Horns and Craftsman
PPT 1 Message Title
Big idea: horns in the bible represent animals that gore, attack and destroy. In this message we will see God's countermeasures to that which the enemy has torn and destroyed. God has craftsman that can undo the enemies works of darkness.
PPT 2 text
Zec 1:18 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns.
Zec 1:19 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
Zec 1:20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
Explain the meaning of horns in the bible.
PPT 3,4 text
Da 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Da 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Re 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Horns have a lot of meanings and usage in the bible. An instrument to make noise, it also symbolizes nations and kings, as illustrated in both the Daniel and Revelation passages. But for the purpose of this passage, and as explained here in the book of Zechariah a horn represents a very violent and destructive force against the people of God.
In context the word is a euphemism for strength and power over one's enemies, here is another passage that also shows the word horn used that way: (Prophecy of Joseph and his descendants)
PPT 5 text and pic of charging bull
De 33:17 In splendor he's like a firstborn bull, his horns the horns of a wild ox; He'll gore the nations with those horns, push them all to the ends of the Earth..."
Have you ever been near an angry or aggressive bull, they are very scary creatures!
In general bulls are expected to weigh 1,600 pounds as a 2-year-old, 1,900 pounds as a 3-year-old and 2,200 pounds (1000 kilo's) as a 4-year-old. That is more than 11 of me!!!!!
So "horns" are used of evil power, as in the book of Daniel, Revelation and here in the book of Zechariah it means that the people associated with such horns is acting powerfully to oppress and destroy others, they have attacked and the Jewish nation and decimated its power and strength. It also means that they are acting as agents of war and destroying everyone and everything that gets in their way.
For us it symbolizes forces that come against individuals and the church to destroy its unity, its power and its influence.
Got expresses His anger at how well these horns did their job in this passage:
PPT 6 text pic bull charging
Zec 1:15 "But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster."
Explain what the horns had done to the people of Israel and even went beyond God's intention.
Possessions taken People killed, nation destroyed. Dispossessed and seemingly abandoned by God and cast off. Made slaves to serve their captors. Here is the resulting horrible thing said about that time and the people of Israel:
PPT 7 text
Zec 7:12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.
Zec 7:13 "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.
They lost faith in God and stopped listening to Him and obeying Him. That is perfectly in line with the devil's mission to steal, kill and destroy.
Even though the people turned their back on God because of much suffering, listen to what God says to them about that:
"When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen," !!!!!
Suffering is no excuse to turn your back on God, and if you do the consequences are terrible. God won't listen to you!
Now it is time to get to the good news.
PPT 8 pic and text
Zec 1:20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
First God lays out the destruction and now He lays out His cure.
When I think of craftsman in the bible I think of Bezalel the artist. He was anointed by God as an artist. Here is how God describes him and his giftings:
PPT 9 text
Ex 31:2 "See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
Ex 31:3 "And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship,
Ex 31:4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze,
Ex 31:5 and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.
God anointed him with wisdom, understanding and knowledge to do all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. His name actually means, in the shadow of God. Think of Psalm 91 in that context, protection, favor and blessing. We usually only think of people being anointed to be kings, prophets, and preachers. But in this text God is very clear that He has anointed Bezalel to be an artist. Another interesting thing about this man is that he is said to be filled with the Spirit of God, and yet he lived under the Old Testament economy!
Bezalel was a man anointed to be an artistic craftsman, and that brings up back to the craftsman in Zechariah chapter 1. Even as Bezalel was filled with the Spirit these craftsman have prepared and equipped by God to undo the workings of the devils horns.
God is about to discuss His countermeasures to the havoc the horns have brought.
PPT text 10
Zec 1:21 And I said, "What are these coming to do?" And he said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it."
In this passage four craftsmen are set in opposition to the four horns. In fact, ultimately the craftsmen terrify and cast down the four horns. The big question is this?who and what are the four craftsmen? I don't know, I can't figure it out, but what I can figure out is that even though I don't know who or what they are I can see from the passage what they are able to accomplish and do.
I can unequivocally say this, any destruction the devil can bring God has craftsman that can undo that destruction.
What carpenter can undo that? Do we know any carpenters in the bible with that kind of specialty? - JESUS!
Here is the big point of this message: Even as hell has beast like creatures that can tear your life apart, God has tradesman that can put it back together and even destroy and terrorize the horns that have come against the people of God.
No matter what mess you may have God has a tradesman that can deal with it.
Now very quickly I want to show a little of they kind of work God's craftsman can do.
I have 2 things I want to show you and I will go through them quickly:
1. Restore the favor of God. God changes from not hearing to hearing intently.
2. Bring the favor of man.
1. Restore the favor of God.
We are going to jump ahead in the book of Zechariah and see an amazing story
PPT 11 - 12 text
Zec 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
Zec 3:2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?"
Zec 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.
Zec 3:4 And he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes."
In this passage Jesus (who is called the anger of the Lord in verse 1, and the Lord in verse 2), deals with the dirty clothes, a depiction of sin, the high priest was wearing.
He didn't remove his own filthy garments, he didn't have clean ones he could put on. God's craftsman - the Word did that. Note he was given festive robes! Beauty for ashes! This is overwhelming victory for overwhelming suffering! The removal of those dirty clothes put Joshua in a position where God would hear his prayers again.
2. God's craftsman bring the favor of man
PPT 16 text
Zec 3:5 Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.
You will notice that the idea to put the clean turban came from Zechariah, (then I said...") and at his request it was given to Joshua.
When God puts His favor on someone, it stirs others up to also to put favor on them. It is like Zechariah is all caught up in the moment and says don't stop at giving him clean clothes, pretty him up some more! The favor of God on Joshua stirred up Zechariah to put more favor on Joshua. That is an example of God putting His favor for you into the heart of other men/women.
Close: As we close this message today have the devils horns torn up your life. Do you feel like God is not answering your prayers and you are aware that you have turned from Him?
Ask God to forgive you and give you clean garments so you can again walk in His favor.
Ask God to sent His craftsman to undo the works of the devils horns.
If you are living right for God, than today is a good day to ask God to make you one of His craftsman. Ask Him to fill you with the spirit of wisdom and understanding so that you can work with Him to destroy the works of the evil one in the hearts and lives of others.
Prayer I want to be one of the Lord's craftsman. I need the Lord to send His craftsman into my life.
