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(upbeat music) - You're listening to the unsafe Bible with Pastor Ken Brown. (upbeat music) - All is to return to Jerusalem, that's the stronghold. It's the only place in the Old Testament where that word is used in Hebrew that's not used anywhere else. Just right here, the stronghold. The cause to those prisoners who have the hope but what hope is that? Well, they're the ones who have prayed for and hoped for Messiah to come and rescue them. Zachariah will talk about that when we get to chapter 12, but it's those who have trusted in Christ during the tribulation have survived. - They have the hope. (upbeat music) - Have you ever longed for something deeply? - Graduation day, long awaited vacation, a dream job, a spouse, maybe even a child? As meaningful as those hopes are, Pastor Ken reminds you today of a far greater one, the Messiah. In the Old Testament, believers looked ahead to his first coming, the salvation he would bring. Now that Jesus has come, our hope is fixed on his return, his triumphant second coming, when he will reign as the true king of the world. Well, let's join Pastor Ken in the book of Zachariah chapter nine. As he continues his message, the king is coming. - We must understand that as we go deeper into the millennium, there's gonna be disagreements between nations. And Jesus is gonna resolve those. You and I, as believers in Jesus Christ, they're gonna be part of that government, part of that administration, and we may be involved in some of those. But peace is enforced from the throne down. The administration of the king is focused to ensure adherence to his programs globally, resulting in what we read here in Zachariah chapter nine, verse 10. The new covenant that Jeremiah talks about, and Jeremiah 31, 31, is now a full reality. It's in the process of taking place, but it'll be completely in place at this point. It began with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it's now fully in place and fulfilled. Ezekiel spoke of that day with Zachariah is now describing, "Moreover, I'll make a covenant of peace with him, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with him. I will establish them and multiply them, and I'll set my sanctuary in their midst forever more. My tabernacle also shall be with them, and indeed I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And the nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever more. When they see the temple, the millennial temple, built in Jerusalem, where the temple used to stand, and where there's this gold thing standing right now, when that temple is built, they will know that God is who He says He is, especially when God enters into it and self. In Jesus fully announced the inauguration of this new covenant as He had His final meal with His disciples. We read it in Luke 22, 20. The cup, after they eat, and He said this, this cup that is poured out saying, "What He is about to do on the cross." For you is the new covenant in my blood. We are in the new covenant now as believers in Jesus Christ because of what He did on the cross, to His death and resurrection. We are now part of that. As believers in Christ, the moment we become believers, we become joint heirs with Christ. And from Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, He's the first one, and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Here's what our future is. He has made us to be kings and priests to His God and Father. When you start looking at the number of people who will be on the planet living in human bodies during the millennium, there's gonna be a lot of folks. I'm a geek, okay? I like doing math. So I actually did some and was figuring how many people would be alive at the end of the millennium and my numbers come up to about one trillion. We're talking about a rather large population that is gonna have to have construction taking place almost immediately just to keep up with what the birth rate and the growth rate of the population is going to be. Yeah, there are gonna be a lot of jobs, a lot of jobs. And you still have to transport them every place too. So who knows what kind of transportation systems we're gonna have, but in the scriptures we read about them widening roads and putting new roads in to be able to take care of the traffic. Here's the thing, we're part of that family now if you're a believer in Christ. Paul goes through the details of it in Romans 8 and in verse 14, he says, "All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." So all of us as believers are sons and daughters of God. You did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry. Oh, Father, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God and if children and heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. So what is it that Christ receives from God? Everything. We are fellow heirs with Christ. What does that mean we receive? Everything he receives. He is our brother, he's not, we're fellow heirs with him. We are children of God. We are destined to displace the defeated disloyal sons of God who as Psalm 82 say now rule the nations. In other words, in Daniel he talks about the King of Persia and the King of Greece. Yeah, they won't be kings anymore. They will be replaced. Those are fallen angels. Believing followers of Jesus Christ are the fulfillment of God's plan to have humanity join the Divine Family Council and restore Eden. That was God's intent all along, was to have us be ruling the planet with Him and that's what He's intending to do at the end of the age. There's an amazing thing in the book of Hebrews and it points out exactly how important you and I are to Jesus Christ. Again, if you are in Christ, you are a son or daughter of God. Join heirs with Jesus Christ and He intends to make introductions to the Father down the road. In Hebrews chapter 2, starting in verse 10, we read this, "It was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist and bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of our salvation perfect who's suffering, for He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source." This is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers. This is Jesus. He's not ashamed to call his brothers and sisters. Saying, "I will tell your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." And again, I will put my trust in Him and again behold, "I am the children God has given me since therefore the children share in the flesh and blood." He himself, likewise, partook of the same things that through death, He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, are subject to life-long slavery. So here's the picture. He's going to stand in the middle of the divine counsel. We see a picture of that in Revelation chapter 4 and Revelation chapter 5. Jesus plans to present each of us individually by name to the counsel and to the Father. And He's going to sing a song about each of us. I have no idea what that song is about. But it does say that here in Hebrews that He's going to sing of us. How's that for an introduction into the family business that we're going to be serving Him in for all eternity? You can't get any better than that. Good night. And what we see here in Zachariah chapter 9 verse 10 is His dominion, His universal. It's not just Jerusalem, it's everywhere. You can't get away from it. Verse 11 and 12, "As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit." Now I'm going to have to unpack that so we can understand the terms He's using. They're more oriented towards somebody living in 500 BC. "Return to the stronghold you prisoners who have the hope. This very day I'm declaring that I will restore double to you." Yahweh is telling His people there in Jerusalem why He's doing all of this. And it's all because of Exodus 24, 8. And the actions that He took there pointing back to the original covenant that He made with Abraham back in Genesis 15 verses 6 to 90. That's the blood of the covenant, at least part of it. The contract God made was unilateral. God made that. They didn't make the Abraham did not make that. God did it. He made it and He made promises connected to that. And there were some curses connected to that too and they've been enforced. But God did not forget His covenant with His nation. He never has. And what's taking place at the end of the age with the coming of Messiah, both times, is all due to the blood of the covenant. And the Messiah, when He establishes the new covenant in His blood, it also becomes part of that blood as well. So it's talking about the old and the new and that's why they're able to gather together because of the accomplished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Verse 11. for you also because of the blood of my covenant, old covenant, new covenant, both in one set right there. With you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Set free from exile, in other words, for those listening, they exiled in Babylon, it's still very real, it just had happened. But there's another diaspora coming, that's the one that takes place as a result of Rome in 70 AD, and indeed the Jews are spread across the entire planet even today, they're starting to come home, but they're not all home yet. The covenant that was made at Sinai was sealed and ratified by blood, that's Exodus 24, it's still good. And the pledge to the nation for deliverance and help, that's still a good deal, even at the end of the age. It's a token of the everlasting covenant, it points to what it is that Jesus did on the cross whereby his blood, God's people are delivered from the bondage of sin, and we can live forever because the hay rolls from the dead. It also points out for us that God is not done with Israel yet, not at all. He considers all of the promises to Israel to be current and active and still things that he has to take care of. It's important for us today, 'cause there are some who actually teach, and I've been under some other teaching, that the church has replaced Israel. That's called replacement theology. Now people can believe in that, and still love the Lord and still be believers. It's not something we adhere to here at Calvary, we don't. Full disclosure though, the church I was saved in was into replacement theology, but they were still trying to get everybody saved. They just thought that the church had replaced Israel, it hasn't. And I did have a couple of classes in Bible school that taught that too, and I never quite understood that because I'd go back and I'd read Romans 11, and I'm going like, "But what about that?" Paul says, "God's not done with Israel yet." It's just not true. The church has not replaced Israel. The church has not taken over the promises that were made to Israel. The promises made to Israel are too Israel. So that's not something we teach, it's not something we believe. We don't adhere to replacement theology if anybody's familiar with that. I will never mention that again. It's one of the most dull and boring topics I've ever studied. Everything that will happen though, in that future day, the arrival of the king and the rule and reign of Messiah as absolute ruler and Lord over the entire earth, he's going to have his personal headquarters in Jerusalem. That'll be the headquarters of the king. And it's all made possible by what he did on the cross, by the blood of the covenant. So the word here is for the godly remnant. God's going to be the one who delivers them. And he's the one who's going to take him out of the dry sister, the waterless pit. Okay, it's just, they would dig sisters in Israel to hold rainwater, and if you didn't do it right, it wouldn't hold water, and if it broke, it would just go into the soil and it wouldn't retain the water at all. It just became a big worthless hole in the ground. But it's also a reference to captivity. And it's a tie-in to what happened that Jeremiah actually talked about. He said that the nation was busy doing this when they weren't serving the Lord. Their ancestors dug the original sisters, but if the sisters dry again, it's cracked or it's just worthless. And in Jeremiah 2.13, Jeremiah says, "This is what they were doing at the time." My people have committed two evils. They forsaken me, evil number one, the fountain of living waters, that's who he is. And Jesus came, and he announced to everybody, in the temple that he is the living water. And Hune for themselves are actually made for themselves, sisters, broken sisters that can hold no water. They thought they could save themselves by doing something entirely different, through works of some kind. So it's a double sin, they've given up God, but they're also busy trying to save themselves. And actually in reality, they wind up making themselves prisoners of that hole in the ground. And by the way, there are two people who were prisoners in sisters. One is Joseph. He was thrown into a dry sister and sold into slavery. And the other one was Jeremiah. Simply a follower of God, he was giving them the word of God, telling them what, don't do this or Nebuchadnezzar will destroy the city. They did it, they threw him into a sister. And the one that pulled him out was Nebuchadnezzar. He saved him out of the sister. Simply because he spoke the word of truth, he spoke with God, had to say. The picture is one of captives being set free, and on top of that, restoration, being restored back. Verse 12, "Return to the stronghold, "you prisoners who have the hope." This very day I'm declaring that I will restore double to you. The call is to return to Jerusalem. That's the stronghold. The call is to those prisoners who have the hope. Well, what hope is that? They have the hope that Messiah is gonna come and save them and take them out of harm's way. While in exile, they held onto the hope of Messiah coming for them, that they would be saved. Now at the end of the age, having been liberated by the Messiah, they are free to return to the stronghold. They can return to Jerusalem. That's the place where Messiah is. Remember his headquarters will be in Jerusalem. He's the king of the world, ruling from Jerusalem. And as they return, they're told by the Lord, he's not simply going to restore them, but he's going to restore double to them. This is a reversal of what they were told in Isaiah. In Isaiah 40 verse two, they were told to speak kindly to Jerusalem. Tell them her time of warfare is over and her punishment's completed. That's what we're talking about here. For the Lord has made her pay double for her sin. Okay, that's over. Now he's going to restore double. And as he restores, he will be restoring double to them. When Messiah returns, King Jesus will save and deliver the people of Jerusalem. Now Zacharias is going to go into detail of that before we're done with the book. But it's Messiah who is the one removing his people out of the pit. They are able to return only because he's the one who achieved the victory. Nobody else has done this. Jesus did this. And not only the victory on the cross, but what he's going to do militarily as he returns to save his people at the end of the age when they repent and ask Messiah to save them. As he returns, he makes those of the remnant of his people into mighty warriors as they join with him. Verse 13, "I will bend Judah as my bow." Really, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons Zion against your sons Greece. And I will make you like a warrior's sword. Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning, and the Lord God will blow the trumpet and march in the storm winds of the south. The Lord here is depicted as a warrior, and he comes into the city, and he makes use of his people as weapons against the armies of the beast. That's what he's doing. Later we read in Zacharias 14, 14, that at Armageddon not only has the king returned, but Judah will fight at Jerusalem. We get detail about that in Zacharias 12, in verse four. On that day declares the Lord, "I will strike every horse with confusion, "and it's right or with insanity, "but I will watch over the house of Judah "while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness." The clans of Judah will say in their hearts, "The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strong support "for us to the Lord of armies." Is that term again, Lord of armies? They're God. On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a fire pot among pieces of wood and the fliming torts of uncheaves, so they will consume on the right and on the left all the surrounding people. In other words, they become warriors. What he's talking about. The inhabitants of Jerusalem will again live on their sites. The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than that of Judah. On that day, the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the one who is feeble among them on that day will be like David. And the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them, and on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that came against Jerusalem. In other words, as Jesus returns, and Messiah comes to Jerusalem, those who are there become mighty warriors, fighting on behalf of the Lord, and he takes the one who who is the weakest and says, you're gonna be just like David was. Nothing will make you fear at all. Verse 13, a second part of it, I will stir up your sons Zion, talking about those who live in Jerusalem against your sons Greece, and I'll make you like a warrior sword. So what we have here is Yahweh shows us, here's my arsenal. When I come back at the end of the age, here's my weapons. The arsenal is a divine battlebow. It consists of Judah and Ephraim, and I've got a divine sword, and it's Zion Jerusalem. The former will be shot against the sons of Greece. Now that could be pointing to the future beast, but it also is in here, talks a little bit about what's going to happen just in a couple hundred years with Antiochus Epiphanes when the Maccabeeans revolt against them and the Jews kick them out. So you got two things going on here, just like we had two things going on in the first part of Zachariah. How these weapons are going to function is unclear, but it, Judah and Ephraim will be engaged in battle on behalf of Yahweh at the end of the age once Jesus returns. We read the scriptures and we think, oh, it's all over with just like that, 'cause he's here, but what we read is, looks like he's also using his people to help achieve that victory. Earlier, we were dealing with the picture of Alexander, the great, being a type of Christ, and now we get a reference to Greece. At the end of the age when Jesus returns, he's gonna use these two tribes who used to be at each other's throats as his primary long-distance weapon, 'cause it's a battlebow, it's for long-distance shooting. They're the ones who are gonna be going planet-wide as part of the Mop-Up operations after Armageddon is complete. The picture is one of a reunited Israel operating together. Greece is referenced here as a picture of, you know, the future problems they're gonna have with Antioch, 'cause I think it talks about that, but it's also talking about the future day when Messiah returns in power into the age. You know, the sons of Javan, which is some versions we'll read that, is the Greco-Masadonian monarchy that Daniel talks about, but the Lord's gonna make his people into a hero's sword. They're gonna take care of them as a picture. So what they did to the Maccabeeans did to the Greeks is just a picture of what will happen at the end of the age when the Lord strengthens his people and he does this to the entire armies of the nations. Don't restrict it just to that. He's gonna turn them into a battlebow, he's gonna turn them into mighty warriors, and he's going to use them to help finish the battle planet-wide. What we see here in Zachary at 913, it was partial fulfillment with the Maccabeean revolt, but final fulfillment is still coming. That's gonna be at the end of Armageddon. In verse 14, we read that the Lord will appear over them, and a lot of commentators will sit there and say, "Well, that's just a vision, that's a theophane, but think about modern warfare." The Lord will appear over them. What it talks to is the Lord is using the ground troops is real, and he's air support. He's what it sounds like. Kind of, I was in the Air Force, give me a break. That's what it sounds like. I think it's more, I think it's as literal, this is literally what's going to happen at the end of the age. In the book of Zachary, we read, Messiah comes in for a landing at the Mount of Olives. That's in Zachary, I have 14-4. When his foot touches down, Mount of Olives splits in two and creates this valley, the terrain changes. In the book of Revelation, we read this in Revelation 19. Verse 11, "I saw the heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and wages war." In other words, he's coming down from the sky. This has been the unsafe Bible with Pastor Ken Brown. Today's message comes from a study that Pastor Ken has been leading us through in the book of Zachariah. This book was written shortly after the Israelites returned from exile as they were still rebuilding their homeland. While they struggled to rebuild a fallen kingdom, God was inviting them to a kingdom that will endure forever. That eternal kingdom is open to you as well. If you'd like to learn more about how you can be a part of the kingdom of God, we'd love to help you on your next steps. You can visit us online at theunsafepible.com and then click on the Connect Card button in the Connect tab. There you can fill in your information and let us know how we can be praying for you. And we can help you get connected with resources to teach you more about following the Lord. If you'd like to hear more messages from this series on the book of Zachariah or on any other book of the Bible, you can find a message archived by clicking on the media tab. Also, if you happen to be in Hope Sound, Florida, we'd love to invite you to worship with us in person at Calvary Chapel Martin County. You'll find more details about our services on our website. We believe that worshiping in person with other believers is one of the most important ways to strengthen your relationship with Jesus. Well, there's plenty more to unpack from the book of Zachariah. Pastor Ken will be back soon. For another message, straight from God's word, until next time, thank you for joining us today here on the unsafe Bible.