Stricken By The Lord!

The Minor Prophets Speak To Today

Stricken By The Lord

Zechariah 14:12-15 NLT

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Zechariah 14:12-15New Living Translation (NLT)

12 And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day they will be terrified, stricken by theLord with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand.14 Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured—great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. 15 This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.

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The Price of Fighting Against Jerusalem

Who are these nations that fought against Jerusalem and ushered in the Day of the Lord for their insolence?

This passage describes them as all the nations round about Israel. The map may help you define who they would be if this happened in the near future. 

The scripture does not speak of alliances that might draw in other nations. Perhaps in their arrogance they decide they do not need any alliance. After all the scripture earlier says they have gone mad with blood thirst. And mad nations usually think themselves more powerful than they are.

But what if this is referring to the Muslim nations that surround the present Israel/Jerusalem? Could it be they have become deluded by centuries of uncritically accepted teachings to believe that they are God's appointed warriors? That they alone are on the Lord's side? This prophecy would indicate they will after initial conquest of Jerusalem celebrate in victory only to be struck by the terrible plague of this passage.

A Terrifying Plague

By anyone's standards, the plague described in this passage shocks and horrifies.

"Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths."

When I read about Hiroshima after the atomic bomb exploded upon them, I thought of this passage. The first responders found soldiers with their eyes melted in their sockets. People were found with their skin burned and hanging from them.

But this plague sounds worse than that. This plague sounds worse than the result of the most horrifying chemical weapons of World War I or the napalm burned little girl running away from a Vietnamese village.

 I have read about some pretty scary stuff related to biological weapons research.

Will this be a nuclear plague unleashed? Will it be a biological plague with quick and devastating effects? Will it be a chemical or biochemical ravaging of the bodies? We don't know. Though all of these remind us that this plague sounds more possible in our day than centuries ago in Zechariah's day.

Has Satan fanned our fascination with the "walking dead" as preparation to mute our response to the victims of this plague? Has he fanned such a great hatred of Muslim people and nations so that our hard hearts will not care? Will not comprehend the human tragedy of this plague so that the world looking on is blinded to the root cause, the root lesson - it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God?

We do not know!

But this we do know - the victims will look like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets. Their tongues will rot in their mouths.

The People Will Turn Upon Each Other

The people whose nations have taught incorrect teachings about the One and Only True God and His Son Jesus Christ, even the people of Israel and Jerusalem who still do not accept him, will respond to the plague with terror. And as happens so often in the presence of terror, they will panic. Not only will they have the normal human reaction of panic, but they will be stricken by God with a great panic. An outsized panic.

In panic, they will turn on each other. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. It will be a mighty brawl consuming the inhabitants of the nations who originally attacked Jerusalem and even the unbelievers among the Israelites and Jews themselves. From the farthest borders of the farthest nation to the people near or within Jerusalem these false believers will take out their terror and panic on one another. 

An All Inclusive Plague

The plague will not only cause the people to rot it will also cause all the living creatures in the land to rot. Even the engines of war will rot. Let there be no one deceived - this is the hand of God!

Photo Credits:
The Big Tree - Texas Coast by wayne anson, all rights reserved, private collection
map of the middle east by AN, all rights reserved @ flickr.com
The Walking Dead Wallpaper by Leonardox silva all rights reserved @ flickr.com