Let us turn to God's Word in
the 11th chapter in the prophecy of Zachariah and verse 7. The prophecy of Zachariah chapter
11 verse 7, And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you,
O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves,
the one I called Beauty, and the other I called bands, and
I fed the flock. What we have here of course is
a response to what the Lord God Himself says by way of commandment
previously in verse 4, Thus saith the Lord, My God feeds the flock
of the slaughter. And here we have then the obedience
of that good shepherd, I will feed the flock of slaughter,
even you, O God of the flock. And as we come to the words tonight,
immediately coming to the text, I want us to consider the true
shepherd, the one who is speaking, It is the Lord Jesus Christ that
is spoken of in this particular chapter and we know that on the
authority of the New Testament Scriptures. As I said this morning
when we were in Isaiah 53, we know that the suffering servant
of the Lord is none other than Jesus Christ because of what
we're told at the end of Acts chapter 8 concerning the Ethiopian
eunuch. When he asks Philip, of whom
the prophet is speaking there in Isaiah 53, the portion that
he was reading in his chariot, remember how Philip from that
very passage preached unto him Jesus. And it is the same with
regards to this 11th chapter of Zechariah. We have the words
of prophecy here in verses 12 and 13. I said unto them, If
ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they
weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said
unto me, Cast it unto the potter a goodly price that I was priced
at of them. And I took the thirty pieces
of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord."
Now those words are taken up in Matthew 27, the very portion
that we were reading this morning. And there in chapter 27 of Matthew
at verse 6, the following, we have a reference to that portion
we've just read concerning Judas who betrayed Christ for the sum
of 30 pieces of silver. And then when his conscience
troubles him, He takes the money and casts it there in the temple. We read in verse 6 of Matthew
27, the chief priest took the silver pieces and said, it is
not lawful for to put them into the treasury because it is the
price of blood. And they took cancel and brought
with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. wherefore
that field was called the field of blood unto this day. Then
was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,
saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of
him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did
value, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed
me." It is Zachariah chapter 11 that is being referred to
now I know it says that was fulfilled which was spoken by Jeremy but
the learned commentators inform us that often amongst the Jews
the name of Jeremy or Jeremiah is used in reference to all of
the prophets It's not that that statement is found in the book
that bears the name of Jeremiah, but there are those amongst the
Jews who would refer to all the prophetic ministry in the Old
Testament under the name of Jeremiah. And so we see that this chapter
and whence we take our text tonight has to do quite clearly with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we have here in the
chapter of course is a contrast between shepherds, between the
false shepherds and him who is the true shepherd. In that sense it's not dissimilar
to what we read also in Ezekiel. that very solemn 34th chapter
of Ezekiel. The word of the Lord came unto
Ezekiel, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds,
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should
not the shepherds feed the flocks. There is much that is said then
in the way of reproof. against those who were the false
shepherds of Israel. Then we come to that great promise
concerning the good shepherds. God says in verse 23, I will
set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them, even
my servant David. He shall feed them and he shall
be their shepherd. David the shepherd boy. David,
a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. the true shepherd. Verse 24, I the Lord will be
their God and my servant David, a prince among them, I the Lord
have spoken. So, as in Ezekiel 34, down here
I say in Zechariah 11 we have reproofs of false shepherds.
The words here being spoken to him who is the true shepherd,
the good shepherd of his people. Well, before we look more particularly
at the text, consider something of the context that we find in
this chapter. Look at verse 8, for example.
He says, three shepherds also I cut off in one month, and my
soul loathes them, and their soul also abhorred me. Three shepherds. And that reminds
us of the threefold office of the Old Testament. Who were those
who were to be the shepherds of God's people? Well, there
were the prophets, and there were the priests, and there were
the princes or the kings. That's the threefold office that
God established in the Old Testament. And of course, when we come to
the New Testament, what do we see in Christ, the Good Shepherd?
He is the fulfillment of that threefold office, He is Prophet,
He is Priest, and He is King. But here, you see, we have that
word that is being spoken against those false shepherds of the
Old Testament, because alas, there were many false prophets.
and there were those priests who failed to fulfill their office. There again and again we find
some of the prophets speaking against not only the false prophets
but also those who were false priests. You see, for example,
we go right back to the days of Samuel. Those wicked sons
of Eli the priest, sons of Belial, wicked men, and yet occupying
the priest's office. And we know that many of the
kings in Israel and then after the division of the kingdom,
kings also in Judah were wicked kings who forsook the Lord. And so here God is rebuking them
and rejecting them. Three shepherds also I cut off
in one month and my soul holds them and their soul also abhors
me. You see, when we come to this
chapter, we come to a chapter that is really speaking of God's
judgments that were to come upon his ancient people. Zechariah
was ministering at the time of the restoration after 70 years
in exile. In that sense, he's contemporary
with a man like Ezra, the scribe. And in the first ten chapters
of the book of Zachariah we see him encouraging those who were
engaged in the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord. We have
to see his ministry in its own context, in its own historical
setting. And he is one who is raised up
of God to encourage those who were rebuilding the Temple of
God there in Jerusalem. Chapter 2, I lifted up my eyes
again, he says, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring
line in his hand. This would have been a common
sight, would it not, when they were there rebuilding the Temple
of the Lord. And then again in Chapter 3,
in verse 9, he says, Behold the stone that I have laid before
Joshua, Upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will
engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and
I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." Here is
the stone, they are rebuilding, they are engaged in building
work, seeking to re-establish the temple. In chapter 4 and
verse 9 we are told, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house, His hands shall also finish it, and they shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you, says the prophet. He speaks then in those opening
chapters, those first ten chapters, time and again to be an encourager
of those who were rebuilding. There is much that is strange
and difficult and mysterious in the language that is employed
in the book, but that is a very basic truth, is it not? That's
the period of his ministry and he seeks therefore to encourage
them in the work of rebuilding. But then, when we come to chapter
11, he speaks here more specifically
of God's judgment. Now what is God's judgment? It
is not that judgment that we read of In other of the former
prophets, when God sent them into exile for 70 years, that
judgment already passed. This is another judgment. Open
thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl,
ye fir-trees, for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are
spoiled. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for
the forest of the vintage is come down. This is the destruction
of the temple that was being rebuilt. They used cedars from
Lebanon, oaks from Baishan in the great work of the rebuilding
of the temple, but this temple also that had been encouraged
them in the building of, in those former chapters, even this temple
was also to be destroyed. It was destroyed, of course,
in the year 7th. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
at the end of his ministry speaks of that terrible judgment that
came upon the Jews when the Roman legion was laid siege to Jerusalem
under their general Titus in the year 70 and the city fell
and the temple was destroyed and what is left today we know
as the Wailing Wall there in Jerusalem. He is speaking then
of that judgment that came and why did he come? Because they
rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. They rejected the Lord Jesus
Christ. He came unto his own and his own received him They
rejected him out of God's deal. God deals in strict justice.
As we said previous times, we see it in the plagues that God
visited upon the Egyptians. God deals in kind. They made
the River Nile run with blood when they slaughtered those innocent
bait. So what does God do when he begins to send his judgment
upon them? He turns the waters throughout
Egypt into blood. And here we see God again dealing
in strict justice with those who were the rejecters of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ who is the Good Shepherd,
and what does he say here in verse 9? Then said I, I will
not feed you. That that dieth, let it die.
And that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off. and let the
rest eat every one the flesh of another. Oh, a terrible judgment
that befell them there in Jerusalem in that year of Seventy. They were those who preferred
to have scribes and Pharisees to serve as their shepherds. They rejected Christ. They followed
the scribes and the Pharisees. What followed? He says in verse
16, Lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land which shall not visit
those that be cut off. Neither shall seek the young
one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still,
but shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces. Look at verse 5, the end of verse
5 there, O shepherds, pity them not. Their own shepherds pity
them not. These were the shepherds that
they chose. These were the men that they preferred to the Lord
Jesus Christ. But in contrast to those wicked
men, those wicked shepherds. How the Lord Jesus Christ is
that good shepherd. How the Lord God speaks to the
good shepherd. Here in verse 4, Thus saith the
Lord, My God, feed the flock of the slaughtered. And Christ
is obedient. As we said this morning, He is
God's righteous servant. He is the servant of the Lord
in the eternal covenant, and there He serves God. This is
my beloved Son, says God, in whom I am well pleased. Does God issue a commandment? Christ obeys. and I will feed
the flock of slaughter. Even you are poor of the flock. And I took unto me two slaves,
one I called Beauty, the other I called Vance, and I fed the
flock of slaughter." The Lord Jesus, you see, is the obedient
one. The Lord Jesus is that Good Shepherd. I am the Good Shepherd, He says.
the Good Shepherd give us his life for the sheep. Therefore does my Father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me. I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down of myself. I have power to take it again.
This commandment, this commandment have I received of my Father. He is ever the good shepherd
and he has his instruments. He has his instruments. We sang
in the Metrical Psalm, did we not? The familiar words of the
23rd Psalm, thy rod and thy staff, thy comfortment. All Christ has
a rod and what does Christ do with the rod? He lays his rod
upon his children. He chastens his people. He doesn't
spare the rod. whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son who he receiveth. Isn't that a mark
of sonship? If ye be without chastening,
then are ye bastards, it says. The Lord chastens his people,
corrects them. He has a right, and we are to
hear the right, and do what the point is. But he also has a staff,
he doesn't just come in the way of correction, he also then supports
to his people, he supports them. What is over them? He strengthens
them. He gives them eternal life, does
he not? I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No man is able to pluck them out of my hand. He said, My Father
which gave them Me is greater than all. No man can pluck them
out of My Father's hand. They have that double security.
They are secure in the hand of Christ, but not only that, they
are secure in the hand of His Father. Oh, Christ is that one
then who is the Good Shepherd, the one who is speaking in this
chapter, the one who speaks in this particular text. And I will
feed the flock of slaughters, even you, O poor of the flock.
And I took unto me two scales, the one I called Beauty, the
other I called Bands, and I fed the flock. consider this block of slaughter. I want first of all to say something
with regards to these two banners, these two banners, or these two staves, these two
staffs we might say. They are really the instruments
of the foolish shepherd that we have here. in contrast to
the instruments of the good shepherd. The good shepherd has his rod
and his staff. But what do we read concerning
these? The instruments of the foolish shepherd. They were to
be broken. They were to be broken. Verse
10, I took my staff, even beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might
break my covenant which I had made with all the people, and
it was broken in that day. And so the poor of the flock
that waited upon me knew that it was the words of the Lord. And then the other one, the other
staff. Verse 14, Then I cut asunder
mine other staff, even bands, that I might break the brotherhood
between Judah and Israel. As I've already said, there is
much that is strange and mysterious. There are remarkable visions
that we read of in this book of Zechariah. If you would go
back and read through chapters like chapters 5 and 6, you will
soon discover that fact. The book is symbolic. And what
we have here, you see, at the end of our text, concerning the
two states, beauty and bands, this language is symbolic language. What is the significance of it?
Well, let's just look for a while at the staff which is called
beauty. What does it represent? What
does it represent? It represents something. Does
he not represent to us a fleshly, beauty, legal holiness? When God takes his people in
hand, what does he do? He makes them to see something
of their sins. They have to learn from the Lord
of God what sin is. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. There can be no righteousness
in our own observation of the law of God. There's no hope in
anything we would do in regards to God's holy commandments. And the law of course is good.
And the commandment is holy and just and good. There's no fault
in the law of God. All the fault is in us. When the law is applied, we're
made to see what we are and to feel something of what we are.
It's administration. In that sense, administration
of condemnation, it's administration of death. And though a man like Saul of
Tarsus was taught that lesson so very well, was he not? Romans
chapter 7. This man who has The Pharisee
of the Pharisees said concerning the righteousness which is in
the Lord, he was blameless. He thought that. He thought he
was a blameless man, a holy man. And then God taught him differently. God taught him otherwise. God
showed him what his heart was, full of pupils, full of all sinful,
wicked, evil desire. full of all covetousness and
so he discovered that there was no beauty in himself. When God
convinces and convicts the sinner he makes him to see that he has
no beauty. Look at what we are told in one
of the Psalms. In Psalm 39 and verse 11, David
says, when thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. Surely every
man is vanitant. Selah. Thou makest his beauty
to consume away. This is what this staff called
beauty sets before us here the vanity of the creature reminds
us of all that fleshly legal holiness which is nothing at
all really in the sight of God we're all as an unclean thing
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all fade
like a leaf and our iniquities like the wind says Isaiah they
carry us away And we have to learn that lesson.
This is how God feeds his people, is it not? I took unto me two
slaves, one I called Beauty, the other I called Buns, and
I fed the flock. God, when he feeds the flock
of slaughter, he makes them to see what they are as sinners.
But then there's another staff. These are the staffs of the foolish
shepherds, of course. Or the foolish shepherd would
teach that there is some hope in self, something for self to
do, some work to be performed, some righteousness that we can
accomplish whereby we merit some favour from God. But what of this other band,
or this other staff rather, which goes by the name of bands? Well that is destroyed also.
Verse 14, I cut asunder my mother's staff, even bands, that I might
break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. Ah, the brotherhood between Judah
and Israel. Remember there was a division
in the kingdom after the death of Solomon in the first book
of Kings. Solomon is the man who comes
to the throne after the death of his father David. But when
Solomon dies, Rehoboam, his son, is to become king. But there
is a sad division in 1 Kings chapter 12. And ten of the tribes
rebel against Rehoboam. Rehoboam behaves foolishly. and
he causes that division and the northern tribes choose Jeroboam
son of Naboth to be their king and so there's just the two tribes
in the south with their capital at Jerusalem under Rehoboam the
tribe of Judah and the little tribe of Benjamin and that kingdom
goes under the name of Judah and then in the north there's
the ten tribes that have rebelled and they established their capital
in the city of Samaria and that goes under the name of Israel.
And here we have references to that division or an attempt to,
as it were, heal that division. And here is the Good Shepherd
who break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. Now what happened? What happened when there was
that awful division. Well, Israel in the north began to depart from God in the ways
of idolatry. There was the making of the golden
cards. We turn to 1 Kings chapter 12. We see the way in which this
man Jeroboam acts in order to ensure that the people would
remain faithful to himself. In 1 Kings 12 verse 28 whereupon
the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto
them it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy
God so Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and
he said to one in Bethel and the other put him in Dan, and
this became a sin, for the people went to worship before the One
even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places,
and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not
of the sons of Levi. He wanted to ensure, you see,
that they remained faithful to himself. He didn't want them
to go to Jerusalem for the great feast of the Lord, He thought
then they would return to the house of David. And he would
be rejected as their king, so he makes golden calves. And this
becomes an awful snare. So what is represented by Israel? Is it not apostasy? Apostate religion? False worship? Often times that
northern kingdom of Israel goes under the name of Ephraim. And
we find God sending the prophets to them, Hosea for example. And
what does Hosea say? Ephraim is joined to idols. Let
him alone. Let him alone. Leave him to his
idolatrous ways, his sinful practices. Again, Ephraim compasseth me
about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, says the
Lord God, through his servant the prophet. And here we have
it, you see, this is spoken to them. Woe to the idle shepherds,
we read. The idle shepherds. There in
verse 17. There can be no union between
those who are the true children of God Judah and those who are
but making a false profession of God and saying they worship
God and yet they are worshipping some idol of their own making so he breaks the other staff
also verse 14 I cut asunder mine other staff even bands that I
might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel or say not a
confederacy to all them who say unto thee a confederacy there
must be a separation you see there must be a separation between
those who are the true people of God and those who are false
professors This is the ministry, is it not, of the prophets? It's
the ministry of a man like Jeremiah. If ye take forth the precious
from the vial, says God, ye shall be as my mouth. If he will be
a true mouthpiece for God, a true servant of God, he must separate.
Separate between the precious and between the vial, and so
too here. I break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And we see it also in that other
portion that we read in Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 and verse 17. As for you are my flock, thus
saith the Lord God, behold I judge between cattle and cattle, between
the rams and the he-goats. Again at verse 20, Behold, I,
even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean
cattle. Verse 22, Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall
no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. A distinction is made, a separation
is made. It's the ministry of the Lord
Jesus during the course of His own earthly ministry, how time
and again there's a division amongst the people because of
Him. the division amongst the people because of his saints.
They're separating. And this is how the true flock
of God, the flock of slaughter as it is called, is fed. By the breaking of these staffs,
I took unto me two staves, the one I called beauty, the other
I called bands, and I fed the flock. How did he feed the flock
with these? By breaking them. By breaking them. But then let
us come to the poor souls themselves as I have spoken of here at the
beginning of the verse. I will feed the flock of slaughter,
even you, O poor of the flock. That is the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd,
who does he take account of, who does he come to minister
to? Those who are poor, those who are needy. What does he say
in the course of his own earthly ministry? Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. These are the ones that he takes,
he comes not to call the righteous, he comes to call sinners to repentance. Not those self-righteous ones
who have no sense at all of their need, who imagine that they can
make themselves presentable to God and do works that are meritorious. And as it were, put God in their
debts. Not the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. No, he
comes to call the sinners. He comes to call the publicans,
those who are despised and hated and rejected. and these poor
ones so often they feel their souls to be a pride and they
feel their souls to be a pride for many things in that great 8th chapter of
Romans we find Paul there referring at the end to words that we have
in Psalm 44 as it is written for thy sake we are killed all
the day long We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. We have that statement there
in the midst of all those tremendous promises that I'm sure we're
all so familiar with concerning God's goodness to his children. Do shall I anything to the charge
of God's commandments. It is God's that judges, who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that judges, rather
than he who is a negate, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us, who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sore?
Why does Paul say these things? Because this is the lot of God's
children. They are often times in tribulations,
often times in distress, many times they have to endure persecutions,
they have to suffer famine and nakedness, peril and sword, as
it is written, for thy sake. We are killed all the day long,
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But he goes on,
now in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But see what
their lot is in this world. They are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. This is the ones to whom the
Good Shepherd comes to Minister, I will feed the flock of slaughter,
he says, even you, O poor of the flock, who fear yourself
so much under assault, so often preyed upon. The promise that
he's given to Beoruk, remember, seekest thou great things for
thyself, seek them not. I will bring evil upon all flesh,
but thy life will I give unto thee for a prize. In all places
where they go, all the life is given. God gives his children
life. Doesn't that sum up really the work of the
Good Shepherd? He comes that they might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly, he says. Thy life will I give
unto thee, babe, This is that new life. This is that life of
God in the soul of a man. This is that eternal life. And
it can never be destroyed, and yet, my life will I give unto
thee for a pride, pride upon. Constantly under assault. This
is the Lord's people, they're a flock of sheep, but they're
a flock appointed for the slaughter, but the good shepherds, he takes
account of them. He ministers to them, He feeds
them, does He not? Thus saith the Lord my God, feed
the flock of the slaughter. I will feed the flock of slaughter,
even you, O poor of the flock, He says. And how does Christ,
how does Christ feed His flock? He feeds them, does He not, with
Himself? Oh, that's the great thing. As
we come now to the Lord's Supper. Let us remember those words that
we find in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel. In John we
have no account of course of the institution of the Holy Supper. But here in chapter 6 how Christ
speaks of himself as that one who is the bread of life. He's
the bread of life. And what does he say? I am the
living bread. which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verily, verily, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. and I will raise him up at the
last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. That's communion, is it
not? And we come now to that service, that simple service
of holy communion. Or that we might be favoured
then to meet the Good Shepherd and to feed upon his flesh to
feed upon his blood. I will feed the flock of slaughter,
he says, even you, O poor of the flock. May the Lord grant
his blessing. Amen.