God’s Truest Expression of Favor
Zechariah 3:1-10
October 2, 2016

We live in a day when the love of God
Is often questioned or even doubted.
When we hit times of difficulty or confusion, it is not uncommon for people
To assume that God just doesn’t love me.

I don’t think it’s far-fetched to wonder if these refugees from Israel
At times wondered these types of things.

John Calvin wrote about how under their circumstances
It would be hard for these refugees
To maintain the hope of the redemption that they had been promised.

You are aware of their struggle.
• They traveled back from Babylon (5 month journey)
• The city was in ruins and the temple was gone
• They started to build but opposition quickly halted them
• Haggai convinced them to start again
• Now the governor has sent word to Darius to find out if they can continue
• All the while most of your brothers have opted to remain in the comfortable life back in Babylon

That would definitely be a difficult scenario to endure.
THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE MINISTRY OF ZECHARIAH.

John Calvin wrote:
“Zechariah was sent for this end – to encourage weak minds.”

The name of the prophet means “The Lord Remembers” and that is certainly the point that he is trying to get across to these people.

Presently he is doing so through the revealing of his 8 NIGHT VISIONS.
They are all meant to remind these refugees that God is for them.

1) The Vision of the Angelic Patrol
• Reminded us that God is angry at those nations who are fat and happy and enjoying the demise of Israel. God is jealous for Israel and angry at the nations who oppress her.

2) The Vision of the 4 horns and 4 craftsmen
• This vision taught us that God will avenge Israel on the nations that have oppressed Israel. You don’t mess with His people at no cost.

3) The Vision of the Surveyor
• This vision reminded us that God has claimed Jerusalem for Himself. Surveying denotes ownership.
• And even more than that, as the man was measuring for a wall God intervened to tell him no wall was needed because God Himself would be her protection.
So the point thus far has been clear.
• I am for you
• I am against those who harmed you
• I will protect you and I will judge them

That message then brought a sermon of application in which
God called for all the Jews still living in Babylon to come home.
• If God is going to judge Babylon (even though it doesn’t look like it)
• And God is going to bless Jerusalem (even though it doesn’t look like it)
• Then you need to walk by faith and leave Babylon.

It’s no different than our continual call to forsake this world for eternity.

But as you can see God has revealed at least 3 times that He is for Israel.

Tonight He does so again, and He does so in what I have called GOD’S TRUEST EXPRESSION OF FAVOR.

It is the fourth vision which is
THE VISION OF JOSHUA’S ATONEMENT

And this vision should certainly reveal to Israel that God is for them.

Let’s look at it together.
#1 THE VISION
Zechariah 3:1-7

Here we have Zechariah given a glimpse into a spiritual realm.
He is able to see the Lord and he is able to see Satan,
That’s pretty much a spiritual realm.

Let’s break it down a little more; there are 3 things we see here.
1) JOSHUA ACCUSED (1-2)

We have here “Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD,”

What you have here is the Day of Atonement.
The high priest has gone before the presence of God
In order to make intercession for the sins of the people.

And of course this is a big deal to Israel.
• This is the day when the guilt of your sin is to be removed.
• When all of those sins you committed in ignorance are atoned for and taken away.
It was a big day.

But immediately Zechariah recognizes a problem.
Joshua isn’t alone
“and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.”

Here we have Satan working against
The intercessory work of Joshua.

We don’t know what the particular accusation is,
But we understand the purpose.

If Satan can disqualify the high priest
Then he can put a stop to the work of atonement.
So this isn’t just an attack on Joshua, it is an attack on the entire nation.

Satan is opposing the entire work of atonement.

And of course this does not surprise us.

We saw Satan do the same thing with Job
Job 1:9-11 “Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.”

And we know from the book of Revelation that he is tireless in this work.
Revelation 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.”

Satan is the one who accuses God’s people before God day and night.
That is to say it is constantly.

Satan tempts us to turn on God by slandering God
(remember Christ’s temptation where Satan questioned God’s provision, God’s protection, and God’s plan)

And Satan seeks to tempt God to turn on us by slandering us to God.
(fortunately the good news is that James tells us that God cannot be tempted by evil)

But you get the idea.
• The high priest is working to bring atonement to God’s people
• And Satan is seeking to thwart that work
• By disqualifying the high priest through accusation of sin.

HOWEVER, we immediately recognize that the Lord won’t hear of it!

(2) “The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

I absolutely love this passage and I think you will too.
This passage is the Old Testament equivalent to Romans 8:28-39

TURN TO: ROMANS 8:28-39

Of course that begins with the blessed reality that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God”

This verse is often quoted as a verse of hope and encouragement
To people in difficult situations.

BUT LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT THIS VERSE.
If you don’t hold to the Doctrines Of Grace
(Things like Reformed theology, or Calvinism as it is often called)
Then you really have no basis for clinging to this verse.

BECAUSE THE REALITY OF THAT PROMISE
IS TIED UP IN GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION.

One should ask WHY DOES GOD CAUSE ALL THINGS TO WORK FOR GOOD?

That is the answer that is given at the end of verse 28 through verse 30.

It is because they “are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

God is promised to do good to them that love God
BECAUSE that is what He has determined to do
For those whom He has called.

By His own sovereign decree He has said
• That He will call those He has foreknown,
• That He will justify those He calls,
• And that He will glorify those He justifies.

Since God has decreed that His elect will end in glory,
It is impossible to say that any situation in life
Can end up in any reality but a good one.

We know God causes all things to work together for good
Because that is what He has sovereignly decreed to happen.
(If you take sovereign election out of that, then that verse has no legs to stand on)

But that reality then leads Paul to take the application a little further.
(READ 31-37)
The point there is that
• God has chosen us
• God has redeemed us
• God has already purposed to take us to glory

So there is nothing that can undo that,
Because there is nothing that can thwart God’s sovereign will.

If God has determined that those whom He foreknew will be glorified, what does Satan think he can do to stop that? -nothing

That reality led Paul to a high state of doxology in which he said:
(38-39) “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In short, Satan’s accusations cannot stop what God has predestined.
Satan’s slander cannot undo God’s sovereign decree.
(We love that because our security rests there)

That is the EXACT SAME THING that Jesus tells Satan in Zechariah 3:2
Jesus rebukes him and rebukes him harshly.
And He reminds Satan why his accusations won’t work.

Namely because “the LORD has chosen Jerusalem”

In fact Jesus also asks, “Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

Thank about that for a moment.
• The fact that the brand was already in the fire indicates that it was already under judgment.
• But in the midst of judgment God reached in and plucked it out,
• Thus rescuing it from the flame.

And here is the point.
Do you really think God has some level of confusion
Regarding what type of people Israel is?
He knew what they were when He first plucked them from the fire.

He is not saving them because they are worthy,
He is saving them because He is gracious.

This is why the accusations of the enemy do not work.
If we were saved by works then all Satan would have to do is take the record of our failures to the righteous Judge and we’d be toast.

But we weren’t saved by works so mistakes don’t condemn us.
God knew about our mistakes when He chose us.
We are secured, not by our own merit, but by God’s sovereign election.

And this is what Jesus reveals here.
Think about how encouraging this must be to Israel.

God has chosen them and Satan’s accusations have no bearing.
God has remembered His selection of them.

But it gets even better.

We have Joshua Accused
2) JOSHUA ATONED (3-5)

Here is what is really remarkable.
Satan was standing next to Joshua in order to accuse him, and do you want to know the startling thing?

He was correct in his assessment.
(3) “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.”

This is wrong on a number of levels.
• First, one of the first requirements of the priest before he could even begin the
process of the sacrifices for the Day of Atonement was this:

Leviticus 16:4-5 “He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. “He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.”

• Aaron was to have a clean body and clean garments before appearing before
the Lord.

So even if we are talking about actual garments here,
The application is clear that Joshua doesn’t fit the bill.

I tend to think, however, that
We aren’t talking about his clothes, but his heart.
Throughout Scripture garments represent character.

Hence the redeemed are said to be given white garments from Christ.

So the real picture here could be that
Joshua is sinful and unworthy to stand before God.

That means that Satan’s accusation is accurate.
Joshua was in fact unworthy.

But notice how the Lord deals with this.
(4) “He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”

That was Joshua’s symbolic atonement.
• Joshua didn’t do anything,
• Joshua didn’t make any sacrifice,
• But the Lord simply removed the filthy garments and gave him festal robes.

I think the important phrase is that He said,
“I have taken your iniquity away from you”

This is a foreshadowed picture obviously to the atonement of Christ.

Today we are saved as we trust in the finished work of Christ which He accomplished on the cross.

In the Old Testament they were saved as they trusted in the promised work of Christ which He would accomplish on the cross.

We praise Christ because He bore our sin.
Joshua could praise Christ because He promised He would.

So we have a sinful but chosen priest being accused by Satan
And Jesus simply steps in and takes his iniquity
That he might be CLOTHED in righteousness and FIT for service.

That is the gospel in clear fashion.
Romans 8:34 “who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Joshua is clothed in righteousness,
AND he is FIT FOR SERVICE
So Christ recommissions him!

(5) “Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.”

Those are the high priestly garments.

I hope you are seeing the beautiful scene here.
• We have a sinful man who is not worthy to serve, seeking to intercede on behalf of other sinful men.
• And we have a devil pointing all that out seeking to wreck the entire process.
• And that devil would win were it not for Jesus, who steps in, rebukes the enemy, takes away Joshua’s iniquity and recommissions him to continue on as a priest for his people.

That is a wonderful reality for the children of Israel.
THAT IS A WONDERFUL REALITY FOR ALL OF GOD’S ELECT!!!

Joshua Accused Joshua Atoned
3) JOSHUA ADMONISHED (7)

Not only is Joshua given permission
To enter the presence of God and atone for his people,
But the LORD also expresses to Joshua
How he can continue in this ministry.

“If you will walk in My ways” (that is do the things I command)
“if you will perform My service” (continue in your role as priest)
“then you will also govern My house and have charge of My courts and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.”

That is to say, I will let you rule and will continually allow you back into My presence for your work of atonement.

(We see here as well why Christ remains an acceptable high priest to God on our behalf as well.)

So Israel, you have a priest, and acceptable priest, and one whom God has agreed to continue to accept on your behalf.

That is good news.
God is willing to forgive.

The Vision
#2 THE PROMISE
Zechariah 3:8-10

This is the point to the vision which Zechariah wanted the people to see.

“Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you”

He’s speaking there of Joshua and of all the priests.

“indeed they are men who are a symbol”

Be sure and catch that.
I’m actually kind of shocked that the writer of Hebrews didn’t use this verse in his preaching on Christ.

Here the LORD is speaking and He makes a startling revelation
That the high priest and the priesthood
Is in all actuality nothing more than a symbol.

Now we know that.
• We know that it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.
• We know that those priests weren’t actually entering the presence of God, they were just entering a man-made version.
• We know it was all a divine illustration; a picture

Hebrews 9 and 10 makes that point over and over and over.

Well here the LORD tells the priests that.
You “are a symbol”

Well a symbol has to have a substance.
What is the substance?

“I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.”

You are a symbol for a coming “Branch”
Who is that?
Jeremiah 23:5-6 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.’”

Jeremiah 33:14-16 “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ‘In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. ‘In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.’”

We are talking about a coming branch.
And one who will bring righteousness to the people.

What the priest did day after day was just symbolic.
They didn’t actually remove sin, they just symbolically did.
But the LORD says there is one coming
Who actually will do what you are merely symbolizing.

(9) “For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua”
• This stone is the temple foundation stone.
• They’ve started but they haven’t finished.

“on one stone are seven eyes.”

What does that mean?
Zechariah 4:10 “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel — these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth.”
• These eyes are the eyes of God.

Here we find that they are focused on the temple foundation stone.

God is focusing on the rebuilding of this temple.

Now of course the temple was also symbolic.
• It was symbolic of God’s presence.
• It was symbolic of God’s atonement.
• It was symbolic of forgiveness.

But God says, as you are building this temple I’m going to “engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.”

This temple that you are building will serve as reminder to me
That I will atone for all the iniquity of the land of Israel in one day.

There is a future Day of Atonement coming for you.

And there is no doubt in our mind what this day is,
It is the coming cross of Jesus Christ.

• It is on the cross that Christ would bring true atonement for all the sin of God’s
people for all time.
• All their sin would be permanently removed.

I am going to send my servant the Branch and He will remove your sin.

And the effect is glorious!
(10) “’In that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.'”

With sin removed there would no longer be any curse or any unrest.
It will be a time of blessing and peace.

It is God’s promise of a full atonement
Coming through His servant the Branch.

Now, first you have to realize HOW ENCOURAGING
This must have been to these refugees.

• They are trying to rebuild this temple so that they can once again enjoy
God’s presence and seek His forgiveness through sacrifice.

• God is saying that He will accept them, will forgive them, and will
ultimately send One who will bring about a final and lasting atonement.

That is good news!

I told you that this is God’s clearest expression of favor.
It is FORGIVENESS

There is no greater expression of favor than that.
That God would forgive undeserving sinners.

As I said, we live in a world where people
Doubt the love of God when their circumstances get difficult,
But that is horribly unfair to God.

There is no doubt that God’s favor rests upon us
And that His love is toward us.

Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Atonement is God’s demonstration of His love and favor.
We never have the right to question God’s love or God’s favor.
He has given us forgiveness.

That is why we can know that all things will work for good,
Regardless of what they are.
God has sovereignly decreed that they must,
And He has proven His will toward us in our forgiveness.

Zechariah was seeking to encourage these people
By not only reminding them that God had chosen them
But also that God had chosen to forgive them.

THAT IS ENCOURAGING.

Now do you want to hear the bad news?

God promised a branch that would come and atone for sin.
Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

• The Branch came and did exactly as God promised
• But they didn’t like the fact that this branch was like a tender shoot from parched ground
• And they refused to accept Him.

And they have thus postponed their atonement for a future day
When they will look on Him whom they have pierced.

God gave them the truest expression of His favor that He could give them
AND THEY REFUSED IT.

However, for us, this is blessing.
John 15:1-4 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

• Jesus is our branch.
• Jesus is our righteousness.
• Jesus is our proof of God’s favor toward us.

You don’t have to walk through this life
Fretting whether or not God is for you.
GOD IS FOR YOU – He proved that on the cross.

And though this world with devils filled may threaten to undo us,
We will not fear for God hath willed, His truth to triumph through us
The Prince of darkness grim
We tremble not for him
His rage we can endure
For lo, his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him

Though Satan should buffet though trials should come
Let this blessed assurance control
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul

THERE CAN BE NO CLEARER EXPRESSION OF FAVOR THAN THIS
Go forward
Press on
Finish the task
“If God be for us, who can be against us”

Who Is Able To Stand?
Revelation 6:17b
October 2, 2016

I realize it’s been a couple of weeks since we were in our study of Revelation and our minds can lose a lot of traction in two weeks.
But I trust it won’t take much to pull us back into the flow.

When we hit chapter 6 we began watching as the Lamb of God
Began to open the seals of the great scroll.
We said this scroll is the title deed to the earth
And outlines the judgments by which the world will be
Removed from the control of the Usurper and redeemed back to its proper king.

These are in a way the terms of eviction and Jesus is in the process of
Evicting the evil one and all those who are under his control.

• The first seal last 3 ½ years and was false peace.
• The second seal was world war
• The third seal was world-wide famine
• The fourth seal was death in which ¼ of the world’s population died
• And those were all bad to be sure

But when that 5th seal opened the wrath of God hit a whole new level.
We saw the saints below the altar crying out to God for vengeance.

And although they were told to rest and to wait for the rest of the martyrs to join them,
Their prayer clearly had an effect on Christ,
For at the 5th seal the wrath of Christ went FROM PASSIVE TO ACTIVE.
He went from allowing destruction to causing it.

We read about that 6th seal which was described by John as a “great earthquake” but we noticed how the consequences felt on the earth were far more than just that of an earthquake.

• Normal earthquakes don’t darken the sun
• Normal earthquakes don’t cause a blood moon
• Normal earthquakes don’t cause a meteor shower
• Normal earthquakes don’t rip away the sky and bring God’s throne into view

Instead we likened this to the Lord backhanding the earth,
Knocking it out of its normal orbit
And then grabbing the earth and pulling it right up to His face.

And for the first time the earth has begun to realize that
All of this calamity is not the result of global warming or environmental irresponsibility.
All of this calamity is the direct result of God’s fury.

When the earth catches a glimpse of the One on the throne and the Lamb
They immediately seek to hide from His wrath
By praying to the mountains to fall on them.
And then came their reasoning.
Revelation 6:17 “for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

And we really need to spend some time addressing this issue.

WHO IS ABLE TO STAND?
(I’m going to apologize at the beginning here because we may not even make it to our text this morning. There is much that needs to be done here by way of introduction.

The entire purpose of chapter 7 is to answer this question and therefore it is important to make sure we have an accurate understanding of the issue before we move forward.)

So: WHO IS ABLE TO STAND BEFORE GOD?

Psalms 15 “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.”

Psalms 24:3-5 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

Isaiah 33:13-16 “You who are far away, hear what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might.” Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?” He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil; He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure.”

Those passages answer the question,
But I can’t say that the answer is all that comforting.
In fact, the answer seems to be: ONLY THOSE WHO ARE PERFECT

THAT REALITY HAS RATTLED MORE THAN ONE PERSON.

Perhaps you remember our study of the book of Job…
Many of those conversations centered around man’s inability to be righteous enough to stand before God.

Eliphaz asked:
Job 4:17 “Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?”

Bildad asked:
Job 25:4 “How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?”

Even Job asked:
Job 9:1-3 “Then Job answered, “In truth I know that this is so; But how can a man be in the right before God? “If one wished to dispute with Him, He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.”

They all knew standing before a righteous God was a dangerous task.

We are all familiar with the God’s warning to Moses in the Old Testament:
Exodus 33:20 “But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

Sinful man just cannot stand before a Holy God.

Or look at those who did actually enter His presence.

Isaiah 6 comes to mind where we actually find Isaiah in a state of absolute terror.
Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Or we could listen after Job actually stood in the presence of God.
Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

I think you’re getting the point that I’m making.

When the sinners of Revelation 6 ask “who is able to stand?”
THAT ISN’T AN IRRATIONAL QUESTION.

That’s actually a good question.
We have a holy God and then we have sinful man.
• Who can be just before Him?
• Who can stand before Him?

Maybe you remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler.
The conversation of course centered around
His desire to go to heaven and yet keep his wealth.

• When Jesus told him he could not have both, the young man chose to keep his wealth and went away sad.

• This incident caused Jesus to turn to His disciples and say that it was easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

In short, making a way for sinful man to stand in the presence of God
Is no easy task.

• The disciples certainly picked up on what Jesus was saying for in the very next breath the disciples ask a very relevant question.

Matthew 19:25-26 “When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Their question wasn’t much different from the question in Revelation 6.
“who is able to stand?”
“who can be saved?”

In Matthew 19 the Lord answers that question like this: “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

And the answer to the question of Revelation 6 is found in Revelation 7.

Revelation chapter 7 is a PARENTHETICAL CHAPTER in the book of Revelation, and this is something John does a lot.

He will periodically break the natural flow of the revelation
To either give the same information from a new perspective,
Or sometimes to answer a confusing reality that has just been revealed.

That is what he is doing here.

Chapter 6 ended with the question, “who is able to stand?”
And chapter 7 is devoted to answering that question.

And I’m going to go ahead and give you the answer before we even start working our way through the chapter.

The answer is: THOSE WHOM GOD MAKES STAND
Who is able to stand?
Those whom God causes to stand

Sinful man surely is not capable of doing this by his own strength.
• That was made clear time and time again.
• That is what Job and Bildad and Eliphaz debated.

If God maintains His holiness then there is not a sinful man alive
Who is capable of standing in His presence.

It is impossible so far as man is concerned.

The ONLY POSSIBLE WAY this can be achieved is if God does it for him.
The only one who can stand is the one whom God causes to stand.

Romans 14:4 “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
It is God who causes sinners to be able to stand in His presence.

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

Colossians 1:21-22 “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”

All of those passages are saying the same thing.
Man had dare not present himself before God.

If he were to try he would likely get the same greeting that Job received:
Job 38:2 “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge?”

Man cannot present himself before God
And man cannot stand before God
Unless the Lord presents him and the Lord causes him to stand.

This we know.

But the next question is also important to our understanding:
HOW DOES GOD MAKE HIM TO STAND?

• Sinners knew that there was no way any sinful man could stand before God.
• Scripture teaches that is true so far as it depends upon man,
• But Scripture also teaches that God is able to make them to stand.

So how does God do that?
How does God make sinful men able to stand before His holy presence?

And the answer is in reality the very heart of the gospel.
God makes sinners to stand in His presence
Through the work of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.

FIRST: The work of Christ is absolutely necessary.

It was Christ who came to this earth as a human and who lived an absolutely sinless life.

• We talk a lot about His death, but don’t miss the importance of His sinless life.
• He didn’t just come to pay the debt of sinners,
• He also came to impute His righteousness to sinners.

So before He could die to pay our debt,
He first had to accumulate righteousness which He could impart.
He spent 33 years accumulating that righteousness.
The writer of Hebrews made this point so perfectly.
Hebrews 10:5-7 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'”

Christ didn’t come to offer sacrifices, Christ came to live an obedient life.
He came to fulfill all righteousness.

HE THEN DIED UPON A CROSS.

His death accomplished two things.
• Through His death He paid the debt of sinners
• And He also imputed His righteousness to their account.

Our sin was imputed to Him (that is clearly seen in the wrath He endured by God on the cross)
His righteousness was imputed to sinners who place their faith in Him.

Romans 3:21-24 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”

Or perhaps stated even more clearly in:
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

AND WE STRESS THE NECESSITY OF THIS AGAIN

The ONLY people who ever stand before God are righteous people.
(the sinners of Revelation 6 had just been made aware of this)

If you have sin you don’t stand before God.
You must be righteous.

Psalms 15:1-2 “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.”

Now, can you honestly say that those verses describe you?
• Have you been a model of integrity or a worker of righteousness.
• Do you have a truthful heart?

Or this one:
Psalms 24:3-5 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

• Can you honestly claim to have “clean hands and a pure heart”?
OF COURSE NOT.
And yet Scripture says that
THESE ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO STAND BEFORE GOD.

THIS MAKES THE WORK OF CHRIST NECESSARY.
Because God causes sinners to stand before Him through the work of Christ.

• Christ lived a righteous life, thus fully satisfying the Father’s requirement.
• He then gave that righteousness to sinners who trust in Him
• While also taking their sin upon Himself and bearing their wrath.

Our sin imputed to Him causing Him to be crushed before God.
His righteousness imparted to us, allowing us to stand before God.

The only way sinners stand before God is if God causes them to stand.
God does this through the work of Christ.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

But I told you earlier that
There is more than just the work of Christ required here.

Now that is NOT TO SAY that Christ’s work is insufficient and needs help.
It does not.

However we know that just because Christ came and died
That this DOES NOT ensure that all men
Are automatically made righteous before God.

SOMETHING ELSE IS REQUIRED:
MEN MUST BELIEVE
(The atonement of Christ is limited only to those who believe in it)

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

We aren’t universalists, we don’t believe that every person is headed to heaven.
We believe what the Bible teaches, which is that
The atonement of Christ is limited only to those who believe the gospel.

That is why we say that
The means in which God causes sinners to stand
Is the work of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.

That is NOT TO SAY that preaching the gospel saves sinners, it doesn’t.
Rather, the preaching of the gospel is what reveals the work of Christ to sinners and calls them to trust in that work.

• No one stands before God apart from the work of Christ.
• AND no one stands before God apart from hearing about that work and believing in it.

NO ONE STANDS BEFORE GOD APART FROM BELIEVING THE GOSPEL

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

SO WE ARE CLEAR WITH THIS RIGHT?

In chapter 6 sinners asked:
“for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

And OUR ANSWER would be:
“Those who have heard and believed the gospel message
About the saving work of Jesus Christ.”

BUT IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION THAT IS A PROBLEM
Why?
Because at this point the church
(who has been entrusted with the gospel)
Is no longer here.

• We already saw them in chapter 4 (represented by the 24 elders) standing before the throne worshiping the Lamb for His great salvation.

That points us back to the question Paul asked in Romans 10.
Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

How are these sinners who are being crushed by the wrath of God ever going to stand before God if no one is available to preach the gospel to them?

Do you see the problem?
Men can’t be saved apart from believing in the saving work of Jesus
But men can’t believe in the saving work if no one is there to proclaim it.

So it would seem that the answer to the question of Rev. 6 would be:
NO ONE.
I mean if no one is there to give them the gospel
They will never believe in Christ,
Will never be justified,
And therefore will never stand before God.

So the answer would seem to be:
“who is able to stand?” – NO ONE.

And yet we also know that THIS CAN’T BE TRUE.
WHY?

Do you remember the word of consolation that was given to those martyrs who were below the altar?

Revelation 6:11 “And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

That verse made it clear that not everyone who was appointed for salvation had yet been saved or martyred.

If there are more to be saved, then how is that going to happen
If there are no witnesses of the gospel available to preach to them?

THE SOLUTION TO THAT PROBLEM IS SEEN IN REV. 7

• God will ordain a new evangelistic army
• Whom He will appoint to preach the gospel to those who are living
in the tribulation
• With the result that multitudes of people will hear the gospel and
be saved.

Those evangelists are simply known as the 144,000
And those multitudes who are saved as a result of their ministry
Are seen, by the end of the chapter, gathered around the throne
Worshiping God having been saved during the great tribulation.

What seemed impossible at the end of chapter 6
Is made possible by God and revealed in chapter 7.

In the midst of this awful time of tribulation and apostasy
God will appoint His own personal evangelists
To proclaim the truth and call His elect to salvation.

In fact the great tribulation will be a time of absolutely unparalleled salvation, such as the world has never seen.

We have already talked a little about how
It is during the tribulation that the Jews will be saved.

Their eyes will be opened with the antichrist breaks his covenant with them and commits that abomination of desolation.

They will come flocking back to Christ.
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on 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 mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

But it’s not just Jews who will be saved during the tribulation.
There will also be a great outpouring of salvation among all the nations.

How do I know that?
Revelation 7:9 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;”

And the point is explicitly made who they are.
Revelation 7:14 “I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

That means that we will have people saved from every nation, tribe, and tongue during the great tribulation.

Jesus said:
Matthew 24:14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

God has appointed that during this great tribulation
He will see to it that His gospel is proclaimed throughout the world
And the result will be a multitude that no one can count
From every nation standing before the throne.

THAT SEEMS TO ANSWER THE QUESTION PRETTY WELL DOESN’T IT?
If you are under the wrath of God and you are bearing the judgment of God then believe the gospel that you might be forgiven, made righteous, and able to stand.

God is always in the process of saving sinners,
Even during the tribulation.

The unique part to all of this is that for the first time ever, Israel will be involved in this process.

Do you remember God’s initial purpose for Israel?
Exodus 19:4-6 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
God always intended for them to be a kingdom of priests.
They were always intended to be an evangelistic nation.

Isaiah 49:6 “He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

God always intended to use Israel to save the nations.
Psalms 67 “God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

The problem of course is that Israel seldom believed God
And never evangelized.
But that day won’t last forever.

Israel is going to be that evangelistic nation:
Isaiah 11:10 “Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.”

Joel 2:28-32 “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke. “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.”

Zechariah 8:20-23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”‘”

God said they would be the great evangelists,
That is what we finally see taking place in Revelation 7.
• God will mark out this special evangelistic band

• 144,000 Jews who will be protected from the judgments of God and the wrath of the enemy.

• And they will be the great evangelists of the earth, preaching the gospel and leading men to faith in Jesus Christ.

• And the result of their ministry will be a multitude from every nation, beyond number standing before the throne of God and worshiping the Lamb.

And we’ll start looking at that next week.

This morning I just want to leave you with some wonderful truths.

From this we are well aware that God is by nature a Savior.
• Even in the day of His most furious wrath, we find that He is still offering mercy.
• God desires sinners to be saved.
• He will not destroy this world until every single one of His elect have been redeemed.

We also learn that even in the tribulation no one is ever saved apart from the work of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.
• There has only ever been and there will only ever be one method that produces salvation and that is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I don’t mind telling you friends
That we are in a TREMENDOUS FIGHT over this today.

There is great confusion today over what the gospel is
And how sufficient it is for salvation.

It feels more to me every day like the days of the Great Reformation
When men had to stand and fight for the truth of the gospel.

• In those days the gospel had been lost in all the traditions of the Roman
Catholic church.

• Today the gospel is being lost in all the sentimentality and worldliness of the
American Church.

There are those who are standing strong for the purity of the gospel
And it is certainly time we stand with them.

No one is ever saved apart from believing the true gospel.

There will come a day when the church will be called home and God will raise up 144,000 from the nation of Israel to fulfill this task,

BUT TODAY THE TASK IS OURS.
• To preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
• To preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
• To preach the necessity of regeneration through the work of the Holy Spirit
• To preach the reality of eternal judgement for all those who refuse to submit to Christ

It is not an easy call, but as you can see, it is the continual call of God,
Both now and in the tribulation, and it remains the absolutely only way that sinners will ever be able to stand before a Holy God.

We know the answer to the question, “who is able to stand?”
It is our mandate to go and proclaim it.

What Vengeance Means for Believers
Zechariah 1:18-2:13
September 18, 2016

Vengeance has been a common topic for us the last couple of weeks.
We’ve saw it in both sermons last week and again in both sermons this week.

• In Revelation it has been the opening of the 5th and 6th seals and how the martyrs below God’s altar cried out for vengeance and how God answered that.

• In Zechariah we have seen God patrolling the earth and finding that they were complacent regarding the well-being of His people and this angered Him.

Tonight (like this morning) we are allowed to see God’s promised vengeance poured on the world that has oppressed His people.

So we’ve seen a great deal of the concept of vengeance.

Now, while the topic of God’s vengeance is definitely a scary topic,
It need not be a scary topic for believers.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Not only is God’s vengeance not aimed at us,
But in fact it comes in our defense.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed.”

So when we talk about the vengeance of God,
It is not something that should incite fear in a believer.

The Day of God’s vengeance is a day that is anticipated by believers.

That is clearly seen in all the prayers throughout the Psalms in which those in affliction cried out, “How Long?”

We even see the rejoicing in Revelation 19 where the Hallelujah Chorus is recorded revealing the utter joy that takes place in heaven when God’s vengeance ultimately shines forth.

So the vengeance of God is not something we dread,
IT IS SOMETHING WE ANTICIPATE.

Beyond that, we’ve recently learned that
A proper understanding of the vengeance of God
Actually helps us live this Christian life more effectively.

Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”

A believer understands that the call
• To be meek and humble
• And to turn the other cheek
• And to return a curse with a blessing
• And to never seek our own revenge
Is a call that can only be obeyed when we understand that God is the One who comes to our aid.

So vengeance is important to our understanding
Of how to live this Christian life.

But that isn’t all God’s vengeance teaches us as believers.
There is another very valuable lesson that you and I should gain
From an understanding of God’s vengeance
AND THIS IS THE LESSON WE LEARN TONIGHT.

If you will pull your mind back into the context of the day.
• A remnant of God’s children have returned to Israel to rebuild God’s temple.
• They had some hiccups along the way, but they are now back on track.
• And currently a messenger has been sent by the local governing officials to ask Darius if he is ok with them continuing to build, but this answer has not yet come back.

We talked about a time of UNCERTAINTY and anxiety.

Beyond that, we learned last week that the world is TOTALLY UNCONCERNED about the plight of Israel.
• The Lord sent out angels to patrol the earth they came back with a message that the earth was “peaceful and quiet”, later described as “at ease”
• And the Lord was very angry about that.

In short, the setting could be described like this.
Israel is discouraged
The nations don’t care
God is angry about it

Last week we saw God promise that He was RETURNING to Jerusalem and would again choose them.

The rest of the world might not care about Israel, but God does,
And He’s coming back and will restore them.
But WE DIDN’T SEE what God was going to do
About those nations that He was so angry at.

Zechariah 1:15 “But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster.”

We saw that God was angry,
But we never heard what God was going to do as a result of this anger.
THAT IS WHERE WE GET TO TONIGHT.
Tonight we see God’s vengeance.

But even more than that, we get some practical advice from God
Regarding how we should respond to God’s vengeance.

So let’s look at our text tonight.

I told you last week that in this night Zechariah received 8 night visions and they all dealt with God’s favor toward Israel.

We saw the first last week, which was “The Vision of the Angelic Patrol”
Tonight we are going to see the next two.
• “The Vision of the 4 Horns and 4 Craftsmen”
• “The Vision of the Surveyor”

I would like to break this text into 3 main points.
#1 A PROMISE OF VINDICATION
Zechariah 1:18-21

We begin here with the vision of the 4 horns and the 4 craftsman.
This vision is the answer to the question regarding what God is going to do
With the nations who have so angered Him.

(18-19) “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

In Scripture “horns” generally represent POWER.
You probably remember from our study of Daniel how Daniel typically saw the power of the nations in this way.

When Zechariah asked “What are these?” He was given the answer, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

Later in verse 21 we learn that not only did they scatter Israel, but also that “These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head;”

In short, they didn’t just scatter Israel, they totally defeated them.
They crushed their spirits.

They are also called in verse 21 “the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”

It is a picture of those who had nothing but destruction
In their hearts toward God’s people.

Now to make sure we understand the issue at hand:
We know that the scattering of Israel was by God’s design.

Ezekiel 5:11-12 “So as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare. ‘One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.”

• Israel had sinned against Him, transgressed His covenant, and broken
His commandments.

• As punishment God decreed destruction upon them with foreign
nations.

This was a common occurrence.
(seen throughout the period of the Judges and the Monarchy)

The problem was what God spelled out last week:
Zechariah 1:15 “But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster.”

The problem was that these nations either
• Enjoyed the destruction,
• Or tried to take it farther than God commanded,
• Or failed to show compassion,
• Or in some cases like Edom even volunteered to help in Israel’s destruction
even though God had not commissioned them.

Every year I sign the paper that says
The school can use corporal punishment on my children if they behave,
But obviously I’m not going to let a teacher beat break their arm.

THAT IS WHERE WE ARE HERE.
God is angry at these nations who did more than inflict His discipline.
• These nations obliterated Israel.
• These nations totally crushed their spirits.
• These nations beat them to a pulp.

And now God is going to deal with those nations.

Many have asked WHAT SPECIFIC NATIONS we are talking about here,
But that question is IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER.

The fact that the angel speaks of these nations in the past tense seems to indicate nations in the past, but none are specifically listed.

I actually find it better to keep the issue vague.
I think a case can be made for looking at the “four horns”
As representative of nations on all 4 sides of Israel.

I think we could be talking about way more than just 4 nations here.
Indeed that would fit the idea since God would act with vengeance on all the nations that have wronged His children, not just the 4 worst ones.

But we don’t know who they specifically are.

What we do know is that GOD ANSWERS these 4 nations with “four craftsmen”

(20-21) “Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”

And since we don’t know who the specific nations were,
We don’t know who the specific crafts men were either.
But again that’s not really the point.

THE POINT IS that for all those who oppressed Israel,
God raised up one to punish them.

These are those who have been assigned by God to “terrify them, to thrown down the horns of the nations”

GOD REPAYS THOSE WHO AFFLICT HIS CHILDREN.
He has vengeance on those who harm His elect.

And we saw several of those promises last week.
• You can read Isaiah and listen to God’s rebuke of Assyria.
• You can read Jeremiah and hear God’s rebuke of Babylon.
• You can read Nahum and hear God’s rebuke of Nineveh
• You can read Obadiah and hear God’s rebuke of Edom

God afflicts those who afflicts His children.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

That is a fact and it is a just fact.

This world persecutes God’s people
And as a result God will pour judgment upon the world.
That is a consistent promise throughout the Bible

It is the Promise of Vindication.
#2 THE PROMISE OF OCCUPATION
Zechariah 2:1-5

Occupation here does not refer to a job, but rather that
The Lord promised to once again occupy Jerusalem.

Zechariah sees his 3rd vision.
(1-2) “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was 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 how wide it is and how long it is.”

This man is surveying Jerusalem; why?
Surveying denotes ownership.

God is here marking what is His.

It also seems to indicate in this passage that the man is measuring Jerusalem for the purpose of BUILDING A WALL around it.
In those days a wall was vital to the safety of a city.
A good wall could keep an attacking army at bay for years.

Those in Jerusalem now were operating without the safety of a city wall,
And it almost seems like this man is going to measure
To see how big the wall needs to be.

However, he is interrupted with a special message.
(3-5) “And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, and said to him, “Run, speak to that young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. ‘For I,’ declares the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'”

The immediate answer is that a wall will not be necessary,
FOR I WILL BE HER PROTECTION.

Certainly we know that later Nehemiah will be
Commissioned by God to rebuild the actual city wall,
But the point here is that:
Wall or no wall God is coming back and He will be their protection.

Ezekiel 39:21-29 “And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them. “And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward. “The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword. “According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them.”‘” Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. “They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. “When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. “Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. “I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel is speaking of the end times
And I think that much of what Zechariah is seeing is also fulfilled there.

But in the immediate, this is a tremendous comfort to those refugees who have returned to Jerusalem to rebuild this temple.
• They’ve been threatened by those dwelling in the land.
• They are now being reported by the local government.
• They’ve got no defense
• They’ve got no army
• They are exposed

And to them God promises that they should not worry
For He will be with them to protect them.

Beyond that, He will so prosper the city that the walls they would build couldn’t hold all the men and cattle which would live in it.

It is a very comforting reality for Israel to grasp.

So if you want to sum it up so far, here it is.
• I am angry at the nations for how they treated you.
• I am going to throw down every nation that has afflicted you.
• I am going to make you safer here in Jerusalem.

That is the message of God’s vengeance.
I’ll get even with them, but spare you.

Let me read the verse again:
1 Thessalonians 5:4-10 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”

Obviously we recognize the promise that we are not destined for wrath,
But it is important that you grasp
The first part of that passage as well.

Paul reminded the Thessalonians that they were not of night
And so they should not act like those who are in the darkness.

Why?
Because God’s wrath is going to fall on those who walk in the darkness.

Let me give you another passage:
Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,”

In other words, God isn’t interested in pouring out wrath on you,
So make sure you aren’t caught in one of those places
Where God will pour out His wrath.

Make sense?

So now let’s look at the third point
And see what it is we should learn as a result of God’s vengeance.
#3 A PLEA FOR SEPARATION
Zechariah 2:6-13

Now I told you when we studied this passage that there is
Only a handful of Jews who have left Babylon and returned to Jerusalem.

Ezra 2:64 “The whole assembly numbered 42,360,”

That is all that returned of the entire nation of Israel.
Most stayed in Babylon.
• In fact I told you that the story of Esther that is so popular, that won’t occur for another 47 years.
• Nehemiah isn’t going to come back to rebuild that wall for another 75 years.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Israel got comfortable in Babylon.

For most of them, Babylon was the only home they’d ever known.
• Oh sure, they’d heard stories about the Promised Land.
• Sure, they’d read about Jerusalem and knew their history.
• But the fact remained that they were comfortable where they are.

Most of the Jews, despite the promises of God,
Were content to stay in Babylon
Because there they were comfortable and there they felt secure.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH ALL OF THAT?
• We just studied 9 verses that made a very clear distinction.
• We just saw 2 visions that made a very real point.

Between Israel and Babylon which nation was actually in danger?
Babylon

Between Israel and Babylon which nation was actually safe?
Israel

I know it didn’t appear that way,
But according to the revelation of God that is the way it was.

You feel safe in Babylon but you aren’t. Why?
Because God’s wrath abides on that place, He is about to enact vengeance on them.

You don’t feel safe in Israel but you are. Why?
Because God’s favor rests on that place and He is about to return there to protect it.

So THE MESSAGE to God’s people
In view of His promised vengeance IS CLEAR.

(6-9) “Ho there! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,” declares the LORD. “Ho, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.” For thus says the LORD of hosts, “After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye. “For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.”

If what God said to Zechariah is true than this makes perfect sense doesn’t it?
• If God really is going to deal out retribution on the enemies of Israel for what they did, then it would sure seem like a foolish thing to continue living there.

In fact God says, “Flee from the land of the north,” and “Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.”
• I don’t care how comfortable you are…
• I don’t care what sort of house you’ve built for yourself…
• I’m about to level that place.

This message is very reminiscent of the angel who told Lot to flee from Sodom before fire and brimstone rained down on that place.

Get out of here!
This whole place is going to blow!

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.
Not only should you flee, but you should be happy as you go!

(10-12) “Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the LORD. “Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. “The LORD will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

You could almost hear the weeping and wailing can’t you?
“Oh, woe is me, God is making me leave Babylon, oh boo hoo hoo”

And God says, that’s the wrong attitude
You ought to be singing and rejoicing!

Why?
• Because you’re going to a city where God promises to dwell.
• You’re going to a city that will soon be the envy of all the earth.
• God said, “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that
day…”
• You’re going to a city that the Lord will call His very own
possession.

Why would you be sad about that?

Don’t be Lot’s wife, who just needed one more look at Sodom.
God has called you out of a city of destruction
So that you could inherit a city of blessing.

YOU’RE NOT GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK HERE,
YOU’RE GETTING A GOOD DEAL.

Imagine the anticipation of Abraham as he packed up and left Ur, looking for the city whose architect and builder was God.

Imagine that treasure hunter as he goes and gladly sells everything he has because he knows he will soon be able to purchase the field with the great treasure in it.

This is a good day!
This is good news!
God has chosen to bless you and spare you from the coming wrath

NOW, REGARDING THE NATIONS
God has a message for them too.
(13) “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.”
• They were peaceful and quiet before…
• They were at ease before…
• They were complacent before…
And God’s message is just stay that way.

Just stay right there content in your own little world,
I’ll be there in a moment to unleash My fury.

Matthew 24:37-39 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Just stay calm and comfortable until judgment springs upon you.

Now, DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE in how God is dealing with His people verses how He is dealing with the world?

• He told the world, wake up! Get out! Run! Flee! Judgment is on its way.
• He told the world, settle down, go back to sleep, don’t worry about what’s
coming.

Who do you think is blessed there?

What do you think those in Babylon should do?

What kind of idiot would stay attached to a place
That they know will be destroyed
Instead of running to a place that they know will be blessed?

Well, let me read you another passage:
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

Is that not the same message?
The world is going down like a sinking ship, don’t attach yourself to her.
• Don’t love her
• Don’t cling to her
• She won’t last!

Jesus said it like this:
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Or
Luke 17:28-33 “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. “On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. “Remember Lot’s wife. “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

Don’t stick to the place that is promised to be destroyed.

That is what Paul was saying to the Thessalonians as well:
1 Thessalonians 5:4-10 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”

It is not God’s intent that you be a partaker of the wrath that He will pour out on the world…SO GET OUT OF THE WORLD!

That means to not be entangled by the world’s lusts and pleasures.
Seek first the kingdom of God.
Seek first the love of God.

Why would you stay attached to the place
that God has promised to destroy?

2 Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

Since God has promised that He will destroy this earth, “what sort of people ought you to be..?”

That is the same message delivered during the days of Zechariah.
• All those presently in Jerusalem building that temple had nothing to fear, God was with them, God was for them, and God would protect them.

• But those Jews who were seeking to remain in Babylon had better be concerned because Babylon was not a safe place. It was a place which had been marked for destruction.

God’s vengeance teaches us to flee from the things He promises to destroy and to cling to the things He promises to bless.

The Vengeance of God – Part 2
Revelation 6:9-17 (12-17)
September 18, 2016

Last week we began looking at this reality known as
“The Vengeance of God”

It may not be an often discussed attribute of God,
But that is not because of its lack of appearances in Scripture.

The vengeance of God is a well-discussed concept.
Deuteronomy 32:35 “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’”

And it is that reality that led to
An understanding of what we studied last week.

We looked at our first point last week:
#1 THE CRY OF THE AFFLICTED
Revelation 6:9-11

Jesus opened that 5th seal and instantly we saw those who had been slain for the Lord under the altar and they were crying out for vengeance.

• They were well aware that Scripture has told us to never take our own revenge, but to leave room for the wrath of the Lord.

• They obeyed that, and now they are waiting for the wrath of the Lord.

• They pray one of those imprecatory prayers that we see so many times in the book of Psalms.

And while the immediate answer to them
Was just to rest and to wait until all of the elect come in,
We quickly recognize that their prayer had a very dramatic affect.

Because of this prayer the wrath of Christ moves from passive to active.

In the first 4 seals His wrath could be categorized by what He allowed.
• He allowed Antichrist to deceive
• He allowed Antichrist to declare war
• He allowed famine to overtake the earth
• He allowed death to follow

Certainly these were demonstrations of His divine wrath,
But they were passive demonstrations.

They fell in line with the famous statements of Romans 1
Where Scripture repeatedly says, “God gave them over to…”

That is the wrath seen in the first 4 seals.
But after that 5th seal Jesus becomes ACTIVE in His wrath.

The immediate point that must be grasped is
The effectiveness of the prayers of the righteous.

James 5:16a-18 “…The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

It is an unmistakable reality throughout Scripture
That God answers the prayers of His people.

One of the best stories in this regard is found in Luke 18
Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

The analogy here is so accurate to our study.
And the point is so important.

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart…”

That’s an important reminder isn’t it?
It addresses the problem of believers
Who aren’t committed to prayer in their spiritual walk.

• They may at times face circumstances beyond their control
• For which they realize the need to pray.
• However, because God does not instantly produce the result they desire
• They give up and move on to other resources.

And in that moment a theology is developed which says that PRAYER IS AN UNRELIABLE SOLUTION.

Jesus gave this parable to correct that faulty theology
Incidentally it is a parable that we see being lived out in Revelation 6.

We have a person seeking justice
From the one who has the authority to give it.

And to make the story even more pointed
The story is told from the perspective of TWO EXTREMES.
The victim is the least able to gain justice on her own (a widow)
The judge is the least likely to give justice (doesn’t fear God or respect man)

The stage is set so as to lead the reader to believe that
There is no way this woman will ever receive justice.

He’s not prone to give justice naturally and she has no leverage over him
That would cause him to change his mind.

Yet, through her persistence (belief that the situation could change)
She actually won her appeal.
And Jesus uses that exaggerated story to make a point.

If a powerless and uncared for person
Can get answers from a corrupt and uncaring judge,
How much easier would it be for the elect
To get justice from God who has chosen them?

The answer is:
“I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.”

God’s vengeance will shine forth
In response to the prayers of His people.

The question Jesus asked however was this:
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Will He find people who will trust Him and pray to Him?

The question is not whether or not God will bring about justice for the elect. The question is whether or not anyone will trust Him to.

GOD HAS NEVER BEEN THE ONE WITH THE FAITHFULNESS PROBLEM

We are learning that God moves in regard to the prayers of His people.
These martyrs cried for vengeance
And the immediate assumption of so many is that God didn’t give it.

People assume this because the martyrs were told to rest a while longer until all the elect come in.

And people say, “See, God refused their request for vengeance.”
Really? Then how do you explain verses 12-17?

In verses 9-11 we have “The Cry of the Afflicted”
But in verses 12-17 we have a different cry
#2 THE CRY OF THE ARROGANT
Revelation 6:12-17

By the end of this chapter it’s not the afflicted who are crying,
It is the arrogant who are crying.
In response to the cry of the afflicted Christ’s anger comes forth.

Do you realize that this is only the second time in all of Scripture that we have seen this type of anger from Christ?

The first time we saw it was when He cleared the temple.
Scripture said He did it because “Zeal for Your house has consumed Me”

Here we see His wrath as He attacks the earth.
And we realize that Jesus also has zeal for His people.

We have seen in the fifth seal the cry of the afflicted.
We are moving to the 6th seal where we see the CRY OF THE ARROGANT.
To help us work through these 6 verses I want to break it down a little further.

1) A DIVINE SLAP (12-13)

The first thing you see taking place here is
“there was a great earthquake;”

Our tendency is to read it like John was saying that there was a shifting of the fault lines and thus the result was a regular earthquake.

But as you contemplate this, I want you to consider the repercussions of this “great earthquake”

There is a list of them:
• (12) “the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair”
• (12) “the whole moon became like blood;”
• (13) “the stars of the sky fell to the earth”
• (14) “the sky was split apart like a scroll”
• (14) “every mountain and island were moved out of their places”

Let that sink in for a second.
This was no regular earthquake.

WHAT IS IT?
This is the divine retribution of God.
I’ve always likened it to Him literally knocking the earth out of orbit.

The word “earthquake” here translates SEISMOS
“a shaking, a shock”

It comes from the root word SEIO which means
“to move to and fro, to shake, with the idea of concussion”

John says something shook the earth to such a great degree that
Even the mountains and islands disappeared.
Scripture tells us what this is:
Hebrews 12:25-27 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

There is the same root word.
“Yet once more I will shake (SEIO) not only the earth, but also the heaven.”

John just described the very thing God promised He would one day do.
God promised that He would one day shake the earth and the heaven.
John says, I saw a great shaking.

And the effect of this shaking is exactly what you would expect
If the earth were to be literally knocked out of its normal orbit.

“the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair”
• Now of course this probably doesn’t indicate so much the blackening of the sun as it does the fact that the earth was no longer in view of it, or if this part of the earth was spun away from it.

Something shook the earth and all of a sudden everything went dark.
Well that would certainly happen
If Jesus knocked the earth out of its normal pattern and position.

Not only that
“the whole moon became like blood”

This is another indicator that the sun most likely hasn’t gone dark.
The blood moon occurs during a lunar eclipse
When the earth blocks the sun to the moon.

There are scientific explanations about why this occurs.
It has to do with the differing wavelengths of various colors and what happens to the light as it passes through the earth’s atmosphere and dust particles.

But what has happened here is that in an instant
The entire earth has moved into a different position.

The earth has been knocked in between the sun and the moon
And spun so as to bring darkness on the land.
The normal orbit and order has obviously been altered.

The earth was instantly shaken into an abnormal position.
It brought darkness to the earth
And gave the appearance of blood to the moon.

And that’s not all.
“the stars of the sky fell to the earth”

What if the earth were all of a sudden knocked into a meteorite shower,
Or into an asteroid belt?

Things that God has faithfully protected the earth from up until now,
And all of a sudden He were to throw the earth into the middle of one.

The consequences would be horrific.

And then we see (which we’ll discuss more in a moment)
“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up”

It gives the picture of what was viewed in the heavens one second
Was instantly whisked away and now there is a new view.

Did the sky move, or did the earth get moved rapidly below it?

Or how about “every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

It could be the result of massive tsunamis,
It could be that they just crumbled under the force of the shaking.

The point is that this is not just some normal earthquake
That occurred at a shift in the fault lines.
Shifts in the fault lines don’t erase the sun, or turn the moon to blood,
Or cause meteor showers, or whisk the sky away.

This event is the direct effect of God’s direct shaking of the earth,
As He said He would do.

Jesus heard the cry of the afflicted and in the very next moment,
The earth took a massive backhand!

Isaiah 13:9-16 “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger. And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to gather them, They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his own land. Anyone who is found will be thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.”

GOD SAID HE WOULD DO IT…
This is the full fury of the wrath of God directed at sinful humanity.
And it comes immediately following the prayer of those slain on the earth.

This is God’s vengeance in full force!

It is a Divine Slap
2) A DISAPPEARING SKY (14a)

“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.”

At first it is honestly a little difficult to grasp what this means.
When we think of the heavens we know that there is the atmospheric heavens which is what we see by day, and then there is the stellar heavens which is what we see at night.

But it’s a little confusing as to what John means
When he says the sky just “rolled up”

It is confusing UNTIL we hear the cry of the arrogant down in verse 16
Who say to the mountains “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;”

Now the picture is starting to take shape.
It may not just be that the Lord backhanded the earth
So much as that He grabbed it pulled it right before His face.

Because the earth is all of a sudden is seeing
What John saw back in chapter 4.

This is not a normal occurrence.
You and I cannot go outside this afternoon and see the throne of God.

I also think it’s interesting that the earth DOES NOT SPEAK OF GOD IN INTIMATE TERMS. That is, they don’t say, “Hide us from God and Jesus”

They want to be hidden from “Him who sits on the throne”
It’s almost like saying, “Hide us from that guy!”
They don’t speak of Him as though they know Him.

But what they do now know is that, whoever He is,
All of this fury, this earthquake, this meteor shower,
All of this catastrophe has come from Him.

Whoever He is, He is causing this.
And the Lamb that sits next to Him is angry.

Christ is making no bones about where this is coming from.
He wants the world to know that
THEY ARE UNDER DIVINE JUDGMENT FROM HIS HOLY THRONE.
All of this wrath, all of this terror, all of this fury…
It’s not coming from the devil, it’s coming from God.

It’s also important to note that it’s not coming from man.
• It’s not the result of global warming…
• It’s not the result of a deteriorating ozone layer…
• It’s not the result of deforestation…

Man didn’t do this, the devil didn’t do this.
GOD IS DOING THIS

Isaiah 24:17-23 “Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again. So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.”

Isaiah 34:1-5 “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree. For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.”

All of this was the plan of God and it is precise and accurate.
He has been saying for years that He would do this
And here John sees what it looks like when He finally does.

GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO KNOW THAT HE IS ANGRY
• And so not only does He shake the world,
• He rolls back the sky so they can see that He is the one doing it.

Can you see the vengeance of God shining forth?
If you can, you’re not alone.

A Divine Slap, A Disappearing Sky
3) A DRASTIC SOLUTION (15-17)

First of all I want you to know that
EARTHLY STATUS IS OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE
When we are talking about the wrath of God.

John makes sure that every reader understands that
Who you are on earth means nothing.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;”

We call that fear.
The world is now caught in literal terror.

Luke 21:25-26 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

When God does this there will be no one brazen enough
To try and stand up to God.

The absolute arrogance and idiocy of man today
To think they can challenge God or mock God or oppose God
Is so foolish it isn’t even worth giving them the time of day.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the current controversy
Over the cross that’s up at the top of the hill.
There is an atheist group known as the “Freedom From Religion Foundation”
Who apparently has written multiple letters to our city council
Demanding the removal of the cross.
I’ve been asked about this several times.

Let me be candid and honest with you here for a second.

1) Don’t act concerned about that cross if you’re not daily committed to the real one.
• (I find that to be an almost humorous form of hypocrisy) Not one single person in Spur will go to heaven just because that cross is on the hill.

2) While I certainly appreciate the symbol on the hill, whether or not that cross remains won’t have the smallest impact on the kingdom of God.
• Hanging Jesus on the first cross didn’t stop Him, I’m pretty sure nothing they do with this one wills top Him either.
• I have every intention of honoring the cross every day of my life, but by proclaiming it to the lost and honoring the Savior who died upon it.

3) But I’ll tell you what hits me the most about this is the audacity of this group of people who actually thinks they can win the battle against God.

I got on their website where they boast of over 23,000 members
And have a little trophy slide of recent victories they’ve won
(and they aren’t much; things like getting a Christian flag out of a courtroom)

Frankly I’m a little amazed at the pure stupidity of people
Who think they can challenge God and win.

And by the way, that’s not just referring to anti-christian hate groups.
I amazed at the audacity of people who will boastfully live their lives in utter defiance of the commands of God.

• Do they really think they’ll get away with it?
• Do they really think they’ll win?

TAKE A LONG LOOK AT THIS PASSAGE.
It doesn’t matter who you are.
It doesn’t matter how big and bad you are.
On this day, the greatest of the earth are cowing in fear.

THEIR ONLY SOLUTION IS:
“they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of the of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Although this response is somewhat drastic, it is not surprising.
God said this would be their response.

Isaiah 2:12-22 “For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan, Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall, Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft. The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols will completely vanish. Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble. In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship, In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble. Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”

Today we live in a day when men obstinately defy God
So that they can hold on to their sin.
There is a coming a day when men will throw that junk away
So that they can hide from God’s wrath.

All of these arrogant men and women who live their lives in total disregard of God are going to get a rude awakening one day.

Hebrews 10:30-31 “For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
It is so terrifying that people would rather a mountain fall on them
Than have God stare at them one second longer.
In the day of God’s vengeance the world will be in utter terror.

SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS?

I would remind you again that this book wasn’t written to the lost.
• We remember from chapter 1 that this book was given to John that
he might reveal it to the bond-servants of Christ.

That means this revelation
Isn’t given primarily to sinners as a warning.

WHY THEN IS IT GIVEN?
IT’S NOT GIVEN TO SINNERS AS A WARNING,
THIS BOOK IS GIVEN TO THE SAINTS AS REASSURANCE.
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, declares the Lord”

There is no need for you to take your own revenge in this life.
• When people wrong you and harm you and falsely accuse you there is no need to retaliate.
• When this world persecutes and even martyrs the people of God, there is no need to rise up in physical retaliation.

• We are commanded to never take our own revenge but leave room for the wrath of the Lord.
• We are told to be patient and to trust that God will take care of those who wrongly afflict us.

And here we learn that this is not an idle promise.
God’s wrath is fully displayed.

We know that God will one day rise up on behalf of His people.
• Groups like the ACLU or The Freedom from Religion Foundation, or Islam or whoever else they may be.

Those people will all pay for what they have done,
There is no doubt about it.

This message is to give reassurance to the saints
That God does not forget His people.

Luke 18:7-8 “now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

• Let this truth encourage you to continue pressing on.
• Let this truth encourage you to continue blessing those who persecute you.
• Let this truth encourage you to continue turning the other cheek.

Be encouraged Christian.
• For all those times you cried out “How Long?”…God will answer.
• He will not let the wicked forever exalt over you.
• He will not let the wicked forever mock and scorn you.

God will deal with sinners.
And that is the PRIMARY ENCOURAGEMENT.

But THERE IS A SECONDARY ONE for any in here
Who are seeking to live their lives outside of the will of God.

If that is you, and you are UNCONCERNED ABOUT GOD’S COMMANDS for your life, let me encourage you to reconsider.
There is no possible way it ends well.

God’s wrath will come and you won’t be able to endure it.

Listen to the cry of the arrogant:
(17) “for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

They look around at all the rich and powerful and strong around them
And realize that no one is big enough or bad enough to endure this.
No one can make it.
No one can escape it.

But if you want the answer to the question “who is able to stand?” then we’ll look at that next time.

Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

There is one who stands.
It is those who have repented of their sin
And trusted in the atoning work of Christ.

And on this day those people are NOT HIDING from the One on the throne and the Lamb, THEY ARE GLORIFYING “our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

There is no future in resisting the truth of God.
Salvation is found in submitting to His will.

The Vision of the Angelic Patrol
Zechariah 1:7-17
September 11, 2016

Last Sunday we began looking at this book of Zechariah.
The prophets whose name means “The Lord Remembers”

Last week we listened as he reminded the people to return to the Lord.
They had returned to Israel.
They had started rebuilding the temple.
But neither of those was the ultimate goal.

What good would it be to dwell in the land with the temple of the Lord if God Himself didn’t return to dwell within it?

So the message was simple:
• Don’t just return to the land, return to Me.

Tonight we move a step forward to the next major sermon from Zechariah.

And as always it is important to maintain the context and the situation.
• You are already aware of how Israel was rebuilding the temple.
• They had started
• Gotten intimidated and stopped
• Gotten rebuked by Haggai and restarted

Now let me tell you the situation.
TURN TO EZRA 5:1-17

• So as the children began to rebuild the temple we find that the local authorities wondered just what they thought they were doing.

• You probably noticed how they referenced even the points that Zechariah made in his first sermon about how God was angry at their fathers and destroyed this temple. (5:12)

• But the basic reality is that the local leadership has sent word to Darius back in Persia to find out whether or not he wants them to keep building this temple which could be seen as a threat.

And just so you know, later when Ezra makes the journey from Babylon (Persia) to Israel it will take him 5 months.

Ezra 7:8-9 “He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. “For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him.”

And this sermon is preached 5 months to the day from when they started rebuilding.

(7) “On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:”
The children of Israel are rebuilding the temple,
But there seems to be some uncertainty
As to whether or not they are going to be allowed to continue.

At any moment word could come back from Darius with a command to stop.

Israel is vulnerable.
UNCERTAINTY surrounds all that they are doing.
Now we do know that the answer will come back from Darius to continue,
But at the time of this message they don’t know that.

AND DURING THIS UNCERTAIN TIME
Zechariah shows up with his next sermon,
And it has to be one of the most encouraging and uplifting sermons
That has ever been preached to the nation of Israel.

In fact in this night Zechariah is going to receive 8 different visions.
• The vision of the Angelic Patrol
• The vision of the 4 horns and 4 craftsman
• The vision of the Surveyor
• The vision of Joshua’s Atonement
• The vision of Zerubbabel’s Lampstand
• The vision of the Flying Scroll
• The vision of the Ephah and the Wicked Woman
• The vision of the War Chariots

And all of these visions reinforce again and again that God is for Israel.
• It may be true that He was angry with Israel.
• It may be true that He destroyed the city.
• It may be true that He destroyed the temple.
• It may be true that He led them into captivity for 70 years.
• BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT GOD HAS REJECTED HIS PEOPLE.

The Lord Remembers.

We are talking about the faithfulness of God
To the covenants and the promises He has made.

2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Romans 11:2a “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”

In fact we could read all of Romans 11 and see how even though God has punished Israel for a time He will neither totally nor finally forsake them.

The Lord Remembers His promises.
The Lord Remembers His people.
You’re going to see that throughout these visions regarding Israel.

God’s people make walk through trials, adversity, even discipline,
BUT THEY ARE NEVER FORGOTTEN.
The beauty of this book is that we get to see God
Rekindle His tremendous love and compassion
For a people whom He has recently disciplined.

This is the part of the story where Hosea returns to Gomer…

It would have been a wonderfully encouraging message to these refugees who are living in what seems to be uncertain times.

For us, we are able to be reassured in our faith
That God never forgets His children. He never forsakes us.

Tonight we look at that first night vision of Zechariah.
It is the vision of “The Angelic Patrol”

We can break this down into 4 divisions
#1 THE LORD’S INFORMATIVE PATROL
Zechariah 1:8-11

The visions begin with Zechariah seeing a man seated on “red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine”

Now, first of all, don’t try to somehow link these horses to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, they are not.
• This is a totally different image and serves a totally different purpose.
• I think you can probably draw reference to the “red horse” as it depicts a king
ready for battle, but that’s about as far as the imagery compares.

This is not the Antichrist or anything to do with that.

The rider on this horse is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see in verse 11 that He is actually “the angel of the LORD”.

This is what is referred to as a Christophony; a preincarnate appearance of Christ.
• We saw Him recently speaking with Daniel.
• We’ve seen Him speak with Joshua.
• We saw Him in the furnace with the three Hebrew boys

And this is Him again riding a “red horse”.

The “myrtle trees” represent the now overgrowth that has occurred in Jerusalem.
• The place has been abandoned.
• The place is overgrown.

It’s all a picture of the struggle of Israel at the present time.

And behind the Lord are “red, sorrel and white horses”.

That’s the picture.
(9-10) “Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

While there may be some question as to what all the colors represent,
The main point of what Zechariah sees is spelled out to him.

Their color isn’t as important as their purpose.
“These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

Very simply this is a reconnaissance mission.
• These are scouts.
• They are to go out, survey the earth, and bring word back to the Lord.

This does not indicate that the Lord doesn’t know, or that He is not omniscient.
Rather it is a picture given to Zechariah
That the Lord takes interest in the affairs of the world.

WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION IS HE WANTING?
(11) “So they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet.”

We still don’t know what He’s looking for, but we do hear their report.
“all the earth is peaceful and quiet.”

Now I know that probably sounds like a good thing, but it isn’t.
You’ll see that in a moment.

To better understand it go ahead and look down at verse 15 real quick. “But I am very angry with the nations who are ease…”

“peaceful and quiet” doesn’t indicate a world in HARMONY,
It indicates a world in APATHY.

These scouts return to the Lord and indicate that the world is complacent. No one cares what is happening. No one is concerned.

Particularly, no one is concerned about Israel.
• Israel is struggling.
• Their land is in shambles.
• Their temple has been destroyed.
• They’ve been oppressed for 70 years by foreign nations.

And no one cares.
No one is losing sleep over the oppression of God’s people.

And this reality shouldn’t shock you,
For it has been true throughout the ages.
The world is not overly concerned about the affliction of God’s people,
No matter if that is Israel, or the church.

The Psalmist said:
Psalms 44:22 “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

The world doesn’t care how God’s people are afflicted.

In other words, God’s people have no ally in this world.
• God’s people have no deliverer or help in this world.
• Their soul defender is God.

Here we find Israel in the struggle of trying to re-enter her land
And no one seems to care about her struggle.

The Lord’s Informative Patrol
#2 THE LORD’S INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Zechariah 1:12

We saw this very thing this morning in our study of Revelation didn’t we?

(12) “Then the angel of the LORD said, “O LORD of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?”

It is very similar to that cry of the afflicted we saw this morning.
Only this is not the cry of the afflicted,
This is the intercessory prayer of the Lord Himself.

This is the prayer of “the angel of the Lord”, this is the prayer of Christ.

We spent a great deal of time studying through Hebrews and looking at Christ our great High Priest, well here He is again interceding for His people.

And His prayer is intense.
“How long will You have no compassion..?”

You may remember, but “no compassion” (LO-RUHAMAH) in the Hebrew.

It was the name of Hosea’s second child.
Hosea 1:6 “Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.”

But you will also remember that the Lord promised to one day return to her.
Hosea 2:1 “Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
Here we have Jesus interceding before the Father
Asking when that time of compassion is going to return.

THE PICTURE?
No one in the world cares about God’s people,
But Jesus does.

The Lord’s Informative Patrol, The Lord’s Intercessory Prayer
#3 THE LORD’S INTENSE PASSION
Zechariah 1:13-15

Here is God’s answer, and it drips with zeal and passion.

God’s answer is “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.”

These are His people and He loves them.
• He will not let them go.
• He will not forsake them.
• He does not rejoice in their calamity.

And then we see the flip side.
(15) “But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry they furthered their disaster.”

We see both the problem and the response of the Lord.

Are you not reminded that it matters to the Lord how we treat His people?
Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We are certainly aware that the hardship inflicted on Israel was done at the hand of the Lord.
• They had offended Him, and even as we learned last week, God was angry at them.
• God’s answer was to send Babylon to carry His people away into exile for 70 years that they might return and seek God with all their heart.

But if you’ll notice what the Lord said here,
It is obvious that the PAGAN NATIONS who were to be used to discipline Israel actually TOOK LIBERTIES that angered God.

“for while I was only a little angry they furthered their disaster.”

What do you mean?
Take Assyria for a second and how God desired to send her against Judah in order to discipline her. Assyria tried to go all the way.

Isaiah 10:5-11 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets. Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations. For it says, “Are not my princes all kings? “Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus? “As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”

The Lord responded:
Isaiah 10:15-16 “Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood. Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame. And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day. And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body, And it will be as when a sick man wastes away. And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number That a child could write them down.”

That is to say, “Who do you think you are to try and afflict My people more harshly than I desire?”

Take Babylon and their call to conquer the southern kingdom.
Isaiah 47:1-8 “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. “Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. “Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame also will be exposed; I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.” Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel. “Sit silently, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms. “I was angry with My people, I profaned My heritage And gave them into your hand. You did not show mercy to them, On the aged you made your yoke very heavy. “Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’ These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them. “Now, then, hear this, you sensual one, Who dwells securely, Who says in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.’”

It is true that God used Babylon as a disciplining agent against His people, but they should have been compassionate
And not enjoyed it so much.

Jeremiah 50:11 “Because you are glad, because you are jubilant, O you who pillage My heritage, Because you skip about like a threshing heifer And neigh like stallions,”

And it wasn’t just Babylon.
When God was using Babylon to punish Israel, you had Israel’s neighbors who sought to take advantage of Israel and tried to plunder them while they were weak.
Jeremiah 12:14 “Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.”

One of these nations who took advantage of Israel’s plight was Edom (Esau) and God gave an entire book in the Bible to rebuking them for this.
Obadiah 1:10-14 “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. “On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem — You too were as one of them. “Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of their distress. “Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity In the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth In the day of their disaster. “Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors In the day of their distress.”

When Babylon was conquering Jerusalem Edom was right there
Looting them and killing the scattered stragglers.

You had the purpose of God in the discipline of Israel
And then you had pagan nations who enjoyed it too much.

• It is true that at times the Lord must discipline His people.
• It is true that at times the church must exercise this discipline,
• But it should NEVER be enjoyed and it should NEVER be intensified beyond the Lord’s directive.

What God witnessed among the nations was appalling to Him.
He saw nations like Assyria and Babylon and Edom
Actually enjoy crushing and luting His inheritance.

This helps us understand even more what was meant earlier by that “peaceful and quiet” statement.

These weren’t just nations who didn’t care about God’s people,
These were nations who had profited from the suffering of God’s people
And as a result were living high on the hog.

• Do you think Egypt didn’t financially prosper from their slave workforce?
• Do you think Babylon didn’t prosper from their new Israelite slaves?
• Do you suppose Edom didn’t prosper from the riches they looted from the
Promised Land?

Not only did these people have no issue with the suffering of God’s people, they actually profited from it.

They were like the soldiers who saw the death of Jesus
As an opportunity to gain a tunic, for which they gambled.

Yes God disciplined His people, but now He is angry
At the way those pagan nations carried that discipline out.
We see the Lord’s Intense Passion.
Incidentally that is the same type of passion
We are seeing in our Sunday morning study of Revelation.

Daniel’s book taught us that the affliction of the tribulation was intended by God and even used by God to purify and save Israel.

But that doesn’t mean that the Lord is not angry
At those who did the afflicting.

The Lord’s Informative Patrol, The Lord’s Intercessory Prayer, The Lord’s Intense Passion
#4 THE LORD’S INFALLIBLE PROMISE
Zechariah 1:16-17

And this is a beautiful one.
The nations refuse to be Israel’s help so God will do it Himself.

“I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it, “declares the LORD of hosts, “and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.”

Remember the current predicament?
• Yes Cyrus commissioned them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple,
• But now there is a new leader in Persia and the entire operation is currently under review.
• There are delegates on the way to Darius right now to ask him if he still wants the Jewish people to continue with this project.

And in the midst of this dilemma God comes through with an absolute directive.
• I’m coming back!
• I’ll care for My people if no one else will!
• My house will get built!
• And My city will be rebuilt as well!

Don’t you fear what is coming,
I’m going to return and make this place great again.

And that is not all.
(17) “Again, proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”‘”

That is to say, I’m not just going to come back
And rebuild some po-dunk city.
I’m not going to do a half-way job.

“My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”

I am going to make the place where My name dwells great.
That is the promise!

And can I point out to you that this promise all hinged around the coming of Jesus Christ?
• He is the One who would come to Israel.
• He is the One who whose glory would shine in this temple.
• He is the One who would offer Israel a life of blessing.
• God saw the coming of Christ back to Israel.

And I absolutely love the statement that I will “again choose Jerusalem.”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Think about it for a moment.
Jerusalem and all Israel had failed God in the most remarkable way.
• This was a people that He had chosen through their Father Abraham.
• His favor carried through Isaac and Jacob.
• They were a people He delivered out of Egypt by a mighty hand and entered
into a covenant with them at Sinai.
And all they ever did was fail Him.
All they ever did was cause Him grief.

In fact, they completely failed in their covenant agreement and God was forced to enact all the curses of the broken covenant upon them.

Pestilence and Famine and Death took over their land.
God ultimately destroyed their temple and kicked them out of the land.

Isaiah likened it to a divorce.
Isaiah 50:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

It was a scene acted out by Hosea when he married a prostitute named Gomer and ultimately sent her away because of her adultery.

AND ONE WOULD EXPECT
That after years of unfaithfulness, hardship, adultery, grief and pain,
That God (having been freed from these stubborn and obstinate people),
Would take His chance at freedom and run!

And that is not what He did at all.
We see Hosea returning to Gomer
And we see an unthinkable statement by God right here.

I will “again choose Jerusalem.”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

What manner of love and commitment and grace and mercy
Does our God have that He would continue to love
And continue to have compassion
And continue to choose a people like Israel?

Only a God of great faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Here we have a people who have been 70 years afflicted
For their unfaithfulness toward God
And now they are back in the land trying to pick up the pieces.
And God steps in and says, I am coming back!
AND I STILL CHOOSE YOU!

Now if you are one of those people who never fails the Lord,
Then this probably isn’t that big of a deal to you,
But if you are like the rest of us, this is reason for great rejoicing!
We serve a faithful God who will not ever forsake us.

“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed, For I am your God your sustainer and strength. I’ll be your defender and cause you to stand, upheld by My merciful, almighty hand.
When thro’ fiery trials they pathway shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply; the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
The soul that is trusting in Jesus as Lord, will press on enduring the darkest of storms, and though even hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never no never no never forsake.”

Our security does not rest on our ability to be faithful,
Our security rests on a God
Who chose us once when we were unworthy
And who continues to choose us though we remain unworthy.

That is the encouraging message to this Jewish refugees.

No one in the world is for you, but I am for you and that is all that matters.
I’m returning to you!