What a wonderful privilege we have to come together and look into the word of the living God that he has given to us. In light of that, I would ask you to take your bibles and turn to Zechariah chapter two, as we continue to look at every word of this particular prophetic book, and we're doing it this morning under the heading "The Millennial Glory of Jerusalem." Let me read the text to you, beginning in Zechariah two and verse one. 

"Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, 'Where are you going?' And he said to me, 'To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.' 

And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, 

and said to him, 'Run, speak to that young man, saying, "Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. 

"For I," declares the LORD "will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst!"'" 

This is the third in a series of eight visions given to Zechariah on a single night some 2500 years ago. And the purpose of these visions, as you may recall, is to bring clarity and comfort to the dispersed and the demoralized exiles, to remind them, and every reader, of God's faithfulness, of his sovereign power and his unchanging character whereby he will fulfill all ofhis promises. In fact, in chapter one and verse 13, we read that these are quote, "gracious and comforting words." Bear in mind that these people had been in captivity now for some 70 years in Babylon. They were there because they utterly disregarded God's word. They rejected what the prophets proclaimed. They allowed themselves to be conformed to the culture rather than confronting it, and they were apathetic towards God's laws, and so God judged them. 

And now you have about 50,000 Jews returning to rubble and ruin in Judah and Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity; their temple is destroyed. They were plagued, of course, by the violent opposition of the mongrel race around them, the Samaritans. They were part Jewish and part pagan. And you will recall in the first vision, God reminded them of his great love for Jerusalem, he reminded them of his anger against the nations that have persecuted them so viciously. He reminded them of his sure return to Jerusalem to lavish his mercy and grace upon the people one day to rebuild the temple and expand and prosper Jerusalem. In fact, this is summarized in chapter one and verse 17, where we read, "'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 expands upon these gracious and comforting words by promising certain destruction on the godless nations that so viciously persecuted them and caused them to suffer and violently dispersed them. And this will not only include Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece and Rome, but also, as we have studied, a revived Roman Empire during the time of the tribulation - Daniel's 70th week that was symbolized by the 10 horns on the great head of a monster that will be a federation of Gentile powers under the rule of 10 kingdoms. And of course, this corresponded to the feet and toes of the great colossus that we read about in Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven and Revelation chapter 13 and verse one. 

And then an 11th horn you will recall will appear, or a little horn that comes up after them, which is revealed to be the Antichrist. And I might also add, just to keep your prophetic line in order, prior to all of that, Ezekiel tells us, in Ezekiel 38 and 39 that there will be a Russian and Arab alliance of nations that will descend upon Israel under the leadership of Gog and Magog and be supernaturally defeated on the mountains of Israel. And then eventually, we read how Christ will return, and he will vanquish all of Israel's enemies and publicly displayhis millennial glory. And why is that important? So that Israel will know that he is indeed the Lord their God; because he is a jealous God, jealous for his holy name, and he wants to show to the world that he is faithful to his covenant, promises that he made with ethnic Israel, his chosen people. In fact, we read about this in Ezekiel chapter 39 beginning in verse 21 there he says, "'And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and my hand which I have laid on them. And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward.'" And then in verse 25 and following we read, "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. When I bring them back from the peoples and gathered them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My spirit on the house of Israel,' declares the Lord." 

My friend, Doug Bookman says this quote, "God's primary strategy by which he has determined to glorify Himself publicly in the course of human history is His covenant faithfulness to Israel, and these eight visions given to Zechariah reveal this very thing." Now, some of you have asked, "Why do so many people believe that none of this is true, that the church has permanently replaced Israel." Let me give you just a little background. While the early church fathers were what we'd call premillennialists, they believed in a coming earthly kingdom, they were primarily what we would call historic premillennialists. In other words, they believe that the church had replaced Israel, and that the church would therefore go through the tribulation and so forth. And that is understandable when you remember what was going on in that culture in those days historically; think of the social issues that had such a profound impact on their understanding and unfortunately affected their hermeneutics - in other words, the method they used to interpret Scripture. You must understand that in those early days, the Romans destroyed the Jews in AD 70 when they conquered them, and then the Romans defeated a second Jewish rebellion, the Kitos War in 115 to 117 and there were still Jews alive when they were scattered around and they revolted again in the Bar Kokhba revolt that began in 132 led by a messianic figure that called himself the prince. And at that time, another 600,000 Jews were killed, and many more died because of disease and starvation. And sadly, during that time, the Christian church did not come to their rescue. So the early church fathers began to believe that the Jews are finished. There's no more Jew. So, hmm, I guess that means the church is the new Israel. 

Plus, you must understand that the early church fathers were Gentiles, and as a culture, they clashed with the Jewish people, who rejected, by the way, the New Testament. Moreover, Greek and Jewish philosophers questioned the legitimacy of Christianity because it's this new religion. How can you say you were the one true religion when the Jewish religion goes back millennia, and you have all of the Greek religious ideas, and now you've got this new document, this New Testament; how can you defend that? So in order to do so. The early church fathers said that the Old Testament was not a Jewish but a Christian document, that it spoke of the church that had had existed from all eternity. And of course, this required some hermeneutical gymnastics, shall we say, to look at the Scripture, the Old Testament scriptures, and to see all of these things as figurative, as an allegory; to spiritualize the text, to use typology. In fact, one of the church fathers, Clement, said that Eve is a type of the church, and that the church is as ancient as the human race and so on.  So, Israel during those days was reduced to nothing more than a type of the church. Beyond all of that you had Plato and what was called his platonic metaphysical dualism, if you remember some of your ancient history, that was dominant between about 80 BC, all the way into ad 220. And he believed and taught, and most of the world believed, that there were two different realities in the world. There was the material and the spiritual. Anything material was evil, anything spiritual was good. And so obviously there can't be a physical kingdom on earth some day, as the Bible talks about, so you have to somehow get rid of that idea. So the kingdom promises were not to be understood as literal by a lot of the early Christians, but as spiritual. 

So the influence of these social and philosophical issues caused the church fathers to utterly disregard Israel and to reject the biblical prophecies, especially concerning the millennial kingdom on earth and a revived and restored Israel. Then around AD 354 through 430 you have Augustine - and I'm just giving you some highlights of the history, but Augustine led the church into the Middle Ages, and you can read about his eschatology and his position on Revelation 20 in his great work, "The City of God." And he believed that the church is the kingdom of heaven, and believers, dead and alive, are in the kingdom now ruling with Christ. He said that the millennium is, quote, "an allegorical representation of the historical church in its present state." End, quote. 

Well, obviously the prevailing eschatology and ecclesiology was all church centered. Israel was nowhere to be found. They were gone, totally erased. Therefore, from bible prophecy, you can move ahead then into the era of the Reformation, and when the true church was trying to break away from Roman Catholicism, and the state church, they also rejected the idea of Israel being anything more than just a type of the church. They believed in what we would call super cessionism - that again, the church has replaced Israel. It's also called amillennialism, or replacement theology. And you can read about even the anti semitism that was there. Martin Luther was a rabid anti Semite. He hated the Jews. 

And that continued to develop in the 16th century through men like John Calvin and Zacharias Ursinus, the father of the covenant of grace and the covenant of works; he made those distinctions. and to be sure, in in this system, Israel is utterly eviscerated. It's gone. The church has replaced Israel. And so this system became kind of the story line in their mind of the Bible. So you have the covenant of grace, the covenant of works, the covenant of redemption. And that really codified supercessionism, or amillennialism, that eschatology. 

And during then the 15th and 16th century, you have the rise of what is called Covenant Theology. You can read about the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, who joined with other state church authorities in beheading, for example, the Anabaptists that were...they believed in believers’ baptism rather than pedo baptism, that the church needs to be separate from the state, that the state shouldn't tell the church what to believe and so forth. He burned them at the stake, along with others like him, confiscated their property, but he developed the idea of one covenant, and he would use this against, for example, the Anabaptists and the Roman Catholic Church; that God had made only one covenant with man before he was formed. And eventually, by the way, in covenant theology, this became known as the covenant of grace. And in his mind, and in the minds of many of that day, that really unified the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it bolstered his argument against infant baptism. And for him, the Jews were cut off in the Old Testament, and now the Gentiles were God's chosen people. Zwingli had a contemporary, Heinrich Bollinger, another pastor; a writer and theologian, one of Zwingli's supporters, and he began to systemize what is known today as Covenant Theology, beginning with just one covenant. 

Now to back away from some of that history, I don't want to bore you too much, I just want to give you a sampling of this. If you back away, what you'll see is that for the non dispensationalist or the covenantal theologian, the central and unifying theme of Scripture is to bring glory to God through his plan of redemption from sin, through Jesus Christ. And I would certainly agree with that. Dispensationalists would agree with that. That is magisterially praiseworthy, that is infinitely glorious, but we would argue that it's incomplete. For the  dispensational, pre millennialists, as I would be and as this church would be, the central and unifying theme of Scripture is to bring glory to God through the plan of redemption from sin through Jesus Christ, which is the necessary means to publicly glorify himself in human history through the fulfillment of his covenantal promises to Israel, to make them quote "the great nation in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed." That is Genesis 12 two and three,part of the Abrahamic covenant. 

Redemption alone, you see, in my humble opinion, is not the primary strategy of God's plan to bring glory to himself. Rather, redemption must include the primary kingdom goal to redeem and restore a generation of Abraham's descendants, consistent with the covenant promises he made to them. And that's why Paul would say in Romans 11 beginning in verse 26, "...so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION. HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROMJACOB.' THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'"You see, at that time, Yahweh will rule the nations through Israel as a nation, and thus put his glory on display; his character, his infinite worthiness and faithfulness and sovereignty on display. And I might even add that this is at the very heart of the Old Testament - the Hebrew, word for glory "kavod." It carries the idea of "to be heavy" or "weighty," and that requires an objective, measurable manifestation in reality. God wants to show his glory publicly and prove that he is faithful to all that he promised to do. John Piper, on this concept, says this quote, "I believe the glory of God is the Gone is the going public of his infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting his glory, because we're created in his image, and we're trusting his promises so that we make him look gloriously trustworthy. The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I might mean by (quote) 'glory,' and I base that partly on Isaiah six, where the seraphim say, 'Holy. Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his' -- and you would expect them to say 'holiness,' and they say 'glory.' They're ascribing 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory' -- and when that goes public in the earth and fills it, you call it 'glory.' So God's glory is the radiance of his holiness, the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections. "

Beloved will it not it be unspeakably glorious to one day see the majesty of Christ on display before the nations of the world, when the individuals of ethnic Israel finally acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord, the one whom they pierced? When the Lord Jesus Christ, will rule in righteousness with a rod of Iron, when the effulgence of his shekinah will blaze forth from his being in his temple in Jerusalem, as he has promised? When we witness every knee bowing in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is the glory of God the Father? In fact, we may even be spectators at the Great White Throne Judgment. We don't know for sure, but it's very possible. 

You see, this is the ultimate goal of God's plan for the ages - to put the glory of his infinite perfections on display for the world to see when he finally and completely fulfills his covenant promises to ethnic Israel and all of the Gentiles who have been grafted into the vine of Abrahamic blessing by God's grace. 

Now with that background, let's look at Zechariah two, this third prophetic vision. And again, as you already know, and certainly you will know as we move ahead, because we believe in a consistent, literal, grammatical and historical method of Bible interpretation - we believe that these things are actually going to happen, and Israel will be at the center of it for the glory of Christ. I've divided this into four sections, just briefly, first, we're going to look at the identity of the persons presented. Secondly, the promised growth of millennial Jerusalem. Thirdly, the Messianic protection of millennial Jerusalem. And finally, the shekinah glory of millennial Jerusalem. 

So first, I want you to notice the identity of the persons presented. He says, "Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand." Now, who is this surveyor? He can't be merely an insignificant character, some unidentified character. The reason I would say that is because the characters in the two previous visions possess enormous importance as they related to the symbols and events described. So who is this? Well, it can't be the interpreting Angel, nor can it be the other angel who meets the interpreting Angel as he's going out, nor the young man in verse four - that is clearly Zechariah. So who is this man with a measuring line in his hand? I believe, on the basis ofScripture, as you will see, this is the Messiah. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre–IncarnateChrist. This, if you will, is the red horse rider among the myrtle trees that is Israel, standing with them in the ravine of degradation in the first vision. 

Notice a clear reference to this man who we read about in Zechariah six, verse 12, "'Then say to him, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold a man whose name is branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. '"'" And we see this same messianic designation in Ezekiel chapter 40 and 41 as the one who would one day measure the future temple, and as well as, the city of Jerusalem and all of the boundaries of Israel in Ezekiel 47 and 48. Notice Ezekiel 40 and verse two, and following, "In the visions of God, He brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, and on it to the south, there was a structure like a city. So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway." And if you look later on in Chapter 44 and verse two and verse five, you see that this tour guide is called Yahweh. 

So we have four characters in the vision. You have Zechariah, you have the Messiah, and then the interpreting angel and another angel who goes out and meets the interpreting angel as he's leaving the scene to give him an urgent message. But the key here, now as we look at this, is the Messiah has a measuring line in his hand. Interesting. Again, this is consistent with the promise he made earlier. I read a portion of it in Zechariah one verse 16 and 17. There we read, "Therefore says the LORD, 'I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.' 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.'"'" 

May I pause for a second. Obviously, these are gracious and comforting words to these discouraged people, because it indicates to them that he has not forgotten them. He has not abandoned them. And I might add that these would not be gracious and comforting words if somehow this was some mysterious reference to the church that all of these things are just going to be fulfilled spiritually. His plans have never changed. He's reminding them that he is the covenant making and the covenant keeping God of Israel, consistent with the purity and the faithfulness of his holy character. 

And secondly, will you notice the promised growth of millennial Jerusalem? And again, this must have been of great encouragement to them, because they're looking at ruins and they're trying to figure out, you know, what are they going to do with Jerusalem and the charge that they had been given as Haggai talks about to rebuild the temple and so forth. So Zechariah sees the man with a measuring line in his hand, and he says, in verse two, "'Where are you going? 'And he said to me, 'To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.'" Now, in order to understand this, you have to look at symbolism like this in other passages of Scripture, and we see the symbolism of wide and long in a variety of passages. You'll see it in Ezekiel 40 and Ezekiel 41 and chapter 46 and 48. And all of that is in the context of a greatly enlarged millennial temple. Not only that, the dimensions of the various divisions of the land that will be apportioned to the 12 tribes, to the Zadokian priests and the Levites in the city, and the prince who will be the administrator of the kingdom, representing the Messiah. 

But notice what happens, the interpreting angel that had been speaking to him in the two previous visions suddenly leaves. And this is interesting, and God now is going to dispatch another angel and give him an urgent message. In verse three, "And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, and said to him, 'Run, speak to that young man...'" Let me pause here for a second. This is interesting. "Young man" in the Hebrew is a term, it could be translated "youth." It was even used to describe an adolescent. It was used, by the way, to describe David when Saul tried to discourage him from going out to fight Goliath, First Samuel 17:33, "For you are but a youth." The same Hebrew word. So Zechariah is a young man here. "'Run, speak to that young man...'" and here's what you're to tell him, "'Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle in it.'" Now it's interesting. This phrase "without walls" - the Hebrew term "perazah" is from the root peras, and it means to exceed limits, to overflow bounds, to spread, to expand. And so it's a common description in Scripture to describe a rural area. And what he's saying here is Jerusalem will exceed its current limits. It's going to expand out into the rural areas. And if you've been to Jerusalem, you can see what this would look like. Amazing how it's up on a plateau, and then you move out and you have these rolling hills and mountains. It's really magnificent. 

And I might also add as a footnote here, this demonstrates, once again, Yahweh's intimate and sovereign involvement in the welfare of his covenant people. Moreover, it illustrates the unchangeable nature of his character, his unalterable faithfulness to his covenants. By giving them a glimpse and giving us all a glimpse of where history is going; there's no mystery here. You don't have to read something into this. This is what he's going to do. What a magnificent promise and how encouraging. 

I was thinking about this this past week. Some sometimes while I'm preaching, things will pop into my head and I have to say, Should I say this or not? I'm going to go ahead and say it. Okay? Most Americans, certainly discerning Christians, are rejoicing over this incoming administration that's going to put a stop to the insanity of all that we've been looking at this wokeism, not to mention sparing us from a totally incompetent DEI President selected on the basis of her identity rather than her merit. But our rejoicing over this, you must understand, is going to absolutely pale into insignificance - it's not even worthy to be compared with - the glory of the millennial age. And as we look at these truths, I pray that it will animate your heart, that it will excite you, that it will give you a sense of, my goodness, this is where we're heading. The one that I serve and love who died on my behalf, this is what he's all about and what he's doing. 

So again, "'Run, speak to that young man, saying, "Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it."'" Oh, how thrilling this must have been to them. It's thrilling to me, thinking about it right now. During the millennial reign of Christ, Jerusalem will expand into the rural areas. And it says, "'...because of the multitude of men and cattle within it.'" You see, this denotes phenomenal spiritual growth. There's other passages that speak about this. Let me give you a couple. This explosion in growth in millennial Jerusalem is also described in Isaiah 49 beginning in verse 19. There we read, "'For your waste and desolate places and your destroyed land -  surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you will be far away. The children of whom you were bereaved will set will yet say in your ears, "The place is too cramped for me; make room for me that I may live here."'" I mean, think about it, it'll be a time when Jews and Gentiles are coming to Jerusalem to see Christ in all of his glory. I mean, everybody is going to want to live there, right? 

Jeremiah 30, beginning in verse 18, "'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city will be rebuilt on its ruin, and the palace will stand on its rightful place. From them will proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who celebrate; and I will multiply them, and they will not be diminished; I will also honor them, and they will not be insignificant."'" And in chapter 31 verse 24 we read, "'Judah, and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmer and they who go about with flocks. For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.'" Boy, talk about putting the glory of Christ on display publicly. This is breathtaking. By the way, it's going to get a lot better. I'm reminded of Second Samuel and what happened there. You will remember that the Philistines had taken the Ark of the Covenant, and from Bet Shemesh, they had sent it back and the men of Kiriath-Jearim came out and got the ark, and they kept it there for some 20 years. And then David goes, years later now, and he tries to recover it. And you remember Uzzah reaches up, touches it, and gets killed, and so it stays with a guy named Obed Edom there for about three months. And then David goes back then with his entourage to get the ark. And we read about this in Psalm 132, beginning in 13, verse 13. Here's what he says, "For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for His habitation." In other words, this is where he's going to bring the ark back to. All right, and what I'm getting at here is, don't ever underestimate the special status Jerusalem has enjoyed as God's chosen city, for God's chosen people. "For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy with bread. Her priests also I will clothe with salvation, and her godly ones will sing aloud for joy. There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth; I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon himself, his crown shall shine." 

Now back to the vision. What we have here is the divine surveyor measuring Jerusalem to see how wide it is and how long it is, verse two. And then in verse four, we read that, "'"Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it."'" And then he says this, "'"For I" declares the LORD, "will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst."'" Obviously, nothing even close to this has occurred historically. This is all future. 

And so we move from the promised growth of millennial Jerusalem to number three, the Messianic protection of millennial Jerusalem. And what you're going to see here, beloved, is that Yahweh himself will be Israel's impenetrable wall of defense against any force that might dare attack her. Verse five, "'For I' declares the Lord, 'will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'" Now I want to digress a minute, because I want you to understand this in a broader context, biblically. This is a reference to the glorious Shekinah, the presence of the living Christ. Often in Scripture, God, who is Spirit, would manifest himself with resplendent, brilliant, ineffable, dazzling, blinding light. It's called his shekinah. This speaks of the presence of God. And we see, for example, the presence of God was housed within the tabernacle and the temple. In fact, the Hebrew term for tabernacle is "mishkan." It's derived from the root word "shakon," which means to dwell or to rest. And from shakon comes the term shekinah, denoting the glorious presence of God. He is a God of light that would manifest himself in brilliant light. Daniel two beginning in verse 22, "He emanates light without shadow, saying, light dwells with Him." Psalm 104 verse two, "He covers himself with light as with a garment." And Paul described Jesus, our Messiah, to Timothy in First Timothy 6:16, as quote, "...dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see,to whom we honor an everlasting power." And at First John, chapter one and verse five, we read that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." And certainly, light is a fitting metaphor to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is steeped in Old Testament illusions. 

You remember that it appeared to Moses in the midst of a burning bush, and it was the light of his presence, his Shekinah, that was a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, that led his covenant people out of Egypt through the wilderness. In fact, we read in Exodus 14, beginning in verse 19, "The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them." Let me pause for a second, where I'm going with all of this is, this is the type of thing that's going to happen in the New Jerusalem when Jesus protects them.

Verse 20 of Exodus, 14. "So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night...Then the Egyptians," in verse 23, "took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them in into the midst of the sea. At the morning watch, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion." And you know the rest of the story. Again, at Sinai, the giving of the law, in Exodus 33 remember, Moses said, "'Show me Your glory.'"  And the Lord said, "You cannot see My glory, for no man can see Me and live.'" And then he hid him in the cleft of the rock, and his shekinah went by him. And then it hovered, as well, in the entrance of the tent of meeting that Moses would enter; you read about that in Exodus 33. And it was the glorious Shekinah, the presence of the living Christ, that hovered above the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle and the temple. You remember, in the Ark of the Covenant - you have the violated law, you have the mercy seat on top the lid of separation, the place of propitiation, the Septuagint calls it. And above that, you have the outstretched arms of the seraphim. And between that, above the mercy seat, you have the glorious light of the shekinah. And it all symbolized the fact that you can never, as sinful, man enter into the presence of a holy God apart from the shedding of blood on the mercy seat, the place of propitiation. Sinful man needs a redeemer. It needs one who could propitiate. And we read that Jesus is that one - the propitiation for our sins. 

It was also the luminous cloud of the shekinah, glory of God, that demonstrated God's approval of Solomon's temple in First Kings eight, beginning in verse 10, "It happened that when the priest came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD, filled the house of the LORD."  And in Ezekiel one, Ezekiel sees the glory of God, you know, on his throne, an amazing passage you're familiar with it, in Ezekiel one, beginning in verse 26 it says, "And on that throne, high up was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed, from the appearance of His loins and upward, something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it. And from the appearance of His loins and downward, I saw something like fire, and there was a radiance around Him." Well, that makes it clear the bell, right? In other words, he saw something he couldn't even explain. 

Da 

And the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus, prophesied that He would be the one coming in light in his first, as well as his second coming. And it was predicted in Numbers 24:17 where we read a star would come forth from Jacob a "kôḵāḇ" a blazing forth. Second Samuel 23 verse four, "and He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds." And you may also remember that because of their apostasy and their idolatry, the glorious shekinah departed from the temple of Israel, and it did so in stages. You read that in Ezekiel nine and through chapter 11. And for 400 years, they did not see the glorious presence of God until it appeared to a humble group of shepherds in Bethlehem and in Luke two we read, "And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, Christ, the Savior, is born.'" I believe it was this very shekinah that appeared to the Persian king makers, the Magi, because we read about a star in Greek  - "stär" - a star a blazing forth that not all people could see; led them to the very place where Jesus was. And in John one, verse seven, John the Baptist, was the one who was sent to bear witness of the light. And he said Jesus was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. And so in His incarnation, the shekinah was veiled in a human child, but it was Immanuel God with us, Jesus the Christ. 

And later in John one and verse 14, we read that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth." Then you will recall on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw a glimpse of the unveiled majesty of Christ. And there on that mountain, they witnessed that ineffable, glorious light, the effulgence of his holiness and glory; emanating from his very person, a preview of kingdom glory. And Paul recounted in his own conversion, in Acts 26 verse 13, that "...at midday, along the road, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 

Today, we see a glimpse of the glory of God in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, in Hebrews one beginning in verse two, we read that God, "...in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance..."  The term means the effulgence, that which flashes light - "...He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. So is it any wonder that when Jesus came in John 8:12, he would say, "'I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life.'" And in John 12:46, he says, "'I have come as light into the world that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.'" And beloved, a day is coming when those who are alive upon the earth will see him return in power and great glory. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24 beginning in verse 29, "'But Immediately after the tribulation of those days, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENDED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man...'" which very well could be a reference to his Shekinah, "...a sign of the Son of Man, will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.'" He came the first time in humility. He's coming the second time in glory. 

And then the description of the New Jerusalem one day in Revelation, 21 beginning in verse 22 John says, "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are in its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it..." here's why, "...for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb." Now we come back to Zechariah vision, and we read verse five, "'For I,' declares Yahweh, "will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst."'" I find it interesting, three words in English "I will be" - it's the same word as "I am." Remember when Moses asked God, "'What shall I tell the people when they ask what is Your name?'" And in Exodus three and verse 14, God said to Moses, "'I AM, who I AM.'" This is the same root word. And he said, "'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I AM," has sent me to you.'" In other words, I am - he's referring to himself as the self-existent, eternal one who is and always will be. And you will recall in John 8:58, where Jesus told the unbelieving Jews "'Before Abraham was born, I am.'" In other words, he refers to himself in the present, continuous tense. And why is that? Because he's speaking of himself as the one true God who always has and always will exist. And this is a title, therefore indicating his self-existence. You see, there has never been a time when the Lord Jesus Christ has not existed. He is the preexistent, self-existent, eternally existent, uncreated, creator of the universe.

He is the great I AM. And that's what he's saying here in verse five, there "'...will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'" And "I am" is the one doing that. By the way, you might ask, “Well, why would there need to be protection?" Well, because during the millennium, and we as redeemed saints, will be reigning with Christ, with unredeemed human beings living upon the earth. And all the inhabitants are going to see his glory, but not all of them are going to worship Him. And this is God's way of demonstrating to the world the power of human depravity and the sovereignty of God in salvation. You will recall, if you look at the scriptures, Satan and his demons will be bound during this time. So nobody can blame anything on Satan and his demons. It's not like the devil made you do anything. It's your flesh, your depravity, and even with the glory of Christ reigning on a renovated earth, there will still be people that reject him. And beloved this demonstrates that apart from the sovereignty of God and his grace, no man would ever be saved. They will seek at the end to destroy the living Christ. We know at the beginning of the millennium, Satan is bound, and at the end, he will be loose for a quote, "little while," Revelation 20 and verse three, and we can read how that he will amass a great army of depraved human beings born during that time, and they will seek to destroy the holy city and Christ himself. You can read about that in Revelation 27 through 10. 

But then in Revelation 20, beginning in verse nine, we read that, "But fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." 

Well, what an amazing thing God is saying here through Zechariah, that, "I will one day be the glory in the midst" of Jerusalem. My how this animates my soul to praise him. And I want to close with a section of Scripture that does exactly that. It's Isaiah 62 beginning in verse one. "For Zion sake, I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning. The nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will designate. You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. It will no longer be said to you 'Forsaken,' nor to your land will it any longer be said 'Desolate,' but you will be called 'My delight is in her,' and your land 'Married'; for the LORD delights in you, and to Him your land will be married." 

Dear friends, I plead with you, if you do not know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to do business with him today. You need to acknowledge your sin and cry out to him for a mercy that you do not deserve, that he will give to you instantly and freely. And for those of us who do know and love him, oh, how we need to live to the praise of his glory. I like college football, but when I look at these fans losing their minds over all of this, I think if Christians would have just one ounce of that kind of enthusiasm for what is eternally significant rather than what is eternally insignificant. Just think what the Lord could do. So Lord, so let's all be serious about living in light of what God has promised to do that we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ to the praise of his glory. Let's pray together, Father, thank you for your word that speaks so directly to our hearts. Thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ. Thank you for the assurance that all that you have promised will indeed come to pass, even though we may not know the details all of all of it, we do know that you are absolutely in control of your created universe, and you will be glorified among the nations, and neither man nor devil can thwart your eternal purposes. We thank you. We give you praise for the glory of Christ; in whose name I pray. Amen.