Part 7 (1/2)
_Verse 1._ ”Behold a day cometh for Jehovah when thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.”
The time when this prophecy will be enacted is here given. A day is coming for Jehovah. Now it is man's day and G.o.d keeps silence, but His day, the day of Jehovah, is coming and will be a day of manifestation, glory, and power. ”That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zeph.
i: 15). ”Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants in the land tremble, for the day of Jehovah cometh, it is nigh at hand” (Joel ii: 1). ”There shall be a day of the Lord upon all that is proud and haughty” (Isa. ii:4). The great tribulation is about past, and now when Jerusalem is not alone besieged but taken, the spoil being divided by the victors in the midst of the city, and when the enemy seems to have succeeded, then the day for Jehovah will come and He will roar out of the heavens.
_Verse 2._ ”I will gather all nations against Jerusalem for battle, And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women shall be ravished, And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off.”
This puts before us the last scenes of the times of the Gentiles, the great conflict which in Daniel and other prophecies is likewise described. There are difficulties, especially in regard to Antichrist. If he is then in Jerusalem, and sitting in the temple, wors.h.i.+pped as G.o.d, having complete control of Jerusalem, how can he be the leader of the hostile armies of the nations which come against Jerusalem? It is nowhere said that Antichrist is to have this place in the temple for any length of time. We likewise do not know the exact time when he will thus be wors.h.i.+pped. He hears while away from the land of the appearing of the two witnesses in Jerusalem, their success in preaching, and that many Jews become believers in Him who is the Hope of Israel. He invades the land, takes the city, and slays the witnesses. The armies of the nations are a.s.sociated with him.
Daniel gives the history of these events. (Daniel xi.)
The armies which gather against Jerusalem in that day are the armies of the confederation of nations, sprung out of the territory of the old Roman Empire. It was stated not long ago from post-millennial sides that this in itself was beyond belief. How could it be possible that the progress of civilization could be arrested to such an extent, that the nations of Christendom would unite to march up against the Holy City? The Gospel leaven (?) was at work as never before, and it would be impossible that these nations who will become more and more thus leavened could be occupied with such a campaign.
This indeed is the thought of man, but the word of G.o.d speaks in an entirely different language. True the leaven is at work, but truth is not leaven, but leaven is evil. We must not forget that Jehovah Himself says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem.
Much reminds us here in chapter xiv of Egypt, and we shall have to refer a number of times to the story of Israel's deliverance from the house of bondage. Pharaoh, though he had witnessed the judgments of G.o.d upon his own land, tribulation and wrath, yet he rushed on in blindness to his doom. So it will be once more with the antisemitic nations. Blinded they will be, though they have also witnessed tribulation and wrath. Perhaps special commercial and financial as well as political interests are at stake, and will be the causes of the campaign against the land and the city. Joel iii speaks of this gathering of nations: ”Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Mult.i.tudes, mult.i.tudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their s.h.i.+ning. And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.”
The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is to be considered in connection with the last chapter in Zechariah, for it relates to the same events. Some take Matthew xxiv as having been in part fulfilled, others as being now fulfilled. Both are incorrect. The chapter will be fulfilled after the church is taken from the earth to be with the Lord in the air. ”Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled, for these things must needs come to pa.s.s; the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are the beginning of trouble. Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake.” . . . All this is predictive of the great tribulation. The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew makes it clear that there will be a Jewish-Christian remnant--not church--in the land, and a testimony will be given by them. (See verse 14 and compare with Revelation xiv: 6, 7.) Neither Zechariah xiv nor Matthew xxiv has seen a fulfillment. Jerusalem has never been besieged by all nations, nor was only a part of the people destroyed in its last siege by t.i.tus.
_Verse 3._ ”Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those nations, As when He fought in the day of battle.”
The hour of their extremity has come and this brings the intervention. The great tribulation in its beginning found a good part of the Jewish people restored in unbelief in the land. Jerusalem had become again a Jewish city, and a temple stands in the city. The tribulation ends with Jerusalem taken, ruin once more, terrible slaughter and suffering, and in the midst a remnant hopeful, waiting for salvation from above. When there seems to be no escape Jehovah will appear and fight against those nations. The heavens will be opened and Jehovah's glory and power manifested. It will be as it was in the day of battle.
”And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt and he pursued after the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went out with an high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharoah and his horse-men, and his army overtook them encamping by the sea. . . And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord . . . And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you to-day. . . The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. . . And it came to pa.s.s in the morning watch that the Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians. . . . The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. . . . There remained not so much as one of them.” (Exodus xiv.) ”Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehosaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear not ye, neither be ye dismayed by reason of this great mult.i.tude; for the battle is not yours, but G.o.d's. Ye shall not fight in this battle, set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you”
(2 Chronicles xx: 15-17). These are only two samples of what Jehovah will do in His day and how He will save His people. In Matthew xxiv we find the intervention in the twenty-seventh verse, ”For as the lightning cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.”
_Verse 4._ ”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 be parted in the middle, Toward the east and toward the west, a great valley, And half of the mountain shall be removed northward And the other half southward.”
The east, the place where the sun rises, is made prominent in this manifestation. From the east to the west the lightning flashes, thus shall be the coming of the Son of Man.
”G.o.d cometh from Teman, And the holy One from Paran His splendor covereth the heavens, And the earth is full of His glory” (Habbak. iii).
Teman is the country of the sons of the east, and Paran the desert region extending from the frontiers of Judah to the borders of Sinai.
But there towards the east from Jerusalem stands a mountain. It overlooks the whole city, and right in front, there is the valley of Jehosaphat, the valley where the nations are a.s.sembled (Joel iii).
What a view from this mountain top! There is the city, and its burning ruins are seen, there are the camps of the nations, with their banners and cannons gathered now in fear and in trembling, for the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Immediately after the tribulation of these days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon . .
. and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens.
And now He Himself has descended from the heavens. His blessed feet stand again upon the Mount of Olives. He stands upon the mountain, and perhaps on the very spot where He stood centuries, many centuries, before, after His pa.s.sion and His resurrection when He blest His disciples and had been removed from them with outstretched arms. There stood the two heavenly visitors in that day with their message, ”Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking into heaven?
This Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.” A long, long time past. Has He forgotten His promise? No, the hour had not come. But men disbelieved the word of promise, I will come again. ”And in the last days mockers came with mockery, walking after their own l.u.s.ts, saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the days that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter ii: 3, 4). But now the Lord has come. He, the Son of Man, in His glory, is seen plainly from the city and from the valley, and with Him the heavenly company, His saints.
The moment His feet touch the Mount of Olives there is an earthquake which splits the mountain into two halves, and a great valley is formed between these two parts. ”The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein” (Nahum i: 5). As in the day of battle when the Egyptian hosts were destroyed and He divided the sea, thus will He divide the mountain and make a way for His trusting people,
_Verse 5._ ”And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains, For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; Ye shall flee as you fled before the earthquake, In the days of Uzziah, King of Judah: And Jehovah my G.o.d shall come, And all the saints with Thee!”
The valley is the way by which the remnant will flee from the city.
The earthquake is mentioned only in another pa.s.sage in the prophets.
Amos received the words of the Lord and the visions two years before the earthquake. The details of the earthquake are not mentioned.
Perhaps the pious in the city, the Messiah-expecting Jews, hoped then that the Promised One would appear, and they fled from the city. It was during the reign of Uzziah (Jehovah is strength) that it happened.
Jehovah who shall come refers us back to the fourth verse, where He stands upon the Mount. Here He is seen not alone in His manifestation, but His saints are with Him. It is an exclamation of joyous surprise, All the saints with Thee! There above the Mount of Olives a startling picture is seen. Countless human beings, glorified, gathered out of all languages, nations, tribes and countries, great and small, in white and s.h.i.+ning robes, are seen flowing down from the opened heaven. What mult.i.tudes! No man can count them. What light and what glory! Brighter than the noonday sun.
And, oh! what hallelujahs, what wonderful singing in joy and praise and adoration! When the shepherds were on the fields near Bethlehem they heard the angels' song, but when He comes again there will be singing and rejoicing, grander still. Then it will be indeed, Glory to G.o.d in the highest, Peace on earth, good will towards men. The singing of the redeemed will be heard. The mighty angels will not be silent in their wake, and all the armies of heaven will escort the King of kings and Lord of lords upon white horses. What a scene in view of the places where He once suffered and died, and beheld by the nations and Israel!
And every saint will share His glory then. Oh, wonderful grace for redeemed sinners, which lifts them up to such glory, to come with the Son of Man in His glory, and to share His throne. Why is there now so little praise with His own, His redeemed ones? Why so often coldness?
Perhaps if we would gaze more into these visions of glory it would be different, and there would be not only praise but in all the wilderness experiences joy and patience, the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus He, our Lord, the Leader and Perfecter of faith, went through this life. ”Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of G.o.d.” And when the Lord comes with His saints the remnant of Israel leaving the city will not be silent. Their song will be, ”Lo, He is our G.o.d; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest” (Isaiah xxv: 9).