Todays readings.. Job 37, Zechariah 12, Revelation 14
“LOOK ON … HIM WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED”
First we note that there are no less than nine times the phrase “on that day” today occurs in just 15 verses in Zechariah Chapter 12 through to the first 2 verses of chapter 13. We note the prelude to these pronouncements, “Thus declares the LORD who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him” [12 v.1]. These words fascinate us as a way to announce the character of God, a declaration of his absolute almightiness as the originator of all that exists.
It is the first “on that day” that has particularly captivated the attention of believers throughout our lifetime. “On that day” we read, “I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.” [12 v.3]
Jerusalem was the centre of attention in the Middle East, attracting the attention of the whole world from when Israel became a nation again in 1948 after being “dead” since AD 70.
The USA tried hard to “lift” the “stone” to solve the problem the diplomatic headaches in earlier years: but made no real progress. The influences of Islamic countries have grown greater and it now seems clear that someday, maybe soon, an “explosion” will occur. The next “on that day” is when God “will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness” [v.4] Today men have invented a great variety of “vehicles” to replace the horse. They get around at great speed. What is this madness? We suspect it means totally irrational behaviour, especially in the surrounding nations, in a situation which suddenly gets totally out of control.
Now notice the declaration in the next verse. “The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts their God.” We are strongly inclined to believe this happens because of diviner intervention when God pours out on “Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him they have pierced, they shall mourn …” [v.10]
This portrays the wonder of the return of Christ, with the Jews at last recognising their Messiah. But Ch. 13 v.8,9 appear to indicate they first experience a traumatic time when God will “refine them”. There is then an incredible turnaround of events as “the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives” [14 v.4] which is where Jesus ascended from (Acts 1 v.9-12) But also “on that day there shall be a fountain opened for … the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” [13 v.1,]
The most momentous climax possible – to human history is soon to happen. Will you be there on that day?