JESUS and His Worth (Zech.11-14)

In the beginning verses of Zechariah 11, we find...

(Zechariah 11:3-4) ...here is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,
For their glory is ruined;
There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,
For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

4 Thus says the Lord my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter..."

God asked Zechariah to KIND OF take on the role of the coming Messiah, which gives a parallel of what happened with Jesus.  When Zechariah tried to shepherd the Israelites,, they rejected his ministry and insulted him by paying him the pathetic wages of a slave ....

(Zechariah 11:12-13)  I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

"Magnificent price" - God used sarcasm here, since the salvation and all that He offers is priceless!!!  But the fact is clear, the LORD already knew how much money would be paid out when Judas betrayed Him.

(Matthew 26:14-15)  Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him.

Also interesting is where Judas threw the money afterwards, and where the Israelites buried Judas...

(Matthew 27:3-7)  Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”  5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. 6 The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7 And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. 

Several verses later in Zechariah we see another prophecy of Jesus, which is also a prophecy of when Jesus comes to earth again.  When the Israelites see Jesus at His Second Coming, they will then recognize their Messiah, whom they crucified...

(Zechariah 12:10)   “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 

Then in the next chapter comes a reference to the death of Christ and the scattering of the disciples...

(Zechariah 13:7)  “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
And against the man, My Associate,”
Declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered;
And I will turn My hand against the little ones..."

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In chapter 14, Zechariah gives a prophecy that describes the battle of Armageddon...

(Zechariah 14:1-5)  Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!

Next the prophecy describes the Millennium and how the earth will be restored, and the Israelites will see their covenants fulfilled...

(Zechariah 14:9-11)  And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.  10 All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.

Here's an appropriate portion of scripture to close this off....

(2Peter 1:20-21)  So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.