Commentary - Zechariah 14:1-5

Bird's-eye view

Zechariah 14 is one of those chapters that makes people nervous, and for good reason. It is full of cosmic upheaval, divine warfare, and dramatic reversals. The prophet describes what is commonly called "the Day of the Lord," a time of intense judgment and equally intense salvation. Many want to push such events into a far distant future, into a newspaper-prophecy scheme involving helicopter gunships and the EU. But the New Testament writers understood these Old Testament prophecies about the Day of the Lord as finding their focal point in their own generation, specifically in the cataclysmic events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

In these opening verses, Zechariah lays out a terrifying, yet glorious, sequence. First, God Himself gathers the nations to judge a faithless Jerusalem. The city is overthrown in a brutal conquest. But just when all seems lost, Yahweh Himself intervenes. He turns on the very nations He used as His instrument of wrath and fights for His true people. This divine intervention is accompanied by tectonic, earth-shattering signs, chief of which is the splitting of the Mount of Olives. This is not about geology; it is about theology. The very landscape is rearranged by God to provide a path of escape for His remnant, His holy ones, who are preserved through the fire.

Outline

Commentary

1 Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.

The prophet begins with "Behold," which is the biblical equivalent of a trumpet blast. Pay attention. Something momentous is about to be declared. A day is coming, and it is a day "for Yahweh." This is His day. He is the central actor, the one whose purposes are being brought to their appointed climax. This isn't a day that just happens to Him; it is a day that belongs to Him, orchestrated by Him. This is the great and terrible Day of the Lord, a theme that runs through the prophets. It is a day of judgment, yes, but also of salvation. The phrase has a dual aspect, depending entirely on which side of God's covenant you are standing. For the faithless, it is terror. For the faithful, it is vindication.

The second clause is startling. "The spoil taken from you will be divided among you." This is a covenantal irony, a divine reversal. The picture is of an enemy army that has conquered a city and is sitting down in the middle of the captured streets to divide up the loot. But the prophecy says this spoil, taken from Jerusalem, will be divided in the midst of Jerusalem. God is going to turn the tables so fast that the plunderers will themselves be plundered before they can even get away with the goods. The judgment is going to be swift and decisive.

2 Indeed, I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city will go forth in exile, but those left of the people will not be cut off from the city.

Here is the absolute sovereignty of God in neon letters. Who gathers the nations against Jerusalem? "I will," says Yahweh. The Roman legions under Titus did not march on Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by accident, or because of geopolitical forces alone. They marched because God Almighty gathered them. He used the pagan Romans as His rod of chastisement against the apostate Jewish nation that had rejected and crucified His Son. The description is brutally realistic: captured city, plundered houses, ravished women. This is not cartoon violence; it is the real, horrific consequence of covenant unfaithfulness. These are the curses of Deuteronomy 28 being poured out.

But in the midst of this utter devastation, there is a word of preservation. "Half of the city will go forth in exile, but those left of the people will not be cut off from the city." A remnant will be saved. This is always God's way. He never wipes out His people entirely. Even in the fiercest judgment, He preserves a seed. This corresponds perfectly with what happened in the first century. The Christians in Jerusalem, heeding the warnings of Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (which He gave from the Mount of Olives, mind you), fled the city before the final siege. They were the remnant, the "left of the people," who were not cut off but were preserved to become the foundation of the New Jerusalem, the Church.

3 Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, as the day when He fights on a day of battle.

Here is the great reversal. First God uses the nations to execute His judgment. Then, He turns and executes His judgment on the nations. He is no one's puppet. Assyria was the rod of His anger, but then He broke the rod. Babylon was His hammer, but then He shattered the hammer. And so it was with Rome. After Rome destroyed the Temple, thus ending the old covenant sacrificial system, God began the long process of fighting against pagan Rome. The gospel went forth and, over the next few centuries, conquered the Roman Empire not with swords, but with the foolishness of the cross. God going forth to fight is a theophany, a manifestation of His power in history. He is a warrior, and His greatest battle was won at Calvary, the results of which continue to unfold in time.

4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

This is apocalyptic language, and we must read it as such. This is not a literal prediction of a future seismic event for dispensationalist charts. The Mount of Olives is hugely significant. It's where Jesus wept over Jerusalem, where He delivered His prophecy about its destruction, and from where He ascended into heaven. For His feet to "stand" there again signifies His authoritative return in judgment and power. This "coming" in judgment happened in A.D. 70. The splitting of the mountain is de-creation language. When God shows up, the very foundations of the world are shaken. Mountains melting like wax is how the psalmists described it. Here, the mountain is torn in two to create a "very large valley." What is this valley for?

5 And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; indeed, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!

The valley is an escape route. The same divine act that brings judgment on the wicked provides salvation for the righteous. God Himself carves out a path for His people to flee. This is precisely what Jesus commanded His followers to do: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (Luke 21:20-21). The Christians obeyed and were saved. The reference to the earthquake in Uzziah's day grounds this prophetic vision in historical memory. The fear will be real, just as it was then, but the escape will be just as real.

The passage culminates with the declaration: "Then Yahweh, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!" This is the parousia, the coming of the Lord. But we must let Scripture interpret Scripture. Jesus told His disciples that the Son of Man would come on the clouds with power and great glory to judge that generation (Matt. 24:30, 34). This coming was a coming in judgment, executed by His angelic armies, His "holy ones." The destruction of Jerusalem was the visible, historical demonstration that Jesus was enthroned at the right hand of the Father and that His enemies were being made His footstool. It was the vindication of the Son of Man and the definitive end of the old covenant world.

Application

First, we must have a robust doctrine of God's sovereignty. God is in charge of history, all of it. He raises up nations and He casts them down. He uses wicked men to accomplish His righteous purposes, and then He judges them for their wickedness. This should give us immense confidence. No matter how chaotic the world appears, our God is on His throne and His plan is not being thwarted.

Second, we must understand the nature of covenant. God deals with His people on the basis of His promises, which include both blessings for obedience and curses for rebellion. The horrific judgment on Jerusalem was not arbitrary; it was the just consequence of her rejection of the Messiah. For us who are in Christ, we are secure from condemnation, but we are still called to walk in faithfulness. The warnings are real.

Finally, God always provides a way of escape for His people. In the midst of the most terrifying judgment, He carves out a valley of salvation. For us, that valley, that way of escape, is always and only Jesus Christ. He is the one who delivers us from the wrath to come. The call, then, is to flee to Him, to trust in Him, and to obey His voice. The same event that is destruction for the world is deliverance for the Church.