Mike Bickle discusses the profound themes of refinement and transformation in Israel as depicted in Zechariah 13:7-14:21. He emphasizes the duality of Israel's suffering and eventual victory, highlighting how Jesus will lead the nation through trials to establish Jerusalem as His global capital. Bickle explains the significance of the remnant being refined through fire, the miraculous changes in the land, and the ultimate reign of Jesus as King over all the earth. He underscores the importance of understanding these prophecies literally, as they reveal God's zeal for His people and the establishment of a holy nation. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize the transformative power of God in the midst of suffering.

Okay, let's go to page 88, page 88, session 12. Father, we ask you in the name of Jesus, Lord, even now, I ask you to come and touch us. Come and strengthen our hearts. Lord, again, we ask for living understanding. For living understanding to come and strengthen and invigorate our spirits. In the name of Jesus, amen and amen. Well, session 12, Israel refined and transformed. Paragraph 1, just a quick overview, we've already covered this. But in this final message of Zechariah, his fifth message in the book, he tells us of Israel's great victories, the horrific suffering that's involved, but her world leadership that's on the other end of the suffering. That's quite a combination, the victory, the suffering, the world leadership. Zechariah gives us details of how Jesus is leading this process to save the whole nation, refine them to the fire, transform the nation, the people, and he will transform the land and make it his global capital from which he will rule the earth forever. And he does this in context to a global war. Again, I find that so perplexing that that's the way he decided to do this. Paragraph B, the first part of this three-chapter oracle is chapter 12. We just looked at it. The military and spiritual point of view of this war. Chapter 14, where we're going to focus in this session, the geographic changes, but more than geographic, it's the lighting, the stars, the sky, the atmosphere. Everything is changing around the city of Jerusalem. And he shows us his zeal he has against anyone that would intrude upon this glorious setting. This garden of Eden that will spread to the earth, nobody will intrude upon this. And that's why he rehearses Zechariah, the zeal and the intentionality that Jesus has to drive enemies away forever. Now I realize at the end of the millennium, the devil comes for a moment like the snake back in the garden of Eden to test the human race for one moment, and then it's all over. All the evil never ever to emerge again. Paragraph D, Zechariah 14 brings into focus, and that's what I want you to really lock into, Jesus is describing Zechariah, but it's the Lord through him, describing the context of his global world capital. He's describing how he's going to make the whole region plain. He's going to lower the mountains, raise the valleys, literally the topography of the land will change in a radical way. And he will place his capital city there and rule the earth. Now one thing I've noticed about Zechariah 14, it is really hard for the amillennialist to go through this chapter and to spiritualize it away. There's so many practical details that it is impossible to make this symbolic. I think it's, well I know it is, Martin Luther, I don't know if I'm going to quote it right, but something like this, I mean Martin Luther's a pretty smart guy, and he said when it's, this isn't a direct quote because I read it some months ago, but something like, when it comes to Zechariah 14, I don't have a clue what's going on because he always symbolized and spiritualized the end time prophecies. He goes, I don't really know what to do with this chapter. That's kind of the essence of what he said, because you can't make it symbolic. It's real, the details are meant to be understood. It demands a clear, plain sense interpretation. Okay, let's go to Israel's suffering. Let's look at it. Chapter 13, 7 to 14, 2. It's a very intense passage of scripture. My assumption, this is only a theory, this is what angered, possibly, the leadership of that city that murdered Zechariah. I don't know if this is it, but I know it's his last message. And I know the city leadership murdered him in the temple. It's what Jesus said. And I don't know what infuriated them, but this would be my guess. Chapter 13, verse 7 to 14, 2. I'm guessing that. It's just an idea. Paragraph A. The Lord reveals part of the method, how to awaken the nation to salvation. Again, he's telling the story again that he told us in chapter 12. But strategically, he gave us the great victory with the supernatural dynamic of chapter 12, before he informed us of chapter 13 and 14. So we're reading this passage already with the backdrop of knowing the zeal of the supernatural dynamics that will be occurring at the same time the negative is occurring. And if you read the negative, but you haven't read 12 and 13 beforehand, the last session, this negative looks different with a supernatural dimension involved with it. Paragraph C. The remnant of Israel will be refined through fire. Now Malachi 3, the famous prophecy of Malachi 3, says the same thing. Gives different details. Let's look at it. Verse 7. He says, The two-thirds of it will be cut off and die. But one-third of the land shall be left. I will bring the one-third through the fire. I will refine them as silver. I will test them like gold is tested in the fire. They will call upon my name. I will answer them. There'll be an anointing of prayer. I will say, this is my people. And each individual that survives this process, they will say, this is the Lord my God. So paragraph D. The Holy Spirit has now turned his attention from the false prophets of chapter 13 to the true prophet, the Lord Jesus, the true shepherd of Israel. Top of page 89. Let's just kind of work through this passage, just a few of the details. First, I keep calling them Isaiah. I'm sure they're great friends. I'm sure they are. But in paragraph E, Zachariah begins to declare this great, dramatic unfolding of God's mystery. The sword is personified. Awake, O sword! The sword is called to awake from a deep sleep. But this most perplexing mission, the sword is to execute God's justice by killing the Messiah. I mean, I don't know how Zachariah processed this. Awake, O justice of the Lord, and slay the good shepherd, kill the Messiah. The work of the cross. Beloved, you know the devil did not send Jesus to the cross. Jesus offered his life on the cross, and the Father is the one that put his wrath on Jesus. The Father, to satisfy his justice, struck his son with his own sword of justice. Some people think the devil tricked Jesus. He went on the cross. Jesus rose from the dead. The devil went, oh no. That was nothing like that. God the Father killed his son, and God the Son willingly went as the sacrifice to satisfy the justice of God. The sword of the Lord struck the good shepherd. Well, one thing we know for sure, Jesus is qualified to oversee the suffering of Israel. Because he went through suffering, he understands what the fire is. There's no better person to lead the nations, and in particular the nation of Israel, through the fire, for he himself went through the fire. He understands. He's a sympathetic high priest. Paragraph three. The killing of the Messiah, back in chapter 12, verse 10, was clearly the act of man. For the Lord says to the nation of Israel, look upon me, the one you pierced. You are the ones that pierced me. I don't mean Jews versus Gentiles. The human race. We all were there. But now, chapter 13, verse 7, it's the sword of God killing him. Who's killing him? Did men kill him, or did God kill him? How perplexing. Pierced by man, slayed by God. Both of them are true. Paragraph F. Notice the three titles that the spirit of prophecy, that the Lord is speaking over Jesus, through the prophet Zechariah. Jesus is called by God. Three titles. He's called my shepherd. For he was the Father's choice to be the redeemer of Israel and to be the representative of God on the earth. He's mine, says the Father. He's the man. And he's my companion. Fully human, but the close companion of God. God's own equal, but fully man. Now, we could spend quite a while on these three titles. And I want to stir you up or alert you to this passage of Scripture. Because in it, though I'm just going to move on, but there's riches right here in this verse with great depths. We see in this passage the great mystery, the incarnation. The man, the ideal man, fully man, but the one God calls my companion, my equal, the one who is God alongside with me, the one true God in three persons. We see the glorious truth of the dual nature of the God-man. This idea that the man is my companion, that's what infuriated the Jewish leaders when he claimed to be equal to God. Well, their own prophets said that the one that would be slain with the sword from heaven would be God's own companion, his own equal. Paragraph G, verse 7 is, When the sword strikes the shepherd, the result is the flock of Israel is scattered. Then the Lord says, I will turn my hand, paragraph H, against the little ones. Now, this passage, turning his hands against the little ones, has two completely different views. One is a positive view, one is a negative view. The negative view, the way the New King James interprets it, which I think is the wrong interpretation, where the Lord is saying, I've offered myself on the cross as your Redeemer. The nation is scattered because of their participation in it. And that God has turned his hand against the little one. The alternate translation that many uphold, is instead of the word against, it is the word, I turn my hand back upon the little ones. And that is turning the hand of favor, not the hand of judgment. Meaning, that even in the scattering for 2,000 years, the hand of the Lord was on a small remnant of the Jewish people in the nations with favor. I wrote a little bit more on that. Look at top of page 90, paragraph I. I'm just going to mention it, then move on. But I wanted to just kind of point it out, the positive interpretation. And the reason I think it's positive and it's important, is that it shows us the nature of God, that even in the guilt that was on the nation for participating in the piercing, even though it was the sovereign will of God to strike him with the sword, and the nation was justly scattered across the nations, God always has a remnant. God always has a people among the Jewish people who are saying yes. And I believe that's what's being accented here and emphasized. You'll notice that Jesus, Matthew 26, quotes this passage from Zechariah 13, verse 7. But he doesn't quote it applying it to the unbelieving Jews that were scattered in the earth and the leadership. He quotes it about the remnant, the godly ones. And he says, when I am struck and you are scattered, quoting Zechariah 13, 7, look at verse 32, I will meet you again in Galilee. In other words, I will turn my hand of favor back on you. My hand of power and favor and grace will be upon my little ones. And he's talking about his own disciples. The reason I think that's important to point out, it gives us insight into the nature of his heart, even through the difficulties of the 2,000 dark years of the dispersion. He's always had the little flock in the nations of the Jewish remnant. Paragraph J, the one-third. Now when people talk about this passage, verse 8, two-thirds shall die, and one-third shall be left, and they shall call upon the name of the Lord. Almost always, the emphasis is on this startling, terrifying fact of the two-thirds. I'm not really so qualified to break that down. That is so horrific, that is so massive. What I want to point out is that one-third of the entire nation is going to be radically born again. They say, I ask, there's different numbers because there's different ways to calculate, determining who's Jewish and who is not. But one number that I've been given recently is 18 million people worldwide that are Jewish. Aubner, is that close to true? 18 million? Close? What number would you say? Could be more, but okay. But 18 is ballpark. Officially 14 and a half, but could be more than that. Okay, I'll go with 18 because I'm not good at math and it's easy for me to do a third of 18. I can't do 14 and a half. I never was good at geography, so I can't even do that stuff. So, 18 million. Could you imagine 6 million born-again Jewish people on fire for Jesus? 6 million. The Lord has something to say about 6 million Jews, but that's another story for another time. Could you imagine on fire? I don't mean this kind of carnal Western Christianity version. I'm talking about on fire for Yeshua. Fully committed like Saul of Tarsus in his conversion. 6 million of them. My goodness. Let's look at paragraph L. Bottom of page 90. For behold, the day of the Lord is coming. It's on the same theme. It's in the same flow. It's the negative. He says your spoil will be divided in your midst. Now the city is surrounded. Verse 2. God has gathered all the nations to battle. We know the city is surrounded in a siege because of chapter 12. Verse 2 and 3 tells us about the siege. Chapter 14 tells us God's the one that led the nations there. 12 doesn't tell us that, but 14 does. They're gathered around and battled. It's a long-term siege. I assume it's the three and a half year period. Maybe it's shorter. I don't know. The city shall be taken for just a moment. Temporarily taken. Now we have to figure this in to the miracles that are happening in chapter 12 in the military arena. We are to interpret the city taken through the lens of the chapter 12 miracles. It's hard to get it exactly clear in what sense it's taken. It seems like it's broken into by the enemy for just a short season. They break into the city. They take the spoil, the wealth of the Jewish people of the city. And when it says they divide it in their midst, it's this idea that the Gentile soldiers are so confident in their victory. It's a very short-lived victory, but they don't know that. That they're sitting in the streets dividing up the gold they've just recently stolen from a Jewish house. The man is taken away captive as a prisoner. They're laughing in the street, the Gentile soldiers. Totally confident with no idea about what's about to happen. Dividing up the money in the street with no fear at all that trouble is coming. So that's the picture that Zechariah is giving us. This false confidence and false sense of security in the midst of the battle because of a very short-term, temporary breakthrough of the Gentiles. These guys didn't read chapter 12. And they didn't read the rest of chapter 14 either. Or they wouldn't be sitting in the street dividing up the gold, laughing and making jokes. As though the battle was all but over. The battle hasn't even hardly started. That's the part they don't know. One half of the city goes into captivity. There's about 600 Jewish people, 600,000 living in Jerusalem right now. Not that that will be the number then. The number may be bigger, the number may be smaller. I don't know. 300,000 taken against their will into captivity, into prison. This is horrific. Again, because you've got to read chapter 12 and compare the two stories together, we know that it's a temporary breakthrough of the Gentiles. The Gentiles are driven back. And the fight goes on. And then the Lord anoints the remnant of Israel in this most unusual way described in chapter 12. But though half of the city is taken out to captivity, the remnant shall not be cut off. The remnant, and I don't know how that's determined. God knows who the remnant is. They are safe and secure in the city. And the Lord's about to anoint them in power as described in chapter 12. So I can only see, put it together, that this breaking in, this temporary victory of the Gentile soldiers, is just before this military anointing like David comes on the remnant and drives the enemy out and holds the ground in power until the Lord comes. That's the way I can see it now. I'm not claiming to have it all right, but what I'm wanting to do is stir up your holy imagination to start wrestling with these verses. They were given to us that we would understand them. But the model of Zechariah, remember the six chapters, the eight visions? The angel says, Zechariah, pay attention. Study it. What do you see? I don't know. Zechariah, it's not a good enough answer. Study it. Come on, angel, just tell me the answer. You search it and I'll help you. Remember that dialogue in chapter 4? What do you see? A lampstand and a tree. What's the tree mean? The angel says, what does the tree mean? Wow, angel gives him some more material. Zechariah goes, hey, by the way, what's the tree? No, what's the branches of the tree? The angel says, what is it? Don't you know? No, I don't know. Anyway, it's that tug of war. I look at these passages. They're so important to know. Lord, I don't get it. Just tell me. What do you see, Mike? Oh, come on, just tell me. Keep looking. Well, I got stuff to do. Keep looking. Just wanted to give you that little exhortation. Top of page 91. Well, I think after the city's captured for a moment, the remnants preserved in the events of chapter 12, verse 3 to 8 happened then. After the city's taken, the Jewish remnant gets control of the city again. That's how I see it. And they maintain it until the Lord comes. Now, verse 3. Then, there's a little gap of time. After the city's taken and the remnant's been anointed, I think this three and a half year period or less, it may not go that long, of this dynamic anointed interaction, it may be the last few months of the three and a half years, it's hard to say. Then the Lord will go forth. He will fight against those nations. The captain of the armies of heaven comes in person. The greater David stands among the warriors of Israel to fight the Antichrist armies. He doesn't do it from a distance, but it's up close and personal. He gets involved in the battle. Isaiah 63 says, The blood of the enemies are actually on his garments. That is such a surprising reality. But it's quoted again in Revelation 19. As he fights, in the day of battle, the greater David, I mean, all he's got to do is blink and the Antichrist falls over. He says, I don't want to do it that way. I want to show myself up close and personal, involved, doing it together with my people. I mean, the way he chooses to do this. He could wave his hand and it'd be over. He doesn't want to do it that way. Well, here's a surprising development. As he's fighting, verse 4, In that day, his feet stand on the Mount of Olives. Now, with a casual quick reading, When his feet touch the Mount of Olives, it's over. But it's not over. The battle's just getting more interesting. When his feet are on the Mount of Olives, The enemy's not vanquished. The battle goes on a little bit longer. He splits the mountain like he did the Red Sea. You think it was powerful for him to split a sea? He can split a mountain as easy as he can split a sea. So he speaks to the mountain. You know that passage in Mark 11, 23? When he says, You shall say to this mountain. Well, he's right outside the Mount of Olives. He's right down the way. I'm just assuming he's pointing at it. Because he says, You'll say to this mountain. Like, where's he pointing? He's right by the Mount of Olives. He's within sight of it. It shall move. Well, that's a very inspiring, symbolic thing. I can imagine Jesus going, If you only knew how real that was. There will be a day I will speak, And that mountain will move. But look what happens. The mountain moves from east to west. Creates this east-west valley. Notice it's a very large valley. It's not a valley from here to the store across the street. That valley may be 10 or 20, 30 miles. I don't know. It's not a little valley. It's a very large, it's a vast one. I mean, it's a huge divide. What happens? Half of the mountain goes to the north. Half of it goes to the south. Verse 5 is so surprising. Then, you will flee. Flee? Jesus, you're here. Why do we have to flee? It's like you're up against, trapped against the mountain by a military. Surrounded by the armies. They're backed up. No way of escape. Jesus speaks to the mountain. The mountain splits like the Red Sea. The children of Israel go through. Now, wouldn't that be something if the other guys went through and the mountain came back like the Red Sea? No. That'd be something. You will flee through my mountain valley. He calls it his own mountain valley because it's the valley created by that display of power. Serving his purpose for his people in the transition of the earth to the age to come. That is my special project. That's my valley. For the mountain valley will reach as far as Azel. Nobody knows where Azel is. Look into the commentators. They said we can't be sure. But it's far enough away for the prophet to say it's even going to reach that far. So it's a distance. It's not across the street. And he called it a very large valley. The children of Israel run through the valley. At least the company that is trapped against the mountain. And Zechariah anticipates we can't even believe this. So he goes. This is one of his seven times where he says, yes, you heard me right. You will flee. And you will flee with the same urgency that the children of Israel fled from Jerusalem back in the days when the earthquake hit with King Uzziah. Now they obviously knew what that meant. He goes, you're going to flee with the same urgency. You're not going to kind of get around to it. You're going to go. Because the antichrist armies will be breathing down your neck. Now again, we know there's a supernatural anointing upon these soldiers. But there's all these different dynamics. I just say, Lord, I want to get it more clear. I get the same answer every time. Keep searching it out and I'll tell you as you search it out. And suddenly, the Lord my God will come and all the saints. Now all the angels and all the resurrected saints from the rapture, they're all there with the Lord. But the children of Israel have, not all of them, who's ever against that mountain, they have fled through the valley. The battle's not over yet. It's still going on. There's still human dynamics taking place. Paragraph B. Now Jesus' kingship is announced. But it's announced by great miracles. Miracles particularly related to the lighting in the atmosphere and water. Already the miracle of the moved mountain. Now the lighting and the water. Look at verse 6. This is the announcement of the kingship of Jesus. God the Father turns all the lights off in the earth. Everyone says, what's happening? Then the Father turns all the lights back on and the announcement, the King has come. Verse 6. Will come to pass in that day. There will be no light. All the lights will diminish, will be turned off. Stars, sun, the moon. There'll be no light. The whole earth will be dark. The Lord's shutting it down. I have an announcement to make. Earth. The lights are back on. I'm sure it doesn't work that way. These guys running through the valley are going, oh, what's going on? The lights went out. I just hope they don't run into those crazy horses. I hope there's someone far away from that valley. Well, those horses can't see anyway, so it's not a problem. They're running into walls. They're blind. You think it's funny until one of those horses runs into you. Okay, that one's got me going now. Okay, look at number 1. No lights. The day starts off terrifying worldwide. Matthew 24. Jesus prophesied the turning out of all the lights before they would see him. But remember, he's already shown up to some degree to split that mountain like the Red Sea. But not in the full degree because the battle's not over yet. It's like he's making some kind of mysterious appearance splitting the mountain, but it's not quite the moment for everyone to see him. The children of Israel still don't get what's going on. They don't get who did it and what happened. But they're running through that valley escaping. Revelation 16. John talked about it. Whereby the judgment of God under the leadership of Jesus, God turns the light out on the Antichrist's entire empire. Shuts down all the lights. Nobody can function. Top of page 92. Verse 7. It says, It shall be one day. When it says it shall be one day, it means it shall be a unique day. The word one is best to interpret that not just one day of many. A very unique moment is the idea. This unique, mysterious event is known to the Lord, meaning only the Lord can understand it. Zacharias says, I don't get the mysterious thing that happens next. It's completely unique. It's only understood by the Lord. That's what he means by it's known to the Lord. Only he grasps the dynamics of what happens. It's not day. And it's not night. At the evening when it's dark. It's still light. He says, I can't figure it out. There's this mysterious light that is introducing the new order for the earth. After all the lights have been turned off. Now there's this mysterious light. My theory is, it's the very light that's emanating from Jesus himself. You know, in Zechariah 2.5, he said, I'm the glory in the midst of the city. There'll be a wall of fire because I'm in that city. I like, I don't have these verses written on the notes, but they're well known ones to prophecy students. Isaiah 24 verse 23, that's a favorite. It says, when the Lord comes into Jerusalem, Isaiah 24 verse 23, the son will be embarrassed. That's what it says. By the brightness of Jesus, when he rules before his elders, there's something about this mysterious light. Zechariah goes, I can't even describe it. It's dark, but there's this glory light that's there. Isaiah four talks about it a bit. Read Isaiah four, when it says the branch of the Lord in verse two, when the branch of the Lord comes in power, there will be a flaming fire above him in the city where he's at. Anyway, there's this unique lighting, this mysterious glory light that is revealed after all the darkness. God's introducing a new order. There's a new king. It's a new day on the earth. There's a new lighting system. It will never be just exactly the same again after this because he who is the light is now in person on the earth. Now we know he lights up the entire new Jerusalem. How he does that, I don't know because you would think if he lights it up, the intensity would be so bright. Well, he knows how to equally distribute the light in a way that makes it work. I mean, how do you light up a 1500 mile city and talk to anybody across the table? So Lord, I'd like to talk to you. Could you like tone that down a little bit? I love you. I'm your lighting up a city because I can sort that out. I know how to make that work. We'll talk, but it's just mysterious new dimension, but he lights up the city. They don't need a center of moon because the presence of the lamb, when he said I am the light of the world, he meant it more than just the source of truth. That light is unique. That light is one day. It's a unique mysterious glory light that Zachariah goes only God gets this one, but it introduces the new order. I tell you, Isaiah four again, the verse I quoted a moment ago says the branch of the Lord will be seen as beautiful and the firing path, the pillar of fire will be resting over the city where he's ruling, lighting up the whole city. It's just amazing. I love this man. Don't you love this man? He's so interesting. He's so much more than fire insurance from hell. It's so much more than stamping our passport. So we go to heaven so we can live like we want to from now till then. He's the most interesting man imaginable. He has so much to say and so much desire to interact with us. When I read Zachariah 14, I go, who are you anyway? Well, it doesn't, it's not only the lighting system. Number three, the water. Verse eight, and in that day, there will be living waters. That's waters with healing properties, supernatural healing properties. That's what living water means in this context. It says this water will flow from Jerusalem. Now when you read Ezekiel 47, Ezekiel the prophet saw the same water. He says it flows out of Jesus's temple. Jesus is sitting on his throne in his temple and this river of real water flows, but it has healing properties with supernatural abilities. Zachariah tells us it flows from Jerusalem. He doesn't highlight the temple, but Ezekiel says no, it comes right from under Jesus's throne. Half of the water goes to the Dead Sea, completely heals the Dead Sea. When that water hits the Dead Sea, everything in it becomes alive. Wow. The other half, the other stream goes to the Mediterranean Sea. Ezekiel says when it hits that Mediterranean Sea, the fish get this big and there's no fisherman exaggeration, they're that big. The fish are giant and there's so many of them. Everything in the Mediterranean Sea is healed. Well, that water will flow in the summer because typically in the summer, in the dry time, all the streams dry up. The heat of the summer and the natural seasons that will take place won't affect this. The winter, when it's cold, it will not stop any of the flow of this miracle water touching the sea. Now what happens, when this water goes to the Dead Sea, the Mediterranean, it becomes the source now for the whole desert region to turn into the Garden of Eden. Four or five times the prophets tell us that. The garden will blossom like a rose. Now we use that for revival verses, you know, this barren desert of our church, give us a few new converts. And the Lord doesn't mind if we use that verse that way, but that's not what it means. When it says that the rose will blossom in the desert, it means the rose will blossom in the desert. The children's church can understand it straightforward. All around the desert region will blossom like the Garden of Eden. But He's the branch of the Lord. It's going to branch out and go to the ends of the earth. The animals, this is my theory, the plants that grow under the impact of that living water in the sea and in that desert region that becomes the Garden of Eden, my guess is that those very seeds will be transplanted across the earth and that miracle dynamic will go and over a thousand years the whole earth's vegetation will be changed from that one river. It will branch out progressively over the years. Everything will be transformed by it. I think of the settlers in the early days of America. They came over from Europe. They brought the new seeds and the new plants and they started new things. Well, take that up about a hundred steps and I believe that the impact of that area will affect the whole world. That's just my theory, but I think it's right. Paragraph C. The Lord will be king over all the earth. New lighting system, new water system, new vegetation coming out of the water. The seas are being healed. Probably the water from the Mediterranean will touch the other seas. I don't know. The whole thing just keeps multiplying out from one man and one throne and one river from his throne and one light source from this man. Oh, this is amazing. Verse 9. The Lord will be king over all the earth. This man will be king over every single nation. And in that day, the Lord is one. His name is one. And I believe that one thing this means, this probably means ten things. That he is unique completely. The word one again, I'm reading the word unique. He's one of a kind. He will be the only one in the earth recognized as God. Right now, today, there's all these gods. There will only be one recognition of God. It will be this man all over the earth. There will be no other besides him. Romans 4. Verse 10. The topography will be drastically changed in the city. Not just the lights. Not just the water. The land itself. And you can read this. But verse 10. For about a 40 mile region, because you know the city of Jerusalem, I mean all around, hills everywhere. The hills all around Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Jesus, he's going to make a perfect setting for a world capital. He's going to lower the hills, raise the valleys, like he said in Isaiah 40. Physically he will do this. Not just emotionally raise up the valleys of depression and make us feel better. He's going to do that too. But it describes here, and I have a little bit on the notes, a 40 mile area approximately, where it's flat as can be, and that's his new capital city will be there. It will be the perfect environment for a capital city. But not only will he flatten the mountains and raise the valleys, make it perfectly plain. No bulldozers, just by the word of the Lord. And a few earthquakes. But it's hard to make an earthquake make a perfectly level 40 mile plain. That's hard to do. But it not only becomes a plain, look what it says. Jerusalem shall be raised up. So not only will it be leveled for 40 miles, that 40 mile area will be elevated high above all the other mountains. This is literal. Well look at number one. Isaiah, Micah, they talked about this. That in the last days, the Lord's house, His temple, that's where His throne and His temple will be, on this new leveled and elevated 40 mile area. The best I can come up with is 40 miles long about, not exactly, and about 10 miles wide. That's the best I can come up with. But it's real. It's the new capital city of the world. Isaiah says, the Lord's house will be above all the mountains. Now we read that and we make it symbolic. His house will have more authority over all the other houses. Mountains are symbolic of government. That's actually true. Mountains are symbolic of government. And He will be over all the governments. But it means more than that. Literally, geographically, the topography will be changed, where His temple throne will be in that superior position before the whole earth. Then He tells us, at the end of verse 11, My people will dwell there with Me. I mean, it's such grandeur. I mean, when a conquering king builds his new capital city, a few have in history. I mean, it's their moment of glory. Jesus, the first thing on His mind, verse 11, My people will be there with Me. And He says they'll be safe. Nobody will ever disrupt this again. Children of Israel say, Lord, we've waited so long, but somebody's going to ruin this. He goes, no, never. Top of page 93. He says, let me tell you how serious I am. He's elaborating on His zeal that nobody will disrupt the beauty, the security, and the permanency of this capital city. When He describes, from verse 12 to 15, the plagues, He's saying, that is an indication of the power that I have and my zeal and resolve to use that power to bring this to pass. That's why He introduces the power against His enemies here. He's declaring His zeal to keep this city perfectly in its beauty, its security, in a permanent way forever. That's the bigger point He's making. He said, look what I did to the last group. Don't you remember? Just a minute ago. Do you think anybody has power to breach this city against My will? He goes, let me remind you what I just did to the most powerful army in history. Let's kind of read through part of it. I released a plague. And when I released that plague, verse 12, it struck all the people. Remember those Gentile soldiers in verse 2 that were ravishing the women and stealing the houses? Well, the Lord says, I remember them and I loosed a plague on every one of them. They didn't have the last word. Sitting in the city, dividing up the gold of My people. He goes, I remember perfectly who they are. Oh, that's terrifying. That guy that had that bag of gold, he needs to read verse 12 and get out of that city. Give it back. His flesh will dissolve while He's on His feet. Someone goes, what's that mean? It means His flesh will dissolve when He's on His feet. Read the thing. They go, that's the atomic bomb. No, this is after the Lord. No, it's not an atomic bomb. He doesn't need an atomic bomb. He can look at the Antichrist and paralyze him with a glance. He doesn't need to push some buttons. It's not an atomic bomb. It's a plague that He released. Verse 13, it will create a great panic. He's reminding them of the zeal and the power and the ease at which He can protect the city. That's the point in this context. Verse 14, the wealth of all the surrounding... This verse really kind of throws me off here. The wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be gathered. They stole all the money from Jerusalem. Now it's the great reversal. The money's all coming back. But here's the part. The clothing. How did apparel get in here? They get all of the good clothes from the Gentiles in the Middle East area. Jesus, you want them to have the clothes? If they want them, they can have the clothes stores too. All the clothing stores they can have. Verse 15, I am so zealous for the protection of the city and it is so real. Even the horses and the donkeys. Everything that belongs to them. It's kind of like this 1 Samuel 15 charge against Amalek. Destroy all the animals. Everything that touches this spirit of the Antichrist will be gone. Some of you know that passage. You know what I'm talking about. Paragraph C. Let's kind of bring this to an end now. Verse 16. God's zeal for the supremacy of His Son and the horse. Everybody is captured with this man. It's not a localized thing. Peter missed it. It's not three tabernacles on a mountain. It's a city on a mountain shining in the whole world. The city set up on a hill. The very thing Jesus said when a city set on a hill that can't be hidden. I mean He meant it in many ways spiritually. But He knew that His city would be the city on the hill lighting up the whole earth. So much of it's literal while at the same time it's figurative and spiritual. So come to pass. Who's ever left? That means the unsaved survivors of the tribulation. And there's millions of them. They didn't take the mark of the beast so they're not going to be exterminated and killed and judged. They didn't. They were not born again so they were not raptured. Millions of them. It's this category called those who are left. They will continue to live on and populate the millennial earth. The nations will continue for a thousand years. The whole natural realm fully intact. But with the supernatural dimensions from the Jerusalem that Jesus is over spreading out, branching throughout the whole earth. Little by little spreading out. And the rule of the Lord progressively reaching further and further. And His people, all of us are involved in discipling the nations at a whole another level than we've ever imagined. Well the people that are left they'll go year by year to Jerusalem to worship the king. To keep the feast of tabernacles. That's the only feast He requires them. And there's reasons for that. I got just a little bit in there for what the feast of the tabernacles means. But He requires all the nations. That feast is related to the harvest of the nations. But that's a bigger subject in my next two minutes here. Verse 17 Whichever family of the earth says no I don't really want to bother with that. There will be no rain on that family or on that nation. If the leaders don't come, there will be no rain on that nation. If a family doesn't come, there will be no rain in their sphere. Verse 18 Family of Egypt Now I don't know exactly why they highlight Egypt. Maybe it's the 4,000 years of animosity and they're going okay, we get it. The Lord says no. I insist that not only you recognize my supremacy, but you recognize my sovereignty in making Israel the lead nation. You come and worship me on my terms in this city. I don't know. Something about the Lord wants it on His terms, the whole earth to worship Him in that city in this way. And some people won't like that. I'm talking about natural. They have their natural bodies. They're still born again. They still have a sin principle working in them. They're not resurrected bodies. I mean when they die, they get their resurrected bodies just like all the others do. But my point is, there's even some resistance to this. You know, it's 300 years into the millennium. Okay, we've been doing that thing for 300 years. We think we're taking this year off. The Lord says no, we're not. Okay, we've done it 800 years. The Lord says we're going to do it 1,000. Look at verse 18. They have to come up. Now listen to this word. They have to enter in. This isn't just kind of a casual ceremonial thing. They must enter into the worship when they come. That's an interesting word. Let's go to paragraph D, top of page 94. Middle page 94. Verse 20 and 21. Verse 20 and 21, you can just read it on your own. I'll just summarize it. Everyone in Jerusalem and the land of Israel, everyone will be holy. Not just the priest. All of public life will be holy. All of private life will be holy. Everything to do with the religious kind of activities and festivals and everything will be completely holy. It will be the first nation. Every single person in every institution is perfectly holy nationwide. Paragraph three at the end. The Lord says I'm zealous for Zion. I know how to finish the task I began. I will have a priestly nation to be the light of my glory to the ends of the earth like I told them at Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. I am zealous for Zion. It will come to pass. Amen and amen. Let's stand.