The City of Truth, Pt. 5

Ronald Weinland

March 2, 2024

Today is the continuation, and this will be the final portion. This is Part 5 of The City of Truth.

Again, this series is about the name God refers to concerning what He is creating in the spiritual city concerning Jerusalem and Mount Zion (it’s referred to), or Zion, calling it the City of Truth. And that was, basically, the inspiration for this particular series. And especially because we’re going through parts of the book of Zechariah now. There is so much that is in the Old Testament that oftentimes we can read through and not grasp that so much of it is for right now, it’s for the end time.

Herbert Armstrong understood that so much of prophecy was about the end-time, the vast majority of it, and so much of it is for the end of the end-time, if you will, which is what we’re living through.  So, we’re going to continue on today and see how some of those things apply even more so.

We ended last Sabbath covering the types of horses mentioned in the Seals of Revelation in Revelation 6 which correspond to the same description of these horses here in Zechariah 6. So, Revelation 6, Zechariah 6, it’s talking about basically the same symbolism in the horses and what they mean concerning the things that have happened here toward the end in the sense of those first four Seals.

Anyway, we’re going to pick it up here in Zechariah 6:1—Then I turned and lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there came four horses or four chariots out from between two mountains.

So, to me it’s an awesome thing sometimes when God gives us more to grasp and understand, putting various things together. Even though some of these things we know and understand, like mountains (what it means), but when we understand this is talking about the Church, its prophecy, then it means even more. So, when it talks about “two mountains” and especially of brass if you will, or bronze as it is in so many scriptures…

I was asked last Sabbath here, I believe it was, about why “brass,” I was using “brass.” Because that’s what it says in the King James Version. Most other versions put down “bronze.” So, I thought I’d just give a little bit of a description here of the difference between the two.

Several translations, again, give it as “bronze” instead of “brass.” And “bronze,” I’ll just give this, “is composed of copper and tin.” And “brass” is composed of copper and zinc – for brass, and bronze is copper and tin. Don’t know the difference but bronze is harder. So, that makes more sense when you see military items and so forth being used. The other is a little more flexible. Bronze is harder, and that’s what was used as far as some of the kinds of weapons and when you’re talking about chariots and the like.

But when it talks about the mountains here, too, showing that, we read in I think it was Ezekiel last Sabbath where it talks about a compilation of some of the different metals and the like, and it talks about dross, which is when you’re talking about smelting or melting silver and you want to get those other metals out of there, this is part of the process.

And here in Zechariah, it’s using the example of bronze being as dross and the need for both mountains to be purified. Because, if we understand, this is for the end-time. This is for the period of Laodicea that led up to the Apostasy and those horses that came out. The first four Seals of Revelation are about those particular horses coming out that had to do with what happened in the Church and the Apostasy.

This is the same thing except written in a little bit different way because it’s showing that both had problems! Those who wanted to change everything, those of a different government, they were being drawn to a particular leader, the man of sin, the son of perdition. But the other was polluted and that was the big problem. And there was a lot of dross in the period of Laodicea that got worse and worse and worse until there was an ability to even have an Apostasy within the environment of the Church.

So, both had to make changes. That’s why I love some of these things when God gives us to understand it, both had bronze, (brass/bronze, whatever it was), dross that had to be cleansed or taken out of it for that portion that could have it taken out later on.

So, that’s what it’s talking about here as we go through these “four chariots came out from between the mountains.” Again, war. And that’s what these are about. Those horses, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, that’s what it’s about, it’s about war. But it was about the Church, not about the world, which we used to think within the Church until God gave it to us late on after we’d gone through it.

So much of what we’re given it’s after we’ve already gone through it He shows us what we experienced. That’s why a third of the Church couldn’t grasp “How could this be, if this is God’s Church, that something like this happened?” Well, God lets us understand that later on, why it could be, why it was, why it took place, but again, you have to hold on to the best you can with what you have at any moment in time and God will clarify it in His time when you’re going through very hard times such as that one there (which we will never go through again).

So, I lifted up my eyes and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. Again, I love the description there because people were going into two different groups and getting ready for battle in a very big way.

In the first chariot were red horses, the second chariot black horses. Again, understanding that that’s talking about famine, the famine of God’s word. I think it’s in Amos where it talks about that was going to happen at the end-time, where there’d be a famine but not a famine in the sense of what we would think of in a physical way but a famine of His word. And that was happening throughout the period of Laodicea.

So many in the ministry quit teaching things that we’d been given, truths that we’d been given. By the time we got to the end of Laodicea, there were very few that were teaching the fact that there were eras in God’s Church. It’s like that was all gone and lost or poopah’d. And there are reasons for that if you can understand why people wouldn’t uphold a certain teaching if they began to think that might apply to them. “You’re Laodicea, it’s all around you.” And because of an inability to address that? Well, anyway.

So, in the first chariot red horses, the second black horses, the third chariot white horses. Again, mixing it up a little bit different here for a reason than the Seals. That’s a very specific order that was given there. But to understand this is another matter.

The white horses, again, the false teachers that were coming up within the Church. False teachings as a result of that, famine.

…and in the fourth chariot graying bay (reddish brown horses, if you will). And that really isn’t the right word there, but we’ll come back to that in a moment. But “graying.” In other words, we get old. We were talking about that coming in here today, people talking about grey hair. It happens. But oftentimes with different animals like this, especially a horse, some of those things because their span of life is shorter it begins to show in their health very quickly. And this is about that which is sickly, in that respect, and what happens as a result of that.

Then I responded and asked the angel that spoke to me, What are these, my lord? So, now the explanation begins to come out in a manner that’s different (in part) than what’s given in Revelation. Still the same four but this is the first it’s ever addressed, right here.

I was going to read this – I want to make sure I don’t leave something out because it’s important to cover all these parts here and I’ve already said a lot of this, but I want to make sure that everything is in here so that we can better grasp what we’re about to go into as we go into it.

So, the expressions used at the end of this verse are a perfect example of how some things can only be translated correctly in the context or if the context is known. Now that’s an important thing to grasp, that you can’t just plug something in like knowing this is a matter of the Seals as well, these same horses, but you have to understand the context here in Zechariah and what’s being covered in order to translate something properly.

That’s why so many things are mistranslated in the Bible in so many areas. Because they don’t know God’s plan. They don’t know the truth. So, how do you translate something into…? You can’t just do it by words, and that’s what they did with the best of understanding that they might have with their ideas of God, which were totally screwed up when you talk about that big church and what they began to translate and things that were translated into Latin and on and on it goes, and then later on into English after so many hundreds of years with things mistranslated in the first place. Then they’re translating bad translations as well so it’s a mess.

So, here, who would know that the context is about a horrible period of time within God’s very Church that would go through the worst event, speaking of the Apostasy, on a spiritual plane that has ever occurred? So, if you don’t know that then how can you translate that properly? So, by going back and understanding that that God has given to us, this is the end-time, this is about that which is going to lead up to the Apostasy and on, after that.

So, this is about a symbolism of four types of horses, events that would go throughout all the Church to cause the most significant spiritual destruction ever in God’s Church. That’s incredible to understand. There was never a time like that before. There will never be another time like it.

These did indeed “go forth throughout the earth,” throughout the Worldwide Church of God. So, sometimes when we read things we can think this is happening – and that’s why it was interpreted this way, much of it – Matthew 24, it’s the world, it’s things happening in the world, it’s happening on a physical plane and there are physical wars. And it’s not about any of that. It’s about that which is happening in God’s Church on a spiritual plane around the world wherever God’s people have been called, whether it be Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, throughout different parts of Africa, Europe, whatever it might be, it’s happening all over the world. That’s why these kinds of terms are used.

So, “throughout.” So, it did go throughout the earth, throughout the Worldwide Church of God as large numbers set themselves against God—because that was happening—against the Church and against Christ, obviously, becoming antiChrist, not even understanding what was taking place in their lives.

The term “from standing before,” that’s used up here in the expression that “they go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth,” is a term that’s often translated as to “present or to stand before someone or something.” So, when you look at these and different ones that set themselves to stand before God, it’s not so much in His presence, but it’s against God. Those first four horses and what they represent and what was happening with the Church is totally against God. It’s against Christ. It’s against the truth of God’s Church.

So, again here, literally in what it means, “they set them,” and even in scripture here the Greek word or the Hebrew words mean “to set or station oneself to take one’s stand.” And people began to take their stand against the truth. This began to happen on a widescale basis. And when that sermon went out in Atlanta tons of ministers across the country, finally their true colors began to come out and they took their stand finally to be known that this is what they believed. Unimaginable. And it was on a spiritual plane, of a spirit. Not from God, from Satan.

That’s why some of those scriptures we have read in times past come to life in an incredible way, of what took place in God’s own Church, a lot of power that was there.

So, in this case, because of what these represent, they do take their stand before God as in taking their stand against God’s way, against God’s truth.

So, Zechariah 6:5 again, So then the angel answered and said unto me, These are four spirits of the heavens, which go forth to take their sand before or against the Lord of all the earth. The black horses therein go forth into the north country. We’ve never known what all these things mean and yet here recently then God has helped us to understand what this is about. A lot of it because we went through what? Some stories here recently about Elijah and about Elisha, and a lot of things were brought out about the north country that they were in.

It's talking about Israel. And if you know the history of Israel it’s not hard to grasp and understand what this means on a spiritual plane. What do they represent? Going against God. Going against God’s Holy Days, going against God’s Sabbath, going against God’s truth. This is what their entire history was. Every king, it said, “followed the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.”

It makes a point with every king, to make this point this is what they all did, this is what the nation was known for in the north. Meaning, if you look at the area, Judah was in the south, Israel was in the north. Represents everything that’s bad, everything that’s wrong, everything that turns against God. All their leaders, everything.

So, it says here, The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country. Famine.

So, before we get to what is revealed in Revelation 6, which puts these in a specific order that’s unique and different because it’s a matter of the most powerful part of that which begins with the man of sin, the son of perdition, this is showing more of what leads into it.

They came forth, they began to take their stand. But they started to take their stand, many of them, in deception and in lying long before. Most of those who made the quick change as far as the ministry was concerned, they had already made plans two years in advance to change everything that they could.

And when Mr. Tkach went down to Atlanta, he did it a little quicker than what they were prepared for; they weren’t ready for it yet. That’s why a lot of the literature that came out in the beginning there was messed up like it was and not well thought out, because they were caught off guard because he kind of jumped the gun and gave that sermon ahead of time.

Because it was God’s time. Things were to happen exactly the way God was going to have them happen or allow them to happen, but in His time. He was going to let them do it, but it was going to be in His time, not in their time. God’s control of all of those things, especially when it concerns His own Church.

So, the black horses: They were teaching screwed-up things several years in advance, privately in certain churches. The one in Atlanta was teaching this stuff long before. As a matter of fact, the minister down there had a good friend in Detroit, minister up there, and these tapes were going up there to Detroit. We didn’t even know this! And when we got transferred then into Toledo in 1994 this junk was already in the Toledo church, and we didn’t even know it. People were listening to these tapes for two years!

So, it was so easy for them to make this change. They were already against the truth. They were all ready to change ideas about the Holy Days and the Sabbath and everything else. They’d already been programmed for two years.

So, we got transferred from one mess into a greater one. We just didn’t know it until it… Well, there is an expression about something hitting the fan.

So, it was famine. People were getting weaker and weaker because of what they were teaching. The people in Detroit for two years were getting weaker and weaker. The people in Toledo that we went to serve were getting weaker and weaker, their minds. The things that they’d been taught, the truths that they’d been given through Herbert Armstrong had gone by the wayside. They were ready for a change. They were wanting a change. They were ready for this new stuff, the majority were.

I will never forget sitting in that audience and when that sermon was played and people were almost Pentecostal in nature, in the way they were responding. It was like, this was some weird stuff. Because people were ready for it. And I’m not… I wish I could remember some of the expressions that were given there at that particular point in time out loud, but it was verging on the side of being Pentecostal. Well, the reason for that is because there were spirit beings there. A lot of power in the different churches across the country. And that kind of power, when people are ready for it, it takes control.

That’s why so many ministers, we would talk to them on one day and we were close, and we were friends, and we held the same (we thought) the same truths together. Then they would talk to Joe Jr. for three or four hours and the next day we would talk to them, literally someone would talk to them, and we didn’t know them. There was no resemblance of who they were.

That’s what happens when that spirit power is given that kind of power when you go against Christ. When you become antiChrist.

That’s why I believe with all my being what God began to give us at the Feast this year is for a great purpose, to show that people who go that far, as a whole, ministers that began to turn against Christ and began to teach that kind of swill and garbage to God’s people, it’s not a small thing. You can’t put Christ to death a second time. So, where are they? They become set in the mind. So many of them are condemned already because of what they did.

It’s like Satan, he didn’t want to change. After he did what he did the first time, that’s all it took. But when you’re in God’s Church and you’re impregnated with God’s spirit, that’s not a small thing. To have God’s holy spirit dwelling within you and then you turn against that, and you begin to teach or accept something different, you go back to Christmas and Easter and all the other garbage that’s out there? How do you think God receives that? What do you think that does to the mind that has the impregnation of God’s spirit?

It’s a destruction that you don’t want to experience. That’s why those other beings have the power they do over such individuals with false doctrine.

So, this is how it started. So, several years in advance, not just two, because those two years when they started planning some of this stuff it was already in the works not long after Herbert Armstrong died. They wanted a change… or certain ones who hated God’s Church.

Some of these who were put into positions of responsibility and power grew up within the environment of God’s Church, went to Imperial Schools, which Imperial Schools were kind of the high school if you will, or the school if you will, all the way through until they got out of what would be called high school. Imperial School. And they hated the teachings of the Church. They hated them. Their minds were so set against Herbert Armstrong they wanted them changed long before. So, when they got into positions of power with the deception they were using…? Incredible how this even happened. But anyway, it’s our history.

So again, The black horses went forth into the north country. So, what does that mean? There were people out there receptive to going back to Christmas, to going back to Easter, to going back to Sunday. They were in the north country already as far as their minds were concerned, in the body… Well, they weren’t in the Body of Christ anymore. I’ll just put that candidly. They were no longer in the Body of Christ. They weren’t even in the courtyard. They weren’t even close. They had gone off on long trips in the opposite direction.

…and the white went forth after them. So, what’s that about? This is about the ministers into the north country teaching all this garbage. So, because people were already of that mindset, because there were already people out there themselves who didn’t care for, didn’t want, or were becoming… They were lukewarm. And the more lukewarm you are the worse you become, the closer to the cold you get, the farther away from the truth you are then you bring along the false teachers and so forth teaching this new stuff and they are receptive ears. They’re ready.

That’s what this is about. So, they all, basically, went together. They were right behind them. In other words, this all had to go together. That’s why a lukewarm spirit is so dangerous. And you can’t allow that in your life.

This isn’t over with. What we’re going through, the measuring, just like it talks about here, the measuring of the temple, whenever you’re called into God’s Church the measuring begins. You’re being measured and prepared. And it’s not just a quick cut like we might have, as an example in construction ourselves, if you will. It’s a preparation to fit into place that goes on for years and years and years, and we have to be pliable, we have to be able to be molded into whatever it is that God is doing in our life, to yield ourself to that process so that when it comes time we’ll fit right into place.

So, it says here “they went after them,” the white, which was the First Seal if you will then in Revelation.

So, the black horses (famine) which are in therein, go forth into the north country, and the white (false ministers and so forth, teachers) went forth after them, and the… It says “grizzled” in the King James but it’s a word that means “graying, speckled or streaking gray hair.” In other words, they’re getting older, and this is starting to come out in them and it’s starting to show in them.

…and the graying… It goes on to say here, and the graying… And this word is not “bay,” like we read before. This is a different word. It’s actually a word that means “strong.” So, it’s not even bringing in the other horse in their respective… the color at this point in time being the same horse, it just says about the graying (strong) went forth toward the south country.

Well, what’s that all about? Well, we know that the “south country” that it’s talking about here when you look at the south and the north, it’s either Judah or it’s Israel to the north. That’s the prophetic part of the Old Testament, all the prophets.

So, when they talked about anything in the south they all knew where it was. We know where it is. We know it was in the north and what they represent.

So again here, “they went forth into the south country,” Judah, and this is what followed. The destruction that followed was the Apostasy. So, all these things began ahead of time. This is leading up to, and that’s why it’s different in Revelation in the order. This is a matter of something that preceded everything that made the way possible for a bad, evil, whatever, power, false spirit, power to work in the environment of God’s Church.

And then the south country? Well, it’s that other mountain, if you will. Being as weak as it was then it began to attack there as well.

So, when you talk about the third and a third and a third, there is a purpose for that. The one third, that we maybe call “in the south.”

Those who quit, well, that’s the north. They didn’t try to hold on to the truth. Those who accepted everything, that’s all up from the north.

But there is that which was scattered throughout the world, in that respect, that would be considered as a part of Judah on a spiritual plane at this point in time (and that’s what it’s talking about), but so weak that this began to work upon the rest of the Church.

So, that’s all that Zechariah is talking about here in Zechariah 6.

So, “the graying,” and it makes it very clear here, “strong.” It was a strong power that worked in the environment of the Church. Look at what happened. Look at how that one mountain was divided up into over six hundred very quickly, six hundred different governments, channeling and breaking up in different areas, a whole lot more in that before it was over with. Horrible, what took place.

So, in actuality, in truth, the red is not even mentioned here as it was before, “the red” if you will like it is in ahead of time here or later on. Because this wasn’t to be given until later on in the book of Revelation about some of the meaning of these different horses and what was taking place.

And primarily because we didn’t know what it was until after it’d already taken place. And then we begin to understand what they represented and what they were for. And the red is about the killing of one another. That’s what that horse was about if you look at the Seals of Revelation and go back to the things God revealed to us very early on. The red is about the power to kill within God’s Church, one another. How people treated each other, how people looked upon each other, ministers that were out here teaching the wrong things, and especially those who went in throughout Judah.

The one group that primarily we joined together with up there in the Toledo area and Detroit area, United, it was guesstimated that nearly half the ministry believed in a 14th/15th Passover. So, what kind of condition existed in God’s Church at that time? It was horrible! They didn’t change when they were corrected. They wanted to teach some of these things, some did, and they kind of got in trouble because there were others who had the power, if you will. and they were causing a divisiveness that they didn’t want to address at that point in time. They did a little bit later, sort of. It wasn’t real strong as far as doctrine is concerned and making it real clear, but at least started to make some kind of a stand there in some of that and tried to quiet some of those individuals who were teaching that. But they didn’t change.

And everybody who believed that, they didn’t change. Because when people accept a false doctrine like that, unless you can repent and God receives it and you begin to have the truth in your life fully and completely, strong, growing stronger within the Body, you won’t change. You can’t change that. Because the truth comes from God. The ability to address false doctrine in your mind, false ideas, to change those things to get right with God requires God’s spirit. You can’t do it on your own no matter how many books they might have written about it. Their minds were set, and they weren’t going to change. None of those ministers changed. Incredible.

It's horrible to be spiritually weak. It’s horrible to be of a Laodicean spirit. It’s horrible to coast in God’s Church. That’s why I’ve been talking about that here recently. Don’t coast in the Church just trying to pass time and waiting for the end to come. Be on fire for God’s way of life! Be on fire for the truth that you have! Understand how valuable it is. Don’t just take it for granted. Pray to God, look to God for help that you’re able to keep a hold of it.

That’s why it’s important to go over these things from time to time and look at them, digest them, to understand how valuable the truth is to you. Because when you start losing it or it becomes kind of weak in your life then that person is becoming weak spiritually and can lose it all just like that.

That’s why this isn’t over until it’s over. You’re not in God’s Kingdom until you’re in God’s Kingdom. And even for those who live on you’ve got to keep fighting. But you’re going to see some things that are going to stir you up in a way that’s going to sober you so much that you’re going to keep fighting because you’ll have experienced some of the worst times of human history. And you’ll know…you’ll know about God and the power of God and His Kingdom because that’s what you’ve believed in. That’s what you’ve held on to and you’re not going to let go once the Millennium is here. You’re going to be much, much stronger, able to handle the recognition of who you were.

That’s what God’s going to make sure of. With everybody that goes through this, either in that resurrection… And if you live on, you’re going to be more of a humble spirit where you’re not going to be wanting to receive the notice of everybody else. You’re not going to let it go to your head, which has happened to so many people in time through God’s Church.

The vast majority of people I’ve ever known in God’s Church – I’ll just be clear about that – have let this stuff go to their head, themselves becoming lifted up with their own self-importance. You can never let that happen in your mind, in your life.

That’s why the giant difference between Herbert Armstrong and Joe Tkach. When they began to clap in the audience Herbert Armstrong would correct them and make them sit down and have them stop doing that. Why? It’s not good for them and it wasn’t good for him. That’s why. A different mindset.

Joe, however? I’ll never forget Buffalo. I can see the auditorium in my mind when we were up there and people were cheering and clapping and he said, “Oh, come on! You can do better than that!” Who do you think you are?! Well, he was exactly what he was portraying, the man of sin, the son of perdition even then before it happened. Because you don’t do that in God's Church, you don’t try to receive the gratification or the recognition or the applause of other people. That’s not what this way of life is about.

The recognition? There are so many people who have wanted to be teachers in God’s Church. You don’t want that. If God put you there, take it soberly. But it’s not something you desire to have because you want to be recognized because of what you’re doing because it’s like it’s a great thing. No, there are a lot of headaches that go with it. There is a lot of sorrow that goes with it, a lot of sobriety that has to go with it. But sometimes we don’t understand that.

I’m sorry but I think about our history, and it riles me up because I know that can still exist, and I know it still does in part because it can never be totally gone until we come right up to the Millenium. That’s why this is going to continue to happen right up to Christ’s coming. Hard to understand how that could be possible, but it is. Because God’s put it up here; that’s how I know it.

So again, the graying horses are equivalent to the – I don’t know where I left off here – but the killing of one another. Oh yeah, killing of one another. That’s what really got me in the very early stages of something that God was showing, was the book of Ezekiel and what the ministers were doing and being guilty of the blood of others. You think, guilty of the blood of… And it was spiritual. It was talking about that which is spiritual, not something physical that was being done, killing people.

It’s one thing to take physical life in the kinds of things that have happened in times past in Israel and Judah, and all the battles and so forth. But when something happens on a spiritual plane, and you are taking someone’s life? That’s horrifying on a spiritual plane.

So, the graying horses are equivalent to the Fourth Seal described as the pale horse, the ashen, if you will, in Revelation. That’s the term that’s used in the Greek there. Ashen or gray, if you will, areas on the body of the horse, when you start seeing that take place.

…And his name of him who sat on him was death and hell, or the grave. So, it’s the end result of all this and that which when everything else is combined together, all three of the first Seals. That’s why we understood the Fourth Seal, everything that took place, the destruction, all three of them, that’s what they were causing, great destruction within God’s Church.

So again here, verse 6—The black horses which are therein go forth to the north country, and the white, again, the ministers, went forth after them; and the graying (strong) went forth into the south country.

And now it says it again, So, the strong… Well, they all were given incredible strength. So, it’s not just referring to one horse type here like it was, like it seemed to, if you will. It’s talking about this is what they had, they had tremendous power and strength.

If you can basically go in and destroy God’s Church, two-thirds of it, in one fell swoop, that’s a lot of power. And God allowed it to happen. And we did it to ourselves. That’s the horrible part. That’s what we all had to come to see, who came out of the Apostasy or through it. Was that we were all guilty, every one of us, for getting lax and spiritually sluggish and asleep, if you will, on a spiritual plane.

We weren’t on fire like we should have been for God’s way. We didn’t grasp what had been given to us through Herbert Armstrong. Oh, we understood various truths and so forth on a certain plane but to really grasp their value and to hold on to them and continue to have them in front of us? It began to go by the wayside; we were getting weaker and weaker throughout the Church. Horrible.

So, anyone that came through the Apostasy has to repent. All those who are scattered have never come to that yet; they won’t accept the truth though many of them have known it at different times, if not most. But when you have to admit you were a Laodicean, when you have to admit you fell asleep, when you have to admit you became lukewarm, that’s real repentance. When you can see yourself for what you are and you acknowledge it before God, because God says that’s what you are, and if you say, “Yes, I see it. Thank you, God in heaven, for showing me what I was, that we are guilty.”

It’s not God’s fault what happened to the Church! That’s what happened to so many people, a third of them, “If this is God’s Church, how could this happen! Couldn’t God have prevented this from ever happening in His Church?!”

Yes, He could have. But it wasn’t for that purpose. It was so people could make choices. Because sometimes you have to go through fire, and it forces you to come out with what’s really in here. What do you really believe? Where do you really stand? And if you’ve had thirty, forty, twenty years in God’s Church you should know by that time where you are. But many were deceived by that point, or many were getting so weak they didn’t know.

And so, God brought it to a head, “This is where you are. You’re all being spewed out of My mouth!” All disfellowshipped. Everyone was disfellowshipped from the Church of God. Everyone! That’s what it amounted to. When God says, “I’ve spewed you out of My mouth,” that means being separated from His spirit, from His presence, from His life living within us. That’s a horrifying thing! Scary in every way when you want and believe the things you had believed, and it makes repentance a whole lot easier then. But you’ve got to be of a humble spirit to want to do it.

Anyway, let’s continue on or I’ll never get through this.

This is about us. This is about this age. It’s what it’s about. So much of Zechariah, it’s about us, it’s about what happened at the end. It has some other things in here as well that started with Christ, but it was to go all the way through to the end, but these are the things that happened at the end, if you will, and we’re to learn from them.

So, the strong went forth toward the south country. As it says up here even about “the graying,” and then the strong (verse 7) went out as they sought to walk throughout the earth. So, wherever the Church was this is where all this power was set forth to go. It wanted to be there; it tried to go there to destroy.

Then He said, Go, and walk throughout the earth. So, they walked throughout the earth. So, God gave them the ability to go throughout the earth. Everyone in God’s Church was affected by it. Everyone had to address what was happening one way or the other. Whether it was just to give up and go by the wayside or whether it was to go on and accept protestantism again, whatever it was, or to try to have their own protestantism within the protestant world (which is what some did).

Verse 8—Then he called unto me, and spoke unto me, saying, See, these that go forward or toward the north country have quieted My spirit in the north country. So, basically, once this judgment was executed to go throughout the earth because God told them to… In other words, God didn’t try to stop it. Why? It’s the silver, and the dross has to be removed. And only the silver is supposed to remain. And the measuring of the temple – because the measuring we read about is about the measuring of the temple. And some of the greatest of measuring had to take place at the end-time, if you will. That’s what it’s talking about.

So, once the judgment was executed to go throughout all the earth, throughout the earth, then a time of great measuring took place, a time of great refining of the bronze that needed to be purified, taken out of the silver if you will, and that which could not be purified then it becomes clear.

What did God say to Laodicea? “I would that you were cold or hot. So, because you’re not you’re going to get vomited out of My mouth,” in essence. And that’s what it led to. And so, the expression here is used of “quieting His spirit.” It’s “to make clear.” Just as with Laodicea, that which is lukewarm, that which is not hot or cold, something had to change. “Wish that you were hot or cold, but you’re just lukewarm.” Can’t accept it.

So, those who went through that period of time had to go through a process, and thank God there are those who came through it that God has brought into and called as a remnant. If you’re blessed to be a part of a remnant, that’s incredible, because there aren’t many who have been blessed to be a part of it. If you’ve been snatched out of the fire like a branding iron out of the fire, thank God for it because He’s the one who did it to help you, to give you that opportunity.

But you know what? You can take courage as well because you had to make the choice. Because we’ve had a lot of people come along who started and didn’t keep at it. It’s a choice. Others have not been able to make that choice even though they were given opportunity.

Verse 9—Then the word of the Eternal came unto me, saying, Take, it says, “of the captivity.” That’s not what it’s saying. It’s not the right words. Basically, in Hebrew, it’s literally “exile.” The word means “exile”; “the state of being,” literally, what the definition is, “the state of being barred from one's native country,” the Church, if you see that, “typically for political or punitive reasons.”

We were in exile for a while. When you’re spewed out of God’s mouth, you are in exile. You’re not in God’s Church! What an awesome thing when you can become part of it once again, when you can repent, and God forgives you of your sins. That’s what this is talking about.

Take of them of the exile, of Heldai. It’s not a person. It’s what it means: “the world.” Take of them of the exile in the world. Wherever they’re scattered, because they went throughout the entire earth and we’re scattered all over the place. That’s what it’s about.

…of Tobijah. “Yah is my God,” It’s talking about Yahweh. So, there were those who acknowledged that. There were those who were brought to repentance. “Yahweh is my God.” You have to make that choice. You have to make that… When you’re given that opportunity you’re going to strive to do what God says.

…and Jedaiah. “Yah has known…” “That Yah has known” of the exile. He’s known us all at one time before the Apostasy took place, if we were indeed baptized, received the impregnation of God’s spirit. There’s a lot said here just in the meaning of these names and what took place. Awesome, to understand what’s being said. Take of those who were of God, take of those who were scattered in essence, a part of the exile now.

“…of Tobijah.” “Yah is my good.” Literally, that’s what it means. “Yahweh is my good.” When you’re able to say that, when you believe that and you’re able to repent. Because you can only say that at that time period especially, if you’ve repented. Everything that’s good comes from God. Everything I have that’s right and good comes from God Almighty.

“…and of Jedaiah.” “That God has known.” I already read that.

…which are come from Babylon. Come out of confusion, if you will. Because we had mass confusion once the Apostasy took place. We were a mess! That’s why I love what it says in Revelation 12 when you go through it and you discuss some of the things there that talk about the power that Satan had and it sums up a long period of time there, bringing it down to the end of what it has to say because it addresses what took place during the Apostasy, and we were protected from that being for three and a half years, from the dragon, from the devil, from Satan. Awesome!

We were given protection for three and a half years in order to get settled within God’s Church. That’s why we have made it a point that we became unified once again under God as God’s Church in 1998. Very specific. I think it says Pentecost if I got that right. Awesome! Three and a half years later finally we’d gone through enough, that Satan was kept from us (that’s what Revelation 12 was about), Satan was kept from us, he didn’t have any power, he wasn’t given any ability to come at us in any fashion or form. We had the time we needed to become established once again, which we had… We needed that time to become established, to become stronger again. Awesome!

…which came from Babylon—and come the same day and go into the house of Josiah. It’s God’s house. “Yah supports.” “Yahweh gives the power.” “Yahweh gives the help we need.” Awesome. …Yah supports the son or the children of Zephaniah that Yah has treasured. God loves His people. He treasures those who seek to follow Him. He treasures those who yield themself to Him. He treasures those who continue to fight for Him. Awesome!

So, when you read through these things, and we have in times past, when we see people’s names we don’t know what it means. Until last week, two weeks ago, I didn’t know what it meant. Had no idea whatsoever. Matter of fact, I think I mentioned in one of those sermons that unless God gives it we don’t know what it is. And this was what I was talking about. Because I was going through some things there and thinking, there are parts of it, it’s very clear what it’s about, but other parts, how does it fit? Then all of a sudden there it is.

Verse 11—Then take silver and gold and make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, “The Eternal who is righteous,” the High Priest. So, again, “Of the Eternal, who is righteous.” His Son. Incredible!

So, it’s an awesome story as you go through here and read some of these things and what God has been doing from the very beginning. Well, the next few verses here, let’s read it: Then speak unto him, saying, Thus says the Eternal of hosts, saying, See the man whose name is the BRANCH! And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Eternal. So, for the past two thousand years that’s been his job, his primary function, High Priest, to do those things in the building, preparing that temple.

Even he shall build the temple of the Eternal, and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. So again, it’s this mind and power that we can’t fully grasp, of what Christ was made before he was even baptized, and then he was baptized and had the impregnation of God’s spirit in his being, in his mind. And we can’t understand his mind before that let alone afterward. We get portions of it; we get a taste of it.

They who are afar off shall come and build in the temple. An expression that’s been used for the past two thousand years. Paul talked about some of this, and different expressions that are used, “to those who are near,” “and to those who are afar off.” It’s in the Old Testament. It’s in the New Testament. And it’s over a vast period of time because over six thousand years the temple has been in the process of being built. But the last two thousand years an intensification of that, a growing portion of that if you will because of so many that have been brought into the Church over the past two thousand years and Christ working with in that fashion as it’s talking about here.

“And he is the one who is building the temple.” That’s what it’s talking about here. And then this portion here about “Those who are afar off shall come and build in the temple.” So, wherever we’re scattered as God’s people or wherever we are when God begins to call us and we begin to be worked with, an awesome thing to understand we’re part of building God’s temple. You have to yield yourself to it. When God calls you, especially if it’s for the first resurrection, and if it’s for later on, it’s still a portion to begin, the construction of what God is building, but it’s about this construction that’s taking place.

We have work to do. We’re not just a piece of construction material that’s put into a spot. We have a part in the formation of that piece. We have to yield ourselves to what is being molded and fashioned in us. It’s an awesome thing to understand. A part of a spiritual temple, that we have a portion of to do our part. Because if we’re not doing our part we can’t be in the temple! So, we have to work to build in the temple.

What a beautiful thing that it’s not just all being done, and we have no part in it. We all have a part in it. Should embrace that and be thankful for that. We all have a part in it, and this is the piece we have to work on. And it’s not such a pretty piece when we start working on it. And slowly but surely, it gets better and better until finally, it’s ready to be put in place.

They that are afar off, who are afar off should come and build in the temple of the Eternal. And you shall know that the Eternal of hosts has sent me unto you. It shall come to pass if you will diligently obey the voice of the Eternal… If you will diligently obey the voice of the Eternal your God. So again, always a matter of choices in our calling from the beginning to the end, to when it’s over.

Zechariah 7:8—Then the word of the Eternal came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus says the Eternal of hosts, saying… I’m just going to read it as it is in Hebrew because this is… It doesn’t say, “Execute true judgment.” It’s just worded a little differently. Thus says the Eternal of hosts, Judge the judgment of truth. “Judge the judgment of truth.” Wow! We’ve just gone through talking about truth. I didn’t know this was here. I didn’t know what this word meant until last week.

You think, wow, this is powerful what is being said, “Judge the judgment of truth.” We’re told to learn how to judge according to God’s word. Not our way, not our way of seeing things but to make sure that it’s according to the things that God has given. And so much of that has to do with how we judge one another. Because we have to judge. But we have to do it God’s way.

Various matters, various things that come up in life, how do you address it, how do you deal with it? What about our relationships? Are we doing… Are we doing things the way God says to, through how we’re judging that it’s unified, at one with God?

Judge the judgment of truth and show mercy. Grace. We talked about grace. Mercy is a part of that. Loving others, it’s a part of that same thing. But to show mercy, that means the opposite of being hard and harsh on people. It’s far better to be merciful and err on the side of mercy if need be. Let God take care of certain things unless you have a responsibility in a certain area. Then you’ve got to cry out to God even more so to do it the right way. But as a whole, this is how we’re to live within the Body of Christ.

I think of some more sermons we have coming up later here. I think of the Unleavened Bread sermon and so forth, and awesome, what we’re given.

…and show mercy and compassions everyone to their brother. It’s in the Body of Christ, to have that mind of being compassionate and giving people time and space. We all make mistakes. We all do things. None of us are perfect. And if we get to know people that’s why sometimes, “familiarity,” this term, “breeds contempt.” And sometimes people begin to treat someone in a different way because they think about the physical sides of various things, of the mistakes or errors that people have made in their life and they won’t put it away, they won’t forgive. And because of that they kind of hold them in this spot and because of that, they justify things that they’re doing wrong.

Do not oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor. And so, people generally read these scriptures as they do in the New Testament when Christ talked about these things and they think it’s about in the world. I’ve had people quote some of these things to me. It’s like, “You’re not doing your job. Should be helping the poor more, the widow more,” or whatever it is. Well, and what does that mean?

Anyway, this is spiritual. It’s all spiritual. It’s about those in need, those who are in a time of need, as need of comfort or encouragement, the need of a true family. We are a family. We are to understand what this family is like because if we don’t grasp this, well…? Physical family, it’s important, but nothing compared to spiritual family and what God is building, what God is creating. Because in time all has to become a part of a spiritual Family and get rid of the wrong thinking within a physical realm. Because it’s all wrong. It’s hard to see sometimes.

Let none of you imagine evil against your brother in your heart. This is Zechariah! This is about the temple? This is about the end-time? Yeah. It’s about all time but especially because of what people have gone through in what’s being molded and fashioned within the Church now, things about judgment, the ability to see certain things that are unique to you that we’re to be learning.

So, don’t imagine… It’s so easy to build up things in our mind toward other people. We all have some rocks. Too many. We all have certain kinds of drama in our life and it’s about having compassion and mercy on people who are coming out of those things. And where we can we want to give encouragement and help, but sometimes there comes a point where that has to stop too, and it can’t continue on. There’s a fine balance in there.

Verse 11—For they have refused to listen. So, this was much of their history. It’s been much of the history, if you will, of even physical Israel and Judah, but it’s more about the Church. To me, it’s an awesome—not awesome, it’s not the right word—astounding maybe, thing that such a thing has happened in the Church over two thousand years, that the majority of those who have been called have gone by the wayside, have chosen to go back into the world after they’ve been given the greatest riches, the greatest wealth.

Because the wealth that God offers, everything is God’s. That’s why He says you’re going to inherit everything. Why go out here and be more focused upon that which is—sometimes people can do that—physical rather than that which is spiritual? Because it’s what comes from God that’s the most important, that’s the most valuable, that will last forever. Not the physical; that’s not what it’s about.

For they have refused to listen and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they would not hear. So, that’s been the history even within the Church, especially in the end-time. More at the end-time than any other time in God’s Church. What a horrible thing, when the greatest of knowledge is available, and that was made available through Herbert Armstrong, God’s apostle.

And the greatest of knowledge yet was given to God’s Church, more than it had by the first twelve apostles and Paul who was brought along as well. More than all of them. Some of them wrote things that they never even… I think of John. He did not comprehend one iota of what was in the book of Revelation. He wrote it. That was his job. Understand it? No. It was for later on, primarily. He wrote a little bit about the period he was in and didn’t know that, that it was the era of Ephesus, the Ephesian era if you will. He didn’t know what that meant! It wasn’t for him. It was for the end-time.

Just like what God told Daniel, “Shut the book, Daniel.” Yeah, everybody wants to know. We still want to know a lot. But sometimes it’s just “Wait.” God’ll show it in His time. And when it’s His time He’s going to show it. So, “Daniel, you shut the book because this is for the end.” Incredible.

And that part, you know who that was given to? It wasn’t given to Paul. It wasn’t given to John. It wasn’t given to Peter. It was given to Herbert Armstrong! So, if you go back and read what’s in Daniel and what that Nebuchadnezzar and the statue that he had there and so forth, and going from the top to the bottom, that wasn’t given to any one of them to understand! Not a one of them grasped and comprehended what that was about. Herbert Armstrong did because it’s for the end time.

That’s why He told Daniel, “Daniel, shut the book.” It’s like, “Just shut up and go your way. You’re not going to be able to see it no matter how much you might want to. Not going to give it to you.” That just shows that if God doesn’t give it, He doesn’t give it. It’s like the mind is slammed shut on that portion. You’re not going to be able to see it until it’s God’s time. And then when it was God’s time, to know that, to know that was given to Herbert Armstrong, that the original apostles didn’t even have that?

Shouldn’t be in awe then of the fact of what God says, “An Elijah to come because we’re getting ready for Christ’s coming.” This is awesome, the time we live in, because He’s about time. That wasn’t the time. That was just the beginning of two thousand years that would follow, and they weren’t to have it all. But what they had; they were judged by what they were able to see.

God gave Herbert Armstrong a whole lot more, and sometimes we haven’t even grasped the depth of what God gave him. The Church hasn’t in the past grasped the depth. And that’s why I get so on fire sometimes when I hear, have heard, and I think about it, different ministers that said, “Well, he was a good teacher, and I learned a lot from him.” Smug. I’d like to just slap the you know what out of them. I’m serious! I have that carnality that just wants to get my palm out.

Have you ever seen sometimes on TV on some kinds of funniest home… Well, you wouldn’t see it there and I’m not going to tell where I’ve seen it. But someone comes up and they have these stupid contests where they slap each other, and the palm of their hand, and it knocks them out, just knocks them out.

And some people just need to be knocked out for a while. Maybe they’ll get some sense into their head, you know? That just shows when you ruin the spirit in your mind, that spirit part that God gave you, of the impregnation of His very being, that’s a horrible thing to say of God’s apostle, of the Elijah to come, of the one whom God raised up to restore truth to the Church after Sardis, “He was a good teacher. I learned a lot from him.”

Shows they didn’t know diddly you-know-what. They really didn’t. They never really grasped it all. They grasp the treasure that they had. And what’s really pathetic about that – I’m sorry, but I can’t stop on some of this—but what’s really pathetic about all that is to understand they didn’t know anything of the truth save what was given through Herbert Armstrong. They didn’t know anything! What did they know beforehand? Passover? The Holy Days and what they meant? No, they were stupid, dumb when it comes to that which is spiritual or the truth.

Because that has to come from God. And then God called them and began to open up their mind and what did they hear? What was given to Herbert Armstrong. “He was a good teacher. I learned a lot from him.” I get worked up, and we should.

Verse 12—Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear. That’s what happens. That’s a horrible thing to happen in people’s lives when they… I hated the period of Laodicea. Looking back at it, I really hated it.

When we got moved up to – it was bad enough in Erie we were in before, but when we got moved up to Toledo and Findlay Church area, their minds, some of them were so far gone by that time and they couldn’t hear the truth, their hearts. That’s what happens. You become so set on something different and so weak spiritually because you want something different anyway God will let you have it.

If you want to go out here and sin, you know what, God doesn’t stop you. So, those who were a third who left because, like, “If this is God’s Church, how could this happen to God’s Church?” God didn’t do it to you. He allowed it to happen so that you could make a choice. You want to continue in the truth that was given to you? Where did you learn it?

You know, those are basic scriptures, “Remember from whom you learned it.” Who wasn’t teaching that one? Well, I’d say almost all the ministry.

Yes, they made their hearts like flint refusing to hear the law and the words which the Eternal of hosts has sent in His spirit by the former prophets, and so a great wrath came from the Eternal of hosts. We experienced that. God allowed a great wrath to come upon His own Church, the greatest ever that God has ever done, because of some of the most important lessons ever given.

That’s why I love hearing Herbert Armstrong's sermons when he would go through at the Feast or whenever it might be and he would talk about government, he would talk about how God worked, and going back through and talking about the things that happened with Adam and Eve, and then what happened through Moses. But he was never given to see – and talking about in the context here of mankind, the way mankind was, Israel and Judah and the things that they did that were wrong that followed that time when God brought them into the promised land.

And then you think of the history and what everybody or what the Church has gone through, and he would talk about these things in that context, that there’s only one you can trust. God. We have to become a part of the God Family. Everything else is a failure. And one of the greatest failures ever is to understand and learn that you can have a large Church around the world, and you can have ministers who have gone to college, and they are sent out into the various Church areas, and you cannot control that. You can’t trust it. It doesn’t work.

It didn’t work because in time God allowed time to come along and what happened? People began to teach their own thing to where… I think of one minister we had in Kansas that was moved up here to where he would counsel with women – and one of the first things you’re taught is you’re never to be alone with a woman, especially in counsel – and I think they even had candlelight if I understand rightly, and a glass of wine, and the two of them would talk.

And you think, “What is wrong with you, you gigantic pervert!” Because that very action itself proved he was a pervert!

I’m sorry, but this kind of thing happened in God’s Church because ministers go out and they would begin to teach their own things, their own little pet ideas, and twist things and distort things to fit their idea.

And so, Herbert Armstrong didn’t have a way of knowing what they were all teaching. How could he know? And the men at headquarters who were put over them in different areas, they would excuse various things, became like the Catholic church, so that when somebody did something wrong you know what they did? They moved them to another area. And if they screwed up there they moved them to another area. Well, let’s just destroy the Church in the process of such stupid things!

What should they have done the very first time something like that happened? Removed them, not just from the ministry, remove them from the Church. And that wasn’t being done. God’s doing that now in the Church. He’s given us power in ways that can only be exercised in this kind of an environment. We’re very blessed because of that, candidly. Because if we grew big the same thing would happen again. That’s just the way it is!

How do you control it? The God Family. 144,000 on the earth. That’s the only way. You can trust that. They’re all a part of the God Family. They’re all at one with God. They have the mind of God. God dwells in them forever and forever. Everything will be done, righteous judgment, all that’s true. No worries. Nobody is going to do their own thing. One hundred percent unity with God Almighty.

That’s a beautiful picture, but Herbert Armstrong couldn’t give that example because it hadn’t happened yet, because that was the biggest one of yet. So, he would talk about Satan (I forgot that part), Satan’s rebellion. Then he would talk about Adam and Eve’s rebellion. Then he would talk about what happened after the… as soon as they got across the sea into the other side and as soon as they were delivered Israel started rebelling against God. And then they went into the promised land, and they rebelled. So, it’s just over and over again.

And then in the Church of God, what happened? Rebel. It’s awesome to remember history, and we have an ability to remember history that no others could because we’re the only ones that have experienced the most important part of history yet.

Sometimes we don’t grasp what we have lived or experienced from others who have talked about the Apostasy and what we went through, because this is one of the most important times of all time that will be used to teach people throughout the Millennium and in the Great White Throne because it’s the pinnacle of teaching about God’s government. Awesome!

…made their hearts like stone, yes… sent His spirit by the former prophets. In other words, there are things that God sent. Yes, He gave to the former but when God gives us ability to see and understand things that are written it’s the power of His spirit that gives that.

So, they cried, and I would not hear. So, this is showing here what’s happened throughout history because of what people have done, whether it was in Old Testament times, which God wasn’t working with them in a spiritual plane, but with the Church and the majority of them who have gone by the wayside.

Therefore, it happened that as He cried they would not hear. Who wouldn’t? The majority. The majority have chosen to go against the Church. The majority have left, those who have been called. Incredible.

So, they cried, and I would not hear. People get into trouble, have things happen in their life, especially once they’re gone and separated from the Body and things happen and they have these false ideas about still having this contact with God in many cases. And God’s not answering their prayers. God is not helping them through those things.

…says the Eternal of hosts, so I scattered them with a whirlwind… So, things were happening well before if you want to talk about Laodicea. …among all nations that they had not known. So, they had not known such a condition before, if you will. It’s not a matter of a physical thing and different nations and people they didn’t know what they... It’s about the scattering and what took place and everything that was out there and all the crazy teachings and different organizations that were popping up right and left. Had never had experience with those things, didn’t know them.

Thus, the land has been desolate behind them. What’s been produced? That’s why I marvel. The fruit itself. Just to come to understand Matthew 24:14 was finished through Herbert Armstrong. When it was over it was over. But organizations felt like they had to have a magazine, they had to have TV, they had to have what Herbert Armstrong had before, radio, literature, the same kind of structure and organization, because “We’re going to become,” in their minds, “the Church, and grow great again.”

And the very fact that it hasn’t happened is a testimony, a witness of what is true. Herbert Armstrong did what God said. The gospel went into all the world and then the end came. And we’ve been living through it ever since.

So, that’s a spiritual thing to grasp and comprehend that, and they can’t grasp it because God’s spirit isn’t there anymore. So, they work madly to do something different.

“Thus, the land has been desolate behind them.” What’s been produced? New ones that come along? “Well, we have so many that have come in and people have been baptized.” Oh, have they? Into God’s Church? No, it’s a protestant world that has measures of truth because of things taught in times past. But God’s spirit isn’t there. It’s not in, it’s not working there. And so, what’s left, it’s not productive; it’s not what God is doing.

Thus the land has been desolate behind them, and any passing by and turning back as it is here, they set a desirable land for a desolation. So, there is still a lot of destruction going on. Those horses haven’t finished their work yet. Those four horses out there are still at work destroying, making weaker. What can be saved out of it now? The longer it goes the worse it becomes. You know why? Because of the mind and becoming set in something that it becomes very difficult the longer you’re in something to be able to come out of it.

Zechariah 8:1 we’ll move along here. Again the word of the Eternal of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Eternal of hosts; I was zealous. Jealous on a spiritual plane. Not like we think of jealousy. People, sometimes you get this in your mind that it’s like something that’s wrong in a sense. No, it’s because it’s about what is God’s. It’s what belongs to God. And God becomes zealous, whatever is His, to save it, to preserve it, to help it, to fight for it in the right way because everything is true and right with God.

…zealous for Zion with great zealousness, and I was zealous for her with great fury. What an incredible thing that He allowed a horrifying thing to happen in order to turn the tide. Because the reality is if that hadn’t happened in time everything would have been dead. Everything. There wouldn’t have been anything to save. Nothing.

So, God’s purpose, it has to do with the temple as well, that things that have to be learned by those who went through all that for whatever place they’re being put into. If we could only see it all we’d be far more zealous than what we are. We’d be a lot more excited if we could really see what God is doing. If we could really grasp what we have, we’d be far more on fire than what we are.

So, we strive to receive what we can, we pray about it, we try to apply and God gives us help and growth and so forth. But the reality is we only see a small smidgeon of it. And the truth is it’s much, much greater than what we can see.

Thus saith the Eternal, I am, it says “returned” here; literally it means “turn back.” I turn back; I have turned back to Zion. When has God ever turned away from Zion? When has God ever had a need or an expression like this to even be expressed, “I have returned/turned back to Zion.” He spit it out of His mouth. He vomited it out of His mouth, what He was building, what He was doing. Everything! And then some were able to be drawn back and He continued to build.

This is literally about the very end. This is where we are.

…I have returned; I have turned back to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth. Do you think it’s by coincidence that we’re focusing on truth more than we ever have in God’s Church, that it’s being talked about more than it ever has been in God’s Church?

I’ve never talked about it that much, as I am now. Okay? Has there been a time in the past where we’ve focused on it to this level, or did it happen during Philadelphia? No, but it’s happening now. Why? Because this is what God’s talking about. He’s talking about this time right now.

“And Jerusalem shall be called a City of Truth.” So, there are reasons why truth is being given on a greater scale than ever before. Because this is what is to go into the Millennium; this is what Christ desires for the Church. Because this is what God desires. It’s about the Kingdom of God.

…and the mountain of the Eternal of hosts the holy mountain. So, what was addressed earlier? Two mountains of bronze – corruption, dross – and it had to be addressed, it had to be taken care of. And so, God allowed a great wrath and a great war to take place (that’s what the four chariots are about) and allowed this to happen in order to have come out of that what needed to exist at the very end here just before His Son returns. Awesome to be a part of that! That’s what it’s talking about.

And now it’s going to be, indeed, Jerusalem, what is being built, a City of Truth, and on a scale that has never existed. To this scale because they’ve never had these truths to this scale.

“And the mountain of the Eternal,” I love this, “of hosts, the holy mountain.” So, no longer like the two that were there, now it’s the holy mountain because God’s turned back to it, He’s turned us back to Him through a very powerful means.

Then it continues with all that follows in the future and then it states as a conclusion, verse 9— Thus saith the Eternal of hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets. So, we’re reading from Zechariah here about Zechariah. It’s part of what it’s talking about.

…which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Eternal of hosts was laid, that the temple should be built. So, that which God purposed when Christ… We read about Christ but the very fact that he was the first and everything is built upon him, what is that? It’s about the temple that follows. And that’s been God’s focus for the last six thousand years. The temple.

Letting the earth go through what it has to on a physical plane, nations doing what they do and God intervening at various times doing what needs to be done, to have things in their place for His purpose that’s going to be worked out. Things happening within the Church of those who are called out. On and on it goes. Six thousand years of that and a sick, sick world around us to bring us to this period of time that we’re about to enter.

Thus saith the Eternal of hosts, Let your hands be strong, those who hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Eternal of hosts was laid, and that the temple should be built. So, it isn’t finished yet. We’re the last pieces of it. And if we really understood that we’d even be more excited.

Verse 15—So again… Now, this is the word that’s the same one we read earlier about “turn back,” or “turned back,” returned. I have returned as I have purposed. See, none of this was by accident. Laodicea wasn’t something decided when God gave the book of Revelation to John. Zechariah was inspired to write some of these things way, way, way before that. These are things that God has planned out before anything was ever created. That’s the way God is. It’s all about His Family.

It’s about Elohim so everything was determined what should exist at every age of mankind including right now. This Church, this body was determined then, a long, long time ago. It’s like a blueprint and now it’s being set in place, the finishing touches of the temple. Because that’s what’s coming with Christ.

I have returned and I have in these days or purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear. These are the things you shall do: Everyone speak truth to their neighbor. Got to know it. It’s got to be in us. It’s not just about speech, it’s about how we think, how we live toward each other, that we’re living this. And as a whole, we are in the Church but there is still refining going on. There is still cleansing going on.

Not a time to coast. Not a time to take it easy. Not a time to straddle a fence. Any straddling the fence is going to be done away with. Can’t exist in God’s Church today.

Everyone speak the truth to their neighbor. Judge truth and the judgment of peace in your gates. In other words, where you’re living. Wherever you are in God’s Church this is what we’re to be doing.

It’s about living some of the most important things that we have to learn – what produces peace. Jerusalem is about peace. The name is about peace. It’s what God desires, to get away from all the crappy drama in life that we bring into our lives and think we have to live and talk about or churn over and over! It’s like taking vomit and just letting it go through a second time trying to digest it. Get away from it!

Seek peace in how we think toward one another, how we believe toward one another, and so forth. That’s what this is about. We are to be peacemakers. Jerusalem, we’re to live this more than ever before. “Every one of us in God’s Church speak truth to their neighbor, judge truth, and the judgment of peace in your gates where you’re living.” You have to think about those things, what you’re judging, and how you think, and how you’re talking in life.

Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and love no false oath. For all these are the things that I hate, says the Eternal.

I was going to go through some of the truths here but, you know, I’ve kind of run out of time. So, we may come back to some other truths here later on. But what an awesome thing here, a book like the book of Zechariah, and there’s a lot more here too. But it’s an awesome thing the things that God just continues to give to us in our mind to understand of this way of life and how important this period of time is. And the more we grasp that?

That’s why we’ve gone through and talked about so many of the truths, is because the more we can grasp what we really have… You see, Laodicea lost sight of what they had. That was the biggest problem of all. They lost the truth, became lukewarm, didn’t grasp that no, this is exceedingly valuable. More has been given. If we were living right there in Philadelphia, to be able to say more has been given to us than was ever given to the previous apostles. More than Paul. More than Peter. More than John. We should be excited about that, that we’re able to see and grasp.

And so, more is required. The greater responsibility even then when you’re given more because you’re judged by what you’re given. And that’s a blessing. That’s a good thing. Because God can do more with that then too if we can only grasp what that means.

Cry out to God for help to understand more deeply the treasure that you have in front of you in your life, that you possess, that God has given you access to, and regard it in that light, of how blessed you are, of how wealthy you are on a spiritual plane. How awesome it is that God is working with us in a unique way that is beyond our grasp right now. We are incredibly precious in His eyes and we’re going to do some incredibly awesome things in the future, those who go into the Millennium and those who are in that first resurrection. It's on our heels right now.

1. Chapter 1