And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the cast, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, etc. The men in Jerusalem were in great suffering and imminent peril, and here is a figurative representation of the Almighty in relation to them.

I. HE OBSERVES THEIR TERRIBLE CONDITION. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east." On this Mount of Olives Jesus often stood, and from it he commanded a view of the holy city; on one occasion, from its brow, he beheld the city, and wept over it on account of its approaching doom. But the idea suggested here is that God observes men in all their calamities and dangers. His eye is on them. He watches them with the interest of a Father. This is especially the case with his people. We are assured that his eye is ever upon the righteous. Job said, "He knoweth the way that I take." Let us remember, in our greatest trials and sufferings, that he stands on the Mount of Olives. In standing there:

1. He sees what we have to endure.

2. He sees how we behave ourselves in our condition, whether under our afflictions we are trustful, patient, and submissive, or otherwise; whether in our perils we are making an effort to escape. How comforting it is to feel that the eye of a tender, compassionate Father is ever on us, in all our sufferings, in this world of sorrow, trial, and dangers! "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways."

II. HE MAKES A WAY FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE. "And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley" "These verses," says Dr. Henderson, "convey in language of the most beautiful poetical imagery, the assurance of the effectual means of escape that should be provided for the truly pious. We accordingly learn from Eusebius that on the breaking out of the Jewish war, the Christian Church at Jerusalem, in obedience to the warning of our Saviour (Matthew 24:16), fled to Pella, a city beyond Jordan, where they lived in safety. As the Mount of Olives lay in their way, it is represented as cleaving into two halves, in order to make a passage for them." it is not necessary to suppose that the Mount of Olives was thus riven asunder. The idea is that the obstruction to their escape, though formidable as a mountain, should be removed. Christ had said, "Let them which be in Judaea flee unto the mountains," etc. It was their duty, therefore, to do so. And here is promised the removal of every obstruction. The Almighty would give them every facility to escape to the refuge. This he does for our suffering race. He makes a way for their escape. He makes the crooked places straight, and the rough places smooth. The way for their escape from guilt, ignorance, and misery, which has been blocked up by mountains of difficulties, he has reade straight. The mountains have been cleft asunder, nay, removed. Christ is the Way.

III. HE PROVIDES A REFUGE FOR THEIR SAFETY. "And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah King of Judah." Mark here three things.

1. The scene of refuge. "Azal." Where is this "Azal"? No one knows. Its position is a matter of pure conjecture. Nor does it matter. It was some asylum to secure them from danger. God has provided a refuge for sinners. We are exhorted to flee to the Refuge set before us in the gospel.

2. The impulse of flight. "Like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah King of Judah."

3. The necessity of the flight. "The Lord my God shall come." Providential dispensations are often spoken of in the Scripture as the coming of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem is spoken of as his coming, and here it is assured as a certainty, the ruin was inevitable. "There is not a word," says a modern expositor, "concerning this earthquake as spoken of in Scripture history." The only other allusion to it occurs in the Book of Amos, who was amongst the herdmen of Tekoa, "which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah King of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash King of Israel, two years before the earthquake." It must have been something extraordinary, unusually extensive and awful, when it is thus used to date a period, and, at the same time, as having occasioned such a flight from the destruction wrought by it as to render it a suitable comparison for the prophet here. Fear was to be their inspiration in flight. As the people fled panic stricken from the presence of the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, they were to flee from the dangers at Jerusalem. "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

CONCLUSION. How thankful should we be to know that God has not deserted humanity in its sins and sorrows! His eye is on it. He has provided a Way for its escape, and a safe Refuge to which it should flee. Our world, bad as it is, is not a God-deserted world. - D.T.

The men in Jerusalem were in great suffering and imminent peril, and here is a figurative representation of the Almighty in relation to them.

I. HE OBSERVES THEIR TERRIBLE CONDITION. "And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east." The idea suggested here is that God observes men in all their calamities and dangers. His eye is on them. This is especially the ease with His people. We are assured that His eye is ever upon the righteous; Job said, "He knoweth the way I take."

1. He sees what we have to endure.

2. He sees how we behave ourselves in our condition, whether under our afflictions we are trustful, patient, and submissive or otherwise; whether in our perils we are making an effort to escape. "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways."

II. HE MAKES A WAY FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE. "And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley." "These verses," says Dr. Henderson, "convey, in language of the most beautiful poetical imagery, the assurance of the effectual means of escape that should be provided for the truly pious. We accordingly learn from Eusebius that on the breaking out of the Jewish war the Christian Church at Jerusalem, in obedience to the warning of our Saviour (Matthew 24:16) fled to Pella, a city beyond Jordan, where they lived in safety. As the Mount of Olives lay in their way, it is represented as cleaving into two halves, in order to make a passage for them." It is not necessary to suppose that the Mount of Olives was thus riven asunder. The idea is, that the obstruction to their escape, though formidable as a mountain, should be removed. The Almighty would give them every facility to escape to the refuge. This He does for our suffering race. He makes a way for their escape, from guilt, ignorance, and misery, which has been blocked up by mountains of difficulties.

III. HE PROVIDED A REFUGE FOR THEIR SAFETY.

1. The scene of refuge, "Azal." An unknown place. Some spot to secure them from danger.

2. The impulse of flight.

3. The necessity for the flight.The Lord thy God shall come. In some great manifestation of His power. Conclusion. How thankful we should be to know that God has not deserted humanity in its sins and sorrows.

(Homilist.)

Azel, Benjamin, Uzziah, ZechariahAzal, Corner Gate, Egypt, Gate of Benjamin, Geba, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, Rimmon, Tower of HananelCleave, Cleft, East, Eastward, Forming, Front, Half, Jerusalem, Large, Lies, Making, Middle, Midst, Mount, Mountain, Move, Moved, Moving, North, Northward, Olives, Opposite, Parted, Remove, Removed, South, Southward, Split, Stand, Stood, Thereof, Towards, Valley, West, Wide, Withdraw1. The destroyers of Jerusalem destroyed.
3. The coming of Christ, and the graces of his kingdom.
12. The plague of Jerusalem's enemies.
16. The remnant shall turn to the Lord;
20. and their spoils shall be holy.

Zechariah 14:4

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Zechariah 14:2-5

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Zechariah 14:3-5

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Light at Evening Time
This, then, shall be the subject of my present discourse. There are different evening times that happen to the church and to God's people, and as a rule we may rest quite certain that at evening time there shall be light. God very frequently acts in grace in such a manner that we can find a parallel in nature. For instance, God says, "As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, even so shall my word be, it shall not return unto me void, it shall accomplish that which …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Light at Evening Time
AS WE read the Scriptures, we are continually startled by fresh discoveries of the magnificence of God. Our attention is fixed upon a passage, and presently sparklets of fire and glory dart forth. It strikes us; we are struck by it. Hence these bright coruscations. Our admiration is excited. We could not have thought that so much light could possibly lie concealed within a few words. Our text thus reveals to us in a remarkable manner the penetration, the discernment, the clear-sightedness of God. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916

A Peal of Bells
The text, as you perceive, deals with horses which were unclean under the Jewish law yet, in the day spoken of in the text, the horses themselves shall be purged from commonness or uncleanness, and their harness shall be dedicated to God as certainly as the vestments of the High Priest himself. It will be a happy day indeed when the men who deal with horses, too often a race anything but honest and upbeat shall exhibit in their common transactions a consecration to God, so that on the horses' furniture …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

24TH DAY. Eventide Light.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "At evening-time it shall be light."--ZECH. xiv. 7. Eventide Light. How inspiring the thought of coming glory! How would we rise above our sins, and sorrows, and sufferings, if we could live under the power of "a world to come!" Were faith to take at all times its giant leap beyond a soul-trammelling earth, and remember its brighter destiny. If it could stand on its Pisgah Mount, and look above and beyond the mists and vapours of this land of shadows, and rest on …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

That all Troubles are to be Endured for the Sake of Eternal Life
"My Son, let not the labours which thou hast undertaken for Me break thee down, nor let tribulations cast thee down in any wise, but let my promise strengthen and comfort thee in every event. I am sufficient to reward thee above all measure and extent. Not long shalt thou labour here, nor always be weighed down with sorrows. Wait yet a little while, and thou shalt see a speedy end of thine evils. An hour shall come when all labour and confusion shall cease. Little and short is all that passeth …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Sanctified Commonplaces
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts.' (Zechariah xiv. 20, 21.) What I have to say may not strike some of you as setting forth any very high or exalted truth, but I am satisfied as to its being a very important matter. I want to talk to you about the sanctification of the commonplace things in life. …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Evening Light
This chapter is an article written by the author many years after she had received light on the unity of the church. It will acquaint the reader with what is meant by the expression "evening light." "At evening time it shall be light." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:6,7). The expression …
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

Three Inscriptions with one Meaning
'Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it ... HOLINESS TO THE LORD.'--EXODUS xxviii. 36. 'In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.'--ZECH. xiv. 20. 'His name shall be in their foreheads.'--REV. xxii. 4. You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon.
Pliny writes, "From Pelusium are the intrenchments of Chabrias: mount Casius: the temple of Jupiter Casius: the tomb of Pompey the Great: Ostracine: Arabia is bounded sixty-five miles from Pelusium: soon after begins Idumea and Palestine from the rising up of the Sirbon lake." Either my eyes deceive me, while I read these things,--or mount Casius lies nearer Pelusium, than the lake of Sirbon. The maps have ill placed the Sirbon between mount Casius and Pelusium. Sirbon implies burning; the name of …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
(October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VII. 11-52. ^d 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? [It was now eighteen months since Jesus had visited Jerusalem, at which time he had healed the impotent man at Bethesda. His fame and prolonged obscurity made his enemies anxious for him to again expose himself in their midst. John here used the word "Jews" as a designation for the Jerusalemites, who, as enemies of Christ, were to be distinguished from the multitudes who were in doubt …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Evening of the Third Day in Passion-Week - on the Mount of Olives: Discoures to the Disciples Concerning the Last Things.
THE last and most solemn denunciation of Jerusalem had been uttered, the last and most terrible prediction of judgment upon the Temple spoken, and Jesus was suiting the action to the word. It was as if He had cast the dust of His Shoes against the House' that was to be left desolate.' And so He quitted for ever the Temple and them that held office in it. They had left the Sanctuary and the City, had crossed black Kidron, and were slowly climbing the Mount of Olives. A sudden turn in the road, and …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

A vision of the King.
ONE of the most blessed occupations for the believer is the prayerful searching of God's holy Word to discover there new glories and fresh beauties of Him, who is altogether lovely. Shall we ever find out all which the written Word reveals of Himself and His worthiness? This wonderful theme can never be exhausted. The heart which is devoted to Him and longs through the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be closer to the Lord, to hear and know more of Himself, will always find something …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Promise to the Patriarchs.
A great epoch is, in Genesis, ushered in with the history of the time of the Patriarchs. Luther says: "This is the third period in which Holy Scripture begins the history of the Church with a new family." In a befitting manner, the representation is opened in Gen. xii. 1-3 by an account of the first revelation of God, given to Abraham at Haran, in which the way is opened up for all that follows, and in which the dispensations of God are brought before us in a rapid survey. Abraham is to forsake …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Prophet Joel.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. The position which has been assigned to Joel in the collection of the Minor Prophets, furnishes an external argument for the determination of the time at which Joel wrote. There cannot be any doubt that the Collectors were guided by a consideration of the chronology. The circumstance, that they placed the prophecies of Joel just between the two prophets who, according to the inscriptions and contents of their prophecies, belonged to the time of Jeroboam and Uzziah, is …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Zechariah
CHAPTERS I-VIII Two months after Haggai had delivered his first address to the people in 520 B.C., and a little over a month after the building of the temple had begun (Hag. i. 15), Zechariah appeared with another message of encouragement. How much it was needed we see from the popular despondency reflected in Hag. ii. 3, Jerusalem is still disconsolate (Zech. i. 17), there has been fasting and mourning, vii. 5, the city is without walls, ii. 5, the population scanty, ii. 4, and most of the people …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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