He is King

By Bobby Blakey on April 10, 2023

Zechariah 14:3-9

AUDIO

He is King

By Bobby Blakey on April 10, 2023

Zechariah 14:3-9

Well, we want to say hello to everybody in the Revival Room worship experience. And apparently, we have just overflowed the overflow. So, we now have a whole another room, we want to greet you up in the Anchor Room, upstairs over there. So, that means we’ve got more people at this church service than we've ever seen at a service in the history of our church. So, it means that we should probably talk about the most important thing that has ever happened in human history, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Luke chapter 24, as we can read an historical account of what took place on that Easter Sunday morning. This is not some talk that I came up with this week. This is a 2000-year-old history of what really happened when they went to the tomb. And so, I want to invite you to turn to Luke chapter 24. And out of respect for God's Word, I'm going to ask if we would all stand up, no matter what room you're in, let's all stand up for the public reading of Scripture. This is the very Word of God, about the resurrection of the Word of God, Jesus Christ. Luke 24:1-9.
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.”
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And we want to go back to that morning where these ladies, they thought that they were going now to bring some spices to the tomb where his body would lay. And behold, you can see it there in Luke 24:4, they meet two men who stood by them in dazzling apparel. Now, I just want to take this moment to make a comment that some of you are looking extra nice this morning. Okay. So, you might even be able to say that some of you are wearing dazzling apparel. Okay? And we appreciate you looking extra nice when you come to church. We appreciate all of you in this room that got here even early to get these seats. But when it says dazzling apparel, this isn't just like that's a nice fit or good choice on your wardrobe. This word for dazzling means lightning. This word for dazzling means something out of this world, something that would shine across the sky. Now, these two men in dazzling apparel, you can't just go down to some store and find apparel like this; these guys are dazzling because they are angels. And, in fact, this word is used when Jesus is transfigured into his glorious state. It's like Jesus looked dazzling. It actually refers to Satan as a fallen angel. He fell like lightning, like it was dazzling.
Here's a verse in Luke 17:24, that describes the return of Jesus, when it says, “For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.” So, when it says lightning right there, that's the same word for dazzling. So, if you saw these guys, you would think these I've never seen anything like this, they are not from around here. And that's why these women are frightened by these two men in their dazzling apparel. So, because these are two angels, and the significance of there being two of them. If you go back to Deuteronomy, it says that if we're going to establish anything, we need to do it on the evidence of two or three witnesses. So there have been sent from heaven two witnesses to tell these ladies and now all of us there, yeah, you're not going to find Jesus dead in the tomb on Easter Sunday, because he has risen. And I want to just point out to you that the focus of these two angels from heaven, God's messengers to us, it is right there in verse Luke 17:6-7. Look what they say, he is not here, but has risen and then notice this. He's risen. And just as he said, remember how he told you? Hey, do you guys see they're not just like, look, look the tomb is empty. That's how you know he rose. They're like, no, do you remember how he already told you this was going to happen? And in Luke 17:7, they quote what Jesus had already said that the Son of Man, he must be, and then it gives her three things that are going to happen here: He must be delivered into the hands of sinful men; he must be crucified; and then on the third day, he will be raised from the dead. He will rise. So, he dies on Friday, that's the first day that he's dead, then there's the Sabbath on Saturday, second day that he's dead, and then this would be now the third day that he is dead. And on that third day, he will rise.
So, grab your Bible in the Gospel of Luke and go back to chapter 9, because this is where Jesus said that all of this was going to happen. The angels, when they come to bear witness and testify that Jesus is risen, the highlight that the angels want to make is he's risen from the dead, just like he said. And then here's where he said it. This is back in Luke chapter 9, where he asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” What is the word about me? Well, they think you're one of the old prophets risen, or they think you're your John the Baptist or Elijah. And he says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter gave us the right answer: You are the Christ, you are God's Anointed One, the long-prophesied Messiah, you are the chosen one of God. That's what Peter says, which is the right answer. And then in Luke 9:22, as soon as they identify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then Jesus tells them what he's going to do, verse 22, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” So, Jesus tells them, yes, I am the Christ. And then three things are going to happen to me: one, I'm going to be rejected by the religious leaders of the Jews; two, I'm going to be killed by those Roman soldiers, and then on the third day, I will be raised by God. And so, when the ladies are so perplexed, and they're like, What could have happened to Jesus, the angels are like, Hey, don't you know what happened to Jesus? He already said exactly what was going to happen. So, if you want to take some notes, and we do want you to learn some things here today. If you want to take some notes, we’ve got a handout there in your bulletin, if you do want to jot some things down. And we want to show you that the resurrection actually kicks off a series of events, that because Jesus rose from the dead, there are now things that are inevitably going to happen because of the resurrection.
So, let's start with event number one. The resurrection. And let's just put it down like this: Jesus rose from the dead, just like he said. That's what the angels are there to point out that Jesus already told you, he would be rejected by the Jewish leaders, he would be killed on the cross, and on the third day, he would be raised. And now they could see that all three of those things could happen. Now you can understand that if some man was walking around, even if this man did miracles, if he told you, hey, they're going to kill me, but on the third day, I will rise from the dead, you might not take that very seriously, the first time somebody told you, hey, not only am I going to die, and not only am I going to come back from the dead, I'll tell you the exact day that I'm going to come back from the dead. You can imagine if one of your relatives or family members or friends said that you would be rolling your eyes at them. Okay? But the angels are pointing out now he actually did what he said. Jesus can actually tell you what he's going to do before he does it because Jesus is not just one of us, not just a man. He is the God-man. And everything Jesus says he's going to do, you should believe he's actually going to do it. Can I get an Amen from anybody on Easter Sunday? So, Jesus has now said other things that are going to happen. And you can be surprised when they happen. And you can act like I can't believe this is happening. This is amazing. There's never been anything like this. Or we you should realize that a guy who already did something amazing by rising from the dead, if he said he was going to do that, what else did he say he's going to do? And then probably whatever else he said he's going to do, he's probably able to do that too. So, the resurrection is not the end of the story of Jesus, the resurrection is kicking off a whole new era of the story of Jesus, an era that we're now living in. And if Jesus said he was going to be killed and be raised, what else did he say is going to happen? And whatever else he said, we should expect that Jesus can call the shots and he can tell us what he's going to do, even before he does it.
So, turn with me now to Acts chapter 1. Because Luke, Dr. Luke, who wrote Luke, he also wrote a sequel, Acts. In fact, he picks up right where he left off with the resurrected Jesus and the disciples here in Acts 1:6. And so this is now the second scene that we want to get to here, because of the resurrection that led to then this happening. Okay. And I just want to reiterate that point that Jesus said, on the third day, he would be raised from the dead. The angels are now saying, booyah, hey, just like he said, it happened.
In fact, if you're taking notes, you might want to write down under point number one, John 2:19. Because in John chapter 2, verse 19, Jesus flexed on the Pharisees, and he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.” Okay. And they were like, how are you going to do that? It took us forty-six years to build this temple. But he was talking about the Temple of his what, everybody? And they figured it out. Because after Jesus died on the cross, all of a sudden, those Pharisees were going to the Romans and the Pilate, and they were like, hey, well, this imposter actually said that on the third day he would rise, so maybe we should get some three-days security guards so that disciples don't steal his body, that they actually realized, wait a minute, and those two security guards didn't work out very well, right? Because Jesus is going to do what he says he's going to do. And so, let's see what happens next in Acts 1:6. “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’” This is a very interesting question. The disciples now have seen Jesus a few times since he's risen from the dead. In fact, we know that at one time, Jesus appeared in Galilee, to over five hundred eyewitnesses who all saw Jesus risen from the dead, that there were several occasions where Jesus appeared, like not even walking through the door just appeared in front of his disciples and had conversations with them. And so now here's one of those conversations and the disciples are thinking, okay, he said he would be rejected, he said he would be killed, he said he would be raised. And what's next? Are you going to now take over as king?
Now they're thinking if those prophecies came true, what other prophecies are there to be fulfilled? And they know there are so many prophecies about a king of Israel, a savior of God's people, restoring the nation? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Look at Jesus his answer here in Acts 1:7, “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.’” Now, notice, he says that it's not for you to know when I'm going to restore the kingdom to Israel. He doesn't say, that's a dumb question, guys. Why are you asking? Which Jesus had really no problem saying to these disciples, right? So no, he doesn't act like this is a bad conclusion to think. Well, if he's risen from the dead, now he must be ready to reign as king. Right? Isn't that one of the next things that's going to happen? Good question. We just don't know the timing of when that's going to happen. And in fact, here's what he says he has time to do, Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And Jesus says, hey, guys, it's not time for me to establish the Kingdom. Yet the Father knows what that time is. What it is time is for you guys to be the witnesses of Jesus and to take the good news of the gospel, the good news that Jesus has now died to pay the debt of our sin. And Jesus has now risen, that everyone who believes in him will have a more abundant higher quality or eternal life where they can know God. And in that life of knowing God, they will live with him forever. You need to go and take that to the whole city, then you should take it to the whole country, then you should take it to the ends of the earth. That's what we need to do, he tells his disciples. And now for two thousand years, the gospel of Jesus has been ringing out and here we are, if you went to Jerusalem today, and you told them you were from California, and the United States of America, those Jews in Jerusalem today would look at you like wow, you're from the end of the earth. Howdy. How long did it take you to get here, right? And so here we are at the end of the earth, bearing witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is risen, he is risen, indeed. And we are his witnesses. That's the time that we've been living in. And then look at Acts 1:9, when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and that cloud took him out of their sight. You want to talk about a good way to end a conversation, if you want to make a point right there. Just go up up and away into the clouds. That'll leave a lasting impression. And then while they were gazing into heaven, look what happens as he went, behold. Look at this. Two men stood by them in white robes. Okay, so all of a sudden, we have two men, behold, look at this. Two men show up. And instead of saying dazzling apparel, this time it says white robes. Now, if you do a word study on the Greek word here for white, you will see it is a kind of white, that your laundry detergent is not going to get you to this level of white. All right? You might go to Home Depot or Lowe's and look at all the different colors they have for paint, and they're going to say heavenly white or angelic white or some kind of nice, they don't have this color right here. Okay? These white robes, they weren't laundered anywhere down here. Okay? So, we’ve got two men coming in as angels. Once again, here come more messengers from heaven, maybe the same two, I don't know. But once again, two witnesses have now a comment to make about some amazing thing that Jesus just did. First is resurrection. Now his ascension, literally watching Jesus go up into the clouds until you can't see him anymore. And here's what they have to say about it. Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” So immediately upon Jesus being lifted up into heaven, two angels from heaven, make a promise that Jesus will come down the same way that he went up. Okay, so we've already learned that Jesus is going to do what he said. And now when he goes up there saying, he's going to come down.
So, let's get this down now as our second event in the sequence. We call it the ascension: Jesus is coming down just like he went up. Jesus is coming down just like he went up. This is the resurrection. Jesus wasn't now just going to keep living on earth. It wasn't for him to go up here in front of everyone and establish his reign as king. It wasn't that time. It was the time for us to go tell the world about Jesus. But they did see Jesus ascend into the clouds into heaven. And the promise from the angels is that Jesus will come down the same way that he went up. Does Jesus ever promise that he is going to come back? Here's the promise you could write down under number two there about the ascension, just as John 14:3… and we'll put it up here on the screen for you. Jesus says, “And if I go,” and we just saw him go there, in Acts 1, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. And I will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also.” That almost sounds like another sequence of events that Jesus is saying, he's already been right about being rejected, being killed and being raised on the third day. Well, now he says, I'm going to go, and then I'm going to come again. And when I come again, I will take you to be with me, take you home, take you to this place that I've prepared for you. “In my Father's house, there are many rooms, and I've got one prepared for you.” And so, I'm going to go and then I'm going to come again, and I will take you home to be with me forever. That is a promise from Jesus Christ to all of his disciples, to everyone who denies themselves takes up their cross and follows Jesus, you have an inheritance in heaven, you have a place prepared for you. Does that sound good to anybody here that this is something Jesus says is going to happen? And he has established an impeccable track record of doing what he says. Jesus says, he is coming again, the angels bear witness that Jesus will come down the same way that he went up, and he's going to get his people and he's going to take us to be with him so that we will always be with the Lord. That is the promise of the Ascension.
Now if you're still with me in Acts 1, look at verse 12, because we don't get the setting of this till after it happens. Look at Acts 1:12. It says, “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.” So, we just jumped into the conversation Jesus was having with his disciples, we didn't know where it was, what the setting was. Well, it turns out, they're on the Mount of Olives, which is right outside of Jerusalem. Okay? And notice how it says there it is near Jerusalem. And it's a Sabbath day’s journey away. So, on the Sabbath, that's the Jewish day of rest, you're not allowed to do a lot of work on the Sabbath, you can't go on a very far distance. So, when it says it's a Sabbath day’s journey away, that means it's actually very close to Jerusalem. This is a hill that's right outside, overlooking the city of Jerusalem. In fact, here's a picture from the Mount of Olives. Maybe you've seen this picture before, where there's the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. So, you're on the Mount of Olives, looking at the city of Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem is a city on a hill. Well, this is another hill, another mount right next door. In fact, here's the perspective looking at the Mount of Olives. Now you can see that it's one of the biggest cemeteries I've ever seen in my entire life. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, they've been burying people right outside of Jerusalem. And I'm guessing at some of those people, they really wanted to get buried right there on the Mount of Olives, because they probably think that Jesus is going to fulfill his promise. And he's going to come back right there on that Mount of Olives. And they want a front row seat for the resurrection when Jesus gets back. That's what they're thinking. So not only is Jesus just going to come back someday, we know the specific location that Jesus ascended, and that Jesus will return. And this is the promise here of these angels. If you know that story of Revelation 19, where Jesus is going to come riding on the clouds on a white horse, Jesus is coming to the Mount of Olives, his destination, he will return in the same way that he went up. That's what these angels are making a promise of.
I wonder, are there any other prophecies in Scripture that tell us Jesus is going to come back on the Mount of Olives? Well, I'm glad you asked because it prophesized that in Zechariah 14. So, everybody turn with me to the book of Zechariah, chapter 14. That was just our introduction, everybody. Now we want to get to the real text that we're here to study together, Easter 2023. We're looking at Zechariah 14. And we're going to study a prophecy written somewhere around five hundred years before Jesus died on the cross, and rose again, and you'll see clearly that it prophesizes a King is coming to fight for his people on the mount of Olives. Now if you were here last week, or you were here Friday night, you know that we've been going this thing called gospel week, and we have been going to Zechariah all week long. Is anybody loving these prophecies from Zechariah here at the church? All right. Now, hopefully, you've learned some things from these prophecies. Now, I don't know if you know this, but Zechariah it's the second to last book of the Old Testament, if you're having a hard time finding it, go Matthew, Malachi, Zechariah. Zechariah 9 to 14, just the second half of Zechariah, is quoted in the gospels more than any other section of the Hebrew Scripture. Okay, so this, and there's a lot of prophecies that have been fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus from Zechariah. And there are still some prophecies in this book that are yet to happen. Well, we already saw the prophecy that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem, on a what everybody? On a donkey. We saw that from Zechariah 9:9 if you were here last week. We also saw the prophecy that he would be pierced by his own people, the Jewish people, and they will look upon the one whom they have pierced. We saw that on Friday, if you were here. So we've already seen two prophecies from Zechariah fulfilled in the last week of Jesus' life before he died on the cross and then was resurrected on the third day. Now, if you really read through Zechariah, 9 to 14, you would see that we have actually been slacking here at Compass HB because there were more prophecies we could have studied. Because on Thursday night, the night before Jesus died. There's a prophecy in Zechariah that says strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter and that's exactly what happens in Matthew 26. When Judas betrays him and they come to arrest him, the disciples take off running so I want to apologize, we probably should have had a service On Thursday night to go over that prophecy. And then there's actually another prophecy that says that when he's going to be betrayed. What is the wages of this work of betraying the shepherd of God's people? Well, how about you pay him 30 pieces of silver, which is a prophecy that when Judas betrays him, they're going to give him 30 pieces of silver. So, we probably should have had a service on Wednesday night to study that prophecy together. I want to apologize. All right, because there are so many prophecies in Zechariah, specific, detailed prophecies that have taken place. So what do you think, if they've nailed it on how much they're going to pay his betrayer if they've nailed it on the fact that his disciples are going to run for the hills at the moment that he gets arrested and start denying him if they if they've nailed it on the fact that he would come into town on a donkey, and he would get pierced with a spear should we then pay attention to what else Zechariah prophesized. So, Zechariah 14:3-9 is really the passage that we want to look at together. And out of respect for God's Word, I am going to ask us all to stand up once again for another public reading of Scripture. I don't know if you've ever read this portion of Scripture before. But I'd like for you to give it your full, undivided, attention, because this is a prophecy of the future. This is a prophecy of another of the sequence of glorious events, that is going to happen because Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. This is Zechariah 14:3-9.
“Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.”
That's the reading of God's word, please go ahead and have your seat. So, we're talking about now the day that the king will come, and he will restore the kingdom of Israel, that day has not happened as of this day. So, this is a prophecy that even from our perspective, is yet to be fulfilled. Now, I don't know how much study you've done, of the end-times of the future things in the Scripture, but maybe you know that the nations are going to come against Israel, they're going to come and besiege Jerusalem, and it's going to look very bad for the people there in Jerusalem. Some of them are going to die. And then at this time that God has set aside, the king is going to come. Now Zechariah was written, again, around five hundred years before Jesus, at a time after the exile. I don't know if you know your history of Israel, but they were exiled into Babylon for seventy years. And then some of them came back. But they had to rebuild the temple, they had to rebuild the walls of the city. It was a very weak group that assembled to become the nation of Israel again. And that's when Zechariah was written, to encourage the beaten down people of Israel who are having a hard time rebuilding their temple and getting their nation going.
And so there's this epic prophesy that at a moment in the future when the enemies surround them, and it feels like death is closing in on them, when they need him the most, then he's going to come, this Lord who will fight for them. And he's going to come and stand on the Mount of Olives, which is right outside of Jerusalem to the east. Now this is very significant, this idea that all of a sudden there would be this victory on the Mount of Olives, that this Lord would come and fight for them on the Mount of Olives because the last king that they had in Israel, the very last king when King Nebuchadnezzar showed up, and he desecrated the temple and he took Daniel and some others back to Babylon. The king at that time was this guy, King Zedekiah. And he actually fled to try to get away from King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army. And where did he flee? Well, he ran right over the Mount of Olives. That's what their last King did is he left them in the lurch trying to get away over the Mount of Olives. And King Nebuchadnezzar caught King Zedekiah killed all of his sons right in front of him, and then poked out his eyes. So that would be the last thing that he ever saw. That was how their kingdom had ended.
And there was even another scene in Ezekiel chapter 11, where God, instead of being there in the temple with his people, because the people of Israel were disobeying him, and not listening to his prophets to repent and turn from their sin to him. it says in Ezekiel 11 that the glory of God departed. Like the glorious presence of God left his people, it departed from his people. And where did it go? It went to the east, right over the Mount of Olives. So, the king already tried to get away, the glory of God already left this way. So, this idea that someday the Lord and all of his glory as king would come back to the Mount of Olives. And the place that symbolizes their defeat would now be a moment of overwhelming victory. This was a very encouraging prophecy for them to hear that there is a king, a Lord who is coming, and he will stand on the Mount of Olives.
Now, if you think Jesus was awesome when he came the first time, you need to buckle up and get ready for how glorious he's going to be when he comes the second time. Jesus did many amazing miracles of his resurrection from the dead on the third day, by far his most amazing miracle, but Jesus did other things that, things we can't relate to, things that are beyond our normal, everyday events. I mean, Jesus, he walked on water, Jesus, he could multiply bread and fish to feed thousands of people. Jesus went up to sick people, and he touched them, and they were miraculously healed. I mean, Jesus could just make the lame walk and the blind see. I mean, they were bringing in sick people from all over the country to Jesus, because he was just eliminating all sickness, all disease. There were other people who were dead. And Jesus came, and he called for them to come out of the tomb, or he touched them and said, raise up, and they came back to life. Jesus did amazing things when he was here the first time. When Jesus comes back again, he's not just going to do miracles, like with his own body, or with other people's bodies, it describes here in Zechariah 14, like geographical miracles that Jesus is going to do. Like Jesus is going to do miracles with the planet as we know it. Now, like when Jesus comes and he stands on the Mount of Olives, he's actually going to split the Mount of Olives into two, creating a valley that all of his people can flee into the safety, into this brand-new valley that didn't exist. And he stands and, boom, now, it's like everybody, here's your way of escape. And as they flee that way, here comes Jesus and all the holy ones to destroy all of their enemies. I mean, he's going to rearrange the geography. This mound, all of a sudden has been there for thousands of years, when Jesus comes back, yeah, we're going to turn this into a valley right here. And you guys can get away down the valley, and I will defeat the enemy. I mean, so Jesus, when he comes back, he is going to be glorified, he's going to be unveiled. And he's going to do things, the likes of which we have never seen, the likes of which haven't even happened. Yet, even with all the amazing things that have happened in the Scripture, he's going to part them out of all of his like Moses parted the Red Sea. That's what it says. And light is going to work differently there. You can see that in Zechariah 14:6-7, it's going to be a unique day, this day that Jesus comes back, it's not really going to be how we would think of it like daytime when the sun's up, nighttime, when the moon and the stars are up. No. If you know the story here, like the sun, the moon, the stars, they're going to go through some rough times towards the end of the world as we know it. And when Jesus comes back, it says, even in the evening time, there's going to be light because when Jesus comes… Can I just put that verse back up on the screen? Luke 17:24, “For as lightning flashes and lights up the sky, from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.”
Do you realize that when Jesus comes back, it's not really going to be like the biggest light is coming from the sun, because the biggest light is going to be coming from Jesus Himself. Like, I don't know if you've ever been in an epic storm and epic thunder and lightning storm, where the lightning just flashed across the sky. That's the closest comparison the Scripture gives us to the glory when Jesus comes in the sky riding on the clouds. Jesus love to call himself the Son of Man like he says in this verse, so will the Son of Man be in his day? See, a lot of people, they say, Well, back in my day, Jesus, he talked like, we’ll wait till you see my day. And he referred to himself as the Son of Man. That's a reference to Daniel 7:13, where “one like a Son of Man comes riding on the clouds before God.” And it says that when he comes riding on the clouds, every single eye on planet Earth will be able to see Jesus. And one of my favorite things that Christians say is, yeah, it's a good thing there's YouTube, so now everybody on planet will be able to see Jesus. No, we're not going to need YouTube to see him when he comes like lightning flashing across the sky. Jesus, he's going to be the light.
It says in Isaiah 60:19, “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light, but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.” When it describes the New Jerusalem, this everlasting city in Revelation 21 and 22, it says, there won't be any night in the New Jerusalem; you're not going to need a light or a lamp, you won't need the sun for the Lord God will be their light, and he will reign forever and ever. See, this is the Return of the King. This is the one who has a name, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. That's who's coming back. And he will be the light; he’ll move the mountains as he pleases. A third geographical miracle. I’ve got to admit this one's my favorite right here. This is Zechariah 14:8, there's going to be “living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem.” I don't know if you've ever asked. I'll take Israel geography for 800, Alex, I don't know if that's ever been your category here. But it says half of its going to the Eastern Sea. Does anybody know what the Eastern Sea is from Jerusalem? So really big sea, it's the Mediterranean Sea. And then the Dead Sea would be the Eastern sea, and Mediterranean to the west. The Dead Sea. Okay, now the Dead Sea is a unique body of water; nothing lives in it. It's got so much salt in it. Apparently, it's very good for your skin. Has anybody been to the Dead Sea before? I've been there before. And it's like amazing. You can float. I've floated in the Dead Sea before, but they warn you don't put your face in. It'll destroy your face. And that's always very interesting to me, because apparently, it's really good for your skin, but it will destroy your face. I don't know how this works. Okay. But the Dead Sea is quite possibly one of the greatest setups going in world history. Okay, the Dead Sea, internationally renowned for its mud that you want to cake on your face to improve your skin. I've been to the Dead Sea. You see people there from all over the world. They're all here and about the Dead Sea, there's going to be a river that will flow from Jerusalem. If you go to Jerusalem, and you go out to the Dead Sea. That's just all wilderness that's it's one of the most desolate, dry places I've ever seen in my entire life. And Jesus, when Jesus comes back, there's going to be a river that will flow from Jerusalem and the river, this river, this stream in the desert, this river of living water, it will resurrect the dead sea and bring it to life. Geographical resurrection is what Jesus is going to bring with it. Ezekiel 47 prophesized about this river of living water and it says you're going to be able to fish in it. This is going to be one of the most fertile, bountiful rivers that have ever existed in the history of the world. So, and it says here in Zechariah 14:8, this isn't the kind of river that flows when there's run off from the mountains. This isn't the kind of river that's just going to flow a certain time of year. This river of living water, flowing from Jerusalem when the King comes back to reign. This river right here, it's going to flow endlessly because this is some unique kind of river. This is a work of Jesus. That's what is prophesied here. And it says here in Zechariah 14:9, this is really the climax of this glorious description. When he comes back on the Mount of Olives, it says, “And the Lord will be king over all the earth.” See this? We've talked about his resurrection and his resurrection now inevitably led to his ascension, but his ascension, where he went up, and the promise that he's going to come down at the same place in the same way that he went up. Well, there's another now inevitable event that must take place.
Let's get this down for number three. This is his Coronation. This is his coronation. The coronation, Jesus is King. And how is he King? Just like no one else. That's what this Verse says, he's a king. And when Jesus comes as king, when he establishes the kingdom, when he begins to reign, it will be unlike anything; you cannot compare it to anything else that has ever happened. In fact, it says, he will be king over all the earth. So, he's not even just king of Israel. He's king of all the nations. He's my king, he's your king. He's everybody's king. In fact, they go so far in the Scripture to say that people in heaven, people on earth and even people under the earth, even people in a place of death, as we would think of it as Hades or hell, even people who have died and gone to the place of darkness, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the King, He is the Lord of heaven and earth. All authority has been given to Jesus know what how it says here on that day, in the day of Jesus, the Lord will be one and his name one way you should think about that is he is the only one is what that means. This is what God has been trying to say to us from when he first spoke to his people in the Law of Moses, the most famous passage from the law of Moses from the Torah, is the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4 here, that's the idea. Can you get this? Can you listen to this hero, Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord is, there is only one real God. There is only one who is really worthy of your worship out of all the religions, and all the worldviews and all the nations and all the kings, out of all the governing authorities, after all the people who want you to believe in them and follow them out of all the different philosophies in the history of planet Earth, there is really only one who has the power to reign with all authority, and his name is Jesus. He is the king, and he is coming. That's what it says in Zechariah, chapter 14. And because he rose from the dead, that will prove he can do what he said, well, then he went up into heaven and the promises just as he went up, he's coming back. And this is what will take place on the day when he comes back. This is the thing that will unite the world together, this will be recognized universally, King of Kings and Lord of lords is Jesus.
Right now at our church, we're reading through the book of Revelation, we'd love to have you read with us. In fact, if you flip your handout over there, you'll see the chapters we're reading this week, and there's a little QR code to catch you up with the chapters we've already read. We're setting aside Monday, if anybody's behind you can catch up on Monday, so that you could then start reading with us. One of the chapters we're going to read is Revelation 11, where the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet and look what happens here in Revelation 11:15, “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’” That's what it says. Okay, Handel didn't write it. It was in Revelation. Okay. Somebody should talk to Handel about plagiarism. All right. Now, I don't know if you've ever heard of Handel's Messiah. It's only one of the most famous things in the history of the world. And I don't know if you've heard it once. You've heard it many times, if you know what I mean, right? Because they keep singing the same lines over and over, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And he shall reign for you. That's how it goes. And I got to go see this with some friends of mine at Segerstrom this Christmas. We go to Handel, I don't know if you've been there. But here we are, and they are singing, I was super impressed that that tenor could sing that loud, so everybody could hear him in that whole place, without a microphone. I was impressed by that. There was this moment. I don't know if you’ve ever been to a presentation of Handel's Messiah. But it's traditional, at this certain point. That literally everybody in the whole place stands up. And they all sing Hallelujah to the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who's going to reign forever and ever. That is actually going to happen. Jesus has risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven. And while he has been in heaven, God has exalted Jesus to the name that is above every name. God has decreed that Jesus now has all authority. Jesus is the King right now. He's the King reigning at the right hand of God and in his day, at the time that the Father has decided, Jesus will come down in the same way that he went up and he will be king over all the earth. The man who said he would resurrect from the dead on the third day has now called another shot. That he will come as the Son of Man, riding on the clouds. Listen, you may not believe me today when I tell you that Jesus is the King, you will believe that Jesus is the King. You will see him as the king, you will get down on your knees. And you will say with your mouth, that Jesus Christ is the Lord. And if that's going to happen in the future, I want to encourage you to believe it today. Don't wait until it happens and be perplexed. I'm so surprised this is taking place. No, a man who literally lived among us for thirty-three years and said, they're going to reject me, they're going to kill me. But on the third day, I will be raised. And all of that happened. Yeah, he's now said, other things are going to happen. And you would be wise to take his words to heart; you would be wise to have an ear to hear and eyes to see and to say today that Jesus is King. And if he's your king, and he is coming, how then should you live your life? If Jesus is the King, Jesus made it very clear, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. That's what Jesus said, when he came, said, hey, you don't even know it's coming like a thief in the night. You don't even know when this is going to happen. So, repent now, get ready now, turn from your sin now, trust in Jesus today. And if you're one of Jesus' people, and you're here to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus just make it very clear that he is our king and he is coming. Can I get an Amen from anybody? And are you really living like that? We are not here to remember something that happened two thousand years ago, we are here today to get ready for the amazing thing that is about to happen. When the resurrected ascended Lord keeps his promises and restores the nation as king over all the earth, no one will believe in anything but Jesus someday.
And so, I strongly encourage you to make sure that you believe in Jesus today. And if you want to talk to somebody about it, there are people who woke up this morning on this Easter, and they would love to talk to you about how to live for King Jesus. Because he is most definitely coming. I know my king, and he is coming. And I hope that you have faith, I hope this message increases your faith to believe not only did he rise from the dead, not only did he ascend into heaven, but he will return as King over all the earth. Let me pray.
Father in heaven, we thank You for this clear prophecy. And Father, what a blessing it's been for those of us who've been here this week to study all these prophecies, and to see just as Zechariah wrote, just as you told him, there he is on a donkey, there he is getting pierced on that cross. And now it says there is going to be on the Mount of Olives, as king, winning an amazing battle for his people, defeating all the nations and reigning over all the earth and he will reign forever and ever. Father, we know that someday we're all going to see it. But we asked that today, Easter 2023, that you would open our eyes to see the King and that we would know in our hearts that he is coming. And that would change the way that we would believe in him. And that would change the way that we would live for him today. So, I pray for my brothers and sisters here at this church that we will live today, and every day, like we know our King, and like he's coming. I pray for all of us who have decided to follow Jesus, that there would be no turning back in our lives. That even if no one else goes with us, we're going to follow Jesus. How can we not follow? He's the one who said he was going to die and be raised. And he's the one who said he's coming back as the king. And so, who else can we follow? Who else can we bow the knee to? Who else can we confess with our mouths? Who else deserves the allegiance of our souls other than the one who died for our sins, who rose to give us eternal life? And he promised that he would reign over us as a king, shining his glorious light forever and ever. So let us follow Jesus and let there be no turning back for us. Embolden us, empower us, strengthen our faith in Jesus today. And I pray for those who are here with us today. I thank you so much, Father, for joining us on Easter. And I pray, Father, that you would convince them that this is true, that this is the true Word of God. This is the true Word of prophecy. And you would put it on their hearts for the first time; you would open the eye of their soul to see Jesus high and lifted up, to see him going up on the clouds to see him. The tomb is empty. He's not there just as he said, and that they would believe in Jesus today, that they would see him as their King and their Lord, and they would say, I'm going to live for Jesus, and that they would decide to follow Jesus and never turn back. Father, we swear allegiance to our King Jesus, and we can't wait for the day that he comes to the Mount of Olives that every eye will see him, and every knee will bow. And so, we worship Jesus, and we pray this in his name. Amen.

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