6. JESUS BEFORE JESUS – ZECHARIAH

If you’re a newbie, you’re welcome!🥰 Do note this before we proceed: all discussions in this series will be based on scripture. We established that the Bible is historically and archeologically proven to be true through the materials provided in the Intro here. You can check out the rest of the series here.😉

We’re not too far from the end of this series. Today’s spotlight falls onnnn [drumroll please? 🥁🥁]:

THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH: 557 – 525 BC

Zechariah lived in Palestine almost 600 years before Jesus. Haggai, Malachi and Zechariah served the Lord as prophets called to Israel after exile around the same period. If fine boy Zechariah lived in these times😶, he very likely would be one of those prophets I won’t bother listening to, because his book is rather intense and highly technical! Right in Chapter 1 he sees a vision of some guy riding a red horse standing in front of red, brown and white horses; all standing among myrtle trees in a ravine [ask me what these things even are😂🤷🏽‍♀️]. Horns, craftsmen, a flying scroll, a woman in a basket [ha!😂🤭] and all sorts of confusing things that anyone else would be called delusional for😆.

Zechariah’s visions, although strange, did not have the tone of terror that the earlier prophets did. He actually spoke of redemption coming the way of the Israelites, all the while throwing in the evidence we need😊. So let’s delve right in! [I know you can’t tell, but I’m ecstatic!] 🤭🤸🏽‍♀️

1. Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt of a donkey [a baby donkey]. Zechariah 9:9

Over 500 years later, here’s what Matthew records in 21:1-3 and 6-9 [and in the 3 other gospels]:

As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them ahead. “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.” The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.

Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the centre of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David!”

Five hundred WHOLE years and more later! Let me let you milk that yourself; no long talk.😎

In last week’s piece here, I explained how Micah prophesied which clan and tribe the Messiah would come from. Micah’s prophecy was over 200 years before the era of Zechariah. Yet in Chapter 12:10 when Zechariah tells what the Lord is saying about the deliverance He is bringing to Israel, Zechariah confirms Micah’s prophecy:

2. I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son.

Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1 traces Jesus’ ancestry from Abraham through to David and then to his earthly father Joseph. In fact, this particular prophecy became so common among the Jews that over time, they casually referred to the Messiah who was yet to come as ‘the Son of David’ [remember how angry the Pharisees and co were whenever Jesus called Himself the Son of David? This is why😁].

The next two truths intrigue me because I literally discovered them only when I begun this piece!😀 In Chapter 11, God tells Zechariah: “Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter.” So in verse 7, Zechariah writes: “So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed.”

Zechariah spoke of this flock, as he continued the prophecy, as though he was talking about human beings. It was not until I studied the chapter that I realized that this flock referred to the Jews! He writes in verses 8 to 12:

3. I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too. So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!” Then I took my staff called Favour and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations. That was the end of my covenant with them. [I know it’s confusing.😅 Hang on a minute!]

The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the Lord was speaking through my actions. And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but if not, keep it.” So they counted out for my wages 30 pieces of silver.

Mind you, Zechariah was still writing about this Messiah who was on His way all the way from Chapter 9. So what on earth was Zechariah talking about here?

That this flock, these Jews, would sell off their shepherd, the One sent by God, for 30 pieces of silver!

And rather sadly, 500+ years later, one man, Judas, representing this entire flock of Israel, sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver!

Zechariah didn’t end there. In the very next verse he wrote:

4. And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.

I wasn’t certain how this was relevant, so I went on a search of what happened to Judas’ thirty pieces of silver. Here’s what I found:

When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, ‘I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.’ “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Matthew 27:3-7

If that does not impress you, please you need Jesus again😂. I can imagine that God had to painfully wait for so long a time to allow such fine calculated details to be revealed in His Word. And what a pleasure and a privilege to uncover them with you guys😊!

I hope you enjoyed it too! Until the final episode next week😭…

Stay rooted, friend!🥰

Rad! ⭐