Christ’s Return To The Mount Of Olives Series

Intro

We are in the last chapter of Zechariah. Our text today will be Zechariah 14:1-5. This chapter provides details concerning the end-times that we have not yet seen. We have been given pieces of the end-time puzzle throughout this book. But Zechariah 14 brings us to the climatic return of Christ to the Mount of Olives. His departure from that place at the end of the First Advent went largely unnoticed by the world. His return to the Mount of Olives will shake the whole world. Every eye will see him, and every knee will confess that he is Lord.i This is an exciting piece of literature in God’s word.

Our text naturally divides into two sections:

I. Antichrist’s Plundering of Jerusalem (vs 1-2)

II. Christ’s Rescue of the Remnant (vs 3-5)

I. ANTICHRIST’S PLUNDERING OF JERUSALEM (vs 1-2)

Verse 1 launches us into the narrative: “A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem. . . .”ii In that statement, we are given two keys for understanding this chapter.

(1) The events are eschatological. They had not yet occurred in Zechariah’s day. Efforts to understand them in the context of the Babylonian captivity are unfruitful. Much more than half the city went into captivity during that siege. We also know this day was not fulfilled during the first century AD when Jerusalem was destroyed. Again, half the population was not left. But beyond that, Christ did not return in those days to rescue Israel. The Mount of Olives was not split in two forming a valley. The cosmic events described in this chapter did not happen. The text cannot be explained using any historical occurrence.

This is reinforced by the phrase “on that day” throughout the chapter. Seven times in this chapter we encounter that phrase.iii And the chapter begins with the announcement, “A day of the Lord is coming.” In the face of all that information, it is hard to understand why commentators like Leupold could say these verses do not “apply to any one situation.” Allergizing the passage and applying it to the church, Leupold says, the events “do not describe a siege, capture, and captivity which actually occurred.”iv But those events are predicted in detail. Baron points out the inconsistency of Replacement theologians. They are forced to acknowledge the literal fulfillment of detailed prophecies concerning Christ’s First Advent and the scattering of the nation that followed the rejection of Messiah. But when they come to predictions like these of the Second Advent, they interpret the prophecies figuratively and deny a literal fulfillment. Their commentaries deal in vague generalities because the model breaks down when applied to specific predictions like those provided in Zechariah 14. When we use the literal method of interpretation, rather than the allegorical method, the chapter makes sense.v The events presented in this chapter will literally occur at God’s appointed time.

(2) The events in this chapter revolve around Jerusalem, the city itself. The chapter begins, ““A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem. . . .” Other prophecies concerning the Second Advent often speak in broader terms. For example, John writes in Revelation 1:7, “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and ‘every eye will see him, even those who pierced him’; and all peoples on earth ‘will mourn because of him.’ So shall it be! Amen.’” There John directs us to a worldwide mourning that occurs at the Second Coming. But in our text today, Zechariah gives details about events in the city of Jerusalem that will be happening in conjunction with the Second Coming.

Recognizing this focus in Zechariah 14 helps us understand the difference between what we have already seen in chapters 12 and 13 and what is revealed in our text. When we carefully compare Zechariah 13:8-9 with the prediction in 14:2, we find the terminology in Zechariah 13:8 concerns “the whole land” which indicates the whole nation. The terminology in Zechariah 14 centers on Jerusalem, the city.vi The temporal context of chapter 14:2 is when all the nations are gathered against Jerusalem: The Battle of Armageddon. The temporal context in Zechariah 13:8-9 is not specifically stated but clearly follows the First Advent event in verse 7. Revelation from other passages tends to place Zechariah 13:8-9 in the Tribulation period, especially the last three and a half years. Therefore, during the last days refining process, two-thirds of the Israelites will be killed, and the other third will be taken through a refining process that prepares the nation to receive Christ as Messiah (Zech. 13:8-9). In the siege of the city, half of those in Jerusalem will be taken into captivity and the other half will be rescued by the Lord (Zechariah 14:1-5).

Prophecy is not always given in a simple chronological order. Zechariah 12, 13, and 14 portray events leading to Israel’s conversion at the Second Coming, but from different perspectives with different details provided.