God is coming, so turn to Him: Zechariah 12-13

In Zechariah 12 and 13, the chapters we're looking at this week, we have two chapters of prophecy promising an even more unusual battle strategy.

We're going to have to work hard to understand these chapters.

It's going to be a challenge for us.

They're tough chapters.

and then we'll work out how it all played out on the battlefield in real life.

So we're at point one, another battle.

The God who is behind this unusual battle strategy introduces himself in verse one, and it's clear to see that he's no pushover.

Have a look at verse one.

The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel thus declares the Lord who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him.

Can you see God is describing himself in creation terms? This is the God who stretched out the heavens and formed the earth.

That's a bit of a flex.

This God is powerful.

He's the kind of God who could make any battle strategy work with his kind of power.

So what is the battle plan? Well, let's keep reading verses two to three.

Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.

The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.

On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples.

All who lift it will surely hurt themselves, and all the nations of the earth will gather against it.

Now, do you notice we're talking about the siege of Jerusalem here, and that's kind of harking back to a low point in Israel's history, the history of God's people.

It happened, it started, the siege, in 588 BC when Nebuchadnezzar, superpower king of Babylon, the world's biggest army at the time, brought his whole army from Babylon and surrounded Jerusalem.

A siege is not a short-term battle.

It is a long-term war of attrition.

Nebuchadnezzar encamped around Jerusalem.

Then he took the time to build siege ramps up against the walls.

That's big earth moving, kind of making ramps up meters high walls, five meter high walls.