In Monday's study Zechariah foretold the return of the King and His miraculous deliverance of His people Israel from her enemies. Zechariah continues his description of the day in which the King returns. "On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day---a day known only to the Lord---with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light." (Zechariah 14:6-7)
These verses above remind me of the account of the sun standing still in the book of Joshua. A coalition of five kingdoms banded together to attack Gibeon. The Gibeonites appealed to Joshua and his fighting men for help and they came to the rescue. As the battle raged on, the day passed by, and Joshua needed more time to finish vanquishing the foe, so he asked the Lord to make the sun and moon stand still in the sky. "So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies." (Joshua 10:13a) The Bible tells us that "there has never been a day like it before or since". (Joshua 10:14a) Just as the sun did not go down on the day Joshua avenged his people, the sun will not go down on the day the King avenges His people. It appears that the sun will never go down again, for when the Apostle John describes the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the world after the King comes to reign, he says, "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." (Revelation 21:23)
"On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter." (Zechariah 14:8) The prophet Ezekiel foresaw this river in Ezekiel 47 and the Apostle John envisioned it in Revelation 22. The earth will be restored to an Eden-like state when the King reigns over it, with living water flowing from His throne and with trees growing on both sides of the river that bear fruit every month of the year.
Next we find our key verse from the book of Zechariah. Everything in this book has been leading up to the moment when the King ascends to the throne and reigns over His kingdom. "The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and His name the only name." (Zechariah 14:9)
"The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure." (Zechariah 14:10-11) What welcome news this must have been to the people of Zechariah's day who were faced with the difficult task of rebuilding following the devastation of war. This is welcome news to the Jewish people of every era, because a day is coming in which Jerusalem will forever be secure.
"This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected---great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps." (Zechariah 14:12-15) This passage likely describes the same judgment that Ezekiel foresaw falling on Israel's enemies in the end times in Ezekiel 38 and 39. The prophet Daniel and the Apostle John both predicted a coalition of ten kings (Daniel 7:24, Revelation 17:12) who would come against Israel in the last days. The nations the Lord strikes in our passage of Zechariah today may represent these kingdoms that will band together to try to destroy Israel.
"Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up to take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles." (Zechariah 14:16-19) The Festival of Tabernacles was kept to commemorate the forty years in the wilderness. Israel's wanderings are forever over when her King comes to reign, so the Festival of Tabernacles will still be kept to celebrate the fact that Israel will be permanently settled in the promised land. She will never again be surrounded by enemies because the nations of the world will be joined to her and to her King.
"On that day 'Holy To The Lord' will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 14:20-21) "Holy To The Lord" is what was engraved on the headband of the high priest. When the King reigns, everything on earth will be made holy and pure by Him. Even the horses will wear these words on their bells. Even common cooking pots will be like consecrated vessels.
The word translated "Canaanite" also means "traffickers", but with a sinister twist that indicates they are unscrupulous and deceitful merchants. The Canaanites are the people the Lord commanded Israel to drive out of the promised land, although Israel never fully carried out His orders. But when the Lord is King over all the earth, the entire world will become like the promised land, and nothing impure will ever enter it. When the Apostle John envisioned the Lamb of God seated on the throne, he was assured that nothing deceitful or impure would ever enter into the city. (Revelation 21:27a, Revelation 22:15) Only those whose names are "written in the Lamb's book of life" will enter in. (Revelation 21:27b) On that day the Lord will make everything new and will restore the earth to the conditions it enjoyed before the fall of man. "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever." (Revelation 22:3-5)
Thank you for coming along with me on this thirty-one day journey through the book of Zechariah. May the King bless you for the time you spent in His holy word.
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