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Zechariah, Prophet of God's remembrance, part 26

The deliverance of Judah and Ephraim, along with the rest of the earth, depends on the timing of repentance. For this reason, when their sentence of captivity comes to an end, God must first pour out His Spirit. Why? Because deliverance from outward forms of slavery do not truly address the inner problem of slavery to sin which is the root of all slavery.

All previous deliverances, seen in the book of Judges, were only outward deliverances, and so by the next generation or two the people’s cup of iniquity was filled once again, necessitating another captivity. Today, after a very long captivity to the succession of beast nations, God intends to do something different that will resolve the root cause of captivity and bondage.

Yet before God does anything in the earth, He must first raise up and train a certain number of witnesses who have sufficient faith to bear witness to His will and plan. For example, when Israel languished in slavery to Pharaoh, He knew that He would deliver them after 400 years (since the birth of Isaac) and 430 years since His covenant with Abraham. So God started with the birth of Moses, trained him 40 years in Pharaoh’s palace, and then for another 40 years in the wilderness before sending him back to deliver Israel.

In other words, God started 80 years earlier, and personally trained Moses in the wilderness for 40 years, so that when Moses reached the shore of the Red Sea, he would have the ability to hear God’s instruction and hold out his staff to part the sea by faith (Exodus 14:16). All things are established by two or three witnesses, and this law explains why God seems to do nothing without first revealing His word to the prophets (Amos 3:7). He reveals the will of heaven in order to obtain a double witness from the earth, by which His will is implemented.

So also, in regard to the end-time deliverance from Mystery Babylon and the beast nations as a whole, God raises up a few who have ears to hear and who have hearts to obey. These become His witnesses in the earth, represented prophetically by Moses and Elijah, the law and prophets. Hence, God has called witnesses in the earth once again to bear witness and to ask God to pour out His Spirit, so that the earth can be delivered in a lawful manner.

Ask for Rain

Zechariah 10:1 says,

¹ Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—the Lord who makes the storm clouds; and He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.

Here again, God uses a farming metaphor to reveal spiritual truths. Asking for physical rain is important in times of potential drought, but the deeper principle expressed here is the call to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit. The “spring rain” is the latter rain that normally occurred between Passover and Pentecost. Joel 2:23 speaks of two rains—“the early and latter rain.”

The early rains, representing the feast of Tabernacles, fell at the time of seed planting in October-November; the latter rains, representing Pentecost, fell in the spring. The 120 disciples went to the upper room in the days leading to the day of Pentecost to pray for the latter rain, and they were rewarded with the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2:1, 2). We today are praying for the early rain, because we stand at the time of a new era in Kingdom history, where the nations must be prepared to receive the seed of the word in the greatest evangelistic effort in world history.

God’s witnesses are to pray “until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high” (Isaiah 32:15). The promise says, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean” (Ezekiel 36:27), and “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field” (Ezekiel 36:30).

Zechariah 10:1 speaks of the general command in times of spiritual drought. It applied to the 120 disciples at the time of Pentecost, and it applies to us at the end of the age.

Disobedient Shepherds

Zechariah 10:2, 3 says,

² For the teraphim speak iniquity, and the diviners see lying visions and tell false dreams; they comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no [true] shepherd. ³ My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats…

A “teraphim” was a household idol that was used to communicate with the spiritual world. Rachel stole her father’s teraphim so that he could not divine her husband’s location as he was returning to the land of Canaan (Genesis 31:19, 30, 32). Although God often uses tangible objects to reveal and confirm His word, it was a sin to seek information from other gods—even if that method may seem to be successful. Essentially, all prayer must conform to the First Commandment to have no other gods before Him.

Zechariah acknowledges that there are “shepherds” (i.e., pastors), but He says too that “there is no shepherd.” In other words, those that men ordain as pastors are not necessarily recognized as pastors by God’s definition and calling. The predominance of shepherds who are called and ordained by men rather than by God has been a problem since the beginning.

These “diviners see lying visions.” Yes, they do indeed see visions, but they are deceptive. Even if their visions are valid, they misunderstand them or misapply them. The result is that “the people wander like sheep,” having little knowledge of the word of God and not knowing how God defines such biblical terms as Judah and Israel. Others do not properly distinguish between the Old and New Covenants, and so they misapply the law and the prophets.

There is perhaps no greater deception than Christian Zionism, which fails to distinguish between the inheritance given under the Old Covenant and the true inheritance that Abraham envisioned (Hebrews 11:13-16). Similarly, they fail to distinguish between the two Jerusalems, and for this reason they place their hope in the earthly city that is in bondage with her children and which will NOT inherit the Kingdom with the children of the free woman (Galatians 4:30).

The result is that God’s flock wanders in darkness, not knowing the true promise of God, thinking that the earthly Jerusalem will be the capital (or “mother”) of the Kingdom in the age to come. One of the main purposes of the outpouring of the Spirit is to reveal the truth of God’s word so that the eyes of the people will be opened to the true hope that lies before us.

Sheep and Goats

Zechariah says that God will “punish the male goats,” that is, the shepherds who present “lying visions.” In Scripture, both sheep and goats are clean animals. Hence, either may be used at Passover (Exodus 12:5). However, there is a prophetic difference between them. A goat is strong willed or even obstinate. A goat says “But-But,” while a sheep says “Ahhh-men.”

In the end, Jesus speaks of sheep nations and goat nations. Matthew 25:32 says,

³² All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The sheep are rewarded, while the goats are judged with the words, “Depart from me, accursed ones” (Matthew 25:41). These “accursed ones” are not necessarily unbelievers, at least not in the classic sense of the word. Even Christians can be accursed in that they will not inherit life in the first resurrection. In Matthew 7:21-23 we read how many had prophesied in Jesus’ name, cast out demons, and performed “many miracles,” all in Jesus’ name, and yet Jesus says to them, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (anomia).

Just because one claims to be a “born again Christian” and even have the gift of miracles does not necessarily mean that Jesus knows Him (or recognizes him). To be an overcomer, more is required. To be given life in the first resurrection is limited to the few, and Jesus indicates that the main difference is lawfulness vs. lawlessness. Those who put away God’s law, thinking that they must do so in order to obtain “grace,” do not understand either law or grace.