The Promise of the Spirit (Zechariah 12:10-14)

The prophecy is concerned with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We may want to ask, ‘Who is the outpourer?’ We are told in verse ten that it is the One whom they have pierced, which is reference to Jesus and his crucifixion. In fact, the verse says that it is Jesus who is speaking here – note the use of ‘when they look on me’. So that description indicates that it will involve those who crucified him or at least caused it to happen.

The apostle John twice makes use of this descriptive prediction. One is found in John 19:37: ‘And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”’ John mentions this in connection to the action of the soldier who pierced Jesus to ensure that he was truly dead. And we know that the group of soldiers on duty that day had already pierced his hands and feet. They came to confess shortly after that Jesus was the Son of God. So their looking had transforming results. John would have seen their look since he was present at the cross.

The other reference of John is Revelation 1:7: ‘Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.’ That is a reference to the second coming of Jesus, and John chooses to specify a particular group’s reaction out of all the responses of all the tribes of the earth – those who pierced him. Whatever John means by their specification, it is obvious that they will see a very different Jesus from the One they pierced.

Neither of John’s usages of the prediction focus on the exact consequence that Zechariah mentions, which is a reminder that a biblical prophecy can have different applications. Zechariah’s prediction includes communal Jewish repentance over what they have done. His description describes what took place on the Day of Pentecost when most of those present had also been in Jerusalem when the crucifixion occurred, and as we know Peter in his address to those people charged them with these words, ‘this Jesus … you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men’ (Acts 2:23).

Yet we can also accept that what took place on that day is similar to what happens whenever the Spirit comes on a person, whether as an individual or as a member of a group, at other times, even when a spiritual revival takes place. So there are different ways of considering this description.

An important day

The coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was a significant event in God’s plan of redemption. There are several such days in biblical history. For example, there is the day when the announcement of a Saviour was made when Adam fell. There is the day when God resumed his dealings with the human race after the flood. There is the day when Abraham was called by God. There is the day when Israel was delivered from Egypt in order to meet with God at Mount Sinai. There is the day when the temple was built by Solomon as a place for worshipping God. There is the day when the Son of God came into the world. There are the days when he died, and rose, and ascended to God’s right hand in heaven. Next was the day of Pentecost, and there are other days that follow, such as when the Samaritans joined the church, and when the Gentiles joined the church.

No doubt, there is a connection between this day and the other days I have mentioned. We can see how there is a link between the message of Jesus’ triumph and the promise that was given in Eden about his victory over the devil. Or the link that there is between the promise made to Abraham, which Paul says in Galatians was about the coming of the Spirit, in order to bring spiritual blessings to the nations. Yet the clearest connection is that between the exaltation of Jesus at his ascension and his sending of the Spirit at Pentecost. In order to send the Spirit from heaven he would need to be in heaven with the authority to send him. 

We know from elsewhere in the Bible that one of the roles of the Messiah would be to work through the Spirit for the blessing of many people. In Isaiah 42, for example, the prophet gives a description of the activity of the Messiah about how he will not be discouraged as he engages in the task of bringing salvation to the world. If we only had that passage to read, we would know that this activity would take place, but we would not know when that heavenly project would begin. But this prophecy in Zechariah tells us when because it describes the first day.

The importance of this day can be seen in the way that Jesus spoke about it and stressed its significance. He told his disciples while in the upper room that he would send another Comforter to help them in their mission of serving him as his apostles. And after his resurrection and before his ascension he told them to wait in Jerusalem for a few days until he would send the Spirit that the Father had promised him. It turned out that they had to wait for ten days.

How the Spirit comes

The prophecy through its use of the phrase ‘pour out’ indicates that the Spirit would be given in great measure to the people of Israel. He would not be given as a trickle, even an ongoing one. Instead, it would be a vast amount. This too is in line with other Old Testament predictions that describe his presence as streams: ‘For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants’ (Isa. 44:3). From one point of view, the degree of outpouring can be seen in the number of converts that there were, over three thousand men.

Some versions don’t capitalise the word ‘spirit’ because their translators regard verse 10 as describing the effects of the Spirit’s arrival. He would give them such a change of heart that they would cry out to the Lord for mercy. The reason why they would do so was because they had been convicted of their sin, particularly of the sin of crucifying Jesus. Realising the need of mercy means that a person has become aware of having offended the sovereign God of heaven. Asking for mercy in this sense is not the equivalent of a needy person asking for charity. Rather it is the outlook of a condemned person who realises that his fate is entirely bound up with the response of the King he has offended by a lifelong treasonable refusal to acknowledge such authority.

Looking on the crucified Christ

What will such persons see when they look on him whom they have pierced? The Bible tells us what we can see when we go there. Initially, they and we might have seen someone who deserved his punishment because he was bad, because they had assumed he was guilty of the false charges made against him. But as they and we receive correct information from Peter at Pentecost, they and we will see a willing substitute for sinners, who travelled from the world of eternity into time, from the heights of heaven to the depth of earth. No doubt, we would travel a long way to help a relative and friend, but none travelled the distance that Jesus covered in order to take the place of sinners.

Moreover, they and we will see awful suffering. Initially they might see the terrible physical distress caused by crucifixion. Yet as they and we look closer, they and we would see something much more agonising, the sufferer’s sense of the abandonment of God, of him being there on the cross despite the fact that he had gone there in order to serve the God of salvation. They and we see one who was sent from heaven to engage in an incredible rescue mission of delivering an innumerable number of sinners from experiencing the wrath of God eternally. And whatever else can be said about the experience it is obvious that it involved suffering too deep for words.

In addition, they and we will observe that the Sufferer is full of love for the souls of sinners. They and we hear him praying for the soldiers who crucified him and asking his Father in heaven to forgive their sin. They and we also note the delight he displayed when a criminal crucified beside him expressed an interest in going to heaven and was assured that he would be there that very day along with the Sufferer. This love for sinners seems extraordinary until they and we are told that he did this throughout his life because it has been marked by fullness of love for God and man. And there he is, on the cross, willing to pay the full price for sinners to be forgiven.

Then they and we hear the Sufferer announce that he has managed to pay the penalty that was required of him. They and we hear from his lips a loud cry declaring with great authority that ‘it is finished’. It looks as if throughout his experience on the cross he was moving closer and closer to the point when he would cross this line and be forever beyond it. The penalty that he paid would last for eternity because what he paid was the amount required by the courts of heaven. His payment means that any sinner who trusts in him receives forgiveness for his sins.

As they and we look at the pierced Saviour, they and we sense that he is inviting them and us to come to him and discover the salvation that he has provided for sinners. This invitation is accompanied by another sense, which is that they and we have a personal responsibility to draw near to him. Of course, they and we know he is no longer on the cross, that his sufferings are over, that no more payment can be made. He has left the cross and returned through his resurrection to the world of glory. But although he has gone to the heights of heaven, he is available for any sinner to trust in for the salvation of his soul. They and we are being drawn to him by the cords of divine love that appeals to them and us to draw near for the pardon that they and we can receive from him. But how are they and we to do so?

Repentance expressed

The prophet highlights the significance of repentance. He describes this repentance as being like utter devastation and takes two awful examples from human experience to illustrate it (the loss of a child is one and the other may be an occasion when there was great loss in a battle when Judah was overwhelmed, and their king killed). We may not be used to thinking of repentance as devastation, but the point is not that we have done something to ourselves, but rather our sins have caused something terrible to happen to him. As they look at the cross, we are to say to ourselves, ‘Did our sins cause such great distress to the beautiful Saviour?’ Is his agony the consequence of him undergoing what I deserved?

The repentance is also an expression of bitterness as they taste something of the awfulness of their sins. What is sin? It is not a little defect that can be solved by a little adjustment on our part. Rather sin is making something ugly than once was beautiful, making something disgusting that once was appealing. What was that that once was beautiful and appealing? It is the state that we lost because of sin. We were made in the image of God, reflections of his glory. But our sins had marred that image, and the realisation of such damage is very bitter to those who have discovered it.

We can also from the described response that the ones affected want to go somewhere where they are alone with God. It does not matter who they are – they may be royalty like the house of David and Nathan or they may be religious workers like the Levites (Shimei was a descendant of Levi), but they are not exempt from the requirement of repentance. Indeed, it becomes so personal that they cannot even engage in it with those to whom they are closest in life (their spouses). The question that comes to us is whether we have ever gone to the Lord alone and confessed to him what we feel about the awfulness of our sins, and at the same time realising that we can repent and receive forgiveness because of what Jesus went through on the cross.