The False Shepherd

Zechariah 11:15‑17

     Those of you who have been with us for our study of this wonderful book are well aware of the tremendous prophetic importance that it carries.  And we have really covered so much of the prophetic picture, all the way from the history of the time of Zechariah clear to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and many many events in between.  And one of the most significant events that is on the horizon prophetically is the rise of an individual that is commonly known as the Antichrist.  Although that it is not specifically his title in Scripture, that title certainly fits him well.  And we commonly know him as the Antichrist.  John says there are many antichrists but there is one that we tend to think of as the most vehement rebellious Antichrist person who will ever live, apart from Satan himself.

     And as we come to Zechariah chapter 11, we come face to face with this human being.  He's not a demon and he's not a fallen angel, in that sense, he's not Satan, he is a human being, the most anti‑God rebellious human being yet to arrive on the scene.  In the context of Zechariah chapter 11, he appears as the false shepherd, the false shepherd.  Or, if you'll notice verse 15, he is called the foolish shepherd.  In verse 17, he is called the idol shepherd.  But he is a false shepherd in contrast to the true shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.

     Now the theme of Antichrist is not a new theme in the Bible.  It's one that appears in many places.  In fact, it's most interesting to me that the Apostle John writing in the first century to a wide circle of believers said this remarkable sentence, "Little children, you have heard that Antichrist shall come."  Now that's interesting.  How had they heard that Antichrist shall come?  How had it become common knowledge as that statement seems to indicate that Antichrist should come? 

     Well, in the first place, it had been distinctly spoken of by the Apostles.  For example, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul writes specifically about the coming of this individual.  In verse 8, "Then shall that wicked one be revealed."  Verse 3, "That man of sin will be revealed called the son of perdition."  So it was apostolic proclamation and apostolic writing that this Antichrist, man of sin, son of perdition, whatever you choose to call him, would come.

     Undoubtedly, they also had heard about it because it was distinctly alluded to by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  In John chapter 5 and verse 43, Jesus said, "I am come in My Father's name and you receive Me not.  If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive."  Now here Jesus is really echoing the thought of Zechariah 11, that Israel will reject the true shepherd and accept the false shepherd.  That's what Jesus is saying basically.

     And again, I think, in the twenty‑fourth of Matthew, again Jesus alludes to the coming of such and one as Antichrist.  He talks about the abomination of desolations and He refers to Daniel 9, the time when they will make a covenant with the prince that shall come for one week.  He goes on to talk about Tribulation.  He says there will be false Christs and false apostles and so forth and the reference there back to Daniel 9 indicates that Jesus pointed out to them that this that Daniel had said would happen.  And it certainly involved the prince that would come, the false Christ that Daniel referred to in chapter 9 verse 27.  We'll see that in a moment.  So it was not only proclaimed by the apostles, but it was alluded to by Jesus Himself.

     Now in addition to that, it was strictly and clearly prophesied in the Old Testament that Antichrist would come.  And here we find one such prophecy in Zechariah chapter 11 verse 15, let's look at it.  And I'm going to read these three verses to you.  "And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd, for lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who shall not visit those that are cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which standeth still, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hoofs in pieces.  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaves the flock, the sword shall be on his arm and on his right eye.  His arm shall be completely dried up and his right eye shall be utterly darkened."  Now that is one of several Old Testament passages referring to this Antichrist personality, this false shepherd, foolish shepherd, idol shepherd that is to come. 

     Now let me set the stage for you a little bit so you'll understand the context in which this individual comes.  God and Satan have been at war ever since Satan fell.  Way back in eternity before the world began, Satan pulled off a rebellion.  And he said, "I will be like the Most High, I will ascend and I will be equal with God."  And God threw him out of heaven and with him went a host of the angels.

     And since that time, Satan and his angels have been in rebellion against God.  Now the particular attack that Satan has been most concentrating on since the world began after the fall of Adam has been to attack the seed promised in Genesis 3:15.  Because it says in Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head.  In other words, God says there's going to be someone coming, a seed is going to come that is going to bruise Satan and his dominion.  Now Satan knows this.  He knows this.  And he's doing everything he can throughout all of history to try to stop this seed from arriving.  And the seed, of course, ultimately is Messiah.  But Messiah to come must come through the nation Israel.  So Satan is always trying to stomp out Israel as well as stamp out Messiah.  So you see through history Satan's great effort against God's people Israel and against Jesus Christ.  And even now that Christ is already here, Satan still attacks Christ and he still attacks Israel.

     But initially as you go back in history, you find that Satan's first approach, once he knew the seed was going to come, was to try to corrupt the human race so badly and so devastatingly and so totally corrupt the human race that no such seed could ever be born.  And he did it by having demons cohabitate with women in Genesis 6.  It says, "The sons of God cohabitated with the daughters of men."  He tried to produce a kind of a half‑breed race demon‑man, sort of a Rosemary's Baby civilization and thus corrupt humanity in some kind of a demon‑ human combination that would preclude the possibility of a seed being born...a Messianic seed, a redeemer.  And, of course, you know what happened, God drowned that entire race in the flood, saving only Noah and his family.  Satan failed.

     In Exodus chapter 1, Satan again tried to destroy Israel.  He tried to destroy the possibility of a seed there by trying to wipe out all male children in Israel.  And you'll remember that Pharaoh made a decree while Israel was in Egypt that all male children be slaughtered.  And again, God preserved the people of Israel.  One little baby wasn't slaughtered, it was Moses.  And Moses came to be the man who led Israel out of bondage and into the promised land and Satan's effort was thwarted again.

     Again Satan tried to break the royal line in 2 Chronicles, and you might want to turn in your Bible to 2 Chronicles, I'm going to spend a minute or two there, but in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, 21, 22 and 23 which is right at the heart of the issue I want to point at, and we'll mention several scriptures here, we find that Satan attempts to break the royal line.  Now watch.  Once Israel was established as a nation, and God had called out David and David's line was to be the Messianic line, the Messiah had to come through that kingly line.  And so Satan tries to break the kingly line to remove all male children so the line comes to a termination.  And you have in 2 Chronicles 21, for example, Jehoram killing all his brothers.  And Jehoram just slaughters all his brothers which is just wholesale slaughtering and wiping out of the royal line.  And it all comes down to one, just one individual is left in the royal line. 

     But that individual had sons, that individual had sons, we thank God for that.  But then the Arabians came, as the story goes through this text, and killed all the sons, but they missed the youngest son.  And in chapter 22 verse 1 it says, "So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned."  They...the Arabians in the same verse, they slew everybody but Ahaziah the youngest son, they missed him.  And so again the thing was reduced to one individual, he reigned only one year and he was a very, very wicked man.  But nonetheless, he was in the Messianic line.  He was counseled by his vile evil mother whose name was Athaliah.  And he was then wounded severely and now the Messianic line was down to one individual who was severely wounded but he recovered.  He was later killed in a war by Jehus but not before he had sons.

     Now we go to chapter 22 verse 10 and let's pick up the story.  Ahaziah is dead and he was the single thread in the line but he has had his sons.  But once he is dead, when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.  This woman was the tool of Satan to destroy the total royal seed.  But watch, "But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons who were slain and put him and his nurse in a bed chamber so Jehoshabeath the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so that she slew him not and he was with them hidden in the house of God six years," while this terrible vile woman, his grandmother Athaliah reigned over Israel.  One sister, Jehoshabeath, hid one little boy, Joash, who was the last thread in the royal seed.  If Joash dies, there's no seed left of the line of David from which Messiah could be born.

     So, for six years the hope of Israel was held in the hand of one little boy whose life was hidden.  And believe me, that little boy was a little boy that Satan wanted dead.  Do you believe that?  You know he did.

     And then verse 20...chapter 23 verse 1, "And in the seventh year, Jehoiada to strengthen himself and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham and Ishmael and all those other names, and they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the fathers of Israel and came to Jerusalem and all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God and he said unto them, Behold, the king's son shall reign as the Lord hath said of the sons of David."  And as it turned out, Athaliah was later killed.  And so there was a promise of victory and the little life was spared and the seed went on and Satan was again thwarted.

     Satan couldn't stop it with a cross‑breed race in Genesis 6.  He couldn't stop it by trying to slaughter the male children in Egypt in Exodus 1.  And he couldn't stop it by trying to slaughter off all the line under Athaliah in 2 Chronicles. 

     The book of Esther follows up on the story and how Satan again tried to get the whole of Israel wiped out.  But the king couldn't sleep one night, pagan man but he went and asked someone to read to him.  And the story that he heard saved the Jews from wholesale slaughter and again Satan was thwarted.

     And then when you come into the New Testament, there was Herod who tried to slaughter every male child born but he missed on the Messiah.  Then there was Satan who approached Jesus as He began His ministry and tried to thwart Him with temptation.  And he failed again.  And then there were the people of Nazareth who wanted to push Jesus off a cliff, but they failed again and He passed through the midst of them unseen.  And finally Satan got Him and had Him nailed to a cross and locked in a tomb and sealed in a tomb.  And that failed because He came out of the grave.  And Satan is a loser, folks.  He's lost every effort.  He's always attacked God.  He has always attacked God's people.  He has always attacked God's King, Jesus Christ.  And he never stops. 

     And he continues right in this present age to fight.  Well, after all, what does it say in Ephesians chapter 6?  "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against...what?...principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."  We're in a battle against the demonic forces and Satan himself.  The war is still on.  And it says in Matthew 16, "But even in this age, Christ said, I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."  The assumption there is that the gates of hell are trying, see.  Satan is still at it.  And there's coming a future time when Satan pulls another attack.  Not tonight, but sometime read the twelfth chapter of Revelation and in it you'll read about the war that's going to happen in heaven when Satan and all of his demons make war on Michael and all the holy angels.  And they pull off a heavenly war.  You've heard of "Star Wars," well, this is something far beyond that.  This is the demons against the angelic hosts in the heavens.

     Now what happens in that war is very interesting.  Michael and the angels win.  It's already settled.  Michael and the angels win, Revelation 12 tells us, and God casts Satan and his host to the earth.  And they hit the earth during the period of time known as the Tribulation.  And they begin to spawn all their evil during that time period.  And when he hits the earth in the Tribulation, he again goes after the same things.  He tries to destroy Israel.  He tries to destroy God's people.  He tries to attack God's Christ, the Messiah.

     Now in order to do this during the Tribulation, in order for Satan to pull this whole thing off, one final big shot there, he wants a man.  He uses a man to be his tool.  This man's task is going to be to try to destroy Israel, try to eliminate God's people, try to set up a world government of evil.  And then when Christ returns, to try to knock Christ out of the sky and be victorious.  That's Satan's effort.  He's got a man in mind.  And that man is going to be his tool to set up a worldwide government of evil, to kill the Jews, to slaughter the believers of the Tribulation and then to try to shoot Christ out of the sky when He returns.  Satan's banking on the possibility that this can work.  He's relentless, I'll say that for him, even though he's lost ever other battle.

     Now when we start to look at this man that he's going to use to try to fight against Christ in the Tribulation, we find that he's a most amazing man.  Let me tell you several things about him.  First of all, he will be an intellectual genius.  He will be an intellectual genius.  That's very clear, and don't try to follow me but just note this, that's very clear in several places but particularly in Daniel 7 and verse 8 where it describes him in this way, "He had eyes like the eyes of a man."  Now "eyes" refer to intelligence.  And the idea of the eyes here is that he has great intelligence.  And then not only is he...and incidentally, you can compare verse 20 which similarly says that he had eyes.  And eyes in an image like this, and this is an image of a beast he sees here, a horn really, the image of eyes in symbolic language has seemingly a primary reference to intelligence.  So he'll be intellectually a genius.

     Secondly, he will be an outstanding orator.  And leadership is predicated obviously on the ability to orate and to speak.  And he will be an outstanding orator.  It says in Daniel 7 verse 8 he will have a mouth speaking great things.  And again in verse 20, the same thing again is repeated, he has a mouth that spoke very great things.  So he will be an intellectual genius.  He will be an outstanding orator.

     Thirdly, he will be a master politician.  He will be a master politician.  And the reason I believe that is because he will be able to take over the whole world.  He will be able to move into the slot that has been a great vacuum in human society, the one individual who can bring peace to the world.  In fact, in Revelation 6 verse 2 it says, "Without any arrows, he'll come riding with a bow, no arrows, and he'll conquer the world."  Which means he'll conquer peacefully through politics.  He'll be a political genius.  It says in Daniel 11:21, "In his estate shall stand up a vile person‑‑that's the Antichrist‑‑to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he will come in peaceably‑‑watch this‑‑and obtain the kingdom by flatteries," Daniel 11:21.  He will win the world with his flattery. 

     So, he will be an intellectual genius, an outstanding orator, and a master politician.  Fourthly, he'll be a commercial wizard.  He will have his hands on economics and commerce.  He will be knowledgeable in that area.  In Daniel 8:25, back to chapter 8 here, it says, "And through his policy also he shall cause deceit to prosper in his hand, he shall magnify himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many.  He shall stand up against the Prince of Princes but he shall be broken without hand."  Now ultimately he will be broken.  But notice, he will have a policy which causes deceit to prosper in his hand.  He will be a wizard at building a world system of economics that feeds his own pocket.  And if you want to get a glimpse of the economic system that he will build, read the eighteenth chapter of Revelation, it describes it to a tee.  It will be commerce like the world has never known...great ships are mentioned there and great trade is mentioned there and all of the...in fact, it even tells many of the things that will be occurring in terms of trade.  He will build a world commercial enterprise which is built by deceit unparalleled in history and feeding his own pocket.

     So, this is an unusual man, intellectual genius, outstanding orator, master politician, commercial wizard and fifthly, a military genius as well.  He will be a military man without equal.  He is going to be able, according to Daniel 7:23, to devour the whole earth, tread it down and break it in pieces.  He's going to be everything that Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great and all the Caesars were and Napoleon Bonaparte and anybody else all put together in terms of military ability...a tremendous military power.  In Revelation chapter 13 in verse 4 we read about him.  "And they worshiped the dragon who gave power to the beast‑‑this is the Antichrist, and it says‑‑Who is like the beast, who is able to make war with him?"  And it says in verse 7, "It was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations."  He literally conquers the world.  He is a military genius unsurpassed.

     Sixth, he will be a religious leader.  And this is a most interesting combination.  He will be a religious leader.  In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, I'll show you what his religion is.  He's called the "Man of sin, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God."  So he's religious in the sense that he wants the whole world to worship whom?  Himself.

     In other words, he will be anti‑God, anti‑Christ, anti‑ Christianity, and he will call the world to worship him.  Quite a man.  This is a human being we're talking about, a man that will come.  Satan's final effort to thwart Christ from coming and taking His kingdom will be generated through this man.

     Now you say, "This demonic puppet of Satan, does he know who he is?"  I don't know the answer to that.  "Do we know who he is?"  I don't know the answer to that.  Don't worry about that.  He is who he is and he will be who he will be and it will all happen the way the Bible says.  It isn't important that we know that.  People always want to add up numbers and come to all kinds of crazy conclusions but that's not the point. 

     You say, "But how could he ever pull it off?  I mean, this is a sophisticated world, there's so much diversity in politics, how could everybody agree on one politician?  There's so much diversity in economics and commerce, how could everybody agree on one kind of approach to it?  There's so much diversity in religion, how could anybody ever imagine the whole world bowing to this guy?  There have been a lot of powerful men, but it's inconceivable that anything like this could literally take over the world."  Well, you've never seen a man like this.  And what makes it look so easy for him, what makes it appear so very easy to me, it's not going to be hard for him, somehow the world is going to be so ready for him it's just going to all fall at his feet.  And the thing that is so amazing to me is that he can even deceive Israel.  And Israel is the rebel of the world, you know that.  I mean, they do their own thing their own way and don't listen to anybody.  And he will even deceive them and at the start of the Tribulation he'll actually bring them right under his power with the rest of the world, look at Daniel 9:26.  And here it is, in Daniel 9:26, "At the end of the seventieth week of Daniel, which is the Tribulation, after threescore and two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off," this is the seventieth week, adding all the ones from the previous verses up, the seventieth week, after Messiah's cut off, "the people of the prince that shall come," now here he is, "the prince that shall come" he's called, "the prince that shall come."  Then verse 27, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week." 

     Now here is the idea, and we won't go into too much background on it, but just to say this, this prince that will come makes a covenant with Israel for seven years.  That's the period of the Tribulation. During that period of time, Israel falls under his spell and they make a covenant with him.  In the middle of the week, verse 27 says, in the middle of the week, he violates it.  He commits the abomination of desolation.  He desecrates the temple.  And then all hell breaks loose.  And that's what Jesus referred to in Matthew 24 when He said the thing which Daniel spoke of, the abomination of desolation, where the Antichrist goes along for three and half years allowing Israel a little bit of liberty, and then he comes down and he desecrates the temple, he stops all worship.  He says, "Worship me alone."  He begins the slaughter that is the last half of the Tribulation.  And Jesus said when you see that, grab everything you've got and run...flee.  And if the Lord didn't spare, everybody would be slaughtered, it says in Matthew 24.

     But the thing that is so incredible is that this individual is going to come and not only be able to set this thing up with the whole world but he's even going to bring Israel in under it as well.  And I believe he'll come out of the Roman kingdom.  I believe that he'll be a part of that by the indication of the fact that he's called...that it says there, "The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city."  And the people that destroyed the city of Jerusalem were the Romans.  And this prince will come out of the Roman world, the revived Roman Empire that comes together in the last days.  That's why I believe he'll be a Gentile out of Europe, or at least related closely to that.

     So, he makes a pact with Israel.  Now stay with me.  And he moves into position.  The whole world is in his hands.  Israel is in his hand. He's got a worldwide organization and army like no other army in history.  He has total control and he is going to try to hang on to the kingdom of the world when Christ returns and defeat Christ.  That's Satan's whole effort.  He thinks if he can just amass the whole world against Christ maybe he can hold it against the returning Christ who comes to set up His kingdom at the end of the Tribulation.

     Now Zechariah comes into the picture precisely at this point.  Let's look back at Zechariah chapter 11 because Zechariah tells us in these three little verses that Israel is going to accept this false shepherd.  Now let me give you a quick review now, it's not going to last long so listen.  This is a chapter about shepherds, remember?  The first three verses discuss the ravage of the wailing shepherds.  The prophet in this chapter is acting.  Remember, we told you he's like putting on a play in front of the people in the city.  And he's acting out a part. And the chapter begins with the ravage of the wailing shepherds. The first thing you see is some shepherds are crying and wailing.  Why?  Because he is predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the ravages and the wailing and the spoil that's going to take place.  Desolation is coming, that's the first three verses.  In 70 A.D. it came.

     And then we saw the rejection of the true shepherd.  Not only the ravage of the wailing shepherd, but the rejection of the true shepherd.  And from verse 4 to 14, Zechariah acted out the rejection of Jesus Christ.  Somehow he played the part of the coming shepherd and dramatized for the people what they were going to do to the Christ.  He even discusses the betrayal of Judas in verses 12 to 14.  There was a price, 30 pieces of silver, cast in the house of the Lord, ultimately given to a potter.  All of that was fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ. 

     So, Zechariah here is like a play actor.  He stands on the stage which is Jerusalem in the time in which he lived, to the people who had come back from the captivity and he says, "Look what's in your future, people.  First of all there is the wailing of shepherds who have been ravaged and destroyed.  And the reason they have been is because when the true shepherd comes, you won't receive him."  And then he goes and acts that very thing out in verses 4 to 14.  And then when he hits verse 15, he talks about the reception of the false shepherd.  He says what is so strange is that while you have rejected the true shepherd, in the end you will receive a false one.  What a mix up.  What an exchange.

     Now notice this, there's a gap from verse 14 to verse 15 that jumps all the way from 70 A.D. to the great Tribulation.  When Jesus came into the world, they refused Jesus.  They crucified Him about 30 A.D.  About forty years later, 70 A.D., the prophecy of this chapter was fulfilled.  The land was wiped out.  And that came because they rejected the true shepherd.

     Now in verse 15 He says, I want you to act out one more part, Zechariah, I want you to take the instruments of a foolish shepherd.