Hello and welcome to our program. Today's study brings us into Zechariah chapter 9. I hope you can have your Bible ready. In Zechariah, the first six chapters took place in the second year of Darius and contain Zechariah's eight night visions. Then in chapter seven through eight, that took place two years later, and records the prophet's answers to a delegation from Bethel concerning some Jewish fasts and rituals that they were going through. Now, from chapter 9 through to 14 actually makes up about one-third of the portion of this book. It's about 40 to 50 years after they had begun. The temple has now been completed. Zachariah is now an old man and Israel is still weak and vulnerable under the domination of their enemies. Nehemiah had at this time not yet returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They were concerned about their very aggressive and not so friendly neighbors that surrounded them. The people were concerned about the situation that they were living in at that time and concerned about what if these people attack, will they tear down the temple? Will they invade us and carry us off captive again? They feared what the future might hold for their families and for their country. And to these people, Zechariah delivers the messages that we have from chapter 9 through 14, which gives many prophecies concerning Israel's future. Verses one through four, we have a list of five different cities that, as I said, were powerful and not very friendly toward Israel that surrounded them, two of which were Tyre and Sidon. Tyre was a very wealthy, strong city fortified with a navy, and it says here they did build herself a stronghold and heaped up silver as the dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets. verse number three nehemiah's prophecy concerning that problem was verse four behold the lord will cast her out and will smite her power in the sea and she shall be devoured with fire Verses 5 through 7 name several other cities that Israel would be concerned about, and in 8 we read that God said, I will encampus about mine house because of an army, because of him that passes by, and because of him that returneth, and no oppressor shall pass through them anymore, for now I have seen with mine eye." The prophecy that Zechariah was referring to is found in history concerning Alexander the Great in 334 BC when he was about 21 years old. He set out with an army of 35,000 men. He defeated Darius and defeated Damascus, but Tyre was a proud and a mighty city. They had already withstood a five-year siege by the Assyrians and a 13-year siege by Nebuchadnezzar, so they were not concerned about this guy named Alexander. Tyre was a mighty city that was situated on an island about 700 yards off the coast where the original city had once been. Tyre had a double 150-foot high wall around it, and so it was a very powerful city, a very wealthy city. They had a strong navy. They were not concerned about Alexander. In chapter 9, verse number 3, we read Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the myrrh of the streets. So Zachariah's prediction of Tyrus' downfall was probably looked at as something worse than ridiculous. We also find that Tyre was very corrupt, so corrupt that God used it as an example in Ezekiel 28 verses 11 to 29, when Satan rebelled against God. God did use Alexander to bring Tyre down. We read it took him seven months, during which time his army took the rubble from the original city and built a causeway to the island. Now we read about that, it's prophesied in Ezekiel 26, verse 12 to 14, it says, and they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise, and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses, and they shall lay thy stones, and thy timbers, and the dust in the midst of the water. and i will cause the noise of thy songs to cease and the sounds of thy harp shall be heard no more and i will make thee like the top of a rock thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon thou shalt be no more for i the lord have spoken it saith the lord god ezekiel 26 gives a detailed description of what would happen we read there in verses 7 and 8 that king nebuchadnezzar of babylon would destroy the main city of Tyre, which was on the mainland, and that many nations would rise up against Tyre, and these nations would come like waves of the sea, one after another, verse three and four. That Tyre would be made to look like a flat rock, chapter 26, verse four and verse 14, and that fishermen would dry their nets there, 26, five and verse 14, that the rubble of the original city would be cast into the sea, 26 and 12, and that Tyre would never be rebuilt, verse 14. Well, not long after the prophecy given by Ezekiel, Nebuchadnezzar did exactly what had been predicted. He laid siege on the city in 585 BC. For 13 years Nebuchadnezzar cut off the flow of supplies to the city and in 537 BC he finally succeeded in breaking the gates down but he found the city was almost empty. During the 13-year siege the people of Tyre moved all their possessions by ship to an island one and a half miles offshore. So Nebuchadnezzar gained no real plunder and you can see that in Ezekiel chapter 29 verses 17 through 20. Although he destroyed the mainland city, as Ezekiel 26, 8 said he would, the new city offshore continued to flourish for over 250 years. The prophecy of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 26 and 12, they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and the dust in the midst of the water, at that point remained unfulfilled. Well, then Alexander the Great comes on the scene, and he is only 21 years old, and he is conquering the known world with an army of between 35,000 and 40,000 men. Having defeated the Persians, Alexander was on the march toward Egypt, and he arrived in the Phoenician territory and demanded that the cities open their gates to him. Well, the cities of Tyre refused, feeling they were secure in their island with their superior fleet. Alexander the Great, realizing he did not have a fleet that could match that of Tyre, he decided to build a causeway to the island using the ruins from the mainland city. It was about 200 feet wide and the prophet said that the city would be thrown into the water and that is exactly what happened here. The larger part of this site is now as bare as the top of a rock, a place where the fishermen still frequently put their nets out to dry. That fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel 26 verses 4 through 5 and also verse 14. God said the mainland city would never be rebuilt and it never has. Jerusalem has been rebuilt many times, but Tyre will never be rebuilt because the prophet in Babylon, 25 centuries ago, said, thou shalt be built no more. And so we see God's Word is reliable. There's hundreds of prophecies like this in the Bible that came true exactly as God said they would. Ezekiel 26 14 says and I will make thee like the top of a rock thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon thou shalt be built no more for I am the Lord I have spoken it saith the Lord God Well, we said as we began this message that God's people at this time were concerned about the circumstances. Zechariah was now an old man. Israel was still very weak and vulnerable to all these foreigners that were going to come in, none of which were friendly towards Israel. They had many, many aggressive neighbors surrounding them. and especially some of these bigger ones, like that of Alexander the Great. So they were concerned, they had good reason to be concerned, unless they trust God, and so God sent Zachariah to encourage them, and he said this in verse number nine, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold thy king cometh upon thee he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an ass and the colt of an ass well between verse 9 and verse 10 there's the 2 000 year history of the local church you know that verse is referring to when jesus wrote into Jerusalem on what we call the triumphal entry. And so, Zechariah is saying, look at the bigger picture. Rejoice and shout in triumph. you