Commentary - Zechariah 14:16-19

Bird's-eye view

Here at the end of Zechariah's prophecy, we are given a vibrant picture of the new covenant order. This is not some strange, disconnected vision of a far future dystopia, but rather a description of the world under the reign of Jesus Christ. After the great battle described earlier in the chapter which is the cataclysm of the cross and the destruction of the old Jerusalem in AD 70 the prophet sees the glorious result: the nations of the world, formerly enemies of God, are now brought into the family of God. They are summoned to worship. This passage lays out the central political reality of the new aeon. The choice for every nation, every family of the earth, is simple: worship the King and receive His blessing, or refuse and receive His curse. This is gospel realism. The Great Commission is not a polite suggestion; it is a royal summons, and it has teeth.

The central metaphor for this new global worship is the Feast of Booths, a festival of harvest and joy. This signifies that the great ingathering of the Gentiles is not a dour affair, but a worldwide celebration. But with this invitation comes a non-negotiable demand for allegiance. The Lord of hosts governs the nations through covenant sanctions, and He is not above turning off the spigot of heaven to get the attention of a rebellious people. The case of Egypt is brought in as a hard case, a nation that thought itself immune to drought, only to show that no one can rig the system to escape the authority of King Jesus. The passage is a glorious affirmation of postmillennial hope: Christ will reign until all His enemies are made His footstool, and the primary weapon in this conquest is the summons to worship.

Outline

Context In Zechariah

Zechariah 14 is the capstone of the entire prophecy. It describes the Day of the Lord, a period inaugurated by the first coming of Christ, His death, resurrection, and ascension. The earlier parts of the chapter describe a great shaking of the old order, centered on Jerusalem. This is best understood as the fulfillment of Christ's warnings about the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Out of that judgment on the old covenant world, a new reality emerges. Living waters flow from a new Jerusalem, the Church of Jesus Christ, and the Lord becomes king over all the earth (Zech. 14:8-9). Our passage, verses 16-19, flows directly from that reality. Because Christ is King, the nations must now answer to Him. The worship that was once geographically centered in old Jerusalem is now globalized, and the covenant blessings and curses that once applied primarily to ethnic Israel are now applied to all the families of the earth.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Zechariah 14:16

Then it will be that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem... The story of the gospel always begins with a remnant. After the judgment of God, there are those "who are left." These are not the ones who were strong enough to survive, but rather the ones who were rescued by grace. And notice who they are: they are from the very nations that "went against Jerusalem." The enemies of God have become His worshipers. This is the power of the cross. Christ takes rebels and traitors, washes them, and makes them sons. The gospel does not just conquer enemies; it transforms them into friends.

...will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts... This is not describing Spirit Airlines flights to the Middle East. "Going up to Jerusalem" is Old Covenant language for approaching God in worship. In the new covenant, the true Jerusalem is from above (Gal. 4:26), and we enter it by faith in Christ. This describes the regular, disciplined, and recurring worship of the Christian Church throughout the world. The nations learn to order their calendars, their lives, their entire societies around the worship of the one true King, Jesus Christ, who is Yahweh of hosts.

...and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. Why this particular feast? The Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, was the great harvest festival at the end of the agricultural year. It was a time of exuberant joy, celebrating God's provision and His presence dwelling with His people in the wilderness. For this to be the central festival of the nations is profoundly significant. It means the age of the Messiah is the time of the great Gentile harvest. It is a time of global rejoicing, where the nations celebrate that God has come to tabernacle, to dwell, with man in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and it is a party.

Zechariah 14:17

And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts... Here is the flip side. Worship is not optional. The summons to the feast is a command from the King. Notice the scope: whichever of the families of the earth. This is comprehensive. We are talking about nations, people groups, tribes. God deals with mankind not just as disconnected individuals, but as peoples in covenant. Every nation has a corporate responsibility to acknowledge the King.

...there will be no rain on them. This is a covenant sanction, straight out of Deuteronomy. Rain is the biblical symbol of undeserved, life-giving blessing from above. When a nation corporately turns its back on the worship of the true God, God has ways of getting their attention. He is sovereign over the climate. He is sovereign over the economy. He is sovereign over the supply chain. A nation that insists on godless secularism should not be surprised when it experiences economic drought, cultural drought, and spiritual drought. This is not karma; this is the personal government of God in history.

Zechariah 14:18

And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them... The prophet anticipates an objection. "What about Egypt? Our whole civilization is built around the Nile. We don't need your rain." Egypt stands as the archetype of the self-sufficient, technologically advanced pagan nation. It represents every nation that thinks it has secured its own prosperity, that it has built a system that makes God irrelevant.

...it will be the plague with which Yahweh plagues the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. God's answer to Egypt's hubris is simple: "I have more than one arrow in my quiver." If a drought won't get your attention, a plague will. God is not limited in His means. He will bring judgment on rebellious nations in a way that is tailored to their specific idolatries. The point is that there is no escape. You cannot engineer your way out of submission to King Jesus. He will either be your Savior or your Judge, but He will be acknowledged.

Zechariah 14:19

This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. The prophet concludes by universalizing the principle. Egypt is not a special case; it is the case study. The word for punishment here is connected to the word for sin. The consequence is directly tied to the offense. What is the great sin of the nations? It is their refusal to join the party. It is their refusal to joyfully worship the King who bought them with His own blood. This is the central political question for all time: Will the nations kiss the Son? (Psalm 2). This passage tells us that many will, and it tells us what will happen to those who do not.

Application

This passage ought to fill the Church with a robust and muscular confidence. Our task in the Great Commission is not to sell a product or to offer a lifestyle option. We are ambassadors of a King, delivering a summons to a feast. This summons is extended to every nation, every government, every family on earth.

We must therefore recover a biblical understanding of worship. Our worship on the Lord's Day is not a retreat from the world; it is spiritual warfare. It is the primary means by which the kingdom of God advances and takes ground. When we gather to sing the psalms, hear the Word, and receive the Supper, we are "going up to Jerusalem," and it is this act that brings blessing to the world.

Furthermore, we must not be shy about connecting national fortunes to national faithfulness. When our nation embraces wickedness and formally rejects the authority of Christ, we should expect covenantal curses. We should expect the rain to be withheld, literally and metaphorically. Our task is to call our own nations to repent and to join the great Feast of Booths, to enter into the joy of the Lord. The gospel will triumph. The nations will, by and large, come to the feast. And those who refuse will find that the King of all the earth has ways of making His displeasure known.