ZECHARIAH - CHAPTER 10 - The Oracle

Pastor Carolyn Sissom \ September 9th, 2019 (2824 views)

 

 

ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 10 -The Oracle

Tuesday Morning Bible Study

September 10, 2019

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

 

Chapter 10 is a continuation of the burden of the Word of the Lord or oracle of the Word of the Lord prophesied in Chapter 9. 

 

I started reading Jonathan Cahn’s new book, The Oracle.  Brother Cahn’s book takes the definition that the Oracle is a person.

 

 We have been studying the oracles of Zechariah. 

 

The definition of oracle in Cahn’s book is much the same as Webster’s:  “An oracle was one who spoke, and more specifically, one who spoke divine revelation or counsel or prophecy, an authority you went to for revelation and truth.  An oracle could also refer to the revelation itself, the truth, the word, the counsel, the prophecy, the message given.”

 

In Chapter 9, the word “burden” is used to describe an “oracle” of the Word of the Lord, given by the person of Zechariah, who fits the description of an “oracle (person).” My personal definition of the oracle in the book of Zechariah would be that of a visitation of divine revelation to the prophet.

 

2Sa 16:23 - And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

 

“Oracle” in 2 Sam. 16:23 refers to the “Words of God.”

 

The nation of Israel was entrusted with the oracles of God.

 

Rom 3:2 - Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

 

We are to be stewards of the oracles of God and to handle those words wisely.

 

Heb 5:12 - For by this time, you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again  the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

 

1Pe 4:11 - If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 

“The oracles of God are…His words, messages, and prophecies, that which is linked to the prophets.  Prophets are oracles and their prophecies are the oracles.” (Jonathan Cahn, The Oracle)

 

I won’t get into the narrative of the story line of the prophet in the book, The Oracle.  I don’t want to steal your enjoyment of the book.  But there are amazing revelations that I can’t keep quite about.

 

1. In 1867, Mark Twain fulfilled in exact detail almost word for word Moses’ prophecy of the “stranger” in Deuteronomy 28; 22-23: The stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it: the whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown; nor does it bear; nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

This was a sign of the coming rebuilding and restoration of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel.

 

2. In 1867, Charles Warren, a British officer of the Royal Engineers was sent to the Jerusalem on a mission to survey and map out Jerusalem.  He literally fulfilled the vision of an angel measuring Jerusalem.  Zech. 2: 1-2 I lifted up my eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.  Then said I, Where go you? And he said to me, to measure Jerusalem, to see what the width is thereof, and what is the length thereof.

 

“His measuring of Jerusalem would usher in the surveying of  the entire land, the measuring of the Promised Land in its entirety…the consequences of Warren’s work were to restore and strengthen the long-lost connection of the Jewish people to the land.”   Warren also stumbled upon the shaft to the Old City of Jerusalem hidden for nearly two thousand years.  This was also in 1867” (Jonathan Cahn)

 

Both Mark Twain and Charles Warren were in Israel at the same time and their fulfillment of prophecy was unknown to either of them.

 

Zech.  10:1 - Ask of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so

the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

 

This would be an unheard of thing to ask for rain in the time of rain.  This would be copious rain in the time of rain.  Zechariah is prophesying of the rain of the Holy Spirit at the time of the Latter Rain. The Latter rain season in Israel falls in the months of March and April just before the harvest.  This is referring to an outpouring of divine blessings in contrast to the dryness of their 70 years in exile.

 

Jas. 5:7 - Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain

 

Joe 2:23 - Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month

 

I am one who is of the persuasion that the Holy Spirit presently being poured out on the earth is part of what is known as the Latter Rain Pentecostal outpouring which fell in 1948.  Some of the Pentecostal denominations denounced the Latter Rain Revival.  Of course, I knew nothing of this when the LORD brought me into that River.  I believe Eastgate Church flows in that river of the Holy Spirit.  That is not the only river of the Holy Spirit which flows through us, but it is one. 

 

Zech. 10:2-3:  For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock; they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.  Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.

 

The idols speak deceit is probably referring to household gods used in the time of judges for divination.  Similarly diviners were sought to foresee the future as well as tell false dreams.  For then as now, God has given prophets, those who hear and speak the oracles of God.

 

1Pe 4:11 - If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 

It is a serious matter to serve the LORD as a Pastor.  I walk bent over before the Lord concerning my responsibility to Him to serve His people.  Spiritual leadership is Israel’s primary need.  Without this God’s people wander like sheep and suffer in consequence for lack of a shepherd. 

 

Mark 6:34 - And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things

 

The word for goat here is “ram” which means the chief goat.  The word shepherd could also refer to a ruler or king.

 

A perpetual tragedy then and now afflicting the people of God is their being at the mercy of shepherds who are uncalled, un-commissioned and self-appointed.

 

The Lord of hosts visits his flock the hosts of Judah and makes them as goodly horses in the battle.  This is the warrior anointing that is upon praise and worship in spiritual warfare in alignment with the Lord of Angel Armies.

 

Zech 10:4 -5: Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. And they shall be as mighty men, who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.

 

Jesus Christ is from the tribe of Judah.  He is the chief cornerstone.  He is the nail in the sure place and he is the battle bow.  The nail is also translated as a tent peg, an insignificant thing in man’s eyes, but symbolizes that strength which is able to withstand all those pressures that arise when true leadership is undertaken.  Out of him every oppressor will be defeated.  Judah with the armies of the Lord shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle.  We shall fight, because the LORD is with us, and our enemies will be confounded.  Along side the Lord, we will be transformed into a proud horse in battle.

 

Isa 22:23 - And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

 

A new and decisive spiritual strength is to be seen in the place of helplessness.  The battle bow formerly taken out of the hands of men is now represented in the hands of God’s ruler who will strike in battle as perfectly as he defends his people’s cause.  And from now on (God’s appointed time) every ruler will be established in Judah which will accomplish God’s ongoing purpose. 

 

Zech 10:6 -8:  And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.  And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.

I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.

 

I shall hiss for them or whistle for them, or signal for them.  Now as a true shepherd of his flock, he calls the sheep and gathers them home.  I will redeem them.  The prophet is again seeing far beyond the present return to Israel but into our present day.  He is seeing the completion of God’s work for his chosen people as well as spiritual Israel.

 

In the book, The Oracle, Jonathan Cahn has made a strong presentation that the setting in motion of the fulfillment of this prophecy began in 1867.

 

I don’t have time or space in this teaching to present his findings, but.

 

1. 1867: Mark Twain’s destiny was to bear witness to the world through words and a book, The Innocents Abroad: Deuteronomy 28; 22-23: The stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid on it: the whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown; nor does it bear; nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
2. 1867: Charles Warren (a Christian) in his measuring and mapping out of Jerusalem would lead to the mapping of the entire land in the coming decade.  As they measured and mapped out the land of Israel, they discovered long-lost places, sites and cities of bible times.  With every discovery the connection between the Jewish people and the land was further restored and strengthened. 

 

Zechariah saw in his vision the angel wasn’t there just to measure Jerusalem, but to give a prophetic word.  The word would concern the restoration of Jerusalem, a call to the exiles of Israel to return to the land and to the blessings that would await them there.  So the man with measuring line is the one who issues a prophetic call.  Charles Warren posted a vision called the Land of Promise and foresaw the great prosperity we see today in the nation of Israel.

 

3. 1867: The Ottoman Land Code opened up the land to be purchased by people from other nations.  The Jewish people began purchasing the land.  When Twain and Warren came to Jerusalem in 1867, the Jewish people constituted a minority in that city.  But within just a few years they had become the majority.
4. The same decade would see a massive persecution of the Jewish people in the Russian Empire and would cause many Jewish families and individuals to seek refuge in other lands and would begin the first massive waves of returning exiles that would continue into the twentieth century.

 

In the latter part of Mark Twain’s life his path would be woven together with that of a European journalist and playwright, Theodor Herzel, founder of political Zionism.  Herzl would be called the father of the Jewish state. 

 

In the book of Deuteronomy, the prophecy of the stranger leads into the prophecy of the nation’s re-gathering.  Twain would be linked to the first prophecy and Herzel to the second.  So as the two prophecies were joined together, also were the two lives.

 

It happened in the city of Paris in 1894.  The paths of Twain and Herzl converged in the same city and that same year, the two were brought together in the very place and at the very moment that Zionism was born.

 

Zech 10:9 -10:  And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.

I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.

 

The Hebrew word for “sow” is “zara.”  In the Book, The Oracle, the letter for “zara” was one of the symbols on one of the doors of the visions.  (I am not revealing to you the visions, only those parts relevant to this chapter.) 

 

The Prophet is looking forward to when the dispersed nation will achieve the destiny of God’s purposes.

 

Though in far off lands, the people of Israel will not forget their God, and generation after generation will survive along with the expectation of a final homecoming.

 

This was partially fulfilled after the second exile, not for seventy years, but for ages.  They would be persecuted from nation to nation and wander the earth as no people have ever wandered the earth.  The Jewish race has been sown among all the nations of the earth.

 

They will be brought back to that land where God originally intended they should be.  Moreover, in their return they will prove that God’s compassion is quite unlike the mawkish sentimentality of man and quite different from that sort of human compassion which tends to hide a continuing grievance.  They will be as though I had not rejected them.  The time of exile and rejection must end.  True compassion is never satisfied until restoration has been effected and the cause of alienation is forgotten.

 

Zech 10:11 - And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.

 

They will pass through the sea of trouble.  The Hebrew text reads he shall pass through the narrow sea.  Whatever barriers may stand in their path the Lord will effect the salvation of his people by dramatic means similar to those of the wilderness wandering. 

 

Zech 10:12 - And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, says the LORD.

 

Just as his name was the guarantee of deliverance from Egyptian slavery under Moses, so now it stands as the name in which the people of Ephraim may have confidence.  In his name they will walk

 

Verse 10 is a taunt-song against Israel’s enemies, Lebanon and Bashan in particular.  The pride of these two, the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan are to be destroyed.

 

We can talk about that next week.

 

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries Church

www.eastgateministries.com

I entered into the labors of F. B. Bruce Bible Commentary, Finis J. Dake Annotated Reference Bible and The Oracle by Jonathan Cahn, published by Frontline, Charisma Media, Charisma House Book Group.  Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.