Temporada 1
In this chapter God finishes answering the question started in chapter 7. As a part of that answer he fortells of a time when people from everywhere will take a hold of the edge of the robe of Jewish man and want to be with him, for God is with him. That strange picture is in fact a reality in a most unexpected way. It is true right now. But how?
A delegation of Jewish people from Bethel came to ask Zechariah if they should keep up thier fasting on Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of the year. The answer from the Lord was rather surprising... he said, you are not fasting for me, you are.....
The visions of Zechariah are strange and the interpretations can be diverse. In this chapter he sees four sets of horses in varying colours, just like the horses of hte apocalypse in the book of Revelation. What is the chance these are the same horses? The chapter finishes with an unexpected reference to people who are far off (the Gentiles) coming to build God's house (the temple). What does this mean?
Zechariah has a vision of a large flying scroll about ten meters long and five meters wide. In this unusual chapter it seems God is calling in the covenant and winding it up, the end of Mosaic Judaism is foreshadowed. What does it all mean?
Get your symbols wrong and the meaning shifts wildly. In this vision of a golden menorah with two olive trees, one on each side, it is important to know what the lampstand and the trees represent. While the menorah is a symbol in culture of Israel, in the Bible it is a symbol of the Church.... (see Rev 1) and thus we have a vision of Church times.... but what might it mean?
In this chapter Zechariah has a vision of a man called Joshua. On the human level this is a man wearing dirty clothes, and they are rmoved and he is given clean high priestly clothes to wear.
Ezekiel has strange visions, including of a man with a tape measuring the apparent third temple. John sees also a man with a measuring rod in the book of Revelation, and now Zechariah sees probably the same man. What is this all about.
Zechariah is the second post-exilic prophet - that is the second prophet in the Bible after the exile. HIs book is quirky, and full of the most interesting and strange visions which have people debating still today. In this first chapter a man appears on a red horse with an army behind him... we are pretty sure that is Jesus. What is the go with that? And in the first six verses we meet the fastest revival in history.
The newly rebuilt second temple looked a bit ordinary compared to the fantastic first temple of Solomon which was covered in gold. Haggai declared that the glory of the "latter" temple would be greater than that of the first temple. Was that latter temple the one standing at the time of Haggai 2? Was it the temple of Herod? Was it he temple in Ezekiel's vision? Was it the spiritual temple in the New Testament? What does that phrase mean?
The last three books of the Old Testament are the post-exilic prophets. Here the people were focussed on getting their lives back on track, but were neglecting the work of the Lord and his temple. We do the exact same thing today, focussing on getting ahead in life, financially, health-wise, marriage-wise and more, and the Lord's work is on the back burner. Haggai teaches us about this scenario and the lesson is worth learning.