Shalom, everyone. Welcome to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel. once again, we are very thankful for the privilege that we have, to be able to study the Word of God. We need so much help from the Lord to understand His Word and to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We need so much grace from the Lord to be able to understand His Word, and it's, it's so beautiful when we are able, to read throughout the whole canon of the Word of God, from the Tanakh, that is the Hebrew Scriptures, to the Brit HaChadashah, that is the, New Covenant. There's so much for us to learn from the Word of God, and especially to be occupied with the person of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Well, we are in the, Prophet Zechariah today, and we are in the first chapter. Hopefully, you have a Bible with you in your hands, and please turn with me to Zechariah, Zechariah, chapter one.

I'm going to read the final verses of this first chapter, but let's just ask the Lord to bless us as we read His Word, together. Abba, Our Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Help us as we learn together from your word. We pray that we will grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach. We pray in his precious name. Amen. Amen. So turn with me, dear friends, to Zechariah chapter one.

We have literally covered most of the chapter by now. And we have arrived really to verse 17, which we haven't covered in our chapter. Just to remind you, beloved friends and dear brothers and sisters, the first six verses, we had the appeal of God for his people Israel, where he said to them in chapter 1 and verse 3, the Lord of hosts, he said, Turn ye unto me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, sayeth the Lord of hosts. This was the first six verses of the first chapter.

Now from chapter 1 verse 7 to verse 17, we have the first vision that Zechariah have Scene receive a revelation from the Lord, and these are the verses that we were occupied with in our previous meeting together. We almost have covered the whole seventeen verses, but let us read, please, from verse seventeen. I will read straight into the final verse that deal with the first vision, and then we'll enter to the second vision in verse eighteen, nineteen, twenty, and twenty-one. So I'm reading Zechariah chapter one and verse seventeen. This is where the angel of the Lord is saying to Zechariah in verse seventeen, Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities through poverty shall be spread abroad. And the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then verse 18 to verse 21, which is the second vision that Zechariah received from the Lord. And so we read, Then lifted up I mine eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.

And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four carpenters, or four smiths. Then said I, What come these to do? And he speaks saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head, but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horns over the land of Judah and scattered it. I will stop here, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends, with this verse twenty one of our first chapter of Zechariah. Now, let me just remind you that throughout the book of Zechariah, Zechariah was raised by God to minister his word sometime around 520 BC.

He was raised by the Lord. He preached for quite a few years. He was a messenger of the Lord to the restored remnant of Israel who are now in the city of Yerushalayim, discouraged from opposition from the Shomonim, the Samaritans from without, and conflict already from within. And Zechariah was raised by the Lord in order that he will speak to the nation of Israel and that he will give them comfort and encouragement and will support them and help them to continue on to rebuild the temple in the city of Yerushalayim.

He was the one, beloved brothers and sisters, that was called by the Lord during the time where the return remnant came back to the land of Israel to rebuild the city, the temple. And of course, the walls of Jerusalem. You remember we have Ezra, and we have, we can say, Zerubbabel, who was raised by the Lord to bring about 50,000 of the Jewish people to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. They returned back, they were the remnant, they returned back to the land of Israel.

Then Ezra came to beautify the temple that was built, and then later on Nehemiah came to build the walls of the city of Jerusalem to protect the Jewish people who were attacked from all around by the Shomronim, by the people that were there in the land. And so, Because they have stopped from building the wall, Zechariah was raised by the Lord in about 520 BC, and he was Zechariah ben Berechiah, ben Edo. His name was Zechariah, Jehovah remembered. His father name was Berechiah, Berech Yehovah, Jehovah, the one that will bless you, and his grandfather was Edo, Edo, Ed, come from the Hebrew word Ed, witness. God will witness to Ed, God will see to Ed that he will ultimately not only will remember the people of Israel, but will bless the people of Israel and restore them to himself and to their promised land. Well, so Zechariah has seen eight visions.

We are only Studying together vision number one in verse seven to verse seventeen. This is the first vision that Zechariah have seen. And so in verse seven to verse seventeen we have the horsemen among the myrtle trees. Kind of a strange vision that Zechariah is seeing. And the horsemen, we have already learned that these horsemen according to chapter one is that man in verse eight is sitting on a red horse.

And he is among the myrtle trees, the myrtle trees in Hebrew it is the hadassim, representing the nations of the world, and the nations of the world, they are there in the, he is there in the bottom, in the metzula in Hebrew, in among the nations, in the lower shady place, and that man is the, a pre-incarnate Messiah. How do we know? He is also called here the angel in verse 9, but he is also called the angel of the Lord in verse 11 of our chapter. So it's very interesting because this man of Zechariah chapter 1 verse 8, and I saw him by night, and behold a man riding on a red horse.

He was that man riding on a horse, and with him were other individuals that rode on plural horses. They had colors red as well, speckled and white. They were the messengers of the Lord who went to and fro to watch and to view what's going on here in this world among the nation, the Gentile nations, in relationship to how they have treated the people of Israel, the Jewish people, during, remember, beloved brothers and sisters, during the times of the Gentiles. Now, it is very interesting. We will notice that in a moment that the times of the Gentiles began at 586 BC.

And the times of the Gentiles will come to an end at the end of the tribulation period. You and I live actually during the times of the Gentiles. And we who are part of the ekklesia, the assembly, the church, we will be rapture taken out of here before the tribulation period will begin. But the times of the Gentiles will continue another some seven years until the end of the tribulation when the Mashiach Yeshua Jesus will come, restore his earthly people Israel, establish the Messianic kingdom, build the temple in the city of Jerusalem, and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the king, to worship the Lord, and blessing will flow during the thousand years reign of the Messiah. So Zechariah received visions.

That has to do specifically with the Jewish people, specifically with the nation of Israel, specifically with the city of Yerushalayim, and specifically with the Messiah who will come at his second coming to establish his promised kingdom here upon the face of this earth. So, when we read in verses 7 to 11, the first vision, the first part was the time was, of course, at around 520 BC, the man sitting on a horse, on a red horse, he is there among the nations of the world.

He has messengers that reported to him that are sitting upon a speckled red and white horse, and they came to give him report. Now, when he received the report, This man, who is also seen as an angel in verse 9, we see him as the angel of the Lord, and every time you read this expression, Malach HaYehovah, HaMalach Shel Yehovah, he is the one that is the pre-incarnate Messiah. We saw, we have already spoke about it many times throughout the Word of God, we see the pre-incarnate Messiah appearing, and he is called the angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord, Malach HaElohim, Malach Yehovah, and he is the one that is now speaking to God the Father, speaking to Jehovah, and we read in verse 12, Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, notice the angel of the Lord speaking to the Lord, the angel of Yehovah speaking to Yehovah, and he's saying to him, How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem?

And on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation for these seventy years. In other words, Lord, he's, and remember, beloved brothers and sisters, we have mentioned that many times we find the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, after his incarnation, speaking to Abba, to his father. And you remember, he spoke to the father, to God the Father in John 17, Father, I finish the work which thou had given me to do, and now glorify me, thou Father, with the glory which I had with thee before the foundation of the world. And then he was praying on behalf of the apostles, the disciples, and also he prayed on behalf of the believers that will come through the preaching, or the, the, the people who will come to the preaching of the, of the apostles and the, and the early messengers, and that is including you and I. So as the Lord Jesus Yeshua was praying to the Father on behalf of you and me today, beloved brothers and sisters, we who became believers today, he prayed, of course, some 2,000 years ago, here much earlier, 2,500 years ago, the pre-incarnate Messiah called the angel of the Lord, he's speaking to his Abba, to God the Father, and he's saying, O Lord of hosts, verse 12, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Judah?

And so if you remember, in verses 12 to 17, he received a response from God the Father, from the Lord himself. Now again, you and I know today, Of the clear information that we have, because we read the New Covenant, the Brit HaChadashah, with so much information about the triunity of the Godhead, which Israel in days of old were limited in their understanding, because the light that you and I have today is far greater because we are living on the other side of the first coming of the Messiah. We have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. We have the complete canon of Scripture. We're living in the last days of the church age, of the assembly age. And so it is important to bear this in mind. You and I can see that today with much greater light because we have the complete canon of Scripture.

But of course, Israel, in days of old and the returned people of the Jewish people didn't have the amount of light that you and I have, today. So notice that in the next verses, Yehovah, give comfort. He gives good comfort and words to the angel, the pre-incarnate Messiah in verse 13 and onward. And so in verse 13, the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and with comfortable words. And then from verses 14 to 17, there are seven, there are seven full message or messages from the Lord, from Yehovah concerning the city of Yerushalayim and the Jewish people. Seven full messages that he give the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Messiah, and he in turn giving it to Zechariah on behalf Of the nation of Israel. And so the sevenfold, verse fourteen a, Zechariah is exhorted to cry out. Verse fourteen, And the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, cry thou.

the, the, the, the cry was, notice verse, fourteen continue, what is going to cry? Here is the cry that Zechariah was called to cry on behalf of the people of Israel from God himself, from the Lord himself. What is Zechariah is to cry, notice that, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great jealousy. God is jealous over his people and over his city, Yerushalayim.

Remember, beloved brothers and sisters, it is not that the Jewish people chose God, but it is God that chose his own people of Israel. It's not that the church have chosen God, but God chose the assembly before the foundation of the world. God is jealous over his own people, whether it is his people Israel or whether it is his people the ekklesia, the called out ones. It's not because we are better than the nations of the world. It's not because we are some kind of a special people because of who we are in our own sin nature. No, it is only because of the grace of God, chesed ha'elohim. God is sovereign.

And God has a, he's a God of providence, and he does what he does, he choose whom he wish, and he is sovereign, and he's a God of providence. Everything is working according to his own will. And so now, you notice the first message in verse, the first of the seven is, cry out and tell all what is the jealousy, that God is jealous for Jerusalem and is jealous for Zion with a great jealousy. Notice, Yerushalayim and Zion. Whenever you say Yerushalayim, you say Zion. Whenever you say Zion, you say Yerushalayim, interchanging. It is always in reference to the people of Israel, to the land of Israel, and to the city of Yerushalayim. All of these together are called Zion.

The land of Israel is called Zion in Isaiah 51 and verse 3. The city of Jerusalem is called Zion in Isaiah 51 and verse 3. The city of Jerusalem is called Zion in 2 Samuel 5 verse 7 and 1 King 8 verse 1. Psalm 48 as well. The Jewish people are called Zion in Isaiah 51 and verse 16. And the city of Yerushalayim and Zion are always the same, one and the same, Isaiah 62. In verse one, the land is Zion, the city of Yerushalayim is Zion, the Jewish people are Zion. All together, linked together as one people, one nation, in one land that belong to God, that God have chosen. He is jealous, he is jealous with a great jealousy over Yerushalayim and over Zion. Now in verse fifteen is a second, declaration, the second message, Jehovah is very so displeased with the heathen.

He says in verse fifteen, I am very so displeased with the heathen, the goyim, the nations, that I is. Why? For I was but a little displeased and they helped Forward their affliction. I was displeased with my people, Israel. I wanted to discipline them and punish them, but the nations have gone beyond what I've intended. You know how it is?

That, God used the, the nations of the world to discipline his people. But it doesn't give any right to the nations of the world to go beyond what God have allowed them. And sadly, just look at history, the history of Israel, what happened since the days when 586 BC, when the times of the Gentiles began. Look at the treatment of the nations of the world against the people of Israel, against the Jewish people.

It is consistently evident throughout the word of God, including today, and it will be in its, you might say, in the higher climax in the tribulation period, when all the nations will gather together against the people of Israel. And the greatest days of antisemitism will come during the tribulation period. Well, now in verses 16, he gave us another threefold of the Messages and the promises that God has concerning Israel. Jehovah will return to Jerusalem, verse 16a. Therefore, thus says the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem. He promised to return.

He left Jerusalem because Israel's sin, but he will return to Jerusalem because Israel's restoration. In verse 16b, Jehovah, he will build his house in the very city of Yerushalayim when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. It says in verse 16b, my house shall be built in it. And he meant much more than just a house that was being built by Zerubbabel and the return remnant at the days when Zechariah was speaking. He's taking us all the way to the future day.

When the temple will be built, what we know today is the Messianic temple according to Yechezkel, Ezekiel chapter 40 to 48. So it's not the first temple, it was destroyed by the Babylonian. The second temple was destroyed by the Romans, the unsanctioned temple, which will be built by the Antichrist during the tribulation. But the final temple that will be the Messianic temple, the Messiah, Yeshua's temple, will be built by the Lord and his people during the beginning of the Messianic kingdom. And that's the temple, that's the house that he has a reference to.

Then the third thing that we have in verse 16, that a line shall be stretched out. Notice that verse 16, and a line shall be stretched upon, stretched forth upon Jerusalem. The word for line in Hebrew is kav, or kava. It's a line, you know, it's a measuring line where you measure any carpenter, any, any builder have a line, a plumb line, and he is building that which he's intending to build. In other words, God set a line, God set a purpose, he's going to build the house, he's going to make sure that the house, the temple, his house will be built in the city of Yerushalayim. And now, in verse 17, that is where we ended, two more points that I want to just emphasize before we are moving to the next verses, the Lord of Hosts will yet choose the city of Yerushalayim. It says in verse 17, cry yet. Notice, by the way, in verse 14, cry out.

In verse 17, cry yet. The word here is the word od kera, in other words, od, again, continue on to cry Zechariah, continue on to proclaim Zechariah to the nation and to the nations of the world. Continue on to proclaim, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, my cities, notice that, plural, my cities, through prosperity shall, I'm sorry, yeah, through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad.

My cities, and that is Judea and the cities around, that even today, beloved brothers and sisters, there is always friction in building in the land of Israel when, because we are not living today during the days that the nation and the land will be restored to the Lord and to the people of Israel. We are still living during the church age, but in the future day, God promise that the cities, my, notice he's calling them my cities. They are mine. They belong to me. They will be yet spread abroad. And finally, he says in verse 17b, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

It's always remind me. What the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, was saying when he entered into the city of Yerushalayim in the Gospel of John, you remember, in Gospel of Luke, I'm sorry, you remember what we read in the, in Luke chapter 13, when Yeshua came at his first coming. He said, O Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophet, and stone them that are sent unto thee, how often, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doeth, doth gather her brood under her wing, and ye would not. Then he said, Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate, and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me until, notice that word until in verse 35. Remember that Yehovah, the Son, in Luke 13 at His first coming, is none else but the angel of the Lord in Zechariah chapter 1.

He is speaking on behalf of God the Father, and He is saying, listen, yet I will comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Again, brothers and sisters, this is the election of God, the calling and election of God are without repentance. Romans 11, Paul says it. And that's why you can see that there is a, he is longing, he says, you shall not see me until you will say, Baruch. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And that will only take place, beloved brothers and sisters, once the church age will come to an end, and the tribulation will drive our Jewish people to God, and God will ultimately restore them to himself, and they will say, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai.

The Lord will yet choose Jerusalem. He will comfort Zion. Again, Zion, Zion, Jerusalem linked together, always together. When you say Zion, you say Jerusalem. When you say Jerusalem, you say Zion. You're speaking about the people, the land, and the city, the city of God. And so, Seven things, seven promises God gave to Zechariah. Yehovah said, promised through the angel of the Lord to Zechariah on behalf of the Lord for the nation of Israel and for you and I. Beloved brothers and sisters, this is something that we must understand. People try to do away with Jerusalem, do away with the Jewish people, do away with Zion, setting it aside as if God forgot it, as if God has no purpose. But it just doesn't work because God has his own program and plan.

The Messiah Jesus has his own program and plan. As he has it for the church, for the assembly, he has it for his earthly people of Israel. And Paul was so faithful, he did not stop, he did not cease from preaching the whole counsel of God. Not only some of the counsel of God that suit one or the other, but the whole counsel of God.

God has a plan, God has a purpose, and that is important for us all to learn and to accept it, because this is the word of the Lord. And so now, as he gave these seven, four promises, I just wanted to read, verse or two in Isaiah 49, if you turn with me to Isaiah chapter 49, and there we read, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse, verse, 13, But notice that, Sing, O heaven, be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains. Why? Why the whole world should sing? For the Lord has comforted his people. And will have mercy upon his afflicted. You see, the whole world is to sing. The whole world is to be joyful. The whole world is to break forth with singing. Why?

Because the Lord has comforted his people. And when his people would be comforted, when Israel would be restored, then the world will be blessed, as the world was blessed when the Messiah came at his first coming to his people of Israel, although Israel rejected him as it was known by God, as it was recorded by the prophets of Israel. And so notice here another verse, beloved brothers and sisters, Isaiah 51. Verse three, it says, listen to this, Isaiah fifty one and verse three, for the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and a voice of melody.

A little bit further down, where it says in verse eleven, therefore the Redeemer of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Verse twelve, I, even I am he that comforteth you, God is saying to his people Israel. Who art thou that thou should be afraid of a man?

That shall die, and of the Son of Man which shall be made as grass. In other words, the promises of God does not depend upon man, it is indeed the word of the Lord. And we have so many verses we can continue to read as we look throughout the prophecies. For Zion's sake, Isaiah 62 verse 1, Will I not hold my peace? For Jerusalem's sake will I not rest until the righteousness thereof shall go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

And the Gentiles shall see the righteousness, thy righteousness, and all king thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name, and so on. God is going to restore Jerusalem, and he gave the sevenfold Promises to Zechariah through the angel of the Lord, through the pre-incarnate Messiah to proclaim throughout the nation during the time when the Jewish people were discouraged there because of the opposition that they have experienced. Well, this is, beloved brothers and sisters, this is the first vision that Zechariah has seen.

Now, if you would turn with me, of course, to the, to the Hebrew scripture, the Hebrew scripture really began, the second chapter began with verse 18. Actually, in the Tanakh, verse 18, 19, 20, and 21 is really part of the second chapter. For one reason or another, Those who put it into the English text for one reason or another, perhaps they thought it is a connection between the second vision with the first vision. So the second vision is found in chapter one, Zechariah one, verses eighteen to twenty-one. And this second vision here is the vision of the four horns and the four carpenters. Very interesting. Four horns speaks of strength, and four carpenters speaks of builders. You know, a carpenter is a builder. Horns represent strength. And so notice what we read in this second vision that Zechariah sees in chapter one. And verses 18 to 21. First of all, in verse 18 and 19, we see the four horns.

Secondly, in verses 20 and 21, we see the four smiths or four carpenters. The word in Hebrew is a little bit different. The word in Hebrew is, it's a different word. In Hebrew, it's called harashim. Harashim, it's a different word. But harashim basically is a carpenter. So look what we read here in these four verses in the second vision. First of all, in verse 18, Zechariah sees four horns. Again, notice, I lifted up my eyes. By the way, a vision is different than a dream.

A vision is different than a dream. In dream, you sleep at night and you dream dream. A vision is something that you see. It's a sight to see. And God had given to Zechariah a sight to see. And that is the second vision. What does he see? He lift up his eyes, I lift up my eyes, and I saw and behold four horns. In Hebrew, arba kronot, four horns. And then in verse 19, And I said unto the angel, notice he's speaking to the same angel, who is the same man that was riding on this red horse, who is the same pre-incarnate Messiah, the angel of the Lord. So he's speaking to him, and he said, I said unto the angel that talked with me, he said, What are these? I said, What are these four horns?

And the angel said to him, notice it says in verse 19, he received an answer immediately. And the angel said to him, and he said, he answered me, these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. In other words, what he's receiving here now, he sees four horns in his vision, and horns represent power and powers. And he sees these four horns representing four powers, representing four kingdom, for a kingdom that what these kingdoms have done, these powerful rulers and kingdom, what did they do according to verse 19? He answered and he said, these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

So he's now knowing what are those horns. Now I just wanted to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, that these four horns represent specifically the Gentile powers that were allowed by God to, you might say, execute judgment upon both Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem during the times of the Gentiles. Again, it will, it takes us through the times of the Gentiles, beginning specifically with the Assyrians. They took the, of course, the northern kingdom of Israel in 720 BC and caused havoc to the ten tribes, of Israel. And then you have, of course, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persians, the Grecian, and the Romans Empire, and ultimately the revived Roman Empire and the Antichrist, the, the rise of the Antichrist, the false Messiah, the, the one who is against the Messiah, he gives the appearance that he is like the Messiah. These are, these four horns speaks of four powers.

Now, you remember when we studied the book of Daniel, we, if you go back, if you just view what you see and look at Daniel for a moment, in Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar dreamt a dream, and he wanted to know the interpretation of the dream. And God gifted Daniel and enabled Daniel to be able to explain the dream to Nebuchadnezzar. And these are, the, the horns are really biblical symbol representing powers. Four horns represent nations and empires that were, that were used, in other words, that, that, that on one hand they were empowered by God, but on the other hand they were the ones that were persecuting the people of Israel. Notice he's saying specifically in this verse that we have in verse 19, these are the horns which have scattered.

They were Zaru, Zaru, they scattered not of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Now if you go back with me to Daniel chapter 2 for a moment, just to read you these verses, when Daniel gave the explanation to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2, verse 31 to 33, listen to what we read. In verse 31, we read of Daniel chapter 2, Thou, O king, seest and behold a great image.

This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold. That's the Babylonian. His breast and his arm of silver, that's the Medo-Persian. And then his belly and his thigh of brass, this is the Grecian Empire. And finally we read, and his legs of iron and of feet, part of iron and part of clay, this is the Roman Empire, and ultimately the revived Roman Empire that will come about yet in the future day when the Antichrist and the false prophet will rise in during those days. In other words, these horns representing powers, a nation that had powers, and they While you remember, they were allowed initially by God to deport the Jewish people in 586 BC, and God actually brought the Assyrian even earlier to deport the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel in 720 BC, but it representing powers, representing nations that came against the people of Israel and notice that that God have allowed them on the one hand, but as we have mentioned already earlier, that God was angry with the nations.

Why? Because they've gone beyond what he is allowing them to come and he have, you might say, directed them to discipline his own people, but they, he's so displeased with the heathen that are at ease, he was a little bit displeased, but they have gone beyond it. They have forward, they They afflicted the people of Israel, the Jewish people, over the generations of the times of the Gentiles, the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Grecians, and the Romans. In fact, to remind you, when the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, came at about three or four when he was born, B.C., he was born in the land of Israel during the times when the Romans were in power.

And then he ultimately was killed and crucified on a Roman cross. Israel rejected him, the nation, the vast majority, but the Romans put him on a cross, and he was crucified on a Roman cross, and he, and then in the future day, there will be the revived Roman Empire, that will bring about the final days, and so these powers, again, Zechariah, imagine. At about 520 BC, Zechariah received such an important information about what will take place during the times of the Gentiles. And again, remember, the church was not born as yet.

And in a sense, beloved brothers and sisters, Zechariah is taking us over all the days, the times of the Gentiles and going beyond the church age. He didn't know about this mystery age that you and I live in today. And he takes us all the way to the final days of the judgment of the nations. And so this second vision is the vision of the four horns, but it doesn't stop here.

Because now in the second half of this, of this second vision, which is verse 20 and 22, you see how God will ultimately judge these nations, and he will raise those that will punish them one after the other. And so now we have not only the four horns, but we have the four carpenters in Hebrew, harashim. So we have, the four kranot, horns, and we have the four harashim, four carpenters, in verses 20 and 21. So now notice that. In verse 20, we continue on, so we can at least finish today the first chapter in this meeting. So in the, verse 20, and the Lord showed me, again notice Zechariah, sees a vision. From Jehovah, from the Lord. That second vision is the vision of the four horns and the four carpenters. So now the Lord showing unto me four carpenters, or smith, or harashim. Now when you think of a carpenter, you usually think of a person that is a builder, is building.

But these builders who are called to build now, these four carpenters, will do something that it is the opposite of building. They will do destruction. They will destroy. Instead of building, this time, they will be used by the Lord to discipline, to punish those that have gone against the people of Israel, those that have scattered Judah, verse 19, those that have scattered Israel, verse 19, those that have scattered Jerusalem. And so he's saying in verse 21, notice that, so after he saw this second part of the vision, the four harashim, the four carpenter, then in verse 21, and I said, what come these to do? You notice the difference in the question? When it's come to the four horns, he doesn't ask what they come to do, he ask, what are these? What be these?

But when it's come to the four carpenters, he asking a little bit different the question, what come these to do? What is the purpose that these carpenters, that these harashim come to accomplish, to do? Listen to the answer. Of the Lord. In verse 21b, we read, and he speaks saying, these are the horns, he's going back to the horn, these are the horn which have scattered Judea, and no man did lift up his head. In other words, people, the Jew people of Judah were scattered, no one cared.

Just read, when you have time, the, the book of Lamentations. Just read the book of Lamentations, and you can see how Jeremiah is lamenting over the fall of Judea. You remember here, we read the whole book of Lamentations, he said, how does a city sit desolate? Chapter one, verse one. That was full of people, how she become as a widow. She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how is she become a tributary, like a slave? She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her.

Lamentation one, we read in verse two B, all her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen. She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her between the strait. Verse four, the ways of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate, her priests are aside, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Verse five, her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper, for the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgression. Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed, her princes are become like heart that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. Verse seven, Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries, all her pleasant things that she had in days of old, beloved brothers and sisters, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, the, the Anan did help her, the adversary saw her and did mock all her Shabbats. Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. All that honors her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. Yea, she sighs and turns backwards. Notice this, I'm reading just a few more verses. Her filthiness is in her skirt. She remembers not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully. She had no comforter.

And, O Lord, behold my affliction. Jeremiah is speaking on behalf of Jerusalem, for the enemies have magnified himself. The adversaries have spread out his hand. Upon all her pleasant things, for she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary. This is the temple was destroyed. Whom thou didst commend, the day should not enter into thy congregation. All her people sigh, they seek bread, they have given their pleasant thing for meat to relieve the soul. See, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile. This is Jerusalem, the Jewish people are speaking. In verse 12, even the question to the people around, is it nothing to you all, ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which the Lord, notice which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the days of his fierce anger. God was righteously angry with his people Israel, and he had brought upon the people of Israel the judgment.

Continue verse thirteen. From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and famed all the day. Now this is amazing. The whole subject in the prof, in the pro, the prophet Zechariah is a lamentation over the city of Jerusalem. Chapter one verse one. How does a city sit solitary that was full of people? How is she become a widow that was great among the nations? Now often time we use here verse twelve to apply to the Lord Jesus the Messiah, who is linked so much with his people, who said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how long will I, I will have gathered you as a hen gather her chicks, but you would not. And often time we use verse twelve as we read it and apply it to the suffering of the Lord Jesus the Messiah on behalf of our sins.

And in a sense you can see his identification with his people and where he, we read, Is it nothing to you all that pass by, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me? In the days of his fierce anger, and we often apply this verse to the suffering of Christ, the sufferings of the Messiah, but the context is specifically dealing with the sufferings of the nation of Israel by the nations of the world.

And Jeremiah wrote about it in the Lamentation, and Zechariah wrote about this later on, at about 520 onward, B.C. And so back now, let's just finish with this verse, verse 21. So you notice this, beloved brothers and sisters, in the second vision. The second vision is the four horns and the four carpenters. The four horns represent the four nation or the four powers during the times of the Gentiles, Babylon, Middle Persia. Greece and Rome, the Romans and the revived Roman Empire at the end. But now these four carpenters or four harashim who are supposed to come and build, look what we read about them by the word of the Lord in verse 21. Then said I, what come these to do? What they came to do? Did they come to build? Did they come to do something?

And he spake unto me, saying, These are the horns which were scattered Judah, and no man did lift up his hand, no one cared. But these, notice that these are come, here is the carpenters, the harashim, why do they come? They come to fray, to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles. Which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

In other words, these four harashim, these four carpenters, they have come in order to fray. The Hebrew word for fray is leharid. Leharid simply means to terrify and to judge, really, those that came against Judah. And the one, notice that they are the, they came against the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horns over the land and the land of Judah and scattered the people of Judah. Now, who are those four harashim, four carpenters? Well, Throughout history, we know that God has raised always a nation to remove the previous nation. So the first one that rose, the first, we might say, the first carpenter, the first one that rose up in order to remove one was actually Cyrus that was raised by God to remove and to remove the Babylonian from power, to bring down the Babylonian kingdom, empire.

Then secondly, we have the second carpenter is really Alexander the Great. And he was the one, beloved brothers and sisters, that rose up the, the Grecian empire that rose up to remove the Medo-Persian. And now that the Medo-Persians were removed by the Grecian, then there was another harash, another carpenter that rose up to remove now the Grecian empire, and that was the Romans. And it was Pompey the Great who removed the Romans, and, and that he's the one that, became the next kingdom.

From 27, from, 27 BC to 476 AD. But now we have the fourth one. And who is the fourth carpenter that will come and will ultimately, fray and destroy, the, the horns of the Gentiles which lifted up their horn, over the land of Judah? Notice, go back again to Daniel chapter Two. And in Daniel chapter two, we learn of the fourth one, and it is none else but the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, that will come at his second coming.

And notice what we read in Daniel chapter two, where we did read, beloved brothers and sisters, that the, when Nebuchadnezzar received the explanation from Daniel, we do read, listen to this, in these days, verse 44, in these days, in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And then he continues saying, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. For as much, verse 45, as thou sawest that the stone, this is the Messiah, Jesus at his second coming, was cut off the mountain without hands, and it shall break in pieces the iron and the brass and the clay and the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation, the roof, sure.

So, beloved brothers and sisters, in a second vision that Zechariah received from Jehovah, from the Lord, which is called the, the vision of the four horns and the four carpenters, we are being taken once again over the times of the Gentiles. Until the second coming of the Messiah. When he will come, this same Jesus, this same Yeshua who is today rejected by men, despised and rejected, this very same Jesus, he will become the one that will rule and reign over this world in a coming day.

And you remember what we read in the book of Philippians concerning him, the Apostle Paul, we wrote about the Messiah who came at his first coming, where we read, Beloved brothers and sisters in Philippians chapter two, Christ Jesus, who was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant that was made in the likeness of man.

Being found in a fashion as a many humbling servant became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He died on the Roman cross for the sin of this world. Wherefore, because he have done what he have done, God has highly exalted him and giving him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, at the name of Yeshua, every knee should bow, the things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, is Lord, Adon, to the glory of God the Father.

Beloved brothers and sisters, here is Zechariah receiving his second vision, the promise that God will discipline those that have wronged his people, but he will ultimately establish a wonderful time where blessing will flow to all the nations of the world. And these four carpenters were raised by God to fray them and to cast out the horns of the nations, the horns of the Gentiles. The powers of the Gentiles will come to an end when the Lord Jesus the Messiah, who is despised and rejected today, he will be exalted and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And with this, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friend, we concluded with the first chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah, and in the will of the Lord, we will continue in the, in the next meeting together with the third vision, which began chapter two. Of the prophecy of Zechariah. May God bless His word to you all. So our God and our Father, thank you for the, word of the Lord, for the prophecy of Zechariah. Help us to understand these things. Help us to rightly divide the word of truth, we pray, for we ask it in Yeshua, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Well, my dear friend, God bless you. Until the next time, we say shalom, shalom. Bye-bye.