Today's Word Radio

Guest (Male): What was the major task that they needed to finish during the time of Zechariah?

Host: Building the temple, right?

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador reminds present-day believers of God's call to be busy about His kingdom too.

Host: Where's the temple today? Us, don't you know? Paul says there in Corinthians, don't you know that your body is a temple to the Holy Ghost? Spreading the Gospel, loving on the unlovely, taking care of the needy and the poor, preaching the Gospel, baptizing, making disciples. So we need to be doing that work of the temple.

Guest (Male): Zechariah chapter 8 brings a powerful message of restoration of God to return to His people and to turn their sorrow into joy. As we're reminded that God is faithful to His promises. In as Pastor Brett Meador continues a look at Zechariah's various prophetic statements in Today's Word, we too see how we should live in light of God's goodness as we await things to come.

Host: Let's take a look, verse one of chapter 8. It says there, again, the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

Again, this word jealousy stumbles people. I think if you could use this word jealous, there's an evil definition of jealousy, but there's also a good jealous. Did you know that? I hope you understand this. The Lord is not jealous of the Jews or of the Babylonians or of the Romans. He's jealous for His people, the Jews. Jealousy, if you look it up in the Hebrew, the Hebrew word for this, there's two definitions. One's the negative one, but the good version is defined like this in the Hebrew Bible, in a favorable sense to denote a consuming zeal focused on one that is loved.

And so the Lord loves His people, the Jews. He's got a heart for the Jews. And yet, nation after nation has trounced over the Jews time and time again. Interesting, one of the things we're going to see in Zechariah is the nations that try to handle Israel, whether good or bad or ugly. The Lord's got a problem with these nations trying to handle the Jews. The book of Zechariah is going to tell us the nations that try to handle the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially as it relates to Jerusalem.

They're going to be handling a cup of trembling. Zechariah is going to teach us that. And the idea of a cup of trembling is like you don't want to mess with it. And there'll be those nations that Zechariah is going to tell us in 12 and 14, that there's going to be nations that are going to try to divide Jerusalem in half. And those nations are going to be crushed by that. Boy, it's an amazing prophecy we're going to see here in Zechariah, it's coming.

But all that to say, Jesus is the only one who will truly deal with the conflict. Antichrist will come and appear to sign a peace treaty and he'll have that for a short while, but about three and a half years into that treaty, the Antichrist will be shown for who he really is. Jesus is the one who's going to really bring in a true peace.

Now, seeking to divide Israel, the roadmap to peace as we've called it over the years and stuff. The Lord is not done with the Jews. He is jealous for them. Don't ever forget that. I think that there's a couple issues. People say, "Brett tells us how to vote." I've never done that, never told people how to vote. But I'll just tell you this. If you're a Christian who believes the Bible, there are some things that are kind of, I think, worthy of us Christians doing kind of some research to understand what the Bible says.

What a nation does about Israel. What does a person's position on the nation Israel? And if you want to see America blessed, the Bible says, "I will bless the nation that blesses Israel, but I will curse the nation that curses Israel." And you can track that in our history of the United States. When we've had leadership that goes to kind of curse Israel, we end up being cursed. And it's trackable.

All that to say, God is jealous for His people and we should remember that as Americans, as the Gentile church. So God says, "I am jealous." And I'm jealous for her with a great fury. That's something you don't want to mess with. God in great fury, I don't want any part of that. That's just verse two. But verse three, Thus saith the Lord, "I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth." Boy, that sounds good. And the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Boy, interesting. Now, when is truth going to come to Jerusalem? When is the, they're going to be, you know, the the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem? When is it going to become the city of truth? This is where we as New Testament Christian Church, we have an advantage over the Hebrew people of the Old Testament. Because we know what the first coming of Christ. So I'm going to ask, you know, what's first coming, what's second coming, okay? You guys ready for that? So, um, verses three, four, and five, first coming or second coming of Christ?

Audience: Second coming.

Host: Second coming, and that's clear because the city of Jerusalem streets are not a safe place to go. It's funny, you got roof Shahlem, city of peace, but that's hardly been what it is. Um, but that's what it's going to be. It's going to be that when Christ comes, rules and reigns. Um, when Christ comes, it's going to be a time of ultimate peace and it's going to be great. And it goes on in verse 6, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts?

This is kind of a funny language, but it's basically saying, you know, the Jews are being, that's too amazing, we can't even imagine that. But then the Lord says, "Are you kidding? Do you think I can't imagine that? Because I can do anything I want." That's kind of what the Lord is saying. It might seem incredible to you, but it's perfectly logical to me is what the Lord is saying there. And he calls himself again there, the Lord of hosts, uh, which is a military warfare term. He's the Lord of armies.

And in verse 7, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, "Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country." That's an interesting question. Scholars debate what does this mean? Because you could say in different ways, the way this says this in the Hebrew, is it's, is it the Lord's going to save the people that are in the east country or in the west country? Or is it talking about saving the people from the east country and the west country? And there's debate about that. The Jews that are in the east country or the west country?

You know, you could talk about the West and the East, the Eastern bloc countries and the Western countries and, you know, there's all kinds of speculation of, but the bottom line is you can look at it as the United States, the east country is the Orient, or the or maybe the further end of the Middle East, or is the west country Europe and the United States, you know, the West as we call it today. And the Lord's going to save his people out of there from tyranny, or is it just the location? Don't know for sure. But the take home here is the Lord's going to protect His people, that's the main thing.

Verse 8, "And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness." Is that first coming or second coming?

Audience: Second coming.

Host: Second coming, because he's that hasn't happened yet. But Christ is coming to Jerusalem where there's going to be an everlasting peace it says there and also ruling in Jerusalem, that's verse eight.

Verse 9 says, then back to Zechariah's time, it says, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days, these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built." Now, can I just say, this is an important thing, let your hands be strong. This speaks of what they were doing. Question, what was the major task that they needed to finish during the time of Zechariah? Anybody?

Audience: The temple.

Host: Building the temple, right? They'd already Ezra Nehemiah built the wall. Now they're Zerubbabel with Zechariah and the gang, they're rebuilding the temple. And it's interesting because as we look at this, there's something for us, I think, too. I think that we need to follow this word too, let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days. Man, I'll tell you, in the days we're living in, I think we need to let our hands be strong. That which we're doing. What should we do? Serve the Lord. The good servant, Matthew 24, it's going about the business of the master and being busy about His kingdom. We should be doing that, spreading the Gospel, loving on the unlovely, taking care of the needy and the poor, preaching the Gospel, baptizing, making disciples. We should be doing that.

And interestingly, part of that is linked to a temple. If you remember, we're living in one of the temple periods. Where's the temple today? Us. What? Don't you know? Paul says there in Corinthians, he says, don't you know that your body is a temple to the Holy Ghost? So we need to be doing that work of the temple. Is it kind of a neat correlation there? You shouldn't be weak as Christians, we need to be strong as it says there, let your hands be strong. I think that's a good word for us, that the temple might be built.

Verse 10, "For before these days there was no hire for man, nor hire for beast. Neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction. For I set all men, everyone against his neighbor. But now, I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts. For, verse 12, the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heaven shall give their due. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass that as you were a curse among the heathen, oh house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong."

Man, I love this. Do you remember what we read about in Zechariah chapter 4 verse 10? It said, "For who has despised the day of the small things?" Like, get busy about the things that you don't think are important. You got to still do the the small things. "For they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the earth." Don't let your hands be weak in the work of building. Don't despise the work that you have to do, the work of the small things.

Now, in verses 10 through 13 here, basically the Lord's saying, times are tough, and they have been for the Jews, if you know Jewish history. But he's saying that there's going to be a blessing and a time of blessing and a time of fruitfulness. Now, this is one of the prophecies, another prophecy, you and I have seen come or starting to come to pass. Not only the valley of dry bones, the Jews gathering back into Israel and the Holy Land, but even the land itself.

One of the fun things about going to Israel is to see how beautiful and fruitful it's become. And this is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The Bible said that the Jews would be scattered from the land flowing with what? Milk and honey. There was a day where Israel was flowing with milk and honey. But then it became very, very desolate. And there's a lot of reasons why that happened. Several of the big moments in history in Israel, or Palestine, as they'd like to call it, after the Jews were driven out in AD 70. But the Romans hated the Jews.

One of the things Emperor Hadrian did was salting the farmlands. Did you guys know that Hadrian did that? He poured salt on the Jews' farmlands. Well, how did you get so much salt? Israel's got a lot of salt. Just go to the region of the Dead Sea, just take out a shovel and you got a shovel full of salt. They're still mining salt out and potash, or potash, I should say, out of the Dead Sea right now. But Hadrian got all the salt and salted the land so that the Jews couldn't go back to their land and farm.

But that was Hadrian. After that, the Ottoman Turks came years later and they did an interesting tax system where the Turks said, we will tax every tree you have on your property. In other words, if you're a farmer and you got a bunch of fruit trees or trees of any kind, you'll be taxed according to your trees. Well, the Jews were smart and made major tax cuts. Literally cut down their trees.

So bad was this, after, you know, like a century of this, you understand, there's a long time of being taxed with trees, the Jews cut down so many trees and the people of Palestine at that day, cut so many trees down it actually changed the whole climate of that region of the world. And it became a barren desert. The land flowing with milk and honey became a land that was so barren. And what's interesting about that, I've always talked about, has anybody read any of the Mark Twain writings about Israel? I've referred to that a few times.

And what was interesting is he did this back when the Zionist movement was still at its beginning. And, um, listen to some of the things that Mark Twain wrote about and said about Israel when he went and visited. He said, "The further we went, the hotter the sun got and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary the landscape became." And that was his view of it. And by the way, he wasn't impressed with the Holy Land. He said, "All of the lands there are for dismal scenery. I think Palestine must be the prince of all the lands that are dismal scenery." He said, "Palestine is the prince of those lands."

Uh speaking of the Sea of Galilee, he said, "The Sea of Galilee is a solemn, sailless, tintless lake as unpoetical as any bathtub on earth." I could go on and on, um, but he he was right. And there were a bunch of pictures that he and his team took and it just was. You couldn't see Jews. In fact, um, he talked about this. He said, "In Jezreel Valley, there's not a solitary village throughout the whole extent. Not for 30 miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings." That was the Israel of, you know, 150 years ago.

But if you go today back to Israel, you realize the Israel's becoming in the last 50 years particularly, it's becoming the land flowing with milk and honey again. And miraculous levels. It's one of the top producers of fruit and vegetables for Europe, uh, in the world today. Israel, the little tiny speck of land, it's so small. And it was a total barren desert.

By the way, the Jews were running out of water. The Sea of Galilee was getting lowered because you know, the the Jordan Valley is where they got their water to water the land flowing with milk and honey, but the Sea of Galilee was getting lower and lower. But the Jews, as they often do, they figured it out scientifically. Came up with a very efficient desalinization process. So they take water out of the ocean now and they purify it and 80% now of the water they use for their farming is with their desalinization. No nation in the world has it figured out like the Jews.

By the way, when you go to Israel and you eat their fruit, it's some of the best fruit you'll ever eat, super, super sweet. And when you ask about that, there's actually something that happened, this is interesting. The plants that grow those fruits and vegetables and stuff, because of the saltiness that's in the soil, it forces the plant life there to sort of overcompensate for the salty soil and it produces a sweeter fruit because of the saltiness in the soil. That's kind of interesting. Uh, especially if you realize what Hadrian did, you know, centuries ago.

But anyway, all that to say, it's amazing to see what's happening. The miracle of God bringing the land back to to life. And that's what he's saying here, verse 12, "For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit, the ground shall give her increase, the heaven shall give their due." This is the Lord saying, there's coming a time. And see, the reason why this is interesting is we see this ramping up as we speak, which to me is an indicator that the millennial kingdom could be nearer in the future because there's several things. We're seeing the Jews regather in Jerusalem. Still in unbelief today, but they're gathering, dry bones gathering. But we're also seeing the land coming back to life and the beauty of the trees and the fruit and the vegetables. That's one of the fun things to see when you go to Israel. No longer will you be a curse among the heathen, like he says there in verse 13.

But verse 14, it says, "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, as I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not. So again, have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah, fear ye not." So the Lord's got good plans for his people. Now, this idea of punishment, you know, that I thought to punish you, did the Lord do that? Well, yeah, there was definite correction for Israel. And the Bible even says, don't forget, this is part of who God is.

Hebrews 12:6, "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth or the idea of spanking, punishing, and scourges every son whom he receiveth." Now, um, you and I are the same. In fact, Proverbs chapter 3 verse 11 and 12 reminds us, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."

Now, there's a problem in America today, is one of the reasons I think we're seeing so many horrible things like shootings, is because of absentee dads and these kids that are not being raised in discipline and with spanking. Like the way the Bible prescribes it. Now, keep in mind, God doesn't punish you punitively, and he doesn't punish the Jews punitively. The idea is to just make them feel pain for their their bad wrong doing or evil things. But when you think of punishment, God punishing you, he does correctively punish and chasten, but he doesn't punitive. What's the difference?

Well, the reason you have to make that differentiation is because what would be your penalty? How would God punish you if he punished you for your sins? Anybody? Death. Eternal death and hell. That's the punishment. So he's not punishing you for your sins, but he is correctively punishing. That is lovingly, whom the Lord loves, he chastens or corrects, as it says there, even as a father in a son whom he delights. That's important.

Uh, by the way, you know that scripture in Jeremiah 29, that everybody loves and it's on all the mugs and Christian books and all that, you know, for, I know the thoughts I think toward you, thoughts of peace, not of evil, you know, it goes on to give you an expected or future in a hope. Everybody knows that famous scripture. Do you know the context of that verse? I think the context is always a crack up because people miss that. But let's take a quick look at that. Jeremiah 29, verses 10 through 14. He says, "For thus saith the Lord, that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon."

When is that? Zechariah's day. "After 70 years accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place." So in Zechariah's time, the returning to Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the temple, that's fulfilling this verse. And he says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, Zechariah, Zerubbabel, Jews, during that time," saith the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, from all the places where I have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again to the place whence I have caused you to be carried away captive."

This is the Lord promising that he would bring the Jews back to Jerusalem, back to Israel, as we're seeing that promise being perfectly fulfilled in our day and age. So, mom and dad, you need to imitate the Lord when it comes to this, verses 14 and 15, about, you know, discipline, teaching our kids, and uh, stuff like that. We've done whole sermons on how to discipline, how spanking should work. I have to say this every time, most spanking that I see is abusive. Like there's parents who just don't know how to do it right.

And if you're a parent who says, "I don't believe in spanking," it's probably because you were spanked wrong by your parents, and so you've thrown the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. You know, it's like, you've got to remember, the Bible says the parent that spares the rod of correction hates his son. And there's a real thing about spanking the Bible talks about, but doing it in love and in wisdom, with calmness, there should be no anger, and uh, there's a real way of doing it that's very much like the Lord. So be careful, mom and dad, we need to discipline our children, but at the same time, we need to do it in love, and it's very, very important to do it right.

So, verse 16. "These are the things that you shall do. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these things are things that I hate, saith the Lord." Wow. Isn't it amazing when the Bible says God hates stuff? And people say, "Don't hate." "You're not supposed to hate." Well, God hates stuff, so what does he hate? Well, speaking lies to your neighbor.

Isn't it interesting? He gives us some very clear things. If you imagine evil in your heart against your neighbor. You know, if you're out there taking your garbage out and your neighbor's garbage is kind of pushing into your driveway, you're like, that stupid neighbor, what an idiot. God hates that. God hates you imagining evil in your heart to your neighbor. I mean, I don't want to do anything that God hates.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador reflecting on God's call to His people to live differently, to speak truth, reject evil and live in practical obedience. More from our verse-by-verse study of Zechariah in Today's Word. And I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in a moment. But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church, just south of Portland, Oregon, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. We invite you to find out more about Pastor Brett and Athey Creek Church by going to todayswordradio.com. If you missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com.

All right, Pastor Brett is with me. You know, America is seeing a lot of turmoil in the last year or so, and I know it's caused a lot of people to search for answers. What have you seen as a pastor and what encouragement can you give to a person who is searching for hope?

Host: Well, I would say be careful where you search because I think a lot of us have already figured out, you're not going to find the hope in politics or in money, or our circumstances even getting better or more comfortable. I would just say the first place everybody should look is in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, you know, he said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives." And then he says, "Let not your heart be troubled and don't let it be afraid." That's the kind of hope that doesn't rise and fall, you know, with the headlines.

My encouragement would be, just don't ignore the longing that's in your heart. God is inviting you to know him and you'll find forgiveness and you discover a peace that passes understanding that lasts. As a church, you know, we've seen people respond to that message in powerful ways, particularly in the last several months and lives are changed, families are helped and healed, hearts are filled with hope, and it's a hope that really can't be shaken. So I would just point everyone, you've got to find that hope in Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Right. And Pastor Brett, if someone listening right now is saying, "I definitely want that hope." What's their next step?

Host: Well, first and foremost, Jesus said, "You must be born again." Which is a term we use born again. We were born in sin, but Jesus said, you can be born again. And how do you do that? It's really what we as Christians call being saved. And so, you got to be saved. That means just repent and say, "I know I'm a sinner." Acknowledge your sin before God, and then accept him. And and you do that by Romans 10, 9 and 10, "Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross, rose again." And if you believe that and confess that, it says, "You will be saved." Romans 10, 9 and 10. And then the next step after that, you're saved. Now you're forgiven, you're going to heaven. Then I would find a good solid Bible teaching church. If you need help with that, you can go to todayswordradio.com our website where you can connect with us and we'll help you get connected to a good church.

Guest (Male): Yes, we sure will. Thank you, Pastor Brett. And again, that website is todayswordradio.com. That's todayswordradio.com. Well, next time, Pastor Brett will continue in the book of Zechariah and demonstrate God's power over earthly kingdoms, while promising a future hope fulfilled in the Messiah.

Guest (Male): Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.