Word of Salvation – Vol.11 No.42 – October 1965
The Spirit Of Grace And Of Supplication
Sermon by Rev. J.J. van Wageningen on Zechariah 12:10 – 13:1
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:22-42
Psalter Hymnal: 247:6,7; 162:1,2 (After Law); 211:1; 383; 382 (tune 105); 468
Beloved Congregation,
As the flower is in the bulb, so the N.T. is in the Old; and so the O.T. is flowering in the New. The great facts of salvation are prophesied in the O.T. and in the light of the fulfilment we see more clearly the riches of the prophecy. This is true of the fact of Pentecost too. Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is fulfilment of the prophecy.
Think of what Peter says in his Pentecost-Sermon: “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” There are more prophecies in the O.T. concerning Pentecost. One of them is our text, the promise of the Lord, that He will pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication, this means: the Spirit as the Author of inner renewal.
- This Spirit witnesses to grace
- This Spirit makes us plead for grace
- This Spirit makes us share in grace.
1. “And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication.
The first thing that draws our attention is the special name by which the Spirit is named here: The Spirit of grace and of supplication.
First the Spirit of grace; this means that this Spirit witnesses to grace, to divine grace for a miserable, sinful, damnable people. Divine grace, that is mercy, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance shown and granted by the eternal, holy and righteous God to sinners who are not worthy of it.
What is the content of this witness of the Spirit of grace? Our text speaks about a person whom they have pierced: and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced. (By the way, in the old King James, authorised version we read: “They shall look upon me” but it is better to translate: “they shall look upon him.”) Who is this person? Without any doubt, the prophet means somebody who in the future will be killed by the people, in a cruel way. It is remarkable that the prophet does not say anything more about Him. The only indication is: “whom they have pierced” – the pierced one. Do the hearers know who is meant? Have they already heard about Him? Yes, they have! Earlier He is spoken about in the prophecy. Think of Isaiah 53, the moving picture of the suffering servant of the Lord, despised and rejected, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, who poured out His soul unto death.
He, who knows this prophecy, he understands whom Zechariah means by the pierced-one. Well, the Spirit of grace and the pierced-one they are closely related. When the Spirit of God will witness to grace, then He will witness to the Man, whom they have pierced.
This witness of the Spirit of grace becomes still clearer, when we read what the prophet says in 13:1, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”
Washing and sprinkling with water is a well-known symbol in the Bible. The Levites had to be cleansed by sprinkling water of expiations upon them (Numbers 8:7), and David prays in Ps.51: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” It is a symbol of the cleansing from sin.
So the prophet speaks here about a fountain that will be opened to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
This also belongs to the testimony of grace, which the Spirit will give. He will witness to the Man whom they have pierced and to the fountain, that will be opened for sin and for uncleanness.
Now we take a big step forward. It is about 5 centuries later. We are in Jerusalem. It is Pentecost, Christ has just poured out the Spirit, and Peter filled with the Spirit and driven by the Spirit holds his Pentecost sermon. Hear the Spirit giving testimony through him! What does he say? He speaks about Jesus: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this man delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you see and hear. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
Do you hear how the Spirit, who has been poured out, witnesses to grace at this feast of Pentecost! How He witnesses to Him whom they have pierced, nailed to the cross, Jesus of Nazareth? – through Him there is grace. Do you hear how He witnesses to the fountain that is opened? – a fountain, not filled with water, but with blood, the blood of the pierced-one, the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that cleanses from all sin.
He witnesses through the word that is preached, He witnesses in the hearts of men, for He bears the Word into the hearts. So it happened on that first feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem and so it went on. Paul was sent to the world of those days and he preached Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And so it will still happen always and everywhere, when and where the Gospel is preached, the message of God’s grace in Christ for lost sinners.
2: The Spirit whom God promised, does not only witness to grace, He makes sinners plead for grace as well. This too belongs to the inner renewal He works. And this is our second point. “I will pour out the Spirit of Grace and of supplications, and they shall look unto Him, whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child.”
The Spirit is called the Spirit of supplications (a supplication is an urgent prayer, in this you plead for God). The Spirit works this prayer, this plea for grace in the heart of sinners. It shows an inner change over against the One whom they have pierced. First they despised Him, rejected Him, even killed Him, but after the outpouring of the Spirit of Grace and supplication they will mourn for Him, they will weep bitterly over Him, with a great and heartfelt sorrow, as parents mourn for an only child, and weep over their firstborn. This is a moving comparison, for how great is the sorrow of a father and mother who lost their only child; it cannot be expressed in words, there is only bitter weeping. Well so great will be the sorrow over Him, whom, they have pierced. To stress the greatness of this mourning the prophet compares it to the mourning for Hadad-rimmon, “On that day the mourning of Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” (vs.11). It must have been a very great mourning, well known to the people in those days. But we do not know who Hadad-rimmon was. This does not matter, for the meaning is clear: the prophet wants to underline how great the sorrow will be in Jerusalem after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The eyes will be opened and they will realize how sinful their deed were and how sinful their hearts. They will weep bitterly over Him whom they pierced; they will weep bitterly over their own sin and unrighteousness. And their hearts will be drawn unto Him, with prayer and supplication.
Again we take that big step of about 5 centuries. We are in Jerusalem. It is Pentecost; the Spirit has been poured out. The Spirit of grace and supplication. Peter speaks about Jesus of Nazareth, whom they have crucified, whom God has raised and glorified. “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: ‘Brethren what shall we do?’” Do you see how the Spirit works?
A short time ago they shouted: “Away with Him!, crucify Him! and now they stand before Peter and the apostles with fear and trembling, with sorrow, in dismay: “Brethren, what shall we do?”” Through the working of the Holy Spirit they see Him whom they pierced, through whose blood a fountain is opened to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness, they supplicate, they plead for grace. “Brethren what shall we do?”
This is the work of the Spirit through the ages. He shows us the sinfulness of our heart, the uncleanness of our life. It is because of our sins that Jesus died on the cross. “He was despised and we esteemed Him not.” But the Spirit who was poured out on Pentecost, He makes us supplicate, He makes us plead for grace. And this is the question for you and me do we experience this work of the Spirit in our hearts, this inner renewal: do we really mourn and weep bitterly? Do we know the sorrow because of our sins, the longing, the plea for grace, for the cleansing through the blood of Christ? Do we really see Him, whom we pierced, who died for us on the cross?
“Brethren, what shall we do?”
3. The Spirit of grace and supplication will…
1. witness to grace,
2. make us plead for grace, and
3. make us share in grace.
The mourning, the bitter weeping over the pierced one will not be in vain, for “in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness.” There will be cleansing; sin and uncleanness will be washed away. Those who repent, will experience that there is grace for them, forgiveness, new life.
About 5 centuries later, in Jerusalem, Peter answers those who ask: “Brethren, what shall we do?” “’Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ So those who received His Word, were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.” There is a fountain opened! A fountain filled with blood, the blood of our crucified and risen Lord. And the Holy Spirit makes us share in this grace; when we receive the Lord, when we trust in our Saviour, we are cleansed through His blood, free from sins and guilt, pure and holy. The Spirit unites us with Christ in faith and hope and love.
Finally something about the question: who will share in this grace by the Spirit? The answer is: the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, this means the royal house and the whole nation, for Jerusalem is the representative of the entire country. And in the verses 12-14 the prophet says, that the land shall mourn, that is all the people. And with emphasis he states that every family will mourn, men and women. And he mentions by way of example the family of the house of David, the family of the house Nathan, (a son of David), the family of the house of Levi, and the family of Shimei, a grandson of Levi; so the families of the royal and the priestly houses; and he adds: all the families that remain, all the other families, in other words: the whole nation in all its parts and members. They all will mourn over the Pierced-one, when the Spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out, they will be renewed and share in God’s grace.
What about the fulfilment of this prophecy? On the day of Pentecost many were added to the believers, even 3,000, but that was not the whole Jewish nation. The fulfilment is not in Israel according to the flesh, but in the new, spiritual Israel; the Israel that is being gathered out of Jews and Gentiles. The Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon them. All those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in the footsteps of Father Abraham, they belong to this true Israel of God.
All of them mourn, all of them weep bitterly because of their sins, all of them are cleansed, for there is a fountain opened, a fountain filled with blood.
Peace and mercy upon the Israel of God.
Blessed are you if you belong to this Israel!
Amen.