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.