Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of
Yea, every pot - even in private houses, as in the temple, shall be deemed holy, so universal shall be the consecration of all things and persons to Yahweh.
And all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them - as readily as they would take of the pots of the temple itself, whatever number they wanted for sacrifice.
There shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts - no unclean or ungodly person, such as the accursed Canaanite was (Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 52:1; Joel 3:17). Compare as to the final state wherein there shall be nothing that defileth, or worketh abomination, subsequent to the millennium, Revelation 21:27; Revelation 22:15. Maurer, not so well, translates, 'merchant' here, as in Proverbs 31:24. If a man would have the beginnings of heaven, it must be by absolute consecration of everything to God on earth. Let his life be a liturgy, a holy service of acted worship (Moore).
Remarks:
(1) It is the Lord's way at times to suffer His people to be reduced to the sorest straits, in order that He may magnify the riches of His grace in their deliverance. The Church's extremity is the Lord's opportunity. There is a fearful ordeal at hand, when "there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation" (Daniel 12:1). Already Popery and Infidelity, Socialistic insubordination, false spiritualism, and the self-deifying pride of human intellect, are preparing the fuel for the fiery furnace which is to try the Church. But when the triumph of the anti-Christian host seems most secure, "then the Lord shall go forth and fight" (Zechariah 14:3) for Israel and for His Church.
(2) The mount of Olives, the scene of Christ's agony in Gethsemane, shall be the scene of His glory. The same hill which witnessed His ascension shall witness His return "in like manner" (Acts 1:11). As the disciples stood "gazing up into heaven," when "a cloud received him out of their sight," so, "Behold, he cometh with clouds" (Revelation 1:7). As angels escorted their Lord at His ascension, so shall they in countless hosts attend on Him in His return. His people, "lifting up their heads as their redemption draweth nigh," shall, at the sudden manifestation of their returning Lord, exclaim, "The Lord my God is come, and all the saints with Thee" (Zechariah 14:5).
(3) The exact time of "the day of the Lord" (Zechariah 14:1) is "known to the Lord" alone (Zechariah 14:7). This thought should stifle, not reverent inquiry, but presumptuous dogmatism, in fixing dates of the future.
(4) The ushering in of that day shall be amidst circumstances of gloom; not indeed the blackness of "night," but yet not the "clearness" of "day" (Zechariah 14:6-7). There shall be neither the cheering light of daytime nor the calm quiet of night, but the uneasy forebodings and fears attendant upon a state of twilight. It shall be a day unique, and without a parallel. How earnest, therefore, we ought to be, that we may be prepared for it!
(5) "At evening time it shall be light," not indeed to all, but to them that believe. The night may be dark, and even the twilight of life clouded to the saint, but in due time the full "light" shall break forth (Zechariah 14:7). "The Lord shall be" at last His people's "everlasting light, and the days of their mourning shall be ended" (Isaiah 60:20).
(6) The waters of life flowed forth at Jerusalem first, when Christ the Rock was smitten; and "repentance and remission of sins was preached in Christ's name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). So again the "living waters" shall go out from Jerusalem far more abundantly than ever before, when her people shall have turned to the Lord. Then "shall the Lord be king over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:9), and "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ" (Revelation 11:15).
(7) As yet divisions among Christians, and errors of doctrine and practice among many, and covetousness, and idolatries, prevent the universal recognition of Him who is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Timothy 6:15). But "in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one" (Zechariah 14:9).
(8) Mountains of opposition and distrust shall then be leveled "as a plain" (Zechariah 14:10); "Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited;" "and there shall be no more utter destruction," because then sin shall cease to reign. After the chastisement of the Church by Antichrist, he himself shall perish forever, and then holier and happier days shall dawn upon the purified Church and world.
(9) The most fearful punishments await the reprobates (Zechariah 14:12). Sin shall be left to its unrestricted workings on undying bodies and souls. Sin is hell in embryo: and then sin shall have its full and awful development. The consciousness of life shall be realized in ghastly union with the corruption of ever-continuing death, as if a person had a decaying corpse ever clasped in closest union with his living body. Then, in hell, everyone's hand among the lost shall rise up in perpetual bitterness against his neighbour (Zechariah 14:13).
(10) While God shall destroy some, He shall convert others to Himself (Zechariah 14:16). After the anti-Christian foes of Jerusalem shall have perished there, the surviving nations shall tender their allegiance to the King, the Lord of hosts, who shall hold His Royal court there in manifested glory (Zechariah 14:16).
(11) Then shall the Jews celebrate the feast of tabernacles literally, with a joy exceeding that of former feasts as much as their future deliverance from their wanderings for ages shall exceed all former deliverances. The spiritual Israel, the perfected and transfigured elect Church, shall also, after a heavenly manner, celebrate, with the palms of victory in their hands, their deliverance out of the great tribulations of this wilderness-world. Then, when punishments (Zechariah 14:18-19) shall overtake all the wicked, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD, even in the minutest particulars, and its inseparable companion, happiness (Zechariah 14:20), shall be the portion of God's people in heaven and on earth, and there shall be none to disturb or defile them (Zechariah 14:21). Let us begin this holy and happy consecration of all that we are and all that we have to the Lord: so even now shall we have a foretaste of heavenly joys.