Zechariah 6:1-8
The Minor Prophets • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Four Chariots
Four Chariots
Our final vision is covered tonight and without adu we will begin in
Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong.
Okay, what’s going on here? We of course start the vision like we have in all but the 4th and 5th with lifting eyes, looking up, seeing something. Then what do we see?
What are chariots usually representative of? - Military might
Some key chariot usage in the Bible.
“For behold, the Lord will come in fire,
and his chariots like the whirlwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment,
and by his sword, with all flesh;
and those slain by the Lord shall be many.
The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
The symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant includes chariot like wheels in 1 Kings 7:30-33 and similarly in 1 Chronicles 28:18 “for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.”
Okay so a military might associated with a chariot is our obvious guess. What about mountains of bronze? Anyone striking up any memories?
I didn’t have anything jump out at me except the bronze part of the statue in Daniel.
The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
The head was babylon, chest and arms were the Persians (this time period) and the bronze middle and thighs was Greeze, with Rome being the legs of iron and feet partly of clay. At least that’s the most traditional interpreation for the statue representing the kingdoms that came after. So maybe this refers to the Greek empire? Honestly as we read through the rest it doesn’t particularly make sense or make anything clearer. Mountains of bronze is not a phrase used anywhere else in the Bible so it’s not super helpful. We’ve talked many times before about where mountains tend to represent kingdoms. In face in thinking of the passage about Daniel we can see that example show up.
As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
But this kingdom is a mountain that doesn’t end, and we get to see that it is God’s kingdom in the interpretation...
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”
We’ve also talked about how the “high places” are where people think that their gods should be worshiped and it’s because it was the general belief that god’s live on top of mountains. Even the Bible describes Mount Zion as God’s dwelling place.
In the temple up on mount Zion there are two bronze pillars, maybe it’s a allusion to that? We don’t really know and we could keep speculating all night but the idea of God’s kingdom makes sense for the place His chariots come from. As we read on in Zech we also never get an explanation of colors for the horses. They don’t correspond to the colors of the 4 horsemen in Revelation and don’t seem to do the same things anway, they also don’t line up with the colors of the 4 horses from the first vision.
Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth.
We again get the question that sets up an interpretation from the angel. Our answer? They’re going out to the four winds of heaven. The four winds of the earth has meant several times just everywhere and I think of heaven indicates the everywhere but even more if it covers heave which is the sky above the earth.
The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.” When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.”
What’s missing? East and west and the red horses pulling a chariot.
What’s their purpose? Patrol the earth.
At the end His Spirit is at rest - in other words there is peace. The north was always where all the paganism and bad things had come from they corrupted the closer northern kingdom first, etc.
The 8 visions.
As we have now completed the eighth and final vision of the visions portion of Zechariah, I want to take a look at the whole picture of the eight visions. In fact going back to the first vision is going to sound similar. There we had a vision with 4 colors of horses like we do in vision 8.
Vision One: Man on a Red horse (4 colors of horses) (temple shall be rebuilt)
Vision Two: Four Horns and Four Craftsmen (enemy will not hinder the rebuild)
Vision Three: The Surveyor (The Temple restored)
Vision Four: The High Priest (Religious Leader)
Vision Five: The Lampstand and Two Olive Trees (Civil Leader)
Vision Six: The Flying Scroll (The Word sent out)
Vision Seven: The Woman in the Basket (Sin removed from land)
Vision Eight: The Four Chariots (4 colors) (God will bring peace worldwide)
Thoughts on the Visions wrap up?