Go with me back to Zechariah, the book of Zechariah. I have known that Zechariah is a very quoted book in the New Testament. The apostles would say, or the Lord would say, thus it is written or that the scripture might be fulfilled, and then they would quote these Old Testament books. And Zechariah is quoted quite a bit. I've known that this was a book that not only pictured, but very plainly declared Christ, very plainly declared Christ. But I didn't realize how much so until I read this book this week. Something led me to one of the chapters here and it interested me. So I went back to chapter one and I ended up reading all 14 chapters. And this is such a plain declaration of Christ. Such a plain declaration of Christ. I would love to go through this book But I've learned that just because I want to go through a book, that does not mean the Lord is going to let me go through a book. I, I've tried to get into so many books and I'll get into one chapter or two chapters and then it just shuts down. The Lord just moves my heart another direction and that's all I can do is go that way. But, uh, Just in case we don't go through this, I'm not fully convinced we will. I would like to, but just in case we don't, I want to begin this message by pointing out some highlights. I'm going to call them, they're not highlights, but some things throughout this book, some places that obviously declare Christ. I want you to see something. I want you to see what I saw. And, uh, in doing this, you're going to see this whole book is Christ. This whole book is Christ. I'm going to make some comments on chapter one tonight. So let me bring your attention to chapter two. All right, look with me at chapter two, verse five. It says, for I say at the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. I will be the glory. That's Christ. He is the glory in the midst of his people. Verse 10 says, sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be my people. And I will dwell in the midst of thee. And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. He said, I am coming. I'm coming to join you to myself. Look at chapter three, verse one. And he showed me Joshua. The high priest, he showed me Joshua. The high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. The Greek name for Joshua is Jesus. He showed me the Lord Jesus Christ, the high priest. Look at verse eight right here. Here now, oh Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, For they are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua. Upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." I'm going to give you a minute. I laughed every time I read that, reading this. I'm going to give you a minute here. He said, I'm going to remove the iniquity of that land in one day. It's going to take me one day. Verse 10, in that day sayeth the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree, the high priest, the branch, the stone, the vine, the fig tree, the work, the workman, every bit of that's Christ. It's all Christ. Look at chapter four, verse six. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. This man, Zerubbabel, is Christ. He represents Christ. He answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying grace and grace unto it." The building of the temple. He's going to lay that last stone, that last headstone, crying grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. He started it. He'll finish it. He's the author of it. He's the finisher of it. He which hath begun a good work, he'll perform it all the way to the end. Look at chapter six, verse 12. And speak unto him saying, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, behold, the man whose name is the branch. And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne. and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. This is the glory, this is the beauty, the office, the work, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at chapter eight, verse seven. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and they shall be my people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness. The law came by Moses, but truth came by Jesus Christ. He's the end of the law for righteousness. Verse 13, it shall come to pass that as you were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel, So will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. Look at chapter 9, verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace unto the heathen. And His dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Going through the book of Matthew, we just recently saw the fulfillment of that prophecy as our Lord rode into Jerusalem, headed to the cross. Look at chapter 11, verse 12. Chapter 11, verse 12, And I said unto them, If you think good, if this seems good to you, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter. a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the 30 pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." That's the betrayal of our Lord, sold for 30 pieces of silver, which was used to buy the potter's field. Look at chapter 12, verse 9. "'And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, every enemy of my people. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. This whole book is a chronicle account of God's dealings with His people in saving them through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole book is. Look at chapter 13, verse 1. These are wonderful words right here. It says, That day that they look upon me, the one who they pierced for sin, their sin, in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. There's going to be a fountain open. Verse seven right here says, Awake, O sword against my shepherd. And against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. And they shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, it is my people, and they shall say, the Lord is my God." You recognize all these. You recognize these quotes from the New Testament. Look at chapter 14, verse 4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west. And there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south. And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains. For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal. Yea, ye shall flee like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark. But it shall be one day, it's not gonna get dark, it'll just stay day, which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light, it'll just stay light. And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward the hinder sea, in summer and in winter shall it be. The Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Remen, south of Jerusalem, and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, from the tower of Hananiel unto the king's winepress, and men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction. But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." Can you see how from sin to salvation, this is the whole story. You see that? It's the whole story. The whole story of Christ. Now go with me back to chapter 1. This whole book is full of prophecy and visions and things like that, and I am not going to go too deep into any of those things because I don't know what to say about it. I just flat don't. The commentary writers, they had some good words on it, but I'm just going to focus on what I do know to say about it, and that's Christ. As we see Christ, I'll point Him out to you, and we'll just stick to that. Zechariah 1, verse 1 says, In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah. The name Zechariah means Jehovah remembers. That's what that name means. Jehovah remembers. What does the Lord Jehovah remember? Well, he told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I will remember my covenant. I'll remember my promise concerning you, my promise of grace, my promise of mercy, my promise of peace, my promise in choosing you to redeem you, to make you my peculiar treasure. I will remember my covenant. This book starts out by saying, rest assured, Jehovah remembers his covenant. He remembers his covenant and Lamentations 3 says he remembers his sufferings. Hold your place right here and just turn, it's a few books back, turn to Lamentations 3. Lamentations three, this is Christ speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Verse one, he said, I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He led me and hath brought me into darkness, but not into light as a substitute for my people. I'm the man. Surely against me is he turned. He is turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day. Look at verse 11. He hath turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath set, he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He laid their iniquities on me and then he wounded me. He bruised me, pierced me. Verse 15, he hath filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot prosperity. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Christ said, I was cut off from the land of the living. I was forsaken by God. I'm the one who gave up my ghost and died, suffering the punishment, the penalty. And because of that, verse 19 says, he said, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. He said, I remember my affliction. That's such a wonderful thought to me. I remember the wormwood. I remember the gall. I remember the cross that I suffered for my people. And every time I remember that, he said, my soul is quieted in me. It's appeased. It's satisfied. The Lord our God remembers his covenant. He remembers his sufferings. And according to his word, he will always remember his people. Always. In Psalm 25, David said, Lord, remember me. Remember me. That thief on the cross cried, Lord, remember me. We cry, Lord, remember me. We constantly cry that, don't we? Lord, remember me. I love this. Jeremiah two, verse two says, go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, thus saith the Lord. I remember they. Jehovah remembers. What comfort, what good news, what a declaration of the gospel that is. Go back to Zechariah chapter 1. Verse 1 says, In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, which means Jehovah blesses. The son of Edo, which means his witness. Jehovah blesses his witness. That's who Jehovah blesses. All the blessings of God are in Christ. All in Christ. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying, The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings. But they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants, the prophets, Did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned and said, like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. He said, sin, sin against me. That's what all of your fathers have done. That's where the whole thing starts. That's the reason for the whole declaration of salvation. It's salvation from sin. He said, your father sinned against me. You have sinned against me. You need to turn just like they needed to turn. The whole world is ruined. All of my people are ruined. But he said, I'm going to declare redemption to you. He said, I'm a great and holy judge, and I deliver the word that I say I'm going to deliver. But I'm going to declare redemption to you right now. Verse 7. Upon the four and 20th day of the 11th month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying, I saw by night and behold, amen. Amen. Riding upon a red horse, And he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom. That man is Christ. I saw a man. This whole thing started with sin. And man is going to be dealt with, he said, your fathers ought to prove to you that man is going to be dealt with because of his sin. But behold the man, behold this man. All the commentary writers said that is God manifest in the flesh. in all of His majesty, all of His kingship, riding on a horse stained in blood, the red horse of His power and His strength, His own completely covering blood that He shed among His people, for His people. He calls them here myrtle trees, small, insignificant, trees in the bottom. He stood among them. He stood for them. Verse 8, I saw by night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom. And behind him were their red horses, speckled and white. The commentary writer said, that's the witness, the witnesses, the witnessers, of Christ that follow in his way. Maybe so. Verse nine, then said I, oh my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, these are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees and said, we have walked to and fro through the earth and behold, all the earth cities sit still and is at rest. The messengers went out on all the world and they preached, behold your God, prepare you the way of the Lord. Behold, the Lord cometh, seek the sun, call on the sun, cast your all on the sun for mercy. And they said, the message has gone out and the whole world is dull to it. That's what they said. The message has gone out and the whole world is just dull to it. Dead to it. It's just dead. We get it, don't we? Just dead. That's what they said. They're all just dead. They're just sitting still, just totally lulled to rest. Verse 12. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, Oh, Lord of hosts, how long will thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and 10 years? They were in captivity for 70 years. And he said, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem? How long? How long? The ones you made this covenant to, the ones you made this promise to. Verse 13, and the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, cry thou saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem. And for Zion with a great jealousy. I am jealous for my people. I will not forget my people. I will not leave my people. I will not let my people go. They will be kept. I'm jealous for them. With a great jealousy. Verse 15, And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease. or I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities, through prosperity, shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. David said, Although it be not so with my house, And you know, we can say that with others that we know, but we can say it with this house right here. Our soul lives in this house. Soon, we're going to get a mansion. Right now, we live in a tent. And although it be not so with my house, the Lord has made an everlasting covenant concerning me, and he is going to fulfill his covenant. He's going to honor that covenant, although the whole world sits in indifference and unbelief, unmoved by the voice of the Lord. And I'm going to tell you this. We are the world. We are included in the world. The whole world sits unmoved by the voice of the Lord. He said, my house is going to be built. It's going to be built in my people. It's going to be built in Jerusalem. I want the voice of the Lord to break this cedar tree. I want the voice of the Lord to thunder to me. My house is going to be built. My people will not naturally come to me, but I'm going to gather them. I'm going to get them. My sure covenant mercies will draw them. I will place them on the straight line, that cornerstone of Christ. And I will comfort them. I will confirm to them that I have chosen them. I've chosen Jerusalem. I will comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem, he said. My house is going to be built. God's church is going to be built. It is going to be built. He is going to get His people. He is going to put faith in them. They are going to believe. They will come. They will hear. They will bow. His church is going to be built. Verse 18, Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns, And I said unto the angel that talked with me, what be these? And he answered me, these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." The horns in the scripture, when you look at different portions of scripture that say that, it means strength and power. Like when Hannah prayed, my horn is lifted up, my strength. These are wicked, spiritual enemy powers because they spread abroad God's people. They scattered Judah, Israel, Jerusalem. Verse 19, I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? He answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four carpenters. He said, I'm going to build my church. And he showed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head. But these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah, to scatter it." The commentary writers listed a whole bunch of things that these horns, these strengths and powers could be. They listed a whole bunch of things that these carpenters could be. Let's just say this. Whatever these enemies are, they come from all sides, north, south, east, west. And whatever those carpenters are, we know who the carpenter is. We know who the carpenter is. The word carpenter here means craftsman, it means artisan, it means smith, worker. Meaning if this horn, if this strength or this power was iron, the carpenter is the blacksmith who molds and shapes and makes that iron into whatever he wants it to be. And what our Lord is saying in Zechariah 1 is, even though the whole world has sinned against me, I'm going to redeem my people. I'm going to build my house and no matter what comes in the process of this building, no matter what opposition, no matter what comes, I will rule over all of it. I will make what I want to out of it for the purpose of accomplishing and bringing to pass my will and my desire and everything that I'm pleased to do. And as we have seen in the rest of the book, And as we know of our Lord, that's exactly what he's done. That's exactly what he has done. He has declared his will and his desire and everything that he has been pleased to do. And no matter what comes, he's in control of it. He's sovereignly in control of it. And all of it will bring his bidding to bring his people to himself. And again, I don't know if we're gonna go through this or not, but if we do, we're gonna see start to finish. It's Christ be the glory. Start to finish, it's Him be the glory. Amen. All right, let's all stand together.