ZECHARIAH 14
Many folks believe that this chapter adds to the knowledge about the second coming of the Lord, but I disagree. I believe this chapter and Ez. 38 each give us a look at the time at the end of the millennium. I think the confusion begins w/ vs. 1 where it says”Behold, the day of the Lord cometh”. A lot of folks think that everything in the scriptures that speak of the “day of the Lord” all occur in “one day”, however, I believe scripture shows that it lasts for over a 1000 yrs. and the whole of the millennium is part of the DoL as well. There are at least two times in the OT where the phrase DOL is referring to something that has already occurred and that is when Babylon conquered Egypt, Jer. 46:2, 10 and Ez. 30:3-6 around 500bc. If the future Dol is 1000 yrs.+ then it’s likely that different aspects of it throughout its duration can all seem to be described as “when the day of the Lord cometh”.
Several things occur during the DOL that could each be described as a coming. The signs before it begins, the days of the trumpet judgments, the rapture, the days of the vial judgments, Armageddon, the day of the eternal “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem when born again Israel escorts Jesus as King of Kings, Lord of Lord and as Messiah into Jerusalem when they fulfill Dan. 9:24 by bringing in “everlasting righteousness,” the millennial reign and the final battle for Jerusalem when satan is loosed after the 1000 yrs.
I think this is the case w/ Zech. 14. The main spiritual purpose of the 70th week is for Israel to repent of their national sins (Dan. 9:24) and accept Christ as Messiah on a national level. The physical aspect of it involves the judgment upon all the unrepentant in the world.
Zech. 12 & 13 portray the physical salvation of Judah (Armageddon), the spiritual salvation of Judah and other events including the refining of the 1/3 of Israel that will enter the millennium retaining their humanity. I believe Zech. 14 (along w/ Ez. 38) starts w/ satan’s return after the thousand years to destroy Jerusalem after the as described in Rev. 20:8-9.
Then we come to Zech. 14:3 - “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” If you were to ask anyone today what historic battle that is referring to, no one has a clue. While the Lord was with Israel in all their victories in the Promised Land, there isn’t one recorded where the Lord “fought” the battle for them. But that is exactly how Armageddon will be described and it will be so memorable that the folks at the end of the millennium will still remember it well. This is written as if it was an event that happened many years ago which will be the reality of Armageddon.
So let’s take that as our starting point and then put vss. 4-5 in their proper perspective and put them in at the end of the millennium. There is nothing in these verses that hint of a descent and a landing, that is all presumed by the reader. If Jesus was already here and had been for a thousand yrs., it will be a short walk to the Mount of Olives and Jesus will know that the Father is about to destroy those armies once and for all.
There is no prophecy that has Jesus setting foot on Earth prior to Armageddon so the belief that this is how Jesus saves His people from Armageddon defies logic especially as that is already prophesied in Rev. 12:14 and it’s not described as ‘running” into a valley, no they are running towards planes and we were recently shown how that would be accomplished when we departed Afghanistan in a hurry, but don’t worry I’m sure God will do a better job than Biden did!
Now most of us believe that after the millennium will be when the New Heaven and the New Earth are brought about and the NJ descends to hover above the earth. Interestingly enough, vss. 6-8 describes that time and it echoes the prophecy of Rev. 22:2-5 but then it goes back in vss. 9-11 and gives us a little more detail about the millennial era. Verse 11 is a reminder of the millennial prophecy, imo, of Ez. 38:11. Verse 12 seems to go back to how satan and his armies will be destroyed in Rev. 20:9. Verses 13-21 brings us back towards life in the millennium.
Now I agree this seems to be a lot of going back and forth in time but when you consider the reality of “telescoping” prophecy where the prophets see the mountaintop of events but not the valleys of time between them and many times they are not given in the order they occur. The book of Daniel has a little history, present time, near future and far future in it. The timings of the prophesies in Isaiah are all over the place going back and forth pretty consistently and Ezekiel does so as well, so Zechariah is not alone in this.
I think if people understand this and remove it from their premill series of events they will get a clearer picture about the timing of the rapture and the events of the 70th week.