Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Christ is coming, and it's not just some fairy tale. There are legitimate things that are happening in the world right now to point that he's coming soon.

A lot of generations before us just kind of lived as if things were going to go on. The reality of Christ's return, and the Antichrist, and the tribulation—it makes me really want to be all about the Lord and be ready for his return. This should light a fire on us to live as last-days Christians.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador says the signs of the times point to the return of the Lord. The eighth and final vision of Zechariah points to the difficult times of the tribulation and the rise of the Antichrist. Yet we're also given hope in the return of Jesus reigning in the future millennial kingdom. And as Pastor Brett Meador concludes our look into the book of Zechariah Chapter 6, he recognizes the signs of the times are encouragement for abiding in today's word.

Brett Meador: Let's take a look and start out in verse 1. Zechariah 6, verse 1: "And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass."

Again, these are images. If you know your Bible, the Bible speaks in types. Another word is typology, and there's some things that we learn about certain types throughout all the other scriptures. So reading your Bible and learning about other stories of the Bible help you interpret the rest of the Bible, and its expositional constancy is what it's called. So when you come up into things like chariots and mountains of brass and stuff like that, you think, "What is that all about?" Well, a lot of it makes perfect sense. Does anybody remember when you talk about brass in the Bible, it actually is a connotation of something that's radical and important? Does anybody remember what brass symbolizes often?

Guest (Male): Judgment.

Brett Meador: Judgment. We'll talk more about these, what's going to happen here, but the idea also of chariots—it says there will be four chariots from between two mountains. So these chariots will come. Now, these chariots: think battle. The tone here is warfare or even conquering, and these two mountains of brass speak of judgment. But then we go on and hear more description in verse 2.

"In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses." Verse 4: "Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, 'What are these, my lord?'" Okay, good. This is that question. Remember the pattern we see in all these visions? There was always that question, and that's great because it brings a little clarity.

It says in verse 5: "And the angel answered and said unto me, 'These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.'" Now this is interesting because these spirits—familiar word, by the way—the word spirit is the Hebrew word Ruach, the Greek word pneuma, which means wind or breath. So when the word spirits are used, you have to be kind of careful about that because we don't want to say it's the Holy Spirit necessarily every time, but there is something that's used here in end-times eschatology-type language talking about the four winds. Okay? Do you guys remember hearing about the four winds?

And it's sort of an idiom, like when somebody says the four corners of the earth. Now, let me put some fires out here. Some of you guys are like, "Yeah, the earth doesn't have four corners. We know the earth is round. And what a horrible, stupid thing the Bible said." Well, we still say that. People still use idioms that are not technically correct, but they do mean the same thing. But in the same way, the Bible employs the four winds, speaking of the four corners—north, south, east, and west—of the earth.

And by the way, if you think the Bible doesn't know that the earth is round—even though most people didn't until fairly modern history; it really wasn't until the 1400s we kind of realized, "Oh wow, the earth really is round"—the Bible said long before Columbus sailed that we saw in Isaiah and the book of Job, it was called the sphere of the earth. And it says the earth is hung upon nothing. Like, who knew that back in the old days? But all that to say, this language is similar language that we need to kind of look at.

Guest (Male): Revelation Chapter 7. You can jot this down in your notes. This language is similar as we get into the tribulation in Chapter 7 of Revelation. It says: "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor the sea, nor any tree." So first we see the horses, Revelation 6. Now we see the four winds in Revelation Chapter 7. So most scholars at least agree on this, that we're talking about the tribulation period of Revelation 6 and 7. And there's some similar language: the four horses, the four winds. And so that kind of gets us back to talking about these four chariots that are being talked about.

Brett Meador: So it goes on in verse 6 and says: "The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white ones go forth after them; and the grizzled go toward the south country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, 'Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth.' So they walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he unto me, and spake unto me, saying, 'Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.'"

What's going on here? Don't know for sure. That's just the honest answer. There's a lot of speculation, none of which I've really kind of said, "That really makes sense," as I've read different people on this stuff. But it is somewhat of a mystery. Regardless of what it means, do you sense bad news here? These horses, did you see what they do there in verse 7? The bay went forth and sought that they might walk to and fro over the earth. What does that remind you of? Let's remember a few things of evil the Bible talks about. First Peter 5:8: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

Do you remember when Job was attacked by the devil, and Job was accused before the Lord by Satan himself? Do you remember what Satan said in Job Chapter 2, verse 2? "The Lord said unto Satan, 'From whence comest thou?' And Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.'" Notice this: to and fro, along with up and down. The same language that's used here. It's similar language used of Satan himself. I think that's not something we should just totally ignore.

So minimally, we're seeing horses going to and fro all over the earth from the four winds, which are the four spirits. But in Revelation 7, those four spirits that we read about, it's almost like the angels are holding back these winds that they should not blow on the earth or the sea, but there's a point where they're going to let them go. That's the idea. So this really could be talking about just the bad times of the tribulation that are going to come. This is going to be bad stuff, and that's the end of the vision right there.

End of the vision is verse 8. Now, what else is going to happen? Well, that's the second half of this chapter, and you might see them as being totally unrelated. But after the tribulation period, something really cool is going to happen, and this is what we see pictured in the last part of this chapter. Let's take a look in verse 9.

It says in verse 9: "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon.'" Now, this is not a vision. This is not a dream. This is actually something that's literally happening. I like this. We can understand this. It says these guys are coming, these four guys are coming from Babylon: "And come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah." Then verse 11: "Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest."

Guest (Male): What's wrong with this picture? Priest and king. That's right. In the Bible, you're not really supposed to be priest and king. But here, the Lord is telling Zechariah these dudes are coming from Babylon; they're bringing a bunch of crowns. Now let's stop and talk about the crowns just for a second. Remember in the Revelation account, how many crowns is the Antichrist wearing in Revelation Chapter 6? Just one. He's wearing a crown. But in Revelation 19, when we read the real story, what was on Jesus' head? Many crowns. That's something that's noteworthy.

And by the way, these names: Heldai means "the Lord's world," Tobijah means "Yahweh is good," Jedaiah means "Yahweh knows." And these guys came from Babylon with silver and gold, making crowns. And what are they supposed to do? Set those crowns on Joshua, as it turns out.

Brett Meador: Now, we've already been introduced to Joshua. He's the high priest during this time. And remember, we saw him in the courtroom scene. And do you remember what happened to him in the courtroom scene? He was guilty and dirty with dirty clothes, but what happened? He was given new clothes, remember that? And he was declared righteous, and we talked about being robed in the Lord's righteousness. Great story.

But that all plays into this. Now we see Joshua seated here, and suddenly this priest is having all these crowns. Now, what's going on here? The high priest, the crowns are obviously king, but why is a priest here being crowned? A couple of things: the name Joshua is Yeshua in the Hebrew, which in the Greek, he's called Jesus, but he was actually called Yeshua even in Bible times. Now, if you know your Bible, was Jesus ever called a high priest? Of course. Hebrews says Jesus is our high priest. He was tempted in all points like as we were.

But now we're getting into something the Bible actually talks a lot about. Like, for example, what does the Bible say about who can't be priest and king? Well, the Bible sort of teaches that no one can be priest-king or prophet—all three of those together or any two of the four: prophet, priest, king. That's reserved for Jesus. But as it turns out, in Second Chronicles—do you guys remember what happened in Second Chronicles 26, verses 16 through 21?—that's when King Uzziah presumed to try to serve both in priest and kingly roles, and that didn't work out so well for him, if you recall.

So that was never approved of in the Bible. So then the next question might be then, who can be priest and king in the Bible? Well, how many groups of people or people are there that can be priest and king? Anybody? Some would say only one: only Jesus. And technically, that's kind of right in some ways. If you just said Jesus, you'd get an A. But there's actually a bonus credit thing here that I want to kind of take you to because, Jesus being our high priest, we know that Jesus is called priest and king. We know that. But there's another guy in the Bible; his name is—so we've got Jesus number one, but the second guy is Melchizedek. Do you guys remember Melchizedek?

He served in both roles. And if you recall there, Melchizedek, Genesis Chapter 14, verses 18 through 20, he was called the king of Salem. Abraham tithes money to Melchizedek and worships him. And so you've got this mysterious character called Melchizedek. And then when you read the book of Hebrews, mentioned in Hebrews Chapter 7, it says that Jesus is coming to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Guest (Male): Brett, what's the Melchizedekian priestly order? Well, it's just this mysterious guy who we believe is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament, also called a Christophany or a theophany. Melchizedek was this mysterious king that was worshiped by Abraham and received tithes, and there's even communion, bread and wine, linked to Melchizedek. It's a great thing. So Melchizedek was somebody who was priest and king and seemed to get away with it. But I think you can make a real argument that that was Jesus, the Melchizedekian order of Jesus in the Old Testament, and Hebrews even talks about that.

Brett Meador: But who else? Go back to Revelation with me real quick, Chapter 4. Already told you, Revelation Chapter 1: things which are past, Jesus; 2 and 3: things which are, the church age; Chapter 4: the rapture of the church, where John is taken up into heaven. And what does he see in heaven? That's the interesting thing. In Revelation Chapter 5—go to Chapter 5, verse 5—one of the elders said unto me, "Weep not; behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

Remember the title deed to planet Earth we talked about? But it goes on in verse 6 and says: "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain"—that's Jesus—"having seven horns and seven eyes." Zechariah Chapter 3, we talked about the seven eyes. And remember, this is all linked. This is all very much linked.

Verse 7: "And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, or fragrances, which are the prayers of the saints." There's little vials in heaven that are full of prayers of the saints. Have you ever wondered what your vial is going to look like when you get to heaven? Some of you guys are going to have barrels, truckloads. "Hey, bring in that person's prayers!" Others of you are going to have little communion cups. "Here's their prayers." Are you a prayer person? Because I think that's something you take to heaven with you, by the way, is the prayers of the saints. And they're going to be stored in little jars, it says here.

Verse 9: "And they sung a new song, saying, 'Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us'—wait a minute, who's the 'us' here? Who was redeemed?—'hath redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.'"

This is where we see the third group that's going to be able to be kings and priests, and the third group is us. You've got Jesus, Melchizedek, and us. Only it's not going to happen until—so you might say only Jesus was really the priest and king on the earth. But when we're taken up into heaven, we get to serve because of Jesus, because he redeemed us and saved us, as it says there in verse 9. We get to rule and reign with him both as priests and kings, it says there in the tribulation.

So what a privilege, if you think about that for just a half a second. After the rapture of the church, the tribulation, the second coming of Christ—one of the things I think we're going to be doing for all of eternity is serving as priests and kings in eternity. So that's going to be quite a deal.

Well, these guys made crowns and they placed their crowns—back to Zechariah—on Joshua the high priest's head, which I think this is Joshua the high priest is suddenly a picture of Jesus himself, the king. And this is a symbol of that, a picture of that. As we keep reading, now we talk about Jesus himself. Verse 11 says: "Then take silver and gold, and make crowns"—plural—"and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; and speak unto him, saying, 'Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.'"

This is where we know now we're talking about Jesus. There's no lack of clarity here. Jesus in the millennial kingdom, after the rapture of the church, seven-year tribulation period, Antichrist rules for those seven years, Christ returns, battle of Armageddon, establishes his kingdom. There he's going to rule and reign forevermore.

Interesting, notice the beginning of verse 12: they say "Behold the man." That's an interesting phrase. "Look at this man!" You know who else said that? It was Pontius Pilate, if you recall, to be judged by the crowd. "Look at the man, look at him!" Pontius Pilate said. Now Jesus in his glory, they're going to say, "Look at the man." He's the one who's going to be crowned king of kings, lord of lords. What a powerful thing. And he's called the branch. By the way, this is something that's not new if you've been going through the Bible with us. Jesus is called the branch prophetically and in other ways in the Bible, in many places. These are some of my favorite scriptures where he's mentioned as the branch. So this is not a new idea.

In Isaiah, it talks about how he sprouted out of the ground and became a tree and then he became the branch. And the branch speaks of his kingship as he's the root and the branch of David, who was rightful heir to the throne. That's why they call him the branch. Well, and then verse 12, we also see there the millennial temple. Who's going to build the millennial temple? And what book of the Bible did we talk most about the millennial temple?

Guest (Male): Ezekiel.

Brett Meador: Ezekiel. Chapter after chapter talking about the dimensions and what's going to be included in the millennial kingdom temple. Remember, there's going to be a temple in tribulation that's going to be defiled, and that one will be destroyed. But then the next temple will be the millennial kingdom temple. And who's going to build it? It says, "Even he, this king of kings, shall build it," there in verse 13. "Even he shall build it and rule upon his throne," as it says here.

So we've got priest and king building the temple. And what does it say? Verse 14: "And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord." Interesting. So these guys are going to literally make crowns, these four guys that were mentioned there in verse 10. And they're going to make them of gold and silver, and then what are they supposed to do? Put them in the temple to remind people that there's a king coming.

This is interesting because that's all we know about this in the Bible, but later on the Jews did just that. They made a bunch of crowns and hung them in the windows and openings of the temple to remind them of the coming king. Kind of cool. So verse 15: "And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God."

There's a little bit of a local application because they're rebuilding the temple, but there's also the prophetic one where Joshua the high priest is sitting there with the crowns as a symbol, but it's speaking of the ultimate coming of Christ in the millennial temple. His gaze goes past Zechariah's time and goes all the way into current days.

So you say, "Brett, this is great. I kind of like to go home with stuff to do. Like, what am I supposed to do with Zechariah Chapter 6?" Well, there's a couple of things real quick. Number one, this whole chapter, as weird as it is, it makes me think about, number one, the reality of the situation. That Christ is coming, and it's not just some fantasy, fairy tale. There's legitimate things that are happening in the world right now to point that Christ is on the move and that he's coming soon.

And so there's people that are living in this dark world that are still unsaved. And the reality of Christ's return, and the Antichrist, and the tribulation—it makes me really want to be all about the Lord and be ready for his return, be preaching the gospel. This should light a fire on us to live as last-days Christians and not just be chilling. As everybody else, you know, a lot of generations before us just kind of lived as if things were going to go on.

You look at some of the stuff in the world that's going on today and you see, man, that toothpaste can't be put back in the tube. Nuclear weapons—that's a toothpaste that can't be put back in the tube. We've got nuclear weapons in the world, and we're getting crazier and crazier people that have them. And the Bible speaks of nuclear weapons being used in the last days. I mean, there's things happening that we're just seeing, and I'm not going to go on and on.

But it also causes you and me to think about, we need to be prepared for the millennial kingdom. That time's coming. And what are we going to be doing as Christians? Ruling and reigning with Christ as priests and kings. And you say, "Well, what does that have to do with today?" Well, listen: what you're going through in this lifetime has something to do with how you're going to be able to serve in the next.

The suffering you're going through today will somehow play in eternity. And the Bible talks all about that: the rewards that you get for how you lived this life will somehow affect how you live in the next life, in the millennial kingdom. And so if you hate this life and you're like, "Man, I feel like I'm going through boot camp," that might just be it. You might be going through boot camp. This life wasn't meant to be a playground; it was meant to be a battleground. And we're fighting a fight.

The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness in high places. No wonder things are hard on this life. But the Lord says all of this is to equip you and prepare you. I love what Philippians—and we'll end with this—Philippians 1:21 through 26. He says: "For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, to be with Christ."

By the way, you that believe in soul sleep, Paul did not understand soul sleep, I guess, because he said, "Man, if I die, I'll be with Christ." And I believe that that's what happens. I don't believe in soul sleep. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's what Paul is saying. "I'd rather die, I desire to die and be with the Lord," he says, "which is far better. Nevertheless," verse 24, "to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." In other words, "I'm here for a reason." "And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. I'm here to help you and give you joy and faith; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Christ Jesus for me by my coming to you again." In other words, we should use the time now to redeem the time, to do what the Lord's called us to do. That's what I walk away with.

So here's the eight visions. Man, congratulations. You made it through the first section of Zechariah. But it's good stuff. Amen? Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador drawing good encouragement for redeeming the time as we anticipate the soon coming of the Lord. And Pastor Brett will be back to close in prayer in just a moment. But first, Today's Word Radio is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon, area where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Our vision on Today's Word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com.

I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations." Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations." Well, let's rejoin Pastor Brett now in a brief prayer to end our time today.

Brett Meador: Well, Lord, as we conclude, we're thankful again for your word. Some of this stuff we don't understand. We look at it as somewhat of a mystery, but we see dots being connected. We see things happening. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to have better understanding of your word and also give us that end-times view. Lord, you tell us that we're to watch and wait and be ready. Be sober and vigilant that that day that comes doesn't overtake us as a day like the thief in the night, but instead that we're watching and waiting for your return. So equip your church, prepare your church, Lord. Bless these who've taken this time to study this passage. Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time on Today's Word. And that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue in the book of Zechariah, and we'll learn not only why studying prophecy is so important but how we can trust its accuracy and what our response to it should be. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.