"God's gonna cut you down..."

Notes from Scott Sutton's message on Zechariah 12 and 14.

In the opening vision of the book of Revelation, we see the Son of Man "clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest.

The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength."

Most commentators agree that this two-edged sword is the Word of God. According to Hebrews 4, the Word of God pierces the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

What does that mean? John Piper asks, "Are we born of God and spiritually alive, or are we deceiving ourselves and spiritually dead?" In our text this week, we will see both those alive, and those dead as the double-edged sword does its work.

Remember the context... God is speaking through Zechariah to His people who have returned from the Babylonian exile for the purpose of rebuilding the temple. At this point, some have chosen not to return, and those who have returned are dealing with fear, vulnerability and doubt. They are disoriented.

The first thing that God does is He re-orients His people to Himself.

He then describes how he will use his people to bring judgment upon those who oppose God.

God is saying two things:

- This is who I am

- This is what I am going to do

God tells them what they need to know...

(1) God will judge those who reject Him.

See verse 2, God will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering. For those who try to consume her, they will find themselves disoriented, incapable, staggering, and shameful.
In verse 4, God will make the enemies' horses panic and riders go mad. This is all a reminder that God is in control of all this and there is no need for us to fear.

(2) God will preserve those who belong to Him through faith.

He gives us strength (verse 5)
God makes Jerusalem's leadership a flaming torch (verse 6)
God gives Jerusalem serenity and peace (verses 7 and 8)
In verse 9, note the increasing intensity as God battles with a hostile world... confounds/shames... allows them to be wounded by what they are doing... sends them into dangerous madness... and finally God destroys Jerusalem's enemies.

God is discerning the hearts of those who have set themselves against God's people, bringing judgment upon them, which in turn is designed to encourage perseverance in a war-wearied people who are in the process of rebuilding.

(3) God will refine His people through trial.

The verses in chapter 14 are connected to the last verses of chapter 13... v.7-9 "... Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, "They are my people"' and they will say, "The Lord is my God.”

As strange as this text might sound, it is in fact a theme throughout Scripture:

1 Peter 1:6-7, "You have been grieved through various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ."

1 Peter 4:12-13, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed."

Acts 14:22, "Through many tribulations you must enter the Kingdom of God."

Sadly, these are the kind of verse that pastors and churches become embarrassed about. It's a flawed way of thinking, "I don't want to share with them on Sunday morning that a normal part of their faith is suffering". But to think and act like that is in fact contrary to the Word of God. If God prepares us for His Kingdom by telling us that we will suffer and that He will refine us through it, it is blasphemy to lead people to believe otherwise.

It is the worst kind of misleading to make someone believe that there is a narrow path to God that is free from suffering and decorated with health, wealth, and prosperity.

The joy that God has in store for you is exponentially greater than those things. He plans more for you, not less. But if we believe that suffering is happening when it isn't supposed to be happening, then we will adopt a victim mentality.

A victim mentality is incompatible with a Kingdom mindset!

(4) God will rule and reign forever!

What we are seeing after this final trial is God fighting for His people, battling their enemies. And in doing so, He is ushering in the end of history... the melting of time back into eternity. As we see God standing on the mountains, with a river bringing life and peace eternally to His bride, we see that Zechariah see the church in the end as a glorified city with this river flowing within.

What Zechariah prophesized here, is brought up again 500 years later in John 7.

John 7:37-38, "On the last day of the feast of booths, Jesus, in what one commentator refers to as being intentionally "dramatic", stands up at the temple in the midst of the Jerusalem Zechariah and his generation rebuilt, crying out "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living waters."

We see a continuation of God conquering his enemies, cleansing his eternal dwelling place of all sin, consecrating everything single part of his new dwelling to himself. He has gathered for himself a people from among every nation of earth.

(5) God's eternal plan is a holy people in a holy place.

"The achievement of all God's desire in history is crowned not only with the eternal reign of Christ as Lord, but also in the presentation of a perfect and holy bride for God's Son... The picture is that of total and complete holiness... God's entire redemptive purpose and plan, reaching back into eternity and spinning out through the ages, has as its goal a perfectly holy people in a perfectly holy city." - Michael Phillips

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"God's gonna cut you down..."