Join me tonight, if you would,
in the book of Zechariah, and I'd like to read a verse in Zechariah
chapter 13 before we go to Zechariah 14. In Zechariah 13, it just
shares this in such a dynamic way, the gospel as Zechariah
preached it during his time. This revelation had been given
to him, this word had been given to him, this message had been
given to him. And in there, he is permitted
to share with us the good blessings of that fountain. As it tells
us there, in that day there shall be a fountain opened. And I believe
Zachariah knew something about what that fountain was, that
he was a believer, that he understood. of the things of grace, and he
understood that God is mighty and saves as he pleases. And
he probably had some issues, difficulties with understanding
some of this, just like we do. But it is a spiritual thing.
Let's finish that verse. In that day there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David. and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. We have the specific people that
are minded about this. And then it says, this is what
it's for, for sin and for uncleanliness. So it's a tremendous statement
about the gospel, the blood of Christ, and who it's for, and
that so forth. Well, as we go over to the 14th
chapter of the book of Zechariah, We're going to be looking at
verse 12 today. And 12, verse 12, is much the
opposite, in fact. What happens when there is no
grace? What happens when the gospel is not revealed? What
happens when the people don't see it? And this mentions in
this verse of scripture three different things. I believe they're
metaphorical. I believe they're spiritual.
And yet the Lord in the past and the present and probably
in the future is going to affect people physically just like he
describes here. But it is truly a spiritual view. And it says there in Zechariah
chapter 14 and in verse 12, and this shall be the plague. Now,
when we run into that word in the Bible, it's probably not
the best thing. plague. We find it here, but
I'd like to just stop here, keep your finger right there at that
passage of scripture, and go to a few other verses of scripture
in the Old Testament that share that same word, and we find it's
not beneficial when God brings a plague. Now he's going to accomplish
his purpose, but for the people the plague was brought on, it
didn't treat them well. In the book of Exodus chapter
nine is the first place that we find this word used. And God
brings this plague as he shares here in the book of Zechariah
14 and verse 12, and this shall be the plague where the Lord
will smite. This is a plague, he's gonna
send a plague. And in the book of Exodus chapter nine, we have
these words recorded with regard to Moses being called on by the
Lord to go talk to Pharaoh. These are the words that the
Lord had prepared for Pharaoh. And here in Exodus chapter nine,
verses 13 and 14, the scripture says, and the Lord said unto
Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and
say unto him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let
my people go that they may serve me. For I will at this time send
all my plagues upon thine heart. Now, a plague on the heart, we cannot comprehend all of that.
But he says, I will send my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy
servants, and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there
is none like me in all the earth. Now, Pharaoh has been used to
bossing people around. Pharaoh is a king. He's been
used. His hand fell, people died. His
hand raised up, people lived. We're going to see that even
during the times of Joseph. that Pharaoh got upset with two
of his favorite people, baker and a butcher or something like
that. And one of them was taken and killed. Pharaoh had him taken
out. So the Lord shared this with
him, I'm going to bring these plagues upon you. And then, again,
in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, chapter 14,
we found these words written, and it's several times in the
book of Numbers that this word is used, a plague, a plague specifically
brought on by the Lord, as He brought it in Egypt, that the
problem that the plagues of the Lord brought on Egypt as a country
and Egypt as a people. I cannot imagine what it was
like. I do and am thankful when I read
in the scriptures that there in where the Israelites were,
They were protected from those great, grievous plagues. And when there was the darkness,
darkness you could feel, there was light in the homes. Now,
I don't think that they had candles. I think there was light in the
homes. just like there was light created by God in the very beginning.
They had God taking care of it, just like he did through the
wilderness wanderings. There was a pillar of cloud and
a pillar of fire. And when that great darkness
plague came, they had light. And it's just like the church
today. The world may not look like it is light, but the church
realizes without this light, I could see nothing. I would
not see the benefits of grace. I'd not see the benefits of God.
I was asked today, what happened when you were born again? And
I says, I got to see a new book. I got to see a new God. I got
to see a new Christ. I got to see a new salvation.
Everything became new. I thought I knew all about it,
but I didn't know a thing about it. Now, as we read in the New
Testament, old things are passed away. And I love what Brother
Henry had to say that not all old things are passed away. We
still have this flesh, but behold, all things become new. Spiritual
things become absolutely open to God's people. We may not understand
it all, but we see some things we never saw before, and we relish
in the fact that He has grace. He's merciful. He loves with
an everlasting love, and He doesn't change in those things. Well,
anyway, here in the book of Numbers chapter 14 and verse 37, we read
these words, Numbers chapter 14, let me get here. 14 verse 37 And it says even those
men that did bring up the evil report 10 That brought up the
evil report upon the land Died by the plague before the Lord
now twice in that chapter. We've just been in the plague
of the Lord came into the camp and and destroyed 250 at one
time, and then there was complaints going on, and the Lord destroyed
14,700 more. Now, as we follow the book of
Numbers out, the end is not in sight yet with regard to God's
plagues. He's gonna destroy 20,000 at
a time because they continue to be natural men and murmured
against God. Well, we find that this has just
carried out Throughout the scriptures, there's several times in the
Bible, it's translated like we find in 1 Samuel 4 and verse
17, also a great slaughter. The word plague is translated
slaughter, and it's mentioned several times throughout the
Old Testament. Over in 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 4 and verse 17, We have this word again. And
the messengers answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines
and there hath been also a great slaughter. Now at this time,
the Israel thought that they could win this battle by taking
the ark out of the tabernacle and taking it into battle. Eli
dies, his two sons die, the ark is taken off, and in fact it
tells us here that there was a great slaughter among the people,
and thy two sons also know, Hophni and Phinehas are dead, and the
ark of God is taken. So the Lord sends out this plague,
sends out this judgment, sends out this slaughter here in this
passage of scripture. Well as we look, going back over
to the book of Zechariah 14 now, and we're going to go past that
word plague, it's a serious thing to come under a plague of God. There is no remedy. When the angels fell, there was
no remedy. And when the plagues of the Lord
came upon those 250 or came upon Egypt or came upon the 14,700,
there is no remedy. Now we're thankful that Aaron stepped in and made atonement
and stayed the plague. That's the only thing that will
stay the plague. All right, here in the book of
Zechariah chapter 14, we find going on with that verse of scripture
14 and verse 12, it says, and this shall be the plague wherewith
the Lord will smite all the people. Now the modern view of this is
God doesn't act like this. The biblical view is God does
exactly like this. He does this. And it's, I was
asked, why does he do it? Because it's his right to do
it. I don't, God's ways are higher
than my ways. I can't figure it out, but he's
going to do it. And he goes on to tell us here,
their flesh shall consume away while they're standing upon their
feet. Now when I first read that, it
looked like it just kind of melted away, but it seems like from
what the words mean, they were emaciated. They were, they starved
to death. While they're standing on their
feet, they starve to death. Well, I find in the Old Testament,
there's a passage of scripture that has to do with famine. And
there shall be a famine of the word. I personally think that
that has happened all through the ages. There's been a famine
of the word. There's been a little, like down
there in Isaiah, it talks several times about places where the
palm trees are. And where palm trees are, there's
water. And where there's water, there's
hope. So little places in the desert where there's some palm
trees. Goes on to tell us here, and their eyes shall consume
away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in
their mouth. Now let's read verse 13. And
it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from
the Lord shall be among them and they shall lay hold everyone
on the hand of his neighbor. Help me, help me, help me, help
me. And his hand shall rise up against
the hand of his neighbor. There's no help. All right, let's
look at this. It appears so often in the scriptures
that there is a physical description as here. And we're gonna look
at some passages of scripture throughout the Old and New Testament
where God did some things that were just physical, but they
certainly speak of spiritual things. It takes God to give
us spiritual eyes. It takes God to give us spiritual
sight. It takes God to give us spiritual
ears. It takes God to give us a spiritual
body. And without that, we're just
looking at the terribleness, the description of the horrible
inward decay that's caused by sin. Our body is a horrible description
of what it is to be decayed by sin. I find in the scriptures
that the Lord never did anything for our body except he helps
restrain it. He restrains us. But our flesh
was not made any better in our new birth, in our salvation.
The promise is coming. The promise is coming, we will
have a body like His body, and I just believe that we won't
even be able to remember what it was like to be a sinner. Now
we can't imagine what it would like to be without sin. But then
we won't even have the concept of what it was to be a sinner
because we will know him as he is. We will have that perfectness
that God gives us in that salvation. It appears that there's no doubt
that God's work in the natural realm created He exercises his
purpose and he shares with us in many places, this is what
I do. And most of that what we read
about here are those that were never given faith. Judgment fell. Turn with me if
you would over to the book of Genesis chapter 19. Genesis chapter
19. Now in the end, if you can think
of other places where God's judgment fell, like we're going to read
about, then please share it, because I like to put it in my
notes. I will not get through all my notes, and it probably
won't matter, because we will cover enough to see that what
God did in Zechariah, that He is going to send a plague. He sent a plague in the past,
He's sending a plague now, and He will continue to send a plague.
That is the way God is going to do His business. People will
shake their hands at him and those who are serious and God
never had any interest from the very beginning of ever saving
them, his plague shall fall. And it will be so serious that
their mouths will be shut and they will be placed in everlasting
darkness. In the book of Genesis chapter
19, we read an occurrence. Abraham has a nephew down there. Now, I love when I get to the
New Testament and find out about that man. Because when you read
the Old Testament, you wonder, and you wonder, and you wonder.
And you know, we do today. Is that, I wonder, and yet we
read about just Lot. Now, when I heard the preacher
read that, he was just the only one. But you look up that word,
he was justified Lot. In Sodom. justified Lot. God justified
him. God gave him the new birth. He
had justification in the eternal covenant of grace. But here in
chapter 19, after Abraham has had a visit, he has a visit with
the pre-incarnate Christ and two angels. And those two angels
leave, and they have a mission. Because God's going to destroy
that place. Now if God had that same act today, just look where
He would be destroying. The same sin, sin, sin. My sister told me, you cannot
understand the book of 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians if you don't
know what the people were like in Corinth. And I says, the people
are like just in the Dalles. Same exact people. Go down to
Dufur. And if you want to go to Boyd,
you're going to find the same people. We're all sinners without
help, without hope, and without God in the world by our nature. Well, these two that leave here
in chapter 19 and verse 9 of the book of Genesis, these people,
these two angels come into Sodom, and their interest is to deliver
just lot from the judgment. That was their interest. Now,
if you notice with me that God did something to those people
that wanted to have those angels for terrible acts. It says here in verse nine, and
the evil spirit from the, oh, I mean, first Samuel, give me
a moment. Even this thing, sometimes I
punch the wrong button. Genesis chapter 19 verse 9. They said, stand back. These
are the men on the outside. They said, again, this one fellow
came to sojourn and we will needs be a judge. Now will you deal
worse with thee than with them? And they pressed sore upon the
man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men
put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and
shut the door." Thank God for those angels. And then it says,
and they smote the men that were at the door of the house with
blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves
to find the door." Now, I have witnessed people that were blind
or nearly blind I go into the foyer when it's dark in here
and I walk along the wall and come to the switches and turn
them on. And yet this blindness was so
much that it covered their knowledge and ability to think about it
too. They're a foot away from the
door and can't find it. Well, this blindness is brought
onto them by Almighty God. And we find the Lord said himself
that he will and does strike with blindness. They're blinded
to the gospel. They're blinded to the truth.
They're blinded. And the Bible brings up the fact
that the God of this world had blinded them. Well, to me, religion
blinds us. And if it is the devil, then
he's the God's devil and the devil is used by God to do his
purpose. All right, let's travel a little
further over here in the book of Exodus chapter seven. Exodus
chapter seven, God does something. Again, we're back here with regard
to Pharaoh. In chapter seven, in verse three,
we read this. God said, and I will harden Pharaoh's
heart. Now, I brought this up to my
mother one time when I turned to a Calvinist, became a Calvinist,
and I talked to her about this, and she said, well, Pharaoh had
already hardened his heart, and then he just went ahead and did
the rest. I said, no. God hardened his heart. It's said here in verse three,
I will harden, this is a plague, folks. If God should do this,
this is a serious plague. and he brought it on a king. Well, we find many years later,
he brought another plague on a king. Nebuchadnezzar, that
was a serious plague, seven years. He was plagued by that affliction. And yet when he came out of it,
he makes a great confession about our God. Whether God let him
know who he was or not, he made a great confession about him.
We don't read that at all with regard to Pharaoh. It says here
in verse three, I'll harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my son's sin
signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt." And in that same chapter,
drop down to verse 13, it says, and he hardened Pharaoh's heart,
and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. So the
Lord imposed upon him hardness of heart, and he did exactly
as the Lord said. He will not let you go. Go in,
Make your case, plead with him, but he will not let you go. And
then in chapter 14 of the same book, chapter 14, and there in
verse four, we have these comments made. Again, I will set a plague. I will set a plague. He's been
doing that. He is doing that. He will continue
to do that. That is God in his action against
those that are without true hope. He has set a plague on them.
And here we find in Exodus 14 and verse four, and I will harden
Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them. Boy, you know,
I think of those Israelites when they turned around and saw all
the dust from those chariots and I don't think any of them
understood who actually moved on this army to come after Israel. Maybe Moses, I don't know. But
it says here, going on, and I will be honored among Pharaoh and
upon all his hosts, that the Egyptians may know that I am
the Lord, and they did so. And then in verse eight of that
same chapter, it says, and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
king of Egypt. Why did he put in there king
of Egypt? because he shows that he can do this to the most powerful,
or he can do this to the most servile. He goes on to say, and
he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of
Israel went out with a high hand. And in verse 17 of that same
chapter, it says, and I behold, I will harden the hearts of the
Egyptians and they shall follow them and I will get me honor
upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts and upon his chariots and
upon his horsemen. What did he say about all of
that? They will honor me. They're doing what I have prescribed
for them to do. They will honor me. In the 28th
chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, I wish we had time tonight to
read this whole thing. Probably the first time in my whole life,
I sat down and read the entire chapter and I says, oh my goodness. In this chapter, chapter 28 of
the book of Deuteronomy, beginning with verse one, now there are
15 verses where God blesses the elect. And there are, verse 16
to 68, he pronounces judgment on the non-elect. All those verses
of scripture. But notice verse one, and take
thou unto the Aaron thy brother, I'm in the wrong, that, I can't
blame it onto this computer, it's my fingers. Deuteronomy
chapter 28. Verse one, and it came to pass,
if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy
God to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command
thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high
above all nations of the earth. Now, you know, if we read down
through here and we find out this is the requirement that
you observe and obey and fulfill, the church says, when did we
do that? because we can't. The church
realizes this is an impossible task to keep the law of God.
There has been one that walked the faces of this earth that
came for the purpose of observing all the law of God. He is righteous,
and by his grace, he imputes that righteousness to the church.
So, in fact, in God's eyes, we are able to fulfill all the law
of God. because it's imputed to us. All
right, let's read on here. And all these blessings shall
come upon thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the
voice of the Lord thy God. Joshua, Caleb, Moses, Eleazar,
a few understood what is happening here. He's describing the church,
sinners saved by grace. sinners saved by grace. There
only then can they say, I've kept the law. Our flesh betrays
us, but the Spirit says in Christ, you've kept the law, you're righteous.
Blessed shalt thou be in the city and blessed shalt thou be
in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of
thy body, and the spirit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy
cattle, the increase of thy kind, or cattle and flocks, and thy
sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and
thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou
comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to
be smitten before thy face. They shall come out against thee
one way and flee before thee seven ways. I love the descriptive
language of this. There's the gospel being preached
here. The Lord takes care of all the enemies of the church
and the Lord shall command the blessing upon thee. Who's in
charge of the blessing for the church? We don't raise it, he
lowers it. And it says here, of thy body and in fruit of thy
cattle and the fruit of thy ground and the land." Nothing can go
wrong. Nothing can go wrong. Everything
is so good. Every blessing is so good. The fruit of the ground, the
fruit of the people, the fruit of the cattle. He's using this,
yes, physically, but metaphorically, spiritually. The Lord shall open
unto you good treasures. Verse 13, the Lord shall make
thee Make thee the head and not the tail, and thou shalt be above
only, thou shalt also be beneath. And if thou hearken unto the
commandments which I command thee this day, and observe them,
and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words. which I command
thee this day, to the right hand or to the left hand, to go after
other gods and to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if
thou wilt not hearken unto my voice. From verse 15 to the end
of the chapter, here is the plagues. Nothing is left unturned, nothing
is left unsaid. Everything and every bit, there
is not one good thing shared in the rest of this passage of
scripture. To those who it applies to, those who have said, yes,
I have kept the law. The Pharisee outside of the temple,
I thank God that I'm not like other folks. And verses one through
14 are to the other guy who said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Verse 15, and it shall come to
pass if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy
God to observe and to do all his commandments and his statutes
which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come
upon thee and overtake thee. And who's bringing them? The
Lord is going to bring a plague. Cursed shalt thou be in the city,
and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shalt thou be thy
basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of
thy body, and fruit of thy land, and the increase of thy country.
And it goes on until we get down to verse 68. Verses 15 to 68, over and over
and over and over again, the Lord's words to these folks,
the non-elect about this is the judgment, this is the plague
that I will bring upon you. And you know what? God has done
that, He is doing that, and He will continue to do that. It
is cursed. Why did all those folks die in
the wilderness? because they believed not. They had the gospel preached
unto them just like it was done to us, and yet it did not profit
them, because they had not been given belief. And so the Lord
plagued them, and he plagued them, and he plagued them. And
there were a few, as Isaiah brings out in Isaiah chapter one, if
it had not been for a very small remnant, We should have all been
as Sodom and we should have been as Gomorrah. It's only by the
grace of God. We never can lift ourselves up
by our own bootstraps. It is only because of the grace
of God. This goes on and on and on. Sometimes
sit down and read this and then delight in verses 1 through 14.
Just delight in verses 1 through 14. Would you turn there to the
book of, well, let's stop at Numbers for just a moment. Numbers,
again, we've went through this passage of scripture in the past,
but I wanna read just two verses, Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter
12. God did something. I find, as
I read in one of the minor prophets, there was, Miriam is mentioned
as one of the saints. Here in the book of Numbers chapter
12, verse 9. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against them, and he departed, and the cloud departed
from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous. God spoke, it came to pass. It's gonna be just a short time
and she's gonna have that leprosy removed from her. She's gonna
be set outside. You know, the church is a very
leprous body put out, and yet received by the Lord Jesus Christ. David's little child by Uriah's
wife, I like, that's what it says. You know, I would say,
I'm Bathsheba, but no, it says, the Lord struck the child that
Uriah's wife. Another reminder to David, bear
David. Well, with a very grievous illness. And that's in 2 Samuel 12 and
verse 15. And that baby eventually died.
The Lord told David at that time though, he says, I will not kill
you. You will not die. In the book
of 1 Kings chapter 5, we have the account of Naaman. Now Naaman
is the one that I go to so often. Naaman is the one, he had a leper.
We back up a little bit, and there was a young maid taken
in a war by the Syrians. She was an Israeli girl, Israelite. She was a descendant of Abraham,
and she's taken into Naaman the Syrian's home. Well, he has leprosy,
and that little girl, probably she's a teenager, said, you know,
if you lived over there, I know someone that could help you.
Well, Naaman went over there, The prophet didn't even go out
and talk to him. He said, this is what you need to do. And I
like those words, Naaman thought what would happen. Well, anyway,
Naaman is healed and he comes back and he offers the prophet
a lot of wealth. And there is someone that keeps
hearing this, and that is the prophet's secretary. And the
prophet says, nope, nope, we don't need any of that. And no
longer had Naaman turned around and left. And that prophet's
secretary said, I think I better go talk to Naaman. Well, this
is found in verse 21 of 2 Kings chapter five. 2 Kings chapter
25. Naaman is so interesting because
he's brought up in the New Testament. When the Lord is speaking about
his sovereignty, there were many lepers in Israel. Not one of
them was healed, but Naaman the leper, who was a Syrian. He mentioned
another thing, and they're ready to kill him over that issue. Well, here in 2 Kings, 2 Kings
5, and verse 21, it says, So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running
after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said,
is all well? And he said, all is well. My
master has sent me saying, this guy's lying through his teeth.
He's an unjust man. This is the same guy that was
just asked to be, the prophet asked him to see all the protection
he had. Well, he goes down here and said,
all is well. My master has had a couple of young men come to
visit and he needs some money and he needs some clothes for
him. And Naaman said, great, verse 23. Well, as we drop down
through here, we find when he went home, he hid all that stuff.
And the prophet said, where have you been? Oh, I've been serving
the Lord. And in verse 26, he said unto
him, Went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again
from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money,
and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards, and
sheep, and oxen, and manservants, and maidservants? And the leprosy
therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed
forever, and he went out from his presence a leper as white
as snow." God followed him with a plague. Now God said that here
in the book of Zechariah. There is going to be a plague.
I'll send a plague. That plague is continuing on.
It is It's past, it's present, and it's future. God has sent
this. Now, converse to that, he sends
his grace. Just as we read those first 14 verses of that chapter of Deuteronomy,
you can't do any wrong. Everything will be a blessing.
Everything's going to be good. And spiritually speaking, the
church has never had it better. every spiritual blessing. The blood of Christ, all of his
character and attributes, all of his promises, all the covenant
of grace, everything is ours, given to us. Now our flesh is
a drag at times, and we don't have the faith that we think
we should have, but God has supplied the faith. Well, he continues
on throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. I look
at Zacharias. You know, for nine months he
couldn't say a word. The angel said, since you didn't
believe my word, you'll not speak until this is fulfilled. And
when that baby was born and on its eighth day and they're going
to name it, he reached for a tablet and said, his name is John. and his mouth was loose, his
tongue was loose, and for the rest of the chapter he tells
about the one that his son will serve. Gloriously. We find in the book of Acts a
king, arrogant king, consumed by a plague of the Lord. Before
the eyes of the observers, he was eaten before their eyes. And I read about my brother Paul. We read a little bit about that
this last Sunday. He said, I've seen things so
much, and to keep me from bragging about it, the Lord sent me a
thorn in the flesh to keep me humble. The plagues of the Lord
are real. They are real. They have been
real, they are real, and they will be real. And the real plague
will be faced at that day when all those folks here depart. The true plague. This is just
the leading up to it. This is the leading up to it.
This is the promise I made. I'll lead up to it. But to the
church, Safe haven, safe haven, safe haven. There is a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and plunge beneath
that flood, we lose all our guilty stains. Only the ones plunged,
the rest will go into eternity in their undone sinful state
forever. What a plague. Well, we're going
to stop there. We could go on and on for about another hour
and a half, but our time is up. And we'll probably pick up with
verse 14 in our next study here.