Lesson #12

• ZEC 10 CONTINUES THAT IDEA.

• READ ZEC 10:1 THE LATTER AND THE FORMER RAIN
• OF WHAT SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE IS THE BIBLICAL PHRASE, “THE LATTER AND THE FORMER RAIN”?
• THIS AGRICULTURAL PHRASE OCCURS FREQUENTLY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. IT IS VERY SIGNIFICANT. WE, THEREFORE, NEED TO UNDERSTAND ITS MEANING.
• ISRAEL WAS AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY IN AN AREA OF THE WORLD WHERE RAINFALL WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO SURVIVAL.
• GOD PROMISED ABUNDANT RAIN TO ISRAEL IF HIS PEOPLE WOULD OBEY HIM. (DEU 11:13-14)
• THE RAINY SEASON IN ISRAEL BEGAN IN SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER. THESE EARLY RAINS WERE CALLED “THE FORMER RAINS”.
• THEY BROUGHT REFRESHING COOLNESS AFTER A LONG HOT SUMMER.
• THE RAINY SEASON IN ISRAEL ENDED IN MARCH TO APRIL. THESE LATE RAINS WERE CALLED “THE LATTER RAINS”.
• THEY CAME AT A TIME WHEN CROPS WERE COMING TO MATURITY.
• IF WE CONSIDER THESE RAINS LITERALLY, THEN THE PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT WILL BE IN THE MILLENNIUM WHEN AN INCREASE IN RAINFALL WILL WATER THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND MAKE IT LIKE THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
• READ ISA 44:3 AND HOS 6:3
• HOSEA USES THIS PHRASE, “THE LATTER AND THE FORMER RAINS” SYMBOLICALLY TO REFER TO SOMETHING SPIRITUAL, OTHER THAN PHYSICAL RAIN.
• THE PASSAGE INDICATES THAT THE MESSIAH WILL COME TO THE EARTH TWICE SIMILAR TO THE PATTERN OF THE RAINFALL:
• ONCE IN THE FALL AND AGAIN IN THE SPRING.
• THEREFORE, THERE WILL BE 2 COMINGS OF THE MESSIAH.
• READ JOEL 2:23-30
• JOEL USES THIS PHRASE SYMBOLICALLY TO REFER TO SOMETHING SPIRITUAL.
• HE REFERS TO AN ABUNDANCE OF MATERIAL HARVEST AND THEN EXTENDS IT TO A SPIRITUAL HARVEST.
• HE TALKS PROPHETICALLY ABOUT THE GIVING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT WILL COME ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST TO PRODUCE A HARVEST OF SOULS FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
• READ ACT 2:16-17
• ACTS 2 IS THE FIRST FULFILLMENT OF JOEL’S PROPHECY ABOUT THE LATTER AND FORMER RAINS THAT OCCURRED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST.
• A SECOND FULFILLMENT OF JOEL’S PROPHECY WILL OCCUR AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL PRODUCE A FINAL AND GREATER HARVEST INCLUDING THE JEWS.
• THEREFORE, THERE WILL BE 2 OUT-POURINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT JUST AS THERE ARE THE LATTER AND THE FORMER RAINS.

• READ ZEC 10:2-3 THE VANITY OF IDOLS THAT CANNOT BRING RAIN OR HARVEST
• “TERAPHIM” (2)
• THESE WERE SMALL HOUSEHOLD IDOLS USED TO DISCOVER INFORMATION BY DIVINATION.
• ONLY THE GOD, JEHOVAH, CAN BRING AN ABUNDANT HARVEST OF CROPS, AS WELL AS A SPIRITUAL HARVEST, THE IDOLS THAT THE ISRAELITES WORSHIPPED BEFORE THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY ARE POWERLESS TO DO EITHER.
• THE EXAMPLE OF THEIR LACK OF POWER IS THEIR DESTRUCTION WITH THE FALL OF BABYLON.
• THE WARNING TO ZECHARIAH’S PEOPLE IS THAT THEY MUST NOT TRUST THESE IDOLS AGAIN.
• HOWEVER, IN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD, THE JEWS WILL AGAIN TRUST IN THE “IDOL SHEPHERD”, THE ANTICHRIST.
• GOD’S ANGER AGAINST THE SHEPHERDS AND THE HE-GOATS: (3)
• WHO ARE THESE SHEPHERDS?
• THEY ARE THE NON-BELIEVING. JEWISH GOVERNMENT LEADERS, UNFAITHFUL PRIESTS, AND FALSE PROPHETS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TIMES THAT RULED OVER ISRAEL. THEY WERE, THEREFORE, FALSE SHEPHERDS THAT LED THE PEOPLE ASTRAY.
• WE LEARNED PREVIOUSLY THAT GOD WILL SEPARATE THE GOAT NATIONS FROM THE SHEEP NATIONS. THE GOAT NATIONS WERE THE NON-BELIEVING NATIONS THAT PERSECUTED THE JEWS.
• THEREFORE, THE HE-GOATS ARE THE LEADERS OF THOSE SAME GENTILE NATIONS THAT PERSECUTED THE JEWS.
• GOD WILL MAKE JUDAH HIS HORSE IN BATTLE (3)
• THE TERM “JUDAH” REFERS TO THE WHOLE NATION OF ISRAEL, NOT JUST THE TRIBE OF JUDAH.
• “…JEHOVAH HATH VISITED HIS FLOCK…” (3)
• JESUS CHRIST IS THE TRUE SHEPHERD THAT WILL VISIT HIS FLOCK OF SCATTERED SHEEP (THE JEWS) AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
• WHEN GOD PUNISHES THE GOAT NATIONS AT THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, AND THE MESSIAH RETURN S TO EARTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT BATTLE, THE JEWS WILL ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR. IT IS AT THAT TIME THAT GOD WILL USE THESE CONVERTED JEWS IN THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON.
• GOD WILL GIVE THEM SUPERNATURAL POWER TO DEFEAT THEIR ENEMIES.

• READ ZEC 10:4-10 THE MESSIAH TO COME OUT OF JUDAH
• THERE ARE SEVERAL TITLES FOR CHRIST USED IN THIS SECTION OF SCRIPTURE.
• CHRIST, THE CORNERSTONE. (4)
• READ THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES:
• ISA 28:16
• ROM 9:31-33
• 1PET 2:6-8
• EPH 2:19-22
• WHAT DO WE LEARN ABOUT THE MESSIAH FROM THESE VERSES?
• CHRIST IS THE TRUE STONE COME FROM THE JEWS, AND PRECIOUS TO GOD, THE FATHER.
• CHRIST IS THE “TRIED” STONE.
• HE WAS STRONG AND DID NOT FAIL TO DO GOD’S WILL WHEN HE WENT TO THE CROSS.
• CHRIST, THE CORNERSTONE, IS ALSO A STUMBLING STONE TO THE JEWS.
• THE JEWS STUMBLED OVER THE IDENTITY OF JESUS CHRIST AT HIS FIRST COMING AND STILL DO TODAY.
• THE CORNERSTONE IS A PERSON.
• PERSONAL PRONOUNS, HE AND HIM, ARE USED.
• ISAIAH SAYS, “…HE THAT BELIEVETH SHALL NOT MAKE HASTE.” (ISA 28:16)
• BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST STAND FIRM ON TRUTH AND WILL NOT FALL IN TIMES OF TROUBLE OR IN TIMES OF JUDGMENT.
• THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST IS BUILT ON CHRIST AS THE CORNERSTONE.
• THE CHURCH CONSISTS OF JEWS AND GENTILES WHO MEET IN FELLOWSHIP IN JESUS CHRIST, JUST AS TWO OPPOSING WALLS MEET AT THE CORNER STONE OF A BUILDING.
• CHRIST, THE NAIL (4)
• THIS SYMBOL FOR THE MESSIAH IS NOT AS COMMON AS THE PREVIOUS ONE, HOWEVER, IT HAS A LOT OF MEANING.
• READ THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE:
• ISA 22:23-25
• THE NAIL WAS A PEG FASTENED INTO THE CENTER TENT POST. ON THAT NAIL WAS HUNG ALL THE VALUABLES OF THE HOUSEHOLD.
• IN ISA 22, ELIAKIM WAS TO BE THE OVERSEER OF THE GOVERNMENT. EVERYTHING OF VALUE DEPENDED ON HIM.. BUT, ACCORDING TO ISAIAH’S PROPHECY, ONE NAIL WOULD BE CUT OFF. THAT WAS SHEBNA, THE TREASURER.
• ELIAKIM IS A PREFIGURE OF JESUS CHRIST.
• JESUS, TOO, WOULD BE CUT OFF AND FALL AT THE CRUCIFIXION. (THE IS THE SECOND OF THE DOUBLE FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROPHECY.)
• HOWEVER, ISAIAH SAYS THAT GOD WILL PROVIDE A “SURE NAIL” (ISA 22:23) ON WHICH GOD WILL HANG ALL HIS GLORY.
• JESUS CHRIST WILL FULFILL THIS PART AT HIS SECOND COMING.
• THE NAIL PEG WAS ALSO USED TO HANG BURDENS. (ISA 22:25)
• OF COURSE, CHRIST IS OUR BURDEN BEARER.
• CHRIST, THE BATTLE BOW (4)
• THIS SYMBOL REFERS TO CHRIST AS A WARRIOR WHO COMES TO DO BATTLE AGAINST ISRAEL’S ENEMIES.
• OBVIOUSLY JESUS DID NOT FULFILL THIS ASPECT OF THE MESSIAH AT HIS FIRST COMING. IT, THEREFORE, AWAITS HIS SECOND COMING.
• BECAUSE CHRIST COMES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, HE COMES AS A WARRIOR TO DO BATTLE.
• THE NATURE OF THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON:
• THE PHRASES, “HOUSE OF JACOB, …HOUSE OF JOSEPH,…THEY OF EPHRAIM” ALL REFER TO A UNITED ISRAEL.
• AFTER THE TIME OF KING SOLOMON UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY, ISRAEL WAS A DIVIDED NATION.
• THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF THE TRIBES OF BENJAMIN AND JUDAH WERE ONE NATION.
• THE NORTHERN KINGDOM OF THE OTHER TEN TRIBES WERE ONE NATION.
• BELIEVING JEWS WILL FIGHT AGAINST THE NATIONS THAT ARE THEIR ENEMIES, AND CHRIST WILL BE IN THEIR MIDST. (5)
• GOD WILL GIVE THE JEWS EXTRAORDINARY STRENGTH TO DEFEAT THEIR ENEMIES. (6-7)
• AFTER THE BATTLE, CHRIST WILL GATHER ALL THE JEWS FROM OTHER LANDS AND RETURN THEM TO ISRAEL. (10)
• THE JEWS WILL INCREASE GREATLY IN POPULATION (8)
• THE GEOGRAPHIC LAY OF THE LAND IN THE MILLENNIUM WILL BE DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. (11)

HOMEWORK
ZECHARIAH 11
THIS IS A SELF-STUDY. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HOMEWORK ANSWERS TO THE TEACHER FORCORRECTION.

• APPLICATION OF ZEC 10
• OF THE THREE SYMBOLS FOR CHRIST: THE CORNERSTONE, THE NAIL, AND THE BATTLE BOW; WHICH ONE RELATES MORE TO YOUR PERSONAL LIFE AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME? WHY?

• PREPARATION FOR ZEC 11
• READ ZEC 11:1-6 JUDGMENT ON THE LAND OF ISRAEL
• WHEN, AFTER ZECHARIAH’S DAY, WAS THIS PROPHECY FULFILLED?
• READ ZEC 11:7- 17 ACTIONS OF A SHEPHERD
• TO WHAT DO YOU THINK THE TWO RODS, “BEAUTY” AND “BANDS” REFER? (PSA 23:4)
• WHAT IS “CUT OFF” IN VERSE 9-10? WHY? (12)
• OF WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 30 PIECES OF SILVER? (MAT 26:14-15)
• OF WHAT SIGNIFICANCE IS THE BREAKING OF THE ROD CALLED “BANDS”? (14)
• WHO IS THE “IDOL SHEPHERD”? (17)

• MEMORY VERSE: MATTHEW 24:2