father. Yet, nevertheless, he is interceding on the behalf of the nation before God.

And he's doing so in the hearing of Zachariah, who's going to pass it on to the people. So he said, it's not only you who's waiting for God to act, but speaking reverently, the angel of the Lord himself has said, how long hasn't that cry gone up so often in different circumstances? How long? The martyrs of the tribulation period in revelation six is that their voice, their voices will ascend. Oh Lord, how long, how long? And there'll be told, well, you have to wait because there's others who are going to join your company yet.

But perhaps dear brother, dear sister, in your experience, how long, how long have I to pray until I see my loved ones saved? How long, oh Lord, have I got to put up with this physical or mental condition I'm suffering under? How long is a little assembly? Have we got to try and struggle along like this? The cry goes up, how long? But isn't it lovely to think that the man at God's right hand is taking that up on our behalf as well. It's he who's saying how long, how long not to elicit an answer. Of course, it's a figure of speech that just simply says what we are longing for.

We recognize who God is in your hands. We're prepared to wait for your timing. How long? What a comfort to them to know that there's a divine person interceding on their behalf.

So this man mounted on the red horse also is the angel of the Lord, also is Christ pre-incarnate, right? He's in the midst or among the myrtle trees. And in our minds, we echo the one that stands in the midst of the lampstands, right? Revelation chapter one. So what's that indicating to us? Well, there's the thought of identification with, there's the thought of awareness, there's the thought of knowledge.

He knows the situation. He's very much aware of where the people are, right? And in connection with that, since he is a divine person, I want to notice as well the four horse patrols, the four voices that are heard in verses nine through 17. Then there'll be the four horns that scattered.

There's the four carpenters that flay them. Chapter two, there's the four winds of heaven. Chapter six, there's the four chariots and horses, right? So there's the emphasis upon four, the number four, the universal number, right? So again, we're getting the echo that God is in control globally of the whole world, and he has his people's interests at heart in that context.

Very good. Very nice. There's also the care of, right? Being in the midst, the care of.

Good. Sorry, say that again, Ike. The care of, sorry.

Whether among the churches or among the myrtle trees. Oh, the care of them. I see what you mean.

Yes. Thank you very much, brother. Yeah.

Brother Phil, you mentioned that the angel of the Lord interceding, and I was wondering if, it's not that he does not know the answer. Yes. And he asked the question, how long? Yes.

And therefore, when you come to verse number 13, the answer from the Lord is not to the angel of the Lord. It says, and the Lord answered the angel that talked with me. So it was the answer given to the angel that talked with me so that it could be given to Zechariah.

Yes. So the angel of the Lord asked to trigger a reply, a response, an answer for the benefit of Zechariah and for the people and for us. Yes.

So that's the cycle of the conversation, the flow of the conversation from angel of the Lord to the angel that talked with me to Zechariah. Very good. And there's divine order in all of that, isn't there? This isn't sort of one talking over the top of another or anything like that.

It's this lovely sense that everything's being performed according to divine order. Maybe just for sake of clarity, maybe somebody's sitting here going, how are they so confident that this is Christ, right? Pre-incarnate. I'm not trying to get into your Bible reading, but if you go to Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 4, and he's standing there, Joshua's standing before him.

And in the middle of that verse, he says, take away the filthy garments from him and say unto him, behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with the change of raiment. You go to New Testament, who has power on earth to forgive sin? Who's able to do this? Only Christ is able to do this. And so if you want a verse to say, where are they getting this? I would reference to that.

And that's how we can be confident that this was Christ pre-incarnate in the sense that only he has the power to say your iniquity is passed from you. No one else can. Very good.

That's helpful, brother. Thank you. Yes, because we shouldn't just assume that these things are accepted.

Zechariah, more than anybody, would speak about this idea of a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And remember, we looked briefly at Revelation 19 and verse 10 last night, that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So a glimpse in this vision is that it's not just facts about what is going to happen, but there's one who is in control of it all behind the scenes, is moving forward with it.

And it seems that in the order of the harmonious working of the Trinity, we know, for example, that all judgment is committed to the son, for example. But it seems that executive power to steer things along the course of divine purpose is granted from the father to the son, that it's his prerogative to do that. And he's seen us doing that here.

He's leading the patrol that is just coming back to report that the nations of the earth are still. What should encourage us is to get a divine perspective on things. I would just simply see this as a curtain being removed.

We have what we see and perceive and the difficulties of the day. But Zechariah is giving, this is God's purpose and God's plan. God hasn't forgotten.

God is in control. This is God's interest and God's desire. Practically speaking, we might be discouraged just thinking, you know, there's so few people being saved today.

But what is God's perspective? God's desire is that all men would be saved. God is working in this world in a way that we cannot see. So maybe that's what we see here.

This being opened up to Zechariah to encourage the people. God, this is God's desire for you. Yes.

That's why I think these are particular visions. There's nothing of Zechariah in it. He is in that sense, I hesitate to use the word, it can be used wrongly today, but he's a medium.

You know, he's just the means by which these great scenes are being conveyed to the people of God. And we're sitting here and as I speak, you can hear my voice. If my brother's speaking and I speak, you wouldn't hear my voice, you'd hear his.

Why? Because not quite behind the scenes, but brother Nathan is controlling things. And you'd have to be transported to where he is to see how he is doing what is being worked out. It's a small analogy.

No offense to you, my dear brother Nate, but it's a small analogy. But there's things going on constantly in the spirit realm. And they seem to be entrusted particularly to the one who Daniel explains to us is rightfully the son of man.

And here is seen to be the one who is bringing forward divine purpose. And the answer has come through the interpreting angel, good words, comfortable words. Listen, this is a great story, Zechariah.

So you're to go away now and speak to the people and assure them that God has certainly not forgotten you, that everything is under control. And that's the main purpose, I think, of this particular vision. Can I just maybe give you a different light on as far as the nation's being at rest? If somebody has a question, does that not also help us understand how God would even use the Gentiles to carry out his purposes? I mean, we're reading here of Darius, and he was instrumental.

Osiris, these Gentile men being used by God for his purpose as well. So there's not fighting against the people of God, but God using the Gentiles for this. Yeah.

And that's a very good point, Ike. I mean, when you look at the Babylonian Empire, which was obviously succeeded by the Persian Empire, succeeded by the Grecian Empire, succeeded by the Roman Empire. Of all those four, the most peaceful was the Persian one, the time in which we're reading now.

They were genuinely interested in the customs and the ways of other nations, a dignified people, the Persians. These are the Iranians, of course, of today. Don't confuse the people with their leadership.

We won't make that mistake when we look at America either. Don't confuse the people with their leadership. Or at the UK.

Or the UK. Yeah, point taken. So the Iranians are a lovely people.

I worked amongst them in the early 70s. They're a lovely people, and very clearly the friend of Israel. So God organized things so that all this would happen in the days of the Persian Empire, where there was not just the least interference, but the most support and interest in helping them, giving them the materials they needed and so forth.

So that's a good point. But I think specifically, as we lead on, the fact that God says in verse 15, and we're going to read this section in a moment, I'm very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease. So it seems to be that the idea is, look, Zechariah, God is going to deal with them, but not yet.

And until he's dealt with these people, then you won't see Israel in the ascendancy. Now, if there's no more points to make up to verse 12, we must move on. Now, brethren, sisters, please, this perhaps for all we've tried, probably still some bewilderment, maybe more, I hope not.

Please, the sisters, of course, can't speak in the meeting, but come and speak during the intervals or whatever. If you've got questions, if you need things clarifying, we're amongst you as a servant for the Lord's service. Can I just interject there on that? There is a question box on the table at the back.

So sisters, if you have questions too, you can write it out there, drop it into the box. We'll check before the start of the next reading. And brother Phil will have an opportunity to answer the questions that are provided for this reading.

Okay. Okay. Thank you for that interjection.

That's good. But also just for the moment, I'm looking at some fine younger and older men. Speak up.

There's no such thing as a dumb question. And I mean that sincerely. If you've got a question, you can guarantee someone else is thinking the same thing.

We've missed a point, or we haven't explained it properly. So we don't want to labor it, but please, we want you to understand what we're studying this morning.