There shall be the plague
Wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations
Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.
This shall be the sin of Egypt,
And the sin of all the nations
Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.
This is the other side. All those who refuse will be punished, and the punishment will be very swift. From this and other prophecies it is seen that not everything will go so smoothly as it is generally believed during the Millennium. God’s messengers in that day will be the Jews going forth to proclaim the truth of God, and what preachers they will make! Still some will be forced to submit. The end of the thousand years brings a revolt from the side of the nations, which is not a small matter. “And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (Rev. xx: 7, 8).
From this we see that many of the nations, Gog and Magog, are only too willing to side once more with the enemy, and to shake off, if it were possible, the yoke of the rule of Jehovah’s earthly people.
The last two verses we have to consider make the whole prophecy perfect. It is the declaration that Jerusalem will be holy.
In that day there shall be on the bells of the horses