1. "Hope is built into all our most basic actions and habits. Some kind of hope motivates virtually everything you do. Why would you work if you didn't hope for a paycheck? Why talk if you don't hope to be understood?"

2. "Sin is our biggest problem. Sin is fundamentally an affront to God. Sin alienates us from God. Sin subjects us to God's just judgment. Sin takes away all hope of a happy eternity. Sin locks us into a future condemnation which we can do nothing to escape."

3. "By sending His Son to die on the cross for us, God made our problem His problem, and He solved that problem as no one else could."

4. "The image here is of an ever-flowing spring of fresh, clean water. A freshwater spring never needs to be drained and replaced. No matter how many people come and wash in it, no matter how much dirt they wash off, it always flows just as clear. It always can cleanse more. It can always cleanse fully."

5. "Those whose cries caused Christ to be pierced now cry out from pierced hearts. The pierced one poured out his Spirit to pierce through their pride and rebellion."

6. "It is the assurance of forgiveness that melts your heart's icy resistance to God and His ways. It is the guarantee of acceptance from a gracious God that makes you want to run from sin and jump into the arms of your forgiving Father. It is seeing Christ pierced for you that pierces your heart."

7. "Laws do their work by imposing limits from without. Laws say, don't go there, stop here, turn around that way. How does God work changing you? He works by transforming you from within. He works by giving you new appetites, new goals, new longings, new desires."

8. "When he burns away that thing you most relied on and cherished, he's burning away your wrong reliance on that thing. God is purging you, God is purifying you, and the goal is that joyful and desperate confession: the Lord is my God."

9. "The safety and security that we all need is something that ultimately God alone can give, and He promises one day to bring it in person."

10. "The same God who gives us hope to be forgiven holds out hope to be changed. The same God who gives us hope of safety amid the storms now is the one who guarantees the hope of glory then."

Observation Questions

1. According to Zechariah 12:10, what does the Lord say He will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and what will be the result when they look on Him whom they have pierced?

2. In Zechariah 13:1, what does the Lord promise will be opened "on that day" for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and what is its purpose?

3. What does Zechariah 13:7 say the Lord of hosts commands regarding "my shepherd" and "the man who stands next to me," and what will happen to the sheep?

4. According to Zechariah 13:9, what does God say He will do to "this third," and what will be the outcome of this refining process in terms of the relationship between God and His people?

5. In Zechariah 14:3-4, how does the Lord say He will respond to the nations that gather against Jerusalem, and where specifically will His feet stand?

6. According to Zechariah 14:20-21, what inscription will be found even on the bells of horses, and what will be true of every pot in Jerusalem and Judah?

Interpretation Questions

1. How does the statement in Zechariah 12:10 that God Himself would be "pierced" point to the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and why is it significant that God made Himself the solution to our sin problem?

2. What is the significance of the fountain in Zechariah 13:1 being described as "opened" (like an ever-flowing spring) rather than as a limited pool of water? How does this image speak to the nature of God's forgiveness?

3. In Zechariah 12:10-14, why does the text emphasize that each family will mourn "by itself" and "their wives by themselves"? What does this teach us about the nature of genuine repentance?

4. How does Zechariah 13:9 help explain God's purpose in allowing His people to go through fiery trials and suffering? What is the ultimate goal of this refining process?

5. Considering Zechariah 14:6-11 and 14:20-21, how do these visions of the new creation—where everything is "holy to the Lord"—connect to the earlier promises of forgiveness and transformation in chapters 12-13?

Application Questions

1. The sermon emphasized that our culture increasingly struggles to offer forgiveness. In what specific relationship or situation in your life do you need to extend the kind of mercy and forgiveness that God has extended to you through Christ?

2. Zechariah 12:10-14 describes deep, personal mourning over sin. When you consider your own patterns of sin—perhaps repeated failures in areas like patience, anxiety, or speech—how might regularly "looking on Him who was pierced" change your response to your sin from discouragement to repentance and hope?

3. The sermon described how God transforms us from within by giving us new desires rather than simply imposing external rules. What is one area of your life where you are trying to change through willpower alone, and how might you instead ask God to change your desires in that area?

4. Zechariah 13:9 reveals that God uses trials to refine us and bring us to confess "The Lord is my God." What current difficulty or loss in your life might God be using to purge away a wrong reliance on something other than Him? How can you respond in faith this week?

5. The vision of Zechariah 14:20-21 shows a future where everything—even ordinary objects like horse bells and cooking pots—will be "holy to the Lord." How might this vision shape the way you approach the ordinary, everyday tasks of your life (work, household chores, conversations) as acts of worship this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 53:1-12 — This passage, which the sermon notes Zechariah 12 echoes, describes the Suffering Servant who was "pierced for our transgressions" and by whose wounds we are healed.

2. Acts 2:22-41 — This passage records Peter's Pentecost sermon and the crowd's response of being "cut to the heart," showing the initial fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy of repentance.

3. John 19:31-37 — This passage describes the soldier piercing Jesus' side and explicitly cites Zechariah 12:10 as being fulfilled in that moment.

4. Revelation 21:1-7, 22-27 — This passage describes the new creation where God dwells with His people, there is no more death or mourning, and God's glory provides all the light needed—fulfilling the hope of glorification in Zechariah 14.

5. 1 Peter 1:3-9 — This passage speaks of the living hope believers have through Christ's resurrection and explains how trials refine faith like gold tested by fire, connecting to Zechariah 13:9.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Hope Changes Everything: Introduction to Zechariah 12-14

II. Hope to Be Forgiven

III. Hope to Be Changed

IV. Hope to Be Safe

V. Hope to Be Glorified

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Hope changes everything.

In the past three weeks or so, four different COVID-19 vaccines in development have delivered very promising results. They seem to be on the cusp of approval. Light at the end of the pandemic tunnel seems to be growing brighter and nearer. There's a world of difference between hoping that a vaccine will be developed and the hope that a seemingly successful vaccine brings.

Hope is built into all our most basic actions and habits. Some kind of hope motivates virtually everything you do. Why would you work if you didn't hope for a paycheck? Why talk if you don't hope to be understood?

Like faith, hope is only as good as its object.

What do you hope for?

Who do you put your hope in?

This morning we are concluding our series in the Old Testament prophetic book of Zechariah. We'll be studying chapters 12 to 14. Here's a brief recap of the whole book to refresh our memories and set the stage. The first six chapters report a series of visions that the Lord gave Zechariah between about 520 BC and 518 BC. One of the main goals of these visions was to encourage and equip the people to finish rebuilding the temple.

That's the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah that we've heard about in Mark's series in Ezra. God provided this encouragement by proclaiming that he was present with his people by his Spirit. And he also encouraged them by promising that he would protect them and restore their fortunes. Chapters seven and eight are kind of a hinge in the two halves of the book. They ask how the people should live now that the exile is nearing its end.

And they also point ahead to God's final work of restoring his people in the future. And then as we saw two weeks ago in chapters nine through 11, God promises to save his people by delivering them from evil shepherds and sending his son, the Good Shepherd, to redeem his people and rule over them. Chapters 12 through 14 are much like chapters 9 through 11 in that, in these chapters, God fixes the prophet's gaze and our gaze firmly on the future. But as we'll see, some of the future events that Zechariah prophesied took place at Christ's first coming. Some of them take place throughout the time between Christ's first coming and His return.

And some of them will only finally be fulfilled when Christ comes back. But the thread that runs through all these chapters is hope. Hope that God will keep all his promises. Hope that God's kingdom will one day come.

Also, like chapters 9 through 11, chapters 12 through 14 are more of a mosaic than a motion picture. So instead of walking through the chapters in order, I'm going to pull out four prominent threads that when you weave them together really give us the whole picture of these three chapters. The question these chapters answer is, what hope does God himself hold out to you? What hope does God himself hold out to you? Point one, hope to be forgiven.

Hope to be forgiven. We especially see this hope from chapter 12, verse 10, down to chapter 13, verse 1, then again in chapter 13, verse 7. Look at chapter 12, starting in verse 10. Keep in mind, this is the Lord himself speaking.

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and please 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, On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land shall mourn, each family by itself, the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves. By themselves, the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves, and all the families that are left, each by itself and their wives by themselves. On that day there shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them. From sin and uncleanness.

Look back at verse 10.

In verse 10 of chapter 12, the Lord says that the people will look on me whom they have pierced. How can God be pierced. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8, he says that none of the rulers of this age understood God's hidden wisdom in the gospel for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. In Jesus of Nazareth, God himself became a man in order to die at the hands of men.

The Gospel of John chapter 19 verse 34 tells us that when Jesus was crucified, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. And verse 37 of that passage tells us this happened in order to fulfill Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10. In Christ, God himself became incarnate in order that God himself would be pierced for our transgressions.

Sin is our biggest problem. Sin is fundamentally an affront to God. Sin alienates us from God. Sin subjects us to God's just judgment. Sin takes away all hope of a happy eternity.

Sin locks us into a future condemnation which we can do nothing to escape.

But by sending His Son to die on the cross for us, God made our problem His problem, and He solved that problem as no one else could. God himself, in the person of his incarnate Son, suffered the curse and the penalty that was due to our sin, so that we would be forgiven. And three days after he died, Jesus rose from the dead, triumphing over death forever. Now he holds out the sure and certain hope of reconciliation with God and eternal life to all who repent and believe in him. If you're not a follower of Jesus, turn from sin.

And trust in Jesus to save you. Quit trying to live as your own ruler, as your own master and Lord, and rely totally on Jesus for forgiveness. God Himself was pierced for your sin so that you need never be if you trust in Christ.

In the next point, we'll consider this extensive description of weeping and mourning that starts in verse 10. But for now, look again to chapter 13, verse one. On that day there should be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. The image here is of a well that was stopped up, being unstopped, being cleared and released. Once the well is unstopped, it doesn't just contain water that you can draw from, but it contains an ever-flowing spring that rushes out.

If a series of people over time bathe in the same limited standing portion of water, like in a big bathtub, eventually that water gets dirty, it needs to be drained out and refilled. But the image here is of an ever-flowing spring of fresh, clean water.

A freshwater spring never needs to be drained and replaced. No matter how many people come and wash in it, no matter how much dirt they wash off, it always flows just as clear. It always can cleanse more. It can always cleanse fully. There is a fountain filled with blood.

Drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

Chapter 13, verse 1 is telling us that, When God Himself will be pierced for His people, that wound will become an ever-flowing fountain of forgiveness.

We get another clue as to how this will happen in chapter 13, verse 7. Look down at that verse. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. I will turn my hand against the little ones.

God himself commanded that his own chosen shepherd be struck to death for the salvation of his people. Jesus tells us in Matthew 26:31 that this prophecy was fulfilled when he was betrayed to death. And then his disciples deserted him. Jehovah bade his sword awake. O Christ, it woke against thee.

Who was struck? Who was pierced? Was it God himself or his chosen shepherd? The answer is yes. The answer is both.

Jesus is God himself, and yet he is distinct from the Father. When the shepherd was struck, God Himself was pierced, stricken, smitten, and afflicted. See Him dying on the tree. 'Tis the Christ by man rejected. Yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He.

Do you need forgiveness?

Our culture seems to have less and less room for forgiveness, our culture seems to have less and less willingness and ability to offer forgiveness.

Have you ever had a friend cancel you for believing that all unborn children deserve to have their lives protected? Have you ever had a friend, even a family member, unilaterally end their relationship with you. Because you believe that sex is a good gift from God, that should only be between a man and woman who are married. Often, those who profess to be most tolerant in theory are least tolerant in practice. If you deviate from the beliefs they demand that you hold, they might condemn you forever without hope of forgiveness.

Wisdom sometimes comes from surprising sources.

The Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave, who is not himself a Christian, has observed very insightfully, without mercy A society loses its soul and devours itself. As far as I can see, cancel culture is mercy's antithesis. Political correctness has grown to become the unhappiest religion in the world. It's once honorable attempt to reimagine our society in a more equitable way now embodies all the worst aspects that religion has to offer and none of the beauty, moral certainty and self-righteousness shorn even of the capacity for redemption. It has become, quite literally, bad religion run amok.

So says Nick Cave.

If you're not a Christian, we're glad you're here this morning. We hope the message, the offer of forgiveness is coming through loud and clear that this is available to you. This is freely extended to you. God Himself and the person of Christ has done everything to pay for this. There's no way for you to earn it.

All you have to do is accept it, receive it by faith. So my question for you if you're not a Christian is: How can you receive mercy? Do you need forgiveness? And if you need forgiveness, who can give it to you?

The one you most need forgiveness from is the one who himself suffered in your place. God Himself died an excruciating death in order to offer you the certain hope of being forgiven. Point two, hope to be changed. Hope to be changed. We see this again in chapter 12:10-14 and then throughout chapter 13.

Look again at chapter 12:10.

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. God is saying here that he will bring about his people's repentance. He will pour his Spirit into their hearts and they will weep for what they've done to him. We see a striking initial fulfillment of this promise on the day of Pentecost. So Peter is preaching the good news of what God has accomplished through raising Christ from the dead.

In Acts 2:36, Peter proclaims Jesus' resurrection. He says, Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. And then in verse 37, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' those whose cries caused Christ to be pierced now cry out from pierced hearts. The pierced one poured out his spirit to pierce through their pride and rebellion. So that repentance and faith now well up and pour out in this expression of trusting in Christ, of crying out for mercy.

Like Isaiah 53, which our chapter seems to echo through and through, Zechariah 12:10 is a drama of rejection and recognition. When the people recognize what they've done, and who they've done it to, they will renounce their sin and cast themselves on God's mercy. That's what all of these descriptions mean in verses 11 to 14 of houses and tribes mourning by themselves. Repentance will not be a matter of social pressure or conforming to religious expectation, looking around and doing what other people think you should be doing. Instead, each one will go to their room close the door, and cry out for mercy to their Father in heaven.

How does God change our hearts? He does it by granting us to look upon Christ by faith when Christ is held before our eyes through the preaching of the gospel. That is how we look on Him who was pierced for us. It is the assurance of forgiveness that melts your heart's icy resistance to God and His ways. It is the guarantee of acceptance from a gracious God that makes you want to run from sin and jump into the arms of your forgiving Father.

It is seeing Christ pierced for you that pierces your heart.

Look down at verses 2 through 6 of chapter 13. Here's another aspect of God holding out hope for change.

And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, you, shall not live. For you speak lies in the name of the Lord, and his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. On that day, every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies.

He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, but he will say, I am no prophet. I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth. And if one asks him, what are these wounds on your back? He will say, the wounds I received in the house of my friends.

God is saying that when he opens this fountain to provide for cleansing from sin and uncleanness, he will purge away the people's idolatry and he will banish false prophecy. God will remove all false messages from prophets lips and remove all false gods from his people's hearts. God is saying that he will not only forgive his people but change them, transform them. On that day, false prophets will pretend to be farmers because they will no longer have an audience who will buy their lies about God. Now, in one sense, this promise has not yet been fully realized.

False prophets and idolatry are still among us, even among those who profess the name of the Lord. But in another sense, this is what God's new covenant inaugurated through the blood of Christ has brought into effect. To be a Christian is to be delivered from the delusions of all false gods. To be a Christian is to have your eyes opened to the truth. To be a Christian is to trust in the one who is himself truth incarnate.

And to be a Christian is to be like these false prophets' parents, in utterly opposing everyone and everything that speaks falsely in the name of the Lord.

Look down to verse 9.

This verse is talking about the same sequence of events that is set in motion by God's act of striking his shepherd, and it's describing what God will do to cleanse and purify his faithful remnant. Verse 9, and I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one, refines silver and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name and I will answer them. I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is my God.

Why does God cause us to pass through fiery trials? Why does He stuff our lives so full of suffering? It's to refine us and test us, to prove our faith and purify our hearts.

Sometimes your prospects for change can seem hopeless. You committed the same sin again. You fell into the same temptation.

Again, you lost your patience with your kids again. You shouted at your roommate for their being inconsiderate again. You gave into the cycle of fear and anxiety and unbelief again.

What hope for change do you have?

Here's hope. God Himself has poured His love into your heart through the Holy Spirit whom He has given to you.

Laws do their work by imposing limits from without. Laws say, don't go there, stop here, turn around that way. Nudges and incentives and rewards systems work by harnessing an appetite you already have in order to get you to do something else that you don't want to do quite as much.

How does God work changing you?

He works by transforming you from within. He works by giving you new appetites, new goals, new longings, new desires. He works by changing what you most want so that it aligns with what He most wants for you. And what does He most want to give you? Himself.

I will say they are my people, and they will say the Lord is my God. The goal of God Putting you into the furnace of affliction is to make you cry out for help, to make you cry out for assistance that only he can give, to make you cry out not in pain, but in faith, to make you cry out and say, the Lord is my God, not success, not prosperity, not stability, not the realization of all my dreams and plans, but God alone is my God. And when he burns away that thing you most relied on and cherished, he's burning away your wrong reliance on that thing to be God is purging you, God is purifying you, and the goal is that joyful and desperate confession: the Lord is my God. That is the goal of all of His purposes coming to pass in your life, especially when they seem to make the least sense. Even if you can't see it, that is what God is driving you toward or pulling you toward or sometimes inching you toward.

The Lord is my God.

That is hope for change like nothing that anyone else can offer.

Point 3. Hope to be safe. Hope to be safe. God holds out this hope in chapter 12:1-9. And chapter 14, verses 1 to 5 and 12 to 15.

We won't have time to look at all those verses in detail, but you can make a note and follow up and study some of this on your own. Chapter 12, verses 1 to 9, chapter 14, verses 1 to 5 and 12 to 15. Look at chapter 12, verses 1 to 5.

The Oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him. Behold, I'm about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples.

All who lift it will surely hurt themselves, and all the nations of the earth will gather against it. On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah, I will keep my eyes open when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, the inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.

In some ways, these verses, and the ones we're about to consider, are like a brief movie version of Psalm 2:1-2. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. In this war, the nations of the earth gather themselves against God's people and God himself protects and defends them. When did this war happen or when will this war happen?

Its first battle was the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. It continues throughout this age as the powers of this world persecute and oppress God's people. And it will come to a climax when Christ returns on a white horse conquering and to conquer. What does God promise his people in the midst of this battle? Protection, strength, security, and safety.

We have all those things in Him, not in ourselves and in no one and nothing else. Look ahead to chapter 14. The first couple verses describe horrors that the nations will perpetrate against God's people. And verses 12 to 15 tell how God will repay those nations with an exacting sobering and severe judgment. But now look at chapter 14, verses 3 and 4.

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward and the other half southward.

To fulfill this promise, God will come in person. He will not send a mere delegate or representative.

That shows not only the importance of the job, but that he's the only one who can do it.

When a really big deal is about to be closed, often the CEO of a company will go to close that deal. When really hard news needs to be delivered, from test results or an operation. You will not likely hear it from a nurse or a physician's assistant, but the surgeon herself will come tell you in person.

The safety and security that we all need is something that ultimately God alone can give, and He promises One day to bring it in person.

This whole life and this whole age in the history of God's people is one of risk, danger and hardship. It's one of trial, temptation, suffering, struggle, spiritual warfare and opposition. But God is our refuge in the greatest dangers and scares. If you trust in God's protection and provision, you're safe. As Jesus says, not one hair of your head can fall to the ground apart from your Father.

What determines your fate in this life is not random chance, but God's loving ordination of every single detail of your life. Just like Mark preached to us from Ezra chapter 8 last week of God's providence as his loving and purposeful exercise of his sovereignty for his people's good. Amid the most intense spiritual battles, you are secure because God is the one who fights for you.

Hope to be glorified.

Hope to be glorified. God holds this hope out to us in chapter 14. Verses 6 to 11, 16 to 19, and 20 to 21.

Moses chapter 14. Look at verses 6 to 11.

On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost, 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. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem, but Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site, from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the corner gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.

Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

These verses are like a kaleidoscope, giving us a shifting series of images of God's new creation.

Verses 6 and 7 echo the days of creation, that there was Morning and evening, light and darkness. But they suggested in the new creation that familiar sequence of day and night, light and dark will no longer obtain. Why not? Revelation 21:23 tells us that in the New Jerusalem, the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

In verse 8 we read of rivers of living water, fresh water flowing out year round from Jerusalem. And these too find their fulfillment in the new creation. Revelation 22:1-2, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the Tree of Life with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Verse 9 promises that on that final day, everyone will recognize Who is the one true God overall? And in verses 10 and 11, this promise of a geological transformation results in the whole land around Jerusalem being a level plain and Jerusalem being lifted up even higher than it already was. The point is security, safety, God guaranteeing the protection of his people forever. He's setting his city on a plateau so high that nothing and no one can ever threaten it.

The main point of all these images is that the whole creation will be remade in order to become a perfect home for God's perfected people. When Christ returns and raises the dead, when he brings us our eternal reward, every conceivable threat to our eternal well-being will be forgotten and banished forever. There will be no more poverty or hunger or famine.

There will be no more pandemics. There will be no more scarcity or hardship. There will be no more violence or war. There will be no more vulnerability to harm of any kind.

But it won't just be our environment that is perfectly transformed. It will be us too. That's how the book ends. Look at verses 20 and 21.

And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses holy to the Lord and the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day. The point of these images is that in the new creation, everything will be perfectly holy. Exodus 28:36 tells us that in the old covenant's system of worship, the high priest's breastplate bore the inscription holy to the Lord.

The priest was set apart as holy and he ministered in a place that was holy and he had more access to that which was holy than did the other people. So that's why he wore the label holy to the Lord. But when God fulfills the promise of verse 20, even the bells on horses hooves will bear that same inscription, just an everyday artifact holy to the Lord. Everything will be holy, that is, absolutely dedicated and devoted to the Lord and His purposes. No traitor will come into the house of the Lord.

There will be no way to pervert the worship of God for personal profit. On that day, we will be a perfectly holy people in a perfectly holy place. And because our holiness will be perfect, So will our happiness. What should we do now? 1 John 3:2-3, Beloved, we are God's children now; and what we will be has not yet appeared.

But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

The same God who gives us hope to be forgiven holds out hope to be changed. The same God who gives us hope of safety amid the storms now is the one who guarantees the hope of glory then.

What hope can you count on fully? What hope will never prove false?

Lo, He comes with clouds descending, once for favored sinners slain, thousand thousand saints attending, swell the triumph of His train. Alleluia, alleluia. Jesus now shall ever reign. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, We praise you for this hope.

That one day we will be perfected in a creation you have perfected and will dwell in perfect happiness with you, perfect fellowship with you, perfect joy when you perfectly fulfill your promises. Father, we pray that in light of that hope, we would purify ourselves as you are pure. In Jesus' name, Amen.