There's a phrase used by the
Apostle Paul, a statement he makes in Romans 13 that has been
on my mind a lot this week. Now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed. Now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed. It won't be long now. Now is
our salvation nearer than when we believed. how often our hearts
are raised with rapturous thoughts of eternity. And I'll tell you
when that usually takes place. When our sins are felt most keenly
and confessed most bitterly, as the mercy and grace and love
of our God shines forth brilliantly coming from the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, where God commends His love toward us. Then faith embraces the Savior
a little more firmly, praises Him a bit more fervently, and
looks forward to heavenly glory with greater confidence and more
triumphant hope and expectation. The morning sun is always most
welcome after a dark, stormy, restless night. The rays of the
dawning day cheer our souls as they gleam through the dark clouds,
piercing and dissipating the clouds of the night. I don't
know why it is, except for our fallen, corrupt, depraved nature,
we seem never to really appreciate blessedness until it is disturbed. After a time of great turmoil,
peace, is never more peaceful than after spending some time
in tossing storms and doubts and difficulties, then, oh, how
great, how peaceful peace is at such a time. James, or Peter,
tells us that the fiery trial of our faith, the fiery trial
of our faith is more precious than gold that perishes. He didn't
say the trial of your faith is more precious, though that certainly
is true. He said, Darwin, the fiery trial
of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes. How
come? How come? Because the trial of
your faith, when it is over, makes the hope of our Lord's
appearing more lively, causing us as believers to rejoice with
joy unspeakable, full of glory, receiving the end of our salvation,
even the end of our faith. Nothing makes the thought of
heaven sweeter, more delightful than the trials and tribulations
and difficulties of life in this world. Several years ago, it's
been about four years ago now, I went up to Great Falls, Montana
and preached for Brother John Mitchell and the congregation
at Sovereign Grace, or the New Covenant Church up there. And
Brother Mitchell's wife, or daughter rather, sang a hymn. I have,
in the past four years, I doubt there's been a day some portion
of this hymn hasn't been going over in my heart a good bit.
I've quoted it to you a number of times. Will you hear it once
more? We read of a place that's called heaven. It's made for
the pure and the free. These truths in God's word, he
hath given how beautiful heaven must be. In heaven, no drooping
or pining, no wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever
there shining. How beautiful heaven must be. Pure waters of life there are
flowing. And all who will drink may be
free. Rare jewels of splendor are glowing. How beautiful heaven must be. The angels so sweetly are singing
up there by the beautiful sea. Sweet chords from their gold
hearts are ringing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Now, as Zechariah closes his
prophecy, that's what he's got in his mind's eye. Zechariah
chapter 14, verses 20 and 21. Throughout these 14 chapters,
Zechariah has been assuring us that Christ, our mighty Zerubbabel,
who had laid the foundation stone of his house and temple, will
bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings crying, grace,
grace unto it. The prophet has been assuring
us that all God's purpose will be fulfilled. All God's promises
will be accomplished. God's people will be saved Christ
Jesus Shall finish his work Gloriously, there's no possibility. I'll
fail you with him Zechariah has been telling us that there is
a day coming a great eternal day when time shall be no more
and then in verses 20 and 21 He tells us what the end of our
Savior's work is In that day shall be. The title of my message
today, When God Gets Done. When God gets done, this is how
things shall be. In that day shall there be upon
the bales of the horses holiness unto the Lord. I've seen that
word before. Back in Exodus chapter 28, God
gave his law concerning the garments of the priesthood, not just the
garments of any priest, the garments of the high priest, Aaron's garments. And those garments are described
as gorgeous, costly garments. No king in Israel was ever arrayed
like that high priest. No king in Israel ever had such
a peril as that high priest had who made intercession for the
people of God. Because that high priest represented
another priest who is also a king. And the priest wore a crown,
not a kingly crown, but a crown nonetheless. And on his miter,
there was a plate of pure gold so that everything he did as
he went about the business of ministering in the holy place
before the Lord God had this plate engraved with these words
standing in the forefront, holiness unto the Lord. Now, Bobby Estes,
in Jesus Christ, God has made us kings and priests to serve
our God forever, one with Christ And it puts this crown on us,
and it's a crown we shall wear to eternity, holiness unto the
Lord. But this crown is on the bales
of horses. You've seen horses' bridles with
bells on them, get into some of the cities where they still
have carriages and carriage rides and take you back to yesterday,
you know. Well, down in Merida, Mexico,
they have these things all the time, all the time. And only
folks who've got a lot of money can afford to ride them. And
they're not many down there, but every once in a while you
see somebody get on them and all the horses have bells on
their bridles Don't make a lot of noise. Just a pleasant noise. Just a pleasant ringing and on
the bells is Inscribed these words holiness unto the Lord
and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before
the altar full of sacrifices and Yea, every pot in Jerusalem
and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts. What's
he talking about? The pots of the Lord's house
and every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah. Every common thing. in the lives of every saved sinner,
just like the pots in the Lord's house that they are, shall be
holiness unto the Lord, sanctified to the Lord, dedicated to the
Lord, accepted as holy by the Lord. And they the sacrifice
shall come and take of them and seethe therein. And in that day
there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Now certainly these two verses
have application to the lives of God's people in this world
today. No question about that. Believers
are men and women who devote themselves to Christ. They really do. They really do.
Believers are meaning women who sell all and follow Him. Believers are meaning women who
forsake the world and follow the Lamb with us wherever He
goeth. They're not just meaning women
who profess religion. A believer is not just one who
acknowledges certain doctrinal facts and dresses up religiously
on Sunday morning and goes to church. Believers are many women
who hate the world and love the master. You cannot serve God
and mammon. If you try to serve mammon, this
world and the things of it, you cannot and will not serve Christ
the Lord. If you try to serve Christ and
love him, you cannot and will not serve this world. and those things upon which many
women spend and consume their lust in this world. You will
hate the one and despise the other, or you will serve the
one and hate the other. That's just the way it is. That's
what our Lord said. The believer is one whose heart,
is set upon Christ. And the Lord God takes that which
we bring Him as we seek to serve Him as sacrifices of praise acceptable
to God, not because they are worth anything in themselves.
You give your financial support to the cause of Christ in this
place every week and give generously. Never, never, never, never even
think about Pressuring anybody to do so. So, well, you ought
to teach folks to tithe. If I thought that you paid taxes
to God, I would. But believers aren't under the
law. We don't pay taxes to God. God's people are free-born citizens. And the tithe is not a tax by
which we maintain religion and keep things going. God, the tithe
was a picture of total ownership. And that we acknowledge. And
we now give cheerfully. Just as we offer our sacrifices
of praise we come and sing our hymns Do you think God needs
that? No, no, I I Attempt to serve
your souls and serve him in the labor of the gospel and God accepts
it God accepts it. I I used to scrubbed toilets
for a living. What I did when I was in college,
one of the things I did, and that's honorable work. It's honest
work. And I was serving God at three
o'clock in the morning when I scrubbed the toilets, just like I'm serving
Him right now. Do you understand what I'm saying?
One of my favorite jobs to describe, when folks get whining about
doing dirty works, I, uh, back in 1968, 69, copper got to be
kind of a pricey. Folks were getting copper everywhere
and selling it. I got a job, paid me 50 cents
an hour. I'd sit out in the middle of the winter outside around
the fire and burn rubber off the copper wire. So some felt
like they could sell it. What were you doing? Serving
God, serving God, serving him just like I serve him right now.
Oh, but brother Don, you're preaching now. I was his servant before
I was ever a preacher. Do you understand that? Believers
are the servants of God, and we serve our Savior in the totality
of our lives. And if every pot in the house
isn't his, none of them are his. If every aspect of your life
isn't his, none of it is his. And so the Lord accepts these
sacrifices, not on their own worth of merit. No, no. but acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. Now listen to this word from
our God. Are you His servant? Are you
devoted to Him? Are the pots in your house his
pots? Are the horses that pull your
plow his horses? Are the horses that carry your
family his horses? Then this is what he says. Go
thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry
heart, for God accepteth thy word. That'll make carrying that
hammer around all day tomorrow a little better, won't it, Duncan?
God accepteth thy works, all of them where he is. And yet,
these two verses cannot be fully and entirely applied to the life
of any child of God in this world. These last two words from Zechariah,
verses 20 and 21, will have their fulfillment And that great day
called the end, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall deliver up
the kingdom to the Father, and God shall be all in all. With
regard to this thing that we call salvation, it must be said,
better is the end of a thing than the beginning. Now, let's
look at these two verses, but before I look at them with any
closeness, I want you to see the context and see the importance
of the context. First thing I want you to see
is this. These two verses describe the worship and service of God's
elect in eternity when the Lord Jesus Christ has made all things
new. But there is an obvious connection
between what's said here in verses 20 and 21 to what Zechariah has
just described as the worship of God in the assembly of his
saints under the emblem of the keeping the feast of tabernacles. He tells us in verses 16, 17,
18, and 19 that God's people all over the world come together
to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This is what we've done here.
We've come here this morning to Jerusalem to keep the Feast
of Tabernacles. Brother Don, not really. No,
we really are. Those folks backyard didn't really. They just had
the symbol. They had the type we really have come to the heavenly
Jerusalem We've come to keep the feast to worship our God
in this holy Convocation the assembly of his saints we come
to keep the feast and those feast in the Old Testament and There
were seven of them given but God specifically Set three out
in great prominence all seven of the feast were given and men
had to keep these feasts every year Seven times in a year they
had to keep these feasts God required it under the law because
these feasts all had a distinct relationship We're given as a
distinct picture of redemption and grace by our Lord Jesus Christ. But three of them stand out prominently. Three times every year, every
man in Israel was required to leave his farm, his house, his
livestock, everything, and go up to Jerusalem for a week. And
they didn't have burglar alarms. They didn't have any way to protect
those things. I can just hear folks saying,
well, I can't do that. Or I can't do that. Well, somebody
might come in and steal all my cattle. I've got a lot of them,
you know. Somebody might come and take all my jewels from my
wife's cabinet. I've given her a lot, you know.
And God gave a word. He said you'd go up three times
every year for a week. and worship me in Jerusalem and
forget about all that stuff, I'll fix it so your neighbor
doesn't even want it. I'll fix it so you don't have
anything to worry about. You serve me and I'll honor you. But those three sacrifices, those
three annual feasts that were demanded were of particular significance. The first was the feast of the
Passover, the feast of unleavened bread. Of course, the Passover
is picturing Christ, our Passover, who is sacrificed for us. We
live by faith upon the son of God who loved us and gave himself
for us, eating his flesh and drinking his blood, taking his
obedience and his death by faith. We take him and feed upon him
and that which he is, is ours. Just as a man when he eats bread
and drinks wine, whatever he takes into his mouth and consumes
in his digestive tract becomes his. But doesn't just become
his. What you eat for lunch today,
Bobby, will be yours and it will become you. It becomes you. You. Really, you. And can never
be taken from you. That's what it is to live by
faith. We take Christ with the hand
of faith. Eat his flesh and drink his blood. And he said, now you have eternal
life in you. And if you don't, you don't.
And eating his flesh and drinking his blood, all that he is is
ours. But that's not all. Christ is
in you. He's one with you. And you're
one with him. And then there was the Feast
of Pentecost. And the Feast of Pentecost rapidly followed the
Feast of Passover because the two were intimately connected.
You have a picture of the Feast of Pentecost in that time of
the in-gathering of the harvest, the in-gathering of God's elect
on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. The Lord Jesus, our
Passover, was sacrificed for us. And when he was sacrificed
for us, he obtained eternal redemption for us. And all those who were
redeemed by him must be gathered by him. All who were bought by
him must be brought to him by the power and grace of his spirit.
And so he, as the risen king, pours out his spirit upon all
flesh. And suddenly, one day, 3,000
sinners gathered in. That's what the day of Pentecost
is all about. We are living in the Pentecostal age. I am a true
Pentecostal. You can put it out on the billboard.
I'm a true Pentecostal, and I hate speaking in tongues. I'm a true
Pentecostal, and I don't believe in signs and wonders that mean
fake. I'm a true Pentecostal. I am
set for the in-gathering of God's redeemed. That's what this day
is all about. It's the gathering in of God's
elect. And then immediately following is the feast of tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles, of all the feasts in the Old Testament,
I was surprised to learn this this week. I don't think I'd
ever noticed it before. Of all the feasts and all the ceremonies
and all the rites and all the rituals of the Old Testament,
this one is described in the greatest detail. You read about
it in Exodus 23. Leviticus 23, Numbers 29, and
Deuteronomy 16. The Feast of Tabernacles must
have really been highly significant. The Feast of Tabernacles typified
the consumption or the consummation of all things. The consumption
of time and the consummation of redemption in resurrection
glory. It symbolized the end gathering
of the redeemed, not just by grace, but gathered into heaven's
glory itself. It's talking about that which
takes place at the resurrection, at the second coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, when the Lord God has finished his work. when all
his purpose of grace has been accomplished and it shall be
accomplished. Every chosen sinner shall be
with him in glory. Every sinner for whom Christ
obtained eternal redemption shall himself obtain eternal redemption. Every sinner bought with the
blood shall be called and brought to glory by the power of God's
spirit. We shall at last be gathered
into heaven's glory. Now, this Feast of Tabernacles
was the conclusion of Israel's year. It was the conclusion of
their year. This was the last feast by which
the year was brought to its final end. It speaks of that time,
which John describes in Revelation chapter 10, when the Lord Jesus,
the mighty angel of the covenant, shall have fulfilled the purpose
of God. when he shall have fulfilled everything written in the book
of divine predestination. And he'll come again and stand
upon the earth and lift his hand to heaven and say, time shall
be no more. The mystery of God is finished. The Feast of Tabernacles was
a feast that was celebrated at a specified time of the year. That time was in the fall of
the year. And the Jews had gathered in
their grapes and the fruit of the land. And in this season
of the year, they were celebrating the full harvest. This feast
was comparable to our Thanksgiving. It was that feast that was the
ingathering of things. They came and now they keep a
feast to God acknowledging that this is God's bounty. But it's
not just the celebration of the full harvest that's talking about
as far as material things are concerned or corn and wine and
such as that. No, no, no, no. Those things
were just symbols of the full harvest of our Redeemer when
he will put his sickle in the earth and gather his grain into
his garner. This was done in the rainy season.
Had Israel held the feast in the spring, it would have been
expected to see them camping out in booms. But in the rainy
season, this was an unexpected thing. They would come to Jerusalem
and make booms. We tend to call them tents, but
more than that it was just a, but it was booths made with branches
and palm leaves and all these things put together, make a booth.
Even the folks who lived in Jerusalem, they'd go up on top of their
house and make a booth. And they'd dwell in those booths for seven
days during the time of Israel's greatest reign. Why? Why? Because this was an unexpected
thing. And the gathering of God's elect is always at a time unexpected,
always. How often have you seen this? I have observed it for a long
time now. I'll tell you exactly when God
calls out his elect as the gospel is preached in this place. I'll
tell you exactly when it does it, when I'm not expecting a
thing. Just as sure as I think, well,
this is about time, looks like God's going to call Darwin Pruitt.
God's going to call Ron Wood. God's going to call your son,
your daughter, grandchild. Looks like they're ready. But
when it looks like the fellow's been sitting there like a knot
on a log, got his face in his hands, sitting listening to the
preacher, just like I used to listen to him when I had to,
bored still. That's when God calls. That's
what he calls him. Brother Gary Vance, before he
became pastor up in Dingus, he asked his grandson, little Gary,
he's about eight or nine years old, he said, Gary, do you ever
hear what Brother Hap says when he's preaching? And his grandson
said, I try not to, Papa, but sometimes it gets through anyhow.
When God calls, it'll get through anyhow. And I'll tell you when
Christ is coming, when nobody expects him to come. And I'll
tell you when you're leaving this world, at his time appointed,
And nobody can predict it. This Feast of Tabernacles speaks
of the end of everything, the engathering of everything. Well,
what was the purpose of the feast? That's the third thing. It was
to remind Israel that all the time they had lived in the wilderness,
wandering through the wilderness, all the days of their pilgrimage,
God took care of them while they lived in booze. They lived in
just temporary shelters. going through the wilderness.
They lived day by day, never knowing where that pillar of
fire would take them in the daytime, or where that pillar of fire
would take them in the night, or that pillar of cloud would
take them in the day. But whenever the pillar in the sky moved,
God said, move, and off they went. and they'd pull up stakes
and take off. Well, how can you expect to ever
obtain anything? How can you ever expect to accumulate
anything? How can you ever expect to gather
anything in? You'll not be hungry. I'll feed
you manna every morning. You remember the gold and the
silver the Egyptians gave you? That was by my design. Look at
your shoes. Have you got any holes in the
soles? I've seen to it that they last 40 years. Look at your clothes. I've taken care of that. Remember,
all the days of your sojourn, I'm your shelter, I'm your defender,
I'm your protector. All the days of your life, I'm
your provider. All that you have comes from
me. I give it and I can take it as
I will. It's mine, but much more. This
Feast of Tabernacles speaks of another, better, more glorious
day for the Israel of God. It speaks of that day we read
about in Revelations 20, 21, and 22, just a little while ago.
John said, and the tabernacle of God was with men. When the Lord Jesus comes and
makes all things new. creates a new heaven and a new
earth. When the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven like a
bride adorned for her husband. That holy city is not talking
about a physical city. Who ever heard of a man burying
a city? No, it's used, the city is used to describe the full
salvation of all God's elect and the full perfection of his
church. As we descend to the earth with
our Lord, upon a new earth that he's created, John says the tabernacle
of God is with man. When our earthly house of this
tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building, not made with hands
eternal in the heavens. But there's something still more
that's described here. This Feast of Tabernacles, as
it represents the beginning of the new creation, all of it is
connected with the incarnation of our Redeemer. And Zechariah,
as he's going through these 14 chapters, has been focusing continually
on this day, this day, this day, when at last God comes in human
flesh. He took on Himself our nature. That's not right, Rod. That's
not what the book says. I say it all the time, but that's
not what the book says. The book says the Word was made flesh. God the Son was made what we
are, all things except sin itself, and then at last made sin for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And all the worship of God, all the salvation of God's elect,
all the glory of God is connected with the incarnation of Christ,
who the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. And the
new creation began with his death and resurrection, and he will
make all things new when he comes again as well. This keeping of
the Feast of Tabernacles is described in the book of God as a time
of celebration, a time of great joy. These booze, symbolizing
everything here temporary. But we're moving to a land where
everything is permanent. And it's all because of Him who
is God eternal, coming here for a little while in our nature. But look at Him yonder! He's
still God in nature. and shall be forever. Feast of
Tabernacles was a feast that incorporated two Sabbaths. It took in two Sabbaths. It began
on the 15th day of the month and it went right through to
the next Saturday, took in two Sabbath days, two Sabbath days.
That's significant. You can find it Leviticus 23
39 if you want to look there in the 15th day of the seventh
month When you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you
shall keep the feast unto the Lord seven days on the first
day Shall be a Sabbath and on the eighth day Shall be a Sabbath. Do you recall? Matthew 28 verse
1 the day of our Lord's resurrection is being described and this is
how Our English translation reads, and it came to pass in the end
of the Sabbath as it began to dawn upon the first day of the
week. Now, I have absolutely no idea
why our translators translated that particular statement that
way, because the words translated the first day of the week And
the word translated Sabbath are exactly the same words. This
is how the passage really ought to read. And as it began to dawn,
as it came to pass that in the end of the Sabbath, as it began
to dawn upon the Sabbath, as the Sabbath began to break. Well,
Brother Don, that sounds contradictory. That sounds redundant. Oh, it
does, unless you understand the Sabbath. You see, God did not
give the laws concerning the Sabbath in Israel to keep you
from going to McDonald's on Sunday afternoon. He did not give the
law of the Sabbath day in Israel to make you scared to death that
you got your paper box too far from the house and you can't
walk out there and get it. He said, well, that's ridiculous. I know
folks who measure the steps. I know whole religions that kick
you out of the churches. They caught you swinging, playing
with your kids in the backyard on Sunday afternoon. to Sabbath? No. God didn't give the Sabbath
to make your life miserable. God gave the law of the Sabbath
to make your life blessed. Oh, how blessed it is. The Sabbath
was a day when men ceased from their works. I read this again
earlier this morning in Numbers, as he describes this Feast of
Tabernacles. Do you know how he describes
the work that you weren't supposed to do? Now the Sabbath, the laws
given the Sabbath required you, you don't go out and pick up
sticks on the Sabbath, you don't light a fire on the Sabbath. If your
ox falls in the ditch, go get it, but you better not push him
in there so you can pull him out. The laws were very specific, but
in numbers, as the Sabbath day is connected with the Feast of
Tabernacles, this is what it says. Thou shalt do no servile
work. No slavish work. No slavish work. if you keep
the Sabbath. Now, this is what the Sabbath
is all about. There are two of them. There
are two of them. There's the Sabbath of faith and the Sabbath
spoken of in our text. Here's the Sabbath of faith.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. And I'll tell you exactly where
you are if you're outside Christ. You're laboring, working like
a slave. Trying to find some way to make
yourself acceptable with God. Laboring. I'm going to read the
Bible more. Maybe that'll help. I'm going
to pray more. Maybe that'll help. I'm going to go to church more. Maybe
that'll help. I'm going to turn over and you leave. Maybe that'll
help. I'll quit drinking. Maybe that'll help. I'll quit beating my wife.
Maybe that'll help. You keep laboring and nothing
helps. You keep working and nothing
helps. You want peace and nothing helps. And you're weary. Have
you ever been really, really, really, I mean so tired you just
can't hardly stand up. Scared to death to sit down for
fear of going to sleep and you know you can't. Are you tired
in your soul? The master says, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest. Come stretch out on this bed
and you'll find it's long enough. and broad enough that you can
rest on the crucified Redeemer. Come unto me, and I'll give you
rest. And he speaks of it another way,
the same rest of faith. He says, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Some
trouble comes, some heartache, some difficulty, something that
terrifies, scares you to death. You got your arm around that
boy, and all of a sudden something happens. Looks like God may take
you. I'll tell you what you'll do.
If there were burning, broken pieces of glass from here to
the road, you'd go barefoot and walk across them trying to figure
out some way to stop it. You'd crawl on your knees trying
to stop it. You'll pace the floor. And you'll
check your bank account. And you'll consult the doctors.
And you'll get on the internet and find out everything you can
about the disease. And you'll bite your fingernails.
And you'll wring your hands. And finally! Everything's gone! All hope is gone! He said, Lord,
there's nothing I can do. And you finally bow and slip
under his yoke. He says, you'll find rest now. You'll find rest now. You won't
find any until you slip under his yoke. Come unto me, all you
that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn in me, and you shall find rest unto
your souls. And then the Sabbath speaks of
eternity. There remaineth therefore a rest
unto the people of God. In the Sabbath day, during this
Feast of Tabernacles, between these two Sabbath days, the children
of Israel sacrificed nine hundred animals, rams and sheep and goats
and lambs. Nine hundred every year. Nine hundred. All of them portraying
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, saying this is how you
get rest. It is through the sacrifice,
through the lamb, through the blood of Every day every day
if you if you could stand back here on the 15th day of the month
and watch them Let's start off with these huge numbers of sacrifices
and every day they get to be less you get the idea Every day
just a few less sacrifices. How come because just like Zacharias
prophecy That's him. That's him. That's the one! It's
all about. That's how we find rest and peace
and life with God our Savior. These sacrifices were accepted
of God and the people accepted by the sacrifices. Now, look
at Numbers, or Leviticus rather, 23 and verse 36. Why don't you
look at this one verse, and I'll wrap this up. Seven days ye shall
offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth
day shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer
an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly,
and ye shall do no servile work therein. That word solemn assembly,
if you have a marginal translation in your Bible, look at it. It's
translated solemn restraint. That's close, but it still misses
the mark. A better translation would be
this, a solemn shutting up. or a solemn closure. That second Sabbath, that eighth
day, that's the day we're looking for. Oh, hurry on, blessed eighth
eternal day, a solemn closure, a solemn shutting up of everything. That's what our text here in
Zachariah is talking about. Look at it for a minute. In that
day, There shall be upon the bales of the horses. If you look at the list of unclean
animals in the Old Testament, one of them was the horse. But
here, Zechariah is inspired by God to speak symbolically, obviously,
symbolically, clearly. But he's talking about horses
in the new creation. He's talking about horses, unclean
animals, unclean animals. Oh, how much there has been in
this world that seems so contrary to every thought of what could
possibly be good. We often hear men say, how could
this happen if there's a God in heaven? This couldn't happen. And that's how things are utterly
unclean. But in the time of the restitution
of all things, there are going to be bells on every unclean
horse ringing out holiness unto the Lord. Everything giving praise
and honor to him, everything that has been shall glorify him. And the pots in the Lord's house,
that's you and me, his people. shall be like the bowls before
the altar, full of sacrifices. Yea, in every part in Jerusalem
and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord. And all they that
sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein."
Sometimes we get the idea that heaven is somehow a time when
we're going to just sit around on clouds and strum hearts. Now just in case you imagine
me spending eternity doing that. No, no, no. I have no idea what
heavenly glory shall be. Most of it is withheld from us. I have no idea what the new earth
shall be like, but a lot of times when I'm driving down the road,
especially when I find some beautiful scenery, I think to myself, this
would be a good place to spend eternity. You were down there
around Mount Mitchell last week? Yeah, I was raised down there.
This would be a good place to spend eternity, except for one
thing, sin. And when God gets done making
all things new, He will purge the slime of the serpent from
this earth and create a new heavens and a new earth. And you know
what we're going to do? I've got a hunch we're going to live
very much like we do right now, only perfectly. Serving God day
and night with one exception, no toil, no labor, no labor. All together, perfectly consecrated
to God our Savior in all things. And one more thing, there shall
be no more Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Do you
remember as Israel was sent of God to take possession of the
land of Canaan? Remember what God told them to
do? Kill everybody. He said, kill them all. Don't
let any of them survive. Don't let any of them survive.
Now, you can sit in judgment over God with that if you want
to, but that's a rich instruction there. The lust of your flesh
mortifies. The things that would keep you
from Christ, destroy! Let none survive! But God gave
an exception. He said, don't hurt Moab. Now,
there are a lot of reasons, but one stands out glaringly as I
look at this passage. That's the way we live in this
world. Rex Bartley, God could just as well make you live right
here with no sin, as he shall when he made all things new,
if that were his purpose. But he's left us here to contend
with the Canaanites of our lust, our cold, cruel, mean, malicious
hearts, that we may ever look away to Christ as our Savior
and look through the dark clouds with hope and joyful expectation,
soon the eighth day will dawn and there will be no Canaanites in the land of my soul forever. That's what Christ came to accomplish
for his people and he shall. Amen.