Bringing Israel Home – Part 1
Zechariah 12:1 – 13:9 (13:7-9)
March 12, 2017

One of our favorite stories in Scripture is that of the Prodigal Son.
• In it we have a son who totally disrespects his father and leaves,
• But then we love the part where that son comes to his senses
• And returns to the open arms of his father.

Luke 15:14-24 “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

That parable is originally intended to expose the unrejoicing self-righteous heart of the Pharisees, but we still love to read of how that sinner is brought home.

I put that story in your mind to begin here,
Because it could easily be the story of the nation of Israel.

It is an event like that which we study here in Zechariah 12 & 13

When last we left Israel
We found that God had sent them a Good Shepherd to deliver them from the brutal shepherds that were fleecing the flock.

• The problem was that Israel rejected her Good Shepherd and as a result God promised her to be under the reign of a foolish shepherd.

• This foolish shepherd would certainly be brutal as well; Zechariah mentioned how he would tear the hoofs off of the sheep.

• But ultimately “foolish” is the right word for him because he will be the one who will exalt himself above God and blaspheme God at every turn.

• You just don’t get more foolish than that.
• That foolish shepherd is the man we know as Antichrist.

And at the end of chapter 11, Israel is left under his control.

And so you know then that we are dealing with the events of the end.

It is that time of tribulation when Israel has been deceived
Into following a man who will make a 7 year covenant with her,
Only to break that covenant 3 ½ years in.

He is also the man who will then
Unleash fury and terror on God’s people Israel.

Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

As our story picks up here in chapter 12,
We have fast-forwarded to the day when
Israel is under the leadership of that foolish shepherd.

• Israel (to borrow the analogy of the prodigal son) has lost her senses.
• She rejected her Messiah, and is currently blinded.

Romans 9:30-33 “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

Romans 10:21 “But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

Romans 11:7-10 “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” And David says, “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM. “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.”

But, also like the prodigal,
God has promised that she will one day come back to her senses
And return to her Heavenly Father.

Romans 11:25-32 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”

What we are going to learn here in these two chapters is that
It is through these horrific events of the Antichrist
That God will actually bring Israel back to her senses and bring her home.

The passage we read to open the sermon (13:7-9)
Is actually a summary of the entire process.

Before that get to that summary, we find that process played out for us.
Let’s look at it together to see how God will accomplish it.

In the past I have broken this down into 8 separate points,
But here I’ve chosen to combine them together because I think it will help us to more easily align them with what we’ve studied in Revelation and will hopefully make more sense to us.

#1 SUPERNATURAL DEFENSE
Zechariah 12:1-9

The point made in these 9 verses is that
• God will supernaturally protect Israel from the attempts of Antichrist to annihilate her
• And this protection will go a long way towards opening Israel’s eyes
• And causing her to come to her senses.

Now you already know that during the tribulation
Satan will in fact seek to destroy her.

Revelation 12:13-17 “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

We’ve already talked in detail about this recently on Sunday mornings, but to refresh your memory…

At the 3 ½ year mark of the tribulation, Satan is kicked out of heaven.
• This coincides with 2nd seal (world war) and the abomination of desolation, since Satan’s removal causes him to seek to take control of the earth, and his first objective is to wipe out Israel.

• Of course God protects Israel through the war and makes her off limits from the enemy, so Satan unleashes alternate plans to kill her from a distance; namely through famine and plague (which are the 3rd and 4th seals as well)

But again God delivers.

Here in the first 9 verses of Zechariah 12
We are seeing those same realities, only with a little added information.

Most importantly we are seeing the effect
That this deliverance of God will have on Israel.

It begins very simply with God remembering Jerusalem.
(Zechariah’s name means “The Lord Remembers”)

(1-3) “The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

Here God defines Himself as “the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,”

This is God’s way of defining His great power.
• We are talking here about the source of all things.
• We are talking here about the One who can do anything He desires.
• We are talking about the Almighty.

Who else has the ability to “stretch out the heavens”?
Who else can “lay the foundation of the earth”?
Who else can “form the spirit of man within him”?

No one.
This is the one and only God.

And this powerful God then makes an announcement.
“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.”

God speaks of a day when “Jerusalem” and all “Judah”
Will be under “siege”.

This is the day when the world will attack her.
You will remember that Jesus warned that when the Abomination of Desolation occurs, you should run because tribulation is on its way.

This all makes sense.
However, we also find that on that day God will “make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around;”

The imagery here is of one who sat too long at the bar
And had too much to drink.
They actually drank to their own hurt.

The point being that
It won’t be in anyone’s best interest to attack Jerusalem.
You may do it, but you will do it to your own hurt.

That analogy is pushed further in verse 3
(3) “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

Again the siege is revealed as God says
“all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it”,
But again we find out that they will do so to their own ruin.

As it will be like when you try and lift a stone that is too heavy
And end up injuring yourself.

What we have here is God showing favor to Jerusalem.
God is supernaturally intervening.
• He is NOT keeping Israel from being attacked…
• He is NOT preventing the siege against her…
• But over time it becomes apparent that the attacker is suffering more than the attacked.

It’s sort of like the Alamo.
The battle of the Alamo is the most celebrated defeat in the history of the world, because it was a defeat that over time actually proved to be quite a victory.

That is what we are seeing here.
The world will attack Jerusalem,
But the greater injury will be on those who attack her.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 38:1 – 39:8

Here you see the event in which God is calling the nations of the world
to war with Israel under this leader referred to as “Gog”.

And we also find that this battle was merely a ploy
Meant to draw the nations in that God might destroy them.
Their intention to destroy Israel actually becomes their own destruction.

We actually saw this this morning.
Revelation 16:12-16 “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.”

But the point to be made is that
It will become apparent that God is now favoring Israel.

Both in His supernatural protections
And His total sovereign plan of destroying those who attack her.

Now this favor that God will bestow will SOON BE NOTICED by Jews scattered throughout the world.

(4-5) “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the LORD of hosts, their God.’”

So when the world is seeking to destroy the Jews,
It will be blatantly obvious that God is protecting them.

For example, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness”

Entire cavalries will be charging only to have their horses get spooked
And their riders go crazy.

The supernatural deliverance will be obvious; especially to the Jews.

“Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the LORD of hosts, their God.”

These “clans” would represent Jews scattered throughout the world.
• But when they see how God is delivering those under siege in Jerusalem, they
begin to realize that God’s favor has returned.

God is actually in the process of bringing Israel back to her senses.

AND THAT IS NOT ALL, God will not only strike the enemy of Israel with bewilderment, but God will also renew great strength to Israel as in the days of old.

(6-9) “In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem. “The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

We are many times fascinated with the ways in which God delivered Israel in the Old Testament.
• It was obvious to us that Israel was stronger than they should have been and their enemies were weaker than they should have been.
• It was obvious that God was fighting through them and for them.

Well that phenomenon will return as you see here.
These “clans of Judah” will be “like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves”

And they will consume their enemies around them.
God is going to “save the tents of Judah”

But God will also be with those inside Jerusalem.
“the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David”

You remember David right?
“Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten-thousands.”

Even the cripples in Jerusalem will be as strong as David.

And the real warriors (the real Davids) “will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them.”

And God will destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

It is clear what is happening.
God’s favor is returning to Israel and Israel is recognizing it.

They are coming to their senses.
Their eyes are being opened.
God is lifting that spirit of stupor.

You see it in the form of GOD’S SUPERNATURAL DEFENSE.

And that leads us to the next reality.
#2 GOD’S SPIRITUAL DELIVERANCE
Zechariah 12:10-13:1

God will most certainly deliver them physically,
But that is not the main goal.
The main goal is to deliver them spiritually.

And God also accomplishes that during this time.
(I should note that all of these realities are happening at the same time.
That is the seeking and the deliverance are all intertwined and overlapping)

(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.”

You must certainly recognize the instigator here.
It is not that Israel finally “wised up”
Salvation has never been due to the intellect of the sinner.

No, rather God “will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication”

During the midst of these battles,
And during the midst of this tribulation,
God will then re-open the eyes of Israel.

He will once again give them the desire for grace
And the desire to cry out to Him.

Only, they won’t just be crying out a distant God of their Fathers.
They will, for the first time ever, cry out to the God they have thus far rejected.

“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.”

Who will they begin to cry to?
Jesus, the One they “pierced”

Let me show you another place where this reality is played out.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 63 & 64

Isaiah there gives a detailed discussion of the thought process
Which Israel goes to when they begin to call out again to God.

They recognize what they have been missing,
Humble themselves and once again cry out to God.

Only this time, they cry out to the One they pierced
Recognizing that they need His salvation.

What we find here in Zechariah is that this awareness came from God.
He is the One who caused them to cry out to Jesus.

And the RESULT of this will be national
And total repentance and mourning.

(11-14) “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. “The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.”

“the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo” refers to the mourning that took place regarding the death of Josiah.

He was the last good king in Judah,
And when he was killed Judah mourned greatly.

Well now they mourn the loss of another King,
Only this king didn’t die at the hands of a foreign enemy,
This king died at their own hands.

AND THEY WILL MOURN FOR HIM.
It will not be a corporate police of repentance, but an individual brokenness in which they all personal cry out to Christ.

Ezekiel 39:25-29 “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.”

Incidentally, this is exactly what Peter said must happen, remember?
Acts 3:19-21 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

On this day they will.

Next time, we’ll look at how this repentance
Literally turns the nation around.

The 7 Bowls of Wrath
Revelation 16:1-21
March 12, 2017

Last time we met we saw the arrival of seven angels who had 7 plagues.
And we were told that in these plagues “the wrath of God is finished”

Literally, “the THUMOS of God is TELEO”
God’s rage is paid in full.

And we saw heaven’s response to the arrival of these 7 angels s.

Well this morning we see that rage spilled out.
This is where God actually begins to flog humanity.

And the very reality here that we are witnessing
Only emphasizes the other warnings of the New Testament.

Jesus said:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 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.”

You may be familiar with the famous puritan preacher Jonathon Edwards.
Widely regarded as perhaps the greatest theological mind America ever produced.
His most famous sermon is one entitled: Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

“There is no Want of Power in God to cast wicked Men into Hell at any Moment. Men’s Hands can’t be strong when God rises up: The strongest have no Power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his Hands. He is not only able to cast wicked Men into Hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly Prince meets with a great deal of Difficulty to subdue a Rebel, that has found Means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the Numbers of his Followers. But it is not so with God. There is no Fortress that is any Defense from the Power of God. Tho’ Hand join in Hand, and vast Multitudes of God’s Enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in Pieces: They are as great Heaps of light Chaff before the Whirlwind; or large Quantities of dry Stubble before devouring Flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a Worm that we see crawling on the Earth; so ‘tis easy for us to cut or singe a slender Thread that any Thing hangs by; thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his Enemies down to Hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose Rebuke the Earth trembles, and before whom the Rocks are thrown down?

The wrath of God is no laughing matter.
And this morning we are reminded that God’s wrath is also NOT A MYTH.

I want to begin by telling you what you are about to see.

First – You are going to witness 7 terribly awful plagues (blows) on humanity.
They read pretty simple, but to spend any time at all pondering them
Will certainly cause you to shudder.

Second – You will undoubtedly notice a rather strange and obstinate response to this wrath,

And it is this I want to address from the beginning.

3 times we will see that the recipients of God’s wrath will “blaspheme” God for it.
2 times we will see that these same people “did not repent”

And it almost sounds like we are dealing here
With a group of people who are exceptionally strong.
A group who are able to resist God’s wrath and survive His torment.

THAT IS NOT WHAT IS HAPPENING
(and I want you to understand that)

TURN TO: Exodus 7

In Exodus 7 we have the beginning of Moses’ dealing with Pharaoh
As God has sent him to rescue the Israelites from bondage.

It is very important that you understand the intention of God in all of this.
READ: EXODUS 7:1-5

So do you see that before Pharaoh was ever even approached that God had already decided to harden his heart?

God predetermined to make Pharaoh obstinate and resistant.
Why?

So that God could demonstrate His power
In the unleashing of all the plagues.

If Pharaoh had repented after the first one, then the world would have never understood the truly magnificent power of God.
I realize this idea flies in the face of many people’s view of “justice” and it totally obliterates this notion of “free will”, but we must agree that the Bible says what it says.

God has determined to unleash plagues on Egypt
By which His great power will be manifested
And He will do that by hardening Pharaoh.
Let me show you.
In Exodus 7:8-12, Moses performs that sign of turning his staff into a serpent.

Exodus 7:13 “Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.”

In Exodus 7:14-21, Moses turns the Nile to blood.

Exodus 7:22 “But the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.”

In Exodus 8:1-14, we see the plague of frogs

Exodus 8:15 “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.”

In Exodus 8:16-18 we see the plague of gnats

Exodus 8:19 “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.”

In Exodus 8:20-31 we see the plague of flies

Exodus 8:32 “But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.”

In Exodus 9:1-6 we see the deadly pestilence

Exodus 9:7 “Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

In Exodus 9:8-11 we see the plague of boils

Exodus 9:12 “And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.”

In Exodus 9:13-33 we see the plague of hail

Exodus 9:34-35 “But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.”

And just in case you’re missing the point, God clarifies it again.

Exodus 10:1-2 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”

Then in Exodus 10:3-19 we see the plague of locusts

Exodus 10:20 “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.”

In Exodus 10:21-26 we see the plague of darkness

Exodus 10:27 “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.”

And again we are given some clarity.
Exodus 11:9-10 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”

And then in Exodus 12:29 we see the final plague which is the death of the firstborn.

And Pharaoh consents!!!
Exodus 12:30-33 “Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said. “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.” The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.”

However, once the children of Israel leave:
Exodus 14:5-8 “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly.”

And then you know the story, Israel is trapped at the Red Sea
And the Egyptians are approaching.

Exodus 14:15-18 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. “As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. “As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. “Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”

Do you see what was happening in that story?
God was judging Pharaoh and hardening him at the same time
That He might continue to judge Him.

Pharaoh wasn’t resisting God, Pharaoh was being used by God.
For what purpose? TO DISPLAY HIS POWER.

Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”

You get the idea there
WELL, IT IS THE SAME HERE.

These men on earth are not stronger than God,
God is demonstrating His power and wrath through them.

Why would God do that?
TO BRING HIMSELF GLORY

Did we not read it last week?
Revelation 15:3-4 “And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

It is something that we must understand.
God will be glorified either in the salvation of sinners,
Or in the judgment of them. But God will be glorified either way.

Isaiah 5:16 “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”

So, what we are seeing here is
God flogging humanity, just as He did Egypt,
To the end that He may be exalted in judgment.

Look at verse 1.
“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “God and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

It wasn’t an idle threat.
Those seven angels aren’t just for show.
God is actually doing it.

So let’s look at these judgments together.
#1 WE SEE THE SUFFERER
Revelation 16:2

Look at the particulars of what this bowl of wrath brought to the earth.
“a loathsome and malignant sore”

The first thing God does is pour out on people some sort of plague
By which their entire body breaks out with boils and sores.

It is the same word used to describe the beggar Lazarus.
Luke 16:21 “and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.”

This same sort of thing is also pictured in the book of Job.
Job 2:7-8, 11-12 “Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes…Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.”

There we find that not only were the boils miserable,
They actually made Job somewhat unrecognizable.
This is awful to say the least.

But what you really need to recognize is who received this sores.
“the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.”

After all, they had been warned.
Revelation 14:9-12 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”

It’s no wonder John told us to count the cost of taking that mark.
You won’t like what comes with it.

Here are people who’d been warned by God not to take that mark,
And they ignored God and did it anyway.

And now they are paying for that decision.

Let that be a reminder that you cannot ignore the warnings of God forever
And expect that nothing will come of it.

Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”

Those who rejected God’s truth are here receiving His wrath.

The Sufferer
#2 WE SEE THE SATISFACTION
Revelation 16:3-7

“sea…became blood, like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.”

The same happened to “the rivers and the springs of waters;”

So just about the time earth gets afflicted with horrendous sores,
Now they don’t even have the means to treat them.

It was certainly miraculous when Jesus turned water into wine,
It will be just as miraculous when He turns water into blood.

This already indicates to us that we must be near the end,
For humanity won’t last long on the earth
Now that the water supply has been totally removed.

I tend to think all of these plagues are poured out in about a week’s time.
God is just pounding humanity with blow after blow after blow.

But we also see that here in the midst of this awful moment,
Heaven has another response.

(5-7) “And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

Heaven unanimously says that this is totally fitting!
And all those who are below the altar who had for so long cried out
That God would avenge their blood on the earth
Are now totally satisfied with what God has done.

And they cry out:
• “Righteous are You”
• “They deserve it”
• “True and righteous are Your judgments”

There is another commonly overlooked reality about judgment.
SINNERS DESERVE IT

Listen, any time the creature openly and willingly defies the Creator,
The one who was created deserves to be destroyed.

You are probably familiar with Jeremiah’s potter analogy:
Jeremiah 18:6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”

But are you familiar with what became of that clay pot?
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 19:1-13

“Topheth” by the way was the city dump.

If a pot won’t do what a pot was made to do,
It has no purpose and can only expect to be destroyed and discarded.

And this is true for humanity.
• We are all created beings who must answer to the One who created us.
• If we offend or ignore that Creator we can most certainly expect that
there will be repercussions.

When God judges sinners it isn’t wrong, it isn’t even regrettable.
IT IS JUST

And heaven is totally satisfied with what God is doing here.

The Sufferers, The Satisfaction
#3 WE SEE THE SUFFERING
Revelation 16:8-11

Without a doubt we’ve already seen quite a bit of suffering.
• The sores are certainly terrible.
• The loss of all water is certainly terrible.
• The dead marine life stinking up the shore is certainly terrible.

But just in case you fail to grasp how awful this all is,
These next two plagues seem to make the point.

• God commands the sun to “scorch men with fire”
• And then God does something to “the throne of the beast” that darkens it

And whatever it is, it causes extreme pain.
Because men “gnawed their tongues because of pain.”

And “pain” IS THE POINT.
God is punishing sinners.

Sometimes my kids get spankings.
(It’s an old Indian trick I picked up from my dad)

One time when Zech was due, he said, “But it’s gonna hurt!”
I just said, “If everything goes according to plan it will.”

That’s the point!
If it doesn’t hurt, it isn’t punishment.
Here it is pain…on purpose!

And humanity should not be shocked at this.
Jesus told us over and over that there would be.

Matthew 8:12 “but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:42 “and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:50 “and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Matthew 24:51 “and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25:30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

I mean what did you think He meant when He said,
“weeping and gnashing of teeth”?

Yet many today are quickly abandoning this entire idea of
The doctrine of eternal punishment.

Perhaps you’ve seen or heard a little about the new “Christian” movie out.
It’s called “The Shack”, maybe you’ve read the book. (20 million people have)

The whole premise of the book is
To highlight God’s tremendous love for us.

The problem is by trying to elevate God’s love,
The writer actually totally misrepresents God in other ways.

On pg. 120 the figure who supposedly portrays God, The Father says:
“I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.”

As Al Mohler pointed out:
“The idea that sin is merely “its own punishment” fits the Easter concept of karma, but not the Christian gospel.”

But that view portrayed in The Shack is hardly new.
Universalism is a common view because people have refused to believe
That God could or would ever inflict pain on sinners.

Many have stated that inflicting severe pain just doesn’t sound like God.

WELL, IT IS GOD.
God does and God will inflict pain on sinful humanity.
SINNERS WILL SUFFER – IT IS JUST!

Beyond that,
We see that reality I told you about at the beginning of the sermon.
These who are suffering are not repenting and they continue to blaspheme God.

That only goes farther in proving that this pain is warranted.

The Sufferers, The Satisfaction, The Suffering
#4 WE SEE THE SOVEREIGNTY
Romans 16:12-16

Do you see just how in control God is here?
This judgment probably seems like a little bit of a relief
Since all that happened was one of the rivers of blood how dried up.

But we are told that God did that “so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.”

God opened a door for people to travel through.

And then God simply let Satan do what Satan does, which is lie to people.
(13-14) “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”

You remember that blood bath we read about a couple of weeks ago
When the wine press was trampled.

Well here is how God brought all the grapes to the press.
He is gathering them all together.

The irony here is that God is in such control that
All He had to do was dry up one river and the enemy did the rest.

God is using Satan.
THAT IS WHAT WE CALL PROVIDENCE
God let’s men (even Satan) do whatever they want, and at the end of the day they end up doing exactly what God determined.

And all of these people were gathered “to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.”

That’s going to prove to be a mistake!

But also here we find another warning to the reader.
(15) (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)

This is a warning to be prepared.

Remember what Jesus taught us?
Matthew 24:36-44 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. “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. “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

You had better be prepared because this day is coming.
The Sovereign God has determined it.
It would be foolish not to be ready for it.

The Sufferers, The Satisfaction, The Suffering, The Sovereignty
#5 WE SEE THE STATEMENT
Revelation 16:17-21

As soon as this seventh bowl is poured out God says, “It is done.”

It is the Greek word “GINOMAI”
It literally means “to come into being” or “to happen” or “to become”

And I think this is a word that
God has been waiting to speak for generations.

• It wasn’t long after creation that God was so disgusted with humanity that He flooded the entire world with judgment.

• Not long after that He rained down fire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness.

We’ve seen Him destroy nations, bring judgment time after time after time
AND YET STILL HUMANITY SEEMS BENT ON BELIEVING
THAT THE THREAT OF JUDGMENT IS A MYTH.

Peter even wrote in his second epistle:
2 Peter 3:3-4 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

• People will doubt the reality of judgment.
• People will write books like “The Shack” in which they will insinuate that judgment is a mere myth.
• “God won’t do it!”
• “A loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell”

That is why I think this statement is so fitting.
• After opening seven seals and inflicting judgment on the world…
• Then after blasting seven trumpets and inflicting judgment on the world…
• And then after pouring out seven bowls of wrath on the world…

God’s first words were:
“I DID IT!” – “IT HAPPENED!”
“It is done.”

So much for all those mockers who said judgment was a myth.

And then God wrecked the earth one more time.
• He shook the earth like it has never been shaken, and ripped Jerusalem into 3 parts.
• He annihilated every island and mountain.
• And then He pelted humanity with 100lb hail stones.

Judgment is not a myth.

Judgment is the predetermined and justified act of a holy and sovereign God to demonstrate His power and bring Himself glory by crushing all of His creation which had rebelled against Him.

Now friend you can just stick your head in the sand
And act like judgment won’t actually come.
But that is a foolish decision.

So what is the answer?
Romans 5:6-10 “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. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

The answer for the holy wrath of God has always been the cross.

God does not demonstrate His love by doing away with judgment.
God demonstrates His love by pouring that judgment out on His own Son.

And through that redemptive work of the cross
Those who are God’s enemies by reason of their rebellion
Can be forgiven and become God’s children.

That is how you escape wrath…through the perfect work of Christ.

Scripture has commanded us to repent of our sin,
And to place our trust in the atoning work of Christ
And “we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

Don’t ignore the promise of judgment,
Let the promise of judgment motivate you to run to Jesus.

For on this day, all those who didn’t will pay for it severely.

A Tale of Four Shepherds
Zechariah 11:1-17
March 5, 2017

For the last 4 chapters everything has been exceptionally rosy for Israel.

God has outlined for them His great plans for their future.
• We’ve seen that He is passionate about them.
• We’ve seen His plans for prosperity and protection
• We’ve seen that He is going to send their King and give them victory over their enemies.
• We’ve seen that His plan is to restore and unite Israel together again and make them once again the envy of the world.

Everything from chapters 7 through 10 has been really positive
And fabulous as God revealed Israel’s future to her.

In fact, God has even used this glorious plan as a sort of bait
To those Jews who had thus far chosen to remain in Babylon.

It’s really just all been good news for the last several weeks.

And then we get to chapter 11
And we wonder what in the world went wrong.

Here we get what I’m referring to as “A Tale of Four Shepherds”
And the first shepherd we see really comes to us out of nowhere.

Let’s look at them for a moment:
#1 THE WEEPING SHEPHERD
Zechariah 11:1-3

The imagery here is of a fire spreading throughout Israel.
• In verse 1 we read of “Lebanon” which was in the north.
• In verse 2, we read of “Bashan” which was in the central part.
• In verse 3, we read of “the Jordan” which is in the southern part.

There is a spreading fire or judgment throughout the land.
And it is apparent that nothing can stop this spreading fire of judgment.

• “Lebanon” is told that “a fire may feed on your cedars”
• This news should cause the “cypress” to wail because if the cedar couldn’t stand then certainly the cypress won’t.
• Wailing should even reach “the oaks of Bashan”

And the really descriptive phrase is that
“the impenetrable forest has come down.”

Which is to say that which no one expected to fall has in fact fallen.

And the result is this:
(3) “There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail, For their glory is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions’ roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.”

What does this refer to?

Well I can tell you this, if you walk through a pasture
And you hear a young lion roaring and a shepherd wailing,
Then it doesn’t take long to figure out what happened to the sheep.

To put it nicely Zechariah says “their glory is ruined”

Whether that is typified as a fire or a lion attack the point is the same;
Destruction has spread through the land.
The shepherd is wailing.

Now, as we said earlier, this is A STRANGE REALITY TO US
For the last 4 chapters has been so rosy and peachy.

All we can do is look at this picture which seemed to pop up out of nowhere and ask: WHAT HAPPENED?

Well, let’s take a look.
Chronologically this “weeping shepherd” is actually the last of the 4.

We are first given a glimpse of the end
And then we trace back to see what happened to cause it.

And it all began with this second type of shepherd listed here.
#2 THE BRUTAL SHEPHERD
Zechariah 11:4-6

We have actually looked at this chapter many times before
So I’m hoping there is a familiarity with you here.

What we actually have occurring (as you will see in a minute) is
A pre-incarnate conversation between the Father and the Son.

(4) “Thus says the LORD my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter.”

There is a flock of sheep, who obviously have value to God,
But instead of being cared for
This flock has been scheduled for a trip to the slaughter house.

In other words these sheep have lost their value
To those who are in charge of them.

The shepherds have really turned in to butchers.
And they no longer have concern for this flock,
Their only plan now is to drive the sheep to the slaughter house.

So God, out of His great mercy,
Plans to send a new shepherd to the flock;
And one which will save the sheep from slaughter and pasture them.

Now, this is not the only time such an analogy or prophecy is made.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 34

This chapter begins with an assessment of the wicked shepherds of Israel.
(Read 1-6)

It is obvious that the shepherds of Israel did not care for the sheep in the least,
And the result was the death of the sheep.

Because of this God pronounces judgment on these wicked shepherds.
(Read 7-10)

Obviously God is not pleased with these brutal shepherds who have harmed His flock.

In response to this tragedy we see the same solution in Ezekiel that we see here in Zechariah, namely that God Himself will care for His flock.
(Read 11-16)

So God promises to come and help the flock.

Now it is also true that it isn’t just the wicked shepherds who have harmed His flock, but also the brutal sheep in the midst of the flock, who like to hurt those who are weak.
(Read 17-19)

And so God promises to also deal with those wicked sheep that are dispersed throughout the flock.

(Read 20-24)

That picture is the same one here.
The shepherds are annihilating the flock,
So God has a plan to send a better shepherd to them
To actually rescue the sheep and send them to pasture.

God gives an account of these brutal shepherds:
(5) “Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them.”

These are not shepherds who care for the flock, these are shepherds who merely want to use the sheep to make themselves rich.

Furthermore God says:
(6) “For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD; “but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them from their power.”

God is speaking of those brutal sheep dispersed throughout the flock
They are not referred to as “the flock” or “My sheep”
But rather God simply calls them “the inhabitants of the land”
Indicating that although they are present, they are not His.

These are the brutal shepherds and brutal sheep
Who are doing damage to His flock.

We’ve talked about this before so I know several of you may be familiar with this, but for those who are not, we’ll explain how this happened.

• Following the days of Zechariah, and the rebuilding of the temple you are aware that Greece entered the scene and really did a number on the area surrounding Israel.

• We even saw prophesied back in chapter 9 how Alexander the Great would conquer the nations all around Israel, but would leave Israel alone.

• Well you are also familiar (thanks to our study of Daniel) about Alexander’s death and the way his kingdom was divided.

• Daniel 11 also gave us great detail about the eventual rise of a Seleucid ruler known as Antiochus Epiphanes and how he took a special hatred toward Israel.

• In fact, he was the one who desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and committed that prophetic event known as “The Abomination of Desolation”.

Now Daniel spoke of what this man would do to the people of Israel
And it is significant for our study here:

Daniel 11:29-35 “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. “For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.”

One of the objectives of Antiochus Epiphanes
Was to secularize Israel into a pagan Greek culture.

And this alone caused quite an issue in Israel

Out of this struggle a group arose known as the HASIDIM
(you can still find Hasidic Jews to this day)

Their name meant “Pious Ones” and they were influential
In the beginning of the Maccabean revolt which helped Israel to
Win their independence from Greece.

Out of this group cam a group of men known as Pharisees.

The word most likely comes from the Hebrew word:
PARASH which means “separate” or “detach”

And they were strictly opposed to anyone who did not keep to their strict Jewish roots. They were focused on pietism.

In opposition to this group of men were the HELLENIZERS
These were the Jews who were bent on adopting the Greek Hellenistic culture.

And out of these roots arose the Sadducees
This word comes from the Hebrew word SADAQ which means “righteous ones”

And of course where the Pharisees were the legalists of Jesus’ day,
The Sadducees were the liberals,
Denying things like angels and even the resurrection.

Incidentally, their feud is carried even into the formation of the church.

In Acts 6 we read of this story.
Acts 6:1 “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.”

But together these men became the leaders of Israel,
And neither cared for the sheep.

The official leading group was known as the Sanhedrin.
• They were comprised of The Chief Priests, The Scribes, and The Elders.
• The High Priest served as the president.

The Scribes who were the supposed Bible scholars were mostly Pharisees.
Annas and Caiaphas were Sadducees.

And we are well aware of how well they shepherded the flock of Israel.
Jesus confronted both quite sharply.

Matthew 23 is quite a rebuke of the Pharisees, continually calling them hypocrites.

Note especially
Matthew 23:1-7 “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.”

Jesus also took the Sadducees to task, both before and during His trial.
Matthew 22:23-33 “On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP CHILDREN FOR HIS BROTHER.’ “Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. “Last of all, the woman died. “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.”

But together these men had literally fleeced the flock of Israel.

Of the Pharisees Jesus said:
Matthew 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”

And of course the temple charade which Jesus cleansed was actually referred to as “The Bizarre of Annas”. It was his flea market.

Perhaps the best passage revealing the work they had done in Israel
Is found in Matthew 9.

Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”

“distressed” translates SKULLO (to skin or to flay)
“dispirited” translates RHIPTO (to cast off or throw off)

This was the problem in Israel.
The flock of God had been “doomed to slaughter”

We all remember the story in Matthew 15
Where we learned how the Pharisees actually refrained from giving financial aid even to their needy parents under the guise that they had devoted their money only to God.

Or how about this well-known story.
Mark 12:38-44 “In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, 4who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.” And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

I am thankful to John MacArthur for opening my eyes to this passage.
A passage often quoted as an expected standard for giving,
When in reality it was an example of how the scribes had even taken advantage of this woman, literally taking her last cent.

But the flock was suffering under brutal shepherds, and this is why God told Christ to “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter.”

Now this is not yet the full explanation as to
Why that first shepherd is weeping.
That is only the first leg of the story.

After this brutal shepherd we see:
#3 THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Zechariah 11:7-14

Well we know the Good Shepherd was.
John 10:11-15 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

“So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock.”

The two staffs should make sense.
Psalms 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

• One staff was a club used to beat off predators; “Favor”
• The other was that curved staff meant to gather in the sheep; “Union”

The Good Shepherd came in to save the sheep.

And without a doubt He declared war on their former shepherds.

(8) “Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me.”

I think that verse is an understatement to say the least.
Jesus couldn’t talk to them without calling them hypocrites
And all they wanted to do was kill Jesus.

My favorite illustrative story of this mutual animosity is found in Luke 11

TURN TO: LUKE 11:37-54
I think that story just illustrates the point.
He attacked them and they hated Him for it.

And so it seems like this story is going to have a happy ending,
And we are still left wondering
Why is that first shepherd of the chapter weeping?

WELL, HERE IS WHY
The sheep refused to follow this new Good Shepherd.
• They rejected Him in favor of their old shepherds.
• This Good Shepherd became the Rejected Shepherd.

(9-11) “Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces, to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the LORD.”

We saw this fulfilled:
Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

This Shepherd came to save the sheep, and they refused Him.
In fact they cried “Crucify Him!”

Here is more of that familiar story
(12-14) “I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”

And of course you see the fulfillment there.
Matthew 26:14-16 “Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.”

If you are curious about the significance of 30 pieces of silver:
Exodus 21:28-32 “If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. “If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. “If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him. “Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule. “If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.”

That was the redemption price of a gored slave.

The point being was that the sheep did not value this Shepherd.
Instead they rejected Him.

And with that betrayal the Good Shepherd broke His two staffs in two.
• In verse 10 “I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces”
• No more protection for Israel.

• In verse 14 “Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union”
• No more unity in Israel.

And if we had time we could go to Romans 11 and read about
How Israel was broken off and the Gentiles were grafted in.

So the Good Shepherd came to deliver from the Brutal Shepherd
And the sheep rejected Him.

Is that why the first shepherd is weeping?
Not entirely

Here is why that first shepherd is weeping
#4 THE FOOLISH SHEPHERD
Zechariah 11:15-17

Israel rejected her Good shepherd
So the LORD promises to send them another one.

And the next shepherd the LORD will send is called “a foolish shepherd”
Also referred to as “the worthless shepherd”

“For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.”

The next shepherd Israel will have
Will be a shepherd who absolutely devours the flock.
If you thought the brutal shepherds were bad,
You haven’t seen anything yet.

And of course this next shepherd will be the Antichrist.
Daniel 8:23-26 “In the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. “And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency. “The vision of the evenings and mornings Which has been told is true; But keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future.”

And this is why that first shepherd is weeping.
He sees the desecration which will be caused by
This final foolish shepherd.

And the consequences of this are so bad that
It caused those who care about Israel to weep and to wail.

God has been saying all along that He would bless Israel
And that He has great plans for her,
But all of those great plans center around the coming King.

They rejected that King and therefore their prosperity has yet to be seen.

The obvious reminder to us is of
THE ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL NECESSITY OF JESUS.

EVERY GOOD THING GOD HAS FOR HIS PEOPLE
COMES ONLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.
There is no good for God’s people apart from Him.

2 Corinthians 1:19-20 “For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us — by me and Silvanus and Timothy — was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”

Every promise God makes to His people comes only through Christ.

Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

Listen to these verses from Romans 5

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

Romans 5:11 “And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Romans 5:17-19 “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

And those aren’t the only ones,
But it is that continual use of the word “through’.

Every good thing only comes to us “through” Christ.
If you don’t have Him, you don’t have anything.

Israel learned that the hard way.
• God spent 3 chapters making promise after promise after promise of the
most remarkable blessings any people could imagine.

• And yet Israel has failed to recognize any of them because they refused
the package through which God delivered those blessings; Jesus Christ.

That is why Peter urged Israel to return to Christ
That all of God’s promises might in fact be realized by them.

Acts 3:19-20 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,”

We clearly learn what a difference Christ makes.
He is the conduit, He is the mediator.

If you have Him you have it all.
If you don’t have Him, you don’t have anything.

God’s Rage
Revelation 15:1-8
March 5, 2017

For the last several weeks we have actually been looking at
A parenthetical section here in the book of the Revelation.

It was a section meant to reveal that despite the efforts and rage of the enemy,
Nothing could keep Christ from returning, from destroying His enemies,
Or from establishing His reign upon the earth.
Jesus wins!

But now, having completed that section, we now return to
The chronological flow of the events during the tribulation.

You’ll remember that back in chapter 5 we saw that the One on the throne
Was holding a scroll, sealed up with 7 Seals (The title deed to the earth.)
We then saw the Lamb take that scroll and begin to open it,
And with each seal opened a new judgment fell upon the earth.

• The first seal brought false peace
• The second seal brought world war
• The third seal brought famine
• The fourth seal brought death
• The fifth seal incited God’s vengeance as we saw the martyrs below the altar
• The sixth seal was described as a mighty earthquake which even caused the
sky to roll back like a scroll.
• The seventh seal ushered in 7 angels with 7 trumpets

• The first trumpet saw a third of the earth burned up
• The second trumpet saw a third of the sea turned to blood
• The third trumpet saw a third of the fresh water turned bitter
• The fourth trumpet saw a third of the sun, moon, and stars struck
• The fifth angel saw the release of a demonic army (locusts)
• The sixth angel saw the release of 100 million man demonic death army

• When the seventh angel sounded all we heard was the pep rally and
announcement that Jesus would reign, but before we saw the effects of
that sounding we entered the parenthetical section which we have been
recently studying.

Well now we pick back up and we see the effects of that 7th trumpet.

(1) “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.”

So just as the opening of the seventh seal brought forth 7 trumpets, so also the sounding of the 7th trumpet brings in 7 angels with 7 plagues.

And these plagues are said to be the “last”
For in them “the wrath of God is finished.”
We are now very near the end of the 7 year period,
And we are about to see the final culmination of God’s wrath here.

However, before we move on we need to have a little conversation here
About “wrath” to help you understand what you are seeing.

In the Bible there are actually two different Greek words
That are both commonly translated as “wrath”.

One is ORGE (ar-gay) and the other is THUMOS

ORGE is a deep seeded, seething, fuming anger which is bent on revenge.
It is unrelenting, but may not always be immediately apparent even though it is. You may not see it, but it is there, and it hasn’t forgotten, revenge must be had.

THUMOS is the knee-jerk explosion.
It flairs up quickly and passionately and even at times violently but may also pass away fairly quickly too.

If you were looking for other words to translate these two,
You might do it like this.
ORGE would be “seething anger”
THUMOS would be “passionate rage”

NOW…
Most of the time in N.T. God’s wrath is the ORGE type of wrath.

Matthew 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Ephesians 2:3 “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

And there are many others, but you get the idea.
• We are talking about God’s eternal seething anger toward sinners, and the vengeance that He most certainly will take on them.

• His anger may not always be readily visible, but rest assured it is there and it is coming.

• This wrath will be delivered for all eternity in hell.

Incidentally, it is also this ORGE wrath which Jesus Christ fully bore on behalf of the elect on the cross so that we might be saved.

And after Jesus drank this cup of God’s wrath, He said, “It is finished!” (that is, “paid in full”).

Romans 3:23-26 “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; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

We learn that God had “passed over” the sins previously committed.
He hadn’t forgotten them and to be certain He was still angry about them,
He had just thus far delayed in dealing with them. God’s ORGE was there.

But on the cross Jesus drank that cup, He bore that “wrath”,
He took God’s ORGE on behalf of the elect who place their faith in Him.

BUT YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ORGE WRATH IS.
(God’s eternal wrath on sinners)

Now, also in the New Testament when THUMOS is used,
Most of the time it refers to the anger of man. It is that fit of rage.

Galatians 5:19-20 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,”

Ephesians 4:31 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”

It was the rage of Jesus’ hometown when He confronted their sin.
Luke 4:28-29 “And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.”

It was also the rage of the Devil after he was permanently removed from heaven.
Revelation 12:12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

So when we see God’s wrath we are almost always looking at ORGE
And when we see man’s wrath we are almost always looking at THUMOS

In fact, outside of the book of the Revelation,
THUMOS is only used to describe God’s wrath 1 time.
(and there both words are used)

Romans 2:8 “but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”

That is they will receive ORGE & THUMOS

So while the New Testament (outside of the Revelation) does not mention GOD’S THUMOS we know according to Paul that it IS COMING.

Well, that day is clearly during the tribulation.
For the book of the Revelation speaks of God’s THUMOS over and over.
(14:10, 14:19, 15:1, 15:7, 16:1)

And most commonly God’s THUMOS is used in conjunction with
These 7 plagues or bowl judgments which we are now looking at.

I point this out to you because I want you to understand:
• The wrath we are about to see is not the slow, patient, long-lasting
wrath of God. It is not the ORGE.
That wrath is certainly still present and will be seen again
For all eternity in the lake of fire

• But the wrath we see here is God in a fit of rage! (His THUMOS).
Certainly God is not being sinful here,
But God is about to “twist off” or “Uncork” if you will.

In fact, you see in verse 1 that we are introduced with
“seven angels who had seven plagues”

“plagues” translates PLEGE (play-gay)

In Acts 16:23 it is translated “blows”
Acts 16:23 “When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;”

In Luke 12:47-48 it is translated “flogging”
Luke 12:47-48 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

What we are talking about here is NOT God just quietly seething in anger
As He waits for the day of His final judgment of sinners.

Here we are seeing God in full fury and rage literally exploding on sinners.
• He is flogging them
• He is inflicting blow after blow after blow on them

And I just want you to understand that as we look at the text.

There are 3 things we need to see here.
#1 THE NECESSITY OF GOD’S RAGE
Revelation 15:1

The 7th trumpet has just sounded.
This is also the “third woe” that John spoke of.
And John says:
“Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.”

A unique phrase here.
You will remember that as Jesus bore the wrath of God on the cross, He ended by saying “It is finished!” (TELEO)

We have since learned that that very Greek word has been used
To stamp on bills of sale to indicate “paid in full” or “fully satisfied”
Jesus did that.

Well it is that same word TELEO used here.

In dispersing these 7 angels with their 7 plagues or floggings,
God is in fact satisfying His great rage.

Within God is a righteous rage and a passionate holy anger
That must be satisfied.

NOW, WE UNDERSTAND THAT,
Even though for us most of the time the response is sinful.

More than once I’ve chunked a rip-stick clear out into my yard.
• You come out your door while it’s dark and the kids have left it right in front of
the door, you nearly break your neck, and THUMOS must be displayed.
• Something has to feel pain, or you’re just not gonna feel any better.
• So in that moment you pick up that rip-stick and chunk it at the tree in your
front yard.

That may in fact be sinful on our part,
But it demonstrates here the rage behind what God is doing.

THERE IS A BURNING PASSION IN HIM WHICH MUST BE SATISFIED.

I realize this may come as a shock to some of you
Because it seems that the Christian community today,
And especially those in the Christian music business
Have made it their ambition to convince people that God is not angry.

I heard one Christian song a few years ago:
“He’s not made at you, He’s not disappointed, His grace is greater still than all of your wrong choices.”

Now, if that song were being sung to believers there is some merit to it
For Christ did satisfy God’s wrath toward believers.

But that song was written to unbelievers who are continually begged throughout the song to come to Jesus just as you are.

I would love to ask that band, “Why do people need to come to Jesus if God isn’t angry?”

But you understand the sentiment.
God is continually portrayed today as the ultimate laid back deity
Who doesn’t get His feathers ruffled about anything,
AND THAT JUST ISN’T TRUE.

He not only has ORGE, He also has THUMOS and it must be satisfied.

Psalms 7:11 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”

Jeremiah 25:15-29 “For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. “They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” Then I took the cup from the LORD’S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people; and all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod); Edom, Moab and the sons of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea; and Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair; and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert; and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ” Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”‘ “And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “You shall surely drink! “For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the LORD of hosts.’”

Romans 2:4-11 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

Just because God doesn’t instantly judge sinners for their sin,
It does not indicate that He is not angry – He is!
And were are seeing that anger poured out.

God is sending these 7 angels because His righteous indignation,
His THUMOS, must be “paid in full”, it must be “finished”
• He cannot, He will not leave the guilty unpunished.
• He will not, allow those who have persecuted His children to get away with it.

He is about to “uncork”, He is about to “twist off”.
And the purpose is simple – PAIN!

You’re going to see
• The death of everything in the sea,
• Men scorched with fierce heat,
• God initiate pain so great that men will gnaw their tongues for relief,
• 100 lb. hailstones bombing men from heaven…just to name a few.

God is going to make men suffer.
His rage demands it.

But after this day, His rage will be satisfied.
These “are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.”
After God unleashes these judgments His THUMOS will be satisfied.
(Note: not His ORGE, that will still be unleashed for all eternity in hell)

But His holy need to rise up and inflict pain will be satisfied here.

The Necessity of God’s Rage
#2 THE RESPONSE TO GOD’S RAGE
Revelation 15:2-4

Now we call this the response, but it is only half of the response.
• We are looking at the response of the redeemed.
• We are looking at the response of those in heaven.

If you want the response of the wicked:
Isaiah 13:6-9 “Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. 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.”

Or you can look at the next chapter:
Revelation 16:9 “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”

Revelation 16:11 “and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.”

Revelation 16:21 “And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”

The wicked are not going to like this at all, they are going to cry in pain,
And shake their fist at God, at least initially.

However here we are looking at the response of the righteous.
Those who did not succumb to the pressures of the Antichrist.

(2) “And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.”

This verse provides for us tremendous balance.
When you read about all the horrific pain
God is about to pour out on sinners on the earth,
If you aren’t careful you can actually begin to think God is in the wrong.

But ever before God, as He orders the flogging of the sinners on earth,
Are standing those who have been imprisoned, beheaded, stabbed, sawn in two, deprived, mocked, and ridiculed by them.
• There is the mother now standing next to the child she had to watch beheaded.
• There is the husband now standing next to the wife he watched ravished.
• There is the brothers now standing next to his friend who had been carted off
to prison.

Those standing here have just endured the THUMOS of the devil
And God has them ever before Him
As He pours out His THUMOS on the world who helped him.

And these before God are so ecstatic that they are “holding harps to God”
And are ready to break out in great praise to Him.

(3a) “And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Well, let’s look at the “the song of Moses”

TURN TO: EXODUS 14:26

(READ 14:26-31)
You know what that event was, it was God’s final deliverance from Egypt.
• For 400 years these Israelites had suffered cruelty under the hand of the Egyptians and on this day, God’s wrath released vengeance on them for it.
• It wasn’t the only vengeance, as we area also aware of the 10 plagues God sent on Egypt first, but in this event God’s wrath on Egypt was finished.

And in response to God’s wrath being poured out on Egypt,
Moses led the Israelites in song.

(READ 15:1-18)
We don’t have the time to fully exposit the entire song, but I think the gist of it is clear to you.

• Moses is praising God for His deliverance of Israel.
• Moses is praising God for His vengeance on Egypt.
• And Moses knows that God’s power will now surely be known throughout the world.

It is not hard to understand why this heavenly choir is singing that song.
God is about to attack their enemies just as God attacked Egypt.

But it is also said that they sing “the song of the Lamb”

WHAT IS THIS SONG?
TURN TO: REVELATION 5:6-14

It was the song of those who had been redeemed.
• Those standing in heaven knew that they were not there because of their own religious works.
• The only reason they were standing before God was because the Lamb had purchased them and made them worthy.

And here in chapter 15, this heavenly choir is singing both songs.
They praise God for His vengeance and deliverance.
They praise the Lamb for His perfect salvation of them.

(3b-4) “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

They praise God for HIS MIGHTY WORKS
“Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty”

Just as Moses stood dumbfounded on the far shore of the Red Sea,
Marveling at what God had done,
Now these standing on the shore of the crystal sea do the same.

They praise God for HIS RIGHTEOUS WAYS
“Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!”

Moses marveled at God’s justice to destroy the wicked and deliver the righteous.
And now these redeemed do the same.

And they praise God for HIS INEVITABLE VICTORY
“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

Moses said:
Exodus 15:11, 14-15 “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? …The peoples have heard, they tremble; Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. “Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; The leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.”

Moses knew that when God’s wrath was made known
That the world would fear and tremble at Him.
AND SUBMISSION WOULD NOT BE AN OPTION.

Philippians 2:10-11 “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Psalmist said:
Psalms 86:9 “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name.”

Isaiah said:
Isaiah 66:23 “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD.”

THE WORSHIP OF THIS HEAVENLY CHOIR IS SO FITTING.

All throughout their suffering they heard passages like these:
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.”

1 Peter 2:23 “and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”

How difficult it has been to be considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
How difficult it has been to continually turn the other cheek.

And yet, on this day, God’s great THUMOS has come forth,
And God is about to flog their enemy.

They rejoice in God for His deliverance.
They rejoice in the Lamb for saving them from it.

The Necessity of God’s Rage The Response to God’s Rage
#3 THE PREPARATION FOR GOD’S RAGE
Revelation 15:5-8

And we’ll get in to this a little more next week as we begin to see this wrath outpoured, but the scene is worth noting here.

As the choir sings the temple is opened
And out come 7 angels with seven plagues.

These are holy angels “clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes.”

And then they are each given “bowls full of the wrath of God”
(the THUMOS God)

Incidentally the word “full” here is a word used
To refer to a ship which cannot hold any more.

And the Bible says that “the temple was filled with smoke…and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

And I have to tell you, I so get this.
I grew up with a DAD who didn’t have much of that ORGE kind of wrath,
But he most certainly had that THUMOS kind of wrath.

Some of you know what I’m talking about.
• I’ve heard Kermit testify of himself that he has it.
• Lance Harris told me one of his parents has it (I’ll let you guess which one)

Well my dad had it.
He could explode at the drop of a hat
(now it was over quick, but it was horrific while it was happening).

And as such you never messed with him while in the middle of it.
• It didn’t matter if that THUMOS was addressed at me or (more appropriately)
my sister.

You see that here in heaven.
God is unleashing His THUMOS
And no one even in heaven dares approach Him.
God’s wrath is being poured out.

Do you understand then that statement from the writer of Hebrews?
Hebrews 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

God is angry here and everyone is keeping their distance.

Now we’ll begin to see this rage poured out next time,
But from this introductory chapter, WHAT ARE WE TO LEARN?

WELL FIRST, you should never doubt God’s rage toward sin, or God’s rage toward those who afflict His children.

Psalms 7:11 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”

Beyond that, everyone who truly knows God,
Or in the New Testament who truly knew God,
Was very certain to tell those around them that
“You don’t want to mess with Him!”

I told you my dad had that THUMOS kind of temper.
Because of that, if I had a friend coming over to the house, I would start prepping them for how to act 30 minutes before we ever go there.

• If my dad is watching TV – do not get in front of the TV or be loud.
• If he is asleep in his chair – you’d better tip-toe, do not wake him up.
• If he is working on horses at the house – just go home, he’s already in a
bad mood.

I spent a lot of time assuring my friends that my dad’s THUMOS was real
And that they under no circumstances wanted any part of it.

The writers of Scripture did the same.
Listen to John the Baptist:
Matthew 3:10-12 “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Listen to Jesus:
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Listen to Peter:
2 Peter 3:11-12 “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!”

All of them knew that God’s wrath should serve as a deterrent.

And I’m here to tell you the same.
YOU DO NOT WANT TO FACE THIS GOD
WITH A REBELLIOUS OR UNREPENTANT HEART.

Now, the GOOD NEWS is that His mercy is great to those who will repent.
This holy God already made provision for sinners
By pouring out His full wrath upon Christ.

And the Scripture teaches us that the death of Christ
Is absolutely sufficient to save all who will trust in Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-11 “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 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. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

But for those who choose instead to remain in sin
They will bear that wrath themselves.

When You Seek For Me
Zechariah 10:1-12
February 26, 2017

Last week we entered a bit of a new section here in the book of Zechariah.

Basically the backdrop to the section is that
• God is now addressing that group of Jews
• Who have chosen not to take advantage of the favor God has bestowed upon Israel,
• And have chosen simply to remain in Babylon.

We saw God directly confront them in chapter 9
Zechariah 9:11-12 “As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope; This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.”

God’s point was really quite simple.
All His plans, all the prosperity that He had in mind for them
Centered around them returning to the land of promise.

The main point to be understood was that all Jews should return to Israel because God was about to send His King to them.
Zechariah 9:9-10 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.”

So basically we learned that
• Since God’s King is coming to Israel,
• And since God is promising to take care of all the surrounding enemies,
• And since all of God’s blessing which He has promised is for Israel and not Babylon…

Then by all means leave your life in Babylon, and with eyes of faith,
Come take hold of the life God has promised.

And of course we saw direct application in that to our lives,
Noting all the times the New Testament reminds us
Not to love this world, or store up our treasure here,
But instead to remember that our citizenship is in heaven,
From which we eagerly long for our King as well.

Well tonight, God is still making that point.
And having revealed the promise of
He coming King and subsequent blessing,
God is now pushing for these Jews to believe it.

And that is made apparent to us by the very first word of chapter 10, “Ask”

• “Ask” is a word of action.
• “Ask” is a word of faith.

It is a word which identifies a person who is beginning to understand that
All of their future lies within the hands of a generous and gracious God,
And who has determined to ask Him for it.

This obviously also has direct implications to the New Testament as we have Jesus reminding us:
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

I know this concept has been more than a little misunderstood in our day.
People like to take passages like this and use them to basically insinuate that
If we ask in faith we can have anything we want from God.

And we should certainly be aware by now that
That in no way reflects the heart of God or the intention of His word.

Rather, the point to the command to “Ask” is that
We be a people who believe the promises God has made
And therefore are not afraid to seek them above everything else,
Which is made evident when we “Ask” for those things.

To put it another way.
• We don’t just ask for anything we want and expect God to “Hop to it”.
• We ask according to His will.
• We ask according to His promises.

It simply means that instead of ignoring what God has said,
We determine to seek it out.

That is precisely what God is now doing here in Zechariah 10.
He has made the promise,
And now He is wanting them to believe it enough to seek it out.

By the way, this has always been the intent.
Remember the famous sermon God preached to Israel as they were about to go into exile?
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”

Even from the outset God’s intention
Was that after this period of discipline,
Israel would refocus on Him and start seeking Him once again.

God’s intent was that they would
Let go of the futile promises of the world and their false deities
And understand that in God alone did they have a future.

And that their new faith in Him would evidence itself
Through their seeking Him instead of the things of the world.

That is exactly the implication and intent here in chapter 10
When God is now declaring to these people to “Ask” Him.

There are two main points here.
#1 A REMINDER OF WHO TO SEEK
Zechariah 10:1-2

“Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain – The LORD who makes the storm clouds; and He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.”

Now first, let’s just take the statement at face value.
If we are talking about needing rain, then the statement is very obvious.

If you need rain, who should you ask? “the LORD”
Why? Because He is “The LORD who makes the storm clouds”
When should you ask for it? “at the time” when you need it.

It’s just a simple proverb of sort.
When you need something, then you should ask the One who can provide it at the time when you need it.

THAT’S A RATHER SIMPLE POINT.

Obviously we could be talking about literal rain here.
You are aware that one of the consequences of their failure to rebuild the temple was that God had withheld moisture.

Haggai 1:9-11 “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Because of their refusal to build God’s temple, God had withheld rain,
And it is certainly possible that the prophet here refers to
Asking God for literal rain at the time in which they need it.

But it is also very likely there is a spiritual application here.
Rain is a symbol for blessing
Hosea 6:1-3 “Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. “So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

Isaiah 44:3 “For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;”

Isaiah 35:1-7 “The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes.”

It wasn’t just rain Israel needed, but God’s favor in general,
Which was often illustrated with rain.

And even then this makes a very valid point to Israel.

The only hope of receiving the things you seek is in God,
Who alone provides it.

Whether that is literal rain or spiritual blessing.
Seeking for it anywhere else is foolish since only God is the source.

Psalms 146:1-7 “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free.”

Only God supplies the things you seek.

This is also why the prophet continues
By pointing out the utter folly of listening to false prophets or seeking false gods.

They cannot fulfill what they promise.
(2) “For the teraphim speak iniquity, And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.”

• If you cry out to your household idols (“teraphim”)
• If you listen to the “false dreams” of the “diviners”
• Your “comfort” will be “in vain”; it won’t last.
• And the result will be affliction like sheep without a shepherd.

That is the analogy of people who seek the things only God can provide
From a source other than God.
It leaves man empty and broken.

Now Israel certainly did this in her past.
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

Jeremiah 6:14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.”

Jeremiah 10:21 “For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.”

• Certainly part of the reason that Israel was sent to Babylon in the first place
was because instead of seeking God, they had begun to seek false gods and false prophets.

• Certainly they did this because the message of the false prophets was much
more appealing to the flesh than the message of the true prophets.

• However the end result was exile with no comfort.

That certainly happened in their past.

But it may be that it was beginning to happen again,
And this might have been why the Jews wouldn’t return from Babylon.

Instead of believing the message of God’s prophets
They were listening to the message of the false prophets
Still holding out hope that their best future was in Babylon.

These men must have been encouraging the people that they could have their “Best Life Now” right here in Babylon.

BUT YOU’D BE FOOLISH TO LISTEN TO THEM
False prophets may indeed do a good job making promises,
But the problem is that they cannot back them up.
(Only God can produce rain!)

Listen to Peter and Jude talk to you about the reality of the false prophets.
2 Peter 2:17 “These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.”

Jude 12-13 “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

Both of these men referred to them in the same light.
• Peter – “springs without water”
• Jude – “clouds without water”

And that hearkens back to the point being made here.
There has only ever been one who could send the rain,
Everyone else who promised was like a lying cloud.

So the message here is pretty clear.
DON’T LISTEN TO MEN WHO OFFER WHAT THEY CANNOT PRODUCE.
SEEK THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY DELIVER.

Reminder of who to Seek
#2 REMINDER OF WHAT TO EXPECT
Zechariah 10:3-12

It begins with God voicing His displeasure with those false prophets
Who are leading His people astray.

(3) “My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats;”

Make no mistake about it, God is not pleased with the false prophets
Or the people who follow them and discourage the others.
God promises to deal with them.

Incidentally you’ll see this in a couple of chapters when Jesus arrives deals with those false shepherds:
Zechariah 11:8 “Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me.”

So obviously God will not leave those guilty unpunished.

But it is also important to God that His children know
What He has in store for them.

If you seek the teraphim and the false prophets you have no future,
But let me show you the plans that God has for you here in Israel.

There are 5 listed here.
1) GLORY (3b)
“For the LORD of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like His majestic horse in battle.”

That is simply another analogy from which we learn a point.

Israel was currently the afflicted flock.
• They were like sheep without a shepherd because their shepherds had betrayed them.

They are like what Jesus found when He came:
Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”

But here God says His plan is take them
From being afflicted sheep to being a majestic horse.

And not just any horse, but the glorious horse ridden by the king in battle.
IT’S JUST AN ANALOGY OF GLORY.

And it so perfectly fits the day in which they lived.
• They were currently in Babylon.
• Perhaps they were comfortable,
• But they were still nothing more than afflicted sheep there.

God was offering them so much more.

As I think of the offer and the dilemma
It reminds me of Jacob as he was about to die.

• Here his son Joseph had ascended to the #2 man in all of Egypt.
• Jacob and the rest of his family had followed him there and amassed great
riches.

Genesis 47:27 “Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.”

But it didn’t matter how much property and wealth was gained in Egypt
They were still nothing more than foreigners in the land of Egypt
And Jacob would not let his family forget that.

First in the way he reminded his sons to bury him back in Canaan
Genesis 47:29-31 “When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” He said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.”

And then in the way in which Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons and the rest of Joseph’s brothers.
(Jacob actually divided their inheritance; gave them land he didn’t own)
It didn’t matter how comfortable Israel became in Egypt,
Jacob wanted them to remember that Egypt
Was not what God had in store for them.
God’s best was in the land of Canaan.

The same could be said in Zechariah’s day.
It doesn’t matter how comfortable you get in Babylon,
God’s best is in Israel.

The same could be said to us today.
It doesn’t matter how comfortable you get in this world, God’s best awaits in glory.

SO DO NOT SACRIFICE THE BEST FOR THE PRESENT.
You are now an afflicted sheep,
God has plans to make you a glorious horse.

So the first thing Israel could expect from obeying God was GLORY.
2) DOMINION (4)
“From them will come the cornerstone, From them the tent peg, From them the bow of battle, From them every ruler, all of them together.”

All of these titles were Messianic titles.
God was reminding Israel again that a King was coming to her.

And the King who would come would not just be any king,
But the King of Kings.
He would rule “every ruler”

It doesn’t matter how prosperous and comfortable you get in Babylon you will never achieve a promise like that.

Each of us has the promise of a kingdom as well,
But we will never get it here on this earth.

The false prophets can talk until they’re blue in the face about all the things you should possess here and now, but they can’t honor any of those empty words.
Our kingdom awaits us in heaven.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

We’d be foolish to reject that kingdom for the sake of keeping this one.

Jesus taught us to forsake everything here that we might gain that one.
Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

We are seeking more than comfort. We are seeking dominion.
Matthew 19:28-29 “And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

Hebrews 13:14 “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”

If you’ll forsake Babylon and ask for the promises of God then you can expect to trade shame for glory and slavery for dominion.
3) VICTORY (5)
“They will be as mighty men, Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle; And they will fight, for the LORD will be with them; And the riders on horses will be put to shame.”

The imagery here is of foot soldiers overpowering a cavalry.
And the reason they are able to do it is because God is with them.

This one should be very clear to us being that we are also currently studying the Revelation.

You may have the kingdom of the antichrist and Satan seeming to rule the world, but there is no doubt who owns the victory in the end.

We just looked as His battle of Armageddon this morning
As the blood ran through the streets of all the enemies of Christ.

We also saw Christ wearing that STEPHANOS (victor’s crown)
As He returned to vanquish the foe.

I can promise you that there is no victory to be found in Babylon.
Babylon is fallen, victory is in Israel.

Glory, Dominion, Victory
4) RECONCILIATION (6-8)

If you are familiar with your Jewish history
You will remember that after the reign of Solomon
The kingdom of Israel was split in two.
All but the tribe of Judah was ripped out of the hand of Rehoboam
And from that point on there were two separate nations.

The northern 10 tribes were called Israel
The southern tribe as called Judah
Far from being allies, they often warred against each other.

Israel was destroyed by Assyria and Judah was destroyed by Babylon
It had 400 years since there had been unity among God’s people.

But unity was part of God’s plan.
• He was going to save “Judah” and “Joseph”
• He is going to “bring them back”
• And both would be “as though I had not rejected them;”

• God would make “their heart glad as if from wine;”
• “their children would see it and be glad, their heart will rejoice in the LORD.”

By staying in Babylon
They would only create further division among God’s people.
How long do you suppose it would be before the Jews of Israel
Grew to resent the Jews of Babylon?

True reconciliation and unity among God’s people
Was only found when all of God’s people seek and obey God.

Incidentally this is still true.
So long as some of God’s children seek God
And other of God’s children seek the world, there will never be unity.

Jude 17-19 “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”

If you want true reconciliation it comes with the decision to seek the inheritance of God’s people among God’s people.

Clinging to the world or staying in Babylon will never produce that.

God says that His children can expect:
Glory, Dominion, Victory, Reconciliation
5) RESTORATION (9-12)

Do you notice all the references to bringing them back?
• (9) “They will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back.”
• (10) “I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria.”
• (10) “I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon until no room can be found for them.”

And it really doesn’t matter how difficult it may seem to accomplish,
I will do it.

“they will pass through the sea of distress” (reminder of the Red sea)
“the depths of the Nile will dry up” (reminder of the stopping up of the Jordan)

God will overthrow any nation which opposes His plan
And God will bring His people back.

(12) “And I will strengthen them in the LORD, and in His name they will walk,” declares the LORD”

It is God’s way of saying that He will restore them
As His nation; as His people; as His possession.

They will go back to the land and back to their status as His people.

Now we think about all that they had in Babylon,
And we compare that to all that which God was promising them in Israel.

• In Babylon they were afflicted sheep,
• In Israel they would be majestic horses.
• In Babylon they were lowly slaves,
• In Israel they would be reigning kings.
• In Babylon they were promised defeat,
• In Israel they would gain the victory.
• In Babylon they were estranged from their brothers,
• In Israel they would have unity.
• In Babylon they were scattered foreigners,
• In Israel they would be the restored people of God.

SO WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO STAY IN BABYLON?
Only because they walked by sight and not by faith.

And the application to us is just as easy and clear.
• Here we do not have a lasting city…
• This world is promised to go down in flames…
• Here we have no kingdom…
• Here we have no inheritance…
• Here we are scattered foreigners; aliens and strangers…

But God has promised us a KINGDOM and a PEOPLE and VICTORY
And a FUTURE and a HOPE and DOMINION.

We’d be fools to cling to this world
Instead of fixing our eyes on the kingdom to come.

Jim Elliot was the famous missionary speared to death in South America who said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

It was wise when he said it on earth.
It proved eternally brilliant on the day he entered glory.

This is our call.
• Trust God’s plan.
• Trust God’s promises.
• Seek what God has, not what the world has to offer.

You wouldn’t ask for rain from anyone but God,
But rain isn’t the only thing that God offers…

Glory, Dominion, Victory, Reconciliation, Restoration…
He’s the only One who can offer those things too.
Seek God, not the false promises of the world.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”