Thru the Bible

Steve: Peace on Earth. Well, with Christmas right around the corner, hard as it is to believe, we're going to hear that phrase a lot. But let's be honest, do you ever wonder if real peace on Earth is even possible? Well, the angels weren't wrong that night in Bethlehem when they filled the skies with praise by singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men." They were pointing us to the only true source of peace, and that's Jesus Christ.

I'm Steve Schwetz and this is Through the Bible, and today, we'll continue our look at the peace that Jesus will bring when he returns. And it may not be the kind of peace the world expects, but it's exactly what we need. Dr. J. Vernon McGee takes us this time to Zechariah chapter 9. So, open your Bible, and while you find your place, Greg and I want to share some letters from fellow travelers on the Bible bus, this time focusing on North American letters.

Greg: Yeah, we love to hear from the home team, the folks that are really the anchor and the foundation of the way God has built this ministry. But we're going to get a few, a few little curveballs when we think about North America. And because this name is fun to pronounce, I'm going to ask you to read the first letter, Steve.

Steve: Well, this first one we hear from Zawoode in Denver, Colorado. And I love this story because it reminds me of meeting a listener in a similar background in Washington, D.C. a couple years ago.

Greg: That's right.

Steve: Here's the letter. "I have been listening to this teaching since 2006. It has changed my spiritual life. I began listening to you when I was in difficult circumstances in Ethiopia. Now, I am in the USA and listen to both Amharic and English through your apps. I have shared your teaching with many and pray thousands will be added to the Kingdom of God each day."

And again, there's just, there's so much depth here because this listener was from Ethiopia, Amharic. There's a whole story about Walkshuma, the producer, how he got saved by Dr. McGee through shortwave in English and now he's, and he's the Amharic speaker and now he's heading up our home group ministry. And this gentleman in the US is being blessed by the ministry. And I just, again, I think about what a wonderful party we're going to have in glory when we see all the fabric of the way God's woven this all together in eternity past and he's going to bring it forward and we're going to see it one day with eyes clearly.

Greg: And this also underscores why we're investing so heavily in our digital ministry because the apps that we, by the end of this year, our goal is to have 100 different study apps with the Bible and the TTB teaching. Of course, Amharic is one of those that we already have. And, and this allows anyone, anywhere on Earth to hear their mother tongue, to hear the Bible and the teaching. Pretty, pretty cool.

Now let's go to Kathy in Orange County, California, a place where I used to live. "I work in a large hospital that is a melting pot of cultures and nationalities. I hand out Bible bus passes frequently and tell people about the Farsi, Chinese, and Japanese programs. I have many Persian coworkers who ask me questions about my faith. I listen regularly, pray for you and donate monthly. Through the Bible gives me clarity and keeps me spiritually grounded in God's word. I've been on the Bible bus since 1993. I used to read Dr. McGee's books from our church library before I listened to the radio program."

Oh, that's interesting. I like to hear that progression. And she goes on, "Then I downloaded the app when it became available. I think the most valuable recent lesson that Dr. McGee has taught me is that the Day of the Lord will be terrible for those outside of salvation, which includes many of my loved ones, and that instead of wishing he would return for me to bring me relief for my circumstances, I should be thankful for his long-suffering and patience with those who are perishing. This world can be cruel and we long for paradise, but God doesn't want any to perish but wants all to repent. So, I am trying not to be so selfish."

Steve: Kathy, thank you so much for that encouragement and for your faithfulness. 1993, you almost predate me, Kathy, being with the ministry. So that is, that is a substantial amount of time since I feel like I'm a very old guy at this point. But again, handing out Bible bus passes, there's so much there and just your perspective on eternity and God's long-suffering, you know, and even it causes us to endure difficulties here and it's not all about us. God's calling other people to himself in that process also.

Greg: Well, and I love the depth that she shares and so many of our listeners, they're not just hearing it saying, "I like Dr. McGee." They're thinking it through and how does it apply to my life and how does it put me on a mission in my workplace? I mean, we're, we're just excited to hear from our listeners. And we have many more, but we always leave more on the table. I think we need to get to our study.

Steve: Yeah, so thank you for encouraging us with that. Let me pray as we begin. Heavenly Father, we're thankful for listeners like Kathy, so faithful. Faithful to the ministry of Through the Bible in writing and supporting on a regular basis, but more importantly, Lord, faithful to your word and faithful to who Jesus Christ is and the need that everybody has for salvation in Christ alone. May we have that passion and compassion for those around us as well. Bless your word as it continues to go out in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Now here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee as he continues our study in Zechariah chapter 9.

Dr. McGee: My friends, last time I spent the entire period on the so-called triumphal entry and we called it the triumphal exit. And I just want to say this one final word relative to it. You noted that Matthew quoted only a portion of it, just a definite portion, and he left out certain things.

May I say to you that there were certain inclusions and certain exclusions. There are certain admissions and certain omissions. And why did he leave certain things out and why did he include? Well, I hope we made it clear last time, that which Matthew quoted and also John interpreted, had to do with the first coming of Christ and the other has to do with the second coming of Christ.

He came on the little animal of peace, the first time, bringing peace. He's coming upon the white horse the next time, the animal of warfare, but he's going to bring peace. How? By putting down all unrighteousness. Because you see, the world's had 1900 years to decide what it's going to do with Jesus Christ, and he's pretty much rejected today.

So, God is going to make it very clear that the Son is coming back this time to reign, not to die, not for redemption, but to reign, and that he intends to put him upon the throne. And this was something that I'm sure puzzled Zechariah. It's still puzzling some folk today, but may I say to you that Simon Peter made it very clear in First Peter, the first chapter, verse 10, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow."

And so the prophets, like Zechariah here in one verse, he just ties together the first and second coming of Christ. Why? Because they inquired and they searched diligently, but they couldn't make the distinction. They just had to put it down as the Spirit of God gave it. Now Simon Peter by the Spirit of God makes the distinction. He came one time to suffer, to bring redemption. He's coming the next time in glory to reign upon this earth.

And so Matthew by the Spirit was able to make that separation there. And you'll find all the way through the word of God. That is the Old Testament prophets in particular, that distinction that's made between the first and second comings of Christ to this earth. Now, I want to leave that verse, although it's the very hinge on which I believe that this last section, the door swings on it, of interpretation, is around this great verse that is here.

And I know in this chapter and in the next chapter, that is especially true. Now, I leave verse 9 and I want to read today Zechariah chapter 9, verse 10. And I'm reading, "And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem." You see, the horse speaks of warfare, "And the battle bow shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace unto the nations, and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth."

And I think I'd like to just continue reading before we interpret. Verse 11, "As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, in which is no water. Turn to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope, even today, do I declare that I will render double unto thee. When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim."

You see, that's the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. They're not lost. At least, God didn't seem to think they were lost here. At least he knew where they were. "When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee like the sword of a mighty man."

Now, I had the question raised before when I've been through this section, in fact, every time I go through this section, when I start out in chapter 9, and I describe the march of Alexander the Great, as he crossed over into what is now modern Turkey, and took those great cities and destroyed them. And it's almost a shame, some of the lovely things that he destroyed. And he did it, of course, because he had an army of only 50,000 men.

He was moving swiftly to world victory and to world rulership. And so he laid these cities low. And he kept marching and then he made the turn to go down across the bridge, which is the land of Israel. And the great cities that were then in the north and Syria, why he destroyed them. Damascus is mentioned. And then you can see him as he enters the promised land, the land of the Philistines, and you can see also then when he came to Jerusalem, he did not destroy it. God said that he was going to encamp around the temple. He was going to protect it.

And of all the places that had been destroyed, you'd expect Jerusalem to be destroyed, because everyone thought that it would be, because actually the high priest here refused to give the tribute that he'd been giving to Media Persia to Alexander because he felt obligated by treaty. And he kept his obligation, and that naturally would infuriate Alexander the Great, and you would expect him to come into Jerusalem and destroy it.

But this is the one city he did not destroy. Though he took Egypt, he took Babylon, and the Media Persian Empire went down. And he's 33 years of age. He died a drunkard. And he died with the whole world actually in his hand. He had marvelous charisma. His followers were loyal to him, and it is said that many of these people turned to him. He was a brilliant general, attractive young man with a great deal of charisma. And yet brutal and cruel and arrogant and all of that.

And someone says, "How do you know he's talking about that?" Well, verse 13 should have made it clear, "O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece." That's what he's talking about in this chapter. And Alexander the Great is of the Macedonian empire, the Greco-Macedonian Empire that came over and became a world ruler. He controlled the world of his day. He controlled everything except Alexander the Great. He died a drunkard.

And I have a very wonderful poem. I was going to bring it with me today, but couldn't put my finger on it. It's a poem that begins, "Jesus and Alexander died at 33," both of them. And by the way, he came down in a brutal way to conquer the world. And what Zechariah's doing is putting in contrast the triumphal entry of Alexander the Great into Jerusalem was something to behold.

The high priest went out to meet him. The Maccabees at that time went out and Alexander the Great was very superstitious. He had a vision, a dream of a man that was decorated like that and that he was to listen to him. And the high priest, we're told, this is all tradition, he showed him in the book of Daniel where he was mentioned. And Alexander the Great's mentioned in the book of Daniel. He's that goat that has one big horn and that horn was broken. That's the Greco-Macedonian Empire. And they were to rule over these people here of Israel.

Well, he came in in great triumph into Jerusalem, but he didn't destroy it. After all of that, he thought it was so remarkable, he wanted to serve the living and true God, and he came in and brought a sacrifice. Well, may I say to you that was quite remarkable. But what a contrast now, here comes Jesus into Jerusalem riding on a little donkey. And he's not coming to destroy the world. He came to save the world.

The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto. He didn't come to form a great kingdom and get a great following that had to minister to him. He came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. And so he comes into Jerusalem as a king. In not a triumph, he's getting ready to leave. He'll be leaving shortly. But he's coming back.

Now when he comes back, the world will have had a long time to decide what they're going to do with Jesus, and they've got to make a decision concerning him. And so he's coming again. Now, we have in this section something that I think is quite remarkable, that this one that came into Jerusalem wasn't making a triumphal entry at all. He's on the way to the cross to bring peace to mankind. But he's coming someday to bring peace to the world.

So he says, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim." That's the northern kingdom. They had been rather warlike. "And the horse from Jerusalem." The horse is the animal of warfare. And the two kingdoms, made up of the same people, divided now, and one went into captivity to Assyria, the other to Babylon. And God says, "I'm going to take away these instruments of warfare." Why? Because, "the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace unto the nations."

This earth, friends, will never have peace until Jesus Christ comes and establishes peace. Now, I have always shivered, actually, I tremble, when I hear the different presidents that we've had in this country since World War II, and every one of them has talked about world peace and that they were going to bring world peace in. Well, not one of them was willing to recognize that he could not bring in peace in the world.

Only Jesus Christ can bring peace to this earth. And it's just as simple as that. But not one has recognized him as being the Prince of Peace. And do you know that that's the reason that we haven't had peace? We have been constantly at war. And we have a standing army in Europe. We have armed soldiers throughout the world today and we have fought two terrible wars since World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

And may I say to you that we even landed our marines under South of Beirut in Lebanon. Oh, we talk about peace, but we've been a warlike nation. May I say to you, it's well that we stay prepared to protect ourselves, because I tell you, this is a big, bad world that we live in today. And we've attempted to talk brotherhood and that type of nonsense. That's not scriptural at all. The only brotherhood that can be formed today is in the body of Christ, those that have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

Now I know this is not popular today, but I have discovered that there are a lot of medicine the doctor gives me, and then he throws me down on an operating table and just keeps cutting and cutting on me, and I want to tell you, it's not fun. But that's the only way in the world I'm going to have help by that route. And the only way in the world that the world is going to have peace is through Jesus Christ, whether they like it or not.

Now, verse 11, "As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no water." And I would say that the best I can do is really to make a spiritual interpretation of this, that the only deliverance is through the blood of the covenant. That blood of the covenant is the blood of the New Testament. The blood of Christ, and only through that is any deliverance for mankind.

We do not recognize that man in this world today is actually, he talks about his freedom and his liberty, and all of that, he's a prisoner. He's sold under sin. He's a slave to sin. And in a day when we hear so much about liberty, and the hundreds of letters that we've had about drug addicts that have been delivered, how? Only by the blood of Christ, my friend, only by turning to him. He's the only one that can deliver prisoners in a pit where there's no water.

Now will you listen, verse 12, "Turn to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee. When I have bent Judah for me." Now, when? Well, we're looking now toward the millennium, to the time he'll reign. He says, "Fill the bow with Ephraim, I've raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece." And the nations of the world are going to bow to him. "And made thee like the sword of a mighty man."

"And the Lord shall be seen over them. And his arrow shall go like the lightning. And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet and shall go with whirlwinds of the south." Now, I think all of this is depicting his coming to this earth to establish his kingdom. Now, my friend, when he comes, that's going to be a triumphal entry. And until he comes, there'll be no triumphal entry.

Now will you notice verse 15, "The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour and subdue the sling stones, and they shall drink and make a noise as through wine, and they shall be filled like bowls and like the corners of the altar." I would say that this is a picture of how it's going to be.