ZECHARIAH 14: DIVINE INTERVENTION
If I look around at the world I live in, I have two choices: I can ignore it – after all, I’m in the top 1% of the 
top 10% of the world’s population. I’m one of the “lucky” ones at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Most of the news falls into all the things that are going wrong in the bottom two basic levels of life on Planet Earth. Then, if you’re interested in gossip, you’ll catch the hearsay from the third layer of human experience, thanks to Facebook, Instagram, or Hello magazine!
HOWEVER, my second choice is to grapple with it. I can look around as Zechariah did, take note, then seek information from the Creator of it all – asking why things are as they are and what on earth He plans to do about it. For one thing, much of the world today operates in much the same way as Zechariah’s world had: crying out for any sort of divine intervention at the very basic levels of life. In addition, I’ve noticed that those on the upper-echelons may look down and scoff at the existence of a ‘divine being’, much less seek help at all from a Creator God!
Yet HIStory has shown time and again, that it’s those who are struggling at the bottom of the ladder who seem to gladly accept what He is offering.[a] In teaching His followers how to pray (how to interact with, and ask things from, the Creator God), Jesus prayer focus was: “…Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”[b] So, in a string of breadcrumbs over the last month, today’s chapter foresees a day when the Lord God Almighty intervenes to put all things right, and that His “King-dom” will come over all nations. [v9]
Looking now at Zechariah’s vision, and apart from a scary v2 (that warns of how bad things will get before divine intervention becomes absolutely necessary), the overall theme of his book is encouragement – even when life is turned upside down. His predictions foresee mid-term events that have already happened i.e. Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians in 586BC with half the people taken while half left, just as Zechariah predicted. [v2] And, over ⅓ of the world’s population today will say that the Lord has already stood on the Mount of Olives. [v4] That said, why would a book like this, written 25+ centuries ago, be at all relevant to me or to anyone in 21st Century life today?
Well… like all prophecy/predictions in the Creator God’s epic storyline, today’s chapter is also about long-range events 
in His Global Masterplan that have not yet happened, and therefore are still to come. [v4-10] So, while Jerusalem was sacked in Zechariah’s immediate prediction, there’s still a long-range element to the Creator God’s words: “…I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle…” [v2] Unless you take in all the nationalities of the foot soldiers conscripted within the Babylonian army, and all the nationalities of the foot soldiers later conscripted within the Roman army, one can only say that Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in the immediate, then Rome destroyed Jerusalem in AD70.
The fact that all nations are likely to be ‘technically’ involved in these events, the Day of Calamity[c] is still in our future. If a future event, then Zechariah’s prediction of dramatic and decisive divine intervention – involving land and sky [v4,6,7,10] – fits in with what John (a friend of Jesus) also saw in our future, when he wrote about it in his Book of Revelation.[d]
“Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.” [v3]
That prayer that Jesus’ Followers have been praying continually these past 1994+/- years, for example, will finally be answered. His King-dom will come so that His Will (His Last Will & Testament) will finally be done on earth as it is in Heaven. [v4-5] Although the Creator God has always been Lord over the Creation that He has made, He’ll be seen to be King over the whole earth during a time when there’ll be no doubt at all as to who is Lord and what is His name. [v9]
Now if all that sounds intriguing, you may begin to wonder which ‘lord’ is coming and how can we be sure of the one who comes (or says that he has arrived) will be the right one who fits the predictions. Well… Zechariah gave a mid-term clue when he picked up from the predictions given to the Hebrews by the ancient prophet Isaiah, two centuries earlier. Zechariah wrote this in Chapter 12 and 13 of his book:
“…they will look on ME, the one they have pierced…” and they’ll mourn as if over an only child, a first-born son. [Zechariah 12:10] They are also going to “strike the shepherd…” “the man who is close to Me…” “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered…” [Zechariah 13:7]
The fact that the Creator God is saying that they will pierce Him, yet connects the mourning of the people to an only child, a first-born son (clearly a human that could 
be pierced by other humans) is hugely significant! This event happened when Yehoshua ben Dovid (Jesus) was pierced, just as the ancient prophet Isaiah predicted, and His Followers scattered when He died.[e] But if that appears to be debatable, Zechariah gives clues that bring in physical changes to the landscape…
The Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem’s Old City will split in two and a valley will open up that people will use to flee the area. [v4] There’ll be no light and yet no cold or frost – totally weird! It’s a unique day (i.e. never been experienced before) without daytime or night time. [v6-7] A river will form as a result of the land shift – probably from the Gihon spring. [v8] The land around Jerusalem will become like the desert land of the Arabah (probably flat) while Jerusalem will be raised up. [v10]
Zechariah’s predictions help me a lot when it comes to navigating the myriad of religious claims out there (and to understand what the Creator God is really up to), because they include physical changes to the region around Jerusalem that clearly haven’t happened yet. Without these landscape-altering changes, for example, any ‘king’ who comes now won’t be the one that Zechariah is talking about – even if he manages to get himself into a position of being ‘lord over the whole world’.
But, like all earthquakes [v5], a divine intervention could happen suddenly and without warning[f]; and if it’s a Day yet to come, then it could come in my lifetime! The problem with divine intervention (especially when the Creator God is involved), it won’t be like a human intervention. We tend to slap people on the wrist and hope they’ll be better next time. We don’t have a proper/lasting solution to bad behavior. We tend to break the relationship, separate ourselves from the source of our problems, and walk away when it goes too badly. If all else fails, and if we can find evidence that is beyond reasonable doubt, we resort to putting people in prison – but then let them out on good behaviour for parole, whether their victims agree or not.
The Creator God works entirely differently. He gives ample warning in many varying way. 
He has ensured that His Handbook for LIFE has been written, miraculously preserved for millenniums, translated into every language on earth, and easily available to any one of us who are now without excuse. He has then set on the road ahead of us, what has now become known as The Day of the Lord. On that day, the axe will fall. Zechariah explains it in horrible yet very clear detail, what will happen to all nations who have refused time and again to heed their Maker’s numerous warnings. [v12-15]
This gruesome predictions, that seems more like a scene from a Sci-Fi movie, are not the concocted hopes and cooked-up dreams of a horribly tyrannical god. This is the clear consequence that everyone now have a chance of escape, just as our Maker said through the Hebrew prophet Joel in my August 21 Breadcrumb:
“The Day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, who can endure it? ‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning; rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.” [Joel 2:11b-13]
It’s likely that Zechariah’s vision of our future in today’s chapter [v16-19] will last 1,000 years.[g] And here again, Father God is trying to reveal His heart for those He created in His own image to be like Him and operate in His likeness.[h] During this time, only one religious festival will remain of all the Jewish feasts or the festivals of any other world religion. The Creator God has chosen the Feast of Tabernacles [v16-19] that all people everywhere will need to respect and take part in, in the future. So why would He be interested in this particular festival?
The Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths) began as a result of the Creator God collecting for Himself a family – a Holy Nation, a people belonging to God, an adopted family when Israel first became a nation 4 millenniums ago. When the children of Israel first left Egypt (after centuries in slavery and exile from the place that the Creator had promised for them), they were on the run and slept in tents. Each year, the Israelites celebrated their transition from slavery to their permanent home (a wilderness journey of 40 years) by living in temporary shelters for the duration of this annual festival.
The prophet Isaiah once said that the Creator spreads out the heavens like a tent to dwell in.[i] But it’s the temporary nature of pilgrims on a journey, 
between a horrible past and a blessed and permanent future, that makes this festival important for us even today. Even after the devastation of Zechariah’s prophecy after he wrote his book, our Lord God and Maker wants to annually remind us of one thing: we’re His family but we’re still on a journey and not yet in our permanent home.
In the future, if any nation refuses to commemorate this one last festival during this future season of divine governance, then it’s as if they are wilfully rejecting the essence of HIStory – the Creator God’s Global Masterplan from the beginning – a plan that’s been in slow and unfolding progress from the time He first clothed humanity and sent them away[j], right through to the moment we enter our everlasting home.[k]
As Zechariah’s vision fades, he notices two truly wonderful outcomes as a direct result of the Creator God’s divine intervention in human history, and both have a “YES… Finally!…”, “breathe a sigh of relief” and “this is now permanent” feel attached to them…
Finally, there’ll come a Day when there’s no longer any merchants in the House of the Lord Almighty. [v21] In other words, never again will anyone degrade Father God by 
making a money-making-racket out of His salvation plan for this world. And in that Day (or “season”, since a day is like 1,000 years and 1,000 years like a day to the Lord[l]) not only is our Maker not degraded, but His people and even their cooking pots will be upgraded and inscribed with the words “Holy to the Lord”!
Yeah! Yes! Finally!….May there be no more delay!
CLICK to return to today’s “Daily Breadcrumbs”
[a] Luke 14:16-24
[b] Matthew 6:5-15
[c] Habakkuk 3:16
[d] Revelation 20:7-9
[e] John 19:34 and Matthew 26:31
[f] Micah 1:18b
[g] Revelation 20:1-3
[h] Genesis 1:26-28
[i] Isaiah 40:22
[j] Genesis 3:21-24
[k] Revelation 21:1-22:5
[l] 2 Peter 3:8