The Consecration of Everything Text: Zechariah 14:20-21
Introduction: The Great De-Segregation
We live in an age that is desperate to tear down walls, to erase distinctions, and to flatten every hierarchy. But it is doing so in a profoundly rebellious and chaotic way. Our culture wants to declare that there is no difference between male and female, between right and wrong, between the sacred and the profane. But this is not a holy leveling; it is a return to the primordial mud, the tohu wa-bohu of Genesis 1. It is an attempt to make everything equally meaningless by making it all common, base, and profane.
The Christian faith, however, presents a radically different vision. God also intends to tear down a wall, but it is the wall that separates our worship from our work, our prayers from our plumbing, our devotion from our daily bread. The biblical vision is not to make everything profane, but to make everything holy. It is not a downward leveling into the muck, but an upward consecration of all things to God. This is the great project of the gospel in history. The Great Commission is not just about saving souls for a disembodied eternity; it is about discipling all the nations, teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded. And what this means, in the final analysis, is the steady, inexorable, and glorious sanctification of all of life and all of culture.
The prophet Zechariah, at the very end of his prophecy, gives us a stunning, almost shocking, picture of what this ultimate victory looks like. He describes a world so thoroughly saturated with the presence and glory of God that the most basic, fundamental distinction of the Old Covenant, the distinction between the holy and the common, is gloriously overcome. This is not a prophecy about a far-off, ethereal heaven. This is a prophecy about this world, under the reign of King Jesus, when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is the postmillennial hope in living color.
In these two verses, we see the culmination of God's redemptive plan for the world. We see the sacred invading the secular until the very category of "secular" ceases to exist. We see the total victory of Christ applied to the nuts and bolts of everyday existence. This is where history is headed, and it is a future that should fill every believer with robust and muscular joy.
The Text
In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to Yahweh." And the pots in the house of Yahweh will be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts in that day.
(Zechariah 14:20-21 LSB)
From the High Priest to the War Horse (v. 20a)
We begin with one of the most startling images in all of Old Testament prophecy:
"In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, 'Holy to Yahweh.'" (Zechariah 14:20a)
To grasp the revolutionary nature of this statement, we must understand where this inscription came from. Under the Mosaic law, the phrase "Holy to Yahweh" was permitted in one place, and one place only. It was engraved on a golden plate fastened to the front of the high priest's turban (Exodus 28:36). It marked the absolute pinnacle of consecrated holiness in the nation of Israel. It represented the highest office, the most sacred function, the man who alone could enter the Holy of Holies once a year. It was the emblem of separation, of that which was set apart for God in the most exclusive way imaginable.
Now, where does Zechariah see this inscription? On the bells of the horses. Think about this. In the ancient world, horses were instruments of war, symbols of worldly power and military might. They were, in many ways, the epitome of the "common" or even the unclean, representing the brute force of the nations. And on the little bells jingling on their harnesses, the kind of thing you would barely notice, is written the most sacred phrase in the Old Covenant.
This is a picture of total transformation. The holiness that was once concentrated in a single man, in a single office, in the sanctuary, has exploded outwards to sanctify the most common and mundane aspects of life. Commerce, transportation, warfare, agriculture, all the things horses were used for, are now brought under the lordship of Christ and consecrated to His service. There is no longer a sacred zone and a secular zone. The war horse has become a priest. The battlefield has become an altar. This is the cultural mandate in its final, triumphant form.
This tells us that in the kingdom of Christ, your work matters. Your business, your craft, your labor, it is not a secular distraction from your "real" spiritual life. It is the very arena in which you are to work out your priestly calling. Whether you are writing code, driving a truck, changing diapers, or balancing spreadsheets, you are to do it in such a way that it could be inscribed, "Holy to Yahweh."
From the Altar to the Kitchen (v. 20b-21a)
The prophet continues this theme of holy integration, moving from the streets into the house of the Lord and then into every home.
"And the pots in the house of Yahweh will be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them." (Zechariah 14:20b-21a LSB)
Here we see a two-step elevation. First, inside the temple, the ordinary cooking pots, the vessels used for the mundane task of boiling the meat of the sacrifice, are elevated to the same level of holiness as the golden bowls used at the altar for catching the blood of the sacrifice. The humble, utilitarian pot is given the same status as the most sacred ceremonial instrument. The distinction between levels of holiness is being erased.
But then it goes even further. It is not just the pots inside the temple. "Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts." Your kitchenware is now holy. The pot you use to make soup for your family is as consecrated as the vessels in Solomon's temple. The sacred has completely overflowed the banks of the sanctuary and flooded every home in the land.
And notice the result: "all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them." The ceremonial law is not just elevated; it is democratized. There is no longer a need for a special class of priestly utensils. Any pot will do, because every pot is holy. This points to the glorious reality of the New Covenant, where every believer is a priest (1 Peter 2:9). We do not need a special human mediator or a sacred location to approach God. Through Christ, our High Priest, every one of us has direct access to the throne of grace. Our homes are sanctuaries, our dinner tables are altars, and our daily meals are acts of worship. As Paul says, "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). Zechariah saw this coming. He saw a day when the holiness of God would so permeate His people that their very kitchens would be extensions of the temple.
The Cleansed House (v. 21b)
The prophecy concludes with a final, decisive statement of purification.
"And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts in that day." (Zechariah 14:21b LSB)
Who is the Canaanite? In the Old Testament, the Canaanite was the archetypal idolater, the pagan inhabitant of the land who represented everything unclean and unholy. They were to be driven out of the promised land because their wicked practices defiled it. The word "Canaanite" also came to be used as a term for a "merchant" or "trafficker," likely because of their reputation in trade. This is what we see when Jesus cleanses the temple. He drives out the money-changers, the merchants who had turned His Father's house into a den of thieves, a house of merchandise (John 2:16).
So, this verse has a double meaning, and both are glorious. First, in that day, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be thoroughly purified. There will be no idolaters within her gates. The hypocrites, the false converts, the syncretists who try to blend Christianity with paganism will be purged. The house of God will be for worshippers, not for those who would defile it with their idols, whether those idols are made of stone or are the more subtle idols of the heart like greed, lust, or pride.
Second, the house of God will be purged of all crass commercialism and worldly motivation. The Church will not be a place for hucksters to make a buck. It will not be a platform for self-promotion or a marketplace for peddling wares. It will be a house of prayer for all the nations. The worship of God will be pure, unadulterated by the love of money, which is a root of all kinds of evil.
This is a promise of the ultimate success of the gospel. The Church will not limp across the finish line of history, beaten and compromised. It will be a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27). The gates of Hell will not prevail against it, and that means that all the filth the enemy tries to pump into the church will ultimately be expelled.
Conclusion: Your Consecrated Pots and Pans
This is the future of the world. This is the victory that has been secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The world is not destined to spiral into pagan darkness. It is destined for total consecration. The gospel is not a fire escape from a burning building. It is the blueprint for the renovation of the entire building.
What does this mean for us, right now? It means we must begin to live in light of this reality. We must reject the false pietism that divides life into sacred and secular compartments. Your work is not secular. Your family is not secular. Your hobbies are not secular. Your pots and pans are not secular. It is all destined for holiness. It is all to be offered up to God as a spiritual act of worship.
We must begin the work of inscribing "Holy to Yahweh" on the common things of our lives. We do this by submitting every area to the lordship of Christ. We do this by obeying His Word in our finances, in our entertainment, in our politics, and in our relationships. We do this by recognizing that we are all priests, and our entire lives are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The world sees a coming dystopia. The dispensationalist sees a coming defeat for the church. But the Word of God sees a coming consecration. It sees a day when the jingle of a horse's harness and the clatter of a kitchen pot will be as holy as the worship in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is our hope. This is our mission. And because Christ is risen, it is our certain destiny. Let us therefore be about our Father's business, taking every pot captive to the obedience of Christ.