Looking at Zechariah 14 in 4 Differing Ways

I. What many in Zechariah's Day apparently thought
v. 1-6 – You can see how they would have looked at this as the Babylonian Captivity. During that time God did, Baal worship was removed from them.

II. What some at the time of Christ apparently thought
“The Jewish Messiahs” – Harris Lenowitz -- Oxford University Press 2001
From the first century BCE to the present, several dozens of Jewish messiahs have appeared. While each event has its own circumstances, the appearances and their accounts occur with some frequency in communities throughout the Jewish world.

This is also alluded to in the Scriptures by the Jewish Rabbi Gamaliel (who was one of the Apostle Paul's teachers).  Acts 5:29-39.  

They become the predominant nation over all the earth  16-21   (Mark 10:35-41)
Messianic fever helped to lead to the prophesied tragedy of 70 AD.

III. A Dispensational Understanding of this Passage
v. 1-2 -- the 7 year tribulation period – after the rapture of the church
v. 3 -- the second coming at the end of the tribulation
v. 4-5 -- the mountain is broken and the Jews escaping through the newly made valley
6-11 -- a description of the millennial kingdom
12-15 -- How the Lord won the battle (right before the millennium).
16-21 - A picture of Gentile worship during the millennium. Israel is the greatest country on earth for a 1,000 years. God goes back to more of an O.T. system of worship.

IV. A Proper Interpretation

We will deal with this in the next lesson.