I please God to bless us together
tonight as we meditate on his word. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Zachariah chapter two and we'll read verse five. Prophecy
of Zachariah chapter two and verse five. For I, saith the
Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will
be the glory in the midst of her. These two prophecies of Haggai
and Zechariah are indeed wonderful short words from Almighty God. How appropriate, how important,
how necessary they were at the time they were written when Israel
or Judah were returning to Jerusalem and how they needed much encouragement
because of the adversaries which had tried to halt the work and
also, of course, the lukewarmness of their own spirit. And so the
Lord so graciously sent forth these two prophets to speak in
such a way to encourage the people, encourage them to return and
to be encouraged by that which the Lord spoke to them and for
them. And although we know written
many years ago, originally for that specific time when Judah
were returning from Babylon, yet how appropriate these chapters
are, these prophecies are for us today, because truly If we
look around, we see much declension, much lukewarmness, much coldness,
and we need the word of the Lord to come and to touch our hearts
with divine power from on high. There's a great difference between
just knowing the truth in our head and the effect it has upon
our heart. the Spirit of God comes and affects
our heart, then it is that we are truly blessed, then it is
that our lives bring forth praise and honour and glory to Almighty
God. And therefore we see in these
words that we've read in these chapters tonight how God grants
and favours the people with this great and wonderful promise that
Jerusalem should indeed be inhabited again. And he speaks in this
way, and he says, And behold, the angel that talked with me
went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said
unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem
shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for the multitude of men
and cattle therein." Well, I hope we can appreciate what that means.
Jerusalem, of course, was walled round. The wall was built up
to keep the people safe and that was really the limit of the town
within the wall. Exactly the same as in the days
of Jericho when, of course, Israel surrounded Jericho and walked
round it and the walls fell down. But here the Lord is giving a
wonderful picture of not only Jerusalem itself being inhabited,
but the population, the blessing so great that it was a spittle
round. And here it is, as though there
weren't any walls, be inhabited as towns without walls for the
multitude of men and cattle therein. Well, this great statement must
have been encouraging to the people to think that here was
a prophet of God speaking in these terms, speaking in these
words to encourage them. They'd been, as we read here
together, they'd been 70 years. Then the angel of the Lord answered
and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy
on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou
hast had indignation these threescore and 10 years? Well, it was 70
years. And the Lord had told them in the days of Isaiah and
Jeremiah, that they would go down into captivity and they
would be there for 70 years. God is faithful. Never think
that God tells untruths. If God has spoken to your soul
or my soul, my friends, it's true. It's not something that's
going to be varied. I am the Lord that changed not.
Therefore your sons of Jacob are not consumed. And so these
people were taken captive by the Chaldeans. by Nebuchadnezzar. They went down into Babylon and
there they were for 70 years. They weren't happy years were
they? They didn't have a temple to worship him. They weren't
able to carry out the sacrifices in that way that they should
have done. Indeed we read they sat by the
river and they wept. They wept because of the sadness
which existed. Do you know sometimes Perhaps
even today we may look back, perhaps, and weep because of
the situation which has developed today. We see a great turning
away from the truth of God's Word, a great turning away from
the blessings of God, a seeking for an easier life, a life whereby
we think we're freer if we turn away from God. In actual fact,
we're not in any way freer at all. But that's the devil's way
of trying to get us to depart from the truth of God's Word. Now, we are wonderfully blessed
today with the Word of God. We are wonderfully blessed. Never
ever underestimate the privilege which is ours. But my friends,
if we do turn away from the Word of God, just like Israel did,
Judah did, God judged them. God judged them. They wanted
to follow their own course, their own way of religion. They didn't
want to keep all the laws. They didn't want to keep the
words that the Lord had set before them. And so the Lord came and
judged them and sent them into captivity. Well, my friends,
let us not be found walking that way because God will not be mocked
He's given us the Word of God to read. It's not a word that
we are to not consider. It's a word that we are to consider.
We are to ponder it. We are to study it. We are to
study the Word of God. I wonder how many people today
realize that. Most people have a very small
Bible. A very small Bible. And most people today, I dare
say, if you ask them what the prophecy of Zachariah contained,
they wouldn't have a clue. They wouldn't know it even existed
in the Word of God. You see, today we live in a dark
day. Go back a few centuries. Go back to those times when religion
was strong and healthy. And what was read? Well, generally
speaking, the people only had the Bible, or perhaps they had
also the Pilgrim's Progress. But the evenings were spent reading
the Word of God. The father would often sit by
the fire in the winter evenings and read the Bible to his family. My friends, what a great blessing
that was. How we've changed today, haven't we? Are we any better? Sadly, we're far worse, aren't
we, if we really analyse the situation. The truth is that
we know little about the great truths of God. We know little
about the wonderful direction that the Word of God gives us,
the wonderful promises the Word of God gives us. And the Lord
has given us His Word to guide us through our life here on this
earth. And let us always remember that
Our life is just a preparation for our eternal life. It's just
a very small part of eternity. God has given us therefore his
word to direct us as we spend this very short time upon earth
so that we may indeed be blessed with that true knowledge of God
in our souls. We are to be concerned to know
the truth. You know if we are blessed with
the truth in our hearts, what will that do? It will set us
free. We love freedom, don't we? We don't like being tied up,
do we? My friends, the word of God, when it comes to our hearts,
when it reveals Christ to our souls, what does it do? It sets
us free. And what does that freedom mean?
I'll tell you what it means. It means we're redeemed with
the precious blood of Christ. That's what it means. And you
see, if you and I are redeemed, we can't be ever captive again. No, because the Lord has set
us free. If the Son, therefore, shall
set you free, you shall be free indeed. The devil doesn't like
to hear such words. My friends, that's a word of
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And so may we be encouraged by
such words as we able to consider the great truth contained in
the Word of God. So here were these words then
written to Judas. They were returning to Jerusalem.
They'd been encouraged. They were going to be told it
was going to expand and there were going to be many people
blessed. And then we come down to these words, for I saith the
Lord. Isn't it wonderful? This is God
speaking. For I saith the Lord will be
unto her a wall of fire round about." Well, what does a wall
of fire do? If you and I were out in the
jungle or a place where wild animals were, perhaps they might
be aggressive. One of the ways to keep safe
is to build a fire, sometimes virtually build a wall of fire
round those who were encamping so that there would be safety. Animals wouldn't come. and attack
them, they wouldn't pass through the fire. And so here we have
then this illustration which would have been probably more
clearly understood in the days when this was written. Perhaps
there were many more cases when they needed to have a physical
wall of fire. But here the Lord comes and he
tells us, the Lord, he'll be unto us a wall of fire. It won't
be then a physical wall of fire. What it will be, it will be the
Lord putting that around us, Himself, to keep us safe. Keep us safe from the enemy.
Now, we may not always understand the benefit of it. And we may
think perhaps, well, I'm really not enjoying my life very much.
really can't do this and I can't do that and there are so many
things that hinder me well you may remember that Jeremiah that
man of God he thought the same things but in actual fact it
was the Lord being gracious to him and he tells us in the Lamentations
in the third chapter he says I am the man that has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath he has led me and brought me into darkness
but not into light." You may think, well that's a very amazing
statement. Well, the Lord does sometimes
bring us into those conditions to make us long for the light,
to make us pray for the light, to make us appreciate the light.
When the Lord does come, we can easily become, use the phrase,
gospel hardened. And the effect of that is we
hear the word of God, it has no effect upon us at all. Just
rolls off us. And sometimes therefore the Lord
deals with us. And remember, it's always in
love to our souls. Isn't that wonderful? Love to
our souls. The Lord deals with us in this
way. And poor old Jeremiah, he thought, The Lord was turned
against him. He said, surely against me is
he turned. He turned his hand against me all the day. So he
thought. It wasn't true, of course, but
that's what he felt. So perhaps you might feel tonight
that God's against you. It may be the very opposite.
In fact, I think we can say it is the very opposite, because
God is not against us. God is for us. if we are his
people, but the way may be appear to be that he's going against
us. The reason is that he's directing us in that right way. He's keeping
us perhaps from going into the broad way. That's where we wanted
to go. We wanted to have freedom in
the things of the world, but the Lord, you see, if you and
I are the Lord's people, the Lord will watch over us and he'll
keep you. And you'll find sometimes you'll kick against the way that
God has ordained for you. You won't want it. And you'll
try and escape. You'll try and escape. And it
may be the more you try and escape, the tighter it may get. You may
find it's far tighter. And you can't actually wriggle
as much as you thought. And if you feel that kind of
situation, just you read this chapter carefully. You'll find
out that here was a great man of God who is able to write down
some of these things for our encouragement today. He tells
us, my flesh and my skin if he made old, he has broken my bones,
he has builded against me, encompassed me with gore and travail. He
has set me in dark places as they that be of dead of old.
And now we come to these words, he has hedged me about. that
I cannot get out. He has made my chain heavy. Well,
why should we need to get out? If God has hedged us around,
why should we want to get out? We'll only want to get out if
we are not willing to submit ourselves to the will of God. It's only if we're not willing
to listen to his word, It's then that we feel that the Lord has
hedges about to stop us getting out. Here are the gracious words
the Lord speaks to his people when he says, and the Lord will
be unto her a wall of fire round about, a wall of safety. Sometimes the Lord brings these
hedges and we're not allowed to do the things that we wanted
to do. And we may be very rebellious
because of it. But I believe if the Lord is
teaching us, you and I will look back and we'll thank God. And we'll have to acknowledge
the truth of those words that I mentioned in prayer by Peter,
kept by the power of God. We didn't want to be kept, but
God kept us. God's mercy. God's love. God's compassion. And so, that's
really what Jeremiah was experiencing. He hath hedged me about, that
I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy.
He got a chain round him. Well, perhaps none of us have
had chains round us, but you know sometimes prisoners We see
pictures of them, don't we, with chains around their legs and
big weights, so they can't really escape. It means they've got
to stay more or less where they are. Well, that's the case with
Jeremiah. He had to stay where he was.
Maybe in our position, we have to stay where we are. The Lord
makes our chain heavy. And then also, and this is strange,
also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. And you
may think, well I'm praying to God, surely the Lord's going
to hear me. Well, we need to examine ourselves. Examine ourselves as to whether
our motives are good. We may think we have a good motive,
but don't forget the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. You need to dig deep into your
heart to find out what is the real bottom line. What is the
real situation? Why you want things to develop? Well, here was, you see, Jeremiah
crying and shouting. Well, you may cry and shout,
not because it's the Spirit of God upon you, because the power
of the devil is upon you. crying and shouting to try and
change your way, change the situation. Well, the man of God says, he
has enclosed my ways with hoonstone, he has made my paths crooked.
And so we can go on reading this third chapter until we come down
to these words, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the
wormwood and the gall, My soul hath them still in remembrance
and is humbled in me." So you're able to look back and to be humbled
at the way he'd been operating and the goodness and kindness
of God toward him, that the Lord hadn't left him to have his desires. He hadn't left him to do what
he wanted to do. He'd hedged up his way. Well,
here we see God graciously hedging up that our way with a wall of
fire himself round about us himself round about us and jeremiah goes
on this i recall to my mind the lord's dealings with him he calls
the mind well tonight can we call to mind god's gracious dealings
with us And it's because the Lord is round about us. He's
been round us. His gracious dealings. His love
to our soul. Recalls to my mind, therefore
have I hope. And then he comes and says, it
is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. We deserve
to be consumed. Do you agree with that? Like
Jeremiah. We are not consumed in the reason,
because his compassions fail not. It's not because of anything
good in ourselves, it's because his compassions fail not. They
are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. And what
a change we have here. Now he says, what does he say? The Lord
is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. What do we see? We see Jeremiah
submissive to God's will. to realise the great blessing
of the Lord being round about him, to preserve him. Now we know, of course, that
Jeremiah had to endure much opposition and hardship in his life, but
God was with him. And that's the great important
question for you and me, my friends, to know that God is with us.
Indeed, as we spoke from this morning, those words, I am with
you, saith the Lord. That's a great important thing,
isn't it? If God before us, who can be
against us? And so here we have then these
words of the prophet. The Lord says, I will be unto
her as a wall of fire roundabout, completely enclosing. Roundabout,
completely enclosing. Safety is of the Lord. Remember that. Safety is of the
Lord. You can't make yourself safe. You can't keep alive your
soul. But the Lord can. And the Lord
does. And so, this great truth is,
the Lord has said to these people, and he says to the whole Church
of God, the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about. But then you see, we're not left
in a place where we're isolated, a place where there's no blessing. Because the Lord tells us here
in these glorious words, and we'll be, the Lord, we'll be
the glory in the midst of her. What does it mean really? It
means this, Jerusalem represents the church of God. And who is
in the midst of her? The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And surely the living church
of God preserved and kept and favored to be found in the church. What do they desire to view and
to see? The glory in the midst. Jesus in the midst. Oh, my friends tonight, is that
what you and I desire? Long to know. Jesus in the midst. He is indeed all the glory. He's
all that our souls need. The blessed view of the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he's saying he's in
the midst. Yes, the glory of it. The glory in the midst of
her. Well, to your and my spiritual
heart is the Lord Jesus Christ. the glory in the midst. Do we love to hear of the Lord
Jesus? Do we love to speak of the Lord
Jesus? Do we love to meditate upon the
Lord Jesus? If these things are true, then
we can be sure that we're on the way to glory. But if these things are not true,
then there is no evidence that we are on the way to glory. And
therefore we need the work of the Holy Spirit to direct us
and to move our hearts and to reveal to us the great necessity
of Christ being the glory in the midst. Because, my friends,
in glory Christ is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. If you and
I get to glory, my friends, we shall glorify the Saviour. There
will be in all his glory. What a wonderful thought it is
to think that we shall be forever with the Lord, enjoying that
wonderful communion and union with the whole Church of God
and never anymore any separation. The Lord indeed will be round
about his people there forever and ever. The glory in the midst. Well, is Christ to us today the
glory in the midst? Is he the one that we do truly
love to talk about, the one that we love to hear about, the one
that we love to Meditate on. Well, the Word of God is full
of Christ. We read, don't we? In Zechariah,
a number of occasions, the glorious prophecy concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. And how encouraging it is for
you and me to read these great truths. to realize the truth
of God's word. And as we read these prophecies
and know they were fulfilled, how encouraging it is for us
to realize, yes, the word of God is true. And let man be a
liar, those who deny the word of God. Deny it very willfully
and with great hatred in their heart. Because what is the really
underlying effect? They will not bow down before
the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord. But my friends, be very
clear about this. Every single person in the whole
world will bow down before Almighty God. As I've said before, the
Church of God bowed down before the Saviour in this life. The unbelievers bow down before
God on that great day of judgment. There are no atheists in hell. Be clear about that. They may
be very pompous and proud about what they like to say, but when
they don't believe in a God, they will believe in a God, without
any doubt. What a terrible awakening to
such who have willfully ignored the truth of God. not only in
His Word, but by all things around us in creation. It demonstrates
the stars and everything, demonstrates the greatness of God. And the
majority of mankind willfully listens to the lies of the devil. My friends, may you and I be
wonderfully blessed to know in our hearts, remember that's what
it is, it's in our hearts, the power of God which influences
us in these great truths to believe that the Lord has said and what
he said is true and he is round about his people. Round about
his people. The Psalms tell us as the mountains
are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people
from this time forth even for evermore. And it's those indeed
who trust in the Lord. Very beautiful Psalm 125. They
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abided forever. Indeed, the truths of God abide
forever. It's a solid foundation. As the
mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his
people from henceforth even forever. Yes, forever. Well, can we not
be thankful for such a truth as that? To rejoice in the mercy,
to rejoice in the favor of Almighty God. Well, the prophet Isaiah
speaks some good and grand words for encouragement. as we turn
to the 26th chapter and the prophet tells us in that day it was a
day we read up here that Zachariah was prophesied well Isaiah also
speaks of a day in that day shall this song be sung in the land
of Judah we have a strong city salvation will got a point for
walls and bulwarks open you the gates, and the righteous nation
which keepeth the truth may enter in. They will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in
thee. Trust in the Lord for ever, for
in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Well, that's the opening
words in the 26th chapter of Isaiah, but they're glorious
words, aren't they? Remember, you see, the Lord has
said he will be round about and he'll be the glory in the midst.
And therefore, this word must be true. Thou will keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is staid on thee. The Lord blesses us
to believe these great and wonderful truths. They may be a strength
to our hearts as we press on day by day in this difficult
world in which we live in. It is a difficult world, always
has been, always will be to the people of God because the prophet
tells us this is not your rest, it is polluted. The world is
a polluted place. It's not a comfortable place
for the children of God and you and I may try and settle down
in it, Well, believe you me, the devil won't allow you to
settle down in the world if you and I are truly of the children
of God. This is not our rest. We're journeying
through this world. We're seeking that eternal Jerusalem,
that glorious place of heaven. And so to think here, the Lord
has promised to keep, and the Lord has promised to be roundabout,
and will be the glory in the midst of her." Well, to think
that Christ indeed is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. And as we come towards the end
of the Bible and the 21st chapter gives us a little insight into
the wonder of the glorious place in heaven that the Lord has preserved. for his people. And we read,
and I saw no temple therein. This was the Apostle John on
the Isle of Patmos, viewed with this great view. And I saw no
temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
the temple in it. What does that mean? The glory
in the midst. And the city had no need of the
sun. neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did
lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof. It's hard for
us to imagine isn't it no no sun needed no because there is
this great light this light from the Lord himself and the nations
of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it." Oh,
my friends, may you and I be there. Just think of it, walking
in this wonderful light, in heaven, in glory, with the whole Church
of God, with the Lamb of God, with Jesus in the midst. And the nations of them which
are saved, all those who are saved, not by their own works,
No, but saved by the grace of God, saved through the life and
death of the Saviour because of what He's done to pay the
price, to atone for all our sins, every single sin the Saviour
atoned for. He's worthy, isn't He, of all
the glory. You know, one thing I'm absolutely
sure of, we will all desire that the Lord is glorified We would
all desire to praise his name for what he's done. And I believe
this, the true church of God begin that song of praise on
the earth. You don't wait till we get to
heaven. We praise the God, our God, the savior of what he's
done for our souls to know this great and wonderful truth and
the nations of them which are saved. shall walk in the light
of it, and the kings of the earth, to bring their glory and honor
into it. And the gates of it shall not be shattered all by
day, for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the
glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no
wise enter into it anything that defileth, nor whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie. they which are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. And that's a wonderful thought,
isn't it? To think that we'll be free from all the evil of
our own nature, the infirmities of our flesh, the evil of our
heart. To think that we will have done
with it. It will be forever behind us. And we shall be with the
Lord in glory. and with the whole Church of
God. It's a wonderful prospect, you know, to the Church of God.
It's that which enables us to really desire to live our life
as unto the Lord and not unto ourselves. To be a true follower
of our great and glorious Saviour, to be blessed with that humble
meditation and that fellowship as the Apostle so vividly described
in the third of Philippians, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. The Apostle knew what he was
asking. You and I perhaps may shy away from such a desire. The Apostle knew what he was
asking. He knew that there in those situations was true happiness
that brought true peace because it brought the knowledge that
he was united to Christ. And that's the benefit. Those
testimonies, those experiences prove to us that we are united
to Christ. And we are favoured to be blessed
with that evidence of that in our own souls. You and I do need
the wonderful privilege and favour of the evidences of the work
of God in our soul, which will draw us to the Saviour and draw
us away from the things of the world, those things which grab
us and hold us. The Lord, in the day of His power,
will make us willing to forsake all, take up our cross and follow
Him. And so here we have this great
and will be How positive is the Word of God, isn't it? And will
be the glory in the midst of her. There's no doubt about it.
Christ will be the glory. Well, does that whet our appetite
tonight? As we think about Matt, which is before the Living Church
of God, when they finished their life, they finished their course,
and to be able to testify with the Apostle Paul when he said,
I fought a good fight. I finished the course. I was
laid up for Him in glory, that crown of righteousness. It wasn't because of what He'd
done. It was because of what Christ
had done for Him. And that's what He was glorying
in. And so tonight, may you and I
be able to glory in what Christ has done for us. Glory in the
fact, and I hope he has, given us that new life, shone his great
and glorious light into our hearts, so that we are no more walking
in darkness, but walking in the light of the everlasting gospel. And sure as a hymn shall be all
the praise and all the glory. And so may we thank God tonight
The Lord has ordained that such an account addressed to these
people returning to Jerusalem from Babylon has been recorded
for our encouragement today. In the day and age in which we
live, the application of it may apply to our souls and prove
to be a blessing to us and be able to thank God that this word
is written for I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire
round about her and will be the glory in the midst of her. Amen.