Chapter 14

Verse 1 — “the day of the Lord” .This is a technical term and is a reference to an eschatological period, all or part. The day of the Lord actually begins one second after the Rapture occurs, continues throughout the Tribulation, and includes the second advent and the Millennium. (The Rapture is called the day of Christ; eternity is called the day of God) Sometimes it speaks of just some particular part of that segment. But it all starts with the principle of how the word “days” is used in the Bible.

The doctrine of days

1. There is a 24-hour day and the word “day” is often used in this sense. First of all the word “day” is used in connection with creation, only it is not creation it’s just what people think. The six days which are described in the first chapter of Genesis do not describe creation, they describe the restoration of the earth in order to resolve the angelic conflict. They are 24-hour days, not an indefinite period of time.

2. The second use of the 24-hour day is the Sabbath day, a 24-hour day starting on Friday at sundown and ending Saturday at sundown.

3. The third use of the 24-hour day is the Lord’s day which is Sunday, the day of the resurrection.

4. Then there were certain 24-hour days like the feast days, e.g. the Passover, the atonement. And generally throughout the scripture the word “day” refers to a 24-hour day, unless it has a genitive of relationship or a construct relationship in the Hebrew that would indicate more than 24 hours or less than 24 hours.

We do have some references where the day is less than 24 hours, e.g. 2 Corinthians 6:2 — the day of salvation is the second or the minute in which a person personally believes in Jesus Christ. Then we have the day of Christ, and we know exactly how long the day of Christ is. It is described in 1 Corinthians 15:51ff as the twinkling of an eye. The day of Christ is the Rapture of the Church. In these cases we have “day of” — genitive of relationship.

We have the word “day” used for more than 24 hours and there are two illustrations of that. One is the day of the Lord — Isaiah 2:12; 13:6; Joel 1:15; 2:1; 3:14; Malachi 4:6, and then there is the day of God in 2 Peter 2:12; Romans 2:5. The day of God is indefinite, it is eternal future.

The day of the Lord here is actually referring to a few days before the second advent. The whole chapter deals with the day of the Lord and the day of the Lord includes events in the Tribulation — verses 1-3; second advent — verse 4; Millennium — verses 6ff; “cometh” — a qal perfect. It is put in the perfect tense as a past event to indicate the certainty of the coming of the day of the Lord. This would seem to be almost uncertain to the Jew under the fifth cycle of discipline today because the Jew is not recognised in God’s economy because we are in the Church Age. That can only be changed when a Jew believes in Jesus Christ, enters into the body of Christ and becomes “Church” .In this way cursing is turned to blessing for the Jew. The fifth cycle of discipline for the Jews will be terminated at the second advent. During the time that the Jews are “out” we have the Church Age. When the Church is removed we have the finishing of the Jewish Age. God owes the Jews seven years and He picks that up after the Rapture of the Church. Then the second advent terminates the fifth cycle of discipline. There are only two ways the Jew can be blessed during the 5th cycle of discipline: when a Jew believes in Christ in the Church Age he enters into union with Christ and is no longer a Jew, therefore he is out from under the curse of the 5th cycle; in the Tribulation, since this is the resumption of the Jewish Age, we are going to have Jews saved, Jews becoming evangelists, Jews becoming missionaries, as per the 144,000 Jews. Then, of course, at the second advent the fifth cycle is over. “Behold the day of the Lord cometh” — this is to encourage Jews under the fifth cycle of discipline, to make them realise they are not out of the picture, that with the individual Jew cursing is always turned to blessing by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; “thy spoil” — a reference to Jerusalem, the subject of the last three chapters of Zechariah. It refers to the fact that at the end of the Tribulation Jerusalem shall be deceived and the armies of the king of the north will invest it and will bring tremendous devastation; “shall be divided [plundered]” — pual perfect, intensive passive voice. It is a reference to the plundering of those Jews who are mostly unbelievers but who also may be believers minus doctrine and who surrender to the enemy. They are going to be the recipients of violence. When you surrender to those who live by violence you have subjected yourself to that violence. This is a principle that has always existed since the beginning of history. It is better to die fighting than to surrender to those who live by violence.

Verse 2 — “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken [taken in part]” .When it says, “I will gather all nations” we have to remember that “all nations” are the four great spheres of influence: the king of the south — Daniel 11:40; the king of the north — Daniel 11:40; Ezekiel 38:2, the king of the west — Daniel 7:3; Revelation 13:1-10, and the kings of the east — Revelation 6:12; Daniel 11:44 — “Against Jerusalem to battle” — these people have come to fight, they have come to kill, they have come to plunder. And it says: “the city shall be taken in part.” What happens to the part of the city that is taken? The answer was in chapter 13:8. One third survive, the believers with doctrine; one third are captured and one third are killed. The killed and captured are both believers and unbelievers. Where believers are involved they are minus doctrine. What happens to all these people?; “and the houses are rifled [plundered], the women are ravished [raped]; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity” — these are the people who surrendered. Why did they surrender? Cf Proverbs 24:1-6 — “Through wisdom the house is built” — the life of the believer in phase two — “by understanding [doctrine] one prepares himself.” Bible doctrine prepares the believer for phase two. Knowledge of doctrine is the key to everything, it prepares the believer for the crisis. Knowledge of doctrine prepares the believer for any situation in life. The people who surrendered were the people who were useless. They are described in Proverbs 24:7-10. The fool is the person without doctrine, he doesn’t have the mental attitude to resist against hopeless odds; “and the residue [remnant] of the people” — these are the people with doctrine, born-again believers who have wisdom. They are going to fight and they are going to resist — “shall not be cut off from the city”; “shall not be cut off” is a niphel imperfect. The niphel stem is passive voice for the qal. It should be: “they do not receive destruction.” They are not annihilated by the king of the north. This is God’s promise to a group of people who are going to know doctrine, who are going to apply doctrine, and who are going to fight and resist against hopeless odds. They are going to claim this passage one day. They take a stand on the Word of God and they fight. God cannot go back on His Word.

The mechanics of this deliverance (there is the principle of deliverance in verse three and then the mechanics in verse four):

Verse 3 — the principle of deliverance. “Then” — when these Jews (under the generals who have doctrine) who resist start to fight they are using the faith-rest technique; they believe the promises of God with regard to this deliverance. And therefore that they might be alive they start to shoot, even though the situation is hopeless. God honours their operation of the faith-rest technique — “shall the Lord go forth” — to go forth is a qal perfect which describes the second advent of Christ and it describes the details of Revelation 19:11-21. Jesus Christ is going to return and He is going to slay the enemy with the Word of His mouth. Notice: The Lord goes forth, and what does He do? Fight — “fight against those nations” — “as when he fought in the day of battle” — when he bailed out Moses and the Jews at the Red Sea, Exodus 14:10-14.

Verse 4 — the mechanics of deliverance. “And his feet [reference to the Lord Jesus Christ] shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives [the place from which He departed — Acts 1:10-12].” The mount of Olives is described as to its relationship to Jerusalem. The reason it is so described is because the Jews are going to be trapped and backed up against the mount of Olives. To go over the mount of Olives is definite annihilation. Every section of that hill is zeroed in by the artillery of the armies of the king of the north. Therefore there is no possibility of moving over the hill and retreating, they must stay and fight. They do so on that escarpment known as Zion “which is before Jerusalem on the east,” and here is the escape in that day parallel to the situation at the Red Sea, “and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst”.

The nation of Israel one summer hired a professor of Stanford university by the name of Bailey Willis. They hired him to examine the terrain around Jerusalem from the geological standpoint. He was also a seismological expert and he warned them that there was a fault under the mount of Olives and that someday there would be an earthquake, or something which would cause the mount of Olives to split. Little did he realise that this is true and that the time is still future and the mount of Olives is going to split; “toward the east and toward the west” — literally, to the east and to the west. That is the valley which is created will run east and west. It is very difficult from the English translation to see what is being said. But we have a split on the mount of Olives and the valley which is created will run east and west. That means that part of the mountain will move toward the north and part of the mountain will move toward the south. That valley which is created is the means of escape for the people who are trapped there, the two generals and their citizen army. It says that this split reaches all of the way to “Azal” — verse 5. This is a reference to Beth-ezel of Micah chapter one verse eleven. And a valley which goes all of the way from Beth-ezel to Jerusalem would cause a valley through which the Mediterranean would flow right down to the Dead Sea which would also overflow right into the Red Sea. So we actually have Jerusalem becoming a sea port in the Millennium.

Verse 5 — “And ye” — this is in the plural and refers to one third of the population of Jerusalem who because of Bible doctrine are resisting and fighting and holding out; “shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all of his saints with thee”; “the Lord my God” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the second advent; He returns with His saints. The same thing is taught in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and in Jude 14. The reason for the returning of saints [believers of the Church Age] is in order to remove the demons from the earth in order to set everything up for the Millennium. That is why in verses 6-15 we have a description of the Millennium which follows this awful warfare.

Eight characteristics of the Millennium

It must be remembered that whenever you have a description of the Millennium you are not only describing a dispensation but you are describing a civilisation. There are four civilisations in history.

The first of these is the antediluvian civilisation, the civilisation before the flood in which people lived for almost a thousand years, during which time they had perfect weather on the earth, and a very different type of animal life. The antediluvian civilisation began with believers only. Eventually you have unbelievers and eventually you have the civilisation destroyed by a great judgement from God, in this case the judgement of the flood which removed a segment of the angelic conflict as an issue, the half human, half angelic creatures from the earth — which removed the unbelievers from the earth, and started a new civilisation, the post-diluvian, which started with believers only.

When there is a start with believers only there is again the situation of population explosion which results in believers and unbelievers. The post-diluvian civilisation will continue until the second advent and the baptism of fire which will take all believers off the earth. Then there is the Millennium with believers only at the beginning. Eventually there will be unbelievers as well until there is another judgement, the great white throne judgement and the lake of fire, and then there is the eternal civilisation. So there are actually four civilisations in the history of the human race.

This can also divided another way, by dispensations. The first dispensation is the dispensation of the Gentiles — the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The second dispensation is the Age of the Jews which begins with Abraham and goes to the second advent, minus the Church Age which is the third dispensation, starting with the day of Pentecost in 30 AD and going to the Rapture of the Church. This is followed by the last part of the interrupted Jewish Age which is terminated by the second advent. Then there is the Millennium or the Age of Christ, a period of one thousand years which is both a dispensation and a civilisation. Some of the characteristics which will be seen about the Millennium have to do with its civilisation concepts and others have to do with its dispensational concepts.

1. In the Millennium there will be no religion. This is emphasised by the fact that He will return with all His saints and the Church in resurrection bodies will replace the demons on the earth (When Satan rules the earth he rules with an innumerable host of demons). If you are going to have perfect environment on the earth the first thing that must be removed is religion. Religion and perfect environment can never coexist.

2. There will be great spirituality. This means that all believers are going to have the Spirit poured out upon them — this is a dispensational concept. Out of the four dispensations only two of them have the filling of the Spirit: the Church Age and the Millennium. There is no such thing as the universal filling of the Spirit in the Age of the Gentiles and the Age of the Jews, including the Tribulation. Since Christ is absent during the Church Age the filling of the Spirit is designed to produce the character of the absent Christ, minus emotion — Galatians 4:19. In the Millennium with Christ present on the earth the filling of the Spirit is designed to produce appreciation for Christ and it includes emotion — Joel 2:28,29; Isaiah 65:24; Zechariah 14:16,17.

3. Israel will be restored as a nation — Isaiah 35:3-10; 65:19; Zechariah 8:20-23. This is the end of the fifth cycle of discipline and Israel is recognised by God for the first time since 70 AD.

4. For the first time internationalism will be a bona fide principle and there will be universal blessing in three areas:

a. Universal peace for the first time, based upon the personal presence of Jesus Christ — Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Psalm 46:9; Micah 4:3.

b. Universal prosperity — Psalm 72:7.

c. Universal knowledge of God on the earth — Isaiah 11:9. Maximum knowledge of Bible doctrine precedes prosperity.

5. A radical change in nature. Nature is always affected when there is prosperity — Romans 8:19-22; Isaiah 11:6-9; 35:1,2; 65:25.

6. Justice is available for all. There is the immediate punishment for lawlessness and sin — Isaiah 11:3-5; Psalm 72:12-14.

7. Life is extended. The only reason for death will be capital punishment — Isaiah 65:20.

8. The Millennium begins with believers only.

In verses 6,7 we have the transitional day that began this Millennium. There is the siege of Jerusalem right up until this day, at the end of that day Jesus Christ will return to the earth to establish His Millennial reign. This day will be unusual because it will be a day of total darkness so that the Jews who are resisting in Jerusalem cannot be annihilated before the return of Christ.

Verse 6 — Corrected translation from the Hebrew: “And it shall come to pass in that day that there shall not be light.” The darkness at the second advent is so dark that there is no light in it. And just before Christ returns we have the principle: “Every eye shall see him” — Revelation 1:7. Why do they see Him? Because the entire earth is enshrouded in total darkness. Christ as the light of the world is the first thing they will see. That means the armies of the king of the north attacking Jerusalem will be hindered from any military activity. This means, of course, that the people in Jerusalem are safe. All of the armies are totally immobilised at the moment this darkness hits. There will be some movement later on which is described in terms of panic and people will kill each other.

The same condition is described in Isaiah 13:9,10. It is also taught in Joel 3:15 and in Amos 5:18; Ezekiel 32:7,8; Joel 2:10,11; one phrase in Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-27; Revelation 6:12. On the day of the second advent everything is blacked out. This stops Satan’s activities, he cannot destroy the Jews and it is such a darkness that even the forces of Satan (demons) are immobilised.

Verse 7 — This verse is not correctly translated in the King James version. In the first place the words “one day” should be “unique day” .The verse begins: “Because it shall be the unique day” .What does unique mean here? It means that there is a darkness covering the earth at this time that is absolutely unique. This is the Lord’s doing in order to protect believers all over the world, just as the first day of darkness (the cross) was designed for. The cross was designed to save believers for eternity; this is designed to preserve believers for another day of living on the earth — “which shall be known to the Lord”; God the Father planned it in eternity past to protect believers so that they would be alive at the second advent of Jesus Christ. “Which shall be known” is a niphel imperfect. The niphel stem is passive: He received knowledge of these things billions of years ago in eternity past. Perfect tense: God knew everything that would happen to those Jews on that day and every day prior to it and every day after it. Application to you and to me: God knows every problem, every difficulty we will ever face, and He has provided for it; “not day, nor night” — this is the uniqueness of this transitional day; “but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light” — a reference to the second advent of Jesus Christ. That is evening as far as Jerusalem is concerned. On the other side of the earth it is the next day. This light is a supernatural light in character, it is described in Psalm 97:1-6 and it causes all the world to see the second advent of Christ, as per Revelation 1:7. The light at the second advent is also described in Isaiah 30:26; 60:19,20.

Verse 8 — tells us about Jerusalem being a seaport. “In that day” — second advent. As a result of that valley being created we have the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea sending their waters toward Jerusalem. These are called living waters because there is also a spring of water in Jerusalem itself that is brought into play at this moment. This spring of water is described in Ezekiel chapter 47, verses 1ff, and in Joel 3:18. It is said to go out from Jerusalem and this makes Jerusalem a seaport, the water is said to come from Jerusalem; “half of them” — half of the water from the spring in Jerusalem shall go “toward the former sea” — the Dead Sea; “the hinder sea” is the Mediterranean Sea. This will occur both “in summer and in winter.” This makes it an all-year-round port. What we have in this verse fulfils Psalm 46:4 — “There is a river, the streams thereof shall make glad the city of God [Jerusalem], the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.”

Verse 9 — We have the Lord Jesus Christ ruling now as a world ruler; “in that day” — Israel shall be restored and with the restoration of Israel He will also provide a rulership over Israel as the Son of David. So He will be unique because He is the ruler of the Church, He is the ruler over Israel, He will also be the ruler of the entire earth, He will also be the sovereign when it comes to the judgement, and consequently it says “his name one” — literally, His person is unique.

Verse 10 — the topographical improvements which will occur in the Millennium. “And the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamins’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepress.” “All the land” is a reference to the land of Palestine only. It says the land is going to be turned into a plain; today it isn’t a plain. There will be a high plateau, and higher than the plateau is going to be Jerusalem. This is also taught in Isaiah 2:2 and in Micah 4:1. Not all of it will be turned, but certain parts of it: “from Geba to Rimmon,” a reference to the Arabah. All of the way to the northern frontier of Judah, all of the way down to Gibea, there will be a high plateau. Why mention Geba to Rimmon? Because they are associated with blessing in the land. They were famous for places where there was doctrine and where there was doctrine there was blessing: where the details of life were second to doctrine and therefore a place where one could go and find the details of life [God provides the details of life for those who put doctrine first]. These were two towns on the border which were great; “Jerusalem” — between the two border towns; “she shall be lifted up, and inhabited.” The word “inhabited” means to dwell in a place of blessing. Note: If the borders are established then the centre will be established. If you are stabilised on the borders, if you have doctrine on the borders you have doctrine in the heart of the country. Blessing means Bible doctrine first. Details of life are going to exist in Jerusalem during the Millennium but they will never be placed before doctrine.

Notice what is mentioned about Jerusalem: Benjamin’s gate, the first gate, the corner gate, and the king’s winepress. Four places are mentioned in Jerusalem. The first of these is Benjamin’s gate. This is the north gate which faced the territory of Benjamin. Banjamin’s gate throughout the history of Jerusalem was a place where the Word of God was taught, it was a place of Bible teaching.

The first gate was the old gate of Nehemiah 3:6 and it was located on the west side of the city. It was used for a place of morning worship and people often came out there early in the morning to have their devotions and to study the Word. The corner gate was also located on the west side of the city. This was also a place where Bible doctrine was taught. The king’s winepress was a landmark which had tremendous and obvious implications. It was a place which was associated with great happiness. The first three gates were places where the Word of God was taught but the king’s winepress was always a place of great happiness and associated with happiness. The principle: where the Word of God is first and the Word of God is learned there is there is great happiness. These landmarks are always associated with blessing and pleasant things. You see the king’s winepress really takes us to the pleasant things of life, the details of life. Jerusalem will be the place to live in the Millennium. It will be a place where doctrine is first and the details of life will have their proper place. It will be a place of great prosperity, it will be a place of great attractiveness, and these landmarks will be associated with pleasant memories and pleasant things in that day.

Verse 11 — the city of the happy people: Jerusalem in the future. It should be noted that there is no such thing as a one hundred per cent happy city in any place at the present time. So one thing should be obvious immediately: a city of one hundred per cent of happy people could not and cannot and will not exist in the world at large today, the Church Age, or tomorrow, the Tribulation. There will not only be Jerusalem but there will be many cities of happy people in the Millennium. Jesus Christ will have returned to the earth and for the first time in all of human history war will have been abolished. When Jesus Christ returns Jerusalem, a city of great misery where the greatest misery of all time has been recorded [in 586 BC, 70 AD, and during the period of the incarnation when it was under religion], will be a city of happy people — “And they [not men] shall dwell in it.” The word to dwell here is yashab, which means to dwell in a place of maximum blessing. It is the qal stem which means this blessing is a reality to all, and it is a perfect tense which means the blessing is completed immediately when Christ returns because in one day Jesus Christ establishes perfect environment in the city of Jerusalem; “they” refers to believers who the day before had been under terrible fire in the siege of Jerusalem. Cursing is turned to blessing by the grace of God; “it” refers to the Millennial Jerusalem; “there shall be no more destruction” — the word destruction is not destruction. It is the word cherem which means the ban. The best way to translate it is: “there shall be no more ban.” This word cherem is found in Leviticus 27:28,29; Joshua 6:17-19.

1. Anything put under the ban or the curse could not be redeemed. In other words, it had to die. Cherem means it cannot be redeemed. The word can be translated ban or curse.

2. Anything under the ban or the curse was dedicated to the Lord.

3. Therefore anything put under the ban must be put to death. Jericho was put under the ban or the curse.

4. Therefore everything in Jericho had to be destroyed except one prostitute, Rahab. The reason she was excluded: Rahab was the only one in that large city who had positive volition at the point of God consciousness and the point of gospel hearing. She demonstrated her faith by hiding the two spies. She became one of the four Gentile women in the line of Jesus Christ. She was David’s great grandmother.

Note: We are born cherem, we are born under the curse. We are therefore doomed to die, and Jesus Christ took the cherem for us at the cross — Galatians 3:13.

5. Achan preserved and hid in his tent some of the things of Jericho. Therefore Achan became cherem. Since Achan had taken the curse to himself he was killed. Why? Because he chose the curse instead of grace. He became cherem instead of destroying cherem.

6. Twice in the history of Jerusalem God has written it off under the word cherem. Jerusalem became cherem in 586 BC, and again in 70 AD.

7. The word cherem is used for religion, cf Revelation chapter 17 where religion is called “the great whore.” Before 586 BC Jerusalem became religious; before 70 AD Jerusalem became religious. They had turned their backs upon God (sometimes called spiritual adultery) through religion. Therefore God put them under the cherem and they were wiped out. But some people escaped all of this. They lived Jerusalem before these sieges — e.g. Jeremiah, Peter, and others. Why did they escape cherem? Grace! Cursing turned to blessing. They listened to what the Lord said and they left — orientation to the grace of God. Only grace can deliver anyone from cherem.

8. Zechariah 14:11 — Now the curse is removed from Jerusalem forever. Jesus Christ returns and when cherem is removed there is a city of happy people; “but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited” — a qal perfect meaning to dwell securely in blessing.

Verse 12 — this verse picks up where verse three left off; we pick up again with the fighting. In verses 12, 13 and 14 we have God’s deliverance of the Jews in that fighting which we saw in verse 3 (verses 1-3 were summary; verses 12ff are the details). These three verses give us three ways in which the Lord delivers. In verse 12 we have the principle: anti-Semitism is going to be punished. That is the principle for destroying the people who try to destroy Jerusalem just before the second advent; “And this shall be the plague whereby the Lord shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their flesh [their human bodies]” — here is the first thing that happens to these people; “shall consume away” — like trench foot. Men lived in the trenches in world war one so long their flesh rotted off their bones . When theses people come to destroy the Jews all of a sudden they are going to have disease or epidemic. This is in the hiphil stem, God causes the flesh to consume away; “while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” This means that God is going to use disease in the armies of the enemy.

Verse 13 — the second thing the Lord is going to use to stop the enemy is panic — lack of thinking. “And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult [confusion or panic] from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour.” When people get into a panic what do they do? They run into each other. In warfare they shoot each other in panic; “and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour” — every soldier against his fellow soldier.

Verse 14 — “And Judah also shall fight at [in] Jerusalem.” This is the third thing God used- the believers. This is the niphel imperfect: they received the motivation to fight; “and the wealth of all the heathen round about [the other armies] shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel in great abundance.” In other words, they are also going to obtain a great deal of booty from these armies.

Verse 15 — “And so shall be the disease of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague” — everything that accompanies them is contaminated by the epidemic.

In the rest of this chapter we have the fulfilment of the feast of the tabernacles. So what is the meaning of the feast of the tabernacles in the Millennium?