Zechariah 1:6

The Bible says in Zechariah 1:6, “But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.” The children of Israel had lost their nation. They had been humiliated and taken captive. The response of the Israelites at the end of this verse shows that they understood an important truth: the truth of the law of consequences. As you experience the changes that life brings your way, you will discover many reasons for the things that happen to you. One reason will be the consequences of your own actions. God is still judge of the earth and of every person on the earth, whether saved or unsaved. God is holy, and He must punish sin. Thankfully, through Jesus He is merciful, but we only enter into His mercy when we repent. Therefore, when something bad happens to you, you should be diligent and at least ask yourself this question: is this a judgment from God? Is this a consequence from something that I did that I should not have done?

Of course, there is a difference between the circumstance of the Old Testament believer compared to that of the New Testament believer because we are not under law but under grace. The Israelites agreed to keep the law in order to inherit the blessings, but we came to Jesus and found His mercy, admitting that we cannot keep the law. Keep relying upon Jesus today the way that you relied upon Him when you first came to know Him: totally dependent upon His mercy. That is why Christians are told to live by First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Those of us who have experienced the mercy of Christ know that we have received that which we did not deserve. We understand the greatness of our sins. We know that God would be justified no matter what calamity He brought upon us. We deserve hell and we admit it.

Knowing the truth of the law of consequences should cause us to be more careful about any future actions. We should be more mindful of the fact that what we do today will go a long way in determining what will happen to us tomorrow. The New Testament puts it this way in Galatians 6:7-9, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

The Bible says in Zechariah 1:7-11, “Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Of course, the main interest in this passage is the horses. What can be said about these horses, and what do these horses signify? Zechariah wanted to know the same thing. As soon as Zechariah saw the horses, he said in verse 9, “O my Lord, what are these?” The answer given to Zechariah tells us what the Lord wants us to know about these horses. Since there are no other references to these specific horses in scripture, we do well to take the answer that the angel gave about these horses, and not try to come up with something that the Lord has not revealed.

The Lord said about the horses in verse 10, “These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.” God sent the horses and the individuals upon them into the earth. Whenever God sends someone, there is a specific purpose for having sent them. The fact that these went “to and fro” upon the earth means that they did not go to just one place: they went everywhere. And so we know that the Lord is talking about a world-wide situation. A similar statement is made about the Lord Himself in Second Chronicles 16:9 that says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” This verse in Second Chronicles refers to the fact that the Lord sees and knows all things that happen in the earth. The verses in Zechariah chapter one refer to the fact that the Lord is actively involved in all the nations and in all the events that are taking place in those nations. God determines what happens to the nations and their relationships with each other. This is especially true concerning the nation of Israel, who is the apple of His eye as Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 32:9-10, “For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

The problem with the nations of the earth is found in Zechariah 1:11 that says, “all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Why was it a problem for all the nations to be at rest? Think about the situation. The nation of Israel had been conquered. They were defeated. Many of the people had been killed, and those who were not killed had been taken captive to Babylon. But this situation did not fit in with God’s long-term plan, and it did not fit in with the desires and prayers of the children of Israel. God loved Israel even when God was forced to chastise Israel. By the way, we have the same assurance of the love of Christ.

God’s will was for the children of Israel to return to the land of Palestine. The nations of the world were not bothered one bit that the children of Israel were no longer in the promised land. In other words as Zechariah records, the nations of the world were at ease. This teaches us a very important biblical truth. Always find out which way God is going, and go with Him. That is why Jesus said, “Follow me.” Because the nations of the world were not in tune with God’s will, Zechariah tells us what God’s attitude was towards them. It says in Zechariah 1:12-15, “Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.” The nations of the world did not care about Israel, nor did they do anything to help the nation of Israel. As a matter of fact, they persecuted Israel. That made God “very sore displeased” with them.

Let’s think about this situation that Zechariah is telling us about. The people of God are scattered into the world (symbolized by Babylon), and they are greatly persecuted by the people of the world. The people of the world oppose God’s plan to spread the gospel of Christ, which is the reason that they oppose God’s people. But God is involved in the affairs of the nations, and God causes to happen what He wants to happen. That was the meaning of the horses that Zechariah saw. In Zechariah 1:12 the people of God are shown crying out to God for His assistance and mercy. God remembers. God remembers His promises concerning the believers, and God remembers the sins and the hatred of the unbelievers. Such a situation will not last forever. Judgment is coming.

Interestingly enough, this very situation that Zechariah spoke about is similar to what is described for us in the end-times in the book of Revelation: God making important changes among the nations of the world, especially concerning Israel, 2. God’s people praying to the Lord to deliver them, 3. The Lord reaches the point where it is time for His judgment to come. In Revelation just as in Zechariah we are told about horses that are symbolic of great changes that God allows and causes to take place among the nations of the world. In Revelation 6:2 it says, “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” In Revelation 6:4 it says, “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” And in Revelation 6:5 it says, “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.”

The prayers of the believers who will live and be killed during the time of the Great Tribulation are described in Revelation 6:9-10, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Think again about what the angel said to the Lord in Zechariah 1:12, “Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?”

In Zechariah 1:15 the Lord said, “And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.” Notice the phrase where the Lord said, “I am very sore displeased with the heathen.” Back in Zechariah 1:2 the children of Israel were told, “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.” The difference between the two phrases is as follows: with His believers, He is “sore displeased,” but with the unbelievers He is “very sore displeased.” The word that is translated “very” means “great” and is usually translated that way. It is obviously used here to emphasize how much more anger and how much more punishment is going to come against unbelievers ultimately than ever comes against believers. This same theme is mentioned in First Peter 4:17-18 that says, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

Jesus has wrath against sin, whether the sin comes from believers or unbelievers. But the wrath against unbelievers is the greatest of all. How fortunate we are as believers in Jesus that His mercy will never be taken from us. But if unbelievers stay in their condition of not trusting in Jesus, they will also stay in the condition of no mercy. Mercy comes from Jesus. You need His mercy. Pray to Jesus and trust in Jesus, and you will find mercy abundant and free.

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