9. The incidents of verses thirteen and fourteen are an apocalypse of the prevailing conditions before and during the siege of Jerusalem--the symbolic description of the pervading influence of seducers, deceivers, false prophets, and pseudo-signs, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect, as narrated in Matthew 24:11-24, and verified in the histories of Josephus and Pliny. These demoniac spirits of seduction which were like frogs came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. The frog has ever been a symbol of magical signs and that amphibious creature was here employed to signify the combined effort of the imperial minions to deceive and seduce the dwellers of Judea and Palestine. It was this same demoniac spirit of verse fourteen that inspired the kings of the earth (the provincial kings of Palestine) and of the whole world (the imperial rulers) to gather their armies for the battle of that great day of God Almighty. All the evidence necessary to sustain the claim that this day of God referred to the destruction of Jerusalem is the comparison with the prophecy of Zechariah (chapter 14) on the destruction of Jerusalem. The chapter begins with reference to the day of the Lord, and the entire chapter was a description of the siege and devastation of the city and the employment of high metaphors of peace and blessing that followed. In further support of the parallel between Zechariah 14:1 and Revelation 16:14, the analysis of the Zechariah chapter from the author’ s book, GOD’ S WORD, is here inserted : We shall not here read the chapter, but rather refer to its contents verse by verse. Zechariah 14:1-21 is almost universally used as “ a second coming of Christ chapter” but it is a “ destruction of Jerusalem chapter” instead. Verse 1: “ Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.” The symbolic “ day of the Lord” here is the same expression precisely that is used in Isaiah 13:9 in reference to the destruction of Babylon. If the destruction of Babylon could be called “ the day of the Lord,” why not the destruction of Jerusalem? That expression does not mean the second coming of Christ in either of these passages. Compare Isaiah 13:1-22 as a prophecy against Babylon, Isaiah 17:1-14 as a prophecy against Damascus, Isaiah 18:1-7 as a prophecy against Ethiopia, Isaiah 19:1-25 as a prophecy against Egypt, with Zechariah 14:1-21 as a prophecy against Jerusalem, and it can be seen that the assertions of the millennialists that Zechariah is prophesying the second coming of Christ and the millennium are wrong. Verse 2: “ For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” The historical accounts of the siege of Jerusalem by Josephus, Pliny, Horne and Clarke fulfill Zechariah’ s descriptions. Reference to “ nations gathered for battle” is a description of besieged Jerusalem, the houses rifled and the women ravished. The same description is found in Isaiah 13:1-22, verses 15 and 16, concerning the fall and destruction of Babylon. The comparison is forceful. Verse 3: “ Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” Factually, all the nations were represented in the Roman army, and God afterward fought against them by means of the Northern nations. Read Zechariah 9:14-15 : “ And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones.” The visitations are figurative, of course, but nevertheless significant of the fact that all the nations referred to “ against” whom the Lord “ fought” were destroyed. Verse 4: “ And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” The prophetic declaration that “ his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem,” does not refer to the second coming of Christ but rather to the siege of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ stood with his feet on the mount of Olives when he uttered the doom of the city. The Roman general stood on the mount of Olives when Jerusalem was besieged. The formations of the battle lines, entrenchments and redoubts, the circumvallations of the Romans, all enter into the graphic description and portrayal of the prophet that the mount should “ cleave in the midst” and “ toward the north” and “ toward the south.” Verses 5-7: “ And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.” Obviously, these verses are a metaphorical description of the mixture of divine mercy with justice. After the visitation there would be light--the diffusion of divine knowledge. This did follow the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish state. Verses 8-9: “ And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.” The only consistent application of this language is a spiritual fulfillment in the gospel of Christ and the church. Who is ready to deny that the clause “ in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one,” refers to the present dispensation? There is one Lord, his name is one, and the Lord is “ king over all the earth.” It finds its fulfillment in the church of Christ where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but all one in Christ, and one Lord over all. Verses 16-17: “ 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. 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.” If these verses are not figurative, if they are to be taken literally, then all nations and families must literally go up to Jerusalem and literally offer animal sacrifices and keep the Passover, restore Judaism with all of its literal ceremonies, in order in fulfill the prophecy. That would be a complete re-establishment of old Judaism and everything that characterized it, all of which was taken away. But if these verses are not literal, then the application made of the whole chapter by the millennialists loses its force. These last verses refer to the expansion of the blessings of the gospel dispensation after the destruction of Jerusalem. Upon all who received the gospel, its blessings descended as rain; but to the unbelievers who rejected the gospel “ upon them shall be no rain” --all such are barred from its promises and privileges. The simple truth of the matter is that as Isaiah 13:1-22 is a prophecy on the destruction of Babylon, Zechariah 14:1-21 is a prophecy on the destruction of Jerusalem. It does not teach millennialism in “ a sentence or a syllable.“ --GOD’ S WORD, pp. 246-9. Thus the downfall of Babylon in Isaiah 13:1-22, and of Jerusalem in Zechariah 14:1-21, Matthew 24:1-51, and in Revelation were described with identical symbolism. The evidence is preponderant that the gathering for the battle of that great day of God portended the over-running of Judea and the onslaught against Jerusalem by the Roman armies, set forth in numerous visional developments; which included the uprisings, insurrections and rebellions that diverted the powers of evil from the afflictions of the church.