Category Archives: Old Testament

Summary of the Old Testament

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Summary of the Old Testament

The Old Testament is a collection of religious writings by the ancient Israelites that from the first section of the Holy Bible used by Christians throughout the world. One of the most popular versions of the Bible and the Old Testament section of the Bible is the “King James Version” which includes 39 books. These books are organized into a few different parts.

  • The Law
  • The History
  • The Poetry
  • The Prophets

The start of the Old Testament deals with the creation of the world, the creation of mans parents Adam and Eve and the flooding of the earth to cleanse from the wicked. The story tells of Abraham and his prophetic covenant between God. From Abraham came Isaac, then Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel), who had twelve sons, giving rise to the twelve “tribes” of Israel. One of Jacob’s sons, Joseph, was sold into slavery in Egypt, leading to Jacob and his family coming to Egypt and later their descendents becoming slaves in Egypt. Moses (about 1250 B.C.) led the Exodus (freeing of Israelites from bondage) from Egypt and the Covenant of God with the Hebrew nation was made.
God gave the people the Ten Commandments for the people of Israel to obey, accepting Him as their God. We learn that there were constant problems with the Jewish people believing in idols and other “gods.” This of course can be contrasted to modern day problems of people turning away from God and worship idols, such as money.

Finally the people reached the Promised Land and settled there after Moses’ death. “Judges” led the people until about 1000 B.C. when Kings were installed, yet these were still thought of as people doing God’s will. King David and King Solomon led a united, strong country — which became divided after Solomon’s death: Later we learn about the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon. Even further into the Old Testament we learn of great wisdom in the forms of poetry and prophetic words. We learn about the questions of good and evil and the consequences of turning away from God. The Last Days before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is examined and warned about through the prophets.

Finally we learn that in the end, God will restore his church and name a prophet in the Latter-days and through that prophet we would have the keys of the priesthood restored to the earth in order to seal families together for eternity!

Here is a list of Old Testament Stories:

Creation of the Universe Genesis 1:1-25
Creation of mankind Genesis 1:26-31
Adam formed Genesis 2:7-8
Eve made Genesis 2:20-25
Garden of Eden Genesis 3
Cain and Abel Genesis 4
Noah’s flood Genesis 6 to 8
God’s blessings and covenant with Noah Genesis 9:1-17
Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9
Abraham’s call Genesis 12:1-3
God’s covenant with Abraham Genesis 15
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 18:16 to 19:29
Isaac’s birth Genesis 21:1-8
Sacrifice of Isaac (Abraham being tested) Genesis 22:1-19
Marriage of Isaac Genesis 24
Birth of Jacob and Esau Genesis 25:19-26
Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for food Genesis 25:27-34
Jacob and Rebekah’s deception of Isaac and Esau for Isaac’s blessing Genesis 27:1-40
Jacob’s ladder vision Genesis 28:10-22
Jacob’s wrestle with the angel and has his named changed to Israel Genesis 32:24-32
Israel’s (Jacob) trouble in the land Genesis 34, 35 and 37
Three burials: Deborah, Rachel and Isaac Genesis 35
Joseph’s coat, dreams and sold by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver Genesis 37
Israel (Jacob) blesses his twelve sons and then dies Genesis 49
Birth of Moses and found by Pharaoh’s daughter Exodus 2:1-10
Moses kills an Egyptian, goes to Midian and gets a wife Exodus 2:11-25
Burning bush – God speaks to Moses Exodus 3:1 to 4:17
Egypt’s nine plagues Exodus 7:14 to 10:29
Tenth plague against Egypt threatened Exodus 11
The Passover instituted Exodus 12:1-20
The Passover communicated Exodus 12:21-28
Tenth plague against Egypt inflicted Exodus 12:29-30
The Exodus – God’s deliverance of Israel Exodus 12:31-51
Crossing the Red sea Exodus 14
The Ten Commandments Exodus 20:1-17
Golden calf made by Aaron Exodus 32
Spies sent to Canaan Numbers 13:1 to 14:45
City of Jericho Joshua 6
Deborah and Barak Judges 4
Gideon Judges 6:1 to 8:35
Samson Judges 13:1 to 16:31
Samson and Delilah Judges 16:4-20
Ruth Ruth 1:1 to 4:22
Samuel’s birth I Samuel 1
Hannah’s (Samuel’s mom) prayer to the Lord I Samuel 2:1-10
David chosen by God I Samuel 16:1-13
David and Goliath I Samuel 17
David anointed king of Judah II Samuel 2:1-11
David anointed king of Israel II Samuel 5:1-12
David and Bathsheba II Samuel 11
God is displeased with David II Samuel 12:1-14
Solomon anointed king I Kings 1:28-40
God’s first appearance to Solomon I Kings 3:2-15
God’s second appearance to Solomon I Kings 9:1-9
Queen of Sheba I Kings 10:1-13
God is angry with Solomon I Kings 11
Elijah and the prophets of Baal I Kings 18:17-40
Elijah taken to heaven II Kings 2:1-11
Job afflicted by Satan Job 1:1 to 2:13
God speaks to Job Job 38:1 to 42:9
God blesses Job Job 42:10-13
Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones Ezekiel 37:1-14
Daniel and the kings food Daniel 1:1-16
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego put in the fiery furnace Daniel 3
Daniel put in the lion’s den Daniel 6
Jonah in the belly of the fish Jonah 1:1 to 2:10
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What is the Bible?

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What is the Bible?

What is the Bible? Where did it come from? Have you ever asked yourself these questions?

Today there are dozens of “versions” or “translations” of the Bible in English alone! Not including a translation in at least some small form in every language spoken on earth!  I use the King James Version of the Bible which was translated in 1611 and is probably one of the most common and most quoted “translations” of the Bible in the world.

Lets step back in time for a moment and learn some of the history of the Bible; I personally am always blown away with the extensive history of the Bible! Someone could easily spend their entire life studying the Bible and still not know the entire history. Let’s start by examining the word “Bible”, what does that mean? Bible comes from the Latin word; Biblia, which means “books” or a collections of books. So the Bible literally means a collection of Books or if we were to see “Holy Bible” we could translate that to the “Holy Books”.

So we know that the Bible is a collection of Books, but where did these books come from? We know that the first five books of the Bible, known as the “Pentateuch” were authored by Moses of Israel, but he most likely took existing records, collected, edited, wove and abridged the books into a complete narrative. It is believed that some 700 years after Moses, Ezra, and the scribe returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to start the demanding task of collecting, sorting and editing existing records and biblical texts to form one collection. The Old Testament that we know today probably reached its current form sometime around the late first century A.D.

The New Testament was formed in a similar manner, but often not how people have perceived. The books and the order they are placed in the Bible does not coincide with the date they were written. Before they were even written down, the stories and teachings of Jesus were first circulated as an oral history, with the earliest writings appearing sometime around 50 A.D. We know that the “Gospels” (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were actually written much later than other parts of the New Testament, even though they appear first in the New Testament. The earliest known circulation of the “Gospels” appeared in Egypt no later than 125 A.D.

The earliest known collection, where the Old and New Testaments were together, is known as the “Codex Vaticanus” which is housed in the Vatican Library, and dates back to the 14th century.

From here the Bible follows a remarkable story filled with drama, inspiration and intrigue. The man that is credited with the first complete Bible in English is John Wycliffe (1328-1384), who was a theology professor at Oxford. He pioneered church reform in both doctrine and practice, and because of that him and his followers were greatly persecuted by corrupt church officials. Wycliffe saw that the current church was corrupt and far removed from the pattern of order and structure described in the Bible. Wycliffe set out to make the Bible available to all for their own interpretation, in their own tongues, instead of listening to corrupt church officials.

A century passed after the death of John Wycliffe and the birth of the man, who the world would recognize as the “Father of the English Bible” was William Tyndale (1492-1536). By the time Tyndale had begun his translation of the Bible, Martin Luther had already made a new translation of the Bible into German and Johann Gutenberg had perfected the moveable-type printing press, resulting in the famous 42-line Vulgate Bible. This Bible was a two-volume masterpiece that was printed in 1455.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is probably one of the most famous of the pioneers for the reformation of the Bible and the church, which at the time was corrupted. Luther insisted that the teachings of the church must be grounded in scripture. He produced his new translation, so that the common man could understand its concepts and principles, and so misunderstandings could be avoided.

Shortly before William Tyndale was persecuted to the point of being burned at the stake, he said; “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the scriptures than thou doest”. Tyndale’s work was not in vain, his work would later influence versions of the Bible, like the Geneva Bible of 1560, which was used by Shakespeare and brought over to America by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower.

In 1607, King James I of England appointed nearly 50 scholars, divided into six groups to research, organize, translate and bring to light a new translation of the Bible. The King James Version, which was published in 1611; “For without translation into the common tongue the unlearned are but like children at Jacob’s well… without a bucket or something to draw with”. Modern scholars have come to the conclusion, that almost 84% of the King James Bible was retained in the original texts of Tyndale’s work.

We must understand that as the world moves forward new versions or translations of the Bible are appearing every day. Reasons include; keeping up to pace with changes in language, facilitate ease of understanding and to go along with general understandings of words and doctrines of the modern world. But it must be understand that a “translation” is automatically a “interpretation”.

Because a translation is an “interpretation”, we must treat it as such! This does not mean that the Bible is not credible, it is very credible! I believe that the Bible is the word of God, but only when it is translated or interpreted as such! Meaning that we must read the Bible and understand its principles and doctrines with the spirit of God. We must read the scriptures with a prayer in our heart. We cannot simply read the Bible and take it for its literal “interpretation”, especially the interpretation of another.

Summary of Malachi

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Summary of Malachi

Chapter by Chapter:

Malachi 1-2: The Jews despise the Lord/The Priests do not keep the Covenants

Malachi 3-4: Tithes and Offerings/ Book of Remembrance/The Last Days… Elijah Shall Come (and HE DID)

Summary of Malachi:

The Book of Malachi was written by the Prophet Malachi and is the last book in the Old Testament of the Bible. We learn that the Jews despise the Lord and because of their hatred their own priests do not keep the covenants and even bring the people down in their wickedness. The importance of tithing and offerings are written as well as the importance of keeping family records and journals for genealogy. Finally in the last chapter of Malachi we learn that Elijah will come in the last days, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

 

In a vision by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836 in the Kirtland Temple, Elijah CAME! Elijah restored the sealing power and gave Joseph Smith the keys of the final dispensation. With these keys the hearts of the fathers and children can be sealed together. Families can now be brought together forever through the sealing powers of the Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the Restored Church of Jesus Christ.

Malachi 3-4

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Malachi 3-4

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

These last two chapters of Malachi and the ending to the Old Testament have a great deal of importance. First we learn that God does not change; He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will never change, period. Secondly we learn that God has a marvelous plan for us all, he sent a messenger before the coming of His son Jesus Christ to die for all our sins, so that we could return to live with our Heavenly Father [God] again. God reminds us of the importance of paying a full and HONEST tithe and offering. This of course means 10% of our gain, whether we work for it or it be given to us, it is a gain.

In the last part of Malachi chapter 3 verses 16, we learn of the importance of RECORDS! It states that a book of remembrance was kept by the Lord. I can only imagine that this book contains a record of our deeds, good and bad in this life. The Doctrine and Covenants [A canonized LDS Book of Scripture] digs deeper into the meaning of Malachi 3:16

“…Let us therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:24)

What exactly are the records of our dead? It is GENEOLOGY! It is FAMILY TREES! But on a personal level it is a journal or journals. I think the Lord has made it clear that we need to keep a written journal of our life. When we come before the Lord in that Day of Judgment we can present him with our written journal of our life. However, while we are still here on the earth we can keep a record of our life to hand down to our family to keep as part of the genealogical records.

Finally in the last two verses of the Old Testament we learn of Elijah and how he will come in the “…great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers…” (Malachi 4:5-6) In a vision by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836 in the Kirtland Temple, Elijah CAME! Elijah restored the sealing power and gave Joseph Smith the keys of the final dispensation. With these keys the hearts of the fathers and children can be sealed together. Families can now be brought together forever through the sealing powers of the Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the Restored Church of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 3: Tithes and Offerings/ Book of Remembrance

“Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1) The messenger spoken of in this opening verse of chapter three is John the Baptist. “For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” (Matthew 11:10)

The Lord will sit as a judge and a “…refiner and purifier of silver…” (Malachi 3:3) and with this the Lord will purify the sons of Levi. The Lord tells them “…Return unto me, and I will return unto you…” (Malachi 3:7)

We are commanded to pay tithes and offerings and the Lord rebukes his people by asking them; “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:8-10) God has been robbed by the withholding of tithes and offerings. He makes it very clear that we are to pay our tithes and offerings! In the LDS church we pay 10% of our gain to the church as tithes and then once a month we fast for 24 hours, and the money saved from not having those meals is donated to the church in the form of “offerings”. These offerings, which often times are more generous than just 3 meals are used to help members and non-members in everyday need of food, clothing and shelter.

The Lord tells us with surety; “…I am the Lord, I change not…” (Malachi 3:6) The simple fact is that the Lord is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He does not change. Therefore it is important to pay a full tithe and offerings. We learn that those who follow the Lord and fear him will be written into a book of remembrance. “…a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.” (Malachi 3:16)

Chapter 4: The Last Days… Elijah Shall Come (and HE DID)

“…the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and that day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi 4:1)

Here the Lord is talking about the end of the world, the time right before the Second Coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. “…the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings… And ye shall tread down the wicked…” (Malachi 4:2-3) The world will be filled with wickedness, but God the Father will send his Son (Jesus Christ) to crush the wicked and save the righteous. God even gave us a sign of the times when He said; “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

What did the Lord mean when He said that Elijah “…shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers…”? (Malachi 4:6)

On April 3, 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery went into the Kirtland Temple to pray, upon finishing their prayer they arose to a vision. In this vision they described; “The veil was take from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened. We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit…” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:1-2) and the Lord said unto them “…I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here… Yea the hearts of thousand and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in the consequence of the blessing which shall be poured out…” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:7&9)

After that the vision closed, and another vision came forth, this time Moses appeared before them and committed unto them “…the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:11)

Again this vision closed, and another vision came forth, this time is was Elijah. Elijah stood before Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and said: “Behold the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi – testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come – To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse – Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:14-16)

095-095-elijah-appearing-in-the-kirtland-temple-med

The KEYS of the FINAL DISPENSATION (A dispensation is a time when God has an authorized prophet on the earth) were given to Joseph Smith as a Prophet in these Last Days by the Prophet Elijah! The Old Testament told us that Elijah would come again, and he did! How glorious is that? The words of the prophet Malachi are fulfilled! With the keys of the final dispensation the hearts of the fathers and children can be sealed together through the temple. Families can be together forever with this sealing power that was given to Joseph Smith by Elijah and passed down all the way to the current Prophet of God’s Restored Church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elijah came…

Malachi 1-2

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Malachi 1-2

Chapter 1: The Jews despise the Lord

The word of the Lord comes to Israel through Malachi “I have loved you… Yet you say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? …yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and I laid his mountains [Edom] and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.” (Malachi 1:2-3) Despite the resolve to return and rebuild, Edom will become known as “…The Border of Wickedness..” (Malachi 1:4).

The Lord continues to address Israel through His prophet Malachi, He asks: “A son honoureth his father and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? …O priests, that have despised my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?” (Malachi 1:6) During this time the priests were offering polluted bread on the Lord’s altar as well as offering sacrifices of defiled and blemished animals (blind, lame, or stolen animals).The Lord’s name shall be dreadful among the heathens.

Chapter 2: The Priests do not keep the Covenants

God sends a word of warning for those who corrupt his gospel, mainly to the wicked priests; “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings… I will corrupt thy seed…” (Malachi 2:2-3) The example of Levi, who made a covenant before the Lord is mentioned, the Lord says that those priests have made others to stumble at His commandments.

During this time the Jewish people were dealing treacherously between one another and the Lord asks; “Have we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” (Malachi 2:10)

We all have ONE father and therefore have no reason to treat each other (strangers or not) as our brothers and sisters.

Summary of Zechariah

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Summary of Zechariah

Chapter by Chapter:

Zechariah 1-2: Zechariah calls Repentance/The Last Days…

Zechariah 3-4: Jesus shall come “The Branch”/Zerubbabel shall finish the Temple

Zechariah 5-6: An angel reveals truths/Christ will sit on His Throne

Zechariah 7-8: Hypocrisy in Fasts/The Restoration

Zechariah 9-10: The Messiah shall come/Judah and Joseph

Zechariah 11-12: Messiah will be Betrayed/The Jews will know Christ

Zechariah 13-14: The Jews will be forgiven/The Lord will fight for Israel

Summary of Zechariah:

Zechariah’s ministry took place during the reign of Darius the Great. Some modern scholars believe that the Book of Zechariah was written by at least two different people. I personally believe that it was only written by Zechariah… but I digress.

Zechariah calls the people of Jerusalem to Repentance, he speaks of the “BRANCH” who is otherwise known as Jesus Christ. He speaks of the Second Coming of Jesus Christs, the Restoration of His Gospel and Church, The Last Days, The wars and the plagues that will befall all the earth if they do not believe in the Lord. Finally at the end of the book we learn that righteousness prevails and the Lord rules over all the earth as King.

Zechariah 13-14

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Zechariah 13-14

Chapter 13: The Jews will be forgiven

The Jews shall gain forgiveness at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. A fountain shall emerge and cleanse the souls of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

One of the Jews will come to Jesus Christ and shall say unto Him “…What are these wounds in thine hands? The he [Jesus Christ] shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends [His people, the Jews].” (Zechariah 13:6)

Jesus explains that if you “…smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” (Zechariah 13:7) Jesus was smitten and because of his Crucifixion, His sheep were scattered.

Jesus continues to address the Jews and tells them and all of His people that they will be tried and tested. Those who endure will be His people.

Chapter 14: The Lord will fight for Israel

At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Lord will fight for Jerusalem. Half of the city of Jerusalem will be taken off in captivity, but the remnant shall not be cut off. The Lord will fight against the nations that attack. Because of the Lord’s anger, The Mount of Olives will be split in two, and those who fought against Jerusalem shall scatter. Living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, which is described as being safely inhabited. The enemies of Jerusalem and their livestock will be stricken with a plague. This plague is described as a flesh eating virus; “…Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. (Zechariah 14:12) Could this be Zombies? Interesting!

All nations shall come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus Christ shall reign over all the Earth as King! All of the wicked shall eventually be destroyed.

Zechariah 11-12

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Zechariah 11-12

Chapter 11: Messiah will be betrayed

Zechariah is told to feed a flock of sheep for slaughter, as the Lord would do with his own people. Zechariah’s two staffs are called Beauty and Bonds. Zechariah dismisses three shepherds and breaks the staff called Beauty. We don’t know who these three shepherds are, but my guess is that they are leading astray the Lord’s people.

Zechariah foretells the Atonement of Jesus Christ and his betrayal for only thirty pieces of silver; “…If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” (Zechariah 11:12)

“The Judas, which had betrayed him… repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood… …And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field…” (Matthew 27:3-4; 9-10)

The Lord was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, both Jeremiah and Zechariah foretold of this.

Chapter 12: The Jews will know Christ

In the final Great War before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, all nations shall be engaged in war at Jerusalem. Zechariah tells us that the Lord will protect Jerusalem;  “…in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” (Zechariah 12:3) The feeble shall become be like David, and the house of David shall be like God. The spirit of grace and supplication will be poured on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The Jews will then see Jesus Christ “…and they shall look upon me [Jesus] whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:10-11)

Zechariah 9-10

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Zechariah 9-10

Chapter 9: The Messiah shall come

Zechariah speaks Messianically and tells us that a lowly King [Jesus Chrisr] riding on a donkey shall come into Jerusalem. Jesus shall speak peace unto the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea. “…the blood of thy covenant [The Atonement] I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.” (Zechariah 9:11).

Here we learn a little about the Spirit Prison, which is a place after death and before judgment where those who have not had the proper light of Christ will be given the opportunity to accept His gospel before the judgment day.

Judah and Ephraim are the bow and arrow to be drawn against Greece. They will be used as instruments of the Lord.

Chapter 10: Judah and Joseph

Judah and Joseph shall be sown among the people in far countries. The Lord will grant showers of rain to help with the crops. The people of God will conquer, while idolaters will be led astray like sheep. The houses of both Judah and Jerusalem will be restored along with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Zechariah 7-8

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Zechariah 7-8

Chapter 7: Hypocrisy in Fasts

In the fourth year of Darius, the people ask if they should weep and fast in the fifth month to commemorate the destruction of the first temple. The Lord criticizes those who fast without a purpose, asking; “…did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” (Zechariah 7:5). He goes on to explain that all things done in hypocrisy are not of the Lord. Compassion and mercy unto your fellow man is more important than hypocrisy in fasting. It is very important to note that fasting is not hypocrisy if done with true intent for the Lord!

Chapter 8: The Restoration

The word of the Lord again comes to Zechariah and told him “…I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy…” (Zechariah 8:2). The Lord tells Zechariah that He will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be a safe place with children playing in the streets. It will be secure and safe. More people will return from the east and the west. The Lord also encourages the people to finish the temple. Judah is described as being a curse, but a curse that shall become a blessing.

The Lord explains that He is as determined to bless the people now as He was to punish them in the past. The Lord tells Zechariah what the people must and must not do to keep the Lord from becoming angry; “…Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.” (Zechariah 8:16-17)