Zechariah chapter 8 tonight. Zechariah chapter 8. If you heard voices, I didn't want you to think you were going crazy tonight. My wife heard it this morning during the prayer. I guess. Praise the Lord. We're in Zechariah chapter 8. Zechariah chapter 8. I want to go ahead and we'll read the verses. Let's let these ladies come on in and get settled. They did make it. I ran out of songs. I was going to sing a special, but I didn't have the voice for it. It's good to see Dee Dee doing better. We prayed for her Wednesday night. Oh yeah, definitely. And I tried to stretch out the song service. In fact, I had a special already I was going to sing to go with my message and I just don't have the voice for it. But we're in Zechariah chapter number 8. Zechariah chapter number 8. If you remember, we saw in chapter number 7 how that Zechariah proclaimed to the people the message from the Lord that revealed how that their empty ritualism and their observance of their various fasts were meaningless to God. Also, the Lord pointed out that their sins and transgressions are what had brought about their suffering to begin with. Here they were having these fasts about the trouble that they had gone through. No doubt they went through trouble, but the trouble that they went through was of their own making. And that's the way it is a lot of the times. Some of the trouble that we go through is sometimes some of our own making. Well, that's the way it was with God's people. And the Lord also gave them specific warning about certain sins which still seemed to be a problem for them. They were told that they needed to repent and return to the Lord if they were going to be partakers of His blessings rather than of His chastisement. And then in chapter 8 we saw that the Lord allowed Zechariah to announce the divine blessing of faithful obedience to be realized in part during their lifetime and in full during the future messianic age or what we know as the millennial kingdom that is to come with the Messiah. In the future kingdom, God's people will rejoice with great joy and gladness. Think about that. What a time that will be. We've sang about that tonight, haven't we? There are a lot of songs about the great rejoicing and great gladness of when we get to heaven and when we see Jesus. Amen? So here in our text, in Zechariah 8, the Lord reveals through Zechariah a picture of a time of great transformation, the millennial age. which comes after a large number of Jews have been brought to faith in the Messiah during the tribulation period through the proclamation of 144,000 Jewish evangelists that are mentioned in Revelation 7 verse 4 and verse 9. I'm not going to turn over there tonight for that, but that's where it's spoken about. Now, in this message before us, in verses 18 through 23, and this is a two-part message, okay? We're going to look at the first part with verse 18 and 19 tonight, and then we'll look at the other verses next week, Lord willing. But in this message before us in verses 18 through 23 of chapter 8, we'll see the great changes that take place during the messianic age when The view of history, how we view history, will be revised. I'm talking about our history. We look back at our lives and we think about certain times that we had tragedies happen, take place, and difficulties we went through. I mean, this week, actually the end of this week, although it was the end of last week, but the end of this week, it will have been 22 years since I had a light stroke. I remember going through that difficulty. But it was for God. God's glory. We allowed God to get the glory out of that. I still give Him the glory. I've not had a repeat of that stroke. I was 46 when that took place. I'm 68 now. When you have one, you're more likely to have another. The Lord saw me through it. I'm still preaching. Never knew that I'd be able to be back up in the pulpit the way it hit me because it affected my speech and my ability to communicate either verbally and I could not write, type, that kind of thing. But anyway, that's behind me, and I rejoice in what the Lord has done even now. But when we get in the messianic age, the view of history will be revised. And Zechariah introduces in verse 18 another sequence break in the divine messages he received. Look at verse 18, he says, And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, So this is a new message from the Lord. And here it is, verse 19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth. There's four fasts that are mentioned there. Shall be to the house of Judah joy, and gladness, and cheerful feast. Therefore love the truth and peace. What a message. I mean, when you're fasting, it's not a joyful time. Fasting, you're mourning. You're mourning over something that's happened, or you're mourning over sin in your life. And verse 19 declares that the four yearly fasts that commemorated the people's grievous disasters would be transformed from days of mourning into days of joy and gladness, they would become cheerful feasts." Now, the preceding instructions for restoration prepared the way for Zechariah to address the initial question first presented by this small delegation. Remember, this small delegation came to him and said, you know, we've been doing these fasts the whole time we've been in captivity. Should we continue with that? Well, remember, they had come up with them. It was something that they came up with. God did not tell them to institute those fasts and keep those fasts. Now, Zechariah 7 and verse 3 states the original question. I'm not going to go back and read that, but chapter 7 and verse 3 states that question that I just mentioned. And notice that the delegation mentioned only two of the fast. And when you read that, they only mention two of them. And the two that they mentioned, the delegation mentioned the fast of the fifth month. Now understand, the fast of the fifth month was considered to be the blackest of all days. Of all that happened with them being carried away into captivity, this fast commemorated the destruction and burning of both the city of Jerusalem And we're talking about the king's houses, prince's houses, all the great people's houses, everything leveled, the burning of the city, burning of the temple, destruction of the temple. That's what it entailed. In fact, hold your place here and look at 2 Kings 25, and I want you to keep 2 Kings 25 handy for a little bit, because we're gonna take a look at these. 2 Kings 25 and verse number 8. And this is where the fifth month, the fast of the fifth month came about. 2 Kings 25 verse number 8 says, And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuchadnezzar Aden, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great man's house burnt he with fire, And all of the army of the Chaldees that were with the captain of the guard break down the walls of Jerusalem round about. So Jerusalem was devastated. Temple, houses, you name it, it was gone. And that was considered the blackest of all the days. Now the delegation also mentioned the fast of the seventh month. And that fast commemorated the assassination of Governor Gedalia. Governor Gedalia. And we see it in 2 Kings 25, look at verse number 22, 2 Kings 25 verse 22 says, And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedalia the son of Ahicham, the son of Zavan, ruler. So Gedalia was set up as governor over whatever was left in the land. I'm not going to read verse 23 because it has a lot of names in there that I could butcher really, really bad. You understand that, right? But when all the captains of the armies, they and their men heard that the king had made Gedalia the governor, then we see it says in verse 24, And Gedalia swore to them and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. Well, basically that's kind of what Jeremiah told him to do. Keep a good attitude, go ahead and serve the king of Babylon, and things will go well. Because if you fight it, it's not going to go well. Notice verse 25. But it came to pass in the seventh month, there it is, the seventh month, that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishema, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smoked Gedalia, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. And all the people, both small and great, and captains of the armies, arose and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldees." This was the second fast that was mentioned by that delegation that came. But we see here in our text, in this final answer from the Lord, how the whole gamut of fasts, all of the fasts, are included. All of these fasts have been imposed in order to express the nation's grief because of the various great calamities. Now, we see the fast of the fourth month, lamented the breaching of the walls and the opening of the city of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar as a result of the severe famines within the walls during Zedekiah's eleventh year. We're going to see the siege here in just a minute, but this is the results of the siege. A siege would take and seal anything from coming out of the city, nothing going in, nothing going in, nothing coming out. Well, eventually you run out of supplies. Eventually you start getting hungry. Eventually a famine takes place. And that's what happened, and they eventually opened up the city and allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come in. Look at 2 Kings 25 verse 3 and 4. Okay, it's verse 3 and 4. It says, And on the ninth day of the fourth month, The famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden." Now, the Chaldees were against the city roundabout, and the king went in the way toward the plane. So that was when they breached the city and were able to come in. And we see the fast of the 10th month. Now the 10th month was actually the first thing that took place. The fast of the 10th month mourns the very beginning of the siege by Nebuchadnezzar when he surrounded the city. But it happened in the 10th month, and so when it's put into the scripture here, it goes in numerical order, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. But if you go in the order that it took place, it would be 10th, 7th, 4th and 5th, okay? It's the way it would go. But what we see is the fast of the 10th month, more in the beginning of the season, notice verse number 1, 2 Kings 25 verse 1, and it came to pass in the 9th year of his reign and in the tenth month and the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came he and all his hosts against Jerusalem and pitched against it and they built forts against it round about like I said nothing going in nothing coming out and so the Lord speaks about transforming the very aspect of Judah's national existence. I mean, their whole lives for the last 70 years was wrapped up in those four events. They had been sieged. The city had been breached. The city had been burned and sacked. Gedalia had his life taken. All of these things were in their mind when they got carried away into the Babylonian captivity. And so every year they were keeping these fasts. They set the fasts up. But the thing about it is, is all of those things were caused by their sin. It was all caused by their sin. The Lord warned them, this is going to come upon you unless you repent. In fact, the Lord gave them opportunity to repent even before it got to this point. Because Nebuchadnezzar actually attacked the city three times before 2 Kings that we just saw there in 2 Kings 25. 2 Kings 25 is the final coming against the city. But they could have repented at any point as Nebuchadnezzar was coming against them. So you know the Lord is true. What he said he's going to do looks like he's going to do. Let's turn from our sin. Let's get things right. They didn't do it. Had three opportunities. Didn't do it. And so the promise here in Zechariah's scripture. All of this is on their mind. The promise was that there was coming a day when their times of weeping, sorrow, and fasting would become joyful experiences and times of great happiness. He calls them cheerful feasts. Cheerful feasts would occur because the Lord was going to revolutionize their circumstances. Things were going to turn around for them. Yes, their past and their past and their sinful past, things got rough for them because of their sin. But when they see Jesus and they're saved, they turn to the Lord. we see a very big transformation take place and both Isaiah and Jeremiah also saw this transformation of fast to feast. Look with me at Isaiah chapter 61. We're going to look at A few verses in chapter 61, chapter 65, and chapter 66. Look at Isaiah 61 and verse number 1 through 3. And what we're seeing here is Isaiah saw this transformation, Jeremiah saw this transformation, as well as Zechariah. And we see And verse number 1 says, "...the spear of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to reclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." That sounds familiar, doesn't it? It sounds familiar because those are words of Jesus that He spoke. This was about Him. It's about the Messiah. And it says, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And that's where he left off reading. It was right there. And it says, and the day of vengeance of our God. That's still yet future. to comfort all that mourn, you get that? To comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. The whole purpose of this is glorification of the Lord. Amen? Look at chapter number 65. Chapter number 65 in verse 18 and 19. Verse 18 and 19. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. What we're going to see here Pretty soon when we get to Zechariah chapter 12 during our time all the way up until the millennial takes place They're a cup of trembling in the eyes of the world. In fact, right now, they're a cup of trembling, aren't they? Just about everybody's against what the Jews are doing, but he's gonna create Jerusalem rejoicing and her people a joy. Notice verse 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. That's something to shout about, isn't it? That's great. Look at chapter 66. Chapter 66 and verse number 10. Chapter 66 verse 10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her. And so we will be rejoicing with that. Look at Jeremiah chapter number 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah also saw this time. Jeremiah 31 verse number 10. Jeremiah 31 10 says, Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him. Who did that? The Lord did. The Lord scattered them, and the Lord gathered them back together. He's still gathering them together, by the way. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. It says, therefore shall they come and sing in the height of Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the herd and their soul shall be as a watered garden. They shall not sorrow any more at all. What a blessing. Amen. Look at verse 13. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together. For I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow." Now, we should note right here that all of these fast days that Zechariah mentions, the fast of the 4th month, the 5th month, the 7th month, and the 10th month. You know they're still observed by Israel to this day? Still observed. I imagine they're probably going to add another fast day. One to commemorate October, was it October 7th, was it? When, you know, the tragedy took place there. I can see that taking place. But these are still observed by Jewish people around the world. So by and large, Listen, the long period of mourning and weeping has yet to be followed by a time of joy and rejoicing. But it's because the nation is still focused on itself rather than being focused on the Lord. It is focused on its mistreatment and calamities rather than on its blessings so that it still grieves because of these great calamities. She needs to look to the Lord, doesn't she? She really does. I mean, even today we know that God's heart yearns for His people. And He just wants them to turn to Him, even in the midst of what's going on in Gaza and what happened in their nation late last year. But listen, there is coming a day when God will bring about His mighty benefits for the house of Judah. that these episodes, which are still regarded as some of the greatest calamities, will be so entirely reassessed that they will even be seen to be part of God's wise and gracious dealings with His people. History's gonna be changed. I mean, they look at them as days of sadness, but they're gonna turn back and they're gonna look at it and say, look at what God was trying to do. Look at what God was doing in all this. So these fasts will be converted into days of joy and gladness and will become cheerful feasts because they commemorate the necessary actions of God out of His desire to bring His people back to Himself. Realize that everything God did was wanting Israel to come back to him. Everything God's doing today is for Israel to come back to him. One day, we too will have a new realization of the disappointments and tragedies we have faced in our lives. Both our individual and mutual trials, many of which, no doubt, we brought upon ourselves by our rebellion and disobedience, will be made clear one day. We too will become grateful for them because we will see them through His loving eyes. We will see how God used those difficult days to bring us and draw us closer to Him. Romans 8.28, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Now, I believe that the manifestation of the Messiah's kingdom will be attended by such a dramatic change in the way we view history that not only the Jews, but all of us will forget about all of our mournful events. I mean, there's some things that come in life, and some of us probably still have some that are yet to come, that are gonna make us mourn greatly. We will mourn very greatly over the things, maybe not only tragedies past, but tragedies that may be in our future. But we'll forget all about those wonderful events and we'll only rejoice in the benefits brought about in our lives even by God's loving discipline. In light of God's good and gracious promises, Zechariah exhorts them to truth and peace. Notice the latter part of verse 19 that we read. Therefore, love the truth and peace. Love the truth and peace. And we are exhorted in the same way. Look at Colossians. Colossians chapter number 3. And you can let go of 2 Kings by the way. You can let go of Zechariah. We've got two more places we're going to look at. And we'll be done for this evening. But in Colossians chapter number 3, we are exhorted. to love truth and peace as well. Colossians 3 verse 15 says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. That's what we're to do as believers. Let God's peace rule. See, Jesus purchased our peace, didn't He? He did. Well, He wants that peace that He purchased for us to rule in our heart. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body. And be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." So there in verse 16 and 17, let the truths of God's Word rule your head, your heart, and your body. And then in verse 15, let the peace of God's Spirit rule in your hearts. These are the terms man must meet if he would open the doors of God's promises and blessings in any age. You want to be blessed with the Lord? Well, have the peace of God and dwell in that peace. Amen. And also in the matter of the truth. All of God's promises should produce willing obedience to His precepts. The blessings we receive in every instance are intended to be incentives to holiness and consecration to God's service in the presence. Now, I want to close. I'm going to have you turn to 2 Corinthians because as soon as I read the words of this hymn, that looks forward to that time when we see Christ and living in His presence. I want to read some verses from 2 Corinthians 4 and then we'll be done. But the song that I was going to sing tonight, that they didn't have the voice to sing, and you've heard me sing it before, those of you that have been here for any length of time, and in our morning services anyway, that's when I sing specials. When we see Christ, when we see Christ, it's the name of the song. Listen to the words of the song, okay? Like I said, I would have you turn to it in your song books, but it's not in either one of our song books. But here's how it goes, and then think about this with regard to what we've said tonight. It says, Off times the day seems long, our trial's hard to bear. We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair, but Christ will soon appear to catch His bride away. all tears forever over in God's eternal day. And then it goes into the chorus. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race till we see Christ. Here's verse 2. Sometimes the sky looks dark, with not a ray of light." That's true, isn't it? We're tossed and driven on. No human help in sight. But there is one in heaven who knows our deepest care. Let Jesus solve your problem. Just go to Him in prayer. That's that peace that I was talking about. Let Jesus be your peace. And then the chorus repeats. Verse 3. Life's day will soon be over, all storms forever past. We'll cross the great divide to glory safe at last. We'll share the joys of heaven, a harp, a home, a crown. The tempter will be banished, we'll lay our burden down. That's shouting ground right there, amen. It will be worth it all. When we see Jesus, life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race till we see Christ. Now, let's look at what Paul had to say about going through the sufferings of this life in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7 through 18. And he talks about having the treasure of the gospel in our lives. And he says, but we have this treasure, that's the gospel, in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." The life of Jesus, that's what brings peace that we talked about. He's truth. He is the truth, and that truth brings peace to us, doesn't He? Verse 12, So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes." Do you get that? You ought to circle all things. All things. What things? Good things? Yep. Good things. Bad things? Yep. All things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. That word redound means to super abound. To be in excess, okay? To abound in an excess sort of way. He says, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Notice verse 17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. In other words, God's going to turn it around. Maybe going through suffering now, for His sake. But He's going to turn it around. It's going to bring forth joy. He says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. The suffering and all that we face is temporal. But the things which are not seen, the reason to joy, is all eternal. Amen. And so, from mourning to joy, when the view of history will be revised. Amen. All right, let's pray. Father, we just thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the prophecy of Zechariah that You gave and also as we've seen the prophecies to Isaiah and Jeremiah And Lord, the parallel passage to us as believers in the book of Colossians, as far as how this truth and peace apply to us. Help us, Lord, as we have the truth in our life. The Lord Jesus Christ, realize that He is our peace. And Lord, embrace that peace. And that one day, Lord, these trials that we face, these burdens that we bear, these things that are difficult that we're going through. One of these days we'll turn around in glory and we'll look back and we'll see and we'll rejoice in what you were doing when you allowed such things to happen in our lives. And for that we give you the glory. Help us, Lord, to have a proper attitude in our sufferings. It's never easy to go through, but Lord, help us to have the right attitude and realize that with Your help, we can get through those things. And one day, we'll be glad that we leaned upon You to get us through. And we'll look back on those days and we'll look back with joy. Help us with these things, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.