The king that comes to Jerusalem
is the king of Zechariah chapter 9. And he accepts the praises
of his people. Rejoice, 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,
upon the occult, 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. That's us. And his dominion shall
be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends
of the earth. And as for thee also, by the
blood of thy covenant have I sent forth thy prisoners." Isn't that
a great description of us? We're prisoners of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Out of the pit wherein is no water. All the pits that we dig for
ourselves in this world have no water in them. There's no
satisfaction, there is no life in the pits of this world. Turn
you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope, even today do I declare
that I will render double unto thee. This is the king that he's spoken
of in the earlier chapters. of Zechariah which we're looking
at, but I wanted to... The Lord Jesus Christ, when these
verses are quoted in John chapter 12, declares himself to be the
Son of Man. He is God the Son, but he is
the Son of Man. But in Daniel, at a very similar
time to Zechariah's prophecy, just within a year or so, all
these remarkable things happen. He says, of this Son of Man,
he says in Daniel 7 verse 13, I saw in the night visions. And
behold, one like the Son of Man, there's no one like the Son of
Man, He is God Almighty. One like the Son of Man came
with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and
they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, there was given Him dominion and glory,
and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should
serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
shall not be destroyed." This is our God. This is our Savior. Not much point having a saviour
who's not a king. Not much point having a saviour
who tries and fails. We have a glorious saviour. So
I want you to turn with me back to Zechariah and let's look a
little more closely at this glorious, glorious king. Last week we looked
at him and look particularly at him being the one that is
in the book of Zechariah and Haggai and Daniel. He's the one that returns the
captives out of Babylon, and Babylon is a picture of this
world's religions. And the great four of Babylon
is considered to be by many the Roman Catholic Church, and I'm
not wrong, but that's in a way almost too simplistic, because
these are spiritual pictures. But the great whore of the Roman
Catholic Church was in terrible travail 500 years ago and it
birthed a whole lot of babies in travail, and all of the babies
that came out of her, all of the denominations that came out
of her, came out with all the marks of her honour in some way
or another, didn't they? Where do they get all of their
paraphernalia? It all comes from Rome. Baptising
babies, the idea of a priesthood and a clergy, the idea of climbing
some spiritual hierarchy to the point where you get to be dressed
up like a silly old man in Rome wearing women's clothes and doing
all this ridiculous nonsense. Where there's, it's just, how
on earth do they ever possibly think that a carpenter from Nazareth
and 12 fishermen could ever fit into that nonsense over there?
And yet, 2 billion people. It shows us why we need to be
so thankful to the grace of God and so thankful to a Gospel that
sets people free. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did, didn't He? He came to take captivity, captives.
He came to set His people free, free from all of that nonsense
of religion, free from all of their self-righteous confidence. Zechariah is a glorious book.
It's in the second year of Darius and it's the same time that Haggai
is prophesying. It's the same time that Daniel
chapter 9 is prophesying and it's only four years before the
temple is finished. They've been sent back by Cyrus
but they're down tools and Haggai tells them, why on earth are
you living in your fancy houses? They had houses covered with
ivory. Isn't that amazing? Talk about
fancy. And the prophets came back and
kept reminding them, rather than flogging them with the law, they
remind them again and again and again of how good and how gracious
and how sovereign their God is. And he rules and reigns over
all things and he's doing it for the good of his people. And
the people of Judah and Israel As I said last week, they had
made a covenant to obey God. They said at Mount Sinai, it's
a piece of cake to follow God. You just have to tell us what
to do and we can do it. The extraordinary arrogance of them before and
afterwards. And to put some context into
this, in verse 6 of Zechariah 1 it says, Like as the Lord of hosts thought
to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings,
so has he dealt with us. And in the midst of that people
who have justly suffered for their own ways, There is a way,
isn't it? There is a way that seems right
to a man, and hence there are the ways of death. And Zachariah
comes and brings in verse 13, and we looked at it last week,
he brings good words. The Lord answered the angel with,
talk with me with good words and comfortable words. God's
judgments are just and right, and he is holy in all that he
does. And he is sovereign over all
things. And God will meet you on the basis upon which you come
to him. God will meet you on the basis
upon which you come to him. If you come to him on the basis
of your works and your doings and your deeds and your ways,
God will meet you there. God's children have been made
to see what they are, made to see what their works are, and
they'll never come on that basis. We just come on the basis of
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He is my only plea, he is my
only hope. But he is also a glorious God who's building his people. He says in verse 14, thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy,
don't you love that you see, of the Lord of hosts, which will
perform all of his works. He's jealous, he's a jealous
God. He will not have his bride besmirched
in this world. Don't you love what the Lord
said to Satan in Judas at Bethany? He said, you leave her alone.
In every single situation where one of God's children in the
Gospels was attacked by the enemies of the Gospel, the Lord Jesus
Christ says, you get out of my home, you deal with me. Don't
you love it? He's jealous, isn't he? He's
jealous for her honor. He's jealous for her salvation.
He's jealous for his glory. But he's jealous for them. He's
jealous for his people. Then in verse 15, he said, I'm
very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease. This
world is at ease. We looked at it last week. The
two prophets in Revelation 11 are dead in the street and the
world's having a party. We've got rid of God. We've got
rid of God. We've got rid of his judgment.
We've created another God who does what we want to do. But
we've got rid of the real and living God. They're at ease.
And for I was a little displeased and they helped forward the the affliction of God's children. You've been afflicted, haven't
you, by this world's contempt of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
way they treat him so badly. They forward the affliction.
Verse 16. Therefore saith the Lord, I am
returned to Jerusalem with mercies. Don't you love that? Lord Jesus
Christ isn't it wonderful that our God keeps coming back and
keeps coming back and he says I'm returned with mercies I'm
returned with mercies he returns again and again to his people
with mercies My house shall be built. What a mercy it is for
there to be a house of God. What a mercy it is for Him to
take the lonely of this world and put them in families, to
take the people out of this world and to build them upon the foundation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and build them into a fellowship
of His people. My house shall be built. It's speaking of that
physical temple but it's also speaking of His church, isn't
it? His church will be built. saith the Lord of hosts, and
a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. He measures,
he measures his church. That's why in Revelation we have
all of those visions and those pictures throughout the Scriptures
of him actually taking a measuring line. And Jerusalem is measured
and the height and the depth It's a cube, isn't it? But it's
a measured cube. There's nothing accidental about
the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing accidental
about the family of God. It's a measured thing. And the
measuring line is in the hands of a man, if you go down to verse
two. Chapter one is, don't you love
the fact that everything for us is measured in his hand? All
of the circumstances of my life are measured by him, and he holds
the line in his hand. He is gloriously sovereign. My house shall be built My house
shall be built. Don't you love the absolute certainty? Every time you find a will and
a shall in the scriptures that's associated with God, you can
just right beside it. Amen and true. It must come to
pass. God will build his house. I will
build my church, says the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gates of
Hades shall not prevail against it. What are the gates of Hades?
What are the gates of the city? The gates of the city are defensive
gates, isn't it? Satan has a palace and he keeps
the goods in his palace at peace. In all sorts of ways, in religion,
in world, in possessions, in power, in prestige, he keeps
his palace, doesn't he? He keeps telling people, peace,
peace, peace. He keeps saying to them, peace,
everything's fine, everything's fine. God didn't really say what
he said. You shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil, and you'll have the free will to choose what
is good and reject what is evil. All of the temptations of the
garden, he keeps his goods in that. And what does the Lord
Jesus Christ do? He comes to the gates of that city, And like
Samson, he picks up the gates and bolts and bars and the posts,
and he carries them all the way to Hebron, which is a city of
refuge. 50 miles, 80 kilometers he carried
those gates. It's a glorious picture, isn't
it? He says, you're free, children of God. I've come to set you
free. Verse 17, 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. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith the Lord God. and shall yet choose Jerusalem. What glorious comfort there is
in the electing, the eternal electing providence of God. That God took a people and put
them in the hands of his son from before the foundation of
the world. And every single last one of them will come to him.
They'll all come to him. John chapter 10. My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow them. I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall perish if they want to. What
does the scripture say? Someone told me just a little
while ago that I can choose to walk away from salvation. Do
you realize what people are saying when they're saying that? Exactly
what Satan told them in the garden. I'm bigger than God. Listen to
what the Lord Jesus Christ said. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. My Father and I are one. People talk about once saved,
always saved. Well, the question is who does
the saving? If I've got any hand in my saving, then it's a pretty
dodgy show altogether, because I know a little bit about how
sinful and how weak I am. Only a little bit. God mercifully
hasn't shown me all of it. But if God does the saving, what
is it? Everlasting, isn't it? It's eternal. Like Him. Verse 18. Then lifted I up my
eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. And I said unto the angel
that talk with me, what be these? And he answered, these are the
horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Four in the scriptures. These
are visions, aren't they, Zechariah, in one night in February. in the second year of Darius,
saw nine visions all in one night, and they're all pictures of the
Lord Jesus Christ in his church, says the man on the red horse
that we looked at last week among the myrtle trees. Myrtle trees
just grow in the valleys. And the wonderful thing about
myrtle trees is they're low, there's nothing particularly
special about them, but they've got these lovely flowers. But
the wonderful thing about the flowers is when the flowers are
crushed, this beautiful perfume comes out of them, much more
than just the flower itself. And that's what it is with the
child of God, isn't it? We are often crushed in the bottom of
this world. But in our crushing out comes
the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that which
is within us, Christ in us, is given the opportunity to come
out and be a fragrance in this world. As he calls these people
just to walk in faith and say, you are my God. Your words are
good and comfortable. So these four horns and there
are four carpenters and there's a man with a measuring rod and
there's Joshua the high priest. If you want to read a glorious
picture of salvation turn to Zechariah chapter 3. In chapter
5 there's a wonderful picture of the The golden candlestick
and that oil that travels. It's a beautiful picture of the
oil of grace that travels in pipes. Secure and unseen by the
world as God deals personally with his people. There's a flying
scroll which is the word of God, that everlasting gospel. There
is a woman representing a wickedness and she's sitting in a basket.
She's contained, she's contained and controlled and the amount
of her wickedness is contained and controlled by God Almighty.
And then there are four chariots coming from the two women and
then there's the crowning of Joshua the high priest. And Zechariah's
prophecy finishes with glorious, glorious description again and
again of the Lord Jesus Christ and of Him coming a second time,
of His triumphant victory in so many remarkable ways. But
there we live in this world where The children of God have been
scattered by these four horns, and the Lord Jesus Christ has
come to be the gatherer of these people. His children are scattered,
aren't they, throughout this world and throughout time, and
all the way through all of this history, they've been a remnant.
There is a multitude beyond number that the Lord has given to his
Son, and they must all be saved. But always throughout history,
his people have been And that's why the gathering
of God's people. See, we're going to be scattered
in a little while now, aren't we? In 10 minutes we'll all be start
scattering and dazing back to Sydney and Eureka and probably
go back to Sydney unless he wants to stay the night. We'll all
go to our places and then we'll be gathered again, won't we?
Scattered and gathered. to him will be the gathering
of his people. And how does he do the gathering?
Verse 20, and the Lord showed me four carpenters, four carpenters. They were scattered They are
scattered throughout this world. Moses says in Deuteronomy they
are scattered according to the number of the children of Israel.
But these four carpenters come. Four represents the four corners
of this earth. They're sent throughout this
world. These four carpenters. And I
said, what? Come these to do, and he spake,
and said, These are the four horns which catted Judas, so
that no man did lift up his head. But these have come to fray them. They've been scattered by the
powers of this world. To fray them is to cause them
to tremble. The wicked flee when no one's
pursuing them, and the righteous are as bold as a lion. We have
a victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. To fray them is to tear them
down. See, our weapons of warfare are
not, they're not carnal, brothers and sisters. Our weapons of warfare
are spiritual. It's a spiritual battle, isn't
it? And we put on the full armor of God, and every one of the
pieces of that armor is a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
four carpenters, they come to fray them and to cast out the
horns of the Gentile which has lifted up their horn over the
land of Judah to scatter it. You might recall that when Nebuchadnezzar
came and besieged Jerusalem and reduced it to rubble and knocked
down the walls and destroyed the temple, Edom and Esau and
those nations around were rejoicing. They were rejoicing at the downfall
of the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom. And yet, they lifted
up their horn over Judah to scatter it. There are four. Four, they go
throughout all of this world. There is sufficient in number.
They are sufficient to reach all of this earth. Will God's
gospel get to all of his people throughout all of this world
in time? When God's gospel comes, the
Lord Jesus Christ comes in power, doesn't he? And he's come to
set the prisoners free. I do love what he said. In Luke
chapter 4 in that first sermon, the Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel, to preach
himself to the poor, to the poverty struck, have nothing in themselves
to bring to the table of salvation. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. A broken heart's a heart that
doesn't work, brothers and sisters. It's not a heart that's doing
a little bit of good. A broken heart is a heart that doesn't
work anymore. To preach deliverance to the
captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty
them that are bruised. That's the preaching of the gospel,
isn't it? And to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And the acceptable
year of the Lord is the year of Jubilee. And if you were sold,
if you were sold into slavery by your own wickedness and your
own activities, There came a glorious trumpet sound on that year of
jubilee. possessions, everything was returned
to you. It's a glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's preaching the Jubilee year,
and the reason they had 70 years away is because for 70 years
they'd never celebrated a Jubilee. You can imagine if you had some
possessions and had some slaves, the very last trumpet you'd ever
want to have blown And especially if you've made some money out
of your religion and gathered a few coins and a few people
out of your religion. No wonder they didn't have it.
And God says, I'm going to have it. My land is going to have my sabbath.
My land is going to have my jubilees. My law is going to be perfectly
fulfilled. Perfectly fulfilled. The carpenters
are sufficient in number and they reach to all this earth.
And they're just what's needed, aren't they? Simple carpenters,
not fancy theologians dressed in robes and things. And what
do the carpenters have? They just carry the gospel, don't
they? They carry the gospel in this, that the word of God, says
Jeremiah 23, is like a fire, it's like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces. He says in Hosea 6, Therefore
I have hewed them with the prophets, and I have slain them by the
words of my mouth. Thy judgments are as light that
goeth forth. I lifted up my eyes again. When
you lift up your eyes, brothers and sisters, and looked, you
behold a man, a man with a measuring line in his hand. He says, the
lions have fallen to me in pleasant places, says our Lord Jesus Christ.
The man is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God, man, our mediator. He
is the angel of the Lord. He is the great I Am. He's the captain of the Lord
of hosts. He's the Lord, according to Exodus 15, he's the Lord who's
a man of war. The Lord is his name. He is the
Son of Man. And he measures. He measures
Jerusalem. He measures his church. Everything
about his church is measured, brothers and sisters. Everything
about the circumstances of all of our life is measured. Don't
you love the fact that all of the circumstances that have befallen
us, are befalling us, and will befall us, are in the hands of
He who measures Jerusalem, who measures all the circumstances.
He only ever does good. He only ever can do good. Everything, everything in this
world is worked by Him. He's not idle, is it? God works all things. That's something we know. If
you know that measuring line in his hand, God works. We know
that God, all things work together, are worked, it says, are worked
by God Almighty with the measuring line in his hand, together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. who shall separate us from the
love of Christ. Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all day long. We
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded,
may the Lord persuade us all, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. How's that love displayed? The
cross. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we pray that the light will shine upon him who is bound with cords
to the horns of the altar. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank
you for the Lord Jesus Christ being bound to his people in
such a way, Heavenly Father. that all of our righteousness
is a righteousness that he has wrought. All of our sin-bearing
was born in his own body on the tree. Our Heavenly Father, we
thank you and praise you that your Son came to gather his church,
to build them on the foundation of who he is, for him to be the
headstone and that we might cry grace, grace unto it. O our Father,
we pray that the Lord Jesus Christ might be honoured by the way
he carries his people, his church, through the cares of this week
ahead of us. Heavenly Father, may we who are
scattered be gathered at his feet like Mary, to hear his words
and to fill the house with the aroma of his death and burial
and resurrection. May we eat and drink Heavenly
Father, knowing who he is, being thankful for who he is and declaring
his death until he comes again to gather us into eternity, a
glorious, glorious place in his presence. Pray these things for
His glory. In His precious name, our Father,
we thank you. Amen.