Book of Zechariah, and we're
in chapter two. We're in chapter two. And we're
going to read down through verse five and spend the most of our
time on verses four and five. I was thinking about what Zechariah
is declaring to those in Israel, excuse me, in Judah and Benjamin
that understood something. Now he's declaring it to everybody.
He's not withholding the truth of the gospel from anybody. But
there are some people that looked at him as, I wish you weren't
here. And there were a group of people
who says, we're thankful you're here because you are God's minister
to us. And you have a message. The only hope we have is the
one you're preaching. And Zachariah preached. a messenger of the gospel, a
messenger of the covenant, a messenger of God who was successful, who
is successful. And I was just thinking in my
religious experience, there was always an unsuccessfulness about
God because I really sometimes never knew where I was. And that
was corrected in regeneration. I know that I'm still a sinner. In fact, I'm much worse of a
sinner now than I was in religion. I told a lot of people I was
a better Christian when I was in religion than I am now because
I worked very hard to keep a good face up front before people.
But in Christianity, we are revealed as the Old Testament, the book
of Ezekiel shares with us. After we're regenerated, we truly
find out some of the effects of the fall in us, not other
people. They're the least of our concern.
The concern is now us. And to have a savior that really
saves is such a blessing. And that's who Zachariah is preaching. Now here in the book of Zechariah
chapter 2, I lifted up my eyes again and looked and behold a
man with a measuring line in his hand. And we spent some time
on that. And we're thankful that this
measuring line truly is Christ. He has his people. He has the
length, the width, and the breadth of them. He has the number of
them. He knows us intimately. In fact, just for a sideline,
he added, I know the number of hair on your head. And that's
not just being a foolish statement. That's saying, I know you intimately. I know you as my children. And
I also know those who are not my children. And he declares
that too. So he has a measuring line. And
we don't measure up, but he does. We can't measure up, but he has. He is the measure. And God has
so blessed us in Christ Jesus. He is the He is the fulfillment
of the law bodily. Every jot and tittle of the law
fulfilled in Christ. He is all our righteousness. He truly is the measuring line.
Then said I, whither goest thou? He said to measure Jerusalem,
the church. Now, no doubt there was some
measurements going on physically, But the physical measurements
of Jerusalem at this time have no effect on us at all, had no
effect really upon the people of God at that time. It's a place
to live. It's a picture and a type of
a shadow of a wonderful place called the church, the assembly
of God, the body of Christ. However we want to term that,
all of the sheep gathered together in one place, bowing at the feet
of the Lord Jesus. and I'm going to measure the
breadth thereof and what is the length thereof. Behold, the angel
that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to
meet him. He said unto him, run, speak
to this young man. I'm thankful as we read the scriptures
that that is what is said to us. Go speak to us. Go speak
to the church. Go speak. In the estimation of
God, we're all young folks. We are young folks. The gospel
makes us young. Eternity is ours. There is no
end to the blessings that the Lord has for us. So go tell him.
And it also gives us a little bit of information with regard
to Zechariah. Some commentators say he must
have been fairly young to have this term used about him. But
it doesn't matter how old he was. The message was given to
him. And it says here, run, speak
to this young man saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls for multitude of men and cattle. 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 we want to spend some time
on this passage of scripture here, these first, these verse
four and five, as we see the Lord speaking with regard to
Jerusalem and the safety that he declares he will keep the
church in. You know, we look at it sometimes
in the history of the church, in the history of God's people,
it doesn't look like a very safe time. It wasn't sometimes physically
safe, but they were always safe spiritually. That's the thing
about a savior that actually saves. They're always safe spiritually. They cannot have history rewritten
for them. They are all, everyone that Jesus
Christ redeemed, everyone that he knew before the foundation
of the world, everyone whose names are written down in the
Lamb's Book of Life, are secure in him. And he alters not their
course. He alters not their case. They
always have this blessed a fact about them that they can address
God, our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. We have that blessed. And the
Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. We have these
blessed things said to us as they're recorded throughout the
scriptures. Now, we don't have to go very far in the Bible to
find out the blessings that the Lord has for the church. He's
always had these for the church. He will continue to have them
for the church, and they will be our rich blessings throughout
eternity, every spiritual blessing. In the book of Zechariah alone,
there are a number of verses that share with us that God's
protective care of the church. As we read there in verse four,
I said unto him, run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem
shall be inhabited as Towns without walls. Now, it was not a very
good idea in the days that this was written, in the days of Isaiah
or in the days of Abraham. that you lived in a town that
didn't have a wall around it. Jericho, it says, was shut up. Well, they had a wall about it,
and that's one of the great miracles that God performed for the church
there was to see those walls come down. And we find that writers
have used that as a type and a picture of him taking our walls
of resistance down and folding them up as if we had no defense,
and then coming in his greatness and in his glory and saving those
that were appointed, like we find Rahab, saving those who
are appointed. Back up with me in chapter one
of verse 17, notice this verse of scripture. Cry yet saying,
thus saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 1.17, my cities through
prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet
comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. What a wonderful statement
is found here that Zechariah was to declare to the people.
Now to some of them, it was just a habitation. It was just a place
to live. To some of them, it represented
their position in Christ, their position in the Messiah, their
position in God, that He would take care of all of the necessary
things. Everything that God requires,
everything that God requires, Jesus Christ gives. That's why
we have no want. Because He has provided everything
that we need. He has provided redemption. He has provided sanctification. He has provided righteousness. He has given His blood to redeem
us. Everything that we need. We are
unclean, he is clean, he provides his cleanliness. He is tall,
we're short, he provides his tallness. Everything that we
need, every capacity that we are dire in need of, he is the
fulfillment of it in a spiritual context. We can't see, he's the
great seer and he gives us his sight. This Sunday in the bulletin,
If we have eyes that are nearsighted or farsighted, we can get glasses
to help fix that. But if we're blind, it takes
a miracle. That truly comes to everything that we need spiritually.
We don't have it. It takes a miracle. It takes
God. Also, in the book of Zechariah chapter 8, look here with me.
Zechariah chapter 8, verse 4 and 5. Zechariah was used a number
of times in this book, this letter, this declaration, this message
to those in Jerusalem that were of Judah and Benjamin. Here in
Zechariah chapter 8 verses 4 and 5 says, thus saith the Lord of
hosts, there shall yet There shall yet old men and old women
dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff
in his hand for a very age, and the streets of the city shall
be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Safety
will be enjoyed. It's a retirement home with the
greatest possible blessings, and yet it's also a place for
the young. It covers every aspect of life.
The old, the infirm, they have his righteousness. And the young,
what's it say? They shall play in the streets
thereof. Now, there's some religions that
wouldn't think very highly of us playing in the streets, but
we get to. We get to enjoy the rich blessings
of the Holy God and enjoy it. We get to smile about it. We
get to laugh about it. We get to thank God about it.
It's not dreary, but it's so satisfying to find these things. In chapter 12 and verse 6, chapter
12 and verse 6, It's amazing some of the old Puritans thought
you didn't have any relationship with God unless you were just
beating yourself down. Well, we don't find much of that
in the scriptures. We have the Lord took that for
us. So we have this ability to be thankful to God and allows
us to smile and rejoice in Him. Zechariah chapter 12 and verse
6, in that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth
of fire among the wood and like a torch of fire in the sheath
and they shall devour all the people round about. on the right
hand and on the left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her
own place, even in Jerusalem." What a blessing. He's going to
take care of all the enemies. Every enemy of the church is
going to be taken care of. This is about the church. Now
no doubt it was a blessing to those people who left Babylon
and came to Jerusalem. They came there and it was a
blessing to finally be home and to see that God was taking care
of some of the physical enemies. that had hounded them and brought
great consternation in their lives. But there were some that
understood that this is what God does spiritually. He takes
care of our enemies. He really saves us from our sin. He really saves us from ourself. He really saves us from hell. He really saves us from the grave. All those things that were of
great fear in the natural heart are taken away, and we have great
anticipation and joy in the Lord. In the book of Zechariah chapter
14 and verse 10, 14 verse 10 and 11, it says here, all the
land shall be turned as a plain I appreciate that word plain
when we get over there to the Book of Luke, Chapter 6. He had the Sermon on the Mount,
he had the Sermon on the Plain. And what a comfort it is to be
on the plain, to be even. From Gibeah to Rimath, south
of Jerusalem, and shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place,
from Benjamin's gate into the place of the first gate, into
the corner gate, and from the tower of Hemiel unto the king's
winepresses, and all men shall dwell in it. And there shall
be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely
inhabited." Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. Zion, the city
of our God. Other prophets were brought in
throughout the Old Testament to share with God's people the
security that they have in Christ, the security that they have in
God. It's no wonder that Malachi was used to write that God changes
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. rest in his
immutability. He will not bring this charge
up again. He is not going to be historical
and bring up the past. It is settled. It is settled
at the cross. So this thing is taken care of. But turn with me, if you would,
back to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 33, excuse me,
Isaiah chapter 33 and verse 20. In Isaiah chapter 33 and verse
20, Isaiah, the prophet, is used to share with us some of the
blessings that God is going to pour out on the church, upon
Zion, upon Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem. There is always that
element of physical blessings. But those physical blessings
to national Israel ended in 8070. It's over. And here, Isaiah 33 and verse
20, it says, look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down. Not one of the stakes thereof
shall ever be removed. Do you remember what happened
to the tabernacle in the wilderness? I don't know how long it stayed
in a place, but there were times it moved on and on. They had
certain things that they had to do to stabilize that tabernacle. Well, here this tabernacle will
never be taken down. Notice that this is not one of
the stakes thereof shall ever be removed. The binding part
of the tabernacle, the spiritual blessings of God, that which
holds us to the solid rock, shall never be broken or removed. You
mean I'm stable? Absolutely. Then it goes on,
it says there, neither shall any of the cords there be broken.
It's not enough that the stakes won't be pulled out of the ground,
but all of those cords that were used to stabilize, they're not
going to get old, they're not going to wear out, they're going
to always be. So the Lord has these spiritual blessings that
are eternal. He is the ambassador of the everlasting covenant. That is truly the sum and substance
of the gospel. Jesus Christ is the ambassador,
the mediator of an everlasting covenant that God had an interest
in the people before the foundation of the world. And he is intent
on carrying out every promise to its finality. Even to the
point of saying to that whole host on his right hand, those
sheep on the right hand, welcome to the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. Now we know that those folks
on the right hand are just like Peter when he says, remove yourself
from me for I'm a sinful man. We are there. Those on the left-hand
side, they hadn't done anything wrong. Those on the right-hand
side had never done anything right. And yet they, by the grace
of God, enter in to the kingdom prepared from the foundation
of the world. So this is a wonderful verse of scripture. Not one stake,
the wind can't pull one stake out of the ground or break one
cord. How many stakes are there? Well, we go over there in the
Old Testament, we find out how many held down that tabernacle.
But the true tabernacle, the church of the living God, is
held in place by the very person, Jesus Christ, and he will not
have one broken part. He will not renege on one thing,
one spiritual blessing. He will continuously hold it
to the very end. God that cannot lie. And he gives us his promise of
his unchangeability. All right, and then over, if
you turn with me, to the book of Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44, as we
think about these wonderful blessings of the church, the promise that
Zachariah is shared by, you go tell that young man this. You
run over and tell that young man this. I know he's a little
downcast there. We've called him to do this work,
and he's a young man. But you go tell him this, Jerusalem
shall be inhabited. and nobody will drive the inhabitants
out. Go tell him that. Well, that's
just the same as we hear the gospel today. Jesus Christ has
intended to save his people, he will save his people, and
nobody can take his people away from him. Really? What happens when I sin? Nothing. Except here. There's no change goes on in
the mind of God. We come and say, Lord, forgive
me, for I know not what I do. But to him, it hasn't made an
alteration in his feeling towards the church or any member of the
church, because he has promised that he will deliver us completely
and whole. All right, book of Isaiah chapter
44 and verse 26 says there, That comforteth the word of his
servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers, that saith
to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited. Some would say that he just doesn't
know how many inhabitants he's gonna have in Jerusalem. He does,
he has a name for every one of them, and every one has a place.
And to the cities of Judah ye shall be built, and I will raise
up the decayed places thereof. Boy, if there's ever anything
that was decayed, that's the natural man in his natural state
that Jesus comes along and finds his lost sheep in that condition
and raises them out of the decay. I lift them out of a horrible
pit. I lift them out of decay. Nothing can be possibly good
said about decay. Dentist says, that's not good.
Doctor says, that's not good. We know it's not good. And he
says, I'll lift you out of decay. So the promise he's made to Jerusalem,
to the church, to save the church completely, wholly, and totally.
Not one will be lost. And then in the book of Jeremiah,
would you turn with me to the book of Jeremiah chapter 31?
Jeremiah chapter 31, and there in verse 38 through 40. Jeremiah
chapter 31, verse 38. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the
tower of Hamel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring
line shall yet go forth over against it unto the hill of Gerab,
and shall compass about Goeth. And the whole valley of dead
bodies, and the ashes, and the fields unto the brook Kidron,
and to the corner horse gate, toward the east shall be holy
unto the Lord. It shall not be plucked up nor
torn down for any more forever. The terrible state, and yet it
shall not be torn down. You know, as he talked here about
this measuring, measuring line, there's two things, two things
in scripture that cannot be measured. The heart is deceitful above
all things. Who can know it? We cannot measure
the depths of our own depraved heart. No, for years and years
and years, they couldn't actually discover the depth of Crater
Lake. They tried and tried. Science
came along late. He sent a beam down there, bounced
back up, and said it's 1,943 feet. But you can't do that with a
natural heart. We don't have the ability of measuring the
depth of despair. But the Lord says, I know the
heart. I know the heart. We can't measure. He does. And
we cannot measure the love of God. It's beyond our capacity. And when we talk about the love
of God, we can't measure God. I can't, the width and the depth
and the height and the breadth is how Paul mentioned it in the
Corinthians. We just can't get there from
here. So that measuring line won't measure two things for
us and we're thankful. I'm thankful that God knowing
my heart still laid down his life a ransom. And it wasn't the depth of despair
that caused him to move toward us in any capacity or any good
that he saw in us that caused him to move toward us in any
capacity. It is his free grace. Free unmerited favor of any kind. So we have this place, and it
shall not be plucked up nor thrown down anymore forever. Well, I
wonder what the folks said when Stephen was stoned to death.
They wept, but they also said, he's been promoted. Whatever. What did they think
when they got word that Paul had been killed, martyred? He was ready to be offered. We're
missing to the bone. But he's been promoted. He said,
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Jeremiah, excuse me, turn with
me to the book of Nehemiah. In this verse, Nehemiah chapter
6. verse fifteen. Go back to the
book of Nehemiah. Ezra, Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter six and verse
fifteen. in verse five of the book of
chapter two of the book of Ezra. I got to read that. Zachariah chapter two. Verse 5, it says, for I, saith
the Lord, will be to her a wall or fire round about, and will
be the glory in the midst of her. Now, if we look here in
Nehemiah chapter 6 and verse 15, we find that the wall, the
physical wall, was finished under Nehemiah. So the wall was finished
in twenty and fifth day of the month Elul in the fifty and two
days. The wall was finished. Now there
are people that come along and tell us that this passage of
scripture over here in the book of Zechariah is about the physical
wall and that's what we're looking for. But we're not looking for
a physical wall because it's already built. They have a wall,
or they're going to have a wall. It's irrelevant to have that. So when we get to looking here
in Zechariah chapter 2 and verse 5, it says, for I saith the Lord
will be unto her a wall of fire round about. He's talking about
that there's a city without a wall, physical wall, that has defenses that nobody
can break through. It's much better than having
a physical wall. It's much better than having
a declaration of faith that we're going to stand on, because that's
going to fail and fall. But this wall cannot be broken,
torn down. It's a wall of fire. What is
that? Well, we know it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself is
the protector of the church. He is the knight that protects
the church. He is the cloud by day and the
fire by night. He protects the church. Nothing
can come up against the church and harm the church in any capacity
spiritually. They may take people that belong
to the church as Paul, Saul of Tarsus did with those who were
part of the body of Christ in Damascus or in Jerusalem. He
had several of them killed, but they could not get to their spiritual
well-being. He couldn't take that away from
them. He could not take the peace that
passes all understanding away from them. He could not take
their position away from them. He could only take their breath
away from them. And in that, they were promoted
to the glory of God Almighty. Notice with me in the book of
Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 26. Isaiah chapter 26, and here in
verse one. Isaiah chapter 26, and verse 1. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. Now, in that day is the gospel
day. Now to Isaiah, it was a different
day than it was for Zachariah, and it was a different day than
it was for me. It's a different day than it was for you, but
it's the gospel day. It's when God caused the gospel to be known
to us. In that day, this song shall
be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Now notice
the wall. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Now, if we grasp a
little bit about salvation as of the Lord, we're beginning
to see what these bulwarks, what these walls and bulwarks are. They are all of God, and they
are completely protect the individual from all onslaught. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who can bring up any sin that
was not charged to Jesus Christ? Who can have anything against
the people of God? Now, they may bring up things,
but they can't bring up things to God. They may say all kinds
of things about God's people. Just as that pastor that brought
me the gospel, there was that preacher who wanted to get in
an argument with him when he said, all you got in your church
is sinners. And that dear old preacher says, you got that right.
Why argue about it? And the people in that church
that knew anything knew that was right. Just like here, the
people who know anything know that's right. We're just sinners
saved by grace. But the wall of fire, the protective
wall, is the salvation of the Lord. In the book of Isaiah 60,
Isaiah 60, Zechariah had the wonderful privilege of going
over these thoughts with those people in Jerusalem that had
come back from Babylon, come out of captivity. They understood
what it was to be in captivity, just like every one of God's
people knows what it was to be in captivity, captivity of sin. And here, he saves his people
out of that, and he gives them rich, great blessings in Christ
Jesus. He didn't save our flesh. That's a plague from here to
the end. Oh, wretched man that I am. But
by His Spirit, He gives us that new one. Christ in us, the hope
of glory. All right, the book of Isaiah
here, chapter 60 and verse 18. Chapter 60 and verse 18, it says,
violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction
within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy wall salvation
and thy gates praise. Call the wall salvation. You
know, that preacher told me, he said, he never argues over
eternal security. He just simply asked, it just
depends on who saved you. If God saved you, you have the
walls of salvation. If you saved you, it is terrible. It is terrible. There is no security
inside or outside. It's about the same. No oppressor can pass through. Go back with me to the book of
Zechariah. Zechariah chapter nine. Zechariah chapter nine and verse
eight. And I will encamp about my house
because of the army, because of him that passeth by, because
of him that returneth, and no oppressor shall pass through
them anymore. For now have I seen with my eyes,
no oppressor shall pass through them anymore. The blessings of
the Lord, the good riches of his grace, the Lord of hosts
is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge is what we find
several times in the Psalms. His glory shall be our defense. Broad rivers and streams wherein
shall go no galleys with oars. That's found in the book of Isaiah.
We have many rivers, but no war galleys are going to go on them.
No gallant ships thereby. That's just figurative language
to the figurative language. We're not going to have to have
an interest in someone overthrowing the church. During the Civil
War, President Lincoln said, we need to protect the mouth
of the Columbia River. Go out there and build a fort
and put some cannons so the Confederates don't take the Pacific Northwest.
They didn't have a thought towards doing it, but there they were.
World War I, same thing. World War II, same thing. Had
protection out there. Well, we don't have to have the
guns out there when it comes to the church, because he said,
nobody's going to come up against you. Nobody's going to overthrow
you. You are in me. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? And it enumerates a number of
things, and yet that's not all the things. Shall height or depth
or any other creature. No, no, no. I love what it says in the book
of Ecclesiastes. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Book of Ecclesiastes. I know
whatsoever the Lord doeth. That's comfort. That's comfort. That's eternality of salvation. Whatsoever the Lord does shall
be forever. I have given him Even the sure
mercies of David. The sure mercies of Christ. I
like that word sure in there, but mercies has a lot to do too. Mercy means that he's taken care
of the problem. Sin. Well, Zachariah got to say
what we get to say every Sunday, every Wednesday night. The church
is protected. Flee to Christ. Flee to the city
of refuge. Nobody can come in here and disrupt. He said, 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.