Today we continued through the visions God gave Zechariah and once again we encountered four horses and riders. This time the horses were pulling chariots of war.

The red, black, white and dappled horses and riders appeared once already in Zechariah 1:7-10 and they will appear again when we read Revelation 6:1-8.

In Zechariah 1:7-10 four horses were sent out with riders. They reported to the Angel of the Lord that wars had ceased on the earth, so God decided to return his people to Jerusalem. He also decided to deal with the nations that had punished Israel and Judah. Those nations did what God allowed, but they didn’t honor him as God, and their cruelty and arrogance offended him.

“Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.’” Zechariah 1:14-15

God planned to bring judgment on the nations of the earth.

The Four Horses 

In today’s reading the four horses pulled chariots. Reconnaissance was over and God now sent war chariots to bring judgment. Zechariah saw this vision of judgment from a limited, earthly perspective. He saw the chariots go out and heard that they accomplished their work in the north, but he didn’t see it happen. The angel beside him reported:

“Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.” Zechariah 6:8

God’s Spirit rested when his judgment was complete.

In Revelation 6:1-8 the Lamb of God opened the seals of the end times scroll and released four horses. The Apostle John got to see the horses and riders from the eternal point of view and he saw the judgments they brought to the earth.

The colors of the horses in these visions appear to represent different aspects of judgment. The white horse is for God’s victory over wickedness. The red horse symbolizes war, the black horse represents famine and death, and the dappled or pale colored horse brings pestilence.

These three visions give us a sequential view of how God brings justice, from gathering evidence against unrepentant people, through punishing them, as their sins deserve. But God takes no joy in judging people. That’s why he appealed to them over and over and over to repent while they could.

Crowning Joshua the Priest

God did an unusual thing when he commanded that a golden crown be made and placed on Joshua’s head in Zechariah 6:9-13. In the Law of Moses, the high priest was given a turban with a golden plate that read “Holy to the Lord,” but never a crown. Crowns were reserved for kings.

Joshua, however, was not just an ordinary high priest; he embodied a prophecy. He symbolized the ultimate high priest who was to come after him, the Messiah who was going to be both a priest and a king.

The Messiah was also called the Branch, the one who was fruitful and channeled life to God’s people. Like Joshua the priest, the Messiah was going to build God’s temple, but then he sits down on the heavenly throne and reigns as King of Kings forever.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.” Zechariah 6:12-13

Parts of this prophecy have already been fulfilled. Jesus the Messiah has become our great high priest and has sat down at the right hand of God where he reigns forever in majesty according to Hebrews 10:11-14. But the building of the final temple, as described in Ezekiel 40-43, still lies ahead of us at this time.

Conflict with the Neighbors

Tattenai was the governor of Trans-Euphrates, the region north of Judea, probably where Damascus is today. He and his associates didn’t want the Jews to rebuild their temple and after trying unsuccessfully to sabotage the project, they wrote a letter to King Darius in Persia hoping he would stop it.

The Jewish elders claimed that King Cyrus of Persia had issued a decree that the temple must be rebuilt, but their Trans-Euphrates neighbors hoped that decree didn’t exist.

However, King Darius found the decree in the royal archives and read that Cyrus had commanded the temple to be rebuilt, and that the royal treasury was to cover the cost.

So King Darius sent Tattenai the answer:

“Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates . . . and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site . . . Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.” Ezra 6:6-8

King Darius also ordered Tattenai to supply whatever the Jews needed to make sacrifices to God. He said that animals, grain, salt, wine and olive oil “must be given them daily without fail, so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.” Ezra 6:9-10

Tattenai lost his appeal to Darius so rebuilding continued – with a fresh infusion of royal cash and all the supplies necessary for the Jews to worship the Lord properly.

God Confronts Hypocrisy

Two hundred years earlier God had spoken to the Israelites through Isaiah about their hypocritical worship.

“They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers . . . You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.” Isaiah 58:2-5

Now that they were back in Judah, the Lord confronted hypocrisy in his people again.

North of Jerusalem, at Bethel, was a community of Jewish people who had remained in the land during the exile. For seventy years they had mourned and fasted on behalf of the nation in the fifth and seventh months of each year. They wanted to know if they should continue now that their prayers were answered and the exile was ended.

“Then the word of the Lord came to [Zechariah]: ‘Ask the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surroundings were at rest and prosperous . . . ?’” Zechariah 7:4-7

Isaiah and Zechariah both preached to people who made an appearance of worshiping him  while failing to do what he asked of them.

What the Lord Requires

“And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’” Zechariah 7:8-10

Israel had heard about these requirements throughout their history. They were embedded in the Law of Moses and failing in these requirements had contributed to death and exile for them.

“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.” Zechariah 7:11-12

The Lord wanted his people to learn from the mistakes of the past because he really loved them and wanted a relationship with them now.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her . . . I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.” Zechariah 8:2-3

People should never have discounted the passion God felt for them. The Lord loved people and wanted to be with them.

We, too, belong to him and God knows we can’t live without him.