Many thanks to all of you musicians that lead us so faithfully and with such excellence. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Zechariah's prophecy, Zechariah chapter two, we are going verse by verse through this amazing book, and this morning, we will look at verses six through 13 under the heading, "The Future Deliverance of Israel."

And I might add that the transcripts of each of these expositions can be found on the shepherds fire.org website, not on the church website, but on the shepherdsfire.org, so I know some of you frantically try to take notes, and I'm going very fast, and sometimes it's like taking a drink out of a fire hydrant. I understand that, and so just know that thanks to AI and Sarah Caldwell, the transcripts are made available to you so that you can go over what has been said.

Let me read the text to you, Zechariah, chapter two, beginning in verse six.

"'Ho there! Flee from the land of the north,' declares the LORD, 'for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,' declares the LORD.'

'Ho Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.'

For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye."

"For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.

"Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst," declares the Lord.'

'Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.'

'The Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem.'

'Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.'"

This is a continuation of the third in a series of eight visions given to Zechariah. According to chapter one and verse 13, they are "gracious and comforting words" to the people to remind those that had been dispersed - the demoralized exiles - and frankly, every reader, that God is still on the throne, fully in charge, that he is the Almighty Sovereign that reigns in invincible and supreme majesty. And because of his holy nature, he is faithful to fulfill all of his covenant promises. And this is a great reminder for us today. Yes, God will be challenged, he will be ridiculed, he will be blasphemed, he will be ignored, he will be disobeyed. In many places, he will even be outlawed, but he cannot be defeated. In fact, we're reminded of this in Isaiah 46 beginning in verse nine, where he says, "'Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, "My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'"'"

Now what we are going to see once again is that this ancient prophecy has implications for that day, but also for our day, today and for the future. We will see that certainly God is not finished with his chosen people, Israel; that the church has not permanently replaced Israel. Moreover, we will see what happens when sinful people offend a holy God and persecutes his people. And we will also see the extreme danger of wittingly, or perhaps even unwittingly, allowing the world to conform us into its values rather than coming out and being separate from it for our good and for his glory. And to that end, I might add that I especially want to speak to the hearts of you young people today, and many of you young adults, and frankly, all who have little regard for the holiness of God.

I've divided this passage into three sections that I hope will be helpful to you. We're going to look, first of all, at a command to flee from paganism. Secondly, a promise to deliver Israel from her oppressors, and finally, a call to celebrate in song and silence. Now, a quick review is in order, so that you maintain the context. You will remember that in the first vision, God reminded the exiles of his great love for them, his great love for Jerusalem, and his anger against the nations that persecuted them so viciously. He reminded them of his sure return to Jerusalem with mercies to rebuild the temple and to expand and prosper Jerusalem. That's summarized in chapter one, verse 17, he says, "'Again, proclaim, saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'"'"

And then in the second vision, he continued to expand upon those gracious and comforting words by promising certain destruction on all of the godless Gentile nations who so violently dispersed them and caused them to suffer. And now, once again, we are in the third vision that we began last week. And here he elaborates on the future growth and prosperity and the Messianic protection of Jerusalem; of the temple, of the land, expressing the power of his glory, of his presence among the people, and the effulgence of his shekinah that will shine forth in the millennial Jerusalem.

Now, remember as well, when the exiles returned, God commanded them, first and foremost, to rebuild the temple, and he did this under the prophecies and the ministry of Haggai. And we know, according to Ezra, that the enemies of Judah, the Samaritans, opposed the exiles from rebuilding the temple, and so the construction stopped. And for about 16 years, the people ignored that focus that God had given them and spent their time building their own homes. And so God sent them Haggai to communicate his frustration with the people. And a lot of the older people remembered the glory of Solomon's temple, and they wept aloud when they saw the foundation of the house of the Lord laid because it was greatly inferior - did not come close to matching the splendor of Solomon's temple destroyed some 50 years earlier.

So with all of this going on, God then sends Zechariah with these eight visions to encourage them, to comfort them, to exhort them to remind them that a greater Jerusalem is coming; a greater temple is coming. In fact, he promised a future Jerusalem without walls, one that would expand into the rural areas and have no need for protection, because the Messiah would be the protector. And this, of course, would have been great encouragement to the people as they tried to rebuild the walls of a much smaller Jerusalem under Nehemiah. And he wanted them to know that, therefore, what they were doing is really only temporary; better days are coming, and this was a glorious future that would encourage them.

And I want to add, in this context, that Ezekiel also prophesied that during the reign of the Antichrist, Israel will be "a land of unwalled villages," according to Ezekiel chapter 38 and verse 11. But this will be a counterfeit. Remember, Satan is always trying to counterfeit what God does. In fact, in Zechariah 11, beginning at verse 17, the Antichrist is described as the quote, "...worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm." He goes on to say he will seek to "...devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs." And Daniel prophesied of this as well, in Daniel 9:27, "...and he," referring to the Antichrist, "will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Of course, referring to what will happen during that seven-year tribulation.

Now my point with all of this is to help you see that what is described in these visions are literal realities that will occur one day future, when the Messiah - the man with the "measuring cord" in the third vision, returns to deliver his people as promised, but Satan also will have his counterfeits. Just keep that in the back of your mind.

Now let's examine what else the Lord said in the context of this third vision. Under the heading a command to flee from paganism. He says in verse six, "'Ho there!'" Actually, in the Hebrew the HO is "H-O-Y", and if you transliterate it in English, it's "hoy," and it's used two times, "Hoy, Hoy there!" In fact, it is used three times in these two verses, and it is an onomatopoetic word.  In other words, a word that phonetically imitates the sound it describes. We use these words all the time in English, like oink, clank, buzz, meow, or whatever, and that's what this is. Okay? We could almost translate it in English, "hey, hey."  That's what we would do if all of a suddenyou see the pickup truck getting ready to run over the cat. Well, I don't know. I guess some people would say, "hey!" alright? Others would say, "okay." So the point is, what he's saying here is "'Hoy, hoy flee!'" In other words, this is a cry of extreme warning, a cry of urgency. In fact, the same word was used, remember with Joseph and Potiphar's wife that seized him, tried to seduce him. And we read in Genesis 39:12, "...and he left his garment in her hand and fled." That's the word "flee." Same word. So, "'Ho, ho, Flee from the land of the north.'" And this, of course, is a reference to Babylon, because Nebuchadnezzar came down from the north. They utilized the trade routes of the caravans and around the Fertile Crescent, swoop down from the north. And so he's saying here, "'Flee from the land of the north,' declares the LORD, 'for I have dispersed...'"  In other words, I have scattered you, "'...as the four winds of the heavens,' declares the Lord." You see, their defeat, now remember, their defeat and their scattering over the earth, in their exile, was a consequence for their sinful behavior; their refusal to obey the Lord, for assimilating, compromising, joining in with the culture with their idolatry, with their immorality; sacrificing children and so forth. And so he scattered them. In fact, if you look at the map and see how far he scattered them, it would be between two and 300 miles from their homeland. He scattered them up to Nineveh, which was about 200 miles north. He scattered them over to Midea, which would be about 300 miles east. And some had taken refuge in Moab, some in Ammon, some in Edom. Some even went down to Egypt; and these were all pagan lands ruled by satanic deception. Imagine for a moment if our country was taken over by North Korea and China, and suddenly we were separated from our families, and we are having to live in North Korea, or we're having to live in China. Perhaps in Iran, that's the idea here. So now God is commanding them and warning the people to flee from the pagan culture in which they had been immersed, to return to Jerusalem, where they can honor the Lord and worship the Lord, where their children can be protected; protected from the depraved wickedness of those pagan societies that live in rebellion to God, where they could avoid, frankly, the contamination of a godless culture. And as I will talk about in a moment, the same thing is very true of us here today, the culture that we live in.

So he says, "'Ho Zion,'" verse seven. Zion, here, is a designation underscoring ethnic Israel's inseparable connection with the city and the temple of God. It's used, for example, in Isaiah 51:16, "'I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, "You are My people."'"  

So again, back to verse seven. "'Ho Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.'" Daughter of Babylon, that's an idiom that personified pagan Babylon that was destined for destruction. Now, as a footnote, you must remember that in the post exilic period, Babylon symbolized just the barbaric cruelty as well as the humiliation the pagan nations inflicted upon Judah since her original defeat. And Babylon just epitomized every pagan region of that day, not just the city of Babylon. And we see this as well throughout Scripture. We see it used as not only a future city, but a region, a global empire, the system of the Antichrist during the time of the tribulation, and that will be, frankly, the epicenter of divine judgment when Christ returns.

I want to remind you of this just a little bit, because it's very important to see the connection between what God is saying through Zechariah and what he said through the apostle John. We see this described in Revelation 18, with parallel exhortations and warnings found in Zechariah to flee. In Revelation 18, beginning in verse one, he says this, "After these things," by the way, that's after the vision of divine judgment on the harlot church in the previous chapter, "After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!'" This is interesting and very important in the Greek grammar. This is a, what's called a proleptic aorist or a prophetic aorist, and it is used to express a future event in the past tense to underscore the certainty of what is predicted. Sothis great center of religious idolatry and economic prosperity, is about to fall forever. Verse two, "'She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.'"  And so this city is representative of, frankly, the headquarters of a world commerce that will take place under Satan and where his demons are confined and so forth.

Verse three, "'For all of the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality...'" In other words, the cause of the great doom will include not only wanton luxury and materialism of this vile city that will intoxicate the nations of the world, as we see happening even this day, but also their religious involvement with the former harlot church, that, according to the Bible prophecies, will ultimately be destroyed and focus its attentions on the worship of the Antichrist. So the people of the earth will place their faith in the Antichrist, as well as the imaginary inexhaustible resources, they will assume his empire possesses and will give to them. And frankly, that's how people vote today, right? Whoever's going to give me the most stuff is going to get my vote.

Revelation 18, verse three continues, "'...and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.'" He says, "'I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people,..."'" Same type of thing he's saying through Zechariah, "'Come out of her my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.'" So this is an urgent call, not only to leave this demonic city, but to completely in your heart, forsake all of the enticements that are being offered. "'Come out of her, my people...'" By the way, if we look at this closely, we'll see this is a reference to saints who will be mingled in amongst the wicked new believers struggling to survive during the time of the tribulation. Remember, there's going to be family members urging them to wear the mark of the beast, others exposing them to the authorities and notice they are to "come out" in verse four for two reasons. First of all, that you may "not participate in her sins..."  In other words, so that you will not fall victim to the influences of wanton materialism, for the love of money and all of the things that will distract you from trusting and worshiping God; flee from the idol worship of luxurious living, "come out" from a system that produces pride and a false sense of self sufficiency, the reliance on man rather than God. "Come out" from the idolatry of what I would call affluenza, whose symptoms are greed and immorality and sensuality, prostitution, drunkenness, pride, self-aggrandizement, self-reliance, self-indulgence, violence and on and on it goes. And certainly, these are characteristics of the world in which we live.

Finally, he says, in verse six, "'Pay her back, even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, "I SIT AS A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, will never see mourning."'"

Notice the three categories of wickedness that summarize God's indictment. And again, bear in mind, this is the same type of thing that Zechariah is talking about. First of all, she glorified herself. Self-glorification is the sin of pride. Secondly, she lives sensuously. In the original it's literally "becoming wanton;" the sin of finding satisfaction and joy in luxury rather than in God, which includes a lust for pleasure, to be consumed with a sense of of self-gratification, self-indulgence, including the ruthless exercise of force and violence to get what you want. And then finally, she says, in her heart, "'I SIT AS A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW and will never see mourning.'" And this is the sin of of haughty self-sufficiency and self-centeredness. All of which is tantamount, frankly, to self-deification. Verse eight, "For this reason, in one day, her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.'"

Now back to Zechariah in his third vision. Again, God is urgently commanding in them and warning the exiles scattered abroad; verse six, "'Ho there! Flee from the land of the north.'" Verse seven, "'Ho Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.'" We see the same message in Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 52 and verse 11, "Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean; go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD." In other words, don't be contaminated by anything that these people think, anything that they do. Remember in Daniel one, Daniel refused to eat meat offered to idols. It's the same kind of thinking. Now the 50,000 that returned, originally, the 50,000 exiles, they understood this. In fact when they returned and they observed the Passover, Ezra described them in chapter six, verse 21 as quote, "The sons of Israel who returned from exile and all those who had..." catch this, "...separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to join them, to seek the LORD God of Israel." It says that they, "ate the Passover." We see similar warnings, do we not, in the New Testament? For example, in Second Corinthians, six, beginning, beginning in verse 14, we read, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God." He went on to add, "'Therefore, COME OUT OFROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,' says the Lord. AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; and I will welcome you.'"

The Apostle Paul speaks of this as well, as you recall, in Ephesians five, beginning in verse 11, he says, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret." Dear Christian, please hear me. Never underestimate the toxic influences of the world system in which we find ourselves. Sin is like radiation. Constant exposure will lead to misery and death. And young people, especially you, are the target of the enemy right now. And constant exposure to social media, to Hollywood, to the the music and sports industries that that spew out all of this immoral garbage. These are the primary means that Satan uses to destroy your mind. You need to be a hearer of the word and a doer of the word. Psalm 119, verse 11, where the psalmist says, "Your word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me Your statutes." Young people, that must be the passion of your heart, lest you find yourselves destroyed by the world that is so appealing to the lusts of your flesh. For many people, rather than saying, "your word I have treasured in my heart," what they actually say is, "the values of the world I have treasured in my heart that I may live the way I want to live, and do the things I want to do and be who I want to be. Forget you, oh Lord, I reject your statutes."

In a 2023 Gallup study, I was reading the other day, and I'm using this in light of the danger of conforming to the culture rather than confronting it. It said that across age groups, the average time spent on social media ranges from as low as 4.1 hours per day for 13-year-olds. Did you catch that? 4.1 hours per day for 13-year-olds to as high as 5.8 hours per day for seven-year-olds, and the study said girls spend nearly an hour more on social media than boys. 5.3 versus 4.4 hours respectively. The data indicates a steady rise in US suicides among adolescents, teens with especially steep increases in suicides among girls and minority adolescents. And of course, people are wondering, well, what's driving all of this, and the overwhelming consensus is social media. But I would submit to you, behind social media is Satan.

In fact, Dr Robert Dicker an associate director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for Northwell Health's Zucker Hillside Hospital and Cohen Children's Medical Center in Great Neck, New York, reviewed these findings, and here's what he said, quote, "Sadly, I could say that the results were not surprising." End, quote. "And as to the factors driving these trends," the doctor said, "one obvious culprit is the pressure on kids by social media." He said quote, "As social media became a primary area of teenage communication, that is when there was an increase in mood disorders, depression and suicide." End quote. So friends, I'm warning you, based upon what we've seen God say to the ancient Israelites and what he will say to the saints yet future, and what he says to us today - do not underestimate the danger of the world. And one of Satan's most effective weapons to distort reality is to fill the minds of our children with all ofthis garbage, all of these lies, all of these deceptions, all of this immorality, so that they ignore the will of God. And parents, I would also challenge you, you need to protect your kids from these things. Satan's world system is ingenious in the ways they have of indoctrinating our kids; everything from the indoctrination centers of our public schools, our colleges, universities, universities, media, entertainment, ungodly friends, ungodly family members. You need to keep them away from woke churches and false gospels and all of these things.

And I might also add, parents, if your only exposure to truth is a Sunday morning sermon, you are terribly malnourished. And if you have no desire beyond that, hear me, you have fallen in love with the world, whether you want to admit it or not. First John two, verse 15, we are warned, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world." Practically speaking, do not love immoral entertainment, godless abominations, like the perversions of the alphabet mafia, feminism, abortion, materialism, liberalism, socialism, globalism, the prosperity and social gospels, all of those type of things. "If anyone loves the world," in other words, these things, "...the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but it's from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

Now, all of that to say that the ancient Israelites had their own version of pagan culture immersion and the consequence of being contaminated by all of these things. And the results were absolutely catastrophic. And we see that even today. I mean, look at the woke insanity that we have in our country, and millions of activists today demanding the right to brutally kill unwanted babies and all of these types of things is so demonic. So first we see here in this vision, a command to flee from paganism. And I might add that that on the basis of these messianic promises of future glory, they all should have bolted from their wicked surroundings and returned to Zion.

But secondly, I want you to notice a promise to deliver Israel and her oppressors, verse eight, "For thus says the LORD of hosts, 'After glory He has sent me...'" This is very hard to translate; there's several ways of doing it. One is that "after glory," describes the ministry of the Messiah, or, and this is where I would tend to land, a reference to him seeking his glory that's manifested in the ineffable light of his Shekinah, that he's been talking about; the materialization of his glorious presence that will fill the temple in Jerusalem and the whole earth, as we read for example, in Isaiah 6:3. "...After glory, He has sent me..." It's really interesting, "He" capital has sent "Me." Capital. In other words, the Father sent the Son. Interesting, which verse nine makes clear. "He has sent Me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple," literally, the pupil, "of His eye." In the Hebrew the term can be translated "the gate." The gate of the eye. We see this compassionate protection of the Lord for his elect nation, Israel, in Deuteronomy, 32:10 There we read, "He found him," referring to Jacob, became Israel, "and He found him in a desert land and in the howling waste of the wilderness. He encircled him, He cared for him. He guarded him as the pupil of His eye." Likewise, in Psalm 17, beginning at verse eight, the Psalmist cries out, "Keep me as the apple of Thy eye. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings from the wicked who despoil me; my deadly enemies who surround me."

Now, the great theologian Merrill Unger said this regarding the apple of his eye, quote, "This contractile opening by which rays of light reflect images on the retina is the tenderest and most sensitive part of the visual organ." Let me pause for a moment. We can all agree with that right? The slightest little piece of dust or anything in the eye, I mean it, it shuts you down. He went on to say, "It feels most acutely the slightest injury and is meticulously guarded as extremely precious; the loss of which is irreparable. This figure eloquently expresses God's keen feelings toward Israel mistreated by the nations."

So again, "'He has sent Me,'" the Father has sent the Son, "...against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.'" Now, folks, you must understand the divine reasoning here. What we see is that the public manifestation of the glory of the Messiah is inseparably linked to the spiritual and the physical restoration of the covenant people. Their disgrace is his disgrace. Their bondage is his bondage. Their enemies are his enemies. So he says what he's going to do in verse nine, "'For behold, I will wave My hand over them...'" The term "wave" in the original means to "shake." Or to use an old word, "to brandish." But it carries the idea of waving back and forth, to wave a hand aggressively against the enemies of his people. "'I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.'" Now, here, Zechariah is echoing the words of a former prophet, and I should say prophets, especially in regard to the day when the Lord returns and rescues and restores Israel at his second coming. For example, in Isaiah 11, verse 15, we read, "And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; and He will wave His hand over the River with His scorching wind; and He will strike it into seven streams and make men walk over dry-shod. And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be left, just as there was for Israel in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt." Referring to the parting of the Red Sea. In other words, in his final deliverance of Israel at his second coming, the Lord will dry up the river Euphrates as he dried up the Red Sea. You read about this, by the way, in Revelation, 16 verses, 12 and following. And there he will make what's sometimes called a highway of holiness that will lead the redeemed back to Jerusalem in the millennium. And indeed, the Lord of hosts, dear friends, is one day going to wave his hand of judgment over the enemies of Israel.

Verse nine, "...so that they will be plunder for their slaves." Isaiah describes this just reversal, along with the final judgment of Babylon after the Tribulation and the conditions relating to the millennium. He says this in Isaiah 14, verse one, "When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors." Scripture is filled with these kinds of promises of future glory, something that those depressed and discouraged, demoralized exiles could hear and find great encouragement in. And I might add too, that don't forget that that we, as the church, will join in these millennial blessings.

I think of Romans, chapter eight and verse 19. There we read, "For the anxious longing," in other words, the earnest expectation of the saints, "...for the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." Now let me remind you that at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will return with his raptured saints. We will return with him, the true sons of God being separated from the false, and then we will be fully disclosed in eternal glory. Paul spoke of this in Colossians three and verse four, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." And we know biblically that all the saints will be granted the right to share and in Jesus' Davidic throne, Revelation 3:21, speaks of this, and to "rule the nations," as you read in Revelation two. And also faithful service in this age really affects our position in the coming kingdom, Jesus talked about according to his parable in Luke 19. Some will be granted more ruling authority than others and so forth. And you will recall that in that dark hour of our Lord's crucifixion, Jesus reaffirmed the certainty of the coming kingdom and the regal role the disciples would play in that kingdom, what they would enjoy; Luke 22 beginning in verse 28, "You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel." And Paul said in First Corinthians six and verse two, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" Indeed, we are, quote, "joint heirs with Christ," Romans 8:17, destined to reign with Him. Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy 2:12, "If we endure, we will also reign with Him." And I love that passage in Revelation two, beginning in verse 26, it says, "He who overcomes," which, by the way, was John's definition of a Christian in the apocalypse, "'He who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father.'" And we see that this promise concerning the saints ruling in the millennium is taken from Psalm two, beginning in verse seven, "'I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:  He said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. "Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"  And to think dear friends, my dear church family, all of us who truly love Christ and have been saved therefore by his grace, will reign with him. Revelation 5:10, "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.'" We can't even begin to imagine what it will be like to reign with Christ on a renovated earth when it is returned to Edenic splendor, when Christ's millennial reign on the earth will transform everything on this planet into conformity with his will and his universal kingdom. And the intermediate kingdom between his second coming and the consummation of all things in the eternal state, will then transition to the kingdom of the Father, according to First Corinthians 15:28, When "the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all." I find myself wanting to preach a whole sermon on the glory of all these things, but suffice it to say, this is what the Lord has promised.

So back to Zechariah's vision, we have a command to flee from paganism, a promise to deliver Israel from her oppressors, and then finally, a call to celebrate in song and silence. And this is most fascinating and most encouraging. He says in verse 10, "'Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,' declares the Lord." The word "dwell" in the Hebrew is " šāḵan" which means "to settle down," to "abide," to "reside." And it's the word from which we get, the term Shekinah. The Shekinah glory, the brilliant, dazzling light of his presence when he manifests himself. And he says, "'Behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst.'" Then he says this in verse 11, "'Many nations will join themselves to the LORD,'"  to Yahweh, "'in that day and will become My people.'" I find this to be so encouraging. I remember not too long ago, when I was in Istanbul, I think 27 million people, and I'm seeing people that you know, 99 point 99% of them don't know Christ and would hate him. And yet to think that perhaps many of them will be a part of the redeemed one day; many Gentiles from all nations, all backgrounds, all regions, it says, will be joined to the Lord in saving faith.

Isaiah prophesied this truth in Isaiah 19:25, and it's also interesting that the term "join" - "lāvâ" in Hebrew, is used in Genesis 29:35 to describe a husband and wife being united together in oneness. And it's also the root word of Levi, the priestly tribe of Israel, those that God specifically set aside - set apart -  should say, to serve Him in a very unique way, to have intimate fellowship with him. And the point here is that during the millennium, Yahweh will do the same with all the nations. He will join them unto himself. In the millennium, they will be united with him and experience the oneness of his loyal love. Isaiah 19, beginning in verse 24, "In that day, Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel, My inheritance.'" Do you remember that Daniel prophesied these things and summarized it well in Daniel seven and verse 14, "'And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.'" Oh, how I long for that day. And John had a glimpse of this in Revelation seven, beginning in verse nine, it says, "After these things, I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice saying 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'"  So this is why the Lord called them to celebrate in song and silence.

Now I want you to look at this closely. First of all, it's a call to sing. Verse 10, he says, "'Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion.'" "Sing" in the original language denotes a loud vocal outburst expressing wonderful news; that's what we do here, right, when we sing together? In fact, I have heard this on a number of occasions, and a dear brother just recently reminded me of this. He had come out of a different background, and he said, "You know, one of the things that that really fascinates me with Calvary Bible Church is that the people actually sing." In many churches where I've gone, and again, I've heard this from other places, and I've been in other places where this is true. In many places where I've gone, all you hear are the people up front and the instruments, and if they stop, there's no sound. "But the people at Calvary Bible Church really sing." And I thought about that, and I think, well, of course they do. They can't help but do that right?  Because this is an expression of their heart. And if I can say kindly but forthrightly, if you're not singing or at least making a joyful noise to the Lord, when all the rest of the saints are singing, there is something terribly wrong with your faith. Sometimes I can look around and you know, everybody's pouring their hearts out, they're singing to the Lord, and you look at some faces, and they look like they're having a gallbladder attack, and you think, my there's something bad wrong here. But he says here, "'Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion;'"

Now, why? Well, there's several reasons. One, it's because he says, "'...for behold, I am coming. '" Wow, I am coming. And secondly, "'...I will dwell in your midst.'" It's not like he's going to tap down and then go back; he's going to dwell. He's coming. I'm going to "'dwell in your midst,' declares the Lord." And then he goes, "'Then I will dwell in your midst.'" And thirdly, he says, "'You will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.'" There won't be any more confusion. I think of Habakkuk 2:14 where the prophet says that in that day, "...the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

And in verse 12, we have another reason. He says, Then, "'The Lord will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.'" Oh, that's why you sing. How can you be silent? But there is a place for silence as well.

Notice in verse 13, we see not only a call to sing, but a call for silence. He says, "'Be silent, all flesh...'" The Hebrew "silent," it could be hush or be still, "'Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.'" Now, this is the natural expression of awe and worship. There are times when we are absolutely speechless before the glory and the greatness of God. That's what he's speaking about here. In fact, we read about this in Habakkuk two and verse 20, "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.'" Yes, there's a time to sing, but there's a time to be silent, because, dear friends, a day of divine retribution is coming. A day of judgment is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return and unleash his wrath upon those who mock him. In Revelation 18 one, when Christ breaks the seals just before the trumpet judgment sound, we read that there will be silence in heaven for about a half hour. In other words, all the redeemed and all of the heavenly hosts are suddenly going to see the sovereign Creator and ruler of heaven and Earth begin to unleash his wrath upon a rebellious world. Silence. Hush. Be still. This is the climax of redemptive history. And a day is coming, dear friends, when the nostrils of the Lord Jesus will flare and he will rise from his throne in utter indignation and in essence, say, enough is enough. And he will come to redeem his people.

In Zephaniah one and verse seven, we read of this, there the Prophet says, "Be silent before the LORD God, for the day of the LORD is near." Again, verse 13, "Be silent." Hush. Be still, "...all flesh." All flesh. All of you arrogant people that have mocked me, ignored me, deliberately disobeyed me, be silent; "...all flesh before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.'" You know, I shudder at the idiotic arrogance of politicians and rulers and nations, and maybe some of you. You live as if God doesn't even exist, as if all that he has done and all that he has promised is meaningless; that you can determine your own destiny and you are your own final authority.

But what they refuse to acknowledge is what we read in Isaiah 40 beginning in verse 17. And here's the promise, "All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?" He went on to say in verse 21, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sets above the circle of the earth, and its habitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless."

My friends, I would challenge you this morning. Number one, flee from paganism. Flee from paganism wherever you find it encroaching upon your life. And typically, it's in these little devices that we have. It's in those screens that we have in our living rooms or in our studies. Flee from those kinds of things. Separate yourselves from those kinds of things, lest you be contaminated in ways that will destroy your life, your wife, your husband, your children, your community.

And secondly, rejoice in God's promise to deliver Israel from her oppressors, and all that that means for all of us as we look towards that day when the Lord returns in power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. And then finally, celebrate in song and in silence, okay? And again, this is going to be the natural, automatic response of those who truly know and love the Lord. This isn't something you're going to have to conjure up and work at unless you don't know the Lord or somehow, you're living far from him. So let's celebrate in song and at times in silence, especially at this time of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, amen? Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in such a way. And I pray as always, that your word will soften the hearts of those that may be hearing, that they might come to a place of genuine saving faith in Christ, that they might repent of their sins and cry out for mercy, and then Lord, for all of us who know, who love you, may we truly celebrate all that you have done for us in the past, in the present and in the glorious days to come. May this be indeed the passion of our heart I ask in Jesus' name and for his sake, Amen.