The Messiah’s Worshippers

The Messiah’s Worshippers
Zechariah 14:16-21
October 15, 2023

Many years ago I took my first trip to Israel.  The trip ended with several days in Jerusalem and I, like all the other visitors, was struck by the presence of armed military everywhere.  In the markets, at the Wailing Wall, at the city gates, at the holy sites…it seemed that there was a constant presence of the military.  Someone asked the tour guide about it, and the decades have dimmed my memory of his exact response, but it was something along the lines of — “the military is our safety. Because we have the army, we are safe; no one can harm us.”  Even then, I thought about the attacks against Israel over several millennia and what I knew the Bible revealed about the coming days for Israel, and I knew he was wrong. 

Israel was not safe.  The past two weeks have demonstrated that Israel still has many enemies that want to see her destroyed.  And Zechariah 14 tells us that opposition will not decrease.  At some time in the future, not just a few isolated nations will attack Israel, but the entire world will join forces in a final assault against God’s people.  What we have seen in these days will not compare to the horror of those days and that attack.  Israel was not safe.  But she will be. 

In that day, God will save His people through His Messiah.  He will come back.  And He will fight for His people as only He can fight (v. 3).  And the nations will be vanquished.  “And the Lord will be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one” (v. 9). A great day is coming. 

That day will reveal the culmination of God’s plan to rule the earth.  Every form of opposition against Him will be put down and only righteousness will reign.  And as Zechariah reveals the glory and joy of that day, he culminates with one final reality of the Messiah’s rule in vv. 16-21 —

Christ the King will turn sinners into worshippers and vanquish sin.

God’s salvation plan is not just to liberate sinners from the penalty of sin and His wrath.  His plan is also to turn them into worshippers of Him.  Consider just one statement from Jesus (there are more):  “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24).  We are talking about the spiritual victory of Christ.

And this passage demonstrates that He will do just that; these verses point to two aspects of Christ’s spiritual victory.

1. Christ the King Will Make Worshippers from All People (vv. 16-19)

• The joy of worship in that day (v. 16)
• The danger of not worshipping in that day (vv. 17-19)

2. Christ the King will Consecrate All Things (vv. 20-21)

Download the rest of this sermon on Zechariah 14:16-21.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.

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