While it is certainly true that any and all victories over Seleucid and Grecian pagan influence by the Maccabees can be attributed to God saving them, it is also true that this paved the way for the Messiah to come not long afterwards, “in the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4), and bring eternal salvation from sin to “the flock of his people” (cf. John 10:1ff; 1 Pet. 5:4; Heb. 13:20).… Read More Zechariah: Prophecies About Alexander the Great, the Maccabees, and the Messiah

Zechariah foretold of the peaceful nature of the reign of Christ when he wrote of how God would “cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off” (9:10a).  God wanted the prophet to let the Jews know that their Messiah would “speak peace to the nations” (9:10b). Christians, do we understand what this means?… Read More Zechariah: The Peaceful, Universal Reign of the Messiah

Remember, God had not commanded these fasts.  The Jews had come up with their observance completely of their own accord.  They commemorated the coming of the Babylonian army (the tenth month – 2 Kings 25:1), the breach the Babylonians made in Jerusalem’s wall (the fourth month – Jer. 39:2), the burning of the temple (the fifth month – 2 Kings 25:8), and the killing of Gedaliah (the seventh month – 2 Kings 25:25).  God wanted them to observe them no longer.  Now they were commanded to feast instead of fast, and to do so with joy, gladness, and cheerfulness, loving truth and peace.  Their joy would motivate those in the cities around them to serve the Lord as well (8:20-23).… Read More Zechariah: An Old Testament Lesson About New Testament Joy

Remember, these horses which pulled these chariots were going “to the four winds of heaven” (6:5).  We’ve seen that angels are associated with “winds” or “spirits” and are involved in the divine punishment of nations.  Thus, the horses’ impatience to “patrol the earth” could signify the impatience of angels to deliver God’s punishment upon counties and cultures throughout the earth who rebel against Him.  In this case, they were given permission by the angel who had been speaking to Zechariah.  Would this indicate that the angel talking with him in all these visions was Michael, the archangel (archangelos, chief angel)?  Possibly.  Whoever this angel was, he then “cried” (zāʿaq in Hebrew, meaning “announced”) to Zechariah, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country” (6:8).  Apparently, the punishment given to Persia – and the remnants of Babylon and Assyria still existing within the Persian Empire – for their wickedness had satisfied the wrath of God (cf. Ezek. 5:13; 16:42; 24:13). … Read More Zechariah: The Four Chariots of God’s Wrath (The Eighth Vision)