September 18, 2022 – Sunday Service Live Stream

Corporate Worship and Confession

Make sure that's where we usually make some of the announcements at the church.

Let us prepare our hearts for worship. In Christ's grace and peace be unto you. From God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand. O come and let us sing to the Lord.

Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God and the great King above all gods.

In his hands are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his for he made it. In his hands formed the dry land. O come let us worship and bow down. And kneel before the Lord our maker.

For he is our God. And we are the people of his pasture. The sheep of his hands. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven. We have come to worship and bow down and kneel before you. The Lord our maker. For you are our God.

And we are the people of your pasture. And the sheep of your hand. We come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is our advocate with you.

He is our mediator between God and man. He always lives and makes intercession for us. Through him we come boldly to your throne of grace. In his name we earnestly seek you. O Lord our souls thirst for you.

Our flesh yearns for you. In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Bow your heavens and come down. Inhabit the praises of your people. Remember your promise, O spirit of Christ. To be present in the midst of your worshiping people.

When two or more are gathered in your name. Condescend to grant us the joy of your fellowship. Speak to us through your word. And be blessed by our praise and adoration.

Amen.

As you are able, please kneel for the corporate confession. Let us join together in confessing our sins.

For I am slow to learn and prone to forget. I am gained by my graceless heart. My prayerless days. My poverty of love. My swath in the heavenly grace. My sully conscience. My wasted hours. And my unspent opportunities.

I am blind while the light shines around me. Take the scales from my eyes. And grind to dust my heart of unbelief.

Assurance of Pardon and the Light of God

Please stand for the assurance of pardon. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you. That God is light. And in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie. And do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Oh, the bliss of that glorious thought. Our sin, not in part, but the whole, was nailed to the cross. For those who are in Christ Jesus, be joyful. Your sins are forgiven.

Amen.

Let us take up the hymnal and open to hymn number 179. Alleluia, thine the glory. Hymn 179. All right. So please take up the insert for our psalm of the week, which is Psalm 137. But on the insert, it says 274.

Beside the streams of Babylon. I'm going to ask Alyssa to play through it one time, and then we will join in. Remain standing and open your Bibles for our scripture reading to Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah 31. At the same time, says the Lord, I will be the God of the families of Israel. They shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness.

Israel, when I went up to give him rest. The Lord had appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you again. I will build you.

You shall be rebuilt, O Virgin of Israel. You shall again be adorned with your tambourines and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. You shall yet plant vines of the mountains of Samaria.

The plants, the planter shall plant and eat them as ordinary food. For there shall be a day when the watchman will cry on Mount Ephraim, arise and let us go up to Zion to the Lord. For thus says the Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations.

Proclaim, give praise and say, O Lord, save your people. The remnant of Israel behold. I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them, the blind and lame, the women with child and the one who labors with child together.

A great throng shall return there. For they shall come with weeping and with supplication, I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters and in the straight way, which they shall not stumble.

For I am the father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the aisles of far off and say who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as the shepherd does his flock.

For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of one stranger than he stronger than he. Therefore, they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and new wine and oil for the young of the flock in the herd.

Their souls shall be like a well watered garden and they shall sorrow no more at all. Then shall the Virgin rejoice in the dance and the young man of old together, for I will turn them from their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

I will satiate the soul of priests with abundance and my people will be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord, a voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.

Thus says the Lord, refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come back from their own border.

I have surely said Ephraim bemoaning himself. You have chastised me and I was chastised like an untrained bull. Restore me and I will return for you are the Lord my God. Surely you are turning. I have repented and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh.

I was ashamed. Yes, even humiliated before I bore the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him.

I surely have mercy on him, says the Lord. Set up signposts, make landmarks, set your heart towards the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O Virgin of Israel, turn back to your cities. How long will you get about, O backsliding daughter?

For the Lord created a new thing in the earth. A woman shall encompass a man. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities. I will bring back their captivity.

The Lord bless you, O home of justice and mountains of holiness. There shall dwell in Judah itself and in its cities together farmers and those going out with flocks. For I have satisfied the weary soul and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.

After this, I awoke, look around and my sheep was sweet to me. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and seed of beast.

And it shall come to pass that I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy and to afflict. So I will watch over them to build and plant, says the Lord. In those days shall be no more.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah.

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in that day that I took them into the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke, though I was husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and right on their hearts and I will be God and they shall be my people.

No more shall each man teach his neighbor and every man, his brother saying, no, the Lord, for all they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

I will remember no more. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, the ordinance of the moon and stars for the light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves? If this ordinance depart for me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

Thus says the Lord, if heaven above can be measured and the foundation of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord and the tower of now and the corner gate.

The surveyors line again extended straight forward over the hill of Gareb. Then it shall turn to turn toward Goeth. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields as far as the brook, to corner of house gate, horse gate towards the east shall be holy to the Lord.

It shall be plucked up or thrown down and you anymore forever. Thus says the word of the Lord.

The Command to Flee Babylon and Return to the Lord

Let us join our voices together, proclaiming our common Christian faith and the singing of the Apostles Creed. Let us once more take up the hymnal and turn to him number four fifty five.

And can it be that I should gain him for fifty five pair ourselves for the prayers of the people and seeing the multitudes?

Jesus went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

Look to our neighbor, cause us to remember how you have put our sins as far away from us. God causes to be merciful to forgive. Prevent us, God, from holding grudges of this God and do it by causing us to remember that in Christ you don't hold a grudge against us.

We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

Holy Father, we ask that as we gather here today that you would convict us of our sins.

Help us to know when we fall short. Lord, help us to live lives that are pleasing and righteous in your sight. That you would give us a pure heart. That we would have clean hands before you. Lord, that we would seek to be righteous.

To live according to you. To live pleasing to you. That we would run away from our sin. That we would forsake it and we would hate it as equals. Go about our days with us in our walks. And that you would help us to recognize.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

Pray that you would help us be a peaceful people. First of all, in our own hearts, help us to cast our cares and our worries and our anxieties upon you. That we may receive your peace which casts all understanding.

And upon receiving that, Father, we pray secondly that we would be able to be peaceful with one another. That having peaceful hearts we would act from a place of peace with one another. That we would not stir up conflict.

That we would not be quick to anger. But rather that we would be quick to listen to others. And to understand one another. And to seek how we may best serve one another. In so doing that we may honor you in all that we do.

We pray this in your son's name.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you. And say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

All kinds of persecution in your name.

Father, I pray that we would be people who live lives that are so reflective of you and your truth. And your Holy Spirit in us. That we would be the first targets when people come looking for Christians.

Father, I pray that we would live as the prophets did. And your apostles and many others who have been martyrs for you. Lord God, if that is the calling you have for us. I pray that we would heed your call.

In Christ's name we pray.

And to these things we say.

Amen.

Psalm 83, Providence, and the Need to Leave Babylon

Please stand and take up the insert once again. For the psalm of the month. Which is listed as psalm 83. Do not be silent God or unresponding. Psalm 83.

Providence of God. Reading in Jeremiah. And that theme speaks to the same prophetic word that I have in Zechariah. We are singing sequentially for 137 weeks. It must be through the Psalter. And the context is the same as we are learning in Zechariah.

And the psalm of the month. There is a little bit more intentionality there. But it is astounding to me that the Lord and his providence would orchestrate the liturgy. Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Zechariah.

I am going to ask you to turn to chapter 2. And I am going to read the whole chapter. This is God's holy and infallible word. Then I raised my eyes and looked. And behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

So I said, where are you going? And he said to me, to measure Jerusalem. To see what is its width and what is its length. And there was the angel who talked with me going out. And another angel who was coming out to meet him who said to him, run.

Speak to this young man saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls. Because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I, says the Lord, will be a wall of fire all around her. And I will be the glory in her midst.

Up, up, flee from the land of the north, says the Lord. For I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. Up, Zion, escape you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the Lord of hosts.

He sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you. For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For surely I will shake my hand against them and they shall become spoil for their servants.

Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion. For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and they shall become my people.

And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will take possession of Judah as his inheritance in the Holy Land. And will again choose Jerusalem.

Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord. For he is aroused from his holy habitation. Amen. Please pray with me. O Lord, we thank you for the treasure of your word. We thank you for this obscure prophecy which many have never read or never heard a sermon from.

We thank you for the providential care that you and grace you have shown to us today to let us sing and to pray and meditate upon these wonderful things in preparation for the message. O Lord, I pray that the lesson you instructed Israel with here through your prophet would pierce our hearts.

And we too would flee Babylon and dwell in your glorious presence. We ask these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Please be seated. As we have seen throughout Zechariah, there is complexity, but there is also a plain message that is being conveyed to us.

Today, I have two headings for you to organize your thoughts under for an outline. Very simple. First, there is a command. Flee from the land of the north. Escape from Babylon. And number two, there is a promise.

I am coming and I will dwell in your midst. Many nations will be joined to the Lord in that day and they shall become my people. A command and a promise. The Lord is aroused from his holy habitation. Let all the earth tremble.

The people are returning from Babylon to re-inhabit Jerusalem in the land of Judah to rebuild the temple. There is a massive renovation project underway. The ruins of the holy city have been razed by invaders.

We just sang about that in our psalm today. The Edomites cleaning up, mopping up after the Babylonians came through. They were subsequent looters. It looked like Jerusalem would never recover. But our God has not forgotten his people nor his holy city.

It will be restored. It will be recovered. It will be rebuilt. There's also, as we've learned the last several weeks, there is a heart renovation project underway. By the Lord himself and through his servant prophets Zechariah and Haggai.

He said in chapter 1, return to me and I will return to you. As we read in Jeremiah today, he was a husband to them but they broke covenant with him. But he persists and says, I will again take my people to be my bride.

I have not forgotten. It appears as though I am resting. I'm not engaged in the affairs that have befallen Israel. But I am aroused. I have awakened. I am now taking action to restore and to redeem my people.

The people's ancestors broke covenant and found themselves in exile. They did not heed the words, turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. Let us make sure today that we do heed those words. We too need to turn from our evil ways and our evil deeds.

We too need to believe in faith that the barren fields of Judah, yet restored, are better than the prosperous lands of Babylon or Persia. We too have to believe it is better to dwell in the house of God with his people in fellowship with him than to have all the honors this world could bestow.

We too have to come out of Babylon. The last couple weeks, we've learned joyfully that the Lord is still jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. The Lord is zealous and jealous for your heart as well. What a great lover he is.

Never relents in his pursuit of us. Always coming after us, always drawing us back in. What a glorious God we serve. The Lord has been exceedingly angry with the nations that he has used to chasten his people after their rebellion.

The four horns, as we learned a couple of weeks ago, represented nations like Babylon and Edom, Moab, the Edomites, the Assyrians. All of these pictures are a reference in our minds to the old nation of Egypt.

Now, there's something interesting here for us to consider. There is a redemptive pattern. God allowed his people to be enslaved in Egypt as the young nation of Israel. Jacob, as 70 persons, goes down to Egypt.

And they are there for 433 years. They bore heavy burdens under the oppression of the Egyptians. But God would not leave them there. For they must come out of Egypt. The northern tribes are carried away to Assyria.

And many, most of them don't return. But Judah has been taken captive by Babylon. And through providential visitation of the Lord, a working of his spirit in the hearts of what appeared to be an otherwise wicked man, Cyrus, they are implored to go back to their land and back to their home and rebuild their lives in honor and glory to God in Israel.

His people are going to return. His mercy comes back to Jerusalem. His temple house will be built in it. The city walls that cannot contain the growth and prosperity of the people will return. And last week, you'll remember, our message concluded with a climactic exaltation.

I will be a wall of fire all around her, he said in verse 5. And I will be the protector and defender of my people. The enemies of the church of God would have to pass through the wall of his consuming fire to get to us.

Not a hair on our head will fall to the ground without him allowing it. They cannot pass through that wall of fire. More importantly, we've learned that God will be present with them and will be the glory.

The promises, the hope, the future, but not everyone sees this this way. Look at verse 6. Why does Zechariah have to implore the people to flee from the land of the north? The people of God have been living in exile in a foreign land, but, beloved, it's the only land that they know.

They are fully integrated, really, into Babylonian society. There's 40 or 50 ,000 people who have come back to Jerusalem, but how many hundreds of thousands have remained? They've not come back yet. I've noticed something about myself, and maybe it's true, but I know this for the Zenos.

I know it's true for me, not so much for my wife because she has to live with me. But I live in the neighborhood that I grew up in. I feel most comfortable of all the places in the world in that part of Orlando.

That's where I'm from. When we think about the people of God, we think of them that they're from Israel. They long to be in Jerusalem. They long to be in Canaan. They want to see the worship of God. They want to go into his temple.

They've never seen it, most of them. They've never been in the temple, most of them. Their home is here. Their fields are here. Their prosperity is here. How can they go back? Is the Lord going to forget us again?

I'm surviving. I'm doing okay here in Babylon. Zechariah urges the people. He says, up, up, come out, listen, listen, flee from the land of the north. I was thinking about our children. There might be some helpfulness for you to think about this in this way.

Today, there are two modern nations that you are familiar with. They've been in the news in recent years. Those are the countries of Iraq and Iran. Persia formed the southwest part of what is now known as Iran.

And Babylon, the southern part along the Euphrates River, 50 miles south of Baghdad, the capital city of Babylon. Northeast of Israel. The people of God have been supplanted and transported to Iraq and Iran.

You know where Israel is. They've been taken away. Those are hostile peoples to us, Israel, they would say. But they're used to it now. They're comfortable there. They don't want to come back. It's been nearly 70 years, and Babylon was their home.

It's the only life that they knew. The prophet here cries out to the people of God to flee Babylon. They've been scattered. They would be potentially scattered again. But destruction is coming upon their enemies.

Go up, Zion. Climb the holy hill, people of God. Go back to Jerusalem. Escape those you who dwell in the daughter of Babylon. The reason for this command is that the Lord is reversing the fortunes of the Babylonians.

As you know, Babylon has become synonymous with the world powers in opposition against God and his people. They were so treacherous and so brutal in their dealings with God's people. They have been elevated to that place of disgust as Egypt and Sodom.

They are hostile to God. The fortress of Babylon is now vulnerable. Why? Because the Lord is going to bring his calamity upon them. It's reminiscent of what will happen to the glorious people of God in the church in the first century.

They are going to flee when the hammer of Rome comes and crushes Jerusalem. The people of God need to heed the voice of God. And when he calls us to flee, we are to flee. Babylon, vulnerable, ready to receive the Lord's calamity.

His people should flee. Let's look at verse 8, chapter 2. They've been spread to the four by the four winds. The Lord himself has done it. We read the end of chapter, the middle of chapter one. Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us according to our ways and according to our deeds, so has he dealt with us.

We have deserved to be sent into exile, they would say. Look at verse 8. Thus says the Lord of hosts. He sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you. The Babylonians in their violence toward the people have made a colossal mistake.

They have poked God himself in the eye. The object of his affection is Israel. And when they poked Israel, they poked the apple, the most sensitive part of God's eye. He's now acting in response to these treacherous acts.

The once powerful Babylon is now being plundered. The plunderers are being plundered. And reminiscent of that language of the first message, Joshua 5, the captain of the Lord's armies, Christ himself has been sent out.

Notice in verse 8. The capital M and me. Rather, this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is going to break the backs of those who have been hostile to the Lord and his people. He uses means he uses armies.

He uses calamity. He uses pestilence. But this is the work of the Lord himself. He says in verse 9. For surely I will shake my hand against them and they will become spoil for their servants. This is happening presently with Persia.

Persia formerly servants now make Babylon their spoil. And so he cries out Babylon is not your home. Return to Jerusalem. I wonder for us if there's any modern application. These are historical things, historical events that happen in Israel.

We know that they point to greater future reality, some of which we have experienced partially, at least. The fullness of which we will experience on the last day. But we have to ask the question. Is there a principle that that has modern application for us?

The people who remained in Babylon were under the sway of a world system that the Lord himself is aroused against. I don't know if you know this or not. This is a country with a great heritage, a great history, a great founding.

But you live in Babylon. Babylon is around. So the question for us is there's three classes of people that we're going to kind of encounter in this section of Zechariah. The first are the people who are residing in Jerusalem.

That is probably most representative of us here at APC today. We've come to God's house. We want to hear God's word. We want to dwell in his presence. But we're a little bit shaky about how it's going to work out.

Things don't look so great around us, we might say. Then there's another class of people, the people of God who have remained back in Babylon. There may be some of us here today who have stayed in Babylon.

We need to flee Babylon and return to the Lord and dwell in his presence. You and I are familiar with the customs of Babylon. It's all around us. There is pagan worship all around us, and it doesn't even cause us to blush.

It doesn't even cause us to give it another thought. The wicked practice of the Babylonians is all around us, and we don't see it for what it is. Dare I say, even the church, the people of God, have incorporated through syncretism the practice of the pagan Babylonians in their own lives.

Come out from them and be separate. Destruction is coming upon the wicked. Why would the Christian go and participate in those things that will rain down the hellfire of God on the wicked? Why would we partake and dabble in Babylon?

We need to return to the Lord and the fellowship of his people. All the Lord has to do is shake his hand. Look at verse 9. And the nations will be toppled. The Lord shakes his hand and they're destroyed.

Come out of the world that is in rebellion against God and run to his glorious presence. You should ask yourself the question to look at your own lives, the fruit of your own lives. How are you staying behind in Babylon?

What are the areas in which you are familiar with and comfortable with the customs of the world that are in opposition to our God? You need to repent. Turn away from those things. Apply the principle here articulated in the history of Israel.

And the history of Israel is the future of the church. We're going to see that in a couple of moments. Come out from among them and be separate. Come out of Zion. Flee from the land of the north. Jerusalem and Judea are in ruins, but the presence of God is coming there.

Come to that place where God is and meet with him there. Verse 9. For surely I will shake my hand against them and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

All of these things, of course, come to pass. Babylon is going to be destroyed. Assyria destroyed. Edom destroyed. The Roman Empire destroyed. Let's look at verse 10. Back in Jerusalem, God commands his people to sing and to rejoice.

Why?

The Lord is coming soon to dwell in Jerusalem. How much more should our singing and rejoicing be energized by the fact that there's not just a faraway promise of the Lord's return, but the Lord is here dwelling in the midst of his worshiping covenant people.

We are standing and living right now in this moment in the presence of God. If we ever are, it's here and it's now. May the glory of God fill this place. May the glory of God fill our hearts. May we be moved by the Holy Spirit to walk in his righteousness.

We should sing with great zeal. We should be rejoicing what Christ has done in our lives. The Lord has come. He is coming to dwell in Jerusalem. Another question for you. It seems here that the deep longing and desire of God's people is that they might dwell in the presence of God.

The drumbeat of our section is I am coming and I will dwell in your midst. This is the thing that is getting the people of God most excited that God would be with them. Today, what is the deep longing and desire of you in your heart?

Is it that you might dwell in his presence? Is Christ here? Did he save you to make the rest of your life a little bit better, to prosper your business, to give you a nice little family? Is that what you've reduced the glory of Christ to?

Christ makes your life the things you really want to do better. Is that what you've reduced Christ to be? We need to turn our hearts back to him. The deep longing of the Christian heart. The desire of God's people is that they might dwell in his presence.

This is what heaven will be. The glory of heaven will be the perfect dwelling with God in his presence. That's the the ultimate expression of the human condition to be in the glorious presence of God eternally in that perfect glorified state.

That is what heaven will be. It seems to me that a little bit of heaven has come down and we should zealously pursue us living before the face of God, dwelling in his presence and finding in him the fullness of joy and satisfaction.

That should be what our life is characterized by. Christ is our life. He doesn't make our life better. He's everything to us. The best part of this life is to dwell in God's presence. Now we've been on a repentance movement here, but like our spiritual forefathers, we have to be reminded that we have by his grace been united to him.

We've been united to Christ. Christ in us. Christ with us. Christ, the hope of glory. Christ is our life. We're going to shift now to the second and last point. There's a promise. Verse 10 is the transition.

It fits in both the command for commanded to come out. We're commanded to sing and rejoice. And the promise is in the last half of verse 10. For behold, I am coming and will dwell in your midst, says the Lord.

And here's the astounding part. You remember up to this point, the two nations, the two visions have dealt very roughly with the nations. The nations outside of Israel, they are set and scheduled for calamity to fall upon them from the hand of the Lord.

But what's happening in verse 11? It says many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day. And they shall become my people. I want you to imagine, if you will, these DNA tests they have that we can take our DNA, some kind of swab, send it back, and they give us some kind of profile of our genealogy.

I think for the vast majority of us, and this is very exciting, for the vast majority of us, we would find that our families at the time of Zechariah's prophecy were living in pagan land. Not a clue about who God was.

In fact, probably the majority of our ancestors have perished in their sin when thinking about it in that way. Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day. Here on this day, what is the date?

September 18th at Ascension Presbyterian Church. The saints of Ascension and guests, they have ascended Zion's holy hill and met with God there. We are living, breathing examples of the fulfillment of the prophecy in verse 11.

Many nations, all of us most likely, come out of the nations, and we are now the covenant people of God. He's done it before, and he's going to continue to do it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is going to triumph on this earth.

Many nations will be joined to the Lord in that grand eschatological day, and they will become my people, he says. God is returning. The promise is being realized in real time in Jerusalem. God is returning to his people.

He is responding to his enemies. They are being overthrown. His people are being established. Oh, sing and rejoice, oh, daughter of Zion. The Lord reigns. The Lord is coming. How much more should we sing and rejoice?