OK.
Galations 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world"

This, of course, seems to only have one obvious answer - that red symbolizes the blood of Christ, shed upon the cross and the Angel of the Lord sitting upon the horse can only be Christ leading the final charge against Satan. . . right?
(Please note that I use the term "Angel of the Lord loosely, because in my Daniel studies in Sabbath School we learned that Jesus is the Prince of the Angels, and would then be the Angel of the Lord, as opposed to an angel of the Lord).

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Sarah Moss
*Prayer Changes Things!*

Amen Sarah!

I will be posting some good study notes soon on this!

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"The joy of the Lord will be your strength." (Neh.8:10).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

Hello Brothers and Sisters
I have a few more thoughts on the book of Zechariah. It is so amazing how Christ is revealed in all the Scriptures - when you look for Him.
May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word...

Zech.1: 8-13
Myrtle Trees: A well known and beautiful evergreen shrub, with white flowers, berries which are at first white, and then turn bluish-black. They are edible, though rather too astringent for most Western palates. (Unger's Bible Dictionary, pg.1140).

Myrtle: The snow-white flowers are bordered with purple, and an aromatic fruit, from which perfumes are made. In poor soil; it may be little more than a scraggly shrub, but it can attain a height of 20-30 feet under ideal conditions.

Myrtle branches were used to build booths for the Feast Of The Tabernacles, in post-exilic Jerusalem...(see Neh.8:15). It grows on nearby hills, and is now known in all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
The Myrtle of Scripture is a symbol of God's generosity, and of peace and joy. (Isa.41:19, 55:13).
A grove of Myrtle trees is the setting for a vision of Zechariah. (Zech. 1:8-11).

Zechariah had a total of 8 visions.

Chapter one covers only the first two of these 8:
1) The horse men: 1:7-17: reveals God's plans for Israel at a standstill. The heathen nations of the earth are at ease, but God announces His purpose to restore the temple as His house, and to choose Jerusalem, as the agency through which His purpose of the salvation of all people shall be accomplished.

2) The four horns, and four carpenters: 1:18-21 Pictures for us the damage that Israel has suffered collectively as a nation, because of their captivity, and proclaims God's intention to repair all the damage that has been done to them.
P.K. 580: Two months after Haggai's last recorded message was delivered, Zechariah had a series of visions regarding the work of God in the earth. These messages were given in the form of parables and symbols, coming at a time of great uncertainty and anxiety; and were of peculiar significance to the men who were advancing in the name of the God of Israel.

It seemed to the leaders as if the permission granted to the Jews to rebuild was about to be withdrawn; the future appeared very dark. God saw that the people were in need of being sustained and cheered by a revelation of His infinite compassion and love.

The myrtle trees were a very common and familiar thing in the days of Zech., and since this is a very Messianic book, with Christ as the very heart and center of it; we see Christ, with all His earnest appeals to His demoralized people; and His longing to be with them, and restore them...

Wouldn't it seem natural, as well as consistent, that Jesus would want to be among His people, just as He was among the myrtle trees? (In the endtimes, Jesus is the same. His desire is to be among His people, in His church: Rev.1:12-15, 20).

What does this picture of Jesus in the myrtle trees tell you about Him? It tells me that he is not someone who absents Himself, when I have done wrong; and when I am down; but rather, Jesus stands up for His discouraged people, and comes to be with me in sympathy and solidarity.

As a result of Christ's presence among His people, many blessings are bestowed. (See Zech.1:13-17). He gives them His comfort, His love, His defense, His compassion, His prosperity, , and His restoration.
Oh! How I love Jesus!

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).
Your brother in Christ
David T. Battler

Great topic. I can't wait till you get to chapter 14.

Blessings,
Qranc

Hello Qranc

Thanks for dropping in on us.! Your opinions and questions are always welcome too. I agree. This is an interesting topic. I too, can't wait till I get to chapter 14. I have been slow coming out with the next study; but look for it sometime this week!

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

Profiles Of Jesus In The Book Of Zechariah Part 5

"Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28).

What an exciting experience as we focus our attention on Christ, and follow the example of the prophet Zechariah. No matter what he was in the middle of; the young prophet was always aware of God's presence, as evidenced by his looking up.
How aware are we, of our Creator, during the course of our daily lives?
Zechariah frequently stopped whatever he was doing, to lift up his eyes, and commune with God. To Zechariah, his calling was important; but his God was more important. He was not so caught up in his "daily grind" that he missed out on victory in Christ; and he wasn't so caught up in the work of the Lord, that he missed out on the Lord of the work.

This has been and is a universal spiritual hazard among the people of God; it was the problem of the religious leaders of Christ's time; but it is important to note that the hapless rabbis did not hold a monopoly on this spiritual problem. Even Christ's disciples had this plague, and so does the church of today. Under one guise or another; Christians have a lot of trouble just "looking up" and being aware of God's presence in their daily grind.

In the estimation of the rabbis, it was the sum of [their] religion to be always in a bustle of activity...The same danger still exists. As activity increases, and men become successful in doing any work for God, there is the danger of trusting to human plans and methods. There is a tendency to pray less, and to have less faith. Like the disciples, we are in danger of losing sight of our dependence on God, and seeking to make a saviour of our activity. We need to look constantly to Jesus; realizing that it is His power which does the work. (DA 362).

Let us join Zechariah in the experience of seeing visions of our Lord, let us see some more of the portraits of Christ in this exciting book of the Bible.

If you study the first six chapters of Zechariah; you would soon see that it was a habit or a custom of the prophet, to look up and see a vision of God, and get some kind of revelation from Him. These chapters contain four examples of Zechariah doing this: 1:18, 2:1, 5:1, and 6:1.

In the first two examples; Zechariah states:
"And I lifted mine eyes and saw;"
and in the second two he said of his experience:
"Again; I lifted mine eyes and saw..."

What spiritual significance does Zechariah's lifting up of his eyes, again and again have for God's church today?

First of all, it tells us that the prophet does not project himself to us as someone who faces his challenges alone, or who sweats over his problems, without reaching beyond himself to God.

In a very similar way, everyone in the church has their own share of problems and challenges that we must face. But, long before we become stressed out and overburdened with them; we need to discipline ourselves over and over again to take these things to Christ, and try to see them from His perspective. It is quite likely that our troubles won't really disappear; but Christ wants to make an appearance, and face these challenges with us. Before we become over-taxed trying to handle our problems down here; on our own; we must train ourselves to be instinctively lifting our eyes, and looking up to God.

I know for myself; I am often aware of the natural realm of things; but it is too rare that I am even half as much aware of the supernatural around me. Elisha was a man who was acutely aware of the unseen events surrounding him and his young assistant, as we see by his prayer in
2 Kings 6:17: "O Lord, I pray Thee; open his eyes that he may see."

I found it very interesting that in Zech 5:1 and 6:1 the word "again" is used to precede "looking up." What is God saying to His church by this word again?
The word "again" as used in Zech. 5:1, and 6:1 stands for the fact that God's people need to have a pattern and some consistency in their communion with God. The prophet Zechariah did not lift up his eyes once; but again and again, meaning repeatedly. One experience is not enough. We have to look to Jesus again and again. Why else would He need to be in the sanctuary now if that wasn't the case? (Heb.7:25). In order to renew and restore our spiritual strength; we need to look again and again to Jesus. Throughout the Bible, we are told in many ways that it is essential to have a continual, or ongoing spiritual experience, through our relationship with God.

For some brief examples:
1) Pray without ceasing 1 Thes.5:17
2) Die daily to self; and live for Christ 1 Cor.15:31
3) Take up our cross daily and follow Christ Luke 9:23
4) Delight ourselves with the Law of God ? reflect on it day and night Ps.1:2
5) Search God’s Word daily – Acts 17:11

I found it to be very interesting that the word "turned" is also used in Zech. 5:1 and 6:1, in connection with looking up to God. "Turned" is a verb meaning "to stop" or "change direction," or to interrupt what is being done; and think about doing something different. So when we look a little closer at these 4 passages in Zech., we can see a definite progression or sequence of actions:

1) He turned
2) Lifted up his eyes
3) Looked
4) Beheld a vision

While Zechariah went about his regular daily toil of leading the returned exiles in rebuilding the ruins of the Temple and Jerusalem; he never lost sight of God's presence. Zechariah was always ready to interrupt his activities, no matter how important they were, and lift up his eyes to God; and listen to Him.

This looking up was his secret to spiritual victory; and today's christians must also depend on this secret. They must continually look up to the Source of their redemption.
I know that with myself, if things seem to be going fairly well at the time, I find it very easy to look up. But when things start to get really difficult, or tragic, my faith becomes a bit precarious, looking up loses it's value, and I settle into discouragement. I tend to look horizontally, rather than perpendicularly.
During the really tough times; I can be found looking at myself and/or others; and depending on complaining and criticizing to pull me through! Imagine! Instead of looking up to Christ I'm deliberately choosing to cast Him aside in favour of bitterness and fault-finding?

So we have a prophet of old, looking up to God; and seeing a vision of Him, and we are reminded of Proverbs 29:18: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
The NIV Bible actually uses the word "revelation," instead of vision.
We are to look away from self to Jesus. (MH 249).

Many people are willing to acknowledge Jesus as Lord when they look into His temple, and see Him there. (at church). Many were ready to call Him Lord, when He wrought miracles; after He had risen from the grave; but none acknowledged Him as He hung, dying on the cross, to save the penitent thief, who was saved at the eleventh hour. (DA 750).

Zechariah offers God's church a pattern to follow when they are not at church, when the spouse is yelling, when the kids are cavorting, when the job is gone, when the health disappears, when tragedy strikes. And the Bible says of all these thing: "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve," and where you will look.

Next, post, we will look at the subject of repentance as portrayed in the book of Zechariah.

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).

Your brother in Christ
David T. Battler

In what ways can we as a collective church "look up?"

How do we as individual Christians practice God's presence by "looking up?"

What is it that we do when we "look up" today, in the year 2000/2001?

Looking up!
Today, 24 years later, when we look down or look horizontal, all we see is confusion and a world teetering on absolute disaster.
When we look up, and remember God's prophecies, God's care, God's plan for our future, we can indeed exclaim, "Our redemption draweth nigh, it's even at the door.

Sadly, David did not continue his series, but his closing remarks sparked my interest,

I wish he would have posted that study.
But we can explore, what does Zechariah say about repentance?

Zechariah begins his book with a strong call for Israel to repent (1:1-6). This theme of repentance is developed more fully through the subsequent eight visions.

Zechariah 1:3 Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the LORD of hosts.
1:4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn now from your evil ways, turn from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, says the LORD.

God's theme of "Return to Me," (1:3), obviously took the priority in Zechariah's ministry.

The first six verses of which I quoted two, introduce the entire Book of Zechariah. They set the goal of the whole message. A message that alerts us that the enjoyment of the blessings of God is dependent upon a biblical repentance.
The natural condition of mankind is to be out of fellowship with God because they follow after and cherish sin.

Israel had been scattered, their city destroyed, all because the True God, was replaced by idols, materialism, unholy alliances with the kings around them, and their enchantment with sin.
Now, in Zechariah's time, the returned Israelites, after their exile in Babylon, are given a new beginning, a second chance. With encouragement from the prophet Haggai, they have done considerable work on rebuilding the temple. So there is a longing to restore their worship of the true God.
But Zechariah knows a temple and worship rituals are meaningless if their hearts are not in tune with God.

God takes the initiative and calls for them to return to Him. The word, turn, is the Old Testament way of saying repent.


The Greek word translated ?repentance? in the New Testament means ?to change one?s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness? (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, J.P. Louw and Eugene Nida, 1988).

Repentance, if genuine, is not a ritual, it is a change of attitude, "heart" and mind.

So the prophecy of Zechariah opens with a rebuke and a call to "turn" and change their attitude and thoughts with regard to sin, a change of attitude which leads to repentance, as they choose to open the communication channels and allow God to work in them to initiate that change.

?Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.?


This is not some kind of legalistic righteousness. So what does it mean? Basically, there is no way for us to enter into fellowship with God if we block Him out by choosing sin. If we do not respond to His call it's impossible to be in fellowship with Him. It's always God who takes the initiative, always, but we choose to turn from sin and allow Him to lead us into genuine repentance, into a genuine loathing of sin and longing for righteousness, or we can choose to block Him out while we cling to cherished sins and our old ways.


Turn you to the Stronghold, ye prisoners of hope." Zechariah 9:12. There is strength for us in Christ. T
Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 1:3
Turn ye now from your evil ways, and [from] your evil doings: Zechariah 1:4

God's call to repentance in Zechariah, is one of the most moving and spiritually intense calls to repentance in the Bible. It kind of parallels the call in James chapter five.
It's very much a call to a relationship. A relationship with Christ!
It's turning away from one master (the prince of disobedience) and submitting and clinging to a new Master -- Jesus Christ.

God is returning to Israel, restoring them, and calls them to return to Him.
Zech. 1:16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies:
Zech. 1:4 Turn yourselves unto me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, says the LORD of hosts.

That's a picture of Jesus we see in Zechariah. It's that of a loving Savior longing to restore His people. Christ is the one who has already taken the initiative and is reaching out to us. He is the One Who brings us to faith and genuine repentance, giving us every impulse to return to Him and then leading us into the paths of righteousness.

Yet we tend to run away from Him, clinging to our independence and claiming a right to sin ( those darling little sins we cling to and excuse). Or we think we have to clean up our lives before we come to Him. Without Him we can't do it. We have to come to Him first and then clean up will occur.

Repentance, something Christ ignites in us, and which matures into genuine repentance as we contemplate Christ's great love and redemption, is still our choice. Realizing the hold sin has on us, longing to be free from sin and united with the goodness of our Savior, reach out to Jesus He's reaching out to you. Submit to His loving guidance, for He is the sinners best Friend and will lift him up out of the pit of sin. But whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Love the Lord you God with your WHOLE heart.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you
4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.