The Day of the Lord: Living Water and the Battle We Face

The final chapter of Zechariah brings us face-to-face with a sobering reality: there's a day coming when God will settle accounts. It's a chapter that forces us to ask ourselves a critical question—which side of God do we want to be on? The loving side or the punishing side?
For thirteen weeks, the book of Zechariah has spoken harsh truths about disobedience, idolatry, and the consequences of turning away from God. But the fourteenth chapter shifts our gaze toward something magnificent: the promise of what's to come for those who trust in the Lord.
The Battle Is Real
We're in a battle. Not the kind with black eyes and bloody noses, but a spiritual warfare that wages every single day. If you're not fighting, you might already be on the wrong side. Satan doesn't waste time fighting for those he's already captured. But if you're serving God, loving God, trusting in Him—you become a target. The enemy will do everything possible to convince you that you're not worthy, not good enough, that God doesn't really care.
Here's the truth: God doesn't need us. We need Him.
The Israelites never learned this lesson. Even today, Israel struggles with it. But so do we. America keeps pushing God further and further away from everything we do. It's time for the church to buckle down and take its place. It's time to prepare for battle.
Training for Spiritual Warfare
There's an old military saying that applies perfectly to our spiritual lives: "The more we sweat in training, the less we bleed in war."
Athletes understand this principle. You practice the way you play. If you give everything in practice, your coach plays you more in the game. God wants us to put out effort in practice—in Bible study, in prayer, in seeking His face and understanding His Word.
Don't abuse your salvation like a golden ticket that lets you sit on the sidelines while everyone else does the work. God wants all of us serving with the same intensity. He commanded us to go and tell the world about Him. If we don't, some of that two-thirds of the world heading toward destruction will include people we knew, people we loved, maybe even people sitting in church pews right now.
The Mount of Olives and Living Water
Zechariah 14 tells us that God's feet will stand on the Mount of Olives—the very place where Jesus prayed, where He was arrested, and from which He ascended into heaven. When He returns, that mountain will split from east to west, creating a massive valley through which living waters will flow.
Those living waters represent something beautiful: if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have living water flowing through you right now. You'll never thirst again. That living water never freezes in winter, never dries up in summer. It flows freely forever.
Imagine living eternity without water. Without Jesus, that's exactly what awaits—an eternity with a dry mouth, desperately wanting just one drop. But with Jesus, you'll always have living water flowing through your body, sustaining you forever.
The Plague Upon God's Enemies
The description in Zechariah is horrifying: "Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet. Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets. Their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths."
Those who have seen pictures from Hiroshima and Nagasaki know something of this horror—atomic shadows on buildings, bodies melted in the streets. But that devastation will be nothing compared to the plague God brings upon those who fight against Him.
This isn't a party anyone should want to attend. Yet people joke about hell being one big celebration with all their friends. That's the greatest lie ever told. There are no songs about the beauty of hell, no hymns celebrating streets of fire.
But heaven? The celebration will be beyond anything we can imagine. No beauty on earth compares to what awaits in the New Jerusalem.
The Feast of Celebration
After the judgment, those who remain will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Holiness will be engraved even on the bells of horses. Every pot will be holy to the Lord. There will be no more Canaanites—no more evil, no more sin. Everything will be holy and pure.
Most of us will never get to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in this lifetime. But here's the beautiful truth: you can celebrate it every day. Your body is your tabernacle, His temple. Be thankful for your health, no matter how good or bad. Be thankful you woke up this morning, that you're breathing right now, that you have another opportunity to accept Him if you don't know Him yet.
We're all miracles of God. We came from a miracle, and we're still living because of His miraculous power. It's not happenstance or coincidence that you're still here. Only God could create and sustain the human body the way He does.
Don't Wait Until It's Too Late
Tomorrow isn't promised. This afternoon isn't even promised. You'll confess Jesus one way or another—either now, experiencing the benefits of heaven forever, or standing before Him when it's too late, experiencing the consequences of hell forever.
The benefit package is infinitely better if you do it now.
God wants to be your protector, your shield, your salvation, your rock. He wants to be everything to you. If there's something in your life more important than God—your possessions, your job, your family, anything—that's called an idol, and it needs to go.
Come Together as the Church
When we come together as God's church, when we love each other and serve for His benefit rather than ours, He blesses us. He puts families in church. He brings people to know Him. He convicts lost hearts.
That's the biggest blessing ever.
Let's keep working, keep striving to be the best servants we can be to Jesus. Let's keep loving each other. Let's prepare for the battle ahead by training hard in God's Word, so when spiritual warfare comes, we're ready.
The day of the Lord is coming. Make sure you're on the right side when it arrives.