Whom They Pierced – Zechariah 12:10

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced.  Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

In chapter 12 of Zechariah, the prophet gives another burden of the word of the LORD against Israel.  God introduces Himself in this message as the LORD “who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.”  (Zechariah 12:1) It is a good idea to keep God’s example when we are speaking with others and expand upon the description of His name when we mention Him, that way our audience, the listener, has a clear understanding of our God of whom we are speaking.   It reminds us as well.

In verse 10 above, God, Creator of the universe and our Savior, says He will pour out His Spirit.  When God pours out His spirit, things happen.  Big things.  “Now notice that when God pours out His Spirit, the witness of the Spirit is always of the crucified Lord.” (Chuck Smith)  How do we know this?  Because Jesus told us:  “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”  (John 15:26)  “It is the Spirit of God that is constantly pointing people to the cross as their only hope of salvation. The work of the Spirit in your heart is to bring you to the cross of Jesus Christ, to point you to the cross. In looking at the cross, the Spirit then brings us to repentance, and the mourning for our sins. They shall mourn as for an only son, the firstborn who had been killed, or who had been slain. The great mourning and grieving when the nation Israel realizes that they have rejected the Messiah. When God by His Spirit, opens their eyes to the truth and they realize, "We missed the real Messiah." That mourning, that grieving that will take place within their hearts. For God by His Spirit will open their eyes, and suddenly they will realize the blunder of crucifying the Lord of glory.” (Chuck Smith)

Scholars will point out that the recognition, repentance and receiving of Jesus as Messiah by Israel will usher in a new age.  It is exciting to think a time is coming when the people of Israel, as individuals, receive their true Savior, and Israel, corporately as a nation, receives its true Savior, Jesus Christ.  At the same time it is frightening when we read of “that day.”  Repeatedly in Zechariah we see the phrase ‘in that day’ and ‘the day of the LORD.’  It is a day in which our Savior shall bring judgment and justice to the world.  Those who were against Israel shall be destroyed.  Jesus Christ shall take possession of the earth and reign in righteousness.  In that day, the world will get to see Jesus Christ in His power, strength, and glory as King. The world will see how holy and just He is.  And He will rule the world in righteousness with a rod of iron.  A righteous ruler.  Indeed, a new age.

“They will look upon Me: Comparing Zechariah 12:10 with Zechariah 12:1 and 12:3 (Thus says the Lord…says the Lord) makes it clear that the Me they look upon is the Lord God - Yahweh - Himself. This is astounding and wonderful evidence that Jesus the pierced One is God, and that Yahweh is the Triune God. Simply said, the Father sends the Spirit so that men would look upon the Son.” (David Guzik)

Without diminishing the glory of that day we long for, but rather to add to the beauty of this future salvation of the nation of Israel, consider how these actions model the salvation of an individual soul.  We must first look to Jesus, see the blinding holiness of the true Jesus, such that when we look back on ourselves, we realize how short we have fallen of His glory.  At this point, we begin to comprehend the magnitude of what Jesus did for us in His sacrifice on the cross.  It does not matter how short someone else has fallen, we must look within, honestly, and see the depraved condition of our own soul.  We will mourn for what we cost Jesus.  At the same time, we will rejoice for what He has done for us.  The effect of coming to this truth, to this reality, is difficult to describe, but well understood by those of us who have surrendered to our wonderful Savior.

“According to the text before us, men first look upon him whom they have pierced, and then, but not till then, they mourn for their sin.  It is a beautiful remark of an old divine, that eyes are made for two things at least; first, to look with, and next, to weep with. The eye which looks to the pierced One is the eye which weeps for him.” (Charles Spurgeon)

What joy comes after this weeping, after realizing my sin problem and so plainly seeing the only hope of salvation.  Our desire is that you too have this ultimate joy.  As a result, we pray that God, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, pour out His Spirit of grace and supplication so that you may look upon Him, the Crucified One whom you have pierced, repent of your sins, and surrender to the only Worthy One, the Risen One, the divine Jesus Christ. 

May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Confession of a Centurion – Mark 15:39

“So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this Man was the Son of God!’”

The centurion was a man familiar with death.  He had experience in seeing men die, probably by his own hand in battle, maybe even his own men from the enemy, but certainly from the people he had crucified.  He knew death could be tortuously slow or could happen in an instant without warning.  So why was his experience with the death of Jesus so different than the others he had observed?  What transpired that made such a hardened man, who was responsible for carrying out the crucifixion, exclaim aloud ‘truly this Man was the Son of God!’?

Part of it could have been the three hours of darkness preceding the death of Jesus.  In the account in Luke, there was darkness that was then followed by the sun being obscured.  “Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  Then the sun was darkened” (Luke 23:44-45a).  That was difficult and certainly could have bothered the centurion.

Add to that, the centurion had never observed someone with such control over their own death.  Doctors say that death by crucifixion comes from suffocating.  The body is hung in such a way that the victim must push from the feet to take a breath of air.  Breathing would be painful labor.  Speaking would require great effort.  Yet – “And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.” (Mark 15:37)  The centurion watched Jesus cry out with a strong voice and the next moment give up his life.  This was unique.

But I imagine, even more than the darkness and the control over His own death, was the love that Jesus showed to the centurion.  How did Jesus show the centurion love?  Forgiveness.  “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’  And they divided His garments and cast lots.” (Luke 23:33-34)  Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him. 

“The centurion looked at the crosses and stood vigil as death reduced them to a mass of lifeless flesh.  Yet one victim seemed unlike any the veteran soldier had ever seen.  This man didn’t fight as the others had.  Nor did He beg or curse, condemn or plead for mercy.  In fact, He did something that tore at the centurion’s heart.  He forgave.  In all his career, only Jesus had ever offered the centurion mercy.  Even though he stood for everything that put Christ on that cross, Jesus forgave him.”  (Charles Stanley)

My dear friends, we live in a world full of darkness, a world full of sin.  Jesus took that darkness on Himself for our sake.  He freely gave His life so that we who believe in Him could have eternal life.  He now sits at the right hand of God and intercedes in prayer on our behalf.  I pray that you look upon Jesus as the centurion did.  Regardless of your past, Jesus will forgive you.  You are not beyond His grace.  He loves you so much He died for you. 

What is your confession about Jesus?

May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Prayer In The Morning – Psalm 5:3

“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.”

Psalm 5 is considered a prayer for guidance.  What better time to ask for guidance than before we do anything in the morning.  I am not saying do not pray other times in the day, or at night.  No, those prayers are necessary.  Prayer at night though, is usually associated with the troubles that weigh us down by the end of the day, it is usually about something unsolved.  If we do not pray and turn that issue over to God, then sleep will elude us.  In Psalm 4, King David prays at night over his terrible distresses.  As we see in the last verse after he has given his trouble over to God, “I will both lie down in peace and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”  (Psalm 4:8)

How important it is to start our day in the counsel of the LORD.  When you are serving God, you will have troubles.  What?!?  Did you think that when you became a Christian, there would be no more troubles?  If you are a servant of God, you can expect to encounter troubles from the enemy.  Jesus said “If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of this world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)  Because you love Jesus, and especially if you are boldly serving Him, the world will make you its enemy.  It is not about you, it is all about Jesus.  “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.” (John 15:21)

King David’s troubles came from those who did not follow God.  In this Psalm, he gives us an example of what we should pray for as we began our day of service to the Lord.  “Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies, make Your way straight before my face.”  (Psalm 5:8)  David wants to follow God’s way, but is distracted by his enemies.  It is the same for all of us. 

“An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. While the dew is on the grass, let grace drop upon the soul.” (Charles Spurgeon)  Ask God to wake you up early so you can seek His counsel in the quiet of the morning.  Let God be the first to hear your voice in the morning.  Look up and know the God whom you serve is always ready to direct your ways.  All you need to do is ask and listen.

May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.