In the Eighth Month

Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the Word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying…

The Word of the Lord came to Zechariah, and we find the Word of the Lord to be the Lord Jesus Christ in John 1:1-3. I am sure you realize that the Lord is Spirit (II Corinthians 3:17). Many Christians are expecting Jesus Christ to return in bodily form as He was in the Gospels. He does not come in that way. He comes in the way the Apostle Paul said in II Thessalonians 1:10, "When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." So, you see, He cannot come in His saints in bodily form, but as Spirit He can come within us, change our very nature, and speak through us as He did in Zechariah.

Zechariah 1:2 The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers.

There is no doubt that the Lord was very displeased with the unbelief and idolatry of some of their fathers. But He is also displeased with our fathers. Our fathers are all the things that have made us what we are in our flesh life. The Lord is sore displeased with those things.

Zechariah 1:3 Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

What we do determines what the Lord will do. If we turn unto Him, He will turn unto us. If we are merciful to others, He will be merciful to us. Also notice that He refers to Himself as the Lord of hosts three times in this verse. He is the Lord of a vast host or army. His host involves all of His messengers both present and past. An example of the Lord’s messengers is seen in Genesis 28:12 and John 1:51.

Zechariah 1:4 Be not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord.

Again, the Lord tells them to turn from their evil ways. His desire is to bless His people, but He can’t do it because of their evil ways. If they will turn to Him, He will turn to them. How do we turn to the Lord? We take down all the walls that have separated us from the Lord and expose ourselves to His presence.

Zechariah 1:5-7 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever?
6 But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so has He dealt with us.
7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the Word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying…

Again, the Word of the Lord comes to Zechariah. And again, it is an appearing of the Lord in him and from within him the Lord speaks.

Zechariah 1:8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

The horse and the color red are symbols of war. The man riding upon a red horse points forward to Revelation 6:4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. Briefly, the Man on the red horse is a ministry of Christ. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, Think not that I came to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. He comes forth within us to eliminate the peace between our spirit and our flesh life. The sword He uses is the living Word (Hebrews 4:12). The flesh nature must die for the life of Christ to take over. Now back to Zechariah 1:8.

The man riding upon a red horse in Zechariah speaks of the same thing. The Lord had said He was very displeased with our fathers, referring to all the things responsible for the corruption of our flesh life. Therefore, He makes war upon our flesh. Then the prophecy said that He stood among the myrtle trees. The myrtle trees speak mystically of the Body of Christ who is spoken of as trees of righteousness in Isaiah 61:3. The Hebrew word for myrtle is Hadassah and is the name for Esther the Queen (Esther 2:7). Esther being married to the king and is a queen speaks of the Body of Christ being married to the Lord Jesus who is our King. So, the Lord standing among the myrtle trees is referring to the Lord in the midst of spiritual Israel, His church. Also, the myrtle trees are in “the bottom,” which refers to those of a contrite and humble spirit. It is there that the Lord dwells, that is, among His Myrtle trees. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Isaiah 57:15. Behind Him were red horses, speckled, and white. The Lord continuously spoke of Himself as the Lord of hosts. These are the hosts of the Lord.

Zechariah 1:9 Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And the Angel that talked with (in) me said unto (in) me, I will show you what these are.

The Angel of the Lord spoke in Zechariah, not with him or to him but in him as was referred to in the first paragraph.

Zechariah 1:10 And the Man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

The ones that walk to and fro through the earth are the same messengers that Jacob saw ascending and descending upon the ladder from earth to heaven (Genesis 28:12). Jesus referred to this when He spoke to Nathanael in John 1:51. And He said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. The angels are messengers, and they refer to those He commissions. The functioning Body of Christ will be those who ascend and descend and who walk to and fro through the earth.

Zechariah 1:11 And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest.

The earth sitting still and at rest speaks of the indifference and passivity among God’s people. At a time when they should be intense, violently taking the Kingdom by force, they are indifferent and sitting still (Mathew 11:12).

Zechariah 1:15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

This is God’s response to those who are sitting still and at rest. Instead of violently pushing their way into the Kingdom of God they are complacent. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12. Again in Luke 16:16: The Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it.

Zechariah 1:16-17 Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and yet choose Jerusalem.

Oh, the mercies of God! In verse 15 He related to His people as heathen. Now he says that He will yet comfort Zion and yet choose Jerusalem. The judgments of God are not meant to destroy but to bring them to repentance.

Zechariah 1:18-19 Then lift I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

If you are thinking historically, these four horns would represent the four kingdoms of Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greece, and Rome. But we are not thinking in that way but mystically. Thus, they represent that which the Apostle Paul spoke of in Ephesians 2:1-3. And you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation (behavior) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Zechariah 1:20-21 And the Lord showed me four carpenters.
21 Then said I, What come these to do? And He spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lift up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

Who are these carpenters? They are the sons of the Carpenter, the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:55). They are the ones who will execute vengeance upon the heathen spirits that have divided God’s people (Psalm 149:5-9).