Zechariah 6:1-8

I was once given instruction on how to deliver a PowerPoint presentation, and the man said, tell him what you're going to tell him, then tell him what you've told him.

So what I'm going to tell you this morning is that today's passage of scripture is a prophetic scripture that speaks about the millennial kingdom yet to come.

And hopefully the end will confirm that. But then there's this middle bit, which is a little bit interesting. So if I could have the first slide up. If you remember, Zechariah had eight visions in a single night.

There are some Bible teachers who say he had 10. I'm not sure where they get that from. I think it depends where you put the dividing lines, but it's a semantic point. We had the red horse among the myrtles. And on the right hand side, you'll see what that was.

And you can get these notes. So they'll be attached to the online presentation, which I think I'm about three weeks behind on. So I apologize for that. Then we had the vision of the four horses and craftsmen, which sorry, the four horns and craftsmen, which is which spoke of how God is going to raise up empires to bring discipline to Israel.

But then when they're too harsh with Israel, he's going to raise up other empires to crush the harsh empires that came to birth in the first place. And so God uses empires to keep his people in line and then judges them if they mishandle it.

Then there was the man with the measuring line, which was a picture of a man who was very precisely measuring what he wanted Jerusalem to be. You then got this cleansing and crowning of Joshua or Yeshua, if you want to play with the language a little bit, the high priest as a picture of Israel's cleansing from sin and a future restoration as a priestly nation.

But packed in with that, there was this picture of Jesus himself, because the word Joshua is the same as the word Yeshua. And you don't crown priests. And that will be part of today's presentation as well.

In the Bible, it was forbidden for priests to be king, apart from two exceptions, the first being Melchizedek and the second being Jesus. Touch on that in a moment. Then we had the vision of the golden lampstands with the two olive trees, which showed us Israel as a light to the nations under Messiah, this king priest.

Then we dealt with the flying scroll, which was the first change of tone in the in the book. If you remember, the flying scroll spoke of the severity of God's judgment against sin, beginning with the Jews, that he was going to put his own house in order.

And so we pick up there something that we will pick up again this morning, which is God's incredibly severe attitude to sin, which sounds like a contradiction because he died to save us from sin.

So he has a severe attitude against sin, but he also provided the solution to sin for those who would adopt it. Then there was this woman in the basket, woman in the ephah, which spoke of God's dealing with Israel and the sins of the whole world or the world that rebels against him.

And once again, his attitude to sin was demonstrated, the completeness of his loathing for sin. And then we come to today where we have to look at four chariots.

So turn to chapter six. We're going to do the first eight verses, Zechariah six. When you get the notes for this, those of you that take the notes, you'll find they're slightly confused because there's a bit at the end that should have been somewhere in the middle.

And that's because I was struggling with a particular part of the passage, which we'll get to in a moment. And I couldn't make head nor tail of it. And then, as many of you know, Asaph Pellet came and he read the passage to me in Hebrew.

And I said, my Hebrew is not quite that good. And he said, no, it means this. More of that in a moment. Preview of coming attractions. But he explained it to me after I'd already done all my notes.

So I've stuck it in at the end because I haven't had time to go back and put it where it belongs. But it's good. It's good. So chapter six, first eight verses.

Now I lifted up my eyes again and looked and behold, four chariots were coming forth from between the two mountains. And the mountains were bronze mountains. With the first chariot were red horses.

With the second chariot, black horses. With the third chariot, white horses. And with the fourth, strong, dappled horses. Then I spoke and said to the angel who was speaking with me, what are these, my Lord?

The angel replied to me, these are the four spirits of heaven going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth. With one of which the black horses are going forth to the north country.

And the white ones go forth after them. While the dappled ones go forth to the south country. When the strong ones went out, they were eager to go to patrol the earth.

And he said, go patrol the earth. So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried out to me and spoke to me saying, see those who are going to the land of the north have appeased my wrath in the land of the north.

So a lot of imagery here. And I'll tell you in advance and then we'll sort of work through it.

In this last vision, we see a scenario that relates to the last actions of God before he establishes the millennial kingdom. Which is somewhere in the future, the other side of the great tribulation.

And what takes place before that is full of turmoil. And so what we're reading about really is the planned turmoil.

And in the last verse, what we just read is that God's wrath was appeased. It's a bit of a dodgy translation I discovered, but we'll get to that. But it'll do for now.

So. We've got this vision of four chariots coming forth between two mountains. And some of your versions will just say two mountains.

And some of your versions will say the two mountains. And you might think I'm picking nits here, but actually the presence of the definite article the is very important.

In Hebrew and Greek, you don't very often use definite articles. But when you do, it's being specific. So these weren't just any old two mountains. These were two specific mountains.

So that, as I say, the definite article should be there. So we're dealing with two specific mountains. And scholars writing on the subject suggest that the two mountains involved are Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives.

Now, whether they're right or wrong, I can't be absolutely certain. But I tend to agree with that for reasons that will become obvious. But there are some who say that this is, you remember somewhere back in Scripture, there's this occasion where the Lord's feet come down on the Mount of Olives and the Mount splits.

And so effectively, what you've then got is two mountains. And there are some who believe that that is these two mountains. I don't know whether they're right or wrong. And I would venture to suggest they don't either.

But what we do have is a focus of the narrative thus far on Jerusalem and the temple.

Zechariah is prophesying at a time when they're rebuilding the temple. So the context is Jerusalem at the time of rebuilding the temple. And in an earlier chapter, we had a man with a measuring line measuring Jerusalem.

And we had the cleansing and anointing of Joshua, Yeshua, the high priest in chapter three. And then the vision of the golden lampstand in chapter four, which is also a picture of the temple.

So the general context is the temple. And now we've got four chariots that are going forth. So we have to ask going forth from where?

And if we stay in the context of the book, they'll be going forth from Jerusalem. So if you're going to go north and south from Jerusalem, you're going to pass between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount, Mount Zion.

So it would appear that the context supports this view that these two mountains are the ones in question. Now, Jerusalem is seen biblically as the center of the world.

And the word used is the same as the word for navel or belly button. Everything starts and finishes from a biblical perspective in Jerusalem. We have the symbolic sacrifice of Isaac and the crucifixion of Jesus in this area of the two mounts.

So we've read that he will stand on the Mount of Olives. Israel is his chosen nation. Jerusalem is his chosen and holy city. And I won't spend time going through all the scriptures in detail, but they'll be in the notes.

You can look at Nehemiah 1 verse 1 and verse 18. Psalm 122 verse 6. Psalm 122. The whole of Psalm 122.

And at the end, Revelation 21 verse 2 and 10. So the focus of God is Jerusalem. And what you can deduce as you read through scriptures, if you think of the whole thing as a bit of a clock, when you're dealing with Israel, you're dealing with the minute hand.

As the minute hand comes up to the top of the hour, you're getting closer and closer and closer to what we're going to read about this morning. God bringing all things together and entering the millennial kingdom.

When you get to just focus on Jerusalem, you're really looking at the second hand. Because it means it's right at the door.

Right at this minute, I think we're kind of between the two. I don't know. But it should make us realize that the focus on Israel as a whole and Jerusalem in particular tells us that all the stuff we're reading about is almost where we can touch it.

We kind of go blasé about things, thinking, yeah, one day it'll happen, one day it'll happen. I don't know what it takes to generate in us all. And in me as well, because I read these things and part of me is just, really?

That close? But as we read, I think what we conclude is that it really is close. In Ezekiel 5, verse 5, you best turn there.

We need at least one scripture on this so that you know I haven't made it up. Ezekiel 5, the prophet Ezekiel refers.

God speaks through Ezekiel. And those other scripture references will take you to the same kind of comment. But this says, Thus says the Lord God, This is Jerusalem.

I have set her at the center of the nations with lands around her. If you go on to chapter 8, and just verse 12, let me just make sure I've got the right reference here.

Then he said to me, so this is God speaking, Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark? Each man in his room of his carved images.

For they say the Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the land. And he said to me, yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.

So you've got this picture of Israel, Jerusalem as the center of what God is doing, whilst at the same time appreciating that the men are sinful and are doing things that God does not support.

Could I have the map photo, please? Now if you, if you go, you need to park this one in your mind.

I've probably got the photos in slightly the wrong order. But this, this is a map of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And on one side you have the Temple Mount, and on the other side you have the Mount of Olives.

And so if you go north or south from Jerusalem, you go up that valley or down that valley, depending on whether you're going north or south. Could I have the next one, please?

So that's a, that's a picture of the valley as it stands today. And the significance of this will become apparent in a moment.

And the next one. Now going back in time, there is a thing that you find in the museum, and I can't remember where, but it's called the Mapa Mundi.

And the Mapa Mundi is one of the oldest maps of the world. As it was known at that time. And from this, you can't tell very much, except the next slide shows, it zooms in on this.

So you have the next slide. And you notice that at the very center of the world at the time is Jerusalem. And so it wasn't just a Christian thing, or a Jewish thing, or an Arab thing.

Back then, the world believed that Jerusalem was at the center of the world. And I can only assume that this was based on some background knowledge of God, that they knew Jerusalem was special.

Now we have all sorts of people telling us these days that Jerusalem isn't special at all. And yet, God is still at work to preserve it. I hadn't planned to say this, but we need to pray for our brothers and sisters who claim to be Christians, who are anti-Israel and anti-Jerusalem.

Because they're flying in the face of something that God set out. And that will not go unpunished. And I'm not saying that people who have wonky beliefs about this will lose their salvation. But God will judge this view just like he judges every other sinful view.

We just haven't, as a nation, we haven't paid attention to God's word on this matter. So we're playing fast and loose with with his treasure.

He describes Israel as his only son. Israel is my only son. And you know, as mums and dads, what you'd be like if somebody came along disparaging your only child.

It would upset you greatly. And God is very much like that over Israel. So, we've got these two mountains. One has to ask the question then, why?

Why only north and south? Why not east and west? There's another big map there somewhere. A bit further on. Right.

We've seen this map before. Israel is not vulnerable from the east or the west. When the Babylonians came to attack Israel, they had to go, even though they are east, they had to go up around the Arabian desert and come down from the north.

Hence, they were called the enemy from the north. To the south, you have Egypt, another nation that enslaved and imprisoned Jews.

So, two perennial enemies of the Jews. To the west, you have water. So, not easy to bring a conflict against Israel from the west.

To the east, you have the Arabian desert. Not habitable territory and certainly not good territory from which to launch any military campaigns.

So, God is sending these chariots to the north and the south. And in doing so, is dealing with enemies of Israel. But, these mountains are called bronze mountains.

Now, why would that be? Bronze in the scripture always speaks of strength and or purification. So, in Exodus 27, verses 1 and 2, the altar where sacrifices were made for sin was overlaid with bronze.

Hence, the symbolic purification. It's the place where sins were dealt with. In Daniel 2, verses 32 to 39, there is this description of this huge beast that had feet of bronze.

bronze. And, it was, bronze is associated with the great strength and power of an empire. Now, if you turn to Revelation 1, and verse, well, the key verse is verse 15.

But, if we start at verse 12, it says, and this is John receiving this revelation, it says, then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me.

And, having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And, in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe, reaching to his feet, and girded across his chest with a gold sash.

His head and hair were like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace.

And, his voice was like the sound of many waters. So, bronze is given here as a sign of great strength for Messiah himself.

The imagery of bronze is that this, having feet like burnished bronze that have just come out of the fire, is, is the hallmark of strength. So, we've got this great strength being portrayed.

and, if we then go to Numbers 21, and, the key verse here is verse 6, you will remember the story that, I think is, the story is not quite repeated in John 12, but we'll look at both together.

So, Numbers 21 and verse 6, this is when the people have spoken against God and the snakes are coming and biting their ankles and they're dying from snake bites.

And, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. So, the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you intercede with the Lord that he may remove the serpents from us.

And Moses interceded for the people and then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent, now the word fiery is bronze, make a bronze serpent and set it on a standard or a pole and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it he will live.

And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard and it came about that if a serpent bit any man when he looked to the bronze serpent he lived. So, bronze was also in terms of attitude towards God bronze was seen as a way of salvation.

So, it's strength not necessarily military strength but in this case strength to save. Just turn with me to John's Gospel chapter 12.

I'm having trouble with my eyesight. Verse 32. Verse 32. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.

But he was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was to die. So, the son of man was lifted up on a cross but the earlier bronze serpent that was lifted up on a pole was a type of Christ who would later be lifted up on a cross.

and you, from a worldly perspective, one looks at a man being looked up on a cross, being lifted up on a cross, having been flogged and having a crown of thorns rammed upon his head and so on.

You see that figure, you don't think of victory, you don't think of strength. It's a picture of weakness and yet it was the scene through which every one of us was saved.

So, it was the immense strength to bring salvation despite looking as if it was the ultimate weakness. So, these are bronze mountains and the only thing I can conclude is that as the chariots went north and south from this point through between these mountains, why would they be called bronze mountains?

Well, I think one of the reasons might well be this and I admit I'm in the realms of conjecture here, I honestly don't know for sure. But, Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives were two places sitting either side of this pathway that goes north and south where great things happened, where God ministered in great power.

So, obviously the crucifixion took place. Scholars argue over where that was. I favour the view that it was actually on the Mount of Olives because it was outside the camp.

But, that's an argument we don't need to have this morning. But you had the temple set up, the Temple Mount. Jesus ministered at the Temple Mount.

He was certainly tried and found guilty on the Temple Mount. On the Mount of Olives, in that area, we have the sweating of the great drops of blood, another great indicator of our salvation.

salvation. And again, strength, the strength of bronze, but shown through weakness. So, these two mountains, they speak of great things that God has done to deliver his people.

And then we've got chariots. And, think of chariots as being the tank equivalent of the day. These were instruments of war.

They often had blades on the wheels so that as they drove through people, it would chop them up. And you had, in this case, it says horses.

It doesn't say how many horses. But we've gone from the vision on the first day where there were four horses seen. Well, you had the man on the red horse, but then you had three other horses seen in the earlier chapters of this book.

But here, you have chariots drawn by horses, plural. So, at least two could have been more, even more fearsome. And the use of chariots was an indication of war.

So, what are we making war against? I'm so glad you asked. Well, I think the colours of these horses are significant.

First, there are red ones, then black, then white, and then last of all, dappled or speckled. And if we remember back to the first vision, the man was sat on a red horse, so he was ready for war, but at that point wasn't making war.

And then also in chapter one, the red and the sorrel and the white horses were sent out to patrol the earth, so carrying out an assessment and reporting back, but not actively engaged in anything violent, should we say.

But in Revelation, I think it's chapter six, I didn't write the chapter down.

Yeah. Thanks, Malcolm. In Revelation chapter six, and this is why this passage must be prophetic, because what we're reading about certainly hasn't happened yet in human history.

But in chapter six, you have, and one of these days we'll study Revelation and we'll do this more thoroughly, but so in this section of Revelation, we have the book being opened and the first seal being opened.

And each of these seals were a seal that was holding back God's judgment. And as each seal is unsealed, God's judgment proceeds.

And so it says, then I saw the Lamb, sorry, then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, come.

I looked and behold a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering to conquer. So the white horse symbolizes conquest, successful conquest.

Verse 3, then he broke the second seal and I heard the second living creature saying, come. And another, a red horse went out, and to him who was sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another, and a great sword was given to him.

So we have here bloodshed and warfare and the wielding of swords. I find it interesting that this is a time when the prince of peace is exercising his judgment by taking peace from the earth.

It speaks to me of a time when we all have the opportunity to be at peace with God, but there comes a time when God says enough, just as happened back in the days of Noah when God said enough and sent the flood.

And then as we read on verse 5, when he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, come, I looked, and behold a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the oil and the wine.

So we have here a time of famine. I don't know about you, but fairly recently, when I think it was during COVID, when you remember the time when everybody ran out of toilet rolls and things like that.

There's a little glimpse of just how easy it would be for us to tumble into famine, and God would use famine as judgment against those who rebel against him.

And then verse 7, when the lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth living creature saying, come, and look, I looked, and behold, an ashen horse, and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him, authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild beasts on the earth.

So this, when God's exacting this judgment, it is total, and it is, it's described in other places in scripture as the worst time that human history has ever seen, that there will never, there never has been, nor ever will be, a time like this.

So it's a, it's a great, I want to use the word gush, but it's more like a tidal wave of God's judgment that hits everyone from every angle.

My own belief is that we won't be here to see it, but I know there are others that don't believe the same, so that's, that's fine. We know it's coming. And it says, when he says, what are these, my Lord?

the answer comes back, these are the four spirits of heaven going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth. This is back in Zechariah. So we probably should note that, two things I'd like to note, one is, there's no comment in Zechariah on the activities of the red horse.

I don't know whether the red horse is simply lying in wait, or, I don't know why the red horse is not involved. You've got the white horse and the black horse and the dappled horse active.

I've not worked out why the red horse seems to be in reserve, should we say. But one of the things they were sent to do was to patrol the earth. So it could be that whoever was on the red horse, which in chapter one was Messiah himself, is simply doing that, patrolling the earth and reporting back to the father how things are progressing.

And they go north and south. We've said there's no reference to east or west. But in the previous chapter, so we know that we're dealing with Israel now in the time of Zechariah at a time when they've been released from captivity in Babylon.

Babylon is an enemy from the north, even though they're to the west, I've explained that. So going north would deal with the enemy of Babylon because they'd have to go north to get to them.

And going south, as I've already said, you have Egypt, and Egypt had already captured and enslaved and mistreated the Jews horrifically. But the number four is a key thing here in my view.

What we have is repeated use of the number four in scripture and it invariably signifies something to do with the whole earth.

It's not as soon as you start to read of four spirits of God, four horns of the altar, four directions, north, south, east, and west, four horsemen of the apocalypse, as we just read in Revelation.

It was the fourth day of creation that God completed, his creation of the physical universe. The altar in the temple had four horns. Now, horns, we said back when we had the vision of the horns and the craftsmen, that horns represent kingdoms or empires.

So the four spirits of God represent the spirits of God over the whole earth. So what you've got is with Jerusalem as a starting point, you've got the four spirits of God going out to the whole earth, and it seems to me on the way they take in Babylon and Egypt, both of which are symbolic of world sin.

So he's dealing with the whole sin of the whole world, obviously in Babylon and Egypt, but then going beyond Babylon and Egypt. Now, as we get to end time scripture, and I haven't got time to deal with much of that this morning, but what we see, what's painted in the scripture is all nations coming against Jerusalem.

So whether God goes out or calls them in, I don't know, but in any event, it's a miraculous thing that he's doing to bring his judgment to all nations who stand against Israel, which is why I'm very keen that Great Britain is not one of those nations, although I suspect I will be shouted down.

So, you'll find reference to the four spirits of heaven and various applications of the number four in Daniel 7, verse 2, 8, verse 8, Zechariah 2, verse 6, which we've already covered, Ezekiel 37, 9, Matthew 24, verse 31.

I'm only reading out the list, and they're on the notes, you can get them for yourself, but the reason I'm reading out the list is that you'll know that this is scattered throughout scripture, it's not just a one-off reference.

So, this shouldn't be viewed, what we're reading shouldn't be viewed as a localised judgment, but it's a progressive judgment that starts in Jerusalem and progresses both north and south.

And it seems that the most significant one is the north, because the north gets more words, and in the last verse, the Lord says that these horses that went to deal with the north have appeased his wrath.

So, the north gets a bit more focus. Now, if we turn to Revelation 13, which was written about 600 years later than Zechariah, and we're going to read the first eight verses, and then maybe another couple of verses.

Now, the dragon here, I haven't got time to do a study on it, but the dragon here is Satan, and the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names, and the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.

So, we've got here a kingdom being described that is the fullness of all the previous kingdoms, and all the previous sin. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.

They worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him? There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him.

And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints, to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. So if we are right about the progressive progress of this vision, speaking of an end time scenario, it speaks of a time when there will be a world oppression of Jews and Christians and there will be a one world government.

Now you don't need to be a genius to work out that there is already a big globalist agenda politically around us. governments are trying to come together and produce a global community and the reason we have got open borders is because of a globalist view and the big battle that America is fighting at the moment against borders that were left open for far too long.

It is the same. There is a push for globalism which of course leads to unrest because you are trying to unite cultures that don't easily fit together.

But we have this very visible globalist agenda unfolding. And we have also had some evidence. Just quickly look at verse 16 and 17 of the same chapter of Revelation.

In fact start with verse 15 and it was given to him this is the beast to give breath to the sorry no this was the dragon. It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed and he causes all the small and the great the rich and the poor and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast and I'm not going to even get into that this morning. That's a topic that's bigger than me. But we've already had a massive example of the ability of governments who are aiming for a globalist agenda to limit the ability of people to buy to sell and to trade which is the Canadian truckers.

They decided to demonstrate against something that was unfair and the government shut down their bank accounts cancelled all their insurances and effectively left them open to starvation and they needed a lot of kindness from the people around them to preserve them through that period.

But we realised that the governmental control of us potentially is already in place. So we do need to realise where we are.

It was the sons of Issachar that got praised by God for knowing their times and these are the times in which we live and we're progressing towards the culmination of this vision that we're reading about.

Also right now very active persecution of Christians globally. We have been spared much of it. It's beginning to show its ugly face in the UK as well but we don't have the excesses.

People aren't dragging us out into the marketplace and chopping our heads off. But if you want to experience that I don't recommend it. Try Saudi Arabia and go and preach the gospel there.

You are literally taking your life in your hands. Now the glory of all of what we're studying is that we read of these chariots that are going forth to make war in this godless anti-god environment and it's the kingdom of God that is the one that prevails.

So you want to be in the right kingdom. Every one of us has an opportunity to choose Christ or anti-Christ. And anti-Christ doesn't mean against Christ.

It means instead of Christ. So we all have this opportunity to choose Christ or to choose instead of Christ. And if we go back to Zechariah and go to the last verse and this is where I have a bit of a translational I was puzzled by something until until Asaph Pelled created my thinking.

Gosh doesn't time fly when you're having fun. What we read in the NASB is then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

No I'm reading the wrong bit. I am. I should be reading verse 8 not verse 15. See those who are going to the land of the north have appeased my wrath in the land of the north.

And the words used in Hebrew are nuach and ruach. Right. Now. Sorry. Yes.

And if you've got an old King James it will say set my spirit at rest. And so I said to Asaph Pelled I don't get this because you've got two very different translations. You've got this one that says appease my wrath and you've got another one that says set my spirit at rest and they don't seem to be very similar.

And so he got his Hebrew Bible out and he read it to me. And I didn't understand a word and then he explained and he said I had presumed that this meant that the action that takes place when God's chariots go north sets God's spirit at rest.

And he said no you have to apply both because the word ruach means both spirit and wind. He said and the Jews have this saying that if there is a violent wind a real storm like a whirlwind or something like that they will use these words nuach and ruach to say the wind has lied down.

And so it's appropriate to use both the wind and the spirit because yes God's spirit does come to rest but also the wind dies down. and the intention is to paint a picture of the violence of God's response and reaction against sin.

That this won't be just oh he's a bit cross. This will be everything that we've read about in Revelation and it's going to be scary scary stuff.

God's range against sin has the force of a violent storm and he will destroy its power utterly one way or the other. And effectively the raging storm against sin can either be dealt with by the compliance of the sinner who says Lord please forgive me the easy way or it can be done in spite of our continued rebellion against him which is the painful way.

And once the power of sin is defeated what this paints for us is this picture that his spirit will rest with his children for eternity. seems to apply to both individuals and nations actually.

That yes God's spirit will rest when the job is done and it will be complete rest. And I was going to finish with I know I'm already over time but I will read this as a finishing few verses in Revelation 16 beginning at verse 6 which speaks of the outpouring of God's wrath and it says for they poured out the blood of the saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink they deserve it and I heard the altar saying yes oh Lord God the almighty true and righteous are your judgments the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.

men were scorched with fierce heat and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent so as to give him glory.

Just jump down to verse 16 and they gathered them together so this is the end time this is the culmination of the battle we've just been reading about and they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon we've all talked about the battle of Armageddon if you get into the valley the valley is known as the Kidron valley but it's also known as the valley of Jehoshaphat and the word Jehoshaphat means God will judge or God has judged and if you go north for about 65 miles you come to this place called Armageddon so this describes a battle that's gone north and has its culmination in this place called Armageddon or I think it's Armageddon in it where was I 16 so at that time I mean in this place called

Armageddon verse 17 then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying it is done now at that point where the voice from heaven says it is done his spirit rests the whirlwind is over and that takes us into the millennial kingdom and the personal application of this I think is make sure you're in the right tribe you need to be on the side of the Lord Jesus Christ because all this is coming and for us more than any other population group that has ever lived it's almost close enough to touch Father thank you so much for this word thank you for helping me through it and I pray that I did it justice although I feel like there is so much more I could have said but thank you Father that you don't leave us underfed when it comes to your word

Amen