Zechariah 12:9

Zechariah 12:9

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

1. Immediately before the second coming of Christ many nations will come against Jerusalem in war.

a. Zechariah 12:2, 3 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered against it.”

b. It is called the day of Jacob’s trouble: Jeremiah 30:7, “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”

1). Two thirds of the Jewish population within Israel will be slain. Zechariah 13:8, 9 “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”

2) Isaiah 10:20-23 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but s hall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of the land.”

a. The remnant spoken of in this passage consists not only of those who are left when Jesus returns, it also consists of those Jews that have accepted Jesus as their Messiah during the 2000 years since his resurrection. The Apostle Paul was referring to both of these groups of believers in Romans 9:27-28.

* “Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”

* It is for this reason that Isaiah 4:3 refers to “…he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem,…”

2). He shall be saved out of it because the Battle of Armageddon at the second coming of Christ will be the response from heaven.

3). Joel 3:16, 17 “The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

4). Isaiah 31:4 “For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them; so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.”

c. It is mentioned in Scriptures such as Joel 3:12, 13. “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great!”

1). Unger’s Bible Dictionary: “Valley of Jehoshaphat, the name given to the valley situated between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, which in modern times had been used by the Jews as a burying ground.”

d. Revelation 14:18- 20 “And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and the blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”

1). Cp. Jeremiah 25:30-33; Isaiah 63:1-6; Revelation 19:11-16;

2. Ever since the nation of Israel was reestablished in 1948, one or more Arab nations have sought to destroy it and probably always with the help of Russia. Even now the United States, Russia, the European Union and others are trying to establish a Palestinian State within the land of Israel. Because of that I believe that any nation that tries to divide Israel’s land are putting themselves under a curse and judgment.

a. Joel 3:2 “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”