Here we are reintroduced to four different groups of horses, which have similarities to the vision of the horsemen in Zechariah 1:8-11. This appears to be the most obscure of the visions of Zechariah, which leave many commentators hard pressed even for a symbolic answer

Horses - This time, the horses accompany four different chariots, which will be moving in four different directions. Also, it is of interest that these same symbols are used by John the Revelator in the description of the Six Seals. As such, it is another clue that Zechariah and Revelation are looking at the same time of the time of the end and therefore relevant to our present study.

Two Mountains - Here we see four chariots coming from between two bronze mountains. We also see that these chariots are coming from the throne of God, or the presence of the Lord of the whole world. Let us return to an Israel-centric, and Jerusalem-centric, portrayal of these prophecies about the time of the end. The questions, are these two mountains represented as Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives, in which the Temple Mount in between the two ‘mountains of bronze’? Is this where the Temple of the Lord housed the Shekinah Glory in the Holy of Holiest? Is this where Hashem (God of Israel) is represented by the visible presence of the Lord of Hosts, where His throne is in heaven and His feet touched the Holy of Holies, His earthly footstool?

Bronze - The next question, what was bronze? To the Hebrews, bronze was the best representation of a Fiery Presence, which would be a good description of the Throne of HaShem (God of Israel).

Ezekiel 1:4-28 “I saw a storm wind coming from the north, a vast cloud with flashes of fire and brilliant light about it; and within was a radiance like brass, glowing in the heart of the flames. In the fire was the semblance of four living creatures in human form. Each had four faces and each four wings; their legs were straight, and their hooves were like the hooves of a calf, glittering like a disc of bronze.

Bronze, or a fiery presence, was also symbolic of Judgment and Salvation, as portrayed in:

Numbers 21:8 - “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole, and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.’”

Four Chariots – These four chariots are representing the angelic couriers, messengers or spirits, who are to carry out the judgment (Gevurah) and mercy (Hesed) of God. Yes, they both go hand in hand. The salvation of God’s people, truly come at God’s mercy, and also will come at the same time as the judgment on those who seek to assault God, His chosen elect, the saints, and the Land which the Lord God has chosen to be His own, in the custody of His “chosen people”.

Zechariah 6:2-3 – The first chariot had red horses,

the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled – all of them powerful.

Here we now see, four chariots pulled by horses of four separate colors and in the later verses, they are racing to the four cardinal poles, east, north, west and south. Something appears to be strange. Normally we say, north, south, east and west yet in the language of Hashem, everything is oriented to His temple.

The only direction given in the Biblical description of the Garden of Eden was east. It was this direction that Adam and Eve went as they were driven away from the presence of Hashem their God. We can only make this assumption that the Presence of the Almighty One was in the western part of the Garden. The location of the Temple of Solomon and later the Temple of Zerubabbel were also oriented facing east. The Shekinah glory of God resided in the Holy of Holies on the western side of the temple. Leaving the presence of the Shekinah, the priests had to walk eastward, thru the Eastern Gate of the temple.

If we look at the order of the chariots: red, black, white and dappled, we now see the cardinal points of East, North, West and South. The question that needs to be asked, why are the cardinal points counter-clockwise and not clock-wise? Does this represent the directional flow of the energy manifested by the presence of God?

Zechariah 6:4 – I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?

At this point, Zechariah is truly puzzled.

The Four Horses and Chariots as the Four Spirits of God

Zechariah 6:5 – The angel answered me,

“These are the four spirits of heaven,

going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.

Four Spirits – The word “Spirit” (Hebrew ruchoth, singular, ruach) occurs 377 times in the Old Testament. In the KJV, it is translated “Spirit” 232 times, and translated “Wind” 90 times with a variety of other translations in the other texts. It is noted that many translators have a preference for the meaning, “Winds”. (i.e. Septuagint, RSV) Therefore ‘the Four Spirits of the heavens’ is rendered as ‘the four Winds of Heaven.’ Compare this with Daniel speaking..

Daniel 8:8 - “Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceeding great toward the south, toward the east and toward the Glorious Land.”

What we have now in Zechariah are four spirits or winds moving away from the Throne or the Presence of the Lord of the whole world. Yes, this is the Lord of Hosts, the Almighty God, known as HaShem (“The Name”) to the Jews. Let us now step back and review some biblical references to the Cheribum or the Chariots of God, upon which reside beneath the Throne of God when Hashem travels throughout His universe.

Psalms 104:3 “O Lord my God, thou art great indeed, clothed in majesty and splendor, and wrapped in a robe of light. Thou hast spread out the heavens like a tent and on their waters laid the beams of thy pavilion; who takest the clouds for thy chariot, riding on the wings of the wind; who makes the winds Thy messengers and flames of fire Thy servants; thou didst fix the earth on its foundation so that it never can be shaken.

Here we see the winds as God’s messengers

Ezekiel 1:4-28 “I saw a storm wind coming from the north, a vast cloud with flashes of fire and brilliant light about it; and within was a radiance like brass, glowing in the heart of the flames. In the fire was the semblance of four living creatures in human form. Each had four faces and each four wings; their legs were straight, and their hooves were like the hooves of a calf, glittering like a disc of bronze.”

The Four Spirits as the Four {four horsemen of the apocalypse} Cherubim below the Throne of God

The Four Horses of the Apocalypse – Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site

Can we now suggest that the four spirits, winds or messengers of God are actually the four Cherubim, upon which the Throne of God travels? Are we visualizing an inter-dimensional picture of the Throne of the God of creation? It appears that the four cherubim have the capacity to move out or away from the throne and as agents, represent the God of Israel?

Let us step up a bit more to the awesome presence of God. If the site of the Holy of Holies in the Temple Mount is the footstool of the Lord and the Throne of God in another dimensional parallel universe is directly over the Temple Mount and the Land of Israel, could the Cherubim be so large that the four cherubim cover the entire cardinal points of Planet Earth from pole to pole? While they are like mighty steeds roaming the earth, it may also represent only the directional flow of some “other-dimensional” form of energy glowing like burnt bronze yet never leaving the perimeter of the wheels of each cherub.

Zechariah 6:6 – The one with the Black Horses is going toward

the North Country,

The White are going after them,

and the Dappled are going toward the south country.” (NKJV)

Let us look at some other translations.

Zechariah 6:6 – New International Version – “The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

Zechariah 6:6 – New English Bible - The chariot with the black horses is going to the land of the north, that with the white to the far west, that with the dappled to the south, and that with the roan to the land of the east.

The Book of Zechariah holds the key to one of the critical interpretative tools of the Book of Revelation. This is introduced in the Book of Revelation as four seals. The symbolism is imbedded in the same four color description of four horses; white, red, black and dappled.

The literal meaning of these passages has been obscured for centuries. Part of the reason is that the meaning of these horses and riders is tied to the four cardinal points of the compass. The problem is this, to have four cardinal points you have to have a central ‘ground zero’ point of reference.

Since the era of St. Augustine and Eusebius, the consistent Christian interpretation is that God’s chosen people, the Jews, the remnant of the Children of Israel, have been replaced by the children of the New Covenant, the Christians. This is called “Replacement Theology”. Yes, to them, the Christians have literally replaced the Jews. Why? Because a few Herodian and Sadducean leaders conspired to kill Yahshua ben Joseph, Jesus, the son of Joseph?

Consider the theological and biblical interpretation implications. If a scholar seriously thinks, that as a Christian, the emphasis of reference is to the Christian people and the world of the Christians, is it any wonder that a majority of Christian religious’ emphasis is Eurocentric or Americo-centric. Many missionaries sent to other third world counties are in the business of not only trying to convert and proselytizing the indigenous population, but also attempting to westernize them also. Are not the Americans or the Europeans the vanguards of living right and thinking right? Was this not the impelling force of the British, Spanish, and Portuguese empire builders? On the coattails of the monks and priests, they conquered the world. Today, under the banner of western missionaries, we bring them the best and the curses of western civilization.

If Europe or the United States is the central focus of the Six Seals of Revelation, then what are the cardinal points of reference? Difficult question. Literal interpretation becomes meaningless because it does not make sense. Therefore a majority of beliefs about the time of the end are spiritual or symbolic in reference. It is the exegesis of BibleSearchers that a literal interpretation is critical to anchor in this three dimensional world a real time and place for God to finish His work of salvation. If you were to read the whole Bible and get a global feeling of the thrust of its message, one thing would stand out, the Land of Israel is God’s Land and the Jerusalem is God’s chosen city, forever. Let us be honest, if you search the scriptures carefully, you will not find New York, Houston, London, Tokyo, or Mexico City. If you want to consider Rome, it is not the ‘City of God’ as St. Augustine chose to believe. Rather, it will be where the harlot of Revelation, who sat on the seven hills, will reside.

If the Book of Zechariah with its horses and chariots (cherubim) were to be anchored to a focal point on this earth, where would it be? Jerusalem! If the Book of Revelation with its horsemen in seals one to four and the angels holding back the four winds of strife upon this earth, where would be the central ‘ground zero’ focal point of all the action? Jerusalem? Without this critical understand, the interpretations of Revelation can go a thousand different directions and they all sound reasonable.

Using this point of interpretation with a Jerusalem centric point of reference, how can we now envision Seals one through four in Revelation? Was it not the four creatures, which stood beneath the throne of God, who introduced to John the message of the first four seals in Revelation?

The Four Horses and Chariots of Zechariah become

The Four Horse Apocalyptic Seals of Revelation

"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" Print

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Painting by David Jean

Seal One – the White Horses and Chariots for most Christian prophetic interpretations are the lands dominate in Christianity and the Gospel Age preceding the Tribulation period. If we compare this with Zechariah’s image, the White horse and chariot went to the ‘far west’. It was to this region that in the first century CE, “The Way” that was the gospel of the risen Jewish Messiah spread and penetrated Europe and America.

At the same time, we see another typology that is now more understandable. Where there is a Christ (Messiah), there also is an Anti-Christ (Anti-Messiah). This being the case, the Antichrist or the anti-Messiah plays a vital role at the time of the end. Many Christians see Jesus as the White Horse, yet the Evangelical Christians see the Antichrist as the White Horse. Maybe both are correct? For those acquainted with the role of the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers and the Council of Foreign Relations, it is this globalist coalition of western bankers, industrialists, internationalists, and trans-nationalists that Pope John Paul II called the Golden Internationale that is also one of three candidates or groups that seek to control the whole earth. For BibleSearchers, power, greed and control are the main armaments of the satanic forces. Has anyone considered that the future forces of the Antichrist are already using the White Horse and rider as their logo? Consider the following that on the cover of the agenda of the meetings of the Council of Foreign Relations is a seal with a white horse and rider. Maybe we can understand the apocalyptic text of John:

Revelation 6:2 – “And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

Seal Two – the Red Horse and Chariot is the second chariot group that was sent out over the face of the earth. In Revelation we see the second as the Red horse and rider of the Apocalypse of Revelation. We do know that the symbolic color of red is “war” as was the war god of the heavens, the planet Mars. Whereas the red horse and chariot in Zechariah saw peace throughout the region, the red horse and rider of the apocalypse in Revelation depicts a bloody war, for as the texts says;

Revelation 6:3 – “When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.”

The red horse and chariot went to the east from Jerusalem, in this verse, and the red horse returns with a rider towards Jerusalem that will be taking “peace from the earth” and stirring up international strife to the point that all nations on this planet will come into contention with one another. In the words of the prophets, all the nations and all peoples will be seeking to “kill one another.” At this point we see the results of human and satanic action as this earth moves through the bloody red events of tribulation.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Painting by Victor Vasnetsov

To the east of Jerusalem are the Islamic nations of the Middle East and further to the Far East is the nation of the Red China. At the same time, the nation of Russia is the globalist power that is the financier and protector in the United Nations of the modern “Persian” nation of Iran as they are creating thousands of centrifuges of enriched Uranium in order to become the next nuclear nation in the world. What is their purpose? Their stated purpose is security and energy independence. The unstated purpose of the nuclear driven Iranian state is to “drive the Jewish people into the sea” and annihilate the name of the God of Israel from Land of Israel and replace it with the name of Allah.

The red horse and chariot of Zechariah that saw peace throughout the region now in Revelation depicts a red horse and rider returning towards Jerusalem and “The Land” of Israel with great haste. Are we seeing the rise of an eventual invasion and war in the Middle East? Where will this invasion come from? As Jerusalem and the Nation of Israel is being surrounded more and more with neighbors that seek her destruction, is it any wonder that the “Great Sword of Allah” in the hands of fundamental Islamic nationalists has given rise to a Middle Eastern war funded and fueled by the finances and military might of the Red Internationale, the Red Communist Leninist globalists, who Pope John Paul II also was a contender to be the global winner of world domination. Is the Red Seal of Revelation connected with the Gog-Magog war of Ezekiel?

Seal Three – the Black (anti-White) Horse and Chariot’s rider holds the scales, not of justice but the economic scales of an economic power that metes out life’s necessities and controls the justice of economic supply and demand. This rider fits the description of an Antichrist, the anti-Messiah, the evil leader in Daniel called the king of the North:

Daniel 11:36 – “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.”

It was Belteshazzar, as he held the sacred golden vessels from the Temple of Solomon in his hands, that the finger of the Almighty spelled out the fate of he and his kingdom. The prophet Daniel gave the sentence to the king of Babylon.

Daniel 5:26 – “This is the interpretation of the word. MENE; God has numbered your kingdom and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

The prototype of Babylon, the ancient golden economic global superpower, was founded by Nimrod on the sign of Libra, the “scales of Heaven”. To the north of Jerusalem went the horse and chariot in Zechariah where the Satanic throne of the Antichrist resided in Pergamum, Turkey.

The Four Horse of the Apocalypse – Painting by American Artist American artist Sharlene Lindskog-Osorio

Revelation 2:12 – “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

Can we interpret this passage, the return of the Black horse and rider of the Apocalypse, as the Black Internationale? This was the last and most potent of the international forces contending for world domination in the mind of the late Pope John Paul II. This global force known to him as the “The Force” or the power behind the Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church, not only had political power but also spiritual power. This force was the Jesuit Order that would eventually conquer and control not only this earth, but also the forces of both the Red and the Black Internationales under the banner of world peace and brotherhood of a One World Order.

Seal Four – the Pale Grey or Dappled Horse and Chariot’s rider carries a sword, not the scythe of the grim reaper. Yet Death and Hades are associated with this/these riders. This horse and chariot goes to the regions south of Jerusalem in Zechariah, to the Land of Egypt and beyond into the heartland of the continent of Africa. Upon returning, ¼ of the people’s of the earth will have perished. Is this not where tribal warfare (Congo and South Africa), famine (Ethiopia), pestilence (locust plagues, killer bees, insects and deadly viruses like HIV), and wild beasts (lions, tigers and elephants) consume almost the entire populations and spread to the world beyond?

Zechariah 6:7 – When the powerful horses went out,

they were straining to go throughout the earth.

And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

The Four Horses of the Apocalypse

We can now visualize a powerful surge of energy streaming out of the Throne of God, which is focused over the Land of Israel. The ancient concept, ‘as above so it is below’, can now be better understood. The spiritual universe, or rather the spiritual parallel universe of God’s Throne, is centered as His residence over the Land of Israel with the Temple of Lord in the Heavenly Courtyard centered over the Temple Mount. If God sits on His Throne in heaven, Hashem’s footstool is the Holy of Holies on this earth. Before judgment and salvation can be finalized, God’s footstool must be reestablished on this earth for in Isaiah it states,

Isaiah 66:1 - “Heaven is my throne and earth my footstool.”

Only then, will the complete Sefirot of all the creations be fully realized. From the Throne of God will surge the four cherubim, the most powerful of all created beings in the created universes. It is to these living creatures that the Almighty God entrusts to carry His Throne and to fully do His divine will.

The Horses and Chariots find the World at Rest or Peace

Zechariah 6:8 – Then he called to me,

“Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”

All the combined invasion forces are pictured as coming from the north. Herein is the interpretive understanding of the Gog-Magog invasion forces into the Land of Israel. Here is also the route of Armageddon’s force of the Antichrist leading a Unified One World Order as they make the final assault against Jerusalem; the elect and those chosen to represent God to the end of this world age.

Up to the time of the fall of Jerusalem all invasion routes came from the north over the Fertile Crescent, except for invasion from the land of Egypt. The Persian imperial influence was over with the invasion of Alexander the Great. The Grecian-Syrian influence waned with the end of the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes IV who desecrated the Holy of Holies from 167 to 164 BCE. for three and one-half years. After that the North Country was in rest, yet new rulers of domination would now come from the west, Rome.

Well, the land north of Israel cannot be said to be at rest today. This restlessness includes Syria, the arc foe of Israel that is eager to invade to recapture the Golan Heights and the farmlands beyond in the valley of Gamala. Syria has military agreements with the rising nuclear and military state of Iran and is the main funnel of insurgents into the newly elected government of Iraq. With Russia providing anti-aircraft missiles to surround Damascus to provide a shield against Israeli aircraft, the land of Syrian is presently under the control of the Red Internationale.

Then there is Lebanon. This is the Switzerland of the Middle East and only a few years ago it was an economic power house of banking and global commerce. With the exodus of the Syrian forces in 2005 and the newly elected government, the emerging Lebanon was influenced greatly by the European Union and the United States, the Golden Internationale. Then came the 2006 War between Lebanon and Israel in which afterwards under the Vatican supervised Rome Peace Conference on Lebanon, within the land of Lebanon, the Hezbollah militia forces doubled and they even tripled their Katyusha rocket inventory and the size of their projectory, the land was under the UN UNIFIL monitoring forces of NATO, the military arm of the Vatican.

To the north was Turkey, the roof over the Middle East. Though an ally of the United States, a member of NATO, Turkey was returning to her Islamic roots. Constantly thwarted in her bid to become a member of the European Union, a new and more militant Turkey may arise and realign herself with the Red Internationale.

Yet even to the north were the break-off Moslem states of the former Soviet Union with access to nuclear warheads left on their premises after the fall of the Soviet Union. They were being wooed by the United States and the western globalist powers for military bases and presence in the Middle East and between the Red forces of Russia and Communist China. The psychological and covert wars for the control of this planet rages will continue to rage over the face of this earth. No, the Land to the North of Israel will not be at rest today.

Israel becomes a Theocracy – The High Priest is crowned as Priest-King

Zechariah 6:9 – The word of the Lord came to me:

The Torah or instructions from the God of Israel again came directly to Zechariah. This next revelation has striking symbolism to the coming Maschiach of Yisra’el. The work of restoration of the rise of the Nation of Israel under the theocratic leadership of the Lord of hosts was to continue on into a grand climax with the return of the messiah and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Zechariah 6:10 – “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon.

Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.

Rather than seeing a vision in the capacity of an observer, Zechariah was now thrust into the role of a participant. Was this to be an inaugural ceremony for Joshua (Yehoshua), the High Priest and friend and companion of Ezra, Nehemiah and Mordecai?

Newly returned exiles from Babylon were bringing gold and silver, consigned to the sacredness of their custody by the king of Persia, as gifts for the Temple. (Ezra 6:5, Haggai 2:8) These were either three individuals or three groups of peoples, as their names, according to the LXX (Septuagint) meant the following:

Heldai – ‘the chief men’

Tobijah – ‘the useful men’

Jedaiah – ‘those that have understood it’.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Painting Study by David Miles

The three guardians of the treasures, or groups of guardians, were to go directly, the same day, as if in a sense of urgency to the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah. Some scholars have suggested that Josiah, the son of Zephaniah was the son of Zephaniah, the deputy chief priest of the Temple of Solomon. He was of the ‘second’ order of the priests, under the High Priest Seraiah, during the last year of the Temple services before the overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. If so the fate of his father is recorded in the sacred texts:

2 Kings 25:18 – “And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers….So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath.

Was this more likely the same personage as the prophet Zephaniah, who also was of high social status, and of royal blood, a fourth generation descendant of the House of Hezekiah, king of Judah in 715-686 B.C? (Zephaniah 1:1) The Book of Zephaniah gives hints of familiarity with current political issues and insight into the life of the court and even states that Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 B.C.) and no doubt a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum and perhaps even Habakkuk. If so, Zephaniah, the deputy high priest was probably also the Prophet. If this was true, the fate of this prophet of God was that he was flogged and put to death in Riblah in Hamath in Syria by Nebuzaradon, captain of the guard to King Nebuchadnezzar.

If this genealogy is correct, then Josiah, was probably named for his birth patron, Good King Josiah. If so, Josiah and Hen (vs. 14) could both have been alive at the fall of Jerusalem and part of the young deportees to the land of Babylon. Seventy years later, we see these two take an active role in the restoration of the Land of Israel by the Judaites. Elderly? Yes. But they were still involved in the work of the HaShem, their God.

Zechariah 6:11 – Take the silver and gold and make a Crown,

And set it on the Head of the High Priest,

Joshua son of Jehozadak (Yehoshua ben Yehozadik).

There in the house of Josiah ben Zephaniah, an elaborate Crown (NKJV) was to be made for the High Priest Yehoshua (Joshua). The word for crown is not the same word as the turban of the High Priest, but rather an elaborate and ornate crown with many diadems similar to that which will be worn by the returning Maschiach of Yisra’el.

Revelation 19:12 – “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flames of fire, and on His head were many crowns.”

We were first introduced to Joshua (Yahshua or Yahshua (Jesus) ben Jehozadak in Zechariah 3 as the high priest dressed in rags that represented God’s people before the accuser, the prosecuting attorney, HaSatan. That fact that there is no historical record of crowning a priest-king at the inauguration of the Temple of Zerubabbel suggests that something unusual was in the making. Some scholars who believe in “Replacement Theology” would suggest that this was a conditional prophecy and because the Jews have lost their covenant with God, it will remain unfulfilled. That does not make any sense in that Zechariah was ordered to do it now. Maybe God was truly setting up a pageant play, a drama to be enacted, which would symbolically take this drama and put it in a prophetic mode, for some future age.

Was this the crowning of a sitting high priest, the re-establishing of the order of Melchezadik? The royal crowning of a high priest was certainly foreshadowing the crowning and reign of the Messianic Priest-King to be attributed to Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah):

Hebrews 7:1-3 – “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning, “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.”

So there was a historical precedent before the crowning of the high priests of the lineage of Aaron that started at Sinai. There was an even more exalted high priest who lived on this planet earth in the City of Truth, the City of Peace, the city called Jebu-Salem or the city of Jerusalem today. According to the Sefer (Book) of Hebrews, the Aaronic lineage of high priests will be replaced by the more ancient antecedent priest-king of the Order of Melchizedek who lived as the “Ancient of Days” in the days of Abraham, the son of the Sumerian oracular high priest, Terah.

The Four Modern Horses of the Apocalypse

Was it not the Song of David who foretold of the coming Maschiach ben David with these words of praise:

Psalms 110:1-2, 4-5 – “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!...The Lord has sworn and will not relent, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations...”

It is interesting that David was talking about His God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who was speaking to the future Messiah of the Jews who would be coming from his loins or from his genetic descendants, the House of David. With the coming reign of the Maschiach of Yisra’el, the Maschiach ben David (Messiah son of David) the Jewish people and all the nations surrounding them would be living on a higher spiritual plane than at the time of David, at the time of Yahshua ben Yosef (Jesus (Joshua) son of Joseph or the Jewish people at this present time.

Over the last 160 years (40 x 4) since the 1840’s, the Great Awakening Call went out throughout the world. This call had three messages;

1. “Behold He is coming with clouds and every eye shall see Him”,

2. “The Time of God’s Judgment has Come” and that;

3. It was time to “Come out of her My people.”

This message went out to both the Christians and Jewish people around the world, both in their own religious and social cultures. To the Christians who were once followers of the authentic Torah observing Jewish rabbi, Jesus the Nazarene (Yahshua haNotzri), were now in their religious culture divorced Jesus from His Jewishness and the Abba, or Father in which He served. To the Jewish people who were so assimilated into European and Russian culture that they were now vulnerable to the false messianic revival of Sabbatai Zevi and the Frankists. This truly anti-Torah messianic movement claimed to bring the messianic era. They were to denounce a Torah observant life and become Catholic Christians or to pick and choose Torah to fit whatever lifestyle they wished and become members of Reform Judaism. To both, converting to Catholicism or non-Torah Judaism, they almost lost their genetic, spiritual and cultural identity. The God of Israel spoke to both Christians and Jews: the Maschiach of Yisra’el (Messiah of Israel) was coming, it was time to come out of your social-religious culture and return to your spiritual roots for the judgments of the Lord of hosts will come in preparation for the coming of the Messiah who will rule with a “rod in His mouth.”

The Torah was given to Israelites in an era of great tribulation. Had they not just come out of great bondage in the land of Egypt and watched ten cataclysmic plagues fall upon their foster home in Egypt? Did not a Torah observant Jewish prophet who wrote the Sefer (Book) of Revelation proclaim the Essenic apocalypse of a future battle between the forces of Light and Darkness, that at the time of the end there would be another great tribulation again associated with great plagues and catastrophes.

Did not, forty days after the Great Exodus, they fleeing Israelites were standing before a smoldering volcano listening to the voice of Hashem, their God? Here the Israelites were given the 613 commands of the Torah plus the 10 Great Commands on Tables of Stone and as a covenant with their God, they were to be the guardians of the literal written testimony (Written Torah) and the oral instructed testimony (Oral Torah) that was to preserve the evidence of the Divine, God of Creation.

Had the Israelites at Sinai reached the highest spiritual existence that their father Adam lived before sin in the Garden of Eden? No! They were to learn in the face of adversity what type of people they were: created in the “image of God”. Yet, according to their prophets, there would come a day in which there would be no HaSatan, the accuser or adversary, no dark forces of evil to deceive and to destroy. In that day, when the Messiah of Israel come to redeem His won, this anointed one would be given authority as the Keter (King) of this world of existence, the World of Action.

Revelation 19:11 – “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of this mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Everything about this description is in harmony with the Torah and the testimony of the ancient prophets of Israel and Judah. Will this messianic reign bring an abrogation or annulment of Torah? No! To the contrary it will bring a fulfillment of all that the Torah testified as given on Sinai or enhanced by the Prophets and the Writings of the TaNaKh. More than that, it will bring a new spiritual elevation as the God of creations draws all mankind closer to Himself. At the feet of the God at Sinai who gave Israel the written Torah, we will be taught by the “Torah now revealed again in the flesh”, who will now being the teacher and trainer, the “Great Rabbi” of the nations of the world how to live the ways of Torah. This era of Torah living will be in a restored and renewed earth that is truly at peace and in harmony with all mankind and in harmony with nature.

What is the difference with this messianic era? There will still be the “chosen” and also the “righteous gentiles”. One of the tenants of the Jewish mysticism is that the God of creation follows archetypes or patterns that relate to His Divine Being and the reality of that other-dimensional sphere called heaven. That Adam (mankind) was made in the “image of God” suggests that there is a structural pattern of that Spiritual Force we call God. One of the archetypes of the ancients was the phrase, “As above, so it is below.”

Maranatha! – The Return of Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus Christ) – Painting by Stephen Gjertson

Collection of Galen and Connie Carlson – Oil on Paper Mounted to Board, 40 x 67- 1987

This fact of a heavenly dominion that is mirrored by an earthly state is born out as the author of Revelation was taken into an elevated state of the spirit. While ‘in the spirit’ he witnessed a vast flowing heavenly panorama: first the 144,000 that were “redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb” as they were singing a new song before the throne of God. He then witnessed the three angels “flying in the midst of heaven” bringing the warnings of God’s judgment that were to be cast upon this earth (Revelation 14:6-12). As the panorama continued, he then saw the crowned Son of Man with a sickle reaping the harvest of the grain (saints of God) (Revelation 14:14-16) and the grape harvest with the judgment of the wicked thrown into the winepress (Revelation 14:17-20).

As the panorama progressed, the “doors” of heaven opened and a glorious revelation was revealed.

Revelation 15:5 – “After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands…The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

If we accept that the Sefer (Book) of Hebrews was written by an authentic orthodox Jew, we also see that there would be a new elevated temple service and a new priesthood. The spiritual elevation of the redeemed cohens (priests) of Israel would be reflective as the earth will become reconnected to the heavenly spheres and the earthly temple will truly be a reflection of the worship in the heavenly temple by the spirit beings of the angelic hosts. As this panorama progressed, the vision of Zechariah and the Revelator become merged. The prophecies of Hebrew prophets in the TaNaKh and the Hebrew Nazarene prophet in the Brit Hadassah (New Testament) present a unified and harmonious picture of the unified thrust of the entire spirit and divine worlds intersecting and relinking this lost world back under the guidance of the Messiah of Israel.

That day will come when there will be no Satan, accuser, no evil dark forces will be here to deceive and destroy. The Anointed One will be given the authority as the Keter (King) of this world of Creation. This planet earth will be restored. The priesthood will continue not as envisioned by the Jewish false messiah, Sabbatai Zevi. The Torah will not be annulled but be exalted. The Holy Temple in this planet will no longer be a shadow picture but a literal manifestation of the Heavenly Temple by the Throne of God.

Behold the Man, ‘The Branch’

Zechariah 6:12 – Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man (“Behold the Man”, NKJV) whose name is the Branch,

and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord.

This begins an oracle from God, to be given directly to Joshua, the High Priest. The Lord of hosts tells him, “Don’t take this too seriously and think that you are the anointed one. You, Joshua, are to represent the real Anointed, the one called the ‘Branch.’” This was a clear messianic message and recognized as such by the Jews. The Jewish apostles recognized it as such, as the Book of John (John 1:45) used the entry based on Zechariah 12, ‘Behold the Man’, when they stated,

John 1:46 – “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’

They were not Christians who made this statement but orthodox, Torah-abiding Jews, who lived up to all the commands of the law in which God gave Moses on the mount called Sinai. Yet we ask who was this “Branch”?

This word comes from the Hebrew word, samach, translated, to grow up, to spring forth and to sprout. A similar derivation is semach, meaning the Branch.

Isaiah 4:2 – “In that day, the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy – everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.”

What a passage for the time of the end.

Isaiah 11:1 – “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”

Jeremiah 23:5 – “Behold the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘That I will raise to David a Branch of Righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.”

Jeremiah 33:15 – “In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth; In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”

Zechariah 3:8 – “For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.”

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

“The Branch” has a special reference to Aaron’s almond rod that budded and was placed within the Ark of the Covenant as a witness to his anointment by the Lord of hosts. This “rod” was a branch that was cut off the almond tree and was recognized to be a “dead branch”. Yet, like the one day of oil that kept the Hanukkah lamps of the Menorah lit for seven days, so the divine intervention of sprouting a dead branch that was the Rod of Aaron that budded and grew fruit testified to the future Anointed One Who would be cut off from His Father in heaven but was raised back to life. Upon the shoulders of this “Branch” will be the future Priest-King of the Order of Melchizedek. Here from the “stem of Jesse”, the Branch will sprout roots and become a Branch of Righteousness that will be a testimony to the gentiles and a glory to the House of Israel. Yes, this Branch, Jesus, the son of God, the anointed will spring forth or sprout from the roots of David and the royal lineage of Judah. It will be Yahshua who will build the Temple of the Lord.

The Branch will build the Temple of the Lord and rule as a Priest-King

Zechariah 6:13 – It is He who will build the temple of the Lord,

and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne.

And he will be a priest on his throne.

And there will be harmony between the two.

Read this verse carefully. He, the one who is called the ‘Branch’, will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be ‘clothed with majesty’ or the robes and trapping of royalty and will sit on his throne. Yes, ‘He will be a priest on his throne.’ For what reason was this not literally fulfilled? Did Zechariah, Nehemiah, Zerubabbel and the rest of the mighty men of God ignore the very commands of God? Did it actually happen, but knowing full well that the time of ultimate fulfillment was not in the age of the inauguration of the second temple, but in a future era and a new temple, ‘built by the hands of the Lord.’?

Will this temple be literal or spiritual? Who says they have to be one or the other. Have any scholars on the time of the end ever suggested that maybe there will be two groups of people, the “Saints” who have been given their glorified bodies at the Second Coming of Christ and who in their Edenic condition will assist Jesus, who has now been given the keys to the Kingdom of God and will reign in the millennial kingdom for a thousand years. (Revelation 19:15-16, 20:4) At the same time we then will also have the restoration of the House of Judah and Israel, the “chosen ones of Israel”. And they will also be participants in the millennial kingdom, but still in a literal and physical three-dimensional world.

The Crown and the Guardians of the Crown

Zechariah 6:14 – The crown will be given to Deidai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah

as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

The newly made crown from the gold brought from Babylon was to be given into the custody of four guardians and put as a memorial in the Second Temple of Zerubabbel. These guardians were Deidai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen. This crown would reside in the Temple as a perpetual reminder of the messianic hope in the future.

Wait a minute, two of these men (groups) were named above as guardians of the golden and silver transported from Babylon, Tobijah and Jedaiah. It is felt that Heldai (vs.10) and Deidai are the same person. According to the LXX (Septuagint), MT, Targum, and the Vulgate, translations, Deidai is a Syriac word for Heldai and in this case called the “patient ones”.

Here was the son of Zephaniah (‘Jehovah has hidden’ or ‘Jehovah has treasured’), the prophet, who was the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the time of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah. (Zephaniah 1:1) As such, Hen was of royal lineage and a great-great-great-grandson in the House of Hezekiah (Hebrew Hizkiyah), king of Judah. Was Hen the brother of Josiah? Or was Hen actually Josiah, for Hen in Hebrew means “gracious ones” and could actually be a description of the personality of Josiah ben Zephaniah, and his gracious hospitality to the guardian of the gifts to the Temple of the Lord.

The Peoples of the World will build the Temple

Zechariah 6:16 – Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord,

and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Did people come from far away to help the building of the Temple of Zerubabbel? There is no record of such. In fact, the historical record is that the surrounding peoples and especially the Samaritans did everything they could to disrupt and hinder the building of the walls and the temple. Do we have any other clues?

Let us go to some definite time of the time of the end messianic passages.

Isaiah 66:18-20 – “And I, because of their actions and their imagination, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them and I will send some of those who survive to the nations (post- Armageddon) ….that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim My glory among the nations. And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord.”

Zechariah 14: 12-16 parts – “This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem (Armageddon): their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet….On that day men will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected – great quantities of gold and silver (remember the three guardians of the gold and silver) and clothing. ….Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year and year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.”

The Throne of God aligning with Ezekiel’s Temple in Jerusalem

The God of Israel will now have this earth as His footstool. No one, not even the dark powers of the accuser, HaSatan, will come between the Maschiach ben David (Messiah son of David) who will reign as King of kings and Lord of lord and His people, his priests in Zion, the city of David. This planet earth will still be here, renewed and restored, yet still a literal and physical place of habitation like created in the Garden of Eden. The nations of this planet earth will come to worship at the festival of Succot, celebrating the day when the Monotheistic God of Israel sent His son, the anointed, the Messiah and now the King of kings and Lord of lords to “dwell” among and reign in His eternal city, Yerushalayim, the City of Truth.

Go to Chapter Seven –

Replace your Feast of Fasting with Obedience, Justice, and Mercy

Topics

The Word of the Lord came to Zechariah

History of the Last Kings of Judah

The Feasts of the Jews and the final destruction of Jerusalem

The Seventy Year Prophecy of Jeremiah

The Dates in Zechariah as a Model for the coming Tribulation Period

Fast of the 5^th Month, Tisha B’Av

Historical Dates of Tisha B’Av – the 9^th of Av

Fast of the Seventh Month – The Murder of Gedaliah

‘Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another.’

House of Judah exiled because of their stubborn

Index for the Commentary on the Prophecies of Zechariah

The Redemption and Restoration of Jerusalem and Israel

Zechariah 1 - God remembers and God blesses at the Appointed Time

Zechariah 2 – God sets His sights to Rebuild Jerusalem

Zechariah 3 – The Priesthood is Re-consecrated for the Temple

Zechariah 4 – God sends Israel His Anointed Ones and His faithful Eyes

Zechariah 5 – The Flying of the Megillah and the Cleansing of the Land

Zechariah 6 – The Four Chariots, Temple is Built and Israel is a Theocracy

Zechariah 7 – Replace Feasts of Fasting with Obedience, Justice and Mercy

Zechariah 8 – Let us Feast with Joy – God returns to Dwell with His People

The Oracles and Judgments of the God of Israel

Zechariah 9 - Part One – The Burden of the Lord on the Fertile Crescent

Zechariah 9 - Part Two – The God of Israel wants Damascus to be One of His Zions

Zechariah 9 - Part Three – The Prelude to the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War – Global News

Zechariah 9 - Part Four – The Israeli-Hezbollah War in the Summer 2006

17 Tammuz to the 9^th Av 5766 – Global News

Zechariah 9 - Part Five – The Oracles of HaShem against the Palestinians

Zechariah 10 – Latter Rain - Restoration of the Houses of Judah & Joseph

Zechariah 11 – Part One – The Good Shepherd and the Oracles against Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinians

Zechariah 11 – Part Two – The Good Shepherd and the Unification of the Houses of Judah and Israel

Zechariah 12:1 – The Creator and the Throne of the God of Israel

Zechariah 12:1 – The Creator, the Worlds of Creation, the Spirit of God, and the Souls of Man

Zechariah 12:1-2 – Jerusalem, a Cup of Trembling

Zechariah 12:3-14 – Jerusalem, a Burdensome Stone

Zechariah 13 – The Gihon Fountain flows from the Temple of the Lord

Zechariah 14 - I will gather all Nations to battle at Jerusalem

The Lord’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives

Message from BibleSearchers

BibleSearchers scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest. Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel. In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament.

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Translation by the New King James Version

The Four Horses of the Apocalypse – Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site

Zechariah 14 - I will gather all Nations to battle at Jerusalem

The Lord’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives

The Four Horses of the Apocalypse – Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site