Episode 179
WHAT Happens on THAT DAY According to Zechariah 14? Part 1
The primary theme of this discourse revolves around the prophetic nuances encapsulated within Zechariah 14, specifically addressing the dichotomy between judgment and redemption. We delve into the apocalyptic imagery employed within the text, discerning its implications for both historical and eschatological contexts. Throughout our exploration, we scrutinize the complexities of interpreting the "day of the Lord," a concept laden with both immediate and future significance as it pertains to the people of Jerusalem and the broader Christian narrative. The dialogue further elucidates the transformative power of divine intervention, as exemplified by the anticipated reversal of fortunes for God's people amidst adversity. As we traverse these intricate theological landscapes, we invite our listeners to reflect upon the profound implications of these prophetic declarations for contemporary faith and practice.
Takeaways:
- The podcast delves into the intricate themes presented in the book of Zechariah, focusing on prophetic imagery and its implications for understanding the Christian faith.
- A significant discussion revolves around the concept of the 'Day of the Lord,' emphasizing its multifaceted nature and historical interpretations throughout scripture.
- Listeners are encouraged to consider the apocalyptic literature's role in providing hope and assurance that God remains sovereign amidst turmoil and crisis.
- The dialogue explores the implications of living water flowing from Jerusalem, symbolizing divine restoration and abundance in the Messianic age, and invites listeners to reflect on its relevance today.
Chapters:
- 00:11 - Introduction to Bible Bistro
- 01:51 - Introduction to Zechariah 14
- 06:01 - Understanding the Day of the Lord
- 11:15 - The Day of the Lord: Judgment and Reversal
- 20:56 - Divine Intervention in Battle
- 29:26 - The Mount of Olives and Its Significance
- 31:30 - The Olivet Discourse and the Siege of Jerusalem
- 44:06 - The Concept of Living Water in Prophecy
- 44:28 - The Concept of Living Water in Biblical Texts
- 54:08 - The Significance of the Feast of Tabernacles
- 54:40 - Exploring the Feast of Tabernacles
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Ryan and Brian's Bible Bistro.
Speaker A:I'm Ryan.
Speaker B:And I'm Brian, and this is the Bible Bistro.
Speaker B:Oh, was that my part?
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker A:Just go.
Speaker A:You started Go.
Speaker B:A podcast all about the Bible, theology and things related to the Christian faith.
Speaker B:Bringing it back old school to your Season five, episode two.
Speaker B:Hey, did we change the theme song, by the way?
Speaker A:Not yet, but maybe soon.
Speaker A:Oof.
Speaker A:When will then be now?
Speaker B:Soon in podcast time.
Speaker B:It's always confusing as well, so.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker B:Well, you're always coming to you from the future.
Speaker B:This is some new technology that we have, so.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Well, Brian, we're back.
Speaker A:We're wrapping up.
Speaker A:We're finishing up the long drawn out.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker A:I mean, it's not yours.
Speaker B:Perfect length.
Speaker A:A perfect length.
Speaker A:Long, drawn out.
Speaker A:Look at the book of Zechariah here in the prophecy.
Speaker B:What, this weekend?
Speaker B:Next we're going to finish it up.
Speaker A:Well, I'm just saying we're getting there.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:The final stretch, the last hundred meters.
Speaker A:You know, this is wherever the sprint happens.
Speaker B:By the time I will say, gentle listener, by the time you're listening to this, we will have already finished.
Speaker B:So why did you think about PR.
Speaker A:On me right there?
Speaker A:Gentle listener.
Speaker B:I was actually channeling Stephen King's Gentle Reader, but that's okay.
Speaker B:Most of my references nobody gets.
Speaker A:Obviously, I didn't get that they make.
Speaker B:Me happy, so I just do them.
Speaker A:So anyway, they make you happy?
Speaker B:Yeah, happy in my life.
Speaker A:All right, well, we're in Zechariah 14.
Speaker B:14.
Speaker A:We talked about some idols and some shepherds last week in 13, and now we're getting to.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:No, it's just a little bit longer, a little bit more going on here.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, because it's a difficult one to know exactly how to interpret.
Speaker B:What shall I say about it?
Speaker A:What shall you.
Speaker B:What shall I say?
Speaker B:So the question is, is this a prophetic word about a specific historical event that is yet to come?
Speaker B:Is that what's going on here?
Speaker B:Or are we talking about kind of more of an apocalyptic, like we've seen in the book of Revelation, using some of the imagery from.
Speaker B:We certainly see some language that reminds us of things in Israel's past.
Speaker B:And I'm talking again in the timeline, if you're keeping up.
Speaker B:In Zachariah's past, he's using some of these images in order to talk about the situation of God's people.
Speaker B:The main thing I think we have going on here is a reversal.
Speaker B:I do think I'm a little bit different than some.
Speaker B:I do think that there is a possible historical reference to at least part of this that I want to at least entertain.
Speaker B:But overall, we may have just here a part of Zechariah that is an apocalyptic attempt.
Speaker B:And remember, apocalyptic arises in times of turmoil and times of crisis and has given us kind of the universal vision to say, you know what, things might look bad, but don't forget God is on his throne and he's in control.
Speaker B:And that may be what we have going on here in Zechariah.
Speaker B:So that's the difficult thing that we have to work through.
Speaker B:Is this a specific future historical prophecy from the time of Zechariah, or is this a more general giving us the situation of God's people when God is on their side?
Speaker B:That kind of an idea.
Speaker B:And there's been a split.
Speaker B:There are some Christians throughout history, some interpreters up through the Reformation and even to today who've tried to give us very specific historical.
Speaker B:I think if you're trying to get all of 14 to fit one historical situation, you're going to have a hard time doing it.
Speaker B:But I think like Revelation is saying when these kinds of times arise, then this is the, this is the way the situation is.
Speaker B:So, got you.
Speaker A:So you maybe see this as maybe like, I don't want to say predictive prophecy or some way, but there's a future in your perspective, future oriented apocalyptic, I would say.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's not, it's not predictive prophecy per se, but it's okay.
Speaker B:We mentioned this a little bit last week.
Speaker B:You might remember chapter 13, we had that repeated on that day.
Speaker B:On that day.
Speaker B:And we were kind of talking about the Messianic age.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Even that when I say the age of the Messiah, right, it's talking about Jesus, his birth and his ministry, his death and his resurrection.
Speaker B:But then also it's referring to this period of time until his return.
Speaker B:So the Messianic age is kind of what I think we have going on here.
Speaker B:So I mentioned last week that this chapter 14:1 begins with this phrase, day of the Lord.
Speaker B:So just read verse one to us too to begin with, if you would.
Speaker A:A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
Speaker B:So notice is coming here.
Speaker B:So this Zechariah is putting this in his future anyway.
Speaker B:And we have this day of the Lord language.
Speaker B:And I'll just point out the day of the Lord language is very frequent.
Speaker B:We see it not only here in Zechariah, but We see it in, for example, the book of Amos.
Speaker B:We see it in the book of Isaiah, in Obadiah, in Zephaniah.
Speaker B:So over and over and over again, we have this repeated phrase, the day of the Lord.
Speaker B:Famously, Joel, chapter two has it, I think, three times.
Speaker B:The day of the Lord is mentioned there.
Speaker B:Joel 2 is quoted in the Book of Acts on the day of Pentecost.
Speaker B:You might remember in Peter's sermon where he says, what you're seeing now is a reference to this idea of the day of the Lord, to the Joel 2 prophecy.
Speaker B:And he even mentions there, you might remember, the sun will be darkened, the moon will turn to blood, all those on that great and glorious day of the Lord.
Speaker A:Okay, right.
Speaker B:So I guess I generally want to talk about what we mean when we talk about the day of the Lord, because there are some people who want to kind of flatten this and say we're talking about one specific day.
Speaker B:And typically, if that's the case, we're thinking about the second coming.
Speaker B:Usually we have to think if all these things are going to fit within this context.
Speaker B:We're thinking about when Christ returns.
Speaker B:The day of the Lord we'll refer to in that way.
Speaker B:But it doesn't seem to be in the Bible the way that the day of the Lord works.
Speaker A:In fact, it doesn't look like a singular event.
Speaker B:Here you have on the day of Pentecost, essentially Peter saying, this is the day of the Lord.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So here's how I would kind of define the day of the Lord, and I'll let you kick this around with me a little bit.
Speaker B:I think the day of the Lord is talking about a step in God's plan of redemption or salvation.
Speaker B:Often that includes the idea of judgment with it.
Speaker B:Again, at an apocalyptic context, it's often judgment upon the enemies of God's people.
Speaker B:But a day of the Lord is coming.
Speaker B:In other words, God is going to be working.
Speaker B:God is going to be.
Speaker B:And I mean, I know God's always working, but taking another step in this process of the salvation of his people.
Speaker B:So Pentecost would be an example of that.
Speaker B:We might say something like the day of Jesus, death, burial and resurrection.
Speaker B:And we think about that as those days could be a day of the Lord.
Speaker B:And certainly it does include the second coming of Jesus and this idea of a final judgment or a final day of the Lord.
Speaker B:So thoughts on that?
Speaker B:Anything you want to.
Speaker A:Well, you know.
Speaker A:Okay, so let me ask you this.
Speaker A:So as we look at.
Speaker A:I'm looking at Peter's here and Peter 2, he says in the last days.
Speaker A:So there's a little bit of different.
Speaker A:Like in that day, in the last days.
Speaker A:So do we see any difference here when there's a reference in these last days?
Speaker A:Because that's how Hebrews talks about that.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:You know, references in the last days.
Speaker A:Do we see that as an epoch of time and the last day is the day.
Speaker B:I see them both as an epoch of time.
Speaker B:So I mean, I think John in first.
Speaker B:John.
Speaker B:John's.
Speaker B:It is the last hour.
Speaker B:Little children.
Speaker B:It is the last hour.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I think we're talking about an epoch.
Speaker B:I think we're talking about this final act in God's redemptive plan is the way.
Speaker B:I would understand that.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And I think that's an excellent question.
Speaker B:But he does go on.
Speaker B:If you continue to read there in Acts 2, he does talk about that great and glorious day of the Lord.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You want to.
Speaker A:I'm trying to get there, Mark.
Speaker B:Okay, it's down a little bit lower.
Speaker B:Should have prepared you.
Speaker A:Yeah, you should have.
Speaker B:That always happens.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let me do a little quick search here.
Speaker A:Because I'm not my Logos.
Speaker A:No, I'm not finding.
Speaker B:I may have.
Speaker B:I may have misremembered then that does happen occasionally.
Speaker B:But is it not there?
Speaker A:I'm just looking at a glorious day.
Speaker A:Anyway, so sorry.
Speaker A:I've really.
Speaker B:That's fine.
Speaker A:Upset the.
Speaker B:So I.
Speaker B:You know, again, it has to do with judgment.
Speaker A:Now here's what's next 2:20 before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So I guess that could be future oriented as well.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So Acts two.
Speaker B:Whoops.
Speaker B:And I messed up now.
Speaker B:But yeah.
Speaker B:So Peter uses this because what he's doing is he's saying in Joel Chapter two, what you're seeing.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Isn't that the context?
Speaker B:And we're saying what you're seeing here take place is what was prophesied in Joel chapter two.
Speaker A:Because it's what they've been accused of being drunk at this point.
Speaker A:And this is the Spirit.
Speaker B:This is the pouring out of the Spirit, which we could see as another step, if you want to call it that.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:For some reason the word step kind of bothers me.
Speaker B:But another a continuing part of God's plan of restoring his people, bringing his people, redeeming them.
Speaker B:And so this pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh is the emphasis there, I think in Joel 2.
Speaker B:Anyway, to go back to this.
Speaker B:This great and glorious day of the Lord, it's all the way throughout Book of Isaiah, all of these different references that we have to this day of the Lord, again, a lot of them are judgment.
Speaker B:I'm going to throw another curve ball at you.
Speaker B:You said what?
Speaker B:Can I look up?
Speaker B:Look up Isaiah 13, 6, 9.
Speaker B:And I know I didn't ask you to do that ahead of time either, but just read that just to kind of see this way that judgment is woven into this idea of the day of the Lord.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Isaiah 13, 16, nine, six through nine.
Speaker A:Okay, whale.
Speaker A:For the day of the Lord is near.
Speaker A:It will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Speaker A:Because of this, all hands will go limp.
Speaker A:Every heart will melt with fear.
Speaker A:Terror.
Speaker A:Terror will seize them.
Speaker A:Pain and anguish will grip them.
Speaker A:They will writhe like a woman in labor.
Speaker A:They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
Speaker A:See, the day of the Lord is coming.
Speaker A:A cruel day with wrath and fierce anger to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.
Speaker B:That doesn't sound very nice at all.
Speaker A:I was going to say, like, pop open the champagne.
Speaker B:So, day of the Lord, though, again, I think it often carries this idea of judgment.
Speaker B:Now, what's interesting here, go ahead and read.
Speaker B:I know we're far afield from Zechariah 14:1 Again, but go ahead and read that again for me.
Speaker B:What we have here is judgment that is directed toward Jerusalem is what it says.
Speaker A:Okay, Zechariah 14:1 Again, day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
Speaker B:So I'm going to say this again, I said at the very beginning.
Speaker B:But as we read through this first part of Zechariah 14, the main theme I want you to look for is reversal.
Speaker B:So the way things are now for God's people are not always going to be that way.
Speaker B:They're going to be reversed.
Speaker B:Now here the description is interesting, is they're going to be plundered.
Speaker B:And this in verse two, I'm going to have you read in just a minute.
Speaker B:Those two verses give us a picture of what happens when an enemy nation comes in and destroys a takes a city.
Speaker B:Plunder is one of those things that happens.
Speaker B:But there's a really interesting little detail here.
Speaker B:The plunder and the division of the spoils takes place within their walls, right?
Speaker B:It's kind of this enemy is so brazen and so unconcerned with anything that might happen to them that they're not taking the plunder away and then dividing it.
Speaker B:They're right there within the walls of the city itself.
Speaker B:Of Jerusalem dividing its spoils.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So let me go ahead and just say this so that people can be thinking along with us in this.
Speaker B:If we're thinking about a future historical point in which Jerusalem is plundered, really, we only have a couple of choices from this point in Zechariah, because the Syrians have already come through and taken the north.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The Babylonians have destroyed the city.
Speaker B:So we have.
Speaker B:What would you say are the.
Speaker B:What do you think?
Speaker B:You've been around me long enough to know what these people, Antiochus, Seleucids, and what takes place under Tiochus Epiphanies is a desecration of the temple, certainly, but not necessarily a destruction in that sense.
Speaker B:So what would the other possible one be?
Speaker A:I would say 70 AD with the Romans.
Speaker B:70, the Romans, Titus and Vespasian come in, level the city, destroy the temple, never to be built again.
Speaker B:And so those are the two that kind of would immediately come to our minds, I think, when we're thinking about these, and I think the reason a lot of commentators think we must be thinking more in a figurative sense here is neither one of those events exactly fit all the details of this description that we have here.
Speaker B:So anyway.
Speaker B:But the idea of plundering within the walls, don't forget this, because by the time we get to the end of this section, let's see what are happening with the walls of Jerusalem.
Speaker A:This is such a weird narrative for me.
Speaker A:You know, we've been talking about Zechariah 14, Zechariah 14, and just that.
Speaker A:But Zechariah, the beginning of the book, is about, hey, rebuild the wall, rebuild the temple, continue in this work, and then, hey, let me close this out with all the nations will gather to fight against you, your city will be captured.
Speaker A:As we go into this, you're going to get plundered again.
Speaker A:Isn't the whole point to rebuild so that doesn't happen again?
Speaker B:Yeah, and I guess that's a great question, and I think the way I would answer that is that.
Speaker B:That I think what your question directs us toward the way to understand the primary purpose of this, I'm going to call it the apocalyptic section of Zechariah, if you want to use those terms for it, or this time, this promise for when the Messiah comes.
Speaker B:And I don't think this is very unusual really, if you look through Old Testament prophecy, because a lot of times we do have these kind of specific things, but then it will be saying, but you know, there's a time coming where God is going to do this in a final sense, and we're not going to have to worry anymore.
Speaker B:God's people are going to be at rest.
Speaker B:Then we will no longer have to worry.
Speaker B:And so I think again, when we look about the time of the Messiah, when the Messiah comes, I think is what often this is pointing toward.
Speaker B:So go ahead, Verse two, and I'm going to go ahead and warn you.
Speaker B:You mentioned this idea of all the nations, and I'll say something more about that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was kind of jumping ahead.
Speaker B:Here, but let's go ahead and warn.
Speaker B:This is a very ugly picture.
Speaker B:Picture again of the kind of things that happen when a city is taken.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it.
Speaker A:The city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.
Speaker A:Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
Speaker B:So all the nations here.
Speaker B:Or I mean, I guess we could read this.
Speaker B:All the Gentiles, same kind of idea.
Speaker B:But this is a universal enemy, right?
Speaker B:This is the idea that Jerusalem is surrounded by all the nations.
Speaker B:And I mentioned to you that this language reminds me a lot of Psalm 2.
Speaker B:Not just there, but there are other places.
Speaker B:Let me read just the first part of this, though.
Speaker B:This is Psalm 2.
Speaker B:Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
Speaker B:The kings of the earth rise up and their rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, against his Christ or his Messiah, saying, let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.
Speaker B:So it's the same kind of thing.
Speaker B:All the nations are conspiring together against the Lord and his anointed right against his Chosen One.
Speaker B:And so then here's the response, though, and I think this again fits with what we're going to see.
Speaker B:The one enthroned in heaven, the one on the throne of heaven, we could say.
Speaker B:Laughs.
Speaker B:The Lord scoffs at them.
Speaker B:He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.
Speaker B:I will proclaim the Lord's decree.
Speaker B:He said to me, you are my son.
Speaker B:Today I become your Father, which again, we often see as a messianic promise.
Speaker B:So here's that kind of an idea.
Speaker B:God saying, all the nations can come against me, but I'm simply going to laugh because I'm going to be able to install on my holy hill.
Speaker B:That's what we're talking about right here.
Speaker B:Jerusalem, right, Mount Zion.
Speaker B:I'm going to install my King who's going to be king over the whole earth?
Speaker B:By the time we get done with that chapter, we're going to have that same image again.
Speaker B:So this idea of the universal enemies who come against God's people, feeling of everything being against them again reminds me of this kind of repeated idea.
Speaker B:Rest of the verse is a very graphic image.
Speaker B:We don't like to hear it, but it's the idea of an utter defeat.
Speaker B:The kind of things that happen when a city is defeated by an enemy nation.
Speaker B:The houses are ransacked.
Speaker B:In other words, people are.
Speaker B:What's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker B:The looters come in and take all the valuable possessions.
Speaker B:The women are raped.
Speaker B:Then it's an interesting thing, though, that part of them are taken into exile.
Speaker B:I'm going to use that word, 50% of them here.
Speaker B:Half of them are left, half of them are taken away.
Speaker B:So this gives us an idea of times in the past where God's people were taken away into captivity.
Speaker B:We remember when the northern kingdom was defeated by the Assyrians, that they took them away and settled them in foreign lands, and they brought in foreigners to settle in their lands.
Speaker B:In Babylon, we saw the same thing happen.
Speaker B:Beginning of the Book of Daniel, for example, when the Babylonians come in, they take the people away into exile.
Speaker B:It's that kind of an idea that his people are going to be taken into exile.
Speaker B:But there's also the promise of a remnant, which is not unusual in the Old Testament prophets as well.
Speaker B:Now, the difference here, and this may seem subtle, but the difference is usually in, let's say, when we're talking about the Babylonian exile in Isaiah, when Isaiah talks, or Jeremiah talks about a remnant, a righteous remnant, they're talking about those who will return to the land.
Speaker B:In other words, all are taken away into exile.
Speaker B:And then there are those who return.
Speaker B:Here we have an image of more, that some will be taken away, but God's people will still be left in Jerusalem in order to be kept safe and protected.
Speaker B:Something along those lines, which is a little bit different than what we have in other places.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So is that another way to kind of go, like.
Speaker A:Well, we think this is still different.
Speaker A:I mean, different than any particular event.
Speaker B:That's one of the things we wouldn't have that.
Speaker B:So I'm going to tell you, one of the ways that some Christian commentators have read this passage, and I want to be careful about this as well, is they will immediately apply it to the church and they'll say, what we have is a history of the kind Of.
Speaker B:Of conflicts that take place within.
Speaker B:In regard to God's people as the church.
Speaker B:And again, I don't know that that's necessarily in mind.
Speaker B:I think the conflicts that the church has withstood in the past fit within this category.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But we're talking about the way that God is able to protect his people even in times of difficulty would be the more specific way I would put this.
Speaker B:I'm going to give you at least one possible specific reference here in just a minute.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:So verses three through any questions to this point, just on verses one and two.
Speaker B:I know that's.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I'm not sure it's worthy of our.
Speaker B:Conversation right now, but.
Speaker A:Yeah, let's hold on to it.
Speaker A:Hold on to it.
Speaker B:Well, go ahead and read verses three through five.
Speaker B:And I would kind of say this is the image.
Speaker B:So if so far we've had the image of the defeat of God's people, this is the image of divine rescue.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle.
Speaker A:On that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
Speaker B:Well, that's an interesting detail.
Speaker B:So this is the idea, the way that Yahweh and this is the word Lord Yahweh fights on the day of battle.
Speaker B:And there are lots of examples that we can think about this, where God in very miraculous ways intervened in battles for God's people.
Speaker B:The first one I think of, and we see a very related language here, I think you might remember when Moses had led the children of Israel out of Egypt and God kind of gave them a circuitous, however you say that word, roundabout way of getting out of Egypt and brought them to the very shores of the Red Sea.
Speaker B:You might remember this story.
Speaker B:And the Egyptian army basically looks at them and says, you know what?
Speaker B:Those guys have no idea where they're going.
Speaker B:We can go back and reclaim them.
Speaker B:So the Egyptian army goes out after them and the people become afraid, which you would.
Speaker B:Here they are out in the wilderness, backs against the sea, and the entire Egyptian army is in pursuit.
Speaker B:And Moses says to them that you will see Yahweh fight for you this day.
Speaker B:You need only to be still.
Speaker B:Do you remember that famous line in the book of Exodus?
Speaker B:And so that kind of reminds me of that.
Speaker B:Can you think of other.
Speaker B:Are there other times you might think of where God intervened miraculously in battles for God's people?
Speaker A:Well, yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, when the.
Speaker A:I mean, Assyrians are knocking on the door of Jerusalem.
Speaker B:Okay, so Hezekiah's prayer there and 105,000 are slain in the night by the angel of the Lord.
Speaker B:That's a good example.
Speaker A:I mean.
Speaker A:I mean, I don't know if it's like specific battle, but you have Mount Carmel.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:The ball, you know, the.
Speaker A:With Elijah there.
Speaker A:I mean, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, the Old Testament is.
Speaker B:Sure, Joshua.
Speaker B:You know, I'm thinking about the.
Speaker B:There's never been a day like it or since when God listened to a man and we have the, you know, the sun stopping and the day lengthening, that kind of thing.
Speaker B:You know, there's these times where God intervenes in miraculous ways in order to protect his people from destruction.
Speaker B:So what I want you to notice here is how quickly this turns.
Speaker B:Now.
Speaker B:We have.
Speaker B:Don't get me wrong, it's an awful description we have of Jerusalem being defeated, but then it's almost like snapping your fingers.
Speaker B:And all of a sudden Yahweh's going to fight for his people the way that he fights on the day of battle.
Speaker B:In other words, don't forget that he's coming to the rescue.
Speaker A:So let me ask you this.
Speaker A:I'm going to play real devil's advocate here today, but we have two.
Speaker A:I will gather all the nations, then the Lord will go out and fight.
Speaker A:Do you see this as like, this is something that he is orchestrating to show his power?
Speaker A:Because, I mean, it seems like it's the only reason he has to go out and fight is because he has gathered all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I get what you're saying, and I don't think that's.
Speaker B:I would say.
Speaker B:I don't think that's the primary point.
Speaker B:I mean, I can see why you would say that.
Speaker B:And so I guess I could say a couple things in regard to that.
Speaker B:One thing is when we see them gathering to fight against Jerusalem and then him completely, utterly destroying them, it does make that a decisive.
Speaker B:That's the decisive battle then.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So in the same way we could think about the universal attack, we could think about this as the universal victory as well.
Speaker B:All the nations are being defeated in this.
Speaker B:So I guess maybe in that.
Speaker B:In that instance, and certainly there's a way in which God.
Speaker B:I'm going to tell you what I think and shoot this to pieces if you want.
Speaker B:I think again, Zachariah here, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Let me be quick to say is using the kind of language that we see before this, where when God's people were failing to do what he had called them to do in Babylonian exile, that he says, I'm going to bring, you know.
Speaker B:Well, let me use a very, very specific example.
Speaker B:Let's use the book of Habakkuk where Habakkuk says, God, look at all these wicked people in Jerusalem and Judea that you're allowing to do this kind of stuff.
Speaker B:How long, O Lord, faithful and true, are you going to allow this kind of stuff to go on?
Speaker B:And God says to Habakkuk, I'm going to do something in your day that you would not believe even if I told you I'm bringing the Babylonians.
Speaker B:And so there's the idea of gathering use this enemy people.
Speaker B:And of course, then you might remember Habakkuk immediately changes his tune and says, they're even more evil than we are.
Speaker B:How can you use them, God, to punish us?
Speaker B:And so I think that Isaiah chapter 10 is a very similar thing where it says that God uses these foreign kings like tools in his hand in order to bring punishment against a wicked nation.
Speaker B:So I think that Zechariah is saying, I have gathered all the nations against Jerusalem is kind of following that pattern.
Speaker B:Does that make sense of times where God's people.
Speaker B:What if I said it this way?
Speaker B:And again, let's talk in general terms, not specific historical event.
Speaker B:But if we're thinking about this in general terms, there are times where God's people need refinement and need.
Speaker B:What's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker B:Discipline.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Need to be disciplined.
Speaker B:Those the Lord, Hebrews, the ones the Lord loves, he disciplines.
Speaker B:And so I think this could be that kind of.
Speaker B:This kind of an idea.
Speaker B:The righteous ones are those who are able to withstand this day.
Speaker B:Other thoughts?
Speaker B:Does that help or not?
Speaker A:No, no, it does.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, it does.
Speaker A:It'll be more conversation for you and I later.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:About some things.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:So the one thing that this reminded me of, I mentioned the great battle in the book of Revelation.
Speaker B:We have episode of this podcast we've done on that you can refer back to.
Speaker B:But it's very interesting because we have God's people in that case kind of lining up and all this description of the wicked ones who are being brought against them, but it looks like it's going to be this decisive, not decisive.
Speaker B:What's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker B:This grand battle that's going to go on and on.
Speaker B:I always use the example of the last battle in the Lord of the Rings, a battle of Mordor that we have there.
Speaker B:Is that the right battle where they're.
Speaker A:At the Black Gate?
Speaker A:Is that what it's called?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so we see then there it's this long, drawn out battle in the book of Revelation.
Speaker B:It's not like that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:God comes.
Speaker B:Well, the rider on the white horse leading this army whose garments have been dipped in blood, just utterly destroy the enemy.
Speaker B:He slays them with the breath of his mouth, mouth and a sword that comes from his mouth.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:He is able to completely defeat them.
Speaker B:And so here's what I think the primary you're saying, well, did God bring these enemies simply to have them slain?
Speaker B:I think the primary point here is no matter how impressive and how fearful the view of the enemies of, of God's people might seem to us, they are nothing and in no way able to withstand when the Lord rides out in victory.
Speaker B:I said that very poorly, but you understand the gist of what I'm trying to get across there.
Speaker B:The main comment here, or the main point being gotten across, is God is victorious over the enemies against his people, and we can have comfort and peace in that.
Speaker B:Okay, so let's talk Mount of Olives.
Speaker B:Interesting couple things here.
Speaker B:And this is one of the reasons I think we're very tempted as Christian commentators to immediately make this messianic, and I think, I honestly think rightfully so, is this is the only reference in the Old Testament to the Mount of Olives by that name.
Speaker B:Of course, Mount of Olives is a very common phrase.
Speaker B:It's known as the place where Jesus often withdrew to.
Speaker B:One of the reasons Judas, you might remember, found him there on the Mount of Olives, just outside of Jerusalem, just outside the gates of Jerusalem, with a view of the Temple and with the city of Jerusalem just the opposite mountain.
Speaker B:And here it says that the Lord himself will stand with his own feet on the Mount of Olives.
Speaker B:And I like to think about that.
Speaker B:And we'll see even a little bit more, I think, next week.
Speaker B:I like to see that as being fulfilled in the person of Jesus.
Speaker B:This is another one of those.
Speaker B:Not only is Jesus the Messiah, but he is also the Lord himself with his feet on Mount Zion or on Mount of Olives.
Speaker B:And then it says that that Mount of Olives is split in two with a great earthquake giving a place of escape.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So that gives a place to escape, which is a little bit different than some of the other prophecies.
Speaker B:It's not just this idea that the enemy is defeated, but God's people are also given a way of escaping.
Speaker B:Now, again, we don't know of any specific unless this is a future event still to us, we don't know of any way in which the Mount of Olives was split in two.
Speaker B:But it's interesting to think about.
Speaker B:Now, if this idea of escape is a part of what Zechariah is, if there's a historical referent to which this prophecy goes, it could be referring to the Roman stand against Jerusalem.
Speaker B:And this is AD 70.
Speaker B:So we're thinking about Titus specification.
Speaker B:I guess, technically we're talking about AD 68, when they came in and laid siege to Jerusalem.
Speaker B:Josephus, as you know, very well, gives us a really graphic description of what the situation was like in that time when the Romans were surrounding Jerusalem and how bad it became for people.
Speaker B:I believe that Jesus prophesied this, because I believe all three.
Speaker B:The Olivet discourse is what we call it, right?
Speaker B:We had John Wedley talk to us about the Olivet discourse in the Gospel of Luke.
Speaker B:I think one of the things that Jesus is referring to there is this time when Jerusalem is going to be laid siege.
Speaker B:And he says, at that time, when you see these signs, don't go back into your house and get your cloak.
Speaker B:You need to leave.
Speaker A:It's not like you're all just meeting for Starbucks.
Speaker A:Like all two of you.
Speaker B:The three written of what we call the Synoptic Gospels.
Speaker B:The reason I believe that is Luke make reference in his prologue to others.
Speaker B:Many others have taken to draw up an account of these things.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So he knows.
Speaker B:He uses the plural.
Speaker A:He doesn't say couple.
Speaker B:He knows at least two, if not more, accounts that have already been drawn up that he seems to be familiar with, with.
Speaker B:And there's a whole synoptic issue I could deal with another day.
Speaker B:But I think he's the last of the three that's writing.
Speaker B:I believe Luke also wrote Acts.
Speaker B:I think the same author that wrote Luke wrote Acts.
Speaker B:And I think he legitimately, when he ends the book of Acts, ends with Paul in prison, what I believe is Paul's first Roman imprisonment.
Speaker B:And so he ends legitimately, I think, without having Paul die.
Speaker B:I think Paul's released.
Speaker B:Whatever you think about that, he seems to be ending somewhere in the early 60s, then.
Speaker B:So if Luke and Acts are written in that order and Acts in somewhere in the early 60s, then Luke is necessarily earlier than that.
Speaker B:If Luke is.
Speaker B:If he's familiar with both Mark and Matthew, which.
Speaker B:That's my understanding of the synoptic relationships, then he is the last of those three written.
Speaker B:So all of them have to be written before, you know, the mid-60s A.D.
Speaker B:probably early 60s A.D.
Speaker B:and you would.
Speaker A:Think if the temple had been destroyed, there would have been some reference to that.
Speaker B:That's where people go with this, because they have a hard time with predictive prophecy.
Speaker B:Because Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple, right?
Speaker B:He talks about it very specifically.
Speaker B:Now, I think John, and this is where I think John is separated from the other three.
Speaker B:I think, as I've talked about ad nauseam, I think he's writing immediately following the destruction of the temple.
Speaker B:But I think Jesus in his Olivet discourse, one of the things that he gets across to his followers is there's a time coming when the Romans are going to come and they're going to destroy this temple, if John's account is to be believed.
Speaker B:And, you know, I think it is.
Speaker B:It's interesting that even the Jewish Ruling council seems to be afraid of that same thing.
Speaker B:I'm Talking about John 11, where they say if we allow him to go on like this, the Romans are going to come and take away both our place, probably referring to the Temple and Jerusalem.
Speaker B:So anyway, that's all going there.
Speaker B:So there's a very early tradition.
Speaker B:I think Jesus prophesied this, but there's a very early tradition within the Christian writers that there were Christians who were able to escape Jerusalem before the siege, and they escaped to the city of Pella, which is across the Jordan river and to the north of Jerusalem.
Speaker B:And so I wonder.
Speaker B:My thought is that this idea of escaping Jerusalem might be a reference to that.
Speaker B:Eusebius in the 4th century is the one who tells about this.
Speaker B:Eusebius is an interesting guy.
Speaker B:We should probably talk about him at some other time.
Speaker B:He's useful.
Speaker B:He was a bishop of Caesarea, and he's useful to us for a couple of reasons.
Speaker B:He's really the first one who tries to set down a church history in the same way that Josephus kind of gives us the antiquities of the Jews, right?
Speaker B:Eusebius clearly knows Josephus.
Speaker B:He refers to Josephus, and he seems to be trying to do a similar thing.
Speaker B:So he takes the writings of the New Testament and the book of Acts.
Speaker B:Acts.
Speaker B:And then he tries to tell the story from there.
Speaker B:So that's interesting.
Speaker B:But even perhaps more important than that is Eusebius preserves for us some earlier writings that we no longer have access to.
Speaker B:So he makes reference to things that we no longer have those books.
Speaker B:But he's able to make reference to things even back into the second century and maybe even earlier.
Speaker B:So in the fourth century, though, he writes this.
Speaker B:This is the old translation Eusebius, but let me give you part of this.
Speaker B:People of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation.
Speaker B:It had been.
Speaker B:What's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker B:Vouchsafed is what he says, but basically had been found to be true and approved of approved men there before the war.
Speaker B:To leave the war is talking about Titus and Vespasian siege, right?
Speaker B:To leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella.
Speaker B:And when those believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook them.
Speaker B:Now, we'd have to be careful about that.
Speaker B:He goes on to describe, though, the number of calamities, and he talks about Josephus as the one who gives us all these details of the things that happened.
Speaker B:He isn't the only one, but there's another 4th century writer who gives us a similar kind of detail that Christians were able to.
Speaker B:To escape Jerusalem before the siege, and they went up to Pella.
Speaker B:Now, a lot of people have problem with this because they think it was a specific oral revelation that Jesus gave at that time.
Speaker B:I suspect he's talking about the Olivet discourse, saying that Jesus revealed.
Speaker B:Hey, you guys need to be careful when you see these signs of these things coming, you need to escape the city.
Speaker B:Those who are in the woe to.
Speaker A:A woman who is pregnant during this time.
Speaker B:In fact, he says, don't go into the city.
Speaker B:And we know.
Speaker B:And actually Eusebius brings this up.
Speaker B:Josephus talks about that there are many who were in the countryside that came into Jerusalem for safety, and that ended up being the wrong choice, wrong move.
Speaker B:And so anyway, we could talk about that another time.
Speaker B:But if there's a specific historical referent here, I wonder if that's not it.
Speaker B:Now, there are other things that don't fit necessarily with it, like the idea of some.
Speaker B:The ones who are kept safe are the ones who stay in the city, for example, and that kind of thing.
Speaker B:But this idea of escape.
Speaker B:And did you get this far that the Mount of Oz was split in two and there was a valley there, and then it says they fled as far as Azal.
Speaker B:Is that what it says?
Speaker B:Something like that, or we not got there yet?
Speaker A:Yeah, we hadn't got that.
Speaker A:We hadn't got that day.
Speaker B:Okay, we can talk.
Speaker A:Yeah, we did.
Speaker B:Yeah, we go ahead and read that again.
Speaker A:Then you will flee by my mountain valley for looks into Azel.
Speaker A:You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah.
Speaker A:Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him.
Speaker B:So, you know, this is kind of this idea that then God will return.
Speaker B:And again, that seems to be an end of time kind of reference.
Speaker B:We've talked before about how that seems to.
Speaker B:Again, when you're looking from an Old Testament perspective, sometimes that seems to be conflated, whereas we see it opened up a more in terms of the timeline.
Speaker B:Thoughts on that?
Speaker B:Questions or comments?
Speaker A:I mean, maybe we have this idea of a typology.
Speaker A:There's a type of thing in the Old Testament that maybe we look in the New Testament and go like, this seems to be a new kind of thing.
Speaker A:And so do you think that's maybe where we get stuck on this, is that we're.
Speaker A:Is it two typological, you understand what I'm saying?
Speaker A:How we get stuck on this, where we see, well, it's kind of like this and it's kind of like that.
Speaker A:And then we kind of go, well, it must be that and what else could it be?
Speaker B:I know that makes it a little bit messy, but, you know, this again, when we're talking about apocalyptic literature, by.
Speaker A:Its very nature it's messy.
Speaker B:But we want these very specific references.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:We want this to be.
Speaker B:But I will say, I think the primary message here is that God is able to give his people a way out.
Speaker B:You know, in any given situation, whether it's 70 AD or whether it's, you know.
Speaker B:And again, the way out, I should be very clear, doesn't always mean an escape from physical death either.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But he has provided us a way through the body, you know, through the body and blood of Jesus in order to be with him.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So let's go ahead a little bit further.
Speaker B:I know I'm kind of.
Speaker B:I made this a little bit longer by talking about some of that other stuff.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So let's kind of finish up.
Speaker B:I want to get through 16 if I can.
Speaker B:So just read verses 6 through 9.
Speaker B:This is Zechariah, chapter 14, 6, 9.
Speaker B:And I think we have a description again of the time of the Messiah, just like we have in other places.
Speaker B:It's going to give a description of unusual signs in the natural physical world.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:On that day, there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.
Speaker A:It will be A unique day, a day known only to the Lord, with no distinction between day and night.
Speaker A:When evening comes, there will be light.
Speaker A:On that day, living water will flow, flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east of the Dead Sea and half of it west of the Mediterranean Sea.
Speaker A:In summer and in winter, the Lord will be king over the whole earth.
Speaker A:On that day, there will be one Lord and his name the only one.
Speaker B:Okay, so it's interesting that what I want to say.
Speaker B:So we have these descriptions that there will be either darkness or light is the way I understand this.
Speaker B:In the evening, there will be light.
Speaker B:So this idea of the normal order of things, things are going to be different.
Speaker B:It's going to change.
Speaker B:Just like again, we talked about, the sun's going to be darkened, moon turned to blood, stars falling from the sky.
Speaker B:These kind of major changes in the physical world.
Speaker B:We've already had this image of the earthquake.
Speaker B:I should have mentioned that, too.
Speaker B:Very common in the book of Revelation.
Speaker B:There was an earthquake.
Speaker B:There were signs in the heavens above this whole thing.
Speaker B:So a similar kind of an idea that we have here, I think, to that.
Speaker B:That next week.
Speaker B:Hang on, because we're not done with this.
Speaker B:Next week I'll say more about this idea of being a unique day, even when there's light, even at night.
Speaker B:So that'll hold on there.
Speaker B:I'll give you another little taste or a little hint of that as well.
Speaker B:So that's the primary thing I would say is going on here.
Speaker B:But then also, what does he say?
Speaker B:I'm going to set up.
Speaker B:You remember I said this in Psalm chapter two.
Speaker B:I'm going to set up my king.
Speaker B:Isn't that what it says?
Speaker B:That there's.
Speaker B:I should pull it up so I can say it.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:I don't think we're not.
Speaker A:To the king.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, I thought we were.
Speaker B:I apologize.
Speaker B:Maybe on that day, living water flow out from Jerusalem.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And then the Lord, Yahweh himself will be king over the whole earth.
Speaker B:On that day, there will be one Yahweh, and his name, the only name.
Speaker B:So this idea of the setting up of this eternal kingdom.
Speaker B:Kingdom, God's eternal kingdom, I think is what's in mind now.
Speaker B:Living water is very interesting, and I'm not going to exhaust the living water at this point, because I'm going to talk about that more next week as well, because there's a way I want to approach the last part of Zechariah 14 that I think is very interesting.
Speaker B:But it begins here.
Speaker B:And so it's Kind of hard.
Speaker B:It's kind of messy for us to separate.
Speaker B:But this idea that there's two ways in which this idea of living water, there's two ways to understand this.
Speaker B:Living water refers simply to moving water.
Speaker B:Water, it means, like water from a spring or a river rather than water from a well or from a cistern.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That would be still water.
Speaker B:This is living water.
Speaker B:But the other way that the Old Testament and the New Testament seems to use this phrase, living water, is in reference to water that gives life.
Speaker B:Gives life is the way I would put it.
Speaker B:So we see it in here.
Speaker B:We see it in Joel 3, 17, 21 as well.
Speaker B:And I'm going to go ahead.
Speaker B:Yeah, I gave it to you, but I'm going to go ahead and read it.
Speaker B:I'm going to take this myself.
Speaker B:And by the way, he's talking about a time after judgment has come again.
Speaker B:Same thing, enemies.
Speaker B:But then God's going to come and he's going to take care of the enemies.
Speaker B:Verse 17.
Speaker B:Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Speaker B:Then you'll know that's where, where I live.
Speaker B:Jerusalem will be holy.
Speaker B:Never again will foreigners invade her.
Speaker B:In that day, the mountains will drip new wine.
Speaker B:So even the mountains themselves will be giving us wine.
Speaker B:The hills will flow with milk.
Speaker B:And all the ravines, or the Aramaic or Hebrew word here, is wadi.
Speaker B:All the wadis of Judah will run with water.
Speaker B:A fountain will flow out of Yahweh's house, the house of the Lord, which is the Temple.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:A fountain will flow out of the Temple and will water the valley of the Caishas.
Speaker B:But Egypt will be desolate.
Speaker B:Edom, a desert waste.
Speaker B:Because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
Speaker B:Judah will be inhabited forever.
Speaker B:And Jerusalem through all generations.
Speaker B:Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?
Speaker B:No, I will not.
Speaker B:The Lord dwells in Zion.
Speaker B:So that image of water being a part of this, that all the wadis, all the ravines of Judah, will run with water.
Speaker B:One of the interesting features about the geology here is there are places.
Speaker B:Wadi is like a dry riverbed.
Speaker B:If you live in the southwest United States or Mexico, the Spanish word is arroyo.
Speaker B:It's this idea of a dry riverbed that only runs in the rainy season.
Speaker B:Season, right.
Speaker B:Only when the rainy season comes.
Speaker B:The rainy season in Judea is in the fall and winter.
Speaker B:That's when the winter rains are.
Speaker B:I remember the first time I went to Jerusalem, we did the Jesus trail hike, and it was in January, and they'd had a rainy winter, which is what they're supposed to have.
Speaker B:And I can remember slogging through mud, you know, people losing their boots, you know, having to figure out how to cross this river, whereas previously there would have been a path through there.
Speaker B:And so it's that kind of an image.
Speaker B:But there's going to be.
Speaker B:All these dry riverbeds are going to run with water.
Speaker B:Similar image we have in Ezekiel, chapter 47.
Speaker B:And I'll remind you there that the water in Ezekiel 47, it's the river of life.
Speaker B:Okay, for all you Revelation fans, that should sound familiar.
Speaker B:Living water should sound familiar, if you like the Gospel of John, obviously, which we'll say more about next week, but they're surprised we're going to talk about the Gospel of John next week.
Speaker B:But Ezekiel 47 is this image, this vision.
Speaker B:And you got to remember, the temple wasn't there when Ezekiel was having this vision.
Speaker B:But he says there's water that flows out from the threshold of the Temple and goes down toward the east.
Speaker B:Now, you might Remember in Zechariah 14, it says there's going to be water flowing east and west, west, and both of them flow down to the sea.
Speaker B:Now, your interpreters of the NIV gave you this idea of the Mediterranean, but the Hebrew is technically the great sea.
Speaker B:And then what's the other sea?
Speaker A:The Dead Sea.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:The sea that's to the east of Jerusalem is the Dead Sea.
Speaker B:And so in Ezekiel, the water flows east down toward the Dead Sea.
Speaker B:And then by the time you get to.
Speaker B:Do you have chapter 47, verse 12?
Speaker B:Okay, read that.
Speaker B:By the time you get down there, it says this.
Speaker A:Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.
Speaker A:Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail.
Speaker A:Every month they will bear fruit because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.
Speaker A:Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.
Speaker B:And it goes on.
Speaker B:And I forgot that part, but it says when it runs down into the Dead Sea, I think it's just before that, maybe verse 10, that the water there will become fresh.
Speaker B:So this is going to.
Speaker B:And there's going to be all kinds of fish teeming there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So verse nine.
Speaker A:Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows.
Speaker A:There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh.
Speaker A:So where the river flows, everything will live.
Speaker B:So the water, see, it's a giver of life, right?
Speaker B:It's living water.
Speaker B:Not in the sense only that it's living.
Speaker B:It's moving, but it's also giving life.
Speaker B:And so that's that image, I think, that we get here in Zechariah as well.
Speaker B:It was in Joel, chapter three.
Speaker B:It was in Ezekiel 47.
Speaker B:And here we have it again in Zechariah that this water is going to flow to the Mediterranean and to the Dead Sea.
Speaker B:Living water is what he says.
Speaker B:So that's where, when you see the water that gives life notice, it says that it will run in summer and winter.
Speaker B:Isn't that what it says in Zechariah 14, nine, something like that?
Speaker A:Yes, it does.
Speaker B:And so again, it's not only in the rainy season, but this is, you know, these arroyos, these wadis are no longer going to be dry riverbeds.
Speaker B:They're going to be running with water all the time.
Speaker B:There's going to be an abundance, right?
Speaker B:Milk flowing, flowing with milk and honey, right?
Speaker B:New wine is going to be a time of abundance.
Speaker B:When the Messiah comes, then look at verses 10 and 11.
Speaker B:Then this is back in chapter 14.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:The whole land from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah.
Speaker A:But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the first gate, to the Corner gate and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses and will remain in its place.
Speaker A:It will be inhabited.
Speaker A:Never again will it be.
Speaker A:It will be inhabited.
Speaker A:Never again will it be destroyed.
Speaker A:Jerusalem will be secure.
Speaker B:So there's kind of the opposite of what we started with, right?
Speaker B:Never again to be destroyed.
Speaker B:And it will be inhabited.
Speaker B:There will be people there within the walls of this Jerusalem.
Speaker B:It's this idea of it being lifted up.
Speaker B:It's going to be like the Arabs.
Speaker B:It's going to be a plain.
Speaker B:In other words, it will no longer be this mountain range.
Speaker B:It's difficult to get to.
Speaker B:But Jerusalem will be raised up and it will be a place that people will be able to come to and flock to is kind of the image.
Speaker B:Now I'll go ahead and read verse 12.
Speaker B:It says, this is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem.
Speaker B:So they're going to have a plague again.
Speaker B:Reminds us.
Speaker B:Book of Revelation uses this kind of language.
Speaker B:All the nations that fought against Jerusalem, their flesh.
Speaker B:This is not a pretty picture, by the way.
Speaker B:Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet.
Speaker B:Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
Speaker B:On that day, people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic.
Speaker B:They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.
Speaker B:This is all playing on that image of their violence and the way that they are acting towards Jerusalem that instead will be inflicted upon one another.
Speaker B:So all these nations that have fought against them will then be destroyed.
Speaker B:So go ahead and read verses 14 and 15.
Speaker B:It says Judah will be included in this as well.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Judah, too, will fight at Jerusalem.
Speaker A:The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected, granted great quantities of gold and silver and clothing.
Speaker A:A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
Speaker B:So think about.
Speaker B:I said think about reversal.
Speaker B:Remember, we began in verse one with Jerusalem being plundered.
Speaker B:And now we have Judah and Jerusalem doing the plundering.
Speaker B:And they're taking all the gold and silver of these nations and they're bringing them into Jerusalem.
Speaker B:Jerusalem becomes the place where these things are going to.
Speaker B:Then go ahead and read verse 16.
Speaker B:And we're going to end here for today.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the festival of Tabernacles.
Speaker B:Ooh, interesting.
Speaker B:That gives us a little insight into what we'll be talking about next week.
Speaker B:So the nations are going to be subdued, but it's interesting that they're not all going to be killed, but instead the nations.
Speaker B:Again, think about this.
Speaker B:The Gentiles, right?
Speaker B:They will come up and they will worship God at Jerusalem.
Speaker B:So in a figurative way.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of commentators, I mentioned this earlier that want to see this as a specific reference for the church, that this is going to be a gathering together of the nations.
Speaker B:And they're going to revere Yahweh.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:They're going to revere the true God after his feet have been on Mount Olives.
Speaker B:So, again, I think if you want to get a specific reference, it is talking about the age of the Messiah, the time when the Messiah comes.
Speaker B:Then it's.
Speaker B:This is how things are going to be.
Speaker B:The nations are no longer going to be able to stand against God's people.
Speaker B:They're going to have these horrible plagues that come upon them.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Their eyes are rotting, their head.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just standing around and it's.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was in that image of that horrible image at the end of Indiana Jones and the.
Speaker B:And the.
Speaker B:Well, the Raiders Lost Ark, the very first Indiana Jones movie.
Speaker B:When the Nazis, you know, get it.
Speaker A:From the Ark of the Covenant, the guy's face melts.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker B:But it's that kind of thing.
Speaker B:I think that these are going to happen.
Speaker B:But it's interesting.
Speaker B:Feast of Tabernacles.
Speaker B:What's going on with that?
Speaker B:They will go up and they'll celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.
Speaker B:Of all the feasts that you would think of, right?
Speaker B:It's not Passover.
Speaker B:It's one of the big three.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But it's not Passover.
Speaker B:It's not Pentecost.
Speaker B:It's Tabernacles.
Speaker B:So here's the question, dear listener, that we need to be thinking about until next week is why specifically is Tabernacles?
Speaker B:Because I'm gonna give you a little bit of a funny hint here.
Speaker B:Tabernacles is mentioned obviously back in the book of Deuteronomy a lot.
Speaker B:It's mentioned in the giving of the law in Leviticus, I think only once there.
Speaker B:It's mentioned a few other times in Ezra, for example.
Speaker B:They're always restarting all these festivals and everything.
Speaker B:But we find the Feast of tabernacles mentioned three times in this last half of chapter 14.
Speaker B:This is the first of three times that we find the phrase Feast of Tabernac Tabernacles being used.
Speaker B:And there's something about this imagery that I really love and I really think gives us a lot of what's going on here and how to understand this, because there is a book in the New Testament as well that uses this phrase.
Speaker B:It's only used in one book in the New Testament, and that is the Gospel of John.
Speaker B:So what do we have?
Speaker B:What's the connection that we have here between the Feast of Tabernacles?
Speaker B:Why is it the appropriate feast to talk about in this context?
Speaker B:And can we learn anything thing further about all this as we.
Speaker B:As we pull it all together?
Speaker B:That's all I have to say about that.
Speaker A:There's a lot happening here.
Speaker B:I know we were going fast there for a while, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, there's just.
Speaker A:There's just a lot in here to talk about what we're seeing and what's happening here, you know, and I think this is.
Speaker A:This is such a great way for us to go through an Old Testament book like this, because I think it's, you know, we've talked to this before, maybe on the podcast or not that, you know, it's not often that a lot of Old Testament, some churches, you don't get into a lot of the Old Testament prophecies and all that stuff, because people are like, I don't know what to do with this.
Speaker A:Or how do I make my sermon out of this?
Speaker A:But to go through this and kind of see how these ideas build on each other and again and to wrestle a little bit with the images, how they change, why they're changing from like, hey, rebuild this.
Speaker A:This is all going to be good.
Speaker A:And then like, hey, hey, this bad's going to happen.
Speaker A:How do we reconcile those things?
Speaker A:Because I think that's sometimes I think a discouragement or a hard thing for people to work through is kind of going like, well, I hear this, but I also hear this.
Speaker A:How do I live?
Speaker A:What do I make of this?
Speaker B:Well, and I'll confess, I love Zechariah 14.
Speaker B:I think I told you guys last week this is really the reason I wanted to do Zechariah so we could do Zechariah 14.
Speaker B:I think these messianic images are just incredible.
Speaker B:I know there's.
Speaker B:There's some difficult stuff with it.
Speaker B:There's some hard stuff, but I think, I mean, we're pointing directly toward Jesus here with this, and there's a lot going on.
Speaker B:Jesus, I think, intentionally takes up some of Zechariah 14 in his ministry as well.
Speaker B:However, we want to understand that.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I'll remind you, even when we're talking about the rebuilding of the temple, though, you might remember even there, Zechariah was saying, oh, yeah, and there's going to be this later time that this is all pointing toward that things are going to be even better and there's going to be the Eternal King and we're not going to have to worry about these things.
Speaker B:So I think even there, there's pointing toward this, but definitely not as explicit as what we have here in Zechariah 14, for sure.
Speaker A:Well, great.
Speaker A:Well, Bryan, I appreciate it.
Speaker A:Looking forward to next week as we kind of wrap up Zechariah, our long.
Speaker B:Long, long slog through the book of Zechariah.
Speaker A:Long slog.
Speaker A:Hey, but you know what?
Speaker A:We're ending on a high note.
Speaker A:Ending on a high note here, Zechariah 14.
Speaker A:So appreciate it.
Speaker A:I hope you're enjoying the podcast.
Speaker A:If you're a fan, you can go to thebiblebeestore.com we're actually doing some updates on that right now.
Speaker B:Where should you go if you're not a fan?
Speaker A:If you're not a fan, you should go to thebiblebistro.com and there's a button at the top.
Speaker A:It says Patreon.
Speaker A:That's for people who really hate us.
Speaker A:And you're saying, I'm willing to give X amount of dollars per month to make you go away.
Speaker B:Just to mock you.
Speaker A:Just to mock you and to make us go away.
Speaker A:So if you hate us, you can go to Biblebeastshirt.com and there's a button at the top that says Patreon.
Speaker A:You can click on that and just tell us how much you hate us.
Speaker A:If you really hate us, sky's the limit.
Speaker A:We're updating the website right now with some books.
Speaker A:We're getting some of our episodes up there.
Speaker A:We kind of languished on that a little bit last year, but we're getting that all updated for you.
Speaker A:So there's going to be some references and stuff you can check out there.
Speaker A:You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram and we'd appreciate you doing that.
Speaker A:Leave us a review on Apple podcasts and we've got some stuff in the work.
Speaker A:We're going to tackling some different topics here.
Speaker A:I think coming up here going to be some fun stuff.
Speaker A:Maybe a little bit more topical on some of these things to talk about some different topical things, theological topical things of sorts.
Speaker A:Things and pieces and all things related.
Speaker B:To the Christian faith.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I think we're going to get back to a little bit of that season one of randomness Miss potentially here in the future a little bit.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, man.
Speaker A:That's the good stuff.
Speaker A:Shoot that right in my veins.
Speaker B:So if you have, if you have a random off the wall question, make sure to send those in.
Speaker A:Oh, ask, ask right away.
Speaker A:So we'd appreciate it.
Speaker A:All right, Brian, thanks so much.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:And I'll chat with you next Tuesday.
Speaker B:See you soon.
Speaker B:Bye.
