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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
8:3 city of truth. The name “Jerusalem” means “City of Peace.” It will also be the “City of Truth,” as well as peace, but only when He who is “the Truth” (John 14:6) is dwelling there.
8:4 very age. In the coming kingdom age, when the Lord Jesus “will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem” (Zechariah 8:3), the longevity of the antediluvians will be restored. “There shall be no more…an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old” (Isaiah 65:20).
8:5 boys and girls. At the end of the tribulation period, there will be “few men left” (Isaiah 24:6) who are allowed to remain on the earth after the judgment of those still living (Matthew 25:31-46). However, in view of the idyllic environmental and political conditions that will prevail during the following millennium, the population will multiply so rapidly that people will become “as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:8) by the end of that age.
8:12 the remnant of this people. Here again is the doctrine of the remnant (see Micah 2:12; 5:7; Romans 9:27). These promises will be literally fulfilled in the future kingdom age, after Christ (that is, Messiah) comes again.
8:19 cheerful feasts. The various fasts which the Jews had been observing during their exile (strictly on their own, more out of self-pity than love for God—Zechariah 7:4-6), will be gladly observed in the millennial kingdom as “cheerful feasts,” rather than mournful fasts.
8:23 languages of the nations. In that day, the Lord has said: “I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory” (Isaiah 66:18). Not only will men of all languages come to Jerusalem, but even their separate languages will be forgotten, for God has also said: “Then will I turn to the people a pure language [almost certainly the Hebrew language, in which He first gave forth His Word], that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one consent” (Zephaniah 3:9). The number ten undoubtedly is merely representative of all still living—perhaps the remaining Gentile population will be only ten times the Jewish population.