The Vision of the Angelic Patrol
Zechariah 1:7-17
September 11, 2016
Last Sunday we began looking at this book of Zechariah.
The prophets whose name means “The Lord Remembers”
Last week we listened as he reminded the people to return to the Lord.
They had returned to Israel.
They had started rebuilding the temple.
But neither of those was the ultimate goal.
What good would it be to dwell in the land with the temple of the Lord if God Himself didn’t return to dwell within it?
So the message was simple:
• Don’t just return to the land, return to Me.
Tonight we move a step forward to the next major sermon from Zechariah.
And as always it is important to maintain the context and the situation.
• You are already aware of how Israel was rebuilding the temple.
• They had started
• Gotten intimidated and stopped
• Gotten rebuked by Haggai and restarted
Now let me tell you the situation.
TURN TO EZRA 5:1-17
• So as the children began to rebuild the temple we find that the local authorities wondered just what they thought they were doing.
• You probably noticed how they referenced even the points that Zechariah made in his first sermon about how God was angry at their fathers and destroyed this temple. (5:12)
• But the basic reality is that the local leadership has sent word to Darius back in Persia to find out whether or not he wants them to keep building this temple which could be seen as a threat.
And just so you know, later when Ezra makes the journey from Babylon (Persia) to Israel it will take him 5 months.
Ezra 7:8-9 “He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. “For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him.”
And this sermon is preached 5 months to the day from when they started rebuilding.
(7) “On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:”
The children of Israel are rebuilding the temple,
But there seems to be some uncertainty
As to whether or not they are going to be allowed to continue.
At any moment word could come back from Darius with a command to stop.
Israel is vulnerable.
UNCERTAINTY surrounds all that they are doing.
Now we do know that the answer will come back from Darius to continue,
But at the time of this message they don’t know that.
AND DURING THIS UNCERTAIN TIME
Zechariah shows up with his next sermon,
And it has to be one of the most encouraging and uplifting sermons
That has ever been preached to the nation of Israel.
In fact in this night Zechariah is going to receive 8 different visions.
• The vision of the Angelic Patrol
• The vision of the 4 horns and 4 craftsman
• The vision of the Surveyor
• The vision of Joshua’s Atonement
• The vision of Zerubbabel’s Lampstand
• The vision of the Flying Scroll
• The vision of the Ephah and the Wicked Woman
• The vision of the War Chariots
And all of these visions reinforce again and again that God is for Israel.
• It may be true that He was angry with Israel.
• It may be true that He destroyed the city.
• It may be true that He destroyed the temple.
• It may be true that He led them into captivity for 70 years.
• BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT GOD HAS REJECTED HIS PEOPLE.
The Lord Remembers.
We are talking about the faithfulness of God
To the covenants and the promises He has made.
2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Romans 11:2a “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”
In fact we could read all of Romans 11 and see how even though God has punished Israel for a time He will neither totally nor finally forsake them.
The Lord Remembers His promises.
The Lord Remembers His people.
You’re going to see that throughout these visions regarding Israel.
God’s people make walk through trials, adversity, even discipline,
BUT THEY ARE NEVER FORGOTTEN.
The beauty of this book is that we get to see God
Rekindle His tremendous love and compassion
For a people whom He has recently disciplined.
This is the part of the story where Hosea returns to Gomer…
It would have been a wonderfully encouraging message to these refugees who are living in what seems to be uncertain times.
For us, we are able to be reassured in our faith
That God never forgets His children. He never forsakes us.
Tonight we look at that first night vision of Zechariah.
It is the vision of “The Angelic Patrol”
We can break this down into 4 divisions
#1 THE LORD’S INFORMATIVE PATROL
Zechariah 1:8-11
The visions begin with Zechariah seeing a man seated on “red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine”
Now, first of all, don’t try to somehow link these horses to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, they are not.
• This is a totally different image and serves a totally different purpose.
• I think you can probably draw reference to the “red horse” as it depicts a king
ready for battle, but that’s about as far as the imagery compares.
This is not the Antichrist or anything to do with that.
The rider on this horse is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see in verse 11 that He is actually “the angel of the LORD”.
This is what is referred to as a Christophony; a preincarnate appearance of Christ.
• We saw Him recently speaking with Daniel.
• We’ve seen Him speak with Joshua.
• We saw Him in the furnace with the three Hebrew boys
And this is Him again riding a “red horse”.
The “myrtle trees” represent the now overgrowth that has occurred in Jerusalem.
• The place has been abandoned.
• The place is overgrown.
It’s all a picture of the struggle of Israel at the present time.
And behind the Lord are “red, sorrel and white horses”.
That’s the picture.
(9-10) “Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
While there may be some question as to what all the colors represent,
The main point of what Zechariah sees is spelled out to him.
Their color isn’t as important as their purpose.
“These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
Very simply this is a reconnaissance mission.
• These are scouts.
• They are to go out, survey the earth, and bring word back to the Lord.
This does not indicate that the Lord doesn’t know, or that He is not omniscient.
Rather it is a picture given to Zechariah
That the Lord takes interest in the affairs of the world.
WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION IS HE WANTING?
(11) “So they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet.”
We still don’t know what He’s looking for, but we do hear their report.
“all the earth is peaceful and quiet.”
Now I know that probably sounds like a good thing, but it isn’t.
You’ll see that in a moment.
To better understand it go ahead and look down at verse 15 real quick. “But I am very angry with the nations who are ease…”
“peaceful and quiet” doesn’t indicate a world in HARMONY,
It indicates a world in APATHY.
These scouts return to the Lord and indicate that the world is complacent. No one cares what is happening. No one is concerned.
Particularly, no one is concerned about Israel.
• Israel is struggling.
• Their land is in shambles.
• Their temple has been destroyed.
• They’ve been oppressed for 70 years by foreign nations.
And no one cares.
No one is losing sleep over the oppression of God’s people.
And this reality shouldn’t shock you,
For it has been true throughout the ages.
The world is not overly concerned about the affliction of God’s people,
No matter if that is Israel, or the church.
The Psalmist said:
Psalms 44:22 “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
The world doesn’t care how God’s people are afflicted.
In other words, God’s people have no ally in this world.
• God’s people have no deliverer or help in this world.
• Their soul defender is God.
Here we find Israel in the struggle of trying to re-enter her land
And no one seems to care about her struggle.
The Lord’s Informative Patrol
#2 THE LORD’S INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Zechariah 1:12
We saw this very thing this morning in our study of Revelation didn’t we?
(12) “Then the angel of the LORD said, “O LORD of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?”
It is very similar to that cry of the afflicted we saw this morning.
Only this is not the cry of the afflicted,
This is the intercessory prayer of the Lord Himself.
This is the prayer of “the angel of the Lord”, this is the prayer of Christ.
We spent a great deal of time studying through Hebrews and looking at Christ our great High Priest, well here He is again interceding for His people.
And His prayer is intense.
“How long will You have no compassion..?”
You may remember, but “no compassion” (LO-RUHAMAH) in the Hebrew.
It was the name of Hosea’s second child.
Hosea 1:6 “Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.”
But you will also remember that the Lord promised to one day return to her.
Hosea 2:1 “Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
Here we have Jesus interceding before the Father
Asking when that time of compassion is going to return.
THE PICTURE?
No one in the world cares about God’s people,
But Jesus does.
The Lord’s Informative Patrol, The Lord’s Intercessory Prayer
#3 THE LORD’S INTENSE PASSION
Zechariah 1:13-15
Here is God’s answer, and it drips with zeal and passion.
God’s answer is “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.”
These are His people and He loves them.
• He will not let them go.
• He will not forsake them.
• He does not rejoice in their calamity.
And then we see the flip side.
(15) “But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry they furthered their disaster.”
We see both the problem and the response of the Lord.
Are you not reminded that it matters to the Lord how we treat His people?
Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
We are certainly aware that the hardship inflicted on Israel was done at the hand of the Lord.
• They had offended Him, and even as we learned last week, God was angry at them.
• God’s answer was to send Babylon to carry His people away into exile for 70 years that they might return and seek God with all their heart.
But if you’ll notice what the Lord said here,
It is obvious that the PAGAN NATIONS who were to be used to discipline Israel actually TOOK LIBERTIES that angered God.
“for while I was only a little angry they furthered their disaster.”
What do you mean?
Take Assyria for a second and how God desired to send her against Judah in order to discipline her. Assyria tried to go all the way.
Isaiah 10:5-11 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets. Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations. For it says, “Are not my princes all kings? “Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus? “As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”
The Lord responded:
Isaiah 10:15-16 “Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood. Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day. And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body, And it will be as when a sick man wastes away. And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number That a child could write them down.”
That is to say, “Who do you think you are to try and afflict My people more harshly than I desire?”
Take Babylon and their call to conquer the southern kingdom.
Isaiah 47:1-8 “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. “Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. “Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame also will be exposed; I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.” Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel. “Sit silently, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms. “I was angry with My people, I profaned My heritage And gave them into your hand. You did not show mercy to them, On the aged you made your yoke very heavy. “Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’ These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them. “Now, then, hear this, you sensual one, Who dwells securely, Who says in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.’”
It is true that God used Babylon as a disciplining agent against His people, but they should have been compassionate
And not enjoyed it so much.
Jeremiah 50:11 “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant, O you who pillage My heritage, Because you skip about like a threshing heifer And neigh like stallions,”
And it wasn’t just Babylon.
When God was using Babylon to punish Israel, you had Israel’s neighbors who sought to take advantage of Israel and tried to plunder them while they were weak.
Jeremiah 12:14 “Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.”
One of these nations who took advantage of Israel’s plight was Edom (Esau) and God gave an entire book in the Bible to rebuking them for this.
Obadiah 1:10-14 “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. “On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem — You too were as one of them. “Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of their distress. “Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity In the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth In the day of their disaster. “Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors In the day of their distress.”
When Babylon was conquering Jerusalem Edom was right there
Looting them and killing the scattered stragglers.
You had the purpose of God in the discipline of Israel
And then you had pagan nations who enjoyed it too much.
• It is true that at times the Lord must discipline His people.
• It is true that at times the church must exercise this discipline,
• But it should NEVER be enjoyed and it should NEVER be intensified beyond the Lord’s directive.
What God witnessed among the nations was appalling to Him.
He saw nations like Assyria and Babylon and Edom
Actually enjoy crushing and luting His inheritance.
This helps us understand even more what was meant earlier by that “peaceful and quiet” statement.
These weren’t just nations who didn’t care about God’s people,
These were nations who had profited from the suffering of God’s people
And as a result were living high on the hog.
• Do you think Egypt didn’t financially prosper from their slave workforce?
• Do you think Babylon didn’t prosper from their new Israelite slaves?
• Do you suppose Edom didn’t prosper from the riches they looted from the
Promised Land?
Not only did these people have no issue with the suffering of God’s people, they actually profited from it.
They were like the soldiers who saw the death of Jesus
As an opportunity to gain a tunic, for which they gambled.
Yes God disciplined His people, but now He is angry
At the way those pagan nations carried that discipline out.
We see the Lord’s Intense Passion.
Incidentally that is the same type of passion
We are seeing in our Sunday morning study of Revelation.
Daniel’s book taught us that the affliction of the tribulation was intended by God and even used by God to purify and save Israel.
But that doesn’t mean that the Lord is not angry
At those who did the afflicting.
The Lord’s Informative Patrol, The Lord’s Intercessory Prayer, The Lord’s Intense Passion
#4 THE LORD’S INFALLIBLE PROMISE
Zechariah 1:16-17
And this is a beautiful one.
The nations refuse to be Israel’s help so God will do it Himself.
“I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it, “declares the LORD of hosts, “and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.”
Remember the current predicament?
• Yes Cyrus commissioned them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple,
• But now there is a new leader in Persia and the entire operation is currently under review.
• There are delegates on the way to Darius right now to ask him if he still wants the Jewish people to continue with this project.
And in the midst of this dilemma God comes through with an absolute directive.
• I’m coming back!
• I’ll care for My people if no one else will!
• My house will get built!
• And My city will be rebuilt as well!
Don’t you fear what is coming,
I’m going to return and make this place great again.
And that is not all.
(17) “Again, proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”‘”
That is to say, I’m not just going to come back
And rebuild some po-dunk city.
I’m not going to do a half-way job.
“My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”
I am going to make the place where My name dwells great.
That is the promise!
And can I point out to you that this promise all hinged around the coming of Jesus Christ?
• He is the One who would come to Israel.
• He is the One who whose glory would shine in this temple.
• He is the One who would offer Israel a life of blessing.
• God saw the coming of Christ back to Israel.
And I absolutely love the statement that I will “again choose Jerusalem.”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Think about it for a moment.
Jerusalem and all Israel had failed God in the most remarkable way.
• This was a people that He had chosen through their Father Abraham.
• His favor carried through Isaac and Jacob.
• They were a people He delivered out of Egypt by a mighty hand and entered
into a covenant with them at Sinai.
And all they ever did was fail Him.
All they ever did was cause Him grief.
In fact, they completely failed in their covenant agreement and God was forced to enact all the curses of the broken covenant upon them.
Pestilence and Famine and Death took over their land.
God ultimately destroyed their temple and kicked them out of the land.
Isaiah likened it to a divorce.
Isaiah 50:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”
It was a scene acted out by Hosea when he married a prostitute named Gomer and ultimately sent her away because of her adultery.
AND ONE WOULD EXPECT
That after years of unfaithfulness, hardship, adultery, grief and pain,
That God (having been freed from these stubborn and obstinate people),
Would take His chance at freedom and run!
And that is not what He did at all.
We see Hosea returning to Gomer
And we see an unthinkable statement by God right here.
I will “again choose Jerusalem.”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
What manner of love and commitment and grace and mercy
Does our God have that He would continue to love
And continue to have compassion
And continue to choose a people like Israel?
Only a God of great faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Here we have a people who have been 70 years afflicted
For their unfaithfulness toward God
And now they are back in the land trying to pick up the pieces.
And God steps in and says, I am coming back!
AND I STILL CHOOSE YOU!
Now if you are one of those people who never fails the Lord,
Then this probably isn’t that big of a deal to you,
But if you are like the rest of us, this is reason for great rejoicing!
We serve a faithful God who will not ever forsake us.
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed, For I am your God your sustainer and strength. I’ll be your defender and cause you to stand, upheld by My merciful, almighty hand.
When thro’ fiery trials they pathway shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply; the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
The soul that is trusting in Jesus as Lord, will press on enduring the darkest of storms, and though even hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never no never no never forsake.”
Our security does not rest on our ability to be faithful,
Our security rests on a God
Who chose us once when we were unworthy
And who continues to choose us though we remain unworthy.
That is the encouraging message to this Jewish refugees.
No one in the world is for you, but I am for you and that is all that matters.
I’m returning to you!
