In the book of Zechariah chapter
9, verse 9, where Brother Joe began reading there, we have
this statement, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. Behold, thy
king cometh. That's the title of this message
as we continue through this chapter. That was the title of the last
message on the first eight verses, but it's the same subject because
everything that is prophesied of here and described here concerning
the salvation of sinners is dependent upon, conditioned upon one thing. And that's that. Behold, thy
king cometh unto thee. And of course that king is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in the first eight verses
of chapter nine we saw the prophecy that God gave Zechariah for the
people of Judah in that day. concerning the future conversion
of the Gentiles. And we saw how God, in his sovereign
will and power, and this is an amazing thing, in his sovereign
will and power, he, working all things after the counsel of his
own will, he used an ungodly, idolatrous, selfish, inflated
tyrant named Alexander the Great I'm sure all of you have heard
of Alexander the Great, to pave the way for the gospel going
out from Jerusalem into the regions of the Gentiles. And if you haven't
read those first eight verses, read them. I'm not going back
over them again tonight. But it shows the path that Alexander,
200 years after Zechariah, took in his bloodlust to conquer the
world, the known world, as he went through these cities, cities
of Syria, cities of Phoenicia, cities of the Philistines, and
made his way into Jerusalem. And in conquering them, he brought
that world influence, that Greek influence, and God used that
later on to get the gospel out to the Gentiles. This is 200
years prior to that actual event, 550 years before Christ. And you know, in the Old Testament,
especially most of the vast majority of the recorded Old Testament,
the gospel specifically for 1500 years from Sinai to the cross
was restricted to the Jewish nation. Now the Jewish nation
as a whole missed the gospel message, but it was there. It's
kind of like being under the preaching of the gospel and never
coming to a saving knowledge of it. That's a sad thing, isn't
it? I mean, that's a tragedy. It would be such a tragedy for
a person to sit here under the preaching of the gospel and never
come to a saving knowledge of Christ, wouldn't it? I remember,
Ron, you talking about how you sat here for 20 years before
the Lord brought you to a saving knowledge of Christ. And what
if the Lord had never brought you there? And that was the case
with many of these Israelites. Think about that. They had the
tabernacle. They had the priesthood. They
had the altar and the sacrifices. They had the prophets. And many
of them, in fact, if you read the Bible and believe it, which
we do, the majority of them died in unbelief. But that gospel
was pretty much restricted. Now, in the Old Testament, we
do have recorded the salvation of Gentiles too, but not very
many. It was a rarity. You know, our
Lord, he referred to that when he stood in his hometown synagogue
and quoted Isaiah chapter 61 and told them that this scripture
was fulfilled in their days. And then he talked about how
there were many lepers in Israel, but God saved a Gentile, Naaman
the leper. And then he mentioned a widow.
I think a Syrophoenician or a Syrian widow. But either way, God did
save some Gentiles. So when you think about the gospel,
and I'll relate it to this, the work of the Holy Spirit in the
New Testament as compared with the Old Testament, think of it
as like a conduit. That pipe where the power of
God shot through and then when it came to Pentecost, it just
burst forth onto the world. And God used means, he used instruments
of his own will and power to accomplish that. And this fella
here, Alexander the Great, was one of them. And as I preached
through that, I showed you how, in the book of Acts, how this
was fulfilled in each of these cities, how the city, Damascus.
Remember where Paul, Saul of Tarsus, he was on his way to
arrest Christians in Damascus when God struck him down on the
Damascus Road. and saved his soul, brought him
to a saving knowledge of Christ. Isn't that amazing? I'll never
forget hearing Brother Mahan when he first preached this,
you know, how he would do, you know, he just had a way with
words. And he'd say, Paul wasn't on his way to a prayer meeting.
Saul wasn't. He was on his way to have Christians
arrested. I mean, those things like that
used to hit me right between the eyes. You know, I'd say,
wow, you know, I never thought about it that way. Most people
don't. Saul wasn't seeking the Lord.
He was seeking to kill the Lord. And God struck him down on the
road to Damascus and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Well, look in that verse one, it talks about Damascus. That's
Alexander conquered Damascus, brought that Greek influence
and the Roman empire followed. They built roads and avenues
on the way there. And God used all that to get
the gospel in Damascus, raised up a church there. And you can
go all the way through. Well, all of that, that he's
talking about here is conditioned on verse 9 and 10. Look at it. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Now what's he talking about? He's talking about a kingdom.
And he says, behold, thy king cometh unto thee. There's a king.
You can't have a king without a kingdom. Isn't that right?
I mean, I could declare myself king of anything or king of nothing,
but if there's no kingdom, I'm not king of anything. I'm king
of nothing. So here's a king. Who's he talking
about? Well, he says this person, this
king, he is just, that means he's righteous, and having salvation. Now, if you'll look in your concordance,
if you have a new King James Version, it says saving himself,
and that is not, mark that out, that is not a good translation
of that. The better translation of that and seeing what this
means and having salvation, what he's talking about is he has
salvation in his possession, that's true. But the main issue
of this, the main thrust of it is he is salvation. He's not saving himself, he is
salvation. That's what that means. So he
is just and he is salvation. Yes, he possesses salvation. That's why I read there in Matthew
chapter 11, you know, no man knoweth the son save the father
and no man knoweth the father save the son and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. That's in his hand. He possesses
that. And if you have it, I'll tell
you how you got it. He gave it to you. All right. He gave it
to you. That's called grace. So he's
righteous. and he has salvation, he is salvation,
and then lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal
of an ass. We read this in Matthew chapter
21, the fulfillment of it. When Christ triumphantly entered
Jerusalem, riding upon the foal of an ass, lowly, not upon a
white horse conquering, he is a conqueror, but he came lowly
in humility upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And then in verses
10, 11, he tells what he's going to do. But there's the, there
right there in verse nine of Zechariah chapter nine, as it
always has been and always will be is the condition for the salvation
of God's people. Behold thy King coming. And if
he doesn't come, the conditions aren't met and there's no salvation,
but he has come. Zechariah told the people of
his day after they had finished the temple, he said, he is coming. believe in him, look to him by
promise, look to the future, that's where our hope is, that's
where our salvation is, that's where our eternal life is, that's
where our justification is, he's coming, your king. Now what we have here, and as
he continues through this and he shows how the king of kings
is coming to do his great work, he's actually showing us the
nature of the very gospel message that's going to be shot forth
throughout the world because God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And we learn once again from
the scriptures, this is one of the many, many, many scriptures
that shows us the nature of the gospel, even the nature of our
salvation. and shows us that it's by grace
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not of the works of
man. So let's look at each verse and I wanna show you how this
relates to the gospel. Number one in verse nine, it's
the gospel of the king. It's the gospel of Christ. It's
a gospel, it's a good news that concerns a person. Paul wrote
about that in Romans chapter one, verses one and four when
he talked about the gospel of God. unto the gospel of God which
he afore preached by his prophets concerning his Son, the second
person of the Trinity, the Son of God. He is God himself in
every attribute of his nature and character. He is God. His
name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted, God
with us. It's the gospel of a king who has a kingdom. And I want
you to notice something. Now our Lord, he said it plainly. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. So when you read about the daughter
of Zion, you know Zion, you could talk about a geographical location
of a hill outside of Jerusalem, and then Jerusalem itself. What
he's talking about here is heavenly Zion, heavenly Jerusalem, because
it includes both Jew and Gentiles under the headship of this king.
Look over at Hebrews chapter 12 with me. Coming under the
headship of the king of kings, not in an earthly kingdom. But this is what he's talking
about. He says in verse 22, he's talking about the new covenant
here and the greater glory of the new covenant in Christ. the
more excellent glory of the new covenant in Christ as opposed
to the temporal, temporary glory of the old covenant that had
a set period of time, but now it's gone, it's over. And it's
not going to be reinstituted again, not by God now, men try
to. But he says in verse 22 of Hebrews
chapter 12, he says, but you, now who is this? The subjects
of the king. You are come unto Mount Sinai.
Now have you ever been to Mount Zion in geography on the map? I never have been. So if that's
what it's talking about, it's not talking about me. I'm left
out. He says, and into the city of
the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem. That's
where we've come to in Christ. When you come to Christ, you
come to Mount Zion. That's his church. When you come
to Christ, you come to the city of the living God. That is, you're
a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem. And he says,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, You see that? What is the church?
That's the called out one. That's the elect of God, the
redeemed of the Lord, justified in Christ, forgiven by his blood,
called out by his spirit, and to God, the judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect. We're united even with
those in heaven, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speak of better things than
that of Abel. So back here in Zechariah 9, he's pointing them
as a prophet of God, beyond the physical, beyond the temporal
and the temporary to the heavenly, to the eternal. And I tell you
what, that's what gives it substance. If our hope is only in the earthly,
then what did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15? We are of all people most
miserable. But our hope goes beyond this.
Now, who is this king? Verse 9, Behold, thy king cometh
unto thee, We know Christ is a sovereign king as he is considered
in his deity, God absolutely considered, always has been.
But it says here he is just. In order to have a kingdom of
this sort, there are several things that must be done. First
of all, all enemies must be put down. All enemies must be put
down. The earthly Jerusalem, earthly
Israel, earthly Judah was plagued with enemies all their existence. And when the Lord came, they
were under a stern, idolatrous enemy, the Roman Empire. Well,
all those enemies must be put down for this eternal spiritual
heavenly kingdom to be established. Secondly, all the subjects must
have right and title as citizens in that kingdom. How do we get
right and title? How do I know I belong in that
kingdom? That's what I'm saying. Well,
there's only one way I can know, and that's through the gospel
of the king. The king must extend the scepter of righteousness
and bid me come. He must issue forth the command.
There's a great picture of that in the book of Esther, when Esther
wants to come and see the king, and she has to wait until the
king extended his scepter, and then she can come. If she came
before that, she'd come to death. But you see, Christ, when the
gospel is preached in the power of the Spirit to one of his people,
you know what he's doing? He's extending the scepter and
commanding you to come on in. So our right and title to be
citizens of the kingdom is by command of the king, but now
something else has to be done. We have to be redeemed out of
our prison. Our prison of sin, of the bondage
of the law, the curse of the law. Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness must be established
because he's just, he has salvation. You see, this king cannot act
in pretense. This king cannot act in injustice. Alexander, for example, he was
a conquering king, but he was an unjust king. He was an idolatrous
king. He renounced his own father and
claimed to be born of the gods and claimed to be God himself.
He was a lying king. Not lion, lying king. He was one who, his whole empire
was built upon a lie. But this king is righteous. This
king is just. He judges according to truth.
He doesn't judge according to pretense. And he has salvation. Well, who needs salvation? Sinners.
That's what Paul said. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. The old publicans said,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I need salvation. If you're not
a sinner, you don't need salvation. But we're all in the same boat,
we're like Isaiah, I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell amidst
a people of unclean lips, I fell in Adam, I'm ruined. I was born
dead in trespasses and sin. I'm in the prison house of my
own spiritual death. And I need salvation. So this
king must bring salvation and he must do it in a way that's
just and righteous. God must be just when he justifies
the ungodly. And then another condition must
be met. Peace must be established in
this kingdom. There's got to be peace. You
see a kingdom that's eternal and unchangeable forever and
ever and ever can't always be dangling on a thread. You say
there's got to be established peace that lasts forever. And then there's got to be the
security. by which we realize that peace. Now, how does all that come about?
Here it is. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. And he's just. And he has salvation, for he
is salvation himself. Oh, Simeon saw that. Mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Now I'm ready to depart from
this old world. That's what Simeon said. And
how's he going to accomplish that? this justice, this righteousness,
this peace. He has salvation on his heart
and he has salvation in his hands. He has salvation as our covenant
charity to bestow upon the sons of men. Yes, salvation for the
rebellious, for the sinner. He's obtained salvation for us
by his blood. And I'll speak more about that
in a moment. He has salvation to give freely to whom he will.
Salvation is of the Lord. The Bible says in John chapter
5 and verse 21, as our Lord speaking, he says, for as the father raises
up the dead and quicken of them, even so the son quicken of whom
he will. It's a sovereign salvation. This
is salvation from the king. This is not from a beggar hanging
over the banister of heaven, trying to persuade you to something
that if you are good enough, you'll cooperate. No, he is salvation. He that is our God is the God
of salvation. Well, how's he going to do it?
Well, here it is. He's lowly, riding upon an ass and upon a
colt, the foal of an ass. Now, what is that referring to?
Well, turn to Philippians chapter two. And this is just one of the few
passages that we could give commentary on that one It's what might seem
to be an insignificant event, all right, of Christ riding into
Jerusalem on the foal of an ass. What's that all about? Well,
it's talking about how he condescended, he condescended to be made like
unto his brethren. Oh, what humility. Oh, what condescension,
you see. He says in verse five of Philippians
two, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
This is what it's all about. It's what was in his mind. Who
being in the form of God. Now that's a phrase that's kind
of misleading as you read it that way. When we speak of something
in form, we think of something that's just like an imagined
likeness or a made likeness, but that phrase means that he
is equal with God. That means he is God. He says
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. You see, when
Alexander proclaimed himself to be God, that was robbery. He was trying to rob God of his
glory. But it wasn't so when Christ stood before the Pharisees
and made this statement. And he said before Abraham was,
I am. When he stood before his disciples
and he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. That
was not robbery. He is God. And what does that
assure us of? It assures us of his ability
to do all that was prophesied and all that he accomplished
on Calvary to bring about this kingdom. And it says in verse
7, now here's what this lowly riding upon an ass, what it's
all emblematic of. It says, but made himself of
no reputation. We spend our lives trying to
gain a reputation. He spent his life making himself
of no reputation. Think about that. And took upon
himself the form of a servant. That's what he willingly, what's
this speak of? You see, being in the form of
God, being equal to God, speaks of his ability to save us. This
verse, being made of no, making himself of no reputation, taking
upon himself the form of the servant, and made in the likeness
of men, yet without sin, that speaks of his willingness to
do so. He's willing. I'll tell you what, if he condescended
like this, if he humbled himself like this, it says in verse eight,
and being found in fashion, As a man, it's almost like saying
being clothed in human flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, John 1, 14. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death. How even the death of the cross.
Isaiah 53 says the same thing, doesn't it? He was wounded for
our transgressions. He took upon himself the debt
of our sin. He became a curse. He was made
a curse for us. He was made sin for us. That's
substitution. Our sins charged to him so that
we might have the righteousness of God in him, even the death
of the cross. Wherefore, for this reason, God
hath highly exalted him." Now this is the kingship that Zechariah
is talking about. It's the exaltation of Christ.
And it's referring to his kingship as God-man. Because, you see,
that's our salvation. I'm going to show you that in
a minute. He said, Exalt him, giving him a name which is above every
name. Didn't he already have a name above every name? Yes,
as God, but now as God-man, as Savior, as Redeemer, he has a
name which is above every name. You see the difference? And he
says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. things
in heaven, things in earth, things under there, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now, turn back to Matthew 21. Now I want you to see this. Because this is exactly what
Zechariah has in mind when he's preaching these prophecies to
the people of his generation. Pointing sinners to Christ. The
King. The Redeemer King. The Priest
King. Zechariah had already talked
about the priest king, you remember back in Zechariah chapter three.
But look at Matthew 21. Now here's the fulfillment of
the prophecy of Zechariah in the life of Christ. It's in Matthew
21 one. And here Christ and his disciples
when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem. and were come to Bethphage unto
the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto
them, go into the village over against you, and straightway,
or immediately, you shall find an ass tied and a coat with her,
loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say aught
unto you, if any man says anything unto you about it, you shall
say, the Lord hath needed them, and straightway he will send
them. And I mentioned when I read that last time how I love that.
They're not gonna argue with you, they'll sin. They'll do
exactly what I'm telling you. See, that's the word of the king.
And he says, and all this was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet. Now that's the prophet Zechariah
saying, tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh
unto thee, meek, that's lowly, sitting upon an ass and a coat
the foal of an ass, And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded
them, and brought the ass and the coat, and put on them their
clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude..."
Now here's Christ riding on the foal of an ass into Jerusalem.
And it says, "...and a very great multitude spread their garments
in the way..." This is the king, you see. Others cut down branches
from the trees and strawed them in the way." They're making the
way for him, preparing the way. And the multitudes that went
before and that followed cried saying, Hosanna to the son of
David. What does that mean? That means,
save us now, Messiah. That's what they're saying. That
son of David, that's a messianic term. That refers to Christ,
Messiah. Hosanna means save now. Save
us now. He is salvation. He's just and
he is salvation. And he said, blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. There's Zechariah's prophecy
fulfilled right there. Look back at Zechariah now. Now
there it is. Christ humbled himself to be
made like flesh, sinful flesh, yet he himself without sin, made
like unto his brethren. Who's his brethren? Those he
came to redeem. Is that right? And he walked
this earth in humility, in lowliness, in meekness, performing the work
that the Father sent him to do because he loved his people. He loved his own to the end.
And even condescended to suffer the infirmities of the flesh
to the point that it almost bore him down in his weakness of flesh,
infirmity without sin. and even went to the cross of
Calvary and subjected himself in humility to the wicked hands
of sinful man under the beatings and the spitting and the rioting
and all of that. Why did he do that? Because he
has salvation for his people. He is salvation. Look at verse
10. This gospel is the gospel of
the king. This gospel is the gospel of peace. He says, I will
cut off the chariot from Ephraim. Chariots were instruments, machines
of war. And the horse from Jerusalem,
the horses were animals of war. He says, I'm gonna cut off all
war from Ephraim and Jerusalem. Some say Ephraim refers to the
northern kingdom, which was already gone by this time, obliterated.
It may be, but he's speaking of spiritual Israel. There's
gonna be peace. The battle bow shall be cut off.
In other words, nothing's going to be able to come against you
and plague you now. Now, you're going to go through
this wilderness and you're going to fight the warfare of the flesh
and the spirit and the war. Christians are going to war in
the world, the flesh and the devil, but the victory is won. And what he's saying here is
this, nothing that comes against us can touch our salvation. Now see, that's not the false
gospels of today, is it? And people will tell you all
the time, you'll be saved one day and lost another. Oh no,
oh no. He says, I'm gonna cut off the chariot and the horse
and the battle bow shall be broken. Nothing's gonna touch your salvation.
Your position as a citizen in the kingdom of Christ is secure
and certain and cannot waver. You know why? Because you stand
before God washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness.
You stand before God, kept by the righteousness and the grace
and the power of God. You can't be touched. That's
right. And he goes on, he shall speak
peace unto the heathen. Now there's lots of people speaking
peace. Lots of people speaking peace. Satan spoke peace. You
know, Satan's first message was speaking peace. You want me to
preach Satan's first message to you in one sentence? You shall
not surely die. God said one thing, Satan says
another. God says one thing, false preachers
say another. God says in the day that ye thereof,
you shall surely die. False preachers come along and
align themselves with Satan and say, oh no, you shall not surely
die. God's not that strict. God's not that, he's not that
narrow. Peace, peace. when there is no
peace. But it says here, this king shall
speak peace unto the heathen. Now who are the heathen? That's
us. That's the Gentile believers. In other words, God's not only
going to speak peace to his people out of Israel, but he's going
to speak peace to the Gentile believers too. Those whom he
extends the scepter to and commands to come into his kingdom, he's
going to speak peace to them. And it says, how do you know
it's talking about the Gentiles? Well, look at it. You see that
colon there after the word heathen? That means I'm gonna tell you
what I mean in the Bible. When you see that, in other words,
I'm gonna expand upon this phrase. And here it is. And his dominion
shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the
ends of the earth. Not just in one location, but
all over the world. Now, how's he gonna extend peace?
How's he gonna speak peace? Well, look at verse 11. This
gospel is the gospel of the king, it's the gospel of peace, it's
also the gospel of the blood. He says, as for thee also, by
the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out
of the pit wherein is no water. From the beginning, from the
beginning it has always been so, that salvation has always
been by blood. All right? When Adam and Eve
fell, and hid from God, and ran from God, and sought to cover
their nakedness, their ashamedness, over their sin, God removed those
fig leaf aprons, and what did he do? Genesis chapter 3 and
verse 21, he slew an animal, a lamb, and made him coats of
skin, blood. Without the shedding of blood,
no remission of sin. Justification before God. Look
at Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter three talks about
the Lord Jesus Christ who has been sent forth as the redemption
of his people, verse 25 of Romans three, whom God hath set forth
literally for ordained. In other words, this has always
been the way of it, never been any different. Salvation even,
listen, salvation was never by the blood of bulls and goats.
It was always by the blood of Christ, even before it was actually
shed, that's the surety. And he says, to be the propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. How
is this king just and righteous in my salvation? By the shedding
of his blood. This is the gospel of the blood.
You take the blood out, you take salvation out. That's right. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Worthy is the lamb that was what?
Slain. The cross, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross. That's his death, that's his
blood. Sins have to be paid for. God's justice must be satisfied.
That's what Zacharias said. That's what all that blood that
was shed on that altar was all about. Just to satisfy and he
says in verse 11 as for thee by the blood of thy covenant
I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit where in is no
water in other words We have Christ the water of life now
because he shed his blood You can't drink from the water of
life drink from Christ without his blood See he had to die look
at verse 12 This gospel is the gospel of liberty. He says in
verse 12, turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. I love
that phrase, prisoners of hope. I don't think about being a prisoner
as being hopeful. If you're a prisoner and you
don't have much hope, but these prisoners do, he says, even today
do I declare that I will render double unto thee. What he's talking
about is the liberty here that comes from the double blessing.
Isaiah spoke of it in Isaiah chapter 40. Speak ye comfortably
to my people, for the Lord hath given double, rendered double
for all her sins. In other words, not only am I
saved from sin, but I'm made righteous before God, and I have
liberty to enter into the presence of God and commune with him through
the righteousness of God, imputed and charged. accounted to me
which I received by God-given faith." There's liberty in Christ,
you see. There's freedom. I'm dead to
the law. The law cannot condemn me for who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. My life is hid with God in Christ. There's liberty. My sins are
washed away. But not only that, I have a double
blessing. I am totally, completely and
unchangeably and eternally righteous before God in Christ. And he's
given me life to set me free. I'm liberated by the power of
the spirit. Look at verse 13. This is the
gospel of power. Now the question comes, now all
this that we're talking about, it's great, isn't it? But does
he have the power to do it? Well, look at verse 13. It's
the gospel of power. He says, when I have bent Judah
for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion. What is he talking about? He's
using Judah and Ephraim like a bow and arrow. That's what
he's saying. I'm gonna take Ephraim, and I'm
gonna take Judah, and I'm gonna use him, I'm gonna bend Judah,
and I'm gonna use Ephraim, fill the bow with Ephraim like you
fill the bow with an arrow. And he says, I'm gonna send them
against, he said, raised up thy sons, Ozan, against thy sons,
O Greece. Remember Alexander was Grecian.
That's a reference back to that historically, but what is Greece
in the New Testament? Greece is the name for Gentiles.
Remember Paul wrote in Romans 1 16 for I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation everyone
that believeth to the Jew first and to the what the Greek also
that was a way of referring to all Gentiles back then because
it was a Greek world and Greek was the main language and so
what he's talking about he's going to use his church Judah
and Ephraim, like a bow and arrow, sent forth preaching the gospel
in the power of the Spirit into the Gentile world, and he says,
and made thee as the sword of a mighty man, like a sword. They're
gonna be like a bow and arrow and like a sword. Now the thing
about an arrow is, if you shoot an arrow, it's gonna hit one
target, isn't it? It's aimed for one thing. See,
it's not like an atom bomb which just spreads out and kills everything.
It's aimed at one thing. What is this bow and arrow aimed
at? It's aimed at God's people, God's elect, the redeemed of
the Lord. And the sword, what is the sword?
Well, what is the sword in the scripture? It's the gospel. It's
the word of the Lord, that two-edged sword. It cuts both ways. So
what he's saying here is this, the gospel, just like Paul, I
quoted there, Paul said, it is the power of God and the salvation
to everyone that believes. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. This is the gospel of power.
Christ sending forth his apostles, his evangelist, his witnesses
into the Gentile world, preaching the gospel and the power of the
Holy Spirit. And look at verse 14. This is
the gospel of revelation. It's gonna be revealed to them.
He says, and the Lord shall be seen over them. They're gonna
see God. They're gonna see his glory and
his arrow shall go forth as the lightning. You remember the arrow
goes to one target? You know, that's the way lightning
is too, isn't it? You know, there's sheet lightning, it lights up
the whole sky, but a lightning bolt hits one part of the ground,
doesn't it? And what he's saying is God's gonna send that gospel
forth in power through his witnesses, the church, And he's going to
reveal it to his people. Christ said, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. And then he said, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden. That's who he reveals
himself to, all who are labored and heavy laden, because he makes
himself. And he says, and the Lord God
shall blow the trumpet and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. Now in this sense, you know,
sometimes the South, and context determines the meaning, the South
will be emblematic of something evil like bondage out of Egypt.
But a lot of times when you're talking about a wind that comes
out of the South, and I know this because I'm a Southerner,
it's something good. It's something warm. I mean,
listen, I looked at the weather map today on TV, and there was
snow up there where Brother Jim Byrd is. I want that wind up
from the south. How about you all? And that's
what this is talking about. So what he's saying here, look
at it. He's talking about, they're going to see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4 saying. How are
they going to see? God's going to give them spiritual
eyes. They're going to hear a sound of joy. A trumpet shall blow. God's going to give them spiritual
ears. And they're going to be warmed by that whirlwind out
of the south. It's a powerful wind, but it's
a warm wind because it picks that sinner up and delivers him
into the bosom of the king. And that's where he wants to
be. It's the gospel of revelation. It's the glory of God revealed
in the face of Jesus Christ. And then verse 15, it's the gospel
of security. Look at it. The Lord of hosts,
that's the Lord who cannot be defeated, shall defend them.
He's our defense. And they shall devour and subdue
with sling stones. In other words, all enemies are
gonna be cut off. And of course, the sling stones,
that reminds you of David against Goliath, doesn't it? David had
no power to defeat Goliath, and David knew that. but the God
of Israel could not be defeated by any giant. And they shall
drink and make a noise as through wine, that's the wine of the
spirit, that's the joy of victory, and they shall be filled like
bows as the corners of the altar. Remember the priest used to catch
the blood off the altar in a bowl and they had four horns on the
corners of the altar and they would sprinkle blood on those
four horns representing the four corners of the earth. and how
the gospel of the blood, how the atonement is sufficient to
save all of God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. That's our security. That's our safety. And then lastly,
it's the gospel of God's glory. Let's read the last two verses.
And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the
flock of his people, the good shepherd gives his life for the
sheep. For they shall be as the stones
of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land, the jewels in
the crown of the king as an ensign, a sign of his power and his glory,
verse 17, for how great is his goodness. That's what we declare.
How great is the goodness of our God. We don't declare how
great our own goodness is, do we? You see, this is the gospel
of his glory. And it says, and how great is
his beauty. You know, the church represented
as his bride in the Song of Solomon is called beautiful, why? Because
of his beauty. We behold the beauty of the Lord,
and corn shall make the young men cheerful. What that simply
means is we're going to be full. We're not going to be hungry.
We're going to feed upon the bread of life, Christ. And it
says, and new wine the maids. They're going to be joyful in
the power of the Spirit as they look to Christ. and rest in him. All right.