Studies in Zechariah 13 Zechariah 14: — John W. Bramhall

The Day of the Lord and the Siege of Jerusalem

Shall we turn tonight to the last chapter in the book of Zechariah, reading it through for our closing message on this great subject that we have followed one after the other through the past week. The Spirit of God writing and saying, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.

And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west. And there shall be a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall be moved toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel. Yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night.

But it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea.

In summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimeh, south of Jerusalem.

And it shall be lifted up, that is the city of Jerusalem, shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place. From Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananiel unto the king's winepresses.

And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction. But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. And this shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem.

Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tomb from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.

And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver and apparel in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents as this plague.

And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord and Host, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles.

And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, they have no rain.

There shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.

In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto the Lord, and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls, the sacred bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of Hosts.

And all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and see their end. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite or the merchant man in the house of the Lord of Hosts. May God add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his precious word.

The Consummation of Zechariah's Prophecy

As we come to the closing chapter and the closing section of the last section of the book of Zechariah, we have the consummation of all the prophetic teaching of the book. The consummation of the book is actually the visible appearance of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus and his second coming in power and in great glory.

When he will establish upon the earth God's eternal kingdom. In our chapter the prophet returns, where we had in the opening of this section in chapter twelve, the coming in of judgment. And judgment that would be afflicted upon the nations in the great final siege by the Gentiles in and around Jerusalem.

The summary of the possible events that we could say would be this. As we look at the nation of Israel today, and as we have followed the sequence of this book of Zechariah, there is a restoration of Israel.

But one that is in unbelief. Not a complete one of the whole nation, but a representative remnant and an influential remnant returned to fulfill the word of God and its prophecies in relation to the nation.

And then we shall know that their brief time of prosperity, a prosperity that in the present is certainly enjoyed, that brief time of prosperity for Israel will end in the darkest night of anguish that they shall ever have known and experienced as a nation.

For their darkest hour of history since their rejection of Christ their Messiah and the gathering of the nations and the siege of Jerusalem is predicted in Zechariah in the opening words of chapter fourteen.

May I repeat that? The chapter opens with the darkest hour in the crisis of the nation as thus we commence the study of it. When the siege of Jerusalem as predicted will take place. They will have entered into a covenant with the false Messiah, the wicked shepherd.

“In That Day”: The Coming Glory of Israel's Messiah

As we open the chapter before us, may I repeat what we have stressed in chapters twelve, thirteen and fourteen? The repetition of three particular phrases. One particular phrase repeated sixteen times in the last three chapters is that expression, in that day, in that day, in that day.

You will find that quoted again and again in the prophets. You'll find it in the major prophets as well as in the minor prophets. And to every pious Israelite the expression to him indicated that day was the day of the coming glory of Israel's Messiah.

And so the context of the last three chapters, they have a special particular application to that day of the coming of the Messiah. As far as the nation of Israel, they believe it will be its first appearance.

As far as the believer in the Lord Jesus in this time, we know it will be its second advent to the earth. Then there's a second expression, and that expression is regarding the city of Jerusalem. And twenty times in the last three chapters the city of Jerusalem is mentioned.

And the repetition of that name indicates the literal character of the prophecy that the closing events of the Gentile age, the closing events of the history of Israel before the Messiah, before the Messiah's reign, will revolve around Jerusalem.

May I say, my beloved, when the days come to their close, Jerusalem will be the centre of God's purposes, and Jerusalem will be the centre of the purposes of the nations, and Jerusalem will be the pivotal centre for the nation of Israel.

And converging at that one city and its environment will be the closing action of divine judgment, of wicked hatred by the nations, and of an achievement by Israel to protect and deliver themselves from inevitable destruction.

There's a third expression, and that expression is the nations, sometimes rendered the peoples or the nations. And thirteen times there is a direct reference to all the nations of the earth. For in representation, all the nations of the earth will combine in their effort to destroy and exterminate the people of Israel.

And may I repeat, and please listen to this solemn statement, though the world has seen anti-Semitism in some of the greatest manifestation of man's wickedness, the worst is yet to come. My beloved, the Lord Jesus, and the word of God substantiates the fact that Israel will be hated of all nations for his namesake.

You may wonder why such a hatred. Beloved, all you have to think of is who is the adversary of God and man, and who is seeking to frustrate the purposes of the eternal God. The very devil himself. And in the closing days of Gentile history, relating to this chapter before us, there will be a satanic trinity, the dragon himself, the beast and the false prophet, uniting with all the nations, led under their authority to exterminate in hatred every Jew.

My beloved, it is a solemn reflection to recognize the awful days ahead. May we read verse one and two. For where we have in these verses, it is a literal description of the terrible attack that is coming against the city.

The Final Siege and the Deliverance of Jerusalem

Now let me repeat a principle that we have noted before. You will find when God writes prophecy, very, very frequently he may give a reference to an event, and then pass on to another subject, and then he will return to the mention of that event, and then lodge upon it.

We have already seen in chapter twelve, we have already seen in chapter nine, that there is to be a final great conflict in Jerusalem and the environment of Judea in the last day. But again the Spirit of God comes back to write in the last closing chapter more details of that great and terrible siege at Jerusalem which is to come.

Here are the words. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

My beloved, may I state that as the city is besieged, and as the attack may commence and continue, it is very evident that in the commencement of it, the enemy triumphs. The city is captured, it is spoiled, it is divided.

Cruel brutality and lust, and the horrors that are perpetrated, as usually more, will thus be known. And half of the remaining population of the city will be dragged out of it into captivity, and the small wretched remnants will be left to be the object of the enemy's final destruction.

It begins with calamity, it begins with judgment, but it will not end in triumph for the enemies of Israel. May I quote the words of Jeremiah chapter thirty and verse seven? As he writes of that awful day which he calls the day of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it, he shall be delivered out of it.

We can safely assume that there will be the conquest of the city, and the destruction of it, together with the captivity of many, and the wretched remnant remaining, waiting the utter destruction that they expect from the hands of the enemy.

But then, shall we read in verse three? Then, oh my beloved, what a moment, then, when all seems to be lost, when destruction seems to be inevitable, then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle.

My beloved, you remember the words of Miriam and the children of Israel in the fifteenth chapter of the book of Exodus? As they saw their enemies destroyed at the Red Sea, Pharaoh and all of his hosts, then sang Israel that song of praise and song of deliverance.

And within the words of that song, they declared in chapter fifteen of Exodus, verse three, Jehovah is a man of war, Jehovah is his name. My beloved, that blessed Jehovah of Israel has fought for his people in times past.

Note the words in the third verse. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. It is not the first occasion that Jehovah has fought and will again fight for his people.

And we can recognize the godly remnant, thinking all is over, will find that the appearance of their Messiah, their Jehovah, has once again arisen to fight the battles of his own. What a day that will be.

Christ's Return to the Mount of Olives

When the Lord, and may I suggest, this is the literal coming of the Lord Jesus. You can link this with chapter twelve. May I read in chapter twelve, please? And may I point out verse ten, where we have read that precious truth that in that day I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.

You can insert, you can insert in the sequence of verse three of chapter fourteen, you can insert the last part of Zechariah chapter twelve. For it is when he comes they will thus see him and acknowledge him and recognize him as thus he appears for their deliverance.

But then note, as he appears, note the place of his appearance, a most significant place in the scriptures of truth. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives.

His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. And the very visible appearance of our Lord from heaven will be that when he comes he will touch the place where once he left and of which the angels in chapter one of Acts verse eleven declared he would return to that same place again, this same Jesus.

The Mount of Olives is the Mount of Prophecy and the Mount of Prophecy in relation to the glory of God and the glory of Jehovah in Israel. If you have ever read the great prophecy of Ezekiel, there is indeed a tender subject within when the glory of God left the temple and Ezekiel in the vision that God gave him saw the glory of the Lord the Shekinah glory rise from the altar to take its departure from the city.

He saw the glory of the Lord hover as it were over the threshold of the temple. And then he saw the glory of the Lord as the Shekinah cloud move, hovering over the city and hovering in the last place that he saw it, over the Mount of Olives.

And you have in Ezekiel's prophecy in a later chapter, chapter forty-three, that Ezekiel in the vision saw the glory of the Lord return again to the same place. Will you go with me to Ezekiel forty-three?

Let me read verses one and two with you, that we may see the words of the prophecy corroborating that our Lord Jesus, who is the glory of the Lord, will indeed put his feet upon the Mount of Olives. Ezekiel forty-three, may I read verse one, two, one and two.

Afterward the prophet writes, he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east, and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. And his voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with his glory.

This is a contemporary vision given to Ezekiel, and you'll read the succeeding chapters of Ezekiel. It is the millennial restoration of Israel that is the subject. Go with me to chapter forty-four, if you please.

I want you to know something of deep interest in the opening of chapter forty-four. May I read the first three verses. Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outwith sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut.

Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. It is for the prince.

The prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. Very significant, if you were in Jerusalem, to see the east side of the temple wall, or the city wall, rather.

As you see the east side of the city wall, there is a gate that is completely closed. It was called, has been called, the golden gate, or the eastern gate. And that is the gate that prophetically it is expected the Messiah shall enter the city, enter into the city.

It is closed, tied, and built closed today. But we shall realize as we go on in Zechariah, when if he touched the Mount of Olives, go back to the chapter and see what takes place. In chapter fourteen of our prophecy of Zechariah.

And note what happens when if he shall in that day stand upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, there shall be a very great valley.

And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Yes, beloved, this is unquestionably that great day of an earthquake that will split the mountain, separating it north and south, and making a valley running east and west.

And I am of the humble opinion, I don't ask Scripture, other than the broad teaching of this prophecy, to believe that that golden gate, that gate that has been shut for centuries, will be wide open for the conquering victor to enter into the city of Zion.

And in the millennial day, the prince of that city, whether it be the Lord himself, whether it shall be David the prince, who shall thus be reigning on the earth too, the prince alone shall come through the golden gate and enter and leave by that same gate.

Yes, what a joy to realize there will be the opening of that gate when the victor returns to delivery zone. Now, know what follows. That valley will have something for the remnant to avail themselves of.

For it says, ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains. May I read that again? If you have a marginal reference in your Bible, you may have a correction of the translation. Ye shall flee to the valley of my mountains.

For my beloved, it is the mountain of the Lord of hosts. This is by God himself, Jehovah himself, formed at that very time of the earthquake. And ye shall flee to the valley of my mountains. For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azazel.

And it will be a way of escape. It will be a way of escape for a twofold reason. First, escaping from the earthquake. Second, a way of escape to flee from the enemy. And ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.

The Messiah Comes With His Saints

And the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with thee. Oh, may I inject once again that when he appears, and as we often read in contemporary New Testament scriptures, when the Son of Man shall appear with all of his angels, and again in the epistle of Jude, behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment.

And it will be when he appears, he will not be alone. There will be the glory of the angelic host attending. There will be the glory of the saints, the holy ones coming with him. Down from the heaven above, my beloved, there is going to be such a vision that the world has never seen the like before.

When heaven opens and down from the glory comes the one who is the King of kings and Lord of lords with a sharp sword in his mouth to smite the nations. And with him his holy ones, holy angels, holy saints.

And beloved, without doubt, let me once again inject, it will be the revelation to Israel, this is the one whom we have pierced. And what a, what a mourning as well as what a confession and repentance will be theirs as the godly remnant manifested.

Oh what a day, but then follow through. Know what verse four and five declares regarding that day. It shall come to pass in that day the light shall not be clear, nor dark, but it shall be one day that shall be known to the Lord.

Not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. What a mysterious statement. An unnatural day. An unnatural day of gloom perhaps it may seem. And yet in that gloom of the night there is a mysterious light also.

There's darkness and there's light. May I point out two things? One is literal. We know that the stars of the heaven shall not give their light. The sun will hide its light. And thus night will settle down according to the prophetic words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 21.

But we also know this. When the Lord comes down from heaven, he's coming in glory. When the holy angels come down, they will be coming in glory. When the saints descend within, they will be coming down in glory.

And the glory of the Lord and of the angel host and of the saints will be shining in that unnatural day of darkness upon the earth. Yet against the darkness that will be literal will be the shining down of that coming one with all of his hosts.

And then further, there will be the wrestling and the battling of spiritual darkness against spiritual light. And oh, the forces of spiritual darkness will be battling to do their utmost to thwart the purposes of the eternal God.

But down from the glory above comes the champion of all, even the Son of God in all of his power, and with all of his angels and saints in glory within. And thus we have the statement, note verse 7 again, It shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord.

Not day nor night, most unnatural experience. And yet out of the contest of light and darkness, whether it is physical and also spiritual, that eventful day will end by light emerging victorious. Note the end of verse 7, It shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light.

Light Victorious Over the World's Darkest Night

Oh, the joy of knowing the victory and the glory of that light that will consummate the world's darkest night of history. Oh, beloved, you know I've got to say this. I'm glad I'm saved. I have never appreciated my salvation so much as in late months and years, the imminent return of the Lord Jesus is upon us, and the awful day of judgment is near for a godless, sin-loving, Christ-rejecting world.

And the forces of light and darkness have been battling throughout the centuries of human history, and millenniums. But when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, the night will be over, blessed be his name, and light will emerge after all the failures of human history, and of human hearts and minds, and he will be the victor.

The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings, and what a day when the sun of righteousness arises, and his beam of light will cover and fill the earth. And it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light.

His power and guilt just take hold of the soul and heart, and one longs to be delivered. Then may I say that it is when the soul is under the conviction of the power of the Holy Spirit, convicted of sin, it is near the light.

For when that soul that is in the darkness of sin and unbelief acknowledges the condition to that blessed Saviour, the light of that blessed glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ can shine into the heart when that heart believes that he is the Saviour who can take away the sin and the guilt.

Beloved, I wish there were more souls going through the darkness of sin's conviction. They get nearer to the light. And every one of us who have tasted that experience rejoice that when we were brought face to face with the darkness of our sin, the blackness of our guilt, the doom of our soul and eternal hell, and it seemed there was none that could deliver us.

And we turned in supplication for him whose mercy ever remains the same, and we turned to the Lord. Beloved, it turned from darkness to light. Hallelujah. Once I was blind, but now I can see the light of the world is Jesus.

And now, beloved, look, that's the transformation and the deliverance of a soul. This is going to be the transformation and the deliverance of Israel and the whole world when that blessed one comes and at evening time it shall be light.

Physical Restoration in the Millennial Kingdom

Now note verses 8 through 11. After the unnatural day of gloom and its deliverance, you'll find verses 8 through 11 telling us of the blessings, the literal, physical blessings of the land. There will be great physical changes in Israel.

May I repeat that statement? Oh, I wanted to grasp the fact. There will be great physical changes in Israel. And the position of Jerusalem will be greatly altered as well as transformed. Go with me to Isaiah chapter 30 if you please.

The prophecy of Isaiah. May I read two verses in chapter 30 of the prophecy of Isaiah. Verses 25 and verse 26. I want you to note something regarding the physical changes in the millennial land. And many other things could be mentioned beside this.

Reading Isaiah 30 verse 25 and 26. There shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall. Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun.

And the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound. Did you ever read the 121st Psalm?

Did you ever note the expression that the moon shall not smite thee by night, the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night? When did you ever find the moon affecting you physically at night?

Never. But in the millennial day, the physical changes. Now don't you ask me to explain it biologically or in any other practical way. There are changes to take place. Physical changes throughout all the earth.

Literally and humanly in that coming glory. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun. You would like that tonight. And the sun shining in sevenfold brilliancy. My beloved, if I may just briefly state, you regrow with me.

And you have the deliverance of a groaning creation. And in that day of deliverance, what a day it will be, which I believe will go back to the endemic beauty and glory that was in the garden of Eden.

And the earth will be blessed, abundantly blessed. Oh, thank God the earth is going to know the blessings of Jehovah in a most unusual way. But go back to our chapter. I want you to note the special way that is mentioned, the change in that coming day.

Living Waters Flowing From Jerusalem

In verse 8, and that shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem. Now may I pause to give you this clue. Read the 47th chapter of Ezekiel, and the first 10 or 12 verses. And you will find that living waters are going to flow from the south side of the altar of the Millennial Temple.

Ezekiel saw them in his vision. They came to his ankle. They came ultimately to his knees. Then they came to his thigh. And then they became more so great that he had to swim in them. Significant of the blessing of that Millennial day when the Lord shall make the physical changes in Israel.

And here we have it, that those living waters shall go out from Jerusalem. Now please mark this. This is not rain coming down from heaven. No. This is living waters coming out of the earth. As you read in Ezekiel 47 from under the south side of the altar.

God sends these living waters. Living waters! And those waters flow. Half of them to the foremost sea, half of them to all the hindered sea, the Mediterranean on one side, and the salt sea as it was called by the Hebrews.

We know it as the Dead Sea on the other. Read Ezekiel again and you'll find those waters bringing life as well as removing death from the waters of the Dead Sea. And fish and the blessing of God will be manifested in the trees that grow on the banks thereof.

Beloved, you know just recently over in Israel I was amazed at the transformation. But that transformation is nothing. In contrast to what yet will be when the Lord returns. Or read verse 10. Or read verse 9.

Let's not omit that. But please note the end of verse 8. That living water with its blessing is going to go on all year round. In summer and in winter it shall be. Beloved, you know as well as I do that in the land of Israel in winter time they get their rain.

In summer time they have their drought. But when the living waters flow in winter and in summer they will be unfailing. Hallelujah. You know I'm glad I'm saying. I'll tell you why. Jesus said when he was here on the earth in John 7 .37.

If any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink. For as the scripture has said, he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And that blessed one declared, the water that I shall give him shall indeed be living waters.

For out of his inner being shall flow rivers of living water. And this saith he of the Spirit which should come. And my beloved, you know I'm glad I don't have to wait for the millennium to get the living waters.

Hallelujah. The living waters of divine blessing. I want to give you a thought. Oh that we could drink it in. I feel ashamed of myself. I confess with humiliation I do not appreciate the blessings that God has given me in Christ by his Spirit even today.

But may I say that I fully believe that the millennial blessings of that coming day, not literally but spiritually, should be enjoyed by the believer in this day. Absolutely. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings.

And my beloved believer, let me say to you, your heart and mind, your life and mine should be a channel of rivers of living water. I wonder if you've even got a trickle. Oh my beloved, I want to say, I'm glad I'm saved now.

I'm glad I don't have to wait for the millennium to get some living water. Hallelujah. Rivers of living water. Literally it will flow in that day, as well as spiritually, and though the context here is definitely literal.

Thank God you and I, my fellow believer, we have blessings that come down from above, from our risen glorified Lord to whom we are linked by the Spirit flowing. And through you and through me, those rivers of living water are to flow.

May I say, keep the channel clean. Rivers. Rivers. My beloved, can I ask, oh my own heart is yours, does anyone get a drink of living water from you and me? Does a thirsty soul find the living waters that you and I can reach out and show them and reveal to them?

My, in that day we all will be able literally to drink with our precious together heaven millennium. And now says the Lord as he goes on, verse 9, the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, one king, and his name one.

Just one. Blessed be his name. Jehovah the perfect king. Jehovah and the extent of his rule will be over all the earth known. One king, and our Lord Jesus will be king over all the earth. And what a day of glory that will be when he shall be king over all the earth.

Jerusalem Exalted as the World Capital

And all the land shall be turned as a plain from Jeba to Rimeh, south of Jerusalem. If Jerusalem shall be lifted up, inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, from the tower of Hananiel unto the king's winepresses.

Oh, let me say just briefly, that upon her own mound, her own temple, when you go to the biblical lands and the oriental lands, there are many places where cities have been built upon cities. And they've indeed piled upon each other until there's a tell, as they call it, a mount, and under that tell, when they thus excavate, they find the remains of civilizations past.

Now God is indicating, I'm going to lift up Jerusalem upon her own mound or tell, and Jerusalem will be lifted up high above the nations of the earth as the metropolis of the world. And the glory of Jerusalem will thus be known and seen by all.

And not only that, they that dwell in it, in verse 11, they will never again face destruction, for they will be safely inhabiting that wonderful city. I say this lovingly and earnestly, it will be a wonderful day for God's earthly people when never again their city shall be destroyed.

Divine Judgment on the Nations

Now go back, go on to verse 12, and we have again the spirit of God going back to the nations, telling how he destroys them in that day. This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem.

And note the supernatural destruction. Their feet, divine supernatural destruction. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet. Their eyes shall consume away in their holes. Their tongues shall consume away in their mouths.

Now beloved, you can read that verse, you can think of all kinds of warfare, chemical warfare, biological warfare, any kind. But this is divine. This is the hand of God in judgment as the plague smites them.

As it smites them while they stand upon their feet, their flesh consumes away, deteriorates. Their eyes consume away in their holes. Their tongues, with which they have cursed God, will consume away in their mouths.