Messiah's Kingdom
14:1 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 14:3 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 14:4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives,...
Messiah's Kingdom
14:1 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 14:3 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 14:4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 14:5 You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you. 14:6 It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. 14:7 It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.
14:8 It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be. 14:9 Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one. 14:10 All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. 14:11 Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely. 14:12 This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. 14:13 It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbour. 14:14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.
14:15 So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague. 14:16 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents. 14:17 It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn't go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. 14:18 If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, and doesn't come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents. 14:19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents. 14:20 In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, "HOLY TO YAHWEH"; and the pots in Yahweh's house will be like the bowls before the altar. 14:21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies. Zechariah 14:1-21
As we saw on Day 11 of this series, from Isaiah 61 to 63, God has commenced doing a good thing through the Servant Messiah. At His first coming as a baby, this Servant Messiah ushered in the Year of the Lord's favour. We live in that period of time now, and it will continue until the Servant Messiah, Jesus Christ, comes again in glory and majesty. He will take those obedient followers to the City of God. For those who reject Him and the free offer of God's grace, there is the Day of Vengeance. Now in Zechariah 14, we get a different perspective. We get a vision of the Kingdom of God at that tie in the future. So let us take a flight with Zechariah, into the future to see what this Messiah's Kingdom is like, where Jerusalem where mentioned, is in fact the New Jerusalem, the City of God!.
God Will Be King!
God will be king and lead the battle (Zechariah 14:3)! The original hearers and readers of this letter would remember how in times past, God has done mighty things for them! Things such as the parting of the Red Sea in order to escape the rampaging Egyptians. Just as God caused the Red Sea to split in two, so says Zechariah, God will split a mountain in two, and leave a valley in the middle to escape their enemies! The Almighty and Living God is coming with His legions of angels and the saints! You can almost feel Zechariah getting caught up in the ecstatic vision! That day, as described in Zechariah 14:6-7, will be unique and special. That day is only known to Yahweh! There will be a special and unusual light! Then in Zechariah 14:8, there will be living water permanently. The old Jerusalem had poor water supply, but the New Jerusalem will have a permanent supply of Living Water!
This day sees the end of the "Year of the Lord's Favour" and leads in the new heavens and new earth we discussed a couple of days ago. Zechariah 14:9 "Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one." God will not just rule over Jerusalem, but will rule and reign over all the earth. There is a day approaching with all the world, whether they want to or not, will acknowledge the Messiah's lordship, glory, beauty, majesty and authority to rule over them. There will be One Lord to rule over all. Remember the ancient Israelites used to quote the Shema "Hear O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
Enemies Defeated!
What of those who stand against God and against God's people? They will be defeated and as God's opponents, they will not be able to stand, and won't be able to see or speak. Decay has overtaken them as plaque and panic confuse and debilitate them. So it is with the enemies of God and His people, they wont be able to travel and flee as their transportation will also have decayed. .
The New Age Has Come
In the Kingdom of the Messiah, under His rule, reign and authority, all will be holy. As a result there will be no more sin, death, destruction or decay. Everything will be devoted to the Lord God and His Kingdom. All has been transformed, for the glory and sake of the Servant Messiah.
How is Jesus this Messiah?
Jesus describes this day in Mark 13:24-27 "But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky." Jesus is the light of the world and giver of Living water! Remember just a few days ago, we discussed this!
In Zechariah 14:7, we see again that light of the world shining in the evening and the New Jerusalem flowing with Living Water! Paul writing in Philippians 2:5-11 says "Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
When Jesus ascended into the heavens in Acts 1:1-14, two angels appeared to the disciples saying ""You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky." When in the final book of the Bible, Jesus says these words in Revelation 21:5-7 " He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." He said, "Write, for these words of God are faithful and true." He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son."
May it be so, Lord Jesus, and help all of us who love you to overcome and be obedient to You! Through these twelve brief studies in Isaiah and Zechariah, we see the promises of God being fulfilled in the Messiah Servant, Messiah Shepherd, Messiah King, Messiah Prophet, Messiah Priest and Messiah Disciple. This is only fulfilled in and through that God-man, Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate. But also remember that this Jesus, is no longer a baby in a manger, but will be coming back again one day to rule the world with justice and grace to the praise and glory of Almighty God.
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