A Dreamscape pointing to a man called branch The book of Zechariah

A Dreamscape Pointing to a Man Called BranchThe Book of Zechariah

Return to MeReturn to Me

Background• 70 years of exile has passed

• A remnant of a remnant has returned

• Zechariah the new King has an ambition to rebuild the temple and work has just begun

• Joshua is the high priest, without a temple

• Returning to the land and returning to God is not the same thing

• An older Haggai has been preaching 2 months, and now the younger Zechariah joins as well. It is the dead of winter.

by Zachariah (God Remembers)the son of Berekiah (God Blesses)the son of Iddo (At the appointed time)

The Lord Remembers

by Zachariah (God Remembers)the son of Berekiah (God Blesses)the son of Iddo (At the appointed time)

Three books end the Old Testament, written close in time

Three books end the Old Testament, written close in time:

• Haggai (meaning ‘My Feast’ ) - ministered for about 4 months and an older man. Calls the people to consider their situations and encouragement of the temple being built.

• Zechariah (meaning God remembers ) - starts the same year as Haggai, 2 months later but a younger man. Despite the apparent ordinariness of life, Jerusalem will be built and God’s purposes for them and the nations will stand.

• Malachi (meaning ‘My Messenger’ ) - some see as an extension of the chapters of Zechariah and speaks of a greater Malachi messenger

Haggai andZechariahstart the

same year

Malachi completesthe Old Testament

and may extend the latter part of Zechariah

Return to Me Says the Lord of Hosts And I will return to you

Zechariah 1:3

Return to Me Says the Lord of Hosts And I will return to you

Zechariah 1:3

“Return to Me and I will return to you.” Zechariah 1:3

• Like the father of the prodigal son(s), God waits for his children to return and will run out to meet them when they do

• “Do not despise the day of small things”, God assures the leaders and people.

• Zechariah has three main sections and in each what ‘Return to God’ means deepens as God not only commands repentance but provides it in richer ways

A short introduction of Zechariah, followed by eight dreams in one night

And an interpreter, a guide through the dreams

An interpreter: a man riding a red horse standing in the myrtle trees by the deep

God Remembers• And in the first six chapter of Zechariah shows how

He will remember His promises in terms of eight dreams all given in one night

• The dreams are ‘chiastic’ and the first and last dreams will be similar with important points to emphasize in the middle dreams

• There is a final dream for emphasis the follows the eight dreams

On to the first dream… those who were sent to patrol the earth

A vision of four horsemen patrolling the earthThe man on the red horse appears to be

the captain of the horsemen

Four horns that scatter the nations

Somehow the horns of nations

A man with a measuring rod andFour workers who will destroy the horns

Could be the Persian empire or temple workers. Both have been suggested.

The daughters of Zion rejoicing ties to other parts of both Zephaniah and Zechariah

Zechariah 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

Here is chapter 2, the emphasis is on God dwelling with Zion (Israel at Jerusalem) In chapter 9, the King comes humble on the donkey as quoted in the New Testament on the triumphal entry of Jerusalem by Jesus riding on a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 [ The Coming King of Zion ] Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

and from Zephaniah 3:14-15 14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.

And other ties to later dreams and later parts of Zechariah

•A plumb line is in Zerubbabel’s hands to measure Jerusalem.

•The plumb line aspect will be built on in later dreams regarding Jerusalem and the temple being rebuilt

Images related to builders beginA man with a measuring rod is seen

A Plumb LineA plumb line in the hands of Zerrubabelmight emphasize that the temple and Jerusalem will be built

A plumb line

A standard

And now the center few dreams

• Both concern the high priest, Joshua, and the king, Zerubbabel

<— pointing to the branch

A lamp stand between two olive treesoffices of priest and king combined with reliance on God

A flying scroll of righteous standards

A flying womanrepresenting wickedness

removed from the land and sent to Babylon

Jesus in Zechariah’s night visions• The man by the red horse, is described as both ‘man’ and

‘angel of the Lord,’ pointing to Jesus humanity and divinity. The ‘man’ appears to be the captain of the various horsemen and chariots and the Lord is described ‘the Lord of hosts’

• The merging of offices of the priest and king points to Jesus as both priest and king in the visions of the two olive trees

• the cleansing of Joshua points to the substitutionary role in bearing sins of a future Joshua (Joshua is greek for Jesus)

• Explicit mention is made of Joshua and those with him being a sign regarding a man called branch and sins being taken away in a day

One dream follows the eight in the crowning dream, Joshua is crowned

• Sliver and gold is collected from some men returning from Babylon (reminiscent of treasures of Egypt of the exiles used for the tabernacle of Moses)

• A crown is made

• The crown placed initially on the head of Joshua, the high priest

• The crown is then left in the temple as memorial

The crowning of the high priest

(Note: Jesse is King David’s father)

a priest king

God sees and acts in historywickedness dealt with and removed

righteousness will dwell in the land

A final emphasis

• It’s like a stair case going up to the main point, then back down the same way up

• Horses bookend the start and end, first patrolling and reporting, then going out to do God’s decrees

• Sin and opposing nations dealt with inside that. Sin without Israel dealt with and sin inside sent to Babylon.

• Jerusalem will be built up in righteousness and justice, inside that

• A king priest figure representing ‘the branch’ is inside that and the innermost part and the emphasis of the ‘chiastic stairs’. The sins of the people dealt with, sin taken away in a day

• A final vision follows. Not part of the chasm but a summary for emphasis.

Let’s look at the ‘chiasm’ of dreams again Four sets of bookends

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Should we still fast about the destruction of Jerusalem some 70 years ago?

Men came from Babylon asking if they needed to fast still• There was a fast over the destruction of Jerusalem

the last 70 years

• But Jerusalem is being rebuilt and some exiles returned

• So should they fast still?Note: There are two directions translations go:1) men came from Bethel (9 miles from Jerusalem) 2) ’Bethel Sharezer’ a known proper name of a person sent from Babylon with a question Either way the question and answer would apply

And got an answer they didn’t expect

• A question of motive and inclinations of the heart

• “Was it for Me you fasted”

• As part of returning to God and repentance motive is added to actions

• Religious actions should be not mechanical but done out of the love of God and for the glory of God

• Repentance and return to God has been deepened

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A harsh conquest

In contrast, a King comes in peaceriding on a donkey

And a yet deeper repentance and return to God provided,

but first…• God’s hand is seen as the actions of Alexander the

great are foretold even to the point of describing the cities that fell and their order. Even describing the manner the island city of Tyre fell.

• In contrast, the Messiah rides in to Jerusalem on a donkey, as a sign of peace.

• The servant songs of Isaiah makes a similar contrast: the harshness of Cyrus (making nations tremble) with the gentleness of the suffering servant, the Messiah (carrying the lambs in his arms).

And a yet deeper repentance and return to God provided,

but first…• A good shepherd is needed

• A good shepherd is provided

• A good shepherd is rejected and God himself somehow valued at 30 pieces of silver

• One might compare to the pageant in Psalms 109, 110 (where a poor man is betrayed, supported by the right hand go God then raised and made a priest king according to the order of Melchizedek)

God insulted by such a low price

Shepherd struck and sheep scattered

And a yet deeper repentance and return to God provided,

but first…• In Zechariah there is promise to protect Israel in some ultimate sense.

Around the same time, God protected Israel from the nations in the account of Esther and that could be a foretaste on future or more ultimate helps.

• A realization “they looked upon Him who they pierced” and with that a full, deep and wonderful repentance

• “and I will pour the spirit of grace and supplications on them so that they might mourn…”

• A blessing for the nations who come to God (a blessing promised to Abraham)

• A holiness so pervasive that “bells on horses” and “bowls in kitchens” are holy somehow, not restricted to the temple

Zechariah is apocalyptic, even the greek word for remove in ‘removal of sin in one

day’ is apocalypse ( an apocalypse of sin so to speak )a fountain opened for removal of sin

And the interpreter? A man? an angel? somehow the Lord of hosts? the shepherd at God’s right hand who was struck? the Messiah?

or all of the above?

The Lord RemembersA Dreamscape Pointing to a Man Called Branch

The book of Zechariahfin’