Zechariah 13:7

0:00 Well, this evening we're going to be looking at Zechariah 13.7. If you were here this morning, really what I want to do is I want to pick up where Greg left off. We were looking at Christ and what he's done on our behalf. And toward the end of the sermon, we got talking about hardened hearts. In other words, is there anybody here who is putting their dependence on their accomplishments? The Sunday school pins, as he mentioned, Sunday attendance, oftentimes we can come engaged in worship, and yet our hearts are still very, very hard. So whether that's somebody who doesn't know who Jesus is yet and is still trying to figure that out and work through the reasoning of all that, or whether that's us as Christians that are very distracted in life, that we're entangled in sin, that hardens our hearts, doesn't it? So my hope is this evening, as we look once again at who

1:00 Christ is, what he's done for us, that that will warm our hearts and that we can walk out of here just increasingly thankful for who he is. So let's look at Zechariah 13, verse 7. You'll find it printed on the front of your bulletin. Here's what it says. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. I will turn my hand against the little ones. Well, over the next few minutes, I want to briefly sort of give you a little idea of what's going on here. I want to share the meaning of this passage, and then at the end, I want to give you some truths that we can reflect on. So, what's playing in the background here in Zechariah is we have a discouraged and disillusioned people. 20 years prior, an act of judgment, as an act of judgment, God sends Babylon to conquer his people Israel and drag them out into exile. So if you've been around Christianity, you know that story. And now years later, God's people are traveling back

2:05 home to Jerusalem, and they're traveling back with great hopes, great expectations that God will return to and restore his kingdom. But things aren't happening as expected just yet. Currently, they're without a temple. They're experiencing threats from surrounding nations. There's internal social and spiritual struggles. And once again, God's people are found complaining about their circumstances. Zechariah, in keeping with the prophets before him, he speaks of a new day, not only when the temple will be rebuilt and the Lord will return, but specifically in our verse this evening, he's looking through that day and beyond to a day when a fountain will be opened to cleanse the people from their sin and uncleanliness, a day when the names of idols and false prophets would be cut off from the land and remembered no more. And how is it? How is it

3:05 that that future day that Zechariah speaks of will ever come about? Well, it comes through the sacrifice of a shepherd. Let's look at our verse. Notice in the middle of our verse, first of all, we see the Lord of hosts or the Lord Almighty or Lord of the armies of heaven, which communicates God is a powerful, undefeatable, redeeming God. And we see in our verse that this powerful God declares something. We see there's a sword, which symbolizes death or judgment. But who is it? Who's about to get struck in our verse? We'd like to think Babylon, or maybe some of those surrounding nations that are threatening Israel, or even against God's people for complaining and for their disobedience. But once again, we see from Scripture, and particularly this verse, that Zechariah looks to a day when God's kingdom is inaugurated by executing judgment against, as our verse says, my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me. Now, the language behind

4:11 this phrase actually reads the man who is my equal or the man who is my representative. And so, if you're familiar with the Bible and Christianity, we know that it's none other than the second person of the Trinity, it's the Son, Jesus Christ Himself. And notice what God declares. He declares that this sword be awakened, right? He's communicating here that He alone has the sole power to judge anyone. God Himself is the only one who can awaken the sword of judgment, lift it, and wield it with any sort of power. And we see He wields it not against those who rightly deserve it, but against the one who is his representative, his equal. It's Jesus, the shepherd, who out of love for us, sacrificially and willingly was stricken by the sword for our transgressions, as Isaiah says, so that through the fountain of his blood we might be washed clean,

5:17 forgiven of our sins, and guaranteed eternal future rest in him. And so I think this verse reminds us of a few things as it relates to our relationship with the Lord. Number one, it's personal. Number two, it's corporate. And number three, it's eternal. So let's look at that. Number one, this reminds us of dynamics of our relationship with the Lord.

5:49 It's personal. When you think of somebody getting too personal with you, it can often make you feel a little uncomfortable, right? And why? Well, it's because when we talk about personal, we're often talking about people getting too close to the core of who we really are. The core part of us that is fragile, a part of us that we're not so willing to give or entrust to others, a part of us that characterizes or identifies us, so much so that if tinkered with just a little bit, can ultimately cause or result in a crisis of identity. Israel found themselves in exile because their personal interests, their desires, their identity was wrapped up in idolatry. And our verse tonight speaks to a crisis of identity that God's people had and that we as Christians once had and how the great shepherd solves that crisis. It speaks to

6:54 the love of Christ who has come down and changed your names, who has fundamentally changed who you are. Jesus got personal with you when he allowed the sword of judgment to fall on him because of your pursuit of false gods, for your idolatry, for your selfishness, for your pride, for each and every personal attack you've made on him. Jesus got personal with you in his resurrection when he declares that your sin and death no longer has dominion over you. Jesus got personal with you when he ascended to the right hand of the Father and he began interceding on your behalf.

7:36 He's your mediator. He's your advocate, acting as your representative as you make personal requests to him. This morning we sang a hymn, one of those that actually, in my personal opinion, has a very terrible, clunky, hard-to-sing kind of tune, but the words were fantastic. And nonetheless, the words get at the heart of this verse. All for my sake, my peace to make, now sleeps that sword for me.

8:11 The sword has been wielded for you. You are accepted. You are loved by the creator of this universe. You may be here struggling with acceptance. You may be here struggling with approval. Maybe you grew up experiencing neglect, abandonment. maybe you struggled your whole life just sort of fitting in well what the shepherd accomplishes in this verse on your behalf places you in a personal relationship with the Lord in which you are now approved based on Christ's righteousness you are now accepted based on the work of the sword you will never be neglected you will never be abandoned by God you are now secured in your personal relationship with him, which is a wonderful, liberating truth that allows us as Christians to live with joy, doesn't it? Secondly, our relationship with the Lord isn't just personal, it's corporate. This verse is tucked into a series of other verses that makes it very,

9:18 very obvious that God is a covenant-keeping God who is creating a community for himself. The language in that second half of our verse referring to sheep scattering and his hand being against the little ones, it's all in the context of God refining or purifying this remnant community that is in covenant relationship with him. Just a couple verses later, God speaks about that remnant community. He says, I will say they are my people, and they will say the Lord is my God.

9:49 So it's not a me and my God experience, it's a me and our God experience, right? So as the church, redeemed by God, we are that remnant community, a community that won't be fully purified and fully refined until we reach the new creation. But until then, we as the church are called to encourage one another, spur one another on to love and good works, and in doing so, reflect the glory of God to a sinful and broken world. But Israel was prone to wander, prone to drifting, and the fact of the matter is, so are we.

10:27 Which is why in securing for us a personal relationship with him, he creates a community of fellow travelers to lock arms with one another as we fight our way into eternity. Lastly, we're reminded that our relationship with the Lord, it's eternal. The sword that has fallen on the shepherd secures us both now and until that day when Christ makes all things new. The series of verses looks ahead, yes, to the cross of Christ, the creation of this church, and then tips the reader's gaze up to eternal life when we will see him face to face. God is giving his people and God is giving us, within this verse, a future hope, a glorious finish line on which to set our sights. Question for you this evening, where are your set sight tonight? Are they set on the looming projects that you have coming up this week? Are your sights set on just getting through this crazy

11:29 season, and then I'll finally sort of reset and refocus on the Lord? Maybe you don't have your sights set on anything right now, and given all you're struggling with, you find yourself in survival mode. You can't see any sights. You can't see this hand in front of your face. You are in survival mode, given what's going on. How do we endure? How do we persevere? How do we find that future hope in that kind of season or struggle or discouragement? Well, it's to remember what the Son prays to the Father in John 17 when he says, this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life in Christ is not just a destination that we look forward to, but a reality that indwells us right now.

12:30 It's a relationship of mutual love and joy that is ours now and in eternity, and we don't passively wait for a new creation, right? Because of what was accomplished in our verse tonight, we are now a new creation. The God who redeemed us has chosen to reside in us and with us. He doesn't dwell far off and say, okay, hold on tight until that day. No, the Spirit dwells in us, and as we contemplate Jesus, as we set our minds on the things above and not on earthly things, the Spirit is miraculously transforming us into the image of Christ as we travel into that future hope, into that future destination, into the eternal life with Christ.

13:17 This week, let's be mindful of the cross, the sacrifices Christ has made on our behalf, and let's take time to remember and respond in thankfulness for all that's been secured. in him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, we thank you for the power of your word. We thank you that it transforms lives. Lord, we pray as there are just a number of things swirling around us. Lord, our desire is to live in faithfulness to you. Our desire is to represent the character and reflect the glory of Jesus. So Lord, we pray as we go out from here, we would be mindful of the cross, that we would be mindful of the resurrection, that we would be mindful and attentive to the Holy Spirit's work in our life. And Lord, we pray that you would give us the strength to live a life that's honoring to you. And we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.