The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-13, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. Copyright 1992 by John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

This is in Zechariah; I want to know if this pertains to the millennial kingdom, and if it does, I have a question. Starting in chapter 14, verse 16, “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up, year after year, to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the feast of tabernacles…” There are other verses here, but I’ll just skip over, because it has to do with feast of tabernacles. In verse 19, “This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.” If this is the millennial kingdom, why would they be celebrating this feast? “What time is this?” is what I’m basically asking.

Answer

In answer to your question, I believe it is the millennial kingdom. It clearly is the millennial kingdom: “holy to the Lord” is inscribed on the bells of the horses and the cooking pots; “every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord of Hosts” and all of that. And why would they be celebrating this? Just commemorative. Just looks back at redemptive history. The same reason that when the Lord said, “When I come back, you’ll do this communion with Me in My kingdom.” It’s commemorative. I believe there’s even a temple--the millennial temple described in Ezekiel 40-48--and there’s going to be worship going on during that, and we’ll all look back at God’s redemptive history, something we probably will commemorate in some way all throughout eternity.

So, it still has the function of a commemoration, of a celebration of all that God has done. And you know, if you read the Old Testament, that God loves to have His people recite the history and the chronicle of all His mighty deeds. And, that’s part of what praise is. And throughout all of the millennial kingdom, and throughout all of eternity, we will be praising God. And how do you do that? There’s only three ways to do that. One is to praise Him for who He is: attributes. Two, to praise Him for what He has done. Three, to thank Him for both. That is the essence of praise, and if that’s what we’re going to do forever, then it is fitting that whatever commemorative means we have to do that--be held.

In fact, I would dare say that all throughout eternity--and I’m going out on a limb here--but I would dare say that throughout all of eternity, we’ll invent all kinds of commemorative events to look back and remember what God has done. We’ll never forget our own salvation. We’ll never forget the redemption of those we love. We’ll never forget how He built His church and how He conquered Satan. And I think there will be all kinds of commemorations and special events throughout eternity as we celebrate the marvelous things that God has done.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
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