Chapter 14
The last chapter of this little book, titled "The Coming Day of the Lord".
Vss 1, 2....possibly 70 AD. The end of Jerusalem as they had known it.
This is the passage about the Mount of Olives splitting to north and south. That's not in Revelation (or I can't find it there this morning). This is on "that day" when Christ appears on the white horse. I imagine the attacking armies surrounding Jerusalem will be some put off by the appearance of Christ, arrayed as for battle, with one foot on each half of the newly split mountain. That stream from the temple is going to flow through that newly created valley, getting ever deeper as it goes, and providing food for those who make it into the Millennial Kingdom.
There will be no night, because God is there.
The Dead Sea will get part of the water from the temple, and become fresh, and the rest of the water will flow to the Mediterranean. This verse:
9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. [Zec 14:9 ESV]
This is the culmination of "that day". I am more convinced that all this happens on a single 24 hour day.
2024 - Backing up just a little...these verses:
1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. [Zec 14:1-3 ESV]. This is a chronology. What we don't know is how "tight" is the chronology? Vss 1,2 might be about 70 AD, or 136 AD. I don't know enough about 136 to say, but the conquest of 70 AD saw a lot of very angry Roman soldiers bent on retribution for the loss of so many to the Jews defending Jerusalem. I am sure there was rape, there was spoiling, there was horror of all kinds. And the Temple was burned to the ground that day. But note also that "nations" is plural here. BLB says it is plural in Hebrew. Were other nations with Rome in 70 AD? I don't think so. Let's follow the trail that starts with "this is NOT about 70 or 136". When is it then?
2024 - How about right after the rapture when the MoL declares himself to be God. How about right after the Dragon is thrown down and sets out to make war on all the remaining Jews? How about the battle in Megiddo just prior to the Millennial. And finally, is it the time of the post-Millennial battle?
Here is the thing. This says Jerusalem will fall. The nations attacking it will win, overcome it, spoil it, and rape its women. This is devastating loss, which does not happen either at Megiddo or at the end. But it sure might go down this way as the MoL consolidates all power to himself. There should be verses that describe this. Perhaps here:
15 "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ... 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. [Mat 24:15, 21 ESV]. The holy place is in Jerusalem. The intervening verses say to get away if you can. It goes on to say that at the end of this time, the elect will be gathered from the four winds. BUT, hmm...The church will still be here in Matthew 24. Zechariah didn't know about the church, and he would not be prophesying about the church.
2024 - So that makes these verses post-rapture. What about this verse:
17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. [Rev 12:17 ESV]...not really. This is generic as to Satan's strategy. It does not say he will go and plunder Jerusalem.
2024 - Ahhh...what about these:
2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, ... 12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. [Joe 3:2, 12 ESV]. This valley is just outside the NE wall of Jerusalem.
Here are a couple more:
14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. [Joe 3:14-15 ESV].
These from Joel seem to be about a direct attack on Jerusalem - they are outside the NE wall attacking. It says nations, not nation. Could it be that these armies at first sack Jerusalem, and as Jerusalem falls, the rapture occurs. The Jews within the city are massacred, enslaved, exiled...the city is plundered and the women raped. But the church is out. For another 3 1/2 years this goes on, with the MoL and his government buying and selling Jews like they're cattle. This is what all those verses are about - the last 3 1/2. And at the end of that time, Jesus shows up at Megiddo, conquers that massive army, and rides into Jerusalem as King. All the captives from that battle are placed into the Valley of Jehoshaphat for safekeeping until Jesus himself judges them - those who survive, those who are living. I think this makes good sense.
2025 - What about these verses: 15 "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. [Mat 24:15-18 ESV]. Don't these warnings sound like they are about the same kind of circumstances we see in Zech. 14:2? The peak of persecution, of refinement like gold and silver through the absolute worst kind of trials as those who took refuge in Jerusalem - despite the warning of Matt 24:15-18 - are overrun, abused, chained up and marched off into exile?
2024 - So...does this splitting of the Mt of Olives in vs 4, creating a valley through which those entrapped in Jerusalem by the surrounding armies flee, tie to this verse:
6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. [Rev 12:6 ESV]? If so, we know very accurately when these events will occur! At the rapture, half way through the 70th week. And look at the next verse, the last part Zech 14:5:
5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. [Zec 14:5 ESV].
2024 - So then it gets complicated. Azal. This is the word used in the Masoretic text. In the Septuagint, it is Yasol, and if you translate according to the Septuagint, it is quite different. You get this:
The valley between the hills will be filled in, yes, it will be blocked as far as Jasol, it will be filled in as it was by the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah,
— "Zechariah 14:5". New Jerusalem Bible. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
These two passages are just pretty much opposites. So be careful about "life changing decisions" based on this verse.
According to Wikipedia, no one really knows where Asal is. This makes it a good place to have a lot of Jews hide out for 3 1/2 years. Perhaps they fled through this "created" valley opened up for them to keep them safe from the MoL, and like the Red Sea, the Valley was filled in and it's ultimate destination hidden after the Jews passed through. Perhaps this valley led down into the earth - like into a cavern or passage - think Carlsbad. The MoL tries to excavate it with water pressure, but there are cracks and crevices which siphon off so much water that they cannot continue. And then they get furious and go after the rest of the Jews. This goes on for 3 1/2 years, and then, as in vs 5b, Jesus comes with his army.
2024 - Zechariah is hard because it contains so much end times prophecy! Yet we never include it with Daniel and Revelation. We usually put Joel before Zechariah in terms or prophecy. I suspect the reason is that Zech is difficult!
2026 - I have made a number of questioning notes about the siege of Jerusalem that Zechariah seems to mention a number of time. Surely here in Chapter 14 he is doing it again and in more detail than we have previously seen.
2026 - Oh my...What if we look at it as a near fulfilment in 70 AD, and a far fulfilment at the end of the 70th? In 70 AD the city was surrounded and all the terrible things spoken about in vs 2 occurred. The half and half thing...I don't know if we can corroborate that externally, but it was not until 136 that all Jews were exiled from Jerusalem. So post-70, many could have been taken as slaves, and many left.
2026 - So beginning in vs 3, we get some details of the more perfect fulfilment in the end times, just prior to the Millennial. There will be no way at that time for Jerusalem to survive the siege. Only by God's direct intervention will the surrounding armies be turned against themselves.
2026 - But this creates an "escape" from Jerusalem for those trapped inside by the siege. If this is just before Armageddon, where Satan is defeated and confined for a thousand years, a time when the battle is essentially over, why would they need to escape? In English at least, the word is "flee". That is running in terror, not walking to another place. All the translations pretty much agree on this sense of the word.
2026 - We need to read vss 12-15 as the details of the breaking of this siege. All these details seem to fit quite well with a battle for Jerusalem, that we see often referenced but have so far had a hard time "finding". I think this is that battle. Perhaps we cannot find it in many other places because only Zechariah was given visions of this event? But he is pretty specific about the when in the next note...
2026 - And then we get a pretty definite timestamp in vs 5b: The Lord will come and all the holy ones with Him. Here is a verse for comparison:
13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. [Rev 19:13-14 ESV]
Hard to see this as any other time. It seems possible to me that as the forces of the MoL assemble at Megiddo, a separate attack, a siege, is in progress in Jerusalem. Perhaps there is that mountain splitting earthquake that allows those who have been returning to Jerusalem to escape right through the surrounding enemy lines - by provision of a supernatural escape route. I no longer see this as being early in the 70th, but right at the end. They get out.
2026 - The light? The water? Both are sometimes used of Jesus. Perhaps this is Jesus' return to Jerusalem, and the living water that forever after flows from that place, and not an actual river? Verse 9 surely seems to fit well if we adopt this interpretation.
2026 - Vs 21. No more Canaanites. Remember that John doesn't measure the outer court because it will be trampled by the Gentiles for 42 months? Now we know that Zechariah is describing what happens AFTER that 42 months.
This promise:
11 And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. [Zec 14:11 ESV]
12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. [Zec 14:12 ESV]
This must have been the "source" of the special effects in Raiders of the Lost Ark. They "melt" from fervent heat while still on their feet.
2024 - This is the judgment of those who war with Christ at Megiddo. Here is how Revelation describes it:
21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. [Rev 19:21 ESV].
Each verse a prophecy of that time. Of the Millennial. Too many for me to grasp them all.
This in vs 16:
16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. [Zec 14:16 ESV]
The survivors of the attacking nations. I doubt that many, if any, that actually attack will survive. But "back home", they will be afraid, and they will show up as ordered, and keep the feast commemorating the wandering in the wilderness. They will commemorate the NATION of Israel, the inheritors of Abraham's promises, and the participants in the Sinai Covenant.
A plague is described in vs 13, and mentioned again in 14 and in 18. For those who still refuse to go up to Jerusalem and worship the King, their countries will receive no rain, and the plague of vs 13 will fall on them. They will turn on each other and kill each other. Pure chaotic killing.
2025 - 14:17 is connected to Lev 26:4
The last verse of the book says this:
21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day. [Zec 14:21 ESV]
Jesus cleansed the temple when he was here. He threw out the "traders" who were making the House of God a den of thieves. This won't happen again. All that is in that city will be sacred because of geography, not because of priestly blessing. By proximity, not by "approval".