Commentary on Zechariah (No. 021K)

Introduction

The prophet Zechariah (Remembered of Yahovah) was son of Berechiah (Blessed of Yahovah) and grandson of Iddo.

He prophesied in the reign of Darius the Persian or Darius II of Persia at the building of the Temple. His prophecies were to cover the period from the building of the Second Temple to its furbishing and over its life and destruction. The prophecy then goes on to the Messiah and the construction of the Church of God, which is the Spiritual Temple, up until the return of the Messiah. It then deals with the construction of the final administration in Jerusalem over the millennial system of Messiah. The work is highly significant to the Last Days and the nations that attack Judah.

The structure of the book runs in sections:

Section 1 A. 1:1-6 Prophecy from Year 2 of Darius

B. 1:7-6:15 Prophecy with Symbols (Eight Visions)

C. 7:1-8:23 Prophecy from Year 4 of Darius

Section 2 A. 9:1-10:12 The First Burden revealed

B. 11:1-17 Prophecy with Symbols

C. 12:1-14:21 The Second Burden revealed

Timing of Darius and the Prophets

Darius II assumed the throne in late 424 or early 423 BCE. The decree was issued to commence construction in 422 BCE (Ezra 6:1 and 4:24) (i.e. his second year). The 70 weeks of years commences from this date. From Ezra 5 it appears that Haggai and Zechariah prophesy in 423 BCE and 422 BCE. 70 weeks of years commences from 423/22 BCE (i.e. first year of the new Jubilee period). Construction was completed in the sixth year of Darius the Persian (Ezra 6:15) in 3 Adar i.e. March 418 BCE. Darius dies in the period from the end 405 to the spring 404 (see the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 013): Bullinger’s chronology is wrong in this regard as are the relevant appendices).

This prophecy is thus tied to the reconstruction of the Temple and forms part of the Key of David system of prophecy and administration leading to the Last Days and the final reconstruction of the Temple (see Rule of the Kings: Part III: Solomon and the Key of David (No. 282C)).

Section one occurs at the commencement of construction and ends in year 2 of the construction at the halfway point. The second section is then given over the last half of the construction. Each section thus covers two of the four years of the construction and is tied in prophecy to the restoration of Israel and Judah under Messiah, and the Church that is mentioned here in the text as ruling with Messiah at Jerusalem.

Haggai also is involved in prophecy over the period as we have noted.

Ezra and Nehemiah have not yet returned, which they do in the reign of Artaxerxes II at the end of the seven weeks of years. Artaxerxes II issues the provisioning decree for the Temple and Nehemiah builds the walls of Jerusalem and fortifies it. Ezra died in 323 BCE in the same year as Alexander the Great. The canon was compiled by 321 and subsequently declared closed.

Zechariah, chapter 1

Chapter 1 deals with the establishment of the prophecy and the time-frame over which the city was to be restored but did not have peace, and the Temple could not be built. God was displeased with Judah because they had not taught the statutes and the Laws of God correctly, nor had they followed them. The earth was at rest but the House of Judah did not have rest for seventy years. God was displeased with the heathen nations that felt secure. As we see from the text, He was a little displeased but they added to the punishment and affliction, which God did not ask them to do. Then the four horns that conspired to scatter Judah, Israel and Jerusalem were to be dealt with, and the four carpenters who are the servants of God have come to disperse the four horns that conspired to scatter Judah.

The term Lord of Hosts or Yahovah Sabaioth is mentioned fifty-three times in this book: forty-four times in chapters 1-8 and nine times in chapters 9-14. On twenty-nine occasions it is associated with the oracle of Yahovah Sabaioth where “Saith the Lord of Hosts” = (is) the oracle of Yahovah Sabaioth. Saith the Lord = (is) Yahovah’s Oracle.

The structure of the eight visions until Zechariah 6:15 runs as follows:

1^st Vision (Zech. 1:7-17) Invisible Forces, Horses.

2^nd Vision (Zech. 1:18-21) External Enemies or Horns.

3^rd Vision (Zech. 2:1-13) Yahovah’s purpose with man is shown.

4^th Vision (Zech. 3:1-10) Joshua the Branch is revealed.

5^th Vision (Zech. 4:1-14) Yahovah’s purpose in the Lampstand is revealed.

6^th and 7^th Visions (Zech. 5:1-4, 11) External Enemies, the Flying Roll and Ephah.

8^th Vision (Zech. 6:1-6) Invisible Forces, Horses.

Conclusion (Zech. 6:9-15): Ends with reference to Joshua the Branch.

The setting is with Israel in dispersion. The Gentiles are in possession of Israel at the time of the end. Yahovah is declaring his intention to intervene for Jerusalem (vv. 16,17; Isa. 40:1-5). The man in chapter 1 is Adonai of verse 9 and the Angel of Yahovah in verses 11,12 and we see the prophet told in his answer. The riders of verse 8 all report to this being who is the Adonai of Israel of Deuteronomy 32:8 (RSV). The term “among” has relevance to chapter 6:1.

Zechariah 1:1-21 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah the son of Berechi'ah, son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, ² "The LORD was very angry with your fathers. ³ Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. ⁴ Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or heed me, says the LORD. ⁵ Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? ⁶But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us."

Three months later the first section was completed.

⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah the son of Berechi'ah, son of Iddo, the prophet; and Zechari'ah said,⁸ "I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. ⁹ Then I said, `What are these, my lord?' The angel who talked with me said to me, `I will show you what they are.' ¹⁰ So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, `These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.' ¹¹ And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, `We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.' ¹² Then the angel of the LORD said, `O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?'

The text shows the period of the trouble. It has reference also to chapter 7:9; Psalm 102:13; Isaiah 14:1; 49:13. This reference is not to the Church, which is the mother of us all, but to the city of Jerusalem itself.

¹³ And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. ¹⁴ So the angel who talked with me said to me, Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. ¹⁵And I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little they furthered the disaster.

Thus God was to deal with Judah, but the nations that added injury on injury when they had no business doing so angered God and He will deal with them.

This section was to look towards yet another dispersion. Here He is speaking of His house being built upon it, which is now taking place. However, we will see that this prophecy is to span some two and a half millennia and span two advents of the Messiah and his death.

Jerusalem will be measured with the purpose of reorganising it for building. This follows the Measuring of the Temple, which is the Church that we saw in Revelation 11:2ff.

¹⁶ Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. ¹⁷ Cry again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'" ¹⁸ And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns! ¹⁹ And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." ²⁰Then the LORD showed me four smiths. ²¹ And I said, "What are these coming to do?" He answered, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man raised his head; and these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it." (RSV)

God shows here that He will deal with the horns or powers that have hurt Judah and Israel and Jerusalem. This is not a reference to the Church (cf. Bullinger, Companion Bible note to v. 16). These four powers are raised against the nations to deal with them; literally to terrify them.

Zechariah, chapter 2

Chapter 2 shows that Judah is to be populated and God will be a wall of fire around about her and the glory in the midst of her. The text shows that God, Yahovah of Hosts, sent Yahovah of Israel to Jerusalem to protect her (Zech. 2:8). Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be God’s people and Yahovah will dwell in the midst of them. The Lord will inherit Judah, which is his portion in the Holy Land and shall again choose Jerusalem (cf. Deut. 32:8 RSV).

Zechariah 2:1-13 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! ² Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length." ³ And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him, ⁴ and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, `Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle in it. ⁵ For I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the LORD, and I will be the glory within her.'"⁶ Ho! ho! Flee from the land of the north, says the LORD; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, says the LORD. ⁷ Ho! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. ⁸ For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: ⁹ "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. ¹⁰ Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.

Notice here that Yahovah of Hosts sent this Yahovah who will dwell in Jerusalem. He says that then we will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent him. In other words this Yahovah is not Yahovah of Hosts but the Yahovah of Psalm 45:6-7 and Hebrews 1:8-9 sent to Israel by God. This is the Yahovah that was given Israel as his inheritance in Deuteronomy 32:8 (see RSV for correct translation). The words “apple of My eye” were changed to “His eye” by the Sopherim allegedly for reasons of anthropomorphism. Yahovah of Hosts sent this Yahovah for “His own Glory”.

The warning is given to those who dwell with the daughter of Babylon to escape from the North. Zechariah is speaking far into the future. Babylon has fallen already at this time and is subject to the Medes and Persians and has been for a century. He is speaking of the Last Days and the daughter of Babylon referred to in the other prophecies and by the Church.

We know this to be the case because the prophecy then declares the union of many nations to Judah, which has not happened even from the first advent. He declares he will dwell in the midst of them and they will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent him to them. This being can only be Jesus Christ from his second advent.

¹¹ And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. ¹² And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem." ¹³ Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. (RSV)

Note the description of inheriting Judah as His portion. Israel is his inheritance but Judah was the tribe of Messiah. This being, Yahovah of Israel, can only be Jesus the Christ, the Messiah.

Zechariah, chapter 3

In Zechariah chapter 3, The Lord God shows how the sequence of the establishment of the end days occurs in that the High Priest carries the name of Joshua, as did the Messiah who was the Branch. Satan is placed at his right hand to resist him and not to support him. Joshua is given clean garments and his old garments are taken away. The followers of the High Priest that sit before him are men to be wondered at. The Lord God states that He will bring forward the Branch who is Messiah. The Lord God says that the stone laid before Joshua has seven eyes on the one stone, meaning there are seven eyes on every stone, and we know from Scripture that they are the seven spirits of God that also represent the seven angels of the seven churches. Thus, the seven spirits of God are present in every stone in the Temple, and in the seven churches of God, and there are elements of each church in all seven churches.

It is God that engraves the stones with the seven eyes, which are the seven spirits. God removes the iniquity of the land in one day. He did that through the Messiah and enshrined the seven spirits in the seven churches.

Verse 10 says: “In that day said the Lord of Hosts you will call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.”

This sequence reflects the establishment of the churches over time and brings us to the Day of the Lord, which is the day referred to in verse 10 as: “In that day”.

Zechariah 3:1-10 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. ⁴ And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel." ⁵ And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of the LORD was standing by. [cf. Ps. 103:21] ⁶ And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua, ⁷ "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. ⁸Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. ⁹For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. ¹⁰ In that day, says the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree." (RSV)

Specifically the High Priest of Israel must comply with the Laws of God. This charge is given by God to Joshua, High Priest of Israel. If he does not follow the Laws of God he is disqualified from being High Priest.

Zechariah, chapter 4

Chapter 4 goes on to deal with the Witnesses who stand on either side of the seven lamps on the great lampstand. Through Zechariah, God declares that: “It is not by might, nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of Hosts”. These are the Two Witnesses that stand beside the Lord of the earth and the seven eyes are the seven spirits of God that run to and fro throughout the earth. This is not Satan “the god of this world” (2Cor. 4:4) but Messiah who is to replace him. This is the section dealing with the Day of the Lord and the triumph of the Witnesses in the Last Days.

Zechariah 4:1-14 And the angel who talked with me came again, and waked me, like a man that is wakened out of his sleep. ²And he said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps which are on the top of it. ³And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." ⁴ And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵ Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." ⁶ Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerub'babel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. ⁷What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerub'babel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of `Grace, grace to it!'" ⁸Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁹ "The hands of Zerub'babel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰ For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerub'babel. "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth."¹¹Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" ¹² And a second time I said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the oil is poured out?" ¹³ He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." ¹⁴ Then he said, "These are the two anointed who stand by the Lord of the whole earth." (RSV)

The Two Witnesses are to come at the end of the sequence and do not refer to anyone from then until now.

Zechariah, chapter 5

The scroll of the Lord, which is the Law of God, will go forth into the houses of the thieves and liars and will bear witness against them and separate them and cut them off and destroy their houses to the stones and the bricks.

The nexus of the Law is to be restored by the Witnesses in the Last Days. Chapter 5 follows directly on to the section dealing with them in Chapter 4 and does not regress. It is not restored at present.

The witness of the Lord was corrupted and made as an ephah of lead and placed in the mouth of the woman who works iniquity, and the ephah was taken to the land of Shinar, which is Babylon.

Thus, the false religious system was given lead for speech and prophecy, and taken to the system of Babylon and dealt with in the Last Days. These are the antinomians who teach that the Law of God is done away.

Zechariah 5:1-11 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll! ²And he said to me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits." ³ Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land; for every one who steals shall be cut off henceforth according to it, and every one who swears falsely shall be cut off henceforth according to it. ⁴I will send it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it shall abide in his house and consume it, both timber and stones." ⁵ Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, "Lift your eyes, and see what this is that goes forth."⁶And I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the ephah that goes forth." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land." ⁷ And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the ephah! ⁸And he said, "This is Wickedness." And he thrust her back into the ephah, and thrust down the leaden weight upon its mouth. ⁹ Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings; they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. ¹⁰Then I said to the angel who talked with me, "Where are they taking the ephah?" ¹¹ He said to me, "To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it; and when this is prepared, they will set the ephah down there on its base." (RSV)

Zechariah, chapter 6

Zechariah 6:1-8 is the period of the four angels referred to in Revelation 7:1-3. The four sets of horses are Red, Black and White horses and the fourth chariot is made up of Bay and Greys (grisled from Fr. gris or iron-grey).

The blacks go forth to the north-country, the whites go forth to the west, and the grisled or greys go forth to the south country, and the bay walks to and fro on the earth.

The term quieted my spirit in the north- country means: “to cause [my anger] to rest upon my spirit (cf. Bullinger, Companion Bible). God is thus to deal with the North Country. The Temple of the Lord is to be built and will be built by people who come from afar (cf. Isa. 60:10) and it is the Branch, named Joshua, the High Priest that builds the Temple. Thus we had to have the Messiah named Joshua, meaning salvation. It shall come to pass if we diligently obey God.

Zechariah 6:1-15 And again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bronze. ²The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,³the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled gray horses. ⁴Then I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵And the angel answered me, "These are going forth to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the LORD of all the earth. ⁶ The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go toward the west country, and the dappled ones go toward the south country." ⁷ When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get off and patrol the earth. And he said, "Go, patrol the earth." So they patrolled the earth. ⁸ Then he cried to me, "Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country." ⁹And the word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁰"Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobi'jah, and Jedai'ah, who have arrived from Babylon; and go the same day to the house of Josi'ah, the son of Zephani'ah. ¹¹ Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it upon the head of Joshua, the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest; ¹² and say to him, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall grow up in his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. ¹³ It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD, and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And there shall be a priest by his throne, and peaceful understanding shall be between them both."' ¹⁴And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Heldai, Tobi'jah, Jedai'ah, and Josi'ah the son of Zephani'ah. ¹⁵ "And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD; and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God." (RSV)

The Branch is given royal honour in Israel and a priest shall stand by his throne. There shall be peace between them. The prophecy is for a time in the future where the Branch will build his Temple bearing royal honour and ruling the priesthood, and this being can only be the Messiah. The crown shall be in the Temple of the Lord. The elect are to rule as God and the crown is theirs to rule. This is the promise to the Church of the Philadelphians of Revelation chapter 3.

The term sprout forth is Yemach ... yizmach which is literally a branch shall branch forth. Bullinger notes this fact and also that some codices omit the term.

Zechariah, chapter 7

In those seventy years Israel did not fast and mourn for the Laws of God. In the fasts of the Fifth and Seventh months they did not fast to obey God. Note that the fast of 10 Ab to mourn the destruction of the Temple had been instituted in Judah by this time (cf. Jer. 52:12,13). The word of the Lord is to execute true judgment and to show mercy and compassion every man to his neighbour, to not oppress the widow and the fatherless, nor the stranger or the poor, and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart (Zech. 7:9-10). But they would not listen and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears so that they would not hear. They made their hearts as adamant as stone, like flint, so that they could not hear the Law of God and the words that the Lord of Hosts had sent by the former prophets. Because of that, a great wrath came from the Lord of Hosts (Zech. 7:11-12).

God says that it will come to pass that, as they closed their ears and would not hear the Law of God and the former prophets that God closed His ears and would not hear, and God scattered them abroad throughout all the nations so that the land was desolate. In the same way, God will deal with those who refuse to hear the Word of the Lord and the Laws of God in the Last Days.

Zechariah 7:1-14 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. ² Now the people of Bethel had sent Share'zer and Reg'em-mel'ech and their men, to entreat the favor of the LORD, ³ and to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, "Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" ⁴Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me; ⁵"Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷ When Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, with her cities round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited, were not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets?" ⁸ And the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah, saying, ⁹ "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother, ¹⁰ do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart." ¹¹But they refused to hearken, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears that they might not hear. ¹² They made their hearts like adamant lest they should hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. ¹³ "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts, ¹⁴ "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate." (RSV)

In the Last Days God will deal with the remnant of Israel. This prophecy was the second or last of the visions of the first section. It looked forward to the next dispersion and the desolation of Judea and the fall of the Temple they were in the process of building. The lesson was simple. Keep the Laws of God and the Covenant or they would be dispersed again. The Temple would only consist of those keeping the Covenant as the Laws of God.

Zechariah, chapter 8

In chapter 8 Zechariah shows that God forces the return to Zion and gathers His people from the east country and the west-country. They will dwell in Jerusalem in truth and righteousness. Before the final restoration there was no peace and God set every man against his neighbour. But in the Last Days He will make the earth give its fruit and God will do well to Jerusalem and to Judah. God will also restore Israel with Judah so that they are no longer a curse among the nations (Zech. 8:10-15).

This is what we are to do. We are to speak the truth to our neighbours and to execute judgment in truth and peace in our gates. We are to love our neighbours and to make no false oath. Judah will execute the fasts of the Fourth month (on the 9^th when the city was broken up); Fifth month (10 Ab, when the Temple and the Houses were burnt); Seventh month (3 Tishri when Gedaliah was slain by Ishmael son of Nethaniah (Jer. 40:8; 41:1-3, 15-18) and Tenth month (10 Tebeth) when the king of Babylon set his face against Jerusalem (Ezek. 24:1-2)) (Zech. 8:19). These are man-made fasts and not the fasts of the Lord.

In those days, at the end of this age, men shall take hold of the robes of Judah out of all the languages on the earth and go to Jerusalem to pray to the Lord of Hosts (cf. Gen. 26:28; Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2). God’s people (Israel) will be restored.

Zechariah 8:1-23 And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, ² "Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. ³ Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain. ⁴Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for very age. ⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. ⁶ Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, says the LORD of hosts? ⁷ Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country; ⁸and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness."⁹ Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets, since the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. ¹⁰ For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in; for I set every man against his fellow. ¹¹ But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the LORD of hosts. ¹² For there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. ¹³ And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong." ¹⁴ For thus says the LORD of hosts: "As I purposed to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the LORD of hosts, ¹⁵so again have I purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. ¹⁶ These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, ¹⁷ do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the LORD." ¹⁸ And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹ "Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace. ²⁰ "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities; ²¹ the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, `Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I am going.' ²² Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the LORD. ²³ Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, `Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" (RSV)

Zechariah, chapter 9

We now begin the First Burden of the Second section. This is now far into the future.

In Zechariah chapters 9 to 11, the fate of Tyre and Sidon and Gaza, Ekron, Ashkelon and Ashdod, and Damascus and the lands adjoining it in Syria, and the whole country of Lebanon, are mentioned and dealt with in explicit terms.

They will worship God in Jerusalem with Judah, and will be as governors in Israel. They will face destruction and conversion and rehabilitation. God will encamp about Jerusalem against the army that is brought against it (Zech. 9:1-8).

At this time it is written: Rejoice greatly o daughter of Zion; shout o daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (Zech. 9:9). The events in bold were quotes in the NT and are prophesied in Micah 5:2 and examined in Matthew 2:1 and 21:5. These are dual aspects. Verse 10 goes on to establish the prophecy of the Second Advent where Messiah, in justice and salvation, cuts off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow. Messiah shall speak peace to the heathens and his dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. God states that He will take Zion and establish the blood of His covenant and take their prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water (Zech. 9:11-12). This is the conversion of Judah and Ephraim. The text shows they will be sent against the sons of Javan, which is rendered as Greece in the LXX but the Hebrew says yavan, which was understood to be the ancient Ionian Greeks, not the modern Greeks. They are not simply the residents of modern Greece who are not sons of Javan in any quantity (cf. Gen. 10:2,4; Isa. 66:19; Ezek. 27:13; Dan. 8:21; 11:2; Joel 3:6; see also the Genetic Origin of the Nations (No. 265) and War of Hamon-Gog (No. 294)).

They will all be strengthened and the Lord will make them strong and they will subdue their enemies in the Holy Spirit of their conversion.

Lebanon and the pride of Jordan are brought down. The Lord says to feed the flock of the slaughter. In chapter 11 God shows how it is He that intervenes and feeds the flock. In that chapter God warns of the idol shepherd and the punishment for leaving the flock and the destruction of the unity of the people. This is reversion to the First Advent when the staves of Beauty and Bands were broken and the shepherds that grew out of the apostate Church rendered the poor to the hooves (cf. Ezek. 34:1-22).

Zechariah 9:1-17 An Oracle The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and will rest upon Damascus. For to the LORD belong the cities of Aram, even as all the tribes of Israel; ² Hamath also, which borders thereon, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. ³ Tyre has built herself a rampart, and heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. ⁴ But lo, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and hurl her wealth into the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire. ⁵ Ash'kelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ash'kelon shall be uninhabited; ⁶ a mongrel people shall dwell in Ashdod; and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia. ⁷ I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jeb'usites.

The fall of Tyre and Sidon was in part accomplished by the Babylonians. However, that was long past when this was written. The prophecy looked to the future to the Greeks and the Romans and then later again to the Arabs and the Crusades and now to the Last Days. The comments made here were carried out in part, but not all, and in the Last Days we are seeing this unfold now before our very eyes.

The promises here are that these nations will become part of Israel and they will be as provinces of Israel and their glory will be in the glory of the Lord in Israel. The Jebusites were those that inhabited Jerusalem and the threshing floor of Araunah became the site of the Temple of God. The might of the Philistines was to be removed and rulership was to be removed from Gaza and the other Philistine centres were to be removed or made a mixed people as in Ashdod. This is Scripture and Scripture cannot be broken.

God tells us then that Messiah will come to Jerusalem as he did come in triumph over sin. The text does not stop there but continues on to deal with Ephraim and Judah together, which is in the Last Days. Israel had gone into captivity in 722 BCE and did not return.

⁸ Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again overrun them, for now I see with my own eyes. ⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass. ¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from E'phraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. ¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit. ¹² Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. ¹³ For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made E'phraim its arrow. I will brandish your sons, O Zion, over your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. ¹⁴ Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet, and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵The LORD of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour and tread down the slingers; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. ¹⁶ On that day the LORD their God will save them for they are the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. ¹⁷ Yea, how good and how fair it shall be! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens. (RSV)

This text looks forward to the Last Days when Messiah returns in triumph and subjugates the nations. He uses the might of Judah and of Ephraim to subjugate the nations, and that is exactly what happened from the period of 1916 onwards (see the paper The Fall of Egypt: The Prophecy of Pharaohs Broken Arms (No. 036)). However they will be forced into peace.

Zechariah, chapter 10

The First Burden continues until 10:12. However, the next two chapters deal with the problem of false religion. God is demanding that they ask blessings of Him and not of the teraphim, which are the household idols that we see even today in the guise of the mother goddess depicted as the “Virgin Mary”, or Buddha and who knows what else.

The diviners see lies and the dreamers interpret false dreams. The people are misled by false religion and this period goes on to the days of the end. The shepherds are punished because of what they have done to Judah and Israel and to the chosen of God. Judah is set aside to show that they will be restored and false religion will be removed. Judah will be restored and Joseph will be strengthened. However, we need to understand who they are first before we can see what it is that God is to accomplish. Judah and the house of Joseph are in the United States and British Commonwealth, without for one minute considering the identities of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, which are ten times as many people as those identified as Jews today in those nations. There are more Jews in the US alone than in Israel and more in the US and British Commonwealth than everywhere else in the world combined. They are the true nation of Israel today, notwithstanding their own ancient genealogical claims to the ancestry of Israel.

Zechariah 10:1-12 Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain, from the LORD who makes the storm clouds, who gives men showers of rain, to every one the vegetation in the field. ² For the teraphim utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; the dreamers tell false dreams, and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for want of a shepherd. ³ "My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his proud steed in battle. ⁴ Out of them shall come the cornerstone, out of them the tent peg, out of them the battle bow, out of them every ruler.⁵Together they shall be like mighty men in battle, trampling the foe in the mud of the streets; they shall fight because the LORD is with them, and they shall confound the riders on horses. ⁶ "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them; for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them. ⁷ Then E'phraim shall become like a mighty warrior, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and rejoice, their hearts shall exult in the LORD. ⁸ "I will signal for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as of old. ⁹ Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. ¹⁰ I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them. ¹¹ They shall pass through the sea of Egypt, and the waves of the sea shall be smitten, and all the depths of the Nile dried up. The pride of Assyria shall be laid low, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart. ¹²I will make them strong in the LORD and they shall glory in his name," says the LORD. (RSV)

Note here that the lands of Gilead and Lebanon are reserved for Ephraim and as part of greater Israel. God is preparing for this moment even now. Lebanon will be incorporated as a state of Israel and they will live at peace.

Zechariah, chapter 11

God then addresses Lebanon in this prophecy with symbols. They are then linked to the flock and the wail of the shepherds. These events are tied in to the Last Days. The time- frames of Gilead and Lebanon and Israel and the Churches of God are all tied together in the one sequence and God is dealing with them all.

Zechariah 11:1-17 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! ²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! ³Hark, the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is despoiled! Hark, the roar of the lions, for the jungle of the Jordan is laid waste! ⁴ Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ⁵Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, `Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich'; and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶ For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, says the LORD. Lo, I will cause men to fall each into the hand of his shepherd, and each into the hand of his king; and they shall crush the earth, and I will deliver none from their hand."

This period went on for a long time and the false systems rose and ruled the earth with the kings with whom they played the harlot. This is the religion referred to in Revelation as Mystery Babylon. God delivered none from their hand because of their apostasy.

Religion became a business and continued to grow and exploit its own people. God destroyed the staffs of Grace and Union.

⁷So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep. And I took two staffs; one I named Grace, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep.

In one month God does away with the three shepherds. This aspect is examined in the paper Measuring the Temple (No. 137). This is the thirty years of the end days called the “Mourning for Moses”. The flock is devoured by its own that trample each other and abuse and falsely accuse one another. The text then reverses to deal with the Messiah and the wages paid for his betrayal at thirty pieces of silver.

⁸ In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹ So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another." ¹⁰ And I took my staff Grace, and I broke it, annulling the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹So it was annulled on that day, and the traffickers in the sheep, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. ¹² Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver. ¹³ Then the LORD said to me, "Cast it into the treasury" -- the lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.

The staff of union was then broken between Israel and Judah. Until that time Israel was in the north where they had been sent but many still were in union with Judah. However, Judah was destroyed and dispersed and in the same century the Persians and Romans weakened Israel and its allies and they moved into Europe. The bond was broken. That continued for 1800 years until the Twentieth century when God began to deal with Israel and Judah once again.

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. ¹⁵ Then the LORD said to me, "Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd. ¹⁶For lo, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the sound, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. ¹⁷ Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword smite his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!" (RSV)

In 1916 God began to deal with Egypt and set aside the Holy Land through the power of Ephraim. In 1917 Jerusalem was retaken and the Jewish homeland was declared in the Balfour Declaration. In 1948 Israel declared independence and fought its first war. In 1944 Lebanon declared its independence but in 1948 was involved with the Palestinian refugee crisis, which saw many move into Tyre and other parts of Lebanon. The eighty years of Egypt went from 1916 to 1996. The Church of God was reorganised over forty years at this time from 1927 to 1967. They did not properly deal with the flock of God and they were cast to the idol shepherds and in 1967 were tied in to the end days with the nations of Israel with whom they were supposed to guide in prophecy but failed to properly serve. One time cycle of nineteen years was allowed (see also Forty Years for Repentance (No. 290) and False Prophecy (No. 269)).

Israel and Tyre and Lebanon and Gilead were all given seventy years from 1948. In those years the other nations, including the Ten Tribes, would become fat and dwell carelessly.

Remember the two arms of the prophecy of Pharaoh’s Broken Arms (No. 036). The two arms were of forty years duration from 1916 to 1996. They were separated from the first section by 2520 years or “seven times”. So also we see two arms of forty years for these nations from 1948 to 2028, which is the time- frame for the establishment of the entire system of the Millennium. 2018 to 2028 will see the end of the subjugation of the nations and the establishment of the millennial system.

In 1967 the sequence of the wars of Israel began and so did the apostasy of the Churches of God. They did away with the full Passover and taught lies. They abandoned sound doctrine and taught fables. Their doctrine on the nature of God became Ditheist and they were given over to a reprobate mind. In 1997 the Times of the Gentiles was closed and the last thirty years of the subjugation of the nations began (see the paper The Last Thirty Years: the Final Struggle (No. 219)).

By 1 Abib 2008 the forty years of these people is complete and then the sequence of the end will escalate. God has said that He will use Jerusalem to deal with the nations.

Zechariah, chapter 12

Zechariah chapter 12 deals with Judah and Jerusalem in the Last Days. Jerusalem will become a burdensome stone for ALL people. Those who burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces even though all the people of the earth are gathered together against it. God says that in that day He will smite every horse with astonishment and every rider with madness. In that day God will open His eyes on Judah. That is, He will regard them with favour and strike the horses of the people with blindness, which seems to indicate that it is an advantage at this time for Judah. That may indicate the armies attacking it are unable to determine their bearings and establish sound strategy and tactics (Zech. 12:3-4). In the Last Days the leaders of Judah shall be like a devouring fire to all people on the right and left of them. They will rely on the inhabitants of Jerusalem who will be with Messiah and in the strength of the Lord of Hosts their God. Thus the attacks on Jerusalem will continue up until and after the Return of the Messiah. The elect shall inhabit Jerusalem with him and be the strength of Judah around them.

Zechariah 12:7 shows that Judah is saved before Jerusalem so that Jerusalem does not magnify itself against Judah. God defends Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:8 states that: In that day he that is feeble shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God, [as elohim] as the angel of Yahovah before them [or at their head]. In other words they shall become Elohim as Christ at their head is an Elohim (see the paper The Elect as Elohim (No. 001)).

God then says (in v. 9) that: “It shall come to pass that in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

Zechariah 12:10 is a prophecy of type and antitype. At the return of Messiah they will look upon him whom they pierced; in other words, the Messiah whom they placed on the stake and thrust through with a spear. There was bitterness in Jerusalem at the sacrifice, and there will be again when the full realisation of what they did comes upon all the families of Judah and Levi, and especially upon the house of David through Nathan in Judah, and of the priestly house of Shimei in Levi, for their firstborn who was Messiah. The previous great mourning was at Hadadrimmon (now Rummaneh) west of Esdraelon near Megiddo where King Josiah was killed and the mourning was unprecedented. In other words, this is the most significant mourning in the history of Israel, and it is caused by the realisation of what they had done and what they had missed out on over time.

Zechariah 12:1-14 An Oracle The word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus says the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: ²"Lo, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about; it will be against Judah also in the siege against Jerusalem.

Note that Judah also will be damaged in the siege against Jerusalem. All who concern themselves with it will be seriously damaged.

³On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will come together against it. ⁴ On that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But upon the house of Judah I will open my eyes, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, `The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.'

Judah will see that Jerusalem is strengthened in their spiritual power through the power of God. This plays a part in their conversion.

⁶ "On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the peoples round about, while Jerusalem shall still be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. ⁷ "And the LORD will give victory to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah.

Note that the glory of the house of David and of the administration of Jerusalem will not exalt themselves over Judah, as Judah will be given victory at this time.

This is the day of the return of the Messiah: The Day of the Lord.

The elect shall be as elohim in that day. The saints will be resurrected and become elohim, or sons of God and effectively all gods, as the Messenger of the Lord at their head; and that being is Messiah the first-born of the dead (see also the paper The Elect as Elohim (No. 001)).

⁸ On that day the LORD will put a shield about the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, at their head.

From that day Christ will bring all the nations down to Megiddo.

⁹ And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. ¹⁰ "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born. ¹¹ On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrim'mon in the plain of Megid'do. ¹² The land shall mourn, each family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shim'e-ites by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves. (RSV)

The families of David through Nathan and Levi through Shimei (Lk. 3) are the families of Messiah in Judah that saw Messiah executed.

Then the sins of Judah shall be healed.

Zechariah, chapter 13

Chapter 13 states that in that day a fountain will be open to the house of David and to Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. When that happens the idols will be removed from Jerusalem and all Israel and the prophets will be cut off because the Holy Spirit will be poured out in such quantity that prophecy will no longer be needed, and those who pretend to prophesy in the name of the Lord will die (Zech. 13:3).

Unless one has seen Jerusalem, it is difficult to comprehend the idolatry there with idols and icons and false sites and heresy and false teachings everywhere. People think they serve God by slobbering prostrate kissing stones and idols in some perceived piety.

When God removes this falsehood from Jerusalem and pours out His Holy Spirit the prophets shall claim husbandry. Zechariah 13:7 refers back to the killing of Messiah and the scattering of the elect in fulfilling Isaiah 53:5-10. The sheep will see two-thirds dead and one third scattered and refined in the fire (13:8-9).

Zechariah 13:1-9 "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. ² "And on that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more; and also I will remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirit. ³And if any one again appears as a prophet, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, `You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the LORD'; and his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. ⁴On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; he will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive, ⁵ but he will say, `I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth.'⁶ And if one asks him, `What are these wounds on your back?' he will say, `The wounds I received in the house of my friends.'" ⁷"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me," says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. ⁸ In the whole land, says the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. ⁹ And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, `They are my people'; and they will say, `The LORD is my God.'" (RSV)

God will refine Jerusalem and the inhabitants.

Zechariah, chapter 14

Zechariah 14 then goes to the Day of the Lord (see the paper The Day of the Lord and the Last Days (No. 192)).

Just before the Messiah comes, the city of Jerusalem is taken and half the city shall go into captivity, but the other half shall remain there and not be cut off from it. Then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations. Messiah shall stand on the Mount of Olives and the mountain will cleave in two, going both north and south and forming a valley running east-west, and the valley will have a new limit called Azal (SHD 682 from 680 atsel meaning noble).

Zechariah 14:1-21 Behold, a day of the LORD is coming, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in the midst of you.² For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ³ Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.

The mountains referred to in verse 5 are the two mountains formed from the Mount of Olives. This earthquake is mentioned in Amos chapter 1. In that day the elohim of Israel will come and all the saints with him (Zech. 14:5). The Messiah will be king over the earth and his name shall be one. The city of Jerusalem will be a plain from Geba, some six miles north of Jerusalem, to Rimmon, which is Khan Umm er Rumamin (cf. Neh. 11:29). The town is Ain Rimmon (En Rimmon, Josh. 15:32). It was first assigned to Simeon (Josh. 19:7; 1Chr. 4:32). It is in southern Judah in the Negev district near Beer-sheba. Eusebius identified it as a very large Jewish village, sixteen Roman miles south of Eleutheropolis in the middle of the Darome (southern part of Judah). Khirbet er-Ramin is nine miles NNE of Beer-sheba. Beer-sheba lies twenty-eight miles SW of Hebron and Hebron is nineteen miles south of Jerusalem, and thirteen and a half miles SSW of Bethlehem. Thus, the valley that comprises the plain of Jerusalem is some forty-four miles (or 66 km) in length and covers the southern hill country of Judah. The geological event is thus quite dramatic.

⁴On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. ⁵ And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up, for the valley of the mountains shall touch the side of it; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzzi'ah king of Judah. Then the LORD your God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

We see here that the Messiah returns with the qedosim or the Holy Ones that are the angelic host. This group then extends to the church also from the First Resurrection.

⁶On that day there shall be neither cold nor frost.⁷And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the LORD), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.⁸ On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

The massive underground lake system recently discovered in Israel will form the basis for the waters going out to the seas to the west and to the south-east.

⁹ And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one. ¹⁰ The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft upon its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Han'anel to the king's wine presses. ¹¹ And it shall be inhabited, for there shall be no more curse; Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

Christ as King, and the Church, will thus rule from Jerusalem for a thousand years (see also Rev. 20).

The people who fight against Jerusalem will suffer a plague where their flesh and eyes and tongues will simply be eaten away as they stand. They will all rise up against their neighbours and kill one another. The wealth of the nations doing this will flow to Jerusalem.

¹² And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot while they are still on their feet, their eyes shall rot in their sockets, and their tongues shall rot in their mouths. ¹³ And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will lay hold on the hand of his fellow, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other;

Note here that even Judah will fight against Jerusalem before its conversion at the end.

¹⁴even Judah will fight against Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. ¹⁵ And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the asses, and whatever beasts may be in those camps.

After this event, or great war of the end of this age, everyone who is left of the nations that came against Jerusalem over the whole world will send their representatives to Jerusalem from year to year to worship the Lord of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. Those that do not go up of the families of the earth will get no rain in due season and they will suffer the plagues of Egypt. Irrigation will not save the disobedient. Thus, disobedience to the Laws of God and His festivals will result in death. The bells on the horses will read “holiness to the Lord” and the pots in the Lord’s House shall be like bowls before the altar. Those sacrificing will cook the meat in them in holiness (Zech. 14:16-21). Vegetarianism will thus not be a feature of the Millennium (see also Vegetarianism in the Bible (No. 183)).

¹⁶Then every one that survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of booths. ¹⁷And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain upon them. ¹⁸ And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present themselves, then upon them shall come the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of booths. ¹⁹ This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of booths. ²⁰ And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar; ²¹ and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the flesh of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day. (RSV)

Ezekiel chapters 26 and 27 also deal with Tyre and the fate that awaits the city. It was attacked by the Babylonians, and again by the Macedonians and Greeks. It was made into a fishing headquarters for centuries, but the texts say it will disappear under waves and water. Here we see that the ships of Tarshish were the seafarers of their merchant navy. Javan, Tubal and Meshech were the merchants of Tyre, thus they were more predominately Japhethite rather than Hamitic and that is why their YDNA is predominantly K2 and not E3. Ezekiel 28 relates directly to Satan as King of Tyre.

Any of these nations that call for the destruction of Israel is to be cut in pieces. And that includes all those who seek to aid others in its destruction such as the nations we now see supplying others to attack it. Iran and Iraq will pay the price also. These nations that concern themselves in this matter will be deluded into attacking Jerusalem. The religious war that is shortly to escalate into World War III will be truly horrific.

Twenty years before the war in 1967, on 15 May 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to create a Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), which effectively began the process for the establishment of the State of Israel. This was thirty years after the first Balfour Declaration of British Prime Minister Balfour establishing the Jewish homeland in 1917. The second Balfour Declaration was regarding the constitutional establishment of Australia. However, the UN resolution was too late to save Judah from the Holocaust. As it was, Judah had to fight to be established.

Based on the seventy-year cycle used in the prophecies, there may well be a year for year correlation between the horror leading up to WWII from 1936-1945 and the period 2006-2015 which will see the execution of WWIII.

From the war in 1967 to 2007 is forty years and there has been no repentance to date, and nor is any likely to occur. Scripture cannot be broken. However, these people can repent, but they choose not to do so. The seventy years from 1948 ends in 2018. The eighty years of the double forty-year period ends in the first year of the millennial Jubilee in 2028. Between 2006 and 2018 the entire structure of the wars will develop. From 2006 we see the problem escalating and God dealing with Lebanon and Iraq. The war will expand into Syria and Iran.

The actions against Israel over this period are militarily unsound. The armies are unable to tactically and strategically wage sound war operations.

The UN, acting in condemnation against Israel, has placed itself in this category and will suffer the same fate, as its structure seeks to occupy the places reserved to Messiah and his people.

It is not too late to repent and be restored.

There are often queries regarding the identity of Judah and the Biblical concepts regarding those who say they are Jews but are not and the identity and direction of those people. The prophecies regarding the church range from the Smyrna system to the end with the Church of the Philadelphians. This persecution was to extend over the period of the churches from the Smyrna system and the persecution of Diocletian to the coming of the Messiah and is not simply a comment from two sections of Revelation regarding two churches. These texts are also indicated for the OT texts and the activities of the Lord and the false religious system that was to enter Judah. These prophecies are also mirrored in Zechariah among other OT texts.

In these two sections we see that there are those that say they are Jews but are not but are classed as the synagogue of Satan. These people are going to be made to come before the church and finally to prostrate themselves before the Church of God and acknowledge that it is they that are the beloved of the Messiah and of God and they are placed in charge of all of these people.

Revelation 2:8-11 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: `The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. ⁹ "`I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.'

Revelation 3:7-13 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: `The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens. ⁸ "`I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.⁹ Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie -- behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you. ¹⁰Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. ¹¹ I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. ¹²He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. ¹³ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

However, who are they and where are they? Where did they come from and what is to become of them? How does this tie in with the OT Scriptures, and what do we know of them?

As we are aware Judaism is a religion and not a tribal group. We have listed the YDNA and mtDNA of the Jews and their probable ethnic origins in the papers The Genetic Origin of the Nations (No. 265) and in the Sons of Shem: Part I (No. 212A); Descendants of Abraham Part V: Judah (No. 212E); Descendants of Abraham Part VI: Israel (212F) and also in the other papers in the 212 series regarding the other descendants and tribes of Abraham and in the charts for each of the papers in 212G. The origin of the nations of Europe is also listed in the papers concerning the Sons of Japheth (Nos. 46A-46H) and also the Sons of Ham (Nos. 45A-45E).

The British Israelite theories of the Churches of God and the Europeans Protestants were completely wrong and the DNA structures prove them wrong. The papers explain how Israel is distributed and how it is recognised in the nations of the world.

The fact of the matter is that less than 28% of Judaism is actually Semitic and much of that is of the other sons of Abraham also. In the centuries from the persecution of Diocletian (emp. 284-305), which was from 303- 311 continuing after his abdication in 305 until the Edict of Toleration in 314; through to the Rise of Islam in 632 CE, the Jews were in power in Arabia and they had converted a number of people from the Arab tribes. They had converted Edom and the sons of Esau before the dispersion. They persecuted the church and tried to eliminate it but the church became very powerful in its emergence as Islam under the council of the twelve in Arabia which was the Muhammad (see the paper Introduction to the Commentary on the Koran (Q001)). The Jews there converted back as Arabs to Islam, although a significant number did not do so. They remain as part of Judah to this day. They could not control the Paulicians of the Pergamos era to the west also under the Byzantine period. Their power and influence became centred on commerce.

Over 25% of all Jews are Sons of Ham either of Canaanite or Egyptian YDNA, which came with the Mixed Multitude or the Canaanites that were taken into the body of Israel in the occupation.

Approximately 52% of all Ashkenazi Levites are actually R1a sons of Japheth, probably from the Khazar conversions of 740 CE. A significant number of R1b Hittites exist in the royal lineages of King David also, especially in the lines of Dayan and Salathiel (see the paper Hittites in the House of David (No. 067c)).

The fact that Judaism does not accept Baptism and does not keep the laws of God and follows an apostate Babylonian Calendar that was not in use ever under the Temple system and came into Judaism in 358 CE under Hillel II places them completely outside of God’s laws and the elect, no matter whether they are Jews or not. Anyone who follows the Hillel Calendar of Judaism is not keeping God’s laws and will be held to account for it and that includes most of the Armstrongite Churches of God and the Messianic Jews. Almost none of them keep God’s Calendar (see the papers God’s Calendar (No. 156); The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals? (No. 195) and Distortion of God’s Calendar in Judah (No. 195B).

When the witnesses get here and the nexus of the law is restored then Palestine/Israel will commence to be cleared of the apostates. Jews who are not baptised and who keep the Hillel system will be removed. So also will the Jews who do not repent, even the genetic YDNA sons of Judah will be removed, unless they repent.

However, the hardness that came over the hearts of Judah will be removed and they will come to repentance and so also will the Jews who say they are Jews but are not but only have some familial mtDNA connections. The doctrine that one inherits one’s Jewish identity from one’s mother will no longer be an accepted doctrine in Israel, as it is not in accordance with the Bible. They will become part of Israel only as members of the Church of God through their baptism and allocated to their inheritance either to the tribes in or out of Israel. As they marry into the tribes they will be assimilated also and even as native born Israelites. None of these Kabbalistic Jews will be allowed to remain in Israel. However, Israel will be returned and some also left outside of Israel in their inheritance there, as were Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. Those areas will also expand.

The structure concerning Judah and Jerusalem from the dispersion to the Last Days is developed above. In that text, especially in chapter 2, we see that the One True God Yahovah of Hosts sends the subordinate Yahovah of Israel to defend Jerusalem and restore it. It was sent into captivity because of its evil and its rejection of the laws of God and the Temple system which it still does to this very day. From Part I above we saw that Zechariah chapter 1 commences with a reprimand and an appeal to return to the Lord of Hosts in the first section (Zech. 1:1-6).

In the second vision (from Zech. 1:7ff.) God shows the horses that will deal with the world for the Lord when the earth is at rest because the earth misused Jerusalem and Judah when it was not required to do so. So after the seventy years God began to act but Judah and Jerusalem did not repent and they were restored only to accomplish the coming of the Messiah in accordance with prophecy.

God acted in order to have the temple built so that the system would be established for the Messiah. After that it was to be destroyed again in accordance with Daniel 9:25-28 (see the paper The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 013)). They were restored and then measured and then scattered again as we see in Chapter 2 when Yahovah of Hosts sends Yahovah of Israel to restore Jerusalem. Here we see the Messiah as Yahovah of Israel sent to defend Jerusalem.

In Zechariah 2:1-13 we saw the reference to the One True God who is Yahovah of Hosts sending the Messiah to restore Jerusalem and make it once again His Holy City and Judah as the Messiah’s portion in the Holy Land.

In the text of Zechariah we see the development of the Babylonian system within Israel and especially Judah.

The Commentary on Zechariah Part 1 above should be studied in detail to see the implications of what is to happen. In this section we will deal with what happens in the Last Days in dealing with Zion and with Judah and the people who have been absorbed into that system as a religion that is outside of the laws of God and is not in fact part of Israel and the elect of God. Chapter 3 and 4 deal with the High Priest and the two Golden Lampstands which point towards the Messiah and the Two Witnesses, who perform the duties of and as Elijah and the other witness. These beings are mentioned in Revelation Chapter 11 and the Measuring of the Temple that are the elect of God are also covered there (see the paper The Witnesses (including the Two Witnesses) (No. 135)). In this text the High Priest is restored and cleansed so that the Temple may once again perform. The Temple was destroyed in 70 CE in accordance with prophecy and so we are dealing with another Temple and a greater priesthood as we see from the Book of Hebrews.

Chapter 5 specifically deals with the corruption of Judah and Israel with the Babylonian system under the false religious structure. There they built a house for its system and set an ephah on its base. Chapter 6 refers to the servant of God who is the Branch that will restore the Temple and sit upon the Throne with a priest set with him and there shall be peace. This will be when the earth is set at peace. As we see above this was done first by Judah and the High Priest and also Zerubabbel as a type antitype of the Messiah and the Temple which is the body of Messiah in the Last Days. Joshua the High priest is the Yahoshua or Joshua who is the Messiah. Zechariah then goes on to develop the period of the Restoration of the Last days and also the restoration of the Calendar and the rule of the whole world by Messiah from Jerusalem.

Note now the text in Zechariah 6:9-15:

Zechariah 6:9:15 And the word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁰ "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobi'jah, and Jedai'ah, who have arrived from Babylon; and go the same day to the house of Josi'ah, the son of Zephani'ah. ¹¹ Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it upon the head of Joshua, the son of Jehoz'adak, the high priest; ¹² and say to him, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall grow up in his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. ¹³ It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD, and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And there shall be a priest by his throne, and peaceful understanding shall be between them both."' ¹⁴ And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Heldai, Tobi'jah, Jedai'ah, and Josi'ah the son of Zephani'ah. ¹⁵ "And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD; and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."

Note the Angel of the Lord who is the Yahovah Israel says in verse 15 (emphasis added) that those who are far off shall come to help build the Temple and we shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent him to us. This is a reference to the elect of God in the dispersion which is the entire house of God as the elect in the Body of Christ, which is the Temple of God.

The next section then goes on to deal with the scattering of the people because they would not heed the prophets the Lord of Hosts had sent to them and he scattered them with a whirlwind (Zech. 7:1-14). In chapter 8 the word of the Lord of Hosts was sent to Zechariah and again Yahovah of Hosts speaks but it is Yahovah of Israel that Yahovah of Hosts sends to return to Zion and to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will then be termed the City of Truth and the Mountain of the Lord or Yahovah of Hosts, the Holy mountain (as we see also in Isa. 2:2; Jer. 31:23; Ezek. 40:2; & Mic. 4:1).

This text is then speaking of the restoration of Israel and Judah from the dispersion and the end result of that restoration in and from Jerusalem is the conversion of the nations as we see from Zechariah 8:23. It is thus impossible that Judah will be left in Israel alone and it will be joined by the tribes or nations of Israel as it returns from the dispersion and the elect of the Messiah from which the Government of God is formed.

In this last restoration there will be destruction such as has not been seen in Syria and the Levant generally. Harach the district of Syria (the ‘arka from the Assyrian Inscriptions and from Gen. 10:17) and Hamath will be the place of rest of the burden of the word of the Lord there (Zech. 9:1-2). In other words they will become converted and part of the body of Israel which will be under the Messiah. So also will Tyre and Sidon and all of the Lebanon be devoured in the process and all of Palestine through Gaza will see and fear and be ashamed. Some of it will be reduced to desolation through their actions in provoking Yahovah of Israel, the Messiah, because they do not repent. Yes those that remain will repent and they will be part of the administration of Judah and Gaza (Ekron in Philistia) as Jebusites. These are they who remained in Jerusalem as Canaanites of the Jebusites after they became part of Judah as did all of Canaan. Thus these YDNA Jebusites will convert to the true faith under Messiah along with the YDNA males of the tribe of Judah and be part of the administration. Judah will be converted and so also will Ephraim (who will dwell from Lebanon to Jordan occupying the entire area of Gilead and Jordan will be part of Israel; see below). They, both Israel and Judah will deal with the false religious system of the Greco-Romans as we saw in Part 1. They will have no arms and they will speak peace to the nations and their dominion will be from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. They will be a crown to the Lord God (Zech. 9: 10-17).

Chapter 10 tells us that we are to ask rain in the time of the Latter Rain (cf. Deut. 11:14) which is the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Last Days. This outpouring was necessary because of the idolatry among the shepherds who are vain and speak lies in their prophecy and divination.

The flock went their way without a shepherd (Zech. 10:2). God punished the shepherds and also the goats (who were not of the elect of god) (v. 3). In this outpouring the Holy Spirit is poured out upon Judah by the One True God the Lord of Hosts and He will prepare them for battle in this last period. The so-called Orthodox Jews will be removed and their priests will be dismissed and the nation of Judah will be raised to deal with the world in its conversion. Joseph also will be restored and brought to the true faith and God will bring them again “to place them” (v. 6). Those of Ephraim will be like a mighty man and their hearts shall rejoice and their children will see it. God has redeemed them and they will be increased and spread throughout the nations and they will repent and turn again (vv. 7-9). Ephraim shall be brought out of Egypt and Assyria and they shall be brought into the land of Gilead and Lebanon and place shall not be found for them (v. 10). Thus Ephraim will inherit and be joined to Lebanon and Jordan and spread throughout the land. Israel will stretch from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates and to the Arabian Desert and the seas.

Whilst this is happening Egypt and Assyria will be subjugated and prepared for their role in the kingdom of God (v. 11) and they shall be strengthened in the Lord and they will walk up and down in His name (v. 12). All of this is now commencing and will be brought about in the near future.

Chapter 11 deals with the process of the breaking of the union of Israel and Judah and the destruction of the priesthood and their false teachings. This process is carried on over a long period of time and ends with the eras of the foolish shepherds. Woe to them that are idol shepherds and desert the flock. They pay with their right arms and their right eyes. (11:17).

Chapter 12 states the burden of the word of the Lord for Israel. He will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling for all who burden themselves with it and who are in siege against Judah and against Jerusalem. Those that attack it will be destroyed. The inhabitants of Jerusalem will be converted and restored in the power of the Lord their God. The governors of Judah will use the people of Jerusalem as their strength inspired by the Lord of Hosts (12:5-6). Judah will be saved first so that Jerusalem and the house of David do not glorify themselves against it (12:7). In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them (or at their head) (12:8). This text is speaking directly of the Resurrection. David is dead and yet he and the house of David shall be as elohim as is the Angel of the Lord at their head who is the Messiah, and a Spirit being or son of God. Thus it is written: “I said ye are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you” and Christ then declared himself the son of God (Jn. 10:34-36).

From this time there will be fountains opened for those there that need conversion and baptism for entry to the House of the Lord, and all of the world begins to be converted. Chapter 13 continues on with this concept (13:1). From that day there will be no more names of idols and demons remembered (v. 2a). Also prophets and the unclean spirit will be removed from Israel. The false system will be removed along with the false teachers (v. 2b). “Prophets” will cease by force of their own people and they will declare themselves husbandmen and say that they were taught to tend stock from their youth (v. 3-5).

In all this two parts shall be cut off and one third will remain and the remaining third will be refined in the fire and they shall be purified and serve God and he will acknowledge them (Zech. 13:8-9).

In order to accomplish that we see in Chapter 14 that the Lord God will raise up the nations against Jerusalem and the city will be taken, the houses rifled and the women ravished and half the city will go forth into captivity, and the residue shall not be cut off from the city. Thus God will clear out of Jerusalem all those who are not of the faith and unconverted. At this time Yahovah who is the Messiah our elohim will return with all the saints and stand on the Mount of Olives. The Mount will cleave in two and a great valley of some 66 km. will be formed to the North and to the South with Jerusalem in the midst of it as discussed in Part I (vv. 4-5).

This period is one of intense and probably thermo-nuclear war. Those that are left of the Jews who are converted will then fight at Jerusalem and the wealth of the nations will be gathered to them (14:14). From this time onwards all the nations that resisted and fought against Jerusalem will send their representatives to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Tabernacles. Those that do not send their representatives will get no rain in due season and suffer the plagues of Egypt (Zech. 14:16-19). The Temple at Zion will be Holy and every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holiness unto the Lord of Hosts. The system established there will be properly organised and the killing done under supervision of the priesthood once again. This is Scripture and Scripture cannot be broken (Jn. 10:35).

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Part II. Addendum to the Commentary on Zechariah: Regarding the nations of Judah and Israel and their relationship to the New Testament prophecies