VERSE OF THE DAY
Zechariah 14:9 (New International Version)
Share Audio
The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.
I’m waiting on that day when the Lord returns for the Lord with rein king over all earth. Yes and on that day there will be One Lord and he will be named over all the only name Jesus alone over all.
What Does Zechariah 14:4 Mean? ►
In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.
Zechariah 14:4(NASB)
Picture courtesy of https://www.wikiart.org/en/james-tissot/jesus-goes-up-alone-onto-a-mountain-to-pray-1894
Verse Thoughts
God had a particular plan for Israel from the beginning, and a specific purpose for the Church – whom He chose before the foundation of the world. Both are God’s people, both are holy unto the Lord, and although Israel and the Church are distinct from each other, their roles are complementary, in God’s perfect plan of redemption.
The work God has purposed for each is unique to their group, although their roles and responsibilities often overlap. And while all Scripture is written for our learning, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness, there is much in the Old Testament, the Gospels, and Revelation that is directed towards Israel, while the New Testament epistles are generally written for the Church.
While the Church is raptured into heaven and meets Christ in the air before the start of the Great Tribulation, Christ’s second advent occurs at the end of this time of terrible judgement – sometimes referred to as ‘the great and terrible day of the Lord’ and elsewhere called, ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’. Zechariah gives a clear description of certain end-time events and like many Old Testament prophets, gives clear insight into God’s unfolding plan of redemption.
0 seconds of 15 seconds
He explains how Israel will be protected from the antichrist and what will happen when the entire world comes to attack Jerusalem. He gives details of the last day’s battle, and how Israel will be empowered by God and delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ. He explains how Israel will call on the name of the Lord and look on Him whom they pierced. He tells how all the tribes of Israel will weep and mourn bitterly when they realise their terrible mistake in crucifying their Messiah – 2000 years ago.
He explains what will happen when Jesus returns to set up His millennial rule on earth, and he even identifies the very place to which the Lord will return. “In that day”, Zechariah writes, “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west, by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”
At His first coming, Jesus came as the suffering Servant and Lamb of God Who was despised and rejected of men. At His first advent, He gave His life as the ransom price for the sin of the whole world. And although His sacrifice on the Cross defeated Satan, sin, death, and hell… the people would not believe in Him, and crucified the Lord of Glory. “We will not have this man rule over us,” they screamed, and His kingdom had to be postponed, for a season. Israel had to be set aside for a little while, during which time, God has been working through the Church – which is the body of Christ.
It was as Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives that He ascended into heaven, as recorded in Acts. And it is to that same place – to Mount Olivet, to which Jesus will return… for two men in white explained what would happen to the bewildered disciples. “Men of Galilee,” they said “you Jewish men, why do you stand gazing up into the sky? This Jesus, Who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven.”
Jesus ascended into heaven from Olivet, and He is to return to the same spot on earth. He is to set His foot on the same Mount of Olives – which is in front of Jerusalem, at the end of the 7 year Tribulation and on that day the most amazing earthquake will occur, which will open up a massive valley, running through the centre of Jerusalem – from east to west. THEN the world will KNOW that God is the Lord.
It was in His Olivet discourse that Jesus told His disciples everything that would happen at His return. He told them of wars and rumours of wars. He told them that lawlessness would increase, but that those who endured to the end would be saved – when He returned! He told them the signs of the end of the age. He predicted the persecution of godly men and of false prophets that would arise.
He told them that the gospel of the kingdom, which was curtailed at His first advent would eventually be taught throughout the world by Jewish evangelists who put their faith in Christ Jesus as Lord, and He warned of the abomination of desolation that is to be set up in a newly constructed temple. He told them that “immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the celestial powers will be shaken.”
YES, Jesus confirmed much of what Zechariah, Daniel, Isaiah, and other holy men of God prophesied and He gave some additional information about His second coming to earth, at the end of the tribulation, which will be invaluable to those who have to endure this terrible time of judgement. But it is also a time of purifying and healing – the purifying of sinners who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption of those who call on His name.
Although the Church is removed before this time of judgement, let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the salvation of many who will have to endure the Great Tribulation – for when we pray into God’s will we know our prayers will be answered.
Zechariah Chapter 14
Zechariah 14 – Holiness to the LORD
A. Israel attacked but defended by the returning Messiah.
1. (1-2) Jerusalem under siege from the nations.
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
a. I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem: Zechariah seems to have the very end times in view, when Jerusalem will be surrounded and attacked by some type of international force. When the Romans came against Jerusalem in A.D. 70 they came with a multinational army and brought terrible destruction on the city and its people. Yet there was none of the deliverance that Zechariah will describe in the following verses, so it is difficult to say that this was fulfilled in the Roman attack upon Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
b. Half the city shall go into captivity: This attack against Jerusalem will be severe, but the city itself will not be overthrown (the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city).
2. (3-5) The Messiah intervenes for His people.
Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the LORD my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
a. Then the LORD will go forth and fight: Just when it seems that all hope will be gone for Jerusalem and the people of Israel, then the LORD will fight for His people.
i. “God is said to go forth when he manifests his power by delivering his people and punishing their enemies.” (Pulpit)
b. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives… And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west: This speaks of the LORD – Jesus, as God the Son – materially returning to a material earth and setting His feet on the Mount of Olives. At that time a great split will cut the Mount of Olives in two, and the persecuted people of Jerusalem will flee through the valley made by the split.
c. Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You: Jesus will touch His feet to the Mount of Olives when He returns in glory with all the saints, the armies of heaven described in Revelation 19:14.
i. This was the type of arrival the Jews in Jesus’ day hoped for. Indeed, when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem in A.D. 70 a mistaken assurance from prophecies like this made the Jews utterly confident that the Messiah would return from heaven and wipe out the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem. They could not see that the Messiah must first be rejected and the nation brought to repentance as Zechariah mentioned in Zechariah 11:12-13 and Zechariah 12:10.
B. The Kingdom of the Messiah.
1. (6-11) The Messiah’s rule changes the earth.
It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
It shall be one day
Which is known to the LORD;
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.
And in that day it shall be–
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be
“The LORD is one,”
And His name one.
All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananeel to the king’s winepresses.
The people shall dwell in it;
And no longer shall there be utter destruction,
But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
a. At evening time it shall happen that it will be light: Now Zechariah looked forward to the glory of Jerusalem in the Messiah’s kingdom. The lights we guide our lives by will diminish, but God will establish His own light.
b. Living waters shall flow from Jerusalem: Jerusalem will no longer be a dry city, but a glorious river will flow from the city and branch off both east and west, and it will be a never ending flow (in both summer and winter it shall occur).
i. All over the world people want to know what will happen to Jerusalem. Zechariah knows the answer – God will gloriously save and restore Jerusalem, making it the capital city of the millennial earth.
ii. Ezekiel 47 records a vision that may describe this scene. Ezekiel saw a river flowing from the throne of God and down to the Dead Sea, bringing life and vitality everywhere.
c. All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: Since the mountains around Jerusalem would no longer be needed as a defense, they could be flattened into a plain.
d. Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited: This will be the first time in a long time that Jerusalem will be a safe place to live.
2. (12-15) Enemies are forever plagued.
And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:
Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.
It shall come to pass in that day
That a great panic from the LORD will be among them.
Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,
And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;
Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.
And the wealth of all the surrounding nations
Shall be gathered together:
Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
Such also shall be the plague
On the horse and the mule,
On the camel and the donkey,
And on all the cattle that will be in those camps.
So shall this plague be.
a. Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet: In the glorious deliverance the Messiah brings, the enemies of God and His people will be destroyed by plague, mutual slaughter, and by the sword of Judah (Judah also will fight at Jerusalem).
i. The description of flesh dissolving makes some think that Zechariah is describing the effects of a neutron or nuclear bomb.
b. The wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be gathered together: In the glorious deliverance the Messiah brings, Jerusalem will become a wealthy and influential city again.
3. (16-19) All the nations come to Jerusalem to worship the LORD.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
a. Shall go up from year to year to worship the King: Instead of coming to Jerusalem for battle now the nations come to honor God and to remember His faithfulness to Israel in the wilderness by keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.
i. Jesus told us to go to the ends of the earth with the gospel but in the millennium the earth will come to Jerusalem to worship and honor God.
b. Whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem… on them there will be no rain: God won’t make people worship Him during the millennium, but the advantages of worshipping and honoring God will be more evident than ever.
c. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain: Egypt is specifically mentioned because they were a nation not especially dependent on rain, yet they too would be punished if they were disobedient.
4. (20-21) The common is made holy.
In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
a. In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses: This was the great inscription on the metal band around the high priest’s headpiece (Exodus 28:36). In the glory of the Messiah’s kingdom, horses won’t be needed for war any longer – now even they could wear the emblems of HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
b. The pots in the LORD’s house: These were the cooking utensils used by worshippers to cook for their own the sacrificial meat intended for them from the peace offerings. The bowls before the altar were used to gather and sprinkle sacrificial blood on the altar. These show that animal sacrifice will continue in the millennium, but not as atonement for sin – which was perfectly satisfied by the atoning work of Jesus. Sacrifice in the millennium will look back to the perfect work of Jesus.
c. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts: In the glory of the Messiah’s kingdom, what was previously common is made holy; the holy is made holier; and the irreclaimably profane is forever shut out. At the end of it all, there is no longer any distinction between the holy and profane. All is set apart to God and His purposes.
i. “The point is that the people and the city will be so holy that even these insignificant things will be fully dedicated to the Lord.” (Boice)
ii. There is a right way and a wrong way to eliminate the line between the holy and the profane: you can make everything holy (set apart to the LORD), or you can make everything profane (set apart to sin and self). Zechariah ends his prophecy making it clear that God’s way is to make everything that was once common or profane holy instead.
©2018 David Guzik – No distribution beyond personal use without permission
Categories: Minor Prophets Old Testament
Enduring Word
All Rights Reserved
© Copyright 2018 – Enduring Word |
Living Water Ministries 