Holy To The Lord (Zechariah 14:1-21, Revelation 21:9-14)
Rev. William L. Barron, July 9, 2023Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
The phrase, "In that day..." was used by Zechariah several times. "Day" refers to three different days. The context is apocalyptic, concerning blessing and judgment. The setting is the return from exile, and also the return of Christ. There is a message of hope. The returnees were discouraged and opposed for 20 years. There is a dual fulfillment: Nebuchadnezzar conquering Jerusalem and in great turmoil, the separation of the "bad figs, " who would suffer judgment and death, from the "good figs," who would return in blessing. The big question: Had the good figs learned their lesson? The "valley" makes future reference to the valley on the Mount of Olives. In the future "abomination of desolation" in Mark 13 in AD 70, the obedient ones would flee to the mountains. Following this tribulation, the Son of Man would descend in glory. The new Jerusalem will descend. These actual events will happen, and they are presented figuratively in the scripture. Living water flowing everywhere is a picture of salvation, from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Jesus' kingship will be plain to see. Jerusalem (the church) will be restored forever. Before this, Satan will have contended with the church, but the sharp, two-edged sword (Christ) will both destroy the wicked and bless the righteous. The wicked panic, pleading for help, yet receive an attack. Sin left to itself brings individual and corporate destruction. What treasures the wicked have, they cannot keep. In this holy war, Jesus will have the victory. The righteous will survive by trust and win the prize of ultimate worship in the presence of almighty God. The rebels will be afflicted with drought, as the Nile ceases to flood, but the righteous will celebrate as in the feast of booths. "On that day," the righteous will be proclaimed "Holy Unto The Lord." This inscription, formerly seen only on the priests' headpieces, will appear everywhere. There will no more be traitors or sin.
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Zechariah 14 (Listen)
14:1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall 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.
6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.
8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.
10 The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.
12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war 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.
13 And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.
16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.
20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.
(ESV)
Revelation 21:9–14 (Listen)
9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
(ESV)