Zechariah 14:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The battle of Armageddon will be a very chaotic affair. On the one side will be the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other side will be the armies of the antichrist. They will be confounded by the resistance that the Lord Jesus Christ is setting up against them. They will not understand what is taking place and it tells us here they will be so confused that they will begin to fight against one another. It will be in the same vein as the battle we read of in II Chronicles 20:20ff. The armies that were aligned to fight against Jehoshaphat were so confused because he came against them with a choir, rather than weapons of war. In their confusion they attacked one another. The LORD confused them.
In our text, we have just noted in the previous verses that a massive plague will affect the enemies of God. This will excite the remaining armies in such a way that they will attack and kill one another. The Lord Jesus Christ will come away from that battle without injury, but the wicked will be destroyed. It is never a wise thing to fight against the LORD. He will always win.
During that battle, there will be no second chance for those involved. They will not be wounded and sent off to a hospital to recover. They will be slaughtered as the LORD acts with great power against them.
Judah will be there at that battle, and they will go in and gather the spoils. Those spoils will be precious metals and precious materials. We read they will be in great abundance.
There will be no real resistance offered. Even the horses, mules, camels and asses used in that battle will be ineffective. It will be a complete failure on the part of the enemies of the LORD. There will be no victory lap for any of them. Their destination will be Hell where they will remain until the end of the Millennium. Then they will stand at the great white throne judgment and be exposed for who they truly are and then they will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity.
In verse 16 we read of those who are left. Those who are left are the redeemed. They will enter the Millennium and they will come to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts. They will keep the feast of tabernacles.
The feast of tabernacles was associated with the harvest of the land of Israel. During that time they were commanded to live in booths and to make a special offering to the LORD every day for seven days. God would bless them and they would honour Him for His blessings.
At the end of the battle of Armageddon, that feast will likely be used as a reminder of the LORD’s great victory over His enemies. The remnant that will be left will be forever grateful to Him for His salvation, both physically and spiritually.
In verse 17 we see that the LORD knows how to deal with those who do not want to honour Him. There will be no fools spouting off about man-made climate change. The people will know that the LORD will be withholding rain from them if they choose to rebel.
We need to understand that even today, true saints do not always behave like saints. Sometimes they need to be chastened to get them to submit to their Master. That will be true for every true born again child of God at some times in their life. We should submit and follow the Lord, but we do not always do that right away.
Jesus Christ will not suffer this rebellion to go on unchecked then. He is not allowing it to go unchecked now either. We do not always equate the trouble we face with the hand of God, but those who are saved need to have their eyes open to what God is doing. He is not asleep. He is very much aware of what is happening and He is working to show Himself strong.
We see in verses 18-19 there will be Gentile saints involved there as well. God particularly separated out Egypt as an object lesson here. If they do not want to surrender to the LORD, He will not give them rain. As we know, there will be people born in that time, and they will be born as lost sinners just as in any other time. They will not all turn to the LORD. Those who want to live as heathens will suffer.
God does not bless the worship of false gods now either. He sends trouble in the way of broken families and disease and other things that are designed to remind people of the need to turn to Him. There are wicked people who seem to live quite trouble free their entire lives. We do not see what is going on in their hearts. We do not see the trouble they sense inside. They might have their liquor and their other distractions that seem to keep them on an even keel. We do not see everything. God does. He is at work even if we do not recognize it.
Thousands upon thousands will be in hell because they refused to humble themselves and yield to God’s authority and blessing. Saints have a special privilege of knowing the true God and of reminding others of the need to know the true God.
In the Millennium Jesus Christ will rule and no one will interfere with His rule. We are living in a time of human government. We know that most human governments are very secular in nature. They have no use for the true God. Some will speak of a god, but they do not know the true God. They set up laws that favour the flesh, but they do not seek to follow the true God.
God knows what He is doing and He is allowing evil to be followed in our time. This has been the case since the fall of man. The Millennium will still require true salvation in order to know the peace of God. However, the lost of that time will not have the liberty to practice their wickedness with the same ease they do now. Jesus Christ will demonstrate the blessings of knowing Him and following Him, and He will demonstrate the wrath of God against those who reject Him. The Millennium will be the last thousand years prior to the destruction of the entire world. God’s design is for people to be saved. He will be working in that time to demonstrate the importance of man knowing Him.
He is doing that now, and He has enlisted the service of true saints to be His mouthpiece to a great extent now. He knows better than we do, that too often we, true saints, fail in our responsibility of submitting to Him. That is why we are warned several times in the New Testament era of the danger of losing rewards after we are saved. Those who are truly saved cannot lose their salvation, but can lose rewards. We are often reminded of the importance of submission to the LORD if we are saved. The liberty is found in submission, not in resistance. Resistance leads to frustration and lack of peace. Obedience is blessed with God’s peace for those who are saved. God does not just provide salvation. He provides eternal life and that life is to be submissive to Him and willing to glorify Him in all things.
Pastor Bartel