Zech. 14:2

2 For I will gather ['acaph] all nations [gowy] against Jerusalem [Yaruwshalaim] to battle [milchamah]; and the city [`iyr] shall be taken [lakad], and the houses [bayith] rifled [shacac], and the women ['ishshah] ravished [shakab] [shagal]; and half [chetsiy] of the city [`iyr] shall go forth [yatsa'] into captivity [gowlah], and the residue [yether] of the people [`am] shall not be cut off [karath] from the city [`iyr]. KJV-Interlinear

2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. NASB

In the previous chapter, we saw that in the early stages of the Armageddon battle, two-thirds of all of the land of Israel will die, and only one-third will survive.

Here we have the summary of the battle in the city of Jerusalem. The city will be captured. Half of the citizens of the city will be captured and hauled off as prisoners. The rest of the citizens of the city will not be hauled off as captives. They will either die, remain in the city as captives, or they will survive and continue to fight the invading forces. A small remnant will be delivered.

Remember that there are four types of people, spiritually speaking. The first type consists of unbelievers. These include everyone who have not believed in Christ. The second type consists of believers who have not advanced in their spiritual lives. These are the indifferent or those who just do not have what it takes to advance in their spiritual lives. The third type consists of those who have advanced somewhat in their spiritual lives, but not all of the way to spiritual maturity. And, the fourth type are the mature believers or those who have advanced all of the way to spiritual maturity.

It is this last category who will pass all of the pressure tests that will come with every aspect of the Tribulation, and especially in these last weeks, days, hours, and minutes. These folks, the spiritually mature, will be delivered by Christ. All others will die one way or another.

The enemy armies will consist of all but the last category of people. Some of these armies, and one would assume that it will be the army of the west, will have believers enlisted in them. These believers will be ones who just got hungry, or they did not have much faith, and definitely, they compromised their spiritual standards to get a hot meal and a bed. Kind of like Esau. They will trade away all of the blessings that they could have had, for the pleasures of the world.

The armies, mostly the Northern Army, who sweep down through Israel, will deal with its citizens in an extremely brutal way. Most will die, be tortured, or simply carted off to some quickly put together prison camps.

Still, lots of folks, or should we say, pockets of folks scattered throughout the land, will hide out, and they will survive the initial invasion.

However, when the forces of the West and East enter into the land, many of these pockets of people will either come out, thinking that they have been rescued, or they will simply be discovered, and their nightmare will just get worse.

Remember again. Christ stated that when you go into hiding, you are to remain there until His return, and not before. Many will forget this, if they ever knew it. At this time in history, there will be no one to come to the rescue, except Christ.

The key phrase here is all nations will be brought against Jerusalem. Therefore, for all Jews, whether they are Christian or not, and for all Christians, whether they are Jewish or not, there will be no help, no aid, no friends, and no rescue from anyone on this planet. They are all targets. And, if they make their presence known, then they can just kiss themselves good-bye.

The captured men will get tortured and die, and the women will get passed around as play-toys before they die. The old and the very young will just be in the way, so they will die rather quickly.

As for the city, there will still be a large population, trapped inside of the city. They will not have any path or avenue of escape. Not all of them will be delivered, but what we have here is the total hopelessness of their situation.

The enemy is ruthless. They will take as they please, rape, and then throw away their female toys, they will shoot and torture and kill without thinking much of what they are doing. Life to them has fallen to total meaninglessness.

And that, is the mental and spiritual state of the world immediately before the Second Advent. The actions that Christ will take upon His return, will be totally just.

Cut off from any type of escape, the people of Jerusalem, and even those in the countryside, who are also trapped wherever they happen to be, will have no one to look to, and nowhere to run. Time, it would appear, will be on the side of the enemy forces. They have only to systematically go from building to building, and catch whoever is inside, or burn it down and kill whoever happens to be inside.

But, here is another important clue. Enemy forces will not be able to search out or level the entire the city before their time will run out.

Jesus Christ controls history. The enemy will not be able to carry out its ruthlessness against everyone, and the people who are to be delivered will be completely trapped with no way out. This will be those mature believers, ultimate test. All they will have is their faith. Presumably, their ammunition will have run out, or whatever it is they have been fighting with, and they will only be able to hide and wait either for their own doom or for Christ s return. Faith is all they will have.

Even in these final moments, probably some folks will just go crazy from lack of sleep, from all of the noises of battle and death, and they will run out into the street and be killed or captured.

Then by now, you know what the next event will be. That supernatural darkness, the second of two in all of human history, will suddenly cover not only the land of Israel, but also the entire planet. This will serve to cause confusion in the enemy forces, halt their aggression against any remaining believers, and it will provide a blanket of safety for those mature believers who are in hiding. Then the planet will seem to come apart as the most violent string of earthquakes in all of history, will shake the very foundations of the world.

Terror and fear and death will reign down upon all enemies of God worldwide. Safety, calm, astonishment, and awe will be the focus of all mature believers, witnessing these last few minutes of Satan s rule.

Then, it will be Christ s turn to personally intervene in the battle, and finally settle all accounts, once and for all.

Now is the time to post a prayer.