It’s three weeks until Easter. In these three weeks we are going to look at the suffering of Jesus. To do this we’re going to look at prophecies of His suffering from the prophet Zechariah.
God had allowed the Babylonians to conquer Israel as punishment. After 70 years, they were released. Ezra brought some of the Israelites back to Jerusalem. Haggai and Zechariah came along as prophets who would help lead the rebuilding of the city. Haggai was a bit more practical and focused on the current times. Zechariah was looking to the future and had visions.
Zechariah preached during the time of Ezra in 520 BC, encouraging the people of Israel to rebuild the temple. Zechariah told them God has a great future in store for Jerusalem. His book is like Revelation, containing visions full of strange symbols. In the final chapters of his book, he predicts a coming Shepherd/King.
God will send a Good Shepherd to lead His people. He will come from the tribe of Judah (Zechariah 10:3-4; John 10:14).
The Good Shepherd will be rejected. The Shepherd will be paid 30 pieces of silver. This money will be thrown to the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13; Matthew 26:3-4, 14-15; 27:3-7).
The Good Shepherd will be killed. Those who kill Him will look on Him and mourn (Zechariah 12:10-11; John 19:31-37; Revelation 1:7). … This one has a two-part fulfilment. The first occurred at the crucifiction. The second will occur at His second coming. …
This is not just the story of those who were there. This is our story as well. We have pierced Him with our sin and rejected Him and killed Him. We have the choice of when and what to mourn though. We can wait and mourn His second coming with regret or we can mourn our sin now in repentance (Acts 2:22-24, 37).
David Brainerd was a missionary to Native Americans and kept a journal. On August 8, 1745 (page 11), he witnessed a revival among the Native Americans that saw them mourn and cry and just be broken over their own sins, no matter how big or small.
God doesn’t want us to be sad. He wants us to choose the path that leads to joy, but to do that we must mourn our sin and repent of it. May our hearts break for our sin so we don’t mourn with regret when Jesus comes again.