Gold for the heart - Zechariah 11-14

Zechariah 11

The Lord withdraws His pity compassion when we turn to false gods

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are destroyed: howl, O oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage has come down. 3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is destroyed. 4 The Lord my God says this; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and do not consider themselves guilty: those that sell them say, Blessed is the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds do not pity them. 6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD: but, look at this, I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them out of their hand.

Ezekiel 1:26 shows the Almighty LORD of heaven and earth on His sapphire throne, a fiery amber form of a man, flashing forth rainbows. Here He is pronouncing judgment against those who turn their backs on Him.

7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took myself two staffs; I called one Kindness, and the other I called Union; and I fed the flock. 8 I cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then I said, I will not feed you: that which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat each others flesh. 10 And I took my staff, Kindness, and cut it in pieces, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited on me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

The nation was on death row because they chose idols rather than God.
Feeding the flock that is about to be destroyed for idolatry was giving them a last chance to believe in Christ for eternal life.
Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

12 And I said to them, If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; and if not, let it go. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said to me, throw it to the potter, that magnificent price that I was valued at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 14 Then I cut apart my other staff, Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15 And the LORD said to me, Take again for yourself the tools of a foolish shepherd.

This foretells of the betrayal of the Son of God by His own people for 30 pieces of silver.
God had revealed Himself to them and they rejected Him.
This flock of slaughter would not let the Lord form them into His image.
God is our potter.
We are the clay that should allow Him to mold us into His eternal sons.
Matthew 27:5 is the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Judas confessed to betraying innocent blood and threw the 30 pieces of silver into the temple.

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.

16 For, look at this, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those that are cut off, nor seek the young one, nor heal what is broken, nor feed that which stands still: but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. 17 Cries of grief to the worthless shepherd that leaves the flock! The sword will be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm will be completely dried up, and his right eye will be utterly darkened.

God ruins their defenses and makes them unable to hurt His flock anymore.
This is how the leaders were treating others.
Ezekiel 34 contrasts the bad and good shepherd.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

Ezekiel 34:11 This is what the Lord God says; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them on the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the high mountains of Israel: they will lie down there in a good fold, and in a fat pasture they will feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord GOD.

Zechariah 12

The Lord fights for His people in amazing ways

1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, says the LORD who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they are in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 In that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the people with blindness.

The Lord stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth; He forms the spirit of man within him.
God has struck with blindness before (Genesis 19:11, 2 Kings 6:18). He does it to protect His people.

Isaiah 51:22 The Lord your God says this, and your God that pleads the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury; you will never drink it again: 23 But I will put it into the hand of those that afflict you.

God makes His people a torch of holiness

4 And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it will be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth are gathered together against it. 5 And the leaders of Judah will say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem will be my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God. 6 In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire among sheaves; and they will devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem will be inhabited again in her own place, in Jerusalem.

God only goes to war against evil.
In this campaign against Israel in the last days the Jews are trapped in Jerusalem, surrounded and about to be overrun when the Lord returns to save them.

7 The LORD also will deliver the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day will be like David; and the house of David will be like God, as the angel of the LORD before them. 9 And it will come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour on the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they will look upon me, the alpha and omega, whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

The Lord saves Judah first to prevent pride in the rest of the nation against God’s ruling tribe.
He defends His people and makes them mighty.
He destroys th ose who come against His people.
He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications.
they shall look upon me --- whom they have pierced.’ In the Hebrew text, there are two untranslated letters between these two words. The letters are aleph and tau, the Greek would be alpha and omega. The beginning and the end, whom they have pierced.

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and immediately there came out blood and water.

John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, Reach your finger here, and behold my hands; and reach your hand here, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

11 In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Simeon apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

As a nation, they mourn over their rejection of the true Son of God, their Messiah, when He first came to earth.
They mourn apart, husbands and wives because God is to be our first love.
Husbands and wives didn’t create us in their image or give us life and breath or die for our sins.
God deserves first place in our lives.

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

Zechariah 13

The Lord opens a cleansing fountain

1 In that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 2 And it will come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no longer be remembered: and I also will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.

‘In that day’ is the day that God’s people turn back to Him as a nation. He will cut off the names of the idols.

John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst; but the water that I give him will be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Mark 1:26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

3 And it will happen, that when any still prophesies, then his father and his mother that begat him will say to him, You will not live; for you speak lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begot him will thrust him through when he prophesies. 4 And it will come to pass in that day, that the prophets will be ashamed every one of his vision, when he has prophesied; neither will they wear a large garment of hair to lie/deceive: 5 But he will say, I am not a prophet, I am a farmer; for man taught me to keep livestock from my youth. 6 And one will say to him, What are these wounds in your hands? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my lover.

Prophets will not be necessary because the Lord will be there with His people.
He alone quenches eternal thirst. False prophets lead to eternal death.
Without God, man becomes desensitized and loses the ability to feel.
Part of that false worship is self harm (1 Kings 18:28).
These prophets will deny their false worship practices saying that their wounds are from a lover.

7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the LORD of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered: and I will turn my hand on the little ones. 8 And it will come to pass, that in all the land, says the LORD, two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them as gold is tested: they will call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they will say, The LORD is my God.

Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; neither will the flame kindle upon you.

Zechariah 14

The Lord’s day is coming; He fights for us

1 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your plunder will be divided in the midst of you. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city will go into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Deuteronomy 20:4 For the LORD your God is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

Revelation 19:11-13 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

4 And his feet will stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives will split in the middle toward the east and toward the west, and there will be a very great valley; and half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And you will flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains will reach unto Azal: yes, you will flee like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with you.

When Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, the angels standing by told the disciples that He would return the same way He left.
He was standing on the Mt. of Olives (Acts 1:9-12).
The resurrection feet of Jesus look like fine polished glowing brass (Revelation 1:15).
They will touch down on the Mt. of Olives and the mountain will split apart creating a great valley, making an escape route for His people that the nations are about to destroy.

6 And it will come to pass in that day, that the light will not be clear or dark: 7 But it will be one day which will be known to the LORD, not day or night: but it will come to pass, that at evening time it will be light. 8 And it will be, in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and winter it will be.

Remember in the tribulation the seas become blood and everything in them dies (Revelation 8:8-10)?
Now this heals it. Ezekiel 47:1-8 explains this fully.

The LORD will be king over the whole earth

9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth: in that day there will be one LORD, and his name one. 10 All the land will be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it will be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. 11 And men will dwell in it, and there will be no more a curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.

Our heavenly Father told Jesus that He would give Him the nations of the world to rule as His possession.
The heathen in Psalm 2:8 are nations of peoples that turned away from their Maker.
See John 17 about the name of the Lord being ONE.

Psalm 2:8 Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you shatter them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Isaiah 32:1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in judgment.

12 And this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their holes, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 And it will be in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD will be among them; and every one will lay hold on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor. 14 And Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about will be gathered together, gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance. 15 And this will be the plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, the ass, and of all the animals that will be in these tents, like this plague.

Until the atomic bomb and biological weapons such a thing was not imaginable.
God has at times caused the enemy to turn and fight among themselves.

Judges 7:22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his companion, even throughout all the army: and the army fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath.

16 And it will come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it will be, that whoever will not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them will be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then there will be no rain on them; that will be the plague with which the LORD will strike the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that do not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

20 In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house will be like the bowl’s before the altar (overflowing with fullness). 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holiness to the LORD of hosts: and all those that sacrifice will come and take of them, and boil in it: and in that day there will be no more the Canaanite (proud, unclean) in the house of the LORD of hosts.

When Christ reigns, the riches and plenty will exceed king Solomon’s day when silver was as dust.
But the greatest wealth of all will be wealth of the heart. The presence of the eternal King of Kings will fill the seeking people of earth with wonder that such an amazing One could exist.

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

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SUMMARY: Zechariah 11-14

The Lord withdraws His pity compassion when we turn to false gods
The Lord fights for His people in amazing ways
God makes His people a torch of holiness
The Lord’s day is coming; He fights for us
The Lord opens a cleansing fountain
The LORD will be king over the whole earth