Zechariah 12:1

The Bible says in Zechariah 12:1-3, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:1 starts with an interesting phrase: “the burden of the Word of the Lord for Israel.” This phrase is only used here in Zechariah and in Malachi. It could have simply said “the Word of the Lord,” but it did not. This burden has to do with Israel very specifically. A burden is something that you carry because it has a certain amount of weight. Because of its size and its weight, we notice the burden. From an emotional standpoint, we say it’s a burden because it something that we are concerned with. The heavier the burden, the greater the attention brought to the matter and the greater the concern we have about it. This is one of the greatest issues in regards to God’s dealings with the human race. It has everything to do with Jerusalem and the future of the Jewish people.

God is going to clarify His plan for Jerusalem and for Israel. But first in Zechariah 12:1 God tells us why we can be assured His plan will be brought to pass. God created the earth, and God gave life to man. God said, “stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.” God is all-powerful. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” The point that God is making is this: He did not just put things in motion. God created the earth and life in it because He has a plan for this earth and for mankind. In many ways God’s plan centers on the city of Jerusalem. We might say it this way: watch Jerusalem and what happens there, and you will be watching God’s plan for this earth unfold. Even our salvation was secured in the city of Jerusalem because that is where Jesus Himself was crucified. It says in Luke 18:31, “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.”

The first thing that God tells us about Jerusalem in Zechariah chapter 12 is that there is going to be trouble in Jerusalem. God calls Jerusalem “a cup of trembling unto all the people round about,” and He calls Jerusalem “a burdensome stone for all people.” This was written almost 500 years before Christ, and yet even today almost 2,500 years after these words were written we find that the city of Jerusalem is still in the very circumstance that is spoken of in Zechariah 12:2-3. The problems of the middle-east affect the whole world, and the problem of how to deal with Jerusalem is the greatest of all the problems. There is no solution from a human standpoint without finding a solution for the Jerusalem problem, and thus there is no human solution. But God has a solution. The solution is to accept Jesus. But the Jews in Jerusalem would not accept Jesus the first time they had the chance. Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem and said in Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

Jerusalem will get another chance to accept Jesus, but not until they have been prepared: not until all the nations of the world come against them to destroy them. You can read about the continued fulfillment of this prophecy in the world’s newspapers almost on a daily basis. Jerusalem truly is a burdensome stone to all nations, and it will be even more so as we approach the return of Christ. Why is this? Why has this happened? God said 2,500 years ago in Zechariah 12:1-2, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people.”

Look at just a few comments this week from the internet news stories concerning Israel and Jerusalem. Even these small stories have tremendous implications for Israel and that demonstrate how the “burdensome stone” principle is in effect and will be in effect until Jesus returns.

1. "Jordan and the future Palestine are stronger than Israel is today. It is the Israeli who is scared today," King Abdullah of Jordan said late Sunday in Amman.

The king described a recent conversation he held in the US with "one of the Israeli intellectuals" who commented on events in the Arab world, arguing that they were good for Israel. "I replied and said that it was the opposite and that Israel's situation today is more difficult than ever before."

2. Earlier on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is in Cairo for talks with officials at an Arab foreign ministers' meeting on the Palestinian U.N. bid, said the European Union has still not decided on a united position yet.

The Palestinians decided to seek United Nations recognition of statehood after years of negotiations with Israel failed to deliver the independent state they want to establish in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem -- areas occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.

3. Russia supports the Palestinian bid to win UN statehood despite resistance from Israel and the United States, Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday.

"We will, of course, be voting for any of the Palestinians' proposals," Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "We are saying that whatever you decide to do, we will support you."

In the next five verses the Lord makes at least one main point: no matter how intense is the hatred of the unbelievers when the armies come against Jerusalem, God will make sure that those armies fail. The Lord says in Zechariah 12:4-9, “In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” On the subject of great world-wide events, the history of the human race will culminate with one final battle in which a great number of nations will band together and come to destroy Israel and Jerusalem. This last great battle is commonly called “the Battle of Armageddon.” It gets its name from the valley of Megiddo where the fighting will take place, or where we should say where the slaughter will take place.

This passage in Zechariah tells us a few details of how that battle will go. God says in Zechariah 12:4, “I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness,” and “will smite every horse of the people with blindness.” This means that the fighting force of the enemies of Israel will be rendered completely ineffective. The word “blindness” may be symbolic of the guidance systems or radar systems becoming inoperable or useless. Jesus will render the enemies totally ineffective, and He will make the people of God very strong. The weakest among them will be made as though they were the strongest. It says in Zechariah 12:8, “In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David.” There is no greater strength than being strengthened of the Lord. It says in Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” This truth will be demonstrated in the Battle of Armageddon in a way never before seen.

In the book of Zechariah the place of Armageddon is mention in chapter 12 and verse 11, “In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” Megiddo or Megiddon is referred to many times in the Old Testament. But it only has one reference in the New Testament, but the reference in the New Testament makes it very clear what will happen in this specific geographical spot in the land of Israel. It says in Revelation 16:10-17, “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”

Some of the details of the Battle of Armageddon are given in Revelation chapter 19. Human history as we know it upon this earth is heading towards a great culmination: one last great battle. The solution that the nations of the world will come up with in order to have an answer to the problem of the burdensome stone that Jerusalem causes them is to mass their armies in the Valley of Megiddo. They will be there in opposition to the word of God and in opposition to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The destruction of the enemies of Christ will be complete and final. The Apostle John is speaking to an angel and it says in Revelation 19:10-21, “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

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