Let's open the Word of God to Zechariah chapter
12, Zechariah chapter 12.
While you're turning to Zechariah, he is quite
a remarkable prophet, Zechariah.
Prophesied in about 520 to 518.
Prophesies after the Babylonian captivity
is over and the people of Israel have been
released from Babylon by Cyrus.
They've come back to the land.
He's what we call a postexilic prophet.
He's prophesying to the people in the newly
constituted nation of Israel.
They've gotten their life back.
They're in their country, and he encourages
them to restore their love for God, their
worship of God, and to build the temple.
And he encourages them in that by prophesying
the Word of the Lord to them--that the Messiah
will come, the Messiah will come.
The theme of the coming Messiah runs all the
way through Zechariah.
The opening nine chapters or so focus a lot
on the first coming of Messiah--features of
the first coming of Messiah.
But chapters 12 to 14 focus on the Second
Coming of Messiah.
So he gives them this amazing vision of the
wonderful future that Israel has in the plan
of God, a future of national salvation when
the Messiah comes to establish His Kingdom
and fulfill all the promises given to the
patriarchs and to David and all the prophets
in the past.
Sadly, like so many prophets, Zechariah lost
his life.
Zechariah was murdered.
He was murdered between the altar and the
sanctuary in the temple.
And we learn that from our Lord Jesus' lips
in Matthew chapter 23 when He indicts the
nation Israel and calls them the nation that
kills the prophets.
This is one that they killed.
So instead of hearing the Word of the Lord
that came through Zechariah, they eventually
murdered Zechariah and continued even after
the Restoration on their apostate journey
all the way to the arrival of Messiah, whom
they rejected, and beyond that through human
history until now and until the future when
they will be saved.
That is yet to come.
Just a broader view; this particular section--12,
13 and 14--probably has no equal in the Old
Testament for its scope.
It is one of those prophetic passages that
you just find rising above all others in terms
of the breadth of what it covers.
The actual events are world-embracing in these
three chapters.
It includes the world confederacy that forms
against Israel and Jerusalem.
It includes a prophecy of the victory of God's
people empowered by the Lord, and then the
conviction of Israel as a nation by the Spirit
of God--the restoration of the gospel as they
look on Christ, and the one they rejected
becomes the one they now acknowledge as their
Lord and Savior; the cleansing of the hearts
of the nation; the purging of the land from
idolatry; the elimination of false prophets;
the time of Tribulation is here; the time
of Jacob's trouble; the partial success of
the nations invading Israel and besieging
Jerusalem; the Second Coming itself; the appearance
of Messiah as He comes for His people, rescues
them, saves them, establishes the messianic
Kingdom, punishes the ungodly nations and
all the ungodly in the world, establishes
His throne, and has a feast to celebrate that.
It is just a massive amount of eschatological
information that is touched on by this prophet,
Zechariah, in this section.
Perhaps a simple little phrase is the key
to it, and it's the phrase "in that day,"
"in that day."
It appears sixteen times in 12, 13, and 14,
and refers to the Day of the Lord, the Day
of the Lord.
The prophets talked about the Day of the Lord,
the day when the Lord establishes His reign,
the day when the Lord judges.
The Day of the Lord is an eschatological term
that has to do with judgment.
There is the day when God allows man to have
his time on earth.
There is a day when God allows Satan to be
the prince of the power of the air, the god
of this world.
But there's coming the Day of the Lord when
He intervenes with worldwide judgment, and
that is the day that is referred to sixteen
times as in that day, the day when Christ
returns as judge and Savior to destroy the
ungodly and to establish His glorious Kingdom
for those who belong to Him.
Now as we look at verses 1 through 13:9, that
whole section that I read earlier to you,
I just want to focus on four aspects.
We'll break this outline into four parts:
the siege of Israel, the shielding of Israel,
the sorrow of Israel, and the salvation of
Israel.
That will help us to be able to put some things
together categorically so we can follow the
flow.
Very, very amazing material is given here
in this section of Zechariah's prophecy.
Let's start with the siege of Israel.
Now if you're asking the question: What does
the future of the world look like?
What is the future of Israel?
Where is the world going?
What does the Arab Spring mean?
What is happening in the Middle East with
escalating hostility toward Israel, with a
rise in anti-Zionism--anti-Semitism is not
politically correct; hating Jews is not politically
correct--but hating Israel is an escalating
and acceptable attitude?
And while people across the world don't want
to say they're anti-Semitic, that they hate
Jews, there is a massive escalation in anti-Zionism;
they hate the Jewish state.
They hate that it exists in that part of the
world.
Where is this all going?
What is going to happen to this small, little,
beleaguered nation that is really sitting
in a very vulnerable position, that the eyes
of the world powers on it as a target?
Well, this passage of Scripture will tell
us where this is going.
You're going to be reading the history before
it happens.
The Holy Spirit, starting in chapter 12, calls
our attention to the final attack by the world's
nations on Israel.
The invasion of Israel by the world, that's
what we have here.
It is introduced as the burden of the word
of the Lord concerning Israel.
Zechariah begins here with this term "the
burden," and it's a burden from the Lord,
a message from the Lord about Israel.
He used the same term in chapter 9, verse
1--the burden concerning God's plans for the
nations of the world.
And in chapter 9, verse 1, the burden was
about coming judgment on the nations of the
world.
Here it is about Israel.
In both cases, it is a burden.
And the term "burden" means it is a weighty
revelation; it is a revelation that is in
the category of a woe, a category of a judgment
because it is a judgment on Israel as well
as an indication of their salvation.
The term "burden" simply is designed to carry
the weight of this awesome judgment.
God is unloading this heavy prophecy to Zechariah,
and through him to us.
Now, this comes from God, the prophecy, and
the activity that it describes will come from
God.
This is God in action, okay?
God is going to be orchestrating this.
People will be players in it, rulers will
be players in it, Satan will be a prime player
in this, but God is the main actor here.
God is the one doing this.
That is why from verses 2 to 9 you read these
kinds of statements from the mouth of God:
"I will make"...verse 2..."I will make"...verse
3..."I will strike"...verse 4..."I will open"...verse
4.
Verse 6, "I will make."
Verse 9, "I will set."
Verse 10, "I will pour."
All first person; all spoken by God.
God is sovereign; God is in control of the
future of the world, the destiny of nations
and the destiny of Israel.
This is to remove all possibility of wondering
how human history ends.
There is no mystery.
This civilization that we're a part of, globally,
this planet on which we live, will not come
to an end by some collision--I guess you could
say--some collision of environmental catastrophes.
It will not come to an end by something that
goes wrong on the planet or something that
goes wrong in space.
We aren't going to be blasted into bits by
some body flying through the heavens that
crashes into us.
Our ending is clearly defined in Scripture.
God is the one who will bring it to its conclusion.
And that is an emphasis that is very clear
here in the opening verse.
There are four elements that lend itself to
this conviction.
One, "the burden"; this is a divine message
loaded with woe and judgment.
The world is going to end under divine judgment.
Secondly, it's "the word of the Lord" so that
the details are actually from Him as He describes
it before it happens, long before.
Thirdly, "thus declares the Lord"; so it is
a divine burden of judgment that is the word
of the Lord, and the Lord specifically speaks
this revelation to the prophet through inspiration.
And then, most notably, the Lord is introduced
as the one who stretches out the heavens and
lays the foundation of the earth and forms
the spirit of man within him.
Those are all descriptives pointing at one
great event: creation.
The one who is the creator will be the consummator.
It is the Lord who creates, and it is the
Lord who brings His creation to its end.
And that is the message that Zechariah receives
from the Lord--I will act; I will act in the
end.
I created everything that exists out of nothing,
and I will decide when everything that exists
goes back to nothing.
This is prewritten history by the Sovereign
Creator.
And then in verse 2, the prophet begins to
unfold these descriptions and describes for
us the battle of the centuries--the battle
of the ages, the final battle, the great battle
that at its heart is called, in the book of
Revelation, the Battle of Armageddon.
Verses 2 and 3, "Behold, I'm going to make
Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all
the peoples around and when the siege is against
Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.
It will come about in that day that I will
make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples,
or all the nations, all who lift itwill be
severely injured and all the nations of the
earth will be gathered against it."
Now let's start at the bottom of that.
All the nations of the earth will be gathered
against Jerusalem and against Judah, against
the people of Israel.
This is a global force that comes against
that little beleaguered nation Israel.
However, the prophecy is that God is going
to make Jerusalem, which will become the point
of attack, a cup that causes reeling and a
heavy stone for all the nations.
Very graphic language.
The word cup, saph, is not the usual word
for cup.
The usual Hebrew word for cup is kos ; this
is not a cup like you think of, a little coffee
cup.
This is a saph, which means a flat basin.
A cup is something that one person drinks
from.
This is something that many people could drink
from.
This is a wide vase-basin, a large vessel.
And all the nations are seen coming to this
large basin and drinking.
It will turn out to cause them to reel.
In other words, I will make Jerusalem a basin
that intoxicates the nations.
The nations attacking Jerusalem in this global
force will be like men greedily draining alcohol,
who will find themselves reeling, staggering
around like helpless drunks, unable to defend
themselves, unable to understand what is going
on around them and an easy prey for divine
judgment.
Jerusalem then becomes a basin of drunkenness
for nations that come to destroy her and wind
up staggering in confusion and bewilderment.
The second image, as I noted, is that Jerusalem
will be a heavy stone for all the peoples
and all who lift it will be severely injured.
Again, this is very graphic terminology.
A heavy stone was something that, in ancient
times, men would use to lift like weights
to make themselves strong.
They had actually weight-lifting contests
in ancient times, using stones.
This is that kind of imagery.
This is a stone you don't want to lift because
if you lift this stone, you're going to hurt
yourself.
In the Hebrew, grievously injure yourself,
dislocate, rupture, tear your body by trying
to lift this.
When you try to pick up Jerusalem in this
sense of destruction, all you're going to
do is injure yourself.
So here is the picture then, end of verse
3, "All the nations of the earth are coming
against Jerusalem and Judah"-- Judah meaning
the outlying area, Jerusalem the capital city
at the highest point up on the plateau.
And these enemies come collectively, a world
force; coming against them will find that
what looks to be an easy task--imagine the
globe attacking Jerusalem--they would think
that that would be over in hours.
And instead, they are the ones who are destroyed.
"In that day"...verse 4..."declares the Lord"...there's
that phrase..."in that day, I'll strike every
horse with bewilderment and his rider with
madness, that I will watch over the house
of Judah while I strike every horse of the
people with blindness."
The world is forming an increasing animosity
and hatred against Israel.
It's not going to go away.
Even in our own country, people for the first
time in American history asking the question,
Has American's attitude toward Israel changed?
And the answer, Of course it has.
The people in power who don't feel about Israel
the way we once felt.
People who want to distance ourselves from
being any protector of Israel.
But we are, as a nation, happy to aid revolutions
in the Arab world which strengthen the hand
of the most radical people and the most venomous
toward the nation Israel.
The world is falling into this kind of picture.
Joel chapter 3; the prophet Joel also describes
this with these words, "Proclaim this among
the nations: prepare a war; rouse the mighty
men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come
up!
Beat your plowshares into swords, your pruning
hooks into spears; let the weak say, 'I am
a mighty man.'
Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
gather yourselves there.
Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones.
Let the nations be aroused, come to the valley
of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
Put in the sickle, the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, the winepress is full; the vats
overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision."
The Day of the Lord is near in the valley
of decision, and the one making the decision
is God.
"The sun and moon grow dark, the stars lose
their brightness, and the Lord roars."
That's the same event--when the nations gather
for what they think is a destruction of Israel,
only themselves to be destroyed by the Lord
Himself.
If you look a little more broadly at this
picture--and we won't take a lot of time with
it--just a couple of things to think about
when you consider the writings of the prophets,
the Old Testament prophets.
They show us the global nature of this force
that comes against Israel.
For example, there will be the revived Roman
Empire in the west.
Daniel talks about that in Daniel 2 and Daniel
7.
And we find that even in Revelation chapter
17 that this, what was once a part of the
Roman Empire in ancient times, that geographical
area will be collected together and under
the power of Antichrist will lead a force
from the west against Israel.
You also have a reference in Ezekiel 38 to
Tarshish coming against Israel in the end
day, and Tarshish is part of Spain; the ancient
Tarshish is part of Spain.
So again, it refers to the west.
They will be involved.
That will engulf Europe as an attacker on
Israel.
In Ezekiel 38, clearly there's a great massive
force that comes from the north.
They're identified clearly as that northern
power.
Bible scholars have felt this well would be
Russia and other allies and powers aligned
with Russia against Israel.
There will be action coming from the south.
Daniel chapter 11 talks about the south as
well as the east.
Ezekiel 38 talks about the south, the Arab
nations to the south.
And then you have nations, Arab nations to
the east--Egypt and the Arab states.
In Revelation 9 and also in Revelation 16
you have the kings of the east and a number
of the army is in multiple hundreds of millions
coming against Israel.
This is the globe, west-north-south-east,
and the battle rages, and it rages on the
Plain of Megiddo starting in the north part
of Israel in the Galilee area, the Plain of
Megiddo.
And it rages from there to the very south,
the farthest north and the farthest south--spreads
over a 200-mile area--and the blood is as
high as the horses' bridles.
It is a massacre of monstrous proportions,
a bloodbath in whichblood will flow into streams
that will be as deep as the horses' bridles.
The attack, the siege on Israel.
Go over to chapter 14 for a moment and you
get more detail: "Behold a day is coming for
the Lord when the spoil taken from you will
be divided among you.
I will gather all the nations."
Let me stop right there.
God says, "I will gather," "I will gather."
Understand this, if you're asking the question:
How is it that all these nations of the world
can be all brought together to attack Israel?
What do they have in common?
The answer, They have the same commander.
They have the same commander, Satan, the god
of this world, the prince of the power of
the air, the ruler of spiritual wickedness
in high places.
All these nations have the same commander,
the same supernatural commander, and the same
demonic force that he uses.
That's how they all come together.
Whatever may be their differences, there will
be a collective and common hatred of Israel
generated by Satan who would want to destroy
Israel because if he destroys Israel, then
God cannot accomplish His purposes.
And it's an attack on the purposes of God.
This is a Satanic-inspired movement.
Satan has his man, the Antichrist; his associate,
the False Prophet.
But according to Revelation, they are inspired
by Satan's global demonism and forcing the
world against this nation Israel.
Having said that, please note what I just
read in verse 2, "I will gather all the nations."
That's God speaking.
Satan is the instrument, but God is the one
who designed the plan.
The devil is God's devil.
The devil only operates within God's parameters.
And there are occasions when the devil does
exactly what God wills him to do.
The gathering of nations against Israel by
Satan for the destruction of Israel is God
gathering the nations against Israel for the
destruction of the nations.
Satan has a completely opposite purpose, to
destroy Israel.
But God's purpose is to destroy the nations
who try to destroy Israel.
First of all, as God gathers them, there will
be some success when they come to Jerusalem
to battle.
The city will be captured.
The houses plundered.
The women ravished.
Half the city exiled.
The rest of the people will not be cut off
from the city.
There will be a victory there.
There will be people killed and people fleeing.
What is that, you say?
Go back to the two verses before that.
Back to verse 8 of 13, "'It will come about
in the land,' declares the Lord, 'two parts
will be cut off and perish; the third will
be left in it.
I'll bring the third part through the fire,
and refine them as silver...test them as gold."
God is going to destroy two-thirds.
They are the unbelievers; they are the ungodly
among the Jews.
And a third He is going to save.
So the great world coalition will have its
impact.
They will create death on a massive scale.
But not all the people will be cut off.
"A third will be protected"...verse 3..."the
Lord will go forth and fight against those
nations as when He fights on a day of battle."
After the Lord has used them to judge the
ungodly among the Jews, the Lord will then
take over the battle.
That's a picture that Zechariah gives us of
the future siege against Israel.
Satan has his purpose, the destruction of
Israel.
God has His purpose, the purging of the unbelieving
rebels and His purpose then to save the remnant
and to save the nation and the city of Jerusalem.
That leads us to the second point.
We'll call it the shielding of Israel; the
siege of Israel, the shielding of Israel.
Let's pick it up at verse 4, "In that day"...there's
that phrase..."declares the Lord, I'll strike
every horse with bewilderment and his rider
with madness.
I will watch over the house of Judah while
I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness."
Horses picture power, force.
Whatever instruments, whatever weapons, whatever
resources of death this force uses, whatever
is their formidable strength, whatever that
might be, the Lord will strike it.
And it's interesting--He will strike with
bewilderment and madness.
He will strike against the weapons and those
who operate the weapons--the horse meaning
the weapon; the rider, the one who operates
it.
Every horse, every rider: total destruction.
God will smite every horse with bewilderment,
every rider with madness.
There's going to be chaos and confusion everywhere--helpless,
uncontrolled blindness as well.
That very same verse ends with, "I strike
every horse of the peoples with blindness."
The weapons won't function; the leaders can't
function; everything is complete panic, wild,
helpless panic.
For a little microcosm of that, you have to
remember last Sunday night, the story of Gideon
who attacks the tens of thousands of Midianites
in the valley with 300 men.
He breaks the pitchers, blows the trumpets,
lights the torches, and they all massacre
each other in crazy confusion in the middle
of the darkness.
That's the kind of thing that's going to happen
when the Lord strikes this force at its power
point and its point of leadership with a kind
of mindless madness in which they destroy
one another and God destroys those who don't
destroy each other.
Terror, confusion seizes the ranks of the
world's force, the world's army, but--and
this is such a wonderful statement--God says,
"I will watch"...verse 4..."over the house
of Judah."
I will watch.
I will keep My eyes upon the house of Judah,
literally.
The look of love, the look of care, the look
of protection, the covenant look of promise--I
will look upon them; I'll watch over them.
In the midst of this massive force, this war,
this amazing event, the Lord will watch over
the house of Judah.
Then verse 5, very, very important.
"Then the clans of Judah"...meaning the towns
and villages and groups of people living all
over the place in the land of Israel..."will
say in their hearts, 'A strong support for
us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through
the Lord of hosts, their God.'"
That is a fascinating statement to me.
What is this about?
What are they saying?
They will remember that God has chosen Jerusalem.
They will remember that Jerusalem is under
divine protection, that God has said that
Jerusalem will be preserved forever.
They will remember that.
They will go back to the Old Testament, back
to Scripture, back to His election of Jerusalem
and His affection for Jerusalem.
And they will find hope again through the
Lord of hosts, the God of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem.
So here, folks, is the first step toward the
salvation of Israel.
In the midst of this horrendous attack and
assault and massacre and bloodbath that slaughters
people everywhere (half of the population
of Jerusalem is affected and a total of two-thirds
when you consider all of Judah), in the midst
of this bloodbath, they turn and remember
the promise of God for His chosen city and
the people of that city.
The first step toward the conversion of Israel
is a return to the Word of God, a return to
the promises of God, and a return to the Lord
of hosts their God.
This is step one.
They're going to realize that they have no
defense but God, but that they can trust God
because He is strong support for Jerusalem
by His own declaration.
That's so very important because that is the
first step toward their conversion.
Their faith in God is reborn.
Their faith in the Word of God in the Old
Testament is restored.
God will work in their hearts.
The leaders will realize that those who are
preserved and those who remain in the midst
of this, do so because God has fulfilled His
promise.
Verse 6, "In that day"...declares the Lord..."I
will make the clans of Judah like a firepot
among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among
sheaves, so they will consume on the right
hand, on the left all the surrounding people
while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell
on their own sites in Jerusalem."
Let me describe this.
Jerusalem is the capital city; the attack
doesn't start there.
It has to get there.
In order to get to Jerusalem, it has to go
through Judah--has to come through all these
clans and people, meaning small towns, villages,
all the people living all over the place.
As this great force comes, and as it comes
the clans of Judah are going to be like firepots
among pieces of wood; twigs are a flaming
torch among sheaves.
Very simple language.
A firepot was literally a vessel, a bucket
carried around with hot coals for the purpose
of building a fire.
A torch of fire; same thing--a flaming torch
to start a fire.
And what's going to happen is these clans
are going to be to these invaders like fire
coals and like a torch.
They're going to burn them.
They're going to be like twigs in a firepot.
They're going to be like grain, dried grain
torched.
Just as the firepot torches the twigs and
the torch sets fire to the dry grain, Judah's
clans, villages, towns will be empowered by
God in some miraculous way to destroy the
invading armies as they come.
It is a bloodbath, both in some ways on some
of the Jews, but an even more devastating
and comprehensive destruction of these invaders.
They will be shielded by God at this point.
At the end of verse 6 it says, "The inhabitants
of Jerusalem shall again dwell on their own
sites in Jerusalem."
Jerusalem will not finally be conquered.
Literally it says, "Jerusalem shall sit."
Jerusalem shall remain.
They'll never overrun Jerusalem.
Judah will be able to survive a great portion
of them, and Jerusalem will survive as well.
Verse 7, "The Lord also will save the tents
of Judah first"--of course, because that's
how the enemy comes.
They come through the land all through all
those towns and villages in the land of Judah,
which is the land of Israel, "first, so that
the glory of the house of David and the glory
of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be
magnified above Judah."
In other words, nobody's going to say, "Well,
the victory was won in Jerusalem by the power
of Jerusalem, by the force of Jerusalem, that
great fortified city way up on a hill."
If there's any victory there, the people might
say, "Well, we won the victory."
But they can't say that when they realize
that all the way through the nation, in all
the little towns and villages, God gave victory
as well.
So Jerusalem cannot be lifted up with pride.
Everybody will know it is the Lord, it is
the Lord.
Verse 8 says it, "In that day, the Lord will
defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
And somehow He's going to strengthen them.
I mean, it's going to be hand-to-hand combat.
Somehow they're going to be strengthened.
It's quite amazing.
The one who is feeble among them in that day
will be like David, a whole nation of Davids--courageous
killers of Goliath, a whole nation of Davids.
And "the house of David"; I think that's a
reference to Messiah who comes in the line
of David, will be like God, like the angel
of the Lord before him because He is God--and
He is the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament.
So the people will be empowered to defend
themselves, empowered by God both in the countryside
and in the city of Jerusalem; and the Messiah
Himself, the one who is God, who is the angel
of the Lord, will also appear.
And you see that in 14:4, "In that day, His
feet will stand on the Mount of Olives," which
is in front of Jerusalem on the east.
The Mount of Olives will be split in its middle
from east to west by a large valley, so the
half of the mountains will move to the north,
the other half south, a massive valley sweeping
to the east.
And you'll "flee by the valley of My mountains."
In that day there will be no light; luminaries
will dwindle.
The book of Revelation says that, right?
Joel says it.
The sun goes out; the moon goes dark.
Revelation says all the heavenly bodies fall;
pitch blackness and the sign of the Son of
Man (Matthew 24 and 25); shining glory as
He comes to conquer.
Revelation 19 describes that as He comes out
of heaven riding on a white horse with His
heavenly forces with Him--a blood-splattered
garment, He comes as King of kings and Lord
of lords.
All that the Scripture says is so consistent
about this astonishing event.
In that day the one who is the house of David,
the Messiah from David's line, will come to
seal the final victory.
Verse 9, "And in that day I will set about
to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem."
Wow!
That's the future of the world, folks.
That's the future of the world.
The cup of iniquity is full and judgment falls.
Read Revelation 16:13 to 21, we don't have
time to do that.
Read Revelation 19.
What do we have in these opening nine verses
of the twelfth chapter?
Israel's great deliverance, Israel's destruction
of the armies of the world gathered against
her, by the power of God and by the arrival
of the Messiah Himself.
This is the conquest of the enemies of Israel
in the Second Coming of Christ.
But He who comes to conquer Israel's foes
also comes to conquer their hearts.
And that takes us, thirdly, to the sorrow
of Israel.
From the siege to the shielding to the sorrow
of Israel.
The Savior is revealed.
And at that time in that day, at some point
in all of these events, they will finally
go back to the God of the Old Testament, the
Lord of hosts, back to His Word, back to His
promise.
They will know that He is defending them.
There can be no other explanation for their
victory against the world.
They know that He is the power that destroys
all their enemies.
And beyond that, He will reveal Himself to
them as not only their conqueror, but their
Savior.
In verse 10, "I'll pour out on the house of
David, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
Spirit of grace and supplication.
They will look on Me whom they've pierced.
They'll mourn for Him as one mourns for an
only Son, they'll weep bitterly over Him like
the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
In that day there will be great mourning in
Jerusalem, like that at Hadadrimmon in the
plain of Megiddo.
And then, the land will mourn every family,"
and it goes on to describe that.
Let me tell you what's going on here.
You would think that in the victory, in the
triumph, that massive triumph when all the
enemies of the Jews across the face of the
earth have been destroyed in a divine judgment,
you would think there would be a celebration.
You would think this would be the biggest
celebration held by anybody any time in the
history of the world.
But the elation of victory is completely overwhelmed
by sorrow because it is at that moment that
God pours out on the house of David and on
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, royalty and
the common folks, on everybody the Spirit
of grace and supplication.
This is regeneration.
So "they will look on Me"...Who's talking
here?...God, God was crucified.
Notice the pronouns, "They will look on Me
whom they have pierced and they will mourn
for Him."
God died and Christ died, and they are one
and the same.
That is a Trinitarian comment.
"And they will mourn"--oh will they mourn.
They will mourn as if they had lost an only
son.
They'll mourn with bitter weeping as over
a firstborn.
They will mourn like they mourn at Hadadrimmon.
That was over the death of good king Josiah.
And the people were just heartsick, 2 Chronicles
35, when Pharaoh murdered good king Josiah,
and they mourned.
But please notice the individuality of this
mourning.
The land will mourn, but this is not some
kind of a national event orchestrated.
Every family by itself will mourn--the family
of the house of David by itself, their wives
by themselves; the family of the house of
Nathan by itself, their wives by themselves;
the family of the house of Levi by itself,
their wives by themselves; the family of the
Shimeites by itself, their wives by themselves;
all the families that remain, every family
by itself and their wives by themselves.
The ones who haven't been judged by this force
will all mourn.
Please notice this: it's not collective; this
isn't a national event; this isn't orchestrated
like some national prayer day.
This is individual people mourning over their
own sin.
And the reason it points out the wives is
simply to make the clear point wives submit
to husbands as a standard behavior.
Wives follow their husbands.
But here, it will be the wife repenting of
her own sin, mourning over her own sin, and
looking at the cross and saying, "He was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
This is when they all individually confess
because salvation doesn't happen to nations,
it only happens to individuals.
And if the whole nation of individuals is
saved, then the nation is saved.
This...because this lays out the way it does,
starting in verse 12 down to verse down to
verse 14, it's just repeated.
You can start at the top with the house of
David, the royal family.
You can come down to the house of Nathan,
a prophet; come down to the house of Levi,
a priest; come down to the house of Shimei,
another priest--priests, kings, everybody
individually, independently, personally penitent,
mourning over sin.
Everybody individually, personally looking
at the cross and realizing that they pierced
God, they pierced the Messiah.
This is that great repentance.
This is that salvation.
So what has brought the salvation to Israel?
One, they went back to the Word of God and
affirmed His promise.
They went back to the God of the Word as their
only hope in the midst of a crisis.
The more severe the crisis, the more motivation
there is to turn to God, right?
This is what you would call the most massive
foxhole conversion ever.
This is faith in the face of death.
And they will mourn.
The Hebrew word for "mourn" means to strike
the chest in deep grief.
And they will mourn with bitterness 'cause
they will look back and realize that generation
after generation after generation, for millennia,
have rejected the Messiah and are suffering
forever in hell.
That leads then, finally, to their salvation,
to their salvation.
Chapter 13, verse 1, "In that day"...There's
that phrase again..."a fountain will be opened
for the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem"...from the top, from the royal
to the common folks"..."for sin and for impurity."
The Lord's going to wash their sin away.
How?
He's going to wash their sin away because
they have repented and put their trust in
the crucified One.
Salvation comes to those who repent and see
the reality of the death of Christ for what
it really is.
They focus on the Savior.
"They look on Me whom they've pierced."
And they mourn for Him, referring to Christ--one
and the same--Christ is God.
When they crucified Christ, they crucified
God.
They will see the truth.
Scales taken from their eyes.
The Spirit of grace and supplication opens
their understanding.
They are in the midst of a horrendous disaster.
They have no defense but God.
They turn to God.
They turn to His promises to protect Jerusalem.
They turn to Him, the Lord of hosts.
They look at their sins that have brought
this about.
They mourn; they have seen the hand of their
protector protect them.
And they mourn.
And then they turn and they look at the cross
and they say with Thomas, "My Lord and my
God."
The storm that broke upon Israel for the crime
of Calvary has raged with unmitigated fury
ever since, and it will continue to rage until
the dark clouds part and the light of the
sun shines through and they see Him for who
He is.
This is their salvation and this is the promise
of God.
Immediately verse 2 says the salvation of
Israel will lead to the elimination of all
idols.
And it will also lead to the elimination of
all false prophets.
False prophets will stop prophesying if they're
still alive.
They will deny that they are prophets.
They don't want to be prophets.
They don't want to put on their robe, the
robe of a prophet.
They'll be ashamed of their visions which
they prophesied.
They'll blame somebody else who sold them
into prophetic slavery.
They don't want to be prophets.
And if they try to prophesy, they'll be killed
even if it means father and mother who gave
birth to them would pierce them through.
They will be so changed that they will destroy;
they will be the instrument of divine judgment
to destroy false prophets and to get rid of
idols.
This is a real salvation, real salvation.
And then God speaks.
We only have time to just look at it briefly.
He starts to speak in verse 7 and what He
says is so very interesting.
He says this can't happen; this can't happen--this
wonderful salvation--unless something else
happens.
And so God says this, "Awake, O sword, against
My Shepherd, and against the man, My Associate,
declares the Lord of host.
Strike the Shepherd..."
Wow!
God says the salvation of Israel, or for that
matter the salvation of anybody, can't happen
unless I awaken My sword and strike the Shepherd.
It can't happen apart from that.
So He did.
It pleased the Lord to crush Him, right?
Isaiah 53 again.
The Lord caused the iniquity of us all to
fall on Him.
He did that and Israel will see that.
They will see it not only from their viewpoint--they
pierced Him--but they will see it from God's
viewpoint.
God struck the blow to make Him a guilt offering.
They get the gospel right.
And at that point, the middle of verse 9,
"They'll call on My name, I'll answer them"...and
finally and at last and forever..."I will
say, 'They are My people,' and they will say,
'The Lord is my God.'"
"My," singular; every Jew surviving will turn
to Christ.
"The Lord is my God."
And then in chapter 14 the Kingdom comes,
long promised.
Out of the fire come the faithful and they
say, "The Lord is my God."
And the Lord says, "You are My people."
Until then, any Jew, any Gentile can come
to Christ.
That's why we're here, isn't it?
'Cause we have mourned our sin, and we have
seen the cross and understood it and embraced
it by faith.
And that would be my prayer for you.
There is coming the salvation of Israel in
the future.
But your salvation could take place now, whether
you're a Jew or a Gentile, whoever you are.
Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will
be saved.
Any time, any place, even now, even today.
Repent and embrace Christ.
Let's pray.
Again we acknowledge, Lord, that Your Word
is supernatural, divine, heavenly, transcendent,
that it tells us things written two thousand
five hundred years ago that are accurate and
we can see on the horizon, even now.
Truly this is Your Word and the God who has
declared the future is the God who can save
us from the future judgment.
We know that You save us only when we mourn
over our sin and embrace Christ as Savior.
May that happen today.
May there be some Jews here who individually
repent and embrace Christ, and some Gentiles.
Lord, may no person leave this place who has
not repented and put trust in Your Son and
our Savior.
Work that mighty work in hearts; may the Spirit
of grace and supplication come upon them.
May this be the day of their regeneration,
eternal salvation.
Father, we ask that You would powerfully work
even in this day as You will one day in the
future for that nation.
Would You do that for people today?
Not just here, but everywhere that Your gospel
is preached, and we'll give You praise and
thanks.
In the name of Christ.
Amen.
