TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Part
I
Why Is Our Text Mentioned
Under the Sixth Seal?
What Do We Know about
the
"Four Winds"?
|
Part
II
"I Have Spread You Abroad"
"Four Winds of Heaven"
Zechariah 6—
Spirit World's
Influence in Religion
|
Part
III
Daniel's "Four Winds" Abated
The Rulers of Darkness
"Four Corners of the Earth"
Great World Religions
Why "Winds of Earth"
Instead of "Heaven"?
|
Part
IV
THE KEYS OF THIS BLOOD
A Church Pulled in All Directions
Identifying the
"Four Winds
of Earth"
The Piggyback Globalists
|
Part
V
What or Who are the "Four
Angels"
Holding the "Winds"?
"Till We Have Sealed the
Servants of Our God"
"Sealing" the Saints
|
Part
VI
"Dragon, Beast and False
Prophet"
—Revelation 16
Last Plague Poured Out
on the "Air" |
Part II
"I Have Spread You Abroad as
Four Winds"
"Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord:
for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord."
Zechariah 2:6
This may apply to natural Israel taken into captivity in Babylon and
invited later to return to their homeland. Also, it might apply to natural Israel invited
to flee from northern Europe.
But we think the main application is to spiritual Israel taken
captive in antitypical Babylon. It is from spiritual Babylon that the Lord calls
his people, from the "four winds of heaven."
This is confirmed in Matthew 24:31.
"And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other."
|
The purpose of the harvest at the end of the age is to gather his elect church from the
"four winds of heaven" and from "one end of heaven to the other."
The Lord’s people were called out from the
controlling spiritual ruling powers of this world.
|
"Four Winds of Heaven"
Zechariah 6:5
"Four winds" are mentioned in Zechariah 6:5. This is a
difficult chapter, and traditional Bible Student writings have no comment on it. Chapter six opens with a
description of "four chariots" coming forth from between two copper mountains.
Bro. Meggison suggests these mountains, being of copper, represent the
Kingdom of Adam and the Kingdom of God at the end of the Millennium.
Bro. Loomis had a somewhat different thought, suggesting the two
kingdoms of copper were essentially the professed Kingdom of God (which is really the
kingdom of this world) and the earthly phase of the true Kingdom (Israel) which replaces the
counterfeit Kingdom.
There are "four chariots" powered by "four
horses." "Chariots" may well represent organizations, and
"horses" may represent teachings or doctrines. The color sequence of the horses
is not in the same order as in Revelation 6:1-8.
| |
Zechariah 6:2, 3
Horses with chariots |
Revelation 6:1-8
Horses
(no chariots) |
|
1 |
Red
(bay, NEB,
or reddish brown) |
White |
|
2 |
Black |
Red |
|
3 |
White |
Black |
|
4 |
Grisled
and bay
(dappled, NEB, or roan)
(Probably black
with gray spots) |
Pale |
Revelation 6:1-8 is given to show the deterioration that took place
in four successive stages of the Gospel church (covering a long period of
time).
Zechariah 6:1-8 seems to speak of something rather contemporaneous.
Each of the horses and its chariot goes forth to a different quarter in the same time-frame.
"And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of
the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth."
Zechariah 6:5
The King James calls them "four spirits," but it should
really be "four winds." In Daniel the "four winds of heaven"
represented the evil spirit world that was striving among themselves for preeminence,
then placated when religious blocks of power were gained successively in Babylon, Medo-Persia and
Greece. The devil and his counterfeit religion, which supplanted true Christianity,
controlled Rome as the fourth dominion. Daniel gives us a long view of history.
Zechariah’s prophesy parallels Revelation 7:1-4 in time sequence.
The difference is, Zechariah speaks of the "four winds of heaven,"
whereas Revelation 7:1 speaks of holding back "the winds of earth."
The "winds of heaven" have to do with controlling
the
spiritual or religious mechanisms of this world. The "winds" of the
"earth" are religions attempting to control civil governments and world powers.
It is important to know that evil spirit powers did
not care what false teachings might be used. The only thing necessary is
that it be successful in controlling the masses along with the government.
|
Zechariah |
Revelation |
|
4 Winds of
Heaven |
4 Winds of
Earth |
|
= Controlling
the spiritual or religious systems |
= Religions
attempting to control civil governments and world powers |
Zechariah 6:1-8
Shows Spirit World's Influence in Religion
(Recommended NEB Here)
The color in listing of the "horses" in Zechariah 6:2, 3
are different in Zechariah 6:6, 7.
BLACK HORSES
|
Teachings which destroy light and truth, whether false doctrines or humanistic faith
destroying teachings.
How do these quiet "my
[God’s] spirit in the north country"
[where God is represented] (Zechariah 6:8)?
These dark teachings have not interfered with the development of the true
church and their sealing because they are children of light.
God knew these false doctrines would not affect the "sealing" work
in the saints and, therefore, this event "quieted my spirit."
|
WHITE HORSES
White is a symbol of purity and
hence this horse would embody certain Biblical truths.
|
In Acts 16:17 an evil spirit of divination using a woman said, "These men are the
servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation."
While what she said was true, Paul was annoyed by her testimony and exorcised her.
Likewise, certain truths affirmed by the World-Wide Church (Herbert Armstrong
who attended Bible Student meetings many years ago), Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Christadelphians and many other Christian groups who teach certain truths,
always manage to come up short of teaching the whole counsel of God.
They teach, no doubt, for the Lord’s sake, but not for His glory.
Consequently, whatever truth they teach, tends to serve their own agenda and not
God’s Divine purpose.
|
DAPPLED AND GRAY HORSES
These are
spirits' teachings involved in eastern religions, new age, occult, and the like.
|
These are mind-controlling forces used by evil spirits to dominate certain segments of
society.
They bring enhanced power to the evil spirits in this time of
"judgment of the Great Day."
These are all operating now under Divine review and
permission—but not with
His blessing.
Rather they serve to reveal the character of these fallen spirits in bringing
God’s final judgment.
Remember how Sodom put in its worst performance on the very day it was
destroyed.
God sent his angels there to give a final review before destroying them.
So we should expect the "four winds of heaven" to proceed with
vigor until their final review comes.
|
RED HORSE
(Bay, NEB—actually
reddish brown)
|
Red is a symbol of sin and is also used to represent sin-atonement.
Red mixed with brown (the color of earth) seems to be a commingling of
"red" teachings of redemption with political or earthly interests.
Hence it is the sinful use of religious teachings to promote selfish
world-ambitions while appealing to pride and power lust.
|
Bro. Loomis’ views are epitomized here with the realization
that he left it rather open-ended. It is better to leave room for improvement and
sharpening our insights rather than to try for a final reading when we still have
loose-ends to deal with.
Summarizing Zechariah’s vision and the "four winds of
heaven," we believe it is showing the religious mind-conditioning going on in the
world as the nations organize, saying,
"Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in
derision"
(Psalms 2:3, 4).
Religion is embodied in the "four winds of heaven."
It is religion that creates the mind-set needed to create one-world order, which Satan is
moving to establish without success. We know that religions have been very nationalistic in the last two
world wars.
Embarrassingly, Christian nations (so-called) were fighting each other
under different flags. Now Satan knew that really was an awkward situation to be in. The
present scheme of things is moving toward a wobbly one-world government
which will not be realized.
