Amazing Grace and Judgment to Come | Zechariah 12 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 02/09/2025

you have your Bible turn with me to

Zechariah 12 and if you do not have a

sermon outline just uh lift your hand

and these fine guys we'll give one to

you if you're joining us online our

outlines are available on our website

and we believe in teaching the Bible and

so we believe that the clear teaching of

the word will help you greatly well

we've been studying this beautiful

little book of the Old Testament and the

title of our series is return turn to

Hope we've talked about that already in

the service that in coming to Christ we

come to the great peace the rest the

peace and the rest the hope that there

is in Christ this little book of

Zechariah is relatively short it's

relatively dense what do we mean by that

there's a lot here um it's

powerful yes it is cryptic there's Parts

here we we see multi-layered prophecy

we'll remember that a little bit um but

there are

numerous clear prophecies listen to this

there's numerous clear prophecies to our

to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

his first coming as well as his second

coming um notice here in the remember

the context and message of Isaiah and I

just want to remind you from last week

um that we were looking at this bad

Shepherds hard hearts and cannibal

conditions you remember that sermon

title bad Shepherds hard hearts and

cannibal conditions um and we saw one of

those prophecies that was so very

prominent about our Lord Jesus Christ

500 years before Jesus would even be

born we see that the specific amount of

silver for which Judas would betray Jes

Jesus is mentioned in the

context of a messiah of a

sacrifice and so this morning we come to

the Amazing Grace and judgment to come

both of those things The Amazing Grace

as well as the judgment to come it's

right here in Zachariah but let's

remember if you're new to us maybe

you're from Missouri and you're here in

for the weekend on a cruise we want the

next few minutes to mean something to

you so we'll review a little bit and let

you catch up with us number one the

prophet Isa or Zachariah lived and

preached in Judah after the Jews

returned to Jerusalem from Babylon so

they had been in Exile they have

returned back number two initially the

nation of Israel was discouraged because

both Jerusalem the wall around Jerusalem

and the temple were not rebuilt so 20

years go by nothing much has happened

and they've still got some big problems

and they're discouraged so Zachariah

comes and God raises him up to preach to

them number three Zachariah preached

God's message to them and his message to

them was let's say it out loud together

we see this in chapter one what does he

say return to me and I will return to

you now that's a very key thing for us

to remember all the Days of Our Lives

God calls us to continually repent and

return to him and we need to do that

because we have flesh we have flesh that

deceives us we have the circumstances of

life that sometimes Cloud us we have

issues of sin or Cycles in our life or

sometimes there's we talked about it at

the men's Retreat this weekend sometimes

there's failures sometimes there's

adversity in our life we need to

continually allow the Lord to help us to

return to him and he says he will always

return to us so look at number four

Israel has repeatedly been faithless and

disobedient

but God kept presenting to them his

salvation if they would obey God gave

Zachariah multiple dreams to preach this

theme to them we went through an

elaborate series of eight dreams that

Zachariah had we looked at those in

previous chapters most recently number

five there in chapter 11 we saw and this

was last Sunday bad Shepherds so we keep

seeing bad Shepherds come to God's

people out of all of the Kings of Israel

the vast majority of them were bad kings

there were false prophets there were bad

priests there were false priests and so

we see shepher the people who are

supposed to be shepher God's flock very

often are that but we also recognize

that Thomas Jefferson said is that a

people usually deserve the leaders they

have if over a period of time you keep

having these bad leaders you have to

look at the crowd and see that as well

and so it's hard Hearts so bad Shepherds

hard Hearts the people's hearts and the

scripture is very clear it wasn't just

about the bad Shepherds it was Al also

the people's hearts and all of that led

to something great greatly horrible what

we called cannibal conditions I mean it

as bad as it can get it would get for

the nation of Israel because they kept

disobeying

god notice this the bullet points under

that remember the concept of

multi-layered Prophecy if you're

studying the Bible you need to remember

and you need to know that there are

certain prophecies there are certain

prophecies that have to do with at the

time it was written but also at other

times and there's certain prophecies and

this is why the study of the word is

important that as we as we learn and as

we look at history as we look at the

present circumstance we can begin to see

that some of these prophecies have

already been fulfilled While others

there's no indication that it's been

fulfilled yet and it seems to be one

that is even yet in the future for us so

the book of Zechariah talks about

prophecies in the nation in their day of

certain things that were going to happen

um in their lifetime but then there was

a lot talking about the first coming of

Christ we saw one of those last week the

Third pieces of silver that in his first

coming um to lay down his life for us

that the Messiah would come and there

were specific things that we would see

in that not only in Zachariah but we see

it in Isaiah and Micah Zephaniah we see

multiple prophets from the Old Testament

pointing to the first coming of Christ

but we also see the second coming of

Christ which is what we await now and

what we await now is being foretold and

we will see some of that today

um notice this God in chapter 11 God

destroys the evil Shepherds of his

people time and time again he has

removed evil Shepherds because in his

mercy and in his grace he is concerned

about his flock even in this day and

time God sometimes removes evil

Shepherds for his purposes look at the

next part here God's God Shepherds his

people so he becomes the shepherd

himself he's always the shepherd but

very often he's moving and working

miraculously God Shepherds his people

and then notice this with intentions

last week we saw it these two words were

used for favor and Union with them so

whenever you study the Old Testament you

need to understand that the god of the

Old Testament is the same God of Grace

and love and mercy that we see in the

New Testament amen anyone who and and

Satan has different lies that he weaves

into people he has lies sometimes that

he'll weave into the church

misunderstandings listen gross

misunderstandings about how um he works

about how theology Works about what his

word says one of the great lies that

he's convinced many many people of

around Christianity in or around

Christianity is that the god of the Old

Testament is a harsh cruel and um

wrathful God that does not have Grace

and nothing could be further from the

truth the Old Testament is the whole

setup for the New Testament the Old

Testament is the whole picture of God's

grace Time and Time Again rejected but

yet he still even after rejected over

and over listen he still still is

sending his Messiah and even after his

Messiah comes and even after the church

struggles forever how long the church is

going to struggle listen to this he

still promises the final day when all

things will be brought together and his

consummation the wedding supper of the

land where he will make all things right

so God Shepherds his people with

intentions for what do these two words

say it out loud together intentions for

favor and Union with them and Union for

them to be together um notice here with

me as well but the people detest him in

their hearts you say really yes read it

for yourself in chapter 11 the people

still after all that he's done come to

places of detest him time and time again

this has happened what happened when

after God delivered the nation out of

Egypt miraculously there delivered

miraculously through the 10 plagues and

then they finally get on their way and

then they're delivered miraculously

through from pho's army and miraculously

they're delivered from starvation

miraculously they're delivered from um

from dying of thirst over and over and

over again God provides for them and yet

their hearts so quickly would be so

stiff neck they would have stiff necks

and hard hearts and reject him and so

here we see even the precursor of the

the price that would be paid for a slave

that would be paid for our Lord Jesus

Christ notice this their person their

persistent Rebellion brings we said last

week horrific circumstances horrific

circumstances and there's two parts of

those horrific circumstances one is um

the idea of a cannibalistic circumstance

where they're Hol Up in a in a uh City a

walled City Under Siege um but there's

also the horrific circumstances of the

coming Antichrist and you see that on

your outline here the references last

week from chapter 11 as it ends was the

picture of this great and evil leader um

that would inflict much pain and sorrow

upon the world and specifically the body

of Christ well now we come to the last

section of the book of Zechariah do you

have your Bible open look with me there

and let's just look and see how many

chapters are in the book of Zechariah

can you see that how many chapters are

in the book of Zechariah what does it

end

with okay I'm going to ask it one more

time are you in your Bible are you

looking at your Bible how many chapters

does the book of Zechariah have 14 very

good good to answer 14 what chapter are

we studying today 14 12 we're studying

12 we studied 11 last week so so 12 13

and 14 now this section I want you to

see here this section is the second and

final prophetic Oracle um of Zachariah

so uh what is an oracle we're going to

look at that in just a minute because

that word is actually used in chapter 12

as it opens up um but notice this in

this prophetic World in these three

chapters here's some outline of what

we're going to see the nations of man

will battle against the establishment of

God's Kingdom so this is what Satan does

and this is what Humanity does it's it's

amazing how thoroughly resistant we are

to God this is one of the amazing Parts

about the gospel this is one of the

amazing Parts about God's grace and so

what the what the Old Testament helps us

see is just how lost we are does it seem

like there's lots of trouble does it

seem like yes that there's lots of

judgment and wrath in the Old Testament

yes but the amazing part of that is that

even in the midst of all of our

persistent resistance to God he still is

a God who has rays of Grace and light

and love and forgiveness and mercy that

come through it all so part of what the

Bible is showing us is the persistent

nature of our Rebellion against God some

of you would say well I I don't feel

that way uh what are you talking about I

think everybody's getting along pretty

good and I'm I'm not I haven't murdered

anybody my friend you haven't yet

started to see the depth of what your

heart is capable of in in rejecting God

we we need a clear understanding of our

own human hearts we are prone to think

well of ourselves in these

things when when we see what the

scripture is showing now we see that our

God is a holy God and we are a people

that desperately need his mercy and his

grace the Old Testament is teaching us

that well notice number three on that

day so Circle that little phrase on that

day that phrase shows up fill it in 17

times in chapters 12 13 and 14 it occurs

17 times and it is referring to when the

Lord will establish his eternal Kingdom

on Earth so it is referring to an an

event that is future to us that is going

to be the great climactic moment in

history you think things are changing in

the US government right now and

everybody talks about Revolution

everybody talks about wow this is really

big changes and so forth and I grant you

they're pretty big changes but you ain't

seen nothing

yet this is nothing compared to what is

going to happen when Jesus comes in all

of his

glory in Zechariah Chapter 12 and 13 and

Zechariah 12 · chapter mention

14 is going to give us a hint of some of

the events that are going to

happen and it's and it's just a picture

it's it's one of many places in the

scripture where we see the same

narrative the same thing is coming and

so on that day is a big thing to

recognize and to notice here number four

Central to that coming day capital D

Central to that coming day is the

promised Future divic King what is a

devic king well if you'll go study 2

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 7 you will see that God

makes a promise to David God makes a

promise to David that not only will he

be king but the line of his kingdom the

line of his succession listen to this

will be in an everlasting succession it

will be an everlasting line of kings and

so what we are looking to and hoping to

for is that final forever King and that

is the Lord Jesus Christ and so we see

that in Zechariah 9:9 already a few

Zechariah 9:9

weeks ago and then we see it here even

today we will see this but Central to

that coming day is the promised Future

davidic King that means it's part of

that Covenant promise that God made in 2

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 7 number five as many

other prophets it depicts this coming

Victorious Messiah as a filad in

suffering

servant so this coming Messiah this

davidic king is actually going to be a

suffering servant now this is just

opposite it to the way humans would do

it we would bring in a more powerful

bigger guy we would bring in somebody

bigger than Goliath is that what God did

in dealing with

Goliath no how did God deal with

Goliath he brings in a little Shepherd

boy not wielding a sword and armor he

tried to put on the armor and he

couldn't even stand

up he could hardly hold the sword

sword but what did he have he had a

little slingshot and he had a few smooth

stones out of the brook and what is the

whole picture here God wins the battle

God uses David David is not the David is

not the hero in this story amen it's

that God raised up a little Shepherd boy

to deliver Israel from the

Philistines you know that's a very

important thing to for you to understand

Jonah is not the hero David is not the

hero Daniel is not the hero the Apostle

Paul is not the hero Peter is not the

hero the hero of the word of God is

God and when we begin to see that he's

working through people he's using people

to do amazing things we see that it's

his hand that delivers and so it is his

hand that shows us this so strange

concept of this great and Victorious

Messiah is going to

be a suffering servant the way he's

going to win his victory listen to

this is by laying down his

life this is

amazing this is amazing the way he

overcomes

death is by dying and being raised by

the father for the glory of eternal life

and so he's saying look sacrifice

accepted he

lives and so this is the picture that we

see here that this suffering servant is

coming and there's plenty for the for

you to study there Zechariah 12:10

Zechariah 12:10

that's what we'll see today but Isaiah

53 that's the suffering servant chapter

Psalm 22 um Genesis 3 and verse 15 all

of these are the picture of this

suffering servant who will deliver God's

people God himself number six this

stricken Shepherd King fill that in so

he's a Shepherd King because he has a

shepherd's heart but yet he's a ruler so

he has a shepherd's heart but he's a

ruler will pay the price for notice

these two things and would you please

read these out loud together with me

that I've underlined on your outline he

will pay the price for what cleansing

from sin and what restoration of the

Covenant relationship with God okay so

there's a covenant relationship that God

has with his people and so this Shepherd

King will pay the price so that we can

be cleansed and

reunified with God brought back into

proper Covenant relationship with him

for all of his true people now chapter

12 specifically deals with this and this

is an important couple of lines here for

you to understand what we're about to

read God's kingdom will not come without

what does it say great cost Circle that

God's kingdom will not come without

great cost to God's people and their

King but the results will be one of my

favorite words

glorious full of Glory full of wonder

full of Might full of majesty so the

results are going to be

amazing God's people will be saved and

cleansed from sin this is

amazing that's what he does he saves us

and cleanses us from the consequences of

our sin the Bible tells us for the wages

of sin is what death it's Eternal death

eternally being cut off from God and so

there's no sin that's going to make it

into the presence of God ever he will

never receive one sin before him and so

what must happen except that God says

that we must be clean and the only way

that we can be clean is through his

cleansing by the perfect Lamb of God and

so this is the beauty of the Gospel

God's people will be saved and cleansed

from sin notice this there will be

turmoil and pain but God will powerfully

act to bring Salvation and that's what

we see in Christ and that's also what we

see God doing through Christ's people so

there is turmoil there is pain there is

hardship Jesus goes through all the way

to the

Cross but then we see God's power raises

him from the dead to bring our Salvation

now look at the bottom of the page this

is important as I as I was studying this

I was seeking to make through and work

through the different characters or the

different players that in this in this

chapter and I had to study this a little

bit in order to be able to clearly

understand in order to be able to

clearly teach I just want you to notice

that as we read you're going to see

mention of Israel Jerusalem Judah clan

of Judah House of David Nathan Levi um

all the way down family of the Shiites

and then also the families that are left

is what it says and those are in

opposition to the not God's people the

people who are not his and we're going

to see something very interesting about

the clan of Judah something happens with

them in this narrative that gives me

hope because prone to wander Lord I feel

it prone to leave the God I love I feel

that as the people of Judah apparently

felt that let's look and let's see the

passage I want to read it and um in line

with all of that and I and I and I hope

you remember this is a prophetic Oracle

it's the Nations raging against God as

we see throughout the

scriptures and it's talking about um a

day that is coming um and an unfolding

that is here so let's read uh this

passage um I'll begin in verse one the

Oracle of the word of the Lord

concerning Israel thus declares the Lord

who stretched out the heavens and

founded the Earth and formed the spirit

of man within him and then what do you

see after the word him what's there a

colon and so that means this verse one

is the introduction of this chapter 12

13 and 14 and what we're seeing here is

that this is very important in fact over

there to the right side notice this this

formal intro this is the formal intro to

the prophecy and what do we notice about

this number one the first bullet point

there is it's a serious

statement the word Oracle and you see it

there in the Hebrew shama the word

Oracle means

load like the load of of Burden or

weight and what's interesting is it's

not really used in Hebrew to

describe um a physical load or weight it

is in Hebrew the inference is almost

always it's a it's a

stressful heavy thought you know if you

hear really bad

news about your child or you hear bad

news about a friend or something strikes

you in a way and you're you're kind of

devastated by

it what do you

feel you feel a tremendous load upon you

you feel a weight upon you that's the

idea of

of these words of this

statement it's an

oracle of the word of God so it's the

weight of the word of God so it's a

serious statement do you see why I would

have you right there it's a serious

statement not only is it a serious

statement but who is the serious

statement given by notice what it says

in verse one the Oracle of the word of

who the Lord concerning Israel so thus

declares the Lord now it's going to

describe what Lord we're talking about

and so it's really setting up for you to

get the full weight of this that this is

the Lord look what it says who stretched

out the heavens and founded the Earth so

we're not talking about any God um any

God of your imagination we're talking

about the one who made Heaven and Earth

so this is the god fill it in this is is

from Ultimate Authority he's the creator

of the

universe and very often when we see the

scripture defining who God is he's

called Creator I will tell you this I've

worked for a long time um among the

Muslim world and uh Marcy and I lived

overseas and we shared the gospel with

thousands of people um Muslim people

very often and with Muslims um they

would say well wait wait a minute and I

believe they would say I believe in

Allah the true God they would say the

one true God you're a Christian you

believe in three Gods because they're

conf confused about what the Trinity

they're confused about father son and

spirit and I say oh no no no no my

scriptures say the Lord our God is the

Lord is one and the the the Bible

describes the essence of God as father

son and spirit there's no doubt about

that three persons but always one

amen and so um as we would begin to talk

and as we would begin to talk about what

God we're talking about and I would say

to them because we were usually speaking

in French and I would say no no M um I

believe in the

Creator the Creator what is the

creator the

Creator the Creator and so then they're

saying well wait a minute I believe in

the Creator too and I would say well now

wait a minute let's talk about that you

might say that you're created the world

but the description of your God is very

different than the description of my God

and so then we as we would begin to work

through what is the god of the Bible as

opposed to the god of the Quran we would

work through that but the way that was

most clarifying and the way that is most

clarifying to even what we see preached

in the New Testament is is that we begin

to

reference Creator why because creation

power means ultimate power and we've

talked about this many times in the life

of the church to be able to create from

nothing is ultimate power and so we see

this if you can create from nothing

there's only one who can do that and

that is the Creator and not only does he

the Creator look what it says there who

stretched out the heavens and founded

the Earth and he formed the spirit of

man within him and this is very

interesting I love the Bible I love how

clear and precise the Bible is about

these things not only does he create the

world but he creates the most important

part of the world the most important

Creation in the world is

humankind if you haven't figured it out

yet it's not the Dolphins it's not the

squirrels it's not the mammals it's not

the amazing Falcons or the the bald

eagle that is the Pinnacle of God's

creation in design the Pinnacle of God's

creation and design is the

human God made it doesn't say that he

made all of those other things in His

image we are the only thing that it says

he made in His image and so he has given

us special abilities amazing abilities

that no other creature has by far I mean

the closest thing that kind of looks and

sounds acts like I said the closest

thing is what

a chimpanzee of some sort and how close

is a chimpanzee to building a falcon

9 and going to the

moon or

whatever I mean how close is a

chimpanzee to writing code for

developing

AI I mean he's a long way from that do

you get it and that's the closest thing

friends there is nothing that comes

compared that that is comp compared to

what God planned and what God designed

when he made man and when he gave us a

spirit unlike all of the other animals

that he has created upon the Earth we

see this throughout scripture and we see

this throughout practical nature of life

um even in science so he creates us and

he has the power not only to create but

if he has the power to create listen to

this this is important for you to write

down he also has the power to recreate

and that's a big part of the

gospel because he creates once and we

foul it up but by his grace and through

his power he can recreate and he can fix

it and that means you're born once into

a life of sin but listen he calls you to

be born again into a life of

righteousness and he does that through

Jesus and so unless Jesus said unless a

man be born again he cannot enter into

the Kingdom of Heaven how how are we

born again that's what Nicodemus came to

ask him and the picture is is that we

repent of our sins and cast ourselves

upon the plan of God's salvation and

then he says he will make all things new

the old things will be passed away

behold the new has come and so this is

the gospel his power to not only create

one time but even more so to take that

which is fouled up and fix it and

recreate it and make it new and so this

is all about what God fill it in this is

all about what God will do now I have

given you a little hint here and I've

started it do you see your outline here

notice what your outline says in light

of what I've just said this is all about

what God will do notice on your outline

in verse two there's something

underlined what did I underline there

for

you I am about to what

make can you write out there to the side

create because it's the same power it's

the same

thing notice the next one here verse

three I will what make I will make

Jerusalem a heavy so God is

supernaturally working look what it says

in verse four I will

what okay are youall there I we got a

few a students here I I'm going y'all

wake up I know it's a beautiful Sunday

out out there and you're praying for a

short sermon but listen come on now

it'll be shorter if you'll stay with me

okay I

promise notice what it says here in

verse four on that day declares the Lord

I will what stri strike okay there you

go number six I will what make make

number seven let's get it right what

does he say the Lord will give salvation

you see this is power this is like

creation

power look down here verse 8 on that day

the Lord will what protect to protect on

verse 9 what does it say on that day I

will see destroy so we see his grace and

we also see his judgment and it's under

great

power so that statement down there is um

underneath verse one and your notes over

there on the right it's talking about

this is all about what God is going to

do he's going to make he's going to

create he's going to give he's going to

protect he's going to judge he's going

to

destroy look at verse two with me behold

and here it is here's the prophecy

behold I'm about to make Jerusalem a cup

of Staggering to all the surrounding

peoples um put on their uh maybe

drunkenness the the idea is getting

drunk um just above that cup of

Staggering so what happens if you drink

too much you start what staggering

around and so God is about to bring

judgment

upon the enemies of Jerusalem look what

it says in verse two behold I'm about to

make Jerusalem a cup of Staggering to

all the surrounding peoples remember

we're going to contrast God's people

against not God's people so all the

surrounding peoples look what it says

The Siege of Jerusalem will also be

against Judah so Judah is outside the

city we're going to see here and The

Siege is also against them so they're in

included in that look at verse three on

that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy

stone for all the peoples all who lift

it will surely what hurt themselves have

you ever lifted something and hurt

yourself okay for the over 40 crowd have

you ever lifted something and hurt

yourself yeah you wind up go having to

go have a hernia operation or

something you hurt your back you can't

get out of bed for a

week well it's

it's it's like that picture that God is

going to bring a judgment let's look at

this over there on the right the notes

verse 2 through6 and so look there two

all the way down to that paragraph at

the end of verse 6 look at this all

nations will attack God's City

Jerusalem all nations are going to

attack God's City Jerusalem but God will

deliver the city and its inhabitants so

let's read this a little bit more in

verse two it says behold I'm about to

make Jerusalem a cup of Staggering to

all the surrounding peoples The Siege of

Jerusalem will also be against Judah

verse three on that day I will make

Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the

peoples all who lift it will surely hurt

themselves and all the nations of the

earth will what gather against it wow so

this is the city of God the place where

God has touched down and brought his

Redemption this is the place of Mount

Mariah this is the place of Abraham's

sacrifice showing us the way of

sacrifice toward faith and trust in

God's salvation and then the Messiah

this is this place of

Calvary this city the city of God the

world is going to come against

it verse four on that day remember that

day on that day declares the Lord I will

what strike every horse with panic and

its Rider with Madness oh what does the

horse represent

in military battle the horse represents

the fiercest warrior in a military

Battle of this age I mean the you were

afraid of the guy on the ground but you

were far more afraid of the guy who

showed up on a raging horse above you

faster than you he could he could get to

you and with power he could come at you

and a a Horseman that knows how to wield

a sword or a spear was an extremely

Fierce Warrior on the battlefield so

notice this in verse four on that day

declares the Lord I will strike every

horse with what Panic so the horse

that's trained for battle is going to

suddenly panic and it's Rider with

Madness now we don't know what that

means except that Madness doesn't sound

like ability to attack it sounds like

insanity so God is going to strike down

their greatest weapons against Jerusalem

but for the sake of the house of Judah I

will keep my eyes open when I strike

every horse of the peoples with

blindness now I want you to understand

this there's Jerusalem and then there's

Juda around Jerusalem and we're going to

see here in just a minute reference to

tents now typically in a densely packed

City do you have tents no there's no

tents there's just walls and and City

and the whole the whole city makes up

one big monolithic dwelling place right

they don't have tents inside the city

walls but we're going to see a reference

to that so what this is henting to to is

that Judah is a camped around Jerusalem

these people have been coming to Siege

the nations of the world are coming

against Jerusalem and God is going to

strike down their powerful horse and

Horsemen and he's going to do it very

precisely he's going to keep in mind

that Judah also his people are out there

amidst the battle they're not behind the

safety of the walls notice what he says

here in verse four again on that day

declares the Lord I will strike every

horse of panic with ride or ride or with

Madness but for the sake of the house of

Judah I will keep my eyes open when I

strike every horse of the peoples with

blindness that means I will strike some

and not

others the horse and the people is the

picture that he is going to preserve

Judah in this verse 5 then the clans of

Judah will say to themselves so the

clans of Judah will say the inhabitants

of Jerusalem have strength through the

Lord of hosts their God now the picture

is

this Jud Judah may have started to go

along with the outside

Nations Judah some of God's people were

turning maybe against the city they were

turning against Jerusalem they were

turning against God too in Judah we see

that that maybe there it's the picture

is is that their heart was straying from

God and then what does God

say he shows them that he is with them

he shows them that he is with the

inhabitants of Jerusalem and they

recognize that look at verse 5 then the

clans of Judah will say to themselves

the inhabitants of Jerusalem have the

strength have strength through the Lord

of hosts by the way Lord of hosts is a

military

term that's a military term so this is

about a picture of great conflict and

great power of

war and their God so look over there to

the side uh underneath our heading all

the nations will attack God's City

Jerusalem but God will deliver the city

and its inhabitants the attackers will

not be victorious they will not be

victorious in verse 2 and three we see

the attackers will hurt themselves in

verses 2 and four we see God will

confuse their efforts and in verse 5 we

see that everyone will see God's power

and deliverance is where it's with

Jerusalem so salvation

is from God and it's with God and it's

over his City now look at verses 5 and

six Judah near to Jerusalem joins the

attack but then has a fill it in a

change of

heart now this is amazing because then

God uses them look at verse six on that

day I will make the clans of Judah like

a blazing pot or a pot of coal coals in

the midst of wood if you have a big

metal pot and you've got burning hot

coals in it and you set kindling all

around it what is there potential

for a great fire right so that's part of

the picture that is here so Judah that

is there that has turned to the Lord on

that day I will make I will make this is

God's power I will make the clans of

Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of

wood like a flaming torch among sheaves

now what are

sheaves when you when you come and you

harvest the wheat when you harvest the

grain you have this stock you have a

stock of cut you have a group of cut

stalks and those stalks are bound

together and it has heads of Wheat and

that's how you gently carry all of the

wheat out of the field you're you're

bringing them out so there's sheaves of

wheat that are stood up they dry out

they're cut they're stood up they dry

out now when they dry out they become

what

flamable they become extremely flammable

in fact a field can near about explode

into burning into fire so these these

stood up sheaves they're cut so they'll

dry out dries out the Grain on top of

the sheath look at this here with me in

verse 6 on that day I will make the

clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the

midst of of wood like second example

like a flaming torch among

sheaves that's super

dangerous and they shall devour and they

shall devour to the right and to the

left all the what surrounding peoples

while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited

in its place in Jerusalem and the point

is this the city is important and I'm

not going to leave the city God is

saying what is in the city his place of

the temple that is the picture of Mount

Mariah this is the place where God deals

with man where God reveals who he is and

God is saying I'm not

moving I'm going to be here and I'm

going to work in this place as I have

always said and you'll know it's me

because I'm here amen this is a very

power ful part of God's grand plan and

so he's going to use the clans of Judah

to be a great great powerful force in

destroying those that are around that

are that are seeking to Siege the city

look at verse 7 with me and verses 6-9

is a so I'm overlapping verse 6 into

verse 9 look over there in the notes on

the right on the right hand side verses

6-9 God will make his people fiercely

Victorious and they will defeat their

enemies they will defeat their enemies

look with me in verse um seven with me

and the Lord will give salvation to the

tents of who Judah to the tents of Judah

first where did we say Judah

was outside the city so are they the

most

vulnerable yes are they potentially ones

that the other enemies outside the city

had gotten in their head a little bit I

think so and so they're sitting there

okay but these people are going to kill

us or we're going to help join and kill

Siege the city and so we maybe need to

join the people outside the city because

they can come get us at night so you see

them in the tents you see them there but

what is the Lord going to do because he

sees that they saw that he is with the

people in the city and so these are

coming back to what they know to be

true and look at verse 7 says and the

Lord will give salvation to the tents of

Judah Circle it

first that's

beautiful that the glory of the House of

David and the glory of the inhabitants

of

Jerusalem W may not surpass that of

Judah you see the line of the Messiah is

coming from the outside Judah

Jesus is called The Lion of

Judah now if you watched Benjamin

Netanyahu this last week and it's an

interesting thing to watch statements

that he made at the White

House he said some things that I thought

okay that's probably okay that's

probably good but then he compared

present modernday Israel and he quoted

passages from the Old Testament

indicating that the lion of Judah has

roared and roared loudly loudly and they

vanquished their enemies of

Hamas friends I would submit to you that

that is a

misinterpretation of the Roar of the

Lion of Judah

amen it is a dangerous thing for Judah

for Israel to believe that they have

roared on their

own unless they are looking to the

creator of the universe and his

miraculous hand my

friend we see in the scripture we trust

not in chariots we trust not it that

means we trust not in Precision guided

bombs f16s and f-22s

am but we depend upon the Lord say well

maybe God is using those things and God

is enabling them to do

well in the process of working out his

plan in human history that is true in a

general sense but my friends we need to

be very very careful when we look and we

hear and we speak of the Lion of Judah

we are talking about God's salvation and

God's

work and so what we see here is in verse

6 Jerusalem will stand and be inhabited

that's what it says in verse 6 he's he's

going to inhabit it in in it at the end

of verse 6 in its place in Jerusalem do

you see how it's adding that on at the

end in Jerusalem God is making a point

to us when the Bible repeats something

it's a point of emphasis it's like an

exclamation

point look at verse seven out there to

the right your notes God's salvation

comes first to judah's tents outside the

walls God has Mercy on those who turn

back to

him God knows how to protect and restore

to clear

up look at the next part here the House

of David is mentioned five times five

times and this points to the coming

Messiah from the line of

David in verse 8 notice with me in verse

8 on that day the Lord will what protect

protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem so

that the feeblest among them on that day

shall be what like David and the House

of David shall be like God like the

angel of the Lord going before them this

is

amazing this is recognizing that it is

the Lord who protects Jerusalem it is

the Lord that takes the feeblest and the

weakest and makes him like the mighty

warrior David David was such a valiant

and mighty

warrior that when it came time to build

the Temple God said you will not build

the temple because what because you

have you have too much blood on your

hands David was a fierce

Warrior and so here we see the

fierceness of that the the the weakest

of individuals will be given this uh if

you're taking notes there on the right

hand side verse eight God's strength

will Empower them and his Covenant with

David will be fulfilled God will be the

one who empowers we see that in verse 8

but but look with me in contrast from

verse 8 the Lord will protect the

inhabitants of of Jerusalem look down at

verse 9 and on that day read it out loud

on that day I will seek to destroy all

the nations that come against

Jerusalem and so God's fill it in God's

destruction will slay the wicked now

don't turn your sheet over yet look at

that and notice that Psalm two is worth

you reading this

afternoon Aunt Deana on your way home

Matthew Psalm 2 you can read Matthew 25

you can read Revelation 19 you can read

they're all right there I want to

encourage you to see that this issue of

not only God's Amazing Grace but God's

amazing judgment this is the truth of

the Bible and this is what I know that

many people don't want to they don't

want to sit still and listen to the

realities of not only God's grace but

also God's judgment but you are Wise

Wise to the

one who listens to this now I I think

we're departing from the PowerPoint here

so but just notice here with me we're

going to read verse 10 through 14 very

quickly notice what it says and I've put

this title or the ESV put this title at

the top him who they have pierced here

we go just like the 30 pieces of silver

last year or last week we come to him

who they have pierced here we see a

reference of our Lord Jesus Christ now

in verses 10 through 14 here's what

we're going to see God will turn their

hearts to mourn and repent of what they

have done so these are the peoples of

God who have turned away from Jerusalem

these are the people people who are the

tribes of God they are God's people but

they have turned away from Jerusalem

Judah came close Judah was right outside

the city but Judah saw that the Lord was

with them and they ran and were used by

the Lord now we see this expansion of

this look what it says in verse 10 and I

will pour out on the House of David and

the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of

Grace and pleas for mercy so God God is

going to pour onto them a spirit of

Grace and please for mercy so that when

they look on me on him whom they have

what pierced they shall

mourn for

him as One Mourns for an only child and

weep bitterly over him as one weeps over

a

firstborn on that day the morning in Jer

Jerusalem will be as great as the mour

of Hadad

ran in the plain of megiddo we're going

to talk about what that means verse 12

the land shall mourn each family by

itself the family of the House of David

by itself the wives and their wives by

themselves the family of the House of

Nathan that's David's son by itself and

their wives by themselves verse 13 the

family of the House of Levi by itself

and their wives by themselves and the

family of the shemites by itself that's

that's Levi's son and their wives by

themselves verse 14 Circle it and all

the families that are

left each by itself and their wives by

themselves so what is God going to

do God is going to deliver

Jerusalem and then here's what's going

to happen God is going to give them a

heart to repent amen God is going to let

them

see his grace and let them see their

need for his mercy and they are going to

cry out in Mercy so in verse 10 in your

notes over there on the right hand side

notice what it says there this will come

through God's grace all of this will

come through God's grace God will turn

their hearts fill it into mourn and

repent of what they have done they're

going to mourn and they're going to

repent for what they've done and all of

this verse 10 is going to come through

God's

grace and what will they see they will

see their sin and they will cry for

mercy and by the way that is the sign of

filad in true

repentance is when someone sees their

sin and they cry out to God for

Mercy have you ever seen your sin and

realized that you have offended a holy

God

and cried to him for Mercy oh dear God

have mercy upon

me this is the Cry of David in Psalm 51

this is the Cry of David in Psalm

32 this is the call of Paul to repent

this is the call of Peter to repent and

believe this is the call of our Lord

Jesus that we would turn to God and cast

ourselves upon his Mercy

notice this they will have genuine

remorse and sorrow over their sin of

rejecting and piercing the Messiah and

that's what we see in verse 10 and verse

11 they come to realize this now look

with me in verse 11 read it again there

look what it says on that day the

morning in Jerusalem will be as great as

the mour over haad Ramon in the plain of

megiddo what in the world is that

talking about what that's talking about

fill it in verse 11 they will mourn as

when King Josiah a Godly King a good

King was killed in battle at megiddo and

they mourned over him they buried and

they buried him in Jerusalem that was

roughly 110 years before this happened

so on the minds of people is that their

great king was wounded or or was killed

in battle by a stray arrow in here here

we

see that they mourned for him and so

this is a this is a reminder of the

great mourning that was a great sadness

that was upon them look with me in verse

12 and the land shall mourn each family

by itself this is saying so vers 12 13

and 14 is saying that this repentance is

going to flow down through the tribes of

Israel this is

amazing verse

12-13 there repentance will be

widespread throughout the Jewish

people now um friends I don't know

exactly when this is going to happen but

not only this passage but there are

numerous other passages including in the

Book of Revelation that indicate that

there is going to come a time when

salvation will Circle back and come back

to the Jewish people

amen I believe that many will come to

Faith in Jesus

I believe that many who have rejected

him wholeheartedly will come to realize

it and that this passage very possibly

could be pointing us to see that God

still has a plan for this group of

people this special group of

people this does not God's favor upon

them and God's work through them and

God's choosing them to bring them

Messiah through them does not give them

free license to do whatever they want to

do they are held morally responsibility

morally responsible for their own

atrocities in

war even in this day we must be very

very clear that just because God has

chosen to use the Jewish people does not

give the Jewish people a license to do

whatever they want and some of them have

that

mentality that is wrong and that is

false but I will say this God is not

done with the Jewish

Nation God is still at work with the

Jewish nation and we must pray for his

glory to be known his glory to be seen

among all the peoples of the earth

including the Jewish people of the

earth friends I don't know about you but

I don't want to be the other nations

that are attacking

Jerusalem I think that's a very unwise

position to be

in I believe that for my heart as a

Christian in America

I I do recognize that there's a special

place and a special way in which God is

still working in that and though there's

accountability for them now my friends

there's going to be a greater

accountability on

them on the

day of the

Lord and I do pray that there will be a

spirit of Grace and please of Mercy that

fall upon them as seen in in verse 10 do

you see up there in verse 10 I will pour

out on the House of David and the

inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of

Grace and please for Mercy you see we

can't even cry out for Mercy In Our Own

Strength

amen we are dependent upon God even to

ask for

forgiveness there is none that does what

is right and good there's no not one

everyone has turned to his own way but

the lord has laid on Jesus the inqu

Equity of us

all and so this is a this is a beautiful

prophecy of God still at work in the

world and for his

purposes now verse 13 ends in a most

beautiful way look at verse 13 or

chapter 13 and verse one and this is

actually going over into the next

chapter and that's fine because this is

finishing the thought we'll both end

with this chapter uh with this verse

today and we will begin next week with

the same verse look what it says on that

day on that day remember we're talking

about that day of the Lord on that day

there shall be a what

a

fountain opened for the House of David

and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to what

to cleanse them from sin and

uncleanness now that's the big issue

your sin is a big deal to God and it

will keep you from God it will keep keep

you one sin will keep you from the

presence of God you have to be totally

clean and the only way for you to be

totally clean you can't work it off the

only way for you to be totally clean is

through the shed blood of Jesus Christ

on the lamb and your faith in him and

here we see that there's going to be a

fountain opened that will cleanse them

look at verse 13 God fill it in uh

chapter 13:1 God's grace technical word

here gushes

it gushes to the

Jews his grace will gush upon them in a

fountain open it appears that there will

be a large number of Jews who repent of

rejecting and piercing the Messiah and

receive the grace of

God now we know that in the first

century there were some Jews who turned

to Christ there were the first

Christians were Jewish Christians and

then it went to the Gentiles and they

would go around to all the synagogues in

the Mediterranean World there were there

were many Jewish people who became

followers of Jesus and even today in

this world today there are some Jewish

people who have become followers of

Jesus but the gospel is gone among the

Gentiles as

well I want you to see Paul's writing to

Timothy Paul writes to Timothy and look

what he says in tatus 3: 3 through 7 for

we ourselves were once foolish

disobedient LED astray slaves to various

Passions and Pleasures passing our days

in Malice and envy hated by others and

hating one another verse four but when

the goodness and loving kindness of God

our savior appeared verse 5 what does it

say he saved

us not because of Works done by us in

righteousness but according to his own

what his own Mercy by the washing of

regeneration in renewal That's The

Rebirth of the Holy Spirit whom he

poured out on us richly through Jesus

Christ Our Savior so that being

justified by his grace we might become

Hors according to the hope of what

eternal life so how does it all happen

it all happens by God doing a great work

through Us in what is truly am

Amazing Grace amen and there's going to

be an amazing judgment

too there's going to be what we could

call an awesome judgment there's going

to be what we could call an

awful

judgment an awful

judgment but for him who has ears let

him hear that this God is a god of Grace

and all who will run to him

Jesus said he will in no wise cast

out so may we pray that God would do a

work in our hearts oh some questions

here number one if the Jews kept sinning

against God and hating him why would he

save them like this that's a good

question for you fill that in why that

would be a good question for you to talk

about at

lunch verse two how might this apply to

your life

how might this apply to your

life number three what do you need to do

in response to this prophe prophecy of

events to

come this is going to happen it's I mean

the past shows us that God's word is

true this is going to happen what do you

need to do in light of God's call for us

to

not reject him but to accept him let's

stand together for prayer