I Will Dwell in Your Midst - Zechariah 2

1:08And so I pray, Lord, that tonight we would consider this prophecy as precious and that we would work hard, as hard as we can, to study it and understand it and remember. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, for a long time now, we have been in this kind of forgotten, a little bit unique part. Of Israel's history. I think a lot of us remember, if I was going to ask you to list like five Old Testament stories, most of the ones you'd list were probably going to be in Genesis, right? That's where a lot of the famous ones are: the creation, the flood, the tower of Babel, Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, and all those stories. And then I think as we go further on in time, we might remember a lot of stories about King David and maybe about King Solomon. But as we get towards this later history of the Old Testament, I think that many of us would confess that we forget about it all the time. We forget about these dramatic, amazing things that God is doing through his people at this time. We kind of erase it from our minds. And so we've been trying not to do that at this church. And so we studied Ezra and Nehemiah together. And some of you are getting really sick of me saying this, but you remember that Ezra and Nehemiah deal with four issues.

2:36Ezra 1 through 6, the issue is that there's not a temple. So they return to the land and they start to build the temple and then they stop for a long time. And then it reports for us in the book of Ezra, which is a book of history. It reports to us that two prophets came during that time and prophesied. Their names are Haggai and Zechariah. And the people did build the temple. So they had. Started, they stopped for like 15 years or more, and then the two prophets came and then they started building again and they finished a few years later. So that was the first big issue in Ezra 1 through 6. And then Ezra 7 through 10, there was intermarriage with the pagan cultures, and they needed to fix that. Then the next book in the history is Nehemiah. And in Nehemiah 1 through 6, what's the main issue?

3:27Walls, right? There's no walls on the city. Remember that. That's going to be important for us today. There's no walls on the city. And so Nehemiah is going to come back. He's the cupbearer to the king of Persia. He's going to come to the land of Israel, and he's going to be ruthless in his determination to build these walls. So there's going to be walls built. And then what is the problem of the last chunk of Nehemiah?

3:54The main problem. There's several problems, but what's the main problem? Anybody remember? The population. There's no one there. So they have built these walls, but then there's no one in the city. In fact, they say that none of the houses have even been built in the city. They're all out kind of in the countryside, maybe, or something like that. But now these families have built the walls, and now they need to repopulate. And so they're going to bring in people from all the land. Okay, so remember that order. It's going to become important for us today that they built the temple and then dealt with the issue of. Intermarriage and then built the walls about 80 or 90 years later, and then they needed to repopulate the city. Okay?

4:42So back in that first chunk where they're building the temple, the two prophets we mentioned were Haggai and Zechariah. We've just finished studying Haggai, and now last time we studied Zechariah chapter 1. So actually flip over back to Zechariah chapter 1. At the very beginning of the chapter, he gets a word from the Lord talking, just a general warning saying, Don't you remember that my prophet spoke to your fathers? So this is speaking to the people of Israel in their land. And he's saying, Don't you remember, my prophets spoke to your fathers and they didn't listen, and it didn't go well with them. So think about what you're doing. And they responded well, chapter 1, verse 6 at the end of it. He says, so they repented and said, as the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us. So after that, that's the first word. And then after that, he jumps into this night, this night where he seems to have consecutive visions over and over and over. And this is going to take up the first six or seven chapters of the book of Zechariah. Anybody remember what year he's getting these visions in?

6:07Yeah, Darius, the second year of Darius, and that is the year 520. So in that first chunk, and bear with me, guys, don't zone out, but in that first chunk, the year that that chunk returned, it was Zerubbabel and Jeshua or Joshua, was 538. And they start building the temple almost right away, and then they stop for 15 years, and then it's 520 where these two prophets come and they start preaching a lot. And you remember that the year 520 was all of Haggai's prophecies over the course of the last like six months. The entire book of Haggai comes in that one year. And simultaneously, Zechariah begins his prophecies. Now, Zechariah is going to continue for several more years while the people are still building the temple. He's going to keep encouraging them to keep on building.

7:04But the point is, the main point is, build the temple. Okay, so in that first word, he's saying, make sure you remember to listen to my prophets. Don't neglect it like your fathers did. Then he starts having these night visions. They seem to all be in one night because he just says, I looked up and saw this, and then he'll talk about it for a little bit, and then he'll say, I looked up and saw this, and he'll talk about it for a little bit. And it seems like he's just. Looking from place to place, and God is giving him these visions and helping him interpret them. And so we have the first one starting in verse 7 of chapter 1. On the 24th day of the 11th month, which is the month of Shabbat in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Edo, saying, I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse. And so you remember there are these different kinds of horses there, and they were standing in the myrtle trees. Do you guys remember this? And he starts interacting with the people in the vision. And he also interacts with this one angel who he just calls, verse 9. Then I said, What are these, my Lord? These horses. I said, What are these, my Lord? And the angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what they are. Well, that almost becomes like a name. That's like his interpreting angel or something like that. He just keeps saying that. In each of the night visions, he'll ask a question and he'll say, And the angel who talked with me, the angel who talked with me, he said this. So we meet him in that first vision. And you remember that those horsemen in their horses, they say that they are patrolling the earth and the earth is at rest. And so you get this first vision about how the Lord is in control over everything.

8:54He sees everything and he has his agents, his angelic agents, going around. The world, making sure that everything is at rest. Then, one of the horsemen, verse 12, presumably one of the horsemen, but he says, 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 70 years? And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. So the angel of the Lord asks the question, How long are they going to have to keep waiting before you have mercy? And God sends comforting and gracious words to the angel that's talking to Zechariah, our prophet. Okay, and he's saying, he gives those words to the angel, verse 14. 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. Okay, so what would that mean to you if you were living there? What do you think it looks like right there at that time? What do you think Jerusalem looks like?

10:07Yeah, partially built city, not too many people, certainly not what it used to look like. Maybe pretty disappointing. And yet God sends these gracious and comforting words and says, I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and 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. Remember that, measuring line. 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.

10:58Now, we studied this last time, but you get this picture that God is, the main point God is saying is, I have not forgotten about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is still my choice. I'm going to choose them again. They're going to be the place of my special attention again. And in Jerusalem, that's the safe place to be. Out in the other nations, that's the scary place to be. That's who God is exceedingly angry with. Because when he was already a little angry, they made him even more angry by the way they treated God's people. So then we have the second vision, verse 18.

11:40And 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 do. To terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it. Okay, so if we, so that prophecy, the second vision, was about how, yes, these horns are able to come and scatter Israel and Judah, but God has, in the vision, craftsmen who are going to shatter these horns. And so the point of this vision is to say that whoever God uses to scatter his people, it's not great for them either. God's people are still God's people, and God is going to shatter the enemies of his people. And so, if you were living in the land at this time, let's say that you were a father in this land, and you had a wife, and you had young children, and you know, because, number one, you already knew you were supposed to be building the temple. You helped build the foundation like 15 years ago, and then you stopped because you were scared. And now, the prophet has come about six months ago, and he said, The time is now to stop beautifying your own houses and get back to my temple, finish my temple. And the prophet of God has said that, but you're a dad, and you have a wife, and you have kids, and you love the Lord, and you want to be faithful to him, but you're also looking around at your city that doesn't have. Walls. You're looking around at all the people in the land that don't like you and they don't like that you're building this temple.

13:40You hear, like we hear in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, that letters are going back and forth between the people of the land and the king of Persia, and they're trying to get you to stop building the temple. And you're thinking about your family and you want to keep them safe. And maybe you want to follow Yahweh, but you're scared. Or you don't know what the right thing to do is. You want to protect your family. I think that so far, what God has made clear to these people is: number one, don't be like your fathers who chose not to listen to me. You listen to my prophet.

14:21Number two, remember that I'm in charge of the entire world. I'm the one who is sending the angels to patrol the earth. I'm the one who's in charge. Number three, all of my enemies, all of God's enemies, are going to get it in the end. And that's from what the comforting words, and then that's also from the second vision: that the horns are going to be shattered. Okay, so God is saying, I'm in control. And so the message to the people, I think, is: so, build the temple, listen to my prophets. Know that I'm in charge and build the temple. We're going to get a similar message today. Okay, so Zechariah chapter 2.

15:08Then I lifted my eyes. So this is our third vision that he sees. So he's lifted his eyes to something else. I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. And 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. Okay, so that's the vision. He sees this man, and the man is maybe already walking away or something like that, but Zechariah can tell he's got a measuring line or some kind of tape measure in his hand that he's going to go and measure out the city of Jerusalem. And Zechariah shouts out to him, Where are you going? You know, he's walking away. And Zechariah says, Where are you going? And he says, I'm going to go measure the city. Verse 3. And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him. So it seems like you have Zechariah's kind of personal interpreting angel there. Another angel comes and meets that angel and said to him, Run, say to that young man.

16:23I'll just pause there for a second. Who's the young man? Kind of got a couple options, don't we? So far, we've got four people going on right now, right? Well, two angels, but you've got Zechariah the prophet who's standing there seeing these things. You have the man he saw, and then you have the angel who's talking with Zechariah, and you have the other angel who's talking to the angel that's talking to Zechariah. Okay? So you've got four people.

16:56And one of the angels says to the other angels, run and say to that young man. Most people think that's Zechariah. Maybe he was a young prophet or something like that. We don't know. I kind of think it's the man with the measuring line. Maybe he's saying, go catch up to him. But let's listen to what he says. He 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.

17:36That's amazing. That's an amazing prophecy, isn't it? Let's listen again to what God says through this angel. Run and 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. I will be the glory in her midst. Okay, so hypothetically, if the angel sent the other angel to run after the man who was measuring, maybe that man was like measuring for the walls, and the angel is saying, go catch up to that man, you don't need walls, or something like that. Or maybe he's sending to the man or Zechariah just saying that this city that he's about to go measure is going to someday be larger than he can imagine. It's going to be overflowing with people, with a multitude of people.

18:37Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls. What do you think that means? As villages without walls. A safe place, right? Right. So why would you ever want to live in a village that has no walls? Well, it's if you're totally safe. Does that make sense? So this is a secure place. Someday Jerusalem is going to be so secure that it doesn't even need to have walls because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. So it's going to be overflowing with people and livestock. They're going to be dwelling securely. In verse 5, here's the reason why they're going to be dwelling securely. I will be to her a Wall of fire all around. So God is saying in that day, they're not going to have real walls. Instead, God himself is going to be like a wall of fire all around. And you can use your imagination on what that means. We'll read another text in just a minute. But he also says, and I will be the glory in her midst. So he's telling us about this future time. Because he keeps saying, I will do this, I will do this. This future time where Jerusalem itself, this city, is going to be overflowing with people. God is going to be dwelling, his glory is going to be dwelling in the city. They're not going to need to have walls because God's going to be like their walls. And it's going to be a very prosperous time. This kind of echoes the message that we got a glimpse of in chapter one, where God is saying, I will again choose Jerusalem. There's going to be a time where it is on top of the world because of what's happening.

20:34Now, kind of like Pastor Thomas did this morning, I want us to think about two things that this does not mean. Number one, this probably does not mean Nehemiah's day, right? Because you see, he's saying that they're able to dwell without walls, and that immediately makes us think of Nehemiah. Oh, Nehemiah had to build the walls, had to build the walls. But it doesn't work, right? Because we just talked about in our four chunks. It's our technical term that we're working with, but our four chunks of those books, that he built the walls, and then afterwards, they had to figure out how to get people to move into the city because there was no one there. So you see how that doesn't fit this context? He's saying, in our text today, he's saying that they're not going to have walls because there's so many people living there. All right? So it's opposite of what Nehemiah's day was like. So that's the first thing that it can't be. I think the second common interpretation that this can't be is that this is all meant to be spiritualized. There are some Christians who take this and they say, Jerusalem, that's Christians. And they shall be inhabited as villages without walls because we're not going to live in Jerusalem anymore. We're going to be all over the world because of the multitude of people. So there's going to be a whole lot of Christians. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around. So God is going to protect Christians. And I will be the glory in her midst. God's going to dwell with his people in the church. Listen to this quote by someone who believes this. The ultimate fulfillment was to involve the expansion of God's spirit. Spiritual city to include many nations and peoples. That is, the people of God were to be enlarged beyond Judaism to include the Gentiles, as happened in the establishment and growth of the Christian church. And so, yes, we would agree that God did that whenever he made the promise go out to the Gentiles as well, but we wouldn't agree that that's what he's saying in this text, right? This isn't, that's not something that we would come up with if we just read this text, that he's talking about how in the church there's going to be Jews and Gentiles. So, it seems to be that this is sometime in the future that hasn't even happened yet, where Jerusalem is going to be very populous, no walls. God's going to be dwelling there and protecting the city. Okay? Remember those three components: no walls, the fire from God, and the glory of God in her midst. And I want you to turn to Ezekiel 37.

23:3238, sorry. This is going to be at least one time that we're going to read about where all of these things are true. So, maybe this, maybe it happens twice or something like that, but here's at least one example where these things in the future someday are going to be literally true. This is Ezekiel chapter 38. I don't know when the last time you read this was. Maybe if you read it, you were really confused. But they're kind of famous names, Gog and Magog. And they're almost famous because it's hard to figure out where they are or what they're doing. All of us have heard the names Gog and Magog, and they make us think that's the part of the Bible I don't know where it is or what it's doing, right? So let's look at it. Chapter 38, verse 1, the word of the Lord came to me, that's Ezekiel, son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord of God, or thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia and Cush and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet. Gomer and all his hordes, Beth Togerma from the othermost parts of the north with all its hordes. Many peoples are with you. Okay, so he's saying that this leader, Gog, of the land of Magog, is coming, and basically the whole world has joined him. So here's little Israel. And from your point of view, he says Persia is going to join him from all over this empire. And he says Cush and Put, those are related to Egypt down over in Africa. And so, you know, you've got all of these folks. And everybody's got a helmet and a buckler and a shield, and they have all got their weapons. They're coming against Israel.

25:39Look at verse 10. Thus says the Lord God, on that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme and say, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. You guys see that? So here's why Gog and his friends think they can get away with this. It's because Israel is dwelling securely. They've got no walls. It's so safe and secure there that they don't need walls. And so Gog and Magog are coming up against them to battle. They think they can take over them. I will fall upon, this is still Gog's thoughts. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and having no bars or gates to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited and the peoples who are gathered from the nations who have acquired livestock. There's livestock and goods who dwell at the center of the earth. That's Israel. Okay? So these nations are coming against them because they have no walls and they think they can overtake them.

26:45Look down at verse 21. Here's part of God's response. We're flying through this. But verse 21, I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man's sword. Will be against his brother with pestilence and bloodshed. I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes, and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord. So you already have fire there, this idea that they think they can come against the people, but the Lord's going to send fire and sulfur against them. I think that's what he means in Zechariah when he says, I'm going to be a wall of fire. Maybe he means some kind of permanent wall of fire, but I think it's like anybody who comes close, fire. Right? Anybody who comes close from that direction, fire. And the people of Israel are going to be untouchable. Look down at verse 7. And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel.

27:59And I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken. So you have the Lord in the midst of his people again. You have the unwalled villages. And we'll stop there for now and turn back to our text, but you have the unwalled villages. You have the Lord defending his people with fire. So at least.

28:30This future battle. All of these things are true. And so I think that when we look at Zechariah, I think God is saying, someday, I'm going to be dwelling with my people, and Jerusalem is going to be overflowing with wealth and with people. And they're not even going to need walls because I'm protecting them. And so, why do you think? And here's a question for you. Why do you think Zechariah would be given this vision right now in their history?

29:07What? To provide hope? Yeah, to provide hope. What else? Well, that's a great answer. To provide hope, right? Oh, Matthew, you got another one? I guess to remind them that Jerusalem is still where God wants his people. Right. Yeah. So, and that's tied up in that hope, right? To say, look, Jerusalem is still God's chosen city. So, people that are still in exile, you can come back. Even if you are a dad with a family who's got a great job in Babylon, you can come back to the land. This is where you want to be. This is where God has set his favor. It's the nations that are the scary places because God is about to get them back for what they did for Israel. Okay? And he's saying. In the future, there's going to be this day where the city is not even going to have walls, and it's not going to matter because I'm protecting it.

30:08Now, if you were there in the city and you're helping to build this temple, wouldn't that be an encouragement to you? It is still future, and so it's not like he's saying, I'm surrounding you with fire right now or something like that, but it is saying that God is the best defense, right? If you're scared or you're frightened, providentially, God is the best defense. He's the one who's still in control. Be brave, finish my temple. Finish the temple of God. And we get that application in verse 6.

30:45This seems to be Zechariah speaking now. Up, up, or come, come, or ho, ho, like you'd say to cattle or something, 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. So that's the application for them. He's saying, look, this is the place of God's protection. This is the special city of God's future plan. Get there now. Flee out of Babylon. Why would you flee out of Babylon? Look at verse 8. For thus says the Lord of hosts, after glory, he 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 serve them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. We're going to talk about who me is in just a minute, but you can see already that the Lord is causing those other nations to be plundered. So you don't want to be there. Get back to the land. He's plundering the other nations. Why? For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. What's the apple of your eye?

32:03Yeah, it's the middle of your eye, like your pupil, right? Or your color. What's the part around it called? Iris. I don't know which one he's talking about, but it's this, it becomes a word for treasure in the Bible because what do you guard the most on your body? The apple of your eye, right? If somebody's coming towards you or bugs coming towards you, you're going to freak out if it's right by your eye, right? That's the part that you don't forget about it. You know, I can sit on the couch every morning. I pick up Nicholas out of his crib and I put him down on the couch and I pretend like I'm walking away. And every morning he shouts out snuggles for the couch and I sit next to him. But while we sit on the couch, he can pinch me or whatever, and I don't really notice. I'm just sitting there reading. He's punching my arm or something like that. But when he takes his little finger and he sticks it on my eye.

33:00That's when I notice, right? I'm going to react. I might not have reacted. And so, you know, you're thinking in Israel, maybe God has stopped paying as much attention to us. And the prophet's saying here, no. Anyone who touches you is like touching the apple of God's eye. Of course, he's going to notice. Does that make sense, what he's saying? He's going to guard it. You're precious to him. He's going to notice. For thus says the Lord of hosts, after glory, we don't really know quite, that's like the hardest phrase in the whole book. It could be after these visions he's getting. So he's saying something like, after this glorious vision, I was sent. Or if this is the Messiah speaking, which we'll talk about in just a minute, maybe it's after the glory, after the ascension that he's gone back to heaven, and then God's going to send him again back to his people. So he 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. 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.

34:20That's the main point. I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. Verse 11, 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. Now, this second part of the chapter is pretty tricky, right? You might have noticed as I read through, it's hard to figure out who's talking. Because listen to what he says. He says, verse 8, Thus says the Lord of hosts, he sent me to the nations who plundered you.

35:13So if the Lord is speaking, who sent him? Kind of tricky, right? So some people think that that's kind of just an aside. So maybe a main interpretation, maybe the main interpretation, is that Zechariah thinks that maybe the people aren't going to be listening to him. And so in the middle of God's words, he keeps saying something like, he sent me, he sent me, he sent me. You'll know it. He sent me when these things come true. The problem is, well, we won't go into that problem. Well, okay, the problem is that the people seem to have already listened to Zechariah, right? He had a prophecy a couple months earlier that they listened to right away. And so it seems weird to think that Zechariah is nervous. About the people listening to him, so he'd keep inserting these statements. Because listen to verse 9: Behold, I will shake my hand over them. That's presumably God speaking, and they shall become plunder for those who serve them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. So it's like he's saying, after each one of these phrases, then you'll know I am the prophet that God has sent. Or verse 11: Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst, and you shall know that the Lord hosts has sent me to you. You see how it's kind of strange to take that position, but that's probably what most Christians take. I think there's something a little bit different here, and it's a little hard to figure out, but it seems like there is this messianic referent that God is the sending one, and he is the one who sent. So Yahweh is the one who sends, and he is the one who sent. And that makes a lot of sense when you look at verse 11. He says, And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people. So that's obviously God speaking, right? An angel wouldn't say that, right? Zechariah wouldn't say that. That they shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst, God speaking, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

37:24So it does seem to be this messianic referent that God. God has sent God to dwell in the land. And he is dwelling there, just like he says back in verse 5, I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst. We're going to leave it at that kind of tenuous position for now, because you'll see that a lot of these night visions are going to fit together. And they all come in one night, anyways. And in the next chapter, we're going to hear about the branch that is sent, the servant, the branch, if those names sound familiar from Isaiah.

38:02And things are going to start to fit together. But for now, the main message, I think, is that he is saying, in Jerusalem, in Judah, I will dwell there. God will dwell there. And yes, for us right now, it's a little confusing to see who he's talking about, who he's sent, but it is very clear that God's saying, I'm going to dwell with my people. In the end, the end application that he gives in verse 13, be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

38:42So this is not, you know, it's not only a lovey-dovey message of kind of a, yay, God's coming to be with his people. It is also a moment of awe. It's a moment of worship. To know that God is now in his glory back in the city, back in the temple. So we will keep talking about all of these things. But before we dismiss, I want to do a little bit of review and application of what we just studied. So remember, picture again: you're a dad, okay? You're living in Jerusalem or even in Babylon. You've got a family to take care of, but there's hostile enemies all around, but you know, you're supposed to help build that temple.

39:32And God has just sent these dramatic visions, and He's saying, Look, for eternity, I'm the one who's in charge. I'm going to make sure every single one of my enemies pays. And Jerusalem is the place that I have chosen. So, in the meantime, get back to Jerusalem and build this temple. You see how this would be an encouragement to them? We might think, you know, why in the world would he be telling these people all this stuff about the future? Why is he sending this message to Zechariah? But doesn't it make sense that he's saying, Look, I'm the God who's in charge right now. I'm the God who's going to be in charge of this glorious city in the future and be protecting it like walls of fire. So trust me now, I can keep you safe. Get back to the city. I could keep you safe. Build the temple. I'll keep you safe. And the people do build the temple, and he does keep them safe so they can. Finish it. As we think about application, I think that the principle is similar for us, that God keeps his own. The young adults just studied on Thursday night that in Peter, in 1 Peter, God, through the Apostle Peter, is talking about how he's talking about the Gentiles, and he says, the people that were not his, he has made his people. And he alludes to the passage from Hosea where he says the same thing about the Jews. But he's saying, I have made a people that are not my people, my people. And so as Christians, we get to consider ourselves, just like the Jews did in the Old Testament, we get to consider ourselves God's people, or his own, like we heard this morning.

41:19We get the privilege of being in that apple of God's eye, right, where he's certainly going to protect us and guard us from outside forces. So we get the privilege that God won't forget about us. We are his own. We're not going to slip through his fingers in the judgment. He knows about us. He won't forget. Second, we can remember that God will destroy all the enemies. We can take fear from that, a holy fear of our Lord. We can also take encouragement that someday everything's going to be right again, that he's going to destroy his enemies and restore his kingdom. And lastly, I think a big application for us to remember is that God keeps all of his promises. You know, this is a promise, and I know that there are different positions, even in this room tonight, about the end times, about what that's going to look like. And maybe you have a timeline in your head of the end times events that you've formed from scripture. Maybe you've never even thought about it, or you think it doesn't matter, or maybe this person's got a totally different timeline. But I think it's clear from this text that there is this future promise for Jerusalem, that it is going to be this glorious place again, and God is going to dwell there with his people and defend it. And I think that's a promise that's reiterated over and over and over again in Scripture, and that it's a promise that we can trust. I think a lot of times when we hear statements like that statement I read earlier from the commentator that believed that basically this promise wasn't fulfilled in the Old Testament, therefore we need to spiritualize it and say, oh, he must have not meant what he said. He must have been talking about the church. I think that's dangerous territory, right? Because we know God always means what he says. If you had a father who told his, let's say he's got an 18-year-old daughter who's waiting to get into college, okay, and he... This father tells the daughter, I'm going to send you to Blenn College. And the daughter's excited. You know, the dad's going to pay for all of Blenn College. But then the father actually sends her to AM instead.

43:49Okay, now I know what a lot of you are thinking. You're thinking, okay, that's okay. I'll let the father get away with that, right? Because he has promised Blenn, but in the heart of that promise, he's done something even better. So he never kept the promise to send her to Blenn. Instead, he sent him to AM, which is where she wanted to go, anyways. And you say, okay, that's still a righteous father. The problem with that would be if the father knew the future, right? Because God knows the future when he promises things. And so if the father knew all along that he said, I'm sending it AM, or if he knew all along that he's sending her to AM, and over and over and over he's saying, now I'm sending her to Blenn. And he's just lying to her face over and over, well, that wouldn't be a father that could get away with that. You see what I'm saying? Maybe not. Maybe that's a terrible example. But the point is this: God knows the future, and he promises what he promises, and he keeps his promise. And this is a promise that was echoed throughout all of Scripture. And it's echoed here for encouragement of the people in that day that God has chosen Jerusalem. And it will. Continue to be echoed. So we can remember that God keeps his own, and we are his own. We can remember that God will have vengeance on his enemies, and we can remember that God keeps all of his promises. Pray with me. Father, we're grateful for time together. We're grateful to study your word. And this text gave us a lot of challenges of knowing who the young man was or who's speaking in the second half of the chapter. I pray, Lord, that you'd help us keep reading it and struggling with it and understanding what you want us to understand. But the main message is very clear, is that you never abandon your people.

45:43And you always keep your promises. And you're faithful and you're powerful. And so I pray, Lord, that if nothing else, that tonight, as we study this text and saw your power and saw your care for your people, I pray that it would cause us to trust you more. And in the trials of our own life, when things don't look like they're supposed to to our eyes, like they may have looked to the people of Israel in this time, I pray that even then we would still trust you and know that you're in charge and know that you're in control and you're watching over us. Thank you, Father, for this text, and I pray that you'd help us as we continue to study Zechariah. In Jesus' name, amen.