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Zechariah 8:20-22 says,
20 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 21 The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, ‘let us go at once to entreat the favor [paniym, “face, presence”] of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will also go.’ 22 So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor [paniym] of the Lord.”
If this had been fulfilled before Christ ratified the New Covenant, this would have been a prophecy of a great migration of people from other nations coming to Jerusalem to learn the laws of God. But we know from history that this did not happen. It remains to be fulfilled at the end of the age, especially during the great Sabbath millennium.
This was prophesied also in Isaiah 2:2, 3,
2 Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. 3 And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Under the New Covenant, where we are now the temple of God, both individually (1 Corinthians 3:16) and collectively (Ephesians 2:20-22), the people will be drawn to those who know the law and the ways of God. They will not need to make a pilgrimage to the cursed city, nor will they learn of God’s ways from priests who have an Old Covenant perspective.
Zechariah tells us that they will seek “to entreat the paniym of the Lord.” The word paniym literally means “face,” but it can also be translated “presence.” Those who seek His face are those who desire an audience, a face-to-face meeting with “the God of Jacob” (Isaiah 2:3). Recall that Jacob Himself met the angel Peniel and wrestled with him. Jacob won by losing the match, having reached the end of his fleshly ability. He was then renamed Israel.
This was the moment when Jacob, the deceiver, was transformed into Israel, the overcomer. By coming to know the sovereignty of God, his name was changed to Israel, “God rules,” as a testimony to his newly-discovered revelation. No longer did he think that God needed help from his flesh to fulfill His word.
David, too, sought God’s face. Psalm 27:8 says,
8 When You said, “Seek My face [paniym],” my heart said to You, “Your face [paniym], O Lord, I shall seek.”
To seek God’s face is ultimately to want the presence of God to shine in one’s face, even as Moses’ face manifested the glory of God when he came down from the Mount (Exodus 34:29). He was a type of Christ, whose face manifested the glory of God on Mount Hermon (Matthew 17:2). Psalm 67:1, 2, 6, 7 says,
1 God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us— 2 that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation [Yeshua] among all nations… 5 Let the peoples praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. 7 God blesses us that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”
When God’s face shines from our own face, as with Moses and Jesus, then the nations will know that God has glorified His people (the overcomers). They will then search for God’s temples to hear the oracles of God speak through them, and this is when God’s “way may be known on the earth.” This is the time that “Your salvation” will be known among all nations. The Hebrew word translated “salvation” is Yeshua, which is Jesus’ Hebrew name.
This is the great time of world evangelism that Isaiah and Zechariah both foresaw. Missionaries have partially fulfilled this already in the past when they traveled to other nations, but the day will come when the people will come to the missionaries.
Zechariah foresaw the day that “the earth has yielded its produce,” that is, it has become fruitful. In other words, the earth will fulfill its purpose for creation. Even though the earthly Jerusalem fails to bring forth fruit that God requires, the “new earth” will become fruitful, because the New Jerusalem descends from heaven (Revelation 21:1, 2). Its glory will be reflected in the earth, even as God’s face shines in the individual faces of His people.
Zechariah 8:23 concludes,
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’.”
Many Bible teachers, being yet partially blinded by the veil of the Old Covenant, interpret this to mean that the children of the flesh, those claiming fleshly descent from Judah, will be the ones to whom the people of the world will come to learn the ways of God. We ourselves go by God’s definition of a Jew (Romans 2:28, 29), one who praises God through heart circumcision that comes through the New Covenant.
The “garment” itself is understood as the hem, or tassel, in which is a blue thread designed to make men remember the law (Numbers 15:38, 39). Blue indicates the sky and spirituality, because “the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14). Recall when the sick woman grasped the hem of Jesus’ garment (Matthew 9:20), and when others as well followed suit (Matthew 14:36). Symbolically, they were searching to know the ways of God and wanted to know Jesus’ New Covenant perspective of the law.
What those people were wanting from Jesus is what the nations will also seek from the overcomers. This is the meaning of Zechariah’s prophecy that “ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew.” There is no inherent value in wearing a garment with a tassel that has a blue thread. Neither is there any manifestation of the power of God in touching such a tassel. The value is in their faith and desire to know the ways (laws) of God.
The people from all nations will come, saying, “We have heard that God is with you.” Recall that before Jesus was born, it was revealed that He would have two names: Jesus (Luke 1:31) and Immanuel (Matthew 1:23). Jesus (or Yeshua) means “Salvation;” Immanuel means “God with us.” During His first ministry, He was known as Jesus, because His primary calling was to bring salvation to the world. But His second coming will manifest the name Immanuel, for this is the purpose of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven. Revelation 21:3 says,
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”
Zechariah 8:23, then, described the era of the merging of heaven and earth on a creation scale, even as the glory of God even now indwells His people through the feast of Pentecost. The “tabernacle” mentioned in Revelation 21:3 is not a rebuilt temple in the earthly Jerusalem. It is the Immanuel principle of God’s face, or presence, as He indwells each of us as individual temples and the physical creation as a whole. This is prophesied by the feast of Tabernacles.