May 1st - The Attributes of God

Prayer Requests

Summit Sanctification

Whoever’s Preaching

Marietta Square Preaching

Tornado Results, Esp. in White

Pollock Car Accident

Grant and Greyson Football Starting

Cassandra's Broken Arm

Text – Nehemiah 9

This morning we're going to look at an absolutely amazing chapter in the Bible. In chapter 9 of Nehemiah we're coming out of chapter 8. What major events have just taken place in chapter 8? What major project has just been completed? They completed the walls and set the doors. What has made the people more attentive to the law of God? The reading of the Law. Which book was this? Deuteronomy. What was the response to the reading of the Law? Mourning. They weren't supposed to mourn because this was during a festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, why weren't they supposed to mourn? Because this festival pointed towards their salvation; how does it point towards Jesus? Because he came as God in the flesh to dwell with and in us forever.

As we come into chapter 9, the feast of Tabernacles is over and the people are in full mourning over their sin. In this chapter they go over a general history of Israel, and we'll see that the character of God is beautifully displayed in this list. So let's get started. We're going to move pretty quickly through this, hopefully, so we won't stop to look at the minor details, because we want to see this chapter as a whole and not just a collection of verses.

Nehemiah 9:1-5 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

We see a continued effort of repentance and knowing God's Law. Why is it so important to know the Bible? Because here-in God has revealed himself to us. There is a massive movement today with people saying that God is too mysterious for man to know, that our finite minds can never understand an infinite God, but that utterly misses the fact that he has chosen to reveal himself through a book which he has perfectly preserved for millennia. The first thing we see is that God is worthy to be praised, that is the hermeneutic of this passage, or the way in which they are reading the Bible. This makes the point that everything God does is right, that his plans and purposes are perfect. The second important point is the beginning of verse 6.

Nehemiah 9:6 You are the LORD, you alone.

This is an identification that God is One, he is God and there is no other. It is an affirmation of what is called the "Shema", which is found in Deuteronomy 6. We're not going to read many other verses today, but let's be sure to read that one.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Next we'll see that God is Creator and creative:

Nehemiah 9:6 You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

This is a reminder how powerful God is, that he created everything there is with the power of his Word. Not just that he created something massive, and the universe is bigger than we can even measure, but also that the minute details are incredible. The universe is intricately interesting from the biggest galaxy to the tiniest cell; and it may go much bigger and smaller than we can see. The level of diversity is also incredible, no two stars are exactly alike, no two people are exactly alike, and no two snowflakes are exactly alike. God shows both his power and creativity in creation. I really like that it mentions the "seas and all that is in them" because this has really blossomed for us in the past half century or so as we are able to record and see what is in the seas. Some of the creatures I've seen look made up, but are real, living, amazing creations of God. See the website, I've included a link: http://www.godofwondersvideo.org/chapter12.htm

We'll come back to this verse in a bit to support another point, but let's move to God's sovereignty over man in election:

Nehemiah 9:7-8 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

God chose to take a man and his barren wife to make a people who would be in the spotlight of his grace for the next 1700 years, through whom the blessing of Christ would come to all people groups. God promised them the land of Israel, even when it was populated by many other wicked people, it seemed impossible, but because God is righteous, he kept his promise, and the people at this exact moment in Nehemiah 9 were living that promise fulfilled.

Here we see that God interacts with mankind, he is not a "deistic deity" which means he created the universe and then left it alone. This is seen prominently in verse 9, where God is involved and is a God of miracles:

Nehemiah 9:9-10 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day.

Next we'll see that God is selective, and also able to avenge his people.

Nehemiah 9:11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.

After the Israelites fled through the Red Sea, it opened up for God to do many other things. He led them:

Nehemiah 9:12 By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.

God gave them light in the darkness, and led them where they should go. Besides a physical leading, God is able to communicate himself and his laws morally:

Nehemiah 9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

This law is not burdensome, it points to the coming Messiah, it shows us why God is God and we are not. It opens up the opportunity for God to be both our Creator and our Saviour. Most directly, it gives us a definitive moral law to discern right from wrong.

Contained in that Law is the Sabbath, which is directly concerned with mankind resting for the glory of God, especially now where we rest in Jesus Christ, and it shows that God is attentive to the welfare of his people.

Nehemiah 9:14 and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.

Let's read another verse:

Mark 2:27-28 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Next we see that God is sustainer:

Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

If you jump back to verse 6 you see that God is preserving all of his creation, in the New Testament it says Christ holds it together by the power of his Word. I wasn't going to, but we have to read that one!

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

We pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and God always does, he could easily cut this planet off from sustenance just by causing it to stop raining, or for the crops to stop growing, and the Bible promises before it is all over, a famine so great will strike the world that a loaf of bread will cost over a $100. But through history until now, God has been sustaining his people.

But his people were not grateful, yet God is patient.

Nehemiah 9:16-17 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

We've got several other attributes in there, don't we, merciful, gracious, forgiving, and full of love. It was almost as though the Israelites in the Sinai desert were trying to prove that God is rich in mercy:

Nehemiah 9:18-19 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.

Here and in the next verse we see that God's grace is not contingent on men doing anything, in fact, if it was, then it wouldn't be grace. God continued to give them good things, even though they utterly rebelled. This went on for 40 years. Another attribute we'll see in this passage is that God also gave his Spirit to instruct.

Nehemiah 9:20-21 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

After these 40 years, God proved himself to be faithful to his promises by giving them the land he had promised. Not only did he give them the land and multiply them, but it was already prepared for them to move right in. God plans things in advance, he has foreknowledge and the power to make it happen. He sees the end and the beginning, and he is working all things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Nehemiah 9:22-25 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

Right at the end of this passage we have another attribute of God, that he is good, which means perfect and complete, there is no darkness in him, he is the standard and highest measure of good. This is intensified by how mankind constantly reacts to him, even his own people. God does not abandon his people, but he also does not let them continue towards their destruction. Let's read another New Testament verse,

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

God is a correcting God.

Nehemiah 9:26-27 Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer.

God's punishment is correctional not punitive towards his people. He is also saviour.

Nehemiah 9:27-31 And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

At this point it gets a little tedious, God is good and his people rebel, over and over and over again. This is a great look at the fact that we cannot obey God on our own, but that we need an intercessor, we need someone to bear our sins for us, and someone to guide us. God has provided both for us in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. The Old Covenant was good, but God was making a definitive statement that it was not perfect and that the New is so much better than the Old. We are thereby warned by God to not fall back from his Son, and we also see that God sends prophets who proclaim his message.

All of this points us at the fact that when sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Therefore the Apostle Paul asks, "Should we then sin all the more so that grace abounds further?" No, this leads back to our very first point, that God is worthy to be praised. His faithfulness leads us to something else, let's read Romans 2:4:

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

This is precisely where the Israelites in Nehemiah 9 go, let's read about their awesome repentance:

Nehemiah 9:32-38 Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. "Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

We'll look at this covenant next week, but the main point is that the attributes of God led these people to strive for holiness, not to sin all the more so that God's patience and kindness and admonishing would be magnified. We long to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, to be so perfectly sanctified that we neither want to sin, and do not sin. This is, of course, impossible apart from the perfect work of God in us which he has accomplished through his Son who is the embodiment of all of God's attributes, an instructor to the foolish, a light in the darkness, the only God, gracious, merciful, patient, and the Saviour of all who believe. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we have such a great and lasting promise of God's faithfulness. He has been faithful with others, we trust he will be faithful with us, he has been faithful in the past, so we can trust that he will be faithful forever. Let's close with Philippians 1:6.

Philippians 1:6 I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

September 19th - The Light of the World

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron’s Sermon Series - Matthew 28
Preaching KSU Tomorrow
Witnessing Coventry on Saturday
Students traveling this week (Balfours, McGullions, Geils, Westbrooks, Pollocks, Ratcliffes, etc)
Success in school
Jennifer's friend moving
Ministry Burnouts

Text – Zechariah 4

Beloved, during the summer I was preparing the curriculum for this year and Zechariah appeared to be the perfect book for us because it’s so much fun and has so much awesome symbolism and teaches so much, but when I came to chapter four I almost scrapped that idea all together. This is a HARD chapter to explain and understand and so I’m going to start out teaching a little differently today than I normally do so that you get the major point and not the exact details.

Before we go too far in, let’s just look at verse 1 of chapter 4, then we’ll talk about context.

v.1-2 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, "What do you see?"

We find Zechariah in deep thought; why is he that way? What just happened in Zechariah 3? In Zechariah 3 we see God covering and cleansing the sin of Israel, stating that in a single day he will put their sin away. This was a huge event for Zechariah and he is contemplating what exactly it means and how God might do it.

What was wrong with Joshua when he stood before God? He was filthy. What did that filth represent? The sin of Israel. Could Joshua stand in the presence of God in that state? Absolutely not. So what did God do? He changes Joshua’s clothing with brand new ones.

It is amazing that God takes what is so disgusting, our sin and sinful nature, and radically transforms us to be pleasing to him. A verse that beautifully shows that we’ve put off our old nature and have inherited a new nature is:

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Zechariah is concentrating so hard on how amazing it is that God is putting off the sin of Israel in a single day that he misses that there is a new vision to see. The angel gets his attention, and instead of Zechariah asking a question, the angel asks him, “What do you see?”

I imagine that this is a little like Paul and John in Heaven, that they couldn’t describe what they saw. Zechariah sees something amazing, and it’s so amazing that describing it is difficult. So if you don’t understand exactly what we’re looking at, know that the ambiguity is probably intended, and that we’re only supposed to understand a very complicated contraption with a very definitive purpose.

v.2 I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it,

This part is straightforward enough, he sees a menorah like lampstand, with seven candles. This is a fixture in the temple which lights the holy place. Daily the priests had to refill the oil wells in order that they wouldn’t be in the dark. What is different about this lampstand from the temple is that this one has a bowl on top,

v.2 with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.

Here’s where it gets confusing. The Hebrew here is not at all clear as to exactly how these lamps are fed from the bowl. Every translation says something a bit different that radically changes how we see this lampstand. It has at least seven tubes which bring oil from the bowl to the lamps, and as many as forty-nine. I think the best way to understand it is that there are seven tubes from the bowl, and also seven connecting tubes between the candle reservoirs. However, there could be tubes running every which way.

This is significantly different from the lampstand in the temple which needed each reservoir to be filled individually by a priest. These are self filling as long as there is oil in the bowl. Let’s jump forward a few verses to see who refills this bowl:

v.3,12 “And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” “the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out…”

There are two olive trees on either side of the lamp. Do you know off-hand what kind of oil these lamps burned? Olive oil. So the people would take the olives, and through very specific processes make oil out of them, then take them to the priests, and they would put it in the lamps, and then they would have light. The work involved was incredibly tedious and time consuming. This represents the Old Covenant.

But here we see the New Covenant, a completely automated light system, the candles are fed directly from a bowl of oil, and the bowl of oil is fed directly from olive trees. There is no human involvement at all. Confused yet? You’re not alone, let’s go back to verse 4,

v.4-5 And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."

Zechariah asks a question, and for the first time he doesn’t get a straight answer, instead Jesus is pretty sharp with him, basically asking the question in admonition wondering that Zechariah doesn’t know what he’s looking at. Obviously this is the lampstand from the temple. Zechariah is honest and says he still doesn’t understand. Jesus goes on a tangent which seems unimportant until we realize that this lampstand is fully automated.

v.6-7 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"

Zerubbabel, for context and reminder, is the governor of Jerusalem. He is a descendant of David and a great-great grandfather of Jesus Christ. He is actually in the place of the king, though because Judah has been conquered by so many nations they are not allowed to have a king.

Zerubbabel has accomplished and is going to accomplish some amazing things, he brought many exiles back to Judah, he built an altar to offer sacrifices to God, he commissioned the rebuilding of the temple, Haggai announced that God recognized Zerubbabel as king of Jerusalem, and here we see that he will be the one who places the final stone on the temple to complete it. Based on his influence Nehemiah would then be able to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.

Zerubbabel did some outright amazing things, but God is quick to point out that it’s not because of Zerubbabel’s might or power that these things got done, but because of God’s power and might. God is saying he can take the greatest problem and make it a non-issue for his people. God makes molehills out of mountains. Let’s read three verses that support this idea from elsewhere in the Bible:

John 3:27 John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Psalm 127:1-2 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

The rejoicing that would ensue at the completion of the temple would be very tempting for Zerubbabel to become prideful, but this is a call here for him to remain humble and realize that God is the one who equipped him and gave him the strength to do what he has done. We must give the glory to God, so that others see it and give the glory to God.

v.8-9 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

This is a little veracity check in the middle of Zechariah’s book for the people he is directly preaching to. It doesn’t much apply to us now because we look back and see that Zerubbabel did commission and finish the temple. But at the time of the writing of this the temple was not yet finished. The people must have been asking, “How do we know God is actually talking to Zechariah and that it’s not the devil, or maybe Zechariah just ate some bad olives or bad pizza and is having nightmares?” Well here we have a check for them, that God not only guaranteed that the temple would be completed, but that the topstone would be put in place by Zerubbabel. When they saw this happen they would know that Zechariah was a true prophet. We have an infinitely better check because Zechariah is so perfectly describing the Messiah whom we can compare and see a perfect fulfillment in many places.

v.10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

I LOVE this verse, it’s the greatest verse ever. I also heard some outright TERRIBLE sermons on this verse because people aren’t looking at the context. At the beginning of this temple some people were excited, but those who had seen Solomon’s old beautiful temple were sad because this temple was not nearly as glorious, and they were also hoping for the huge extravagant temple that Ezekiel describes in chapters 40-48. It could be said that they DESPISED the small temple because it wasn’t what they were hoping for.

One of the silliest verses in the Bible, if it wasn’t so tragic (but then redeemed here in verse 10) is,

Ezra 3:12-13 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

But we see that those who despised the small temple would rejoice because they’ve seen that God had returned to their midst, that he had reappointed his king in Zerubbabel, that he’s cleansed his priest in Joshua, that he has welcomed Judah back into fellowship, and that there is a continued promise for a coming Messiah. Here we have an incidental prophecy for the King of Glory who would be born into such a poor family as to be born in a manger.

Mark 7:2-3 On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

Just as the Israelites in Zechariah’s day were disgusted with a small temple when they were expecting a great temple, so were the people in Jesus’ day disgusted with a carpenter when they were expecting a warrior. But when we see Christ risen from the dead, we rejoice, we see that Christ is vindicated by the Spirit as perfect, that though we expected something different, we see that what we expected was incorrect because Christ is perfect and what we needed all along. Zerubbabel would finish the temple, drop the plum line from the top to check the perfection of the temple, and then Haggai tells us that God would fill the whole temple with his glory. This is worth rejoicing over, especially since we’ve seen the glory as of the only Son from the Father.

God answers a question now which Zechariah didn’t even ask from chapter 3, because Zechariah was so caught up in the amazingness of God forgiving sins. This is what the seven eyes on the cornerstone represent:

v.10 "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth."

For time’s sake let me just remind you that this represents the omniscient (all knowing) Jesus as ultimately being the temple of God, not this building that Zerubbabel is overseeing work on. Christ is the cornerstone and the capstone of God, and that everything here said about the temple is ultimately prophecy for his body as the temple. Let’s just read one verse so you see that I’m not making this up:

John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

v.11-13 Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" And a second time I answered and said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?" He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."

Zechariah really wants to know what these are, so he’s asked now three times, and again Jesus says he should already know, but fortunately for us God answers us in our persistence.

v.14 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

These two olive trees represent two things, one temporal, and one eternal. We know this through many references to anointing in the Bible. First of all, Zechariah would instantly recognize this language as referring to the High Priest and the King, they were anointed and authorized to stand with God. These two were the conduits by which God was blessing his people.

However, when we read Revelation we see that this lampstand represents the church, which was established after Christ’s sacrifice on that one day at Calvary, and we know that Christ and the Holy Spirit are the ones who anoint/bless/strengthen the church. Consider this really, quick: there is one church, but there are many church buildings. There was only one Israel and only one temple. In Zechariah’s day there was only one lampstand here, only one light source, but under the church we have many lampstands described in the New Testament. Read Revelation 1-3 to see that, I wish I had time to show it to you.

We see that the church is sustained not by the works of men, but by the free grace of God. Again, many verses say this, but I really want to get to Christ’s further exposition on this topic. Have you ever heard of the two witnesses of Revelation? These are two preachers in Jerusalem during the tribulation who are given supernatural powers. Have you ever heard who some people think they are? Elijah and Enoch. Do you know why? It’s because those two never died, and if it’s appointed for a man once to die, some people think they have an appointment to keep. But that doesn’t make sense because Paul says there are many who won’t die but will see Christ return. I know who these two witnesses are, at least I’m pretty sure.

Let me set this up for you, in Second Thessalonians it says that Christ won’t return until the Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist, sets himself as God in the temple. In order for Jerusalem to have a temple, they will need to build one, and then they will appoint a High Priest. I believe that these two witnesses will be the converted High Priest and the leader of Jerusalem, will we call him a King or Governor or Mayor? I don’t know, but these two witnesses will be recent Jewish converts to Christianity, the king and high priest of Jerusalem.

Revelation 11:2-13 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

So your application is that Zechariah was under an Old Covenant, one which required works to maintain; in order to have light, the people and priests needed to refill the lampstand. But under our New Covenant we do not maintain our faith, Christ maintains us, and his light will shine forth. Let’s read two last verses to draw this all to conclusion,

John 12:46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

Philippians 2:14-16 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

And beloved, in all of this, remember that it is not by your power or your might that you do these things, but by the Spirit of God, so that people may see it and give glory to the God of Heaven.

August 22nd - Intro to Zechariah

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron and Summit
Three kids at Pigs and Peaches

Grant in Montgomery

Kari's friend's kidney

Jennifer - Brother

James - Grandma

Roberts/Clark - Grandma
KSU and Southern Poly Starting
Celebrate Freedom Witnessing (Sept. 4)

Chaplain Application

Praise - Denise Johnson

Text – Zechariah 1:1-6, Isaiah 45:1-7

We're starting our journey through Zechariah today, this will take us approximately 18 weeks and it should be a great study. Zechariah is one of my favorite prophets because he speaks so often about the Messiah to come, some 500 years after he would write this book. It is said that only Isaiah has more prophecies for the Messiah.

In order to fully understand this book we need to know some history. When we read Zechariah we need to realize, and we'll probably spend a good deal of time in, that three other books are happening at basically the same time: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai. Does anyone remember what Haggai's main message was? It was prophesying Christ as the Temple, and calling the people to rebuild a temple so that they could have God in their midst.

Zechariah's prophecy happened in 520 BC, this is important because Judah has just returned to Jerusalem after being in exile to Babylon. This exile to Babylon started in 605 BC when God sold them into slavery for their sins, and they started returning in 538 BC. Remember in BC we count downwards.

A hugely important event for understanding Zechariah's letter is the way that Judah came home, so let's read Isaiah 45:1-6 which deals with the return from exile.

Isaiah 45:1-7 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Do you know when Isaiah was prophesying? 739-686BC. The prophecy he is making is over 100 years early of a man named Cyrus. Let's take it apart piece by piece.

v.1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped,

The word for anointed is Messiah, though he is not speaking of Cyrus being the ultimate Messiah, but a type for the Messiah, a conquering king. Many kings of Israel are called anointed, and so are you and I:

1 John 2:20 you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

This is neat because we had become worthless, but Christ has restored all sorts of great things to us. For example, we were not a people, but now we are God's people, we are priests offering praise, we are evangelists declaring the good news, we are apostles sent by God, we are prophets delivering the Word of God, and we are Christians anointed by God.

This king was specially chosen and equipped by God to do something, and we see that God has grasped his right hand, which means he has become puppetmaster guiding Cyrus for these purposes:

v.1-3 to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places,

When Cyrus conquered much of the known world, it was customary for cities to thrust open wide their gates in surrender and strip their kings of honor in order to give it to Cyrus. This began in 559 BC and concluded with the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. This was accomplished for a very specific purpose:

v.3-4 that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name,

Remember that Isaiah is writing this at least 100 years before Cyrus was even born, yet God calls him by name. The purpose is so that Cyrus and Israel and later the whole world would know that God is God and is in charge of the beginning to the end. He has a definite preordained plan which cannot be thwarted by men.

Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will...

v.4 I name you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God...

Cyrus was a Zoroastrian, a follower of a duel-godhead which one, Ahura Mazda, was good and the other, Angra Mainyu, was evil. The truly neat thing here is that God is both saving the nation of Israel, and the man Cyrus. He is concerned both with the populous and the individual. He knew us before we were, he has a plan for us to walk, check out Jeremiah's introduction,

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

This is your first application, that God has a plan for you that absolutely cannot fail. Check out Ephesians 2:10, this is my favorite verse;

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Does that take the fear out of it? If God is for us, who then can stand against us? Paul said it another place just as well:

Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

This Cyrus, after conquering Babylon in 539 BC, asked the Jews what they were doing in Babylon and then sent them home. Someone took to him a copy of Isaiah's prophecy and Cyrus read it and saw that his life had progressed exactly how God said it would, and he fell on his face and declared God to be Lord, and Lord God of Heaven, and the Lord God of Israel. This threefold declaration shows the fullness of his repentance.

v.5-6 I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

The sun rises in the East and sets in the West, this prophecy was only partly fulfilled in Cyrus; though he conquered a huge amount of land, this prophecy wouldn't be fully fulfilled until Christ, who is anointed beyond that of all others who are anointed. Literally the sun never sets on the kingdom of Christ. Right now it is dark somewhere in the world, but we are proclaiming his name to all peoples; when it is dark here someone in the light will be singing his praises.

v.7 I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.

This is one of my favorite verses, it has a two-fold purpose. First it is a direct polemic against the gods of Zoroastrianism, one whom is supposed to be good and the other evil, and also to remind the Jews that they were sent into exile by God and redeemed by God. God is more than capable of working evil to punish sins. Amos says that disaster cannot come without God sending it.

So that finally brings us to Zechariah 1, Israel had been warned of exile, sent into exile, and redeemed from exile, and Zechariah 1 is going to remind them that God is in total control. First we get to meet Zechariah.

Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying,

Zechariah is a really popular name in the Old Testament, there are 29 of them in the Bible. His name means "The Lord Remembers" and it points to the faithfulness of God. According to a list of priests in Nehemiah, Zechariah was one, which places him in the tribe of Levi. Zechariah's fathers name was Berechiah, which is another popular name which means "Blessed of the Lord". A Zechariah son of Berechiah was murdered in the temple in the first century, but it is almost certainly coincidence that they have the same name.

Zechariah's grandfather Iddo was also a priest, so Zechariah comes from a lineage of priests. He begins his prophetic work in October of 520 BC, which is important because two months earlier Haggai had called for the temple to be rebuilt which is now underway and the people are beginning to repent, and Zechariah is going to push them to live a life of repentance and not just a short lived change of mind. The reason Darius is in charge is a soap-opera in itself. Cyrus died in 528 and had two sons, one of the sons killed the other son secretly so he could be in charge, but an imposter claimed to be the elder brother and took the throne. Much war ensued sort of taking the pressure off of Jerusalem, and as the younger brother was dying, he confessed to his brother's murder, and an army officer named Darius went to the imposter and killed him and took the throne, and after a brief bout of fighting, was in charge of the Persian empire, which included Judea.

So all this happened the way it happened for a reason, which Zechariah is now going to tell us,

Zechariah 1:2-4 "The LORD was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Zechariah's message is for the people to return to God and not be like those who rebelled. There was no lack of prophets who called the pre-exilic Jews to repent: Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel, yet the people would not listen, so verse two says that "God was VERY angry with your fathers." We need to remember that God is totally justified in getting and staying angry, let's read one of the greatest descriptions of his anger:

Psalm 7:11-13 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.

Zechariah continues with a very stern threat to these people who have seen God's Word come true and are now offered a fresh chance to repent.

Zechariah 1:5-6 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?

God is making a point that his Word is eternal, and that our lives are brief. He has promised to preserve his Word even when all things pass away.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Here in Zechariah God is making the point that his decree is unchanging and will come to fruition. Many times God's decree is conditional, that if a person won't repent, he will sharpen his sword against them. The converse is that if they do repent, the sword won't be used on them. The pre-exilic Jews wouldn't repent so they went into exile to Babylon, even though many of them fought it, as it says in Jeremiah 29, where the ones who refused to go were killed.

One of their fathers and prophets was Daniel, he totally embodies verse 6,

Zechariah 1:6 So they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.

Check out his prayer for mercy after 70 years in exile; it is full of repentance for sins, and acknowledgement that God is in fact God and is right to punish for sin;

Daniel 9:3-19 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. "O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name."

Here's the neat part is that what God is calling for the people of Zechariah's day is what Daniel did, which ultimately was the event God was orchestrating to end the exile. All of this would be fresh in the minds of the Israelites.

So that is our introduction to Zechariah. He was one of the last prophets before God ceased revelation in 400 BC, and his book is going to show us that God has been working since the beginning and is working now, that he has a plan, that the Messiah was expected before he came, and fulfilled impossibly precise expectations.

Our application is that we see God is working for a very specific purpose, to call his people to repentance and see them walk in the works which he has prepared for us before time began. We see that God is able to use both believers and unbelievers to accomplish his purposes. Christ said if believers don't praise God that the rocks would then cry out. Similarly the high priest when Christ was crucified was still prophesying truth even though he was totally an enemy of God. We see that God's Word is eternal and it will come true, so it is in our best interest to submit to it now.

John 11:49-52 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Just as Cyrus was a type for Messiah and many kingdoms surrendered to him, so must we surrender to the Messiah Jesus. Just as Cyrus bowed to God and confessed him as Lord, so must we now. We will bow willingly, or we will bow forcefully on the final day, because every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father.