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Scripture Reading: Zech. 14:8-11, 16-21
The center of the prophecies in chapters twelve through fourteen is Christ as the rejected Messiah coming back to be enthroned. In the two foregoing messages we considered the prophecy concerning Israel's destiny in the great war of Armageddon and in their household salvation. In this message we will first consider the prophecy of encouragement concerning Israel's destiny in the millennium and then make a comparison of two main categories of things in the books of Daniel and Zechariah. Following this, I would like to give a word concerning our need to be brought into the realm of God's economy.
In the millennium there will be no thirst. Living waters will go forth from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, the Dead Sea, and half of them toward the western sea, the Mediterranean Sea (14:8). This is similar to the record in the book of Ezekiel concerning the living water flowing out of the temple of God (Ezek. 47:1-2).
In the millennium Jehovah as Christ will be King over all the earth, and He will be the one God and His name the one name (Zech. 14:9).
Jerusalem will be raised up and will dwell in her place (v. 10).
People will dwell in Jerusalem, and there will be no more curse, for Jerusalem will dwell securely (v. 11). Instead of curse, there will be blessing with security.
Everyone left from all the nations that went forth against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (v. 16). Whoever does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, upon them there will be no rain, but there will be the plague with which Jehovah strikes the nations. This will be their sin (vv. 17-19). Because the present age is the age of grace, God sends rain on the just and the unjust alike (Matt. 5:45). But the coming age will be the age of righteousness. Those who do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles will not receive rain. This is righteous.
In the millennium, on the horses' bells will be, "Holiness to Jehovah"; and the pots in the house of Jehovah will be like the basins before the altar (Zech. 14:20). The pots are something small, and the basins are something large. But in the millennium the pots in the house of God will be as large as the basins before the altar. Indeed every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holiness to Jehovah of hosts; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them; and there will never again be a Canaanite (or, merchant) in the house of Jehovah of hosts in that day (v. 21). This is Israel's destiny in the millennium.
Let us now go on to make a comparison of two main categories of things in the books of Daniel and Zechariah.
In Daniel the great human image signifies the entire human government on earth as a skeleton (ch. 2). The four beasts from the Mediterranean Sea give a sketch of human government on earth (ch. 7). A ram and a male goat with its successors give a sketch of the Persian Empire and the Grecian Empire with its successors, ending with the one, Antiochus Epiphanes, who is the first type of Antichrist (ch. 8). The king of the south and the king of the north give a record of the wars between the successors of the Grecian Empire, ending with Antiochus Epiphanes, the first type of Antichrist (ch. 11). The seventy weeks give a sketch of the destiny of Israel, from the return from their captivity to the consummation of the present age, ending with Antichrist (ch. 9).
In Zechariah the prophecy concerning the nations around Judah in relation to Israel gives some details of the Grecian Empire's invasion into the holy land and the defeat of its successor by the heroic Jews (ch. 9). The prophecy concerning the living of Israel under the oppression of the Roman Empire gives some details about the living under the tyranny of the Roman Empire (ch. 11). The prophecy concerning Israel's destiny in the great war of Armageddon gives the details of how human government, signified by the great human image in Daniel 2, will be destroyed in its final part, signified by the toes of the great human image (chs. 12, 14).
The book of Daniel reveals certain crucial things concerning Christ. According to 9:26, the crucifixion of Christ, the Messiah, was the termination of the old creation and the germination of God's new creation in His resurrection. In 10:4-9 we see the appearing of the excellent Christ, the centrality and universality of God's move on earth, to Daniel for his appreciation, consolation, encouragement, expectation, and stabilization. Daniel 7:13-14 unveils the coming of Christ as the Son of Man with the eternal dominion, glory, and kingdom given to Him by the Ancient of Days, that all the peoples, nations, and languages might serve Him. Finally, Daniel speaks regarding the appearing of Christ as the stone cut out without hands to strike the great human image to terminate the entire human government on earth and become a great mountain, signifying the eternal kingdom of God filling the whole earth (2:34-35).
The book of Zechariah reveals many things concerning Christ. First, the redeeming Christ, as a man and as the Angel of Jehovah, the embodiment of the Triune God, was sent by God to be with His humiliated people of Israel in their captivity, signified by the myrtle trees in the bottoms (1:8-11). Then Christ, as a man in His humanity, was the One sent by Jehovah of hosts and was also the Sender, Jehovah of hosts, dealing with the nations who plundered the people of Zion and touched them as touching the pupil of His eye (2:1, 8-10).
Following this, Christ was the Servant of Jehovah and the Shoot to be the stone with seven eyes engraved by God for the removing of the iniquity of the holy land for the building of the temple of God (3:8-9). Christ was also the topstone of grace for the completion of the building of the temple of God (4:7-9). Christ as the Shoot for the building of the temple of God will bear majesty and will sit and rule on His throne as a Priest and as a King (6:12-13).
Christ as the King of Israel came into Jerusalem lowly and riding upon a donkey, even upon a colt (9:9), yet Christ as the Shepherd of God's elect was rejected and sold at the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver (11:12-13). Christ as God's Fellow was the God-sent Shepherd, but He was attacked unto death (13:7).
At His coming, Christ will appear to the children of Israel as their Redeemer and Savior, the One who was pierced by them, and they will look upon Him and wail over Him (12:10). Christ came as the real Prophet, but He was rejected and wounded by Israel, who were His relatives, to make the base for their salvation and an open fountain for their sin and their iniquity (13:5-6, 1).
At the end of this age, Christ will come to stand on the Mount of Olives and will fight with the nations that besiege Jerusalem (14:3-4). Then Christ as Jehovah will be King over all the earth in the millennium (v. 9).
The Christ unveiled in Zechariah, the pierced One with whom there is the open fountain, is the centrality and universality of God's economy. As such a One, He is intimately involved with human history, in particular with the Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire especially has been helpful to Christ. Christ was born under the Roman Empire. Without the Roman Empire, it would not have been possible for Christ to be born. He grew up, carried out His ministry, was crucified, resurrected, and ascended under the Roman Empire. Christ's death for the accomplishment of God's eternal redemption was consummated under the Roman Empire. The formation of the church and the preaching of the gospel also took place under the Roman Empire. Surely, the Roman Empire, whose influence in law and culture continues today, has been used by God to fulfill His intention to make Christ the centrality and universality of His economy.
At this point I would like to say a word concerning our need to be brought into the realm of God's economy.
Most Christians consider the Bible to be a book which teaches them to be good, ethical, godly, and spiritual. This is not wrong; it is right and good. But this is only for their own benefit; this is not at all for God. Teaching people to be good, moral, ethical, godly, and spiritual is only a minor point in the Bible. The major point in the Bible concerns God's economy, yet in Christianity today nearly no one talks about God's economy. The books of Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah are on Christ, not only as our Savior, Redeemer, and Deliverer but also as the centrality and universality of God's move to fulfill His economy on earth. Outside the Lord's recovery, where can you hear such a word? Because hardly anyone cares for God's economy, the Lord has been delayed for nearly two thousand years. The world situation is ready for the Lord Jesus to come back, but what about God's economy?
The center of God's economy is to have a Body to express Christ. Eventually, this Body will be Christ's bride to match Him as His counterpart and to come down to earth with Him to carry out the final step of God's economy. Today, the world situation is ready for His coming, but the Lord has not yet gained His counterpart. Therefore, He has no way to come back. He is still waiting.
Throughout the centuries, the Lord has been continually working through those who love Him to recover the lost truths. But because of their dullness, the Lord has had to move quite slowly. Martin Luther was strong concerning justification by faith, a basic item, but not concerning the church practice. Following Luther, the mystics were used by God to recover the inner life, and with Zinzendorf and his companions there was the recovery of the practice of the church life in an initial way. Later, in the nineteenth century, God used the Brethren to recover the practice of the church life in a much fuller way. However, they soon became degraded. Therefore, early in this century the Lord did something in China to gain the recovery of the church life in a full way. Now the recovery in this full sense has come to us.
I am concerned that the dear saints who have been brought into the Lord's recovery have mainly received help first in the assurance of salvation and then in such matters as godliness, ethics, spirituality, and overcoming. All these things are very good. Nevertheless, I do not believe that many among us in the Lord's recovery are clear about God's economy. God's economy is to dispense Christ into His elect that they might become first the Body of Christ to express Him and then the bride of Christ to match Him and fulfill God's economy in the divine dispensing. Of course, I am happy that so many have come to receive help to seek God, to seek Christ, to grow in life, and to be more godly, more spiritual, and more overcoming, but I am not satisfied with this. I would rather that we all had the eyes to see God's economy. My intention, my goal, in all these messages is to help you to advance beyond the realm of seeking for spirituality into another realm to see God's desire, God's good pleasure.
According to His eternal arrangement, or economy, God desires to have the church, a proper church in the biblical sense. Christianity is a totality of organization, but the church revealed in the Bible should be absolutely organic and full of Christ as life, full of the Triune God in His consummation — the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit — to constitute us with God's life and nature and to join us with God as one spirit. This is God's economy through His dispensing.
Today in Christianity, even among the most spiritual ones, what is taught is not food but sugar. That kind of teaching harms you more than it nourishes you. If you read these messages for the purpose merely to receive help to be more seeking after God, more seeking after Christ, and to grow in life, even this is in the realm of sugar. You need solid food (Heb. 5:11-14). Whereas milk is for babes, solid food is for the mature. Among the millions of Christians today, who is not a babe? We have been carrying out the life-study of the Scriptures now for seventeen years, yet most of the saints are still remaining, lingering, wandering, in the realm of being spiritual, victorious, overcoming, and so forth. Very few, even among the co-workers, are qualified to give a message on God's economy with the divine dispensing. We need to be brought into another realm, not the so-called spiritual realm but the realm of God's economy, God's dispensing. I will not be satisfied until I see this. I am somewhat happy that the Lord has released all these truths among us, and I have the full faith and assurance that all these things will eventually be realized; yet I long to see their fulfillment.
