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[0:00] One of the more difficult things about the prophecy of Zechariah is that he is not consistently chronological. Sometimes he goes from chronology to theology. Sometimes he is dealing with doctrine, sometimes he is dealing with repentance, sometimes he's dealing with the blessing that comes from it, and then he will cycle back, and it is difficult to pinpoint the time frame that is always involved.

[0:32] And we like things to be nice and smooth and chronological where B follows A and D follows C, and it's easy to keep track of that way. And in most of the prophets, you get that. But Zechariah is different. He does a lot of cycling back and forth. He will engage in material that deals with the thousand-year reign of Christ, the millennium, and then later on he will deal with the second coming of Christ. Well, now wait a minute. That's a little bit out of order, isn't it? Yes, but theologically it ties in the context with what he's dealing with at the moment, and that's the thing that we have to keep in mind. So that perhaps can provoke more questions than anything else because we're always wondering not only what, but when. And being creatures of time, we're always concerned about not only what is going to happen, but when is it going to happen. Nothing intrigues humanity probably more than prophecy, more than the future. We would all like some kind of a leg up on what's coming. And really, the scriptures give us that. And not perhaps in the detail that we would like, but sufficiently so far as God is concerned. And we are to remind ourselves of a statement that Peter said, Peter wrote in one of his epistles when he said, seeing that all these things are coming upon this world, what manner of men we ought to be. And that simply reminds us that there is a time coming when accountability will be in order. No one is going to escape it.

[2:22] I remember years ago in my freshman or sophomore class, I don't remember which it was, I was clerking at the old Rids building in the shoe department working for John Alderson, a believer there who hired me. And I was supplementing my income with a little bit of money on the side, trying to pay tuition. And Barbara was working full-time and going to Cedarville College. And young man there was working with me. And he was a student at Antioch College. Well, you can't get much further removed from Cedarville than Antioch, even though as a crow flies, it's about 10 or 12 miles. But their backgrounds are radically different. And it was Easter and people were in and women were in particular looking for Easter shoes and things. And we were sizing them up and all the rest of that good stuff, you know. This was on a Saturday morning. This would have been 1958 or 9. Hmm. Wow. And somehow, because of the calendar, the subject of the resurrection and Easter Sunday came up. And he turned to me, the student at Antioch, he turned to me and he says, Now this Easter Sunday, this resurrection business, I suppose that's got you guys all excited, huh? This resurrection stuff. And I said, Well, yeah, matter of fact, it does.

[3:53] Can't think of anything more important on our calendar than the fact that he has risen. And he says, Well, if you're, if you can get into that, it's okay, but it's not for me. And I said, You don't believe in Christ's resurrection? He says, No, of course not. In other words, in other words, you poor thing, you do, it's too bad for you. No, of course not. He doesn't believe in it. And I said, Well, then you don't believe that there's going to be any resurrection for you eater? You don't believe you're going to live after this life? No, no, no, I don't, I don't buy into that. And he says, When you die, that's it. It's over, you know. And science will tell you that, you know. Nobody. You know anybody that's come back from the debt? Well, no, actually, I don't. Not other than Jesus. I do. And I said, You realize, of course, you're running a tremendous risk. You may get the surprise of your life. And he said, And I thought of that. And I said, You have? And he said, Yes. And he said, That's why I am going to be cremated. Just in case there is a resurrection, I will not be available. And it kind of took me back. And I thought, Wow. Unbelief has all kinds of objections to things. So anyway, in chapter nine, we saw millennial characteristics. And then we recycle back in chapter 11, 10 and 11. Actually, nine and 10 was millennial characteristics. But in chapter 11 and chapter 12, there's great tribulation content. And in Zechariah 12, we see that Israel is under siege and is considered unmovable. In fact, the expression that is used in Zechariah chapter 12 says in verse 2, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around. And when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. And what that means simply is this, it will be unmovable. It will be an obstacle that they cannot get over or beyond.

[6:19] And it will prevail. But the tide is going to change as you move down on through the chapter that the Lord is coming. And in verse 7, he talks about he will save the tents of Judah. We talked a little bit about that in our last session, being the area of Petra where the remnant will be. And in verse 8, the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem in a supernatural way so that one who is feeble among them in that day, and you see that phrase used repeatedly, in that day, that one who is feeble among them will be like David. Well, David was a warrior and some of the toughest. And the house of David will be like God and the angel of the Lord before them. And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on me whom they have pierced. And they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. And what this amounts to literally is that Jerusalem and

[7:45] Israel is going to be under enormous siege, tremendous pressure, and they are going to fight valiantly against the enemy. But the time is going to come when the enemy will begin to get the upper hand and it will look like curtains for Israel. And it will be then with their backs to the wall right on the brink of annihilation. Out of extreme desperation, after the expenditure of all of this labor and all of this people are going to be in the brink of the people that are going to be in the brink of the church. And in desperation they cry out to God for that messianic help that will be their only deliverance. And God answers and he provides. And it will be as a result of the great mourning in Jerusalem. Then verse 10 talks about they will weep bitterly over the firstborn. Like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. And the land will mourn every family by itself. The family of the house of David by itself. And so on and so on. And verse 14 is rescue time. And Christ is coming to deliver. And they will be rescued. And as a result of their repentance. And this is a really important connection. As a result of the repentance in verse 10. There will be forgiveness. And fellas I hope you will always always remember this. Repentance in the old and new testament. Repentance is always God's silver bullet. Repentance is God's fix-it program for humanity. And by repentance we mean the change of the mind. And all of these people who constitute this remnant in Israel are going to come to this tremendous conclusion. And they will be the Messiah. And the Messiah is God's

[10:07] Messiah and our ancestors contributed to his death and his crucifixion. And the weeping and the wailing will be incredible. And they will be crying out to God for deliverance. Acknowledging the sin of their forbearers. And praying to God and asking for forgiveness. And God will respond.

[10:30] They will respond. This will be actually what this is going to amount to is a kind of a replay of what Peter experienced in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when he preached and revealed Jesus to be the one of whom the psalmist was speaking when he said thou will not allow thine holy one to see corruption.

[10:55] And Peter went on to explain. You think that that psalm that David wrote was talking about David? It wasn't talking about David. David? We know where David? We know where David's buried. We know where his tomb is. He did see corruption. He was speaking of the Messiah who did not see corruption.

[11:14] And 3,000 people in that audience that I'm sure was much, much larger than 3,000. 3,000 repented, acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah and they besought God for his forgiveness.

[11:31] And as a result, those 3,000 were baptized in accordance with John's baptism. And they embraced Yeshua HaMashiach as their Savior.

[11:44] So, what we've got here in Zechariah is going to be kind of like a repeat of that only on a much larger scale. Be many more than 3,000. And they will come to the same conclusion.

[11:55] And once again, ignoring the chapter divisions, which we must do, and we still can't get away from that phrase, in that day, and there it is in verse 1, in that day, and this is the beginning of millennial content. In other words, the tribulation period has concluded. Christ has returned. He has rescued his people.

[12:23] And chapter 13 tells us that in that day, a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and impurity.

[12:37] This is talking about an enormous amount of kindness, blessing, consideration, forgiveness. The only way that the writer feels it can be expressed is calling it a fountain.

[12:55] A fountain. It isn't just a little stream or a trickle. It is a fountain. And there is going to be forgiveness in abundance, blessing in abundance. And with this time, there is also going to be a regimen unlike anything the world has ever seen.

[13:15] And that's going to characterize the millennial reign of Christ. One of the things, one of the several things that's going to be involved in this thousand-year reign of Christ when he establishes it, we are told that, I think it's Psalm 2, that says, he will rule the world with a rod of iron.

[13:38] That's very significant. The rod is the scepter that is referred to. And if you've ever seen a picture of royalty like the Queen of England or something like that, they sit on a throne in all their regalia with the crown on their head and the robe and everything.

[13:56] And then, holding across their chest, they have this scepter. This is the royal scepter. And it's about 16 or 18 inches long.

[14:10] It may very well be overlaid with gold and precious stones. It is decorative. It is symbolic. And what it symbolizes is rule and authority.

[14:23] Because it is the monarch that sits on the throne and wields that scepter that is referred to as, symbolizes power and authority.

[14:34] When Jesus comes, we're told he's going to rule with a rod of iron. And that's speaking more of strength and power and ability than it is finery and decoration and beauty, like you would see with gold overlaid with silver and precious gems.

[14:57] This is going to be a rod of iron. And it means he is going to rule with authority and finality. And it's going to be a no-nonsense ring.

[15:08] All that means is justice. Pure, unadulterated justice is going to prevail throughout the earth.

[15:22] Never known that before. Now, in order for justice to prevail and be executed, there's going to have to be injustice.

[15:33] And that means there are going to be a number of people in this millennial reign of Christ who are not going to recognize the authority that's placed over them in Christ. And there will be the rebellious constituency because those who go into the millennium, who survive the great tribulation period and the slaughter of the Antichrist, are going to have bodies just like yours and mine.

[15:57] They will not be regenerated. They will be natural human bodies. And they're going to multiply. They're going to have children.

[16:09] And these children are going to grow up. And guess what they're going to do? They're going to have children. And by the time you get to the end of the millennial reign of a thousand years, you can do the math and see you're going to end up with a whole lot of people.

[16:27] Because Israel went down into Egypt with just 70 souls. And they were there for 400 years.

[16:39] And when they came out, they numbered somewhere in the vicinity of 2 million people that were involved in the Exodus. And that was just with 400 to 420 years.

[16:54] Now we're talking about people multiplying over a period of a thousand years. And the time is going to come when they are going to have to make decisions regarding Jesus as their authority or reject him.

[17:07] And there will be a number who will not be under his authority. And they will be the ones to whom the Antichrist will appeal and recruit when he is released from that bottomless pit after having been there for a thousand years.

[17:20] And he will go out upon the earth. This is Revelation 19 and 20. To deceive those who live on the earth. That's all of the unregenerate.

[17:31] And these will be people with bodies just like yours and mine. But life tenure will be extended greatly like it was in Eden. And there's going to be a huge number of people.

[17:43] And Revelation 20 tells us that when the adversary deceives them and they are ready to rebel against God in force, there will be no battle.

[17:55] There will be no contest. The text simply says, and God said, fire down from heaven, consume them, and that was it. And that's the end of the millennial reign. That's the way it ends.

[18:06] And then when the next chapter opens in Revelation, John says, I beheld a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth.

[18:16] This is entering the eternal state. So now, before we get to that, this is the beginning of that millennium. And a fountain will be opened for the house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

[18:30] And it will come about in that day, declares the Lord of hosts. I will cut off the names of the idols of the land. He's cleaning house. God is cleaning house of a wicked earth that was in place during the tribulation period.

[18:44] I will cut off the names of the idols from the land. They will no longer be remembered. And I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.

[18:56] And it will come about that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, you shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord.

[19:15] And his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies. That's unimaginable. Are you kidding me?

[19:27] They're flesh and blood? How could people do that? They will do that because deference will not be given to offspring in place of deference given to the righteous God.

[19:42] We love our children, but our children are not God. And we love our parents, but our parents are not God. And we love our mates, but our mates are not God.

[19:55] We are talking about the supreme deity here. And this is unimaginable, but there's precedent for it. And it was earlier established. If you will come back for just a moment to Deuteronomy chapter, keep your place here.

[20:07] Come back to Deuteronomy chapter 13. Deuteronomy 13. And we'll just jump in with verse 6.

[20:18] This is all Mosaic law content. And in verse... Well, let's start with verse 3.

[20:32] You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him.

[20:44] You shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because He has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk.

[21:12] So you shall purge the evil from among you. If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul entice you secretly saying, let us go and serve other gods whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end, you shall not yield to Him or listen to Him, and your eye shall not pity Him, nor shall you spare or conceal Him, but you shall surely kill Him.

[22:00] Your hand shall be first against Him to put Him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone Him to death, because He has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

[22:21] And while we're in Deuteronomy, let's come over to chapter 18. Deuteronomy 18 and verse 20. Verse 19.

[22:42] And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

[23:04] That's pretty severe. But that's the only way that unrighteousness and evil can be treated. It needs to be stamped out.

[23:14] And we'll see elaboration on this as we move on through chapter 13. Yes, verse 3.

[23:26] Yeah, yeah. To get a handle on this, when Jesus comes back, the only ones that we turn, our turn is Christian, the only ones who are believers are just those in Jerusalem?

[23:38] I mean, out of the whole world? Almost sounds that way. Well, there's two different classes of people here. One is, and there's always been these two, well, not always, but almost always been these two classes of people, Gentiles and Jews.

[23:57] It is the Jewish people who will be here in Jerusalem, in the city, and in Petra, and they will be Jews. They will be the remnant of Jews. They will be the surviving number of Jews that will constitute about one-third of the Jews on the earth.

[24:13] Two-thirds will have already been destroyed. Along with that, there will be a huge number of people who are not Jews, but are just ordinary, run-of-the-mill Gentiles, like you and me, but they will be survivors of the Great Tribulation period.

[24:29] Now, this is a time when billions, and keep in mind, I'm talking with a bee. Most people have no idea, and I don't either, of what a billion is.

[24:44] We don't even have any idea what a million is. But if you are a billionaire with a bee, that means you have made a million dollars a thousand times.

[25:02] That's big bucks. A billionaire is a thousand million, and two-thirds of the world's population is going to be eliminated.

[25:15] Or two-thirds of the Jewish population, perhaps only half of the world's population. And it's not only going to be through the Antichrist, but it's going to be through incredible starvation, and people are going to die of thirst.

[25:30] Disease is going to be rampant in a way that you cannot imagine. This thing that we're dealing with now, COVID-19, may be nothing compared to what's coming.

[25:43] And I've already, I've already just referred to that incident in Revelation that describes men seeking death and not being able to find it.

[25:58] How many different ways are there of killing yourself? A lot. But if you aren't even able to do that, think of it. During this tribulation period, and it's called tribulation for a good reason, during this tribulation period, disease is going to be rampant.

[26:16] And the Bible uses the word plagues. We don't call them plagues, we call them viruses. But it's a plague. And it is going to take a toll, and who knows, I'm not a prophet.

[26:29] I'm just proposing possibilities. But we know there are all kinds of pathogens out there or that can be there, things that exist, that mutate, that turn into this or that, that can paralyze and neutralize you.

[26:49] There are things that can inflict itself upon your body, and neurologically, render you powerless.

[27:00] Where you can't do anything, but you can suffer, and you can experience great pain. You know, there are people right now with certain kinds of neurological maladies, and these dear people are in pain 24-7.

[27:18] And many of them end up taking their life or secure a physician to administer something to take them out.

[27:30] We have no idea what it is like to live with incessant, unimaginable pain where you would welcome death.

[27:42] There's going to be a lot of that during this time. This is not going to be a good place to be, folks. That's why it's called the Tribulation. And no one is going to be able to buy or sell anything.

[27:54] There's going to be a lot of bartering going on. There's going to be a lot of deception. There's going to be a lot of folks turncoding and turning in people. And it's going to be a Gestapo-like operation under the Antichrist all over the earth.

[28:09] People are going to hide themselves wherever they can, survive however they can, eat whatever they can, water to drink will be almost non-existent.

[28:21] We just can't imagine living like that. But there will be survivors. And these survivors will come through that Tribulation period. And they will be those who will marry, multiply, have children, and they will produce the numbers that we're talking about.

[28:39] So, there's going to be Jew and Gentile. And it will come about that if anyone, verse 3, still prophesies than his father and mother who gave it, we saw that. And it will come about in that day, verse 4, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies.

[28:58] Why would he be ashamed of his vision? What does that mean? It means because his vision will not come to pass and he will have been shown to be a phony, a false prophet.

[29:10] And we are told earlier what is to be done with the false prophets. He will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive.

[29:21] That's the prophet's garment. That's the sackclothed hair that was the traditional garment that the prophets wore when they prophesied and it is the kind of thing that the Jew, of course, would recognize and be familiar with.

[29:37] And he's going, he won't put that, he won't put that on. He won't, he will not wear the raiment of a prophet because that, of course, would give him away. He's ashamed of what he's prophesied that has not come to pass.

[29:50] He was a false prophet. He tried to lead the people astray. And you know, we won't, well, I, no, I'm not going to go there.

[30:02] Our time will be gone. But I, just let me run this by. These false prophets that existed in Israel, they were prophets of Baal, B-A-A-L. And they are those on Mount Carmel with whom Elijah did combat.

[30:18] Remember, they, they, they poured the sacrifice, the water on the sacrifice, and they cried out to their God. And, and, and Elijah challenged the people of Israel and he said, listen, he said, we're going to put this animal here on this sacrificial altar and we're going to douse it with water and there'll be water in the trench all around it.

[30:46] And, the prophets of Baal are going to call upon their God to send fire down from heaven and destroy the sacrifice.

[30:58] and the prophet says, okay, and he says, and, and then I will call down fire to destroy the sacrifice and we'll see whose God answers.

[31:10] And they as much as say, okay, you got a deal and there's a big audience there. Can you imagine this kind of situation going on? And all of these prophets are there and they start calling upon their God and they start all kinds of ridiculous things.

[31:25] And, I, oh, I, oh, well, what the heck, let's do it. 1 Kings 18.

[31:36] Let's go back there quickly. 1 Kings, 1 Kings chapter 18. There really is a connection here, guys, and it has to do with the false prophets. And it's an amazing thing as Elijah and what's taking place in verse, verse 25 of chapter 18 of 1 Kings.

[32:02] Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one ox for yourselves, prepare it first for you and your mind, calling the name of your God, but put no fire under it. Then they took the ox that was given to them, they prepared it, called on the name of Baal from morning till noon.

[32:14] Oh, Baal, answer us! But there was no voice. Simple reason there was no Baal either. But there was no voice and no one answered and they leaped about the altar which they made and it came about at noon that Elijah mocked them.

[32:33] Here they've been crying out to this false god for hours and it's not answering, of course, because he doesn't even exist. And Elijah mocked them and said, well, call louder!

[32:44] He's a god, maybe he's occupied or gone aside or he's on a journey or praying. This is satire and Elijah is rubbing it in. You know, this is, he's, and maybe he's asleep and needs to be awakened.

[32:59] Cry louder! And these guys are just carrying on with all of this emotion and consternation and look at what they're doing. And they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them.

[33:23] What is that all about? That is a manner of self-infliction of pain and wounds in an attempt to gain the attention and show the God to whom you are appealing how serious you are about what you are asking for, how intense this is, how devoted you are to him.

[33:52] It is kind of a self-flagellation. And we've got a similar thing to this that occurs even in this day. And I don't know if you've, I've mentioned, I think, before the flagellantes, if you've ever heard of these people.

[34:06] But this comes around every spring before Easter and it's in connection with Lent. It's in connection with Lent and they are doing penance.

[34:19] And to do penance means that you deprive yourself of something or you inflict some kind of pain or punishment upon yourself. and actually it is the basis for abstaining from certain things during Lent.

[34:36] And some people who are serious about this say, well, I give up coffee for Lent or I give up this for Lent, I give up that for Lent. Because Lent, Lent is that period wherein you are supposed to purify yourself and discipline yourself to do without and to be especially holy and seek forgiveness and all the rest of it.

[35:02] Because what comes right after Lent, and if you follow this in the calendar that many do, what follows right after, or have I got it backwards, the Mardi Gras thing where sin is at your pleasure, you know.

[35:28] And it's the opposite of the doing without. It's the opposite of Lent. It is extreme indulgence in impurity and sexuality of every kind.

[35:39] And this is what takes place at Mardi Gras. A lot of people don't understand that. They just think people dress up in fancy costumes and parade through the street. But it's a wicked, wicked, evil time where anything goes.

[35:52] And in Brazil, I've talked to missionaries who've been there, they don't call it Mardi Gras, they call it, they call it carnival. Carnival.

[36:02] And it comes from the word, carnival comes from the word carnal or carnos, and it has to do with, which means flesh, of course. Carnivorous means flesh and it means you just give yourself over entirely to the flesh and whatever the flesh wants.

[36:18] That's what carnival is all about. So here we've got these guys carrying on this and the flagellantes in the Philippines that still do this today, they make whips and they beat themselves, beat themselves in the back and their backs are bloody and a mess, etc.

[36:34] This is self-inflicted pain that they believe is necessary that they need to experience to atone for their own sins. This is their way of telling God how sorry they are for their sins and they beat themselves.

[36:48] So they've got a similar kind of thing here that goes all the way back to the time of Elijah and what's going to happen is all of these false prophets are going to be executed and Elijah is going to be the executioner and when he does, guess who that incenses to no end?

[37:12] The king by the name of Ahab and what's his wife's name? Jezebel. And she sets her troops after him and Elijah starts running for his life and he finally, he sits down to rest and he says, oh Lord, he says, they're pursuing me like an animal, like dogs hunting a prey and my life is miserable and I am the only one left.

[37:42] I'm the only one. I alone am the only one left and I wish you would take my life. Just end it all, Lord. Take my life. And I don't want to be facetious, but all Elijah had to do was stop running and Jezebel would accommodate him.

[38:01] It'd take his life. But he didn't mean that. He was speaking out of desperation, of course. And the Lord answered him and said, Elijah, I know you really feel bad. You think you're in this all alone.

[38:12] But I just want you to know that I've got, how many thousand was it? Seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal and they're really in the same camp as you were.

[38:25] Elijah's probably thinking, really? That's great. I just, I sure, where are they? You know, I don't see it. Well, let's get back to Malachi, back to Zechariah. So this principle of wounding and self-infliction, in verse five, this man will be accused.

[38:42] He will not put on the hairy robe in order to deceive. And in verse five, he will say, I'm not a prophet. No, no, you've got me mixed up. I'm not one of those guys. I'm a tiller of the ground.

[38:55] For a man sold me as a slave in my youth. This is his cover. This is his, this is his alibi. He says, you got me mixed up with somebody.

[39:05] No, I'm not, I'm not a prophet. I'm not one of those. And one will say to him, what are these wounds between your arms? What they are is self-inflicted wounds that he is carrying, that he's trying to disguise and cover up.

[39:24] And he will say, well, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. And a likely story. A wake, oh, sword against my shepherd and against the man, my associate declares the Lord of hosts.

[39:39] Strike the shepherd. That the sheep may be scattered. And I will turn my hand. This is all during the millennial period. And really with a rod of iron. And the Lord says, I will turn my hand against the little ones.

[39:53] This is not a good translation here in the New American Standard. I don't know what you have. But in the Hebrew, in the Hebrew, the word is, I will turn my hand upon or to the little ones.

[40:06] This is a time of blessing and benefit. It is not judgment or punishment. And the little ones he's talking about are the same kinds of ones that Jesus said, let these little ones come unto me and forbid them not for of them, such of them as the kingdom of heaven.

[40:24] And he says, I will favor them and I will come about and come about in all the land, declares the Lord, that two parts of it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it.

[40:38] And I will bring the third part through the fire. These are the Jews who constitute the remnant.

[40:49] This is that little flock. These are the survivors. And these are they that I associate and some other Bibles teachers and scholars do also with those who are bivouacked and holed up who comprise the tents of Judah, mentioned in an earlier chapter, and they will be there in Petra escaping the fury of the Antichrist and they will be supernaturally protected and provided for by the Lord.

[41:18] The third will be left in it. I will bring the third part through the fire. Refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested and they will call on my name and I will answer them.

[41:35] I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is my God. These are the same ones who earlier engage in this tremendous repentance and sorrow and tears and regret for their ancestors having rejected the Messiah.

[41:57] These will be the ones who will have cried out to God for the Messiah to return because they are right on the edge of annihilation and Christ returns and that's Revelation chapter 19 and we won't have time to go there but that's exactly what's going to happen and when they will come.

[42:16] So we've got a few minutes for a Q&A and we will be glad to entertain your thoughts, your comments, or questions. Anybody? You said that the prophets of Baal had water on their sacrifice.

[42:31] They didn't. The sacrifice was dry when Elijah had the sacrifice. He had pour water on it showing how powerful his God was. Yeah, you're right.

[42:42] You're right. I remember that now. Yeah. In fact, it was kind of requiring God to go the extra mile. Baal. Yeah.

[42:53] And they kept crying for their God, Baal, to send fire down from heaven. Nothing happened. And then it came time for Elijah and Elijah says, pour some water on that.

[43:09] Pour more water on that. And we're told that the water not only covered the sacrifice but the water filled the trench that was dug around the sacrifice.

[43:19] and then Elijah, I don't know if he said this or not but it would have been very appropriate. Stand back everybody.

[43:31] Get ready for a demonstration the likes of which and you know something? This just goes to show you a man who is really in touch with God who knows his God he knows what he knows and he knows that he knows.

[43:44] there's one thing that Elijah never had to worry about or have thought about. Elijah never stood there before that sacrifice and before all those people and said to himself man I sure hope this works because it's going to be terribly embarrassing if it doesn't work.

[44:07] He never had that thought. He never had that doubt. And he cried out to God and God sent the fire and I'm telling you I suspect that was a fire like a fire nobody had ever seen and it consumed the sacrifice and it licked up the water in the trenches and Elijah got an answer to the question that he posed before.

[44:31] If Baal is God okay go with Baal worship him but if Jehovah is the Lord then worship him. He says why halt you between two opinions?

[44:43] Make up your mind people get off the dime! And he gave them reason to and as a result they said the Lord he is God the Lord he is God.

[44:54] Okay now what are we going to do with all these phony prophets? Kill them. Execute them. Now today's liberal would say oh you can't do that you have to give them a trial you have to give them this you have to give them that you have to let them you have to put them in solitary you have to put them in prison for the rest of their life and you pay for their upkeep and all of that nonsense.

[45:18] No. This this fellas this is justice the likes of which we are not familiar with but this is divine justice it's no nonsense justice it's calling a spade a spade and Joe?

[45:38] Changing to the millennial after the tribulation thousand year reign of Christ all those babies all those people that are born and the population grows, grows, grows they haven't had to face sin or the chance to do wrong because God is ruling with an iron fist therefore that's why the world is so great during that millennial I mean there's no sin no nothing but yet those are human people just like bodies living under optimum conditions yes optimum conditions so they didn't sin but man has a will a choice so God gives them that choice at the end of the millennium when he releases the devil and then so now okay now you can choose to stay with me so to speak to follow me or here's the devil now you've got your chance is that kind of the thinking of God at the time to keep the devil alive in the pit all that time I think that is part of what is involved and it is designed my understanding is it is designed you see and it's a very legitimate question too and people say you mean he is confined and and we don't know what that confinement consists of the text simply tells us in revelation that an angel probably Michael takes a chain and he confines

[47:05] Satan to this bottomless pit and I don't understand how that works because you're not going to confine an immaterial being Satan is a spirit being he's not physical any more than angels and how can he be confined with a chain and my only suggestion is that that that device is used because there isn't anything we can understand we don't know how an immaterial being can be confined to a physical place all I'm saying is and I think what the text is saying but there isn't any way of explaining this how do you go about illustrating or drawing a picture of an immaterial being being incarcerated in some kind of non-physical holding how do you explain that how do you illustrate that I don't think you can so the analogy is used by calling into service something that we can understand that we can understand a pit we can understand a chain and that's the effect that it's going to have and the question quite legitimately arises if he is confined for a thousand years why in the world would he release him and the answer is

[48:31] God has him confined and God is the one who releases him and I think it is going to demonstrate to humanity once and for all that man in his natural fallen state which is what many of these people are going to be simply do not have the ability for righteousness or truth or honesty or justice it just isn't in them it isn't in us it isn't in us anything that is good in us is what God has put in us and that is the new nature the new man the old nature is as rugged and ragged and unrighteous as it can be and it will be so for them as well and it will prove it will prove that man who is not indwelt by the spirit of God is capable of any kind of vice that you can imagine and he's going to demonstrate it then and Satan will succeed in recruiting them in the same way that he recruited

[49:38] Adam and Eve and it's it's it's remarkable but it's it's a story of humanity Roger it convinced me of the total depravity of an unsaved person yeah absolutely absolutely I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing in the flesh that is in our Adamic nature in that nature with which we were born that has not been regenerated and you know something when we are regenerated God simply places this new man within us that we have of him he quickens our spirit but he does not eliminate the old man the old man creates a contest and this is what Romans 7 is all about Paul says oh the things that I want to do that's not what I do the things that I don't want to do that's what I do and he's talking as an apostle for crying out loud and he admits the weakness of the flesh oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this flesh

[50:46] I thank God through my Lord Jesus Christ that he is the one who delivers that's remarkable so in our flesh in our flesh we are capable of doing almost anything this is why Paul said when he wrote to the Galatians if you walk in the spirit you will not fulfill the demands of the flesh and what's that imply if you do not walk or conduct your life in the spirit you will fulfill the demands of the flesh and the flesh will rule the roost and I'll close with this illustration is one of the best I've heard I remember years ago Dr.

[51:31] Walter Wilson came to town a remarkable guy he'd been a pastor he'd been a physician delivered I don't know how many thousands of babies in a 40 or 50 year career practicing medicine the preacher of the gospel and the pastor of I think it was central I think it was central church in Kansas City Missouri for several years anyway the man also was a tent maker he made tents for Buffalo Bill that's how far back he goes if you will and he was a personal friend of his and he said that his only regret was that he never was able to lead William F.

[52:10] Cody to faith in Christ that he just hoped that he came to know the Savior before he died but anyway Dr. Wilson was talking about the nature of the flesh and the tendency I lost my train of thought seeing your moment but none of you would know anything about those anyway Dr.

[52:41] Wilson would go every year out to the Indian reservation in Arizona and minister to the Indians and they always looked forward to him coming and one day he was teaching from Romans 7 teaching about the flesh and the spirit and an aged old Indian came up to him after the message was over and said I know now what you mean and Dr.

[53:06] Wilson says tell me about it and he says I feel like there are two dogs living inside me white dog and a black dog good dog and a bad dog and they fight they fight because each one wants its way with me each one wants to rule me each one is fighting for my attention and for my will and Dr.

[53:44] Wilson said well which one wins and he says the one I say sick him that's the one that wins and you know we are all called upon to make choices and when you say sick him you're calling upon the spirit to take charge of the situation so that you will not yield to the flesh because the flesh is weak let me tell you the flesh is no match for Satan we are not up to combating with the devil that's why we flee from him and he will resist him and he will flee from you but we resist him the same way that our Lord Jesus resisted him when he was tempted command that these stones be made bread satisfy your hunger

[54:46] Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone it is written and thou shalt worship the Lord every contest that he had with Satan he rebuffed him and refuted him with the word of God and he appealed to the power and the authority of scripture and Satan could not stand against it that's the one thing that's the one thing that overcomes Satan and that is the power and the authority of the word of God nothing else is any match for it anything else well I'm already over my time so hey guys thanks for being here we will do our best to keep this on track and that means next week we will be looking at the last chapter of Zechariah I was beginning to think we were probably never going to get through this book that the Lord would come in reality before we finished it but thank you all for your kind attention hope to see you next Tuesday next next 과 about his time and let be行 everybody too

[56:03]  Anthony in the George Hill The He wore his day