Rescue

Let me pray as we stand. Father God, please give us your perspective on the future of the church. In Jesus' name, Amen. Please take a seat.

Those of us who are familiar with the BBC TV series 'Dad's Army' will remember the unforgettable figure of Lance-Corporal Jones. Jones was an elderly man, but very energetic and excitable. And when danger approached, he would rush around frantically shouting: "Don't panic! Don't panic!" in a way which made others panic! Lance Corporal-Jones is like many Christians today! As Christians, our creed officially says: 'Don't panic! The God we know controls history, so don't panic.' And yet what happens when we look into the future and consider the future of the church? Well, I think we're often like Lance-Corporal Jones. We say to ourselves: "Don't panic! Don't panic!" But panic we do! And we pass our panic on! Jiri Unger, President of the European Evangelical Alliance says this:

Too many Christians here [in Europe] are victims of a 'theology of panic' – panicking about becoming a Muslim continent, panicking about losing our rights, being persecuted or discriminated against by secularists. We believers panic about losing the younger generation and the decline of church membership, and the massive influx of immigrants and being pushed out of our rightful space. We panic about homosexuality and euthanasia and losing our prominence.

What about you? As you look at the future of the church in the UK and around the world, are you panicking? Or maybe not quite panicking, but starting to get a bit nervous? Or maybe you're OK most of the time, but when you see a negative BBC news bulletin about Christians and their views, your stomach turns? Today's message from Zechariah 12:1-9 is a word in season for Christians who panic. Christians like you and I. However, as we come to read this chapter of Zechariah, looking for the remedy to our panic, our initial impression might be to feel a little frustrated, because Zechariah's style of writing feels very foreign to us. Many of us are used to reading cool, calm, careful, measured accounts of events with times, dates, names and details. So when we come to Zechariah, we suddenly experience a kind of literary culture-shock. We feel thoroughly unfamiliar with what we're reading. It all seems a little weird, emotional and dramatic. If so, we need to remember Romans 15:4:

whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Zechariah 12 is written for us as Christians. For our encouragement. So that we might have hope. And as we'll soon see, the picture language Zechariah uses is not ambiguous at all. In fact the message comes through loud and clear to us. The key message which comes through Zechariah 12 – and the message which calms the storms of panic in our hearts – is this: 'The Lord will destroy all the enemies of his people.' And that's my one and only point for this morning. 'The Lord will destroy all the enemies of his people.'

Cup (v.1-2)
I want to look at the images Zechariah uses, one at a time. Firstly let's look at the cup. Look at verse 2.

Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.

In the Old Testament, the image of a cup of wine or strong drink is a common metaphor of God's wrath – his anger in judgement. It has the idea of being forced to drink and then get drunk on the full measure of God's anger, which leaves you staggering, but not enjoying the experience in any way, rather feeling the full weight of God's condemnation.

Stone (v.3)
The second picture Zechariah has for us is the picture of a heavy stone.

On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.

Imagine someone lifting a big slab of granite up and straining their back. They let out a cry of pain and let the slab of granite fall on their feet and crush their toes. On the day when God judges, that is what it will be like for God's enemies as they gather against God's people. To Zechariah's original hearers, this would have actually been thrilling news. Studying 'History' at secondary school for Zechariah's children would have been a depressing experience for them. After the golden age of Kings David and Solomon, history was bad news. Nations had gathered and attacked Jerusalem – and won. God's people had recently spent seventy years in exile. But Zechariah's message to God's people is that the tables are going to turn! Fortunes will be reversed! The interesting thing is that in v.3, God does not say: "I will throw a heavy stone on all the peoples." (which is what you might expect) – you would expect God to judge the nations directly. Instead he says: "On that day I will make Jerusalem (God's people) a heavy stone for all the peoples." So God will use his people as an instrument of his judgement against the surrounding nations. In the future, the nations will gather against God's people, attack and lose. It will be a reversal of fortune!

Horses (v.4-5)
Zechariah's next image is that of horses in v.4-5. Horses are symbol of military might.

On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah, I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

Verse 4 has clear echoes of Exodus 14, when the Lord judged the Egyptians, the enemies of God's people back then by drowning them in the Red Sea. So verse 4 is a vivid picture of God's future judgement when God's enemies will panic and be destroyed. On that day, they will recognise that the Lord protects his people like the apple of his eye. And God's people will know it too.

Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.

Pot (v.6)
The fourth image Zechariah uses is that of a 'blazing pot'. A blazing pot was basically a firepan made of gold or bronze which was used to carry hot coals. The hot coals were transferred to and from the altars of both the tabernacle and the temple and used for the sacrifices. Look at verses 6-7.

On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

We have two similar pictures: a blazing pot in the midst of wood (so white hot coals on wood), and a flaming torch amongst sheaves (fire on large bundle of dried cereal plants). The basic equation is: fire + fuel = destruction. When I was young boy growing up in the Devonshire countryside, one of my fondest memories was making bonfires. I would light the fire, then stand back and watch as the flames started to lick up all the branches and weeds. And I used to look really forward to that moment when the fire reached the branches of the pine trees and it was then that the fire really took off – burning like a furnace and making a vigorous crackling sound. We also had a thatched roof house, so my parents were always very keen to make sure the wind was blowing in the right direction before I lit the fire! (Lest a similar thing happened with the straw roof!) This picture of a fire pot is another very vivid picture of judgement. God's enemies may gather against God's people, but in the future, through God's intervention, God's people will destroy the nations instantly and powerfully, like fire tearing through pine branches.

David (v.7-9)
Zechariah's final image in this section is the person of David. We've looked so far at what God will do for his enemies on judgement day – here's what God will do for his people:

And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them.

This is a wonderful picture. Imagine the weakest believer at Zechariah's time, discouraged, almost giving up, just about holding to the Lord's promises – well, on that day, the Lord will make him as strong in faith as King David was. This is exactly what will happen to us as Christians when the Lord Jesus returns. 1 John 3:2 says this:

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

What a great hope that is! But in v.9, Zechariah switches our eyes once more back onto the main theme of this passage. God says: "And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." It may seem to us that Zechariah is chopping and changing between judgement and salvation rather too quickly. We need to remember that salvation and judgement go together. Verses 7 and 8 are deliberately sandwiched between verses 6 and 9. It is the very fact that the Lord will destroy the enemies of his people which means that God's people can enjoy rest and peace. You can't have one without the other. So, that's my one point from these verses. The Lord will destroy the enemies of his people. But I've left important questions unanswered.

1. Who are God's enemies – then and now?
In the Old Testament, God's plan for his people was focussed on the nation of Israel. So God's enemies were the nations surrounding Israel which fought against them. In the New Testament onwards, God's enemies are all people who have not yet joined sides with Jesus, God's King - people who are not Christian. If you wouldn't say you're a Christian here this morning, welcome. It's great to have you with us. Let me be clear, I'm not saying that we Christians are better than you. The Bible says that all of us by nature are enemies with God – we all naturally think that God has no right to tell us what to believe and how to live – which sets us on a collision course with Jesus as our judge. But the good news is that we don't have to remain enemies with God. Jesus is in the business of adopting God's enemies into God's family as God's children. Christians are just people who laid down their weapons and joined Jesus' side in advance of D-Day. And the door is open for you to do the same.

2. When will God destroy his enemies?
In Zechariah 12:1-9, God says on five different occasions: 'On that day, I will'. When is that day? When we get to the New Testament, we can see that what Zechariah saw as that day opens out into the last days – the days between Jesus' first coming 2000 years ago – and his second coming at an unknown future date. So we do see Zechariah 12 being fulfilled to some degree between Jesus' first and second coming in the work of the church today. We don't see God's enemies being destroyed now, but we do see them overcome, as Christians continue share the message of Jesus in a hostile world and the church grows. Christians face persecution, but continue to spread the good news about Jesus. But Zechariah 12 will be finally fulfilled when Jesus returns when he comes in great power and suddenly and decisively destroys his enemies and bring comfort to his people.

3. How does Zechariah's message apply to us today?
Let me just shut down a few dead-ends. We shouldn't look for the fulfilment of Zechariah's prophecies in the modern day politics of the Middle East (as some Christians sadly do). We shouldn't think these words will be fulfilled in the fortunes of particular church denominations (such as the Church of England), because Zechariah 12 is talking about God's people all over the world, not church-goers in the Anglican Communion. We certainly shouldn't see these prophecies as a kind of Christian Jihad – a call to wage war on the unbelievers and destroy them. No! We are called to serve our enemies and pray for them. No! No! And No! So what is Zechariah saying? I have two points of application which I want to press home.

Firstly, be realistic – the church will face strong opposition. Down the ages and all over the world, Christians have always faced persecution. Whether it's open warfare, like ISIS attacking Christians in the Middle East, or more subtle manoeuvres, like we find in Western countries, where people try to marginalise or silence Christians by labelling them as 'extremist' or 'intolerant'. Friends, we need to be realistic – the church will face strong opposition. And looking ahead to the future in the UK, it's likely to get stronger. If you're not Christian here today, it's important that you're aware of this too. Like a commanding officer who spells out clearly the cost of signing up to the army, Jesus does not hide the cost of commitment to any new recruit. He says in John 15.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

We need to be realistic – the church will face strong opposition.

But secondly, and this is Zechariah's main point, don't panic – God will destroy the enemies of his church. Earlier on, I talked about 'panic theology'. Now, to be fair, panic theology has got one thing right – God's people will be strongly opposed. But panic theology forgets that Jesus is building his church now and will destroy his enemies when he returns. So don't panic! Because there is no power on heaven and earth which can stop God accomplishing his purposes! Because there is no enemy on heaven and earth who is going to defeat God and destroy his people! God will destroy the enemies of his people!

People around us may laugh at the church and think: 'How pathetic! The church is in decline! It's being sucked under the water in a whirlpool of militant secularism and fundamentalist Islam.' Friends, we should pity people who think this way. They face a future that really is something to panic about. Paul writes these words in his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians.

God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at among all who have believed.

The Lord Jesus will return to comfort his people and destroy their enemies. Don't panic – if you're one of God's people. Do panic – if you're not one of God's people – and come to Jesus for peace before it's too late. Let's pray.

Father, forgive us when we lose sight of your plans for your people. Forgive us when we don't believe that you will continue to build your church. Forgive us when we don't believe that Jesus will return to judge our enemies. Help us not to panic, but to trust that what you say will happen, will happen. In Jesus' name, Amen.