The Day of the LORD

Zechariah 14:1-11

(Ezekiel 38; 39; Mark 13; Rev. 20—22)

1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.

2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3 Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.

4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Thus the LORD my God will come,
And all the saints with You.

6 It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.

7 It shall be one day
Which is known to the LORD—

Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.

8 And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.

9 And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—

"The LORD is one,"
And His name one.

10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin's Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.

11 The people shall dwell in it;
And no longer shall there be utter destruction,
But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

The coming Day of the LORD was foretold to God’s people through Zechariah long before discussions over Revelation as a warning to us all.  The battles before the final judgment which happen before this Day are described hidden in a veil of descriptive verses for us to consider the principles over the exact nature of these coming events so we do not get wrapped up in believing that we can predict the exact day and hour of them.  We see general happenings such as the nations attacking Jerusalem and God defending her and His people there.  As it is written, “He fights in the day of battle.”  It is God who defeats the enemies and not us in our own supposed power or wisdom.  He will split the valley and people will run away as He comes with His chosen ones made holy in the Messiah.  Darkness will cover the earth as the sun fails and the stars fall from the skies.  This Day cannot be predicted by us as only the Father in heaven above knows the hour of His choosing to defeat sin’s presence and make all things new (Revelation 21:5).  Living waters (Revelation 22:1-2) will flow through that New Jerusalem, the Celestial City brought down from God’s dwelling place for us to worship Him face to face at last!  Then we who join the remnant of Israel in Christ will together say that the LORD  is One (Ephesians 4:5-6, Deuteronomy 6:4) in the persons of the Father, Son, and Spirit whom we worship and only see in a dim mirror’s view (1 Corinthians 13:12) now.  The Jerusalem spoken of by Zechariah was much more than a rebuilt earthly version of a temporal kingdom; it looked forward to the eternal kingdom and heavenly city brought down to man on a renewed world with His presence as the light of the world (John 8:12, Revelation 21:23, 22:5) in spirit and truth.  Utter destruction will be to the world left outside, but those within those walls will be safe eternally, having been written in the Lamb’s book of eternal life from the beginning (Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:4-6, Revelation 20:12, 15).  This New Jerusalem will be safely inhabited therefore by all whom He has called in Christ to Himself.  Take solace with eternal and unshakable hope in these things, brethren!  Do not fear the end times which are merely the completion of God’s eternal working to redeem a people for Himself to worship and enjoy Him forever.  Instead of seeking to grasp every nuance and timeline of events, let us use the days wisely to preach the good news for those chosen to hear His voice (John 10:3) and follow the Good Shepherd to that eternal resting place.  The Day of the LORD is our hope and anticipated destiny.