Spirituality Information - Journey In The Fields Of Forever ( Part 43 )
The prophet Haggai gave a prophecy about "a time to be neither night nor day" with no darkness and no light. So God told the Prophet Haggai that he is going to build the house of God, which will stand forever (Haggai 2:2). But later in the book of Zechariah, Zechariah said "He will bring out the innermost parts of Jacob" in 3:2. But these two prophets can't be talking about each other because they are separated by over 1,000 years! So which one is right? It turns out that both are right because there is more than one interpretation for this prophecy.
Zechariah 3:2-5 "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to oppose him. The Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?' Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Remove the filthy clothes from him.' Then he said to Joshua, 'See I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.
So which one is the real interpretation? It is not the one about Joshua standing before an angel, because that was not Haggai. Haggai was clear about this (Haggai 1:13). But what if we look at it from another angle? One way to understand this is to realize that people in Bible times were like little children. God's people were just a baby, but they will mature as they grow up (Hebrews 5:12-14). Zechariah wrote "He will bring out the innermost parts of Jacob" and Haggai wrote "the house of God, which will stand forever". Both are talking about the same thing. Haggai is talking about a physical building, and Zechariah is talking about the spiritual maturity of God's people. The other prophecy in Zechariah is talking about how God's people were "sucked out" of the Promised Land by an evil king. When Joshua was put into filthy clothes, it symbolized the time when God's people were taken out of their land. Let us look at another prophecy that may help us understand more:
Zephaniah 3:8-9 Therefore wait for Me," declares the Lord, "For the day I will stand up to testify. Behold, I will cause the host of heaven to encamp
Let us look at it from a different angle: "Therefore wait for Me," declares the Lord, "For the day I will stand up to testify. Behold, I will cause the host of heaven to encamp " This is talking about the Day of Yahweh (1 Thessalonians 4:16). It is for this reason that Jeremiah was making sure that his people were ready for this day by building temples and staying in them (Jeremiah 33). This was exactly what happened and was one reason why God took back control over His people. He wanted them to be strong enough to withstand these trials so they could finally be delivered. Let us look at another way this passage can be understood:
"Therefore wait for Me," declares the Lord, "For the day I will stand up to testify. Behold, I will cause the host of heaven to encamp " (Zephaniah 3:8). This is going to be a time of lots of nations and people coming together against Israel. But there is something else that will happen as well: "Then they gathered themselves together unto the valley of Jehoshaphat." (Zephaniah 3:2). This was an important battle because the Jewish army was defeated there and many were killed (Zechariah 12:9-11). When God's people are gathered together, this will be the day of His judgment (Revelation 11:18), and the Last Judgment (Revelation 20:11-12). When we look at the time frame of Zephaniah, it should make sense that it was written shortly before these events. But what happened?
In 1 Kings 22:1-9 Solomon made a deal with Hiram King of Tyre to build him a temple. When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam did not pay attention to God's people (1 Kings 12:15-23). This was when "returning" or calling out for help happened for Judah (Jeremiah 44:7,19-20). Judah was not ready and was defeated. When they were no longer able to fight, they asked God for a solution. This is when the prophet Haggai came to the people and told them that their condition made God angry (Haggai 1:8). Later when Nehemiah heard this message, he understood what needed to be done. He had been made governor of Judah, but he did not think of himself as rich or important (Nehemiah 2:1-11). So Nehemiah started a program where everyone's lives would be turned around. Everyone had to give all that they had in order to rebuild the city (Nehemiah 5:1-12). Nehemiah understood the message of Haggai and was able to turn things around.
It was because of Nehemiah's efforts that Judah was strong enough to withstand the attacks from Babylon. This made it possible for God to remove His people from their land (Zechariah 3:9-10). This is why Zechariah returned after many years, and he realized that God had kept His word about restoring Israel (Zechariah 8:7-8). Let us look at another prophecy that may shed some more light on this subject:
Malachi 3:1 "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; The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming," says the Lord of hosts.
Jeremiah 33:3-4 "Again I will build you," declares the Lord; "And you shall be rebuilt for I will spare you," declares the Lord, "And not destroy you. Then your tongue shall swear and be strong to punish those who despise you" Says the Lord of hosts.
When God said He would bring in a messenger from heaven to prepare the way for Him (Zechariah 6:9), He was referring to a time when this prophecy would be fulfilled (Revelation 11:18). When the temple was rebuilt, Jesus was the forerunner of the Lord (Malachi 3:1). At this time God's people were prepared and waited for the coming of Messiah. The Jewish people did not understand that Jesus was their Messiah because He did not fit what they expected (John 1:11-27). However, when Jesus died and rose again, God's people finally understood that Jesus was the Son of God (1 Corinthians 15:3-4,14-16). This is when everyone realized that God was forcing them to show their true heart (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:8-10; 9:9-11) and allowing them to repent (Matthew 3:7).
Conclusion
This prophecy is talking about the time when Israel was once again established as God's chosen people and when the temple would be rebuilt. Many religious Jews thought that there would never be a time when Israel would be restored to God's favor, but this chart will show you that this prophecy has been fulfilled (1 Chron. 16:35-36). The first part of Zechariah 12 talks about a future revival in Israel, but this is not the same one we are talking about here. There are two parts to the revival: "Then they gathered themselves together unto the valley of Jehoshaphat." (Zephaniah 3:2).