We're going to be in the book
of Zechariah chapter 2. And in just a moment, I want
to read verses 5, 6, 7, and 8. But in preparation for that,
and the song we had tonight was a great introduction to our subject
tonight about Zion, city of our God. In introduction to that,
I have to say this, that from eternity, God has purpose to
have a church. He has purpose to have an assembly
of blood-bought children. And we can go into the scriptures
and find that he chose a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And he wrote their names down
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
And all of that because there was a covenant of grace before
the foundation of the world. And from the time that man was
created, and then fell, God has revealed a purpose in the scriptures
of having a church, of having a people that are saved by his
grace, called out of every country, nation, people, and tongue. And
I probably misquoted part of that as it's found in the book
of Revelation, but you know what I mean. Would you turn with me
to the book of Genesis chapter 18? Keep your finger right here.
But we're going to see here in the book of Zechariah that the
prophet Zechariah, the minister Zechariah, he was speaking about
the same group that we find here in the book of Genesis chapter
18. Abraham plays a key part in the Old Testament as we find
that God dealing with humanity. Abraham was a man that lived
in a very pagan place in the world, almost as pagan as the
Dalles, maybe not quite. He had churches on every corner.
They had places of worship all over and they worshiped multiple,
multiple, multiple gods. And God was pleased in his covenant
of grace to save a people that he purposed to save in Christ
to come down one day and appear to Abram in Ur of the Chaldees. And I am so blessed when I read
this account in the book of Acts when Stephen says, the God of
glory appeared unto Abraham. This is a much different God
than Abraham had ever dealt with in the past. He could pick up
his gods in the past. He could look at these clay figurines,
and these are the things that he bowed before, and these are
the things that he trusted with his life. The God of glory appeared
unto him, and it wasn't a figure. It wasn't a figure like he was
holding in his hands. The spirit, God is a spirit,
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth. And here in the book of Genesis
chapter 18, we find this wonderful passage of scripture that God
shares with Abraham. And it has to do with us. And
it also has to do with what we find in the book of Zechariah,
the building of the church, that God came to Abraham and gave
this information. Zechariah, excuse me, Genesis
chapter 18 and verse 18, seeing that Abraham shall surely
become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him. Now, we may not think a lot about
that verse of scripture or that promise that God made to him,
but we find that in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul goes back to
this passage of scripture and says, let me tell you what it
means. Now, there were people in this day and time that understood
what it meant. Abraham was going to learn what it meant. And we
find that the Apostle Paul shares it for the Gentile church. This
is what it meant over in the book of Genesis. So I would like
you to keep your finger in Zechariah and turn with me over to the
book of Galatians chapter three. God has always, always in eternity,
he has purpose to build a church. And he is about that business
right now. He's doing that work right now.
He's always been doing that work. That's his purpose of grace,
is to save a people in his son, the Lord Jesus. So in the book
of Galatians chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3, the apostle Paul is
led to that passage of scripture. Now, just in passing I might
mention that thought is mentioned three times in the book of Genesis
with regard to Abraham. That in him, all the nations
of the earth would be blessed. Three times, and Paul, here in
Galatians chapter three, and there in verse eight. Now I'm
convinced that Saul of Tarsus knew this passage of scripture,
but he didn't know the meaning of it. He's just like anybody
else that would read the word of God that does not have the
spirit of revelation. I wonder what that means. He's
going to have physical blessings. I was reminded in Elk Camp, Tim
reminded me of a pastor that wished he could live next to
a Jew because he would get the blessings flowing off of him. I said, you must be really blessed
then. He says, why is that? I says, you have a Jewish mayor,
Neil Goldschmidt. Well, he didn't think that that
was a very good blessing because he didn't like Neil Goldschmidt.
Well, what's the difference between having a Jew next door or one
in high power? Well, that's not what it's talking
about here. It's not talking about physical
blessings. It's talking about spiritual blessings. Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 8, these words are recorded. And the scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations
be blessed. God shared with Abraham and there
were people that God brought to know free grace in Christ
Jesus that knew that God had always intended to have people
out of these other nations brought into the church, not just Jews. Now, thank God there were Jews. Thank God there were Gentiles.
Thank God there are people from Papua New Guinea. We could call
brother and sister in Christ. Thank God for wherever they are
being saved and have been saved and will be saved because God
has purpose to build his church and not one will be missing. All right, over here now, going
over, and this whole theme is found throughout the scriptures
God intended to have a church. He intended to have a people.
He intended to save a people. He had their names. He had their
names written down. He called them in Christ Jesus.
And in the process of time, the gospel will come to them, just
as we find here in the book of Zechariah. So would you turn
with me to the book of Zechariah? Zechariah chapter 2. Zechariah
chapter 2. Now, we've read And we've done
a little study on all these verses, but verse 5, let's just look
there. It says, 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. So he's talking about the church
here. Now there's some relevance that God was going to be that
with physical Jerusalem. as a type and as a shadow, he
did that. But in reality, he's truly speaking about the church.
And then in verse six, 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. Deliver thyself,
O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon, for thus
saith the Lord of hosts. After the glory hath he sent
me into the nations which spoiled you, for he that touches you
touches the apple of his eye." Now, we'll not get to that point,
but we want to look at that, and that's in the future, as
we study this book. Now, God has already said, I
am going to be a wall of fire around the church, and I'm going
to be the glory to the church. The next verse, verse six, tells
us where these folks are going to come from. He shares with
us how closely these two verses are related, verses five and
verse six. I'm going to be, I'm going to build, I will be the
protection, I will be the wall of fire, I'll be the glory to
it. But now in verse six, we find that God is going to get
these folks from a lot of places. They're out there. In the times
of Abraham, it appears from our vantage point that he's the only
one brought out. I don't know, but that's the
record. And then we find that in his
family, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, These folks, God dealt with in
a very special way in his purpose. They are part of the church. They've been called out. And
they were not called out of Israel. They were not called out of Judah. They were not called out of Benjamin.
They were not called out of any place that we know of that God
was dealing with because he starts the line right here with Abraham. Now, before that, we know there
was Noah. Noah was called out too. Noah,
and had to be someone who knew the gospel down through until
they approached Abraham. Noah is a direct relative to
Abraham. Direct relative. Trace their
line right back to Adam. And when we trace our line right
back to Adam, we're tracing the line of sinners. And we're tracing
the line of people who need salvation. That's the truth. All right,
this word, ho, that's mentioned here, and it's mentioned twice
in verse six. It has to do with alas, or oh,
or whoa, or ah, or let me get your attention. That's what it
is. And the first time that this
is used, this particular word is used, has to do with our kinsman
redeemer. Boaz is a type of the kinsman
redeemer. Now, go back with me to the book
of Ruth, if you would. There in the book of Ruth, we
have a man by the name of Boaz. And he is a kinsman redeemer
of Ruth. Ruth is going to be a Moabitess
in the line of Christ. And it's interesting, when I
get over to the book of Ezra, that that's one of the nations
that those folks were having some problems with. They were
intermarrying with them. Here in the book of Ruth, there
in chapter 4, in the book of Ruth, chapter 4, we have Boaz
going to the gate of the city and sitting down and waiting
because there is a near kinsman. Boaz is a near kinsman. but there's
one that is closer, and his confession sums it all up, I cannot redeem. We can say that's the law, we
can say that's ourself, we can say whatever we want to say that
that man represents, we by ourself cannot, the law could not, nothing
can redeem us. Boaz could though. He had an
interest in it and he could, so chapter four, In verse one,
we find, excuse me, yes, verse one, then went Boaz up to the
gate and sat down there and behold the kinsman of whom Boaz spake
came by unto him and he said, here's that word, ho. such a
one, turn aside, sit down here, and he turned aside and sat down."
Now, we can certainly see in this passage of scripture that
Boaz, like the Lord, has an effectual call to this man. And he comes
and sits down. But he says, Hey, come here,
I want your attention. Come over and sit down and we
have a conversation to have. Well, that's what the Lord is
saying over here in the book of Zechariah chapter two, only
it's twice. He says, ho, ho, come forth,
come forth, and flee from the land of the north. The Lord,
as he speaks these words, it's a word that expresses a call
and a proclamation, and it's doubled in this passage of scripture.
We find that we are so thankful that God has an interest in his
people to build his church that he sends out this call even back
to Babylon. That's the country of the north.
What does it say there? Ho, ho, come forth and flee from
the land of the north. Now, everyone that Zechariah
is writing this to has come from Babylon. There was a group that
came under Cyrus, and about 50 years later, there's a group
that came under Ezra. But the majority of these folks
that were not pagans but were Jewish, they have come from Babylon. Did you know that that's just
a perfect representation of the church? Because everyone that
God ever saves has been called out of Babylon. One of the worst
places that you could ever be when it comes to religion. Babylon,
this is where the Tower of Babel was. This is where, oh, we're
gonna raise ourself up to such a point that we'll be equal with
God. Well, that's just about what
Adam said when he was in the Garden of Eden and said, I will
do what I wanna do and I don't have to do what you want me to
do. And there we are, we're in the spot we're in. Well, God
said out of Babylon, I'm gonna call you out of Babylon. What
a wonderful illustration that God gives us of where he finds
us. He never finds us in a positive
place. After he saves us, we find out
we weren't in a positive place. It might have been in the nicest
place in the world to live. Best sunshine, best rain, best
this, best that, best everything. A fine home that we lived in.
Good food. We didn't have to fight for our
food. But when it comes to our heart, we're in Babylon. We're
in a terrible place. We're in a fallen state. We are
depraved. We're sinners. We're without
help. We're without hope. And we're
without God in the world. And here the call comes. And
it's an effectual call that God sends into Babylon. Now the first
thing he sends is someone who knows something. And we find
there was a group that left under Cyrus. Cyrus says, go back. And
there was a group that left under Ezra. And Ezra illustrates the
point so good when they're just ready to leave. And he says,
we don't have everybody. I just love that passage descriptor.
And he waited until everybody was there and present and ready
to go back. And not one was lost in the wilderness
as they headed towards Jerusalem. How illustrative it is. of Ezra
as our Savior, as our Christ. Here he goes on to say, and flee
from the land of the north, saith the Lord. Flee from the land
of the north, saith the Lord. Now, we don't have the intelligence
to flee from the place we're in. Until we've been reconciled
to God, we've been born again, we've been saved by the grace
of God. The gospel has come to us, someone
brought it to us in a form that they knew something that we didn't
know. And we may have all kinds of
criticism of that person until God saves us. And then we're
thankful that he was interested, that God was interested enough
to send us a Zachariah. or an Isaiah, someone who knew
something about the gospel and was led to preach it there. Do
you understand what you're reading? How can I except some man show
me? Philip got into that and he was
reading the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah. Now, I'm convinced
if God had been pleased, he could have said Zechariah 2. And Philip would have began at
the same place and preached unto him Jesus, because that's what
he's going to do here. We have a church going to be
built, and we do have someone who is going to protect it with
everything. And we have someone who is going
to be the glory of it, because everybody in the church is going
to praise this one Savior. I was reminded again tonight
of the words of that preacher who brought me the gospel when
he just simply said this phrase, Jesus Christ is a savior that
actually saves. That's the first time I'd ever
had that put to me that way. And it put me into, I don't know
what he's saying. A Savior that actually saves. He didn't make me savable. He
actually saves His people from their sins. And when that is
revealed to you, you just are thankful to God that He did that
because we couldn't do it on our own. We realize there were
many that stayed in Babylon after those left with Cyrus, under
Cyrus. Some of them had children and
they left with Ezra. But did you know what? There's
still a bunch of folks left in Babylon that were Jewish extraction,
that were of the tribe of Judah and of the tribe of Benjamin
because that's the only two tribes that were taken to Babylon. Yet they would not come. They
were satisfied with where they were and they could say, my grandfather
was a Baptist. I don't need that. I don't need
to travel that distance. I don't need to go over there.
I don't need to be part of that. And so it is the very same way
today. The call goes out. There are
those that hear it. And they leave. And they go to
Zion. Why? Because that's where Christ
is. Why? Because that's where the gospel
is. Why? Because that's where protection
is. Why? Because that's where He is the
glory of it, and He will not share His glory with anyone.
We never count our own righteousness in the Church of the Living God.
It is always His blood and righteousness. In verse 6 follows the promise
of the rebuilding and enlarging of Jerusalem, the church, and
since God will build it for them and their comfort, they must
come and inhabit for him, and his glory cannot remain in Babylon. The church has been spread abroad
to the four winds. That's what it tells us in Zechariah
chapter 2 and verse 6, for I have spread you abroad. Well, when
did that happen? Well, somehow there's a group
of people that left right after the fall. Right after Abel was killed,
we have a whole group leaving. His name was Cain. Cain left. But you know, after the flood,
we have people spread all over the known world at that time.
And God moved them in that direction. And then there was a time at
Babel. Everybody was of the same language
at that time. Nobody knows what it was, and
it doesn't make a bit of difference. But they got together and said,
let us build this. And it was a ziggurat. It was
a tower. And they were going to go up
and make astrological viewings and get their information from
the stars. You ever heard anybody like that?
Getting their information from the stars when the information,
the true information, is from God. And God came down and gave
everyone a new language. And they went off. And those
who spoke this Latin, they went over there. And those who spoke
that Latin, they went over there. And that's how we got the languages
that we have today. God moved them. The Babylonian
captivity spread a whole bunch of people around. That king of
Babylon took people out of Judah and Benjamin and sent people
back there. And we have the Canaanites out.
Oh, the woman at the well. Samaritan. Yes, the Samaritans.
Half Jew, half Gentile. We can't have any dealings with
that, but aren't you thankful that the Lord Jesus went down
to Babylon, and he must needs go through Samaria, and there
he met a woman whose name was written down in the Lamb's Book
of Life, and her name had been, she had been chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, and he dealt with her
just like she was a Jew, or a Spaniard. The gospel is the same for everyone. The church was quite scattered. Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. God scattered. He has been scattering. And sometimes
it's to get people away from each other and sometimes it's
to get people so that they would do what we're going to read about
here. Acts chapter 8. He scattered. I have scattered
you to the four winds. Now those he scattered that belong
to him, he knows where they are and he's going to bring them
out. Wherever they are could be termed as Babylon. There was
a man by the name of Mephibosheth lived in Lodibar. You know where
that is? That's next to Babylon. It's
the house of no bread. There's no sustenance there. There's no spiritual food there. There's nothing to satisfy there.
And you're there with your broken feet, and you can't walk, and
you're in desperate straits, but you don't know how to do
anything about it. And along comes an emissary who
knows the king and fetches him. Now that's what God does. All
right, here in the book of Acts, chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, verse
1. Acts chapter 8 and verse 1, it
says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. That's Stephens.
And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church,
which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Great scattering. Persecution
caused this. Now drop down, if you would,
to verse 4. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word. Now they're the only ones that
knew anything. They're the only ones that had grace. They're
the only ones that had righteousness in Christ. They're the only ones
that were blood-bought. They're the church. They're the
ones that the wall of fire is about, and yet they're being
scattered out of Jerusalem under great persecution, and they went
everywhere they went. They had something to say about
what they had, and that was they had Zion. They had Mount Zion. They had Christ. They had his
righteousness. They had his glory. That's who they thought of when
they thought about salvation. They thought of Christ. They
thought of his great work of redemption. They thought of how
it went clear back to old eternity and how he fulfilled all the
Old Testament scriptures and came down to the books of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John and fulfilled everything that was ever written
about him and had in his heart and mind from the very beginning.
the cross, where our sins would be imputed to him, and he would
say, and I liked what I heard tonight, it's a rhetorical statement.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He's not questioning,
he's just making announcement. He had been forsaken because
of our sin. So they went with this great
news, the gospel. They went with this great blessing,
the gospel. God has always scattered to the
four winds. He has scattered his people wherever.
It's been a blessing to meet several recently from the Philippines. Someone on Zoom, the Philippines. You know, how the gospel got
there. Or how the gospel got people out of there so they could
hear the gospel. That's a miracle. No more miracle than someone
coming to Central Point, Oregon with the gospel. Or wherever
we were in Babylon when the gospel was brought to us and preached
to us and we found ourselves weighed in the balance and found
wanting. Wanting. Turn with me if you would to
the book of James. James chapter 1. James chapter 1. It's interesting here in this
passage of scripture that James brings up this. James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ. James chapter 1, verse 1. To
the 12 tribes scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren. That's an interesting term, isn't
it? These folks that have been scattered abroad, 12 tribes scattered
abroad. And he says, my brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. What
a statement. And then the very next book,
1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Peter, verse
1. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered abroad throughout. Now, if you had an
old map, you'd find out that most of this is in Asia Minor.
Pontius, Galatia. Isn't Galatia interesting? Because
we have a book written to the Galatians. The apostle preached
the gospel there. Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. One of our cruises, I was visiting
with one of the young ladies that was working on there, and
I said, where are you from? And she says, Cappadocia. I said,
really? I had to do some work. Where is that? It's right here
in the Bible, Cappadocia. Elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Christ, grace unto you, and peace
be multiplied." Now these folks, even though they were scattered
abroad, have a wall of fire around them. And the Lord is the glory
of them. His blood and righteousness is
what they look to for all their salvation and nothing else. This
is all their hope. So going back to the book of
Zechariah there, chapter two, we find that the Lord said, I'm
going to build my church. He says that in the book of Matthew.
But here in the book of Zechariah, he's saying almost the same thing.
I'm going to build my church. I'm going to call out people.
Verse 5, for I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire
round about. Jerusalem, as it says in verse
4. It will be inhabited, towns without walls, for a multitude
of cattle, men and cattle therein. For I, saith the Lord, will be
under her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory
in the midst of her. Ho, ho, stop. Whatever you're
doing, stop. Listen to someone who has the
gospel. Stop. 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." When
you go over to the book of Revelation there, it says, he has by his
blood redeemed us out of And then he lists different ways
of looking at different places and tongues and nations and so
forth. And that's what God is in the
business of doing right now, saving his people out of these
places. And he's the only one that can. Left to ourself, we'll continue
with our religious affiliation. We'll go along, we'll do, or
we'll do like a lot of people are doing today. They're just
leaving religion. As my brother said one time,
there's one thing I know, Norm. Religion, there's nothing to
it. And I said, you're right there. There's nothing to it. But to the church, to the gospel,
to Christ, to his glory, to his protection, there is everything. And the church is depending on
it every day. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. What a blessing we have. And
then it goes on there in the book of Zechariah and says, deliver
thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughters of Babylon.
Now, in retrospect, nobody ever delivered themselves from anywhere. The Lord may have given us enough
intelligence to get on a train to go somewhere that our paths
crossed with someone who knew something, but that's just it.
We're gonna find out, I was moved to do that. I was led to do that. God put it in my heart to do
something that I didn't think was, I was doing it, I was practicing
free will. and find out I was just doing
what God had purposed to do so I could get somewhere where I
could hear something and God could work His work of grace.
What a joy it is to hear Zachariah say, I will call you out of all
these places. I've scattered you. I've done
that, but I will gather you, and I will do that. And then
in verse 8, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, After the glory
hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you. He sent me
unto the, for he that touches you touches the apple of my eye. Now we'll look at this a little
later in another lesson, but that word apple is the same word
as pupil. He that touches you touches the
apple of my eye. I have an interest in you. and
I will find you. All right, we'll stop there for
tonight.