But I hope you're enjoying Zechariah. It's a different book, isn't it? Different than anything we've done. Different than any book of the Bible, I think. It's apocalyptic literature, but there's just something about Revelation that people like more, when in fact, Zechariah seems to be a little bit more specific. Let's take a look. The last chapters, chapters 9 through 14, contain two prophecies, or oracles. Chapters 9-11 depicts a glorious future for God's people. It's highlighted by the defeat of the nations that are the traditional enemies of Israel, which is wonderful, especially in our own day. It's highlighted by the arrival of God's chosen king, by the return of the exiles, by the supernatural rejuvenation of Israel's military power, and the restoration of divine blessing. Yet this portrait of the future is balanced by a highly symbolic account depicting the rejection of God's rulership by His people and the time of judgment, which is where they are now. And then in chapters 12 to 14 this sees Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem that we know today where it is on the map, sees it besieged by the hostile nations that hate her, hate Israel, but with Yahweh supernaturally protecting the city. The people grieve over their rejection of God and He forgives their sin, He purifies them, and He renews His covenant with them. Yet Jerusalem suffers greatly before the Lord intervenes in His time. There is a great and wonderful and beautiful future for Israel. But in the meantime, what's going on now, what we see, and we see today in the news, we see bright spots. You know, it looks like they're coming out of the dark, but they're not coming out of the dark. Israel is still just as stiff-necked as they've ever been. They still loathe Jesus of Nazareth, our Savior. They rejected Him. They'd kill Him again if given the opportunity. They don't like Him, certainly don't love Him. Following his great victory Yahweh establishes his universal kingdom and the nations worship him We know this as the Millennial Kingdom the Millennial Kingdom God's 1,000 year reign upon the earth. So let's take a look chapter 9 1 through 17 and I'm just gonna do a little verse-by-verse commentary as we go through this and The burden of the Word of the Lord, some of your translations will say the oracle. You turn to any critical commentary and they are off to the racists over the first word in this passage. Is it a burden or is it an oracle? Is it both? It is an oracle, it is typically speaking of a prophecy given to a man to speak. Is it a burden? Well prophecies can be a burden, it can be both. Is it a lifting up of the voice to give a prophecy that is a burden? Let's just go with that. Because it is all of the above, this prophecy given by God, a burden, of the word of the Lord, or Yahweh, is against the land of Hadrach." Well, that's a relief, right? You want Hadrach to get annihilated, don't you? Anybody here know where Hadrach is? What? Where's that? Where does that come from? Here, let me give you, here's some of these nations here. Here's Hadrach. Do you see where you are, kind of? I couldn't stretch that map out any better, but I like the simplicity of this one. Hadrach is northern part of Israel. Hamath, this is another city that's named. Aram, which is modern Syria. Arameans are Syrians, not to be confused with Assyrians, there you go, thank you. The town of Damascus, this is the capital of modern Syria and ancient Aram. Phoenicia is modern Lebanon. The city of Tyre on the coast. You've got these, only four are listed in Zechariah's prophecy, the four cities of the Philistines. You'll certainly recognize Gaza. We hear about that from time to time in the news, right? But these are the four cities of the Philistines. There's one city that's not listed there, the Philistines, and that's the city of Gath. And you see where these little cities, city-states of the enemies of Israel dwelt. Then today the whole land mass is called Philistia, or pronounced to us as Palestine, renamed that way by the Roman Empire in 135. So these are the cities. You see the Sea of Galilee, traditional Sea of Galilee, which the Jordan River comes down into the, empties into the Dead Sea there. Lowest place on earth, I'm told. Jerusalem and Bethel there. So let's go back. These circles on the map here are the traditional cities and places of God's enemies. And what you see is coming from the north, just city to city to city, God is meting out His punishment. Hamath also, so it's Hadrach, all the tribes of Israel are toward the Lord. Hold on let me go back I just missed it. So, the burden of the Word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach with Damascus as its resting place. And then in the New American Standard Bible this next phrase is in parenthesis, for the eyes of men especially of all the tribes of Israel are toward the Lord. In other words God's people are looking to the Lord to mete out His judgment. Are we doing that today? We're waiting and looking for God to get His wrath to mete out His punishment on His people, on the enemies of His people. Isn't that what you're doing? Isn't that what we want? You know, you can even pray that way. Lord, take out Your wrath on the people that hate You, that have treated Your people with disdain. Not just Israel, but God's people, Christians in the world today. Verse 2, and Hamath also, which borders on it. And of course you see it right there on the map. Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise, for Tyre built herself a fortress, and piled up silver like dust, and gold like mire in the streets. Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and cast her wealth into the sea, and she will be consumed with fire. The interesting thing about Tyre, and I won't get too much into it, but Ezekiel really goes into this city of Tyre in chapter 28. In our study of Ezekiel about four years ago, we went into a little bit more detail. And I do want to show you a few things about Tyre because it's like saying New York City. In a sense, when we look at New York City, this amazingly huge city commercial site, everyone in the world knows where New York City is. All the industry, all the money. Saying that New York City will go down is like saying Tyre would go down. No way. No chance of that. Alexander the Great here seems to be in view because when you look back in, when you're looking at Zechariah's prophecy being given in what, 520 B.C., it was about 200 years later that these things started to come true because it's Alexander the Great that came from the north and started meting out wrath on these nations. This burden, as I said earlier, is lifting up. chapter 9 verses 1 to 8 foresees almost 200 years into the future, but that's really just in this near-sighted fulfillment. If you don't know this about prophecy in the Bible, sometimes God will give a prophecy and the prophecy has a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment or an ultimate fulfillment. What God says is going to happen here soon, and it happens, happen ultimately in the future. My favorite one is Jesus talking about the abomination of desolation. Matthew chapter 24 verse 15 Jesus speaks of the abomination of desolation. Now it's the first century when Jesus is talking about that. But any good Jew who knew their history going back about 150 years, actually about 180 years after Jesus said this, or prior to Jesus saying this, at a time when a guy named Antiochus Epiphanes was A Syrian dictator had come into Jerusalem and he had set up an image or he had taken this sacrilegious pig, you don't take a pig into the temple of God, you know, because it's an unclean animal. He had cut it up, he had sliced it up, taken the blood, and he had thrown all the blood of this unclean animal into the temple. I was going to say defaced or desecrated what is holy and everyone saw this as the abomination of desolation and it was. And Daniel had predicted the abomination of desolation up to that point a couple hundred years prior and then it happens. And when they cleansed it after the temple was cleansed by Mattathias and his sons Judas Maccabeus it was called the Feast of Hanukkah. See, you were trying to say that. I knew you were trying to get that out. And so, this was, it actually became another feast in Israel. So, 180, 190 years later, here's Jesus talking about a day when the abomination of desolation will be set up. You're kind of scratching your head in those days, and wait a minute, that happened almost 200 years ago, Jesus. Yes, and a near fulfillment had happened. But there's an ultimate future fulfillment that's coming. Zechariah is doing the same thing. And when he's talking about God taking out His wrath on these oppressors of Israel, it looks like the near fulfillment, us looking back in history, comes from and through Alexander the Great. This great city of Tyre was founded in 2750 B.C. and it was always a wealthy city. It was a seaport. Seaports are typically wealthy. Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years besieged this city. It's just small, a little dot on the map. Thirteen years he besieged it and the Persians subdued it until 332 B.C. But none of them really took over. Tyre was like retreating and holding their own, kind of snubbing their nose, you didn't get us sort of a thing. But Alexander the Great came along and fixed that. He leveled it completely, casting all of Tyre's wealth into the sea. Let me show you a few maps here. Here is a modern city of Tyre in Lebanon. You can see it just like a peninsula coming out of the mainland, but it hasn't always looked like that. Here's where it is today in a satellite picture, but this landmass wasn't originally there. Here's what it was originally. The old city of Tyre, you'll see that on the right side of your screen, that's what Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to, but the people moved from the mainland out to a nearby island and set up the city that way. And they just kind of, I guess they got out there on boats and set it up, built a wall 150 feet high, and again, snubbing their nose. Well, Alexander threw out all the rubbit, all the rubble into the sea to make his way out there and made the causeway and sacked the city completely. And so here's where it was prior. So he builds this causeway. If you're in that city you're going, wait a minute, what's this guy doing? He's throwing rubble into the water so that he can walk mainland on to the island. And he did. This is a great story, a wonderful prophecy to read, not just in the Bible but in extra biblical literature. And then the landfill over the years has connected it with the mainland. And so he took this city, and this New York City as it were, this San Francisco of cities fell under Alexander the Great just as God said it would. He picks up in verse 5, Ashkelon, these are the cities of the Philistines. Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza, too, will writhe in great pain. Also, Ekron, for her expectations, has been confounded. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza. Again, Gath is the only city of the five cities of the Philistines not listed. Don't know why. And Ashkelon will not be inhabited. So he is saying something about that ancient foe of Israel. the philistines today we call the palestinians now are they the ancient philistines probably not, but they were called that so today they are Palestinians. And the reason I say probably not is because something is said here. Verse 6, And a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod. That's one of the cities of the Philistines. A mongrel race, another race not purely Philistine, will dwell in Ashdod. And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines, and I will remove the blood from their mouth. Now if you're Israel do you eat blood? I mean if you're American do you eat blood? Who eats blood? But it's an idolatrous practice. Israel is not to touch it. And they're detestable things from between their teeth. They're eating unclean things. They worship idols. And God is saying, I'm going to remove that. then they also will be a remnant for our God. And they will be like a clan in Judah and Ekron, like a Jebusite." In other words, God is showing there's going to be some grace, there's a remnant of old Philistines that are going to be saved and living among the people of God. He's including them with this remnant. Now if you know anything about when David came into town and established the capital city of Jerusalem, the old site was called the Jebusite Fortress. And David came in almost without a fight. It was unable to be taken during the days of Joshua and the judges. But when David came to town, 300 or so years later, he went in under the city and took it without a fight, took the Jebusite Fortress. And some of the Jebusites, these are old Canaanites, Some of the Jebusites got, what's the word I'm looking for, got put together, maybe converted, but they just came together kind of as a melting pot under Israel. And we know this by a particular person, our favorite Jebusite. Who's our favorite Jebusite? Anybody know? Our favorite Jebusite is actually Melchizedek, who was king of Jebus, but our favorite Jebusite, he's got two names, come on. This is a bonus question for the night. He's the one guy, but he has two names. He's got a, what is it? Not Josephus, but hey, why not try, what? Multiple guess, okay. Okay, we'll throw that as out there. Xerxes, we'll say Jehoiakim, Haranah, and Jehoshaphat. Okay, it's Arana, Arana, whose name is also, come on Lynette, say it. Ornan, Ornan, now this is why he's important. I mentioned him Sunday morning, this is why I know none of you were listening when I talked about him. When God sent out the plague over Israel, based on David's sin, David had to make a sacrifice to stop God's wrath. and he needed a place to do this. And there's a place right there in the city of Jerusalem, today called the Temple Mount. It used to be called the threshing floor of Arana the Jebusite, the Jebusite. David went and he needed to make a sacrifice on this place to stop God's wrath. Arana said, David, the land is yours, take it. And David said, no, I will not make a sacrifice to the Lord that costs me nothing. And so he paid it to Orana the Jebusite, also called in 2nd Chronicles, Ornan. Orana, that's why he's our favorite Jebusite. Now what's a Jebusite doing amongst the Israelites? Selling the rights to the very mount of the temple. Well, same thing, same reason, same way that all of that is to say that the Philistines will have a cut away in with God's saving people, Israel. And that's what he's saying. Even though they're God's enemies today, we don't know who these enemies are today, modern enemies of God. Some are going to turn to Christ. absolutely turn to Christ. My first trip to Israel Cheryl and I met, I don't know if she remembers him, I do remember how gentle he was, what a kind man he was, but we went into Bethlehem and we had to, a Jew can't go into Bethlehem because it's the West Bank. And so the Jew that wanted us to go into Bethlehem said, I've got to pull the car over and we're going to get you somebody else. And we're going, what? Don't worry, it'll be all right. And he stops the taxi and another guy jumps in. We're going, oh my goodness, we're going to die today. We don't know who this is. But what we didn't, he's a Palestinian and he comes in and he's a Christian, an Arab Christian. And he takes us throughout Bethlehem. And we had a wonderful day with this kind gentleman. And we talked about Christ. He is an Arab, not a Jew, who's come to know the Jewish Messiah. That happens. In fact there are more Arabs that are Christians than you might think. And they are solid and wonderful people. When you go to Israel you meet some of them. They are really quite kind people. And even the ones that are not Christians are very kind to you when you go. Of course they want your money. But I'm all about being kind. So anyway, this is just kind of the same principle, is even though God is going to dish out His anger and His wrath on Israel's enemies, there is a remnant of those unbelieving mongrel nations that will also be included as part of God's remnant of believers. Verse 8, God says, but I will camp around my house because of an army. because of him who passes by and returns." Now I have Alexander right in my Bible here. These are strange passages that if you're not concentrating on them and looking something up you're going, I don't know what it means and I don't really care what it means. But God says this again, I will camp around my house that we imagine God, excuse me, protecting his people because of an army. So there's an army camped around Israel and God is camping around it to protect him. because of him who passes by and returns." Now, Josephus, one of you said this earlier, Josephus, just so you know, you don't want to throw Josephus out and confuse him with the Ron of the Jebusite again, but it was a good try. Josephus lived in the first century. Josephus was a Jewish young man who was captured by the Romans. He was a historian. He tells us things that happened that are not in the Bible that confirm many things in the Bible and other things that were happening in and around Jerusalem. He tells us a lot, most of what we know about the war in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when the Romans laid siege to the city. So Josephus tells us this about Alexander the Great. He didn't live during the day but he was a historian writing backwards. Alexander was making his way down through those cities. Remember that map I showed you? He's making his way down and when he comes to Jerusalem he's going to subdue Israel. Why wouldn't he? He's going to subdue everyone. The high priest meets him, shows him the prophecies of Daniel which speak of Alexander the Great as that horn Coming out as ruling in Greece. And all the respect that the prophecies of Daniel give to him. Josephus tells us that Alexander was moved by this. Wow, this is amazing. Your scriptures speak of me. Passed by. Went right through. Did nothing to harm the Israelites. Let's read verse 8 again. So He's talked about what He's going to do to these surrounding nations. Verse 8, Alexander, because of him who passes by and returns, and no oppressor will pass over them anymore." So what we see here is Alexander in 330 BC-ish coming through, passing by. This is a near fulfillment of the ultimate prophecy where God is saying no one in the future will pass through and hurt my people anymore. Now since Alexander the Great, since the days of Alexander the Great, even though Alexander didn't defile the city in any way. After him, the Romans did. After the Romans did, nation after nation after nation after nation did and are doing. This is the far fulfillment where God is saying no oppressor will pass over them anymore. Otherwise, if we thought that it ended with Alexander, well then God's Word is not good because it's happened over and over. For now I have seen with my eyes Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Who's he talking about when he talks about daughter of Zion? What's her name? Jerusalem. It's Israel, it's the people. Jerusalem is really, it's the city, but it has to do with the people of the city. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt of the foal, the foal of a donkey. Now, it wasn't unusual for a king to come into town on a donkey. Later, beyond this time, kings would come in more on warhorses, but they came in on donkeys. Here we see Jesus coming in, a prophecy of Jesus. their ultimate king coming in as a king on a donkey but also in humility. Now, go ahead. Not necessarily, not necessarily, a donkey wasn't necessarily the beast of peace because it was a war horse before war horses were war horses. It was the traditional animal that a king would ride, but later it became a war horse. Here we see both. Now, you don't see Jesus' name here, do you? We only put this in here because of what we know of the New Testament. In all four Gospels, Matthew 21, Mark chapter 11, Luke 28, Luke 18, and John chapter 12, Beginning in verse 12, Jesus comes into town. He's been walking the entire way. But when he gets to Jerusalem, on this day that we call the triumphal entry, he tells Peter and John, go into the town next door and get me a donkey. What? Now, if you've ever been on the Mount of Olives, that's where he comes in. That's where you are, Mount of Olives. Mount of Olives, you really would rather prefer, unless you're older, you prefer to walk down it because it's a trip down. A donkey, I'm not sure I'd feel safe on at all, walking down the Mount of Olives. It's a slope. Jesus, what do you want a donkey for? Just go get it. If anybody asks, tell them the Lord has need of it. They do, they bring it in. If Jesus doesn't go into Jerusalem that day on that donkey, he ain't the Messiah. I love that. I love that. He was the Messiah in all four Gospels, was and is, all four Gospels make this clear. Your king is coming to you on a donkey. Now the day that Jesus walked in on that horse, on that donkey, brings us back, if you can remember all those numbers I gave you back in Daniel chapter nine, puts all those numbers together, that's the day. The 173,880 days after the decree of Artaxerxes, that's the day. That's the last of those days. 69 years brings us to that day. If you're a Jew living in Jerusalem and you like math, you woke up that morning going, today something big's gonna happen. And if you were out there looking, you're looking for a guy, well, if I know Zachariah, my king is coming into town today, today for sure. I'm looking for a guy on a donkey. He walked into town, nobody paid much attention. Oh, they swung palm branches at him. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. No one's quoting Daniel, unfortunately. And they killed him four days later. So he comes in, this is the prophecy of that, verse 10, excuse me, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim. By the way when you see Ephraim, Ephraim is one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Actually one of the 12 tribes is Joseph, but Joseph was taken out and his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh were given tribes because Levi's out, he wasn't considered a tribe. But not only is he a tribe, Ephraim is the tribe that indicates the entire northern kingdom. If you read Hosea, Hosea for instance is a prophecy, Old Testament prophet talking about Ephraim, Ephraim, Ephraim. He's talking about the entire northern kingdom of Israel that split from Judah in the south. Are you with me? All right, if you're not hang in there. So God is saying, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, he could just as easily have said the northern kingdom of Israel, and the horse from Jerusalem, that's north and south because Jerusalem is in the south. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off, and he, that's the guy that came in on the donkey, he will speak peace to the nations. He will speak shalom to the nations. And His dominion will be from sea to sea, from the river, which is always the Euphrates, sometimes the Tigris, to the ends of the earth." So, did that happen? Not yet, that's for sure. It's just one of those things where when verse 9, we know that's Jesus, runs into verse 10 and we're going, that didn't happen. Near fulfillment. for our fulfillment. Otherwise, we're looking at a Bible that says one thing, history says another, and we say, that can't be. But, God, this is not narrative literature. This is prophetic, apocalyptic literature, and we have to see it in context. Notice what God is going to do. And I love that God is saying when He says, I will, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war. In other words, they're not going to be warring anymore. That's all He's saying. There's no more bows. There's no more machine guns. There's no more bow and arrows. I'm going to cut it all off. There's going to be peace because the Messiah will speak peace to the nations and His dominion will be from sea to sea. As for you, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit." Now, blood of My covenant could go back to Abraham's covenant, God's covenant with Abraham when He cut the animals in half. It could go back to the Mosaic covenant of the slain animals. It could go back to the covenant that God gives Israel in Ezekiel 16, verse 8, talking about how He brought Israel into being and will protect her. But there's a covenant and God is saying, as for you, because of the blood of my covenant, in other words, because of my promise, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Why the waterless pit? I don't know, but I think we get the point here is that God is setting them free from whatever hinders them and will do so. Verse 12, return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope. who have the hope." Who are the prisoners who have the hope? Return to the stronghold? That's this safe place. From the waterless pit, return to the safe place, you prisoners who have the hope. I don't know. You're looking at, you're thinking, He's going to tell us, and this is going to be exciting. I don't know, but I get the, do you get the gist of what's happening? Some of this is very difficult to interpret. God is essentially saying I'm going to free you this very day I'm declaring to you that I will restore double to you. Now I know what single is and I know what double is. I prefer double. I had a guy tell me one time he said he was managing my money, you know my $20 bill. And he said is your church paying you? Is your paying you well? I said well I don't know. I mean, we were early on, it was a church plant, didn't have many people anyway. I said, I don't know. He said, are they paying you double? I said, I don't even know what double is. No, I don't know. He said, well, I know what double is. He said, it's twice what everybody else is doing. I said, well, if you were on the older board, then you could tell them that. I don't go make those demands, whatever double is. But I love what he said. He goes, I know what double is. So double is good. This very day, he says, I am declaring that I will restore double to you. Whatever you lost, I will double it. For I will bend Judah as my bow. This is great figurative language. Judah is God's southern kingdom. I will bend them as my bow. They're going to be a weapon of my warfare. And I will fill the bow with Ephraim. That's the northern kingdom. What's the bow need? Arrows. I'm going to take my southern kingdom as a bow and I'm going to fill it with arrows of my northern kingdom. In other words, to get, that's just, Beautiful writing, and I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and I will make you like a warrior's sword. Now, Greece was the next nation that would oppress Israel because they're in the Persian Empire. Remember, the previous one was Babylon. They're now under Persian domination, and we know Greece comes next as we look back in history. So here's another near fulfillment, and Greece would be indicative of all future kingdoms that try to oppress Israel. And I will make you like a warrior's sword. Verse 14, then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. I love this. And the Lord God excuse me, will blow the trumpet and will march in the storm winds of the south. You see, God, this reminds me of a shock and awe. Remember shock and awe? Back in, was it March 2003? Anyway, that's what I see. I remember seeing on TV, you know, it was just this firestorm above Israel. And the Lord, this is it, the Lord will appear over them, his arrow will go forth like lightning, and the Lord God will blow the trumpet, which is victory, and will march in the storm winds of the south. Just quote that one today when we see it. This is what God is gonna do in Israel. Not today, maybe tomorrow. The Lord of hosts will defend them, and they will devour and trample on the sling stones and they will drink and be boisterous as with wine." This is all good stuff, by the way. They're going to have a party. We might just say, and they're going to have a party. And they will be filled with a sacrificial, filled like a sacrificial basin, drenched like the corners of the altar. And the Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of His people, for they are as the stone of a crown, as the stones of a crown, sparkling in His land. Imagine a crown filled with beautiful gemstones. For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs? Grain will make the young men flourish, and you wine the virgins." So the next time somebody tells you, I don't believe that modern Israel has anything to do with what God says in the Bible, well then I guess Zechariah is just waxing eloquent. I guess it doesn't mean anything that the Bible over and over says that this nation will be restored. It's very important that we love all people, but that we are not anti-Semitic. I would say also, don't be anti-Arab. I'm anti-Hamas. I'm anti-anyone who's anti-God's people. Be on their side. They're going to win, as will those of us who have received their Christ. Verse 10, chapter 10, verse 1. Ask rain from the Lord. Who is the God of rain that's not the Lord God Almighty? What's that? Baal. B-A-A-L. You want rain from heaven? Go to a prostitute, go into one of their little temples, mimic the spreading of seed through illicit sex, and hope that the God of heaven, Baal and his wife Asherah, will see and send rain on your crops. That's what people did. That's typical. I love it. Ask rain from Yahweh at the time of the spring rain. And rain is indicative of blessing. The Lord who makes the storm clouds. And I just went through, just go through highlighting in my Bible here all the he wills and I wills here. And he will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man. For the teraphim, these are idols, speak iniquity. And the diviners see lying visions. These are false teachers. And they tell false dreams. This happens today, people. These are the people that we have today that are giving false visions. How many of you have heard Joel Osteen's son speak? His son. Sounds like him? He's even more kind than his daddy. And he's just a good-looking boy preaching nothing but hell-bound you-know-what. This is what false teaching is. They're idols. They speak iniquity. They have lying visions. There was a preacher here in town of a very large church here in Cyprus. I don't know, back around 2000, 2001, 2002. And he went on a sabbatical. And he came back and he was not the same preacher. He was seeing visions. We know because a whole bunch of people from his church came here and started hearing all kinds of weird things about this guy. He's having visions, his wife's seeing visions. There are all kinds of things, new things. He had a whole new wardrobe. To see lying visions, people tend to perk up when somebody says I had a vision. Would you? If you had your head in your Bible, and I'm reading from the Bible, and I said, you know what? I had a dream last night. How many of you's head would pop up? What is he going to say? If I say it, I'm just going to say something really off the wall dumb because it's a bad dream. But many people are out there saying, I had a vision. God told me to say this. And people love that. They eat that up. It builds a lot bigger church than Harvest Bible Church to say those things. Well that's always been around. They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep. They are afflicted because there is no shepherd. A shepherd is absolutely essential for sheep. Sheep have no defense mechanism. They are the dumbest animals on the planet. And it's not because I know this firsthand. I've never been a shepherd of sheep, but I have watched videos. I have read books. I love to read books on sheep and shepherds. It's very entertaining. And there's a lot of research out there on shepherds and sheep. And what's interesting about it is that the parallel goes from the field to the church. And I can never sit up and say oh man bunch of dumb sheep. I'm one of them. I mean I am I'm one of them. We're all dumb sheep We'll believe things will believe anything Unless you know the truth you'll believe anything and we see this in people And God is saying, and He does it in all the prophets, He talks about the false shepherds and how they afflict His people. And how people are, they're like sheep with no shepherd. His anger is kindled against the shepherds, verse three. And I will punish the male goats. God's people are sheep, the goats come in to disrupt the sheep. And here's these I wills. And I will punish the male goats. For the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah. and will make them like His majestic horse in battle. From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the bow of battle, from them every ruler, all of them together." I love that. Put that together, the cornerstone. We see in the Old Testament there's the cornerstone that Isaiah speaks of, the cornerstone that Psalm 118 speaks of. Jesus, we know, is the cornerstone. Paul calls Him, in Ephesians 2, verse 20, the cornerstone, the foundation stone for the entire church. where it all began. And God is saying, from them, that is my people, Judah, will come the cornerstone, the tent peg. Now, you think of a tent peg, I had to look this one up, because tent pegs are, you know, you put your tent around and you nail tent pegs in the side so that the wind won't blow it around. But the tent peg here is being spoken of as the one, that teepee-like one that goes right up the middle. The one that puts it all together, same, that would work in the same way that a cornerstone would or a foundation stone. From them the bow of battle, the machine gun of all guns. From them every ruler, all of them together, they will be as mighty men. Now this hasn't happened, friends. treading down the enemy and the mire of the streets in battle, and they will fight for the Lord, and they will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and the riders and the horses will be put to shame. I will strengthen the house of Judah. I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back." Is there any question of what God's going to do there? I might. I may if they get their act together. I will do it. The house of Judah and the house of Joseph, that's now one nation again. I'll bring them back. Why? Because I have had compassion on them and they will be as though I had not rejected them. So we know God did reject them, has rejected them, but will bring them back. So some today will tell us, no, God rejected Israel, He's gone to the church. God bringing them back as if He didn't reject them. For I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them. Ephraim, again that northern kingdom, will be like a mighty man, and their heart will be glad as if from wine. Indeed, their children will see it and be glad. Their heart will rejoice in the Lord. Here's one, my wife today, she was reading this one. I was eating my breakfast, sipping my coffee, not bothering anyone in the world. She's in the adjacent room over there doing her study because she's so into the Bible. And I hear her over there whistling. She's whistling. And I'm trying to read and I'm going, what? I'm reading verse eight. I will whistle for them. as to gather them together. And it's beautiful, isn't it? Because it's, if you've ever seen, if you've ever, when a shepherd does that, and you can see, just go on YouTube and watch a shepherd whistle, the sheep are there like that. Or he goes out and says, just the sound of his voice, they are there. They're everything the Bible says. In John chapter 10, when Jesus says, my sheep know my voice, they hear my voice. And they come, and they won't listen to somebody else. That's true with real shepherds. A real shepherd just comes out, and the sound of his voice, his sheep come to him. Or there's a whistle. That's the whistle of my shepherd, and they come. And here's God, right there in the end, putting his divine fingers in his teeth. I can't whistle like that, but people do that. Making the whistle. And who comes to him? But his people. When my wife whistles, who looks? Her loving husband. Yes, dear? Yes, dear? What can I do for you today? I will whistle, and I think this is God grinning ear to ear after everything he said. He's grinning ear to ear in here, no doubt. I will whistle for them as to gather them together, for I have redeemed them. To redeem is to buy back out of slavery. I've bought them out of their unbelief. And they will be as numerous as they were before. When I scatter them, which really is just the word sow them, what do you do with seed? You sow it, you scatter it. It's not God scattering His people as in the dispersion, as He's done in judgment. Now it's God scattering His people all over the places He would divinely put them. When I scatter them, when I sow them among the peoples, they will remember me. That's the name Zechariah, by the way. That's what his name means, remember, God remembers. They will remember me in far countries. And you just hear God whistling, and the people hear Him, and they come from all over the planet, because Jews are spread all over the world today. and they with their children will live and come back." I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, that's south, and gather them from Assyria, that's north, and I will bring them into the land of Gilead. Now Gilead is Golan Heights today. Golan Heights is northeast. It's the land of Israel, but it is but it isn't. It's the land that when Israel crossed over the Jordan, under Joshua, and they took that part, Gilead. Now the Golan Heights over time fell out and the Jews did not have that area. They weren't given that area in 1948 and 1967, however, they took the Golan Heights. And this area northeast of Israel is a place where it was a beautiful place. In fact, Amos speaks of it as a lush area, a place where wealthy people lived. But God says, I will bring them into the land of Gilead. Why not down into Jerusalem and Lebanon, which is due north? You know, I was looking at some other passages. Isaiah chapter 49 and chapters and verses 20 and 21 speaks of God making overflow areas for his people. Isaiah 49, 20 and 21 speaks of God making room for all the people coming back. And these overflow areas of Lebanon and Gilead where God is blessing people so much. He's sown them everywhere and he's blessing them. These are just overflow areas of blessing. I think that's the imagery here. until no room can be found for them." And again, and they will, not they might, not perhaps might, they will pass through the sea of distress and He will strike the waves of the sea. Sounds like that first crossing of the Red Sea. so that all the depths of the Nile will dry up, and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart, and I will strengthen them in the Lord, and in His name they will walk, declares the Lord." I mean, there's just no way around what God said He's going to do with this people. I am a staunch pre-millennialist. I believe the Bible word for word, verse by verse, and the more I study this, the more angry I become at amillennialists who are out there telling you to not believe this stuff. I get more angry when you stay in their churches. It matters, friends. If you're going to compromise this, what else are you going to compromise? Stick with what God has said, be a conservative so that when you face God one day and He says, why did you believe that? You're able to say, because your word said it. Why did you believe in six days of creation? Because your word said it, Lord. Why did you believe Israel would be a nation? Because you say over and over, I'm confused. No, well done, good and faithful servant. I was watching this thing last night on, it was very sad, on Gene Hackman. who, without a doubt, is top three actors of all time, in my opinion. Anything Gene's in is just good. But the old interview with him back in the early 80s, and he was being asked, he said, so if heaven's real, this is the question that comes to Gene Hackman, he used to ask these questions, if heaven's real, and if you get to go there, he said, and you get to the pearly gates, he said, are you gonna get in? And he said, well, maybe. He did this with his hand. Not quite good enough, you know? And I thought, how awesome would it have been if he would have said, yes. Actually, he said, what would God, if He exists, would say to you? And he said, well, He's probably not sure. And I said, what if Gene would have said in that interview, well done, good and faithful servant? Wouldn't that be an awesome deal to say that? For somebody to say, hey, if there's a heaven, and you're going, yeah, I know there is. What is the deity who allows you and what's gonna say? What do you hope he says? Well done, good and faithful servant. That's all I hope he says. Not, yeah, hope I've been good enough. What an insult. Hope I've been good enough. I mean, if he could get in on his acting abilities, he's there. But that doesn't save, does it? Sadly for him. These are all overviews. I've already told you all this. I didn't go through my slides as I wanted to, which is good. I just wanted to read to you. I do want to show you this. Here's what we've seen. The Lord delivers the exiles that have come back. We see it in chapters 9, verses 11 to 12. We see it in chapter 10, verses 8 through chapter 11, 3. We see that the Lord energizes Judah and Ephraim for battle in 9, 13 to 15. We see that the Lord energizes Judah and Ephraim for battle in 10, 3 through 7. We see that the Lord shepherds and blesses His people in 9, 16 through 17. We see that the Lord shepherds His people in 10, 2 through 3. And that middle one is usually the main point. Blessing is offered in the present. It's offered in the present. Why? What is it offered in the present? The hope of what God said He's going to do. When God says He's going to do something, we don't hope He does it in the sense that we wish, we're really holding out for it. Hope is we're assured. God has given us assurance of what He's going to do. So, a couple conclusions. In the end, all of Israel's enemies will be destroyed. They think that today, but they're just wishing that to be. We can show them from their own scriptures it's going to be. Israel's Messiah came exactly when Daniel said He would, riding on a donkey. But the Messiah will come again. At that time Israel will be saved, protected, and exalted. All idols and false teachers will be disposed of. The Good Shepherd will shepherd His people. And the New Covenant will be complete. So let's finish with a couple of passages on the New Covenant. plead our time tonight, it won't take long. But I want you to understand what God is headed towards. It's not just a happily ever after, it's the fulfillment of what is dubbed the New Covenant. The New Covenant. In Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 to 34 God says this to Jeremiah, this is the days right before the exile, "'Behold the days are coming,' declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." Remember they are divided. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it. And I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will not teach again, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Now this covenant was inaugurated on the night before Jesus died. He says, this is my blood of the new covenant when they partook of the supper. It began that night. It wasn't fulfilled the next day. Hasn't been fulfilled now. It is in the process of being fulfilled. We're going to come to a day when it's fulfilled. No one's going to have to say, know the Lord. But our job now is to go around and tell people, do you know the Lord? Let me teach you about the Lord. So we're in process. God has inaugurated and it is moving towards its fulfillment. Ezekiel 36, 24-32, I've shortened it. God says, I will take you from the nations, speaking to Israel, from all the lands and bring you into your own land. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field." How can you take that and say, no, Israel doesn't matter? How? Educated men and women pushed the theology of amillennialism that God is not going to do with Israel what He said He was going to do. Look at what He's saying. I'm going to bring you into your own land. I will cleanse you. I'll give you a new heart. Put my spirit in you. I'll remove that heart of stone you have. They have a heart of stone. God is going to, is this God saying He's going to make Gentiles into the church? How ridiculous. And finally, Ezekiel 37, 11-14, in the Valley of Dry Bones, the Lord said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say our bones are dried up and our hope has died. We are completely cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves. When you're in a grave, you're dead. God makes the dead alive. My people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. That's important. Then you will know that I am the Lord. When I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people, I will put my spirit within you and you will come to life and I will place you on your own land. Well, I don't think there's any way around. Oh, I do have one more. Back to 36. Thus says Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities. I love that. I'm going to do that. I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places to be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. They will say, this desolate land has become like the Garden of Eden. And the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken and might do it. No, He's gonna do it. Take heed, Hamas. Take heed, all you who hate Israel. God has sworn by His own name He's going to do it. Who are you and I to believe anything else? All right, let's close in a word of prayer. Lord, we thank You. We thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the gathering of believers all here together to surround and listen to Your Word. That's exciting in and of itself, and what you say is all the more exciting, because you're in control. You're a sovereign. You've told us what you're going to do. You are in control. Not just of the future, but of this moment right here, of our lives. Individually, where we're going and what weighs us down, what excites us, what depresses us. You are there. I pray, Lord, that we would empty ourselves before you, trust you, that we would sleep peacefully knowing that you are on the throne. All is in your hand. I pray that you would motivate us with that and let it be a call to worship to you, knowing that you are the sovereign, almighty, awesome God who loves those who believe, place their trust in you. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You've been listening to a sermon by Dr. Lance Walde, Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Church in Cypress, Texas.