Zechariah 13:7-9 - The Shepherd Struck

Intro:

Today we take up and finish out the last part of Zechariah 13. You’ll remember that we only covered the first half of the chapter in our last time together because of the need to spend some time developing what Zechariah is anticipating with the fountain that is opened up, the fountain that bridges these two chapters, and the amazing connections that we saw to that fountain and what John witnessed there at the cross as in the last act of the crucifixion, Jesus’s side was pierced and there we saw quite literally the blood and water begin to flow, blood to cleanse the people from sin and water that they might be cleansed from the stain of that sin.

We also saw then the tremendous effect that this final cleansing would have on this people that now, as the once and for all time purified people of God, they would be characterized by such a zeal for God’s truth.

When we are cleansed from the stain of sin and delivered from the wrath of God through the propitiatory work of Christ we become people who are zealous above all things for God Himself and as God is truth we ought to be ardent in our desire for the pure and unadulterated truth of God’s living word.

Now though we turn to the second half of this chapter. We need to be reminded again that all of this points to Christ. In fact, lest we miss the obvious, even Jesus applied our text for today to himself as we read in both Matthew and Mark as He and His disciples made their way to the Mount of Olives to pray on the night He was to be betrayed.

These kinds of things are so helpful because, when we are approaching the Bible from a redemptive historical approach, that's the name for how both Jake and I would approach the study of God’s word meaning that we see a continuity across the entirety of the Bible in which one singular plan of redemption unfolds and is made manifest in such a way in the death and resurrection of Christ that we can look back from that moment and see countless numbers of ways that the prophecies in the OT are now revealed to have been finally and fully accomplished in the life and death and resurrection of Christ. In other words as we have been using the analogy of a distorted image reflected in a pool of water, we who have the glorious benefit of having beheld the full manifestation of the revelation of God’s messiah in Jesus Christ are now able to see back across all of redemptive history more clearly and see so much more clearly there pictures, and types and shadows directing us straight to Christ!

Lets pray and then we will jump into our text!

Pray & Read

As we start into these few short verses I think that we can divide them into three major points.

We will first see some amazing connections to the messianic expectations that are built up across the OT through this passage and then tied to Christ who came and became this Shepherd who was struck. We will see this imagery in Zechariah tied into the wider motif across the OT of the suffering servant.

Then we will see Zechariah show us the amazing truth that we clearly find unfolded throughout the gospels and the rest of the NT that what took place as the Shepherd was struck was indeed all predestined and came to be according to the sovereign plans and purposes of God.

Then finally we will see the wonderful outworking of this situation for the sheep or the little ones as we read here in these verses as we see a refining judgement that results in a portion of them being made into the true people of YHWH. And we will seek to understand just who this passage is talking about, who it is the is put into the fire and refined.

The Struck Shepherd

And so, the first point that I want us to see is the relationship of this passage’s struck shepherd to the rest of the OT messianic expectation particularly that of a suffering servant or a suffering Shepherd.

One of the major difficulties for Jews in the days leading up to, including, and even after the time of Christ was and still is the confusion related to the texts that outline the messianic expectations. On one hand you have a promise of a coming King that will reign in victory and establish the throne of David for ever and ever. This victorious messiah is however contrasted with the imagery of the suffering servant or as we have seen in Zechariah the rejected, pierced, and struck shepherd.

You can imagine the difficulties that these Jews would have had as they tried to reconcile what it was that the messiah was to come and do and be. As best as I can understand it it sounds as though some of the Jews based off of the 4 craftsmen that we saw earlier in Zechariah actually came to the conclusion that there were to be up to 4 different messianic figures who would come and through their work would reestablish the might and glory of the people of Israel.

We though, as those who have been brought to faith in Christ have new eyes to see as we have been making the case over the past several sermons, that we have new eyes to see the beauty of all of these bits and pieces of the picture of who the messiah was to be and hat He was to do come together in the person and work of Christ in seamless perfection. Where once there were ripply distorted reflections on the surface of the puddle we now see Christ in His great glory ad splendor.

And so it is that one of the major expectations that we can look back across the OT and see pointing to Christ are these texts that describe the suffering of the coming messiah.

Here in these verses we see this suffering servant as the struck shepherd.

English Standard Version Chapter 13

7  “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;

We see this sword called to rise against the shepherd and now there are a couple of pieces of really important information to see in this text that direct us directly back to Christ.

We need to see first that this sword is a sword of justice. The imagery here is similar to that of the magistrate in the NT whose job it is to wield the sword that the wicked may be in fear of them. This isn’t a sword of battle, this text isn’t about the shepherd figure perishing in the midst of a military conflict. No this text is about the sword of justice, and not just any magisterial sword of justice but as it is God who is doing the calling here it is His sword of divine justice that is being wielded.

This is certainly an intriguing thought. This Shepherd figure has earlier been rejected by the people but now we see that this figure is going to receive a blow from the sword of divine justice. We saw Him pierced just a few verses earlier and here we find that though we read it was the people who pierced him yet we now find that behind this piercing stands the sword of justice. In some way the sword of divine justice must intertwine with the piercing of the people.

That this sword is a sword of divine justice also connects us to the suffering servant imagery as one of the major components of the suffering servant motif is that this suffering is to be undertaken on behalf of and in the stead of God’s people.

Now as we have said this idea of a suffering Messianic figure is not a foreign one to scripture. We find this figure in the suffering Psalms of David and see him reflected in David’s own life as his suffering at the hands of his son Absolom likely formed the backdrop against which David wrote some of the well know verses that we read about the Messiah. Verses like:

Psalm 22:1–2 ESV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

Psalm 22:14–18 ESV

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

We see these verses picked up in the NT and tied directly to what took place on the cross as Christ suffered and died in our place.

We also notably read about the suffering servant of Isaiah 42-55. Centrally we read about the servants death for the transgressions of the people in chapter 53:

READ Isaiah 53.

The suffering servant bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, was crushed for our iniquities, pierced for our transgressions, bore our sins and makes intercession for transgressors, in other words, or in Zechariah’s words, the sword of divine justice fell on Christ rather than on us!

Now also, in addition to finding our shepherd under the sword of divine judgement we also find that this struck Shepherd figure is a member of the godhead.

We read there in the middle of verse 7:

English Standard Version Chapter 13

my shepherd,

against the man who stands next to me,”

This shepherd figure who is the Lord’s Shepherd is called the man who stands next to me. Now you might look at that and think that this is just speaking of a close relationship. After all when we talk about each other this way it means that someone is going to remain close to me and stand up for me, that we have a close and unbreakable relationship. Now even if that were the meaning of this text that would be significant to say of this one on whom the Lords sword of judgement is going to fall but the text actually tells us far more than that.

This word in the Hebrew means neighbor and it carries the connotation of a peer. Now when we use it that way we can be speaking of another man for sure however when God uses it that way when God says that this Shepherd is His peer there can be no misunderstanding that God, the God who created the Heavens and Earth and all that is them does not have a peer amongst men! No, this language is driving us to the fact that this struck Shepherd is of a divine origin.

This is God’s Plan

This then leads us to the second of our key points for this morning and these two points will join together to really show us this picture of Christ in this text. We have already noted that this is the sword of divine justice that is falling on this struck shepherd.

We also saw that it was God’s sword of justice that is called to awake and to rise against the Shepherd. We ought also to note that as it is His sword it is God who is here orchestrating this striking. Similar to what we see in Job it is God who does the instigating. God is the one who calls out “Awake!”

This is actually a key element of what took place at the cross! We must understand, because scripture leaves no room for question or ambiguity, when Christ was struck by the sword of divine justice it was God who was working to bring about the exact plan that had been laid in place for the redemption of God’s people from before the world have even been created.

Lets see the nature of this timing first to understand that this struck shepherd had long been the plan for redemption before even the “In the beginning” of Genesis 1.

We read in Revelation 13 of the worship given to the first beast, you can reference Jake’s sermon to understand more about the beast but what we need to see this morning is the description we are give in verse 8 of those who worship the beast, they are described in this way:

English Standard Version Chapter 13

8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

This verse has always been astounding to me! Look at what it shows us! It talks about the electing purposes of God and their eternal nature, anything that took place before the foundations of the earth were laid must of necessity be eternal in nature because it was at creation that time itself came into being and thus anything that existed before creation existed before time and the only thing that existed before creation and before time was God and so this book that we read about is not a literal book but is rather a picture of the sovereign electing purposes of God for the salvation of His people and this is described as the “Book of Life of the Lamb Who Was Slain!”

We understand from this text then that before the creation of the world there already existed in the Godhead the plan and purpose of redemption whereby the Father would send the Son and the Son would freely come and give His life a ransom for many as the sword of Divine justice fell on Him in our stead! This was not something developed after Adam fell!

But also we see that God worked through secondary causes to bring these plans and purposes to be and we indeed see that illustrated here. We see this in the structure of the language of this passage, the strike in the second to last line of verse 7 does not agree grammatically with the sword of the first line. This means that while God’s sword of divine justice is indeed being wielded against this shepherd it is a secondary agent agent who is actually doing the striking.

This is so reflective of Acts 4:27-28 that it is almost unbelievable!

Acts 4:27–28 ESV

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

We also read a couple of chapters earlier in Acts 2:23

Acts 2:23 ESV

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

The disciples clearly understood that what had taken place at the cross was not an accident or some sudden mistake or misfortune in the plans of God, no what took place there happened according to the definite plan, the foreknowledge, the predestined purposes of God and yet at the same time it was through the hands of these wicked sinners that this sovereign plan had been accomplished

The 1689 London Baptist Confession speaks of how it is that God brings this and all of his other plans and purposes to be in this world when it states of God’s decree:

"God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree."

And so we find that the death of Christ as he was struck by wicked men as he was brought beneath the sword of God’s divine justice was not just foretold by Zechariah several hundred years before it happened but that this had been planed and purposed by God even before there was time!

These kinds of realizations ought to blow the socks off of our propensity to so quickly be distracted from calling these things to our remembrance and from holding them as the guiding truths and realities in our lives! When we have opportunity to stand back and gaze out across the vast landscape of the plan of redemption we ought nearly to be rendered speechless or driven to song at its majesty and glory.

It is no wonder that Hymn and song writers have yet to find and end of penning the wonders of the cross, pros like Charles Wesley’s:

“And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain— For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies: Who can explore His strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine. 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, Let angel minds inquire no more.”

Indeed we ought often to stand in awe and wonder at the magnitude of what it is that has been accomplished for us that we might be called the children of God!

It is also a stern and solemn reminder that we must take great care that we don't trivialize these things! Our modern so called evangelical culture is so quick to do just this. In the name of simplicity or love or seeker sensitivity, or what ever they want to call it they have reduced the weight and majesty of what took place at the cross to trite sentiment and emotional feel good’ed ness! They argue that we are over complicating things and actually making it harder to feel the love that God has for us by seeking to explore the theological depths of the life and death of Christ!

Now I don't argue that there are better and worse ways of exploring the theological realities of the cross presented to us through the scriptures, we ought not explore them and expound them in ways that are incomprehensible to those that we are sharing them with but while it must be done well it also must be done PERIOD! It must be done, we must steep ourselves long in the waters of the deep truths about the death and resurrection of Christ brought to us through His Word! One of the marks that we have done this I believe, again, is in our singing! When we have not taken the time to steep ourselves long and deep in these truths then we find that short trite chorus that are an inch deep and mainly move the mind through their catchy tunes will suffice, this is a description of much of what comprises so called modern worship, short trite choruses sung ad nauseam until a sufficient amount of emotion has built up. However, when we have long steeped ourselves in these rich truths our worship will of necessity reflect that!

The Sheep Scattered

Now at last though it is time to move on to our last point and the rest of this text we find here in verses 7-9. We find that the striking of the shepherd is going to have a profound effect on the sheep and it is this that we will spend the remainder of our time on.

Now I will qualify what I am going to say here for this section as I have done a few times now already and say that this is another harder text to determine exactly what is going on and I am going to give you what I believe to make the best sense of the text and what we see working out in scripture.

As we turn and think of the sheep we ought start right after the striking of the shepherd and realize that Jesus indeed tied this directly to the events surrounding his arrest and the scattering of the disciples therein the Garden of Gethsemane.

As Jake read we see that as Jesus and His disciples headed out toward the Mount of Olives we read:

English Standard Version Chapter 26

30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

And indeed when the mob arrested Christ the disciples did indeed scatter.

English Standard Version Chapter 26

55 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. 56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Thus far it is not that difficult to follow but then we read:

English Standard Version Chapter 13

I will turn my hand against the little ones.

At the time that the Shepherd is struck we also find that this scattering of the sheep is followed by God’s turning of his had against the little ones.

Now the phrase turn my hand against is typically a reference to destroying in judgement. It is used four other times and always means this. Here though as we will see there is a judgement but that judgement is actually used to purify the remnant of the people that are left after the judgement.

Now there are some interesting connections here. We have already seen that Jesus directly applies this scattering of the sheep to the circumstances surrounding His arrest and subsequent death on the cross.

You may also recall that one thing that Christ used this phrase “little ones” to both describe his followers in Matthew 10 and to describe a small child who was brought to Him in Matthew 18. Little ones seems to be related to being a part of the flock and here before the cross that flock is the same as the flock from chapter 11 who had rejected the shepherd.

Little ones then seems to most naturally represent the greater part of Israel at the time of Christ who were like sheep without a shepherd, these are those who Christ longed to gather under his wing and who as a result of the wicked leadership of the scribes and the priests and the Pharisees were to experience a great judgement int he wake of Christ’s being crucified. This scattering of the disciples then forms the moment that ought to trigger those who knew of Zechariah’s prophecy to understand that there was going to come a judgement now on these people, these little ones.

Now we see that this judgement is described in a way that would have been familiar to those who heard it. Jeremiah had a similar prophecy of 3 thirds of the people being judged and one third coming through the judgement in his day in reference to the exile.

Now it is important that we see that this isn't a mathematical equation. The language here actually says 2 parts and 1 part. When we say thirds we think of an even division but that isn't what is being pictured here. Rather this is intended to show the reality that significantly more will perish in the judgement than will survive. Again, just so we see this, the language here is not saying that if there were 100 of these people at the time of this judgement that 33 of them would be left, this isn’t mathematics it is an expression that is used to signify how great the destruction of this judgement will be.

We also see that the focus of these verses is not the 2 parts that perish either. These two parts that perish are the backdrop against which we find the reason for the judgement, the judgement actually forms a purifying event and out oft he other side of the judgement we find that the 1 part have been refined and tested and so proven to be genuine followers of God.

Remember the Jews thought they were Gods children because of their heritage and blood and and yet John the Baptist told them in Matthew 3:9

Matthew 3:9 ESV

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

And the NT writers go on to prove the fact that it is not the flesh and blood descendants of Abraham that share in the promise of being a child of God but rather it is those who share in the faith of Abraham who are heirs of the promise!

Those Jews who come in faith to Christ in the wake of His death on the cross are indeed those who are truly His and those who as we see in verse 9 will call on his name and He will answer them and of whom God will say “they are My people” and they will in turn say that “the LORD, YHWH, is their God”

This is a beautiful expression of the establishment of the new covenant with the people of God who have put faith in Christ and become the true Israel of God.

So when does this happen. I would say that this is more than likely a reference to the events surrounding AD 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem. We know that a far greater number of the Jews perished in the destruction of Jerusalem and the empire wide persecution of the Jews that took place at that time than were saved by faith in Christ.

These little ones as a whole had rejected their shepherd as we saw in chapter 11 but despite this rejection we saw in chapter 12 that God was going to grant that some of those who had rejected Him would look on Him whom they had pierced and find that a cleansing fountain had been opened to them. Here we learn that as a result of the striking of the Shepherd, the Son of God, that God was also going to judge the people for this wicked action and yet we also see a great expression of His mercy as He moves some of the very ones who had rejected the Christ to turn in faith and be grafted back into the people of God.

Now some take this and extrapolate it across the wide time frame from the cross until today and see the continued salvation of a small remnant of Jewish people as the continued outworking of this text and I am not opposed to that but I do think there is warrant to see it primarily attached to the events directly surrounding the cross and the judgement that fell on that generation that had crucified the Messiah.

Closing Application

There is however one more truth here that I believe we can draw out and apply as well to ourselves and that it that this salvation that they recieved came with a refiners fire meant to try and test them.

The same God who saves these Jewish believers has offered the same salvation to us though the work of the Shepherd that was struck, this same Jesus said in John 10 that He had other sheep not of this flock, not of Israel that too must come to him, in other words, other little ones to gather, and as such it is His will often to bring us through tests and trials that our faith may also be proved to be genuine and that we might grow strong in our faith as we stand strong through these situations through the power of the Spirit.

Ill give Paul the last words this morning as the first part of Romans 5 sums this up well tying the salvation recieved through faith in Christ with the blessing of enduring suffering and trials through the knowledge that we have been made His, reconciled to Him through the death of our LORD:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.