The Day of the Lord
Once more we have this indicator of time. The Day of the Lord is declared. Given most of the content of this passage, it
is easy to see this chapter as a time that has not yet been fulfilled. After all, have all the nations gone up to
fight against Jerusalem? Do the major
nations send representatives to Jerusalem to worship God? No, of course not. Therefore it is easy to read this chapter as
a chapter of the fulfillment of time to come.
However, we also need to be careful to not read this chapter as
though it is speaking of the Day of Judgment, either. As we read through this chapter, certainly
the possibility for rebellion still exists even after the Day of the Lord
should happen. Through Zechariah, God
tells about the punishment for those who do not come up to Jerusalem and
worship God. Zechariah tells us that
there will be no rain upon those lands in addition to the plagues upon the
people. Certainly rebellion is possible
after the Day of the Lord that is being spoken about in this chapter.
So what are we to make of this time? Again, I think that this chapter has more
than one time of fulfillment. It shouldn’t
surprise you, then, that I believe much of this chapter is symbolically
fulfilled in the first coming of Christ.
Christ as the First Fulfillment
How is it possible to see Christ as the fulfillment of this
chapter? Well, for starters we can look
at the nations coming to war against Jerusalem.
In Jesus’ day, Rome was considered the master of most of the known
world. Rome controlled a significant
portion of Europe, a significant portion of northern Africa, and a significant
portion of the Middle East. What happens
within a few decades of Jesus’ crucifixion?
Rome comes to Jerusalem to put down a rebellion. The city is sacked. The temple stones are pulled down and left in
ruin. Rome – essentially the whole of
the known world – comes and plunders Jerusalem.
What happens to Rome after this?
Their leaders become increasingly prideful. Soon people from Africa begin to rise up and
threaten Rome. Vandals from northern
Europe come down and threaten Rome. The
Empire begins to fall. It is eventually
split into an Eastern and a Western Empire.
They fall into disarray and the Roman Empire crumbles, leaving the
broken European states as we know of them today.
For the record, in the time since God has become increasingly forgotten
we’ve become focused on our own needs, our own satisfaction, our own knowledge,
our own understanding, even our ability to think that we can save
ourselves. As we’ve forgotten God, our
world has experienced turmoil. Has
anyone recently seen studies on the growing desertification of the world over
the past millennia or so? Less and less
rain falls. Humanity has grown to fear
things like the Bubonic Plague, Smallpox, Cholera, Measles, Anthrax, Typhoid,
Yellow Fever, Malaria, and I can go on.
I’m not saying that these are all the direct cause of rebellion,
certainly. Rather, I lift them up so
that we can see that humanity history is riddled with epidemics and plague and
lack of rainfall. Symbolically at least,
we can see truth in these words of Zechariah even in the days since the first
coming of Christ.
Christ as the Second Fulfillment
Having said that, I think it is absolutely possible to look into the
future and see a second fulfillment of this text. Certainly when John wrote the book of
Revelation he saw a day in the future when the might of the world would be
amassed against the might of the Lord and His heavenly host. John saw this in a very literal way of
conflict, much more than the symbolic interpretation I put forth in the last
section. Therefore, I believe that we
can look forward through the lens of Zechariah into events to come.
This concept of multiple fulfillments can be hard to accept at
first. After all, we tend to see
prophecy as being spoken about one time in the future and then it is done. However, much of human behavior is truly
cyclical. We repent, know forgiveness,
then rebel, and need to repent all over.
Generation after generation moves along an even greater cyclical pattern
of repentance and rebellion. In fact, we
saw it in the Hebrew people as we’ve moved through our study of the
prophets! Again and again human beings
cycle. So this concept of multiple
fulfillments on varying levels really shouldn’t bother us. If it was God’s plan to send His Messiah to
the world twice, why shouldn’t we also accept multiple fulfillments of other
prophetic voices, too?
In the Day of the Lord to come, we can expect a much more literal
understanding of these words. God will
come to earth. He will fight against the
nations who rise up against Him. Even
after God displays His superiority, humanity will still rebel.
But we can take comfort in several of the images at the
beginning. On that day there will be a
different kind of light in the world. In
a sense, we have a taste of that already in the spiritual light that Jesus
brings into our life. But we will get a
much greater taste of His incredible light in the day to come. His truth will guide our paths.
Another image that we can take solace in is that there will be a
spring to rise up out of Jerusalem. This
is described as living water – water for the true sustaining of life. We will know that true sustenance comes from
God and the things of God rather than through our human and natural endeavors. Again, we see this symbolically in Christ
when He came the first time. We will see
it on more than spiritual terms when He comes again.
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