Zech. 1:13,17 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words....the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

Life in this world throws a lot of discouraging things at people. Those returned exiles were discouraged and disheartened. They did have a desire to know and worship God, but conditions seemed to work against them. That's how it is with many of us today.
What they needed most at this particular time were kind words of comfort and encouragement.

And God gave them good and comforting words.

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, say your God.
40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem...her iniquity is pardoned:
40:28 Have you not known? have you not heard, the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
40:29 He gives power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increases strength.
40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

A Jealous God?

Zechariah 1:14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, This says the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
Zechariah 8:2 This says the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

Compare with
2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.
Deut. 5:9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God

We tend to understand the word "jealous" as a sinful, selfish passion.
But God is not in any way connected to sinful passions. His awesome love is the very opposite to selfishness, so what is meant by these verses?
It is a strong emotional word and denotes strong emotions.

It needs to be understood in the light of God's great love for us, so great that
"God so loved the world that He gave (not just sent but gave) His only begotten Son that Whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, God didn't give His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

All through the gospels (especially in the book of John) we realize that Jesus is the life, the hope, the peace. He is everything we need to have hope and life. We see Jesus pleading, and weeping, saying "how can I give you up", "how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! " and now you face desolation. " If you had known, even you, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." (Matt. 23:37, Luke 19:42, Hosea 11:8)

God's jealous is due to His great love, His great desire to save and restore and give life, peace and happiness. He knows that apart from him, we have only trouble, sorrow and eternal death.

His jealousy reveals the intensity of His love toward His erring people. He is not going to be indifferent, He will be personally involved in winning us back, offering salvation, even giving His life to redeem us, calling us to turn to Him and find the hope, life, love and peace only He can give. He is not going to sit back and simply let sin devour us.
Yet, in all that, He will not force us to come to Him, our rejection of Him causes Him to weep. He has no pleasure whatsoever in the destruction of the wicked. He would save them if only they were willing.
God hates sin, for it destroys His beloved people, and their clinging to sin causes them to reject life in Him, and only leads them into misery and desolation.
Someday, sin will be destroyed forever.

profiles of Jesus in Zachariah

So far --
*Jesus is very present with His people
*Jesus brings Words of comfort and encouragement
*Jesus calls His people to repent, turn away from the sins that have caused them so much misery and given the "enemy" access to do them get harm. Turn to Him and He will be their God and Savior.
*Jesus calls His people to "look up", look beyond the mundane activities of earth, look up and keep Christ and His promises, care, commands and love in focus.

*Jesus speaks comforting words bringing comfort and hope for the future.
*Jesus is jealous for our loyalty and love, He loves us too much to passively give us over to the dark and evil suitor who only seeks our destruction.

And what about those
HORNS?

1:18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
1:19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these?

The word HORN occurs in many places in scripture. Symbolically it refers to political power, kings, kingdoms (Daniel 7, Rev 17) It can also mean strength, boldness and even arrogance (Ps. 75:4-5, 132:17)

The angel tells Zechariah the horns here symbolize "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. "

Who are these four horns? Bible scholars are divided, some turn to Ezekiel 25 and point to nations that HAD been troubling Israel, like Moab, Edom, Ammon, Philistia. Others turn to Daniel 2 and 7 and point to the four empires (Babylon, Media Persia, Greek, Rome)

Ellen White simply writes:
" Next the prophet sees the powers that had "scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem," symbolized by "four horns." Immediately afterward he sees "four carpenters," representing the agencies used by the Lord in restoring his people and the house of his worship, as decreed by Cyrus and his successors, as well as by God himself. {RH, December 26, 1907 par. 12}

As we are seeking clearer pictures of Christ in Zechariah, the identity of the horns can be left for other studies. The picture of Christ that emerges here, is that He has His agencies, His craftsmen that are prepared to repair the damage done to His people by others with enough power to do considerable damage. Every era of time has it's horn powers making things difficult, yet Christ is there for His people in every era, with His words of encouragement and comfort, as His people look up to Him for their strength. He has the craftsmen who will repair what the horns seek to destroy.

Too often we may only see the first part of that vision. We see the horns, and they seem to be coming from all directions. We may become so obsessed and frightened by the horns that we fail to read the second part of the vision.

1:20 And the LORD showed me four carpenters... these are come to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
No matter how powerful those horns seem to be, remember Christ has powerful craftsmen as well, And we know we can trust in Him.

Zechariah 2:1
I looked and saw, behold a man with a measuring rod!

How can we see a profile of Jesus in this account of seeing a man with a measuring rod?

Jerusalem was being rebuilt! In Zechariah 2:1-13 the prophecy seems to show a surveyor with the measuring rod, surveying out vast territories of unwalled population of peace and prosperity. God's abundant blessings seem to fill the whole land with it's multitudes of people and livestock. They don't need walls because God is their wall of protection.

BUT we all know it didn't happen. it was not fulfilled to literal Israel. Why? Did God's promises fail?

God wanted to dwell in their midst, and had they lived in close relationship with Him, those promises would have been fulfilled!

Jesus, Who is God with God the Father (See John 1:1) promised to dwell in the midst of them!
Zech. 2:10-11 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.... and you shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.

But they didn't believe that God the Father had sent Him!

John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:

So we see in this profile-- the picture of Jesus.
He wants to dwell in our midst.
When He dwells in our midst and all believe, then the land will be boarderless and all live in peace and happiness.

When

Well Jesus is measuring right now, vindicating all in whom Jesus dwells in righteousness and who are in saving relationship with Him. Those who turn away, and reject Him will find their "temple" desolate.

And in the future we find the one with the measuring tape once again in Rev. 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. ....(22) the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.... (25) And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.


21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God.

One of the most powerful pictures of Christ is found in Zechariah chapter Three.

There we see Joshua, who was chosen to be the earthly priest. But he is filthy, sinful. How can such a man be a servant of the living God.
Beside Joshua stands the prosecutor attorney, with a long record of all Joshua's sins. He has a lot of evidence against Joshua and he levels his accusation day and night against Joshua. Joshua will surely be judged guilty and totally unworthy.

But Joshua has chosen a powerful Advocate! One who is more than a match for Satan. He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb. 7:23) He gave His life, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, pledged to take our sins, and ratified that covenant at the cross.

"And the Lord said to satan; The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?

And then the Lord says "Take away the filthy garments from him. and I will clothe him with rich robes."

In the historical context the Israelites had returned from captivity, like a brand plucked from the fire, and restored to their homeland. They had gone into captivity because of their unfaithfulness to God, and now they were given a new chance, to be clean and a holy people unto God. Satan was on hand to discourage and harass them and make them doubt God and forsake their commitment to God.
But God had chosen Jerusalem and rebuked Satan and promised them;
"If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command then you shall also judge my house and likewise have charge of my courts,

Yet there is a much broader meaning here.

""Joshua, standing before the angel of the Lord with defiled garments, represents our faulty life. We have been overcome by Satan's temptations, and are unworthy of God's favor.
Humans stand before God with defiled garments. All their righteousness is "as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Satan stands there mocking them with his masterly accusing power, pointing to their imperfections as evidence of their unworthiness. He points scornfully at the mistakes of those who claim to be God's people and seeks for permission to destroy them.

But they trust in Christ, and Christ will not forsake them. He came to this world to take away their sins, and to impute to them His righteousness. He declares that through faith in His name they may receive forgiveness, and perfect Christlike characters. They have confessed their sins to Him, and have asked for pardon, and Christ declares that because they look to Him and believe on Him, He will give them power to become sons and daughters of God.

Their characters are defective, but because they have not trusted in their own merits nor excused their sins, and they have asked for forgiveness through the merits of Christ, the Lord receives them, and rebukes Satan. Because they have humbled themselves, confessing their sins, He has abundantly pardoned the penitent ones, and will carry forward in them His work of redeeming love if they will continue to believe in Him and to trust Him. {taken from Letter 173, Aug. 5, 1903}

?Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.? ?So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.? Even so will all those who come to Jesus in penitence and faith receive the robe of Christ's righteousness. {HS 155.4}
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