"the Lord comes and reigns"
Tis passage speaks of a time near the end of time as we understand it... The Lord will gather all the nations against Jerusalem and they will ransack and pillage it, taking all kinds of plunder. half of the inhabitants will then be taken into exile. Then, right after this in the prophecy, the Lord will come and take arms against all of these nations and he will establish a place to which "you" which i am guessing is referring to the remainder of jerusalem.
this part of the passage could be said to reflect the end as the rest of the world opposes the christians and god then provides for them a shelter to which they can run - Him.
Now comes a very familiar sounding passage. the Lord will establish his kingdom from jerusalem. living water will flow from jerusalem and the lord will be king over the earth. (this could be seen as christ being the initiator of this kingdom with his sacrifice in jerusalem from which the living water of the gospel flowed). The Lord will then flatten the lands surrounding Jerusalem and will raise jerusalem to new heights. this could mean physically, but i'm of the opinion it is more about the presence and power of jerusalem over the rest of the world. Jerusalem has just now been placed in high esteem and the rest to nothing. this could also be signifying the leveling of the other religions in the end times and the uplifting of christianity.
Then, all those that have fought against Jerusalem will have judgment passed on them and they will be afflicted by the punishment of God. this passage specifically mentions plague, panic and through panic the turning on one another. through this Jerusalem will be safe and triumphant even gaining the spoils from this, according to the passage.
Those survivors of the nations who attacked israel will then worship the Lord and those that do not will be punished like unto withholding rain from the egyptians. Meanwhile, inside the new jerusalem, every item will be holy to the Lord for there will be no unclean person in that city. the city will be pure, filled with purity. this is a glimpse of what heaven is - holy, set apart from anything we've ever experienced - hence the raising and flattening of the land.
i think this is a passage depicting the progression of the end times from tribulation to judgment to heaven. it outlines, in a way, the events to come as described by the revelation of John. it's cool how two different prophecies, both some 300 odd years apart, mirror each other so well...
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