to come, and as we look at it tonight, we want to not only see what God says to Israel, but how we can apply this to our own lives. As Joshua was preparing to lead Israel into battle to take possession of Canaan, in Joshua chapter 1, the Lord said to him three times, be strong and very courageous. And the people of Ziklag had been taken captive by the Amalekites. And David's men were ready to stone him. If you remember that story, if you're familiar with it, David fleeing from Saul had gone to live among the Philistines. And when they were going to battle against Israel, David was prepared to go with them to keep up the ruse. But he actually was part of them and in favor with them. But they refused to let him go. And so he returned home with his army. And they had lived in the city of Ziklag. While they were gone, the Amalekites had come along and had taken the city and taken all the people, all the David's family and the soldiers' families and all the stuff, and had fled. And when they got back, David and his men realized what had happened, and David's men wanted to stone him. They blamed him. The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. When Elijah felt like a failure and wanted to die, because Jezebel threatened to kill him, and he felt like he had not done any better than the prophets before him. And he wanted God to take his life, and the Lord strengthened him, first of all, with food and water, and then encouraged him by informing him that he was not alone, that there were still 7,000 that had not vowed the need to bail. And God put him back to work and encouraged him in that way. And all of those are just reminders to us that sometimes we as God's people need to be encouraged But you know, we have a God who loves to encourage us. And so this remnant has returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple. They're in the middle of the job. This message that God gave Zechariah that we read about in chapter eight, and really it's a continuation of what was in chapter seven. And so that tells us at the beginning of chapter seven, it was a fourth year of King Darius. and the ninth month, and the fourth day of the month, it was December 7th of 518 BC. But the people were in the middle of the job of rebuilding the temple. It took them four years. This is two years in. So if you can think about it that way, they're well underway, but they still have a work to do. And God wanted to encourage them. Some had grown weary in their worship. That's what we looked at. I guess it was two Sunday nights ago as we talked about the fact that, you know, the dangers of humanistic worship or heartless worship or hypocritical worship, they came and asked, do we continue to fast like we've done these last 70 years? And they had four fasts, all of them related to something that had happened as part of God's judgment when the Babylonians had come and taken the city of Jerusalem captive and the people captive and destroyed the temple and all, so they were fasting in remembrance of the judgment of God against them? Do we continue to do this? And they were discouraged. They're tired of it. We don't want to continue to fast like this. Do we have to keep doing this? And so they're weary in their worship. Others maybe felt like their work was a waste of time, because if you'll notice here in Zechariah 8 and verse 9, the Lord says to the people, let your hands be strong. And again, in verse 13, he says the same thing. let your hands be strong, it would suggest to us that they were getting weary of the work, maybe felt like the work that they were doing was just a waste of time. I mean, they had just 70 years prior, the old temple, Solomon's temple had been destroyed. And how do we know that God's not going to do that again? We're spending all this time effort building this temple and what's going to happen to it. And maybe they're getting weary in that. And by the way, I would just remind us tonight that, you know, this temple that they're building is going to be the place where the people of God worship for the next 600 years. And even though it didn't have the glory of Solomon's temple, as far as the human glory, it wasn't, it didn't have all the gold and silver and all the beauty that Solomon's temple had. Now as Herod, did his work to it. It actually was maybe more beautiful than Solomon's, but at this point, as they're building, it's a very simple structure just a functional temple, but God was pleased. And this was the temple that the Lord Jesus went to when he was on earth in his earthly ministry. So they're not wasting their time. God is gonna bless and use this building that they're building as a place for his people to worship him. And so he wants to encourage them. This is a job that God has given them to do. It is not a waste of their time. And he wants to encourage them to continue the work and not to grow weary in their worship. And so I want to note, first of all, that he encouraged them through his word. He encouraged them to persevere, but he did so through his word. You notice how often the phrase, the word of the Lord occurs. If you look at your Bible, let me just walk you through this real quick. Verse 1, it's there. Verse 2, verse 3, verse 4, verse 6, it's there twice. In verse 7, verse 9, verse 11, and verse 14, it's there twice. In verse 17, 18, 19, 20, and 23, it's there twice. Over and over again, the message is, thus saith the Lord, or the word of the Lord. And God is stressing that this message that Zechariah is giving you, it's not his message. It's God's message. This is what God has to say to you. And God encourages us through his word. When we're struggling with discouragement, for whatever reason, whatever it is that's discouraging us, what we need to do is get back into the word of God and find our encouragement in the word. In Psalm 119 verse 49, the psalmist said, remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope. Lord, remember that word that I, as I was looking in your word, And I ran across this statement that you made, and it just gave me hope. And Lord, I'm anchoring my soul on that hope. And in verse 81 of the 119th Psalm, he says, my soul fainted for thy salvation. Lord, I'm waiting for your deliverance. There was something that he was struggling with, a problem that needed help, and he was waiting for God to deliver. But he says, but I hope in thy word. As I wait to see you work, Lord, I'm confident that you will, because that's what you've said in your word. In the 114th verse he says, I hope in thy word. And in the 130th psalm in verse five he says, I wait for the Lord and my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope. We need to learn to find our encouragement and our hope in the word of God. How often and no doubt if we would give testimony and if we could do so tonight and if we could share what God has done in our lives. We could point to times when we were discouraged or going through some difficulty or some trouble, trial in life, and God gave us a word. He gave us a verse of scripture, some truth from his word that encouraged our hearts. And we laid hold of that and it carried us through. And that's our God. That's what he wants to do always, is to encourage us through his word. But what was the word that he gave them And as we go through this chapter, again, I wanna note, we're gonna look at what he says to Israel, because the message is to them. But I wanna just note the fact that the way that he encouraged Israel, not necessarily the specifics, although in some cases, even that, but the way that he encouraged Israel is the way that he encourages us today, through his word. But what does he say to us in his word? Well, first of all, he reminded them of his person. And Terry, if you can help me out, I don't know that I can advance these slides tonight, so if you'll do that for me, I would appreciate it. So he reminded them, first of all, of this person. You'll notice, look there again at verse one. Again, the word of the Lord, and what's the next two words? Again, the word of the Lord of hosts. And you'll notice, again, that almost every time where the word of the Lord occurs in this chapter, it is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord of Hosts. That name appears 14 times in this chapter. What does that mean, the Lord of Hosts? He's reminding, again, this remnant, 50,000 people that came back. They're surrounded by enemies that would like to see the work cease. They had opposed them. Matter of fact, for a time, the work did cease, partly because of the opposition of those enemies. They didn't want to see the Jewish people prosper, much like in our day to day. It really has been throughout the history of the nation of Israel because of Satan's opposition to them because of the promises that God has made and the Lord coming through the nation of Israel. Satan would love to destroy them. They're surrounded by their enemies who would love to stop the work and destroy the people. And the Lord reminds them, you know what? I've got an angelic army. They can take care of you and defeat every foe, protect you from every foe. I'm the one who commands those armies. I am the Lord of the armies of heaven. And just to remind us of their power, one of them, one of those angels in one night slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers so that the Assyrian army had to pack up and go home. That's the power of those angels. Now they're created. The power that they have is the power that God has given them. Their power is greater than ours, but that's who the Lord has at his disposal. We don't need to fear what men might do to us because God is in control and God has the armies of heaven at his disposal to do it. When he was facing the cross and Peter's trying to protect him from the cross and he says to Peter, don't you know that I could pray to my father right now and he could send more than 12 legions of angels? Peter, I'm not at the mercy of man. This is the plan of the Father, but if I didn't wanna do this, and I go willingly, if I don't wanna do this, there's armies of heaven that could come down and stop this. So that's the God that we serve, and he reminded them of who he was and gave them a name of his that would be a special encouragement to them in that time. By the way, in verse 10, he tells them that, you know, all the problems you had? both before the captivity and even after they came back from the captivity for a while, when they quit doing the work, there were problems. And God tells them, I'm the one that caused your problems. You notice in verse 10, he said, I set all men, everyone against his neighbor. I was the one that did that. I wasn't pleased with you. You had stopped doing the work. And so I turned everyone against his neighbor. Hopefully we won't have a coughing fit tonight. But he also says in verse 12, I'm also the one that will cause the blessings, and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. God's in control. And so, we first of all need to remember, when we're discouraged, let's remember who God is. And not just the fact that he's the Lord of hosts, but remember everything that you know about your God, and focus on especially the things that relate to the problems that you're facing. What is God to you in that situation? I kind of got in on this conversation, I wasn't part of the conversation, I overheard it, and I think I've got this right, but our daughter, when she was here earlier this week, this past week she was talking to my wife, and she was saying that she heard some, I think maybe a podcast, or maybe it was a radio program, but anyway, these people were just going through the names of God, or the attributes of God, just going from Genesis to Revelation, one after another after another about just stating what God says about who he is. And you do that and just remind yourself of who God is. And when you're discouraged, who is God? And let that encourage you that he is who he has revealed himself to be. And so he first of all encouraged them by reminding them of who he was by declaring himself to be the Lord of Hosts. But secondly, he encouraged them by reminding them of his passion of his love for them. Verse two, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy and I was jealous for her with great fury. God is saying, hey, I just want to remind you of something. You remember the Babylonians? They carried you captive. They killed so many of you before they carried others captive. You know, there's just a small number that were carried into captivity. Just a few thousand people out of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people that lived. before the Babylonian captivity. Most of them were slaughtered by the Babylonians. But you remember, and Pastor Rogers mentioned this last Sunday morning in his message, that time when Belshazzar was having the feast, and the handwriting on the wall, and the Persian armies, the Medo-Persian armies invaded the city and destroyed the Babylonians, that was God. God did that, and that's what he's saying in verse two. He said, I was jealous for you with great jealousy and with great fury. I, the Lord of hosts, defended you, delivered you. You know, God is saying, in essence, I love you, and I don't take it lightly when others afflict you. God still loves the Jewish people today, and he doesn't take it lightly when people afflict them. In Zechariah 2 and verse 8, the Lord said to them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you, for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. The Lord said, You are that precious to me. In Acts chapter 9 verse 4, when Saul was persecuting the church and he met the Lord on the Damascus road, the Lord said to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And Saul was persecuting God's people. The Lord took it personally. And even when you are attacked, whether it's your spiritual enemy, the devil, or whether he uses men in some way to oppose you or to persecute you or oppress you. You know, when somebody mistreats you, God takes it personally. He promised the nation of Israel in the days of Abraham, I'll bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you. And all the nations that have or will afflict God's people will suffer the righteous vengeance of God. And so he reminds them not only of who he is by declaring himself to be the Lord of hosts, giving them that name, but also reminding them of his passion, of his great love for them and how he will defend them. And he takes everything that happens to them, the bad that comes into their midst, the people that afflict them, God takes that personally and he will take vengeance upon them. But then he also reminds them of his purpose for them. You're familiar with the passage in Jeremiah chapter 29, where the Lord first of all said, after 70 years are accomplished at Babylon, I'll visit you and I'll perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place. And that's what's happened. You know, Jeremiah prophesied before the Babylonian captivity, God said, I'm gonna bring you back. That's what we're reading about. That's the timeframe which we're looking at. But he said this, he said, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. This is what I want for you. The chastening, the punishment, that's not what I want for you. It was necessary because of your sin, but I have a greater purpose. It's not just to punish you, but actually to bless you. And God still has that purpose of blessing his people. and he has a purpose of blessing you. And I realize that verse, we like to claim it, and it's first of all, for the nation of Israel. But God doesn't have a purpose for us, we're told of that in Romans chapter eight and verse 29, that God's purpose for us is to conform us to the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so everything that is happening in our life, Romans 8, 28, is accomplishing that purpose of making us like the Lord Jesus Christ. But in this case, God goes on to tell them, I want to dwell with you, and I want to purify you. I'm returned, verse three, thus saith the Lord, I'm returned unto Zion. I'll dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem, they call it city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. God's gonna come back and dwell with them before the captivity. You read about it in Ezekiel 9 through 11. how the glory of God departed from the temple and left the city of Jerusalem, and then they were carried captive. But now he says, I'm coming back. And as I come back, I wanna purify you. Jerusalem is gonna be a city of truth or faithfulness. God had punished them because they didn't keep their word. Zedekiah, the last of the kings of Judah, had made a promise to Nebuchadnezzar. When Nebuchadnezzar came and he carried off those first captives, when Zedekiah was put in place as king over Israel, over Judah, and he made a promise to submit to Nebuchadnezzar and be a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, but then he went back on his promise and he turned to Egypt for help against Nebuchadnezzar, and God was displeased with that. Zedekiah, you gave your word. I'm a faithful God. When I give my word, I keep my word, and I expect my people to do the same, and you did not keep your word. And that's one of the reasons why they were carried off into captivity. You'll read about that in 2 Chronicles 36 verse 13. But God says, when I come and I dwell in your midst, that's not the way it's gonna be. You're not gonna make these treaties and go back on them. It'll be a city of truth and faithfulness, of people that keep their word, and it'll be a holy mountain. The temple would be holy, it would be set apart exclusively for the worship of the Lord. And again, we're not gonna turn tonight, but if you were to go to Ezekiel chapter eight, you'll find that before the captivity, they were worshiping other gods right inside this temple that's supposed to be the place where they're worshiping God, and they're worshiping false gods. Some awful idolatrous practices that were going on right inside this temple. But God says, when I come back, and I'm gonna dwell in your midst, and you're gonna be a faithful people, and this temple is gonna be dedicated solely to the worship of God. and I'm gonna prosper you. Verses four and five, thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem. Every man with his staff in his hand for a very age in the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. It suggests there won't be any war. And of course, all of this is only looking to the millennial kingdom when the Lord Jesus literally rules from Jerusalem in the temple where his throne is and he rules the world. In that day, there will be a time of peace such as the world has never known, and men and women will live to a great old age, partly because some of the curse will be removed, but partly because there will be no war. And children can play in the streets, and they don't have to worry or be afraid. They can just be children again. What a day that will be. It'll be wonderful if the Lord Jesus is ruling the world today. And we can let our kids go out and play and our grandkids. We never have to think about it or worry about what might happen to them because they're safe and secure because the Lord Jesus is providing peace all over the world. But he says there's going to be peace and prosperity. children will be able to play in the streets, and I'm gonna bring back those that I've scattered. I'm gonna regather them, verses seven and eight. Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country. I'll bring them, and they'll dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they will be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness. I'm gonna regather them. I'm gonna bring them back from all those lands where I had scattered them, and then I'm going to own them, and they're going to own me. I'm gonna be their God in truth and righteousness. They will be my people. But you know, when he says, I will be their God in truth and righteousness, he's just reminding them that it hasn't always been that way, though they would have claimed him as their God, but they were worshiping him outwardly, but their heart was far from him. And that's what he means, in truth. You're going to worship me in truth, not just with your lips, not just going through the motions of worshiping me, but really from your heart actually worshiping me. And you're going to live a righteous life. When I come and dwell among you, I'm going to restore faithfulness to the land and the worship will be pure. and you'll worship me from your heart, and you'll live a life of righteousness, and things will be what they ought to be, because that's God's purpose, even for the nation of Israel, and it's yet to come, but that's God's purpose for them. This is what God is going to do for them. And God is going to make it so. And then he promises to bless them. Before those days, let me back into verse nine. He says, let your hands be strong, you that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. When the foundation was laid, Haggai and Zechariah were there to encourage the people and preach to them. And God said to them, but he says, before those days, verse 10, there was no hire for man nor for beast, neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of affliction. For I said, every man had won against his neighbor. God says, you remember those days not so long ago before you got back to building the temple and things weren't going so well? If you go back to the book of Haggai, let's just remind ourselves a minute. Go back to Haggai chapter one. And what God said to his people, he had withheld his blessing because they weren't doing the work he had called them to do. And so he says to them in verses five and six, and through the prophet Haggai, he says, consider your ways. You've so much, you bring in little, you eat. but you don't have enough. You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you, but there's none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Things weren't going so well for them. The economy was bad. Why? Well, there was a reason. Drop down to verse nine. He says, you looked for much and lo, it came to little. And when you brought it home, what? I did blow upon it. Why was there economic downturn because of God. Because, and he says, why? Because of mine house, it is waste, and you run every man to his own house. You're not doing what I brought you back here to do. Brought you back here to build the temple and you quit. And so I've removed my hand of blessing to get your attention. But now if you'll get back to the work, I'll get back to blessing you. And they did get back to the work, and God did promise to bless them. He says there again, going back, let's flip back to Zechariah 8 for a minute, then we're gonna go back to Haggai chapter 2, but he says back there in Zechariah chapter 8, But now, verse 11, I will not be under the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts. For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit, the ground shall give her increase, the heavens shall give their due. I'll cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. I'm gonna bless you. You're a remnant here, but I'm gonna bless you. And it'll come to pass that as you were a curse among the heathen of the house of Judah, house of Israel, so I save you and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong for thus saith the Lord of hosts, as I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not. So again, I have thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not, don't be afraid. you've got back to the work, you're doing a good job, the temple's being rebuilt, I'm pleased, and I'm gonna bless you. I'm the one that removed the blessing, because I needed to get your attention, but now that I've got your attention and you're back to the work, I'm gonna bless you, and so back in the book of Haggai, and verse 15 of chapter two, The Lord says, now I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord, since those days were when one came to a heap of 20 measures, going to hopefully to find 20 measures, and instead there was only 10, and came to the press vat to draw out 50 vessels, and there were only 20. And I smote you with blasting of mildew, and with hail, and all your labors. And yet you didn't turn to me, but now consider from this day and upward, from the 420th day of the ninth month, the Lord even puts it right to the very day, from the day the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? No. Yea, as yet the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree have not brought forth, but from this day I will bless you. And so God makes good on that promise. But that was his purpose, he wanted to bless them. And so as they did the work that that God had called them to do, then he poured out his blessing upon them. And again, those are some specific things he has for Israel. He doesn't promise all those specific things to us, but he does promise that he has a purpose for us, that he is in control, that everything that is happening is fulfilling his purpose for our life, and we can be encouraged by the fact that our life and the things that are going on in our life are not happenstance. They're not happening by chance. They're exactly what God intends. And if we're not being obedient to Him, if there's something that is lacking in our life and He needs to get our attention, He may bring some trouble into our life. He might cause an economic downturn in our life or some other problem. To get our attention, God is not trying to, it's not His intention just to make our life miserable. He wants to bless us. And it's not always material blessing that God wants to pour out upon us. The spiritual blessings are greater than the material blessings, but he wants to bless us, and he wants to make us like himself. And by the way, I remind you again tonight that the greatest blessing that we can enjoy is to be like Christ. And we will be the greatest blessing to others. the more like Christ we are. And that's the blessing that he wants to give us. He wants to make us like himself so that he might be glorified through us, that we might be a blessing to others. And so we can know that God has a purpose of blessing us and making us like the Lord Jesus Christ. And then lastly, he reminded them of his power. Go back to verse six. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if it be marvelous in the eyes of this remnant, the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. If you question all of this, you know, I'm gonna do that, you're a small remnant, 50,000 people, surrounded by your enemies, doing a work that isn't easy, and you might feel like it's a waste, but it's not, and I'm gonna bless you, and I have a purpose for you, but you think I can't do this, And just because you might think I can't do it doesn't mean I can't. And it just reminds them, you know what, I can do this. God doesn't need a multitude to do a mighty work. He just needs even just one person. Again, I think it was last week that Pastor Rogers mentioned, was it him? But anyway, Jonathan, going up, he and his armor bearer against a host of Philistines, He said, you know, the Lord is able to save by many or by few. And Jonathan and his armor bearer went up, was it against a thousand Philistines? And they were victorious. God didn't need a huge army. He just needed a couple of people that were willing to trust Him and go forth in His power. And He worked through them. God can do whatever He wants to do. It doesn't matter what things look like to us. It doesn't matter how it might seem humanly speaking. God has the power to do whatever he wants to do. And so he concludes this chapter by saying, you know, you've come to me with this question. The last two weeks ago, we looked at that. Should we continue to fast? And we noted the fact that it tells us here there were not only one fast, but verse 19, there were four fasts, and they all pertain to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians and they're carrying away the people captive. But he says, you know what? No, you're not going to fast anymore. Rather, those fastings are going to be turned into joy and gladness. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, verse 19, the fast of the fourth month and the fifth and the seventh and the tenth shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore, love the truth. peace. And thus saith the Lord of Hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts. And I will go also, and many people, and strong nations will come and seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and pray before the Lord. And thus saith the Lord of Hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men, will take hold out of all the languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we'll go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." Can you imagine? You think about the attitude of the nations of the world against Israel today. In that day, they'll say, hey, we want to come with you to Jerusalem to worship your God. We've heard your God is with you. We want to know this God of yours. And again, when God fulfills his purpose for the nation of Israel, they will be a blessing to the world. They have not always been that, because they haven't walked with God. But in that day, and we'll see as we get further in the book of Zechariah, God is gonna purify his people, and they will be a blessing to the world, and the world will say, we wanna go with you and worship your God. You know, as we are encouraged by our God in all these things, that's what ought to happen to the people that know us. Hey, your God is with you. I want to know about your God. Is there something different about you? And I need to know what it is. I don't have it. Whatever it is, I don't have it. And I need it. Let me come with you and hear about your God. Let me know your God. And so when you find yourself being discouraged, for whatever reason, remind yourself of the person of God. Everything that God is, and he is that to you and for you. And remember how much he loves you and that he has that purpose for your life. And he has the power to accomplish whatever he chooses to do. And don't be then discouraged, but be encouraged. And by the way, all of that is found in the word of God. Thus saith the Lord, get in the book and find your encouragement in your Lord as he reveals all these things to you through his word. Let's stand together for prayer. Father, again tonight we thank you for your word and we thank you for the access that we have. We can pick up our Bibles anytime and read. Thank you for the word that's been implanted in our hearts and sometimes we don't always have the Bible handy but we have it in our hearts and Your Holy Spirit can bring truth to mind that can be an encouragement to us when we're discouraged. And so, Lord, may we live a life of joy and rejoicing, not because of ourselves, but because of you. And may we find our encouragement in you, we pray. Lord, you know our hearts tonight, you know our circumstances. There could be someone here or someone watching this livestream or listening to this message They're going through a hard time, and they're battling discouragement, and maybe nobody knows but you and them. Lord, would you encourage them tonight? Give them that nugget of truth that they can set their hope upon, that they might find encouragement in you. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.