The Deconstruction of the Ungodly Text: Zechariah 14:12-15
Introduction: Judgment is Not a Bug, It's a Feature
We live in a soft and sentimental age. Our generation wants a God who is a celestial therapist, a divine affirmation machine, whose only job is to rubber-stamp our choices and tell us we are special just the way we are. We want a gospel of pure, undiluted affirmation, a Christianity with no sharp edges, no hard sayings, and certainly no judgment. We have traded the Lion of the tribe of Judah for a domesticated house cat that purrs on command.
But the God of Scripture is not safe. He is good, but He is not tame. And the Day of the Lord, which Zechariah speaks of here, is a day of reckoning. It is a day when the cosmic accounts are settled, when all the rebellious ledgers are audited by fire. Modern evangelicals, particularly those embarrassed by the Old Testament, try to skip over passages like this. They are gruesome. They are violent. They speak of rotting flesh and divine plagues. This doesn't fit the felt-needs sermon outline. It doesn't sell books in the Christian living section.
But to ignore these passages is to misunderstand the very nature of the gospel. The good news is only good because there is bad news. The cross of Jesus Christ is a place of horrific, divine judgment. God poured out the full measure of His wrath against sin upon His own Son. Why? Because that wrath is real. That judgment is necessary. God is holy, and He will not tolerate rebellion forever. His justice is not a bug in the system; it is the central operating feature of a moral universe. If there is no ultimate justice, then there is no ultimate meaning. Everything is a joke.
Zechariah 14 is a prophecy about the Day of the Lord, a day when God intervenes in history to save His people and judge His enemies. The imagery here is stark and terrifying, and it is meant to be. This is not a metaphor for a bad day. This is the deconstruction of all who set themselves against the Lord and His anointed. This is holy war, and God Himself is the divine warrior. This passage describes the consequences for those nations who come against Jerusalem, which is to say, those who come against Christ and His Church. It is a picture of God's righteous, covenantal judgment, and it has profound implications for how we understand history, salvation, and the final victory of the kingdom.
The Text
Now this will be the plague with which Yahweh will plague all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. And it will be in that day, that abundant confusion from Yahweh will fall on them; and they will take hold of one another’s hand, and the hand of one will go up against the hand of another. And Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. And in the same way, the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps will be like this plague.
(Zechariah 14:12-15 LSB)
The Divine De-Creation (v. 12)
We begin with the gruesome reality of the plague in verse 12:
"Now this will be the plague with which Yahweh will plague all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth." (Zechariah 14:12)
This is a picture of instantaneous and horrific decay. It is a divine judgment that undoes a man while he is still alive. The language is precise and targeted. Their flesh, the very instrument of their rebellion and strength, will rot. Their eyes, which looked with lust and contempt upon God's holy city, will rot in their sockets. Their tongue, which spoke blasphemies and lies against the Most High, will rot in their mouth. This is not random violence; it is poetic justice. It is lex talionis, an eye for an eye, executed at a cosmic level. The punishment fits the crime with terrifying precision.
What is this describing? Many have tried to liken this to modern warfare, perhaps a neutron bomb. But that is to miss the point by a country mile. This is a supernatural plague. This is God's direct intervention. He is not using a secondary cause; He is the cause. This is a divine de-creation. Just as God spoke and created man from the dust, here He speaks, and the enemies of His people begin to un-become. They are being returned to the dust while they still draw breath.
This is a polemic against human pride. Man stands on his own two feet, boasts with his own tongue, and sees with his own eyes, imagining himself to be the master of his fate. He wages war against Jerusalem, which in the New Covenant is the Church of the living God (Gal. 4:26, Heb. 12:22). He thinks his armies, his philosophies, his political movements can withstand the purposes of God. And God's response is to simply withdraw the sustaining grace that holds his atoms together. The plague reveals the utter dependency of the creature on the Creator. The rebel only exists because God graciously allows him to exist. When that grace is withdrawn, the rebel dissolves.
The Plague of Confusion (v. 13)
The judgment is not just physical; it is mental and social. God attacks the very fabric of their alliances.
"And it will be in that day, that abundant confusion from Yahweh will fall on them; and they will take hold of one another’s hand, and the hand of one will go up against the hand of another." (Zechariah 14:13 LSB)
This is a classic biblical theme. When God judges His enemies, He often turns them against each other. We see this with Gideon's enemies, the Midianites, who began to slaughter one another in the dark (Judges 7:22). We see it with the enemies of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:23). God did it at the tower of Babel, where He confused their language and shattered their arrogant, unified project (Gen. 11:7).
Sinful alliances are always unstable because they are built on pride and self-interest. The nations gather together against Jerusalem in a grand coalition of rebellion. They are united in their hatred of God and His people. But God simply introduces "abundant confusion from Yahweh." He throws a divine spanner in their cognitive works. The result is paranoia, suspicion, and fratricidal chaos. The hand that was raised against Jerusalem is now raised against a brother-in-arms. The confederacy of the wicked implodes.
This is a permanent principle. All alliances built in opposition to Christ are doomed to self-destruct. You can see it in microcosm in every godless political movement. They inevitably begin to eat their own. The revolution devours its children. Why? Because without God as the ultimate standard of truth and justice, there is no principle of cohesion. There is only the lust for power, which is infinitely divisible and eternally suspicious. God doesn't have to strike them all down from the outside; He can simply let their own internal wickedness do the job for Him.
Plunder and Victory (v. 14)
In the midst of this divine judgment, God's people are not passive spectators. They are participants in the victory.
"And Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance." (Zechariah 14:14 LSB)
Judah, the people of God, will fight. This is not a contradiction of the fact that God is the one bringing the victory. Rather, it shows that God works through His people. He wins the war, but He grants us the honor of participating in the mopping-up operation. He routs the enemy, and we gather the spoils. This is the pattern of holy war throughout the Old Testament.
And the result is the transfer of wealth. "The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered." This is another consistent biblical theme. The wealth of the wicked is stored up for the just (Proverbs 13:22). When Israel left Egypt, they plundered the Egyptians (Exodus 12:36). This is not theft; it is the righteous redistribution of stolen goods. The ungodly have built their empires and accumulated their wealth through rebellion against the God who owns everything. In the day of judgment, that wealth is repossessed by its rightful owner and given to His children.
In the New Covenant, this principle is spiritual, but it has physical implications. As the gospel advances and the kingdom of Christ grows, it inevitably results in the cultural and economic blessing of God's people. A people who are diligent, honest, and future-oriented, living under God's law, will inevitably prosper. And as godless civilizations crumble under the weight of their own sin and folly, their influence, their institutions, and their wealth will be transferred to those who are building on the rock of Christ. History is the story of the meek inheriting the earth, one acre at a time.
A Comprehensive Judgment (v. 15)
Finally, the prophet makes it clear that this judgment is all-encompassing. It affects not just the men but their entire camp.
"And in the same way, the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps will be like this plague." (Zechariah 14:15 LSB)
The plague falls on all the instruments of their warfare and sustenance. The horse and mule, the instruments of military might. The camel and donkey, the instruments of supply and logistics. The cattle, their provision. This is total warfare. The judgment is comprehensive. Nothing in the rebel camp is exempt from the curse.
This reminds us of the curse in the Garden of Eden. When Adam sinned, the entire creation under his dominion was subjected to futility (Romans 8:20). The ground was cursed for his sake (Genesis 3:17). Here, we see a similar principle. The rebellion of man brings a curse upon everything he touches. His war machine, his economy, his very livestock are caught up in his judgment. This is because man is a covenant head. His choices have consequences for the entire realm over which he has dominion.
When the enemies of God march against Jerusalem, they bring their entire world with them, and that entire world is placed under the ban. It is all devoted to destruction. This is a terrifying picture of the sweeping nature of God's judgment against sin. Nothing tainted by rebellion will be allowed to stand.
Conclusion: The Rot and the Riches
So what do we do with a passage like this? First, we must see it as a picture of the ultimate fate of all who persist in their rebellion against Jesus Christ. The language is physical and visceral because sin is not an abstract concept. It is a cosmic treason that has real, tangible, and ultimately horrifying consequences. The wages of sin is death, a comprehensive de-creation of body and soul. This passage is a bucket of ice water in the face of our therapeutic, sentimental age. God's justice is real, and it is fearsome.
Second, we must see the cross of Christ as the place where this very plague was absorbed. On the cross, Jesus was made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). The full, undiluted force of God's righteous judgment against our sin was poured out on Him. The confusion, the abandonment, the rot of death, He took it all. He became the singular target of the divine holy war so that we, who were enemies of God, could be brought into the city of peace.
And because of that, we are now on the other side of this equation. We are Judah. We are the ones who fight at Jerusalem, not with carnal weapons, but with the spiritual weapons of the gospel, truth, and prayer (2 Corinthians 10:4). We are the ones who are promised the plunder. As we are faithful, as we advance the crown rights of King Jesus in every area of life, we are gathering the wealth of the nations for our King. We are seeing the transfer of allegiance, of culture, of resources, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son.
The enemies of God are rotting from the inside out. Their philosophies are collapsing. Their institutions are becoming hollowed-out shells. They are consumed with internal strife, a divine confusion sent from God. They are de-creating before our very eyes. Our task is not to fear them, but to be faithful, to fight the good fight, and to joyfully gather the spoils for the glory of the King who has already won the decisive victory on a hill outside Jerusalem.