Welcome to Prophecy Q & A with Jimmy DeYoung!
Zechariah 14 is a prophetic chapter in God’s Word.
First of all, it talks about the nations of the world and how they will gather at Jerusalem. The Battle of Armageddon or the Campaign of Armageddon does not start in the Jezreel Valley but in the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2). This parallels Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ will come back to the earth. Revelation 19:11 says that He will get on His white horse, and we will join Him (Revelation 19:14). Then, we come back to the earth (Zechariah 14:4). A valley opens up in the mountains for the people to flee. They flee to the valley of the mountains (Zechariah 14:5); these are the armies of the world who have gathered in Jerusalem. Revelation 16:13-16 says that the Antichrist, the false prophet, and Satan will use signs, wonders, and miracles. This is a Satanic vehicle to gather all of the nations of the world in Zechariah 14:2. When they are there, Jesus Christ comes back to the earth.
Zechariah 14:8 says, “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.” It is toward the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea where the water will flow from. Ezekiel 47 talks about water flowing out of the Temple Mount into the Kidron Valley. It starts out about ankle deep, gets knee deep, waist deep, shoulder deep, and then the prophet has to swim to the Dead Sea area which is seven times saltier than any ocean on the face of the earth. That is why it is called the Dead Sea, because nothing is living in it. It will be refreshed and will be a freshwater lake with fishing.
This is talking about the thousand-year Millennial Kingdom.
It also talks about a changing of the city of Jerusalem. In Zechariah 14:10, it says, “All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up (Today Jerusalem is 8 ½ square miles but will be 2,500 square miles), and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.”
Zechariah 14:16 talks about going up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This is the last of the seven Jewish feasts given to the Jewish people in Leviticus 23. It represents the Kingdom period. This is what Matthew 17 is referring to when Peter, James, and John went up to the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and saw Jesus Christ in His resurrected, glorified body. They saw Elijah and Moses. Peter said that they should set up three tabernacles (a sukkot or a thatched hut). This is what the children of Israel would have used when they traveled the 40 years in the wilderness. Every Feast of Tabernacles, even today, the Jewish people will build a sukkot just outside of their home. They have their meals in there, they play in it, and maybe even sleep in it during the seven-day feast.
In the Millennial Kingdom, the thousand-year period, everyone in creation has to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles where Jesus will be teaching the Word of God (Isaiah 2, Micah 4).
Jimmy DeYoung was a prophecy teacher and journalist who travelled the country and the world educating the Body of Christ of the future events foretold in God’s prophetic Word. His goal was to equip Christians with the knowledge and understanding of what God’s Word says will happen someday soon, so that they can make better decisions today. Dr. DeYoung went home to be with his Savior on August 15, 2021.
