Zechariah Sermon Series: Sermon 19
12-15-24 – Pastor Martin Saine
Pastor Martin summarized Zechariah 7 and digs into chapter 8.
Zechariah 7:8-14 Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.’ But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts. “But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
This is exactly what was foretold in Deuteronomy 30.
AND IT’S NOT THE ONLY TIME IT WOULD HAPPEN!
Luk 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
Luk 13:35 See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”
Mat 23:29-39 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”
- 70 AD – Destruction of the Temple
- 135 AD – Destruction of the City
Chapter 8 The overriding theme of this chapter is the Restoration, Peace, and Prosperity of Zion.
In this chapter:
- “Lord of Hosts” (armies) is used 18 times.
- “Jerusalem” – 6 times
- “Zion” – 2 times
- “Jealous” – 3 times
- “Remnant” – 2 times
- “Thus says the Lord” – 10 times
PROMISES MADE; PROMISES KEPT!!!
Zec 8:1-3 Again the word of the LORD of hosts came, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; With great fervor (heat, rage, fury) I am zealous for her.’ the Lord said “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “I am zealous for Jerusalem And for Zion with great zeal.”
Here He says I” am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great fury. ” This is some seriously strong language! God is PASSIONATE about Jerusalem!
The same yesterday, today, and forever……
Zec 8:3 “Thus says the LORD: ‘I will return to Zion, And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth (emeth- stability; figuratively certainty, truth, trustworthiness: – assured, establishment, faithful, right, sure, true, verity), The Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain.’
If God is returning to Jerusalem, He must have left!
See: Ezekiel 10:18-19, 11:23-25- the glory departs.
Question: When did (does?) the glory return?
Ezekiel 43:1-7
Mal 3:1 “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts.
AND
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
AND
Matthew 12:1-14
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “TELL THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, LOWLY, AND SITTING ON A DONKEY, A COLT, THE FOAL OF A DONKEY.’ ” So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!” And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER,’ but you have made it a ‘DEN OF THIEVES.'”
See Hosea 5:15-6:3
Verse 3 God says he will dwell in the Midst, or center of Jerusalem. Is that happening now?
(Eze 36, 37…)
See: Rev 11:13, 16:19, Zec 14:2
Promises made:
Zec 8:3 “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
‘I will return to Zion,
Zec 1:16 ‘Therefore thus says the LORD: “I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it,” says the LORD of hosts, “And a surveyor’s line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.” ‘
And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
Zec 2:10 -11 “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the LORD. Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth,
Isa 1:21 How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers.
The Mountain of the LORD of hosts
Isa 2:1-3 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.
Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The Holy Mountain
Jer 31:23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!’
Zec 8:4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Old men and old women shall again sit In the streets of Jerusalem, Each one with his staff in his hand Because of great age.
Isa 65:20 “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
Zec 8:5 The streets of the city Shall be full of boys and girls Playing in its streets.’
Jer 30:18 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, And the palace shall remain according to its own plan.
Jer 30:19 Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
Jer 30:20 Their children also shall be as before, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all who oppress them.
(No traffic!)
These represent the two most at-risk or defenseless groups of people who will be totally secured and safe in the streets of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem will be the mountain or stronghold of the Lord of Armies, the fortress of His power. All of those who dwell there will be under the care and protection of The King!
Zec 8:6 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, Will it also be marvelous in My eyes?’ Says the LORD hosts.
“If it is marvelous”- paw-law, by implication to be “too great or difficult”, or “to be beyond one’s power to do”.
Reference passages;
Gen 18:14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Exo 3:20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.
Exo 34:10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
Jdg 6:13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
Jer 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
Jer 32:27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
In essence, God is saying in vs 6 “Just because it looks too difficult or impossible in your eyes, is it impossible in Mine?”
