Zechariah
14 reminds me of those awful recurring dreams that continue to bother
us even in the daylight hours. We have fuzzy images or a
recollection of fear. But when we try to go back to sleep we
helplessly continue in the nightmare. The Book of Zechariah
concludes with retelling a vision, with new details added each time.
Finally, upon waking we begin to understand. The chapter serves as a
warning to those sleep-walking through life today, hoping everything
will be better in the morning. It begins, “A
day of the Lord
is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and
divided up within your very walls“.
Insert your name for the city and try to roll over and go back to
sleep. “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“.
This should jolt us awake. Today horrific violence is on the rise
in the Middle East. Israel cannot rest for a minute. He adds
something totally new, “Then
the Lord
will go out and fight“.
We are given some details of the end times, as the Messiah returns,
“On
that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives“.
Acts 1:11 describes the assentation of Jesus from the Mount of
Olives and adds, “This
same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back
in the same way you have seen him go into heaven“.
But there is another recollection from Zechariah, “Then
the Lord
my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him“.
No one will sleep through His trumpet blast.
Everything
will change in a moment, “On
that day there
will be neither sunlight nor cold… It will be a unique day… with
no distinction between day and night“.
Many hope they can set their alarm later, but this is “a
day known only to the Lord“.
Matthew chapter 24 gives us the details of this day. Verse 44 warns
the faithful, “Be ready,
because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect
Him“. Friend, is it time to
open your eyes?
The
chapter and book close with what I believe to be the thousand year
period described in Revelation chapter 20, in which the saints reign
and rule with Christ. “On
that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem… The Lord
will be King over the whole earth. On that day there will be one
Lord,
and His Name the only Name“.
Every one of the survivors will still have free will to worship God.
There will be only one of the Jewish Festivals observed. The
Festival of Tabernacles was a reminder to the wanderer, that peace
and provision is found in Christ. According to John chapter 7, it
was at this feast that Jesus spoke to the crowd, “Let
anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.
Whoever
believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will
flow from within them“.
We read that, “Every
pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord
Almighty“.
In other words, we do not have to make ourselves holy and righteous.
Even common pots and pans become sacred when used to serve God. We
are made holy by God when we give in and accept His authority. Friend
if you have been tossing and turning perhaps it is time to wake up
from the nightmare of uncertainty. Jesus said, “I
have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world”
(John 16:33). May the Prince of Peace give you Sweet Dreams today
and tonight.