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Scripture Reading: Zech. 12:10-14; 13:1-9
In the previous message we saw Israel's destiny in the great war of Armageddon. In this message we will consider the prophecy of encouragement concerning Israel's household salvation.
Romans 11:25b says that a hardness has come upon Israel in part until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. In the present time, God seemingly has forsaken Israel, and Israel has become somewhat hard. This hardness will continue until the age of the Gentiles has been fulfilled.
When the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26-27). This will be Israel's household salvation. On the same day and at the same time, thousands of Israelites will be saved.
It may be that this household salvation of Israel will take place while the great war of Armageddon is about to end (cf. Zech. 14:2-3). At the end of the war of Armageddon, Christ will come to earth, and the remnant of Israel will see Him whom they have pierced, will repent and wail, and will believe in Christ and receive Him (Rev. 1:7; Zech. 12:10). In this way all Israel will be saved. This will be the household salvation rendered to Israel by God.
Zechariah 12:10a says, "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they will look upon Me, whom they have pierced." In Acts 2 God poured out His Spirit upon all flesh (v. 17), and three thousand were saved. But when God pours out the Spirit of grace upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, many thousands of Israel, even the entire race of Israel, will be saved.
The Spirit of grace in Zechariah 12:10 is a sweet term, and is in contrast to the Spirit of power in Acts 1:8 and 2:1-4. We should experience the Spirit both as the Spirit of power and as the Spirit of grace. The Spirit of power is to strengthen us, but the Spirit of grace is to bring us into the enjoyment of the Triune God. In Acts 2 there was the participation in the divine power through the Holy Spirit, but there was not that much enjoyment of the Triune God. In Acts 2, at the beginning of the age of grace, the church age, the Spirit was mainly the Spirit of power. But in Zechariah 12, at the ending, the consummation, of the age of grace, the Spirit will be mainly the Spirit of grace for the enjoyment of the Triune God.
By the time of the Lord's second appearing, the remnant of Israel will have suffered all kinds of hardship. They suffered the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and were scattered to other countries. In these other countries they continued to suffer persecution. Today most of the Jews remain in dispersion, but many are returning to the nation of Israel. At the time of Antichrist, two-thirds in all the land of Israel will be slaughtered (13:8-9a). Half of the city of Jerusalem will go forth into captivity (14:2). The half which remains will no longer have any taste for human life or for acquiring possessions and high positions. They will realize that they are short of God and will exercise their spirit (12:1), not their mind. At this juncture they will repent, because they have lost their taste for everything. The Holy Spirit will be poured out upon them, and they will follow their spirit to be fully occupied with God. I believe that because they will have learned that everything apart from God is vanity and because they will exercise their spirit, the pouring out of the Spirit of God upon them will be intensified. The Jews on the day of Pentecost were stubborn and hard. Hence, the Spirit of power was poured out to inspire them to repent. But the inhabitants of Jerusalem in Zechariah 12:10 will have already repented; therefore, the Spirit of grace will be poured out upon them so that they can receive the Triune God as their enjoyment.
Zechariah 12:10a also tells us that they will look upon Him whom they have pierced. This means that they will look upon the Christ who was pierced by them. Revelation 1:7a refers to this: "Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him." The piercing of Christ is the foundation of redemption. Apart from Christ's being pierced, there would be no base for our redemption.
The repentant Jews will look upon the One whom they have pierced. Although it was their forefathers who pierced the Lord Jesus, God counts that as something done by these repentant ones. The reason for this is that in the sight of God the entire people of Israel is one person.
Zechariah 12:10b goes on to say, "They will wail over Him with wailing as for an only son and cry bitterly over Him with bitter crying as for a firstborn son." An only son is most dear to his parents, and a firstborn son has honor among the many sons. Repentant Israel will wail over Christ as the only Son of God and will cry bitterly over Him as the firstborn Son of God.
In the New Testament Christ is revealed first as the only begotten Son of God and then as the firstborn Son of God. John 1:18 says that the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Through His death and resurrection, the only begotten Son became the firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:6a). According to the New Testament, Christ's being the only begotten Son is for us to be redeemed and to receive eternal life. Christ's becoming the firstborn Son through death and resurrection is for us to become sons of God as heirs to inherit all the riches of what God is, that is, to receive, participate in, and enjoy all the riches of the Triune God. In their repentance Israel will recognize Christ both as the only begotten Son of God and as the firstborn Son of God. They will realize that as the only begotten Son Christ has redeemed them and has brought them eternal life and that as the firstborn Son He has made them heirs to inherit the riches of the Triune God as their enjoyment.
In that day there will be great wailing in Jerusalem. The land will wail, every family apart: the family of David and their wives apart; the family of Nathan and their wives apart; the family of Levi and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites and their wives apart; all the families, the whole household of Israel, that remain (Zech. 12:11-14). Here we have three kinds of families: the royal family of David, the family of the priesthood (Nathan and Levi), and the family of an evil man (Shimei, who cursed David). Zechariah uses these families as illustrations. All those who look upon Christ, the pierced One, with a repentant spirit, will wail over Him.
We come now to Zechariah 13, a chapter on the divine provision and the sovereign preparation for the household salvation of Israel.
This divine provision includes a Redeemer with His redemption (vv. 1-7a).
God has provided the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem with an opened fountain (Christ's pierced side — John 19:34, 37) for sin and for impurity. "In that day there will be an opened fountain for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity" (Zech. 13:1). The piercing of Christ has opened such a fountain. This is a matter of redemption.
God will cut off the names of the idols and will cause the false prophets and the unclean spirit to pass from the land (vv. 2-4). He will clear up these negative things so that the people of Israel might be emptied to receive Christ.
Christ came to be the real Prophet (Matt. 13:57) but was rejected and wounded in His side in the house of Israel, His relatives in the flesh (Zech. 13:5-6; 12:10); and the wound became the base of their redemption accomplished for them in His death (John 19:34, 37; Rev. 1:7).
Zechariah 13:5 says, "But He will say, I am no prophet; I am a tiller of the ground; for a man sold Me in My youth." Verses 2 through 4 speak of God's causing the false prophets to pass from the land. This cleared the way for Christ to come in as the real Prophet. However, according to verse 5, He said that He was not a prophet but a tiller of the ground. This means that He was not the kind of prophet, a false prophet, mentioned in the preceding verses. He came as the real Prophet.
Verse 6 goes on to say, "Someone will say to Him, What are these wounds between Your arms? And He will say, Those with which I was wounded in the house of those who love Me." In this verse the phrase "those who love Me" refers to Christ's relatives, the children of Israel. The children of Israel killed Him, but He counted their action as wounds from those who loved Him. This is very sweet.
Christ, the Fellow of Jehovah, came as the God-sent Shepherd to the children of Israel but was attacked unto death by them (v. 7a; Matt. 9:36; John 10:11; Matt. 26:31; Acts 2:23). Zechariah 13:7a says, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, / And against the man who is My Fellow, / Declares Jehovah of hosts. / Strike the Shepherd, / That the sheep may be scattered." Christ was both a relative to the children of Israel and a Fellow of Jehovah. As He was hanging on the cross, His relatives wounded Him, and God called in the sword to strike Him. He was in a situation where His relatives were against Him and where God, to whom He is a Fellow, was also against Him.
The word in verse 7a about striking the Shepherd is quoted by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 26:31. To strike the Shepherd means to attack the Shepherd. Immediately after He established the table, He told His disciples that He would be attacked and that they, the sheep, would be scattered.
In Zechariah 13:7b through 9 we see God's sovereign preparation of a people to receive the Redeemer with His salvation. In His household salvation for Israel, God has provided not only redemption but also a people to receive His redemption. In the same way, God prepared us even before we were born to be recipients of His salvation.
Verse 7b says, "I will turn My hand upon the little ones." Here the "little ones" refer to the people of Israel. This indicates that in His preparation God reacted to the rejection of Christ by the children of Israel and turned His hand upon them as the little ones by punishing them through Titus the Roman prince and his army in A.D. 70 and scattering them into the nations to be despised, humiliated, persecuted, and destroyed throughout the age of grace until today (Matt. 21:41a; 23:38; 24:2).
In the great tribulation at the consummation of the present age, in all the land of Israel two-thirds of them will be cut off by Antichrist in his persecution of the Jews (Zech. 13:8a; Rev. 11:2; 13:7).
One-third of the remnant will be left in the land and will be brought through fire and refined like silver and tried like gold by the persecution of Antichrist (Zech. 13:8b-9a). These will be those who are written in the book as the secret record (Dan. 12:1b).
They will call on the Lord's name, and the Lord will answer them. The Lord will say that they are His people, and they will say that the Lord is their God (Zech. 13:9b). They will be saved into the enjoyment of the riches of the Triune God, first in the millennium to be the priests to teach the nations and then in the New Jerusalem to participate in all the blessings God has ordained in eternity and for eternity. This is the household salvation to Israel.
