Amen. Please be seated. Now if you would, take your copies of God’s Word in your hands and turn with me to the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 10. We will read the second half of the chapter from verse six through verse twelve. You’ll find that on page 798. Before we read, let’s bow our heads and pray.
Lord, like the disciples responding to Jesus, we come to you saying, “To whom else shall we go?” You have the words of everlasting life. Would you speak them now to us with great power? Would you slay our sin? Would you silence our doubts? Would you strengthen our faith? Would you comfort us in our fears? Would you draw us to repentance and faith? Would you set Christ before us—crucified and risen, a perfect Savior—and enable us to run to and rest on him alone as he is offered to us in the Gospel in this portion of Holy Scripture. For we ask it for his honor and glory, and in his name, Amen.
Zechariah chapter 10 at verse 6. This is the word of the Almighty God:
“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.“I will whistle for them and gather them in,
for I have redeemed them,
and they shall be as many as they were before.Though I scattered them among the nations,
yet in far countries they shall remember me,
and with their children they shall live and return.
I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
till there is no room for them.
He shall pass through the sea of troubles
and strike down the waves of the sea,
and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
I will make them strong in the Lord,
and they shall walk in his name,”
declares the Lord.
Amen. And we bless God that he has spoken to us in his holy and sufficient Word.
The Terrain of God’s Salvation
I was recently given an old map of my homeland, Scotland. It’s a beautiful old map. I could find my hometown there, you know, favorite places are all represented on the map. It is old enough, however, that some of the counties have had their borders adjusted and their names changed. Some of the places I did not recognize. Of course, in really old maps, things are often distorted altogether, aren’t they? The size and shape of the landmass is often rendered as much by guesswork as it is by careful cartographical observation and measurements. Sometimes the politics or the worldview of the map-maker come out in the placement and size of the various countries in relation to the others that the map-maker is mapping. Sometimes his physical perspective has shaped his cartography. If he had sailed the coastline in a boat, he may well accurately record all the inlets and river mouths and rocky promontories in his map. But, he may still have hardly any real idea of the shape and size of the interior and so on. So, old maps are often given to distortion.
As we explore the terrain of God’s salvation, I think we can be rather like the maker of an old map. We get some of the details right, but we invent others—let’s be frank—we invent others to suit our preconceived ideas about the way things ought to be, how we like to think of them, that we distort some things. We over-emphasize others. We minimize sometimes even completely ignoring still other features of the landscape of God’s redemption. So, there as often as not our personal map of God’s ways in salvation is hardly reliable. What we need is a view from above that will accurately depict that landscape for us. Zechariah 10:6-12 is a satellite view, a view from above, a map perfect and complete of God’s saving ways and saving plan.
Would you look at it with me, Zechariah 10:6-12? In the opening five verses of chapter 10, as we looked at it last Lord’s Day evening, you may remember God depicted himself as the Good Shepherd who cares for his flock. Unlike the false shepherds, the human leaders and rulers of the people of Israel who deserted them to idolatry, the Lord cares tenderly for his people. And, in chapter 10:6-12, the second half of the chapter, that theme of God’s shepherd care for the flock, only now, in much more detail. Now we see all the features of the landscape of God’s attentive love for the sheep of his fold.
In particular, I want you to see how Zechariah describes four contours of God’s redeeming love. First, salvation’s basis. Then, salvation’s call. Then, salvation’s motive. And, then, finally, salvation’s fruit. Salvation’s basis, call, motives and fruit.
- Salvation’s Basis
Think with me first of all about salvation’s basis. Notice the passage begins (verse 6): “I will strengthen the house of Judah;” and ends (verse 12): “I will strengthen them or make them strong in the Lord.” It begins and ends with this clear affirmation of God’s commitment to providing the resources of his own strength for his people. Those are the bookends that bracket the passage. And between them follows a string of promises spoken by the Lord to his people that explain the sense in which he will strengthen them. Each of them begins with “I will…” They tell us what God means when he says, “I will strengthen my people.”
Six more times in English the phrase is repeated. Six more times God declares his intention to act. Verse 6: “I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back for I have compassion on them.” The end of verse 6: “I will answer them.” Verse 8: “I will whistle for them and gather them in for I have redeemed them.” Verse 10: “I will bring them home from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. And I will bring them to the land of Gilead and the land of Lebanon.” The strengthening work of God in the lives of his people, we learn, will be a saving work, a redeeming work, a restoring work, a work that brings them home. There’s this great repeating feature, this characteristic mark of the topography of salvation appearing again and again throughout this passage over and over: God’s resounding promise, “I will…I will strengthen. I will save. I will redeem. I will bring them back.”
Sovereign, Merciful Grace
We’re left in no doubt—our we?—of the agent and initiator of the salvation that is being promised. It is the work of the one who declares to sinners in need of saving, “I will. I will.” It’s all God’s gracious act. It’s all his initiative. It is all his work. Salvation belongs to the Lord. That is the point the apostle Paul makes in Ephesians chapter 2. We were dead, we’re told, in trespasses and sin in which we once walked. We were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But, God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive in Christ. By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not as a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we may walk in them.
By grace we have been saved. We were powerless, helpless in our sin, dead in our trespasses, and the saving strength of God intervened and made us alive together with Christ. None of it is our own doing. It is all gift. It is all grace. We are his workmanship. If you are a Christian today, it is because God said, “I will save. I will make you alive. I will redeem you from sin and death and hell. I will intervene in saving power to make you mine.” You owe it all to him to the praise and glory of his grace. It may just be that for someone here this evening the thought persists that salvation is something to qualify for. Something you need to deserve somehow. Something you must initiate.
A Desperation Unthinkably Worse, Yet a Gospel Unimaginably Greater
Friend, let me say to you that the truth is far, far worse and much, much better than you know. The truth is, you are not able to qualify for God’s salvation. That’s the bad news. You’re not able to qualify for God’s salvation. You cannot deserve anything but his displeasure and curse. You can no more initiate you own rescue than Lazarus could rouse himself from death and walk out of the tomb under his own steam. You are dead, by nature, helpless, totally unable. That’s the bad news. But, the good news is that God who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us delights to rescue dead sinners and make them alive in union with Christ giving them the gift of saving faith. You needn’t earn salvation. It’s a fool’s errand! You couldn’t do it if you spent a lifetime trying. It is all gift. Free. Gracious. Offered generously for nothing to all and any.
Salvation belongs to the Lord, Zechariah reminds us. He is willing, that’s his point over and over and over again. God says in this passage to his people, “I am willing. I will to save. I will strengthen. I will save. I will redeem. I will bring them back.” He is willing to save you. Isn’t that good news? He is willing to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Jesus Christ. Salvation’s basis.
- Salvation’s Call
And, then, secondly, salvation’s call. Look at verses 8 to 10: “I will whistle for them and gather them in for I have redeemed them. They shall be as many as they were before. Though I scattered them among the nations yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. I will bring them home from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon ‘til there is no room for them.” Here, once again, is the great theme of God the Good Shepherd. This time Zechariah pictures him whistling for his flock.
The story is told of David Baron who about a century ago met a Bedouin shepherd while he was on his travels. During their conversation the shepherd’s flock began to wander away dispersed among the rocks. When he ready to set off once again, the Bedouin took out a whistle that the sheep had been trained to recognize. And, as he played, the flock gathered tightly around him. And, when they’d all been gathered together, he set off once more and watching it all take place, David Baron recalls this verse, Zechariah 10:8: “I will whistle for them and gather them in.”
The Call of the Good Shepherd
Jesus, too, spoke about his own saving work in similar terms, didn’t he? He is the Good Shepherd. The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he’s brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. (John 10:3-4) There is a call of God that goes out to all people who hear the gospel preached. Not all who hear that call are sheep that belong in the Savior’s fold. Not all who hear the call gather to the Shepherd at his summons. Only some whom Jesus in John 10 calls “his own” come to him. But, when Christ’s sheep hear the call of the gospel, in God’s timing, by the work of the Holy Spirit, it never falls on deaf ears. It is compelling and effectual. It draws them. It attracts them. It inclines them to come. As the gospel is preached, some hear in the message the voice and call of the Good Shepherd himself and they flock to his side “called out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). “Called into fellowship with Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:9). In and with and through the preaching of the gospel there comes an effectual, irresistible call, a call that creates the reality it calls for. It draws the very sheep it invites. It inclines the very wills for which it appeals. It wins every heart that it also woos in the sovereign, effectual work in the Spirit of God so that every one of the sheep whom the Father has given to the Son for whom the Good Shepherd lays down his life, every one of them knows their Shepherd’s voice and when he calls they come.
Now, it may also be tonight that for you this is the appointed time when you hear the Good Shepherd’s summons and invitation and call. It may be tonight. Maybe tonight as you hear the good news about Jesus and the freely offered mercy and cleansing and pardon. Maybe tonight you will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd calling your name. He’ll call you. You’ll hear him whistling for the flock in the preaching of the Word of God and where you’ve let it fall on deaf ears a thousand times before. It’s just washed over you again and again before; tonight, somehow, it’s different. Tonight the word comes with power. Tonight it is compelling in a way it never was before. Tonight the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and works by it and through it to bring you to Jesus. So tonight if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Come to Jesus, the Good Shepherd. He is calling in the preaching of his Word. And his flock, his sheep, hear his voice and come to him.
- Salvation’s Motives
Salvation’s basis. Salvation’s call. Then, thirdly, notice salvation’s motives. God initiates salvation if we are saved it is because he has said, “I will…,” in response to our cries for mercy. And he does it drawing us, gathering us, by the gospel call—irresistibly, powerfully bringing us to the Good Shepherd. But, why?! Why does he do it? Israel, in the chapter and in the book of Zechariah, has been identified as repeatedly unfaithful to her Savior. Even in this very chapter, back in verse 2, we’re told that the returned exiles to the land of Judah now living in Jerusalem continue to dally and run after household gods, idols. Why in the world would God make these extraordinary promises of sovereign, saving grace when his people deserve, not grace, but judgment, not a gathering in, but another exile. Why is there mercy and not wrath? Salvation’s motives.
The Sheer Compassion of God
Notice two motives in particular here. First, verse 6: “He will do it because I have compassion on them.” Here, I think, is the most wonderful and mysterious reason of them all. We can’t get behind it to another reason. There is nothing behind this one. Once we’ve drilled down through all the layers of motivations and purposes contained in the revealed will of God standing as reasons for our salvation. At the absolute bottom, back of them all, the bedrock foundation beneath every one, stands the compassionate love of God for sinners.
It’s the same great mystery—glorious and perplexing—that we run up against in Ephesians 1:3-5. Isn’t it? Listen, again to Paul, extolling the glory of sovereign, saving grace: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Now stop there for a moment and ask the why question. Why in the world would he do that? Why would he choose to save from the mass of fallen human beings anyone at all? Why not do justice upon us and vindicate the glory of his own righteousness by judging us and treating us as our sins deserve. Why rescue sinners? Why elect to save any? That is, remember, the great mystery, isn’t it? Not that God does not save everyone but that he saves anyone so wicked are we. And Paul tells us why in Ephesians 1:3-5 after extolling the glory and offering blessings to God because he has chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the world. He tells us why. He tells us God’s motive for doing it: in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. He predestined us in love. He loves us. He has fixed his love on sinners. It is a profound mystery. Why love us when we are unlovely? Compassion and mercy and loving-kindness of God is the base. It is the foundation, the absolute grounds, of our salvation. Behind it, we can’t go. He loves us because he loves us because he loves us. He has compassion on us.
Some of us still think of God the Father as essentially hostile towards us. Perhaps we’ve lived all our days with hostile fathers. And we know better, we say better. And, yet in the depths of our psyche in some little, dark corner, we still have that nagging doubt that God the Father has, at best, a grudging tolerance of us, that perhaps Jesus somehow twisted his arm by way of the cross into accepting us. But, we live every day on probation, that our position before him is precarious hanging by a thread depending on the best efforts of our own daily obedience. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing. God so loved the world. The world! The stinking, festering, cess-pit of human rebellion shaking our fists saying, “We will not have you to rule over us!” God loved the world and gave his Son to save us. The love of God stands behind it all as the great motive of our redemption. The love of God is the reason for the cross. He has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. What security you have believer in Jesus! Not because you are good, but because God loves you in your fallen, sinful need and has given his Son to make you his. You are safe.
Redemption and a New Exodus
The second great motive and reason for salvation Zechariah highlights is there in verse 8. We’ve said it already, “I will whistle for them and gather them in for I have redeemed them.” Here in context, Zechariah has an eye to the Exodus, the great type and picture of salvation in the Old Testament. When the Old Testament scriptures speak of God redeeming Israel and redeeming his people he’s talking about the Exodus. Where he set them free from slavery and bondage in Egypt. It was a picture of salvation. He has acted to rescue them and here he promises them that he will not now forsake them. But, look at verse 11. This Exodus language is something the prophet elaborates on and builds on. There will be a new passage through the sea, a new drying up of a river, a new victory over ancient enemies, but it will be an Exodus redemption now of a different order. The sea is the sea of trouble. The river is the Nile this time not the Jordan. The enemies are Egypt and Assyria. And the multiplying people of God will fill the whole land and overflow it in their abundance when they come home from their bondage. It is an Exodus on a global even a cosmic scale.
Notice, especially, however, the change of pronoun in verse 11. Who is being spoken of as the one who accomplishes this new Exodus? Who does it? It’s not God. God is the speaker. It’s not Israel or Judah who are refer to constantly here in the third person plural: “them,” “they.” Someone Zechariah designates “he” –“he will pass through the sea of troubles and strike down the waves of the sea,” he will undergo this new Exodus by which redemption will be secured for the people of God. Who is this one, this “he” who will redeem God’s people? It’s the one called the cornerstone, back in verse 4. It’s the king who comes riding on a donkey in chapter 9 in verse 9. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who calms the waves and passes through the sea of troubles and does it supremely at the cross for us and for our salvation. He is the paschal lamb who takes away the sin of the world. In the great compassion and love of God, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He gave himself to the suffering of judgment that sinners like me, like you, might be pardoned. And, a new and ultimate Exodus, a true and final redemption might be accomplished for us all. God saves us because he loves us. And, because he loves us, he sent Jesus to die for us.
No Separation….
And those twin motives stand as unbreakable cords that bind you to him forever. You are his and he will never let you go. What therefore can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? Nothing. Not tribulation. Not distress or persecution. Or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Nothing. Neither death nor life. Nor angels nor rulers. Nor things present or things to come. Nor powers. Nor height nor depth. Nor anything else in all creation. Nothing. You are eternally loved. You are blood-bought sheep in the Good Shepherd’s fold. If you are a believer in Jesus you are safe and secure in the unbreakable grip of the Master’s hand.
- Salvation’s Fruit
Salvation’s basis. Salvation’s call. Salvation’s motives. And, then, finally, salvation’s fruit. Let me simply list these and then we’re done. There are several here. Let me just highlight three of them. First, here’s what happens when God saves and restores us. First, we will enjoy restored communion with God. Verse 6 again: “They shall be as though I had not rejected them. I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.” Restored communion with God is what you get when he saves you, intimacy with him. So that the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of sonship dwells in our hearts and we cry out, “Abba, Father!” and he hears us. Secondly, joy will be a mark of our lives. Those who have been redeemed have reasons and grounds for joy. Verse 7: “Their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it. Their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.” Christians, of all the people in the world, have a reason for joy. It ought to show, don’t you think, every now and again, Presbyterian or not, it ought to show. Joy! You have been saved and rescued and adopted into the family and household of the king of glory. You are his child. Rejoice. And, then, thirdly, obedience instead of rebellion will be our characteristic pattern. Verse 12: “I will make them strong in the Lord and they will walk in his name.” You’ll walk in his name because he will make you strong. There’s grace to obey, to say “no” to sin and “yes” to obedience. You are new. The old is gone, the new has come if you are in Christ. You do not look like who you once were. You are a new creature. And, obedience will be your characteristic pattern.
A New Creation: Resolved to Live for the Glory of God
Like following an old map, out of date, too often our distorted vision of the basis and call and motives and fruits of God’s salvation leads us astray, doesn’t it? We might, perhaps have missed the free gracious character of God’s saving gift in Jesus. We’ve missed it. We think we have to earn it. And, so, we’re burdened with shame and guilt and failure. We might think we must somehow qualify for the love of the Father. And, so, we find ourselves fearful and robbed of assurance, wondering deep down if God the Father isn’t still suspicious of us. How we need to take in the crystal clear satellite image Zechariah 10:6-12 gives us that shows us the whole landscape from his eternal purpose and motives in the heart of God all the way through the cross all the way into your life changing you so that you bear fruit. Take it all in. See what God has done. Helping us see that salvation is all a free gift to any and all who trust in Jesus; helping us rest in the underlying, impenetrable, unfathomable love and compassion of God towards us in Christ; helping us rest in the complete, perfect redemption won by Jesus. When you do you’ll know yourself safe and secure. And, you’ll find yourself filled with gladness and resolved to live for his glory. May the Lord help you to lift your eyes to the hills and see where your safety comes from. Your safety comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. And may true communion with him, joy in his service, and obedience to his commands mark the rest of your days to the honor and glory of his name. Let’s pray together.
Abba, Father, we confess when we take our eyes from the cross we are sometimes led to believe that your love is capricious and fickle and contingent on our goodness and qualifications. When we look at ourselves we find our assurance undermined and our hearts trembling with doubts. So we bow down before you and ask you to help us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. That you would help us to live every day from here on within sight of Calvary, to keep in view the great demonstration of your love in Jesus Christ crucified. And, in this security it gives us, make us bold to live for your praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.