Zechariah 10 • Divine Transformation

Introduction

The biblical working of redemption and restoration on God’s part are always found in the company of His expectation of transformation on the part of those being redeemed or restored. This is always a “one-way” process by which we drop the world’s ways and exclusively adopt His Word and ways going forward. James expresses this as becoming “doers of the word”.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

— James 1:22-25

This was a principle evidenced in the Old Testament teachings of what God expected from His people as an integral process of redemption and/or restoration. In reality, the standard did not change from one Testament to the next, but always pointed to Christ the Word as the standard by which all transformation is measured.

Read verses 1-3

Q: To what did people of Zechariah’s day associate rain?

A: With God’s blessing. As an agrarian society, rain affected agriculture so as to not just produce personal sustenance, but an abundance which could be sold to provide for their livelihood.

Q: So what is the contrast between v.1 and 2?

A: Seeking that blessing from God instead of from idols.

Q: What is the parallel spiritual meaning of this text?

A: The rain also represented spiritual blessings, so it also speaks of seeking God instead of idols when it comes to the spiritual as well.

Q: What are teraphim?

A: They first appear in Scripture in Genesis 31:19 as “household idols”. Rather than being idols with dedicated shrines and places of worship, they seem to be “portable” and kept within one’s household.

Q: What is the chief effect attributed to the Teraphim?

A: They “speak iniquity”, iniquity describing sin that is based on twisting God’s existing Word into something more personally desirable. In other words, it does not outright replace or refute God’s Word, but dilutes or redefines it according to human notions giving it the look and feel of the real thing.

Q: What are the tools of “the diviners”—the false prophets?

“…see lying visions…”
“…tell false dreams…”
“…comfort in vain”.

Q: What do diviners attempt to do through these things?

A: To foretell the future in an iniquitous manner so as to corrupt the truth by twisting it.

“Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

— Jeremiah 23:32

Q: What is the next effect of these activities?

A: “…there is no shepherd”. It leaves God’s people without true leadership who would otherwise lead according to His Word and ways.

Q: What is a New Testament example of God’s anger with “the male goats”—that is, the leaders, and His decision to visit the flock?

When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things

— Mark 6:34

Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

— Matthew 9:36

Q: What will be the result of God’s personal visitation?

A: His people previously characterized as wandering, disorganized sheep become “His majestic horse in battle”, a depiction of something very organized with direction and purpose.

Application: If God’s people will turn personally to him, forsaking whatever false replacements corrupted leadership offers, God will not just take care of them, but transform them in the course of dealing with those failed leaders.

Read verses 4-5

Q: What greater thing are the terms “cornerstone”, “tent peg” and “bow of battle” describing?

A: They are three aspects of the Messiah.

Q: What is the meaning of “the cornerstone”?

A: There are two prominent scriptural uses, one as the most important foundational stone in the temple foundation, the other as the capstone which completes the house of God. In either case, it is the representation of Christ upon whom everything else is built or with whom God’s house is held together and completed.

The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief corner stone.

— Psalm 118:22

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

— Ephesians 2:19-21

Q: What is the meaning of “the tent peg”?

A: This is attached to a tent’s ropes and hammered into the ground so as keep the tent erect. Whereas the cornerstone represents building upon Christ the Word, the peg mimics the spiritual stature resulting from being tied to Christ the Word.

Q: What is the meaning of “the bow of battle”?

A: In the ancient world this is a primary symbol of authority and power, distinctly identified “of battle” so as to distinguish between hunting for one’s daily needs versus engaging the enemy.

He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons;

He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

— Psalm 7:13

Point: These three metaphors for aspects of the Messiah’s working are also the greater responsibilities which accompany the leadership of God’s people to provide the foundation of God’s Word, to keep the people erect spiritually by their compliance with God’s Word, and thus be able to be victorious over all who come against them. Leadership without the Word in reality is worse than no leadership because it is actually false leadership.

Q: What might be significant about ultimately becoming “mighty men” in v.5?

A: This is a term which referred specifically to those following David who were not just physically mighty, but equally spiritually mighty as well. The heavenly attributes work in the visible, earthly situations as well.

Application: Both the working of the Word in the Old Testament as well as the New produce the same result: transformation into the likeness of the Messiah.

But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

— Ephesians 4:20-24

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

— 2 Corinthians 3:18