The Pierced One

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10.! Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10.

! 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.

On that day, the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad-Rimon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn each clan by itself with their wives by themselves.

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. In John chapter 19, the Apostle John records what happened that day on the cross.

The Jewish leaders didn't want the bodies of the three crucified men to be left up on the cross. And so, because the next day was a very special Sabbath day.

It was part of the Passover. And so, they asked Pilate to have the legs of these three men broken. Because when their legs were broke, they would no longer be able to push up to get a breath.

And so, they would suffocate. They would quickly expire. And Pilate agreed to do so. And so, he sent soldiers. And they went to the men on either side of Jesus and broke their legs.

But when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. And so, one of the soldiers reached up and pierced his side with a spear. And out came a sudden flow of blood and water.

So, why did it happen like that? Because hundreds of years before, Zechariah had written in his prophecy, They will look on me, the one they have pierced.

And Isaiah had written hundreds of years before Zechariah even. And he said, But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was pierced. It was the last, the final, the last little bit of indignity and disgrace that our Lord experienced.

It was the very final thing that sinful men did to him. They did to the Son of God. Sinful man's last action was to make sure that he was dead.

It was to stab a spear into his side, piercing his heart, piercing his lungs, causing water and blood to flow out. And with that, he was truly dead. Done.

Finished. Problem solved. But the pierced one was not so easily done away with.

A chapter later in John, Jesus, very much alive, and yet still very much pierced, comes to Thomas.

And he says to Thomas, Reach out your hand and put it into my side. He's alive. And yet he's still the pierced one.

He's still carrying the scars of his death. He's still carrying the signs of what he went through. And he confronts poor Thomas with it. And Thomas is undone.

And he cries out, My God, my Lord and my God. Jesus is saying, It's me. And I'm alive. But that wasn't the end of the pierced one coming back to Jerusalem and confronting Jerusalem.

You remember, the city of Jerusalem had risen up in arms against him. They had rushed as a mob. They had rushed him to death and to crucifixion.

And with overflowing hatred, they had killed, they had murdered the Lord of glory. And yet, 50 days later, now the apostle Peter is preaching.

And he's thundering. He has the Holy Spirit burning inside of him. And he says, You put him to death by nailing him to the cross. And when the people heard it, they were cut to the heart.

They were pierced. The Spirit of Jesus' heart drove into their heart. And in anguish, they cried, Brothers, what did we do? What should we do?

So, we can't miss it. This is not... This is Jesus coming to the city of Jerusalem by the Spirit through the preaching of Peter. And he's the pierced one.

And he's confronting them. And what happens this time is that they believe. They're saved. They're forgiven. He pours out a spirit on them. The spirit of grace and supplication.

And they saw the one that they had pierced. And just like Zechariah said, They mourned. They mourned.

For what he went through. They mourned for what they did. They mourned. They mourned. They mourned. And they were saved. They mourned and they were forgiven.

And it forever changed their lives. Tonight, we are gathering around a meal to remember our Lord's death for us.

To remember how they beat him. And flogged him. And humiliated him. And nailed him to pieces of wood.

And hung him up as a curse. Saying, we put our curse upon him and let God put his curse upon him as well. And the last thing of all, they drove a spear into his side to just be sure he was dead.

And just like the people of Jerusalem, if we have any sense about us, if this spirit of grace and supplication is upon us, then we have to mourn.

It's not just for them to mourn. It's for us to mourn. Because it wasn't just they. It wasn't just they who drove the spear into his side.

It was you. It was me. And so now is the time to mourn. Why should we mourn?

Because if we had not sinned, he would not have died. My sins. My fault.

My blame. Jesus was there because of what I had done. What we have done. So no sins. No savior. No sins. No cross.

No sins. No pain. No sins. No humiliation. No sins. No agony. No shame. No brutal mockery. No nails. No piercing. He was pierced for our transgressions.

And you could put your name there. And that's why we should mourn. He was there for me.

We're just saying a song that we can rejoice in. In what he suffered. In his grace to us. And there, yes, there is joy in knowing that I'm forgiven. That I'm cleansed.

There is a fountain that washes away sin and impurity. We're going to see it next week, Lord willing. And so there is reason to rejoice here tonight. But even now, there is still a reason to mourn.

Because forgiveness doesn't change the fact. It doesn't change the fact that everything that he went through was because of me. Because of you.

It was all my fault. Forgiveness doesn't change that ashamed I hear my mocking voice call it out among the scoffers.

Forgiveness doesn't change that it was my sins that held them there until it was all accomplished. So I was there. My sins were the nails.

In the words of Octavius Winslow. My sins. My hateful, cruel sins his chief tormentors were.

Each of my crimes became a nail. An unbelief the spear. T'was you that pulled the vengeance down upon his guiltless head. Break, break my heart.

Oh, burst mine eyes and let my sorrows bleed. So what does the spirit of grace and supplication do in a person's heart? It makes him mourn. Look at verse 10.

They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child. And grieve bitterly for him as one who grieves for a firstborn son. So to lose an only child.

To lose the firstborn. What kind of sorrow is that? Well, it's a sorrow that cuts a road in your heart that never can grow over.

Never can completely go away or wash away. It's a sorrow that divides your life into before and after. It was the sorrow of David's heart where when his son Absalom had died, had been killed.

And he said, oh, my son Absalom. Absalom, my son, my son. If I had only died instead of you. So sad was David.

He says, I wish I could have been there. If only it was me instead of you. And so it's that kind of sorrow that Zechariah is talking about.

It's that kind of sorrow that the cross should invoke in us. We should be saying in a certain way with David.

Lord, it was for me. Let my sin fall on my own head rather than on yours. Let it be mine, not yours. It should have been me.

It should have been me. But that's the kind of mourning the spirit produces. It's the bitter grieving of a mother wailing over her firstborn.

So can you imagine Mary's grief? She was there at the cross that day. She saw it all happening. Her firstborn son.

The Holy Spirit puts us in her shoes. The Spirit puts us into the shoes of the people of Jerusalem. Cut to the heart, crying out, what do we do? What do we do now?

His blood is on my hands. We should mourn because of what we've done. We should mourn because of what our sin has done. We should mourn because of what our sins have done.

The sins of today. The sins of the last hour. The last week. Those cherished sins. Those coddled sins.

Those sins that we don't take so seriously. Ye who think of sin but lightly. Hear its guilt may estimate. We should mourn because of who was pierced.

So on whose head did we bring down the wrath of God? What kind of person was he? Well, he was divine. They will look on me, the one they have pierced.

And that's clearly, in this passage, it's clearly God speaking. The me here is clearly God. So how can God be pierced?

Well, our sins pierced him metaphorically. And that, I think, is probably what Zechariah is getting at, first of all, in the first place.

So do our sins cut God to the quick? They can. He's going to talk about the sin of idolatry.

It's that unloyal heart. Again and again, he calls it adultery. Remember Hosea and Gomer? And Hosea watches Gomer walk out on him.

So what was wayward Israel like? What is our sin like and our idolatry? Well, it's like a wife sleeping around on her husband. And so he's saying, look at me, the one they have pierced.

They will look on me. They'll see what they have done. They'll see the one they have betrayed. The one they've left for other lovers. Even though I love them with all my heart.

Our sin pierces him metaphorically. But it really took Jesus Christ to fulfill the full meaning of Zechariah. How can God be pierced?

Well, see him on the tree. The Son of God. Light of light. Very God of very God.

One with the Father. Equal in power and in glory. And that's the terrible, sacred mystery. And here's the horror and here's the glory of the cross. They will look on me, the one they have pierced.

And so should we mourn? How could we not? Yes, we can rejoice that our God was so kind.

Look what God, our Savior, did through his Son. For me, he died. For me, he lived. But yet there's still every reason to grieve.

In Peter's words, we have killed. We have murdered the Lord of glory. And so think of that. What kind of person was he? He stepped down from glory.

He wrapped the towel of human nature around him. And he washed our feet. He was humble. He was lowly. He was meek.

He was kind. He opened up his hands. And he opened up his heart. No one came to Jesus with a genuine need and left empty-handed.

He healed the lame. He brought back the dead. He reunited lepers with their families. He forgave sinners. He was kindness. He was nothing but kindness.

He was nothing but humble sweetness. In John 1, he says, He came full of grace and truth. The law was given through Moses.

But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And that's the one we've pierced. And that's the one who our sins pulled down hell upon.

Not someone who deserved it. Not someone who had it coming. Not someone who was so kind. So gentle.

So patient. And so sweet. And yet, even still tonight. Like he did with Thomas.

He comes to us. Comes to us. The pierced one. Alive. And with open hands and open hearts.

He says, It's finished. The wrath is over. Weep no more. All your sins are behind me. All your wandering ways are behind me.

Weep no more. The wrath is on. It's on the tree. It's finished. So, here we are. To remember the cross.

To remember our Savior. And we do this until he comes again. The world thought they had done away with him.

Dead. Pierced. Finished. Done. But listen to how the very last book of the Bible begins.

Look. He's coming with the clouds. And every eye will see him.

Even those who pierced him. And all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be. Amen.

The pierced one is coming again. Pierced. And yet alive. And then everyone will mourn him.

Do you see when you put the whole picture of the Bible together? The reality is. Is that everyone will mourn when they see him.

Everyone will mourn for sin. We either mourn for our sin now. We either mourn for what he suffered now.

And that's the grace of God to us. That's the grace that saves us. Or we mourn then when we see him. The cross will bring grief to every man.

That's what this is saying. The cross will bring grief to every man and woman, boy and girl. It will either bring grief that leads to repentance, that leads to life.

Or it will bring grief. In Revelation, it's the very grief. It's the mourning of damnation. That now this has now come upon me.

And when you see the pierced one coming back with the scar in his side. Now he's not here to save. Now he's not confronting men with salvation.

Now he's here to wreak his vengeance. Now he's here to repent. So that brings us to tonight.

Tonight is a night to repent. It's a night to mourn. Tonight is a night to have dealings with Jesus.

He confronts you. He confronts you with preaching. In the preaching. He confronts you through the meal. So come grieving.

Come cleaving. Come repenting and believing. Tonight is a night to mourn. Tonight is a day to be saved from the wrath that is to come.

From the wrath of the Lamb. From the wrath of the pierced one. He was pierced. And he is coming back.

And so tonight is a night to have dealings with Jesus. And let's do that as we eat this meal together.

Thank you.