CHAPTER 3

(800 B.C.)

JUDAH AND JERUSALEM RESTORED

¹For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem (this Chapter follows the preceding one without a break; in it, the Spirit describes: the future Deliverance of Israel; the Judgment of the nations that oppressed her; the ascension of Immanuel upon the Throne of Jehovah at Jerusalem; His vindication of His ancient People; the destruction of the army of the Antichrist; the moral glory of Jerusalem; its appointment as a center of blessing to the Earth; and the future amazing fertility of the Land of Israel.

When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, is a Hebrew idiom for Restoration),

JUDGMENT ON HER ENEMIES

²I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My People and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My Land. (I will also gather all nations, refers to soldiers from many nations of the world aiding and abetting the Antichrist in his efforts to destroy Israel. Whatever the plans of these people, it will be the Lord Who is doing the gathering.

And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, pertains to the valley of Megiddo. The name Jehoshaphat means Jehovah has judged.

The words, And will plead with them there for My People and for My heritage Israel, refers to the Second Coming of the Lord, when He will fight as He once fought in the day of battle [Zech. 14:1-3].)

³And they have cast lots for My People; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. (The idea of this Verse speaks for all time. Even though the statements pointedly concern the coming Antichrist, and consequently the Battle of Armageddon, still, the Holy Spirit is referring to all ages and times. In other words, He is saying that such treatment of Israel is over.)

⁴Yes, and what have you to do with Me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will you render Me a recompence? and if you recompense Me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head (even though these people, the Jews, are presently far away from God, still, the Promise the Lord made to Abraham ever holds true. He said, And I will bless them who bless you, and curse him who curses you [Gen. 12:3]);

⁵Because you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly pleasant things (in other words, when people or nations touched Israel in a negative way, they touched God!):

⁶The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have you sold unto the Grecians, that you might remove them far from their border. (The Grecians have reference to the Antichrist, who will come from the Syrian division of the old Grecian Empire.)

⁷Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither you have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head (the words, sold them, do not necessarily refer to selling them as slaves, at least in this case, but actually refers to the dire straits to which they have been forced as a result of the actions of the Antichrist. Out of the place, no doubt pertains to Petra, where Israel will be forced to flee in the Great Tribulation, when the Antichrist declares war on her [Rev., Chpt. 12]. The last phrase says that the Antichrist is now going to be called to account):

⁸And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD has spoken it. (And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, refers to the defeat of the Antichrist in the Battle of Armageddon, when all Gentile powers will then come under the domain of Israel, including the Arabs, symbolized by the Sabeans.)

MOBILIZATION FOR WAR

⁹Proclaim you this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up (Verses 9 through 11 picture the assembling of the mighty army which the Antichrist will lead against Jerusalem):

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. (This proclaims the nations of the world under the domain of the Antichrist preparing for war against Israel, who is now recovering herself somewhat since her defeat by the Antichrist some three and a half years before.)

¹¹Assemble yourselves, and come, all y ou heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O LORD. (This Scripture refers to Rev. 16:16.)

¹²Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. (This Passage pertains to the Battle of Armageddon, when the Lord will judge the nations of the world; it will not be a pretty picture [Ezek., Chpts. 38-39].)

DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST AND HIS ARMIES AT ARMAGEDDON

¹³Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. (This Verse has to do with Rev. 14:16, 20.)

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. (This Valley of Jehoshaphat, where the Battle of Armageddon, at least partially, shall be fought, is called here the valley of decision. It means that the Lord has made the decision to there meet Satan and his man, the Antichrist, which will instigate the Second Coming.)

¹⁵The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. (This will be a literal happening at the Second Advent of Christ [Mat. 24:19-31].)

¹⁶The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His Voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the Earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of His People, and the strength of the Children of Israel. (All of this refers to the Almighty Power of the Lord Jesus Christ, which will be used to defend Israel, which refers to the defeat of the Antichrist.)

FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL FOLLOWING THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON: THE LORD REIGNING IN ZION

¹⁷So shall you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, My Holy Mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore. (The first phrase refers to the fulfillment of Ezekiels Vision of the building of the Millennial Temple, and actually the city itself [Ezek., Chpts. 40-48]. And there shall no strangers pass through her anymore, means to pass through in order to destroy!)

MATERIAL BLESSINGS FOR ISRAEL

¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the House of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. (This Verse pertains to the great prosperity that will come to Israel in the Kingdom Age, which will bless the entirety of the world. And a fountain shall come forth out of the House of the LORD, pertains to the river that will come from the Temple in Jerusalem, as seen by the Prophet Ezekiel [Ezek. 47:1-12]. This will be a literal river coming out from under a literal Temple in Jerusalem, which will take place in the Kingdom Age.

And shall water the valley of Shittim, refers to the Dead Sea valley, which will now be productive.)

ISRAELS ENEMIES DESOLATE

¹⁹Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. (There is no contradiction concerning Egypt between Verse 19 and Isa., Chpt. 19. The Judgment here predicted is past; the Promise there [Isaiah] is future.)

JUDAH AN ETERNAL PEOPLE

²⁰But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (In that day, Judah will include all the Children of Israel from all the Tribes, for all will be there [Ezek. 48:1-29]. The Promise of God is that this Land, Judah, and this city, Jerusalem, will last forever. It will be occupied by Jews, and not by Muslims!)

²¹For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwells in Zion. (The word cleanse means to avenge. This Prophecy ends, like that of Ezekiel, with the fact of God living visibly on the Earth with men.)