| THE DAY OF THE LORD |
|---|
| 1 Behold, a day of Yihvah comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. |
| Zech 14:1 The Day of Yihvah is coming – continuing the message of Zech 12:1-9, these are the last days when “Yihvah will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” This is of course, the Day spoken of in Ezekiel Chapter 38, and other passages. Zech 14:2 I will gather all the nations together to battle against Jerusalem – the meaning is “New Jerusalem,” but the Spiritual and Physical Jerusalem will be as one before the Day of the Lord, as we can see in verse 4, 8 and 12. Half of the city shall go into captivity – this is described by Christ in Luke 21:24 as, “led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are finished.” This is the spiritual captivity of the saints by the Antichrist, by the power of the beast.  Of course, we do not know the number of the elect but New Jerusalem will be in captivity for half of the time, until the Day of the Yihvah, the Day of Christ’s return, the Judgement Day. According to the Bible’s prophecies, this will be after 2643. From A.D. 31 until the sanctuary is cast down (Dan 8:11) in 193, is 162 years. Daniel said the sanctuary would be cleansed after 2,300 “days” (Dan 8:14). After which Satan will be released for 5 months (150 “days”) (Rev 9:5), to deceive the nations and gather them for the battle of Armageddon, when Christ will return . From the prophecy of the Messiah’s coming in Dan 9:25, we understand that all these “days” are years. In total, there are 2,610 years after A.D. 31. The saints were “in captivity,” in the hands of the Antichrist for 1,290 “days” (Dan 12:11), from 193, to 1471. They will be in captivity for half the time, (1290/2612), 49.4% of the time, until the Day of Yihvah. but the remnant shall not be cutoff – these are the saints who spend “42 months” under sackcloth, as described in Rev 11:3. |
| 3 Then Yihvah will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. |
| Zech 14:3 Yihvah will fight as when He fights on a day of battle – Yihvah, the Angel of Yihvah, was the warrior for Israel, and the captain of the armies. Normally, we think of the Day of the LORD, as the great Day of God’s wrath, but Rev 6:17 calls it “the Great Day of their wrath” – the wrath of Christ and God – “of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” The battle being described here, can be thought of first describing the Spirit of Christ who strikes down the nations, using the Word of God, as the Rider on the White Horse, in Revelation Chapter 19; and secondly as the warrior who comes with His Angels, in the last day to save His saints, and punish their enemies. |
| 4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. |
| Zech 14:4 His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives – this of course is not the invisible God, but Christ as the Angel of Yihvah, who will stand on the Mount of Olives. the Mount of Olives will be split – the deliverance of the saints on the last Day, is likened to the parting of the Red Sea. We can also see this in Rev 15:2-3. This is not the “physical Jerusalem” that is described, but the New Jerusalem that will be resurrected before flaming fire is poured out on the enemies of God. |
| 5 You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yihvah my God will come, and all the holy ones with you. |
| Zech 14:5 then Yihvah my God will come – Yihvah (He WILL BE) my ELOHIM, meaning Christ, with all the Angels, as described in 2 Thess 1:7. |
| 6 It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. |
| Zech 14:6 there will be no light – perhaps a reference to the final deception of Satan, that precedes this day, see Rev 20:7; or Matt 24:29, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” |
| 7 It will be a unique day which is known to Yihvah; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light. |
| Zech 14:7 a unique day known only to Yihvah – “only the Father knows the day and the hour” Matt 24:36. at evening time there will be light – see also Isa 60:19, and Rev 21:23. |
| 8 It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be. |
| Zech 14:8 living waters will flow from Jerusalem – when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved (Rom 11:25-26). The last will be first (Matt 20:16). Israel will be at the centre of God’s kingdom. The spirit of God shall go from Jerusalem, to the East and the West. |
| 9 Yihvah will be King over all the earth. In that day Yihvah will be one, and his name one. |
| Zech 14:9 Yihvah will be King over all the earth – in the Lord’s Day when Christ hands over the kingdom to God, see Dan 7:14; 1 Cor 15:24. God shall become the Lord, as He was in the Old Testament. it will be Yihvah one – on the Lord’s Day, which we see in the Book of Revelation. Christ shall submit to God, and be the speaker and image of the invisible God, as He was in the Old Testament. and His name one – Jesus will be the name of God, see Rev 22:16, “I, Jesus, sent My Angel.” The invisible God and His image will be as “one unit” in the Lord’s Day, just as they were in the Old Testament. The invisible God will be indistinguishable from His image. |
| 11 Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely. |
| Zech 14:11 Jerusalem will dwell in safety – before the Day of the Lord, the people of the world will dwell in safety, see 1 Thess 5:3, and Isa 2:4, the “nations will beat their weapons into plowshares.” In the battle of Armageddon, they shall come against a people “without walls,” (Ezek 38:11). |
| 12 This will be the plague with which Yihvah will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. |
| Zech 14:12 their flesh will rot… – a great description of the effect of nuclear weapons, which we must imagine must be used in the Great Battle of that Day. See also the description of the “sky rolled back as a scroll” in Rev 6:14. |
| 13 It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yihvah will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor. |
| Zech 14:13 the hand of one against the hand of another – describing the “valley of Jehoshapet” in 2 Ch 20:23, where they turned their swords against each other. Jehoshapet is called the battle place of the Great Day in Joel 3:2. |
| 14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance. 15 So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague. |
| Zech 14:14 the wealth of the surrounding nations – see also Isa 60:11; Rev 21:24. The nations will bring in their wealth to you. Zech 14:15 So like this plague will be the plague on the horse, etc – signifying the utter destruction of the enemies. Everything must be destroyed, as in the Old Testament wars against the corrupt enemies of God, Deut 13:15. |
| 16 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yihvah of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tents. 17 It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yihvah of Hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yihvah will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents. 20 In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YIHVAH;” and the pots in Yihvah’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yihvah of Hosts; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yihvah of Hosts. |
| Zech 14:16 any who are left of all the nations that came up against Jerusalem – those who are accepted after the judgment of God, described in Rev 20:11-15. the Feast of Booths – this can only be figurative, describing “the nations” in the New Heaven, and New Earth” (Revelation Chapters 21 – 22). The feast of booths is one of Israel’s three great festivals, to which one must go up to the tabernacle. This is a festival of thanksgiving, which the nations might freely attend. |
