The Future Of Jerusalem

The Future Of Jerusalem

God promised good things to come.

ZECHARIAH, a priest and prophet, was born in Babylonia and returned to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. He began prophesying in the late fall of 520 B.C. and received eight visions from God on February 15, 519 B.C.

A year and a half later the exiles who returned from Babylon and settled in the city of Bethel sent a delegation to Jerusalem, wanting to know whether they should continue to fast each summer as they had in Babylonia on the anniversary of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

On December 7, 518 B.C., God gave the answer to their question to Zechariah:

“Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During those seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and at the festival in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, you don’t think about me but only of pleasing yourselves. Isn’t this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets years ago when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were populated areas?’ . . .

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: Judge fairly and honestly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And do not make evil plans to harm each other.

“Your ancestors would not listen to this message. They turned stubbornly away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the law or the messages that the Lord Almighty had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord Almighty was so angry with them.

“Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord Almighty. I scattered them as with a whirlwind among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. . . .”

Then another message came to me from the Lord. . . . “Now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain. . . .

“All this may seem impossible to you now, a small and discouraged remnant of God’s people. But do you think this is impossible for me, the Lord Almighty? . . . You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.” (Zechariah 7:5–8:8)

Then finally came the specific answer to the question of the delegation from Bethel:

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. . . .

“People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. . . . People from many nations, even powerful nations, will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to ask the Lord to bless them.” (8:19-22)

Reflection

In your opinion are these final promises of powerful nations coming to Jerusalem to seek the Lord something that has already happened or events that will occur following the second coming of Christ during the Millennium? What can you apply to your life from these words of God through the prophet Zechariah?

In the last days, the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem will become the most important place on earth. People from all over the world will go there to worship.

Micah 4:1