Finally Changed | Zechariah 14

Well, greetings from Grace Harbor Church in Providence, Rhode Island. It’s so good to be with you this morning. I know that our church is also praying for you in our own pastoral prayer, so it’s just a delight for me to be here. And I just want to say thank you before I do anything else. Thank you for your generosity, for the partnership in the gospel that we have.

But not just with each other. I’ve been so encouraged to see ways in which you’re seeking to do that around the world. So I’m really thankful to be here with you and thankful for this congregation. And I hope to be a blessing to you this morning.

So let me pray for that. Let’s go to God in prayer before we go to His Word.

Father, as we turn to your word now, we pray that you would take this unfamiliar voice and make it endearing, because this is your word and it’s what your Spirit uses to speak. And so we do pray that you would speak to us now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Where do you long for the greatest change to take place in your life?

Whenever one area of life seems hard, making a change always sounds good, but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, especially when the fence is running through the same field. And that’s the way change often works in this world. Dissatisfied with your job? Change it. But that next job comes with its own set of problems. Same thing with any relationship. It’ll be with another sinner. This world is broken, so no matter what changes we make, we’ll still find ourselves wanting more. Especially when it comes to ourselves.

And that’s because deep down, we’re all looking for something more than just simple changes. We’re longing for real transformation. And our text this morning assures us that will happen. Real transformation. Transformation will take place, for better or worse.

So if you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Zechariah chapter 14, Zechariah 14. If you need help finding that, you know where Matthew is in the New Testament. Just go back a little bit to the left.

Now, I know we’re just dropping into the end of an obscure book, so let me give you some context for where we’re at today. Zechariah is preaching to people who are just beginning to rebuild their lives back in their homeland after having been exiled for about 70 years. But they’re a weak and vulnerable people, surrounded by enemies. And almost as soon as they start rebuilding the temple, life gets too hard and they give up.

So God speaks through Zechariah, assuring them of his commitment to bless his people with himself, and they turn back to the Lord. And these final chapters, God’s promising to establish his kingdom on earth through his promised King. And that all happens on the day of the Lord. This is the day when God personally shows up to save his people and judge his enemies. It’s the day when he establishes his kingdom on earth.

Now we need to understand how the prophets speak about that day. They describe it as one event, one event happening all at once. But the New Testament describes this as happening in stages. The Apostle John says that the day of the Lord was fulfilled at the cross, when God himself, in the person of Jesus, saves his people and defeats our enemies from a spiritual standpoint. But his salvation comes in full on the day Jesus returns to judge the world completely.

And so what that means is that for us, the kingdom of God has come in part, and yet we’re still in a broken world. And when the prophets describe this day, they not only describe it as all happening at once, but they don’t lay out the details of the events of that day in chronological fashion like we would in the West, you know, sort of thinking as one thing happening right after another.

Reading the prophets is more like watching football on TV. We see a touchdown. We see a replay in slow motion. Then we see it from another angle and then again from another angle. Well, we don’t think we just saw four touchdowns. Now we understand that we’re seeing the same event four different times from four different views.

Well that’s what’s happening with this day of the Lord in chapters 12 through 14. In chapter 12, the focus is on God’s coming King who fights for his people. But then in chapter 13, the focus of that day is on the people themselves. They must be cleansed by a fountain of mercy opened up by that king who fights for them, but then dies in the battle trying to save them. But then they’re also refined through a furnace of suffering that purifies their faith.

Now, in chapter 14, it’s as if Zechariah gives us a replay. Again, we’re getting another view of that day, and the focus shifts to the place where this all happens. The same events of the day are being repeated, but all eyes are on the king dwelling with his people in his kingdom. And that’s the hope of this passage. It’s the hope of the people. It’s our hope today.

One day, God will transform all of life in the place he dwells with us. That’s the hope. That’s what I hope to impart to you today. One day, friends, God will transform all of life in the place he dwells with us. And our text gives us four ways he’s going to bring about this transformation.

First, he delivers (verses 1 through 5).

Second, he renews (verses 6 through 11).

Third, he judges (verses 12 through 19).

And fourth, he purifies (verses 20 through 21).

He delivers, renews, judges and purifies. That’s how God will transform all of life through his King.

First, He Delivers

Look at verse one of chapter 14.

Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Now the reference to the day of the Lord means that we’re reading apocalyptic literature here, which means Zechariah’s painting a picture. He’s using symbols and images that they understand from their own scriptures. So he’s painting a picture of the day of the Lord so that they can stare at it and be strengthened with hope.

So what we don’t want to do is read this through Western eyes and think that this is a very flat wooden prediction of events where every detail must literally happen this way. It’s a picture, so let their context, with their understanding of symbols and images from Scripture, interpret that picture so that we can see it too, and find strength to endure a life that’s far from perfect in this world.

Because notice in verses one and two, this day is a battle. And he describes it in the same terms of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. It’s difficult to read, and to be clear, God isn’t condoning this horrific behavior in verse two. It’s just an awful description of what happens in war. But God’s gathering them for judgment there. And yet, because the nations gather against God’s people, God’s people will suffer.

Just as we read back in chapter 13 of a refining furnace, and now we see that part of the suffering of that refining furnace for God’s people comes through worldly opposition, which means being part of God’s people doesn’t mean a life in a bed of roses. This world is hostile to God. And that’s why the focus is on Jerusalem here. This city represents the symbolic place that God dwells with his people.

In the New Testament, the New Jerusalem is the heavenly city, made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation that fills the whole cosmos right now, today. That’s the church, because that’s the place that God’s Spirit dwells today. So deliverance for the Christian isn’t only a deliverance from the power of sin. Praise the Lord. But ultimately it’s also deliverance from this rebellious world. It’s living in opposition against us. It’s laying siege.

That’s why Peter says that we’re living as spiritual exiles in this place, persecuted for righteousness. Now, maybe you’re thinking, well, no one’s threatening to kill me. No one’s sending me to jail. Well, not in this country and not today. But talk to a Christian in Nigeria or North Korea. Think about church history and praise God that we’ve enjoyed an abnormal level of tolerance today. But that doesn’t mean we’re not persecuted. If we weren’t, then no one would fear talking about Jesus. But how many of us are afraid of offending our coworkers?

I know people in my own congregation have lost friends or struggled to find friends because they follow Jesus. We have two people right now that seem to want to place their faith in Christ and join the church, but they know that baptism means they’re going to lose their family. And don’t we all feel the hatred of the church on social media? I mean, aren’t Christians often misunderstood and mislabeled? Jesus considers all of that persecution.

Matthew 5:11: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” But church, deliverance is coming. It’s coming. But that implies suffering right now. And if we don’t understand that, then we might be surprised by it when it shows up and then give up.

In fact, Israel assumed that on this day of the Lord, everyone would be in trouble except them. But that’s a dangerous presumption, according to Zechariah. Life in this world really is a spiritual battle, and not everyone survives. Only a faithful remnant will be spared. In verse two, half the city—a remnant that apparently is refined through suffering. That’s part of what proves faith genuine. In chapter 13, it’s that you go through this broken, messed up, painful world, still believing and still obeying the Lord. That’s real faith.

In Luke 8:11, Jesus explains that the seed of God’s Word initially takes root in some people, but they fall away because of persecution or just because of the worries of this world. So this chapter is full of hope, but it’s also a warning. It oscillates back and forth between the positive and negative aspects of the day of the Lord, before it finally comes to rest on life better than we can comprehend right now.

In the meantime, we know from chapter 13, verse nine and from Peter that genuine faith refined by fire will call on the Lord, and on that day he’ll answer them, and he will fight for his people.

Verse three: Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that 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 move northward and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

Right when it looks like God’s enemies have won the battle, the Lord intervenes. We get this image of God coming down to earth, planting his feet on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and from there he parts the mountain to deliver his people.

So what’s going on here? Well, about 70 years before this, when Israel was living in rebellion and God’s judgment was beginning to fall on his own people in exile, Ezekiel 11 says that God’s Spirit departed the temple. It went out of Jerusalem and stopped above the Mount of Olives. But now God has graciously come back for his people by the same path. It’s a picture of salvation by grace on the day of the Lord, and he’s delivering them just like he did from Egypt, just as he split the Red Sea. So he splits the mountain and the people pass through, only to join him in returning to Jerusalem.

In verse five: Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

So deliverance turns out to be a glorious return back home. And friends, when our first parents, Adam and Eve, when they rebelled against God, he sent them out east of the garden. They were driven from his place. And so when God graciously gives his people the sacrificial system, they’re always entering into his place. That is the temple or the tabernacle. From the east they head west. It’s always going back home, west, returning to him.

Well, when God shows up to fight for his people here, they join him in the east and they head west to his place. They return home with him. You see the picture. When things are darkest, most desperate, when God’s people are suffering affliction and opposition and persecution in this broken, messed up world of rebellion, he personally shows up and delivers his people from all their affliction.

That day is coming. That day is coming. In fact, it’s already here, in part because on the night before he was crucified, Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives, and then he went to battle against sin, Satan, and death. And he delivered all those who believe in him from our greatest enemies. Christ spread his arms from east to west, and he split the curtain in two so that we might all enter into God’s place with him. Because there on the cross, God’s judgment and wrath was poured out on all of our sins, that it might not be poured out on us on the day of judgment.

You see, we are by nature all of us, like those nations who came against God in our hostility. We are at war with him. But the first time that God began to fulfill this verse and stood on the Mount of Olives in the person of Jesus, he came to save us, not to judge us. But we must repent and believe on him.

Friends, if you’re in Christ, that means whatever problems you’re going through right now, wherever it is that you desire the greatest change to take place in your life right now, you need to first rejoice in the fact that your biggest one has already been taken care of, that you’re in the process of receiving the goal of your faith.

Now, you might not like that process. We all want the benefits of heaven right now. But God allows his people to suffer because we need the furnace as well as the fountain. But he never abandons us. In fact, this worldwide attack on his people is the staging for displaying his glorious power and grace.

So don’t let suffering make you bitter or cause you to waver in your obedience. Don’t let it make you doubt whether or not the costs are worth it. This day is coming and it belongs to the Lord. So sometimes we really do need to just hang in there. I know we want more than that, but sometimes the application really is you just need to endure this by faith. Not without the gospel, but it really is hang in there.

So we don’t have to obey the American vibe and just be happy all the time. You know, like as soon as something bad happens, we don’t let ourselves mourn in this country. It’s like we think if I’m sad, I’m wrong. If I’m sad, something’s wrong. No, that’s not the case. Nor do we have to vibe with the American pressure to be anxious all the time when it’s not the case, or because it might not always be that way. We don’t have to do that. The day belongs to the Lord, and he will deliver us.

And on the other side of the fence of history isn’t just a better version of the same old thing. It’s something new. It is something entirely different. And that brings us to the second way that God will transform all of life. He renews.

Second, He Renews

Look at verse six. On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.

Verse six shifts our eyes from the battle to the day itself. And just look at the language here. Day and night. Sun and moon. And Zechariah is using creation language from Genesis 1. And it’s a unique day because there’s no sunlight. And yet, verse seven, there will be light all the way to the evening. That paradox beautifully expresses the reality of the new creation. It’s the fullness of goodness and life. No more wars, no more suffering. It’s the dawning of a new day in a new world, which Revelation 21 says has no need of the sun because it’s lit up by the glory of Christ.

Verse eight: On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

Again, drawing on language from Genesis to paint this picture. In Genesis, we read about the Garden of Eden that is God’s place. And what ran from Eden for the prosperity of God’s people? A river. And right here from Jerusalem, God’s place springs a river of living water that doesn’t just flow through Jerusalem, but that divides into two, flowing to the eastern and western seas. It’s covering the world. It’s a picture of new creation. The whole world is becoming the garden.

The day will come when we will enjoy God’s constant blessing. You see, Jerusalem’s water supply would often dry up in the summer, so winter is better than summer in this text. But these rivers don’t ebb and flow with the seasons. They flow with the same strength regardless. It’s a picture of constant blessing, total transformation, everything we suffer in this world and the trials that come—gone.

That’s good news, friends. No longer will God’s people be tempted to drink from broken cisterns that can’t hold water like they did year after year after year from their idols. Like some of us who work endlessly for people’s praise all week, yet never satisfied. Some of us who might escape in a bottle or on a screen, who live for the next experience, and then the next experience, and then the next one. And it’s never enough. No more.

Instead, God’s people will enjoy a never-ending supply of living water that continually flows out of Jerusalem, where his presence is, to rejuvenate and nourish all of creation. It’s like the whole earth is being transformed into that garden. Why? Because God rules over the whole world as king.

Verse nine: And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

The cause of everything new, that glorious light, living water, is the presence of God. He reigns, verse nine, as King over the whole earth. And that’s really the picture being painted in verse ten as well. From Geba to Rimmon that marks off the southern boundaries, not of the city, but of the land of Judah. So it’s like Jerusalem’s boundaries are being expanded. The reference to these gates, the tower and winepress, draw on the boundaries of Jerusalem during her glory days, before she was destroyed and reduced to a fraction of her size.

Well, here what we’re seeing is God’s place is both expanded and renewed. In fact, Jerusalem will be raised up, while everything else is a plain, which is giving it this picture of being a mountain with rivers flowing down from it to the rest of the world. And that’s consistent with what we know about the Garden of Eden.

So you see, the picture that Zechariah is painting here is one in which the day is coming when God will transform the world into what it was originally meant to be, only better. No more wars, no more violence and oppression or persecution. No more fear or longing for change. We’re going to finally get the life we were made for, because the whole world is the place where God dwells with his people as King.

That day is coming. It’s coming. You know, sometimes the best application can be: Behold your God. Just look at God. And when you do that with this text, behold your future with him. Take your eyes off this world. Put it on the world to come. And if you need help, look around and think about the blessings you know in this church. It’s already evident to me just in one morning. That’s what you have here. And I say that knowing that no church is perfect. Okay, I doubt this place is Eden. But I’m sure it’s not the world either. The day has dawned. The light of the glory of God has shone in our hearts. Because Jesus showed up and offers us living water by His Spirit right now.

Jesus was in Jerusalem when he called out to the crowds in John 7:37, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit.

So church life is far from perfect and we’re not yet home. But as a body of believers, the church can taste heaven now. You know, so many people are trying to live the fullest life they can and be happy and believing the lies of this world. It’s like they think the church gets in the way. But right now we’re sitting with people dwelled with the Spirit of God. God is with us in this place. So the closest thing to experiencing heaven on earth is right here.

So I just want to encourage you. I don’t know how to just—I wish I had the power to make you do this. Avail yourself to the community of saints. I mean, just take every advantage you have to build on relationships in this place. Whenever the church gathers, be here. This is it for your joy. Do this, you know, show up. But don’t just show up because these walls aren’t magical. You know, prepare your heart for Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Live it out during the week. Trust in his word and help one another. Live it out, you know. Love one another. Pray together. Invest your time and resources in eternity and your heart will be free to enjoy Christ. He’s here. This day has come in part already.

You know too many Christians, I fear, that while waiting on heaven try to make their home in the world like, well, if we’re going to have to wait, we might as well make the best of it. And they put one foot in the church and one foot in the world, and they split their heart and kill their joy. And I’m not sure, but I particularly fear that that might be the case here in the South.

If you want to know the joy in life you’re made for, flee the coming wrath and make every part of your life about Jesus, even when it’s hard. Think about their context. Zechariah’s people are poor. They’re insecure. They are a long way away from the life that they want in this world. But what is God saying? It won’t be this way forever. The day is coming. I will transform everything about life itself.

And why is he telling them this? It actually has a point. They stopped building. They had given up and they had gone back to planting or building their own houses. They were going to make the best of it in the land. And he’s saying, come back to me, build my temple, my place, that I might dwell with you. He wants them to remain faithful.

And so, church, whenever life is hard, whatever situation you’re in that you don’t like, where you want the most change to take place. Listen, it won’t last forever. But you have to persevere in faith, in obedience. That’s why you need a Spirit-filled community like this one. Because if we don’t, if we don’t persevere, our future is very different because God transforms our world not just by saving his people, but by judging his enemies.

Third, He Judges

Which brings us to the third way he judges. Verse 12. And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they are still on their feet. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. And on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will be raised against the hand of the other. Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.

Now remember, we’re dealing with the same day. So we’re looking at a replay of that day of salvation from a different angle. For the world to be transformed, it has to be cleansed from evil. And so the real change we all hope for comes through a judgment. God’s going to treat everyone who gathered for war against his people like he treated Egypt in the Exodus with plagues that lead to death. It even hits the animals in their camps, meaning military camps.

And in the ancient world, if you wiped out a nation’s animals, you didn’t just hurt that nation, you crippled it. Their horses, mules, camels and donkeys were their infrastructure. Okay, this is like taking out tanks and 18-wheelers and supply chains all at once, and it’s all destroyed. And just like Egypt was plundered by Israel as they left that place, so too everything that people accumulated for themselves is handed over to God’s people.

As Jesus said, the meek shall inherit the earth. Friends, this day teaches us to be patient and content with what we have. No matter how hard we’ve got it, we don’t need to envy people who will end up with nothing. Actually, nothing would be mercy in judgment. People actually suffer without anything. They look like living corpses in verse 12. It’s a graphic picture because sin leads to death. Every sin in every area of life it takes place leads to decay.

And this is all contrasted with those who worship the king. Verse 16: Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain. There shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.

Here again is a message of judgment. Anyone who doesn’t join in worshiping the King at the Festival of Booths will miss out on the very life that the festival celebrates. The Festival of Booths commemorated how God miraculously had provided for his people in the wilderness journey all the way into the Promised Land. And it was a party. It was one of the most joyful festivals they had because it combined harvest time with being home. Both God’s provision with God’s blessing.

But if you don’t worship God, no rain, no crops, no life. It’s a change for the worse. Friends, not everyone survives the day of the Lord, and the reason is because they refuse to bow the knee to the King. Like our first parents, they will say, “God my way, not yours,” and maintain that defiance at the very end. They trust in their own wisdom because they want life on their own terms. And in the end, there’s no joy, only plague and punishment.

Now that’s hard. And not everyone’s okay with the God who sets the terms for worship and exercises judgment on those who don’t. But honestly, that’s crazy, because not only is he God, but look at the amazingly good news of God. It’s grace in verse 16. They rage against him. They attack his people. But he’s willing to save every rebellious sinner who comes in worship.

For the only people who don’t participate in this feast of joy are those who refuse to come because they don’t want to participate. You know, so sometimes people buck up against the exclusive claims of Christianity, and they’re offended by that exclusion, offended by God’s wrath and judgment. But look, let’s be clear, Christianity is super inclusive of every type of sinner in the world who wants to be included. God only excludes those who self-exclude, those who choose not to worship his King.

But the reality of God’s judgment in hell is hard no matter what. It’s hard. But let’s be clear about who’s responsible. We are. So, friends, don’t neglect the good news of God’s grace. In verse 16, there are survivors from the very nations who are at war with God. Survivors. They came to attack God’s people, to dethrone God. And yet now, year after year, they come to worship the King at the Festival of Booths. Praise the Lord. That was us.

And kids, if you’re here and you’re fortunate to grow up in church, what you want to do one day is grow up and praise the Lord that you never knew a time where you were living in rebellion against God. But you might be here this morning, and you need to begin to trust in God.

In verse two, everyone that was gathered together for war is now being gathered together for worship. And it’s not just Israel, it’s the nations. Isn’t that good news? So what do we do with it? Well, let’s look for survivors, because they’re being created right now in the midst of this great cosmic battle that’s taking place because of Jesus’ first coming. Those who are at war with God right now from the nations can come to enjoy him. They’re invited to come in here and rejoice with you in song, to taste and see that the Lord is good.

God is doing this. He is saving people. Jesus’ invitation to the thirsty in John 7 to come to him and drink living water comes on that last and most joyful day of the Feast of Booths. He’s saying, “I’m the fulfillment of this.” Church, tell people about Jesus. That’s why he says, “Come to me.” He’s saying, come and worship the King. He is that fountain of life that every sinner can drink from. He is God’s temple. He’s God’s King, and in him we have the hope of seeing a transformed world.

Which means if we’re going to see this picture around the throne of every tribe, tongue and nation worshiping the Lord, we’ve got to be proclaiming the good news of the King. Even in Psalm 2, when the kings of the earth take their stand and the peoples plot against the Lord, and they mock God’s King, even there there’s an invitation: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you.”

We’re in a battle, but our job isn’t to fight flesh and blood. We’re to be looking for survivors, even from among our enemies. It’s the people attacking God’s people in verse two that are included in verse 16. It’s the people attacking the church today that will be included around the throne on that day. I wonder what your reaction is to people who call you names and spew hatred online while they stand for everything you’re against? When you see various protests, demonstrations, watch the news. Do you get angry? That may be appropriate, but does your heart ever break? Or do you want to fight back?

If you want to fight, pray because we’re looking for survivors. It’s good to be about righteousness and truth. But church, it shouldn’t come at the cost of winning souls. This day is coming. We’re on mission. We’re looking for survivors. It’s why our churches pray for one another. It’s why we’re partnering together. That’s why we’re planting more churches around the world. It’s because there are entire cities and people groups without any witness. And yet there’s an invitation for whosoever believes.

I mean, this vision, this picture that Zechariah is painting is the reason for mission. And the mission is part of the great battle it continues against today as the forces of the world, the flesh and the devil rage against the church, especially when they’re confronted with the truth. But we’ve already won. And everyone will finally realize that truth when Jesus returns. And on that day, there will be a great harvest and a great feast. And it’s meant to be tasted on Sundays.

Yet this isn’t the complete picture. Christ will come again to judge, and when he does, he will dwell with us in perfection. Which brings us to the final way he transforms all of life.

Fourth, He Purifies

This will be briefer. Verse 20. And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.

This church is real transformation. If we’re going to enjoy life with God like we’re created for, then we need to be made like God. And that’s what we’re reading about here. You know where we see the words “Holy to the Lord” in the Old Testament? It’s on the turban of the high priest. That is the only one who could enter into God’s presence, and only once a year.

But now it even adorns the necks of horses. The pots in the house of the Lord, where no one could enter, are just like the sprinkling basins at the altar where anyone could gather. In fact, whereas God’s law prohibited anyone from using pots and utensils that were designated to the house of the Lord, on that day people will come and use everything in God’s house like it’s their own house. There’s no divide between what’s sacred and common because everything becomes holy. It’s like everything, all of life, is part of God’s temple now.

Which means there’s nothing unclean in it like a trader. The word for trader is often translated Canaanite that represents a wicked person and an ideology here. And when Israel first entered the land, they failed to remove all the Canaanites from them. And that was part of their downfall, because it led to idolatry. But here there’s no Canaanite, no trader. Everyone worships the Lord. There’s no conflict, no temptation, just life with God the way it’s meant to be.

So on that day when God’s kingdom is fully established on the earth, holiness—that is, his presence—pervades everything. The whole world is his temple. It’s life with God with no walls, no barriers, no fear, no sign that something’s wrong with us.

So even when we have longed to be transformed, I don’t know if you’re like me. We’re like, why am I still struggling with this? We’re transformed. We just enjoy perfect union with God. You see, verse 21 is a picture of the same reality we read in Revelation 21. It’s perfect union between God and man, a new Jerusalem. And most people read about it and they only think of a city. They think of the physical walls and that sort of thing.

But the Apostle John has something more in mind when he shows us that city in Revelation 21. Because when Jesus went to battle on the cross, he purchased a bride made up of every tribe, tongue and nation. And so when John sees the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, he says she was prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. In other words, the city is really a people dwelling with the Lord in perfect union and love.

The city is a bride with dimensions reflecting the Holy of Holies, the place where God dwelled. But it reaches out of this world. It’s cosmic in scale. In Revelation, the New Jerusalem fills the earth and the city’s building materials are the same jewels on the breast of the high priest, which represented all of God’s people.

You see, the new creation is a glorious cosmic temple where God dwells in perfect union with his people. From Zechariah to Revelation, the Bible is promising new creation, where we finally get this life that we’ve all been longing for in this world. It’s life with God, and it’s meant to fortify our hope and strengthen us for battle.

But some of us are tempted to give it all up. But some of us, rather than looking to that city by faith, are tempted to look to this neighborhood. Because we want life in this world on our terms right now. We want more money, more sex, more time on our schedule, a spouse, a child, recognition and acceptance from the world. And if God doesn’t give it to us right now, then without saying it, we end up saying he’s not worthy of my obedience or sacrifice right now. In other words, he’s not worthy of our worship.

And if that’s you, then apart from repentance, you’ll find yourself outside of that city forever suffering in the realm of death. That’s a really bad trade. So don’t sacrifice what you want most for what you want right now. You were created for life and God will give it to you if you persevere in living by faith. Trust him because this day belongs to him.

In verse one, he fights for his people. Verse three. Only he knows when that day will be. Verse seven. And he reigns as king. Verse nine. See how God-centered this day is? One day he will transform all of life in a place he dwells with us, and we know he will, because that day has already been ushered in by him in Christ. He’s the King that came to establish God’s people. And when he died on the cross, the earth shook and the rocks split. Many of his holy ones were raised and went into Jerusalem.

He’s the light of the world from whom living water flows. He cleansed God’s temple from idol worshipers, Canaanite traders, and he was raised from the dead in a glorious body. And like him, we and this world will be transformed. Every square inch of this universe, and every breath and every act of our lives will be holy.

Zechariah is a book that’s all about building the temple. But as the Bible unfolds, the true temple is Christ, and we become his dwelling place by His Spirit. And one day he will transform all of creation into a place where we dwell with him in perfect unity. Friends, that is the change that deep down we’re all longing for in every change. And one day we’ll see it.

So persevere and obey him by faith. Let’s pray.

Oh God, help us look to the day with confidence. Help us look back on the cross and know that you have saved us. And then preserve us in this world of opposition by causing us to live for Christ above all else. And we pray that as we do, oh God, that you will save others. And we pray all these things that one day we might see you in that place. Oh God, be glorified in us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.