Zechariah Chapters 12, 13, 14
Zechariah 12: This message concerning the fate of Israel came from YEHOVAH God:
"This message is from the LORD [YHVH], who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves." [Zechariah 12:3 (Septuagint): "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a trodden stone to all the nations: every one that tramples on it shall utterly mock at it, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it."]
"'On that day,' says YEHOVAH God, 'I will cause every, horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of their enemies. And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, "The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies, their God." On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure. The LORD [YHVH] will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. On that day the LORD [YHVH] will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the LORD [YHVH] who goes before them! For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.'"
"But I will fill the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem with a spirit of pity and compassion; and they shall lament to Me [YEHOVAH God] about those who are slain, wailing over them as over a favorite son and showing bitter grief as over a first-born. In that day, the wailing in Jerusalem shall be as great as the wailing at Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddon. The land shall wail, each family by itself: The family of the House of David by themselves, and their womenfolk by themselves; the family of the House of Nathan by themselves, and their womenfolk by themselves; the family of the House of Levi by themselves, and their womenfolk by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by themselves, and their womenfolk by themselves; and all the other families, every family by itself, with their womenfolk by themselves" (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures).
Zechariah 13: On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity:
"'And on that day,' says the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies, 'I will erase idol worship throughout the land, so that even the names of the idols will be forgotten. I will remove from the land both the false prophets and the spirit of impurity that came with them. If anyone continues to prophesy, his own father and mother will tell him; "You must die; for you have prophesied lies in the name of the LORD [YHVH]." And as he prophesies, his own father and mother will stab him. On that day people will be ashamed to claim the prophetic gift. No one will pretend to be a prophet by wearing prophet's clothes. He will say, "I am no prophet; I am a farmer. I began working for a farmer as a boy." And if someone asks, "Then what about those wounds on your chest?" He will say, "I was wounded at my friends' house!"'
"'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, the man who is in charge of my flock,' [the Messiah Yeshua] says the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies. 'Strike down the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs. Two-thirds of the people in the land will be cut off and die' says the LORD [YHVH]. 'But one-third will be left in the land. I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, "These are my people," and they will say, "The LORD [YHVH] is our God."'"
Zechariah 14:
"Watch, for the day of the LORD [YHVH] is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! I [YEHOVAH God the Father] will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city. Then the LORD [YHVH] will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his [YEHOVAH God's] feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD [YHVH] my God will come, and all his holy ones with him. On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day! Only the LORD [YHVH] knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light."
Writes Dr. James D. Tabor:
"Too often Christians allow themselves to hastily run through such texts, all the while assuming that when the Prophets speak of YEHOVAH Himself acting in such decisive ways they actually refer to His Messiah. How often I have heard preachers say that 'When Jesus returns, his feet will stand on the Mt. of Olives.' This is unfortunate and careless exegesis. As one can plainly see, through a careful reading of both sets of texts, the Prophets always maintain a clear distinction between the dramatic appearance of the LORD God (YHVH) and the Davidic rule of the Messiah" (The LORD (YHVH) God and His Messiah, p. 14).
Continuing with Zechariah 14 --
"On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter. And the LORD [YEHOVAH God the Father] will be king over all the earth [the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God at last!]. On that day there will be one LORD [YHVH] -- his name alone will be worshiped [Unitary Monotheism at last]. All the land from Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become one vast plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up in its original place and will be inhabited all the way from the Benjamin Gate over to the site of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses. And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.
"And the LORD [YHVH] will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the LORD [YHVH] with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured -- great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.
"In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters [Tabernacles]. Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies, will have no rain. If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the LORD [YHVH] will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don't go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters [Tabernacles].
"On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: HOLY TO THE LORD [YHVH]. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the LORD [YHVH -- YEHOVAH God the Father] will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the LORD [YHVH] of Heaven's Armies."
Concludes Dr. Tabor: "The prime emphasis of the Scriptures is upon the return of YEHOVAH [YHVH] Himself as KING of Kings and LORD of Lords, the only ultimate Savior, Redeemer, and Judge. This is not to be confused with the role of the Messiah as His Chief Agent. An essential part of the [true] Faith is the link between our own direct, individual, relationship with YEHOVAH God and our deepest longing for His coming Kingdom and [Shekinah] Presence. The doctrine of the Messiah has a place within this general scheme of things, but it has been terribly distorted and wrongly emphasized" (The LORD (YHVH) God and His Messiah, p. 19).
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