Jerusalem is God’s Earthly City Capital

Lesson 21: Zechariah Chapter 8: 18-23

 “Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.’

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities; The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, and seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also.’ Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.’

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

Man, do we live in exciting times! Today is December 9, 2017. On Wednesday, December 6^th, President Trump declared that the USA will now acknowledge that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. This is a historic announcement.

For all intents and purposes, Tel Aviv has been the recognized capital of Israel since Israel re-formed as a nation in May 1948. Even after the Six-Day War in 1967, when they retook Jerusalem, no one wanted to defy the Palestinian Authority and declare that Jerusalem was the ancient and rightful capital of Israel. Well, with the USA declaring that recognition and planning to move its embassy to Jerusalem, there is no longer any doubt.

Out of courtesy I asked one of the co-workers about how his week was going after having a day off and not seeing him for a day. He commented that his week was good except for the idiocy that President Trump did in Israel. I forgot that he was a Muslim. He is from Egypt. I commented that I was good with it.

So, the stage is gradually being set for the return of Jesus to rule the whole earth from Jerusalem. The Muslims may squawk, and they will, loudly. There may be bombs and rallies and suicide bombers, but the stage is set. Let us not forget that the Antichrist will also seek Jerusalem from where to rule the earth. Satan knows enough of the Bible to know that Jerusalem is God’s earthly city capital.

The prophecies of Zechariah that we are to explore today deal with the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus. This will be a time of peace on earth when Satan is caged in a pit for 1,000 years. The period of time is described this way:

Revelation 20:1-3 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.”

During this time, there will be some other really cool things that will happen. There will be no infant deaths, and living to 100 will be commonplace.

Isaiah 65:20 “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed.”

Even the animals will be at peace.

Isaiah 11:6 “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.”

And as we mentioned before, Jerusalem will be the political and spiritual capital of the earth. 

Isaiah 2: 2 “Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.”

So, what we have witnessed over the past few days is just the beginning, as we see the world being set up for the next phase. The New World Order that has been prophesied by Presidents Bush Sr. to Obama, by the Pope, and by the leaders of the EU will be put in place. For now, President Trump is being used of God to set up the pins of God’s prophecies, just so God can knock them down and show His Omniscience. He truly does know the end from the beginning, and He truly has control of tomorrow.

Truth and Peace, verse 19

Today, in our time, truth does not normally bring peace. For instance, if we tell the truth about the ‘transgendered lie,’ there is no peace. The truth is that there are only TWO (2) genders, Male and Female. There are no others, just XX and XY. No amount of surgery, medications, hair growth or hair removal, no amount of hormone therapy or anything else will change that. When we get up and state this truth, it causes a fight and a war. Governments are trying to squelch the freedom of speech for the truth.

But in the time when Jesus rules the earth from Jerusalem, there will be peace and truth. We are called to love peace and truth. In fact, we are to be peacemakers here on earth until Jesus returns. 

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

We are called to search the scriptures—the truth—God’s written declared truths. In the Bible are the truths of creation, life, death, hope, the future, the present and the past. In the Bible are the truths of how to run a business, how to run a family and how to run a country. The Bible shares truths on how to pick your spouse, your friends and your enemies. The Bible has been proven to be true in its science, its history and its geography.

With this truth, those of us who also have Jesus as our Savior are able to find true peace. We have peace in daily life, the peace that Jesus is in control and that He will never abandon us no matter how it may feel or hurt. We have the peace of God in us through His Holy Spirit that carries us when we cannot go on any longer. We have a peace that transcends human understanding and sight.

One day soon this kind of peace will be available to everyone. Jesus will be the clear and present standard of truth; the Bible will still be the Book, and He will usher in an era of peace that we only see movies about. There is no Utopia without Jesus. This is the problem of the New World Order; they want to get peace without Jesus, and that is an impossibility.

All the World will seek the Lord, verse 22

Wow, what if this were true now? What if all the nations simply just sought the Lord? What if they consulted the Bible before making laws and executing judgment? What if each company had to build their business model on Biblical principles of integrity, openness, and serving the poor? What if the economy operated on Biblical financial principles so that all personal debts were wiped out every seventh year? What if we gave people a fresh start and did not burden the next generations with our stupid decisions?

But we still have some leaders that seek the Lord. In all of our governments, even here in North America, we have a few persons who seek the Lord as they perform their governmental duties. They are few and far between, and they are often drowned out, but they are there. The day will come, and soon, when the nations of the world will seek the truth from Jesus. They will travel to Jerusalem and seek Jesus. They will ask for the eternal wisdom of the Almighty God. What a world that will be!

God is with Israel, verse 23

We are told that in that day, not too far from now, 10 men will seek a Jew and ask to go to Jerusalem with him since they know that God is with them. God has been with the Jews since Genesis 12: 1-3 when He called out Abram to follow Him. He has overseen and superintended the Jews for 4,500 years. He has protected them, cared for them and preserved them.

Yes, they have been hurt, killed, maligned and scattered by many all over the earth. God has allowed them to suffer horrendous crimes at times, and still they are His. We see this in passages such as the following:

Deuteronomy 7: 6-8 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers; the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

Psalm 105: 8-15 “He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance,’ when they were only a few men in number, very few, and strangers in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, and He reproved kings for their sakes: ‘Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.’”

Over and over again and again, the Lord makes it clear that Israel is His and those that hurt them do so to their own detriment. God is with Israel even today. They are surrounded on every side by millions of Muslims all clamoring for their destruction, but they cannot do anything lasting – maybe a few rockets here and there, and a skirmish now and then. But they cannot get rid of Israel ever again out of their place, because God is with them.

God can never abandon the Jews, JESUS IS A JEW.  He cannot abandon Jesus. We in the New Testament church are called to pray for Israel, and to wait for the coming of the Lord.

Psalm 122: 6-7 “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.” 

As we come to the season to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, please remember that He was born as the King of the Jews. The first time He came as our Messiah, to take away our sins. The next time He comes, He will arrive as the rightful King of the Jews. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

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The Goal Has Always Been the Cross
Matthew Chapter 16: 21-23 (continued)

“From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

Last week we showed that Jesus is the only Rock of the church.  There are some religions that teach that the apostle Peter is the ‘rock’ of the church.  This is pure heresy, and it diminishes the power and role of Jesus.  It makes a mockery of what Jesus came to do.  It makes light of all that Jesus sacrificed and gave up for us.  Once again I must state that Jesus is the firm foundation of the NT church.  He is our Rock upon which we stand.  If you are standing on anyone or anything other than Jesus, you are standing on ‘quicksand,’ and you are in a very bad situation.

Today we will move on and look at the cost to us in the Christian life.  There is a cost, and without a cost you need to ask yourself if you are truly maturing as a Christian.  Jesus left Heaven heading for the cross, and if we are to go to Heaven, there is need for us to bear our crosses as well.  Each one of us will have different crosses to bear, but the Christian life must and will cost you something, someone or maybe somewhere.  Be wary of a life for Christ that is without sacrifice.  All of the apostles had to leave something to turn to Jesus.  Every Christian must do the same.  See Peter’s confession here in Mark 10:28:

“Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.”

Christianity without cost is not true Christianity.  Be wary of cheap salvation and a cheap Christian life.  Our salvation was not cheap; it is offered freely to us, but it was and is not cheap.

Calvary’s Cross, verse 21

The book of the Revelation tells us that Jesus was a ‘Lamb slain before the foundations of the earth’ (Revelation 13:8).  The same information is repeated for us in 1 Peter 1:20.  This is hard for us to get sometimes, and when we read the Genesis account of the Fall of Man we get the idea that our salvation was a contingency plan.  No! No! No!  Our salvation was The Plan from before creation.  This very, VERY important for us to understand.  Jesus is the Creator of the Universe. In John 1: 1-4 we read the following:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

So, let us take this journey through the verses we have explored.  Here we see that Jesus, in John 1:3, created all things, and that without Him nothing was made.  So let that sink in.  Now, let us remember that Jesus is God.  He knew that Adam would sin, He knew that salvation would cost Him His life, and He knew that He would have to die, and yet still He spoke the worlds into existence.  Now, let that sink in.  In the book of the Psalms it would be ‘Selah.’

Now, not only did Jesus know that He would have to die, He could have scheduled His death at any time in history, yet He chose to come when the Roman government was ruling.  It was they who perfected the death on the cross, and it was they who literally took execution to the ‘next level.’  They invented the long, drawn-out death that Jesus would go through.

Jesus, knowing what man’s sin would cost and that the cost would be excruciating, still did two things: One, He agreed to be our sacrifice before we ever sinned. And two, He went ahead and spoke the worlds into existence.  He still put Adam in the Garden, and He still made the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and He still gave Adam and Eve free will (Genesis 1–3).

Jesus literally planned His execution for our sins. He breathed into man the breath of life, knowing that man would take His breath.  Jesus’ death on the cross was not a contingency plan; it was the plan before He ever had one star on the horizon or one planet in orbit.

In verse 21, we are considering that Jesus said that ‘He must go to Jerusalem.’  And further that ‘He must suffer many things of the elders, chief priests and scribes.’  He set this plan in place about 4,000 years before, when He breathed into man the ‘breath of life.’  All of the events from then have been heading to the cross at Calvary.

This was an event planned by God. He brought all of human history to bear for this purpose. Every war, every plague, and every idea He allowed to prosper — the flood, the birth of Israel, the judgments on Israel — everything was done to funnel events so that Jesus would die on the cross at Calvary on that particular day, by the hands of Roman government and with these particular men and women watching.  Jesus set this up.  Jesus managed it and Jesus fulfilled it to the exact design that He put in place.

Why, you ask, would Jesus do this?  Because, unlike the gods of the world, whether it be the carved stone, wood or precious metals of the pagans, or whether it be Lucifer who is the megalomaniac behind all false religion, or whether it be the ‘Mother Earth’ that is being pushed on us by the governments of the world – what separates the True and Living God from these imposters is that He loves us.  All other gods are impersonal; even Lucifer only lives to take.  We are told that he is a liar and the father of liars, and we are told he is a lion seeking to destroy (1 Peter 5:8).  But God’s love for us compelled Him to want to be loved by a people who chose Him.

He knew we would sin and become helpless sinners, but in His love for us He decided to come and die for us.  He set up the rules of redemption. In Hebrews 9:22 we read: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

Knowing that He would have to submit to His own rule to redeem us, He still did it. Romans 5:8 tells us this: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

There is a heresy out there called Calvinism that would have us believe that Jesus selects certain people to go to Heaven and others to go to Hell.  This is basically to put a stop to evangelism.  All the way through the Bible we have the idea of choice.  Adam had to choose to eat the fruit; even Satan could not make him eat. Genesis 3:6 says:

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

In Joshua 24:15 we are encouraged to ‘choose.’  In Deuteronomy 30:19 we find this challenge/warning from God: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you, life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”

God chose the method of redemption—belief in Jesus’ death, burial and His resurrection for our sins. BUT, you must choose to believe and accept the payment.  It cost Jesus everything, and it is offered to ALL mankind, everywhere freely.

Be wary of ‘crossless Christianity,’ verse 22-23

The cross of Jesus Christ is offensive.  It was designed to be offensive.

These apostle ‘nobodies’ could finally see the fruit of their sacrifice.  They had a leader that could raise the dead and make food for thousands out of a few pieces of fish and bread.  He could heal the sick, fix broken limbs, walk on water, and the multitudes loved Him.  These ‘no name men’ could finally see the end, the restoration of Israel, with Jesus as her king, and they as her lords.  They could taste victory.  The journey from fishermen to princes had been long, but the journey had taken the turn; and they were headed to Jerusalem to throw out the Gentile pigs that dared to set foot on their holy soil…

BUT Jesus kept talking about being crucified and executed. He just would not shut up about being beaten, bruised, shamed and buried, and this was not what they all wanted to hear. Finally Peter could not take it anymore, so he took Jesus aside to ‘rebuke Him.’  Imagine this if you will… no, take a minute and think about this.  Peter takes God aside to set Him straight.  Let that sink in.  And before we get all ‘holier than thou,’ let us ask ourselves how often do we do the exact same thing.  Our prayers are not humble supplications, asking God for His All-Knowing wisdom to override our limited sight; BUT, we actually tell God what to do and how to do it.

We are all Peters to some degree.  We have a vision of how we want our Christian life to go, and we have no shame in telling God that He messed up and that we are going down the wrong path.  ‘Hey God, this is not what we had planned when we signed on to the ‘follow me’ thing.’

But Jesus quickly reminds Peter of who is God and who is not.  He rebukes him and reminds him that without the cross there is no victory, no kingdom and no salvation.  You see, Peter was thinking like a mortal man, just seeing the now and not looking toward the future.  All he could see was the physical world in front of him, and he lost sight of eternity.

You see, Jesus knows where you are going and what He planned for you before He made you.  He knew where I would be today even before He spoke the worlds into existence 6,000 years ago.  Jesus knew you would follow Him, He knew I would follow Him, and that is what He expects – FOLLOW, do not begin to lead; that is His job.

Folks, Jesus had to go to the cross of Calvary, and in the same way you have to go through the journey He has chosen for you.  There is a path that you are on that shapes the image of Jesus in you.  Jesus knows this and He must take you on this path.  Trust Him.

But to bring us back to the point, be wary of those that want to talk about Jesus but make no mention of the cross at Calvary.  That would be like talking about the ocean but never mentioning that it is wet and/or salty.  You see, they want to stop talking about the cross since it is symbiotically tied to sin.  And man, do we hate to talk about sin with people.  But it is our sin that was the foundation of the need for the cross, and without our sin the cross was not necessary.  So to refuse to speak of sin is to make Jesus a fool.

You see, without my sin, your sin, our sin, then Jesus died for nothing.  But the journey to the cross did not begin at the manger; it began when the Holy Trinity began to create mankind and saw our fall and our helplessness.  And Jesus came to our rescue.

Behold the man hanging on the cross—on Him was laid the sins of us all.  In Him they can be forgiven. We can be redeemed from the depths of Hell, and our future secured in the hands of the Living God.

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

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Sean Gooding Pastor Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church