Return from Exile: Zechariah 11-14 (3)

Pray Psalm 88.1-3.
O LORD, God of my salvation,
I have cried out day and night before You.
Let my prayer come before You;
Incline Your ear to my cry.
For my soul is full of troubles,
And my life draws near to the grave.

Sing Psalm 88.1-3.
(Picardy: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence)
Lord of my salvation, hear me, as I cry by night and day.
Hear my plea, O Lord, bend near me; O, receive me when I pray!
For my soul is weak and weary, and my life draws near the grave.

Read Zechariah 12.1-14; meditate on verses 10-14.

Preparation
1. On Whom will the people of God look when the Spirit is poured out?

2. How will they respond?

Meditation
The way into the promises of God and the hope of His salvation is by looking on Jesus crucified and mourning and repenting of our sins. This is the essence of Zechariah’s message, though neither he nor his contemporaries would have seen it as clearly as we may.

An order of operations is foreseen here. The goal is to enter and enjoy all those promises of building the Lord’s temple, branching out to the nations, incorporating the peoples of the world into the household of God, and all of us together, as one new people of God, living under our vines and fig trees in peace. But we cannot get there by ourselves. We need the Spirit of God to be poured out into our hearts and to turn our souls to Jesus, Who died and rose and is coming again (v. 10; cf. Gal. 4.4-6). As we see Jesus, bearing the wrath of God’s Law against our sins, we will be startled into repentance, mourning deeply for His suffering and our sin (vv. 11-14; cf. Acts 2.36-38). Thus, repenting and believing in Him Whom we pierced, we are born again into the Kingdom of God and the promises of His covenant.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Look always to Jesus. Repent of your sins. Then pick up whatever work is appointed to you, no matter if it looks like a “small thing”, and seek the Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit for yourself and all those in your Personal Mission Field.

You will not do this if you prefer the captivity of comforts and conveniences to the promises of God and the glory of His Kingdom. Set your mind on the things that are above, where Christ is seated in heavenly places, and not on things below (Col. 3.1-3). See Jesus, and seek His Kingdom today.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven…” So sang the Byrds in 1965 (sung by many a folk before, most notably Solomon, who penned the original).  “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance… (Eccl. 3. 4).

Every day is a time to mourn for our sins, and the pain and suffering caused to the Lord Jesus Christ because of them. And every day is a time to rejoice because of the forgiveness offered due to His sacrificial, atoning gift, and His eternal conquering of death—thereby forever overcoming our last enemy.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5.4).

“Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come…
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and
the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood, and has made us a kingdom and priests to His God
and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him,
even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn
because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Rev. 1.4-7).

“And I will pour…the Spirit of grace and supplication;
then they will look on Me whom they pierced.
Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son,
and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
In that day there shall be a great mourning…” (Zech. 12.10, 11).

All people will mourn: Some of us will mourn for our sins, and some will mourn on that last day when they realize they have chosen poorly, and not chosen to serve the living, risen, and glorious Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name. ‘They shall be Mine’, says the LORD of hosts, ‘on that day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them
as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him” (Mal. 3.16-18).

“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient…they stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed” (1 Pet. 2.7, 8).

The days of mourning lead to life for some…but death to others (2 Cor. 2.15, 16).

Mourn with the intention of one day dancing in the new heavens and earth!

For reflection
1. Why is it appropriate for us to mourn for our sins?

2. How does the Holy Spirit help you to look upon Him Whom we have pierced?

3. Repentance from sin is a crucial component of saving faith. Explain.

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 (1662-1714), Commentary on Zechariah 12.9-14

Pray Psalm 88.4-18.
Meditate on all that Jesus suffered during His crucifixion. Thank Him specifically for all the pain He endured so that we might be free.

Sing Psalm 88.4-18.
(Picardy: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence)
Like a person thought to be dying, like a man whose strength is gone;
like one with the slain now lying, like a dead and buried one.
For Your mercy I am sighing, cut off from Your hand and gone.

In the lowest pit You have set me, in a deep and darkening place.
All Your holy wrath has beset me, overwhelming me in waves.
All my former friends forget me; on me now they look with hate.

All day long I cry in vain, Lord, as my eye is wasting away.
Can a dead man sing Your praise, Lord? Can I testify from the grave?
Will I tell Your love again, Lord? Will I sing Your pow’r and grace?

Morning comes and, Lord, I am crying: Why do You my soul reject?
From my youth have I been dying; pain and terrors sore afflict.
Fear and anger, sorely trying, overwhelm, destroy, reject.

All day long my foes surround me, like a threat’ning, rising flood.
Circling round they sought and found me, taking from me all that is good.
Friend and lover gone, they hound me—all my friends in darkness stood.

T. M. and Susie Moore

Two books can help us understand our own captivity and lead us to seek revival and renewal in the Lord. The Church Captive asks us to consider the ways the Church today has become captive to the world. And Revived! can help us find the way to renewal. Learn more and order your free copies by clicking here and here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available free by clicking here.