Shall we turn tonight in the prophecy of
Zechariah to chapter seven.
We have reached the third division of this
great prophecy.
We have mentioned that the prophecy falls into
four divisions.
The first section in chapter one, beginning at
verse one, through verse six, where we have
a call to national repentance.
Then as we concluded this morning the second
section, we found it to be a series
of eight visions given to Zechariah the prophet
in one night.
And beginning in chapter one through and verse
seven and going down through to the end
of chapter six, we have that division of
the visions.
Tonight we come and desire to take two
chapters together.
We shall read and comment as we go
along in chapter seven and eight.
Chapter seven and eight were written by the
prophet regarding an event that took place two
years later than when the beginning of the
prophecy was begun in chapter one.
It is quite noticeable, and sometimes it is
criticized because of this, that the prophecy was
not written consecutively at one time.
But two years later, the chapters before us
were written by Zechariah.
And later on, perhaps even two more years,
the rest of the prophecy was finished, beginning
with chapter nine, going through verse chapters fourteen.
We must say that God does not write
his word as perhaps men would always write
their books.
And so that gives us the reason for
the exhortation that Paul wrote to Timothy.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.
There is no question of doubt, there is
the great need of rightly dividing the written
word of God.
We humbly depend upon the teaching of the
Holy Spirit to do so.
And we look at the chapters tonight, together,
chapters seven and eight, which bring before us
a question, and then God's answer concerning the
question.
We read particularly tonight, beginning at verse one,
first of all through verse three.
And it came to pass in the fourth
year of the king, Darius, that the word
of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the
fourth day of the ninth month, even in
Chislew, when they had sent unto the house
of God Chereza, and Regemilech, and their men
to pray before the Lord, and to speak
unto the priests which were in the house
of the Lord of hosts, and to the
prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth
month, separating myself, as I have done these
so many years?
Here we have the presentation of the question
that came from the hearts of some of
the captives that had returned from Babylon.
The temple was being under construction.
The temple was perhaps finished two years later
than this occasion.
But as they saw the reconstruction of the
temple, the restoration of the city, under the
ministry of Ezra, Nehemiah, and the prophets Zechariah
and Haggai, there was a natural agitation in
the minds of the Jews in that day,
whether they should continue what had been self
-imposed national facts and sorrowing in regard to
the commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem, Solomon's
temple, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and the
ensuing events.
The captives in Babylon had unquestionably placed upon
themselves imposed facts that they might present to
God their sorrow, at least outwardly, for the
tragedies that had befallen their nation.
Now the question comes, shall we continue to
weep and keep the facts of the fifth
month as we have done so these many
years?
Now we have the Lord's answer in two
great ways.
In the rest of this chapter, beginning in
verse four and going down to the end,
we have the Lord answering through his servant
the prophet in a negative manner.
In chapter eight we shall see that the
Lord answers the question in a positive manner,
but let us look as we go to
verse four, and may we read from verse
four through verse seven.
For here we have the negative answer to
the question, and in this negative manner God
presents to them, through his servant the prophet,
a divine rebuke.
Then came the word of the Lord of
hosts unto me, saying, speak unto all the
people of the land, and to the priests,
saying, when ye fasted and mourned in the
fifth as well as the seventh month, even
though seventy years, did ye at all fast
unto me, even to me?
And when ye did eat, and when ye
did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves,
and drink for yourselves?
Should ye not hear the words which the
Lord hath cried by the former prophets?
When Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and
the cities thereof round about her, when men
inhabited the south and the plain.
Now from the context of the words of
Jehovah to the people and to the priests,
it is very evident that he rebukes them
for the fact they fasted, yes, but they
did not fast unto God.
There was no true sorrow, there was no
true repentance for what had taken place, and
particularly there was no sorrow and repentance for
the sins of the nation.
They were sorrowing, yes, but they were sorrowing
for their calamities that had overtaken them, and
the facts were self-imposed, but self-judgment
and humiliation were missing.
For God required the manifestation of true repentance
by a return to the obedience of his
precious word.
Now may we not apply the truth of
this to our own hearts and consciences?
We should not indeed manifest such conditions ourselves
because of the outward calamities that may overtake
us in life, but when there has been
the root cause of sin for the calamities
and for the sorrows that we feel, it
is the desire as well as true to
the character of God that there should be
genuine repentance, confession and sorrow for what we
know to have been sinned against him.
Now you find the Lord very plainly talking
to them.
At the end of verse seven, or five
rather, at the end of verse five, he
said, ye did not at all fast unto
me, and even when ye feasted, your fastings
were for your own self, and your feasting
was for your own self.
But now note, he reminds the ministry of
the prophets in the past that come to
the people of Israel, should you not hear
the words which the Lord had cried by
the former prophets?
When Jerusalem was in prosperity, when it was
inhabited in the cities round about, both in
the south as well as in the plain,
when God saw declension coming amongst his people,
he sent the ministry of the prophets.
May I say a word regarding the ministry
of God's prophets?
Prophets were never used by Jehovah until there
was spiritual declension and the threat of spiritual
apostasy in Israel.
May I go further to state, the reason
for prophetic ministry was because of the failure
of the priestly ministry.
Read the prophecy of Malachi, the last book
in the Old Testament, where God condemns the
unsafefulness of the priests, for the priests were
by God given the authority to teach the
people the word of God and present to
them the knowledge of Jehovah.
But when the priesthood failed to minister the
knowledge of Jehovah to the people of God,
there was a declension.
It may have began with the king, and
it would have been, and it was, continued
in the people.
Then God sent the ministry of prophets.
Prophetic ministry was always a call to repentance,
confession of their failure, repentance of their sin,
and seeking the Lord in genuine humiliation.
The Lord did not see it, and before
answering the question, which he does in chapter
eight, he rebukes the nation and the people
for thus not having been obedient in the
past to his required word.
Now note verses eight through ten, for here
the Lord tells directly what he expected and
what he had desired.
The word of the Lord came unto Zechariah,
saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion
every man to his brother, and oppress not
the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor
the poor, and let none of you imagine
evil against his brother in your heart.
Now these words are very clear and plain.
What God required was the practical righteousness of
their minds in the obedience to his words,
manifested in their conduct one to the other.
For what had existed, and you may read
it in the contemporary prophecies that preceded Zechariah,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, there had been the
oppression of the widows, there had been the
oppression of the fatherless, and of the stranger,
and of the poor, and there had been
that which manifested evil against their brethren, and
the failure to execute true justice, and showing
mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
My beloved, we can recognize a principle that
is divine.
God wants the fruitfulness of the life and
the testimony of the character to reflect the
obedience of his children to his precious word.
May we not transfer again the truth of
this to our own hearts, as well as
to our own character, to realize that God
desires his truth to be carried out in
righteous practice.
And God reminds the nation, I never saw
the evidences of my word being obeyed in
you.
That's why I sent the prophet.
Now note what God has to say regarding
their action to the former prophet, as we
begin reading in verse 11.
For then God tells of the disobedience, but
they refused to hearken.
They pulled away the shoulder and stopped their
ears, that they should not hear.
God speaks in admonition concerning the past history,
that the people of Israel have pulled away
the shoulder.
The inference or the illustration of this suggests,
as an oxen is seeking to be thus
burdened with its yoke, yet the shoulder of
the oxen resists the yoke that is being
placed upon it and pulls the shoulder away.
So the people of Israel refused to bear
the yoke that Jehovah put on them, and
that was the requirement of obedience to his
precious word.
Again, my beloved, may I say, lovingly to
you as well as to my heart and
conscience also.
Think of the words of the Lord Jesus
as a believer today.
When the Savior said in Matthew 11, 28
and 29, Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls.
My beloved, there is a yoke for the
believer, and that yoke certainly declares that he
requires our obedience and our submission to his
required word.
I think of the words that Hobson Taylor
once read when he said this statement that
I've never forgotten.
The greatest mission in the world is submission.
How true is that statement?
And God required submission to his word of
his people of old.
My beloved, it is the same principle today.
Oh my beloved fellow believer, may I encourage
you as well as exhort my conscience and
heart to be obedient to the precious word
of God, and let the spirit of obedience
and submission be ours to what he has
to declare and the responsibilities that he gives.
But they not only pull the shoulder away,
they stop their ears that they should not
hear.
Now you note the digression, you note how
they continued more and more to repel against
the required word of God.
First, resisting and pulling away the shoulder.
Second, stopping their ears, they did not wish
to hear what he has to say.
And then third, in verse 12, yea, they
made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest
they should hear the law, and the word
which the Lord of hosts hath sent in
his spirit by the form of prophets.
Now God brings the issue right down to
the conclusion, for what he says in the
next words covers the history of his judgments.
Now may I remind you, and think clearly
of this, these men had just passed through
70 years of captivity in Babylon.
They had recently returned to the land of
Israel.
They had now begun the re-establishing of
the house of God, the rebuilding of the
city and of the walls, and the restoration
of the testimony.
But God reminds them that their self-imposed
feasts had not been genuinely feasts or fasts
of repentance.
And he reminds them that because of the
former disobedience, now note at the end of
verse 12, therefore came a great wrath from
the Lord of hosts.
Therefore it is come to pass that as
he cried and they would not hear, so
they cried and I would not hear, saith
the Lord of hosts.
What a sad commentary on the disobedience of
God's people.
May I ask again, could there not be
written likewise, the sad commentary upon the disobedience
of the church through the centuries of time?
For when you and I see the conditions
that prevail today, may I say with all
my mismiss, the failure of the church is
due to the faithlessness of men.
And as you and I see the great
failure at the end of the church age
that prevails the testimony of the profession of
Christendom, it is due to failure to obey
the word of God.
Now may I ask, without condemning any particular
person or persons, may you and I realize
that even we ourselves have contributed our share
of the failure.
In a bible reading of many years ago,
probably 50, the failure of the church was
brought up by one brother as he thus
stated the conditions that existed even then.
And as he emphasized the failure of the
church, one of the older brethren and a
gifted brother said, brother, yet don't forget you
are a part of that failing church.
Yes, my beloved fellow believer, may you and
I humbly recognize that.
If you take the seven letters to the
seven churches of asian in revelations chapter two
and three, you find again and again in
every letter the repetition He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches.
And though their letters are addressed to seven
specific churches, yet the individual believer within each
one was given the responsibility to hear the
message, to hear it, and overcome the difficulty.
Oh may you and I certainly realize the
character of God is unchangeable.
But read on, he says, as they cried,
when I cried they would not hear, so
they cried and I would not hear, said
the Lord above, but I scattered them with
a whirlwind among all the nations, whom they
knew not.
Thus the land was desolate after them, that
no man pass through nor return, for they
laid the pleasant land desolate.
Beloved, the seventy years of captivity was the
hand of God's judgment, and the Sabbath that
the people had never kept in the land.
The Sabbaths were brought to pass as God
sent them into captivity for seventy long years.
So as we look at the seven chapters,
we find that God gives them the negative
answer by a divine rebuke.
Then following the rebuke, then he gives the
positive reply to the question in chapter eight.
Now shall we read chapter eight?
As we look at chapter eight, we find
it divided into two divisions.
In the first seventeen verses, there is a
comforting and consolatory message.
And then, beginning at verse eighteen to the
end, there is the complete answer, the divine
answer to their question.
Oh my beloved, may I reflect with you
again?
Before God answers the question, he touches their
conscience.
He touches the conscience to remind them of
their sins.
And then in chapter eight, he commences his
message of consolation and encouragement for them.
Shall we read it, beginning at verse one?
And I want you to know something, first
of all.
Go down the chapter with me, and I
want you to see the repetition of a
phrase that is important.
You have it first in verse two.
Notice how it begins, thus saith the Lord
of hosts.
Now note verse three, thus saith the Lord.
Note verse four, thus saith the Lord of
hosts.
Note verse six, thus saith the Lord of
hosts.
Note verse seven, thus saith the Lord of
hosts.
Note the ninth verse, thus saith the Lord
of hosts.
Note the fourteenth verse, for thus saith the
Lord of hosts.
Note the nineteenth, thus saith the Lord of
hosts.
Verse twenty, thus saith the Lord of hosts.
And verse twenty-three, thus saith the Lord
of hosts.
Ten times!
And beloved, why?
God is speaking of a truth, and God
is declaring His word will not return unto
Him void.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
For this is the way that God determines
He will deal with Jerusalem, and with Judah,
and with Israel.
My beloved, when you see the determined purpose
of God, go back to chapter one, please.
You recall in chapter one, as we read
the sixteenth and the seventeenth verse of that
first chapter, we have the same repetitious phrase,
beginning in verse sixteen.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned
to Jerusalem with mercy.
My house shall be built in it, saith
the Lord of hosts, and the line shall
be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, my cities through prosperity shall yet be
spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort
Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
May I say, beloved, the determined character of
God is revealed in the book of Zechariah
regarding His purposes for Jerusalem, for Israel, and
His earthly people.
My, you never met a more determined being
than God.
And oh, beloved, to transfer the application to
our present age of grace.
How precious to realize, as Paul wrote to
the Ephesians, that before the foundation of the
world, He predetermined that He would have a
family of children, holy and without blame before
Him in love, accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood and
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace.
Oh, my beloved, we must worship and adore
that blessed being, who before the earth ever
began and its foundations were laid in the
choice of His being, He wanted you and
me.
Hallelujah.
Chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son,
and by the Spirit sealed to be His
own.
Now, if you question God's choice regarding Jerusalem
and Israel, you ought to question His choice
about you, too.
For oh, the determined purpose of God is
declared in the book of Zechariah, as in
no other prophecy, regarding what He will yet
do in the final fruition of Israel's glory.
Now, let's look at the chapter carefully as
we go through.
In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 8,
He declares His great love and His jealous
love for Zion.
Again, the word of the Lord of Hosts
came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord
of Hosts, I was jealous for Zion, with
great jealousy, and I was jealous for her
with great fury.
My beloved, may I say, this is jealous
love.
This is jealous love.
This is not jealousy.
Please note the distinction.
This is a love for Judah, a love
for Jerusalem, a love for His people that
was a jealous love.
I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous
God.
As He gave the Decalogue of Moses, thank
God for such love.
Hallelujah.
My beloved, you and I can never measure
the breadth, the length, the depth, and the
height of the love that encompasses the redeemed
children of God.
My fellow believers, God's jealous for you and
me, and that love is a jealous love.
And may I say, He has a right
to be jealous.
You may not always have a right to
be.
He does.
And then note, as you look at verse
three, He tells of returning to Zion, Thus
saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion,
and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem,
and Jerusalem shall be called a city of
truth, and the mountain of the Lord of
hosts the holy mountain.
Hope you love it what names there be.
He returning to Zion.
When one thinks of the final fulfillment of
the prophecy, as indicated in the second Psalm,
Yet have I set my King in my
holy hill of Zion.
Read the 132nd Psalm, and David is told
that God declares, I have chosen Zion to
be my city.
My beloved, you and I cannot fathom the
divine interest of a holy God in the
city of Jerusalem from the very time He
made the choice of it.
And then He says, I'm going to dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem.
My, you know, when I was invited to
go to the Holy Land recently, I said,
well, I would like to go when it
was more holy.
But oh, when you recognize the transformation that
He's going to make, and He will dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem.
And note next, Jerusalem shall be called a
city of truth.
I want to tell you, if you went
over there right now, you'd find a lot
of lies there.
And you can find them all over the
earth.
You remember the, you remember the prophet Jeremiah
declared in his day of apostasy and declension,
that truth had fallen in the street.
My beloved, when the restoration is complete, as
God indicates and determines in this chapter, Jerusalem
will be the city of truth.
Nay, we shall see, we've already seen in
the preceding fifth chapter, or the fourth chapter
rather, that Israel is to be the light
of the world, disseminating the truth throughout the
world.
You know, the Pilate said to Jesus as
he stood before Him, what is truth?
And yet the embodiment of all truth was
standing in person there.
But someday, Jerusalem will be known throughout the
world as the city of truth.
If you want to learn the truth, you'll
have to go to Jerusalem in the Millennial
Kingdom.
And the priests of Jerusalem and of Israel,
ministers of God, will carry the truth of
God to the then known world in every
corner.
But don't, and the mountain of the Lord
of hosts will be a holy mountain, or
the holy mountain, the holy mountain.
May I go further please?
I've got to give you another scripture.
It's in Zephaniah.
Can you find the fella?
He's a little, he's back a couple of
books.
Zephaniah chapter three.
I want you to note verse thirteen.
It will not only be a city of
truth, and there'll not only be in its
midst the God of truth, but I want
you to note something precious.
Chapter three of Zephaniah, verse thirteen.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity,
nor speak lies.
Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in
their mouth.
For they shall feed and lie down, and
none shall make them afraid.
Can I ask you just a simple question?
Do you believe every Jew today?
May I point out the transformation of God's
people, the godly remnant in that day?
They shall not do iniquity, neither speak lies,
neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in
their mouth.
Why, what a transformation.
But let's go back to our chapter and
hasten on.
For, as the prophet writes, the mountain of
the Lord of hosts will be the holy
mountain.
And then in verse four and five, note
this.
It will be a populated city.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall
yet old men and old women dwell in
the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with
his staff in his hand for very age.
And the streets of the city shall be
full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof.
My beloved, it will be a populated place.
The aged and the young dwelling together.
And may I remind you that in the
millennium, you know some of the folks in
that day, they'll do what Methuselah was never
able to do.
And you know, Methuselah really went through a
long period, didn't he?
969 years.
And I've often thought 69 years is enough
for me.
I wouldn't want 969 here.
But in the millennium, people will go through
it.
Go to Isaiah 65 for a moment with
me.
Isaiah chapter 65, for the prophecy of Isaiah
touches upon the population of Israel and of
Jerusalem in that day.
The 65th chapter of Isaiah.
Let me read verse 20 through 22.
Listen to these words.
They're precious.
Concerning the same time, there shall be no
more sense an infant of days, nor an
old man that is not filled his days.
For the child shall die a hundred years
old.
About three or four years ago, I had
a funeral of a dear old sister, one
of our neighbors, and a godly sister in
Christ, at the age of 102.
And she'd never been in the hospital all
through her life.
But here's a case where a person dies
in the millennium at a hundred, and considered
a child.
And may I say this is not the
second childhood either.
Because the length of life will be extended
in the millennial kingdom under the blessings of
the Messiah.
But read on.
But the sin of being a hundred years
old shall be a curse.
And may I inject the fact that when
sin rises in that day, as we saw
this morning, the one who is the lawgiver
will immediately be the judge.
And justice will fall upon the sinner immediately
in that day of the kingdom.
And no sin will be permitted to continue
in rebellion against the righteous throne of the
King of Kings.
My, I really wish he were here.
To subjugate the violence and the crime and
all that is the rebellion of the human
heart against sin, sin against the Holy God.
And the sinner being a hundred years old
will be cut off and judged and accursed.
And verse 21, read on.
They shall build houses and inhabit them.
The banks will not foreclose on them.
There'll be no economic failure to take the
homes away.
And they shall plant vineyards and eat the
fruit of them.
Successful agriculture.
They shall not build and another inhabit.
They shall not plant and another eat.
For if the days of a tree are
the days of my people, and mine elect
shall long enjoy the work of their hands,
and so on.
Adore when you look at Zechariah's prophecy.
He puts the age, women and men, and
the little children all together.
Now, beloved gentlemen, let me say this.
There certainly will be some evidence of old
age when you get to be 900 years
of age, whether men or women.
But, there'll be the continuing of life and
the abundance of children playing in the street.
And thank God for that, you know.
You know, you wouldn't let your kids play
in the street today, would you?
I know we did it when I was
a boy, but we didn't have so many
automobile and other things.
But, how one can recognize the populated place
of Jerusalem in that coming day?
Then go further, please.
As we see what follows in verse 6.
It's marvelous.
It's a garden.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if it
be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant
of this people in these days, should it
also be marvelous in mine eyes?
Saith the Lord of hosts.
In other words, what God is saying.
You think it's too hard?
You think this is too difficult?
You think this is too wonderful?
Do you think this is too marvelous, that
it's impossible?
My beloved, let me say this.
As Abraham said, and Abraham was told, is
anything too hard for the Lord?
Nothing's too hard for him.
And hallelujah, he'll bring it to pass.
He'll bring it to pass.
The birth of Isaac was marvelous.
Abraham doubted, and I and Sarah particularly doubted,
and lapped up her sleeve at such a
suggestion.
And then the Lord said, is anything too
hard for the Lord?
And if you may recall, when Isaac was
born, they called in such meaning, laughter.
Beloved, may I say, there's going to be
great laughter in the city of Jerusalem in
the days of the great King.
What joy.
But let's read on.
I want you to know Israel's complete restoration.
As you go to verse 7 and 8,
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I
will save my people from the east country,
and from the west country, and I will
bring them, and they shall dwell in the
midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my
people, and I will be their God, in
truth and in righteousness.
The restoration is going to be absolutely complete.
Oh, thank God for the literal promise of
a restored Israel, when God will fulfill his
divine purposes, and accomplish his will, that he
is determined to carry out with that chosen
people, and the godly remnant who will populate
the kingdom of that day.
I must say I get very much disturbed
over the teaching of some that relegate no
future to Israel at all.
Remember years ago, as one brother took exception
to a little comment I made regarding God's
future purpose for Israel, and he came after
dinner where I was having dinner with some
Christian friends to talk with me, and then
he proposed to me that my teaching was
wrong, and that Israel would have no kingdom,
no nation, there'd be no land, there'd be
no millennium.
I let him go on until I made
sure that he told it all, and then
I said, let me understand you correctly.
If you tell me what I think I
understand you to say, Israel will have no
future at all, and there's no promises for
a restored nation, land, or kingdom, and king.
Right he said, and he was quite enthusiastic,
he thought I was really understanding it perfectly.
I looked at him and I said, my
friend, I heartily disagree with you.
He looked surprised, and he said, we can
be friends can't we?
I said, friend, I've got to love you.
But I want to tell you one thing,
when the rapture comes, I hope I go
up alongside of you, and I'll tell you
all the way up, I told you so.
Beloved, beloved, please don't deny the hope of
Israel.
Don't deny it.
God determined he will bring it to pass.
Now let's read quickly on.
From verse 9 through verse 17, God gives
words of encouragement for future blessings.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, let your
hands be strong, ye that hear in these
days, the days of Zechariah, these words by
the mouth of the prophets, which were in
the day that the foundation of the house
of the Lord of hosts was laid, that
the temple might be built.
For before these days there was no hire
for man, nor any hire for beast, neither
was there any peace to him that went
out or came in because of the affliction.
For I said, amen everyone against his neighbor.
But now I will not be unto the
residue of this people, as in the former
days saith the Lord of hosts, for the
seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give
her fruit, the ground shall give her increase,
and the heaven shall give their due.
And I will cause the remnant of this
people to possess all these things.
And it shall come to pass that as
ye were accursed among the heathen of the
nations, O house of Judah, O house of
Israel, so will I save you, and ye
shall be a blessing.
Fear not, but let your hands be strong,
for thus saith the Lord of hosts, as
I thought to punish you when your fathers
provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of
hosts, and I repented not.
So again have I thought in these days
to do well unto Jerusalem, and to the
house of Judah.
Fear ye not.
Now notice encouragement, and his admonition.
These are the things that ye shall do,
speak ye every man the truth to his
neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace
in your gates, and let none of you
imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor.
And love no false host, for all these
are things that I hate, saith the Lord.
And one can recognize and properly see that
God requires the genuineness of their obedience to
thus obey his word, that the blessings may
be enjoyed.
Now the chapter closes with verse 18 through
to the end, where God gives the actual
answer to their question.
Should they continue in those facts?
Listen to his words.
The word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
past of the forefathers, and if you may
note please.
It began with mentioning one fact in the
first part of the chapter, and then two,
and now the Lord takes them all in,
for there's no question of doubt they had
all these facts that they'd imposed upon themselves.
The past of the fourth month, the past
of the fifth, the past of the seventh,
and the past of the tenth shall be
to the house of Judah joy and gladness
and cheerful peace, therefore love the truth and
peace.
May I state briefly, time doesn't permit the
detail of it, but these four feasts, they
represented some tragedy in the history of Israel
during that period, of the Babylonian captivity beginning
with the destruction of Jerusalem and what followed
on.
And when these tragedies came, they imposed upon
themselves these particular facts without any genuine repentance
for their sin.
But now God says, I'm going to make
those facts joy and gladness, cheerful peace, therefore
love the truth and peace.
But all the restoration that God will give
will be no need of fasting, but it
will be joy, gladness, cheerful peace, therefore love
the truth and peace.
The read on.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, it shall
yet come to pass that there shall come
people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and
the inhabitants of one city shall go to
another and say, let us go speedily to
pray before the Lord.
Say, did you ever have anybody say that
to you today?
Has anybody invited you to go and pray
before the Lord?
Hard to get anybody to prayer meeting these
days, isn't it?
But what the Lord is saying that in
that day of glory, when he brings the
restoration to its fruition and culmination, there will
be among the cities of the world, not
just in Judah and in Israel, but in
the cities beyond, there will be those that
will say, let us go speedily to pray
before the Lord.
My goodness, think of it, a millennium of
prayer meeting.
What a change!
And if you could get the same start
to one prayer meeting a week these days,
you're doing well.
But in that day, the spirit of prayer
will be upon the people at large, and
they'll seek the Lord of hosts and say,
now no, they won't say, you go to
the prayer meetings, I'll go with you.
I will go, and I will go also.
Yea, note how broad it is.
As it spreads to the length and breadth
of the earth, many people and strong nations
shall come to seek the Lord of hosts
in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.
Ah, what did you say?
A national day of prayer?
Bless your heart, international.
Worldwide!
And the center, the house of the Lord
in Jerusalem, the place of prayer for all
nations.
And then as the verse closes at the
end, the chapter closes saying, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, in those days it shall
come to pass that ten men shall take
hold out of all languages of the nations,
even shall take hold of the skirt of
him that is a Jew, saying, We will
go with you, for we have heard that
God is with you.
I don't know what would happen today if
ten men got hold of a Jew, but
in that day, the literal evidence of the
presence of the King of Kings, the Messiah
of Israel, the presence of Jehovah in the
midst of his people, Jerusalem, a city of
truth, Zion, the holy mountain, and that city
of truth disseminating Jehovah's knowledge throughout all the
earth, will bring to the nations of the
earth the realization, we want to go with
you as they cling to that people, for
we see that God is with you.
I wish somebody get hold of me like
that, and you will go with you, O
my beloved, the determined purpose of Jehovah to
bring it all about.
And instead of fasting, feasting, joy, glad.
You know I'm glad I'm saved, and I'm
happy to know what lies before me and
lies before you, my fellow believer, is nothing
but eternal joy, through the one who gave
himself for the sins of the world, that
he might bring us into the blessings of
the purposes of his Father, hallelujah.
I never wonder anymore at the wonderful scene
in the book of the Revelation, chapter five,
when in the midst of the throne, and
in the midst of the living creature, and
in the midst of the elders, the glorified
saints, we shall see that Lamb, and I
do not wonder at all, in unison we
shall fall at his feet, and praise him,
and adore him, acknowledging thou art worthy, for
thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy
blood, and made us a kingdom of priests,
and we shall reign on and over the
earth.
He's worthy, and O my beloved, if he's
going to bring his earthly people as a
godly remnant to the place of millennial glory
and blessing, what shall you and I say
who belong to the heavenly realm of the
new Jerusalem above, the holy Jerusalem in heaven,
to which he's brought us, and to which
he will bring us in, in the fullness
of that glory, to dwell in the presence
of our God forevermore, in that blessed eternal
home.
You know, there's one thing I'm glad of,
and that is, the future's very bright for
a child of God.
Friend in the meeting, if you're not saved,
your future can be that bright.
There's only two places for the eternal destiny
of your soul and mine.
One you know to be heaven, and the
other hell.
My beloved friend, there's no need to go
to the place where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth when Christ, the beloved,
has died on the cross to open heaven's
gate, for there was none other good enough
to pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate of heaven
and let us in, and dearly, dearly is
he loved, and we should love him too,
and trust in his redeeming blood, and seek
his will to do.
May I say, Jehovah our God and our
Savior, there's nothing too hard for him to
do.
He can take the lowest sinner and bring
them to the pinnacle of heaven's glory, all
by grace, amazing grace alone.
Hallelujah, blessed be his name, shall we pray.
O blessed Father, greater thy ways, and thy
ways are past findinger.
When we consider and say, with a psalmist,
what is man, that thou art mindful of
him?
Or the Son of Man, that thou visitest
or regardest him?
Lord, we bow in wonder, worship, and praise.
What a God thou art.
We cannot fathom thy love, we cannot explore
the fullness of thy grace beyond our comprehension,
but Lord, we would bathe in the ocean
of its fullness, knowing that those whom thou
hast loved before the foundation of the world,
whom thou hast redeemed by the blood of
thy Son, that they are thine forever, accepted
in the beloved in whom we have redemption,
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace.
And blessed Lord, we want to say this,
thank you Lord for saving us, and that
thou wilt bring us to that eternal glory
that thou hast promised.
Thus saith the Lord.
Father, we rest on thy word completely.
Here we are.
It would please us to have the Lord
Jesus come even tonight, and take us into
that glory that he has prepared and is
preparing for us.
And we say in the language of our
chorus, even so come Lord Jesus, even so
come today, even so come, taking thy bride
away.
Oh, how my heart is yearning, longing indeed
to see thy face.
Even so come Lord Jesus, even so come
today.
But Lord, if there is one not ready,
please speak to that one by the Spirit
of God, convicting them now, may they trust
the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
We thank thee for all that thou hast
done, art doing, will yet finish, in thy
precious and holy name.
Amen.