Will you take your Bibles and turn to the prophecy of Zechariah? It's been several weeks since I was with you, and this morning, we are going to return to our study of this amazing prophecy that has so many practical implications for us right now today, as it has down through the centuries, and as it will in days yet to come. We are going to be looking in a few minutes at verses 18 through 21 of Zechariah one. 

But before we go there. As you know, this has been a monumental week, and in our lives here in the United States.  Tuesday's election produced a fundamental political realignment in America; a total repudiation of the Democratic Party that has been committed to legalizing unrighteousness and criminalizing righteousness; and I'm thankful that our freedoms, our families, our country, is safer, but we must remember that those that have embraced, the frankly godless ideologies, of the Democratic Party, will continue to fight for them, as they have vowed to do. Donald Trump, the President Elect, promises to bring about, quote, "The Golden Age of America." And I want to caution you about that statement. Now, certainly most of the commonsense policies that he and his administration are promoting will alleviate a lot of the economic pain that people have been experiencing. It will help protect our freedoms with our families, with our nation from foreign aggressors. But Donald Trump is not the Messiah. Politics and politicians have never, nor will they ever, bring about lasting peace and prosperity. Unregenerate rulers will continue to rule in this nation and around the world until the Messiah returns, and that's what we look for. He talks about an America First policy, and I understand that, I appreciate that, but that's far different than a Christ first policy. And of course, that awaits Christ's return. That is not going to happen until he returns. Many people are saying, well, isn't it wonderful, we now have a Christian president. I do not know the man's heart. I pray for him, as I have other leaders, I can certainly say that he is a deist, meaning he believes in a god. But people worship all manner of gods, everything from cows to trees, to whoever they have come up with. I have never heard him say, and yet I pray that he will one day say, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second member of the Triune Godhead, and that he came to this earth to bear the sins of all who will believe on Him in His body, that he paid a sin, that a price that we could never pay for our sin. And He rose again the third day from the dead. He now sits at the right hand of the Father, and we await his return." I would love to hear him say that Jesus Christ is the only true God. There is salvation in no other God. All other religions are false. All other gods are false. And therefore, I pray that you too will put your faith in the living Christ. I would love to hear him say that. But I might add that even a profession of faith does not validate genuine saving faith. What validates genuine saving faith is a love for Christ and obedience to His Word. Jesus has said in Matthew eight that "'If you continue in My word, then you are,'" "alēthōs mathētēs," "'you are truly my disciples."  and therefore, I would love to hear Him say that we need to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and respect the authority of his word. Therefore, things like abortion is an abomination to the one true God, the LGBTQ perversions are an abomination to the one true God, etc, etc. 

Now I am not promoting Christian nationalism by any means, but I am trying to help you see that there is a difference between deism and true Biblical Christianity. And even saying those things is not enough to really validate genuine saving faith, even though it moves us towards that. The ultimate way that you see genuine saving faith being proven is persevering with joy in the midst of great adversity. We are told in Scripture that all who desire to live godly in Christ, Jesus will be elected. No, no, no, it says we'll be persecuted, right? And so I pray for our president elect and all of the people that are coming into office, and I am thankful that this has happened, and yet I must say that what America needs, and what the world needs is a spiritual not a political transformation, and the only one that can change the hearts of people is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so therefore we need to be about the gospel. I've also heard many people lament, how can people be so blind to all of the things that have been promoted for so long by the leftists and, frankly, by many on the right? How can people be so blind to these things? Well, the answer is, they're ruled by their depraved heart. Until we come to faith in Christ, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, right? To the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, and he cannot understand them because he is spiritually appraised. So they're just acting consistent with their nature. The ungodly in this world are acting consistently with the depraved nature. We're told in Titus 1:15 to the, "...defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." Ephesians 4:18, they are "...darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart." And in Second Corinthians four and verse four, we are told that "...the god of this world," referring to Satan, "...has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" to keep them from seeing "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ."  And beloved I would remind you that, were it not for God's grace, we would be right there among the mockers, right there with the scoffers. We would be embracing the same kind of godless ideologies that they would die for. Remember, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world, and temporarily, that is the case. And his goal is to blind the minds of unbelievers. His goal is to thwart the purposes of God. The world today is moving inexorably towards a day of divine retribution. It's called The Day of the Lord. And may I remind you that even with the good news that we have this week, Satan is continuing to prepare the world for the rule of the Antichrist and the False Prophet; a counterfeit Trinity - Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. And thankfully, they will be defeated at Christ's second coming. So I would challenge you, in light of all that has happened this week, to not lose the perspective of true Biblical Christianity and what our responsibility is. We need to have compassion on those with whom we disagree, those who are blind because of their own flesh, their own depraved nature, the blinding of Satan. We need to love them enough that we give them the gospel. We need to be bold in our gospel proclamation and not shy away from the truth that they too might be saved. And we also need to, as Paul said in Philippians, 3:14, "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." In other words, we need to be all about pursuing Christ likeness in our hearts. And remember, according to Philippians 3:20 our citizenship is in heaven, right? "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to Himself." So, may we make our focus that of warning people of impending judgment, imminent judgment, and the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ? May we be all about warning people of the inevitability of an eternal hell for those who refuse to come to Christ in saving faith, and may our priority be the Great Commission? May we be all about the gospel, not politics. We are to be people of the word, and the word exalts Christ and his kingdom. We are not to be people of the world that exalts Satan and his kingdom. And may we pray for the leaders that God has placed over us, knowing that it is he who has placed them there for his eternal purposes. 

Now with that, we return to our study of God's prophetic word here in Zechariah's prophecy. Here we are given a glimpse of the sovereign authority and the infinite power that God has tofulfill his covenant promises to Israel, and by extension, to all believers, even in the church. And in the first six chapters, may I remind you that Zechariah records eight visions that God gave him on a single night about 2500 years ago; visions that symbolize profound theological truths pertaining to the exaltation of the Messiah, the priest King, and how he will mediate his glory in the world through Israel. And today we await the rapture of the saints, the snatching away of the church, according to first this, Thessalonians four verses 13 and following. In First Corinthians 15:51, the removal of the saints from the earth; removing them from the unprecedented wrath of God that will be poured out upon the world during the time of the tribulation; the rule of the Antichrist and his false prophet. This is consistent with the final seven years of judgment that we read about in Daniel 70th week prediction in Daniel 9:24 andfollowing. During that time, there will be the seal judgments. There will be the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments, as we read in Revelation six through chapter 19; the battle of Armageddon, the second coming of Christ and so forth. 

And then at the end of Christ's Messianic reign upon the earth, Jesus will hand the kingdom over to God the Father, and the eternal state will begin. We read of this in First Corinthians 15, verse 24, let me read this to you, "...then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet." Then, in verse 28, "When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all." Oh dear friends, what a glorious hope, what a glorious future we have in Christ Jesus. 

Now, some have asked, and I thought I would give an explanation of kind of our overall position with respect to Bible prophecy, and I want to give this to you briefly before we look at the text. Our understanding, here at Calvary Bible Church, when it comes to Bible prophecy, is known as pre- tribulational, pre-millennial dispensationalism. This is a position that consistently applies a literal, grammatical, historical interpretive method to the biblical text as opposed to other systems that are primarily figurative. We look for one meaning in a passage. There can be many applications, but there's one meaning, not multiple meanings based on culture or preferences or some biased theological position. We would reject the "sensus plenior," maybe you've heard of that. It means "fuller meaning." We reject that; where you look for a deeper meaning in a passage of scripture intended by God, but foreign to the writer. We don't look for those types of things. And by "literal" what I'm referring to is a commitment to understanding just the normal, plain sense of every text, the authorial intent. The Greek word, translated dispensation, comes from "oikonomia" which is sometimes translated in Scripture as "administration" or "stewardship," and it also conveys primarily the idea of management of an economy. And when we look at the storyline of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we see God dealing with mankind, managing mankind in various ways, in differing ways. For example, the way he dealt with people during the time of the Old Testament under the law is very different than the way he deals with us now. As a theological system, dispensationalism addresses issues pertaining to ecclesiology - that is the church - as well as eschatology, the understanding of things in the end times. And dispensationalists will see, as as I am preaching to you even today, that the kingdom of God is the primary theme of the Bible. Quoting one scholar, Michael Vlach, quote, "God is pursuing a multi-ethnic, multinational, earthly kingdom characterized by righteousness and justice. "He goes on to say, "Genesis 1:26 and 28 is foundational for dispensational theology. Adam, as a representative of mankind, was to" quote, "fill and rule and subdue the earth as God's mediator. This is a kingdom mandate. Man as mediator is tasked to rule and subdue the earth for God's glory and purposes. This expectation existed even before sin and the need for salvation. So kingdom is prior to salvation. God's purposes and man's destiny are deeper than individual human salvation, as important as that is." He goes on to add, "When man sins in Genesis three, the need for salvation will arise and become an important theme. But redemption is not the theme of Scripture, and its importance operates under God's kingdom plans. God's ultimate purpose for man is not just to be, quote, 'saved,' but to rule God's creation for His glory. This must occur with mankind being in proper relationship with God and other fellow human beings." And finally, he adds, "Dispensationalism asserts that salvation has three main components that must be adequately addressed. First, there is salvation to the individual. Second, salvation extends to the salvation and restoration of ethnicities, nations and society, and third, salvation extends to the healing of creation." End quote. 

Now please understand dispensationalism addresses all three of these things and will assert that the biblical covenants must be the starting point for understanding God's plan and purposes through history. We must understand the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, I should say, first the Mosaic Covenant, then the Davidic Covenant, and then the New Covenant. And this will ultimately require a distinction that we see between Israel and the church. We would reject the idea that they are one in the same. The church is not spiritual Israel. Israel is an ethnic, national and territorial entity with clear Old Testament roots. One Jewish scholar who became a Christian, John Feinberg, said this, "Dispensationalists emphasize the complete and literal fulfillment of both the spiritual and physical promises of the biblical covenants. They do not see physical and national promises as inferior types that must be spiritualized or fulfilled nonliterally. In this sense, dispensationalists are more more holistic in their understanding of God's Kingdom purposes than many non dispensationalists. 

Now, sadly, and this is kind of where I'm going with all of this, and believe me, we're going to get to Zechariah in a moment. But some of you have asked me about this because we have been accused by some people of teaching something that is very false. Sadly, those who hold, as we do, to a pre--tribulational, pre-millennial dispensational view are often the subject of ridicule among non dispensationalists, especially among reformed and covenant theologians in academia, from which I have come. I'm very familiar with these things. Certainly, we would agree with them, soteriologically, in terms of our understanding of salvation. But not all of them would agree with our dispensationalism. And some say that dispensationalism is an anti-intellectual, even scandalous, position based upon a recent invention, a novel invention, created by 19th century English theologian John Nelson Darby, who, by the way, was the first to systematize dispensationalism. He came up with seven categories. I wouldn't necessarily agree with them, but that was his attempt. I join most dispensationalists and give little credence to this idea of coming up with different categories, because it misses the core of dispensationalism, and the traditional understanding of the Bible story line is basically summarized under four categories. You can see creation, fall, redemption and restoration, if you want some categories. Moreover, if you look at dispensationalism, and I don't want to bore you here, but there are different positions even within that camp, as there are in covenantalismand other positions. There is, for example, in dispensationalism, the classical or traditional dispensationalist. There is the modified or revised position. There is the progressive dispensationalist. And all of those have overlapping elements. And perhaps you have heard the assertion that John Nelson Darby influenced CI Scofield, who, a long time ago, my dad had one of these Bibles, who influenced CI Scofield with his Scofield Reference Bible. By the way, that is false. Scofields arrangement corresponds with the British nobleman, the Viscount John Barrington, who wrote in 1728, 100 years before Darby. And sadly, some will argue that Darby, and therefore Scofield, have invented this whole thing and launched an irresponsible, modernized system of theology that must be rejected. There are a number of books,  couldpoint you to to help you refute that. One would be "Dispensationalism - Essential Beliefs and Common Myths,"revised and updated by Michael J Vlach. But many of the criticisms by some non dispensationalists and covenant theologians are, unfortunately, very harsh. 

I would add, they are unfair, uncharitable and many times mythical. We see this even beyond the academy. In other words, academia. We see it in popular culture. I saw not too long ago, maybe you did too a country music singer by the name of John Rich that made this very accusation to Tucker Carlson on a podcast - just before he advertised his new brand of whiskey, Redneck Riviera. But he mocked pre tribulationalism and premillennialism, dispensationalism. Again, it's a novel position. It was created by John Nelson Darby put in the Scofield Bible, and it's all basically false. And I would humbly say that is a gross over simple oversimplification and frankly, mischaracterization of the issues. I might also add that you really need to be careful using entertainers or social media as a reliable source of theological truth, okay? Hopefully you know that. Now, while dispensationalism did not coalesce as a system until the early 19th century, and it continues to develop to this day, you can easily trace dispensational thought in nearly every period of church history, way before Darby ever came along. For example, Papia was a disciple of the apostle John, and he shared John's premillennial views of a coming earthly kingdom, the salvation and restoration of of ethnic Israel and so forth, as recorded in the Book of Revelation. And Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, believed the same thing, and Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John as well. They too were premillennialists. And historically, I just want you to understand, that historically, dispensationalism can be traced, including even pre tribulational premillennialism, can be traced all the way back to the New Testament era. You see it in the New Testament era. You see in the patristic era. You see it in the Nicene era. You can see this in the writings of the anti Nicene fathers, that is, the ones that were there before the Council of Nicea in 325, you can see it in the medieval era, the Reformation era, the pre-Darby, the Darby era, even to this day. And if you want a scholarly work on this, a new one that has just come out read, "Discovering Dispensationalism - Tracing the Development of Dispensation Thought from the First to the 20th century." It's edited by Cory Marsh and James Fazio. There are 12 scholars from different positions that will look at each of these eras and prove this. 

Well, with this in mind now, we return to the second of eight prophetic visions that God gave Zechariah, and he gave them to him, shall we say in a dispensation is very different from the one in which we live, and points to a dispensation very different from the one in which we live. And here we see God giving these visions to bring clarity and to bring comfort to the dispersed and the demoralized exiles that have come back from Babylon into Judah. He wanted to remind every reader that God is faithful to his promises, faithful to his covenant promises. And he says in verse 13 of chapter one, that is, his words are "gracious and comforting." And what we see as we look at Bible prophecy, including where we're at here in Zechariah's scond vision today, is that history will end with the same meticulous, supernatural precision with which it began. The Old Testament repeatedly reveals a coming earthly kingdom that will be ruled by the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this will include a renewed and a restored Israel and the salvation of many Gentiles. 

Now, by way of brief review, since it's been several weeks, I summarize these gracious and comforting words of the first vision under seven headings pertaining to the Messiah, we learn that he is prepared for battle, he's perpetually focused, he's personally interceding, he's also zealous to restore, zealous to retaliate, zealous to return, and zealous to reinstate. And what we're going to see is that this second vision builds upon these concepts. And I might say from the outset that when I study these things, it is such a thrill to know that God is sovereign. He is working a plan, and nothing can thwart his kingdom purposes. And in this second vision, God is going to reveal what he revealed earlier in Daniel chapter two, as well as Daniel chapter seven, when the Lord will come and judge the nations that defy him and persecute his people. 

So let's read the passage Zechariah chapter one, beginning in verse 18.

"Then I lifted up my eyes and looked and behold, there were four horns. So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, 'What are these?' And he answered me, 'These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.' Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. I said, 'What are these coming to do?' And he said, 'These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.'" 

Now I have divided this little section into three headings that I hope will be helpful for you. We're going to first see the barbaric aggression of godless nations. Secondly, the divine judgment of godless nations, and finally, the Messianic rule over godless nations. Now look closely at the text here, beginning in verse 18, it says, "Then I lifted up my eyes and looked..." This always - the idea of lifting up your eyes in Scripture - carries the idea of new revelation, something that was built on former revelation. And as such, he fixes his eyes upon it. Now remember previously, his eyes were fixed on the Angel of Yahweh, the pre Incarnate Christ, the Messiah prepared for war but not ready to launch his attack; and he was standing among the demoralized Israelites, the covenant people symbolized by the myrtle trees in a deep ravine of degradation, along with a group of battle ready horsemen prepared to do his bidding at the proper time. But here we see now he lifts up his eyes and he looks and "...behold, there were four horns." 

This is fascinating. In other words, the arresting objects that capture his attention are four horns. Now, what in the world is that? Well, we know from the language that the term "horn" speaks of a ram's horn or a goat's horn or an ox's horn. But we see throughout Scripture that it is used figuratively to symbolize strength and even destructive power and might. For example, in Psalm 75 verse 10, we read, "all the horns of the wicked also will be cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted." In Psalm 18 and verse two, it's illustrative of the power of God. There we read the familiar passage, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower." And in Luke 1:69 it's illustrative of the power of Christ. There we read that "He hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant, David. "We even read about it in Revelation 13 and verse one, where it's illustrative of the powers of the antichrist that will come and the nations that will serve him. There we read, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and 10 horns. And upon his horns, 10 crowns and upon his heads, the name of blasphemy."

Now, Zechariah would have understood the symbolism, and by the way, I could give you probably another 50 passages that help us see this idea of horns and how it's used. But he needed to know what they represented specifically. So, at the end of verse 18, he says, "I said to the angel who was speaking with me, 'What are these?'" verse 19, "And he answered me, 'These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.'"  Now, this is clearly a reference to the early superpowers of world history, the ruthless kingdoms of Babylon, MedoPersia, Greece and Rome. And as we see in other passages of Scripture, a coming, modified or revived Roman Empire that will be ruled by the Antichrist. 

And so we come to our first point here that I want you to see - the barbaric aggression of godless nations. What we see here is the Lord's great anger against the nations that have mistreated Israel. And remember now this is giving them a glimmer of hope that God has not forgotten us, that he's still on the throne, that justice is coming. And notice their savagery here, "'These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.'" The idea of scattering in the original language is that of dispersing people into exile. And this speaks of the brutal and the ruthless rage of these satanic powers. These were the vicious horns that gored, that maimed and murdered and crushed God's covenant people. I might add that God has promised to bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel. And my have we seen that down through history? 

We read about that, by the way, in Genesis, 12, three. We also know, according to what Zechariah will say in chapter two and verse eight, that God's chosen people are, "the apple of His eye." He says, "'He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.'" And so God sees all of this, and he is going to pour out his wrath upon these nations. And in Zechariah's vision we see him hearkening back, as I said earlier, to Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven, in the first eight verses of Daniel seven, which I might add parallels Daniel two - the Spirit of God speaks and provides a panoramic view of world history, including the rise and fall of those four Gentile Empires. Remember, they were symbolized by four great beasts rising up out of the sea; empires that would dominate Jerusalem and God's covenant people. Once again, Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece and Rome and a revived Roman Empire symbolized as 10 horns on the head of a great monster. This speaks of a federation of Gentile powers that will re-emerge one day under the rule of 10 kingdoms corresponding to the feet and the toes of this great Colossus. You read about it in Daniel two, verses 42 through 44, Daniel seven, verses seven and eight, and even Revelation, chapter 13 and verse one. 

And then, as we look at those prophecies, you see an 11th horn that appears, a little horn that comes up from among them, which is revealed to be the Antichrist. And as the prophecy progresses, we see that God makes his final judgments of the nations, and he utterly and permanently destroys the little horn along with his empire. And I might add that none of those things transpired during the historical era of the Greeks and the Romans. So this must await a future and glorious consummation. 

So, these four horns in Zechariah's second vision, speak of these world powers and how destructive and cruel these kingdoms were, and they will continue to exist during what Jesus called "the times of the Gentiles" Luke 21 and verse 24. Which I might remind you, is a period of judgment that came upon Israel that began with Judah's captivity under Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC and will continue until the Messiah returns. And as we see to this day, Jerusalem remains under Gentile dominion. Even though they have some of their own freedoms, they are still not liberated from Gentile power. All you have to do is look at the skyline of Jerusalem. I've been there a number of times, and you see the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al Aqsa Mosque, right there on the Temple Mount, right in the middle of Jerusalem. That's why Jerusalem, to this day, remains the most disputed piece of real estate in the world, and it will continue until the Lord Jesus Christ returns and establishes his throne in that place. So it's all going to get worse, it's not going to get better. And just before the Lord returns, we read in Zechariah 12, verse three, "...in that day, I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. I have to laugh, as if that isn't already the case, right? People are constantly saying, how do you resolve the situation in the Middle East? Well, the point is, you don't. Jesus will. He goes on to say, "'...all that burden themselves with it shall be cut to pieces, though all the people of the earth be scattered together against it.'" 

By the way, that's a reference to the slaughter that will occur at the battle of Armageddon, when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will appear and rescue them in the hour of their greatest peril. So we've seen the barbaric aggression of godless nations. 

Secondly, I want you to notice the divine judgment of godless nations. It says in verse 20, "Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen." It's interesting. The Hebrew root of this word means "to cut" or "to engrave" or "to forge."  And the Septuagint translates the term "tektōn" We get our word technicians from that. So this refers to these, some skilled workers in metal or stone. And notice that there are four craftsmen that will correspond with four horns, and so it is obvious that each craftsman is assigned to a corresponding horn. So he says, "'What are these coming to do?’ “And first, the interpreting angel reminds him again of something very important before he answers the question. Notice verse 21 "And he said, 'These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head.'" This speaks of the inhumane cruelty of Gentile nations; cruelty so severe that the people had no strength to even raise their head. I have seen pictures and videos of the Jewish people in the Nazi concentration camps. I'm sure you've seen some of that as well. If you ever have a chance in Jerusalem, go to Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and you will see things that you can't imagine human beings would do to other human beings. And the heads are down. No strength to even raise the head, nothing to raise the head for. Isn't it interesting? Jews make up only .02% of the 8 billion people that live on this planet, yet they are by far the most persecuted people on earth. Why such hatred? Why Hamas? Why all these protests, all this anti semitism? There were some of it that occurred even just this last week in Amsterdam, I believe. 

Well, there's two reasons, I'm not going to preach this again. I've preached about it before. First of all, because of Satan's hatred of God's chosen people, and secondly, because of God's judgment on his chosen people that will one day lead to their spiritual salvation and restoration. And God has used Gentile nations down through history to judge his people. And what we see happening in Israel today is the result of the ancient battle between two opposing kingdoms - the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, combined with God's judgment upon his chosen people for their disobedience. I might add that God has made this abundantly clear in Deuteronomy 28 he said that he would bless them if they were obedient to his law and curse them if they were disobedient. Deuteronomy 29 verse 24 and following speaks of what will happen, "All the nations will say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?' Then, men will say, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land to bring upon at every curse which is written in this book; And the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.'" God has allowed Satan and his demonic horde and human beings to persecute his chosen people. 

In fact, the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, 28 through 34 provides a summary of Israel's future, from her afflictions to her salvation, from her regathering into the land that we see now, to her ultimate restoration. And we've witnessed the beginning of this regathering in our lifetime, when the State of Israel became, or was established, I should say, by the UN - that now hates them - established in 1948. Isn't it interesting, something Hitler's final solution, he called it, could not prevent? I'm reminded of Amos three and verse two, where the Lord says to Israel, "'You only have I chosen...'" The word could be translated "known;" the idea of setting an intimate love upon. "'You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth.'" And there we see that God predetermined that he would know Israel, make them an intimate object of his eternal love, making them his chosen people whom he would never permanently cast away. But today we see God's hand of judgment upon his beloved enemy, Israel, as a nation. They have been temporarily put aside. Romans 11, Paul speaks of this in verse 25, and six, "...a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in..." Eventually, all Israel will be saved. He tells us, ".... just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'"

Now back to Zechariah's vision. I said, "'What are these coming to do?'" These craftsmen. "And he said, 'These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.'" The idea of lifting up their horns carries the idea figuratively, of the bull charging and goring and maiming and killing. And it's interesting, too. In the Hebrew grammar, this is a participle denoting a continuous, not an occasional, but a continuous persecution. And I want you to notice the word play. The godless nations lifted up their horns against Israel, and therefore the God of Israel, to the point that Israel was so defeated, they could not even lift up their head. Ah, but God hasand he will continue to respond to their extreme hubris and cruelty by throwing them down. Isn't that interesting? What a wonderful comfort that would have been to those dear people in that day, as it is to us even this day. 

Now, who are these craftsmen? The answer is, the very nations that destroyed and succeeded their predecessor, Babylon was the first horn, and it was defeated by Medo Persia, the first craftsman. Medo Persia, the second horn was conquered by Greece, the second craftsman. Greece, the third horn was destroyed by Rome, the third craftsman. But then we must say, Well, who is the fourth craftsman? Who will destroy Rome? The fourth horn? The answer is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, Christ, you will recall back in Daniel nine, verses four, nine through 14, as well as chapter two, verses 34 and 35. The fourth kingdom, in those prophecies, will be destroyed by a stone not made with hands. His kingdom will be great, a great mountain that will fill the earth, the final kingdom of the Lord's Savior and the eternal King, Daniel 2:44, let me read that section. "'In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.'" As Daniel proclaimed.

So we've seen the barbaric aggression of the godless nations. We've looked at the divine judgment of these godless nations. And finally, I want you to understand the Messianic rule over godless nations. You see what God revealed to his people through Zechariah was, and is, a panoramic sweep of historical events that will eventually find its fruition in a triumphant Israel, again proving God's faithfulness to his covenant promises, and thus bringing glory to himself. And oh, what comfort this must have been to them again, as it should be to each of us. Both Jews and Gentiles, can take comfort knowing that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, will one day return in power and great glory. In fact, Zechariah will go on to tell us in chapter 12 and verse eight, "'In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. And in that day, I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.'" Please know that the miracle of Israel rising out of the ashes of the Holocaust and becoming a Jewish nation in 1948 is a testimony to God's promise to bring them back to their land and ultimately bless them. This is reaffirmed by the psalmist in Psalm 105, beginning in verse seven, where we read, "He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to 1000 generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, 'To you, I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.'" 

Beloved, I would submit to you that God is true to his word, and he will ultimately fulfill his promise. And since 1948, we've seen this promise gradually come to fruition as the people come back into the land. Amos nine, beginning in verse 14, we read, "'I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land, which I have given them,' says the LORD your God." And of course, this is a fulfillment of God's promise made to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob some 4000 years ago, and then reaffirmed to Moses. And today, the Arab Muslims cannot stand this. They are absolutely apoplectic over Israel's prosperity and power. And certainly, Satan is trying desperately to use those wicked nations around the world to thwart his kingdom purposes, that God will not allow them to have that land. 

May I remind you that in Ezekiel 38 and 39, we are promised a Russian Arab alliance of nations that will descend upon Israel under the leadership of Gog and Magog and be supernaturally defeated on the northern mountains of Israel, so that the people of Israel and the people of the world will know, as he says, that "I am the LORD, the God of Israel." I believe this battle will occur even before the ultimate tribulation begins. And I believe what we're witnessing today in the Middle East and geopolitically around the world, is God providentially setting the stage for this event. 

Well, my friends, may I challenge you live every day of your life for the glory of Christ. Life is short. Make it count for His glory. He is in control. He saves, He sanctifies, he judges, he rules, and he's coming again, and the only thing that matters in your life is what you do for Christ. Nothing else has any worth ultimately, so be about the Great Commission. Be about conforming your life to Christ. And remember, as we read in Second Chronicles, 16 nine, that, "the eyes of the LORD look to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." 

Let's pray together, Father, we thank you for your word that gives us such comfort. And while we cannot know all of the details of your prophecies, we can see at least the big picture, and that is enough for us to rejoice with exceeding joy. Lord, we pray that you will come quickly, but until you do, may you empower each of us with a passion to live to the praise of your glory and be instruments of righteousness that you can use, that others will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. We thank you. We give you praise in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen.