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Zechariah
Chapter Twelve
Zechariah 12
Chapter Contents
Punishment of the enemies of Judah. (1-8) Repentance and
sorrow of the Jews. (9-14)
Commentary on Zechariah 12:1-8
(Read Zechariah 12:1-8)
Here is a Divine prediction
which will be a heavy burden
to all the enemies of the church. But it is for Israel; for their comfort and
benefit. It is promised that God will make foolish the counsels
and weaken the
courage of the enemies of the church. The exact meaning is not clear; but God
often begins by calling the poor and despised; and in that day even the
feeblest will resemble David
and be as eminent in courage and every thing
good. Desirable indeed is it that the examples and labours of Christians should
render them as fire among wood
as a torch in a sheaf
to kindle the flame of
Divine love
to spread religion on the right hand and on the left.
Commentary on Zechariah 12:9-14
(Read Zechariah 12:9-14)
The day here spoken of
is the day of Jerusalem's defence
and deliverance
that glorious day when God will appear for the salvation of
his people. In Christ's first coming he bruised the serpent's head
and broke
all the powers of darkness that fought against God's kingdom among men. In his
second coming he will complete their destruction
when he shall put down all
opposing rule
principality
and power; and death itself shall be swallowed up
in that victory. The Holy Spirit is gracious and merciful
and is the Author of
all grace or holiness. He
also
is the Spirit of supplications
and shows men
their ignorance
want
guilt
misery
and danger. At the time here foretold
the Jews will know who the crucified Jesus was; then they shall look by faith
to him
and mourn with the deepest sorrow
not only in public
but in private
even each one separately. There is a holy mourning
the effect of the pouring
out of the Spirit; a mourning for sin
which quickens faith in Christ
and
qualifies for joy in God. This mourning is a fruit of the Spirit of grace
a
proof of a work of grace in the soul
and of the Spirit of supplications. It is
fulfilled in all who sorrow for sin after a godly sort; they look to Christ
crucified
and mourn for him. Looking by faith upon the cross of Christ will
cause us to mourn for sin after a godly sort.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Zechariah》
Zechariah 12
Verse 2
[2]
Behold
I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round
about
when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against
Jerusalem.
Jerusalem —
That weak
unwalled city
and much more the church which is the antitype of
Jerusalem.
In the siege —
Now when all this is in readiness
and no visible means of escape
then will
God make them drink the wine of astonishment.
Verse 3
[3] And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:
all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces
though all the
people of the earth be gathered together against it.
In that day —
The day of the full accomplishment of this prophecy is a day known to the Lord.
A burdensome stone —
Too heavy for them
though many join together to remove it.
Verse 4
[4] In
that day
saith the LORD
I will smite every horse with astonishment
and his
rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah
and will
smite every horse of the people with blindness.
I will open mine eyes — I will watch over my people for good. This eye of God open upon his
people
is his wise
powerful
gracious providence for them.
With blindness —
All their warriors in their consults shall have as little of foresight
as a
blind man hath of sight.
Verse 5
[5] And
the governors of Judah shall say in their heart
The inhabitants of Jerusalem
shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem — Though but few
and poor
yet they shall be my strength. Not in their
own power
but in the power of the Almighty Lord of all.
Verse 6
[6] In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire
among the wood
and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all
the people round about
on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall
be inhabited again in her own place
even in Jerusalem.
Like a hearth — A
hearth on which fire is thoroughly kindled.
In her own place —
Not built as Nineveh
Babylon
or Rome
in some place near old cities
but in
the very same place where old Jerusalem stood.
Verse 7
[7] The
LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first
that the glory of the house of
David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah.
The tents —
The unfenced places
the open country
the cottages
or tents.
First —
First the weaker are saved
next the stronger.
The glory —
That the illustrious house of David
and the glorious citizens of Jerusalem may
not boast of their power
policy and courage.
Verse 8
[8] In
that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is
feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall
be as God
as the angel of the LORD before them.
As David — A
mighty man of valour.
The house of David —
Those of the royal line shall be for prudence
and prowess in the conduct of
the armies of Israel
most excellent; exprest here in an hyperbole.
As the angel —
Nay
like the angel of the Lord
like Christ who is captain of our salvation.
Verse 9
[9] And
it shall come to pass in that day
that I will seek to destroy all the nations
that come against Jerusalem.
I will seek — I
will purposely and effectually do it.
Verse 10
[10] And
I will pour upon the house of David
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the
spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they
have pierced
and they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son
and shall be in bitterness for him
as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn.
I will pour —
This was fulfilled on Christ's exaltation
when he sent the Comforter to his
disciples
it is daily performed to the children of God
and will be
continually
'till we are brought to be with Christ for ever.
The house of David —
The whole family of Christ
his house who was the seed of David
and who is
called David
Ezekiel 37:24.
The spirit of grace —
Which is fountain of all graces in us.
Pierced —
Every one of us by our sins pierced him
and many of the Jews literally.
Mourn —
They shall literally lament the crucifying of the Lord Jesus.
In bitterness —
True repentance will bitterly lament the sins which brought sorrows and shame
upon our Lord.
Verse 11
[11] In
that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem
as the mourning of
Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
In that day —
When the Jews shall mourn for their sins
and for that great sin
crucifying
the Lord of glory.
A great mourning — A
mourning exprest by the greatest the Jews ever were acquainted with
and which
for its greatness grew into a proverb. The mourning for Josiah slain at
Hadadrimmon
a town in the valley of Megiddo.
Verse 12
[12] And
the land shall mourn
every family apart; the family of the house of David
apart
and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart
and
their wives apart;
The house of Nathan —
The royal family in both branches of it
Solomon's and Nathan's.
Verse 13
[13] The
family of the house of Levi apart
and their wives apart; the family of Shimei
apart
and their wives apart;
The house of Levi —
The sacerdotal tribe were the most bitter persecutors of Christ
they hired the
traitor
they sought witness; the high priest
(head of that family) condemned
him to die
for all which they shall one day reckon with God
and therefore
above other tribes they are particularly named as chief mourners for their
cruelty to Christ.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Zechariah》
12 Chapter 12
Introduction
Verses 1-7
Verses 1-14
Verse 1
The burden of the Word of the Lord for Israel
The burden and glory of God’s Word to Israel
God presents Himself here as creating and speaking.
It is to Israel that His Word is primarily addressed
for it is Israel that
recognises His Word
and by Israel His Word is carried to the world
which thus
becomes also Israel. Remember the meaning of the name
and its origin. Prince
of God was the name which Jacob got from that long wrestling in the
dark--Israel
prince of God
because he had power with God. The name denotes
the fact and the power of communion. Israel is composed of those who seek God
and cling to Him
who worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh.
I. The Creator of
the heavens and earth and the spirit of man has an Israel. The idea of Israel
is fellowship with God and power with God
gained in and by that fellowship. Is
such an idea reasonable? We think it a poor conception of God which represents
Him as so mighty and rich that He does not care for fellowship with souls. Do
you think to convince me that God is wanting in sympathies and affections by
showing that He is Almighty? The argument is all in the opposite direction.
Should I have more ground to believe in His heart if He were less than
all-powerful and all-wise! There is in man a longing after relation to the
Infinite. All his history proves this. Something in him cries out after God
and the heavens and the earth have tended to intensify this cry. Man is haunted
by a something issuing from heaven and earth that will not let him rest. It
would have been sad if man had craved an infinite friend
had yearned after
nearness to a perfect and eternal living One
and felt no hope
countenance
or
stimulus in the world around him. But man stands in no such barren and dead
world. A living world is round him
material
but full of spiritual suggestion
inviting him to seek God
and waking him up again when he grows dull and hard.
Will it be said that this does not make probable the idea of an Israel--men
that have power with God
it gives support to the idea of communion with God
but not to that of prayer
an asking that influences the Divine will? The
answer is obvious. Communion with God
in the case of a being like man
an
imperfect
sin-laden being
must take largely the form of prayer. Such a being
coming near to God
cannot but ask from Him. And this asking
so inevitable
cannot be a futile thing. If asking be a necessity with the spirit that has
communion with God
there must be room and need for it on the side of God. What
is true on the human side is true on the Divine side. The whole doctrine of
prayer is found in the spirit of man
in the longings and necessities
and
there can be nothing in real contradiction to these. They who seek God have a
peculiar affinity with Him. God as a moral being has moral affinities. It is
not a lowering or limiting of God to believe that He has an Israel.
II. God has a word
for His Israel. Neither the heavens nor the earth nor the spirit of man take
the place of a word. They are each a revelation. But they are fuller of questions
than of answers. The heart of man needs a word. It is only in words that there
is definiteness. One of the distinguishing peculiarities of man is that he
employs words. By these he reaches the fulness of his being. He makes his
thought clear to himself
and gives it an outward existence by words. He makes
all shadowy and vague things firm and abiding by words. And shall not God meet
him on this highest platform? A Word of God is a necessity to the human soul
God has a word to Israel which makes fellowship close and confiding. The word
gives man the necessary clue to the interpretation of the universe and himself.
It is God’s Word to Israel as the ideal man Israel is the ideal and complete
man
and it is in proportion as any man approaches the ideal that he fully
comprehends and embraces the message of God’s Word to Israel.
III. God’s Word to
Israel is a burden. This expression is often used by the prophets. No doubt it
expresses
in the first instance
the weight of obligation and responsibility
in the declaring of God’s message
but this rests on the fact that the Word of
God is a weighty matter for all men.
1. God’s Word is a burden by reason of the weight of its ideas.
Thoughts that may be put into words are of all degrees of weight--some light as
a feather
some heavy as a world. Thoughts weigh upon the mind
even though
they are felt to be precious. The ideas in God’s Word are the weightiest of
all--God
soul
sin
salvation
renewal
eternity. Men are never right till
they try to lift these thoughts and weigh them. They are no judges of the
weight of things till they try these.
2. God’s Word is a burden of momentousness and obligation. There are
many weighty thoughts that have little or no practical moment. But the thoughts
in God’s Word are of pressing and supreme importance. They are light
food
shelter
life. To reject them is ruin. Everything must depend on how we stand
to these words.
3. God’s Word is a burden which is easier to bear in whole than in
part. The half or quarter
or some little fraction of God’s Word is worse to
bear
harder and heavier than the whole. A single truth taken out of the whole
may be quite oppressive and intolerable. It may crush all joy and courage out
of life. The truth about sin needs the truth about grace and redemption in
order to be borne. The truth about duty needs the Divine promises. Relief is to
be found not by throwing off any truth
but by taking up more. The hardest
truths become pleasant in proper company. Every truth has relations to all the
rest
and is not properly itself without them. Let the effort be to take the
whole truth
and to take it as a whole. Then it will no more oppress than the
vast load of atmosphere which every man carries.
4. The Word of God is a burden which removes every other load. Thought
conviction
and feeling bring their inevitable burden. And if a man rejects
burdens he is but making up a heavier burden. If a man will not have the burden
of God’s Word
then the whole riddle of the universe becomes his burden. But if
I take up God’s Word
and actually carry it as God’s Word
I have no further
care. There is provision for driving away every fear and every care in that
Word. (J. Leckie
D. D.)
Which stretcheth
forth the heavens
and layeth the foundation of the earth--
The universe
I. That the
universe includes the existence of matter and of mind. The phrase “heavens” and
“earth” is used here and elsewhere to represent the whole creation.
1. It includes matter. Of the essence of matter we know nothing; but
by the word we mean all that comes within the cognisance of our senses
all
that can be felt
heard
seen
tasted. How extensive is this material domain!
2. It includes mind. Indeed
mind is here specified. “And formeth the
spirit of man within man.” Man has a spirit. Of this he has stronger evidence
than he has of the existence of matter. He is conscious of the phenomena of
mind
but not conscious of the phenomena of matter.
II. That the
universe originated with one personal being. It had an origin. It is not
eternal. The idea of its eternity involves contradictions. It had an origin;
its origin is not fortuitous
it is not the production of chance. Its origin is
not that of a plurality of creators; it has one
and one only
“the Lord.”
III. This one
personal Creator has purposes concerning the human race. The “burden” may mean
the sentence of the Word of the Lord concerning Israel.
1. No events in human history are accidental.
2. The grand purpose of our life should be the fulfilment of God’s
will.
IV. His purpose
towards mankind He is fully able to accomplish. His creative achievements are
here mentioned as a pledge of the purposes hereafter announced. Every purpose
of the Lord shall be performed. Has He purposed that all mankind shall be
converted to His Son? It shall be done. (Homilist.)
Verse 2-3
All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces
Sin self-punishment
There is in this passage a principle by which the governor
of the world punishes malicious men.
That principle is this
in the reaction of their efforts to injure others to
injury of themselves. Jerusalem would become confusion and destruction to the
men who sought its ruin.
1. Jerusalem would become a “cup of trembling
” or “intoxication.”
2. Jerusalem would become to them a “burdensome stone.”
The idea is
that in their endeavours to injure Jerusalem they
would crush themselves.
I. It is well
attested. It is attested by every man’s consciousness. Every man who attempts
to injure another feels sooner or later that he has injured himself. There is a
recoil and a regret. In truth
the malign passion itself is its own punishment.
In every malign emotion there is misery.
2. It is attested by universal history. The conduct of Joseph’s
brethren
and of Haman
may be cited as illustrations; but the conduct of the
Jews towards the Messiah is an example for all times
most mighty and
impressive.
II. It is
manifestly just. What man thus punished can complain of the righteousness of
his sufferings? He must feel
and feel deeply
that he has deserved all
and
even more than he endures.
III. It is
essentially beneficent. It serves--
1. To guard men from the injuries of others.
2. To restrain the angry passions of men. (Homilist.)
Verses 4-9
In that day
saith the Lord
I will smite every horse with
astonishment
A good time for good people
I.
It
is a time when their enemies shall be vanquished. “In that day
saith the Lord
I will smite every horse with astonishment
” etc.
II. It is a time
when their power shall be augmented. The power here promised is--
1. The power of unity. “The governors of Judah shall say in their
heart
The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts
their God.”
III. It is a time
when they shall be settled in their home. “And Jerusalem shall be inhabited
again in her own place
even in Jerusalem.” Here they are “strangers and
pilgrims
” and have “no abiding city.”
IV. It is a time
when they shall be blessed with equal privileges.
1. They were to have equal honour. “The Lord also shall save the
tents of Judah first
that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.”
2. They were to have equal protection. “In that day shall the Lord
defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem
” etc. Now
there is a good time coming
when all good people shall have distinguished honour and complete protection.
They shall settle down in the heavenly Jerusalem
and what a city is that! (Homilist.)
Verses 8-14
Verse 8
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem
The security of the Church in the midst of dangers
There is not a greater miracle of preservation and security than
that which is exhibited in the salvation of the Church in her present condition
as surrounded by spiritual enemies.
I. The promise.
“In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
1. The defended. Jerusalem denotes the whole Church of Christ. It
signifies the Christian.
2. The time of their defence. “In that day.” This may relate to the
dispensation of the Gospel of Christ
when the Lord Jesus should accomplish His
work for the defence and salvation of our souls. It may refer to the time of
our conversion.
3. The person defending. “The Lord.” The defence is not put into the
hands of an angel
or archangel; it is in the hands of the Lord.
II. The pledge
given. “He that is feeble among them
at that day
shall be as David
” The word
“feeble” means that he cannot save himself from sin
Satan
or the world. “As
David.” Look at the character of brave
strong
successful
beloved
elevated
hated
yet saved David.
III. The simile
drawn. “As God.” Like unto God in spotlessness
in spiritual resemblance
in
general disposition
in immoveableness.
IV. The example
given. “As the angel of the Lord.” This can only mean Christ. We are beloved as
Christ by the Father. Perfect as Christ--in Christ--before God. Powerful as
Christ
since it is in the power of Christ we overcome. (T. Bagnall-Baker
M. A.)
Verses 9-11
And I will pour upon the house of David
The future outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem
The text informs us that Jesus of Nazareth
whom the Jews
crucified
and whom for hundreds of years they have blasphemed
will yet upon
these Jews pour His Holy Spirit
lead them to repentance
forgive their sin
and restore them to His favour.
I. Ascertain the
meaning of this prophecy. The Jews themselves allow that the passage refers to
the Messiah; and in the Gospel by St. John the words “they shall look on me
whom they have pierced
” are applied to Jesus Christ. The work He promises to
accomplish is beyond the power of any created being. God is the only dispenser
of His Holy Spirit. The prophet Ezekiel tells us that it is the very and eternal
God who shall put His Spirit upon Israel. Joel tells us it is the Lord who will
pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The effect of the outpouring of the Spirit
of grace and supplications is here described as true repentance
and sorrow for
sin; He
therefore
who can bestow it must be the true and eternal God. Then
how can He be pierced and wounded by the house of David? To be pierced He must
have a body. Thus the prophet clearly announces the mystery of the incarnation.
Consider the persons upon whom He will pour out the spirit of grace and
supplications. They are Jews; and characterised as the authors of the violent
death of Christ. The place mentioned is the literal Jerusalem. Another question
concerns the time of which the prophet speaks. The day of Pentecost
cannot be regarded as fulfilling this prediction. No other time can be referred
to. Therefore the text informs us that there is a time still coming
when the
Lord Jesus Christ will pour out His Spirit on the Jews
and do that for which
He has been exalted a Prince and a Saviour; He will give repentance unto
Israel
and remission of sins.
II. Trace out some
important inferences which the subject suggests.
1. The restoration of the Jews to the land of their forefathers.
2. The national conversion of Israel is not to be by miracle
without
the use of means.
This prophecy of Zechariah
then
assures us that the day is
coming when the lost sheep of the house of Israel shall be gathered to the land
of their fathers
restored to the favour of their God
and be the monuments of
His grace
as they have long been the victims of His wrath and righteous
indignation. (A. McCaul
D. D.)
The promise of the Spirit
In the preceding verses God declares what He will do in the way of
defending His Church. In the text He declares what He will do in the way of
reviving and humbling and purifying His Church.
I. The promise.
The Divine purpose in giving a promise is
that we may be led to ask for its
fulfilment. The promise is
the Holy Spirit personally
and in His offices in
the economy of grace and salvation. The promise of the Spirit is co-extensive
with the earlier promise of Christ. What Christ was for purchasing
the Spirit
is for applying--salvation. All other promises resolve themselves into this
one--the Holy Spirit--as they did in Christ. In this instance the Spirit is not
promised generally
but in certain of His offices or operations. He is
promised--
1. As a Spirit of grace. By grace we understand those combined
excellencies which go to form a perfect moral character. The Spirit of grace is
the Spirit originating
nurturing
and maturing these. To have the Spirit of
grace is to have the Holy Ghost producing these in us--grace itself.
2. As a Spirit of supplications. Supplications and prayers are the
immediate fruit of the Holy Spirit. He leads
or shows
the way to the Divine
throne. Reveals the blessings of grace. Implants the eager desire. Gives
prevailing strength to faith. Causes unwearying importunity. As the author of
prayer
the Spirit is here promised. Prayer is a proof of the Spirit’s presence
the want of prayer is His absence. The promise of the Spirit was originally
made and fulfilled to Christ Himself. Through Him it belongs to all His people.
This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost. It is still on record
and its
fulfiment is also on record. Why is His presence not felt and recognised? He
has moved on congregations of late
and still
occasionally
individuals feel
His quickening power. But the instances are few. Let us plead with God for His
Spirit’s presence.
II. The effects
which flow from the outpouring of the Spirit. It follows necessarily from the
terms of the promise that grace and prayer will follow upon the fulfilment of
this promise. But the text particularly describes certain results of the Spirit’s
presence which call for special attention.
1. Those on whom He descends shall look on Christ. It is the office
of the Spirit to glorify Christ
as it was Christ’s to glorify the Father. The
Spirit makes the heart and eyes to turn to Christ
as the flower to the sun.
The attention is then riveted on Christ.
2. It is on a pierced Saviour that the Spirit-anointed sinner looks.
His body pierced with the scourge
thorns
nails
and spear. His heart pierced
with many sorrows. His soul pierced with the arrows of the Almighty
which
drank up His Spirit. His reputation pierced by calumny. His humanity pierced
with the mortal shaft of death.
3. He on whom the Spirit rests looks on Christ as pierced by himself.
His sins pierced Him in all these senses. He was represented by Christ’s
crucifiers. He has
by his conduct
crucified Him afresh
and put Him to an
open shame. He has pierced Him in His people and cause.
4. When the Spirit has shown to a man Christ pierced by his sins
that man mourns. The sight of Christ pierced gives him a new view of sin. Each
sin has been an arrow shot at God
and has penetrated the heart of Christ. This
sight involves a new view of Christ’s love--mercy--compassion. He sees what
kind of Redeemer he has been thus treating. The sight of Christ pierced gives
him a sense of pardon. His sins met their punishment in Christ. A pardoned
sinner mourns. Lessons--
1. The sympathy of the Spirit with the Son. He reveals Him pierced
and produces mourning.
2. Seek the Spirit as here described.
3. Try yourselves by these fruits of His presence. (James Stewart.)
The promise to the Church
I. The promise
here made to the Church
both in her collective form and every individual
member.
1. The person who makes the promise. Jehovah Himself
the everlasting
Father
who created all things by His power. What could induce Him thus to look
upon such a miserable and guilty creature as man? He was under no obligations
to do so; there was no necessity on His part; there was nothing amiable in man
to invite Him. It was His own free
sovereign
unmerited love.
2. The persons to whom the promise was made. By the “house of David”
is here meant the seed royal
and by the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” is meant
the common people. So the phrases include the whole Jewish nation. They were
typical of all the people of God in future ages.
3. Their state prior to the application of the promise. It is a state
of most deplorable ignorance; ignorance of God in His character
His works and
requirements; and of the Lord Jesus Christ and His mediation; and of
themselves
their sin
misery
and need.
4. The promise itself. “I will pour the Spirit of grace and
supplications.” He is called the Spirit of grace
because He is a gracious
Spirit; because He is the author and worker of every grace in the hearts of
believers; because He indites our supplications; and because He assists us in
the offering up of our supplications. The promise is made good in the
experience of every real believer
without respect to names
or parties
or
denominations.
II. Two leading
effects involved. “They shall look on Him
” etc. Who is this? None other than
Christ and Him crucified. “They shall mourn” i.e.
they shall possess
evangelical sorrow for and repentance of sin. Three things in real repentance--
1. Hearty sorrow for sin.
2. Genuine confession of sin.
3. Entire forsaking of it as a principle of action. (Griffith
Williams.)
Faith and repentance produced by the Spirit being poured forth
This language refers in the first instance to the Jews. The
time is coming when
in consequence of God pouring out His Spirit on that
people
they shall look on Him whom they have pierced
and mourn. “Whom they
have pierced.” This language was literally fulfilled. The text admits of a
legitimate application to others besides the Jews.
I. The need of the
outpouring of the Spirit order to faith repentance. The sinner is described in
the Word as being dead in trespasses and sins. Not only does the sinner yet in
his sins need to be quickened
the very people of God require again and again
the living power of the same Spirit who st first regenerated their souls. For
even after he has been raised from his natural deadness
he is apt shew to fall
into spiritual slumber. I need not dwell on the necessity of repentance. It all
men have sinned
it needs no argument to prove that all men should repent.
Those who would repent need to be told that in order to repent they need power
from on high. It is when the Spirit is poured out that sinners are brought to
genuine repentance
--that is
repentance unto life. Without this
there will
always be a shying
an avoiding of the humiliation implied
--always an obstacle
in the way--and the heart will turn aside like a deceitful bow. As long as the
heart is untouched by the Spirit of grace
it either remains in a state of
utter insensibility in reference to God and sin on the one hand
or
on the
other band
it is troubled with feelings of reproach and fear
but without
being persuaded or changed. Mere natural reproaches of conscience and alarms of
coming judgments may stun the heart for a time
but they cannot break or melt
it. The very people of God have reason at times to mourn over a narrowness of
heart
over unfitness for the service of God
and an aversion to spiritual
things. But while they are straitened the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened.
II. The effects
produced when the Spirit of God is poured out--
1. By looking unto a pierced Lord
we are to understand faith in one
of its liveliest exercises. The believer looks to Christ and His wounds with the
eye of the mind
just as the serpent-bitten Israelites looked to the serpent of
brass which Moses raised by the command of God. Whenever the Spirit is poured
out from on high
the instant effect is the production of faith. Faith
indeed
seems to be the first--always along with repentance--saving or spiritual grace
of the Christian character. It must be so
from the very nature of things. Our
attention is called in this passage to two features of saving faith--
2. Another effect is mourning or repentance. When Paul was at
Ephesus
he preached repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a sense of sin that drives us to the Saviour
and we come to the Saviour
by faith. The sinner looks to Christ by the eye of faith
and as he does so he
mourns and repents. A believing view of God is necessary to full repentance.
How should sorrow be the effect of a saving view of Christ? We are called to
mourn over the sufferings of our Lord because of our connection with them. Note
some of the characteristics of evangelical sorrow. The penitent has a deep view
of the evil of sin. The penitent mourns over his sin as deeply as over his
greatest earthly loss. But this sorrow for sin is not a sorrow apart from
Christ
or independent of Him; neither is it a sorrow without hope. If the
wounds of Jesus cannot but open lap wounds in our breast
they also supply the
balm that heals the wounds. (J. M’Cosh.)
Effects of an outpouring of the Spirit
The immediate effects of this outpouring of the Spirit are
strikingly set forth. They are indicated by a spirit of grace and supplication
excited among the people; by their looking upon Him whom they have pierced
and
mourning for their treatment of Him in deep repentance and bitterness of
spirit. And when they shall thus be humbled for their sins
and shall look with
an eye of faith to Him who is the only Saviour of lost men
God will show
Himself their reconciled Father and Friend
receive them into His favour
and
seal them heirs of His kingdom. In directing attention to the work of the Holy
Spirit I shall assume two facts--
1. That the influence of the Holy Spirit is exerted in every case of
true conversion.
2. That there are times when this influence is granted in greater
copiousness and power than at others.
1. One effect of such a visitation of mercy is to impart to the
people of God a spirit of grace and supplication. Whenever God comes near to a
people
and is about to display His power in the conversion of sinners
He
always awakens a spirit of prayer among His friends; causes them to feel their
dependence and need of His help. At such times there is wont to be felt
in the
hearts of God’s people
a deep and tender concern for the salvation of souls
perishing in sin. They awake from their slumbers. They mourn over their past
unfaithfulness in duty. They cast off the spirit of worldliness and unbelief
and realise in some measure
as they ought
the powers of the world to come.
2. Another effect is to arrest the attention of the impenitent
and
turn their thoughts directly upon the things of their eternal Peace.
3. Another effect is to produce in the impenitent a painful
conviction of sin and danger. When God pours out His Spirit
an invariable
effect is to convince men of sin
and to give them an abiding sense of its
great evil
as a violation of His holy law.
4. Another effect is to cut off self-confidence
and produce a sense
of entire dependence on God for pardoning mercy and renewing grace.
5. One other effect is to renew the heart and bring the sinner to
repentance and cordial reconciliation to God. So it is plain that the effects
of the outpouring of the Spirit are all of the most desirable and happy
character. (J. Hawes
D. D.)
A revival of religion
1. There shall be a revival of religion in the future history of the Church
that shall gather in the Jews.
2. This revival shall be characterised by the invariable marks of an
outpouring of the Spirit
namely
a spirit of prayer and penitence.
3. Prayer is the barometer of the Church. When the spirit of
supplication is low
there is but little of the Spirit of God
and as soon as
the prayer meeting begins to fill up with earnest suppliants
the Christian may
hope for a blessing.
4. All true repentance arises from a sight of a dying Saviour
one
who has died for us. Terror may produce remorse
only a sense of forgiven sin
will ever produce true repentance. True repentance is after all only love
weeping at the foot of the Cross
the soul sorrowing for sins that have been so
freely forgiven.
5. True religion is a personal thing
and when it takes strong hold
of the heart
will lead the soul apart to solitary wrestling with God
and acts
of personal humbling before Him; confession of sins past
and resolutions of
obedience for time to come. Grace needs solitary meditation in which to grow
just as much as the plant needs the repose and darkness of night. (T. V.
Moore
D. D.)
The Spirit of grace and supplications
In studying prophecy
with a view to personal edification
two things should be borne in mind. Spiritual religion is ever and invariably
the same
notwithstanding the different degrees of light which have marked
different and successive dispensations. And
whatever promises of a purely
spiritual nature are made to the Jewish nation may
and ought to be
generally
and individually applied by those who constitute the true household of faith in
all ages. The words of the text refer ultimately to the ingathering of the
Jews
and their conversion to Christianity; but they receive an intermediate
fulfilment in the case of every wandering sinner
Jew or Gentile
who is
effectually brought home to God. They form a promise which applies to the
believer’s experience at all times; a promise to which he may advert
to his
inexpressible consolation
until the language of prayer dies on his lips
and
is superseded by songs of never-ceasing praise. By the “Spirit of grace and
supplications” we are to understand that Divine Agent who helpeth the
infirmities of the saints; whose influences are elsewhere predicted under the
metaphor of an effusion of grace; and whose coming was to give its full
effect to the sacrifice of the Redeemer
and to assign its prominent character
to the Gospel dispensation.
I. Of prayer as an
exercise of the renewed soul. Prayer is the language of the heart addressing itself
to God
either in habitual spirituality of desire
in the way of silent
ejaculation
or by means of words immediately suited to convey a sense of its
wants to the throne of the heavenly mercy. It is founded in a strong conviction
of internal poverty
weakness
and dependence
and is drawn forth by a humble
persuasion that it reaches the ear of the Lord God of Sabaoth. Spiritual prayer
is an eager and determined effort of the soul to possess itself of the
purchased blessings of salvation. Spiritual prayer is the fragrant incense
which burns on the consecrated altar of the believer’s heart. A renovating
process must pass upon the moral system ere the spark of true devotion is
lighted up. The man who is in willing league with sin and Satan cannot pray; nor
can he who is absorbed in the cares of this passing world; nor he who addresses
the Almighty under the impulse of sudden alarm
excessive grief
or occasional
anxiety of mind. The exercise of spiritual prayer is habitual to him that
engages in it. It may not always be the same delightful and refreshing
employment. Too frequently
when the spirit is willing
the flesh is weak. In
every age and period of the Church the people of God have been a praying
people. Then we have here a very close touchstone of self-examination. Are you
in the habit of flying to a throne of grace for the purpose of obtaining relief
of your burdened souls?
II. The collateral
influence of spiritual prayer upon the experience.
1. If the fervency of holy feeling in some measure subsides when the
Christian withdraws from the presence chamber of his Lord
still a hallowed
glow remains in his breast
which tells him that the Spirit of grace and of
supplications has not departed from him. It is the tendency of prayer
by
exciting a continual apprehension of the nearness of God
to produce a feeling
of sacred awe
a habit of solemnity
not indeed opposed to cheerfulness
but at
variance with unhallowed levity.
2. Prayer keeps the mind alive to the important realities of an
eternal state. It loosens that associating tie which enslaves the immortal
spirit
and would confine its everlasting solicitudes to the vanities of time
and sense. The praying Christian bears away his spirituality from the throne of
mercy
and blends it with the pursuits of his temporal vocation.
3. Spiritual prayer tends to purify and sweeten our intercourse with
each other. By deepening the channel of humility
it causes peace
with all its
attendant: virtues
to flow on in a gentle and even course. Prayer is health to
all who move in its genial atmosphere. It stifles the feelings of envy
hatred
and uncharitableness.
III. The direct
results of prayer as an appointed means of grace. Prayer
like the rod of
Moses
is intended to strike the rock
that the waters may gush out. It is the
sinner’s application for blessings that cannot be denied or withholden. True it
is that the people of God are a waiting as well as a praying people; they are
often kept in suspense
because there is a suitable time for prayer to be
answered
and because spiritual blessings are never sent prematurely. It is
likewise true that the prayer of faith itself is sometimes offered up
ignorantly
or under erroneous impressions
and consequently fails in that
particular point in which infinite wisdom saw it to be faulty. One piece of
advice let me offer--Be not satisfied with the mere act of prayer
even as a
spiritual exercise. Be thankful for enlargement of heart to prayer
and for a
heavenly frame of mind
while you are prostrate before God. But still look
beyond the effort itself. Watch the result of your petitions. Infer--
1. The importance of the Holy Spirit’s office in the economy of
grace.
2. The necessity of attributing salvation wholly and solely to God.
3. The value of a prayerful disposition viewed as an earnest or
pledge of salvation. He who is drawn to the Cross shall eventually be drawn to
the throne. Continue to wait upon God
and you shall not be forsaken. (W.
Knight
M. A.)
The Spirit of grace and of supplications
I. The promise of
the text. By the “house of David” is meant his descendants after the flesh
or
the princes and rulers of the Jews; and by the “inhabitants of Jerusalem
” the
rest of the people. On these the Lord promises to pour out His Spirit for their
conviction
conversion
and salvation.
1. The Holy Spirit is here promised as a “Spirit of grace.” He is the
author and giver of all grace
of all goodness. The Holy Spirit is the author
of all preventing grace. We never really forsake sin
we never truly turn to
God by any strength or goodness of our own. It is God who begins
as well as
perfects
the good work in our hearts. The Holy Spirit is the author of all
renewing and sanctifying grace. Every attempt to renew and sanctify our heart
and conduct must
if we depend solely upon ourselves
be altogether in vain.
The Spirit can renew us in righteousness and true holiness after the image of
Him that created us
and make us new creatures in Christ Jesus unto good works.
The Holy Spirit is the author of all quickening and reviving grace. Our souls
too often cleave unto the dust; our hearts become cold and dead. Where are we
to find a remedy for this distressing state of things? In the same Fountain of
living waters. The Spirit must send us those refreshing showers which He sends
on God’s inheritance when it is weary. And the Holy Spirit is the author of all
comforting and supporting grace. And do we not often need comfort and support
in such a world as this?
2. The Holy Spirit is here promised as a “Spirit of supplications.”
We know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit helpeth our
infirmities. This He does in Various ways.
II. The effects
attending the fulfilment of this promise. “Shall mourn
” etc. The speaker here
is evidently the Lord Jesus Christ. This application of the passage to Christ
proves at once both His humanity and His Divinity. It proves His humanity
for
He Was pierced. It proves His Divinity; for who can communicate the Spirit but
God alone? It is here pretold by the Lord
that when He would pour out His Holy
Spirit
as the Spirit of grace and supplications
sinners would be led to look
upon Him whom they had pierced
and to mourn bitterly for their sins
and
especially their great sin in rejecting Him. This prophecy was fulfilled in
part on the day of Pentecost. It will also be more fully accomplished whenever
the conversion of the Jews
as a nation
shall take place. But this prophecy is
also accomplished whenever sinners
Jews or Gentiles
are now turned to the
Lord. Notice the nature of the sorrow which they feel on such an occasion.
1. It is a godly sorrow. Produced in their hearts under the
operations of the Spirit of God. What are its effects? It humbles them in the
dust before God; it softens their hard and unfeeling heart. It is also a bitter
sorrow
for it is said
“They shall mourn for Him
as one mourneth for his only
son.” We can scarcely conceive of any sorrow of an earthly nature more bitter
than that of a father when mourning for his only son. The feelings of some are
quicker and more susceptible than those of others. But whatever differences
there may be
all who are really taught by the Spirit are made so to see and
feel the evil and bitterness of sin
as to learn in all sincerity to hate and
forsake it. It is a secret sorrow. “The land shall mourn
every family apart
and their wives apart.” And is not this always characteristic of deep and real
sorrow? Then let us ask ourselves
What know we of the effects attending the
fulfilment of the promise in the text? How important it is that we should have
the Spirit! And how earnestly and perseveringly should we pray for His gracious
and saving influences! (D. Rees.)
They shall look upon Me
whom they have pierced
and they shall mourn for Him--
Gospel mourning a fruit of saving faith
Here we have a glorious privilege mentioned
namely
a view or
manifestation of a crucified Redeemer; and the gracious exercise that is
consequential to this distinguishing and glorious privilege. “They shall mourn
for Him.” From the words we observe that all whose privilege it is to get a
supernatural discovery of a crucified Redeemer will mourn for Him
as wounded
and pierced for their sins.
I. The glorious
privilege.
1. Though Christ is not now visible to the bodily eyes
yet such a
sight of Him as is necessary in order to the exercise of faith upon Him
and a
real participation of the benefits of His purchase is attainable by persons in
this world.
2. A spiritual and saving sight of Christ as crucified is what all
should be concerned to obtain when they are attending upon the ordinances of
the Gospel
upon the dispensation of the Word and sacraments.
3. Such a sight of Christ as is necessary in order to the exercise of
faith and repentance is an effect of the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit
upon the heart of a sinner.
4. A spiritual manifestation of Christ is in a special manner
necessary on a day of fasting and humiliation.
5. A saving manifestation of Christ is a rare and distinguishing
privilege.
6. A saving manifestation is ever accompanied with godly sorrow for sin.
II. The gracious
exercise.
1. Godly sorrow for sin supposes an inward and thorough change of
heart
and mind
and nature.
2. It is real sorrow.
3. Such a sorrow as flows from a particular conviction of sin.
4. It is great sorrow.
5. It is evangelical sorrow. Application--
True repentance
Repentance is the first duty of a sinner under a dispensation of
mercy; prepares for a right reception of Christ as a Saviour; and is a part of
that new and holy course of life which every true Christian leads. It accompanies
every other exercise f piety
and terminates only when we arrive at heaven. The
text contains o prediction of the repentance and conversion of the Jewish
nation. In part fulfilled at Pentecost
in part to be yet fulfilled.
I. The source from
which true repentance flows. If true repentance imply an entire change of
heart
comprehending a genuine sorrow for sin as committed against God
a
hearty forsaking of it
and an acceptance of God’s mercy as revealed in Jesus
Christ
then it is obvious that it must spring from the influences of Divine
grace. Accordingly the source of it is thus spoken of
“I will pour upon the
house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the Spirit of grace and of
supplications.” The allusion is to the pouring out of water
which is the usual
emblem for the bestowing of the influences of the Holy Ghost. Refreshing as
water to the thirsty
is the grace of the Holy Spirit to the Church of God. The
peculiar effect of the Spirit of God in His operations on the heart
is described
in the titles here given to the Holy Ghost--“the Spirit of grace and
supplications
”--that is
the Spirit by whose influence grace is implanted in
the mind
and supplications are addressed to the throne of mercy. The Holy
Ghost is promised as the Spirit of grace
because all grace and holiness
proceed from Him. As the “Spirit of supplications
” because one of the earliest
effects of Divine influences is prayer. We pray in the Holy Ghost. It is by His
sacred instruction that we discover our ignorance
poverty
defilement
misery
and danger. It is by His teaching we receive with faith the truths and promises
of the Gospel. The Spirit produces a return to God
and a thorough conversion
of heart and life.
II. The chief means
by which repentance is produced. “They shall look upon Me whom they have
pierced.” Repentance
generally speaking
springs from a view of a crucified
Saviour. The view of the crucified Redeemer which is spoken of in the text
cannot be understood as a bodily sight by the eye of sense. It is a spiritual
and rational contemplation of Him by the eye of penitence and faith. Surely
there is no object which in itself should so powerfully attract our notice. If
the very circumstances of the spectacle should fix our attention
still more
should we be moved when we reflect on the Divine dignity of the sufferer. But
this is not all. You and I have had a share in this death. God had “laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.” But what if all this woe and suffering should be for
our salvation! Should not this lead us to regard the scene with still more
intense earnestness?
III. The effects of
the Spirit of grace thus leading the sinner to look by faith to Him whom he has
pierced. The returning Jews
when they shall view by faith their crucified
Messiah
will mourn for their national sins in piercing Him
and for all their
personal transgressions. See Zechariah 12:11-14. The spiritual import
of this prediction is accomplished in every true penitent. Mourning for sin
will arise from that view of its malignity and hatefulness which the Cross of
Christ displays. The genuine sorrow of a penitent flows from the believing
sight of a pierced Saviour. The law convinces of sin
but the Cross teaches us
to abhor it.
1. Apply to the sincere Christian--that he may learn the important
place which true penitence occupies in a Christian life: the connection of
repentance with the hopes and privileges of the Gospel: and that the exercise
of evangelical repentance is connected with a holy and circumspect conduct.
2. To the ungodly and impenitent. If any subject can show them their
obligation to repent
and affect their hearts with a desire to do so
it is the
one we have been reviewing. (D. Wilson
M. A.)
Looking to the pierced One
Not only an external grace and favour was promised to the Jews
but an internal light of faith
the author of which is the Spirit; for He it is
who illuminates our minds to see the goodness of God
and it is He also who
turns our hearts. As Zechariah declares that the Jews would at length “look to”
God
it follows that the spirit of repentance and the light of faith are
promised to them
so that they may know God as the author of their salvation
and feel so assured that they are already saved
as in future to devote
themselves entirely to Him. “Whom they have pierced.” Here also the prophet
indirectly reproves the Jews for their great obstinacy
for God had restored
them
and they had been as untameable as wild beasts: for this piercing is to
be taken metaphorically for continual provocation
as though he had said that
the Jews in their perverseness were prepared as it were for war
that they
goaded and pierced God by their wickedness as by the weapons of their
rebellion. As then they had been such
he says now that such a change would be
wrought by God that they would become quite different
for they would learn to
“look to Him whom” they had previously pierced. John says that this prophecy
was fulfilled in Christ
when His side was pierced with a spear (John 19:37). And this is most true; for
it was necessary that the visible symbol should be exhibited in the person of
Christ
in order that the Jews might know that He was the God who had spoken by
the prophets. The Jews then had crucified their God when they grieved His
Spirit; but Christ also was
as to His flesh
pierced by them. And this is what
John meant--that God by that visible symbol made it evident that He had not
only been formerly provoked in a disgraceful manner by the Jews
but that at
length
in the person of His only begotten Son
this great sin was added to
their disgraceful impiety
that they pierced even the side of Christ. (John
Calvin.)
Looking to Christ as pierced
and mourning for Him
May we not reckon the passage in which our text occurs
as one of
those of which the prophets themselves
by whom they were uttered
did not at
first understand the full import? How should we be affected by the
contemplation of the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus?
1. We should mourn to think of what He had to endure. A tale of woe
may touch our hearts with sadness although we may have no personal concern with
the individual of whom it is told. If we saw an innocent man led forth to
execution
our hearts would be greatly moved. We wonder not then that when
Jesus was delivered up to the will of His enemies
when one so holy
so meek
so beneficent
was led forth to be crucified
the spectacle could not be seen
unmoved.
2. We should mourn to think of the wickedness of the men by whom He
was so treated. Were the men of that generation which lived when Jesus was
crucified
wicked above all others before them
or after them? No! Though
temptation and opportunity combined to involve them in a crime
probably the
greatest ever perpetrated on earth
they afford but a specimen of that
depravity
it may be less fully developed
which we all have inherited.
3. We should mourn for our own sins
as we see in what was inflicted
on our surety the exceeding sinfulness and deep demerit of sin. How hateful
must sin have been in the sight of a holy God
when for it He hid His face from
His Son
and gave Him up to the pains of an accursed death! Notice some of the
happy effects of penitent grief.
Sinners mourning for their pierced Lord
What is true of a converted Jew
is true also of a converted
Gentile.
I. The character
of godly sorrow. It is like a parent’s sorrow for the death of a child. This is
a real
not a pretended sorrow. If we look into our hearts many of us will see
that our sorrow for sin is all pretence. This is a deep
not a superficial or
slight sorrow. We may really mourn for a friend
and yet mourn for him very
little. Not so when our children die. Our grief then is pungent and bitter. It
is not only in the heart
but do
as very low in it. It is a secret sorrow.
Most of us
when our hearts are full
wish to be alone. Deep emotions of any
kind send us to our chambers.
II. Once of the
causes that excite godly sorrow. “Look on Me whom they have pierced.” Who is
the speaker here? God Himself
but God in Christ. What is meant by “looking” on
Him? Outward bodily actions are made use of to describe inward operations
the
actings of the mind. These penitents look on Him as “pierced.” Some say the
reason why the Jews are not converted is that we do not sufficiently exhibit
the Lord Jesus to them in His exaltation and glory. Others say if we want to
prize the Lord Jesus more
we must think of Him more as enthroned in heaven. We
must not suffer men to mislead us. If we want life for our perishing souls
if
we wish to have our hard hearts broken to pieces
it is on His Cross
not on
His throne
that we must contemplate our Lord. And these contrite sinners look
on Jesus as pierced by them. “The chastisement of our peace was on Him
” so we
wounded Him.
III. How is it that
godly sorrow arises from this source? Why does looking on the crucified Lord
make the believer mourn? How
I would ask
can it be other wise
as we think of
our dying Lord
dying for us? Learn the high place that we ought to give sorrow
for sin among the Christian graces. (C. Bradley
M. A.)
I. The object or
spectacle propounded. Certain it is that Christ is here meant.
1. Specify and particularise the person of Christ
by the kind and
most peculiar circumstances of His death. Not a natural but a violent death.
The Psalmist says
“They pierced my hands and my feet
” which is only proper to
the death of the Cross. The prophet intimates that his heart was pierced
and this
was peculiar to Christ.
2. Sever Christ from the rest of His doings and sufferings
to see
what that is which we specially are to look to--Christ pierced. The perfection
of our knowledge in or touching Christ
is the knowledge of Christ pierced.
Know this
you know all. In the object
two things offer themselves.
II. The persons.
When one is found slain
it is usual to inquire by whom he came by his death.
We incline to lay the sin of Christ’s death on the soldiers
the executioners;
on Pilate the judge; on the people who urged Pilate; or on the elders of the
Jews who animated the people. The prophet here says that they who are willed to
“look upon Him
” are they who “pierced Him.” In every case of condemnation to
death
sin
and sin only is the murderer. It was not Christ’s own sin that He
died for. It must have been for the sin of others that Christ Jesus was
pierced. God laid on Him the “transgressions of us all.” It was the sin of our
polluted hands that pierced His hands; the swiftness of our feet to do evil
that nailed His feet; the wicked devices of our heads that gored His head; and
the wretched desires of our hearts that pierced His heart. If we feel that we
were the cause of this His piercing
we ought to have remorse
to be pierced
with it.
III. The act or duty
enjoined. To look upon Him. A request most natural and reasonable. To this look
Christ invites us. “Upon Me.” Our own profit inviteth us. Our danger may move
us to look. In the act itself are three things.
1. That we do it with attention.
2. That we do it oft
again and again; with iteration.
3. That we cause our nature to do it
as it were
by virtue of an
injunction.
In the original it is a commanding injunction. Look upon Him
and
be pierced. Look upon Him
and pierce that in thee that was the cause of
Christ’s piercing
sin and the lusts thereof. As it was sin that gave Christ
these wounds
so it was love to us that made Him receive them
being otherwise
liable enough to have avoided them all. So that He was pierced with love
no
less than with grid. And it was that wound of love made Him so constantly
endure all the other. Which sight ought to pierce us with love too
no less
than before it did with sorrow. We should join looking with believing. And
believing
what is there that the eye of our hope shall not look for from Him?
What would He not do for us
that for us would suffer all this? Our expectation
may be reduced to these two things
--the deliverance from the evil of our
present misery; and the restoring to the good of our primitive felicity Shall
we always receive grace
even streams of grace
issuing from Him that is
pierced
and shall there not from us issue something back again
that He may
look for and receive from us
that from Him have and do daily receive so many
good things? No doubt there shall; if love which pierced Him
have pierced us
aright. (Bishop Launcelot Andrewes.)
Looking to Christ crucified
The words have reference
in their primary sense
to the house of
David
and inhabitants of Jerusalem; and received their first fulfilment on the
day of Pentecost. But the text invites us also to look on Him who was pierced
for us
and mourn. We are to look long and earnestly on Him whom we have
pierced
that by long looking we may learn to mourn
and mourning much may love
much
and loving much
may have much forgiven. How shall we look on Him whom we
have pierced? Not with our fleshly
eyes
but with the eye of faith. We are to
look to Him
in order to see that the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us
all.” It was our polluted hands that pierced His hands; the swiftness of our
feet to do evil that nailed His feet; the wicked devices of our hearts that
pierced His heart. Yet we must not look wholly to His bodily sufferings
the
wounds we have given Him have gone deeper
even to His soul
yea
pierced Him
through and through with many sorrows. The pangs which He suffered on His
spiritual Cross were infinitely more than those He suffered on the natural.
Great as were His bodily sufferings
from the prospect of them He never shrank.
He ever views and speaks calmly of them. Not so does He announce His spiritual
Cross
it was the internal Cross which caused His bitterest passion. Shall we
not then look on Him
and “remember and be confounded
and never open our
mouths any more
because of our shame
” as we look upward to that Cross to
which our sins have nailed Him? He was lifted up on that Cross that all from
the ends of the world might look unto Him and be saved. It is by looking on Him
whom we have pierced that we alone can learn somewhat of the deadly bitterness
of our sins
which might not be forgiven
but by that awful blood shedding. It
is at the foot of the Cross alone that the mystery of the Cross is learnt
and
a true estimate of our sins gained. (R. A. Suckling
M. A.)
Jesus’ pierced side
Out of the pierced heart of Jesus proceeds a stream of tears
of
grace
and of prayer. For us
also
as we look at the pierced side of the
Saviour
there opens--
I. A flood of
tears. The prophet foretells the time when Israel at the sight of the Man of
Sorrows shall break forth into deep lamentation
when the water which flows
from the pierced side of the Saviour shall be turned into a stream of tears
flowing from the hearts of the children of Israel. It is the simplest but
certainly also the most painful truth
that your sins and mine have brought
Jesus to the Cross. Therefore a glance at Him must become a crystal glass which
reflects our sins more distinctly
and which represents us in our sins blacker
than the whole law from Sinai
with its thunder and lightning
its curse and
judgment
can do.
II. A stream of
grace. In ancient Athens
mercy was represented with eyes streaming with tears
holding in her hand a torn and bleeding heart. By God’s grace we have free
access to the Father. We have a Saviour who opens the Father’s heart for us
and we need no other Mediator.
III. A fount of
prayer. In these prophetic words the Lord declares that He will pour out the
Spirit of prayer and of grace. The stream of grace from the wounds of the
Saviour
which He causes to be poured over us
is to become a fount of prayer
flowing from our heart to God’s heart. There has scarcely ever been a time in
which the streams of Divine grace were so abundantly poured forth in the
preached Word
as well as in works of mercy
and in zeal for the Lord’s house
as in our days. But how long will it last
if the Spirit of supplication does
not join the spirit of grace? And that is wanting. Ours is a prayerless time. (A.
Schroter.)
Christ pierced by us
(to children):--There can be no doubt about the reference of these
words. St. John quotes them in his Gospel
and refers them to Christ. “They”
are the Jews
and more particularly the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the
prophet informs us that a time is coming when the people of Jerusalem shall
look upon Jesus
and bitterly repent of having refused to accept Him as their
Messiah and their King.
1. The Jews were
and still are
God’s people
though now they are
God’s people in disgrace. He chose them out of all the nations of the earth
and drew them close to Himself
and gave them the Scriptures
and the temple
and the sacrifices
and thus prepared them for the coming of the Messiah
or
Christ
who was promised in the prophets. But when the Messiah did come they
rejected Him. Their great and terrible crime brought down God’s wrath upon
them. About forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus the Romans came and laid
siege to Jerusalem
killed many Jews
and burnt the beautiful temple. We are
expressly told that this destruction of Jerusalem was a punishment for the
murder of Christ. From that time the Jews have been driven out of their own
land
and scattered abroad amongst the nations of the earth. There are Jews
almost everywhere. But the Bible says that one day they will be gathered
together into their own land again. But will they be Christians when they
return? I think not. They will still reject the Lord Jesus Christ. But I
believe that
when assaulted by enemies
the Lord Jesus Christ will come down
from Heaven
and appear for the rescue of His people
to deliver them. At that
moment they shall look on “Him whom they pierced
” and the effect of their
looking will be that they will mourn over their sin
and repent of it
and
become true followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they
will become the most successful preachers of the Gospel that the world has ever
seen.
2. Now turn to ourselves. It is possible to look on Jesus
who was
pierced
and to say
“Well
He was pierced
and I am glad of it
for He deserved
His fate. He pretended to be what He was not.” That is what the Jews nowadays
think
and what many of them do not hesitate to say. And many of us are
inclined to say
“I had nothing to do with the piercing of Jesus. I was not
there at the time. It was a fearful deed
and I am sorry for the sufferings of
Jesus
but I really do not think it true in any sense that I pierced Him!” Let
us pause a moment
and think. The Lord Jesus
who was the Son of God and Son of
Man
bore upon the cross the whole dark load of human sin. All the sins of all
mankind were gathered
as it were
into one vast horrible mass
and laid upon
Him
the Sin-bearer; and He could not get rid of it
or “put it away” except by
dying. By dying on the cross He took it away from us
and shook it off Himself.
Now your Sin and mine were in that load
and because our sin formed part of the
burden which was laid upon Christ we had something to do with His death. We
helped to pierce Him. Our sin made it necessary that Christ should die
and
therefore you and I had something to do really with “piercing” Christ
and
nailing Him to His cross. But unless we have the teaching of God’s Holy Spirit
we shall never think rightly or feel rightly in this matter. It was when “the
Spirit of grace and supplication” was poured out upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem that they looked on Him whom they pierced
and repented of their sin.
What a deep feeling we have when a thing is brought home to ourselves
and we
are made to feel that we did it. If we feel that we pierced Christ two
things will happen.
“Greater love hath no man than this
that a man lay down his life
for his friends.” Jesus
the Son of God
gave up His life for us; He died upon
the cross for us; for there was no other way of saving us from our sins. Surely
if we have not got hearts of stone
we shall feel thankful
most thankful
for
what He has done
and love Him because He first loved us. (Gordon Calthrop
M. A.)
Looking to Jesus in penitential sorrow
The legend of Camille
the artist who sold his soul to the devil
in order to gain power to paint to the life whatever subject he chose
is full
of suggestion. After a long life of sin
Camillo painted a picture of the
Christ
the Man of Sorrows. The tender
searching eyes were such a source of
annoyance to him and to his sinful friends that he veiled the picture and went
to a priest with his story. Following the priest’s advice
he unveiled the
picture and let the eyes of the Christ search his soul. Then he went out and
made such reparation as he was able to the lives he had wronged. But he had no
peace. The priest sent him back to the unveiled Christ. Again he went out
and
ordered a dealer to buy up and destroy every inch of canvas he had painted that
would suggest evil thoughts. Still he had no peace. Again and yet again he was
led to realise and to renounce and to undo sin after sin. But the peace he
longed for was withheld. At length
as he knelt in prayer before the Christ
came the realisation that he had sinned
not only against his fellow men
but against
Christ
and he yielded his life to Him. Then as the eyes of Christ looked into
the sorrow and anguish of his soul
there came also joy and peace.
Looking at Him who was pierced
When the late Dr. Andrew Bonar was sitting in his study one day
a
man and woman entered
to see him about joining the church. When they had told
their errand the doctor said to them
“When any one comes to me and wishes to
join the church
I generally ask them a few questions. Now
first
how did you
come to think of joining the church? Ah! “said the woman
” it was all through
our little son. One night I was telling him about the Jews killing my Lord
Jesus
and how they nailed Him to the cross on Calvary
and
looking up into my
face
he asked
‘Mother
was it your sins that nailed Him to the cross?’ Ah
sir
I could not answer him. There was a big lump in my throat; and when he saw
that I did not reply he turned to his father and said
‘Father
was it your
sins that nailed Jesus to the cross?’ I stole a look at my husband
and I saw a
tear glisten in his eye--he could not answer either. Then the little boy
clasped his hands and said
‘O Lord Jesus
it must have been my sins which
nailed Thee to the cross.’ From that time
sir
he has been a changed boy
and
it was that which made us think of joining the church.” (W. Thompson.)
Looking at Christ
Passing through a graveyard with her parents
a little girl drew
them after her to look at a beautiful stone figure of the Christ
with a face
full of suffering and yet of tenderest pity
leaning upon a massive marble
cross. As they paused to look she held her head down and said in a low voice
“I have done so many wrong things
I can hardly lift up my eyes to look at
Him.” It is just those who have done “so many wrong things” that have need to
lift up their eyes and look at Him. (Quiver.)
Penitential sorrow
I. The subjects.
Jews
not Gentiles. The Jewish people had often been reduced to this state of
sorrow. When in Babylonian exile
they wept when they remembered “Zion.”
II. The cause of
this penitential sorrow. “I will pour.” The prophet Joel (Joel 2:28) refers to this outpouring of
Divine influence.
III. The occasion of
this penitential sorrow. A believing sight of Christ produces this penitential
sorrow.
IV. The poignancy
of this penitential sorrow. “And they shall mourn for Him
as one mourneth for
his only son
and shall be in bitterness for Him
as one that is in bitterness
for his first-born.” “There are few states of deeper and acuter sorrow than
this--that which is felt by affectionate parents when bereft of those objects
of their fondest affections.” As to the poignancy of this grief
it is further
said
“In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem
as the
mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon
” etc. Perhaps me greatest
sorrow ever known amongst the Jews was the sorrow in the valley of Megiddon
occasioned by the death of King Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:24). Jeremiah
composed a funeral dirge on the occasion; and other odes and lamentations were
composed
and were sung by males and females. But true penitential sorrow is
far more poignant than that occasioned by the death of an only son or a noble
king. It is tinctured with moral remorse.
V. The
universality of this poignant sorrow. “The land shall mourn
” etc. All the
families of the land shall mourn
and mourn “apart.” Deep sorrow craves
loneliness. (Homilist.)
True mourning for Christ
Though this prophecy is fulfilling there is not complete
fulfilment. There was
among the Jews
no such general grief as Zechariah
pictures. They showed no signs of heart-broken sorrow. We must seek further for
the mourners looking on the pierced One. There is no doubt where they are to be
found. Christians have succeeded to the place
and occupy more than the place
of the Jews; it is ourselves who are to be “looking upon Him whom we have
pierced.” Some great divines hold that Zechariah’s words describe the special
mourning of Lent and Holy Week and Good Friday. In any case we have a picture
of the effect which a real spiritual view of the cross must produce upon
faithful Christians
and one which supplies us with a test of our Good Friday
reality and sincerity. It is a hard test
but we must not flinch from it. It is
of God’s own proposing; nay
rather
it occurs in the announcement of His most
gracious purpose. Compare our recollections of earthly bereavements with our
memory of Christ’s death. Can we say that we feel for Christ at all as we feel
at the death of husband or wife
father or mother? Yet God expects us to feel
very deeply. We know that Christ’s passion ought to excite in us the deepest
imaginable sorrow. As there was never sorrow like unto His sorrow; as there was
never death like unto His death; as there was never love like unto His love
so
we cannot wonder if we are expected to feel a grief for Him as great as that
which springs from the severest trial of our human affections. Yet it may
safely be said that
generally
it is not so. We fall far short of that which
is to be the state of the citizens of the true city of David
and of the
inhabitants of Christian Jerusalem. (M. H. Ricketts.)
England’s rejection of Christ
Let me set in order before you the greater sin that we have
committed in rejecting Jesus than did the Jews. We have rejected Jesus as the
Head of the Church. What is the Church? It is the fulness of Him that filleth
all in all. The Church is the body of Christ
of which He is the head
to pour
into it continually the glory of His own power and the excellency of His own
beauty and the perfectness of His own holiness. It is a Church embodied
that
is the mystery
and not a Church disembodied. A Church disembodied is only a
fraction of the mystery of godliness; the mystery of godliness is God manifest
in the flesh. And the Church was intended to reveal the whole excellency and
power of Jesus seated on the throne of God. What were the Church’s gifts? The
word of wisdom
to search all the deep things of God. The word of knowledge
to
tell all that was passing in all parts of His dominions; the gift of faith
never to doubt that whatever she desired she would receive. The gift of
healing
to go forth and show the power of Jesus over all flesh
to forgive sin
in the soul
and to heal disease in the body. The power of miracles
to order
in the things of creation
to get all disorder into order
and to command the
various powers of nature. To this the Church was called; deny it who dare!
This is the dignity of the Church
but we reject it. The Jews rejected a man of
flesh
--we have rejected a Man in the power of the Spirit.
II. Jesus has been
rejected as the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is a title which He
maketh great account of. It is written on His raiment
and on His thigh. But it
has been denied; it is denied round the whole world. In the papacy the pope has
taken the supremacy. In the Greek Church it is denied; the Czar is the head of
the Church. In Britain it is denied. Who is King of kings?--Their majesties the
people. “All power is from the people.” That is the baser denial--the basest of
all denial. Power is no longer held as from Jesus
nor is it any longer held to
be responsible to Him.
III. Another great sin
has been the rejection of Jesus as the owner of all: as the merchantman
as the
householder
the head of the house
whose is all the goods and chattels
and
all the furniture
and all the provision
and all the treasure of the house.
There is not one man in a hundred to whom the idea has once occurred
everything in his house is Christ’s; everything in the banker’s hands is
Christ’s; everything in the funds is Christ’s. There is not aught that hath not
the stamp of His name.
IV. We have
rejected Christ as the poor man’s friend. Who was first the preacher of good
tidings to the poor? Who blessed and honoured the estate of poverty? Who said
“Blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”? We have
forgotten to preach Him as the Bringer of glad tidings to the poor. We have
rejected Him who was the Redeemer of poverty
--who is its friend; and we have
chosen for Him demagogues who are not worthy to be trusted with the lowest of
the goods of creation. (Edward Irving
A. M.)
Sinners repenting
Consider the language of the prophet as denoting a state of mind
which in its great lineaments is becoming to all men in all ages
and which
must be felt in order to secure the enjoyment of spiritual blessing.
I. The sorrow here
embodied is to be regarded in its cause. Here sorrow is traced to one cause. It
is sorrow on account of sin. The sense of its being
its guilt and consequence
is pungently pressed upon the consciences. Observe--
1. The particular order of the sin. Although
in their relationship
to the death of the Lord Jesus
the Jews were of course peculiar
there is an
important sense in which all men must be regarded as participating in the guilt
of “piercing Him.” His death was an atoning sacrifice; the sins of men being
the cause of what He endured
in order to expiate wrath and to secure
salvation. “He is the propitiation for our sins
” and thus it is that every
sinner becomes an accomplice in the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. Set forth
as Christ has been to men in the institutes and by the ministry of the Gospel
each thought and each deed of sin
cherished and loved
has been but striking
at Christ another and another blow--rearing the Cross again
fastening the
nails again.
2. This being the precise nature of the sin
we must notice the
influence by which the guilt of it is recognised and felt. The sinner admits no
guilt; his heart is a heart of stone. The consciousness of guilt is ascribed
directly to Divine influence
the influence of the Holy Spirit.
II. The
characteristics of this sorrow. The conviction of sin
arising from the
influence of the Spirit of grave
leads men to that mourning which constitutes
the theme of these verses. That mourning of sorrow will be found suggested to
us in its three great characteristics of intensity
solitude
and
prayerfulness.
III. The results.
One is pardon: connected with pardon is sanctification. And the third result of
this sorrow for sin is joy: nothing can compare with the joy arising from the
hope of pardon for sin. (James Parsons.)
Verse 12
And the land shall mourn
every family apart
Personal and family fasting
On the pouring out of the Spirit the land is to mourn
every family apart
and their wives apart.
The duties of fasting consist of--
I. An external and
circumstantial part.
1. A proper time must be set apart for these duties. And this is to
be regulated by Christian prudence
as best suits the circumstance of the
person or family. As to the quantity of time to be spent in personal or family
fasting and humiliation
the duty
I judge
is to regulate it
and not it to
regulate the duty. None need be solicitous as to what quantity of time
more or
less
they spend in these exercises
so that the work of the time be done.
2. A proper place is to be chosen where the person or family may
perform the duty without disturbance from others (see Matthew 6:18).
3. Abstinence is included in the nature of the thing; abstinence from
meat and drink
and all bodily pleasures whatsoever
as well as ceasing from
worldly business. The rule for abstinence from meat and drink Cannot be the
same for all. These
however
are but the outward shell of these duties.
II. The internal
any spiritual part.
1. Serious meditation and consideration of our ways. Such times are
to be set apart from conversing with the world
that we may the more solemnly
Commune with our own hearts as to the state of matters between God and us. In
them we are diligently to review our past life.
2. Deep humiliation of soul before the Lord; the which was signified
by the sackcloth and ashes used
under the law
on such occasions.
3. Free and open confession of sin before God
without reserve.
4. The exercise of repentance in turning from sin unto God
both in
heart and life
the native result of deep humiliation and sincere confession.
The true way to deal with a hard heart is to believe the Gospel. “Without faith
it is impossible to please God
” and therefore impossible to reach true
humiliation
right confession
and sincere repentance
which are very pleasing
to Him.
5. Solemn covenanting with God
entering into or renewing covenant
with Him in express words.
6. Extraordinary prayer
in importunate addresses and petitions unto
oar covenanted God
for that which is the particular occasion of our fast. Now
consider personal fasting and humiliation in particular.
III. The Divine
warrant for it.
1. God requires it in His Word
and that both directly and
indirectly.
2. It is promised that the saints shall perform this duty.
3. It is recommended unto us by the practice of the saints mentioned
in Scripture.
4. The duty of personal fasting and humiliation may be thus evinced.
1. When there is any special evil actually lying upon us
the Church
or our neighbour
in whom we have a special concern; whether it be a sinful or
a penal evil. And when the tokens of God’s high displeasure are gone out in
afflicting providences
it is time for us to roll ourselves in the dust
and so
to accommodate our spirit and way to the dispensation
humbling ourselves
before Him with fasting.
2. When there is any special stroke threatening or impending.
3. When there is some special mercy or favour to be desired of the
Lord. Take a variety of these particular cases--
Now consider some directions anent personal fasting and
humiliation.
1. Make choice of a fit time and place.
2. Make some preparation for it the night before
3. Rise early in the morning
even sooner than ordinary.
4. Let holy thoughts at once have access to your soul.
5. Let your ordinary duties of prayer and reading of the Word be
first performed; for extraordinary duties are not to jostle out the ordinary.
6. Begin with a solemn review of your sins--the sins of your nature
of your childhood
of your youth
of your middle age
To recommend the practice of these duties to persons and families
these five things are offered in favour thereof; namely
that the practice of
them is a proper means--
1. To bring strangers to religion acquainted with it.
2. To recover backsliders.
3. To prevent relapses.
4. To prepare for a time of trial.
5. To get matters clear for eternity. (T. Boston.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》