Isaiah 63 – 66; Zechariah 9 – 14

Following the return from Babylonian exile and before the bursting forth of John the Baptizer into the Judean wilderness, Yahweh spoke to the Hebrews about the “end game”. They would only begin to fully understand on the Day of Pentecost immediately after Jesus’ resurrection. Although some would never get it, the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 was the final seal of God that His will had been accomplished from the Law and from the Hebrew bloodline. The final prophecies point to the day when the Hebrew age would pass and the church age would never end.

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.

Isaiah 65:17-19

The “new heavens and new earth” language in scripture always speaks to a transition from one “system” to another. Not a physical re-creation, but rather a spiritual change from one age to another. Isaiah speaks of the passing away of the Law and the ushering in of the age of Messiah. And for this new kingdom, there will come a new king.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9

Even forewarned, the people of Jerusalem missed the implications of Jesus’ final entrance into that city riding on a humble colt. Truly a different kind of kingdom requires a different kind of king. Before He could reign victorious over sin and death, He must give His life as a ransom for others.

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Zechariah 12:10

The One who was pierced … the psalmist records the same as does Isaiah. Stunningly, all three prophets wrote centuries before crucifixion was even created. Even so, God knew what man would be so He knew what man would do. All according to God’s plan. And then the living water would flow…

And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

Zechariah 14:7-9

From that day, we would no longer say “Your King is coming”, rather “Your King Is Here!’ The LORD is One. His name is One. And, we are one with Him.

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

John 17:20-23

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!