No. 1.
JERUSALEM is the prominent subject of Zechariah’s prophecy, though the temple has its place in it, and especially the Messiah, by whom Jerusalem’s future glory will be established. It is by the remnant which returned from Babylon that Messiah is put to death― “wounded in the house of His friends;” but the house of David shall be cleansed from sin and uncleanness by the fountain opened in the One whom they pierced, when every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord.
About two months after Haggai began to prophesy, the heart of Zechariah was moved by the Lord to encourage the people to turn unto Him, to warn them not to be as their fathers, and to remind them that God’s words had always been fulfilled in His dealing with them. (chapter 1:1-6.)
Three months later the prophet had a vision of “a man riding upon a red horse,” standing “among the myrtle trees,” and behind him other “red horses, speckled and white,” by which he learns that “the earth sitteth still, and is at rest,” notwithstanding the humiliating state of Jerusalem the last seventy years, and that the Gentiles helped forward the affliction. The Lord is sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease, and declares that He will return to Jerusalem, have mercy on it, build the temple, comfort Zion, and yet choose Jerusalem. The “four horns,” emblems of power, which scattered Judah, &o., are to be frayed and cast out by other instruments, which he saw, “four carpenters.” (chapter 1:7-21.)
The vision of “a man with a measuring-line in his hand,” to measure Jerusalem, shows that Jerusalem is again to be the object of divine favor. We have therefore the future restoration of Jerusalem in peace and blessing. Those who have been spread abroad as the four winds shall be brought back. After the glory, judgment will be executed upon the nations which spoiled God’s people. It shall be the time of singing and rejoicing for the daughter of Zion, for Messiah shall come and dwell in her midst. In that day, when the Lord shall inherit Judah, and shall choose Jerusalem again, many nations shall be joined to the Lord. Well may the prophet here add, “Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord!” (Chap. 2)
Looking at Joshua the high priest, in filthy garments, as representative of the state of the people, God shows that He can cleanse and fit them for His own presence, and make them a nation of priests, clothed in righteousness before Him. No doubt THE BRANCH is Christ; and the stone tells us of Him upon whom all Israel’s blessing is built, through whom the iniquity of the land is removed in one day. (Chap. 3)
But if the people are thus blessed, so that they call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig-tree, the prophet “is wakened out of his sleep” in the next chapter to see that the source and power of all blessing is divine— “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” This he learns from the vision of the golden candlestick with the seven lamps therein, and seven pipes. The temple shall be finished, and all shall be established by the anointed priest, and the anointed king, in perpetuity of blessing; for he is told that the two olive trees which he saw on either side of the candlestick, are the two anointed ones which stand by the Lord of the whole earth. (chapter 4)
Iniquity, however, must be judged, as the prophet next learns from the “flying roll.” The wicked in Israel must be taken away. He is told also that a woman, which he saw sitting in the midst of the ephah, is wickedness, and the ephah he saw carried away to build a house in the land of Shiner. (chapter 5)
The prophet then sees four chariots, with different colored horses in each. The black horses go into the north country, and the white follow them; the grizzled go toward the south country, and the bay horses walked to and fro through the earth. All this may refer to the government of God in the four monarchies; but the latter part of the chapter shows that all concerning the establishment and glory of the temple is to be accomplished by Christ, “the man whose name is THE BRANCH,” who shall be both the anointed king of Israel and priest— “a priest upon His throne, the true Melchisedec,” and the counsel of peace shall be between Jehovah and Him. It need scarcely be added that we have not the Church here, but the temple at Jerusalem, and Israel’s future blessing in the earth under the personal government of the true Messiah.