The Lord Remembers
Zechariah 4:1-14
October 9, 2016

As you know we are working our way through the book of Zechariah,
And not just because of its eschatological implications
But also because it contains such an important message.

The prophet’s name means “The Lord Remembers”
And this is such an important reality for us to grasp in our own lives.

It certainly was for these refugees.
All you have to do is bring to mind their recent history and you can see why they needed to know this.
• The Nation split after Solomon died
• Half the nation was carried off into exile
• God’s glory left the temple
• The rest of the nation was carried into exile
• The temple was destroyed
• God’s people lived in a foreign land for 70 years
• Now returning, only a small portion returned
• And rebuilding the temple has proven difficult

Have you ever been bombarded by one trial after another after another?
You feel like you’ve endured your fair share and yet before one lets up another hits?

That must have been how these refugees felt.

God’s message to them is that He remembers them.
They are not forgotten, and they are not abandoned.

This was the primary ministry of Zechariah.
To remind Israel that God has not forgotten them.

And that in and of itself is AN IMPORTANT REALITY
That we have yet to touch on fully.

Have you ever pondered the phrase?
“The Lord Remembers” or “The Lord remembered…”

It is what theologians call an “ANTHROPOMORPHISM”
It is when God speaks as though He were a human.

Of course God has no need to literally remember since God never forgets.
God can’t forget for He is omniscient, He knows all.

So in one sense to ascribe the need to remember to God
Could almost be construed as a heretical application.

Except for the fact that the Bible says that God remembers.
Noah
Genesis 8:1 “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.”

Lot because of Abraham
Genesis 19:29 “Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.”

Rachel
Genesis 30:22 “Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.”

The Slaves of Egypt
Exodus 2:24 “So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Psalms 105:37-43 “Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they departed, For the dread of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to illumine by night. They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout.”

Hannah
1 Samuel 1:19 “Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.”

Over and over the Bible reiterates
God remembering a person or group of people.

Psalms 98:2-3 “The LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

Psalms 106:44-46 “Nevertheless He looked upon their distress When He heard their cry; And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. He also made them objects of compassion In the presence of all their captors.”

And because we know that God is omniscient and never forgets
We understand that this phrase DOES NOT indicate that there are times
When we slip from God’s mind until He reads the post-it note on His door

Actually it is a phrase that indicates
God’s faithfulness to always keep His promises.

You could almost think of it as God prioritizing His will.
• He will always do what He determined to do.
• He will always remember the promises He has made.
And this should be a very comforting reality to God’s people.

James Boice – “The hope is not in reasoning that God is aware of all things and is therefore aware of you. That is true, but not always helpful. The hope is in knowing that God will act again! And in the meantime, your job is to go on in faithful obedience to what he has already shown you — however long ago that may have been.”
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the-bible-study-hour/read/articles/remembered-by-god-11789.html

In short, if you are a beneficiary of God’s sovereign promises
Then you can go forward in absolute faith and assurance,
Regardless of the difficulty,
Knowing that God will always remember to keep His promises.

God will do what He said.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

1 Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And this is really the point of the book of Zechariah
To these down-trodden refugees.

GOD IS GOING TO DO WHAT HE SAID
BECAUSE GOD ALWAYS REMEMBERS.

Proving that to these refugees has been
THE MAIN THRUST OF THESE NIGHT VISIONS WE HAVE SEEN.

The Vision of the Angelic Patrol – God reminded that He is jealous for Israel and is angry at the nations who afflicted them.

The Vision of the 4 Horns and 4 Craftsman – God reminded that He will punish those nations that afflicted you.

The Vision of the Surveyor – God reminded that He still considers Jerusalem to be His possession, He has not forgotten the city where His name dwells.

The Vision of Joshua’s Atonement – God reminded that He has chosen Israel and plucked them from the fire and will therefore certainly atone for their iniquity and forgive their sin.

All of these visions are summed up in the reality that
God remembers His covenantal promises to Abraham and to David
And that He will surely keep His word.
GOD WILL DO IT

And that really seems to be the main point of this 5th night vision.
• God is going to do what He said.
• In fact, He is doing it.
• And He is the One doing it through you!
TONIGHT THE MAIN THRUST OF THE VISION
Stems from the difficulty they are having rebuilding this temple.

It is a hard task.
Building the temple would be hard enough, but consider the added difficulties.
• Limited man power – only a few actually returned to Jerusalem
• Hostile natives – they’ve already stopped them once
• Skeptical Rulers – currently sending word to Darius to find out if this is ok
• No Security – remember there is no wall around this city where they are working
• Critical analyzers – as you will see again tonight many of the people who watched them rebuild were critical of how much less impressive this temple was than the old one.

This was a hard task.

God shows up to remind His people that
He has not forgotten His purpose and He will do what He said.
In fact, He IS doing what He said.

So let’s look at our text tonight.

There are 4 things I want you to see in this chapter.
#1 A DISCOURAGED PROPHET
Zechariah 4:1

What we find here is that angel comes to give Zechariah another vision.

But this time, unlike the previous,
We learn the condition in which the angel finds Zechariah.

He says the angel “roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep.”

“roused” here in the Hebrew is UR (oor)
And it means “to stir up”

1 Chronicles 5:26a “So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, even the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away into exile…”

2 Chronicles 21:16 “Then the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians;”

You read that and you realize what God is doing.
He, through the work of His Spirit, is causing men to do His will.
It is a very Spirit-driven type of reality.

What you should also know is that
God has been doing this very thing regarding this project of rebuilding His temple long before He did it here to Zechariah.

Ezra 1:1-2 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

Ezra 1:5 “Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.”

God has been doing this and now He is doing it to Zechariah.

“as a man who is awakened from his sleep”

That doesn’t mean that Zechariah is just sleepy.
The implication here is that Zechariah
Had either grown apathetic, or discouraged.

Being asleep in Scripture often pictures a person who isn’t as focused and ready as they should be.

After giving the practical expectations of Christian living, Paul said:
Romans 13:11 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

Paul wasn’t implying that believers were spending too much time in bed,
But rather that they were not paying attention,
That they had grown apathetic and complacent.

And it is very likely that Zechariah found himself there.

He knows what God wants – He wants the temple,
But rebuilding this temple is hard.
And one has to wonder if Zechariah really thought they could pull it off.

You have to wonder if anyone in Israel really thought they could pull it off.
The temptation is to get discouraged and seemingly give up.

Zechariah here has fallen into discouragement.
• But the angel wakes him up.
• The angel confronts him and tells him to get on the alert.

A Discouraged Prophet
#2 A DIFFICULT VISION
Zechariah 4:2-5

So the angel wakes Zechariah up and gives him a vision
That he at least partly doesn’t understand.

“I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold”

This was not uncommon, and it symbolized that at least in part
Israel was the light of the world.

It ultimately and perfectly pictured Christ who would be the light of the world.

“with its bowl on the top of it”

This is a little different.
This lamp actually worked on a gravity flow system.

The bowl containing the oil was set on top of the lamp
So that oil would flow down into the lamp and keep the lamp burning.

“and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it;”

So this is a large lamp with a total of 49 flames.

Here is where the difficult part came for Zechariah.
(3) “also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”

So now we not only have a lampstand, but we also have a bowl on top,
And here we find that beside the bowl, we have two olive trees.

The figure is that there is a NEVER ENDING SUPPLY of oil
Running from the tree, into the bowl and feeding the lamp.

SOMETHING IS SUPPLYING POWER TO THE LIGHT

Now it is obvious that Zechariah understood the lamp, the bowl, and the 49 spouts, but he did not understand these trees.

(4) “Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?”

(You’ll seen realize that Zechariah’s lack of understanding
Is what is fueling his discouragement)

And the angel even seems a little surprised that he doesn’t know.

(5) “So the angel who was speaking with me answered and so to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

So we have A Discouraged Prophet, A Difficult Vision
#3 A DIVINE REMINDER
Zechariah 4:6-10
(6) “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

Now I love what God is doing here.
The message is for Zerubbabel, but who is it given to?

It is given to Zechariah, he is in turn supposed to relay it to Zerubbabel.
(Zerubbabel is the governor, he needs to hear this)

But the other person who needs to hear this is Zechariah.
(That’s why the angel appeared first to Zechariah and not straight to Zerubbabel)

And notice the message he is supposed to render.
“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” says the LORD of hosts.”

And we know what he means.
• This project you are working on.
• This difficult project…
• This project that isn’t running as smoothly as you would like…

This project will not be done in your own “might”.
This project will not be done by your own “power”.

This project will only be accomplished “by My Spirit”

Only God can accomplish this great project. – we understand John 15

BUT THROUGH GOD IT WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED.
(7) “’What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘”

Zerubbabel faced a mountain – it was a figurative mountain.

The mountain was his project, it must have seemed impossible to move.
But God promised this mountain was coming down.

And WHEN this temple will be built,
(That is what God means by “he will bring forth the top stone”)

And as the temple is finished there will be “shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”

NOW WHY GRACE?
Because all will realize that GOD DID THIS by His divine power.
And so when it is built, He will get the glory.

Now, for a moment let’s rest in that truth.
• We face our mountains don’t we?
• We face our impossible missions.

But Jesus has always told us
Where the power to pull down a mountain comes from.
Matthew 17:20 “And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

It doesn’t take strength to move a mountain, what does it take? FAITH

God pulls down mountains by the power of His Spirit.
We cannot overemphasize the importance of the Spirit of God,
He is the One who makes impossible missions possible.

AND THIS IS A LESSON WE HAD ALL BETTER LEARN.
• You can’t be the spouse you need to be by your own power…
• You can’t be the parent you need to be by your own power…
• You can’t be the employee you need to be by your own power…
• You can’t be the Christian you need to be by your own power…

Everything must be done in the power of God’s Spirit.

That is what Jesus meant in John 15 when He told us to “abide in Him”
Saying “apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

And that is what God just told Zechariah to go tell Zerubbabel.

But that is not all that God has to say.
(8-9) “Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.”

This part of the message was not for Zerubbabel, this was for Zechariah.

It is apparent that Zechariah, along with his discouragement,
Was having a few doubts.
He was doubting whether or not he had heard God correctly.

REMEMBER these refugees had already stopped building once.
• It was Haggai and Zechariah’s preaching that caused them to start again.

Ezra 5:1-2 “When the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them, then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them supporting them.”

Zechariah was largely responsible for spearheading this project.
When things are hard who do you suppose they questioned?
When they hit snags who do you suppose they looked cross-eyed at?

IT IS THE PAIN OF LEADERSHIP.
• People will follow a leader, but you had better know he is also the very first person they’ll blame when things get tough.

Don’t think for a second that Zechariah wasn’t carrying a huge burden.
His life and reputation and ministry
Depended on the success of this project.

And what if…he had not heard God correctly?
I promise you at times Zechariah questioned the whole situation.

That is easy to do.
• When you hear from God and you move forward
• And then it seems like nothing is going according to plan,
• You can sure wonder if you really heard from God or not.

And so God has a little confirmation for him.
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”

You may remember when God called Moses to go back to Pharaoh and lead his people out, Moses was a little apprehensive.

God had proof for him.
Exodus 3:12 “And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

It was a confirmation after the fact.

That is the same type of thing God does here for Zechariah.
I am the one speaking to you.
You just trust Me, and when it is done, you’ll know it was me.

That is what God is doing for Zechariah.

And yet God has one more thing to tell him.
(10) “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel — these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth.”

And here we find another reason Zechariah was a little discouraged.

He was preaching to get the temple rebuilt,
But not only was their opposition from outside Israel,
But there was also scorn from within Israel.
In fact Ezra tells us that the people alive now who had seen Solomon’s temple
Were weeping over had pathetic this one was.

Ezra 3:12 “Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy,”

Haggai also recognized their scorn.
Haggai 2:1-9 “On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? ‘But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘ Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.”

Haggai heard their scorn as well, but promised this temple would have more glory than Solomon’s. It did too – Jesus would preach in this temple.

But that is the scorn Zechariah has faced.
To many of the people this was “the day of small things”

And so even the negative and skeptics inside Jerusalem
Were discouraging this mission.

And it is apparent that their mocking had gotten to Zechariah too.
He was listening to the grumblers who mocked his mission.

But God said, “For who has despised the day of small things?”

That is to say, “Who do they think they are?”
Furthermore, “Why does their opinion matter?”

They may despise this mission, “But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel – these are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth.”

God tells Zechariah that there may be some
Who despise what you are doing, but not God, He is glad.

And really, if God is pleased with the mission
Does it matter what anyone else thinks?

And that is the Divine reminder that God gives here to Zechariah.

Zechariah was discouraged because he didn’t know how this mission would ever be accomplished, God said it will be by My Spirit.

Zechariah was discouraged because he wasn’t sure he had heard God correctly, God said, when the mission is accomplished you’ll know for sure.

Zechariah was discouraged because there were some who opposed his mission, God said, don’t fret them, this mission makes me glad.

YOU MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN, BUT GOD REMEMBERS

God can do it. God will do it. And God will be pleased with it.

A Discouraged Prophet, A Difficult Vision, A Divine Reminder
#4 A DIRECT EXPLANATION
Zechariah 4:11-14

Zechariah still hasn’t forgotten about those two trees.

Now, the angel did answer, Zechariah just didn’t understand the answer.

(11) “Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?”

But apparently the Angel thinks he should know by now
And doesn’t answer.

(12) “And I answered the second time and said to him, “What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?”

Again he asks, who are these branches that carry the oil?

And the angel almost seems surprised that he doesn’t know still.
(13) “So he answered me, saying, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

It’s almost like the angel said, “You still don’t know?”

(14) “Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”

These two branches that let oil flow through them to the bowl that supplies the candle, these are the “two anointed ones”

These are two selected, spirit-filled men that God has chosen.

They are also faithful men for they “are standing by the Lord”

They are Zerubbabel and Joshua.
They are men that God has filled with His Spirit.
They are men that are faithful to God to fulfill His word.

And here then is the point.
• You have a lamp that must shine, but in order to do so it needs oil.
• You have a source of oil in the tree,
• But notice that the oil is flowing through these two branches, namely
Zerubbabel and Joshua.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

God is accomplishing His purpose, by His Spirit,
But He is doing it through His people.

The fact we are reminded of?
God uses His people.

His people can’t do it on their own,
Their own power and strength won’t cut it.

But when God’s people are filled with God’s Spirit and are faithful to God, He can move mountains through them.

SO…
• God has remembered His people
• God has remembered His promises
• God has remembered His city and His temple
And God is working to accomplish it.

The real point?
You need to remember.
• Remember that God is faithful, don’t get discouraged
• Remember that God is faithful, don’t be put off by difficulty
• Remember that God is faithful, don’t think you walk alone
• Remember that God is faithful, and thus abide in Him

He knows what He is doing in your life
Even if the circumstances you are in have caused you to question that,
And He is faithful to do what He says.

Now after reading all of this, let me ask you:
Who was rebuilding this temple?
God was – He was doing it behind the scenes by His Spirit.
(Don’t you love when you see God move like this!!!)

1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

Sealed For A Purpose
Revelation 7:1-8
October 9, 2016

Last week we started looking at this text regarding the 144,000.
Actually to say we started might be a little of a stretch.
Let’s say we intended to start.

But hopefully you are aware of the issue and purpose of the chapter now.

The Lord Jesus Christ, in response to the cry of the martyrs,
Has begun to unleash His active wrath onto the world.

When that sixth seal was broken
It became clear that the Lord was now in the business
Of unleashing His personal holy fury on the sinful world.

At one point even ripping back the sky
That those on earth might see Him on the throne and know that
All of these catastrophes were the direct result of His wrath.

And when this happened a universal cry rose from the earth.
Revelation 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

AND THIS WAS THE QUESTION WE DEALT WITH LAST WEEK.
• We can easily say that those who are able to stand are those whom God causes to stand.

• And God causes sinners to be able to stand before Him through the work of Christ and the preaching of the gospel.

That is the answer.
And that is also the point of the Revelation 7.

When sinners ask at the end of chapter 6 “who is able to stand?”
God immediately reveals a chapter to answer that very question.

REVELATION 7 IS MEANT TO SHOW US WHO IS ABLE TO STAND.
So let’s take a brief break from the chronological flow of the events of the tribulation in order to answer this very important question.

Two main things we see
#1 THE SEALING OF SLAVES
Revelation 17:1-8

God is answering the question regarding who can stand.
And the first thing He reveals is that He has purposely sealed
A specific group of bond-servants (slaves) for this task.

Let’s work our way through it, and there a few things I want you to see.
1) THE PLAN OF DESTRUCTION (1)
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.”

This verse is actually following along in the chronological flow of
The judgments regarding the tribulation.

When that sixth seal opened we saw a great shaking in which
• The sun turned black,
• The moon turned to blood,
• The mountains and islands disappeared,
• Stars fell to the earth,
• And the sky split apart.

But those were NOT the final judgments Christ has prepared for the world.
There is more.

This scroll is sealed up with 7 seals not 6,
Which means there is still one more seal to open.

And what we find in verse 1 is “four angels”
Who are preparing themselves for the judgments of this 7th seal.

They are “standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.”

To help you understand what is happening here,
You need to understand THE REFERENCE TO WIND that is used.

Often times in Scripture wind is a picture of judgment.
Jeremiah 49:36 “I will bring upon Elam the four winds From the four ends of heaven, And will scatter them to all these winds; And there will be no nation To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.”

Daniel 7:2-3 “Daniel said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. “And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.”

Hosea 13:15 “Though he flourishes among the reeds, An east wind will come, The wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; And his fountain will become dry And his spring will be dried up; It will plunder his treasury of every precious article.”

Wind isn’t the only analogy used for judgment, but it is one that God uses.
And that seems to be the picture here.

These angels have a specific duty and that duty is
To restrain this particular judgment which is designed
To afflict the earth, the sea, and the trees.

Their job is to restrain that judgment
Until the time which the Lord has determined.

The point then is that there is a definite plan of judgment in the works.
• A judgment which will afflict the earth, the sea, and the trees.
• And it is a judgment which is currently being restrained.

Incidentally when this 7th seal is eventually opened it will usher in 7 trumpet judgments and they are very much focused on the destruction of these things.
• The first trumpet burns 1/3 of the earth (8:7)
• The second trumpet turns 1/3 of the sea to blood (8:8)
• The third trumpet turns 1/3 of the fresh water bitter (8:10)

It seems then that these are the judgments which are determined,
But which these four angels are currently restraining them.

SO THE PICTURE IS CLEAR.
The Lord has just unleashed fury on the earth with that great shaking
And He is about to unleash more fury upon the earth, sea, and trees.

There is a plan of destruction in place.
2) THE PAUSE OF THE PLAN (2-3)
“And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

As these angels are preparing to unleash this next wave of judgments,
Another angel comes flying in and tells them to wait.

There is something that must be done
BEFORE these judgments are poured out.
“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

We need talk about this just a little to understand what is going on here.

“seal” is SPHRAGIS
And it literally referred to a signet ring.

In those days you wrote a decree, you dripped wax on it
And then you sealed it with the imprint of the ring.

That ring came to denote ownership or authority and also protection.

Let me give you a few examples of what the word means.

John 3:33 “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.”

Obviously there it takes on the connotation of
One who endorses something.

John says that if you receive the testimony are saying that God is true.
You are endorsing God.
You have “set your seal” to that fact.

This would also seem to be the point in:
John 6:27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

There again the indicator is that God has made
A public declaration or endorsement of Christ.
To put your seal on something was to say it is true.

Romans 15:28 “Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.”

There again, the same thing.
It is almost like when a notary public places that stamp on a document.
They are sealing it, endorsing it, verifying that it is true.

But that is not all it means.
It is also a means of SECURITY.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

God is making us secure and proving that by giving us the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,”

Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

So we are seeing that the seal of God
Was for the purpose of endorsing and protecting.

It indicated those who are the Lord’s
And it protected them from some specific harm.

ARE THERE ANY INDICATIONS OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING IN SCRIPTURE ANYWHERE ELSE?

If we had time we could go and read Ezekiel 8 & 9.
• Ezekiel 8 outlines the horrific wickedness of Israel,
• Ezekiel 9 outlines the just wrath that will be poured out upon it.

But in giving the orders to those who will be the literal hand of judgment God first gives an order.

Ezekiel 9:4-6 “The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. “Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.”

The Lord commanded to mark or seal those who were his.
(You knew they were his because they hated the sin in their midst)
And those who were sealed were off limits from the judgment.

Remember in the Egypt, before that final plague of the death angel, what were the children of Israel to do?

Exodus 12:22-23 “You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. “For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.”

That blood was a seal.
It depicted the approval of God and a protection from judgment.

Remember the conquest when Joshua went to conquer Jericho, there was a woman there named Rahab who had aided the spies.

Joshua 2:17-19 “The men said to her, “We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, 1unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household. “It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.”

That scarlet thread was the seal that identified Rahab and protected her.

So we’re clear then what is happening here.
Before judgment comes, God wants these bond-servants to be sealed.
He wants them identified and protected.

If you are curious what the seal depicts or looks like:
Revelation 14:1 “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.”

The seal is the name of Christ and God.

And this makes sense for we remember what the Lord told the church at Philadelphia:
Revelation 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”

It is a sign of God’s ownership, God’s approval,
And also of divine protection which would make them
Off limits from the coming judgments.

And we know this is true, for by the time we get to Revelation 14 which is a preview of the second coming we find that all 144,000 are still there standing with the Lord.

Revelation 9:1-5 “Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.”

They are sealed, they are protected, and neither the judgments of God, nor the persecution of Satan is able to touch them.

(Incidentally it is this seal that Satan will mimic as he will seek to enforce his own seal on humanity which you know as the mark of the beast)

Now we should make the distinction that this particular seal
WILL NOT BE for all believers in the tribulation.

Not every believer is off limits from the destructions that come.
• Certainly many will die as a result of the wars and famines and earthquakes .
• Certainly many will die at the hands of the antichrist and Satan.
• That is made clear because we have so many martyrs below the altar.

This seal then is not an indicator simply of salvation
(or all believers would have it)
This seal is an indicator of a specific ministry.
THESE ARE SEALED FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL

So we see that there is a plan of destruction in place,
But the Lord has chosen to pause that plan until He can seal His bond-servants.
3) THE PROTECTION OF SLAVES (4-8)

Here we find that it is important to the Lord
That you know who these are who are being sealed.

The most obvious answer we see is that they are 144,000 Jews.
• This is not the church.
• The church is not Israel.
• Israel is not the church.
• These are 144,000 Jews.

What is extremely remarkable here is that they are divided up by tribe.
• That is remarkable because Jews have absolutely no tribal records today.
• After the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple in AD 70
Israel lost all of that information.
• There is not a Jew alive who has a clue what tribe they are from.
• But God obviously knows and by His own sovereign decree He seals 12,000
from each of these tribes.

That is pretty remarkable.
This is sovereign election at it’s finest

Now also if you are one of those keen students
• You probably noticed that Dan is omitted.
• You may have also noticed that instead of Ephraim the tribe is listed as
Joseph,
• While Manasseh the other son of Joseph is listed.

Many have questioned and wondered at this,
And there is not a clear answer given.

Most assume that since the tribe of Dan was so closely associated with idolatry
That they disqualified themselves from this service,
But that is nothing more than a guess.

What is true is that in Ezekiel 48 the tribe of Dan is listed among the registry of those in the millennium so we know God is in the business of saving them.

In short, we don’t really know why Dan is omitted,
But we again chalk this up to God’s sovereign prerogative.
He is sealing a specific 144,000 from these 12 tribes.
He is marking them as His special ministers on the earth.

But aside from the being 144,000 Jews
I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE MORE ABOUT WHO THEY ARE.

Back in verse 3 it was made clear that first and foremost they are “the bond-servants of our God”

“bond-servants” is DOULOS
At that was literally a slave.
Exodus 21:2-6 “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. “If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. “If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

This was a person who became a willing slave of his master.

Incidentally, this was the PREFERRED TITLE OF THE APOSTLES
When referring to themselves.

The term “Christian” was a derogatory term which was given to them as a term of derision by a non-believing world and certainly became a badge of honor.

However, the apostles referred to themselves as
“bond-servants of the Lord” or “slaves of the Lord”

THAT IS WHAT A CHRISTIAN IS.
In fact, if you are not a slave of the Lord
Then Scriptures says you are a slave of sin.

There is no notion of being a Christian who is not in total submission to Christ.
THAT IS WHAT WE CALL A FALSE-BELIEVER.

That is one like whom Paul described to Titus
Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

These 144,000 are called “bond-servants”
So we know that MUST ALREADY BE BELIEVERS in Jesus Christ.

Now this is interesting as well,
Because we have to wonder WHEN THEY WERE SAVED.

They clearly were not saved before the rapture
Or else they’d be with the church in heaven.

I think a key phrase regarding this group is found in Revelation 14.
Revelation 14:4 “These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.”

There we learn that these 144,000 are the “first fruits to God”
Obviously they are the first fruits of the nation of Israel.
Perhaps you remember Paul’s letter to the Romans
And that famous section regarding Israel found in chapters 9-11.

Romans 11:11 “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.”

And later:
Romans 11:25 “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
Romans 11:28-29 “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.”

It would stand to reason then that immediately following the rapture,
There will be Jews who having heard the gospel previously
And will turn to Jesus Christ after the fact.

• Perhaps it is the abomination of desolation that Jesus spoke of.
• Perhaps it is simply due to the difficult events of famine and sickness and
death

But the real reason is because God has ordained to save them.
• These 144,000 will be the first.
• They will lead the way.
• They are those who have been “purchased” and are “first fruits”

They are the beginning picture of the harvest that is coming.
Obviously they had heard the gospel before the church was removed,
For no one is saved apart from it, but it is clear that now they have believed the gospel
And become bond-servants of Christ.

And God has taken these sovereign chosen believing Jews
And sealed them for His own purpose.
They are Jews
They are believers in Christ
And now they are sealed for a purpose

We would ask: WHAT PURPOSE?
Well if you want to fast-forward a little we can read about them again at the end of the tribulation.

Revelation 14:1-5 “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.”

• Revelation 7 marks the beginning of their ministry.
• Revelation 14 marks the end.

And let me tell you what is unmistakably clear:
THEY HAD ABSOLUTELY NO CONFUSION
REGARDING WHY THEY HAD BEEN SAVED AND SEALED.

THEY KNEW THEIR PURPOSE.

Some very interesting facts about them.

They “have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste.”

• Indicating their absolute moral purity and unwillingness to succumb to the temptations of the flesh.
• Their lives stood in absolute contrast to the sin of the culture.

“These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”

• It speaks of their devotion to Christ.
• They don’t in fear, they don’t back down from the mission.
• When they sing “Wherever He leads I’ll go” they mean it.

“No lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless”

• These are truth speakers.
• They aren’t false prophets, they aren’t false teachers.
• They proclaim truth and they do it above reproach.

And the indication here is that
They were used of the Lord in a tremendous ministry.

And the effects of that ministry will be seen next week
• As we examine the unnumbered multitude of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue standing around the throne of God having been saved out of the great tribulation.

The Lord set these apart for the purpose of preaching the gospel,
And the end of the chapter makes it clear that they did their job.

They preached and multitudes of people were saved.
They preached and multitudes were “standing before the throne” as a result.

And that is THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION of chapter 6..
• You find yourself under the wrath of God…
• You find yourself facing eternal destruction…
You wonder what is necessary to make it possible to stand before God?
And the first answer that would be given to this sinful culture is this:
• Do you see those people who claim to be slaves of Jesus Christ?
• Do you see those people with the name of Jesus written on their foreheads?
• Do you see those people who don’t crave sexual immorality like everyone
else?
• Do you see those people don’t lie but speak the truth to you?
• Do you see those people who live above reproach?
• Do you see those people who only seem to care about what Jesus wants?

If you want to stand before God you’d better listen to what they’re saying.
They are telling you how to stand.

And we will find at the end of the chapter that many will listen.
Multitudes will be saved as a result.

Now obviously we are not yet living in that day.
• These who will be the 144,000 have yet to be saved (they may not even be born yet) and obviously they have yet to be sealed or to begin their ministry.

But that DOES NOT MEAN that
There is nothing that the church can learn from this.

In fact, again I remind you that the book of the Revelation
Was specifically written for the bond-servants of Christ.

“What are we supposed to learn from looking at these 144,000?”
• You are supposed to see what God is looking for in a bond-servant.
• You are supposed to see what type of person God seeks to use as He
calls His elect to Himself.

You see what they look like in the middle of their ministry.
You see what you should look like in the middle of yours.

We are also those who claim to be slaves of Christ.
We call him Lord, we say He is in control.

We are also those who are sealed.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

Ephesians 1:13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,”

Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

No, that doesn’t mean that nothing bad is allowed to happen to us on this earth.
But it does mean that regardless of what happens on this earth
NOTHING CAN STEAL OUR ETERNAL INHERITANCE.

And the Lord gives us that security
For the same reason He gave the 144,000 security.

SO WE CAN SERVE HIM RELENTLESSLY WITHOUT FEAR
OF LOSING OUR INHERITANCE.

2 Timothy 1:8-14 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

God sealed the 144,000 for ministry
And they took that security and used it to be faithful.

Wouldn’t it be something if everyone who claimed to be a Christian would do the same?
• If they would keep themselves from defilement through sexual immorality?
• If they would follow the Lamb wherever He goes?
• If they would speak only the truth in all things?
• If they would walk blameless on the earth?

Wouldn’t it be amazing if those who claimed Christ actually lived different from the world and designated themselves for the purpose of being used by God for His purpose of salvation?

And yet you know it and I know it…
The average “Christian” today is seemingly unconcerned.

I personally think the 144,000 should stand as
A tremendous source of conviction to the church
Because they will be what the church should be.

I don’t see how we can adopt any other mindset than the one they had.
• They knew why they had been saved.
• They knew why they had been sealed.
• They knew why they were there.

And they were faithful to that task.
They are a tremendous example to the church.

Do you understand why you are here?
Do you understand your obligation to the glory of God?
Do you understand your calling as a witness of Jesus?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Satan is opposing the entire work of atonement.

And of course this does not surprise us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TURN TO: ROMANS 8:28-39

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namely because “the LORD has chosen Jerusalem”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it gets even better.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those are the high priestly garments.

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

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

Joshua Accused Joshua Atoned
3) JOSHUA ADMONISHED (7)

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

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

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

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

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

That is good news.
God is willing to forgive.

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

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

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

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

“indeed they are men who are a symbol”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“on one stone are seven eyes.”

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

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

God is focusing on the rebuilding of this temple.

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

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

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

There is a future Day of Atonement coming for you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is good news!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THAT IS ENCOURAGING.

Now do you want to hear the bad news?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So: WHO IS ABLE TO STAND BEFORE GOD?

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

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

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

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

THAT REALITY HAS RATTLED MORE THAN ONE PERSON.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sinful man just cannot stand before a Holy God.

Or look at those who did actually enter His presence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is what he is doing here.

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

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

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

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

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

It is impossible so far as man is concerned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This we know.

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

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

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

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

FIRST: The work of Christ is absolutely necessary.

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

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

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

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

HE THEN DIED UPON A CROSS.

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

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

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

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

AND WE STRESS THE NECESSITY OF THIS AGAIN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NO ONE STANDS BEFORE GOD APART FROM BELIEVING THE GOSPEL

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

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

SO WE ARE CLEAR WITH THIS RIGHT?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE SOLUTION TO THAT PROBLEM IS SEEN IN REV. 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They will come flocking back to Christ.
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And we’ll start looking at that next week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We talked about a time of UNCERTAINTY and anxiety.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So let’s look at our text tonight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now God is going to deal with those nations.

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

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

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

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

But we don’t know who they specifically are.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is a fact and it is a just fact.

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

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

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

Zechariah sees his 3rd vision.
(1-2) “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.”

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

God is here marking what is His.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is a very comforting reality for Israel to grasp.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Make sense?

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

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

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

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

WHAT HAPPENED?
Israel got comfortable in Babylon.

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

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

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

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

Between Israel and Babylon which nation was actually safe?
Israel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why would you be sad about that?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just stay calm and comfortable until judgment springs upon you.

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

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

Who do you think is blessed there?

What do you think those in Babylon should do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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