Go with me back to Zechariah,
the book of Zechariah. I have known that Zechariah is
a very quoted book in the New Testament. The apostles would
say, or the Lord would say, thus it is written or that the scripture
might be fulfilled, and then they would quote these Old Testament
books. And Zechariah is quoted quite
a bit. I've known that this was a book
that not only pictured, but very plainly declared Christ, very
plainly declared Christ. But I didn't realize how much
so until I read this book this week. Something led me to one
of the chapters here and it interested me. So I went back to chapter
one and I ended up reading all 14 chapters. And this is such
a plain declaration of Christ. Such a plain declaration of Christ. I would love to go through this
book But I've learned that just because I want to go through
a book, that does not mean the Lord is going to let me go through
a book. I, I've tried to get into so many books and I'll get
into one chapter or two chapters and then it just shuts down.
The Lord just moves my heart another direction and that's
all I can do is go that way. But, uh, Just in case we don't
go through this, I'm not fully convinced we will. I would like
to, but just in case we don't, I want to begin this message
by pointing out some highlights. I'm going to call them, they're
not highlights, but some things throughout this book, some places
that obviously declare Christ. I want you to see something. I want you to see what I saw.
And, uh, in doing this, you're going to see this whole book
is Christ. This whole book is Christ. I'm
going to make some comments on chapter one tonight. So let me
bring your attention to chapter two. All right, look with me
at chapter two, verse five. It says, for I say at the Lord,
will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the
glory in the midst of her. I will be the glory. That's Christ. He is the glory
in the midst of his people. Verse 10 says, sing and rejoice,
O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst
of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined
to the Lord in that day and shall be my people. And I will dwell
in the midst of thee. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. He said, I am coming. I'm
coming to join you to myself. Look at chapter three, verse
one. And he showed me Joshua. The high priest, he showed me
Joshua. The high priest standing before
the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to
resist him. The Greek name for Joshua is
Jesus. He showed me the Lord Jesus Christ,
the high priest. Look at verse eight right here.
Here now, oh Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows
that sit before thee, For they are men wondered at. For behold,
I will bring forth my servant, the branch. For behold, the stone
that I have laid before Joshua. Upon one stone shall be seven
eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day." I'm going to give you a minute. I
laughed every time I read that, reading this. I'm going to give
you a minute here. He said, I'm going to remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. It's going to take me one day. Verse 10, in that day sayeth
the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under
the vine and under the fig tree, the high priest, the branch,
the stone, the vine, the fig tree, the work, the workman,
every bit of that's Christ. It's all Christ. Look at chapter
four, verse six. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. This man, Zerubbabel, is Christ.
He represents Christ. He answered and spake unto me,
saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying,
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord
of hosts, Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain. And he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof with shoutings, crying grace and grace unto it."
The building of the temple. He's going to lay that last stone,
that last headstone, crying grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the
word of the Lord came unto me saying, the hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish
it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. He started it. He'll finish
it. He's the author of it. He's the
finisher of it. He which hath begun a good work,
he'll perform it all the way to the end. Look at chapter six,
verse 12. And speak unto him saying, thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, behold, the man whose name is
the branch. And he shall grow up out of his
place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall
build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory,
and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest
upon his throne. and the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. This is the glory, this is the
beauty, the office, the work, the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at chapter eight, verse seven. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
behold, I will save my people from the east country and from
the west country, and I will bring them and they shall dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem and they shall be my people and I
will be their God in truth and righteousness. The law came by
Moses, but truth came by Jesus Christ. He's the end of the law
for righteousness. Verse 13, it shall come to pass
that as you were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah
and house of Israel, So will I save you, and you shall be
a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands
be strong. Look at chapter 9, verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of
an ass. And I will cut off the chariot
from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow
shall be cut off and he shall speak peace unto the heathen.
And His dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the
river even to the ends of the earth. Going through the book
of Matthew, we just recently saw the fulfillment of that prophecy
as our Lord rode into Jerusalem, headed to the cross. Look at
chapter 11, verse 12. Chapter 11, verse 12, And I said
unto them, If you think good, if this seems good to you, give
me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price
thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast
it unto the potter. a goodly price that I was prized
at of them. And I took the 30 pieces of silver
and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." That's
the betrayal of our Lord, sold for 30 pieces of silver, which
was used to buy the potter's field. Look at chapter 12, verse
9. "'And it shall come to pass in
that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that
come against Jerusalem, every enemy of my people. And I will
pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. This whole book is a chronicle
account of God's dealings with His people in saving them through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole book is. Look
at chapter 13, verse 1. These are wonderful words right
here. It says, That day that they look upon me, the one who
they pierced for sin, their sin, in that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. There's going to
be a fountain open. Verse seven right here says,
Awake, O sword against my shepherd. And against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little
ones. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the
Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third
shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part
through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and
will try them as gold is tried. And they shall call on my name,
and I will hear them. I will say, it is my people,
and they shall say, the Lord is my God." You recognize all
these. You recognize these quotes from
the New Testament. Look at chapter 14, verse 4. And his feet shall stand in that
day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on
the east. And the Mount of Olives shall
cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west.
And there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain
shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south.
And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains. For the valley
of the mountains shall reach unto Azal. Yea, ye shall flee
like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah. And the Lord my God shall come
and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark. But it
shall be one day, it's not gonna get dark, it'll just stay day,
which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall
come to pass that at evening time it shall be light, it'll
just stay light. And it shall be in that day that
living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward
the former sea and half of them toward the hinder sea, in summer
and in winter shall it be. The Lord shall be king over all
the earth. In that day shall there be one
Lord, and His name one. All the land shall be turned
as a plain from Geba to Remen, south of Jerusalem, and it shall
be lifted up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin's gate
unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, from the
tower of Hananiel unto the king's winepress, and men shall dwell
in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction. But Jerusalem
shall be safely inhabited." Can you see how from sin to salvation,
this is the whole story. You see that? It's the whole
story. The whole story of Christ. Now go with me back to chapter
1. This whole book is full of prophecy
and visions and things like that, and I am not going to go too
deep into any of those things because I don't know what to
say about it. I just flat don't. The commentary writers, they
had some good words on it, but I'm just going to focus on what
I do know to say about it, and that's Christ. As we see Christ,
I'll point Him out to you, and we'll just stick to that. Zechariah
1, verse 1 says, In the eighth month, in the second year of
Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah. The name Zechariah means Jehovah
remembers. That's what that name means.
Jehovah remembers. What does the Lord Jehovah remember? Well, he told Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, I will remember my covenant. I'll remember my promise
concerning you, my promise of grace, my promise of mercy, my
promise of peace, my promise in choosing you to redeem you,
to make you my peculiar treasure. I will remember my covenant. This book starts out by saying,
rest assured, Jehovah remembers his covenant. He remembers his
covenant and Lamentations 3 says he remembers his sufferings.
Hold your place right here and just turn, it's a few books back,
turn to Lamentations 3. Lamentations three, this is Christ
speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Verse one, he said,
I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He led
me and hath brought me into darkness, but not into light as a substitute
for my people. I'm the man. Surely against me
is he turned. He is turned, he turneth his
hand against me all the day. Look at verse 11. He hath turned
aside my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath set, he hath
made me desolate. He hath bent his bow and set
me as a mark for the arrow. He laid their iniquities on me
and then he wounded me. He bruised me, pierced me. Verse 15, he hath filled me with
bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth
with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot
prosperity. And I said, my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord. Christ said, I was cut off from
the land of the living. I was forsaken by God. I'm the
one who gave up my ghost and died, suffering the punishment,
the penalty. And because of that, verse 19
says, he said, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the
wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still in remembrance
and is humbled in me. He said, I remember my affliction.
That's such a wonderful thought to me. I remember the wormwood. I remember the gall. I remember
the cross that I suffered for my people. And every time I remember
that, he said, my soul is quieted in me. It's appeased. It's satisfied. The Lord our God remembers his
covenant. He remembers his sufferings.
And according to his word, he will always remember his people.
Always. In Psalm 25, David said, Lord,
remember me. Remember me. That thief on the
cross cried, Lord, remember me. We cry, Lord, remember me. We constantly cry that, don't
we? Lord, remember me. I love this. Jeremiah two, verse
two says, go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, thus saith
the Lord. I remember they. Jehovah remembers. What comfort, what good news,
what a declaration of the gospel that is. Go back to Zechariah
chapter 1. Verse 1 says, In the eighth month,
in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto
Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, which means Jehovah blesses. The son of Edo, which means his
witness. Jehovah blesses his witness. That's who Jehovah blesses. All
the blessings of God are in Christ. All in Christ. In the eighth
month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the
Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Edo,
the prophet, saying, The Lord hath been sore displeased with
your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord
of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former prophets have
cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from
your evil ways and from your evil doings. But they did not
hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where
are they? And the prophets, do they live
forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my
servants, the prophets, Did they not take hold of your fathers?
And they returned and said, like as the Lord of hosts thought
to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings,
so hath he dealt with us. He said, sin, sin against me. That's what all of your fathers
have done. That's where the whole thing
starts. That's the reason for the whole declaration of salvation. It's salvation from sin. He said,
your father sinned against me. You have sinned against me. You
need to turn just like they needed to turn. The whole world is ruined. All of my people are ruined.
But he said, I'm going to declare redemption to you. He said, I'm
a great and holy judge, and I deliver the word that I say I'm going
to deliver. But I'm going to declare redemption to you right
now. Verse 7. Upon the four and 20th day of
the 11th month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year
of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son
of Berechiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying, I saw by
night and behold, amen. Amen. Riding upon a red horse,
And he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom.
That man is Christ. I saw a man. This whole thing
started with sin. And man is going to be dealt
with, he said, your fathers ought to prove to you that man is going
to be dealt with because of his sin. But behold the man, behold
this man. All the commentary writers said
that is God manifest in the flesh. in all of His majesty, all of
His kingship, riding on a horse stained in blood, the red horse
of His power and His strength, His own completely covering blood
that He shed among His people, for His people. He calls them
here myrtle trees, small, insignificant, trees in the bottom. He stood
among them. He stood for them. Verse 8, I saw by night, and
behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the
myrtle trees that were in the bottom. And behind him were their
red horses, speckled and white. The commentary writer said, that's
the witness, the witnesses, the witnessers, of Christ that follow
in his way. Maybe so. Verse nine, then said
I, oh my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with
me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man
that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, these are
they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the
earth. And they answered the angel of
the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees and said, we have
walked to and fro through the earth and behold, all the earth
cities sit still and is at rest. The messengers went out on all
the world and they preached, behold your God, prepare you
the way of the Lord. Behold, the Lord cometh, seek
the sun, call on the sun, cast your all on the sun for mercy.
And they said, the message has gone out and the whole world
is dull to it. That's what they said. The message has gone out and
the whole world is just dull to it. Dead to it. It's just dead. We
get it, don't we? Just dead. That's what they said.
They're all just dead. They're just sitting still, just
totally lulled to rest. Verse 12. Then the angel of the
Lord answered and said, Oh, Lord of hosts, how long will thou
not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against
which thou hast had indignation these three score and 10 years?
They were in captivity for 70 years. And he said, how long
wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem? How long? How long? The ones you made this covenant
to, the ones you made this promise to. Verse 13, and the Lord answered
the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable
words. So the angel that communed with
me said unto me, cry thou saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I am jealous for Jerusalem. And for Zion with a great jealousy. I am jealous for my people. I will not forget my people. I will not leave my people. I
will not let my people go. They will be kept. I'm jealous
for them. With a great jealousy. Verse
15, And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at
ease. or I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built
in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched
forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, My cities, through prosperity, shall yet be spread
abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose
Jerusalem. David said, Although it be not
so with my house, And you know, we can say that with others that
we know, but we can say it with this house right here. Our soul
lives in this house. Soon, we're going to get a mansion.
Right now, we live in a tent. And although it be not so with
my house, the Lord has made an everlasting covenant concerning
me, and he is going to fulfill his covenant. He's going to honor
that covenant, although the whole world sits in indifference and
unbelief, unmoved by the voice of the Lord. And I'm going to
tell you this. We are the world. We are included in the world.
The whole world sits unmoved by the voice of the Lord. He said, my house is going to
be built. It's going to be built in my
people. It's going to be built in Jerusalem. I want the voice
of the Lord to break this cedar tree. I want the voice of the
Lord to thunder to me. My house is going to be built.
My people will not naturally come to me, but I'm going to
gather them. I'm going to get them. My sure covenant mercies
will draw them. I will place them on the straight
line, that cornerstone of Christ. And I will comfort them. I will
confirm to them that I have chosen them. I've chosen Jerusalem.
I will comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem, he said. My house is going to be built.
God's church is going to be built. It is going to be built. He is
going to get His people. He is going to put faith in them.
They are going to believe. They will come. They will hear. They will bow. His church is
going to be built. Verse 18, Then lifted I up mine
eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns, And I said unto the angel
that talked with me, what be these? And he answered me, these
are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." The horns in the scripture, when
you look at different portions of scripture that say that, it
means strength and power. Like when Hannah prayed, my horn
is lifted up, my strength. These are wicked, spiritual enemy
powers because they spread abroad God's people. They scattered
Judah, Israel, Jerusalem. Verse 19, I said unto the angel
that talked with me, What be these? He answered me, These
are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
And the Lord showed me four carpenters. He said, I'm going to build my
church. And he showed me four carpenters. Then said I, What
come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are
the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift
up his head. But these are come to fray them,
to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their
horn over the land of Judah, to scatter it." The commentary
writers listed a whole bunch of things that these horns, these
strengths and powers could be. They listed a whole bunch of
things that these carpenters could be. Let's just say this.
Whatever these enemies are, they come from all sides, north, south,
east, west. And whatever those carpenters
are, we know who the carpenter is. We know who the carpenter is. The word carpenter here means
craftsman, it means artisan, it means smith, worker. Meaning if this horn, if this
strength or this power was iron, the carpenter is the blacksmith
who molds and shapes and makes that iron into whatever he wants
it to be. And what our Lord is saying in Zechariah 1 is, even
though the whole world has sinned against me, I'm going to redeem
my people. I'm going to build my house and
no matter what comes in the process of this building, no matter what
opposition, no matter what comes, I will rule over all of it. I
will make what I want to out of it for the purpose of accomplishing
and bringing to pass my will and my desire and everything
that I'm pleased to do. And as we have seen in the rest
of the book, And as we know of our Lord, that's exactly what
he's done. That's exactly what he has done. He has declared
his will and his desire and everything that he has been pleased to do. And no matter what comes, he's
in control of it. He's sovereignly in control of
it. And all of it will bring his bidding to bring his people
to himself. And again, I don't know if we're
gonna go through this or not, but if we do, we're gonna see
start to finish. It's Christ be the glory. Start
to finish, it's Him be the glory. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.