5/21/2018 1993 Issue 2 - Excerpt From He Shall Have Dominion,
Postmillennial Teaching on Zechariah 14:4 - Counsel of
Chalcedon
1/3
I :
.
,
n the course
of
he present study,
I have dealt with a great number of
supporting texts
and
have responded
to vanous alleged negative passages.
At this juncture, I will give brief expo
sition to certain other texts that are
thought to be contraindicative to post
millennialism.
ZECHARIAR 4:4
-Andtn
that
day
HisJeetwUI
stand on
the Mount ojOlives,
whjch
Jaces
Jerusa
lem on the east And
the OUllt
oj Olives
shall be split in two, Jrom
east
to west,
making
very large valley;
halJ oj the
mountain shall
move
toward
the
north and
half
oj t
toward
the south.
Zechariah has been
called the most messianic,
the most truly
apocalyptic
and eschatological
of
all the
writings
of the Old Testa-
. ment.
'
An d surely it is.
But Zechanah is greatly
misunderstood in dispen
sationalism. The Zechariah
.
14
passage,
and
especially
verse 4,
is
held forth as a
solid proofofdispensation
alism that undermines other
views suchas posrmillennialism. I will
summarize the view from Dallas Semi
nary's
Bible
Knowledge
Commentary
(parenthetical page references refer to
this work?
and then
give a brief post
millenial interpretation of the passage.
That the prophecy is thought to
contradict postmillentilillism isevident
in the following comment:
Zechariah
14
progresses from the
initial plundering of jerusalem near
the end of the future Tribulation,
through the catastrophic judgment on
the Gentile armies at Messiah's Second
Advent
and
the establishment of His
millennial reign,
to
a description of the
worship
in
jerusalem during the Mil
lennium. The fact that these events
have not yet occurred points to a pre-
millenial return of Chrtst, that is, His
return before the Millennium. (p. 1569)
THEDISPENSATIONAL INTERPRETATION
Verse
1
s thought
by
dispensation
alists to apply
to
a Great Tribulation
still in the future, which introduces
the earthly millennial reign of Chrtst,
all of which is the day of the Lord.
Verse
3
is said to speak
of
he military
intervention
of
he Messiah, with verse
4
detailing its accomplishment with
the Lord's descendingupon the Mount
of Olives p. 1570). Then He will
establish His political kingdom over
the ealth, accompanied by changesin
illumination, climate, and topography
which God will bring
on
Jerusalem,
Palestine, and no doubt the whole
earth during the Millennium, as indi
cated
in
a literalistic reading of verses
6-11
(p.
1570).
Zechariah 14:12-15 supposecllyis
a parenthetical flashback describing
the second phase of the invasion of
jerusalem by the confederated Gen
tile armies (p. 1571). After this, the
survivors from
aU
the nations will
worship annually in Jerusalem. 'The
survivors' arenot thejewish remnant ..
(but
are those) from nonmilitary per
sonnel
of
those nations whose armies
were destroyed by Messiah (p. 1571).
20
lHE
COUNSEL of Chalcedon t February, March 1993
Verses 16-17 are said to indi
that a newly i ~ t i t u t e worldw
religious order embracing both j
and Gentiles will be established
will center in jerusalem and wil
corporate some features identical w
or similar
to
certain aspects of
Testamentworship. Thus, wors
ping annually
in jerusalem
wil
necessary for the people to enjoy
fertility of crop
(p.
1571).
This whole scheme of hings,w
is widely held by default due
to
prevalence
of dispe
tionalism, is totally ou
accord with the flow o
demptive history, as I h
shown
before.
Suc
scheme
has been
soun
rebutted by evangelica
every other millen
stripe,
including
his
premillennialists.
As
demptive history progre
to the last days instit
by Chrtst (lsa. 2:2-4; I
10:11; Heb. 9:26) in
fullness of time (M
1:14-15; Gal. 4:4) , the
tirety of the Temple
o
and sacnficial system
forever done away
with
(Matt. 24
34; Hebrews). Accompanying
su
removal of a central temple,
the
w
ship of God is de-centralized O
4:21;
Matt.
28:18-20).
In
addit
the peoples of the
world
are me
into one Idngdom
without
ethnic
tinction (Rom. 11:13-24; Eph. 2
21; Gal. 6:12-16). Thisisverym
contrary
to dispensationalis
hermeneutic reversal
of Chn
economy of redemption back to
Old
Testament order.
Of course, a major
part
of
he
p
lem
with
the dispensational viewp
here is its a priori interpretive lit
ism (see
chapter
8).
The
postmille
alist would interpret the passage
much different light. The whole
5/21/2018 1993 Issue 2 - Excerpt From He Shall Have Dominion,
Postmillennial Teaching on Zechariah 14:4 - Counsel of
Chalcedon
2/3
I
I
I
i
I
I
sage-- as often with prophecy -- is a
mingling ofliteral
and
figurative pro
phetic allusions, as we shall see.
THEPOS1MILLENlAL
INTERPRETATION
The siege of]erusalem desctibedin
Zechariah 14:1-2 has to do with the
A.D. 70 devastation of Jerusalem.
Dwight Pentecost admits that the dis- .
ciples
who heard
the Olivet Discourse
would naturally have applied Zecha
riah 14 to the A.
D
70 destruction of
the Temple But then, he says, such
involves a confusion ofGod's program
for the Church with that for IsraeL'
So
, he
and
other dispensationalists
interpret
the
passage literalistically,
with all the topographical
and
re
demptive historical absurdities intact.
As they do this, they totally omit any
reference to
the
destructiQIl of
he
very
city
and
Temple
being rebuilt
in
Zechariah's day. This literal Temple
was destroyed in A D 70 as all agree.
Verses 1 and 2 picture the imperial
forces of Rome
in
conjunctionwith the
various client Icings involved
in
A.D.
67-70. The war was conducted
by an
empire of nations (v.2) consisting
not
only of the nation ofltaly,
but
the
lands or nations of Syria, Asia Minor,
Palestine, Gaul, Egypt, Britain, and
others.
The
consequences are disas
trous: much of he population of Israel
is led captive. Yet the Lord defends
those who are truly His people, insur
ing their escape from the besieged city
(vv.3-4).
The Lord will fight for His true
people as when he fought in the day
of battle (v. 4) The Lord's feet stand
ing on the Mount of Olives and His
fighting for His people need be
no
more literal than other such references
of the Lord's fighting for Israel
in
the
Old Testament. The language is simi
lar to
that in
Joshua 10:14, 42 and
23:3, where the Lord fought for Is
rael. InJoshua, thesereferencesindi
cate His providential favor
in
Israel's
victory and deliverance, not His cor
p o r e a presence. God's feet are often
mentioned when the opposition to His
people is thwarted and His own are
given success against all odds (Psa.
18:9; lsa. 60: 13; Nah. 1:3; Hab 3:5) . .
The cleaving of he Mount ofOlives
under Him employs the common im
agery of God's conquering and re
straining power
in
Old Testament
prophecy. In Micah 1:3-4, we read
that the Lord is
coming out
oj
His
place;
He will come down and
tread
on the high
places oj the earth. The
mountains
will
melt under him, and the valleys will split
like
wax bejore
thejire, like waters
poured
down a steep place. Even dispensa
tionalists admit this speaks of me Old
Testament subjugation
Qf
Israel
under
nations for her sin? TIremention of
the direction of the cleft indicates the
direction of thei'r- flight, Le., the
...... .
Christians who flee Jerusalem; when
God judges it.
6
They 1lltimately flee to
all points of the compass, taking the
gospei'with them
d
vv 8-9 below).
In the latter pan of verse 5, the
coming
judgment upon
Jerusalem,
which disperses the Christians over
the Roman Empire, isultimateIy God's
coming in angelic judgment ( holy
ones are angels). The destruction
of
Jerusalem by Rome is providential
destruction by
his armies (Matt.
22:7). It leads to darkness and woe
upon lsrael (Zech. 14:6-7; cf Acts
2:20, 22; Matt. 24:29). Yet, as
Jerusalem collapsesandChristianity is
loosed from
her
Jewish chains, the
waters oflife begin flowing out into all
the world (v.8). The Lord's kingdom
overflows the limited borders ofIsrael
so that the Lord becomes the King of
all the
eanh
(v.9).
The subsequent topographicaland
liturgical references are figurative im
agesof he ethicalandspititualchanges
that occur under Christ's spiritual ad
ministration
as
His worship spreads
tluough the earth (vv. lOW). Even
Jerusalem
and the
Jews shall be
no
ished by the waters of life eventu
(vv. 10-11; cf.Ezek. 47:1ff;Jo\in.7
39). The enemies of God's people
either be vanquished (vv. 12-13,
converted (vv.
16,20-21)
or redu
toinsiguilicance (vv. 14, 17-19).
The Feast
of
Tabernacles
is m
tioned, not as a literal reinstitutio
the Old Testament feast,
but
as
ultimate
hope
pre-figuredin
that fe
the time of the fullness of the field
its harvest d.
JohT;l
4:35-38). Th
who
do not
conven will
be
reduce
servile labors, lacking
the
blessin
God (vv. 17-19).
Ov
erall, however, the kingdom
God (represented here
bya
rejuvena
Jerusalem) wil l be spread through
the eanh . All areas of life
wil
consecrated
to
the
Lord: even
.horses' bells will contain the insc
. ion written on the High Priest's
m
vv.20-21).n
1. George L Robinson, Zecbari
The International Standard Bible Enc
pedia, James Orr, ed., 5 vok (Grand R
Ids; Eerdmans,
1929)1956),4;3136.
2. F. Duane Lindsey, Zecbarlah, B
Knowledge Commentary: Old Testam
Jolm
F.
Walvoord and Roy B Zuck,
(Wheaton, IL; Victor, 1985), ppII569
See also; John
F.
Walvoord, Prop
Knowledge Handbook (Wheaton,
IL;
tor, 1990), pp. 3:h-334.
3.
J
Dwight Pentecost, Thy King
Come (Wheaton, IL; Victor, 1990),
p.
4.Joseph Ward Swain, The Harper
tory
of
Civilization, 2 vols. (New Y
Harper&: Bros., 1958), 1;198. TheRo
empire was compose.d o imperial p
inces senatorial provinces and client
doms.
5. Jolm A. Martin, Micah, B
Knowledge Commentary: Old Testam
p 1477.
Walvoord, Prophecy Knowl
Handbook,
p.
301. Pentecost, Thy K
dom Come,
p.
111. .
6. G.NM Collins, Zechariah, the
Bible Commentary Francis DaVidson
(2nd ed.; Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 19
p.761.
7
See Isa. 40;4; Zech. 4;7; Mark 11
luke 3;5.
February, March 1993 t IDE COUNSEL
of
Cbalcedon
t
- .
