SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/12/2016 11:14 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction to Zechariah 12
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zechariah 12
Message of the verses: This evening while traveling to our Wednesday
evening prayer service I was listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on the 12th
chapter of Zechariah which he entitled “Israel’s Final Deliverance.” At the beginning of this sermon he gives a
review of the book of Zechariah, and he also tells his listeners the importance
of this book that we have been studying since April of this year. As mentioned we are on the last leg of this
rather lengthy study as we have to go over chapters 12-14 with the aid of
MacArthur’s sermons and then we will be finished. What I want to do in this SD is quote the
outline that MacArthur gives in his message and then give a brief outline of
what we will be looking at as we once again go through this 12th
chapter of Zechariah.
“Now you'll remember chapter 11 for just a moment. We looked at chapter 11 in the last several weeks and we noted that that chapter deals with the coming of Jesus Christ. And He is pictured here as a shepherd. And you remember that we saw in the first part of the chapter through verse 14 the story of Jesus' first coming. He came as the true shepherd and He was rejected. And then we saw in verses 15 to 17 that after Israel rejected the true shepherd, they would accept the false shepherd. That in the end time would come the one called the foolish shepherd who was Antichrist and Israel would accept him.
“So, basically what we want to remind ourselves of
in chapter 11 is that Israel refused Christ at His first coming. They refused
the true shepherd and will accept the false one. Now as you move into chapter
12 we find that at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the very opposite happens
and Israel receives the true shepherd. In fact, in verse 10 it says that they
shall look on Me whom they've pierced and mourn for Him as one mourns for his
only son and be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his
first born.
“The first time Jesus comes in chapter 11 He's
rejected. The second time Jesus comes in chapter 12 He is accepted. And those
are the distinguishing elements in these two chapters.
“Now let me give you another note for understanding
the sweep of the book. The first eight chapters of Zechariah basically deal
with Zechariah's time. They have prophetic implication but basically they deal
with Zechariah's time. And then all of a sudden from chapter 9 to 14 you have
this sweeping prophetic picture of the end time. So 9 to 14 is really the vast
picture of the end time, the closing of redemptive history.
“Now from that section, 9 to 14, there are two
parts. Chapters 9 to 11 deal with the first coming of Christ, chapters 12 to
14, the Second Coming. So that will just help you dividing the book. The first
part of the book is basically historic. The second part is basically
futuristic. And of the futuristic part there are two sections, one dealing with
the first coming of Christ--9 to 11--the second dealing with the Second
coming--12 to 14. So, as we come to chapter 12 we are coming to the Second
Coming of Christ, His return to earth to set up His Kingdom.
“Now particularly, of course, Zechariah's point in
chapters 12, 13 and 14 is to to show that when Christ returns, Israel will be
converted and the Kingdom will be established...God's promised Kingdom. And
that really is the subject of 12, 13 and 14. There's so much prophecy here and
it is so loaded that there's no way we can really cover everything. In fact,
you could spend the next five years preaching on 12 to 14 and do an entire
theological study of all of the doctrines of last things and not really ever
leave this section cause they're all touched on right here. Dr. Fineberg in his
commentary on Zechariah says, quote: "As a portion of the prophetic
Scriptures, it is second to none in importance in this book or in any other Old
Testament book. It is indispensable to an understanding of the events of the
last days for Israel, the time of the great Tribulation and the establishment
of God's Kingdom and His rule."
“The actual events which are presented here include
the world confederacy against Jerusalem, the victory of God's people empowered
of the Lord, the conviction of Israel nationally by the Spirit of God, the
presentation of Christ as their rejected Messiah, the national day of
atonement, the cleansing of the hearts of the nation, the purging of the land
of idolatry and false prophets, parenthetically the crucifixion of Messiah, the
time of Jacob's trouble, the partial success of the nations invading Palestine,
the appearance of the Messiah for His people, their rescue, His coming with His
saints, the changed and renovated holy land, the establishment of the Messianic
Kingdom, the punishment of the nations for their feudal assault on Israel, the
celebration of the Kingdom feast, the feast of tabernacles, the complete restoration
of the people of God to a holy nation, etc. Now that's a lot of prophetic theme
for one little section 12 to 14. But it's all here touched on, a very
expressive and vital area of prophecy.
“Now, sixteen times...I'm still giving you some
notes so you'll understand the thrust of the chapter...sixteen times in these
three chapters, 12, 13 and 14, is the phrase "in that day." Sixteen
times it says "in that day." So we know one thing for sure, this whole
section is about that day. There's no question about that. And what day? The
day of the Lord. The whole picture focuses on the apocalyptic day of the Lord
when history resolves into the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.
“All right, now you've got the picture. Chapters 1
to 8 of Zechariah, basically historic; chapters 9 to 14, futuristic prophecy;
chapters 9 to 11 detail the first coming of Christ; chapters 12 to 14 the
Second Coming, particularly as it relates to the salvation of Israel and the
establishment of the Kingdom. Now, let's look at chapter 12 now that you've got
all of that completely understood.
“As we look at this there are four features of
Israel's coming deliverance and conversion, four features, four major events: the siege of Israel,
the shielding of Israel, the sorrow of Israel and the salvation of Israel.
These are dealt with in the twelfth chapter. Beloved, this is exciting
material. This is not only exciting to the Jew to hear, and there certainly
ought to be some of us pronouncing this and proclaiming it to Jews around the
world so that they will know what God has planned for them, but it is exciting
to me to know that God is in control of history. Let's look first of all at the
siege of Israel in the first three verses.”
10/12/2016 11:25 PM
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