Intro
Our text today is from Zechariah 14:12-15. It describes the destruction of the Antichrist armies at the Battle of Armageddon. These verses fit chronologically after verse 3.i So, I want to read Zechariah 14:1-3 and then read the text.
Zechariah 14 begins with this word from God to Jerusalem: “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.”ii
During Antichrist’s assault on Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation period, the city will be conquered. Antichrist will send half the inhabitants into exile, leaving the other half in Jerusalem under the control of the Antichrist forces. God will allow this humiliating defeat as part of the preparation of Israel to receive Christ at his Second Coming.iii
When Israel is in this desperate situation, Christ comes to rescue them. The moment his feet stand on the Mount of Olives, the mountain will split, making a way of escape for the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem. The earthquake that accompanies that event will cause major topographical changes around Jerusalem. These changes will facilitate Jerusalem’s exaltation as the millennial capital of the world.
After verse 3, Zechariah immediately provided that information because his priority was to show the impact of Christ’s return on the Jews: the rescue of the remnant in Jerusalem and the future exaltation of the city. He could have left those details out and proceeded from verse 3 to verse 12. But verses 4-11 supply details about the Second Coming that other passages do not give. We dealt with verses 4-11 in our last message.iv
So, verse 3 introduces Christ’s Second Coming to rescue Israel: “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.” Then verses 12-15 describes how he fights at the Battle of Armageddon.
Follow with me as we read today’s text: Zechariah 14:12-15.
“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. 13 And on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.”
That passage identifies three weapon the Lord will use to defeat Israel’s enemies in this great battle. 1. Plague as described in verses 12 and 15 2. Panic prophesied in verse 13. 3. People, the Jewish remnant, empowered in verse 14. So, HOW will Christ defeat the Antichrist forces at the Second Coming?
I. PLAGUE: He will consume their flesh where they stand (vs 12).
Verse 12 describes the effect of this plague: “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.”
The striking of Israel’s enemies with a plague, maggepah, is one way God has historically defended his people. In 2 Kings 18-19 the Assyrian king, Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem.v His armies were vastly superior to Israel much like the situation at the Battle of Armageddon. Israel had no chance of winning the battle. But in answer to prayer, God sent a plague on the Assyrian troops and defeated them. 2 Kings 19:35-36 says, “And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.” We are not given the details about this plague. We are simply told, “the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000.” But the result was the defeat of the enemy and the rescue of Jerusalem.
This was not the only time God used this weapon. In 1 Samuel 5 the Lord sent a plague of tumors on the Philistines when the captured the Ark of the Covenant.vi Earlier in history, he plagued Egypt when Pharaoh would not set the Israelite slaves free.vii Plagues are one means God uses to defeat his enemies.
But the plague described in our text was unparalleled in history. Normally plagues that rot or consume the flesh take time to work their destruction. Leprosy is a slow process. Even flesh-eating bacteria does not work this fast. In our text, their flesh is consumed “while they are still standing.”viii These soldiers are poised for battle. But they are not ready for anything like this.
The impact is similar to what happened when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. The energy released from the bomb consumed the flesh on some while they were “still standing on their feet.” The closest thing we have to the plague in our text is the vaporization of flesh due to massive radiation from a nuclear explosion. But this destruction of the Antichrist soldiers is not due to a nuclear exposition.
This weapon is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:8: “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” The manifest glory of Christ at his Second Coming will consume the flesh of his enemies “while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.”
Instead of “rot,” I prefer the NKJV which translates maqaq as “dissolve.” In my mind, rotting is a slower process. The NKJV translates Zechariah 14:12, “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.”ix It happens instantly when these ungodly people are exposed to the glory of Christ: “whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”x
Zechariah 14:15 gives additional information about the effect of this plague. “And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.” This comment lessens the likelihood that the plague in verse 12 is a disease. A disease is not likely to spread among all the species. Of course, the suddenness of the destruction is the strongest argument for this being a blast from the glory of God.
This information communicates the thoroughness of the judgment. Everything associated with this ungodly army is destroyed: all the horses, pack animals, and livestock for food. It is all dissolved in the same way the soldiers are dissolved.
The same utter destruction was enacted on Jericho when that enemy was defeated.xi On that occasion, there were only two exceptions. Rehab and her household were spared because she turned her faith toward the Lord. And the metallic wealth was preserved much like the “gold, silver, and garments” in verse 14 of our text. When Jericho was defeated, Joshua warned the people to not preserve those things that were to be destroyed. Then in Joshua 6:19 he stated this exception: “But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”xii The spoils taken at Armageddon (Zech. 14:14) will enrich Israel for leadership during the Millennium.
This reference to animals raises the question: “Are they simply figurative for the equipment used on that day, or does the use of EMP [electromagnetic pulse) make mechanical devices useless so that animals must be used?”xiii We cannot with certainty answer that question. What we can know from the text is that this judgment will be pervasive and thorough. This is a supernatural housecleaning in preparation for the Millennium. The plague described in Zechariah 14: 12, 15 is the first weapon God uses in this Battle of Armageddon. What other means will Christ employ to defeat the Antichrist forces?
II. PANIC: He will strike them with so much terror that they kill one another in the confusion (vs 13).
The cosmic signs in the heavens, the splitting of the Mount of Olives with the accompanying earthquake, and the unexpected destruction of soldiers by the glory of Christ’s presence provokes panic among Antichrist forces. Their military strategies did not anticipate any of this. Confused and terrorized by what’s happening, they attack one another. Verse 13 says, “And on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.”xiv
In Israel’s history, we have previous examples of God sending panic in the enemy’s camp. These events foreshadow this final great victory of God over the wicked. In Judges 7 the Midianites were defeated in this way. In 2 Chronicles 20 a confederation of Moabites and Ammonites destroyed one another in a similar state of panic and confusion. xv The text also comments on the abundant wealth Israel gathered from the defeated enemy (vs 25). Zechariah 14:14 comments on the spoil Israel gathers from the Battle of Armageddon. Reviewing past examples of God’s use of panic and the other weapons helps us envision the scenario at the Battle of Armageddon.
Zechariah 12:4 also dealt with this panic in the enemy’s camp at Armageddon. There God promises, “On that day [the same day as our current text], declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness.”xvi So, the second weapon God uses against the Antichrist forces is panic and confusion that causes them to destroy one another.
III. PEOPLE: God will empower Judah to fight at Jerusalem along with the remnant that is left in the city (vs 14).
The ESV says, “Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem.” I prefer the NKJV (“Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.”) since the word “even” is sometimes used to indicate something surprising. It’s not surprising at all that the Jews around Jerusalem would be fighting this enemy at Jerusalem. The NIV is also a better translation: “Judah too will fight at Jerusalem.”
The Vulgate and Targum considered the Hebrew preposition b to be adversative in this text. Following that logic, the RSV incorrectly translates this “even Judah will fight against Jerusalem.” But the Septuagint correctly understood that preparation in this context to indicate location.xvii Judah will fight at Jerusalem. Thus the NIV accurately translates it: “Judah too will fight at Jerusalem.”
This dynamic in the battle was explained more fully in chapter 12. Zechariah 12:2 tells us, “The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.” In that setting, verses 5-8, enlarge upon Judah’s role in the battle.
“Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’ 6 On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. 7 And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them.”
We will not repeat our previous exposition of that passage.xviii But God’s third weapon in this battle is the Jewish people. They will be empowered with heroic courage to do exploits. God lets them have a part in defeating Antichrist’s forces and retaking the city of Jerusalem. The Omnipotent One who could secure victory without them, lets them share in the glory. He also lets them gather the spoils after that victory. Zechariah 14:14 concludes, “And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.” They will not only recover the plunder that their enemy took from them when Jerusalem was defeated, but they will also take the wealth of the conquered foe.
So, it is with our own spiritual battles. God allows us to participate in defeating the adversary. He empowers us to rise up in faith and, in his name, put the enemy to flight.xix Ephesians 6:10-12 alerts us to the battles we face in this life. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
We are in a fight, but God’s grace is more than sufficient for our victory. “If God is for us, who can be[ against us?” Romans 8:35 asks the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’” There are battles to fight. But verse 37 continues: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” The same God who will empower the Jews at the Battle of Armageddon will empower you and me for the battles we are facing.
And the same God who gives them the spoils of war will increase us through our fight with the enemy. We will pluck sinners from the fire. We will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord as we depend on him for victory. And one day we will stand on the glassy sea of heaven singing, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”xx You have treasure in heaven. No matter how fierce the battle may be, be steadfast, unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord.xxi Keep looking up. “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”xxii For in the end, by the grace of God, we win.
Conclusion
I want to conclude by talking briefly about the gentile SURVIVORS of this battle. Zechariah 14:16 says, “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.” Not all of the gentiles are killed at the end of the Tribulation period. There are survivors from “all the nations.” These survivors may include some soldiers who surrender during the Battle of Armageddon. It would surely include many gentile people who were not at the Battle of Armageddon. When a nation goes to war, not everyone in that nation puts on a uniform and goes into battle. From this text in verse 16, we know that there will be gentile survivors at the end of the Tribulation period.
We also know that the population of the world will have been significantly decreased, not only by the deaths at the Battle of Armageddon, but by all the judgments during the last seven years. Revelation 6:8 talks about the death of one-fourth of the world population. Revelation 9:18 prophesies the death of one-third of mankind. Isaiah 13 talks about the end-time outpouring of God’s wrath on mankind. Then in verse 18 God describes the impact on the population by saying, “I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.” So, the population of the world is greatly diminished at the conclusion of this Battle of Armageddon. But there are survivors.xxiii
These survivors will bow to Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Their representatives will “go up year after year to worship the King” in Jerusalem. The positive thing that comes out of the Battle of Armageddon is world peace. The power and might demonstrated by Christ in this final conflict has convinced all the nations that he is Lord. It is peace through strength. They have seen what Christ can do to his enemies, and they bow to that strength.
At the end of World War II conflict between Russia and the West was a very real possibility. Dividing up the spoils of war can bring out the worst in a man like Joseph Stalin. But those matters were resolved peacefully because Stalin had seen the military might of America. Dropping the two atomic bombs on Japan not only prompted a quick surrender by Japan, but it alerted Russia to the insanity of opposing America. We were the only ones who had atomic weapons. Any war with America would be no context. America had military capability that no nation could challenge. The result was peace. Later Russia got its own atomic weapons and conflict emerged during the Cold War in places like Korea and Viet Nam. But immediately after World War II, we had peace through strength—strength that the whole world recognized.
At Armageddon the nations will see the incontestable weapons of Christ. They are infinitely superior to anything anyone else has. Therefore, these survivors will come annually to pay homage to Christ as the universal king of the world. The Millennium will be characterized by world peace—a peace enforced by the supernatural might of Messiah.
Our text today has revealed how world peace will be accomplished. Today’s globalists will not accomplish it. In their misguided efforts, they will simply make way for the most brutal dictator the world has ever seen. He will come in promising peace. But his leadership will result in war and carnage like never before.xxiv There is only one who can bring peace to this world. He is the Prince of Peace, our coming King.
i Cf. Merrill, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 327; David Levy, Zechariah, 133-134.
ii All Scripture quotes are from the English Standard Version unless indicated otherwise.
iii Cf. Matt. 23:38.
iv See #33 in this series entitled “A Day Like No Other.” Message #32 in this series, entitled “ Christ’s Return to the Mount of Olives” expounds verses 4-5 as well as verses 1-3.
v See also Isaiah 36-37.
vi Cf. 1 Sam. 6:4.
vii “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues [maggepah] on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth’” (Ex. 9:13-14).
viii The Hebrew word translated “rot” is an infinitive absolute. Mitchell, et. al indicate the significance of this as follows: “The inf. abs. is precisely adapted to portray the suddenness of the infliction described and the rapidity with which it will do its work.” Hinkley Mitchell, John Smith, and Julius Bewer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and Jonah, The International Critical Commentary, S. Driver, A. Plummer, C. Briggs, eds., 1912 (Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1951) 353.
ix There is a shift in the Hebrew from the plural (“all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem”) to the singular (literally: “his flesh), although most translations simply say “their flesh.” As Baron points out, this may indicate personal accountability and justice to each one struck by the plague along with the judgment on the troops as a whole. Cf. Baron, 517; Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 452; Unger, 263.
x While 2 Thessalonians 2:8 is specifically addressing the destruction of Antichrist, this probably extends to his armies. Cf. Isa. 66:15-16; Heb. 12:29; Rev. 19:15-21. The Hebrew word maggepah means “blow, slaughter, plague, pestilence, strike, smite 1a) blow (fatal stroke) 1b) slaughter (of battle) 1c) plague, pestilence (divine judgment). Strong’s Concordance, O.T. 4046. In 1 Samuel 4:17; 2 Samuel 17:9; 18:7, the NKJV translates it “slaughter” and the context does not indicate disease. Many commentaries assume the plague in Zechariah 14:12 is a disease. But the description of this blow in the passage argues against that assumption.
xi See also Joshua 7:24-25 and 1 Samuel 15:3, 13-28. The destruction of animals belonging to the wicked will not offend our sensibilities when we understand the place God has given the animal kingdom in his creation and the headship responsibility of people for that which is committed to their stewardship. Cf. Gen. 1:28; 9:1-3. The judgment on Adam’s sin affected everything under his domain (Gen. 3:7; Rom. 8:22).
xii Cf. Haggai 2:7-8.
xiii Paul Wallace, Preaching Through Zechariah (Sedona, AZ: Paul Wallace, 2019) 93.
xiv As mentioned in previous lessons, the efforts by Covenant theologians to interpret these prophecies as only portraying a general principle rather than predicted a particular event at a particular time is misguided. The repeated phrase “on that day” is a continual reminder that these prophecies indicate specific events at specific times. For the Covenant theology position see Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah, 271. For the Dispensational view see Unger, Zechariah, 264. For an effort to strike a balance between these two views see Phillips, Zechariah, 303-305.
xv See also 1 Samuel 14: 15, 29 and 2 Kings 7.
xvi See message #28 entitled “Armageddon” for the exposition of this verse.
xvii In loco, Keil acknowledges the preposition b with lacham (fight) “generally signifies ‘to fight against a person,’” but then explains: “But this by no means suits the context here, since those who fight against Jerusalem are ‘all the heathen’ (v. 2), and nothing is said about any opposition between Jerusalem and Judah. b is used here in a local sense, as in Ex 17:8 . . ., and the thought is this: Not only will Jehovah smite the enemies miraculously with plagues and confusion, but Judah will also take part in the conflict against them, and fight against them in Jerusalem, which they have taken.” Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.). Cf. Barron, 518.
xviii See message #28 in this series, entitled “Armageddon.”
xix Cf. Heb. 11:34.
xx Rev. 19:6.
xxi Cf. Matt. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:58.
xxii Eph. 6:10 NKJV.
xxiii The separation of sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46 is not an event that determines which mortals go into the Millennium at the end of the Tribulation period. The judgment Jesus taught there concerns eternal destinies, not temporal ones. Verse 46 concludes, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” For further explanation of this, see Richard W. Tow, Rapture or Tribulation: Will Christians Go Through the Coming Tribulation (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2022), 201-214.
xxiv Cf. Dan. 11:36-45; 1 Thess. 5:3; 2 Thess. 2:1-12; Rev. 6 and 13.
