Flight ZMA01 - Part A

So when you read this book it's not unlike reading the visions of Daniel or reading the visions of John in the book of Revelation. These apocalyptic very symbolic visions.

The prophecies of Zechariah were wide-ranging, poetic, and yet very frank. And on today's Connect with Skip Hiting, Pastor Skip explores the writings of Zechariah and what they mean to us today. But first, did you know that you can now connect with Pastor Skip and this ministry via text messaging? Simply text Connect to 74759 to join the group. When you do, you'll receive a free digital booklet called, Are We Living in the Last Days? Get a glimpse into the last days and how you can be ready for that.

So text Connect to 74759 today. Now, here's a resource that'll help you find a path to real freedom. Freedom is precious and in human history not common in governance. America was built on the cornerstone that man is endowed by his creator with rights that cannot be taken away. Our government was formed to secure existing rights, not provide them. But there is a higher permanent liberty, the freedom from sin. If you want to fix a society, they need truth.

If you want to fix a broken political system, you need to infuse it with truth and expose ourselves to the truth of the word of God. True freedom is ours, but we need to understand the terms. That's what you'll find in our freedom package of resources by Skip Heitzig. The package features Skip's 10 full-length message set of your path to freedom messages, including Securing the Foundations and Jesus in the Age of Confusion. The freedom package is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig.

So request your freedom package today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Now, let's turn to Zechariah for today's lesson with Skip. We're in the book of Zechariah tonight, and Lord willing, I want to finish the Old Testament tonight. That's just Lord willing.

So we want to jump right into it. This is the Bible from 30,000 feet. We are looking at a general overview, and we want to look at the last two books of the 39 books that comprise your Old Testament, the book of Zechariah and the Italian author Malachi after that, I mean Malachi, and hopefully finish this out. In the New Testament, there are many quotes from books like Genesis, Psalms, and Isaiah. Those are the three big OT, Old Testament books that are quoted the most in the New Testament and for good reasons. The subject matter and the length of the book merit them being quoted a lot by New Testament authors. But what you may not know is the book of Zechariah is quoted about 40 times in the New Testament, four zero times in the New Testament.

Why? Because it is so obviously messianic, and the New Testament authors knew that. And so much of the quotations that deal with the coming of the Messiah, the second coming are from the book of Zechariah. If you were to read the Old Testament from cover to cover, and I assume some of you have done that, you would discover that there's not just one person named Zechariah. There are, guess how many? 30 different Zechariahs.

This is one of them, and this is the most notable one of them. He was a priest, that is, he was born in a priestly family. He was not born in the land of Israel, he was born in the captivity of Babylon, but then came back to Jerusalem. It's like the opposite of Daniel, who was born outside of the captivity and born in Jerusalem, and then went into captivity and served in Babylon. This guy, Zechariah, was born in captivity and then went back to Jerusalem to serve.

So it's just like the polar opposite. He was a contemporary of another prophet we've already looked at by the name of Haggai. And they were sort of like two peas in a pod. They both had the same ministry, though very different styles. God used them to stir up the apathy of the people who had come back from the captivity, started to build the temple, and after a year, shut it down. Got very busy with their own affairs, their own lives, didn't want to do anything for the work of the Lord in Jerusalem, so the temple lay in ruins. God raised up Haggai who was like a kick in the pants, and Zechariah, who was like a pat on the back.

Very, very different ministries, very different styles, but affecting the same result. If you want a time frame, and I know you do, if you want a time frame as to when he prophesied, he fits perfectly into the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. In fact, Nehemiah chapter 12 writes about Zechariah coming to Jerusalem. Ezra chapter 5 and 6 talk about the ministry that he and Haggai had in inspiring the people to build. So he has already been mentioned.

If you have read those books, that's not unfamiliar to you. Okay, what is his subject matter? Well, he is a prophet that has a sweeping scope. He is looking at the rebuilding of the temple that has been left and laid in ruins, and he'll go all the way to the future, to the second coming of Christ. So something that is very local and immediate, the building of the temple, all the way to the first coming and even the second coming and even the millennial kingdom, all is mentioned and written about in this book. His style is different, I've noted that.

How is it different? Haggai, as I said, was in your face, pointed the finger, was very, very frank. This guy is more of a mystic, head in the clouds, and he sees visions, a series of visions about the future. So when you read this book, it's not unlike reading the visions of Daniel or reading the visions of John in the book of Revelation, these apocalyptic, very symbolic visions. He's longer, he's more poetic, he's more prophetic than Haggai was. Again, two different styles, but God uses them both to work in tandem. I like that. I like the fact that you and I may have different styles, but the Lord uses us all very uniquely.

So they just form a good example of that. By the way, the reason I believe the Lord used visions like in Daniel, like in Revelation, and like here in Zechariah, is because there's something about the poetry of a vision described that paints a picture in your mind that makes an impact, A, and transcends time and culture. So that when you read it years later, and even years and centuries later, the impact can still be felt because of the style in which it is written. That's why I think Revelation is written in that style. Revelation opens by saying the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him, which he gave or sent to his servants and signified. That's the word that is used, signified. That is expressed in signs.

So likewise, Zechariah signified or expressed these things in signs. The reason he wrote is to bring hope to the refugees, the captives, who had come back to Jerusalem. They were very small. Remember, out of about a million Jews in Babylonian captivity, only 50,000 of them returned. They're a very small, vulnerable group. There's a lot of enemies all around them. Up in Samaria, there's Sanballat, Tobiah, and the whole crew wanting to shut them down. There's pressure in Persia from a subsequent king, and so they're wondering about their future.

Persia was so large, a world-dominant nation. They were a small group, and they were there in fear, as well as now apathy. Somebody once said, every tomorrow has two handles, the handle of faith or the handle of fear and anxiety. It's essential that you grab a hold of the right handle, and that's where this prophet comes in. He wants the people of Judah to grab the handle of faith. God has good things in store for y'all, and so trust Him.

So we begin the book. In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Berachiah, the son of Edo, the prophet, saying, The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. Therefore, say to them, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Return to Me, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Turn now from your evil way and from your evil deeds.

But they did not say to them, From your evil deeds, but they did not hear, nor heed me, says the Lord. The people had returned to the city, but according to this, they have yet to fully turn to the Lord, return back to Him, return back to Him with a full commitment and devotion to finish building that temple, that center of worship for the nation to continue. They had come back to Jerusalem. It was very different coming back from when they left it. And you know, you perhaps, some of you have discovered, I know I have, whenever you go back to the place of your birth, the land of your birth, it's not the same.

It's not what you expect. Things do change. And they came back and saw not a temple standing, but a bunch of ruins. And every time they saw that pile of stones, it was a reminder that their forefathers had failed, and thus the judgment had fallen. And they're there to rebuild those stones.

And as I said, after a while, they became apathetic. And both Zechariah and Malachi address that. I'm going to take you over to verse seven of that first chapter.

On the 24th day of the 11th month, which is the month Shabbat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Barakiah, the son of Edo, the prophet. I'm not going to read all these visions, but there's a series of eight visions about building the temple. Chapters 1 through 8 are all about rebuilding the temple. Chapters 9 through 14 are all about the Messiah who is coming, coming again, and will rule and reign forever. The first vision, beginning in the verses we just read, are about a man standing among the myrtle trees, seated on a horse. Behind him are other horses. It is a short but sweet vision about how God intends to prosper the nation of Judah back in the land.

Verse 8 says, I saw by night and behold a man riding on a red horse. It stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were horses red, sorrel, which is sort of like a reddish brown, and white. Laurel trees are not big trees.

They top out at about eight feet or so, but they're hardy. They're evergreen, and they're hardy, hard to kill them, and this is a picture of the nation of Israel. They had been attacked so many times. They had recently been decimated by the Babylonians.

Before that, the Assyrians, but they're still there. They're back, and so it's a vision of hope that they're going to be able to withstand even this, what they have gone through. Down in verse 16, therefore thus says the Lord. You'll see how he fleshes this out. I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. There's going to be some expansion going on.

There's going to be building going on. In chapter 1, verse 18 takes us to the second of those eight visions, and this is a vision of four horns. If you know your Bible, you know that horns are symbols of authority, symbols of power, usually symbols of powerful nations, and these are nations that at one time had Israel under their thumb. They were in control. They were dominated over Israel and Judah, and as the vision continues, there are four stonemasons or craftsmen that break these horns or lose the horns.

They get rid of them, so they overpower them. Let's read verse 18. I raised my eyes, and I looked, and there were four horns, and I said to the angel who talked with me, what are these? It's always a good question if you don't know what you're looking at, especially when it comes to biblical things. You know, sometimes we like to nod our heads like, yeah, that's really deep. It's so deep, I have no idea what you're saying.

So it's better to just say, hey, what's up? What am I looking at? What do these things mean?

So he does. And so he answered me, these are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, and then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. We don't exactly know who these nations are. My guess is they represent the same four nations as seen in the prophecy of the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar saw an image of gold and silver and bronze and iron and iron and clay.

The gold was Babylon, followed by Medo-Persia, followed by Greece, followed by Rome, all of which subjugated and persecuted the Jewish people. Daniel had his own vision of the same kingdoms, but in his vision in Daniel 7, it was wild beasts. It seems that these four horns fit those four nations as once dominating Israel, but all being pushed aside and Israel surviving through the midst of it. Chapter 2 brings us to the third vision, and that is a vision of a measuring line.

Remember, we just read about that. A surveyor's line over Jerusalem because it's going to expand. So verse 1, I raised my eyes and I looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

So I said, where are you going? He said, to measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length. The vision goes on to basically explain that Jerusalem, however big it was at that time, would expand and grow. Interesting side note, 3,000 years ago, and you can still see the early settlements of Jerusalem, 3,000 years ago, the population of Jerusalem was about 2,000 people at its peak. And it covered, the whole city enclosed in walls, covered only 10 to 12 acres. That was the city of Jerusalem, 10 to 12 acres enclosed by a wall, 2,000 people. That was Jerusalem. Today, the population of Jerusalem is not 2,000 people. It's 875,000 people, close to a million people in one city. The square mileage of the city of Jerusalem, far from 10 to 12 acres, is 49 square miles. It has expanded.

That measuring line has gone way out. There's gridlock in the holy city. Over in chapter 3, we get vision number 4. It's a vision of Joshua, not Joshua in the Old Testament after Moses, but Joshua the high priest who served alongside Zerubbabel. Remember Zerubbabel? We've already noted his name.

Zerubbabel was the civic leader, like the mayor or the governor of the city. Joshua was the religious leader, the high priest, and this is a vision of the cleansing of the high priest, emblematic of the cleansing of the nation itself. Verse 1, then he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.

Now, we can relate to that, can't we? We who serve the Lord, we who follow Jesus, we have an adversary. That's what Satan means, an adversary, an enemy, who opposes everything you want to do or activate in serving the Lord.

He wants to oppose you. And this is interesting. Verse 2, the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, Satan.

Now, that's interesting. He didn't say, I rebuke you, Satan, which he could. He can. He is the Lord who created the devil. He created Lucifer, who became the devil. But the Lord said, the Lord rebuke you.

He used the third person. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? Speaking of Joshua, now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the angel, and he answered and spoke to those who stood before, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.

I see here something that I've always felt strongly about. When it comes to spiritual warfare, we should never deal directly with the devil. I've heard believers become very emboldened and they'll be praying, and then they'll, in their prayers, sort of pivot from praying to God to talking to the devil, which I think, it's just never good.

Why pray to him? And saying something like, Satan, I rebuke you, in Jesus' name. Or Satan, we rebuke you. Even the Lord didn't use the first person. Even the Lord said, the Lord rebuke you.

So you say, well, why is that a model? Because we see it again in the New Testament book of Jude, verse nine, where we are told that even Michael the archangel, when disputing with Satan over the body of Moses, dared not bring a reviling accusation against him. This is Michael the archangel fighting another demonic archangel, the devil.

And it said he didn't even bring a reviling accusation, but rather said, the Lord rebuke you. So I don't even like to talk to the devil. I don't think it's good form for a Christian to have conversations with them. The Bible says, resist the devil, not carry on a negotiation with the devil.

Don't even talk to him. When the devil knocks at your door, ask Jesus Christ to answer it. You don't have to even engage with the devil. And let's just say, you don't have to worry about him. Oh, it's the devil.

So, what's new? Oh, it's the devil. Sometime, go study one of the great hymns of the church written by Martin Luther called, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. There's great lyrics in that hymn. It's a great hymn.

A Mighty Fortress is Our God. There's great lyrics in that hymn. And one of the stanzas goes something like, and though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we shall not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim, not for him. One little word shall fail him. God will speak one word and he'll be incarcerated and he'll eventually be destroyed.

The song goes on to say, his rage we can endure for lo, his strength is sure and his doom, Satan's doom is sure. So, good to study the scripture and to study those who use the scripture to write their worship songs like that. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet.

Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now, we want to tell you about an opportunity you have to take your knowledge of God's word to a deeper level. If you're ready to study God's word beyond going to church and personal Bible study, you're ready for Calvary College.

Take your learning and your life's purpose to the next level with an education in biblical studies. Registration for the 2023 fall term is open right now. All classes take place online. Courses like Old Testament Survey and New Testament Survey, Acts, Romans in Revelation, plus Theological Studies in the Doctrine of Man, Sin, and Salvation. Calvary College partners with Veritas International University and Calvary Chapel University where you can earn an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree or simply increase your knowledge of God and his word. Registration for Calvary College online classes is in full swing, but registration ends August 5th. Don't miss out. Head to calvarychurchcollege.com and click on apply.

Fill out the form, pay the registration fee, and start selecting classes to join us online this fall. We're glad you've tuned in today. Connect with Skip is all about helping listeners like you strengthen your walk with God. And we'd like to invite you to connect others like you to the life-changing power of the gospel with a gift to help keep these teachings you love on the air all around the world.

Your support is vital to keep this broadcast going for you and growing to reach many others as we expand into more major US cities this year. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Thank you. Be sure to come back next week as Skip continues his teaching from Zechariah and concludes his series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Zechariah Piter is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.