Zechariah records a series of strange visions he experienced at night, perhaps in the form of dreams, through which he announces his call to bring the people back to the LORD. Only one specific date is given, so we cannot know whether all the visions came in a single night or unfolded one after another from that point onward. What is clear is that they are not arranged in a strictly logical sequence: the first vision may well be connected to the seventh, and others may interrelate in unexpected ways. We will explore those connections later; for now, we begin with the first vision, which concerns the horsemen and their mission.
Horsemen Among the Myrtle Trees
During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
Zechariah 1:8 (NIV)
Zechariah asks the angel standing next to him what these are, and the angel promises to show him. Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explains that they are the ones the LORD has sent throughout the earth. Zechariah is witnessing a meeting in which they report to the angel of the LORD.
And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.” Then the angel of the LORD said, “LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?”
Zechariah 1:11-12 (NIV)
There are several figures in this scene: the angel who talks with Zechariah, the man on the horse who is the angel of the LORD, and Yahweh. Having received the report, the angel of the LORD now reports to Yahweh and pleads for Jerusalem. The LORD answers with kind and comforting words. God declares that He will return to Jerusalem with mercy. He promises that His house will be rebuilt there and that the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. God will take revenge on the Babylonians and restore Jerusalem, which is all the people wanted to hear.
My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.
Zechariah 1:17 (NIV)
What prosperity is God talking about?
When the people heard that their towns would overflow with prosperity, they must have thought that good days were back, with harvests and oil flowing through the country. But prosperity from God’s perspective has always been His will flowing through our lives, not the land, money or whatever else people want. What God wants is very different from what we want. He is talking about being with them always, not only in the temple but residing in their midst, guiding them and accomplishing His will in their lives.
Even when the temple stood, the people were already away from God. The temple was never the start and end of the problem. The real problem was hearts that were not aligned with God and had no relationship with Him. That is why the temple was destroyed, and why God chose the Babylonians to punish them. It is not clear why English translations chose “prosperity”, but the towns overflowing with moral goodness is closer to what God is saying.
Four Horns and Four Craftsmen
Zechariah then receives another vision. He sees four horns and asks what they represent. An angel explains that these horns are the powers that have scattered Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel—the nations and forces that have driven God’s people into exile and destruction. But this vision does not end with oppression.
… the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
Zechariah 1:21 (NIV)
The four craftsmen represent the agents and instruments God appoints to bring down these scattering powers. Just as the horns symbolize destructive forces unleashed against God’s people, the craftsmen embody God’s active response—He does not leave His people defenseless or without hope. The craftsmen are commissioned to terrify and overthrow the powers that have oppressed Judah. This vision assures Zechariah and the returning exiles that God has not forgotten their suffering. He is sovereignly at work, raising up means and agents to restore justice and bring His people back to peace.
A City Without Walls
God says that He will return to Jerusalem and that His house will be rebuilt there. But the temple altar and everything else was already being built in Jerusalem, a couple of months earlier. Zechariah is a prophet of those days, reading whatever scriptures they could find. We are already in Jerusalem and already building Your house, so what does this prophecy mean? The question would surely have come to the people’s minds. One answer is that people were focusing on the building and not on God, and the building had more place in their hearts than God did. Even today, churches have their own place in people’s hearts, but not God. So God had the temple rebuilt so that Jesus could compare it with Himself. He built a temple with His own body when He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Jesus used that rebuilt temple to teach the temporary status of buildings, and the permanent status of the everlasting God dwelling in people’s hearts. The next vision comes to answer this question.
Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
Zechariah 2:1-2 (NIV)
Another angel comes to meet the angel speaking with Zechariah and says:
Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
Zechariah 2:4-5 (NIV)
The measuring line points to Jesus. His body was broken down and rebuilt in three days, and His blood cleansed what the measuring line had found sinful, corrupt and unredeemable. All the people outside the walls of Jerusalem, all of us, are redeemed by that blood and by the new temple. Now there are no walls, because there is no need for them. The LORD Himself will be the wall of fire around it.
Our favourite childhood songs and hymns say the LORD is my fortress and my strong tower, and we sing that we still depend on Him for protection. Do we really feel that we do not need walls, security systems, cameras or locks, because we have God. The people started building a wall during the days of Nehemiah. And as soon as we have some possessions, we quickly build a wall around ourselves to protect it.
Be Still Before the LORD
Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. “Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
Zechariah 2:10-11 (NIV)
That is why they do not need a temple and a wall to protect them. Many nations joined to the LORD is the promise to Abraham, the father of many nations, and in Jesus we become sons and daughters of God. The LORD will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land and will choose a new Jerusalem.
Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
Zechariah 2:13 (NIV)
God is working on our behalf, for our good, which means being in His presence and having Him live among us. We do not need to inform Him of the iniquities of our fellow human beings, or to hide our own. We do not need to tell Him about our needs or the timings of His plans, and we do not need to question Him. We just need to be still and let His plans unfold in our lives.
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