Scripture tells us that certain books have been ‘sealed up’ until specific points in time.

 

 

 

But how does YHWH ‘seal up’ certain books until set points in time? What chain of events does YHWH put in motion, that we cannot ‘open’ these books? In this chapter, we will discover the answer to this question.

 

 

 

Proverbs 25:2 tells us that Elohim derives glory from concealing matters (for a time, and for a purpose). So from whom does Elohim conceal these matters? It can only be from His people Israel.

 

But why would a kind and loving Elohim conceal matters from His people? Well, one reason might be that YHWH knows it is ultimately good for us to labor and struggle for knowledge, since these struggles increase our strength. Moreover, studying causes our overall levels of knowledge to increase.

 

 

Proverbs 25:2 tells us, then, that kings can establish glory for themselves by searching out the matters of Elohim. Let’s look at it again.

 

 

 

But who are these kings who are being glorified?

 

Israel is supposed to be a nation of kings and priests.

 

 

 

When we seek out the matters of Elohim, we are not taking YHWH’s glory away from Him (as if such a thing were even possible). Rather, what happens is that YHWH has set aside a special kind of ‘human’ glory, specially designed for those few human beings who successfully search out the secret matters of His Word, and teach them to His people.

Why is this of importance to us? Is it because we want glory? Elohim forbid! Our motivation in searching out His Word must only be to teach the hidden things of Scripture to His people. It can be nothing else!

 

If any man desires to seek out the secrets of Scripture so as to glorify himself, YHWH will hide the true secrets of Scripture from him, and give him false revelations, instead. But how can this happen?

 

As we explored in Nazarene Israel, if one reads the Renewed Covenant superficially (as most Christians do), one can easily take the wrong impression. If one reads with the wrong spirit, one can easily believe that the Messiah came to do away with the Torah.

 

Many passages in the Renewed Covenant clearly tell us that the Messiah did not come to do away with the Torah, but since the standard Christian practice has become to ‘skim’ any passage that they do not readily understand, the Renewed Covenant has been ‘sealed up’ to the average Christian reader.

 

The same kind of phenomenon applies to end-time studies. If one fails to study carefully, one can easily take the mistaken impression that Yeshua returns to earth in physical form at the start of the Millennium. However, upon studying matters more closely, we are shown that Pre-Millennial Return Theory just leaves too many verses unexplained.

 

The Church (including the Messianic organizations) has read Zechariah too fast. As a result of this, the Church has taught a great many people that Zechariah Twelve through Fourteen gives us ‘proof’ of a Pre-Millennial Return. All of this has come because Zechariah has been ‘sealed up’ to their wrong spirit.

Before we begin our discussion, let us remember that originally, there was no numbering system in Scripture. Rather, YHWH inspired His prophets to speak, and the prophets wrote down all of the words that YHWH gave them in one long string (on a scroll, or in a book). They also wrote without numbering, or punctuation.

 

In order to make it easier to read and study Scripture, commentators in the Middle Ages divided up Scripture up into chapter-and-verse. Then they placed chapter divisions in the places where they thought best. While these commentators did a fairly good job overall, there are many places where their lack of understanding of end time events caused them to number the passages in such a way as to cause a great many readers to stumble at pre-millennialism later on. As we shall see, this is very much the case in Zechariah.

 

In order to understand why the commentators got confused, let us recognize that YHWH does not give prophecy in chronological order. Prophecy does not say, “First this will happen, and then that will happen.” Rather, while prophecy is typically sequential within passages, the sequence between these passages is usually all scrambled up. Therefore, the commentators could not always tell which prophecies belonged to which chronological time periods.

 

Prophecy is all jumbled up, as if YHWH gave His people one vast jigsaw puzzle all in a heap. He did not bother to identify which passage belonged to what time period, but allowed His nation of kings and priests to earn glory for themselves by figuring out what parts of the puzzle go where. And, just like children arguing about a puzzle in the material realm, commentators and scholars have debated as to which piece of the puzzle goes where for ages.

The problem in figuring the jigsaw puzzle out is the same in Renewed (New) Covenant as it is in the prophecies. Just as it is easier to take Torahless Christianity from the Renewed Covenant, it is also easier to get Pre-Millennial Return Theory from the prophecies. And, just as Torahless Christianity asks us to throw away about a third of the pieces of the puzzle, Pre-Millennial Return Theory also asks us to ignore about fully one-third of the Text.

 

By giving Scripture to Israel as one big jumbled mass, YHWH sealed up the secrets of Scripture, for a time. It was not possible to know what Zechariah meant until the Two House Theory was understood; and in turn, the Two House Theory could not be understood until the prophecies over the Two Houses had been fulfilled. However, now that we understand the Two Houses of Israel, we can also begin to unscramble the puzzle that is Zechariah Twelve through Fourteen.

 

As we shall soon see, one has to be extremely careful when interpreting Zechariah, in that YHWH intentionally causes the text to jump from the Millennium’s start, to the Millennium’s end, to the first century, and back and forth (however He pleases).

 

YHWH hides the definitions of certain words, and He even changes the meanings of the same word from verse to verse within the same chronological passage. This is one means by which YHWH has brilliantly kept Zechariah ‘sealed up’ until now.

 

In “The Millennial Land” (above), we showed how Zechariah Nine through Ten prophesy victory over the Muslim people at the Millennium’s start. Two chapters later, Zechariah Chapter Twelve is still speaking of events that take place at the start of the Millennium. 

 

 

 

 

Most English translations were written by Protestant Christians, who typically hold a pre-millennialist bias. Coming from their pre-millennial bias, these Protestant translators try to tell us that all the nations of the world will be gathered against Israel. For example:

 

3 "It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth (הָאָרֶץ) will be gathered against it.”                                    NASU

 

 

The problem with the NASU is the same as with most other English versions. The word ‘earth’ is actually “HaAretz” (הָאָרֶץ), meaning “the Land (of Israel).” 

 

Verse 3 really does not say that all nations of the earth will attack Israel, but that all of the nations of the Land (meaning those peoples presently occupying the future Millennial Land [i.e., the Muslim nations]) will attack Israel. Therefore, what verse 3 really says is that when the Muslim nations attempt to heave Jerusalem away, these Muslim nations (and not the United Nations) will be cut in pieces. This is logical and sensible, and does not require us to believe anything that cannot be readily supported by a good close look at the daily news. It requires no stretch of the imagination.

 

YHWH is telling us the same thing we learned in the chapter, “The Millennial Land:” in this war, YHWH is going to bless the House of Judah, but strike the eyes of the Muslim armies with blindness.

 

One might at first think that the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” here might be the religious Orthodox Jews. However, as we will see in verse 6 (below), this cannot be the case. Rather, it can only be a reference to a group of people (i.e., a ‘spiritual’ Jerusalem) because we are told that Jerusalem will once again inhabit her own place (i.e., physical Jerusalem).

 

Who are these people called (spiritual) Jerusalem, who will inhabit the physical Jerusalem? It cannot be the religious Orthodox, because they already inhabit the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, it must be some other group of people: but who? The answer is probably the American (and possibly also the British) Christians, for reasons we will see below. (And, as we will see, the Nazarenes may be the spiritual House of David.)

Given the political turn of events in recent years, it may be that when the Muslim nations attack Israel, Israel’s elected officials will see that the main reason America supports Israel is because of America’s Protestant Christians. Therefore, these astonished governors of Israel will say to themselves, “The American Christians are our strength in YHWH of hosts…who is also their Elohim!”

 

 

 

Next we see a reference to a spiritual House of David, as well as another reference to ‘spiritual’ Jerusalem.

 

The House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem here cannot be Jewish, because YHWH says He will save the tents of Judah first (so that Judah’s glory will not be outdone by that of the American [and perhaps the British] Christians).

In order to ‘seal up’ this passage, YHWH intentionally had Zechariah speak of the inhabitants of the physical Jerusalem here. By switching between physical and spiritual, YHWH made it so the true meaning of this passage could not be understood until the modern day.

 

 

Alternately, verse 9 might be a reference both to physical and spiritual Jerusalem (i.e., Israel and the pro-Israeli Christians). YHWH might be saying that He will seek to destroy anyone who comes against either of His Two Houses, Israel and/or Judah.

 

However, in the next verse, the terms House of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem are references to Judah. YHWH intentionally switches the definitions back and forth here, in order to ‘seal up’ Zechariah until such time as the Two Houses were understood, and the Stick of Ephraim was ready to be built.

 

 

Imagine the depth of Judah’s remorse when he realizes he was the one used to put Yeshua to death (so that no man might boast of his heritage).

Given the fact that YHWH does not waste words, that YHWH would spend four whole verses describing the depth of Judah’s mourning tells us that it will be a very great mourning indeed.

 

When exactly this great mourning will take place, we do not know. However, we can surmise from other verses in Scripture that it will come about as a result of the reformation of the Stick of Ephraim. When this great event finally does take place, it should pave the way for the Ingathering of the Exiles, as well as the settlement of the lands newly freed from Muslim occupation (in the War [or Wars] of Territorial Expansion).

 

The Ruach Qodesh (the Set-apart Spirit) is described as water, and we can guess that this ‘fountain’ will be an outpouring of the Set-apart Spirit (also alluded to in Zechariah 12:10, above).

In Nazarene Israel, we discussed the idols of the House of Ephraim; namely, the crosses, the steeples, the images of doves, the images of Yeshua, the so-called ‘menorah fish,’ and so forth. However, Ephraim is not alone in using false religious images. The House of Judah also uses numerous religious images, such as the Star of David (i.e., the Star of Remphan/Star of Kiyyun), and others.  Moreover, Judah tends to exalt (and even worship) men, valuing the traditions and teachings of men (in the Talmud) more than the Torah of YHWH (see also Matthew 15:1-9). These will depart from the Land. Moreover, the next verse tells us that after Judah becomes saved, the rabbis will no longer ‘prophesy’ falsehood (and indeed, people will probably no longer even call themselves ‘rabbi.’)

 

 

One wonders why the commentators put the chapter division where they did (above, at verse 1), because the place it really belongs is here, at the end of verse 6. The reason the chapter division belongs here is that we now shift to the first century time frame.

 

 

 

Next, we need to understand that while the phrase, “In that day” indicates that a specific event will take place at a certain time, the phrase, “and it shall come to pass” indicates that an event will come to pass over many years. Not realizing this, pre-millennial return theorists teach that verses eight and nine refer to today’s time, because they believe that the United Nations will attack Israel very soon. The problem with their interpretation is that this passage was fulfilled by the Romans at the time of the destruction of the Temple (in 70 CE), and during Judah’s crushing defeat at the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are ancient (and not pre-millennial) events.

 

 

Verses 8 and 9 tell us that those Jews who were left at the end of the Roman devastation (and the subsequent Exile) would be brought into severe refinement, and that two-thirds of Judah would be cut off from the Land (and die) over the course of several centuries. It would not be a singular event, but it would ‘come to pass.’

Next, Zechariah Chapter Fourteen marks a departure from the ancient time frame, and jumps to the end of the Millennium. However, before we look at Zechariah, let us review what we learned in Revelation.

 

As we already saw (in the chapters above), Revelation 20:7-9 tells us that the War of Gog and Magog will take place at the end of the Millennium.

 

 

Notice, then, how perfectly Revelation 20 meshes with Yeshua’s triumphal return in Zechariah Fourteen, which tells us that when Jerusalem is besieged by all the nations of the world (Gog and Magog), that YHWH Himself (i.e., Yeshua) will come to the rescue:

 

 

In contrast to how Zechariah Chapter Twelve tells us that the surrounding nations (i.e., the Muslim nations) will attack Israel, the language in Zechariah Fourteen tells us that Satan really will marshal all the nations of the world against Israel, just as Revelation also says. 

 

The language here reads כָּל הַגּוֹיִם, “all the nations.” However, this battle against all the nations of the world takes place at the end of the Millennium (as Revelation also says).

 

In context, then, after Israel has ruled and reigned with Yeshua in their hearts for a thousand years, Satan will be released from the Pit (with a vengeance). When this happens, Satan will amass armies so strong that Israel will not be able to stand (but will be overrun). 

 

When Israel is finally overrun in the Great Tribulation, the city will be ransacked, and the women sexually assaulted. The situation will be so desperate that the only thing that will save poor Israel is the triumphal return of her Husband, the Conquering King.

 

Verse 5 tells us that some in Israel will not be caught up to be with Yeshua at His coming, but that they will have to undertake flight through the mountain valley. This shows us that not all of Israel will be taken as part of His bride (see also the Parable of the Ten Virgins at Matthew 25:1-13).

 

 

 

 

Notice the parallel to how Yeshua called down fire and brimstone upon Satan’s armies in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

 

 

After Yeshua has caught His bride up to be with Him and He has smitten the enemies of Israel, the very next thing that happens is that we will all go to stand before the great white throne in the Day of Judgment, where our reward will be determined according to our works.

Many people find it difficult to imagine how they can stop living their lives in the world, and make service to YHWH their number one priority in life. How can they find time to build the Stick of Ephraim? These would do well to remember that the only thing that will matter when we stand before His throne is how much we did to help build His Son’s empire, here on earth.

After the Judgment, ‘it shall come to pass’ (over many generations) that those who are found worthy will go forward to the Renewed Earth, where there will be no light; and that it will be neither day nor night.

 

 

Notice the perfect parallels to Revelation Chapter 21, which tells us how the Renewed Jerusalem (in the Renewed Earth) will have no need of a sun or moon, and how there will be no night there (since we will be spiritual beings, rather than material ones):

 

Next, to keep the book of Zechariah sealed up, YHWH shifts gears back to the Millennium’s start. 

 

The reference to 'living waters' is symbolic of Yeshua and the ‘living waters’ of His Spirit, which will truly begin to go forth (i.e., freely flow) from Mount Zion after the Two Houses are reunited.

 

Next, verse 12 shifts back to the war with Islam, speaking of the ‘plague’ that strikes the (Islamic) forces which will attack Israel. Many scholars have noted the similarity to the effects of tactical nuclear (‘neutron’) munitions (which America sold Israel many years ago).

And in addition to gathering up all of the gold, silver and apparel of the Muslim nations that attack Israel, one might imagine that Israel will also take control of whatever oil reserves remain.

 

 

Then, describing the events after the Islamic attacks, Zechariah tells us that everyone who is left of the Muslim nations that came up against Jerusalem will have to go up to Jerusalem year by year to keep the feast, or else they will have no rain. Egypt is even given as an example of one of these Islamic nations.

A lot has been said about the ‘chem-trails’ (a previously secretive U.S. government cloud seeding program). Conspiracy theorists allege that these ‘chem-trails’ are a satanic plot that Satan is working on, so that those nations who want to defy YHWH can still get rain, even though they will not come up for the Festivals.

 

It may be that ‘chem-trails’ are a satanic plot to get around honoring YHWH.   However, given the fact that Israel will rule the nations with a rod of iron during the Millennium, Israel may also control any and all cloud-seeding operations that take place. If any nation does not come up to honor YHWH at His Festivals, Israel will still have the power to ensure that they have no rain (just as YHWH’s prophecies say).