Zechariah - Lesson 4
Excerpt
Zechariah 5 may present us with the wildest scene yet, a flying scroll! Many serious students of Scripture think that Zechariah is the most difficult book of the Old Testament to understand. We learn in the first few chapters of this book that God was getting ready to do something amazing for the Jewish people. In addition to being the supernatural power behind the rebuilding of the temple, He was going to accomplish something that allowed them to be a kingdom of priests. Prior to the sending of the Holy Spirit to reside within believers, the Holy Spirit was transient. He would come upon people and then leave them. God’s desire was always to give the people direct access to Himself, but because of their sin, He only gave the tribe of Levi, and more specifically, the High Priest that access and only on the Day of Atonement. Other priests would make concessions to God on a daily basis with the sacrifices that were offered, but on this one day every year, the Day of Atonement, the sins of Israel would be wiped away and a new year would begin. In the vision of Joshua and Satan, we learned that not only did Joshua, the High Priest, need to be cleansed, but the entire nation needed to be cleansed of their sin. The vision of the branch and the stone with 7 eyes points towards the Millennial reign of Christ on the earth and that Israel will once again be a light to the people of the earth. The lampstand and olive trees that we studied about last week is another reminder that the Holy Spirit will empower those who are in the millennium and will be the light that will be shining from within them. I have a question for you. Do you believe that any Jewish unbelievers will be in Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Christ? Why or why not?
