Join us on an intriguing exploration of Zechariah’s profound visions. Guided by Dr. J. Vernon McGee, we delve into the spiritual characteristics of the prophesied kingdom, reflecting on themes of peace, justice, and holiness that were highlighted as hallmark features. Discover the unparalleled significance of these ancient prophecies and their enduring relevance. Our dialogue spans centuries, underscoring the timeless yearning for peace and holiness that threads through scripture. As we embark on this journey, you are invited to deepen your connection with these potent motifs and glean inspiration for today’s world.
00:00:03 Introduction: Through the Bible Journey Begins
00:01:09 Exploring the Spiritual Characteristics of the Kingdom
00:25:27 Listener Testimonial and Support for Through the Bible
SPEAKER 02 :
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 03 :
Do you have your seatbelt fastened? Well, our journey on Through the Bible is going to be exciting and important. I’m Steve Sweats, and I’m so glad that you’re here as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, continues our study of the visions of the Old Testament prophet Zechariah. As Dr. McGee told us last time, both prophets, Haggai, whose study we just finished, and Zechariah, whose study we’re just beginning, have a message that is relevant for us today. So if you haven’t yet downloaded your free copy of our e-book, Briefing the Bible, that contains the notes of our study, you can do it now by visiting ttb.org or we’ll send you an abridged print copy when you call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Now for those of you in the app, just tap on the menu section and you’ll find them right away. Now before we begin, here’s Dr. McGee with more of our discussion on the spiritual characteristics of the millennium.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, back to the spiritual nature of the kingdom or the millennium. Peter’s in the theocratic kingdom says this, the kingdom, although visible with a world dominion, is also necessarily spiritual. And there are certain great spiritual qualities of the kingdom I’d like to talk about because they’re so important. The first one that we’re going to talk about is peace. And then we’re going to talk about justice, and then righteousness, and holiness. Holiness, actually, I think is the most important identification of the millennium. And then, actually, obedience is another important word. Truth is another one. And then the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the millennium. So that… These are things that are spiritual, and they characterize the physical reign of Christ here upon this earth. Now, the first is peace. The millennium is going to be identified as a period of peace. It is a time when soweds are going to be beaten into plowshares. That is certainly the statement of the Word of God. And it’s going to be a time when Jesus… will be reigning upon the earth. Parts of most men will be changed. Russia will no longer be around. And I hate to say it, but I don’t think the United States is going to be around during the millennium. I don’t find it as one of the nations that entered the kingdom. Now, will you note that the scripture has so much to say about this kingdom. It was the great heartbeat of the Old Testament, this kingdom that was coming. And the main characteristic of it was not peace, but actually holiness. But peace was important. And my, how men long for peace today. And they’re saying peace when there actually is no peace. But in some ways, 29, 11, the Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. How important that seems to be. And then we come over to Isaiah, and we find that Isaiah in the second chapter, verse 4 says, and he shall judge among the nations. He shall rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. In other words, at that time, while we can have something a little bit better than detente, we can have a total elimination of all weapons. Nobody will be carrying on a war. The nations that were so warlike were not going to be around. But until then, we sure better keep our powder dry, because I think that is the clear teaching of the Word of God in this connection. Now, there are other scriptures that I want to look at, but I want to take them up next time, and we’ll take them up and talk about them. They speak of this kingdom that’s coming on this earth in which there’ll be peace. And from the day that Abel was slain by his brother Cain, from that day down to the present, there has been hatred in the human heart and pride in the human heart. And that has produced wars and more wars. And peace will come when these are eliminated.
SPEAKER 03 :
Even though there will be no peace in this world until Jesus returns, as believers, we can have peace in our hearts today when we allow Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. You can learn more about peace through having a personal relationship with God by clicking on How Can I Know God in our app or at ttb.org. Again, the website, ttb.org, or just call us, 1-800-65-BIBLE-TV. is the phone number, and we’ll put a couple resources in the mail to you. Let’s pray together as we open God’s Word. Heavenly Fathers, we study. May your Word bring us closer to you. In Jesus’ name we pray.
SPEAKER 1 :
Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s open to Zechariah 1 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, friends, we have come in Zechariah past the very practical section, and I’d say it’s the only practical section, and when I say that, I don’t mean that what we’re coming to is impractical. I just simply mean that we’re now going to take up the visions that this man had. And we come now to the seventh verse. And that begins with verse 7, 10 visions. And he had all of these in one night. Now, I recognize that most expositors… say there are eight visions here and I classify them as ten visions and you’ll see why when we come to the place where we make a division where the expositors for the most part and commentators just simply do not make the division. We’re not trying to say they are wrong and we’re right. We’re just trying to say it’s just a little different approach to this. Now you may get the impression here that That because he had these visions at night that they were dreams. But you will notice that he makes it very clear that is not quite it. I think probably I should read beginning at verse 7 now and read two verses. He says, upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month. Now, the Hebrew day, as you know, does not begin at January. And so this would be the 11th month, and it would be February. And this was given February the 24th, 520 B.C. And we’re going to see the significance of that in just a few moments. He says, “…upon the four-and-twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, 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…” 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, that is, sorrel-colored horses, and white. Now, I want to look at these two verses because they’re rather significant and rather important. I said that just because he had these visions at night doesn’t mean that they were dreams, because they were not. He says, “…I saw by night.” He didn’t say, “…I dreamed by night, but I saw in the night.” That is, during the night season. And actually, the word behold is sort of like look or behold, as we have it here. And frankly, I think the translators should have put an exclamation point after behold. It would be like this, look. There’s a man, and the man is riding upon a red horse. Now, that’s important for us to note here. It’s not a dream that he had. Now, so many people differ with me about whether God speaks through dreams today or by visions. They like to say to me, and I’ve never attempted to correct any of them because I just let them go on in this connection. They say, I saw a vision last night. I say, well, how did you see it? Well, they say, I had a dream. And then I know immediately that it wasn’t God giving them a message, but it was something they ate for dinner that evening that caused it to come to pass. There’s some experience that they had had that came out in the dream when the mind is, shall I say, unlatched. When it’s released, it’s unlocked. And it generally wanders back over something that produces the dream. So that today, I think that we cannot say that God speaks in dreams. Just because he spoke to this man at night, he says, I saw. I didn’t dream. I saw. And I think we need to be very careful about noting these things because it’s important to understand clearly how God revealed himself to this man, this prophet, at that time. Now, there’s another thing that’s very important. Here’s the date. It was in February, five months before this date here. was when the Lord appeared to Haggai, and at that time the work was begun on rebuilding the temple. And also two months before this date, this man Haggai, you remember, delivered a very sharp message to the priests because they were impure. They were expecting God to bless them. And also to the people because of their delay in building the temple, their hesitation in moving forward in that. Now, this man Haggai really delivered a message to them, but he also told them that there was coming the destruction of Gentile world power before God established his kingdom here upon this earth, and that the one who would rule would be the one that would be the Messiah, and he was coming from Zerubbabel. You remember that God says, I’ll make him a signet. on my hand.” And that word signet is a mark of rulership. And so the Messiah is not only coming from David, he’s coming from Zerubbabel. And both David and Zerubbabel are in both genealogies, the one in Matthew of Joseph, the one of Mary in Luke, the third chapter. Therefore, it was quite interesting that at this time, this having taken place, and the temple was still being built. This man, Zechariah, now is given ten visions, and that makes this rather important because it needs to be fitted in at the time that the temple was to be rebuilt. Now, as we have said, this is not a dream, but a vision that he saw. And I think he was wide awake. And my friend, if you have 10 visions like this man had in one night, I don’t think an aspirin tablet would put you to sleep or any of these pills that are advertised on TV today. I don’t think they would help you at all. Wouldn’t be any reason for taking it. Now, the first vision here is the riders under the myrtle trees. And that goes from verse 7 through 17. Now, will you notice this? He says to him in a most dramatic way here. He says, “…behold a man, and this man is riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were at the bottom, and behind him were other red horses.” And the red horses actually are sorrel. They are red horses, sorrel-colored, and white horses. And I think now we ought to stop and examine what the vision is all about. Now, to begin with, what about this man that is here, the red horse rider? Well, he was actually an angel in human form. Behold a man. This is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ. Somebody says, how do you know that? Well, he’s called in verse 9, “…and the angel who talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these things are.” And then down in verse 11, “…they answered, The angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees.” So that this one is the angel of the Lord. Now, the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament. And so here we see him standing among the myrtle trees. And let’s just stop and look at those myrtle trees for just a few moments. This angel messenger now is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, the angel of the Lord. or the angel of the presence. In other words, Jehovah himself, the Messiah. And he’s here in his pre-incarnate glory. Now, that shows him watching over this world. Now, it is true that Satan is called the prince of this world. And this world system, the carnality of this world today is all under Satan’s But you see, God has not given up this earth. And this is one of the most comforting things here, this vision. Even at this very moment, standing yonder in the shadows, is the Lord Jesus Christ keeping watch over his own. And here, it’s the nation Israel in particular. This is a tremendous vision, by the way. And what a comfort it is out of all these universes that are about us today, and they cannot be numbered for multitude. And they fill space. And when you say space, what in the world are you talking about? Doesn’t seem to be any end to it. It seems to be infinite today. Out of all this universe, the creator, the God of this universe is watching there in the shadows, keeping watch. over his own. What a comforting thought that is. What a message that is. And Zechariah will give many messages of comfort, and this is certainly one of them. Now, here’s a red horse. And what is the significance of the red? Well, may I say that it speaks of blood, bloodshed, speaks of bloodshed in war, in revelation. But this one who is riding here, the red horse, it speaks of his bloodshed. He’s watching over this earth because he died and shed his blood for this earth that you and I live on. What a picture that we have here. And there was others there, though. There were other horses. And these other horses and horsemen were in the background. And the riders, I think, are implied, although nothing said here that would indicate that at all. We are told, and they stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom, and behind them there were red horses. It doesn’t say there were riders on them. I think we can rightly assume that they’re riders on the horse. And I think that this means that here is a spot that God just hasn’t given us all the information. I believe that these are angelic beings. And they are under his command. And it is their business to watch over this earth. And I think that these different colors that are given here are all significant. Again, the red horse. Speaking of warfare, the sorrow horse. speckled in our translation. It means sorrow, and I hadn’t even seen this word since I was a boy, but I lived in West Texas and Southern Oklahoma, and Horses were the means of transportation when I was a boy. I can remember when I saw my first automobile in Springer, Oklahoma. We stood and looked at it for two hours. Can you imagine going to a parking lot today and looking at a car that long? Well, we did in this little town in which I live. All of the population was out looking at it. A doctor was the one who owned the car. And it was fearful to behold, by the way, an unusual contraption. And no one ever thought that in the mud of that day that it would ever become successful. It would never supplant or take the place of the horse, but it sure did. We talked about sorrel horses. A sorrel horse is a rather spotted horse, but generally more or less of a red color, a yellow color. In fact, I always thought of a sorrel horse as being a sort of a dirty yellow horse. Some folk may resent that, that have horses as pets, but that’s the way they look to me as a boy. Red horses, sorrel horses, and white horses. Now the red horses would speak of warfare. The white horses, I think they speak here of victory. They speak of the fact that the one on that horse is marching to victory. I believe that there’s significance in everything that you see here. Now let’s come to the myrtle tree and look at the myrtle tree for just a moment. The myrtle tree is what, here in California, they call the laurel tree. And you find it down in desert regions, down in the Palm Springs area here in Southern California. You see the myrtle trees. The Southern Pacific has planned them all along their track down there so the sand won’t cover the track. You find them in the land of Israel. That’s their native habitat, apparently. But Israel has set them out literally by the thousands. and they are considered sometimes the badge of Israel. You see, certain trees and plants represent the nation Israel. The olive tree that’s native over there, the myrtle tree, the vine, the grapevine, all of these have been rather significant, and even the cedar. You find the other prophets talked about them. In Isaiah 41, 19, God says, “…I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive, and I will set in the desert the cypress, the plain, and the pine together.” And God says again in Isaiah 55, 13, “…instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign, which shall not be cut off.” And that tremendous planting of trees over there, and most of them are myrtle trees, it could have real significance. And you find myrtle branches together with palm branches, were used in the ritual of constructing booths in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. And actually, Hadassah is the Jewish form of the name Esther, and Hadassah is the word for myrtle. So that when a girl is named Esther and another one named Myrtle, they actually have the same name, and it refers to the myrtle tree. Now, it says that it was at the bottom. What does it mean at the bottom? Well, it means down in a valley, down where the myrtle could probably get water, you see, and there was a grove down there. Now, there was this rider on the red horse. Back of him apparently riders on these other horses, and those that were sorrel or speckled, they apparently were standing under the shade of the myrtle trees, and the sun was filtering through. But these others, the red and the white, stand out rather clearly here. Now he sees these myrtle trees. down there in a valley. And even that to me is significant, for Israel certainly was down in the valley at this time. Now, what is the significance here? Well, I think the significance is that the Lord Jesus was just waiting, and he was waiting for the day to come when he’s going to take over. And in this period, he’s patrolling this earth. He is watching over it. And these other created intelligences that were there, they, of course, I assume, are supernatural. They would be angels that would be there with him. Now, we’re going to have to hold this until next time. But this is a tremendous vision, by the way, that we have. And I want to read verse 9. Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And that’s the question we ask. So let’s listen. And the angel who talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. You see, their job was patrolling. And they answered the angel of the Lord, the one on the red horse, that stood among the myrtle trees and said, We’ve walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, All the earth sitteth still and is at rest. Now, this sounds good. Because this earth, in 5,000 years of recorded history, there have been only 200 years, a little bit better, 200 years of recorded peace. Man is a fierce, warlike creature, and there’s war in his heart. But here is a period of peace, and that sounds good, but is it? Well, we’ll see that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 03 :
to deepen your personal study of Scripture, we offer a wide variety of resources to help you out. TTB.org, for instance, is really the best place to visit, or you can always call 1-800-65-BIBLE, and we’ll be glad to assist you. And if God’s using this time in His Word to change or maybe challenge you, would you write and let us know? Letters like this one from Jim in Oregon really do encourage all of us. He writes this, Back in 1981, when I was still a godless heathen, the Lord put me together with a mentor who introduced me to Through the Bible. I was not a fan at first, but he had seniority at work and chose the radio station. Within a year, I was attending his church and accepted the Lord as my Savior shortly afterward. May I be selfish for a moment? I love your marketing plan, or rather your lack of a plan. We, that is my wife and I, like to send a lump sum gift annually. Other organizations that we give to always punish us with junk mail, emails, and phone calls. I love that you do not. Well, thanks, Jim. Thanks for helping to keep the Bible bus on the road, and most of all for encouraging us with your story. And, you know, we’d love to hear from you, too. Why don’t you drop a note in our app or email us at biblebus at ttb.org or send your letter to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Well, our study of Zechariah continues next time. I’m Steve Schweitz, and I’ll save a seat on the Bible Bus just for you.
SPEAKER 02 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’re grateful for the faithful and generous support of Through the Bible’s partners whom God uses to take the whole word to the whole world.
