Bramhall, John W: God's Future Program-39 ~ The Last Great Siege At Jerusalem

We greet you again in the precious name of our Savior, whose name is above every name, rejoicing in the privilege of continuing the wonderful ministry of the word of the living God. We humbly pray that your heart and mind is being blessed, and that your soul is finding the message of truth as we go on studying what is the last great siege of Jerusalem, when the Lord Jesus will come back to the earth and deliver his people. We continue the theme, for God does not give in one chapter all of his thoughts and state all of his purposes. There is one principle about Bible study that every student of scripture must remember. God does not give a chronological arrangement of all of his divine truth. Paul said, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And on even this subject, the last great siege of Jerusalem, we do not find the complete record of it in one chapter, which we have already considered, chapter twelve. So now we go to chapter fourteen in the book of Zechariah. May I read with you the first seven verses? Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be in divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley. Half of the mountain shall be removed toward the north and half of it toward the south, and ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel. Yea, ye shall flee, un- unlike as ye fled in the days before the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light, and it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem. Half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward behind the sea. In summer and in winter shall it be, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord and his name one. May God bless the reading of his word from the fourteenth chapter of the book of Zechariah. Beloved, may I again repeat the subject before, as I trust it is of importance to your heart and mine, the last great siege of Jerusalem. For oh, that city that has been besieged again and again, again and again, will someday, and I do not believe the years can be far off, it will experience the last one. And though all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together, God will deliver his beloved people. Oh, may I repeat, God promises to destroy the nations. Looking in our fourteenth chapter, let's consider these words, and particularly the opening two verses. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. Now, when you find the expression, the day of the Lord, this also brings before a pious Jew the coming of the Messiah, when that day comes that he will seek to establish in power and in great glory his kingdom. And that day of the Lord goes further to embrace, my friend, the divine judgments that God will pour out upon this poor, sinful, sin-soaked, God-hating, Christ-rejecting world. Beloved, how important it is for men and women, boys and girls, to be concerned about their personal soul salvation. I trust that you're ready to meet God. Prepare to meet thy God, was long ago the prophet Amos's message as he came to Israel, even in their declension. But now I want to note with you that God will certainly bring his judgment upon Jerusalem. Now note again, as we've already stated from chapter twelve, verse two here says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. There again you have the repetitious statement. God says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. He will do it. But may I point out to you what we have not seen in our preceding studies this week, and that is the enemy will seemingly triumph, for God says the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished. Half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. My beloved, may I state, the city will be captured, the city will be spoiled, the city will be divided. There will be cruel brutality and lust and the horrors that attend such occasions of war. Half of the population of the city taken in captivity, and a small wretched remnant left for the destruction by the nations. And beloved, that's not a very, very promising condition and situation. But it is at the crucial moment of their seeming destruction we have in this chapter the appearance of the deliverer. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. Now, beloved, I want to repeat with emphasis, and you can prove it, you can read it for yourself in the Old Testament record, that again and again and again Jehovah fought for his earthly people. It has been many a century since he did so. I do not know, I could not state when the last occasion would have been. As far as the history of the Old Testament is concerned, it could possibly have been, according to Old Testament history, in the days of Hezekiah. For even in the days of Hezekiah, in the days of Jehoshaphat, in the days of others, the Israelites, the, the children of Judah and Jerusalem witnessed how God was able to defend them and destroy their enemies without them doing one bit of fighting. But it's been a long, long time that God has ever raised his hand to intervene when the enemies of Israel have been fighting against them. But I wish to go on record as stating this word of God declares, the interests of God and the defense of his power will come to the aid of Israel again. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. Now I want to state bluntly that it isn't any use for any nation to think they can leak God. One hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrians were slain in one night by Jehovah in the days of Hezekiah. And beloved, the Lord has his own way of fighting, but there's no one who can win any victory against him. Jehovah is a man of war. Jehovah is his name, sang the children of Israel in the book of Exodus chapter fifteen when they witnessed that their enemies, the Egyptians and Pharaoh, were completely destroyed. My beloved, I rejoice to know God will not forsake his people. But I want to say this, it will be destruction for the nations. Then may I point out what takes place? Tremendous. The Lord is coming himself to fight against those nations. You can read Revelation chapter nineteen, begin at verse eleven, go down to the end of the chapter, and you have the descent of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, and the armies of the earth are gathered together to war against him when he appears. And their leaders, the beast and the false prophet, are taken alive and thrown into hell. Two men go into hell who are the great leaders of that great conflict, and they go into hell without even dying. So wicked, they're not even worthy to be judged. And the nations that are gathered around to seek the destruction of God's people and to fight against the coming of the Lord, the one who comes from heaven, they are completely destroyed, and the birds of the air are invited to the great supper of God to feast upon the dead bodies. But I want you to note the day of triumph. That one, when he comes, let me read verse four. his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. Hallelujah. The Mount of Olives from whence he ascended back to heaven. Those feet that left the mount will come back again and touch the mount, and the moment he does, there will be an earthquake that will cleave the mountain northward and southward and make a great valley. And may I give you the suggestion, please? That valley will be a place that can be a valley of escape for God's earthly people. As they fled once before, the Lord Jesus says, or rather the prophet writes, as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. For the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. Oh beloved, there's no question of doubt. The divine intervention that climaxes the great siege is the coming of the Lord from heaven. And you come back. Mount of Olives is the Mount of Prophecy. Ezekiel saw the glory of Jehovah depart from this mountain in his day. The Lord Jesus left this mountain, as we've already stated, to return home to heaven. Ezekiel, in his prophecy in chapter forty three sees the glory return here. The angels told the apostles and the disciples in Acts chapter one um the same Jesus that had left that mountain would come back in the like manner they'd seen him go. And oh, beloved, what a joy it is to realize that this is the occasion of his appearing. And oh, in that day, it will be a day of unnatural gloom, but nevertheless, it's going to be a day when the light will dawn and Christ will return to the earth, and God will deliver his besieged people. I want to state again, it will be the coming of the Lord that will deliver Israel. My friend, are you ready for the coming of the Lord? God grant you are. Shall we pray? Father, pierce the conscience and save the heart and soul of those who need the Lord Jesus now, for his name's sake. Amen.