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Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
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Well when you get to chapter 12, notice verse 10… especially the pronouns! I love that verse!
Thanks Gordon, I had a shot at Zechariah once and seem to remember horses and myrtle trees (and little else).
Just wondering, should there be a “not” in the last sentence of the fourth paragraph?
Just wondering, should there be a “not” in the last sentence of the fourth paragraph?
Eek! How did that happen?
OK fixed now. Thanks to our friendly readers who keep reporting glitches.
Yes, those horsies do get a bit of a trot in Zechariah. I’m sure there’s a series to be done on Bible horsies, perhaps not on this blog. You will know we’ve jumped the shark when that happens.
The Zechariah horsies make a reappearance in Revelation, here for example, so it is worth persisting with them. They are better than hobby-horses.
Thanks! NOW I might have another shot at Zechariah!
That’s quite fascinating re the horses. I am not so sure whether I want to see a knight on a white horse or not ...
The commentaries on Zechariah are fairly useless in moving towards the New Testament. I remember about seven years ago stumbling across and idea about the fountain for sin and uncleaness in Jerusalem (13:1). I even preached about it at college chapel. Sin (Hattah) is always treated in the law by blood and uncleanness (Nidah) is treated by the water of cleansing. Therefore the fountain that is needed is one of water and blood - which is exactly what happens in Jerusalem to our Lord on the cross. I couldn’t find this worked out link in any commentary on John or Zechariah. I wrote to Barry Webb about it - but he didn’t include it in his commentary :(. This kind of gives exegetical legs to the song Rock of Ages and shows why it fulfills scripture that Jesus had water and blood pour from his side. I thought it was a profound but not surprising link. See one of my dead blogs.
http://www.biblicalkiteflying2.blogspot.com/
As one who has grown to love an American accent and has been reading the minor prophets recently, may I recommend the sermon of Mark Dever (of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington DC)on Zechariah written in his book ‘The message of the Old Testament’. He helpfully goes through the book in three sections. Chap 1-6, 8 visions describing the second chance God would give through his rule; chap 7-8, 2 sermons describing the second chance God would give through his Word; and chap 9-14, 2 oracles describing the second chance God would offer through his Son. He also points out the structure of the 8 visions and how they form a pinnacle. Visions four and five, at the top of the pinnacle, both point to the Messiah (priest and ruler).Visions one and eight concern the horsies and their reporting of the false peace of self-righteous nations (vision 1) and the true peace that follows the coming of the Messiah (vision 8).
The second and third visions show God winning victory over his people’s enemies, and visions 6&7;show God purging his own people of their sin, so that these four visions picture the defeat of all opposition to God’s rule.
What I like about this sermon is that it is a great overview of the whole book that gives me a handle to approach Zechariah with,and how he points it toward Jesus as the fulfilment of these things.
These 69 talks by Mark Dever are well worth listening to and pondering. I enjoyed hearing his talk on the whole Bible, and the two that gave an overview of the New Testament and Old Testament, and the individual ones on each of the 66 books of the Bible a couple of years ago.
I downloaded them from http://www.chbcaudio.org/audio-archives/
It is a little tricky and time-consuming, but well worth the trouble.
<i>He also points out the structure of the 8 visions and how they form a pinnacle.</i>
That ‘pinnacle’ is great stuff, isn’t it. Tim goes into this as well in the studies I’m editing. And when you reach the top of that pinnacle, you get—quite literally—the glory of the LORD displayed for all to see.
You really are scaling Everest and taking in the view when you read Zechariah!
You are whetting my appetite, Gordon. Our minister is preparing studies in Zechariah for his talks in fourth term.
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