Alright, we've come to the eighth
and final vision that God has given Zechariah in the night,
these night visions, and then after that begins what most commentators
call the prophetic part of the book. These night visions were
prophetic also, but they kind of classify them different just
so that we can understand what's going on in Zechariah's day and
in the ministry that God had provided him. This is the last
vision, this chapter 6. Some include verses 9 through
15 in with the vision, but it's probably more of the culmination
and the summation of all that God has taught Zechariah and
taught the people. because in that it speaks of
the man, the branch, and as you know that's a glorious identification
and prophecy and picture of Christ. Messiah, the branch, the branch
of Jesse, the branch of David, all of that, speaking of his
humanity, his incarnation, and we'll get to that next time.
But this eighth vision is a vision of judgment, and I want you to
see it in a way that I believe that is an encouragement and
not a discouragement. I've entitled the message, The
Mountains and Chariots of the Lord. The Mountains and Chariots
of the Lord. As you read along with me there,
you heard about mountains, mountains of brass or bronze, either one
would be a good translation. Then you heard about chariots.
The way the King James Version reads, it talks about like the
horses are in the chariots, they're actually drawing the chariots.
There's really nothing said about individuals in the chariots,
but we assume because of other scriptures that there are agents,
ministers in some way being drawn in these chariots by these horses.
And this is a vision of judgment. It's similar to the first vision
that Zechariah had where the angels went forth on different
colored horses, you might recall that. They were given to patrol
the earth. You remember he had the red horse
and the different ones, the black horse, to patrol the earth. And
what they were given to do was to report to the Lord concerning
the state of the nation. It's like every so often our
president gives a state of the nation address. Well, in that
first vision of the horses, they were patrolling to give the state
of the nation. And you remember they reported on the ease of
the nations. The nations of the world are
at ease. And what that means is a false
sense of peace and prosperity based on man's pride, man's works,
man's skewed knowledge of himself. And that's like our nation today,
it's like our world today. People are at peace in their
false religion. That's the state of the nation
today, the state of the world actually. A false sense of peace
because there is no true peace, there is no assurance, there's
no true comfort outside of Christ. You all know that. All the promises
of God in Christ are yea, and in him, amen. Elsewhere, it's
just temporary. You know, it's all fleeting.
People may be at rest and peace and in prosperity today, but
tomorrow's gonna come, and who knows what it'll bring. We know
what the eternal tomorrow will bring for all who are found without
Christ. And so, that's what that first
vision with the horses were. But here, you have kind of the
same symbols. that are used to reveal something
a little different. Here the horses are drawing chariots. Chariots are instruments of war. That's the way they looked at
them back then. A chariot wasn't like today, like having a car
today. You get a car to go from point A to point B. That's not
what a chariot was for. It wasn't just to get you somewhere.
It was an instrument of war. And so we look upon these as
war horses, and these agents here are warriors. And what these
are, they're visions of the final fulfillment of God's judgment
upon the nations during the last days, I believe mainly. Now you
see elements of this even in Zechariah's day. and even up
to the time of the first coming of Christ. But I believe the
main issue here that he's showing, and I believe this is an encouragement
for the people of Zechariah's day to rebuild the temple and
reestablish the worship of Jehovah, was that he's again telling them
that their very existence as a nation in that land was to
be a judgment, in a sense, a judgment upon the whole world eventually.
That wasn't realized in their day. It was to a point now. You know, we speak of the north
country here. That's Babylon. Anytime you read about the north
in prophecy, that's Babylon. You could say also Assyria. Assyria
came down from the north. And so what they're talking about
oppressors from the north, and anytime you hear about the south
in prophecy, it's Egypt. So you see what it's coming against
and God reestablishing the people back in the land of Judea there
was in essence a judgment upon Babylon and a judgment upon Egypt
but upon the whole world. But you really see this fulfilled
in the last days. Some say this is very similar
to the four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6 and there are
some similarities even though I don't believe that's the exact
interpretation of this right here. Okay? But judgment is in
view here as seen in the four chariots and the place from which
they begin their work. As I said, chariots being vehicles
of war. And they come from between two
mountains. Look at it again. Verse 1, I turned and lifted
up mine eyes and looked, and behold, there came four chariots
out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains
of brass, or bronze. Brass, in the Bible, is a type
of God's judgment. Many commentators talk about,
well, these are mountains of stability. These are mountains
that cannot be moved. Well, that's so, but brass or
bronze is an emblem of judgment. It is an immovable judgment.
It's a stable judgment. It cannot be thwarted or hindered.
This is the judgment of God against all sin of all nations. And so this brass, these brass
mountains speak of God's judgment and the inflexibility of God's
purpose and will to judge. In other words, what we're talking
about here is God's inflexible justice. God's inflexible justice. And my friend, you know as well
as I do, that is so prevalent throughout the whole of Scripture. From the very first, even man
in the garden, God revealed to Adam before the fall that justice
is inflexible. Justice is unchangeable. Justice
must be satisfied. He did that in a one-sentence
sermon. That whole realm of judgment.
is stated in a one sentence sermon. You know what it was? He said,
Adam, in the day that you eat thereof, thou shalt what? Surely
die. Can't get around it. If you sin
against God, the wages of sin is death. That's another way
of stating the presence of these two brass mountains, the judgment
of God. Moses was well aware of it. And there's a beautiful type
in the Bible of Moses lifting up a brass serpent, the brazen
serpent we call it, in the wilderness as a symbol of something or someone,
rather, that would bear the judgment of the people who looked at it
in faith according to the commandment of God. Remember what it said?
Everybody who looked lived. What did they see? They saw an
emblem of God's inflexible justice in a serpent on a pole, a brass
serpent on a pole. Christ himself, he applied this
to himself in his own death on the cross, bearing God's judgment
for the people. You see, one of the, you know,
the greatest testimony to the inflexibility of the justice
of God is the cross. And you know, I don't understand
why people can't get that. Well, I do understand it, but you think
that even the natural man could see that, but he can't. Natural
man, he doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. And I say
things like that, and I look back on myself, I didn't see
it before God revealed it to me. But if you want to know about
God's inflexible justice, the fact that he punished his only
begotten son, on the cross of Calvary unto death for sins imputed,
charged, accounted to him." That is the greatest testimony in
eternity of God's inflexible justice. But Christ himself applied
that to him. Over in John chapter 3 and verse
14, let me just read it to you. It says, He said, "...and as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up." He must be. He realized, listen,
he knew that he could not sidestep justice. And even in the infirmities
of his human weaknesses, when he prayed in the garden, he said,
nevertheless, thy will be done. He wasn't saying that trying
to get out of the cross, he was saying that to make a point for
his disciples. He said, if this cup could pass
by, if I could pass by this cup, Well, he couldn't. And he knew
he couldn't. And he's making the point to
us that the cup of God's wrath is the satisfaction of his inflexible
justice. And so he said, the son of man
must be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should not perish
but have everlasting life. Now, what is he teaching there?
He's teaching this, that without God's inflexible justice being
satisfied, there is no life, everlasting life. There's no
heaven. There's no eternal blessedness.
There's no justification of a sinner. There's no forgiveness. The Bible
says without the shedding of blood there's no remission, forgiveness,
pardon of sin. What is the shedding of blood?
It's the satisfaction to God's inflexible justice. The tabernacle
and the temple were both living testimonies to that. The tabernacle
had a bronze or brazen altar, a brass altar for the sacrifices,
God's justice. There was a bronze basin for
cleansing. Cleansing must be based upon
God's justice satisfied. So Zechariah's vision here means
that these war horses and these chariots, these instruments of
war, and he identifies them here as the four spirits look down
here in verse five he says and the angel answered and said unto
me these are the four spirits now in your concordance that
means winds some say even angels and that's where most commentators
go to identify the agents who are riding in the chariots see
the horses aren't riding in the chariots the four spirits are
the four winds Well, who are those spirits? Well, hold on
just a minute and we'll talk about that. But these are the
four spirits of heaven, and what they're doing is they're going
out to execute God's judgment on the nations. They're going
forth to execute God's judgments on the nations. Now they come,
these chariots, these horses and chariots, drawing these chariots
with these four spirits, they come out from between two mountains,
And there's a lot of speculation about that. I'll give you something
that I think that may help us with an understanding on these
two mountains. You know a lot of people say
one of the mountains is Sinai and the other one is Calvary.
And certainly you see God's inflexible justice in both. So I wouldn't
split company with a fellow over there if that's what he believed.
It could well be. Some say that these mountains
probably refer to Mount Zion, which is the church, and the
Mount of Olives, which was on the way to where Christ went
to the Garden of Gethsemane and began His suffering for His people. And you know the Kidron Valley,
you remember that? The Kidron Valley that runs between
those two mountains is also called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Now
let me show you where some commentators get that from, because I think
it's worth your while. Look over at Joel, chapter three. Go back a few pages to Joel.
And I believe this may give us a lead into an interpreting scripture
with scripture. But like I said, now, you may
take the view that one's Mount Sinai and one's Mount Calvary,
and that's fine. I mean, that's certainly, I'll
tell you one thing, it does no harm to the gospel, does it?
You know, that's one thing about whatever interpretation we put
on some of these things that aren't so clear. As long as the
interpretation does no harm to the truth of the person and the
finished work of Christ, we're okay, aren't we? And that's the
key. But let me give you, in prophecy, this is just taking
line in prophecy. You know, a lot of commentators
say you don't know exactly when Joel prophesied. I think we have an idea. But
look here in verse 1 of chapter 3, and Joel uses the same kind
of analogy even back in chapter 2 with talking about war horses
and chariots, God's judgment coming down on nations, even
in chapter 2. Go back and read that sometime.
But look at chapter 3 and verse 1. It says, For behold, in those
days and in that time, now that's speaking of the new covenant,
that's speaking of the latter days. the final days that we're
in. When I shall bring again the
captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. Now we can see a physical accomplishment
of that here in the book of Zechariah when God brought Judah and Jerusalem
back from Babylonian captivity. But the ultimate spiritual eternal
fulfillment of that is the salvation of God's elect, the church. All
right, but look at verse two, he says, I will also gather all
nations and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. Now
the Jehoshaphat means God is judge. So this is judgment here. And will plead with them, that
means accuse them, that means he'll stand against them. with
them therefore my people." In other words, the Lord's going
to be an advocate for his people but he's going to stand against
the nations, the enemies, and for my heritage Israel whom they
have scattered among the nations and parted my land. So that's
just one of the other passages that some commentators use to
go back here to Zechariah chapter 6 now. to talk about the two
mountains being Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives and the Valley
of Jehoshaphat being the valley of, being typified by the Kidron
Valley. And you know, that's the valley
that Christ crossed. Yes, the valley that David crossed
in his sorrow. That was a valley, I believe
Brother Tim James brought this out when he was preaching from
Psalm 110. Look at that just for a minute. It's just interesting
to see. We're not in any big hurry here,
I hope, on this thing. But look at this. Brother Tim
James brought this out when he was preaching here one time,
and I thought it was so significant. You know, Psalm 110 is a messianic
psalm. It speaks of Christ, the great
high priest, after the order of Melchizedek. And it speaks
of him, it says in verse six of Psalm 110, he shall judge
among the heathen. Now that's what Zechariah's talking
about. And these four chariots, and these horses, and these spirits
of the, these four spirits. And he said they're judge among
the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies,
he shall wound the heads over many countries, and it says he
shall drink of the brook in the way. And Brother James brought
that out, that that's a reference to John 18 and verse 1. You can look that up. But it's
speaking of Christ crossing. It's called the brook Cedron,
C-E-D-R-O-N in John 18, but it's the brook Cedron. And it says,
therefore shall he lift up the head. And it's talking about
his suffering. Under what? Why did Christ suffer? Just to
be a martyr? Just to draw out our sympathies?
No. He suffered under the inflexible
justice of God for our sins charged to him. And that was a picture
of that, that brook Cedron, that brook Kidron between Mount Zion
and the Mount of Olives. And he crossed that. And I think
Brother James brought out at that time, it really was like
a cesspool almost. It's where the refuse was dumped
from Jerusalem. And that's what a picture of
our sin and our depravity. Christ was made sin, folks. He was really made sin. Isn't that right? And he, listen,
he suffered under the inflexible justice and judgment of God. We'll go back to Zechariah. Now,
the two mountains now, they represent God's judgment now. That's the
key, whether you identify them as Sinai in Calvary or Zion in
the Mount of Olives. And there is judgment in both.
And I'll show you what I mean by that. There's judgment there. Now these horses and chariots,
they're ministers of judgment. Look at it again, verse 2 of
Zechariah 6. He says, "...in the first chariot
were red horses, Now the red horses, what do they symbolize?
They symbolize war and conflict. That's what the color red. God is at war with the nations. There's no reconciliation between
God and the nations. God declares war on all sin. and he sends forth the other
horses, you know, in that sense. These horses and chariots are
ministers of judgment. Now some commentators, and I
wouldn't argue with this either, they say that these four spirits,
the four spirits of the heavens represent gospel preachers. And I wouldn't argue with that,
because let me tell you something now. When we preach the gospel,
you know what we're doing? We're bringing judgment to the
world. That's how Christ is prophesied. Look over at Isaiah 42. You say,
well, what do you mean you're bringing judgment? I thought
you were bringing salvation. Well, first of all, there's no
salvation without judgment. I always keep that in mind. There's
no salvation without judgment. You know how I know that? Because
there's no salvation without Christ. And Christ was judged
for my sins. There's no salvation without
judgment. But look here in Isaiah 42, this is a prophecy of Christ.
Behold my servant, verse 1. That servant is a servant of
Jehovah, that's Christ. Whom I uphold, mine elect. He's
the chosen Son of God. He's the second person of the
Trinity. In whom my soul delighted. There's
only one person that that could ever be said by God of. in his
person and in his nature, and that's Christ. And he says, I
have put my spirit upon him and he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. Now what was he coming to do?
He said in John chapter three, I came not to condemn. He said the world's already condemned.
He said I came to bring life. So how did he bring judgment
to the Gentiles? He brought the gospel. And my
friend, the gospel is a gospel of judgment. Now, I know we don't
like to think of ourselves as being judges, and in a sense,
we got to be careful with that. I know people, there are people
who think they can go around judging everybody for everything,
and that's not what I'm talking about. But I'm talking about
in this sense, the sense that when we preach the gospel, Brother
Egg, you mentioned it a while ago. It's the saver of life unto
life, or what? The saver of death unto death.
There's no in between. This gospel judges, we'll put
it to you this way. This gospel judges every unbeliever
as lost. Isn't that right? Every unbeliever
is lost. Now they may be one of God's
elect. They may come to a saving knowledge,
but at least they're lost. If you don't know Christ, what
are you? You're lost. And it judges every believer
as saved. Go on, he says in verse 2 of
Isaiah 42, he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to
be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not bray.
Smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. That's what judgment he's talking
about back here in Zechariah 6. This is judgment unto truth.
What these four spirits, whether you see them as just, some say
angels, who are just agents of God's wrath like in Revelation.
That could be some. Some say gospel preachers. Sometimes
gospel preachers or preachers in general are called spirits.
1 John 4, verse 1, believe not every what? Spirit. That's a
person who comes claiming to speak by the Spirit of God. And
so that's what it is. But whichever they are, they're
revealing the truth of things to the nations. This is reality,
you see. And so, I'll give you another
example that we don't have to turn to is Hebrews 11, I think
it's verse 7 where it talks about Noah as he built the ark, he
feared God, he moved with fear and built an ark by which he
condemned the world. Now how did Noah condemn the
world? By building an ark. Simple. There's no salvation from condemnation
except on the ark. That's it. In other words, Noah,
by building that ark, was making a statement of judgment. And
he's simply saying this, sinner, there's no hope for you except
in Christ, who is our ark. There's no righteousness for
you, there's no forgiveness for you, there's no pardon, there's
no eternal life, there's no glory for you except in Christ. That's
what we say when we preach the gospel. Listen, this is not just
moralizing. I was reading this the other
day, I was thinking about, you know, preachers and preaching. And people love to hear moralizing
sermons. And moralizing, in a sense, isn't
bad. I mean, I love, I like it and
love it when people try to be moral people. But here's the
point. The judgment of God is such that
that will not save you. Agreed? That will not save you. You've got to get on the ark.
If Noah had put on a billboard, you know, try to be the best
you can be, you know, people wouldn't, we wouldn't argue with
that, try to be the best, but that won't save you. What will
save you? Get on the ark. Outside the ark,
what is it? Condemnation. That's the judgment
of God in both ways. Am I right? Those who are in
Christ, God judges saved, accepted, in the beloved, righteous, forgiven,
pardoned, cleansed, not guilty. That's what God judges every
sinner who's in Christ. His law books hold no matter
against you. I never get over that. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. That's a judgment of God from
his law. You don't have to fear the law
because you're not under it. You're not condemned. You're
justified in him. You're free from the law. Oh,
happy condition. Why? Because Jesus hath bled.
and there is remission. That's a judgment. Now, what
is the same judgment for everybody outside of Christ? Everyone who's
not washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness? Condemnation. And I believe that's the essence
of what these two mountains of brass and these chariots of judgment
and war and these horses, this red horse coming forth, declaring
war against all who stand in opposition to Christ. Sinners
by nature are at war with God. The Bible says the carnal mind
is enmity against God. There's no indifference there.
I don't care. Listen, a person who would tell you that they've
never even thought about it, it's still not indifference in
God's sight. It's enmity. You mean to tell me that the
ox knows his master's crib, the ass knows his master's crib,
but the person who's enjoying this life and the benefits of
it doesn't even think to return to the Creator in some way and
seek Him and understand Himself in light of the Creator? Man
by nature won't. That's right. But that's enmity
against God. That's enmity. He says he's not
subject to the law of God. He may be the most religious
man that ever lived, but he's not subject to the law of God
because a sinner is not subject to the law of God according to
God's judgment until that sinner bows to the Lord Jesus Christ
and submits to His righteousness as the only end and fulfillment
of the law for righteousness to them that believe. See, this
vision that God gives Zachariah here for him and for the people
that day and for us is a eye-opening reminder of the only way of reconciliation
with God, and that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look here,
he talks about the black horse. Look at verse 6. He said, the
black horses, there's more than one pulling this chariot. which are therein, they go forth
into the north country, and the white go forth after them. Now,
there's a little argument among commentators over this. They
say, well, why is the white horse only following the black horse?
Some translations indicate that the white horses follow all of
them. So however you want to look at
that, but the black horse symbolizes sorrow and death. That's what
black in the scripture symbolizes. Sorrow and death. And they go
to the north, followed by the white horses, white symbolizing
the holiness and the righteousness of God in Christ, symbolizing
also victory. that he's going to attain in
this judgment. I believe this is very significant.
The north there, as I told you, is a symbol of Babylon. Now,
Babylon was the most powerful enemy that Israel ever had, even
more so than Egypt. Egypt was a powerful enemy, but
Babylon was the most powerful. And if you look in the scripture,
Babylon runs all the way from Genesis to Revelation as being
the quintessential picture and type of everything religious
that opposes God in Christ. You see it in the Tower of Babel
back in Genesis chapter 10. That's where it started. That
word that started out meaning gate to God that turned out to
mean to us what we say Babel means. It means gibberish, babbling. That's how man turns the things
of God into idolatry and lasciviousness and lies. And then you end up
over in Revelation chapter 17 and 18 with the great whore Babylon
and in between you have nothing but conflict between Babylon
and Israel, captivity. So he picks out the north specifically
to send these black horses of death and sorrow. And I believe
that there's a message here that glares out to show you that there
is no hope of God's righteous judgment of salvation in false
religion. There's no hope there. Man can
run to religion and it will not help him. Religion will not save
you. Listen, only God's grace in Christ
will save a sinner. And he says here, in these black
horses and they're going to the north country, it says back down
in verse 8, look at this, it says, Then cried he, makes a
specific note here of this, Then cried he upon me and spake unto
me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have
quieted my spirit in the north country. What is he talking about?
That means God's wrath has been fully satisfied in victory. And when it comes to false religion,
Babylon. Now, they could see this, you
know, in Zechariah's day because Babylon had been destroyed by
the Medo-Persian Empire. That powerful enemy had been
destroyed. God used that other powerful
enemy to destroy one powerful enemy. but i believe the issue
here is is what the north represent in false religion that powerful
enemy that seems so indestructible you think about it in our day
false religion that comes in the name of christ false religion
the religion of man's works and efforts that applaud men and
lifts men up no preaching of christ there it seems like it
seems like it's getting so popular and so widespread That great
whore Babylon seems like it's indestructible, but it's not.
God's spirit will be quieted. He'll be fully satisfied in his
victory when his wrath is poured out. He mentions what he calls
here grizzled horses. They would be like spotted horses,
mixed horses. And they're described as bay,
which means they're strong and swift. That doesn't mean they're
colored. They're back there in verse 3. He talks about the chariots,
the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses, that word bay there
should be translated strong or swift or both. And another thing
too, commentators think that refers to all of the horses and
not just the grizzled, but either way, they're sent to the south
and that symbolizes Egypt. And then later they walk to and
fro through the earth. And that's verse seven, look
there, and the bay, If it's just talking about the grizzled that
were sent to the south, it says, the bay went forth and sought
to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth. Now
a lot of times when you see that phrase, walking to and fro through
the earth, you think of something satanic, don't you? Because you
think of Satan walking to and fro through the earth to see
who he may devour and all. That's not what this is talking
about. This is talking about in the way of seeking. And I
believe what he's talking about here is several things. Look
here, first of all, these grizzled horses, the mixed horses, spotted,
they're described that way, they're sent to the south, which is Egypt.
Now, Egypt represents bondage. Bondage. We could talk about
the bondage of the law, the bondage of the curse. Remember Paul said,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and
don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. When God
saves a sinner, he frees that sinner from bondage. And all
bondage, all who remain in bondage, like who are in the south here,
are going to be destroyed. Whatever bondage it is, It could
be the bondage of ignorance. It could be the bondage of darkness.
It could be, again, the bondage of false religion, legalism.
Whatever bondage a person is in, whatever they're bound up
in their own, it could be the bondage of their own fallen will.
But whatever keeps you bound up so that you will not come
to Christ for salvation. See, that's why freedom and liberty
is so important here. The freedom that we have at the
cross in Christ who died for our sins and set us free from
the curse of the law, free from condemnation, and that liberty
we have in the new birth when the Holy Spirit opens our hearts
and our minds and gives us life and liberates us from the bondage
of darkness and ignorance and brings us to Christ where we
believe and repent because of the gifts of God. Well, these,
this grizzled horses, they could symbolize, this could symbolize
the hears that they're sent to, mixed Jew and Gentile, spotted
horses, mixed horses. Well, God's ministers are sent
in judgment to Jew and Gentile, and God has an elect people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, setting captives
free, but also bringing judgment upon the ungodly, all of that. Someone, one commentator made
this comment about it, talking about, well he sends them to
the north and south, why not to the east and the west? Well, he said
the sea lies to the west, in this part of the country that
they're in, and the impenetrable desert lies to the east, so they
don't need to be mentioned. But you know, I thought about
this, in the Bible, east represents the place where the Lord comes
from. Returning Christ comes from the
east. And the West represents the place
of the setting of the sun. You might say it this way, where
all the providence and purpose of God comes to its final end
to the praise of the glory of his grace. So, what's he doing
here? He's using emblems of evil. Emblems
of evil to show that God sends his agents of judgment whether
they be angelic beings bringing forth judgment like in Revelation,
or whether they be gospel preachers preaching the gospel of judgment.
It's going throughout the whole world. There's no hope to the
north, no hope in false religion, and there's certainly no hope
to the south in bondage. All who come to Christ are saved,
all who don't. What is he showing here? He's
showing the salvation and final glory of all of God's people
in Christ. Listen, this is judgment for
the enemies of Christ and judgment for His people. It's righteous
judgment. It's the same righteousness that
will be their damnation, but it'll be our salvation for God
sent His Son into the world for that purpose. And there's coming
a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by
that man. whom he hath ordained, the Lord
Jesus Christ." Think about that. God's going to judge the whole
world in righteousness. In the world, there is no righteousness. In Christ, there's all righteousness. Where do you stand? If you stand
in Christ, that's it. I mean, that's glory, isn't it?
Think about it. Back up there in verse 5, it
talks about God is the Lord of all the earth. No one's going
to escape this. He's the righteous judge. He'll
bring every nation. He'll bring every person to account.
This is why we're told that vengeance belongs to God, not to us. The
wicked may prosper today or even for a few years on earth, but
then comes death and judgment. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after that, the judgment, Hebrews 9, 27. No one, listen,
let me tell you something about us, about the church, about all
the world. Nobody is going to get away with
anything. That's what this means. People
think they get away with it. And I've heard people say, well,
he'll carry it to his grave. No, he won't. He's not going
to carry it to his grave. He's going to give an account.
Isn't that right? And this fact, now let me tell
you something now. before we get too haughty in
our own minds. The only way that that can bring
me comfort, and you comfort really, is to know that my sins are forever
atoned for in Christ, covered by his blood. Nobody's going, listen, if you're
a believer, if you, listen, let me put it to you, if you receive
any comfort from the fact That man, nobody's gonna get away
with anything. If you receive any comfort from that without
Christ, without knowing the grace of God in Christ, and pleading
his blood and righteousness, then it's self-righteousness
and hatred, you know that? But we know it's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not consumed. If we have Christ, our judgment
is already taken care of, it's passed. It was at the cross. That's right. Now, listen, what
I'm saying, believer, because we're saved doesn't mean we get
away with it. No, we gave an account on Calvary's cross in
the person and work of our Savior. Every sin was taken care of. Next, it means the eternal death
and damnation of all who don't know Christ. As I've told you
before, the horse and the chariot was a state-of-the-art warfare
back then. I think the people then, and
I want, turn back to Exodus 14, I want you to see this. The people
back then looked at horses and chariots like we would look at
a hydrogen bomb. Kind of. I mean, I know they
may not have thought of total world destruction back then,
but that's how much they feared it. And you remember when Moses
When he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and they
came upon the shore of the Red Sea, and then they looked back
and they saw Pharaoh's horses and chariots. Look there at Exodus
14, look at verse 9. It says, but the Egyptians pursued
after them all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh. They saw
horses and chariots. And his horsemen and his army,
and overtook them, and camping by the sea beside Pahiroth, before
Baal-ziphon, and that's the place. And that's what they saw. And
it says, And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel
lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them,
and they were sore afraid. It struck terror. And the children
of Israel cried out unto the Lord, but that didn't last long.
They went after Moses. They said unto Moses, Because
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die
in the wilderness? Why have you dealt thus with
us? That's what they're saying. to
carry us forth out of Egypt. Is not this the word that we
did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone? That's man by nature
there. Leave me alone. Don't bother
me with your gospel of grace. I'm secure in my religion. I've
made my profession. I've been a member of that church
or this church. Leave me alone. That's like,
and he says that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have
been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should
die in the wilderness. And look at verses 13 and 14.
Then Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. which he will show you today,
for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them
again no more forever, for the Lord shall fight for you, and
you shall hold your peace." Now, these chariots and horses and
Zechariah, children of God, we need to see them as fighting
for us, not against us. Why? Because of the grace of
God in Christ. They're fighting against the
world. They're bringing judgment. We fled from the wrath to come
because we fled to Christ, our Savior. And then lastly, no one
will escape God's judgment. And I want to emphasize that.
I've said it before. Nobody's going to get away with anything.
We who are in Christ, we have not escaped God's judgment. We
suffered the full penalty of that judgment against our sin
in Christ. He died for me. When he says
that his spirit has been quieted in the north country, meaning
his wrath upon Babylon, and essentially his wrath upon all the enemies
of Christ, we can truly say with glory and with assurance that
God's wrath has been totally quieted in our case, because
his wrath has been quieted in the person and work of Christ.
We have nothing to fear from God. We fear men. We really have
nothing to fear from anyone, but we do fear men sometimes,
but we don't have that legal fear. We respect God. We reverence
him, but we rest in Christ. All right.