ZECHARIAH - CHAPTER 14 BEHOLD THE DAY OF THE LORD
ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 14 – BEHOLD THE DAY OF THE LORD
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
October 8, 2019, the Year of Our Lord
Zechariah’s amazing portrait of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings now comes to a dramatic close. Just as the prophet portrayed him as our glorious King and His coming Kingdom in a series of heavenly visions, he now reveals the final drama surrounding the King, His Kingdom and His City, Jerusalem. This Israel who went into exile a nation is to return again in character as a glorious Church.
Just as in the Book of Revelation, the great plan of God is veiled in symbolic language, which cannot be understood unless it is interpreted by the Holy Spirit, so is the Oracle of Zechariah. His book has been appropriately named, “The Apocalypse of the Old Testament.” Not only has he portrayed Christ’s first coming, his ministry, his suffering and crucifixion 520 years before Jesus was born, now we have Christ’s great latter-day appearing and world-wide Kingdom.
Throughout the book, Zechariah has stayed faithful to his calling as “The Prophet of the Messiah.” He has presented Jesus Christ, the man, the priest, the King, and prophet to us in Kodak living color.
Once the Holy Spirit spoke to me that he wanted sons of God in Kodak living color in the image of Jesus Christ. That was before cell phones.
Zech. 14:1-3: Behold, the day of
the LORD is coming, 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. Then the
LORD will go
forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
The powerful nations are disarrayed. This goes beyond the Psalm 83 war and the Gog/Magog war to include all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. From this center of eschatological activity God begins his reign as King over all the earth, unifying all those who accept his victory and his sovereignty. The remnant of the people throughout scripture refers to the saved.
The day of the Lord here marks the end of man’s day and the beginning of the day of the Lord. God’s judgment is equitable as well as universal. The accumulated strength of the nations can be seen originating in the United Nations. It is their collective and united ambition to capture territory that lies behind the battle against Jerusalem. Looting and rape are persistent evils of war throughout human history.
The LORD Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts, the Captain of angel armies will go forth and fight for his people as he fights in the day of battle. This is Jesus riding on His White Horse with the armies of Heaven in full battle array just as he delivered Israel from Pharaoh’s army.
Exodus14:14:The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.
I am thinking of the Christian Kurds in northern Syria who will now be between Turkey (Gog-Magog nation ) and Syria (Psalm 83 nation) in the battle for Israel.
Isaiah 17:3 … the remnant of Syria, they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says the Lord.
The remnant of Syria is the Christians. Let us agree with the Word of God that if Turkey fights against the Kurds, the Captain of the Angel Armies will fight Turkey. President Trump said today that he would protect the Kurds against Turkey through the threat of financial ruin of Turkey.
Zech.14:4-5: His feet(Jesus) shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yes you shall flee, like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with Him.
This prophecy in Zechariah 14: 4-16, links a glorious past with a yet glorious future. The verses are written in highly poetical imagery, a portrayal of the Church of the future.
During the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He made Olivet His place of resort. From its grassy knolls and green slopes, as from a throne of emerald confronting His own Zion, He pleaded in words of stern majesty and tearful tenderness, ---Turn you, turn ye, why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ez. 33:11)
When Jesus’ divine mission was terminated, it was from the Mount of Olives that He ascended in the Shekinah-cloud---“a cloud received Him out of their sight.”
There are different schools of thought as to whether the imagery is literal or metaphorical of the Gospel age. As you know, my gift is spiritual. However, we will view these verses in their twofold application. We have discovered that Zechariah’s prophecies are dualistic both literal and spiritual as well as capsules of time.
Christ stands on His favorite mountain. His glorified feet press the very sod from where he would weep at Gethsemane. Up heaving from its foundations is the hill of God, Mt. Zion (the place of sacrifice); its mighty masses of rock removed out of their places. The temple and temple sacrifices over turned. The mountain barriers and walls of separation which had excluded the Gentiles are demolished. The waste places of the earth, the deserts of heathenism are opened up. Zech. 4:7: Who are you O great mountain?---you shall become a plain.
The prophet sees by vision the heaving of an earthquake, Olivet is split in two. One-half of the mountain removes toward the north, the other half toward the south; forming a very great valley.
The prophet’s eyes are directed to the most terrible natural crisis in Jewish History and that was the earthquake in the day of King Uzziah. His eyes are directed onward comparing an earthquake yet to come with that day. It was the day of the Lord,---the day of His vengeance and recompense,---the day of battle. But it is only a momentary glimpse into that dark day. Zechariah then begins to speak of glorious things of the city of God.
While havoc and death rage within the walls of the city, there is a remnant---the types and representatives of the saved---God’s true Israel in every age, inclusive of restored Israel--- are seen bursting through the breaches in the eastern walls. Beholding the mighty valley, like a gate of safety, they rush along it as far as Azal. You shall flee to the valley of the mountains.
Zech. 14:6-7: It shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
The battle will last only one day; and the new light increase will take effect. The prophet takes up the words of Isa. 60:19: The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto you: but the LORD shall be unto you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.
Kevin L. Zadai describes this light in his book, The Agenda of Angels; “I remember encountering the dazzling glory of the throne room and of Heaven. I have been to the River of Life where the water appears as liquid diamonds and is full of eternal life. In Heaven, there is no sun, but the water is so bright and sparkling that I could not look at it directly sometimes. In Heaven, there is so much gold, so many other precious metals, and so many precious stones, that everything just sparkles. Everything is so clean in Heaven. That is because the fear of the Lord is there. Heaven is God’s home and He has invited Christians to live with Him. Lord I love your home this place of dazzling glory, bathed in the splendor and light of your presence (Ps. 26:8 TPT).”
The light of the church has often been neither clear nor dark. Her glorious light of truth obscured by error, schism, superstition, idolatry, will-worship, human reason---the blots and blemishes of her own members. It has been a mixed, mingled imperfect state. “Dark” yet blessed be God--- never a total eclipse; now and then a bright light in the clouds. He who stands on the Mount of Olives watches these varying and apparently capricious clouds. That day will not last forever. At the evening time of the Church, it shall be light. Oh precious saints, I believe that bright light of Glory is coming to the Church in this day. The Church shall come forth as the morning fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners (Song. 6:10).
Zech. 14:8: It shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be
The prophet gazes again---the very great valley now has a river or stream flowing through it---living waters leap from the Temple-Rock flowing down the eastern slopes to the Kedron---one half toward the Dead Sea carrying life and happiness and the other toward the Western Sea, mingling with the waves of the Mediterranean. The river will not fluctuate with the seasons. Water is a sign of God’s miraculous provision.
Sunday evening while in prayer, I saw a river being split into two rivers coming out of a lush green area. I saw Jesus standing beside the river, beckoning us to enter in.
Jhn 7:38He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water
The living waters gushing forth from Jerusalem are a beautiful symbol of the Gospel’s progress through the world. Preach the Gospel to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. By the grace and energy of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost, these waters are life giving, carrying healing and joy wherever they go.
The old material temple of Jerusalem is destroyed. Jesus Christ, the great antitype of the Temple takes its place. It is from Him all gospel blessings flow, and the power of the Cross makes them living waters.
Ezekiel’s parallel picture is fuller, and more graphic. He sees the same vision of holy waters issuing from under the threshold of the house eastward, at the south side of the altar; these getting deeper and deeper until it becomes a huge torrent, an impassable river.
It shall come to pass that everything that lives, which moves, wherever the rivers shall come shall live. What a picture of the spread of the Gospel, the triumph of Christianity.
The promised Holy Spirit descended on the Day of Pentecost. The fountain was opened in the house of David (Zech 13:1). The river carries countless blessings in its course. Where Christianity has not converted and regenerated, it has civilized. It has tamed the savage, and elevated the civilized. Wherever Christianity has permeated, its streams carry with it life, health, healing and joy. Everything shall live wherever the river goes.
Zech. 14:9-11: The LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name One. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel to the king’s winepresses. Men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
Surely the Lord is in this place…this is none other than the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven! (Gen. 28:17)
There will be a universal love for God’s ordinances. The families of the earth will go up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts.
Zech.14:12-15: 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.
There are five plagues the Lord will use against all the people who have fought against Jerusalem:
1. A plague causing the flesh to consume away while they stand upon their feet. Their eyes will consume away in their holes, and their tongues will consume away in their mouth.
2. The plague will also come upon beasts.
3. A great tumult from the Lord will be among them and they will destroy one another.
4. Judah will fight and destroy many.
5. The wealth of the nations will be gathered from the battlefield and divided.
Zech 14:16-19: 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.
The glory of God is the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus fulfilled all the glory of the Feast.
The Feast of Tabernacles reveals the Lord Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus is the Lord of this feast and the Booth in whom the Father lived, moved and has His being.
The full implication of the Feast of Tabernacles is that the Body of the believer will be changed to become the tabernacle of God.
Applied to the Christian, we receive the full adoption and redemption of our bodies, becoming a tabernacle for the fullness of God.
The Tabernacle as a whole speaks of:
- Christ the Head who was tabernacled in flesh.
- Christ the Body who is tabernacled in flesh (universally, locally, and individually).
- Christ in us and us in Christ reveal the Glory of God on the earth.
Once more it will be a season of perfect holiness; a time of national and undivided consecration to God’s service. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein; and in that day there shall be no more Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
Holiness will mark each aspect and item of daily life down to pots and pans. In former days each family kept certain cooking utensils separate for use on holy days only, such a separation will no longer be needed, for all will be sacred and fit for the service of the LORD OF HOSTS.
Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come and will not tarry. The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. and N.K.J.V. I entered into the labors of John Ross MacDuff (1818-1895). Bible Studies by Carolyn Sissom 6/11/17, The Mount of Olives; 9/8/19 Zechariah, Prophet of the Messiah; The Agenda of Angels, Kevin L. Zadia; F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary, David J. Ellis.