And it shall come to pass in that day [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea in summer and in winter shall it be.
The verse looks ahead to a day when water flows out of Jerusalem in two directions and never stops. Commentators ask three things: when this happens, whether the river is real water or a picture, and why one branch runs into the Dead Sea.
The verse opens with "on that day." One writer asks what has to happen before the water moves.
We learn from Ezekiel 47 that these waters will not flow out until the temple is rebuilt. They wait until the glory of God has returned to His dwelling place among His people. This fact gives the reader a needed caution. He cannot work out the order of events at the Lord's appearing from any one prophet alone. Only by studying and comparing all of them will he trace the footsteps of the Lord in that day.
Ezekiel saw this river first. Zechariah adds the detail Ezekiel left out.
Ezekiel 47 says that waters will flow out from under the threshold of the house, the sanctuary. They stream toward the East, into the Dead Sea, which they will heal, giving it life. Ezekiel did not mention where the second arm of the double river empties. In Zechariah we read which direction it will flow. The river will flow right through Jerusalem. From Ezekiel we know the temple will be separate from the city itself. Half of it will go to the eastern sea, the Dead Sea. The other half will go to the western sea, the Mediterranean.
Streams in that land dry up when the heat comes. This one is different.
Unlike the desert torrents that dry up in the heat, this one will flow forever. I suppose it is a literal fact. But it also carries deep meaning about spiritual blessing. From the holy city the waters go out west and east. They are destined to heal the long miseries of a world groaning under Satan's rule. They are both the effect and the symbol of the rich blessing which the Lord then spreads far and wide. And this is above all the ordinary changes of nature: in summer and in winter it shall be. Drought and frost will not touch them; nor will the hilly ground toward the west block them.
Some read the river as a picture only. One writer answers that the physical fact stands.
Along with this God will surely grant abundant spiritual good. But there is no solid ground for questioning the real physical fact and its consequences in that day so glorious to the Lord Messiah. We must leave room in the future for God's vindication of Himself in the lower creation.
The picture runs alongside the fact. One writer traces it from the Gospels to Revelation:
Symbolically these streams speak of the Spirit of God as a life-giving power, making everything fertile along its course (John 7:38-39; 4:14). With the same meaning Revelation shows us the river of the water of life. It flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the new Jerusalem, and brings life-giving and divine blessings to all. In Zechariah, where the symbolic meaning is also present, we see that life follows the light that has appeared at evening.
The eastern branch runs to the Dead Sea. What happens there shows the reach of the blessing, and its limit.
The waters that flow out from the sanctuary represent the life-giving power that comes from the throne of God. That power flows through His temple and heals the Dead Sea, the lasting token of judgment. The waters are full of fish. The trees beside them carry plenty of fruit. Only the marshes stay under the curse — they are "given to salt." The blessing of that day is real and abundant, but not complete.
That day is still ahead. But one writer says these living waters already flow in another way.
The living waters will mark the fact that the living Lord is among them. But God would give the Spirit when Jesus was glorified on high, long before the thousand-year day arrives. And the Spirit marks His presence and His indwelling of believers by the outflow of living waters in a spiritual and not a material way. Again and again we see this proved true: what Israel will enjoy in a more material way in that age, the believer knows in a spiritual way in this age.
- Source — The waters start at the sanctuary, after the temple is rebuilt and God's glory has returned. Blessing follows His presence.
- Split — Ezekiel traced one branch east. Zechariah names the western half, so the river reaches both seas.
- Steady — Summer heat and winter cold cannot stop it. It flows above the ordinary changes of nature.
- Sea healed — The eastern branch runs into the Dead Sea, the lasting token of judgment, and heals it. Yet the marshes are left to salt. The blessing of that day is real, but not complete.
- Now — What Israel will enjoy materially in that age, the believer already knows spiritually in this one.
And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth in that day shall there be one Jehovah, and his name one.
Zechariah 14 describes a day when nations gather against Jerusalem. The Lord comes out to fight, and His feet stand on the Mount of Olives. Verse 9 is the outcome of it all. It raises two questions. When does this rule over the whole earth begin, and who is the "one LORD" the world will own?
The verse comes in an order. Something has to happen before this kingship starts.
The last chapter of Zechariah gives clear proof. The Lord God and His holy ones will have come, and His feet will have stood on the Mount of Olives. All this comes before He is "king over all the earth," and before "the LORD will be one and His name one."
Commentators read this as still future. One of them points to the mountain itself:
God will not leave the Mount of Olives without a lasting sign. It will show that the Maker of heaven and earth is that glorious One whose feet stand there in that day. Is Olivet split now? Clearly not. What can you make of it by the so-called spiritual interpretation? Nothing at all. The undivided mountain stands as a silent witness that the prophecy is not yet fulfilled.
"In that day" is not a slot on a timetable. It describes one great day from many sides. The rule itself widens.
"In the day" — for the prophet spoke not so much about the order of events, but about the various aspects of the last day. The Lord, the God of Israel, the Christ, will be King. But this King will be He who in verse 5 is called "My God." He will be King, not just over His people, but over the whole earth. The nations will acknowledge Israel's God as "the only God." God is One in the Jewish revelation (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29, 32), and One also in the Christian revelation (1 Tim. 2:5). But the general religion of the future will be tied to the oneness of the God of Israel, revealed as such in the person of Christ.
The name used here is the covenant name of Israel's God. Commentators tie that name to a person. They also read "His name one" as one name, not several.
"And the LORD will be king over all the earth," not over Israel only, but over all nations. God's king is the Lord Jesus (compare Ps. 2:6-8), and Scripture calls Him "Jehovah." Then the verse adds, "On that day the LORD will be one and His name one." Israel will then realise as never before the truth the Lord Jesus told them: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Having rejected Christ, they blindly accuse Christians of having two gods. But they will think it wonderful when their eyes open and they see that in Him "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Col. 2:9). His name also will be one. That one name was declared before, as in Isaiah 9:6: "His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." These are not several names, but one name.
The second half of the verse is read as the end of every competing claim — political and religious alike.
But there are better blessings still. "In that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one." Idols fall; the King of kings reigns without rival or dispute. This is explicit, as if to cut off every possibility of evasion on the plea of earlier figurative language.
That sweep is not limited to old-fashioned idol worship. One writer presses it to include the modern refusals of God as well:
And who else is God? Where else is the Rock of confidence for faith? This is the question that will be pressed for a quick settlement when Christ appears. Heathenism is swept away at once. All forms of idolatry end together. Unbelief will cease from the earth, and agnosticism will be no more. Yet man's heart may refuse the known as truly as it once refused "the unknown God."
A worldwide kingship does not erase the difference between Israel and the other nations. It puts each in its place under one throne.
In the future kingdom the Lord will take the earth as well as the heavens under His visible rule. He will own and bless both the Jews and the Gentiles in their own place on the earth. Israel will have the position of special nearness, but the nations will rejoice and worship everywhere. All this is because the LORD will be king over all the earth.
That rule works from a real city. So commentators refuse to read the chapter as a picture of the present age:
During the blessed reign of Christ, His authority is absolute. All nations must come up to Jerusalem to worship Him... Now this cannot in any way be applied to the present time, or to the Church of God... the prophecy plainly describes the real personal reign of Christ, in His kingdom at Jerusalem.
- One coming. He must come first — feet on the Mount of Olives, His holy ones with Him — before He is King over all the earth.
- One King. The rule widens past Israel to the whole earth, and the nations own Israel's God as the only God.
- One person. The LORD who reigns is the Lord Jesus; Israel's eyes open to see the God of their fathers revealed in Him.
- One name. Idolatry, unbelief and agnosticism fall together. His many titles are one name, and nothing stands beside Him.
- One centre. Israel near, the nations worshipping everywhere, all under one throne in a real Jerusalem. This is not a picture of the present age.