¹NOW WHEN Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men [astrologers] from the east came to Jerusalem, asking,

²Where is He Who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east ^[a]at its rising and have come to worship Him.

My favorite preacher, J. Vernon McGee, said there were prophecies in Eastern religions about a coming Messiah.  I haven’t checked that out yet…A quick google didn’t reveal anything significant…

⁴So he called together all the chief priests and learned men (scribes) of the people and ^[b]anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.  ⁵They replied to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 

⁶And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are not in any way least or insignificant among the ^[c]chief cities of Judah; for from you shall come a Ruler (^[d]Leader) Who will govern and ^[e]shepherd My people Israel.

Here is one of the prophecies surrounding the Messiah that seem hard to fit together — as to how they could possibly be talking about the same person — but Matthew shows how it easily unfolds with Jesus.

¹³Now after they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Get up! [^[k]Tenderly] take unto you the young Child and His mother and flee to Egypt; and remain there till I tell you [otherwise], for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.

¹⁴And having risen, he took the Child and His mother by night and withdrew to Egypt. ¹⁵And remained there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.

And another prophecy about another area:

²²But because he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being divinely warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.

²³He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He shall be called a Nazarene [Branch, Separated One].

¹THE BOOK of the ancestry (genealogy) of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham.

In the line of King David – a descendant of of Jacob – an Israeli.

Jacob the father of Judah

In the kingly line.

³Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar

Tamar was part of one of the most curious stories in Genesis:  She was married to 2 of Judah’s sons – both of whom died at the hands of God – which scared Judah about giving her his third son (per the custom of the day).  Tamar then tricked Judah into having sex with him – making her pregnant.  She was disgraced within the family and was due to be burned.  She escaped by revealing to Judah the unborn child was his own.   As the verse in Matthew shows, she gave birth to twins – in similar fashion to the birth of Jacob and Esau.

²⁸And when she was in labor, one baby put out his hand; and the midwife took his hand and bound upon it a scarlet thread, saying, This baby was born first.  ²⁹But he drew back his hand, and behold, his brother was born first. And she said, What a breaking forth you have made for yourself! Therefore his name was called Perez [breaking forth]. ³⁰And afterward his brother who had the scarlet thread on his hand was born and was named Zerah [scarlet].  (Genesis 38)

²⁴When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.  ²⁵The first came out red all over like a hairy garment, and they named him Esau [hairy].  ²⁶Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand grasped Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob [supplanter]. Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. (Genesis 25)

Not sure of the significance.  Frequently in the Bible, the second born, the weak, the timid, or the reluctant are chosen by God through whom He performs His wonders. 

Vernon McGee said that an empty vessel is better for God to pour the Holy Spirit into for power and guidance.  That God often has to break us down, to get us to fully turn to Him, before He can use us.  That that is why the super-duper saints (believers) are often passed over for use by God in favor of the weaker ones…

Boaz, whose mother was Rahab

I believe McGee said this Rahab is the same as in Joshua 2 – the harlot who helped the two Israeli spies in Jericho before the city was destroyed in an early battle for the takeover of the Holy Land.

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth

Ruth is another curious figure in the family line of Jesus – the Messiah.  Ruth was a foreigner.  She was from Moab.  She had been married by an Israeli – and God had strictly warned the Jews not to intermarry with the tribes of the Holy Land He was going to displace. 

But, she remained loyal to her mother-in-law even after the death of her husband.  She left Moab when Naomi (the mother-in-law) returned to Israel and worked to provide for her.  There she met and married Boaz…

This is one aspect of the Bible that reassures my faith:  if you were creating a fiction, you wouldn’t do it like this – and so consistently in books written far apart from each other.  How many other religions have as the heroes characters like this?

The recurrent use of elements like this confirms for me as well the Holy inspiration of each of the texts of the Bible…

Back to Matthew 1:

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place under these circumstances: When His mother Mary had been promised in marriage to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant [through the power] of the Holy Spirit.

Virgin birth and conception by the Holy Spirit.

for that which is conceived in her is of (from, out of) the Holy Spirit. (verse 20)

²¹She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus [the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior], for He will save His people from their sins [that is, prevent them from ^[a]failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God].

²²All this took place that it might be fulfilled which the Lord had spoken through the prophet,  ²³Behold, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel–which, when translated, means, God with us.

The prophecy mentioned is from Isaiah 7:

¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].

I know these early chapters in Matthew are heavy in how the birth and life of Jesus fulfill Old Testament prophecy.

It is very interesting to read.  You would not have been able to see how these different prophecies about the coming of the Messiah could possibly all come true –  until Matthew shows it to you in a very simple story. 

When I read and write about those chapters, I’ll highlight it…

²⁸And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.

²⁹He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.

³⁰But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!

³¹Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³And those in the boat knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God!  (Matthew 14)

Reading this again, I was struck by how well it describes the life of a person of strong faith:

Peter had the strength to take a step out on the water.  The eleven others in the boat did not.  They were overwhelmed by the current conditions of the world around them. 

Peter concentrated on Christ.  Despite the ravages of the storm, his desire to be with Jesus was his central focus, and he begged to join.  And Jesus called him closer.

And Peter did walk on water.  He stepped out of the boat onto the tossing waves.  He was successful.

He was also only human.  Despite his great faith, he stumbled.  He fell.  He failed.  Even as he came closer to Christ, he was ultimately unable to overcome the world around him.  He stumbled and began to sink into the sea.

Did Jesus slap him in the face?  Rebuke him with vigor as he watched him drown?

No.  He reached out His hand and helped Peter overcome his human frailty and failure.

Jesus did point out Peter’s weakness but after He had saved him.

Jesus quieted the storm, and they all worshipped Him.

Peter was a man of strong faith, perhaps stronger than all those around him, because it was he alone who stepped out of the boat despite the fear that had seized them all.

But even with his great faith, he still failed.

Jesus understood the weakness of Adam after the fall in Eden.  He reached out His hand and gave Peter aid and comfort.

And the ordeal – the storm and the recognition of the limitations of his faith – only led Peter to worship Christ more.

This is the story of people of faith…

We always remain weak, despite our best intentions, but God understands that.  He is there to help us even in the darkest moments.  And our darkest moments should lead us closer to Him in fellowship…

¹THEN THE fifth angel blew [his] trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth; and to the angel was given the key ^[a]of the shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit).

²He opened the ^[b]long shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit), and smoke like the smoke of a huge furnace puffed out of the ^[c]long shaft, so that the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the long shaft.

³Then out of the smoke locusts came forth on the earth, and such power was granted them as the power the earth’s scorpions have.

These trumpets are part of the revelation that comes with the blowing of the 7th trumpet beginning Chapter 8.

The timing of this can not be doubted:  We have the release of Satan from the bottmless pit.  Clearly defined in Revelation 20 as coming at the end of the Kingdom and start of the real final war between God and evil.

An army of perhaps supernatural locusts creating massive destruction are found in Joel 1 too:

⁴What the crawling locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten; and what the hopping locust left, the stripping locust has eaten.

⁶For a [heathen and hostile] nation [of locusts, illustrative of a human foe] has invaded My land, mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the jaw teeth of a lioness.

¹⁵Alas for the day! For the day of [the judgment of] the Lord is at hand, and as a destructive tempest from the Almighty will it come.

¹⁹O Lord, to You will I cry, for the fire has devoured the pastures and folds of the plain and the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.

²⁰Even the wild beasts of the field pant and cry to You, for the water brooks are dried up and fire has consumed the pastures and folds of the wilderness and the plain.

You can read this review of Revelation 6 & 7, along with looks at similar passages elsewhere, to see that:

The “day of the Lord” is mentioned – vast destruction – drying up of the rivers and brooks – and consuming fire —

— are all mentioned in Revelation 16 and 20 and elsewhere in that book.

Given everything, it does seem these prophecies work together and do describe the war at the end of the Kingdom that will remove Satan and evil from the Earth after which the new Earth will be created for the people of faith and worship.

Oooooops…

It seems the next verse in Revelation 9 marks them as not the same as Joel:

⁴They were told not to injure the herbage of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only [to attack] such human beings as do not have the seal (mark) of God on their foreheads.

Those in Joel do consume – everything…

The people who survive include those who have the seal of God as mentioned for the 144,000, and a verse soon to come again places this after the emptying of the bottomless pit – not when it was filled at the end of the 1st war:

¹¹Over them as king they have the angel of the Abyss (of the bottomless pit). In Hebrew his name is Abaddon [destruction], but in Greek he is called Apollyon [destroyer].

Next comes the wholesale slaughter of people:

¹⁵So the four angels who had been in readiness for that hour in the appointed day, month, and year were liberated to destroy a third of mankind.

¹⁶The number of their troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (200,000,000); I heard what their number was.

The people destroyed are depicted as evil beyond the will to redemption:

²⁰And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues even then did not repent of [the worship of] the works of their [own] hands, so as to cease paying homage to the demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor move.

This does seem to conflict with earlier verses in previous chapters that say the Kingdom will see all idols and false prophets and the false spirit will be removed so that those remaining in the Kingdom will have every opportunity to learn of God’s will without interference…

²And in that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will remove from the land the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit. (Zechariah 13:2)

Perhaps a somewhat weak interpretation of these verses together would be:  this is strictly for the limited time of the final war:  That those who refuse to worship Christ and God and the Holy Spirit during the kingdom period will be seduced by the idols and power of Satan and his host that are released from the bottomless pit.

This does fit the outline of the timeline laid out in Revelation 20:

⁷And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his place of confinement,

⁸And he will go forth to deceive and seduce and lead astray the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth–Gog and Magog–to muster them for war; their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹And they swarmed up over the broad plain of the earth and encircled the fortress (camp) of God’s people (the saints) and the beloved city; but fire descended from heaven and consumed them. [II Kings 1:10-12; Ezek. 38:2, 22.]

Revelation 20 is the reference point for interpretation of the End Times:  It lays out quickly and clearly – the first war, the Kingdom, the final war, the Great White Throne, and then the new Earth and eternity…That is why I refer back to it so often.

Verses 7-9 are quiet clearly about the final war before the end of the Kingdom.  Here, we see Satan’s forces will be able to seduce those who are not committed to Christ by the end of the Kingdom.

What makes this a weak is Zechariah 13:2.

I don’t think you can say this removal of the idols is at the start of the New Earth:  Verse 7 makes it seemingly clear another war breaks out – which would be the final one – which means this removal of idols in 13:2 will be at the start of the Kingdom.  So, how could it say the idols will be remembered no more???

The description of that final war in Zechariah 13 does seem to match up with both Joel 1 and Revelation 9:

⁸And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

I wonder if the 2/3rds destroyed are all the unsaved?  Or, is a mixture of the saved and the damned:  Those who refuse to accept Christ’s rule and those who do but are killed during the massive war?

I tentatively suggest that the 1/3rd are not the only true believers at the end.  That some of the 2/3rds destroyed are also part of the saved.

I look back at the description of the saints in heaven around God’s throne who were killed for being believers before the Kingdom started:

⁹When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for [adhering to] the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne.

¹⁰They cried in a loud voice, O [Sovereign] Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?

¹¹Then they were each given a ^[b]long and flowing and festive white robe and told to rest and wait patiently a little while longer, until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6)

These future saints “were to be killed” in the future – and then God would come for the final judgment that would utterly separate evil from creation for eternity…

²And I looked, and saw there a white horse whose rider carried a bow. And a crown was given him, and he rode forth conquering and to conquer.

The Muslim Madhi is described this way.

⁹When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for [adhering to] the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne.

¹⁰They cried in a loud voice, O [Sovereign] Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?

¹¹Then they were each given a ^[b]long and flowing and festive white robe and told to rest and wait patiently a little while longer, until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

The final judgment is the Great White Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20.

¹²When He [the Lamb] broke open the sixth seal, I looked, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun grew black as sackcloth of hair, [the full disc of] the moon became like blood.

¹⁴And the ^[c]sky rolled up like a scroll and vanished, and every mountain and island was dislodged from its place.

¹⁷For the great day of His wrath (vengeance, retribution, indignation) has come, and who is able to stand before it?

I am guessing most of the commentaries will link this to Armageddon during the Tribulation before the Kingdom – rather than the real final battle between God and evil at the END of the Kingdom – briefly mentioned in Revelation 20.

Zechariah 12-14 is a prophecy about Israel that seems to echo Revelation 20 – outlining the history of Israel from the Tribulation through the Great White Throne judgment:

³Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.

⁴And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from the east to the west by a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south.

⁵And you shall flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal, and you shall flee as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my [Zechariah's] ^[a]God shall come, and all the holy ones [saints and angels] with Him.

I believe this describes the final battle at the end of the Kingdom and just before the creation of a new Earth.  In verse 5, we have God and the host of heaven coming to do battle.  I believe this is the God-head rather than Christ alone as at the end of the Tribulation.

Then look at verse 3:  “as when He fought in the day of battle.”

When did the Messiah fight another battle?  Revelation mentions 2 wars between Christ and Satan’s forces:  1 to begin the Kingdom.  1 at the end of it. 

So, when would “as when He fought in the day of battle” be?

It seems obviously to be the first war – which would make the current one the second…

Regardless, in both Zechariah and Revelation here have extreme events taking place during the battle.  Elsewhere, you will read time-indicators such as “like never has been seen before or ever will again” – and my question is:  If Satan and his followers are so clearly going to be released from the bottomless pit to fight one last war against God and the Messiah’s rule on Earth at the end of the Kingdom, it would seem these time-markers are most likely for the end of the Kingdom?

Chapter 7

Here we see the 144,000 out of Israel sealed from harm.  This seems much more like the Tribulation period, but how does that work with Chapter 6…?  Just below, we’ll see this seems to be after the Tribulation and at the start of the Kingdom…

³Saying, Harm neither the earth nor the sea nor the trees, until we have sealed the bond servants of our God upon their foreheads.

⁴And [then] I heard how many were sealed (marked) out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: there were 144,000.

In the next verse, we see a mixed multitude of believers standing before – a throne:

⁹After this I looked and a vast host appeared which no one could count, [gathered out] of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne and before the Lamb; they were attired in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

Next is the time-marker:

Who are these [people] clothed in the long white robes? And from where have they come?

¹⁴I replied, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

So, it would seem the 144,000 out of the tribes of Israel are linked with this great mixed multitude of believers who are pictured as having come THROUGH the Tribulation – and thus stand at the gates of the Messiah’s Kingdom!!

This is highly interesting for several reasons:

Why are the 144,000 sealed if this is after the Tribulation?  Perhaps, maybe, because not everyone in the Kingdom will accept Christ as savior or enjoy His rule – which is described as being an “iron fist” elsewhere. 

Zechariah 14 seems to describe this aspect of the Kingdom:

¹⁶And everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

¹⁷And it shall be that whoso of the families of the earth shall not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

¹⁸And if the family of Egypt does not go up to Jerusalem and present themselves, upon them there shall be no rain, but there shall be the plague with which the Lord will smite the nations that go not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁹This shall be the consequent punishment of the sin of Egypt and the consequent punishment of the sin of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

In short, not everyone who enters the Kingdom will make it to the eternity of bliss on the new Earth after the Kingdom ends its 1,000 years…

Perhaps the 144,000 are selected believers out of the tribes of Israel who will spread the faith in Christ during the Kingdom?

The verses after it seem to confirm this:

¹⁴I replied, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵For this reason they are [now] before the [very] throne of God and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary (temple); and He Who is sitting upon the throne will protect and spread His tabernacle over and shelter them with His presence.

¹⁶They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun smite them, nor any ^[d]scorching heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb Who is in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to the springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

I believe this is the Kingdom period and Jerusalem.

It doesn’t seem to be heaven itself:  Why would the mixed multitude of believers need to be “protected” and “sheltered” in Heaven?  The reason they would need it in the Kingdom is clear:  there will be one last war with Satan at the end of it. 

In fact, the reference to the sun smiting them is likely directly tied to that last battle:

⁷And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his place of confinement,

⁸And he will go forth to deceive and seduce and lead astray the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth–Gog and Magog–to muster them for war; their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹And they swarmed up over the broad plain of the earth and encircled the fortress (camp) of God’s people (the saints) and the beloved city; but fire descended from heaven and consumed them. [II Kings 1:10-12; Ezek. 38:2, 22.]

Joel 2 seems clearly to be about this final war between God and Satan at the end of the Kingdom:

¹BLOW THE trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on My holy Mount [Zion]. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of [the judgment of] the Lord is coming; it is close at hand–

²A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and of thick mists and darkness, like the morning dawn spread upon the mountains; so there comes a [heathen, hostile] people numerous and mighty, the like of which has never been before and shall not be again even to the years of many generations.

³A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yes, and none has escaped [the ravages of the devouring hordes].

I already mentioned the time-marker:  like never before or after.

The Tribulation can’t be that, I think, if we know in very clear terms in Revelation 20 that there will be one last battle when Satan is let out of the bottomless pit…

I think “the land is as the garden of Eden before them” is also an indicator.   Will the Earth look like the Garden of Eden going into the Tribulation?  Look out your window…Does that look like Eden?  Does the land of Israel look like Eden today?  I don’t’ think so…

But, the Kingdom will be a return to Eden-like conditions around Jerusalem and in every Kingdom where the Messiah and God and the Holy Spirit are accepted and worshipped.  Zechariah 14 noted above describe this.

So, this incredible war that destroys an Eden-like Earth would most likely be within the Kingdom, not before it is established…Continuing Joel:

¹¹And the Lord utters His voice before His army, for His host is very great, and [they are] strong and powerful who execute [God's] word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can endure it?

The “burning” of God’s enemies is even more clear in Revelation 16:

⁷And [from] the altar I heard [the] cry, Yes, Lord God the Omnipotent, Your judgments (sentences, decisions) are true and just and righteous!

⁸Then the fourth [angel] emptied out his bowl upon the sun, and it was permitted to burn (scorch) humanity with [fierce, glowing] heat (fire).

⁹People were severely burned (scorched) by the fiery heat, and they reviled and blasphemed the name of God, Who has control of these plagues, and they did not repent of their sins [felt no regret, contrition, and compunction for their waywardness, refusing to amend their ways] to give Him glory.

I believe this is the end of the Kingdom as Satan’s last rebellion is put down in a most extreme way…and put down forever.

This all seems to fit together well – internally in Revelation itself but also with other End Times prophecies. 

I believe most people see this as the Tribulation before the Kingdom, but it seems to me to much more fit the final war…

The 144,000 and those in the mixed multitude who turn to Christ for salvation will be sealed and shielded from the great fire and destruction that will consume Satan’s host just before they are tossed into Hell for eternity at the end of the Kingdom…(Edit:  I’m not sure now if the whole of this mixed multitude will escape death or hardship during the last great war.   

When Revelation 16:17 calls this Armageddon, then I have to start to believe Armageddon is not fought before the Kingdom…

¹⁶And they gathered them together at the place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon. [II Kings 9:27.]

It includes incredible events and the “never before or after” time-marker:

¹⁸And there followed lightning flashes, loud rumblings, peals of thunder, and a tremendous earthquake; nothing like it has ever occurred since men dwelt on the earth, so severe and far-reaching was that earthquake.

It is hard for me to imagine that Armageddon would take place before the start of the Kingdom when a final rebellion is going to take place – a final rebellion by Satan and his entire host of supernatural forces and those humans who refuse to obey God – just before they are going to be cast into hell for eternity…

So, back to the end of Chapter 7:

¹⁵For this reason they are [now] before the [very] throne of God and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary (temple); and He Who is sitting upon the throne will protect and spread His tabernacle over and shelter them with His presence.

¹⁶They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun smite them, nor any ^[d]scorching heat.

This DOES seem to clearly fit into the start of Kingdom period and for those who do accept Christ as savior and God’s will as expressed by His iron rule during the 1,000 years – once they are given the opportunity to witness Jesus personally and directly.

— I tentatively believe the verses on the mixed multitude of true believers who will be protected by the Messiah during the Kingdom also fits some ideas I’ve been mulling over the last few years about —

how people who lived before Jesus – or – in areas where the gospel never had the chance to reach – or perhaps also those who were in areas where the gospel could reach but were dominated by a different tradition —-

but also people who believed in God – bearing witness to the influence of the Holy Spirit and the signs of God He built into the universe -– people who never rejected the Holy Spirit – and people who never gave into the influence of Satan and worshipped the calling of the flesh –

will be given a chance to know Jesus as Messiah.

(Which would make sense of a truly mysterious passage in Matthew 12:31 – “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy (every evil, abusive, injurious speaking, or indignity against sacred things) can be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit shall not and cannot be forgiven.”)

Perhaps they will be raised at the start of the Kingdom.  Then they will have no excuse for not believing in Jesus as savior and part of the 1 true God in the Trinity.

The witness to God will be direct and unavoidable.  There will be no excuse for rejection.

There will be no excuse when God has the final judgment at the end of the Kingdom.

Many commenters have talked about the Old Testament saints and what will happen to them at the End Times.  Most I’ve briefly looked into say they will enter the Kingdom.

I believe the mixed multitude is likely broader than just the Jews with faith in God who lived before Jesus walked the Earth, was crucified, and rose again and ascended into heaven.

I don’t know how much broader the resurrection into the Kingdom will be.  It seems likely only God knows for sure.

If this interpretation is wrong however, I would not want to be a person today who rejects Jesus as savior after having heard the gospel – banking on the idea they will be given a second chance during the Kingdom…

¹IN THE eighth month, in the second year [of the reign] of Darius, came the word of the Lord to Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying…’

Darius – Reign 522 BC – 486 BC – So this would be 520.

Return to Me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you; it is the utterance of the Lord of hosts.

⁸I saw in the night [vision] and behold, a ^[a]Man riding upon a red horse, and He stood among the myrtle trees that were in a low valley or bottom, and behind Him there were horses, red, bay or flame-colored, and white.

¹¹And the men on the horses answered ^[c]the Angel of the Lord Who stood among the myrtle trees and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth [patrolling it] and behold, all the earth sits at rest [in peaceful security].

¹²Then the Angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy and loving kindness for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which You have had indignation these seventy years [of the Babylonian captivity]?

So, this vision comes when the 2nd Temple is about to begin again after the 70 year captivity that began in Babylon.  The Messiah (Jesus) comes riding a red horse to deliver the Word.

Many Christian scholars believe the pre-incarnate Christ delivered many such messages as shown in the Old Testament.  Below is the Gospel of John’s statement about Jesus as God’s Word:

¹IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ^[b]Himself.

Next, we have a direct warning to the nations of Zechariah’s day who were against the re-founding of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Israel, but this is not a limited prophecy:  God never gives up on His chosen land and people –

- The nations who have been against Israel since the scattering of 70 AD and the refounding of 1948 and the retaking of Jerusalem of 1967 – should be warned.

¹⁷Cry yet again, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

¹⁸Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns [symbols of strength].

Horns = symbols of strength.  I’ve also seen horns referred to as kingdoms and kings.

¹⁹And I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns or powers which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

This is curious:  At the time of the vision in Zechariah’s day, this would seem to be Babylon and Persia.  Greece was still some time into the future.  So too Rome and the Muslims.

Since specific Jewish kingdoms are mentioned (Judah and Israel), then should we include Assyria here?  Would the Medes count as a separate horn?

I would think you have to try to fit the 4 horns in with the kindgoms of Zechariah’s time before we move into the future.  Other prophecies specifically spell out they extend into the distant future.  This one seems to ground itself in the now and past.  (Note:  I move beyond this position further down in the reading…)

Here is Matthew Henry’s somewhat concise commentary.  It is worth reading, but it does not touch naming the horns.  The Geneva Bible Study just lists them as the 4 winds and all opposition to Israel.  Scofield doesn’t name names.  Wesley follows the GBS’ lead and links them to all 4 directions from which Israel was pressed against.  No attempt to place labels on the 4 horns.

I would think this is fine, and without more direct text, it would be speculation anyway, but I think naming names is something to be attempted due to the final verse of the chapter:

²⁰Then the Lord showed me four smiths or workmen [one for each enemy horn, to beat it down].

The Lord brings about the disciplining of the nations who He allows to discipline His chosen people/land.  Sure, you could say He uses either Israel or nations from the other 3 corners of the map to do it.

But, something here makes me think the 4 horns mentioned should be named given the 4 smiths verse.

If “scattered” is a key term, and this extends into the future, then good candidates would be Babylon, Greece, Rome, and perhaps the future power that comes at the founding of the Kingdom led by the Messiah.  (Note:  I go beyond this – and further out on a limb – by changing this to the final rebellion by Satan at the end of the Kingdom just before the Great White Throne judgment.)

Notice I left the Persians out:  The Persian’s didn’t “scatter” the Jews, right?

Persia defeated the Babylonians while the Jews were still in captivity.  Then, the Persians helped them return and re-found the kingdom of Israel centered in Jerusalem.

Notice too I did not include the Muslim empires.  I have limited knowledge about them, but they didn’t scatter the Jews either, did they?  Rome did in 70 AD and sent them into exile. 

I read one source say the Muslims, once they gained control in the 7th Century, gave Jews more freedom to live and worship in Jerusalem than the Roman and Byzantium Christian kingdoms did…

Until I learn better, it would seem when the Muslims invaded and scattered the inhabitants, they were scattering a Christian community.

Is this a technicality?  Would this be another scattering?  Or, is it just limited to Jewish Israel?

If it is more limited, and it is a deep future and recent past prophecy, the 4 might be Assyria, Babylon, Rome, and a future scattering.

Would that match End Times predictions?

It does seem to fit Zechariah 13:

⁷Awake, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is My associate, says the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd and the sheep [of the flock] shall be scattered, and I will turn back My hand and stretch it out again upon the little ones [of the flock].

⁸And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.

If you read my first full exploration of Zechariah 12-14, you’ll see where my tentative idea is that this portion of Zechariah’s prophecy for the future of Israel is not the battle of Armageddon that establishes the Kingdom – but is the final rebellion of mankind against God’s rule at the end of the Kingdom when Satan and his host are released from the bottomless pit —- which Revelation 20 teaches will occur just before the Great White Throne judgment and the establishment of a new Earth…

—-You can read here for my thoughts on the overall value of pouring over the details of prophecy like this.

As far as my faith and salvation goes, it means nothing. I think prophesy is important, but it is more of an exercise of the spirit and Biblical understanding than concerns my future salvation or the strength of my faith.

I will stray away from the traditional interpretations of it.  I don’t see the horrors of Antiochus in it.  Nor do I see the horrors of the Roman destruction of 70 AD.  If they were present, they must have been passed over quickly, because early in the prophecy we see the direct, personal intervention by the Messiah fighting against Jerusalem’s enemies.

I do think most of the prophecy concerns the war of Armageddon and the establishment of the Messiah’s Kingdom on Earth.  But, I diverge again, I think, from other interpretations in believing that the greatest war and changes described in the prophecy concern the final war against evil that will come at the end of the Kingdom period as described in Revelation 20 – in which Satan and his forces will be released from the bottomless pit to join with others in the Kingdom for a final rebellion against God before the last judgment and establishment of a new Earth.

I will need to look at this some more, and read some other commentary more closely, but I think this does hold up…

(I quote more verses and look into them in the three earlier explorations linked at the start of this post.  Below, I try to summarize the outline I see in the prophecy but also give enough key quotes to support it.)

Chapter 12

Prophecy on Israel

Verses 1-9

Burdensome stone to neighbors

³And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who lift it or burden themselves with it shall be sorely wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall come and gather together against it.

They shall triumph against attackers and the Messiah will be with them.

⁸In that day will the Lord guard and defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he who is [spiritually] feeble and stumbles among them in that day [of persecution] shall become [strong and noble] like David; and the house of David [shall maintain its supremacy] like God, like the ^[a]Angel of the Lord Who is before them.

Verses 10-14

And there will be mourning as part of the victory due to recognition of how the Messiah had come and not been recognized in his earlier time.

¹⁰And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace or unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look [earnestly] upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.

¹¹In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo [over beloved King ^[b]Josiah].

Chapter 13

Verses 1-6

False religion will be wiped away and the unclear spirit (Satan?) will be removed.

¹IN THAT day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem [to cleanse them from] sin and uncleanness.

²And in that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will remove from the land the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit.

Individuals will still stray from God’s will/Christ’s rule during the Kingdom, but they will be disciplined.

⁶And one shall say to him, What are these wounds on your breast or between your hands? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded [when disciplined] in the house of my [loving] friends.

Verses 7-9

Strikingly, suddenly in this prophecy, just after we have seemingly been led into the Kingdom and Satan (the evil spirit) has been removed, there is greater upheaval:

⁷Awake, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is My associate, says the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd and the sheep [of the flock] shall be scattered, and I will turn back My hand and stretch it out again upon the little ones [of the flock].

⁸And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

Chapter 14

Verse 1-11

A return of all nations against Jerusalem and dire circumstances for God’s people.

²For 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 into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

It appears this is ANOTHER great battle in which the Lord joins in to defend and redeem Israel.

³Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.

And this time, God will come bringing the host of Heaven – which is again something different from the earlier war brought out in earlier verses.

and the Lord my [Zechariah's] ^[a]God shall come, and all the holy ones [saints and angels] with Him.

The blessing waters are also present here, but the description of change that will take place in the land is extreme compared to the end of the earlier war, and the curse will be lifted from the land.

¹¹And it shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more curse or ban of utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall dwell securely.

Verse 12-21

Lastly, we appear to have a focusing in on how the Lord will smite the enemies of Israel and His will.

¹²And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall corrode away in their sockets and their tongue shall decay away in their mouth.

It appears this time is back during the Kingdom period when the disciplining of the Lord was welcomed (by the redeemable).

¹⁶And everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

¹⁷And it shall be that whoso of the families of the earth shall not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

The prophesy for Israel ends with that.

—-You can read here for my thoughts on the overall value of pouring over the details of prophecy like this.

As far as my faith and salvation goes, it means nothing. It is more of an intellectual and spiritual curiosity.

¹BEHOLD, A day of the Lord is coming when the spoil [taken from you] shall be divided [among the victors] in the midst of you.

²For 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 into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.

This is curious — From the start of chapter 12, it has seemed clear to me that we are reading a time-oriented prophecy: that the further you go in the verses, the further in time you are moving.  Remember as well that these chapter divisions were not in the original text but were added later.  At the end of chapter 13 we had:

⁸And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

So, what do we have at the start of chapter 14 another great battle?

Is this another description of the same war in chapter 13 or a new one?  I’m not sure.  In reading chapter 13, I speculated that, since we seemed to have the establishment of the kingdom by the Messiah at the end of chapter 12, the war in chapter 13 is likely the final revolt at the end of the 1,000 year kingdom of Revelation 20…

Now, I’m not so sure.  Back to Zechariah 14:

³Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.

⁴And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from the east to the west by a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south.

⁵And you shall flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal, and you shall flee as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my [Zechariah's] ^[a]God shall come, and all the holy ones [saints and angels] with Him.

Well, this war in chapter 14 is clearly not one we have seen in history yet.  This is certainly future prophecy.

I believe most scholars will view this as the 2nd coming of Jesus at the start of the 1,000 kingdom.

I’m not sure.  It is either than or the final battle of Revelation.

You know – I don’t think I’ve ever heard scholars and prophecy buffs talk about the last battle against the forces of evil just before the final judgment (Great White Throne)…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen them look at OT prophecy and link it to that battle that is mentioned just briefly twice in Revelation 20:

⁷And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his place of confinement,

⁸And he will go forth to deceive and seduce and lead astray the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth–Gog and Magog–to muster them for war; their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹And they swarmed up over the broad plain of the earth and encircled the fortress (camp) of God’s people (the saints) and the beloved city; but fire descended from heaven and consumed them. [II Kings 1:10-12; Ezek. 38:2, 22.]

¹⁰Then the devil who had led them astray [deceiving and seducing them] was hurled into the fiery lake of burning brimstone, where the beast and false prophet were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (through the ages of the ages). (Revelation 20)

They always point prophecy like this to the start of the Kingdom – not the end…

I know J. Vernon McGee noted Hell isn’t open for business until the Great White Throne judgment.  Here, we see Gog and Magog throne not into the bottomless pit but the fiery lake of hell.

Let’s look at verse 3 again:  “Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.”

“As when He fought in the day of battle.”  Wouldn’t that be the battle that began the Kingdom – rather than this being that battle itself?  This verse seems to clearly to say this is Jesus participating in a 2nd war…

Now, look at verse: “and the Lord my [Zechariah's] ^[a]God shall come, and all the holy ones [saints and angels] with Him.”

Is the “Lord” here the same Lord as verse 3?  Maybe.

Maybe it is the God-head coming with the Heavenly host?

The Heavenly host is clear and clearly new, I think.

It would seem what these passages are saying is:  At the end of the 1,000 Kingdom, Jesus will lead the hosts of His earthy host against those humans are rebelling against Him and Satan’s forces released from the bottomless pit – and – He will be joined by the Heavenly host and God-the Father…

I need to chew this over much more, but it seems an acceptable reading of Zechariah 14 and Revelation 20…

Moving on:

⁸And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern [Dead] Sea and half of them to the western [Mediterranean] Sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.

⁹And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be one [in the recognition and worship of men] and His name one.

Again, I think most would say this “day” is the start of the Kingdom.  I’m not sure.  I think it could fit the Earth after the Great White Throne judgment that ends the Kingdom and starts eternity.

It makes sense — if we consider Revelation 20 clearly tells us there will be a final rebellion to end the Kingdom period.

Jesus will rule both the Kingdom and eternity.  So, I don’t think “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth” strongly indicates either the start or end of the Kingdom.

But, “in that day the Lord shall be one and His name one” does not seem to fit the start of the Kingdom — since we know a future rebellion will take place.

The worship of God by all mankind and creation does not take place until after the Great White Throne judgment.  The return of the saints of Heaven also doesn’t take place until then.  It seems to me these verses speak of that period – not the start of the Kingdom…

¹¹And [Jerusalem] shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more curse or ban of utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall dwell securely.

How can Jerusalem dwell securely (forever) if there will be a final rebellion of men and evil when Satan is released from the bottomless pit at the end of the Kingdom?

¹³And in that day there shall be a great confusion, discomfiture, and panic among them from the Lord; and they shall seize each his neighbor’s hand, and the hand of the one shall be raised against the hand of the other.

¹⁴And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together–gold and silver and apparel in great abundance.

Another set of verses that could fit either period but in context seem to be the final battle.

But – shucks – this seems to fall apart with the next verses:

¹⁶And everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

¹⁷And it shall be that whoso of the families of the earth shall not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

¹⁸And if the family of Egypt does not go up to Jerusalem and present themselves, upon them there shall be no rain, but there shall be the plague with which the Lord will smite the nations that go not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹⁹This shall be the consequent punishment of the sin of Egypt and the consequent punishment of the sin of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

That certainly isn’t the eternal new Earth…

²¹Yes, every pot in all the houses of Jerusalem and in Judah shall be dedicated and holy to the Lord of hosts, and all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil their sacrifices in them [and traders in such wares will no longer be seen at the temple]. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite [that is, any godless or unclean person, whether Jew or Gentile] in the house of the Lord of hosts.

Color me confused…

Everything until verses 16-19 seems to indicate a final reckoning.  A war that will put evil and rejecting God’s will away for good.  A war that will leave nothing but good and peace.

But, verses 16-19 destroy that picture…

I’ll have to reread this and then check out commentaries, because I don’t feel comfortable with this exploration overall…

— On reading the verses again, here is one possible reading:

It hinges on verses 11 and 12:

¹¹And it shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more curse or ban of utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall dwell securely.

¹²And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot away while they stand upon their feet and their eyes shall corrode away in their sockets and their tongue shall decay away in their mouth.

The idea is that this is a hinge of the prophecy.

Verses 1 through 11 are an outline of history or the final war:

Jerusalem is abused and then attacked by many nations.  Then God comes to fight for His city and people.  Then a miraculous reshaping of the land will take place as God establishes peace and security under His direct rule.

Verses 12 to 19 or 21 are a more detailed description of — apparently how God will destroy (smite) the nations attacking Jerusalem.

The prophecy does not appear to be time-oriented from start to finish.  The 2nd half of the verses seems to be a snap-shop focusing in on how God will accomplish what is laid out in the 1st half.

This could be about the time of the establishment of the 1,000 Kingdom.

It could also be about the end of the Kingdom.

It could be about how the whole of the Kingdom will unwind from start to finish…

Perhaps that is it…maybe so…

I’ll have to consider and read more…

^{1IN THAT day} there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem [to cleanse them from] sin and uncleanness.

²And in that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will remove from the land the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit.

This day seems clearly to be when Jesus returns – or for the Jews, the coming of the Messiah.

Look at the end of chapter 12 for the amazing parallels between this prediction of the Messiah and Jesus:

¹⁰And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace or unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look [earnestly] upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.

¹¹In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo [over beloved King ^[b]Josiah].

In this first verse of Zecharia 13, we have the inhabitants in Jerusalem who are weeping over the coming of the Messiah baptized in water and receiving the Spirit of grace.  For a Christian, these verses are truly amazing…

In verse 2, we have the coming of the Messiah removing the false prophets and unclean spirit.

In Islam, from what I’m reading now, the coming of Jesus is very different for both Christians and Jews:

returns [Jesus] will personally correct the misrepresentations and misinterpretations about himself. He will affirm the true message that he brought in his time as a prophet, and that he never claimed to be the Son of God. Furthermore, he will reaffirm in his second coming what he prophesied in his first coming bearing witness to the seal of the Messenger, Prophet Muhammad.

Richardson, Joel (2009-07-28). The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast (p. 55). WND Books. Kindle Edition.

Jerusalem will be the location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, which will be headed by Imam al-Mahdi…. That will abolish the leadership of the Jews…and put an end to the domination of the Satans who spit evil into people and cause corruption in the earth, making them slaves of false idols and ruling the world by laws other than the Shari’a [Islamic law] of the Lord of the worlds.22

The Prophet said…the last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.23

Richardson, Joel (2009-07-28). The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast (p. 27). WND Books. Kindle Edition.

Christians are taught that when the Messiah comes (returns), He will destroy the forces of evil that are making war against Israel, the devil will be cast out of the Earth, and a peaceful (1,000 year) kingdom will be established in which He will rule strictly.

There does not seem to be a total conversion at this time or an elimination of all who do not worship Him, however, (I think), because Revelation says that a final rebellion will occur near the end of the 1,000 years when Satan is released from the pit and will gain support among the people – and then be struck down for the final time and thrown with all his followers into hell.

Perhaps this is why Zechariah seems to take a step back here.  For we suddenly get:

⁴And in that day the [false] prophets shall each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, nor will he wear a hairy or rough garment to deceive,

⁵But he will [deny his identity and] say, I am no prophet. I am a tiller of the ground, for I have been made a bond servant from my youth.

⁶And one shall say to him, What are these wounds on your breast or between your hands? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded [when disciplined] in the house of my [loving] friends.

Why do we suddenly get these false prophets here after we have just had all the warriors against Israel destroyed?

Why, during the kingdom of peace for Israel, are individuals being disciplined? 

⁷Awake, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is My associate, says the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd and the sheep [of the flock] shall be scattered, and I will turn back My hand and stretch it out again upon the little ones [of the flock].

⁸And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.’

I’m not sure, but I believe prophecies like this among Christians have been read as part of the End Times and the period of the initial 2nd coming of Christ, but that seems odd to me at this time.

It seems clearly in chapter 12, this prophecy is time-oriented:  That the further you get into the verses, the further you are going in time for the land (and people) of Israel.

And in the last chapter, we already got what clearly seemed to be the great defeat of Israel’s enemies and the establishment of a peaceful kingdom by the Messiah.

[Edit:  I’m not so sure about that after getting to chapter 14 later on.]

Why now this sudden return to “2/3rds shall be cut off and perish but 1/3rd shall be left alive”?

Well, again, for Christians in the NT, in Revelation, we are also taught that the kingdom set up at the 2nd coming will not be perfect.  We are taught Jesus will lead a rule over the people that will be strict and lead (most) people to accept Him – but – there will be a final rebellion at the end of the 1,000 years when Satan is allowed out of the pit for one last attempt at battle against God and His followers – before he is finally cast in hell with them and a new, eternally peaceful Earth is established:

⁷And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his place of confinement,

⁸And he will go forth to deceive and seduce and lead astray the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth–Gog and Magog–to muster them for war; their number is like the sand of the sea.

⁹And they swarmed up over the broad plain of the earth and encircled the fortress (camp) of God’s people (the saints) and the beloved city; but fire descended from heaven and consumed them. [II Kings 1:10-12; Ezek. 38:2, 22.]

¹⁰Then the devil who had led them astray [deceiving and seducing them] was hurled into the fiery lake of burning brimstone, where the beast and false prophet were; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (through the ages of the ages).

. (Revelation 20)

This fits this prophecy in Zechariah for Israel that began in chapter 12…

Edit:  Once I got into chapter 14, I had to take a step back, because there is yet another major war there, and this one directly states God is coming down to join in it…

So, we either have 2 or 3 repetitive descriptions of 1 Messianic war, or, we have different wars we must place in time.

The repeated references to “in that day” from near the start in chapter 12, the prophecy would seem clearly to place this in the End Times and quickly to the coming of the Messiah.

I don’t know yet where we would place the description in chapter 13 and 14…I’ll have to look at scholarly commentaries and edit this…

Right now, I lean toward the idea the bulk of chapter 12 and 13 are talking about the establishment of the 1,000 kingdom and chapter 14 is about the final rebellion at the end of it.

In chapter 14, you will see that God is directly mentioned as coming down, and the kingdom that is established there is one stated to last forever.

We haven’t seen that “forever” marker yet.

—-You can read here for my thoughts on the overall value of pouring over the details of prophecy like this.

As far as my faith and salvation goes, it means nothing. It is more of an intellectual and spiritual curiosity.

¹THE BURDEN or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) of the word of the Lord concerning Israel:

On when Zechariah lived:

His prophetical career began in the second year of Darius, king of Persia (B.C. 520), about sixteen years after the return of the first company from their Babylonian exile. He was contemporary with Haggai (Ezra 5:1).  (Wikipedia)

Back to Zechariah 12:

²Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup or bowl of reeling to all the peoples round about, and in the siege against Jerusalem will there also be a siege against and upon Judah.

³And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who lift it or burden themselves with it shall be sorely wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall come and gather together against it.

“I am about to” – would seem to provide a short timeline, no???

Since this is the time period in which the Persians ordered those nations under its control to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls and the Temple, it would be fulfilled at that time.

It would also be fulfilled over and over in the history of Israel.  It has been a battle ground for many contending empires…

⁴In that day, says the Lord, I will smite every horse [of the armies that contend against Jerusalem] with terror and panic and his rider with madness;

Despite God using the nations around Israel to oppress them, due to their lack of faith in and acknowledgment of Him, Israel is still God’s people — and will ultimately be redeemed.

Islam teaches the Mahdi will lead armies to defeat Israel and found an empire in Jerusalem at the Dome of the Rock:

In their book, Al Mahdi and the End of Time, Muhammad ibn Izzat and Muhammad Arif, two well-known Egyptian authors, identify the Mahdi in the Book of Revelation, quoting the hadith narrator Ka’ab al-Ahbar.

In one place, they write,

“I find the Mahdi recorded in the books of the Prophets… For instance, the Book of Revelation says: “And I saw and behold a white horse. He that sat on him […] went forth conquering and to conquer.”

Ibn Izzat and Arif then go on to say:

“It is clear that this man is the Mahdi who will ride the white horse and judge by the Qur’an (with justice) and with whom will be men with marks of prostration (zabiba) on their foreheads.”^[44]

^{Back to Zechariah}

⁶In that day will I make the chiefs of Judah like a big, blazing pot among [sticks of] wood and like a flaming torch among sheaves [of grain], and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell and sit securely in their own place, in Jerusalem.

Again, God will redeem Israel from its enemies.  At times in prophecy, the “securely” is deemed to last “forever” which would mark the period as the end of time – though not here (so far).

⁹And it shall be in that day that I will make it My aim to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

The next is a big one – with a big B and O:

¹⁰And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace or unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look [earnestly] upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.

That is a prophecy of Christ!

Which would make these predictions about war against Jerusalem and victory for Israel at least an End Times prophecy too. 

It seems when Jesus returns to defeat the nations warring against Israel, many convert out of the house of Israel will be made…

¹¹In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo [over beloved King ^[b]Josiah].

I’ve read the bible off and on since high school – more consistently the last few years (I’m 41) – and I spent more time in the Old Testament as an adult, because I felt I was not taught as much about it in church.

So, I’ve read these verses before, but it didn’t stick out in my mind that I remember.

But – wow —

If you are a Jew, I would think this would be at least a little confusing:

Up to verse 9, everything is great for them and Israel – God is putting down all their enemies and granting on them unmerited glory.

Then suddenly from verse 10 to the end, what are the Israelis to do?  Jump for joy and celebrate?  No.  They are too mourn individually in great sorrow for not having given God the respect that would have merited their deliverance.

For Christian, however, this is amazing – truly.

For us, Jesus was pierced on the cross when he died for our sins and gave us unmerited salvation!

And in the 1 book of prophecy we have in the NT, this final war God will have with the enemies of His people takes place in – Megiddo!!

It does seem clear:  During the End Times, when the Messiah comes (the Christian 2nd coming and the Jewish 1st), many Jews will recognize both their Messiah and that they failed to recognize His first coming…

—-You can read here for my thoughts on the overall value of pouring over the details of prophecy like this.

As far as my faith and salvation goes, it means nothing. It is more of an intellectual and spiritual curiosity.