Mike Bickle discusses Zechariah 11, emphasizing Israel's rejection of the humble king, Jesus, and the subsequent judgment they faced, including the Roman invasion in 70 A.D. He highlights the tragic irony of Israel's acceptance of a false shepherd, the Antichrist, who deceives them into believing he will bring peace. Bickle draws parallels between the historical rejection of Jesus and the future acceptance of the Antichrist, underscoring the importance of recognizing true leadership and the consequences of turning away from God. Ultimately, he points to the hope of restoration and revival for Israel at the second coming of Christ.

Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. We ask you, Lord, for the release of inspiration again. We ask you for the invigoration of the Holy Spirit. We ask you, Lord, to strengthen us with might. Strengthen our body, strengthen our spirit, even now. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Here in our 10th session, we're going to look at Zechariah chapter 11. This is a quite remarkable chapter. Zechariah 9 and 10 were prophecies of Israel being delivered, empowered. And the core theme of Zechariah 9 and 10 is the description of the coming Messiah who is a humble king who takes dominion over all the world, and he expresses that dominion in context to the nation of Israel. He delivers them and then even uses them to exercise his dominion worldwide. That's the theme of Zechariah 9 and 10. The humble king comes, exercises his dominion to them and through them and to the nations. It's a glorious story. We see all of his commitments, not all of them, but we see his main commitments of exerting his authority to the nation of Israel. Then Zechariah 11, which is the last part of this oracle, it's one oracle, 9, 10, 11. It's Israel's response to the humble king. They liked a king, they didn't know so much about a humble king. And they didn't appreciate a humble king who came to do righteousness because he required righteousness in their lives. They liked the idea of him making the Gentiles righteous, but he was making a demand upon their lives as well in righteousness, and that was disruptive. They said no to him, to the humble king. They came under judgment, and that's what this passage is talking about. The first three verses is a poetic, prophetic depiction of the judgment of Rome upon Israel in 70 A.D. But then it doesn't end there, because not only were they deceived in rejecting the good shepherd because he came like a humble king, they end up at the end deceived by accepting the false shepherd, the Antichrist. And again, God uses this, even the darkness, to create the context for the most glorious deliverance and the establishing of this nation in their place according to his will, that they would rule together with him forever and forever. Paragraph B, Zechariah 11 describes the rejection at the first coming, but Zechariah 12 describes the acceptance at the second coming. And so those two, you've got to read those two together. Paragraph C, again, it's the judgment of the Roman invasion, 70 A.D., because they rejected the good shepherd. And then the deception of receiving the foolish, wicked shepherd at the end. Now not all Israel does, there's a great revival in Israel at the same time. And there's many who don't accept him. They don't accept Jesus right away until he comes, but they don't accept the false shepherd. But many of the political leaders do, enough to invite him into the land in a partnership with him. And we don't know the full degree of how they accept him, but it's possible that they accept them as their official leader and king. We don't know that for sure, but he comes in the land at their invitation. He deceives them. He makes them think he's for them, and he will build their temple, and he will cause peace to come to the Middle East, that he'll pull his mask off and show his true colors. And again, all the evil and wickedness of that, that is a context for God to bring forth this great drama. And at the same time, again, there's the Jewish people who are resisting the Antichrist, but not accepting Jesus. The on-fire Messianic community that's exploding in revival, with the two witnesses really helping things quite a bit, these great prophets. Talking about prophetic conferences, they'll have the best ones in town, now trust me, not in town, in the earth. So there's going to be this collision of different agendas and personalities, all happening in one little part of the earth, and all the nations surrounding. The abomination of desolation set up in the city, it's just like the drama is more than we can grasp. But it's worth really thinking about and wanting to get our mind around it, that we can be prepared to participate with the Lord in it. Paragraph E, in a minute we're going to look at Zechariah 11, and at the heart of Zechariah 11, particularly verse 4 to 14, for about 10 verses, it's a parable that Zechariah is acting out. Well, it's really two parables, 4 to 14 and then 15 to 17. He acts out these two parables. And in the first parable, he shows himself as a shepherd, he's depicting Jesus, the good shepherd. And the response to his offering to provide shepherding, they said, we don't really appreciate you. And it was a prophetic parable depicting the rejection of Jesus yet in the future days. Because remember, Zechariah is 500 years before Christ. And then he acts out a parable where he then is representative of the false shepherd, the Antichrist, and the nation accepts him in the land. Again, a part of the nation, not all the nation. So as you're reading this parable, you're understanding that what's happening are future events that came to pass in a very precise way. Okay, let's look at paragraph H. John the Apostle, the book of Revelation, he prophesies that the enemy is going to gather in the northern part of Israel, that's Armageddon. Now a lot of people talk about the battle of Armageddon. I think that's an inaccurate way to present it. It's really the battle for Jerusalem. But Armageddon in the north of Israel is the military staging area where the nations gather to get organized to go attack Jerusalem. The heart of the battle, the objective, is Jerusalem, not that valley up there, Megiddo, you know, in Armageddon. That's just an organization, mobilization area. But the point being is that John, he depicts the enemy gathering in the north, and then they make their way to the south. That's the very thing that Zechariah is going to depict in these first three verses. The enemy, although this time it's Rome in 70 AD, because Israel rejected the Messiah, they're going to start in the north, and they're going to bring judgment, they're going to work their way down to the south in the very same pattern that the Antichrist will seek to operate in when he comes into the land of Israel. So it's, there's a dual fulfillment. It happened once, precisely when Rome invaded in the north and came south, but it's going to happen again when that terrifying army gathers in the north of Israel and works their way down south to surround the city of Jerusalem. So let's look at Roman numeral 2. So all of Zechariah chapter 9 to 14, whenever there's a prophecy that has a fulfillment in that, in ancient history, it's only a partial fulfillment. It's a picture of the grand story at the end. The reason I say that is a lot of commentators will look at it only for its historical value, and then they dismiss the bigger message, which is the end time drama, which shows us the king's battle plan to exercise his dominion over the earth and to cleanse the earth of unrighteousness and to drive wickedness off the planet. That's always the bigger vision in Zechariah's mind, is the end time picture. But when you read some books on this, they get lost in the partial fulfillment of ancient and they lose sight of the big time picture. As I've read these, I go, wow, you're missing the glory of what the Spirit is saying through this mighty prophet Zechariah. So don't make that mistake, because you'll be reading different sources, and just keep attuned to that. Okay, let's start. The first three verses, because they've rejected the Messiah, it's this poetic, prophetic description of the judgment on Israel because of the rejection of the Messiah, which is going to be depicted from verse 4 to 14. The prophet cries out, open your doors, O Lebanon. That's up in the north. Let the fire, and that would be the fire of the advancing Roman army, let the fire devour your famous forests of Lebanon, these cedar forests, let the fire, because when the Roman army came, like any ancient army, they would cut down the trees. And they would use the trees to build their temporary dwellings. They would use the trees, I mean, they would cut down massive numbers of trees. These military campaigns took years, I mean, they would devour everything in their path, not just to remove it so they could march, so they could use the wood and all of the agriculture and the livestock of the land, they took it, and they used it to fuel their military machine. That's what he's describing. He says, O people in the north, just open your doors. There's no point resisting because God's behind this. Don't even resist it. As a matter of fact, that was Israel's big problem. Jesus told them this was going to happen. In Luke 19, we have it on the notes, I just didn't highlight it a moment ago. Jesus said it's going to happen. Your enemy's coming, they're going to surround you. Don't even resist it because the resistance made it far worse, actually. Same with Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. Because they resisted Nebuchadnezzar, the destruction on Jerusalem was far worse than if they would have submitted. So Rome's angry, they're coming down. And the Jewish Patriots said, we can overcome this, and the battle got far more intense, and they just reduced Jerusalem and burned the temple again, just like Nebuchadnezzar did in 70 A.D. So the prophet gives this prophetic, poetic, and it's hard to say, poetic, prophetic. He says, just open your doors, Lebanon. Let the fire of the advancing Roman army come through. Let them devour your cedars, they're going to anyway. Then he says in verse 2, O cypress trees, just start crying now. Because if the noble, mighty, majestic cedars of Lebanon, if they are shown no mercy, if they go down quickly, what chance do you have of survival? Just start crying. For the cedars right by you have already fallen, there's no chance you will survive. Again, in this poetic language. O trees of Bashan, now that's in the east. You're coming down too. There will be no deference shown to you. Everything that's in the path of this advancing army of Rome is coming down, from the north in Lebanon to Bashan in the east, all the way down to the Jordan in the south, right on into Jerusalem. This is what this army is doing. So in just the next couple paragraphs here, I just kind of described that a little bit more. You can read that on your own. Let's look at Roman numeral 3. Now that the destruction has been depicted, now again, this is 500 years before Christ. So the Jewish leaders are seeing this prophecy and going, what's this about? And I'm not sure Zechariah understood it all. He just said, well, I know bad news is coming because something negative is going to happen in the days ahead about a shepherd that you're going to reject. Now I don't know that Zechariah understood everything that it meant, but looking back in retrospect, it's super clear what it means. So in verse 4, the Lord gives the word to Zechariah. He says, Zechariah, I want you to go feed a flock. In other words, I want you to go apply, I mean just literally, go to that flock over there and apply for a job to be one of the shepherds, to be one of the main shepherds actually. And so a lot of people think the common view is he actually did this. Some commentators will say, well, no, it's just an analogy. He was just giving the analogy. He didn't actually do it. But most people, or the common view would be that he actually went down and took up this job and did exactly like it's describing here. He said, go feed the flock. So he took on this job to go care for a flock as the head shepherd. Now he described the flock. He said the owners of this flock have really treated this flock bad. Matter of fact, they are devouring them, they're slaughtering them. They have no regard for their value. And they feel no guilt about the total abuse of what they do with the people of Israel. Those who sell them, that would be the leadership of Israel talking about the Sanhedrin in the times of Jesus. They go, bless the Lord, I am rich. By their spiritual choices and even their alliance with Rome, they sold out Jesus and they sold out the nation and they sold out their own lives. But they said, wow, the deal is good for us. I mean, we're getting certain benefits and favors from Rome. We're the head of the nation. It looks like it's going well. And Zechariah is describing this really tragic, pathetic situation in which the leadership of Israel sells out the flock by their own ungodly choices. They led Israel into a wrong direction and by even their alliance with Rome for their own advantage and the disadvantage of the nation. And there's several ways you could read into this. Some people see the owners as the Roman occupiers who took control over the nation. That's a view, that's the view I put here, but I'm not sold on it. The owners might be just the Sanhedrin, the leaders of Israel that are selling out the flock. It's one or the other because both of them are true. Well they're blessing the Lord, meaning they have this confidence that God's pleased with them. With this hypocritical leadership style, selling out the nation and selling out Jesus, but they have this unfounded confidence that God is with them, therefore the spiritual language. These shepherds do not pity the nation of Israel. They have no care for the nation. They're frauds, they're hypocrites, they're fakes. This is the very thing that Jesus exposed them. Matthew 23 particularly. He exposed them for who they really were and that angered them beyond measure. In reality, Jesus was only taking this passage and just developing it. Verse 6, here's what the Lord says eventually. And He says this right before He goes to the cross in Matthew 23, when He rebukes the Pharisees He said, Your house is left unto you desolate. You will not see Me until you cry, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Matthew 23, verse 37 to 39. That's when He says to them in essence, I'm not having pity on you. You have set your course to reject Me and My offer to be the Good Shepherd and the mercy, there will be a reprieve of My mercy and Rome will have their way with you as described in verses 1 to 3. He goes on to say, this is Jesus speaking in verse 6. He says, For indeed, I will give everyone into his neighbor's hand and into the hand of his king. He says, I'm going to turn you over to the fate according to whatever happens, happens. You're going to have civil strife and I'm going to allow the king, that would be the Roman Empire, Caesar, they're going to have control over you. If you don't want Me, I give you over to him because you're the ones that said, Caesar is our king. And so He goes, He is now your king. And Caesar comes in in 70 AD and absolutely destroys the city, burns the temple and scatters the nation. The Lord says, and when they attack, again it's 40 years after his death and resurrection, but to the Lord that's a minute, it's all the same conversation. I mean when a thousand years is like a day, I mean 40 years, He goes, He's still in the conversation. He goes, when they attack, I'm not going to deliver you. You chose that king, that king is your king. You will see what that king will do to you because he's actually trying to awaken them to the far more tragic situation when they choose the foolish shepherd, shepherd verse 15 to 17, at the end of the age. Again all Israel does it, but a significant amount in authority do. And they get to have their way, but they find out what they really want isn't what they want. Let's look at paragraph B, let's go to the paragraph B, verse 7 to 11. Now the parable is being worked out, meaning Zechariah is going to act this out. I believe he actually did it. I don't think he just told an analogy, told a story. Verse 7, I fed the flock, I went and applied for the job and they hired me. I'm the head shepherd of a little flock. But he goes, the problem is that this flock was already destined for slaughter, not because God said to slaughter, because of the choices they were making and the predisposition they had because of their bad leadership for so many years. They were already predisposed and settled on rejecting my shepherding of them. Now this is, this is Zechariah speaking prophetically of the Lord. He's representing the good shepherd that would come to Israel. Zechariah says I took for myself two staffs. Now it was common in Israel for a shepherd to have two staffs. One staff he would beat off, you know, the wolves or the attacking animals, and with the other staff he would lead and guide his sheep into the green pastures. He would have a rod and a staff, one to protect them, one to guide them. So that pretty standard equipment right there, that was a common sight. But he named each of these staffs with a particular prophetic name that would depict what would happen in Israel's future. Because remember when he's taking this job as the head shepherd, he's actually prophetically showing what the good shepherd Jesus would do. He came to Israel to shepherd them, to feed them. I mean he wanted to lead them to himself, but the majority said no. I mean I can't imagine the tragedy of what happened in Jesus' day. Three and a half years of the most anointed preaching in human history, with the greatest miracles ever seen. Only 120 people followed through. Three and a half years, his church is 120. I mean we're talking crowds came, but they said no, we don't want to stick with this, this isn't really what we're after. Can you imagine? I mean Jesus failed every church growth seminar theory imaginable. He tried signs and wonders, good preaching, interesting sermons, compelling personality, he had it all. Well the problem he had is he told the whole message, not just half the message. He didn't just say what they wanted to hear, he said what the Father wanted to hear. It was all said and done, only 120. What's remarkable about that, well I mean he had thousands that were interested at one time but they didn't follow through. It says in 1 Corinthians 15 that he appeared to 500 people. Can you imagine the God-man appearing after he died with a physical resurrected body to 500 people? Only 120 made it to the prayer room, 380 of them, they were busy. How could you be too busy for anything when the God-man appeared to you in a resurrected body? Well, that wasn't a good timing for me, I had other things going on, I'll check in later. That number 120, I go Lord, anyway I could go on and on about that, I'm just not amazed is it the right word, it's just perplexing the level of rejection that Jesus received in that hour. Well he took these two staffs, the rod and the staff, he named one of them Beauty, it's a prophetic name, many translations put the name Favor. The second staff he named Bonds, or a lot of translations they put the word Union. And what these two staffs represented, the Beauty or Favor, would be his favor over the nation to keep the Gentile oppressing nations away. And for years he had kept them at bay, I mean they were troubled here and there, but they didn't destroy the land. I mean they took taxes and they had certain oppressive regimes, but they didn't come in and utter destruction and drive Israel off the land. And we look back at this passage, what was happening is the Lord says, I was using my shepherd staff called Favor over Israel by keeping the Gentile powers at bay versus reducing the land to nothing and driving the Jewish people to the nations. But when they rejected Jesus, his leadership, Zechariah takes that staff, he breaks it. He goes, there goes your protection. The staff of Favor or Beauty, I think Favor might be the, at least the name that most translations use, it's easier to understand. And we find out in a few verses later, from that time on, the Gentiles were allowed to come in and Rome did it and drove the Jewish people to the nations, the great dispersion to the nations. Little while later he broke the staff called Bonds or the other, some translations put the word Union. And that spoke of the union of the Jewish people themselves. And what they were unaware of is that whatever level of unity they had, it was because of the blessing of God. I mean, that's true of every society. We look at America and we've got so many problems, but the fact that we don't have a civil war, we're destroying one another, that's what our nature would be as fallen human beings. The fact that any nation has peace and relative order is the favor of God. And if God lifts that favor off, a nation will implode and turn on itself in a moment. You know, some people look at, like a nation like America, and they'll say, well, you know, we really couldn't be destroyed, we really couldn't do this, we really couldn't do that. We're, I mean, in terms of disastrous things, because we have enough infrastructure in place. But the one thing we don't think about, if God took His favor, this union and allowed civil strife just to break loose at a level we're not imagining, the entire nation would implode. And that happens all over the world. We don't understand that sustaining grace that we're so used to. Well, Israel became accustomed to it, and the shepherd, Zechariah, speaking of the shepherd, Jesus said, He's going to break that staff too, and you will have so much internal strife, you will implode from within. And that, again, that's part of Jesus' leadership over the nation, and we can't really esteem how valuable that sustaining grace, that restraining grace, to sustain a bit of order in our midst, we just cannot fully appreciate how valuable it is until it's gone. And when it's gone, nobody is safe from one house to the other. Verse 8, He said, I dismissed three shepherds in one month. So He takes the job, I'm just making up the number, there's ten staff members on His team, it's a purely made up number, just so you know, and He takes three of them and He fires them. After one month, He gets rid of three of them, and they're pretty mad about that. And that's prophetic too. People go, what on earth is that? And there's a number of theories on that, but I think it's pretty clear what it's talking about, and it's one, I think, the most reasonable view of this verse are it's three classes of leadership that Jesus dismissed them. We'll get to that in just a few moments, I've got some verses I want to take you through on that in just a minute. And then Jesus says, or Zacharias says it, representing Jesus, let what is dying die. He says, I leave you to your fate. Some people will die, some people will live. Some will perish, some will not perish. There will be an element of chaos in the nation because you have rejected my leadership. Now you get your own leadership, and it will bring you to chaos. He goes on to say, let those that are left eat each other. That actually means cannibalism. That's actually what it means. And how that's applied in 70 A.D. when the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem in this siege. They were starving on the inside, and the historical reports are some of them actually ate one another in order to survive. It actually came to pass. Jesus says, you don't want my leadership? You think you want your leadership? You could have your leadership, but you don't have the ability to keep Rome off your back. You don't have the ability to keep unity in your society. You don't have the ability to have the blessing of God. I'm the only one that can do this for you because I have that power and you don't. Verse 10, he took my staff of beauty, cut it in two. That's the first staff, that I might break my covenant that I made with the nations. That covenant with the nations, the Gentiles, that's not a formal covenant that he made, but it speaks, it's an informal sense of what God is saying. My determined policy is to keep the Gentiles at bay and not let them destroy Israel. But he goes, when I break that staff, I'm going to let the Gentiles in. I just described that just a few moments ago, but here's the verse where he says it. He goes, I'm going to change my operating policy. He calls it a covenant, it's not a formal covenant in the Bible, but it's a determined policy in the heart of God to keep the Roman or the Gentile powers, which at that time were Rome, to keep them from devouring the land and driving the people to the nations. And when the Lord broke that staff, symbolically, he said, I will now let them in. He says, I broke it that day, verse 11, and the poor of the flock, they were the ones that were really paying attention. The poor of the flock is a good thing. The poor of the flock is talking about the humble and the meek. The godly remnant, the poor of the flock, they were paying attention to Zechariah. They knew he was representing God and they knew what he was doing was right and true because they had a heart that feared the Lord. The term poor often in the book of Psalms is depicting the righteous that are, the word poor would be afflicted or humble. They're the ones that are trusting the Lord, even being oppressed by the ungodly. King David himself a number of times says, this poor man, I trusted the Lord and cried out to him. I humbled myself before him. So there would be a remnant in the land who would grasp what was happening and watch it unfold as it was unfolding. Number two, I have a little bit on the poor right there. You can read just a little bit on that describing how the poor would be the godly remnant. Number three, this idea of in the parable, although he really did it, he fired three guys, called him into his office out on the sheep fold. I got to let you three go. I mean, he really fired them. I don't know how it all worked, but he did it. This prefigures, excuse me, Jesus dismissing three shepherds, three classes of shepherds, the elders, the chief priests and the scribes. I believe those are the three because those are the three that he named in Luke chapter nine. He said right before he died, the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, they will kill me. Those were the three official offices that made up the Sanhedrin. Zachariah said in a one month period of time, they will be dismissed. And it's hard to know for sure what that one month is. Different people had different opinions, but what seems to be the best approach to me, I'm not dogmatic, but this is makes sense, is that in that final month, when Jesus is in Jerusalem, that is when their fate was sealed. That is when they made a determination together, a final determination, they were going to kill him at the opportune time. It was in that month, their fate was sealed. That's when from the counsels of God, they were dismissed according to their own actions against the Messiah. It wasn't an arbitrary dismissal. It was based on their own decision in unity, a final decision to reject the good shepherd. Number four, paragraph four, let's look at the second sentence. The dismissal of these three offices was the outward sign of God suspending the covenant benefits. The covenant wasn't over, but God suspended the benefits of the covenant that these three offices were to represent if they were to function in godliness. Zechariah went on to describe, he said this, I mean it's quite remarkable, in verse eight, he says, I dismissed these three shepherds in one month, look at verse eight, he said, my soul loathed them, pretty strong, but their soul abhorred me. He's talking about these three classes of leadership at that time that I just mentioned, the elders, chief priests, and scribes. Let's look at number five, my soul loathed them. Jesus, he disdained what they stood for. Matthew 23, I mean it is the most blistering sermon that was ever given to a leadership of a nation that was filled with truth. I just gave you, just pulled out a verse, you know the passage. Jesus says, we're seeing how he feels about their leadership, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, inside you are full, you are full of dead man's bones, you are full of uncleanness, you are full of hypocrisy. Do you see how Jesus felt about their leadership over the nation? Well here's what they felt about him, same week, they plotted to kill him. I mean they said about him, he's demonized, he's mad. I have those verses earlier in the document here, I mean in this chapter here, that they said Jesus is insane and demonized, they thought he was dangerous for the nation. Number six, beauty again, I just want to review it again, I went through it, but just so you can see it in writing, kind of follow it. That means, that could be translated favor, God's favor to keep the Gentiles from destroying the land, bonds to keep, or union, that's possibly an easier term to understand, a prophetic name for that second staff. That was the grace of God that kept the nation unified, it was a grace they were not even aware was operating. Paragraph B, I talk a little bit about the covenant with the peoples, the peoples would be Gentiles, and again it's this determination that God had made that if Israel would respond to him, he was determined, his policy was to protect them and not allow a dispersion to the nations. That's not what he wanted. But that, because of their choice to reject his leadership, he said that you're left to your own leadership, and your own leadership, you don't have the power to stand against Rome to keep Rome happy, or to keep Rome at bay. And so, the Lord allowed those processes to unfold, and it would be the discipline that would create the context for them receiving him in Zechariah 12, the next chapter. Paragraph C, well, he worked for a few months maybe, maybe longer, we don't know, as this head shepherd, he fired a few guys, they were mad at him. He didn't like their leadership style, they didn't like his. But that was all depicting what Jesus was doing with the Sanhedrin. So now, paragraph C, Zechariah's job is over. So he goes to the other leaders, or to the owners, it doesn't say who he goes to, but he goes to the ones that had the ownership of the flock, and he says, okay, pay me what you think I'm worth. He goes, anything. We didn't negotiate it on the front end, you know, I worked a few months for you, or whatever, again, it doesn't tell us how long. Tell me whatever you think it's worth, I want to see what you think about my services I gave to you. So the owners of the flock, which would have been the leaders of Israel, they got together and thought about it, and so let's read verse 12, it's pretty self-explanatory once you know the storyline. It's a pretty interesting chapter if you just get the storyline and the parable, it reads pretty straightforward, actually, once you put the puzzle together. Verse 12, so I went to the owners of the flock, I said, okay, I need to move on, get a different job, if it's agreeable to you, give me what you think my services were worth. In other words, you decide, it's up to you. Because what God was doing in this parable was allowing them to show how much value they really put upon the Good Shepherd. He goes, if you don't want to pay me, that's fine, refrain, give me nothing, that's up to you. So they got together and they weighed out my wages, 30 pieces of silver. So they gave it to Zechariah, here, we'll give you 30 pieces of silver. The Lord told Zechariah, throw it to the potter, those were the poor people, give it to the poor. Don't offer to them, throw it in disdain. He said, in that divine sarcasm, that princely price they set upon me. In other words, it was an insult. Because 30 pieces of silver was the money you would pay if you borrowed another man's slave and he came on your farm and he was injured. You would have to pay the man that you borrowed the slave, you would have to pay that man, 30 pieces of silver, the guy, the slave broke his leg, you would have to pay him that money to compensate for the work that slave lost while his leg was being healed, that sort of situation. When 30 pieces of silver describes the price of a slave, it wasn't the price to buy one, it was the price to compensate for the work was lost if they were injured on your property. So what they were saying, let's read it here, paragraph C. This small amount of money was such an insult. This reveals how little Israel valued Jesus' ministry. They were saying, in essence, your benefit to us for three and a half years of your miracle ministry and all that you would come to redeem us is only worth to us the compensation of an injured slave. It was a, when, back into the text here, verse 13, when Zacharias says that princely price, that was sarcasm. All that they valued was I would be given the compensation of an injured slave. That's the only thing they think I am worth for all that I gave them. And that's what Israel Sanhedrin said to Jesus, according to Zechariah 11. So the Lord said, throw it to the potter. Now potters were poor people. And the throwing it was a statement of disdain. So I went to the house of the Lord where the potters were, they made the pottery. These poor guys. I took the 30 pieces. I think he really did it. And he threw it. These potters, they were happy. Glory to God. You know, Christmas came early. Then after that happened, it was clear to me the nation of Israel did not accept or value my shepherding ministry is what Zechariah is saying on behalf of Jesus prophetically. Verse 14, so Zechariah, another prophetic action. He takes the second staff, he cuts it, bonds. He says, okay, the unity of the nation is going to be broken. The grace that keeps them together is going to be lifted. The grace that keeps them protected from the Gentiles is lifted. The grace that keeps them in unity is lifted. The nation will be in total disrepair for a season. It was 2000 years. Let's look at Roman number four, got to bring this to an end. Now the Lord says, okay, verse 15, go take up the implements or the instruments of a foolish shepherd. In other words, Zechariah, I have another parable for you to walk out, another job assignment. Go buy the tools of a foolish shepherd. I don't know what those tools are, but Zechariah understood. So he went and he got those implements of those, the tools, and he goes to the flock and he's doing it again. I think he really did it though. I don't think it was just a story he told. I think he actually walked it out. I don't think it's important. One way or the other, which position you take on that. But the point is he's depicting now the bad shepherd because four to four, verse four to 14, he depicted the good shepherd and Israel's rejection. Now verse 15, 16 and 17, he's depicting the bad shepherd. These are the two most powerful shepherds in Israel's history. The good shepherd, Jesus, and the foolish, wicked shepherd, the Antichrist at the end of the age. And God tells Zechariah, I don't know that he understands, he said, I'm going to raise up a shepherd one day and I'm going to raise him up in the land of Israel, meaning that he's going to be there in other verses, particularly Isaiah 28 and other places. The leadership accepts him in the land. Daniel chapter 11, verse 45 says that he places his palace in the land. He puts his statue in the temple. I mean, he's firmly rooted in the land and they opened a door and let him come in. But the interesting thing, verse 16, God says, I'm raising him up. I'm going to raise him up to allow evil and righteousness to come to a full head, to come to full maturity, not just in Israel, but in all the earth, throughout the Middle East and the whole earth. The Lord's raising up the Antichrist. That doesn't mean the devil's not fully involved and that doesn't mean that wicked men are not fully responsible for making wicked choices. I mean, God in his sovereignty, he could ordain a path and Satan act fully according to his nature and men operated their free will and the thing come out exactly the way the Lord wanted it to come. Like it says clearly that the devil in Revelation 16 is drawing all the nations to Armageddon. But there's eight or nine other verses that say God is drawing all the nations to Israel. Well, who is it? Is it God or is it the devil? Both are. They're both doing it for a different reason. They have a different agenda. They're operating by a different spirit, but they both have the same idea. Get everyone to Jerusalem. The devil's bringing them to Armageddon to organize them. They could come down to Jerusalem to capture the city. God's bringing in there so he can kill all the leaders of the nations in one setting in one time to replace the leadership of the earth in one day. The devil doesn't believe God's agenda, the devil's people and God's people don't believe the devil's agenda is going to work and but they're both going to be operating together. It's a quite remarkable thing. Well, the Lord says, I'm going to raise up a little evil leader in the land, not just for Israel, for all the nations, because I'm going to let wickedness come to full maturity in the earth. Daniel 8, 23 says that iniquity or sin will reach its fullest level in history. When this antichrist king emerges, that will be the context where the social and political and financial systems will be in place where men will get to exercise evil to the full degree that they want, but they have no idea how it will turn against them. They're going to do all the immorality, all the interaction in the illegal way with the spirit realm with demons, all of the evil ways they want to manipulate and seduce with money, all the perversion they can imagine. They can be drunk with murder and they think, I am now liberated. What they will find is darkness and an interaction with demons and despair they cannot imagine. But God says, if that's what you want, I'm going to let free will come to its full joy, its full fruit. But there's another company of people in the earth called the body of Christ. They are under the anointing of the spirit. They're going to exercise their free will in that same environment and they will come to loyal, mature love in the presence of the most formidable obstacles and enemies. They will choose love to the end. And so God says, I'm creating the environment for that to happen. So this strange doctrine to the western mind, verse 16, I, says the Lord, will raise up the Antichrist. Like, what? In the name of Jesus, we bind the Antichrist. Well, Jesus is the one raising him up because he wants to bring evil to a maturity in the planet and righteousness to make the transition of the earth according to perfect justice, having not violated anyone's free will, but letting their decisions run their full course. Then when he rules the earth forever, he always did it in righteousness. The way he even got to the place of government was in perfect righteousness. He goes, I'll raise him up in the land. This guy will be bad news. He won't care for anyone. Just to sum it up. Look at this one term at the end of verse 16. He will eat the flesh of the fat. He will tear the hooves in pieces. What's that mean? Look at paragraph E. That describes one who will totally devour. To tear the hooves pictures this frantic searching for the last morsel to totally consume even that little piece. He will take everything he can from the Jewish people and the human race. I mean, what a terrifying description. Verse 17, the Lord says, whoa, to this man, it's trouble. He thinks he has liberty and authority. He has trouble, great trouble for a sword. And that doesn't mean a literal sword. It means just that assault from heaven because Jesus doesn't use a sword on him. Jesus looks at him by the very stare of his countenance and his breath consumes him. But the idea of a sword here and later on in chapter 13 means an instrument of death. Not a technical metal sword because Jesus doesn't need this sword to subdue this man. But a sword will be against his arm, that means his power. And against his eye, that means his brilliance and his intelligence. His arm, his power will completely wither. He will appear to be the most powerful man that's ever been on the earth. But before the nations, his power will completely wither and come to nothing. His right eye, he will appear to be a genius of all genius. He will appear to be a military, political, economic genius. Daniel says that he will solve riddles and mysteries. He will be able to answer the most difficult problems and solve them. He will be applauded as the most brilliant man. But his eye will be blinded, meaning before it's over, he will absolutely be crazy losing his mind. I mean, the clearest picture I know of in history is Adolf Hitler. He appeared out of nowhere as a little horn that came on the stage of Europe. And he appeared so brilliant as the man with all the answers to Germany. And in a short amount of time, his strength withered. And his own generals tried to assassinate him numerous times. They said, the man's insane. What's wrong with this man? He has no sense, no reason anymore. Let's look at B just one more moment. I will raise up the shepherd. Notice in Revelation 6. Who is the one that releases the Antichrist on the white horse, the false Christ? Jesus does. Not the devil. The devil's fully operating in this. But Jesus is the only one with authority to let a man of that power be released on the world stage. Revelation 15. He was given authority. Who? Did the devil give him authority? Well, the devil gave the Antichrist all of his authority. But he doesn't have authority to operate on the world stage because the devil wants him to. The authority was granted by God. That he could war against the saints to create the environment where the victory of God would reach its greatest heights. And love would reach its greatest depths. Look at paragraph C. History, scripturally I'm talking about, bears witness to this principle. God raised up Pharaoh who oppressed Israel but created the world stage for Israel to be delivered in power. God raised up Sennacherib, the evil Assyrian king. Isaiah chapter 10 verse 5. God raised up the crazy, insane, wicked king of Babylon. The demon worshipper to oppress, I mean to discipline Israel. God raised up the Persian empire. Each one of these are declared clearly in the Bible. God allows wicked leaders to be raised up as an instrument to create an environment where righteousness can be in a contrast. And righteousness can mature and love can deepen in a way it could not apart from that. Paragraph G at the very end. Let's read it 2 Thessalonians to the very end of the page. The lawless one will be revealed. And the Lord will consume him by the breath of his mouth. I can see all the armies are there. I mean the blood is everywhere. Battle for Jerusalem, Jesus comes marching up from Basra right through modern day Jordan. And he's outside the city. And the Antichrist comes. Because the Antichrist has told the nations that Jesus, he's the deceiver, he's the angel of light, he's the false messiah. The Antichrist says, I'm the true one, I'll win. So the showdown comes. All the armies are there and they're raging. Jesus before him. That's it. I mean come on, a little bit more dramatic. I love it. Isaiah picked up on this. I think it's Isaiah 40 verse 22-23. He's talking about the end of the age. And he says, and the Lord will blow and wither them. They will wither like a little weed. I tell you the kings of the earth will be terrified. They'll go, oh no, this is like really bad news. We've been on the wrong team the entire time. Then when he blows on him and consumes him. It doesn't mean he disappears. He's somehow immobilized. I don't know exactly what it would look like. Because he doesn't die. He's thrown into the lake of fire alive. So he doesn't actually die. But consumed, he's like immobilized. He can't get away. Jesus does one of these come Holy Spirits at the highest level imaginable. Stuck or something. Could be very different than that. But I know he doesn't die. Because he's thrown into the lake of fire alive in Revelation 19 verse 19-20. Then Jesus gazes at him. Gives him that look. The brightness of his countenance. Destroys him. Now again, he doesn't just evaporate. He doesn't die. But it just, again, destroys his faculties, his ability to function. Destroys something. I don't know what it means. But I know that he goes into the lake of fire and it's over. Amen. Let's stand.