SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/9/2016 4:49 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Character of the Kingdom
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 14:16-21
Message of the verses: “16 Then it will come about that any who are 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 to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 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 or
enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the
LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19
This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who
do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 20 In that day there will be inscribed on the bells
of the horses, "HOLY TO THE LORD." And the cooking pots in the LORD’S
house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in
Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice
will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a
Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.”
First of
all I have to say that I am sad that this is the last Spiritual Diary that I
will do at this time from the book of Zechariah. We began this study on April 7, 2016 and so
it has been a very long study indeed as I decided to look at both the
commentary from Dr. Warren Wiersbe and also look at the sermons from John
MacArthur while doing these SD’s on Zechariah, and I know that there were at
times some things repeated but as I think about this I am very glad that this
is the way we looked at it.
As we look
at verse sixteen through verse twenty-one we have to realize that all of the
judgment of the nations has been complete and I believe that we can tie this in
with what Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 25:32-33 “All the nations will be
gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His
right, and the goats on the left.” We
see here the judgment of those unbelievers at the end of the Tribulation Period. So again as we look at Zechariah 14:16-21 we
see what will happen during the Millennial Kingdom. Now I have to say at this point that I
believe as John MacArthur does that there will be many believers from the
nations that will go into the Millennial Kingdom. Now these believers will go up to Jerusalem
each year for the Feast of Tabernacles which will be celebrate the time when
God tabernacle with Israel in the wilderness.
MacArthur writes “And here it is fulfilled, you see. In that day God comes down and His glory
again tabernacles with His people and so they celebrate that feast again. Annually the people of the world are going to
come to keep the feast.”
Now we move
on to look at verse seventeen. This
verse tells us the consequence of those families who do not go up to Jerusalem
for this feast, and that is that they will not receive rain during the next
year, and so they will be living in a drought which will be a disaster to
them. Verse eighteen speaks of the
nation of Egypt and tells them of the consequence if they don’t go up and
perhaps they will say they don’t care because they have the Nile River so we
don’t need the rain, but they will find out different as the verse says “it
will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to
celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Now during
the Millennial Kingdom the nations will not have the option of whether or not
to worship the Lord for that will be required, and I have to say that this
should not be a burden to anyone who loves the Lord, for worship is a part of
serving and loving the Lord.
Now we move
on to look at verse 20 which talks about this little phrase “Holiness Unto the
Lord” which will be engraved on bells of the horses and also on the cooking
pots. This was put upon the high priest
Aaron, on his turban, actually on the front of his turban on a gold plate. This surely speaks of a man who was to be
holy before the Lord.
The last
verse speaks of Canaanites which says that they shall not be allowed in the
house of the Lord. MacArthur explains
that the word “Canaanite” came to mean a proverb for a degenerate person in
Israel, and we know that there will not be any degenerate people in
Israel.
I will end this last SD from the book of Zechariah with a short quote from John MacArthur’s sermon “I close with this. The theme of Zechariah, I'll tell you in one word, "Christ." He's the theme. In chapter 1 He is the riding one. In chapter 2 He is the measuring one. In chapter 3 He is the cleansing one. In chapter 4 He's the empowering one. In chapter 5 He's the judging one. In chapter 6 He's the crowned one. In chapter 7 He's the rebuking one. In chapter 8 He's the restoring one. In chapter 9 He's the kingly one. In chapter 10 He's the blessing one. In chapter 11 He's the shepherding one. In chapter 12 He's the returning one. In chapter 13 He's the smitten one. In chapter 14 He is the reigning one. Zechariah saw Christ. I hope you caught his vision. And I hope you know the Christ he looked forward to. Let's pray.
“Thank You, Father, for helping us to be able to
search this book and mine its depths. Thank You for the patience of these dear
people who come with eager hearts, hungry souls for a glimpse of Your glory. May
it change our lives that we might be more the holy people that You so much
want. We'll thank You in Christ's name. Amen.”
11/9/2016 5:20 PM
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