It is sometimes claimed that Zechariah 14 was fulfilled at Jesus Christ's first coming. But Jesus' first coming was not the Day of the Lord (Zechariah 14:1), for that will not begin until His future, Second Coming (1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). Also, Jesus' first coming did not occur right after Jerusalem had been pillaged by all nations gathered against it (Zechariah 14:2-5). Also, at His first coming, Jesus did not fight against all nations (Zechariah 14:3,2), and then land on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4), which is just east of Jerusalem. It will be at His Second Coming that Jesus will fight against all nations (Revelation 19:11-21), and then land on the Mount of Olives, just as He had ascended from the Mount of Olives at the end of His first coming (Acts 1:11-12).
Also, at His first coming, Jesus Christ did not split the Mount of Olives in two (Zechariah 14:4), creating a valley through which the Jews in Jerusalem could flee from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:5) as Jesus waged war against all of the nations of the world, who had just pillaged Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2-5). Also, at Jesus' first coming, He did not come with all of the saints (Zechariah 14:5b), in the sense of all obedient Christians of all times. That will happen only at His future, Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 3:13b). Also, at Jesus' first coming, He did not make it so that Jerusalem was light at night (Zechariah 14:6-7). And He did not make water flow out from Jerusalem in summer and winter, with half of the water flowing toward the Dead Sea and the other half flowing toward the Mediterranean Sea (Zechariah 14:8). And He did not make Himself King over the whole earth (Zechariah 14:9). And He did not flatten the topography for miles around Jerusalem and raise its elevation (Zechariah 14:10). And He did not make it so that Jerusalem would not be destroyed (Zechariah 14:11). And He did not send an amazingly rapid, flesh-eating plague against the armies who had just pillaged Jerusalem, so that their flesh consumed away while they stood on their feet (Zechariah 14:12).
Also, at His first coming, Jesus Christ did not cause armies who had just pillaged Jerusalem to fight against each other (Zechariah 14:13). And He did not make Judah fight at Jerusalem and win for itself the wealth of the nations surrounding it (Zechariah 14:14). And He did not make transportation animals used by armies who had just pillaged Jerusalem suffer the horrible flesh-eating plague (Zechariah 14:15,12). And non-Christian survivors of all of the nations who had just pillaged Jerusalem did not come to Jerusalem annually at the feast of tabernacles to worship Jesus (Zechariah 14:16). And He did not send drought and plague against the nations who refused to come to Jerusalem to worship Him (Zechariah 14:17-19).
Also, at His first coming, Jesus Christ did not make Jerusalem so holy that even the bells on the horses in Jerusalem had the words: "Holiness Unto YHWH" engraved on them (Zechariah 14:20). And He did not make it so that the animal-sacrifice boiling pots in the temple in Jerusalem became as holy as the bowls before the altar (Zechariah 14:20). And He did not make it so that every pot in Jerusalem and Judah became holiness to YHWH (Zechariah 14:21). Instead, at His first coming, Jesus left non-Christian Jerusalem spiritually desolate (Luke 13:35). Also, at His first coming, Jesus did not make it so that there would be no more Canaanites in the temple in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:21).
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(Re: Is Zechariah 14 only about the New Earth?)
No, see the "cannot be referring to the New Earth" paragraph under Revelation 20:4 below.
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*Zechariah 14:3 / *Zech. 14:3 -
(Re: Does not the Septuagint say fight "with" instead of "against"?)
Note that in the Bible, just as outside of it, to fight with people can mean to fight against them (Exodus 17:8,10, Joshua 24:8, Judges 9:39, Judges 12:4; 1 Samuel 19:8; 1 Samuel 23:5; 2 Samuel 10:17; 2 Samuel 11:17; 2 Kings 9:15; 2 Kings 14:15; 1 Chronicles 19:17; 2 Chronicles 22:6; 1 Corinthians 15:32).
And the context of Zechariah 14:3 shows that YHWH God will be against the nations who will fight against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:12-15).
(See also Zechariah 14(space) above)
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*Zechariah 14:4 / *Zech. 14:4 -
This refers to the feet not of YHWH God the Father, but of YHWH God the Son (Hebrews 1:8), Jesus Christ, who is in the flesh (Luke 24:39; 2 John 1:7).
Jesus Christ's future, Second-Coming, bodily descent from the clouds of the sky (Matthew 24:30) to set His feet on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:3-5), just east of Jerusalem, will be just as literal and physical as His first-coming bodily ascension from the Mount of Olives into a cloud of the sky (Acts 1:9-12, Luke 24:39).
Jesus Christ's landing on the earth at His future, Second Coming (Zechariah 14:4) will not occur until after the physically resurrected (if dead) or immortally changed (if alive) people of the Church (of all times) have been raptured (caught up) together into the clouds to hold a meeting in the sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-53, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
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*Zechariah 14:5 / *Zech. 14:5 -
(With)
See 1 Thessalonians 3:13 below.
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(Re: Fleeing)
Zechariah 14:5a is not referring to the fleeing of people in the Church into the mountains, the wilderness (as in Matthew 24:15-16 and Revelation 12:6,14), at the midpoint of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. Instead, Zechariah 14:5a refers only to a post-tribulation, Second-Coming fleeing of surviving, non-Christian elect Jews in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2-5), who will become Christians when they see the returned Jesus Christ in person (Zechariah 12:10-14, Romans 11:25-32).
They could have survived the Antichrist's just-preceding reign because they were either in hiding or under the protection of God's Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:3,5).
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*Zechariah 14:7 / *Zech. 14:7 -
Compare what Isaiah 4:5-6 says.
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*Zechariah 14:8 / *Zech. 14:8 -
Here the water can be both literal and at the same time symbolic of the life-giving properties of God's Holy Spirit (John 7:38-39), just as, for example, the fruitless fig tree which Jesus Christ cursed was a literal tree which at the same time symbolized fruitless, unbelieving, Old Covenant Israel (Matthew 21:19,43).
Zechariah 14:8 refers to a literal, future river which will flow during the Millennium from the literal, earthly Jerusalem in two directions, into the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea (Zechariah 14:8-21), which are toward the west and east of Jerusalem. For in Zechariah 14:8 the original Hebrew word (chay: H2416) translated as "living" can be translated -- with regard to literal, flowing water -- as "springing" (Genesis 26:19), or "running" (Leviticus 14:5, Leviticus 14:6b, Leviticus 14:50, Leviticus 14:51b, Leviticus 14:52, Leviticus 15:13b, Numbers 19:17b).
(See also the "land" section of Acts 1:6 below)
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*Zechariah 14:9 / *Zech. 14:9 -
This will be fulfilled when... (See the "On the earth" section of Revelation 20:4 below)
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*Zechariah 14:14 / *Zech. 14:14 -
There will be a heavenly army at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming which will include the raptured Church (Revelation 19:14, cf. Revelation 19:8b). And there could also be an earthly army made up of those non-Christian, elect Jews who still be alive at the Second Coming, who could be allowed by Jesus to fight their enemies (Zechariah 14:14, Zechariah 12:5-8).
(But see Matthew 5:39 below, and Daniel 12:7b above)
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*Zechariah 14:16-19 / *Zech. 14:16 -
This refers to non-Christians who will be left alive at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Matthew 24:39b-40), and who will be forced to come up annually to worship the returned Jesus in Jerusalem during the future Millennium. They are those who will be ruled with a rod of iron by Jesus and the physically resurrected Church during the Millennium (Revelation 2:26-29, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 20:4-6, Psalms 2:7-9).
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(Re: Won't that be *bullying?)
No, for bullying is the unjust use of force, whereas the divine Jesus Christ forcing all non-Christians alive during the future Millennium to worship and serve Him (Zechariah 14:16-19, Psalms 66:3, Psalms 72:8-11) will be as perfectly just and right as when Jesus will eventually force everyone of all times who has ever lived to bow their knees before Him and admit the fact that He is Lord of all (Isaiah 45:23, Philippians 2:10-11).
(See also section 3 of Revelation 2:27 below. And see John 1:1 below)
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(Feast of tabernacles)
Zechariah 14:16 refers to the future celebration of what will be a New Covenant form of the feast of tabernacles, not the feast of tabernacles of the forever-abolished letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Ephesians 2:15-16).
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below. Also, see Matthew 26:19 below)
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*Zechariah 14:20-21 / *Zech. 14:20 -
This and Zechariah 6:12c refer to a fourth temple building in Jerusalem which Jesus Christ will build after His future, Second Coming (Zechariah 14:3-21). It will be a Christian temple, for it will be built by Christ (Zechariah 6:12c), and no doubt Christians will worship in it just as they did in the second temple in Jerusalem in the first century AD, even after Jesus' death and resurrection (Luke 24:53, Acts 2:46, Acts 22:17). Zechariah 14:21b could mean that none of the non-Christians alive during the Millennium (Zechariah 14:17-19) will be allowed in the fourth temple.
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(Re: How do you get a fourth temple, when there have only been two?)
See Revelation 11:1 below.
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(HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD)
See Exodus 28:36 above.
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(Re: Seething meat)
Zechariah 14:20-21 refers to the boiling (the "seething") of sacrificed meat in pots at the future, Millennial temple-building in Jerusalem. Compare the "seething" of sacrificed meat in 1 Samuel 2:13.
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*Malachi / *Mal. -
The book of Malachi was originally addressed to the Jews in the time of the prophet Malachi in the fifth century BC, after the second Jewish temple had been built in Jerusalem.
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*Malachi 1:11 / *Mal. 1:11 -
This prophesied the situation since the New Covenant salvation of Gentiles (Acts 10:45), who offer up to God figurative incense and sacrifice continually all around the world (Psalms 141:2, Hebrews 13:15), not only in Jerusalem and Israel (John 4:21-24).
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*Malachi 2:16 / *Mal. 2:16 -
The original Hebrew word (kacah: H3680) translated as "covereth" can mean "conceals" (Genesis 37:26). And the Hebrew word (chamac: H2555) translated as "violence" can mean just that (Ezekiel 7:23). But it can also refer more generally to any type of wrongdoing (1 Chronicles 12:17) or unrighteousness (Exodus 23:1). Compare the parallel idea at the end of Malachi 2:16 of dealing treacherously.
In Malachi 2:16 the Hebrew word (`al: H5921) translated as "with" literally means "on" (Genesis 6:1), and can mean that in the sense of "against" (Genesis 40:2). And while the Hebrew word (lebuwsh: H3830) translated as "garment" can mean just that (Job 24:10), in the context it may be figurative of a man's wife, like how the piece of clothing in Jeremiah 13:11 was figurative of God's wife in Jeremiah 3:14.
So the Hebrew translated as: "covereth violence with his garment" could mean: "concealeth wrongdoing against his wife", which is a parallel idea not only to the idea at the end of Malachi 2:16, but to the idea at the end of the preceding verse and in the verse before that. And in all three verses (Malachi 2:14-16), the Hebrew word (bagad: H0898) translated as "deal treacherously" literally means to cover with a garment, but in the sense of trying to conceal a treacherous act, such as unfaithfulness (Psalms 78:57), in this case to one's wife, by "putting away" (Malachi 2:16: shalach: H7971) one's wife, that is, divorcing her (Deuteronomy 24:1, Matthew 19:8).
And note that the statements regarding God "making one" a man and his wife in Malachi 2:15, and God hating divorce in Malachi 2:16, were foreshadows of Jesus Christ's statements in Matthew 19:6-8.
(See also Mark 10:11 below)
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*Malachi 3:2-4 / *Mal. 3:2 -
(Who shall stand)
This means that no one will be left standing on the earth at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, in the sense that everyone will probably fall on their knees, or onto their faces, in overwhelming awe at the glory of His appearance in the sky (Matthew 24:30). But some non-Christians will be left alive by Him on the earth at that time (Matthew 24:39b-40, Zechariah 14:16-19). Also, Malachi 3:3-4 refers to all of the non-Christian, elect genetic Jews who will become Christians (Romans 11:25-32) when they will see the returned Jesus Christ in person and believe in Him (Zechariah 12:10-14). And so they will all become part of the Church at that time, just as when genetic Jews believe in Jesus now they become part of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:13), for there are no Christians outside of the Church (Ephesians 4:4-5). Also, all of the genetic Jews and Gentiles who became Christians before Jesus' Second Coming will endure it. For the rapture and marriage of the Church of all times will occur at the Second Coming (Matthew 24:30-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
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(Refining)
Malachi 3:2-4, like Isaiah 4:3-4 and Zechariah 13:1, refers to Jesus Christ's refining/cleansing of non-Christian, elect Jews who will still be alive at His future, Second Coming (Romans 11:25-28), when they will see Him in person and believe in Him (Zechariah 12:10-14, Zechariah 13:6).
(Contrast Jeremiah 6:29 above)
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*Malachi 3:6a / *Mal. 3:6a -
(I change not)
See Hebrews 13:8 below.
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*Malachi 4:1-3 / *Mal. 4:1 -
(All / H3605)
See sentences 1-2 of Psalms 145:9 above. And see paragraph 3 of Luke 17:26 below.
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(Re: Annihilation?)
Malachi 4:1-3 can refer to the burning up of only the current bodies of some of the wicked people who will still be alive at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). It does not require that the physical bodies of all non-Christians of all times, once physically resurrected some 1,000 years later at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), will be annihilated when they are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), also called the Gehenna hell.
(See Mark 9:45 below)
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*Malachi 4:4 / *Mal. 4:4 -
This was spoken when the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law was still in effect.
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below)
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*Malachi 4:5-6 / *Mal. 4:5 / *Mal. 4:6-
The coming of Elijah referred to in Malachi 4:5-6 was fulfilled by the coming of John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17, Matthew 11:14).
Malachi 4:6 was fulfilled in the time of John the Baptist (Luke 1:17) in those Jews who heeded his acclamation regarding Jesus Christ in John 1:29.
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*1 Enoch 50 / *Enoch 50 -
This does not say that the rapture of the Church will occur before the future Tribulation of Revelation chapter 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. For the rapture (gathering together) of the Church will not occur until immediately after the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8).
1 Enoch 50:1-2 refers to Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, when the Church (of all times) will be physically resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:21-23, Revelation 20:4-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) or changed into immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-53) on the same day that Jesus Himself will bring God's wrath against the non-Christians who survived the Tribulation (Revelation 19:15 to 20:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
1 Enoch 50:2b-3 refers to the repentance and salvation of the non-Christian, elect Jews who will still be alive at the Second Coming (Romans 11:25-28, Zechariah 12:10-14).
1 Enoch 50:4-5 refers to the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), after the future Millennium and subsequent events (Revelation 20:7-15).
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*2 Esdras 9 -
2 Esdras 9:1-2 is like Luke 21:28.
2 Esdras 9:3 is like Matthew 24:7.
2 Esdras 9:7-8 is like Luke 21:36, Matthew 24:13.
2 Esdras 9:9-12 is like Matthew 24:48-51.
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*Matthew 1:1-17 / *Mt. 1:1 -
The fact that the New Testament's four Gospels of Jesus Christ begin with the book of Matthew, which was written primarily for Jews, who would be most interested in the genealogy of Matthew 1:1-17, is one example of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes to the Jews first (Romans 1:16).
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*Matthew 1:18 / *Mt. 1:18 --
(Re: The *virgin birth)
Mary conceived Jesus Christ solely by God's Holy Spirit. before she had had any sexual relations with Joseph (Matthew 1:18), or with any other man for that matter (Luke 1:34-35). This is why Jesus is the only begotten (only born) Son of God (John 3:16, Luke 1:34-35), meaning that He is the only person ever born without any human father. But He is still also the Son of David (Matthew 21:9), in the sense of His being that physical descendant of David (Romans 1:3) who is the foretold Messiah/Christ (John 7:42). So Mary must have been descended from David, or else Jesus would have had no physical descent from David. Because the genealogies in Matthew and Luke are different, one passing through David's son Solomon (Matthew 1:6) and the other through David's son Nathan (Luke 3:31), the latter genealogy can be Mary's. In this case, Joseph, the husband of Mary can be the son of Heli (Luke 3:23) in the sense of his being his son-in-law, like how, for example, David was the son of Saul (1 Samuel 24:11,16) in the sense of his being his son-in-law (1 Samuel 18:23,27c).
(See also 1 Chronicles 17:11 above)
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*Matthew 1:21b / *Mt. 1:21b -
(Re: Means that repentance is not necessary?)
Ultimate salvation is conditional on Christians not wrongly employing their free will to commit unrepentant sin (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46).
(See Hebrews 10:26 below)
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*Matthew 1:23 / *Mt. 1:23 -
This means that Jesus Christ is God, as do many other scriptures (e.g. John 1:1,14, John 10:30, John 20:28).
(See John 1:1 below)
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*Matthew 2:9 / *Mt. 2:9 -
(Re: The *star of Bethlehem)
Matthew 2:9 is not referring to a literal star, or to any planet or planets, but to a bright object in the sky which sometimes moved and sometimes stood still, like what we today would call a UFO. But the "star" in Matthew 2:9 could have been an angel (cf. Revelation 1:20), even the same angel who had appeared on the ground two years earlier (Luke 2:9-11). But now he was high up in the air, and moved from above Jerusalem, where the Magi had met with Herod (Matthew 2:1-7), and led them, "went before them" (Matthew 2:9), to go not south to Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ had not been for two years, but north to Nazareth. Literal stars and planets do not move like this from south to north, or from north to south for that matter, but move only from east to west as the earth rotates beneath them. Also, literal stars and planets do not move and then stop when they arrive over a particular house (Matthew 2:9-11).
Also, regarding the house in Matthew 2:9-11, note that it is not a barn like two years earlier (Luke 2:7). After the Magi left Nazareth, the two-year-old Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:16) was taken for protection into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14), whereas shortly after Jesus had been born in Bethlehem two years earlier, he had been taken to Jerusalem (Luke 2:21-38), and then to Nazareth (Luke 2:39).
Also, the star-like object which the Magi saw would have appeared so small that only people who knew all of the visible stars extremely well, like the Magi, would have even noticed it in the sky as something new. For if it had been some big, bright object which anyone would have noticed as something new, Herod would not have asked the Magi when it had first appeared (Matthew 2:7). For he and everyone else would have been talking about it, and wondering what it portended for the last two years (Matthew 2:16). Also, just as the Magi noticed something in the sky which nobody else noticed, and followed it to an endpoint, so Christian eschatologists could notice something in the Bible which (almost) nobody else has noticed and follow it to an endpoint (e.g. Daniel 12:11-12).
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(Re: Is the planet Venus "the star in the east"?)
No, for Matthew 2:2,9 is not referring to a common object in the sky as "the star in the east", but to an unusual and tiny point of light in the sky, unnoticed by people (Matthew 2:7), which "the wise men from the east" (Matthew 2:1) had noticed while they were still in the east (Matthew 2:2,9).
Matthew 2:2,9 also cannot be referring to the planet Venus for the reasons given in the section above.
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Nov 27, 2018
Also, at His first coming, Jesus Christ did not split the Mount of Olives in two (Zechariah 14:4), creating a valley through which the Jews in Jerusalem could flee from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:5) as Jesus waged war against all of the nations of the world, who had just pillaged Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2-5). Also, at Jesus' first coming, He did not come with all of the saints (Zechariah 14:5b), in the sense of all obedient Christians of all times. That will happen only at His future, Second Coming (1 Thessalonians 3:13b). Also, at Jesus' first coming, He did not make it so that Jerusalem was light at night (Zechariah 14:6-7). And He did not make water flow out from Jerusalem in summer and winter, with half of the water flowing toward the Dead Sea and the other half flowing toward the Mediterranean Sea (Zechariah 14:8). And He did not make Himself King over the whole earth (Zechariah 14:9). And He did not flatten the topography for miles around Jerusalem and raise its elevation (Zechariah 14:10). And He did not make it so that Jerusalem would not be destroyed (Zechariah 14:11). And He did not send an amazingly rapid, flesh-eating plague against the armies who had just pillaged Jerusalem, so that their flesh consumed away while they stood on their feet (Zechariah 14:12).
Also, at His first coming, Jesus Christ did not cause armies who had just pillaged Jerusalem to fight against each other (Zechariah 14:13). And He did not make Judah fight at Jerusalem and win for itself the wealth of the nations surrounding it (Zechariah 14:14). And He did not make transportation animals used by armies who had just pillaged Jerusalem suffer the horrible flesh-eating plague (Zechariah 14:15,12). And non-Christian survivors of all of the nations who had just pillaged Jerusalem did not come to Jerusalem annually at the feast of tabernacles to worship Jesus (Zechariah 14:16). And He did not send drought and plague against the nations who refused to come to Jerusalem to worship Him (Zechariah 14:17-19).
Also, at His first coming, Jesus Christ did not make Jerusalem so holy that even the bells on the horses in Jerusalem had the words: "Holiness Unto YHWH" engraved on them (Zechariah 14:20). And He did not make it so that the animal-sacrifice boiling pots in the temple in Jerusalem became as holy as the bowls before the altar (Zechariah 14:20). And He did not make it so that every pot in Jerusalem and Judah became holiness to YHWH (Zechariah 14:21). Instead, at His first coming, Jesus left non-Christian Jerusalem spiritually desolate (Luke 13:35). Also, at His first coming, Jesus did not make it so that there would be no more Canaanites in the temple in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:21).
~
(Re: Is Zechariah 14 only about the New Earth?)
No, see the "cannot be referring to the New Earth" paragraph under Revelation 20:4 below.
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*Zechariah 14:3 / *Zech. 14:3 -
(Re: Does not the Septuagint say fight "with" instead of "against"?)
Note that in the Bible, just as outside of it, to fight with people can mean to fight against them (Exodus 17:8,10, Joshua 24:8, Judges 9:39, Judges 12:4; 1 Samuel 19:8; 1 Samuel 23:5; 2 Samuel 10:17; 2 Samuel 11:17; 2 Kings 9:15; 2 Kings 14:15; 1 Chronicles 19:17; 2 Chronicles 22:6; 1 Corinthians 15:32).
And the context of Zechariah 14:3 shows that YHWH God will be against the nations who will fight against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:12-15).
(See also Zechariah 14(space) above)
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*Zechariah 14:4 / *Zech. 14:4 -
This refers to the feet not of YHWH God the Father, but of YHWH God the Son (Hebrews 1:8), Jesus Christ, who is in the flesh (Luke 24:39; 2 John 1:7).
Jesus Christ's future, Second-Coming, bodily descent from the clouds of the sky (Matthew 24:30) to set His feet on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:3-5), just east of Jerusalem, will be just as literal and physical as His first-coming bodily ascension from the Mount of Olives into a cloud of the sky (Acts 1:9-12, Luke 24:39).
Jesus Christ's landing on the earth at His future, Second Coming (Zechariah 14:4) will not occur until after the physically resurrected (if dead) or immortally changed (if alive) people of the Church (of all times) have been raptured (caught up) together into the clouds to hold a meeting in the sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-53, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
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*Zechariah 14:5 / *Zech. 14:5 -
(With)
See 1 Thessalonians 3:13 below.
~
(Re: Fleeing)
Zechariah 14:5a is not referring to the fleeing of people in the Church into the mountains, the wilderness (as in Matthew 24:15-16 and Revelation 12:6,14), at the midpoint of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. Instead, Zechariah 14:5a refers only to a post-tribulation, Second-Coming fleeing of surviving, non-Christian elect Jews in Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2-5), who will become Christians when they see the returned Jesus Christ in person (Zechariah 12:10-14, Romans 11:25-32).
They could have survived the Antichrist's just-preceding reign because they were either in hiding or under the protection of God's Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:3,5).
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*Zechariah 14:7 / *Zech. 14:7 -
Compare what Isaiah 4:5-6 says.
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*Zechariah 14:8 / *Zech. 14:8 -
Here the water can be both literal and at the same time symbolic of the life-giving properties of God's Holy Spirit (John 7:38-39), just as, for example, the fruitless fig tree which Jesus Christ cursed was a literal tree which at the same time symbolized fruitless, unbelieving, Old Covenant Israel (Matthew 21:19,43).
Zechariah 14:8 refers to a literal, future river which will flow during the Millennium from the literal, earthly Jerusalem in two directions, into the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea (Zechariah 14:8-21), which are toward the west and east of Jerusalem. For in Zechariah 14:8 the original Hebrew word (chay: H2416) translated as "living" can be translated -- with regard to literal, flowing water -- as "springing" (Genesis 26:19), or "running" (Leviticus 14:5, Leviticus 14:6b, Leviticus 14:50, Leviticus 14:51b, Leviticus 14:52, Leviticus 15:13b, Numbers 19:17b).
(See also the "land" section of Acts 1:6 below)
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*Zechariah 14:9 / *Zech. 14:9 -
This will be fulfilled when... (See the "On the earth" section of Revelation 20:4 below)
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*Zechariah 14:14 / *Zech. 14:14 -
There will be a heavenly army at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming which will include the raptured Church (Revelation 19:14, cf. Revelation 19:8b). And there could also be an earthly army made up of those non-Christian, elect Jews who still be alive at the Second Coming, who could be allowed by Jesus to fight their enemies (Zechariah 14:14, Zechariah 12:5-8).
(But see Matthew 5:39 below, and Daniel 12:7b above)
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*Zechariah 14:16-19 / *Zech. 14:16 -
This refers to non-Christians who will be left alive at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Matthew 24:39b-40), and who will be forced to come up annually to worship the returned Jesus in Jerusalem during the future Millennium. They are those who will be ruled with a rod of iron by Jesus and the physically resurrected Church during the Millennium (Revelation 2:26-29, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 20:4-6, Psalms 2:7-9).
~
(Re: Won't that be *bullying?)
No, for bullying is the unjust use of force, whereas the divine Jesus Christ forcing all non-Christians alive during the future Millennium to worship and serve Him (Zechariah 14:16-19, Psalms 66:3, Psalms 72:8-11) will be as perfectly just and right as when Jesus will eventually force everyone of all times who has ever lived to bow their knees before Him and admit the fact that He is Lord of all (Isaiah 45:23, Philippians 2:10-11).
(See also section 3 of Revelation 2:27 below. And see John 1:1 below)
~
(Feast of tabernacles)
Zechariah 14:16 refers to the future celebration of what will be a New Covenant form of the feast of tabernacles, not the feast of tabernacles of the forever-abolished letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law (Ephesians 2:15-16).
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below. Also, see Matthew 26:19 below)
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*Zechariah 14:20-21 / *Zech. 14:20 -
This and Zechariah 6:12c refer to a fourth temple building in Jerusalem which Jesus Christ will build after His future, Second Coming (Zechariah 14:3-21). It will be a Christian temple, for it will be built by Christ (Zechariah 6:12c), and no doubt Christians will worship in it just as they did in the second temple in Jerusalem in the first century AD, even after Jesus' death and resurrection (Luke 24:53, Acts 2:46, Acts 22:17). Zechariah 14:21b could mean that none of the non-Christians alive during the Millennium (Zechariah 14:17-19) will be allowed in the fourth temple.
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(Re: How do you get a fourth temple, when there have only been two?)
See Revelation 11:1 below.
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(HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD)
See Exodus 28:36 above.
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(Re: Seething meat)
Zechariah 14:20-21 refers to the boiling (the "seething") of sacrificed meat in pots at the future, Millennial temple-building in Jerusalem. Compare the "seething" of sacrificed meat in 1 Samuel 2:13.
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*Malachi / *Mal. -
The book of Malachi was originally addressed to the Jews in the time of the prophet Malachi in the fifth century BC, after the second Jewish temple had been built in Jerusalem.
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*Malachi 1:11 / *Mal. 1:11 -
This prophesied the situation since the New Covenant salvation of Gentiles (Acts 10:45), who offer up to God figurative incense and sacrifice continually all around the world (Psalms 141:2, Hebrews 13:15), not only in Jerusalem and Israel (John 4:21-24).
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*Malachi 2:16 / *Mal. 2:16 -
The original Hebrew word (kacah: H3680) translated as "covereth" can mean "conceals" (Genesis 37:26). And the Hebrew word (chamac: H2555) translated as "violence" can mean just that (Ezekiel 7:23). But it can also refer more generally to any type of wrongdoing (1 Chronicles 12:17) or unrighteousness (Exodus 23:1). Compare the parallel idea at the end of Malachi 2:16 of dealing treacherously.
In Malachi 2:16 the Hebrew word (`al: H5921) translated as "with" literally means "on" (Genesis 6:1), and can mean that in the sense of "against" (Genesis 40:2). And while the Hebrew word (lebuwsh: H3830) translated as "garment" can mean just that (Job 24:10), in the context it may be figurative of a man's wife, like how the piece of clothing in Jeremiah 13:11 was figurative of God's wife in Jeremiah 3:14.
So the Hebrew translated as: "covereth violence with his garment" could mean: "concealeth wrongdoing against his wife", which is a parallel idea not only to the idea at the end of Malachi 2:16, but to the idea at the end of the preceding verse and in the verse before that. And in all three verses (Malachi 2:14-16), the Hebrew word (bagad: H0898) translated as "deal treacherously" literally means to cover with a garment, but in the sense of trying to conceal a treacherous act, such as unfaithfulness (Psalms 78:57), in this case to one's wife, by "putting away" (Malachi 2:16: shalach: H7971) one's wife, that is, divorcing her (Deuteronomy 24:1, Matthew 19:8).
And note that the statements regarding God "making one" a man and his wife in Malachi 2:15, and God hating divorce in Malachi 2:16, were foreshadows of Jesus Christ's statements in Matthew 19:6-8.
(See also Mark 10:11 below)
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*Malachi 3:2-4 / *Mal. 3:2 -
(Who shall stand)
This means that no one will be left standing on the earth at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, in the sense that everyone will probably fall on their knees, or onto their faces, in overwhelming awe at the glory of His appearance in the sky (Matthew 24:30). But some non-Christians will be left alive by Him on the earth at that time (Matthew 24:39b-40, Zechariah 14:16-19). Also, Malachi 3:3-4 refers to all of the non-Christian, elect genetic Jews who will become Christians (Romans 11:25-32) when they will see the returned Jesus Christ in person and believe in Him (Zechariah 12:10-14). And so they will all become part of the Church at that time, just as when genetic Jews believe in Jesus now they become part of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:13), for there are no Christians outside of the Church (Ephesians 4:4-5). Also, all of the genetic Jews and Gentiles who became Christians before Jesus' Second Coming will endure it. For the rapture and marriage of the Church of all times will occur at the Second Coming (Matthew 24:30-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
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(Refining)
Malachi 3:2-4, like Isaiah 4:3-4 and Zechariah 13:1, refers to Jesus Christ's refining/cleansing of non-Christian, elect Jews who will still be alive at His future, Second Coming (Romans 11:25-28), when they will see Him in person and believe in Him (Zechariah 12:10-14, Zechariah 13:6).
(Contrast Jeremiah 6:29 above)
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*Malachi 3:6a / *Mal. 3:6a -
(I change not)
See Hebrews 13:8 below.
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*Malachi 4:1-3 / *Mal. 4:1 -
(All / H3605)
See sentences 1-2 of Psalms 145:9 above. And see paragraph 3 of Luke 17:26 below.
~
(Re: Annihilation?)
Malachi 4:1-3 can refer to the burning up of only the current bodies of some of the wicked people who will still be alive at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). It does not require that the physical bodies of all non-Christians of all times, once physically resurrected some 1,000 years later at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), will be annihilated when they are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15), also called the Gehenna hell.
(See Mark 9:45 below)
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*Malachi 4:4 / *Mal. 4:4 -
This was spoken when the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law was still in effect.
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 below)
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*Malachi 4:5-6 / *Mal. 4:5 / *Mal. 4:6-
The coming of Elijah referred to in Malachi 4:5-6 was fulfilled by the coming of John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17, Matthew 11:14).
Malachi 4:6 was fulfilled in the time of John the Baptist (Luke 1:17) in those Jews who heeded his acclamation regarding Jesus Christ in John 1:29.
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*1 Enoch 50 / *Enoch 50 -
This does not say that the rapture of the Church will occur before the future Tribulation of Revelation chapter 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. For the rapture (gathering together) of the Church will not occur until immediately after the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8).
1 Enoch 50:1-2 refers to Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, when the Church (of all times) will be physically resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:21-23, Revelation 20:4-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) or changed into immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-53) on the same day that Jesus Himself will bring God's wrath against the non-Christians who survived the Tribulation (Revelation 19:15 to 20:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
1 Enoch 50:2b-3 refers to the repentance and salvation of the non-Christian, elect Jews who will still be alive at the Second Coming (Romans 11:25-28, Zechariah 12:10-14).
1 Enoch 50:4-5 refers to the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), after the future Millennium and subsequent events (Revelation 20:7-15).
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*2 Esdras 9 -
2 Esdras 9:1-2 is like Luke 21:28.
2 Esdras 9:3 is like Matthew 24:7.
2 Esdras 9:7-8 is like Luke 21:36, Matthew 24:13.
2 Esdras 9:9-12 is like Matthew 24:48-51.
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*Matthew 1:1-17 / *Mt. 1:1 -
The fact that the New Testament's four Gospels of Jesus Christ begin with the book of Matthew, which was written primarily for Jews, who would be most interested in the genealogy of Matthew 1:1-17, is one example of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes to the Jews first (Romans 1:16).
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*Matthew 1:18 / *Mt. 1:18 --
(Re: The *virgin birth)
Mary conceived Jesus Christ solely by God's Holy Spirit. before she had had any sexual relations with Joseph (Matthew 1:18), or with any other man for that matter (Luke 1:34-35). This is why Jesus is the only begotten (only born) Son of God (John 3:16, Luke 1:34-35), meaning that He is the only person ever born without any human father. But He is still also the Son of David (Matthew 21:9), in the sense of His being that physical descendant of David (Romans 1:3) who is the foretold Messiah/Christ (John 7:42). So Mary must have been descended from David, or else Jesus would have had no physical descent from David. Because the genealogies in Matthew and Luke are different, one passing through David's son Solomon (Matthew 1:6) and the other through David's son Nathan (Luke 3:31), the latter genealogy can be Mary's. In this case, Joseph, the husband of Mary can be the son of Heli (Luke 3:23) in the sense of his being his son-in-law, like how, for example, David was the son of Saul (1 Samuel 24:11,16) in the sense of his being his son-in-law (1 Samuel 18:23,27c).
(See also 1 Chronicles 17:11 above)
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*Matthew 1:21b / *Mt. 1:21b -
(Re: Means that repentance is not necessary?)
Ultimate salvation is conditional on Christians not wrongly employing their free will to commit unrepentant sin (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46).
(See Hebrews 10:26 below)
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*Matthew 1:23 / *Mt. 1:23 -
This means that Jesus Christ is God, as do many other scriptures (e.g. John 1:1,14, John 10:30, John 20:28).
(See John 1:1 below)
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*Matthew 2:9 / *Mt. 2:9 -
(Re: The *star of Bethlehem)
Matthew 2:9 is not referring to a literal star, or to any planet or planets, but to a bright object in the sky which sometimes moved and sometimes stood still, like what we today would call a UFO. But the "star" in Matthew 2:9 could have been an angel (cf. Revelation 1:20), even the same angel who had appeared on the ground two years earlier (Luke 2:9-11). But now he was high up in the air, and moved from above Jerusalem, where the Magi had met with Herod (Matthew 2:1-7), and led them, "went before them" (Matthew 2:9), to go not south to Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ had not been for two years, but north to Nazareth. Literal stars and planets do not move like this from south to north, or from north to south for that matter, but move only from east to west as the earth rotates beneath them. Also, literal stars and planets do not move and then stop when they arrive over a particular house (Matthew 2:9-11).
Also, regarding the house in Matthew 2:9-11, note that it is not a barn like two years earlier (Luke 2:7). After the Magi left Nazareth, the two-year-old Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:16) was taken for protection into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14), whereas shortly after Jesus had been born in Bethlehem two years earlier, he had been taken to Jerusalem (Luke 2:21-38), and then to Nazareth (Luke 2:39).
Also, the star-like object which the Magi saw would have appeared so small that only people who knew all of the visible stars extremely well, like the Magi, would have even noticed it in the sky as something new. For if it had been some big, bright object which anyone would have noticed as something new, Herod would not have asked the Magi when it had first appeared (Matthew 2:7). For he and everyone else would have been talking about it, and wondering what it portended for the last two years (Matthew 2:16). Also, just as the Magi noticed something in the sky which nobody else noticed, and followed it to an endpoint, so Christian eschatologists could notice something in the Bible which (almost) nobody else has noticed and follow it to an endpoint (e.g. Daniel 12:11-12).
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(Re: Is the planet Venus "the star in the east"?)
No, for Matthew 2:2,9 is not referring to a common object in the sky as "the star in the east", but to an unusual and tiny point of light in the sky, unnoticed by people (Matthew 2:7), which "the wise men from the east" (Matthew 2:1) had noticed while they were still in the east (Matthew 2:2,9).
Matthew 2:2,9 also cannot be referring to the planet Venus for the reasons given in the section above.
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