Profiles Of Jesus In The Book Of Zecharia: Part 5
“…Look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28).
What an exciting experience as we focus our attention on Christ, and follow the example of the prophet Zecharia. No matter what he was in the middle of; the young prophet was always aware of God’s presence, as evidenced by his looking up.
How aware are we, of our Creator, during the course of our daily lives?
Zecharia frequently stopped whatever he was doing, to lift up his eyes, and commune with God. To Zecharia, his calling was important; but his God was more important. He was not so caught up in his “daily grind,” that he missed out on victory in Christ; and he wasn’t so caught up the work of the Lord, that he missed out on the Lord of the work.
This has been and is a universal spiritual hazard among the people of God; it was the problem of the religious leaders of Christ’s time; but it is important to note that the hapless rabbis did not hold a monopoly on this spiritual problem. Even Christ’s disciples had this plague, and so does the church of today. Under one guise or another; Christians have a lot of trouble just “looking up;” and being aware of God’s presence in their daily grind.
“In the estimation of the rabbis, it was the sum of [their] religion to be always in a bustle of activity...The same danger still exists. As activity increases, and men become successful in doing any work for God, there is the danger of trusting to human plans and methods. There is a tendency to pray less, and to have less faith. Like the disciples, we are in danger of losing sight of our dependence on God, and seeking to make a saviour of our activity. We need to look constantly to Jesus; realizing that it is His power which does the work.” (DA 362).
Let us join Zecharia in the experience of seeing visions of our Lord, let us see some more of the portraits of Christ in this exciting book of the Bible.
If you study the first six chapters of Zecharia; you would soon see that it was a habit or a custom of the prophet, to look up and see a vision of God, and get some kind of revelation from Him. These chapters contain four examples of Zecharia doing this: 1:18, 2:1, 5:1, and 6:1.
In the first two examples; Zecharia states: “And I lifted mine eyes and saw;” and in the second two he said of his experience: “Again; I lifted mine eyes and saw...”
What spiritual significance does Zechariah’s lifting up of his eyes, again and again have for God’s church today?
First of all, it tells us that the prophet does not project himself to us as someone who faces his challenges alone, or who sweats over his problems, without reaching beyond himself to God.
In a very similar way, everyone in the church has their own share of problems and challenges that we must face. But, long before we become stressed out and overburdened with them; we need to discipline ourselves over and over again to take these things to Christ, and try to see them from His perspective. It is quite likely that our troubles won’t really disappear; but Christ wants to make an appearance, and face these challenges with us. Before we become over-taxed trying to handle our problems down here; on our own; we must train ourselves to be instinctively lifting our eyes, and looking up to God.
I know for myself; I am often aware of the natural realm of things; but it is too rare that I am even half as much aware of the supernatural around me. Elisha was a man who was acutely aware of the unseen events surrounding him and his young assistant, as we see by his prayer in
2 Kings 6:17: “O Lord, I pray Thee; open his eyes that he may see.”
I found it very interesting that in Zech 5:1 and 6:1 the word “again” is used to precede “looking up.” What is God saying to His church by this word again?
The word “again” as used in Zech. 5:1, and 6:1 stands for the fact that God’s people need to have a pattern and some consistency in their communion with God. The prophet Zecharia did not lift up his eyes once; but “again,” meaning repeatedly. One experience is not enough. We have to look to Jesus again and again. Why else would He need to be in the sanctuary now if that wasn’t the case? (Heb.7:25). In order to renew and restore our spiritual strength; we need to look again and again to Jesus. Throughout the Bible, we are told in many ways that it is essential to have a continual, or ongoing spiritual experience, through our relationship with God.
For some brief examples:
1) Pray without ceasing – 1 Thes.5:17
2) Die daily to self; and live for Christ – 1 Cor.15:31
3) Take up our cross daily and follow Christ – Luke 9:23
4) Delight ourselves with the Law of God – reflect on it day and night – Ps.1:2
5) Search God’s Word daily – Acts 17:11
I found it to be very interesting that the word “turned” is also used in Zech. 5:1 and 6:1, in connection with looking up to God. “Turned” is a verb meaning “to stop” or “change direction,” or to “interupt what is being done; and think about doing something different.” So when we look a little closer at these 4 passages in Zech., we can see a definite progression or sequence of actions:
1) He turned
2) Lifted up his eyes
3) Looked
4) Beheld a vision
While Zecharia went about his regular daily toil of leading the returned exiles in rebuilding the ruins of the Temple and Jerusalem; he never lost sight of God’s presence. Zecharia was always ready to interupt his activities, no matter how important they were, and lift up his eyes to God; and listen to Him.
This looking up was his secret to spiritual victory; and today’s christians must also depend on this “secret.” They must continually look up to the Source of their redemption.
I know that with myself, if things seem to be going fairly well at the time, I find it very easy to “look up.” But when things start to get really difficult, or tragic, my faith becomes a bit precarious, looking up loses it’s value, and I settle into discouragement. I tend to look horizontally, rather than perpendicularly…During the really tough times; I can be found looking at myself and/or others; and depending on complaing and critisizing to pull me through! Imagine! Instead of looking up to Christ…deliberately choosing to cast Him aside in favour of bitternes and fault-finding?
So we have an prophet of old, looking up to God; and seeing a vision of Him, and we are reminded of Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The NIV Bible actually uses the word “revelation,” instead of “vision.” “We are to look away from self to Jesus.” (MH 249).
Many people are willing to acknowledge Jesus as Lord when they look into His temple, and see Him there. (at church). “Many were ready to call Him Lord, when He wrought miracles; after He had risen from the grave; but none acknowledged Him as He hung, dying on the cross, to save the penitent thief, who was saved at the eleventh hour.” (DA 750).
Zecharia offers God’s church a pattern to follow when they are not at church, when the spouse is yelling, when the kids are cavorting, when the job is gone, when the health disappears, when tragedy strikes.
And the Bible says of all these thing: “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,” and where you will look.
Next, post, we will look at the subject of repentance as portrayed in the book of Zecharia.
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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).
Your brother in Christ
David T. Battler
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