_The last conflict--Jerusalem surrounded by armies and besieged and
taken--Jehovah's intervention--The escape of the remnant--Living
waters flowing out of Jerusalem--The enemies punished--The remnant of
nations live as worshipers in Jerusalem--Jerusalem the holy city._
The last chapter in Zechariah is a very important one. It is a grand
summing up and description of the events which stand at the close of
the great tribulation, and as such it is one of the most striking
chapters in the Old Testament. Post-millennialism surely fails here
in trying to find some explanation for these prophecies. The chapter
is unfulfilled throughout. Anyone who does not acknowledge this has
only one other way of interpretation, and that is to spiritualize the
whole and make out of it the development of the Church, the holiness
of the Church, etc. this, of course, is a failure and cannot be done.
The only true way of interpretation is the literal one, and that will
teach us that the events seen in this chapter are future. This ought
to be seen by any reader of the Word of God at the first glance.
There is no siege and capture of Jerusalem in history which
corresponds to the siege and capture which stands in the beginning of
this chapter. The Lord never intervened in behalf of Jerusalem in the
way that it is said here in going forth and fighting against those
nations, nor did His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives for the
purpose of completely destroying the enemies of His people. The whole
chapter is of such significance that we have to take it verse by
verse and illustrate it by many scriptures taken from different parts
of the prophetic word.
_Verse 1._ "Behold a day cometh for Jehovah when thy spoils shall
be divided in the midst of thee."
The time when this prophecy will be enacted is here given. A day is
coming for Jehovah. Now it is man's day and God keeps silence, but
His day, the day of Jehovah, is coming and will be a day of
manifestation, glory, and power. "That day is a day of wrath, a day
of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness" (Zeph.
i: 15). "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain; let all the inhabitants in the land tremble, for the day of
Jehovah cometh, it is nigh at hand" (Joel ii: 1). "There shall be a
day of the Lord upon all that is proud and haughty" (Isa. ii:4). The
great tribulation is about past, and now when Jerusalem is not alone
besieged but taken, the spoil being divided by the victors in the
midst of the city, and when the enemy seems to have succeeded, then
the day for Jehovah will come and He will roar out of the heavens.
_Verse 2._ "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem for battle,
And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women
shall be ravished,
And half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
And the residue of the people shall not be cut off."
This puts before us the last scenes of the times of the Gentiles, the
great conflict which in Daniel and other prophecies is likewise
described. There are difficulties, especially in regard to
Antichrist. If he is then in Jerusalem, and sitting in the temple,
worshipped as God, having complete control of Jerusalem, how can he
be the leader of the hostile armies of the nations which come against
Jerusalem? It is nowhere said that Antichrist is to have this place
in the temple for any length of time. We likewise do not know the
exact time when he will thus be worshipped. He hears while away from
the land of the appearing of the two witnesses in Jerusalem, their
success in preaching, and that many Jews become believers in Him who
is the Hope of Israel. He invades the land, takes the city, and slays
the witnesses. The armies of the nations are associated with him.
Daniel gives the history of these events. (Daniel xi.)
The armies which gather against Jerusalem in that day are the armies
of the confederation of nations, sprung out of the territory of the
old Roman Empire. It was stated not long ago from post-millennial
sides that this in itself was beyond belief. How could it be possible
that the progress of civilization could be arrested to such an
extent, that the nations of Christendom would unite to march up
against the Holy City? The Gospel leaven (?) was at work as never
before, and it would be impossible that these nations who will become
more and more thus leavened could be occupied with such a campaign.
This indeed is the thought of man, but the word of God speaks in an
entirely different language. True the leaven is at work, but truth is
not leaven, but leaven is evil. We must not forget that Jehovah
Himself says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem.
Much reminds us here in chapter xiv of Egypt, and we shall have to
refer a number of times to the story of Israel's deliverance from the
house of bondage. Pharaoh, though he had witnessed the judgments of
God upon his own land, tribulation and wrath, yet he rushed on in
blindness to his doom. So it will be once more with the antisemitic
nations. Blinded they will be, though they have also witnessed
tribulation and wrath. Perhaps special commercial and financial as
well as political interests are at stake, and will be the causes of
the campaign against the land and the city. Joel iii speaks of this
gathering of nations: "Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare
war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let
them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks
into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come all ye
nations round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause
Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir
themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat, for there will I
sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for
the harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the
fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the
valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars
withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter
His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake:
but the Lord will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to
the children of Israel."
The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is to be considered in
connection with the last chapter in Zechariah, for it relates to the
same events. Some take Matthew xxiv as having been in part fulfilled,
others as being now fulfilled. Both are incorrect. The chapter will
be fulfilled after the church is taken from the earth to be with the
Lord in the air. "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that
ye be not troubled, for these things must needs come to pass; the end
is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But
all these things are the beginning of trouble. Then shall they
deliver you up unto tribulation and shall kill you, and ye shall be
hated of all nations for My name's sake." . . . All this is
predictive of the great tribulation. The twenty-fourth chapter of
Matthew makes it clear that there will be a Jewish-Christian
remnant--not church--in the land, and a testimony will be given by
them. (See verse 14 and compare with Revelation xiv: 6, 7.) Neither
Zechariah xiv nor Matthew xxiv has seen a fulfillment. Jerusalem has
never been besieged by all nations, nor was only a part of the people
destroyed in its last siege by Titus.
_Verse 3._ "Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those
nations,
As when He fought in the day of battle."
The hour of their extremity has come and this brings the
intervention. The great tribulation in its beginning found a good
part of the Jewish people restored in unbelief in the land. Jerusalem
had become again a Jewish city, and a temple stands in the city. The
tribulation ends with Jerusalem taken, ruin once more, terrible
slaughter and suffering, and in the midst a remnant hopeful, waiting
for salvation from above. When there seems to be no escape Jehovah
will appear and fight against those nations. The heavens will be
opened and Jehovah's glory and power manifested. It will be as it was
in the day of battle.
"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt and he
pursued after the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went
out with an high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the
horses and chariots of Pharoah and his horse-men, and his army
overtook them encamping by the sea. . . And the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord . . . And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye
not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will
work for you to-day. . . The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall
hold your peace. . . And it came to pass in the morning watch that
the Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the
pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the
Egyptians. . . . The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the
sea. . . . There remained not so much as one of them." (Exodus xiv.)
"Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou
King Jehosaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear not ye, neither
be ye dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is
not yours, but God's. Ye shall not fight in this battle, set
yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you"
(2 Chronicles xx: 15-17). These are only two samples of what Jehovah
will do in His day and how He will save His people. In Matthew xxiv
we find the intervention in the twenty-seventh verse, "For as the
lightning cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west,
so shall be the coming of the Son of Man."
_Verse 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 be parted in the middle,
Toward the east and toward the west, a great valley,
And half of the mountain shall be removed northward
And the other half southward."
The east, the place where the sun rises, is made prominent in this
manifestation. From the east to the west the lightning flashes, thus
shall be the coming of the Son of Man.
"God cometh from Teman,
And the holy One from Paran
His splendor covereth the heavens,
And the earth is full of His glory" (Habbak. iii).
Teman is the country of the sons of the east, and Paran the desert
region extending from the frontiers of Judah to the borders of Sinai.
But there towards the east from Jerusalem stands a mountain. It
overlooks the whole city, and right in front, there is the valley of
Jehosaphat, the valley where the nations are assembled (Joel iii).
What a view from this mountain top! There is the city, and its
burning ruins are seen, there are the camps of the nations, with
their banners and cannons gathered now in fear and in trembling, for
the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Immediately after the
tribulation of these days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon . .
. and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens.
And now He Himself has descended from the heavens. His blessed feet
stand again upon the Mount of Olives. He stands upon the mountain,
and perhaps on the very spot where He stood centuries, many
centuries, before, after His passion and His resurrection when He
blest His disciples and had been removed from them with outstretched
arms. There stood the two heavenly visitors in that day with their
message, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking into heaven?
This Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come
in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven." A long, long time
past. Has He forgotten His promise? No, the hour had not come. But
men disbelieved the word of promise, I will come again. "And in the
last days mockers came with mockery, walking after their own lusts,
saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the days that
the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation" (2 Peter ii: 3, 4). But now the Lord has
come. He, the Son of Man, in His glory, is seen plainly from the city
and from the valley, and with Him the heavenly company, His saints.
The moment His feet touch the Mount of Olives there is an earthquake
which splits the mountain into two halves, and a great valley is
formed between these two parts. "The mountains quake at Him, and the
hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world
and all that dwell therein" (Nahum i: 5). As in the day of battle
when the Egyptian hosts were destroyed and He divided the sea, thus
will He divide the mountain and make a way for His trusting people,
_Verse 5._ "And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains,
For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal;
Ye shall flee as you fled before the earthquake,
In the days of Uzziah, King of Judah:
And Jehovah my God shall come,
And all the saints with Thee!"
The valley is the way by which the remnant will flee from the city.
The earthquake is mentioned only in another passage in the prophets.
Amos received the words of the Lord and the visions two years before
the earthquake. The details of the earthquake are not mentioned.
Perhaps the pious in the city, the Messiah-expecting Jews, hoped then
that the Promised One would appear, and they fled from the city. It
was during the reign of Uzziah (Jehovah is strength) that it
happened.
Jehovah who shall come refers us back to the fourth verse, where He
stands upon the Mount. Here He is seen not alone in His
manifestation, but His saints are with Him. It is an exclamation of
joyous surprise, All the saints with Thee! There above the Mount of
Olives a startling picture is seen. Countless human beings,
glorified, gathered out of all languages, nations, tribes and
countries, great and small, in white and shining robes, are seen
flowing down from the opened heaven. What multitudes! No man can
count them. What light and what glory! Brighter than the noonday sun.
And, oh! what hallelujahs, what wonderful singing in joy and praise
and adoration! When the shepherds were on the fields near Bethlehem
they heard the angels' song, but when He comes again there will be
singing and rejoicing, grander still. Then it will be indeed, Glory
to God in the highest, Peace on earth, good will towards men. The
singing of the redeemed will be heard. The mighty angels will not be
silent in their wake, and all the armies of heaven will escort the
King of kings and Lord of lords upon white horses. What a scene in
view of the places where He once suffered and died, and beheld by the
nations and Israel!
And every saint will share His glory then. Oh, wonderful grace for
redeemed sinners, which lifts them up to such glory, to come with the
Son of Man in His glory, and to share His throne. Why is there now so
little praise with His own, His redeemed ones? Why so often coldness?
Perhaps if we would gaze more into these visions of glory it would be
different, and there would be not only praise but in all the
wilderness experiences joy and patience, the patience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thus He, our Lord, the Leader and Perfecter of faith,
went through this life. "Who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God." And when the Lord comes with His saints
the remnant of Israel leaving the city will not be silent. Their song
will be, "Lo, He is our God; we have waited for Him; we will be glad
and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of
the Lord rest" (Isaiah xxv: 9).
_Verses 6 and 7._ "And it shall come to pass in that day
That the light shall not be with brightness and with gloom,
And the day shall be One.
It shall be known unto Jehovah.
Not day and not night
And at evening time there shall be light."
Many different interpretations of these two verses have been
attempted, most of them in spiritual teachings. The details of the
coming manifestation, can hardly be now all understood. This seems to
be clear in regard to the above that we have a prophetic description
of the phenomena in nature, in the heavens in that day. The
Septuagint translates, There shall not be light, but cold and ice.
This translation is incorrect. That day will be a day of darkness,
gloominess, followed by twilight and ending in the bursting forth of
a new light. "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore
would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light"
(Amos v: 18). "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord
God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken
the earth in a clear day" (Amos viii: 9). "The sun shall be turned
into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible
day of the Lord come" (Joel ii: 34 ). It is the same as in Matthew
xxiv, the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars. It
will be one day, a peculiar day, such as has never been before. In
the hour of His agony upon the cross there prevailed a darkness over
Jerusalem and the land; the same will be the case in His
manifestation and will inspire terror. At evening time the light will
shine, the Son of Righteousness, now fully risen, with healing under
his wings.
_Verse 8._ "And it shall be in that day
That living waters shall go out from Jerusalem,
Half of them to the eastern sea
And half of them to the western sea.
In summer and in winter shall it be."
Living waters flowing out from Jerusalem speak of the blessings which
the Lord will give through the city and the inhabitants to the
nations of the earth. Jerusalem established will indeed be a praise
in the earth. The Holy Spirit has been poured out and living waters
flow from the place which is the center of the world. The living
waters will never stop flowing. It will be for summer and winter.
What a fruitfulness there will follow. The whole earth will be
fruitful then, not alone in nature but in spiritual things. "For as
the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the
things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will
cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the
nations. Out of Zion there shall go forth the law and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be
glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. It shall
blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory
of Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and
Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our
God" . . . (Isaiah xxxv). "And he brought me back unto the door of
the house (the millennial temple); and behold waters issued out from
under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the
house was toward the east; and the waters came down from under, from
the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. Then brought
he me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the
way without unto the outer gate by the way of the gate that looketh
toward the east; and behold there ran out waters on the right side. .
. . Now when I had returned, behold upon the bank of the river were
very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto
me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go
down into Arabah, and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea
shall the waters go which were made to issue forth, and the waters
shall be healed" (Ezekiel xlvii). The waters flowing from the
threshold of the house empty into the sea . . . representing the
nations of the earth, and they receive healing and life.
_Verse 9._ "And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that
day shall Jehovah be one and His name one."
The true form of government is established. Jehovah is King. His
throne is then established over the earth, and from that place He
rules over all the nations in righteousness. The shepherd with the
rod of iron and the saints share this rule, while in the earth Israel
governs with a Prince of the house of David at their head. True unity
has come. The shameful divisions of Christendom, the work of the
enemy, the harvest of the flesh ended in a mock union of a Fatherhood
of God and brotherhood of man. Man attempts now to bring about a
unity of the race and unity in religions. He the glorified Head of
His body and His blessed atonement is denied. True Christendom ends
in a unity, under one head, but he is the Antichrist. In that day of
His coming again in glory there will be His name One, and He will be
known as the One God, and worshipped as such. Idolatry is abolished.
The abominations connected with it have ceased. Satan, the seducer of
the nations, is chained and seduces the nations no more. Confusion is
forever ended. "Then will I return to the nations a pure language,
that they may call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve Him with one
consent" (Zeph. iii: 9).
_Verse 10._ "All the land shall be changed like the plain
From Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem,
And she shall be lifted up and dwell in her place,
From Benjamin's gate unto the gate of the first place,
Unto the corner gate,
And from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine presses."
It is of little profit to understand the exact location of the places
mentioned in this verse; there is some difficulty in doing that. The
prophecy shows that in that day when the Lord has appeared there will
be a great change in the surface of Palestine. Everything will become
a plain. Now it is a land of mountains and hills. But then the hills
and mountains will be lowered and become a plain. Jerusalem, however,
is lifted up, and is seen shining in her earthly splendor and in it
the magnificent temple. In the midst of the millennial Jerusalem in
the earth will be another high place, still higher than the city. It
is the glorious Mount Zion. "But in the latter days it shall be that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills" (Micah iv:
1). Upon this high place the glory will rest. Thus it will be seen
and cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. "And the Lord will
create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her
assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of the flaming
fire by night; for over all the glory shall be spread a canopy"
(Isaiah iv: 5). From that high and glorious place in the earth the
communications and intercourse between the heavenlies and the earth
will perhaps take place, it will be the ladder upon which the angels
of God ascend and descend upon the Son of Man.
_Verse 11._ "And they shall dwell therein,
And there shall be no more curse,
But Jerusalem shall dwell safely."
The happiness of the Jerusalem in the earth. The curse is entirely
removed. While now Jerusalem is one of the most miserable places in
the earth, desolate and forsaken, and during the tribulation it will
be the place of misery, sin, and curse, it will become the most
blessed place in the Millennium. The Lord will show forth there His
great lovingkindness, and all the blessings we have reviewed in the
visions of Zechariah will all be fulfilled. "There shall be no more
thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his
days; for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner
being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build
houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the
fruit thereof. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall
not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree shall be the
days of My people and My chosen people shall long enjoy the work of
their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for
calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their
offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call
I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf
and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like
the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord" (Isaiah lxv). But
that wonderful city in the earth, the city of Jerusalem, in all her
blessing, joy, peace, prosperity, praise, and worship, is but a faint
type of that still more glorious Jerusalem which is then above. The
new Jerusalem, our glorious home, dear reader (if you are in Christ),
is then in the air, and at the end of the thousand years it will come
down and find its eternal resting-place in the new earth.
_Verses 12-15._ "And this shall be the plague
With which Jehovah will smite all the nations
That have warred against Jerusalem:
His flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,
And their eyes shall consume away in their sockets,
And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
And it shall be in that day
There shall be a great confusion among them from Jehovah,
And they shall lay hold everyone on his neighbor's hand,
And his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor,
And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem,
And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered,
Gold, and silver and apparel in great abundance.
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 those camps as this plague."
This is the description of the dreadful punishment which will befall
the enemies in that day. It is to be read in connection with the
third verse, the Lord fighting against those nations, and the
punishment will be upon them when He appears. Thus it is seen in
Revelation xix. He appears, and after His appearing there is the
scene of punishment of the enemies. "And I saw an angel standing in
the sun; and he cried with a loud voice to all the birds that fly in
mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of
God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains,
and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and them that
sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond and small
and great" (Rev. xix: 17, 18). What an awful judgment it will be! In
Ezekiel we have likewise a description of it. It is however to be
remarked that the vision of Ezekiel xxxviii and xxxix speaks of the
judgment which will fall upon the rebels of the last revolt at the
end of the thousand years. Still that second punishment is
foreshadowed in the first. "And thou, Son of man, thus saith the Lord
God, Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the
field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves upon every
side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great
sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and
drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the
blood of the princes of the earth. . . . And ye shall be filled at my
table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and all men of war,
saith the Lord God" (Ezek. xxxix: 17-23).
"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that
have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all
flesh" (Isa. lxvi: 24).
How wonderful the prophetic Word is! What a harmony! How dare men who
call themselves Christians deny its divinity and infallibility? The
wealth of the nations belongs then again to Israel. The nations
spoiled them, and now all the riches of the Gentiles become theirs.
Even so it is now during their dispersion. The nations who persecuted
and robbed the Jews during the middle ages have become the most
miserable and impoverished, while the Lord has given greater riches
to the Jews, and often drawn from the very countries who stole their
goods. From Egypt of old they came forth laden with silver and gold.
It will find a repetition, only on a grander scale, in the day of
their restoration. Now in unbelief and in dispersion they are the
richest of all nations. Oh! that the nations would now understand
it--the nations called Christendom--that "they are laboring for the
fire, and wearing themselves with vanity" (Habak. ii: 12), and that
the wealth and glory accumulated by them will fall a prey to the
Jews. "Ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and to their glory
shall ye succeed" (Isa. lxi: 6).
_Verse 16._ And it shall come to pass
All that is left of the nations which came against Jerusalem
Shall go up from year to year
To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts,
And to keep the feast of Tabernacles.
Nations will be left after the tribulation and the wrath--this is
clear from many passages of the Word. In the New Testament we have
the statement made at the first council in Jerusalem. "Brethren,
hearken unto me; Simeon hath rehearsed how God at first did visit the
Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this
agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After these things
I will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, which
is fallen; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set
it up; that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the
Gentiles, upon whom my name is called," etc. (Acts iv: 15-18). Number
one is the visitation of the Gentiles, a calling out of a people for
His name, and we are still living in number one. Number two is His
return, the building again and setting up of the tabernacle of David,
which can only come after the calling out of a people is accomplished
the fullness of the Gentiles come in; and number two and the events
connected with it we have learned from the studies in Zechariah. Then
follows number three, the residue of men seeking after the Lord. In
verse 16, they that are left of the nations correspond with the
residue of men in Acts iv. The temple will then stand in Jerusalem as
the house of glory and a house of prayer for all nations. There will
be a perfect worship, grand and glorious, and it will not be confined
to Israel, but the nations will join in it. We may learn perhaps from
this verse that the Lord will leave every year once His place on His
throne over the earth and come down to Jerusalem and show Himself in
His glory before the worshipping multitudes in the earth, as He is
seen in the New Jerusalem above. The occasion is the feast of
Tabernacles. It is the millennial feast. It is a feast kept in
remembrance of Israel's wanderings through the wilderness for forty
years and all their subsequent wanderings. It stands also for the
ingathering of the full harvest. A feast of joy, praise, and
thanksgiving. The Jews keep it to the present day, though few know
the full meaning of it. Every year when it comes again they read this
14th chapter of Zechariah. It is strange indeed. What a glorious
feast that will be, kept there in Jerusalem, when the fullness at
last has come! The fullness of the Gentiles has been gathered in, and
is in the New Jerusalem; the fullness of Israel has come in the
earth, and their receiving has been life from the dead, and the
Gentiles know the glory of the Lord. Some find a difficulty here in
the fact that it is stated that the nations, the residue of men, are
to come up to Jerusalem, and the difficulty is that it will be
impossible for all of them to do that. It is not at all necessary
that every individual must go up to Jerusalem once in a year. Perhaps
every nation will send representatives to the feast of Tabernacles,
and they come in the name of the different nations and bring their
presents. This seems to be indicated in the visit of the wise men
from the East, who came to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King
(Matthew ii). They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, In Isaiah
lx: 6 we read of the coming of the Gentiles to Jerusalem when the
Lord has come again. They shall come from Sheba; they shall bring
gold and frankincense (the myrrh is left out here, for it speaks of
suffering), and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. As the wise
men who came to Bethlehem were representatives of nations, so during
the Millennium the nations will send delegations to the feast of
Tabernacles. What a scene that must be! How crowded Jerusalem will be
by those from Greenland and from the interior of Africa, from India
and the islands of the sea, as well as from the nations which
composed the Roman empire. The ends of the earth have seen the
salvation of God, and now their praise is heard in the city and
mingling with the psalms sung by His own redeemed people.
_Verses 17-19._ And it shall be that whoso of all the families
of the earth
Shall not go up to Jerusalem
To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts,
Upon them there shall be no rain.
And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not,
Upon them shall be none.
There shall be the plague
Wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations
Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.
This shall be the sin of Egypt,
And the sin of all the nations
Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.
This is the other side. All those who refuse will be punished, and
the punishment will be very swift. From this and other prophecies it
is seen that not everything will go so smoothly as it is generally
believed during the Millennium. God's messengers in that day will be
the Jews going forth to proclaim the truth of God, and what preachers
they will make! Still some will be forced to submit. The end of the
thousand years brings a revolt from the side of the nations, which is
not a small matter. "And when the thousand years are finished, Satan
shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive
the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and
Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as
the sand of the sea" (Rev. xx: 7, 8).
From this we see that many of the nations, Gog and Magog, are only
too willing to side once more with the enemy, and to shake off, if it
were possible, the yoke of the rule of Jehovah's earthly people.
The last two verses we have to consider make the whole prophecy
perfect. It is the declaration that Jerusalem will be holy.
In that day there shall be on the bells of the horses
Holiness to Jehovah,
And the pots in the house of Jehovah
Shall be as the bowls before the altar.
Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah
Shall be holy unto Jehovah of Hosts.
And all they that sacrifice shall come
And take of them and sacrifice therein,
And there shall be no more Canaanite
In the house of Jehovah of Hosts in that day.
The most holy person in Israel, the high-priest, carried the
inscription, "Holiness to Jehovah" around his mitre, but now even the
little bells of the horses bear that inscription. In that temple
which stands during the Millennium sacrifices will be brought, but
there will be no difference in the vessels, which are used in
Jerusalem, the meanest and smallest will be holy. In one word all
will be holy, all will be consecrated to Jehovah. What a perfect
service that will be of the people which are then, in truth, a holy
people. Application can be made of this to believers now. Surely
everything the saint has, and his whole life, must be thus
consecrated to Jehovah, to the Lord. No Canaanite will be there,
nothing unclean. The Vulgate translates the word Canaanite with
merchant. It stands, however, with everything that is unclean and an
abomination. The city will be completely purged from it.
And of the new Jerusalem it is written, "There shall in no wise enter
into it any thing unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a
lie; but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life. . . .
Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the
murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a
lie." (Rev. xxi: 27 and xxii: 15.)
We have reached the end of the visions and burdens of Zechariah, the
son of Iddo, the prophet, who, indeed, may be termed the Prophet of
Glory. We praise our Lord for what He has taught us in these studies,
and for His Spirit, who guides His children into all truth and shows
us things to come. May he use this volume for the edification of the
saints and for a better understanding of the words of prophecy. We
are living on the very threshold of the fulfillment of all these
visions and words. Soon He will come for His saints, and even now the
Spirit groans within us. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
End of Project Gutenberg's Studies in Zechariah, by Arno C. Gaebelein