[0:00] Well, we're back in Zechariah chapter 2 this evening. And the word that endures forever, the word of the Lord that endures forever says, Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand.
[0:18] I asked, Where are you going? He answered me, To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and long it is. Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him and said to him, Run, tell that young man, Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it.
[0:42] And I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord, and I will be its glory within. Come, come, flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord.
[0:54] For I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven, declares the Lord. Come, O Zion, escape you who live in the daughter of Babylon. For this is what the Lord Almighty says, After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you, for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.
[1:17] I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. Shout and be glad, O daughter of Zion, for I am coming and I will live among you, declares the Lord.
[1:36] Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
[1:46] The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
[2:03] This evening I want to begin with a challenging question. It's a challenging question to me and it will be a challenging question to you, especially if you're married.
[2:19] Husbands, are you living in any way as if you didn't have a wife? Or, wives, are you living in any way as if you didn't have a husband?
[2:39] Strangely enough, we must. Listen to what the inspired Apostle Paul wrote.
[2:50] From now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none. That sounds terrible, but that's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 29.
[3:05] And this is the bigger context. He says, what I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. The time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none.
[3:17] And those who mourn as if they did not. And those who are happy as if they were not. Those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep.
[3:29] Those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them. For the world in its present form is passing away.
[3:41] So Paul is contending against worldliness. Worldliness. This worldliness. Living for this world. And he gives us some very interesting ideas for what worldliness could look like.
[3:55] It's living like your marriage is everything. And it's always going to be the most important relationship. Like your mourning or your joy in this world will last forever.
[4:06] It's living like the things that you can buy and the things that you have are going to be yours forever. It's living engrossed in them. Caught up in them.
[4:17] Captivated by them. Trapped by them. It's a heart condition. It's living like the way things are is the way things are always going to be.
[4:27] It's living like God isn't going to do anything. As if he is done working. And that's what we see in Zechariah chapter 2.
[4:38] Zechariah chapter 2. In Zechariah's third vision. And so tonight we're going to finish off Zechariah's third vision. And you remember that Zechariah, we just read it, saw a man with a measuring line.
[4:52] A long tape measure. And he is going off to measure how long and how wide Jerusalem is. Thinking that the Lord is going to rebuild Jerusalem.
[5:02] And so we need to have the specs on how big the city is. And the Lord says, run, tell that man Jerusalem is going to be a city without walls.
[5:14] We're not going to be conforming Jerusalem to what was. But we are now, Jerusalem is going to be a city without walls, stretching. And so I'm going to come and I'm going to build this city.
[5:28] And it's going to be more than it ever was. It's going to fill the earth. And so for them, that's what God was going to do. That was in the present or in the future for Zechariah's first listeners.
[5:43] But for us, it is what God is doing at this present time. So here we are, a part of the Holy Zion. We just sang it, Zion, what a favored lot is thine.
[5:56] And we were singing about ourselves. Hundreds and hundreds and thousands of miles away from a city in Palestine. So God is coming to build a city and the measuring line has reached the ends of the earth.
[6:10] And so now what we get in the last six or seven verses of Zechariah chapter 2 is, okay, what now? What should we do now? What should our response be to what God is going to do?
[6:25] Or for us, what God is doing? He is building his city. He has reached into this world and he is establishing Jerusalem and making it to spread throughout the entire world.
[6:36] And so in verses 7 through 13, we get three commands. And they're very easy. They're very short commands. We get three of them.
[6:47] And the first one is escape. And that's why we were talking about worldliness just a moment ago. Escape. And that's verse 7.
[7:00] Escape. Now who needs to escape? Escape. Zion needs to escape. The people of God. And for Zechariah's first listeners, he would be talking about the Jews.
[7:12] The Jews who are living in Babylon. Far away still. The Jews living among the people of Babylon. So when Cyrus, remember he was the king of Persia, he had allowed the Jews to go back.
[7:26] And some of them had stayed. They hadn't made the trip. Cyrus had said, you can go back.
[7:37] You can rebuild your temple. You can rebuild the city. You can start the worship up again. And they had stayed exactly where they were. And so it wasn't Cyrus that was trapping them.
[7:50] It wasn't the Persians that were keeping them there in Babylon. They didn't have to escape some sort of enforced slavery at this point. This is not Egypt.
[8:02] The Jews down in Egypt. They were trapped by their own desires. They were trapped by their own lives. It is possible to be in chains and be free.
[8:16] And it's possible to be free and in chains. Real bondage is heart bondage. And that's what these Jews were. Matthew Henry says, One would have thought that Cyrus' proclamation to go rebuild the city, go rebuild the temple, which gave liberty to the captive Jews to return to their own land, would suffice to bring them all back.
[8:38] But it did not have that effect. Well, why didn't they go back to the land of promise? And again, it wasn't because anyone was physically keeping them back.
[8:49] Why didn't they care about building the temple? Well, Matthew Henry goes on. The land of their captivity. So Babylon, the place where they had lived, was for most of them the land of their nativity, their birth.
[9:02] They'd been born there. Jerusalem and the temple, that was things of generations ago. They had taken root there in Babylon.
[9:14] They had gained a settlement, and for many of them, a very comfortable one. Some perhaps had got estates and preferments there, and they did not think that they could better themselves by returning to their own land.
[9:27] And then he says, It was a love of ease and worldly wealth and an indifference to the religion of their country and to the God of Israel himself. Why didn't they go back?
[9:42] Well, why would they? The road home was hard. Life was here. This is where things were good. So they stayed.
[9:52] Well, persecution has killed its thousands. But prosperity has killed its tens of thousands. And to the Jews living there, with their feet like tree roots in the ground, not going anywhere, living for this world, the Lord comes to them and says, Escape.
[10:14] It's time to escape. Now, why? Why escape? Well, you see, you start to see in this little paragraph in verses 7 through 9, some reasons for them to go, to escape.
[10:29] And you see some reasons for us to escape this world and to say no to worldliness and yes to heavenliness, thinking heavenly thoughts and living for heaven.
[10:40] Well, why escape? Well, you see the first thing in verse 8, because Jesus is going to come and destroy the nations. Jesus is against the nations. Verse 8, For this is what the Lord Almighty says, After he has honored me.
[10:55] And literally it says simply, After glory. After glory he has sent me against the nations. Now, there's a lot of possible interpretations for this.
[11:07] And it is a complicated sentence, but I think the best one that fits with the context and fits grammatically is simply this. It's in pursuit of glory.
[11:19] In pursuit of glory. After glory, he has sent me against the nations. So, the angel of the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God is going to send him against the nations to get glory.
[11:38] Now, as you read through this little passage, it can be very confusing, especially if you don't bring your understanding of the Trinity to this passage.
[11:52] If you didn't have the Trinity, it would practically be beyond explanation. Because you have the Lord Almighty, someone ascending, the Lord Almighty, to do something.
[12:04] Now, there's not a lot of people that can send the Lord Almighty to do something. And then in verse 9, you see that it's the Lord Almighty who has sent the Lord Almighty against the nations.
[12:19] So, who is this Lord Almighty but not the Lord Almighty? Well, it's the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. It's the angel of the Lord. And so, he's the one that is coming against the nations of the world and the nations where the Jews were living at and the place where we live.
[12:39] So, why do we have to escape this world? Why should we, who are husbands, live in some way, in a very challenging way, as if we had no wives or if we didn't have one or wives?
[12:52] Why would we live as if we didn't have a husband? Why would we live as if the things that we had were not going to be ours forever? Why would we think of everything as instead of ownership as instead maybe just borrowing and renting and not being ours?
[13:10] To have this, a hands-off approach to this world. Have a hands-off approach. Not engrossed in them. And why should we do that?
[13:21] It's because the world that we can get so easily engrossed in is the world that the Lord Almighty has sent Jesus against and to get glory from it.
[13:35] And here, it's not the glory of salvation. It's the glory of vengeance. It's the glory of justice. Because he says, I will raise my hand or I will raise my fist.
[13:49] I will shake my fist at them, against them, and their slaves will plunder them. Or maybe it's, I will plunder them. Either way, these nations are going to be plundered.
[14:01] All the things that this world loves and lives for, the things that you can put in a box and the things that you can put on a semi-trailer and move across the world and across the country or whatever, all their riches, it's all going to be taken away from them.
[14:17] Their houses, their lawns, their cars, their jobs, their positions, their honors, everything that they boast in, it's going to be stripped from them. The idea is plundered.
[14:27] They're not going to want it taken, but it's going to be taken from them forcefully. And Jesus is the one who's going to be leading the way.
[14:40] And so to love this world is to love something that God has turned his face against, the nations. To love the world is to hate God.
[14:54] James calls it spiritual adultery, cheating on God. And it can look so innocent.
[15:07] And we can call it a hundred different things like prudence and wisdom and good sense and necessity and God's blessing. And to some degree, all of those things might be in part true.
[15:20] Generally, what is an idol begins as something that is good and wise, but then it goes too far. And so to some degree, it might be all those things like wisdom and prudence, but on the other hand, it could be a cloak for just adultery.
[15:37] Something that we throw over the whole business to hide it from ourselves, to hide it from other people, to hide it from God. So siding with the nations, the peoples, and living for the things that they live for.
[15:55] And you notice here, it's siding with the people that persecute the people of God. It's to side with the people who persecute the people of God.
[16:06] James had some strong words to say because on the one hand, his listeners were showing favoritism towards the rich. They were giving them the special honor.
[16:18] They liked them especially. They thought it was great when they came to church. And James scratches his head and says, isn't it the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones dragging you into court?
[16:34] Isn't that the way we can be sometimes? We can love the very people that are hating us. To side with the rich, to love what they love, to live for what they live for, is to side with the persecutors.
[16:47] And it's because of their persecution that God is going to set his face against them and going to destroy them. And he says here, whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.
[17:05] Now, in English, that apple of my eye has the connotation of special affection. Someone is the apple of my eye. I love them especially. It doesn't necessarily have that connotation in Hebrew.
[17:18] What it's talking about is the pupil of the eye. Now, that's what we would say literally in English, but it's the most sensitive part of us.
[17:30] Right? Maybe if you have contacts and you've ever had something trapped in your eye, or you've had, maybe it's not contacts, you've had something in there, you know how sensitive your pupil can be.
[17:43] And I don't think there's anyone here who just lets anybody touch their eyeball. Do you let that happen? If someone is doing that, they better have a very good reason. I don't let my, even my wife come up and just touch my eye for no good reason.
[17:59] Maybe you do. I don't know. But, do you see, because it's sensitive. I don't trust anyone, except for myself. And I'm really careful with my eyeball.
[18:10] It's the most sensitive part about us. And what is God saying here? These are my people and I am sensitive about them. When you touch them, it hurts me.
[18:22] Do you remember what Jesus said to Saul of Tarsus? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? When you touch them, you're hurting me.
[18:33] You're persecuting me. And it's because the nations do this that the Lord is sending Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord against the nations to get glory, to plunder them.
[18:47] Well, and here's another reason we should escape this world. So Jesus is against them. There are persecutors. And if Jesus is against them, do they have a chance?
[18:59] They are a lost cause. God is stamped condemned on the persecuting, on the wealthy, those who live for this world.
[19:14] The sentence is already hanging over their head. And their days are numbered now. And that's what the Bible says again and again.
[19:27] They'll be doing, they'll be living their life, marrying and giving in marriage, eating and drinking, buying and selling until the day comes. Right up until the very last day, life will go on.
[19:42] And then the door will be shut and judgment will fall. And so why escape the world? Because it won't last. To live for this world is to live for something that won't last.
[19:57] To live for that position or that certain amount in your checking book or to live for anything in this world. To live for a beautiful body or health or wealth or any of it is to live for something that can't last.
[20:13] And so to us and to them, the Lord says, escape. Escape. And it's not ease your way out of it. It's not gradually move away from the world.
[20:27] It's escape. It's prison break. It's cut the shackles. It's break free. It's cut off your hand. Cut off your foot if that's what's keeping you in the prison. And that's what the Jews needed to hear and that's what we needed to hear.
[20:41] So what, let me just ask you again, what do you need to escape from? Again, we have these three great enemies, the devil and the flesh and the world.
[20:54] Where does the world have its shackles on you? Search your heart. Can you think of a few places, a few areas, a few corners of your life, maybe?
[21:09] Maybe they're big, maybe they're small, but search to your heart and after you've found it, cry out to the Lord for forgiveness, cry out for help and escape. Break free.
[21:23] What does Proverbs say? How should we get out of debt like a gazelle before the hunter going crazy? That's the idea here, escape. Well, that's the first command.
[21:37] Remember, there's three of them. The second is rejoice. Rejoice. Well, the Lord is coming. The Lord is building his church and he's building it on top of the city of man, on the destruction of the city of man.
[21:51] And so, the Lord's coming is terrible news for the world. See, no one thinks that the Lord is anyone special. They don't think Jesus is anyone special.
[22:02] And when he comes against them, then it says, then you know, then you will know that the Lord Almighty sent me. Everything will be clear then. And so, it's terrible news for the world, but for the people of God, it's a reason to rejoice.
[22:17] And so, verse 10 says, shout and be glad. Shout for joy is the idea. Rejoice. And you notice, it's not because he has come.
[22:30] It's because he is going to come. He is coming. And so, that was a reason for the Jews back then to rejoice. Our Savior is coming. We can begin rejoicing right now.
[22:42] And that is very much more true even for us. As we look forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ, there's enough joy in the hope that we have to shout for joy.
[22:55] Paul said in Romans 5, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Just thinking about the coming glory of God, that hope that we have, that's enough to rejoice in.
[23:09] And so, are you waiting to rejoice until Jesus comes again? Well, Zechariah would say, you're waiting too long. Now is the time to begin rejoicing that he is coming.
[23:24] The Lord is coming for us. And he's coming and he's not going to leave us as orphans. And if he's not going to leave us as orphans, now is the time to begin rejoicing.
[23:37] in the transition home in Ethiopia, it's a place where children go who are in the process of being adopted or they're strong candidates for adoption.
[23:53] And there's a lot of little children there, all sorts of ages. There was this little nine-year-old who had been adopted. His mom and dad had come and they had gone to court and the court had given, they had signed the decree of adoption.
[24:10] And so, legally, this little boy was now the child, the son of this mom and dad. But, the way things were, there was a bunch of paperwork and there was visas that had to be done.
[24:23] And so, while he was a son, he couldn't go home yet. They went home and that little boy had to wait. And at the time, there was this two or three months wait.
[24:36] But the thing is, he wasn't an orphan anymore. He wasn't an orphan anymore. Nothing had really outwardly changed. He was still in the transition home and he wasn't living for his family.
[24:48] But everything had changed. Everything had changed inside, was beginning to change inside of him. And he wrote in big chalk letters on the driveway.
[24:59] I love my mom and dad. He was waiting for mom and dad to come back. He was waiting for mom and dad to come back.
[25:12] He wasn't home, but mom and dad were coming. And that was something to be happy about. So, brothers and sisters, Jesus is coming back for you. To gather you in.
[25:23] No more as orphans, but as children. And so, rejoice later. Yes. Rejoice now. Yes. There's enough joy in the hope of the glory of God to make even our saddest days something to smile about.
[25:43] And so, the Lord gives other reasons to shout for joy. Verse 11, many nations will be joined to the Lord in that day and will become my people. Rejoice, the Lord is going to win those nations.
[25:56] those peoples. And so, God's, the nations are not altogether thrown away and condemned all completely out of order. He says, no, some of those, many of those nations are going to come and be joined to the Lord.
[26:13] And so, that began in some way at Pentecost when Jews who were scattered among the nations who spoke all these different languages came and they repented and they believed they heard the gospel in their own tongue and the curse of Babel began to go working backwards.
[26:32] They were joined to Jesus. So, how do you get joined to the Lord? How do you become one of God's people? You notice, it's not something that you do through the people of God.
[26:45] That's what we saw this morning. Did Cornelius have to become a Jew before he could become a Christian? No. He's going to get connected to Jesus.
[26:57] We're going to see that next week. So, how do you become one of God's people? It's not by joining the church. It's not by going through membership classes. It's not by being baptized.
[27:10] Those are all things that you do because you have been joined to Jesus. But, it's getting to Jesus. You join your life to Jesus. And that begins when you die and you repent to yourself.
[27:24] You repent, you die to yourself. You believe, you throw your whole weight on him. And by faith, in your trust in the Lord Jesus, you cling to him.
[27:35] And look at who is getting joined in this passage. It's not just Jews scattered among the nations. It's not just the Jews living far away in Babylon. It's, it's the nations.
[27:47] every tribe and tongue and language and people. Now, think about that. Think about that.
[27:59] That promise would have stretched poor little Jerusalem almost to the place of breaking. Would you have a hard time believing that promise if you lived in Jerusalem at that time?
[28:14] You have no temple, your walls are broken down, your city is hardly anything, the people of God are scattered, you're not wealthy, you're poor, and all you have is this promise.
[28:26] God says, the nations are going to join. So the question would be, how would it ever be? And as they looked around, with man, it's impossible.
[28:38] It's impossible. That's never going to happen. But, with God, all things are possible. And so, at Pentecost, the migration began and it picked up steam and it crossed over boundaries to the Samaritans and then it crossed over boundaries to the Gentiles and then the great migration to Jerusalem began.
[29:01] Isaiah had already said it. Just listen to this. In the last days, that's now, but for Isaiah, it was the last days. In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains.
[29:17] It will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob.
[29:29] It's Isaiah 2. And what do we see now? We see people in Africa. We see people in South America and North America and Europe and Asia and every country coming, streaming into the church.
[29:42] Now, the glorious success of the gospel is something to rejoice in. If it is good that we are not a part of a fallen and destined to be destroyed world, then how good is it to be part of the church, the people of God?
[30:00] And it's not the losing side, it's the winning side. And sometimes we can get caught up and the battle can be so hard and we can be daunted by our enemies and think, oh, it's never going to get finished.
[30:23] It's never going to be ended. The Great Commission is never going to be finished. We can feel that sometimes. But just think about how far we've come since Zechariah spoke.
[30:38] And it might just be as impossible for us as it was for them, but with God all things are possible. But even when the battle is hard, there is a reason to sing. 2 Chronicles tells this very peculiar story of King Jehoshaphat.
[30:55] He's surrounded by the enemies. The people are surrounded by their enemies. Moab and Ammon and Esau and Edom and they're terrified.
[31:07] They're far outnumbered. And then a prophet named Jehaziel came and said, don't be afraid or discouraged. The battle is not yours but God's.
[31:19] And Jehoshaphat believed and he showed his faith by beginning to praise the Lord. He prayed and then he began to sing.
[31:31] And it says he began to praise God with a very loud voice. And then all the men began to sing and praise God and as they sang, listen to what happened, as they are singing, the Lord set ambushes against all their enemies.
[31:48] They ended up destroying themselves and there's nothing but plunder afterwards. this is what it's like when you get to serve with the Lord. Even in the face of your enemies, with your enemies surrounding you, you can sing because the victory is ours.
[32:05] And there's joy in the battle. Now, we don't fight with sword and shield.
[32:18] We fight with the sword that makes men whole. the word of God. But even in this fight, we can sing, we can rejoice because the nations are his. And though we are weak, he is strong and the victory is ours.
[32:32] And in his strength, we can be strong. And he's coming and the nations are coming to him. And Zachariah says, shout for joy.
[32:44] Don't get so bogged down in this world that you forget to rejoice in what God is doing. See, worldliness can look like loving all that other stuff.
[32:55] And worldliness can look like just being sad about how bad everything is going. With no eye to what God is doing. No joy in what Jesus is bringing about.
[33:09] Well, there's another reason to rejoice. In verse 12, rejoice because we're his. we're going to be joined and he says, I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
[33:23] The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. The picture is when Joshua divvied up the land for the Israelites after the conquest.
[33:38] And certain tribes got certain sections and other tribes got other sections. And so think about how you would feel the moment you walked into your land and it was yours.
[33:50] It was God's gift to you. Part of your inheritance from the Lord. And you say, this is mine. This is ours. Maybe you remember the first time that you bought a house or you had an apartment and you're like, this is my space.
[34:05] I'm not sharing it with anyone. This is mine. This is ours. And that's what Zechariah is saying. The Lord Jesus is going to come and take his people for himself.
[34:17] They are going to be his portion. They are going to be his inheritance. They are going to be the place where he says, this is where I'm going to rest. Now, can you imagine that? Jesus is saying that about us.
[34:29] I'm going to rest in them. I'm going to say, this is mine and I love them. It's a love relationship that he's talking about. And Zechariah says, you should rejoice in this.
[34:42] Just think about how wonderful it is to be loved. That your spouse loves you. Or that your boyfriend or girlfriend, just the first time you realize, wow, they like me as much as I like them.
[34:55] Wow. But here's a reason to shout for joy. It's not just any old spouse. It's the king of kings.
[35:05] It's the lord of lords. It's the mighty warrior. It's the gentle king riding on a donkey. He's the one who's saying, these are going to be mine. You're mine.
[35:18] He's going to come and live with us. Now, again, doesn't that stab worldliness in the heart? If you think about it, how can I be so in love with this world and the hopes and dreams of this world and the stuff of this world when Jesus is saying, I'm claiming all of you.
[35:42] You're going to be my special possession. The happier we are in Jesus, the greater power we have to say no to this world.
[35:58] But, sadly, the opposite is true. The happier we are in the world, the easier it is to just fly away from Jesus. But his love has these hooks and these handles on us.
[36:13] He says, I love you. Should you be doing that? I love you. Should you be wanting all that? Again, if we rejoice in the Lord, we'll be able to escape.
[36:28] So that's the second commandment. Our second command is rejoice. And then as the second, this third vision ends, we hear this final command and we could say it's a hush.
[36:43] Hush. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, kind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. So escape, rejoice, hush.
[37:02] Hush, again, seems to be the opposite of this world, doesn't it? what is so much of this world? What does a person who's engrossed in this world look like?
[37:15] Running ragged, complaining, just desperate activity. We've got to get this person in office. The world is going to the dogs.
[37:26] It's all because of them, and it's all because of them, and it's all over. And there's Martha running around, worried about many things.
[37:39] But in light of the Lord's coming to build Jerusalem, in light of God coming to save us, Zacharias says, it's time to hush. And it's not just the command to Zion, it's to everyone, be still before the Lord.
[38:00] Lord, this is talking about getting our vision and our priorities and our mindset right. Be still and know that I am God.
[38:14] I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. And so Zacharias ends, as he's looking out and God is going to come and build the city, and Zacharias says, it's time to stop rushing around.
[38:34] It's time to stop the frantic this world activity. Calm yourself before the Lord. And watch what he's about to do.
[38:46] Watch what he's about to do. This word of hush is a worship word. It's a worship word.
[38:58] he's saying, silence your endless talking. Silence your restless heart. Hush yourself before God and see him for who he is.
[39:10] Yes, Jerusalem is very small, the least among the nations. But it's going to fill the earth. He has roused himself from his throne. Can you imagine that?
[39:23] A mighty king king, getting up off of his throne. And now he's coming. He's coming to wage war. He's coming to save his people.
[39:36] And in view of this mighty king who is coming, it's a time to be quiet. To stop running around, racing around, talking endlessly.
[39:50] it's time to be still and know that he's going to be exalted on the earth. And when he comes, it's going to be the best day.
[40:02] And when he comes, it's going to be the worst day. Zacharias, at the end of his book, he says, it's going to be a unique day. It's going to be a day like no other.
[40:16] And every knee will bow, because when this king comes, the force of his glory will push us all down. And some will go down willingly, and some will be forced down, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, and some will bow and confess with joy, and some will bow and confess with the worm of regret already beginning to eat into them.
[40:44] And so, in light of that, in light of that, he's coming, coming. And if he is coming, then what should we do? We need to quit cheating on God with this world.
[40:56] We need to escape. And it's time to rejoice, and it's time to hush our hearts. And maybe the first time, to hush your rebellious heart, and to quiet yourself before the Lord, and confess that he is God, and that he has the right to do with you whatever he wishes.
[41:20] And so, Jesus is coming after glory. He came the first time after glory, and he went to a cross, and he's coming again after glory, and this time, it's to judge the world.
[41:33] And so, what should we do? Well, we should hush our hearts. The world wants us running around frantic, like chickens with our heads cut off.
[41:46] But that is not fitting of the people of God. That is not fitting of the fact that God is coming to us. So, we calm and we rejoice, and we still ourselves before the Lord and hold him in reverence and in awe.
[42:02] Let's pray. our glorious God, it doesn't seem like we can do justice to your majesty and the weight of your word.
[42:24] The fact that it is true, and the fact that because it is true, it is going to cut through all of the nonsense and the sin and the rebellion and the noise of this world.
[42:40] And your word, and you will come with great power and great glory, and you will put an end to the rebellious nations, and you will call out from among all peoples, the people you have chosen, the people you have loved, the people Lord Jesus that you have died for.
[43:02] And there we will be before your throne, on our knees, confessing that you are God with all of our hearts, and all of our minds, and all of our affections set upon you.
[43:16] And we can't wait for that day when that prayer for an undivided heart will be finally and fully answered, and you will have all of us, and you will take all of us.
[43:31] We pray, Lord, that the power and the truth of your word would come home to our hearts, that we might escape this world, that we might break free of it and live for our coming king.
[43:49] And I pray for those who are lost, and you know who they are. Lord, make the truth of your word to come powerfully home to them with conviction, that it might not be something that they could forget, but it sticks in them and sticks with them and will not let them go until they come home to you.
[44:13] Pray that you would do that. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.