Talks for Growing Christians
Zechariah's Eighth Vision
Lesson Number 6
- God will judge all of Israel’s enemies.
- The Lord Jesus will be both King and Priest.
- Do you know your biblical temples?
- In Zechariah Chapters 1-6, there were eight prophetic visions. How long did it take for Zechariah to have these visions?
- What do these visions reveal concerning Christ?
- What is “apocalyptic literature”?
- How can you distinguish between the symbolic and the literal in apocalyptic visions?
- What does bronze symbolize in the Bible?
- They were all given to Zechariah on the same night. He was given a lot of information and insight concerning God’s program for the future.
- They reveal both the first coming of Christ and of the second coming when all evil will be judged and Christ will reign supreme.
- Apocalyptic literature is visions of the future. It is highly symbolic in nature.
- It is not easy. A general rule is to see if the visions have already taken place. The rest of scripture helps us distinguish the symbolic and literal.
- Judgment. See, for example, the two mountains of bronze in this portion of scripture. They could be taken symbolically or literally. When the Lord returns, the Mount of Olives literally will be split into two mountains with a valley in between. This could be the Valley of Jehoshaphat where the Lord judges the nations. See Joel 3.
- Refer to Zechariah 6:1-8. Consider the vision of the horses and riders standing under the direction of the Lord. All the earth is at rest. God is at rest because the nations have been judged. The horses and war chariots have done their work of judgment. Revelation 16 shows that when this judgment takes place at the end of the Battle of Armageddon. This is also called the judgment of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. This is the same judgment of the nations prophesied in Joel 3. Marvel at the confirmation of scripture within the Bible.
- Refer to Zechariah 6:9-15. The crown was placed on the high priest’s head, anticipating and foreshadowing the coming of the Man whose name is the BRANCH, the title for the coming Messiah. The BRANCH was both priest and king, thus the uniting of the offices of king and high priest in the Messiah. The Lord Jesus is now our High Priest and now our King, but this symbolic event of Zechariah’s time looks forward beyond this church age to when the Lord will return and literally reign as King over this world. Marvel at the prophecy of our Lord’s second coming and His reign as King over the entire world.
- Do you know your biblical temples? There are at least seven biblical temples of the Lord: the two spiritual temples of the Holy Spirit, the believer’s body (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20) and the church, the body of Christ; and the five literal temples of the Lord: Solomon’s Temple, Zerubbabel’s Temple, Herod’s Temple, a Tribulation Temple, and the Millennial Temple (Ezekiel 40-48). The temple spoken of in this portion of scripture is likely the Millennial Temple, which will be built after the Lord returns. The Lord Himself will direct the building of His temple (Zechariah 6:12-13), and believing Jews and Gentiles from around the world will come and participate in building this temple. What will be your part in this building?
- “Behold, four chariots were coming from between the mountains.” Zechariah 6:1
- “Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH!…He shall build the temple of the Lord…and He shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne.” Zechariah 6:12-13
- “Those from afar shall come and build the temple of the Lord.” Zechariah 6:15