DARK DAYS, BRIGHT FUTURE
Opening Prayer
My God, You hold all things in Your hands. Thank You.
Read Zechariah 14:1–11, 20, 21
The Lord Comes and Reigns
14 A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
2 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. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 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. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake[a] 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 will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 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.
8 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.
9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.
10 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. 11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.
Footnotes:
a Zechariah 14:5 Or 5 My mountain valley will be blocked and will extend to Azel. It will be blocked as it was blocked because of the earthquake
Zechariah 14:20-21
20 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. 21 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[a] in the house of the Lord Almighty.
Footnotes:
a Zechariah 14:21 Or merchant
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“God bought you with a high price” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NLT). What’s your response?In the Bible, Jerusalem can be a symbol, envisaging the place where God makes his home with his people (Revelation 21:1–3). No such apocalyptic language (4, 6–8) describes an earthly city. Extraordinarily, this city comes under attack by “all the nations” (2), as one commentator puts it, “to remove a non-cooperative element that blocked the way to an international world order.” (Joyce Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, IVP, 1972, p. 200) That’s no surprise. The threat to God’s work and his people can seem overwhelming, even to the point of God’s people being “conquered” (Revelation 13:5–8)! Be warned, ferocious evil will disrupt our lives and communities.
Then the Lord intervenes. We sometimes wish it would happen sooner, but when it does, it is a unique day for a unique God (7). And his intervention brings overflowing blessing (8). Everything – even horse tack and cooking utensils – is given over to the Lord when he reigns (20). Nothing is outside the orb of his power, and any sacred/secular division disappears. That’s how we want to live now: nothing being withheld from the Lord’s service. No hostility to the Lord (symbolized by “Canaanite’) will be there to disturb that relationship.
Apply
Research an area of the world in which Christians are being persecuted for their faith. Commit to pray for this nation daily this week.
Closing prayer
Jesus, I pray for those under severe persecution for their faith, that the vision of final glory with You will fill their hearts.
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