Today we begin the season of Advent in the Christian calendar, a season of preparation for the coming of the Savior. On the calendar we mark Advent as the weeks before Christmas, the day we mark the Lord Jesus coming to earth the first time, coming to be our sacrifice for sin. It is also a time when we can look ahead and consider the second, future coming of the Lord Jesus, when He will return to earth, this time as a conquering King. Today’s Scripture passage is from the Prophet Zechariah, and it gives us a glimpse of Jesus’s second coming.
Zechariah was a prophet to the people of the southern Kingdom of Judah, and was from priestly lineage. His ministry was during the time when the people were returning to their homeland following the years of exile in Babylon, approximately around 520 BC, during the reign of King Darius the Great of Persia.
As our passage today begins, Zechariah forsees the day when Jesus returns at His Second Coming. Zechariah prophesied that on this great day, the Lord Jesus will return, coming and standing on the Mount of Olives. This will fulfill the words that the angels spoke to the apostles on the Day of Ascension, 40 days after the Resurrection, when Jesus was taken up into heaven (Acts 1:10-11). At that time, immediately after Jesus ascended into heaven, angels appeared, telling the disciples that Jesus would return the same way He had ascended. The Mount of Olives is just east of the City of Jerusalem and the Kidron Valley. When Jesus sets foot on the Mount of Olives there will be a tremendous earthquake, when God announces His coming judgment, and the Mount of Olives will split in two (vs. 4). There will then be a valley made, running east and west when the mountain is pulled north and south.
When Jesus came the first time it was as the meek, suffering Savior. When He comes the second time it will be as the conquering King. At this time He will judge the nations and all of mankind for their deeds, and especially whether they have accepted Him as the Savior. Only God’s people will escape His punishment (vs. 5). God knows who His people are. He fought for His people in the past, and He will do so again.
When Jesus returns this second time, those in Jerusalem, and in all of the world, will have to acknowledge that He is the Messiah. Verse 8 says that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. They will flow to the eastern sea, which is the Dead Sea, lying east of Jerusalem, and also to the western sea, which would be the Mediterranean Sea, west of Jerusalem. If we recall, Jesus spoke of living water when He was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-15). In Revelation 22:17, this is called the water of life. Both are referring to eternal life, which we can have when we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior. The living water that will flow out of Jerusalem is the Gospel, which will flow like a river, east and west, all over the world. This living water washes away the sins of all who come to Jesus in faith (Hebrews 10:22).
As Zechariah concludes this portion of his prophecy, he proclaims that the Lord Jesus will be king over all the world (vs. 9). One day every knee will bow to Jesus, and every tongue will acknowledge Him as the only God and Savior (Isaiah 45:23; Philippians 2:9-11). All false religions will be eliminated when Jesus returns. Satan started all of the false religions, and they will be cast out, and the one, true faith in and through Jesus Christ will be established throughout the world.
As the Advent season reminds us, Jesus will return. As we saw here, He will stand again on the Mount of Olives, the last place He stood before He went to heaven the first time. That can be a day that we eagerly look forward to if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior.
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