Holy To The Lord Series

Intro

The book of Zechariah ends on an extremely positive note. During the Millennium, the hopes

and dreams of God’s people will be realized like never before. The perfection that will be in the

new heaven and the new earth is not entirely realized. But compared to the previous ages, the

Millennium will be absolutely glorious with Jesus ruling the world in righteous as King of Kings

and Lord of Lord.

When we study biblical prophecy, it is easy to lose perspective on the future. The book of

Revelation gives a lot of detail about the horrors of the Tribulation period when God pours out

his wrath on a rebellious world. But the Tribulation period is only seven years long compared to

the thousand years of glory that follows it. The Tribulation period is less than one percent of the

time experienced in the Millennium. And of course, the Millennium is followed by the eternal

kingdom of everlasting bliss.

The extensive detail concerning events leading up to and including the Tribulation period are

given as a warning and as a protection against deception. Deception will be particularly

problematic during that time.i So, we need to know those details. But we must maintain an

overall perspective on biblical prophecy as we study those predictions. God has not appointed us

to wrath.ii Even those of his people who go through the Tribulation period will not experience

God’s wrath. They will be preserved through the judgement just as Noah was preserved through

the flood.iii God’s wrath is aimed toward the wicked, never toward his own. He chastens and

corrects his own.iv But Jesus bore the wrath for believers on the cross.v

So today we consider the glorious reign of Christ during the Millennium. What does the

Millennium have to do with you? You will be there in a glorified body reigning with Christ. Can

you enlarge your thinking and imagine that? What will it be like during those thousand years

fulfilling the assignment the Lord gives you? God is currently preparing you for that and for your

eternal assignment in the new heaven and new earth that follows. The promise in 2 Timothy 2:12

is, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (KJV). Sometimes in this life we are called upon

to suffer for the sake of Christ.vi That is never in vain. God knows how to reward those who stay

faithful to him. Jesus’s Parable of the Pounds gives us insight on how that reward is distributed.

Remember in that parable how the nobleman rewarded the servant who and gained ten pounds

from one? Commending his faithfulness, the noblemen made him ruler over ten cities. And the

servant who gained five pounds from one was made ruler over five cities.vii It’s not difficult to

relate that to reigning with Christ during the Millennium.

So, keep all that in mind as we read Zechariah 14:16-21 from the Amplified Bible.

“Then everyone who is left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to

year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths

(Tabernacles). 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to

Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 If the family of

Egypt does not go up [to Jerusalem] and present themselves, then no rain will fall on them. It

will be the plague with which the Lord will strike the nations who do not go up to celebrate the

Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). 19 This will be the [consequent] punishment [for the sin] of Egypt,

and the [consequent] punishment [for the sin] of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the

Feast of Booths (Tabernacles). 20 In that day there will be written on the little bells on the horses, “HOLY TO The Lord.” And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be [holy to the Lord] like the bowls before the

altar. 21 Every cooking pot in [all the houses in] Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to

the Lord of hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take them and boil [their sacrifices] in

them. And in that day there will no longer be a Canaanite [that is, any godless or spiritually

unclean person, whether Jew or Gentile] in the house of the Lord of hosts.”viii

We find three characteristics of the Millennium in that passage.

1. Universality of Worship (vs 16)

2. Strictness of Administration (vs 17-19)

3. Pervasiveness of Holiness vs 20-21).

Last week we dealt with verse 16 and the Universality of Worship. In this message we will

address the other two: Christ’s discipline of the nations and the holiness of his reign.