A Day of Great Deliverance | Zechariah 12:1-9 | Richard Caldwell

Scripture

• Zechariah 12:1–9

About this sermon

Introduction: We have been learning, in the book of Revelation, of the great day of God the Almighty. A day when the nations of the world will gather with their armies for the battle of Armageddon. A day when they gather to destroy Israel, but do not know that they have gathered for their own slaughter. A day when God will judge them by giving them what they want. He will dry up the Euphrates River, allowing easy access to the launch point for a military campaign that will cover 200 miles. There the blood will splatter to the horse’s bridles. There Israel will be strengthened to resist her enemies. There will be brief time of real war before the Lord comes to war on behalf of His people. She was given a preview of how the Lord works through the strength that He gives to His people. She was shown this when the Lord strengthened the Maccabees and gave them victory over the Greeks (Zechariah 9). And there the Lord Jesus will arrive when all seems lost and He will personally tread out the winepress of the wrath of God. BUT WHAT WE READ OF IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION WAS DECLARED BY OUR GOD LONG AGES BEFORE. What we see happening at the end of the tribulation period in the book of Revelation, the prophet Zechariah was describing over 500 years before Christ’s first coming. And it is not just described in Zechariah. It is described in a tremendously detailed and comprehensive way. In this 12th chapter we are told how the Lord will deliver Israel PHYSICALLY at the end of the tribulation period — when the powers of the world have gathered to destroy her. We are told how God will make Jerusalem and Judah a snare for those who seek to destroy her. And we told of how the Lord will deliver Israel SPIRITUALLY when He grants her REPENTANCE at the time that Christ returns to the earth. Two things are abundantly clear in these descriptions. THIS IS A DELIVERANCE THAT FOLLOWS THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST. It can’t speak of anything PRIOR to that. “they will look on Me whom they have pierced” (vs.10). THIS IS A DELIVERANCE THAT BELONGS TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE. Not only is the city of Jerusalem a focus, but all of Judah is also a focus, the house of David is a focus, and specific CLANS are mentioned by name (vs.12-14). This is not about the church. This is about ethnic Israel if words mean anything. This is a time yet future (IN THAT DAY (vs.3,4,6,8,8,9,11; 13:1,13:2,13:3,13:4,), because all these events are envisioned as taking place in the same time. Nothing like what is being described has ever happened in the history of the nation of Israel. And all this fully accords with what we are seeing in the book of Revelation about the great day of God the Almighty (Revelation 16:14). James Montgomery Boice — “the chapter does not speak generally about “the people of God” or even merely about “Israel.” It repeatedly stresses the names of Jerusalem and Judah. And when it talks about Israel’s repentance, it does so by reference to the specific Jewish clans or tribes: “the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives” (vv. 12–14). There is probably no more specifically Jewish prophecy in the book. But if these chapters refer to Jews specifically and not to the church as the New Testament Israel, then the events to which they refer must be future. For it is certain that there has not yet been a national repentance by Israel nor an enjoyment by them of the blessings here enumerated. And if this is the case, then the battle referred to in Zechariah 12:1–9 must be the last great battle, Armageddon, and the repentance of verses 10–14 a time of national salvation prior to the second coming of the Lord. Indeed, when the chapters are viewed in that light, the repeated “on that day” is seen quite naturally to refer to that last and great day of the Lord’s return in judgment. These chapters are a prophecy of the events of those end times.” And as we stand in amazement at that, remember that what you find in Zechariah and what you find in Revelation are written roughly 600 years apart.

Topics

• Overcoming Obstacles