God Vindicates His People (Zech. 1:18-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2016 8:56 PM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  God Vindicates His People

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Zechariah 1:18-21

            Message of the verses:  “18 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. 19 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem." 20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. 21 I said, "What are these coming to do?" And he said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it."”

            In Today’s’ SD we will try and gleam from what Warren Wiersbe has written on these verses and then in our next SD we will begin to look at some of the things that John MacArthur has to say about them. 

            Now as we look at these verses we can see something very similar in the second and seventh chapters of the book of Daniel, as Daniel mentions the four nations that represent the four horns in these verses.  Assyria, Babylon, Medes & Persians, Greece, and Rome, and I realize that there are five mentioned here, but Assyria was the nation which destroyed the Northern Kingdom, and then was destroyed by the Babylonians, who was destroyed by the Medes & Persians, who were destroyed by the Greeks, who were destroyed by the Romans, and in the end Rome will once again come back into power and will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ at His return as seen in Revelation chapter 19.  Now that is the short interpretation of these verses, but we will have more to say about them as we continue our study of these verses.

            One thing we have to remember as we look at these verses is the promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 where He said that “I will bless those who bless you and those that curse you, I will curse.”  I have heard it said that you can look at all the major empires of the world and how they treated the Jewish people tells how long they stayed in existence.  If they treated the Jews well they survived, and if they didn’t they did not survive.  As I look at how our nation is treating the nation of Israel over the last seven years of our present leader I cringe what will happen to us if we continue to go down that road.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following quote from former Prime Minister Menachem Begin in a letter he wrote to former President Ronald Regan:  “My generation, dear Ron, swore on the altar of God that whoever proclaims the intent of destroying the Jewish state or the Jewish people, or both, seals his fate.”  Wiersbe goes on to add “But it’s the Lord who does the judging, not the armies of Israel, and His judgments are never wrong.”

            When you look at the craftsmen or in the 18 ¶  Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. 19  So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem." 20  Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. 21  I said, "What are these coming to do?" And he said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it."KJV” are called “Smiths” Dr. Wiersbe has the following to say:  “The scenario suggests that the ‘horns’ also became ‘smiths’ as each empire conquered the previous oppressors.  It also reminds the Jews of God’s providential care in the past and His promise of protection for the future, for God will not permit any nation to annihilate His chose people.  In the last days, when Antichrist, the ‘dreadful and terrible beast’ establishes his kingdom (Dan. 7:7-8, 15-28) and persecutes the Jews, he and his kingdom will be destroyed by the return of Jesus Christ in glory and power.  Zechariah will have more to say about this in the last part of the book.”

4/21/2016 9:21 PM