Zechariah 14
English Standard Version

The Coming Day of the LORD
14 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 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. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 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. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 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.

9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

10 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.

12 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 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.

16 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.

20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” 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.

This is our last passage for the book of Zechariah.  Next time we will start the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.  There's just a few books of the New Testament left to study after that--1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and Revelation.

The nations are going to attack Jerusalem and it's going to look like they are going to win.  The city will be pillaged and the women will be raped and half of the city will be taken into exile.  However, the LORD Himself will come down to fight for the city and His people.  Jesus will return to the same mountain that He left from and the mountain will split in two from east to west (opening the gate that people have tried to seal to keep Him from being able to enter the city to fulfil this prophecy).  Half of the Mount of Olives will move to the north, and the other half will move to the south.

The people will flee to the valley of the mountains as they did in the days of the earthquake that happened during the reign of King Uzziah.  Then the LORD God (we know that this will be the Lord Jesus Christ) will come and save His people.

That day will be like no other.  The LORD will make it as bright as day when it should be evening and there will be no cold or frost on that day.  There will be a River of Life that will flow out of Jerusalem, and the waters of this River will divide so that half will flow to the Eastern Sea, and half to the Western Sea.  These waters will flow all year long, continuing to nourish the Land and give it abundant life.

The LORD Himself will be the King of His people, ruling from His Holy City, Jerusalem.  The Name of the LORD will be known and exalted throughout the whole earth.

The high places will be made low and the low places high so that the whole Land will be made into a plain, but Jerusalem will remain high and lifted up as His Holy Mountain and there is some indication that it will be made to be the highest mountain in the entire earth by what is said in other prophecies.  Many people will live there and they will dwell securely because the Prince of Peace will bring peace and safety to His people.

What will happen to those who try to attack Jerusalem?  Their flesh will rot away while they are standing in place.  It will be a gruesome and horrifying death.  Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

There will be such a great panic that the LORD will cause to come over the enemies of the people of Jerusalem that these enemies will attack one another.  Then the wealth of all the enemies of the people of God will become theirs for the taking, but a plague similar to that which killed the men who made war against Jerusalem will also come over the animals in their camps (horses, camels, donkeys, mules, etc.).

Everyone who survives (those who belong to the LORD) will come year after year to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and they will celebrate the Festival of Booth every year.  Anyone who does not go up to Jerusalem to worship and celebrate the Festival of Booths will be cursed with no rain for the entire year.  This plague will affect families and nations that do not come to worship the LORD or celebrate the Festival of Booths.

Then the LORD will make even the horses and everyday pottery holy--everything and everyone will be "holy to the LORD" like the people and items that were seta apart for service in the Tabernacle and Temple.  All the people will be made priests and they will all be able to eat of the holy sacrifices (see Exodus 19 as this was the LORD's desire from the very beginning of the nation of Israel).  No longer will there be anyone selling in the Temple courtyard (sometimes people had to come from a long way off and could not bring an acceptable sacrifice with them, so they were sold one for the right price when they arrived in Jerusalem).

We are left looking for and longing for the coming Day of the LORD which is both a day of deliverance and salvation for the righteous and a day of judgment and wrath for the wicked.  We do not have forever to get ready for this day.  One day soon, it will come upon everyone suddenly, and there will not be time to repent and believe in the moment.  Today is the day of salvation for you if you hear the LORD calling to you.  Today is the day that you can choose to be a part of the King of God that is forever and stop being a part of the kingdom of this word that will be destroyed.  These two kingdoms are always opposed to one another and only one will win and we know that it is God and His Kingdom that will be victorious both now and forevermore.  Surrender to the winning kingdom today.  It is better to be a servant in the Kingdom of God than to imagine yourself as king or master (you are not) and be forever imprisoned in the Lake of Fire prepared for the devil and his angels (and all those who choose to be a part of his kingdom).  There are only two choices on where you spend eternity and how you will spend it.  "Choose you this day whom you will serve....but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Zechariah 13:7-9
English Standard Version

The Shepherd Struck
7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the LORD of hosts.

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
    I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land, declares the LORD,
    two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
    and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
    and refine them as one refines silver,
    and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

This passage is quoted to in the New Testament to show how all of Jesus' disciples fled in the Garden when He was arrested.  John and Peter returned to watch the trial from a distance, but then Peter fled and only John remained at the foot of the cross.  By the time the women went to the tomb, all the disciples were hiding in the Upper Room for fear of the Jews (that is the Jewish leaders).

The LORD tells us here that the wrath intended for the nation of Israel (and all those who were grafted into the nation of Israel to be one with Christ) would be poured out on the Shepherd, that is Jesus.  I've embedded two videos that speak of this penal substitutionary atonement where Jesus took the judgment and wrath meant for us so that we might receive the blessings that were meant for Him.

For the rest of  the passage, is the LORD saying that two-thirds of the Jews are going to die in a time of judgment or that He knows that 2/3 of them are going to reject Him and never return to Him?  I don't know.  But for the 1/3 that are saved (if saved physically, I think he also means spiritually as well), they will be tried and refined.  The persecution and trials will make their faith even more pure and they will be certain that they belong to the LORD and He belongs to them.  

Zechariah 13:2-6
English Standard Version

Idolatry Cut Off
2 “And on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’ 6 And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

For the most part, the people of Israel and Judah have stopped worshiping graven images since they returned from the Exile, but that is not the same as them ceasing their idolatry.   Jesus made this point several times about even the religious leaders worshiping other things (tradition, power and wealth are all common examples in His teachings).  When Christ returns and establishes His Kingdom, no one will worship anyone or anything else--God alone (Father, Son, and Spirit) will receive all the praise, honor, and glory that only God is due.

There will be no more need for prophecy in that day because everyone will know the mind of God and have the Word of the LORD within them.  There will be no more sin to warn people of for people to be judged for.  Everything God wanted to say to us will have been said at that point.

The false prophets will be ashamed (and hopefully repent) and become a common man working the soil.  He will tell people he is a man with no status who has been working in the fields his whole life.  He will have marked himself for his false gods, but then will lie about it and say that these are everyday injuries that he received when having fun with his friends.  One day, their sin will find them out if they don't repent and they can lie to themselves and everyone else, but they cannot lie to God.  He will judge rightly in the end for all those who come to His throne as unrepentant sinners. who gave their lives to worshiping someone or something else.

Zechariah 12:10-13:1
English Standard Version

Him Whom They Have Pierced
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

13 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Now we are getting a fuller picture of the One who is to come that will stand in the place of Israel and take the wrath that they deserve so that they can have grace and mercy.  The LORD is speaking in first person to say they will have grace and mercy when they look on Me and then immediately says that the "Me" is equivalent to "Him whom they have pierced."  There will be a group that mourns His death and all the people of the Land will mourn (in some ways heaven an earth will be grieved and would mourn too as the sky would become dark and the earth would quake).

However, this is seems to be a greater time of mourning than what we saw at the time of the crucifixion.  This could possibly be the time that all Israel comes to the realization of what they have done (still some time in the future) and they all cry out for forgiveness and salvation.  Men, women and children all seem to have been given the gift of regeneration here and the conviction of sin (even if it was not a sin they themselves committed, they seem to understand we all have the same bloodguilt as we all would have responded the same way).  On that day that the Jewish people come to this realization, there will be a great fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins that will cleanse them and wash them white as snow.

Zechariah 12:1-9
English Standard Version

The LORD Will Give Salvation
12 The oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’

6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

7 “And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Remember how the last passage didn't really seem to fit because it spoke of how the Son was going to take the wrath that the people of Israel deserved, but since He was taking their place it was as if that wrath was being poured out on Israel?  We are back now to the part where the LORD tells us about the salvation that is sure and certain for His covenant people, and that starts with a reminder that He is the one who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them out of nothing.  He is the one who breathed His Spirit into man to give Man a three-part identity of body, soul (emotions), and spirit (eternal part).

The LORD is going to bring judgment on Jerusalem and Judah once again and the people of the other nations will cry out for the LORD to allow them to be destroyed.  In fact, all the other nations will rise up against it.  However, the LORD will not close His eyes and allow His people to be destroyed.  He will fulfill His covenant promises to them.  When He destroys every horse and rider, He will do so with eyes wide open and spare the people of Judah and Jerusalem in particular who will remain His covenant people.

On that day, it will be the other nations that come out against them in battle who will be destroyed, but Judah and Jerusalem will be saved.  He will do so for the sake of the covenant that He made with King David.  He will give strength to the weak and feeble on that day so that they will all have strength like King David did.  The angel of the LORD (that is Jesus) will go out before them in battle and they will be a glorified army of soldiers who will finally execute the LORD's judgment and vengeance on the wicked nations.  They day of salvation for His people will be the day of destruction for their enemies (just like with the Flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah, Passover, and the crossing of the Red Sea, and probably others that you can think of).  Salvation and judgment are intertwined all throughout the Bible.  Those who are saved don't earn or deserve it, but they were chosen by God to reveal His glory and to be a part of His perfect plan so it was in the past, so it is now, and so it will be in the future.

Zechariah 11
English Standard Version

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter
11 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled!
3 The sound of the wail of the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of the lions,
    for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

4 Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
    and his right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!”

I must admit this is a confusing passage after everything we read about the LORD one day bringing peace and prosperity to the flock of Israel and promising that they will never again go into Exile and be taken out of the Land.  It appears this is a prophecy that has some immediate fulfillment in the time of Zechariah, we see a more complete fulfillment in the life of Jesus, and we expect this to be the case again before Jesus returns in the end times.

The LORD chooses a particular flock that He tells Zechariah to become shepherd over and the tells Zechariah that this flock is destined to be slaughtered.  Note that this does not mean that God is going to allow all the people of Israel and Judah to be killed--that goes against everything else that we've read so far and the promises that the LORD has made to them, but the LORD is going to allow the mass-murder of the people of Israel and allow the Land to be devoured and the people to be hunted, captured, sold and killed by their enemies that are watching for the LORD's protection to once again cease because the people continue to break the Mosaic Covenant.  The nations are sure that if the people become wicked enough, the LORD will once again have to remove His Favor (the name of the first staff) and that they will become as vulnerable as any other nation (even if He doesn't exile them from the Land).

First, Zechariah must do away with all the good shepherds that would work to save the sheep.  He does that within a month of being given these instructions by the LORD.  Then Zechariah leaves the sheep to fend for themselves and breaks the staff called Favor as a sign to all those watching (that understood this to be the Word of the LORD) that the covenant was broken and the people of Israel and Judah would no longer have the Favor of the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant or the protections of it.

Yet, there is a bigger story here, as Messiah stands in the place of Israel and goes through everything they went through and He was the one destined for slaughter, and the LORD would not save Him.  The LORD removed His favor (which we see He had early on in His life when he grew in favor with both God and men).  His enemies (the religious leaders, Satan, and all the enemies of God that were waiting to try to destroy the Messiah and keep Him from becoming the King that would bring peace and prosperity to His people) were waiting for this moment.  They didn't realize the crucifixion was all part of God's plan.  They thought they would kill the one destined to be king and steal the kingdom, but it was through their actions that His Kingdom was established forever and ever as this allowed Him to defeat sin and death.

We see the price of 30 pieces of silver here that was paid as blood money.  In the New Testament, Matthew is focused on the price of the field being 30 pieces of silver which was prophetically told to the prophet Jeremiah, but that does not deny the fact that this prophecy was also fulfilled in Christ as the price paid for Judah to betray Him to the religious leaders was set at 30 pieces of silver.  Note that just like with Judas, these 30 pieces of silver were thrown into the house of the LORD (The Temple) just like when Judas felt guilty and tried to return the blood money before going to commit suicide.  At this point in the story the second staff called Union was broken (the Shepherd was struck down and the "sheep" (His disciples) scattered and hid)

However, that's not the end of the story.  The LORD tells Zechariah to once again take up the equipment of a foolish shepherd.  I believe this speaks to a day in the future when there will be additional worthless leaders (shepherds) of the LORD's people (maybe in Israel, maybe in the Church, probably both) and I think there's a good chance this points directly to the time of Antichrist when the Jewish people will believe that he is their Messiah but he seeks their destruction, not their salvation.  The LORD will judge this future worthless shepherd and all other worthless shepherds who were given care over His people and did not do the job entrusted to them by the Chief Shepherd.

Zechariah 10
English Standard Version

The Restoration for Judah and Israel
10 Ask rain from the LORD
    in the season of the spring rain,
from the LORD who makes the storm clouds,
    and he will give them showers of rain,
    to everyone the vegetation in the field.
2 For the household gods utter nonsense,
    and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
    and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
    they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

3 “My anger is hot against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;
for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
    and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
4 From him shall come the cornerstone,
    from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
    from him every ruler—all of them together.
5 They shall be like mighty men in battle,
    trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the LORD is with them,
    and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.

6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah,
    and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
    and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
    for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.
7 Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
    and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
    their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD.

8 “I will whistle for them and gather them in,
    for I have redeemed them,
    and they shall be as many as they were before.
9 Though I scattered them among the nations,
    yet in far countries they shall remember me,
    and with their children they shall live and return.
10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
    and gather them from Assyria,
and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    till there is no room for them.
11 He shall pass through the sea of troubles
    and strike down the waves of the sea,
    and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
    and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
12 I will make them strong in the LORD,
    and they shall walk in his name,”
declares the LORD.

The Land was in a time of drought and infertile to reflect the hearts of the people before and during the time of Exile, but the LORD promises to send the rain again to give water to all the people and animals and vegetation.  No longer will the people attribute control of the weather to false gods who have life, no ability to speak, and no power to save or help--they were useless idols of wood, stone, or metal.

The people were given false prophets and false dreams and sent strong delusions so that they might believe the lies that were spoken by these false priests and prophets and that their hearts may be hardened and they would not repent before the time of judgment that they deserved.  Now is the time for restoration and the LORD will once again be understood to be their Good Shepherd.

The LORD is still angry with the leaders who lead the people astray and take what was meant for the sheep (the people) and consume it themselves.  We still see that issue during the time of Jesus, so they didn't learn their lesson--they magnified the issue of the people breaking the Sabbath, because that helped them gain more political control.  The Good Shepherd cares about His sheep being mistreated and He is going to one day make them like His majestic war horse that He rides into battle.

The LORD will be their sure and steady foundation and the means by which they are defended.  They have no need to fear anyone or anything because the LORD is on their side and will protect and defend them.  Just like in the times of the Conquest, the LORD will go in front of them in battle and their enemies will flee before them and they will mop up the enemies that run in fear.  No one will be able to stop them because the LORD has declared them to be victorious.

The LORD will save the house of Judah (the southern tribes) and the house of Joseph (the northern tribes) and restore them as if He had never rejected them and sent them away into Exile.  Though the northern tribes rebelled against the LORD's anointed leader (the sons of David of the tribe of Judah), they will be made strong again.

They will listen to the voice of the LORD and will gather together from the four corners of the earth when He whistles for them.  They will be His redeemed people and they will be as many as before (maybe more--remember the Abrahamic Covenant that promised an uncountable multitude of descendants).  Those who have been dispersed from the Land will return to it once again.  The entirety of the Promised Land will be filled until there is no more room for them.

He will strike down the Gentile nations pictured here as the waves of the troubled sea.   He will dry up the Nile River which the Egyptians worshiped.  He will humble the proud Assyrians and remove the scepter of power from Egypt.  The LORD will make both Egypt and Assyria to be worshipers of the LORD and they will seek the welfare of the LORD's people.  Together Egypt, Assyria and Israel will places where the people of the LORD worship Him in reverence and in gladness and they will walk in His Name (obey Him).