Chapter 12 via Daniel 11:36 & Proverbs 24

In Zechariah chapter 12 we have the last siege of Jerusalem. There is a repetition of this in chapter 14. Therefore it becomes necessary to orient ourselves to the last half of the Tribulation of which the siege of Jerusalem is the last event, and the event which immediately precedes the second advent of Christ.

Daniel 11:36 — we have a king. This king is a dictator of Palestine in the Tribulation which is the end of the Jewish Age. The Jewish Age begins with the Patriarchs — Abraham to Moses. Then from Moses to Christ we have the period of the law, the second part of the Jewish dispensation. Then the Jewish Age is interrupted by the resurrection, ascension and session of Jesus Christ, and we have a period of intercalation of the Church Age. When the Church is completed the Church is resurrected and immediately we continue with the Jewish Age. The Jewish Age concludes with the Tribulation which is divided into periods of three and a half years plus three and a half years, and it is the last three and a half years which forms the back ground for Zechariah chapter 12, the siege of Jerusalem, second advent of Christ, and then the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus.

As soon as the Rapture takes place and the Church is removed from the world there is again a tremendous focus on Palestine. We have a period of power politics. Palestine will have a dictator in the Tribulation who will continue the power of Israel, and immediately surrounding him he finds himself encompassed by a series of influence. Power politics is the order of the day in the Tribulation. One of these spheres is called the king of the north. North of Palestine is Russia and should the Rapture of the Church take place tomorrow Russia would be the king of the north. The king of the south are the Arabic countries, though they are both south and east and also slightly west. They are called the king of the south. The kings of the east or the kings of the sunrising is a sphere of influence which are the oriental powers. However, they move into the picture as they cross the Euphrates river and come into the land from the east. Finally we have the king of the west, west and slightly north of Palestine, the revived Roman empire. Its dictator has his headquarters in Rome.

We find a dictator sitting in headquarters in Jerusalem trying to stay alive. Being a small and powerful country this poses something of a problem. Strategically Palestine is located between the Bosphoros and the Suez canal, and whoever controls these controls three continents. Therefore Palestine is of strategic importance. Secondly, the chemicals of the Dead Sea will have an increasing importance and therefore there is tremendous wealth in Palestine from the economic standpoint — natural resource type wealth. But above all Satan is still the ruler of the world in the Tribulation and as such he will seek to annihilate the Jew, and therefore he will try to bring to bear the spheres of influence, all converging on Palestine to annihilate Israel. This is seen in Revelation chapter 16 where demons are used in order to bring this about.

The dilemma and the character of the dictator of Palestine are described in verses 36 through 39 of Daniel chapter 11.

Verse 36 — “And the king shall do according to his will [and idiom which means he will be a dictator]; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god [he considers himself on a par with god. He is the false messiah, the false prophet], and shall speak marvellous [eloquent] things against the God of gods [Jesus Christ], and shall prosper till the indignation [Tribulation] be accomplished: for that which is determined shall be done [accomplished]” — the full course of the Tribulation will be run.

Verse 37 — “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers [Jesus Christ, the God of Israel], nor the desire of women [he will not be influenced by women in ruling Palestine], nor regard any god [he will not be influenced by religion]: for he shall magnify himself above all.”

Verse 38 — “But in his estate [the organisation of his country] shall he honour [make a treaty] the god of forces [the dictator of Rome. The dictator of Palestine is going to look around for an alliance]: … “

This explains the structure of Revelation 13, for example. There we have a beast from the sea, the Roman dictator, a Gentile. Then we have a beast from the land [Palestine] — a Jew. These two beasts get together and form an alliance that blows everything up at the end of the Tribulation. From his headquarters in Jerusalem he makes an approach to the Roman dictator to form an alliance. The Roman dictator says: “Not unless … “ 1. A share in Palestine’s natural resources; 2. Accept our religion.

“ … and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things [other considerations like economic values]”.

Verse 39 — “Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with [with the help of] a strange god, and with the help of those who acknowledge him [literal translation]” — his fellow gangsters who bring him into power — “he shall increase them with glory” — so we know he is not the real Messiah, but a false messiah. The true Messiah will divide the land according to the tribes; the false messiah will divide the land among his gangster friends; “and he shall cause them to rule over the many ["the many” is a technical term for the Jews], and he shall divide the land for gain” — not according to the tribes.

This all introduces a dictator living in the Tribulation, and this dictator is going to be involved because of his alliance in an all-out war.

Verse 40 — the background for Zechariah chapter 12. The pronouns must be watched, they give us the clue as to what is going on here.

“At the time of the end [of the Tribulation] shall the king of the south [the Pan-Arabic bloc] push at [make an attack] him [the dictator]: … “ That starts a war in the Middle East. But they do not succeed because someone gets there first — the king of the north. This means that the Jews have a good enough army to resist and to hold out the Arabs. “ … and the king of the north shall come against him” — as soon as the king of the north discovers that the Arabs are attacking he makes two attacks, one by sea via the Mediterranean, and one by land through Palestine from the north — “ … like a whirlwind, with chariots [armoured forces], and with horsemen [mobile forces], and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over” .This is an overall statement as to his objective.

Verse 41 — “He [king of the north] shall enter also into the glorious land [Palestine], and the many [title for the Jews throughout the book of Daniel] shall be overthrown [the Palestinian government will be overthrown]: but these [the Jews of the first half of the Tribulation] shall escape out of his hand, Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon” — Cf Matthew 24.

Matthew 24:9 — “they shall kill you” — this is international religion eliminating those who oppose it — “ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” — anti-Semitism in the Tribulation.

Verse 10 — “then shall the many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another” — tremendous internal disorder.

Verse 11 — “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many”.

Verse 12 — “And because the iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” .

Verse 13 — “But he that shall endure to the end [of the Tribulation]” — believers in Palestine can live throughout the Tribulation in a very troubled country, in a very troubled sphere of the world. How can they be delivered? — “the same shall be delivered” .This verse is not talking about spiritual salvation but physical deliverance.

Verse 14 — Here is the answer. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached” — there is evangelism and this is establishing the fact that there are believers in the world, and in Palestine specifically.

Verse 15 — “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation” — this is the golden statue which is put up in Palestine in the Holy of Holies. This is an image of the beast of Revelation 13:1-10, the dictator of the revived Roman empire. This means that the Jews are accepting this as their official religion and in return they are getting protection from the revived Roman empire. The installing of the image is a signal for Jews who have accepted Christ as saviour. They are to flee.

Verse 16 — “Then let them which be in Judea” — Jews in southern Palestine; “flee [keep on running] into the mountains” of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Many believing Jews will be safe there for the last three and a half years of the Tribulation. They are safe there because they ran.

Daniel 11:41 — “but these [Jews] shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the children [chief] of Ammon” — this refers to the Jews in these three mountainous areas who believed the Word of God, who followed the Word of God, who make the Word of God their life, and because they make Bible doctrine their life they live — are delivered. They endured to the end of the Tribulation. They are delivered because they followed the principle: “Man shall not live by bread alone but be every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God", and doctrine is real to them, is important to them, and they are delivered.

Verse 42 — back to the campaign. The armies of the king of the north are passing through now, they do not touch Edom, Moab or Ammon. “He [the king of the north] shall stretch forth his hand upon the country [he overflows these countries] and the land of Egypt shall not escape.”

Verse 43 — “But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians at his steps” — at his steps means agenda of conquest. In other words, he is going to conquer all of Africa so he has a twofold plan: 1. Army group “A” will move west along the coast of Africa and take it. It is important that he control the Mediterranean coast since his navy is going to operate in the Mediterranean. But he is taking Army group “B” and moving south toward Ethiopia. Objective: strategical conquest of Africa. He will use a strategic envelopement combined with a strategic penetration.

Verse 44 — But this plan is never launched. “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him [king of the north] … “ .There is a naval battle in the Mediterranean. The king of the west also has a navy and there is a naval battle north of Egypt in which the navy of the king of the north is decisively defeated. He is cut off by sea from his base of supply. The kings of the east [Revelation 16:12] also have crossed the Euphrates and moved into the land — Isaiah 63. They cut off the strong points of the king of the north, and when this happens the king of the north has to go back and open up his supply lines. He cannot launch his attacks. His first and last stop in opening up his supply lines is Jerusalem, and this is where we pick up Zechariah chapter 12 verse 1.

“therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and to utterly make away many [the Jews].”

Verse 45 — “And he [the king of the north] shall plant his palatial tents [command posts] between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him.” What is between the seas and the glorious holy mountain? The glorious holy mountain is the western escarpment of Jerusalem. So if you draw a line through the western escarpment of Jerusalem between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, you have a command post right on the western edge of Jerusalem. And so this is where this great army winds up and the Jews are looking at one of the most powerful armies in the world, commanded by a man who seeks their destruction, and the question is: what are they going to do about it?

In Jerusalem there are two kinds of Jews: believers and religious unbelievers. The unbelievers surrender; the believers hold out.

Proverbs 24:1-6

Daniel chapter 11 gives us the strategical situation for the siege of Jerusalem; Matthew 24 gives us instructional information for the siege of Jerusalem; Proverbs 24 explains the importance of the personnel involved in the siege of Jerusalem. Verses 1-6 describe the importance of mental attitude in a crisis.

Proverbs 24:1 — “Be thou not envious against evil men.” The command “be not envious” is a piel stem, and envy, of course, is a very intensive type mental attitude sin. So when we get a phrase which commands us to be not envious the first thing we have to do is to examine the doctrine of mental attitude sins. Mental attitude sins produce self-induced misery. The worst category of sins are the mental attitude sins. Mental attitude sins are usually the basis for other sins and therefore the piel stem is used to indicate intensification. It tells us that you cannot have mental attitude sins without being a sucker, it creates its own misery. There are always enough people around you who will make misery for you without manufacturing any of your own. When the command is given here to “be not envious” the subject is the believer. Why? Because mental attitude sins neutralise the effectiveness of phase two. The object could be anything. But in this case probably the object is an unbeliever who is living it up, who is having a marvellous time and is a real stinker. But you cannot ever be great in the Christian life and fulfil your ambassadorship and have mental attitude sins as your habitual area of weakness.

In order to get into the bracket, “be not envious,” there must be something fulfilled first: the filling of the Holy Spirit. People who have the mental attitude sin problem, who are habitually out of fellowship through mental attitude sins, spend their whole lifetime merely rebounding and they never move any further. It is impossible to get any further without getting away from habitual mental attitude sinning. What is the emphasis in the Word of God? Always on what you think. That is what counts.

“evil men” — The word “evil” in the Hebrew is ra’a .It means old sin nature; it is the principle of evil, not evil as a practice. It means those who are controlled by the old sin nature. Envy of men operating under the principle of evil brings up the concept of the details of life. There is nothing wrong with the details of life. It is when the details of life are put above the Lord that is wrong. You can enjoy the details of life if you have Bible doctrine. For example, you can enjoy money if you have it but if you lose it you can still be happy. With Bible doctrine you can still have happiness if you lose the details of life. But if you are minus doctrine and you have mental attitude sins and through it self-induced misery, now the details of life only make you miserable. When you find a believer who is envious of unbelievers you find a person who has placed his emphasis on the details of life and therefore he has a false scale of values. He does not put doctrine in its proper place — Matthew 4:4.

“neither desire to be with them” — participating in the details of life to the exclusion of Bible doctrine. “neither desire” is a piel stem of the verb awah, which means an intense desire, an intense desire to participate in the details of life by association with those who have the details of life is the concept here. This means that such a believer excludes Bible doctrine from his scale of values.

Verse 2 — “For their heart studieth destruction.” The word “heart” refers to the mentality of the soul. This is the mentality of the person involved — the man of wickedness — and it can be a believer but it is generally an unbeliever in this context. The word for destruction is the Hebrew word shod, and it means destruction of a certain type: revenge tactics, tactics based on mental attitude sins.

It means oppression, violence, revenge tactics. And the one who is under the control of the old sin nature spends all of his time trying to get even, to show someone else, and so on.

“their lips speak mischief” — the word “mischief” simply means misery. There is a principle involved here: you can’t build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness. Jealousy has to make those around miserable. Jealousy always expresses itself. The point is that you as a believer are never going to be able to express a mental attitude sin without adding to your self-induced misery some form of overt misery. The compound interest of mental attitude sins is absolutely fantastic. Miserable people seek to make other people miserable and wind up being twice as miserable themselves.

So in these two verses we have mental attitude sins, desire — which brings in lust, revenge tactics — making others miserable, and the sins of the tongue. This is true of human life; it is true more so of the spiritual life; it is just simply a divine law: you cannot have the uncontrolled operation of these four things and ever be great or successful in anything. For one thing they tie up your concentration.

Let’s take these and bring them into the Christian life. Whatever you do in phase two as a believer you represent the Lord Jesus Christ, you are in full-time Christian service, you are an ambassador. So there must be something which God has designed to offset. This is a divine law for people in general but this is a specific modus operandi for phase two. So what has God provided for you as a believer so that you can eliminate these two verses from your Modus operandi? The answer is now found in verses three and four: through wisdom. Wisdom is the big key — the application of doctrine from the human spirit to the facets of the soul.

Verse 3 — the believer is pictured as a house here. “Through wisdom an house is builded” .The house represents the believer’s soul and the rooms of the house are the facets of the soul. The word “builded” means growth, function, production. It is a niphel (passive stem) imperfect — we receive growth. This is always true. The passive voice is grace, we receive this growth through what God has provided.

“by understanding” — understanding of doctrine; “it is established” is literally, one prepares himself. The hithpael stem is reflexive, and it means here to prepare one’s self. One prepares himself by understanding doctrine. This is what is implied in the verse.

There were two men in Jerusalem at the time of the siege of Jerusalem who were prepared. They were prepared mentally, academically, professionally, because they had the right type of mental attitude as believers, and from the right mental attitude they went into their profession as soldiers and they did a fantastic job. They faced one of the greatest crises in all of history and in this crisis they performed magnificently as taught in verses 5 and 6 of Zechariah 12. And the reason they did and the reason all men who have been great heroes in history are able to do so is because in the pressure they can perform. Pressure does not deter. They have passed all of the pressure tests in the area of mental attitude sins. So by understanding doctrine one prepares himself.

Verse 4 — “And by knowledge [of doctrine] shall the chambers be filled.” We have five chambers: self-consciousness, mentality, volition, emotion, conscience. Knowledge of doctrine puts furniture in the rooms. “Shall be filled” is a niphel [passive stem] imperfect — “shall receive filling", literally. In other words the doctrine is in the human spirit and it is piped into each of the rooms.

“with all precious and pleasant things. “Precious” — doctrine provides things of value, is what precious means. “Pleasant” — doctrine provides stimulation. Everything of value in your life, in each room of your soul, depends on Bible doctrine. The believer minus doctrine is like a person who owns an empty house. The house stands — comparable to positional truth — but there is no furniture, no decoration. An empty house can never succeed in phase two.

Verse 5 — a positive mental attitude. “A wise man is strong” — a wise man is a man who knows Bible doctrine, a believer who operates on all systems “go” in the realm of his soul, a believer who is getting Bible doctrine from the human spirit to the facets of the soul, a believer who has in each of the five rooms furniture. This is a wise man, a believer who knows and applies doctrine. He is said to be “strong.” The word for “strong” is oz, and it means full of power, full of strength, full of stability. It means a strong, powerful mental function, a mental function that goes right on through everything — “yes, a man of knowledge [believer with Bible doctrine] increases strength” ."Increases strength” is a piel participle plus a noun for power — koach — and this word means “out of strength, strength is built” .Illustration: Muscle builds muscle. In sport you build muscle by weight lifting, by repetition of weight lifting.

In the Christian life God gives every believer the equipment to build strength. But strength is built on strength, so what does this mean in this passage? You cannot build a spiritual life on mental attitude sins. “A wise man is strong.” In other words, doctrine makes you strong. You have to have doctrine on which to build something. Knowledge of doctrine is the basis for building a spiritual life, and without doctrine you cannot.

Verse 6 — This is very poorly translated in the King James Bible. The last phrase is not found that way in the original language — “wise counsel” — this refers to a believer with doctrine using it in his profession, in his whole life. Doctrine is his life so therefore he uses it. Doctrine is to the spiritual life as breathing is to the physical life. “Counsel” is the utilisation of strategy and tactics and logistics in a military situation. In other words, we are talking about a professional soldier; “thou shalt make war” — this is an officer functioning in wartime. The correct translation of the rest of this verse is: “for victory is in the greatness of the one counselling” .(In the multitude of counsellors is confusion!) The one counselling has doctrine. He learns his profession as unto the Lord and as a result he is great, minus mental attitude sins plus greatness. The result is victory. Example: Zechariah 12:5 — “And the generals of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem my strength in the Lord of hosts their God” .Verse 6 — “In that day I will make the generals of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left ...” In other words, they become successful.

In the last battle of history two generals become successful because of the pattern in Proverbs 24. Bible doctrine is their foundation. They add strength to strength to strength until they are great. In time of crisis they persuade the believers in Jerusalem to fight. They also organise them to fight. Their greatness comes out.

What is the application to us as believers? Your greatness as a believer depends upon your knowledge of Bible doctrine. Your knowledge of Bible doctrine depends upon adding to it, strength builds strength. The weaker you are the more impossible it is for you to become strong. Doctrine builds strength; doctrine builds doctrine.

In the history of Jerusalem there have been many sieges. The Jebuzites held Jerusalem for many centuries and it was the one part of the so-called holy land that was not conquered by Joshua or by any generation immediately afterwards. The Jebuzites maintained their hold on Jerusalem, which was a part of the land belonging to the tribe of Judah, until the time of David. David finally conquered Jerusalem. From that time on Jerusalem has endured many sieges by practically every great empire that has existed. Three are outstanding in history. Two are historical and one is prophetical: the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC which began the fifth cycle of discipline [the first administration]; the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD [the second administration]; the siege of Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation as a part of the Armageddon campaign. These are probably the three outstanding sieges of Jerusalem and it is the third one that we have before us in this passage.

Chapter 12:6 is an account of the Tribulational siege of Jerusalem. Notice the pattern for this passage. There is one phrase that is repeated about six times, and this phrase explains something of the way the Jews give an account of something. When the Jews want to give an account of an event and emphasise it they give a summary account, and then they go back and give the various parts of the account. This is the system which is used here. Notice that each time that this phrase reappears there will be an overlap. The last phrase will indicate something of what is being discussed in the siege of Jerusalem and it becomes the subject then for the next paragraph.

The paragraphs actually begin in verse three and our key phrase is “in that day.” Then you have a brief summary. Then in verse four you have again, “in that day,” followed by a brief summary. Then in verse six, “in that day,” followed by a brief summary. Then in verse eight, “in that day,” followed by a brief summary. Then in verse nine, and finally in verse eleven. So six times you have the phrase “in that day", and this gives us the structure for the entire passage.

The first two verses really constitute an introduction. So when the Jews want to work something out they always introduce the subject. And then the key phrase occurs in verse three. The siege of Jerusalem is really the subject of the entire chapter but they do not simply cover something chronologically, step by step. They simply give a summary.

Verse 1 — “The burden from the word of the Lord for Israel.” That is a title; that’s all it is. The word “burden” doesn’t really mean burden at all, it means a crushing weight of judgement. The Hebrew word means a weight of judgement against a nation. God is going to judge a nation, specifically the nation Israel. And during the Tribulation Israel is judged as a nation. God is constantly in the process of judging nations. However, the word “burden” means this type of a judgement: a stone, and it is going to fall on the nation Israel. But Israel is going to be attacked by the king of the north, by the king of the west, the kings of the south, and by the kings of the east; they are all going to attack, and they are going to be crushed. And when the stone falls everyone is going to be crushed except believers — “for Israel” is literally, concerning Israel. This is in the future — “saith the Lord” — Jesus Christ. “Lord” is the tetragrammaton, Jehovah, which is used for the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. How do we know it is the second person here? By the phrases that follow in verse one: there are three identifying phrases, a) “who stretcheth forth the heavens,” a qal active participle which means the creation of the universe and the function of the universe. And this is a summary of Colossians 1:16,17; b) “and layeth the foundation of the earth” — Hebrews 1:10; c) “and formeth the spirit [life] of man within him” .The word for spirit here means life and it is a reference to Genesis 2:7 when He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of lives. He gave the original man a soul and spirit.

In verses 2 and 3 Jerusalem is the subject and we have a quick reference to the third siege of Jerusalem.

Verse 2 — “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling.” “I will make” is a qal active participle which indicates the fact that this will be a continuous activity which will reach its climax at the end of the Tribulation — “cup” is a drinking goblet, and the word “trembling” is reeling [from intoxication]. In other words, Jerusalem is pictured as a goblet filled with some very strong intoxicant. And who is going to drink? The king of the north, the kings of the east, the king of the south, the king of the west, and the dictator of Palestine [who is a Jew]. So there are five spheres of influence who are going to drink and are going to be reeling in intoxication; “unto all the people round about” — this is a reference to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are going to share in this judgement; “when they shall be in the siege against Judah and against Jerusalem” — Judah is the southern kingdom and Jerusalem is its capital.

Verse 3 — “And in that day” — here is our key. It refers to the siege of Jerusalem — “I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone” — a stone which crushes, a stone which is so heavy that it cannot be lifted up out of the road. In other words, there is in this phrase the finality of judgement. What is meant by a final judgement? The destruction of the peoples involved. Five peoples are involved: the unbelieving Jews who are religious [Matthew 24], just as they were in the day of our Lord; the king of the north who is the chief antagonist, the king of the west, the kings of the east whose destruction is described in Isaiah 63, and finally the king of the south. So there will be a destruction of five different spheres of influence; “for all people” — Gentiles; “all that burden themselves with it” — all that seek to destroy Jerusalem are going to be involved — “shall be cut to pieces” — the destruction of these invading armies. “Cut to pieces” is actually two verbs and it is used for total annihilation. Cf Revelation 14:20; Isaiah 34:5,6; 63:-6; Joel 2:20; Ezekiel 39:11; “who burden themselves with it” — in other words they come into the land and they are going to be annihilated. Why? Because the Lord interferes .

Divine interference (intervention) — illustrations.

1. Exodus 14 where we have a helpless population. The Jews have just come out of slavery, they have no ability to defend themselves, they are being pursued by the armoured forces of Pharaoh, they come to a natural boundary which they cannot penetrate, and when they start to fall apart Moses stands up and says: “Stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord, the Lord will fight for you today” .And the Lord protected them. This was divine interference, though we might call it divine intervention. God had a plan for Israel and even though He knew the Jews were going to fail Him, yet He delivered them. They did not deserve it. This is grace.

2. In the days of King Hezekiah the prophet Isaiah hit the people with doctrine but they were still in a hopeless situation — Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem. But 185,000 of Sennacherib’s troops were destroyed by the Lord. That is intervention! That is grace.

3. Then we have the siege of Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation, the Armageddon siege. There is going to be a tremendous amount of fighting and destruction, and there is going to be a number of days of fighting before the Lord delivers. And the Lord’s deliverance is described in Zechariah chapter twelve verse four.

Verse 4 — “I will smite every horse with astonishment [terror].” In the future the horses could refer to armoured forces. The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. In the time this was written they had horse cavalry. Now we have armour in place of horse cavalry. “I will smite” — hiphil stem, which means “I will cause them to be smitten.” If this is armoured forces this includes men manipulating and using the various types of tanks, etc. How do they get into this terror situation? Well, actually the word “astonishment” means confusion, and the confusion was going to come from one very simple thing: you cannot manoeuvre armour and motorised infantry, and anything that is mechanised, in a total darkness situation. And they re going to be in a total darkness; “I will open mine eyes,” an idiom for protection. Believers are going to be protected by confusion in the ranks of the enemy; “I will smite” — the opposing armies; “with blindness” .However the word “blindness” doesn’t mean blindness, it means darkness. It doesn’t mean the enemy goes blind, it means they cannot see because of the supernatural darkness. The supernatural darkness is what confuses the enemy. This supernatural darkness is described in many passages of scripture — Isaiah 13:9,10; Joel 2:10,11; 3:15; Amos 5:18; Ezekiel 32:7,8; Revelation 6:12.

This is part of the story, but there was a faith-rest operation that led up to this darkness. When everything seems hopeless and the armies of the king of the north are about to annihilate the believers who are resisting, that is on the last day. But prior to the last day there is fighting. Believers are going to use weapons. Men and women are going to fight for their very lives in the streets of Jerusalem, and this is the story of verses 5 and 6.

Verse 5 — “And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart” .To speak in the heart is to think. The heart is the mentality of the soul. But who is the governor here? There are two of them. The singular form of the word “governor” here is alluph, and this does not mean governor. When this was translated into the Septuagint the Greek word used was xiliaxor, a general officer. The alluph is a general. So in this time when the armies of the king of the north have now invaded Jerusalem there are some people who are thinking — two generals of Judah — “The inhabitants of Jerusalem.” In other words, they are going to pull in what remnants they have of their troops and they are going to make a stand in Jerusalem — “my strength.” The words “shall be” are not there, there is no verb; “in the Lord of hosts their God” — “their God” emphasises the fact that they have believers. The two generals say: “Here is our hope, let’s go in there with them.” And notice they say, “their God.” These are believers. So they are going to use the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is their last pool resource, and while these people are not trained they are armed and they have the mental attitude to fight, they are willing to resist.

Verse 6 — “In that day I will make the generals of Judah like an hearth of fire” — this is fire which is saved in some part of a fireplace and used the next day to light the stove. In other words, they are going to fire up these people; “like a torch of fire in a sheaf” — any kind of dry grass which when torched burns fiercely. In other words, these generals are going to fire up the people of Jerusalem who are believers. These believers have a mental attitude of divine viewpoint, which means they have the willingness to fight and to die for a cause; “and they shall devour all the people round about” — they are so inspired to fight that it says “they shall devour.” The word “devour” means slaughter. They shoot to kill, a correct mental attitude. What made these people great in the last phase of the siege? Mental attitude made the difference, mental attitude divine viewpoint; “and Jerusalem shall be inhabited as [not in] Jerusalem.” This nucleus is going to be delivered. And what do these believers do? After one glorious battle they go into one thousand years of perfect environment and they will be the basis for the repopulation of the earth in the Millennium. And they will live in Jerusalem for one thousand years.

The word for “inhabited” is a qal perfect of yashab, and yashab means to be inhabited with blessing. They are going to live in blessing, and the perfect tense means that it is a permanent situation. This blessing is described in such passages as Ezekiel 40-48; Revelation 21:2, 10-27; 22:1-5.

In verses 7-14 we have the subject of the deliverance in Jerusalem. In verse 7 we are breaking in to the middle of a paragraph which began in verse 6.

Verse 7 — Notice a phrase which recurs throughout this passage and in a sense gives us the subject matter. The real subject matter is not the siege of Jerusalem but the people involved in the siege of Jerusalem. We know this because of the repetition of the phrase “the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” We saw this first in verse 5: “And the generals of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength.” The phrase “inhabitants of Jerusalem” in verse 5, as in every verse where the phrase occurs, refers to believers, born-again Jews, none of whom are more than three and a half years old in the Lord. In other words, they are people who are saved in the last half of the Tribulation, they are living in the city of Jerusalem, they are under maximum pressure as few cities have been in history. The phrase occurs again in verse 6 where is says: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited again” .Now these inhabitants go over into the Millennial reign of Christ — with their old sin natures. The implication of this is obvious from a little phrase at the end of verse 7 where it says: “the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.” The word to magnify here is a word referring to a mental attitude sin — pride.

Here we have the inhabitants of Jerusalem. If Jesus Christ had delivered the inhabitants of Jerusalem before the inhabitants of Judah then the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the Millennium might magnify themselves over the inhabitants of the southern kingdom, Judah. Why? Because all of these people who are saved and are going into the Millennium still have an old sin nature. And so this passage is one of those fascinating passages which shows us the potentialities of the operation of the old sin nature under perfect environment. And under perfect environment with Jesus Christ personally reigning, what kind of sin dominates the scene? Not overt sins which are suppressed and repressed but mental attitude sins. The word “magnify” connotes pride, the operation of ego. It also connotes the principle of approbation lust working into the situation as well.

Verse 7 — “The Lord shall save.” The word for “save” here is a hiphil stem, which means to deliver. It refers to physical deliverance from pressure or catastrophe, not personal salvation.

“the tents of Judah” refer to the people who live outside of the city of Jerusalem. Judah is the southern part of Palestine. The tents of Judah refer to the inhabitants of the southern part of Palestine who are believers, and they are going to be delivered first at the second advent. Why? To avoid any expression of pride in the Millennium. The citizens of Jerusalem have always had a superiority complex. Here, they do not magnify themselves above Judah; they can’t say that they are superior to other believers in the southern kingdom. So in order to avoid this possibility the second advent delivers Judah before Jerusalem. Here then is an important principle: under perfect environment there will still be an old sin nature.

Verse 8 — the courage of the remnant. First of all we see in verse 7 the potential carnality of the remnant — the pride factor — and now we see the courage factor.

“he that is feeble” .What is a “feeble” person here? A feeble person can be described as being hopeless, helpless, useless. In other words, a person who has no physical ability and no mental ability to meet the crisis. In Jerusalem during the crisis we have people bottled up, many of whom are not effective with weapons. But they have the mental attitude to learn in a hurry and they also have the courage to stand up with inferior weapons and fight a superior force, the army of the king of the north, with a minimum of training. That is what is meant by the word feeble. Whatever they lack in weapons and ability they make up with mental attitude.

“In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem” — now they are making some attempt to defend themselves. Grace comes in and does the rest of the job. Obviously these are “feeble", they have the right mental attitude, they can fight and resist for a certain period of time; they couldn’t do it indefinitely, eventually they would be destroyed. But God honours their application of doctrine. Grace meets the application of doctrine. The application of doctrine for these people is: kill the enemy — and they do.

“at that day shall be like David” — David didn’t know how to fight when he went against Goliath. So what did David have? It was his mental attitude that made him charge the giant — minus mental attitude sins. “Like David” means that they may not have the best equipment but they have the mental attitude. They were “feeble” but they fought.

“and the house of David as God” — this is an idiom, it is not literal. The house of David is the leadership of Israel. And “as God” refers to immutability and/or stability of character. No military setback, no overwhelming disaster, disturbs the leadership. This refers to the aluph [general] in verse 5.

“as the angel of the Lord before them” .The angel of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of Christophanies

1. Christophany is simply two Greek words — Xristoj, the word for Christ or anointed one, and fanew, which means to appear. So Christophany means an appearance of Jesus Christ before the incarnation. There are several types of appearances of Christ. For example, Jesus Christ appeared as a wrestler to Jacob. He also appeared as a man to Abraham. The other type of Christophany is when Jesus Christ takes the form of an angel. [The are inanimate Christophanies such as the Shekinah glory, the cloud, the pillar of fire, and the burning bush]

2. The angel of the Lord [Jehovah] is the Lord [Jehovah] — Genesis 16:7-13; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 48:15,16; Exodus 3:1ff (Acts 7:30-38); Exodus 13:21; 14:19; Judges 6:11-23; 13:9-20.

3. The angel of the Lord is distinct from the Lord, e.g. Genesis 24:7,40; Numbers 20:16; Exodus 23:20; 1 Chronicles 21:15-18; Isaiah 63:9; Daniel 2:25-28. The point is that every now and then you find Jehovah sending the angel of Jehovah, or Jehovah speaking to the angel of Jehovah. This is a very important doctrine because it shows us that while one person of the Trinity is the angel of Jehovah there are passages which show that the angel of Jehovah and Jehovah are different persons. This is one way in which you distinguish between the members of the Godhead and one way in which the Trinity is taught in the Old Testament.

4. The angel of Jehovah is the second person of the Trinity. Why? The simplest answer to that is: the second person of the Trinity is the visible member of the Godhead, the revealed member of the Godhead — John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12.

5. The angel of Jehovah no longer appears after the incarnation.

6. But the angel of Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ of the incarnation are both sent by the Father.

7. The angel of Jehovah could not be the Father or the Spirit, according to John 1:18.

It is the angel of Jehovah who slaughtered the army of Sennacherib; it was the angel of Jehovah who was responsible for several victories under Joshua; the angel of Jehovah was the one who intervened to destroy the armoured forces of Pharaoh in the pursuit of the Exodus. And so when it says that anyone fought like the angel of Jehovah it means born-again believers using their weapons so effectively that they literally slaughtered the enemy.

Verse 9 — in this verse we have killing authorised by God. The slaughter of the besiegers: “in that day” — at the end of the Tribulation, at the time of the second advent; “that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” ."I will seek” is a piel stem which does not mean to seek. It says: “I determined” [that any soldier who is in Palestine representing any international organisation or sphere of influence will die].

The words “to destroy” is a hiphil infinitive [causative active voice] which indicates that while God does not kill them all personally He causes them all to be killed; “that come against me” — a qal active participle. The qal active participle is linear aktionsart in the Hebrew, and the linear aktionsart of this particular participle indicates anti-Semitism. And since this is anti-Semitism in the Tribulation we have a detailed commentary on it in Revelation chapter 12, and 14:20; 19:21; Isaiah 34:5,6; 63:1-6: Joel 2:20; Ezekiel 39:11.

The doctrine of anti-Semitism

1. The anti-Semitism clause is found in Genesis 12:1-3.

2. In the pattern of anti-Semitism any nation, any entity, in fact any individual who maltreats the Jew, is going to be punished for it. Nations have been destroyed because of persecution of the Jews. There is a principle here: God doesn’t need any help in His discipline of the Jews. The book of Nahum is a good illustration of what happens to a nation which practices anti-Semitism.

3. The concept of Israel — there are three: a. A Jew is a racial concept. Racially, a Jew is any member of the human race who has the genes of Abraham (Note: 90 per cent of Arabs have the genes of Abraham), Isaac, and Jacob; b. The regenerate Jew, Old Testament type taught in Romans 9:6-14. The Jews didn’t start like other races. All other races started with natural generation; the Jewish race actually started with regeneration. Abram was Chaldean but the moment he was born-again that is the moment the Jewish race began. Abraham was a Jew; The religious concept.

4. How do you evaluate a Jew? a. As an individual, just like you would evaluate anyone else; b. As a nation, Israel; c. As citizens in a nation. He must be judged on whatever basis you evaluate people in their political and social standards, and so on. What is the basic structure of his thinking?; d. You must also evaluate certain Jews as internationalists — Marx and Engels, both were Jews. e. As a Christian. How do you evaluate a Jew who has become a Christian? You don’t .You keep your nose out of other people’s business.

5. The future of the Jew. First of all, any Jew who accepts Jesus Christ as saviour has eternal life; any Jew who rejects Christ will end up in the lake of fire. The born-again Jews of the Tribulation will go into the Millennium. The born-again Jews in the Church are no longer Jews, just as born-again Gentiles are no longer Gentiles, the are Church, members of the body of Christ and in the future will be the bride of Christ.

Anti-Semitism will be judged at the second advent of Christ — Zechariah 12:9.

Throughout this particular section we have had a key that goes to the end of the book. “In that day” is a phrase which is repeated many times. Each time we have the repetition of that particular phrase it is indicative of some part of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord begins one second after the Rapture of the Church with the Tribulation and continues to the second advent, the Millennium, and down to the end of time. The day of the Lord sometimes refers to the inclusive period and sometimes to one point in that particular segment of time. We have been observing the day of the Lord as it refers to the siege of Jerusalem, and throughout Zechariah chapter 12 “in that day” refers to various aspects of the siege.

Verse 10 — The subject beginning in verse 10 is Millennial spirituality. The word “bitterness” in this verse reflects the concept of Israel missing the boat and the word should be translated “regret” — at having lost an opportunity in time to honour the Lord. This is not eternity because their will be no regrets in eternity, but this is an event that occurs immediately after the second advent of Jesus Christ.

However, the primary subject of verse 10 is the phrase: “I will pour out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” We met the inhabitants of Jerusalem first in verse 5 where under the leadership of two great generals they are able to crank up and start to resist. We met them again in verse 7 where we have a reference to them at the end of the verse. We met them again in verse 8 and now again in verse 10. It is a technical phrase referring to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those on whom the Holy Spirit is poured out are believers in Jesus Christ who have just passed through the baptism of fire. The Millennium begins a new civilisation as well as a new dispensation and it begins with believers only, two categories: Jews and Gentiles. In the category of Jewish believers we have the inhabitants of Jerusalem, born again believers who have been fighting the armies of the king of the north in the siege. They have been resisting, they have been fighting, and now they go into the Millennium. And at the moment that the baptism of fire is over and the unbelievers are cast off we have the second advent of the Holy Spirit.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the dispensation of Israel

The dispensation of Israel is divided into three parts. It began with Abraham. The first period is called the period of the patriarchs — from Abraham to Moses. The second section is the period of the law from Moses to Christ. Then we have the parenthetical age for the Church Age, and then the third section after the Rapture of the Church which is the Tribulation. The Jewish Age ends with the second advent. The Church Age ends with the Rapture — believers go up. The Jewish Age ends with the second advent — Christ returns to the earth. The Church Age is a continuous age; the Jewish Age is broken up by the Church Age. Therefore, the Church Age is often called the period of intercalation.

In the Age of Israel the Holy Spirit has some relationship to some believers. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the same for all three periods of the Age of Israel. (We are excluding the Church Age which is parenthetical as far as the Jewish Age is concerned) Remember that the Jewish Age includes the Tribulation and in the Tribulation we have the same ministry of the Holy Spirit, a specialised ministry, not a universal ministry.

1. The Holy Spirit indwelt a limited number of Old Testament believers in the Jewish Age. It was a specialised ministry of the Holy Spirit. (The ministry in the Church Age and the Millennium is universal) Illustration: Joseph, Genesis 41:38; the tailors who made the priestly garments, Exodus 28:3; the workmen who constructed the tabernacle, Exodus 31:3; the seventy elders who assisted Moses, Numbers 11:17, 25; Joshua, Numbers 27:18; the judges: Othniel 3:10; Gideon 6:34; Jepthah 11:29; Samson 13:25; 14:6; 15:14; the kings: Saul, 1 Samuel 10:9,10 and David 1 Samuel 16:13; After the administration of the 5th cycle of discipline: Daniel, Daniel 4:8; 5:11,12; 6:3; the rulers after the 5th cycle: e.g Zechariah 4:3 — Zerubbabel.

2. As a discipline from God any believer who had the Holy Spirit could lose Him. E.g. Saul, 1 Samuel 16:14; David, Psalm 51:11 — “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.”

3. Under the dispensation of Israel it was possible to ask for the Holy Spirit. The first illustration of this goes back to the time of the prophets — Elisha asked for the Holy Spirit and received the Holy Spirit, 2 Kings 2:9,10. During the time that Jesus was on earth He lived in the dispensation of Israel, not in any portion of the Church Age (and never will be). He cannot even touch the earth during the Church Age. He left this earth ten days before the Church Age began and He will come back to this earth seven years after the Church Age is over.

Jesus tried to give the disciples the Holy Spirit on three occasions, and on the third time they were so dumb that He just simply breathed on them the Holy Spirit. The first occasion was Luke 11. Every time you ask God for the Holy Spirit in the Church Age you have insulted Him. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ you have the Holy Spirit. How can you ask for something you already have? This passage (Luke 11) is talking about another dispensation. It is talking about the Age of Israel and it follows the same principle as 2 Kings 2:9,10. Luke 11:9 refers to the ministry of the Spirit in the Age of Israel, the rest of the context tells us. In verses 11, 12 we have illustrations. Verse 13 is to show that in the Age of Israel the disciples needed the Spirit, and they should be asking for the Spirit, and they would have been given the Spirit. And then Jesus showed them what the indwelling Spirit could do because in verse 14 He casts out a demon. The people were astounded and the disciples should have asked for the Spirit but they did not. So this merely illustrates a principle in the Age of Israel: they received the Spirit by simply asking for Him — in contrast to the Church Age where we are given the Spirit at the point of salvation.

4. The disciples never did respond to this teaching ministry of our Lord whereby the Spirit was offered to them. So Jesus finally gave the disciples the Holy Spirit after His resurrection. Now Jesus is about to ascend. He was forty days on the earth and then ten days before Pentecost he ascended. Just before He ascended Jesus looked out over ten days — there were ten days left before the Church Age began. He knew that the disciples could not stay together for ten days unless they had the Holy Spirit. Cf John 20:22, the disciples are going to be sent (verse 21), the disciples received the Holy Spirit and that is what carried them for the ten days. Without Him they wouldn’t have made it. This is the Age of Israel, which would be interrupted in ten days time.

5. Once the Church Age began every believer was indwelt by the Holy Spirit and could not lose the Holy Spirit through discipline. Note John 7:39 : “The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified” .Until Jesus Christ went up, ten days before the interruption of the Age of Israel, He was not glorified. When He went up He approached the throne and the Father said: “Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies they footstool", at that point He was glorified. This explains why God the Holy Spirit did not indwell all believers in the Old Testament dispensations. Why couldn’t He? Christ was not yet glorified; the Holy Spirit was not yet given. The specialised ministry of the Spirit to certain believers — Old Testament saints — is not even considered indwelling. It was simply called enduement. But once Christ is glorified then the Holy Spirit is sent for the first time. Now the Holy Spirit will come on the day of Pentecost and at this point the Church Age will begin.

Now what is the ministry in the first advent of the spirit? Cf John 16:14 — to glorify Christ. The purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age is to glorify Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 — “What ?know ye not that your body is [keeps on being] the temple of the Holy Spirit in you, [didn’t you know that the moment that you accepted Christ as your saviour that God the Holy Spirit came to indwell you?] which [Spirit] ye have from God [a gift from God in you], and ye are not your own?”

“For ye are bought with a price [that is when you received the Holy Spirit — point of salvation]: therefore glorify God in your body which belongs to God” ."In your spirit” is not in the original.

Now, how can you glorify God in your body? The body possesses the old sin nature, but God says: “Wake up stupid, the Holy Spirit indwells. So you have an old sin nature, but you also have the Holy Spirit.” Now it is very simple. Who is going to control your life?

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the dispensation of the Church

1. All believers in the Church Age are indwelt by the Holy Spirit — 1 Cor. 6:19,20; Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Col. 1:27.

2. All believers in the Church Age are commanded to be filled with the Spirit — Eph. 5:18.

3. The believer who is not filled with the Spirit is said to be carnal — 1 Cor. 3:1-3. Therefore, he is grieving or quenching the Spirit.

4. A believer filled with the Spirit is not under the Mosaic law. You cannot be under the Mosaic law and at the same time be filled with the Spirit — Galatians 5:18; Romans 10:4; Galatians 5:22.

5. The believer filled with the Spirit glorifies Christ (the whole purpose of the filling of the Spirit in the Church Age) — 1 Cor. 6:19-20. In the Millennium, when we have again the filling of the Holy Spirit, the purpose of the filling of the Spirit is appreciation for Christ. In the Church Age we develop the character of Christ and produce it; in the Millennium we have appreciation for Christ. What is the difference? The Church Age: Christ is absent; the Millennium: Christ is present. That is the difference between the first and the second advent of the Spirit. The Spirit comes in the Church Age to glorify the absent Christ; the Spirit comes in the Millennial Age to appreciate the present Christ.

6. The believer filled with the Spirit imitates God — Ephesians 5:1,18 — specifically, the revealed God (Jesus Christ). So in the Church Age when the believer is filled with the Spirit he produces the character of Christ — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23. The fruit of the Spirit is the result of the filling of the Spirit.

7. The believer filled with the Spirit produces the character of Christ — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23.

8. The believer filled with the Spirit magnifies Christ in his inner life — Ephesians 3:16,17; 2 Corinthians 3:3.

The Holy Spirit in the Millennium

1. Believers in the Millennium are indwelt by the Holy Spirit — Ezekiel 36:27; 37:14.

2. Believers are filled with the Spirit in the Millennium, as well as indwelt — Joel 2:28,29; Isaiah 32:15; 44:3; Zechariah 12:10.

Joel 2:28,29 is a very critical passage because it describes the filling of the Spirit in terms of ecstatics. The filling of the Spirit in the Millennium produces an ecstatic experience. Why? This is a part of appreciation of Christ while He is present on the earth. But in the Church Age the filling of the Spirit is never said to produce any emotion (it produces the character of Christ minus emotion). Ecstatics and emotion are not bona fide functions in the Church Age, they are in the Millennium.

In verses 11-14 we have the Jews expressing a ministry of regret.

Verse 11 — “great mourning” — a national rebound, as per Revelation 1:7. It is similar to the terrible mourning that occurred when king Josiah was killed by the Egyptians in 2 Chronicles 35:22-25. The same word for mourning is used as “the mourning of Hadadrimmon.” The mourning has to do with the tremendous weeping which accompanied the death of king Josiah; “in the valley of Megiddon” — Megiddo.

Verse 12 — “The land shall mourn” — this goes back to the beginning of the Millennium; “every family apart” — notice the existence of divine institution number three, a basic unit in worship — family; “the family of the house of David apart” — house of David refers to the ruling family; “the family of the house of Nathan” — Nathan is the son of David, the full brother of Solomon through whom the line of Christ is reckoned. There are two lines of Jesus Christ: David’s line through Solomon which cuts off with Joseph; the line of Nathan goes through Mary. Jesus Christ is now back to reign and now therefore Nathan is mentioned — his family specifically because they are in the direct line.

Verse 13 — we have the priestly family. “The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart”; “the family of Shimei” — he represents the Levites. He was the son of Gershon, the son of Levi — Numbers 3:18.

Verse 14 — the rest of Israel is mentioned.

Notice the approach to the Millennium in this passage. When we actually get to the end of the passage we get to the Millennium. This approach has to do with what happens to believers. What happens to believers after the second advent? Believers receive the filling of the Holy Spirit, and this is followed immediately by a national rebound concept.