THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From the Captivity to the Return
Message Thirteen—The Minor Prophets (4)
Scripture Reading: Zech. 2:1-2, 5, 8-9, 11; 10:1, 3; 11:7; 12:1, 10
I. “The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him”—Zech. 12:1: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
A. In His creation God made three crucial, equally important items—the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
B. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man was created by God with a spirit that he may contact God, receive God, worship God, live God, fulfill God’s purpose for God, and be one with God. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
C. The central government and most prominent part of man’s being should be his spirit; a man who is ruled and controlled by his spirit is a spiritual man—1 Cor. 2:14-15; 3:1; John 3:6; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:4; Dan. 6:10. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
D. The way to fulfill God’s economy in the divine history is by Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit in our spirit; Zechariah reveals that the building of the church will be consummated by Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit of grace to be the topstone of grace—4:6-7, 12-14; 3:9; 12:1, 10; Rev. 4:5; 5:6. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
II. We need to exercise our spirit to experience and enjoy Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit in the following aspects—Zech. 2:1-2; 11:7; 10:1, 3, 8, 12: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
A. Christ is a man with a measuring line in His hand, measuring God’s people in order to test, judge, examine, and possess them for His kingdom—Zech. 2:1-2; Ezek. 40:3; 47:1-5; Psa. 139:23-24. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
B. “I will be her wall of fire round about, declares Jehovah, and I will be the glory within her”—Zech. 2:5: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
1. That the wall of the city of Jerusalem and the glory within her will be Jehovah Himself indicates that Jehovah as Christ will be the protection of Jerusalem at her circumference and her glory at her center; this shows the centrality and universality of Christ in God’s economy. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
2. Today Christ is the glory in the center of the church, and He is also the fire burning around the circumference of the church for her protection; in the New Jerusalem the Triune God in Christ will be the glory at its center (Rev. 21:23; 22:1, 5), and this glory will shine through the transparent wall of the city to be its protection of fire (21:11, 18a, 24). (2012 WT, msg. 10)
C. Christ came as a Shepherd, shepherding in Favor (grace) and Bonds (binding); grace is for our being mingled with God, and bonds are for our being bound into oneness—Zech. 11:7; 2:1-2, 5, 8-9, 11; John 21:15-17. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
D. While the Lord is so favorable to us, we should ask Him to send us even more favor, more grace, more “rain”—Zech. 10:1; 12:10; Ezek. 34:26. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
E. After being visited by the Lord as the Shepherd, every weak sheep among God’s people becomes a horse of majesty—Zech. 10:3; cf. 9:13, 16; Dan. 11:32b. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
F. Often during our time of morning revival, the Lord whistles to us, calling us and gathering us to Him; the Lord’s whistling is not shrill but mild and gentle, somewhat like the singing of a bird—Zech. 10:8. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
G. The Lord strengthens us in Himself so that we may walk about in His name (v. 12; Col. 3:17). (2012 WT, msg. 10)
III. The focal point and major content of the divine history within human history are the two comings of Christ for the testimony of Jesus, the building of God—Zech. 9—14: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
A. Zechariah 9 through 11 speaks of Christ’s lowly first coming, which was humble and intimate: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
1. Christ came as the King of Israel, lowly and riding upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a donkey—9:9-10; Matt. 21:5-10. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
2. Christ came as a Shepherd, shepherding in Favor (grace) and Bonds (binding)—Zech. 11:7-11. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
3. Christ was detested, attacked, rejected, and betrayed by one of His disciples for thirty pieces of silver—vv. 8, 12-13; Matt. 26:14-16; 27:3-10. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
4. Christ was smitten as the Shepherd, and His disciples were scattered as the sheep— Zech. 13:7; Matt. 26:31. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
5. Christ’s two hands were wounded on the cross in the house of Israel, the house of those who love Him—Zech. 13:6; John 19:18a. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
6. Christ’s side was pierced, and He became an opened fountain for sin and for impurity—Zech. 12:10; 13:1; John 19:18a, 34; Matt. 26:28. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
B. Zechariah 12 through 14 speaks of Christ’s victorious second coming, which will be with power and authority: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
1. Christ will come a second time accompanied by His saints, the overcomers—Joel 3:11. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
2. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east— Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:9-12. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
3. He will fight for the children of Israel, His chosen people, against the nations that besiege them and will save them from destruction—Zech. 14:2-3, 12-15; 12:1-9. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
4. At that time the whole house of Israel will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him; thus, all Israel will be saved—vv. 10-14; Rom. 11:26. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
5. Afterward, He will be the King to reign and rule over the nations; all the people will go up to Jerusalem year after year to worship Him, and all will be sanctified unto Him—Zech. 9:10; 14:16-21. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
IV. The all-inclusive Christ is the history of God working within the history of man to gain the building of God for the manifestation of God—4:9; 6:12-15; John 1:1, 14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; 21:2: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
A. While Christ is skillfully working to sovereignly control the world situation in human history, He is skillfully working Himself into us in the divine history to make us the masterpiece of His work, the poem of God, a new invention of God, expressing His infinite wisdom and divine design—Acts 5:31; Eph. 2:10. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
B. Christ in His humanity is the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah Himself as the Triune God, standing with God’s people in the lowest part of the valley in their humiliation to care for them, intercede for them, and bring them swiftly out of Babylonian captivity—Zech. 1:7- 17; Exo. 3:2, 4-6, 13-15; Isa. 63:9; Deut. 33:27. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
C. Christ is the last Craftsman used by God to break the four horns; the four horns are the four kingdoms with their kings—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire—also signified by the great human image with four sections in Daniel 2:31-33, the four stages of locusts in Joel 1:4, and the four beasts in Daniel 7:3-8, that damaged and destroyed the chosen people of God—Zech. 1:18-21. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
D. In order to live in the divine history within the human history and become Christ’s mighty ones for His building, we need to apply the cleansing blood of Christ, live in the divine Spirit of Christ, and abide in the beautifying and killing word of Christ to flow out Christ for the unique expression of Christ—Zech. 3:3-4; 4:6; 12:1; Rev. 19:13-15; Eph. 5:26; 6:17; Zech. 4:12-14. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
V. The world situation has always been the indicator of the Lord’s move on earth—cf. 1 Chron. 12:32a: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
A. The mystery of lawlessness is working today among the nations and in human society; this lawlessness will culminate in the man of lawlessness, Antichrist—2 Thes. 2:3-12. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
B. The ten kings typified by the ten toes of the great image in Daniel 2 will be under Antichrist, who will be the last Caesar of the revived Roman Empire; all this will transpire in Europe—Rev. 17:10-14: (2012 WT, msg. 10)
1. Before the crushing of Antichrist and the totality of human government transpires, the Lord’s recovery must spread to Europe and be rooted there. (2012 WT, msg. 10)
2. The spreading of the truths of the Lord’s recovery will be a preparation for the Lord’s coming back to bring the recovery and restoration not only to Israel but also to the entire creation—Matt. 24:14; cf. Rev. 5:6. (2012 WT, msg. 10)