The Prophecy of Zechariah – Part 10: Prophet of the Holocaust
The Prophecy of Zechariah – Part 10: Prophet of the Holocaust
This will be the tenth and final segment of our presentation of the prophecy of Zechariah. We will not attempt to summarize what we have seen thus far in its entirety, but we shall mention that throughout the entire book of the prophet it is fully evident that Zechariah’s writing not only contains prophecies which allude to Christ, but rather, in every way he is a Messianic prophet. In his opening chapters his writings employ the two chief figures of the Jerusalem of his time, Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, as types for Christ in order to make prophecies concerning both Christ and the nature of His enemies and other aspects of His earthly ministry, and many other similar prophecies concerning Christ are found throughout the subsequent chapters.
It should also be evident that, aside from the coming of the Messiah, a primary subject of Zechariah’s prophecy is the tribes of Israel in their captivity. And aside from statements here and there which may pertain to the 70-weeks Kingdom in part, the Jerusalem of Zechariah is representative of the people of Israel spread abroad in their captivity. Zechariah frequently spoke of these people as they had already been scattered, also promising that they would greatly increase in their numbers, and fully inferring that these things were indeed accomplished by his own time, as he often used the past tense in relation to those people who had been taken away by the Assyrians and the captivity of Egypt (Zechariah 10:8). None of these prophecies have anything to do with the people now called Jews, although Jews are mentioned at the very end of the book.
Additionally, in chapter 11 of this prophecy, we are informed through the prophet that Yahweh God had broken the covenant which He had made with the people. Of course, the people had already broken the covenant with Him, which was noticed in the words of the earlier prophets, and for that reason was He compelled to break the covenant with them. However the breaking of the covenant was ultimately accomplished in Yahshua Christ, as Paul had much later explained in Romans chapter 7. So this is also a Messianic prophecy, as we saw Zechariah describe in his own words in that chapter as he related the broken covenant to the thirty pieces of silver for which Christ had been betrayed.
But in any event, and in spite of the fact that the Jews deny Christ, in Zechariah chapter 11 it is evident that from that time there is no Biblical foundation whatsoever for what was later known as Judaism. In the words of the God of the Old Testament Himself, there is no longer a testament to stand on, unless it be with Christ as the New Covenant was also a promise of the Old. So the enemies of Christ may deny Him all that they want, but they cannot rightfully claim to be under a covenant that Yahweh God Himself had pronounced was broken.
Zechariah had written the latter parts of this prophecy around 518 BC as the rebuilding of the old city of Jerusalem is commencing, beginning with the temple itself. In chapter 12, the prophet describes “all the people of the earth” as coming against Jerusalem, and how Jerusalem is defended by Yahweh God and is ultimately victorious over all nations, who in turn are all destroyed. But the Jerusalem which was about to be rebuilt in Zechariah’s time was itself destroyed for good in 70 AD. Christ had pronounced that it would be left desolate, and the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, informs us that it is the descendants of Esau who would return to rebuild those desolate places. So we see the Edomite Jews in Palestine today, and the city which they call Jerusalem is not the Jerusalem of Yahweh God of Israel. It certainly was not the Jerusalem of Zechariah’s prophecy, and it is not the Jerusalem which God promised to defend.
So in these closing chapters, once again it is evident that the prophetic Jerusalem is a facet of the people of God spread abroad, and this prophecy has nothing to do with the city in Palestine. Rather, chapters 12 and 13 of Zechariah are suggestive of the spread of the Gospel, and are also a foreshadow of the Revelation of Christ in regards to the Second Advent and the final destruction of the enemies of God which is also described in many of the other Biblical prophecies.
Zechariah chapter 12 describes the mourning of the people of Israel, and especially the rulers, which are the shepherd tribes of Judah and Levi, as they recognize their sins once they “look upon me whom they have pierced”, which is another Messianic prophecy. But the act of looking upon Him whom they had pierced may be fulfilled allegorically, and not necessarily in the literal sense, as men recognize the truth of the Gospel of Christ. The prophet then describes that “the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God”, and there we see an indication that in the last days, the hearts of the shepherds shall finally be turned to the interests of the sheep. A similar passage, but of broader scope, is found in relation to the same children of Israel in the very last verse of the prophet Malachi.
In Zechariah chapter 13 we see yet another multidimensional Messianic prophecy, and the underlying message is for us quite significant. We are informed that the day is coming when there would be no prophets, and that those who would prophecy are false prophets whom even their own parents would seek to kill. Then we are told that those who would prophesy would be shepherds instead. And then, in yet another Messianic prophecy, we are told that those shepherds would bear the marks of Christ, who was wounded in the house of His friends. Paul of Tarsus elucidates this interpretation for us where he said to the Galatians “for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”, where it is evident that he is speaking allegorically because he carried the Gospel of Christ. As it says in Revelation 19:10, “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” So there are no legitimate prophets of God outside of those who bear the testimony of Christ, and the prophet Zechariah taught that same thing in the prophecy of this chapter.
But then the prophecies in that same chapter turn rather ominous, where it describes the smiting of the shepherd and the scattering and punishment of the sheep, and we also see a multidimensional aspect to this oracle. The smiting of the shepherd is in one sense a Messianic prophecy referring to the First Advent of the Christ. But seeing that the overall prophecy of Zechariah in these chapters is also related to the time when all of the other nations are gathered against Judah and Jerusalem, it may also refer to the fall of the Key of David, the administration of the shepherds of Israel, which is prophesied by the prophet Isaiah (chapter 22) and which also seems as though it shall occur in these last days.
Therefore Zechariah chapter 13 ends with a warning of the punishments of Yahweh God carried out on the sheep of His pasture, who are the children of Israel scattered abroad, and this last chapter of Zechariah continues in relation to that same thing. Once again, we should note that the chapter division does not interrupt the context of the words of the prophet. The context and topic of the prophecy has not changed since the beginning of chapter 12.
With this, we shall commence with Zechariah chapter 14:
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 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.
The reference to the “day of the Lord” is that same day foreseen throughout many of the prophets, the “great and the terrible day of the LORD” mentioned in Joel chapter 2, and the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” mentioned in Revelation chapter 16, where the kings of the earth are gathered to battle against Christ and His people.
In the patterns of the sin and punishment of the children of Israel in the Old Testament, the children of Israel were carried off into sin, and Yahweh raised up one of the surrounding nations to punish them in oppression. Then when the children of Israel repented in their punishment, Yahweh raised up a leader to throw off the yoke of their oppressors, punishing those nations in turn. This basic pattern repeats itself until the Israelites are carried off into captivity, and then even the Assyrians and Babylonians were punished in turn, as well as asll the other nations which had at one time or another oppressed the ancient Israelites.
In the interim, the Israelites in their captivities grew into great nations and multitudes of nations, and those nations returned to their God in Christ in spite of the fact that they themselves were not cognizant of their original identity (as the Scripture portrays their God as saying, Who is blind, but My servant?), and now in these last days they have once again fallen into apostasy in sin. So the innocent woman representing Israel which was taken of into the desert to be nourished with the Gospel, as John describes in Revelation chapter 12 and as Zechariah described the woman in the ephah here in chapter 5, becomes a whore joined to the beast, which John describes in Revelation chapter 17 where he is taken back ino the desert to see the woman.
Consequently we see another pattern in the prophets, in places such as Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 and in Revelation chapter 20 as well as here in Zechariah, that in the last days the children of Israel would be oppressed by all of the other peoples of the earth. In Ezekiel, these other peoples swarm into the “mountains of Israel” like a storm to cover the land in order to take a spoil, just as we see here in the opening verse of this chapter that “thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.” In the Revelation we see the same event described a little differently, where it is said that Satan would go out to gather all the other peoples of the earth against the “camp of the saints”, “the beloved city”, which is also that same prophetic Jerusalem described here in Zechariah.
Here in Zechariah Yahweh informs us that it is He who gathers all nations against Jerusalem, which is also evident in Ezekiel where Yahweh informs us that it is He who will “put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army”, speaking to Gog of the land of Magog. But in Revelation chapter 20 it is Satan who goes out to deceive the nations into compassing the camp of the saints. So just as the Assyrians were the rod of Yahweh’s anger against Israel in ancient times (Isaiah 10:5), and they were ultimately destroyed in turn (Isaiah 10:12), in these last days the synagogue of Satan is presently being employed to punish the children of Israel, and Satan shall be destroyed in turn.
This chapter of Zechariah is another parallelism, describing things which were already described in Zechariah chapter 12 where, for example, the Word of Yahweh says in verses 2 and 3 that “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 for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” So the gathering of the nations against the Jerusalem of Yahweh is described in one way in Zechariah chapters 12 and 13, and then the same events are described in another way here in Zechariah chapter 14, where different aspects of those events are illustrated by the prophet. That is the purpose of such a parallelism.
Where in Zechariah chapter 12 it is evident that the rulers of the people have caused the tribes of Israel to be divided against one another, and that they had not acted on behalf of the people, even turning their backs on their God, we are informed in spite of those things that there would be mercy and deliverance. However that mercy and deliverance would not be without trial, which is indicated at the end of chapter 13 where it says “8 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. 9 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.”
There are other prophecies, such as in Daniel chapter 8 or Revelation chapter 8, where a third part of men were prophesied to be destroyed, the stars of God cast to the ground, which represents the children of Israel, which seem to represent the judgment of Yahweh unfolding as a process, so ostensibly this prophecy in Zechariah is also meant to describe a part of that same process. So where it says that a third of the people of Yahweh shall survive, perhaps the number is close to being whittled down to that figure.
Going back to the final passage of chapter 13, we read “9 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.” So it is clear from the words of the prophet that in the end, those of the children of Israel which survive the trials of this age are those who turn to their God through Yahshua Christ. In fact, the passage is reminiscent of the final verses of Hosea chapter 2, after Israel had been divorced, where the betrothal of Israel promised in Christ is also described. That does not mean that in the end of days some of these people won’t die, even of natural causes. But those who do survive will indeed have turned to Him. For that same reason, Paul of Tarsus wrote in his epistle to the Philippians urging them to “14 Do all things apart from murmuring and disputing, 15 that you would be perfect and with unmixed blood, blameless children of Yahweh in the midst of a race crooked and perverted - among whom you appear as luminaries in the Society, 16 upholding the Word of Life for a boast with me in the day of Christ, that not in vain have I run nor in vain have I labored.”
So where it says at the end of verse 2 here that even with this trial “the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city”, perhaps we see a promise of hope, that the remnant of the people of Yahweh shall maintain some sense of Christian community. This would accord with the commandment of Christ, that Christians love one another and keep His commandments, and that in that manner both He and the Father would come to them and dwell with them (John 14:21-23). This would also correspond with the final clause of the prophecy of Malachi, where in another corresponding prophecy it says “5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” So we see that the message of Elijah the prophet must go out to the children of Israel before the trials of the children of Israel are brought to an end. Perhaps that is how “the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
Currently, the hordes of Satan have flooded into every White Christian nation. The wives and daughters of White Christians are indeed being ravished by aliens. The houses are indeed being looted and pillaged, if not literally, then by the oppressive government taxes which have been imposed mostly for the support of those same aliens. So we do not need to see a literal fulfillment of this prophecy, in the sense of what had happened in ancient times when a city was taken by an invading army. Yet every aspect of this prophecy, and the one in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 as well as in Revelation chapter 20, is being fulfilled today even without the force of arms. But at the same time, we cannot rule out the possibility that before it is all over, it will escalate even further and there will be a force of arms.
However the Scripture always promises the hope in God which is held out to the children of Israel:
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
The phrase “as when he fought in the day of battle” seems to invoke a recollection of the ancient wars against the Canaanites, in which the Israelites with the help of their God were victorious against nations much greater than themselves.
Here we have a promise which corresponds to the promised deliverance in Christ which is depicted in Revelation chapter 19, following the forthcoming fall of Mystery Babylon: “11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”
Subsequently, that chapter of the Revelation depicts the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, where Christ takes the children of Israel as His bride, where it is necessary that they have clean white wedding garments, and all of the other nations - who are His enemies - are forever destroyed. The same picture is drawn in the corresponding prophecy found in Ezekiel chapter 39, using somewhat similar terms where Yahweh says to the hordes of Gog and Magog: “3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the nations [the nations of Israel] shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.”
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 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 remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Just about 550 years after Zechariah had written this passage, Yahshua Christ stood on the Mount of Olives and cited from this very portion of Zechariah’s prophecy, where it is written in Mark chapter 14: “26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.”
Zechariah’s prophecy here is not in reference to the literal Jerusalem, so we cannot expect the reference to the Mount of Olives to be literal. Yet the Mount of Olives is a significant feature in the Gospel. Christ had often taught His disciples in the Mount of Olives (John 8). It is the place from where He initiated His triumphant ride on the foal of an ass, as the rightful King coming into the gates of Jerusalem (Matthew 21, Luke 18). It is also the place where Christ gave His famous discourse in reference to the time of the end which is recorded in three of the Gospel accounts (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). It is also the place to which He resorted in prayer each evening, after teaching in the temple each day during the closing weeks of His ministry (Luke 21:37). Finally, it was the place where the garden of Gethsemane was located (Matthew 26, Mark 14, John 18), where Christ was seized by the Judaeans and taken to His final earthly trial.
The Mount of Olives is more significant in other ways. First, the only occasions where it is called by that name in the Old Testament are here in Zechariah, which in its totality is indeed a Messianic prophecy relating to Yahshua Christ, and again in 2 Samuel 15:30 where it is called Olivet in the King James Version, where David went up to weep after his son Absalom had conspired against him. Perhaps this foreshadows Christ weeping on the Mount of Olives, for the trials which He suffered because of the treachery of His Own children.
But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, as it is identified in Acts 1:12 it was the place of the ascension of the risen Christ. So it is only fitting that it is used symbolically for the return of Christ, as it says in Acts chapter 1 that “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” So the Mount of Olives figured prominently in the ministry of the Christ. It may also be said that the Mount of Olives is said to be 86 meters taller than the Temple Mount, and Christ is the only way to overcome the judgments of the Law which were executed from the temple.
With all of this, we can only deduce the following: Christ returns to stand upon the Mount of Olives allegorically, because the Mount of Olives here is a symbol of His Gospel, His ministry, and His ascension to heaven, as His Gospel is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven for His people. And just as the Gospel was the point of division between those who were His sheep and those who were not, here His allegorical return to the Mount of Olives also causes great division among the people.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: 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.
This is the same coming of the saints spoken of by Enoch, mentioned by Jude, and portrayed in Revelation chapter 19 as being in the company of the conquering Christ.
The name Azal is obscure, however the best estimation of its identity was first made by the French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, who in the 1870’s had identified it with the modern Arab place name of Wady Yasul, which is also apparent from the Septuagint, where the Greek rendering is Ιασολ, equivalent to Yasul. The Wadi Yasul is a river valley which joins with the Kidron Valley at the southern end of the Mount of Olives.
In Antiquities of the Judaeans, Book 9, Flavius Josephus wrote that “222 While Uzziah was in this state, and making preparation [for the future], he was corrupted in his mind by pride, and became insolent, and this on account of that abundance which he had of things that will soon perish, and despised that power which is of eternal duration (which consisted in piety toward God, and in the observation of the laws); 223 so he fell by occasion of the good success of his affairs, and was carried headlong into those sins of his father, which the splendour of that prosperity he enjoyed, and the glorious actions he had done, led him into, while he was not able to govern himself well about them. Accordingly, when a remarkable day was come, and a general festival was to be celebrated, he put on the holy garment, and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the golden altar, 224 which he was prohibited to do by Azariah the high priest, who had eighty priests with him, and who told him that it was not lawful for him to offer sacrifice, and that ‘none besides the posterity of Aaron were permitted so to do.’ And when they cried out, that he must go out of the temple, and not transgress against God, he was wroth at them, and threatened to kill them, unless they would hold their peace. 225 In the mean time, a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king's face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately; and before the city, at a place called Enrogel, half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself half a mile, and stood still at the east mountain, till the roads, as well as the king's gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction. 226 Now, as soon as the priests saw that the king's face was infected with leprosy, they told him of the calamity he was under, and commanded that he should go out of the city as a polluted person. Hereupon he was so confounded at the sad distemper, and sensible that he was not at liberty to oppose that, he did as he was commanded, and underwent this miserable and terrible punishment, for an intention beyond what befitted a man to have, and for that impiety against God which was implied therein. 227 So he abode out of the city for some time, and lived a private life, while his son Jotham took the government; after which he died with grief and anxiety at what had happened to him, when he had lived sixty-eight years, and reigned of them fifty-two; and was buried by himself in his own gardens.”
While the passages concerning Uzziah which are found in Scripture mention the incident with the priests and his having been smitten with leprosy, they do not mention any earthquake (2 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 26). Evidently Josephus was working from more complete copies of the Scriptures, something which is also evident in other places in his writings.
In the mid-1980’s, certain Jewish geologists (because at the present time Jews have full control over archaeology and geology in Palestine) found evidence supporting the occurrence of an earthquake and a landslide from the Mount of Olives into the valley now known as the Wadi Yasul, Zechariah’s Azal, where the King’s Gardens were located, substantiating the history of Josephus in that regard, and further supporting the identification of the Azal which is mentioned by Zechariah here in this passage.
Very shortly after the death of Uzziah, the Scriptures begin to describe the Assyrian invasions of Israel conducted by Tiglath-Pileser. Here in Zechariah, the subject of the statement “and ye shall flee” is ambiguous, but it is the enemies of the children of Israel who are the subject of the passage, and not the children of Israel themselves. Since we know little of Uzziah’s earthquake, it is uncertain whom the earthquake had affected, and perhaps it affected the enemies of the Israelites. But of course we may only offer that as a conjecture.
However the Septuagint provides an entirely different reading of the verse, which we prefer: “5 And the valley of my mountains shall be closed up, and the valley of the mountains shall be joined on to Jasod (Greek Ιασολ), and shall be blocked up as it was blocked up in the days of the earthquake, in the days of Ozias king of Juda; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him.” For this, we have no need to comment further.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 7 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. 8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters 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.
We have already seen how many of the prophecies of Zechariah foreshadow the words of Yahshua Christ found in the Revelation, and these may certainly be added to them. In the description of the City of God found in Revelation chapter 22, we read: “1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” A little earlier in that same description, in Revelation chapter 21, John wrote of the city: “22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.”
Of course, at the beginning of the description the city is depicted as the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, and on its gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, where we see that no one else shall ever be admitted into it. In the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis, there are two trees “in the midst of the garden”, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the Revelation, at the end there is only the Tree of Life. Therefore the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, represented in Genesis by the serpent, who is also Satan and the devil, must fall into the category of “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted” but which, “shall be rooted up.”
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
At the beginning of the sins of the children of Israel, as it is described in 1 Samuel chapter 8, the people demanded an earthly King. In the end, Yahweh shall once again be their King, in the person of the Lamb, Yahshua Christ. At that time all shall indeed know that Yahshua Christ and Yahweh God are One, as Christ Himself had professed. Therefore He is described as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” in Revelation chapters 17 and 19, and by Paul of Tarsus in 1 Timothy chapter 6.
There shall be one Lord: here in Zechariah chapter 13, which is also related to this prophecy, as we have illustrated, we read that “... it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered...” In Micah chapter 4, another prophecy corresponding speaking of “that day” it says “5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.” However in 1 Chronicles chapter 16 it says “26 For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.” And likewise in Psalm 96 it says “5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.”
So if all of the gods of the nations are idols, and here in Zechariah it says that Yahweh shall cut off all of the idols, how does it say in Micah that “all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever”? There is only one way, and that is found in Obadiah 16 where it says that: “they shall be as though they had not been.” Micah must be correct, that the destiny of the other nations is the same as that of their gods. In that manner, after the prophecy is fulfilled, there will be but one Lord: Yahweh the God of Israel.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it 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 Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. 11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
Here from these place names we see that only the land in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem is described. However once again, Jerusalem is representative of the people of God, and not of the ancient city. So perhaps this prophecy is also an allegory, as we see in a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 40: “3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain….” Jerusalem, representing the seat of government of the people of Yahweh God, shall become for His people a straight and level place, where the old city was a rocky mountainous place, difficult to traverse. This is allegorical of the government of the old kingdom under the rule of man as compared to the government of the coming Kingdom under the rule of Christ.
12 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 tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
In Ezekiel chapter 39, after Yahweh addresses the hordes of Gog and Magog and tells them that He “will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel...”, He then tells them that He “...will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.” The nations are the nations of Israel, as we shall see; the word should not have been translated in the King James Version as heathen.
Then we read something differently here in Zechariah in verse 13, which is ostensibly a different aspect of what is prophesied to happen in verse 12:
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 contain a parallelism, each describing the same events from different aspects. So it is with these last two verses of Zechariah here, on a smaller scale. In Ezekiel chapter 38, speaking of this same event, where the armies of bastards come against the mountains of Israel, we read: “18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; [the earthquake described here in verses 4 and 5] 20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down [large nations], and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground [perhaps this is allegory for the fall of Mystery Babylon]. 21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother. [So the hordes of Gog and Magog, the armies of bastards, are prophesied to turn upon one another in Ezekiel and in Zechariah.] 22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. [Therefore their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, etc., as it says here in Zechariah.] 23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” Once again, those many nations are the nations of Israel, as we shall see.
14 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.
Just as it says in Micah chapter 4, which correlates with these chapters of Zechariah although it is of broader scope: “13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.”
15 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.
Perhaps these beasts are allegories for the other nations and races, as dogs, swine and ghoats are allegories for them in the New testament. The plague must be a reference to the plague of verse 12, where it says of those people gathered against Jerusalem that “their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” If these beasts are not allegorical, the just as it was when certain of the cities of the Canaanites were taken, even their beasts are unacceptable to God.
16 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 of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Many scoffers, even certain so-called Christian Identity “pastors”, look at this verse and proclaim that Yahweh is a universalist after all, and that this verse somehow proves that so-called people from among the other races, even those who are not from Adam, are going to abide in the Kingdom of Heaven. But that is not the case. This verse, which reads much the same in the Septuagint version, does not support universalism at all.
Firstly, White Christian nations have fought against one another throughout the Christian age. We can clearly perceive that in the struggles of these last days, there are White Christians on all sides of every conflict, whether the conflict be political, social or philosophical, and even in the event of an actual armed conflict. That circumstance will remain until all of the enemies of Christ and every plant which Yahweh did not plant are eliminated. Secondly, there are populations of Whites descended from the ancient Israelites scattered throughout the entire world. So we must examine the other prophecies concerning the punishment of Israel and the Day of the Wrath of Yahweh and discover what they say about the nations of people who are not descended from the Israelites, because Zechariah cannot be purposely interpreted in a way which contradicts the other prophets.
Doing so, we find in Jeremiah chapter 30 that the Word of Yahweh says “11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” The same promise is repeated in Jeremiah chapter 46, where there is a message of assurance to the children of Israel in the aftermath of the Babylonian captivity: “27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. 28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”
And this accords with Obadiah verses 15 and 16 where it says “15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.”
Secondly, the feasts are commandments of the law given to the children of Israel exclusively. As it says in the Psalm 147, “19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.” As it says in Malachi 3:6, which is an invocation of the promises to the fathers: “6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” So if Yahweh does not change, and if Yahweh has promised to preserve Israel, and the laws, which include the feasts, are only for Israel, why would other nations be commanded to attend the feasts? The apostle Jude addressed his epistle “to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called”, and he called the outsiders at their communions “spots in your feasts of charity”. However if Yahweh keeps His promise to “make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee”, then those spots will be no more.
With all of this, we must acknowledge that “every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem” will also be an Israelite of one scattered tribe of Israel or another, if there are any left at all. Only because they are Israel are they saved, and only because they are Israel are they commanded to attend the feasts.
17 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.
The word all is added to the text here, however in the end the addition is immaterial. Paul had written in Galatians chapter 3: “7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Verse 7 is a conditional sentence of the type which expresses a factual implication: if one is not a child of Abraham, one cannot be of the faith of Abraham, because Abraham believed that his seed would come from his loins. But the King James Version translated the same Greek word as both heathen and nations in verse 8, which makes it appear as if Paul had said something other than he actually did. We corrected that here in our own reading.
In Romans chapter 4, Paul informs us of what he means when he speaks of the faith of Abraham, where in part he wrote: “13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith…. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.” So the faith of Abraham was that his seed, his offspring, would become many nations, and that those nations would “be the heir of the world”.
So according to Paul of Tarsus, all the nations who are blessed in Abraham are all of the nations which Yahweh foresaw as coming from the seed of Abraham, since Yahweh “calleth those things which be not as though they were.” In Galatians chapters 3 and 4 Paul then proceeded to explain that those same promises narrow that seed of Abraham down to the children of Israel, and explains that those who had the law as their schoolmaster in order to bring them to Christ were indeed those same heirs. Therefore all of the families of the earth, after all of the heathen are destroyed, are those same families of Israel of the seed of Abraham to whom the promise was originally made, but who had not yet existed because they came from Abraham’s loins through Isaac and Jacob. These are also described further:
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the [nations] that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The text of verse 19 is a conclusion to what had preceded, and not an introduction to something new. And again, before we consider the possibility that this verse refers to anyone but the children of Israel, we must correctly determine what is meant by “the family of Egypt”.
In Hosea chapter 11 we read “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” And in reference to Christ, so that He could be first born among many brethren, and no different from His people, we read in Matthew chapter 2 concerning Joseph, Mary and the Christ child: “14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” The phrase “family of Egypt” is an allegory which refers to the children of Israel, who were in captivity in Egypt. Simply because it was fulfilled in Christ does not mean that it doesn’t also apply to Jacob, as it certainly does in Hosea chapter 11. The “punishment of Egypt” is their punishment if they continue to refuse to keep the statutes of Yahweh.
20 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 before the altar. 21 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 seethe therein...
Paul of Tarsus had said in 2 Timothy chapter 2 “20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.” So Paul advised that, in spite of the fact that there were vessels for dishonour in a great house, that a man should nevertheless purge himself of those vessels, so that he may prepare himself for good works. All Christians should heed that advice. Throughout their history, the children of Israel refused to purge themselves of those vessels of dishonor. Therefore here in Zechariah, once again Yahweh promises to do it for them. And so we know that this indeed refers to people as vessels, we read the final promise of Yahweh in Zechariah:
...and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
And here we have it, the holocaust that the Edomite Jews have been crying about for so many years now, which in reality has never yet happened, is a promise of Yahweh our God which certainly shall happen. And when it does finally happen “their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” Just as it prophesies of the Edomite Jews in Obadiah, that “the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.”
There are many proofs, which we have often discussed in these commentaries that the people now known as Jews are chiefly descended from the Edomites of the Old Testament. There are also Biblical proofs that the Edomites are indeed Canaanites, as Esau took wives of the Hittites, who were a branch of the Canaanites, and went to dwell among the Horites, who were another branch of the Canaanites. All of this is evident in Genesis chapter 36.
However people descending from the Canaanites became known by many other names as well. Today they are spread throughout and intermixed into all of the Arab races, as well as many of the so-called Negroes. In turn, they spread into India and all along the south of Asia as far as the Philippines, if not even beyond them. They were bringing Black slaves to India and Asia and the South Pacific islands, and even into China, for many centuries before the start of the Christian era. Through the early settlers of South America and the Caribbean both Jewish and Arab Canaanites have polluted all of the blood of the so-called Latin races. And there are many Europeans who do not identify as Jews who are also Canaanite in part.
And even where the non-White races may not have mixed with the Canaanites, their origins may nevertheless be found with that same Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because Yahweh has not taken credit for the creation of any of them, and they are all ostensibly a part of that flood of the serpent sent to persecute the woman, the people of God. But as we have said, Satan is presently being employed to punish the children of Israel, and Satan shall be destroyed in turn.
There is a holocaust coming upon the world, as the apostle Peter had written, that “6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” And after this holocaust, it is certain that there will not be any Jews left to collect reparations, or any Negroes to follow after them. We owe them a Holocaust, and they are going to get one. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Only those who were produced from the Tree of Life, our Adamic race, are written in the Book of Life.