Bible Question:

In Zech. 14:16-17 we read that during the 1,000 year reign of Christ, people will go up from year to year to worship Christ. In verse 17, it says that if any family does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. Will there be people during the 1000 years who rebel in their heart against Christ, but will not make war out of fear of Christ?

Bible Answer:

The prophet Zechariah gives us a picture of the lives of people during the kingdom.  Zechariah 14:16-17 is talking about the time of the future kingdom.

And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one. (NASB) Zechariah 14:9

During the kingdom, God is in absolute control, and yet He does not force us to blind obedience as we discover in verse 16-17. That is God’s pattern. Zechariah 8:22 tells us that during the kingdom many will seek the Lord. Then we are surprised in verses 16-17 when we discover that even though men and women find themselves in a peaceful kingdom with a holy and just king, they do not want to be there.

Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. (NASB) Zechariah 14:16-17

This reminds us that men and women love to sin. This is the same message in Revelation 20.

And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (NASB) Revelation 20:7-9

After the kingdom, God releases Satan and he leads the non-Christians of the world in one last attempt to defeat God.

Conclusion:

By nature we love sin. These events will only prove that God is just in sentencing any non-Christian to eternal punishment for rejecting His goodness, His holiness, His justice, and HIM!