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(Due to transitions in our audio recording system, this message, first proclaimed at Communion Presbyterian, was re-recorded for this presentation)

There is another crisis in the Middle East!  Which “end Times” bible prophecy pastor will best capitalize on a new preaching series or book which explicitly finds the details of the latest crisis found within the prophetic books of the Old Testament?  Perhaps a new military weapon has in fact been described within very pages of the book of Zechariah! And as we read the morning paper side by side with the predictions of the Bible – we most assuredly can proclaim that we are in the “end time.”

At least, that was the diet of preaching that I was subjected to over the past 30 years, especially here in southern California.  As a high school graduate in the 80’s, I thought that without a doubt, I would not see the year 2000 – because Jesus was coming back!  Well, that type of preaching has led me to be a bit more circumspect in interpreting the scriptures!  Perhaps there might be a different interpretation for these texts than what I had been exposed to for so many years.

And yet, very recently, a new book has been published making this case about the future Anti-Christ… evangelical Christians around the world are expecting the Antichrist to emerge from a revived Roman Empire, which many have assumed is associated with the Roman Catholic Church and the European Union.  The author argues that this is not so. His book makes the case that the biblical Antichrist is actually the Quran's Muslim Mahdi.  According to the author, The Quran predicts that a man, called the Mahdi, will rise up to lead the nations, pledging to usher in an era of peace; but will revive the city of Babylon to come against the saints of Jesus!

I’m sure that’s going to sell a lot of books! 

But Let’s stay with the established texts of Scripture, and let’s be sure that we already understand the established themes of Scripture, namely the Jewish Eschatological hope, which I intend to explain again by our study of Zechariah 14 – so get your bibles! 

The JEH is simply this, a way of viewing what God will do in the future for his people to as he works out salvation for his elect, and judgment for those who come against them.  This is the theme of the Exodus, the Judges, The history of the Monarchies, the prophet works of the OT, even Esther and Job.  And the elements of the JEH are outlined in Zechariah 14.

Now I’ve seen many outlines of Zechariah 14, but I will include the correct one for you in the sermon notes and it is comprised of the elements of the JEH in order on a Chiastic outline of Hebraic Parallelism.  I hope that all sounds impressive because – it is!

Zechariah 14: “On that day…”

1. Day of Trouble                               14:1

2. Day of Gathering                            14:2

3. Day of Judgment & Salvation             14:3—5b

4. Day of Messiah’s Saints                     14:5c  (Gentiles??)

5. Day of Renewed Zion                       14:6—8

6. Day of God in Their Midst                 14:9a

6*. Day of God in Their Midst                14:9b

5*. Day of Renewed Zion                     14:10—11

4*. Day of Messiah’s Wrath                   14:12—15

3*. Day of Judges’ Provision / Punishment 14:16—19

2*. Day of Pilgrimages                         14:16—19

1*. Day of Total Worship                      14:20—21

Zech 14:1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst.

à Who wants their stuff taken?

2. Day of Gathering 14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped (ravished). Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

à Classic arrangement of troops gathering against Jerusalem (“Siege” in 12.2 – so indicates that Zechariah is a bit like the book of Revelation that has repeating cycles of details rather than a linear timeline of sequences…)

à The description sounds like Jerusalem is all but run over and defeated… but that is never the end of the story – this type of description is so often repeated in the prophets – Even in the book of Job, for goodness sake – The “Loved” of God being overrun by trial and troubles à But all of this prepares us for Jesus Christ who endures his trials (quite literally) and his troubles, and seems to be overrun as his life expires at the cross à But that was not the end!  God has always had a plan to permit Christ to undergo all the plunder and ravishing of man in order to physically and spiritually restore and redeem a people who should have died for their curses; but Jesus took them upon himself so that He might share the blessings of obedience and abundance with his chosen seed!

à In chapter 13, 2/3rds of the people were cut off – in chapter 14, HALF of the city shall be spared, so the odds are improving….

3. Day of Judgment & Salvation  14:3—5b Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. ⁵ And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

à Talk about extra-ordinary salvation, God is literally going to tear up the terrain to save His people!

à Diagrams on WF: Cover shows Mt. Olives to the east.  Family page shows that Mt. Olives is taller than the hill where Jerusalem is situated.  So the Lord is going to cut Mt. Olive in half, open it like a curtain, and the people will escape through a brand new valley – awesome!

à That valley will be needed for the water to flow from the temple to the Dead Sea, or the Persian Gulf as Calvin believed…  That will be quite a river flowing from the temple to make that distance!

à Zechariah believed in the tectonic shift might happen as a result of a huge earthquake, and mentions the one recorded in Amos, chapter 1.

à Now, do I believe that this event will literally happen?  On That Day I do!!

à My deliveries smooth like water from a fountain, that’s why I can move any mountain

4. Day of Messiah’s Saints 14:5c Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones qüdöšîm with him.

5. Day of Renewed Zion  14:6—8 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. ⁷ And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. ⁸ On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

6. Day of God in Their Midst    14:9a  And the LORD will be king over all the earth.

6*. Day of God in Their Midst  14:9b On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

5*. Day of Renewed Zion 14:10—11 The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. ¹¹ And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

à Passages like this lead some commentators to conclude that the temple and other features of a completed Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah – something to consider; but not definitive.

à Eternal dwelling of security in the New Jerusalem!

4*. Day of Messiah’s Wrath 14:12—15  And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. ¹³ And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. ¹⁴ Even Judah will fight against (AT) Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. ¹⁵ And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.

3*. Day of Judges’ Provision / Punishment 14:16—19

2*. Day of Pilgrimages 14:16—19  Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. ¹⁷ And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. ¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. ¹⁹ This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.

1*. Day of Total Worship 14:20—21  And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." qöºdeš (la|´dönäy) And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar. ²¹ And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.

à High priest wore bells and the mitre

à Every serving vessel will turn into a bowl in the hand of a priest performing the ritual of sacrifice and service within the Holy Place of the Temple

à And the meat reserved for the Priests to eat after the sacrifices will be available to all, because the whole nation, on that day, will be a nation of priests before the Lord – Holy as the Lord is Holy.

à Zechariah was a Levite – and he longed to see all of God’s people engaged in holy service and devotion to God!

à  No more traders, the Hebrew word for Canaanite, who were known for their trading of products for prophet – NO MORE MARKETERS will be allowed to muck up courts of the Church!  O, I long for that day… When there will no longer be celebrity pastors, and authors and, story tellers – On THAT DAY, we will all equally serve the Lord…. Speaks of a righteousness found in Christ alone!