For those Anglicans among us who have been wondering when we’ll get around to mentioning that we’re currently in the season of Advent, today’s the day. Because today we come to the end of Zechariah, to Zechariah’s description of the last day, the day of the Lord’s return. Here we find a picture of the final events of this world, and, more importantly, a description of the world to come.
Now I think most people are interested in what heaven is like. Even those without any particular faith in God, are curious about what we might find there. Will Grandma be there, or Uncle Bob or Aunt Sally? At our Animal Thanksgiving Service this year, the question was raised, whether there’ll be animals in heaven? More particularly, whether our pets go to heaven when they die. For some people that’s a very important question isn’t it? In fact there are some who would say that heaven wouldn’t be much of a place to be if they couldn’t have their pets there; or Bach, or Mozart, or Pink Floyd, or chocolate, or whatever their favourite thing happens to be. But, what if they’re not? What if you discovered that there were no pets in heaven? That Bach or Pink Floyd, were never played there? How would you feel about it? Would it feel less like heaven, do you think? Of course, that begs the question, what is heaven all about? What is the most important thing about heaven? In fact, what’s the most important thing in the world?
Zech 14 gives us a vision of the future. It’s only an outline view, but it’s clear enough to give us a picture of what heaven will be like. You see, Zechariah is in no doubt about what the future holds. He doesn’t mention animals, or chocolate, or Bach. What he talks about is God. Zechariah 14 is about Jerusalem (vs 1-15) and the Temple (vs 16-19). Remember, Jerusalem stands for the rule of God among his covenant people, his rule upon the earth. It stands for the public honour of God. It stands for God’s purposes, his plan, his gospel plan. Jerusalem in this context reminds us that God will achieve his purposes in the world. So for Zechariah it’s vital that Jerusalem stands at the end.
Similarly, it’s important that the Temple stands because it represents the public knowledge of God and the worship of God. In other words, Jerusalem and the Temple standing at the end shows that God will rule visibly & publicly and will be known publicly. And in the end all the nations will come to worship him as God. In fact the key to the whole chapter is v9: "And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one."
The first 15 verses are arranged in a 5-part pattern like this:
Vs 1-5 deals with the nations
Vs 6-8 deals with the effects on nature,
Vs 9 All the world will worship God (the focus)
Vs 10-11 nature
Vs 12-15 the nations
So how do you respond to that vision of the future?
Does it excite you that the Lord will rule over all the earth? Are you relieved to know that the knowledge of God and the worship of God will spread to all people on earth?
Do you understand that if God is to preserve his public honour and his rule and his people then there’ll be tremendous opposition to God?
You see the world doesn’t mind if we privately honour God as Lord but it does when this becomes public. Have you noticed the reaction we get when we say that truth about God is public truth? Not just truth for you or me, but universal truth? When we announce to the world that there is one Lord, one King, the Lord Jesus Christ, one way to God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s when the knives come out. That’s when we’re accused of intolerance, or arrogance.
Well, there’s nothing new under the sun. This is exactly what Zechariah foresees with the coming of the day of the Lord. On that day, he says, God will gather all the opposition in one place, to Jerusalem, to fight against it. God will focus the opposition against himself and his people. When that happens, the fight against God’s people and God’s plan will be horrific. It’ll be just like the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Not that we should read this description literally. This is apocalyptic language, that uses common events to describe what is beyond our imagining. But the point is that the opposition will be strong and merciless.
A couple of questions arise at this point don’t they? First of all, why does God allow this to happen? Look at v2. It’s God who will gather the nations to fight against Jerusalem. So why does he allow it? Well, there are probably a couple of answers to that question. The first is in John 11. In fact it’s the answer to the question, why did Jesus let his good friend Lazarus die when he could have prevented it? On that occasion Jesus said "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. (John 11:4 NRSV) So one reason that God allows this final culmination to happen like this is so his name will be glorified as those who are opposed to him finally realise the futility of their opposition. But the other answer is found in 2 Peter 3 where Peter addresses the question of why Jesus is apparently delayed in returning. There Peter replies: "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance." (2 Pet 3:9 NRSV) So the other reason that opposition continues to build until this final crisis takes place is that God, in his mercy, delays to give more people the opportunity to repent and be saved.
But having said that, notice what will happen in that dreadful day when this great opposition to God comes to a head.
God will fight for his public honour and for his people. God won’t be defeated. He’ll triumph over his enemies. This is an important message for us in a time when the Christian Church seems to be weak. I was looking at some figures for the Anglican Church the other day. In the 7 years from 1991 - 1998 the number of Christmas communicants in Melbourne Diocese, dropped from 61,000 to 39,000. That’s a drop of22,000 people that we’re no longer in contact with. (36%) It’s easy for us in those circumstances to be worried that we’re letting God down. That his name won’t receive the honour that’s due to him. That his gospel program is failing. But what do we find here? "Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which 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 withdraw northward, and the other half southward."
So the day that looks like a day of defeat and failure for God, a day of devastation when God is disgraced and God’s people are dispersed, turns out to be the day when God will fight most clearly - against all opposition.
And we discover that God’s victory entails not just human society but also God’s victory over nature. In vs 6-8 we see a transformation in time and in vs10-11 a transformation in space. There’ll be neither cold nor frost. There’ll be no nighttime or daytime, but light will continue into the evening. And living water will flow out from Jerusalem to water the whole earth. It’ll be a day of light and living water.
And, v9, on that day God will be king over all the earth - and his name will be the only name. Everyone will know it. It’ll be public knowledge. What a contrast to today! Today it’s a rare thing to find someone who knows this truth. But in future all people will see it. And, vs10-11, all the surrounding country will be laid low, but Jerusalem will be raised up. Again, this isn’t meant to be a literal description. Rather it illustrates the way God’s purposes, God’s glory, will be exalted above everything else and everyone will see it. And Jerusalem will be inhabited, and never again destroyed. It’ll be secure. So not only will God be King, but his people will be safe, his honour will be preserved, and his rule will be seen throughout the earth.
What about those who persist in resisting the rule of God? Vs 12-15 describes the judgement that’ll fall on them. It’s described as a plague, to remind us of the plagues that struck the Egyptians when they resisted God’s will, except that here the plague results in people attacking one another. All sense of relationship and mutuality will be broken down and the attackers will turn against each other. Finally, the sign of God’s victory will be the bringing in of the wealth of the nations to Jerusalem.
So vs 1-15 describes how God will preserve his rule on the earth.
Next vs 16-19 shows how God will preserve his Temple as the place where he’s known and worshipped. All the survivors from the nations will come to worship year after year. If they don’t go up they will suffer for it.
Finally, in vs20-21 everything in the city will be holy. ’Holy to the Lord’, that’s the inscription on the headpiece of the High Priest, will be inscribed on the bells of the horses and the cooking pots. In other words every meal will be a holy meal. - as though everyone is living in the Temple itself. This, in fact, is the description of Rev 21 isn’t it? There’s no temple in that city for the Lord Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. So wherever you live in the city of God is a holy place.
So the vision of Zechariah is that there will be one Lord over all the earth, that all peoples will come to worship and that those who live in God’s city will be holy to the Lord.
So how are we to understand this prophecy?
Well, it’s clear that this is looking forward to a day that’s yet to come, when all peoples will come to worship God and live in his presence; when all opposition to God and to his people will be defeated. It’s clear that in that day Gentiles will be incorporated into the people of God. We now know that this comes about through faith in the Lord Jesus. We talked a few weeks ago about how this began with the preaching of the gospel on the day of Pentecost. And as far as the actual location of this Jerusalem goes we know from the writings of the New Testament that God will reign not in the earthly Jerusalem but in the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21. In Gal 4:26, Paul points us, not to the earthly Jerusalem, but to the Jerusalem that is above.
So what difference does the future make?
Zechariah is looking to a time in the future when the Temple will be finished and all the people of the world will come to worship there. Zechariah is writing this because he thinks the future makes all the difference. He wants to inspire them to return to God, to escape from Babylon, to not despise the day of small things, to live by the power of God’s spirit, to know that things which seem great to us are nothing to God, to administer justice, speak the truth, show mercy and compassion, not oppress the poor, to shout and rejoice because their King comes to them.
But what about us? Well, let me tell you what an expectation of the future can mean.
I heard an interview with Kieren Perkins the other day about his preparations to defend his1500 metre Olympic title. It seems there’s been some sort of a health scare related to his training schedule. There’s some danger if he keeps it up that he could be permanently injured. So the interviewer asked him if this was likely to stop him training? What do you think? Not on your life! He’s intent on winning another gold medal in Sydney next year and that hope of future glory is enough for him to risk permanent injury.
Well, future hope is equally important for our Christian motivation. You see, what we often lack is the motivation to live as faithful Christians. But if we know that God will reign over all the earth, that all will come to worship him, that all will be holy, that this is the real future, God’s promised future, the certain future, then that can give us real impetus to live holy lives now.
Most Australians, you see, live without hope, because they don’t have any conviction about the future, other than retirement or death. That’s one of the reasons I’d suggest, behind the rising suicide rate. I saw someone on TV last week, after the South Sydney Rugby League Club lost their bid to remain in the ARL, in tears, because, he said, life will be meaningless if Souths aren’t in the ARL. Isn’t that sad? But how many Melbournians would say something similar if the same thing happened to Collingwood, or Hawthorn, or Richmond?
On the other hand, we Christians are hopeful because our hope doesn’t rest in this fallen world, but in the world to come. We’re hopeful because we know what the future is. The Lord will be King over all the earth. His people will live securely in his presence forever, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Future hope should shape our present action and give us joy in changing, and in serving God now. Some day when you have some time to spare, look at the various exhortations to Christian living in the NT and see how many of them depend on future hope as the motivation for godliness.
So what is our future hope as Christians? The Lord will be King, all the nations will come to worship him and ’Holy to the Lord’ will be written on every part of our lives. Rev 11:15 says: "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.
Well, we’re going to finish thinking about our future hope by reading together Rev 21:1-22:6, to remind ourselves of the wonderful future that God has prepared for those who persevere to the end.
For more sermons from this source go to www.sttheos.org.au
