ZECHARIAH PROPHESIES THE END TIMES

by pastor Mike Taylor

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.” (Zechariah 14:4)

The earth groans for the coming day when the LORD of creation, will come again to earth and make this sinned filled planet to return to the time that it lost because of the sin of Adam and Eve. It will be a most glorious time that the Church of the Living God patiently waits for.

THE END OF THE AGE IN ZECHARIAH

If you begin reading in the book of Zechariah, God basically gives a time line, when Israel was in captivity in Babylon and as Daniel was before the Lord at this time, so was Zechariah having visions and prophetic words spoken to him by the Messenger of the Lord telling him the events that will transpire in the coming generations that would span more than 2500 years.

Zechariah sees the judgment that has come to Israel and her suffering in her captivity in Babylon, but he also sees the restoration of Israel to her own land, and beyond to the end of days. Note that Israel was scattered as the four winds by God.

13 “Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.” (Zechariah 7:13-14)

Historically, one can read about what happened to Israel because of their idolatry and not following the commands of the LORD our God. And in the Bible, you can read the words of their exile into Babylon of the nation of Judah, and the previous exile of Israel to the north, by Assyria, which some called the “Ten lost tribes of Israel”...only thing is, before this happened to Israel, a remnant of the northern tribes returned to Jerusalem to be near the Holy City, and they too became exiled along with the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and the Levitical priest who ministered in the temple of God. So all of the twelve tribes were represented when God exiled even the nation of Judah to the land of Babylon. So there has always been a representation of a remnant of all the tribes of Israel found even in this latter exile.

Never has any nation that has been so completely scattered as was the two kingdoms that comprised the Hebrew people, we call today “Jews” been able to come together and become that nation again with all its customs, traditions, and language as has the modern nation of Israel we see today.

ISRAEL JUDGED BUT RESTORED

A person reading this one book of the Bible which confirms other passages in the the Holy pages of what the nation of Israel went through because of her disobedience to the laws of God and His commandments, judgments and decrees can see her ultimate judgment. Prophets like Daniel, agree with Zechariah that after 70 years, Israel would be brought back into her land and rebuild the Temple of God, but would be under pagan rule for all of the time of her being again, reborn in the Holy Land of her fathers. History provides what happened to her once again for her inability to see the “signs of the times” or the visitation of the prophesied Messiah who they rejected and ultimately had crucified by the Romans on a wooden cross.

Zechariah is only 14 chapters long, and it chronicles the passage of time of the diaspora of the Jewish nation, once again when her temple and the city were destroyed in 70 AD. Prophecy concerning the coming of our Lord is spoken of here and speaks of Jesus riding into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.

9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9)

All of this happened many years in the future and the prophet spoke of that day when Jesus would ride into the Holy City and allow the people to proclaim Him their King,

“7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” (Matthew 21:7-9)

Not long after this, Jesus would be tried in a kangaroo Sanhedrin court and condemned to death and die upon the cross, buried and raised from the dead.

And afterwards, 40 days would pass to give Israel a chance to recognize their Messiah, but nobody investigated the miracle of God, by sending anybody from the Jewish Authorities to confirm and witness to the people of Israel that indeed, Jesus was raised from the dead. They did everything in their power to hide the fact.

Note that near 40 years passed from the time of Jesus, which is the number of years of withholding judgment until punishment is passed when those accused are found to be guilty and Israel was destroyed and again scattered to the four winds for the next 2000 years.

ISRAEL AGAIN REBORN A SECOND TIME

But I have said all that to come to this. Jesus will come to the modern day of Israel and rescue her from the Tribulation that will come upon her, as the above opening scripture speaks of when our Lord and Savior will come and fight for Israel.

But before that happens, Israel will be tried by fire and she will come to know her Messiah..our Messiah, who they rejected 2000 years ago, through much persecution.

As you read this Old Testament prophetical book, you sense a time noted when God will fight for Israel, which reminds me of the coming Ezekiel war of Gog-Magog and the previous war of Psalms 83, not to mention all the wars fought prior in 1948 War of Independence, Sinai War of 1954, Six Day War in 1967, and many wars from 1973 of Yom Kippur War to the modern times of Lebanon wars with Hezbollah. God has truly been overseeing the continued habitation of the Jewish people in their ancient homeland of Israel.

THE END OF DAYS COMING

This will all come to a climax, I believe in the near future, when Jerusalem will be besieged by the coming Anti-Christ and the Beast Power of the One World Government he controls. God has promised that Israel would NEVER be uprooted again and God will come and fight for them, as in the day of Battle.

“The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

2 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.

3 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.

4 In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.

5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God.

6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.” (Zechariah 12:1-7)

At the end of the coming Great Tribulation, when the Anti-Christ seeks to destroy the nation of Israel, God will not hold Israel without blame, as she will be tried as silver is refined in the fire.

2  “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” (Malachi 3:2-4)

This is a time of intense suffering and persecution that will make the holocaust seem like a picnic in the part, in comparison. It breaks my heart, that the people of Israel will be sorely tested and 2/3 of the people will meet an untimely end.

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.” (Zechariah 13:8-9)

Note only a third part of the whole nation of Israel will survive and be refined. It is a remnant that our Savior will come and fight for them. Why? Because our Lord said He would when they cry out and state the words He prophesied they would say.

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

 35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:34-35)

Israel will be purged and many will die who have not believe the Lord's Words that He spoke of for the end times.

14 “And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

15 The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.

16 And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids” (Zechariah 9:14-17)

This passage may be speaking of that great war that is coming of the Gog-Magog coalition that will be decimated on the mountains of Israel.

This all leads up to the final battle we call the Battle of Armegeddon as one domino that falls leads to another one being afflicted...Israel will cry out what Jesus said they would and He will hear them and come to rescue them.

8 “In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

This battle is prophesied in the end chapter of Zechariah and the opening verses will be fulfilled and Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives and conquer this sinful world by the “sword” proceeding out of His mouth, which can only mean, He but speaks the Word and they are destroyed.

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.”

This is confirmed in Revelation chapter 19, but I want you to see something that I have been leading up to that many miss and I have preached it many times. Jesus will come, but note what is happening in this Apocalyptic book.

6 “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” (Revelation 19:6-9)

I want you to focus on that bold and underlined part of that passage. Here the Apostle John writes what was revealed to him, concerning the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Notice that she is arrayed in “fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints”. Now let us skip forward when Jesus comes back to rescue Israel from the persecution of the Anti-Christ.

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.

15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Revelation 19:11-15)

What has the Bride of Christ have in common with those who come back with Jesus riding upon white horse? Yes, their apparel. What they are clothed with is both a sign of saints redeemed. Both are the same group of people, which are the Bride of Christ, the truly Born Again people of God who leave for a destination. What destination? They have been taken to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ to receive rewards done for Him in this life, and to be joined with our “HUSBAND” the Lord Jesus Christ and become the adopted sons and daughters of Almighty God, the ABBA Father in heaven. It is the same as on earth, when my son married his wife, she became my daughter in law. Jesus the Only Begotten Son of God has married us in a ceremony that makes us “in-laws” or children of the Most High God. Note that on earth, as it is in heaven, the property of the husband becomes also the property of the wife.

16 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:16-19)

Can you even imagine being a “joint heir with Jesus Christ”? And heirs of God which is what Jesus is...I ask you, what has God and Jesus possess? Everything that is found in this universe. What will we share together with our Abba Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ? The exact same thing as they possess, we will be given access to the same glorious future..It is almost too much to ponder or try to wrap your mind around.

Several places around scripture, prophets speak of the righteous saints of God, returning with Jesus when He sets up His kingdom on earth.

14 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14-15)

Even where we have been in the book of Zechariah, but many read right over this passage:

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 the thee. (Zechariah 14:5)

Our future is intermingled with Israel, as she holds the key to end time prophecy. Israel will be refined, but before the Tribulation starts, the church is removed, to return with Jesus as accounted in Revelation, Jude, and Zechariah.

WE are destined by God's will and design to not receive the wrath that is coming upon this earth, as He will remove us out of the way, because Jesus has saved us from the wrath to come.

9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

10, For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:9-10)

The life of Jesus who is the ETERNAL Son of God, is now our High Priest who has sent His Holy Spirit to bring the knowledge of our sins, and the remedy for forgiveness of those sins.

44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6:44-45)

Looking off into the horizon, we see the storms clouds brewing...the events of these last days are growing more clear as time passes. Israel is being nearly surrounded from all sides and their Arab “cousins” desire nothing but to destroy them. It will continue in this pattern for an undetermined amount of time passing. War will lead to another war, will lead to the near ultimate war of Ezekiel 38-39, which will bring about the revealing of the Anti-Christ, which will trigger beforehand, the removal, the HARPAZO of forcefully snatching away His Bride before the “hell of the Tribulation” breaks forth in all its human destruction.

6 “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,”

(2^nd Thessalonians 2:6-9)

I've quoted that above scripture numerous times, as it points to the HE, the Holy Spirit removing the bride of Christ beforehand, as God will not leave His bride comfortless during this awful coming time, as He has promised it to be so, that when she needs Him the most, He will be right beside her. Knowing that God cannot lie, we know that the Anti-Christ will overcome the saints, but since we have God's Holy Spirit, the devil and his demon forces cannot overcome us, because “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world”. So scripture points to the removal of God's people before this time overtakes the world

Conclusion:

I have given you a brief, for space and time, a quick rundown of what is in store for Israel..Where she has been and what will happen to her in the coming time that the Bible calls “Jacob's Trouble” and what both Zechariah and Revelation speak of. We also see what will become of God's church and those who are left behind is almost too graphic to speak of in a short paragraph. I have chronicled these events in numerous messages and sermons on my blog. What you have to decide, where will you be when Israel is being refined, and the world is being destroyed by the billions of people slain? Will you be singing praises to God, or be screaming in anguish when it is your turn to be slain by environmental disasters or of the rampage of the Beast power found in the Anti-Christ, because you refuse to take his mark of loyalty to your right hand or forehead? And if you do, then you are doomed for all eternity and tormented in an everlasting fire.

9”And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

10The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11, And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:9-11)

Do not be deceived, that time could overtake you and you are thrown headlong into the worst nightmare that humanity has ever had to endure.

Jesus could come at any moment, as we are not given a date, or a time when Jesus will come for the Church, or when the Tribulation will begin in earnest. We are in the birth pains right now, and the signs of the birth of the church, and the beginning of the Tribulation are growing even stronger as time passes. Will you make that decision for Jesus Christ before it is past time to escape what is coming, or be forced into survival mode to escape what is going to come upon the earth? How can you be ready? Simply by believing in two passages in the Bible and making them part of you.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

and belief comes with confessing your trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

8 “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” (Romans 10:8-11)

The end of days are upon us. You know it, I know it, and the world knows it, but they can't see how it will play out. They are all in confusion, but we are not confused. And now you know....so what are you going to do about it? Make that decision for Jesus Christ today..while there is still time to do so.

This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying for your salvation found in Jesus Christ . If you have needs, for counseling, prayer, or just listen ear, then email me at realteam1999@sbcglobal.net, or visit me online at www.pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com, God bless you all,

TILL WE MEET AT JESUS FEET