On that day there will be one LORD and His Name the only Name.

Zechariah 14:9b Over the past several months in our Wednesday Evening bible Study we have been exploring the book of Zechariah. It is a wonderful and complicated book which, at times, threatened to overwhelm us. Tonight we will take one final look at this wonderful Old Testament prophesy. We have noted that the final chapter describes the Day of the LORD as a sevenfold vision of elements of salvation and contrasting judgement. We have also noted how the structure of the chapter focuses our attention on a central vision in verses 9b-13. In doing so it brings us to the essential central understanding which we must have if we are to be truly saved. This is found in verse 9b where the prophet writes, On that day there will be one LORD and His Name the only Name. What Zechariah is seeing, and passing on to us is this, Gods purpose is to reveal Himself to us as the only redeemer. It is only through faith in this revelation that we can ever hope to be saved. Zechariah sings out that God is revealing Himself to this sin sick world in a way that will either lead us to salvation or to judgement. D. A. Carson surely understands this point when he writes the following in a devotional based upon Hebrews 1. Indeed, the form of expression, by His Son, in the original, suggests pretty strongly that the author of Hebrews does not think of the Son as one more prophet. The idea is not that while in the past the Word of God was mediated by prophets, in these last days the word has been mediated by the Son, who thus becomes the last of the prophets. Something more fundamental is at issue. The Greek expression, over translated, means In Son. The absence of the article the is significant. Moreover, in Son contrasts not only with through the prophets but with through the prophets at many times and in various ways. The point is that in these last days God has disclosed Himself in the Son revelation. In the past, when God used the prophets He sometimes gave them words directly (in oracles or visions), sometimes providentially led them through experiences they recorded, sometimes spoke through extraordinary events such as the burning bush: there were many times and various ways (1:1). But now, God has spoken in Son we might paraphrase, in the Son revelation. It is not that Jesus simply brings the word; He is Himself, so to speak, the Word of God, the climatic Word. The idea is very similar to what one reads in the prologue of Johns Gospel. The Son is capable of this because He is the radiance of Gods glory and the exact representation of His being (1:3). Later on in the same devotional Carson concludes with this thought. But the author of Hebrews sees that the climax of all the Old Testament revelation, mediated through the prophets and stored in books, is not, strictly speaking, more books but Christ Jesus Himself. The New Testament books congregate around Jesus and bear witness to Him who is the climax of revelation. (Carson, D. A., For the love of God vol. 1, Crossway books, Wheaton, Ill., 1998) Zechariah points us to the fact that the key revelation of God Himself is found in the One who comes as the Good Shepherd. On the basis of this revelation are all of the issues involved in the

judgment of this world. The central section of this final chapter of Zechariah points us to this fact as it not only tells us that His Name is the only Name, but that the judgment which comes out of this revelation is based upon our response to it. Either we are in Jerusalem, which will be raised up over all the surrounding territory, or we are in the Nations gathered to judgment as they experience the consequences of their unbelief. It is all focused upon the revelation in the Son. What a precious truth.