Zechariah

Chapter 13
{Note: At the end of Chapter 12, verse 10 and following, we had the reference to the fact that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon the believers in the Millennium. We now have an extension from the standpoint of the unbeliever in the Millennium. In the Church Age Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Therefore He is absent from the earth. God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer; we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit occurs through the rebound technique - using 1 John 1:9. In the Millennium people still have free will. You have to remember that when Jesus Christ rules the world in the Millennium there will be no religion (defined as 'man attempting to win God's approbation though man's works instead of the work of Christ on the Cross). It is religion that destroys and stifles freedom. It is religion that puts a ban on human volition. But in the Millennium there will be no religion. The demons are all removed; Satan is removed; Jesus Christ is here ruling the earth under perfect environment, but there is one thing that isn't gone: people still have - an old sin nature. And what can they do with these old sin natures? One of the things that Zechariah Chapter 13 emphasizes is that they are going to get religious.}

{Note: And remember in Hebrew style, the principal is summarized first (as opposed to the English where a summary paragraph is usually at the end). So, a summary comes first, then the details are given.}

{Verses 1-3: Summary of Perfect Environment in the Millennium - Evangelism; Some Choose Against and Go into 'Religion'; Some Repent; Others Don't; Capital Punishment for those who don't quit.}

1~~In that day {2nd Advent of Christ}
a fountain shall receive opening
  {a reference to the pouring out of the Word - evangelism
  see Isaiah 11 - Isaiah 11 - . . .'the earth shall be filled
  with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that cover the sea'}
to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
  {Southern Palestine - the primary audience of Zechariah}
for sin {chatta'ah}
  {RBT says this is the sin of the unbeliever here}
and for uncleanness {niddah}
  {RBT says this is referring to the sins of the believers and tells us
  God's thoughts on the sins of believers because the word also
  is the word for female menstruation}.

{Note: So in the perfect environment of the Millennium, all references to past religions influenced by Satan and other fallen angels is gone and they are imprisoned. Yet some people will still be unbelievers and become bored. So they will start a new religion from their old sin natures - this one involving false teaching mixed with emotionalism, ascetics, self-inflicted cuts, and self-infliction of discomfort- wearing hair coats inside out.}

2~~And it shall come to pass in that day,
said Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts,
that I will keep on causing to cut off {karath}
the names of the idols
  {idiom referring to the systems of 'religion' - no religions of the past
  will be followed and any new practice of religion is a capital
  offense}
out of the land,
and they shall no more be remembered
  {all past 'religions' forgotten}.
And I will also cause the prophets {the false teachers}
and the unclean spirit {demons are imprisoned with Satan}
to pass out of the land
  {means every fallen angel/demon will each be 'bumped' off the
  earth' with Satan - when he is imprisoned for the 1000 years of
  the Millennium}.

{Summary again - Rise of New 'Religion' in the Millennium
and what happens to offenders who do not repent after a trial (see verses 5-6)}
3~~ And it shall come to pass,
that when any shall yet keep on prophesying
  {naba' - has the connotation of speaking under the influence of a
  demon},
then his father and his mother
Who 'gave him birth'/'begat him'
shall say unto him,
You shall not live
for you speak lies in the name of Jehovah/God
  {referring to leading the religions of the Millennium}
and his father and his mother
who begat him
shall thrust him through
when he prophesied.

{Note: In the Millennium, 'the swords have been beaten into ploughshares and the spears into pruning hooks'. So, the question arises, 'what did they use to thrust him through?' Actually the, swords refer to weapons of war. They have been removed. But, from here we see weapons in the hands of the law still exist. RBT says in the Millennium it is a capital offense to engaged in spreading religion since religion is contrary to perfect environment - just as human 'works' is contrary to the plan of God. So they make application of the sword and they make execution - after the trials (see verses 4-6). And, note this is a society that recognizes that it is better for a parent to execute their own child - after the trial - then let them infect the rest of society with false religion.}

{Verse 4: Trial Case 1: Some of the Offenders will Repent, - they will not die}
4~~And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the prophets shall be ashamed
every one of his vision,
 when he has prophesied
  {this is a picture of some in this religion being sent to trial and they
  are truly ashamed and will stop their practices}.
Neither shall they wear a 'rough garment'/'hair coat {inside out}
to deceive
  {part of this new religion is ascetics - this is perfect environment
  but they are imposing discomfort upon themselves - the 'see I am
  more spiritual than you because see how I suffer for God' crowd
  will rise again}.

{Verse 5-6: Trial Case 2: Ones Who do not Repent (their Judgment is back in Verse 3)}
5-6~~But, in contrast, he {a son accused of being a false prophet}
shall say, "I am not a {false} prophet
  {Here is a person who doesn't change his mind after all the
  warnings. He is brought into court and he says: Not guilty.
  In other words, he is denying that he is involved in this false
  religion}.
I am a farmer;
for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth
  {in other words, 'I'm just a simple farmer! I'm no preacher'}." 6~~
And one shall say unto him,
"What are these wounds in Your hands?"
  {RBT says this means he forgot about that. He had been having
  these ecstatic experiences and had been gouging himself. This
  was going to be a little difficult and he has to come up with an
  answer. So he will be found guilty.}
Then he shall answer,
"Those with which I was wounded
in the 'house of my lover'/'the house of prostitution' {'ahab}."

{Note: 'Ahab is used for both a house of prostitution or the house where his paramour lives. So he says that he received these scratches from his mistress or the prostitute, not from the frenzied activity practiced by this revival holy-rollerism. This his excuse. So in verse 3 we saw this one will be executed by his parents.}

{Back to the Cross For a Bit}
7~~"Awake, O sword
  {the sword is Divine Justice - the sword of God},
against My Shepherd
  {the Good Shepherd is Jesus Christ - who took to Himself the Divine
  Justice of God for all the sins of humanity - taking our place on
  the cross} . . .
against the Man . . . My equal
  {`amiyth - means relation but RBT says here this means to be an
  equal - The Deity of Christ is related to and equal to that of God
  the Father.},"
said Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts,
"Cause to smite the Shepherd
  {30AD Christ on the cross - a divine command},
and the sheep shall be scattered
  {two meanings : the disciples in 30AD and all the Jews in 70AD}
but {in the future} {reference back to the Millennium}
I {God} will 'cause to restore'/'return My hand' upon the little ones
  {idiom for the end of the 5th cycle of discipline
  meaning that God will restore the 'little ones' to His favor
  the believers in the tribulation will be alive at the 2nd Advent}.

{Note: We go back to the cross because the cross was designed to remove all religion. We go back to verse 3. The sword is used for capital punishment. It is given to the parents and the parents execute their son. In the perfect environment of the Millennium one thing that is going to make it perfect is that the criminals aren't going to be walking the streets. And religion has to go, you can never have perfect environment and have religion. when we talk about swords in the Millennium we must remember that there is someone who took capital punishment for us. So in verse seven the subject of capital punishment in the Millennium and the subject of religion in the Millennium, both of them being brought together, must take us back inevitably to the cross, which tells us that everyone has a chance. The fact of the cross means that God is going to be fair in the administration of justice, whether it is temporal in the Millennium or eternal at the great white throne. So at this point we now come to the cross and we now have a verse that Jesus quoted to Peter and the other disciples in Matthew Chapter 26 - "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd." Awakening of the sword is the judgement of God the Father on God the Son on the cross. The sword is used for judgement, for punishment. And Jesus Christ, by bearing our sins, knows also what capital punishment is all about because He suffered it innocently. He was perfect; He was impeccable; and yet He bore our sins, He was judged in our place. So the sword here refers to the cross; "against my shepherd" - the Lord Jesus Christ, John 10:11, 14-16. As the good shepherd Jesus Christ took the sword for us - 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; "against the man that is my fellow" (`amiyth) - RBT says "my fellow" is literally, 'my equal'. God the Father is equal with God the Son; God the Son is equal with God the Father. And so He says, "against My equal." God the Father is saying that Jesus Christ is equal with Him in His deity, although He is different in His humanity. The sins of the world are poured out upon His humanity and judged but it is the God-Man who is hanging on the cross.}

{Verses 8-9: Baptism of Fire at the 2nd Advent}
8-9~~And it shall come to pass,
 that in all the land,
said Jehovah/God,
two parts therein shall be cut off and die
  {1/3 captured and go into slavery, 1/3 are killed
  see more in Chapter 14:2}
but the third shall be left therein
  {remnant of believers}. 9~~
And I will bring the third part through the fire,
and will refine them {protected completely}
as silver is refined,
and will try/test them as gold is tried/tested
  {in the refining process the slag is removed
  from the gold ore and only the gold remains}.
They have called upon My Name
  {synonym for faith in Christ},
and I will hear them.
I will say,
"My people."
And they shall say,
"Jehovah/God . . . my 'Elohiym/Godhead."

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