Study 8 – Zechariah by Neville Clark – for TTG Young People

Study 8  – Zechariah – for TTG Young People

 

“The vision of the Chariots.”

 

Reading Zechariah Ch 6.

 

On the board I’ve got the break up of the chapter, you can see just at a glance, the chapters going to fall into two halves.

 

The first half vv 1-8 is the vision of the chariots, now I’ve put that into half again so vv 1-3 is the vision of the chariots and vv 4-8 is the explanation of the vision of the chariots, and vv 9-15 is an apparently unrelated part of the chapter.

 

What I mean by that is that the first eight verses are the seventh of the seven night visions, whereas what you’ve got in vv 9-15 is this little enacted parable, you’ve got these three exiles returning to Babylon, back to the land and Joshua is crowned as not just the High Priest but a King Priest in this chapter, and it appears, you might look at that and say well, you could have put the chapter break at the end of v 8, it’s not really the next vision it is now an event that’s happened in Zechariah’s life. I’m going to show you if we have time that time that these two things are actually related but the major point is that the seventh night vision ends in v 8 of Chapter 6. And you have this little enacted parable of the coronation of Joshua in Ch 9:9-15.

 

What have you just read? Well, this is what you have just read, in the first eight verses, four horses, each with a chariot which normally would stand before the Lord of all the earth, the record tells us, are seen going between two mountains of brass, charging out from between two mountains of brass, the black and the white horses go to the north, what is called a ‘grisled’ horse goes to the south, the red horse is not described, the red horse and the chariot are not described where he went, the consequence of those four horses and chariots going out is that “all the earth is quiet.” That’s what it says, at the end of v 8.

 

So I will draw a picture, you’ve got, here is the land of Israel, you’ve got a mountain of brass in the north, and a mountain of brass in the south, that is north and south of the land of Israel. And between these two mountains, you’ve got four chariots go out, to that way, and one that way, and the other one, he stays put, and that’s what those four chariots do. The consequence of which is that “all the earth is quiet” at the end of v 8. Now there’s the first half of the chapter and what happens in v 9 is three men Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah come back from Babylon to Jerusalem. They bring with them, v 11, silver and gold. That silver and gold is used to make crowns. One of those crowns is put on Joshua’s head, that is Joshua the High Priest’s head, so he is made a king and a priest, and the rest of the crowns are stored up in the Temple. It says in v 14, they are put in the Temple for a memorial. A number of crowns are made, one is used and the rest are basically put into storage.

 

So that’s the story of the last half of Zechariah Chapter 6. Once again, remember the two big themes of all these visions that we found in Chapter one, what were they? Two big themes that one found in each of these visions? The destruction of Israel’s enemies, and the restoration of Israel. The first eight verses here are the destruction of Israel’s enemies the second seven verses are the restoration of Israel, you’ve got chariots of war going out to destroy the enemies of Israel in the first eight verses, and then we’ve got the Temple built you will see in verse 12, 13, you’ve got a King/Priest in the Temple. I mean if this is not the restoration of Israel, what is? So these two great themes once again appear, not just in the seventh vision, but in the 6th Chapter. So I’m saying that vv 9-15 aren’t part of the of the seventh vision but they were noted here, nevertheless the two big themes of all the visions appear once again in Ch 6.

 

Ok Let’s talk about an immediate application of these things. Now there’s not a lot of actual detail in the first eight verses, I mean it is a pretty simple event, four chariots rush out of the middle of Israel two go north, one goes south the result is, the world’s conquered and it is all at peace. What would you say the application of that could have been to the captives who returned in Zechariah’s day? Well, it is a funny thing, these visions, let’s roll back to Ch 1:7, all of these visions happened in the 2nd year of Darius. This is Darius Hystaspes the King of Persia, Cyrus the Great’s gone, there was an interlude for a few years when they had an impostor, then basically, Darius Hystaspes turns up and he’s going to rule for like 40 years, he’s a major king of Persia. What happens when a new king takes the throne? What often happens in empires when the dad dies and the son turns up or the next dynasty begins, any idea? Rebellion! Everybody rebels. I mean, England rebels, Babylon rebels, the Scythians rebel, everybody Persia controls started to rebel. There was disquiet, if you like, all across the Persian empire. Within about 12 months, he had put down these rebellions, and everything was quiet in the north country.

 

So it is only in the second year but you see in this vision, by the end of the second year he had quiet in everything in the north country in Persia which of course is north of Israel. So there was, in a manner of speaking, an immediate application to hostility in the north country which was quenched in the days in which this vision is given, and that’s not the ultimate application of the vision but there was, if you like, a token application in an immediate sense in the vision.

 

As far as the rest of the chapter is concerned, well, there really were three men who did come back to Babylon in the days of Zechariah bringing gold and silver, they had this coronation ceremony of Joshua, and these crowns were laid up in the Temple, I mean, that’s an event that actually happened, and so there’s an immediate application of that to what actually happened immediately in Zechariah’s day. That wasn’t a vision.

 

Interesting thing however, come back with me to Haggai to shortly before the time Haggai’s been prophesying, and Haggai mentions in Hag Ch 2:6, he mentions the people. He mentions the Temple the they are currently building and that it doesn’t have an eternal future, this Temple. V 6, “For thus saith Yahweh of Armies; Yet once, it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land” so I am going to turn the whole place upside down, he says, that is, bring down the empire that Israel has. “I am going to shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I am going to fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies. The silver is mine, the gold is mine, says Yahweh, and the glory of the latter house,” that is the glory of the Temple that Christ will build will be greater than the glory of this one that you are building. So, even Haggai mentions the fact that silver and gold is going to come into the house that Christ builds, that is the house that Christ ultimately builds, the Temple, and it will be kept there. Well, blow me down, Ch 6, we’ve got these fellows coming from afar bringing silver and gold, it’s hammered into crowns, and it is stored in the Temple in Zechariah’s prophecy. So, quite interesting, actually. Verse 15 of Ch 6 says, and by the way, when these things begin to come to pass, the nation will know, Zechariah, that I have sent you. So this was going to be a proof, Zechariah makes this prophecy, and it becomes a proof of the fact that he is a prophet, to the people of his day. What was the prophecy about? Men will come,Zech 6:15 says, “They that are afar of shall come and build in the Temple of Yahweh,” and what’s going to happen is that these three fellows that turned up back in Israel as returnees from Babylon weren’t going to be the only three, there were going to many more that now started to come back, and so you see what is happening, there was a return from captivity in the days of Zerubbabel, they started to build the Temple, they stopped for 15 years, they recommenced the work, over the hill on three camels come these three wise men, they turn up back in Jerusalem. They are the first, but they won’t be the only ones, and the rest come back will also assist in building the Temple, there’s still two more years’ work to be done on the Temple and you’ve got a prophecy here, that we are going to have many more come back from Babylon and assist with the Temple work in Zechariah’s own day.

 

Now, hopefully Ch 6 is still alive in your minds, come back with me to Ch 1. Ch 6 you see, it appears, this seventh vision in Ch 6, appears to be somewhat a summary of all the previous visions. Have a look at this in Ch 1:8, “I saw by night a man riding on a red horse, behind him were red horses, speckled and white.” That’s interesting because in Zech Ch 6 you read about horses, you know, the horses in Ch 6 are pulling chariots, they are not being ridden by men, but nevertheless, you’ve got horses, in Ch 1 and in Ch 6, and the interesting thing is those horses in Ch 1 at the end of v 10 walk to and fro through the earth, that’s exactly what the chariots do in Zech 6:7, these chariots walk to and fro through the earth, so you’ve got a link immediately between the first vision and the seventh vision of these night visions.

 

Second vision, Ch 1:20, Yahweh showed me four carpenters, well, blow me down, we have four chariots, in Zech Ch 6, in the seventh vision, so we have another link, the link of ‘four’ in the second vision and the seventh vision. Ch 2, this is now the third vision, Ch 2:6, “Ho, ho, come forth and flee from the land of the north” you’ve got a problem in the north in this third vision, just as we do in Ch 6:8 in the seventh vision.

 

Ah, Ch 2:13, “Be silent, O all flesh before Yahweh for he is raise up out of his holy habitation.” All flesh be silent. Ch 6:8 says, ‘It’s too quiet in the north.” See, another link in the narrative now between the third vision and the 6th. The fourth vision is Zech Ch 3, What happens in Zech Ch 3? Well, we take Joshua the High Priest and we put a fair mitre on his head. Now we have an obvious link between that and what you were reading in Zech Ch 6, it just has to be clear, however, that the coronation of Joshua in Zech Ch 6 is not part of the seventh vision, it follows the seventh vision, but it is in the same chapter, and it is an evident link to Ch 3. Ch 3 is the first coronation of Joshua, Ch 6 is the second coronation of Joshua. Ch 3 he is crowned as a priest and has the priest’s mitre on his head, Ch 6, he’s got a crown on his head, he is crowned as a king/priest, nevertheless, two coronations, Ch 3, Ch 6. Not only that, Ch 4, well the first obvious one in Ch 4, v 7, “Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel you will be made a plain,” well, you’ve got a great mountain in Ch 4, you’ve got two great mountains in Ch 6, two mountains of brass, so you see, the seventh vision that you find in Ch 6 is extracting information from all these previous visions and putting them all together and it is like a composite vision, like a summary vision of everything that has gone before. Ch 4:14, “These are the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the whole earth.” Just cast your eye across to the end of Ch 6:5, those four chariots, before they went between the two mountains, stood before the Lord of all the earth, you see? So you’ve got a link between the fifth vision of Ch 4, and the seventh vision of Ch 6.

 

What about Ch 5, Ch 5:3, this is the scroll that “goeth forth.” v 5, what is this that “goeth forth,” and then those two storks carry the ephah and v 6, the “go forth” so three times at least in this chapter you’ve got this ‘going forth” of the scroll. Ch 6:5, the chariots, it says, “go forth into the north country.” And of course, the north country in Zechariah’s day was Babylon, and those two storks in Ch 5 took the ephah into Babylon. Ch 6:9 and 10, the men come from Babylon. Look at that, I’ve just run through six visions and there are pieces of each of those six visions all find themselves either in the seventh vision of Ch 6 or in the little parable that follows the seventh vision of Ch 6,you see?

 

So there is no question that our interpretations that have gone before all stick together. Let’s talk about the chariots. So Ch 6:1.  “I turned.” I’m going to stop there, that’s the first point we’ve got to make. Why is it important to observe the phrase “and I turned” in Ch 6:1? Because it says the same phrase in Ch 5:1. Now what was the point we made in Ch 5, what was being talked about in Ch 5:1? Looking back in time, right. Now all visions are future, but you might say that the vision of Ch 5 was the near future, whereas vision of Ch 4 was the distant future. He’s looking at this lampstand of gold in Ch 4 which was the saints bathing the world in the light of the gospel and he looks back in time and he sees apostasy charging towards him flying through the air off to the land of Shinar. So from a vantage point in the kingdom age, which is in Ch 4 when he is watching this lampstand before him, he looks back in time back through 500 BC where he lived and he sees apostasy going to take root and coming toward him and this affected the earth from Zechariah’s day, for the next 2,500 years. Ch 6, he looks forward again, into the kingdom age. Of course these four chariots all go out after Christ’s return. The world is at peace only after Christ’s return. This is after Armageddon these four chariots go out. I turned, and I looked back the other way, back into the kingdom age, that’s the point. “I looked and behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains and the mountains were mountains of brass.

 

What does “four” symbolize, the most obvious thing in the Bible, what does “four” symbolise? The cantons of Israel. Num Ch 2, Israel’s got four sides, three tribes on each side, one standard on each side, one Cherubic figure on each side, the Cherubim’s got four faces because the encampment of Israel had four sides and one face for each side, North, South, East, West. Four is an Israelitish number so these are Jews, or chariots related to the Hope of Israel and they come out between two mountains and the mountains are made of brass. Let’s just deal with the mountains and then come back and deal with the chariots.  What are mountains symbols of in Scripture? Powers, or empires, proof would be Jer 51:25, “Behold, I am against thee O destroying mountain says Yahweh,” now who’s he talking about. It’s easy, v 1 of Jer 51 says he is talking about Babylon, so Babylon was a destroying mountain, so mountains represent powers, or empires and so we’ve got two empires, two mountains. Who are those two mountains. Well I’ve drawn them north and south of Israel. Why have I drawn those two mountains north and south of Israel? Why, because the chariots in v 6 go into the north and into the south. You might look at that and say ‘Well, it makes sense, therefore you’ve drawn the mountains north and south?” There’s more to it than that. These two mountains are made of brass. Why are they made of brass?

 

They are related to Greece. Dan 2, Gold, silver, two mountains of brass, right, the belly and thighs were brass. If I drew this figure in Dan Ch 2, I’ve got the belly and thighs of brass, you see that this would be the belly part here, if I just draw this as the belly, that would be Alexander the Great because he  was the sole ruler of the empire and after Alexander died, the empire got split four ways to the four generals (Macedonia – Antigonus; Asia – Lysimachus; Syria – Seleucus; Egypt – Ptolemy) but of those four generals, only two were important, Seleucus (king of the north) Ptolemy (king of the South), north and south in relation to Israel. The King of the north was in Syria, and the king of the south was in Egypt. You might say that Greece, after the death of  Alexander end of Daniel Ch 7, four heads, four wings, the Greek empire of Alexander was split into four quarters. Here’s Spain, France, Italy, Israel.

 

In Daniel Ch 11 they become the King of the North and the King of the South. Dan 2:32, belly and thighs of brass, so those two thighs are the King of the North and the King of the South. You are going to say to me, ‘what’s that got to do with the kingdom age?’ what you are telling us is that these chariots are going out in the kingdom age, after Christ returns to the world, the Greek empire was BC, it was 300 years before Christ, what relationship has that got to the kingdom age? Daniel 11:1, starts off explaining world history from Daniel’s day and Daniel’s day, by the time you’ve got to Daniel 11, was the Persian empire. Babylon had now fallen and Daniel was an old man of nearly 90 years old, and he’s in the Persian empire.

 

It tells us in Dan 11:1 “In the first year of Darius the Mede,” it was the Medo/Persian Empire, I stood to confirm and strengthen him,” the Angel Gabriel was assisting Daniel. V 2 “And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia and the fourth shall be far richer than they all,” so there were going to be four kings in Persia, and the fourth one is going to stir all up against the realm of Greece. So the fourth king Xerxes, is the next king after Darius Hystaspes, actually, and Darius Hystaspes is in Zechariah, and the next king in 40 years time is going to attack Greece. And then we jump about 150 years, and Daniel ignores all the rest of the Persian kings and in v 3 he says, “a mighty king shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will,” and that is Alexander the Great, in v 3 of Daniel Ch 11. And we know it is Alexander because it says, “And when he shall stand up,” when the king of v 3 “shall stand up, his kingdom will be broken and divided and be divided toward the four winds of heaven.” The Greek empire was divided into four quarters, “and not to his posterity,” and none of his sons would control any of it. He had a little boy and he got axed as soon as Alexander died. V 5, “And the king of the South shall be strong, and one of his princes will be strong above him and have dominion and so forth.

 

The point is, the King of the South is one of the divisions of the Greek empire, in Egypt. By the time Julius Caesar came on the scene, and the Roman Empire started, what was the Greek lady’s name who ruled Egypt and fell in love with Mark Antony and many other people? Cleopatra. Well, that was the King of the South. Up here in Syria, you’ve got the King of the North, and we read of the King of the North in v 6 of Daniel Ch 11. The point of the King of the North and the king of the South is that they were at war with one another for about 150 years, back and forth across the land of Israel. Now come to Daniel 11:40, what we are saying is that the King of the North was one of the quarters of the Greek empire that lived in Syria and controlled the territory all the way down including Babylon, quite a big strip, and the King of the South was the fourth of the four quarters and controlled Egypt. In v 40 of Daniel 11, “In the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him, and the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen and many ships and enter into the countries and overflow and pass over.” When is the “time of the end?” Ch 12:1, “At that time,” that is at the “time of the end” of v 40, “shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there will be a time of trouble such as never was and everyone will be delivered who is found written in the book.” The time of the end is the time when Christ comes to bring judgment, and at that particular epoch of time, there’s going to be a fight between the King of the North and the King of the South. There’s going to be a conflict in this area of Egypt at the “time of the end.”

 

So we are back in the frame of Zechariah Ch 6. We’ve got, in Dan Ch 11 the King of the North and the King of the South, two brass mountains, two Greek empires, alive and well, at the very time Christ returns at the end of Dan 11. We are on pretty solid ground with our interpretation of Zechariah Ch6. Come back with me to Zechariah now, “I lifted up my eyes, there came four chariots out from between two mountains of brass. Now these are latter day versions of the Greek empire. The Greeks have been and gone, the Romans overthrew the Greeks, and the Romans have been and gone. We are looking for latter day empires which, if you like, occupy the same territory as those two divisions of the Greek empire. From between those two mountains come four chariots. What are these chariots? What’s the story with the chariots? I’m going to give you a couple of quotes and you will see it straight away. 1 Chron Ch 28, lets explain the chariots. 1 Chron 28:18, chariots are obviously instruments of war. I mean, Cicera had what? How many chariots did Cicera have? I think 900. The point is, 900 chariots of iron with big cutters on their wheels which was going to devastate infantry, like with lawn mowers. Chariots are instruments of war, that’s the point, but look at this, 1 Chron 28:18, “and for the altar of incense,” this is Solomon’s temple, “for the altar of incense, refined gold by weight, and gold for the pattern of the chariots of the Cherubim that spread out their wings and cover the ark.” Hey, those Cherubim which were on top of the Ark of the Covenant, beaten out of one big piece of gold, whose wings touch like this, are called the chariots of the Cherubim. Now why are they called “the chariot of the Cherubim?” Well because they are like a vehicle.

 

These Cherubim, of which you have a symbol in the Temple, they are like a vehicle, a vehicle to carry a load, that kind of a vehicle. What do they carry? Come with me to Psalm 18, I’ll show you what the chariots of the Cherubim carry. Psa 18:9, “He,” that is God, “bowed the heavens and also came down, and darkness was under his feet and he rode upon a Cherub and did fly.” God rides upon the Cherub. Now that word “Cherub” is almost the same word as ‘chariot.’God rides upon a chariot. What is the plural for the word “Cherub?” Cherubim, right? God is the word Eloah, God plural is Elohim, so God rides upon the Cherubim, that’s what he is saying here, the Cherubim is a chariot that bears a load. Whats the load? God. I can show you more clearly, come with me to Psalm 99, starting at v 1,  “Yahweh reigneth, let the people tremble, he sits between the Cherubim,” well there you are, “riding upon the Cherubim,” so the Cherubim is a chariot that bears “the glory of God,” or that bears the “presence of God.” And how is that chariot used. The chariot is a symbol of war, there is no question, the chariots of Zech 6 are war chariots going out, but they are angelic, not just war chariots from Cicera, these chariots bear the presence of God and they are going out to subdue the world. But here’s an interesting thing for you, Come with me to 2 Kgs 2, this is the day that Elijah departed and left Elishal. 2 Kgs 2:11, they get to the Jordan River, and v 11, “It came to pass as they still walked on and talked, that behold a chariot of fire and horses of fire and  parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven,” what happens to the chariot? Read v 12, the chariot races towards them and Elisha saw it and cried “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” Now, as it turns out, he’s not just saying, ‘O Look Elijah, I just saw a chariot,’ it appears as if he is actually calling Elijah the chariot, because later on when Elisha dies, one of the kings of Israel calls him “My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof” and my point is the chariots are people. So what happens to the chariot? What happens is that now it goes around about Elisha. How do we know, because in 2 Kgs 6, the next time you read of this chariot, they are at Dothan, and the Syrians are upset at Elisha because he knows what the King of Assyria says in his bed chamber, so the King of Assyria can’t possibly succeed in campaigning against Israel because Elisha just tells the King of Israel what the Assyrian’s next battle move is going to be. He says, well let’s go and kill him, because then once we kill him we can then kill Israel. No good. And Elisha’s got this servant, and his servant opens the shutters and sees that the whole city of Dothan is ringed about with the Syrian army, and his servant says, “Master, how shall we do?” And Elisha asks Yahweh to open the young man’s eyes that he might see, and they young man sees that the whole place is ringed with horses and chariots of fire, round about, round about what? Not round about Dothan, but round about Elisha.

 

There’s the character of God, and there is the purpose of God and it goes wherever he wants it to go. You’ve got four chariots, four Cherubic chariots, charging out from between two mountains, to subdue the world, this is the angels subduing the world, except that, as you are aware, the angels have passed the banner to the saints. It is not the angels that subdue the world that is to come, they do it in this world. It is the saints that go out and do this work in the future age. So, we’ve got two mountains of brass, and from between those two mountains rush out four chariots which is simply the work of the saints subduing the world in the kingdom age. The first chariot, red horses the second chariot, black horses, the third chariot white horses, and you need to make a change here, it says the fourth chariot “grisled and bay” horses in v 3 of Zech 6. And you notice your margin where it says “bay,” the margin says ‘strong.’ Now there are only four chariots here, what are they? Well, red, black, white, grizzled, there is not a fifth chariot called ‘bay,’ the word ‘bay’ just means ‘strong’ and what it is saying is this,the NIV, says instead of ‘bay horses’ the NIV says, ‘all of them powerful.’ The word ‘bay’ is not a color it is an adjective. What are we saying, we’ve got four chariots, red, black, white, grizzled, all of them strong. So that’s what those two verses are saying.

 

What do the colors mean? Come with me to Rev 6. I might have said before that Zechariah is  like the ‘Apocalypse of the Old Testament.’ Perhaps you can see why, we’ve got all of these events being described in Zechariah. Rev Ch 6 we’ve got four horsemen, and these are four phases of the Roman Empire, all under the control of God. What colors are they? Red, white, black and pale. Red means, bloodshed, so war, white means peace – the interesting this is that he is going forth to conquer but he is preaching the Truth so this is a time in the Roman empire when the truth really took off. It is peace, but It is conquest if you like by non-carnal means, call it conquest by the Word, conversion. What is he issue famine. The same colours of course in Zechariah Chapter 6 so it would be hard to say they had different meanings, so you’ve got four horses and four chariots. Grisled,  grisled is the only exception. We’ve got red, white and black here in Zechariah 6, and we’ve got grisled. Grisled means black and white. Blotches of black and blotches of white, it is nothing like green, it is a combination of black and white. Ah! Well I would look at this and I’d probably be putting death and plague onto the grisled horse. I would parallel it with Rev Ch. 6, all we are given is a colour and not a meaning in Zechariah, in Revelation we are given a meaning. I would myself be opting for that rather than making some combination of black and white for the fourth horse. Nevertheless what you can see, we’ve still got four horses going out in bloodshed then taking the world by peace, famine and plague. Now what do you think of Zechariah 14, this is exactly how God subdues the world at the beginning of the Kingdom age. There is no question about bloodshed, in vv 1 and 2 of Zechariah 14 you’ve got Russia has come down and now conquered Israel and set up it’s tabernacle between he two seas. V3, “Then shall Yahweh go forth and fight against those nations like he fought in the day of battle,” so there’s bloodshed, God goes to war. In v 12, “this shall be the plague wherewith Yahweh shall smite the people that fought against Jerusalem.” And if they don’t come up v 16, to worship every year at the feast of Tabernacles then they get what? No rain. What is “no rain?” No rain is famine. In Zechariah you’ve got clear evidence that God is going to used these various means to subdue the nations.

 

What have we got happening here? These four horses go out, what might the “horse” be a symbol of? Let me offer you a couple, Job’s the big one because there are a lot of verses on it. Job 39:19, “Hast thou given the horse strength? Has thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid of the grasshopper?” So horses are powerful and they are not scared. Of course, they are scared, scared of snakes and such, but they are not scared in war. The funny thing is if you want to make a dog not flinch at the sound of a gun, then it is not hard to train a horse to be immune to the sound of gun fire. Of course cavalries use horses and the horses charge straight out and they don’t cafe that there are bullets flying, I mean, the horses die, but it doesn’t care that there are bullets flying everywhere, it is not intimidated by the noise of gunshot. V21, “He paweth  in the valley, he rejoices in his strength, he goes to meet the armed men.” He is not afraid of war is the horse. “He mockery at fear and not afrighted, neither turneth he back from the sword.” There is blood flowing everywhere, it doesn’t matter, he just keeps going. He is a great symbol of war. “He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage, neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.He says to the trumpet Aha! And smells the battle afar off and charges,” so the horse looks for the battle. This is what the horse is for, most often in the Scripture. They were not allowed to multiply horses because horses were weapons and if the multiplied horses they would rely upon themselves in battle and not rely upon God.

 

So we’ve got horses dragging these chariots, the point is, these chariots are going to war and they are running out between these two brass mountains. Now, what’s the story? How do you suppose the horses of Ch 6 relate to the horses of Ch 1? We made the point that Ch 6 calls on the symbols of the first vision of Ch 1. In Ch 1 you’ve got men riding horses and in Ch 6 you’ve got horses pulling chariots. It is evident that horses pulling chariots are going to war. There is no question a horse is a horse, and so the men in Ch 1 must be some kind of warriors as well. The answer to the riddle is that the horsemen of Ch 1 are scouts, and they are bringing back reconnaisance. It appears for example in Ch 1:11, “we’ve walked to and fro through the earth, and behold all the earth is still and at rest.” You’ve got the horsemen of Ch 1 supervising the campaign of the chariots in Ch 6 and the chariots go out and wage war and the horsemen of Ch 1, the bring back reconnaisance and decide whether it is time to continue fighting or whether it is time to cease from fighting.  Now, Ch 6:4, Lets see, if you like, vv 1-3 we haven’t hooked up with all that is happening yet because all I have told you so far is I have told you what the symbols mean and I’ve told you what these symbols are doing, but what is actually happening, v 4. “I answered and said to the angel that talked with me, what are these my Lord? And the angel answered and said to me, these are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” The four spirits of the heavens. So these four chariots and horses are called “four spirits.” “Spirits” doesn’t really help you, but the margin does, “four winds.” That is important, what are the “winds” a symbol of, and you’ve got a classic answer. Jer 51:1,  I was going to turn up Jer 4:11-13 which says the same thing, but Jer 51:1, “Thus smith Yahweh; Behold I will raise up against Babylon and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind.”  Who destroyed Babylon? Persia. Persia was the destroying wind that destroyed Babylon. The point is, ‘the wind” is a symbol of an army.

 

These Cherubic chariots are four military chariots and are four armies that go out two north, one south and one stays still, that’s what they are. The four spirits of the heavens are four winds which are four armies of the heavens. It is not four individual chariots as in the vision but four great armies of God,  four columns of saints that go into the world to subdue the world and those armies would otherwise be standing before the Lord of all the earth. Let me show you armies standing before God, turn to 1Kings 22 Now in this vision, those armies are angels but in the future it will be the saints, but it is the same thing, mortal beings in a military capacity. The Lord of all the earth in the future will be Christ, but in my explanation to you it is God because it is Old Testament. 1Kngs 22:19, The question is in the throne in the heaven, who’s going to make Ahab fall at Ramoth-Gilead,  how do we get rid of Ahab? One angel gives a suggestion, another angel gives a suggestion, a third angel says “I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets,” that’ll work go and do it. V 18, The king of Israel, that’s Ahab said,  “Did I not tell thee that Micaiah would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?” And Maichaiah said, I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” He sees the angels standing around God in his throne in the heaven, working out how they are going to cause Ahab, King of Israel, die in battle. In the future age, those angels are replaced by the saints and God is replaced by the Lord Jesus Christ. The point is it is immortal beings that stand before the Lord of all the earth, Old Testament, New Testament. The angels in the future it is the saints that do that job.
Back in Zechariah 6:5, we have got four armies of the heavens go forth from where they usually are, standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses into the north first thing, the white, after them into the north. So half the army goes into the north and the grisled, the black and white, mottled if you like, go into the south, there is no mention of what happens to the red, and then it says in v 7, “and the bay went forth and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth,” so this must be a reference to the red, where the “bay” means “strong,” so the strong one “sought’ what he should do, and the answer is that he goes “to and fro in the earth.” So v 7, the “bay” must be a reference to the red horse and so they walk to and fro in the earth. I mentioned just a moment ago that “bay” means “strong,” it is not a color, so “the strong one went to and fro in the earth,’ that’s what he did. And he said, “get you hence, walk to and fro in the earth,” so they walked to and fro in the earth. The consequence of that is “he cried upon me and spake to me,” in v 8, “and behold these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”

 

I’m going to finish off the horsemen in v 8 and I am going to stop in v 8. Let me tell you a story of what’s happening with these horsement. Come back to Ch 1, there is a whole issue about the north country. In Zechariah 1:14, the whole sequence of the visions opens up with these statements in v 14, “The angel that communed with me said to me Cry thou,Zechariah saying, Thus saith Yahweh of Armies; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction.” I was irritated by  the wickedness of the nations that attacked my people, now I am ropeable, God says, I am utterly furious with the nations. That’s what happens in Zechariah 1 in the first vision, between these horsemen of Ch 1 so something very bad has happened. What’s happened? God has brought the nations against Israel to punish Israel for their wickedness, but the nations have gone too far. Whether it be Syria, or Babylon or Greece or Rome for that matter, but this is in the last days, so Russia has gone too far. That’s the nation that comes against Israel in the last days. She’s come and then she has attacked but she has gone too far, and she is living at ease now and she’s laughing and God is very very angry with what has happened here. Now, here’s the question, what has she done? What’s gone on? Zech 14, this is what has happened. V 1 “Behold, the day of Yahweh cometh and thy spoil,” that is the spoil of Jerusalem, “shall be divided in midst of thee and I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled, the women ravished, half the city shall go forth into captivity and the remainder of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” They have deported half the city of Jerusalem into captivity. Whereabouts in captivity? You tell me? Here’s Russia coming down here, obviously, from the north. She is taking captives from Jerusalem, Zech 8 tells us that she kills 2/3 of the Jews in the surrounding land and she takes these captives from Jerusalem, half of them. Now what’s the population of Jerusalem? Maybe about 800,000 but of course if you’ve got an invasion of the land all these little country towns, just like in the old days, whoof, they’ll all converge on the big cities, so no way when you come to Armageddon are you going to have a population of only 800,000. It will blow out to a couple or more million people, people are going to go wherever they they is safe and you’ve got to believe that the Israeli Army is going to lose Jerusalem last, they will lose every city in the land before they lose the city of Jerusalem. You would know if you were a Jew that your last hour of life on this earth if it is going to be anywhere, it is going to be there. I’m suggesting that the population of Jerusalem is going to blow out to millions of people.

 

OK, so now we are going to kill 2/3 in the land and we are going to deport Jerusalem, but where to? She is going to take them into the territory that she owns, she can’t go down here, the allied forces are here, Tarshish, Sheba, Dedan, there is too much happening here, Russia doesn’t get involved with Edom Moab and Amon, because there are hostile powers here and they control all of Palestine, down to Egypt and back. She’s got to go north. Where does Russia take her captives?   They’ve got to get to the north country. How do I know that? Well have a look at this. Joel 3. Now you know what Joel 3’s about, it is an Armageddon chapter. Joel 3:1, “Behold in those days and at that time when I bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,” that is to say when I bring Judah and Jerusalem out of captivity. Judah came out of Gentile captivity in 1948 and Jerusalem came out of Gentile captivity in 1967 when the Jews took the city of Jerusalem in the 6-day war. At that time, v 2, “I am going to gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,” and that is a carbon copy of Zech 14 that we’ve just read, vv 1 and 2. That’s exactly what is happening in Joel 3 and v 6. We’ve got Armageddon happening in Joel 3. Look what happens in v 6,”The children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.” These are ancients verses, and there is an ancient application of these verses, however, you know from v 1 it is brought right into the latter days and it appears as though the aggressor that comes upon the land has extradited the Jewish people and sold them where? to the Grecians. That is most fascinating, because the mountains of brass were Greek, weren’t they, and Russia’s coming down, in the words of Daniel 11, as a latter day Greek, as a King of the North, that’s what he is called in Dan Ch 11, the King of the North, and the Jews have been taken by the Greeks, the King of the North.

 

And what do you make of v 16 of Joel 3? “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake and Yahweh shall be the hope of his people.” If I had to put a picture beside v 16 of that happening, do you know what I would draw? Four chariots charging out of the city of Jerusalem, that’s Zech Ch 6, that’s what happens in Joel 3:16, that’s the fourth chariot and guess what, it is going north, why? To get the people back. One goes south to mop up that, the other goes to and fro, the red chariot has just dealt the blow of the battle of Armageddon and he stays in the land, remarkable.

 

Ok to Zechariah again. What happens after the battle of Armageddon? Immediately after the battle of Armageddon, we’ve got all these Jews who have been taken into the north country, we’ve got the refined third or the third that are left from Judah the cities and areas surrounding Jerusalem who didn’t die, they’ve been converted, they see the wounds in Christ’s hands, they have now become Christadelphians, they are still mortal, they are just Jews, converts, they’ve been through the fire, everyone’s lost 2/3 of their families and now they are going to line up behind the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens? Zech Ch 10, I will show you what happens. In Zech 10:3, “Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds and I punished the goats because Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in battle.” The surviving Jews of Armageddon will remain in the land, not the captives, but the ones that are in the land, he will send them to the land and what do they do? Well, v 6, “I will strengthen the house of Judah, I will save the house of Joseph and I will bring them again to place them and I will have mercy upon them.” V 8 “I will hiss for them and gather them because I have redeemed them and they shall increase as they have increased.” What’s it saying? That the Jews that survive Armageddong are taken into the world to bring back all the other Jews and regather them to the land of Israel. That is the work of Elijah, that we are reading about in Zech Ch 10, but the way it is described they are made into a war. And who are they going to get those captive Jews from? Well look at Zech 9:13 “When I have bent Judah for me and filled the bow with Ephraim.” That is, the bow is Judah, the Jews in the land, and Ephraim is the arrow, that is the scattered Jews, they are both formed into a force,  “and raised up thy sons O Zion and thy sons O Greece.” He is going to go and fight the Greeks. Judah is going to go to war against the Greeks. The Greeks have been Greeks for thousands of years. Ah! It is the latter day Greeks. Why is Russia called the latter day Greek? Or the latter day King of the North? Because he occupies the territory of that ancient part of the Greek empire. He is just living where the ancient Greeks used to live. He is called the King of the North. The problem is that it is that Greek that now owns all of these Jewish captives. Elijah has to go back and get them. Those chariots have got to go back and release them. Last quote for you. Do you know what, come to Jeremiah 3.

 

Look what it says, once that whole job is done and those chariots go out and bring the Jews back to the land and subdue the armies that have controlled them, look how it is described in Jer 3:18. Let me start in v 17 for context. “At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh and all nations shall be gathered unto it to the Name of Yahweh to Jerusalem.” Now this is not all nations gathered to Jerusalem to destroy it, this is Jerusalem as the throne of Christ’s kingdom, as the capital of the world, in Jer 3:17. “Neither shall anyone walk after the imagination of their own heart any more,” so the world is subdued. “In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.” Why does it say they will come together out of the land of the north? It appears that it may only be for a very short time that they remain in the north when Russia takes them to the land of the north. The point is, that when Jerusalem becomes the capital of the world the Jews in the land that you meet as you go up to the land of Israel are remembered as the Jews came from the land of the north. Now just think how ominous these words must be, Jer 23:7, “Therefore behold, the days come saith Yahweh that (the world) shall no more say, Yahweh liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but Yahweh liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries where I have driven them and they shall dwell in their own land.” Now here is the second Exodus, and can you see that the second Exodus completely overwhelms any memory of the first Exodus. Moses led 2 million people out of Egypt, it was a big deal. He parts the sea they have a miraculous feeding for forty years, despite the fame of that situation, it will pale into insignificance against the Second Exodus. What is the Second Exodus? Simply the gathering of all Jews from all countries of the world. God will not be the God that led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he will be the God that rescued them from the north country.

 

So what’s going to happen? Russia comes down and invades the land of Israel, there’s the battle of Armageddon, the red horse wipes out all the Russians in the battle of Armageddon, but before Armageddon happens, after the city of Jerusalem has been taken captive, that could be millions of people because the city of Jerusalem has blown out inside. Immediately after the battle of Armageddon, we’ve got the Jews who are alive have been converted, because they’ve seen the fire of Armageddon they have lost 2/3 of their families. They have formed into a war horse to go out and fight for Jesus. If they were just natural Jews charging off into Europe, they’d stop a lot of bullets before they would get anywhere.