This morning's text of scripture
is Zechariah chapter 13, verses 7 through 9. Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, against the man who is my fellow, declares
Jehovah Almighty. Strike the shepherd, and the
sheep will be scattered. I will turn my hand against the
little ones. In the whole land, declares the
Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third
shall be left alive. and I will put this third into
the fire and refine them as one refined silver and test them
as gold is tested. They will call on my name and
I will answer them. I will say, they are my people
and they will say, the Lord is my God. 14 times in chapters
12 through 14, we find the phrase on that day. There can be no
question as to which day the prophet was speaking of for the
Lord Himself revealed it. In Matthew chapter 26 verse 31
we read, Then said Jesus unto them, All you shall be offended
because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. Zechariah's prophecy refers to
none other day than that day in which the Lord God made the
soul of Jesus Christ to be an offering for sin. when justice
exacted the awful penalty of our sin from the Lord Jesus Christ. Three things are associated with
that day. First, the suffering of the Savior.
Second, the scattering of the sheep. And thirdly, the purifying
of the church. Now the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus is holy ground, so we must never treat it as common ground. We must never approach it merely
as an intellectual study. It is the most momentous event
in history. All of God's purpose hinges on
this event. In the book of the Revelation,
it was as the Lamb slain that Jesus had the right as the Lion
of the tribe of Judah to take from the hand of God the book
sealed with seven seals and open it. Furthermore, our eternal
salvation is founded upon this work. No cross, no salvation. No bloodshed, no forgiveness
of sin. There is no ground holier, no
scene more awesome, no event more telling of the glory of
the living God than the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is a work
of God, you know. The one who says he will smite
the sheep identifies himself as Jehovah Almighty. To the eye
of the flesh, Christ's crucifixion may appear to be the work of
the Jews and the Romans, but actually it was God's work. God
did it. It was according to his purpose.
It is written in Isaiah 53 10, it pleased Jehovah to crush him. The crucifixion of Christ was
a work of God's justice. O sword, it is written, Awake,
O sword, says Zechariah. Psalm 145 verse 17 says, The
Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works. There is nothing that Jehovah
does that is not righteous and holy. What Christ did on Calvary
was done so that God could justly save His people. Before God could
do anything for us, He had to do something for Himself. Romans
chapter 3 verses 25 and 26 says, God has set forth Jesus Christ
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his justice for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
his justice, that he might be just and the justifier of him
which believes in Jesus. God put it this way in Isaiah
chapter 45 verse 21, There is no God else beside me, a just
God and a Savior. There is none else beside me. Here is the hallmark of the gospel
of God, justice. There are gods invented by men
who are just, and there are gods invented by men who are merciful.
But Jehovah alone has designed a method in which justice is
fully magnified and mercy given free reign. Mercy and truth are
met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. What a glory to God. The crucifixion
of Jesus Christ was a work of the Lord's will and pleasure.
Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10 says, Yet it pleased the Lord to crush
him. He has put him to grief. And this work was a work against
Jesus Christ. All that God did to redeem His
people, He did to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the substitute
for God's people. All that God would have done
to His people because of their sin, He did to His Son instead. Just who is Jesus Christ that
God could set Him up as a sacrifice of atonement for sinners? Well,
He is the man, the man Christ Jesus. Only a man can substitute
for men. And what a man he is. And let
us realize and emphasize that he still is a man. Never a man
spoke like Christ. Never a man lived like Christ. Never a man loved both God and
men like Christ. Never a man worshiped like Christ.
Never a man worked like Christ. Never a man helped like Christ. He was and is the Father's delight. Of all the men who have ever
lived, he is the only one who deserved good from God, the only
one who gave to God and could have expected some recompense
in return, the only one who deserved glory, honor, and praise because
of how he lived. Yet what does he receive? A Waco
sword against my shepherd. Jesus Christ is the God-man. God calls this shepherd, the
man who is my fellow, the man who is close to me. Christ is
close to God in desire and will. He said, it is my food to do
the will of him who sent me. Christ is close to God in character. Hebrews 1, verse 3 says, The
Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation
of His being. Christ is close to God in nature.
Colossians 2, verse 9 says, For in Christ all the fullness of
the Deity lives in bodily form. In John 14, verse 9, Christ says,
Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. And in John 10, verse
30, He says, I and my Father are one." Now this is the essential
meaning of the text, the man who is my fellow. The word fellow
means associate, companion, a peer, an equal. It is declaring that
Jesus Christ is both God and man. God rose up against himself
in his Son in order to be just in saving his people. Jesus Christ
is the shepherd of the sheep. The Lord is my shepherd, wrote
David, and that Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. The shepherds of
Israel had proven false, so God chose a shepherd, his shepherd,
and struck him down. How odd do the ways of God seem
to us, but their apparent oddity is simply because God's ways
are higher than our ways. As the shepherd, Jesus Christ
knows his sheep. He loves His sheep, and He has
laid down His life for His sheep. Well, then we read that the sheep
are scattered. The sheep mentioned in Zechariah are the disciples
of the Lord Jesus, all of whom forsook Him and fled when He
was arrested. Without a shepherd, sheep scattered. Oh, how we need our shepherd,
the Lord Jesus. Yet according to Christ, it was
necessary that we be deprived of Him for a while, that we might
receive Him forever. Then we read something that sounds
quite strange. Zechariah writes, the Lord's hand is turned against
the little ones. The little ones are the descendants
of those to whom Zechariah wrote, the Jews of the Lord's day. Because
of the Jews' rejection of Christ, God brought judgment on them.
Now the purpose of this judgment was to reveal the remnant according
to the election of grace. Observe that there is only a
remnant, and even they go through the trial. But the purpose of
the trial is different for the remnant than it is for the common
stock. You see, God brings trouble to
goats to drive them away or to destroy them. He brings trouble
to the sheep to draw them near. He sends goats into trouble.
but brings his sheep into it. As the three Hebrew children
were not alone in the fire of the furnace, so the Lord's people
are never alone in their troubles. Isaiah chapter 43 verses one
through five says this, but now thus says the Lord that created
you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by name. You
are mine. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon you. For I am the Lord your God, the
Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Saba, for you. Since you were precious in my
sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you. Therefore
will I give men for you and people for your life. Fear not, for
I am with you." Now the sheep are revealed in this. They call
Him their God, even in their time of We could say especially
in times of trouble. Zechariah's prophecy says, they
shall call on my name and they shall say, the Lord is my God. I do not know of any time when
the psalmist was in trouble that he pled to the Lord on the basis
that he was one of God's people. Rather, he always pled to the
Lord that the Lord was his God. God calls them His people through
the gospel. It is written, I will say, it
is my people. As God tries His people in order
to prove and purify them, He speaks the word of comfort to
them through the gospel. It is as we listen to or think
upon the gospel that the Spirit bears witness with our spirits
that we are the sons of God and we are moved to cry, Abba, Father. How awesome are God's ways! He
smites the shepherd, and scatters the sheep, and turns his hand
against the little ones, and in so doing saves his people
with a neverlasting salvation. Until next week, the grace of
the Lord be with you.