Introduction
Zechariah 14 begins with the dramatic announcement of a World War involving all nations of the earth:
Zech. 14:1, 2 — “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
The narrative unfolds with Jerusalem as the focal point of a global conflict. All nations gather against her, the city is besieged, homes are plundered, and tragedy strikes its inhabitants. Her spoil shall be divided in the midst of her.
The coming day of the Lord here first mentioned is the very same one Malachi saw coming:
Malachi 4:5 — “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:”
This “great and dreadful day of the Lord” comes as the result of the proclamation of the message of Elijah the prophet, as previously seen:
2. Who Is The Elijah Of Today? - “Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says: ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: ‘You are too earnest, you do not… It is obviously “great” for the righteous and “dreadful” for the wicked because while on the one hand God sets His seal upon the forehead of the righteous (Rev. 14:1; 7:9) and brings His judgments, “the wrath of the Lamb,” upon the wicked (Rev. 6:15–17); Satan wars against the remnant (Rev. 12:17) on the other hand.
This conflict between God and Satan brings in the “time of trouble such as never was”, at the beginning of which Michael stands to deliver “every one that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. 12:1.
Once it begins, it continues, as the Spirit of Prophecy says, without respite to the end — Christ’s second appearing. (See Testimonies to Ministers, p. 182.)
As the nations rage and the city reels, Zechariah describes a momentous event:
Divine Intervention: The Lord’s Feet on the Mount of Olives
Zech. 14:3— “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.”
This imagery echoes the promise of protection for the house of Judah, found in:
Zech. 2:5 — For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
In view of the fact that Jerusalem is to be protected by a wall of fire while the house of Judah reigns there (Zech. 2), it is definite that the future World War described in chapter 14 precedes the establishment of the house of Judah.
In that battle, the nations will defeat the rulers of the Promised Land. Then it is that the Lord goes forth and fights against the triumphant nations, and commences to set up the house of Judah —the house of David — the church purified.
5. The Purification Of The Church - But the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord… As the warring nations besiege the city, and rifle the houses, also ravish the women, they are by no means righteous nations; but since not all the inhabitants of Jerusalem go into captivity, and since all are not cut off from the city, it must be that the wicked are taken away and the righteous left in to join the house of Judah.
Zech. 14:4 — “And His feet 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.”
At the time Jerusalem, that now is, falls, the Lord’s feet shall stand upon Mount of Olives and there make a very great valley; that is, remove the obstacles and hindrances, and thus prepare the land for the returning of His people. Then it is that the prophecy of Zechariah 10:8 — that the Lord shall “hiss” for His people — will have met its fulfillment.
The Flight to the Valley: A Premillennial Gathering
Zech. 14:5 — “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye 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 thee.”
Having thus opened the way for the re-establishment of the house of Judah, His people, who beforehand have been informed of it through present Truth, will flee to the valley, to where the Lord’s feet stand, as hastily as if from an earthquake; and all the saints thereafter follow after them.
There are several facts in this scripture itself which prove that this event is premillennial:
- Note that the Lord’s feet stand on the mount in the day of the war in which Jerusalem is taken by the wicked nations.
- Those that flee to the valley do not descend from Heaven.
- They can not be the wicked for they do not flee away from the Lord, but flee to Him, to where His feet stand.
- All the saints follow after them.
“Early Writings,” p. 53, makes a double application of this scripture, a post millennial one. For us today, the emphasis is on the premillennial aspect.
9. The Premillennial Kingdom - The Jews had built up an erroneous conception of what the Kingdom was to be, and how and when it was to come, and so when the Lord exposed their misconceptions, they became indignant. They were very angry, not because the Kingdom which the Saviour disclosed was not much more… Now let us continue from the twelfth verse.
The Sifting of the Nations
Zech. 14:12 — “And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.”
In verse 3, we are told that the Lord is to fight against all those who fight against Jerusalem. And now in this verse we are told of the means which the Lord will employ in that warfare. He is not to use man-made weapons, but a plague.
Zech. 14:13 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.”
Besides the plague, there shall be a great tumult — a confusion and excitement that will turn every man against his neighbor. Thus shall the Lord defeat the enemies of His people.
Zech. 14:15 — “And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.”
The plague falls on both men and beast that are found in the tents of the unbelieving.
Restoration and Safety
Zech. 14:14 — “And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.”
During this conflict of the nations, the Kingdom of Judah, which is currently non-existent, is to be restored. She also shall fight at Jerusalem, and shall gather to herself the wealth of the heathen.
The kingdom of Judah was composed of the two tribes; namely, Judah and Benjamin, which occupied the southern portion of the promised land, whereas the kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes, ruled in the northern portion of the land.
The 144,000 are made up of 12,000 out of all the 12 tribes or out of both kingdoms — Judah and Israel (Rev. 7:1–8.)
The Restoration And The Time - Introduction: A Message for Our Time In a world marked by uncertainty and “spiritual wickedness in high places”, the promise of restoration stands as a beacon of hope for us. The Scriptures clearly speak of a period of restitution that precedes the return of Christ. Let us therefore awake and hasten… As there is to be both now in the ingathering time and for eternity only one kingdom, (Isa. 11 & Hosea 1:11), made up of the two scattered kingdoms, it is obvious that Judah and Israel will have to be merged into one kingdom, ruled by the Lion of Judah.
In Ezekiel’s pictorial prophecy, found in chapter 37, he was commanded to take “two sticks,” one for “Judah” and one for “Ephraim [Israel, because the tribe of Ephraim ruled the kingdom of Israel]”, after which he was asked to put the stick of Ephraim with that of Judah, which plainly shows that the kingdom of Israel, the ten tribe kingdom, is to be merged into the kingdom of Judah.
Moreover, speaking of this ingathering time of both kingdoms, the prophet Hosea writes thus:
Hos. 1:11 —“Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
Again, after describing by illustrations how that the children of Israel were to be scattered for a period of time among the nations, and to be without a kingdom of their own, says the prophet:
Hos. 3:5 —“Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
David’s being from the tribe of Judah makes evident the fact that in the antitype all the children of Israel that are the Lord’s will be gathered and will restore the kingdom of Judah, and forever abandon the kingdom of Israel.
Let us continue with the book of Zechariah:
The Sifting of the Nations
Zech. 12:2 —“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.”
The Bible confirms again that the Gentile nations are to make a siege not only against Jerusalem, but against Judah also — yes, against the entire Kingdom, church, or people.
At the time of the siege, Jerusalem will be made a cup of trembling to all people; that is, all the people shall fear Jerusalem and tremble before her.
Zech. 12:3 —“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
This siege will not be made only by the nations adjacent to Jerusalem, but by all the people of the earth, a thing that is made possible only by the communication lines in our day.
Therefore Jerusalem, the place where the feet of the Lord shall stand, will become the great international and spiritual divide for the everlasting gospel.
Zech. 12:6 —“In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.”
When the Lord smites the armies of the nations, He also makes the rulers of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood.
Micah confirms:
Mic. 5:7–9 — “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.”
This is therefore the time of the gathering of His people from among all nations back to their homeland. Thus shall they with the “everlasting gospel” devour all the heathen round about, and thus shall Jerusalem be re-inhabited safely by God’s faithful people.
11. The Second Fruits — The Great Multitude - The identification of the 144,000 in our previous study caused the identity of the great multitude (Rev. 7:9) to become almost as mooted a question. So the responsibility assumed in that series to identify the former, the firstfruits, imposes a commensurate responsibility to identify the latter — THE SECOND FRUITS… From the Jerusalem in the valley of the mountains will the angel anew proclaim with a loud voice,
Rev. 14:7 — “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment [for the living] is come: and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters,”
Then the gathering of the people begins with the plea:
Rev. 18:4 —“Come out of her [Babylon who then rides the beast — rules the world], My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
So shall the earth be “lightened” with the glory of the angel, and so shall the saints be gathered from the four corners of the earth.
Zech. 12:8 — In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.”
“Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict, ‘Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,’ she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer”. — “Prophets and Kings,” p. 725.
“Those who have been timid and self-distrustful, will declare themselves openly for Christ and His truth. The most weak and hesitating in the church, will be as David — willing to do and dare.” — “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. 5, p. 81.
Conclusion
So it is seen that with the establishment of the Kingdom of Judah commences the sifting of the nations. It must be that we are on the verge of witnessing the fulfillment of these prophecies else the Scroll would not have been unrolled so far as to unseal them at this time — certainly not if the Spirit of Truth alone leads into all Truth, and if the Lord gives “meat in due season.”
In view of this, let us wholeheartedly do God’s bidding and sincerely act out our faith in His never-failing Word.
