Is Zechariah 14:4 a prophecy about the second coming of Christ?

In the next verse we have one of the most remarkable predictions to be found in the prophetic scriptures: "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (v. 4.) It was from the mount of Olives, as the reader will remember, that our Lord ascended up to heaven (Acts 1:12), and, after a cloud had received Him out of the sight of the disciples, and while they were still wistfully gazing after their departed Lord, two angels said to them, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:9-11) No words could be more precise or state more definitely that Jesus Himself should return to the earth, and that in a visible manner; and now we learn from Zechariah that He shall return to the very spot whence He ascended, and that the very same feet that once trod Olivet, in company with His disciples, shall once again stand in the same place. No ingenuity whatever can explain away the simple words, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives," and in this way, as another has pointed out, "Jehovah identifies Himself, so to speak, with the meek and lowly Jesus formerly on the earth, in order that the identity of the Saviour and Jehovah should be clearly acknowledged."

But when Jehovah thus comes, in the person of the Messiah, He comes with power and great glory; the earth will acknowledge the presence of her rightful Lord, and thus the mountain, on which He will stand, cleaves in the midst. As we read indeed in the psalm, "The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth" (Psalm 18:7), so will it be again on this eventful day. The effect will be that a great valley will be formed by half of the mountain removing toward the north, and half toward the south, running east and west, its western end being immediately opposite to the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem, and its eastern end terminating, it would seem, at Azal. Isaiah cries, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence." (Isa. 64:1-3.) So will it also be in this day of which Zechariah speaks, and the wonders flowing from the presence of Jehovah will strike terror into the hearts of the beholders, for they will flee as they fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.†

The prophet does not pursue this aspect of his subject. Jehovah has come, and His feet stand upon the mount of Olives, and He has thus renewed His relationship with Judah, or at least the remnant, of whom the disciples (who saw their Lord ascend, and who received the promise of seeing Him return) were the representatives. He now recommences (the second part of the chapter beginning at this point) with the coming of the Lord. He says, as if addressing Jehovah "And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." (v. 5.) The introduction of the saints as accompanying, or forming the cortège of Jehovah is an additional feature; and the instructed reader will see in this a remarkable confirmation of what he has learnt of the Lord's coming from the New Testament. Here, as it is His return to Israel, it is His public manifestation — when every eye shall see Him, and when, therefore, as Zechariah states, the saints shall come with Him. If, however, the glorified saints return with Christ, they must have been caught up to be with Him previously; and this is what the New Testament scriptures teach. Thus, in 1 Thess. 4, we learn that when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, both the sleeping and the living saints will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so will be ever with the Lord. Here there is no question of any being caught up; the Lord comes to His own on the earth for their succour and temporal salvation. This shows the difference between the hope of the Church and the hope of Israel. Believers now wait daily to be caught up to meet Christ, and hence, afterwards, "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4), whereas the believing remnant, in the day of which the prophet speaks, will await the coming of the Messiah in glory, as described in this chapter. The confusion of the Lord's coming for the Church with His coming with His saints in glory for the restoration and blessing of Israel on the earth has been the source of continual perplexity in the interpretation of the word of God.*

The character of the day in which Jehovah comes with His saints is next given: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." (vv. 6, 7.) The translation of the sixth verse is doubtful, and many suggested alterations have been made. But the meaning is tolerably apparent, and may be given in another's words: "It shall not be a day of mingled light and darkness, but a day appointed by Jehovah a day characterized by His intervention and mighty presence, and that could not be characterised by the ordinary vicissitudes of night and day; but, at the moment when the total darkness of night might be expected, there should be light." For in truth it will be the day of Jehovah, and will therefore have its own character, and one that will be so manifestly outside of all ordinary days as to arrest the attention of all beholders.

Nevertheless, in spite of her pride and her confederacy with evil, Jerusalem shall be taken in the last days. We have seen, when studying the other prophets, that this will be the case; and then afterwards, when again besieged, Jehovah will intervene for the destruction of these enemies. This is very distinctly announced here. The nations shall be assembled by Jehovah; the city shall be taken and the houses rifled, and half the people led captive. Jehovah will then come forth against those nations, as we read in chapter 12 (compare Isa. 66 and Micah 4). He comes in the Person of Christ to the Mount of Olives, whence He ascended. The Mount of Olives cleaves in the midst, forming a great valley, spreading terror among the people who are there. But if Jehovah identifies Himself thus, so to speak, with the meek and lowly Jesus formerly on the earth, in order that the identity of the Saviour and Jehovah should be clearly acknowledged, it is not the less true that He will come from heaven in all His glory (as He Himself predicted, as well as the prophets beginning with Enoch). The heavenly saints will accompany Him in His public manifestation to the eyes of an astonished world. Marvellous glory for those that are His, with whom He will manifest Himself before all the wicked! For here it is Jehovah's public coming to the earth, as the righteous Judge, making war upon all that rebel against Him.

I do not see that the last-mentioned event follows that which precedes it in the chapter. There is a division in the middle of verse 5. "And Jehovah my God shall come" begins a fresh subject, introducing a grand distinct event, which affects the whole earth in a manner that characterises its future existence. The presence of Jehovah upon the Mount of Olives renews, we may say, His visible relationship with Judah. This part of the subject closes with the words, "Uzziah, king of Judah." That which follows is intimately connected with the return of Christ to the Jews, in the very spot from which He left this earth; but it looks at it from a higher point of view, and takes up the subject of the relationship of Jehovah with the whole earth, when He comes from heaven with the saints. This is another part of the subject and a very important one.

The last chapter of Zechariah vividly depicts the return of the Lord Jesus in power and majesty, naming the very spot where His feet will first touch the earth again—“the Mount of Olives,” the place they last stood upon, when He was about to leave the world nearly two thousand years ago. As we pointed out—chapter 9—the first chapter of the last division of this prophecy presents the King as coming to Jerusalem, linking the first and second comings together, without speaking of Christ’s sufferings and rejection. This He does in chapters 11, 12, 13, as we have seen.

340 It is said in Acts 1 that Jesus "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," that is, upon the Mount of Olives. Compare Ezekiel 11:23. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives," says the Holy Ghost in Zechariah 14:4; "his feet," the feet of Jehovah. Though indeed He was the man of sorrows, Jesus is Jehovah, and has been so from eternity.

In Zech. 14 the nations re-appear once more, and Jehovah goes forth at the head of His people and overthrows them. The nations may seem at first to succeed. They take Jerusalem, and half of the city goes into captivity; but, nevertheless, the nations are discomfited for ever immediately after. When has there been the very faintest appearance of the accomplishment of this prophecy? But there is more than this. It is said, "In that day Jehovah shall come, and all his saints with him." Has this too been fulfilled? Still more, as if to confront the thoughts of man, as if to stamp the dreams of rationalism with evident folly, God will not leave the mount of Olives without an everlasting token that the Maker of heaven and earth is that glorious One, whose feet stand there in that day. Is Olivet cloven now? Clearly not. What can you make of it by the so-called spiritual interpretation? Absolutely nothing. No matter who or what you are, sure I am that mysticism fails, and here, if anywhere, it ought to confess its fault with shame. The undivided mountain rises up to condemn those false interpretations, and is a silent standing witness that the prophecy is not yet accomplished; before God and man the fact declares that the prophecy awaits its fulfilment. When Jehovah does come to accomplish it, the mount will part asunder, and there shall be a very great valley between the northern and southern fragments. You who would unwittingly make this prophecy of private interpretation, weigh the fact now before us. Can you etherealize, so to speak, the mount of Olives? Can you turn it into a myth? Impossible! God condescends to map it out, so to speak, that there may be no mistake. He is pleased even to give the geographical position of it (v. 4), as if to expose and refute all such mysticism for ever. Then we have the effects of the appearing of the Lord on the mount of Olives. Not only are the nations defeated, but, besides, "It shall be one day which shall be known to Jehovah, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." Instead of day succeeding night, as has always been the case in the world's history before, when one might expect the night, it will still be the light of day. There will be an exceptional interruption of the ordinary change of day and night, marking the presence of the Lord God of the world. One feels how right it is that it should be so. How could the sun go down, so to speak, if the Lord be no longer hidden, but come in His glory? "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea; in summer and in winter shall it be." In this we have the sign of refreshing fertilizing power that goes out to the mass of people, even the most hopeless, and this, independently of times and seasons henceforth. "And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Jehovah, and His name one." There is also the witness of the authority of God in what He will do. He will judge the nations that do not come up to Jerusalem. (vv. 12-19.) If the world is to be blessed, it cannot be at the expense of His honour or His sovereign choice of Jerusalem as the earth's metropolis and sanctuary. (vv. 20, 21.) Jehovah accordingly shows the unmistakeable tokens of His future day for the earth, a day without parallel. If it be perfectly certain that all this does not suit the time before or since Christ's first advent, is it not evident that it must refer to the age that follows His second? Further, is it not equally plain, that it cannot be the Lord God at the end destroying the earth and heavens that now are? Have we not seen that He is King in that day, and that blessings flow out from Jerusalem? Have we not even geographical signs as if to put to flight every tendency to a mysticising of Scripture? This is not a scene far away from this present creation; it is not possible to be said of the heavens, but only of the earth. It is admitted fully, that our place will be above with the Lord; but what reason is this against the Lord's having also the throne of His father David on the earth (Isaiah 9), or filling it with the knowledge of Jehovah's glory, as the waters cover the sea? (Isaiah 11) And so we find it here — "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon." "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." (vv.

He will appear when the tribulation-persecution of the Jewish nation under the Antichrist will have reached its height, and His coming will bring it to an end. All nations will be gathered against Jerusalem and the city shall be taken, "then the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations" (Zechariah 14). His appearing will be the destruction of those foes, but it will be the deliverance of the Godly Jews who are looking for Him. "To them that look for Him shall He appear . unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28 ). "His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives . . and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley . and ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains ... and the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with Thee" (Zechariah 14:4-6). This passage throws light on the Lord's words in Matthew 24:15,16. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand). Then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains." And it will be the fulfilment of Acts 1:11. "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." He will return to the very spot from which He went up, His feet will stand again upon the mount of Olives.

The words “in the day of battle” refer to what will happen when the Lord with all His hosts will come from heaven to destroy the beast and the false prophet with their armies. After that something else will also take place: “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem toward the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, — a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” (v. 4). Then it will become reality what the angels said to the disciples who were witness of the Lord’s ascension on the mount of Olives: “This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld Him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11). At the same moment that the humiliated Jerusalem will “speak out of the ground, and [its] speech shall come low out of the dust” (Isa. 29:4), the hour of its redemption will strike.

Suddenly the Lord will appear. As Zechariah shows (Zech. 14) when Jerusalem is compassed by her enemies, and just falling, nay, has fallen into their hands, — the city taken, the houses rifled, and half of the city gone forth into captivity, while "the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city," — then "shall Jehovah go forth, and fight with those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle." This might be, and has been, taken as a providential visit; but what follows shows conclusively, and in agreement with many other prophecies, (Dan. 7:13-14, etc.) that it is — though indeed Jehovah — the Son of Man who comes: for "His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives … and Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee."

"Saints" it is in our common version; but we must not press this as necessarily implying men. "The holy ones" may be angels, and more naturally: for it is not till the New Testament that we have it revealed that "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). But a personal coming, with at least angels, is clearly announced; and then it is that "Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one."

But verses 4 and 5 furnish us with further details of a very remarkable character. When He thus appears, He will have 'feet', which 'shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives', and He will have 'all the saints' with Him. In the light of the New Testament we recognize with joy that the 'Lord', the 'Lord my God' of our Scripture is none other than our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. His feet left the mount of Olives, when as the earth-rejected One, He ascended to the glory of heaven. On that same spot His feet shall stand, when He returns in power and great glory in judgment upon His foes.

When He does thus come, a great convulsion will break the surface of the earth. We have not heard of Palestine as a land much subject to earthquakes, during recent centuries. There was one in the days of Uzziah, to which our passage refers, and there was another at the moment Jesus died, as recorded in Matthew 27:51. From that time onward has there been another in Jerusalem? — we wonder. At any rate, there is going to be another, as predicted here. An earthquake, when He died the death of the cross, in the most extreme humiliation! An earthquake, when He returns in splendour and majesty! How wonderfully suitable are the ways of our God!

The morning of this millennial age, as we have seen, will be ushered in with darkness, and sorrow, and wailing, with the putting of enemies under Christ's feet. "Every eye shall see Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." It will be a day that will burn as an oven. But the mid-day will be characterized by peace, and unity, and rest. Fertility and fruitfulness will be marvellously increased. According to the prophet Amos, "The ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." The prophet Micah also refers to this subject. He says in the fourth chapter and third verse, "He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. … In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them from henceforth, even for ever." The natural sun, too, shall shine with sevenfold light. And no wonder; for if he hid himself, and thus cast such solemn gloom around the cross of the blessed Lord when making atonement for sin, so that "there was darkness over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour; when He comes in glory, no wonder, I say, that the sun should shine forth with sevenfold lustre at the exaltation of that blessed Saviour who was so humbled on the cross at Calvary. In the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah we find, "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." But more than that, the temple, according to Ezekiel, being rebuilt, certain of the feasts (not all of them, for obvious reasons,) will be again celebrated by the people of Israel. Sacrifices, too, will be offered according to the fifty-first Psalm, and the feast of tabernacles will be especially kept, as we learn from the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah. If we turn for a few moments to this chapter in Zechariah we shall find many interesting points on this subject plainly revealed. In the first place, as to the actual coming, the personal, visible corning of Christ to the earth, we are told in the fourth verse that "He shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives." How is it possible for any one, who wishes to prove that the Lord is not coming personally to stand upon the earth again, to explain this text? of what other interpretation does it admit? More than this, there will be a very great earthquake, and this mount Olivet will cleave asunder. Now mark, it is mount Olivet, not mount Zion. We read, "they that trust in the Lord shall be [not as mount Olivet, but] as mount Zion." Why? because mount Zion abideth for ever, but mount Olivet will cleave asunder, and there will be "a very great valley." Moreover, we are told in the sixth verse, "It shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark; but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light," that is, the natural light of the sun, to which I was referring just now, will be vastly augmented. "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them towards the former sea, and half of them towards the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one." Thus blessing will be dispensed from Jerusalem to all the nations of the earth. "Living waters shall go out." Or, as we read in Isaiah 2, "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.