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.

Sins of Two Kings – 1 Kings 14:16

“And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

Sin is sin.  King David sinned.  He committed adultery and then murder.  Jeroboam is famous for breaking the first and second commandments with his sin of idolatry and bringing all of the northern kingdom (Israel, as opposed to Judah) into the sin of idolatry. 

So what is the difference?  God explains that to us in His Word.  “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you ruler over My people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes” (1 Kings 14:8b-9).  God says that David kept the commandments – yet we know he broke numbers six and seven.  The difference is at least two-fold:

Repentance - There is a difference in response when these men are called out on their sins.  David confessed when he was told of his sin by Nathan.  “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’  And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” (2 Samuel 12:13)  Conversely, Jeroboam did not confess and repent when he was called out by the man of God.  “After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places, and this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.” (1 Kings 13:32-33) 

A Prepared Heart – After understanding the consequence of his sins, David pleaded with the LORD.  When David saw the outcome was not changed after fasting and praying, he went and worshiped the LORD.  “So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped.  Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.”  (2 Samuel 12:20) God explains why Jeroboam continued in evil: “And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 12:14)

Yes, sin is sin.  And there will be consequences from that sin.  Even so, God has made a way to “put away your sin and you shall not die.”  It is through His son Jesus, “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:14).  If the Holy Spirit has shown you sin in your life, confess it, turn from it and prepare your heart to seek the Lord.  God is full of mercy, obviously, if He gave His son to save your soul.  Preparing your heart to seek God daily will give you the faith and strength to bear the consequences of your sin and remain useful to God.

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