foundation series #16

Well, we are going to be finishing up Zechariah today. I will probably take some of you out of your comfort zone today simply because we are going to look at some texts that you are rather familiar with and put them in a context that you are probably not familiar with; So bear with me. We will start with verse one of chapter 14: The day of the Lord is coming when the spoil that you have gathered for yourself will be taken from you while you watch. 2For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

I’ll stop there for now. Now the easy thing to say is that this is a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And it may be but it may also be a picture of what Jerusalem looked like before John the Baptist came on the scene. That is how bad the situations was when John and Jesus came on the scene. The nations had ravaged Jerusalem by that I mean that they were no longer thinking biblically they were thinking like unbelievers. They were under the dominion of the Romans but not in just a political way. Even if they had been a free nation they were still under bondage to unbelief. They were the church in form only. I think we are too used to thinking like unbelievers in our day like those people were in theirs. We see people prospering and we must think that they are blessed but you can’t always tell from the outside what is blessing and what isn’t. Winning the lottery sounds like a blessing but ask somebody who’s one and then gotten themselves in a lot worse situation because of it. People envy the US because they think it is prosperous but we are not prosperous we are ravaged in our land, absolutely ravaged. We are in bondage, we are not free. We don’t know what freedom is and if we do know what true freedom is we don’t want it because true freedom means to be responsible and we don’t want that.

I want you to remember the context of who this prophecy is begin given to. It is being given to a people who have just come out of captivity to Babylon. It is written almost 600 years before the fall of Jerusalem. It’s important that we understand that God moves slowly. He give his people plenty of time, plenty of rope to either hang themselves on the path of destruction or lift themselves up onto the path of life. We have difficulty thinking long term. We don’t see ourselves as related to the pilgrims who came to this land in the 1620’s but we are and integral part of this single nation that has developed over the course of time. Now if God is consistent with the way he does things then it may be that we are not as near the end of our nation as we think. If we start the clock with the pilgrims in the 1620’s that means we will only be at the 400 year mark in 10 years. So it may be that we still have the opportunity to change the outcome for our nation. Regardless, our call as believers is to press toward righteousness and to disciple the nation that we are a part of to the best of our ability in the time that we have been given. Our responsibility is now; not in the past or in the future but now, today. That is all that we have been given is today and it is always today for us. So we must press on with hope in the day that we have been given because we aren’t promised tomorrow.

Another important point that we need to understand is that about 100 years after Zechariah, Malachi came on the scene to prophecy in the name of the Lord and after him there were no words from the Lord for 400 years. I want you to understand that church continued. People were religious but they had so hardened their hearts that God refused to speak to them again until John the Baptist comes on the scene calling them to repentance.

I think as long as there are men faithfully proclaiming the word to the flock, calling out for repentance that there is hope for repentance. Now I will admit that there are very few in the land but few is not the same as none. If you can remember the last time I spoke I mentioned Elijah and I want to remind you of that again this week. The passage is 1 Kings 19 and I want to read some of that for proper context: Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." 3And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers." 5He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, "Arise, eat." 6Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you." 8So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 9Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10He said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." 11So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD " And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14Then he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." 15The LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; 16and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17"It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. 18"Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

I think that this is important for us to understand because God has not, I want to repeat that so you can hear it: God HAS NOT Forsaken his people. Now I’m not going to try and say who God’s people are because I can’t see hearts. Like Elijah sometimes I’m ready to say, I can’t do this just take me out of here. But God is not finished working in this land. If he were finished then we would already be fallen. It is important to understand the difference between leaning and falling. If we haven’t fallen there is still hope.

This is what God says to Elijah. Quite moping around. Quite having a pity party for yourself and press on into what I have called you to do: make disciples. The end of the culture is not your concern. I raise up cultures and I bring them down not you. Your job is to do the tasks that you are called to do today. The outcome is in my heads. Be faithful to my word to the best of your understanding and ability and I will do exactly what needs to be done.

The enemies are not your worry. Ahab and Jezebel can’t do anything to you unless I give the word. You have nothing to fear from them and everything to fear from me if you don’t do what I say. I raise giants up and I bring them down. You walk on the path of life. That is all that matters.

As long as we are breathing there is hope. I don’t want you to be without hope in this world. There’s enough of that to go around without the people of God getting sucked into it. I know times are hard; but hard is not the same as hopeless. I want you to be encouraged that God HAS NOT given up on us.

I hope that you are beginning to understand that this thing called the kingdom of God is so much bigger than what we do here on Sunday mornings. I want you to hear this: Worship is not about the music you sing or the order of service. I know that some Sundays we sound pitiful in here but you know what: the songs we sing are a minimal part of worship. They mean next to nothing in the big picture of worship. The word worship means to bow down, to submit yourself to God. We have so dumbed its meaning down that all we think of is music or Sunday morning service. Well, that is just wrong. Worship is what you do 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You either worship God by being obedient to him or you worship yourself by doing what you want to do. None of what we do is for our entertainment or pleasure. We are servants of the living God and doing his will is all that matters and he doesn’t care what kind of songs we sing. He doesn’t care what the format of the service is. He only cares about whether you are walking humbly before him. If you are doing that then you are worshipping God. If not then all the beautiful music in the world will not get you any closer to God.

Back in Zechariah we read: 3Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. What I see here is that God promises to war against everything that is opposed to his way of doing things. Everything that raises it head in contradiction against God and his word, in you, in me, in our families, in our workplaces, in our government. God is at war with all these things. This passage prophecies that there will come a day when God will make a stand. Now we are so used to seeing this in the context of a literal even sometime in the future that I think we may miss what the passage is saying. It says there will come a time when God is going to make a stand and 4In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.

Again I believe that this is talking about the time right before the coming of Christ. It is a unique time the light has almost gone out. No prophets have been proclaiming the word of the Lord for 400 years. The bride of Christ is basically abandoned her husband though she parades around as if she a sweet innocent thing just waiting for her hubby to return but the truth is underneath the wedding dress she’s a prostititue. This passage say in the evening, just before the light goes out for good there will be a light. I believe that was the time when John the Baptist and then Jesus came on the stage.

Verse 8 tells us that in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.
In the book of John chapter 7: 37Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" 39But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The living water came after the work of Christ was complete. After Jesus became king of kings his first act in power was to send the living water to his people.

Notice the next verse: And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one. 10All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin's Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses. 11People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security. 12Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another's hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. 14Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 15So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps. 16Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

I believe what we are seeing here is what is going on in our midst today. Since Christ has been seated on the throne at the right hand of the father ruling and reigning we need to understand that he is blessing and cursing nations according to the new covenant with God. Any nation that refuses to walk in obedience to the king of kings is going to be destroyed in a most unpleasant way.

Part of our problem in seeing this is our short term vision. We think that all of this things are going to happen in the blink of an eye but nowhere in this passage does this say it is going to be quick. It simply says that it is going to happen. Is jesus king now? Is Jesus ruling and reigning now? Is the living water present on the is planet? The answer to all of those things is yes. And so this stuff is going on right here, right now in our midst and it has been going on for 2000 years. God is raising up a people for himself and he is destroying everybody else. That is what is going on in our midst right now.

I want you to understand that your life is not about you. It is not about what you like to do, or eat, or watch on tv. You life is about staying on the path of life. Walking in the commandments. It’s not about you. It’s about God raising you up or casting you down. That is true for us, true for our families, true for our cities and every nation on this planet. If you are not with Christ you are against him even if you happen to reside in the middle east. The king is ruling and reigning now. The question is are you going to submit to him or not. You can call yourself a Christian all day long but if you are not walking on the path of life you are going to be the receipient of covenant curses. Those curses will either destroy you or bring you to repentance. If your life is a mess, your family is a mess maybe you better take a look at what is going on by like the Jews before Jesus came you are just religious but your faith isn’t in God it’s in you. If your faith is in you then you are going to be destroy and it will be as history has shown us over and over again a long slow destruction. Maybe you will be able to fool the outside world but God sees the heart, you may look good while you are being destroyed but you will be destroyed.

I want you to understand that things have changed since the day the work of Christ was completed and he sat at the right hand of the father. He rules and reigns now. He has not stopped. He will not be defeated. He is rulling and reigning now and he will continue to do so until everyone and everything that is his enemy has been defeated and destroyed. He is continually working to that end. There is coming a time on this planed when holiness will reign supreme. The church will once again be full of righteousness, walking on the path of life. We are moving in that direction now though it is hard to see it in this age of rebellion. There will come a day when the majority of people will be walking on the path of life. Verse 20 tells us: In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "HOLY TO THE LORD " And the cooking pots in the LORD'S house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.
I want you to especially be aware of that last line. There will come a time when there will be no unbelievers in the house of the Lord. The body of Christ will no longer be filled with sheep and goats. The church will be refined and all that are in the church will worship 24 hours a day 7 days a week by walking on the path of life. Self worship will be gone. All that will matter is being obedient to the king of kings and lord of Lords.

All I can say to that is Come Lord Jesus. Let’s do this thing.

Let’s pray.

Oh father have mercy on us. Purge wickedness from our hearts. Put us on the path of life and make us stay there. Change our hearts oh lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.