Intro
In Zechariah 12 we have first a description of the physical deliverance God gives Israel during the Battle of Armageddon. In two movements, the Lord gives Israel victory over the much larger army of the Antichrist. First God weakens the enemy by sabotaging their war machine and throwing their soldiers into panic and confusion. Then God strengthens his own people by stirring up their faith and empowering them to fight valiantly. All that is recorded in verses 1-9. We know from other passages that the Battle of Armageddon will conclude with the Christ’s Second Coming and the complete destruction of all his adversaries.
Now in our text today, a greater miracle is described: the repentance and conversion of the whole nation. That spiritual transformation is described in Zechariah 12:10-14. There God says, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem 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. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.”i
We will examine that passage under three headings:
I. The initiation of this transformation through the influence of the Holy Spirit (10a)
II. The revelation of Christ that prompts the national repentance (vs 10b)
III. The nature of Israel’s repentance that leads to salvation (vs 10c-14)
I. INITIATION OF THIS TRANSFORMATION through the influence of the Holy Spirt (vs 10a)
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication.” God is the speaker in that passage: “And I will.” It is his act of sovereign grace that initiates all that follows. When someone comes to Christ, their testimony is typically, “I found the Lord.” There is truth in that statement. But he first found you. He first reached out to you in love and conviction. Without the influence of his grace, you would have never found salvation. You would have never opened your hard heart to his mercy. You would have continued on the road to destruction. If you know the Lord today, it is because the Shepherd of your soul sought you out as one of his lost sheep. It because he first loved you.ii Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” You did not initiate your salvation. Out of his love for you (undeserved love, unmerited favor) God poured on you “the Spirit of grace and supplication.” That started the process that leads to salvation.
The “Spirit of grace and supplication” is the Holy Spirit.iii He is the only one that can work true conversion in the heart. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). Later in that same conversation, Jesus added, “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
And so it is in our text. God begins this national transformation by pouring out “the Spirit of grace and supplication.” By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit begins to soften the heart and prepare it for the revelation of Christ.
The Hebrew word translated supplication (tachanuwn) has the same root as the word translated grace (chen). In this context it indicates seeking the mercy and favor of God. The same word is used to describe Daniel’s prayer of repentance: “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications [tachanuwn]” (Dan. 9:3). What follows is a confession of sin and plea for mercy. David uses the term in Psalm 28:6 as he asks God for mercy. By the grace of God, the Holy Spirt is sent to incline the heart toward supplications for mercy and favor.
The recipients of “the Spirit of grace and supplication” in our text are “the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Those terms are used as representative of the whole nation. At the beginning of this chapter in verse 1, we are told that this oracle is for (concerning) Israel. As Keil says, “The fact that only the inhabitants of Jerusalem are named, and not those of Judah also, is explained correctly by the commentators from the custom of regarding the capital as representative of the whole nation.”iv The news media often uses Washington, London, Peking, and other capital cities in the same way today.
This end-time national conversion was predicted by Jeremiah (31:31-34) and Paul. In Romans 11:25-27, Paul wrote, “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.’”
When Israel rejected Messiah at his First Advent, a judicial blindness came upon the nation. Paul refers to it as “blindness in part” because individual Jews are still being saved as they open their hearts to the grace of God and believe on Christ. Paul is a shining example of this. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:15-16, “Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” The Old Testament is filled with revelation concerning Christ, but Jewish scholars cannot discern that revelation because of this judicial blindness.v For those who do turn to the Lord, the veil is removed, and they can see the revelation of Jesus in passages like Zechariah 12. Otherwise, they reject the true meaning of the scriptures.
But as a nation, Israel is blinded to the truth of the gospel. That blindness is removed in Zechariah 12:10. When that veil is removed, Paul says in Romans 11:26, “all Israel will be saved.” The whole nation will receive Jesus as their Messiah. The work of the cross will be effectual for every Jew at that time. That is being described in Zechariah 12:10-14.
The timing of this national conversion is at the end of the Tribulation period.vi The Jews have been prepared for this event through the refining process of the Great Tribulation. Zechariah 13:8-9 talks about their preparation and the remnant that is left for this spiritual transformation: “‘And it shall come to pass in all the land,’ Says the Lord, ‘That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
The result of God’s end-time salvation of the Jews is summarized in that last statement: “I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” Each one will have been converted. The relationship individually and nationally will have been established. So, in Zechariah 12:10, the process leading to that end-result begins with God pouring out on them “the Spirit of grace and supplication.”
II. REVELATION OF CHRIST that prompts the national repentance (vs 10b)
The Holy Spirit is given to enable them to see Jesus as the source of their salvation. Zechariah 12:10 continues: “then they will look on Me whom they pierced.”vii As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:15, there is a veil over the eyes of Jewish expositors which hinders their interpretation of passages like this. They go to great lengths to avoid the obvious meaning of this verse.viii
But the Apostle John reveals the meaning when he applied this prophecy to Christ. Reporting on the death of Jesus in John 19:32-37, he wrote, “Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. 36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, ‘Not one of His bones shall be broken [a fulfillment of Ps. 34:20]ix.’ 37 And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” And that is a reference to our text in Zechariah 12:10. For those who believe in the inspiration of the New Testament, the one who is pierced is Jesus (the incarnate second person of the Trinity), and the piercing is both literal and physical.
The fact that this is Yahweh speaking has caused some to translate the word pierced (daqar) to mean wound by insulting or by violating God’s righteousness.x The idea that Yahweh could be literally pierced and perhaps killed would seem absurd without the New Testament revelation of the incarnation. Perhaps Zechariah’s generation interpreted it metaphorically in that way.xi But we have the light of the New Testament and know from John’s report that it was a prediction of the piercing of Jesus at his crucifixion.
“Then they will look on Me whom they pierced.” This is a look of faith like that recorded in Numbers 21:8-9. In that chapter, the children of Israel began to complain about their circumstances. They complained about the scarcity of water. They complained about the manna God provided, saying they loathed “this worthless bread.” In judgment on their complaining, God sent deadly serpent that began biting and killing them. They went to Moses in repentance, and God told Moses to do a strange thing. The directive is in Numbers 21:8: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’” Verse 9 is the rest of the story. “So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
Again, the New Testament helps us understand what this is all about. It was to be a type of Christ made sin for our salvation.xii Referring to this, Jesus said in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Who does not perish? “Whoever believes in Him.” The look must be a believing look; it must be a look of faith.
Israel will look upon Christ “whom they pierced” with faith in their hearts because of the influence of the Holy Spirit. Like doubting Thomas, when they see the scars in his hands and the tear in his side, they will believe. They will recognize Jesus as their Messiah. They will realize the terrible crime of his death; that they killed their Messiah.xiii And for centuries, generation after generation, they scorned his name. This realization of the national sin and their individual part in it will initiate the mourning described in the remainder of the chapter.
III. NATURE OF ISRAEL’S REPENTANCE that leads to salvation (vs 10c-14)
First, the mourning will be about Messiah. Look carefully at the verse 10: “then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him.” The mourning is not just a general sorrow about circumstances. The mourning is about Messiah and their participation in his rejection and crucifixion. “They will look on Me whom they pierced . . . they will mourn for Him.” As a nation they rejected him and demanded his crucifixion. As individuals they refused him over the centuries, rejected him, and even scorned the name of Jesus. All are guilty. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”xiv In fact, every sinner is culpable. You and I are part of the fallen race that has gone our own way.xv My redemption and your redemption demanded his substitutionary death. This is sorrow over my sin against the one who loved me and gave himself for me.xvi This is mourning over my rebellion against God’s rightful authority over my life. This is mourning over sin against God that resulted in the piercing, the substitutionary death of Christ.
Wicked people mourn. They mourn for themselves. They mourn when their finances crash. They mourn when their spouse dies. They mourn when their careers fail. They mourn over personal tragedies. The mourning in our text is not just a generic mourning over common losses in life. It is a mourning “for Him” who was pierced for our salvation. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul distinguished between godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10). “The sorrow of the world” can actually harden the heart and fill it with bitterness, depending on how the individual responds to the loss. The mourning in our text is a sorrow that “produces repentance leading to salvation.”
This mourning is intense. It comes from the depth of the heart. Deeper than mere ceremony. A deep work of repentance by the Holy Spirit. Zechariah 12:10 begins the description: “Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” The grief for an only son or a firstborn in that culture had become proverbial.xvii The future of the family line looked first the firstborn, and the loss was felt even more intensely if it was an only son. To say that the mourning would be “as one mourns for his only son,” was a way to communicate the intensity of the mourning.
Then in verse 11 another example is used to reveal the depth of the grief: “In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” The previous examples brought to mind the personal sorrow of losing a son. This example highlights the grief at a national level. Hadad Rimmon was probably an obscure village near Megiddo. Jerome identified it as such, although it is impossible to prove using historical records.xviii Zechariah is referencing to the national mourning over the death of King Josiah who was wounded in the Valley of Megiddo and died in Jerusalem. Second Chronicles 35:24-25 records the mourning that followed his death.xix “So he died, and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah. And to this day all the singing men and the singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations. They made it a custom in Israel; and indeed they are written in the Laments.” The national mourning continued in the days of the Chronicler which was near the time that Zechariah wrote our text.xx So this would be a very familiar illustration for Zechariah’s immediate audience. “This is the experience of Psalm 51 on a national scale.”xxi
The change in pronoun from “Me” to “Him” in verse 10 does not mean a change in the subject. It is the Lord who pours out “the Spirit of grace and supplication.” It is the Lord who was pierced. And it is the Lord who is the “Him” they are mourning over. This is simply a stylistic shift that is common in the Hebrew language. Merrill explains, “From YHWH’s viewpoint it is ‘Me’ that is the focus; from the standpoint of the people it is ‘Him.’ Such a transition from one person to another is not at all uncommon in Hebrew composition, especially in poetic and prophetic language (GKC 144p).”xxii
So, Zechariah communicates the intensity of the mourning using the grief over the death of an only son, a firstborn son, and King Josiah. That covers personal, family, and national loss.
The national repentance will be universal as well as intense. All are guilty. All have their part in the crime. The royal line, the priestly line, and the common citizen are all culpable. Zechariah uses the head of the royal line, David, and a lesser figure, Nathan, in the royal line to illustrate the inclusiveness of that category in Israel. Then he uses the head of the priestly line, Levi, and a lesser figure, Shimei, to include all the priests. All the leadership in Israel will participate in this repentance. Look at verses 12 and 13: “And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves.”
Nathan is the son of David from whom Zerubbabel was descended (Luke 3:27, 31). Shimei was the grandson of Levi (Num. 3:17-18). Following Luther’s understanding of this, Keil (in loco) clarifies why Zechariah presented the families in this way: “Of the two tribes he mentions one leading family and one subordinate branch, to show that not only all the families of Israel in general seized with the same grief, but all the separate branches of those families.”xxiii Therefore, this repentance will be led by the political and priestly national leadership.
But it will include all the families and individuals in Israel. Zechariah 12:14 adds, “all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.” To use Paul’s words in Romans 11:26, “And so all Israel will be saved.”
The repentance will occur at a national level, but it will be a personal mourning as well. Each family will mourn over their sin and unbelief. Each individual will experience deep sorrow and repentance. That’s what Zechariah is communicating when he says in the passage, “every family by itself” “and their wives by themselves.” The closest of all human relationships is that between a husband and wife. But true repentance must happen in each individual heart. The wife cannot rely on the husband’s repentance to reconcile her to God. From the heart, she must personally acknowledge her sin and repent. So it is with the husband. Children are accountable for their level of understanding as well. At a very young age, the conviction of the Holy Spirit can awaken the conscience and lead them to repentance.
Romans 14:12 reminds us, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Every individual will stand before the judgment of God and give account of the decisions he or she made in life. Of course, the most important of these is the decision to receive Christ as your Savior. No one else can do that for you. A godly grandmother can pray for your salvation, but you must receive that salvation. Being born in a godly home is a great advantage. But salvation does not come through biological family genes. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). The example and training from a godly parent actually increase the accountability. “To whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48).
So the question we must each individually answer is: What is your personal relationship with God? Have you bowed to his authority over your life? Have you humbled yourself and asked forgiveness for your sins? Have you embraced Christ as your only hope of salvation? We can’t save ourselves. We need a Savior, and God has provided the perfect Savior. His name is Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross has made a way for you to be saved, to be right with God, to live with God in heaven forever. Biblical salvation is a very personal thing. And even though the whole nation is repenting, every individual in that nation must acknowledge his own sin and turn from it.
In Matthew 5:4 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”xxiv This mourning over sin is an essential part of salvation.xxv It is followed by the comfort of forgiveness and reconciliation with God. But the mourning over sin cannot be avoided.xxvi It is essential to true repentance. I tremble to think of the multitudes in church today who have joined an organization, perhaps even serving in one way or another, but have never had a true conversion. They have never seen their sin in the light of God’s commandments and authority.xxvii They have never seen their sin as a violation of God’s love and mercy. They are trying to be good people. But they have never personally experienced what Zechariah is describing in our text.
Conclusion:
Zechariah identifies three elements of true conversion that must happen for a person to be genuinely saved.xxviii
(1)God must place on that person “the Spirit of grace and supplication.” Only the Holy Spirit can convince us of the sinfulness of our sin.xxix Only he can open a heart to the salvation that God offers through Christ. God may use us to bring the gospel to people. Romans 10:14 asks, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” The message is essential to the salvation process. But the Holy Spirit must awaken the conscience and open the eyes to that truth.
(2) Biblical repentance must occur in conjunction with a revelation of Jesus as the Savior. Zechariah 12:10 says, “then they will look on Me whom they pierced.” Notice the sequence. First the Holy Spirit awakens the soul, “then.” The Holy Spirit enables us to see Christ as pierced, as crucified, for our salvation. He did not just die as a good man or even as a martyr. He was both of those. But for evangelical repentance to occur, we must look on him as pierced for our salvation. We must know he died as our substitute. We must know he paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. As Isaiah said, “But He was wounded [pierced] for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.”xxx It was your sins that put him on the cross. It was my sin that put him on the cross. The penalty had to be paid, and he paid it. Until we see our sin in that light, we will not truly repent unto salvation. We may have regret for the consequences of our actions. Judas regretted betraying Jesus. But he did not mourn for his sin as we see Israel doing in our text. Godly sorrow that leads to biblical repentance must see the sin in the light of God’s love—a love that caused Christ to lay down his life for you.
(3) When we see our sin in that light, we will mourn—we will have sorrow in our hearts for what we have done. We will not justify ourselves as the victim of society or environment. Our sorrow and our turning will be from attitudes and behaviors that offend a loving God. Our mourning will be “as one mourns for his only son.” It will be deep; it will be heart-felt.
Have you experienced that kind of repentance? It is a repentance, not to be repented of. It is mourning that opens the door to God’s forgiveness and comfort. Out of infinite love, God is calling you to himself. His invitation is genuine. Will you turn your life over to him today? If you will, you will never regret it.
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
ii Cf. 1 John 4:19; Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019), 292-294.
iii Some scholars say “the Spirit of grace and supplication” is just a persuasion from the Lord (Merrill, 291). However, Zechariah 12:10 is using terminology similar to Joel 2:28-29, and Peter (Acts 2:16-18) identifies that with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Cf. Heb. 10:29; Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, The NIV Application Commentary, 485; Feinberg, God Remembers, 178.
iv Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Zech. 12:10. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Cf. Unger, 215.
v Cf. John 5:39; Luke 24:27.
vi “It is to be noted that the remnant of Romans 11:26 is not converted until the second advent of Christ. . . .” J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, 298.
vii His wounding is also prophesied in Isaiah 53:5: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities . . .“ (NIV).
viii For a review of these misguided interpretations, see Baron, Zachariah, 438-444.
ix Since the Passover lamb was a type of Christ slain for the sin of the world, Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 also predict this.
x Cf. Merrill, 293. The Septuagint even translated the Hebrew dagar with the Greek katorcheomai which means to “treat despitefully” (LS Greek Lexicon). But Feinberg points out, “Of the eleven occurrences of this verb in the Old Testament, not one is susceptible to this interpretation.” Feinberg, 179.
xi Duguid understands it that way but acknowledges John 19:34, 37 instructs Christians that a literal piercing of Christ is being predicted. Duguid, A Study Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, 167. But strangely, even with the New Testament revelation, Leupold (p. 237) insists that this must be taken figuratively since “God cannot be literally pierced.”
xii Cf. Second Corinthians 5:21.
xiii In Acts 2:10 Peter addressed the Jewish leaders saying, “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel.” Then he characterized Jesus as the one “whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.” Nationally the Jews are guilty of his death. But the gentile Romans are the ones who executed the crucifixion. And in one since all humanity is guilty of the rebellion that required his substitutionary death.
xiv Rom. 3:23 KJV.
xv Isaiah 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
xvi Cf. Gal. 2:20. “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Ps. 51:4).
xvii This is easily confirmed in Jer. 6:26 and Amos 8:10. Of course, the loss of an only son would bring to mind in the Hebrew culture the obedience of Abraham to sacrifice his only son (Gen. 22:2, 12,16; Heb. 11:17) which was a foreshadowing of God’s sacrifice of his only Son, Christ (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9). The loss of the firstborn in Ex. 11:6 was also in the memory of the Hebrew people.
xviii Cf. Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Zech. 12:11. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.; Baron, 451; Leupold, 240. After analyzing alternative interpretations, Merrill writes, “It might be best in the final analysis to assume that there was a place by this name at or near Megiddo, one perhaps marking the spot where Josiah fell, and that it was there that the periodic lamentations for the godly king took place.” Merrill, 296. The idea supposed by Boda (pp. 486-487) that Zechariah is comparing the morning in this text to the pagan practice of mourning the god of Tammuz in the Baal cult should be rejected. In the light of the strong condemnation of idolatry in Zechariah 13, it is highly improbably that the prophet would use the idolatrous practice to illustrate the precious repentance of his nation. What fellowship does light have with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14-15)? Cf. Unger, 219.
xix See also 2 Kings 23:29-30.
xx Cf. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 344.
xxi Feinberg, 180-181.
xxii Merrill, 292-293.
xxiii Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Zech. 12:12. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Keil sufficiently discredits other proposed personages for Nathan and Shimei. Cf. Baron, 452-453; Merrill, 297
xxiv Notice the value Jesus places on mourning. In today’s obsession with being upbeat and positive, do we really value it like he does? Have we settled for a superficial happiness in exchange for the deep comfort, peace, and joy of being completely right with God? Could some of the weakness in the church today be explained by a failure to mourn and truly repent of sin?
xxv Even believers who try to enjoy God’s comfort without mourning over the sin in their lives will be disappointed. Today’s “Progressive Christianity” seeks to give comfort without people entering that comfort through the doorway of mourning over sin (repentance). That approach can never bring people into the deep comfort, peace, and joy of forgiveness and reconciliation with God.
xxvi The preacher does his hearers no favor when he softens the gospel message. An awakening to one’s need for a Savior must precede the offer of Jesus as that Savior. Christ did not come to boost our self-esteem; he came to save us from our sins (Matt. 1:21).
xxvii Cf. Rom. 3:20; 1 John 3:4; Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019), 173-178.
xxviii Zech. 13 adds the additional elements of cleansing and separation from sinful behavior which accompany the biblical repentance described in Zechariah 12:10-14..
xxix Cf. John 16:7-11.
xxx Isaiah 53:5.
