Zechariah 6

Zec 6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

It seems to me that if the mountains are literal, they would be mountains that were in heaven, not on the earth. Heaven is supposed to have streets of gold so to have mountains of brass would not be incredible. If these mountains are merely symbolic of heavenly things then of course it could be of any material. Four chariots represent the four spirits of the heavens which go into all the earth and stand before God with their report of what they did or what is taking place upon the earth as described in verse 5.

If these chariots are merely symbolic of angels or messengers from the Lord, I can understand why the Lord would use chariots. In our day, it might be automobiles but if God would have used the symbols of transportation in our day, many who have read it over the years would not have understood it. We in modern times do understand what a chariot is but they would not have understood airplanes, helicopters or cars. God has to write so that all can understand if they study and seek to understand. The word of God is only a mystery to the unbelievers or those who have no desire to understand. The minute we start to seek God for understanding, we will begin to understand little by little. It will probably not be all at once because I believe God wants us to continue to seek and not expect to instantly have all understanding of all mysteries.

Zec 6:2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

The red horse in the book of Revelation is a horse representing a spiritual being which stirred up strife and took peace from the earth causing war. This comes from God's wrath and judgment upon those the persecute and kill his people. Here we see God's judgment against Babylon for their treatment of the Jewish people. Although God allowed that judgment because of Judah's sin, many overstepped the bounds God sets and show cruelty. We saw this in the book of Daniel. The black horse in Revelation had to do with commerce. Perhaps famine and death from famine was indicated.

Zec 6:3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses.

Perhaps the white represents the word of God going forth or the restoration of the Jewish back to their homeland and becoming prepared for the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Grizzled and bay seems to indicate a mixture of some kind.

The horses could represent the world empires that had to do with the Jewish people similar to the prophecies in Daniel. There are angelic spirits behind great world empires and leaders mostly evil spirit beings.
The Red would be Babylon which led the Jews into captivity. The Black could be the coming of the Persians, The white Alexander the Great and the grizzled and bay, the mixed Roman Empire.
Whatever they are we see judgment first against Israel for forsaking the true God and then for the nations that persecuted Israel and the Jewish people.

Zec 6:4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
Zec 6:5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
Zec 6:6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grizzled go forth toward the south country.

The Black and white horses or spirits went to do the will of God and bring judgment to the North Country.

Zec 6:7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.

We see that they couldn't go forth without God's permission. This shows us the sovereignty of God and His power over all things.

Zec 6:8 Then cried he upon me, and spoke unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.
Zec 6:9 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Zec 6:10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;
Zec 6:11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;

The crowns show us that God has not forsaken his people, Israel or the Jews. Judah was to be the tribe chosen by God to be the rulers. Judah was to have a king and a high priest. Christ being from the tribe of Judah is also a king and a high priest to intercede for sins.

We are coming now to a double prophecy. First in the days that Babylon was overthrown and the Medes and Persians took over, the temple was to be rebuilt and the Jews would return to their homeland. This temple was only temporary. This return to their homeland was to be done to prepare the first coming of the Messiah or Branch spoken of in the next few verses. This temple would later be destroyed by the Roman empire because of the rejection by the majority of Israel of the Messiah or Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Zec 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:

After the rejection of the first coming of Christ, Jesus will come a second time to built the final temple of the Lord. There will be another temporary temple built either just before or at the same time as the appearance of the anti-christ. This will temporarily fool Israel into thinking he is the one or the Christ but He is the man of perdition and the wicked imitator of Christ who will defile the temple of the Lord similar to what a certain Greek leader did once before during the Greek rule. It is ironic that before the first coming of Christ, there was one that defiled the temple called Antiochus Epiphanes a forerunner of the future anti-christ and the future anti-christ will come just before the second coming of Jesus Christ. He also will defile the temple and exalt himself to be god. That is why a future temporary temple will be rebuilt at some future date.

After the coming of Christ the temporary temple will be destroyed and Christ will build the final one that is forever.

Zec 6:13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
Zec 6:14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.
Zec 6:15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

We see from this prophecy that the earthly temple was built after the fall of Babylon and Israel returns to their land. Joshua the high priest was anointed for service. Verse 13 indicate a future restoration in the latter days when Jesus Christ returns to be king of kings and lord of lords. The final temple will be rebuilt again as indicated in verse 15.

Prophecy is easier to understand if we understand that during the spread of the gospel and the time of the Gentiles the rule of Israel and the priesthood of Levi were removed. Israel ceased to be a nation for 2000 years until 1948. Since the nation of Israel has been revived, we will see the final tribulation and judgment coming and the time of the Gentiles comes to a close the gospel returns to the Jewish people who will finally wake up after the deception of anti-christ during the tribulation period or the time of Jacob's trouble.

There have been many temporary temples. The one Solomon built was destroyed by Babylon. The one built after the captivity was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD. There are two more to come, the last one will never be destroyed. At this present time to believers in Jesus Christ, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We now worship in spirit and in truth not depending on a temple. Until the church or congregation is taken away to be with Jesus Christ there probably will not be any temple built in Jerusalem but that is my own speculation. We are His temple at this time.

There is no greater time in history for the church or believers in Jesus Christ to pray and seek God with all their might so that we do not become part of the apostate false religion or false church in the latter days that come against Israel. The true church will not persecute Israel. The true Church will not forsake the word of God neither will they be anti-Semitic. Why? Because the proper study of the word shows us that God has not forsaken Israel, His promise to Abraham in "I will bless those that bless thee and curse those that curses thee" is still in effect. The true church will understand this, the false church or other false religions will not understand this. Israel has been cut off only temporarily. They will be grafted back into their own vine. Even as I write there is Messianic congregations springing up all over the world. Many Jews have already found Yeshua their Messiah which is Jesus Christ. The true church will rejoice in this. The false church wills scoff at this.

Zechariah 7