|
Zechariah 10:1-12
The
LORD’s
angry with his shepherds
Verse 1, “Ask the LORD for rain in the time
of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing
clouds; he will give them showers of rain, grass for the field for everyone.” That was just
explained above, this verse really belongs at the end of Zechariah 9. Verses 2-3a, “For
the idols speak delusion; the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams;
they comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep;
they are in trouble [afflicted]
because there is no shepherd. My anger is kindled against the shepherds,
and I will punish the goatherds…” Verse 2 looks back to Judah’s (and Israel’s)
reliance on sorcerers, psychics, mediums and astrologers instead of relying on
God in prayer. Verse 3a shows why the
people have turned to psychics, mediums and astrologers. Their “shepherds,” spiritual leaders had
failed to do their jobs. While this
happened in Israel and Judah’s past, it is really prevalent in today’s
English-speaking nations as well as in modern “Judah.” This is a condemnation of “liberal”
Christianity for their wholesale failure to guide God’s people (racial people,
in context with these verses, Israel, the 10-tribes, whoever they are, and
Judah, the Israelis). Jesus Christ, the
Messiah is angry with these shepherds, whom he calls “goats” in the King James,
and “goatherds” in the NKJV.
‘I
Will Make Judah My War-Horse’
Verses 3b-12, “For the LORD of hosts will visit his
flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his royal horse in the
battle. From him comes the
cornerstone. From him comes the tent
peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. They shall be like mighty men, who tread down their enemies in the mire of the
streets in the battle. They shall fight
because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be put to
shame. I will strengthen the house of
Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, because I have mercy on them. [Joseph’s two sons,
remember, became the two leadership tribes of the northern 10-tribes of Israel,
Ephraim and Manasseh.] They shall be as though I had not cast them
aside; for I am the LORD their God, and I will hear
them. Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall
rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their
children shall see it and be glad;
their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. I will whistle for
them and gather them, for I will redeem them; and they shall increase as they
once increased. I will sow [Ephraim
is the subject of these sentences right now] them among the peoples, and they shall remember me in far
countries; they shall live, together with their children, and they shall
return. I will also bring them back from
the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and
Lebanon, until no more room is found
for them. He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and strike the waves of the
sea; all the depths of the River [thought to
be the Euphrates] shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought
down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart. So I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they shall walk up and down in his name,’ says the LORD.” In verse 3b here we
see the LORD at his return makes Judah, the
Jews (Israelis) his War-Horse. This
verse is expanded upon in Zechariah
12:4-9, “‘In that day,’ says the LORD, ‘I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider
with madness; I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every
horse of the peoples with blindness. And
the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of
Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of
hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors of
Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the
sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on
the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place---Jerusalem. The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the
house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become
greater than that of Judah. In that
day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is
feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of
David shall be like God, like the
Angel of the LORD before them. It shall
be in that day that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
‘The
Cornerstone, Tent Peg and Battle Bow’
Verse 4 of Zechariah 10, “From him comes the
cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every
ruler together.” Feinberg says about “The
cornerstone, the battle bow, and the nail [or tent peg] are figures of the
Messiah to represent His qualities of stability, dependability, and
strength. The cornerstone speaks of the
ruler or leader on whom the building of government rests figuratively. (Cp. 1 Co 3:11 and 1 Pe 2:6, quoting Is
19:13.) The nail [or peg] refers to the
large peg in an Oriental [i.e. Middle Eastern] tent on which were hung many
valuables. On the Messiah will rest the
hope and trust of His people. He will be
the worthy support of the nation, the altogether dependable One, the true
Eliakim. The battle-bow stands for all
implements of war and might. Messiah is
the great military commander of His people; He is the Man of war (Ex 15:3). This will clearly and openly manifest when He
comes to rule (Ps 45:4-5)” (Charles Feinberg, The Minor Prophets, p.321).
Verse 5, “They shall be like mighty men, who
tread down their enemies in the mire
of the streets in the battle. They shall
fight because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses [of the enemy forces] shall be put to shame.” The Jews,
led by Jesus Christ in battle, will overcome the ‘cavalry.’ i.e. the Jews, Israelis, on foot will
overcome the mechanized infantry of their enemies, jeeps, armoured personnel
carriers, tanks, who are gathered together against Jerusalem at Christ’s
return. Verses 6-8, “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the
house of Joseph. I will bring them back,
because I have mercy on them. They shall
be as though I had not cast them aside; for I am the LORD their God, and I will hear them. Those of
Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as if with
wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad; their heart shall
rejoice in the LORD. I will whistle for
them and gather them, for I will redeem them; and they shall increase as they
once increased.” Both the House of Judah (the Israelis) and the “house of
Joseph” (i.e. Ephraim & Manasseh, see and read Genesis 48:1-20),
representing the 10-northern tribes of Israel who were taken captive by Assyria
in 745-721BC (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html and read through that whole series)---are regathered by the Messiah, Jesus
Christ.
Ephraim
to be sown amongst the Gentiles
Verse 9, “I will sow them among the
peoples, and they shall remember me in far countries; they shall live together
with their children, and they shall return.” Now verse 9 is in context with verse 8, so them in the sentence is “Ephraim.” If the
British [“Brit”, Hebrew for “Covenant”,
“ish”, Hebrew for “man”] are really Ephraim, which is a good possibility, this
verse would clearly indicate that Ephraim will be “sown among the peoples” of
the world again. Remember Genesis 48,
Ephraim was prophecied to become “a company of nations.” Ephraim will be sent back to re-colonize
their “inherited” lands around the world is what verses 8-9 strongly
indicate. What better way to get God’s
way of life out to the nations than by “sowing” a major tribe of Israel
throughout the Gentile nations, all regions Ephraim possessed and ruled over
before. But this time, they will rule in
truly a godly, righteous manner, not slaughtering the native inhabitants and
talking over their lands by force (i.e. the Aborigines in Australia, and Native
Americans in North America). They will
repopulate their old lands with humility, being a genuine part of Jesus
Christ’s “Light” to the world.
Regathering
of Ephraim and Manasseh
Verses 10-11, “I will bring them back from
the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and
Lebanon, until no more room is found
for them. He shall pass through the sea
with affliction, and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the River
shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the
scepter of Egypt shall depart.” These verses tie right into Israel’s and
Judah’s end-time deliverance from their enemies, modern Egypt and Assyria,
where they have been taken into slavery. Verse 11 shows Assyria has become a major
world power in the end-times. Also Egypt
can’t lose a “sceptre” unless they’re given one back. Egypt,
remember, lost their royal “sceptre” when Pharaoh Hophra was defeated by
Nebuchadnezzar in 573BC. So Egypt comes into some kind of prominence again during the
end-times, to where it could be considered to have a “sceptre” of
national rulership. Could this movement
brought about by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia turn into
some kind of “king of the south” (cf. Daniel 11:40), headquartered in
Egypt? It certainly looks like that is
what is about to occur, right before our very eyes. The “River” referred to here is thought to be
the Euphrates, but it could just as easily be the Nile, since Egypt is and
Assyria are the duel subject in this verse. Verse
12, “So I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they shall walk up and down in his name,’ says the LORD.” Israel, all 12
tribes, will not only be walking in the LORD,
but “in his name.” This points to Israel
becoming one of the major evangelistic tools of Jesus Christ at the beginning
of the Millennial Kingdom of God’s rule on earth. As we saw, “sowing” Ephraim back into his
lands around the world is to be a key part of that evangelistic strategy of the
LORD.
Zechariah 11:1-17
Chapters
9 and 10 just showed us the awesome deliverance the Messiah is going to bring
to Israel and Judah at his 2nd coming. Now
Zechariah 11 looks back just a little bit from that event, to show us the
consequences of rejecting the Messiah, which applied to the time when Jesus
Christ was on earth, and it applies to us right
now too. It
is a scary cause and effect lesson, seen in the history of the Jews in the
first century.
Cause
& Effect Lesson of Rejecting the Messiah
Verses 1-3, “Open your doors, O Lebanon,
that fire may devour your cedars. Wail,
O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty trees are ruined. Wail, O
oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has come down. There
is the sound of wailing shepherds! For their glory is in ruins. There is the sound of roaring
lions! For the pride of the Jordan is in
ruins.” This prophecy has a very specific fulfillment spanning
from the ministry of Jesus Christ to his betrayal by Judas and death, and then
through Judah’s destruction, deportation and dispersion in 70AD and 135AD. Charles Feinberg comments about this whole
passage (verses 1-17) “The context of the rest of the chapter is determining
and it points unmistakably to the judgment which resulted from the rejection of
the Shepherd of Israel, that destruction which overtook the land and people in
70AD” (The Minor Prophets, p.325). He also says, “In Hebrew style
an effect [i.e. in the sense of “cause & effect”] is often stated first,
then the cause is presented afterward. So it is here, the cause of the judgment, the rejection of the Messiah
by Israel, is now elaborated upon. The
charge of the prophet [Zechariah] who performed the vision what was
commanded. He acted representatively for
the Messiah in whose personal history these transactions took place” (Feinberg,
p.325).
Nasty Shepherds Appointed Over the Flock
Appointed for Slaughter
Verses 4-6, “Thus says the LORD my God, ‘Feed the
flock for slaughter, whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who
sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich; and their shepherds do not pity
them. For I will no longer pity the
inhabitants of the land,’ says the LORD. ‘But indeed I
will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not
deliver them from their hand.” From
about 65BC onward Roman ‘overlords’ took over all the land of the Middle East,
everything west of the Euphrates River. That included Judea. Under a
Roman appointed line of kings, the evil Herod’s, the Jewish people came under a
very strong-armed Roman rule, a very dark period, which is described in these
verses.
Christ Briefly Feeds the Flock Appointed for
Slaughter---the Two Shepherd’s Staffs
Verse 7, “So I fed the flock for slaughter,
in particular the poor of the flock. I
took for myself two staffs: the one I
called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock.” Verse 7
is a short but interesting reference to the ministry of Jesus Christ, where the
chief Shepherd of Israel feeds this ‘flock chosen out for slaughter’ for a
period of time. Feinberg says this about
these two staffs, “Two staves are taken because the shepherd in the East
carried a staff to protect against wild beasts [i.e. a club], another to help
the sheep in difficult and dangerous places [i.e. a crook]” Feinberg,
p.327). So one staff was used as a
weapon, to protect against outside wild predators. The other helped ensure and promote the unity
of the flock, lifting sheep and lambs that were straying and placing them back
into the flock. The word for one,
“Bonds” could be rendered “Unity.” The
other, “Favor” was the protective staff, and would amount to divine military
protection of God’s flock. God enabling
Judas Maccabee and his brothers, along with a very small Jewish military force
to throw off a far superior Syrian-Greek military force is an example of God’s
“Favor” staff being employed. At the 2nd coming, the staff will represent direct Divine military involvement.
The three dismissed shepherds
Verses 8-11, “I dismissed the three
shepherds in one month. My soul loathed
them, and their soul also abhorred me. Then I said, ‘I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s
flesh.’ And I took my staff, Beauty, and
cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I made with all the
peoples. So it was broken on that
day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were
watching me, knew that it was the
word of the LORD.” Upon rejection of the Messiah described so prophetically
accurately in verses 12-13, these events occur. These three ‘shepherds’ could be the three classes of leaders in Judea,
magistrates, priests and prophets, or as Matthew Henry’s commentary postulates,
“Others understand the three sects among the Jews, of Pharisees, Sadducees, and
Herodians, all whom Christ silenced in dispute (Mt. 22) and soon afterward cut off, all in a little time.” (Matthew
Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, note on verses 4-14). Others speculate they could have been
Eleazar, John and Simon, the three Jewish faction leaders during the Roman
siege of Jerusalem in 70AD. Again, we’ll
have to wait and ask Jesus at his return to find out the answer to this one. The breaking of the two shepherd’s staffs was
symbolic of Judah’s protection and unity being broken, which occurred
simultaneously with the destruction “of the three shepherds” in 70AD, and the
total conquest and deportation and dispersion of the Jews which occurred in
132-135AD. Verse 11, “So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching
me, knew that it was the word of the
LORD.” Verse
11 refers to a faithful few (who probably became the Church) who recognized
what was really occurring.
The Rejection of the Shepherd of Israel
Verses 12-13, “Then I said to them, ‘If it
is agreeable to you, give me my
wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they
weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw
it to the potter’---that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the
potter.” J. Vernon McGee nails this one on the head, “This is a
very remarkable prophecy that has been literally fulfilled in a most remarkable
way. Notice Matthew’s record: “Then
one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said
unto them, ‘What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?’ And they covenanted with him for thirty
pieces of silver” (Matt. 26:14-15). This is exactly the price that Zechariah mentions…They weren’t willing
to pay a high ransom price of several million dollars to have Him delivered to
them. No, they would give only thirty
pieces of silver. How cheap that was. What did Judas do with the thirty pieces of
silver? “And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in
the house of the LORD.” [Zechariah
11:13]…Well, Judas came into the temple
and threw the money down there, but the record says, “And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not
lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of
blood. And they took counsel, and bought
with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in” (Matt. 27:6-7). Zechariah had already said, “And I took the thirty pieces of silver,
and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” That was no
accident. This is one of the most
remarkable passages of Scripture that we have.” [THRU THE BIBLE, Vol.III, p.968, col.2, par.3, 7-8, p.969, col.1,
par.1],
The Messiah Breaks His “Unity” Shepherd’s
Staff
Verses 14-17, “Then I cut in two my other
staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And the LORD said to me, ‘Next, take for yourself the implements of a
foolish shepherd. For indeed I will
raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those
that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear
their hooves in pieces. ‘Woe to the
worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his
arm and against his right eye; his arm shall completely wither, and his right
eye shall be totally blinded.’” This staff is the crook stag, meant to keep
the sheep together, united. (If a lamb,
for example, is straying or has strayed from its mother, the shepherd can
actually reach over and pick up the baby lamb in the crook of the staff and
then place the baby back with its mother, without getting his scent on it. A large sheep can’t be lifted with the crook,
but it can be arrested from straying by use of the crook on the staff. So the crook staff most definitely helps the
shepherd keep the flock unified.) After
70AD and 135AD Judah, the Jews were scattered all over the world (log onto: http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1a.htm and scroll to the bolded paragraph title The Bar Kochba Revolt and
read from there to the end of the file.) In a very real sense, since Jesus’ death, the Jews haven’t had a good
shepherd over them since then, and since 135AD they have been dispersed all
over the world. It was said some years
ago that the number of Jews in the areas of New York City, Brooklyn and the
Bronx outnumber the Jews living in the nation of Israel. The Jews living scattered around the world
are said to be living in the Diaspora (either Greek or Latin for
“Dispersion”). Verse 17, “Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword shall
be against his arm and against his right eye; his arm shall completely
wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded.” Verse 17 is a very strong rebuke and
condemnation of the worthless shepherds over God’s flock, sheep. In context, it can and does refer to the
shepherds over Judah, but it also refers to the worthless shepherds over God’s
people, believers in Jesus Christ (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/ezek/Ezekiel%20pt3-1.htm). This prophecy in Zechariah 11 leaves us
waiting now for the re-unification of all Israel, which Zechariah 9-10
prophecied. And interestingly, the Jews
have been waiting all these centuries for their Messiah to come and unify
them. They fail to understand what they
did, as clearly spelled out in Zechariah 11. The event the Jews have been waiting almost 2,000 years for was covered
in chapters 9-10, and will now be covered in the next three chapters, which will
clearly show us just exactly how Jesus Christ will bring that event to pass.
Zechariah 12:1-14
Feast
of Trumpets theme described in verses 1-9
Verses 1-9, “The burden of the word of the LORD for [NKJV has “against” which is an improper translation,
should be “for”] Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the
earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: ‘Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the
surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I
will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it
away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered
against it. In that day,’ says
the LORD, ‘I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I
will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the
peoples with blindness. And the
governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors
of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves;
they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the
left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place---Jerusalem. The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the
house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become
greater than that of Judah. In that
day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is
feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of
David shall be like God, like the
Angel of the LORD before them. It shall
be in that day that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” Zechariah
12 almost directly corresponds to Joel chapter 2. Joel 2:1-11 symbolizes both the warfare of
the whole Tribulation period, and also pictures the direct intervention of
Christ’s supernatural ‘army’ at his 2nd coming (Joel 2:11). So Joel 2:1-11 corresponds to Zechariah
12:1-9. Then right after this divine
intervention, in Joel 2:12-17 a national fast and repentance is called for,
corresponding to what we see in Zechariah 12:10-14, which is the symbolic
meaning of the Day of Atonement. Then in
Joel chapter 3 God through Joel zeroes in on the specifics of the 2nd coming of the Messiah and the battle of Armageddon (in the Valley of Decision,
or the Kidron Valley), which directly corresponds with Zechariah 14:1-15. So we see Joel chapters 2 and 3 basically
mirrored in Zechariah 12, 13, and 14. Zechariah 12:1-9 is a general picture of 2nd coming events
and Zechariah 14:1-15 gets into the specifics of the battle in Jerusalem, just
as in Joel 3. They’re companion passages
to each other. Apparently, as the Seven
Last Plagues are being delivered by God (cf. Revelation 16), and the armies of
the world are being gathered and mustered into the Jezreel Valley (Megiddo
overlooks the Jezreel Valley)---this is when the Jews attempt to throw off the
Beast Empire’s rule over them, starting in Jerusalem. They know the Messiah’s coming is imminent,
so you might say they jump the gun a little bit. Zechariah
14 shows this in verse 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.” This shows the Beast power responding to
this ‘rebellion.’ But in the middle of
the Beast’s military crackdown on Jerusalem, Jesus Christ and the recently
resurrected immortal saints arrive on the scene (see Zechariah
14:3-5))---‘boots on the ground!’ But
Zechariah 12:1-9 is a general description of this event, and Judah’s, the Israelis
reaction to their Messiah’s arrival in power.
What is a Deist?
Verse 1, “The burden of the LORD for [NKJV has “against”, which is a mistranslation, should
be “for”] Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the
heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within
him…” Notice the tense of this sentence, it’s present tense. It implies God is still involved in
sustaining and maintaining the universe. There is a false concept that God created the universe, and now it’s running
on it’s own. J. Vernon McGee had a good
comment on that, so I’ll just give you what he said. “Men years ago who were called deists---none
of them were evolutionists---believed that there was a Creator, and they
believed that God created the universe but that He went off and left it. He just forgot about it. He wound it up, started it off, and then He
walked away. However, this verse
(Zechariah 12:1) reveals that God did not walk off and leave the universe. It reveals that God is immanent in His
universe as well as outside of it. This
passage portrays the tremendous activity of God out yonder in the heavens as he
moves in our great universe.” [THRU THE
BIBLE, Vol.III, p.973, col.2, par.4] I’m
into amateur astronomy, and all astronomers in our day and age know that not
only are some stars dying out, and others have actually died, burned out, but
amazingly enough, they know and can prove that some new stars are actually
forming up and coming into being! There
is also what has been termed “dark matter.” They know it exists, but they can’t see it. It exists, because its gravitational force
has been observed in the lensing effect visible light shows as it passes near
sources of “dark matter.” Even modern
astronomical physics shows God’s hand is still actively involved within our
universe. There is an invisible force
holding all the nuclei within all atoms together (like charges repel, physics
101), and they cannot see or detect what this force is. God anyone?
Modern military vehicles “blinded” at the LORD’s appearing
Verse 4, “In that day,’ says the LORD, ‘I will strike every
horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open my eyes on the
house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with
blindness…” In modern mechanized warfare they don’t use horses anymore,
which would have been the cavalry. But
modern mechanized infantry uses jeeps, armoured personnel carriers and
tanks. Now in WWII, and right up until
recently, these jeeps, armoured personnel carriers and tanks didn’t have eyes
of their own. But now, with the advent
of modern electronics, most of these vehicles have very sophisticated
electronic sensors and computerized guidance systems, and GPS tracking, which
tells them exactly where they are, to the exact centimeter on the map. These were on many of our tanks and personnel
carriers in Gulf War I against Saddam Hussein. Jesus Christ at his 2nd coming will ‘blind’ all such sensors,
GPS tracking and computerized guidance systems, fire-control and
otherwise. The spirit equivalent of the
gamma rays coming off Christ and his supernatural army will be “off the
scale.” So it is not hard to imagine
this “blinding” of modern military electronic sensors onboard all the enemy’s vehicles.
Jews to be like a flaming torch thrown into a
hay-barn
Verses 5-9, “And
the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.’ In that day I will make the governors
of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves;
they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the
left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place---Jerusalem. The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the
house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become
greater than that of Judah. In that
day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is
feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of
the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem.” The Jews, as we’ll see in verses 10-14 of
this chapter, recognize their Messiah has arrived on earth, ‘his boots are on the ground’ along with
his holy army composed of recently resurrected immortal saints. The recent siege of Jerusalem by the Beast
Power is being lifted by the supernatural arrival of Jesus Christ. Verses 5-9 describe their reaction. The Jews
fighting against their enemies, with the LORD’s help,
are like torches being thrown into a hay barn filled with dry hay. Ever see one of those go up in smoke once a
fire starts inside one? Open the barn
door, let the animals out, and run for your life!
The phrase “in that day”
Note the
phrase in that day which I have underlined throughout chapters 12
through 14. That phrase is a companion
phrase to the phrase “the Day of the LORD,” and
represents the same thing, same time period. Notice it’s used six times in these nine verses. This phrase identifies the period of time
these verses represent, as well as wherever else they appear. The Day of the LORD represents the entire period of time when the LORD starts to directly intervene in world affairs (7 Trumpet
Plagues in Revelation), but points specifically, as well, to the time of Jesus
Christ’s 2nd coming, the “boots on the ground” event and all the
events following it (some say, on into the his
reign in the Millennial Kingdom of God, although I don’t take it that far).
Related
links:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Revelation%2018-20.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Pentecost-Revetion1.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Pentecost-Revetion2.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm
‘National
Fulfillment of the Day of Atonement’
Verses 10-14, “And I will pour on the house of
David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication;
then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve
for him as one grieves for a firstborn. In
that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at
Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every 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; the family of Shimei
by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every
family by itself, and their wives by themselves.” This is the day of
Judah’s national Atonement, a national fulfillment of God’s Holy Day, the Day of
Atonement occurs here, as the whole Jewish nation recognizes Jesus of Nazareth
as their Messiah and come under his atoning sacrifice. And what do they do? They have a national day of fasting. If this doesn’t fit into the theme for the
Day of Atonement as described by God in Leviticus 16:1-34, I don’t know what
does. The Azazel goat that was banished
pictures the banishment of Satan (and all of his demon followers), which occurs
right after the battle at Christ’s 2nd coming (cf. Revelation
19:1-21; 20:1-3). As verses 1-9 covered
the 2nd coming, corresponding to Revelation 19:1-21, so these verses
correspond to the fast on the Day of Atonement, and Satan’s imprisonment, which
occurs right after Revelation 19, in Revelation 20:1-3.
Who are The House of David and the House of
Nathan?
The
mentioning of the house of David side-by-side with the house of Nathan is
interesting. The Davidic line of kings
in Judah were descended from David through his son Solomon. But the line of Nathan, David’s younger son,
was the bloodline to Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth. These verses clearly show the Jews at this
time will have come into the knowledge of who is in the royal line of David,
and that of Nathan, Christ’s bloodline through Mary. Feinberg notes the intensity of this
mourning---fasting, “The prophet means that the mourning will be so intense as
to transcend the closest ties on earth, those between husband and wife. Each will want to be alone with God in that
hour” (p.334).
Zechariah 13:1-9
‘A
fountain opened for sin and uncleanness’
Verse 1, “In that day a fountain shall
be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin
and for uncleanness.” Verse 1 of Zechariah 13 is God’s direct
response to Judah’s heartfelt repentance and recognition of who Jesus Christ
really is. It says ‘a fountain will be
opened up for uncleanness and sin.’ What
is this fountain? Ephesians 5:26, “…that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the
washing of water by the word…” The
Lord Jesus Christ himself refers to himself as a fountain of Living Water in John 7:37-39, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried
out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom
those believing in him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet
glorified.” (See also Jer. 2:13;
17:13; Psalm 36:8-9.) Jesus living
within us through the indwelling Holy Spirit is that fountain. John
14:15-18, 23, “If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give
you another Helper, that he may abide with you forever---the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but
you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to
you…Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word;
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him. He who does not love me does
not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who
sent me.” We believers in Jesus
Christ have access to this fountain right now. Verse 1 of Zechariah 13 shows the fountain of salvation will be given to
the surviving tribe of Judah wholesale, when coupled to Zechariah
12:10-14.
‘Demons
imprisoned along with Satan’---false Christians try to hide their identities
Verses 2-5, “‘It shall be in that day,’
says the LORD of hosts, ‘that I
will cut off the names of the idols from the land and they shall no longer be
remembered. I will also cause the
prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophecies, then his father and mother who
begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in
the name of the LORD.’ And his father and
mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophecies. And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of
his vision when he prophecies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to
deceive. But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’” Verse 2 shows the
demons, under Satan will, along with Satan, be imprisoned, Revelation 20:1-3, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having
the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of
old, who is the Devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and
shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no
more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while.” Verses 3-5 show that those who continue
to teach falsely in the name of the LORD will be
put to death by their own parents. Also
all those who were falsely preaching in the name of the LORD, Christ, will throw away their vestments and priestly robes
and claim to have been ordinary farmers. This will be a day of reckoning for false preachers and false forms of
Christianity. True Christianity was instituted by Jesus Christ through
his apostles. What was it like under the
apostles? Considering this passage, that
would be a very important question for you and I to ask. Log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm to read a well-researched series of articles about the early Christian Church
and what it was like. It may be time to search out and strive for that ‘faith once
delivered to the saints’ as Jude exhorted us to do. Jude
verses 3-4, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our
common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”---Why?---“For certain men have crept in
unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who
turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ.” Sounds like false
Christianity has been around for a long time. But Zechariah shows it will be extant right up to the day of the LORD’s return. And you
don’t want to be a part of it, that’s for sure. So strive, contend earnestly (as the NKJV has it) for that faith which
was once delivered to the saints.
‘What
are these wounds between your arms?---Strike the Shepherd, the Sheep Will Be
Scattered’
Verses 6-7, “And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms [marginal rendering: “hands”]?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ Verse 6 is a parenthetical statement
which points back to Zechariah 12:10,
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the
Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on me whom they
pierced. Yes, they will mourn for
him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for him as one grieves
for a firstborn” and is not to be referenced to these false teachers of
verses 4-5 who are now trying to hide their past identities. Verse
7, “‘Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man who is my companion,’
says the LORD of hosts. ‘Strike
the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn my hand against
the little ones.” This verse is quoted directly by Jesus Christ
in Matthew 26:31, “Then Jesus said to
them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is
written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and
the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” and Mark 14:27, “Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to
stumble because of me this night, for it is written: ‘I will
strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” It applied initially to the scattering of the
12 apostles at Christ’s crucifixion, but then in context with Zechariah chapter
11, it also applies to the scattering of the whole Jewish race in the Diaspora
(70AD & 135AD, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1a.htm and scroll to the paragraph title The Bar Kochba Revolt and start
reading).
‘Two-thirds
of Judah to die, One-third to live’
Verses 8-9, “‘And it shall come to pass in all
the land,’ says the LORD, ‘that two-thirds
in it shall but cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined,
and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer
them. I will say, ‘This is my people’; and each one will say,
‘The LORD is my God.’” These two
verses, taken in context with Zechariah 12:1-9 and Zechariah 14:1-15 apply to
the Jewish people living in Israel during the Tribulation. This parallels Ezekiel 5, which shows
one-third die in famine and one-third die due to military invasion. So it appears (coupling this to Ezekiel 5,
which applies to both Judah and Israel) that two-thirds of the Jews (Israelis)
are killed, and one-third remain in the land, sort of in ‘house arrest,’ now
likely dominated by the Palestinian-Edomites (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/edom/Edom%20in%20Prophecy%201.html). Some of these Jews, as we’ve seen, get sold
as slaves and are sent to Greece. But a
good number apparently stay in the land of Israel. Through these fiery trials, God refines the
remaining one-third.
Zechariah 14:1-21
Final Siege of Jerusalem
Verses 1-2, “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil
will be divided in your midst. 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.” We find
these first two verses (as well as Zechariah 12:2-3) describe the final siege
of Jerusalem. Don’t forget, the Jews in
Jerusalem have been listening to the two witnesses (cf. Revelation 11) for 1260
days, three and a half years, seeing them calling down various plagues on the
Beast power at will. The Jews have been
probably quietly cheering for them. Don’t forget, at this point the Jews, Israelis are enslaved within their
own country. The 7 Trumpet Plagues of
Revelation (chapters 8-9) have been occurring (and probably have been explained
to them by the two witnesses). Then the
two witnesses are killed. Then three and
a half days after they were killed they are miraculously resurrected back to
life and rise up in front of everybody, ascending into the heavens. Almost immediately after that the 7th Trumpet blows (cf. Revelation 11:15-18) all the saints are resurrected to
immortality and rise up to meet the LORD (cf. 1st Corinthians 15:49-54). Then the 7 Last
Plagues begin (estimated duration, 4 to 5 months, cf. Revelation 16). The Beast puts out a call to the armies of
the world (cf. Revelation 16:12-14), and as these world armies are mustering in
the Jezreel Valley near Megiddo, apparently the Jews start a rebellion of some type in Jerusalem. Don’t forget, elements of the Beast’s army
have probably been occupying Jerusalem all along. This would bring a swift crackdown. But right as this crackdown is being wrapped
up, the Messiah and his holy armies show up on the scene, descending out of the
clouds.
Touchdown
of Jesus Christ and the saints, ‘boots on the ground’
Verses 3-5, “Then the LORD will go forth and fight
against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. And in that day his feet shall stand on the
Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall 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. 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 the saints with you.” When Jesus
Christ creates this giant valley between the two halves of the Mount of Olives
(which has just split in two) he instructs the Jews in Jerusalem to flee
through this recently created valley which runs east and west. Why? The Beast has obviously called for the armies in the Jezreel Valley to
come south to Jerusalem to help his occupying troops. Jesus Christ is using this valley between the
two halves of the Mount of Olives to shield the Jews from the devastation which
he is about to unleash upon the gathering armies of the world. This holy army of the LORD will be made up of the recently resurrected saints “and all the saints with thee.” Revelation 19:6-8, 11-14, “And I heard, as it
were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the
sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in
fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints…Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called Faithful and
True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that
no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood,
and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.”
Repeat
of Joshua’s Long Day?---Israel Gets a New Double River System
Verses 6-9, “It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the
lights will be diminished. 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. 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. And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be---‘The LORD is one,’ and his name one.” Verses 6-7 indicate this battle and these
events could be two or more days long (just as in “Joshua’s Long Day”). The enemy will have no reprieve at night
because there will be no night for the duration of the battle. Verse 8 shows Jesus will bestow on Jerusalem
and Israel a dual river system which will flow summer and winter, i.e. it will
never dry up or be just a seasonal river system. This is further described in Ezekiel 47:1-12,
and shows a huge inland sea will be created in the Jordan River Valley,
probably stretching from the Sea of Galilee to the southern end of the Dead
Sea, and then this ‘eastern river’ will flow on into the Gulf of Aqaba and on
into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The
western river will flow on into the Mediterranean Sea. Both rivers will heal all the world’s oceans
from all the pollution which has polluted the oceans. (Jerusalem was founded on top of the Gihon
Spring, and nearby is the Oasis of En Gedi, another spring that never dries up. There is a huge underground water system
under Jerusalem, which when the LORD cracks
the Mount of Olives in half, will release this water, creating two rivers
flowing out of Jerusalem.) Verse 9 shows
that Jesus Christ, the LORD, will become King of
kings, the King of the whole earth.
Foundation
for the Millennial Kingdom’s city of Jerusalem laid
Verses 10-11, “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 Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. The
people shall dwell in it; and no longer shall there be utter destruction,
but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.” Something special will happen to
Jerusalem here, brought about by the splitting of the Mount of Olives. (So any of you Orthodox Jews who revere
certain parts of Old Jerusalem, you’d better take some pictures, because you
can kiss them good-bye.) This giant east-west
valley that will be created as the two halves of the Mount of Olives move north
and south, will widen out until it is about 40 miles long, from Al Geba to
Rimmon. This valley will sit right on
top of the mountain range Jerusalem is on, creating a 40 mile long by 10 mile
wide foundation for the Millennial city of Jerusalem (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg4page1.htm to read the full description of this event). By the way, Al Geba is 6 miles north of Jerusalem, and Rimmon is 35
miles south of Jerusalem. Interestingly,
these towns have remained since God prophecied this event through Zechariah in
the 5th century BC
Chilling
Description of the Battle of Armageddon
Verses 12-15, “And this shall be the plague
with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against
Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve
while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and
their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. It shall come to pass in that day that a great panic from the LORD will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against
his neighbor’s hand; Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations
shall be gathered together: gold,
silver, and apparel in great abundance. Such also shall be the plague on the horse and the mule, on the camel and the donkey, and on all the cattle
that will be in those camps. So shall this plague be.” ‘These verses describe the supernatural
powers which Jesus (and the immortal saints) unleash upon the armies of the
world who have come against Jerusalem. It is said (cf. Revelation 1:13-16) that the light coming off of Jesus
Christ and God the Father is so intense that it would melt us. This is what Zechariah 14:12 describes. In John Hersey’s book Hiroshima it describes an unlucky anti-aircraft gunner who was
stationed in a gun emplacement on the side of a mountain which overlooked
Hiroshima. He was looking toward the
city when the first atomic bomb went off, and he was looking into the intense
fireball of light. Immediately his eyes
melted in their sockets (he lived). Inside the city itself people were literally vaporized by the intense
gamma-ray light, their very images photographically etched onto the concrete
adjacent to where they were standing. That is gamma-ray light. Revelation shows Jesus will be brighter than the sun. As seen in Zechariah 12:4 this intense light
coming off of the LORD (and us) will “blind” the
modern electronic sensors and GPS guidance systems of all the enemy’s
mechanized personnel carriers, tanks and jeeps. This will obviously lead to massive instances of self-destruction by
acts of “friendly fire.”
Jesus Christ restores observance of
God’s Holy Days and Sabbath
(don’t
believe me, read it for yourself below)
Verses 16-19, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the
nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship
the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to
Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and
enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with
which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the
Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be
the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of
Tabernacles.” Isaiah 66:15-17, 18-21, 22-23, “For behold, the LORD will come with fire and
his chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke
with flames of fire. For by fire and by
his sword the LORD will judge all flesh; and the slain of the LORD shall be many. [next
verse, 17, shows what will happen to those who worship in false religions,
including false forms of Christianity] Those who sanctify themselves and purify
themselves to go to the gardens after
an idol in the midst, eating swine’s
flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together [marginal
rendering: “come to an end”], says the LORD. For I know their works and their thoughts. ‘It shall be that I
will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see my glory. [Time
setting: This is just as the Millennial
Kingdom of God is just getting started.] I will set a sign among them; and those among
them who escape I will send to the nations; to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard
of my fame nor seen my glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for
an offering to the LORD out of all the nations, on horses and in chariots and in
litters, on mules and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,’ says the LORD, ‘as the children of
Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,’ says the LORD.” This is
a regathering and return of captive Israelites, being brought back to the land
of Israel and Jerusalem by the Gentile nations. This is occurring a short time after Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming. Next, Jesus Christ, the LORD makes an important declaration all Christians should be
aware of. Verses 22-23, “‘For as the new heavens and
the new earth which I will make shall remain before me,’ says the LORD, ‘so shall your
descendants and your name remain. And
it shall come to pass that from one
New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh
shall come to worship before me,’ says the LORD.” When is
this? Verse 24 shows us it’s right after the great battle of Armageddon,
the bodies are still lying about, “And
they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed
against me…” Both of these passages
are 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. One says that observance of the Feast of Tabernacles will be
commanded of all nations (Zechariah 14:16-19). The other, Isaiah 66:23 (in context with verses 15-21) says all
people will observe God’s 7th Day Sabbath. Interestingly enough, God’s 7th Day Sabbath is commanded as the very first commanded Holy Day in Leviticus 23
(verses 1-3). (Leviticus 23 is the Holy
Day chapter of the Bible, for those of you who didn’t realize it.) And the Feast of Tabernacles is the very last
commanded Holy Day observance in Leviticus 23. So if Jesus is commanding the world at his return to observe both the
Sabbath Day and the Feast of Tabernacles, he in essence is commanding the
inhabitants of the world, the whole world, to observe all of God’s Holy Days
found in Leviticus 23, from Sabbath (verses 1-3) to Feast of Tabernacles
(verses 34-44). Notice that the Feast
of Tabernacles is mentioned three time in these three verses. That is God’s way of placing a great emphasis
on his statement here. When Dr. David
Hocking, a Jewish Christian, was addressing a bunch of Calvary Chapel pastors
in a pastor’s meeting, he told them something like this: “You had better get
used to observing the Sabbath and Holy Days, because we’ll be keeping them during
the Millennium.” My sincere question, why wait till then?
The
Whole Mosaic Law of God Re-Instated to Govern the World
Verses 20-21, “In that day “HOLINESS
TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the
bells of the horses. The pots in the LORD’s house shall be like
the bowls before the altar. Yes, every
pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take
them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.” These verses show
peace (fellowship) offerings being observed, showing at least some form of
sacrificial system will be in place. Coupled to Isaiah 2:1-4 this shows God’s Law, the whole Mosaic Law of
God, becomes the ‘Constitutional Law of the Land’ for the whole world. Isaiah
2:2-4, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, and
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us his
ways, and we shall walk in his paths.’ For
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and
rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.” God’s Mosaic Law was not merely a law for the
Old Testament ‘Church in the Wilderness,’ it was also designed as both a
spiritual and civil code of law for a nation, first the nation of Israel, and
then the world. It will become the international
law of the whole world as God’s Kingdom spreads around the world after Jesus
Christ’s 2nd coming.
Related links:
Events leading up to the and through the 2nd coming of Christ:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Pentecost-Revetion2.htm
God’s Holy Days:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html
http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Feast%20of%20Weeks.htm
What was the early apostolic Church like?
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm
The city of Jerusalem in the Millennial
Kingdom of God:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg4page1.htm
The Millennial Kingdom of God, What Will It
Be Like?
http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm
|
