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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your
possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. I will
gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be
captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go
into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”
“Then the Lord will go out and fight against those
nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On that day, His feet will stand on
the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split
in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain
moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it
will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days
of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones
with Him. 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.”
“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.”
“The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day,
there will be one Lord, and His name the only name.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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 and 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.”
“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
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
Our journey through the Book of Zechariah ends today but
not before we find amazingly blessed news for the nation of Israel on a coming
day foretold by the prophet.
First, a scene is set that would unsettle any nation as a
day of the Lord was yet ahead where Jerusalem particularly would see extreme
hardship come its way, a hardship where all the nations will rise up and at
least have initial success against God’s holy city. We know this because the
prophecy tells of the following calamities that would occur:
1. Jerusalem would be captured.
“I will gather all
the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured.”
2. The houses within Jerusalem would be ransacked.
“I will gather all
the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the
houses ransacked.”
3. The women in Jerusalem would be sexually assaulted by
the attackers.
“I will gather all
the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the
houses ransacked, and the women raped.”
4. The possessions within Jerusalem would be plundered,
the spoils divided up among its attackers. .
“A day of the Lord
is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up
within your very walls.”
5. Half of the city’s population would be taken into
captivity.
“Half of the city
will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”
It’s not a pretty picture, is it?
But as we have seen in other places within the
scriptures, a period of peril is usually followed by deliverance and
restoration, a walk in the valley proceeded by a mountain top experience. As we
continue to look at Chapter 14, we find that this happens again with Israel, a
continuation of events of the past.
Remember that an Egyptian captivity was followed by a
God-powered liberation and subsequent journey to a land where the Israelites
could settle down and live.
Recall that a seventy year exile to Babylon was followed
by a restoral to Israel where the people of God could rebuild their nation, God’s
temple, and their relationship with Him.
Now, we see where the damage and destruction caused by
Israel’s enemies would end with God once again coming to their rescue. The
prophecy promises as much in the following words:
“Then the Lord
will go out and fight against those nations, as He fights on a day of battle. On
that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and
the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great
valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will
flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you
fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my
God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.”
Just when all seemed to be lost for Jerusalem and the
Israelites at large, enter the Lord God Almighty who would take up the cause of
His people and wage war against their enemies, fighting as if on a “day of
battle”. The great power and majesty of God’s actions beckons us back to the
parting of the Red Sea where the Israelites were given a path to escape Pharaoh.
Here, the Mount of Olives (only mentioned in one other place in the Old
Testament in connection to David, 2 Samuel 15:30) is split in two forming a
great mountain valley which His people would be able to flee through to be
joined by the Lord and His holy ones. As for the enemies, their plight would be
pretty gruesome:
“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.”
Can you imagine how all this had to be received by God’s
people?
For they knew there would be a coming day when they would
be freed from their enemies and joined together with their Lord, a day that
would have been special enough because of that but as we see in the scriptures,
there would be other unique qualities to that day, qualities never ever seen
before which included:
1. There wouldn’t be sunlight or “cold, frosty darkness”,
“no distinction between day and night”.
2. Living water
would flow from Jerusalem in summer and winter, half to the Dead Sea and the
other half to the Mediterranean Sea.
Indeed, it was an amazing coming day, a day when the “Lord
would be King over the whole earth”, the One and only Lord, His name being the
name above all names. It would be a day when Jerusalem would be raised up,
elevated to be the holy city above all cities, the home of the King of kings
and Lord of lords. The word of God even tells us that even the horse bells and
cooking pots would be consecrated. The elevated divine Jerusalem would never
again be uninhabited nor destroyed but rather secure, protected by the one and
only Lord. It also would once again become the central place of worship,
drawing not just the Israelites but the “the survivors from all the nations
that have attacked Jerusalem” as well who would “go up year after year to
worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of
Tabernacles”. There would be no room again for a Canaanite (code for
non-believer) to exist within the “house of the Lord Almighty”. If anyone
decided they wanted to skip worshiping the Lord, whether from Egypt or any
other nation, then consequences would follow as the Lord would hold back life
sustaining rain. In other words, there was an incentive for bringing devotion
and adoration to the one and only Lord, the Sustainer of all things.
That’s what the Israelites had to look forward to. Much
better days were ahead for them on the sacred coming day of the Lord.
As we rejoice in this news for the people of Israel,
perhaps it would be a good time to rejoice ourselves if we are Christians. For
no matter what life brings our way, there is a future day for us as well when
Jesus will return as He promised to usher all those who have placed their
faith, hope, and trust in Him into eternal life. In other words, those in
Christ have their futures set and that coming day is guaranteed to be the best
day ever, the day when we get to live with Jesus and God the Father forever.
Rejoice and revel in that truth today.
Tomorrow, we start to look at the last book in the Old
Testament, the Book of Malachi.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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