Would you take your Bibles and turn to Zechariah chapter eight as we continue to examine the word of the Lord to his prophet, Zechariah; and by extension, to all of us, verse by verse. Let me read verses one through eight to you this morning, and I've entitled my discourse "Israel's Restoration to Millenial Blessing."

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...writing that God's plan for Christ to return and establish his kingdom is as certain as the sun rising in the east. Follow along as I read Zechariah, chapter eight, beginning in verse one,

"Then the word of the LORD of hosts came, saying,

'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath, I am jealous for her."

'Thus says the LORD, "I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain."

'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age.

"And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets."

'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?" declares the LORD of hosts.

'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west;

and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness."'"

Now you may recall that in chapter seven, God rebuked his people because of their superficial worship, because of their self-serving, hypocritical fasts; ways that they would worship him, the mechanical fasts, legalistic externalism and all of that kind of thing. And they thought that God would somehow be impressed. But he knew their heart. He knew it was just people going through the motions, as many times we are prone to do; and so he confronted them in chapter seven; confronted them because of their hypocrisy, and reminded them that hypocrisy always leads to apostasy, which leads to judgment. So he warned them of their counterfeit religious self-deception and commanded them to practice righteousness.

And now in chapter eight, he moves to something far more positive, and here he reveals the blessings that he would eventually lavish upon them when the Messiah returns and reigns upon the earth, when, by his sovereign grace, he transforms their hearts and he restores them as a national entity; restores them to truly worship him as they were intended to do. And here he speaks through his prophet, Zechariah, and he provides for them a panoramic view of all of these magnificent promises to come, a marvelous overview of the radical physical and social changes that will occur when Christ returns, when the long awaited Messiah returns in holiness to Jerusalem, along with the glorified saints - both Jews and Gentiles - we indeed will be there, and he will reign from there on a renovated earth for 1000 years. And this will be the answer to the prayer that the Lord has asked us to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I find it interesting that our president speaks a lot about a "golden age" that supposedly we are entering into, and I hope, whatever that means, some good things will happen. And certainly,we've seen some good things, and certainly other people that oppose those kinds of things are doing a screaming fit, but that usually tells you that we're moving in the right direction. But I must say, the Golden Age he describes, assuming it will come in some measure, will absolutely pale into utter insignificance compared to what the Lord has promised. And I want to remind you that as we look at even good things that might be happening in some measure in our country, the word of God is very clear that things are not going to get better and better. They're going to get worse and worse until the Lord returns. For example, in Second Timothy three, beginning in verse one, we read,

"But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self control, brutal, haters of good,

treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God,

holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these.

For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Then in verse 12, he goes on to say, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

And certainly, we see this kind of degeneration in our country. We see it in our government, in our school systems, in virtually every system that we have. We see it in false Christianity and the way it continues to proliferate, especially because of technology. Truly, Satan is "the god of this world," as we read in Second Corinthians 4:4. He is the "god of this world who blinds the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." And as John tells us in First John five and verse 19, "...the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And my, we can all see this. All we have to do is look around and we can see, and even feel, the wickedness continuing to encroach upon us like a dense and poisonous fog.

You may recall, when Jesus confronted the religious and apostate elite of Israel, he described them, and all believers, in John 8:44, saying, "'You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'"  And certainly, we see this being played out so many ways in our culture. I was thinking the other day about how our culture has really been weaponized by Satan to destroy our children, to destroy marriage, to destroy families, to destroy Christianity. If you know anything about history, you will quickly see that Christianity and socialism are mutually exclusive. Moreover, Christianity and Islam are mutually exclusive. And now we see Islam taking over the world. My friends in Europe are just pulling their hair out. That's what they're having to endure. In fact, the Islamic eschatology speaks of how Jesus is going to return, but he's not the Jesus of the Bible. He will be a devout Muslim who will tell the world that the Jesus of the Bible was a fake, a phony, and Christianity must therefore be rejected, and the whole world needs to worship Allah.

I can't even begin to put into words the level of satanic deception that we see all around us, and I hope you parents in particular, are discerning enough to see this, to protect your children from it, because it certainly comes to them in the most powerful ways we can ever imagine, through their cell phones and through other screens. Every system in the world is now infected with, for example, the woke DEI virus. And apart from the promises of Christ and his kingdom, we would have absolutely no hope whatsoever. In fact, I don't know how people, apart from Christ, can even survive these days. They have to find something to anesthetize the pain. By the way, that's why sports are so popular. That's why drugs are so popular, and alcohol and so forth.

God makes it clear in his word that he will return as King of kings and Lord of lords, and he will establish his kingdom. And what we see is that his covenant people, Israel - ethnic Israel - is at the heart of this glorious plan. And here in Zechariah eight, we see this described in great detail. Currently Israel, the Jewish people live under divine judgment, at least most of them. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Romans 11, beginning in verse 25 he says 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.'"

And of course, today, we live in an age where the church that was established at Pentecost - a Messianic covenant community of believing Jews and Gentiles - the church has temporarily replaced Israel as the custodian of divine truth, the custodian of the gospel, an instrument of the kingdom, proclamation in this age. But I would remind you that the church has not replaced Israel, Israel as a nation, has purposes in God's plan. Dr David Larson put it this way, "The church is never called Israel in the New Testament. Israel has an earthly, ethnic and national character. The church has a heavenly, non-ethnic and universal character. Salvation for all who are saved is based on the mediatorial work of Jesus the Messiah, before or after the cross, now, in the tribulation or in the millennium." End quote.  Indeed, Gentiles and Israelites are all people of God. We are all sons of God. In fact, Galatians 3:27 says, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." And although that is absolutely true, Israel, as well as the Gentile nations, all maintained their ethnic diversity. And it's interesting, even in the eternal state, the people of God are referred to as, quote, "the nations," Revelation 21, 24 and 26.

And as we will see here in Zechariah eight, and so many other passages in Scripture, Israel is going to play a dominant role to the nations when Jesus returns to establish his kingdom. You will see this In so many passages. Revelation 19 verse 15 comes to mind. And the church of this age will also participate in the Messianic rule over the nations, when the Messiah, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, will rule on earth successfully where the first Adam failed. This is so exciting. A couple of passages come to mind, this idea of us ruling with him. In SecondTimothy, chapter two, verse 12, "if we endure, we will also reign with Him." And of course, we will endure by the power of the Spirit. Revelation two, verse 26, and following, "'He who overcomes," referring to believers, "and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRN, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as i also have received authority from My Father.'"In Revelation 3:21, "'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.'" And one more passage, Revelation, five and verse 10, "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth."

Now, as we examine these eight verses here in Zechariah, eight, I would like to do so under four headings that I trust will be helpful to you. We are going to see, first, God's protective passion for Israel. Secondly, God's promised presence with Israel. Thirdly, God's pervasive peace for Israel, and finally, God's perfecting plan for Israel. And again, now bear in mind, we are currently living in what the Apostle Paul calls "the times of the Gentiles," and many are being saved, but when the full number of the Gentiles has come in,  according to Romans 11, verse 25, God will again turn his attention to Israel; and in the last days he will publicly manifest his fidelity to his immutable oath. For example, in Hebrews six, beginning in verse 17, we read, "...God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us." And my, that is my goal this morning, for each of you to take great encouragement in the hope of God's promises.

Now let's look, first of all, at what God has revealed here to us through his prophet, under the heading, God's protective passion for Israel. Verse one, "Then the word of the LORD of hosts came saying, 'Thus, says the Lord of hosts.'" Now, let me stop here. It's interesting. This phrase, "the Lord of hosts." Do you realize it is used over 10 times in this chapter, and 22 times we see the name of the Lord - Yahweh - occurring. And this repetition dramatically emphasizes the certainty of all of these promises that will be fulfilled by the one who has no equal, the one who has ultimate sovereignty over all his creation and ultimate power. So, "'Thus says the LORD of hosts'", the Lord of the armies of heaven, if you will, "'"I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am zealous for her."'"

Dear Christian, we should all tremble at the phrase "the LORD of hosts." Imagine what that really means. We cannot see the host of heaven right now, but they are all around us. I think of what we read in David's confrontation to the Philistine giant. Remember, in First Samuel 17 verse 45; and as a young man, I always loved that story, and I loved this particular text. "Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.'"

Beloved, this is Yahweh Sabaoth. This is the Lord of hosts that we're talking about. This is the one who commands the angelic warriors in the realm of the terrestrial, as well as the celestial This is the one that's making these promises, and he is jealous for Israel,

The term in the Hebrew is very strong, it's a strong term denoting just passionate, zealous love. In fact, the Arabic root means to become intensely red. It's the idea that that he is so zealous with passion for Israel that you can see red in his face, the color of emotion. Deuteronomy, five, nine, we read, "'You shall not worship them," referring to the false gods, "or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.'"

So again, back to the text. He says, "'"I am exceedingly..."'" it could be translated, acutely jealous, "'"for Zion, yes, with great wrath."'" It could be translated literally "with great heat", "'"I am jealous for her."'" In other words, he is hot with anger for anyone that would dare hurt her. We all understand this, especially we men, right? You mess with my wife, or my kids and I will go medieval on you. That's what's going on here. It's reminiscent of what Zechariah said earlier in chapter one, verse 14, "'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster."Therefore, thus says the LORD, "I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it," declares the LORD of hosts.'"

Now let's remember the circumstances here. These people have returned from 70 years of exile. They're trying to build their homes, they’re trying to build the temple, they're having all kinds of conflict from the Samaritans around them. It's a difficult time in their life, and then they've done these ritualistic worship acts, and God has condemned them for him for that, so they're pretty beat down. But isn't it nice to suddenly hear how the Lord God is jealous for them? And that he is encouraging him, even though they've been severely rebuked for their superficial worship. What God is essentially saying to them is that I still love you and I have a plan. And even today, we see how the Lord continues to preserve Israel, even in their unbelief; exceedingly wicked people live there, as well as a lot of godly people. And despite the almost global anti semitism, combined with virtually the entire Arabic Muslim world aligned against them, they continue to thrive.

And of course, this is consistent with God's promise. Remember, in the Abrahamic covenant, he says in Genesis 12, beginning in verse two, "'I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.'" And here in Zechariah 8:2 the Lord reminds his people, and their enemies, that he's going to make good on his promise to protect them and preserve his undeserving people. As I think about this, my mind goes to some of the passages on judgment that's going to come against those nations in the past, and even in the present, and the future, that will come against his covenant people. In Joel three, beginning in verse one says, "'For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.'"

And then in our Lord's Olivet Discourse in Matthew 25 beginning in verse 31 Jesus says,

"'But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

"'All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

"'and He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left.

"'Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."'"

And we see his judgment of the nations in numerous passages of Scripture, especially in Revelation 19, for example, in verse 15, we read about when he comes, it says, and, "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." If you go on to read that passage, you will see how he is going to slaughter the 10-nation confederacy of the Antichrist that's gathered against Israel at the battle of Armageddon. He will bring about a plague upon them. We read about that later on in Zechariah, chapter 14, beginning in verse 12, that he, "...will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth."

You get the idea that this is the power of the LORD of hosts; the one that we worship and love and oh, dear Christian, please understand, God, to this day, is, "exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath,"'" he says he is, "'"jealous for her."'" And here he reveals his protective passion for Israel. Notice what else he reveals here in verse three, "'Thus says the LORD, "I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain."'" And here we see secondly, God's promised presence with Israel. Bear in mind that all the Israelites had ever known was a God who was utterly unapproachable when he spoke at the giving of the Law. You remember the lightning and how the the mountains quaked violently, smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, the text says, and indeed, he is a consuming fire, and they witnessed that. And with a voice like thunder, he would speak; you remember the veil that separated men from his presence in the tabernacle later on in the temple. And yet we know it was torn asunder when Christ died on the cross. And now, because of his priestly work, we have access to God so that he can dwell in us and dwell with us. Absolutely inconceivable. We have as Hebrews 17 or chapter seven, verse 19, says, "a better hope through which we draw near to God." And what does this mean, practically for believers? Hebrews 10 reminds us, chapter 10, beginning in verse 19, we read, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith..." - in other words, a severe, sincere commitment that is genuine without hypocrisy - "...let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." And folks, this is pictured in its fullness here in Zechariah 8:3 when he says, "'"I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem."'" The original language "dwell" means to "to abide," it could be translated that way, or to reside; "'"I am going to dwell with them in the midst of Jerusalem."'"

And of course, you will recall in chapter six, you had Joshua, the high priest, being coronated to picture the Messiah's future coronation, when as the king, he returns and dwells with his people. And this will be the ultimate fulfillment of the term "Emmanuel, God with us," which is such an important Old Testament concept.

May I remind you that God repeatedly promised that his presence would guarantee the fulfillment of his covenantal promises to his people. And often, God, who is Spirit, would materialize himself in a dazzling, brilliant light called the Shekinah - the presence of the glory of God; a radiant, blinding light. And of course, the presence of God was housed within the tabernacle, later the temple. It hovered above the mercy seat, which was the golden lid above the Ark of the Covenant. And the Hebrew term for tabernacle is "mishkan," derived from the root word "shakan," which means "to dwell" or "to rest," "to abide." That's the term that is used here in Zechariah 8:3. And from "shakan" comes the term "shekinah," denoting the glorious presence of God. We've seen it in different places throughout Scripture. You see it in the burning bush with Moses. You saw it in the pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites through the wilderness. You saw it with the light that appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus when he was converted. You saw it on the Mount of Transfiguration when the effulgence of our Lord's glory burst forth from him, and he allowed them to see his glory. You will see it, for example, in the New Jerusalem, that is translucent, and the Light of the Lamb will be the only light to illuminate and so forth.

And throughout the Old Testament, this mysterious light of his presence, his glorious shekinah, was housed in the tabernacle and the temple. But you will recall that because of Israel's idolatry and apostasy, the glory departed from Jerusalem. You read about that in Ezekiel 10:18, Ezekiel 11:22, through 23 and so forth. However, we know that that glory will one day return in the reverse order that it left when, according to Zechariah 12 and verse 10, God, "'...will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.'"

Now back to verse three again, then he, "'"will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem."'" He goes on to say, "'"Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain."'" Can you even begin to envision what this will be like, to have perfect fellowship with Christ, to have intimate face to face communion with the lover of our soul that purchased our redemption with his very blood? Can you imagine what that will be like? My, how I long for that day, to inhabit the millennial city, to live in his presence, to have fellowship with him, when the whole city is restored to the Lord; when, as we read in scripture, the most common objects in the city will share the inscription "holiness unto the Lord," which was the same inscription that once adorned the golden plate on the headdress of Israel's high priest. Can you imagine what that will be like? We're not even in the eternal state, yet; this is just the millennial kingdom, which, as I say, will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state.

He says, "'"Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth."'" My it's not that way now; I've been there on a number of occasion. And we see in Scripture Isaiah 1:21, it's called "a harlot." It won't be that it won't have that name in this day. No longer will it be compared to the homosexually perverted city of Sodom and the blasphemous idolatry of Egypt, as we read in Revelation 11 and verse eight. No longer will it be described as the city where "no one does justice or seeks truth,” Jeremiah five and verse one. No. "'"Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth."'" And naturally it will be called that because Jesus is there. The Messiah has returned, everyone will know who he is. He is the God of truth, the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Think how few people we know that know the truth. And when you try to tell them the truth, they just shake their head in dismay that you would actually believe this nonsense. And folks, we'd be right there with them, were it not for God's saving grace.

The end of verse three, "'"Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain."'" Let me camp on this word "holy" for a moment. It technically means separate, and it comes from an ancient word that means to cut or to separate. Anything that is holy is set apart. It is consecrated. In other words, it would be removed from the realm of the common and moved into the sphere of the sacred. It could be used to describe persons, places, times, things, anything that was considered sacred because they were associated with, or they were consecrated to God. And in the Old Testament, the key to understanding holiness is found in the character of God. Isaiah six. He is the thrice Holy God. And holiness is the all-encompassing attribute of God. His hidden glory is in that concept, because in his holiness we see portrayed his infinite otherness, his infinite transcendence, his incomprehensible consummate perfection, his moral purity, his eternal glory; it stands alone, frankly, as the defining characteristic of his person.

And in the New Testament, holiness is seen in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the goodness and moral purity of believers. In fact, God's Spirit is called holy, and he acts in salvation to set us apart from sin unto God, to act in our lives in such a way as to infuse to us the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ; to enable us with his power to manifest Christ in our lives. And true holiness is manifested by our joyful dedication to loving, worshiping and serving Him. And I pray that that characterizes your heart.

The end of verse three again, "'"...and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain."'" Fascinating when you think about that; it's interesting in Ezekiel, the Garden of Eden was described as "the mountain of God" and "the Holy Mountain," Ezekiel, 281:4, and 16. But when the Lord returns, Jerusalem will become the new Eden, because it will be from there, where the Messiah will rule the world, and Jerusalem will be the epicenter of the world. Isaiah speaks of this, Isaiah two, beginning in verse two,

"Now it will come about that, in the last days, the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains, and it will be raised above the hills." There's an indication here that it may be the highest place on earth, in the renovated earth. "And all the nations will stream to it.

And many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.' For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And He will judge between the nations, and he will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war."

My what a contrast to the wickedness that we see in the world today, including even in our own country; the idolatry, the immorality, the leaders that God has placed over us. And by the way, this is all part of God's judgment. In fact, in thinking about this, my mind goes to Isaiah three, where he described his judgment on Judah and Jerusalem, and he said something very interesting in Isaiah three, verses four and five, and then in verses 11 and 12, he said this, "And I will make mere ladstheir princes, and capricious children will rule over them." In other words, I'm going to allow inexperienced, ignorant unqualified people to rule over you as part of my judgment. Sound familiar?

And the people will be oppressed, each one by another and each one by his neighbor; the youth will storm against the elder and the inferior against the honorable......Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, for what he deserves will be done to him. O My people! Their oppressors are children, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths." This is precisely what we see as we examine the demise of every ancient empire, and what we see happening in America when God and his wrath of divine abandonment gives people over to a depraved, worthless mind and allows them to be ruled by immoral, ungodly, undiscerning, incompetent leaders that are ill suited to be in authority over anyone; and the results are always catastrophic, which is exactly what God intends. And it's not an exaggeration to say that many of our politicians today are in this category. But that is going to change when God returns in the person of Christ, the Messiah, and rules and reigns in the City of Truth, resting upon his Holy Mountain.

And of course, God's ancient people, Israel, will be at the center of all this. Ezekiel 20 verse, 40, "'For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,'" declares the Lord, 'there, the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them and there I will seek your contributions and the choices of your gifts, with all your holy things.'" Likewise, Isaiah 11, beginning in verse nine, "They," referring to the nations, "will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse." "Resort" here means "to inquire" or "to question." They will talk with the root of Jesse, "who will stand as a signal for the peoples." Signal could be translated "a banner" or "a sign," a standard for the peoples. And in other words, he is going to be the standard that attracts even non Jews to himself.

Forgive me, these allergies seem to be enveloping me like a dense fog.

And then it says, finally, "...and His resting place will be glorious." My what a contrast to what those ancient Israelites experienced there in Jerusalem. Look around, they could see desolation and destruction. And even today, what we see in the world doesn't even come close to comparing to this.

So we've seen God's protective passion for Israel, God's promised presence with Israel. And then thirdly, want you to notice God's pervasive peace for Israel, verse four, "'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age, and the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets."'" I want you to understand that Israel has been the most fought over piece of real estate in the history of the world. You could put all the other cities together and it wouldn't come close to matching what has happened in Israel, in Jerusalem. It's been the scene of over 100 battles. It has been captured and recaptured 44 times. It has been destroyed twice and besieged 23 times. And even today, the Temple Mount is the most disputed piece of real estate on the planet. Jerusalem and Israel is a powder keg. And you know who suffers the most when a battle comes to a place? It's the elderly and the children. That's what's going to be reversed. God promises pervasive peace. He promises undisturbed tranquility when he returns; from young to old, everyone will be happy and secure. And what a statement that will make to the whole world. "'"Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of of age."'" By the way, life and in the millennium is going to be much longer than it is now. In fact, we read in Isaiah 65:20 that if you die at 100 you will be considered young. And course, there's good reason why life expectancy will be much greater. I mean, sin will be greatly diminished during the reign. It'll be a renovated earth. The earth will be returned at some measure to Edenic splendor. So the environment is going to be radically different. Plus, you've got AI, you know, why wouldn't God use AI even in the millennium? You know, all of these things come from him. In fact, as I recall, there's a passage in the Bible that says, "All things work together for good," right? So who knows what all God will do, but the point is, it's going to be a place of pervasive peace.

Verse five, "'"and the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets."'" When it says playing, it's, I notice it was from the root "śāḥaq," which means "to laugh." So you're going to have children laughing in the streets. Don't you love it when our children are out playing in the yard and in the drive and on the field, all these types of things, and you hear them laugh. They're safe. They're happy. And of course, this is what it's going to be like. There's no need to fear because the Messiah King is on his throne; because the Messiah King is ruling with a rod of iron, because he is Yahweh Sabaoth. He is the LORD of hosts, and his angelic forces are protecting all that he rules over. Because the Father has said to the Son in Psalm two, beginning in verse eight, "'Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth is your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

Well, we've seen God's protective passion for Israel, his promised presence with Israel, his pervasive peace for Israel. And now finally, I want you to notice God's perfecting plan for Israel. And we see this in Israel's full restoration, brought about by the sheer power of God. Verse six, "'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?"' declares the LORD of hosts." In the original language, the word "difficult" here is from from a root word that means "beyond one's power," "something that is hard to accomplish." And you see it used in other passages. Remember God's reply to Sarah in Genesis, 8:14, when she when she laughed within crude incredulity at the promise of the birth of a son, even in her advanced age, she says, "Is anything," here's the word, "too difficult for the Lord?" Or God, said, "'Is anything too difficult for the Lord?'" That was his answer. And obviously the answer is no. Jeremiah, 32 verse 27 he says, "Behold, I am the Lord"  I am Yahweh. And he says, "The God of all flesh, is anything,"  here's the same word, "too difficult for Me?'"

Now to be sure, those poor, beleaguered Israelites, there trying to rebuild Jerusalem, trying to rebuild their lives, still under Gentile rule, would have a hard time believing that all of these things going to happen, because they look around and say, we got a long ways to go before that's going to happen. And so it's easy to say, well, since I haven't seen it, it probably won't happen, right? And God is basically beating them to the punch and saying, Oh, you think I can't do this? Really, nothing is too hard for me. Let me ask you this beloved, do you believe that in your life and in the world in which you live, the world to come, do you believe there are certain things that are just too hard for him? What is your view of God? Because if you have a small view of God, you will have a large view of yourself, and you will be left without hope. Can you say, with Jeremiah in Jeremiah 32 beginning in verse 17,

"'Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,

who shows loving kindness to 1000s, but repays the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The LORD of hosts, is His name;

great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;

who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day, both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as it as at this day.'"

Dear friend the omnipotent arm of God will accomplish all that he has promised. And that's the point of the passage. The commander of the heavenly host has made this official declaration, so you can trust him to bring it to fruition.

Verse seven, "'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west."'" In other words,  from every place; from where, where the sun rises to where it sets, throughout the entire globe, from wherever I have scattered my people; "'"...and I will,"'" verse eight, "'"bring them back..."'" And as we look at all of the passages we see, he's going to bring them back, spiritually as well as physically. "'"I will bring them back, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness."'"

On this particular concept, Charles Spurgeon opined, and I quote, "I do not think we attach sufficient significance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if anything is promised in the Bible, it is this." Israel will finally, one day, be what it was intended to be, what it was commissioned to be. You will recall in Deuteronomy seven, 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 were on the face of the earth.'" And God's purpose for Israel, from the beginning, was for them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Exodus 19, verse six. And of course, God's plan and purposes in all of this are set forth in his unconditional, unilateral, irreversible promises contained in the Abrahamic, Davidic and New Covenants.

And may I remind you, as we draw this to a close this morning, God made it abundantly clear in Deuteronomy 28 that he would bless them if they would obey him and curse them if he if they disobeyed. All the way in the beginning, he promised this, in fact, the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy, chapters 28 through 34 provide a prophetic summary of all of Israel's future. I've listed them for you. It provides the conditions of blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience; the prediction of coming apostasy; the affliction God would bring upon Israel, while still in the land of promise because of her apostasy; it speaks of how Israel will be taken captive and the enemies of Israel will possess her land for a time; the land itself will remain desolate; Israel will be scattered among the nations; Israel would become few in number; Israel will not be destroyed if she repents;  Israel will repent in her tribulation and worship God as he intended. And finally, Israel will be gathered from the nations, brought back to her divinely given land and prosper abundantly. And this is what we see even in the promise here in Zechariah eight, verse seven and eight, "'"Thus says the Lord of hosts. Behold, I am going to save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, and I will bring them back, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness."'"

Folks, this will happen as we have studied thus far, even in the visions that we examined previously. But it will only happen after Israel's filthy garments are replaced with the rich clean garments, and a clean turban, metaphorically, is placed upon their head, and when they are supernaturally empowered by the man whose name is Branch, the Messiah. And then in Zechariah six and verse 12, it says that, he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. My how encouraging this must have been to those people. I hope it is to you as well.

And in summary, we can just say, as we look at chapter seven and chapter eight, God is saying, look, don't try to impress me with your superficial worship, with your mechanical fasts and your external acts of mere tradition. I want you to worship me from the heart. And what will help you worship me from the heart is for me to remind you of my sovereign love that I have set upon you and the promises that I guarantee I will fulfill for you. And so dear Christian, may we all live in light of the glorious promises that were made, not only to Israel, but by extension, to all of us. Even so, Lord Jesus come quickly, amen? Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Whenever we allow the light of your word to to beam down upon our lives, it exposes everything, and yet it also brings such hope, such joy, because of the promises that are ours in Christ. Lord, I pray that will be true even today, as we continue to meditate upon your word and apply them to our lives and live in light of these great truths. And finally, Lord, I pray that you will bring great conviction to those that may not know you as Savior. Oh, Father, will you bring conviction? Will you draw them unto yourself and save them by your grace? And may today be the day that they experience the miracle of the new birth, for the glory of Christ and for their eternal joy in Christ's name, I pray. Amen.