Quality Carpenter Needed

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Zechariah describes a prophetic vision of 4 horns and 4 carpenters. Each one would overcome the other in competition. Who is the last one we are waiting for, to complete the prophecy?

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Zec 1:18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

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Zec 1:19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What [be] these? And he answered me, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

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Zec 1:20 And the LORD showed me four carpenters.

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Zec 1:21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

In this prophecy, the horns represented the powers that would scatter Judah and Israel, and the carpenters would represent the next empire that would come, and defeat that power.

Horns are powers that scatter and destroy.

Carpenters are builders.

So each power would begin as a horn, and then fall under the next power, or horn.

The incoming power would be the carpenter that would cast out the previous horn.

So each incoming horn acts as a carpenter, a builder.

Throughout history, scholars have watched this prophecy be fulfilled, with one successive event after another. The pattern looked like this until 313 CE:

4 carpenters		Darius- Medo-Persians	Greece – Alexander the Great	Rome	?
4 horns	Babylon	Babylon	Darius- Medo-Persians	Greece – Alexander the Great	Rome

Then, it got a little crazy after that. Here is the whole history:

Foreign Empires that ruled in Israel
587 BCE	Babylonian	B
538-333 BCE	Persian	P
333-63 BCE	Greek ( Hellenistic)	G
63 BCE-313 CE	Roman	R
313-636	Byzantine	G
636-1099	Arab (Syrian)	B/P
1099-1291	Crusaders	R
1291-1516	Mamluk (Turk)	B/P
1516-1918	Ottoman (Turk)	B/P
1917-1948	British	R

For the past 1000 years, there appears to be a competition between the Babylonian/ Persian horn and the Roman horn.

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Was Zechariah wrong, or just incomplete? The answer is neither.

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Apparently, he was generalizing about the 4 powers that would struggle over the land of Israel, until God stopped the conflicts with the last carpenter.

If one visits Jerusalem, one will see the Greek, Roman, and Persian/Babylonian (Islamic) all influence there.

But the clue is in verse 21, about the last carpenter:

…..but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

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Until there is a final casting out of all gentile horns who scatter Israel, the prophecy is not fulfilled yet.

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Who would be the last carpenter to cast out all horns?

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He cannot be a gentile. He must be Jewish!

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It obviously cannot be one of the horns, because the last carpenter cannot be a destroyer, just a builder, and he would have re-gather Israel, not scatter it once again.

The empires mentioned above so far, are not qualified, since they have all scattered Israel.

So, Who is qualified to re-gather Israel into the land forever?

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Who is qualified to conquer, cast out all scattering gentile horns, and then build something that will last forever?

Only the Lord God builds the ruined places:

Eze 36:36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined [places, and] plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken [it], and I will do [it].

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Amo 9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

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Amo 9:14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

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Who will heaven use for this building and restoration?

Who is the Lord God’s carpenter that we are all familiar with?

Does it not tell us in scripture who will be this last builder?

Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?

Only Jesus can fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah and Amos. Only Jesus will be able to remove all horns of human power, and destruction, and scattering.

Only Jesus can bring unity to a hurting land, and suffering world.

Jesus is the last carpenter.

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God has a way of speaking to us, if we only listen. I was driving home, and passed a small sign, posted to a tree. It said “Quality Carpenter Needed.” It immediately struck me, that there was only one carpenter I needed in my life.

This is where this post came from.

Listen, and he will speak to you.

Listen, and He will direct you.

Listen, and he will show you the way.

Trust him. He will remove the horns over your life, gather you back to Himself, and rebuild you.

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