ZECHARIAH: GOD’S PRESENT DIRECTIVES AND FUTURE HOPE

XXIII: The Establishment Of Messiah’s Kingdom

(Zechariah 14:8-15)

I. Introduction

A. Zechariah along with Haggai called the returning Hebrews back to rebuilding the temple, and he gave God’s directives and future hope. (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, “Introduction to the Book of Zechariah,” p. 1310)

B. Zechariah chapters 9-14 present two “burdens” or oracles, with Zechariah 9-11 predicting Messiah’s first advent and rejection by Israel and Zechariah 12-14 foretelling His second advent and acceptance by Israel.

C. Zechariah 14:8-15 predicts the establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom, what we view for insight and edification:

II. The Establishment Of Messiah’s Kingdom, Zechariah 14:8-15.

A. When Christ sets up His Kingdom, He will provide temporal and spiritual blessings, Zechariah 14:8:

1. Fountains of water from the earth will surge up and flow from Jerusalem. Half of them will flow toward the Dead Sea (front) and half toward the Mediterranean (back), these directions being set by the Ancient Near Eastern orientation where one faced east (front) and the west was to his back, Zechariah 14:8.

2. These literal waters also imply spiritual blessings that also accompany the removal of the Adamic curse (Merrill F. Unger, Zechariah, 1974, p. 255-256; Romans 8:18-21).

3. The water will not dry up “as most Palestinian watercourses do in summer. The two-directional flow of these streams will be possible because the elevated city will be on a water-shed plateau,” Ibid., p. 256.

B. When Christ sets up His Kingdom, it will be marked by His absolute Lordship as King, Zechariah 14:9: The Lord Jesus Christ will (literally) “become” (hayah, Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 971; Ibid., Unger, p. 256-257) King over the entire earth, and in that day there will be one Lord, and His name One unlike the polytheism and idolatries of the past. This implies the imprisonment of the “god of this world,” Satan, in the Bottomless Pit as prophesied in Revelation 20:1-3 with 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ibid., p. 258.

C. When Christ sets up His Kingdom, it will involve the honor and peace of Jerusalem, Zechariah 14:10-11:

1. All the land surrounding Jerusalem will be made (literally) “like the Arabah” (ka’arabhah), the flat terrain of the Great Rift Valley that runs from the Sea of Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba, v. 10a; Ibid., p. 258-259.

2. This plain will run from Geba to Rimmon, indicating “the whole ‘hill country’ of the ancient tribe of Judah to the border of Simeon on the south and most of the tribe of Benjamin on the north,” v. 10b; Ibid., p. 259.

3. The purpose of this geographical change will be to elevate Jerusalem unlike its current situation, Ibid.

4. With Jerusalem seated in its ancient place but the land around it transformed for its exaltation, Jerusalem will be secure and at peace in contrast to centuries of its upheaval and war of the past, Zechariah 14:10c.

5. Zechariah 14:10d implies “future enlargement and expansion of restored Jerusalem” and Zechariah 14:11 adds that the city will have a sizeable population living in it, Ibid., p. 260.

D. When Christ sets up His Kingdom, it will include the destruction of Israel’s enemies, Zechariah 14:12-15:

1. “Chronologically, these verses 12-15 follow chapter 14:1-3, which verses in turn are an amplification and a supplement to the same subject discussed by the prophet in chapter 12:4-10,” Ibid., p. 262. Zechariah did not initially go into detail about the destruction of Israel’s enemies when he first mentioned their fate in order to avoid interrupting the sequence of events following Christ’s return, Ibid.

2. At Christ’s coming, then, He will cause the flesh of Israel’s enemies to rot away while they are standing on their feet, their eyes and tongues rotting away since they had sought to exterminate God’s people and blasphemed the Lord with their tongues, Zechariah 14:12; Ibid., p. 262-263.

3. God will also cause Israel’s enemies to suffer a mental breakdown so that they attack one another, and He will give Israel’s warriors great courage to attack and defeat their foes, Zechariah 14:13-14a.

4. Israel will gain great spoils of war from her enemies, and the plague on her foes will also be on the animals of her enemies, typical of the holy war curses of Israel’s antiquity, Zechariah 14:14b-15; Ibid., p. 263-264.

Lesson: When Christ establishes His Millennial Kingdom, He will provide temporal and spiritual blessings, His absolute Lordship of the world, honor and peace to Jerusalem and the utter destruction of Israel’s enemies.

Application: (1) May we joyfully anticipate Christ’s coming Millennial reign of the entire world in righteousness, peace and blessing. (2) Since Christ’s Kingdom and the Eternal State to follow will be marked by righteousness, may we not love this evil world and its sins, but devote ourselves to the interests and calling of the Lord, that our works not be in vain, but last with God’s eternal reward, 1 John 2:15-17; Revelation 22:12.