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by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Th.D., Director, NiceneCouncil.com
Lay defenders of dispensationalism often point to Zechariah 14:4ff as an important component of their literalistic view of the eschatological future. Unfortunately though, this is one of the areas where dispensationalism runs aground with an embarrassing thud as they attempt their literalistic approach to prophecy. You might say that they stumble over the mountains as they try to walk through Scripture while wearing their literalistic glasses. Let’s see how this is so.
In Zechariah 14:4, 10 we read:
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.... All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin's Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses.
According to dispensationalists this speaks of radical, literal topographical changes.
Samples from Dispensationalist Interpreters
As we expose the error of the dispensationalist analysis of Zechariah 14, let us consider the following statements from dispensationalist scholars:
F. Duane Lindsey, “Zechariah” in Bible Knowledge Commentary (1:1569) comments that this speaks of a “change in topography.”
John F. Walvoord, Prophecy Knowledge Handbook (333) argues regarding the splitting of the Mount of Olives and the living waters flowing out of Jerusalem that “this makes clear that the Second Coming is a future event as the Mount of Olives is still intact.” He notes that “other topological changes will take place which apparently will elevate Jerusalem so that waters flowing will go half to the eastern sea, or the sea of Galilee, and half to the western sea, or the Mediterranean (v. 8).” He continues: “Included in the topographical changes will be the elevation of Jerusalem (v. 10).”
The Tim LaHaye Prophecy Study Bible (1101) points out that “the mountain shall split in half, creating a rift valley from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea (v. 8)” and “the topography of the land will be changed, and Jerusalem will be elevated to even greater prominence (v. 10).”
Kenneth L. Barker, “Zechariah,” in Expositor’s Bible Commentary (7:692, 693) speaks of the “topographical . . . changes” that occur, so that “the land around Jerusalem is to be leveled while Jerusalem is to be elevated.”
Exposé of Dispensationalist Exegesis
That they are missing the point of this (and related prophecies) becomes evident on the following considerations.
First, the presence of “living water” (Zech 14:8) should be a clue that something non-literal is going on here. Surely this is not a prophecy about literal H20flowing out of Jerusalem. Even in the Old Testament “living water” represents God’s salvation.
In Jeremiah 2:13 the Lord denounces Israel: “For My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / That can hold no water.” He says basically the same thing in Jeremiah 17:13. But God is clearly not a literal “fountain of living [i.e., flowing] waters.” Rather this obviously speaks of his being the source of the water of life, that is, of salvation.
Though it lacks the adjective “living,” Isaiah 55:1 also mentions waters in a salvific sense: “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; / And you who have no money come, buy and eat. / Come, buy wine and milk / Without money and without cost.” This obviously is an image of God’s offer of salvation. Such imagery also appears in Psalm 42:2 and 63:1.
In fact, in Isaiah 44:3 the prophecy provides a parallel that proves this point: “For I will pour out water on the thirsty land / And streams on the dry ground; / I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, / And My blessing on your descendants.” The poured out water is actually God’s poured out Spirit.
Furthermore, Jesus takes up this “living water” imagery in the New Testament. In John 4:10 he promises the woman at the well that he would give her “living water.” She must have been a dispensationalist because her response is literalistic in orientation: “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?” (John 4:11). You know Jesus’ response: “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). He is speaking of the “living water” of salvation.
Second, returning to Zechariah 14, the statement that “Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site” and “the land will be changed into a plain” cannot be literal (Zech 14:10). Any tectonic elevation of Jerusalem would destroy the city so that it would not “remain on its site.” Rather, this elevating of Jerusalem (with its temple) is an image of spiritual or moral or religious exaltation in world affairs.
For instance, consider Isaiah 2:2: “Now it will come about that / In the last days, / The mountain of the house of the Lord / Will be established as the chief of the mountains, / And will be raised above the hills; / And all the nations will stream to it” (cp. Mic 4:1). If this is taken literally we have a future temple in a Jerusalem that is elevated higher than Mt. Everest. This is incredible for Mt. Everest stands around 29,000 feet — or almost six miles high!
Mt. Everest (and all other similarly high mountains) is rather inhospitable as a place for a city with a temple. It is known for its high winds (they can even reach 177 mph on occasion, causing an annoyingly nippy wind chill effect), thin atmosphere (much lower concentrations of oxygen than at sea level, thus requiring most climbers to take oxygen tanks as they jog up its slope), snow falls accumulating to the depth of ten feet (ruining most basketball games because the goal is only ten feet high), and unbearably cold temperatures (ranging from -2 degrees to -76 degrees, making it difficult to haul in animals for the sacrifices — especially non-wooly animals like bulls and goats). Surely Jerusalem will not be changed to a place enduring such conditions! And how will the “living waters” flow under such circumstances (Zech 14:8)? Only Al Gore could possibly imagine a day in which we will witness a warm, welcoming environment on a summit as high as Everest.
To make matters worse, this eschatological setting will be the place for God’s “lavish banquet for all peoples”! In Isaiah 25:6 we read: “the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; / A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, / And refined, aged wine” (Isa 25:6). And this is not just a one-time expedition that all peoples on earth must make (we will not even contemplate the potentially crowded conditions on the summit during this picnic). After all, Zechariah 14:16 reports that in the eschatological Jerusalem all people must celebrate the Feast of Booths each year: “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Many other problems present themselves to the literalist. But these are sufficient to expose the reducito ad absurdum of such exegesis. Whatever the texts means, it cannot mean what dispensationalists naively think it means. (For a treatment of Zechariah 14, please see my He Shall Have Dominion, pp. 481–85.)
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12 comments:
The fact that the prophet says to flee towards the zone of the earth movements he foretold is also an indication that there is some non-literal meaning intended.
If Mount Sinai can represent the Mosaiac legislation in Galatians 4:24-25, the Mount of Olives likely represents the Olivet Discourse of Jesus. His feet stood on the Mount of Olives when he gave this prophecy to his disciples.
The mountain being split, and half moving to the north, and half moving to the south, may represent two opposite interpretations.
The two kinds of interpretation of the Olivet Discourse prevalent today are preterism, and dispensationalism. I suggest, preterism is the half that is displaced towards the north, and dispensationalism is represented by the half that goes south.
Zechariah says the way we should go is in the valley between those to opposing views. "And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains..." [vs. 5] This seems to support the idea that the Olivet Discourse should be applied to the present, and the entire history of the church, rather than the first century as preterists say, or a future seven year tribulation as the dispensationalists say.
I have heard the same sort of literalistic interpretation of Ezekiel's flow of water from the temple: archaic water under Jerusalem, flowing out down to the dead sea. Literal trees with medicinal leaves grow along it's banks.
Never mind that John takes up the theme in his vision of the new heavens and new earth.
Part Two
This number could prove to be quite useful. If this prophesy is literally fulfilled and the bodies of 2,474,208,000,000 soldiers are drained to fill this valley to a depth of five feet at the deepest point, then we can come up with a rough estimate of the population of the earth at the time that the battle of Armageddon takes place.
Assuming that (since we live in a liberated age when women can serve in the military) that this army is made up of all able bodied persons, male and female, (grandma and grandpa are at home taking care of the kids) the army would make up about 50% of the entire population. That means that the population of the world at the time this prophesy is fulfilled is roughly 4,948,416,000,000 (again, give or take one or two). However, we must remember that one third (or more) of the world’s population has already been killed off by some of the other judgments prior to Armageddon. Therefore if we multiply 4,948,416,000,000 by 3/2, this gives us a total population immediately following the rapture of 7,422,624,000,000. Further assuming, given the degree of apostasy existing in the world at the time of the rapture, that only 10% of the total population of the earth are actually Christians, if we multiply 7,422,624,000,000 by 10/9 that gives a total population of earth immediately prior to the rapture of 8,247,360,000,000, give or take one or two.
This is where my math skills leave off. The last time I looked at a calculus book was as a senior in high school (and that is getting to be uncomfortably close to 50 years ago). The current world population is roughly 7,000,000,000 which means that only 8,240,360,000,000 additional people have to be born for the rapture to occur. Maybe some readers who have a better background in math can take these numbers and work with the present population growth rate and calculate approximately when the world’s population will reach 8,247,360,000,000. This may prove to be difficult since, I’m given to understand, that in some areas of the world, instead of the growth rate being positive (resulting in a population increase), the growth rate has dropped into the negative region, giving a regional population decrease. This is most disturbing since, if this trend would continue and expand to other areas of the world, it is conceivable that the population would never be able to increase to the point necessary for Revelation 14:20 to be literally fulfilled. This means no rapture, no tribulation, no Armageddon. Has the dispensationalist camp taken this into consideration?
I remember hearing a sermon in the 70’s describing the battle of Armageddon and that the nations coming against Israel had to be Russia and China as they and only they could field so vast an army to produce such a massive amount of blood as this prophesy requires. If I remember correctly, the figure given for the Chinese army at that time was 200,000,000 soldiers. Compared to the number of soldiers it would actually require to produce the amount of blood to fill the valley to a depth of five feet, the blood from 200,000,000 soldiers is actually a very small drop in a very large bucket.
I would appreciate if you could recheck my math before posting this since, as I mentioned earlier, my math skills might be somewhat rusty.
Len
Part One
I agree that dispensational literalism gets out of hand most of the time, but in all fairness, if God decided to raise Jerusalem all the way to the moon, He could do so and never rattle a dish all the while providing a sea level atmosphere for all to breathe as well as a means to get to the city. After all, He is the one who created this universe and the laws which govern it in the first place. If He wishes to change the way things are done, it is well within His purview and power to do so. Therefore to reject their literal interpretation on the basis that raising the city would be impossible without causing irreparable damage is, in effect, limiting the power of God.
I agree, that it makes no sense to raise Jerusalem above the highest mountains and seems to be a ridiculous interpretation, but it certainly is not impossible. Take me for example. Quite often I make no sense and am rather ridiculous (just ask my wife), but God recreated me and adopted me into His family – but I digress.
There is one passage of Revelation, however, which if taken literally as dispensationalists claim does indeed boggle the mind. The verse in question is Revelation 14:20. “And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.”
As near as I can tell, most dispensationalists believe this will be literally fulfilled. Most indicate that this refers to the valley where all the armies of the nations will gather for the battle of Armageddon. Christ, of course, will defeat this army and the blood that is shed will fill this 180 mile long valley (some translations give the length of the flow of blood as 200 miles, but what’s 20 miles among friends) to a depth of 5 feet.
I’m sure someone has already done the math on this, but I thought I’d give it a try myself. Since this verse is supposed to refer to an actual valley in Israel (per LaHaye, et al.), even though no width is given in the Bible, I’m going to assume that it is an elliptical shaped valley 180 miles long and 50 miles wide. This would give it a surface area of around 7100 square miles. Assuming that the valley was full of blood to a depth of five feet, it would stand to reason that the depth would gradually decrease as one neared the edges of this lake of blood, from five feet to zero at the shore. I’m going to assume that this would give the lake an average overall depth of 2.5 feet.
My question is, how big of an army would be required to fill this valley with their blood?
My extensive research (Wikipedia) shows that the average body contains 5 to 6 quarts of blood. Assuming that God’s wine press is 100% efficient, and that one cubic foot of liquid equals 30 quarts (again Wikipedia), this means that it would take the blood of 5 bodies to make up 1 cubic foot of blood. Therefore, a column of blood 1 foot high by one foot wide and one mile long would require 26,400 bodies (1’ x 1’ x 5280’ x 5 bodies). The number of bodies to give a volume of blood equal to one square mile of area at a depth of one foot would therefore be equal to 26,400 bodies x 5280’ which equals 139,392,000 bodies. To fill a lake of 7100 square miles to a depth of one foot would be 139,392,000 bodies x 7100 sq. miles which equals 989,683,200,000 bodies. To fill the lake to the average depth of 2.5 feet would be 989,683,200,000 bodies x 2.5’ which equals 2,474,208,000,000 bodies, give or take one or two. This is quite an army!
Len
You forgot to carry the 1. But otherwise, your math is quite literal and accurate.
Dr. Gentry,
Did Part One get lost or didn't I send it?
Len
I agree that dispensational literalism gets out of hand most of the time, but in all fairness, if God decided to raise Jerusalem all the way to the moon, He could do so and never rattle a dish all the while providing a sea level atmosphere for all to breathe as well as a means to get to the city. After all, He is the one who created this universe and the laws which govern it in the first place. If He wishes to change the way things are done, it is well within His purview and power to do so. Therefore to reject their literal interpretation on the basis that raising the city would be impossible without causing irreparable damage is, in effect, limiting the power of God.
I agree, that it makes no sense to raise Jerusalem above the highest mountains and seems to be a ridiculous interpretation, but it certainly is not impossible. Take me for example. Quite often I make no sense and am rather ridiculous (just ask my wife), but God recreated me and adopted me into His family – but I digress.
There is one passage of Revelation, however, which if taken literally as dispensationalists claim does indeed boggle the mind. The verse in question is Revelation 14:20. “And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.”
As near as I can tell, most dispensationalists believe this will be literally fulfilled. Most indicate that this refers to the valley where all the armies of the nations will gather for the battle of Armageddon. Christ, of course, will defeat this army and the blood that is shed will fill this 180 mile long valley (some translations give the length of the flow of blood as 200 miles, but what’s 20 miles among friends) to a depth of 5 feet.
I’m sure someone has already done the math on this, but I thought I’d give it a try myself. Since this verse is supposed to refer to an actual valley in Israel (per LaHaye, et al.), even though no width is given in the Bible, I’m going to assume that it is an elliptical shaped valley 180 miles long and 50 miles wide. This would give it a surface area of around 7100 square miles. Assuming that the valley was full of blood to a depth of five feet, it would stand to reason that the depth would gradually decrease as one neared the edges of this lake of blood, from five feet to zero at the shore. I’m going to assume that this would give the lake an average overall depth of 2.5 feet.
My question is, how big of an army would be required to fill this valley with their blood?
My extensive research (Wikipedia) shows that the average body contains 5 to 6 quarts of blood. Assuming that God’s wine press is 100% efficient, and that one cubic foot of liquid equals 30 quarts (again Wikipedia), this means that it would take the blood of 5 bodies to make up 1 cubic foot of blood. Therefore, a column of blood 1 foot high by one foot wide and one mile long would require 26,400 bodies (1’ x 1’ x 5280’ x 5 bodies). The number of bodies to give a volume of blood equal to one square mile of area at a depth of one foot would therefore be equal to 26,400 bodies x 5280’ which equals 139,392,000 bodies. To fill a lake of 7100 square miles to a depth of one foot would be 139,392,000 bodies x 7100 sq. miles which equals 989,683,200,000 bodies. To fill the lake to the average depth of 2.5 feet would be 989,683,200,000 bodies x 2.5’ which equals 2,474,208,000,000 bodies, give or take one or two. This is quite an army!
Don't know why this part got left out.
Len
Len: Like you said: "If God decided to . . . x" pretty well opens the door to any logically coherent possibility.
Dr. Gentry,
Although I am not a Dispensationalist, I understand Zechariah 14 in its plain and natural sense. Please read Acts 1: 9-11. It is conceivable that when Christ returns, He will descend to the Mt. of Olives, in the literal clouds of heaven. See "Didache" chap. 16 on this.
If you admit location in Zech. 14, you should take the passage literally. For instance, if the city of Jerusalem is the literal city, then the mount of Olives EASTWARD of the city must be literal as well. Direction demands location. Otherwise, you are using an inconsistent two-tiered hermeneutic. There is simply no objective exegetical basis for taking the city literally, and the mountain spiritually.
Also, just because God said He was the fountain of living waters does not necessarily allow one to import that concept into Zech. 14. Christ also said "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11: 25), yet orthodox Christians do not spiritualize passages that speak of the physical resurrection of the body. This very kind of reasoning is what leads to Hyper-Preterism and Hymeneanism.
Brian
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
I can easily get Jerusalem above that.
Tim:
But then what becomes of Mt. Zion (Rev 14:1)? And Jerusalem exalted above all the hills? (Isa 2:2)? And the seven mountains of Rev 17:9? And "the great high mountain" (Rev 21:10)?
The key to Zechariah is literary structure and literary allusions.
The bronze altar was a symbol of Sinai, with flame and smoke on it. It was also a symbol of the foursquare Land of Israel rising up out of the Gentile Sea.
But where else in Scripture do we see TWO mountains? It's a reference to the Day of Atonement, the sixth feast, and the book of Joshua, the sixth book. It is a way opened for the saints.
In AD70, the old mountain Altar was split in two as Ebal and Gerazim, two goats, blessings and curses (hence the reference to Azal). The OT saints ascended from the Altar as smoke into heaven, and the sinners (like the sons of Korah) descended into the earth as the ash.
Jesus' "burning" legs are the bronze pillars of the Temple. The old Land Altar (Israel) was broken (prefigured in the breaking of rocks at the crucifixion) and the redeemed entered into the Holy Place (westward) as a new government. This scenario is what we see in Revelation.
The literary structure of Zechariah supports this interpretation.
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