Broken Staff Restored

Read Zechariah 11
 
Zechariah 11:14-17 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs. 17 Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!”
 
GOD’s staff of Favor is broken. His gracious care over Israel has departed. Now Zechariah broke the second staff called Union. Although Judah and Israel had been politically separated for centuries, and Israel was no longer a nation, this language points to the end of the covenant nation Israel. This will occur  when they reject the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Israel has not been a nation under God’s care since Jesus’ crucifixion. He certainly is still the God of faithful Jews, who have and will become followers of Jesus. But Israel since then is not a nation under God’s covenant.
   With the rejection of the Good Shepherd, worthless shepherds lead Israel. The loss of “arm” and “right eye” indicates the loss of power and insight necessary for leadership. We read in the gospels of horrible, despotic leaders such as the Herods, Pilate and others. Before then, other leaders of aggressive empires did awful things against God’s law and his temple in Jerusalem. Too, the Jewish authorities were self-centered and ignorant of God’s true law. Their “tools” of leadership are self-centered gain and power, oppressing people’s minds and hearts.
   Verses 15-17 can also point to an end-time Antichrist – any leader who opposes Christ. We have plenty of those. Jesus, too, prophesied this: John 5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 
   Instead of defending the flock, the foolish shepherd will destroy it: Revelation 13:7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.  
   But God (two wonderful words, aren’t they?) has written a victorious story. Out of his world will come his people, his church, his redeemed to live in Union and Favor with the Good Shepherd forever. Praise God that one day the true Shepherd will remove all evil.
 
Revelation 19:19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.