Point well taken. We can however fall towards the other extreme as well. God was kind and gracious for giving us His prophetic word, for sure! But it does seem to me that a balance is needed. IE: staying away from dogmatic interpretations. It is enough to say that we are living in the end times, and we continue to see His prophetic word be fulfilled. As to how that specifically manifests itself on a daily basis I'll leave to the Lord. The other aspect of balance, is just simply trusting God, IMHO! Indeed teaching and interpretation of God's word has and can take on a life of it's own. That said, we would do well to remember that it is His Word! TR David, You are correct that "all the people" are not limited to Israel , but all the nations, includes different kindred, races. Question is, what kind of covenant has God made with "all the people" in history? Noahic covenant ? Not likely because God cannot break this covenant. The only covenant I can think of is the salvation God has made with "all the people" through Jesus Christ. It's for all the people, and is available to all the people. Many of us understand this covenant as the new covenant. Even though God didn't use the word "church" explicitly, but we see the shadow of the church in that verse. You suggest the breaking of the staff Beauty occurs prior to the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus. You also agree that "which I had made with all the people" has nothing to do with Israel because you said all the people are all the nations. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD What kind of covenant has God broken with all the nations prior to the betrayal of Jesus and crucifixion? Also, there is no biblical and historical evidence of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan being cut off by God in one month. And the appearance of Anti Christ the foolish shepherd is still in future. Why would God place his appearance immediately after the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus? When we come to interpret scripture, we should never put ourselves into boxes. And in this case, try to explain away scripture with historical events. Prophecy points events to future. If they have already happened, there should be historical evidence to confirm it. But in the case of Zechariah 11, three shepherds are cut off by God, God breaks a covenant with all the people, and the appearance of Anti Christ, we haven't found their fulfillment in history. Why can't we find them in future? Genesis 3:15 does hint the coming of Messiah and the church era. Yohanan, going back to "Jesus doesn't know the day and hour", I have to disagree with you that Jesus doesn't know the day and hour at all. While he said those words, he was in a human body. But after his ascension to heaven, he knows when the rapture is. 2nd Coming, have you ever heard this story: As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on 280. Please be careful!" "It's not just one car, " said Herman. "It's hundreds of them!" Think about that.
