The Book of Zechariah 

"GOD REMEMBERS"

 

Lesson Seventeen
(Chapter 12:1-14)

 

Introduction: Israel's rejections of the good Shepherd prophesied in (Zech. 11:1-14), which now has become history, is followed by the prophecy of the nation's acceptance of the worthless shepherd (Zech. 11: 15-17), which still remains a future unfilled event. Israel's deliverance at the hand of their real Messiah grows out of their acceptance of the Anti-christ. Without a rejected and crucified Messiah as an object of faith at His second advent, the nation could never be converted and established in the millennium.

 

I. THE FUTURE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM (12:1-9):

B. The nations attack Jerusalem (vs. 2&3) -

"Cup of trembling" could be a reference to intoxication as in (Rev. 17:1-6). "All the people of the earth be gathered together against it" is a clue as to the direction that even the western world will take toward Israel.

C. Jerusalem's enemies confounded (vs. 4) -

Crazy men on terror-stricken horses can only lead to total chaos which is a repeat of history (Jud. 4:15; 7:19-22).

D. Judah's faith in the Lord (vs. 5) -

The successful resistance of the enemy at the capital city will inspire the people of the rest of the nation to find a similar deliverance through the Lord's help.

E. The Lord's response to Judah's faith (vs. 6,7) -

Because of their faith in the Lord (which can probably be chronologically lined up with the tribulation appearance of Christ in Rev. 10), the Lord will do exploits through the governors of Israel. Two similes describe the operation of God's power through them. The first is a "hearth of fire" which is probably a vessel used to carry hot coals for the purpose of building a fire, the second as a torch of fire in a sheaf. The wood and sheaves are inflammable.

DOCUMENTATION: (Newsweek, 7-5-82) "Periscope, Israel's SAM Killers: Double Drones" - According to Western military experts, Israel used a sophisticated electronic one-two punch to knock out Syria's surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries in the Bekaa Valley when it invaded Lebanon. The Israelis first sent a drone-a small, pilotless aircraft-buzzing over a SAM installation to detect the radio frequency the site was using for missile guidance. A second drone followed, equipped with a high-explosive warhead and a device that enabled it to hone in on its target precisely by guiding itself along the site's own radar beam, The killer drone can also circle the area for up to an hour when the radar is shut down to disguise the location. When Syria used that tactic, Israel sent manned aircraft over the SAM site to trick the Syrians into turning the radar back on. The deadly double- drone system was originally a joint project of the Israeli, West German and United States air forces .... The Soviets, troubled by the SAM's vulnerability, are believed to have shipped a number of their damaged units home for postmortem examinations.

In addition they have repatriated a crippled T-72 tank to discover why the Israelis were successful in destroying so many of the state-of-the-art vehicles. Moscow was inordinately proud of the super tank's sturdy armor plating and is puzzled how Israeli weapons pierce it with such impunity. Israel has invented a new hollow-charge missile of its meticulous design which zeroes in on a weak spot detected in the T-72's modern panoply. Prime Minister Begin asserted on June 20, 1982, that Israel has new secret weapons possessed only by Israel and no other nation. These Russian SAM's and T-72 tanks "...fall upon the open field" (Eze. 39:5), in this case, the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. That classical battle passage goes on to declare: "the heathen (Hebrew nations) shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel" (Eze. 39:7). Newsweek-among other papers-is reporting that around the world this summer. How remarkable'.

In verse 7 the Lord is said to deliver the tents of Judah first. The picture is of the people outside the city walls, who do not enjoy the protection or the prestige of the dwellers in the royal metropolis and capital. Because more defenseless and exposed, bivouacking in the open country, they shall enjoy God's supernatural interposition first, not only as needing it first in point of time since they would be attacked before The city, but because they needed it first in order that the influential house of David and the proud dwellers of the capital city might not be exalted over them as humble country people.

F. Judah's triumph in the Lord (vs. 8) -

God's promise of a special protection to the feeble finds a type in the story of David's care for Mephibosheth in (2 Sam. 9).

G. The doom of Judah's enemies (vs. 9) -

There may be some human instrumentality involved in the destruction of the armies against Jerusalem (vs. 6), but God makes it very clear that will make the whole thing possible.

 

II. THE VISION OF THE CRUCIFIED MESSIAH AND ITS RESULTS (12:10-14):

B. The revelation of the pierced one (vs. 10b) -

"And they shall look upon me" is an obvious reference to God himself (Acts 20:28). The entire nation of Israel is well characterized by Thomas who said "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." (John 20:25).

C. The national mourning and repentance (vs. 11-14) -

In addition to the general illustration of intense mourning furnished by the death of an only son, Zechariah recounts a historical event that was similar in the lamentation. The reference is to the sorrow occasioned by the mortal wounding of the godly king Josiah in a clash with Pharaoh Necho of Egypt near Megiddo in the plain of Esdraelon in 609 B.C. (II Chron. 35:20-24).