Mike Bickle emphasizes God's unwavering commitment to Israel as depicted in Zechariah chapters 9 and 10, highlighting the themes of deliverance, blessing, and regathering. He explains that despite Israel's past sins, God will empower them against their enemies before the second coming of Christ, showcasing His zeal for Jerusalem. Bickle discusses the prophetic oracles that reveal God's plan for Israel's restoration and the inclusion of Gentiles in His salvation. He stresses the importance of humility in the Messiah's character and the miraculous events that will accompany Israel's regathering and ultimate victory over their oppressors. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize God's faithfulness and the hope that lies in His promises for Israel.

Session nine, Father, we ask you to touch our hearts, to stir our spirit, to show us more of the zeal of your heart for this glorious city that's so dear to you. In the name of Jesus, amen. Here on session nine, we're in a 12-part series. The book of Zechariah, we're looking at chapter nine and 10. And again, nine and 10 go together. Nine, 10, and 11, actually, more specifically, but let's look at paragraph eight. After the visions, the eight visions of chapter one to six, the question arose, what about the Gentiles who will press Israel? We know about Israel's sin and how you're gonna cover them and enable them and empower them and anoint them, all these things, but what about the opposition? So Zechariah receives two more prophetic oracles or messages, they're each three chapters. And they answer this question. They answer the question of what about the Gentiles? The theme is the messianic king. He's bringing his blessing and his judgment, but here's an interesting theme that I think it's remarkable, the way he's going to empower Israel, now listen, before the second coming. It's an unusual thing that you don't really hear mentioned that at the very last hours before the Lord returns, there's an anointing on the city to do exploits like David did in resisting the Antichrist pre-second coming, just a moment before, I mean, some weeks and months, but it's an amazing emphasis that Zechariah gives that you don't find often in the prophets. We're gonna point that out. Paragraph B, each of these two oracles, 19 and 11, chapter 12, 13 and 14, they begin with the word burden, or some translate that oracle, or it's a heavy weighty message from God's heart. It's heavy on a number of points. Paragraph C, both of these oracles, they speak of the coming war. That's what they're locked in on. They're actually developing what the eighth vision we looked at in Zechariah six, the eighth vision of the final overthrow of all the Gentile powers and the establishing of the kingdom of God on the earth in fullness. So both of these oracles highlight the war. The war's a big subject on God, in God's plan. I tell people when Jesus comes back, he's coming back in context to a military conflict around Jerusalem. People go, what? You know, we have this kind of Christian Gentile paradigm. He's coming, we're gonna go far away. Everybody's gonna be happy, and that's the end of it. He's coming back in a conflict, a military conflict as the greater David. I mean, he gets blood on his garments. I mean, it is real flesh and blood conflict with supernatural power for the whole world to see. That's what the second coming is. Now, that was not a new idea to the prophets. Zechariah really develops this theme, but it's bizarre to our Gentile Christian mind. We go, coming back to a war, what? I thought we was gonna blow the tribe, but we go away, we go to heaven, and we just hope that Israel does okay in the process. No, that's not what's gonna happen. I'm getting off the subject. Okay, paragraph C, chapter nine to 11, the first oracle we're gonna look at a little bit on this one, the Messiah delivers and powers and regathers Israel because they both talk about the war, but they have very different points of emphasis. The second oracle, chapter 12, 13 and 14, he's gonna save them, refine them, and transform them. So they're both about the war, but two different angles on that diamond. Paragraph E, the complete fulfillment of these six chapters, the ultimate fulfillment is in those final months and years leading up to the coming of the Lord. There's a few of the events that have dual fulfillment, meaning they happened in part, you know, back in the ancient war in history, they had a temporal, I mean, a partial fulfillment, pointing, forecasting the ultimate fulfillment at the end of the age. Roman numeral two, we're starting off with chapter nine, verse one to eight. Chapter nine, verse one to eight. We see the judgment and the salvation of the surrounding nations. Now we see many things in this little eight verse snapshot, because though it's locked into the surrounding nations, and eight, nine cities are highlighted, and they're the cities of Syria, they're the cities of the Philistines area, we have them all listed there, Phoenicia, Philistia. We have the nine cities, but the message is bigger than those nine cities. The Lord's saying, this is what I'm capable of, and this is what I'm going to do, way beyond these nine cities. But take a snapshot of what I'm doing with them and learn from me, but we find out some other lessons, how the Gentile nations respond. Some respond in arrogance and defiance, others of them humble themselves, part of them do, and they receive salvation, and God includes them in his salvation purposes. So we find out that God truly loves his enemies. Even his enemies, he invites them into his salvation. So in these short eight verses, we see how the nations respond different ways, we see God's heart to include them, we see his zeal and what he'll do to the people who don't say yes to his salvation. And again, we look at these nine cities, it's a prototype of what he'll do to the cities of the earth. Number one, this prototype, again, has dual fulfillment. It had an ancient fulfillment in the days of Alexander the Great, as God's tool, his weapon, his instrument of judgment coming in, bringing judgment to these nine cities, but it was beyond those nine cities. But again, it reveals God's nature. He humbles these nations. Now, nobody wants to be humbled, but if you get humbled, you respond, it's unto salvation. He cleanses some of them, he drives idolatry off the land. They don't like the process, but hey, when idolatry's cleansed from your land, that's a good thing. He offers them salvation. He offers some of them, I mean, he offers it to all of, to whosoever, he so loves the world, participation. He says, I'm gonna even let you be leaders and participate with me. I look at the nature of Jesus here, and I go, Jesus, I just love the way you love even your enemies. Paragraph two, these eight verses, their initial partial fulfillment is when Alexander the Great, he came like a blazing firebrand right through the land. I mean, he just like a, he came so rapidly. He was marching from the North Syria right through the coastal cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He was on his way to Egypt to go trouble Egypt and conquer Egypt, but he went blazing through these cities and judged them one after the other. And as they saw this happening, this was maybe, this is about 330 BC, this is like five, so about 200 years after Zechariah. 200 years later, this happens, and when these cities watch this man coming through like a tear, they know Zechariah's prophecies, and their eyes are turned Godward, and the judgments of God in that actually led some of them to respond to the Lord. Again, that's a bigger message for another day, but the prototype is here. Now, paragraph three, I just wanna note one thing. He's on his march down to Egypt, that's his goal, and he's just wiping out these cities on the way, and the report is going fast, and the next city on the march, they're terrified. And again, they know Zechariah prophesied it, so they turn Godward, we're gonna see that in a minute, but amazing, they don't, Alexander the Great does not harm Jerusalem. And I'm not gonna go into it, but it's fascinating that Alexander the Great had a very powerful dream. God gave him a dream, and the high priest in Jerusalem, and the priest, the way they went out in procession to meet him fulfilled Alexander's dream, and Alexander said, oh my goodness, the God of heaven is talking to me. I'm not gonna go through the dream, but write this down, it's down on the notes, page 289. In Barron's book, he lays out the dream. It's recorded in history that this wicked conqueror has a dream, and the leaders in Jerusalem fulfill it without knowing it, and Alexander the Great goes, wow, the God of whoever loves me. He doesn't have his right theology, but he spares Jerusalem and blesses them and moves on. I mean, there's a message in that as well, but that's, again, we can't cover all that in one session here. Top of page 67. Let's just give a real quick shot here, because we have so much ground to cover in chapter nine and 10. Verse one, the burden of the Lord against these cities that are up north of Israel in Syria. It's resting place, meaning the burden of the Lord, the judgment of God is gonna rest on those cities. That's the meaning, but here's the phrase I want you to really see. For the eyes of men and the eyes of all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord, meaning this execution of judgment through Alexander the Great, and that rapid way he was coming through those cities with the prophecies 200 years that Zechariah gave before Alexander, those cities' eyes turned to God. They were looking, they were terrified. They go, this is the God of Israel doing something. He foretold this by the prophecies, and I mean, everybody was captured. There was only one conversation in the land. What's going on? Terror has touched us, and the God of Israel is behind some of it, and their eyes were on him. I mean, these pagan nations were looking Godward to see what was happening because they were terrified. So it explains as he's marching down these coastal cities of the Mediterranean coast right there, it gives their responses. Let's go to paragraph C. Now in paragraph C, we see the positive responses as well as the negative. This verse five to seven, it's an encouragement that some of the heathen nations are gonna say yes. I don't necessarily mean entire nations. Before the Lord returns, but there will be people in the nation, the judgment wakes them up. It terrifies them, and they respond to the Lord. Isaiah, I don't have this verse here, but Isaiah 26, verse nine says, when God's judgments are in the land, this is particularly an end time verse, Isaiah 26, nine, that the nations will learn righteousness. Not all of them, but righteousness will be learned by many in the midst of the judgments. It's a severe mercy, because God's kicking away the things they trust in, so now they have nothing to trust in, now they ask deeper questions, and in that quest, some of them will discover the God of Israel and true righteousness. One point I wanna make here, here in verse seven, he says, I'll take away the blood from his mouth and the abominations, now that's talking about idolatrous rituals in these Philistine cities. The blood from the mouth, he goes, I'm gonna cleanse them from their false religion, that's, again, severe mercy, that's good, they don't like the process, but the end fruit of it's a good thing to do. But here's what happens, to those who remain, and this is even back in the Alexanders, we don't have a record of the responses of people, but I assume this happened in part in Alexander's day, 330 B.C., when he came marching through. Some of them will remain, meaning they will live through the battles, even they shall be for our God. Zechariah says to these leaders in Jerusalem, he's saying, you're gonna be shocked, some of those guys over those Philistines, they're gonna come over and serve the God of Israel, they're gonna be for us, so don't be shocked and don't be closed when it happens because you're gonna do it. Matter of fact, Zechariah hits that theme a number of times through his book. Back in chapter two, verse 11, he said, hey, nations are gonna join themselves, the Gentiles are going to be included. Open up your heart for it and don't be shocked when it happens, pray for it, have it a part of your mindset. Then he said, it's gonna be more than that, some of them are going to be leaders in Judah, like ah, not redeemed Philistines having spiritual stature in our city. Yep, that's where it's going because the God of salvation wants all the nations. He goes, some will be even like a Jebusite. Now, what a Jebusite is, when David captured the city of Jerusalem, there were Jebusites there, they had held the control of the city for hundreds of years after Israel had been in the land, it's a remarkable thing. Israel's been in the land about 400 or 500 years and they have all the cities of Israel except for one main city, they don't have Jerusalem. How did Jerusalem go unconquered for 400 or 500 years? That's another story for another day. Well, the Jebusites had it, but when David went about 400 or 500 years after Joshua conquered the city, some of the Jebusites became very devout followers of the God of Israel. Matter of fact, several of them show up in David's story, very devout, matter of fact, it was a Jebusite that was even involved in selling David's land where the temple is next to, where David offered the offering before the Lord, a devout Jebusite offered that to the God of Israel. So when he said a Jebusite, they understood this because they know the David story, they go, wow, some are gonna be very devout and they will even sacrificially serve the God of Israel like some of the Jebusites did in the days of David. So that's what that's all about. Paragraph D, I love this. God tells him, he goes, even when Alexander the Great comes marching through, again, it's 200 years after the prophecy. He says, verse eight, know this, Israel, and it happened. I just told you the dream that Alexander had. He goes, I'm going to camp around my house. Now the house means the temple. I'm gonna camp around it. Of course, we know from the Psalms that the angel of the Lord, David said, camps around us if we fear him. He goes, I'm gonna camp around and my eye is going to be on that house. And again, the most remarkable fulfillment, partial only, Alexander the Great comes marching in to come destroy Jerusalem and the house. The Lord says, I've camped around it. He gives the man a dream. The dream happens just like Alexander saw it. He goes, wow, and he felt honored by what Jerusalem represented instead of threatened and angered by it, he moved on. But I want to say, I want to stress this, verse eight. If you read it in context and pay attention to the details, it was only partially fulfilled with Alexander. This is actually about the time, the context of the end of the age, it's full fulfillment, when the army comes through the land, when this army is finished, never again is Israel oppressed, ever again. And we know that's an end times because Israel is only never oppressed again till after the Antichrist armies are done. So here's my point. This is a great encouragement to the believers in the land that even in the midst of that hostile army that surround the city, and I mean, already it's a miracle they can't take the city. I mean, it's Goliath and David. I mean, it's Goliath with the armies of the earth that can't take that city. They don't want to destroy it. The Lord says, I'm camping around. I'm helping you. My eye is on you. And this, I think this verse is going to be a huge verse that we are going to comfort Jerusalem. Yes, comfort Jerusalem. We're going to use this verse to do it. Top of page 68. Now he switches gears, subjects. He's now, he's going to talk about the one who's going to camp around Israel. He's going to break it down. Now he has introduced the coming of the Messiah in the most general ways. Here's what he has said about the Messiah so far. He's zealous. He's going to live in Jerusalem and he's going to fill the city with glory and he's going to build the temple. Okay. And the temple is going to branch out. He hasn't said a lot of details. He's very zealous. He's coming to Jerusalem to live there forever. He's going to build a temple from there. He's going to rule from there. Now he's going to give more details about the character of this Messiah that he's introduced several times throughout the chapters before. Now he tells the people in Zacharias day, he goes, rejoice. He goes, get the big picture. Don't get lost in the mundane-ness of your everyday life. You know, it's the passage we looked at just a few moments ago in chapter eight, verse six. Is this storyline too marvelous for you to really buy into? Is this storyline too marvelous for you to change your life in the light of it? So he's telling them, I'm going to tell you the storyline here in verse nine. A king is coming. I've been hinting about him. Rejoice now. Don't wait till then. Don't get lost in the routine and the mundane. Buy into the storyline. Now he's coming to you. They go, okay, we got that. He's going to live here. He's going to build a temple. He's going to branch out. He's just, and his reign, the character of his reign is going to be righteous. He's going to bring salvation, physical, political, spiritual, financial, agricultural. He's going to change everything. I mean, salvation A to Z, not just forgiveness. He is going to restore everything. Okay. Now he gives them the shock of their life. He says, I'm taking you to new territory. He's humble. Humble. Yeah, he's really humble. He's the most humble man that ever walked the earth or ever will walk the earth. And humility is not something he just puts on like a garment then discards what he's done with the task. The core of his being, he is humble. That's who he is. So Israel's going, hmm. And when he introduces himself to you the first time, he'll be on a donkey when he comes, not a white horse. Not like Alexander with an army. He's coming on a donkey offering peace, coming in meekness. But he doesn't end there. He's going to cut off the chariot. He's going to stop war one day. He's going to put an end to war in the earth. He's going to speak peace to all the nations. He has the authority and the wisdom to bring peace to every nation. Beloved, we know it. The answer to peace in the Middle East is a man. We all know that. His dominion will go to the ends of the earth. Now, the idea of his dominion going to the ends of the earth has already been mentioned back in chapter six, that he would rule on a throne. He would touch the ends of the earth. And Daniel, just maybe 30, 40 years earlier, Daniel said that this son of man is going to come on clouds and have dominion over the earth. So they're into the idea of him coming to have dominion on clouds, but coming on a donkey? I thought he was coming on clouds. To have dominion, we get that, but lowly? Huh? This sounds strange. Is he coming on clouds or is he coming on a donkey? Which is it? Is he coming with dominion to bring peace or is he coming in lowliness? We don't get it. Now, number one, we understand, verse nine was his first coming. Verse 10 was his second coming. Number two, when he came in on a donkey, they applauded him. Palm Sunday, the Hosanna, they said, this is that. They were probably assuming he was going to free them from Roman oppression then. They were thinking, this is that. We got Zechariah, we got Isaiah, we got all the verses. He's coming in on the donkey, he's gonna put an end to war, he's gonna overthrow Rome, yes. His coming exposed their own desires that were out of sync with God's because what they wanted was a freedom fighter, not a spiritual reformer. They didn't want a man that was gonna establish humility and righteousness in their lives. They wanted freedom from Rome so they could do what they wanted to do without being hassled by the Romans. Jesus said, I have a different agenda. I wanna free you so you live in humility and righteousness. Paragraph five. I'm gonna stay on this theme for just a minute because it's so delightful. He's lowly. Now, the only character trait that Jesus ever said about himself is, I am lowly. I'm humble. You can put humble or meek, put whatever word you want. He never said, I am loving. He is loving, he's love. He never said, I'm smart. He's really wise. He never said, I am power. He said only one thing with his own lips about himself. He goes, I am humble. That's who I am. Humility is a part of his eternal nature. He has existed in eternity past filled with humility. Humility is not something he put on to bring salvation. Matter of fact, it's the other way around. He brought salvation because the uncreated God is established in humility in a way that we can't even imagine. He's the humble God. He will forever, Jesus will forever be the most humble man on the earth. Even in his great dominion, he will rule not only from humility, his rule will produce humility in the nations. I mean, it is so beautiful. Paragraph six, the psalmist cries out, ride forth victorious. This is a second coming verse. Go forth victorious. Talk about when you come to abolish all your enemies, but come in behalf of humility. In other words, everything you do, you do from humility and everything you do produce humility in the nations. Let's look at top of page 69. Now this verse 10 Messiah, we're gonna go now to verse 11. The verse 10 Messiah, the king who's gonna bring dominion to the earth. The humble king, verse nine, who brings dominion and peace, verse 10. Now verse 11 to 17. This is again, it's gotta be in your top five list of second coming passages in the Old Testament. I mean, you might have to squeeze 10 or 15 verses in that top five, but you'll be okay. This verse 11 to 19 is about the second coming. If you don't see that, you're gonna miss a significant part of the grandeur of what's being presented here. Many commentaries, they don't connect it. They make it symbolic. When the Lord appears over his people and blows the trumpet, they say, well, symbolically, what that means is that people will worship him and he will be important in their lives, things like that. No, this is a, Zechariah is now telling us about the verse nine humble king who, verse 10, has dominion and peace in the earth. He's now telling us about some of the activity related when he comes to bring dominion. Verse 11 to 17. Well, first he starts off and he says, as for you, he's talking to the nation of Israel, because of the blood of the covenant, because I have a blood covenant with you or a covenant based in my shed blood is what he's saying. He goes, the basis of my deliverance is the fact I offered my blood for you. It's a covenant based on shed blood, meaning the covenant can never be violated. It's final, it's permanent, you can count on it. I'm gonna set your prisoners free from waterless pits. Someone says, what's a waterless pit? It's a pit with no water in it. That's what it is. Joseph was thrown into a waterless pit. It didn't say the bottomless pit, it said the waterless pit. One guy goes, oh, Joseph was thrown in a pit and his brothers left him. If there was water in it, he would have drowned in. Jeremiah the prophet, they threw him in a pit. It had mud, the water wasn't all gone, but it was mostly gone. And they could be rescued later. If you're thrown into a pit with water, you can't be rescued. So Joseph and Jeremiah are kind of the pictures that are brought to mind. The Lord says, I'm gonna deliver you. When I come back to exercise dominion over the earth, I will deliver you. You are my top priority and I've made a covenant with you, oh, nation of Israel. Verse 12, return to the strongholds. Now, this has application to history. It doesn't only have its, the ultimate application is not the only one. All of these truths are applied throughout history. I mean, all of them we can glean from. Today we can glean from them. Even as Gentile believers not in the land, we can glean spiritual principles for our own life to be enriched. I mean, God's an amazing writer. He writes on 10 levels. He's such a good writer. So don't limit it to anything, but at the same time, in our all inclusiveness of making it apply to all times and everything, don't lose the specific ultimate grandeur of the ideal that Zechariah's talking about. Don't lose the ultimate while we're making it so general that everybody can relate to it for 2,000 years. Let's keep that tension in place. He said, return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Now, in the notes I wrote down there, the different commentators, and I agree that the stronghold physically is the city of Jerusalem. The stronghold spiritually is the Lord our God. Our mighty fortress is our God. So he's saying, when I deliver you, whether back in ancient times or at the very end, the idea is that you would return to the stronghold the city, and you would return to your God with all of your heart. That's the message here. Then he calls Israel, for these 2,500 years since Zechariah, it's a truth they can draw on for 2,500 years, but how much more? In the final hours, when the conflict heats up to an all time level, he calls them the prisoners of hope. Meaning they have oppression, they have enemies, they're restrained, they're attacked, but they have the hope. They know it's unto something glorious. It's unto deliverance, but it's more than deliverance. It's unto the glory of God filling the earth, and they're participating with it forever, and it's the God of Israel. So it isn't just the hope that the bad will go away. That's a good hope if you're in the bad. I like the bad going away when things are going bad. But it's more than just the removal of the negative. It's the engagement of the positive. You prisoners of hope. Then he says, he gives us the context. I'll restore it double to you. Now there's only one time when Israel gets the double restoration, and that's the end of the age. That's the ultimate context he's talking about here. It's the verse nine and 10, Messiah exercising his authority for world dominion and bringing peace. He will give double honor and double everything to Israel for all the years when he restores him. So that, again, is the ultimate context, but we're not limiting the last 2,500 years to only to the end. This thing has been applicable all through history. Now he's going to say something that has a real specific application to the end of the age, though it did also have an application back in the ancient time. He goes, verse 13, Judah, I'm gonna make you my bow. I'm gonna anoint you in an unusual way, because remember back in verse eight, I'm gonna camp around you and I'm gonna keep my eye on you. He goes, I'll give you an example. I'm gonna make you, I'm gonna anoint you for war, literal war. Now as, through the church, 2,000 years of church age, we translate this spiritually, that we will be anointed for evangelism, and that's okay. That's not what he's talking about, but he doesn't mind if we use that verse for that, as long as we don't limit it to that. He's actually talking about anointing them for physical war in the hour when they're being oppressed. And he says, Ephraim, that's the group up in the north in Israel. He goes, I'm gonna make you, you're gonna be fitted like a bow. You're gonna be like the arrow I'm going to shoot in a military context. I'm gonna help you. Well, that's Old Testament. It is Old Testament, but we're gonna find out later that in those final days leading up to the coming of the Lord, but even before he comes, it's going to happen too, also in the New Testament, in the final conflict, when David and Goliath have the ultimate showdown again. But that eschatological Goliath, the Antichrist, he won't have just a big army. He'll have all the armies of the earth. And that little David with an army is trapped inside the city of Jerusalem and around Judah. They won't have the sophisticated weapons. They won't have the numbers. They won't have the support of the earth. It will be a David-Goliath showdown again at the end of the age. And he says, I'm gonna, verse 13, I'm gonna raise up your sons. Military. Against you, O Greece. Now this had a, I have it written down there, a partial fulfillment in the Maccabean Revolt in the second century BC. This happened. But Daniel the prophet, he gives his interpretation of the Maccabean Revolt. I don't think I have this verse in the notes. I can't remember. Daniel 11, verse 34. Daniel 11, verse 34, the prophet Daniel said, hey, when you, when this happens, I'm gonna give you a little help. It's not gonna be the full breakthrough. I'm gonna give you a little help. So the Maccabean Revolt, the sons of Judas Maccabee and his family, they rose up and they were anointed like David. It was a military anointing. And they threw off the mighty power of the Greek forces that were invading their land through Antiochus Epiphanes. He said, I'm gonna help you, but beloved, the context here, verse 11 to 17, is mostly about the end of the age. And he's going to develop this theme later on in chapter 10 and a whole lot in chapter 12. And it's an exciting concept. It's a foreign concept. I mean, commentators just don't know what to do with it. When they see, gonna be anointed and war and soldiers, they go, well, whatever, it must be anointed evangelism. All that could be in children's church and maybe some church. There's some money coming. They don't know what to do with it. It means what it says and says what it means. Very straightforward. And there's been those periodic pockets of mercy where God's miracles, his camping around Israel has been manifest for this 2,500 years. I mean, there are more miracles that are so out of the ordinary, one here, one there, where God shows his, chapter nine, verse eight, my eyes on you and I'm camping around you, though I'm gonna let you be disturbed because I'm setting up a situation for your total salvation. Trust me, it's a long-term plan. Let's look at, oh yeah, down number seven, I have the Greek stuff there. But again, it's not fulfilled in entirety with the Maccabean Revolt because, okay, I'm gonna say this for the students of prophecy. The Antichrist, some of you won't follow what I'm saying here. The Antichrist empire is a composite empire, meaning the four beast nations through history, Daniel chapter seven, verse 12, their strengths are going to emerge again in that composite empire of the Antichrist. Daniel chapter seven, verse 12. I realize some of you are going, what? But some of you understand what I'm saying. Revelation 13, one, the Antichrist will come with the strength of all the prior empires that assaulted Israel in him. And so Greece will rise up again in this context at the end of the age, as will Rome, as will Babylon, as will Persia. All the composite beast empires will be present in the final empire that a few verses ago, back in verse eight, Zachariah called it the army. When the army passes through, God will help you. And the army is that composite army of the Antichrist that the four beast empires of Daniel two and Daniel seven are all a part of the Antichrist empire. Okay, take a deep breath. The others can say whatever. And so, but some of you really followed what I said. I can tell. Okay, page 70. Jesus is now gonna personally intervene in the midst of this military conflict. Verse 13, I'm gonna read it again. I'm gonna add verse 13 again. I will raise up your sons, O Zion. I'll raise them up in power. They will fight against even that, again, that composite army of the Antichrist for which the Greeks are present, emerging with their great wickedness and strength. Whatever their greatness, strength, and wickedness, it will be a part of that empire of the Antichrist. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man. Again, this is pre-second coming, just a moment before the second coming, but it's still pre-second coming, and that's a new idea for some folks. Verse 14, when you're in the middle of that battle and I've made you like a mighty sword. Can you imagine God making some of these weak men like a mighty sword? Well, chapter 12 we'll look at tonight is going to break down that he's gonna make them mighty like David. It's gonna shock them. I mean, they're not expecting to be empowered in this way. Clark can't move aside. A new moment's coming. That's a bad analogy, but anyway, verse 14. It's a really bad analogy, actually. Verse 14, in the midst of the battle that Zechariah 12, verse three to eight lays out clearly. We'll look at that tonight. Then the Lord appears, just like in Zechariah 12. He appears and they see him in verse 10 right after the battle in verse three to eight. The Lord appears. It's the same storyline. This is the real appearing of the Lord. This is not symbolic. He appears over them. His light, his arrow will go forth like lightning. His arrow. Well, Jesus said he'll go forth from the east to the west like lightning. He'll blow the trumpet. Well, there's a bunch of verses where he blows the trumpet. These are all second coming descriptions from Old and New Testament, but particularly Old Testament. He will come like a whirlwind from the south. There's a half a dozen verses. We're not gonna look at them, but I have them in the notes, where Jesus makes his entry into the city of Jerusalem, coming up from the south on the ground, marching into battle, liberating the city. He comes as the greater David to liberate the city. He says, verse 15 is just, I love this one. The Lord will defend you in that day. And they, the children of Israel, shall devour, that's the Antichrist kingdom, and subdue, they'll win, with sling stones. What? Now, I don't know what to make of this. With slingshots, but the comparison is clear. They're gonna be like David. David took down the mighty Goliath with a slingshot, meaning the military, the sophistication of the weapons was 10 to one. The mighty champion of the Philistines with a vast army, and the little boy David, he's a teenager. I mean, the men did not go to the army till they were 20. He's not old enough for the army. When he comes, his brother goes, what are you doing here, you little pipsqueak? You little show-off, go back home and tend the sheep. But he's a teenage boy. He goes, no, I wanna see what's going on, man. Well, in chapter 12, verse eight, it says it clearly, God's gonna make the children, the sons of Israel in that day like David, and I believe this is a comparison. Now, there's this one, I'm just gonna go on a two-minute bunny trail and hope I don't go longer. There's this one seemingly random verse, back in 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17 is when David fought Goliath. David's a teenager. The armies are on one side of the Philistines, the armies of Israel on the other side. David takes him on. Again, it's the eschatological Goliath against the little weak army David played out on a global level at the end of the age. It's the David-Goliath showdown. But anyway, back 1,000 years BC, when David did this, it says that he hit Goliath, I mean, the stone hit him, he fell down, he cut his head off with his own sword. Now, here's bizarre. 1 Samuel 17, verse, I think it's 45, could be 54. One of those, okay. It's 54, doesn't matter, but he cuts off Goliath's head, picks up the head, I'm putting that part in, blood fully. He walks, he shows it to Saul. Here's the head, a disembodied head, but that's not the bizarre part, that's pretty bizarre, but he walks 10 miles, this 16, 18-year-old kid. How long does it take you to walk 10 miles in a hilly terrain? Probably a couple hours, whatever. He walks to the city of Jerusalem to put the head. Why did, random? No, prophetic. Not random, he puts the head in Jerusalem. Remember I told you a minute ago, David's 1,000 years BC, Joshua, just say 1,400 BC, they've been in the land 400 years, Israel, but they haven't captured Jerusalem, I don't know why. They took all the other cities nearly, but not Jerusalem. The Jebusites are still there. This kid brings the head of Goliath to this Jebusite city, they don't know him or like him, they're like, kid, get out of here with a disembodied head. I mean, the elders of the city, what are you doing? Are you a Hebrew kid? Get out of here, go bury, what are you doing? Philistines find out we got their giants, they're gonna be mad at us, get out of here. He goes, no, his head's gotta be put in the city. Beloved, that was a prophetic statement. The head of the Antichrist, Goliath, is coming down in the city of Jerusalem, it's going to happen again. Now, I spent too much time on that, I'm captivated by it, but the real question I have is, what did that kid know about Jerusalem that nobody else knew and how did he know it? First act he does is king, becomes king, well, nearly the first act, I mean, from the record. Becomes king, 37 years old when he's king over all Israel, he goes, we're taking Jerusalem from the Jebusites. They've been there 400 years while we've been here, I'm taking him, his first act, I gotta have Jerusalem for God. They're going, why? We don't need Jerusalem, I don't need to bother with Jerusalem, we're doing well without it. No, I placed a head there 20 years ago, I know what's going on in this city, you don't get it. And right after he captured the city, the first thing he did then, he put singers and musicians night and day in the city. Well, I went past my three minute bunny trail, but this excites me. Let's go back, verse 15, slingshots, there you have it. That's what got me off. Okay, let's look at paragraph F. So Corey, did you get all that? Did you get some Shundi with it too? Okay, just wanted to know, that's code word for did it make you happy, okay. Paragraph F, the Lord will save them in that day. We're taught, what's that day? Are we just talking about a thousand years ago? No, there's a day he's talking about for the fullness of this. Again, 2,500 years, it's had deposits, it's had installments of this promise, small versions of it, partial, but there's a in this day fullness. Now look at this. Then the people of Israel will be like a jewel to the Lord. He will say, Israel, did you have any idea how precious you were to me? Zechariah says, I tell you he's zealous for Jerusalem, but when he possesses this city and this land, they will be a jewel to him. Isaiah says the same thing. I have it written there, the verses. You're gonna be like a crown of jewels, the most precious possession of a king, and he's gonna show you off like a banner. He's gonna brag to the whole earth about how dear you are to him. What I say, if Israel's that dear to him, then when he fully possesses her, she is that dear to him now. He's zealous for Jerusalem. I'm going, I'm with you, Jesus. Some guy says, well, I'm not into that Israel thing. I said, I'm not into the Israel thing either. I'm into the Jesus thing, and whatever he's into, I'm into, and if he says Israel, I'm into Israel because I'm into Jesus, and that's what he's gonna do. Verse 17, then this very strong statement for how great is its goodness, how great is its beauty. Now, the new King James obscures the glory of this verse by putting the word it, how good is what goodness, how great is what goodness or beauty, and the commentators, they debate. Half of them say, how great is their beauty, the people, and their greatness, that's biblical. Other translators say, no, by the grammatical considerations, it's not talking about a plural they, it's talking about a singular he, how great is he, the Lord, his greatness and beauty, and so I've read a few debates on it. Is the greatness and the beauty attributed to the people or the greatness and beauty attributed to the Lord, beloved, it's the same reality because the Lord and his greatness and beauty, which will be trumpeted across the earth, he is going to show off the greatness and the beauty that is derived from his grace given to his people. So I say I can go with either one, but just get rid of that word it. I don't like that word at all. Putting they, their, or put his, get rid of it, but I don't have the nerve to change the Bible. Okay, Psalm 97, what am I saying? No, that's the Psalm about the majesty of the Lord across the earth. Okay, page 71. Now we're gonna do this very abbreviated. In chapter 10, he's going to now develop what he just established in verse 11 to 17 about the connection of that special anointing on Israel and the coming of the Lord and the delight he feels in them. Now in chapter 10, he's gonna break it down and give details about it. Number, paragraph A, so we'll give an abbreviated part of this just in five, six, seven minutes, we'll be done with this, and then again, you just look at it on your own because you're not gonna get it anyway until you put time and personal time searching it out yourself as it is. Paragraph A, now we're at the second chapter of this three chapter oracle, we're at the second part of it. The theme of this chapter is Israel's gonna be blessed agriculturally under Jesus's leadership. It's gonna be blessed spiritually. It's gonna be blessed governmentally. I mean the leadership over society, that's what I mean. It's gonna be blessed in its military. And then later on in the last verses, there's gonna be the regathering in terms of its population is gonna be regathered from the whole earth and brought back to the land. This will be the fruit of Jesus's, the king, the meek and lowly king. This is his action plan as king over Israel. First thing he does, paragraph B, he brings rain to a land that it cannot survive without the rain. Of course that's strategic that God set it up that way. But here's the interesting part. It says in verse one, ask for rain in the time of the lot of rain. This is in the millennium. I mean we ask now, it's true now. My point is when Jesus is on the earth, the people of Israel still have to pray for rain. The prayer dynamic does not disappear when Jesus returns. Jesus is an intercessor forever. Beloved, you'll be doing the house of prayer a million years from now. The government of the kingdom will be speaking to the Lord and releasing his power and resources forever. He's not gonna ever just wave his hand and up pops a perfectly cultivated earth. It's going to be as his people participate even with resurrected bodies. In intercession, we will say what he says to release what's in his heart. He does it now before the father. He's an intercessor. Could you imagine second person of the Trinity is an intercessor? He asked the father concerning the father's will and the father gives it to him when he asks. Amazing. Well, this principle of asking for rain is operative now. We don't wait till then. But the surprising part is it gives us a little bit of the nature of the participation of how God will participate with his people. Even when he lives on the earth, the participation will still be there. Now this is literal rain. He's talking about real rain. Now people use this verse, ask for the rain at the time of the light of rain and they use it for the outpouring of the spirit of the end times. That's okay. The Lord is so nice. He goes, if that will motivate you, take it. But that's not what it was meant. It didn't mean that to Zachariah. He's not talking about outpouring of the spirit in the end of the age. He's talking about physical rain when Jesus comes back and his people crying out for it. That's the context of Zachariah chapter nine and 10. But again, the principle is right now. We ask for rain and humble ourself, the cities of the earth will get rain. But that's a remarkable thing. So the agriculture is the first thing he deals with. Paragraph C verse two, he's gonna remove idolatry completely from the land. When he returns, chapter 13, one to six develops this. Idolatry will be cleansed from the land 100%. But when he returns, the day he returns, it will still be there. There'll be idolatry because of the Antichrist regime all through the land. And it won't just disappear the day he comes and all of a sudden all of the idolatry centers disappeared that day. No, they will all be destroyed and removed. So he's gonna deal with that. Again, chapter 13, verse one to six, deals with that after the Lord returns. I mean, he's confronting it now, but he's gonna completely do it. That's what Elijah did to some degree. But this is the greater Elijah. He's gonna completely confront the altar of Baal, the Antichrist system, and completely drive false prophets off the land, far more effective than Elijah did. So he's not only the greater David, he's the greater Elijah. Paragraph D, he's gonna remove the bad leadership and they're gonna be in big trouble. Again, this has application through history, but it has its full application in that hour of time. Page 72, verse four, he's gonna put in the good leadership. Verse four is an amazing verse. It kind of looks a little strange at first reading, but he's talking about, he's putting together four figures that describe strong, reliable, skillful, trustworthy leadership. They were four figures that the people of Israel were very familiar with, and the prophets used all of these to describe anointed leaders throughout Israel's history. The prophets used these terms. So what he's saying is, he's gonna remove the bad leadership, verse three, he's gonna put in the good leadership, then paragraph F, then he's gonna, in that context, again, this is right leading up to the coming of the Lord, it's the events right before and right after. This is what's on his agenda, all of that timeframe. We don't know exactly when this one verse that one and what degree, but these are the things that are on his heart when he returns, and leading up to the final days before he returns. Verse five, he goes back to this military anointing. And he's not talking about evangelism here, he's actually talking about driving the anti-Christ armies away. Of course, Jesus does it ultimately, but Israel has this anointing like David to hold their ground in a miraculous way for a season. We don't know how long of a season, it could be weeks, could be months, could be three and a half years, we don't know, could be longer. But for a season, they have this anointing from chapter nine, verse eight, I'm camping around Israel, and my eyes are on you, O Jerusalem. Verse five, he goes, I'm gonna make you like mighty men, mighty men in the battle, you'll fight because I'm with you. Chapter nine, verse eight, I'm camping with you. It will surprise you because with your weak efforts, they're gonna have compounded, multiplied impact, you're gonna be surprised at the ability of what you have in that day. Verse six, I'm gonna strengthen Judah in the south. I'm gonna strengthen and save the house of Joseph in Ephraim, that's the north. In other words, Israel's gonna be unified. Instead of division, they're gonna be the full unity of the north and the south, that's a big subject. But they will be anointed like a mighty man. They're talking about a military anointing right now against the oppression that's mounting up from the nations gathering around them with these miracles breaking out all along the way. And beloved, I don't think they're just breaking out randomly, I think the body of Christ, by the prophetic spirit, the body of Christ worldwide is gonna be connected in prayer to all of this. And I don't get how it all works, I don't need to know now, because we're not there yet. But when we get there, the body of Christ, the prayer movement in the earth, and the battle for Jerusalem and the spirit, for the antichrist spirit to be defeated, and even the miraculous perseverance of the city in those final years are all connected together with the prayer movement. It's a remarkable story when it all comes together. And I don't understand it that well, but it's fascinating. I'm just like a eager little kid going, tell me more, tell me more. This is blowing my mind. And probably the Lord's saying, hey, little peewee, I haven't hardly told you anything, and you're already, all your circuits are blown. Because I'm going, wow, wow, wow. And he's going, these are just hints. I got a lot more to say about this, but you'll get it then. If you study the script, if you care about it enough to search it out, and you ask the spirit, I will bring that whole battle for Jerusalem, the military, the political, the financial, the spiritual, the whole thing will come together unto Jesus in the transition of the nations to the age to come. We all participate in it together. It's remarkable, I love this. Here's the glorious thing we can tell our brothers and sisters in Israel, verse seven, their children will get it. I mean, I think one of the great pains of the people that have gone back to the land in the last 30, 40 years, they've gone back to the land of Israel, the remnant of Israel, and they love Jesus, and they're in their neighborhood. There's no other person in the school that loves Jesus. They're one kid in the school, you know, I love you. Whoa, this doesn't work, I have no Christian friends. There is not a youth group, there is not a youth camp. There's nothing, oh, it's intense. I've heard the stories over the 40 years. What happens to the kids in the soccer teams, in the school systems, in the army, in the university? Nobody else loves Jesus, and they're supposed to keep their testimony. I mean, loving Jesus is like saying, we like Adolf Hitler to some of them. It's like, you gotta be careful exactly how you do that. I mean, it's pressure that we don't fully get. You got the Arabs, you got the Jewish people that are hostile against Jesus, the Islamic that are hostile. It's a tough thing on kids. So these parents have taken the charge and moved to the land, and their kids are going, ouch. The Lord says, I'm gonna help you, I promise you. Look right at this verse. This is a verse we can pray over our friends in the land. Lord, you said their children would see it. That they wouldn't just hear their parents' story, they would see their own miracles. They wouldn't just hear their parents' testimony, they would have their own testimony. This is a verse we pray for our brothers and sisters in the land. Paragraphs G, verse eight and nine, the Lord says, I'm gonna whistle. I'm gonna call all the Jews back from the earth, and they're gonna come back. I'm gonna get the attention of the earth, and Jews and Gentiles alike will get my people back to the land. That's a big subject among the prophets. I just wanna hint at it right here. Page 73. I just gotta mention this last thing, verse 10 to 12. To say it ever so brief, it's about the regathering, and the notes give a little bit of detail on it. But the prophets, particularly Isaiah, and then some of the others as well, but particularly Isaiah, they highlight Egypt and Assyria over and over. I mean, it's this unmistakable highlight. Egypt and Assyria, God is recovering the remnant of Israel from those two places. That's not my big point. I wanna highlight that to you, because it's in, Isaiah says it a number of times, Micah says it, Hosea says it, Zechariah says it. It's like, Lord, why is this important for us to know? You say it so many times. Again, that's for another day to discuss that. But here's the part I wanna look at. Verse 11. When the Lord comes and has this great recovery, there will be miracles. He will strike the waves of the sea. He will drive up the Euphrates River. He's gonna dry it up. Some say the Nile, some say the Euphrates. I say, dry up both of them. In verse 12, and the children of Israel will obey God. Okay, here's the point I wanna make. Let's go down to number four at the very end of the page. In the process of the recovery of the remnant of Israel from the nations, there will be mighty miracles. I mean, miracles beyond what happened in Egypt. The Egypt story is gonna be played out again on a global level. As the pharaoh oppressed the children of Israel, the global eschatological pharaoh, the Antichrist, will oppress Israel. But God's raising up a Moses people, Jesus being the greater Moses in the ultimate sense, but even then are releasing the judgments of God, the plagues of Egypt, back on the Antichrist empire. But here's the point I wanna make here. Micah brings it up. The miracles that will happen in the midst of this great drama. Micah says it, he goes, in the days, like when you came out of Egypt with Moses. At the end times, that's the context of Micah 7, I will show miracles just like I did with Moses. I'm gonna do it again. Some guys said miracles passed away. They didn't, I promise you. Verse 16, these miracles will be so dramatic, the nations, all of them will see the miracles. These aren't miracles done in a corner. These will be like separating the Red Sea, dividing the Red Sea. The nations will be ashamed of their military boasts, of their might. They will say, our power is nothing compared. I don't mean they're ashamed of their army in itself. They're saying, compared to the power of dividing a sea, how could our tanks compete with that? I mean, shutting down the light of the sun? Signs and wonders from the heavens? How on earth? I mean, God's gonna use the arsenal of the heavens while the nations only have tanks and planes and bombs. And they're gonna be ashamed. They're gonna say, how can we compete against this? They'll put their hand over their mouth. All over the earth, this is how great the miracles will be. Verse 17, they'll fall down afraid of the God of Israel. Number five, the key times of history. The Lord draws attention to power, to his power particularly related to water. Not only he's gonna do light too. He's gonna do a lot of stuff in the sky. He's gonna do things to mountains. He's gonna split the mountain at the Mount of Olives. We'll look at that chapter 14 later on tonight. He's gonna do lots of miracles. Buddy, like he touched the Red Sea, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee. He's gonna dry up the Euphrates River. It's what it says in Revelation. He's going to do these water miracles that shake nations to bring his purposes to pass. Amen and amen. I love it. Lord, I wanna be involved.