Zechariah 14:16-18 Explained

Question

Pastor Malone:

If you ask someone, whose gonna populate the millennium who believes in a post tribulation rapture and they say look at Zechariah 14:16 and their  answer is "sinners" what would you say to them?

What does Zechariah 14:16 really mean....if you can help, its what post trib people like to say now I guess which is wrong but what is Zechariah 14:16 really saying??

Thanks

Answer

Unfortunately, debating about the timing of the rapture is a waste of your time and you will never change their mind.  But for the sake of my readers I will explain this passage.  

At first glance it does sound like all survivors of the tribulation period will enter into the millennium without a hitch...but taking the Bible as a whole is where this argument loses all its steam.  Let's take a look at this passage.

[16] And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
[17] And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
[18] And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14)

First of all, when the Lord comes back there will only be two kinds of people on the earth, those who have taken the mark of the beast and those who have not.  Bible is clear what will happen to those who take the mark.   

[9] And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
[10] The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
[11] And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14)   

After the Battle of Armageddon and the ensuing judgment of the nation's, the only ones who will be left will be those who have not taken the mark but have chosen to serve the Lord.  

In that day, there will be no neutral ground.  Either you have taken the mark or you haven't.  Those mentioned in Zachariah 14:16 are those who have not taken the mark because they chose to serve the Lord.  What post-tribulationists would have you believe is that these survivors simply did not participate in the battle of Armageddon.  Therefore, when Christ sets up His kingdom, they will simply come out of their hiding places (from all nations) and enter into the millennium.  That couldn't be further from the truth.   

Because of Revelation 14:9-11 we have to eliminate any interpretation of the fate of those who take the mark other than death.  It won't matter whether one participates in the Battle of Armageddon or not... if you take the mark you're going to be put to death and sent to an eternal hell.  You can't have it both ways.  

To interpret that lost people (those who have taken the mark) will get a second chance and be granted passage into the millennium just because they didn't take part in the Battle of Armageddon is a complete contradiction in Scripture.  

To say that there will be those on the earth (at the Second Coming) who will take a neutral position and not take the mark nor elect to serve God is completely unbiblical.  You can't do that today so why would the Lord allow this to happen at His coming!  Either you're serving the Lord or you're serving satan!  Either you're on your way to heaven or on your way to hell.  There are no fence straddlers today and there won't be any then.   

You must understand that the witness of Christ will be very strong during the tribulation period from the 144,000 witnesses to the angels in the sky.  The Gospel will be everywhere and will be preached.  From this witness many from every nation on earth will come to know the Lord and will not take the mark out of their undying allegiance to the Lord.  In that day, there will be no question as to the existence of the True Living God.

One thing that needs to be cleared up, after the Lord judges the world and sets up His earthly kingdom, He will present His millennial laws.  Everyone at that time will be commanded to follow them without question and everyone will gladly do so for many generations to come...but there will come a time and generation that will rebel against God with their hearts.  They will still be forced to follow the laws of God but their hearts will be far from Him. It will be for this day that these laws will be established, and when that day comes, He will rule the nation's with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:27, 12:5, 19:15).  These are those whom Zechariah 14:17 & 18 speaks of.    

God knows that the day will come when man's heart will seek to rebel against Him even in the absence of satan.  For man does not need the presence of satan to sin.  

It's hard to say how long it will take before rebellion takes root but that day will come.  When it does, God will cut off the blessings from those nations or tribes (rain).  He will send famine to their land and they will quickly fall back in line.     

In that day, everyone will worship God whether they want to or not, but all those who enter into the millennium initially will love the Lord and will choose to serve Him voluntarily.  It will be out of love and from a grateful heart that their service will spring forth.  

Thankfully, there are no passages in the Bible that indicate there will even be the slightest rebellion against God during the one-thousand year reign of Christ except for when satan is released from his chains of darkness at the end of the millennium.  Of course, satan's uprising will be short-lived and his earthly army destroyed swiftly.

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If you haven't had a chance to take a look at my book "Revelation Revealed", I encourage you to go to my website and explore what this book has to offer.  I believe it will give you a clear understanding of the end times and the order in which it may come.  Pick up a copy today for yourself or a loved one who does not know the Lord.  I know it will be a spiritual blessing to you and will help support this ministry.

Pastor Malone