Israel's Redemption!

Zechariah 10:1-12

Zechariah 10:1-12 Israel Redemption!

Zechariah 10:1-12, Ask the Lord for rain In the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone. 2 For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd. 3 “My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the goatherds. For the Lord of hosts will visit His flock, The house of Judah, And will make them as His royal horse in the battle. 4 From him comes the cornerstone, From him the tent peg, From him the battle bow, From him every [f]ruler together. 5 They shall be like mighty men, Who tread down their enemies In the mire of the streets in the battle. They shall fight because the Lord is with them, And the riders on horses shall be put to shame. 6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, Because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; For I am the Lord their God, And I will hear them. 7 Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, And their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad; Their heart shall rejoice in

the Lord. 8 I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall increase as they once increased. 9 “I will sow them among the peoples, And they shall remember Me in far countries; They shall live, together with their children, And they shall return. 10 I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt, And gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, Until no more room is found for them. 11 He shall pass through the sea with affliction, And strike the waves of the sea: All the depths of the River shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, And the sceptre of Egypt shall depart. 12 “So I will strengthen them in the Lord, And they shall walk up and down in His name,” Says the Lord.

The redemption of Israel is a theme very common to the book of Zechariah. We have seen that in the past and we will see it again. Romans 11 also talks about the redemption of Israel. The entire eleventh chapter deals with the question.

Romans 11:1, I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. A question that is highly debated and heatedly discussed in theological seminaries and colleges around the world.

Romans 11:2, God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,

God is still dealing in the fulfillment of His promises to Israel, He has not set them aside.

Romans 11:26-28, And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

God is going to redeem this entire nation. God has not cast you off. This promise has not been negated. God is going to redeem the nation of Israel.

Isaiah 59:20-21, The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord. 21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth

of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.” God says there is a forever plan for Israel. There is a forever message that will abide in Israel that culminates when the Redeemer comes to Zion.

Now three things that stand out in that prophecy: One, the Redeemer will come out of Zion. He will be Jewish. Two, He will turn ungodliness away from Jacob. Three, He will take away their sins. The Redeemer who is going to come will turn them away from their ungodliness, forgive their sins, and that is salvation.

Jeremiah calls this a new covenant. The old covenant was a covenant of death. The new covenant is a covenant of life.

Jeremiah 31:33-34, But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The primary indication of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 is related to Israel. We have already participated in the new covenant. We have already had the law of God written in our hearts. We have already had our iniquities removed.

We have already had them remember no more. God has already done graciously in our behalf but shall do the same to Israel. Now as we look at the future and we see that we believe that Jesus is going to return, we can add to that concept this reality, that when He returns it will be with the redemption of Israel in mind.

When Jesus comes, Israel will already have undergone a severe spiritual upheaval.

• They will have experienced political devastation under Antichrist.
• They will have experienced economic devastation under Antichrist.
• They will have gone through social devastation because of the wars that they will have been involved in.
• They will have been under a tremendous spiritual turmoil as the forces of hell and Satan will have grappled against the 144,000 who will have proclaimed the gospel.
• There will be a final period of national holocaust as the war of Armageddon rages.

Armageddon the great war that occurs in the land of Israel in the end of the times, times of the Gentiles will sweep away any Jewish delusion that they could possibly bring the kingdom on their own. It will make them reexamine their resources.

Israel for the most part today is very proud because of what they have accomplished. But all of that is going to be shattered in the holocaust of Antichrist and the wars of Armageddon. All the delusions will be swept away, and they will be stripped naked, realizing that they can’t do anything for themselves.

In the midst of the abomination of desolations, as Daniel calls it and Jesus reiterates it in Matthew 24, when all that is sacred to them has been desolated and desecrated, the whole nation is going to be brought to a place of really reexamining their spiritual priorities.

They are going to be brought to the place where they will rethink spiritual truth and they will reflect back on the message of two marvelous witnesses, indicated in the Revelation 11th Chapter. They will think back to a 144,000 of their own people who went about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many will respond to that gospel and believe in Israel. There will be already beginning a great revival of faith in Israel directed toward none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. At that time, the nation would have been scattered.

Multitudes will have fled into the wilderness under the protection of Michael, the great angel. Others will be stuck in Jerusalem and the surrounding area under the sentence of death at the hands of Antichrist. But whether they are in Jerusalem or hidden and protected by Michael, there will be the surging of a revival of faith. Because everything else that they know will be shattered.

God will, by His Holy Spirit, begin to prepare their hearts for the arrival of their Messiah. When Christ comes back there is going to be not only a great physical deliverance for Israel but also, He delivers Israel and gives Israel the kingdom.

There will be great physical deliverance. There will be a spiritual deliverance.

Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

On that day when Christ returns, God will pour out His Spirit on Israel. The Spirit poured out will do initially the work of conviction, and they will look on Christ. They will mourn for what they did to Him.

Zechariah 13:1, “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

Zechariah 13:9, I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

When Jesus returns there will be a great revival in Israel. They will meet the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be redeemed.

Zechariah 13:6, And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

They will recognize Him, and they will be saved. Their souls will literally be jolted into salvation by the vision of the returning Christ who once they crucified.

Isaiah 53:4-5, Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God,

and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. They are going to remember that. They are going to focus on Christ.

Romans 11:23, And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

They will then enter into the kingdom.

Now when Israel is saved, what happens?

What is all involved in their redemption? That is the theme of Zechariah chapter 10. 1. Divine rain. V 1, Ask the Lord for rain In the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.

The Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to everyone, grass in the field.

Zechariah 9:17, For how great is its goodness And how great its beauty! Grain shall make the young men thrive, And new wine the young women.

God is going to bring great harvests. Grain will flourish, grapes will flourish. All you must do is ask the Lord for it. Now people have discussed whether this is literal rain. The time of the kingdom, God is going to make it rain in order that crops will flourish.

Stuff is going to grow like it has never grown before. There is nothing significant growing out their scrub things here and there. But when the Lord makes it rain, and it is going to rain in the kingdom, watch what happens.

Isaiah 35:1, The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

This is when the kingdom comes.

Isaiah 35:2, It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, The excellency of our God.

Lebanon is so fertile and so green and so lush, parts of it look like Lake District. Incredibly beautiful area. He says the desert is going to look like Lebanon. It is going to look like Carmel. It is going to look like Sharon.

The Valley of Sharon is the coastal valley which is so green and beautiful. Carmel is the range of mountains that goes up the coast to the north that is so green and nice. The desert is going to look like that. For that to happen in the desert they are going to have to have some real rain.

God is going to make it rain real rain.

Isaiah 35:6-7, Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. 7 The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes. Water everywhere. It is going to be like a water field in the desert, literally rain.

But it’s more than that. Because while the Bible always promises a literal kingdom with literal rain, literal water, and

literal fields growing with literal crops, it also speaks of spiritual blessing outpoured on the people of God. It’s a truth in and of itself and it’s also an illustration of a spiritual truth that God is going to pour out the rain of marvelous blessing.

Hosea 6:1-3, Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. God’s outpoured blessing is likened to the rain.

The latter rain here, the latter rain is the spring rain that comes in March and April that’s so indispensable to the crops. You are not only going to get literal latter rain to get the latter rain of God’s blessing. The word here is most interesting.

He will give them showers of rain. The word there is a very special word in the Hebrew. It doesn’t mean violent destructive rain.

But the Hebrew means a productive ample rain. It isn’t going to be flooding them out. So, the rain clouds will pour their water and the clouds of God’s blessing will pour their blessing. What is Israel going to get in the kingdom?

A divine Redeemer and divine rain. 2. Divine recompense. V 2, For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.

The picture painted of Israel’s dilemma. They have been obeying idols in their past. A reference to Israel’s life before the captivity. This is in the past. Because after the captivity, they had not entered idolatry. But they worshiped idols, and they followed diviners, the occult, fortune tellers, witchcraft, soothsayers, all of that.

They were into that just like our society today. They had their idols and their diviners. Their idols spoke in vain and their diviners’ told lies and gave them false dreams and comforted them in vain. They went therefore out like a flock, and they were troubled because they were a flock without a shepherd.

They were looking out for all these phony shepherds and none of them ever gave them the truth. They were fake. Their experience with idols and their experience with the occult was a disaster. The word “idols” the Hebrew word teraphim is to do primarily with household gods. The people did not only go to temples and worship, but they developed these little self‑styled household God’s.

A demon would impersonate the gods that they had made in their little household and then the demon would hold them to this false system. This was not unusual in Israel. Genesis 31, 1 Samuel 15, 2 Kings 23, and we find in all those chapters this problem.

They were worshiping these things absolutely forbidden by God, these things that were utterly wicked, speaking vanity and uselessness. They were like sheep without a shepherd. They were being misled by these phonies. Ezekiel talks about this and how tragic it was in Israel’s history to be without a shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:6-10, My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.” 7 ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”— 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! 10 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.” He says you and your selfishness and, in your self- centeredness, have used the flock to feed yourself. You have used them to make your money and to provide your food with all the offerings they bring. You have never fed them at all. I am against you because you have left them to wander without a shepherd.

But such a shepherd would come.

Ezekiel 34:22-24, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and

sheep. 23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

There was a time when they didn’t have a shepherd. This is what He is saying in verse 2. There was no shepherd. V 3 He says exactly what Ezekiel said, “Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats.”

Literally goats is a term used in the Old Testament to refer to leaders. Sometimes it refers to the chiefs. It is used as a synonym for the chiefs in Israel in other passages. V 3, “My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the goatherds. For the Lord of hosts will visit His flock, The house of Judah, And will make them as His royal horse in the battle.

What occurred in Israel’s past was idolatry and the occult, for which God brought judgment on those shepherds will occur again. There is a latent prophecy here, that the prophet sees in the future, another idolatry in Israel, another involvement in the occult in Israel. Because of the false leaders and the false teachers that will rise up in the future.

God will come again, and He will punish them. In visiting His flock, He will literally turn His flock into a battle horse to act in judgment against these false teachers. Do you mean that’s actually going to happen in the future?

It is. Do you believe that Israel’s going to turn to worshiping idols and Satan and the occult? Yes.

Illustration

With whom does Israel make a pact in the Tribulation? Antichrist.

What does Antichrist immediately do? He sets up in the midst of Jerusalem an image to himself and requires all of humanity to bow to that image. The people will be trapped in this. The image will even speak. So, there will be occultism and there will be demonism.

When the Tribulation says that the doors of hell are open and the demons are all let loose, there will be demons in the world like never before. The occult will reign supremely. No question about it.

Israel will get engulfed in this kind of idolatry. They will make a pact with the Antichrist.

Daniel 9:27, Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

They will get engulfed in that system before they are pulled out of it and that is really what Zechariah is saying. But then in the end, God will look with mercy on His people, and He will take that very nation which has been victimized by these phony leaders.

God will turn that flock of helpless sheep into a battle horse that will do war against those very shepherds and destroy them. Jesus Christ Himself will ride on the back of the battle horse which is itself Israel. Another passage that indicates this to us, that Israel will indeed be brought into a belief in idols.

Because Jesus repeatedly warns them.

Matthew 24:5, For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

Matthew 24:11, Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Matthew 24:23-24, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Jesus warned them they are going to come. All the false shepherds are going to come, and they are going to deceive many people. Paul in writing to the Thessalonians in chapter ² points up the fact that the Thessalonians need to be aware that Christ has not yet come because the apostasy hasn’t yet come. But when the apostasy does come, there will come lying signs and wonders, deceiving many.

There is time coming when God’s people are going to experience a delusion, a deception that’s incredible. God is even going to allow it all right up to its limits. When it’s blown its last gasket, He is going to destroy it all. We know this is all the allowance of God.

Isaiah 66:4, So will I choose their delusions, And bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight.”

I will choose their delusion. God will bring them on. God is going to allow the world to come into a delusion, and Israel will be engulfed in it somehow. God in His wonderful grace will come in the midst of that delusion with a true shepherd to offer to them.

The true shepherd will get on their backs as they are transformed into the battle horse. They will go out to conquer the ungodly. V 3 tells us essentially the same thing that we find in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the book of Revelation.

Christ is going to come in judgment using the nation Israel as His war horse.

Zechariah 12:9, It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

God is going to use Israel as part of the force to destroy the nations. Zechariah 14th chapter tells us the very same thing. How God is going to come and fight against the enemy.

The Lord is going to come and bring divine recompense and judge all oppressors. The divine rain, wonderful blessing both physical and spiritual. Divine recompense as God judges the ungodly and the false teachers. 3. Divine Redeemer.

Zechariah reminds the people that the Messiah is coming, and he identifies Him in this verse. One of the richest Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.

• The former prophets are the prophets who prophesied prior to the Babylonian exile.
• The latter prophets are the prophets who prophesied after they came back from exile.

Now the former prophets had many things to say about the Messiah, what He would be and how He would look and how He would fulfill prophecy and so forth. Many of the things that were clearly stated in the former prophets are then picked up again by the latter prophets.

Now Zechariah, as a latter prophet after the exile, picks up three things about the Messiah that are from the former prophets.

Zechariah 10:4, From him comes the cornerstone, From him the tent peg, From him the battle bow, From him every ruler together. He calls the Messiah

• cornerstone,
• A nail, and
• A battle bow.

Now these three things give us a tremendous insight into the Messiah. He will come from the house of Judah, because it says out of him, and we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is called the lion of the tribe of Judah. We know that is the source. He will come from the nation Israel. He will come from the tribe of Judah. He will come from the town of Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

The nation Israel, The tribe Judah, The portion of land will be Judah’s and it will be Bethlehem. So out of Judah will He come.

How tremendous it is that Jesus fulfilled that prophecy, that He was from Israel, that He was from the tribe of Judah. When Christ was born, His people were in a portion of land belonging to Judah in a very obscure non‑descript village called Bethlehem, exactly as the prophet had said in Micah 5:2.

Now having established that, the Spirit then gives Zechariah three pictures of the Messiah. Three pictures of the divine Redeemer, this great prophet who will come, this great Deliverer. The first one is that He is called, in Hebrew, Pinnah and that means the cornerstone.

V 4, calls Him simply the corner. A Messianic title in the former prophets.

Isaiah 28:16, Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. Isaiah prophesied that He would be a stone, a tested stone, a precious stone, a cornerstone, a foundation stone. That must be Jesus Christ, none other than Jesus Christ. As we look at the New Testament, we find that Jesus Christ repeatedly is stated to be the cornerstone.

Romans 9:32, Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Paul is referring to Jesus Christ who is the stumbling stone over which Israel stumbled.

1 Corinthians 1:23, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

Ephesians 2:20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, Sometimes He is a stone of stumbling. Sometimes He is a cornerstone. Sometimes He is a precious stone.

But that is a common Old Testament designation.

Daniel 2:34, You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces Daniel calls Him a stone cut out without hands, and He is the crushing stone that comes in judgment to destroy the Gentile world powers. Jesus is a stone. The Messiah will be a stone.

Here it is not the crushing aspect that is emphasized. That’s emphasized in other parts of the Bible.

Matthew 21:44, And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

• He is a stone that holds up the walls.
• He is a supporting stone.
• He will give support.
• He will give stability.

For the safety and stability of a building, almost everything depends on the foundation. Anybody who builds it knows that. When they were building this building, to watch them lay the foundation. On the back wall where every one of those pillars is, you can see a little wooden plate that’s been painted over.

That little plate is a hole in that pillar. That hole is there because when we put a balcony in, steel beams will slide through those holes and they will hook with those huge pillars outside and those huge pillars are anchored in the ground, I think it’s eight to ten feet deep full of steel and concrete. That is what will hold that balcony up. The foundation is vitally important.

What Zechariah is saying here is the same thing.

Christ is the one who will come and give stability to Israel. They needed so many centuries. The great architect of the universe has proposed for Himself from all eternity to raise out of frail imperfect human materials a glorious temple. For His own eternal habitation through the Spirit.

To ensure that temple’s eternal safety, He has bestowed great care on the foundation. He Himself has laid it, tried and precious cornerstone which He has laid as the basis of this mystical structure is His own Son who is perfected forevermore against whom the gates of hell cannot prevail.

When God sets Jesus as the cornerstone, the foundation stands sure. We know that. Because Christ is the cornerstone of the foundation of the church. We saw the church stand and weather the storm. Some day He will become the cornerstone of Israel.

There is something else about this cornerstone concept that a cornerstone holds up two walls. It’s on the corner. It holds up two walls. Interesting to realize that the cornerstone Christ holds up the two walls that make up the redeemed people and that is the church and Israel.

Where there used to be a wall between us, we now have a common cornerstone. Some day when Israel enters its kingdom, we will enter it with Israel. When we go into eternity, we will go in together. By the time we hit eternity, there won’t be any way to tell us apart.

For all those who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ today who are a part of Israel, they will have to find a spot in both walls. He is the cornerstone for two people, and He will give stability, solidarity, and foundation to Israel.

That is the promise of God for them. The day is coming when you are going to get solidarity. The second thing he calls this divine Redeemer is the nail. Most interesting term in Hebrew. It refers to two kinds of nails in its use in the Old Testament.

One is a tent peg. When they put a tent up, they would run great pieces of rope out from the extremity of the tent on its outer part, and they would drive a stake into the ground to hold the tent. But the word not only has to do with the tent stake, but it is also used to refer to the great nail that they drove into the middle post of the tent.

Now when they put up a tent in those days to live in in their traveling, it was a big tent, it wasn’t some little dinky pup tent. It was a big tent. In the middle they would have a pole, almost like a ship’s mast. There weren’t any walls to hang anything on, so the pole in the middle, into it was driven a big nail in which the valuable ornaments of the house were hung.

Whatever glorious art displays were to be hung in the tent, they were hung on the nail driven into the post. Often the wealth of that entire family would be hung on that peg for the admiration of all who came in. Precisely this is what God is going to do with Jesus Christ.

It is possible that He’s referring here to the idea that He’s the nail to hold the tent of Israel together. We find in the Scripture about this nail concept, God is going to make Christ the nail in the midst of His kingdom on which all the glory of the kingdom hangs.

The essence of the picture.

Zechariah 6:13, Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So He shall be a priest on His throne, And the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” ’

Christ will build the temple and within that temple, He will bear the glory. The glory will be hung on Him. Full millennial splendour will be His. A human fulfillment and then a future fulfillment in Christ. The human fulfillment of this prophecy is Eliakim. Eliakim was a very wonderful man, a very godly man. Eliakim is the historical fulfillment, but Messiah is the ultimate.

Isaiah 22:23-24, I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24 ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 25 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.’ ”

They hung any paintings or portraits or representations of the people in the family. They hung all their fancy pots and pans. They hung it all on there. You can’t put a nail on a tent. It had to be on that post in the middle.

They shall hang upon Him the glory of His Father’s house. He will be the cornerstone.

He will be the nail on which the splendour of the kingdom will be hung. All the glory of the Davidic house will hang on the nail fastened in a sure place. The only way we can interpret that verse is that the Eliakim nail will be cut off, not the nail that is referring to Christ. Christ is the nail that will never fall. Eliakim will, not Christ.

The Redeemer is called the battle bow. The Lord has already given us indication of this.

Zechariah 9:13, For I have bent Judah, My bow, Fitted the bow with Ephraim, And raised up your sons, O Zion, Against your sons, O Greece, And made you like the sword of a mighty man.”

God already pictured as if He is an archer pulling a bow. God is seen as the battle bow itself. He is a conqueror without equals. He is a warrior who will come and destroy the enemy.

Revelation 19:11, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

God comes in power to conquer and destroy. The first part of their salvation is that they will receive the divine Redeemer who is a cornerstone, nail, and battle bow. The result of this is that every oppressor together shall be scattered.

All oppressors will be put out together. Israel will no more be oppressed. The divine Redeemer will conquer the enemy. Promise number one in Israel’s redemption – a divine Redeemer. 4. Divine restoration. V 5-6, They shall be like mighty men, Who tread down their enemies In the mire of the streets in the battle. They shall fight because the Lord is with them, And the riders on horses shall be put to shame. 6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, Because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; For I am the Lord their God, And I will hear them.

A tremendous restoration is going to come. They will be literally transformed into the power of God.

If we study Israel’s history, the only time they ever won a battle was when the Lord was in it. The only time they ever won. Israel never did win unless the Lord was with them. That will be the case at the end. They will literally trample their enemies in the mire of the streets.

Why? Because the Lord is with them. V 6, He is the one who will strengthen them and the riders on the horses that is the enemy will be confounded. The Hebrew word means they will be confused, or they will be ashamed. In their confusion they will be ashamed of their inability to withstand and to be defeated. The world is going to go into a state of shock in the day when the King of Kings comes with His mighty people from Israel to win the great and final battle before the kingdom.

Jeremiah 32:37, Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. V 6, the house of Judah refers to the southern kingdom and the house of Joseph to the northern.

God is going to restore the whole nation, north and south, one nation with one destiny. That’s God’s plan. God will bring them, to place them. After it’s all over, He will place them. They have been wandering for so many years all over the world.

They shall be as though I had not cast them aside. How can people say God will never restore Israel? God says that it will be as if I never cast them off for, I am the Lord their God. V 7, Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, And their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad; Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.

Ephraim is another name for Israel. They will be restored to the place of blessing. They will be given the power that I intended for them from the beginning. I will place them. God is merciful.

Why is God going to do this? V 6, “Because I am the LORD their God.” I am Jehovah. Jehovah is My covenant-keeping name.

God made a promise and if He make a promise He will keep it. God make a covenant only to keep it. “You are My people and I am your God,” No longer will Ichabod be written. A great restoration with great power and great place of blessing.

The redemption of Israel: divine rain, divine recompense, divine redeemer, and divine restoration. 5. Divine rejoicing. V 7, Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, And their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad; Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.

They are going to get happy like they have had just a little too much. Their children shall see it and be glad. Their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. What a wonderful truth. Naturally when God does all these things, when the redeemer comes and everything begins to rain blessing and justice is meted against the enemy and restoration is brought to the nation, the natural response is joy.

The joy here is intense as if they had just had a little too much to drink. The children are going to see it and they are going to chime in, and everybody’s going to be happy and rejoicing in the Lord. They could even resurrect the song of Hannah, a great song of joy.

1 Samuel 2:1-2, And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. 2 “No one is holy like the Lord, For there is none besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

They are going to sing a song of joy. Isaiah predicted joy in the kingdom. They have been through a lot of sorrow.

Isaiah 66:10-12, “Rejoice with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all you who love her; Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; 11 That you may feed and be satisfied With the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory.” 12 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; On her sides shall you be carried, And be dandled on her knees.

Jerusalem is going to be the mother. She will be rich. She will be full. Everybody else will just kind of bounce on her knee. The joy that she has will be transferred to us.

Isaiah 66:13-14, As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” 14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, And your bones shall flourish like grass; The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants, And His indignation to His enemies. Great joy. The whole world bounced on the knee of Jerusalem.

What does God promise Israel in the redemption? divine rain, divine recompense, divine redeemer, divine restoration, and divine rejoicing. 6. Divine Regathering. They are all going to be together again. V 8, I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall increase as they once increased.

God is going to step on the edge of His kingdom some day in heaven and He is going to makes sound or however you do that, and they are all going to come.

Isaiah 5:26, He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, And will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly.

God is going to bring them back. God is going to gather them. And they shall increase as they once increased. They have been growing, ever since they went into Egypt. Exodus chapter 1, when they went into Egypt they increased phenomenally.

As they have increased in the past they will increase. Perhaps commonly to what happened in Egypt, the phenomenal increase there, they are going to flourish in the kingdom. They are going to populate. When Jesus comes at the end of the Tribulation, those Jews that are redeemed will not die. They will go into the kingdom in physical bodies, and they will occupy the earthly kingdom in their physical form.

They will have children, and they will live a long time.

If someone dies at 100 years, they die a baby. So as long as they are living, after the age when you can begin to reproduce, they will be having children. The earth will literally proliferate with children.

Zechariah 2:4, “Jerusalem will be inhabited like a town without a wall because of the multitude of men in it.” V 9, “I will sow them among the peoples, And they shall remember Me in far countries; They shall live, together with their children, And they shall return. From ⁷⁰ A.D. they were scattered and dispersed all over the world.

God says that I will sow them among the peoples, and they will remember Me in far countries, and they will return again not alone, but with their children. God will bring them again out of the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria and those are just symbols of all the countries where they were scattered.

God will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.

There is going to be so many, they are going to be crowded all over the place. Maybe that’s why He must broaden out and make a new valley. Maybe that’s why He must make the desert blossom like a rose, because they have got to start moving east.

God says that I am going to bring them back. They have been scattered, I sowed them all over the world, but I am going to whistle for them some day. When I whistle, they are going to come. They are going to come from everywhere. Their hearts are going to be turned toward Me, and they are going to remember Me in far countries.

They are going to come back, and I am going to bring them because I have redeemed them. There is going to be so many of them, the kingdom is going to be so full and populated. They are going to be spilling all over the world.

Isaiah 54:1-2, ““Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not laboured with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. 2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.

God is talking about the kingdom. He says when you get into the kingdom, you better get a bigger tent, even if you have never had a baby. You had better widen the curtains and lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes. Going to be a population coming to that tent, some childbearing.

Isaiah 49:20-23, The children you will have, After you have lost the others, Will say again in your ears, ‘The place is too small for me; Give me a place where I may dwell.’ 21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me, Since I have lost my children and am desolate, A captive, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought these up? There I was, left alone;

But these, where were they?’ ” 22 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders; 23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

Suddenly the barren will flourish, and they will say, how did this happen? I never could do this before.

God moves into a second area and says that not only will you be having children, but the whole world is going to be moving in and you are going to have to make room for them. To gather all these people when God whistles, and to make sure they all come a running, God’s going to have to remove some obstacles.

V 11-12, He shall pass through the sea with affliction, And strike the waves of the sea: All the depths of the River shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, And the sceptre of Egypt shall depart. 12 “So I will strengthen them in the Lord, And they shall walk up and down in His name,” Says the Lord.

The sea of affliction reminds us of the Red Sea when it was divided. The deep of the river refers no doubt to the Nile, which was commonly designated by the context. But it would remind us of when the Jordan was divided. As God moves to bring them, if He must, He will dry up a sea.

If He must then He will dry up a river. God will smash the pride of a belligerent nation like He did of Assyria. He will remove any kind of dominance that Egypt might want to hold or any other nation.

Again, Assyria and Egypt were traditional enemies of Israel that speak of any nation that would try to withhold God from fulfilling His will. God will do.

What does God promise? All these wonderful things. There will be a total and complete spiritual revival. This is what going to happen for Israel. The future. History is going towards it. How infinitely great it is to be a part of it. We who know Christ will be there to experience it all.