Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

Q. Have the prophecies in Zechariah 9 been fulfilled, or are they still in the future?

That depends on which segment of Zechariah 9 you are in. If you read the NKJV, Zechariah 9 has the following outline:

1. V 1-8 Israel Defended against Enemies
2. V 9-10 The Coming King
3. V 11-17 God will Save His People

Scholars generally agree that section 1 against Tyre (v 2-4) and the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod, v 5-8) was fulfilled during Alexander the Great’s conquest of Syria in 332-331 BC. Both Assyria and Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar, Ezk 26-28) attacked Tyre, but it was Alexander the Great who conquered it.

Verse 9 of section 2 refers to Jesus’ first coming and was fulfilled in His triumphal entry:

• Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is just and endowed with salvation,

Humble and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

• Mt 21:4-5 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold your King is coming to you,

Gentle and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” See also Mk 11 and Lk 19.

Verse 10 refers to the Millennium after the Lord’s second coming and is still in the future:

• Zech 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

And the horse from Jerusalem;

And the bow of war will be cut off.

And He will speak peace to the nations;

And His dominion will be from sea to sea,

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Commentators believe v 13 in section 3 is partially fulfilled in the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire from 167-160 BC:

• Zech 9:13 For I will bend Judah as My bow,

I will fill the bow with Ephraim.

And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece;

And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

Judas Maccabeus (son of Zion) led a rebellion against Antiochus IV Epiphanes (son of Greece). The Maccabees captured Jerusalem in 164 BC and cleansed the Second Temple. They rededicated the altar desecrated by Antiochus IV, who was a type of the Antichrist. The Festival of Hanukkah was established to commemorate this cleansing. Most believe the rest of this passage:

• Zech 9:15 The Lord of hosts will defend them …
• Zech 9:16 And the Lord their God will save them in that day …

will be fulfilled in the battle of Armageddon.

Ezekiel’s Prince

Q. Are Ezk 46 and 47 referring to the Millennium? The New Jerusalem? Are we the foreigners among them? The boundaries seem to describe a much smaller piece of land than the world it is now. Who is the prince? He certainly is not Jesus, as he offers sacrifices.

Many bible scholars believe Ezk 40-48 refers to the Millennium. It is not the new Jerusalem, which appears only in the new heaven and earth:

• Rev 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God. And he will not go out from it anymore, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
• Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
• Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

Foreigners in the Millennium are referred to in Ezk 44 in the NASB:

• Ezk 44:7-9 when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you offered My food, the fat, and the blood; for they made My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations. And you have not kept charge of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners to keep charge of My sanctuary.” ‘Thus says the Lord God, “No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

Verses 7-8 look back to the end of Judah when worship was so lax that even pagans were allowed to serve in the sanctuary and keep charge of the holy things or temple utensils. V 9 looks forward to the Millennium and forbids unbelieving foreigners from entering the sanctuary. There will be Jewish and Gentile believers inhabiting the Millennial Kingdom. If by “we” you mean present-day Christians, we will not be among the foreigners as the Millennium has not yet begun.

The prince(s) is mentioned 19 times in 17 verses from Ezk 44-48. There has been debate as to his identity. Some felt it was David:

• Ezk 34:24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.
• Ezk 37:25 They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.

I doubt this since David had been dead for 400 years by the time Ezekiel wrote his prophecy. Nor could it be a resurrected David:

• Acts 13:36-37 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

Others believe the prince to be the Lord Jesus. This is impossible because:

• Ezk 45:22 On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

The Lord is sinless and does not need daily sacrifices for Himself:

• Heb 7:27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
• Ezk 46:16-18 ‘Thus says the Lord God, “If the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons;’ it shall belong to them. The prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance, thrusting them out of their possession. He shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession.”

The Lord never married and did not have sons. So Jesus does not fit the clues and could not be the prince.

Since the text did not identify the prince, the most that can be said is that he will be a rulerof Israel related to David during the Millennium. Beyond that would be extra-biblical speculation.

Ezekiel’s Temple

Q. If there is no temple in the new heaven & new earth, what is the temple referred to in Ezk 40? Why did God give such detailed specification of it.? it also talks about sacrifices (Ezk 46) and boundaries of land (Ezk 47). Is this referring to the Millennium? or is this all symbolic?

I have written about Ezekiel’s Temple before:

1. Ezekiel’s Temple 1 https://wordpress.com/post/raykliu.wordpress.com/2377
2. Ezekiel’s Temple 2 https://wordpress.com/post/raykliu.wordpress.com/2390
3. Ezekiel’s Temple 3 https://rayliu1.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/ezekiels-temple-3/
4. Ezekiel’s Temple 4 https://rayliu1.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/ezekiels-temple-4/
5. Heavenly, Ezekiel, & the Third Temple https://wordpress.com/post/raykliu.wordpress.com/11049

I first commented on Ezekiel’s Temple 11 years ago (1 & 2), then revised my views 5 years ago (3 & 4). There was also an update last year (5). Please read the above posts as I still hold to what I believed then. They explain my position on your questions above. Instead of repeating myself, I will comment on your queries about the prince in Ezk 45 in the next post.