Zechariah 12 bible study

God’s End-Time Dealings with Israel 12:10-14 "I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, clan by clan — the clan of the royal household of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the clan of the family of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the clan of the descendants of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; and the clan of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves — all the clans that remain, each separately with their wives."

If at the time of the end, God will deal with the God-rejecting nations in wrath and judgment, yet he has a different purpose for dealing with Israel. Clearly it will be during a time of danger and distress – why else would all the families be split up, with wives and children separated from their husbands?

Yet during this time of sorrow, God will pour out a spirit of ‘grace and supplication’ connected with the death in the city – at the hands of the people of Israel – of a certain person whom God clearly recognises as being closely connected with himself. In fact, God says that it was ‘me’ whom they pierced.

Either just before Christ’s return , or at the very point of his return, Israel will mourn over the wasted years she spent without God by rejecting his only son Jesus Christ who was pierced for their iniquities in order to provide a fountain for cleansing from sin. At this time there will be a national acknowledgment of this error combined with national repentance; each survivor of Israel giving his or her own allegiance to Christ. And so, in the midst of suffering and dreadful circumstances, in an apocalyptic vision concerning the end of time, Zechariah sees what Paul later saw, that God’s ultimate purpose would be the restoration of Israel, just as she had longed and hoped for (Rom. 11:26). © Mathew Bartlett 2013 Bible Studies Online UK www.biblestudiesonline.org.uk You may copy, print or distribute our studies freely in any form, just so long as you make no charges. Sign up today for our FREE monthly Bible study magazine “Living Word” Scriptures taken from the NET Bible www.bible.org