We are going to return once again, to our verse-by-verse examination of the book of Zechariah. We will be looking at Zechariah 10, verses six through 12 in a few minutes, under the heading "Israel's Glorious Deliverance in the Final Time of Trouble." I want you to understand that we live in very unique times. We are seeing firsthand the violent, intransigent antisemitism that has existed down through the millennia. We are witnessing the fulfillment of Bible prophecy as it relates to God's chosen people, Israel, the branches, according to Romans 11:19, that were broken off for their unbelief, that we might as Gentiles, be grafted in. I might add that in that passage, the Gentiles were also addressed; we in the church age, described as the "wild olive branches" that were grafted into the rich root of Abrahamic blessing. And then in Romans 11:25, he goes on to say how that,

"...a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

"and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,

"'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.

​THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.' 

"From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, referring to Gentiles, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;

"for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

We are reminded as well in Deuteronomy seven and verse six,

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."

And of course, God's purpose for choosing Israel was for them to be, according to Exodus 19:6, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." And we see His purposes described very clearly in the Abrahamic covenant, as well as the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant. And I want you to think about this, the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy - Deuteronomy 28 through 34 - that was written in 1400 BC, about 1440 BC, which would be about 3400 years ago. In those last seven chapters, we have a prophetic summary of Israel's future. And at the conclusion of all of that, we see prophesied how Israel will one day repent in her tribulation and worship God as she was intended to do. And we also see that Israel will be gathered out of all of the nations and be brought back to her divinely given land; and God is going to prosper them abundantly.

We could go to other prophecies, like Ezekiel chapters 34 through 39 where we read about Israel's literal future return to the very land from which they were driven and dispersed over all of the globe; and we have witnessed the beginning of this regathering of the Jewish people, as we see them rising out of the ashes of the Holocaust and coming into their land and becoming even a nation in 1948; a testimony to God's promises. Which, by the way, was reaffirmed by the psalmist in Psalm 105, beginning in verse seven, we read,

"He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth.

"He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations,

"the covenant which He made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac.

"Then he confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

"saying, 'To you, I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance,'"

And this will ultimately be fulfilled in its completeness when Christ returns and establishes his millennial kingdom. And it is absolutely astounding to see how the most persecuted ethnic and religious group on the planet is not only surviving, but thriving, which is a testimony of God's protection despite their disobedience. The prophet Amos tells us in chapter nine, beginning in verse 14,

"'I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit.

"'I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,' says the LORD your God."

Of course, this is in fulfillment of the covenant promises he gave to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob 4000 years ago, and then reaffirmed to Moses. And I find it fascinating that a religious spiritual revival is emerging in Israel this very day, especially since the horrific attacks that they endured from Hamas on October 7. Now, sadly, the revival is not turning them to the Messiah - one day that will happen - but at least there's something going on. And I want you to understand this, because it fits into what God has said in his prophecies. At the center of this revival is a spiritual awakening regarding the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, and they're looking to build, now, the Third Temple. And at the center of this we see them preparing to build this temple in an accelerated manner. I might add that there must be a Third Temple just prior to Christ's second coming. And Jesus himself predicted this in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 verse 15. And the Apostle Paul speaks of a man of lawlessness who will declare himself to be God and demand to be worshiped in that temple; we read about that in Second Thessalonians 2:4; a reference to the Antichrist.

A real brief history for you. Solomon built the first temple in the 10th century BC. That was the dwelling place of God on earth. It housed the Ark of the Covenant, the Shekinah glory hovered above the Mercy Seat between the cherubim, and it was the spiritual and national center of gravity around which their entire lives orbited. But it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. And then the Jewish exiles returning from Babylon, that we'd been reading about and studying about here in Zechariah, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, built the Second Temple. And that was in about 518 to 516 BC. And then later on, it was enhanced during the time of the Hasmonean dynasty in 164 to 137 BC. And then it was massively renovated and expanded by Herod the Great in about 20 BC to 11 BC, but then it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

And for two millennia, the Jewish people have prayed, quote, "May it be your will that the temple be rebuilt speedily in our days." And this is what they're thinking now: perhaps now is time to build the Third Temple. They have, for example, purchased five red heifers, pure unblemished animals - purchased them from a ranch in Texas - to be used for ritual purification of priests and temple vessels: a requirement for resuming temple services. You read about that, for example, in Numbers 19. And there is a place called the Temple Institute. I've been in it, some of you have as well, in Jerusalem. It was founded in 1987, and they have been building and planning and researching and reconstructing sacred vessels and instruments, priestly garments, even the high priest breastplate, all to be used in the Third Temple. This is what they are looking to build. They even have a massive golden menorah that's enclosed in a case that you can see there in Jerusalem; everything created for use in the temple.

It's also interesting. I was reading how an Israeli milling company, Shtibel, has announced it will begin producing flour suitable for temple offerings using a special dry milling process to meet ancient purity laws. And now, for the first time since the destruction of the temple in AD 70, we are seeing the government allow Jews to openly pray, to sing and to dance on the Temple Mount. I mean, folks, this is active Jewish worship. They used to be arrested for even whispering prayers. So the air is electric with anticipation.

And perhaps the most stunning development is, according to researchers, quote "the actual training programs for future priests." which are called "Kohanim" that are in full swing. The article that I read says this, "The ultra-orthodox Toldos Aharon movement, long known for its opposition to the modern state of Israel, has begun training Kohanim for temple service. This is a group that rejects Zionism, but they are now preparing for the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem." Why? "Because they believe the Messiah is near and the temple will be divinely restored, not politically constructed. Their Rebbe has stated plainly," quote, "'We see clearly that we are at the footsteps of the Messiah.'" End Quote.

And I'm also stunned by science that now confirms the ancient lineage of the Kohanim, over 98% of men who claim to be priestly descent share a distinct genetic marker, evidence that their bloodline has been preserved for over 3000 years.

Now I just want to give you a little bit of that background. We certainly can't set dates, but we are to understand the times in which we live - the seasons of the last days.  And we do that by observing signs and understanding Bible prophecy. And Jesus describes some of the general characteristics of what will happen just before his return. We read about this, for example, in Matthew 24 verses, 32 and following. And some of the characteristics right before the time of Tribulation will be, as Jesus says, "wars and rumors of wars," which is referring to nations and kingdoms rising against each other; widespread conflict and instability. Secondly, "famines and pestilences," referring to food shortages, widespread disease and outbreaks. Now, mind you, these things are going to escalate dramatically during the time of the tribulation, but we see things pointing to all that he has prophesied, even right now. "Earthquakes," he says, significant seismic activity, natural disasters. He tells us that there will be religious deception and apostasy. There's going to be false teachers and false religious systems leading people astray, promoting counterfeit versions of the gospel. There will also be persecution of believers, Jesus says, Christians facing increased hostility and opposition for their faith; "signs in the heavens," this will refer to celestial phenomena like unusual solar and lunar events, the falling of stars; and also the gospel being preached to all nations, so that the message of salvation will go to the far ends of the world. And we're seeing that even now. He also tells us that the coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah. And what were those days? They were days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God; days of granite indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment.

We can also look at other prophecies that indicate that he will return sometime after Israel returns to her land, according to Ezekiel 36. And we've seen that now in 1948; and we see them continuing to come. And He will come after a coalition of Russian and Islamic forces assembled themselves against Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). But our text today in Zechariah 10, is going to give us more insight into Israel's glorious deliverance to that will occur in the hour of their greatest peril, in the time of the final time of their distress; a theme that we see all through Scripture. We see this described in the pre-exilic prophets like Isaiah and the psalmist. We see it in Jeremiah and Micah and Zephaniah and so forth.

So with this background, let me read the text to you, and we'll look into it a little more closely. It's such an exciting thing to read the Word of God and to see what he has to say. Zechariah 10, beginning in verse six,

And I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And I will save the house of Joseph,
And I will bring them back,
Because I have had compassion on them;
And they will be as though I had not rejected them,
For I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.

⁷ Ephraim will be like a warrior,
And their heart will be joyful as if from wine;
Indeed, their children will see it and be joyful,
Their heart will rejoice in the Lord.

⁸ I will whistle for them and gather them together,
For I have redeemed them;
And they will be as numerous as they were before.

⁹ When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in distant countries,
And they with their children will live and come back.

¹⁰ I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
And gather them from Assyria;
And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon
Until no room can be found for them.

¹¹ And they will pass through the sea of distress
And He will strike the waves in the sea,
So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;
And the pride of Assyria will be brought down,
And the scepter of Egypt will depart.

¹² And I will strengthen them in the Lord,
And in His name they will walk,” declares the Lord.

Beloved, here the Holy Spirit reveals three aspects of the Messiah’s future promises to Israel - future promises on their behalf - blessings towards them that are in stark contrast to the spiritual and the physical misery they have endured as a result of their idolatry, as a result offollowing after their phony religious systems. And this section, as you will see, demonstrates not only the sovereignty of God, but the sufficiency of God to perform, shall we say, the final exodus of Israel, deliverance from their enemies. And we're going to see here how that he is going to strengthen them physically. He's going to regather them. He's going to sow them in their land. He's going to deliver them. All glorious promises that await a future fulfillment in the kingdom.

And I've divided this section into three simple categories. We're going to see Israel's regathering, Israel's repentance and Israel's restoration. And I might add that many of these things overlap, but these are general categories that I hope will be helpful to you. Beginning in verse six, "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph." Now, the reference here of Judah speaks of those in the divided kingdom that lived in the south, Joseph in the north. Sometimes the northern kingdom is also called Ephraim, and it points to the end of a divided kingdom. It's not going to be anymore. "'I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph.'" So the entire nation is going to, one day, enjoy victory and blessings of a restored kingdom, but only after their regathering from their global dispersal. And he goes on to say, "And I," in other words, the Lord Himself, I the LORD myself, "'will bring them back because I've had compassion on them; and they will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.'"

So here we see, number one, Israel's regathering. I want to remind you of the promise that was made earlier in chapter 10 in verses three through five, that the Messiah will raise up "mighty men," - the gibborim - to lead the nation to spiritual, as well as, physical victory. And numerous other prophets speak of the same thing. For example, we read in Jeremiah 29 beginning in verse 11, which, by the way, is a passage that is often used out of context to call the United States to repentance. This has nothing to do with the United States, okay? And here's what it says, Jeremiah 29 verse 11,

"'"For I know the plans that I have for you, “declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

"'"Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

"'"You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

"'"I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you," declares the LORD, "and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile."'"

Now, this was partially fulfilled during the era of Ezra and Nehemiah, but not fully. This won't happen fully until the second advent of Messiah. Likewise, in Jeremiah 30, beginning in verse three,

"'"For behold days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will restore the fortunes of My people, Israel and Judah," the LORD says, "I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it."'"

Now this did not happen after their return from Babylon, as some would want us to believe; they never took possession of the land. Instead, they remained as vassals of the Persian king. In Jeremiah 30 verses, five through six, it goes on to describe a season of unimaginable terror that they will endure upon the earth, that will be a reference to the time and the tribulation. Then in verse seven, it says,

"'"Alas! for that day is great, and there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will save but he will be saved from it."'"

Now, how so? Not by the decree of Cyrus in 538, again, as some would have us believe. But the salvation will come from the Savior, the deliverer, the Messiah. He goes on in verse nine to say that it's "'"David, their king, who whom I will raise up for them."'" And likewise in Jeremiah 32 beginning in verse 37,

"'Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands in which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.

"'They shall be My people, and I will be their God;

"'and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.'"

Now, obviously this did not happen when they came back from Babylon. This did not happen during the Age of Ezra and Nehemiah. He goes on to say,

"'I will make an everlasting covenant,'" (a reference to the New Covenant) "'with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn from away from Me.

"'I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

"'For thus says the Lord, "Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them."'"

One other passage, Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 10,

"'"I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt.

"'"I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly, and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the LORD."'"

Now, these passages, and so many others, all point to Christ's second coming. And there you will see the future, literal gathering of ethnic Israel as a nation. There, you will see the fruition of all of that. There you will see a restoration to their promised land. By the way, how anyone could deny these truths and explain them as merely a reference to Christian believers is mind boggling to me.

Again, verse six of Zechariah 10, "'I will bring them back.'" Why? "'Because I have had compassion on them.'" Again, what a contrast to the predatory spirit of the false teachers that only had their self-interest at heart that were leading those people astray. And today, of course, we have predators in pulpits all over the world, especially herein the United States; people that know nothing about the gospel, that really do not know Christ, that lead people astray. They're entrepreneurs. They're not men that have been called by God to lead his people. Isaiah 49 speaks of his love for Israel as well, beginning in verse 15,

"'Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?'"

Obviously, not.

"'Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

"'Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.'"

So again, back to verse six, "'I will bring them back, because I have had compassion on them.'" And then notice it says, "'and they will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.'" Now, was this not part of his original promise to them? The promise that we read in Deuteronomy 4:29, for example. There we read,

"'But from there,'" (referring to the regions of their dispersal where God scattered them In his judgment).

"'But from there, you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.'"

So the point with all that is being said here is simply this: the scope of Israel's future blessing in the Messianic Kingdom will be so vast that it will forever obscure the severity of their rebellion.

Verse seven, "'Ephraim will be like a mighty man.'" Remember the mighty man, the "gibborim.'" These are the special forces; I gave you examples of this; these are incredible special operators of Israel. And it says, "'and their heart will be glad as if from wine.'" In other words, they will not need alcohol to stimulate the joy that will automatically be in their heart because of all that Messiah is doing.

"'Indeed, their children will see it and be glad, their heart will rejoice in the LORD.'" My isn't it terrible to see what happens to children in war torn areas. I have friends in Africa that I continue to stay in contact with, especially some of the pastors that I've trained when I taught over there, and some of them have 10, 12, 16, kids in their family, and that's typically because other family members were killed in the wars; and they're raising their children. What a horrible thing, but here we see that a day is coming when even the children will see, they'll be glad, their heart will rejoice in the Lord. And isn't it an incredible thing to see children having a heart that rejoices in the Lord? My what a rare thing that is, but what a blessed thing that is. And so many of you have children that are that way. And that's why we as parents must raise our children in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord and pray that the Lord causes them to be born a second time - to be born again - and they will rejoice in the Lord.

Verse eight, he goes on to say, "'I will whistle for them to gather them together.'" Now, this word in Hebrew, "šāraq," it's an onomatopoetic word. It's a word that means kind of like what it sounds, and it could be translated "whistle" or "to hiss" or "to pipe; to play a pipe." God's used this term elsewhere in Scripture to describe him signaling nations and peoples to come and accomplish his purposes. For example, it describes the shrill noise that's used to swarm bees in Isaiah 5:26, it says, "He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation" - by the way, as he did with Assyria, as he did with Babylon -

"He will lift up a standard to the distant nation and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth. And behold it will come with speed swiftly."

Likewise, in Isaiah seven, verse 18, "In that day, the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." And so forth. But here, in this context, the term should not be translated in that way. Here it's more of the idea of a pipe that is summoning, and it could be translated that way as a shepherd would use to gather his sheep. And I've seen this firsthand in Israel, where Bedouin shepherds - I remember one in particular - I was talking with them for a period of time, we had some hot tea together, and it was time then for us to go. And we asked about, "So do you have sheep around here?" "Oh, yes, we do." And he pulled out a reed pipe. I think it some type of a pipe of, maybe made out of bamboo. I'm not sure, I didn't ask him. I. And he started playing that, and all of a sudden you begin to see little critters coming out of the rocks and the brush, and they started coming up to him. That's the idea that we have here. Here in verse eight, the Almighty Shepherd is going to give the signal to gather his scattered flock. These are the same sheep, by the way that he described earlier in verse two, that are wandering. Remember? The sheep are wandering. They are afflicted because there is no shepherd. But here he is going to pipe for them and gather them.

Again, verse eight, I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them;" To redeem means to pay the price that is needed to secure something. And he has paid the price with his own blood. He has redeemed them from the slavery of sin and from the penalty of his wrath. Psalm 130 beginning in verse 7,

"O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption.

“And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

I want to show you something that's a bit technical, and I think I've given it to you on the overhead. I want you to see that the there's a poetic structure here that is consistent with Hebrew poetry that really intensifies a specific truth by the construction of the sentence. Hebrew poetry doesn't rhyme in sound, it rhymes in thought, and that's what we see here.

In line one, it says, "'I will whistle for them to gather them together,'" and that expresses God's mercy and the reversal of His judgment. But then in line three it says, "...and they will be as numerous as they were before.'" And that expresses Israel's complete and glorious restoration. But sandwiched in between those two great truths is the central truth of the sentence, the middle sentence, and that is, "For I have redeemed them.'" Now I want you to notice again the last phrase here, verse eight, "'and they will be as numerous as they were before.'" Here, beloved, is the same pattern that we saw in the days of Israel's slavery in Egypt. Remember when they were in Egyptian bondage? Exodus 1:7says, "but the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them." Now I find this interesting. When you study the Scriptures, you'll see that when Joseph and his family first entered into the land of Egypt, there were only 70 of them, all right? 430 years later, according to the census that we read in Numbers chapter one, there were 600,000 Israelite men of fighting age ready to leave Egypt. And when you add the women and children, you would have between two and 3 million. I also find it remarkable that this promised increase in number, as a result of the future redemption accomplished by the Messiah, was also pictured in the original instructions for the offering of the first fruits. There, the people rejoiced in the Lord's goodness. They rejoiced in his mercy, and they were instructed to make a confession when they offered this sacrifice. We read about it in Deuteronomy 26 beginning in verse five. Here's what they are told to do,

"'You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, "My father was a wandering Aramean,"'" (which, by the way, that's a reference to Jacob).

"'"...and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

"'"And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

"'"Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;

"'"And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;

"'"and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey."'"

So again, verse eight, "'I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they were before.'" Then it says, "'When I scatter them among the people...'"  scatter - "zāraʿ - , it means "to disperse" as in sowing seed. "'I will scatter them'" - I will sow them - "'among the peoples.'" In other words, God is going to cause them to multiply greatly in number, and this will be a precursor of their national restoration.

Now, let me give you a little history here. Historically, we know that in the 16th century, there were approximately a little over 1 million Jews left in the entire world. The persecution was just absolutely brutal. By the end of the 17th, and the beginning of the 18th century, there were about 3 million Jews in the world. And by the commencement of the 19th century, there was about 5 million and then, even after 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi holocaust, today, there is an estimated 15. 7 million Jews. And so they are going to continue to grow, and even more and more, especially during the days of the kingdom; and this glorious multiplication is also part of the New Covenant promises; the material aspect of the New Covenant. Let me read to you Jeremiah 31 beginning at verse 27,

"'Behold days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

"'As I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,' declares the LORD."

What a magnificent promise.

Now back to Zechariah, chapter 10 and verse nine, "'When I scatter'" or sow, "'them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children, will live and come back.'" The idea - that could be translated, "they will turn back" - a reference to genuine repentance. And this is what makes their restoration possible; a sovereign work of God in their hearts to cause them to see who he really is, and they will repent.

So we've seen Israel's regathering. Now we see Israel's repentance. They will finally respond to the call to repentance. Remember in Zechariah one and verse three, the Lord says this,

"'Return to Me,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'that I may return to you,' says the LORD of hosts.

"'Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed,  saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.'" But they did not listen or give heed to Me,' declares the LORD."

And so as a result of this, they experienced all of the curses that he promised in Deuteronomy, 28 verses, 15 and following which, by the way, I might add are in varying ways, still in effect to this day, and will continue until they finally repent and come to Christ at his second coming.

And I want to pause here for a moment and remind you all, and warn you all, of the danger of sin; the slippery slope of sin where you begin to compromise with the world. Where your rebellion starts out small, it's almost imperceptible, doesn't seem to be any big deal, but it grows like a cancer in the soul, and little by little, you become conformed to this world without you realizing it's even happening to you. Jesus said that this would happen. And we even read in Galatians five nine that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And eventually the leaven of sin in your heart will increase and leaven the whole lump of your family, of your community, and finally, a nation. I want you to take a moment and just think in your mind the hideous, frightening level of depravity that we see in our nation today. It's mind boggling. I mean, we have pride parades. We have abortion people fighting for the legal right to kill an unborn baby. Think of the transgender insanity. Think of the anti semitism, the pro Hamas, the pro, let's make sure we keep all of the violent illegal aliens in our country. And I mean, it just goes on and on and on. Well, this started out in an imperceptible way, and it's continuing to grow. Beloved, please hear me, individual sin in your heart will eventually affect your family, and it will eventually destroy your family, unless you repent of it and walk with Christ. And then that family sin will begin to affect the community, and finally, the entire nation. And that's what happened with Israel, and in many ways, continues to this day. Tel Aviv is a mecca for homosexuals; and among the greatest users of prostitutes are Orthodox Jewish men.

But the Lord promises something to rebellious Israel in verse nine, "'When I scatter...'" In other words, when I sow you, "'among the peoples, you will remember Me in far countries.'" In other words, you're going to remember one of these days; you're going to remember my covenants to you, my promises to you. And I might also add that this is the very heart of Zechariah's ministry. This is the very purpose of this prophetic book, and his very name means "Yahweh remembers," which therefore means his people will also remember who he is. By his grace he is going to cause that to happen. None of us would even know Christ, were it not for his grace initiating that in our hearts. "'I'm going to scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in those far countries, and they with their children will live and come back.'" This, of course, will be, as we read in Ezekiel 37:14,

"'I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,' declares the Lord."'"

And my, if you want to see the power - the transforming power of the gospel - just read Romans chapter six through chapter eight, where you can see how the outward fruits of transformation and Christ likeness begin to grow on the vine of a person's life, and that, dear friends, is what validates genuine saving faith; not some profession, not some baptism, not some church membership, not walking an aisle and repeating a prayer. What validates genuine saving faith is a love for Christ and the Christlikeness flowing from you so that others can see Christ in you.

Well, as we wrap it up this morning, we have seen Israel's regathering and repentance, finally, Israel's restoration. Verse 10, "'I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon.'" By the way, that's just language that describes the whole promised land from east and west of the Jordan. And this is going to happen, "'until no room can be found for them.'" Zechariah here is repeating the same promise of other earlier prophets. For example, Isaiah describes how that the righteous branch, referring to the Messiah, is going to do this during the Millennium. Isaiah 11, verse 11,

"Then it will happen on that day that the Lord again will recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain.'"

And then he gives a list of the countries that they were scattered to:

"from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

Friends, I hope you see this, this is the second Exodus. This is him delivering them, when for a second time, Israel is going to be gathered from her enemies and moved to her Promised Land, gathered from a worldwide dispersal. At the end it says in verse 10, "'...and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon...'" I might add here, just technically, Gilead, when it says, "Gilead and Lebanon," this depicts the larger borders of Israel. These are territories promised in the Abrahamic covenant that you would read about, for example, in Genesis 15, as well as the Palestinian covenant that's described in Deuteronomy 30, and the Davidic Covenant of Second Samuel seven, as well as is Psalm 89, I think it's verses 30 through 37 or so. "'I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon until no room can be found for them." In other words, there's going to be such an ingathering to the land and such a desire to be close to the Messiah when the Lord is reigning in Jerusalem in the temple that he will erect, that people will want to be there, and the population is going to explode. This, I might add, is a fulfillment of Isaiah 49:20 where we read,

"'The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears, "the place is too cramped for me; make room for me that I may live here."'"

You know, it's fascinating when you think about it. If we read, for example, in Second Timothy 2:12, and I believe it's Revelation five and verse 10, and other passages, we are going to be reigning with Christ during the Millennium, all right? But there are going to be other people who enter into the kingdom; they will have children. And obviously, everyone's going to want to live as closely as they can to Jerusalem. I mean, wouldn't you want to? And so that's what it's talking about here. Isaiah 54 beginning in verse one,

"'Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; break forth into a joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,' says the LORD.

"'Enlarge the place of your ten; stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs.

"'For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities.'"

Well, finally, we see how the Lord Himself is going to remove every obstacle, even as he did in the first Exodus. Verse 11 says, "'...and they will pass through the sea...'" I might add a technical note here, "they" can also be translated "he," and I believe that's a better translation here - "'And he will pass through the sea of distress, and He will strike the waves in the sea.'" In other words, the Lord is going to lead his people to safety, even as he did when Israel crossed the Red Sea during the Exodus; he's going to overpower every barrier; he's going to defeat every force brought against him - brought against his covenant people - "'so that all the depths of the Nile will dry up.'" This is a figure of speech of that day used to describe the deepest recesses of a body of water where people will drown. Isaiah 43 verse two comes to mind, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they will not overflow you."

And verse 11 goes on to say, "'And the pride of Assyria will be brought down and the scepter of Egypt will depart.'" They would have understood all of this. They knew about the arrogance of the kings of those days. And he's saying here that all of the arrogant rulers and nations of the world that are represented by the ancient oppressors from the north - which would be Assyria, and Egypt from the south, the ones that conquered them always came from the north and the south. All of them are going to be humbled, and they're all going to be vanquished.

I want to remind you of something, maybe not remind you, maybe you've never read this, I knew I could find this somewhere in some of my notes from, I'm not sure where, but I wanted to read to you how arrogant Sennacherib was. Remember Sennacherib? He was the king of the Assyrians that came against Israel in the records describing the sixth campaign of Sennacherib, we read this, "Palace of Sennacherib, the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters of the world, favorite of the great gods, the wise and crafty one, strong hero, first among all princes, the flame that consumes the unsubmissive, who strikes the wicked with the thunderbolt. Asher, the great god has entrusted to me an unrivaled kingship and has made powerful my weapons above all those who dwell in palaces, from the upper sea of the setting sun to the lower sea of the rising sun; all princes of the four quarters of the world, he has brought in submission to my feet." You know, pride comes before a fall right? And you will recall in Second Kings 19, he brings his troops and lays siege to Jerusalem and the angel of the Lord, that night, slew 185,000 of his soldiers, and he went home like a dog with his tail tucked between his legs.

By the way, the angel of the Lord was the same angel of the Lord that we read about in the burning bush. It was the pre incarnate Christ. So indeed, "'...the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.'" I don't have to tell you about the arrogance of Pharaoh and how he was humiliated.

And then verse 12, "'And I will strengthen them in the LORD,'" referring treferring to his revealed name and all that that represents - Yahweh. "'And in His name they will walk,' declares the Lord." I meditated on this for a long time. It's such a powerful text. I mean, first of all, he's saying here that a day is coming when a remnant of Israel will join with all believers and manifest the character of Christ in how they think and how they talk and what they do. And you want to ask yourself; do I walk in the name of the Lord? By the way, the text is referring to people who live their lives in such a way as to be a living testimony of who the Lord is - in what we say, what we do, what we think, how we conduct ourselves, how we represent the Lord. Do you live so others can look at you and say, my that person serves the Lord.

Although they were a rebellious people, as we've read about, tempted by idols, divination, counterfeit religious ideas - all the things that he discusses prior to this passage - the Lord Himself is going to finally fulfill their original calling that we read about in Exodus 19 verse five,  

"'"Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."'"

Well, I'm always deeply humbled when I read these things about what the Lord has pledged to fulfill in Israel. I'm reminded of his sovereignty over all things, his omnipotence and his faithfulness. And aren't you glad that all that he's promised us will also be fulfilled? And so may we all humble ourselves under the authority of Scripture. May we all rejoice in God's sovereign plan for the ages, and may we all celebrate the hope that we have in Christ, knowing that one day he is going to accomplish all of his purposes - and his main purpose is to bring glory to himself - and to think that somehow, we're a part of that. Absolutely inconceivable. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Cause our hearts to be receptive to these truths that would cause us to worship you ever so greatly. May we bow low before you as our sovereign, our infinite, Holy God, and may we always rejoice in your all-sufficient grace that has accomplished our redemption. We pray this in the name of Jesus and for his sake, amen.