In That Day part three
“the Day of Yahweh”
Zechariah 14:4-5
In 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...Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him."
The Mount of Olives is east of the city across the Kidron Valley and is higher than the temple mound. Jerusalem becomes the source of living water when The Lord splits the Mount in two and a valley opens up from East to west. And a vast underground river rises up and pours out over the land towards the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. The Dead Sea is healed and becomes a fishing resort. And Jerusalem will be raised up, elevated above her geographical surroundings.
Zechariah 14:10
"The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem."
And all the heavens will change. All we know about the universe will change. There will no longer be day or night. No darkness. Only the light of The Lord. One day, neither day nor night, as if time has ended.
And as for the enemies of The Lord?
Zechariah 14:12
"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 standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths."
God goes forth and defends his people. And the enemy experiences something akin to the effects of a neutron or nuclear bomb. Is it a literal nuclear attack? Probably not. For me it's no great stretch to imagine God being capable of producing a neutron effect with just a word spoken from his mouth. I mean seriously, think about all the supernatural things that have already happened. He does all these universe transformations of time and space, but now he needs a man made bomb? No...he speaks a neutron effect into being. And eternal death melts his enemies. That easy. This is an easy one for him.
What's Next?
And in that day there will no longer be any spiritual impurity in The House of The Lord. In the Kingdom Come, all things, every aspect of life will become sacred, from the horses to the pots and pans. Everything will become Holy. No longer this idea of separation of church and state. No division between secular and sacred. Everything consecrated and marked as "holy to the lord". That'll be the trade mark. There's going to be banners and bumper stickers everywhere, "holy to the lord", they'll announce. Everything uniquely consecrated.
But not all will be well. The Lord will not force the world to worship him in the millennium age. As he's always done, he will give them the choice. Worship, come to Jerusalem, and be blessed, or don't and experience drought. And some will resist. At some point some will resist because we know that at the end of that 1000 years age, another army comes up against him again. The profane will continue to linger somewhere somehow, until the end of that age. Sin will continue in the earth in some form. And the way that God operates in this regard is found in what we call Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In these days, to whom does God send rain? God sends rain on the just and on the unjust. But in the millennium age grace will not pour out over all people, wicked and righteous. The wicked will not see rain. And we can see one thing that hasn't changed with all these natural disasters and wonders, people still need water. The people of the Millennium will have great encouragement to obey the Lord and to go up to Jerusalem yearly and worship his Son. And if they don't. Trouble.
How will the wicked, the resistance, survive?
We're not told. But if I had to guess, I'd say they deal in trade with the righteous. Not in Jerusalem, that's clearly laid out as no longer happening in the house of the Lord. But I'm sure the people throughout the lands will agree to provide aid (grace) for price.
But for now, Zechariah ends his prophecy making it clear that God’s way is to make everything that was once common or profane holy instead. And clearly define for all the world to see what holiness is. No more spin. No more propaganda. No more false prophets. No more lies. No more preaching the gospel. Everyone will know what is holy. He makes everything, even the insignificant things, holy.
And the secret for us today?
Realize that all things come from The Lord. All things were created by Him. And he's called his creation very good. Therefore as far as he's concerned, everything is already holy. We profane them. We sin with them. We mark them for destruction. It is our responsibility for the evils of this world. And therefore, if we love the Lord today, we should realize that he expects holiness from his people. And that means everything should be made holy. He's not into compromise.
The trend these days is religious and spiritual people imaging themselves holy as they compromise and profane everything in His name.
Look upon Zechariah 14 and juxtapose it against the modern trends. Is the modern church holy? Are God's people living holy lives? Can it be said that those who profess faith in Jesus Christ are treating every aspect of their lives as holy unto God?
Food for thought.