In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
Comment: The words ‘when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem‘ do not mean bodily cleanness and sweeping the streets but, while these actions may be needed after the judgement spoken about in the last few devotionals, it obviously is talking about moral cleansing and character. The other big question concerning this promise from God is to what does ‘in that day refer’? Does it refer to either a) when the people repent of their attitudes and actions and turn back to worshipping God in His ordered way or b) to when God winds up things on the return of His Messiah, Jesus? Or c) maybe to both?
‘The branch of the LORD’ is a term used in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah and is taken by almost all religious Jews and Christians to refer to the coming Messiah. Christians and some Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But, if we are honest, when He came before these conditions were not fully fulfilled! The Bible says that He, Jesus, will return again and the promise is that these promises will be fulfilled in total when He returns, but not until after a further period of Judgement. Sadly most Jews do not accept Isaiah chapter 53 as referring to Jesus first coming! I believe that today’s passage in some degree, did and does, refer to both during our stay on earth and when Jesus returns. If a people, Jewish or Gentile, do really repent and turn to God He does bless them!
Zechariah 12: 10 & 13: 1 – “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn…. “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
Prayer: Thank You, thank You Jesus that You did come and that You will return one day!
As I read it! 