COMING SOON

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Thank you for your patience. Zechariah chapter one, I’ll be reading the first six verses the introduction to the prophet Zechariah. Please give your full attention now this is the word of our God.

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In the eighth month, in the second year of darious, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Versailles, son of Edo, saying, the Lord was very angry with your fathers, therefore say to them, thus declares the LORD of hosts, returned to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Do not be like your father’s, to whom the former prophets cried out, that says, The Lord of Hosts returned from your evil ways, and from your evil deeds, but they did not hear or pay attention to me declares the Lord, Your father’s, where are they in the prophets do they live forever? But my words and my statutes which I commanded and my servants the process, It’s the not overtake your father’s. So they repented and said as the Lord of hosts, purpose to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us?

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So far the reading of God’s Word May he had his blessing upon it.

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Well As some of you may know, the word the name Zechariah is a compound word, from two Hebrew words, one Hebrew words, one Hebrew word is a car, which root word means to remember. And then yeah, whenever you see a Hebrew word ending in yatse, as a reference to the Lord to Yahweh, that’s from which we get the name. Yahweh is a car yas Zechariah. And together that name Zechariah means Yahweh remembers Yahweh the covenant name of our covenant Lord, personal name of our Lord, Yahweh. Remember As the Lord remembers

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a few reminders about the Old Testament of the prophets, particularly of the so called minor prophets and their importance to us, we want you to remember what the Apostle Paul told us. Remember in Romans 15:4, where he said, for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of script, the scriptures, we might have hope, we might have hope. Isn’t that a beautiful text? Isn’t that a beautiful sentiment, a beautiful declaration, a wonderful expression of God’s sovereignty on the one hand and his Tender Love, on the other hand, right that whatever was written was written for our instruction that through endurance, and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope, might have hope

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and want to remember that the prophets of the Lord we’re covenant lawyers, reminding the people of the covenants They prosecuted a lawsuit against the rebellious Israelites throughout the Old Testament. And let’s now look at the context of the prophet Zechariah. Historically, where he fits in his setting his context, history, you know, is a funny thing. It’s an interesting thing, the further and further you get away from a particular event or time period, the fuzzier it gets and the fuzzier The details are, becomes less and less clear and begins to bleed into other periods of time and other epochs and events.

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I remember as a child, speaking with my dad and asking him questions about things that happened even prior to World War Two, as if he was living at those times. And I couldn’t grasp the idea that he hadn’t lived and experienced all of history. And of course, this is one of those things that children do. Children sometimes think such things of their parents when they were very young. Your kids may have asked you or you may have asked your parents about time. Back then, or times in the olden days, right was a phrase that we used to hear things get fuzzier and fuzzier and incomplete and the absence of a clear, hard and fast timeline in our memory.

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And even for those who know about the Old Testament, sometimes their understanding and their thinking of the Old Testament, go something like this. They get the big major parts and they they recall creation, of course, and then the period of the patriarchs, and then Joshua, Joseph rather, and and they go into Egypt, remember, and then there’s oppression of the Israelites, and then delivered through Moses, and the exodus from Egypt. And then the handoff to Joshua, in the conquest into the promised land. And then the cycle of judge the judge is coming. There’s that cycle you’ll recall, of disobedience and then deliverance, right, this will be instant deliverance again and again, the cycle Then we have kings rise up right? First Saul and then David. And then Solomon after him, the height of Israel’s kingdom, the Golden Age, the Solomonic kingdom. And then the north and the south split. And eventually they go into exile the north and then the south, in exile, Israel in exile.

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This is where much of the teaching and thinking stops, people think of Israel. People got in exile. Many think that the Old Testament ends with that captivity and exile for the people of God. And then along comes the New Testament.

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But that’s not how it goes. Old the Old Testament does not end there with the people of God in captivity in exile. The Old Testament ends with the restoration of God’s people in 537 BC, and the renewal of God’s people and their return to their Promised Land.

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Well, this morning we’re going to look at a clover take a closer look at these things at the profits, right particularly at the prophets and the covenants, and then the pictures and purposes of what they were doing, what they were doing the warning and the blessing that was going on, and we’re going to look at the glorious hope of heaven, to which they, they all pointed. So let’s remember that the prophets, they were covenant lawyer sent to remind God’s people of their covenant with him. Zechariah It was like the rest of the prophets was a covenant lawyer. His name again means what it means the Lord remembers. He warns of the judgment to come if they continue in their disobedience. The prophets also told of the hope that would come in the Messiah, this one who would come to Christ, this one who would come and accomplish all that the people cannot accomplish on their own.

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And so we must back up as we enter in to look at this Old Testament prophet. It’s profitable. The time of the exile after the exile, and asked what is the Lord so upset about? And what is God so upset about what covenant is in question here? And of course, it’s the Mosaic Covenant. And it’s that covenant that God made with Moses on Mount Sinai. Right? It’s the law, the Decalogue and the rest that was unfolded at that time, and why does the word come back again to this again, and over and over? Because it’s the story of redemptive history and redemptive history is structured around covenants, Grace and law covenants.

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We need to ask, right, this should bring us to ask ourselves, do we want to stand before God on the basis of your own works and merit, right required by law covenant, on the basis of another’s work in merits right grace covenant, a covenant that is His grace Mosaic Covenant was meant to show them that they can’t do it. They’re not good enough. It was meant to show them just how foolish and futile that thinking was. And God teaches this lesson as you know, if he has, you’re familiar with your old testament, he teaches this lesson over a long history of Israel over 1500 years, again and again.

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In the lesson and the purpose of the law was to show what it would be like to stand before a holy and just God perfectly holy, perfectly just based on our own obedience, our own works, our own righteousness. And the outcome as you know, would be what? Its blessing for obedience, and curse for disobedience. Right? This is the structure of what we see in brief in the covenant made with Adam in the garden. But remember more fully Deuteronomy, write that book way, way back in the front of your Bibles. Deuteronomy the second giving of the laws, what it means second law. And it’s in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. Starting verse 15, and four there were there we find the curses for disobedience, the sanctions of failure to keep covenant with the Lord. Right, the first part of Deuteronomy is what it would be like if they obeyed the covenant to which they swore. It’s like the curse on Adam reversed, right? And then the second part of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 20, talks about what happens if they disobey. Then it will be if you recall, cursing curse, curse here and curse there and curse everywhere. They will be taken into exile, away away from the promised land, sworn to them in this brothers and sisters is nothing less than a picture of what it’s like coming to God through the law and not through grace. The exile you see was a picture of nothing less than hell, eternal punishment. It was a picture of nothing less than hell. It’s what what it meant to be banished or exiled from God’s blessing to that place of banishment and cursing. The warning is a picture of how and for what, for what it was to teach. It was to teach what it would mean on a much larger scale. Right remember, what was Israel’s legacy? What was their legacy? It was disobedience. It was failure to keep covenant with God. Israel was shown time and again their failure to keep covenants and they fail again and again, to keep their end of the bargain there and of that covenant, they swore you’ll recall back in a Exodus quite enthusiastically about all of this. They said all that the Lord has spoken we will do with with this determination. The time after time, they did not keep all that the Lord has spoken for them to do. Then enter the prophets, the prophets, the Old Testament, it is they who come and they tell the people that God’s patience has run out, and the judgment is coming as a result. That’s why we read Jeremiah 25. Jeremiah 25 warns of this warns of exile, and the curses of Deuteronomy 28 are upon them. They’re going into exile. You know, you think what if ultimately, this had been their eternity, not just a picture of that eternity. Not headed to Babylon but headed to that eternal punishment, not to Nebuchadnezzar, but to the unquenchable fire. But what happens After that exile,

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the restoration, that piece that many, many people forget about, in the Old Testament, the restoration, the time of the restoration, the restoration period, after 70 years, God says he’ll punish now the exile honors those who have exiled his people. And then after that, would Israel have learned the lessons of their fathers? Or would they repeat their father’s mistakes once more, and again, and this is the main point, right? God calls people to repentance. And he does so with the promise of acceptance, right he calls them to repentance and promises them acceptance. He warns them from history of the reality of the perpetual unrepentant disobedience, that very thing will and in ultimate judgment and this is covenant that the prophets are persecuting. prosecuting rather? And what is the cup the context of Zechariah? Right again, back up and look, it’s 537 Israel returned from exile. And then 16 or 17 years later, we have that restoration period as it’s called their restore to the land. And this is the time to which Haggai and Zechariah date themselves to around five 512 512 BC. And so after the growth and expansion in the kingdom, and then the decline and then the devastation, remember the cry low ami, not my people, and then they’re taken into exile. And then God restores them back to the land. Zechariah his ministry begins there. But God’s providence, Cyrus, he reverses babylons policy set upon Israel in an order control these conquered people and to reduce the possibility, the possible threat and to control them. Cyrus returns them, the people to the land so that they will like him so that they will appreciate him and serve him. And he remember Cyrus even funded the people as he returned them. There’s an inscription that’s been found that reads, may they remember me when they return and build their temples. Right? This wasn’t a selfless act. And Cyrus the successor of course is derrius. Right. derrius was the successor and we read about this general time in the books of Sri Ezra and Nehemiah. And now Israel is back with the funding from Cyrus to begin to clean the rubble to clean the devastation of that temple that had been destroyed and to rebuild that temple. And remember the centrality of the temple for the people of God. The temple was center of the center of their whole life and their existence. There was a problem though, there was a problem. And that was this is that that newly built temple was not impressive. Not at all was it impressive? In comparison to the original temple, the new temple was like a tennis court inside of a football stadium. It paled in comparison. The previous Temple of Solomon was glorious, glorious. We know about this because of the book of Astra as chapter three. Ezra three we read of this, and it’s very, it’s very instructive and informative. Ezra chapter three, these three verses, verses 10 to 13. four verses rather, from Ezra chapter three verses 10 to 13. They read this and listen closely to what what’s going on. on here as your three chapter, Ezra three verse 10 says when the builders lay the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levi’s the sons of Asaph, with symbols to praise the Lord according to the directions of David, King of Israel. And they saying responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for He is good for a steadfast love endures forever towards Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praise the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Verse 12, but many of the priests and Levi knights and heads of fathers houses, old men, what’s in the first house or temple wept with a loud voice, when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, so many shouted aloud for joy. So that the people cannot distinguish

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the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the People’s weeping. For the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. See what’s going on there. There’s this contra distinction between these two peoples. So those who were exiled who returned and remember the glorious Temple of Solomon, they began to weep when they saw this little new temple was utterly pathetic compared to what they remember. But the young man, those who had been born in exile, they rejoiced and they laughed and they shouted for joy. And the tears and the laughter were mingled together and you couldn’t tell them apart as recess. You know, we must get a sense of the smallness of Israel when they come out of exile compared to when they came out. Egypt right when it came out of Egypt, you’ll remember they were over 100 I’m sorry, over a million people, not to mention the growth and the addition the expansion to them. They came out of the exile. There were about 50,000 people. quite a difference. Just a small, little remnants. Israel’s borders extended 200 miles in the past. Now the borders are merely 25 miles. They are small, they faced opposition. Their efforts to rebuild are challenged right by the Sumerians calm to harass and interrupt their efforts. And for 15 years the temple project remains dormant and they barely eke out an existence. What is needed by people who are in this condition in this state? Well, they need the trumpet call the Word of God This alone will stir God’s people to life again, and this is what Haggai and Zechariah do. The returners have been back for 15 years. And they first concentrated on building their own homes. They have undergone attacks, they’ve had poor harvests, and the Lord calls a guy to call them to put their relationships with him first, to get to building the house of the Lord. And the remnant do what they respond to a guy and then the Lord sends Zechariah to speak to the people. Sure, Shirley before Zacharias first prophecy, the temple rebuilding began. And so here we are with this orientation. Here we begin to look at Zechariah and look at the text now. Zechariah one. Verses 123. Very interesting says in the eighth month, you The second year Darrius, or Darius may pronounce it. The word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah the son of barraca son of Edo, saying, the Lord was very angry with your fathers. Quite literally what it says there is. The Lord was angry the Lord was with all your fathers in fury. He was angry with anger. For three therefore say to them, the Lord declares, fest declares the LORD of hosts, returned to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you says the Lord of hosts. Right now what I want to focus on here is look at the first line. The first thing that it says it says in the second year of derrius. Again, derrius was the successor to whom to Cyrus. This is not as it should be. This is humiliation for the Jewish people. It is pitiful Why is that? What is this telling us? It’s showing us that this prophet Zechariah in his word, it is dated according to the heathen King. I consider as we hear the opening of this prophecy, the humiliation of a book of Holy Scripture, to them, the Jews dated by a Gentile King. It is a constant reminder of their condition, their low condition of how bad things really were. They are no longer a sovereign nation. prophets usually open how they usually open with a date according to the kings of Judah or Israel, the king of God’s people. Listen to Isaiah how it opens. This book opens the vision of Isaiah the son of a mas which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah

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Jeremiah the words of Jeremiah son of He’ll Chi, one of the priests who were in knots and a toast and the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the king of Amman, king of Judah. And in the 13th year of his reign, or Ezekiel, On the fifth day of the month, it was the fifth year of the exile of King Joe Kim. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, the fifth year of the exile King jokin, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, and on and on we could look but not Zechariah Zechariah starts in the second year, various heathen King, and so this is a constant reminder that they’re in a bad way. They’re in a bad condition. They are no longer a sovereign nation. And although they are back in the land, they are still under a foreign King. They’re under foreign rule. It’s time of Zechariah they weren’t for very long, God sends this prophet Zechariah, reminding them of the sins of their fathers. Why? Because already they’re walking in those same sins. And then in verse two, there was a reminder of God’s previous anger. verse two, the Lord was very angry right with fury. With your father’s anniversary, there’s this call to repentance, with the promise of reception with the promise of acceptance. worthless, declares the LORD of hosts returned to me, I will return to you. And we’re not without hope. It’s not too late, that it has not yet come. And that was the purpose of the law was to teach to people that they can’t keep that law, they must seek grace. They must seek the Lord’s version, what he would bring whom he would bring that in that provision. They must see grace and that that would only be found in the Messiah. That’s the message Zechariah. Zechariah is one of the few prophets that ministered between the time of the exile and the coming of the Christ of the Messiah. Most of the prophets warned of the exile to come Zechariah ministers after the exile has happened, and that exile brought to close this great picture of what it would be like to stand before perfect, just Holy God on the basis of your own merits. So why the need of a prophet after exile? After the thread had come, and it’s happened? Why didn’t Jesus just come immediately? The answer, of course, is found in remembering the ultimate purpose of losing that promised land the land of Canaan. Remember what that was all about? The land was a picture of heaven. Right again, typified most glorious In the height of the Solomonic kingdom, the golden age of Israel, all of the wealth, all of the material substance, all of the people, all of the expansion of the land, the picture of the fulfillment of the Abraham hammock, promise, remember, seed and sand and strangers all of it glorious, all the sacrifices. It’s unfathomable. But that land was a picture of something greater is a picture of glory itself. A picture of heaven was never intended to be Israel’s true final consummate inheritance. It was to teach us of a more ultimate reality, the most ultimate reality. What needs to be learned is the seriousness of God’s requirements and our utter inability to keep those requirements. God intended to teach the people about heaven in about judgment of the last day through the failure of Israel. So Zachariah ministers between the exile and the coming of Christ to help us to make that oh so important connection between them between Israel’s history and failure and all men standing before God on the last day. His warning is greater than any warning that the old test that the other prophets brought. Why is that? Think about that for a moment. Why is Zechariah is more, more have more punch to it, and there’s a greater warning. And think about what what are New Testament reading this morning? in that great warning that comes that came in Hebrews chapter 12. Again, listen, Hebrews 1225 see that you do not refuse him who is speaking, for they did not escape. When they refused him who warned them on earth much less well, we escape we reject Him who warrants from heaven

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at that Time his voice shook the earth. Now he has promised once a more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. In this phrase, verse 27 says yet once more, it indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Brothers and sisters were to learn from history. They were written for our instruction, we are to learn from them, that we might have hope. And the picture is now behind you. And the true ultimate judgment is next. It’s what remains and if Israel lost the land standing in their own obedience, do we think that we will stand at the next judgment which is far greater And finally, in our own obedience? Do we think we are better than our fathers? Those who have gone before us? Or will you like them go into exile? But what’s the difference this time not to Babylon, but into the fires of eternal punishment forever. There will be no successive generations after that no more returning to the land after 70 years in exile, no more chances. It was a greater warning coming from Zechariah. The grading warning the greater warning is intended for all who would come after and hear that word was intended for us brothers and sisters. We cannot think as we are so want to do, God will not judge sin. Our generation will be better than past generations. I have told many of you in other other times and occasions when I first read the Bible, I could not believe how doltish the Old Testament Israelites were, how do they keep doing these things again, and again. We won’t do any better. I’ll don’t Are we when we fall and stumble and sand again and again, our generation will not be better than the past. My greater mornings intended for all of us who would think that and or that were righteous enough to stand before God in our own merits to measure up to that law. We cannot fool ourselves. We’re sinful even as those who had gone have gone before us, and another judgment is coming. If we are to escape it, if it will not be because of our own selves, in our own selves, our righteousness. That’s the reality that Zechariah wants to teach. It’s a greater warning greater than Jeremiah’s Eternity is in the balance. We’re to learn from the picture, because the reality is far more serious. The next exile again is eternity. And this is serious and dour news. It is. It is harsh and hard news. Yes. Just news that the world needs to hear. If we were to love them, they must hear it because it is the truth. But dear Christian, there’s hope. Not. That’s not the end of the story. That’s not all. The picture was not as a gracious God, praise God. He is a gracious God. He is holy and he is just Yes. And he is also altogether loving and gracious and merciful and tender and long suffering. And here’s the thing, brothers and sisters, and will come to close with this. Yes, there is a greater warning, even as we read in Hebrews 12. But there is a greater blessing from this word as well. greater blessing. And that greater blessing is the hope of heaven. The hope of glory, and the blessing is far greater than the picture just like the the warning was far greater than The picture of that warning exile was a picture of ultimate judgment. And restoral to the land was a picture of Ultimate Life in glory, heaven itself. How much greater is that. And that blessing is found not in trying to be more righteous than those who have gone before us. But in recognizing and admitting that we are not. It’s just running through the truth, that message that the Lord was trying to tell, all throughout redemptive history. It’s not to think that we are better and able to keep able to keep ourselves from falling, because we like them. In and of ourselves, are weak and depraved and unable to do so. We must be driven to the abiding word that does not fail. All of our forefathers have died,

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and the prophets have died. Zechariah says but the word of the Lord forever. And it speaks not only warnings from heaven, but glorious life giving words calling you to repent and turn to God. Its promises are as true today as they were back then. If you return to Him, He will return to you. What a wonderful promise from a wonderful God. A humble and contrite heart The Lord will not reject. The Word tells us and those who turn to Him will find grace in Christ through Christ. Somebody the Holy Spirit even now this morning speaking through the this word Zechariah. He guide us away from love of sin, and to the grace of Christ found only in the Gospel. May we hear Zechariah what he’s telling us. The Lord was angry with our fathers for despising the message that they heard maybe consider what that message was. And have you your friends, have you heard and dealt with that message of the gospel? We need to heed God’s warning and turn from our sin and turn to a cry to Christ and return to Him. We know for certain we know from this call to repentance, if we returned to him, his steadfast love and his steadfast and true promises that he will return to you. You’ve not come to him I plead with you. Go to him for life. Go to him. For with him there was what rescue and refreshing and together remarkable rejoicing and renewal Do not delay flee to the cross for life, even now. And for those of you who have done so, Who loves him who belong to him and have him as your dear powerful priest and King and Redeemer and Savior. Even as you fail, and struggle and stammer through life and even as you feel guarded when you do so, when you fail to love, and you fail to show respect, or when you’ve once again blown it, or evidence, that the sin that just seems impossible to dislodge its claws from your life, whatever that sin might be. Pride, self obsession, fear of man, refusing to admit once and for all, actually, I don’t know everything or lust or gossip whatever it might be brothers and sisters. You can and must know that Jesus Christ, the god man. He went to the cross, died, was buried and rose again on the third day to set you free from both the guilt and the bondage of those very sins. And for you, dear precious Christian, you who named the name of Jesus, he has taken away forever the punishment that those your sins deserve. And you brothers and sisters are free. You’re free you have found comfort and refuge and peace and salvation in this one Jesus Christ. And now you are free to go and live your lives for him to live with him. whole soul with all of your life. What greater news is there the NASS so go in peace and freedom and in the gratitude that meets the measures up to all that he has done for you. And as you and I struggle, brothers and sisters, we need again to be reminded, day by day and moment by moments. that the Lord has done to make that freedom possible, and be reminded of who we are in Christ. As we go back into our day to day lives when we go refreshed, and may we go taking the love of Christ, to a world that is essentially that love. Amen, spray. Heavenly Father, we delight to give you praise. Or even when we come before you and we hear a hard word, help us to remember to rejoice that there’s also a good word and that that hard word is true. And then it is indeed answered once again and always

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by the word of the good news of the gospel, in the life that is found in Jesus Christ. And so Lord, we pray that you would help us to remember help us to remember the truth of what you’ve done to satisfy these the needs of that covenants and to satisfy punishment of what failing to keep that covenant deserve Lord, we pray help us to believe what we have heard of us to live our lives. More and more increasingly from the the gratitude and the delight and the joy of all of these things. Lord, we praise You for Your mercy and your love and your grace. We ask that you would continue to be with us through the rest of this service and even into the rest of our weeks. Lord, we pray that we would indeed be that peculiar people, that displays a love that is not of this earth, that it only comes through the Holy Spirit. We asked us all in Christ’s name, amen.