Zechariah 12

be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid

Two oracles bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” (1 Cor. 14:24–25 niv).

“I say then,” wrote Paul, “has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” (Rom. 11: nkjv). There’s a bright and blessed future for God’s people Israel, even though the nation has been oppressed and persecuted by the Gentiles, some of whom claimed to be Christians. Our privilege is to love them, pray for them, and tell them that their Messiah, Jesus Christ, has come and will save them if they trust in Him. The gospel of Christ is still “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Rom. 1: nkjv).

In this second oracle, Zechariah takes us to the end times. He describes the Gentile nations attacking Jerusalem, the Jews experiencing severe trials (“the time of Jacob’s trouble”), and then the Lord returning in power and great glory to deliver His people and establish the promised kingdom. What an exciting scenario it is! But it isn’t fiction; it’s God’s own Word, and it will come to pass.

As you study these three chapters, note the repetition of the phrase “in that day,” which is found sixteen times. “That day” is “the day of the Lord,” the day of wrath and judgment that the prophets wrote about (Joel 3:9–16; Zeph. 1), and that Jesus described in Matthew 24:4–31 and John in Revelation 6—19.

Zechariah describes three key events.

The Lord Will Deliver Jerusalem (12:1–9; 14:1–7) Jerusalem is mentioned fifty-two times in the book of Zechariah, and twenty-two of these references are in the final three chapters. In the first chapter of his prophecy, Zechariah told us that God was “jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy” (1:14). This statement reveals the yearning heart of a loving Father for His firstborn (Ex. 4:22) and the desire of a faithful Husband for His unfaithful bride (Jer. 2:2; 3:2). God’s timing isn’t always what we would have planned, but He is wiser than we are and will keep His promises to Israel.

Jerusalem will be attacked (12:1–3; 14:1–2). The oracle opens with an affirmation of God’s sovereignty and power. If we look above us, we see the heavens He created; if we look beneath us, we see the earth that He founded; and if we look within, we find the spirit that He formed. The God of creation is the God who cares for us! “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground” (Ps. 147:5–6 nkjv).

Note the emphasis on “all nations” and “all peoples” (Zech. 12:2–3, 6, 9; 14:2, 12, 14, 16), for this attack involves the armies of the whole world and is part of the famous “battle of Armageddon” described in Joel 3:9–16; Matthew 24:27–30; and Revelation 9:13–18; 16:12–16; and 19:17–21. Three forces are involved in the gathering of this great army: (1) the nations agree to cooperate in their fight against God and His people (Ps. 2:1–3); (2) Satan uses demonic powers to influence the nations to gather (Rev. 16:13–15); and (3) the Lord exercises His sovereign powers in gathering them (Zech. 14:2; Rev. 16:16).

To describe Jerusalem’s situation “in that day,” Zechariah used the images of a cup and a stone. A cup is a familiar biblical image for judgment (Ps. 75:8; Isa. 51:17, 21–23; Jer. 25:15–28; Ezek. 23:31–33; Hab. 2:16; Rev. 14:10; 16:19; 18:6). The nations plan to “swallow up” Jerusalem, but when they begin to “drink the cup,” its contents make them sick and drunk! History shows that every nation that has ever tried to destroy the Jews has itself been destroyed. It will be no different when the nations collectively attack God’s chosen people.

Some of the enemy soldiers will enter the city, loot it, abuse the women, and take half of the inhabitants captive. But the Gentiles’ hopes of destroying the city and the nation will be disappointed, for the Lord will make Jerusalem like an immovable rock that won’t yield. This stone will eventually cut the invading armies to pieces.

The Lord will visibly appear (14:3–7). Our Lord ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9–12), and when He returns to earth, He will stand on the Mount of Olives and cause a great earthquake to change the terrain (Isa. 29:6; Rev. 16:18–19). This will create a new valley that will provide an escape route for many of the people. There will also be changes in the heavens so that the day will be neither light nor darkness, morning nor evening (see Isa. 60:19–20).

“The Lord is a man of war,” sang the Jews after they were delivered from Egypt (Ex. 15:3), but this aspect of Christ’s character and ministry is ignored, if not opposed, by people today. In their quest for world peace, some denominations have removed the “militant songs” from their hymnals, so that a new generation is growing up knowing nothing about “fighting the good fight of faith” or worshipping a Savior who will one day meet the nations of the world in battle (Rev. 19:11–21).

Before the nation entered the Promised Land, Moses promised them that the Lord would fight for them (Deut. 1:30; 3:22). “Who is the King of glory?” asked David; and his answer was, “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” (Ps. 24:8). Isaiah announced, “The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies” (Isa. 42: niv). Our God has been longsuffering toward the nations, but one day He will meet them in battle and triumph over them.

The Lord will defeat the enemy (12:4–9; 14:12–15). Panic, a plague, and special power given to the Jewish warriors (12:8) are the means God will use to conquer the invading armies. The horses will panic in their blindness, and the riders will be possessed by madness and end up fighting each other (14:13). God will watch over His people and see to it that they are delivered. He will make the Jews to be like fire and their enemies like dry stubble. Jesus Christ will demonstrate His great power as He defends His people and defeats His enemies.

While the inhabitants of Jerusalem are central in this account, special notice is given to the part Judah will play in the battle. For the invaders to get to Jerusalem, they must march through Judah (12:2); but the Lord will keep watch over the people of Judah and deliver them for David’s sake (vv. 4, 7). The faith and courage of the people in Jerusalem will encourage Judah to wax valiant in the fight, and God will enable them to conquer (vv. 5–6). The weakest Jewish warrior will have the power of David, who slew tens of thousands of enemy soldiers (1 Sam. 18:7). The Jewish army will go forth like the Angel of the Lord who slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (Isa. 37).

In delivering Israel from her enemies, our Lord’s ultimate goal is more than their national preservation, for their spiritual restoration is uppermost in His heart. He wants to reveal Himself to them and establish the kind of relationship that was impossible in previous centuries because of their unbelief.

The people will repent (12:10–14). Repentance isn’t something we work up ourselves; it’s a gift from God as we hear His Word and recognize His grace (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25). God will pour out the Spirit upon Israel (Joel 2:28–29), and the people will realize their sins and call out to God for forgiveness. They will also see their Messiah whom the nation pierced (Ps. 22:16; Isa. 53:5; John 19:34, 37) and will put their faith in Him. Forgiveness comes to any believing sinner only through faith in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The nation will go into mourning, the way parents would mourn over the loss of their only son, the way the nation mourned near Megiddo when their beloved King Josiah was slain in battle (2 Chron. 35:20–27). Zechariah mentions that all the families (clans) of Israel will mourn, the men and women separately, and this will include royalty (David’s clan), the prophets (Nathan’s clan; see 2 Sam. 7), and the priests (Levi’s and Shimei’s clans; Num. 3:17–18, 21). “All the families that remain” covers the rest of the nation. It will be a time of deep and sincere national repentance such as has not been seen before.

The nation will be cleansed (13:1–7). Isaiah had admonished the nation, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes” (Isa. 1: nkjv), but they refused to listen. Jeremiah had pleaded with his people, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved” (Jer. 4: nkjv), but they wouldn’t obey. But now, in response to Israel’s repentance and faith, the Lord will wash them clean! This forgiveness is part of the new covenant that God promised to His people (Jer. 31:31–34): “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (v. 34).

William Cowper based his hymn “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” on Zechariah 13:1, for it’s the sacrifice of Christ that atones for sin. The Jews could cleanse their external ceremonial uncleanness by washing in water, but for internal cleansing the sinful heart of men and women can be cleansed only by the blood of the Savior (Lev. 16:30; 17:11). “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2: nkjv).

But not only will their hearts be cleansed, but the land itself will be purged of all that is deceitful and defiling. The idols and the false prophets—two of Israel’s besetting sins—will be removed, as well as the very “unclean spirit” that caused people to turn from God. (See Zech. 5:5–11.)

According to the law, false prophets were to be killed (Deut. 13); so the false prophets in that day will lie about their occupation in order to save their lives (13:2–6). They won’t wear their special garments (v. 4; 2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4), and they’ll claim to be farmers rather than prophets. If asked about the scars on their bodies, actually caused by wounds inflicted while worshipping idols (1 Kings 18:28), they will lie and claim that their friends (or family) inflicted the wounds to discipline them.

In contrast to the false prophets, the true Shepherd is presented in Zechariah 13:7. (Review Zech. 11 for the other “Shepherd” prophecies.) Jesus quoted part of this prophecy when He was on His way to Gethsemane with His disciples (Matt. 26:31), and He referred to it again when He was arrested in the garden (v. 56). Only Jesus the Messiah could the Father call “the man who is My fellow,” that is, “the man who is My equal.” (See John 10:30; 14:9.)

But there is also a wider meaning of this text as it relates to the scattering of the nation in AD 70 when Jerusalem was taken by the Romans. The Jews had smitten their Shepherd on the cross (Isa. 53:10), and this act of rejection led to the nation being scattered (Deut. 28:64; 29:24–25). Israel today is a dispersed people, but one day they shall be gathered; they are a defiled people, but one day they shall be cleansed.

The nation will be refined (13:8–9). This image reminds us of the value God puts on His people Israel: they are like gold and silver that need to be refined in the furnace of affliction. This had been their experience in Egypt (Deut. 4:20) and in Babylon (Isa. 48:10), but “the time of Jacob’s trouble” will be their most difficult “furnace experience.”

The goldsmith refines the gold or silver so that the dross may be removed, and that’s what the tribulation in the last days will accomplish for Israel. One third of the people will be spared, the true believing remnant, while the rest will be rejected and perish. That godly remnant who called on the Lord (Acts 2:21) will be saved and become the nucleus of the promised kingdom, for the Lord will acknowledge them as His own people (see Hos. 2:21–23).

Before we leave this section, we need to see the spiritual application for God’s people today. Certainly the church is a defiled people who need to repent and be cleansed, and the promise of forgiveness is still valid (1 John 1:9). God often has to put us through the furnace of suffering before we’ll call on Him and seek His face (Heb. 12:3–11; 1 Peter 4:12). If God’s people will follow the instructions of 2 Chronicles 7:14, the Lord will cleanse and bless the church and bring healing to the land.