Your King is Coming!

6 You there! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “because I have spread you out like the four winds of the heavens,” declares the Lord. 7 “You, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.” 8 For the Lord of armies says this: “After glory He has sent me against the nations that plunder you, for the one who touches you, touches the apple of His eye. 9 For behold, I am going to wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of armies has sent Me. 10 Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord. 11 “And many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of armies has sent Me to you. 12 And the Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

13 “Be silent, all mankind, before the Lord; for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”

After the third vision of Zechariah there is a transition – an angel has been speaking, but now in verse 6 Zechariah speaks issuing a warning. “Flee from the land of the north.” The prophet tells God’s people to escape from Babylon. Now, he is speaking to the exiles who have not yet come back to Judah. They are still in Babylon, but now the prophet is warning them that they MUST come home now. Yahweh is set against the nations who have plundered his people and we notice the famous verse, “whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.” So God is pronouncing judgment on the nations that have oppressed his people. Now, I also want to stop for just a moment because James Dixon gives us some insight into what is coming.

”In 517 B.C. Babylon rose in revolt against the Persian Emperor Darius. The next year the Persian army stormed the city, dismantled its fortifications and killed thousands of Chaldeans. Those Jewish exiles who did not listen to this divine warning, perished in the ruin of the city.” (Chronological Commentary of the Bible, James W. Dixon).

So like the prophet has been saying the nations who have oppressed his people will be judged, and now the people of God are being warned to come home as God shakes these nations. So, we see this call to return home is revealing a great reversal – the oppressors will themselves be oppressed and judged for their treatment of Yahweh’s precious people.

Now, as we move to verse 10, there is another change. Zechariah switches to address the people in Jerusalem (daughter of Zion). He declares, “I am coming, and I will live among you.” Verses 10-11 are what is called an indirect Messianic prophesy. It is a fulfillment of OT covenants and the Messianic kingdom. Whether taken literally or spiritually, the fulfillment can only be realized through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

We also note the imperative to shout and be glad. For the Lord is coming to Zion as king. We see a similar reference in Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So, is Zechariah referencing the first or second coming of Jesus? Well, I think that really is not the point, for the first and second coming are all part of the same thing, the kingdom of the Messiah. Charles Feinberg notes, “No one will mistake the reference to the tabernacling of the Son of God among his people in the first coming (John 1:14), but as the passage reads on, the emphasis is definitely on the second coming. What was begun in the appearing of grace is consummated in the appearing of glory.”

Now the text mentions that many nations will be joined to the Lord and become his people. What does that remind us of? There are many passages, but I think of Acts 15 where the Apostle James quotes Amos 9:11-12.

‘After these things I will return, And I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David, And I will rebuild its ruins, And I will restore it, So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ Says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago. Acts 15:16-18

All nations are drawn to the Lord, remember, Jerusalem is to be a city without walls, for all nations to come to Jesus and be part of his glorious kingdom. Is this a future millennium or simply the New Covenant manifest, the kingdom of Jesus Christ established at his first coming and resurrection. And yet the end of those things is none other than the consummation of that blessed kingdom with the return of Jesus as king of Jerusalem, the perfector of his people.

The prophet ends the section with the command to be still before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. He is coming as King of kings and even now reigns in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Let us be still and acknowledge the greatness of his glory. He is among his people and he will strike every foe and establish his glorious kingdom forever and ever.