(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could all find your seats, we'll go ahead and get started. We're going to start this evening off in song number 18, Take the Name of Jesus With You. Song number 18. Song number 18, Take the Name of Jesus With You. Let's sing it out unto the Lord. 🎵Music🎵 🎵Take the name of Jesus with you🎵 🎵Child of sorrow and of old🎵 🎵It will joy and comfort give you🎵 🎵Take it in wherever you go🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 We're going to speed it up just a little bit, try to get the energy up in the room, sing it out on the second. 🎵Take the name of Jesus ever🎵 🎵As a shield from every spell🎵 🎵If temptations round you get hurt🎵 🎵Breathe that holy name in prayer🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 🎵Hope of precious name of Jesus🎵 🎵How it thrills the souls with joy🎵 🎵When His lovely hearts receive us🎵 🎵And His songs our tongues with noise🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 🎵And the name of Jesus found me🎵 🎵Falling cross straight at His feet🎵 🎵King of kings and men will crown Him🎵 🎵When our journey is complete🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 🎵Precious name, oh how sweet🎵 🎵Hope of earth and joy of heaven🎵 Great singing everybody. Let's go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church and everyone gathered. Lord, we ask that you fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit. We can preach an edifying sermon. We can all leave better Christians for your honor and glory. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright, next up we have song number 47. Let the sun shine again in my heart. Song number 47. Song 4-7. Sing it out. 🎵I remember the time when🎵 🎵I cursed through the same room🎵 🎵With the sunlight a-lesting🎵 🎵So flooded my heart🎵 🎵Oh, the sweetness of first love🎵 🎵Jesus so near me🎵 🎵And I thought such people🎵 🎵Shined together in love🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again🎵 🎵Let the flowers bloom again🎵 🎵Stir the embers of love in my heart🎵 🎵Holy Spirit🎵 🎵Then embrace me again🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again in my heart🎵 🎵Then how sweet were the scriptures🎵 🎵That spoke to me daily🎵 🎵How they guided my steps🎵 🎵My zeal did not last🎵 🎵And the sweet place of prayer🎵 🎵Where I met with my Savior🎵 🎵I neglected and so still🎵 🎵My joys were all there🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again🎵 🎵Let the flowers bloom again🎵 🎵Stir the embers of love in my heart🎵 🎵Holy Spirit🎵 🎵Then embrace me again🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again in my heart🎵 🎵I loved to talk with🎵 🎵The way with God's children🎵 🎵When we met in my heart🎵 🎵A fellowship speak🎵 🎵Of the pool of the flesh🎵 🎵Holy companions🎵 🎵In the past have sinned🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again🎵 🎵Let the flowers bloom again🎵 🎵Stir the embers of love in my heart🎵 🎵Holy Spirit🎵 🎵Then embrace me again🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again in my heart🎵 🎵Let the sun shine again in my heart🎵 🎵I come now again for🎵 🎵Forgive my simplicity🎵 🎵As my parents will chow by🎵 🎵And seek me my peace🎵 🎵For the blood made my dead🎵 My Spirit within me gives me come to my Father, my wandering to see. Let the sunshine again, let the flowers bloom again, stir the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Let the sunshine again in my heart. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Holy Spirit, then embrace me again. Make sure that you note that in the calendar. September 1st, it is the ordination of brother Salvador Alvarez over at Pure Words Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, if you want to make it out for that. September 8th, Dr. Phil Stringer will be guest preaching for us. Both services on a Sunday. Highly recommend you come check out his preaching. Really enjoy it. October 4th through the 16th, excuse me, October 4th through the 6th, it is the Heritage of the Lord Conference. And of course, there will be some new IFP pastors coming into town for this conference, which is aimed at highlighting some of the kids, some of the younger people in our congregation. We have various church rules and reminders. And on the back, we have our prayer list. We're in prayer for my wife's grandmother, her vision, health, and salvation. For Tanique Carlson, for her mother Rebecca's health. Ms. Faith has her friend Tamara's cancer treatment. Elijah Scott, his nephew, heart trouble. Ava Garcia has a request there for her daughter's pregnancy. Brother Ross for the moving process. Brother Samuel Foley has a couple of requests there, one for his fiancee's visa process, the other one for his coworker's baby's health. Carlos Guzman as well for Pastor Gomez's health and his mother's salvation. Brother Jeff Goodwin for his son William's health. Jonathan Spurgeon for an unfortunate situation there regarding his grandfather passing away. And Brother Matt Ihle, that his neighbors would be receptive to the gospel. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer for these requests here. Father in Heaven, we just lift up these requests, Lord, that we have on our prayer list and ask, Lord, that you would just answer them and that you would be with those who are grieving, you would be with those who are battling health issues, Lord, and that those who are not saved, that you would soften their heart and enable them to listen to the preaching of the gospel and to get saved. And we just ask Father God that all of these requests, Lord, that you would grant them if it is in your will. We love you and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And then we have some more information there you can read regarding the baby shower. But that's all I have for announcements. We'll go ahead and go to our next song here as Brother Rich will be leading us. Alright, for our next song we're going to go to Psalm number 146 in your white handouts. It's Psalm 146. I need you guys' help on this one, okay? Sing it all together. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, I praise the Lord, I will sing praises unto my God, while I have any need. But not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help, whom there is no help. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. His friend, the Lord is born, He returns to his earthly land, where he takes God's parish, and he is he that hath done, God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, the Lord is come. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Wish me heaven and earth the sea, and all that there is room to keep true. Forever, with checks you give judgment, for the oppressed which give in, through to the hungry the Lord, who is still the greatest worth. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. From the holy land in the eyes of the blind, the Lord raised them from the land, far well down the Lord the land, the righteous the Lord, reserved with the strangers, here reliveth the fatherless and the host. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. From the way of the wicked, eternal Zion, published on earth forever, even by God's own Zion, unto all generations. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Great singing everybody. As the offering plates are going around, would you please turn your Bibles to Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14. Praise be the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Zechariah 14. The Bible reads, behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the woman ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel. Ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinders sea. In summer and in winter shall it be, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day there shall be one Lord and his name one, and all the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. And it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Henanel unto the king's wine presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hold, everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver and apparel in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents as this plague. And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth and to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord, and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and see therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for allowing us to be here in church, and I just pray that you be with Pastor Shelley, Lord, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and help us to receive your word, Lord, and be able to make changes in our lives to be better Christians, and I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So we're finishing our Bible study in the Book of Zechariah. We're here in the last chapter of the Book of Zechariah, and it starts out here in verse number one talking about the day of the Lord that's coming. It says, Now, this phrase, day of the Lord, I believe is a phrase that can be used in a few different ways. It's usually kind of introducing the idea of a reckoning, a day of reckoning, or a day of judgment that God is going to pour out. And throughout the text and throughout the Bible and throughout time, there's been many days of the Lord in a sense where God has poured out his wrath or his judgment on nations, on individuals, but there is also one day of the Lord. There's kind of like a specific event that's going to be the day of the Lord and that I believe all these are alluding to, and what the Bible does is it often will use language about a specific event and apply it to multiple events, and so you kind of have this coming day of the Lord that we're always referencing, but then there's also an application that's a more modern-day or present-day application that this can also be attributed to. So I've heard someone else say this, and it kind of makes sense. There's like these many days of the Lord, and then there's like the big day of the Lord, and so that's one way of kind of looking at it, and here it's talking about the day of the Lord coming. So the day of the Lord could be in reference to just a future event of judgment, or we can be talking about a prophetic sense, really the return of Christ or the second coming of Christ. That's what the day of the Lord is signifying, okay? But that doesn't mean that every time in the day of the Lord that we're talking about it's only talking about that. It usually has multiple meanings. So here it's saying, when the day of the Lord cometh, thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. Of course, we're still in the context in talking about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city that we're talking about, the group of people. It's saying that they are going to have their spoil divided in the midst of them, talking about in the middle of the city, the conquerors or their enemies are going to be splitting up what's called the spoil, or what we know as the treasure, the money, the resources, all the things that you would take from winning a war. Whenever you win the war, you get their money, you get their assets, you get their gold, you get their silver. Sometimes you split the people, and I'm not saying that that's right. I'm just saying this is what happens. And so it's just saying the spoils of war are going to be divided in the middle of the city. I mean, they're going to not only conquer Jerusalem in like some foreign battle land or some distant area, they're going to literally take over the city and they're going to divide up all of the treasures in the midst of the city. It says in verse 2, For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. This is a pretty common theme of what happens in war, and this is the sad part about war, is that when someone loses, it's very bad for them. All of their possessions just get taken, so that's what it means by their house is rifled, the women are taken advantage of, and a lot of people go into slavery or some type of prison, maybe even just killed, and so it's talking about how Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, many people are going to be taken captive, and only a small residue is going to be left in this ruins of the city. Essentially, the city is going to be in ruin, and there's going to be just a handful of people left over to take this on. Now, of course, what is this in reference to as far as its close proximity to when this prophecy was delivered? Well, we're kind of looking towards 70 AD, and when Titus and the Roman Empire came and encompassed Jerusalem, and they ended up destroying Jerusalem and destroying the temple, that is going to fulfill many of these prophecies that we have here in the book of Zechariah, and specifically that their spoils were dividing the midst of the city. You have some really famous architecture drawings and paintings of Titus and his army carrying the holy objects of the temple with them, and you can actually see a famous arch. I can't remember the location of this, but there's a famous arch that has this literally depicted. There's all kinds of paintings and pictures of Titus and his army. They came in, and they literally divided the spoil. They took all of the holy instruments that were created and the gold and the silver of the temple, and they took them off with them, and so this happened in 70 AD. And think about it. What does the day of the Lord represent again? A day of vengeance, a day of God executing his wrath, and so God was executing his wrath and his vengeance on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Jews, for rejecting Jesus Christ because their Messiah came, Christ came, they crucified him, they said, his blood be on us and on our children. Then not only did they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, they rejected Peter and John, and they rejected all the disciples and the apostles constantly preaching in his name, and in fact, the Bible says that they had filled Jerusalem with their doctrine, that everyone in all of Jerusalem had heard about Jesus Christ, had heard about salvation by faith, had heard about the New Testament, and because of the repeated rejection of the Gospel, of their persecuting and heavy rejection of the Gospel, the New Testament, all the apostles, Jesus himself, all of that, just repeatedly, over and over, it got to the point where then God had a day of vengeance, a day of the Lord in a sense, where he brought the Romans, they just decimated the city, destroyed the temple, and as Jesus famously said, not one stone was left upon another. And so, after 70 AD, the Jewish people were scattered throughout the entire world, and that's how it's always been. Of course, some people would have you believe that in 1948, we randomly rescued all these people and brought them back, and now we have, quote, a new state of Israel, but it's really just a fraud because the Bible says that those who call themselves Jews or not, they're really just the synagogue of Satan. And we see that the people that are in the Middle East today, in Israel, they don't worship the God of the Bible, they didn't accept Jesus Christ, they didn't accept the New Testament, but rather, they follow a completely different religion, the religion of Judaism, which is based on the Talmud and a complete rejection of Jesus Christ. And so, eventually, they're going to have another day of reckoning at some point, where God is going to punish them severely again for having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it says here in verse number 3, Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought on the day of battle. This is something that's interesting that God will often do, is He'll judge a group of people, even sometimes His own, with a very wicked nation. But then after that wicked nation is done completing God's will, He ends up judging that nation as well. So you kind of see this with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar comes and judges all the nations of the earth, but then God judges Nebuchadnezzar and judges the Babylonians. And then, of course, He judges the Babylonians with the Medo-Persian Empire, and then He judges the Medo-Persian Empire with the Grecian Empire, and then He judges the Grecian Empire with the Roman Empire. And so God is constantly using wicked nations to judge other wicked nations, and it's just a vicious cycle, because when a nation won't honor the Lord, well, God will eventually have to destroy that nation. It doesn't matter what nation, doesn't matter what country, doesn't matter what group of people, if you won't honor God, then eventually He'll just destroy that nation and cause them to perish. And those that fought against Jerusalem and destroyed Jerusalem, well, God fought against them and destroyed them eventually. Verse 4, it says this, And His feet shall stand that day upon the Mount of Olives. Now this is a very interesting phrase, because at no point in the context of this chapter or even previously have we identified just a random individual single person. So it just kind of drops in here, and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. And this is kind of how the Bible is. The Bible will just allude to or bring up things, and you have to have the Holy Spirit inside of you to be able to discern some of these more cryptic statements, cryptic passages. Who do you think this is that we're talking about, whose feet are going to stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives? Well, that's going to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's funny to me, or what's interesting to me, is what if we asked a Jew this, right? And I'm using that term in the context of someone who doesn't believe in Jesus, or someone who follows supposedly the Old Testament. What if we said, who's the guy that it mentions here that's going to stand in the Mount of Olives? They don't even have an answer. They wouldn't have like, well, it's this person or it's this thing. And it's just interesting to me how there's just so many references in here that if you don't believe in Jesus, you don't have another alternative. You don't have like another option. There isn't just some, oh, or there's this other guy that's the Mount of Olives. There's just really a lack of answering many of the Old Testament questions about who this person is and these timelines. You have really specific timelines given in the Book of Daniel about Messiah coming. All those timelines get thrown off if you say Jesus still hasn't come, or the Messiah still hasn't come. It's like, how are you going to calculate these 70 weeks of Daniel at this point? Whereas the 70 weeks of Daniel actually fit really well with the exact narrative that we have and the exact timeline that we have. Additionally, these verses are pointing to Jesus Christ, and they're in the text. And of course, what is the day that he's going to stand upon the Mount of Olives? Well, let's read the rest of this verse, and we'll go figure that out. But it says, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south. Now, one thing I want you to notice is notice that it says where the Mount of Olives is located. It's located on the east. Now, keep your finger here and go to the Book of... Let's go to Revelation for a moment. Let's go to Revelation. And one of the applications that I hadn't brought up yet, but just to talk about it here, is when he talks about God having a day of the Lord and judging all those nations that came against him, I believe that it's also a double meaning that it's talking about the end times. And in the end times, there's also going to be a time when all the nations are kind of gathered against Jerusalem, and then God is going to judge them. And this is at what's called the Battle of Armageddon. It's where all of the nations are gathered just outside of Jerusalem, and then Christ is going to come on a white horse, and he's going to judge them and kill them and slay them with a sword which proceeds out of his mouth. Now, Jesus Christ is then going to come onto the earth and rule and reign for a thousand years. It says in Revelation chapter 19, look at verse 15, And out of his mouth go the sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now, this is kind of significant because if you think about the end times, and you think about Christ returning, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that we're going to be caught up with the Lord. Christ is going to be in the clouds, but we're going to be caught up together with Christ in the clouds, and it's like where the eagles are gathered together, we're going to be gathered there with them, right? We're going to be gathered with the Lord, and so what we don't see though is the Lord touching the earth. We don't see the Lord like coming down onto the earth, but rather we see us coming up to meet him in the clouds, so we're up in the air. In Revelation 19, it's alluding that Christ is actually coming all the way down and coming down onto the earth, okay? So this is an interesting part of the timeline. Go over to Acts chapter 1. I want to go to another place here. Go to Acts chapter 1. I wanted to show that verse in Revelation chapter 19 because I think it ties to what we saw in Zechariah chapter 14 verse 3, where it talks about God judging all those nations. Well, what's going to happen as Christ is coming down out of heaven and judging all those nations is now he's going to land on the earth. The question is more like where? Where is he going to actually reside on the earth or rest on the earth? And Acts chapter 1 gives us an interesting answer to this because in Acts chapter 1, he appeared to his disciples for 40 days, and then he's going to ascend up into heaven. It says in, if you look at this verse 9, And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. So Jesus Christ is returning back into heaven. This is where we see the ascension of Jesus Christ. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, the old two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. And they returned, then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount, called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey. So notice that they're returning from the mount of Olivet, so that must have been where they were. So it's like Jesus Christ is on the mount of Olives when he ascends up, and then the angels say what? Hey, he's going to come in so manner as you saw him. Kind of alluding to what? That he's going to return where? To the mount of Olives, which is exactly what we saw in Zechariah that it's talking about, and he shall stand on the mount of Olives in that particular day. So it's almost like Christ is returning on the white horse in Revelation chapter 19, and then where is he going to land? Where is he going to reside on the mount of Olives? Now the mount of Olives is also significant because that's where we get what's called the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus Christ is teaching his disciples about what? His return and the end times and all these events. So don't let that skip over the fact that Jesus is literally teaching from the mount of Olives where he's going to ascend and where he's going to return and the significance of the end times is all about this mount of Olives location. Additionally, we have the Garden of Gethsemane, and in that direction of east is where Christ has his triumphal entry into the city. Even specifically when they would build the temple of the Lord, the king would enter in through the east gate, and that was to signify that that's how Jesus Christ would enter into and out of the city is through that east gate. And so everything in the entire Bible is picturing what Jesus Christ would do and that gospel message, and it's so interesting how he can place all these events around the exact same locations and specifically even the mount of Olives is Christ coming back and returning to that specific location. So I wanted to show you that. Go back to Zechariah 14, and I wanted to go back to Revelation. I should have told you to keep your finger there, and I want to show you another verse and then kind of reference it back to Revelation 19 again. But it says in Zechariah chapter 14, now let's look at verse number 5. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel. Yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. Now, of course, some of these things are double meanings again, right? What is some of this double meaning? Well, in a sense, what is this fleeing? Well, that's, you know, you could use a little bit of this language again for the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time of 7 D.A.D. that they had to literally flee and they were scattered at the time of that destruction. Additionally, it's kind of referencing these earthquakes and stuff. Well, that's kind of the same picture you have at the end times too. There's these great earthquakes, Christ is returning on that white horse. But if you look at Revelation chapter 19 verse 14, it was the verse preceding that we looked at before. It's talking about, I'll just read this extra verse for context. In verse 13 it says, And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. This is verse 14, And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. So we have a picture of Christ coming, God coming with his saints, right? And they're going to return to the Mount of Olives and that's where we're going to end up going into that millennial reign or that thousand year reign of Jesus Christ. So we're here in Zechariah 14, let's go back to verse number 6. The Bible says, And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward the hinders sea, in summer and in winter shall it be. Now it's talking about somehow there's going to be a specific day and notice the language here. The light shall not be clear nor dark. So it's not like broad daylight but it's also not night. So it's describing some other event and then it's also saying in verse 7, But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. So it's kind of picturing a couple things. Number 1, it's kind of picturing like a twilight or an even part of the day and it's saying that at this day what's going to happen? It says, And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem. I believe that there's a couple things that could be being mentioned here or be kind of even described. As far as context of 70 AD or near time prophecies, I don't really see anything here but one aspect that I think could be alluded to is the timing of Christ's death. Because what's interesting about the timing of Christ's death is it's actually overcast and it's kind of cloudy. So it's not necessarily like night but it's also not the light is clear. You kind of have this daytime where the light's not very bright but it's also not dark yet, it's not night time. And then it's specifically saying at evening, which is exactly when Jesus Christ was crucified. Jesus Christ was crucified at even in a very cloudy, dark period of time because there was this unusual cloud cover or unusual darkening of the sun in that period of time. And so it's probably alluding to the specific timing in the way that Christ is going to die. He's going to die on a day, one day, when it's going to not be night, it's going to be daytime, but it's not going to be a bright daytime. It's going to somehow not be quite clear. And then notice what it says, that at evening time it shall be light. And then somehow they just get light again, which could then allude to the fact that, hey, we're getting the light of the gospel, right? The death of Jesus Christ brings the light of the gospel in this moment. So it's using light in a few different ways. Then think about the next verse that we said, and it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem. What does that symbolize or metaphor? The living waters of the gospel, the fact that Jesus Christ is that fountain of living waters and that we have that picture of the gospel going forth. So I think that's kind of an illusion that we see here. Another aspect of this could be in reference to the end times, how when Jesus Christ and God the Father are ruling on the new heaven and the new earth, the Bible says in Revelation chapters 21 and 22 that there's no need of the sun anymore. So it's like, even though it could be evening or some other time, it's just going to always be light. And specifically the Bible says that there's going to be living waters proceeding from the throne in the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem. And so I believe it's probably kind of both. It's kind of picturing a little bit of both of those different things, but it's just talking about the end times in general and how we have living waters that are going out from Jerusalem, which you could clearly find in Revelation chapter 22. For the sake of time, we don't need to necessarily look at that verse. So let's keep reading, it says in verse 9, And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord and his name one. Now some people make a huge deal about this verse, but I think when we're studying this chapter pretty carefully, what we notice is that it has a lot of just context or narratives and we're just kind of jumping one from another. We haven't been really reading a very cohesive narrative in the sense of just like this vent, this vent, this vent. They're a little bit disconnected. A lot of just kind of illusions, metaphors, different things about the future and the end times. And I think sometimes God does that. So I wouldn't want to get like really dogmatic with this verse and it being a specific timeline. I don't think that we can know exactly which timeline this is, but I think it's either referencing the millennial reign or the new heaven and the new earth when God literally comes down. Either way it doesn't really matter. And it generally applies to both, but think about it from our context of today's world. We have all kinds of separate nations and kings and rulers and authorities and all these different nations that are in charge, but there's coming a day when at the millennial reign of Christ, there's going to be one government and it's going to be Jesus Christ. And so I think that that's what the first part of this verse is alluding to is it says that there's going to be one Lord. Meaning what? There's only one person in charge of the earth. Some people will take verses like this to just deny everything about the Trinity. And I'm not even joking. Some people will pick this one verse and say, well, in that day there's going to be one Lord. And some people even said that the Trinity itself will merge like transformers or something, and Jesus becomes the Father or something weird. I don't know. All that stuff is weird fairy tales, not what the Bible is alluding to, and it's really easy to see the contrast between the world we live in today and then having a complete monarch of Jesus Christ ruling and reigning without all these other nations, right? Not having Joe Biden and Kamala and having Xi Jinping and not having Putin and all these other weird situations, but rather we just have one Lord, Jesus Christ, he's the ruler. And this is just a top-down structure. That also is in contrast of the fact that a little bit before this event, you're going to still have one Lord, but it's not going to be the Lord Jesus Christ. It's going to be the Antichrist. There will be a singular government leader, one ruler, because the ten kings will give all their power under the beast and then we'll have the Antichrist as that one ruler, that one Lord, okay? So in complete contrast we have our one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ ruling and reigning. So it's saying in that day, what day? I believe, again, talking about this alluding to the millennial reign or the new heaven, new Jerusalem when there's going to be light emanating from Jerusalem, the living waters are flowing out of Jerusalem, and in that day there's going to be one Lord. It's most likely just in reference to the new heaven and the new earth, okay? But it also says this, and his name won. Again, you know, ask a Jehovah's Witness what that means because they already believe he only has one name. Jehovah, right? But this verse actually makes sense in context of the Bible because think about it this way. We actually have a lot of names for God. We have a lot of things that we call him and across the world people use all kinds of different ways to reference to God in the sense that we have God, we have Lord, we have Emmanuel, we have the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean we just have like all these different names, King of Kings, the Prince of Peace. I mean there's a lot of ways to reference God and I believe what it's just basically trying to allude to is the idea that at this period in time we're going to all use the same title, right? There's no more this like slow revealing of names because you have in the Old Testament God revealing himself as a particular name and then later when he's talking with Moses he says, hey, I'm going to reveal unto you a name that I haven't gone by before, right? And so you see this difference between like God Almighty and you see Jehovah, you see the great I Am. He even tells Moses to tell them I Am, right? Sent me. So you kind of have like all these different names of God being revealed throughout the Old Testament and revealed throughout the Bible. He's the Lord of hosts. I mean I don't know if I'm going to think of all of them on the top of my head but there's a lot of ways to reference God. We're referencing the same person every single time. And I believe what it's just trying to say is, hey, there's coming a day when it's just going to be obvious there's just one Lord and there's just one name and we're all using the same name to talk about the same Lord. There's no confusion whatsoever. To me, that seems really simple and a really easy explanation. But a lot of people take this verse and just come up with really weird goofy doctrines that are not found anywhere else in the Bible. I can show you everything I just said in other parts of the Bible. I can show you where God has multiple names all over the Bible. And we can see how there's multiple nations ruling and eventually there's going to be one God. So I think that it's really a pretty simple verse but because of the wording, some people have tried to twist this to fit some kind of a false doctrine that they already cooked up in their head or they already believed in their mind. So whenever we're believing any doctrine, we want to base it on clear statements. And we want the clear statements to form our core doctrines. And then we want to interpret cryptic passages based on the core statements and beliefs that we already have. Not coming up with new doctrines based on cryptic passages or specific wordings even in a particular language that don't even necessarily match other languages or anything like that. We want to make sure that our doctrine is sound and that we're comparing spiritual with spiritual, that we're not saying, you know, my clearest doctrine on the Trinity, my clearest verse on the Trinity is Zechariah chapter 14 verse 9. You know, like that's not, like if I'm going to study the Trinity, that's not where I'm going. Okay. If I'm going to study the end times even, I'm not going to go to Zechariah first. I'm going to go to Revelation first, right, where it's being revealed what's going to happen in the end times. Additionally, considering the fact that a lot of these prophecies have dual fulfillment or multiple fulfillments, I want to go to Revelation first because some of the Old Testament stuff may not apply or it may have already been fulfilled or it may already happen. Whereas Revelation, this stuff is like all futures so then I can be a lot more certain about what's going to actually happen in the end times. So we want to make sure anytime we're doing interpretation of the Bible that we're identifying what kind of source text we're using. Where is this coming from? Is this a clear statement? What was the context? Have we been bringing up the Trinity in this? Have we been bringing up any of these other contexts? No, we've really been just talking about end times events. So it makes sense that our interpretation would fit an end times interpretation. What's our end times interpretation? There's coming a day when there's only going to be one God, one Lord, one ruler in charge of the entire earth and that we're all using the same name to reference that one Lord. That makes sense in the context of what we've been talking about and looking at. It says in verse 10 So it's talking about at some point Jerusalem is going to be safely inhabited. When is that? It's not right now. It's not safe to inhabit Jerusalem right now. It hasn't been safe in times past. It's not going to be safe from Zechariah leading up to the Lord Jesus Christ because just consistently there's all kinds of wars and the Greeks are going to march through here and there and Tychus Epiphanes at one point is going to come in and is going to declare himself God. Later after rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ then Titus is going to come in. He's going to destroy them. So when is this time of safety? It certainly wasn't after that. I mean you have the holy wars, the holy crusades where you have Europe and Catholics coming and fighting with Muslims and all those people for long periods of time over that entire area. Movies have been made over this entire conflict. That was not the safe time to inhabit. It wasn't a safe time to inhabit in 1948 when you had the Six Day War and you had essentially United Nations coming and helping Israel steal a bunch of land from the Palestinians and then it still hasn't been safe ever since then. So if we were to be honest with ourselves from the time of Zechariah up until now we haven't seen these events where God's judge and all this stuff has happened and then later having a safe place to inhabit. So what are we most likely talking about? What are we looking to? We're looking to the millennial reign and the new heaven and the new earth when that's going to be a time when it's safe to inhabit Jerusalem and the children of Israel there. So it's definitely not something that happened between Zechariah and the time of Christ or any time after Christ. That would just be absurd. And it's certainly not today. It's not a safe place to dwell. There's a lot of turmoil, a lot of conflict, a lot of things that are happening and it's only going to get worse in the end times with the Antichrist. Then it's really not going to be a safe place. Jesus Christ is literally saying you need to flee Jerusalem, flee into the mountains. So this is the time when it's going to be safe to inhabit Revelation 22. The new heavens and the new earth. Verse 12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. Now just to be honest, I have no idea what that means. It just sounds terrifying. It almost sounds like they're melting. Like in the Indiana Jones movie or something like that when they look at the Ark of the Covenant and they just melt. But I don't know exactly what's happening. But it kind of sounds like Revelation 19 where Jesus Christ is returning and the Bible says that he's going to destroy them with the sword which proceeds out of his mouth. And I have no idea what that means. But maybe it's this, right? Essentially there's going to be a bunch of people that die and it sounds like instantly. It almost sounds like a nuclear explosion or seeing something really brilliant. I mean think about, again, sorry if you haven't seen this movie. There's a movie where the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones, all these Nazis. Sorry if you like Nazis. They open up the Ark of the Covenant and as they see it they just melt because it's just so bright or it's so brilliant. It's like this curse or this plague or they just kind of melt away. Kind of describing what we just read here. And if you think about it, perhaps that's how God's going to destroy them when Jesus Christ comes back because he's coming back and he's going to be so brilliant, he's going to be so bright that they're going to die and it's kind of like an instant death. Because notice how it's even describing their standing, right? Doesn't it say in verse number 12, it says, Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet. So it's almost like this just instantaneous, just like they're just dead, right? Just this quick, just like obliteration of whoever these people are while standing. So it doesn't sound like this is some slow, bacterial eating flesh disease. It just takes a while or something. If they're standing on their feet, then that would mean that it's going to have to happen very quickly. Because if you're being tortured, tormented, sick, ill, you're going to fall down. You're going to collapse, you're not going to be able to stand. So for it to be standing up and the flesh and everything just consumes and it specifically talks about their eyes, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume it's something to do with something being brilliant. A nuclear explosion kind of seems similar as far as just describing the event. Just them just kind of melting away or being blasted away or something like that in the middle of just some kind of destruction. So perhaps when Christ returns with the sword that was in his mouth, it's like either something really brilliant or the sun or a nuclear explosion or something. And I mean, God is brilliant light as well. And the light from a nuclear explosion is so powerful that the people in the military that have been tested on and they have lived to tell their experience said that whenever they were in the sea, because they were testing nuclear warheads in the ocean in World War II and Vietnam, I can't remember the exact timeline, but in that era, that the soldiers were told to turn away. So wherever the explosion was, they were literally facing the exact opposite direction. And they were supposed to bury their eyes in their hands and in their knees. And they said when the nuke went off, the light was so brilliant that they could see the bones in their hands. Like everything had just become so bright that they could literally see. And think about it. This is a man-made creation, a man-made light. Think about the light that's going to emanate from the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact, God was so brilliant that his brilliance just shining off of Moses' face was so bright, they couldn't even look at his face. I mean, Moses is just, you know, returning the light. He's not the light source. It's just simply his face is brightly shining so much that they can't even look. They had to put a veil over his face because it was so bright, he was just blinding everybody. It was like a spotlight walking around looking at everybody. And so they had to literally cover Moses' face. So it makes sense that it's something similar that, you know, that Jesus Christ could even be more powerful than a nuclear explosion. And this testimony of these soldiers, which I believe is true, but even if it, you know, if you think about the timeline, this is not the most powerful nuclear explosions. Like they claim that the nuclear warheads that we have today are so much more powerful, it's inconceivable. It's something that can't even really be imagined. I believe it's something like 50 megatons was how powerful the atomic bomb was that we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But they claim that they have ones that are like 5,000% more powerful or something like that. I mean, I can't even imagine what that exactly even means. But if they have something that much more powerful, and that's a man-made creation, I still think God's even going above that. Like whatever the most powerful nuke and the most brilliant light we could ever create, Jesus is still even brighter than that. And so you can just see how that can just cause like these people that are just going to literally just like explode away or just like melt away. And so Christ is just going to return, and there's somehow just some sword proceeding out of his mouth, and he just destroys all of them in an instant. Just instant. Let's just read it. Go to Revelation chapter 19. Might as well. Revelation chapter 19. It says in verse 15, And out of his mouth go the sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he should rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress and the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Verse 17, And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God. They meet the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beasts and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army, and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning brimstone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. So, you know, again, I don't know, this is kind of metaphoric and apocalyptic type language. So it's difficult to know exactly what that means. But we have a mention here in Zechariah of God judging those individuals that had gathered themselves against Jerusalem, and specifically he's saying the plague that he's going to smite them with, it says their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth. So just some kind of just big destruction, just a quick destruction. It makes sense to me that this could be referring to the exact same event. If you have a different interpretation, then you can. And I'm assuming that some level of their flesh is going to be remaining for the fowls to be feasting on. It says in verse 13, And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hold. Everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and on the hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor, and Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver, and apparel and great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in these tents as this plague. So I think like what it's kind of doing is it's kind of like running back into our previous context. So we kind of started the chapter talking about, hey, there's going to be a day of the Lord, God's going to bring all these armies, and he's going to judge, and you're going to be divided in the midst of Jerusalem. That's like Titus, that's the Romans. Then he just like busts out all of this interesting end times apocalyptic language that we're describing, and I believe as we're kind of coming back to verse number 13, now we're kind of like falling back into our Roman timeline. God does this a lot in the Bible. You'll see in Isaiah and other passages, he'll like be talking to the king, and then all of a sudden he's just like talking about the devil, and then he'll like slip back to the king, and he does this in other places. Isaiah 14 is a really famous portion of this, where he's just like talking about Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, and then it's just like the devil, devil, devil, and then it's like Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar. Now some people deny that because they just want Nebuchadnezzar to be saved, but that's what the Bible says in Isaiah 14. So it's similar, I believe, here that in Zechariah chapter 14, you kind of like get this timeline started with the Roman Empire, Titus, and then it's kind of like this apocalyptic other day of the Lord, judgments, Armageddon, millennial reign, and then he's kind of bringing it back to, oh yeah, Titus and Romans, and so what's going to happen is they too are going to have plague, they're going to fight amongst each other, they're going to be cursed as having gone against Jerusalem, and they're going to be plagued in their tents, also talks about their horses and their beasts being destroyed with them. That happens in the Battle of Armageddon, so that's almost like a dual meaning, isn't it? Because all the flesh of the captains and of the horsemen are there in Revelation chapter 19. Similarly here, the men and their horses and their beasts are plagued as well in verse number 15. Now, let's think about this verse in any context that you want, and it shall come to pass. So this is like talking about, let's continue the timeline. Well, what about 70 AD? Let's think about this. After 70 AD, were God's children or the children of Israel or Jews or Christians, anybody, coming back to Jerusalem specifically to hold the Feast of Tabernacles, has that been happening? Did that happen in 71 AD? Did that happen in 72 AD? Did that happen in 80 AD, 100 AD, 500 AD, 1500 AD? Does it happen today? No, it's never happened. So again, since we've kind of had this dual purpose, and what was the other timeline we were talking about, the Battle of Armageddon and the Millennial Reign, it stands to reason that what we're talking about is in the Millennial Reign, those who remained on the earth after all of the tribulation, all of the wrath, all of everything that remained, they are going to now have to what? Go up from year to year to worship Jesus Christ and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So I believe that the verse is alluding to. And you know, when you look at the Book of Revelation, it doesn't necessarily seem to imply anywhere that every single person is going to die. You kind of have like a third dying here and a fourth dying here, and you have a hundred million man army. Of course, all those that gather themselves together at the Battle of Armageddon are killed, but it seems likely and reasonable to think that not every single person alive on the earth was able to march to Jerusalem. What about the women? What about the children? What about old people and everything else? So I'm sure that there was a lot of people, a lot of men, elderly men, young men, children, women, that are still on the earth somewhere after all this destruction, and they're going to basically repopulate the earth. And what are they going to have to do? Well, they're going to have to, year from year, go to Jerusalem and worship Jesus Christ, and they're going to have to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So essentially they're entering in this millennial reign having to do this. Now, some people would read this and then say like, oh, so you're saying we should keep all the Old Testament Feasts. No, that's not what I'm saying. Oh, so everything in the Old Testament is still applicable today. Nope, it's been done away with, it's vanished. But just because the Old Testament is done away with, just because all the Feasts have been done away with, doesn't mean that it can't have a future relevance. So think about it this way. The Passover, that's already been done away with. We shouldn't ever perform the Passover. We shouldn't ever go out and slaughter a lamb. We shouldn't sprinkle any doorposts with blood. We shouldn't roast a lamb with fire. We shouldn't kill it on the 14th day. We shouldn't do any of these things. That was fulfilled in Christ. He is our Passover, metaphorically and symbolically. So we don't need to perform the Passover ever again. But what do we now celebrate? We celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And we celebrate Good Thursday, because we're not Catholic and we can count to three. But it's not like the timing is different. It's the exact same time. We celebrate that event the same time you would celebrate Passover. So it's like we've repurposed that particular holiday. It's no longer that specific holiday. It's transformed a little bit, okay? Just like Easter, the resurrection. You know, that kind of is a transformation and a new celebration of that particular event. You know, even your birthday. We don't celebrate the same birthday. Every year you get a year older. So it's, hey, we have a birthday, but it's a little bit different, right? You get an extra candle, okay? You're a little bit older. But it's still kind of a memorial for remembering this particular event. But it's now changed. It's transformed a little bit. So I would say in the same way, this Feast of Tabernacles, there's no way to say for certain that this is even going to be exactly like the Old Testament version. It could be a new and improved updated version of the Feast of Tabernacles that we're going to observe in the Malia ring. So there's no reason, even if you believe, hey, we're going to have a Feast of Tabernacles in the Malia ring, which I think this is a pretty likely suggestion here. It doesn't mean like, oh, let's start performing the Feast of Tabernacles the Old Testament brings up. It's not like when you turn 15 and now you're coming up on your next birthday, you're not going to celebrate turning 15 again. You're going to celebrate turning 16. Now you can drive, right? Now it's even better, okay? So you're not going to go back and celebrate. It's like, hey, we're going to now celebrate 15 birthday for the rest of our lives. No, 16 and 17 and 18. So it's like, hey, we had the Feast of Tabernacles in the Old Testament, but it's done away with. And we're not doing it now. Symbolic. And in the future, there could be a spring feast or these things that are going to happen. But they're going to be in a completely, probably different light, completely different format, completely different way. We're going to be celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there's no reason to take a verse like this and run with it into what's kind of known as this Torah-observing Christianity, where they say, oh, I'm a Torah-observing Christian. You know, first of all, the word Torah just means law, okay? It's weird to just change one word in a sentence to a completely foreign language and then act like it's somehow special. Okay? Because, you know, it's like, we're not going to have birthday parties anymore. We're going to have birthday fiestas. It's like, well, the word fiesta in Spanish means party, okay? So you didn't change anything. Be like, we don't have birthday parties. We have birthday fiestas. Then you're like, oh, so it's like, you have Mexican food or whatever? And it's like, no, why did you think that? It's like, it would be just weird to just start changing languages whenever you're celebrating anything. We're not going to have happy birthdays. We're going to have feliz days because feliz means happy. You don't just change random words and it makes something completely different. So if you were going to say I'm Torah-observing, you'd say I'm a law-observing Christian. Okay. I try to observe God's laws too. But you know what? They're really trying to say I observe all the things that were done away within the New Testament. Christian. You're like, that's weird. I'm a New Testament observing all the stuff done away in the New Testament, Christian. Like, why don't they say that? Because you know what they don't observe? They don't really observe the Old Testament. They only observe the things that were literally done away with. If you meet people that are these Torah-observing Christians, I guarantee you, they'll argue with you until they're blue in the face how Leviticus 2013 should not be the law today. They'll tell you, hey, I don't believe in Leviticus 2013. In fact, I don't even believe in the entire chapter. They won't believe any of that. They don't perform any of the Passover sacrifices. They don't do any of the other rituals. I guarantee you they drink alcohol because almost every one of these Torah-observing freaks literally drinks alcohol. Isn't that a conundrum? It's like, they want to observe the Old Testament, but then they'll literally drink alcohol. They're usually a glutton and a wine bibber. And I'm speaking in generalities, of course, but they pretty much just ignore everything in the Old Testament, but then they'll say, like, but we're going to blow a shofar. And you're just like, wow. They're like, we're going to observe the Sabbath, and this is what's even funnier. I guarantee, go find one of these Torah-observing people. They don't even observe the Sabbath on Saturday. They say, I'm going to have my Sabbath on Tuesday afternoon. Because they're just like, you know, the Sabbath is something that we have to do, but we can just do it whenever we want. So they're like, We can just do it whenever we want. So they just randomly have a, quote, Sabbath. But I guarantee, they don't even know what that means still. I guarantee they're even doing servile work, and they're not even observing the Sabbath as it was literally commanded. They're basically just pretending like they observed the Sabbath. They'll wear a prayer shawl or some kind of a covering. They'll blow a shofar. They'll eat matzah soup or something like that. They'll maybe have some crackers or something, and they think that they're somehow this Torah-observing Christian, and they'll probably drink alcohol. And then they'll act like they're so much better of a Christian than you. Well, I observe all the Bible. Do you observe the Sabbath? And then they just want to argue all day long about Paul observing the Sabbath. They want to argue about following certain feasts. Do you follow the Feast of Tabernacles? It's like, no, I don't. Yeah, but the Bible talks about the Feast of Tabernacles. Yeah, it talks about a lot of stuff. You're ignoring almost all of it. And you're specifically ignoring parts of the New Testament that say in respect to holy days and stuff that you're not supposed to judge any other person. Anyways, even if you thought you were supposed to, you're not allowed to enforce that on anybody else. Plus, you're wrong anyways, alright, on top of that. But just ignore all these quote Torah-observing people because most of them believe in work salvation. You can lose your salvation. They drink alcohol. They're liars about observing the Old Testament. They don't really do it. The people that observe the Old Testament the best are fundamental Baptists. It's just how it is. The people who observe God's commandments the best are the people that believe salvation is the freest. And so, you know, those are the people that you should be around and hang out with. Stop listening to these losers on YouTube about drinking and doing Shabbat or something, okay? Look at verse 17. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judas shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seed therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. So, basically, why is there no more Canaanite? Because all Israel is going to be saved. You know, that verse that Zionists just want to get tattooed on their forehead that says, and so all Israel shall be saved is talking about the millennial reign how everybody that's physically Israel is spiritually Israel. Where that's not the case today. And it's just like, what verse do you want? Romans chapter number 2 says that you're not a Jew outwardly. You could go to Galatians chapter number 3 and find out that we're all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus and that it's not the circumcision and that in chapter number 4 and chapter number 5 and chapter number 6 that they're actually Hagar and they're actually Ishmael and that they're not the children of God. You can go to Hebrews where they're not given access to the altar that we have access to. You can go to Revelation chapter 2 verse 9 and 3 verse 9 which calls them the synagogue of Satan. But the Bible is just repeatedly over and over saying, hey, these people are not the children of God. They're not. And in fact, he's even going to cause the Gentiles to come before them just to show off and recognize, hey, he loves us and we're the children of God and we're the chosen and how they're rejected and how we're sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and they're thrust out and they're not the children of God whatsoever. When's the time when there's no more Canaanite? Well, that's going to be the millennial reign because we're all Israel. We're actually Jews. Sorry to break it to you, Jacob, wherever you're out there if you're listening. You're a Jew. Whether you like that or not. You're Jewish. Okay. It's a self-hating Jew, but he's a Jew, all right? Go if you would back to Zephaniah. Here's the thing. I want to kind of just finish on one last point and that last point is just kind of what was referenced in general. It's the day of the Lord. And you know, this is kind of just the finale of the book of Zechariah. We have this idea of the day of the Lord. Well, it's mentioned a lot in a lot of passages. I want to show you several here. Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 14. The great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hasted greatly. Even the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath. A day of trouble and distress. A day of baseness and desolation. A day of darkness and gloominess. A day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the thin cities and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung. Sounds like God's pretty angry at this day of the Lord. Think about this. He's saying the strongest people, they're going to be crying bitterly at this specific day. If you go back just a little bit more Hosea, Joel, Amos Joel is a short book of the Bible chapter 2, look at verse 30. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it's going to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord has said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Notice again a couple things in verse 31 before the great and the terrible day of the Lord. For some it's great, to others it's terrible. It depends on who you are. If you're saved, if you're the person who's called in the name of the Lord, it's a great day. If you didn't, it's a terrible day. Now go to Acts chapter 2 and we'll see this being quoted and referenced in Acts chapter 2. I want to show you a consistency of this theme or this timeline of when this particular event is going to happen. What does it say? People are going to be crying bitterly and there's a bunch of wrath and it's terrible. Acts chapter... Joel chapter 2 and Acts chapter number 2 it's the sun is darkened, the moon is turned into blood and then specifically it's a great day for some it's a terrible day for others whoever calls in the name of the Lord shall be delivered in Acts chapter number 2 it says in verse 16 but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it's going to pass... The call in the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now think about this and this has been something... maybe it's just me but when I've read this it's been a little confusing to me. Who would say that they're a little bit confused about what that's saying? Okay, me and one other person. The rest of you all are good. We're going to have a private study afterwards. I always got confused because I'm saying like why are all these people preaching about the sun and the darkness or whatever at this point in time? Right? That was what was confusing to me. But I think this is what it's trying to say. It's trying to say that this is the day when these people are preaching this. Because did you notice what it said in verse 18? And they shall prophesy. So what is it saying? It's saying there's going to be a bunch of maidens preaching this. This is what they're going to preach on this day. And what is it that they're preaching? Jesus is coming back and if you call on his name, you're going to be saved. So what are they preaching? The return of Christ and to believe in Jesus to be saved. Now that makes sense. For me, it always just kind of like was confusing to me because I was like trying to combine both of those events into this event. But the way it's combined is it's not that it's happening. It's combined in the sense that that's what they were preaching. It's combined in the sense that this is the day when they were preaching this event. About what? Christ's return and how to be saved. Well that's important because chapter two is all about getting people saved, isn't it? And when you get people saved, what do you teach? Hey, Jesus is coming back. You need to get saved. That's an aspect of preaching the gospel is mentioning Christ's return and that we need to believe on him to be saved. How do you believe on him? By calling on his name. That's how you get saved. We already addressed that in another chapter and we're going to go to 1 Thessalonians 5. And think about it this way. When Jesus Christ returns in the clouds not necessarily onto the earth but returns in the clouds at what's known as the rapture or I believe in the Greek it's called harpazo but if you take it like a Google translate it means caught up. We call it rapture. Rapture is not a Bible word in the sense that we don't see that in the Bible. It says we're going to be caught up together with them in the clouds but that Greek word harpazo can be also interpreted as rapture so that's kind of where we... or it's a great seizing up. So that's kind of what we're talking about when we talk about first lesson in chapter four being caught up together with the Lord. That's what it says in verse 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Who's going to be caught up? Those who called on the name of the Lord. Those who believed in Jesus Christ. They're going to be the ones that are delivered. They're going to be the ones that are saved. Who is saved? Those who have called on the name of the Lord. It's not saying like this is... there's like a moment where you're just like He's coming! I better call real quick to make sure. No, if you ever called on the Lord Jesus Christ and you got saved, you're going to be caught up. Even if you're dead. That's the whole point of first lessons even before even in the first place is that the dead are not going to prevent them which are asleep or are alive and remain. Those which are asleep are not going to prevent them. I'm sorry, I keep inverting this. In verse 15. The coming Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Meaning that those that have already died and passed on, they're still coming. They're coming with the Lord Jesus Christ and then we're caught up together with them and so we're going to meet them and we're going to all be with the Lord and we're supposed to comfort one another with these words. Verse 1 of chapter 5. But of the times and of the seasons brethren you have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape but ye brethren not in darkness and they shall not overtake you as a thief. So it's kind of pitting the saved versus the unsaved about this particular event saying that to us we're not going to be caught off guard at all about this whereas the unsaved are going to be completely caught off guard about Christ coming back in the clouds. Why? Because at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week the Antichrist is going to say that he's God and the whole world is going to believe him. And then he's going to cause them to get a mark and they're going to buy and sell and in their mind they're going to have peace and they're going to have safety finally. Because they just went through three and a half years of the worst war ever. I mean there was worldwide war the Antichrist went forth to conquer and he did conquer and there was just all this famine and plague and pestilence and warfare and murder so now that it's set up it's like oh now it's a time of what? Peace and safety and they're going to say of course that's not peace and safety for us as believers it's the great tribulation. But for the rest of the world so like 95% of the world peace and safety for us great tribulation. And we're not going to be caught off guard about Christ returning we're going to be counting that down. We're like man we're ready for this to happen and then he's going to come and we're going to be caught up together with him at what? At the day of the Lord. That's what he's saying. The day of the Lord is this event that we're not caught off guard by but the world is caught off guard by and it's in the same timeline of what? When Christ is going to return in the middle of the 70th week approximately. So go over to 2 Peter 3. So we're seeing a consistency here. What is the consistency? That day of the Lord is that event of Christ coming in the clouds us being gathered together unto him to the rest of the world it's like a thief coming in the night. It's sudden destruction. It's wrath of God. It's strong men crying bitterly. That's what we had seen in all those passages leading up to it. 2 Peter 3 look at verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Well that sounds familiar. Do you remember reading that? Five seconds ago? He says, So according to the Bible, we're talking about the coming of the day of God. Right? Or the day of the Lord. So keep your finger here because I want to come back to the last verse. Go to Revelation chapter 6 as well. Go to Revelation chapter 6. It talks about the heavens being on fire and being dissolved. So I want you to look at Revelation chapter 6 verse 12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became his blood. So what is that picture? Well that picture is what we saw in Acts chapter 2 which is quoting from the book of Joel and for the sake of time we're not going all there but Matthew chapter 24 and other passages also reference this exact event and it was in the context in Matthew 24 of Christ saying when he's going to return when he's going to come back. So we have these two events happening. Verse 13 Notice this. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. What does that sound like? Does that sound like what it said in 2 Peter? When it said specifically about the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. So it also said that they were going to be dissolved. Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. So we have a similar description here in the book of Revelation as well about what's going to happen with the heavens. That the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and notice this and the mighty men and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. So notice again also that mention that we had in Zephaniah where it talked about the strong men are going to cry bitterly. And then we have here again the mighty men hiding in the rocks and crying for the rocks to hide them Think about this. What I talked about in that nuclear explosion. When you're turned the other way you can see the bones in your hands. They're saying like even the rocks you can see God through the rocks. It's so bright it's so brilliant when he's coming. So we have again he doesn't actually touch down in this particular event and this isn't when he slays all of them immediately but that is when he returns and this is what I believe is being described as the day of the Lord. What happens after this event he opens the seventh seal and we have the seven trumpets and the seven vile judgments and we just have God's wrath being poured on the earth for about three and a half years. And how does it end? It ends with that battle of Armageddon with Christ coming and finally just destroying all of them and to me that's kind of what the day of the Lord is symbolizing. The day of the Lord of course is a day in a sense. Like this is when it gets kicked off. But I believe it's just that whole period of destruction that it's describing. Just like when the Romans came against Jerusalem. That was not a one day event. It was actually seven years if you know what happened with the Titus and all the different elements there. But it was the day of the Lord. In reference to what? It's just like this is that time period of destruction. So I believe that the day of the Lord is in reference to his return yes but also just that entire wrath period of him unleashing all of his wrath and everything on the unsaved. And so Zechariah if you think about it it's kind of a bittersweet book. And a lot of it is talking about in one sense the return of God's people the restoration of the kingdom but also the death and destruction of God's enemies. And that theme is just carried out through the entire book of Zechariah. And it makes sense because you have this rebuilding of the temple. Just like we're going to have a rebuilding with the millennial rain. And what happened? We are saved. We're delivered. We enter into this peace in this time of restoration. We're God's people and there's destruction to his enemies. This is a theme that God repeats over and over in the Bible. He did it then and he's going to do it again in the millennial rain and then he's going to do it again after the millennial rain. Where he's going to unleash the devil and allow for another battle of Gog and Magog where he does the exact same thing over and over. So I think it's almost like a trinity probably even more than that of God just illustrating and demonstrating for us how he's the deliverer. He's going to rescue us. How he's going to save us and he's going to keep us protected. It's not referencing the modern day Christ rejecting God hating Jews. Go back to 2 Peter chapter 3. So if you think about what it's saying in 2 Peter chapter 3 what does it say in verse 13? Everything is going to be destroyed. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelt righteousness. So you can be sad about losing everything here but that's just the reality. Verse 14 Wherefore beloved seeing that you look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless and account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you. As also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction. Ye therefore beloved seeing that you know these things beware lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen. What is he saying? You know this is all going to be dissolved you know that Christ is coming back therefore don't be led away with the air of the wicked but be steadfast and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Why grow in grace? I think because our world is getting so bad I fall victim of this where sometimes I just like want groups of people to just die okay? Like I'm just like can we just get rid of all the Democrats? Or can we just get rid of just like everyone in government or can we just get rid of all the Muslims sometimes I just feel like that I'm not saying that that's right it's not right but I'm just who's had a similar feeling okay God bless you people y'all are normal right? There's just this group of people and you're just kind of like done with them and we're not just saying these are reprobates we're just saying like large groups of people where some of them definitely are not reprobates okay? And I kind of get that feeling but what does the Bible say? We're supposed to grow in grace and we're supposed to account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation I'm glad that whatever moment it was right before I got saved wasn't the moment that Christ came back and then I didn't get saved and so you know you have to think about this like why is God allowing these things to happen? Why is God allowing the Olympics to just be the most blasphemous, satanic evil that we've ever seen in our world why is it that God could possibly allow someone like Kamala Harris to be the president of the United States we already had Joe Biden we already had Barack Obama why isn't that they just have so many sodomites and drag queens in our government right now and in Hollywood why is it that we just have so much human trafficking and evil and wars and corrupt elections and just all nonsense going on in the world it's just so that some person out there can still get saved so like the lady that I knocked on her door today and she believed in work salvation could hear the gospel and change her mind and call upon the name of the Lord and get saved today and she said she was 67 years old and she said you know I've been wondering about this a lot lately about just how to be saved and how to get close to the Lord and I just always thought it was works I just always thought it was by following the commandments and she now knows it's just a free gift by faith you know what God is allowing all those evil horrible satanic blasphemous things to happen so that people like her can get saved and that's us growing in grace to recognize that we still have a lot of work to do you know you might be like I want to rescue America you know you might be you might be sorry for the lack of wording here rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic folks okay you know it's probably a sinking ship but you know what you can do you can still save a few people on that ship and that's what I think we should really just be focused on is the people that we can still save and again I'm not going to stop fighting I'm not going to stop plugging holes I'm not going to stop trying to do everything I can to get as many people to become Baptist and saved as possible but at the end of the day you know I'm more concerned with people getting saved than rescuing America it might become a communist dictatorship not because I want it to not because I'll allow it you know I'll fight against that but at the same time you know it's more important to get people saved and so you know I want to have the right viewpoint because a lot of people I think that they're putting their last hope tokens into Donald Trump like I think a lot of people they're almost just kind of like they're just so done with life and done with everything and they're just all of their hope all of their future is just like resting on Donald Trump becoming elected and it's just like they stole the election last time do you think that they just like forgot how to do that or something like I don't know you know I don't know what's going to happen maybe Trump will be elected who knows but you know this is what I know that no matter who gets elected in November 5th or November 4th is it 4th or the 5th someone help me I'm going to sound wrong okay no one knows or cares all right none of us are voting on November 6th to be safe right all I know is it doesn't matter who's president elect it doesn't even matter in January whoever they inaugurate you know what I can still go out and preach the gospel and get someone safe and it's still the same level of importance as it were no matter who was elected you say like well the country is going to be destroyed if Kamala is elected yes yes it will well but we have to vote the other guy in you know let the Lord's will be done maybe God wants us to be destroyed I don't know but what I do know is this he wants me to preach the gospel to someone and get them saved okay he's not so like God's not up in heaven just like please Pastor Shelley will you vote for Donald Trump trying to send you a signal here Kamala is so bad you know like that's not the message he's like hey will you go out and preach the gospel more will you read your Bible more will you pray more will you have more faith will you love the people that you have in your life that you know are God's children that's what God wants me to do okay and so I just don't want you to be like like to me I'll watch the election and I'll probably make a podcast and make fun of it and stuff but like I'm not going to get my hopes up no matter who gets elected Hillary Clinton you know Big Mike some people are like terrified of Michelle Obama becoming president but I'm just thinking like think about how much fun that'll be you know like that's just so like our country's so weird at this point and so crazy I'm thinking like let's just make it as weird as possible you know like let's go down in flames right sorry you don't share my enthusiasm okay some of y'all are thinking like I want to rescue the nation it's like let it burn yeah maybe it'll wake somebody up you know maybe more people want to get saved you know the weirder and creepier it gets because it's it's really really bad so even you know the puppet president that we have in our country doesn't really mean a lot you know might as well just bring in someone horrible to unveil or unveil how bad it is and maybe my baby boomer friends and all these like mega loving idiots will wake up and smell the roses finally probably not but I'm not I don't care about that stuff because I know that I'm gonna win and I'm gonna be saved in the day of reckoning and this doesn't matter how wicked the world gets we're supposed to shine forth as lights in a crooked and perverse nation well make it a good nation I can't I would if I could I'm supposed to just shine forth as a brilliant light and a dark world and you should do likewise I can still go to church on Wednesday night and go to church on Sunday morning and go to church on Sunday night I can preach the word of God to my children make sure they're saved and I can go out there and get more lost people saved stop worrying about this world so much it's toast that's what it said in 2 Peter chapter 3 knowing that all these things are toast and dissolve and bad investments what should you invest in things that have eternal value you know Zechariah should remind us of that that we're going towards the end times and we should live as Christians and not cling to this world let's close in prayer thank you Father so much for giving us this book of Zechariah and helping remind us of the fact that there is a day of Lord coming you're not you're not slack concerning your promise the wicked aren't going to get away with it the wicked will be judged the wicked will be destroyed we will see vengeance we will see justice we will say that there's a God that judges in the earth I pray that we would just stop worrying about fixing everything ourselves and rather we just trust in you that we'd allow you to handle it allow you to judge it, allow you to bring your wrath and your right timing but we wouldn't just live selfishly we'd rather consider the lost we'd consider people that need to hear the gospel and we would spend our time wisely the short amount of time we have we would redeem the time in Jesus' name we pray, amen amen alright for our last song we're going to do song number 106 abide with me song number 106 song 106 abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me abide with me deep cloud and sunshine abide with me hold out my cross before my closing eyes shine through the blue and point me to the skies as morning breaks and earth's faint shadows weep live right with death abide with me