Zechariah chapter 2, and I'd
like to read verses 10 through 13 and spend the bulk of our
time tonight on verse 11. Verse 10, Zechariah chapter 2,
sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion. For lo, I come, and
I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many
nations shall be joined 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 thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah
his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he is raised up
out of his holy habitation. Well, we looked a little bit
last week at that verse 10, and to sing and rejoice, O daughter
of Zion, for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith
the Lord. And a verse of scripture came
to mind that says, how can two walk together except they be
agreed? Now God's not gonna change to us, but he will change us
to him. That's the important thing. He
doesn't ask us to change him. He is unchangeable. He does not
change. And for every believer, that
is good news. That is good news that God does
not change. I am God, I change not, therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. I have made a promise to preserve
you to the end. I will keep my promise. And what
he brings up there is though we sin, and we sin on a continual
basis, that's not going to change the relationship that God has
with his children. He has chosen them, he has had
his son lay down his life a ransom for them, and they are eternally
his, and he will present them spotless at that day. Well, in
verse 11, and many nations shall be joined 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 hath sent
me unto thee. many nations. Now that word has
been translated a number of ways in the scripture. One of the
ways that it's been translated has been Gentiles. Because this
is generally looked at or viewed as anybody that was not a Jew. Gentiles. Nations. And the first time that this
is used is found in Genesis chapter 10. Would you turn there with
me to Genesis chapter 10. Keep in your place back here
in Zachariah. But over in Genesis chapter 10, we find that the
Lord uses this word, and he uses the word Gentiles. He calls it
the Isles of the Gentiles, because after that great fiasco at the
Tower of Babel, when people were all one language, you ever want
to know where Spanish came from? Ever want to know where Latin
came from? Ever want to know where Hebrew came from, go back
to the Tower of Babel. And at one time, everybody in
the world spoke the same language. And at the Tower of Babel, God
confused the languages and they spread apart to the language
that they could speak. And that's why we have the languages.
Now I'm sure over time, as almost everything, there has been change
in language. English wasn't a language at
that time. It's been a derivation of a lot
of languages thrown together. But the major languages were
brought out at that time. And here in Genesis chapter 10
and verses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, now these are the generations
of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And unto them were
born sons after the flood. And then in verse 5, by these
were the aisles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, everyone
after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. And
we have the word Gentiles there. First time that this word was
translated Gentile. Many times it's just translated
peoples, or as we found over here, nations. And in the book
of the Psalms, Psalm 2 and verse 1, it says, why doth the heathen
rage? And that's a prophetic statement
that's brought out. Why does the heathen rage? They're raging
against God. That's the natural inclination
of man is to rage against God. But that word heathen there is
that word Gentile or the nations. So it's a common word used throughout
the scriptures to identify, usually, everybody that was not a Jew. And there we are, right in the
middle of it. Well, we find through the book
of Isaiah, prominently, Jeremiah, that God spoke that the Gentiles
were gonna be blessed. And we find that there in the
book of Galatians, it says that through Abraham, all the nations
of the world would be blessed because he was going to be used
to bring the Christ into the world. The gospel was preached
to him just like it was preached to us. And the gospel is Christ
Jesus the Lord. So all of these other nations. Now the interesting thing here
in the book of Zechariah, as Zechariah is speaking to a group
of people that have returned from Babylon, he's sharing with
them that many nations shall be joined to the Lord. Most of
the Jews rebelled against that because they believed that they
were the only folks that God was ever going to deal with.
And yet we find here that Zechariah, several hundred years before
the Lord ever came, said many nations, Gentile nations, are
going to be brought into this. We find Isaiah uses the word
nations and Ezekiel from God's going to call out a people from
among the heathen. Well, heathen doesn't necessarily
mean that they're backwards, but it's just that they're out
there in other parts of the world. Those folks down in New Guinea
were called heathen by many people. And we find out there's a whole
bunch of folks down there that know the same Christ and believe
the same gospel we do. So they may be in a Gentile land
just like we are, and they believe the gospel because it was taken
to them and God had appointed that to be. Well, going back
over here in the book of Zechariah, it says that these many nations
shall be joined. Now that's an interesting word.
That means to be twined, shall be joined, shall be grafted
in. Many nations shall be joined.
There was a dear lady in the scripture that, unbeknownst to
her future husband, she was snuck into a tent. And he found out
he'd married Leah instead of the one he loved. Because the
father says, I can't let my older daughter not be married before
my younger daughter. So he snuck her into the tent.
That husband didn't care as much for her as he did the one he
loved. And in the book of Genesis chapter
29, Leah makes this statement, and she uses the same word that
we find in this verse of scripture. She says after she gives birth
to Levi, she says, now this time will my husband be joined to
me. She's looking for favor from
her husband. my husband will be joined to
me." Well, in reality, we find that a husband and wife are joined
together. I used to, in religion, use the
term holy matrimony. Well, you know where that came
from? That was a sacrament. It's not
a sacrament. Marriage is not a sacrament.
You're not going to get salvation from the sacrament, that sacrament
or any other sacrament. But it is a relationship that
God puts a man and a woman together in marriage and they are twined
together. That's just what Adam said about
Eve. They were twined together. And
the Lord uses this term about his relationship with these folks
that are coming in from the nations, joining the people that are already
in Jerusalem and in Judah, these Jews. Now it's plain through
the scriptures that not all Jews are Jews, because only a true
Jew is one who believes, The Lord Jesus Christ is all their
salvation and all their hope and nothing else will bring that. That's a true Jew. That's the
children of Abraham by faith. That's where we get real salvation
is when God brings us to the point that we trust him completely
His blood and His righteousness completely for all our salvation. And don't go looking at our works,
and don't go looking at our readings, and don't go looking at the need. We just have to go to church
because that means I have something to pay to do. I look forward
going. I don't have to go. I look forward
to going. And that's a big difference between
religion and Christianity. I want to go. It's a blessing
to go. But if I don't go, I'm not going
to lose my salvation. Know what I mean? All right.
All right. This word properly to twine,
to unite, is also used in the scripture or translated in the
scripture is to borrow or to loan. Now that is because there
is an obligation. Brother, I'd like to borrow $100
and I promise to pay it back. I've made an obligation. I've
entwined myself. And that's what the Lord says
with regard to his people. We are joined together. Now this joining is a very special
joining. It's not borrowing and it's not
lending. It is him in us, the hope of
glory. It is salvation by Christ Jesus
and Christ Jesus alone. To the Lord, this operation of
many nations being joined is always of the Lord. Nature gives
various senses. I really appreciate the sense
of sight. You know, I was thinking the
other day, what would I prefer to have the sense of sight or
the sense of hearing? And right now, I'd rather have
my sight. Now, I'm glad I have both. And it's wonderful. One
of the things that I find is the result of this coven is that
you lose your ability to taste. I don't want that because I like
tasting. I really do. We have the ability
of feeling. We have a number of senses. I
think there's five senses. God gives everyone that is ever
born most of those. Now, we know that once in a while,
God has chosen in his good providence to have people born blind, or
they can't hear, or there's other things. They'll never learn to
talk. I'm not responsible for that. And I'm not blaming anybody
for it. I'm just saying God has chosen
that to happen from time to time. He gives us those things. But
by nature, nobody that God ever joins with has a sense towards
God. We never have a sense towards
God. In fact, it's the opposite. We're
like that proverbial magnet. You just can't put a positive
and a positive together. They repel each other. Only God
can turn us around and make that joining. And in a rare earth
magnet, when two of those get together, it's virtually impossible
to get them apart. It's tough. Well, we find this
joining. Apart from Christ, those of the
nations are all on a voyage of woe. And that voyage of woe ends up
in that day when the Lord himself says to all those on the left-hand
side, accursed. And what Jesus Christ was able
to do once for all time, in a short period of time, natural man will
never be able to do through eternity. I read a book while I was gone
or part of a book. I guess so that I like to read parts of
books. I want to read what I want to
read. I went and took a speed reading class one time and the
teacher laid out a very good thing and I've just followed
it. Don't make the book your master. You're the master, read
what you want. I read in there that in the book
of Leviticus, under that rule for the birth of a son or the
birth of a daughter, what had to happen, it says when a child
is born, there's an eternal child born. I've never thought of that. You know it, but eternal in the
heavens or eternal under the curse. Solemn thought. No wonder it
was such a serious thing there in the book of Leviticus that
was brought out. If Christ looks on with love,
how blessed that joining is. The Lord is in charge of this
joining. It was brought out tonight. It's
something I hadn't thought about for some time and that was a
lot. When it came time to deliver him, they took him out of the
city. And we're thankful that he takes
us out of where we were. He takes us out from among the
Gentiles. He takes us out of a horrible
pit. And if it wasn't for that, we'd
just stay where we are. So he took them out. He takes
us out. And all this comes in that day. Now, I looked at that
term in that day. In that day. It's used here in
this verse of scripture. Shall be joined to the Lord in
that day. Now there's a passage we've read
a number of times recently found over in the book of Luke chapter
19. Would you turn there? Keep your finger here in Zachariah.
In Luke chapter 19 and verse 5. Luke chapter 19 and verse
5. In Luke chapter 19 and verse
5, here we have the Lord Jesus dealing with a publican. sinner and we mentioned suddenly
being a sinner is a good thing because that's who Jesus Christ
died for being a sinner is a good thing because that's who he eats
with that's who he shares his meal himself with is with sinners
in verse 5 of Luke chapter 19 Once again, we come back to Zacchaeus,
and it says, when Jesus came to the place and looked up and
saw him, he said unto him, and I am just thrilled that he uses
his name. Because we know the Lord calls
his people, and here he illustrates that so well. Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide. Now, it struck
me again as I was preparing for this lesson. Those words in this
passage of scripture, I must abide. Well, there's been a quality
about Zacchaeus that the Lord has changed in order for the
Lord to abide with him. He had very little interaction
from a physical standpoint of going to the homes of the Pharisees,
because they wouldn't have him. But it was these sinners And
he didn't ask Zacchaeus to invite him to his house. He said, Zacchaeus,
I must abide at your house. And you know what? Zacchaeus
was glad. Zacchaeus was glad because this
is someone very important to me now. This is my savior now.
This is the one who brought me out of a place that I was in
to a place that I needed to be and couldn't get there. He brought
me out of a horrible pit. He brought me out of the nations.
He brought me and he's a son of Abraham, he's a child of Abraham,
which is a picture of the election of God, the election of grace,
the names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. They're
identified as children of Abraham. They may not be physically, but
oh, to be one spiritually. He's just a picture of, well,
we read over there about Abraham's bosom. That man was taken to
Abraham's bosom. Lazarus was taken to Abraham's
bosom. A picture of where God's people are. Why? Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now God called
him out of Ur of the Chaldees. He says, I must go and abide
at your house today. So he did that. And so abiding
with the Lord is a special blessing that we will only follow through
on when he says, I must go to your house. Because we will not
allow him in. He makes himself welcome, and
then we welcome him. Well, over here, In Zechariah
chapter two and verse 11, it says, they joined to the Lord
in that day. Now, I'm only going to the book
of Isaiah because this term or phrase is used many times in
the Old Testament. But I'm only going to go to the
book of Isaiah and look up a few places where this phrase is used
in that day. And I want us to see what great
things happen in that day. Now, it's not a future day. if
you know the Lord. It was the day that He revealed
Himself to you. It's not prophetic, except for
those who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel. There's
a day coming when they will all be acquainted with Him. But when
the Lord saves His people, it's that day. He has a day appointed,
just as sure as the day we were born physically, he has a declaration
when we will be born spiritually. And he's going to fulfill his
responsibility in making sure that that comes out. I have a
daughter, had a son born because it was going to be convenient
for the doctor. He was going on vacation. So he had to plan
ahead and have that baby delivered on a day he'd be there. Well,
God's not going on vacation. He's going to take care of his
business whenever he's pleased to take care of his business.
And to God's people, it's that day. So let's look at the book
of Isaiah. Keep your finger here. We're
going to be back. But in the book of Isaiah, And
turn with me to Isaiah chapter two, if you would. Isaiah chapter
two, as we think about the gospel day, the day that God reveals
himself to us, when we are made to know something. Like I said,
we're given senses by God in creation. We're given sight and
we're given hearing and we're given feeling and We're giving
speech and we're giving those things and we're thankful for
that. But those will not see us into
eternity on a positive note. Those will only allow us to see
negative. So God must deal with us in a
new way, and when he does, he reveals some things about himself
to us. And it's in that day, he allows
us to know. Now, we're not gonna come into
that day with all of these things, but when they're brought up,
we're gonna say, that's right. That's the truth. When they're
brought up to our attention. All right, Isaiah chapter two,
verse 11. Isaiah chapter two and verse
11. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness
of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. What a statement. You know, I
look over there in the book of Ezra, and there was some haughty
men that had never bowed down. We meet them. I was one. And still a recovering Pharisee. But oh, the Lord broke me, if
you please. He made me to understand that
I was a sinner. No questions. No blaming someone
else. No trying to put it somewhere
else. That's Adam's fault. Take it up with him. So it says
here, in that day, Isaiah chapter 2 and verse 11, in that day,
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And when God saves
His people, they recognize that He is God, that He is the Lord. Now in that same chapter, Down
in verse 17, and the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day. He's going to be exalted as our
Savior. He's going to be exalted as our
King. He's going to be exalted as our
Master. He's going to be exalted as the
giver of the Word of God. This is God's Word. How dare
I questioned it before? We often say, I don't understand
it, but I don't question it as the word of God. It is God's
word. And I appreciate that he cared
enough for the church to leave us this word. And we spend our
lives going through it privately and in congregation as this.
And we continuously are given insights of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, look with me in the fourth
chapter of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter four. It says in verse one, in that
day seven women, religion, they say in that day,
I don't want your bread and I don't want your garments, but I do
want your name. But look verse two. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious. You know, to God's
people in that day, in the day of our salvation and through
the rest of our lives, we are shown more and more the branch
of the Lord to be beautiful. By nature, there was nothing
in him that we should want him. And then, as Solomon presents
in the Song of Solomon. He is altogether lovely. We haven't got to the end of
the loveliness of our Savior. We haven't got to the end of
His love. We haven't got to the end of
His mercy. We haven't got to the end of His grace. We haven't
got to the end of the hope that He gives us. We haven't got to
the end of any of it. We have not seen Him completely. Even in this life, we see Him
through a glass darkly. but then face to face. In that
day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and
the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them
that are escaped of Israel. What's the fruit? The fruit of
the spirit, the fruit of glorious grace of God. All of these things
are glorious fruits. What before we shunned, You know,
it's just hard. Mike brought up that thought
the other day about shibboleth and sibboleth. You know, they
just couldn't say shibboleth. It came out sibboleth. And to religious people, they
just can't say grace. It's always gorks. Little g with
w-o-r-k-s. It just can't get past that.
Well, the fruit of seeing Christ is to say grace and grace alone. Nothing else, nothing added.
Well, you gotta, no, you don't have to have anything else. Well,
you gotta be, no, no, it's nothing else, grace alone. And that's
glorious, and in that day, he shares that, and over our lifetime,
we're permitted to learn more and more about that. Turn with
me to the book of Isaiah chapter 10. In that day, that glorious
day, when God permits us to hear the gospel. That glorious day,
when He reveals Christ to us. That glorious day, in that day. My day is different than your
day. But oh, the revelation, to see Christ. Here in Isaiah
chapter 10 and verse 20. Isaiah chapter 10 and verse 20,
it says, and it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant
of Israel, and as such are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall
no more again stay upon him that smote them." We'll not be attached
to him that smote us. We'll be taken from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son. Him that no more
stay upon Him, will not stay in the family, but shall stay
upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel in truth. We shall stay
upon Him. We'll be attached to Him. We'll be visited by Him. He will be that. We'll be joined to Him in that
day. Oh, to have that place where
we were We were smote. Boy, every one of us were smote
in Adam. And it was serious. But to have
that day come when we're taken from that smiter and placed into
the very relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And again,
in verse 21, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob
unto the mighty God. Oh, to find out that he never
lost track of us to begin with. He had his eye on us wherever
we were, whatever place, whatever nationality, whatever language,
wherever our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents moved, where
we moved to try to get away. I'll go somewhere else and I'll
feel better there. Well, it doesn't happen because he's the one that
is the only one that can give us that sweet peace. In chapter
12, chapter 12, of the book of Isaiah, chapter
12 and verses one and two. And in that day, thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. What a change comes over a person
that's been regenerated. I will praise thee. As before, I had a lot of conversation
about the things I was doing. And now I'll praise thee. I will
praise thee. Thou wast angry with me. Thine
angers turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is
my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. What? In that day. What a glorious
day God gives to his people. A day when He becomes our salvation,
when we know it. Now He's always been the Savior,
and He's always been the Savior of His people. He's always had
love for His people. But to have that revealed to
a person, to have that revealed to a son of Adam, To have that
revealed to someone who has been stuck where they've been stuck
and have God lift us out of it and give us those great blessings. Chapter 25, would you move with
me over to chapter 25 of the book of Isaiah? Isaiah 25 and
verse 9. And it shall be said in that
day, Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 9. Isaiah 25 and verse 9, and it
shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God. We have waited
for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited
for him. We will be glad and rejoice in
his salvation in that day. What a glorious thing. This is
the one I've been looking for. Didn't know I was looking. I
remember someone said, He went to a conference, a sovereign
grace conference one time. His comment was, I knew there
had to be something better than what I was in. I just knew it. And he heard grace. He heard
the grace of God preached. And it shall be said in that
day, lo, this is our God. Turn with me to first, excuse
me. Isaiah 26 in verse 1 in that
day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah We have a strong
city Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks How are
we kept? Is it by our efforts, I'm sorry By our prayers no by our good
deeds no I How are we kept in Christ? He is our salvation. And He provides, what does it
say there in verse 1? Walls and bulwarks for our salvation. He is responsible for the keeping. Talk to a lot of people and they
say, well, I've sinned and therefore I'm out of fellowship and I have
to be saved again. No, I'm sorry, you've never been
saved before, if that's the case, the true case. The case is, He
is the Savior. He is the keeper. And He lets
us know in that day, I'm your keeper. I will keep you. And
in verse, chapter 27, Chapter 27 and verse 13. It says, and
it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall
be blown. What's the great trumpet? Well,
over in the book of Leviticus and over in the book of Revelation,
we find that that great trumpet is the gospel trumpet. The gospel
is brought to us by God's grace. We're not going looking for it,
but he does blow it. and they shall come which are
ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts of
the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord. The trumpet shall sound, and
they shall come that are ready to perish out of the nations. No Jew could read this. What are you talking about? Salvation
coming to folks in Assyria and Egypt? Well, that's what it says. That just means wherever they
are in the outcast world, ready to perish in the land of Assyria
and the outcasts of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the
holy mount at Jerusalem. Now we don't go to Jerusalem
to worship. We worship at the feet of Christ. That's our true Jerusalem. That's
where the true temple is, is Christ Jesus the Lord. Let's
look at, time is running out, let's look at chapter 28 and
verse five. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto
the residue of the people. It is then we recognize him as
king. He is the crowned king. He has
the royal diadem. The scriptures teach us that
by nature we will not have this man rule over us. And in salvation
we say, come. Thou art Christ, thou art the
Lord, thou art the King. We worship you, not like we want
to, not like we will, but much better than we've ever done because
of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And chapter 29 and verse 18,
Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 18, the scripture said, and in that
day shall the deaf hear the words of the book. You know, up until
then, I thought I knew some of the words. I had some of the
verses memorized, but I had no concept because Christ was not
the issue. Church was the issue. Whether
you had the right baptism was the issue. All of that phony
stuff. But when Christ saves us, he
is the issue. As it tells us there in 29 verse
18, it says, and in that day shall the deaf hear the words
of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity
and out of darkness. The meek shall increase their
joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the
Holy One of Israel. To God's people, who do we rejoice
in? Christ. Oh, we went to a camp one time,
and the first thing they asked me was, what confession of faith
do you use? They didn't ask, what do you
believe about Christ? What do you know about the gospel? Where
did you hear the gospel? They wanted to know which confession
of faith. And I had to say, I don't know.
I haven't studied them. And finally, in Isaiah 52 and
verse 6. Isaiah 52 and verse 6. Therefore, my people shall know
my name. Therefore, They shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak, behold, it is I. In that day, my people shall
know my name. The Lord Jesus asked the question
of a group one time, says, what think ye of Jesus? Whose son
is he? And that's the question today. What? Thank ye of Christ. As
it brings out in that verse of scripture, it says, Isaiah 52
and verse 6, my people shall know my name. Lord, our righteousness.