BLESSING does not come without
bearing the burden a godly people are called to bear. The promise of a pure and
perfect creation — where nothing unholy can exist — where the Lord Jesus, our
Davidic King is worshipped in all glory and majesty — is realised only when a
great cost is borne. This is something we have to be prepared to die for.
I’m not trying to radicalise anyone
here. On the contrary, the faithful ones will not oppress; they’ll be the
oppressed. We have to be prepared. And there’s solace in this: we are one death (Hebrews 9:27). The hardship
of death is a moment. It’s nothing like an eternity.
That said, let’s hop into chapter
14 of Zechariah: the culmination of all things.
Reminiscent of Revelation, this
final part of the oracle that started in 12:1 approaches apocalypse, without
exhibiting all the features of that literary genre. It’s been said that apocalypse
is “prophecy on steroids.” This is a quote that helps us know what apocalypse
is:
“‘Apocalypse’ is a genre of revelatory literature with a
narrative framework, in which revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being
to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal,
insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it
involves another supernatural world.”
— J.J.
Collins
There is no otherworldly journey
depicted nor is their angelic mediation (like we see in Zechariah’s night
visions (vv. 1:7 – 6:8), so it can be said that, broadly, Zechariah 14 fits
into a genre of “prophecy of salvation.”
The refrain of “on that day”
harkens the reader to the hope beyond what is presently harrowing. Seven times
this refrain occurs here, as it builds on those occurrences in chapters 12 and
13. It depicts Yahweh’s intervention in the realm of creation. Amazingly,
though the battle of the Lord is cosmic (universal) the “epicentre” remains in
Jerusalem. On such diverse poles does God in his creation persist; the “machinery”
in a single-cell-organism and the ever-expanding breadth of the universe.
Everything comes together in one place — Jerusalem — of all the universe — at one
time in all eternity… on that day.
As opposed to earlier Zechariah,
when the Lord used the nations to
bring the people of God to its knees — because of covenant disobedience — the Lord battles for the people, now,
against the nations — they will be his people and he will be their God.
The return of Yahweh — a post-exilic
imperative — has been anticipated all the way through Zechariah. Here he comes!
Jerusalem, and specifically the Mount of Olives, will feel the Lord’s
earth-shaking Presence. He “splits” the mountain in two — from “towards the
sunrise [eastward] to towards the sea [westward].” As far as east is to west is
the Lord’s Presence.
Zechariah personalises his
relationship with God in verse 5, and that’s significant for everyone who calls
the Lord “my God.” (Those who
utter the flippant “OMG” in this age might well be put to shame.)
The creative flow of the cosmos may
well be interrupted “on that day” as it was in Joshua 10:12-14 when the sun
stood still, the moon was stopped, and the Lord
fought for his people. Only God could or would do this — for his purposes; an
apocalyptic sign.
The heavenly bodies, during this
day, are “congealing,” indicating that the radical changes to physical
environment blur into a transcendent reality beyond human comprehension.
Living waters flow out of Jerusalem
and they’re fresh, which is a sign of the ushering in of a new creation, given
that Jerusalem’s water supply often dried up in summer.
Verse 9 is the climax every God-follower
reads with glee! The Lord is one;
one for all to see; won to all people who wish to see him come in his glory!
The whole earth is full of his glory and the whole earth can see it. (This
verse may well be out of place chronologically in the context of the chapter,
given that there are “peoples who [continue to] wage war against Jerusalem” in
verse 10. Much of Zechariah appears to read non-chronologically.)
Jerusalem will be “elevated” in
verse 10 as it depicts temple imagery, and its foundations will be ever secure,
meaning the promise of covenant blessings in Leviticus 25:18-19 and 26:5 is brought
to perfection. Mentions of the geography here are incredibly detailed. A great
return of Yahweh’s “holy ones” follows.
We hardly want to read what it will
be like for those against Jerusalem in verses 12 through 15. Plagues with an unequivocal
descriptiveness sweep over the land reminiscent of the Passover; the people of
God protected by the Lord’s foreknowledge
of their obedience of faith. Great confusion will take place. Many will fight
who previously would not have fought. We must be prepared to look solely to the
Lord.
After the cosmic battle, the
survivors of the nations shall then worship Yahweh. The Lord’s justice in the new creation will not tarry. It will
be swift and direct over the nations that fail to worship at God’s festival of
Sukkoth (“tabernacles” or “booths”). This festival envisages the “full
restoration” of the temple, and implies the “centrality” of the temple for all
creation. A covenant failure brings a covenant curse for the nations, but the
covenant people delight in covenant obedience.
Zechariah’s fondness for the horse
completes the chapter in verses 20-21. The connection of the holiness inscribed
on bells with the new creation is remarkable. Everything will have the Lord’s sign on it. Nothing unholy will
remain.
There is a day coming, a day full of glory, and
on that day, will be the completion of his story.
Do not worry ‘on that day’ or any day. All we need to remember is to be God’s people.
© 2015 Steve Wickham.
Reference: Petterson,
A.R., Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi
(Apollos Old Testament Commentary, Vol. 25) (Nottingham: InterVarsity Press,
2015).
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