Intro
We are in the last chapter of Zechariah. Our text today will be Zechariah 14:1-5. This chapter provides details concerning the end-times that we have not yet seen. We have been given pieces of the end-time puzzle throughout this book. But Zechariah 14 brings us to the climatic return of Christ to the Mount of Olives. His departure from that place at the end of the First Advent went largely unnoticed by the world. His return to the Mount of Olives will shake the whole world. Every eye will see him, and every knee will confess that he is Lord.i This is an exciting piece of literature in God’s word.
Our text naturally divides into two sections:
I. Antichrist’s Plundering of Jerusalem (vs 1-2)
II. Christ’s Rescue of the Remnant (vs 3-5)
I. ANTICHRIST’S PLUNDERING OF JERUSALEM (vs 1-2)
Verse 1 launches us into the narrative: “A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem. . . .”ii In that statement, we are given two keys for understanding this chapter.
(1) The events are eschatological. They had not yet occurred in Zechariah’s day. Efforts to understand them in the context of the Babylonian captivity are unfruitful. Much more than half the city went into captivity during that siege. We also know this day was not fulfilled during the first century AD when Jerusalem was destroyed. Again, half the population was not left. But beyond that, Christ did not return in those days to rescue Israel. The Mount of Olives was not split in two forming a valley. The cosmic events described in this chapter did not happen. The text cannot be explained using any historical occurrence.
This is reinforced by the phrase “on that day” throughout the chapter. Seven times in this chapter we encounter that phrase.iii And the chapter begins with the announcement, “A day of the Lord is coming.” In the face of all that information, it is hard to understand why commentators like Leupold could say these verses do not “apply to any one situation.” Allergizing the passage and applying it to the church, Leupold says, the events “do not describe a siege, capture, and captivity which actually occurred.”iv But those events are predicted in detail. Baron points out the inconsistency of Replacement theologians. They are forced to acknowledge the literal fulfillment of detailed prophecies concerning Christ’s First Advent and the scattering of the nation that followed the rejection of Messiah. But when they come to predictions like these of the Second Advent, they interpret the prophecies figuratively and deny a literal fulfillment. Their commentaries deal in vague generalities because the model breaks down when applied to specific predictions like those provided in Zechariah 14. When we use the literal method of interpretation, rather than the allegorical method, the chapter makes sense.v The events presented in this chapter will literally occur at God’s appointed time.
(2) The events in this chapter revolve around Jerusalem, the city itself. The chapter begins, ““A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem. . . .” Other prophecies concerning the Second Advent often speak in broader terms. For example, John writes in Revelation 1:7, “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and ‘every eye will see him, even those who pierced him’; and all peoples on earth ‘will mourn because of him.’ So shall it be! Amen.’” There John directs us to a worldwide mourning that occurs at the Second Coming. But in our text today, Zechariah gives details about events in the city of Jerusalem that will be happening in conjunction with the Second Coming.
Recognizing this focus in Zechariah 14 helps us understand the difference between what we have already seen in chapters 12 and 13 and what is revealed in our text. When we carefully compare Zechariah 13:8-9 with the prediction in 14:2, we find the terminology in Zechariah 13:8 concerns “the whole land” which indicates the whole nation. The terminology in Zechariah 14 centers on Jerusalem, the city.vi The temporal context of chapter 14:2 is when all the nations are gathered against Jerusalem: The Battle of Armageddon. The temporal context in Zechariah 13:8-9 is not specifically stated but clearly follows the First Advent event in verse 7. Revelation from other passages tends to place Zechariah 13:8-9 in the Tribulation period, especially the last three and a half years. Therefore, during the last days refining process, two-thirds of the Israelites will be killed, and the other third will be taken through a refining process that prepares the nation to receive Christ as Messiah (Zech. 13:8-9). In the siege of the city, half of those in Jerusalem will be taken into captivity and the other half will be rescued by the Lord (Zechariah 14:1-5).
Prophecy is not always given in a simple chronological order. Zechariah 12, 13, and 14 portray events leading to Israel’s conversion at the Second Coming, but from different perspectives with different details provided.
In Zechariah 12 the siege of Jerusalem is reported, and the national conversion of Israel follows. Chapter 13 begins with that national conversion in the first six verse, then reverts back to events necessary for that to happen: (1) Striking of the Shepherd and scattering of Israel (vs 7) and (2) Purging and refining of Israel to prepare the nation to receive Messiah (8-9). Chapter 13 then concludes with a clear declaration of Israel’s conversion. Now in Zechariah 14:1 the conclusion of the age is reported again, but with a focus on the city of Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:1-2 predicts the fall of Jerusalem during the Battle of Armageddon as follows: “A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”
The only time God gathers “all” the nations to fight against Jerusalem is at the Battle of Armageddon. The situation here in verse 2 is the same as we saw in Zechariah 12:3 where God states the time as: “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her [Jerusalem].” So, we know our text in Zechariah 14:1-2 is dealing with the same Battle of Armageddon as we examined back in Zechariah 12.
But Zechariah 14 gives us a detail not provided in chapter 12. Zechariah 12 focused on the latter part of the conflict where God is giving Israel victory. But in Zechariah 14 we are told the first part of the engagement will not go well for Israel. In fact, the enemy nations will capture the city and plunder it. They will loot the homes, rape the women, and take half the inhabitants into captivity.vii They will feel so confident in their victory that they will leisurely divide up the spoil among themselves. If we only had the information given in chapter 12, we would not know how desperate the situation would be for Jerusalem prior to Christ’s intervention.
We must keep two things in mind while interpreting these accounts.
First, a day is not necessarily a twenty-four-hour period. The day of Lord generally relates to the end times when God acts in behalf of his people or to assert his authority. But it can refer to time during the Tribulation period, the more precise time of the Second Coming, or even the Millennium depending on the context.viii Zechariah 14 begins with the warning, “A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem.” The information that follows that statement lets us know it is referring to the Tribulation period. We must interpret “day of the Lord” in the context of the passage. We must not think of that day as limited to a twenty-four-hour period.
Secondly, The Battle of Armageddon is actually a war or campaign, not just a single battle. In Revelation 16:14 John uses the word is polemos to describe what we typically call the Battle of Armageddon.ix There is a different Greek word for a single battle (mache). Polemos indicates a war or campaign. The Battle of Armageddon comes to a climax at the Second Advent, but there are aspects of the conflict that happen prior to that. This plundering of Jerusalem is one of those events.
So, at the end of Zechariah 14:2 Jerusalem is in great distress. The darkness of Jerusalem’s surrender to the Antichrist forces is the backdrop for the glorious intervention of Christ in behalf of his people. Jerusalem’s utter defeat has positioned them in a broken state of humility to receive their Deliverer, Jesus.
II. CHRIST’S RESCUE OF THE REMNANT AT JERUSALEM (vs 3-5)
Verse 3 declares the turn-around point: “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.” The verse begins with a time marker: then. “Then the Lord will go out and fight.” Why now? Why not earlier?
Why at this time? God was using the pressure from the Antichrist forces to prepare his people for Christ’s coming. At this point their self-reliance is broken. The refining process spoken of in Zechariah 13:8 has purged out the obstante rebels (Ezek. 20:38) and prepared the remnant for the greatest event in world history.x The half who are left in the city are ready to receive their King. When he arrives, they will look on his pierced body and mourn over their sin of unbelief. The national conversion will occur for a people prepared by the Holy Spirit.
God’s timing is always perfect. How many times have you wondered why God did not intervene in your behalf sooner? It usually has to do with a work of grace he is doing in your life. It usually has to do with a refining process he is using to prepare you for eternity.xi God is working “all things together” for our good according to Romans 8:28. But that must always be understood in the context of his eternal purposes for you. His primary goal in your life is stated in the next verse. Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. . . .” That’s the goal: to make you like Jesus. He will not sacrifice that for temporal comfort. He is using the refining process to make you like Jesus. At precisely the right time, “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.”
There is a reminder at the end of that verse: “as he fights on a day of battle.” The Lord has proven himself to be a mighty man of war (Ex. 15:3) many times in Israel’s past. What he has done before, he is always able to do again.xii In this case, he will do it on a grander scale than ever before. Israel’s rescue at the Red Sea was an awesome display of God’s power. But his intervention at the Second Coming will not just be against one nation (Egypt). Here the Lord crushes all the nations of the world who have descended on Jerusalem.xiii It will be a day like no other day.
The Antichrist army has conquered Jerusalem. They have already divided up the spoil. In their minds, the war is a success. But now God will show his hand. Now the Lord of Lord arrives on the scene. Psalm 2:1 opens with the question, “Why do the nations conspire [KJV: rage] and the peoples plot in vain?” The folly of Antichrist and all his followers will now be revealed. The futility of their campaign against the Lord and his people will be unveiled. Psalm 2:4: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.” The glorious arrival of Christ is presented in vivid detail in the rest of Zechariah 14.
Zechariah 14:4 begins with the words, “On that day,” reminding us: what is about to be shared occurs in conjunction with what we have previously read in this chapter. “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.xiv
How different this is from the First Advent when his weary feet walked the paths of the Mount of Olives with his disciples. How different this is from the time he was in agony anticipating and preparing for the horrors of the cross (Luke 22:39, 44). It is fitting that he returns here in glory.xv
This is the place where he left earth and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:12) in his glorified body. Acts 1:9-10 records the event. “After he [Jesus] said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.10 They 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.’” His ascent literally happened. He ascended before their eyes in his glorified body. And so it will be at his return. He will not just return figuratively or spiritually. He will return as he ascended. He will literally return in his glorified body for all to see (Rev. 1:7).xvi
The events surrounding his return will literally happen as well. When his feet “stand on the Mount of Olives,” the mountain will split in half.xvii Half of it will be driven north, and half will be driven south. That will produce “a great valley” in between. The valley provides a way of escape for the Jews that are left in Jerusalem.
Verse 5 reveals God’s immediate purpose for this valley. “You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will 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.”
God refers to this valley as “my mountain valley.” Translators have struggled with that terminology offering unnecessary emendations.xviii But God refers to this mountain valley as his because he just formed it. The valley will extend to Azel. The identity of Azel is not now known although it may be the town Beth Ezel mentioned in Micah 1:11.xix
The valley is formed to provide a way of escape for the Jews remaining in Jerusalem. Prior to Christ’s descent, these Jews were trapped. The mountain ridge was over a mile long “running in general direction north and south, covering the whole eastern side of the city. At its northern end the ridge bends round to the west so as to form an enclosure to the city on that side also.”xx Miraculously the Lord opened up a way where there seemed to be no way, much like he did at the Red Sea.
The directive in Zechariah 14:5 is: “You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.” The only biblical record of the earthquake in Uzziah’s day is in Amos 1:1. The event was so significant it was used as a time marker by Amos, and over 200 years later, Zechariah is using it to illustrate the panic that will strike everyone in the area.xxi The confusion in Antichrist’s army provoked by the splitting of the Mount of Olives probably contributes to the Jews' opportunity to flee from the enemy.
The splitting of the Mount of Olives implies an earthquake.xxii Certainly seismic upheaval will be characteristic of these last days.xxiii In fact, Revelation 16 predicts a huge earthquake when the seventh bowl is poured out at the end of the Tribulation period. Revelation 16:16-18 predicts, “Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.” We do not know the precise timing of this in relationship to the splitting of the Mount of Olives, but we know they both occur near the end of the Tribulation period.xxiv
Prophetic revelation does not always give us the exact time of an event in relationship to other predicted events. Although we have a lot of scriptures to work with and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, in this current age we know “in part.” First Corinthians 13:9-10 says, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (NKJV). In today’s world “that which is perfect” or complete has not yet come. But we can know in part, and we can grow in our understanding as we study God’s word. Be cautious when you’re filling in the blanks. It’s usually best to identify informed guesses for what they are. Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Our goal is to know as much of “the things revealed” that we can and live in obedience to that knowledge.
Verse 5 concludes with this assurance: “Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”xxv In the excitement of what he is seeing, Zechariah does not just say God will come. He is too personally engaged to put it that way. He prophesies, ““Then the Lord my God will come.”
He follows that up with this additional fact, “and all the holy ones with him.” All agree that includes the holy angels. Other passages indicate glorified people will be in that company as well. For example, Jude 1:14 says, “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones.’” The term “holy ones” in both Zechariah and Jude could include glorified saints, especially in the light of this promise in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “And so we will be with the Lord forever.” When he comes back, it is likely we will be with him.xxvi
Next week we will consider the cataclysmic changes that accompany Christ’s Second Coming. But today we have seen the glorious return of Christ. He will come back to the Mount of Olives where he ascended from in Acts 1. His return will not be secret. The earth will shake at his coming. The Mount of Olives will spit in half. That will provide a way of escape for the Jews left in Jerusalem after the capture of the city by Antichrist armies.
This is the point in human history when everything changes. The current age concludes, and the Millennial age begins. And the world will be very different. The kingdoms of this world will at that point become the kingdoms of our Lord. Every eye will see him; every knee will bow to him. What a day that will be.
ENDNOTES:
i Cf. Phil. 2:9-11; Rev. 1:7.
ii All Scripture quotes are from the New International Version (2020) unless indicated otherwise.
iii See verses 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 20, 21.
iv Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah, 259.
v See Baron, Zechariah, 489-491. Cf. Feinberg, God Remembers, 192; Unger, Zechariah, 238-240. For a discussion of the literal versus the allegorical method see Richard W. Tow, Rapture or Tribulation: Will Christians Go Through the Coming Tribulation (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2022), 1-14.
vi Cf. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 416.
vii The Hebrew word used here for rape (shakab) does not necessarily indicate violent rape. The text may be indicating the capture of women “as human booty, distributed among victorious warriors, who incorporated them into their households.” However, Meyers acknowledges the term may have been used simply as a more polite choice. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 415.
viii Cf. Pentecost, Things to Come, 230.
ix See “Armageddon,” part #28 of this series.
x While the passage in Ezekiel 20 had a partial fulfillment during the Babylonian captivity, the fuller realization of the promise will come in the last days. The purging of the rebels during the Tribulation period is recorded in Zechariah 13:8.
xi During his ordeal Job declared in faith, “. . . when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job recognized the refining process God was bringing him through.
xii In our own lives we must remember this. Recalling God’s faithfulness in the past can inspire courage for the present challenges of life (1 Sam. 17:37).
xiii As was the case at the Red Sea, the armies representing the nation(s) are killed. Thus, rendering the nation powerless. At Armageddon, all the nations of the world will be represented by their armies that converge in Palestine.
xiv The Mount of Olives is east of Jerusalem. It is significant that the glory of God departed from this location in Ezekiel 11:23 and is predicted to return from the east (Ezek. 43:2).
xv It was from this mountain that Jesus taught the great Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:3) in which he prophesied these end-time events (Matt. 24:29-31).
xvi Today’s satellite technology makes predictions like Rev. 1:7; 11:12 a very practical possibility.
xvii Language that refers to Christ’s glorified body (feet) affirm the literalness of Christ’s coming in bodily form.
xviii See Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 424-425 for further discussion of this. The Septuagint translation of wenastem (you shall flee) as wenistam (shall be stopped up) yields an idea opposite of the context. Cf. Baron, Zechariah, 497.
xix Keil (in loco) soundly refutes the emendation that would read “to very near” or side.
xx “Olives, Mount of,” Smith's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
xxi Josephus relates this earthquake to Uzziah’s attempt to usurp the office of the priesthood when he was struck with leprosy (2 Chron. 26:16-21). Josephus, Flavius, “The Antiquities of the Jews,” Book IX, Chapter X in Josephus Complete Works, trans. by William Whiston, , (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1981), 208.
xxii C. I. Scofield, The New Scofield Reference Bible, Zech. 13:6 note (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967), 976. Cf. Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, The NIV Application Commentary, 524; Hill, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, 262.
“Israel is in a geologically active region. Israel is seismically active, located along the Syrian-African fault line, which runs along the Israel-Jordan border, part of the Great Rift Valley that runs from eastern Lebanon to Mozambique. The Jordan Rift Valley is the result of tectonic movements within the Dead Sea Transform (DSF) fault system. The DSF forms the transform boundary between the African Plate to the west and the Arabian Plate to the east.” Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, “Massive Earthquake Can Hit Israel Any Day Now, Geologists Warn: Is God-Magog War Upon Us?” Dec. 27, 2020. Accessed at Massive Earthquake can Hit Israel Any day now, Geologists warn: Is Gog-Magog War upon us? (israel365news.com). For research on this by Tel Aviv University see “A 220,000-year-long continuous large earthquake record on a slow-slipping plate boundary,” ScienceAdvances. Accessed at A 220,000-year-long continuous large earthquake record on a slow-slipping plate boundary | Science Advances.
xxiii The Greek word odin in Matthew 24:8 suggests an increase in signs like earthquakes listed in that passage (Matt. 24:7). For additional explanation see Richard W. Tow, Rapture or Tribulation, 140-145.
xxiv Cf. Unger, Zechariah, 247
xxv The Septuagint translates the last phrase “with him” and our NIV follows that lead. However, the Masoretic Text “with you” is preferred. Both give essentially the same meaning that these holy ones are with the Lord when he comes. Unger correctly understands it as Zechariah’s direct address to the Lord in his exuberant response to the vision. Unger, Zechariah, 250. However, Meyers understands this to be a reference to Jerusalem just as verse 1 began with a direct reference to Jerusalem. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 430-431.
xxvi See Tow, Rapture or Tribulation, 114-115 for more analysis of this. Cf. 1 Thess. 3:13; 2 Thess. 1:10; Rev. 19:14.
