I'd like you to turn in your
Bibles to the book of Zechariah. So you go to Matthew and go back
two books. And so one of the glorious things
about the Old Testament Scriptures is as they come closer to the
advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, and these are 500 years beforehand,
the pictures of him become clearer and clearer and clearer. Zechariah. Zechariah means God remembers. What does God remember? God remembers His covenant. God
remembers His promises. God remembers. Zechariah is one
of the prophets like Haggai. and Malachi that spoke after
the exile was finished and it's a glorious picture isn't it that
our exile is complete in the Lord Jesus Christ and that remnant
population had been brought back from Babylon and there was a
temple to be built and a temple that was to have the glory of
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in it and so But I love
how it begins. It says, in the eighth month
of the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord unto
Zechariah, the son of Berechi, the son of Iddo. Zechariah is
the prophet. There's so much just in that
statement, isn't there? The Word of the Lord came. The Word of the Lord is the Lord
Jesus Christ came and we'll see in Zechariah as we study it over
this next little while that the Lord Jesus Christ personally
came and personally spoke and the Holy Spirit took the things
of the Lord Jesus Christ and revealed them unto Zechariah
and these men were carried by the Holy Spirit and they spoke
as all the prophets did of the sufferings of Christ and the
glory that shall follow. In that day, 20 times Zechariah
says, in that day, and the day that he's speaking of is the
day of the Lord's coming, the day of the Lord's coming, the
day of the Lord's resurrection, the day that we live in today
as the Lord Jesus Christ gathers his people and builds his church
and causes his glory to be seen amongst his people. says, my hour has come. He's saying that that day that
Zachariah promised has now come. And Zachariah has dozens and
dozens of pictures and prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ and
dozens and dozens and dozens of them are fulfilled in the
last week of the Lord Jesus Christ's life. It's as if Zachariah together
with Malachi and Isaiah and others had written this script that
everyone else was playing out as an actor in that script. Because
that's what Zachariah is. It's the most glorious picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the time, and the time the
Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of is the time that he's been
lifted up. And it's wonderful, isn't it, to think that the Lord
makes these promises and he makes them hundreds of years before.
500 years is a long time, isn't it? 500 years ago is a long time.
In our history we know nothing much about it at all. 500 years
they waited for for these glorious things to be fulfilled. And that
was the excitement of Jerusalem at that time. And that was the
excitement. They were looking for the Messiah. They knew what
Daniel had said. They had the calculus out. They
knew that this was the time for the Messiah to come. They knew
where he was to come is to be born in Bethlehem. They knew
what he was to do and where he was to be raised. They knew everything
about him from the Old Testament Scriptures. There was in the
Old Testament Scriptures just this glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And for want of time, I just
want us to go and look at and whet your appetite, I trust,
for you to spend time in the book of Zechariah over this next
little while. It's just 14 chapters. It doesn't
take a long time to read them. And like all of these, so many
of these Old Testament prophecies, they are pictures that are fulfilled
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And books
like Zachariah and Daniel and other books that have these pictures,
Isaiah, are just so fundamentally important for understanding books
like Revelation. And so if you want a clearer
picture of those more obscure parts of the Scriptures then
the best place to go often is to go back into the Old Testament
and see where the pictures came from and see when they were first
brought. But there are, I'll just quickly run through them
and you follow along with me. I'd just love you to see that
this is about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
comes and there are a number of visions in Zechariah and we'll
look at those later on but I just wanted us to see before we come
to the Lord's Table to see the Lord Jesus Christ pictured here
so that as you read you will be looking for Him and you'll
be asking the Holy Spirit to show me wonderful things out
of your word about the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll start in chapter 2 verse
1. Christ is the man who measures
his church. I lifted up my eyes again and
looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his church. The foundation of the Lord stands
firm, isn't it? The Lord knows all those who
are his. It's the foundation of the church.
He says, whether there goest, and he said unto me, to measure
Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the
length thereof. You might remember in Revelation, the city is measured,
isn't it? And it's so glorious. And the
city that's measured in Revelation is a cube. And the only cube
in all of the scriptures is the Holy of Holies. And so it's a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's a picture
of the wings under which all of his bride comes to take rest. He's the one that measures. He speaks about this city being
an inhabited city. The Lord Jesus Christ, in chapter
3, verse 1, is the angel of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the ultimate
message from God. He brings the message. He is
the message itself, but he brings the message as well. He's the
angel of the Lord. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan, this
is a glorious picture of salvation by grace, and Satan standing
in his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Even the Lord that has chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee, is this not a bran plucked out of the
fire. What a great description of us,
brothers and sisters. Now Joshua was clothed in filthy
garments. What of the righteousness? What
of our righteousnesses? Filthy rags. And stood before
the angel, and he answered and spoke unto those that stood before
him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said
unto him, and unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with the change of
raiment." What's the raiment that the saints in heaven are
robed with? That perfect white robe of the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the robe that
God's people wear. I will cause, I have caused, and
I love how in the Old Testament the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
is put in the past tense. That's how complete and sure
it is, brothers and sisters. He was a lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee. I will clothe thee with the change
of raiment. And I said, let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the
Lord stood by. The Lord Jesus Christ, as you
go down into Chapter 8, is the Servant. He is the Suffering
Servant. He's the Servant who came. He
came, Son of Man, came not to be served, but to serve and give
his life for ransom for many. They say, Hear now, O 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. He is both the servant and he
is that fruitful branch. And you can read about that branch
in Isaiah and Jeremiah and many other places. In verse 9, speaks
to this branch, for behold, the stone that I have laid before
Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes. And seven is the
number of completeness, isn't it? And behold, I will engrave
the engraving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will
remove the iniquity of that land in one day. My day has come,
my hour has come, says the Lord Jesus. Here's that foundation
stone upon which all of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built.
And he knows everything. Seven eyes, there's nothing happens
in this universe that he hasn't measured. He knows exactly. He removes the iniquity of the
land in one day. In chapter four, the Lord Jesus
Christ is portrayed There's the great Zerubbabel. Now listen
to what he says. Don't you love these verses?
And 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, grace, unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house, and his hands shall also finish it. And thou
shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. For who
has despised a day of small things?" When they were building that
temple, there was weeping as well as joy because it was nothing
like Solomon's temple, which is why Herod spent 40-odd years
building a huge, huge one. But so precious was the temple
in the eyes of the Jews that they wouldn't let Herod touch
a stone in this temple of Zerubbabel until he had all the other stones
made. And so, and the Lord Jesus Christ destroyed that temple
three years after they finished building it. Zerubbabel, the
Lord Jesus Christ, builds his temple with shoutings of grace,
grace unto it. In verse 13, chapter 6 verse
13, speaking of this building. Let's go back to verse 12. And
speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold, the man whose name is the branch. 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. Chapter 6 verse 13, 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. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
anointed prophet, the anointed priest, and the anointed king.
There was never a priest who was a king. Never a king, he
was a priest, but the Lord Jesus Christ is both king and priest. And the council, that word council
means purpose. The purpose shall be between
them both. God is perfectly in agreement and perfectly at peace
with all that he does. The verses that John 12 speaks
of are a reference to the King. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
King. He is the priest and the King, but in verse 9 of chapter
9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. This is just the most glorious
description of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? He is just. He is just. He is righteous in
all that he does. He's just in having salvation. The salvation of God's people
is a just salvation. That's what happened at the cross.
It's a just salvation. It honors every one of God's
attributes. Having salvation lowly. He's
meek and lowly of heart, our Saviour. We can come to Him.
And riding upon an ass, upon a colt, the foal of the ass. And listen to what He's going
to do in verse 10. And I will cut off the chariot
of Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow
shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen. That's all the Gentiles. And
his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even
to the ends of the earth. And as for thee also, I just
love these words, by the blood of thy covenant have I sent forth
thy prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water. There's so many beautiful pictures
in that. And then he says, turn you to
the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Isn't that a lovely
description of us? We're prisoners, we're bound
and taken captive by the hope. He is our hope, the Lord Jesus
Christ. You prisoners of hope. Even today
do I declare that I will render double unto thee. That's in Isaiah
chapter 40. render double unto thee. Verse 16 of chapter 9, and the
Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his
people. Do you remember what he says
in John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd, I lay down my
life, my sheep, and the sheep I have Them I must call, and
he calls his sheep by name, and they come to him, he's the shepherd
of the flock. For they shall be as the stones of a crown,
lifted up as an ensign upon his land. For how great is his goodness,
how great is his beauty. What a great description. Paul
shall make the young men cheer for the new wine the maids. Malachi
speaks of the children of God. He says in verse 16 of Malachi
3, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another,
and the Lord hearkened. They spoke often to one another
about the Lord. And the Lord heard, and hearken and heard,
and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that
feared the Lord, that thought upon his name. And then he says,
and they shall be mine. I just love these words. They
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make
up my jewels. My jewels, and I will spare them
as a man spares his own son. He crossed the Saviour and he
has jewels. These are the jewels, aren't
they, all of those he had saved. How precious, how precious, how
precious are the children of God to our Saviour. Chapter 11,
just 12 and 13, we saw these things being fulfilled in Judas,
and we'll see more of it as we go on through John's Gospel.
But in chapter 11, verse 12, he said, and I said unto them,
if you think good, give me my price. That night that we spoke
of earlier, Judas went down there and they did a deal, didn't they?
They did a deal. Probably not one of them knew
that this is the deal that they were doing, but this is what
God had ordained. If not forbear, so they weighed
for my price 30 pieces of silver. 500 years beforehand. 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 thirty pieces
of silver, and cast it to the potter in the house of the Lord. Chapter 12, verse 10, we've read
it so many times. This is the result of the glorious
work of the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation of his people. He
says, I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, 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. In that day there shall be great
mourning in Jerusalem. Great mourning in Jerusalem.
The Lord Jesus Christ was pierced in the house of his friends. But what was the result of his
piercing? Remember this is the King. In that day, verse 1 of
chapter 13, in that day there shall be a fountain opened under
the house of David and in the inhabitants of Jerusalem for
sin and for uncleanness. What did John see when the Lord
Jesus Christ was pierced with that soldier's sword? Out flowed
water and blood. A fountain was opened. A fountain was opened. Verse
7 of chapter 13 is remarkable, isn't it? It speaks again of
this fountain that is opened. It speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
both as God and man. Man, the shepherd. God, the companion. He says, Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, the sword of God's justice. wielded by his father
when he saw the sin of all of God's people in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. He is a man, but fellow means
one that is like me, a companion. He is both God and man. Saith
the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd with that sword, and
the sheep shall be scattered. And they were scattered that
night when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. But then he says,
and I will turn my hand upon the little one. I'll turn my
hand of grace and love upon the little one, and none of them
are going to be lost. And it shall come to pass that in that
land, saith the Lord, two parts thereof shall be cut off and
die, and a third shall be left therein. And I will bring the
third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver. Brothers and sisters, we have
been refined, and we are being refined, aren't we? And God's
refining is to take away the dross and to leave the gold.
I will refine them as silver is from, and I will try them
as gold is tried, and they, as a result of the trying, they
will call, they shall call on my name, and I will hear them. God remembers, God remembers.
I will call upon them and I will hear them and I will say, it
is my people and they shall say, the Lord is my God. The Lord Jesus Christ. is coming again. Chapter 14 speaks
of his glorious return. God remembers. God remembers. And God fulfills all of his promises. God remembers. I do love what
Isaiah 43 says. He says, put me in remembrance.
Put me in remembrance. You cause me to be reminded. But he says, in verse 25 of Isaiah,
I, even I am him that blotteth out thy transgression. Why? For mine own namesake. If you read Ezekiel 36, why does
he do all that he does? For my namesake is why he's doing
all of these things. I am he that blotteth out thy
transgression for my own sake, and will remember and will not
remember me in remembrance. You put me
in remembrance of what happened on the cross of Calvary. Put
me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare
thou that thou mayest be justified. God remembers. What did the thief
on the cross say to God Almighty? He says, remember me. You just
remember me when you come into your kingdom. You're a king.
How did that man come to know that the Lord Jesus Christ was
a king? How did he come to know that bleeding, dying man, cursed
by that crowd who mocked him for his faithfulness and his
trust in God? How did he come to know? It's
the work of God, isn't it, to bring people to the foot of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to acknowledge that he's a king, to acknowledge
that he's a successful king, to acknowledge the fact that
he's coming back, he's coming back, and he can take a sinner
like that man, take him to glory. Put me in remembrance. put me in remembrance. Let's
pray. Now Heavenly Father we thank
you and praise you for your word and we thank you for the blessed
Holy Spirit that has caused these words to be penned and we praise
you Heavenly Father that Your servants wrote by inspiration
and yet by your work in our lives you cause these words to be spirit
and life to us and we receive them by revelation as you open
them to us and cause them to be precious. But most of all,
Heavenly Father, cause them to point in picture to your dear
and precious son, his precious blood, his precious redemption,
his precious love. wherewith he has loved us, and
having loved his own in this world, he loved them to the end.
O our Father, we thank you. We thank you that you call on
us to put you in remembrance. We thank you that you are a God
who remembers, and you can never forget. But our sins are gone,
Heavenly Father, and you promise never to remember them again.
So often, our Father, we think of you remembering the faults
and the weaknesses of us, and we pray that as we take these
elements, we'll be reminded that you see all of your people in
your dear and precious Son, wholly spotless, unblamable and unapprovable
in your sight. Bless your word to our hearts
and cause us, Heavenly Father, to walk through this world. This
week ahead, Heavenly Father, like Mary, sitting at the Lord's
feet, just gazing upon His beauty, and may the house of us individually
and collectively be filled with the odour of his perfect and
complete sacrifice. We pray in Jesus name and for
his glory. Amen.