Zechariah chapter 2. Zechariah
chapter 2, and it's a fairly short chapter. And to keep the
context, since we're going to be dealing with mostly the end
of it, I'd like to read the whole chapter. I lifted up my eyes
again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in
his hand. Then said I, whether goest thou,
and he said unto me, to measure Jerusalem, to see what is the
breadth thereof and what is the length thereof. Now, we have
to say, as all of the old preachers used to say, this is a description
of the church. All of the old preachers, all
of the testimonies of God, this is the church. Now, he may have
used Jerusalem, Israel, Judah as illustrations They may have
had some significance in these definitions and in these verses,
but the message is about and to the church. It is the body
of Christ and he is going to share with us in this chapter
that he is the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church
and the church is his body. There is a glorious connection,
unity between Christ and his church. I spoke to a man today,
and he talked about adopting his daughter. He couldn't have
children of his own, so he and his wife adopted a daughter,
and I said, that really brings to mind what we find in the scripture
because in the scripture, God has adopted every one of his
children, and it's significant because that means he chose us. That's a great thing to realize
that he chose us, he chose us in Christ. All right, verse 3,
and behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another
angel went out to meet him. And he said to him, run, speak
to this young man saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls for multitude of cattle. Men and cattle therein. Another
significant statement about the church. It will be a place of
habitation. And the Lord, the head of the
church, will be the one that will inhabit that. We have the
life mentioned in here. There will be a town without
walls. There will be protection, but
it's not the normal kind of protection that we think of. It is not man-made
protection. It is spiritual protection. For
I saith the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about. and will be to the glory in the
midst of her. And it's common knowledge if
you're out in the wilderness and you're there alone, build
a fire around yourself and protect yourself from the wild animals.
Well, the illusion, the metaphor is there. Christ is the wall
of fire to protect us from all the enemies of the church, all
the enemies of God and all the enemies of the church. He is
the protection. for them. We have no protective right in
ourselves. We have no merit to protect ourselves.
We have no strength to protect ourselves. Whatever sin it is,
we cannot overcome it. It must be overcome by the blood
of the Lamb. And that's what we find in the
closing book of the New Testament. They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. Ho, ho, come forth and flee from
the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I have spread you
abroad as the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord. Now, it is interesting
that the other day I used an illustration. I brought my big
compass out, and that big compass does not point towards the north
star, I mean towards true north. It always has a line of deviation.
Depending on where you are in the earth, And so in this passage
of scripture, it says, and flee from the land of the north, flee
from. Untruths. Flee from places that
you can't get the right standard. Flee to Christ because he is
the true line. He is the true point. He's where
we really need to be headed. So throw your old religious compass
away. Throw your old lines of demarcation
away. Come to Christ. Believe on Christ.
Look to Christ. He's the one that has all the
truth and he will not lead you astray. And then deliver thyself,
O Zion, that dwellest from the daughter of Babylon. For thus
saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto
the nations which spoiled you. For he hath touched you, touches
the apple of the eye. And we find that everywhere,
whatever place God finds his lost sheep is really Babylon. It may be right here. It may
be in a foreign country. But out of every kindred, nation,
people, and tongue, the Lord will find his people. He will
get the gospel to them, the gospel of his free grace must be brought
to them, and that is what he uses to bring about, to signify
the new birth. Then he goes on to say, for behold,
I will shake my hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to
their servants, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has
sent me. How he gets involved in shaking us out of the place
we are. And he does that and he does
it significantly. He did that for Saul of Tarsus. He shook him out of his old religion
and he was able to say many, many years later after reflecting
on it, all that was just done. There was no satisfaction in
that. He continued after 30 years. of knowing Christ, those things
still were the same as they were the day he was saved. There was
no validity, there's no satisfaction, there's nothing in those things
that ever did me any good. The only thing that ever did
me any good was Christ and his righteousness. That's the satisfaction. Then he goes on to say here,
sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and will
dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord, and how can two, dwell
together except they be agreed. How can we expect the Lord to
dwell with us unless he has changed us like unto him? He's given
us that Holy Spirit that agrees with the Lord in all things,
and we see the word as a new book, and we see the truth of
the word as new truth to us. We never could grasp it and get
a hold of all of it before we're born again, and afterward, we
never come to the conclusion of it. We never see the end of
it. It is so grand and so glorious. Great is our God, and greatly
to be praised. Many nations shall be joined,
verse 11, to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people,
and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know
that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. What a glorious
thing it is when God saves us to realize that the person that
God used to bring the gospel to us was sent. He was on a mission. He may not have realized it at
the time, but God always sends his gospel through somebody that
knows something and is brought to the people and God uses that
in such a wonderful way. And then we find here, In verse
12 and the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy
land that shall choose Jerusalem again in verse 11 and in verse
12 we have what we might say is the conclusion of the thoughts
here for just a moment and that is he says and verse 11 and many
nations shall be joined to the Lord and the rest of that verse
and then in verse 12 and the Lord shall inherit Judah and
The Lord, now this as we know, as we've studied and we've mentioned
many times, this word Lord is Jehovah, and there is great significance
to this. This is the only place, in the
scripture is the only place that we find this name. Almost all
of the other names for God have been applied to false deities.
even to angels. But this name, this is significant
because this is the Savior God. This is the Lord our salvation. This is Jehovah. He is the great
I am. He is the one that appeared unto
Moses at the burning bush. The Lord Jehovah. I'd like to
read two or three verses here in the Old Testament with regard
to this name. So would you turn with me back
to the Psalms? Psalm 83, Psalm 83. We find in Psalm 83 in verse
18 these wonderful words about Jehovah. Now most of the time
we find this name and it's mentioned some, I believe, 6,000 times
in the Old Testament, many, many times. But most of the time it
is capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. But once in a while,
our translators gave us that name. And here it is in verse
18, that men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah,
art the most high over all the earth. What is significance about
this name Jehovah? And when God reveals himself
to his people, they know through the scriptures, and through the
preaching of the scriptures, and through the reading of the
scriptures, that Jehovah is the most high over all the earth.
There is no other God beside him. He is the Savior God. He is the God that saves his
people from their sins. I was told one time as I was
listening to a message, that Jehovah in the Old Testament
is Christ in the New Testament. Underline it. The Savior God. And then would you turn with
me to the book of Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. We have this name mentioned again.
In Isaiah chapter 12 and verse 2. Isaiah chapter 12 and verse
2. It says here, behold God is my
salvation. That's another name for God.
We're introduced to him in Genesis chapter one. Very significant
name because he's a very significant being, able to create things
out of absolutely nothing. He calls them together. And it
says there in Isaiah chapter 12 and verse 2, behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become
my salvation. Now, until we're born again,
we don't realize that he's always had his hand on us. Fear not
to entertain strangers, for people have entertained angels unawares,
and we find that messengers unawares, and we find that there's airs
of of promise, heirs of salvation that we find in the book of Hebrews
there. Heirs of salvation, they don't
realize it at the moment. He's always God, He's always
Jehovah, He's always the Savior. And when He saves us and brings
us into an acquaintance with the Lord God Almighty, we find
out He's become my salvation. He's always had us as the apple
of His eye. But in that day, He becomes our
salvation. We are acquainted with that very
glorious thing. He has become my salvation. It
just about drives me against the wall when I hear people say,
I got saved. I like to hear, He has become
my salvation. I ain't got nothing. I wouldn't
have anything if it hadn't been for Him. Well, Isaiah 26 again,
would you look there with me as we look at this Jehovah, this
great Savior, the God our salvation. Self-existent one the the God
of gods the King of kings and Lord of lords Isaiah chapter
26 and verse 4 the scripture says trust ye in the Lord forever
For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength now notice in that one
verse Jehovah is mentioned three times One time is spelled out
the other two times is capital L capital all of Capital R, capital
D, that's Jehovah. So we say trust in Jehovah forever. For Jehovah, Jehovah is everlasting
strength. What a glorious thing we have. He is our everlasting strength. He is the one that infuses strength
in his people to persevere. We don't have the ability of
climbing the mountain, but he gives us that strength in himself.
And then, in Jeremiah, turn with me to the book of Jeremiah. Next
book over, Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse
6. We don't have the word Jehovah
here, but we have a great big, probably your Bible has the same
or similar, great big capital letters. It says here, in his
days Judah shall be saved. Again, a mention of the church.
In the right day, when it's the right time, at the appointed
time, when it please God, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall
dwell safely. Another term. And this is the
name whereby he shall be called the Jehovah our righteousness. That's the only place of righteousness.
The only place we have a right standing with God. The only place
we have imputed righteousness, it's impossible for us by the
law to have righteousness. For if that were possible, Jesus
Christ died in vain. But he knowing full well what
we didn't know, and he gives to us in salvation, is there
is no ability in ourselves to provide our righteousness. So
he is the Lord our righteousness. And then one more time, over
in the book of Jonah. Would you travel with me over
to the book of Jonah? Jehovah is not mentioned by that
word, but by the term capital L, capital O. capital R, capital
D. But notice as Jonah makes this
confession, Jonah 1, and there in verse 9, he is talking to
a bunch of sailors. He has paid for a ticket, not
to go to Nineveh, but to Tarshish. And there's a great trouble storm
comes along. We know the account, the story,
and It's the truth, by the way. It's not just a story, it's the
truth. And it says here in verse nine, and he said unto them,
they asked the question, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause
this evil is upon us. Verse eight, what is thine occupation,
and whence comest thou, and what is thy country, and what people
art thou? Boy, they asked a lot of questions
in a very short time. And he said unto them, I am an
Hebrew. I fear Jehovah the God of heaven
which hath made the sea and the dry land and everything else
too I fear Jehovah I fear the Lord which hath made the sea
and the dry land I fear the Lord the God of heaven so he reverences
he respects and you know people talk about going off away from
the Lord for so long. I'll tell you what, he's going
to bring a storm and we're going to have to admit he's the Lord
God of heaven and he will not leave us where we are. He will
bring us out. He will not lose any of his children. Well, as we go back to the book
of Zechariah chapter 2, we find in that passage of scripture
Chapter 2 and verse 12, it says, the Lord shall inherit Judah. The Lord shall inherit Judah,
his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. The Lord, Jehovah is going to
do this. That Jehovah that we read about, the Jehovah that
we find out about through the scriptures. The first chapter
in the Bible where Jehovah is mentioned is chapter two. And
in that chapter we find the revelation of how God did things as it's
mentioned in chapter one. In chapter one he said he created
man. In chapter two, he said he created
man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. The Lord God did that. Jehovah God did
that. So he's the one that reveals us, to us, the activities of
God. And that's what we find out about
Christ. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We see the great scheme of salvation, the great scheme of redemption,
played out in the person of Jesus Christ. He is our Savior. He is Jehovah. So it tells us
there, the Lord shall inherit, the Lord shall inherit. This
God of Abraham, this God Jehovah, is what Jesus brings up in the
book of John when he said, Abraham, your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and saw it. Then they accuse him of only
being less than 50 years old and how could that happen? Well,
the Lord Jesus is mentioning, I am that I am. Appreciated the
lesson on Sunday that was brought about the I am. It brings such
poignant truth brought to us as Abraham. looked forward to
my day and he saw it. How did that happen? God revealed
it to him. The God of glory appeared unto
him in that pagan land. And we can just say that as Dufur
or that's the Dalles, that's anywhere. It's a pagan land without
Christ. The Lord shall inherit Judah,
and that's just another name for the church. That's his inheritance. He is going to inherit, and he
will call out people from every nation, kindred, people, and
tongue. He mentions that over the Book of Revelation. I use
that passage many times because it really shares where he's going
to be active, not just here, but everywhere that his lost
sheep are, he will be active in every one of those places.
Someone will be sent there. to preach the gospel. Somehow
they will hear the gospel. I don't understand all that I
know. I read a story one time in a book and it was similar
to the sovereignty of God. There was a Buddhist temple and
they were cleaning it out and someone many years ago had given
a Bible and they just put it in there with the rest of the
scrolls. They brought it out and started reading and this
one Buddhist priest began to read that and says, ''Is there
anybody here that believes this?'' Someone says, ''There's a guy
over here that's preaching this out of this book. Go get him.''
Well, the Lord used all of that affair to save that man, one
man. how he prepared to have the Bible
put in there. And we find that several times
in the Old Testament where the scroll of the word of God had
been hidden and brought out and they read it openly and people
wept as God used that word to bring them to a knowledge of
God. So the Lord shall inherit Judah.
Judah stands for the whole church of Jesus made up of folks from
every tribe and people. every tribe and people and to
inherit is to claim, to recover, to possess, to delight in as
a man delights in his parental inheritance. Turn with me if
you would to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32. The gospel is in
the Old Testament. How do I know that? Because that's
all the apostles had to preach. Deuteronomy chapter Deuteronomy
chapter 32 and in verse 9 For the Lord's portion is his
people His inheritance is his people Deuteronomy chapter 32
and verse 9 and The Lord's portion is his people. This is in the
Old Testament. This is in the book of Deuteronomy.
This is in the books of the law by Moses. And remember what the
Lord said about Moses? He wrote of me. If you'd believe
Moses, you'd know who I am. Well, that's a clear cut declaration
they didn't know God. For the Lord's portion is his
people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Now when we get right down to
it, the inheritance from the outside doesn't look like much.
I remember that passage of scripture, and I wish I could remember.
It's one of the minor prophets that's really great, but the
shepherd got a piece of ear and a piece of leg. Another place
we find he got the ring-streaked and speckled ones. Well, that's
just another statement about the Lord loves the halt and the
blind and the maimed. He loves sinners. He loves sinners. He came to seek and to save that
which is lost. He came to save sinners. He come
to eat with sinners. He came to sit with sinners.
He come to teach sinners. That's what he does. And here
we find The Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot
of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land. That's where he found me, religious
desert land. I remember the first time I was
asked to speak after the Lord saved me. I stood up in front
of in a gospel mission and told the folks, everyone there's an
alcoholic or a drug addict. I said, I'm a religaholic. That's
what the Lord saved, was a religioholic, self-righteous to the core. He found him in a desert place,
in a waste howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed
him and kept him as the apple of his eye. We've read this before
as we've gone through the book of Zechariah. because it just
continually comes to our presence. This is where the Lord finds
us. He has found his portion. He has found his inheritance.
He has found what belongs to him. Turn with me to the book
of Ephesians. Travel clear to the New Testament
in the book of Ephesians. And we read over here in the
book of Ephesians, this glorious book of Ephesians that shares so much
about God and His work. And I have to say again, we can't
claim chapter 2 unless we know chapter 1. Chapter 2 has no significance
for us if we don't know chapter 1. That's about God. We need
to know about God before we can understand anything about His
grace and mercy and eternal purpose. So here in Ephesians chapter
1 verse 16, That's not the one I wanted,
so maybe let's go over to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Verse 9. First Peter chapter 2 and verse
9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him
who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Which
in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. This is a quote from over in
the Old Testament. about national Israel being a
type and a shadow and a picture, but the reality is the church. And this is what God has made. He has made the church. In that
passage, you are a chosen generation. This is God's activity with people
before the foundation of the world. He had a promise to deal
with people, his people, before the foundation of the world.
His people whose names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
His people that were given to him by the Father. He has a purpose
in dealing with them, and in so dealing with them, he has
given them every spiritual blessing, and that is, you're a chosen
generation. I have marked you off. You belong
to me. You're mine. And that's the kind
of inheritance that we find the church is. And then his portion,
over there in the book of Zechariah chapter 2, he uses that term,
the Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion in the Holy Land,
and shall choose Jerusalem. There is a portion. In the book of Numbers, join
me in the book of Numbers if you would. Numbers chapter 18. Numbers chapter 18 and verse 20. Now the Lord's
going to speak unto Aaron and he's going to give him some statements
here. He's going to give him some instructions
here that are truly a blessing to the church. Now as Aaron pictures
the church, the Levites picture the church. They're a holy nation,
a peculiar people. They've been set aside. Did you
know they did inherit one acre of that land. All the rest of
the tribes inherited property, but this tribe inherited nothing.
They were given some cities and the areas around the cities,
but they did not have a particular inheritance. The church's inheritance,
as Abraham brings out, he searched for a city whose builder and
maker was God. Now he traveled around and he
settled down and he lived here and got his meat and cheese and
all the food that he needed, but his real interest was not
here, it was the city of the living God, Jerusalem. The holy
city, Jerusalem, and that is the church. And it's brought
out here in the book of Numbers chapter 18, and there in verse
20, the scriptures share this. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt
thou have any part among them. Can you imagine? You're not going
to have anything here. We've got all of this acreage
here. known as Palestine, as they brought across the Jordan
River, it was those Levites and Aaron that crossed over, and
the river opened up and let them go through on dry land. They
entered into the promised land that had been given to them through
Abraham, that they would dwell there, a picture, a type, and
a shadow of what God has for his people, and he tells Levi,
He tells Aaron of the tribe of Levi, you're not, you don't have
anything here. Well, what's left then? Well,
look at the rest of the verse. Numbers chapter 18 and verse
20. I thy part. I am thy part and thy inheritance
among the children of Israel. Boy, a thousand acres. can't
hold a candle to the inheritance that's mentioned here to God's
priests. And he tells us in the book of
Revelation that he has made us king priests or kings and priests
of the most high God. Our inheritance is not a piece
of property. Our inheritance is Christ. We
are his portion. Our portion is Christ. What does
it say there? I am thy part and thine inheritance
among the children of Israel. No greater inheritance was given
that day than the inheritance that Aaron got to hear about. And when we look at that from
a spiritual context, there's no greater inheritance given
than Jesus Christ the righteous. He is significant inheritance. He told Abraham, I am thy exceeding
great reward. I am. The book of Lamentations,
it's right after the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, then Lamentations. Jeremiah laments, and as I've
gone through that prayer of Ezra, It kind of reminds me of the
book of Lamentations, because Ezra laments the problem. He puts himself right in that.
But here in the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah laments the issues of
Jerusalem, of Judah, of Israel. And here in the book of Lamentations
chapter 3, Lamentations chapter 3, Now we've mentioned in the
past that this passage of scripture is the theme of a song that we
sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness. It's found right here. It's pulled
right out of a verse of scripture here in Lamentations chapter
3. It says there in verse 22, it
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Does that
remind us of Malachi? It is the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And that means he could swear
by no greater. He swore by himself. I promise
by my own. And then, verse 24. The Lord is my portion, said
my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. Wonderful. In the dire straits
that Jeremiah is in with looking at the people around him, and
he just is led by the Holy Spirit to write, and yet I can't help
but believe that he didn't believe it in his heart too. The Lord
is my portion. My portion. Saith my soul, therefore will
I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. What instructions we have there.
Speaking to a fellow today, he's really wanting to be involved
in the salvation of people. That's just natural religion,
want to help God a little bit. Well, we find in the scriptures
just like this, quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord,
and he's my portion. He'll do his part. And then,
back up just a little bit to the Song of Solomon. The Song
of Solomon, chapter four. There's one thing about a portion. Part of the meaning means to
his enclosed part. divided from the rest of the
world by a wonderful separation. Do you realize how blessed people
are to be divided apart from the rest of the world? Not only
for spiritual blessings, but when that time comes, when we
stand before Him, to be divided from the world by the grace of
God, to be privileged to stand on the right-hand side, to hear
Him say, welcome, To the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world, to be separated, to be called out, to be marked
off. As we find here in the Song of
Solomon chapter 4 and verse 12. Song of Solomon chapter 4 and
verse 12, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. He's again
speaking about the church there. A spring shut up, a fountain
sealed, how blessed it is. to have these metaphors spoken
about the church. Boy, nobody wants their water
system to be walked in by critters. Here it says, a
spring shut up, a fountain sealed. That's all it means. I'm keeping
all the trash out. You're my sealed up portion. You're my guarded portion. I'm
going to keep all the garbage out. I'm protecting you. I protected you with my life
on the cross. I put my life in your place. I became sin for you. Sin was
imputed to me. Your sin was imputed to me. I
make a division here. I did not pray for the world,
but I prayed for you. I did not die for the world,
but I died for the sheep. He made a distinction. And here
in the end, he says, a garden enclosed. The rabbits are not
coming in. And it's tall enough not to leave
the deer or elk come in. It's protected. And so that's
the church. Though we may not be able to
see all that we have in Christ Jesus, we still have it. We may
not be able to feel it, but we still have it. We may not be
able to understand it, but God be praised, we still have it. Everything is given to the church. Every spiritual blessing and
every protection. And nobody or nothing, not even
demons of hell, can bring a charge against the elect of God, for
it is God that justifies. Going for just a moment back
to the book of Zechariah chapter two, we find in those closing
statements, the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy
land and shall choose Jerusalem again. We lost in Adam, but God
has always had in his heart and in his mind, the people that
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Then it says, verse 13, and be silent of all flesh before the
Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. When
the Lord saves his people, he allows us to see him. He was hidden from us. Even now,
it's through a glass darkly, but we get to see Him. We get
to see Him in Scripture, whereas before, He was just hidden from
us. Never get to hold of Him. Never get to see Him. Never hear
him, never see him, never feel him until we're born again and
then we get all of those active spiritual senses given to us. I give you sight, I give you
hearing, I give you a mind, I give you taste, I give you hands,
I give you feet, I give you all of those wonderful senses that
allow you to sense and know spiritual blessings. What grace is God? And then we'll go in chapter
three next time, Lord willing, and we'll look at Joshua the
high priest, and he got a change of clothes. Because the originals
were full of sin, a change of clothes. All right, we'll stop
here, and Lord willing, the next time we'll look at this passage
again.