As we look at the culture around us, it is easy to get discouraged. There are many who view Christianity negatively or as irrelevant. In the last two decades, church attendance in the United States has dropped by over twenty percent. Inside the church, we regularly hear of leadership scandals and unfaithfulness.

Yet, as we look to Scripture we should be filled with hope. Israel was in a similar situation in Zechariah’s day. They were a small, impoverished remnant under the thumb of the Persian empire. Surrounded by threats on every side and disobedience within, they struggled with discouragement and despair. To counter this, the Lord gave Zechariah a vision of the millennial kingdom. Israel needed to know God had a plan, which He was working out with hope and a future.

Zechariah’s vision of the future is wonderfully inclusive. People from every ethnic background will be welcome to “worship the King, the LORD Almighty” (v. 17). While the vision is inclusive, it is not universalist. Some will reject and fight against the Lord and be judged. God promises that the nations who surround Israel to destroy them will themselves be defeated by the Lord (vv. 12–15). Ungodly, violent, and greedy nations will not ultimately triumph.

During the Feast of Tabernacles all the nations will stream to Jerusalem to worship (v. 16). Why this feast? Tabernacles celebrated both the harvest and God’s provision for Israel in the wilderness. In the future, it will be used to celebrate a harvest of people gathered from all the nations. As the Lord Jesus promised, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory…All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:31 –32).

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