V 1–2: REMNANT REASSURED When the day of the Lord comes, Jerusalem will be attacked and taken. Houses will be rifled, women ravished, and half of the people taken captive, but the remnant of the people ‘shall not be cut off from the city’. V 3–5: FAITHFUL FLEE With Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives, God will fight against the nations and the Mount of Olives will split, leaving a large valley through which the faithful remnant will escape. The Lord God will come, and ‘all the saints’ with Him. V 6–7: LORD’S LIGHT Despite the disappearance of normal lighting, God will provide light even at evening time. V 8–11: SAFETY SECURED The whole land will be watered from the east to the west in that day. God’s ruling, as King, will raise up Jerusalem which will be safely inhabited without any further destruction. V 12–15: PUNISHING PLAGUE Those who fight against Jerusalem will be punished with an horrific plague which dissolves their flesh and destroys their eyes and tongues. The panic so caused will cause them to fight against one another. Judah will also fight at Jerusalem and great spoil will belong to the children of God. However, even the livestock of their enemies will be killed by the plague. V 16–21: WIDESPREAD WORSHIP Widespread worship of God, not only from Israel but from other nations, will follow and the message that rings out from the bells of the horses will be ‘HOLINESS TO THE LORD’. The Canaanites (the symbolic term for anything that was unclean or dirty, morally or ceremonially) will never again be in God’s temple. Holiness will mark the final restoration in peace and prosperity. Holiness should also mark Christians today in their spiritual peace and spiritual prosperity.