Page 252 - Through New Eyes

252 THROUGH NEW EYES

Place, and must be compared with Ezekiel, who as acting High
Priest had access to the Most Holy. Ezekiel saw the cherubic
chariot of the Most Holy. Zechariah sees the lesser horse chariots
of the Holy Place (the chariot-like water stands). Ezekiel saw
water flow out from the restored Temple. Zechariah sees the
(water) chariots ride out.
Zechariah prophesied simultaneously with Haggai. Both were
exhorting the people to rebuild the Temple. Zechariah’s Night
Visions, like Ezekiel’s earlier (Ezekiel 40-48), were designed to
show the spiritual truths that the rebuilt post-exilic Temple
would embody and manifest. There are eight Night Visions,
and they run from sundown to sunrise, with the important tran-
sition, the new Passover, at midnight. 11
Vision 1 (1:1-17). The first vision states that the people must
lay a moral and spiritual foundation, not merely an architectural
one, and then the Temple will be rebuilt. The context of the first
vision is a ravine, where God’s myrtle people are quietly fed by
hidden waters associated with the ground water of Eden, the
oases of the patriarchs, and the laver and sea in the Tabernacle
and Temple.
Vision 2 (1:18-22). The second vision states that apostate wor-
ship at the horns of an idolatrous altar was the real cause of
Israel’s distress, but that the rebuilding of Temple and altar– the
return to true worship — would be her restoration.
Vision 3 (2:1-13). The third vision states that God’s glory,
which Ezekiel had seen depart, would return and God would
again dwell in His Temple. Just as the Tabernacle had been built
after the Egyptian exodus, so the people are enjoined to make a
new exodus from Babylon in order to build the Temple. Just as
God had been a wall of fire between Israel and Pharaoh’s army,
so He would be a wall of fire to them. According to 2:8, after
God’s glory had taken its seat, the nations would be dealt with.
~isim 4 (3:1-10). The fourth vision concerns the investiture of
the High Priest. Satan argues that because the priesthood is
defiled, the Temple cannot be rebuilt. There is no way to cleanse
the High Priest without Temple ceremony. Thus, we are in a
“Catch-22 .“lZ But God sets up Zechariah as a new Moses. Moses
as prophet had initiated the Tabernacle system and consecrated
Aaron, based on information provided by revelation from God.