Mike Bickle emphasizes the future glory of Jerusalem as depicted in Zechariah, highlighting God's promise of restoration and the eventual dwelling of the Messiah in the city. He encourages believers to familiarize themselves with the prophetic visions, which reveal God's comfort and the ultimate expansion of Jerusalem, where nations will join Israel in worship. Bickle stresses that God's presence will be the glory of the city, serving as a wall of fire, and that the nations will recognize Israel as the apple of God's eye. He calls for patience and faith as believers await the fulfillment of these promises, reminding them of the importance of their role in God's plan.

Father we thank you in the name of Jesus for your word Lord that you cared enough to give us insight Into the things that are on your heart And Lord, we say yes as beginners as learners Lord show us the foundational things and then take us deeper over the years We thank you in Jesus name. Amen so the basic premise of Of this series is that most of us are not familiar with the book of Zechariah and But this is the beginning time. This is a first kind of a first run through it and I want to encourage you to be patient with yourself Because we have to get familiar with the material before we can go deep. And so there's an initial Familiarizing Season and time where you're reading it and it's kind of like the ideas you can't quite get them you can't figure out which angels talking and Who the man is and what's going on, but just stay with it Because in a few months all of a sudden you'll become familiar with these ideas then a few years go by and you're starting to feel the power of them in a new way and so this is just an introduction for most of us and So just lock in and say Lord I'm gonna get this and I'm gonna stay with it because again, there's nowhere in the Bible besides in Isaiah that gives more information about the city of Jerusalem and These 14 chapters is like like I said last night is 99% positive the message is so powerful and there's so much insight. Okay, let's begin paragraph a Zechariah's first three visions we gave two of them in the last sessions chapter one two visions now We're coming to the third vision These three are deeply related to one another. So you want to study those three together and The theme is is God's comfort for Jerusalem They promised the full restoration of Israel but the highlight of the promise That is that a Zechariah I hit so often in the book The Messiah is going to personally live in the city There's going to be the rebuilding of the temple the literal building of a temple after the Lord returns and this temple Will be the epicenter of his glory that will progressively spread out and fill the earth The theme of comfort includes the removal of all of Israel's enemies They'll be removed in two ways in verse 9 and in other places God's going to judge them and remove them in the permanent sense But then in verse 10 and 11 many nations will come to the Lord and they will join Israel in worshiping the God of Israel. It's an amazing thing Because the nations have tried to get rid of Israel just get rid of the nation and Israel is trying to assimilate in the nations But the opposite is going to happen No one's going to get rid of Israel, but all the nations are going to join Israel It's going to go exactly the opposite trend and Israel won't assimilate in the nations but the nations will join Israel and Worshiping the God of Israel. It's a remarkable vision Paragraph B. Let's look at these three visions that go together two visions in chapter 1 The third vision here in chapter 2 in chapter 2 is one of the grand descriptions of the second coming of Christ by the way Throughout the entire chapter. There's key points made throughout the entire 13 verses but the first vision promises the restoration of Jerusalem in the temple the second one the judging of all the enemies and The third vision Takes it up a notch And that is the filling of Jerusalem with the glory of God Okay, Roman numeral 2 the third vision Zechariah sees a man and this man has a measuring Line or a tool a construction tool in his hand Now most believe that this man is the same man Back in chapter 1 verse 8 we looked at in the last session the man on the red horse, which would be the Lord himself Because in chapter 1 verse 16 the Lord said I am going to Jerusalem and The city will be surveyed the idea is to survey it with the idea of expanding it massively That's the idea when the Lord comes to survey the city He's not just measuring it spiritually, but he's measuring it Physically with the view of expanding it. That's the idea of what's going on here So let's look at paragraph e top of page 20. Let's look at the vision itself verse 1 Then I raised my eyes again, I Love that Zachary I mean the Zechariah takes time to tell the dynamics that are going throughout these eight visions He gives us these personal human process points So he's had the two visions I'm assuming he thinks okay. What a night it's done. Now. He looks up. There's the third vision He probably has no idea. There's eight visions coming that night He Sees that man again But this time he's not riding a red war horse postured to defend Israel and to remove all the hostile enemies this time the man has a measuring line in his hand and It says here Verse 2 Zechariah says to him. Where are you going? Because he saw him on the horse going across the nations Now he sees him with a tool going out to the boundaries of the city Is where you going you going to the nations? No, I'm just going to the city boundaries of Jerusalem With the view of expanding them in a massive way He said I'm gonna go measure Jerusalem I'm going to see or the idea to I'm going to determine What its new boundaries are going to be that's the general idea Verse 3, I like this The angel who talked to me that's the interpreting angel In all eight visions the interpreting angels the same one is his escort filling in the back and the blanks this interpreting angel When the man goes out to the boundary lines of Jerusalem to measure the interpreting angel says Zechariah I really like you, but I'm going with him So he starts to go with the man. This is amazing Then another angel jumps in the scene and says hey interpreting angel come back And he gives them this strange Exhortation and the interpreting angels going with the man to the boundary lines of the city as we become back. He goes come back quick run So the interpreting angel starts running Go tell Zechariah of the good news Zechariah is still over here having a vision his angels running off with the Lord to the boundaries of Jerusalem another angel breaks in and says come back and the interpreting angels kind of moseying back and This new angel says run. This is urgent. Tell him the good news Now that's interesting isn't it I've never seen an angel run there's a lot of things I've never seen Excuse me, and he tells him the good news Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns now notice plural. It's all these kind of subunits of this greatly expanded Jerusalem in the future It's kind of like in our context. We have a metropolitan area made up of all Subunits of towns and cities in one larger one. Well, Jerusalem is going to be made up of many towns There's going it's going to grow so vast But there will be no walls around this this town this vastly increased city of Jerusalem Because there will be so many people Jewish people coming from the nation's they will come in such large numbers. There will be no way to contain them and There the livestock even will increase Now this is one of the great problems, which I love That interpreters have who try to make the book of Zechariah just symbolic Because many people are millennialists is the term with they say there's no real Millennium. They don't believe that Jerusalem is real Jerusalem. It means the church. They don't mean think Jesus is really coming back to that city and They interpret the books symbolically and symbolism, they don't know what to do with those cows You ought to read the commentaries There's going to be a multitude of men come to Jerusalem which they interpret as the great harvest of the nation But what about the cows? Hmm they just ignore it more times than not. I like that Because at least they're admitting that the symbolic view of this chapter is not sufficient it's not adequate Well, the Lord speaks up And he says I'll tell you what the walls are going to be. We don't need physical walls anymore for I myself I Will be the wall of fire. I will be the glory in the city my very presence with my face shining like the Sun will be the glory of the city and From my own being will come the wall of fire by the power of God. I will see to it myself the only city in history That's had a wall of fire a wall of glory around it. Now. This wall of fire is likened to the pillar of fire That traveled with the children of Israel when they left Egypt through the wilderness The Lord was in their midst as a pillar of prayer well, the same manifestation of glory will be around the city of Jerusalem forever as a wall of the Shekinah glory of God the blazing fire of God will be a wall around the city Wow And when the nation's come up to Jerusalem to visit How I don't know how this works, but somehow they get through that wall to get in the city That's another subject for another day that I won't be talking on that's for sure But it's a glorious reality. There will be a wall of fire around that city. That is not figurative. That is literal and When the nation's come to visit they will see that wall of fire and they will see the Millennial Jerusalem in this dynamic Connection with the New Jerusalem with Jesus's throne of glory and the kings of the earth will come to the city and it says in Psalm 48 When they come verse 5 and they see the New Jerusalem the Millennial Jerusalem the wall of fire the throne of glory Psalm 45 verse 8 I mean some 48 verse 5 says the Kings will see and they will be Terrified and they will flee because of the awesomeness Those first-time visitors so you can always tell who the first Kings are first time their first Visit to Jerusalem. They're a new king. They're the ones that just collapse and run and the older Kings go Well, you'll get used to it. This is how it is when we go visit the king of all Kings That that's real that sounds kind of Kind of funny or cute, but it's not it's real it says they will have Frightened and terrified and they will run and I'm throwing in the new Kings Well, I'm assuming the more seasoned Kings They've been there before because they bring the glory of the nations into that city and offer it as a gift to Jesus Well, let's look at number six Be a multitude of men. There will be such a vast Expansion of the population of Jerusalem. I Can't guess what the number would be But this is a point that Isaiah emphasized over and over Isaiah emphasizes this more than anybody else. I Have several verses there that after the Lord returns there is going to be such a massive increase of Jewish people from the nation the survivors of the tribulation Many will be in the land and others had never come back to the land But all of them will return at that time no exceptions whatsoever and they'll all be in the land The land will be so crowded That the expansion well, it won't be overcrowded because the boundary lines will be the original boundary lines that God gave Abraham in the beginning and all the desert regions will be plush gardens like the Garden of Eden I mean the whole area will be the Lord's land Top page 21. Well, we have the cows there again Number seven Number eight, I'm just gonna say it again because it's fun. I've already made the point Jesus will live in the city He will be the glory His face will light up the New Jerusalem His face will light up the City of God. The very being of God will be the source of light There'll be Sun and Moon for the rest of the millennial earth But there will be no need of it in that city because Isaiah 30 says Along with Isaiah 24 both passages that the glory of Jesus will be far brighter Than the glory of the Sun So though the other millennial nations will need the Sun in Jerusalem there will be no need of it because the light of Jesus himself will illuminate the city Zechariah 14 tells us we'll get to that later that that light is unusual. It's not natural light It's not dark. It's not day. It's he tells us it goes. It's very unusual. It's a light. That's only Understood by the Lord because it's emanating out of him That's for the final session. We'll look at that later paragraph F Now there's this describing the glory of Jerusalem and the glory of God in the city the Prophet pauses and he gives an exhortation that has several levels of application I'd had a application in their day in verse 6 to 7 It's telling the other Jewish exiles in Babylon the again, we don't know the real number but maybe a million He's saying you better leave Babylon and come back. You didn't make the first trip But it's not too late leave Babylon now for two reasons Because God's moving in Jerusalem now. I'm talking about in 519 BC when when this is prophecies being given Zechariah say even in our day the glory of God is increasing I mean, it's nothing like the millennial glory, but God was moving in that day. There was a There was a partial fulfillment of all of these prophecies or the majority of them even in that day God was moving in grace in Jerusalem then but that was a foreshadow of the ultimate glory that would come when the Lord returns, but Zechariah is telling those others those maybe million that are still in Babylon come home Don't miss the purpose of God the glory of God's in the land The Lord's reestablishing the temple the Lord's favors on the city come back now come be a part participate with the good That's happening But then he says the negative he goes I know by the way Yes, Babylon has just recently been conquered by Persia just happened a few years ago But greater judgments coming to Babylon the troubles not over it's going to become more difficult so leave now if you will hear the word of the Lord and That was an actual word for 519 BC for the people then to encourage them because verse 1 to 5 because we're on verse 6 and 7 now Zechariah was saying the glory of God's coming to our city even now in part come back home. It will be safe. Come back home and By the way, you're going to be troubled But then there's an eschatological or an end time application of this We find that the angel picks up this very same theme in Revelation 18 verse 4 and says to all the people of God whether Gentile born-again believers or Jewish people leave Babylon now because there's going to be great trouble in the land and Revelation 18 talks about that Zechariah 5 which we'll get at later talks about that as well But this is the first hint of you better leave the land of the north Babylon again it had a dual fulfillment a partial fulfillment in that day, but it becomes a Foreshadowing of a worldwide Exhortation to the people of God leave the land of the north Babylon literally in the end times because great trouble is coming there number four Babylon had just recently been conquered by the Persians. I Mean about 20 years ago Babylon was a world power in about 20 years earlier 539 538 Now we're at 519. So it's just 20 BC. So we're 20 years later. Babylon has just been conquered by Persia That's why Cyrus the king of Persia is the main king. The king of Babylon has been deposed and he's out of authority Babylon is just now a subunit of the Persian Empire But God tells through the prophet the Jewish exiles flee and escape More trouble is coming. You think there was trouble in the initial over? overthrow of the nation the trouble is going to escalate come home now and Besides I have good plans For Jerusalem come and be a part of them now paragraph 6 Again I mentioned the end time application and you can just look at that on your own Paragraph G Zechariah 2 verse 8 and 9 Now the Lord is moved off of the Babylon theme And he's talking about the glory of God in Jerusalem and how all the enemies that have come against Jerusalem and Israel are going to be dealt with they're either going to be Eliminated by judgment or they're going to be converted and they will be worshiping the God of Israel Again, Israel's not going to assimilate in the nation's Try as they may through the years it's not going to work the nation's are going to join Israel's going the other way around They're not going to drive Israel into the sea But the nation's that don't repent they will be driven out and exterminated. It will be exactly the opposite They will not be a nation anymore when the Lord returns So it's that big-picture Insight that we have we're committed to Jesus and his his commitment to that city, even though now The nation's are signing up and lining up against Jesus But we know The one we love and we know the one that's the victor and the king of the nation's But we will be tested in our loyalty because for a moment the nation's will appear to win But it's only a moment then the great reversal will come as described so Beautifully in Zechariah chapter 12 13 and 14 Anyway, let's look at verse 8 and 9 The Lord's gonna not just judge Babylon in that day in Zechariah's day, but he's bringing it now to a global dimension Thus says the Lord Now when it's the Lord of hosts talking in this context of Zechariah When we think from the New Testament point of view the insight we have of the Godhead it's the father speaking he sent me Jesus has been sent by the father. That's the language. He uses to the gospel of John over and over the father sent me He sent me after the glory To go pay a visit to all of those nations After the glory and I want to make it a general Statement the glory all these second coming events that are related to the leadership of Jesus Whether it's the glory of judging nations or disrupting them troubling them or the glory of God in the land of Israel or in the church worldwide, whatever all of those events come under this term the glory and After the glory The father is sending Jesus on a mission To go confront the nations that plundered Israel in the past and plundered Israel in the end times. I Tell you when Jesus is Commissioned by the father to address those nations That's serious and we find him addressing those nations He describes it himself Jesus does I don't have this on the notes, but in Matthew 25 verse 31 to 46 All the nations are gathered to him in Jerusalem and he addresses each one of them Isaiah chapter 2 tells us verse 3 and 4 he rebukes some nations he Judges other nations and he instructs the nations of the world And Isaiah chapter 2 it says when the nations come he rebukes them not all of them He executes the Kings Yes, he executes the heads of the nations Psalm 110 tells us verse 6 King David said when the greater David comes The great the true king of Israel He will gather the kings of the earth and he will deal with them. He will execute the heads of state That seems pretty gruesome because it is It's real David prophesied it and then John the Apostle in Revelation 19 19 He said all the leaders of the earth they will come and he will he will execute them Verse chapter Revelation 19 verse 19 to 21. So that's what this is talking about after the glory Jesus has an appointment with the nations of the earth the heads of state and the and the The cabinet members and the leading government leaders They will stand before him one by one and he will rebuke some I mean, there'll be different responses Then he gives the reason He says I'll tell you why Because anybody that touches Israel touches the apple of my eye Now the nations don't know that right now like I said in the last session that Israel doesn't need America America needs Israel We need to stand for God's purpose in Israel Not all of Israel's purposes for Israel because Israel has a lot of different purposes a lot of agendas that differ from one another different camps in the land So I'm not citing with different political positions in Israel. I'm going with King Jesus and his agenda But he says this They are the apple of my eye Now as the body of Christ we can claim that in the sense of we know the tenderness That he feels for all of his people but he declares it over a city particularly and The people in that city now the apple of the eye is the most sensitive part of the body The apple of the eye the pupil of the eye you guard with great zeal With great sensitivity. This is how God feels about Israel Moses mentioned this idea first this truth about how God feels about Israel back in Deuteronomy 32 When the children of Israel came out of Egypt Moses said in essence thus says the Lord you are the apple of his eye They must have thought okay That's awesome they don't fully know what that means because the zeal that he has for them is The zeal that he will discipline them with through the years too Because his zeal to protect them his zeal to use them as zeal to draw them near is his zeal To confront the compromise in the land. It's all one Reality in God's heart. There's no distinction David He made it really personal He said I know Israel is the apple of his eye, but like John the Apostle John the Apostle said I'm the disciple God loves David said he made me the apple of his eye. I Believe we can claim this as individuals not just as as a nation because as believers he gave his life for us That's how he feels about us. He called us to be his bride to rule and reign with him forever We cannot imagine how dear we are to him in the more general application Number two God says I'm going to shake my hand over the nations. That's it. And that's a Description that's used several times by the prophets top of page 23 He goes when I shake my hand over the nations you know you've heard stories of Different people when the anointing of the Lord is being Manifest in an unusual way. I remember reading the John G. Lake stories John G Lake the great healing anointing, you know in 1910 in South Africa. He goes I lifted up my hand and People were just falling under the power of God when I raised my hand up. I didn't even touch them. I was Several feet away from them and the power of God hit them And we can picture that sort of thing happening Where a believer raised her hand the power of God will hit or touch people Well, Jesus is going to shake his hand over a nation. He's gonna do this and the power of God will shake nations I mean now that's power It's something when a few people fall down It's another thing but in a nation is shaken to the core when he lifts his hands, of course in second Thessalonians chapter 2 When he's face to face with the Antichrist the great imposter, he doesn't even shake his hand. He goes He does by the breath of his mouth. He consumes him It doesn't he does this over nations, but when he's before that great adversary of the people of God he goes Says he does two things in second Thessalonians. He breathes and he gazes He gives him that look, you know that look and The gaze of his eyes Will reduce the Antichrist to completely immobilize him and he'll be cast alive into the lake of fire He'll get that look You don't ever want that look Look at paragraph C under 4. I just mentioned Ezekiel 39 because Ezekiel 39 you verse 21 particularly it uses the language of The judgments of God in the land in the end times being a manifestation of the glory the judgments of God Not being a contradiction to God at all, but rather a manifestation of his glory in that day Paragraph 5 Now we're not going to read through verse 8 to 11, but I want you to note this and read it on your own You'll notice three times Verse 8 to 11 read it carefully. Jesus is described as the one that was sent Three times he uses that language He goes the foot the the Lord of hosts sent me Yes, I'm the one that will live in the land. I'm the one that will shake my hand over them Yes, he's the one that sent me so he is always the servant of his father Yay more than a servant But always delighting to do the father's bidding and to do the father's will so I put the passage there get on the note so you can read it through and Just catch the feel the weightiness of this phrase repeated Three times he sent me he sent me he sent me And then number six twice in these verse 8 to 11 These four verses the Lord says Then Israel will know that God sent Yeshua Jesus of Nazareth to them In the New Testament language what it's saying is Israel will then know when all of this happens when the nations that plundered Israel are dealt with and The nations of the earth also join Israel and worshiping the God of Israel. They will know it's all because of the leadership of one man the man sent from the Father Fully God fully man, but he's one of us. He's a man. He's a sent one is a human and Israel at that time will know the one that they've despised is Now the one they will love They will see him in full view and of course in Zechariah 12 verse 10 The great verse when they see the one they pierced. We'll look at that later. This is a Just a beginning statement of that more full description that we have in Zechariah 12 top of page 24 verse 10 now verse 10 to 13 you have to rank it up there as One of your new favorite second passage second coming passages I'm just telling you if you don't know the passage is going to make your top five list in the Old Testament. Isaiah 42 Where there's verse 10 to 13, that's my favorite Old Testament second coming passage the nations are singing in the mountains and the valleys and the islands and The songs of the Lord ascend to the throne and Jesus has stirred his zeal like a man of war And he comes down. Oh, that's my favorite. That's Isaiah 42 verse 10 to 13 really verse 10 to 17 But this one has got to be in the top of the list This is describing the second coming of Jesus Zechariah Gives this ultimate description of Israel's salvation Because the ultimate description isn't just you get rich you have favor you have security you have Peace and joy and happiness far more than that. The God man lives in your city forever That's the ultimate description of Israel's promises in salvation It's what God told Abraham says Abraham, I'm gonna make you rich and famous Your name will be known to the earth. I'll give you more money than you can spend. I'll protect you but Abraham. I Am your exceeding great reward not these other things And this will this describes the time where I the Lord Become the exceeding great reward of Israel for it's not just the wealth. It's not the problem It's not just security. Not just the blessing not just the manifest glory, but it's God himself Interacting with them deeply and in close relationship in verse 10 to 13 describes it So Zechariah He tells the people of his day as well as the children of Israel throughout history Sing and rejoice no matter how tough it is sing and rejoice Right around the corner is the most glorious thing that you can imagine Now throughout Zechariah He is giving the visions Mostly that have their ultimate fulfillment related to the second coming of Christ But all of not all of them most of them had a partial fulfillment in his day the people of his day they heard these promises and they were to be encouraged to believe God and to Stand up and and with courage in their heart instead of discouragement even in their own day so we don't just Apply these verses afterwards. These verses are meant to strengthen the people of God right now while we're looking for a greater day knowing that there will even be a Measure of some of these things happening even before the Lord comes because these things reveal what he's like They reveal what his plan is they reveal the sort of things that he's willing to do with his people So he goes sing and rejoice Because in that time right here February 5 19 BC they were discouraged The majority were not singing rejoicing. The economy was horrible They were suffering a drought It's remarkable that they were having the the two big things that are highlighted when they were starting to build the house of prayer they had a national drought and an economic crisis and The Lord says I am behind both of them to wake you up What he told him that so they were discouraged. He says he goes get the big picture Get outside of just your own domestic Pressures and see who you are and see what you're a part of is what he's saying Behold I'm coming. I'm the God man. I'm coming. I'm gonna live in your midst Your problems of today will fade into nothingness in just a moment Walk into the reality of who you are to me and what our destiny is together. I'm coming You'll be with me forever don't get so lost and The pressures of the drought of the economics and all the trouble that was happening in the land Verse 11 Many nations will join you Well, they will join the Lord but in that way there they won't plunder you and you won't assimilate into them But rather they will join the Lord and in that they will come alongside you because we find in chapter 8 verse 23 They grabbed the hands of the the sleeves of the Jews and they said teach us more about your God You know the anointing of the Spirit, you know the revelation of God teach us more So they're not just joining the Lord. They're actually Seeing Israel's place in God's salvation economy Then he says it again verse 11. I will dwell in your midst. He says it twice Then you Israel will know the Father has sent me Jesus of Nazareth to you then you will know That is the hour when all of these things come to pass verse 12 The Lord will take possession of Judah He will exert his complete leadership and ownership over the land and all of the people in the land Beloved there's coming a day Well, he will exert his leadership on the earth over the land of Judah and over actually all the nations of the earth Right now he has all authority right now. He's reigning at the father's right hand right now. He is bringing his enemies in Submission to him Some of his enemies come into submission to him by getting converted others of his enemies He's ruling and releasing his judgments from his ascended place at the right hand of the father But there's coming a day Where the Lord will take possession of Judah in the most physical Observable way to all the nations He goes it will be my inheritance This whole land I will rule the earth from this capital city That will be my city in a unique way. All the cities are his but he goes this one's mine in a special way It's my own inheritance in the Holy Land The Lord will take possession of Judah as his inheritance in the Holy Land and he will again choose Jerusalem then verse 13 He tells the nations He is not an exhortation way he's saying be silent, but really it's a it's an announcement When you see the unfolding of all these events you will be silent I won't have to no one's gonna have to tell you to the nation would the nations will be awestruck at the unfolding of these events in Revelation 8 all of heaven is silent as The events are about to break in on the earth when they break in the whole earth is silent and they will see the power of this man Jesus of Nazareth and Who he is to his father Yahweh? Let's look at number two Many nations he will either judge them or he will bless them according to their response all the kings of the earth Because the other kings are going to be exterminated and all the governments of the earth will be replaced in one day So these new kings with natural bodies in the Millennium will be born-again kings who love Jesus. They will all worship him Let's stop look at top page 25 It's interesting Because of the big-picture view that God has and he looks through the lens of grace He calls Israel the Holy Land Now this is the only time in the Bible that the phrase the Holy Land is used. It's the only time you'll find it But it's interesting when he said it he looked at Israel the day he was rebuking them earlier in the message Zechariah 1 they needed to repent But God looked at Israel From the point of view of the prophetic destiny of that nation through the lens of the grace of God Because Jesus's throne will be there because every inhabitant of Israel will be holy He actually calls it the Holy Land now That's a remarkable reality. It's like it reminds me of Revelation 11 verse 1 Where God calls the temple the newly the future Rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. He calls it the temple of God But in that temple the Antichrist is going to be worshipped How could you call that the temple of God God says I am got a bigger plan and even that defiler Cannot cancel out my plan I've just been mystified by that term for some time How he could call that temple the temple of God and it almost hurts my ears when I say it to myself Temple of God ouch The abomination of desolation will be in there. The Lord says I am bigger than I don't understand how that works But it it just kind of makes me pause an adoration of how big the grace of God is Number five then God again chooses Jerusalem. Now the reason this is so significant Because they just came out of Babylonian captivity 20 years ago. And why did they go into Babylonian captivity one big reason? Ezekiel 8 the leaders were worshipping demons in the temple. I Mean if the leaders the spiritual and the political leaders were worshipping demons in the temple where the glory of God was Wouldn't that be cause to cancel out Israel Well, the Lord says that they come back. I haven't I Have it. I've dealt with that situation. I have chosen you again Have no fear the Babylonian captivity did not cancel out my plans When Israel rejected Jesus In 30 AD that did not cancel out God's plans for Israel For I have chosen again Israel. I will show my favor on a global level to the city It's remarkable Then he tells them again verse 13 be silent. The nations will be awestruck When all this unfolds, well, I don't want to wait till that day to be awestruck. I Want to meditate and ask the Spirit to talk to me. I want some of that Awestruck fascination with this glorious man and this glorious plan. I want it ahead of time I don't want to wait till then to be awestruck And one way we get it Studying it talking to the Spirit one thing I I've enjoyed this preparing for this course and Many times to the preparation I would stop say Jesus What do you feel? What were you thinking when you plan this? Because remember he started with a blank canvas Whatever's in that book of Zechariah the glory he put it into the plan And I asked the Holy Spirit. I want to see what you see and feel what you feel about these events I want to feel them now a little bit a Little bit goes a long way paragraph J Here's the summary The first three visions remember the first chapter ones vision 1 vision 2 this Second chapter is the third vision they go together they promise the manifest the manifestation of God's zeal He's gonna return to live to Jerusalem It's gonna fill the temple and the city not just the temple the whole city with the glory to put a wall fire It's gonna take full possession of the land of Judah all the nations will be drawn to him What a glorious destiny I mean the Remnant of Israel that returned 20 years earlier than they go. Wow. We got a story my goodness and the building of that temple in Zechariah 4 that house of prayer where God would be adored and worshiped and honored and all the Sacrifices was critical. It was the epicenter to the whole thing that They were doing just like it will be in the days to come the paragraph K the question arises How can a weak and sinful people like Israel? Well everybody but Israel's the one we're looking at How could they walk in such great promises? That's the question the next two visions Zechariah 3 and 4 answers that dilemma How can a holy God? Allow people who are sinful and weak to participate in the glory of this kind of intensity How can he dwell among them? How does it work? That's the question after the first three visions and the answer is in Zechariah 3 and Zechariah 4 God Himself Solves the problem Amen, we're just going to end with that you take a 15-minute break or come back and look at Zechariah 3 Amen