So I'd like you to, in light
of what we've been reading, in light of what it is for us to
be here in the presence of God Almighty... I still can't... And I'm so thankful
that the Lord will always judge right, but I can't think of what
it must be to the extraordinary gulf between those people who
left this world and met the Lord Jesus Christ and what the world
was saying about them. And especially the religious
world was saying about them. We have a great and awesome God
and Psalm 110 speaks of the greatness of God and it was a psalm that
is quoted in the early days of the church and was quoted continually. Psalm 110 and Psalm 2 were quoted
because they declare exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ had
done. and they declare who he is and his people shall be volunteers. We don't have to coerce anyone
into the church of God, nor do we have to coerce any activity
out of the people of God. God's people are volunteers. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
great sovereign God, is building a church. And He's doing it right
now. He's doing it now as He always
has done it, and He's gathered His people to Himself. I'd like
you to turn with me to Zechariah, which is the second last book
of the Old Testament. So if you go to Matthew and go back two
books, you'll come to the book of Zechariah. And Zechariah is
the book in the Old Testament, probably other than Isaiah, which
speaks most gloriously and most clearly and succinctly about
the Lord Jesus Christ, his coming, what he will do, who he is. It
speaks of his glory. And I need to remind you that
for the children of God, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the glory of who he is comforting it is to have a God
who is a saviour, a God who came as a man, who sovereignly rules
everything that wriggles in this universe, a sovereign God. Isn't it glorious
that there is a God who is holy and righteous in all that he
does? How glorious it is to have a
God who is faithful fulfills how glorious it is to
have that God as a saviour who bore all of the sins of all of
his people before a holy God and suffered all of the wrath
of Almighty God on all those sins. But they're gone, they're
put away altogether, they're hidden from God. I loved listening to a message
that I sent to Jamie this week from Gabe and in Micah chapter
5 it talks about the sins of all of God's people being buried
in the depths of the sea and one of the glorious pictures
of And you might ask, well, if they're buried in the depths
of the sea, people are digging up treasures out of the depths
of the sea all the time. What happens if God ever digs
them up again? And Dave made the glorious point
that not only are our sins gone, But when the new heaven, Revelation
21, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. The sins are gone and the sea's
gone. Jamie and I were rejoicing in
that, weren't we, Jamie? Okay, well the great hope that
we have is in Zechariah chapter 6 verse 9. And so here we have a description
of the Word of God. The Word of God came, and we
know that the Word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, is the
Word that came and was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. The Word
who is God, the Word who was God. And then he says, take them
of the captivity even of held I of Tobijah of Jediah, which
are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into
the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, and then take silver
and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua
the son of Jehozadek the high priest, and speak unto him, saying,
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose
name is the branch. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
as we'll come to see later on. This is an Old Testament description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Old Testament description
that the apostles preached in those early days of the church. I love every time God says shall,
you can say amen, it's done. 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. He shall be a priest upon his
throne and the council of peace shall be between them both. And
the crowns shall be to Helam and to Bajer and to Hen the son
of Zephaniah for a memorial in the temple of the Lord. And they
that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord,
and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you,
and this shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice
of the Lord, our God, the Lord your God. First thing I want
us to see, is that the word of the Lord
came. What an extraordinary thing,
that God, who is infinite, who is infinitely holy, unimaginably
glorious, should send a word and that word should come. That's what I need to die. That's
what every child of God needs. of God comes. It comes in power. It comes in
such a way that everyone to whom the Word of God comes, it comes
as a powerful force that we read about in Psalm 110. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. It takes nothing other
than the power of Almighty God to bring His Word to people. How important it is in this world
where everyone has an opinion about a million different things.
My opinion doesn't matter. I'm sorry. The opinion of men when it comes
to God doesn't matter at all. God has spoken and that's the
end of the matter. The words of men who are but
grass. See, the children of God want
to hear from their Father. I want to hear from God again. I want Him to tell me how glorious
His Son is. I want Him to tell me yet again
how amazing it is that when He says, whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord, I'm calling. I'm calling and I'm going to
keep on calling. When He says, come to me and be you saved,
all you ends of the earth, I'm looking to Him and coming to
Him. He says, come to me and you'll
find rest for your souls. The Old Testament and all of
these scriptures are the testimony according to the word of God.
They're the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. God's children want to hear from
their father. Christ's sheep have heard the
shepherd's voice and they just long to hear the shepherd's voice
again. Which is why in the Church of God, the Word of God has pre-eminence. Both the Word written and the
Word made flesh. I love what it said of those
Bereans. It's a great thing, isn't it?
The Bereans in Acts chapter 17, they'd heard, they received,
The Word preached by Paul with all readiness of mind and they
searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so. How do we know the Word has come? The Word comes when Christ is
received. We receive him as he is. We receive
him as revealed. We receive him as declared. We
receive and Christ is obeyed. Christ is loved. Christ's people
are loved. Christ's promises are rejoiced
in. Christ's presence is sought. His people know him. We love
him because he first loved us. And if he loves you and he loves
me, you'll come and you'll bring his word to us. And we will find him captivating
and we'll be made willing. We'll be made volunteers in the
day of his power. we have in Zechariah this great
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ building his church. In the previous
part of Zechariah, we've had these remarkable visions that
Zechariah was given. And I want us to be reminded
that Zechariah had been sent by the Lord back to Jerusalem
with this word from God to a church and a people of God that were
languishing. They had been sent back by the
command of Cyrus to rebuild the temple after 70 years of exile.
They had been sent back and 40,000 came back and many stayed in
Babylon. These people are indicative of
those that came back later on. But they had much discouragement.
You can read it in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They had
so much discouragement about building the temple. They had
so much discouragement about who they were. And they had opposition from
outside, from the Samaritans and from the others around. Everyone
around. As soon as the temple was built, opposition began.
As soon as the wall was begun to be built, there was opposition.
But there was opposition. from inside as well. And basically the children of
God who were sent back to build the temple of God had laid down
their tools. They'd been stopped by the opposition
and then they had stopped themselves. And Haggai comes and he tells
them, you're building your fancy houses and the temple of God
lies in ruins. When we talk about the temple
of God, we need to see it in a spiritual picture, don't we?
The temple of God is the building. It's a building, according to
1 Peter, where God is actually building his temple in this world
and he's taking stones, living stones, and he takes every living
stone and he puts them in his building. And he puts them all
on the foundation of Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. And
when he's built this huge building, with multitudes of stones perfectly
fitted exactly where they ought to be. The shouting of it in
Zechariah 4, there'll be a shouting, grace, grace, it's all done by
pure and sovereign grace. So there is this temple and the
temple is a picture, this physical temple is a picture of the spiritual
temple that the Lord is building. But 1 Corinthians takes it even
further and God says to us that you are of God. Nay, not of your body. of the Holy Ghost which is in
you, which you have of God. And so the troubles that the
people in Zechariah's day are the troubles that the people
of God have today. Our little temple is being harassed
by enemies outside, isn't it? Look how weak and pathetic you
are. How dare you call you a Christian when you have those thoughts,
when you have those actions, when You dare not so often talk
about your love because it's so mixed with indifference. You dare not talk and brag about
your faith because it's mixed with so much unbelief. There's
opposition from within and there's opposition from without. surrounded by these superpowers
and yet seemingly so pathetic. Well, Zechariah and all of the
scriptures are here to comfort the children of God. The words
that Zechariah brought to these people are called good words Good words and comfortable words.
And the good words and comfortable words are about how glorious
the Lord Jesus Christ is. In the first vision we have Christ
with his people. That's the great comfort of God's
people, isn't it? Christ with you. And he's a man amongst the
myrtle trees. He's in the bottom. God's children
find themselves in the bottom. They find themselves in a hollow.
They find themselves despairing of so many things
in this world. And Zechariah's vision says,
I'm with you. I'm with you in the bottom. I've
come to the bottom with you. In the second vision that Zechariah
is given we have the power and the safety of the church. There
are four horns and four carpenters come and they sever these horns
and it's God judging all of his enemies. And he's talking about
judging superpowers, Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Media, Persia
probably. But God is powerful over all
of his enemies and all that they ever do will work for the good
of his people and for their glory. In the third vision there is
a man with a measuring line. It's one of the loveliest pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He measures everything. He has
the measuring line in his hand. He measures all of the dimensions
of all of the activities of his people. He keeps his church safe. In Zechariah chapter 3 there's
a lovely vision of this angel defending Joshua who's clothed
in filthy rags. He was filthy garments, verse
3. And he stood, and the Lord stood
there. He says, Behold, I have caused
thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will change thee. I will clothe thee with a change
of rain. He's passed from us. It's passed
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're clothed in his righteousness. He takes away the sin of his
church. And no wonder, it's so lovely,
isn't it, in Romans chapter four, Paul charges the people, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God, it's
Christ that justifies them. Christ bore their sins away.
In the sixth vision, there is a flying roll, which is The law
of God, and there's a woman with an ephah, wickedness in the land
and wickedness in the church, is contained in a basket, chapter
5, and God takes that basket to Babylon. Isn't it wonderful
to know that all of what opposes the church of God is contained
and constrained. In the previous part of chapter
6 there is the last vision, the seventh vision, and it's Christ
judging his enemies. He sends his powerful horses
out into this world to bring judgment upon the enemies of
his people. But here we have Zechariah bringing
words of comfort about the great and glorious God, our Savior. He says, take them of the captivity. Take them of the captivity. And I just want to remind you
of the names of these people, because all of the names, there's
nothing in the scriptures which is not extraordinarily significant.
Hildi means worldly. And then all the rest of them,
this is what God's people, we've all been taken out of the world,
and the rest of them all speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
speak of Jehovah. The Lord Jesus is Jehovah. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God. The first one to Biogen, Jehovah
is good. Jedidiah, Jehovah has none. Josiah is whom he whom Jehovah
heals. Zephaniah is he whom Jehovah
treasures. Jehoshadak, Jehovah is righteous. And all of these surrounding
this one glorious one, you set this crown, you take this gold
that you've brought from Babylon, you take this wealth from the
world and you make a crown and you make a crown for Joshua.
Every time you read Joshua in the Old Testament, you can just
write in there, Jesus. God is salvation. Jehovah is good. Jehovah heals. Jehovah treasures his people. Jehovah is righteous. Jehovah
is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the action. They make
crowns and they set them upon the head of Joshua the high priest. The Joshua that we read about
in chapter three. So there is this action. This is no longer visionary,
this is a picture and this crown is going to be placed in the
temple as a memorial. And listen to whom this is speaking
of. And speak unto him saying, thus
saith the Lord of hosts, behold the man, behold the man. whose name is the branch. And then listen to what the promises
are attached to this man. He shall grow up out of his place. He shall build the temple of
the Lord. He will build an individual stone
and call it a temple. He'll gather those individual
stones into a building in this earth, this church. The churches
of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout time are temples. They're places
where he reveals himself. They're places that he builds.
They're places that he in his absolute sovereign power, he
grows them. And in Ephesians chapter 3 he
speaks of the glory of this church. It's glory in the church throughout
all is that the Lord Jesus Christ
will give glory in his church. Where does he get glory today?
In a church. Where does he get glory? In taking living stones and fitting
them perfectly into his temple. He gathers his people here that
we might reflect the gathering of all of God's people to him
in a time to come. He's called the branch. You might recall in Isaiah chapter
53 there is a description of the Lord Jesus Christ and he
shall grow up as a root out of dry ground. He'll have nothing
about him who grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root
out of dry ground, listen to this description of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He hath no form nor comeliness. Listen to the
description of God's people in this world. Listen to the description
of God's church in this world. Listen to the description of
this temple that they're building in Zechariah's day. As a root
out of dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness. And when
we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were,
our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Does that characterize your appreciation
of the Lord Jesus Christ before you were saved? It's certainly
what the world thinks of him, isn't it, today? He is this man. Behold the man. This speaks of
the glory of the incarnation. The most remarkable thing is
that the God would become flesh and dwell among us. Pilate had
absolutely no idea whether it was Pilate or the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking, but these words are quoted in John chapter 19
on the morning of the crucifixion. Pilate brought him forth. with
a crown, this time it's a crown of thorns, and a purple robe,
mocking his dignity and mocking his kingship. And then it said,
behold the man. Behold the man. If the Lord would
grant us the sight and the presence of him, that we might be able
to behold him, Behold him is more than just looking at, isn't
it? It's looking at and gazing. It's looking at and holding.
It's looking at and admiring how amazing he is. He'll spring up out of the ground.
He'll grow out of his place. I love the descriptions of him
in the Old Testament and I love the pictures of him in the New
Testament. In him it says in Psalm 85, mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. He who is the truth shall spring out of the earth. And
righteousness shall look down from heaven. And righteousness
shall go before him. Righteousness will go before
him. And then there's this remarkable promise of all of this. And he
shall set us in the way of his steps. Behold the man who is
the branch. You behold this one who is just
a root out of dry ground. He is often called the stem,
the root of Jesse. Why did he say Jesse and not
David? What on earth was famous about
Jesse? That's exactly the point. That is exactly the point, brothers
and sisters. God takes the nothings of this
world and the despised and the rejected of this world. The most
famous thing about Jesse was his son. It's the only thing
that was famous about him. The branch. The branch in Isaiah
chapter Chapter four, verse two, in that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful. He's beautiful and glorious. And the fruit, his fruit in this
earth shall be excellent and comely, beautiful then for them
that are escaped of Israel. Isaiah 11 says, this shall come
forth right out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. He will be a real man and he
will have in his humanity a real lineage. He is, this branch, he's beautiful
and he's glorious. He'll come forth out of the stem
of Jesse's in Jeremiah 23, it says, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, and I will raise under David a righteous branch. He'll be a branch in David's
life and he'll be righteous and a king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. This is what Zechariah is telling
us here. May the Spirit of God cause us
to behold him. He's beautiful and glorious. He's righteous. In Zechariah
3, verse 8, just over the page, it speaks of him. Here now, O
Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before
thee, for they are men wondered at. Thy fellows that sit before him,
all that sit before him, they are men wondered at. This world
will never understand us. It will never understand us.
It'll never understand the things that we love. It'll never understand
the things that we hate. It'll never understand our great
desires in this world. They're men wondered at. Is your salvation a wonder to
you? I promise you, my salvation's a wonder to me. My family still
haven't got the foggiest notion of what happened to me all those
years ago. I'm a man wondered at. All of God's children are
men wondered at. For behold I will bring forth
my servant and here the branch is the servant of God Almighty. the Lord comes to reveal the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just listen to all of those
amazing descriptions of Him. How wonderful for us to have
a Saviour who is glorious and righteous and powerful and who doesn't just leave them to
languish in this world and doesn't just leave them to languish in
Babylon. And Babylon, I remind you, is
a picture of false religion in this world. Babylon means confusion
by mixture. You mix the Lord Jesus Christ
with absolutely anything and you have Babylon. You mix his
righteousness with your righteousness and you have Babylon. You mix
his holiness with your holiness, you have Babylon. You mix his
works with your works, you are in Babylon. But blessed be our
God that he brings his people out of Babylon. He who is the
truth, grows up out of his place, and he shall build the temple
of the Lord." He shall build. He went to Jerusalem to that
temple, that magnificent temple that was a renovation of this
temple that was being built here, and he walked into that temple
and he said, Everything in this temple speaks of me and I have
the right to rule over this temple. I have the right to rule over
the place where I am worshipped. I have the right to declare what
is an acceptable sacrifice to me in this place. and God's children
say Amen. Because everything that the Lord
Jesus Christ did, he did as an us. When he loved God perfectly,
all of his people loved God perfectly. When he sits as a king upon his
throne, in heaven right now. When he
bore their sins in his own body on the tree to make them fit
to be stones in his temple, Paul could say, I'm crucified with
Christ. That's how close my union is
with the Lord Jesus Christ. When he comes to me and reveals
himself in me and reveals me in him, he says, I was crucified. and you were crucified. Your
sins have been punished, and your sins have been put away.
Your sins have been taken to the depths of the sea, and the
sea is gone. Let's have a break, and may the
Lord bless those words to our heart.