The Certain End Series

We started the book of Zechariah in OCT last year and we’re ending it today.

The last oracle (chapters 12-14) talks about the future of Israel.

• Everything is uncertain to the returnees in Zechariah’s time (520BC) but the future is certain to God; He planned it.

Remember how it starts - 12:1 “This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel.”

• There will come a time – on that day (mentioned repeatedly) – when all the nations of the earth will gather against Jerusalem.

• It will be a huge battle but the Lord says, “I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock (ESV heavy stone) for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.” (12:3) and “…Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.” (12:6)

• ON THAT DAY, the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem… (12:8) and set out to destroy all the nations that attack it (12:9).

For Israel, there will be a realisation that God protected them. Christ, the one whom they had rejected, came to be their Defender and Protector!

• God says in 12:10 that He will pour out on His people a spirit of grace and supplication (pleas for mercy).

• “They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

• There will be a time of remorse and repentance for Israel.

Chapter 13 says ON THAT DAY, a fountain will be opened (by God) to CLEANSE the people from sin and impurity.

• By grace, through Christ’s shed blood, God cleanses them, internally…

• And externally, when we see all idols, false prophets and “the spirit of impurity” (all forms of evil) being banished from the land.

• Sin will be so unbearable that parents will stab their son for speaking lies in the name of the Lord (13:3). False prophets will be ashamed of being known.

The fountain will be opened because God’s Shepherd will be struck (13:7-9).

• God’s wrath for sin will be poured out on Him.

Chapter 14 continues the theme. The day of the Lord is coming. Read Zech 14:1-2.

• We read the devastation that Jerusalem will initially face.

• Again the reference to this great BATTLE. A similar reference we see in Rev 16:16 where the word “Armageddon” is used. (Literally in Hebrew it means ‘Mount Megiddo’ but no such mount, just the plains of Megiddo, mentioned in Zech 12:11.)

• Clearly ON THAT DAY the nations will come against Jerusalem. The city will be besieged (Zech 12:2-9) and devastated.

But Christ will steps in. Read Zech 14:3-5. This is the return of Christ.

• When Israel is surrounded by the armies of the nations and on the verge of annihilation, the Lord will return in a great display of power.

His feet will touch down at the place from which He ascended, the Mount of Olives.

• Acts 1:10-11 10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

• 14:4 on that day His feet will stand on the Mount and it will be split in two from East to West, forming a large valley that the surviving remnant can use to escape.

• Jesus will rout His enemies with His return. The Lord says in Matt 24:44 “the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”

Move to 14:12-15 we have greater details of the devastation. Let’s read.

• A plague will come upon the enemies, both man and beast, and causing panic and plunder.

• Christ will bring about a victory that is decisive. Nothing can stand in His way.

There will also be unparalleled PHENOMENA at His return. 14:6-11 describes these changes. Let’s read. These changes are unique and unprecedented.

• When Jesus described the end times in Matthew 24, He said, “…‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’” (Matt 24:29)

It looks like Christ is the LIGHT in the night, no natural light.

• 2 Pet 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”

14:8 says LIVING WATER will flow out of Jerusalem to water the land, not natural rain water. Christ provides what the land needs.