Holy Restoration

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Scripture:

Zech. 14:20 ¶ On that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the cooking pots in the house of the LORD shall be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar;
Zech. 14:21 and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.

Observation:

At the end of a chapter that tells the story of great destruction because of the evil of God's people, we find these last couple of verses.  After all of the destruction there will come holy restoration, and this restoration will be total and complete.  In the past only the priest had written on them "Holy to the LORD."  Now -- this holiness will spread to the most common of items.  Even the bells of horses and the cooking pots and bowls will be inscribed with "Holy to the LORD."  The restoration will be so thorough that those who are unholy will not be able to contaminate the holiness. 

Application:

There is incredible hope found in this message.  The Israelites were going to suffer utter destruction because of their own infidelity and this destruction was going to be complete.  And yet, in the midst of it all, new life would spring forth, and this new life would generate something that the world had never before seen -- a truly holy people. 

Sometimes when we are at our lowest points -- it is then that God is able to bring about a new sprig of life that will become transformational for you and for me.  That life can grow and bring about the restoration of all things.  Every part of our being can be made holy in the light of his new life within us.  Life and refreshing are ahead for those who are entirely made holy before God. 

This entire process was unpleasant, to the say the least, for the Israelites.  Sometimes what we go through in life is unpleasant as well -- but is God at work in all of that?  God's desire is that you and I would be "Holy to the LORD."  He wants to be able to take the ordinary things of our lives and have them be holy restored before him. 

The early members of the holiness movements in America adopted this phrase.  They often marched in parades and carried banners which said, "Holiness unto the Lord."  They believed in the hope of the entire restoration of God's people -- to be a holy people.  They were so inspired with this idea that they wanted the world to know -- it was possible to see the ordinary become the extraordinary.  This remains true today -- because of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit -- the ordinary in this world can become the extraordinary.  Holy restoration takes the simple and ordinary follower of Jesus Christ and restores them in the image of God to be the holy person of God that he originally intended.  Holy restoration.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the promise of your holy restoration.  Amen.

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