Zechariah 12:1-14

As Zechariah reveals the future plans of God for the nation of Israel he takes us on a vision of the many up and downs of the history of this nation.  The previous chapter was perhaps the culmination or low point in the history of the people.  However, immediately following that chapter of despair and destruction we come to this chapter of hope.  God does still have a plan for the nation that is far better than any of the blessings they have received to this point in their history.  Zechariah sees a day when this nation will not only have strength and security as they are victorious in battle; but he sees a day when the hearts of the people will be softened before the Lord and they will mourn over their sin and enter into a real relationship with Messiah.  As wonderful as peace and prosperity may be in our lives, there is nothing to compare with the joy of having our sins forgiven and being rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ.

A PROMISE OF POWER: In the previous chapter we saw an Israel that was defeated and a nation that was completely obliterated.  This destruction likely was referring to the judgment of the Roman Empire that has already taken place with a vision to the coming judgment of the revived Roman Empire that will take place in the future during the tribulation under the reign of Anti-Christ.  However, this state of weakness and devastation will not last forever.  Zechariah also sees a day when the nation’s strength becomes greater than ever; a day when the weakest warrior is like King David.  The nation will be like a heavy stone that nobody can pick up and remove.  Israel will be like an iron pot in the midst of a fire.  The wood will burn out before the integrity of the pot is compromised.  Israel will be like a torch of fire in the middle of stacks of wheat.  All the nations will rise up against her and try to destroy her but God will make her like a consuming fire and all of these nations will be destroyed in their attempt to destroy her.

A RESTORATION THROUGH REPENTANCE: As great as the victory over the nations of the world will be, it is nothing in comparison to the blessing of being restored to the Lord through God’s grace and repentance.  The nation will one day recognize that Jesus Christ is truly the Messiah and that they had crucified Him so many year ago and have lived in rejection of Him for all this time.  On that day their spiritual eyes will be opened and they will know that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  They will trust Him as their Savior and will find forgiveness in His grace.  This will bring about a national repentance that will be accompanied by mourning such has never been seen before.  The will mourn over the generations lost to unbelief and the suffering that they have needlessly faced for so many years because of their spiritual blindness.  They will mourn because of the humiliation of being loved so much in light of their own rejection of the Lord.  God’s grace will win the day and the nation will be forgiven.  None of us ever deserve forgiveness of our sin.  Our consistent reaction to the grace of God in our lives ought to be one of mourning before the Lord over our sin.  God waits patiently and longingly for us to repent an mourn over sin so that we might experience the true joy of our salvation.