Zechariah was one of the last prophets to speak in the Old Testament some 500 years before Christ. He and Haggai and Malachi were the only voices of God to speak after Israel had returned from their long captivity in Babylon. And he and Haggai were the ones who spoke to the returning Jews from Babylon to motivate them to build the temple of God in Jerusalem. The temple construction started in 1520 BC and it took four years to build. Zechariah, during the beginning of that construction, spoke and he had about eight visions in one night. And those visions incorporate the first six chapters of Zechariah. And then he had another vision about the middle of the Temple construction two years later, and that comprises chapters 7 and 8. And we come then to chapter 9 today. It's not defined when Zechariah had this vision, it was probably sometime after the earlier ones. Now put yourself in the shoes of an Israelite who returned from Babylon. They had far less comforts in this new land than the land where they had come from, because three generations had passed when they were in Babylon, and they had begun to become accustomed to the comforts of that land. And now here they are in Jerusalem, a city that had been torn down 70 years ago. It was in ruins, and the rubble and the debris had never been cleaned up from after all that battle. So they were struggling to clean up all that debris. They were struggling to build the temple of God, despite many oppositions from the local government officials. And they were struggling just to make ends meet. And they had to ask some questions. Will our enemies ever be paid back for all the trouble that they've caused us? Will the two kingdoms of Israel ever be brought together again? Remember Judah was the southern kingdom and Israel the northern kingdom. They were kind of divided. And the northern kingdom had been carried away captivity by the Assyrians many years earlier than even the Babylonians had carried away Judah. So would these two kingdoms ever be together again? And what will become of our land? Will it ever be filled again? Will it be prosperity? How far will its boundaries go? Will we ever be an independent nation again? It seems like some foreigner has always ruled over us since the glorious days of the independent kingdom when Solomon and the kings after him ruled. It seems like it was the Babylonians, it was the Assyrians, it was the Persians, it was always some foreigner, and these foreigners always demanded a heavy tribute. That's a tax. They would take a good part of our harvest. And they would make us in bondage to them. And the people were all struggling. And Haggai told them that someday that the temple that they were going to build was going to be more glorious than the temple of Solomon. But they were tired. They were worn out. And even the promise that this was going to be It had them weary and they needed some kind of motivation. They needed some kind of purpose. I was wondering if the members of RBCKC ever had feelings like this. Many of us do the same thing week after week. We teach Sunday school classes. Some of us preach. We practice our piano, we work in the nursery, we prepare the daily feast offerings at noon, which I greatly appreciate. And do we ever have the thoughts, well where is all this going? We'll always be this way. We'll always be a handful, a remnant, a small group of people living in a rented building, carrying our goods in day in, week in, week out. never a place of our own. And I don't know the answer to that question. But I do know this, that if it brings glory to God, and if it spreads his kingdom, then every ounce of that effort is worth it. You know, the New Testament church did not have a building. They dwelt in homes from place to place. And yet the gospel that they preached had such an effect that kingdoms were shaken. It went through all the world. Kingdoms were even overthrown. And as Acts 17.6 says, the whole world was even turned upside down. And I hope I speak for all of us, but I want a part of that action. I want to see the name of the Lord Jesus Christ carried through every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. Come to think of it, it wouldn't even be bad if some of my own neighbors knew that, some of my own co-workers. It helps to know where you are going and what you might expect afterwards. And so Zechariah prophesied to his people in a time of what they could expect in the future. And he opens chapter 9, if you take a look at chapter 9 in the first verses, he opens it with a burden against certain cities. Now a burden is another name for prophecy, or it's an oracle. A burden against a nation is bad news. It's heavy news, just as a burden would be heavy to carry on your back. It's a burden against some of the cities that had plagued Israel in the past. Tyre and Sidon, the seacoast cities are mentioned. I don't ever remember them engaging in a military conflict with Israel, but Tyre and Sidon were very worldly cities, and they were by no means friends of the God of Israel. And then the burden came to some of Israel's enemies who had engaged them in battle. And we read of Ashkelon, the Philistine cities, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Ashdod. And then we read of the Syrian capital Damascus. Now within 200 years of the time that Zechariah made this prophecy, Those cities were actually brought to ruin, not by Israel, but by a Greek king named Alexander the Great as he swept through and claimed those cities and overran them. This happened around 325 B.C. In God's good providence, Alexander did not attack Jerusalem. Indeed, the Jews kind of flattered Alexander and actually gained his favor. But he was a very proud man. and all the pomp and power and majesty that was associated with him. Just in thinking about this proud king, I think Zechariah was brought, the Holy Spirit brought to Zechariah's mind, chapter 9, where he had a vision of Zion's king, the king of Israel. He said, Rejoice so greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you, and he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. In contrast with all the pomp and power of Alexander the Great. Here is the humble Lord Jesus coming, riding into the city on a donkey. And the New Testament writers recall this very passage and quote it, cite it from Zechariah. He's not riding on a horse. He's not riding on a powerful horse. He's not swinging a sword. He's riding on a donkey. And yet it says in verse 10 that he's not going to need the bow and the sword. Because he shall speak peace to the nations, and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river, that might be the Nile, to the ends of the earth. And so without a sword, by his word, he's going to conquer from sea to sea. But that was an event that would be some 550 years away from when Zechariah made this prophecy. And so he says in verse 11, as for you also, and I think he's coming back now to Zechariah's times and the times of his people. As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Verse 11. Because of the blood of your covenant, The first covenant that God made with the nation of Israel was really a covenant with blood. It was the first Passover. And that night, as the Jews were about to flee from Egypt and Pharaoh's army, they sacrificed an animal, an innocent lamb, and they spread the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of their house. And the Lord looked down at that blood. And when the angel of death passed through that night, in the land of Egypt, if he saw the blood on the doorposts, he passed over them. And the wrath of the Lord that was poured out on Egypt that night was not on Israel. They were spared from that because they were under the blood. And God continued to remember the blood of his covenant. When Israel sacrificed daily, morning and evening, on the altar at the temple every day, An innocent animal was there slain and killed for their sins. The blood of the Lamb made peace with God, and it was the chief term of His covenant to Israel for their sins. And now and today in our times, the Lord remembers the blood, the blood shed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. Are you under the blood of that covenant today? Do you know by faith Jesus as your Savior? God has promised that all those who are under the blood of Jesus are spared and saved from the wrath of God. And we are under the blood by faith. If you have faith, you do not have to fear the judgment of God at the last day. If you are under the blood of Jesus Christ, God has made a covenant with you that he will keep you until that great day. But beware of this warning. Without the shedding of the blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. The life is in the blood. Our life is in our blood. The Lord Jesus' life was in his blood. But when he gave his life and shed his blood, it gave life to everyone who believes in him. And he did that to pay for our sins in the same way an innocent animal paid for the sins of Israel. Are you under the blood of Jesus? Have you trusted that blood by faith? Or is this blood? Or are you trusting on your own merits, your own good works? You'll someday face the God of heaven in judgment, at the great judgment. Don't leave this meeting this morning without the thought in your minds, where are my sins? Are they under the blood of Jesus Christ? Have I put them there by faith and trust in Him, knowing that He paid the penalty for them? Or are your sins on your own hands? Are you willing to stand before the judgment of the Holy God someday? on your own merits and say, God, I'm a pretty good guy. I'm doing OK. Because I want to tell you something. No matter how small you might think your sins are, when God looks at them through his microscope, they're going to be enormous. They're going to be mountain sized. And you're going to want to flee from his holy presence. Some of the most holy men of God in Bible times, when they stood before the presence, they trembled. And if you don't think your sins are so bad, well, just think about those men. The blood of the covenant is what is prophesied in verse 11, Zechariah chapter 11, and that's what the Lord has promised because of that blood to bless Israel. It says, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Israel had been in captivity in foreign lands, and it was like being trapped in a waterless pit. It was dry. It was barren. There was no spiritual life there, and physical life was difficult. God had promised to bring them back, and they will regather to their original land again. And God will restore them double for what they lost, as he says in verse 12. Return to the stronghold that is Mount Zion. You prisoners of hope, even today I declare, I will restore double to you. The stronghold is Mount Zion, as Jim had talked about this morning. Jerusalem, that mighty city on a mountaintop and also symbolic of the dwelling place of God. I want to read verses 13 now through 16, and we'll discuss them. For I have bent Judah my bow, and fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man. Then the Lord will be seen over them, and his arrows will go forth like lightning. The Lord will blow the trumpet. and go with the whirlwinds from the south. The Lord of hosts will defend them. He shall devour and subdue with sling stones. They shall drink and roar as if with wine. They shall be filled with blood like basins, like the corners of the altar. The Lord their God will save them in that day, and the flock of his people, and for they shall be like jewels of the crown, and like a banner lifted up over his land. These verses speak of some time in the future, and we're not sure when. And they speak of a time that could be thought of both literally and figuratively, or spiritually. I want to consider first the spiritual sense. The Greeks, as far back as Zechariah's time, were known for their wisdom. They had the great philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and many others. Alexander the Great wanted to spread the Greek culture throughout the world. He thought they were the smartest, greatest people, and he wanted to prove it. And he wanted to spread this country. And he wanted to spread this throughout the world. In his zeal to promote the Greek culture, he brought about two great benefits to the people of God. First, the Greek language He laid the foundation for basically the gospel to be spread throughout all the land 300 years later. In conquering the worlds, he introduced the Greek language. And when they picked up that language, they were able to communicate with one another. When we travel today in the world, we're often able to communicate with people of many different languages through English. Well, back in those days, if you traveled, you could travel and speak, probably to people who didn't speak your language, in Greek. Keep in mind that the New Testament, most of it was written in Greek, and much of this because Alexander. Alexander the Great brought fear and dread into many nations, but in some respects he was an evangelist for the Greek culture. And so the first great benefit was the language base, which set the stage for the gospel to be preached someday. But the second great benefit was not only the New Testament, because of Alexander, was written in Greek, but also the Old. It turns out that one of the children of the Greeks, later after Alexander died, a ruler in Egypt named Ptolemy Philadelphius, I like that, Philadelphius, brotherly love, he decreed that the Hebrew Old Testament be translated into Greek. And what this did was it liberated the Old Testament. which had the revelation of God, which had at this time been limited to only one people group in the whole earth, the Hebrews. And now he had liberated that language and liberated the truth of God. And it now could spread throughout all the Western world at that time. And so both the Old and the New Testament were in Greek. And it was the famous Septuagint that made this possible. We owe a great debt to Alexander the Great. Paul could say that he was a debtor to the Greeks and the barbarians, and so we owe this great debt to Alexander. In his zeal to spread his own kingdom for whatever worldly gains he was going to get, he ended up laying the foundation for the language that would spread the truth. He sought to be king of the whole earth, and yet he laid the foundation so that Jesus Christ could be king of kings and conquer the world, which is something that Alexander didn't quite do. You know, a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Alexander, well, the Lord says he makes even the wrath of man to please him. Alexander played straight into the hand of God. But with the Greek culture that spread throughout all the world that Alexander had conquered, with the Greek culture also came worldliness, vices, and idolatry. In fact, the Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses, and many of these gods and goddesses had affairs, they had rivalries with one another. Now think about that. If your gods are having affairs, and they're having rivalries and wars and conflict with one another, what's it going to be like for the people? that worship those gods. Well, they're going to be just like them. The Apostle Paul ran into the Greek culture in New Testament times. The gospel to the Greeks was foolishness, it says. They had no need for a savior, especially one who had been crucified, which was a death at that time that was only for common criminals. They had no belief in the resurrection of the dead. But guess what? The mighty arrows of the sword of the word of God and his spirit have conquered, humbled, and brought salvation to many Greeks throughout the world, and not only them, but many other peoples. Think of it, where is the Greek wisdom today? Far more people in the world today know of Jesus Christ than they ever knew of Aristotle or Plato or Socrates. So in a spiritual sense, Zechariah 9.13, I have bent my bow and fitted my bow with Ephraim and Judah against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man. In a sense, the sword of the Spirit has conquered and you can look upon Zechariah 9.13, these passages we just read through verse 16, you can look at them as being spiritually fulfilled by the sword of the Spirit. But is there a possibility in which Judah and Ephraim became weapons in the hand of God and actually physically conquered some peoples? Well, I want to cite to you an incident today where I think that was a possibility. Now, you students in Pastor Martin's Sunday School class, listen up. You might hear some things you've heard before, hopefully the same things. When Alexander the Great died, he spread the Greek culture from Greece to Egypt, most of the Middle East, including Syria, Persia, all the way to India. He was only 33 years old when he died in 323 B.C. When he died, his empire was broken up into four territories and each one of those territories was ruled by one of his army generals. Two of these territories were Egypt in the former kingdom of Persia, mostly concentrated in Syria. So we have Egypt somewhat to the south, and Syria to the north, and a little bit to the east of Israel, or Palestine, or the land where the Jews had been relocated. And two ruling families came into prominence, one in Syria and one in Egypt. In Egypt it was the Ptolemies, and they developed a dynasty in which year after year, generation after generation, there was always a Ptolemy on the throne of the king of Egypt. In the same way in Syria, the Seleucids, that was their family, and they built a dynasty where year after year one of their sons was a king. These were Greeks. Both the Seleucids and the Ptolemies were of Greek influence and Greek culture, but they had conflicts with one another. As peoples do in adjacent territories, they get a little hungry for land and territory and want to conquer and take over one another. Now in the first hundred years, Of this period, the Egyptians held the sway over Israel, and the relationship between Israel and the Greeks grew to be somewhat friendly. Many of the Jews adopted the Greek culture and kind of changed their religion in some respects, but they adopted it and they took up some of the Greek ways. And Ptolemy, Philadelphius, had actually had the Old Testament translated from Hebrew into Greek for the sake of the many Greek Jews that were already in his land. They could only speak Greek and they wanted to know the scripture. And so for their benefit, he helped them by translating or decreeing that the Septuagint be translated. This was done about 285 B.C. Well, this all changed about the year 200 B.C., 200 years before Christ. The Seleucids of Syria got power hungry and land hungry, and they battled against Egypt and they took control over the Jews living in their traditional homeland. The wars between Syria and Egypt would continue, but keep in mind that the Seleucids were still the sons of the Greeks. The Syrian rule was bad news for Israel. In 175 B.C., Antiochus Epiphanes began his rule, and for Israel it became a reign of terror. He started one of the worst periods of persecution that the Jews have ever known. He had personally been humiliated in a campaign against Egypt, and on his return he poured his wrath out on Israel. Jerusalem was attacked, plundered, and its walls were broken down. Thousands of people were killed. Women and children were sold into slavery. Temple sacrifices were abolished. There were no more morning and evening daily burnt offerings. The Syrian army entered the holy of holies in the temple and carried away its expensive and sacred furniture. The Jewish religion was banned. Circumcision was prohibited, and when you think about that, that's pretty hard to hide. A Jewish traitor was appointed as a high priest, and God's temple was dedicated to the Greek god, Jupiter. All of the copies of the law were burned, and anyone who hid them was executed. The Sabbath was outlawed and so were all of the Jewish holy days that people had visited annually to sing their songs of the sin. In 168 BC, Antiochus Epiphanes offered a pig on the altar of burnt offering and then he erected a statue of Jupiter Olympius on that altar. The temple had been completely desecrated. And this went on for over three years. Then one of the most remarkable stories of raw courage and heroism that I have ever read unfolded in 168 BC. It is recorded in the book of 1 Maccabees and is so full of holy zeal that I could wish that parts of it were in the canon of scripture. The book of Daniel says that the people of God who know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Well, here are some of those people. In the city of Modin, not very far from Jerusalem, lived an old priest named Mattathias. An official had been sent to Mattathias' town, a Syrian official. And he was going to direct the priest to partake in a pagan sacrifice that was to be held in Jerusalem. Mattathias refused. He not only refused, but he killed the official. He not only killed that official, but he also killed another apostate Jew who was willing to do the job in Mattathias' place. Well, Mattathias was an old man and he died shortly thereafter, but he had five godly sons. And one of those sons was a man named Judas. And he became known as Judas Maccabeus, Maccabeus meaning the Hebrew word for hammer, Judas the hammer. This started a revolt, a rebellion. Now the Southern Baptist commentator who wrote some 50 years ago, J. Sidlow Baxter, says this about the times. Against this background of terrible darkness and in defiance of overwhelming odds, the godly faith of Mattathias and his sons blazed out with glorious brightness and called forth the sacrifice of a godly multitude. The devotion of hundreds of thousands of them led to martyrdom. Here in the Old Testament, or in the Christian era, can we find a nobler outflaming of holy jealousy for the honor of God. Mattathias and his five sons then destroyed the idolatrous altar in Jerusalem, and then they fled to the mountains. And like the old ancient King David before them, a band of followers began to gather with them. And pretty soon that band of followers grew into an army. And Judas Maccabeus had an army of true and faithful Jews. They first attacked the towns that had idolatrous altars in them. They struck down traitorous Jews. And they restored the true religion in those towns. They were masters at guerrilla warfare. They picked off small groups of Syrian soldiers. that were everywhere throughout the land. As you might expect, the Syrians retaliated. They tried four times invasions against Judas and his army. On each attempt, some of Antiochus Epiphany's top generals were killed. The forces of Judas got larger with each invasion. The Syrians' third invasion led some 50,000 soldiers against Judas' army, and it ended in a great disaster for the Syrians. Antiochus finally sent his top general, Lysias, and 65,000 men in his fourth invasion against Judas. And Judas and his 10,000 men, think of that, 10,000 poorly equipped men against 65 well-trained soldiers. He fought with such desecration and superhuman strength that the Syrians retreated and General Lysias retired. Judas Maccabeus now took the offensive. He captured Jerusalem, he refurnished the temple with the holy articles of God, and he cast out the Greek articles. all the Greek idols that had been in the temple and desecrated them. And on December 25th, he resumed the daily burnt offerings and sacrifices morning and evening that burned on the altar. It is remembered as the Feast of Dedication in John chapter 10 and verse 22. The Jews know today throughout the world as the Feast of Lights, Hanukkah. And it's still remembered to this day. Antiochus Epiphanes. His name means Antiochus, the manifestation of deity. And his army now suffered another major defeat at the Persians on another of their borders. And Antiochus was now so superstitious and so wary of the Jews that he dreaded the thought of ever attacking them again. And so he didn't. He died. It's thought that some of his superstition actually led to his fatal illness. When Antiochus Epiphanes died, his son Lysias took the throne. Lysias was a young man, and he led an army of 120,000 soldiers against Judas' ban. The Syrians overwhelmed Judas this time at Bethsaura, and his army had to retreat to defend Jerusalem. A long siege developed in which The army surrounded the city and they cut off all supplies, they cut off all food, and many of Judas' troops were just hanging on by thread, fighting off starvation. They were on the brink of collapse. But in the providence of God, a remarkable thing happened. Lysias got wind of a rumor that there was a rival king trying to get his throne back in Syria. Now he could have just said to his army, hey guys, stay here, maintain, and I'm going to go back to Syria and take care of my throne. But you know something? You might need the help of your army when you go back there. You might need their support. And so he took his whole army with him. And he had a deal with Judas Maccabeus and he says, you guys can continue to have all the liberties and worship the way you want to worship. That's fine. I've got to go away now for a while. And he did. He left with his army. He had actually snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, as we say. And he went back there to attend his personal matters. Well, the Maccabeans kept up their resistance until the year 142 B.C. When Simon, one of the brothers of Judas Maccabeus, one of those five sons of the old priest Manathias, when Simon defeated the Syrian garrison in Jerusalem, he caused them to surrender. And this marked the beginning of the first independent state of Israel for over 450 years. It had been almost 500 years from the time that they'd always been independent. All the way back to the days of King Zedekiah. And this new independent Jewish state lasted for almost 80 years from 142 B.C. to 63 B.C. when they ran into the Roman general Pompey and he overcame them. Now, you can see from this history how fresh a memory of independence was in the mind of the Jewish people at the time when the Lord Jesus walked the earth. Because they had been in an independent state less than a hundred years earlier before that, and they longed for it again. And unfortunately, their desire for independence, and because Jesus did not have that message, it blinded their minds and hearts to Jesus' message. Now, having said what I just said, I think you can see that this could be a possible fulfillment of what was said here in Zechariah chapter 9 and verses 13 through 16. It says in verse 15, the Lord will defend them and they shall devour and subdue with sling stones, sling stones, not swords, not spears, not bows and arrows, but the crudest of weapons. That's what Judas and his army had to fight with. And I believe that this noble band truly did shine like jewels of a king's crown at the end of verse 16. And like a banner, their names would be displayed over the land. That's a possible interpretation, a literal interpretation of what could have happened there in these verses of Zechariah. And as jewels of the crown, so are all God's people who have been martyrs in all ages, who would rather die than see his glory ruined. This is Memorial Day, and this is a day when we remember many of those who have gone before us, especially the soldiers of our own country who have fought battles and foreign wars from World War I and on to defend our freedoms. But it's also a day, I think, in view of this passage when we can remember the many great Christians that have gone on before us. And let us now bow in prayer in their honor. Lord, we thank you for the noble saints that have carried your torch throughout the earth, for the honor and glory of your name, to preserve your truth and to spread it and keep it alive. We thank you for this noble band of men who fought so valiantly for your honor and your glory. this band of men led by Judas Maccabees and his army. And we thank you, Lord, for the many martyrs that have followed since his time, for John the Baptist, for Stephen, for James, the brother of John who was slain by Herod, and for the many of other saints, Lord. who counted not their lives that they might die for thee. And we think of all of those wonderful men and women in Fox's Book of Martyrs, and for John Hus, and Matthew Tyndale, and Miles Coverdale, and all those men who gave their lives to translate your holy word into common language. They counted not their lives We are humbled by the thoughts of these men, Lord, and when we realize the great price they paid, and the price of many others, Lord, whose names did not find their way in the history books, but you know them, and they are now standing in white robes around your throne singing glory to you. We rejoice that they are there with you now, but we pray, Father, that some of the zeal and some of the courage that they had would fill our hearts. and that we'd be so inflamed to speak your truth and to bring honor to you. This we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.