Go Up Year by Year

It is easy to fold Zechariah 14 into “the end” without looking at it closely. A slow reading, however, uncovers a detail that does not fit the final new creation at all.

Read It in Order

The chapter moves in a clear order, beginning with the coming of the King:

Zechariah 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in its midst, toward the east and toward the west, a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Then He reigns:

Zechariah 14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD shall be one, and his name one.

And then comes this:

Zechariah 14:16-19 And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up year by year to bow down to the King, the LORD of hosts (tzevaot צָבָא tsaw-baw'), and to celebrate the feast (chag חַג khag) of Booths. And it shall come to pass, whoever does not go up from the families of the earth to Jerusalem to bow down to the King, the LORD of hosts (tzevaot), upon them there shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and does not come, then upon them there shall be no [rain]; there shall be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the feast (chag) of Booths. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the feast (chag) of Booths.

With the King reigning over all the earth, the survivors of the nations go up to Jerusalem year after year to keep the Feast of Booths. Yet some families of the earth refuse to go up, and on them no rain falls; on Egypt, which does not depend on rain as other lands do, a plague falls instead.

The last pages of the Bible describe a different world:

Revelation 21:4 And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, nor grief nor crying nor pain will be anymore, for the first things have passed away.

Revelation 22:3 And there will be no more curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve Him,

There is no room in that world for nations that refuse to obey and are punished with drought.

Zechariah 14, then, cannot be describing the final new creation. It must be describing a time after the King returns but before the final completion, a time when there are still nations that can disobey, when the feasts are kept, and when people go up to Jerusalem.

The Gap in the Timeline

Between the King’s return and the final new creation lies a stretch of time. People have given it many names, but we need not invent one; the Bible supplies its own.

John Saw That Time

John describes such a period plainly:

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and krima κρίμα kree'-mah(verdict) was given to them, and the psychai(souls) of those who had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Yeshua and on account of the logos λόγος log'-os(word, message) of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand — they lived and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; the second death has no exousia ἐξουσία ex-oo-see'-ah(authority) over these, but they will be priests of God and of the Messiah and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Those who share in the first resurrection become “priests of God and of the Messiah” and reign with Him, and where there are priests, there is a place where they serve. Ezekiel’s temple, which we saw in the last chapter, belongs here. The thousand years are the setting in which Zechariah 14 and Ezekiel 40 to 48 come true.

Those years are a long season of teaching for the whole earth. The King is present, while the nations are still mortal and still able to rebel, and they are learning to walk in His ways. Isaiah records what they will say:

Isaiah 2:3 And many peoples shall go and say: "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

“Out of Zion shall go forth Torah.” That is what the nations go up to receive.

What About the Nations?

Some have taken Zechariah 14 to mean that a believer from the nations needs to keep only the Feast of Booths. But look closely at whom Zechariah is speaking about: “everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem.” These are the survivors of the nations that attacked Jerusalem, and even from them God requires at least this much. The word “only” is not in the text.

About people from the nations who join themselves to the LORD, the Torah, the prophets, and the apostles each have a word to say:

Numbers 15:15-16 For the assembly, one statute (chuqqah חֻקָּה khook-kaw') for you and for the sojourner who sojourns, a statute (chuqqah) forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the sojourner be before the LORD. One Torah and one judgment (mishpat מִשׁפָּט mish-pawt') shall be for you and for the sojourner who sojourns with you.'"

Isaiah 56:6-7 And the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant (berit בְּרִית ber-eeth')— I will bring them to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the hagioi ἅγιοι hag'-ee-os(holy ones), and are of God's household,

There is one Torah for the native and for the sojourner. Foreigners who keep the Shabbat and hold fast His covenant are brought with joy into His house of prayer. They are fellow citizens and members of God’s household.

A Hard Question: Sin Offerings in Ezekiel?

One more question needs an answer. Ezekiel 45:22, which we read in the last chapter, mentions a sin offering, a chattat חַטָּאת khat-taw-aw', and many readers will set this verse against it:

Hebrews 10:18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

How can there be a sin offering after the cross?

Hebrews 9 gives the answer:

Hebrews 9:13-14 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes on those who have been made koinos κοινός koy-nos'(common, worldly), sanctify for the purification of the sarx σάρξ sarx(flesh), how much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal pneuma πνεῦμα pnyoo'-mah(spirit) offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The blood of animals sanctified “for the purification of the sarx(flesh).” The blood of Messiah cleanses “your conscience.” The two cleanse different things. During the thousand years, when there are still nations with mortal bodies, Ezekiel’s offerings deal with the purity of the flesh, for approaching the place where God meets His people.

The Next Table

Yeshua Himself spoke about this coming kingdom. He did so at a dinner table on the last night before He suffered, with a promise much like a reservation made in advance.