I.　"The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him"—Zech. 12:1:

A.　In His creation God made three crucial, equally important items—the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man.

B.　The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man was created by God with a spirit that he may contact God, receive God, worship God, live God, fulfill God's purpose for God, and be one with God.

C.　The central government and most prominent part of man's being should be his spirit; a man who is ruled and controlled by his spirit is a spiritual man—1 Cor. 2:14-15; 3:1; 14:32; John 3:6; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:4; Dan. 6:3, 10.

D.　In His economy God planned to have Christ as the centrality and universality of His move on earth; for His chosen people, who would care for Him as the Creator and as the Redeemer, there was the need for God to create a receiving organ so that they would have the capacity to receive all that He had planned for Christ to be.

E.　Hence, Zechariah charges us to pay full attention to our human spirit so that we may receive the Christ revealed in this book and may understand all that is revealed therein concerning Him—Eph. 1:17-18a; 3:5; Gen. 2:7; Isa. 42:5; John 4:24; Phil. 4:23.

F.　The way to fulfill God's economy in the divine history is by Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit in our spirit; Zechariah reveals that the building of the church will be consummated by Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit of grace to be the topstone of grace—4:6-7, 12-14; 3:9; 12:1, 10; Rev. 4:5; 5:6.

II.　We need to exercise our spirit to experience and enjoy Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit in the following aspects:

A.　Christ is a man with a measuring line in His hand, measuring God's people in order to test, judge, examine, and possess them for His kingdom—Zech. 2:1-2; Ezek. 40:3; 47:1-5; Psa. 139:23-24.

B.　"I will be her wall of fire round about, declares Jehovah, and I will be the glory within her"—Zech. 2:5:

1.　That the wall of the city of Jerusalem and the glory within her will be Jehovah Himself indicates that Jehovah as Christ will be the protection of Jerusalem at her circumference and her glory at her center; this shows the centrality and universality of Christ in God's economy.

2.　Today Christ is the glory in the center of the church, and He is also the fire burning around the circumference of the church for her protection; in the New Jerusalem the Triune God in Christ will be the glory at its center (Rev. 21:23; 22:1, 5), and this glory will shine through the transparent wall of the city to be its protection of fire (21:11, 18a, 24).

C.　Christ is the One sent by Jehovah of hosts and is also the Sender, Jehovah of hosts, for the care of His people, who are very dear to Him; whoever touches them touches the pupil of His eye—Zech. 2:8-9, 11; cf. John 14:26; 15:26.

D.　Christ came as a Shepherd, shepherding in Favor (grace) and Bonds (binding); grace is for our being mingled with God, and bonds are for our being bound into oneness—Zech. 11:7; 2:1-2, 5, 8-9, 11; John 21:15-17.

E.　While the Lord is so favorable to us, we should ask Him to send us even more favor, more grace, more "rain"—Zech. 10:1; 12:10; Ezek. 34:26.

F.　After being visited by the Lord as the Shepherd, every weak sheep among God's people becomes a horse of majesty—Zech. 10:3; cf. 9:13, 16; Dan. 11:32b.

G.　Often during our time of morning revival, the Lord whistles to us, calling us and gathering us to Him; the Lord's whistling is not shrill but mild and gentle, somewhat like the singing of a bird—Zech. 10:8.

H.　The Lord strengthens us in Himself so that we may walk about in His name (v. 12; Col. 3:17); "Jehovah will be King over all the earth; and in that day Jehovah will be the one God and His name the one name" (Zech. 14:9).

III.　The focal point and major content of the divine history within human history are the two comings of Christ for the testimony of Jesus, the building of God:

A.　Zechariah 9 through 11 speaks of Christ's lowly first coming, which was humble and intimate:

1.　Christ came as the King of Israel, lowly and riding upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a donkey—9:9-10; Matt. 21:5-10.

2.　Christ came as a Shepherd, shepherding in Favor (grace) and Bonds (binding)—Zech. 11:7-11.

3.　Christ was detested, attacked, rejected, and betrayed by one of His disciples for thirty pieces of silver—vv. 8, 12-13; Matt. 26:14-16; 27:3-10.

4.　Christ was smitten as the Shepherd, and His disciples were scattered as the sheep— Zech. 13:7; Matt. 26:31.

5.　Christ's two hands were wounded on the cross in the house of Israel, the house of those who love Him—Zech. 13:6; John 19:18a.

6.　Christ's side was pierced, and He became an opened fountain for sin and for impurity—Zech. 12:10; 13:1; John 19:18a, 34; Matt. 26:28.

B.　Zechariah 12 through 14 speaks of Christ's victorious second coming, which will be with power and authority:

1.　Christ will come a second time accompanied by His saints, the overcomers—14:5; Joel 3:11; Jude 14.

2.　His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east— Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:9-12.

3.　He will fight for the children of Israel, His chosen people, against the nations that besiege them and will save them from destruction—Zech. 14:2-3, 12-15; 12:1-9.

4.　At that time the whole house of Israel will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him; thus, all Israel will be saved—vv. 10-14; Rom. 11:26.

5.　Afterward, He will be the King to reign and rule over the nations; all the people will go up to Jerusalem year after year to worship Him, and all will be sanctified unto Him—Zech. 9:10; 14:16-21.

IV.　The all-inclusive Christ is the history of God working within the history of man to gain the building of God for the manifestation of God—4:9; 6:12-15; Matt. 16:18; John 1:1, 14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; 21:2:

A.　While Christ is skillfully working to sovereignly control the world situation in human history, He is skillfully working Himself into us in the divine history to make us the masterpiece of His work, the poem of God, a new invention of God, expressing His infinite wisdom and divine design—Acts 5:31; Eph. 2:10.

B.　Christ in His humanity is the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah Himself as the Triune God, standing with God's people in the lowest part of the valley in their humiliation to care for them, intercede for them, and bring them swiftly out of Babylonian captivity—Zech. 1:7- 17; Exo. 3:2, 4-6, 13-15; Isa. 63:9; Deut. 33:27.

C.　Christ is the last Craftsman used by God to break the four horns; the four horns are the four kingdoms with their kings—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire—also signified by the great human image with four sections in Daniel 2:31-33, the four stages of locusts in Joel 1:4, and the four beasts in Daniel 7:3-8, that damaged and destroyed the chosen people of God—Zech. 1:18-21:

1.　The four craftsmen are the skills used by God to destroy these kingdoms with their kings; each of the first three kingdoms (Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece) was taken over in a skillful way by the kingdom that followed it—Dan. 5; 8:3-7.

2.　The fourth Craftsman will be Christ as the stone cut out without hands, who will crush the restored Roman Empire and thereby crush the great human image as the totality of human government at His coming back—2:31-35.

3.　This stone signifies not only the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ, Christ with His "mighty ones"—Joel 3:11.

D.　In order to live in the divine history within the human history and become Christ's mighty ones for His building, we need to apply the cleansing blood of Christ, live in the divine Spirit of Christ, and abide in the beautifying and killing word of Christ to flow out Christ for the unique expression of Christ—Zech. 3:3-4; 1 John 1:9; Zech. 4:6; 12:1; Rev. 19:13- 15; Eph. 5:26; 6:17; 1 Cor. 10:16; Zech. 4:12-14; John 7:37-39a.

V.　The world situation has always been the indicator of the Lord's move on earth—cf. 1 Chron. 12:32a:

A.　The mystery of lawlessness is working today among the nations and in human society; this lawlessness will culminate in the man of lawlessness, Antichrist—2 Thes. 2:3-12:

1.　Antichrist will be the power of Satan, the embodiment of Satan; he will persecute and destroy the people of God—both the God-fearing Jews and the Christ-believing Christians—Dan. 8:24; Rev. 12:17; 13:7.

2.　Antichrist will demolish and desolate the temple of God and the city of God; he will cast truth down to the ground—Dan. 9:27; 8:12.

3.　Antichrist will have sharp insight to perceive things and will speak things against the Most High—7:8, 20, 25.

4.　Antichrist will wear out the saints of the Most High—v. 25; cf. Mark 6:45-52.

5.　Satan and Antichrist want the souls of men to be the instruments for their activities in the last age—Rev. 18:11-13; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; cf. Zech. 12:1.

B.　The ten kings typified by the ten toes of the great image in Daniel 2 will be under Antichrist, who will be the last Caesar of the revived Roman Empire; all this will transpire in Europe—Rev. 17:10-14:

1.　Before the crushing of Antichrist and the totality of human government transpires, the Lord's recovery must spread to Europe and be rooted there.

2.　The spreading of the truths of the Lord's recovery will be a preparation for the Lord's coming back to bring the recovery and restoration not only to Israel but also to the entire creation—Matt. 24:14; cf. Rev. 5:6.

3.　We should tell the Lord, "Lord, these days are the consummation of the age. Lord, in these days rekindle my love toward You."