Zechariah 14 (New King James Version)
New King James Version (NKJV)
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Zechariah 14
The Day of the LORD
1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 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.
3 Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 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,
Makinga very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
5 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.
6 It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
7 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.
8 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.
9 And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“ The LORD is one,”
And His name one.
10 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 Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
11 The people shall dwell in it;
And no longer shall there be utter destruction,
But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 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.
13 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;
14 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.
15 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.
The Nations Worship the King
16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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.
20 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. 21 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.
I first wanted to illustrate just from reading this chapter, how difficult it is to understand it, let alone put it in a paticular time frame. To me, on the surface, it is as clear as mud. A lot of people put the reference timing of this chapter to a still future event. In general, I don't have any problem with that except since it is not exactly saying it is, nor is their much elsewhere to go on that it is, I think it is mostly obscure and will always remain a mystery in part.
But, we are not left without some clues and this is the other reason for posting the chapter. You may not agree with me, but as always I challenge you to read and research for yourself and come up with your own conclusions. Try not to approach this chapter with the prejudice that it is all about the end of time. It could well be but find out for yourself instead of listening to me or to some other person. Let Scripture interpret Scripture.
As I said earlier, some understand Zechariah 14 to be describing a yet future event. Not just future at the time of the prophet but over 2000 years in the future after the ressurection of Christ. But I do not take it that way - and there are a number of reasons why.
First of all there are some basic New Testament doctrines that would be invalid if Zech. 14 is future because if, in fact, some people think verses 16-21 describe the millinieal reign of Christ we have some things done away with by Christ that would have to be restored. And the New Testament seems to say that they won't be restored.
Here are a list of reasons why I find it very difficult to take this chapter as yet to be in our future:
1. First of all there are many place names that are given that used to be certain districts in Jerusalem. They don't exist anymore. More likely is that this has already happened since they once existed but now don't.
2. Verse 16 certainly talks about mandated localized worship in Jerusalem. Everyone has to come and if they don't then bad things befall them. This contradicts John 4:21 - in other words, no more worshipping in spirit and in truth but instead back to the tabernacle type worship. So, something done away with in Christ is somehow changed back to the shadow and inferior method. So this in verse 16 is not to be taken literal.
3. The referance to keeping the Feasts of the Tabernacle - Paul makes it very clear that these are gone and gone for good. (see Colossians 2:16)
4. Verse 21 specifically talks about making animal sacrifices. These go against Hebrews 9 and 10. The specific verses are Hebrews 9:9-10 and Chapter 10: 4-6, 9-12. These make it clear that the sacrificial system is gone forever - Jesus was our One final sacrifice - Once for all time.
5. What's worse, we have unsaved survivors coming up and doing all of this out of all the nations. This goes against the event of the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ is the end of the world but here Futurists believe some have escaped Jesus' destruction of them. They need to rethink this. (see 1 Thess. 5)
It is obvious that verses 1 & 2 of Zech 14 are for 70AD.
The references to topographical changes are figuritive. I can turn your attention to Micah 1:3,4 - Heb. 3:6 - Is. 2:2 and Is. 40:3,4. This kind of language is common in the Old Testament and never is literal. Its talking about spiritual things and in fact we know that because John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the one where every mountain shall be brought low and every valley exalted. Is. 40 and all four gospels tell us he was the fulfillment.
Now for the biggy of verses 4 & 8. Is this literal and how does one know that this "He" is Jesus or not? Nowhere else is it said that Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives. Some say the asscension proves it, but really the angel said we would see Him return in like manner, not the same place necessarily. But I can show that this is speaking of Jehovah God.
4 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.
On only one other occasion before did such a thing happen. At that time Jehovah God stood on the Mount of Olives - of course God is Spirit - so even this is not literal, but the time was just before the first destruction of Jerusalem prior to the Babylonian exile of the Jews. It was at that time that the Glory of God left the Temple. (Ezekiel chapters 8-11:23)
To understand this is to understand that when the Glory of God left the temple at the time just before the exile is to understand that this sealed the destruction of Jerusalem. In fact it may well be that your marginal reference in your Bible directs from Ezekiel 11:23 back to Zech. 14:4.
So why do we have 2 places in the whole Bible that speak of God on the Mount of Olives? In the first case it was His departure from Jerusalem. The Jews had been sinning greatly in constant disobiedience to God. The prophets spoke of the time that was to come when God will end His fellowship with them. But in this case He said it would not be forever but that He would once again restore them.
In the second case it was like the first only that the destroyer of Jerusalem was not babylon but Rome. Remember, no where else do we have to show us that this was an action done by Jesus.
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives
We know that God did it once and under what circumstances and we know that once again and for the final time, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and we know the reason God had for making this happen.
We have the proof of Jesus' own words that not one stone would be left here upon another. and we have The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers. (Matthew 21)
33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘ The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.
The second and final departure, (where before God said that he would restore the city) when now Jesus tells of the final and worse atrocity the Jews could commit in killing the very Messiah they had been waiting for, now at the hands of the Romans.
In both cases and literal actions, verse 2 was fulfilled.
2 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.
This is not a reference to the second coming of Christ at all. Instead it is the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD.
