Zechariah 14:8, commentary and pictures

Living waters go out from Jerusalem, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, flowing continually in summer and in winter. The Jerusalem from which they flow is the antitypical Holy City, the New Jerusalem descending from heaven to the plain prepared when Christ's feet stand on the Mount of Olives and it is divided. The flowing belongs to the last glorious restoration at the close of the thousand years, when Christ returns with the saints in His final advent, the wicked are destroyed, and the earth is renewed for His everlasting reign. The waters are the pure river of the water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing out through the city and across the plain to carry life throughout the renewed earth. Those who held the other reckoning teach that every promise to the Jews as a nation concerning restoration to literal Canaan, including this prophecy, was completely fulfilled forty-two years after B.C. 487, by B.C. 445, when all Israel dwelt in their cities.

Words and Literary Setting

Living waters go out from Jerusalem, half toward the former or eastern sea and half toward the hinder or western sea, through the valley, and they flow in summer and in winter, in every season. They are the waters of life flowing from the New Jerusalem, the pure river of the water of life proceeding from the throne of God after the city is located on the earth, when the Lord and the saints are on the earth and the city is safely inhabited. The river flows through the holy city and across the plain, carrying life throughout the renewed earth, and because that river is not on the present earth, which is not made new until after the thousand years, the outflow belongs to the eternal day after the wicked are destroyed and the new earth appears. The passage itself describes this twofold direction and unceasing flow at the close of the thousand years, when Christ returns to earth with the saints and stands on the Mount of Olives, without further explaining the waters themselves.

The Jerusalem from which they flow is the antitypical Holy City, not the old city of stones and mortar, and the country around it will be inhabited. The verse belongs to chapters 9 to 14, which predict Christ's kingdom, the great day of the Lord, and the punishment of the wicked, and to the closing prophecies looking to the final restoration with hopeful promises for God's people and judgments on those who reject Him. It is spoken in the language of the prophet's time portraying God's saved people worshiping Him in the new earth, as part of a prophecy spanning the great day of the Lord in His dealings with both the wicked and the righteous. Zechariah prophesied contemporaneously with Haggai in the time of the reformation under Zerubbabel, encouraging the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of Jerusalem, and that restoration movement is a type of the last reformation.

Chapters 13 and 14 refer to events at widely separated times, so place in the chapter sequence alone does not determine when the verse applies, but its application is established by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Some events in the chapter can be located with confidence while other details are unclear, yet properly understood the verse does not conflict with the Bible's plain declarations about the future. The verse is associated with the Dead Sea as a body of water that has no outlet and receives rivers and living springs.

Time of Fulfillment

The prophecy looks forward to the last glorious restoration, when Christ shall come to take possession of the earth and reign. Its fulfillment is to be as literal as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of Christ's suffering.

It applies to the eternal day that follows the destruction of the wicked and the appearing of the new earth, when waters of life flow from the New Jerusalem in every season. That river of life proceeds from God's throne in the New Jerusalem on the new earth, and since it is not upon the present earth and the earth is not made new until after the thousand years, the verse belongs to that eternal day.

It occurs at the close and end of the thousand years, at the end of the millennial reign of the saints in heaven. Then Christ returns to earth with the saints in His third and final advent to take possession of the earth and establish His everlasting kingdom among humanity. The Mount of Olives splits asunder and becomes a great plain raised as the prepared site for the holy city, the Paradise of God, when it comes down from heaven, and the living waters flow out from Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem and the throne of God through the valley toward both seas, toward the former sea and the hinder sea, throughout every season. This takes place after the wicked have surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and have been destroyed and the earth has been melted and the new earth has appeared, when the Lord is King over all the new earth and Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited with no more utter destruction forever, because this Jerusalem is not a city built by human hands to be superseded but the heavenly city itself remaining forever, where the Lord and the saints are on the earth and Christ and His people reign forever.

It belongs to the day of the Lord after the thousand years of judgment. That day begins before the thousand years and continues beyond them to the burning and judgment after the thousand years, and it is not limited to the thousand years of Revelation 20.

By a different reckoning, the last chapters of Zechariah give the latest Old Testament prophecy concerning the return of the Jews to literal Canaan, given in B.C. 487. Every promise to the Jews as a nation concerning restoration to literal Canaan, including this prophecy, was completely fulfilled to them as a nation forty-two years later, by B.C. 445, when all Israel dwelt in their cities under the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes.

Surrounding Last-Day Events

At that time Christ's feet stand upon the Mount of Olives before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount splits asunder and the whole land becomes a very great plain. That plain is raised and prepared by God as the prepared site and resting-place for the Holy City, the place made and sanctified by Christ's feet where He shed His blood. The New Jerusalem, the holy city and Paradise of God, then descends from heaven to earth from God out of heaven and is located on that plain on the Mount of Olives, which has split apart. The Lord has chosen that place for the location of the Holy City, and the city of God descends there at the end of the thousand years.

The city comes down before the wicked are finally destroyed and the earth is purified, with a place prepared where it can be safely inhabited. The camp of the saints surrounds the beloved city and extends beyond it, and the wicked are raised and surround the camp and city in an attempt to take it by force, though none of them can enter. Then they are destroyed by fire from heaven, the earth is melted, and the new earth appears, with the waters of life flowing out from the New Jerusalem in the eternal day after the third advent at the close of the thousand years. Then the Lord is King over all the earth and over all the new earth, and Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited with no more utter destruction forever. This Jerusalem is the capital of Christ's kingdom where His throne will be, not a city built by human hands to be superseded but the heavenly city itself remaining forever.

This is the time after earth's final conflict when sin and sorrow are gone and God's people enjoy unending peace and joy with no more war. The gathering of the nations for battle precedes Christ's appearing to defeat them, after which wars cease and His reign begins. Under Christ's reign Palestine will be glorious and Jerusalem will be the capital of the earth, made a Holy Land indeed and restored far beyond any of its former greatness. These waters belong to God's rule over the whole earth and its promised inheritance by Abraham and his spiritual descendants, including the Gentiles grafted into Israel. In the restored Eden arrangement at the close of the millennium, restored Eden and Jerusalem will be the place of general meeting and harmony in reckoning of days, where worshipers coming from east and west bring the same day and keep the same Sabbath together, proving the day-line is not at Eden and Jerusalem but on the opposite side of the earth.

Meaning of Living Waters

The living waters going out from Jerusalem are the River of Life, the same pure river of the water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb with the tree of life. They flow out from the New Jerusalem and the throne of God after the city is located on the earth, and remain present in every season in the new-earth Jerusalem when the Lord and the saints are on the earth and the city is safely inhabited. They flow from Jerusalem through the valley toward both seas, toward the east and the west, in every season, belonging to the time when the earth has been renewed, Jerusalem is safely inhabited, destruction has ended, and the Lord reigns over all the earth in the eternal day.

The river flows through the holy city and across the plain, carrying life throughout the renewed earth. It is the restored divine system of irrigation in which a perennial fountain rises from God's throne on Mount Zion, divides into streams, and waters the whole earth.

Apart from placing them at the close of the thousand years when Christ returns to earth with the saints and stands on the Mount of Olives in His third and final advent to take possession of the earth, with the mount splitting and the resulting plain raised as the prepared site for the New Jerusalem, the verse itself does not further explain the waters. The flowing water is also a figure of the Holy Spirit promised to believers, who had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The living waters going out are inundations of mercy that refresh the church and bring great and gracious things to the soul. They are the breathing of the Spirit producing contrition, melting supplications, devout tears, and holy sighs in prayer, leaving the soul afloat before the throne of grace. The outflow extends peace like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream, so that sighs and prayers in the Spirit are a sign of great mercies to follow.

Doctrinal Connections and Application

The living waters flow from Jerusalem in the day when evening becomes light. That day is the close of earth's history, the time of Christ's coming and of the saints being gathered home.

The plain, the city, and the glorious land belong to the time when the Lord Himself comes down upon Palestine to reign. At His personal advent He will stand on the Mount of Olives, the whole land will become a vast plain, and that plain will be the place where the New Jerusalem stands when it descends from heaven. Then He will make Palestine a Holy Land indeed, restoring it far beyond any of its former greatness, with Palestine glorious and Jerusalem the capital of the earth. That work is His alone and cannot be brought about by human money or political schemes, nor by human wealth or a mere change of ownership.