Thru the Bible: Malachi 1-2
This is the last book of the Old Testament. It is a prophetic word to post-Babylonian exile Judah.
In this prophecy God addresses the exact same three major sins He did through Nehemiah, not so many years prior.
This was Israel’s last warning… a shot across the bow before their sins reward them a spiritual desert to live and die in.
Amos spoke of this intertestamental time of silence as “a famine for hearing the word of the Lord”.
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Thru the Bible: Zechariah 12-14
Zechariah chapters 12-14 address Israel’s future unfaithfulness and ultimate rejection of their Messiah. The judgment this brings will reduce Israel by two-thirds and the remaining 3rd will be purified and refined by trials.
During the future and Great Tribulation the antichrist will break covenant with the Jews and with antagonistic fury persecute them. Those who endure will see the Lord return on the Mount of Olives and mourn for what their ancestors (and they by extention) had done to Him.
Then the tides will turn and God’s wrath will be poured out on the antichrist and all of Israel’s enemies. He will rule from Jerusalem over the whole earth. The Feast of Tabernacles will once again be celebrated only the whole earth will participate in honoring Jesus the King Who has now tabernacled among them!
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Thru the Bible: Zechariah 11
God employs the use of two shepherd staffs to illustrate two covenants. One was called Favor and the other Union.
Favor was the shepherd staff which represented the old covenant – in particular the ark of the covenant which was taken by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the temple’s destruction and never returned.
The second shepherd staff was Union. It represented Jesus Himself. In Jesus the union between greater Israel and Judah would be broken but a new and better covenant would be instituted. It would be an eternal covenant based upon better promises where the union would be with God directly and would result in union between each other and all in the world who would turn to Messiah in faith.
The prophecy ends with a dark note, which I believe is in reference to the change in the priesthood following the Maccabean revolt.
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Thru the Bible: Zechariah 9&10
Nearly 200 years from the time of this prophecy Greece would run a circuit all around Judah, making war and conquoring but leave Israel untouched. Tyre was to be a major part of that campaign. The last land to be actually conquored would be Persia itself thus bringing the empire’s dominion to an end all under the leadership of Alexandar the Great.
This prophecy is a starting point. It moves on past Alexandar and the Grecean Empire to the time of the Maccabean revolt when Israel would achieve independance from Greece, just before Rome took their place.
All of this was prophecied by Daniel MANY years before Zechariah, but Zechariah’s served both as a witness to these things AND added more details about this time.
In this prophecy greater Israel, meaning the Northern Kingdom is represented in Ephraim and the southern kingdom in Judah.
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Thru the Bible: Zechariah 7 & 8
The Jews in Bethel who had returned from the Babylonian exile asked the priests and prophets if they should mourn and fast in the fifth month as they had done while in captivity. God answers them, but starts with a question of His Own which shocks their thinking and recalibrates their hearts to place Him first as the commandment says.
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