Zechariah and Prophesies Fulfilled

Posted on October 2, 2012 by JohnJ

The New Testament tells an amusing story revealing Jesus sense of humor, when right after His Resurrection He walked the road to Emmaus with two men who were discussing recent events and Jesus asked them about the things they talked. They were amazed he had not heard about such noteworthy and public happenings. To which Jesus responded, “What things?” (Luke 24:19) Amusing since He was the subject of all these events! But while they continued their journey a most remarkable thing occurred. “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (v. 27) Can you imagine a more fabulous time, a Bible study conducted by the Author Himself! I wish I had been there.

I love reading the Old Testament and coming across little tidbits of revelations that have been finally brought to light in the New Testament that have to do with the things of Jesus Christ and His ministry, life, death, and Resurrection. I just finished Zechariah and list below those that have been used from this book by New Testament writers. I’ve included the entire verse, even though in some cases the writer may have only used a portion of the verse for their purpose as divinely directed. As it is interesting to see the context in which the original statements were made so many hundreds of years prior to the events about which they are foretold. As far as I can determine these are the only verses used about the Messiah from Zechariah.
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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9

Indeed rejoicing and shouting did accompany Jesus as He entered Jerusalem riding the prophesied animal at the beginning of the Holy Week. The “rabble recognize Him in the prophesies but the rulers didn’t and they vehemently protested the uproar He was generating. But Jesus told them that if the people didn’t demonstrate then the stones would cry out. In other words, something in creation would recognize just who it was who was coming to reclaim his rightful place in Jerusalem. (See Luke 19 19:29-48)
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I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages.
Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Zechariah 11:12-13

In Zechariah’s vision he feed’s the flock in God’s stead and afterwards requests wages. Contemptuously they throw thirty pieces of silver at him, the value of a slave (Ex. 21:32), the flock’s value placed on God as well. Thus God’s command to discard the miserable sum by tossing into the Temple to the potter who happened to be there. What was the value of Judas would place on turning Jesus over to the Jewish leaders? What monetary amount would he negotiate to turn traitor and help them rid the nation of an irritant? He could become rich, but was he doing this for the money or for ideological reasons. He settled on a figure of thirty pieces of silver. And when Jesus was arrested, tried and tortured and condemned to death, Judas realized his mistake. He tried to give the money back but the Jews laughed at him, so he threw the money back and them. They used the silver to buy the Potter’s Filed, a pauper’s burial; ground. (Matt. 27:3-10)
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“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Zechariah 12:10

Amazing for the Lord in one sentence to combine the most sublime graciousness with the pointedly rejection of being pierced. It is His people who not only have rejected Him but have held the spear and thrust it through His side. And they will stand dumbfounded as He presents Himself to them in such a state and He, in superlative graciousness forgives them. And they respond with bitter weeping, very appropriately.
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“And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’
“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. Zechariah 13:6-7

Again, the nail prints in His hands, the spear piercing his side, wounds contributing to such a horrible death, a death He voluntarily submitted to in our place, marks of horror appropriated while dwelling among His friends. He was bruised, as Isaiah put is, and in doing so the sheep scatter in fright. We have the benefit of Jesus applying this verse to Himself as we read in Matthew 26:31.

[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]

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The Jews Will be a Blessing

Posted on September 28, 2012 by JohnJ


It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing.
Zechariah 8:13

You read correctly. The Jews will be a blessing. To all the mankind. This seems strange since throughout their history they’ve received the enmity of virtually everyone, from the Egyptian oppression by the Hyskos Kings and later, to the nations of Canaan that Israel was to dispossess, to the Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians that exiled them from their land. Throughout history, to the Holocaust, this century, the Jews have had a less than stellar reputation and many have looked at their race negatively. Today such kooks as The Iranian president make such remarks about “the Zionists” (a term used as a pejorative) right to exist as a nation and wants it wiped off the map.

But to be honest, it has been the promise of God that before He brought them into the Promised Land He would give them blessings so tremendous they could hardly imagine (Deuteronomy 28) if they only obeyed Him. However, if they failed to obey, the curses they would endure would be most unendurable (also enumerated in Deuteronomy 28), but of particular import is the curse “You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the LORD drives you.” Deut. 28:37. This is the ugly curse that has followed them through the ages, through all their teats and turmoils and heartache.

But in this chapter of Zechariah the Lord announces a bold new thing. “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!'” Zech. 8:14, 15

Do not fear indeed! You don’t have to fear those kooks and imbeciles who want to exterminate you. Because the Lord God promises to do good to Jerusalem. The city will prosper. It citizens will live in righteousness an truth. It will be such a wonderful place that people will come from near and far to experience its blessing. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.”‘ Zech. 8:19, 20

The Jews will be such a popular people, the curse that had settled on them for so many centuries will have so completely disappeared as to be completely forgotten that they will be sought out. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”‘” Zech. 8:23 Ten men no less, will approach one Jew in wonder and delight anticipating that he will be kind enough to lead them in his favor to go up to the City of God to be blessed in his presence. Isn’t that a grand thing?

No that will be a remarkable sight indeed. When will this happen? The book of Zechariah reads kind of like an Old Testament book of Revelation with its visions and lampstands and scrolls and horses and crowns, and chariots. But for certain this can’t happen until the Messiah is revealed and blesses His people and city. So it isn’t going to happen this month. Rats!

But still it is comforting to see the promise that appears in Revelation, that the Lord will restore His people, His city. “And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” Zech. 14:9 Amen and Amen.

[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]

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The Fall of Man
What the Bible Teaches, RA Torrey

Posted on September 27, 2012 by JohnJ

This the 31st chapter of 52 in RA Torrey’s 1898 publication What The Bible Teaches. We are reviewing them hoping you’ll join the conversation. See all of Lex’s posts here. A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here. You are welcome and encouraged to join the discussion in your comments to these posts.


Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'”
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1-5

For such a catastrophic event the scene is brief and sketchy. But there are some tell-tale details. Like Eve’s embellishment of God’s command, “God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it.'” Seems like she was a bit miffed as she whined about this little rule. The pair had everything they could ask for, but withholding this one insignificant fruit seemed an irritant that now surfaced. It was enough for the Tempter to build on and amplify this exaggeration into doubt then into the lie, “You surely will not die!”

It is all to easy for us to judge these two innocents because we see the results of their error in judgement from the perspective of the all the pain and suffering and death after the fact. “How could they have made such a bone-headed decision over a piece of fruit?” But they had no frame of reference but a perfect garden of Eden. Did they even know what evil was when the Tempter told them they’d know the difference between it and good? They probably didn’t even know what death was. When God told them “in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) did they really even know what that meant? Die in what way? Die how? Was it explained or did God leave that up in the air and let them live by faith?

Frankly I think Torrey is a bit unsatisfactory in this chapter. I like the Keil & Delitzsch commentary on Genesis a lot but it is a deeply scholarly work. I admit I have not done much reading about the Fall so I have not read any satisfying explanation of how the Fall could have happened and what it meant for humanity. Except for the Apostle Paul, of course! I’ll have to read what Calvin writes in his Institutes about it. That the temptation of Eve could have been resulted any other way is not up for debate. God created the universe knowing the end from the beginning. If I was that first Adam and had engaged the Tempter would I have succumbed or succeed? Would a silly piece of fruit been so appealing to me that I’d think, “nuts to God’s command, let me take a bite? Serpent, you’re right, what does God know, it’s just a piece of fruit, there’s lots of fruit around!”

No, I’m sure, in the same circumstance I’d fail in the just same way. I mentioned this last week but the best depiction of a tempter explaining how it can make perfect sense to disobey a simple commandment is in C.S. Lewis’ 1943 science fiction work Perelandra. (Perelandra, C. S. Lewis, 1943, The Bodley Head, UK.) Chapter nine and the following of this second volume of his Space Trilogy are quite astounding. This is by far the best dialog convincingly portraying how Eve and Adam (in Perelandra it is a tempter and a Lady) could have been duped in the garden. Download a PDF copy of the book. It is worthwhile just to read it for this temptation scene.

This one inconsequential object, the forbidden fruit, was the focal point of completely corrupting creation. But it also started salvation history which would result in the remarkable singularity of the Lord God sending His only begotten Son to earth, God incarnate, to redeem mankind and all creation. We can hardly comprehend the entire plan at present. The Bible tells us only the portion from Genesis to Revelation. God exists outside of time and His creation so He has not revealed to us everything He is thinking, man is not capable to comprehend it all. But once redemption history is complete, and the revelation is complete and the new heaven and earth has been presented as He has shared in the book of Revelation, we have eternity to enjoy in the presence of our Lord. and enjoy all that He has prepared for us. That’s enough for me.

[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]

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What the Bible Teaches, RA Torrey

Thoughts on Zephaniah: Israel and the Coastlands

Posted on September 23, 2012 by JohnJ


Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame,
Before the decree takes effect– The day passes like the chaff– Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD’S anger comes upon you.
Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’S anger.
For Gaza will be abandoned And Ashkelon a desolation; Ashdod will be driven out at noon And Ekron will be uprooted.
Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; And I will destroy you So that there will be no inhabitant.
So the seacoast will be pastures, With caves for shepherds and folds for flocks.
And the coast will be For the remnant of the house of Judah, They will pasture on it. In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening; For the LORD their God will care for them And restore their fortune.
Zephaniah 2:1-7

Zephaniah is a short three chapter prophesy. He starts with judgement against Israel for its apostasy and idolatry, then includes in judgement the surrounding nations, but at the end of chapter three resolves into the great hope of restoring Israel to the Lord and to the land.

The thing I find interesting is that today, while she finds herself an island amidst a sea of hostility on all sides, there seems little that can be done to bring peace and stability to the region. Great efforts continue to be made politically, publicly as well as I’m sure in secret in back channels, to negotiate with all parties, but this has been going on for decades now with no tangible results.

Frankly, while all parties can not afford to admit failure and can not give up, there is no real chance for success of peace in the Middle East. Not as long as Lord God is left out of the equation. But what if God was brought into the equation somehow. Zephaniah declares that the Lord will certainly bring to pass the fact that Israel will possess the coast lands and that the current occupants will be removed, per the verses above. Wouldn’t it be spectacular, and I speak only in a dream-like state now, if the leaders of Israel acknowledged the Messiah and returned to their Lord God and be restored to fellowship with Him? The only reason they’ve been under judgement depicted by the Old Testament Prophets is because they’ve broken fellowship with the Lord, for a multitude of reasons. What if they recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and were restored to fellowship with Him, as He promises in the Prophets? Would that bring any of the prophesies that are still yet to be fulfilled much closer to fulfillment?

It is going to happen sooner or later, she will eventually recognize Christ Jesus as her Messiah and Savior. Who is to say that it couldn’t happen very soon? How long can the State of Israel withstand the pressures and hostilities of nations around her who are manically committed to her extermination, who have as a primary ideology that she has no right to exist . . . . not withstanding God’s word to the contrary of course?

Zephaniah, in three brief chapters describes Israel’s neighbors on the losing end of the fight, and, while Israel herself is purged and cleansed by fire, she does make it through to the restoration. And in the end wins the lands she at present only dreams she could possess. Plus she comes back into fellowship with her God. “The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more.” “At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together; Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” Says the LORD. Zephaniah 3:15, 20 It is going to happen. We just wish and hope it would happen quickly!

[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]

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Man’s Original Condition
What the Bible Teaches, RA Torrey

Posted on September 20, 2012 by JohnJ

This the 30th installment of 52 reviewing RA Torrey’s 1898 publication What The Bible Teaches. See all of Lex’s posts here. A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here. You are welcome and encouraged to join the discussion in your comments to these posts.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:26-27

After RA Torrey discusses God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the next subject is Man. And the first consideration is man’s original condition after his creation In the Beginning. As opposed to after a lengthy period of evolutionary progress when God said, “Enough evolution already. You have sufficiently developed and can now appropriately be called ‘Man.'” But I get ahead of myself. Torrey doesn’t attack Evolution until three pages into the topic.

God’s first great act of creation is to make a creature in His own image and likeness. Yes, He had already created the the actual physical universe and it is an awesome thing, the galaxies, globular clusters, pulsars, spiral nebula, comets, myriads of stars and ringed planets in glorious, living color, so to speak. Fabulous to gaze at the pictures from the Hubble telescope. But when it comes to making things the human body has it hands down (pun intended). At least before the Fall.

God created man in His own image and called it good and set him in a garden. Torrey stresses the likeness of intellectual and moral nature. Adam named all the animals that God brought to him, so had had some smarts. Now we can only use 10% of our brain. Adam, I presume, could use all of his. What a monumental difference that could have made in his quality of life had he continued that path for very long!

On the moral front Adam was sinless, yes. He was innocent, certainly. But did he know right from wrong? He had not yet eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He knew God’s directive, so he should have known what it was to obey a command, and that the consequences to disobey was death. But did he know what death was to be able to judge that consequence? And out of all the the things he could do in the garden and in life there was only one thing he was told not to do. With overwhelming odds like that he’s not going to think much about this little thing. So morally, he is a child. He walks with God and enjoys a close fellowship with his Creator for however long this perfection lasted for himself and Eve. There’s no sin, there’s no anger, hostility, shame, antagonism, domineering competition; all social interaction is peaceful, encouraging, uplifting, pleasant, and blessed.

And contributing to all this are all the other likenesses that God instilled into His creation, Adam and Eve. The ability to create, ponder, have fun, laugh, all the best things man can do today in fact, except without the evil and twisted nonsense and hatred that attaches itself. All the good things are still the effects of God’s creation of mankind in His image and likeness. Except we hardly recognize it now or even give Him credit. So life before the Fall is is so unlike anything we can ever dream of we are incapable of comprehending it. We have no point of reference. Kind of like Heaven. People think Heaven is someplace so boring with nothing to do or nothing anyone would really want to do that who in their right mind would really want to go there, they’d really rather just stay here on earth!

But the test had to come. God created all of this for a reason. One of these days we’ll know that reason, and I suspect it has something to do with the larger stage of Heaven and the Fallen Angels and how God will show them how He will be glorified in spite of their rebellion, and that He is going to use us to accomplish that mission. But I think we’ll eventually find out for sure.

In the next chapter Torrey addresses the Fall of Man, but he introduces it here with a paragraph and a thought, that man was creates sinless, and “sin only entered the world through man by his conscious and voluntary choice.” A topic to be discussed more thoroughly next week. I’d like only to say before that discussion that I’ve always excoriated Adam and Eve for that monumental failure. That is until I read a work by C.S. Lewis. The second book of his Space Trilogy, Perelandra, has its own temptation scene, chapter 9, that is written in such a manner that explains better than I could have ever thought possible how such an argument as depicted in Genesis in the Garden of Eden could have resulted as it did with Eve and Adam’s disobedience. It is an astounding piece of writing by Lewis. And if you think that if it were you in that garden instead of Adam things would have turned out much differently, be prepared for a change of mind after reading this ninth chapter on Perelandra. (Perelandra, C. S. Lewis, 1944, Clive Staples Lewis.)

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What the Bible Teaches, RA Torrey