Zechariah 12-14
“And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord – his name alone will be worshiped." – Zechariah 14:9 NLT
Zechariah and his fellow returned exiles are sitting in Jerusalem, staring at an unfinished Temple and a city with walls still in need of repair. Everything looks bleak and overwhelming to them, but God knows how this story ends. Not only had He read the last chapter, He wrote it. He is not concerned or worried about how things are going to turn out, because He has already foreordained the ending, and now He reveals it to Zechariah. In a wave of imagery, God tells Zechariah exactly how things are going to turn out in the end – "On that day." Zechariah gets the fantastic news that a day is coming when God will restore the fortunes of Israel, not back to what they were in the days of Solomon or David, but to what they should have been all along. The defining moment is the return of Christ – His second coming. "On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south" (Zechariah 14:4 NLT).
When Christ returns, it is not going to be like the first time He came. His initial arrival on earth was wrapped in secrecy and insignificance. He came as an innocent, helpless baby born to an obscure couple from a backwater town. His first coming went unnoticed by most of the world, but that won't be the case when He returns. When His feet hit the Mount of Olives, it will split in two. Christ is coming, "and all his holy ones with him" (Zechariah 14:5 NLT). He will come as a warrior and He will wage war against the enemies of God one last time. And He will be victorious. The result will be that all nations of the earth will end up worshiping the God of Israel. The Israelites, their eyes opened by the Spirit of God, will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah and mourn over their rejection of Him the first time He came. But this story has a happy ending. In fact, it has a holy ending. The last few verses of the book of Zechariah paint a picture that is hard for us to imagine. Christ is on His throne. The enemies of God have been destroyed. The world is at peace and the people of the world are worshiping the one true God. And in the end, everything and everyone is set apart or holy to the Lord – once and for all. "On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words, HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the Lord will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar" (Zechariah 14:20 NLT). There will no longer be a division between that which is sacred or holy and those things that are not. ALL will be holy and completely set apart for God's use. There will no longer be lost and saved, believer and unbeliever. All will believe. All will be His. All will worship the Lord. All will be holy. Today, God is setting apart, making holy, a people for Himself. We are a remnant, just a portion. We live in a world that is living apart from God, refusing to acknowledge Him as God. Like Zechariah in his day, we are a minority surrounded by the enemy. We have been set apart by God for His use, but our numbers are few when compared with those of the enemy. The future can sometimes look bleak and overwhelming. It can appear as if we aren't making any difference. It can feel like our efforts are futile and worthless. But God reminds us that the day is coming when He will make ALL THINGS holy. He will make ALL THINGS His. He will restore the world to the original splendor and glory that it had before the fall – before sin entered the scene. He will reestablish shalom – peace, order, unity, wholeness to the world. And we can rest in the fact that this promise is from the one "who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit" (Zechariah 12:1 NLT). It will all happen just as He said it would.
Father, keep my attention focused on the ending. Don't let me lose heart because things don't appear to be going well. Remind me regularly that You have already worked out the ending and there is no need for me to worry or fret. The day is coming when all will be holy to the Lord. Help me live like that even today. Amen