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Zechariah 14 (ESV)

The Coming Day of the Lord

1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. ² For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ³ Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. ⁵ And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

⁶ On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. ⁷ And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.

⁸ On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

REFLECTION:

• This chapter focuses on the themes of “Battle – Victory” and “Coming of the Lord”, describing what will happen in the “Day of the Lord”: 1. Jerusalem will experience a cruel captivity (1-2); 2. During the calamity, God Himself will come to be the salvation of the chosen people (3-8). God chose the Mount of Olives as the place of His coming; the appearance of God brought about an extraordinary change in the universe (4-7).
• On the Mount of Olives (4), Jesus spoke to His disciples about the end times (see Matthew 24). Also near this mountain, the angel had promised: “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11; cf. Ezekiel 11:23).
• The day of the Lord is a day of judgment and a day of grace. The description of the coming of the Lord in this chapter (3-11) is the culmination of the whole Book of Zechariah. The one and only, holy and peaceful King will come among all the peoples of the earth, fearful (3-11) and also approachable (16-17). The proper response of the people is “be holy to the Lord of hosts” (21).
• The eastern sea and the western sea (8) refer to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea respectively.
• Reading the Bible keeps us inspired to look to the day of the Lord (1). What would you do if you knew exactly when it was the Day of the Lord? Would you live a different life? Christ will come back at any time, and we must study the Bible carefully, live firmly in His will, and be ready in obedience and in our spiritual life for His return.

PRAYER:

Dear God! Today’s world is full of natural and man-made disasters, people are corrupted morally, and there are wars and rumors of wars. All kinds of signs tell me that the day of the Lord Jesus’ return is near. Please help me to be vigilant at all times, to be rooted in the Words of the Lord, to obey God’s will, and to welcome the Lord’s return. Come, Lord Jesus!

HYMN:

Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me – youtu.be/DDrXNHjLK0E