As we have seen in recent days one of the most complete descriptions of the time of our Deliverance is found in Zechariah. The book begins with the LORD calling His people to remember the former days, when He implored His people to return but they refused to hear. He goes on to remind them it was following their own ways that brought their destruction. Zechariah 1: 1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 “The LORD has been sore displeased with your fathers. 3 Therefore say you unto them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts; ‘Turn you unto me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, says the LORD of hosts. 4 Be you not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn you now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings:’ but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, says the LORD. 5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so has he dealt with us.””
Zechariah means remembered of Jehovah, Berechiah means blessed of Jehovah, and Iddo means timely, from the word meaning to advance, as in to pass on or continue. As we read on in the chapter we see this is the LORD remembering, after seventy years has passed and the effects of His people’s rejection has resulted in their near total destruction (as a nation – culture) and their captivity in confusion (Babylon) under Darius. The word above in verses 3 & 4 translated “Turn” is the Hebrew word shuwb, meaning to return. In this we see it isn’t merely a call to turn away from evil, it is a call to return to the LORD from where we have fallen away. The verse ends telling the history of these ancestors seeing their error and in seeing it knowing the problem and the solution.
As always the origin of the problem is found in whom we are listening to. We see in verse 6 above the LORD’s remembering (them as us) and taking hold (of them as us) by His word. The Hebrew word translated “take hold” is nasag, meaning to reach, as in getting to the point traveled to. It is the word translated “overtaken” in Psalms 18:37 in telling of the anointed overtaking the enemy. “37 I have pursued mine enemies [those opposing God’s word and advice], and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.” This is the point of Zechariah’s description and telling of Joshua (Jehovah the deliverer – Jesus in Greek/English), the return to God is told as his cleansing by the word/water, and then Zerubbabel as coming out of confusion and building the city of God. These are telling of a returned church, which enables a return of just civil government, and through these the people are built into New Jerusalem. This is heaven come to earth as rule and reign through just governing that is under God. It is the LORDs word, his wisdom and way, that takes hold of us and does this in restoring life to those living/sleeping dead.
Now, I don’t care what anyone has to say about it. This is the answer and the only answer. If you are waiting for the enemies to agree with it you will never move to do what has to be done. This is a war, and it should be battled as one, to destroy the enemies with sound advice. The world bears witness against their advising following further confusion and deeper chaos. Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, says the LORD.”
Psalms 18 tells of the anointed running and overtaking those he is pursuing. It says he runs through their defenses and leaps over their wall. Prior to saying this it tells of his being empowered by the LORD God, and this power being as if he is a candle lighted (Zeal of the Holy Spirit), and this being what lightens His darkness. As we read a few posts ago this is the power also spoken of in Zerubbabel.
Psalm 18
1 I will love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore has the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright;
26 With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with those twisting truth you will show yourself to twist them further.
27 For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks.
28 For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
32 It is God that girds [prepares and provides] me with strength, and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has holds me up, and your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
39 For you have girded me with strength unto the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.
48 He delivers me from mine enemies: yea, you lifts me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto your name.
50 Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
The verse in Isaiah 54 that is quoted above, and we have looked at several times in recent days, is following immediately by Isaiah 55, which is a call to come to the living and life giving waters. If you study with us you know these waters as the word of God, as in advice from Him that transfers His wisdom to us once it takes hold of us. This hold is what releases the hold death has on us.
1 Corinthians 15
51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.
Isaiah 55
1 Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you shall run unto you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.
6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Here are Zechariah 2 & 3 telling of the cleansing of Joshua and of Satan as the adversary opposing him. Before pasting these we need to see the context of Zachariah 3:8 telling of Joshua and his fellows being men to wonder at. It is telling of them as the signs as told of in Isaiah 8:18 as it speaks of those that have been taken hold of by the word of the LORD and His power – His Spirit. Being one of these signs is also said of Zerubbabel in Haggai 2:23.
Haggai 2
22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
23 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and will make you as a signet: for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 8
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
Zechariah 2
1 I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2 Then said I, Whither go you? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,
4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
5 For I, says the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
6 Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, says the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, says the LORD.
7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwells with the daughter of Babylon.
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts; After the glory has he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.
11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me unto you.
12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
Zechariah 3
1 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a pure wrapping upon his head. So they set a pure wrapping upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts; If you wilt walk in my ways, and if you wilt keep my charge, then you shall also judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you places to walk among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.
9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
10 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.
