Today's Word Radio

Guest (Male): The House of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them. The Angel of the Lord. Who is the Angel of the Lord? Jesus. He's going to go before them and fight.

Brett Meador: Pastor Brett Meador with assurance from Zechariah, the hand of God remains on his people. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Why I've got that verse marked in my Bible because this is what we've got to keep our eye on. People forget this part of God that he is mighty in battle.

Guest (Male): The Old Testament book of Zechariah chapters 12 and 13 prophesy an eventual supernatural defense of Jerusalem by God from the coming Antichrist, culminating in the repentance of God's people. Pastor Brett Meador notes in this verse-by-verse study from Today's Word, our trust is in the light of God's ultimate plan and purpose for us all amidst the darkness of the world.

Brett Meador: Zechariah chapter 12, starting in verse 1.

The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him. We've looked at this briefly, but for you science brains, Albert Einstein types, the language here of Zechariah is really fascinating.

Because the word "stretching" is an interesting word. It means to extend, but it's also the word that they would sort of unroll a scroll. When Albert Einstein was doing his theory of relativity, dimensionality, and the idea of the universe and stuff, Einstein came to the conclusion that the universe has to be continually expanding.

And the language of the Hebrew Bible is shockingly accurate when it comes to the description of the universe. When it says the Lord which stretcheth forth, it doesn't mean that he did it past tense. The idea is he is stretching forth actively right now. The universe is still being unrolled like a scroll. Be that as it may, verse 2, behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. And all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

So in that day, the Day of the Lord that we've talked about, is going to come. And the Day of the Lord begins with this sort of scene, the stage being set, where the world's going to come against Jerusalem. Like we spent the last couple weeks talking about this verse pretty thoroughly. In that day, verse 4, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment.

Now, I'm not sure what an astonished horse looks like. Like will horses go? We'll keep that in mind just for a second. I'll strike every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness. And I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah and I will smite every horse of the people with blindness. So there's some key things here that you should know about in verse 4.

It's an interesting thing because you and I say, well, who rides horses anymore in battle or military? And the truth is there are a few armies that still have a mounted cavalry, but I'm not sure that's what the Bible's talking about. You have to go to the Hebrew words here that are just sort of, you know, translated to be horse and rider because that would have been the the the machinery of war back when the Bible was written, but the Hebrew word for horse is this word Sus, which can be any number of things.

It can be a horse, it can be a chariot horse, or a swallow, or a crane, or something that flies. Like that's the Hebrew word, this vehicle of speed that can fly maybe or run really fast. The word rider is this word Rakav. It just means something that's mounted and ridden. You could say, Rakav, Harley Davidson. You're mounting and riding is the idea.

Another thing is these words madness and astonishment. Basically, you can picture people that are military in nature, soldiers, armies, but she, is the Hebrew word for craziness, furiously madness, wild, helpless panic, is the idea that's going to happen. When it says his rider will be stricken with this idea of madness.

Something unexpected will happen. A stupefication. Like you'll be almost stopped in your tracks, you know when somebody freezes up. That's kind of the idea of this word Timahon in the Hebrew word. So Shegahon and Timahon, madness and astonishment, are the words that Zechariah uses here. So maybe along with blindness used here, the vehicles will be acting up or not work correctly.

They maybe all stop. You know those electromagnetic pulse weapons that detonate, you know, a few miles above the atmosphere that disables anything with circuitry in it. That's stuff that exists. And it would probably disable so many types of military vehicles. People probably wish they had a horse right about then. But there's going to be this astonishment, madness, and blindness.

By the way, these same words here that are talking about blindness, madness, and astonishment, the same words are used talking about those who disregard God's word, interestingly enough. In Deuteronomy 28:28, it says, the Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart, the people who just say, yeah, whatever, to God's word. That's going to happen.

So it's interesting to me that those two things are correlated. So basically the armies that come against Israel and specifically Jerusalem are going to go mad, blind, and astonished. Well, anyway, back to Zechariah 12, verse 5. It says, And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.

Basically, the Lord's going to empower Israel in warfare, but he's also going to devour their enemies, and God's going to do that. Verse 6. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood and like a torch of fire in the sheave, and they shall devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

The Lord shall also save the tents of Judah first, and that the glory of the House of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Jerusalem. So basically, the battles will unify the Jews, and no one area of Israel's going to be able to take credit over the other. That's kind of the idea. But actually, the Lord is going to get credit.

But listen to this next verse. This is pretty amazing, especially if you know the stories of David in the Old Testament. Verse 8. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And he that is feeble among them in that day shall be as David. And the House of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them.

Basically, it's saying the weakest of the soldiers will be like David, which is basically the Old Testament Rambo. You know, David was a guy who went and slew, you know, giants and and killed groups of men, and I can't even go into all the details of some of this stuff he did. It might offend some of you guys. David was like, he was the military genius, but he was also a warrior's warrior.

And here in these days, it says that even the most feeble will be like David from the Old Testament. But the biggest thing is what we read there at the end of verse 8. It says, the House of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them. The Angel of the Lord. Who's the Angel of the Lord? Jesus. He's going to go before them and fight.

Now, by the way, if you recall, the Bible says stuff about this all the time. But remember this conversation in Joshua chapter 5, verse 13? It says, And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

And he said, No. I think that's one of the funnier scriptures in the Bible. Here's this big huge, you know, sword, and are you for us or against us? He's like, nope. Which one? Yes or no? I'm not for any one of your sides, but as captain of the host of the Lord, I am now come. And Joshua fell on his face to earth, and worshiped, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

So I think we kind of know who this is. When was the last time somebody had to loose the shoe off their foot? Moses at the burning bush is where he met God, who called himself the I Am That I Am. You see, that's how we know this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. This is God who's going before Joshua. He's the Angel of the Lord, who's going to go and fight in battle with Joshua.

That's the Lord that we know and love and serve. People forget this part of God that he is the Lord of battle, mighty in battle. Well, Zechariah chapter 12, verse 8 reminds us of that. Well, verse 9. It says, And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

But I've got that verse marked in my Bible because this is what we've got to keep our eye on. Verse 10. And I will pour upon the House of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

So basically, if you're following sort of the way things are going here, we've got the Lord intervening as all the nations go to attack Israel, hate Jerusalem. Jesus is going to intervene. And in that day, the Day of the Lord, I will destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. But that's when we shift gears in verse 10. They're going to suddenly receive the spirit and they're going to see, their eyes are going to be opened.

And verse 10 is basically showing that they're going to have mourning and bitterness. And by the way, the finishing out of this chapter is that of mourning because they'll realize, what have we done? When they realize that Jesus really was the Messiah, the very Jesus that they despised and rejected, they're going to see that. They shall look upon whom they have pierced. They'll look on him and realize their mistake.

And just like the Jews, by the way, I wonder if you and I, when we see him, if we're going to be sobered up as well. I wonder if you and I, when we see him, we're going to see him as a lamb that had been slain and we'll think, what have we done? Because our sin put Jesus on the cross. Not just the Jews. I wonder if that's going to be one of the more shocking things when we see Christ even in his resurrected conquering king form. We're still going to see the wounds and the scars in his hands when you see the Messiah.

Verse 11. In that day there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad Rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. In the valley of Megiddo, there's going to be mourning. That's where the battle's going to be. You know that from other passages. By the way, the valley of Megiddo or Megiddon, if you say the valley or the hill of Megiddo, is actually the word Har Megiddon or Armageddon.

So the word Armageddon occurs only in Revelation 16:16, basically designating the place where the the great Day of the Lord, the battle of that day is going to happen. Now, one of the things that's interesting, maybe, you know, 30 miles away, you go to Nazareth, the little town where Jesus grew up that looks down on the valley of Armageddon. The reason I think this is interesting, can you imagine what a 12-year-old Jesus with a dad who's a carpenter in Nazareth, did he look out over this valley and say, this is where I'm going to return and conquer all the nations of the world? Like, did Jesus know that at 12? Like, there's some interesting questions that I have that I wonder what Jesus must have thought about this actual view as he was growing up, seeing.

He, every morning, he'd get up, he would look at the valley of Armageddon, as a kid growing up in Nazareth. Anyway, this valley is rich with history of battles, both outside of the Bible, but also inside the Bible. Jabin and his 900 chariots, Gideon was a few kilometers away his story, Samson fought, Deborah and Barrack and Sisera, that whole thing happened in the valley. Saul was killed in this valley. Ahaziah and Jehu. Also, one of the big ones, Josiah was slain. Remember King Josiah, the king that reigned at 8 years old? He made a mistake tactically and went in and fought in battle and he was killed with an arrow in this valley of Armageddon. That word Hadad Rimmon is linked to the word mourning because of Josiah being killed there.

That's why it's called the little town of Hadad Rimmon, okay? So that's if you're wondering why that word's there, it has to do with Josiah's death in the valley of Armageddon. Now, you say, okay, Brett, got it. But what's the Bible say about this? Well, and why bring up Megiddo here in this place? Because this is right after this battle of Armageddon, and the Jews are going to be standing there in the valley of Armageddon after having the Lord intervene and saving their souls, saving their lives.

This is what it's being talked about there in verse 11. Verse 12. And the land shall mourn, every family apart, the family of the house of David apart and their wives apart, and the family of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart, and the family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart, and the family of Shimei apart and their wives apart. All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. Brett, what in the world is that all about?

This is just a way Zechariah is sort of poetically saying all the people in Israel, the representatives of Israel, everyone in Israel. When he mentions Nathan, he's referring to the prophets. When he mentions Levi, he's referring to the priests. When he mentions David, he's referring to the kings. So you got the prophets, priests, and king, and then you got the rest, everyone else. But basically, they'll go apart into seclusion and shame, mourning for what they had done to the Messiah Jesus. And this will be a true show of mourning, not a false mourning, is the idea here.

And that brings us here to chapter 13. Let's let's just do this quick, this won't take long. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Verse 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered. And I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. And it'll come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him will say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord. And his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.

What's this talking about? Well, one thing we know is these prophets, so-called, get the point. Sorry, I had to say that. Even their mom and dad are going to stick them through like a shish kebab. What's going on? Now, verses 2 through 5, when Jesus comes, they'll see the false prophets of Israel that had been there for centuries, that they were false. And even their own mothers and fathers will skewer them with a spear. They'll say, are you a prophet? And he'll say, no, I'm a farmer. I've been a farmer since I was a little kid. False prophets are going to be thumped on. At least they'll recognize that they had caused all kinds of trouble. That's the idea.

And man, when you read Jeremiah and Isaiah and some of these prophecies with these false prophets, if you've been with us, you kind of realize they sort of deserve that, don't they? They misled the people for thousands of years. Many of the prophets were false. Now there's false prophets today as well, and I think we have to be equally as sort of upset about false prophets. Jesus talked about that in the last days. Well, verse 6.

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands? And then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I love that he calls them their friends. You know, I would have said, these are the wounds I received in the house of a bunch of losers. But Jesus doesn't do that. He says, I've received these wounds. We can be sometimes harder on people than Jesus wants to be. And I think there's people that are harder on the Jews than Jesus would want them to be.

You know, they nailed him to the cross, those Jews. But what did Jesus say when they were doing that? He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Like Luke 23, when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and one on the left hand. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots. You know, Jesus even called Judas friend. I think this is funny. Now, was Jesus manipulating? Was he being sort of sarcastic? I don't think so.

It says, Now, he that betrayed him, gave him them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same is he. Hold him fast. And forthwith, he came to Jesus and said, Hail, master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? And then they laid hands on Jesus and took him. He called him friend. John 15:15, Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth. But I have called you friends for all the things that I have heard of you, my father has made known unto you.

You can try to earn God's favor, but that's a total waste of time. God, he already loves you as a friend. You already have the Lord's favor. And he wants to give you rest and peace and life more abundantly. Well, all that to say, the Jews are seeing, wow, we're the ones who wounded you. We're the ones who did that. They're seeing that in verse 6.

Verse 7 goes on, and basically this is a summary of the history of the Jews in verses 7 through 9. Stuff that we've gone over in great detail. You might recognize some of this stuff. Verse 7. Awake, oh sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. That's the diaspora, the king being killed. And I will turn my hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein.

So, verse 9, I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them, and I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God. So here you see the people, you know, being gathered together for a rough time with the Antichrist making war with them, and two-thirds of them will be destroyed, it says here. That's the sad thing about the Jews.

By the way, in World War II, one-third of the Jews on the earth were killed. There are something like 57.74 Jews in Europe were killed. That's more than half of the Jews in Europe were all killed during the Holocaust. But in this time, it's going to be even worse what the Antichrist is going to seek to do. It'll be sort of the second Holocaust, is what this is saying. One-third is left when Jesus returns.

Why would God allow the Jews to go through such suffering and such times? And that really brings the question, why does God allow suffering at all? But the idea is that suffering is part of sin. And that's what people, we we all deal with that. The fallen condition of humanity. And God sees our suffering. But part of the whole Day of the Lord thing is to relieve us of our suffering. That's what the Day of the Lord is all about.

And if you're like, well, why is he picking on the Jews? Well, it's so sad today. Did you know that most of the Jews today are, I've always said, you know, in Tel Aviv, that 70% of the people are atheists. But this Haaretz article, an Israeli news agency, said Israel among the least religious countries in the world. This article says only 30% of Israelis are religious of any kind of religion. Less than one-third of Israelis say they are religious, which is well below the norm in really the rest of the world, but definitely in Western Europe.

And the Jews attribute their success in warfare, politically, agriculturally, and cetera, to their own wisdom. They sort of take credit today. You know, I I sit here and talk about the miraculous battles of Israel and their farmlands. They just made another deal, by the way, with Europe on the fruit and vegetables that Israel produces, and it's just, you know, dissing Russia, who provide vegetable and food. I mean, it's it's causing some tension between Israel and Russia right now.

But this attitude of the Jews, this is what has turned a lot of people off. By the way, anti-Semitism, I think, is somewhat rooted in the Jews not trusting in God, but saying, yeah, we're pretty amazing. And it doesn't fly well. Did anybody ever hear of Martin Luther's work on the Jews? I've talked about his, you know, we should all be thankful that Martin Luther did the Reformation and all that. But let me read to you a paragraph from Martin Luther's work.

He said, set fire to their synagogues or schools. Martin Luther recommended on one of the Jews on the Jews and their lies. That's the name of his book, by the way. You don't read this one very often. But he wrote this book. Jewish houses should be razed and destroyed. The Jewish prayer books, the Talmudic writings in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught should be taken from them. In addition, their rabbis should be forbidden to teach on pain of loss of life and limb.

That was his view ultimately on the Jews. Very anti-Semitic was Martin Luther, maybe one of the worst. That's why Hitler loved this book on the Jews and their lies. But the reason I bring that up is because the Jews have been very rebellious and stubborn against God. And so we say, well, why are the Jews going to be destroyed so much? I mean, the Lord's going to have them hanging by a thread and then rescue them. But you have to remember this is kind of of their own doing, that they've rejected their Lord and they've tried to do it on their own strengths, not a great way to go.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador nearing the end of our study series of the book of Zechariah, offering more good understanding of the unfolding of the coming Day of the Lord. And our program here on Today's Word will close with a word of prayer from Pastor Brett in just a moment. But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area, where Pastor Brett Meador is the lead pastor. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Our vision on Today's Word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link Locations. Well, once again, here's Pastor Brett Meador to close our time in prayer.

Brett Meador: Lord, we are thankful for your word, and we're thankful to know that you are in control. Lord, even as we see the Jews largely in unbelief today, we know that you have a plan and a purpose to save Israel. But we know there's a lot of bad that's going to happen. Lord, I pray that before all that happens, that your church would be a bright spot of light in this world, that we would point people to your mercy and your grace, your kindness, your plan of saving and redeeming, Lord. And I pray that you would just cause us to be joyful, even in the midst of craziness, Lord, as we see stuff going on in the world today. Help us to have that peace that passes understanding. Lord, we don't put our trust in our Congress, the House of Representatives, or the Senate, or our election system. We don't put our trust in all these things. We trust you alone, Lord. You are the one who is worthy of our trust. And we put our trust in you, knowing that you are going to cause us ultimately to be with you in heaven. So give us that hope. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador here on Today's Word. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue in the book of Zechariah, which will look again at the Day of the Lord and the vital details about what people will experience and how the Jews will respond when these things come to pass. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.