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As we conclude the OT scriptures which helped us define the identity of Israel in the eyes of God as first and foremost, a people of faith, and secondarily a people of specific land or lineage, we see the multiple ways Christ is described as the fulfillment of prophecy. The NT message is about drawing people back to God’s original intent. It is about emphasizing God’s joy in a faithful heart, and deemphasizing the over-reliance in genetic lineage, plots of land, and strictness toward man-made traditions. God desires the heart first and foremost (Ex 19:5-6, Deut 10:16, Acts 10:34-36, Rom 2:25-29, 9:6-8, 1 Pet 2:9)
We continue in Zechariah (520-518BC), where we see the prophet describe several unmistakable parallels to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. First, we read of Messiah coming on a donkey (see Matt 21:4-5) bringing peace and uniting Ephraim (the north) and Judah (the south) as though they were a bow and arrow shot throughout the earth. We see that Ephraim’s chariot will no longer carry them away, and Jerusalem’s constant wars will cease.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River[c] to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13 For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
Zechariah 9:9-13 ESV
In the next chapter, we read that the lost sheep must be reconciled to Him as he unifies the House of Judah and the House of Israel as the cornerstone to bring about the 2nd exodus:
Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field. 2 For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. 3 “My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders;[a] for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle. 4 From him shall come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler—all of them together. 5 They shall be like mighty men in battle, trampling the foe in the mud of the streets; they shall fight because the Lord is with them, and they shall put to shame the riders on horses. 6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them. 7 Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and be glad; their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord. 8 “I will whistle for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as they were before. 9 Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. 10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria, and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them. 11 He shall pass through the sea of troubles and strike down the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up. The pride of Assyria shall be laid low, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart. 12 I will make them strong in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name,” declares the Lord.
Zechariah 10:6-9 ESV
In Zechariah 11, the prophet is the voice of God, the shepherd to the southern House of Judah. He protects the flock, which is doomed to destruction by evil shepherds. He takes two staffs to guide the sheep, one He names Favor (the north), and the other He names Union (the south). The bond between Him and the sheep grows strenuous, and God breaks off the covenant He had with part of the flock (Favor – the north). He then looks to the destructive sheep traders and asks them what they’ll pay Him for His efforts protecting the sheep, and He will leave the remaining sheep (Union – the south) alone. The sheep traders pay God 30 pieces of silver to leave the South. God takes the 30 pieces of silver from the sheep traders and then throws them 30 to the potter at the Temple (or Temple treasury). Take note that Christ is sold to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver by Judas Iscariot.
7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
Zechariah 11:7-14 ESV
In the life of Christ, we know He was rejected by the House of Judah, which was kept in union by God in order to bring in the Messiah. In His rejection, He is sold to Roman and Jewish authorities for 30 pieces of silver by Judas Iscariot. In doing so, Judas feels guilty and gives the money to the Temple treasury, then hangs himself in a field. Jerusalem’s high priests believe the money is blood money and should not remain in the Temple, so they purchase the field where Judas hung himself and named it Potter’s field, because it was a commoners burial ground.
3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
Matthew 27:3-7 ESV
As further prophecy of the potter’s field, Jerusalem is warned by the prophet Jeremiah that they will be utterly destroyed, just as a Potter’s flask is destroyed. The south will be made a vessel of wrath prepared for destruction in order to show mercy to vessels of Mercy (Rom 9:22-23). The Potter’s field bought with Judas’ blood money will be fulfilled as the valley of slaughter. Indeed, in 70AD, Jerusalem became a place of horror while under siege, and those who heard of it had their ears tingle. In their rejection of Christ, they were no longer under God’s protection, and their plans for their prosperity were nullified. In the Roman siege, they would eat the flesh of their children and their neighbors (see writings of Josephus).
Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’ 10 “Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury.
Jeremiah 19:1-11 ESV
Interestingly, we see the prophecy also fulfilled by the south as potters vessels of wrath prepared for destruction as discussed in a previous section.
Returning again to Zechariah, we see that Christ is foretold as God’s son who was pierced by the House of Judah, and that the action pierced God as well.
9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Zechariah 12:9-11 ESV
The OT closes with Malachi (460-430BC), who warns the gathered southern tribe of their sinful rebellion, which they have fallen into again after rebuilding Jerusalem.
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!”
Malachi 2:10-12 ESV
Yet God will send a messenger who prepares the way before Him, after which Christ will come into His people, His temple, bringing the covenant back in the way it was intended, to those who hear His voice, and judging those who reject Him. For it is not God who changes, but we who transgressed His covenant, and He is calling us, through Christ to return.
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.[a] 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
Malachi 3:1-6 ESV
The messenger who prepares the way of the Lord is as Elijah the prophet. When the Lord comes, all of Israel will remember His commandments, or be turned to stubble in His eyes.
2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules[b] that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
Malachi 4:2-6 ESV
And we know John the Baptist fulfilled the role of Elijah prior to Christ’s ministry:
10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
Matthew 17:10-13 ESV
Christ would be rejected and made a stumbling stone, and on that day when the House of Judah mourns Him whom they have pierced, they will be forgiven their sins.
On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. 2 “And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.
Zechariah 13:1-2 ESV
The southern house is necessary to bring in Christ, who will establish a new marriage covenant through His death and resurrection. By doing so, they will be fulfilling their purpose in having long ago received mercy from their enemies (Hos 1:7). Christ brings in the new covenant that will be written on people’s hearts and minds, and by this, the north will receive their mercy, and the south will then fall into judgement in their rejection of Christ (the union broken). They will be rendered ‘not my people’ in doing so, as they buy Christ’s life for 30 pieces of silver. Through Christ, people will desire to live in His commandments because they desire to, not because they felt pressured from fear or penalty, or because they were using it as a means to wield power and authority over others. Those who believed themselves justified by the law, are not of God, and are outside His original intent. For again, God cherishes a spiritual people, and the lineage cannot be depended upon. True Israel is known only to God, and the new covenant is written on hearts, not tablets, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel [north] after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer 31:33 ESV).
In the end of days, all nations shall assemble against Jerusalem, and Christ will complete His judgement upon the nations after His ministry began on the Mount of Olives where the two houses began their reconciliation. In those days, the valley of refuge, built as a great highway for the 2nd exodus of His people through the chief cornerstone, will raise His unified people above the plain with the 2nd coming. And there shall be no more day or night, for God will dwell in the people’s midst, and they shall drink of the living waters which extend from the tree of life (Rev 20-22). All surviving vessels will be made clean and offer sacrifice through Him, their High Priest, and they will celebrate the millennial reign as the feast of booths fulfilled.
Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one. 10 The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. 12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 And on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps. 16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.
Zechariah 14:1-21 ESV
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