Posted on 03/11/2017 7:36:23 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.(Zechariah 14:1-4)
Through the prophet Zechariah, we behold the final battle of this passing age.
Israel is besieged, especially Jerusalem and Judea (the West Bank). Those who hate her are on the verge of the full expression of their everlasting malice, also they have turned the world against her, now the armies of the Gentile nations camp at the very gates of Jerusalem.
Ultimately they breach the walls of Jerusalem, as the Babylonians and Romans and Turks and so many other conquerors had done in the past ages. The city is taken, people flee, and half of the city goes into captivity. Why half? How did the prophet Zechariah know that the United Nations had divided the city in half, apportioning half of the “city of the great King and the joy of the whole earth” to an artificially constructed Terrorist state…Palestine.
Thus when the city is breached only one half is taken, the Jewish half. The UN approved population of “Palestinians”are not cut off from the city, rather the Jews are. The women are raped, booty is divided, and those who can flee, flee for their very lives.
It is at this point, that the LORD himself arises from his throne and descends to fight and deliver his chosen but prodigal people.
The Most High has revealed himself to them, in their most desperate straits, as the one whom they had pierced, and they have seen a completely unexpected vision, forcing them to rethink everything they thought they knew about their own history and religion. It turns out that the Messiah had already come once, and they had rejected and repudiated him! Who could have imagined?
The national sin is confessed, repentance is working deeply as the Jews flee for their very lives out into the wilderness, to the place He had prepared for them from the beginning, as John the Revelater saw in the vision of chapter 12,
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.(Revelation 12:13-14)
The LORD’s very feet land on the Mount of Olives, the geographical location so rife with history and meaning in the Jewish experience.
It was on the Mount of Olives the David wept as he was pursued by his own son Absolam. Ezekiel saw the very cloud of the Glory of God from the Temple, leave the temple, and linger over the Mount of Olives, until it went up to heaven. Jesus was on the Mount of Olives when he described the events of the second coming and the end of the Age. Both Babylonian and Roman soldiers camped on the mount, during the sieges of Jerusalem.
The Mountain will cleave into two sections during the tumultuous events of the day of the LORD, and out of it shall flow streams of fresh water.
And ye 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 the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.(Zechariah 14:5-9)
There shall be a strange kind of twilight on that dreadful day, when the LORD comes with his saints to save Judah,Jerusalem, and to judge the world in righteousness.There will never be another day like it again.
Judah and many of the former inhabitants of Jerusalem will have fled, they will have run to the mountains upon seeing the sacrilege Jesus and Daniel warned of ;
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.(Matthew 24:15-21)
A good many of the scattered flock will re-live the Exodus in the harsh wilderness of Judea and Jordan, living in booths in the wilderness. They will be hunted down by the forces of AntiChrist and the enemies of God, until they are shut up in a place called Basra, trapped and surrounded, the remnant of God will be on the verge of being wiped out, until the LORD comes to Edom, as “the Breaker” who breaks his flock out of the deadly confinement.
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.(Micah 2:12-13)
Praise the LORD, He shall come to Edom (Southern Jordan, as well as to Jerusalem, to rescue the trapped remnant in the wilderness.
Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.(Isaiah 63:1-4)
The LORD shall save His people on that day and regather His flock in entirety, Yea,All Israel shall be saved on that day, and this shall commence the resurrection of the dead for this world.
Thank you for your study of the AWESOME Book of Zechariah.
Not so “Minor” a Prophet after all!
Does anyone know for certain just what the “abomination of desolation” is?..........
It is not a ‘what’, but a ‘who’.
Who is the only named entity in all of the Word, that has already been judged to death? The first rebel, after he decided he would be god. He attempted to tempt Christ, and he is going to get to play act his god act right here on earth. Christ said all but the elect would be deceived.. Deception is the first tribulation.
It is a person desecrating a holy place again as Antiochus epiphanies once desecrated the holy of holies in the temple. Daniel 11 is whERE THE ORIGINAL EXPRESSION LIES.
The only ‘holy place’ I can think of in today’s world is the Vatican.
So, someone who is not actually a ‘Vicar of God on Earth’ will seat himself/herself on the throne of St. Peter?...............
For further description and information on “The Great Day of the Lord” read Joel, another ‘no-so-minor-prophet’................
Where is it that Christ said He would return to take a harvest? It sure was not Rome. God said that Jerusalem was His most favorite place in the world. Ezekiel 16 That is why the return of Christ is described as a thief in the night... the majority of the inhabitants on this earth will be following another Jesus..
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