Well, shalom, everyone, and welcome to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel. We thank the Lord for the opportunity that we have to be together, and especially now, this, Bible class, we are going to start with the study of a new book, the prophecy of Zechariah, Zechariah, and we are very, very thankful to the Lord, to be able to study this, prophetic book of the, the Word of the Lord through the prophet Zechariah, to the people of Israel many, many years ago, before the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, came and gave Himself as a ransom for many. So we are going to begin With reading the first chapter, the first six verses of, Zechariah chapter one, hopefully you have your Bibles with you, and if you may please, open your, your Bibles, and we will, begin to read from Zechariah, chapter one and verses one to six, but before we will do so, let's just give thanks to the Lord and ask Him to bless this session together.

Abba, our Father, thank you for the privilege of being under the sound of your word. We confess that we need your help, we need your guidance, we, we need your grace, we need to help us by your spirit to understand your word, we pray, for we ask it in the name of Yeshua, our Messiah, our Lord and our Savior. Amen. Amen. So, Please turn to Zechariah, Zechariah in English, in Hebrew, Zechariah chapter one, and I'm reading the first six verses of the prophecy of Zechariah.

In chapter one and verse one, we read, In the eight months, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berchiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, The Lord has been so displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, says the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye now from your evil ways and from your evil doings. But they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they?

And the prophets, do they live forever? But my word and my statutes, which I commended my servants, the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts fought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with Us. And I will stop here with the first six verses of Zechariah chapter one. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, please also turn with me to two verses that I usually read when we study the prophecies that were given to our forefathers, the Jewish people. In the book of Romans, and in chapter fifteen, the apostle Paul, that is Shaul Paul, wrote in Romans fifteen and verse four.

Listen to what Paul wrote to the Roman believers. He says, For whatsoever things were written aforetimes were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have Hope, that's what he said to the Roman believers. Turn to 1 Corinthians, beloved brothers and sisters, in chapter 10. To the Corinthian believers, the apostle Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians and chapter 10, to them he wrote the apostle, and he said to them, beloved brothers and sisters, in the, in, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and I'm reading this, verse that speaks specifically, concerning the, past days, and you remember, and I'll just, find the verse, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and notice that verse, verse, 11. Now all the, all these things happen unto them, namely the nation of Israel, for an example.

And they are written for our admonition upon whom the end of the age are come. These two verses are very important to read as we are beginning with the study of the prophet Zechariah. In other words, what the apostle is writing to the believers, whether it is in Rome, the city of Rome, or to believers in the city of Corinth, that whatever things happen to the nation of Israel historically serve to be a lesson for us who are belonging to the Lord these days, those of us believers who belong to the ekklesia, to the called out ones, Jewish and Gentiles, believers in the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah, whatever was written in the history of Israel, our people serve to be a lesson to you and I. Beloved brothers and sisters, we don't read the Tanach, the Hebrew Scripture, in order to condemn Israel, but we read the Tanach in order to learn from what Israel have done, whether good or bad, whether they walk with the Lord or disobey the Lord, and apply it to ourselves because we are living in another era, in another dispensation, and we also can say and can see the many lessons that we can learn and must apply it to our own lives because otherwise we will fail to learn lessons from the Word of God.

So we begin with reading the first six verses of the prophecy of Zechariah. Now before we are going into these verses, let me just give a few thoughts concerning, by way of introduction to the prophecy of Zechariah. To remind us, beloved brothers and sisters, that God have raised many, many prophets to our people of all the people of Israel.

Now, many prophets were raised by the Lord. In fact, the judges were raised before the prophets. We have the kings that were raised as well during the time that the prophets were raised. And all of these servants of the Lord were raised by God in order to speak to his people and guide them and help them along in their walk with God in their generation.

It is very similar in our time. The Lord gave and raised gifted servants of the Lord in this present day age. And they are pastors and shepherds and teachers as we have in Ephesians chapter 4. And they were called by the Lord in order to, they were raised by the Lord in order to give Instruction and guidance and help to us all, so we in this present day age of the church age of the ekklesia, we also will be able to be guided by the Lord and get instruction to help us in our days, in the days of the church. Well, there were many prophets that were raised among the people of Israel. In fact, there were prophets that were raised by God before Israel was sent unto exile. They call it pre-exilic prophets that God have raised among the people of Israel, such as Yeshayahu, Isaiah, Yirmiyahu, Jeremiah, Hosea, Hosea in English, Yoel, Joel, Amos, Amos, Obadiah, and Yonah, and Nechah, and Nachum, and Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.

These were prophets that were raised by God to serve among his people Israel, whether it is the northern kingdom or the southern kingdom, which were divided, but they were raised by God to minister to the Jewish people, to the people of Israel, in order to give them guidance and instruction, and to live their lives as the people of God in their generation. But you see, Israel didn't always obey the prophets. In fact, many times they didn't obey the prophets and the leaders of Israel. So God had to send them into captivity.

And if you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, in 721 BC, After the divisions of the nation into Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom, Israel in the north, Yehudah in the south, God had to send the people of the north, Israel in the north, to judge them by raising the people of Assyria, the Assyrians. And the Assyrians were raised, and the Assyrians caused havoc to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and scattered them and dispersed them. And some of them, they left there, they mixed them up with the Shomronim, with the Samaritans.

Others that have been dispersed have returned and mingled with the people of Yehudah in the southern kingdom, but they caused, they punished them, they abused the ten tribes of Israel. Just read about the history of what the Assyrians have done to any nation, but specifically to the nation of Israel, when they have taken them captive and dispersed them. We call them often time, or people call them the ten lost tribes of Israel. They are not lost to God. They are not lost at all as far as we are concerned to God. God will restore them in a future day, but in 721 BC, they were dispersed.

You would think now that the southern kingdom, which is Yehudah and Binyamin, Judah and Benjamin, you would think that the southern kingdom will now obey the Lord and see what happened to the northern kingdom, but you see, it didn't take too long, beloved brothers and sisters, and God had to disperse the Jewish people of the southern kingdom, Yehudah and Binyamin.

And he raised the Babylonian, and the Babylonian took over the Assyrian, and then they were raised by the Lord to come against the people of Yehudah and Binyamin. And you remember that? At 605 BC, at 597 BC, and at 586 BC, the Babylonian came, and they caused havoc as well to the people of Judah. And what happened, beloved brothers and sisters, they have destroyed the city of Jerusalem, 586 BC. They burned the temple in the city of Yerushalayim and carried our Jewish people captive to the rivers of Babylon. And you remember, often time we repeat this Psalm 137, where the Jewish people say, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept as we remember Zion, Zion. There they that took us captive said unto us, sing unto us one of Zion's songs.

And they said, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? And then the Lord had to revive them and cause them to make a decision that they said, If I forget the old Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her coming. Jerusalem had to be above my chiefest joy, because they loved the city of God, they loved the homeland that God had given to them, but they were by the rivers of Babylon, and God promised that for seventy years they will be captive by the Babylonian, and then after seventy years God will restore them back to the land.

And so during the time of the captivity, God used specifically, beloved brothers and sisters, two prophets, we will call them during the exile, prophets who preached to the people of Judah during the exile. In Hebrew it is called galut bavel. Galut is exile, bavel the Babylonian exile. And he raised Yechezkel, Ezekiel. And Daniel, a book that we have already learned from. And these two servants of the Lord were speaking to the nation and prophesying during the exile, the galut, the exile, the Babylonian exile. Well, thank God as Daniel had longed for the restoration of the people of Israel back to the land, well, God is faithful and he fulfilled his promises and, and he have returned, he have allowed exile to return and to come back to the promised land. Seventy years later on, and in 536 BC, the Jewish people return from Babylon, but not all the Jewish people return as we know. If with Zerubbabel and Ezra later on and Nehemiah who came, there were about 50,000 Jewish people recorded in the word of God in Ezra and Nehemiah that returned back to the promised land.

And they were in the land and they began to rebuild the temple in the city of Yerushalayim and to rebuild the city itself and Nehemiah built the walls in the city of Yerushalayim. It's fascinating to read that in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. But as you know from the book of Esther that many many many remained away from the promised land and a man a wicked man like Haman who sought to destroy the Jewish people who remain in still away from the promised land.

And that we read in the book of Esther, how the amazing providence of God who watched over his people who were still outside the land, as he watched the Jewish people today in view of the future day of the restoration at the end of the tribulation period. In the meanwhile, he's leading many, both Jewish and Gentiles, become believers in Yeshua Jesus the Messiah, who will become part of the ekklesia, the assembly of the living God. Well, during the time of the returned remnant, when they came back to the land after the 70 years, those who came back, they began to rebuild the temple and the city itself and the wall, but they had so much opposition. By the Shomronim, the Samaritan, who opposed them. They were the enemies of the people of Israel. They, they sought to slow down and to stop the building of the temple.

Well, during these days of discouragement, but also during those days, beloved brothers and sisters, it didn't take too long, even after the restored remnant, that you have the, again, the deviation from the, from following the Lord, a decline again, additional decline and departure from the Lord, even after the return of these remnant of Israel. And it didn't take too long, as we read it in Ezra and Nehemiah, you find out that they have departed from the Lord once again. Not all, but many did, and the condition began to be again to deteriorate. And that's what led to the time where, if you remember, where God now raised three additional prophets, not the pre-exilic prophets, not the exilic prophets, but post-exile prophets.

those prophets that ministered to the Jewish people in the land of Israel after they returned from the Babylonian captivity. And these prophets are known as Haggai, Haggai, Zechariah, the prophet that we are studying right now, and finally the prophet Malachi, Malachi, the third prophet that was raised by the Lord. These are, we would call them, post-exile prophets of the people of Israel. Now it is interesting because out of the three prophets that were prophesying to the Jewish, to the return remnant of Israel who are now back in the land after the seventy years of captivity, now God raising these three prophets that we have just mentioned, of course it was Haggai, Haggai's name means my feasts, then Zechariah, Zechariah means Jehovah remembered, and Malachi, my messenger, my messenger. These three prophets now were speaking to the Jewish people who are now back in the land. Haggai was a very, a bit rough, and he prophesied for not too long, for about three months or so.

At the same time when he was prophesying, God raised Zechariah. And Zechariah was the one that he was raised at about 520 BC. And he was speaking to the nation, to the people of Judah, up till about 470 BC. We might say about 50 years was a long period of time that he ministered to the people, to the returned remnant of Judah. But Zechariah had a very unique ministry. His ministry was a ministry of encouragement, and he sought to encourage the Jewish people. You know how wonderful it is to have an encouraging ministry, a servant of the Lord who encouraged the saints, who encouraged the people of God.

And so he was the one that encouraged the returned remnant who started to decline in their walk with the Lord, and they began again to depart back to be away from the Lord, and they were not anymore living the way they ought to have lived in pleasing the Lord and serving Him. And it is very interesting because in the same way we can see what happened in church history. Everything began well when the church was born some 2,000 years ago, and then, you know, we had the Dark Ages and the decline of the professing church. Christendom have turned from bad to worse. Just read Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3, the seven churches of Asia Minor, beginning with Ephesus, and ending up with Laodicean church.

Beginning with very solid and very good, but there is a departure and a decline, and ultimately a way when God say to the Laodicea, I will spew you out of my mouth because you are so proud and arrogant, and you don't realize that you're wretched and miserable. And God, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who is the glorified Messiah, had to speak to the assembly in Laodicean, to the Laodiceans. He was outside of the church. He said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come in and sup with him, individuals, and he with me. Now, it is very interesting because the similar condition, whatever happened to Israel historically, Happened also to the assembly, to the church for these two thousand years of church history. Everything began very well, and there was a decline. In fact, until the 1800, where there was a revival, you might say, this is the church of Philadelphia, the edge of the Philadelphia, brotherly love, when there was a revival in the professing church, and there was a preaching of the gospel, many people came to know the Messiah, the Lord Yeshua Jesus, the Messiah, were added to the church, and there was a revival.

But then time passes by, and there's again decline. And again decline, and just read in your leisure, the, the third chapter of the book of Revelation, and you can see how what the Lord has to say to the Laodicean church. In fact, it's called the Laodicean, not only the church of, that in Laodicea, people rule and people rights, the Lord's rights were not acknowledged. It became their church, their assembly, not the Lord.

And that's why the Lord, he was outside, he did not, he was not, you might say, they, they put him out, and it's representing the condition in which you and I living in today. And you and I are part of that. We are not better than others. We are part of, of, we might say, of, of the church at ease in such a condition.

And we are part of it. And Daniel and, Yechezkel, who prophesied to the remnant of Israel that were, the, the people of Judah who were away, when they remained there and they passed away, then God raised these three men by the name of three prophets, Chagai, Zechariah, and Malachi, to present the word of the Lord to the nation of Israel. beloved, brothers and sisters, and as you see the timing, Haggai was ministering from about 580 to 518 BCE, rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, and he was preaching to the people of Judah that did not continue in Ezra 5 and Ezra 6. You can read that. In fact, we do, it will be good for us to turn for a moment to the book of Ezra, just for a little reading there, to see, beloved brothers and sisters, what we read concerning Zechariah and Haggai. Listen to this, and we read in Ezra, in chapter 5 and verse 1, Then the prophets Haggai.

The prophet, then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. It was in the time when Zerubbabel, according to verse 2 of Ezra chapter 5, then rose up Ezra the son of Shaltiel and Yahshua the son of Tzadok, and they began to build the house of God. You see, they were preaching to them, you have to continue to build the house of the Lord.

Look at chapter six of the prophecy of the book of Ezra. We read in verse fourteen, And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through, notice the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, and they builded and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandments of Cyrus, notice that, and Darius, with Darius ruled from 522 to 486 BC, and Artaxerxes, and as we read here in verse fourteen, very, very interesting to see the link between the prophecy of Zechariah and the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah to the return remnant of Israel, beloved brothers and sisters, extremely, extremely interesting. So Haggai preached for about a few years, Zechariah preached for quite a lot of time, for about 50 years, and finally Malachi was the final prophet that preached, that shared and ministered to the people of Israel, who by that time really declined, and he spoke about about 400 BC, and from that time on, there was 400 years of silence before John the baptizer, Yohanan HaMatbil, came and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world, presenting before Israel the Messiah, Yeshua Jesus, who came at his first coming.

Well, this is important just as we are introducing this book. Now, I want to just to mention that the reason for the galut, the reason for the dispersion of the Jewish people, now go back with me please to 2 Kings for a moment, in the book of 2 Kings, just to connect this, to have the introduction before us, 2 Kings chapter 17, 2 Kings chapter 17, we will read just a few verses there, and then, beloved brothers and sisters, there we read, notice that, 2 Kings chapter 17, and there we read in verse 6, in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria, notice that, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and he carried Israel away into Assyria. And he placed them in Chalah and in the harbor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. In other words, here we have the deportation, the galut, the captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC.

Then we should really read another verse, and notice that, beloved brothers and sisters, we'll read just one more verse, and continue on in the book of Kings, and notice that now a little bit further on in 2 Kings chapter 25, 2 Kings chapter 25, and I'll read the verse there. Second Kings chapter twenty five, then we read verse twenty one. Second Kings twenty five and verse twenty one, there we read, And the king of Babylon, now it's taking care in Judah, and the king of Babylon smote them and slew them in Rivlah, in the land of Hamath. So Judah, notice now it's Yehudah, Judah was carried away out of their land.

And so what we really learn, that there were, the captivity of the Na- the northern kingdom Israel, the captivity of the southern kingdom Judah, the return of the remnant to the land of Israel, to the city of Jerusalem, some remain away from the land, and Haggai, Zechariah, and, and the prophet Malachi prophesied specifically to the returned remnant who departed, slowly but surely departed from the will of the Lord. And what an amazing lesson, whatsoever things were written aforetime, they were written for our learning, our admonition. It's written for you and I to learn the lessons that the Lord wished to teach us, beloved, brothers and sisters. So...

Now that we are back now in Zechariah, we would like to just speak a little bit about Zechariah himself. Notice that, first of all, the name, the author of the book, according to this first verse, in the eighth year, in the second year of the rise, I'm sorry, in the eighth month, in the second year of the rise, the word of the Lord came. Now notice that, very interesting, very interesting verse, because it came, the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, the son of Berchiah, the son of Ido, the prophet, same. Notice what we read, the word of God present before us the name of Zechariah, the prophet. It gives us the name of his father, and it also gives us the name of his grandfather.

In Hebrew, the word Zechariah or Zachariah, Zachar means remembered. And Yah is a short form of Yehovah. In other words, the name of Zechariah says Yehovah remembered. In other words, we learn from the name of Zechariah that Yehovah, the Lord, never forgot his covenant that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the nation of Israel. He remembers his own people, whom he have made a covenant with, beloved brothers and sisters. But it's not only the name Zechariah, because he's the son of Berchaya. Again, notice the word Yah at the end.

The word Levarech, Berchaya, come from the Hebrew word Levarech, to bless. So it is Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, or Berchiah. Berchiah, to bless. So we learn here that this is Zechariah, Jehovah remembered, who is the son of Jehovah will bless and is blessing. But it's not only that, because the third name that we have here in Zechariah chapter one and verse one, his grandfather name was Edo. Edo come from the Hebrew word Ed, witness.

And the meaning of the word Edo tells us that God's witness and God will bring to pass his promises to his people. So Jehovah remember, and he's intending to bless. And he will fulfill it to the letter because he is a witness to his own promises to his own people. This is very important, I tell you why. Because for you and I, the same as believers who are part of the ekklesia today, we can also be assured that Jehovah that our Lord, Jehovah Jesus, Jehovah Yeshua, he, he, he remembers his own. He knows his own, he knows his own sheep by name. But not only that he knows his own sheep by name, but he's intending to bless his people.

And he's going to be true to his own promises, to his own assembly, the ekklesia, the church, the true believers in the person and the work of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. This is very important to see. So the whole, the whole prophecy of, of Zechariah began with the fact that in the eight months of the second year of the rise, 520 BC, came notice the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord. This is so precious because when God is speaking, his word endureth forever. His word, heaven and earth will pass away, Yeshua Jesus said, but my word will not pass away. God is elevating his word because his word is true.

Let God be true and every man a liar, Paul said to the Romans in the book of Romans. His promises are yea and amen in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He will fulfill his promises both to his earthly people, Israel, and his heavenly people, the church, the assembly. Although both Israel failed and the church has failed, but God never fails. He is faithful to his own word. Now again to mention, and I did mention that Zechariah actually is, the date is 520 BC. He was a contemporary with Haggai, as we have just read in Ezra chapter 5 and Ezra chapter 6. While Haggag was a prophet of action, of very, he was a prophet of action, Zechariah was a prophet of visions.

Zechariah was a prophet that received visions from the Lord in order to encourage the Jewish people to continue on and to be restored to the Lord. Haggai, who preached for a short time, he was more a man of action, was much stronger in his message to the nation. On the other hand, Zechariah was a prophet that was seeing visions, and he's the one that presented the visions before the nation of Israel in order to cause them to be restored to the word, to the Lord himself. And this is Very interesting, because we have in a new covenant, in a new testament, also, beloved brothers and sisters, various writers and apostles that the Lord raised in order to build the nation of Israel and to restore them back to the land.

As we're moving along with the outline of the book of Zechariah, I just wanted to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, that the whole theme of the book of Zechariah, it takes us all the way from the time that Israel was returned back, the Jewish people returned to the land after the 70 years of captivity, 536 BC, and it takes us all the way to the final days. In fact, it takes us beyond the present day of the church age, all the way after the rapture of the church, there will be the tribulation period, and taking us all the way to the final days of the seven-year tribulation, and even ultimately beyond it to the Messianic kingdom, where Israel, the nation, will be restored to God, and the Lord Jesus, Messiah, the King of the Jews, will rule and reign among the people of Israel. So in a sense, beloved brothers and sisters, it takes us from, before, from 520 BC, passing the days of the church age in which you and I live in today, the church will be taken out of here at the rapture, the, the rapture of the assembly, and taking us all the way to the tribulation period, and all the way to the rece- receiving of the Messiah by the nation, and ultimately the establishing of the Messianic, kingdom.

It also, Zechariah present before Israel, before you and I, also the, the first and second coming of the Messiah. In fact, if you just go to chapter 9 for a moment, Zechariah chapter 9. And you notice what we read there, beloved brothers and sisters, is Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9, we read, listen, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, he is just and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. This is the first coming of the Messiah that was prophesied by Zechariah to the remnant of Israel from 520 BC to 470 BC. But it doesn't stop here, doesn't speak only about the first coming of the Messiah, because in verse 10 of Zechariah chapter 9, he said, And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak Shalom, peace, unto the heathen, and his dominion, the same one who came at his first coming two thousand years ago, his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even unto the end of the earth. Now, while in Zechariah chapter 9, verses 9 and 10, you don't see two thousand years of history of the church age, but in between Zechariah 9, verse 9, and Zechariah 9, verse 10, you have this present age in which you and I live in today.

Nobody tells us that, but we can see it, because you and I live in two thousand years. Now after the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, died and was buried and rose again and ascended and glorified, sat down at God's right hand and is building the called out ones, Jewish believers in Christ, in the Messiah, Gentile believers in Christ, in the Messiah, united together into one body. And so Zechariah, his ministry carries the Jewish people with the promises of God all the way to the finality when the kingdom will come.

But no one knew the dates and how much time it will take. Zechariah didn't tell them there will be first of all a rebuilding of, a church has to be established first. He didn't know. The church age was a mystery hid in God. And you and I live today in the latter end of the church age in preparation of being taken out of here and the restoration of the nation of Israel in the coming days. So the purpose of the writing of Zechariah here, notice that, is the, is, to encounter the Jewish people, to finalize the building of the temple, which we have read, earlier in Ezra. Zechariah gives us a prophecy of God's dealing with his people, Israel, all the way through to the final restoration of the nation of Israel in a future day. In fact, Daniel thought that when the Lord will restore the re- the people of Israel back after seventy years, already the kingdom will be established.

But the Lord had to tell him that Daniel, it's not only seventy years, but there are additional, additional years that will have to come before Israel will finally be restored to the place that God has desired for them to be there. So, now turn with me one more time, yet as we are introducing the book of Zechariah, turn with me to this verse that we often read in Luke chapter 21. You remember we often read this verse in Luke chapter 21, and it is there in Luke chapter 21 that the Lord Jesus the Messiah used an expression that I must explain this expression. It's called the times of the Gentiles.

And we must explain this because there is another expression that is found in Romans chapter 11 that's called the fullness of the Gentiles. Two different expressions, very similar, and unless we understand the difference between the times of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Gentiles, we will not quite understand what we have here in these two expressions. According to, Luke chapter 21, in the Gospel of Luke chapter 21, we read in verse, I will read this, Luke 21 and verse 24. I'll just, this, I will take it out of the context, but the context is that Jerusalem should be compassed with many armies, verse 20.

And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with armies, then know the desolation, the wrath is nigh. That has to do with the Romans that came, already around, surrounding Jerusalem before 70 AD, but finally at 70 AD, they destroyed the second temple in the city of Jerusalem. But notice what the Lord is saying in verse 24, where Yeshua is saying, and remember, he's speaking to the Jewish people of the day. The church was not in existence as yet, because he hasn't died. He was not buried. He didn't rise again. He didn't ascend to heaven. He didn't send the Holy Spirit to, to build the ekklesia, the body which, of Christ, which began in Acts chapter 2. So he says, notice, and I'm reading this verse, Luke 21 verse 24, and they will fall by the edge of their sword and be led away captive into all nations.

And Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles, notice that, until, and here's the expression, the times, notice the word the time, not the fullness here, the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles, this is a very interesting expression. Although the Lord Jesus the Messiah came, sometime he was born around three, four, B.C., and he was preaching and speaking to the nation of Israel until he died when he ministered specifically the three, three and a half years of his public ministry, about thirty A.D., he himself, with the rest of the nation, were already part of the times of the Gentiles. When the times of the Gentiles began, the times of the Gentiles began at, at five hundred and eighty-six B.C. Already about 600 years before the Messiah was preaching, some 600 years before Yeshua Jesus was there publicly speaking to the nation. And the times of the Gentiles began when the temple was destroyed, the Jewish people were carried away to Babylon, to Babel, the city was destroyed, and that's where the times where the Gentiles received from the Lord the authority, you might say, to be the rulers and the kings over this world.

They will be fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And from there on, the first king that ruled in the beginning of the times of the Gentiles was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babel. And if you know from the book of Daniel, we have Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grisha, and Rome. All these four, four, kings and empires that rule, but at the end, the revived Roman Empire, this, this final, you might say final period of time, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, will come and he will destroy the final kingdom, and he will establish this Messianic kingdom that he promised. So the times of the Gentiles begin at 586 BC, and it will end at the end of the seven year tribulation, at the second coming of the Messiah, and Israel's restoration will be there, and he will hand over back to the people of Israel the scepter.

The scepter that was promised to the tribe of Yehudah, and who will be the one who will rule over Judah? None else but the Messiah of Israel, the King, Jesus the Messiah who will rule over Israel, restore Israel and all the nations of the world. But now there is another expression that we need to read that is not found in Luke chapter 21, but is found in the book of Romans. And I want you to turn to Romans chapter 11, and there in, in Romans chapter 11, it's also very interesting verse, because in Romans, chapter 11, we have the second expression that we must distinguish between the times of the, of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Gentiles. And this is in Romans chapter 11 and verse, 25.

Now, Romans chapter 11, the apostle Shaul Paul is writing to the Roman believers, and he's reminding the Roman believers of the church age that God did not finish with the Jewish people, that his earthly people will be restored, and that they are not to boast against the branches, but that they are to realize that there is coming a restoration of the nation of Israel. And in Romans 11, in verse 25, he's saying to the Roman believers, for I do not desire, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part or hardening in part happened to Israel. Notice the word until.

Until it is temporary blindness. It is temporary hardness of the heart. It is a judicial hardness of the heart of the nation of Israel for the benefit of the Gentile world. And then he says, until when? Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, or be come in. You notice the difference? In Luke 21, 24, it is until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And in Romans 11, 25, it is until, both of them are temporary, the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. In other words, what we really learn, that the fullness of the Gentiles, notice it is written to the Romans.

And it was spoken by the Apostle Paul. And the church was already had begun. In other words, when Yeshua spoke in Luke 21, there was no church, there was no assembly, there was no ekklesia. But in Romans 11 and verse 25, he's speaking to the assembly of believers in the city of Rome. And in Romans 9, 10, and 11, he presented before them the past of Israel's history, the present of Israel's situation and condition, but he, in Romans 11, he went all the way to speak about the future of Israel's restoration. And in verse 25, he says, For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. What is this mystery? The mystery of the church age and the mystery of the blindness of Israel. Lest you should be wise in your own conceit that blindness in part happened to Israel.

Until when? Until the fullness of the Gentiles, the full numbers of the Gentiles who are part of the assembly, the church will be come in, and then he says in verse 26, and then all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant that I made with them when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies, for your sakes, he's saying to the believers at Rome. They became enemies of the gospel for the sake of the believers from among the nations.

But notice that, as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake, for the gift and calling of God are without repentance. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, we live in this special, unique age of the ekklesia, but it will come to an end at the rapture of the church, when the full numbers of Gentiles, of course, Jews as well, will become believers in Jesus the Messiah, and the church age will come to an end.

And the Lord will take His heavenly company, the bride of Christ, to be with Him in heaven. And then, for the seven years of tribulation that will take place here in the face of this world, and at the end of the tribulation, they shall, and you'll see in Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10, we will learn about the restoration of Israel. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. An Israel national regeneration that touch my heart every time when I think about it, when Israel, the nation, will be restored to God as a nation according to the will of God. It's not only the will of Israel or the will of the Jewish people, or it should be the will of all believers, but it is the will of the Lord.

The Lord Jesus, the Messiah, this is His will to have a heavenly bride, the bride of God, but to have His earthly people Israel restored back unto Him. What a day that will be when Israel will be restored. You shall not see me henceforth, He said, until you will say, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. So you, you and I, beloved brothers and sisters, must understand and distinguish between these two expression, the times of the Gentiles, And the fullness of the Gentiles. The time of the Gentiles is in relation to the Gentile nations of the world, where the empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grisha, and Rome will get, will take their course until the final days of the coming of the Messiah, when he will take the kingdom away from the Gentiles and restore it back to his earthly people, Israel, and he will rule over the nation of Israel and over all the nations of the world.

The fullness of the Gentile has to do with the church age. When the full numbers of gentile believers will become part of the ekklesia, the assembly, and when the last person will come in, then the church will come to an end. He on earth will be taken out to be in glory with the Lord, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then he will restore Israel, the nation, at the end of the seven year tribulation that will take place upon this earth. This is important, beloved brothers and sisters, to speak together to us all. Now go back to, the time is passing so quick, and I haven't even gotten to the first verse, but it's so important for us to understand that if we are rightly to divide the word of truth.

If we had to preach the whole canon of the Word of God, because the whole canon of the Word of God, Paul said, I did not cease from preaching the whole canon, the whole, we might say, the whole counsel of God, the whole Council of God, God's council is presented before us in the complete word of God. And here Zechariah is presented before us. Now notice this, that God's word to Israel will be fulfilled through the Messiah himself, beloved brothers and sisters. Now go back for again, again to Zechariah, and I'm just going to read these verses before we will conclude here with that meeting today. In chapter three and verse eight and nine, we read, Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for there are men wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch.

This is one of the messianic titles of the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. He's called the branch. He continue, beloved brothers and sisters, verse nine, For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, says the Lord of hosts. He is calling the Messiah not only the branch, but also the stone, which the builders rejected at his first coming. He will become the chief cornerstone. Go to chapter six of Zechariah. And there you notice what it says there in verse twelve. And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch. And he shall go up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. The Hebrew word for branch is tzemach, tzemach. Hineh ha'ish, behold the man. You remember Pilate says, behold the man. Hineh ha'ish. Tzemach shmo, his name is the branch, tzemach.

And he will build the temple of the Lord. That temple had to do with the messianic temple of the kingdom, the thousand years reign of the Messiah in the future day. We already read Zechariah chapter 9 and verses 9 and 10, daughters of Jerusalem, behold your king is coming. He is the king of Zion, the king of the daughter of Jerusalem, the king of the Jews on the cross. There was a sign that says, this is Yeshua. Melech HaYehudim, the king of the Jews. Go to chapter 10 of Zechariah, and notice that we read in verse 4, Zechariah chapter 10 and verse 4, Out of him, this is the Messiah, came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. He is the corner one, the corner, out of him came forth the corner, the Hebrew word is pina.

Out of him came the nail, in Hebrew word is the yatad, the nail. And then we continue, out of him came the battle bow, this is keshet milchama. He is the battle bow that will fight for his people Israel, and out of him came the one that it says every oppressor together. In other words, he is the one that would come and ultimately restore the nation of Israel to himself. Everything, beloved brothers and sisters, God's word to Israel is simply this, through the prophets, that they will be fulfilled, the promises of God to Israel will only be fulfilled through the Messiah.

And the only Messiah, the only Mashiach that Israel will ever head, according to the word of God, is none else but the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. Chapter 13 and verse 1, in that day, speaking about the future day, in that day there shall be found and opened to the house of David. And to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness, the only one that paid for the sin of Israel and the sin of the world is none else but the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. His name is Jesus, is Yeshua.

In Isaiah 53, we read, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, but the Lord laid upon him, Israel, will confess in a future day the iniquities of us all. He took your iniquity, he took my iniquity. This is none else but the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. And finally, in chapter 14, and I'm mentioning this, in verse 4, we do read, And his feet, this is the Messiah's feet, and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem.

On the east, in the Mount of Olives shall be, shall cleave in the midst thereof towards the east and towards the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall be removed towards the north, and half of the mountain towards the south. And if you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, in Acts chapter one, when the Lord Jesus the Messiah was taken to glory, remember these men, angels said to the disciples, ye men of Judah, why look ye steadfast upwards toward heaven? This same Jesus will come in the same manner. He was taken to heaven from Mount Olives, from Har Hazaytim, and he will return to earth.

And as he comes here, his feet will also stand upon the Mount of Olives, Har Hazaytim, the Mount of Olives. That's in the mountain you have the Garden of Gat Shmanim, the garden of the olive trees, Gethsemane, where he anticipated his death, and he, the Lord Jesus Yeshua, said, Abba, Father, if it is possible, take this cup away from me. And then he said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And from there he was taken, and ultimately Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, died on a shameful cross for your sins and for mine. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, at least we have the introduction to this amazing book, amazing prophecy. Of the, of Zechariah. And may the Lord help us as we study together. We trust that the Lord will help us to continue on in the study of the prophecy of Zechariah, one chapter at a time, one verse at a time, and trust that the Lord will help us to understand the word of the Lord to the nation of Israel through the prophet Zechariah.

And so, our God and our Father, thank you for your word. And bless this introduction to the prophecy of Zechariah to us all. Help us to understand your word, we pray, for we ask it for your glory in Yeshua, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, my dear friend, God bless you. Until the next time, we say shalom, shalom. Bye-bye.