Oracles Concerning Israel’s Neighbors

Transcript

GR 1014
06/26/1977
Oracles Concerning Israel’s Neighbors
Zechariah 9:1-8
Gil Rugh

Zechariah and the 9th chapter. If you have your outline handy, you might just take those for a moment. We’ll make some comments about them and then move on from there. On the more detailed outline of the book. On the one side, the side opposite from the bibliography side, you’ll note that we have 4 main divisions of the book.

The first was the introduction in verses 1-6 of chapter 1.

Then the 8 visions, beginning with chapter 1:7 – 6:15. The theme of the 8 visions was the defeat of the kingdoms and the establishment of the kingdom.

Then the 3rd division, was the question of fasting with ritualism and spiritual reality compared and contrasted. That was chapter 7 & 8.

Then the 4th main division of the book is called the two prophecies. You’ll note that the theme is the same as Roman numeral 11, the eight visions. The defeat of the kingdoms and the establishments of the kingdom. So, the focal point again on these closing chapters, chapter 9 to 14, is basically the same as it was in chapter 1-6. There we had a series of 8 visions given. Now, what will happen in chapters 9 to 14, there is a more detailed focus on the future of Israel, on millennial prophecies, although we did cover some of those in the earlier chapters. But on the role of the Messiah and what He’ll be doing on the preparation of Israel for the kingdom and so on, as I mentioned this morning, we have some of the most detailed prophecies, that we have in all the bible, contained in Zechariah 9-14.

We have it broken down into two prophecies, the first prophecy and the second prophecy. Not very original, I’m afraid. The the back part isn’t any more original, the two burdens. Basically, that name comes up, and we’re going to talk about it. The “burden of the word of the Lord” in chapter 9:1. And then moving over to 12:1, “the burden of the word of the Lord.”

These last chapters break themselves down in their own division. Chapters 9-11 and Chapters 12-14. The contrast of course, we tell about the defeat of the kingdoms, plural, that’s all the nations and kingdoms of the world. All the Gentile kingdoms will ultimately be defeated and subjugated. That does not mean they will be annihilated. We’ll see that as we move along. They won’t be annihilated, but they will be defeated and subjugated.

Then we have the establishment of the kingdom. We’re talking, of course, about the kingdom of Israel, the messianic kingdom, the millennium.

Alright, this evening, we’re going to really have a little bit of a history lesson. It’s what it’s going to be, because we’re going to look at prophecy that has been fulfilled. Now it was prophecy when Zechariah wrote it. Zechariah writes it over a hundred years before it happens. But it has already been fulfilled. It’s a very interesting study. I’ll be referring to a book a little bit later this evening. To give you the title now, it’s called – The Wonders of Prophecy. It’s by a man named John Urquhart. I happened to pick this up on a sale, it was half price so I’m always thrilled with that. I always leave the half price sticker on it, because that makes me fill good about my bargain whenever I pick it up. It’s a very good little book. Too good, it shouldn’t have been half price.

The Wonders of Prophecy, and he simply takes you through the bible. Through the different prophecies that have already been fulfilled. We get taken up with the prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled, because they’re exciting. But it’s very exciting to see how detailed and precise God has been, in fulfilling prophecies of the past. That establishes a pattern for future prophecies. I look and see how He has fulfilled the prophecies that have already transpired up to this point. And that is a pattern for how He will fulfill the prophecies yet to be fulfilled.

We’ve talked about a-millennialism and pre-millennialism. An a-millennialist, one who believes there is no future for Israel, there will be no earthly kingdom. Believes that all prophecy up to this point has been fulfilled literally. All prophecy from this point on will be fulfilled, figuratively. Seems to be an inconsistency within the system.

The first 8 verses of chapter 9, focus on the conquest of Alexander. Incidently, I ought to say one other thing. If you do any detailed study on the book of Zechariah, Zechariah 9-14, is sometimes credited to a man other than Zechariah. The way the liberal unbeliever goes, is he begins with his presupposition, that God is not revealing Himself, because we’re not even sure He’s there. But at any rate, He’s not revealing Himself. Therefore, Zechariah could not write about the future. Ergo, since chapters 9-14 deal with future events that were fulfilled in such detail, it must have been written by a man who wrote after the fact. The only reason they can say that is because they have a presupposition. A man writing over 100 years before these events, couldn’t have written about those details. And they’re right, only God could have told them those details.

The problem is, they assume that He didn’t, so they break the book off at chapter 9 and say these were all written sometime later. Down in the inter-testament period, but we’re not going to go into the details of that. Because as bible believers, there’s no reason to do it. It amazes me, as soon as they start talking about God, they’re talking about the supernatural, and what’s so amazing for God to reveal the future. But they want to talk about God on one hand and yet have a God that can’t tell you the future. Makes no sense.

The first 8 verses of Zechariah 9, they deal with events surrounding the conquest of Alexander the Great, a man that looms large in history, the son of the founder of the Greek empire, the Macedonian empire. He’s the man who brought it to the pinnacle of power. After Alexander, the empire is divided among 4 of his generals, and we come down through the centuries, Alexander, being an outstanding man accomplished a great deal. He was only around 32 or 33 when he died in Babylon. Yet by then he has conquered most of the known world and was suffering from depression because there was nothing else to conquer.

So, the first 8 verses here, we’re going to find out a little bit about his conquests, because he is significant, because as Zechariah writes now. Zechariah is writing over 100 years before Alexander will come on the scene. Alexander is going to be raised up as an instrument of judgement by God, to judge and punish the nations, that have mistreated and abused Israel. He begins in Chapter 9:1, “The burden of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the Lord.” Now this word, burden. It carries the idea, and burden is a good translation, you have oracle in the margin, and oracle is a good translation, but probably doesn’t communicate as well to us. This is a burden, this is a special message. But it’s a heavy message a weighty message. It’s a message of judgement.

So, it is a burdensome message, as it is delivered. It weighs down upon those that will be the recipients of the message and bear the brunt of the judgement. Now, this message is seen as settling down upon Damascus. It has Damascus as it’s resting place. What happened is, you have this burden from God, and it settles down upon Damascus. The land of Hadrach, is the region surrounding Damascus. I brought a map, you can see Damascus here. The region surrounding Damascus would be the region of Hadrach. This territory is the first that is picked up, verse 2, “And Hamath also, which borders on it.” This region is the first subject of the prophetic message. We’ll see, we’re going to move down here.

Let me just make a comment. Damascus, if you’ve read the Old Testament at all, the city of Damascus was a problem city for the Jews. It was one of Israel’s worst enemies for centuries. From about 900 to about 721 BC, Damascus was an arch enemy of Israel. Now this has got to be an encouraging message, as Zechariah speaks to the nation. As he addresses the nation, he addresses Damascus and says, here’s a burden descending upon Damascus. A message of judgement descending upon Damascus. God is finally going to punish the city for their treatment of Israel.


I didn’t bring the map that continues up where we have the land come around up here in the corner of the Mediterranean Sea. There’s a city called Issus, a very significant city because there in October 330 BC a significant event occurred. We’re not near October, but in October of this year, we’ll celebrate the anniversary of October 330 BC. Now joggle your historical minds a moment and think. What could have happened at Issus in Asia Minor, southeastern part of Asia Minor, in 330 BC that would be of significance? Since we all know, I won’t tell you, we’ll go on. No, I will tell you. Alexander the Great defeated Darius and the Persian armies. He defeated them with a brilliant military battle because Darius has succeeded in bringing his army around behind Alexander. But Alexander, with wise use of his Calvary, completely defeated the Persian army.

Darius escapes, to be later executed by his own soldiers. With that, the Persian influence in this entire region, is over. Now, with the Persians defeated here, Alexander is free to descend down into this area, all the way into Egypt. A significant event for the Jewish people. Damascus will be among the first up here, of course as he comes down, to bear the brunt of the conquest of Alexander. That’s exactly what does happen. You note how picturesquely it’s put. In the parentheses in verse 1, “for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are to the Lord”. That’s strong. Really what it does picture clearly, is that earthy agents and empires are God’s tools for accomplishing His purposes.

That’s important to keep in mind, because it carries down to today the way that God uses earthly rulers and earthly kingdoms. What is happening here is the eyes of men, especially all the tribes of Israel, are toward Alexander. They are fixed upon Alexander. Because with the defeat of the Persians, there is no doubt who is now the dominate power in the world, especially this part of the world. Yet, God says they’re toward me, because as Israel especially, and Israel’s eyes are especially on Alexander because he’s chastening their enemies. Now, they’re not sure how they’re going to come out, although Zechariah will say. But it must have been with glee that they saw Damascus be crushed. As they watched Alexander, they were watching God work. That’s sort of exciting.

Same thing goes on today. You read your newspaper, you read the news magazines, watch news on television, you see God juggling the affairs of men and of nations of this world to bring about His purposes. It’s amazing. So, you’re watching those nations, but what you’re really watching is God at work. Again, it’s neat to be a Christian.

OK, Damascus and the regions surrounding Damascus, going to be judged by God. Next judgment picks up in the second part of verse 2, “Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.” This prophecy becomes one of the more outstanding, for a number of reasons as we’ll see. First, Tyre and Sidon, you note them here right along the coast, Sidon to the north, then down to Tyre. Tyre is especially singled out, gets special attention here, because Tyre was a very wealthy city, a very arrogant city. Tyre comes out in several other prophecies. We’ll look at one or two of these in just a moment. Because of their pride, because of their arrogance and because of their prosperity, they were a constant problem for Israel.

The question comes, we are the people of God, the age-old question, look how we suffer, look what happens to us. But all you have to do is look at Tyre. They are always on top of things. They continue to prosper. No army has ever been able to conquer them, and yet they have no respect for God at all. Now how can you explain that? Israel had a problem dealing with that. Just like people have a problem today. Why do the righteous suffer? Why is that, I’ve tried my best for the Lord, I’ve given the best of my time, I’ve tried to be faithful in my money. I look around, and the person that seems to care less about the Lord seems to be doing so well. He doesn’t have any problems. His investments pan out and mine don’t. He drives a new car, I drive an old car. His lawnmower works, mine doesn’t. All these things plague me. Same kind of questions.

Well we have to look at Ezekiel to get a broader picture. Back up a few books to look at Ezekiel’s comments about Tyre, Ezekiel 28, to see what a focal point Tyre is in Old Testament prophecy in some of the prophets. In Ezekiel 28 is an important chapter for several reasons, but one of the reasons is, God uses the king of Tyre as He carries this prophecy on, as representative of Lucifer in his fall. Because of the arrogance that characterized Tyre and it’s king, they are a good picture of the arrogance that characterized Lucifer in his rebellion against God. In verse 2, Ezekiel begins, “Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God, because your heart is lifted up and you have said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas; yet you are a man and not God, although you make your heart like the heart of God – behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is a match for you.’”

This is the way the king of Tyre would see himself. “By your wisdom and understanding you have acquired riches for yourself, and have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries. By your great wisdom, by your trade you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches.” Note the emphasis on you and your, in that section. “Therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon you, the most ruthless of the nations. And they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die the death of those who are slain in the heart of the seas.” Ezekiel is talking in the context of Babylon, the immediate context and the Babylonians treatment of Tyre. Tyre, a very strong city, the Babylonians were not successful. We’ll talk about that in just a moment, in their defeat of it, although they plagued it and cause it great problems.

Down in verse 11, we’ll pick up and just note the transition. “Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘thus says the Lord God, you had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz, and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.’”

What this does, is show how proud and arrogant Tyre really was. That they become a good type of the Devil. That tells you something about their arrogance. We talk about Solomon being a type of Christ, or Joseph being a type of Christ. The king of Tyre is a type of Lucifer. So, he stands for Lucifer and we go beyond the king of Tyre and we go beyond the king to the one who motivated the king of Tyre, Lucifer himself.

Ezekiel prophesized the downfall of Tyre. Look back in chapter 26 of Ezekiel while you’re there. Ezekiel 26:7, “For thus says the Lord God, ‘behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar ding of Babylon, king of king, with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great army. He will slay your daughters on the mainland with the sword; and he will make siege walls against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up a large shield against you. And the blow of his battering rams he will direct against your walls, and with his axes he will break down you towers. Because of the multitude of his horses, the dust raised by them will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise’” and on and on and on.

You note the picture when Nebuchadnezzar comes. You get some picture of some strength of Tyre. Tyre was a two-part city. Tyre had a city on the mainland and it had a city a half mile off shore in the Mediterranean Sea. Now, what happens is that Nebuchadnezzar is successful on the mainland, as verse 8 says. Against the mainland Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar is successful. You know how long he besieged the city of Tyre? Thirteen years. Now, you’ve got to give Nebuchadnezzar credit for perseverance. He didn’t figure, well look, I’ve conquered all the other cities, I’m going on to greater things. Thirteen years, and yet he could not Tyre, that was a half mile off shore. He succeeded in destroying mainland Tyre. Executing many people. Putting the city down to just dust and rubble. But what they had done, they had a mighty navy. They had transported many of their treasures out to the Island. They had this army of ships to defend it. So, they could continue to supply themselves from sea. Nebuchadnezzar tried to lay siege to that city for thirteen years. The Assyrians tried it for five years.

So, you can see something of the confidence and cockiness that would be present in the city. Ezekiel’s prophecies have been fulfilled. Mainland Tyre, dust. Come back now to Zechariah. Pick up with Zechariah now, Zechariah 9:3, “For Tyre built herself a fortress and piled up silver like dust, and gold like the mire of the streets.” Dust and mud were plentiful and that’s why the picture here. Silver and gold for Tyre, that’s just like dust and mud. You’ve got plenty of both. Verse 4, “Behold, the Lord will dispossess her and cast her wealth into the sea; and she will be consumed with fire.” The behold here in verse 4, you ought to underline it. What God wants to do is draw special attention to what He is going to do. There’s probably no more dramatic fulfillment of a prophecy in all the bible. In this book that I mentioned by Urquhart and others do the same thing, but I happen to have this book on hand, he talks about the conquering of Tyre by Alexander.

Nebuchadnezzar tried for 13 years and could not conquer Tyre. You know how long it took Alexander? Seven months. You get some appreciation for the brilliance of Alexander, because Nebuchadnezzar was no slouch when it came to being a military commander, and he tried for 13 years. Alexander succeeded in 7 months. You know what he did? Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the city of Tyre. All that was left was the rubble of the city. Alexander had a good idea. There’s no sense of us sitting here on the land throwing rocks out there for the next 10 years. Let’s build a road. So, you know what they did? They took all the rubble from the city of Tyre and dumped it into the sea. They just kept piling it up and piling it up. Can you imagine how the people of Tyre felt as they saw that causeway getting longer and longer and longer and longer, until he had bridged the half mile from the land to the island. Then with the force of his armies, he was successful in getting into the city.

Now, what is significant here is, you note what God says in verse 4, “Behold, the Lord will dispossess her and cast her wealth into the sea”. You see how literally God does it? What did he do? He had the rubble of Tyre put into the sea. That which had been treasured at Tyre, into the sea. That’s how he built his road out to the island. And thus, God literally fulfills His prophecy. He wasn’t done with it when Nebuchadnezzar was done. Wasn’t satisfied to leave what Tyre had considered precious as a big pile there. Now he has Alexander come along and push it all into the sea and make a roadway. You can read about this in Urquhart’s book. The walls, the towers, the ruined houses, the temples of the ancient city were pulled down and the stones were and the timber of Tyre were laid in the midst of the water. The mounds of ruins were cleared away. And so great was the demand for material in the vast undertaking, that the very dust was scraped from the site and laid in the sea. Though centuries had past after the word was spoken, and seen no fulfillment, it was not forgotten.

It goes on to talk about the conquering of the city of Tyre, exactly down to the details. Does it matter if it’s cast into the sea? I mean, they’ve been defeated. Yes, it matters, because God says I’ll cast it into the sea. He didn’t say, I’ll leave it as a pile of rubble on the land. So, into the sea goes the city of Tyre, a remarkable impact for the city of Israel. It ought to be a remarkable impact for us. You note the parallel, what goes on. God continually gives His message of judgement to those who refuse to believe His message, Tyre being an example. But, because people do not experience that judgement, they develop a self confidence and security that is falsely placed.

Tyre was secure in itself. What’s going to happen to us? What could happen to us? If you can stand against Shalmaneser of the Assyrians for 5 years, Nebuchadnezzar for 13 years, what can happen? Well, then you can confront Alexander. Well, if I can confront this and I can stand like this, and on and on and on. People go in their arrogance, losing site of the fact that God promises judgement, just as sure and in just as much detail. He is obligated to fulfill the prophecies of judgement concerning men today with the same detail that He fulfilled the prophecies of judgement against the city of Tyre.

So, I take it when He talks about weeping and wailing and suffering and gnashing of teeth, that there will be coming a time when that will be literally fulfilled. Yet people today don’t believe it anymore than Tyre could believe that they would be destroyed. Alright, that’s Tyre and Sidon. Now, with verses 5-7, we pick up the Philistine cities. The people down here along the coast. He picks out 4 or the 5 capitol cities of the Philistine’s. Gath is omitted. Gath is familiar because of some of the rather large people that came from Gath. Large in stature, we’d call them giants.

Gath is not mentioned. Gath may have already been assimilated by the Israelites, because it was further inland. But the 4 capitol cities that are left are mentioned by name here. You’ll note the names. We have Ashkelon , Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod. These cities along here, there is Gaza down here, Ashdod here, these Philistine capitols cities that occupy this region. Now Gaza is going to get special attention here. Note what he says, “Ashkelon will see it and be afraid.” What happens to Trye and Sidon is going to strike fear in these Philistine cities because there is no secret, the course that Alxander is on, he is coming down the coast. The cities that are down here, once they see that Trye has fallen, no one has been able to concur Tyre, that begins to cause the pride to grumble. Gaza too will writhe in great pain. Also, Ekron, for her expectation has been confounded. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

“And a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will remove their blood from their mouth” (not a very nice thing to say), “and their detestable things from between their teeth.” Sometimes you think the prophets were rather uncouth, wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t say that. Today if I talked that way in the pulpit, they would say, “my that uncouth preacher at Indian Hills.” Yet here is Zechariah, what is he saying, I will get the blood and detestable things, the squirmy little things out from between their teeth.

Now it ends on a note of encouragement, praise the Lord for mercy. They will also be a remnant for our God, and be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron. Like a Jebusite.

We have to go back to Gaza. Gaza is significate because Alexander is there, recorded battles and victories. He doesn’t talk about the other Philistine cities here but he goes into detail on the battle at Gaza. It’s interesting to read secular history in light of what Zechariah says, and find out what happened to it. This city is much like Tyre in it’s pride and it’s strong defenses. Tyre had a wall around it, 150 feet high. Gaza had followed suite and built itself into an all but an impregnable and impenetrable city. It had reason to be proud. Tyre, with it’s 150 foot wall, lasted 7 months. Gaza lasted 5 months against Alexander, so that’s not bad. If Tyre could only last 7 and Gaza to go 5, it tells you there was a strong city.

Now, what it did, even though it had seen what had happened to Tyre, it determined it would stand against Alexander. Alexander had a characteristic that is true of emperors down through history. We see it in Nebuchadnezzar and others as well. Those who resisted him, when he finally concurred them, he decided to make them an example. When the city finally did surrender after 5 months he slaughtered 10,000 people and sold the rest into slavery. Example to the next city that would maybe think they ought to delay Alexander for 5 months. You see in verse 5, Gaza will arrive in great pain, the suffering of that city for 10,000 of it’s inhabitants to be executed on the spot and all the rest to be sold into slavery.

What is significant too about Gaza, we’re told moreover that the king will perish from Gaza. Isn’t it interesting that God singles out the king of Gaza. That’s interesting because Alexander makes reference to him as well and his name was Batis. If you are going to execute the people you’ve got to make an example of the leader so they tied this king to the back of a chariot then drove the chariot around the city until he was dragged to death. Interesting, the king will perish from Gaza. Well you would say, of course he will, when the city is conquered the king would naturally perish but he is signaled out. It’s interesting that Alexander chose to record the fact that this king was singled out for a special death for resisting him.

Again, the details of what God says. No details, wouldn’t have been enough for this king to escape down into Egypt. That’s a little detail, who cares if one person gets away? Nobody gets away when God speaks. When He says, the king will die this way. the king will die this way. And so it was.

Now verse 7, the rather unpleasant description, “I will remove their blood from their mouth, and their detestable things from between their teeth.” This refers to the idolatrous worship of the Philistines. The Jews were not allowed to eat blood. But the Philistines, it was part of their sacrificial system and they did. The things that the Jews were forbidden to eat and offer in sacrifices, that’s what the Philistines did eat and offer in sacrifice. So, the detestable things are those things that God had forbidden, and they are indulging in. But God is going to use some mouth wash and clean them out. The amazing thing, at the end of verse 7, “Then they also will be a remnant for our God.”

Isn’t it amazing? You read the Old Testament, why would God want to spare anybody from the Philistine cities? There doesn’t seem to be anything good there. There’s not. There’s not anything good in any of the cities. So, in grace God does spare a remnant. Verse 7, “and be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.” The Jebusites, those people who had been spared by Israel and dwelt within the nation, but they were subjected to the nation. That’s what’s going to happen to the Philistine cities and all other nations. They will be subjected to Israel.

So, you get the picture? Why God is taking the time to go through these details? To show that each of these that have opposed Israel will be judged by God. But even in His judgment of these people, He will have mercy and there will be a remnant spared that will be part of the kingdom. So, in the millennial kingdom as we’ll see as we get later on in Zechariah, there’ll be people from all nations who are a part of the millennial earth. But Israel will be the ruling people. But note verse 8, “But I will camp around My house because of an army, because of him who passes by and returns; and no oppressor will pass over them anymore, for now I have seen with My eyes.” Alexander did not treat Jerusalem as he had treated these other cities.

Amazing how God works! As Alexander approached the city, the high priest went out to confront him. The original plan had been to resist. Jerusalem did have a difficult time in doing what God said. They resisted when they shouldn’t have and didn’t resist when they should have. Here they had planned to resist, but then God speaks to the high priest. The high priest puts on all his robes associated with his office, takes an entourage out to meet Alexander. As Alexander sees him coming, all displayed in his robes of worship, He’s taken back, because it just so happens, that he has seen in a dream. That a man dressed like this, with these kinds of people, would be coming to meet him. So, when he saw this, in light of his dream he had, he spared the city. Because he acknowledged that that must be a city that worshiped the true and living God.

So what do we have here? Verse 8, “I will camp around My house because of an army.” Amazing, the fullest confidence in the flesh couldn’t turn Alexander away and all the might of Israel wouldn’t have been successful. Yet God says, “I’ll camp around them.” You say, “my that’s wonderful, I wouldn’t have had any problem being a Jew.” But God says He’ll camp around us, those who belong to Him. That He’ll protect us, He’ll keep us in the hollow of His hand, another analogy.

What happens? I’m afraid often you and I lose sight of what He promised here and how He kept His word. He always does what He says. He is the one acting. Verse 1, “the eyes of the tribes of Israel are toward the Lord.” Verse 4, “the Lord will dispossess her.” Using these human instruments. Verse 7, “I will remove the detestable things and the blood” and so on, “make them a remnant and I will camp around My house.” It’s God doing it all!

Believe in the sovereignty of God. He is arranging the affairs men, the affairs of the nations of the world, but the Russians are exactly where they ought to be, doing what they ought to do, in God’s perfect plan. That doesn’t mean they are submissive to Him, but God is using them. The United State is exactly where it ought to be. That Europe is exactly where it ought to be and God is arranging all the affairs to bring them together on His time table. Isn’t it exciting as you see some of these things being brought together in rather unpleasant ways to know that the Lord camps around us. I don’t have anything to fear. What do I have to worry about? I am not concerned that United States is going to have an atomic war with China, Russia, and everyone else put together. The Lord is camped around me. If the Lord is camped around me I don’t care what the rest of those nuts are doing. The Lord is keeping me.

Now the Lord is judging them, that’s not a surprise to me, he promises that but a promise in the word also is that the Lord is keeping me. Now He is preparing Israel, we move in verse 9 to detailed prophecy of the first coming of Jesus Christ and His triumphal entry as it is known into the city of Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey and the prophecies that surround that down also covering through the end of the chapter, we’ll look at some of these next week. The period of time between the testaments and the Maccabean era as it is called as God lays out more details. Why don’t we break off there and close in a word of prayer.

Father, again we thank You for considering what you have done, the privilege of considering your past works. Father, even through Zechariah you told those things which would happen in the future, the details hundreds of years in advance. Yet Father we realize that that is no great accomplishment for You because everything is under Your control. Pray that our faith might be strengthened as we consider the details of these prophesies and how you fulfilled them. Father, that we might be encouraged as we consider the prophecy yet to be fulfilled and come to understand and realize that the same God, the same meticulous care and detail will carry out those prophecies, both those prophecies that pertain to those who are your enemies will come under Your judgement and also those prophecies of blessing that pertain to those of us who belong to You through faith in Jesus Christ. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.