September 12 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Zechariah 14:20–21

Devotional

All of creation will one day have total dedication to God. The day will come in which God will be glorified everywhere. That will happen on the new earth. Now it is not by chance that Zechariah speaks of horses. In the days of the prophets, when people thought of horses, they would immediately think of war. That was because horses were used to carry out assaults on the battlefield. The people of Israel, therefore, were not fond of horses. They thought of enemies who would invade their country with fiery horses to destroy it. The sounding of the bells of the horses implied defeat and death.

But now, the prophet is saying, it will be the horses who with their bells will sound the holiness of God. That means that war will be changed into peace. Battles, assaults, destruction, and defeat will no longer be present. Nevermore will there be any subjection to the power of enemies. There will be peace instead of war. Even the warhorse will bear the holy name of God upon its forehead, just as the high priest in the sanctuary. That means the day will come in which the earth will be full of the holiness of the Lord. Nowhere will there be any sin. Every place will be a sanctuary for the Lord. There will be no place that is not dedicated to the Lord. Oh, how beautiful that will be! Even the warhorses will join in glorifying God.

Yes, heaven will have descended to earth. Then it will be on earth as it now is in heaven. Everything will be holiness unto the Lord. Everything will be without any spot or stain because of sin.

The greatest question is whether you and I will be there. But even in this question we have to learn to die to our own self, because we can still be focused on self when we ask such a question. We must be concerned for our salvation because of our sin, not out of a desire to dwell in this heaven on earth.

We must rather ask ourselves if we have become weary of sin. We clearly recognize our sin and we see sin rampant around us. As weary pilgrims we must hunger and thirst after a land where sin is no more and where God is glorified. Those who have learned to focus on God’s holy will become as strangers in the earth. Even if they at times do not know how or if they will reach the heavenly place, they still long to be delivered from sin. The more this desire is present in God’s church on earth, the more the words of Zechariah will be a comfort.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.