God’s Spirit at Rest
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An expository study of Zechariah 6:1-8
The eighth
vision: The mission of the four chariots
and horses
We come to a chronological
end of the Old Testament with the books of Zechariah, Haggai, Ezra, Esther,
Nehemiah and Malachi. If you are following this study of Zechariah in your
Bible, you should have noticed that God is presented many times in the prophecy
as the Lord of Hosts. He and His heavenly forces are warring in the affairs of
men. We have seen angels mounted on horseback on reconnaissance missions
(1:10), led by the majestic divine Angel of the Lord. It is all demonstrated in
visions, according to the military system known in the time of Zechariah. They
report situations that occur on earth and then, the Lord of Hosts dispatches military
movements to carry out His will. They have to do with His purposes in the time
of the prophet, but they also extend far into the future until the end of world
history. The God of all the earth is also God of all time on the earth.
We will try to see and
understand what Zechariah saw, as best we can, but we also can bring into play
different portions of the Bible, in order to clarify principles and symbols
that remain constant throughout the divine revelation. God is giving His people,
in every century, the opportunity and privilege to know things, of which there
are no other fountains of information on earth. Besides, He shares His
feelings, speaking of His anger, jealousy, pleasure and comfort, showing us the
reasons behind His actions. This can only stem from a desire to have intimacy
with individuals, who care about how God feels (1:12-14; 2:8; 8:2).
Clearly, in chapter one, as
the book begins, God opens His heart to His people. In verse 12, the Angel of
the Lord prays to the Lord of Hosts and we will notice the little word ‘O’,
which always signifies deep desires. The Angel is the Son of God, who exclaims,
‘O righteous Father’ in John 17:25 in a prayer that is meant for believers in
the entire history of the church (John 17:20). In Paul’s letters to the
churches, we can see how his writings reached and informed members to the end
of time (1 Th.4:17; 2 Th.2:1-12; 1 Tim.4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-9 and 4:3-4, for
example).
Zechariah, inspired by the
same Holy Spirit as Paul, lifts his eyes to see more heavenly things (v.1). The
first vision took place in a low area where small myrtle trees grew. The Angel
of the Lord prayed among His people, but in this vision we see two bronze mountains.
The first vision depicted the Lord’s cavalry and now the revelation of His
armies augments, including chariots.
Elisha was present when a
chariot and horses of fire came to take Elijah to heaven (2 Kg.2:11), but when
the king of Syria came against him and surrounded his city, the mountains were
covered with horses and chariots of fire (2 Kg.6:17). Matthew Henry said, “They are chariots of fire and horses of
fire to
carry one prophet to heaven and guard another on earth.” It seems to me it requires less chariots to take us to
heaven than it does to guard us on earth. “The
chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands” (Ps.68:17). There’s
no shortage!
The Apostle John saw the feet
of the Son of Man as burnished bronze (Rev.1:15) and with those feet of bronze,
He presents Himself to the church at Thyatira (Rev.2:18). He carries a message
of judgment to them; in the Bible bronze symbolizes judgment. The horses leave
the presence of God with a firm and unchangeable purpose.
The horses are red, black,
white and dappled. In other places the red or sorrel horse stands for war,
especially in Revelation 6:4. The black of Revelation speaks of bad times, of
plagues, pestilence and famine (v.2).
The white horse is the horse
of the conqueror and symbolizes victory. The last horse carries two adjectives
that define it in Hebrew, strong and dappled. This word for strong cannot be found in any other part
of the Bible. It is possible that this word applies to all the horses. Some
translations see strong as the color of the horse… strong colored and dappled
(v.3). The Hebrew word for dappled is called mottled, when applying to Jacob’s
sheep and goats in Genesis 31:10. He had contracted with his uncle, Laban, to
keep all the young of that color for himself. Then, he took fresh green rods of
poplar and almond and peeled bark from them to expose the white wood. He put
them before the strongest sheep at mating time, when they came to drink, and as
a result the strongest lambs and kids
were mottled.
Mission accomplished; prayer
answered
In verse four we have
Zechariah’s tenth and final question, because in the middle of this chapter, the
prophecy is going to change. From this point on to the end of the book, there
will be revelations and no more visions. The angel reveals that Zechariah is
observing the four spirits or winds (the word for wind or spirit is exactly
the same in Hebrew) of heaven (v.5). They come before the Lord, who is called
here the Lord of all the Earth: “Who makes His angels winds, and His
ministers a flame of fire” (Heb.1:7). That which the writer of Hebrews
quotes from Psalms 104:4 gives a short resume of what we are learning about the
angels in Zechariah. They are spirits of fire that are sent from His presence
to perform the will of God in all the earth, “according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His
will” (Eph.1:11).
The black horses head for the
north country and the white horses follow the blacks. The dappled are assigned
to the work of God in the south country (v.6). In those times in Israel, the north
country referred to Babylon. Babylon was already conquered by the Persians. That
was now a matter of history, but what Zechariah sees is a matter of prophecy.
Once more, he is transported to the end times to join with the events that the
Apostle John saw.
The chariots and horses have
gone out from presence of the Lord between the two mountains of judgment and
the blacks are going to accomplish God’s work against the Babylon of
Revelation. The
whites are there to assure victory. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a
dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of
every unclean and hateful bird” (Rev.18:2).
It proves that the “Temple of the Ephah” that we saw in the last chapter was a
diabolical work.
I prefer the interpretation of
the adjective for the horses to be simply strong
and not strongly colored. God
describes the horse in Job 39:21-25: “He
paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the
weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; and he does not turn back from
the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and javelin. With
shaking and rage he races over the ground, and he does not stand still at the
voice of the trumpet. As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’ And he
scents the battle from afar, and the thunder of the captains and the war cry.” Within
them a nature stirs, which causes them to do what they were created to do; they
are eager to perform it. However, in
all cases, the Lord must order every step, which they are created to carry out
with passion (v.7). Once again, their mission is to patrol the earth (1:11, as
the eyes of the Lord, 4:10). The mission is in their blood and the Lord
releases them for that purpose.
In chapter one, though there
was peace on earth (1:11), the Angel of the Lord was not content with that
situation (1:12) and He prayed that the Lord would have compassion for Israel. The
Lord spoke of his jealousy for them and purposed to move against their enemies.
Until the chariots moved against the north, Babylon, the Spirit of God had no
rest. They did a work of propitiation that we see take place from time to time
in the Bible, principally when Jesus went to the cross, as the propitiation for
our sins. God’s wrath fell upon Him and then God was appeased. As we have
mentioned, the Babylon of Zechariah’s day had fallen to the Persians, but there
is a work to be done against the Babylon of the book of Revelation.
The Lord called to Zechariah
and told him His sentiments (v.8). He wants this man, who sees that the things
of God are important and is concerned about how the Lord feels, and not just
his own feelings, to know that He is now at rest. What intimacy there is
between them! Do we have it in our relationship with the Lord? I ask a direct
question, because this is the Lord’s desire and it is important; we were
created for this reason. The Son of God gave His life, to reconcile us with the
Father.
Now we can see how the
prayer, offered among the myrtle trees, has moved heaven to bring about an
answer. To have a High Priest at the right hand of the Father in heaven ought
to fill us with great assurance. How many times, do you suppose, has the Father
turned a deaf ear to His prayer?
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