Well, in Zechariah chapter nine,
we come actually to the third and the final, the last major
division of God's prophecy through this prophet Zechariah. As you
can remember, the first six chapters of this book began with Zechariah,
the spokesman for God, the ambassador of Christ, that's what a prophet
is, He called for Judah to repent. And then we had the eight night
visions that God gave for the people. Gave them to Zechariah
to bring to the people. These eight night visions, you
remember, were all prophecies and testimonies of God's judgment
upon his enemies, but also of the certainty of salvation and
glory that sinners can and do have in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. the promise Messiah. No hope of salvation but in Christ. And that's the summation of those
eight night visions really. I mean you can get into the details
and that's fine. But the summation of them, the
message of them is no hope of salvation, no hope of forgiveness
of sins, no hope of righteousness before God but in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then you recall in chapter
seven and eight we had God's answer to the men who came from Bethel
asking about their ritual fasting. They'd kept those ritual fasts
and God's answer to them through the prophet Zechariah was essentially
this, heartless ritual fasting, God hates. But that heartless
ritual fasting would eventually be turned into feasting for the
true people of God. Not just false professors, but
the true people of God, the true Israel. All who would, as he
says in chapter 8 and verse 23, if you remember, who would take
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, talking about Christ.
Take hold of his skirt, like that woman with the issue of
blood. If I could just touch the hem of his garment. It's
an act of faith. Taking hold of his skirt, that's
an act of faith. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it takes a sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit to give
a sinner a heart to do that. Isn't that right? That's not
natural to you or to me or to any man. Now beginning here in
chapter 9 we come to another prophecy of God that's given
in the form of what what the Bible here calls a burden. There
are two burdens. Verse 1 says the burden of the
word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach in Damascus. And there
are two burdens. The second one starts over in
chapter 12. You can read about it. It says, the burden of the
word of the Lord for Israel, chapter 12 and verse one. So
basically you have two messages, two burdens. And it carries on
through the end of the prophecy. Why are these prophecies called
burdens? Well, the word burden actually just means proclamation.
But I thought about this, you know, the prophecies are called
burdens because they include words of God's judgments against
sin. You know, we don't enjoy preaching
about God's wrath or God's judgment against sin. It's a necessity.
We must do it because it's truth. But I hope that anytime we ever
speak of sinners who die in unbelief and step out into eternity, Without
Christ, I hope that we do it with a tear in our heart. I hope
so. I mean, I think about that quite
a bit because, you know, we're so, by nature, we're so vengeful,
aren't we? We're so, by nature, we're the
God-get-em type, aren't we? And that's sad, that's wrong.
But whenever anybody steps out into eternity without Christ,
without the blood, Can you imagine standing before God without the
blood of Christ? There's not a more horrible situation
to be in. Standing before God without a
righteousness that answers the demands of his law and justice.
So it's a burden because of that. It's a burden because these truths
of God's gospel, even the true gospel and the true gospel, the
joys of the gospel, what I mean, in light of so many people who
reject and don't believe it, these truths lay heavy on the
heart. Jeremiah spoke of it. In fact, the false preachers
who made fun of Jeremiah, they called him the burden. They called
Jeremiah himself. He said, here comes the burden.
It's almost like O'Ahab said about the prophet Micaiah. He said, he doesn't ever have
anything good to say about me. And it's a burden because it's
a profound message. The message that we believe and
preach, the message that we're met here tonight to identify
with and to testify of, even with our presence, is a message
that has eternal consequences. This is no light matter, is it?
This is not just religion. This is not surface. I don't
care who you are, you cannot walk away from this congregation
tonight indifferent. You may think you're indifferent,
but God doesn't see it this way. He that is not for me is what?
Against me. That's the way it is. And that's
a burden. It's not like entertaining you.
It's not like telling you a joke. You know, you can laugh it off.
This is serious business. Zechariah knew that. Sometimes
God's word of judgment is about destruction. We're going to read
about that here in Zechariah 9. There's going to be some destruction.
God's just wrath against sin. And it's destruction for all
who stand against Christ. He that believeth not shall be
damned. All who die in unbelief shall be destroyed and damned.
But sometimes God's word of judgment is a word of salvation. That's
for all who do trust Christ and rest in Him, who take hold of
the skirt of His garment, who believe in Him, rest in Him,
who die in the faith. They'll be eternally saved and
eternally blessed. But we have to remember this,
and I think this is a good place for us to remind ourselves of
something that we learned back in the beginning of this study,
and that is this, that even in judgment, God is still blessing
his people in Christ. You remember what, when we opened
up the study of Zechariah, we read about Zechariah and his
father and his grandfather and what their names meant? Zechariah,
you remember? How can you forget Zechariah's
name, what it means? It means God remembers. And then
Barakiah, that means Jehovah blesses. And then Edu, it means
at his appointed time. So the theme of Zechariah is
God remembers. Jehovah remembers to bless his
people, but at his appointed time. And I think about, whenever
I think about that, I think about the cross. I think about Christ
coming into this world in God's appointed time, in the fullness
of the time God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. I think about
what Christ accomplished when he was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
According to man's timetable, It was so long that he wouldn't
even believe. But according to God's timetable,
it came right on time, in the fullness of the time. Jehovah
remembers to bless his people at his appointed time. Now here
in chapter nine, we come to a point in Zachariah's life, most scholars
say that this was about 40 to 50 years after the events of
chapter seven and eight, after these men came from Bethel and
posed this question about ritual fasting, and then you had a period
of 40 to 50 years, and then this burden of the word came to Zechariah. Some scholars disagree, doesn't
matter. The issue is, is it comes right after in revelation of
God's word. But I believe that at this time,
the temple is now completed. Zechariah's probably now an old
man. Israel, Judah rather, we'll say,
to be more specific, the southern kingdom, is still weak, still
vulnerable, under foreign domination. At this time, they were under
the Medes and the Persians. You remember, they were conquered
by the Babylonians, then the Medes and the Persians. They
were allowed to go back. 50,000 went back to Jerusalem.
Nehemiah, you remember the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah had not
yet returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That's what he
was going to undertake. And Israel, Judah, was still
surrounded by powerful, ungodly, idolatrous enemies, aggressive
enemies. That's this list of names that
he gives here in chapter nine. That's what he's talking about.
These were infamous enemies of Israel. So here they were surrounded
by these neighbors who were against them, who wanted to conquer them.
still surrounded the weak remnant of Judah, and the people worried. I mean, you think about it. Say,
what if these neighbors attack us? What if they tear down the
temple that we've worked so hard to rebuild? What if they invade
us and take us off captive again? They feared what the future might
hold for their families and their nation. And that's the people
to whom Zechariah delivers the message of chapters nine through
14. Most people view, or most commentators
I'll say, they view the first eight verses of chapter nine
as a prophecy of Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great, remember
Alexander the Great. And they view this as a prophecy
of Alexander the Great coming as God's instrument of judgment
in conquering Israel's enemies. And here we have three enemies
that are mentioned. The Syrians, we have the Phoenicians,
and the Philistines. I'm sure you're familiar with
the Philistines. They were infamous enemies of Israel and Judah throughout
their history almost. You remember, Goliath was a Philistine. Samson fought against the Philistines,
but they're also the Syrians and the Phoenicians. And the
events that took place here, as far as Alexander the Great
is concerned, was 200 years in the future when Zechariah gave
this prophecy. So about 200 more years. You
remember Daniel's four beasts? You remember the dream that Nebuchadnezzar
had back in Daniel chapter two of the statue? The head was Babylon,
the arms and the shoulders was the Medo-Persian Empire, and
the torso and the thighs of bronze, that was Greece. And then Daniel's
four beasts, the beast represented those four empires. And Greece
was the third one, and it was represented by a leopard. Well,
that's part of Zechariah's prophecy here. So it is talking about
Alexander. In fact, we're gonna see in the
first eight verses that the cities and kingdoms and empires that
he mentions here, that was the exact route, history proves that,
this was the exact route that Alexander took when he began
to conquer this part of the country. He went from here to here to
here. It's right like this. But I want to show you something
else. There's some merit, obviously,
to viewing God's work in providence alluded to here, even in using
an ungodly, idolatrous, heathen, conqueror, power-hungry conqueror
like Alexander as an instrument of judgment. But there's several
things in this chapter that show us plainly that this prophecy
goes far beyond Alexander to someone and something far greater. For that reason, I want you to
look at verse nine. As I said, I'm gonna start through
the first eight verses and I'll get as far as I can go, but verses
nine through 11 are pivotal here and form the foundation and basis
and the key for interpretation, all right? And for that reason,
I've entitled this message, Behold Thy King Cometh. Look at it,
verse nine. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem,
behold thy king cometh unto thee. Now I've entitled this message,
Behold Thy King Cometh, and the next message, because this right
here is the key. I may not get to these verses
specifically, but look at, he says, this king who's coming
unto thee, he is just and having salvation, and look at it, lowly
and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foe of an ass. Now
who's that talking about? We'll turn to Matthew chapter
21. Look at Matthew chapter 21, and
we'll read more of this passage in Matthew 21 next time, but
let's just start off with verse one of Matthew 21. It says, and when they drew nigh
unto Jerusalem, it's talking about Christ and his disciples,
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 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, you shall say the Lord
hath need of them and straightway he will send them. Don't you
just love that? He'll do it, don't worry about
it, he'll do it. All of this was done that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by the prophet, which prophet? The one we're
studying tonight, Zechariah. Saying, tell ye the daughter
of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon
an ass, and a coat the foal of an ass. And of course, then it
begins to speak of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where they
cried, Hosanna, Hosanna. Save us now. That's what that
means. Some have said, praise the Lord,
but what it really means, save us now. Salvation. Well, Zechariah, back over here,
look back at verse 10. He says, I will cut off the chariot
from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow
shall be cut off. In other words, Israel and Jerusalem
and Ephraim, they won't have to depend on human effort and
human means. And he shall speak peace to the,
who's that say? The heathen. Now who's the heathen
there? That's us. That's right, that's
us. That's the Gentiles. Now the
first eight verses of Zechariah 9, even though there's a historical
application to Alexander the Great and what he does there,
and I'll show you how it all connects. is a prophecy of Christ
saving his people out of the Gentile nations, getting the
gospel to them. That's what it's all about. Behold
thy king cometh. And so he speaks of God's salvation
being brought to and worked out in his elect among Gentiles,
the heathen. the gathering of his chosen from
the four corners of the earth. Remember, he told Abraham in
the covenant, Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, or verse 1, 2, and
3, in these shall all nations be blessed. You know, Israel,
when they received the old covenant and the temporal blessings of
that and the word of the Lord and the priesthood and the sacrifices,
they were never commanded by God to build a wall around themselves
and say, now we've got it, the Gentiles don't. And ha, ha, ha,
let's hide it from them, no. They were to be witnesses to
the Gentile nations. They were to be examples, but
they failed miserably. Because in that old covenant
there was no provision for true faith and repentance, you see.
That's why he said a new and better covenant would be established
in Christ and they shall all know me from the least of them
to the greatest. But God dealt with them as he
deals with all. And here is this prophecy of
this man Alexander. Alexander, though he was a pagan,
though he was an ungodly idolater who claimed himself to be God. You know, Alexander, he renounced
his own father and said he was born of the gods and claimed
to be God. That's what he did. He was put into power by the
true and living God. Think about that one. And he
was used of God, you know, we would think of somebody, you
know, and I thought about this when people think of somebody
who would raise up in such pride, and we would automatically think,
well, you better be careful, God might strike you dead or
something. God raised this man up and made
him successful. And he was used of God to defeat
these other evil empires to accomplish the will of God for what? To pave the way for Messiah to
come and for bringing the gospel to the Gentile nations. I'll
tell you, I stand amazed at this. We see here a prophecy of how
Christ, the King of Kings, will accomplish his will in saving
his people and in establishing his church throughout the world.
The gospel will triumph in these pagan empires and cities because
our God's in control. You know, Alexander the Great
was used of God as an instrument more than any other tyrant to
prepare the world for the furtherance of the gospel, for the missionary
work and of evangelism. Now Alexander didn't believe
the gospel, he didn't know the Lord, he didn't care. All he
wanted was power, power, riches, a name for himself. But God used
this man in spite of himself to do more than any other tyrant
to pave the way for the gospel to get out to folks like me and
you, the heathen. Alexander brought the civilized
world under the Greek influence and culture. And as you know,
the New Testament was written in the Greek language. That was
the international language. That was like English today.
It was the common language, Greek was. One of the most evangelical,
one of the tools of evangelism, rather, used more than anything
else in the days after the apostle was a Greek translation of the
Old Testament. The Bible was getting out in
Greek. The Bible identified the Gentile
world under the Greek title. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and to the who, the Greek also.
It's a Gentile. Greek was the universal language.
Rome followed and built a network of highways because of Alexander's
influence to all known cities. Some form of law and order was
introduced into that wild, Culture, so that God's preachers could
travel from city to city unmolested, brought law and order to the
seas they can travel. Now here's the key, don't praise
Alexander for that. Don't praise Greece, don't praise
Rome, praise God. Praise God for all this. The
emphasis here is on the sovereignty of God as he works all these
things after the counsel of his own will. And as I said, now
look at chapter 9, look at verse 1, the order of listing of these
cities and kingdoms is the order of Alexander's march when he
started his campaign to conquer the world in this area. And it
starts off, the burden of the word of the Lord in the land
of Hadrach. We just don't know what Hadrach
is. I've studied it, I've looked
it up, I've searched it, the commentators disagree on it.
Hadrach was probably, it was either a king of one of these
Syrian kingdoms, or it was a city that doesn't exist anymore. Either
way, this is the Syrian empire here, because he mentions Damascus. And he says, the burden of the
word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach and Damascus shall
be the rest thereof, when the eyes of man, and the word for
man there is what we call Adam. That's the same word. The eyes
of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the
Lord. You see, Alexander was triumphant
in conquering these world powers. But it's not his triumph that
we're really concerned with. He conquered the known civilized
world, but it's not his conquering that we're really concerned with
here. It's God's work through Christ to conquer the souls and
the hearts of men to bring them to a saving knowledge of the
God who justifies the ungodly. That's what this is all about.
In the downfall of these nations would come the conversion of
God's elect among the Gentiles. And this order also outlines
the order in which the gospel was brought to these places and
people were brought to look toward the Lord. You see that? The eyes
of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the
Lord. They're going to look to the
Lord. What does that mean? That means their eyes are going
to be fixed on Christ. That means the eyes of his people
will be turned to and focused upon the heavenly father as he's
revealed in Christ. It begins with a look, Isaiah
45, 22. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there's none else.
It continues in looking. How do we run the race of grace?
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It
ends in a look, Revelation 22, four. And they shall see his
face and his name shall be in their foreheads. the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. Look to him. You see what he's
talking about here when he talks about those eyes of man shall
be toward the Lord. That's Jehovah God. That's the
God of the covenant. That's the same God who saved
Abraham by his grace. It's the same God who justifies
the ungodly, who reveals himself in his fullness in the person
and finished work of the Messiah, the God-man. And so the eyes
that he's talking about here are blessed eyes, not natural
eyes. For no man by nature can see
these things. They see the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. They're like the blind man of
John chapter nine who said, I was blind, now I see. I see Christ
as my wisdom. That's our eyes fixed on the
Lord, turned toward the Lord. I see Christ as my righteousness. Not in me, Christ. I see Christ
as my redemption, my peace, my protection, my sanctification.
Christ is the grace of God for me. Grace and truth comes by
Jesus Christ. Grace reigns through His righteousness
unto eternal life. I see Christ as the forgiveness
of my sins, the blood that He shed on Calvary's tree, the incorruptible
precious blood of Christ. I see Christ as my precious precious
Savior. I see Him as my preservation
for He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto the Father by Him. I see Christ as
my glory for I shall be made like Him. That's the eyes that
are toward the Lord. Now, as I said, this hadrach,
we don't know what hadrach is. Like I said, could be a Syrian
king, could be a place. But Damascus we know a lot about.
Turn to Acts chapter 9 with me. The book of Acts chapter 9. And here's the thing about it.
Look at the timetable here. This is amazing. 200 years before Alexander came
and conquered these cities, and connected them all up, basically,
under his idolatrous, ungodly leadership. And of course, you
know, Alexander died when he was around 30 years old. And
then the Roman Empire came in and took over after Alexander's
four generals divided up and messed everything up. But anyway,
it was all one system, ungodly system, and yet God's working
his power here. And so Alexander comes along
and it's 200 years after this prophecy. This is about 550 years
before Christ. And what God, by his sovereign
power and providence, did by this man Alexander in paving
the way here, worked its ultimate completion through the apostles
in the book of Acts. Damascus. You know what he says
back there in Zechariah 9? It says, It says that Damascus
shall be the rest thereof. Did you see that in Zechariah
9.1? Damascus shall be the rest thereof.
What that literally means is this, the message, this burden
of the word, this proclamation of God's judgment in the damnation
of all who are without Christ and in the salvation of all who
are in Christ, that message is going to settle rest in Damascus. of all places. You know Damascus
was the capital of the Syrian Empire and you know it's still
the capital of Syria today. Damascus, that place, that heathen
enemy of God and his people, the message is going to settle
right there, that's what that means. It's gonna rest right
there. God's glory would rest in Damascus, how? In the conversion
of his elect in that place. and in the establishment of a
church. Look at Acts chapter 9 verse 1. Remember Saul. You know who Saul was. Saul,
yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters
to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, what way? The way of Christ. The way of
grace. the way of the gospel, Christian.
Whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto
Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus. Suddenly there shined round about
him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. That same
one whom Zechariah talked about riding lowly on a lowly ass. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said in him, arise
and go into the city. What city? Damascus. And it shall be told thee what
thou must do. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And
Saul rose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he
saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into
Damascus. And he was three days without
sight, and neither did he eat or drink. And there was a certain
disciple at Damascus." A disciple of who? A disciple of Christ. A sinner saved by the grace of
God. A certain disciple at Damascus
named Ananias. And to him said the Lord of the
vision, Ananias. And he said, behold, I am here.
And then you know the rest of the story. As old Paul Harvey
says, you know the rest of the story. How do you suppose the gospel
got to Damascus? I don't know, but I know it did.
From God's testimony. You see that? You mean to tell
me that something that happened at this time, you'd have to say
around 550 years before, maybe 580, paved the way for a man
named Ananias in Damascus to comfort and encourage and pray
for and care for the Apostle Paul. I mean, that's a wow moment,
folks. I don't know how you get away
from that. I mean, think about that, in Damascus. And notice
back over here, hold your hand there at Acts, because we'll
be going back to that in just a moment. And I'm going to hurry
here. Now, you know, here in Zechariah 9, he said here, in
verse 1, he said that the eyes of man, well, we know the eyes
of man and ice, the eyes of Saul were turned toward the Lord. And it says here, and it says,
as of all the tribes of Israel, who's he talking about there?
He's talking about spiritual Israel there. He's talking about
those Israelites who eyes are turned toward the Lord. Sinners
saved by the grace of God. So what's he saying? He's telling
the people of his day, Zacharias saying, look, you don't have
to worry about this temple and your kingdom and your family.
God's gonna save his people out of the Jews and out of the Gentiles. It's coming. It's coming. They'll be toward the Lord. Look
at verse two of Zechariah 9. It says, and Hamath shall also
border thereby. Now, Hamath was right next to
Damascus. And what he's saying here, turn
to Acts chapter 11 here. Look at Acts chapter 11 and look
over in verse 26. And what he's saying is the same
gospel blessing through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and
grace of God that would come to Damascus would also come to
Hamath. Look at verse 26, it says, and
he's talking about Barnabas here looking for Saul, looking for
Paul. And it says, and when he, Barnabas,
had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. Now that's Antioch
of Assyria. And it came, and Antioch is the
same as Hamath. Hamath was an ancient name for
Antioch. So you could say he found him
unto, brought him unto Hamath and it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church. There's a church
in Antioch. There's a church in Hamath. Who's
the church? That's the elect of God. That's
the redeemed of the Lord. That's the called out ones. And
they taught much people and the disciples were first called Christians,
were called Christians first in Antioch, in Haman. was a Christian,
it's a disciple of Christ. You see that? The reason that
it was called Antioch, at this time, instead of Hamath, as you
remember, Antiochus or Antiochus that came later on after Alexander,
he was puffed up and had to have a, you gotta have a city named
after you, if you're puffed up and proud. Alexandria had already
been named, that was in Egypt, Alexandria was named after Alexander,
well he, Antiochus had to have one after him, Antioch. But it
was Hamath. And you think about that. Look back at chapter two, look
at chapter nine and verse two. It says, and Hamath shall be
bordered thereby. Now he comes to the Phoenician
cities, and the Phoenicians were known as great sailors and ship
builders and commercial on the seas. It says, Tyrus and Zidon,
though it be very wise, Now Tyrus is Tyre. Remember our Lord upbraided... and Sidon is Sidon. Tyre and
Sidon. Remember in Matthew 11 the Lord
upbraided those cities because they believed not? And they were
cities of Phoenicia. In fact, Tyre, you know, I opened
up the service tonight reading Psalm 45, read the whole Psalm.
It tells you, I can't remember which verse, but on down in that
Psalm, it talks about Tyre, T-Y-R-E, the same place here, eventually
is going to be blessed with the grace of God in the future. Psalm
45, man, that's the Psalm of Christ. The Lord said unto my
Lord, sit thou on my right hand. They're gonna be blessed with
the grace of God. And he said, though it be very
wise, verse three, look at this. He says, and Tyrus did build
herself a stronghold, and Tyrus was known for a huge, it was
a big walled city. It was known for its wisdom.
There was probably centers of learning there. It was known
for its defenses, its power. And it says, heaped up silver
as the dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets. That
means that gold and silver was so abundant in Tyre and Zion
that you could almost pick it up like you did the dust of the
earth. Rich people. And it says in verse four, behold,
the Lord will cast her out. and he will smite her power in
the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. So what's he saying? Well, turn over to Acts 21. Turn
to Acts 21. Now you know that the Lord upbraided
those cities of Tyre and Sion, Bethsaida, Chorazin, you remember
that. Remember that's when he said that it would be better
at the judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than it would be for
you. But look what happens here. Look at Acts 21, look at verse
2 of Acts 21. It's talking about the Apostle
Paul here. He found a ship sailing over
unto Phoenician. Now remember Tyre and Zion are
Phoenician cities. And he said, we went aboard and
set forth. Now when we had discovered Cyprus,
we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed
at Tyre. Same place that we're talking
about, that Zachariah's talking about. For there the ship was
to unlaid her bird, and finding disciples, we tarried there seven
days. We stayed there a week. We found
disciples in Tyre. The gospel had gotten to Tyre,
and that includes Sidon. They were twin cities. And he
says, we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through
the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. They were
trying to dissuade Paul from going because they knew what
was going to happen. But there were disciples there. The gospel had gotten
there. God had saved his people in that place. Isn't that amazing? Back over in Zechariah 9, here
Tyre and Zion, they were known for their wisdom, for their power,
their defenses, their wealth. And I thought about this, what
a picture of the Holy Spirit's work in bringing a sinner to
salvation through conviction of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. What he's saying here, these cities, God's going
to use Alexander to bring them down in humility and to show
them the reality of what man really is, a sinner, cursed,
ungodly, dead in trespasses and sins. And none of their fortresses,
none of their wisdom, none of their riches would stop Alexander.
He'd still conquer them. God said here, He said, I'm going
to take them away. I'm going to cast her out. Nothing
could stop it. And I thought about that. Because
just as none of these fortresses would be able to stop Alexander
and his army, none of the wisdom, power, defenses, and riches of
man in sin can stop the Lord Jesus Christ in his gospel invasion
and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring his people to Christ.
We have no wisdom in spiritual things without Christ. We have
no power in spiritual things without Christ. The gospel is
the power. Christ and him crucified is the
power and wisdom of God, the scripture tells us. We have no
defenses against the accusations of the accuser of the brethren
without Christ. Without being washed in his blood
and clothed in his righteousness, what defense we have? None. We
have no wealth of righteousness without Christ. That's why the
Lord said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Jeremiah said in chapter nine
and verse 23, thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which
execute loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Look at Zechariah
nine and verse four. He says, Behold, the Lord will
cast her out, he will smite her, power in the sea, and she shall
be devoured with fire. The Lord will strip her of her
possessions, strike down her power, she'll be devoured with
fire. The gospel is a fire in the hands
of the Holy Spirit. Burns away the dross of self-righteousness
and creature works and brings us bare to Christ, pleading and
begging for mercy. Paul said, that which I thought
was gained, that I counted lost for Christ. That's what, that
fire. The gospel is a fire burning
in the heart of a sinner who sees his need of Christ. Look
at verse five. Now he goes to the Philistines,
the cities of the Philistines. Ashkelon shall see it and fear. Geza or Gaza also shall see it
and be very sorrowful. Ekron for her expectation shall
be ashamed. These cities of the Philistines.
And the king shall perish from Geza. and Ashkelon shall not
be inhabited. God humbles his people and exposes
all false refuges, turning our hopes and expectations into shame. What do we hope and expect by
nature? We hope to be saved, to be accepted, to be rewarded,
to be blessed by our works. That's our shame. And he does
this, God does it so that he may lift us and exalt us by his
grace and give us a good hope through Christ. Turn to Acts
chapter eight, this Gaza here, Gaza. Look at Acts chapter eight,
let me just show you this one. The gospel came to these cities.
Now, and it just mentions Gaza or Gaza here, but Ashkelon and
Ekron are included, and I'll show you that in just a moment.
But look at Acts chapter eight, look at verse 26. Who do you
suppose was the first one to preach the gospel at Gaza? which
says in verse 26 of Acts 8, And the angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Geza, which is desert. And
of course we know what happened on his way, he met with an Ethiopian
and God saved one of his people. That's where Philip was going,
that's where he was, so go evangelize Geza. Take the gospel to this
Philistine city. And then In verse, back over,
keep your hand right there in Acts 8 and look back at Zechariah
9. Look at verse 6. He says, and
a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride
of the Philistines. Now Ashdod was a crown jewel
of the Philistine empire. And this bastard, now it may
refer to Alexander who set himself up as a god and claimed to have
been born of gods. But I want to show you something.
Look back at Acts 8 and look at verse 40. It says, But Philip was found
at Azotus, and passing through he preached in all the cities
till he came to Caesarea. You know what Azotus is? It's
the Greek name for Ashdod. Philip went to Ashdod and he
preached the gospel. Now, in light of that, that word
bastard over here in verse 6 of Zechariah 9, it's also translated,
in most cases, stranger, foreigner. What are the people of God often
called in Scripture? Strangers and pilgrims in this
land. So I believe probably this is
mainly talking about God's elect in this place. That we're in
this world, but we're not of the world. We're in this world,
but we're not citizens of the world. We're aliens. We're people
out of place in that sense. We're in the place God put us,
don't get me wrong. But I mean, as far as our fellowship, and
as far as what we see and believe and love, we're not of the world. So this could be referring to
the elect remnant of God's elect in that city. We'll go back to
Zechariah 9, let me close, in verse 7, and I'll hurry. He says,
and I will take away his blood out of his mouth. Now this is
still talking about the Philistine empire in the cities. The blood
of his mouth and his abominations between his teeth, that had to
do with idolatry. They'd actually drink the blood
and eat the flesh of sacrifices that they used. And he said,
I'm going to take that blood out of their mouth. God's going
to remove the idolatry that dominated. And he says in verse seven, but
he that remaineth, he that is left, even he shall be for our
God. There's a remnant, you see. God's
going to destroy idolatry and all idolaters, but there's a
remnant of his people. And he says, he shall be for
the Lord. He's going to be converted and he shall be as a governor
in Judah. That's literally a prince in
Judah. It's speaking literally of heads
of families. What he's talking about is spiritual
leadership and the gospel. In other words, these who are
left, who are for God, they're going to lead their people in
the gospel, like preachers who preach the gospel. That's what
he's talking about. And he says, and Ekron, that
other Philistine city, he said, they shall be as a governor in
Judah and Ekron as a Jebusite. What's a Jebusite? It's an Israelite. It's somebody who's a citizen,
literally, it's somebody who's an inhabitant or a citizen of
Jerusalem. Because you know what Jerusalem
was called before David came along and conquered all that
place and took the throne? It was called Jebus, G-E-B-U-S. Jebus means threshing place.
What was God doing through David, setting up his kingdom? He was
threshing the floor, preparing the harvest, In First Chronicles
chapter 11 and verse four, mark that down, it says, David and
all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites
were the inhabitants of the land. A Jebusite's an inhabitant of
Jerusalem. Well, my friend, every sinner
who knows Christ is an inhabitant of the heavenly Jerusalem. And
then verse eight, he says, and I will encamp about mine house
because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because
of him that returneth. In other words, God, After he
swept away all the refuges of lies, he becomes our strength,
he becomes our shield, he becomes our rock, our salvation. No army
that comes in or goes out or passes by or returns can harm
us. The accuser of the brethren is
put down. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. He says, and no oppressor shall
pass through them anymore. For now, I have seen with mine
eyes. The oppressor there is literally
an exactor. An exactor is one who takes from
you that which you are obligated to pay. Who's that talking about? Jesus Christ, who was made sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He took my debt. He is my exactor,
you see. He took my debt and paid it in
full on the cross of Calvary. And because we're sinners, there's
a sin debt to be paid. He paid it all. He shed his blood. He gave us righteousness. And
now God says, for now have I seen with mine eyes. What does that
mean? It means God says, now I've got my eye on you. You see? If you're one of his,
he's got his eye on you. And let me tell you something,
he never takes it off. And it's an eye of grace. It's
an eye of protection. It's an eye of light. God Almighty. We'll pick up there next time.