Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] All right, we are back in Zechariah, the last chapter of zechariah. So Zechariah 14 tonight, and then we'll start the last book of these prophets next week.
[00:00:23] Now, as I was studying this, I. I started to think of daunting tasks.
[00:00:30] Have you ever been faced with an absolutely daunting task? Something that amounts very highly, seems insurmountable, something you cannot overcome or achieve. You know, you have to, you have to do something. And as you look, look at it, or maybe you're thinking it's something you think about, you think that just seems impossible.
[00:00:50] That's impossible.
[00:00:52] I had a kind of a feeling like this years ago. One time when I was in college, I had knee surgery to repair my ACL and meniscus, which in my like half of game of dodgeball. My knee is currently sore right now, so maybe they should have done a better job on it. No, they did great.
[00:01:11] Anyway, about a week later, I was ready to crunch to my classes again and. And I needed to because I had a statistics exam that day and I thought, I don't have an excuse anymore. It's been a week, I'll just go.
[00:01:27] It's a hard class, by the way. I went to statistics, I sat down and I realized something terrible.
[00:01:34] I had forgotten my calculator, which you're allowed to have on these. I had forgotten my calculator, but luckily someone had an extra.
[00:01:44] So that's okay. I had a calculator. That was good.
[00:01:47] But then as I looked at the test, it became daunting because I literally. And I. I can't describe it any other way. I literally could not even fathom an answer to a single question.
[00:02:01] I'm not. I've never been bad at math or math adjacent things like statistics.
[00:02:06] I could not fathom an answer at all. It was like if I passed out, right now, a Mandarin exam.
[00:02:14] I'm assuming most of you don't know Mandarin. It's a language, a very widely spoken language.
[00:02:21] It would be like that. I literally could not understand a single thing.
[00:02:26] So as I sat in utter horror, I remembered, why is this happening to my brain? Why can I not think? I mean, I took the class, I read the chapters, I should know this.
[00:02:34] I was still taking my very strong painkillers that I was prescribed for my knee surgery. And they were powerful. They made me sleepy. Very emotional, oddly emotional. And I guess it also made it so that I could not read or think. I could not understand. Anyway, so fortunately I told my professor and she let me finish in A week or two.
[00:02:58] But at the time, that test seemed quite daunting. I could not answer a single question. Thing well, again, I. Not because of the painkiller thing, but I started to. To feel, as I studied this passage, a similar way, daunted. I. I don't know if that's the right way to use it. I was daunted by this.
[00:03:15] It is difficult in many ways. Zechariah 14, in fact, even. And I have to mention him because it's October 29th. The great Martin Luther. It's almost Reformation Day. Two days for all who celebrate the great Martin Luther. He wrote two commentaries on Zechariah. I don't know if you guys know that.
[00:03:34] Not very many people write one commentary on books. He wrote two. The first was in Latin. It was in Latin. And he ended it in chapter 13, verse 9. So that's the end of chapter 13. And he said, not another word. He just ended after chapter 13.
[00:03:50] Didn't explain why he did not cover chapter 14.
[00:03:53] Well, then later he wrote another one, a second one. This one was in Germany, his mother tongue.
[00:03:58] And he wrote, I think, a couple of things in German.
[00:04:02] But at the beginning of his Chapter 14 commentary, he wrote this here in this chapter, I give up, for I'm not sure what the prophet is talking about.
[00:04:15] That's it. That's what he wrote. He gave up. He could not understand it. So if you read this chapter in advance and had a hard time understanding any of it, you shouldn't feel so bad. Take heart. Even Luther struggled with this chapter. Don't fret.
[00:04:29] You know, it's okay to not have all the answers, but you know, I am going to try to help us understand what this chapter means.
[00:04:37] Now, Zechariah, the prophet, he prophesied, of course, so he spoke God's word to the people who had returned from exile. You know, exile, being banished from their land, the punishment they deserved for violating their covenant with the Lord.
[00:04:50] Zechariah shows them through this book, just as a summary. He shows them in his prophecies that there will be a future temple greater than the one that they're rebuilding.
[00:04:59] And he, the greater temple is a he. He will be both priest and king.
[00:05:05] And the Lord himself then will rule the people and will intercede and mediate for the people. And he will become their shepherd to replace the bad shepherds that they had at the time.
[00:05:17] Now, this last chapter focuses on a day of the Lord that is coming.
[00:05:25] Now, as we read, I think you should think of this day as probably mostly at least future. With some realities occurring even now.
[00:05:34] The main idea of the text is.
[00:05:37] The Lord promises a day.
[00:05:42] The Lord promises a day where the wicked are destroyed.
[00:05:46] And his kingdom is established to bring life to peoples of all nations.
[00:05:53] So the Lord promises a day where the wicked are destroyed. And his kingdom is established to bring life to peoples of all nations. Therefore, trust in the Lord, wait patiently for him, and worship him unceasingly.
[00:06:10] I know that's much longer than normal.
[00:06:12] I'll read it again in a minute. But first let's read Zechariah 14.
[00:06:19] Behold, a day is coming for the Lord. When the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. And the city shall be taken. And the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile. But the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
[00:06:40] Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations. As when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley. So that one half of the mountain shall move northward. And the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains.
[00:07:08] For the valley of the mountain shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah.
[00:07:16] Then the Lord my God will come. And all the holy ones with him. On that day there shall be no light, cold or frost.
[00:07:25] There shall be a unique day which is known to the Lord. Neither day nor night. But at evening time there shall be light.
[00:07:33] On that day, living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem. Half of them to the eastern sea, and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
[00:07:44] And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day, the Lord will be one and his name one.
[00:07:52] The whole land shall be turned into a plain. From Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site. From the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate. To the corner gate. And from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. And it shall be inhabited. For there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.
[00:08:19] And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they are still Standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
[00:08:34] And on that day, a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another. And the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.
[00:08:44] Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected. Gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.
[00:08:54] And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps. Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the Earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
[00:09:20] And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain.
[00:09:26] There shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.
[00:09:39] And on that day, there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses holy to the Lord.
[00:09:46] The pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a traitor in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.
[00:10:06] Okay, so in this sermon, I'm going to explain the main thread, rust of the text, but focus on its purpose for us. I think the word of God is instructive for us today.
[00:10:20] And so we're going to see what exactly this means to us.
[00:10:25] Not that it's subjective, but how can it apply to our lives? Now, the main idea, just to repeat. The Lord promises a day where the wicked are destroyed and his kingdom is established to bring life to peoples of all nations. Therefore, trust in the Lord. Wait patiently for him, and worship him unceasingly.
[00:10:41] So point number one.
[00:10:43] Rest in and expect.
[00:10:47] Rest in and expect the Lord who blesses the afflicted.
[00:10:53] Rest in and expect the Lord who blesses the afflicted.
[00:10:57] This chapter opens with really just a gruesome explanation of the affliction against God's people. You know, spoil is being divided among them. Basically, that Means an invading army took their stuff and they're divvying it up to each other amongst them, right in front of Israel. You know, this is the classic adding insult to injury.
[00:11:20] The nations of the world will gather, battle. They will take Jerusalem, plunder the houses, abuse the women. It's very graphic. But the point is to show us the utterance, wickedness of the nations, their hatred towards the Lord and their hatred towards his people.
[00:11:39] Now, someone might ask the question and maybe even be uncomfortable when they. They read of such wicked, gruesome violence. And they also read that it says, the Lord gathers the nations. As they do this, we see that his sovereignty is somehow at play.
[00:11:56] But at this point, I think it's more helpful for us to just marvel at God's sovereignty.
[00:12:04] God is sovereign. He's powerful over all things that happen. Yet he cannot be charged with sin. He is holy. He does not sin.
[00:12:14] We know from earlier Scripture, specifically Genesis, most famously for this, that what man might intend for evil, God at the same time can intend for, for good.
[00:12:27] And so though this can be mysterious to us, it can be hard for, maybe even impossible in this life for us to know exactly how something evil, maybe that's happened to you could really be God doing something good. It can be difficult for maybe, again, maybe impossible for us to know in this life. But we trust that God is wiser than us. He knows what is good better than we do.
[00:12:51] He can, has, and does and will continue to use the evil work done by evil people to accomplish his good purposes.
[00:13:02] When cast in this light.
[00:13:05] This section is actually a truth that Christians can rest in. This can give us rest. I believe whatever may come, no matter what it is, no matter how wicked or gruesome or unspeakable or unimaginable it could be, whatever may come, God has ordained and allowed it to come for his good purposes.
[00:13:25] Something greater than you can fathom is in store and intended by what happens. He is wise and wonderful, so we should trust him and rest in that.
[00:13:38] Now, the tribulation here, tribulation is a word that means chaos, affliction, bad things.
[00:13:45] So the tribulation here will cause a great many people to be cut off from the Lord, though not all, we may have noticed, not all the remnants of God's people, which is to say his true people, the people who remain the true Israel, we would say today, the universal church will remain and will fight the battle for them.
[00:14:07] So look closely at how this final battle that God fights for his people occurs in verses four through seven. If you look in there, you see a lot of significant imagery. So we're looking verses four through seven.
[00:14:23] We see that God shall stand on the Mount of Olives in the east of Jerusalem.
[00:14:29] We see the Lord appearing in the east. I want you to focus on that for a second. He appears in the east.
[00:14:35] Now, this is important because Ezekiel, that's another prophet. Ezekiel, chapter 10, verses 18 through 19. It depicts the glory and presence of the Lord leaving the temple. It says, then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes. As they went out with the wheels beside them. They stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
[00:15:08] So we see the glory of the Lord leave that direction. And now he's back from where he came.
[00:15:14] This is him leaving. Was the destruction of the temple, the exile. And now they're getting a vision of the Lord returning, his presence and glory coming back. They haven't been abandoned forever, but he is returning and on the Mount of Olives. Now, let's think about the significance of that. There is some mountains we see all over the Bible. Typically, this is the place where people get glimpses of the Lord.
[00:15:39] Most famously, Moses meets with the Lord on a mountain. The transfiguration occurs on a mountain. There are many opportunities, many more than I can list here of the people that meet God on the mountain in some way.
[00:15:53] And this specific mountain was the high point, the city of Jerusalem. But I want us to look to the New Testament. I think there's something interesting here. See, Jesus, he goes to the Mount of Olives several times, including three times in his last week of life.
[00:16:10] He goes here. But I want to bring our attention to one of those. Matthew 24, 25. We're not going to read all of that, but this is like one big discourse, kind of like a sermon he gave on that mountain.
[00:16:22] And if we. If you are to read it, I would encourage you to read it. You'll see parallels to this passage and that one all over the place. We're going to look at some of them. So sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples in Matthew 24, they asked him, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? That's 24, verse three.
[00:16:44] They're asking, what will be the sign of the end of the age and of his coming. So to what degree they were thinking of Zechariah 14.
[00:16:52] I don't know.
[00:16:53] It's very likely they knew this chapter well, but they ask about the end of the age to God the Son on the Mount of Olives. As he's standing on the Mount of Olives, Jesus describes his disciples being delivered in tribulation. In chapter 24, verse 9, he says they will be delivered in tribulation, which matches the first three verses of Zechariah 14, which there's a lot of tribulation.
[00:17:19] And then after his people endure this tribulation, Jesus says in 24:29 of Matthew, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven again. I think this matches verse six and even the verse after that which says, on that day there shall be no light, cold or frost, and there shall be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening there shall be light.
[00:17:46] The Lord knows this day. Likewise Jesus says, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows but the Father only. There are so many overlaps here.
[00:17:57] We also see Jesus says that he, the Son of man, will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds. So Christians, he will gather them. Zechariah 14:5 says, the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him, all those who are called holy, those are Christians.
[00:18:19] All this is to say that I believe Zechariah and Jesus are talking about the same thing, the exact same thing, the same events. Let me briefly translate and summarize what we're talking about, what I think these chapters are depicting, just to make it a little bit easier for us to wrap up and take home God's people, the Church Universal, we might say today, all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith will and already are experiencing some of this great tribulation, this persecution, these difficulties. I mean, we look around today and we don't have to imagine much. We can see the nations raging.
[00:18:56] Christians are persecuted all over the world.
[00:18:59] Radical liberal ideology spreads wickedness of masses, death tragedies, heinous crimes like assassinations and school shootings, natural disasters like floods and earthquakes and hurricanes are all happening at the same time.
[00:19:14] All of these things are occurring. I think we're living in these sorts of times where we're seeing the pains of a sinful world quake and break and come into contact with Christians who are trying to follow a holy God.
[00:19:28] I think we're living there. And Jesus says immediately after this time, this tribulation, the sun will be darkened. We will see no light. I don't know exactly what this looks like, what it will be like, but it will be dark until Christ arrives. The light of the world will return.
[00:19:47] You will see the glory of the Lord return, just as they do in this vision. He will return.
[00:19:54] Christ will then rule on earth, which we'll pick up more in the rest of the chapter. But I want to make sure to emphasize what we must do with this passage.
[00:20:03] We need to rest in the Lord and expect him to come. Rest in the Lord. Expect him to come.
[00:20:11] You know, we will struggle with things. If I'm right that these things are happening now, we will struggle. We will deal with difficult things in life, and they will probably become increasingly difficult, worse, more intense as we live.
[00:20:26] But here's what we can do. First, we can rest by trusting in the perfect works of Christ. We can rest by trusting in the perfect works of Christ.
[00:20:40] Not doing this means that you have to work yourself. You have to earn your perfect righteousness, which you've already failed to do.
[00:20:50] But you can put away all your worries by trusting in Christ, his finished, perfect work, by having faith in Him. Your sins are atoned for. You need not to toil and labor and be weary any longer. You can trust and rest in his works.
[00:21:09] Second, you can rest by thinking on the coming of Christ.
[00:21:14] You can think about this vision. You can think about the coming of Christ. I think we forget about this. We don't have this eternal perspective. We live day to day life like we're a normal secular person. We don't. We forget that we should be expecting that this vision is happening. Christ is coming. He is. We need to expect this. We need to be ready by walking and pleasing God. Even now, you know, think of. You can think of his coming as you pray and wish that he comes. Pray that he would come. Thank him and trust that he will come.
[00:21:48] You can think of his coming by singing hymns and songs that address it. You know, some songs you might know. Joy to the World. It's about Christ's second coming. Lo, he comes with clouds descending. You probably don't know that one, but it's beautiful. Come. Thou long expected Jesus. Where shall I be. Look ye saints, the sight is glorious. My personal favorite. The sands of time are sinking.
[00:22:13] All of these are. And there's so many more. There's so many songs that we can sing and remember that Christ is coming again and remember that in a wonderful way. And then third, we can rest by setting Aside a day or a time of rest.
[00:22:29] Now, I think we have a wonderful opportunity to do this on Sundays, traditionally called the Lord's Day. I really do believe that there is wisdom based, baked into creation itself that tells us we should have a day of rest each week.
[00:22:47] It is natural. God did it in creation. He had his people do it all the time, weekly. So I think there's real wisdom in having rest. I'm not going to go so far to tell you what you can and can't do on the Lord's Day, or if you need to do it on that day or not. I'm not able to tell you that that. But you should really find ways to rest from your labors and reflect on Christ and his works of salvation and his approaching return.
[00:23:16] All right, now let's go to point number two. We're going to be focusing here on verses eight through 21. So that last big chunk, point number two is rejoice and exalt.
[00:23:26] Rejoice and exalt the Lord who wins the final battle.
[00:23:33] Rejoice and exalt in the Lord who wins the final battle.
[00:23:37] So there's more good news for God's people here. As we see again, the Lord will win, give life to his people, and destroy his enemies.
[00:23:49] Verse 8 talks about a river flowing from Jerusalem, which would have been a remarkable picture for the people originally hearing this prophecy because that's a pretty arid, dry climate for this giant river to go to. Two seas would have been amazing to imagine. But the Lord will do this and will give life to his people. Because verse nine says, the Lord will be king over the earth.
[00:24:15] The Lord will be king over the earth.
[00:24:18] Israel's king, Yahweh will not just be their king, he will be what he is always been, what he is intended to be recognized as king over all the earth, every square inch.
[00:24:32] You know, of course, then we should think of the Lord's name that he revealed to Moses. He. He called his name I am, which is kind of where we get the name Yahweh after that.
[00:24:44] And Deuteronomy 6, Moses commands Israel to remember this. Talking about Yahweh, I am saying Yahweh, our God, Yahweh is one.
[00:24:55] Seems insignificant. Yeah, he is one. He is one. Right. We kind of overlooked that this was incredibly significant.
[00:25:03] You know, we rightly think of this incredible text as a reminder that Israel was monotheistic. That means they believed in one God, but also they're claiming that he is not just their one God. He is the only God.
[00:25:17] That was where they went a big leap further than anyone else on the planet. He is the only God. Other people were jostling. Our gods are more powerful. We have more. No, Yahweh is the only God, is what God's people said, not just their God, not just comparatively greater than the other gods. He is the one God. And his very name means that He. His very name points to the future reality explained in Zechariah 14, that there is one God. He will be God and king over all the earth. That's why he is one. We read in verse nine, and his name is one. This is talking about the Lord God.
[00:25:57] All the peoples on the earth will be ruled by the one true God.
[00:26:03] They all will now to bring about this rule. The one one true God will judge the wicked nations, which is explained in verses 12 through 15.
[00:26:14] And that section, even including verses 17 and 19, are hard for us to completely conceptualize.
[00:26:21] It's kind of a bit of a mystery of how all this will look and work. And I don't think that's the main thing we need to figure out. But importantly, sinners outside of Christ will be judged.
[00:26:33] And the Lord will save his faithful ones, no matter where they are from.
[00:26:37] And his people will again worship him together, and they will be holy to Him.
[00:26:45] And his people will again celebrate.
[00:26:48] Not necessarily literally, I believe, but they will celebrate the Feast of Booths. Maybe your Bible says Feast of Tabernacles. I think you see booths a little bit more often.
[00:26:59] And now we forget about this holiday often. I believe I touched on it in Haggai. I think we talked about it there a little bit, because one of his prophecies came during this festival.
[00:27:10] But the Feast of Booths, just to remind you, is an important holiday to them. It's probably one of the most important ones, at least to the Israelite people at the time. We typically think of the Passover, but they really did uphold this one highly.
[00:27:24] It was a celebration of the harvest and of the Lord's provision.
[00:27:29] And it was a reminder of the Lord's provision specifically to them in the wilderness when they left Egypt, when they lived in things called booths, tabernacles, basically a tent or kind of a shack, a hut that was portable. That's what those were. And so they would live in those for a week to remember God's provision when they had to live in those in the wilderness.
[00:27:54] Now, radically, this distinctly Jewish holiday we see in Zechariah 14, very distinctly Jewish, right? It's talking about Israel leaving Egypt that is very much their history.
[00:28:04] But this is going to be celebrated by all peoples who remain.
[00:28:09] All peoples will celebrate this holiday who remain after the Lord's judgment. That's remarkable.
[00:28:15] Gentile nations too will. Will celebrate the Lord's provision and deliverance from slavery, just as Israel did many years ago.
[00:28:26] All people will celebrate this delivery from slavery. How amazing is that?
[00:28:32] Therefore, just as Israel did, all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ must rejoice and exalt the Lord.
[00:28:40] We must worship him.
[00:28:42] And we will do that together.
[00:28:45] So if you're a survivor of eternal death, meaning that Christ has brought you from certain death to be heir of eternal life, then you must worship Him.
[00:28:58] Now, how often do you worship God? I want you to think about your own life. How often do you worship God?
[00:29:06] On Sundays only, maybe, you know, don't get me wrong, that is the most important time to worship him with the church.
[00:29:13] But your life should really be characterized by worship in the broadest sense of the word worship. I know we can think of it different ways, but in the broadest sense, everything you do should be done for the glory of the Lord.
[00:29:27] Everything you do should be done as if it is worship to the Lord. Now, to do that, you need to have him and the Gospel in your heart and mind. It needs to color your conversations and your actions and what you do.
[00:29:40] But you can worship in maybe more palpable, specific ways. In your car. You can read the Word when you get ready for the day, you know, focus on exalting him in your prayers. You can even challenge yourself. People, you know, when I was in college, people challenged me to do this, to pray for maybe like five whole minutes, set a timer even. There's nothing magical about that. But it could be a challenge where you only praise and glorify God.
[00:30:07] You're not asking, you're just praising Him. Just challenge yourself. To really think about praise and glorify the Lord, read especially the last 15, 20 Psalms.
[00:30:21] Just read through those and praise God for what he has done.
[00:30:25] These are all ways that we can worship Him.
[00:30:28] Now, what can happen when you don't worship the Lord? Now, I think there's some instruction here because God says, if we're looking kind of at the last several verses of this chapter, he withholds rain and he sends plagues on those who don't worship him. Verses 17 through 19 tell us that.
[00:30:49] So I'm not saying this is a literal thing that's going to happen to you today, but I think what we can learn from this is that a lack of worship reaps a lack of Blessing I really do believe that a lack of worship reaps a lack of blessing.
[00:31:05] A guy named Stephen Rummage says, imagine what would happen in our lives if we suffered drought every time we failed to give God thanks.
[00:31:16] What if the blessings started to dry up in our lives?
[00:31:19] We can be grateful that Jesus is gracious enough to care for us, even when we neglect to give him thanks. Still, we miss out on certain blessings when we fail to give God thanks.
[00:31:31] We can live our lives day by day, giving thanks to King Jesus and worshiping him because of the ways he has blessed us.
[00:31:41] So here are some potential droughts that can occur when we neglect worshiping, exalting, and giving thanks to God.
[00:31:50] First, we can have a drought of closeness or a drought of intimacy.
[00:31:56] Do you feel like you aren't close with God right now?
[00:32:00] If you were asked, describe your relationship with God if you're thinking not great or not very close, that feeling of loneliness and coldness might be a result of a lack of worship. It might be because you've withdrawn from Him.
[00:32:17] I can't say that it's 100% the case, but it might be because you've withdrawn from him and are not worshiping Him.
[00:32:24] You could also be experiencing a drought of communication from God. You know, do you feel like. Do you feel aimless, like God isn't guiding you at all? Like you can't suss out what he wants you to do or what decisions you ought to make? You know, this too can be caused, I believe, by a lack of worship. You've withdrawn from Him. You are far from him, therefore it's hard to know what is wise and right.
[00:32:51] And then third, you might experience.
[00:32:53] You almost certainly will experience a drought of holiness.
[00:32:57] A drought of holiness. Do you feel yourself falling into sin a lot?
[00:33:03] Do you even feel addicted to certain sins?
[00:33:06] Romans 1:21 says, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
[00:33:20] You might fall into more and more sin as a direct result of not honoring or giving thanks to God.
[00:33:30] We do this trusting and knowing that the Lord will make us holy through faith. Heaven will be one day and like the holy of holies, the most holy place where God dwelt with his people. But now or then, all of his people will be there with Him.
[00:33:49] That's why we worship Him. This is what we long to see. This is a beautiful picture of a consistent theme in Zechariah. This theme I've Repeated a few times. God intends to dwell with his people.
[00:34:00] That's his intention. That's his desire. That's what he wants. He wants to dwell with his people. God wants an intimate relationship with his people because he loves them.
[00:34:11] He does. And in order to do that, his people must be holy, because he is holy.
[00:34:16] So through faith alone in Christ, you can be made holy. You can enter into that land of blessing with the Lord.
[00:34:24] And Peter writes in First Peter, chapter one, he writes, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy. For I am holy. Since you have been born again through the living and abiding Word of God, through new birth, through the Spirit, and by grace, through faith in Christ, you can be made holy.
[00:34:53] And if you trust in Christ, then live holy lives.
[00:34:58] I hope you find this chapter beneficial. Not overly daunting like Martin Luther, or not overly daunting like a statistics test with a lot of painkillers on board.
[00:35:10] This text in this book are meant for our instruction and benefit, to lead us to Christ.
[00:35:16] With the end of days in mind, with the return of the Lord in mind, we should rest in Christ and His finished work on the cross. And we should wait expectantly for Him.
[00:35:28] Wait for Him, Anticipate we should live lives in the meantime that honor Him. Therefore, give your praise, your exaltation and your thanks to the Lord God, to Christ. Because a day is coming and God intends to dwell with his people in that day.
[00:35:47] Therefore, turn from your sins and trust in Christ. The Lord promises a day where the wicked are destroyed and his kingdom is established to bring life to peoples of all nations. Therefore, trust in the Lord, wait patiently for him and worship him unceasingly. Let's pray.
[00:36:03] Father, thank you for your word tonight and for your Son, Jesus Christ, who we expect to come. God, we pray that those who don't know you would turn from their sins, trust in Christ, that they too can rest and expect the Lord in joy, and they can look forward to him in happiness. They can praise him and exalt Him. Lord, help us to think about how this will affect our lives as we break into groups now and we pray this all in your Son's name. Amen.
