Bible Experiment Zechariah

Bible Experiment Zechariah

Welcome to Bible Experiment number 38. Zechariah. Wherein I read a book of the Bible and write at least a thousand words of my thoughts. This wasn’t my idea, I stole the idea from an Atheist. And figured, heck, if he can do it, so can I.

Well this week? Totally different take. Been excited about doing Zechariah for like 2 years now. Like Isaiah, this book is the shizznit. (It’s cool.) Why? Because this book was written in 520 BC. Um, that’s, wait one (2016 + 520 = 2536) two thousand five hundred and thirty six years ago. 2500 years ago! So what! So what? Well, it accurately predicts things that happen 550 years later… and things that are still to come. So let that sink in a moment. If I came over to you and said, there’s a guy, who predicted the future, he predicted 7 NFL Super Bowls in a row… oh and by the way, he predicted 7 more that haven’t happened yet, I would be willing to bet you’d be interested in seeing who he predicted would win the next seven. Right? Duh. I’m not a gambling guy, but heck ya I’d bet heavy on the next prediction of his. Wouldn’t you? Well, yeah you would.

Right, well that is exactly what we have here in Zechariah.

Does that even make any sense? If I asked you to bet big on this year’s Super Bowl you’d probably want me to walk you through the past seven predictions. When did he make them. How he predicted them exactly. And you’d like to see the evidence I wasn’t full of crap. Right? I mean, that’s what I’d like to know before I pulled money out of stock and went all in.

Zechariah’s Predictions about the Christ

Zechariah 1:12-13 “I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.”

Pretty much any noob could walk this cat back, but I’ll just assume you don’t know… and I’ll walk it back for you.

“I [Judas] said to them [pharisees], give me my wages [I’ll betray him, but not for nothing]; So they weighed out 30 shekels [the agreed price of betraying Jesus] throw it [the 30 shekels] to the potter [the name of the field where Judas hanged himself was the ‘Potter’s field’] in the house of the Lord [Judas threw the money to the floor of the temple]”

So here is one of the key verses that fulfilled this prophecy just so you can compare it yourself:

Matthew 27:3-10 – “Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!” And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; 10and they gave them for the Potters Field, as the Lord directed me.”

Is it not there? Is it a stretch? Seems 1 to 1 to me.  Not enough for you? Ok, then I will list some others out for you that you can compare for yourself that shows more street cred for Zechariah’s prophetic capabilities:

Zechariah 9:9 – the Messiah will come on a donkey. Which is fulfilled in Luke 19:35-37

Zechariah 13:7 – the Messiah would be struck and his followers would scatter. This was fulfilled in Mark 14:27, Matthew 26:56

Zechariah 12:10 – they will pierce the Christ’s side. John 19:34-37

Etc. etc. there are more prophecies that Zechariah makes, but you get the idea. Zechariah was legit. He scored three point shot after three point shot from well behind the half court line… from 500 years in advance. hahaha. Now that is good shooting. So if Zechariah made prophecies for 500 years into the future, as well as several thousand years in the future, what were those other prophecies that haven’t been fulfilled yet?

Zechariah’s Prophecies about the 2nd Coming

Alright, so, hold on tight. If you’ve never walked into the wild wonderland of eschatology, here we go.

Zechariah 12:9 He adds, “It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

Zechariah 12:2-3 God says: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah [the Jews inhabiting the land of Israel] and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

Ok, so just with these two quotes you should be mind blown. The first two quotes are interesting in that it is weird isn’t it that the world works so hard to destroy the Jews? I mean, isn’t that weird? Why the Jews? Why not like, Indians? Or like Greeks? Or what about Brits? They are kinda mean after all. No. The world has been rushing to vanquish the planet of Jews for quite a while now. And no, I don’t just mean the Germans and World War II. Romans. Greeks. Babylonians. Persians. All have gone after the Jews in one way or another. I mean, I am sure you don’t know this but Rome under Emporer Titus killed over a million Jews in 70 AD in the Siege of Jerusalem (per Josephus). Why the angst? Why the vitriol? Well, regardless of the world’s desire to destroy Israel and the Jews, it will actually be the other nations that will eventually come to ruin.

Zechariah 14:1-4 “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming . . . For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity . . . Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.”

This. My friends… is a hole in one, on Mars, from a Tee in Orlando.

Zechariah is saying that Christ is coming again. When he does, it’s going to be going nuts here. The nations around Israel will be chasing the Jews down to vanquish them forever. And in the middle of the chaos, Jesus will return… landing literally on the Mount of Olives. When he does, the mount will split and it will provide safety for those that are retreating.

Christ came once. The first time He arrived, Zechariah prophesied He would come on a donkey (which signifies peace if you were unclear on that point) and He did.

Christ will come again. The second time it will be to save Israel from defeat from the world’s armies. And this second time? It won’t be on a donkey, it will be on a white stallion… (which represents war, if you were unclear on that point.)

Seriously. This legit right here. Read Zechariah from beginning to end if you are unclear on world history and what the story really is all about. A modern history has a bent towards interesting factoids and details that aren’t in Zechariah. But that same history book is missing the larger story that is really happening. But Zechariah gets it. This is a book from a prophet that has a fantastic batting average. 500 years in advance he told of Christ’s first coming. And he will also eventually be proven to be 100% right once Christ comes again.

The bigger question for you should be… so? Why does it matter to me.

Well, what history book are you paying attention to? The one one filled with random history trivia? Or the one that actually tells of a larger battle and struggle going on? The history book that tells of a way for you to be reconciled to the one who holds history in His hands? Or the one that just makes this life even more confusing? Personally, Zechariah is just another data point that proves to me that Jesus is the Christ, and that He has come to forgive me of my sins. That Christ is my justification before the God of the universe. That He will do anything to draw me close to Him and forgive me of my sins. That what He wants from you right now is to live a life in communion with you. Not after you die, but NOW. (which is the point of the book of Hebrews… which I can’t wait to get to.) Right now.