Zechariah 14:19, commentary and pictures

This is the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations that do not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles, the judgment upon all who reject God. The punishment is the withholding of rain and the sending of the plague, ending in fire from God that devours the wicked when they surround the city. The feast is not the restored Levitical observance but its antitype, the glad worship of God's people at Jerusalem in celebration of final deliverance from the bondage of sin and death and of the great harvest home when pilgrims wander no more. Its fulfillment belongs to the closing prophecy of the great day of the Lord, reaching beyond the thousand years of Revelation 20 to when the Lord comes with all the saints, the New Jerusalem descends, the wicked dead are raised, and Satan leads them in a final attack upon the camp of the saints and the beloved city. That Jerusalem safely inhabited, where the Lord is king over all the earth, is the antitypical city of peace on the redeemed new earth, where the true Israel keep the feast from year to year; refusal reaches back to this life when the invitation is given, when those who rebel receive no more rain, meaning the Spirit and latter rain no longer given, and perish under the plagues, so all are warned now to worship the King and escape.

Words and Historical Setting

The verse pronounces the punishment of Egypt and of every nation that will not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles, which is the judgment coming upon those who reject God. The punishment named in the preceding verses is withholding of rain and sending of the plague against those nations. It ends in fire from God consuming the resurrected wicked as an invading army around the city, when they come against Jerusalem after the thousand years and cannot enter holy ground.

The feast of tabernacles is antitypical and not a reinstatement of the former observance under the Levitical law. It was the great seven-day thanksgiving feast of Israel beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, kept after gathering in from threshing-floor and winepress with rejoicing by household, servant, Levite, stranger, fatherless, and widow. It commemorated the wanderings in the wilderness and gave thanksgiving to God for the fruits of the earth.

As a picture it represents God's people worshiping Him at Jerusalem, gladly honoring God and fulfilling what He asks in worship. It celebrates their final deliverance from the bondage of sin and death, fulfilling the purpose of redemption in a great antitypical feast. It is typical of the great harvest home of God, when the weary pilgrims to Zion will wander no more and the ingathering has taken place, and in the great day of the Lord and the new earth it may commemorate their salvation.

Egypt represents the family of darkness, so Egypt's ancient judgments are applied to the world of unbelievers. The gospel invitation to the feast has gone to all the earth, and those who finally refuse it receive the plague and are consumed.

The chapter mixes events of the present world and the eternal world and is not in chronological order, with its references to the plagues belonging to judgments before the eternal day while its description of Jerusalem belongs to the eternal world. Its prophecies apply to times widely separated, so its verses must not be read as one consecutive sequence but have their application determined by comparing Scripture with Scripture. That day begins before the second advent and extends beyond the thousand years of Revelation 20, so the events are not all confined to that period. Some details of the chapter remain unclear in their application, yet rightly understood they do not conflict with the Bible's plain declarations about future events.

Those who held it to be national and past taught that the last chapters were given in 487 B.C. concerning the return of the Jews to the literal land of Canaan as a promise of national restoration. On that view every such national promise was completely fulfilled forty-two years later, by 445 B.C., when all Israel dwelt in their cities after the open provision and decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes for every Israelite in the world to return, and not as a future gathering of scattered Jews to old Jerusalem to re-establish David's throne and kingdom.

Prophetic Time and Fulfillment

The verse stands in the closing final prophecy of Zechariah, chapters 9 to 14, which looks forward to the last glorious restoration when Christ shall come, to Christ's kingdom and the Kingdom of God, to the great day of the Lord, and to the punishment of the wicked of the earth. That chapter warns of the coming final universal war of Armageddon, when all the nations of the earth will be prepared and gathered for battle, and Christ appears to defeat, destroy and ruin them. Wars end only after His appearing, when He begins His reign.

That day is longer than the thousand years of Revelation 20, beginning before the second advent and extending beyond the thousand years, so the events described in Zechariah 14 are not all confined to that period. The day of the Lord begins before and ends after that thousand-year period, with events occurring on earth during it, and to confine the day and the chapter's events to the thousand years alone is error. The punishment belongs to judgments before the eternal day and reaches its final place after the thousand years, in the final destruction of the wicked.

Then the Lord comes with all the saints, and the New Jerusalem with His people in it descends to the place where Christ shed His blood. Christ stands on the Mount of Olives, which splits to form a great plain, and the city comes down upon it. The wicked dead are raised, and Satan deceives them into believing they can take the city and the kingdom, leading them over the breadth of the earth to surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city for war and a final attack. Nations refusing to worship God and keep the feast of tabernacles are punished there, with plague and fire from God that consumes them, devours the wicked, burns the works of the Devil, melts the mountains, and prepares the earth for its restored state as the everlasting home of the saints.

The Jerusalem that is safely inhabited with no more utter destruction, where living waters flow out and the Lord is king over all the earth, belongs to the eternal world after the second advent, the thousand years, the third advent on the Mount of Olives, the destruction of the revived wicked around the camp and city, and the making of the new earth. It is the antitypical city of peace on the redeemed earth, not the old city of stones and mortar, and the promised yearly journey and worship belong to the new-earth state, though parts of the prophecy had been intended for the Jews in their own time. The chapter's references to plagues are not in chronological order and concern events in the present world, while its description of Jerusalem belongs to the eternal world. Those who refuse to worship the Lord at Jerusalem are punished when the wicked are destroyed, not during life in the new earth.

The passage described the peace among the nations that Christ as king would have established through His judgments if Israel had received Him as king. It is not yet fulfilled and will not be fulfilled just in the way stated, because Israel of old did not meet the conditions. Not one good promise to His children will fail, and He will fulfill it in a far larger sense in the glorious earth made new, when all His children come home to their Father's house. The prophecy of Christ's coming to reign is to be fulfilled as literally as the prophecy of His suffering in Isaiah 53 was literally fulfilled on the cross.

The cutting off in Zechariah 14:16-21 does not prove that death exists in the new earth, because it takes place before the new earth becomes the saints' possession. The chapter gives the time and place for the hundred years of Isaiah 65:20, in which the accountable child and the old man who shut themselves from mercy live and then die before purifying fire purges sin from the earth for God's people to dwell in forever. The verse belongs to the time when God's people have gained complete victory over their foes, sin has ended, and the reign of righteousness begins.

Worship Judgment and Warning

After the holy city descends at the end of the thousand years the wicked dead are raised and, before their final attack, are compelled to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and to come to Jerusalem year by year to worship the King. The punishment falls not during life in the new earth but when the wicked are destroyed, upon those who have rebelled against God's commands throughout their lives and refuse to come up to keep the feast. The feast will then be kept from year to year by the true Israel, all who inherit the earth made new after their wanderings have ended, when the New Jerusalem is the camp of the saints. The resurrected wicked approach that city as an invading army, but they cannot enter the holy ground, and fire from God consumes them.

Refusal to come up reaches back to the time when the invitation was given, for the gospel invitation to the feast has gone to all the earth. Egypt stands for the family of darkness, so its ancient judgments are applied to the world of unbelievers who finally refuse. To receive no more rain means the Spirit of God is no longer given, and the latter rain of His Spirit is withheld from those who reject the invitation and make their final refusal. They perish, smitten with the plagues, even if they belong to a great nation and have received much light, and this belongs to the time when God's people have gained complete victory over their foes, sin has ended, and the reign of righteousness begins.

The feast of tabernacles represents the reading of God's royal law, showing that the law is a blessing to those who keep it and a curse to lawbreakers. The final judgment so depicted is connected with the destruction of Satan and his hosts by fire from heaven. The verse therefore warns people now to choose to worship the King, to keep His Sabbaths and keep the feast, and thereby to escape the impending plagues.