It shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

ZECHARIAH 12:3

Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.

ZECHARIAH 14:3-4

“In that day” is a phrase used 16 times in Zechariah 12–14 and it is in reference to the great and terrible day of the Lord, the time of Jacob’s trouble, or simply, the great tribulation, a time when God pours out His undiluted and direct wrath on the world. Zechariah mentions the people of the city in 12:2, which implies a people identified with the city, who obviously would be the Jews. Thus, we have a promise made of a future covenant with national Israel. We find the people associated with the city of Jerusalem mentioned in the last-days scenario by Zechariah, and we find God fighting against the nations who come against the city associated with God’s people Israel. God has not cast off Israel, even though in the past, He scattered the Jewish people among the nations in judgment. He has not cast them off forever.

There are those today who hold to replacement theology, which teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s redemptive plan. The problems with this view are many, not the least of which is the idea that God is done with the nation of Israel, when He’s not. Another problem is that not all that is prophesied about the regathered people of God is positive. In other words, if some are going to claim that all the future blessings promised to Israel now apply to the church, then what about all the negative things prophesied about God’s regathered people? They have to be fulfilled too, or the Bible contains errors. As the old saying goes, you have to take the good with the bad. If the church has replaced Israel, then the church is going through the tribulation. And if that is true, then the portions of the Bible that say the church will be raptured before the tribulation are wrong.

Excerpt from The Time of the Signs by Barry Stagner. Order Now.

Spend a few quiet minutes in the Psalms each day. Keep reading in Beside Still Waters by Barry Stagner.

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