Download 08/12-13/00

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08/12-13/00
“YOU ARE THE APPLE OF HIS EYE
Zechariah 2:8
INTRODUCTION:
-we begin our study of the book of Zechariah this evening/morning; so far we have covered the 5
Major Prophets of I, J, L, E, D.; and the 12 Minor Prophets of H, J, A, O, J - M, N, H, Z, H, Z, M
-tonight/today we’re going to be reminded of how God’s heart yearns over His people; not only the
Jewish people, but the church of Jesus Christ
-My hope is that these truths will bring us into a closer fellowship with the Savior; and if you are not a
member of the family of God tonight/today, you might put your faith in Christ Jesus for salvation
-pray
I.
A NAME TO BE REMEMBERED
A.
The Meaning of Zechariah
-Zech. name in Heb. means “The Lord Remembers”
-a summary of what the Lord wanted to get across to the Jewish people at this time
-they had come back to their land after 70 yrs. of captivity; they had their temple
building attempts thwarted by the surrounding antagonistic nations; and they had
settled into a “just get by” mindset that went against God’s purpose for bringing
them back to their land
-it was time for them to get busy and put their hands to the plow, so to speak
-they needed to know that just as God remembered His covenant and His people in
times past, so now “The Lord Remembered” His people & wanted to be strong for
them
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show
Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
-there are many times throughout Scripture we hear the phrase “God remembered”
Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with
him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
Genesis 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot
had dwelt.
Exodus 2:24-25
24So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. 25And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
B.
The Message of Zechariah
-the first 8 chapters of the book of Zechariah ministered directly to their efforts in
rebuilding the temple, and to the spiritual life of the people
-the last 6 chapters look forward to the time when the Messiah will be brought in to
shepherd His people of Israel; we believe that this Messiah is none other than Jesus
-even though this book is written to record the word of the Lord to the Jews in
Zechariah’s time, the truths and concepts revealed apply to God’s people of all time
-tonight/today we are going to be focusing on God’s word to the Jews: they are the
apple of His eye; this is true, both nationally and spiritually
-we who have believed in the Messiah Jesus, are brought into the household of God by
faith in Him and His atoning work on the cross for us
-therefore this word picture of the “apple of the eye” can be taken personally for you
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and I who have become children of God by faith in the Messiah Jesus
THE APPLE OF HIS EYE
A.
“Thus Says the LORD of Hosts”
Zech 2:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts: "He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you;
for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.
-52x in these 14 chapters of Zech. we read the term “the LORD of hosts” as God
addresses His people
-the use of this title was to bring the people assurance that the God of the covenant
would bring to them covenant mercies; He would be the commander of the Lord’s
armies of heaven and they had no need to fear the armies of man on the earth
-what God had determined would be carried out no matter how many armies of men
were against it
II.
B. “He Sent Me After Glory”
-look closely at this verse; let’s break it down; notice that it is the LORD of hosts that is
speaking and not Zechariah’s own words
-He sent Me after glory,… first of all, who is He and who is Me?
-most Bible commentators believe that the context points to the coming Messiah as the
“Me” in this verse, the one who would do the work of retribution upon those who
treated them inhumanely; That make the “He” refer to the Father
-After the glory (the presence of the Lord) returns to the temple, the Messiah will deal
with those that dealt harshly with His people
-those in the Persian empire that sought to discredit and undermine the work going on
there in Jerusalem would be brought to nothing
-even later in Nehemiah’s day, when the rebuilding of the city walls was the focus, God
Himself was strong in their behalf to protect and provide for the work; and it was
completed in 52 days
-but this prophecy looks forward to the day when the Messiah Jesus will call His church
up to meet with Him in the air, when He will one more time call the nation of Israel
to acknowledge Him as their Messiah,
-and then He will pour out the judgment of God upon a Christ rejecting world, after
which He will come down from heaven, with angels and saints with Him, to set up
His world-wide kingdom upon the earth for 1000 yrs.
-we are told this very thing in 2 Thes. regarding the world’s treatment of Christians:
2 Thess 1:6-10
6…since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7and to give
you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty
angels, 8in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9These shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10when He comes, in that Day, to
be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe,…
C. The Apple of His Eye
-this word picture the Lord used here was to carry across to the people the extreme
protection of God over His people
-we hear this picture used first in Deut, and then in Psalms:
Deut 32:10-12
10"He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He
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instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
11As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
12So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.
Ps 17:7-9
7Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You
From those who rise up against them.
8Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
9From the wicked who oppress me, From my deadly enemies who surround me.
-these verses can apply to the Messiah Jesus, as the one who is the chief representative
of the true Israel; and because we are connected to Him by faith, it also applies to all
those who have placed their faith in Him for salvation and forgiveness of sins
-Spurgeon's Sermons \Exposition of Jeremiah 30:1-22
...the Jewish people were, perhaps, never worse persecuted than they now are in
certain parts; yet the Lord will not allow any nation to crush them, and He
will Himself avenge all wrongs that they suffer. He still says to them, "He
that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye" Zechariah 2:8; and it is
very noteworthy that, whenever God has used any nation as a rod to chasten
the Jews,-and He has used many in that way,-He has always broken that
kingdom up when He has done with it. Think of Babylon, Persia, Greece,
and Rome; look at Spain, and see how mean and despicable that nation has
become because of its cruelty to the people of God. Now, if this be true of
Israel after the flesh, depend upon it that it is also true concerning God's
spiritual people. Though He will correct us when we deserve chastening, it
will always be in measure, and He will not make a full end of us. God has
measureless wrath against the ungodly for their measureless sin; but as for
His own people, He has cast their sin behind His back, and only as a wise
and faithful Father does He chasten them for their profit.
-let’s examine this word picture further:
-for those of you who are married and don’t have any children, your spouse (if it’s a
healthy marriage) is probably the most precious individual in your life
-if you have children, there is another kind of preciousness—a certain yearning and
protection because of vulnerability—that causes you to count them very precious
-if something or someone comes along and threatens damage to either of these precious
persons, there is that natural part in you that rises up to protect what is most
precious to you
-unfortunately for some, the most precious thing to them is some material item or value
that has nothing to do with relationships
-listen to what is being implied here by the Lord; “He who touches you touches the
apple of His eye.”
-let’s talk about the eye for a moment (Dr. Paul Brand, FEARFULLY AND
WONDERFULLY MADE)
-“Inside the human eye are 107,000,000 cells. Seven million are cones, each
loaded to fire off a message to the brain when a few photons of light cross
them. Cones give me the full band of color awareness, and because of them
I can easily distinguish a thousand shades of color. The other hundred
million cells are rods, backup cells for use in low light. When only rods are
operating, I do not see color (as on a moonlit night when everything looms
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in shades of gray), but I can distinguish a spectrum of light so broad that the
brightest light I perceive is a billion times brighter than the dimmest….The
human brain receives millions of simultaneous reports from eye cells. If its
designated wavelength of light is present, each rod or cone triggers an
electrical response to the brain. The brain then absorbs a composite set of
yes or no messages from all the rods and cones. It sorts and organizes them
all and gives me an image.
All nerves of the body seem sluggish compared to those in the cornea of the eye-transparent, deprived of blood and thus incredibly vulnerable. The cornea
fires off a response if just two-tenths of a milligram of pressure is applied. A
stray eyelash can make a baseball pitcher stop the game—he can
concentrate on nothing else. In contrast an eyelash on his forearm would go
unnoticed.”
-Do you believe that you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, are the apple of His eye?
-Does your view of your sinful life seem to negate this statement of God over His own?
-It is time that you and I take that step of faith and believe what God is saying, over
what we may be feeling or believing about ourselves right now.