END-TIMES
PROPHECIES IN ZECHARIAH
PART 1
by Steve
Ashburn
Zechariah was the
most prolific of the three postexilic prophets, and
wrote during the reign of King Darius of Persia in the
sixth century BC. This beautiful and poetic book
provides an overview of events from the time of Christ
until the millennium, and confirms and reinforces both
biblical prophecy and secular history. In particular,
Zechariah 10–14 provides an amazing prophetic history of
Israel from the time of Christ until the kingdom age;
Zechariah 12 describes the end-times period, and in
particular the conflict between Israel and the nations
surrounding her:
Behold, I will
make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people
round about, when they shall be in the siege both
against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day
will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:
all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered
together against it. (Zechariah 12:2–3)
The timeline for
verse 2 is when “all the people round about” shall
besiege Israel; in context, this refers to the battle at
the beginning of the end times when the Arab nations
surrounding Israel attempt to invade her, and are met
with nuclear retaliation. Ezekiel 28:26 and Zechariah
12:6 also speak of this time, when God will execute
judgments upon all those that despised them “round
about.” The timeline in verse 3 is “in that day” when
“all the people of the earth” will be gathered against
Israel and will be “cut in pieces”; in context, this
refers to the battle of Armageddon when in fact they
will be cut into pieces and served to the birds of the
air.
The judgment
against the nations is different in each case: a “cup of
trembling” in verse 2 refers to regional nuclear war,
whereas a “burdensome stone” in verse 3 refers to the
direct judgment by the Lord himself at Armageddon.
Therefore, the timeline for our text passage is the
forty-year end-times period.
During this time,
Israel will become so powerful that she will destroy all
the nations which are gathered against her: “In that day
will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of
fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a
sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about,
on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall
be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem”
(Zechariah 12:6). We saw in previous articles on
“Nuclear
War in the Middle East" how this verse applied
to the military strength of the Israeli Defense Forces
at the beginning of the end times. Note carefully that
the phrase “all the people round about” refers back to
verse 2.
Zechariah 12:4 and
14:13 both describe a strange kind of mental illness
that results in enemy troops attacking each other. This
most likely refers to God’s judgment against Russia, as
recorded in Ezekiel 38:21: “And I will call for a sword
against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord
God: every
man's sword shall be against his brother.” Since the
phrase “in that day” in Zechariah 12–14 frequently
refers both to the end-times period and the millennium,
it must include both these periods and therefore have a
length of 1,040 years.
In that day, saith
the Lord, I
will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider
with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house
of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with
blindness. (Zechariah 12:4)
And it shall come
to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the
Lord shall
be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the
hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up
against the hand of his neighbour. (Zechariah 14:13)
The Bible
describes three major battles against Israel in the end
times: the invasion by surrounding Arab nations at the
beginning of this period which Zechariah 12:6 and 14:14
record; the Ezekiel 38 Russian invasion, which Zechariah
12:4 and 14:13 also seem to refer to; and the battle of
Armageddon, which Zechariah 12:3 and 14:12 recount. At
the end of the first war, Israel will be in possession
of the nations which formerly surrounded her and all
their wealth: “gold, and silver, and apparel, in great
abundance.” At the end of the second, Israel will burn
Russian weapons and armaments for energy for seven years
(Ezekiel 39:9). Finally, after the battle of Armageddon,
Israel will say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39).
And Judah also
shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the
heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold,
and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. (Zechariah
14:14)
Zechariah 14:12
apparently describes how the Lord will defeat the armies
of the beast at Armageddon: Their flesh and soft tissues
will be “consumed” down to their skeleton while they yet
stand on their feet; Zechariah 12:3 indicates that their
bodies will be cut in pieces or minced, and apparently
“with whirlwinds” (Zechariah 9:14). This judgment
applies to both men and beasts of burden (Zechariah
14:15; Revelation 19:18), and afterward all the fowls of
heaven will be filled with their flesh at “the supper of
the great God” (Revelation 19:17, 21). Note carefully
that it’s the Lord himself who executes this judgment
upon “all the people that have fought against Jerusalem”
which in the context of Zechariah 14:1–5 refers to the
battle of Armageddon.
And this shall be
the plague wherewith the
Lord will
smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem;
Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon
their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their
holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their
mouth. (Zechariah 14:12)
When the Lord
appears at Armageddon, his Word will appear physically
as “a great whirlwind” (Jeremiah 25:32) “of devouring
fire” (Isaiah 29:6; 30:30). The parallel passage in
Jeremiah 25 also indicates that this judgment will occur
all over the earth simultaneously: “…a great whirlwind
shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the
slain of the Lord
shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto
the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented,
neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon
the ground (Jeremiah 25:32, 33).
Thus, there will
be a great slaughter of the Antichrist’s forces
worldwide—and also all who have the mark of the
beast—and the birds of the air will feast on their flesh
at “the supper of the great God” (Revelation 19:17).
They all apparently will be cut into bite-sized pieces
(for fowls) and cooked to perfection—I suppose for
birds, that means “rare!"
At the beginning
of the end times, Israel defeats invading forces
probably using their own military power (“and they shall
devour all the people round about”), but after the
rapture, God begins to intervene directly in human
affairs. The subsequent defeat of Russia as described in
Ezekiel 38–39 is entirely miraculous. Israel doesn’t
lift a finger to win this battle—it’s all done by the
Lord, to the intent that “the house of Israel shall know
that I am the Lord
their God from that day and forward” (Ezekiel 39:22).
Finally, at the battle of Armageddon, the enemy troops
“shall be cut in pieces” by the Lord himself; Revelation
14:20 says that in places the blood will be so deep that
it will reach “even unto the horse bridles.”
Zechariah 10
contains a description of Israel being regathered as a
nation after worldwide dispersion and their growth into
a powerful nation. Zechariah says that God will first
disperse Israel (which happened starting with the Roman
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD) and then gather them
back, “And I will sow them among the people: and they
shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live
with their children, and turn again” (Zechariah 10:9).
Israel then becomes “as mighty men, which tread down
their enemies” and shall fight and confound their
enemies in battle (Zechariah 10:5).
Zechariah then
describes Israel passing through a sea of trouble which
God subdues: “And he shall pass through the sea with
affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea”; and
then describes the Nile River drying up and the fall of
Iraq (“Assyria”) and Egypt as nations: “and all the
deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of
Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt
shall depart away” (Zechariah 10:11). This seems to
refer to the war at the beginning of the end times when
the Aswan Dam and Egypt are destroyed with nuclear
weapons, and Iraq is invaded by a coalition of nations
from the north.
Zechariah 11
describes the destruction of Israel following their
rejection of Jesus as their Messiah, and their
subsequent two-thousand-year dispersion. The princes,
priests, and people are symbolized by trees of Lebanon
in verses 1–2 and the city of Jerusalem as a fortified
forest (“the forest of the vintage”). Their leaders are
seen as “howling” and their princes (“young lions”) as
“roaring” because Jerusalem is destroyed.
Open thy doors, O
Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir
tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are
spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of
the vintage is come down. There is a voice of the
howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a
voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of
Jordan is spoiled. (Zechariah 11:1–3)
This prophecy
looks forward to the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans in 70 AD, and the subsequent dispersion of the
Jews from Israel in 135 AD following the Roman decree
that Jews could no longer remain in the land.
Verses 12–13 of
this chapter contain an amazing prophecy of the thirty
pieces of silver paid to betray Jesus and the use of
this money to buy a potter’s field. After this God broke
the covenant of protection (the staff called “Beauty,”
meaning “grace”) that he had made with the nations not
to harm Israel while they served him; then he broke the
unity of Israel (“mine other staff, even Bands”) and
dispersed them through the nations.
And I took my
staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might
break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the
flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of
the Lord.
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my
price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price
thirty pieces of silver. And the
Lord said
unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I
was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of
silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the
Lord. Then
I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might
break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
(Zechariah 11:10–14)
After this, Israel
is called “the flock of the slaughter,” because they had
indeed been slaughtered—in the overthrow of Jerusalem in
70 AD under General Titus which razed the city and the
temple to the ground; the Roman conquest of Israel in
135 AD under Emperor Hadrian which killed more than
500,000 Jews, after which they dispersed worldwide and
were taken as slaves by the Babylonians, Greeks, and
Romans; their general persecution during the Middle Ages
and torture by the Catholics during the Inquisition; and
finally, when more than six million died in the
Holocaust under Hitler. Even during this dispersion, God
had not forgotten his people, and continued to preserve
them.
And I will feed
the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock.
And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty,
and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. Three
shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul
lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. (Zechariah
11:7–8)
We see in verse 7
that God still has his two staffs, Beauty (“grace”) and
Bands (“unity”) by which he preserved his people (“fed
the flock”) during their dispersion. God also “cut off”
(killed) three leaders (“three shepherds”) during this
time, in a single month. The most notorious leader to
have persecuted the Jews during their dispersion is
without a doubt Adolf Hitler, who died on April 30,
1945. Two other world leaders also died this same month:
Mussolini (April 28, 1945) and Franklin D. Roosevelt
(April 12, 1945). Taken in the proper context of the
Diaspora, it seems reasonable to conclude that Zechariah
is referring to these three men.
After the
Holocaust the Jews said “never again,” and Israel became
a nation in 1948. Many prophets in the Old Testament
predicted this return of the Jews after their worldwide
dispersion, even before Israel was taken captive the
first time by the Babylonians (e.g., Isaiah 1). Hosea 6
predicts that the time between the dispersion and the
1,000-year millennial reign of Christ will be about two
thousand years, given the equation that “one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8).
Come, and let us
return unto the
Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he
hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days
will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up,
and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:1–2)
Assuming the
dispersion began with the destruction of the temple by
the Romans in 70 AD, that would put the return of Christ
about 2070 (“after two days”). Subtracting forty years,
this means the end-times period should begin about 2030.
This would give drought and famine conditions in the
Mideast time to develop (“For the waters of Nimrim [Wadi
Numeira in Jordan] shall be desolate: for the hay is
withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green
thing”; Isaiah 15:6) and the flow of the Nile to be
reduced to a trickle, following completion of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2017: “And the
waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be
wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far
away [GERD]; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied
and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither” (Isaiah
19:5-6).
In addition, a
prolonged economic depression starting in the late 2010s
would greatly exacerbate social unrest to the point of
war. Of course, the end times could begin before 2030,
especially if a year is taken to be a prophetic year of
360 days.
Zechariah 13 says
that two-thirds of Israel will die during the
tribulation, but that God will bring the remaining
one-third “through the fire, and will refine them as
silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried.”
When Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation, Israel
will finally recognize that he is their Messiah and
“shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son”
(Zechariah 12:10). Zechariah indicates that there will a
period of mourning, with “every family apart; the family
of the house of David apart, and their wives apart”
(Zechariah 12:12). Jesus previously told them while he
was on earth, “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye
shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord” (Matthew 23:39).
We’ll cover more
about Zechariah in Part 2 of this series, including the
remarkable geography of the restored earth; the huge
dimensions of Jerusalem; and free air transportation in
the millennium (without a ticket!). So don’t miss Part
2!
I provide more
details of this and many other end-times prophecies in
my recently published book, END TIMES DAWNING: Get
Ready! (available from
www.endtimesrecord.com). Please read it! Also if you
would, please like my Facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/endtimesrecord.
Yours in Christ,
Steve Ashburn
