Zechariah 13:8 to 14:5
OUR Lord had verse 7 in His holy mind on the night of His betrayal (Matthew 26:31), when by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, as Peter said in Acts 2:23, He was about to be delivered into the hands of His murderers. The true sheep were scattered, but preserved as “little ones” under God’s protecting hand. Between verses 7 and 8 occurs the present long period of the day of grace, with Israel nationally set aside, while the heavenly bride of Christ, composed principally of Gentiles, is being called out of the earth.
Verses 8 and 9 point onward to the fearful times which are coming for the Jews, concerning which the Lord spoke in Matthew 24. God has not forgotten their ancient idolatry and other sins, nor their flagrant act of crucifying His Son, the guilt of which they owned, though they did not know what they did (Matthew 27:25; Luke 23:34). There. is forgiveness for them, when they repent, but only a remnant (Isaiah 10:20-22) will do so.
The first five verses of chapter 14 describe the events of the first attack by the king of the north upon Jerusalem, which, as earlier remarked, will shortly precede the Lord’s return to this world. Verse 1 is rightly read, “Behold, the day cometh for Jehovah, and thy spoil. etc.” It speaks of a heavy stroke of judgment to fall upon the unrepentant Jews; the believers acting upon the Lord’s directions given in Matthew 24:15-25, will have long before this left Jerusalem in the hands of the false king and his supporters. The “overflowing scourge” (Isaiah 28:18) will then pass through Judah, overflowing “to the neck” (Isaiah 8:8), but the elect of God, the believing remnant, will be spared by divine intervention.
Though Jerusalem has been besieged several times since Zechariah wrote, the circumstances named in verse 2 have not yet occurred; nor could they, because verse 3 is closely connected with that terrible day. The vast army of the eastern powers led by the king of the north will have gone through Judah’s land, halting at Jerusalem until it is captured, and then continuing victoriously southward to Egypt and other northern African countries, but returning, will be met by the Lord Jesus (verse 3). His feet will stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which adjoins Jerusalem on the east, a hill significant in the Scriptures (Ezekiel 11:23, Matthew 24:3, John 8:1, etc.) and apparently from a low part of it the Lord ascended to heaven Luke 24: 50, 51, Acts 1:12). Terror will seize all hearts when the Mount of Olives cleaves in the midst—token of the presence of Jesus—Jehovah. We are not told here of the end of the king of the north. Isaiah and Daniel tell that.
ML 10/31/1937