One Hour. One Book: Zechariah

tonight I'd like to take a few minutes and look at the book of Zechariah there is a model we're using for the way this book is laid out in two major segments that model basically suggests that the first part of the book is all about things going on at the time of Zecharia and the last part of the book are things that are coming attractions largely related to the first and second coming of Messiah now those aren't bulletproof you can kick holes in some of the models but we're going to do the best we can to try and represent for you what it looks like this book really contains if you're not familiar with this book you are missing one of the gems of Scripture and the reason is just because it has the most unbelievably clear exposure to the spiritual world behind the physical let's first set this prophet in the array of prophets because sometimes people read the prophets of Scripture and they feel like it's like over and over and over kind of redundancy of one saying the same as the next the truth is God communicated through a number of voices prophet prophetic voices in different times and what seems repetitive is actually God offering counsel and direction in four different time periods the first time period is just after the United Kingdom died off that's Saul David and Solomon and basically it imploded and fell apart in disarray 19 Kings followed in the Northern Kingdom and over a period of about two hundred and six years they separated themselves from Judah in the south and became their own independent Kingdom all 19 all 19 of 19 were wrong they were in disagreement with the temple and defiled before God and followed after the footsteps of the very first of those Kings Garrow Ballmer Jeroboam the first and they all lived in rebellion now during that time God raised up first speaking prophets like Elijah and Elijah in the school of the province but then a series of prophets during the time of the divided Kingdom with the north and the south existed and in fact I find seven profits that fall into that period Obadiah is probably first followed by Joel Jonah Amos and then Isaiah Micah and Hosea and during that time period God doesn't only address the needs of one kingdom the north or the south but also the people around Israel and Judah that affect the narrative so Jonah for instance goes to a people that is not his own after the northern kingdom tragically felt taken away by the Assyrians in 722 21 and by the way the northern kingdom started being chewed up in 732 in the northern edges so it was a long slide downhill by the time that the northern kingdom had been taken away there's now a series of prophets that are raised three prophets come up to talk specifically to the time of Judah alone this is a hundred and thirty six year period after the northern kingdom is destroyed it's during a time when there's oppression when Judah is undergoing having lost most of its cities even though it still had Jerusalem the northern kingdom fell the southern kingdom basically got squashed down to almost nothing and was a vassal of its former self Judah was stripped of its wealth of its prosperity and there were some Kings like Josiah that rose up and tried to you know even things out but even during that time God used a couple of prophets like Habakkuk who will raise up an argument against the injustice 'iz of his day or Zephaniah or not home Nahum who talks about God and the way God is going to work specifically to warn the Assyrians that they're going to be destroyed so you have these three books during that time that appeared to be during the issue of Judah alone now eventually Judah doesn't get the idea they eventually go into captivity as well and so you know that there were three major prophets that were all during the time of the Exile in Jerusalem there was Jeremiah sitting on the Mount of Olives watching Jerusalem be just taken apart Daniel had been carted away in the 6:06 movement over into Babylon and then Ezekiel was carted away 597 and by 586 when everything fell apart you have ezekiel daniel and jeremiah recording the two sides of this terrible exile well God didn't forget his people he sent them back and you end up with seven more books that come in what we would call post-exilic these are the ones after the return when God is saying look I brought you back but can we not do this again can you get what it was I was trying to say through all the array of prophets I've given you and so he has a book Ezra 1 through 6 which is it's only half of a book now but that was its own book originally and then Zechariah and Haggai books like esther nehemiah malachi and then at the end of the hebrew scriptures is first in second chronicles to review the entire hebrew scriptures from the creation of adam all the way through the return so we're talking about that last segment the post exile return and that's where Zechariah fits into our program Zechariah is 14 chapters but I want to just give you five quick facts that you can hang Zechariah on that will help you to at least get a sense of what he's trying to do he is a post-exilic prophet so we'll use that as number one second as a post-exilic prophet his objective was to try and get people coming back to Israel coming back to Jerusalem to get a passion for God and to get the temple back up and running and to restore and reignite worship in Jerusalem and literally when I say reignite I mean start the fire on the altar and get it going it's interesting because Zechariah is written about four years before the temple's rededicated temples were dedicated in 516 this is written in the beginning around 520 BC and I already mentioned to you a third thing and that is that the book has two major parts the part that deals with what's going on at the time of Zechariah and the part that's predictive prophecy mostly for the future does that mean that in the second box there's no present tense stuff and in the first box there's no predictions no but that's just a way to kind of gather together for a model to help us understand the book it's interesting because the first part of the book does three different presentations of problems they're going through right then so if you look at the chart you'll find that there are eight different visions and this is I think one of the coolest parts of the book the part where God pulls back the curtain and allow Zechariah to see what's going on behind what appears to be going on there's a physical and a spiritual world and you're going to see through the veil the second part is God instructs specifically Zechariah to help bolster Joshua the high priest and get him back in there give them a nice new uniform and help them to get in there and do his job and then the last part confusion that comes up between fasts and feasts when do we stop crying about the temple we lost and start celebrating the temple we've we've gotten how do we know how much should be memory and tradition and how much we should rid ourselves of that for the sake of new celebration and so that will be one of the confusion points then the second half of the book he will deal with the first coming and second coming of Messiah and we'll talk about that a little bit later there are some simple keys to the book and I'm going to ask you to open your Bible to Zechariah chapter one in the first six verses and I think you'll see one of those interesting keys the book opens up in November of 520 BCE and says in the eighth month of the second year of Darius the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the Prophet Sunnah Barret here the son of Edo saying the Lord was very angry with your fathers therefore say to them thus says the Lord of hosts returned to me declares the Lord of hosts that I may return to you says the Lord of hosts now stop your reading right there because the introduction sets up some very important things first the writer zaharie Yahoo is the words God remembers and he's a writer to say God has remembered something about your father's I warned them they didn't listen I'd like you to do something different I think God made clear that one of the foundational principles of the book and that is that he distanced himself from them because they distance themselves from obedience God is absolutely for you when you're for obeying his word and and the truth of the matter as he says your father's enraged me look at where they are they're gone but I'd like to do something different with you are you willing to return it's interesting because look at the formula for distance and drawing near remember that throughout the scripture the formula is always always the same draw near to me says the Lord then I will draw near to you now some of you experienced the opposite you found that you weren't seeking God and he met you in a place you didn't know he was going to be so I'm not trying to say that God is limited to this option I'm saying that his normal call is for your obedience to precede his coming and helping you to walk the next step but that's the normal way does don't ever tell God he's not allowed to do things because he'll do something that's just the opposite just you know to mess with you but here's what I know I know that we don't have the right to say well in my family that's just how we do it he said I saw what your fathers did don't set your standard by them they failed you're going to need to look in a different direction and stop doing what's been happening if you want to reap something different you got to change what you sow it's also important that we look at the word in verse 3 in verse 4 and verse 6 did you notice there's a title for God Yahweh about the word is for the supreme commander of the armies of the heavens now think about this for a minute as he launches into this god from heaven as the supreme commander of the armed forces of heaven speaks and the word the oath is actually from the word sub all it's a word for an appointed time like a time when kings make war and literally what he says is this is the Lord speaking as the one who is alive in this world who is already working in the spiritual and the physical realm this is the commander for the time of battle during a battle in the spiritual world in other words God introduces himself as a commander and a tart for people to understand when they find God the very first time if you came to Jesus Christ you were born into a raging spiritual battle even before there was a church and even before the time of Christ if you were a follower of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob there was an enemy and there always has been because there's a spiritual world since the fall that is at odds with God so that helps us tie the rest of the book the the introduction helps us see that everything we're going to read about in this book is God calling a people to return to Him but the God of heaven in the spiritual realm is going to talk to them about physical things that are going on on earth because those two worlds run side by side like you to sing for a few moments about the very first section here Zechariah is going to become like a signet ring an impression ring of God's stamp of authentication and royal authority on what's going to happen in this text so when you open it up I want you to notice that from verses verse shepherd chapter one verse seven says on the 24th day of the eleventh month which is in the month of Shabbat the second year of derives the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophets on a bear Hashanah video as follows I saw at night and this begins a rapid-fire vision if you follow this vision it's going to walk us all the way through Chapter six so hang on but I want you to just move very quickly with me through what he sees the vision of God doing something and its purpose is to encourage you not to discourage you not to freak you out or spook you but actually to encourage you one of the things that people seem to be doing is they got back to Jerusalem they started to build the temple governmental regulations shut them down the Zoning Board got bribes and all of a sudden the temple came to a halt I'm using different terminology than than the scriptures but you understand what I mean by that the people were frankly not all that excited and prophetic understanding of the word required they see something beyond the pollak listen to me very carefully because there are an awful lot of believers today that think Washington is running your life that's not true Washington is the symptom somewhere between the battle and the heavenlies is the actual reality Washington is the symptom so here's what I see in verse 8 of chapter one he starts to watch what I'm going to call in verses 8 through 11 a simple patrol I want you to understand something in order to understand God's perspective on things you have to smack yourself and change your view of reality to God this isn't reality this is the effect of a cause reality is what doesn't change in 100 million million years will still be around none of this will the temporal world is temporary and so this is what he says he says let me just use the Randy reading in the white-spaces version 4 verses 8 through 11 okay it says I saw an angel in a red on a red horse standing among myrtle trees in a ravine there was a herd of various colored horses behind him and I asked what are these men and what are they doing in this forest and they said these are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth and the patrol reports back from the angel the Lord that says the earth is peaceful and quiet now stop right there Zacharias starts his book seeing a patrol of angelic beings there's an unseen world around us there are people passing through our day and we don't see them and I use the term persons more liberally there are angelic realities going on in our world and then if you get down to verses 12 through 17 not only are their angelic realities but there's an interface between the two the angel of the Lord asks how long will you allow the earth to be quiet since Jerusalem has laid waste 70 years and the Lord comforts the angel and he turns to man he says God is jealous for Jerusalem and he's angry at the nation's that added to our disaster and I'm going to restore my people again and what does that tell you that tells you not only our angels moving around patrolling the earth but it also tells you that first of all they don't know the future that's important to remember they have the promises of God just like you but you don't know your future and they don't know theirs in that way you are similar so they're asking questions how do I know they don't know the future because why would they ask if they already know so the truth is they don't know the future and what God is doing is is unfolding a story in front of them but something else they're involved in the process of the political realities of their time why are angels worried about whether or not Jerusalem is up and running again why does it matter to them because it does that reality is there's a spiritual world in the physical world and behind it they are interfacing often and and what if you keep on reading go all the way down to verses 18 to 21 here's what you'll find because there's an unseen world I have to recognize that what appears to be reality is actually the effect not the cause hang in there with me for just a second he says I saw four horns I asked about them I was told that they were powers that scattered Israel and Judah I saw craftsmen and an angel explained that they would be sent to shake the powers that would restore Judah here's what he says it's essential that I understand that what looks like a political turnover what looks like some kind of voting tsunami is actually a spiritual action that that reality is what's happening in the spirit world and what I see in the voting booth or what I see in the collapse of a government or what I see in the overthrow or coup is actually the symptom of something going on in the spiritual world you know it's interesting because Paul said that to us in Ephesians 6 did me we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against rulers powers against world forces of darkness against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places he wasn't saying we never wrestle against things physical if you're on a diet you wrestle against things physical amen okay but the point is that that that's not all there is to it that there is even in the physical world a component of the spirit now you get to chapter two and one of the great encouragement that out of this whole kind of investigation into the spiritual world is found in these 13 verses of chapter 2 it says when an angel went to measure the restored Jerusalem I heard angels passing the word of the Lord of Jerusalem The Jerusalem was going to end be enlarged beyond its walls God was going to protect her he said I'm going to bring them back just like I scattered them and they're going to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem rejoice many other nations are going to join themselves to her the Lord is going to renew Jerusalem isn't that great a couple things I observed in chapter 2 first of all the angels didn't carry the right stuff so the angels are on our team but they don't get it all right either that's important to know second I mean I'm not trying to discourage you I'm just trying to make it real okay but the second thing I would tell you is that God would be expanding as his people and all that's great but the whole point is there's a purpose to what God is pulling off on his plan so you end up with this sense that there's this other world that God is at work in the other world and then he's working a plan and that as he works the plan there are times when he will strip his people down and their time people add to them and that has to match his plan go to chapter 3 when you get into chapter 3 verses 1 to 10 the enemy of God's plan for his people is the world the flesh and the devil right we don't even have to get out of bed or go anywhere else to have one of the three enemies battling us because the enemy looks just like us because it's us the old man is still with us but for for believers of every age they have to become aware of something very important if you don't have Zechariah 3 marked in your Bible you need to put a marker right there you need to come back to this chapter the chapter is all about how the high priest got discouraged because one of Satan's high points of attack will be on leaders I spend my time encouraging and talking to leaders and I'm telling you that that the enemy puts a target on the back of leadership and the further you will go with the gospel and the more you will do in making disciples the more that that will be ratcheted in your life and and Joshua was literally down and depressed and discouraged with the high priest he was a buddy of zechariah zechariah thought laughs I wonder why my buddy so depressed and God showed him he allowed him to peer through the veil of the physical and here's what he saw he saw the high priest standing there and Satan putting mud pies on and inviting him with you're dirty and you don't deserve this and you shouldn't be able to Zachariah 3 reminds you that sometimes when you think you're encouraging somebody because they're maybe a little down that what they might be is under attack and it's easy for us to see the symptom and not and misdiagnosis you're just cranky and you're tired well that might be true but it also might be you're also under attack when you're under attack you're going to feel things that are inordinate and wrong for who you are and what was God's Word to the Angels get him cleaned up get him a new uniform put it on him he needs help in the spiritual realm now stop right there let me just encourage you all the encouragement and all the vacations in the world when you're under a spiritual attack will not change how bad you feel what you need is prayer and help in the spiritual realm so the truth is chapter 3 just I think is a marvelous passage but I got to move on to chapter 4 you get to chapter 4 and just like the enemy to secretly discourage his leaders God has back channels to give provision and I love this basically the story in chapter 4 is I fell asleep and I was roused by an angel as he pointed to a vision of a menorah a lamp stand of gold and it had a refilling bowl with seven spouts on top of it and beside the menorah on either side was an olive tree on the right and on the left and the angel explained that the refilling spells as the work of God's Spirit was empowering and completing those who were involved in the temple and Zerubbabel and and Joshua and God was giving the provision through his spirit just like the enemy attacks and is behind the scenes and you don't always know it so god provides in ways you can't believe you know why if I'm not encouraging because I got kids and my children are now adults children and here's what I can tell you for sure sometimes I want to speak into their lives and God uses something else he can use a tree to provide oil through the power of his spirit because it's not by my power or my might you do the best you can do but you recognize that God has other ways of meeting needs besides you can I get an amen on that one so the provision of God is there when I get down to chapter 5 I'm so I'm so stunned now again here's another one of these visions and verses 1 through 4 I saw this huge flying scroll 15 by 30 feet okay I think that deserves some attention and it contained a judgment against thieves and hypocrites and God swore to use it in judgment against them both here's the thing just like God provides behind-the-scene God also demands purging behind the scenes there's also a demand that God has that I'm not just providing for you and pouring out my spirit on you so that you can just have more and use more and be more I want you to walk with me and if you're not going to follow my word I'm going to keep throwing my word at you I mean 15 by 30 Bibles coming at you I want you to be aware so God won't only deal with believers it's interesting if you keep reading in verses 5 through 11 of chapter 5 he goes even beyond that he says not only are believers that are not walking with me and not only my people when they're committing crimes are in my crosshairs but even the world out there that is seen in the pagans system still answers to me here's what he says he says I saw this woman and she was in an ephah container just put her in a kind of a big a pottery container and she was inside and the top was led sealed and the angels lifted her to the land of Shinar that's into the Assyrian territory to be released when her own temple was prepared and you stand there you go why in the world is God showing him little girls in pots but that woman was going to raise up a temple and fill it with a pagan system and it was going to be spread into an area that was literally going to corrupt the people and and it was not moving anywhere until God signed off on it it's hard for us to understand why God just doesn't put a stop to evil and his answer is because I'm not done yet I have a story to tell and I'm going to develop all of the characters and it's going to drive you nuts for how long I'm going to let some of those characters live deal with it I'm God and so literally an angelic patrol was sent to fluid to go out and drop this woman off chapter 6 opens with another one of these patrols the angelic patrol was sent to free Babylonian captives and bring them back to appease God's justice and so in 6 1 through 7 it says that that there was a predetermined point in God's mind when he was going to he was going to draw them back look look at these words in verses 1 through 7 this is my version I saw four chariots moved through a path between two bronze mountains and angel told me that each chariot moved to patrol an area of the earth black horses went to the north country and prevailed to appease God's wrath in that area if you read those verses you will come down to this understanding there are two worlds they are interacting with each other God is pulling off of a plan and while that's going on the enemy's going after leaders hitting them hard God is providing behind the scenes of supply line that the enemy can't figure out and in the middle of all of that even evil doesn't go anywhere unless God signs off and says I'll let that happen I'll let that happen I'll let that out now that doesn't answer all your questions about life but that's what Zechariah gives us and what I see is if you keep reading you go to the second section here in 6 9 through 15 after chapter 3 says that God had used spiritual help to change a uniform of Joshua it says that God spoke to zechariah chapter 6 verses 9 to 15 and to take an offering from the return decks Isles of silver and gold form a crown for Joshua proclaim him the branch that will build this temple and rule as both the priest and the ruler the crown is going to remind the xl's that other people outside will complete this work and not them what God says is I want you to go to the Exile and I want you to pull money that Joshua doesn't have I want you to get it together make it into a crown put it on his head and let him know there's more out there than he knows who doesn't understand that sometimes we feel like the team's getting beat up and we forget that God has more on the team than we see we walk around with that you know Jeremiah complex so I alone Lord I alone we do that Elijah you know I just don't know buddies out there with me God you have no idea God says you know I'm right on the whole planet you don't see the whole playing board I only showed you part of it Joshua needed to be picked up he needed to have God multiply the ranks when needed and show him that God had a way of opening and expanding you know God knows how to raise the victorious army do you know that God's not on the ropes getting beat up by evil at any moment he can put a stop to all of this he chooses not to now you get down to chapter 7 and 8 and if just look at how this works once you understand there are two worlds interfacing and once you understand that there's confusion always about the leadership because the enemy's pounding away on the leadership and discouraging them then you get to honest confusion over people who are reading their Bible but don't get it does everybody understand that one some sometimes it's not that they're under spiritual attack it's that they don't understand what they're reading so in chapters 7 & 8 there's a confusion that exists in ministry why there's 1189 chapters in the Bible it's got some content somewhere along the way we're not all going to agree on every verse so you might have heard we had some disagreements among us you might have heard that even if we all agree that it's absolutely the truth and that's only a segment of us even when we agree with that we don't always know what it said so we're trying our best and so in Chapter 7 verse 2 it says that the town of Bethel had sent Charette sir and ragam Ella and their men to seek the favor of the Lord I'm interested because these guys show up and they want to do what's right with God and it says they spoke to the priests who belong to the house of the Lord of hosts and to the prophets and said shall I weep on the fifth month and abstain as I have done these many years here's the problem we're used to having a whole series of fast as Jewish people at this time so they had a fast in the fourth month for when there was a breach in the walls of Jerusalem they had a fast in the fifth month for when there was the burning of God's temple they had a weeping and a fast when forget Elias assassination in the seventh month they had all these fasts they had another one when Nebuchadnezzar began a siege in the tenth month over and over they had all these fasts of what had happened before they were taken into captivity now here's the question we got a new temple or at least we're getting one it's just starting to get really exciting should we keep fasting or do we start celebrating and you go what does that have to do with me well it's very simple how quickly do you jettison a memory of your sinfulness and what it costs the Lord and move to Grace and celebration because the quicker you do it the more you'll be inclined to lessen the actual weightiness of your sin but the longer you do it the more you'll be inclined to treat Jesus as if he wasn't enough it's the same problem we have to try and figure out should we keep recalling our disciplined weeping or should we put it behind us should we move on so the point of chapter 7 was to help the people get out of this kind of cage of we just feel better we keep the old bed so we got to feel bad and so what he says is the word of the Lord of the hosts came to him saying say to all the people of lanham in verse 5 when you facet and born in the fifth and the seventh month these 17 years was it actually for me the very first question we have to ask is when we go through these religious things that we do were we doing it for God because honestly a lot of times we get caught up in the sadness of the event or the celebration of an event it's really not about God the soul mimics the spirit the Spirit is your umbilical attachment to God the soul is your personality and a lot of what people call worship isn't it's actually a great emotional experience that you could have had at a Rolling Stones concert if you liked their music what what people say is is spiritual is often emotional we have to separate it so there's another one in verse 8 he says listen if you don't want to have to do all those festivals and I'm all those of fasting anymore you want to move on to the festivals and celebrations here's what I want you to do in verse 8 dispense true justice practice kindness and compassion each to his brother in other words show me the change is really happening in your life and then I won't need all those old reminders one of the problems we have as we walk around with with minors of our past life because we throw them off so fast we no longer act like that was us how do you have that ability I don't know what I was thinking back then as if you have no responsibility for it the rest of chapter 7 really calls you to face the fact that as you look back there were things in your life that God has saved you from he's taken care of those things now you get to chapter 8 and it says the word of the Lord of Hosts came saying thus says the Lord I am exceedingly jealous for Zion down in verse 4 old men old women will sit again in the streets of Jerusalem you know what chapter 8 reminds me of something it reminds me that believers can celebrate now for things that we don't yet have simply based on the fact that God promised them when God says I'm going to do something for you take it to the bank it's as good as done so he says there's a future for Jerusalem and it's going to be great you can honestly start your celebrations right now because it's going to be great now it doesn't mean they're not going to have to go through a really tough time but that's why verse 9 says let your hands be strong you were listening in these days to these words from the mouths of the prophets that's why verse 11 says but now I will not treat the remnant of this people as the former days declares the Lord first all the way down at the end of verse 13 I will save you that you may become a blessing do not fear let your hands be strong the Bible calls you when you know what God is said to work from victory not for victory Jesus provides the victory God provides the victory you work from it now you had to you have to live in Jerusalem for a while to really understand this concept but every Thursday night we got Monday Night Football for many years now you can't believe the confidence you bring to Monday Night Football when it's on Thursday night from last Monday's tape when you know who won you don't even care if they sack your quarterback and fight with five minutes left you don't care if they carry off the field in pieces your three favorite receivers because you're going to win how do you know cause the tape is already made if we would think that way about our walk with God and understand the tape has already made when God said it then we work from victory not for victory now that's the first half of the book and you understand why they were confused about whether or not they should stay in the weight of the past the second half of the book are the series of predictions and I only have a few minutes to do them but they're actually not that difficult when you go to chapter 9 there are five pronouncements in Chapter nine that helped me to understand what it's all about the first one is a world power in verses 1 through 4 which is Syria and the second one is smaller allies of that power verses 5 through 7 that's the Philistine city so God is going to address the Syrians and the Philistines as he turns and says I have something coming for you guys then in verse 8 he's going to pay attention to typically to Jerusalem and God's protection for his temple but the verses you probably know are 9 9 through 12 because those seem to most directly relate to the first coming of Jesus your King comes riding to you humbly on a donkey and you see that in Luke 19 and it this whole imagery from zechariah 9:9 the last part of chapter 9 is the weird part because the last part of chapter 9 actually addresses the coming of the Greeks long before Alexander the Great was a thing this is 5 25 15 Alexander the Great 333 so predictive prophecy steps right in and it actually uses the word Greece Greece was not a dominating power at this time they were however experiencing the Golden Age of Greece in that Periclean Athens and some good things were going on in the period but they weren't yet a marching power anywhere near Israel so here's what I see if you take 9 and you take those those 5 pronouncements let me lump them into four stages the first stage is 7 vs. 9 1 through 7 and it's God's people began in darkness surrounded by people of darkness Syria didn't have a heart for God Lebanon didn't have a heart for God Philistine certainly didn't have a heart for God but zero in on verse 7 I will remove their blood from their mouths and their detestable things from between their teeth then they also will be a remnant for our God in other words in the process of God's saving his people he was going to save some of the most detestable people around them there is an there is an effect of God moving into a room and changing a life it actually affects the people around it and the second stage after God beginning with his people in darkness is in verses 8 all the way down to verse 12 which is God breaking into a mess this is what he says I will camp around my house no oppressor will pass over it anymore and then he says your king will come writing to you with Adele salvation humble and mounted on a donkey and of course you recognize that for the Palm Sunday and Jesus coming into the city but I want you to notice one other verse that you might have skipped over look at verse 11 as also for you because of the blood of my covenant with you I have set your prisoners free so there is a coming of a king who will come in humility and in his coming around that time the prophecy will talk about a blood of my covenant that sets prisoners free it's worth going back and exploring this text again what I can tell you is this that God will save his people and at the end of chapter 9 it says the Lord of hosts will defend them and they will devour and trample on the sling stones look at verse 16 the Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of the people chapter 9 simply makes the argument that God's going to deal with Syria the Philistines and he's going to surprise everybody by saving some of them then God is going to protect his city Jerusalem then God is going to send his servant Messiah and that in doing that he's going to save his people so chapter 9 is one of those places in the first coming of Jesus you want to come back and that's why the gospel writer quotes from Zechariah 9 go to chapter 10 for a minute because in chapter 10 God warned his people to keep the eyes on the promises see the prophetic story is God's plan for Israel and and by the time they completed the Second Temple here's the problem you get to chapter 10 and the temple is operating they've already finished they don't need it they don't even courage meant to get it going it's going the northern brothers are lost in the sands of time the days of David and Solomon long ago are gone now they got this broken-down temple that they've rebuilt whoop-dee-doo and they don't feel really good about themselves they are totally informed and absolutely not inspired and if you've ever been to that point in your walk with God they are full of information lacking inspiration God told the people he was going to do something he says hey it's time for the spring rain in chapter 10 and he says the grain harvest is ready and the prophets used the latter rain for the time of of the end times and God says to the Jewish people in chapter 10 verse 5 that a messiah will come from you that a fighting force is going to be raised up that will drive other people more equipped away from you you cannot read chapter 10 and not be excited about your own news listen to this there's going to come a time when people are going to rien habet Jerusalem verse seven and they're going to dance in the streets after they've been gone a long time verse eight I'm going to continually pull them home and waves to the land and the land is going to be huge again even though it was a hundred years before empty of people you're going to see that though they were sewn into the nation's in ten nine they will be distinct when they return they will not amalgamate into the nation's they went to they will still be Jewish people that's pretty amazing they're going to come from many lands verse 10 and be stuffed into a small land but after they get there verse 11 there will be a Great Tribulation that comes upon them because of their enemies and finally I'm going to renew them and they're going to walk in Messiah's name listen to verse 12 I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will walk declares the Lord just like chapter 9 tells you about the coming of Messiah and the first coming chapter 10 tells you about the restoration of the Jewish people coming back to the land after a long time away now chapter 11 scolds the Shepherds that were overtop of them in fact God says he pardons real repentance but he will make no rejection on the hard-hearted leaders and shepherds of Israel that will not repent and if I had to look at chapter 11 under a microscope I would set it next to Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem because the leaders of the Jewish people corrupt and unwilling to follow spurned him and that's why he says things from the Mount of Olives like Jerusalem Jerusalem how often I've longed to gather you as a hand would gather her chicks but you not come Jerusalem who stones the prophets I send you daughters of Jerusalem don't weep for me weep for yourselves there will come a day when you'll wish it never given birth there was a steadiness in chapter 11 a powerful nature that the flock was being led by shepherds that were false and Zechariah was called to Shepherd a flock that was doomed for slaughter now that sounds so ominous but you have to remember that when the time in which they were living that's why they were raising the animals they were going to kill him that's what they were for but here it's a time when he goes out and in verse 10 of chapter 11 he said I took a staff a favor and cut it in pieces to break my covenant which I had made with my people there was a generation coming of shepherds of Israel where God was going to break the stabs of those shepherds and the agreement with them and kick the ball to another future generation of Jews later and Jesus did it he looked right at them and said I cannot I cannot accept that you reject me and still offer you the kingdom that I want to offer you so it's going to go to another of your ancestors somebody later somebody who is going to come from the same line it'll be part of the Jewish people I will do what I said but you won't be part of it and chapter 11 is the sadness of that moment it's interesting did you notice in chapter 11 verse 12 it says I said to them if it is good in your sight give me my wages if not never mind they weighed out 30 shekels of silver as my wages then the Lord said to me throw it to the potter the Magnificent price at which I was valued by them you know what they're doing adding insult to injury they didn't pay him his normal due rather they substituted for it the price of a gourd bondservant according to Exodus 21 and you see that same set of things happening where in the Gospels right Matthew 27 they give Judas 30 pieces of silver and he buys with it a potter's field there's a whole SPAC story and the back story is simply this when the leaders of Israel as shepherds of Israel refused to walk with God God lifts his hands from those leaders and says I'll give it to future leaders you won't get the blessing you know one of the things that I know about the Lord over the years I've I've walked with him is this if you spurn God's call in your life he'll hand it to somebody else that's what I'll do if you try putting your armor on the next kid like Saul did to David then God will give the kingdom to David if you don't want the job he won't give it to you if you won't walk with him we'll take it away okay look at the last part because those all talk about things are related to the first coming in the last part of the book there's a powerful pummeling of judgment that's told in three steps 12 13 14 in Chapter 12 you might not have seen it but I've been guiding your life and guiding your nations since the beginning says the Lord in Chapter 13 false teachers have traded cheated broken you but I'm going to rescue you and then 14 there's a powerful destruction coming as the kingdoms of this world come up against you because they don't want me says the Lord God go to chapter 12 for just a minute and what you'll see is that the burden of the word of the Lord concerning israel thus declares the lord who stretches out the heavens lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him the process God uses to reach into a life is systematically revealed if you read this passage it will keep using this phrase in that day and another phrase it will come about when you first look at human history it looks like a series of mistakes and happenstance when you look at it through predictive prophecy you realize that God says okay next okay next okay next I want you to know that in chapter 12 he tells the story of how he's going to reach his people after a long hard stiff you want to apply it to your life it's very simple how did God reach you how did God reach you when you weren't walking with him and didn't want to you didn't even know you needed to well chapter 12 says that it all began with a stirring 12 2 2 5 all of a sudden the symbols at the heart of world agitation start being you your city is going to become a problem for people around the world when you read 2 through 5 you can't help but look pick up a newspaper and know that Jerusalem has become a major problem for everybody in the world and here's what he says you know what when the last days come I'm going to make Jerusalem a problem for everybody in the world how shocking and then he says in that day verse 4 declares Lord I'm going to strike every horse with bewilderment rider with madness I'm going to watch over the house of Judah here's what's going to happen people are going to come up with stronger armies and not beat you they took them if they could take them but the Lord stood for them and verse the verse 6 it says in that day I'm going to make the clans of Judah like a fire pot among the pieces of wood and a flaming torch among the sheaves the Lord verse 7 will save the tents of Judah first so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah he says I've got a plan for my people and I've got a plan for my city and I'm going to start saving them in inordinate ways that don't make sense you're going to look at it you're going to go how is that happening and as the last kind comes upon them you're going to see it again I'm going to show up at key moments and I'm going to actually drive the forces of history in ways that are shocking to people what's interesting is verse 8 says in that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David in other words people that shouldn't have strength will be empowered to be able to pull off things they shouldn't be able to pull off God says all of a sudden verse 9 and that day I will set about to destroy the the nations that come against Jerusalem I'm going to pour out on the house of David in the inhabitants of Jerusalem verse 11 and that day there will be great morning in Jerusalem like the morning of hydro Moon in the plains of Megiddo he says what's going to happen is I'm going to get to the place where I box Israel in I box Jerusalem in I press the Jewish people to wear their back is to the sea there's nowhere for them to escape and then I will have them understand I am their God what a salvation look like well chapter 13 verse 1 it looks like cleansing that comes from a fountain do you remember that the nations will box in Israel their back will be to the skis to the sea they will not be able to escape and they will look on him whom they have pierced he will come in the clouds and they will weep 13 tells me this it tells me that the fountain of cleansing will be opened up when did it get opened up well don't skip it back in 12 9 he said I'm about to destroy the nations that come up against them I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one who mourns for an only Son for they will be bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn this is chapter 12 verse 10 and when you look at that here's what he says he says when there's nowhere for them to go then I will appear then they will weep then they will drop then they will cry then they will identify me as a son they will understand what has happened so 13:1 says that's when our fountain of purity comes why because that's when people are saved when Paul said in Romans 10 and 11 so all Israel will be saved he meant so all Israel will be saved at the future 10th for Paul it's something after the church it's something still yet to come how does it happen it happens after a tribulation when they're surrounded by the world that hates them it happens when the Messiah breaks through the clouds and the second coming and they look on him whom they have pierced it's interesting because once they fall before him 13-2 tells me that the idols are cut off from the land 13-3 says that that people under dan that the prophets and prophesy is a holy thing 13/4 says that it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of the vision which he prophesized and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive right is going to be right wrong is going to be wrong people are going to know that you don't play at this anymore listen when you see them break through the clouds when your whole nation is about to be extinguished and you are saved by the skin of your teeth you don't put on a little religious dance and start going back to your practice as usual you fall before God and that's it when chapter 13 closes it closes with a surrender and chapter 14 opens this way behold a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you I will gather all nations against Jerusalem the battle and the city will be captured the city the houses plundered women ravished half the city exiled but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights on a day about in other words God says in 14 yes I told you you're going to be surrounded yes I told you I'm going to save you let me go back to that again you're going to take heavy heavy losses on the way it's not going to be simple most people will doubt that I'm ever going to save you I'm going to save you 14:4 says in the day in which he does that he will stand on the Mount of Olives which is in front of Jerusalem to the east and the Mount of Olives will be split in the middle from east to west a very large valley so half the mountain will move to the north the other half will move to the south is that east-west split sort of cracks it open and breaks it open and the resourcefulness of God takes people by surprise because in that day there's no need for light because luminaries will dwindle and and it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord neither day nor night it will come about in the evening that it will still be like God will move whatever he has to move change whatever he has to change he's going to make sure that everybody knows I am the Lord this is my people any questions and he's going to make sure that it's not going to be something where people are going to go hey I wonder if they just somehow invented some new cool weapon they will know verse eight says in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem half of them toward the eastern sea the other half toward the western sea after the dead half toward the Med and then it says it will be in summer as well as in winter that's hard for you to understand but there are only two rivers in Israel that actually run all year long the Jordan and the Ark cone and the ark owns only a few hundred meters long so it says another one that runs all year long Jerusalem will have its own sin maybe it'll have a river cruise like they have in Paris you know have the guys with boats come on it's an industry but here's what it says there will always always always be water flowing out of there and then he says I'm going to move the land around and landscape around and verse 12 says now this will be be the plague with the Lord well he will strike all the peoples have gone to war against Jerusalem their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet their eyes will rot in their sockets their tongue will rot in their mouth what you're looking at is what happens at Armageddon it happens not only in the plain of Armageddon it happens also in Jerusalem and he says it's the same problem when the nations gather around we closed this book with a very simple word from God he says that verse 16 it will come about that any who are left of the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the king the Lord of Hosts to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles feast of booths and it will be that which ever the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king the Lord of hosts there'll be no rain on them why because it's the Feast of Tabernacles you pray for rain for the coming year and it says if the family of Egypt doesn't go up to a turn they don't get any rain that will be the punishment for Egypt and then he closes out the entire powerful pummeling at the end of the book that says there's going to be war there's going to be losses there's going to be destruction there's going to be surrounding of you you're going to be choked off but I'm going to come and I'm going to save you and he ends it this way and that day verse 20 there will be inscribed on the bells of horses holy to the Lord and the cooking pots in the Lord's house will be like the bowls before the altar every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of Hosts all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them and there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts in that day in other words I will straighten out my people and every one of them in their homes will be observing as as precisely as they are in the temple itself they won't just be doing this for show it'll be real they will have seen what it means to go through the ad to be the enemy of the nations they will have endured thousands of years of anti-semitism they will go through a pain that is horrible and unbelievable Revelation 16 says it's worse than any judgment that it has ever preceded it for the Jewish people but at the end every one alive at the time when the Messiah breaks through the clouds every single Jewish person alive on that day will look on him whom they have pierced and they will be saved it's a good story it's also a powerfully hard one so there's a pummeling coming but it ends in God's promise a promise yet to be fulfilled according to Paul a promise yet in their future but here's what I know about God's promise we can celebrate today because God said it will happen then it's as good as done one of the nice things about working among the Jewish people is I I'm in one of the few fields of the world that gets a 100 percent retention salvation at the end now it's true it's only one generation and very likely I won't see them but here's the thing I can tell you God will move players around the field for a thousand years to make a point he's in no hurry he's incredibly patient and he loves Israel and has loved them from the beginning and even though this story is a difficult one to tell and it is here's what I know there is an unseen world behind what's going on in our world today this is the symptom that's the reality there's a plan in place there's a culmination of that plan and at the end of the story God will say this is who I am signed in blood it's the blood of grace the blood of Mercy the blood of the son that will return over whom they will weep Zechariah [Music] I don't have blame you

Channel: One Hour. One Book.

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Keywords: GCBI, Dr. Randy Smith, Bible teaching, Bible class, Hebrew, Greek

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Length: 58min 42sec (3522 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 07 2017