IN ZECHARIAH 13:8,9, we have a prediction regarding the Jewish population of Palestine at the time of the great Tribulation. According to this prophecy, two-thirds of the people will be cut off and die, but one third of them will survive the ordeal of the tribulation judgments. Yet that one-third which comes through this furnace of affliction is said to be refined as silver and as gold are purified. This prediction indicates that there will be those of that final third who will be purged out of Israel by the devastating judgments of the Lord. When we read this passage in the light of such scriptures as Isaiah 33:13-16, we are confident that those who are purged out of Israel, according to our passage, are the sinners of Zion mentioned in the Isaiah passage. Moreover the third that survives the Tribulation are the ones who in the Isaiah passage walk uprightly, speak truthfully and despise all oppression, bribery, and evil in every form. In this connection it would be well to turn to Isaiah 65:13,14, and contrast the condition and situation of these two classes during the final judgments of the Tribulation.

According to Zechariah 13:9, when all the dross has been purged from Israel, those who survive will call upon the name of God and He will then  hear them. As we learned in the last installment of this series, the gospel will be given to all Israel during the Tribulation. Those who hear the message and heed it will, at the very end of that period of judgment, turn to God and ask Him to bring deliverance to them. He will heed their cry; He will call them His people, and they shall call Him Jehovah their God.

In Zechariah 14:1-8 we see Jerusalem in the final siege when the armies of all the nations of the world will be gathered under the Antichrist to battle against it. "Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city" (Zech. 14:1,2). The nations of their own free will and purpose will send their armies to Jerusalem to fight against the Jews and to exterminate them from the face of the globe. Nevertheless it will be the Lord who overrules their intentions and takes them to Jerusalem to accomplish His purposes through them. As an example of God's using men and nations without their realizing that they are being thus used in order to carry out His plans and purposes, see Isaiah 10:5-14. In this passage we see that God used Sennacherib, one of the most cruel Assyrian monarchs who ever sat upon the throne in Ninevah, to punish His people Israel for their Sins. In making his forecast, Isaiah said that, when God had accomplished His purpose with the Assyrian, He the Lord, would punish that evil, wicked monarch. Thus it will be in the final siege of Jerusalem. According to Micah 4:12 God will gather the nations of the world to Jerusalem as sheaves are gathered into the threshing floor. When He will have accomplished His purpose with them at that time, He will use Israel, supernaturally strengthened, to thresh the nations as the sheaves of the threshing floor.

In the final onslaught by the armies of the world, half of the city of Jerusalem will be taken. The houses will be rifled, the women ravished, and one-half of the population will be taken into captivity.

At the critical moment, when it will appear that the case of Jerusalem is a lost cause, suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ will make His appearance upon the scene. He will immediately go forth into action and fight against those nations as He fought in the day of battle. He will be successful and will slay them, subduing all opposition. At that time His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives which will be rent from east to west. This rift will divide the mountain into two parts, one moving toward the north and the other toward the south. There will be opened up a valley through which many of those who are neither captured nor slain will flee toward the east. There will probably be a mighty earthquake at that time as there was in the days of King Uzziah of Judah, when a very notable earthquake took place.

There will be an unusual day at that time. Nothing has ever been like it before or will be after that. There shall not be light because the heavenly bodies "shall withdraw themselves." It shall be a day known unto the Lord, which is neither day nor night. At evening time, however, there will be light. It is impossible for us to get a definite idea of that special day the day on which our Lord shall come in triumph to conquer the world and to subdue it unto Himself. We shall have to await that time to get the full picture that is presented in verses 6 and 7.

At that time there will issue forth from Jerusalem a stream of living water which will divide, half going toward the eastern Sea and half toward the western sea. This stream will constantly flow all during the Millennial Age. It will be the same in summer as in the winter.

When the Lord Jesus Christ thus returns, He will become King over all the earth. At that day all idolatry will have passed away, and Jehovah will be recognized by all nations and will be worshipped under His one memorial name.

At that time there will be topographical changes that will take place in and around Jerusalem. It appears from verses 10 and 11 of Zechariah 14 that the land, around Jerusalem at least, will become level like a plain. Jerusalem will become a high mountain in this plain. And the nations, according to Isaiah 2:1-4 and Micah 4:1-8, will go on pilgrimages to Jerusalem to see Jehovah of hosts, the Great King, and be taught of Him.

At that time the curse which fell upon the earth at the disobedience of Adam will be missing. There will therefore be no curse anymore. Thus will be introduced the great era of peace which was the theme and subject of both prophet and psalmist in Israel.

In the paragraph, consisting of verses 12-15, the prophet, adopting the law of recurrence, goes back to the time when the final siege of Jerusalem takes place and speaks of the plague with which God will smite the warring nations as they seek to exterminate the Jewish people and to take Jerusalem in that final conflict. These verses therefore describe an actual plague that will be brought upon the horses and men who fight against Jerusalem. This will be the result of miraculous, divine power.

In the final paragraph of this prediction we see Jerusalem the center of interest of the earth. The people go there from year to year to worship Jehovah of hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was especially the great one at the conclusion of the year. At that time Israel gathered in booths or tabernacles, having gathered in their harvests, to thank the Lord for His having crowned their year with His goodness and with His blessing. From other scriptures such as the last nine chapters of Ezekiel's prophecy, we learn that a certain amount of the ritualism and sacrifices of the Mosaic Economy will be re-inaugurated and will be observed during the Millennial  Age. These sacrifices, however, will have a memorial significance for they will look back to Christ and the sacrifice which He made when He was upon the earth the first time. Moreover we know from our Lord's language in Luke 22:14-23 that the passover supper will be observed during the Millennial Age. This fact becomes immediately evident, when one understands our Lord's statement at His last supper that He would no more partake of it the passover supper until it, this supper, should be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. This prediction is found in Luke 22:14-18. Following the observance of the passover supper, Jesus instituted what we call the Lord's Supper (vss. 19-23). From His definite prediction, therefore, we know that the Passover, together with the Feast of Tabernacles, will be observed during the Millennial Age.

On the bells of the horses there will be written these words, "HOLY UNTO JEHOVAH." Every pot and vessel in Jerusalem will be holy unto Jehovah of hosts. Holiness and righteousness shall be the order of the day, not only in Jerusalem, but throughout the world. May that day speedily come.