0:01 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We are studying through the Bible and we have come to the book of Zechariah now. We studied Haggai in our last session. And we saw that God raised him and Zechariah up to encourage the Jews who come back from Babylon to rebuild the temple. 0:30 Haggai was a much older man and Zechariah was a much younger man. And one of the wonderful things we see there is how an older brother and a young brother could work together without any competition. 0:56 And Haggai was quite happy to prophesy very briefly. His prophecy is just one and a half pages. And Zechariah's prophecy is 14 chapters. And Haggai is quite happy about that. 1:20 Zechariah speaks about visions and many things like that. Haggai doesn't say all that. And here were two brothers who worked together. It's almost impossible nowadays to see an older brother who is willing to work with a young brother like that. 1:43 There are a lot of people who do that with their own sons, physical sons and promote their sons. But they never do it with another person. This shows how everybody seeks their own interest. And that's why the body of Christ is not built. 2:09 How many older, anointed brothers are willing to step back and let a younger brother have a bigger ministry than them, while they are still having a ministry? It's very rare. They'll retire and let the other person take over. 2:34 But Haggai didn't retire. While he was prophesying, he was letting the younger brother have a major portion. Tremendous example to today's preachers that should put us all to shame. These people recognize the anointing. 2:57 And if God gives a greater anointing to a younger brother, we must promote him. And we shouldn't be just promoting our own family members. Here in Zechariah, we read for the first time, actually, as I mentioned earlier, two prophets working together. 3:24 We never see this in the Old Covenant. I mentioned how Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, all sort of lived around the same time, but they never worked together. Even though their message was around the same, they never worked together. 3:44 This is the first example. For building the temple. And that is a unique picture of how it would be in the body of Christ in the New Covenant. Peter and John worked together. Paul and Barnabas worked together. Paul and Timothy worked together. 4:05 And in the New Covenant, it's always two by two. Never one by one. Because fellowship is a fundamental necessity of the New Covenant. And here was a, towards the end of the Old Covenant, a preparation for that. 4:29 Zechariah had a tremendous ministry of encouraging discouraged people. The people who had come back from Babylon were poor, they were slaves, they had been fearful, and they were discouraged. They were not cultured, refined, and rich like their forefathers of a hundred years earlier. 4:57 Zechariah was called to encourage them after they received Haggai's message. If you receive the message of one prophet, God will send you another. But if you don't receive the message of the first prophet, God may never send you another. 5:20 Herod did not listen to John the Baptist. And so when Jesus came before him, Jesus wouldn't even say a word to him. The first thing the Lord told Zechariah was in chapter 1 verse 2 that he was very angry with the ancestors who had been taken captive 70 years earlier. 5:45 And he warned this new generation, don't be like your fathers. But listen to the prophets and return to the Lord. The things that God had warned their fathers through the prophets had all been literally fulfilled. 6:09 And in chapter 1 verse 6, their fathers said, the last part, as the Lord purposed to do with us, so he has dealt with us. But when did they recognize that? After they got into captivity. 6:30 If they had only heard and responded to God's word through his prophets before, they'd never have gone into captivity. See, we can divide the prophecy of Zechariah into three parts. First of all, chapter 1 to 6, we have eight visions. 6:54 Each of which had a spiritual meaning. Then, in chapter 7 and 8, he's given messages on different topics. And then, in the final section, chapter 9 to 14, there are messages and prophecies about the Messiah. 7:16 First about the Messiah's first coming and being rejected. And then finally, his returning in glory. So, Zechariah's burden is also concerning the movement of God's people from Babylon to Jerusalem. 7:37 Haggai's burden was just the temple. Zechariah's was more than the temple. The whole city of Jerusalem, which symbolized the church of God. Each prophet, God gives a particular burden to. 7:59 And he must stick to the burden which God has given him. And if you look before God's face, God will give you a specific burden. And Zechariah knew what his burden was. One of the wonderful things we see there is, 8:19 you know, it's a great temptation for younger prophets to imitate older prophets. He could have said, well, Haggai doesn't speak about any vision, so I won't speak about it either. Haggai doesn't speak about the Messiah, 8:36 so I won't speak about that either. No. He was original. He's a wonderful example of how two people should work together in the body of Christ. But, each person is getting his own revelation from God. 8:57 And they compliment each other. So, let's look at Zechariah's visions in the first six chapters. The first vision, he sees a man sitting on a red horse, chapter 1, verse 7 to 17. 9:18 And I asked, what are these for? And they said, we have patrolled the earth. And this is what the Lord Almighty says, verses 12 to 17. I'm going to show mercy to Jerusalem. 9:40 And my house will be built there. And the Lord will comfort Zion. All this symbolizes the church, you see. Now, this horse is in a low place in a valley. Verse 8. 10:01 So, what he is saying is that even though the church is in a low place, God, who runs the universe, is watching over her. And he will build the church. So, if you are in a lonely place all by yourself, and you feel weak and helpless, 10:22 here is a vision to encourage you that the Lord is watching over you. And that the Lord's love for the church is passionate and strong. That was a great encouragement to these people to build God's house. 10:44 And that is what encourages us to build God's church. And then, he had a second vision. He lifted up his eyes, verse 18 onwards, to 21. And he said, what are these? He saw four horns. And the answer was, these are the horns that have scattered Judah and Israel. 11:11 And those horns were, first of all, Egypt. Assyria. Babylon. And Medo-Persia. In our time, they represent the forces of darkness that come against the church. From north, south, east and west. 11:31 Horns in the Bible are a picture of strength. So, these horns represent the gates of Hades attacking the church. And it says here, these horns had scattered, verse 19, God's people. That's the work of the devil always, to scatter God's people. 11:54 To divide them. Separate them by gossip. Slander. Misunderstanding. False report. And that's Satan's business all the time. And then, in verse 20, the Lord showed him four craftsmen. 12:15 Who were going to fight against these horns. These are strong people. Blacksmiths who hammer iron into shape. 20, 30, 20, 30 shape. And they had come to, it says, terrify and throw down, verse 21, 12:36 the horns that lifted up against the land of Judah. And these four represented four of God's servants. Haggai, Zachariah, Joshua, and Zerubbabel. Today, God raises our prophets. 12:57 North, in the north, in the south, the east, and the west. In every country. Or at least in many countries. to terrify Satan. God wants such servants. Who cannot be terrified by Satan, but who terrifies Satan. 13:18 You know how Satan said, through the sons of Sceva, in Acts 19, Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you? You are, so we should be among those, whom the devil recognizes, like Jesus and Paul. 13:40 Satan was terrified of Jesus and of Paul. But he was not terrified of the sons of Sceva. Most believers you find nowadays are terrified of Satan. When you encounter a demon-possessed person, it can be quite terrifying. 14:03 Ask yourself, was that demon conquered on Calvary? Yes. If so, you can cast it out in Jesus' name. Casting out a demon is fairly easy. But to drive the devil out of a church, is a million times more difficult. 14:23 Because casting out a demon, is just one word. In Jesus' name, get out. That's it. You don't have to say it a second time. Unless your life is not right with God. Or you don't have faith. Otherwise, just once is enough. 14:43 But to drive the devil out of a church, is more difficult. You need two people come together. Here, four. Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together, it has to be a body ministry. Like when Jesus walked on this earth, 15:05 the demons would be scared. Wherever Jesus came, the demons would tell each other, Jesus is coming here, Jesus is coming here, let's go. They'd be trembling. Do you know that's how the church is supposed to be? A powerful church coming into a place. 15:24 And the demons tremble. Why don't they tremble now? Because most people in the church don't have a clear conscience. They've got personal interests. They're trying to make money. They're promoting themselves. Promoting their family members. 15:41 But they don't have humility. And so the devil just stays there. And the devil says, say to each other, this guy, he's not going to scare us. Jesus I know and Paul I know. But who is this person? But you and I can be like these blacksmiths 15:59 in God's hands. Even if you grow older. There's a beautiful verse in Deuteronomy 33, 25 that says, As your days, so shall your strength be. And from our youth, we should pray that God 16:20 will make us like these craftsmen who can terrify Satan. You can do that if you walk in humility. Then in the third vision, you see in chapter 2, Zechariah lifts up his eyes and he sees a man going to measure Jerusalem. 16:40 And the Lord teaches us here how to measure the church. And another angel came out and said, you won't be able to measure Jerusalem because Jerusalem is going to be inhabited without walls, verse 4. I will be a wall of fire 17:01 around about it. And so what he's saying is, you can't measure the church really because it's a question of not how many people there are. But how many disciples there are. You can have a church of 500 people and the angel asks the Lord, 17:24 how many people in that church, Lord? The Lord may say, two. The angel says, but there are 500 people sitting there. Oh, the Lord says, only two of them are disciples. Jesus had a church of 12. The Lord asks, 17:44 the angel asks, how many in your church, Lord? 11. One is a crook. So, God counts disciples. He doesn't count how many seats are filled in any church. God's work always starts small. But here he says, 18:06 Jerusalem will be inhabited because of the multitude of men in it. But they will be people who are disciples. And since God is a wall of fire around about it, you have to come through that fire in order to enter Jerusalem. 18:28 Not by signing a doctrinal statement. When you go through the fire, everything in you will be burnt up. We saw in Isaiah 33, who can live with the consuming fire? That's the way to keep the church pure. 18:49 Not with doctrinal statements. But if God himself is a wall of fire around about us, and then it says in verse 8 that he will keep us as the apple of his eye. He will take care of us. He tells us in verse 7, come out of Babylon. 19:09 Come through this wall of fire and be a part of the church. Doctrine is important. I'm not devaluing it. But no doctrine can be a wall of fire. Judas Iscariot could sign the doctrinal statement and sit there. 19:30 But he wouldn't come through a wall of fire. So we must keep a wall of fire in the church. Which is the life and the power of God himself. See, this is the only type of church worth building. And the Lord says, shout and rejoice 19:48 verse 10, for I'm going to come and live in your midst. And people from many nations verse 11 will come and join this church. And then we come to the fourth vision chapter 3 verses 1 to 10. Here is a vision of cleansing 20:07 and crowning. The cleansing and crowning of Joshua the high priest. See, there are two great movements in Israel's history. One from Egypt to Canaan. One from Babylon to Jerusalem. 20:28 And in both of them, there is a Joshua. In the first one, there was a Joshua who took them into Canaan. And here is a Joshua who is a high priest who is one of the leaders. A picture of Jesus our high priest. And since Joshua is just 20:48 the Hebrew word for Jesus, it's a picture of Jesus. Except that here, Joshua was a human being. And so, we see him as a man who is sinful. In that sense, he is not like Jesus at all. 21:10 here we see Jesus as the angel of the Lord standing beside Joshua. So, we see chapter 3 verse 1, Joshua. Jesus, the angel of the Lord standing nearby. That means the messenger of the Lord. 21:31 It's not really angel. And then, Satan standing the other side. Satan standing to accuse and the Lord standing the other side to defend him. And this is the picture of all believers and all leaders. We all have failures in our life 21:51 and Joshua the high priest had failures in his life. Not deliberate known sin but unconscious sin which is there in all of us. we slip up in so many ways. And Joshua stood there and there were 22:12 unconscious sin in his life. Satan is always trying to target God's leaders. Remember this. Anyone who is a leader Satan targets his wives, children, everybody. But Jesus is there 22:32 to intercede for us all the time. So, here's Satan standing to accuse us and Jesus standing to intercede for us. That's the picture here. And both these ministries are going together at the same time. And we can join 22:52 with one of these ministries. When you see a fault in somebody, you can either accuse him and hold hands with the devil or pray for him and hold hands with Jesus. So, when Joshua was being accused, the Lord said, 23:12 I reject your accusations. He's a brand plucked from the fire, verse 2. And then the Lord said, remove the filthy garments. Put on new garments on him. And that's what the Lord says about us. Is there dirt on my clothes? 23:35 And the devil says his clothes are dirty. There's sin in his life. Jesus doesn't say, no, no, no, there is no sin. No, there is. But I don't accuse him. Change the clothes. I put my righteousness on him. And all of a sudden, 23:52 I'm perfectly pure. And I'm clean. And Zechariah watching all this, he's so excited by this. He says, not just a dress, Lord, but put a turban on his head as well. Verse 5. This is joining 24:13 with Jesus to make our brother glorious. And you can do that. When somebody tries to accuse a brother, don't join with him. Join with Jesus and make the brother glorious. 24:33 No, I'm not saying to overlook the sin. But the person may not have light on it. Don't judge. Ask the Lord to give him light. The Bible says in 1 John 5 of a brother's sins. Pray for him. God can give him life. 24:54 So we must be in this ministry of making our brother glorious. So that's another very important ministry to build the church. So that is the third vision. May the Lord help us to live in the light of these visions. Amen. 25:17 Welcome once again to Words of Life. In our study through the Bible we've been going through we now reach the book of Zachariah. And we are at the moment in chapter 4. Zachariah got a number 25:38 of visions and we are now looking at the fifth vision that the Lord gave Zachariah in chapter 4 verse 1 to 14. This is the fifth vision. And here in this vision he sees a lampstand. 26:00 golden lampstand with a bowl on top of it. That bowl is to carry the oil which is to flow into this lampstand. Now in the lampstand in the tabernacle and temple the priest had to come and pour oil 26:20 to keep it burning. but here it is different. Here's an automatic supply of oil. And that is with two trees which are on either side of this bowl. 26:42 And from there through a branch the oil flows into the bowl. from there it flows into the seven fold lampstand. 27:02 So here is a continuous supply of oil. Nobody has to go and replenish it. So here the two trees represent God's servants who are anointed who keep the church fresh in the spirit at all times. 27:32 In this particular situation it was Haggai and Zachariah. And their only job was to pour oil in so that the lampstand will burn. if the church is not burning then the leaders have failed. 27:55 So here we see two spirit filled servants continuously filled every time you meet them oil is flowing out of them to bless you. Have you met people like this there are very few but there are some 28:15 from their life not just from their words from their life first of all from their words continuous flow of oil that keeps you burning and encourages you. 28:39 Every time such servants of God ministered the word to the church it sets the church on fire. It's very rare to find such people but you need to be one like that. And when they burn 28:59 like this then the glory of God can be seen in the church. And if two brothers can work like this without competition or without jealousy without personal ambition without any desire to show that one is better than the other 29:18 but only with a desire for the church to burn the gates of hell will never be able to prevail against such a church. These two trees can be Haggai and Zachariah or it can be Joshua and Zerubbabel 29:38 or two brothers in a church or a husband and wife in a home working together. That is new covenant ministry. A husband and wife should be pouring oil into their children so that their home burns 29:58 for the Lord. And then the Lord explains it to Zerubbabel it's not by human might or power but by this oil of my Holy Spirit that the work will be done. And are there obstacles in the way? 30:19 Any mountains? They will be flattened before you Zerubbabel. That means when the church moves forward no obstacles Satan puts in awake and stand there. In chapter 2 we saw God the father 30:39 being a wall of fire round about the church. In chapter 3 we saw Jesus as the advocate pleading for Joshua the high priest. And in chapter 4 we see the third person of the trinity the holy 30:59 spirit filling and anointing the church. So we see all three persons of the trinity. Then we come to the sixth vision where chapter 5 verse 4 verse 1 onwards a 31:20 flying scroll verse 1 to 4 its length is 30 feet and width is 15 feet 20 by 10 cubits and this contains the 31:40 curse of the law it says in verse 4 those who tell lies and those who steal etc. This is a picture of God's judgment on those who disobey his laws. It enters 32:00 every house and exposes whatever is hidden. The church must be like that. Nobody should be able to come to the church and live in sin. The word of God must go into every nook and corner and expose everybody who tells a lie 32:18 or everybody who does something wrong. So that people don't feel comfortable there. If they live in sin, the secrets of their heart must be made manifest. Then we see a seventh vision 32:38 in chapters 5 verse 5 onwards where Zachariah sees a basket for measuring grain. So that's a symbol of business with a lead cover on it. 33:00 And when that lead cover verse 7 is lifted there's a woman sitting inside it. And her name wickedness and they had come to lift up this basket and take it verse 11 to build a temple for her in Shinar which is 33:20 Babylon. This is a picture of Babylon, the false church and this symbol of business indicates a Christianity which has become a means of financial profit for people where 33:43 religion and business go together and there's a lot of that going on in Christian work today. Many people in Christian work for the sake of money they didn't get any other job they do Christian work and 34:03 they earn much more than people than they have been in a secular job. I'll tell you a simple rule anyone who goes into Christian work must make it a rule that he will never earn more than what he would have earned if he 34:21 were in a secular job. If every Christian worker had followed this principle we would have a much purer church today. But we don't have that. 34:41 Christian work has become a means of profit. And people are earning in Christian work 10, 20, 50 times what they would have earned if they were in a secular job. People in Christian work have free car, free telephone, free 35:01 house, free so many things. this lid covers their unrighteousness in financial matters. And we had to make sure this Babylonian spirit doesn't come into the church. When people did business 35:21 in the temple, Jesus drove them out. Those simple Israelites could not see what was happening. They needed sheep and doves for their offerings and they thought these people are serving them. But underneath this lead cover, 35:43 Jesus could see they were all making profit. And that's why he lifted up the cover and exposed it and drove them all out. In the eighth vision, chapter six, Zachariah sees four chariots coming between two bronze mountains. 36:07 bronze symbolizes judgment. And these different horses, they look like uncontrolled horses. But God has control of their reins. And Zachariah was told verse 5, these are the four spirits of heaven going forth after standing 36:27 before the Lord. They went across the earth to minister God's judgment. maybe God sent a flood in one place or an earthquake in another place as a judgment. And they come back and 36:47 they say, well, my wrath has been appeased, verse 8, in the land of the north. Then the Lord says to Zachariah, you see, this vision, by the way, is that the fact that God's judgment is going to be there on the 37:08 earth, and that judgment must begin first in the church. Today we judge ourselves. One day God will judge the whole world. Judgment is God's business. For the world, we don't have a part in it. But we do have a part in judging 37:24 ourselves. And then the Lord tells Zachariah that some people are going to bring you gifts of gold and silver from Babylon. verse 10. Some people have come from Babylon and they're going to give you gifts of gold and silver. 37:44 And when God gives us gifts through others, we can accept them. if they are not unbelievers. You know, Elisha didn't accept any gifts from Naaman. But he would accept 38:04 it from a rich God-fearing lady who would accommodate him regularly. But when God gives us gifts, they're not always for ourselves. because he says, take the silver and gold and make a crown for Joshua. 38:27 So Joshua, there is a picture of Christ. Christ would be the first king-priest. And then in chapters 7 and 8, there are many messages on fasting, hypocrisy, disobedience, 38:47 etc. In chapter 7, he speaks about fasting. He says, real fasting is a value only when you fulfill a spiritual purpose through it. For example, in verse 9 and 10, 39:08 you must do what is right, be fair and honest, practice kindness, compassion to your brother. Don't oppress the widows or the orphans. Don't plan any evil in your heart against other people. Then only your fasting 39:29 has any value, he says. if you don't do these things, in other words, you don't cleanse your heart, then what's he saying, like they said, you know, we weep and we fast and you don't you didn't actually notice it. 39:50 God doesn't notice such fasts. so when we go into any type of discipline like fasting, remember, it's a life behind the fasting that's going to make it of value before God. 40:11 Now are you to notice here again the emphasis on caring for the poor and the widows and the orphans. learn to care for the poor among God's people. God will honor you. Their fathers didn't listen to it. 40:33 Verse 11, and that's why God punished them. And in chapter 8 verses 1 to 3, it says about preserving Zion, the church as faithful and holy for him. and he says this 40:53 church is going to comprise of verse 4 old men and old women and boys and girls verse 5. And I like what it says there. This is a picture of the church. It doesn't say that the boys 41:13 and girls will be praying there, but they are playing. Is that a place for playing in the church? Playing games? That's wonderful. I'm so delighted to see this here. The important thing is fellowship. 41:35 And we're not going to be always praying. We're going to be playing games too. I praise God for that. I believe that Jesus were here, he'd be playing games with us. He'd be with us on the football field. Some people have 41:52 a picture of Jesus who's always praying 24 hours a day. That's another Jesus. I found that in the church there's great fellowship that comes when we learn to play together. And when we sit and eat together, a lot more 42:12 fellowship than when we pray together. There must be a place for both. That's the balanced gospel. And then the Lord says in chapter 8 verse 8 All this may look impossible to you but I will fulfill it. I'll bring my people 42:32 home again and I will be faithful towards them as their God. So he says in the rest of chapter 8 don't get discouraged just go ahead and build the church. And verse 20 to 23 he 42:52 says people will come from all over in many places. From many nations people will come when you build a church like this. And they'll recognize that God is here. And then we come to the last section chapter 9 to 14 which 43:13 can be divided into two parts. First the rejection of the Messiah chapter 9 to 11 and then the reign of the Messiah chapter 12 to 14 So first 43:34 of all Zachariah expresses the burden of the Lord in judgment against certain countries with their pride and arrogance and it's in the midst of this that he speaks about your king coming to you on a donkey chapter 9 verse 43:53 9 All other kings travel on horses but this king of Zion is going to come on a donkey is quite different from other kings that's the wonderful thing about Jesus he 44:14 comes in humility no king in the world ever traveled on a donkey in every country in the world the donkey is supposed to be the most stupid of all animals and Jesus took the most despised animal and said I will travel on 44:33 that to teach us his humility and to teach us that he cares for the weakest and the lowest among God's people chapter 9 verse 11 speaks about the blood of the covenant by which we are saved 44:53 from hell chapter 9 verse 14 to 17 speaks about the second coming of Christ where the Lord will appear with a trumpet sound and will save his people 45:14 in verse 16 they will be like stones in his crown in that day and in view of all this Zachariah urged God's people in verse 1 of chapter 10 to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit he says 45:35 ask God to pour out rain upon you and then he gives us a warning in verse two two onwards about false prophets when we build the church we got to be careful about false prophets who tell 45:55 lying visions and false dreams and there are a lot of people like that today who got lying visions and false dreams and we have to be careful about all of them who go around talking about 46:15 material things and financial prosperity these are fortune tellers just like the worldly fortune tellers and you shouldn't be frightened by these Christian fortune tellers if you are looking for a true prophet find somebody 46:35 who will tell you about your sin and who will lead you into a Christ like life of humility and self denial why does it say that many of my people are wandering verse 2 like sheep afflicted 46:55 without a shepherd because they are listening to these Christian fortune tellers chapter 10 verse 4 and 5 refers to Jesus Christ he's called the cornerstone the tent peg the 47:17 bow battle and the ruler all together in chapter 11 we read about good shepherds and evil shepherds again the evil shepherds are the ones who are interested in making money like it says 47:37 in verses 4 to 7 their only aim is to make profit and they slaughtered the sheep for profit and here he talks about two staffs verse 7 grace and unity and 47:58 these are the two things that we need in the body of Christ grace to overcome sin and unity to build the body of Christ then we have a prophecy concerning Judas Iscariot selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver in verse 13 48:19 and how the 30 shekels would be thrown into the potter's house and then in chapter 12 verse 10 God promises that in the day of Pentecost he's going to pour out the spirit 48:39 on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and it's called a spirit of grace that was what was poured out on the day of Pentecost and in that day chapter 13 verse 1 a fountain will be opened for sin 48:59 where people can be cleansed but in order to that fountain to be opened verse 7 a sword will strike the shepherd only thus will the fountain be opened and it says there in verses 2 to 4 49:19 no one will be able to fool others saying they are prophets in that day and in the last chapter it says about Jesus standing on the Mount of Olives when he comes back verse 4 enemies of the Lord being defeated you can read 49:38 that and the last verse says there won't be any Canaanites in the house of the Lord in that day that means there won't be any businessmen all people who came to the church will be proud to make profit and gain will be driven 49:57 out those who came to gain as much as they can and who will be left those who came to give as much as they can that's the principle of Jerusalem the principle of sacrifice 50:18 may God help us to build this church Amen Amen.
