Main Idea: One day the King will return and reign over all the earth.
A Look at the Text:
The last part of Zechariah’s final oracle began with a day of horrible judgment against Jerusalem, but truly that wasn’t the end (Zech. 14:1-2). For God would return and take His stand against the nations (Zech. 14:3). He would come down and split the Mount of Olives on the day of His visitation (Zech. 14:4-5).
Then, he would reign supremely as King over all the earth:
And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one (Zech. 14:9).
With this, there would be security in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:11) and great deliverance on their behalf (Zech. 14:12-13). In the end, the survivors of the last battle would worship the King, the Lord of Hosts (Zech. 4:16). On that day, things would be reversed to the point where even the most ordinary pots in the land would be called holy to the Lord (Zech. 14:21).
Bringing it Home:
The Bible is abundantly clear that this future day is still to come when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Truly, His coming into Jerusalem seated upon a donkey will be overshadowed when He returns on a white horse from heaven (Rev. 19:11).
On that day, just as He promised, He will return to the Mount of Olives. In light of this, one scholar has powerfully noted, “The site of the Lord’s deepest agony will witness His greatest glory.”[1]
In that final day and the triumph of peace, we can hope. The King will return.
While there are many camps of interpretation about the end, one thing that all Christians should agree on is that it is the consummation of our hope. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). This in mind, the end should fill us with hope, as the apostle Paul once noted when looking to the end:
Therefore encourage one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:18).
If we have already bowed our knees to the King, we can rest assured that the King’s return will be the greatest day we’ve ever seen, and it will usher in a time of eternal peace.
Challenge:
Do the end-times fill me with hope or dread?
[1] E. Ray Clendenen, “The Minor Prophets,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 389.