The prophet tells of the time of vindication and exaltation
of the city of God and the people of God.
Often, judgment is spoken of as drinking from a cup the wrath of God and
that judgment here is called a cup of staggering. The nations surrounding Jerusalem will be
destroyed by the nation that has risen from the ashes to great strength. The hope of the nation was and is always that
the Lord will come and deliver her and make her great in all the earth, that
hope lives no matter what the situation Israel may find herself in at any given
time. The hope is based in the story of
the Exodus itself, God delivering His people from slavery and bondage, if that
story is not real, neither is the hope of a future deliverance. It is also based in the nature of the
covenant itself, an everlasting covenant made in Genesis 15 when the smoking
firepot and the burning torch passed through the pieces of the sacrifice, a
covenant not based in man's faithfulness or His temporality but in God's
faithfulness and His eternal existence.
It is also based on the prophetic promise, the Word of the Lord that it
will be done. Here, Zechariah introduces
an odd note into the prophecy, "when they look on me, on him whom they
have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and
weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn." Does that mean
that they will repent of the piercing of the heart in their spiritual adultery
that brought disaster upon them prior to deliverance or does it refer to the
cross? We know the answer don't we?
Jesus has had debates and harsh words for those who claim to
be Abraham's seed and here He refers to Zacchaeus as Abraham's child. Is that based in the man's repentance or in
his birth? He has acted as Abraham did
in believing God and committing Himself to the covenant obligations. He believes in God in the person of Jesus
this day. Why in the world does Jesus
choose this man of all people in the crowd?
He knew what was in the heart of man and Zacchaeus, even though he would
have been hated as a chief tax collector, would have been a man to be feared as
well, and yet this man humbled himself by climbing the tree like a child in
order to see Jesus. This man, this
notorious sinner, stood and confessed his sin and vowed to make
restitution. His offer is accepted and
salvation has come to this house.
Paul looks at Jesus and sees the one Zechariah promised, him
whom they have pierced, and exalts Him. This
passage is one of my favorite passages in the Bible (along with Colossians 1) because
it builds a platform of highest praise for Jesus. This is the foundation Paul speaks of having
laid, again and again he writes, "in Him" in order to say that without
Him we are nothing but in Him we have all things. He knows that he, Paul, was one of those who
were responsible for piercing Him, he knows that He rejected this Jesus, failed
to recognize Him, as John wrote, received Him not, but now He knows the grace
of the Lord in Jesus, the one who spoke to him from heaven that day on the road
to Damascus and who gave him life when he deserved death. Paul knows that he, like Zacchaeus, was a
notorious sinner in the eyes of God even though men thought him righteous. We too have pierced Him by our sins and we
too have received grace and life in Him.
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