Zechariah’s next vision in the book of Zechariah (chapter 6 if you’ve kept up with the past few days) concerns four chariots, each pulled by its own color of horses (red, black, white, and dapple-gray). When Zechariah asks (v. 4) what they are, he is simply told they are the four spirits or four winds of heaven who stand before the Lord and are going out to do his work, with each chariot going a different direction. Zechariah 6:7 reads, “The powerful horses were eager to set out to patrol the earth. And the Lord said, ‘Go and patrol the earth!’ So they left at once on their patrol.”
While we are not heavenly chariots, we are servants of the Lord who are sent out to do his work, so I think we can draw a few pieces of information from this eight-verse story. First, the chariots were going in different directions across the earth. We have to keep in mind that if everyone serves the Lord in the same direction, on the opposite side of the compass there are souls being neglected and work not being accomplished. Secondly, the horses were eager to work. A big part of work for the Lord is the spirit behind it. Working begrudgingly is not a pleasing aroma to God, but when we work with a spirit of eagerness, he is pleased and blesses our efforts. Lastly, the horses left at once, as soon as they received word from the Lord. This could be the most difficult of the three lessons of the chariots, because we are not always in circumstances where we can see a way to drop everything for the calling we receive when we receive it. So, we put God’s call on hold, essentially, and wait until our things are in order. Jesus echoed the idea of leaving as soon as you are called in his teachings. Read the following from Luke 9:57-62:
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. If we just go back to work and look back from our earthly business at what God’s calling was, we’ve already missed it. If you have to look back at something, either you’ve passed it by, or it has passed you by. The challenge of the chariots is to be eager and ready for the work of God across all corners of the world. We cannot be judged by what we were going to do in the future, only by what we have accomplished.
Today is Christmas Eve, and so as I was reading through Zechariah is was intrigued to find a verse about celebrating holy holidays. Zechariah 7:6 reads, “And even now in the holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?” I had to stop and think, Have I ever eaten or drank anything during Christmas for God’s glory, to please him, or is it always about my stomach, my wants, my desires? I will grant that Christmas is not a specific Jewish holiday with specific holy meals to be eaten for God’s glory, like Passover or a holiday like that; however, if Christmas is really about praising God and glorifying the arrival of the Messiah, shouldn’t our eating and drinking reflect that somehow? I can hardly think of how this would actually occur, but there should at least be some remembrance as we eat and drink together, that we may do what we do to please not just ourselves, but to please God.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, (Luke 1:68-69)
-Zachariah