Holy to the Lord
Zechariah 14:20–21
On that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” Zechariah 14:20

“And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day” (Zech. 14:20–21).

What is Zechariah talking about here? Why horse bells and cooking pots? The point is that the people and city will be so holy that even these insignificant things will be fully dedicated to the Lord. All of life will have the glory and enjoyment of God as its object.

Have you ever thought of holiness in terms of your destiny as a child of God? You are not holy now. You are sinful; the more you live, the more you will be aware of it. But your destiny is holiness. God has determined that we are to be holy through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We think of things relationally today. Because God is a person and we are like him in having personalities, we think of our destiny in terms of our relationship to God. We look forward to the day when we will be able to express our love to him fully and know the full measure of his love to us. This is not wrong, of course; we are persons, and our future is to be enfolded in the all-embracing love of God. But this is not the way the Bible speaks of our destiny. It is not the love relationship that is emphasized. The Bible emphasizes that which is the basis of all other experiences: holiness. The reason why our relationship to God is not all it should be is that we are not holy. The reason why our relationships with other people are not all they should be is that we are sinful. We need holiness. On the day that we pass from earth to heaven, we will be holy, for we will be like Jesus, since we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

Then we must strive to be holy now. That is what 1 John 3 emphasizes. It says that we will be like Jesus, but immediately after this it says, with reference to this present life, “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (v. 3). We emphasize so many other things. Instead of these, we must find and fulfill God’s emphasis, knowing that one day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on us and we will be the Lord’s holy people forever.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.