Zechariah Sermon Series: Sermon 22
1-12-25 – Jerry Mongello
Zechariah 9 – Part 1
[2 Corinthians 5:1-8 NKJV]
1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Prayer
For Nayt’s family, Tom & Deb, Ella & Jacob.
For California fire victims and families who lost loved ones.
Introduction
Zechariah chapters 9 through 14 are considered the second half of Zechariah’s prophecies. Like chapters 1 through 8, they will deal with the judgment of the nations, the first and second coming of the Messiah, and His Messianic kingdom. Chapters 9 through 14 cover the same prophetic time period involving the overthrow of the Gentile world powers and the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom. This great prophecy of the Messianic future involves two prophetic oracles or burdens. The first oracle embraces the first advent and the rejection of the Messiah, the Shepherd King (chapters 9 through 11), and the second advent and the acceptance of the Messiah, the Shepherd King (chapters 12 through 14).
The unity and scope of Zechariah’s prophecy bind these two main sections of the book to argue against more than one writer of the book of Zechariah. When the enemy has no way to argue against the accuracy of prophecy in the word of God, by the supernatural power of God working through ordinary men, they generally make fact-less claims that there is more than one writer. Some examples: Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah.
[Zechariah 9:1 NKJV]
1 The burden of the word of the LORD Against the land of Hadrach, And Damascus its resting place (For the eyes of men And all the tribes of Israel Are on the LORD).
We are getting into the destruction of Damascus now, when Syria is in the news.
[Isaiah 17:1-3 NKJV]
1 The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from [being] a city, And it will be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer [are] forsaken; They will be for flocks which lie down, and no one will make [them] afraid.
3 The fortress also will cease from Ephraim, The kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Syria; They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” Says the LORD of hosts.
i. Josephus’ account of Alexander’s meeting with the high priest is fascinating (Antiquities 11.8.4-5):
Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua, the high priest, when he heard that, was in agony and under terror, as he did not know how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his prior disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications and should join with him in offering sacrifices to God, whom he besought to protect that nation and deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them. Whereupon, God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, adorn the city, and open the gates. He was to have the rest of the people appear in white garments, but he and the priests should meet the king in habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced and declared to all the warning he had received from God. According to the dream, he acted entirely and so waited for the coming of the king.
[Daniel 7:1-14 NKJV]
1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head [while] on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
2 Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.
4 The first [was] like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
5 And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and [had] three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
6 After this, I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
7 After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
8 I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, [were] eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
9 I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment [was] white as snow, And the hair of His head [was] like pure wool. His throne [was] a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire;
10 A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened.
11 I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
12 As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13 I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom [the one] Which shall not be destroyed.
[Daniel 8:1-7 NKJV]
1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared [to] me–to me, Daniel–after the one that appeared to me the first time.
2 I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I [was] in Shushan, the citadel, which [is] in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai.
3 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and there, standing beside the river, was a ram which had two horns, and the two horns [were] high; but one [was] higher than the other, and the higher [one] came up last.
4 I saw the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, so that no animal could withstand him; nor [was there any] that could deliver from his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.
5 And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat [had] a notable horn between his eyes.
6 Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power.
7 And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.
[Zechariah 9:2-4 NKJV]
2 Also [against] Hamath, [which] borders on it, And [against] Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3 For Tyre built herself a tower, Heaped up silver like the dust, And gold like the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out; He will destroy her power in the sea, And she will be devoured by fire.
God prophesied the destruction of Tyre. I noticed that Tyre’s judgment is not like Sodom and Gomorrah, which God destroyed all at once. Tyre was over hundreds of years, but it was accomplished just as the Lord said. Too many people look at the Old Testament as a group of stories with no purpose or meaning to us today.
[Romans 15:4 NKJV]
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Remember Genesis 12:1-3
God is against Tyre and Sidon: These were the two major cities north of Israel, in the land of Lebanon. Tyre was an important commercial city that was thought to be impossible to conquer. The Assyrians laid siege against Tyre for five years but could not conquer it. In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great took the city by building a causeway to the island fortress.
