Evening Sermon - 20th September 2026 - Facing the Horns, Trusting the Craftsmen

Let's turn in our Bibles if we could to the book of Zechariah, the book of Zechariah, and we're turning to Zechariah chapter one, and we're gonna take time to read the whole chapter.

Zechariah chapter one, and this is God's word.

In the eighth month in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, to the son of Berechaeus son of Edus saying, the Lord was very angry with your fathers.

Therefore say to them, thus declares the Lord of hosts.

Return to me says the Lord of hosts and I will return to you says the Lord of hosts.

Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds, but they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord.

Your fathers, where are they?

And the prophets, do they live forever?

But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?

So they repented and said, as the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so was he dealt with us.

On the twenty fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shippat in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah to the son of Berechas, son of Edo, saying, I saw in the night and behold a man riding on a red horse.

He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

Then I said, what are these, my lord?

And the angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what they are.

So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, these are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.

And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, we have patrolled the earth and behold, all the earth remains at rest.

Then the angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah against which you have been angry these seventy years?

And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

So the angel who talked with me said to me, cry out, thus says the Lord of hosts.

I'm exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion, and I'm exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease.

For while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster.

Therefore thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy.

My house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.

Cry out again, thus says the Lord of hosts.

My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.

And I lifted my eyes and saw and behold four horns.

And I said to the angel who talked with me, what are these?

And he said to me, these are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen, and I said, what are these coming to do?

He said, these are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one raised his head, and these have come to terrify them to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.

Amen.

May God bless His word to our hearts.

Now this evening, we're recommencing our series on the book of Zechariah, which we're calling longing for God in an age of discouragement.

And tonight, we're coming to the end of chapter one.

We're looking specifically and focusing on verses 18 to 21.

And the title of my message this evening is The Assault and the Defense of God's People.

The Assault and Defense of God's People.

Now let me pose a pertinent question to you.

Can the church of Jesus Christ survive the forces that are ranging and building up against it at this time.

We look out in the world and we see pressures on Christianity coming from other religions and we see the ever growing new atheism within society today growing up and mocking Christianity as something that's harmful and we see that even with legislation that's being brought by government today and even in Northern Ireland with the conversion therapy bill, which is quite simply a bill to, push Christianity into the corner.

And then, of course, there's violent persecution being faced by brothers and sisters in other countries this evening for whom death for Jesus' sake is really no theory.

It's the real thing.

And the church in the West often seems to be weak.

It seems to be anemic.

It seems to be apologetic.

It seems to be more interested in getting targets down as far as carbon zero is concerned.

They're more concerned, I was in, let me see where it was, it was in Litchfield Cathedral and in Litchfield Cathedral the the great theme of Litchfield Cathedral was save the wheel.

They were gonna save the wheel, and they had big wheels all coming down from the ceiling, and they had a 180 photographs of wheels, and they were really concerned about wheels.

And you know the church in the West is slowly but surely finding itself becoming weak and anemic.

And you know history shows places that once had a great influence for Christ.

You had North Africa, we're familiar with the seven churches in Asia Minor where the church has largely vanished or meets now in secret meets in fear And could such things come to be our own part, be part of our world here in our country?

Could such things be seen and experienced by us in The United Kingdom and more specifically in Northern Ireland.

It certainly seems that the people of God are under attack and the churches are closing everywhere.

There is growth in other parts of the world, but in our parts of the world you've in Edinburgh, London, Belfast and Cardiff particularly in the Welsh Valleys there's this moving away churches are closing what is really to become of us in these days.

Well Zechariah's second vision, Zechariah has five visions.

We have looked at the first vision which concerned the horses and now we're coming and we're looking at the second vision this evening that's outlined for us in chapter one verses eighteen and twenty one and he answers this question in relation to the church, the conflict that the church experiences, the defense that the church must make.

And there are two things that we want to look at this evening.

We want to look at the assault on God's people, that's the first thing, and then secondly the defense of God's people.

So those are the two things that we're going to spend our time looking at this evening.

The assault and the defense of God's people.

So first of all, the assault on God's people.

The assault on God's people.

Now look at what we're told here in verse 18.

And I lifted my eyes and saw and behold four horns.

And there's a mystery in this vision and we're not told if the horns were attached to anything or that they were floating but their significance is clear.

We know horns in Scripture symbolizes the strength and the power and the might of nations and other things.

Further Zechariah informs us in verse 19 that these are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.

And the picture is of a wild animal I suppose charging or goring or trampling and scattering the people into exile.

And in the first instance this points to the Babylonian exile.

As you know the children of Israel have been taken into captivity in Babylon for seventy years and there's mention of Judah and Israel.

These are names for the covenant people of God.

It's really referring specifically to the Southern Kingdom because that's who Zechariah was ministering to God's chosen nation and the city where God said that he dwelt.

And they had been trampled and they had been scattered.

And then they had returned and the older returnees remembered or at least knew of fathers and grandfathers who had been carted off to Babylon.

The walls were down.

The temple was slowly being built.

The place is really a wreck because of the horns of the nations.

And yet the reference goes wider here because in verse 21 it speaks of the nations plural, who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah.

It embraces all who attacked God's people throughout Israel's history.

Again and again cities were laid waste.

People were suffering.

Prophecy often has a near fulfillment as we know and then a wider application ultimately finding its heart in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the four horns stand for all the enemies of the people of God in every age, individuals, rulers, nations, institutions, false religions, horns of every kind have always assaulted the church.

And because life has been relatively easy for Christians in some parts of the world for several generations, we can think of our own land, we can assume ease is normal and we're surprised when hardships come.

I was talking to two men from the Brethren who had been out around in a state and they were going door to door and they said to me they couldn't get over how aggressive people were with them, how things had changed.

And I said well nothing is really new.

Nothing is new.

And you know we we have to realize that we shouldn't be surprised when hardship comes.

In the sweep of history prolonged peace for the church is an exceptional thing.

The usual condition is opposition and Jesus warned us.

We know in John chapter 16 in verse 33 in this world you will have tribulation and yet even before that in the preceding chapter in John 15 verse 20 Jesus stated if they persecuted me they will persecute you also.

And the world treated the sinless savior as we know with great contempt.

They hated him.

They projected violence upon him, nailing him to a cross, and we shouldn't expect any better.

And in Psalm 22 on the Savior's lips at the cross, of course, he said, see of me from the horns of the wild ox.

And the pattern was set early after Stephen's death if you remember reference made to that in Acts chapter eight and verse one.

There arose in that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.

Church history confirms it.

We only have to look at the Roman persecutions in the first three centuries of the beginning of the church AD.

And then we can move to the Waldensians in Italy and we can move to other groups like the Huguenos in France under the cross and the Covenanters in Scotland.

And then we've got the church under communism and believers suffering today under Islam.

And behind the horns of course stands the devil himself who's prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Uses, he uses outward attacks and then he uses more subtle assaults of false teaching and division and immorality and sometimes the damage has been devastating and the assaults on God's people are real.

Now what does this mean for us?

Well, first of all, let's stop being surprised at how the church is being derided in these days.

When opposition arrives arises, whether it be mockery at work, whether pressure on our children, hostility in the public square, or news of persecution elsewhere, do not act as if something strange were happening.

The Lord told us it would be so.

The second thing is examine your own heart and life and have the years of relative ease made us soft?

Have they made us worldly?

Have they silenced us?

The horns are not only outside as I've already pointed out, the devil loves to work inside the camp through compromise and division, unchecked sin, false teaching.

And we have to guard our churches and we have to guard our homes and we have to guard our walk.

And then thirdly, remember and pray for the suffering church because we have brothers and sisters around the world tonight who face the horns and they face it every day.

And they really, in many ways, don't need our sympathy.

They need our earnest intercession and where possible they need our practical support.

And finally, we should prepare ourselves and we should prepare our families for what is coming.

We've got to teach our children that following Christ is going to cost.

We've got to strengthen one another now while there's still the opportunity so that when the pressure increases, we're not found unready or ashamed.

The assault on God's people, that's what Zachariah is talking about here and he's talking about it in the context, yes, of Judah of old, but he's talking about it also in the context of the church of today.

But then secondly, I want you to see the defense of God's people, The defense of God's people.

Praise God, that's not the whole of the vision.

There's something very encouraging here.

And note what we're told in verse 20, then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

And then verse 21 continues, and these have come to terrify them to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.

Four horns are met by four craftsmen.

And God has made adequate provision.

That's what we're seeing here.

The visions were given to encourage.

That's why they were given to Zechariah that he might go preach and encourage the people, not to terrify them.

And the exiles knew the power of the horns from better experience.

They knew the history of Israel.

They knew how they've been taken off to captivity in Babylon, but that's not the most important part of the story.

What matters is what God actually does to these horns.

This doesn't mean of course that Christians will not suffer.

They'll never suffer.

Jesus we know promised as we have already looked at tribulation and those today who claim enough faith removes suffering.

It's absolutely unbiblical and yet suffering doesn't mean events are out of God's control or that he has ceased to protect his church.

The true people of God will not be finally overcome.

Remember what we're told in Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 17, No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed.

We're talking about this eternally.

The horns are real and can inflict real pain for a time and at the end of the day they cannot prevail and will not have the final victory.

Consider Babylon.

So powerful, the temples and ruins, Jerusalem is wrecked, Jerusalem's walls are torn down.

Where is it now?

Where is Babylon now after doing that to Jerusalem and the temple?

It's a relic in the sounds of Iraq somewhere and when it had served God's purpose of chastening Judah, He tossed it aside.

One night as you know Belshazzar defied God.

By morning of course the Persians had taken the kingdom.

And where's the Persian Empire today?

Well Alexander the Great swept it away.

The four great kingdoms of Daniel chapter seven, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.

They're gone.

And when they finished the work that God had appointed them to do, He swept them into oblivion.

The vision underlines of course for us the sovereignty of God, not the sovereignty of the nations.

His church cannot be destroyed.

It may suffer in places, it may even disappear in places, but the church of Jesus Christ is indestructible.

And our God is eternal.

Our God is Almighty and even Satan cannot take one step beyond what our God permits as the opening chapters of the book of Job demonstrate to us.

He's like a dangerous dog on a leash.

That's what the devil is.

He's limited by the hand of God.

Who are these four craftsmen?

This can also be translated blacksmiths or masons.

Who are these?

Well they're symbolic of every means God uses in His infinite wisdom to protect the church and destroy His enemies.

Individuals such as Cyrus were raised up to allow the children of Israel to return.

It refers to governments and institutions, direct divine intervention we may never even see, but God is moving behind the scenes.

And central to that defense, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

We we go to Psalm two, and it shows the nations raging.

God's response is to install His king in Zion.

And that King is none other than Christ who shed His blood for the church who bought His people at such a cost crucified, risen and glorified.

And Paul tells us and He the Father put all things under His Christ's feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church.

Supremely Christ is the craftsman who throws down, who destroys these horns.

And that's why the church cannot be destroyed.

It's Christ's church.

It's precious to Him.

He will judge all who will attack it.

And at the last day every enemy of course will be put under his feet.

Revelation chapter 19 shows the rider on the white horse going forth to conquer.

The decisive victory was already won at the cross in the empty tomb.

It's finished.

Not one of his people will be lost.

Everyone brought or bought with his blood will be kept secure in the day of glory.

And though Satan rages and the horns cause pain, not one believer can be snatched from Christ's hand.

How are we to live in the light of that?

Well, first we've got to take courage, haven't we?

The church is not a fragile institution, limping towards extinction.

It's a blood bought people of the risen King and he will not let it fall.

And we have got to lift up our heads and we have got to take courage in who our God is.

Second, we have got to fix our eyes on the craftsman, not on the horns.

When the news is dark, when the culture turns hostile, when your own heart trembles, have got to look to Christ crucified, risen and reigning.

He's already victorious.

Third servants speak with holy boldness because the final outcome is certain.

Needn't be paralyzed.

We needn't fear in any way.

We've got to preach the gospel.

We have got to tell people about the truth.

We have got to stand for righteousness.

We have got to love the brethren knowing that no weapon forged against us will ultimately prosper.

And the craftsmen of this vision remind us of what God said through Jeremiah.

If you remember, it is not my word, Jeremiah said.

It is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.

God's Word, the Bible is ever sufficient.

It's an ever sufficient weapon in the battle both corporately for the church and individually for the Christian capable of knocking down every upraised horn.

Paul writes, if you remember in two Corinthians ten:four-five, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

The same word, this hammer that's so useful for building, building us up spiritually is equally useful in battle with every spiritual foe.

And then the fourth thing is we've got to rest in God's sovereignty, even the rage of Satan, the fact that he's on a leash, nothing reaches you except through the wise permission of your father and therefore don't give way to panic or despair and give yourself to prayer, to faithfulness, to quiet confidence.

Encourage one another with these words, The craftsmen are at work.

God is at work.

His great craftsman Jesus Christ is going before us.

Christ is defending His own, the defence of God's people.

The assault and the defence of God's people.

What are the lessons that we have learned?

Well first the assaults are real and they shouldn't surprise us.

The horns have always been there, outward persecution, inward corruption because the world that hated the master will hate his servants and the devil of course will seek to devour.

Ease is not the church's normal condition.

Second, the defense is sure and should steady us.

God has made full provision.

There's four craftsmen.

It's the answer to four horns.

No weapon forged against God's people will finally prevail.

He smashes them in pieces.

Empires rise and fall at His word.

Satan is leashed above all Christ the King who bought the church with His blood defends it.

His victory is finished.

His people are secure.

His enemies are destroyed.

And therefore we don't minimize the battle nor do we fix our eyes on the horns so that the enemy looms large and perhaps we grow intimidated.

We fix our eyes on the Lord.

We fix our eyes on the defense of his people in and through Christ and the Savior who bought us will not let us go and will not let our salvation feel.

The craftsmen of God are at work and the victory is certain and Satan is defeated and Christ is King and his church is secure.

So let us this evening realise that and take it on board, that our God is in control, that our Saviour is the one who has accomplished the victory, and in all that is happening, he's got us here for such a time as this, and that we are to make our stand for him.

May God bless his word to our hearts.