Christ's Return to the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14 Explained.

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back once again, and we'll turn to Zechariah chapter 14. And we're going to continue on now with our timeline. Last program you remember that we saw the return of Christ in glory to be King of kings and Lord of lords. Not to just go into heaven and into eternity, but to set up the earthly kingdom that's been promised to Israel since day one. So I'd like to have you turn with me to Zechariah chapter 14. And once again, we like to invite our television people to do the same. Be a part of our class, just pick a Bible and take a pen and make some notes. And we hope that we can tie all this together. I know it's kind of hard when it's a week apart and we get all this just two hours at a time usually. But whatever, we trust you're gaining something from it. And again, we always like to appreciate any letters or phone calls that you give us for encouragement. And again, we like to remind you that if you are interested in any of our classes or in this one, give us a call on the 800 number. You may not always catch us around, but sooner or later, keep calling and we'll answer the phone. All right, now if you'll come into Zechariah chapter 14, where we have yet another picture of the return of Christ. And that comes down to, well, it might as well start at verse 1. I don't like to jump in on a verse where I don't have to. Let's start verse 1, "...Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee, for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle." Now there you have that picture that we described in our last program, how that the Antichrist will bring all the armies of the world there to the Middle East, primarily to obliterate the nation of Israel. "...And the city shall be taken," that is Jerusalem, "...the houses rifled, and the women ravished. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city." In other words, when it looks like there's no hope, then, next verse, "...Then shall the Lord go forth, fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle," and that's as we saw in our last program, how that He reaps the nations of the world, and He destroys them with the word of His mouth. And then verse 4, verse 4. Now this does not sound like His coming to take the believer, and end everything, and take us to heaven, does it? What does it say? "...And His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east." Now that's such a graphic description, that there's no mistaking that it's the literal Mount of Olives in literal Jerusalem. Now, we don't have to go back and look at it just now, but do you remember? Well, I guess maybe we better. Let's go back to Acts chapter 1, because I just want everyone to see everything that I say. I try to tie it to the Scripture. But in Acts chapter 1, now this is after His 40 days, after His resurrection, and He has been with the eleven. Judas, of course, is off the scene, and they have not yet put in His replacement. And so the eleven are assembled with Him. Verse 4 of Acts chapter 1. I hope you kept your hand in Zechariah, because we're going to come back to it in just a minute. But here in Acts chapter 1, verse 4, it says, "...And being assembled together with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, you have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." Now verse 6. "...When they therefore were come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Now I know we touched on these verses several weeks ago, but sometimes it bears repeating. Are you going to restore the kingdom again to Israel? And you remember I always ask the question, why did they ask this question? Well, you've got to go back to Matthew, and maybe we can take the time to do that. Go back to Matthew chapter 19. Matthew 19. And drop down to verse 27. Matthew 19, verse 27. "...And then answered Peter," now this, of course, during his earthly ministry, and they're all twelve with him. "...And so then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all," that is, their fishing nets and their families. "...Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?" Now I'm not talking about salvation. We know from chapter 12 that they had that. But he's wondering, what more is in it for me? And that's so human, you know. Now that's nice, it's great to know that we're saved, but what else is there to it? And Jesus doesn't upbraid them for that kind of a question, and He answers it very specifically. "...And so He said unto them," verse 28, "...Verily I say unto you, that you who have followed Me," in other words, He's referring primarily to the twelve, or the eleven, "...that you who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory." Now what does the word regeneration mean? Well, made over back to what it was at the beginning. In other words, if you have a, again, let's just take the analogy of a storage battery. Your storage battery runs down, and it's dead. What do you have to do? You have to generate it, to make it back like it was at the beginning. Well, this whole planet is going to undergo the same thing, remember, as we pointed out last week, as a result of all the cataclysmic action of the tribulation. The planet Earth is actually going to be delivered from the curse, and it's going to come out, and we'll hopefully see the verses before this half hour is over, where this whole planet will revert back as it was in the Garden of Eden. It'll be beautiful, and it will not have much water area. It'll be mostly landmass, probably not much arid or mountainous areas. It's just going to be totally habitable and productive. That's the regeneration. And then He'll be sitting in the throne of His glory, there at Jerusalem, on the throne of David. And now look what the twelve have got to look forward to. Read on in that verse, "...you also," the twelve, now not Judas, that's why Matthias has to take his place in Acts chapter 1, "...but you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging," or ruling, who? "...the twelve tribes of Israel." Now in that plain English, you can't enlarge on that, you can't spiritualize it, it's just plain English. These twelve men, when the kingdom is set up, will rule the twelve tribes of Israel. Now then, if you'll come back to Acts chapter 1 for just a second, this is why the twelve are all hung up on the kingdom. Because for forty days, it says, Jesus had been talking to them about aspects of the kingdom, and they remember the promise that they would be ruling the twelve tribes. And so then Jesus' answer in Acts 1 verse 7 was, yes, the kingdom is coming, you are going to rule the twelve tribes, but it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. Now always remember, never in the Old Testament, never in the Gospels, never even here in the book of Acts, is there a specific indication of the church age. Now Jesus knew it from His deity's side. He knew that Israel was going to go back into a dispersion. He knew that He was going to turn to the Gentiles with the Gospel, but He never indicated it. And always watch for that as you study the Gospels or the Old Testament, that there's not a hint of this last 1,900 and some years, what we call the church age. And even here, He could have told them, fellows, you're going to die, you'll probably be martyred, there's going to be 1,900 and some years, and I'm going to turn to the Gentiles, and then I'll return and set up my... But He doesn't. And Peter never catches on, as I pointed out several weeks ago. As Peter begins to preach here in the early chapters of Acts, all he can see is that God is going to fulfill all the promises made to Israel, and it would be coming in short order. But that was not to be. Now then, if you'll come back to Zechariah, I should have gone on a little further, I guess, in Acts, but we won't. Come back to Zechariah, because you all know the verses in Acts where He ascended, and what did the angel say? This same Jesus, as you have seen, go into heaven, in like manner shall come again. Well, where were they standing? On the Mount of Olives. And so Zechariah, now then, in chapter 14 again, verse 4, "...his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, that stands before Jerusalem on the east. And there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove to the south, and half to the north." Now, if you can picture that, and again we can just come back to the map that we've still got on the board. Here's the Mediterranean sea coast, and here's Jerusalem, and down here is Jericho and the Dead Sea. Now, there's going to be a split in the Mount of Olives so that there will be a river flowing from the Mediterranean through Jerusalem out to the Dead Sea, and the Dead Sea will no longer be dead, but it's going to come alive. Now, all this is on the physical earth. Now, before we turn away from Zechariah, we'll come back to this thought, but let's just read on. Verse 8, "...and it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half to the former sea," that's the Mediterranean, "...and half toward the hinder sea," or the Dead Sea, "...in summer and in winter shall it be," and then look at verse 9, "...and the Lord," Jehovah, the Christ, the Messiah, "...the Lord shall be king over," what? All the what? Earth. Not heaven, earth. And that's what people can't seem to see. Now, when He returns to the Mount of Olives, He sets up His rule from Jerusalem, the nation of Israel will finally enjoy everything that was promised to Abraham back there in Genesis 15. And those of you who have been with me now for the last several months, you should remember that that territory goes all the way from the Mediterranean, clear out to the river Euphrates, clear down to the Red Sea, out west to the river of Egypt, and back. That's the whole Middle East. That will be the homeland of Israel in the Kingdom economy. Alright, so it's going to be verse 9, "...and that day there shall be one Lord and His name one." He's going to be King of Kings, remember, and Lord of Lords over this physical, literal, earthly kingdom. Alright, now then if you'll come back to Isaiah, I think it is, if you'll come back to Isaiah, the very last chapter, chapter 66, Isaiah chapter 66, and beginning with verse 7. Isaiah 66, verse 7, "...before she travailed," see there's that word again, speaking of delivery, "...before she travailed, she brought forth, before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child." Now the man-child always refers to Christ, the Lord Jesus. Now verse 8, "...who hath heard such a thing, who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?" Oh absolutely. After the Holocaust, after the Tribulation, oh the beauty of that kingdom is going to just come in short order. "...or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." Now what's it speaking of? Well number one, remember a couple weeks ago, we spoke of this remnant fleeing from Jerusalem to the mountains, and God is going to take care of her there for three and a half years. Well now when the nation of Israel, which is all that's really left here in this remnant who fled in the middle of the Tribulation, when they see the returning Christ coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that's when this nation of Israel will experience her salvation. She will suddenly realize who Jesus really was. Now before we go all the way back to Zechariah again to pick up the language that makes that so plain, I'd like to have you come back in Isaiah a little further to prove what I've been saying about the earth reverting to the Garden of Eden. Oh let's see, I thought that was in chapter... Maybe I won't be able to find it, just quick, but if not, let's go on back to... I'm not finding it like I wanted. Yeah, I've got it. No, it's not the one I want. Okay, I'm sorry. Let's go back to Zechariah. Zechariah. Okay, if that's it, Isaiah 51.3, read it. Go ahead. Okay, that's the one we wanted. Now you can mark it down in your notes, Isaiah 51.3, where He will make the earth again like the Garden of Eden. Thank you. Now if you'll come back again to Zechariah, because we try to put all these things together and hopefully they're making sense to you. Now Zechariah chapter 13, verse 6. Zechariah chapter 13, verse 6. Now isn't that obvious? Just as plain as day. Flip back to chapter 12 in Zechariah. Chapter 12, verse 10. What's the next word? Look. See, they're going to see with their eyes. So the nation of Israel out there for that three and a half years of protection in the wilderness, when they see Him coming, immediately the whole nation, now remember it's a remnant, but that remnant of Israel, seeing who He is, will believe in a moment the nation will be born in a day, and now then, the nation of Israel is ready to come from their mountain hideout, they'll come back to the land that's been promised, and they go in as the predominant head nation of the kingdom. Now, I say the head nation, and I picked that up from Deuteronomy chapter 29. You might as well go back and see what that says. Deuteronomy 28, I'm sorry. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 13. Deuteronomy 28, verse 13. And not the tail, thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee to observe and to do. That will finally come to fruition, when saved Israel comes up into the kingdom, and they enjoy their King of kings and Lord of lords. Well, all right, how about Gentiles? Are they left out of the picture? Well, not at all. Come back with me now, then, to Isaiah. Once again, to chapter 28. I hope you can keep all this straight. The Lord returns, smites the nations that have gathered around Jerusalem. The earth will be suddenly renovated like a Garden of Eden. The nation of Israel is saved in a day. They come back up and begin to occupy the land deeded to Abraham way back in Genesis 15. And now we're going to pick up the Gentile nations. Because, after all, the Bible is a book of nations. And it never stops being a book of nations. The last chapter in the book, which takes us into eternity, is still dealing with nations. All right, you got Isaiah, chapter 24. Start with verse 1 again. Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scatteth abroad the inhabitants. Mayhem. Verse 2. And as it shall be with the people, so with the priest, with the servant, his master, and the mistress, and the maid, the buyer, and the seller, and all the way through. And then you come down to verse 3. The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for the Lord hath spoken this word. Verse 4. The earth mourneth and fadeth away. The world languisheth and fadeth away. The haughty people of the earth delighted. It won't help to be a billionaire. They won't have enough billions to be able to buy their way out of this one. And then verse 5. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Now verse 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned. In other words, it's going to be a tremendous holocaust, probably a nuclear effect. Few men are left. In other words, I've reminded my classes over the years, whenever there has been a tremendous calamity, even Hiroshima, when we first dropped the atom bomb, right under the center of the bomb, what were there? Survivors. There were survivors. Unbelievable. We'd have tremendous earthquakes. The one we had out here in Oakland a couple years ago. Where they didn't think anybody could live. What did they find? Survivors. And so it will be at the end of this seven years. Even though it seems utterly impossible, there will be a few people left, scattered all around the planet. From every tongue and tribe and nation, there will be a small percentage of survivors. Now I'll come back to Matthew 25, and in the few moments we have left, hopefully I can cover this. In that group of survivors, and always remember, numbers are huge our day and age. The earth is now populated with what? Five and a half? Going towards six billion people? And we've done this in some of our other classes. Put it on the board. If you take ten percent of six billion people, how many are still left? Six hundred million, according to my arithmetic. And if you want to go five percent, there would still be three hundred million. If you want to go to two and a half percent, you've still got a hundred and fifty million. There's a lot of people going to survive. Alright, now you want to remember that during the seven years of tribulation, those 144,000 Jews were preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. Many believed and were martyred, but some of them survived. Many of them heard it and rejected it. So, we've got to deal with it, or the Lord does, and here we got it in Matthew 25. Matthew 25 is just simply that, beginning with verse 31. "...When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory," and we've already established there is that going to be Jerusalem, "...and before Him shall be gathered all nations," plural, "...and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides sheep from his goats. And He shall set the sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the left." Now remember, we're dealing with an eternal God in an eternal situation, and nothing is impossible, nothing. Alright, He immediately sorts them, with the sheep representing believers on the right, and the goats representing the unbelievers on the left. Now then, verse 34, "...then shall the King," see it's capitalized, "...then shall the King say unto them on His right, Come ye, blessed of My Father, inherit the," what? "...the kingdom," see? "...inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And then He goes on, "...for I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, you took Me in," and so on and so forth. Verse 37, "...and then shall the righteous," these believers, "...answer, say, Lord, when see we thee a hunger, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink?" Verse 39, "...when did we see thee sick, or in prison, and come unto thee?" Verse 40, "...and the King Christ shall say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, My brethren, you have done it unto Me." Now who are the My brethren? The 144,000 Jews who were preaching the gospel during the seven years of tribulation. They went through privation, they went through suffering, but remember, they couldn't be killed. And so, it was just like in Nazi Germany with the Jews. Who were the people who gave refuge to the Jew in Hitler's Germany? Well, the believers, the Christians. And it's the same way here. These people who respond to the message of these 144,000 young Jews become believers, they minister to their physical need. But now look what happened to those who didn't care. The goats. Verse 41, "...then shall He say unto them on the left, Depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels for..." Now He goes through that same set of words. "...I was hungry, you didn't feed Me. I was in prison, you didn't visit Me. I was thirsty, you gave Me nothing to drink." And so on and so forth. And then verse 44, "...they also shall answer and say, Lord, when saw we thee a hunger?" Now remember, they still call Him Lord. But they're unbelievers. They're lost. And they said, "...Lord, when didst see we thee a hunger, a thirst, or stranger, and naked, and did not minister?" And His answer is the same. "...Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to Me, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. But the righteous into life eternal, but their life eternal is going to begin in the kingdom." Now, I don't have to take you back to John's Gospel, chapter 3. You all know that verse. When He applied to Nicodemus, what did He say? "...Except a man be born from above, or born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." And that's why you had to have this separation. There were survivors of the tribulation who were still unbelievers, and they could not go into the kingdom, and so you have the setting of Matthew 25. The believers go in. Now, to make a short picture of it, since you've got this large group of Jews going up to be the nation of Israel in the kingdom, you've also got a short smattering of Gentiles, just a few probably from every nation, the seed stock, if I may use that word, of the Gentile nations in the kingdom. And so what you have, again, is all the nations represented. You've got nothing but believers going into it. You've got Christ as the King of kings and Lord of lords. You've got the twelve disciples ruling over the nation of Israel, and ruling with Christ over the whole shebang will be the members of the body of Christ. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Dick.