Zechariah

Zechariah 6: Prophesy of the "Branch" - Jesus Christ Collin Leong. January 29, 2026 (v1-8) Vision of Four Chariots (v1-5) I lifted my eyes and saw four chariots came out from between two mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth had dappled horses - all of them strong. I asked the angel who talked to me what are these, my lord? The angels answered: "These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth." Exp:  The “bronze mountains” in v1 symbolize God’s unshakable strength, stability, and judgment. Bronze in biblical imagery often represents durability and righteousness, so the mountains frame the vision as issuing from the unchanging purposes of God rather than earthly geography. In biblical literature, bronze is linked with judgment (e.g., the bronze altar in the temple). The mountains may symbolize the righteous foundation from ...

Zechariah 5:  God Purifies His People By Removing Sin Collin Leong. January 26, 2025 (v1-4) Vision of a Flying Scroll (v1-3) Again I lifted my eyes and saw a flying scroll! And he said to me, "What do you see?" I said I see a flying scroll - it's length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits. Then he said to me: "This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side." Exp: The "curse" or judgement on the scroll is written on both sides of the scroll. One side is for theft, and the other side is for false swearing. These two represents violations of the commandments (stealing, bearing false witness, misusing God’s name). To Hebrew word for "clean out" is often translated “purged,” “banished,” or “cut off”. It conveys the idea of being uprooted or eliminated. It...

Zechariah 4: Not by Might, Nor by Power, but by God's Spirit Collin Leong. January 14, 2025 (v1-14) Vision of a Golden Lampstand (v1-5) The angel who talked with me came again and woke me like a man who is awaken out of his sleep. He asked what do I see. I saw a gold lampstand, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on top of each lamps. And there are two olives trees by it, one on the right and another one on the left of bowl. I asked the angel "what are these, my lord?" The angel answered and said "Do you know not what these are?" I said "No, my lord."  Exp: This is the image of what Zechariah saw:  Each lamp has 7 "lips" or "spout" for each of the lamp. The total spouts is 49. The oil of the olive tree is feeding the lamps from the bowl and the 49 spouts.  (v6-7) Then he said "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. Who ar...

Zechariah 3: God Will Bring The Branch Collin Leong. January 11, 2025 (v1-10) A Vision of Joshua the High Priest (v1-2) The he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"  Exp: Joshua is said to be standing in front of the angel of the LORD. In v2 , the LORD said to Satan that the LORD rebukes him. Are there two LORDS here? No, the one who is speaking is the angel of the LORD, and may scholars believe this is the pre-incarnate Christ, the son of God. God has given all authority to Christ, and so when he speaks, he speaks as if he is the LORD.  The "brand"  means a piece of wood or stick, and it was already burning, but snatched out just in time to be saved from total destruction. God declares that Joshua (and Israel) is like a stick re...

Zechariah 2: Call To Flee The (Spiritual) Exile Collin Leong. January 8, 2025 (v1-5) Jerusalem Do Not Need A Wall  (Ezekiel 40:1-4) (v1-5) I lifted my eyes and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. I asked him where is he going? He said, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and its length."  The angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came to meet him, and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst." Exp: The angel with the measuring line was attempting to measure the size of Jerusalem; however, before he begins, another angel told the angel who had been speaking to Zechariah to tell him that Jerusalem shall have no walls. It appears that the angel that gave the order (v4) has higher authority. This could be the ...

Zechariah 1: Call to Return to the LORD Collin Leong. January 7, 2025 (v1-6) A Call to Return to the LORD (v1-6) In month eight of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo. He said He is very angry with your fathers, and told Zechariah to say to them: "Return to me, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake you fathers? So they repented and said, 'As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deed, so has he dealt with us.' Exp: The Jews that Zechariah spoke to, just came out of the Babylonian exile, around 16 years ago. They were suppose to...

  Introduction to Zechariah: God Desires Us To Return To Him Collin Leong. September 9, 2025 A. Historical Summary 1. Author and Background Zechariah , whose name means  “Yahweh remembers,”  was both a  prophet and a priest. He was the  son of Berechiah  and  grandson of Iddo , a priest who returned from Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel (cf. Nehemiah 12:4,16). Zechariah likely began his ministry as a  young man  (see Zechariah 2:4), around  520 BC , just 2 months after God first spoke to Haggai.    He was born in  Babylon  and returned to Jerusalem during the first wave of exiles under  Cyrus the Great . 2. Audience Zechariah spoke to the  post-exilic Jewish community  in  Judah , who had returned from Babylon but were  discouraged and spiritually apathetic . The temple reconstruction had stalled due to opposition and internal indifference. The city was still in ruins, and many felt abandoned ...