No. 19 of Returning Home (Reignited)
Haggai, in support of the temple’s rebuilding, gave the people of Judah comfort by prophesying of the house of the Lord to come.
For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’” – Haggai 2:6-9(ESV)
God directed Haggai to speak of His house in the future, the Church, in order to embolden his people when they were being resisted by their adversaries. He also encouraged His people by using King Darius to force Judah’s adversaries to help them.
Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. 14 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; 15 and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. – Ezra 6:13-15(ESV)
Ezra repeats the names of the leaders who resisted God’s people in rebuilding the temple: Tattenai, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates. “And their associates” refers to those of similar standing, i.e. colleagues, to describe how these adversaries were united in trying to use a king’s power for their own ends. Ezra records this correspondence between Tattenai and Darius in Chaldean (old Aramaic), the language in which it was written. The people of Judah probably knew this language better than Hebrew, since they had been immersed in the language of the empire during their captivity. In reestablishing their Hebrew heritage, this mixture of languages in Ezra’s work exemplifies for us their struggle to become God’s nation once again.
During this time Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the people to finish God’s temple by reassuring them that nothing would stop them in carrying out God’s plan.
“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother.” – Haggai 2:21-22
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, 8 and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”– Zechariah 8:7-8
The people of Judah viewed these prophesies in light of their troubles with Tattenai and his friends. The laws of the land were shaken for Zerubbabel and God’s temple builders by Darius’ decrees for Tattenai to assist Judah. But for us there is another deeper meaning to these words of Haggai and Zechariah. A kingdom was coming that would shake the heavens and earth and overthrow world kingdoms forever. That kingdom came in c. 40CE. It is the Church, a kingdom built without human hands and ruled by God Himself.
Zechariah spoke in great length about this kingdom and its traits so that we would know the kingdom and its King when He came.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, 1on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, 2as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land shall mourn, each family by itself: 3the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves. “On that day 4there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. “And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’ And if one asks him, 5‘What are these wounds on your back?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
“6Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
In the whole land, declares the Lord,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
and one third shall be left alive.
And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
7They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” – Zechariah 12:10-13:9(ESV)
1. Zechariah records the joyous return of Israel to God with prophesies of a suffering Deliverer, “him whom they pierced (John 19:37).”
2. The prophet speaks of the anguish at the death of a firstborn son, a possible allusion to the Passover. It will be a mourning for a king at his death, just like King Josiah’s death in Megiddo was greatly mourned by all the people (2Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:24-26). The passage relates this mourning with the coming day of grace and mercy. Jesus was both the firstborn son of God and a king who brought the kingdom of grace and truth (John 1:17-18; John 3:16, I Corinthians 5:7).
3. Zechariah reveals the lineage of the suffering deliverer by naming each family “apart” that would mourn for the suffering One. (The word “apart” can mean a branch, like a shoot or limb of a tree.) He would be of kingly descent (the tribe of David), prophetic descent (Nathan), and priestly descent (the tribe of Levite). He would be prophet, priest, and king.
Two other branches are given in this passage: Shimei and all families. Shimei of the tribe of Benjamin was an outcast during David’s reign because he was a kinsman of Saul, the disinherited king (1 Samuel 15:26; 2 Samuel 16:5). The suffering One would also be an outcast, as spoken of in Luke 9:20-22, where Jesus tells His disciples He would be rejected. Jesus the Son of God, born on earth to live as a man, is also of the family of all humanity.
Women are included in each branch of this lineage. In this way Zechariah emphasizes their role in mourning for the suffering One. Jesus’ lineage does not ignore the role of the women who served Jehovah under the Old and New Covenants.
4. The suffering One would open a fountain for David and Jerusalem that would cleanse all sin (John 4:14; John 7:37-38).
5. In the context Zechariah is telling of a time when prophets would no longer be accepted because God would be silent and there would be no true prophesies for awhile. In that time, when a true prophet of God spoke, he would be punished for it. The wounds on the back of the suffering One would be given to him by His friends. The word for “friends” is also translated as “those of affection, as for family.” It expresses the relationship Jesus had with his Jewish brethren. His own Jewish brethren accused Him of lying about Himself and His prophetic words from the Father (Matthew 26:63-65). His own Jewish brethren forced the hand of the Roman authorities to scourge His back and crucify Him (Mark 15:1-15).
6. Zechariah describes a shepherd who is a man standing beside the LORD of hosts and tells a sword to awake to strike the shepherd, which will scatter the sheep. No man can take the place at the side of Jehovah God of the heavenly armies unless that man is God Himself (Hebrews 1:1-3). The psalmist speaks of God, calling Him a shepherd and asking Him to listen to his cries (Psalm 80:1). Jesus spoke to the people as a shepherd and prophesied of His death as the Son of God, quoting the words of Zechariah (Mark 6:34; Matthew 26:31).
7. Zechariah prophesies of a time when people would call on the name of the Lord and He would answer them. Calling on the name of the Lord was only done by priestly rituals and observances in the time of Zechariah. The idea of each person being able to ask God for help without a physical priest to act as mediator was revolutionary for the people of Judah. Yet, this is exactly what the kingdom of God made possible for men and women to do. On the day the Church was established, Peter told the men of Israel that they had crucified the Son of God, bringing about the reign of Christ in which “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:16-36).
In sum, the words spoken to support the citizens of Judah in continuing to do the Lord’s work were also prophesies delivered to His people for ages to come. The message is the same: Nothing will stop God from carrying out His plan. Now the question remains: Are you a citizen of the kingdom He planned from the beginning?