Devotion for Holy Tuesday 15/04/2025

Zechariah 12:10 (NKJV)

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

Among the Minor prophets, the book of Zechariah contains the most prophesies about Jesus the Messiah. I will list out some examples below and dive into the deep end as we unpack the deeper meaning of these prophetic words.

In Zech 3:8, He refers to the Messiah as ‘My Servant, the Branch’. According to Zechariah 6, the focus is on the Branch's humanity rather than His divinity. ‘From His place He shall branch out’ refers to Jesus growing up in Nazareth (which means ‘Branch Town’). In Zech 9:9, the Messiah is going to come into Jerusalem riding on a humble donkey – “See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

In Zech 11:12-13 – The Messiah is to be betrayed by 30 pieces of silver.

In Zech 12:10 we find a prophecy of Judah’s victory over the nations—a victory possible because God has extended his protection to them. At that time, according to verse 10, a “spirit of grace” will come on the people as they look on God himself, “whom they have pierced,” and as they are mourning “as one weeps over a firstborn”. The phrase “God whom they have pierced” is fulfilled in John 19:37.

THE PIERCED ONE

The interesting point is that in this part of the verse, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced," The Hebrew grammar suggests that the Speaker is the first person - Yahweh, God the Father himself! This is a clear inference that the Messiah is God incarnate.

DAVID’S DESCENDANT

Another crucial point is that, as the Messiah is prophesied to be of the lineage of David, therefore, in Zechariah 12, we see five mentions of “David,” or six if we add 13:1.

This is quite significant, since David is mentioned nowhere else in Zechariah! The inhabitants of Jerusalem “shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God” (v. 8), “going before them,” indicative of leadership. The emphasis is that the “house of David” will receive grace (v. 10) as they repent and “look on me, on him whom they have pierced.” The “house of David” will mourn (v. 12), while in 13:1 they will be cleansed from sin.

All this emphasis on David and the house of David suggests messianic overtones; we are reminded of Isaiah 7, when God gave a sign to King Ahaz that is also addressed to the “house of David”—the sign of the virgin birth that finds ultimate fulfilment in the birth of Jesus.

Now, the amazing part of prophecies is that they are often fulfilled more than once. In this case, it was fulfilled in Zechariah’s time. Then, it was fulfilled in Jesus in John 19:37 some 500 years later, depicting that Jesus’ side was pierced.

We are sure that these words will be fulfilled again in the Triumphant return of Jesus to judge the living and the dead in the End times.

We read in Revelation 1:7 “Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all peoples on earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.”

How amazing and how awesome is this prophecy? It is about our God, our Saviour, and the Ultimate Messiah in Jesus Christ?

Let us approach this Holy Week with solemnness and yet a vibrant hope that our God is our Awesome God.

He has the future of His created order in His hands.