Major - I did a little looking at the passage in Zech last night - Here is what I wrote --
Hi – Well Zechariah 14:1-4 is a parable certainly.
Zec 14:1 ¶ Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
The first verse to my understanding shows that On the Day of the Lord (which is a point of evaluation or judgment) the spoil of God’s people will be taken because of their sinfulness. This is simply judgment based upon their behavior.
Zec 14:2 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.
This is a half and half division of the people of God. Some punished by going into captivity and some being allowed to remain in Jerusalem.
In verse 2 I understand that the judgment will result in half of Jerusalem being taken captive. This of course is judgment and for a person to be judged and taken captive they would have had to be involved in willful sin. Basically they would have had to choose not to Love God and their neighbor.
Half of the people of the city however will not have to leave Jerusalem – Which is the center of Israel (God’s people). Remember the new creation or new Jerusalem descends in Revalation. So it is seen that according to justice half of the citizens of Jerusalem would not have been judged to sinned to the extent of becoming captive. For a New Testament understanding of captivity this verse may suffice –
2Ti 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Now God delivers to satan those people who sin and satan takes the captive to do His will – which is to sin.
So I understand so far that Half of the people of the city will receive punishment and be taken captive and half will be allowed to remain in the city as non captives.
It (in my opinion) needs to be remembered that God accepts faith and Love, and punishes those who know the right thing to do and do not do it. So this is simply a word picture of what God accepts and what happens to obedient people, and what God does not accept and what happens to then to the disobedient people.
Now this is happening to the City of Jerusalem so God is judging His people (Jerusalem represents His people) based upon their conformity to Jesus commands.
As to verse 3 –
Zec 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
It can be seen that Jesus is going to fight against people and these people by definition are sinful.
Zec 14:4 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.
Verse 4 shows me that when Jesus goes to fight He will stand upon the mount of olives (the place where He used to go and pray and teach). The mount of Olives is where the olive vine grows and produces fruit that is why it is called the Mount of Olives. So where Jesus stands is where His people are developing, basically He watches over us.
Now when God’s judgments are in the world the inhabitants learn what is right and what is wrong (righteousness)–
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
(KJV)
Remember that Jonah did not want to preach to ninevah but God said that they did not know their right hand from their left. They lacked understanding and God wanted Jonah to make them aware of God’s standard and tell them they were violating it. To avert the judgment God would have had to bring if they would not change their ways.
If seen as the unwillingness to keep Gods commands then the behavior that beings about God's judgment is an unwillingness to learn to Love God and their neighbor.
The people of God judge the world not by preaching their own words but by preaching the word of God –
Ps 149:9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
This is because the Lords judgments are certain and as we preach to the world they learn God’s rules and become accountable for keeping or not keeping them. When His judgments are I the world the world learn righteousness (they learn right from wrong or they learn to differentiate between the clean and unclean - or - they learn to differentiate their left hand from their right hand, as was the case in ninevah)
Where there is no law there is no offence -
Ro 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Ro 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
In other words God does not hold a person accountable for a breaking a law they were not aware of.
Now man is Christians are excuse because God has made known His law to them. But unbelievers do not understand this.
So by preaching the word of God we make them accountable and in this sense we apply God’s judgment to the world.
The place of olive cultivation (fruit bearing) then will split in two parts one part towards the north and the other towards the south. This then is a further veiled explanation of one half of His people (which are represented by Jerusalem) deciding to go one way (to obedience) and the other half going (to disobedience and judgement or correction) as the preceding verses allude.
This is simply God judging His people as when He seperated the sheep from the goats within His flock,
Hab 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Eze 34:17 ¶ And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
Ez 34:17 is an example of God seperating the sheep and the goats in His flock.
These verses are all alluding to the day of the Lord when God judges his people based upon their conformity to the example of Lord Jesus Christ who is the standard (We are to walk as He walked).
Only Jesus will be exhalted or stand on the Day of Judgment (Day of the Lord), because only He is sinless (God even charges His angels with wrongdoing (Job 4:18).
Jesus therefore did not need judgement for correction or punishment.
In this manner Jesus rules His people with a rod of Iron. All of Jesus flock will pass under the shepherd’s rod and will receive their retribution.
Eze 20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: {bond: or, delivering}
(KJV)
He is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah because He although He allows the devil (the devourer) and his angels to discipline His people and He controls the discipline of His people completely and does not allow them to be tempted more than they are able. This protection is not afforded to unbelievers who have not been grafted into the vine so to speak.
This can be seen to be a pruning of His people so that they bear more fruit.
I have to stop now or I will go on for days, please allow that this is how I learn (by writing about my understanding), and my understanding grows as I do this over and over again. Little by little I begin to sense God directing me in my learning –
Respectfully - brian
