ZECHARIAH: GOD’S PRESENT DIRECTIVES AND FUTURE HOPE

XX: God’s Physical Deliverance Of Israel At Armageddon

(Zechariah 12:1-9)

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 12:1-9 predicts God’s physical deliverance of Israel at the Battle of Armageddon, and we view the passage for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. God’s Physical Deliverance Of Israel At Armageddon, Zechariah 12:1-9.

A. When Zechariah ministered in Israel, she was still under powerful Gentile rule, so predictions of Israel’s final victory over all Gentile oppressors was a challenge for Israel’s people to believe just as such victory for Israel over Gentiles at Christ’s Coming is easily disbelieved today, Merrill F. Unger, Zechariah, 1974, p. 208.

B. In thus preparing to give that message, God emphasized His divine inspiration and authority of that prophecy:

1. God first emphasized His divine inspiration of this prophecy, Zechariah 12:1a,b:

a. This oracle is a “burden of the word of the Lord,” with the word “burden” (massa’) indicating “a divine message freighted with woe and judgment . . . which may also contain important and weighty promises of deliverance and blessing after the cleansing judgments it contains are passed through . . . ,” Ibid., p. 207.

b. By the phrase “Word of the Lord” coupled with “saith” (KJV) or “utterance” (ne’um) of the Lord, what refers to “the ‘utterance’ or ‘revelation’ of a prophet in the inspired state (Num. 24:3, 15; 2 Sam. 23:1),” God emphatically implied that what was about to be communicated was His divinely inspired Word, Ibid.

2. God then emphasized His divine authority of this prophecy, Zechariah 12:1c,d,e:

a. The Creator God of the heavens and the earth, that is, of the entire universe, was giving this oracle, v. 1c,d:

i. The phrase “Who stretches out the heavens” claims God’s authority over the heavens, Ibid., p. 208.

ii. The phrase, “and lays the foundation of the earth” claims God’s authority over the earth, Ibid.

b. The phrase, “and forms the spirit of man within him” claims God’s “sovereign operation in human affairs,” including His sovereignty over every Gentile and Hebrew on earth at Christ’s coming, Ibid.; v. 1e.

C. God then gave the oracle of His physical deliverance of Israel from her Gentile foes at Armageddon, v. 2-9:

1. God emphatically declared that “I Myself” (emphatic pronoun ‘anochi, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 969) would make Jerusalem a goblet of intoxication to the Gentiles who attacked her, making the attackers of the city like men “greedily draining a wine goblet in pleasure but in the end finding themselves helplessly drunk and unable to take the coveted prize,” Zechariah 12;2a; Ibid., Unger, p. 208-209.

2. The lowly people out in the Judaean countryside would also be protected by the Lord like those within the fortified walls of Jerusalem, with God making all of His people a “cup of reeling,” Zechariah 12:2b.

3. God would also make Jerusalem like a heavy stone used in weight-lifting contests, where those trying to lift it would “grievously injure themselves (niphal reflexive) or ‘be grievously injured’ (niphal passive),” Zechariah 12:3a; Ibid., p. 209. The verb “injure” (sarat) appears in the infinitive absolute, intensifying the initial verbal idea of “making incisions” so that in union with the idea of lifting a heavy stone, it means “to rupture oneself, suffer sprains or dislocations” or “tear themselves to pieces,” Ibid.; Zechariah 12:3b.

4. The enemy soldiers will be struck with insanity and terror and their horses with terrifying blindness, causing these forces to be self-destructive in a huge military disaster, Zechariah 12:4; Ibid., p. 210.

5. Judah’s leaders and Jerusalem’s people will truly trust in God for the strength to fight, and God will cause them to destroy all their foes, Zech. 12:5-6; Ibid., p. 211. God will save Judah’s lowly people first that the house of David not become proud over these people with the Lord making even feeble Hebrews like David in battle and the house of David like the Angel of the Lord because of God’s blessing His people (v. 7-8); Ibid., 211-212. God will make it His aim to destroy all of Jerusalem’s attackers, v. 9; Ibid., p. 213-214.

Lesson: At Armageddon, God will sovereignly cause Israel to be completely victorious over all of her Gentile foes.

Application: (1) May we bless and not curse the Hebrew people, for the Abrahamic Covenant is still in force, and it will be fully applied at Christ’s Second Coming, cf. Genesis 12:1-3. (2) If we believers in Christ today are right with God, He will also give us victory over those who oppose our fulfilling His will for us in life and service.