I’m reading through Zechariah and Revelation at this point in my daily devotionals, so there’s no surprise that I’m hitting a lot of end times prophecies. But, despite that, some prophecies are surprising me and teaching me unexpected lessons. Let’s dive right in to Zechariah 14:1 for an example. “Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you!” The “you” here, according to my Bible, is the people of Jerusalem, but many messages to God’s holy family of the Old Testament apply to the Christians, the holy family of the New Testament. So, when the Lord returns, our possessions could easily be plundered right in front of us. I would say this goes in with my anti-materialism statements of recent. Faith in possessions will do us nothing if they are plundered, but God cannot be taken from us, nor us from God (see John 10:28-30).
Yesterday, I mentioned snow in my blog, because it was snowing and the Psalm mentioned it. Today, Zechariah also talks about snow. The NLT neglects the original Hebrew, but look at Zechariah 14:6 NIV: “On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.” That day is referring to the day of the Lord, in verse one, which is the day of judgment mentioned in Joel 2. So, I can confidently say, despite what any Watchtower people may tell me, that the Lord has not come back yet, because there is still frost and snow and cold. Thank you Michigan weather for setting the record straight.
An interesting point about when the Lord returns is found in verse 9: “And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped.” When the Lord returns, the focal point of worship and the governmental powers all shift to the Lord alone. All worship to the Lord, nothing to any other religious figurehead. The presence of the Lord must be just that convincing.
I never realized there were so many zombies in the bible. Zechariah 12:12-15 says that the people, horse, mules, camels, donkeys, and any other war animals of the nations that fought against Jerusalem will all become like walking corpses (zombies), with their flesh rotting away. What a terrifying plague. I wonder what modern nations this would affect?
In Zechariah 14:21, it is said that all cooking pots will become holy to boil sacrifices in, and there will no longer be merchants or foreigners in the temple. I wondered about this for while, because I can’t see why meat sacrifices would be necessary when the Lord returns, because He paid for everything with his death years ago. From what I can gather from John Wesley’s and Matthew Henry’s commentaries, it would seem this actually marks a shift to a worship taking place everywhere, even the homes, in such a way as pleasing as the dutiful sacrifices. So, worship as a common lifestyle actually will happen in the future, despite the relative unpopularity it has now.
Today I read about the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation. Read it for yourself in Revelation 20:11-15, because I’m just going to quickly highlight here how everyone dead was put before the throne and judged according to what was written in the books of God. One of these books is the Book of Life, and if your name is written in that book, you will not be thrown into the Lake of Fire with the devil (that happened in verse 10). But, without much knowledge of the books of the Lord, I’m going to guess that there is a book about our actions in life, because we all do have to give an answer for our actions. This passage says we are judged by the books, not just the Book of Life. I would say that even if we are heaven bound there is judgment we face for our actions in this world. Verse 12 says, “the dead were judged according to what they had done.” This is just another biblical encouragement to choose action for God rather than action of the world, because in the end, we answer for how we spent our time.
Proverbs 31:8-9 reads, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” As we are called to serve the world for Christ, keep in mind the voiceless, oppressed, poor, and helpless. These are the lambs to shepherd as we seek to act on our faith and act with God’s love.
I hope you are encouraged as you seek to act on your faith and act out your faith (see Ephesians 2:10 and James 1:22),
-Zachariah