Good evening, everybody. It's good to be with you again. Today we're going to be looking at a book of the Bible, just one passage from a book of the Bible, the book of Zechariah. If you have your Bibles, it would be on page 951. We'll be looking at chapter 14, 6 through 11. Zechariah is a very interesting book. It's given to the, it's called the post-exilic community. That is the people after the exile, after the Babylonian exile, they return back to their land. And Zechariah was one of the prophets ministering to the people in that post-exilic community. And there was a great sense, even as the people returned from exile, even as their hopes and prayers were answered by them being allowed to return, or at least the percentage of them returning, There was still the real sense that God's promises had not been fulfilled. The Messiah had not yet come. The covenant had not yet been renewed. The temple, although it was rebuilt, it was not quite as glorious even as the first temple. So there was still a real expectation for the Messiah to come. and bring in the age which they long for so much, the age of new creation. And this is what Zechariah talks about in verses six through 11 of chapter 14. He talks about, with pictures, with symbols, and with powerful words, he talks about this new creation of God, and that will be our topic for today. So let's read together, Zechariah 14, six through 11. On that day, and that's an important phrase, on that day, it means on the day that God does what he promised he would do on the day of new creation, there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord neither day nor night, but at evening time, there shall be light. On that day, living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the Eastern Sea, half of them to the Western Sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day, the Lord will be one and his name one. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimen, south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses. and it shall be inhabited, for they shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for these powerful, important, moving words that talk about your new creation, and as we look at them today together, we pray that you would bless us, give us wisdom, give us understanding, give us hope for the new creation. For we pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus, amen. When I was about 11 years old, my parents moved and all of us moved with them. We lived in an old farmhouse, and it was a very big house, but it was also very old. And as some of you might know what that means, it means a whole lot of maintenance. But not only that, it was quite dangerous. There were exposed wires in the basement, which we didn't even know about. I remember my brother and I were playing with it once. He threw a pair randomly and exposed one of these exposed wires. Thankfully, it's a major fire hazard. But I remember right before we moved, my parents had the opportunity to see and to look at the house. We weren't with them at the time. And they came home. And they told us in advance how amazing this new house was. You're going to love this house, they said. It has five bedrooms, which is important when you're a family of nine. You've got to have some bedrooms there. The yard is huge, another really important thing when there are five boys. It's a great neighborhood. You can ride your bike on the street. It's not a busy road like the last house. You're going to love this house. It has a garage. And they kept explaining in detail, in advance, all of the features of this new house. And indeed, they were correct. It was definitely an upgrade. Here what we read in Zechariah 14 is a picture of new creation given to God's people in advance. As I said, the people had returned back from exile. They had received in measure fulfillment of God's promise. Jeremiah had promised that the exile would be 70 years. And God was true to his promise through the prophet Jeremiah. And he brought back the people in 70 years. But the people recognized that this wasn't the final fulfillment. They were still waiting. They were still expecting. They were still longing for the coming of new creation. And so Zechariah in these verses gives them five characteristics of this new creation in advance. And he gives them to us as well. Because even though we live on this side of the death and resurrection of Christ, we still long for new creation. New creation has begun with the resurrection of Christ and has begun in our own hearts. But we still long for that day pictured in Revelation 21 and 22, when we see a new heavens and a new earth with God's people. in it and God dwelling with us. So Zechariah gives us five characteristics of this new creation and today we're going to go over them together. The first characteristic is, it is full of life which flows from God. The second characteristic is, in it, that is in the new creation, our God will be recognized as the only king. The third characteristic of new creation is that in it, our God will be recognized not only as the only king, but as the only God. Fourth characteristic, God will fill the whole world with his glory. And finally, the fifth characteristic, God will utterly wipe out the curse caused by sin. There are some beautiful, characteristics, features of this new creation which the prophet gives us in advance. And let's go to the first one now. It is full of the life which flows from God himself. But before we get into that particular point, we need to know that we're talking about new creation. And Zechariah never says that he's actually talking about new creation here, but he gives us a really good indication in the first two verses that I read, verses six and seven. He says, on that day, there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time, there shall be light. Now, what is he talking about? It just seems very odd, very strange. A unique day, neither day nor night. Why does he say this? What's he reminding us of here? Of course, he's reminding us of the very first chapter of the Bible. When God creates the world, what do we see? We see a bit of a chaotic mess at first, right? When God created the world, it is formless and void. There is no light, there is no shape, there is no order, and then the rest of the creation is bringing that sort of chaotic, formless mass into order. And it's interesting, the very first thing that God says, the very first recorded words of God are let there be light. And this is why at the end of verse seven, when we read, but at evening time there shall be light, we should be reminded of that very first chapter of Genesis. Before that, you have a chaotic, very undefined sort of time. It's neither night nor day. There's no frost. There's nothing by which you could tell what time it is. It is chaos. It is formless. But all of a sudden, at evening time, this is interesting. It's coming right from God, because it's coming at evening. At evening time, there is light. Zechariah wants us to say that just as God created the world, he's going to recreate the world. He's going to renew the world. New heavens and new earth. This is what this is talking about. It's talking about how God is going to bring about new creation. Zechariah doesn't say it outright, but he signals it to us very clearly. The old creation started with a chaotic formless mass, which God pronounces into that, let there be light, and brings order into it. The new creation starts the same way. God says, let there be light, and new creation happens. So we know he's talking about the new creation. What is the first characteristic of this new creation? We see it in verse eight. It's talking about God's own life. On that day, living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the Eastern Sea and half of them to the Western Sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. Now two important characteristics of this verse come to mind right now. The first one is this last phrase. It shall continue in summer as in winter. Now it's very difficult for us to imagine this, but what he's talking about here is that in summer, normally there aren't really any flowing rivers. Rivers are very much in that part of the world, are very low at that time, if at all. Sometimes they completely dry up. We know this in living in Cyprus. It does not rain. You'll barely see a cloud from May all the way to October. Now, this is very difficult for us to believe, and I know I find it very difficult, that there's actually a water shortage right now in Cyprus, which we were talking to a friend yesterday from Cyprus we need to pray for, because there just hasn't been any rain. And especially during that summertime, as they look forward to this time coming up when there is no rain, they know from May all the way to October, there is no rain, there are no flowing rivers. But here, what do we see? It shall continue in summer as in winter. Winter is the wet season. Winter is the time when all the rivers flow. It'll be the same in summer. This is no ordinary flow of the river. This is talking about something more deep, more powerful. So what is he talking about? The key is in the first half of the verse. On that day, living water shall flow out from Jerusalem. Now here, Zechariah is looking back to an earlier prophecy from Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 47, verses 1 through 12, what we read about is a new temple. And that temple ultimately symbolizes God's presence with his people. And in that new temple, waters flow from it. and they continually flow from it. There is no stoppage. And those waters represent God's own very life being poured out to the people, giving them new life. This is what new creation will be like. God will be with us. The tabernacle of God will be with humans. And his very life will give us new life. And we see this already fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. He himself says in John chapter seven, verses 37 through 39, that he is the one ultimately that provides this living water. This is what he says. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And Jesus then is referring back to that passage in Ezekiel. And then John gives us the editorial remark that he was talking about the spirit, God himself, indwelling us, giving us new life. This is what new creation is. It's God dwelling with us, giving us new and eternal life. And it will flow, not just in Jerusalem, but all over the new creation. There is no temple in the new creation because God himself is present. He is there giving life to all who believe. If we really want true life, if we are looking for the life that so easily escapes us here as we live in a world that is surrounded by sin and death, we must go to the one who gave his life for us, the one whose blood poured out like water the one who died for us, the one who is God in person, giving his life for the world. Trust in him, and you will take your inheritance in the new creation, because God's very life is what sustains it and sustains us. Secondly, second characteristic of the new creation, in it, our God will be recognized as the only king. Here we see in verse nine, we're looking at the first part now, and the Lord will be over all the earth. This was an amazing statement to the people. We don't really, we read it once and we don't think twice. Obviously God is the God of the whole earth, but we don't have the pagan mentality anymore, thankfully. But it's hard for us to understand just how revolutionary and how incredible the statement is. In the pagan mindset, every land had its own territorial deity. We see this in the story of Naaman the leper. I don't know if you remember the story of Naaman the leper from the book, I believe it's in Second Kings, or maybe it's in, I think it's in Second Kings, yes. He is obviously a leper, and he hears that there's a prophet in Israel. So he goes down there and after being cajoled a little by his own servants, he accepts what the prophet says to him to be healed. He bathes in the river and he is healed. Great story. But there's a little tidbit there in that story that helps us to understand the sort of pagan mentality when it comes to gods being over all the earth. Now Naaman obviously wants to worship now the God who healed him. So he asks the prophet if he can dig up two bags of dirt to take with him. Now we think, why does he want dirt? Can't he just worship God wherever? Well, no, not in his mindset. In his mindset, you can only worship the God of Israel in Israel. So he wanted to take a little bit of Israel with him so that he can worship the God of Israel. This is the pagan mindset. There is no God that's over all the earth. There is no Lord of the world. There is no king in all the earth. But now, this is what we read. The Lord will be king over all the earth. No emperor ever achieved that. Alexander tried, but he failed ultimately. Julius Caesar tried, and he failed. We have modern empires trying to, but they will fail. There is only one king who is over all the earth, and that is God. How do we know this? Because God became flesh. God submitted himself, our Lord, who in the very form of God did not consider equality with God something to take advantage of, but made himself nothing, being found in the form of a servant. He submitted himself to death, even death on a cross. And then the Apostle Paul gives us one of the most important words in all of the scripture. It's a little three-letter word in Greek, therefore. Therefore, because of his submission to death, because of his obedience to the plan of his father to the end, our Lord and our God became king of all the earth. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. And we see this happening not just from the poem of the Apostle Paul, but also right before Jesus ascends to heaven, he tells his disciples that all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Do you understand the connection? There is one king and he sends out his emissaries to the world telling them, submit to this one king. And this will be fulfilled finally in new creation. The world will recognize that Christ is King. Christ is King right now. He is seated at the right hand of God. He is reigning and ruling over all, but the world does not recognize it. At least many in the world do not recognize it. On that day, on the day of new creation, Christ will be recognized as the world's true King. There will be one King over all the world. And that's great news for us because we serve that one King. We serve the King who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The great Emperor Cyrus took for himself the name King of Kings. But there's really only one King of Kings, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God, and who will return with power and glory to reign and to rule over all. He is the one King, and on that day, it will be recognized. Let us serve him now. The world is telling us in so many ways That what matters is not the king who's seated at the right hand of God in heaven, but the kings of this earth. The world tells us if this person would just be king or president or whatever title that person wants to take, the world would be made right. But we know better. There is only one king. And no matter who is seated on the throne in earth, the king in heaven reigns and rules over all. Let us put our trust in him, not in the earthly rulers. Yes, let us be involved in that process, and it's important that we are. But let us never forget, it doesn't matter if this king or that earthly king is sitting on the throne. There is one king in heaven, and he reigns and rules over all. Put your trust in that king. Because in the new creation, all the world will recognize that he is king. Third characteristic, not only will there only be one king, but as we read here in the second half of the same verse, verse 9, on that day, the Lord will be one and his name one. This is interesting. What does this mean? On that day, the Lord will be one and his name one. One of the most important and powerful statements in all of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is the one that, even to this day, many Jewish people repeat over and over again. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's called the Shema, because the first word in Hebrew, which means hear, is Shema. It's kind of repeated here and it kind of surprises us in the beginning because isn't he one already? Isn't the Lord one already? What does that mean? Well, it also says, and his name will be one. And whereas the word Lord refers to who God is, his name in this case refers to how people recognize him. Because although there is only one God, he is not recognized as the only one and true God. The Apostle Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 8. He says, for the world, there are many lords and many gods. People worship many different gods. And if you went back to Corinth, you can go to the various temples, the temple to Athena, the temple to Zeus, all kinds of different temples where people worship different gods. There were many gods, so-called. But on that day, the world will recognize that there is only one God. And within that one God, one person of that one God is our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul goes on to say, in anticipation of the new creation in 1 Corinthians 8, 6, yet for us, that is for us who believe, there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Ultimately, there is only one God, that one God existing in three eternal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But there are many other gods. We may not have the temples around us in this part of the world, but people worship all kinds of gods. They'll bow down before the goddess of comfort, or sex, or power, or money. There are many gods in this world, but those gods will ultimately betray those who worship them. Whereas we sang this morning from Psalm 115, we will become like that which we worship. They will come to nothing, and the people who worship them will be judged for it on that day. On that day of new creation, our God will be recognized as the one true God. That day has not come yet. All you need to do is turn on the television and you'll see people worshiping other gods. Maybe not bowing down, maybe not going to the temple, but certainly worshiping other gods. What do we do as a sort of advanced sign of this coming new creation? We worship the one true God. That's what we do. We reject the gods that this world offers us, the god of money, power, authority, of comfort, of romantic relationships. We reject those gods, and we worship the one true god, because on that day, he will be the only god. The other gods will be shown for what they are, satanic imposters. and he will be known as that one God. Do you believe that day is coming? Do you believe the day that God will be seen as that one God over all the world? The God revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ. The God who sent his spirit to our hearts. The God of new creation. Do you believe that he is the one God? Well then worship him alone. Because on that day, all will know that God is one. Fourth characteristic of new creation, God will fill the whole earth with his glory. This is a little more difficult to see, but I think it's quite clear. You see it in verse 10. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimen, south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the gate of Benjamin to the place of its former gate, to the corner gate, and from the town of Hananel to the king's wine presses." What's going on here? Why is everything around Jerusalem flattening? If you know that landscape of that area, it's very mountainous. And Jerusalem isn't even on the highest mountain, although it is definitely on a mountain. It's not on the highest mountain. But here we see a vision of everything around Jerusalem becoming flat. And what's the purpose of this? Well, the idea is so that everyone can see Jerusalem. In order to get to the main point of this, we have to realize just how important and central the temple was to the city of Jerusalem. It's been said that Jerusalem wasn't a city with a temple, it was a temple with a city. The temple had such an important central part of that. And what they're looking at is not just the city of Jerusalem, but the temple on the Temple Mount, the place where God's glory dwells. And the fact that everything around it is flat is so that the people of the land can see the glory of God. They can see God, or in the words of the Apostle John, they can behold his glory. This is very similar to the other prophetic expectations of the glory of God filling the earth. You see this several times in the scriptures when it's talking about the new creation. You see it in Numbers 14, 21. You see it in Psalm 72, 19. And may his glory fill the earth. We see it in Isaiah 11, 9. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And a very similar phrase you see in Habakkuk 2, 9. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord like the waters cover the sea. It is the expectation and prophetic hope of the Old Testament that God will come. and his glory will be seen by all. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah chapter 40. This was a great and beautiful expectation that God would come down and that God would fill the earth with his glorious presence. so that we could be with him forever in a renewed heavens and a renewed earth. Once again, we see the fulfillment of this in our Lord Jesus Christ. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. But we see it most of all in those final scenes of the revelation of Jesus Christ. In chapter 21, verse 22 and 23, we read the following. And I saw no temple in the city. It's a really odd thing to say. Jerusalem, as I said, the temple was the central piece of the city. And yet in the New Jerusalem, there is no temple. What can this mean? Why could that be? John goes on to explain, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. God's glory, his presence, will be with his people forever. So much so that there's no need for a sun. Again, very difficult to imagine, but God's presence, his brightness, will be so powerful, the earth will be so charged with his glory, that there won't even be a need for the sun. His presence, his glory, will be with us forever. And this is symbolized by the land flattening in Jerusalem with this temple in the center of it being seen by all. Why? Because it's in advance of the day that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That is the longing of our hearts, that we may dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and that the house of the Lord will be with us. The dwelling, the tabernacle of God is with man, John says earlier in the same chapter. And this is what our heart longs for. We will see him face to face. He will wipe, he himself, it says, will wipe away all tears from our eyes. And that is the ultimate blessing. In fact, the ultimate curse was being removed from that land. In the end, he thrusts them from his presence, as we read about the people of Israel during the time of the exile. Therefore, the ultimate blessing is his return. And we will see him face to face. And this is what we long for in new creation. Fifth and finally, God will utterly wipe out the curse caused by sin. And we see this in verse 11. And it shall be inhabited, meaning the land, the city, shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. Here I want to bring your attention to this phrase, decree of utter destruction. In Hebrew, it's just one word. It's a very important word. It's called cherem. Gutterals in Hebrew are very difficult to pronounce. But it's a very famous word. It's actually one that was in our passage that we read this morning in Joshua chapter 10. It means devoted to destruction. You see this very much in Joshua 6 and 7, things being devoted to destruction, being put under a ban, or even better, being put under a curse. That's the idea. When people have sinned so much, when their sins have filled up, as God said would happen when he's talking to Abraham, making a covenant with him in Genesis chapter 15, he doesn't give Abraham the land at that time, at that moment, because their sins hadn't filled up yet. But when their sins do fill up, God sends in his people to bring about or to execute his judgment. And that word is used to devote them to destruction, utter destruction. They are unclean. They need to be devoted to destruction. In a very sad and ironic twist, God's people have the same word pronounced upon them when the Babylonian armies are surrounding them. And Isaiah prophetically refers to them in Isaiah 43, 28 with this very word, being devoted to destruction. He allows the armies to come in and take them away. It's a terrible thing. It's judgment. It's awful in that original sense of that word. And it's something we really, really want to avoid. And so that makes all the more beautiful these words here. And it shall be inhabited. Why? For there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. What changed here? How can God be so sure? That there will never again be a decree of utter destruction, a decree of devoting someone to destruction. It's because of Christ. It's because Christ came into this world, the son of Abraham and the son of David, and he took upon himself that curse. In the words of the Apostle Paul, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us, so that the blessing of Abraham might go to the Gentiles. God's blessing goes to the world because Christ became a curse for us. He took upon himself our sins and our curse. A vivid portrait of this was just read from Joshua chapter 10. What happened to those five kings? They were exposed on a tree. And that's what happened to our Lord. He bore it in himself, not for any sin that he had committed. His sins did not fill up, but he took it upon himself. He drank it to its dregs. And he bore the sins of all who believe in him. so that we may never have that decree of utter destruction pronounced over us. In the new creation, there will no longer be a decree of utter destruction for God's people, because Christ bore it in himself. Or in the words of Revelation chapter 22, verses three and four, no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. and his servants will worship him and they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. No longer will there be anything accursed because he himself bore it in his body. Do you long for that time when you don't see anymore the curse, the shroud which covers over us, death itself and everything that leads to it? That is new creation. And we could thank our Lord that he himself bore our curse so that we can live in the land where there is no longer any decree of utter destruction. Let's give praise to him. Let's trust in him. And let us hope and long for this new creation. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your mercy and your grace to us. especially as seen in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for these pictures of new creation. We pray that you would bless us and be with us. Give us strength and hope as we live for that day. In Christ's name we pray, amen.