Prayer Requests
Thanksgiving and safe travels
Brianna flying home
Shell - Church Stuff
Tyler's Social Security
High School Applications - Jennifer
Tyler's Awesome Half-Time Lesson
Christmas Party - December 3rd
Text - Zechariah 9
Our passage this morning is one of the most prophecy rich passages in all of scripture. It has near and far prophecies, as well as mid. There is a ton of history here, and names abound. The history of this chapter is quite interesting, but I want to focus on how it all points to Christ's ultimate purposes in coming to seek and save the lost, to exalt the humble and cast down the proud.
Chapters 7 and 8 can be summed up basically as contrasts, what would you call the religion of chapter 7? Worthless. And the religion of chapter 8? True. What is the difference between true and worthless religion? Worthless religion is doing things for God in order to make him be on your side, true religion honors God in action because it's the right thing to do. I think this quote sums up true religion better than any other quote, it's by Paris Reidhead:
"Lord Jesus, I’m going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do as long as I live, even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, obeyed, and served; and I’m not trying to make a deal with you."
How does the Word of God interact with these two? How is the Word to people in worthless religion? It is a curse and is against them. How is the Word to people in true religion? It is a blessing and is called amazing things. For example, in the New Testament it's called the Word of God, the Word of Christ, the Word of Promise, the Word of Faith, Living and Active, and it is Holy, Good, and Righteous.
Today we're going to start out looking at the Word being a curse on a lot of people. Let's look at some that God is really angry with.
Zechariah 9:1-6 The burden of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and Damascus is its resting place. For the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel, and on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. Tyre has built herself a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets. But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire. Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
So verse 1, God is against the land of Hadrach. We're not exactly sure where this is for several reasons, but based on the description of the cities we have a good idea of the size and scope of this country or alliance. It is basically Modern Day Lebanon. The capital is Damascus, and some of its major cities are Hamath, Tyre, and Sidon. These are amazingly wealthy cities on important trade routes. Tyre is super rich because they are the only natural port on this side of the Mediterranean. They have more money than they know what to do with, the richest part of the city is on an island just off the coast, and it has walls up to 150 feet tall in some places.
Because of the wealth and frequent travel through there it has attracted all sorts of people; rich people, smart people, greedy people, and all sorts of people great and small. Tyre at this point was an amazing city. Because of the amazing wealth and wisdom in this city the king elevated himself far beyond the position he rightly held, turn to Ezekiel 28 with me. In verses 1-10 we see the king as man:
Ezekiel 28:1-10 "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas,' yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god— you are indeed wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you; by your wisdom and your understanding you have made wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; by your great wisdom in your trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth—therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you make your heart like the heart of a god, therefore, behold, I will bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. They shall thrust you down into the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas. Will you still say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of those who slay you? You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners; for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD."
And we're going to see in verse 11-19 that the true king of Tyre is none other than Satan himself.
Ezekiel 28:11-19 Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever."
How the angel Satan interacted with the king of Tyre is hard to say, but either way God's anger is kindled against both.
In 332 BC Alexander the Great razed Tyre and cast her into the sea. The swiftness of Alexander astounded all, Daniel said he moved so quickly his horses' feet didn't touch the ground. All who saw this great bastion of worldliness destroyed were terrified and rightly so, for they were the next to be conquered by Alexander. All of this happened almost 200 years AFTER Zechariah was prophesying this.
Our first application is that God has created examples of his wrath to remind the world that setting our affections on things that perish, and especially considering people as gods and idols, is foolishness and only ends in destruction. It is not at all wrong to see God 's vengeance come on a city and hence forth tell the people to repent or they likewise will perish.
Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?
This verse says that disaster does not come unless God has done it. But if people will turn, and look to God for salvation:
Zechariah 9:7-8 I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites. Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.
Even though God is putting an end to many of his enemies, he is still saving some of them. They will be like the Jebusites, the people who were in Israel before the Israelites, who were assimilated into the covenant. When they are saved God will put away their idols. I love that God says he sees with his own eyes. This is a direct assault on the false gods whom don't see, don't hear, and don't speak.
Psalm 135:15-18 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them!
One of their greatest idols is their love of bloodshed, and in this verse we see that God will remove this idol from them. It's powerful when we consider it in light of Psalm 11:5,
Psalm 11:5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Even those these enemies of God were totally hated by him, he chose to save some anyways. God has a salvation coming, let's read verse 9-13 as to how it is going to happen.
Zechariah 9:9-13 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
When Christ came, this prophecy was grossly misunderstood, they expected him to come into Jerusalem with flaming sword swinging it and totally taking over. Reading this I can see why they thought that, but I think they totally missed the humility part, that Christ was going to defeat evil in the most amazing of ways, by substituting himself for it so that he could be both the just and the justifier of his saints. This was a well known prophecy for the Messiah in the first century, everyone knew what it meant when Christ arrived on a colt.
Matthew 21:1-11 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee." And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
This prophecy was amazing for Zechariah's time, saying that the Messiah would cut off the war horse from Jerusalem. Certainly the people would understand this to mean that there would be no more need of war horses after the Messiah came, but in the first century it would have had an even more personal meaning that Roman soldiers were stationed all throughout Jerusalem, than an alien government was oppressing the Jews.
Verse 11 is utterly amazing, it's my favorite, "because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit." Jesus quotes it in Matthew 26:27-28.
Matthew 26:27-28 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
The original hearers of this prophecy would have expected this coming King to offer a sacrifice instituting his new covenant. From chapter 6 they would have known the Messiah would be both priest and king and could offer a sacrifice to God. I don't know how many of them possibly could have expected that it would be himself he was offering as the perfect sacrifice. Certainly none who called for his crucifixion expected as much, since they crucified him for claiming to be God. His purposes were to set the captives free, those who were slaves to sin, which was all of us, loving ourselves more than anything, utterly wrecking the lives of many, failing to turn people towards everlasting life, and in this, God saved us anyways. We were his enemies, just like those in the beginning of the chapter, yet he saved a remnant out of his enemies.
Colossians 1:21-23 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Instead of slaves to sin, prisoners of the Devil (2 Timothy 2:26), now we are prisoners of hope, slaves of Christ. Verse 13 is beautiful too, because it reminds us that God is ultimately in control, using people as he so intends. Hebrews 4:12 speaks of God's Word as a sword, when you have it committed to memory or you read it and proclaim it to people, you are a sword in the hand of God. These Greeks and Hebrews would have been used for war, but beloved, we are peacemakers, declaring peace between God and man, a sword meant for peace.
Now in verse 14 we transfer to Christ's second coming. It is just a picture of the coming Armageddon that will be described much more fully in chapter 14.
Zechariah 9:14-17 Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.
This passage beautifully describes Christ's second coming, that he will appear in the sky like lightning, similarly to how he describes himself in Matthew 24, and that there will be a conquering army with him that are impervious to stones slung at them, who are able to step easily over missiles fired at them. The effect of this army is amazing, just like Christ is covered head to toe in the blood of his enemies in Isaiah 63, so will this army be drenched in their victory.
I love this verse 16, it is your major application, that your total purpose is to shine the light of Christ on the world and be a trophy of his grace.
In all of this we see that God has enemies, that he is more than capable of utterly destroying them, but that he also chooses to save some and sanctify them, that he did that by sending his Son the first time to have a humble entrance riding on a colt, that he poured out the blood of the covenant for the forgiveness of sins, that he rose on the third day, and he is coming back to judge the world and rescue his saints. He came on a colt the first time, as he comes back to conquer he will come on a white steed.
Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
Be a light shining in the darkness, proclaim the excellencies of Christ, explain to people that they are either prisoners of sin, or prisoners of hope, that there is no other option, that they will face this Christ as either an enemy or as a reconciled friend. They must repent or perish.
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hope. Show all posts
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
September 5th - The Apple of God's Eye
Prayer Requests
Celebrate Freedom Witnessing
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Survey of World Religion
PB&J
Shelby's Friend's Family
Canyon Teaching 4th Grade
Text – Zechariah 2
Last week I skipped a major point in chapter 1, I meant to tell you why I was skipping it, but I forgot. If I ever skip something or you don’t understand, please don’t hesitate to ask; sometimes I think something is more clear than it is and so won’t explain or won’t go too deep and leave you confused. Don’t let me do that.
What I skipped, on purpose, was
Zechariah 1:14 Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.
The Bible says 35 times that God is jealous, so we see that it’s not a typo or rare or mistranslated, but that God is frequently jealous.
Exodus 34:14 You shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…
What does it mean that God is jealous for his people? It means that God loves his people and has their best interest in mind so when they do something bad or someone does something bad against them he is moved to action. Imagine you see someone getting beat up on TV, you might say, “Well that’s bad.” Now imagine you see someone getting beat up in person, you should intervene or at the very least call for help. Now imagine someone is beating up your best friend or brother or sister, you’re going to be moved to act a lot faster. There is no lack of people being indifferent or even mean-spirited when someone needs help, like a man in New York beaten to death while people walked right on by, or an amazing quote by a pastor in Nazi Germany:
When the Nazis came for the communists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no communist.
When they locked up the Socialists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no Socialist.
When they came for the trade unionists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I said nothing; I was, of course, no Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me. – Martin Niemoller
God’s name is Jealous, he is a jealous God, he is moved to action for his beloved, he is active in the lives of his people and in their protection. The reason I didn’t explain this last week is because this is the major theme of chapter 2. Remember that Zechariah is having a full night of visions of God’s plan, this is the third of eight, so let’s read it:
Zechariah 2:1-13 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'"
Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
So let’s do just a bit of review. What are some major events that are happening or have just happened in Jerusalem? They’ve just come home from the exile, Zechariah has called them to repentance, and they are rebuilding the temple as per Haggai’s prophecy.
v.1 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand!
This is a man with a long tape-measure like device. Zechariah knows what he is, but he doesn’t know what his job is. What is Zechariah quickly becoming famous for? His great questions. That’s verse 2.
v.2 Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length."
We see that the purpose of a craftsman who measures cities is to record the size of a city at a certain time. Jerusalem at this point is HUGE as compared to what it used to be. It is literally taking up the whole of Mount Zion and is walled all around, though the walls were still quite wrecked from the war eight decades earlier. This person would also likely record the population of a city as well.
v.3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward,
Who is this angel? It’s the angel of the Lord from chapter 1, none other than the King Jesus Christ himself.
v.3 and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, "Run, say to that young man,
This is reminiscent of chapter 1 where God has ministering angels, Christ sends another angel to go talk to the kid with the measuring line. What do we do with minor details in visions? We have to figure out why they are there, because God has put them there for a reason. We don’t do that with all of life, like why are there two red markers on the white-board…but we do always do that with visions in the Bible.
Any ideas why Jesus calls this person a young man, or probably better translated as, “kid”? I think it’s because he is naïve as to the purposes of God and he thinks that God’s people can fit inside of one city. Here is what Christ sends as a message,
v.4 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.
This is my favorite verse. It is utterly amazing, Christ is saying that his people will be too numerous to fit in one city. Jerusalem was already overflowing her walls, and Christ is saying Jerusalem will be a city without walls. This was absolutely unheard of in ancient times. Without a wall every Visigoth and Minigoth and Maxigoth and Mediumgoth barbarian could just come in and rape and pillage and in all ways wreck your day.
Nehemiah 4:7-9 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
To have a city without a wall in these days was stupid, when the greatest weapons were catapults and arrows a wall was a fantastic defense; we don’t have them anymore because F-22’s don’t really care if your city has a wall around it. Not having a wall was insane, which leads us to another fact of history: Jerusalem was in ruins when Zechariah was prophesying this. Her walls were in shambles, many Jews didn’t return from Babylon for two reasons, first because of the condition of Jerusalem, and second because they fell in love with Babylonian life.
v.5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'
The protection of the Christian is not a pile of stones, but our King protecting us and keeping us from every danger he doesn’t intend.
Job 1:9-10 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”
I think I want to read the whole of Psalm 91;
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
So back to Zechariah, God says he will be the glory in our midst. Which building was being rebuilt at this exact second? The temple; this was fulfilled immediately here when God returned to his people, but it was fulfilled perfectly when Christ did what is written in
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
After God makes this absolutely amazing prophecy for the universality of his church, that he would have believers not just outside of Jerusalem, not just outside of Judah, not just outside of Asia, but on every continent, each indwelt with the Holy Spirit, he calls for his people who refuse to leave Babylon to come home.
v.6-7 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.
The daughter of Babylon becomes a way in the New Testament of referring to the world. So we can apply this to ourselves fleeing from this present world seeking the city to come, that is New Jerusalem or Heaven. We don’t get enamored with this land and not want to leave when given the opportunity, but that we’ll stay in this exile as long as God has us stay, but we happily go home when the time comes.
In Revelation 17, starting in verse 5, John looks at the world and marvels at it, thinking she is beautiful, but the angel responds and tells John not to marvel, because Babylon is an old worn out prostitute and a murderer.
If the people in Babylon would not flee, then they would perish when God sent his destroyers to Babylon. Likewise if we will not flee spiritually then we will perish in God’s wrath. And wrath is coming, for verse 8 says,
v.8 For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:
Here we return to the idea of God being a jealous God. What does it mean that God’s people are the apple of his eye? This literally means the pupil of your eye, the middle of your eye. Figuratively though it means what his eyes are fixed on, whom he loves.
Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,
And a command for us,
Proverbs 7:2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
I heard a whole sermon trying to say that this verse doesn’t mean that God really loves his people, but rather that it’s about him getting poked in the eye. It wasn’t a very good sermon, but check this out, when we compare chapter 1 to chapter 2 we see that God is very jealous for his people, and when someone hurts his people, it’s just the same as if they poked him in the eye, because they are the full focus of his affection.
What color horse is Christ riding on in chapter 1? Red. What does a red horse symbolize? War. Christ is saying that he is sent to deal with those whom mistreated God’s people. This all comes together in verse 9-12 which we can see is mostly set in the future, so we’ll read it as a package,
v.9-12 "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
We see that ultimately God will destroy all of his enemies and save his people, not just from amongst the Jews, but from all nations, and that we will be temples of the Holy Spirit, and that Christ will dwell in our midst. Then we will know even more than now that Christ is the true Messiah because of how many amazing things he has accomplished. His reward then is this people, an inheritance of nations.
Psalm 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
And finally verse 13 is one of my favorite in the whole Bible. Some people think that because it has taken so long between Abraham and Moses, and Moses and David, and David and Zechariah, and Zechariah and Christ, and Christ until his second advent, that God is sleeping or unable or unwilling to act. But verse 13 clears that up,
v.13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
We have promises that God is slow to anger and great in power, he will not leave the guilty unpunished, he will protect his people and they will have eternal life. On the final day he will rouse himself, his patience will run out and it will be a terrifying day for his enemies. One of the weirdest descriptions of God, but amazingly descriptive, in the whole Bible is:
Psalm 78:65-66 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
God will arise with such strength, power, quickness, and lack of restraint that his enemies will be completely crushed. The New Testament says we will respond in one of two ways on that day. One, we will be scared out of our wits seeking to hide anywhere, or we will be glad seeing the appearing of our King. There is no middle ground, we must either repent towards God and put our faith in the Resurrected Christ, or we must prepare to make war on an impossibly strong and jealous warrior God.
If we repent then we become part of this Jerusalem which spans the globe, which is protected by the presence of God, spiritually inviolable because of wall of fire. If not, then we will perish with Babylon. Whatever happens, Christ will receive the reward of his suffering.
Celebrate Freedom Witnessing
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Survey of World Religion
PB&J
Shelby's Friend's Family
Canyon Teaching 4th Grade
Text – Zechariah 2
Last week I skipped a major point in chapter 1, I meant to tell you why I was skipping it, but I forgot. If I ever skip something or you don’t understand, please don’t hesitate to ask; sometimes I think something is more clear than it is and so won’t explain or won’t go too deep and leave you confused. Don’t let me do that.
What I skipped, on purpose, was
Zechariah 1:14 Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.
The Bible says 35 times that God is jealous, so we see that it’s not a typo or rare or mistranslated, but that God is frequently jealous.
Exodus 34:14 You shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…
What does it mean that God is jealous for his people? It means that God loves his people and has their best interest in mind so when they do something bad or someone does something bad against them he is moved to action. Imagine you see someone getting beat up on TV, you might say, “Well that’s bad.” Now imagine you see someone getting beat up in person, you should intervene or at the very least call for help. Now imagine someone is beating up your best friend or brother or sister, you’re going to be moved to act a lot faster. There is no lack of people being indifferent or even mean-spirited when someone needs help, like a man in New York beaten to death while people walked right on by, or an amazing quote by a pastor in Nazi Germany:
When the Nazis came for the communists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no communist.
When they locked up the Socialists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no Socialist.
When they came for the trade unionists, I said nothing; I was, of course, no trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I said nothing; I was, of course, no Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me. – Martin Niemoller
God’s name is Jealous, he is a jealous God, he is moved to action for his beloved, he is active in the lives of his people and in their protection. The reason I didn’t explain this last week is because this is the major theme of chapter 2. Remember that Zechariah is having a full night of visions of God’s plan, this is the third of eight, so let’s read it:
Zechariah 2:1-13 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'"
Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
So let’s do just a bit of review. What are some major events that are happening or have just happened in Jerusalem? They’ve just come home from the exile, Zechariah has called them to repentance, and they are rebuilding the temple as per Haggai’s prophecy.
v.1 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand!
This is a man with a long tape-measure like device. Zechariah knows what he is, but he doesn’t know what his job is. What is Zechariah quickly becoming famous for? His great questions. That’s verse 2.
v.2 Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length."
We see that the purpose of a craftsman who measures cities is to record the size of a city at a certain time. Jerusalem at this point is HUGE as compared to what it used to be. It is literally taking up the whole of Mount Zion and is walled all around, though the walls were still quite wrecked from the war eight decades earlier. This person would also likely record the population of a city as well.
v.3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward,
Who is this angel? It’s the angel of the Lord from chapter 1, none other than the King Jesus Christ himself.
v.3 and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, "Run, say to that young man,
This is reminiscent of chapter 1 where God has ministering angels, Christ sends another angel to go talk to the kid with the measuring line. What do we do with minor details in visions? We have to figure out why they are there, because God has put them there for a reason. We don’t do that with all of life, like why are there two red markers on the white-board…but we do always do that with visions in the Bible.
Any ideas why Jesus calls this person a young man, or probably better translated as, “kid”? I think it’s because he is naïve as to the purposes of God and he thinks that God’s people can fit inside of one city. Here is what Christ sends as a message,
v.4 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.
This is my favorite verse. It is utterly amazing, Christ is saying that his people will be too numerous to fit in one city. Jerusalem was already overflowing her walls, and Christ is saying Jerusalem will be a city without walls. This was absolutely unheard of in ancient times. Without a wall every Visigoth and Minigoth and Maxigoth and Mediumgoth barbarian could just come in and rape and pillage and in all ways wreck your day.
Nehemiah 4:7-9 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
To have a city without a wall in these days was stupid, when the greatest weapons were catapults and arrows a wall was a fantastic defense; we don’t have them anymore because F-22’s don’t really care if your city has a wall around it. Not having a wall was insane, which leads us to another fact of history: Jerusalem was in ruins when Zechariah was prophesying this. Her walls were in shambles, many Jews didn’t return from Babylon for two reasons, first because of the condition of Jerusalem, and second because they fell in love with Babylonian life.
v.5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'
The protection of the Christian is not a pile of stones, but our King protecting us and keeping us from every danger he doesn’t intend.
Job 1:9-10 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”
I think I want to read the whole of Psalm 91;
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
So back to Zechariah, God says he will be the glory in our midst. Which building was being rebuilt at this exact second? The temple; this was fulfilled immediately here when God returned to his people, but it was fulfilled perfectly when Christ did what is written in
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
After God makes this absolutely amazing prophecy for the universality of his church, that he would have believers not just outside of Jerusalem, not just outside of Judah, not just outside of Asia, but on every continent, each indwelt with the Holy Spirit, he calls for his people who refuse to leave Babylon to come home.
v.6-7 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.
The daughter of Babylon becomes a way in the New Testament of referring to the world. So we can apply this to ourselves fleeing from this present world seeking the city to come, that is New Jerusalem or Heaven. We don’t get enamored with this land and not want to leave when given the opportunity, but that we’ll stay in this exile as long as God has us stay, but we happily go home when the time comes.
In Revelation 17, starting in verse 5, John looks at the world and marvels at it, thinking she is beautiful, but the angel responds and tells John not to marvel, because Babylon is an old worn out prostitute and a murderer.
If the people in Babylon would not flee, then they would perish when God sent his destroyers to Babylon. Likewise if we will not flee spiritually then we will perish in God’s wrath. And wrath is coming, for verse 8 says,
v.8 For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:
Here we return to the idea of God being a jealous God. What does it mean that God’s people are the apple of his eye? This literally means the pupil of your eye, the middle of your eye. Figuratively though it means what his eyes are fixed on, whom he loves.
Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,
And a command for us,
Proverbs 7:2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
I heard a whole sermon trying to say that this verse doesn’t mean that God really loves his people, but rather that it’s about him getting poked in the eye. It wasn’t a very good sermon, but check this out, when we compare chapter 1 to chapter 2 we see that God is very jealous for his people, and when someone hurts his people, it’s just the same as if they poked him in the eye, because they are the full focus of his affection.
What color horse is Christ riding on in chapter 1? Red. What does a red horse symbolize? War. Christ is saying that he is sent to deal with those whom mistreated God’s people. This all comes together in verse 9-12 which we can see is mostly set in the future, so we’ll read it as a package,
v.9-12 "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
We see that ultimately God will destroy all of his enemies and save his people, not just from amongst the Jews, but from all nations, and that we will be temples of the Holy Spirit, and that Christ will dwell in our midst. Then we will know even more than now that Christ is the true Messiah because of how many amazing things he has accomplished. His reward then is this people, an inheritance of nations.
Psalm 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
And finally verse 13 is one of my favorite in the whole Bible. Some people think that because it has taken so long between Abraham and Moses, and Moses and David, and David and Zechariah, and Zechariah and Christ, and Christ until his second advent, that God is sleeping or unable or unwilling to act. But verse 13 clears that up,
v.13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
We have promises that God is slow to anger and great in power, he will not leave the guilty unpunished, he will protect his people and they will have eternal life. On the final day he will rouse himself, his patience will run out and it will be a terrifying day for his enemies. One of the weirdest descriptions of God, but amazingly descriptive, in the whole Bible is:
Psalm 78:65-66 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
God will arise with such strength, power, quickness, and lack of restraint that his enemies will be completely crushed. The New Testament says we will respond in one of two ways on that day. One, we will be scared out of our wits seeking to hide anywhere, or we will be glad seeing the appearing of our King. There is no middle ground, we must either repent towards God and put our faith in the Resurrected Christ, or we must prepare to make war on an impossibly strong and jealous warrior God.
If we repent then we become part of this Jerusalem which spans the globe, which is protected by the presence of God, spiritually inviolable because of wall of fire. If not, then we will perish with Babylon. Whatever happens, Christ will receive the reward of his suffering.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
August 29th - God is Working
Prayer Requests
Walk through the Old Testament
Celebrate Freedom Witnessing (Sept 4)
Shelby's Friend's Play
Pollock's Grandparents
Two students from the North Cobb area killed in car accidents
James in the Orchestra
Kari's Sister's visit
Text – Zechariah 1:7-21, Psalm 137
Last week we did an overview of the Babylonian captivity of the people of Judah which took place between 605 and ~535 BC. If you don't fully understand what was going on there it is fine, it is a lot of history and since we're so far removed, it's hard to really grasp the details. Today we're going to look at some of the details and hopefully you'll understand the faithfulness of God even if you don't understand 70 years of history in the 6th century BC.
Does anyone remember the name of the king of Persia who Isaiah prophesied by name over 100 years before he was even born? Cyrus. Here is a huge rabbit trail, but one that I think is important that we follow for a lot of reasons. Sometimes the way my brain works is strange, like the way I catalogue Bible verses or names sometimes takes me a little while to sort through, but it ends up that I have memorized more verses and names than anyone I know. As I was thinking about Cyrus, I wondered, "How would you possibly spell that in Hebrew?" Because Hebrew doesn't have a soft-C sound or even an S-sound that is close to Cyrus, so I looked it up, and it turns out that his name wasn't Cyrus, but Koresh. Cyrus is our Anglicization of the name Koresh, just like Jesus is the Anglicization of Joshua. Remember the name Joshua for the Messiah, it's gonna be hugely important in upcoming weeks.
Does anyone know why the name Koresh might pique my interest? It's because when I was growing up there was a famous cult leader named Vernon Howell, more popularly known as David Koresh. As I researched the name Koresh I found that David Koresh changed his name in order to claim he was the Messiah and the deliverer of God's people. He gained a small following as the second coming of Christ and convinced his people that Armageddon was taking place at their complex in Waco, Texas. As I researched him I remembered something important that isn't keeping with our lesson today but is important enough to share and I don't know when Zechariah would give me another chance to say this.
One of Koresh's biggest sins in a long list of big sins was his sexual sin, he married basically every woman and girl in his cult. The youngest was 12. I want to remind you that the most consistent mark of a cult is sexual sin, and it's amazing what someone can convince someone of in the name of religion. This is prevalent in Koresh's little cult, in the Mormon cult, and in Islam and Catholicism which most people think are too big to be cults, but they share every major distinction of cult-activity. Your body belongs to you and nobody should ever inappropriately touch you, especially in the name of Christ. Sexual purity is of utmost importance to him and your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, with the gift of an intimate relationship confined within the marriage covenant.
I wanted to share that because Koresh is being seen as more and more as a nice, misunderstood guy, when in reality he was a really wicked man.
So, to Zechariah,
Zechariah 1:7-21 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, "I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. Then I said, 'What are these, my lord?' The angel who talked with me said to me, 'I will show you what they are.' So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, 'These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.' And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, 'We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.' Then the angel of the LORD said, 'O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?' And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. So the angel who talked with me said to me, 'Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'"
And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns! And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" And he said to me, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. And I said, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."
v.7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, "I saw in the night..."
This prophecy is two months after the first one, and is considerably longer than the first, it spans 8 visions and 6 chapters. All of these visions happened in one night, it was a busy night for Zechariah. Each of these builds on the next, so when we get to the end we'll read them all in order.
There are a few important things to see in this verse, first we remember our Zechariah, the son of a priest and a priest himself, has previously called Judah to continue repenting and to listen to the word of the Lord, for it will outlast both its hearers and the preachers who are proclaiming it.
The second important thing is the "Shebat" which is the name of a month. This month is in the spring when nature is waking up again and flowers are blooming and there is new birth happening all around. It is highly symbolic of Israel being saved out of a season of despair, and we'll see a flowering tree in a minute.
v.8 behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
We're going to get a really good picture of these horses in chapter 6, but for right now there is a different lesson than the horses being taught. A red horse though, for this lesson, is symbolic of war; we'll see in a bit that this man on the horse is none other than Jesus Christ himself. Notice that there are other horses, these are representative of angels, and the different colors represent different duties; white for peace, red for war, black for death, and sorrel, which is light brown, the Bible never tells us what it represents.
The myrtle tree represents Israel, and at this time of year, it would be flowering with beautiful red and white flowers. A neat thing about the myrtle tree is that when you crush its leaves, it smells really nice; symbolic of the suffering of the believer bringing a pleasant outcome. The Hebrew for myrtle tree is Hadassah, do you know anyone else with that name? Esther's Hebrew name was Hadassah.
v.9 Then I said, 'What are these, my lord?' The angel who talked with me said to me, 'I will show you what they are.'
Zechariah doesn't understand, so we get a great lesson: ask.
v.10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, 'These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.'
These are God's ministering spirits, his messengers and soldiers to accomplish all of his purposes. Some are to do good, others are to do evil to punish sin. You remember that God told Cyrus that there weren't two gods, one who is good and one who is bad, but that there is one God and he makes good and creates evil. Some of these angels are not nice at all:
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
In 1 Kings 22 God asks for a volunteer to bring a wicked king to a specific place so that he can kill him there, and some angels speak up, but nothing definitive, and then Satan stands up and says, "Let me go lie to him." and God lets him go; even guaranteeing Satan's success.
So know that God is working from the beginning, and is working today. He has ministering spirits acting constantly in the world. The report of these angels comes next,
v.11 And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, 'We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.'
This was an amazing time in the history of the world where there were no wars. Remember this is because of the work that God did through Cyrus, and completed through Darius, bringing most of the known world at this time under the control of the Persians. One of the only times in history where there was world peace, and this is not at all pleasing to God, as we'll see in a bit.
v.12 Then the angel of the LORD said, 'O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?'
The angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ, here we see him beautifully interceding for his people, asking God how long their punishment shall last. There are a lot of terms for angels in the Bible, everything from sons of God to Seraphim (on fire ones), to the word here, Mal'ak, which comes from Melech, which means king. The angel here is not a pretty wingy thingy, but a messenger of the King.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...
Apart from God accepting mediation and having mercy on these people whose sins wouldn't be paid for for another 500 years, both these Jews and we would be utterly without hope. God's response is beautiful:
v.13 And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
It may be that what is said next are these words, but I think there were some other words spoken in here which are not revealed to us. It is very dangerous to speak where God has not spoken, so I wouldn't presume to try to say what was said in here, but a great Puritan, John Flavel, did consider what might have been said and he did it very well, and I do not think that God would object to this discourse.
Father: My son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls?
Son: O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand shalt thou require it. I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.
Father: But, my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements; if I spare them, I will not spare thee.
Son: Content, Father, let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it.
We have an intercessor because the Son of God willingly took our sins on himself and paid for them in his own life's blood. Apart from him there is no hope of reconciliation or mercy, but in him there is grace upon grace upon grace. Following these gracious and comforting words, Christ commands Zechariah to speak,
v.14-17 So the angel who talked with me said to me, 'Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'"
For sake of time I think this passage basically speaks for itself, that God is done being angry with Israel and is bringing them back to prosper, and prosper they did from this point on for quite a while. One of the evidences of this is that the temple was being rebuilt at this exact moment.
In the first prophetic outcry we see that God was very angry with the fathers of Judah; in this passage God compares his anger towards Babylon to the anger he felt towards Judah as only a little, and the anger he feels towards Babylon to be great. Remember that they were not righteous people, they had no relationship with God, they sinned exceedingly and did terrible things to all sorts of people, including the Jews.
One place we see this played out exceedingly clearly is with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When they refused to abandon the God of Israel, Babylon tried to execute them with lions and fire, but God was with them and saved them. Besides that the Jews in Babylon were horrendously treated.
In the second passage God is sending destroyers to Babylon for their attrocities.
v.18 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns!
A horn is a symbol of power and violence, like the horn of a bull or elephant or rhinoceros. Zechariah didn't know what they were, so what'd should he do? Ask.
v.19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" And he said to me, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
We don't know precisely who or what these horns represent, it could be kings or governments. We know that at least one, and maybe all, represent Babylon. Knowing what they represent isn't as important as seeing what God is doing to them.
v.20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
Craftsman is anyone who knows what they are doing in building, but specifically here the Hebrew means they are carpenters. Zechariah can see that, but he wants to know their purpose, so he asks, (I love this theme)
v.21 And I said, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."
God is sending specific people or angels or whoever to destroy these powers as punishment for their treatment of his people. Jews before Christ believed at least one of these was the Messiah. Some Jews believed in two Messiahs, one to die and one to reign as king, one Jewish commentator even called one Messiah the "Son of David" and the other the "Son of Ephraim."
Psalm 137 was written to describe the destruction of Babylon:
1By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
3For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song
in a foreign land?
5If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
7Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!"
8O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
9Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!
This Psalm recounts how painful the exile was, and how the Babylonians scorned them and burned Jerusalem and the temple, how they were prisoners and mistreated. the middle section is wonderful because it reminds us that we need to only work for God and speak truths about God, and if we're not going to speak truth, it'd be better if our tongue didn't work.
Finally is the imprecation at the end, Edomites is a way of saying the people whom God has created for the sole purpose of showing his power on by destroying. They aren't just the Babylonians, but in this passage they are just the Babylonians.
God is so angry and his wrath is so just and his judgment so complete that he will destroy Babylon down to the very smallest of her babies.
So our major application in this is that God is still working, he is not slack concerning his promises, but patient, and he will repay every atrocity done to his beloved.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
July 25th - Manasseh - Chief of Sinners, Least of Saints
Prayer Requests
Summit
Summit
Geil's hand (multiple) injuries
Donnie's Back
Alyssa's injuries
Kari's dance wins
James' camp and knee
Dave's flying schedule
Hesus & friends witnessing
Students traveling
Hesus & friends witnessing
Students traveling
Hannah teaching next week
Text –2 Chronicles 33:1-13
Today we’re going to look at one of Jesus’ great great great grandfathers. It is truly amazing that Christ’s genealogy contains such wickedness and that he redeemed many of his ancestors. David was an adulterer and murder, Bathsheba was an adulteress, Solomon was a result of that adultery and a great sinner himself, Rahab was a prostitute, Tamar pretended to be a prostitute, Cain killed his brother, Adam was the first sinner, etc, and the beauty of all of these is that Christ paid for their sins on the cross, though they existed long before him.
But even though they were before him, who was greater?
John 8:53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?"
Matthew 22:42-45 "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet'? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
Christ had a pretty spotty genealogy, it was made up of great sinners, of Jews and Gentiles, of kings and paupers, and yet it did not impact his life or ministry. This is the first lesson I want you to learn before we go any farther. There is a resurgence of a false teaching that you can be cursed for things your ancestors did and that you need to specifically rectify their sin in order to do away with the curse. It’s closer to voodoo than Christianity, but it’s becoming a prominent belief in many churches as they go apostate.
Ezekiel 18:1-4 The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge'? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
In Christianity we have a promise of a complete rebirth into the family of God, that Christ is able to redeem all of our sins and any sins and curses in our genealogy. Christ is utterly bigger than our sins, otherwise how could we possibly expect him to save us from them?
Today we’re going to look at one of Jesus’ grandfathers who is in the running for chiefest of sinners of all time, an utterly evil man, but one with a wonderful outcome. So let’s read the Chronicle of his lifetime;
2 Chronicles 33:1-13 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be forever." And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses." Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
v.1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
A little bit of context here, Manasseh’s father’s name was Hezekiah, he did some very prideful things which Manasseh would have seen. Isaiah came to him and told him he would die, but Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance and Isaiah then told him he would live. In order to train Manasseh up as a king, he and Hezekiah reigned together for about eleven years. It’s neat to see that while two people were ruling Israel, really Israel only had one king because of their unity, which sort of points to the Trinity a little.
Manasseh lived altogether 67 years; remember that he lived to be pretty old, because that’s going to be important later. He reigned the longest out of any king of Israel except for Jesus Christ who is reigning still.
v.2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
Instead of looking to the history of Israel, Manasseh looked to the history of pagans, forgetting that it was God who gave the land of Israel to the nation of Israel, forgetting that God drove out the pagans whom he was now following.
v.3-5 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be forever." And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
Part of his outright wickedness was that he refused to learn from the lessons of his father, who had torn down idols and tried to bring Israel back to worshipping the true God. There was no pagan deity which Manasseh missed in his idolatry, the Baals are the fake creator and sustainer gods, the Asherahs are for worshipping nature, your translation may say groves which would be trees for worship, and the hosts of heaven are either or both the planets and stars and/or angels. Look where he did it too, besides in all the old places which would be scattered throughout the countryside, he’s also done it in the temple, the very house of God.
In order for this to not just be a history lesson, we have to see that today we have Baals, Asherahs, and host of heaven worship in every false religion, in Oprahanity, in the “Green” movement, and in horoscopes and evolution. This wasn’t just a problem which existed in Manasseh’s day, this is still going on today, and remember that this is evil in the sight of God: abominations of the nations.
There is a test you can easily do to see just how evil a nation has gotten. They may be worshipping money and sex and all be atheists, but if they’re not doing this next step, then they haven’t sunk to the lowest level:
v.6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom
We know from other sources that this was to the god Molech, the god of money and wealth. The ultimate low is when a nation begins to murder its babies. In another place God asks Israel if their sexual sin is worth burning their babies in the fire. Today in America we offer up over 3,000 babies daily to the god of money, sex, and convenience.
The place that this took place was such an evil and disgusting place that later Jesus Christ would use it to paint a visual picture of Hell, Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom. Oh how much he must hate it when a nation goes so apostate as to sacrifice its babies.
v.6 and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
I love this verse because for all of the evil that Manasseh did, we see that God is not ignoring it, but that God is provoked to anger and about to act. We know that there is a God in Heaven and we rejoice that he will judge on earth.
To really make the point the Chronicler continues showing how great a sinner that Manasseh was:
v.7-9 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses." Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.
There is a reminder that God blesses nations that honor him, but that he will reject and destroy those who dishonor him. Instead of instantly crushing the nation though, God sent prophets and warnings:
v.10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.
Here we see that it wasn’t just Manasseh who was sinning, but the people under him were happily being pagans as well. The Chronicler puts it pretty gently that they paid no attention. Check this out:
Hebrews 11:37-38 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
One of the prophets that went to Manasseh was Isaiah. There is a tiny chance that Isaiah was actually Manasseh’s grandfather on his mother’s side, since Isaiah’s daughter and Manasseh’s mother had the same name, and tradition tells us that not only did Manasseh ignore Isaiah’s call to repent, but he ordered for Isaiah to be arrested. As Isaiah fled he hid inside a hollowed out log, and Manasseh gave the order for the log to be sawn through.
I really, really, really hope you’re getting an idea of how wicked Manasseh was! You’ll be glad at what happens next:
v.11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.
Aha! He got what he deserved, the far superior army of Assyria came in and took many sinning Jews from Judah and Jerusalem and took them to Assyria, included in this is Manasseh the king who was taken to Babylon. In a day he fell from being a king to being a prisoner.
My Bible I think may have mistranslated this point that they took him with hooks…I think the Hebrew says they found him among thorns, which is neat because we see Manasseh fled and hid amongst his chosen gods, the Asherah groves, which couldn’t save him. And just as Isaiah died hiding, so did Manasseh get captured. He is very fortunate at this point that he didn’t die, because while Isaiah went to a very good place, Manasseh at this point would have gone to a very bad place.
v.12 When he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
Having realized that his gods couldn’t save him, he seeks the God of history who has consistently been saving people since the beginning, including his fathers and grandfathers. He humbled himself, fell on his face, and begged God for favor. Do you think God will answer? Let’s see.
v.13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
This exceedingly great sinner was forgiven, restored, and saved; he went from being the chief of sinners to the least of saints!
v.13 Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
One of the neatest things about this is that you remember that Manasseh reigned the longest out of any king…well he got saved late in his life. Manasseh’s father Hezekiah had what could for all intents and purposed be called a death-bed conversion, though he got better. The beauty of a grace-based religion is that salvation is available while you still have breath in your lungs. You can be a thief nailed to a cross utterly unable to do anything good and still be saved by trusting in the crucified Messiah who was dying for your sins.
There are precious few examples of people getting saved in their last moments in the Bible. However, they are there, and they are there so that we do not despair for older people and that we have hope in death-bed conversions, but they are rare so that we don’t rely on them. If Christ is so great as the Bible makes him out to be, then we want to come to him as soon as possible, and not like Manasseh who had godly parents and grandparents yet sinned and did much damage to himself and his country because he would not come to God early in his life. I would love for you to go home and read the first sixteen verses of Matthew 20 for a great parable on this topic.
The remainder of the story recounts the partial repentance of Judah, but once again Manasseh’s son would go astray, but this opened the way for Josiah to be one of Judah’s greatest kings, but that’s a story for another day.
So your conclusion is that Christ is able to save even the most evil of people, he paid a magnificent price on the cross for all of our sins, so we must flee to him to receive mercy and forgiveness. The earlier the better, for we are doing no-one any good by seeking life and pleasure anywhere else. Our nation would make Manasseh’s nation blush for the rampant nature of our sins, so I implore you not to partake in the idol worship of America, but see that the Lord is God, and submit yourself humbly to him.
Text –2 Chronicles 33:1-13
Today we’re going to look at one of Jesus’ great great great grandfathers. It is truly amazing that Christ’s genealogy contains such wickedness and that he redeemed many of his ancestors. David was an adulterer and murder, Bathsheba was an adulteress, Solomon was a result of that adultery and a great sinner himself, Rahab was a prostitute, Tamar pretended to be a prostitute, Cain killed his brother, Adam was the first sinner, etc, and the beauty of all of these is that Christ paid for their sins on the cross, though they existed long before him.
But even though they were before him, who was greater?
John 8:53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?"
Matthew 22:42-45 "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet'? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
Christ had a pretty spotty genealogy, it was made up of great sinners, of Jews and Gentiles, of kings and paupers, and yet it did not impact his life or ministry. This is the first lesson I want you to learn before we go any farther. There is a resurgence of a false teaching that you can be cursed for things your ancestors did and that you need to specifically rectify their sin in order to do away with the curse. It’s closer to voodoo than Christianity, but it’s becoming a prominent belief in many churches as they go apostate.
Ezekiel 18:1-4 The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge'? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
In Christianity we have a promise of a complete rebirth into the family of God, that Christ is able to redeem all of our sins and any sins and curses in our genealogy. Christ is utterly bigger than our sins, otherwise how could we possibly expect him to save us from them?
Today we’re going to look at one of Jesus’ grandfathers who is in the running for chiefest of sinners of all time, an utterly evil man, but one with a wonderful outcome. So let’s read the Chronicle of his lifetime;
2 Chronicles 33:1-13 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be forever." And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses." Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
v.1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
A little bit of context here, Manasseh’s father’s name was Hezekiah, he did some very prideful things which Manasseh would have seen. Isaiah came to him and told him he would die, but Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance and Isaiah then told him he would live. In order to train Manasseh up as a king, he and Hezekiah reigned together for about eleven years. It’s neat to see that while two people were ruling Israel, really Israel only had one king because of their unity, which sort of points to the Trinity a little.
Manasseh lived altogether 67 years; remember that he lived to be pretty old, because that’s going to be important later. He reigned the longest out of any king of Israel except for Jesus Christ who is reigning still.
v.2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
Instead of looking to the history of Israel, Manasseh looked to the history of pagans, forgetting that it was God who gave the land of Israel to the nation of Israel, forgetting that God drove out the pagans whom he was now following.
v.3-5 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be forever." And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
Part of his outright wickedness was that he refused to learn from the lessons of his father, who had torn down idols and tried to bring Israel back to worshipping the true God. There was no pagan deity which Manasseh missed in his idolatry, the Baals are the fake creator and sustainer gods, the Asherahs are for worshipping nature, your translation may say groves which would be trees for worship, and the hosts of heaven are either or both the planets and stars and/or angels. Look where he did it too, besides in all the old places which would be scattered throughout the countryside, he’s also done it in the temple, the very house of God.
In order for this to not just be a history lesson, we have to see that today we have Baals, Asherahs, and host of heaven worship in every false religion, in Oprahanity, in the “Green” movement, and in horoscopes and evolution. This wasn’t just a problem which existed in Manasseh’s day, this is still going on today, and remember that this is evil in the sight of God: abominations of the nations.
There is a test you can easily do to see just how evil a nation has gotten. They may be worshipping money and sex and all be atheists, but if they’re not doing this next step, then they haven’t sunk to the lowest level:
v.6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom
We know from other sources that this was to the god Molech, the god of money and wealth. The ultimate low is when a nation begins to murder its babies. In another place God asks Israel if their sexual sin is worth burning their babies in the fire. Today in America we offer up over 3,000 babies daily to the god of money, sex, and convenience.
The place that this took place was such an evil and disgusting place that later Jesus Christ would use it to paint a visual picture of Hell, Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom. Oh how much he must hate it when a nation goes so apostate as to sacrifice its babies.
v.6 and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
I love this verse because for all of the evil that Manasseh did, we see that God is not ignoring it, but that God is provoked to anger and about to act. We know that there is a God in Heaven and we rejoice that he will judge on earth.
To really make the point the Chronicler continues showing how great a sinner that Manasseh was:
v.7-9 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses." Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.
There is a reminder that God blesses nations that honor him, but that he will reject and destroy those who dishonor him. Instead of instantly crushing the nation though, God sent prophets and warnings:
v.10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.
Here we see that it wasn’t just Manasseh who was sinning, but the people under him were happily being pagans as well. The Chronicler puts it pretty gently that they paid no attention. Check this out:
Hebrews 11:37-38 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
One of the prophets that went to Manasseh was Isaiah. There is a tiny chance that Isaiah was actually Manasseh’s grandfather on his mother’s side, since Isaiah’s daughter and Manasseh’s mother had the same name, and tradition tells us that not only did Manasseh ignore Isaiah’s call to repent, but he ordered for Isaiah to be arrested. As Isaiah fled he hid inside a hollowed out log, and Manasseh gave the order for the log to be sawn through.
I really, really, really hope you’re getting an idea of how wicked Manasseh was! You’ll be glad at what happens next:
v.11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.
Aha! He got what he deserved, the far superior army of Assyria came in and took many sinning Jews from Judah and Jerusalem and took them to Assyria, included in this is Manasseh the king who was taken to Babylon. In a day he fell from being a king to being a prisoner.
My Bible I think may have mistranslated this point that they took him with hooks…I think the Hebrew says they found him among thorns, which is neat because we see Manasseh fled and hid amongst his chosen gods, the Asherah groves, which couldn’t save him. And just as Isaiah died hiding, so did Manasseh get captured. He is very fortunate at this point that he didn’t die, because while Isaiah went to a very good place, Manasseh at this point would have gone to a very bad place.
v.12 When he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
Having realized that his gods couldn’t save him, he seeks the God of history who has consistently been saving people since the beginning, including his fathers and grandfathers. He humbled himself, fell on his face, and begged God for favor. Do you think God will answer? Let’s see.
v.13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
This exceedingly great sinner was forgiven, restored, and saved; he went from being the chief of sinners to the least of saints!
v.13 Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
One of the neatest things about this is that you remember that Manasseh reigned the longest out of any king…well he got saved late in his life. Manasseh’s father Hezekiah had what could for all intents and purposed be called a death-bed conversion, though he got better. The beauty of a grace-based religion is that salvation is available while you still have breath in your lungs. You can be a thief nailed to a cross utterly unable to do anything good and still be saved by trusting in the crucified Messiah who was dying for your sins.
There are precious few examples of people getting saved in their last moments in the Bible. However, they are there, and they are there so that we do not despair for older people and that we have hope in death-bed conversions, but they are rare so that we don’t rely on them. If Christ is so great as the Bible makes him out to be, then we want to come to him as soon as possible, and not like Manasseh who had godly parents and grandparents yet sinned and did much damage to himself and his country because he would not come to God early in his life. I would love for you to go home and read the first sixteen verses of Matthew 20 for a great parable on this topic.
The remainder of the story recounts the partial repentance of Judah, but once again Manasseh’s son would go astray, but this opened the way for Josiah to be one of Judah’s greatest kings, but that’s a story for another day.
So your conclusion is that Christ is able to save even the most evil of people, he paid a magnificent price on the cross for all of our sins, so we must flee to him to receive mercy and forgiveness. The earlier the better, for we are doing no-one any good by seeking life and pleasure anywhere else. Our nation would make Manasseh’s nation blush for the rampant nature of our sins, so I implore you not to partake in the idol worship of America, but see that the Lord is God, and submit yourself humbly to him.
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