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Commentary on Zechariah 14 verses 1–7
God's providences concerning his church are here represented as strangely changing and strangely mixed.
I. As strangely changing. Sometimes the tide runs high and strong against them, but presently it turns, and comes to be in favour of them; and God has, for wise and holy ends, set the one over against the other.
1.God here appears against Jerusalem; judgment begins at the house of God. When the day of the Lord comes (Zac 14:1) Jerusalem must pass through the fire to be refined. God himself gathers all nations against Jerusalem to battle (Zac 14:2); he gives them a charge, as he did Sennacherib, to take the spoil and to take the prey (Isa 10:6), for the people of Jerusalem have now become the people of his wrath. And who can stand before him or before nations gathered by him? Where he gives commission he will give success. The city shall be taken by the Romans, who have nations at command; the houses shall be rifled, and all the riches of them taken away, by the enemy; and, to gratify an insatiable lust of uncleanness as well as avarice, the women shall be ravished, as if victory were a license to the worst of villanies, jusque datum sceleri - and crimes were sanctioned by law. One-half of the city shall then be carried into captivity, to be sold or enslaved, and shall not be able to help itself, such is the destruction that shall be made in the great and terrible day of the Lord.
2.He presently changes his way, and appears for Jerusalem; for, though judgment begin at the house of God, yet, as it shall not end there, so it shall not make a full end there, Jer 4:27; Jer 30:11.
(1.)A remnant shall be spared, the same with that third part spoken of, Zac 13:8. One-half shall go into captivity, whence they may hereafter be fetched back, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off, as one would have feared, from the city. Many of the Jews shall receive the gospel, and so shall prevent their being cut off from the city of God, his church upon earth. In it shall be a tenth, Isa 6:13; See Eze 5:3.
(2.)Their cause shall be pleaded against their enemies (Zac 14:3): Then, when God has made use of these nations as a scourge to his people, he shall go forth and fight against them by his judgments, as when he fought against the enemies of his church formerly in the day of battle, with the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others. Note, The instruments of God's wrath will themselves be made the objects of it; for it will come to their turn to drink of the cup of trembling; and whom God fights against he will be sure to overcome and be too hard for. And every former day of battle, which God has made to his people a day of triumph, as it is an engagement to God to appear for his people, because he is the same, so it is an encouragement to them to trust in him. It is observable that the Roman empire never flourished, after the destruction of Jerusalem as it had done before, but in many instances God fought against it.
(3.)Though Jerusalem and the temple be destroyed, yet God will have a church in the world, into which Gentiles shall be admitted, and with whom the believing Jews shall be incorporated, Zac 14:4, Zac 14:5. These verses are dark and hard to be understood; but divers good expositors take this to be the meaning of them. [1.] God will carefully inspect Jerusalem, even then when the enemies of it are laying it waste: His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, whence he may take a full view of the city and temple, Mar 13:3. When the refiner puts his gold into the furnace he stands by it, and has his eye upon it, to see that it receive no damage; so when Jerusalem, God's gold, is to be refined, he will have the oversight of it. He will stand by upon the mount of Olives; this was literally fulfilled when our Lord Jesus was often upon this mountain, especially when thence he ascended up into heaven, Act 1:12. It was the last place on which his feet stood on this earth, the place from which he took rise. [2.] The partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles shall be taken away. The mountains about Jerusalem, and particularly this, signified it to be an enclosure, and that it stood in the way of those who would approach to it. Between the Gentiles and Jerusalem this mountain of Bether, of division, stood, Sol 2:17. But by the destruction of Jerusalem this mountain shall be made to cleave in the midst, and so the Jewish pale shall be taken down, and the church laid in common with the Gentiles, who were made one with the Jews by the breaking down of this middle wall of partition, Eph 2:14. Who art thou, O great mountain? And a great mountain the ceremonial law was in the way of the Jews' conversion, which, one would think, could never have been got over; yet before Christ and his gospel it was made plain. This mountain departs, this hill removes, but the covenant of peace cannot be broken; for peace is still preached to him that is afar off and to those that are nigh. [3.] A new and living way shall be opened to the new Jerusalem, both to see it and to come into it. The mountain being divided, one-half towards the north and the other half towards the south, there shall be a very great valley, that is, a broad way of communication opened between Jerusalem and the Gentile world, by which the Gentiles shall have free admission into the gospel-Jerusalem, and the word of the Lord, that goes forth from Jerusalem, shall have a free course into the Gentile world. Thus the way of the Lord is prepared, for every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and plain and pleasant valleys shall come in the room of them, Isa 40:4. [4.] Those of the Jews that believe shall come in, and join themselves to the Gentiles, and incorporate with them in the gospel-church: You shall flee to the valley of the mountains, that valley that is opened between the divided halves of the mount of Olives; they shall hasten into the church with the Gentiles, as formerly the Gentiles with them, Zac 8:23. The valley of the mountains is the gospel-church, to which there were added of the Jews daily such as should be saved, who fled to that valley as to their refuge. This valley of the mountains is said to reach unto Azal, or to the separate place, that is, to all those whom God has set apart for himself. When God makes his mountains a way (Isa 49:11), by making them a valley, the way shall be opened to all the way-faring men (Isa 35:8), and, though fools, they shall not err therein. Or, to those that are now separated from God this valley shall reach; for the Gentiles, who are afar off, shall be made nigh, with the Jews, who are a people near unto him, and both have an access, a mutual access to each other and a joint access to God as a Father by one Spirit, Eph 2:18. [5.] They shall flee to the valley of the mountains, to the gospel-church, under dreadful apprehensions of their danger from the curse of the law. They shall flee from the wrath to come, from the avenger of blood, who is in pursuit of them, to the church as to a city of refuge, or as doves to their windows, as they fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, Amo 1:1. Therefore the gospel reveals the wrath of God from heaven (Rom 1:18) that we might be awakened to escape for our lives, to flee as from an earthquake, for we feel the earth ready to sink under us, and we can find no firm footing in it, and therefore must flee to Christ, in whom alone we can stand fast and be easy.
(4.)God shall appear in his glory for the accomplishing of all this: The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee, which may refer to his coming to destroy Jerusalem, or to destroy the enemies of Jerusalem, or his coming to set up his kingdom in the world, which is called the coming of the Son of man (Mat 24:37), or to his last coming, at the end of time; however, it teaches us, [1.] That the Lord will come; it has been the faith of all the saints, Behold, the Lord comes to fulfil every word that he has spoken in its season. [2.] When he comes all his saints come with him; they attend his motions and are ready to serve his interests. Christ will come at the end of time with ten thousands of his saints, as when he came to give the law upon Mount Sinai. [3.] Every particular believer, being related to God as his God, may triumph in the expectation of his coming and speak of it with pleasure, The Lord my God shall come, shall come to the comfort of all that are his; for, "Blessed Lord, all the saints shall be with thee, and it shall be their everlasting happiness to dwell in thy presence; and therefore come, Lord Jesus." And some think that this may be read as a prayer, Yet, O Lord my God! come, and bring all the saints with thee.
II. God's providences appear here strangely mixed (Zac 14:6, Zac 14:7): In that day of the Lord the light shall not be clear nor dark, not day nor night; but at evening time it shall be light. Some refer this to all the time from hence to the coming of the Messiah; the Jewish church had neither perfect peace nor constant trouble, but a cloudy day, neither rain nor sunshine. But it may be taken more generally, as designed to represent the method God usually takes in the administration of the kingdom both of providence and grace. Here is, 1. An idea of the usual course and tenour of God's dispensations; the day of his grace and the day of his providence are neither clear nor dark, not day nor night. It is so with the church of God in this world; where the Sun of righteousness has risen it cannot be dark night, and yet short of heaven it will not be clear day. It is so with particular saints; they are not darkness, but light in the Lord, and yet, while there is so much error and corruption remaining in them, it is not perfect day. So it is as to the providences of God that relate to his church; in general the affairs of the church are neither good nor bad in any extremity, but there is a mixture of both; we are singing both of mercy and judgment, and are uncertain which will prevail, whether it be an evening or a morning twilight. We are between hope and fear, not knowing what to make of things. 2. An intimation of comfort with reference hereunto: It shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord. This intimates, (1.) The beauty and harmony of such mixed events; there is one and the same design and tendency in all; all the wheels make but one wheel, all the revolutions but one day. (2.) The brevity of them; it is, as it were, but for one day, for a little moment; the cloud that darkens the light will soon blow over. (3.) The eye God has upon all these events, and the hand he has in them all; they are known to the Lord; he takes notice of them, and orders and disposes of all for the best, according to the counsel of his will. 3. An issue very joyful secured at last: At evening-time it shall be light: it shall be clear light, and no longer dark; we are sure of it in the other world, and we hope for it in this world - at evening-time, when our hopes are quite spent with waiting all day to no purpose, nay, when we fear it will be quite dark, when things are at the worst and the case of the church is most deplorable. As to the church's enemies the sun goes down at noon, so to the church it rises at night; unto the upright springs light out of darkness (Psa 112:4); deliverance comes when the tale of bricks is doubled, and when God's people have done looking for it, and so it comes with a pleasing surprise.
Christ, then, was crucified for us; he was judged in the night, when it was cold, and therefore a fire of coal was laid. He was crucified in the third hour, and “from the sixth hour there was darkness until the ninth hour,” but from the ninth hour there was light again. Are these details written down? Let us inquire. Zechariah says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, and there shall be no light but cold and frost through one day (the cold on account of which Peter warmed himself), and that day shall be known to the Lord.” (What? Did he not know the other days? There are many days, but “this is the day [of the Lord’s patience] the Lord has made.”)6 “And that day shall be known to the Lord, and not day nor night.” What dark saying does the prophet utter? That day is neither day nor night. What then shall we call it? The gospel interprets it, telling of the event. It was not day, for the sun did not shine without interruption from rising to setting, but from the sixth hour to the ninth there was darkness. The darkness was interposed, but God called the darkness night. Therefore it was neither all light, so as to be called day, nor all darkness, so as to be called night; but after the ninth hour the sun shone forth. This also the prophet foretells; for after saying “not day nor night,” he adds, “And in the time of the evening there shall be light.” Do you see the truth of the events foretold?
Yet learn that the Son knows the day of judgment. We read in Zechariah: “And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him. In that day there shall not be light but cold and frost, and it shall be one day, and that day is known to the Lord.” This day, then, was known unto the Lord, who shall come with his saints to enlighten us by his second advent. But let us continue the point that we have commenced concerning the Spirit: “He shall glorify me.” So then the Spirit glorifies the Son, as the Father also glorifies him, but the Son of God also glorifies the Spirit, as we said. He then is not weak who is the cause of the mutual glory through the unity of the eternal light, nor is he inferior to the Spirit, of whom this is true that he is glorified by the Spirit.
(Vers. 6, 7.) And it shall come to pass in that day, there shall be no light, but cold and frost. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, and in the evening time there shall be light. LXX: In that day there shall be no light, but cold and frost shall be one day, and that day shall be known to the Lord: neither day nor night, and in the evening there shall be light. Clearly it is preached about the second coming of the Savior, about whom even John speaks in his Apocalypse: Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him (Apoc. I, 7). And the Lord in the Gospel pronounces that the Son of Man will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew XXIV). He will come with clouds, that is, with angels, who are ministers of the Spirit, and are sent for various tasks, and with prophets and apostles, of whom it is written: Your truth reaches to the clouds (Psalm XXXV, 6). And when the day of His coming shall be fulfilled, there will be no light, but cold and frost, with the love of all growing cold, and due to the multitude of evils that are to come, everyone will grow cold, and those who lose the warmth of their former faith. But after all the sinners have contracted their cold and frost, there will be one day and eternal: neither light nor darkness, day and night succeeding; but the Lord himself will be the light of all: of whom Isaiah says more clearly: There will be no sun for you in the light of day, nor will the rising of the moon illuminate you at night; but the Lord will be your eternal light, and your God will be your glory (Isaiah 60:19). He also shouts in another place to Jerusalem: Arise, shine, Jerusalem; for your light has come, and the glory of your God has risen upon you. For behold, darkness and gloom shall cover the earth upon the peoples: but upon you the Lord shall arise, and his glory shall be seen upon you. And kings shall walk in the light of you, and nations in the splendor of you (Verse 1 and following). If darkness and gloom shall cover the earth upon the peoples, how then shall the nations walk again in the splendor of the Lord? But those nations shall be in darkness which frost and chill shall have contracted: and they shall walk in the light of the Lord, who have followed kings, apostles and prophets, of whom it is written: The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord (Prov. XXI, 1). Finally, at the time of evening, that is, the darkness and sadness of all sins, there will be light for the saints, and it will be a single and eternal day, which, if it will be known by the Lord (for He cannot be ignorant of what He created), it must be considered how He says in the Gospel that neither the angels nor the Son will know that day, except the Father alone (Matthew 24).
No light: Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of Antiochus, when it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7) because they neither had the comfortable light of the day, nor the repose of the night.
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SUMMARY
Zechariah 14:6 describes a unique and enigmatic atmospheric condition that will characterize "that day," a prophetic term for the Day of the Lord. This verse portrays a time when natural distinctions blur, as light will be neither fully brilliant nor completely dark, signifying a supernatural alteration of the cosmos that underscores the unprecedented nature of God's final intervention in human history, leading to judgment and ultimate redemption.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Zechariah 14:6 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its profound message. The most prominent is Paradox, as the verse describes a light that is "not clear, nor dark." This seemingly contradictory statement highlights the supernatural and unprecedented nature of "that day," where normal distinctions are suspended. It creates a sense of mystery and awe, emphasizing that the conditions will be unlike anything previously experienced. Symbolism is also at play, as the altered light likely symbolizes the transitional and tumultuous nature of this period. The blurring of day and night could represent a time of confusion, divine judgment, or the liminal space between the old creation and the new. Furthermore, the verse uses Foreshadowing, hinting at the cosmic disturbances that will accompany the Lord's return, a theme echoed in later prophetic and apocalyptic literature. The disruption of natural order underscores the magnitude of God's intervention.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Zechariah 14:6 stands as a powerful testament to God's absolute sovereignty over creation and time, particularly in the context of His eschatological plan. The verse's description of an anomalous light, neither fully bright nor completely dark, points to a period of divine intervention that transcends the natural order. Theologically, it reinforces the concept of the "Day of the Lord" as a unique, decisive, and often terrifying time when God's justice and power are fully revealed. This supernatural alteration of the cosmos serves as a dramatic sign, emphasizing that the coming events are not merely historical occurrences but direct acts of God reshaping the very fabric of existence. It speaks to a divine disruption that prepares the way for a new, divinely established order, where the Lord alone will be King.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Zechariah 14:6, with its enigmatic description of light, calls believers to a profound reflection on the certainty of biblical prophecy and the ultimate sovereignty of God. The "Day of the Lord" is not merely a theological concept but a future reality when God will decisively intervene in history. The unusual light conditions serve as a powerful reminder that God's ways and His timing are often beyond human comprehension. He can, and will, supernaturally alter the natural order to accomplish His purposes, bringing both judgment upon unrighteousness and salvation for His people. This should inspire a life of anticipation and readiness, encouraging us to live with an eternal perspective, trusting in God's perfect plan even when the present circumstances of the world seem unclear, confusing, or unprecedented. It compels us to seek clarity in God's unchanging Word amidst the world's shifting shadows, and to walk in the light of Christ, who has already overcome the darkness.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of the light being "not clear, nor dark" in Zechariah 14:6?
Answer: The phrase "the light shall not be clear, nor dark" signifies a profound supernatural disruption of the natural order during the "Day of the Lord." It describes an anomalous atmospheric condition where there is neither the full brilliance of daylight nor the complete absence of light characteristic of night. This perpetual twilight or indeterminate state emphasizes the unique and unprecedented nature of God's eschatological intervention. It symbolizes a time of divine judgment and transition, where normal distinctions blur, reflecting the immense cosmic and earthly changes occurring as God establishes His kingdom. It underscores that this "day" is entirely distinct from any ordinary day, marked by divine power that transcends natural laws.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Zechariah 14:6 describes a future cosmic event, its ultimate fulfillment and significance are deeply rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The "Day of the Lord," with its accompanying supernatural phenomena, points ultimately to the glorious return of Christ, who is the Light of the World. The ambiguous light in Zechariah 14:6 contrasts sharply with the ultimate clarity and glory that Christ brings. When Jesus returns, He will not merely alter the light; He will be the light, ushering in an eternal day where there is no need for sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates it, and the Lamb is its lamp. The temporary, unsettling twilight described by Zechariah foreshadows the dramatic transition from the present age of sin and darkness to the eternal reign of Christ, where all shadows are dispelled by His perfect presence. The judgment and salvation of "that day" are executed by Christ, who came first as the suffering Servant and will return as the conquering King, bringing ultimate clarity, righteousness, and everlasting light to His redeemed people.