Zechariah 8:11,12 - Jehovah announces the 70-years ended?

GOrwell

Hi Folks,

I've been reading into the Zechariah scriptures (Zech 1:7, Zech 1:12, 7:1-5 etc) about when the 70-year desolation period ended, but I couldn't seem to find much about Zechariah 8:11, 12. Chapter 8 continues where Chapter 7 left off (Chapter 8 mentions that Jehovah "continued" to speak), so the time frame is the same as in the beginning of Chapter 7 (4th Year of Darius, around November 518). For some reason, this scripture clicked :

Zech 8:11,12 reads (NWT):

“‘And now I shall not be as in the former days to the remaining ones of this people,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies. 12 ‘For there will be the seed of peace; the vine itself will give its fruitage, and the earth itself will give its yield, and the heavens themselves will give their dew; and I shall certainly cause the remaining ones of this people to inherit all these [things]."

Wouldn't this explicitly indicate that Jehovah himself announced the end of the 70 year desolation? The wording used by God seems the exact opposite of "desolation," and is quite beautiful.

Per usual, there's zilch about this set of Scriptures on the CD-ROM or even on this site, via search.

What do you folks think about this set of scriptures?

paladin

I found out that if you take the 70 years mentioned in Zechariah 1:12 and add those 70 years to the dates that the book of Zechariah was written 520-518 BC you get 588/590 BC minus regnal years,etc. = 588/587 BC = Jerusalem's Destruction.

wantingtruth

Try to understand when the "70 years" are ending , regarding God's people during the "latter days" .

Alwayshere

Zechariah 7 starts off "In the 4th year of Darius." The Insight on the Scriptures Vol.1 under Darius says 521 was his 1st year so his 4th year would be 518. Verse 3 ask "how many years have weeped?" verse 5 says they did this for 70 years. They weeped the year Jerusalem was desolated in 587 which was the 1st year then 586 on down to 518=70 years.

Cold Steel

Zechariah writes:

But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts. For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not: So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. (Zechariah 8:11-15)

The fulfillment is in our own day, but in the future. "I will cause the remnant of this people" -- Judah -- "to possess all these things" -- namely Jerusalem and the Millennial fulfillments. "And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing." When Gog comes down upon Jerusalem, God shall come in his fury and shall destroy him and his armies (see chapters 12-14). Once they are converted to Christ, they will be as described earlier in the chapter.

In other words, this chapter refers to the restoration of Judah to their ancestral homeland, which is being fulfilled now. Once the Lord, in his wrath, brings down the northern countries (see Ezekiel 38, Zechariah 12), Judah will be cleansed and redeemed.

If theologians continue to try to paint "Jerusalem" and "Judah" as Jehovah's/God's earthly church, none of this will make sense. Many are so anxious to remove Judah from the latter day picture that they resort to re-write scripture. Zechariah is one of the plainest of all prophets to understand, and his writings are pretty much referential to Jerusalem in the last days.