Well, we want to say shalom to everyone. God bless you. Welcome to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel, where we are studying the Word of God from first century Hebrew Messianic perspective, and we are looking into various portions of the Word of God. Presently in this study, we are studying the prophet Zechariah, and I hope that all of us have a Bible in their hand. Please, if you have a Bible, please open your Bibles to Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 11, and I would like to read the whole chapter for today, and if the will of the Lord, with the will of the Lord, I trust to cover as much as possible during this meeting, but let's just, first of all pray that the Lord will bless our meeting.

this time. For our God and our Father, we just want to thank you for the Lord Yeshua, Jesus our Messiah, and for the privilege that you have given to us to be under the sound of your word. Bless your word to us, we pray, for we ask it in Jesus' name, in Yeshua's name. Amen, amen, amen. So brothers and sisters, open to Zechariah chapter 11, and I want to read that chapter. There are 17 verses in this chapter. This chapter is not easy to understand. In fact, most Bible teachers are not usually speak about this chapter, but because we are studying the whole prophecy of Zechariah, it is so important for us to cover this 11 chapter as well. So I'm reading Zechariah chapter 11 and verse 1. Open thy doors of Lebanon, and that the fire may devour thy cedars.

Howl. Fir trees for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are spoiled. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage is come down. There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled. A voice of roaring of young lion, for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Thus says the Lord my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter, whose possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty, and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not.

For I will no more pity, I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord, but lo, I will deliver the man every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king, and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. Verse seven, we continue to read, And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock, and I will, and I took unto me two staves, the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands, and I fed the flock.

Three shepherds also I cut off in one month, and my soul loathe them, and their soul also abhorred me. Then said I, I will not feed you that that dieth, let it die, and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, and that, and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my staff, even beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I made with all the people. And it was broken in the day, and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. Verse twelve, And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, a goodly price that I was prized of them, and I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

Then I cut asunder mine other stuff, even bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instrument of a foolish shepherd. For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idle shepherd that leaves the flock; the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye. His arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall utterly be darkened. And I stop here, beloved brothers and sisters, with the reading of this interesting eleventh chapter in the prophecy of Zechariah. You see, it is so interesting.

Beloved brothers and sisters, listening to some that have taught on this eleventh chapter, and reading, of course, the chapter again and again, and we notice that not too many give us a ministry on this eleventh chapter of the book of Zechariah. And why? Because the eleventh chapter of the book of Zechariah is not an easy chapter to understand, because the eleventh chapter of the prophet Zechariah is a chapter that present before us that which will take place in the history of our people, the Jewish people, the people of Israel. Remember that Zechariah was ministering to the Jewish remnant that returned from Bavel after the Seventy years of captivity, and Zechariah was the kind of a, of a, a prophet that encouraged the returned remnant of Israel and assuring them of the future day of the restoration of the nation of Israel. He was the kind of a prophet that as we have studied together the, the, the, the ministry of the prophet Zechariah, we have learned that the Lord had given to him eight visions in chapter one to chapter six.

These visions had to do with the restoration of the nation of Israel in a future day. Also, Zechariah was approaching Israel the Lord through Zechariah, concerning fasting in chapter 7 and chapter 8, and he challenged the nation of Israel who returned from Babylon to tell them, are you really fasting for me, or are you really fasting outwardly and only for yourself? And he's exposing the nation of Israel and those that were using fasting for religious purposes, but it was really, really not for the Lord, and he challenged them and encouraged them to turn back to the Lord. And in the section that we are dealing with now, Zechariah chapter 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, these final six chapters of the prophecy of Zechariah, in this chapter we have these two burdens.

The the burdens of the Lord, burden one, chapter nine, ten, and eleven, and burden number two, chapter twelve, thirteen, and ultimately chapter fourteen. So what we really have, eight visions, two chapters dealing with fasting, and six chapters dealing with the burden of the Lord. And the burden of the Lord is in light of his desire to restore the people of Israel back to himself.

So Zecharyah was preaching to the nation of Israel, and he was a messenger, a prophet of comfort. He was comforting the Jewish brethren, the people of Israel that returned back to the land, and they already began to be discouraged because they were, they had trouble from the neighboring people, they had friction from within, and even the returned remnant of Israel already began to have a decline. You know, it reminds us of church history. Everything began well, time passes by, and there is a decline in the church age, and then there was a revival as we read the book of Revelation chapter 3, the Church of Philadelphia, but then there is again a decline and the need to be returning to the Lord. So the remnant of Israel, at this point of time, when Zechariah was preaching unto them, they have already began to have a decline, and the Lord, through Zechariah, is encouraging them to return unto Him.

Just to remind ourselves, when we began the study of the book of Zechariah, the Lord said to Zechariah, to say to Israel, Be ye not as your fathers, chapter 1, verse 4, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings. Don't be like your fathers. You behave differently. Well, Sadly, the cycle continues.

It continued sadly in Israel history, and we can see it throughout church history. And it is a cycle that continues on and repeats itself again and again. Well, chapter 11 is very, very interesting, beloved brothers and sisters, because in chapter 11, after all the promises that Zechariah gave to Israel that I will restore you, I will bless you, I will send the Messiah to you, He will come, and He will ultimately restore you, there is promises after promises that God will restore Israel. If you remember, just go back to chapter 10 and verse 8, we have already covered chapter 10 and verse 8, where we read, I will hiss for them.

And I will gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have increased. God promised, I'm going to redeem Israel, I'm going to gather Israel back to myself. That's what God have intended for Israel, his earthly people. At the end of chapter 10, where we finish our meeting in our previous meeting, in verse 12, God says again, I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down in his name. Israel will have a great future, they will be restored, and ultimately will walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord. And then, brothers and sisters, we come into chapter 11. Open thy doors of Lebanon, chapter eleven and verse one, that a fire may devour thy cedar. Now I want you to understand this. This eleventh chapter is a chapter that presents before us and really telling Israel at about 487 BC that there is a day coming in which Israel the nation will have to be judged again by God.

Why? Specifically because Israel as a nation will ultimately reject the coming of the Messiah at his first coming. And by virtue of the fact that they will not accept the Messiah at his first coming, they will ultimately be disciplined by God. He will remove his protecting hand from the nation of Israel temporarily and partially, allow his earthly people to experience trials and tribulation until ultimately he will restore them and will bring them back to himself. And so this eleventh chapter really shows us how God knows exactly what will take place among his people of Israel that they will reject the coming shepherd, the Messiah of Israel, their king. And we know him to be our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. Again, just go back once again to chapter nine of Zechariah. And if you remember in chapter nine and verses nine and ten, we did read, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout, O daughter of Yerushalayim, behold thy king cometh. He is coming unto you. He is just and having salvation. He is lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. That represents the first coming of the Messiah. It is quoted for us in the book of Matthew, where we read in chapter 21, when Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, came, and a multitude said, Hoshana to the Son of David.

But ultimately, the religious leaders of Israel did not accept Yeshua as the Messiah. But then Zechariah in chapter 9 and verse 10, speaking about the same king that will come lowly to provide salvation and will be rejected, that he will come a second time, chapter 9 and verse 10, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Yerushalayim, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he, the same king of verse 9, he shall speak peace, shalom. Unto the heathen, and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. The very same king that will be rejected at his first coming, he will ultimately be the ruler, and the one that will rule and have dominion from sea even to sea, and from river even to the end of the earth. So, Zechariah was speaking of two comings of the Messiah.

Not one, not two Messiah, but one Messiah who would come twice. First to die, and to be buried and rise again, and provide salvation, and the second coming will be when he will come again to rule as king of king, and lord of lords. And so there is a promise of the coming of the Messiah, and ultimately Israel's accepting of the Messiah at his second coming, but Zechariah chapter 11, presents before us Israel's rejection of the good shepherd of Israel. And here we learn something that is very interesting, that God is using Zechariah to become and to act in a symbolic way, just like Ezekiel, Yechezkel, and just like Hosea, Zechariah is called to enact. As he representing here the shepherd of Israel that will be rejected by the nation of Israel at his first coming. So let's go over. I'm not sure how much we will cover, but I would like you to understand that this chapter is not an easy chapter to understand.

Just as I'm, before I'm moving along, by way of introduction, many, many have different views on this eleventh chapter. Some believe that the events that Zechariah is writing here in the eleventh chapter has to do with things that took place already at 586 BC, when the Jewish people were carried to the land of Babel, where they cried there by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept as we remembered Zion. This is some view that some Bible teachers have concerning this eleventh chapter. There's a second view that some teachers, Bible teachers have, and that's a view that this is speaking about the tribulation period that will take place after the rapture of the church. And when the seven years of Jacob's trouble will take place, and that will happen in that future tribulation period, which we call in Hebrew Tzarat Yaakov, according to the prophet Jeremiah. But there is a third view, and I think this is the best view to look at in connection with, Zechariah, chapter 11, that this view has to do more likely when the Messiah came at his first coming.

And he was rejected, and from there on, when Israel rejected Yeshua the Messiah at his first coming, the judgment came upon the nation, the 70 AD judgment, when the Romans came and destroyed the temple in the city of Yerushalayim and killed over a million Jewish people of our own people, carried many of them to be slaves away from the land, and I personally, along with others, take this view that it's speaking about events that will take place when the Messiah will come at his first coming, and the rejection of the vast majority of the nation, which will ultimately bring about the 70 AD destruction and of the temple and the scattering of the Jewish people.

Up till today, beloved brothers and sisters, the people of Israel Are still scattered today even though there are some seven, eight million of our people Israel, Jewish people in the land, but the vast majority of the Jewish community are still away from the land of Israel, waiting the future day of restoration. So let's look at some of these verses as we are moving along here in the study. The first three verses, verses one, two, and three, Zechariah, by the word of the Lord, telling his brethren that there is going to come a judgment first. In other words, before they will be fully restored the nation, there will be first of all a judgment that is coming. Notice he used here, you notice the picture, it's like a poem, it's like a picture story. It says, open thy doors of Lebanon. That a fire may devour thy cedar.

Howl, fir tree, a fir, a tree of the cedar, for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are spoiled. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, of the forest of the vintage is come down. In other words, for the forest, for the forest of the vintage is coming down. And then it says in verse three, there is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled. A voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Now notice it's so interesting, because it began with Lebanon, which is in the north of Israel.

And he's concluding in verse three with Jordan, which is in the south of Israel. You know, the Dead Sea is by, when the Jordan go down all the way from Mount Hermon, all the way down to the south, to the Yarden, is going down to the Dead Sea. He's speaking about all the land of Israel from the north to the south.

And there is, a this is using an expression such as the, he speak about that there will be fire that will devour the cedars. There will be, notice that it says in verse two, how fir tree for the cedar is fallen. So there is a devouring, there is a fallen. In verse two at the end, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage is coming down. Notice the expression, devour and fallen and spoiled and coming down. This is a, a picture of destruction. This is a picture of devastation, which began with Lebanon in the north and will end down by the Jordan there in the south. And really, beloved brothers and sisters, there is an approaching judgment that is going to come upon God's chosen earthly people, Israel, that the Lord, using Zechariah to present before the remnant of Israel that are now back in the land after the seventy years of captivity.

He's using words like the fir tree, like the cedar of Lebanon, like the oaks of Bashan. He's using the trees, if you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that according to the, to the book of Kings, 1st Kings chapter 5, in fact, turn with me to 1st Kings chapter 5 for a few minutes, you will notice that these, these fir trees and those trees that were given by the, by the king in the north of Israel, it was given to Israel in order to build the temple in the city of Jerusalem. His name was Hiram. He was the king of Tyre. And according to 1st Kings chapter 5 and Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants unto Shlomo, unto Solomon.

And notice we read in verse two, And Solomon sent Hiram to Hiram, saying, Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his God. Solomon is saying to Hiram, And just a little bit further down, I'm just going to verse five, And behold, I purposed to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, and the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. And so we read in verse six, Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedars, and the trees of Lebanon. And beloved brothers and sisters, the king of Tyre, and Tyre today, in Hebrew we call it Tzor, Tzor and Sidon, it is in, in the, in the, in the country called Lebanon today, and Hiram was the king of Tyre, and he provided for Solomon many trees, in order to bring them all the way down from the north, that Shlomo will take and will build the temple in the city of Yerushalayim.

And so what we really learn from this, that because Zechariah is pointing to the fir tree, to the cedar, to the oak, Is really representing here in we might say it in a poem fashion, in an allegory. He's speaking really about the temple in the city of Yerushalayim and the the destruction of the temple, the burning of the city of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the nation of Israel because of the rejection of the Messiah at his first coming. We will get to it in a moment. So again, verse one, the cedar trees which came from Lebanon will be devoured.

Verse two, the fir and the oaks are to howl. The Hebrew word to howl, leyalel. Leyalel means to howl. Because it's speaking to us about the destruction of the temple, the house of the Lord, the cedar, the fir, the oaks, all these beloved brothers and sisters representing the day that will come where the temple in the city of Jerusalem will be destroyed. Now Zechariah was speaking at about 480 or so BC.

He knew very little of what will take place later on when the Messiah came at about five or six BC., some, some 480 years later. And he knew very little, the Lord showed him the measure of life that he had, that the Messiah will be rejected at his first coming by the vast majority of the nation of Israel. You remember what the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter fifty three, where Israel the nation will repent and confess and they will say all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all. He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. This is Isaiah fifty three and verse three. He was despised and we esteemed him not. See Isaiah some seven hundred fifty years before the coming of the Messiah was already predicting this.

Now some two hundred years later Zechariah predicting the rejection of the Messiah in his first coming. Why? Because God in his plan and his, in his program, he knew that when a Messiah will come at his first coming, he must die. He must pay for the sin of this world. And it's not only Israel who rejected him, but the whole world has rejected him over the generation.

And it is always a few, whether it is from among the Jewish people or from among the nations of the world who have embraced the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, and accepting him as our Lord, Messiah, and Savior. But at his first coming, he was rejected, and because of his rejection, judgment came upon God's earthly people, Israel, and they would be scattered all over the nations of the world since 70 AD. We are going to get this as we move along here into the next verses. Notice in verse 3, we do read, There is a voice of howling, the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled. A voice of roaring of young lion, and notice in the pride of Jordan, this is the valley of Jordan, is spoiled.

So notice the howling, and notice it says the shepherds. These shepherds are representing the, those that did not lead our people in the right direction. It's representing the spiritual leaders of Israel who did not accept the Messiah at his first coming. And you know very well, beloved brothers and sisters, as we read throughout the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the main conflict that Yeshua the Messiah had at his first coming was not with the ordinary Israeli or Jewish individual. That but the main conflict that he had was with the spiritual leaders of the nation of Israel, and they are representing the shepherds that according to verse three, their glory is spoiled.

A voice of the roaring of the young lions for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Their glory is spoiled. The glory of the nation and the place that Israel is so priding themselves in is really the temple in Yerushalayim, the ability to approach God in the city of Jerusalem when the temple stood, this is the second temple, and soon enough the temple will be destroyed and there will be the shepherds of Israel ultimately with all their pride, because of the rejection of the Messiah, they will ultimately experience the judgment of God. That's why the word howling is mentioning here twice. In verse two, howl ye oaks. In verse three, the voice of howling of the shepherds.

Again, the word for howling in the Hebrew is yelalah. Leyalel, it's like an animal that is hurt, and he or she are howling, it howls because of pain and sorrow, and because of the, of that which they will experience that will come upon them. And so, verse three represent the false shepherds of Israel that will ultimately suffer because, and, and suffer loss because of the rejection of the Messiah and the judgment of seventy AD. that will fall upon the nation of Israel. Sadly, beloved brothers and sisters, listen to this, since seventy AD., I will say even earlier, since the rejection of Yeshua the Messiah, since he died on the tree, when the leaders of Israel said that, they wanted Barabbas and not Yeshua, Bar Abba and not Yeshua, since that time, the nation of Israel had been scattered, and for two thousand years, The Jewish people, our own people, were scattered all over the nations around the world, and it is only about seventy five years ago when Israel became a nation again.

And imagine, for two thousand years, it is in the, in the, in the, when we sing the, the, the national anthem, the song is Kol od balevav penimah, it is in the, in the heart of the Jew is a desire for a homeland in the land of Israel. The Jewish people seek to go back to the land and have their own land, but for two thousand years, our people of Israel were scattered because of the rejection of the Messiah at his first coming, and ultimately the heavy hands of God upon his nation that He loved so much the nation of Israel.

So now as we are moving along, from verse four all the way to verse fourteen, beloved brothers and sisters, we have the reason. Here's the, the Lord himself gives Zechariah to give Israel, to explain to Israel, here is the reason why this judgment will come upon the shepherds, the leaders of Israel, and upon all the land of Israel, from the Lebanon in the north, till the Jordan in the south, and the temple will be destroyed, and there is a reason. Why does the judgment of God was so heavy upon his earthly people? You remember that Romans eleven tells us that blindness in part happened to Israel. This is a judicial blindness that God have, have laid upon his earthly people, a partial blindness, a temporary blindness, but it is a judicial blindness. And the reason for that is given to us here from verse four to verse, fourteen. And here we have three major points here.

In verse four, five, and six, God is in, is instructing Zechariah to act as if he is the shepherd of Israel, if he is the, the Lord, the Messiah, the shepherd of Israel. Then in verses seven to eleven, Zechariah is acting out that which God have requested from Zechariah, to enact as if he is the shepherd, as if he is the Messiah.

And then in verses twelve to fourteen, we, the third thing that we learn here, it is really the value that Israel, the nation, have, have, have valued the true shepherd of Israel, the Messiah himself. And so it is very strange that sometime God require from the prophets to have a symbolic action as they are speaking to the nation. It is kind of very strange, you know, the prophets of Israel many times spoke the word of the Lord, but sometimes they were doing things that were, they were acting, they were doing things, they were acting things to teach spiritual Lesson, let me just give you just an illustration, and you don't need to turn to it, but in Ezekiel chapter 4, verses 1, 2, and 3, Ezekiel was to draw an outline for Jerusalem on a large brick, and then to play an army as he, as he lay siege to the city.

Very interesting, to take a brick, to put a line on it, and to enact as if there is a siege against the city of Yerushalayim. Very strange, and that was a message to the nation of Israel. In again, in chapter 4 of Ezekiel, verses 4 to 8, Ezekiel was to lay for a prolonged period of time on both sides. Very interesting. Laying on the left side for 390 days, and laying on the right side for 40 days. The numbers of the years of the wrongdoings of the people of Israel and the people of Judah. Very strange. And that was a message that God was conveying to the nation of Israel. Yechezkel, you lay down 390 days on one side, lay down for 40 days on another side, and that is a representation of the wrongdoing of the nation of Israel. Very strange, and yet important to see in the word of the Lord. Like the same chapter in Ezekiel chapter 4 verses 9 to 11, to 17, Ezekiel was to eat a strange mixture of foods and grain, and then to bake it into cakes with dung.

What kind of a thing it is to do that God said to Ezekiel to do? Very strange, and yet it convey a message to Israel. You remember Hosea, in Hebrew we call him Hoshea. Hosea was called to marry a wife which was a prostitute. And then that represent the love of God for the people of Israel, who have gone astray and spiritually became a, you might say, a committed spiritual fornication. So God says to Hosea, Hosea, go marry a woman, and love her.

And it is according to the love of God for the children of Israel. This woman have gone astray, she left her husband. That's a strange thing to do, yet the Lord used Various symbols to speak to his people of Israel. In a sense, it's like a parables in action, meshalim in action. These parables teach a lesson, a spiritual lesson. Just like the Lord Jesus the Messiah in Matthew chapter 13, he spoke in parables.

You know, a man goes sow seeds. Some fall on this ground, on that kind of ground, on that kind of, and he's presenting a spiritual lesson when the message of the gospel is being presented that the seeds of the word of God fallen on different heart conditions. Some are hard hearts, some are shallow hearts. Some on hearts that are mixed with all kind of things. This is on certain grounds that are not so a mixture, shallow ground, and some fall on good ground. It's a lesson, There is a spiritual lesson to teach us here. Ezekiel did it, Isaiah did it, Hoshea did it, and now we have the one that is called Zechariah, and I love his name because the Hebrew name of Zechariah come from two Hebrew word, Zachar means remembered, and Yah means Jehovah. And Jehovah remembered the covenant that he have with his people Israel, he never forgot it because God is faithful to keep his covenant, although he have to discipline his people.

And therefore the lesson is tremendous, beloved brothers and sisters, and here in this eleventh chapter, verses four to really fourteen, actually even to the end of the chapter, Zechariah was called to act on behalf of God, Israel's shepherd, the Messiah himself, and to teach spiritual lessons concerning Israel's rejection of the Messiah at his first coming. And because of the rejection of the Messiah, the good shepherd of Israel, Israel will ultimately will choose an idol shepherd, a foolish shepherd, that is the Antichrist, that initially they will accept him and they will recognize, they think that he will be the one that will fix their problem until the Lord will awaken the nation in the middle of the tribulation, and ultimately Israel will come to know their true Messiah.

By the way, notice in verse 15, just to read it, verse 15, it says, And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet an instrument of a foolish shepherd. That's the false shepherd. That's called the idle shepherd. Israel will not accept the true shepherd, but they will accept the foolish shepherd until they will be awakened and will accept ultimately the true shepherd of Israel, our Lord Yeshua Jesus, the Messiah, who said of himself in John 10, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lay his life for the sheep.

And so, brothers and sisters, let's read a few verses now from verse 4 onward. And you notice what it says in verse 4 to verse 6, God Entrust and instruct Zechariah to act as the shepherd of Israel, the Messiah himself, who came at his first coming. And notice, it says here in verse four, Zechariah is called to act out symbolically that which is symbolized what God will do when the Messiah will be rejected. And so we read in verse four, Thus says the Lord, my God. You see, Zechariah is saying, the Lord speaking to me. He's my God. The Lord here is Jehovah, Yehovah, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's the Hebrew word Jehovah, Yehovah He is the eternal one. And he's saying, the Lord, my God, he's saying to me, notice what he's saying, first of all, feed The flock of the slaughter. Very interesting. Feed the flock that will ultimately go to the slaughter.

In other words, take care of all the people of Israel who will ultimately, those of them that will not accept the Messiah at his first coming, that will ultimately be judged. And so, Zechariah is to act out symbolically what God will ultimately be doing among his people of Israel. So verse four, Zechariah is called to act out, feed the flock of slaughter. And imagine what a good shepherd does, a good shepherd feed the flock. That is exactly what a true shepherd does. You remember what, God, we read of God in, in Psalm 23, what David says concerning Jehovah, concerning the Lord. You remember we read in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pasture. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yet though I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. So what we read here, beloved brothers and sisters, is first of all, you can see how God was longing to feed his people Israel. It is Israel is his flock.

Jesus the Messiah at his first coming, If you remember, he says, go not to the lost, to any other, to the Gentiles, but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Before you go to the nations of the world, first go to my own earthly people. Go to them. That's what God is asking Zechariah to do here. You go and make sure that you feed, that you feed the flock. But notice he's using here that word, the flock of the slaughter. In Hebrew it says, re'e et tzon haharegah. Tzon haharegah means the tzon, the flock that will ultimately will be killed, will be judged.

Then he continue. And in verse five, the flock Are really not cared for by no one, by the, by no one because the, the, those who led them were not true shepherds. They were not caring for the flock. We read in verse five. Notice, in verse four he says, you go to feed, you act as if you are the, on behalf of me, you feed the flock for the, of the slaughter. So Zechariah enacted this. He literally was to act, just like Yechezkel had to act, just like Hoshea had to act. He had to do it, and that's representing a message.

And in verse five, he's telling, notice that in verse five, the flock were not taken care by their possessors and by their own shepherds. And I'm reading verse five. Whose possessors Slay them, and hold themselves not guilty. And they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not. You see, in verse five, the possessors here would represent really, if we would look at it prophetically, because again, to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, that Zechariah received a message pointing to some event that would take place later on.

And the reference here, as far as we look at that, is the reference is in connection with the time when the Messiah Jesus came at his first coming. So the possessors, they were under the Roman occupation, to remind you, the Jewish people, our people were under Roman occupation. So the possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty. Then secondly, they shall, they that sell them is another group, so they have the possessors, they that sell them. And then we read, blessed, they say, blessed be the Lord for I am rich, they didn't care for the flock.

And thirdly, their own shepherds pity them not. We have really three groups here. The possessors, they that sell them, and their own shepherds. And when we look at these beloved brothers and sisters, we can say, and again, we are just seeking to have the mind of the Lord here, the possessors may very well speak about the Romans that possessed. you remember Israel was under the Roman occupation? The Lord Jesus the Messiah died, the Jewish people were under Roman occupation, the Jewish, the Messiah died on a Roman cross.

And so then they that sell them that we can look at the leaders of Israel, the political leaders of Israel we might say, and their own shepherd, these are the spiritual leaders. So in verse five we have the possessors, we have them that sell them, and we have their own shepherds. It might mean maybe only the spiritual leaders of Israel, they possess the nation, they dealt in a wrong way with the nation of Israel, but it present before us those that treated wrongfully the nation of Israel. They should have shepherded the people of Israel, they should have take care, they should have led them in a way that it was pleasing to the Lord. I I just came to my mind, just the, the, the chapter, the deal with the, with the shepherds of Israel in chapter 34 of the prophecy of Ezekiel, where we read in verse 2, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.

Prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the, the shepherd, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel, that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherd feed the flock? You know, we can apply it to the church age today. Shouldn't the shepherd In the professing church take care of the flock and minister to them the word of God and encourage the people of God. That's the ministry of a shepherd. Anyone that is called today a pastor come from the Greek word shepherd. One that is shepherding the flock. In every generation it existed. And just as God hold accountable the shepherds of Israel, he would hold accountable the shepherds of the professing church.

It is essential to take care in the minister to God's people. The shepherds are not perfect, but they are called to minister to the saints of God. And that's why initially God says, Zechariah, you go, you feed my flock. You feed the, the flock that will now ultimately will be, will be disciplined because of the rejection of the Messiah that will come, because their possessors, because they that sell them, and because their own shepherd, they don't pity them. They don't, they say, I'm rich and I need nothing, I'm okay. They, the one that are, they, they hold themselves not guilty, they assume that they are not guilty, but God will hold them accountable.

God will deal with them. So now it says in verse six, as God called Zechariah to, to enact as if he is the, the shepherd of Israel, if he is the coming of the Messiah and feeding the nation of Israel. And then making sure that, and do so because their possessors, those that sell them and those that are their own shepherd, didn't do it.

And then we read in verse six that a flock will not have the compassion of the Lord. Why? Because when the flock listen to the, the false shepherd and not listening to the true shepherd, listen to what very interesting verse. Then God said, and notice that, God said, I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.

Verse six B, but lo, I will deliver the man, everyone into his neighbor's hand and into the hand of his king. And they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. Now, this is a very, very serious and sad expression that the Lord is saying, I'm going now to do something that I don't even want to do, but I will not have a pity on the inhabitants of the land. Again, beloved brothers and sisters, this is a judicial judgment of God. Remember, I know we don't like to think like that. We always like to talk about God that he's a God of love.

1 John 4, God is love. 1 John 1 tells us that God is light also, he's holy. So if God is holy, And if God is love, do you think that he will express his love without sustaining his holiness and righteousness? Well, the very proof that he is holy, and yet his love was proven when he sent the Messiah to this world. See, for God so loved the world, but he couldn't love the world and save the world and bring people to himself just because he's love and set aside his righteousness and holiness. So God had to judge the Messiah, Jesus. He was judged that you and I will not be judged. He was punished that you and I will never be punished if we will believe on him.

So God sometime have to judge. First Peter tell us judgment must begin at the house of God. God loved Israel. He loved Israel and he will ever love Israel, but he will have to discipline his people whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and he scourge every son whom he receives. That's the kind of God we have. You know, that's the difference between the so-called gods of the nations, idols that says, you know what? Everything is go. Do as you want. God will always, he loves you and he will never discipline you. He will never, no.

You know, sadly, we don't realize it because God is holy. He must judge. He must judge sin. That's why Yeshua the Messiah had to die. And That's why God disciplined his people in every generation. And so notice what we read here. This is very interesting, and I think we will have to stop in verse six, because there's so much more to say, because it said, I will no more, listen, I will, that is a sad thing to hear. I will no more have, no, I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. But lo, I will deliver the men, everyone into his neighbor's hand.

And notice, he continue, and into the hand of his king, and they shall smite the land. Notice here is the land of Israel. And out of their hand I will not deliver them. That is very interesting, and I'm just going to conclude here with that. Notice that he's using the word here, I will deliver them into the hand of his king.

His king, not my king. Not the king that we read in chapter nine, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation. He is lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. This is the king of the Jews that God has sent for the people of Israel. This is the king of kings.

When the wise men came from the east, Matthew chapter two, they said, where is he that was born the king of the Jews? When the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, was hanging on the Roman cross, the Romans put, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. You know, Yeshua is the king of Israel. He's the king of the Jewish people. But when the king was rejected, the nation at that time said, we would not have him. And the spiritual leaders have chosen another one to become their king. Just quickly, turn with me to John 19.

In John 19, we do read, beloved brothers and sisters, very sadly, when Yeshua came at his first coming, we read in Pilate verse one, therefore took Yeshua and he scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorn and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. And listen, they mocked him. In verse three, they said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with their hands. And Pilate therefore went forth again, and he saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I found no fault in him.

Then came Yeshua forth wearing the crown of thorn and the purple robe, and Pilate said unto them, Behold the man. And when the chief priests, listen to that. When the chief priests therefore and the officers, they saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify. Pilate saith unto him, Take ye him and crucify him. I found no fault in him.

Then notice, and very sadly, beloved brothers and sisters, we do read, and I'm jumping down to verse fourteen and so on, and I'll just read verse fifteen. They cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall we crucify your king? Then the chief priests answered, and they said, We have no king but Caesar.

They chose another king instead of choosing The King of the Jews, Melech HaYehudim. And many do so today in the world in which we live in today, whether Jewish or non-Jewish. Sadly, many make a choice to reject the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the King of the Jews, and to make for themselves someone else that is a king over them. And this is exactly what the reference here in verse six, that we have here that the flock Of God in discipline because of the spiritual leaders of Israel leading the nation away from the King of the Jews, they will not enjoy the compassion of the Lord because according to verse six, they, they will be, everyone will be delivered into his own neighbor's hand and into the hand of the his king.

And the king that was chosen was Caesar. And ultimately it will be Caesar and the Roman Empire that the Lord will use to bring about the judgment of seventy AD., the destruction of the temple in Yerushalayim. The killing of over a million Jewish people, the scattering away all the, the, the nation of Israel, and for two thousand years, our people of Israel were scattered all over the nations of the world until recently, where there was physical regathering of the Jewish people to the land, not yet spiritual regeneration that is awaiting. And we live in the latter days of the church age. The church is today is in the day of the Laodicean days, where the spiritual condition of the church is sad.

And the Lord is just about Soon to remove the true church, to take them at the rapture to heaven, and to begin to restore his earthly people back to himself. And as we will continue on with the help of the Lord, you will notice that we will enter after chapter eleven to chapter twelve, where we read in verse ten, I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me, very interesting, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and they shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, This is a very difficult chapter, the eleventh chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah.

But this chapter, we will continue it in our next meeting together with the help of the Lord. It points us to the approaching judgment that is coming of 70 AD. Because of the rejection of the Messiah, at his first coming. This is Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, at his first coming. And in verses 4 to 14, the Lord present the reason as to why the Messiah was rejected and the judgment of God would have to come upon his earthly people Israel until ultimately he will restore Israel back to himself. And we pray, we long for Israel Restoration to the Lord, and I trust you long for that as well, because if Israel is not restored back to the Lord, this world will never see blessing, as God is intending to, to lay upon this world, and we need to pray for Israel's restoration to God and restoration to our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. We should be like the psalmist of Israel says, pray for the peace of Yerushalayim.

We need to pray for that and long for Israel's restoration, and until then, we can preach the gospel and share the message of the grace of God with all Jews and Gentiles alike, that many will come to know the Messiah, the Savior today, and become part of the ekklesia, the called out ones. The Church of the Living God. Well, may God bless His Word to us all. And so, our God and our Father, thank You for Your Word. Bless it to us all, we pray, for we ask it in Yeshua's name. Amen. Amen. My dear friend, until the next time, we say Shalom. Bye-bye.