Israel's Final Deliverance
Zechariah 12:1‑14
We come to the twelfth chapter and the subject is a subject that's not new to us in the book of Zechariah, it's a rather familiar theme and yet Zechariah comes at it in a very, very different way. It's the theme of Israel's final deliverance and salvation. All the way through the book of Zechariah this has been predicted. This has been prophesied. This has been anticipated and hoped for and now we find a description of its coming to pass.
Now this is not something that's really in the abstract for us who live today in this particular age because we can really see all around us the coming together of the fulfillment of prophecy as it relates to Israel. I imagine if we had been living a hundred years ago this would seem somewhat obscure. But in our life time since 1948, the eyes of the world have focused on that little plot of ground that is known as Israel. It has drawn the attention of the world because of its amazing existence and because of its amazing sanctification, as it were. And I mean that in the sense of being set apart. It seems to be undefeatable, or indomitable, it exists as an island in a sea all around it that is endeavoring to rage and swallow it up. And since it became a nation again in 1948, this little nation that you might call the mystery of history has caused the world to focus its attention right there.
There's a reason for this. There's a reason that Israel is the focus of history again and that is, I believe, God is not yet finished with His purposes for them. A major part of the end of the redemptive plan of history finds its way coursing through the land of Israel. We believe that the Bible teaches that there is coming a great day for the nation Israel, a day of deliverance and a day of salvation, a day of tremendous political victory and a day of even more tremendous spiritual victory. God has planned it. God has predicted it repeatedly in the Old and the New Testament and most particularly for our interest, God details it right here in the twelfth chapter of Zechariah. It's going to be a day when what has been a very tragic history will be reversed and be a history of great joy for Israel.
Now you'll remember chapter 11 for just a moment. We looked at chapter 11 in the last several weeks and we noted that that chapter deals with the coming of Jesus Christ. And He is pictured here as a shepherd. And you remember that we saw in the first part of the chapter through verse 14 the story of Jesus' first coming. He came as the true shepherd and He was rejected. And then we saw in verses 15 to 17 that after Israel rejected the true shepherd, they would accept the false shepherd. That in the end time would come the one called the foolish shepherd who was Antichrist and Israel would accept him.
So, basically what we want to remind ourselves of in chapter 11 is that Israel refused Christ at His first coming. They refused the true shepherd and will accept the false one. Now as you move into chapter 12 we find that at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the very opposite happens and Israel receives the true shepherd. In fact, in verse 10 it says that they shall look on Me whom they've pierced and mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son and be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first born.
The first time Jesus comes in chapter 11 He's rejected. The second time Jesus comes in chapter 12 He is accepted. And those are the distinguishing elements in these two chapters.
Now let me give you another note for understanding the sweep of the book. The first eight chapters of Zechariah basically deal with Zechariah's time. They have prophetic implication but basically they deal with Zechariah's time. And then all of a sudden from chapter 9 to 14 you have this sweeping prophetic picture of the end time. So 9 to 14 is really the vast picture of the end time, the closing of redemptive history.
Now from that section, 9 to 14, there are two parts. Chapters 9 to 11 deal with the first coming of Christ, chapters 12 to 14, the Second Coming. So that will just help you dividing the book. The first part of the book is basically historic. The second part is basically futuristic. And of the futuristic part there are two sections, one dealing with the first coming of Christ‑‑9 to 11‑‑the second dealing with the Second coming‑‑12 to 14. So, as we come to chapter 12 we are coming to the Second Coming of Christ, His return to earth to set up His Kingdom.
Now particularly, of course, Zechariah's point in chapters 12, 13 and 14 is to to show that when Christ returns, Israel will be converted and the Kingdom will be established...God's promised Kingdom. And that really is the subject of 12, 13 and 14. There's so much prophecy here and it is so loaded that there's no way we can really cover everything. In fact, you could spend the next five years preaching on 12 to 14 and do an entire theological study of all of the doctrines of last things and not really ever leave this section cause they're all touched on right here. Dr. Fineberg in his commentary on Zechariah says, quote: "As a portion of the prophetic scriptures, it is second to none in importance in this book or in any other Old Testament book. It is indispensable to an understanding of the events of the last days for Israel, the time of the great Tribulation and the establishment of God's Kingdom and His rule."
The actual events which are presented here include the world confederacy against Jerusalem, the victory of God's people empowered of the Lord, the conviction of Israel nationally by the Spirit of God, the presentation of Christ as their rejected Messiah, the national day of atonement, the cleansing of the hearts of the nation, the purging of the land of idolatry and false prophets, parenthetically the crucifixion of Messiah, the time of Jacob's trouble, the partial success of the nations invading Palestine, the appearance of the Messiah for His people, their rescue, His coming with His saints, the changed and renovated holy land, the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom, the punishment of the nations for their feudal assault on Israel, the celebration of the Kingdom feast, the feast of tabernacles, the complete restoration of the people of God to a holy nation, etc. Now that's a lot of prophetic theme for one little section 12 to 14. But it's all here touched on. A very very expressive and vital area of prophecy.
Now, sixteen times...I'm still giving you some notes so you'll understand the thrust of the chapter...sixteen times in these three chapters, 12, 13 and 14, is the phrase "in that day." Sixteen times it says "in that day." So we know one thing for sure, this whole section is about that day. There's no question about that. And what day? The day of the Lord. The whole picture focuses on the apocayptic day of the Lord when history resolves into the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.
All right, now you've got the picture. Chapters 1 to 8 of Zechariah, basically historic; chapters 9 to 14, futuristic prophecy; chapters 9 to 11 detail the first coming of Christ; chapters 12 to 14 the Second Coming, particularly as it relates to the salvation of Israel and the establishment of the Kingdom. Now, let's look at chapter 12 now that you've got all of that completely understood.
As we look at this there are four features of Israel's coming deliverance and conversion, four features, four major events: the siege of Israel, the shielding of Israel, the sorrow of Israel and the salvation of Israel. These are dealt with in the twelfth chapter. Beloved, this is exciting material. This is not only exciting to the Jew to hear, and there certainly ought to be some of us pronouncing this and proclaiming it to Jews around the world so that they will know what God has planned for them, but it is exciting to me to know that God is in control of history. Let's look first of all at the siege of Israel in the first three verses.
"The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the peoples 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 peoples, all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the nations of the earth be gathered together against it," and we'll stop there.
Now those three verses very obviously tell us about some kind of a siege against Israel. In fact, the word "siege" is used in the Authorized in verse 2. The word simply means attack. The first element that the Holy Spirit wants us to focus on is that there will be a great attack by the Gentile nations coming against Israel. It's obvious at the end of verse 3 that all the nations of the earth will be gathered against Israel in this siege. So there is coming a day when a tremendous world war is going to happen. Some have called it the battle of the ages, the battle of the centuries, the greatest war of history, the ultimate war. Now we know it as the Gentile invasion of Israel in the Tribulation commonly called the Battle of Armageddon. This is a worldwide battle where all of the nations of the world converge on the nation Israel in an effort to wipe it out and to wipe out the potential of the Messiah's return to establish the Kingdom. It focuses on Israel. You'll notice verse 1, "The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel...for Israel..." This is all about Israel. They are the subject.
Further on you note that it mentions all through this chapter in addition to just Israel, Jerusalem in verse 2, Judah, again Jerusalem, and further down in verse 5 the governors of Judah, verse 6 the governors of Judah, the tents of Judah verse 7, Jerusalem, the house of David, Jerusalem and so forth. It's very obvious this whole prophecy is directed at Israel.
Now you'll notice there there's the term "burden." The burden of the word of the Lord. This Hebrew term is used frequently in prophetic literature. In fact it's used in chapter 9 verse 1 for a particular burden of prophecy against the Gentiles. It is used to signify, now watch it, a prophecy of grief...a prophecy of grief, something that really burdens down the prophet, something that creates anxiety and grief. And before there can ever be conversion in Israel and before there can ever be repentance in Israel and before there will ever be salvation in Israel and before God will ever set up His Kingdom, there's going to be grief...there's grief.
Now I want you to notice another thing about this thing. It is directed to Israel. It is a word of grief, to begin with, about an attack and a siege against them, but I want you to notice that it is from God. It is God Himself who brings this to pass. The burden, for example, of the word of the Lord...this is the word of the Lord. Now, notice verse 2, "Behold, I will make..." God is in mind here, He is the I. Verse 3, "In that day I will make..." Verse 4, "In that day, I will smite and I will open Mine eyes." Verse 6, "In that day I will make..." Now repeatedly you get the idea that God is acting here. And, beloved, I want you just to remember that all of the history of the world is really the enacting of the sovereignty of God to one direct degree or another. God is involved in the flowing of history and if this attack is to come on Israel, then it is God who makes it happen. We saw the same thing similarly with the idea that there would come a false shepherd and we saw how that it literally is God who allows him to come, even the Antichrist.
Now God is making a promise here. God is directing a prophecy. It's a prophecy of siege but it's also a prophecy of salvation. And God is behind the whole thing. And the reason this is emphasized so greatly is so that the people who hear this prophecy will have the confidence to believe that it will come to pass. It doesn't depend on men. It depends upon an unchanging immutable God, a God who doesn't make plans and scuttle them, a God who isn't thwarted by some other power. When God says it and God plans to do it, it will be done. And this is why the emphasis here on God. And just in case somebody might wonder whether this God can handle it, you'll note in verse 1 that it says this, "The Lord says this..." and if you've forgotten who He is, "He's the Lord who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him."
Now the point here is beautifully made. What he's really saying is this, it is the God who made it all who will end it all. And with the same power that God could make it begin, God will draw it to an end. He is the alpha and the omega in terms of history. This is a solid basis for faith in the ultimate destiny of history because you go back to the one who made it to start with, who created.
So you can see the divine element. Let me summarize for a minute. The divine element here then in many ways...first of all, the word "burden" is a message of grief and it always indicates a divine message attached with judgment. So this very word "burden" indicates that it comes from God, thus it is called the burden of the word of the Lord. Secondly, you'll notice that it says "saith the Lord." And again it reemphasizes that it's from God, that God is the one who is sovereign in offering this. And thirdly, as I mentioned, it describes God as the omnipotent creator of the world. He is the beginning, He will be the end. He made it in the beginning, He will make it in the end to fit His plan. It's as if it all began from Him under His control and that's the way it will all end.
So, the prophecy is toward Israel and it is from God. And first of all, the prophet says it will begin with a siege, verse 2 and 3, "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the peoples 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 peoples, all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the nations of the earth be gathered together against it." Now, these two verses are what is simply called parallels. They both begin the same way, really, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling and verse 3 says I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone. Both 2 and 3 say unto all the peoples and for all the peoples." So here you have a description of a coming siege.
Now let's look at it for a minute. God says the siege is going to come and this is what's going to take place. First of all, I'll make Jerusalem a cup of trembling. The normal word in Hebrew is kos..k‑o‑s. The word here is saph, s‑a‑p‑h, want to get that right. But the word saph means a basin rather than a cup, kos or kos means a cup, saph means a basin. So what you really have here is a very large basin and it needs to be very large because it's a cup of trembling for all the peoples. And if you look at the end of verse 3, all the peoples on the earth are going to have to drink out of it. So the picture here that the prophet has in mind is this huge basin, everybody's going to drink of it.
Now you say, "Well, what is the point of this? What does he mean?" Well, there are certain cups from which if you drink you will find yourself staggering around. True? True. That's what it's saying. A cup of trembling. Not the idea that you're nervous, but the idea that you're sort of reeling around a little bit, you know, you can't walk the straight line, you fail the test. I will make...literally, if you want to know the interpretative way to render it...I will make Jerusalem a basin of intoxication to all people.
Now let me describe what he is saying. The nations are going to attack Jerusalem. Now we know this because it's detailed for us as I'll show you in a minute in many places in the Bible. There's going to be a great world war, the battle of the centuries. They're going to converge on Israel, they're going to attack Israel, they're going to attack Judah the surrounding countryside and they're going to have their sight set on Jerusalem, although they never really are able to pull off much of an attack on Jerusalem as this prophecy points out. But they really begin to go after the land of Israel. And he says they're going to be like men greedily draining a wine goblet. They're going to come in and they're just going to drink it up. But in the end, they're going to find themselves reeling and staggering around like helpless drunks, unable to claim the coveted prize and in fact they're going to be so disorganized and so drunk and so staggering around that they're going to be easy prey for divine judgment. That's the idea.
In Revelation 17:6 you remember that the final evil world system of Satan is said to be drunk with all the blood of the martyrs. Well, in a similar sense that's what's going to happen. The nations come in and they get drunk with the idea of conquest. And they think they're going to conquer Israel and they drink deeply of the goblet of victory, deeply of the goblet of war and they find that instead of them having the sanity to make the victory they have in mind, they wind up as stupefied reeling staggering drunks who are easy prey for the judgment of God.
Now he has a second metaphor that he uses to speak of them, he says, "I'll make them a burdensome stone," literally a stone of burden, a heavy stone hard to lift. Evidently, and it's interesting in the Hebrew, I did a little research on it and this very word referred to a stone that was used in weight lifting contests, a stone used in weight lifting contests. Apparently in those days they had weight lifting contests and they just got bigger and bigger and bigger stones till people got eliminated. And the guy who could lift the biggest stone ultimately was the winner.
Now the figure here is very simple. He's saying I'm going to make Jerusalem a burdensome stone, and literally what it's saying is anybody that tries to lift it is going to get a hernia. That's what it says. You say, "It does?" Trust me. See the phrase "cut in pieces?" "All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces." Literally it says "shall grievously injure themselves." And the simple meaning in the Hebrew is to rupture, to tear's oneself, an injury perhaps sustained from lifting something too heavy.
So what's going to happen? Here come these nations to siege against Israel and instead of being able to lift Israel, the picture of conquering Israel, they're simply going to tear themselves to pieces in the effort. The proud Gentile nations who think they're going to take Jerusalem, think they're going to destroy God's people, who think they're going to remove any possibility of the Messiah having anybody left to set up His Kingdom with, all these nations of the world, it says at the end of verse 3, they're all going to be gathered there, they're all going to be in the siege, verse 2, against Judah and Jerusalem and in that day, it says in that day, verse 3, in that day, that great eschatological day of the Lord they're going to find themselves reeling around in a drunken stupor and they're going to find themselves torn up inside because they've tried to do something that's impossible. Why? Because God is on the side of His people.
And what is absolutely incredible, people, and this is not...you know, this isn't pie in the sky or wishful thinking or something down the road that's some kind of a modified fairy tale...there is coming a day literally when the entire world attacks that little nation and that little nation wins. Now that's a staggering reality. But after all, if the same people could walk around the walls of Jericho blowing horns and have all the walls fall down, don't discount what could happen in the future. It's describing for us Armageddon.
Now it isn't the only book that describes it, go back to the third chapter of Joel. If you're wondering where it is, it's right after Hosea. If that doesn't help it's on page 930 in my Bible, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah and on. Now Joel is an interesting little book. But one of the parts that I want to point to you is the part that's about the battle of Armageddon, the battle of the ages, the war of the century that's going to happen. Verse 9 of chapter 3, Joel chapter 3 verse 9, two books right of Daniel, it says this, "Prepare this among the nations, prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears and let...that's a reverse of what happens in the Kingdom...and let the weak say I'm strong, assemble yourselves and come all you nations and gather yourselves together round about and there cause the mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations be weakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for there I will sit to judge the nations round about. Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come get down for the press is full. The vats overflow. Their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, the stars shall withdraw their shining, the Lord shall roar out of Zion utter His voice from Jerusalem, the heavens and the earth will shake, the Lord will be the hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall you know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain, then shall Jerusalem be holy." We'll stop there.
Coming a day of salvation. Jerusalem will be holy. Backing up, before that, there's going to be a time when Jesus Christ comes and judges the nations. Backing up from that, Joel says there's going to be a time when the nations come against Israel with a great war. It's really a war that's begun by Satan, generated by Satan, enticed by Satan, motivated by Satan, innovated by Satan, all in direct accord with the plan of God. All the nations of the world come there convening with all their armies, they're defeated by Jesus Christ, brought into the Valley of Jehoshaphat and there they are judged for their evil. And so, Joel speaks of the very same event.
Now as we look at prophecy we find interestingly enough there are four armies going to be at Armageddon. And I'll just remind you of them. The army from the west is signified in Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7. The army from the west is in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. And also in Revelation 17 it talks about this. And this is what we know as the European Confederacy, this is what Daniel would call the revived Roman Empire. Those nations that once made up a part of the Roman Empire regrouped, reunited ten nations making up one confederacy. Excuse me...by the way, we're not far from that right now in the European economic community. Those nations constitute the army of the west led by the Antichrist, the emperor of that particular dominion. They mark against Israel.
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