Destination: Zechariah and Malachi | Skip Heitzig

[Music] this takeoff brings us to the last segment in our flight over the Old Testament Zechariah was from a line of priests he was born in Babylon and brought to Jerusalem after the exile while Malachi was a prophet during the time of Nehemiah Zechariah and Malachi are the books we will see the Prophet Zechariah if you turn there in your Bible to the second to the last book of the Old Testament this guy was born in Babylon he's back in Jerusalem sort of the opposite of the prophet Daniel who was born in Jerusalem and was sent as a young man to Babylon Zechariah was a priest that is from a priestly home and so he is both a priest and a prophet an interesting mix he also was ministering in Jerusalem at exactly the same time as the Prophet Haggai whom we read last time or the time before I don't really remember but a couple weeks ago at least we studied Haggai so these two guys were contemporaries and though they were ministering to the same group of people during the same time they were very different in their approach for instance had guy was sort of short and sweet and to the point 38 verses he got his message across he was like in-your-face like this is what the Lord wants you guys to do stop doing that do this they were saying the Lord hasn't called us to build his house it's time to build our own house and so the Prophet comes along and says is it really time to build your house while the temple of God lies in ruins so this guy is in your face and in 38 verses he challenges them and motivates them Zechariah same group of people same time period it said exactly however a very different approach he's not really in your face as much as beholding the face of the Lord takes him 14 chapters 14 chapters is he displays through Asians and prophesy the glory of God and his plan for the future so you have Haggai whose practical and you have Zechariah whose mystical and both of them together are used to motivate the people to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem if you remember last time I gave you some new words to remember axilla --k pre-exilic and post-exilic and i don't know if you went home and impressed your family and friends with those words but we're now dealing with the last two post-exilic prophets after the exile they have returned from Babylon they are in Jerusalem and they're rebuilding their lives they are post-exilic prophets okay so Zechariah as a post-exilic prophet now back in Jerusalem in his 14 chapters takes a broad sweep as he covers the rebuilding of the temple immediately as well as the millennial reign of the Messiah ultimately so some of it is near and some of it is quite far all within the scope of his prophecy he has an unusual style his style is similar to that of the the writer John in the New Testament and the book of Revelation apocalyptic literature through visions John sees visions that God gives him of the end times and he writes what he sees and writes what he hears Zechariah sees eight visions in one night or if you prefer one vision in one night with eight different segments to it camera pans from one section to the next all indicative of a plan of God and here's the purpose of the book to bring encouragement to a group of very insecure and unstable Jewish people who are now back in Jerusalem there's not many of them less than 50,000 returned to Jerusalem from Babylon and they're feeling very small because Persia is such a country and they've been jostled around from one country to another first Assyria then later Babylonia now the medo-persian Empire is well in control of their destiny and they're feeling very small and insecure and this prophet was meant to encourage them that God is with them and also that they should finish and rebuild the temple that's a good lesson for us because sometimes I bet you feel small and insecure somebody once said every tomorrow has two handles the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith and you grab one or the other and I don't know if your nature is when something bad happens or you think it's going to happen you immediately grab the handle of anxiety because if you do that cancels out faith but if you grab the handle of faith that will cancel out the fear and the anxiety and take it from somebody who had reason in the human level to be afraid and that was Corrie ten Boom who was in a Nazi concentration camp but she wrote from that camp never be afraid to trust an unknown future into the hands of a known God that's what these people needed to hear in Jerusalem and so verse one of Zechariah chapter one in the eighth month of the second year of Darius the word of the Lord came to zechariah the son of berechiah the son of ido the prophet saying the lord has been very angry with your fathers therefore say to them thus says the Lord of Hosts returned to me says the Lord of hosts and I will return to you says the Lord of hosts okay the year is 520 BC they're back in the land as I mentioned 50,000 returned that's not very many most of them stayed back in Babylon you know why it was comfortable back there hey we've already raised our families and built our lives why should we be missionaries in what is now a foreign land even though it's the land of our forefathers we really like it here we don't want to have to get uncomfortable why don't you guys go and so less than fifty thousand went and when they went they started building the temple they came back and they found that the temple was in ruins it was desolate this wasn't like what they left or what their forefathers had left you know returning to the land of one's childhood can be very disappointing because it's not what you imagined it to be it's different now it has changed and they looked around there's no temple there's just stones and desolate ruins and so they start building and they get discouraged very very quickly because there's enemies on the outside threatening them there's complaining around them in the inside around their own people so they finally says you know what let's just quit doing this forget God's whole agenda and building this new building project of the temple let's just turn our attention to building our own nice little homes and getting comfortable again shall we and that's why these two prophets were raised up now before the people on the very ground of Jerusalem was a living legacy of the failure of their fathers there was the temple lying in ruins bearing testimony to what their fathers had failed to do failing to obey God taken captive for 70 years and now the remnant is back now verse 8 of chapter 1 begins the first vision I'll just read one verse and there's a lot to cover so we want to cover it quickly we'll cover the eight visions just by wrapping them up reading maybe a verse or two verse 8 of chapter one is the first vision a man among the myrtle trees I saw by night and behold a man riding on a red horse and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow and behind him were horses red sorrel which his reddish brown and white now a myrtle tree is a laurel tree evergreen Hardy very difficult to kill really good emblem of the nation of Israel though many tried to surround them and attack them and kill them they're still alive they're like the Myrtle tree they're like the laurel tree they're evergreen they grow in low places and they are lowly trees this type of Myrtle is one that does not exceed eight feet high again it's an emblem of the nation of Israel it represents them hardy lowly can't get rid of them they survive the second vision down in verse eighteen is a vision of four horns is a real trippy book he sees four horns which is symbolic of four world powers and four craftsmen who come and smashed the horns verse 18 I raised my eyes and looked and there were four horns and then after that four craftsman horns often in Scripture are a symbol of power and more than that sometimes they're a symbol of pride because of power arrogant power now these four horns go in sync with the vision that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon of that poly metallic image do you remember that head of gold chest of silver and arms of silver thighs and belly of bronze and then clay and it represented Babylon medo-persia Greece and Rome a world power that did not treat Israel very well would come on the scene a craftsman would follow another nation and smashed them and then that horn would assume power and then another craftsman or another nation would smash that power so what God is saying is look I'm in control of history and though the arrogant horns will vaunt themselves up I have a means to displace them to get rid of them because of the way they treated my people the nation of Israel the third vision in Chapter two is a man with a measuring line and it's symbolic of how God will build Jerusalem in the future verse one I raised my eyes and looked and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand so I said where are you going and he said to me to measure Jerusalem to see what its width and what is its height now this is a vision that basically says Jerusalem will go and grow beyond its boundaries and its walls and I'm going to speak more about that Sunday because I want to talk about the New Jerusalem in the eternal state however isn't it weird it just he sees a guy out there with a measuring rod a tape measure we would say hey what are you doing I'm gonna go measure the city now you typically think well cities are pretty big you can't measure them with a tape measure but you know what in ancient times cities were tall that big the city of Jerusalem originally the City of David used to be called Jeb use and then David took it over became the City of David was no more than about ten maybe twelve acres you could measure it twelve acres altogether the inhabitants had only about 2,000 people that's how big the city was originally two thousand people eleven to twelve acres when David took it over the City of David today it's about 47 square miles way outside the original walls even in the New Testament times and has about 700 thousand people so much of this prophecy sees its fruition even as we are living and even as we are speaking the fourth vision in Chapter three is the cleansing of the high priest and we know who that is it's a guy named Joshua verse one then he showed me Joshua the high priest he's the spiritual leader now in Jerusalem standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him in ancient times whenever a court case was brought forward the place of accusation was at the right hand so it's a vision he sees Satan at the right hand of Joshua who's a living guy in Jerusalem at that time the spiritual leader Satan is accusing him and the Lord said to Satan now watch this the Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke you Satan now it could be that this is the angel of the Lord who then we find out is the Lord but he doesn't even say I rebuke you Satan he says the Lord using the covenant name of God the Lord rebuke you Satan the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you is this not a brand or a coal plucked from the fire speaking of Joshua in other words my God is saying I have plucked him out of the fire out of the judgment out of Babel and I brought him back I've retrieved him for my purpose and we find out what that purpose is God is raising up Israel as a nation as a group of a priestly nation to bring forth the Messiah called the branch down in verse 8 of that very chapter now there's a pattern that I don't want you to miss because I find it often in the scripture and yet I find many Christians don't quite get the pattern and that is some Christians feel that it's necessary to deal directly with Satan and they get very cocky with Satan and they have long conversations with them because I've been in meetings and I've heard and now Satan we want you to know what and usually they do that at the end of that for some reason we want you to know what though we take authority over you and it might make them feel really really good but it's not a healthy pattern for this reason you never want to pray to the devil right why are you talking to him no no why don't you talk to God about him rather than dealing with him directly help the authority interesting that you'd say that because even Michael the Archangel who has a lot more power than any one of us the chief dude angel the Bible says this about him and Jude verse 9 Michael the Archangel in contending with the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses he dared not bring a railing accusation against him but rather said the Lord rebuke you you know what the Bible says this is what James says this is how you deal with the devil ready resist the devil and he will flee from you so what do you do you resist him not carry on long conversations with them leave them be don't enter into a dialogue with him look at it this way when Satan knocks at your door let Jesus answer it leave it to him I think he can handle a lot better say excuse me Jesus would you get that for me instead of you doing it yourself there's an old poem by Martin Luther that goes like this and though this world with Devils filled should threaten to undo us we will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us the Prince of Darkness grim we tremble not for him his wrath we can endure for lo his doom is sure one little word shall fill him and it won't be your word saying I rebuke you Satan it'll be his word who will ultimately destroy him in the lake of fire so let him do his job the Lord do his job I like this put Jesus put the Lord between you and the enemy chapter 4 take you down to verse 2 it's the fifth vision vision of the golden lampstand and the two olive trees perhaps the most famous of all the visions in this book and he said to me what do you see so I said I am looking and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it and on the stands seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps two olive trees are by it one at the right of the bowl and the other at the left this is a vessel holding oil so I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me what are these my lord and the angel who talked with me answered and said do you not know what these are that's an interesting conversation to me because he asked the question as if to imply you know I don't know what that is what is that he goes you don't know what that is why to emphasize the fact that he doesn't know what that is so I said no my lord so he answered and said to me this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel remember he is the mayor of the town not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord we know what this is he knew what this was he saw a menorah a seven-branch candlestick symbolic of the worship that was going on or should go on in the temple remember in the tabernacle was a menorah seven-branch candlestick the priests whether in the tabernacle or the temple daily to put oil in the little vessels to keep the lamps going now to get oil you couldn't go down to the store and just buy olive oil you had to make it you had to crush the pit of the olive and the flesh of the olive and there was a process on a stone olive press to extract the olive oil it was hard work what zechariah sees is an automated menorah it's spontaneously flowing it's automatic there's two olive trees and then the oil is just coming straight from the olive trees and it's dumping into these this receptacle this bowl and then out of the bowl of oil that has been put there by the olive trees or these pipes that goes directly to the lamps it's an automatic menorah it's cool he says you don't know what this is this is the word of the Lord to your mayor zhirova Bell the civic leader it's not by might it's not by power it's by my spirit listen he's saying I'm gonna keep Israel alive I'm gonna keep them going and I'm gonna have this project of the temple rebuilt and it's not by hard human ingenuity though you need to cooperate with me and get busy but rather I'm gonna supply spontaneously automatically all that you need oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Bible it's not by might it's not by power it's by my spirit says the Lord that this is going to be done God is going to keep Israel alive and further his program and we love this verse do we not because we come so often to an end of ourselves and our ingenuity and our strategies and you know what well we should because too much of the Lord's work is attempted in the energy of the flesh rather than surrendering to the spirit I have a unique advantage watching this church grow from two people than three people than five people than eight people than twelve people to what it is today I've watched God work and I can tell you and those who were there can tell you it's not by might it's not by power it's by the Holy Spirit we didn't take a demographic study of the City of Albuquerque at that time finding the mean income and what the interests were of people and what people wanted to hear and then well let's craft a church in that part of the community given those demographics and that style we didn't even know what that was we just said Lord what do you want us to do and we figured that he said teach the word worship me in spirit and truth and then don't sweat it watch it's not by mind it's not by power it's by my spirit the sixth vision in Chapter five again this is a wild book it's a flying scroll written on both sides a flying scroll it's a large scroll it's billboard size it's 15 feet by 30 feet which is an interesting measurement because that happens to be the exact measurement of the holy place in the tabernacle the specifications that God gave for his place of worship the place where the menorah was the place where the altar of incense was the place where the table of showbread was 15 feet by 30 feet the exact measurements of the holy place written on both sides were curses judgments that would go throughout the earth as if to say the standard by which God will measure and judge is his standard a holy standard it's his word and the judgments that go forth are according to that standard now in the same chapter is the seventh vision it's a vision of a woman in a basket with a lead cover on top weird huh the woman's name is wickedness she is carted off and taken to Shinar in this vision Babylon all that they had learned in Babylon all of the wicked practice practices was to be left behind and left in Babylon because now that they're back some of them were starting to emulate what they had seen and heard among the pagans in Babylon it was to be taken away from their midst chapter six is the eighth vision of four chariots these four chariots you could read also Revelation chapter six the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse but in this vision the four chariots predict a fall on Gentile powers Gentiles all four corners surrounding Israel again think of the encouragement here we are a few people back in our land surrounded by people on all sides who want to destroy us and by the way things haven't changed but God said he would keep them now the next two chapters is about a delegation that comes from up north to Jerusalem to ask him a question about fasting and here's the deal okay for years here's the question we've been fasting every year to commemorate or to mourn the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple now we've been doing that it's been a practice of ours but here you are now in Jerusalem building the temple back do we need to keep fasting and so the delegation came asking that and the next two chapters deal with that now the book finishes off with Zechariah giving two Oracle's and chapters 9 through 11 is the first Oracle that finishes off the book and chapters 12 13 and 14 is the second Oracle and there's a little bit of a difference in this section of the book because the phrase in that day is used 18 times now he's projecting beyond the temple the first eight chapters really deal with temple worship the last chapters deal with the ultimate not the immediate deal with the second coming the Millennial Kingdom the Millennial temple and the reign and rule of Jesus Christ so these last chapters really have a threefold focus the nations that is the Gentile Nations the nation that is the Jewish nation and the Messiah the nation's the nation and the Messiah now I'm gonna take you to chapter 9 look at verse 9 and 10 we're gonna see two comings of Jesus Christ or two comings of the Messiah predicted squeezed together in two verses now before we read it I just want you to think about that for a minute Jesus Christ came 2,000 years ago we're waiting for him to come the second time it's a big gap but the Bible sometimes will take two events like that especially these two events first and second coming and squeeze them together as if they happen one right after another and they don't now the prophets didn't know that they just get the vision from God and they write what they see not knowing that there is a gap and let me tell you what Old Testament prophecy is sometimes like when you look at a mountain range from a distance like if you were to look at the Sandia Mountains for from this perspective it looks like a single plane of mountain it looks flat but if you fly over it in a helicopter or hot-air balloon and you go slowly or even the tram you notice that it's not one but there are several peaks and there are valleys in between those Peaks it's not a single structure but it's several but from a distance it all looks like it's smashed together when you look at the future prophecies from an Old Testament perspective it's sometimes look like the first coming in the second coming or the same but once you go through them and get up to them you find out there's a gap very important this isn't the only prophet to do it perhaps the most famous is Isaiah chapter 61 of the text that Jesus read in his own synagogue in Nazareth the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to open the prison doors to those that are bound to set at liberty the captives to give the recovery of sight to the blind to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and or , and the day of vengeance of our God now it's interesting when Jesus quoted that text of Scripture when he started his ministry and he's in the synagogue in Nazareth he stopped at and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and he closed the scroll and he sat down and he said today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing he didn't finish the sentence it's comma and the day of vengeance of our God well that's the second coming isn't it the second coming is the day of the Lord is the Tribulation Period when he comes and judges the world and brings the Vengeance of God so here's my point that comma in Isaiah 61 is a 2000 year comma that comma has lasted 2,000 years from a distance it's all the same you get up to and you go oh no wonder he closed the book we're waiting for the second coming and we are still waiting for the second coming so now with that chapter 9 verse 9 rejoice greatly o daughter of Zion shout o daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and having salvation that's why he came the first time lowly that's the first time he won't be lowly the second time he'll be kingly regal royal and riding on a donkey and the second time revelation 19 he's writing a what a horse a Colt the foal of a donkey now you remember in the Gospels when Jesus approaches Jerusalem from the east and he gets up on the Mount of Olives he's left Lazarus his house left Martha and Mary behind he gets up to the crest and he stops her and he tells his disciples to do something really weird says hey go to the village next to us and you're gonna find a little donkey tied go get him now that should have like ding tipped him off it's like being red flag I get it and he sat on it see this is the first time he ever asked for a donkey we know that he walked everywhere and this is the first time he publicly accepted worship and I like to tie this verse nine-nine of Zechariah with Daniel 9:25 you don't have to turn there you've already already know this 70 weeks are determined for your people and for the holy city of Jerusalem know and understand from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah there shall be 69 weeks or 69 periods of seven 483 years it was predicted but the tip-off should have been go get me the donkey because that was messianic the rabbi's knew it was and Jesus fulfilled that in his first coming that's the first coming now look at verse ten two thousand year gap I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim Ephraim is a another code name for the nation of Israel and the horse from Jerusalem the battle both shall be cut off he shall speak peace to the nation's his Dominion shall be from sea to sea a worldwide Dominion and from the river that is the phrase River in Iraq to the ends of the earth that's the second coming messiahs reign will begin by a quelling of any of the riotous activity and wars on the earth and he'll bring in peace both Isaiah and Micah predict they shall beat their swords into plowshares their spears into pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn to make war anymore that's the second coming so we have the first coming verse 9 the second coming verse 10 sandwiched together now in chapter 10 blessings of the Messianic Kingdom were given in Chapter 11 the rejection of the Messiah is shown verse 10 chapter 11 and I took my staff beauty and cut it into that I might break the covenant which I made with all the peoples so it was broken on that day that's the poor of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord and I said to them if it is agreeable to you give me my wages and if not refrain so they wait out for me my wages thirty pieces of silver and the lord said to me throw it to the potter that princely price that they set on me so I took thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the Potter now Zechariah his picturing and vision for more God is giving him the vision form and Zechariah writes it this way in vision form it's a picture of the Messiah asking the flock of Israel what am i worth to you and the answer comes back you're worth thirty pieces of silver now understand what that would mean to a Jewish person back then according to the law I think it's numbers twenty one thirty pieces of silver is the price for a slave who's been gored by an ox what am i worth to you o flock of Israel you're worth you're about as valuable as a slave is the answer thirty pieces of silver what an insult now in Matthew chapter 27 he refers this to Jesus Christ because Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and then he was filled with remorse and he threw the money on the temple floor and the Jews took it and bought a field a potter's field I'll call de ma you can still see it in Israel today still an empty barren part of the city not built on and when he hung himself when Judas killed himself they buried him in the potter's field all predictive of the Messiah on Chapter 12 through 14 the Second Coming is in view and I'm just going to move rapidly through this because of our time and we still want to take the Lord's Supper the second coming is in view and in part the last battle at which the Messiah will come and stop the battle against Jerusalem chapter 14 verse 4 and in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from the east to the west making a very large Valley half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south how do you remember the disciples when Jesus in Acts chapter 1 was ascending up into heaven and gee they were taken up to the Mount of Olives and they were talking to him and all of a sudden and they're looking up and Jesus just starts floating she starts moving up and their how their mouths are going and they're just looking up and finally an angel comes to hey you men of Galilee why are you looking up into heaven don't you know this same Jesus will come again in like manner as you've seen him go into heaven well how did they see him go they saw him go up they saw him go visibly and they saw him go from the Mount of Olives so he's going to come back from heaven to earth the other way he's going to come visibly physically and he's going to come to the Mount of Olives and splitted into the same place he left from takeoff and touchdown it's the same real estate now I hear and I've read it and a number of sources that there is a fault line directly underneath the Mount of Olives awaiting the pressure of one particular footprint and when that footprint touches down it will split verse Adan in that day living water shall flow from Jerusalem half of them toward the eastern sea half of them toward the Western seas of the day see in the Mediterranean in both summer and winter at shall occur verse 16 it shall come to pass that everyone who is left from all the nations which come against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the king the Lord of hosts and keep the Feast of Tabernacles so the delegation of those nations Gentile nations that survived the Tribulation Period those saved the delegation of those will go up every year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles there will be three feasts kept during the Millennium according to Ezekiel Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles will be kept and they'll go annually to do this now according to Jesus Christ and we get the information from Jesus only this Prophet Zechariah was murdered he was murdered in the temple interesting huh the very temple that he was inspiring people to build eventually and we don't know exactly who did it there are some traditions but he was murdered in that temple according to our Lord now we come to the last book of the Old Testament the only book written by an Italian book of mulashi no we know it's not written by an Italian in fact we know he's not Italian or we don't think he's Italian because what we don't really know much about him to be honest with you we know his name is Malachi and you know what his name means messenger all we know is that a guy named messenger he's going to tell us about the coming messenger who will point to the ultimate messenger John the Baptist who will point to the Messiah the Lord his name is messenger we don't know a lot about him and I love this actually because the messenger is not as important as the message if somebody delivered mail to your house your mailbox and you saw the mailman there and he delivered a package to you would you stop like the UPS or the the man said wait a minute before you give me that package tell me about your background and what qualifications you have to deliver this package to me you really don't care as much as what's in the package you open it up so the package is opened up and this package contains the final words of God before the New Covenant that's why it's significant you know a person's last words are always significant right I have a little book the last words of saints and sinners it's called and it's amazing how different the last words of believers and unbelievers are for instance David Hume the Scottish atheist when he died said I am in the flames how would you like that to be your last and final words I'm in the flames it's like I can fill hell already Voltaire the French infidel the French sceptic an atheist said these words I am abandoned by God and man I shall go to hell and I think he did unfortunately tragic isn't it you go what about great men like Mahatma Gandhi interesting when he died he said for the first time in 50 years I feel like I'm in darkness in the slough of despond I'm longing for light compare that with a great Richard Baxter the Puritan who when he was dying said I have pain but I have peace I've watched believers die I've watched the joy and the hope in the midst of the pain these are these are the final words of God in the Old Testament and something about this book and and that is it's in dialectic form let me explain it's like this intensely personal conversation between two parties and the two parties are mala chi or excuse me Malachi and the people of Israel actually God through the prophet in this intensely personal conversation so an assertion is followed by an objection wait a minute what do you mean by that and then followed by a reaction verse one the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi I have loved you says the Lord yet yet you say in what way have you loved us here's the answer was not Esau Jacob's brother says the Lord yet Jacob I have loved now this is what I want you to pick up on in the very last book of the Old Testament you have God telling his people I love you ever her people say the god of the Old Testament is a God of hatred and vengeance and meanness and the god of the New Testament is a God of love you know what read the book very last book God says don't you know I love you now they argue prevent actually this was the root of all of Israel's problems the failure to believe in the love of God actually I think that's perhaps the root of all of our problems when Eve in the garden fell and then Adam fell she doubted God's love Satan suggested that she doubted God's love she said you know we can eat every tree but we can't eat that tree that's what God said really did God really say that then Satan says look God knows that in the day that you eat thereof your eyes are gonna be open you're gonna be just like God so now a seed is planted in her heart as if to question God and say hmm why would God hide that from me he must not love me in questioning the love of God she fell from that Satan wants you to feel neglected by God and that is why in your darkest hour he'll come and say look at you in your tough situation you've been praying and God has an answer to you he must not love you as much as he loves those other people because he's answered their prayers but you and you go yeah yeah Amen devil right that's why Jude said keep yourselves in the love of God now the next few chapters God complains to his people about them he complains in chapters 1 2 & 3 about their cheating about their apathy about their mixed marriages marrying worldly ungodly people about their divorce about theft about pride and arrogance chapter 1 verse 6 the son honors his father and has servant his master if I then am the father where is my honor if I am a master whereas my reverence says the Lord of Hosts to you priests who despise my name yet you say in what way of we despised your name see that dialectic form look at chapter 2 verse 17 you have wearied the Lord with your words yet you say in what way have we wearied him in that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them or where is the god of Justice chapter 3 verse 8 will a man Rob God yet you have robbed me but you say in what way have we robbed you now the Lord says in tithes and in offerings come on how is it possible for puny man to rap to rob wholly omnipotent God how have we robbed you your God well God says in tithes and offerings now here's what was happening because the people of Israel were turning inwardly and saying I can't afford to give tithes to the Lord you know it's tough this week and it's tough this month the priest who should have been sponsored and taken care of by the tithes of the people had to leave the priestly ministry and go out and be farmers so the work spiritually was being hindered now actually they were robbing not only the Lord but they were robbing themselves because God responds by shutting off the rain spoiling the crops because of their selfishness so God says you've robbed me you know sometimes I get questions on this do you mean just you mean to say that that God owns like ten percent of my paycheck and then they'll follow it up ago is that is that net or gross do i tithe net or gross if you have to ask that you got some problems and I say no God doesn't ant own 10% he owns a hundred percent he's given you stewardship over but somebody once said money is like manure stack it up and it stinks spread it around and it makes things grow their spiritual life wasn't growing God says you've robbed me now look what he says in verse nine you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even even this whole nation bring all the tithes into the storehouse that is everyone should be involved in this that there may be food in my house and try me now in this says the Lord of Hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to contain it or receive it now God announces a dare to his people this is interesting test me try me in this what's interesting is that Jesus in the New Testament says you shall not tempt the Lord your God and that's generally true here's the one exception the one exception where God says okay I want you to actually put me to the test here is in tithes and offerings one commentator writes this here the god of the universe puts himself in a box and gives you the solution to every financial problem Jesus said give and it will be given to you press down running over measure Paul the Apostles second Corinthians 9 he who sews sparingly will reap sparingly he who so is bountifully will reap bountifully because the scripture is so clear on this early on in our marriage my wife and I decided the very first check we will cut will be 10% of our income to our local church always we never hedge with that always then above and beyond that there may be a missionary there may be special work and you know what we've discovered something you can't outgive God he pours out a blessing like he promised and like he's saying test me try me now the last two chapters of this book are the best-known because they speak about the coming of the Messiah the first and second coming begins with a sort of a alerting word chapter 3 verse 1 behold or check it out or look I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight behold his coming says the Lord of hosts now two messengers are promised one is somebody pointing the way the other one is the Lord himself and he's going to come to his what what does it say he's going to come to his temple the Lord is going to come to his temple now that means what has to be built a temple okay so the Messiah has to come to the nation of Israel when there's a temple there's no temple today the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians but rebuilt by zerubabbel then built by Herod the Great then destroyed in 70 AD so sometime between zerubabbel and the roman period when there was a temple the Lord would have to come to his temple just as this forerunner would predict now look at verse 5 behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the Great and dreadful day of the Lord and he will turn the parts of the father's to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse now we have a bridge from the Old Testament to the New Testament because there's gonna be 400 silent years between Malachi and Matthew four hundred years God doesn't speak yet he says he's gonna send Elijah the Prophet okay New Testament opens there's a priest in the temple named Zacharias and an angel comes to him and says hey you're gonna have a boy you're gonna have a son you're gonna call him John and it says he's gonna come in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the children to the father's ok so John is born and so they ask him when he grows up hey are you Elijah and he says what nope I'm not Elijah okay so he's coming in the spirit and power of Elijah but he says he's not Elijah later on Jesus Christ will say this if you can receive it about John the Baptist this is Elijah who is to come then later on on the Mount of Transfiguration they asked Jesus the question hey why did the scribes say that Elijah must first come and Jesus says Elijah will first come so you got a guy named John who comes in the spirit in the power of elijah who's not elijah but jesus said well if you can receive it he is elijah cuz he comes in and elijah like ministry as predicted by this prophet and yet the real elijah will come in the future when will he come probably Revelation chapter 11 one of the two witnesses wish I had time to unpack that I don't so notice verse six and we close and he will turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse notice the last word in the Old Testament is curse Genesis opens up and we find a garden in which the curse is introduced and according to Malachi curse is still in operation because there's a warning here about the curse that's how the Old Testament ends how does the New Testament end with the blessing in revelation 22 3 at the end it says and there shall be no more curse so the last word of the Old Testament is cursed the promise of the New Testament there shall be no more curse in fact you know what the last words of the New Testament is its grace the last sentence of the New Testament says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen so what's the difference Jesus Christ is the difference for the law came by Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ how do you get rid of the curse grace through Jesus Christ so that's the bridge between the old and the New Testament okay now there's 400 silent years until an angel visits in the temple Zacharias the Old Testament is over and now we wait or they waited 400 years we wait a few days and get into the Gospel of Matthew the Old Testament closes unfulfilled there's all sorts of predictions all sorts of prophecies all sorts of promises but we don't see him where's the Messiah reigning from David's throne in Jerusalem we've never seen it where's the peace to the nation and the peace to the world not seen it all of those unfulfilled promises that will be fulfilled in Christ Jesus said to the Jews you search the Scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life but they are they which testify of me he invited them to search and check it out because he is the fulfillment and so we finished the Old Testament and we have about seven minutes to take communion so would you take the elements out I'm gonna ask those who are controlling them to bring the lights down to where they were during worship and we'll just bring the worship band out and we'll take these elements now it's pretty easy because the bread is on top if you I'll give you the instruction then we'll do it together in a minute but if you pull the clear plastic back it'll reveal that little wafer which is bread or bread like substance I trust it's bread and then you pull the second tab and that's where you get the the juice now these are the elements that speak of the reality of the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ there's a verse that I skipped over that I want to save from our study tonight I want to save until the last it's in Zechariah chapter 12 in its first 10 I just want you to listen to it this may just blow your mind and I will pour out on the house of David and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication and they will look on me whom they have pierced yes they will mourn for him as one mourns for His only Son and grieve for him as one who grieves for a firstborn this is what I want to share with you here's a prophecy that the ancient Jews believed would refer to the suffering of a coming deliverer a coming Messiah whom they called the son of Joseph way before Jesus was ever born in the Hebrew text it says and they will look upon me whom they appears but it says they will look upon me and after the word me there are two Hebrew letters that are untranslated letters Aleph and Tov Aleph is the first of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet Tov is the last of the 22 letters now these two untranslated letters in the Hebrew text if you look up Jewish commentators will say we don't exactly know what this means we believe it's some sort of a of a phonetic marker or some kind of a literary marker in the text but we don't know exactly why it's there but it's there and so they leave it there so it's strange but follow me here they will look upon me Olive tough the olive is the first letter Tov is the last letter if this were Greek it would say they will look upon me the Alpha the Omega or we would translate it and they shall look upon me the beginning and the end whom they have pierced fascinating isn't it they look at it go we don't know why it's there and we go I think we do I think it's one of those thumb prints of the Holy Spirit saying I'm the Alpha the Omega I'm the olive and the top I'm the beginning in the end I am the Lord they will look upon me whom they have pierced the very one who came to give them life we take these elements because we are saying Lord we believe you have given us life personally now here's the deal if you've received Jesus Christ the giver of life and we want you to take these elements with us that's what communion is all about we're taking this together we're signifying were part of each other were part of him but if you're not a part of him then for you to take these elements the Bible says you are testifying condemnation to yourself you're saying yep I'm condemned because I'm taking these elements but I've never received Christ so all you're doing is accentuating your own condemnation so Paul says don't take these elements unless you know Christ so a don't take them B take Christ and then take them right now safe in your heart if you if you don't know you're saved or if you know you're not Lord Jesus I believe you died on the cross and rose from the dead for me and I turn from my sins and I turn to you as my savior and as my lord I trust you I give you my life in Jesus name Amen father thank you for dying for us thank you for your body that was buffeted for us thank you Lord for the beating that you took the scourging that you took for the marks of the whip on your back and the crown of thorns on your head the reason we thank you is because as the Prophet said by your stripes we are healed we've been healed spiritually from the guilt of sin and the disease that plagues all mankind by your stripes and we believe also Lord that if we have physical ailments we can trust you because by your stripes we are healed and for those Lord who are suffering maladies in our body we reach out to you tonight Lord by faith asking you to touch to heal to renew in Jesus name Amen let's take the bread together and father we thank you that you sent your son and Jesus we're thankful that you obeyed the father and that you shed your blood you said over again in your word that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and you told us under the words of the New Covenant the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses a person from all sin we have failed you Lord we don't stand or sit here perfected we are sanctified by your spirit but we're still growing even in the midst of all of our failures your grace has poured out to us and we take this fruit of the vine because we have applied the blood of Jesus Christ for the cleansing of our sins and we thank you as a body in Jesus name Amen let's take it together now pray for the person who's sitting next to you just find a person and you can place your hand on their shoulder or just not touch them at all but just just pray for them ask God to bless to reveal himself to them to meet their needs to fulfill thank you thank you for your sweet fellowship here lord thank you for the body of Christ our family of God in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 1,812

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: How to study the Bible, How to read the Bible, Jesus, Skip, Skip Heitzig, How to know God, Jerusalem, Zechariah, Malachi, Messiah, temple, rebuilt, sinful practices, prophetic silence, exhortation

Id: 4msWA1SzoAE

Length: 62min 43sec (3763 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019