Chapters 5 and 6

Two more visions (Numbers 6 & 7): a. The flying scroll; b. The woman and the ephah.

Verses 1-4, the flying scroll vision.

The scroll was partly unrolled and flying in the breeze. On one side of the scroll was the eighth commandment and on the other side was the third commandment. And it is the eighth and the third commandments which actually form the basis for dishonest practice, commercialism, and the Jews out to make a fortune at the expense of being unfair in business.

Verse 1 — “Flying,” qal active participle. It means that the scroll is unrolled by some great force, just like a book hitting the fan and the pages fly open. On one side also was Leviticus 26 which has the five cycles of discipline, and on the other side was the law of the curses which is found in Deuteronomy. The flying scroll represents the Word of God.

Verse 2 — the dimensions have a twofold significance. Theses are the dimensions of the holy place of the tabernacle. Therefore they teach something about personal relationship with the Lord. The holy place contained the lampstand, the shewbread and the altar of incense. The priest in the holy place is a picture of the believer in the Church Age. The believer in the Church Age is in union with Christ and it demonstrates the fact that during the Church Age we have the 5th cycle of discipline but the cursing is turned to blessing when the Jew believes in Christ. The priest in the holy place is a picture of the believer functioning under the concept of positional truth.

The various articles of furniture indicate certain principles in connection with phase two. The table of shewbread has to do with feeding on the bread which is the Word of God. The lampstand has to do with the concept of witnessing. The golden altar of incense speaks of the operation and function within the area of prayer life.

Secondly, the dimensions are also the same as the dimensions of the porch of Solomon’s temple. This porch was the place where the Word of God was read and exegeted. Dimensions: 1 Kings 6:3. Emphasis: the importance of the Word of God.

Verses 3,4 — the content of the scroll.

Verse 3 — “the curse” — the 5th cycle of discipline. They have just had (586-516 BC) seventy years of the curse. But this is only a foreshadowing of AD 70 down to the second advent. When it says, “this is the curse” it means that this is the reason for the 5th cycle of discipline. This is a warning. However, they are going to get into the discipline again because they have ignored certain principles of the Word of God.

There are two kinds of cursing found in the Old Testament scriptures with which to warn the Jews — Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27:14-25; 28:15,16 — the laws of the curses. These are simply items of divine discipline for various failures in the field of knowing Bible doctrine. These must be linked with Malachi 4:6 which is the last verse in the Old Testament in which there is a very definite warning — how to avoid the curse — and, again, the curse is avoided by proper utilization of Bible doctrine.

“earth” — the entire land of Judah; “steals” — the eighth commandment; “swearing” — not profanity. It refers to breaking business contracts, dishonesty in business, the third commandment.

They wrote on both sides of the parchment. The third commandment referred to using the Lord’s name in cheating in a contract, violating a contract in the name of the Lord.

Many of the Jews who were still back in Babylon were now very wealthy and living in the lap of luxury. They didn’t want to return to their own land. In 536 BC when Zerrubabel led the Jews out of Babylon who still had Bible doctrine, he left behind a lot of unbelievers who rejected the whole deal. But Zechariah sends warnings back to them in Babylon.

Commercialism plus religionism exists in a minus doctrine situation. It results in the 5th cycle of discipline. When you have plus-doctrine you also have wealth and people making money, but they do it in a legitimate way. It is minus commercialism and minus religionism and therefore in the blessing bracket.

Verses 5-11, the vision of the woman and the ephah.

Verse 6 — “ephah,” a dry measure, a seven and a half gallon bucket. The Jews who stayed behind in Babylon had a monopoly on the grain market. They sold grain by the ephah but when they sold it in Babylon they didn’t sell it on the same basis as they did in Palestine, they whittled the ephah down so that they were making a dishonest profit. The ephah represents the tremendous commercial success of the Jews in Babylon but it was based on violating to of their own commandments — number eight and number three —, one each side of the scroll; “going forth” — commercial success on a dishonest basis; “appearance in all the land” — the ephah becomes the symbol of the Jews throughout the earth. They’re out to make money any way they can. When they are scattered their hope is in wealth.

Verse 7 — “lead cover” — the ephah had a top. The woman is inside the top. A talent of lead is 125 lbs of lid. The woman represents the harlot of Babylon in Revelation 17 and she is also the mystery of iniquity of 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12. She is religion as it will exist in the Tribulation. In the Tribulation the woman gets out; in the Church Age the woman is in. In the Church Age we have ecumenical religious systems but they never quite gain control. Why? During the Church Age the lid (lead) is on and they are restrained. The lid represents the Holy Spirit. He is removed (2 Thessalonians 2) in the Tribulation as far as His restraining ministry on religion is concerned. The lid is going to be removed in the Tribulation and the woman is going to come out. Her coming out is given in Revelation 17 and 18. Chapter 17 gives the woman; chapter 18 gives the ephah or commercialism —"sitting in the midst of the ephah” — she is still contained today. We have the concept of religion in the Church Age but there is restraint on international religion. The woman cannot get out today.

Verse 8 — “wickedness” is literally, “the wickedness", commercialised religion of 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12. Verse 9 — “two women” — this is the Tribulation when the lid is taken off. The first woman is religious Babylon — Revelation 17; the second woman is commercial Babylon — Revelation 18.

“wind in their wings” is their rapid ascendancy in the Tribulation; “wings of a stork” — the stork is an unclean bird according to the Mosaic law — Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18. So the ecumenical religious system of the Tribulation is an unclean, anti-biblical, anti-God thing; “lifted up the ephah” — religion carries commercialism. Religion carried commercialism in Babylon and in the day of our Lord, and it will again in the Tribulation — cf Revelation 18:11-19.

Verse 11 — “Shinah” is the land of Babylon. Babylon as a nation does not and will not exist. Babylon in the Tribulation is ecumenical religion. Cf Genesis 10:8-10 — religion had its early headquarters at Babylon. In Revelation 17:1-9 we see the rapid ascendancy of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation.

“established” is literally, when it has been prepared. The lid is not opened and cannot be opened until the Tribulation, but once it is then ecumenical religion will be established and will fulfil the function which is prophesied here. All of this relates to the Jews.

Chapter 6

This passage was in 518 BC. The Jews were now under Bible doctrine and all was going well for the believing Jews in Jerusalem. In Babylon, however, the people heeded not the warnings sent to them (with three exceptions). Babylon threw off the Persian yoke in 518 BC and relied upon the strength of their economy to ultimately defeat the Persians. Apparently they were persuaded in part by the Jews who had remained in the land contrary to the Word of God. The vision of the four chariots was a warning to the remaining Jews in Babylon. In Babylon the emphasis was on the details of life; in Jerusalem the emphasis was on Bible doctrine. Zechariah also had a message for the Jews who will face a similar situation in the Tribulation.

The vision of the four chariots.

The ingredients of a chariot: a horse, the iron wheel, iron. The chariot had the concept of a super weapon when properly used. There are four chariots in this vision and the difference is going to be in the horses. The chariots are something behind the scenes; this is the angelic conflict. They represent four categories of angels used by God to stir up events in history to protect the Jews. Here is another way Zechariah is saying to the Jews that there is just one place for a Jew to be just now and that is in Jerusalem. If they are not in Jerusalem they are not behind the wall of fire. From this great wall of fire there are great angelic hosts moving out in all directions to protect Israel.

From 516 BC, the termination of the construction of the temple, to 323 BC the Jews are going to have a golden age. They are going to have spiritual prosperity, a fantastic economy, and that wall of fire is going to extend all of that time so that even though throughout the rest of the world there are going to be wars (the whole of the ancient world manoeuvred around to destroy itself) the Jews were going to have prosperity and peace. It was a period of great unrest except behind the wall of fire in Jerusalem.

Verse 1 — “returned,” is returned to study. Stages of concentration —"lifted up his eyes,” he begins to study but as yet he hasn’t found the key. He doesn’t understand, he can’t yet analyse — “I looked,” he now has analysed — “and behold” — now he has the picture. Now he sees the vision even though he doesn’t understand it yet.

Verse 5 — “four spirits,” angels administering divine commands to keep history in line with God’s promises. This has a dual fulfilment. In Zechariah’s day this is the protection of the Jews during the wall of fire period. Secondly, this also refers to the four-angel judgements which are mentioned in Revelation six and seven and have to do with the Tribulation — “four” speaks of the universality of God’s control over the situations of history. “Four” represents compass directions — “two mountains.” One of these mountains is Zion, one is the Mount of Olives. Between these two is the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is simply, “Jehovah judges.” In order to protect the Jews He is going to use the four chariots. The mountains are called mountains of brass for the simple reason that to protect Israel God must judge those who are antagonistic to Israel. In order to protect these people angelic forces have to neutralize other angelic forces, and God made a promise to Abraham — Genesis 12:3, the basis of the Abrahamic covenant.

Verses 2,3 — description of the chariots.

Verse 2 — “red horses.” Red speaks of war and bloodshed. During the time there is a wall of fire around Jerusalem the rest of the world is having war and bloodshed; “black horses” — famine and economic disaster.

Verse 3 — “white horses” represent victory and triumph. Victory has to do with God’s protection of the Jews; “grizzled and bay” — spotted horses, referring to disease, plague and epidemic; “bay” — brown body and a black mane and tail. This refers to the concept of salvation where cursing is turned to blessing. Brown or red refers to the blood of Christ; the black refers to the judgement of Christ. The far fulfilment: Revelation 6 and 7. Red horses — warfare in the Tribulation, Rev. 6:4; black horses (famine and economic disaster) — Rev. 6:5,6 in the Tribulation; white horse (the tremendous empire building and conquests of the Tribulation) — Rev. 6:2; grizzled horse (disease and epidemic) — Rev. 6:8; bay horse (evangelism in the Tribulation) — Rev. 7:9-14.

Verse 4 — “my lord,” the communicating angel. Zechariah has seen all these horses and chariots, but what does it mean?

Verse 5 — “spirits", generally refers to angels. “Spirit” in the singular generally refers to the human spirit. Cf Psalm 68:17; 104:4; Hebrews 1:7,14; “going forth” — constantly going forth for our protection; “standing before” — hiphil infinitive, which means they are constantly on parade before the Lord; “Lord of the earth” — God in His sovereign activity in protecting these believers.

Verses 6,7 — the operation of the four chariots (the actual function).

Verse 6 — “north,” always referred to Babylon in the ancient world because you always had to go north to get there. It means there is economic disaster coming to Babylon. Principle: If you put something before doctrine, that something is going to hurt you. If you are going to enjoy the details of life you must have doctrine flowing into the facets of the soul; “white horse” — the Persians hit Babylon and destroyed it; “grizzled” — epidemics result; “south country” — Egypt, cf Jeremiah 42. When the Jews went into the 5th cycle of discipline in 586 BC a remnant was left in the land. Jeremiah was with them and the governor was Gedeliah. The remnant of Jews murdered Gedeliah, revolted against Chaldea, and went into Egypt. Jeremiah warned them not to go down into Egypt or God would judge them. So the grizzled horse hits the Jews who went into Egypt.

Verse 7 — 518 BC was the year of maximum evangelism. “the bay” — operation evangelism. The bay didn’t go north and didn’t go south; “through the earth” — world wide evangelism.

Verse 8 — the judgement of the north country; “saying” — qal active participle, this communication took some time. It had to be explained; “quieted my spirit” — incorrect translation. It should be: “have caused my wrath to rest upon the north country.”

Verse 9 — the source of the message. Principle of dual fulfilment again in this passage. Zechariah has a message for the people of his own day — the coronation of Joshua the high priest, and then a message for the people living at the end of the tribulation, the coronation of the Lord Jesus Christ after His second advent.

“The word of the Lord” — again indicates the principle of Bible doctrine. This is Bible doctrine recorded through the prophet Zechariah. The sources of information, humanly speaking, came from two sources, the prophet and the priest. These were the media through which the Word of God was taught. They were taught by visions, dreams, direct conversation from the Lord. Then these visions, dreams and conversations were interpreted by angels who acted as teachers. Then the doctrine resided with the prophet and with the priest. Generally the priest taught the whole realm of doctrine in every generation. However, certain conditions were moving in history which demanded some doctrinal information not resident in the Mosaic law, not resident in the Torah, and as the Word was established the Word itself became the fourth means of communicating doctrine. It was the prophet who taught the special things pertinent to the hour.

Up until Zechariah 6:9 we have seen things that were peculiar to Zechariah’s ministry. From here on what Zechariah teaches is also taught by other prophets.

Verse 10 — the three who came back from Babylon. This is the year 518 BC. The primary function of the Levitical priesthood was the communication of Bible doctrine to the people. There must be a functioning priesthood in the temple. The three who heeded Zechariah and returned from Babylon provided funds for the double crown. It was a crown that had never been worn before; Joshua wore it once at his coronation and that was it. Before this the high priest had always worn a single crown and it always had on it, “Holiness Unto The Lord.” But this crown is different, it is a double crown.

“the captivity” refers to those who stayed behind; “take” — seize. The Lord has a job for them (the three men who came back from Babylon); “Heldai” — the Hebrew means transient life. It also means a temporary or fleeting happiness. This stresses emphasis on the details of life. There is nothing wrong with the details of life provided Bible doctrine is first. In verse 14 Heldai changes his name to Helem, which means recipient of doctrine.

“Tobijah” means pleasing to the Lord. He is a man who is on +V toward Bible doctrine. It resulted in him returning from Babylon to Jerusalem; “Jedaiah” means Jehovah knows him, or Jehovah provides for him, both are true; “Josaiah” means Jehovah heals. This indicates that they were born again. The word for healing is used in scripture for reconciliation. “Raphah” (healing) means to pull together. Josaiah is the host of the three who returned.

Verse 11 — “crowns” plural. There are two crowns here because Jesus Christ Himself is in view. The first crown represents the fact that Jesus Christ is the King, Son of David, tribe of Judah. The second crown represents Christ as priest forever after the order of Melchizadek. Both of these crowns are put on Joshua’s head to indicate that the Jews situation is temporary. They will be put up in the temple as a memorial to the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again. Those two crowns will take the place of what we have in the New Testament (they didn’t have it then), the book of Revelation. They represent everything that happens in the book of Revelation from chapters 6-19.

Verses 12 and 13 are parenthesis. The two crowns speak of Jesus Christ and so in these two verses we now have a dissertation on Jesus Christ as the Branch, the fulfilment of the two crowns. Note verse 13: “between them both” .There has been no peace in Israel in the past because of a double crown in two tribes. There is a crown of the tribe of Judah — David and David’s family rule. There is also a crown in the tribe of Levi — Aaron’s, from whom are the priests. From the two we have king and priest. This meant that occasionally there was trouble between the two. One had spiritual function and the other political function, etc. Example: David got into the spiritual realm and tried to handle the ark, and people were killed in that connection. Now there will be harmony between the two.

Verse 12 — “the man,” Jesus Christ is first of all called “the Man” .There is the principle of the hypostatic union here. He is saviour in His humanity — “the Branch"— in His humanity He is called the Branch. The Root of the tree is Jesus Christ; He is the founder of the Jewish race. He called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. But the 5th cycle of discipline made the tree a stump and Jesus Christ grows out of the stump and He becomes the Branch who will fulfil the unconditional covenants to Israel at the second advent. So the Branch is a messianic title for Christ as the Son of David, appearing to regather Israel at the second advent — cf Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5,6; 33:15. This is why people cut down palm branches on so-called Palm Sunday, because they were accepting Christ for His second advent. They had the two advents confused; they were trying to get Jesus to become king and by-pass the cross. There must be the cross before you can have the crown — “grow up” — branch. Verb form of the Branch which is a noun. When Christ comes back to the earth He accomplishes something that man in all of history up to that point has never been able to accomplish — perfect environment, equality of the human race, putting the Jews back in the land, end of the 5th cycle of discipline, honouring the four unconditional covenants — “he shall build the temple of the Lord” — this is the Millennial temple. Miraculous construction; it is accomplished immediately.

Verse 13 — “he shall bear the glory", i.e. he shall carry the glory of the temple. Like the Shekinah glory of the tabernacle, only this time He will be there in person rather than simply as light; “his throne” — He shall rule; “priest” — He functions as High Priest as well as King (the two crowns again, King and Priest); “between them both” — the function of king and priest are no longer hostile, there is perfect coordination because they exist in one person. This is why there are two crowns in the coronation of Joshua the high priest. During a period of the 5th cycle of discipline there is no temple in the land, except the false temple.

Verse 14 — “crowns shall be,” i.e. when they are put up in the temple. They are not only doctrine speaking of the second advent, but they are going to be a memorial to three men who taught more of Bible doctrine than they did the details of life. People would later walk into the temple and see this unusual double crown and ask what it was, just the same thing that people said during the time that the Jews were in bondage in Egypt. During the 400 years of bondage in Egypt every generation of children came along and said: “What is this coffin?” And the fathers would reply: “This coffin contains the bones of Joseph and God has promised us that we will be delivered from the bondage of Egypt. And when we go we are to take these bones with us and we are to bury them in the land, in the Valley of Shechem, so that when Joseph has a resurrection body he will stand first in the land God has promised him” .This crown has the same significance. For the next 200 years, when children would go into the temple, the parents would explain to them that it stands for a point of doctrine. Bible doctrine is more important than anything in your life. The details of life are no good unless you have Bible doctrine.

Verse 15 — “they that are afar off” — this is over a period of 200 years, 516-323 BC; “build in the temple of the Lord” — other things shall be put in there, e.g. Herod; “sent me” — Jesus Christ — “if — obey the voice of the Lord” .Literally, “if hearing ye shall hear” .It means hear and obey.