Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—December 2024

East Tallassee Church of Christ

December 29, Zechariah 12

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn." - Zechariah 12:10

You would not hurt yourself, would you? That's one of the criteria by which professionals evaluate the mental health and stability of a subject. Is the person under evaluation a threat to the wellbeing of himself or others? Most of us are too fond of ourselves to hurt ourselves. The self-preservation instinct is quite strong.

The oracle of the word of the LORD in Zechariah 12 describes a time beyond the immediate context of Zechariah and his contemporaries when the LORD would make a new Jerusalem that all nations, including Judah, would oppose. The other nations of the world would continue to come and go from the world stage. But this new Jerusalem would be immovable and unshakable. All who tried to lift or remove it from its place would surely hurt themselves.

The phrase "on that day" is used at least seven times in this chapter. That's the usual prophetic code phrase for the times of Messiah and his kingdom. This word was not about physical Jerusalem. This Jerusalem that all would oppose was different from all the others. It would not be a single people or nation, but a multinational one. This new Jerusalem would include the poor and the weak who were usually excluded or exploited by powerful groups.

All nations would certainly constitute a majority against this new Jerusalem. But a majority cannot make a wrong thing right. And the majority, or even the entire human race combined, cannot thwart God's power.

God promised to give salvation first to the tents of Judah. The descendants of David would lack no glory compared to others who would be blessed with the gift of salvation that Messiah would bring. It would be as Paul described the gospel, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles.

The text verse describes the time when the apostles of Christ would begin to proclaim the gospel. At that time, God would pour out on the house of David at Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy. The grace was offered to underserving sinners, and the pleas for mercy would come from some who had witnessed and perhaps even called out for the death of Jesus. Could there be mercy for even those who had witnessed and taken part in the highest of crimes and the darkest of sins?

Yes. Through Peter and the others preaching Jesus Christ to the crowd that day, God extended an offer of forgiveness in the name of the very one they had put to death. The people who received the gospel that day wept at the enormity of their sin when the apostles confronted them with the crucified Christ, and called them to look at the holy one they had killed.

It was not only true in Jerusalem. Wherever the gospel went, it was the message of Christ crucified. The cross of Jesus was the core and summary of the great apostle Paul's preaching and writing. Every Jew and Gentile who heard Paul preach looked through the apostle’s words, on the one who had been hung on a cross and pierced for them.

Even today, modern audiences and readers are called to look at the pierced One. When the gospel is preached, the amazing grace of God is on display, but also the enormity and wickedness of our own sins. Faith in Jesus as the sinless son of God who died for our sins leads us to godly sorrow for the sins we have committed that nailed him there. Yes, we are also "piercers" of Jesus, as surely as the sinners were on the day of Pentecost. When Christians gather to eat the Lord's Supper, that solemn remembrance proclaims the death of Christ, and will do so until he comes again.

This faith response is made by individuals, not nations or groups. To see Jesus pierced is to be confronted by our personal guilt. It’s about our personal salvation. We each as individuals need the cleansing, forgiving, redeeming power of the blood that was shed there. God ordained that a fountain to wash sins away would appear in Jerusalem. The first verse of the next chapter will relate that part of the story. That fountain will be the source of hope for our cleansing and forgiveness.

Let's not hurt ourselves. Let's not ignore or be offended by what Jesus did to bring the spirit of grace to the guilty ones.

Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.