All right, let's look at Zechariah
chapter 10. The title of this message is
Israel will be restored. Israel will be restored. In Zechariah
chapter 9, we looked at the prophecy that God gave Zechariah for the
people of his day. concerning the calling and the
conversion of God's elect among the Gentile nations. And what
a glorious truth that is for us who are Gentiles. That God
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
We ought to thank God every day for that. I was thinking about
that and writing some future bulletin articles and I got to
thinking about the song Amazing Grace. And I think for me, I
know, and maybe for many of you, sometimes we take grace for granted.
It stops being amazing. And that should not be. It should never stop being amazing
to us. But when I read prophecies like
this, and of course when we see the reality of it in our experience,
it's an amazing thing that God would save any of us. For we're
sinners saved by the grace of God. But here he prophesied of
the Gentile nations. Well, in chapter 10, he is mainly
concerned with God's prophecy of the future calling and conversion
of God's elect from the house of Israel. God's elect among
the Jews. Because as Paul wrote about this
in Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11, by inspiration of the Spirit,
God is going to graft them into what Paul wrote of in Romans
chapter 11 as the main olive tree. And you know, in the Old
Testament, Israel was referred to sometimes as an olive tree,
but they were a picture of the church. God's people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And Paul talked about the Gentiles
being grafted in. And then God rejected the Jews,
and the gospel was shot out through the world. And that's what this
chapter is about, quite a bit of it. that the elect among the
Jews are going to be grafted back into the main olive tree.
And that main olive tree now is known as the true Israel,
spiritual Israel. As Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah
chapter 45, all Israel shall be saved with an everlasting
salvation, not a temporal or temporary. And this is not God
dealing with the physical nation as a nation again. or as a whole
in the way of eternal salvation. Because God doesn't save nations.
This is scriptural now. God saves sinners. He saves individuals. But it's God dealing with his
elect remnant among that nation in the latter day. And the latter
day is the day of the new covenant. It's the day of Christ. It's
the day we're living in that began at the first coming of
Christ and was initiated in the church at Pentecost. And God
called his people in that day. Now, some argue, as you go back
and maybe you remember Romans chapter 11, some argue that the
whole nation of Israel will be saved. Others say, well, it won't
be the whole nation, but it'll be a massive outpouring of people
in that nation, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in bringing
a vast number of Jews to a saving knowledge of Christ. The only
thing I can tell you for sure about all of that, that argument,
is that Paul refers to it as a remnant in Romans chapter 11. A remnant according to the election
of grace. So I don't know how many is going
to make up that remnant. You don't either. And nobody
who's written a book about it does either. I just know this,
that God still has a people among that nation. He's not through
with that nation in that sense. Somebody told me the other day,
said, I don't believe he's through with that nation. Well, in that sense,
he's not. But he's not gonna deal with them as a nation anymore,
no more than any other nation. But there's going to be an outpouring
of the Holy Spirit in bringing many of them to Christ. And that's
the key. They're going to be brought under
the preaching of the gospel. and saved by the power of God's
grace and brought under the headship of Christ and united, grafted
into that main olive tree with the Gentile believers. That's
what this chapter is about. Israel will be restored in that
sense. Either way, these of whom the
prophet speaks and whom the apostle Paul speaks in Romans 11 will
find their identity as the true Israel of God in coming to a
saving knowledge of Christ. Paul wrote about it again in
Galatians chapter six, God forbid that I should glory, verse 14,
in saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Remember what he said
in verse 15 of Galatians six? He said, for in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision, that's being a Jew, nor uncircumcision
means anything, it counts for nothing, you see, but a new creation,
a new creature, that's what counts. And that's that main olive tree,
that's the church. And in Philippians chapter three
and verse three, he wrote up when he says, we are the circumcision
which worship God in spirit. and rejoice, have confidence
in Christ Jesus and no confidence in the flesh. So I believe that
we won't understand the scriptures or these prophecies or anything
about this unless we get that clear in our minds. God does
have a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation. And
I'll say without fail that no, God is not through with Israel. He's still bringing his people
out of the Gentiles and out of the Jews. into that nation, but
to come in under the headship of Christ. Isaiah prophesied
of it. I just quoted part of it, Isaiah 45, 17, when he says,
but Israel shall be saved in the Lord, not by anything of
that old covenant. That old covenant had no salvation
in it. And he says, they'll be saved
with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed and
confounded world without end. Here in Zechariah 10, he talks
about some false prophets who are gonna be confounded. They're
gonna be ashamed. But whoever's saved, according
to this prophecy, they're not gonna be confounded. They're
not gonna be ashamed because in Christ Jesus, we have nothing
to be ashamed about. In ourselves, we have a lot to
be ashamed about, should be. But in Christ, we have nothing
to be ashamed of in him. He's the glory of God. He's the
righteousness of God. Now, God will gather in all his
people unto and under Christ, and we all shall be one in him. Jew and Gentile. Now, here's
the question. How's all that going to be accomplished?
That's what Zechariah answers. Let me give you these things.
Here's the first thing. Number one, this is going to
be accomplished by the grace of God. That prefixes every one
of these. Because it's all of grace. Salvation
is of the Lord by the grace of God in the preaching of the gospel
in the power of the Holy Spirit. What I'm saying now, it's not
going to be accomplished by rebuilding the old covenant temple. It's
not going to be accomplished by reinstituting the old covenant
Levitical priesthood. It's not going to be accomplished
by the blood of animals. It's going to be accomplished
by the preaching of the good news of salvation by God's grace
in Christ, preaching Christ and Him crucified. That's how it's
going to be accomplished. Now look at verse 1 of chapter
10. He says, Ask ye of the Lord. Who is the Lord there? That's
Jehovah. That's the covenant God of all
grace. He's identified. You don't know
Jehovah. You don't know the God of grace
apart from the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy
Spirit. That's how he's identified and distinguished as Christ is
set forth in the glory of his person and in the power of his
finished work. Who is Jesus Christ? He's Emmanuel,
God with us. He's Jesus. He's the Savior. Jehovah, Savior. He's Hosanna,
save us now. He's the Lord, our righteousness.
You mentioned Jehovah Nissi. He's the Lord, our banner. He's
God in human flesh. And what did he accomplish in
his obedience unto death? He accomplished the redemption
of his people. He didn't come here to try to
save me or try to save you. He saved his people from their
sins by his one offering on the cross of Calvary. That's how
Jehovah is identified as the God of salvation. And anyone,
turn over to Matthew chapter 7, look at this, just a few pages
over because you're so close to the New Testament here in
Zechariah. next to the last of the Book of the Old Testament. But you remember in the Sermon
on the Mount, anybody who asks salvation of him, of Jehovah,
will have it. He'll not turn any sinner seeking
mercy from Jehovah. The God of all grace, through
the blood and righteousness of Christ, He'll not turn any sinner
who comes to Him that way, away. He will not turn them away. I'll
tell you why. They're His work. They're His
children. Christ talked about this in Matthew
chapter 7 and verse 7. When He said here, He said, Ask
and it shall be given you. You know, He's talking about
salvation. He's not really just talking about prayer in general
here. Now there is a sense in which we can talk about prayer
in other passages, but here he's talking about salvation. That's
the issue here. He's been talking about preaching
the gospel, and he goes on to talk about the straight gate,
the one way of salvation, the narrow way. And he contrasts
that with false ways that are preached by false prophets, the
work salvation of false prophets who are wolves in sheep's clothing.
And then he talks about the good tree and the bad tree and he
talks about coming before him in his name and those who come
falsely, hypocritically. And then he talks about the rock.
So he's talking about salvation. That's the context here. And
he says, ask and it shall be given you. Ask for what? Ask
for salvation like a mercy beggar. Like a sinner seeking mercy.
Now Cain asked, didn't he? Didn't Cain ask? God bless me. But he wasn't talking to Jehovah.
He was talking to his idol. He was talking to a God who he
was sure would bless him because of his efforts. That's not asking
Jehovah, you see. That's asking an idol. That's
praying to a God that cannot save. Balaam asked, but he asked
the God of his own imagination. He turned away from the true
and living God. You see, any sinner who comes before a God
seeking salvation based on his works is not asking Jehovah. Because Jehovah doesn't bless,
he doesn't save, he doesn't justify that way. He blesses, justifies,
and saves by his grace. He says, seek and you shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh
receiveth. Nobody's turned away. And he
that seeketh findeth. Nobody is left lost. And to him
that knocketh it shall be opened. You see that? Now, we know that
by nature man will not ask, he will not seek, and he will not
knock at the door of grace. He's too proud. He's like Cain.
That's what we are by nature. Like Cain. That's what happened
to us when we fell in Adam. Spiritual death. But I want to
tell you something without fail. Any sinner who comes asking of
the Lord, rain in the time of the latter rain, He's going to
have that rain. Now, what's that talking about?
Well, in the time of the latter rain, you know, in Israel, basically,
in that agricultural society, there were two rains, the former
rain and the latter rain. The former, and scholars argue
over when that was, I don't care. Let me tell you, the former rain
was the time of planting. That's the time when the ground
was prepared and the seed was planted. That's the former rain.
The latter rain is the time of harvest, when the crop was brought
in. And here what we have is a symbol
of sinners who have heard the gospel, the seed planted. Remember Christ in the parable
of the sower and the seed. The seed was planted, and here
it's planted in good ground. In the parable of the seed and
the sower, Matthew 13, that's the ground prepared by God, the
ground of a sinner, the heart of a sinner prepared by the Holy
Spirit in conviction. and brought to faith in Christ.
There's the harvest. That's the latter rain. In other
words, this is salvation. That's what it's talking about.
And it's all of the Lord. Listen to it in verse 1. He says,
ask ye of the Lord, rain in the time of the latter rain. Don't
beg sinners. Don't try to psychologically
or emotionally persuade them. Ask of the Lord. He's the Savior. He's the sovereign in salvation. The power is His. Salvation's
of the Lord. And he says, so the Lord shall
make bright clouds. You know what that bright cloud
is? It's like lightning. In other words, it's focused
on an individual. It strikes at one place, not
like that sheet lightning. And he says, the Lord will give,
shall make bright clouds. What he's gonna do is he's gonna
give, he's gonna make that gospel, that seed planted, the power
of God unto salvation to bring a sinner to faith in Christ and
repentance of dead works, and he says, and give them showers
of rain, that's blessing, because in Christ we have all spiritual
blessings. You know, in that time, in that
country, it was a very dry country, rain was a real blessing. So
here we have all spiritual blessedness in heavenly places in Christ,
and he says, and to everyone grass of the field, that's a
full harvest. We're gonna lay down in green
pastures. That's what he's talking about. What's it, verse one says,
salvation by the grace of God. Look at verse two. Now he contrasted
here with idols. He says, for the idols, you might
see in your concordance there in your Bible, teraphim. And
what they were, they were household gods. You remember these were
the, it's the same word that, you remember Laban, Jacob's father-in-law,
had those in his house and before Jacob left with Leah and Rachel,
Rachel took those idols out and took them with her and Laban
come to look for them. The one who had that, those idols,
that tariff in his house, he was the leader of the family.
And so that was a sign of Laban for him, you know, so you're
taking away my leadership, you're taking away my authority. And
that's what man by nature is, he's an idolater. Whatever authority
he thinks he has, it's not from God. And especially those who
preach a false gospel, the idols have spoken vanity. What is vanity?
That's worthlessness. That's false messages, false
gospels that are worthless and lead to nothing, death. That's
what that is. And then he says, and the diviners
have seen a lie. Now what is a diviner? Well,
if you read a lot of commentaries, they'll talk about the occult.
And they'll talk about witchcraft. And they'll talk about sorcery.
The diviner literally is somebody who claims to see things that
you don't see. That's what a diviner is. Claims
to see things beyond the scripture. Look over at Isaiah chapter eight
with me. I'll show you what a diviner
is. And that would include sorcery
and witchcraft and all that. But I told my Sunday school class
one time, I said, be careful when somebody comes and says,
well, I've seen something in the scripture that I haven't
seen before. Now that's possible because we can get new light
on scripture, but you make sure you hold their feet to the scriptures. Because there's a lot of people
say, well, I see things that you just don't see, and I can't
prove them by the scripture. And if you ever get as high and
wise as I am, you'll see it too, you know. Or you just may not
have it, I don't know, whatever. But look here at Isaiah chapter
eight. Look at verse 16. He says, bind up the testimony,
seal the law among my disciples. That's the word of God. And he
says, and I will wait upon the Lord and hide his face from the
house of Jacob and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children
whom the Lord had given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel. They're types, that's what he's
talking about. And he says, from the Lord of hosts, and dwelleth
in Mount Zion. And when they shall send you,
seek unto them that have familiar spirits. Now a familiar spirit
is a lying spirit. And he says, unto wizards that
peep, they peer into things. Peer into the skies, into the
clouds, into the stars, into the bones, or whatever. And he
says, then that mutter, that is they chant, And he says, should
not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead? He says, to the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is
because there is no light in them. That's what he's talking
about over here in Zechariah 10. These diviners, they see
more than you do, but it's not according to the scripture. You
know, that word diviner is an interesting word. It means to
cut up and divide. That's what it means. And what
they do is they take the word of God and they cut it up and
they divide it in ways that will support their view, but it's
not really right. That's why Paul wrote in 2 Timothy
2, verse 15, that we should study the word of God, study the scriptures
to be approved of God, rightly dividing the word of truth. And
you see, that's what these diviners are. They've seen a lie. They've
seen things. But it's a lie. Verse two of
Zechariah 10, it says, they've told false dreams. They've had
a dream and they told, they comfort in vain. They speak peace when
there's no peace. You see, there's only peace with
God and real eternal spiritual peace in the heart through Christ.
And any diviner, any person, any prophet, any so-called preacher
that doesn't lead you to Christ, point you to Christ for peace
is speaking peace when there is no peace. He's offering you
comfort in vain. Our comfort is the God of all
grace in Christ. And he says, therefore they went
their way as a flock. What he's talking about is the
people that follow them. The people went away as a flock of
lost sheep. Troubled, he says. They were
troubled. In other words, and you might
have your concordance there, that they answered, or something
like that, or they answered that, they had no answer for this because
they were lost, because they didn't have a true shepherd.
It says, because there was no shepherd to lead them and to
protect them. No true, true preacher of the
gospel. who truly led them to Christ.
And look at verse three, he says, mine anger was kindled against
the shepherds, these false shepherds. And I punished the goats. Now
the word goat there is literally ruler. And the picture is this,
a lot of times, a lot of times shepherds would have a goat out
in front of the flock. and he would lead them. And then
you've got the picture of the Judas goat. You remember the
Judas goat who would lead the sheep to the slaughter? That's
the picture there. That's why when we think about
our Savior and his substitutionary work, we think about him being
led as a lamb to the slaughter. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter
so that you and I wouldn't have to be led as sheep to the slaughter. He took our slaughter for us,
you see. He took God's wrath for us. And
he was our sacrificial lamb who was led to the slaughter for
our sins. So he says here, he said, he said, I'm gonna punish
the goats. That's their false leaders who are leading them
to the slaughter. And he says, for the Lord of hosts hath visited
his flock, the house of Judah. He's visited them, and he said,
and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. Christ,
who is the true shepherd of Israel, has his true ministers, and they're
his under-shepherds, and the Lord of hosts is coming to set
things right. That's what he's talking about.
Think about in the days of our Lord's earthly ministry, who
were the false shepherds, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, All
those false religionists who tried to lead sheep to the slaughter.
But the Lord of hosts, he says, the Lord who's invincible and
cannot be defeated, he's coming to set things right. He intends
to strengthen his flock against these false leaders. Now, where's
this strength coming from? Where's it coming from? Well,
it's coming from God. How's it coming? Well, here's the second
point. Now, how's all this going to happen? Second point, by the
grace of God, and the power of God in Christ. The only ground
of salvation. Look at verse 4. Out of him... Now, most commentators agree
that this is talking about Judah. Because he mentioned Judah here.
Out of Judah came forth the corner. You know what the corner is there?
That's the cornerstone. Out of Judah came the nail. That's
the nail fastened in a sure place. Out of him, out of Judah, the
battle bow, the warrior, out of him every oppressor together. What's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ. Christ is the key. All this is accomplished
not by the power of men, not by the wisdom of men, not by
the goodness of men, but by the power, the wisdom, and goodness
of God in Christ. Christ is the key. Out of Judah,
The tribe of Judah, the scepter, shall not depart from Judah until
Christ will come. Christ, according to the flesh,
he's God-man, made of the seed of David, the house of Judah,
according to the flesh. And he's the cornerstone of the
church. Psalm 118 verse 22 speaks of
him as the stone which the builders refused. He's become the head
of the corner, the stone on the corner. That cornerstone was
that first stone that was laid by which everything was supported,
held together, and measured. That's what the cornerstone is.
And that's the way the church is. Christ is the first stone.
He's the firstborn among many brethren. That's talking about
his resurrection. And everything, that stone was
laid and everything is supported and held together and measured
by Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary. How do you measure
the church? It's not by the things that men
would have you measure the church by, it's by Christ, the cornerstone. Isaiah spoke of him as a foundation
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
And then this nail, the nail, out of him the nail. Christ is
the nail in a sure place upon which the glory of God and the
salvation of his people all hang. Right there. What is your salvation
hanging on? The thread of your works? Let
me tell you something about your works, they're not even a thread.
Is that right? My works aren't even a thread.
Isaiah 22, verse 23, mark this down, I'll read it for you. Isaiah
prophesying of Christ. In verse 23 of chapter 22, he
says, and I will fasten him, this is God speaking, I will
fasten him as a nail in a sure place. And he shall be for a
glorious throne to his father's house, and they shall hang upon
him, verse 24, they shall hang upon him, Christ, all the glory
of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, that's his children,
the issue for, everything that they are and everything that
they bear, all vessels of small quantity from the vessels of
cups even to the vessels of flagons, it all hangs on Christ and His
glory. The forgiveness of our sins hangs
on His blood. Our complete eternal justification
before God hangs on His righteousness imputed. That's right. Our life
hangs upon Him. He sends forth His Spirit to
give life. It hangs on Him. And He's a nail
in a sure place. Nails fasten. The triune God
fixed the nail in a sure place in His eternal covenant of grace,
Christ. And God hanged on Him all His
purpose of grace, trusting Him with the salvation of His people
and the glory of His own great name. We hang our souls and our
eternity, all our hopes upon Christ, this nail, trusting him
alone. And then Christ is the battle
bow of the church. The Bible says the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds. That's Christ. We present Christ. We preach Christ. That's our
sword. That's our battle bow. We point
sinners to Christ. We fight sin by the preaching
of Christ. Listen to me now. We don't fight
sin. Listen, we preach morality, but
we don't fight sin by preaching morality. We fight sin by preaching
Christ and the blood of Christ. That's how you fight sin. We don't fight the devil by calling
in an exorcist. And performing a bunch of mumbo-jumbo,
we fight the devil by preaching Christ. We plead the blood of
the lamb. We plead his righteousness when
the devil accuses. And listen to me now, let me
tell you something. When a human being brings forth
a charge against one of God's children, that is unfounded in
the courts of God's law and justice, that's Satan accusing too. He's
an instrument of Satan. How do we fight it? By claiming
that Christ, in him there's no condemnation. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? I have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice. Jesus Christ and him
crucified. We fight the world by presenting
Christ, the battle bow, the victor, you see. And then it says, and
out of him every oppressor together. In other words, all who stood
against him will be brought together under him. That's what he's saying. Look at verse five. Here's an
army of truth conquering through truth. He says, and they shall
be as mighty men. This is talking about the church
and the witness of the world, the preachers and witnesses of
the gospel. They tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets
in the battle. This is not a physical battle,
this is a spiritual battle. And they shall fight. And why? Because they've grown so strong
and might? No, because the Lord is with
them. There's your key. Remember what one of the old
stalwarts said, if the Lord doesn't go with us, let's not go. The
Lord is with them. And he says, and they shall fight
because the Lord is with him, and the riders on horses shall
be confounded. Riders on horses represent human
power, human armies, human instruments. They're gonna be ashamed. Because
everyone and anyone who stands against Christ shall be ashamed. They shall be confounded. Look at verse six. Now here's
the third point. How's all this gonna happen?
Number three, by the grace of God, in the restoration and unity
of Israel under the headship of Christ. Israel's gonna be
restored. Look at verse six. Look at how
many times he says, I will here. He says, and I will strengthen
the house of Judah. That was the southern kingdom.
And I will save the house of Joseph. Joseph, and then you'll
see Ephraim later on. Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph's
two children. And one tribe, Joseph, was divided
up into the two there. But Joseph represents the Northern
Kingdom there. And what he's saying here applies
to physical Jews as the remnant of God's elect people. That,
in other words, God has an elect people not just out of the Southern
Kingdom, but out of the Northern Kingdom, but ultimately refers
to the United Kingdom, a true Israel under Christ. And he said,
I will strengthen, I will save, and I will bring them again to
place them. God's gonna put them where he
wants them. Now where's he gonna put them? Gonna put them in Christ.
They're already in Christ in the courts of God's law and justice
in the everlasting covenant of grace. Christ was our surety
before this world ever became in existence. But he's gonna
put them in Christ through the preaching of the gospel and the
power of his grace in bringing them to saving faith and true
repentance. Now how's all that gonna be?
Here it says it, for I have mercy upon them. It's not gonna be
because of their goodness, or their power, or their righteousness,
but his mercy, the Lord's mercy. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. God be merciful to me, the sinner.
And they shall be as though I had not cast them off. They're gonna
be restored to a place of glory and blessing that you would never
even know that they were ever cast off. Just like God's elect
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, we fell an
Adam. in ruination, depravity, spiritual death, the curse. But
when we're restored in Christ, the blessings of salvation and
righteousness and forgiveness that come through him, it's like
we never fell at all. We've got much more than what
Adam had before he fell in the garden. And so it'd be like they'd
never been cast off. He says, for I am the Lord their
God and will hear them. He's going to hear us. Whom does
God hear? All who come to him pleading
Christ and his blood and righteousness. And then look at verse seven,
and they of Ephraim, that's the northern kingdom, shall be like
a mighty man and their heart shall rejoice as through wine. That's a picture of joy and peace
in believing, joy in the Holy Spirit. And he says, yea, their
children shall see it and be glad. Now there were a lot of
Gentiles and Jews who saw it and were not glad. John describes
them in John chapter three in verse 19 when he says, this is
the condemnation. Lights come into the world and
men love darkness and hate the light. They weren't glad. I can
remember a time when I saw it and wasn't glad. But here he
says, his children shall see it and they'll be glad. They're
going to rejoice in Christ. This is gonna be good news to
them. That's what he's saying. And their heart shall rejoice
in the Lord. Their confidence shall be in Christ, in the God
of all grace, in his blood and righteousness alone, you see.
This is the unity of the brethren. Well, look at verse eight. Here's
the fourth thing. Now, how's all this gonna happen? Fourthly,
by the grace of redemption and regeneration. Look at verse eight. Verse eight, it sounds kind of
weird. He says, I will hiss for them. You think of hissing, you
think of a snake. That's not what the word is.
The word here would be like, I will whistle for them and gather
them. Just like if you fellas have
a dog or you ladies have a dog and you whistle for the dog and
the dog comes. That's a good dog, isn't it? You whistle for
that dog and it comes. That's what he's talking about.
It's like old Caleb, the faithful one, the faithful dog. He said,
I'm going to whistle, and they'll come. Shepherds sometimes did
that. They'd whistle. And they'd have
a distinctive whistle, and the sheep would know their voice
or their whistle, and they'd come. And that's what he's saying. He'll whistle, they'll come running
like faithful sheep. Now hear his voice. Now what's
that based on? The fact that they're coming.
Is it because they're better than the rest of the bunch that
don't come? Look at the next line. Here's
the basis of it. Here's the ground of it. Here's
the cause of it. For I have redeemed them. They're already His. He bought them lock, stock, and
barrel. He paid the price, the redemption price. What is that
price? The price of His precious blood
that satisfied the justice of God and enabled God to be just
and justified. That's why they'll come. because
I've redeemed them. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day.
You know what that's teaching? That's teaching that everyone
whom Christ redeemed will hear that whistle. They'll hear the
gospel in the power of the spirit and they'll come. They'll be
gathered just like lost sheep The shepherd will come and he
died for them, he paid for them, they're his, he'll gather them. Look at verse nine. Or verse
eight, he says, and they shall increase as they have increased. They're gonna increase in blessing
and in number, because God's gonna increase them. And verse
9 says, and I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember
me in the far countries, and they shall live with their children
and turn again. Here they are restored, but they'll
be scattered again. But when they're scattered again,
they'll remember and teach their children and turn unto the Lord.
Now, you remember in Israel's history, they were brought into
the Babylonian captivity. Here they're restored, but they're
going to be scattered again. You remember after the Lord came
and did his great work and he sent his disciples out, Peter
preached at Pentecost and the gospel began to be spread throughout
Judea. What did he do? He scattered
them again. In AD 70, he scattered them to the four winds. But why
did he do that? He says, they're going to remember
me in far countries. They're going to preach Christ
in other countries. The gospel is going out. That's
what he's talking about. And they'll live with their children.
They're going to teach it to their children. They're not gonna
let it die, you see. Of course, God's not gonna let
it die, but that's the determination of his people, and they're gonna
turn again. Turn again to what? To the temple? To Palestine? No, they're gonna turn again
to the Lord. And he says in verse 10, he says, and I will bring
them also out of the land of Egypt. That's bondage. Whatever
bondage they're in, he's gonna bring them out. Well, what bondage
are we in by nature? The bondage of sin. The bondage
of the law. The bondage of Satan. He brings
us out. He says, he's gonna gather them
out of Assyria, that's idolatry and trouble, self-righteousness
and pride, he's gonna bring us to submit to Christ, and his
righteousness is the only way of salvation, for Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And
he said, I'm gonna bring them into the land of Gilead. You
know what Gilead was known for, don't you? It's healing, it was
a center of healing. Remember Jeremiah asked the question
in Jeremiah chapter eight and verse 22, is there no balm in
Gilead, healing in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Well, he's gonna bring us to Gilead where there is balm, where
there is a physician, the great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Lebanon, what does Lebanon
represent? Remember the Bible talks about
in the Psalms and in other places, the cedars of Lebanon. Those
were the cedars that were used to make some of the wood of the
temple. It was a place of flourishing. Psalm 92, 12, the righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. They're going to be healed and
they're going to flourish. That's what he said. They're
going to bear fruit by Christ. That's what he said. And he says,
and place shall not be found for them. There's going to be
so many of them, there won't be places to be found for them.
A multitude which no man can number. I don't know how many.
You don't either. God does. He knows. And then
verse 11, he says, and he shall pass through the sea with affliction,
and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of
the river shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be brought
down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away. What's he
saying here? This is all by the power of God.
God's going to do all this. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I will. I have compassion on whom I will. It's not of him
that will, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And then lastly, the last verse,
here's the fifth way he's going to accomplish this, by the grace
of peace and security in Christ. The grace of peace and security
in Christ. He said, I will strengthen them
in the Lord. that is in the power of God,
Jehovah, the God of all grace, and they shall walk up and down
in his name, saith the Lord. Walking up and down signifies
safety and security. In other words, they're not gonna
run here and hide and run there and hide, they're gonna walk
up and down, just like you do in your home, where you know
things. Walking up and down signifies
confidence. He's talking about the assurance
that his people will have of their salvation, of their acceptance
in Christ. Safe and secure in the arms of
Christ, that's what he's saying. All right.