The Second Coming
One Year Bible: Dec. 29
Zechariah 14:1-21
The King is Coming: “Second Coming”
There is one final bell to warn the people of what is to come. That bell is to tell of His Second Coming…
Listen to Zechariah’s last prophecy about Messiah, “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south…And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day, there will be ONE LORD-- his name alone will be worshipped.” (Zechariah 14:4,9)
Perhaps you may have wondered, after all of the “bells that have been ringing,” how the Jewish people could miss Messiah. Sometimes we as Christians shake our heads in disbelief…
Some scholars believe there are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. Still, at least 55 Old Testament prophecies about Jesus are very specific about Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and role in the church.
Peter Stoner, the chairman of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College, was passionate about Bible Prophecy. In “Science Speaks,” he shared his conclusion on research about this topic. He says that the prospect that anyone would satisfy even eight of the major prophecies in the Old Testament would be just 1 in 10. Jesus Messiah fulfilled every prophecy in its entirety! Every single one!
As New Testament believers, we have problems understanding O.T. prophecy for many reasons. We are often like the prodigal son whose brother left his father, and in the next breath, we are the resentful older brother. Both the prodigal and the older brother somehow missed the message. Didn't they?
The Bible is this very message from cover to cover. The Father lovingly awaits our return, repentance, and restoration.
He is not about "The LAW" but about Grace...
Jesus clarifies his role and relationship to the prophets, the law, and the Old Testament. Here is what he says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to ABOLISH them, but to FULFILL them.” (Matthew 5:17)
And so, Zechariah is again “ringing the bell” to point God’s people to Messiah’s Second Coming. “On that day, even the harness BELLS of the horses will be inscribed with these words: ‘HOLY TO THE LORD’.”
They missed grasping that Jesus Messiah would not be an “earthly king” like their ancestor David who ruled spiritually while taking over their world as an earthly king. Jesus came with a spiritual kingdom. They could not begin to fathom this concept.
They missed the suffering servant, Branch of David, King-Priest, Lowly king in a manger, Betrayed, Hands pierced, Smitten Shepherd… It alluded them!
But, make no mistake, they will not miss his second return. The bell will ring, Messiah will again stand on the Mount of Olives, and “even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: “HOLY TO THE LORD.”.
On that day, will the “BORN AGAIN” rejoice in Israel’s return to their father or resent them?
Today, we have finished the book of Zechariah. Only the short book of Malachi remains in the Old Testament. An entire era is ending. What’s next?
Did you know that there were 400 years of silence following the Old Testament?
God did not speak. No more Scripture was written. The 400 years of silence began with the warning that closed the Old Testament in the book of Malachi, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Then all goes dark and silent. Until the coming of John the Baptist… Once again, a voice is crying out, “Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!”
Even as the 400 years of silence seemed to whisper that “God was dead,” He was not!
He kept every promise prophesied in the Old Testament. Every “bell” that Zechariah and Isaiah had “rung” came true!
Perhaps these days seem silent to us now as evil grows and God’s presence seems silent, still, and far removed. But make no mistake, Zechariah’s final prophecy of the Second Coming will also ring in “the fulness of time.”
The apostle Peter explains this delay to us, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
On that day, we will hear the father say, “You are ever with me, and all that I have is yours, but your younger brother was lost, and now he is found!” (Luke 15:11-32)
There will no longer be an Old Testament and a New Testament people. There will be A HOLY NATION, a banquet table of the LAMB, and the song of the Redeemed.
The King is Coming... The Second Coming is at hand!
