They Shall Look Unto Me Whom They Have Pierced 1

[00:00:00] The 12th chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah. [00:00:10] From verse one. [00:00:13] The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. [00:00:19] Thus saith the Lord who stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and the spirit of man within him. [00:00:29] Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about. [00:00:37] And upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. [00:00:44] And it shall come to pass in that day. [00:00:47] That I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. [00:01:08] Verse nine. [00:01:10] And it shall come to pass in that day. [00:01:14] That I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. [00:01:21] And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. [00:01:32] And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. [00:01:37] And they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son. And shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. [00:01:49] In that day shall there be a great morning in Jerusalem. As the morning of Khadad Rimun in the valley of Megiddon. [00:02:03] And the land shall mourn. Every family apart. The family of the house of David apart. And their wives apart. The family of the house of Nathan apart. And their wives apart. The family of the house of Levi apart. And their wives apart. The family of the Shimeites apart. And their wives apart. [00:02:26] All the families that remain. Every family apart. And their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. [00:02:50] Just a further word of prayer. [00:02:53] Beloved Lord, we are always glad when we gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. [00:03:02] That you have made provision for us in every way. [00:03:07] Provision for cleansing, provision. [00:03:11] O for new life, for renewing. And you have made also provision for anointing. And upon that anointing, grace and power we depend. This day. [00:03:27] We stand by faith into that anointing so dearly won for us by our Lord Jesus. Both for the speaking and for the hearing. [00:03:39] Preserve us from misinterpretation and preserve us from, as it were, our own ideas. Help us, O Lord, we pray that this day in the speaking of your word we shall hear your voice. [00:03:57] And your heart shall be opened to us and your mind. [00:04:02] And we pray, O Lord, that every one of us will be somehow touched by your holy spirit. [00:04:10] We commit ourselves to you with much thanksgiving. And we shall be very careful to give you all the praise for answering this, our prayer. We ask it in the name of our messiah, the Lord Jesus. [00:04:28] Amen. [00:04:31] The theme of this day is taken from this amazing and remarkable prophecy in Zechariah. Beginning at chapter twelve and verse one and going right through the 13th and 14th chapter. [00:04:50] It is perhaps one of the most striking and remarkable prophecies in the old covenant. [00:05:02] Not least because the church in its normal manner has found itself quite unable to spiritualize this prophecy. [00:05:15] Nearly every prophecy has been, one way or another spiritualized in some cases to the extent where it no longer says what it originally was meant to say. [00:05:31] It refers to something else rather than for what the prophecy was given. But if you look up in nearly every christian commentary upon this prophecy in Zechariah you will find that they have found themselves totally unable to spiritualize it. It has been left as it was given and to be understood literally as it was spoken. [00:06:07] The very fact that here in these words we have the wonderful prediction that in that day his feet shall stand upon the Mount of olives which is east of Jerusalem. [00:06:24] The whole church has understood this to be that when the messiah returns those blessed and pierced feet will once again stand upon the mount of olives. From the Mount of Olives he ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. And from that majesty on high he will return to the Mount of Olives when the kingdom of God will finally and publicly be manifested. May the Lord hasten that day. [00:07:00] And within this extraordinary prophecy we have the verse from which the theme for this day has been taken. Verse ten. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. [00:07:32] Some 2500 years ago, Zechariah the prophet, by the spirit of the Lord prophesied that something would happen to Jerusalem. And he made it quite clear that when that something happened to Jerusalem we would know that we were in the last phase of world in history. [00:08:06] From a backwater, a nonentity, Jerusalem would once again become central to the world. [00:08:17] For nearly a thousand years, Jerusalem has been anything but central. [00:08:22] It is perfectly true that in the crusader period the whole focus was upon Jerusalem. But apart from that great first and second crusade Jerusalem has really figured for nothing in world history. She was an antique. A kind of beautiful, aging and somewhat useless antique looking back to the past all her glory in the past. But Zechariah prophesied that there would come a day when Jerusalem would once again become a focal point of uproar, of conflict, of controversy, of conflict, of war. The nations, not just a few, but he says, two, three times all the nations will be gathered together against her. She will become, as it were, the point of jealousy. [00:09:28] Everyone wants to possess her. Everyone wants that city for its own ideology or its own concept of the future. We have arrived at that time a 100, 200 years ago. Who could have ever understood this prophecy of Zechariah? Only those with living faith could have ever read this prophecy and believed that that little dump of a village called Jerusalem, unhygienic, flea bitten and fly blown, living in the past, could ever again become the focal point of world concern. [00:10:14] But upon this city today, more resolutions have been passed by that useless body, the security council, than any other city, including Berlin, including even the division of Vietnam originally, and of Korea. It is very, very interesting that once again Zechariah's words have become relevant, practical and powerful. So striking a prophecy is this. [00:10:51] And in the midst. [00:10:53] So this is the point. In the midst of this war, wars, not just one war, but wars. In the midst of this controversy, in the midst of this tumultuous uproar, something would happen to the jewish people so remarkable as to signify the completion of the purpose of God, the redemptive purpose of God. Now, some people read this prophecy, and they just see it in terms of the kingdom coming. They see it in terms of the Messiah's feet once again standing upon the Mount of Olives, which, of course, is wonderful in itself. [00:11:45] But it is this extraordinary center of the prophecy we have in this 12th chapter from verse nine. He tells us in that, that all the nations of the earth, the Lord will seek to destroy all the nations of the earth that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. [00:12:21] And they shall look unto me whom they appeared. [00:12:25] So incredible is this thing that happens to the jewish people, that there will be a national time of repentance and mourning, as if something. It's not just someone who died in jewish history, someone who had some influence on the course of events, even the course of events in jewish history itself, but rather this one will suddenly be seen as the key to jewish history and the key to jewish suffering and the key to jewish destiny. [00:13:18] I think that that is quite remarkable. [00:13:23] He goes on to describe this one as the Piercer one. [00:13:31] And then he tells us that the wars and the conflict and the uproar and the controversy will continue right through to the coming of the Messiah. [00:13:52] Now, I dont know whether that lifts you up or casts you down. It is very much a question of what youre looking for. Some people are frightened to read the book of revelation because they dont like the beasts and the dragon and the serpent and the persecution and all the things that they find in the book of revelation. But it is really a question of what youre looking for. If youre looking for the lamb, and the lamb enthroned and glorified and triumphant, he is there in the book of Revelation. And if youre looking for the overcomers, they are there, chosen and faithful and called with the Messiah. And if youre looking for the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, having the glory of God, you will discover it there. It is a question of what youre looking for. Some people have got so spiritually anemic that the word war and fighting the good fight has fallen totally out of their vocabulary. [00:15:01] It's a kind of namby pamby, kind of comfortable, sophisticated, affluent type of Christianity that we live. But in this extraordinary prophecy, we are told that it will be marked by war, not one, but any number of wars. And it will be marked at the same time by Jerusalem coming back to the center of the world stage in and through those wars. And it will be marked by something happening in the midst of the jewish people so incredible that it will change the whole course of jewish history and will, in fact, be, as it were, a transformation, if I may so put it, of jewish understanding of their identity and of their calling. And this is to do with the one who is called the pierced one. [00:16:25] I think that that is something, just an introduction, actually, it's worth almost, for those of you who want to go and watch the football, it's almost, you could go now. I mean, you've got so much from what I just said, I hope. But if, now, let me put this point. This is the punchline. [00:16:54] If Israel is an accident, an accident of history, if Israel is a coincidence, one of those extraordinary coincidences that some historians love to talk about, it is even more remarkable than the prophecy in its plain meaning. [00:17:21] Here we have a people twice exiled from their national territory and twice returned to it, twice having lost their capital and twice returned to it, having lost their language once for 1700 years, to have it reborn as the spoken language, the mother tongue of three and a half million Sabra Israel, is. [00:17:57] If this is an accident, it is an incredible accident, I think, to be honest, it requires more faith. Maybe not God given, but more faith to believe that it's an accident and a coincidence than to believe that this is the hand of God in human history. [00:18:19] I would have said that this prophecy cannot be understood apart from the recreation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the recovery of Jerusalem as the capital of that recreated state. Forgetting the issue of human rights and all the hoo ha that there is over what is right and what is wrong and whether Israel behaves herself all the time or doesn't behave herself, it is, in one sense not. [00:18:58] It doesn't have bearing upon the fact that the prophet Zechariah spoke to us of something happening in the Middle east to do with a particular city called Jerusalem. [00:19:14] And he tells us that it is to that city that the messiah will return. [00:19:23] His feet will once again stand upon the dust of Jerusalem. Now, that I say is incredible, even just as a mere introduction to this prophecy. What I want to do this morning is look at the actual words, because to me it is extremely important to understand this 10th verse of the prophecy of Zechariah in chapter ten. [00:20:01] And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit, spirit, or the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as for a firstborn. [00:20:31] If you're with me, I want to look first of all at this little preposition. [00:20:39] Unto or on they shall look on me. Authorized version, revised standard version, new King James version and a number of the other modern versions, Old English revised version, 1881. The American Standard Version, 1901. Say unto they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. [00:21:11] I must say straight away that it is hard to believe that so much depends upon one preposition, because it is on the understanding of what the Hebrew really says that our whole concept concerning the redemption of the House of Israel stands. [00:21:38] When I look on somebody, it normally means physically I looked upon Queen Elizabeth II. What does that mean? [00:21:53] I looked on President Bush. What does that mean? It has no real moral connotation. [00:22:05] It implies a physical, literal seeing of President Bush or Queen Elizabeth or whoever. [00:22:15] But if I say I look to Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth, it has an altogether different implication and influence. It is as if I respect her, I honor her, I understand her position. The same with President Bush. It has an altogether different understanding. If I look on Chairman Arafat, it can only mean one thing. If I look to Chairman Arafat, it means something altogether different, does it not? [00:22:53] So what does it say? Here, this little preposition El in Hebrew is normally translated towards or to or unto. It can be translated on. But if you take, for example, and it's everywhere in the old covenant, if you look to, for instance, just as an example, psalm 20 515. [00:23:23] Psalm 20 515 mine eyes are ever toward the Lord. [00:23:29] You could say my eyes are ever on the Lord. [00:23:33] But toward the Lord means something somehow. [00:23:38] I want direct. [00:23:41] I want to see what he is seeking to do as far as I'm concerned, or whatever, or what he is seeking to do with other things as well. Then you go on to verse 16. Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me. Actually here the Hebrew is exactly the same word Eli as in Zechariah. Turn me unto me. [00:24:11] Now if you are following me, and I hope I haven't lost you, this the way I know this will sound to some almost heretical, but I have to say it. [00:24:33] I can't help feeling that the translators have been somehow influenced by theology rather than by the actual language. [00:24:55] Why? Because in revelation it says, and they shall look on him whom they pierced. [00:25:06] And it says, the tribes of the earth shall mourn for him. [00:25:16] Let me try to put it another way. If I can make it clear to you. [00:25:24] A whole concept concerning the salvation of the jewish people is built on this translation. They shall look on me whom they have pierced. [00:25:43] First. It is they will actually physically look upon him. When he comes, they will see him and then they will say it was him and they will be saved. Now this is impossible. The only problem we have here is that in the whole of history God has never saved people by sight. [00:26:11] It has always been by faith. [00:26:16] Even Abraham was saved by faith. That's what it says in Romans. [00:26:23] And circumcision was the token, the evidence, as it were, of God given faith. [00:26:34] Faith didnt follow circumcision. Faith predated circumcision. Do you understand? [00:26:42] And in other words, has got ever saved by sake. [00:26:47] It is perfectly true that I have known people who in vision have seen the Lord and found the Lord. There are Muslims that I know who found the Lord that way. There are Jews I know who found the Lord that way. It's always by faith. This is vision. It is something quite different for a whole people to see physically the Lord and be saved now it's entirely possible. [00:27:14] But now we have another problem. We are told that when they get saved then they will become the missionaries. In the thousand years, the millennium, this is a whole teaching thats been built on this. [00:27:34] They say there will be a great mourning as a result when they see him. [00:27:39] I always remember Professor Doctor Flusser, that great authority on early Christianity, of course, an orthodox Jew who was asked once in one of, after one of his lectures, the way you talk, you sound as if you believe that Jesus was the messiah. And he said, no, I don't believe that he was the messiah. But if, when he comes, if when the Messiah comes, it turns out to be Jesus, I will not be surprised. [00:28:25] The problem with this whole teaching, you see, is further than this. What are the consequences? The consequences don't bother your heads about the salvation of the jewish people, because they will be saved anyway when the Lord comes. [00:28:44] So just bother your head about the church and about the evangelization of the world. That's all that we need to bother ourselves about now, because the Lord's going to take care of this thing first thing. Second thing, some people go much further than that and say Jews are saved anyway, they don't need salvation. Now. I've always had a great problem with this. If the Jews are already saved, some people call this the dual covenant. [00:29:12] If the Jews are already saved, why in the world did the early apostles suffer so much by feeling they had to go to the Jew first? [00:29:25] They went everywhere to the synagogue, and everywhere there was a rumpus. [00:29:31] Why did they. Paul speaks. He said, we are the off scouring of the world. Everybody is against us. Paul, you didn't have to do it. It's a, it was a weakness in your understanding. [00:29:43] I mean, you felt bound to go to the synagogue. Why didn't you bypass them altogether? They're saved already. [00:29:51] All you had to do was go straight to the Gentiles. [00:29:56] I dont accept it at all. Why is the gospel first to the Jew and then to the Gentile? To the Greek? Why is salvation first to the jew and then to the Gentile? [00:30:12] Its clear to me that there is only one way to come to the Lord. Now some of you will immediately they say, well, what about the great number of jews? Because of the way the church has behaved, the way Christendom has treated them, who have never at any time thought that there could be salvation in the name of Jesus or in the person of Jesus. Yes, that is absolutely true. But this we have to leave with God, because God is not less merciful than you. [00:30:44] Remember that. [00:30:46] And if I now, at my age, have lived through many a church rumpus, I have discovered that the Lord is infinitely more merciful than many christians. [00:31:01] But I also have to say this, that you and I suffer from sentiment and the Lord doesn't he sees things clearly and the Lord will not do the wrong thing by those jews who have died never ever thinking of looking for salvation in the Lord Jesus. This is something that is gods business and not ours. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? It was said, and he will do right. And ive often felt at the risk again of being a bit heretical, that our lord upset everybody when he was here on earth. Because he really, although he kept, he fulfilled the law to the letter. The way he administered it was absolutely a shock to everybody who knew the law. [00:32:01] And I think of the Lord Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever. I often wonder, wonder in the great white throne, whether we shall have many a shock when all the books are open. Its not a communist trial, you know, with forgotten conclusion. [00:32:16] It seems to me that the Lord is infinite in his love and in his grace and in his power, but he doesnt suffer from one sided understanding or sentiment that we do. [00:32:31] So let me then say this. They say some believe that all jews are saved anyway. I don't. [00:32:40] You mean to tell me that when the Lord Jesus spoke of Judas as the son of perdition going to his own place, he was entirely wrong? [00:32:50] Judas was, after all, bar mitzvahed and circumcised. [00:33:02] You mean to tell me that Caiaphas, the high priest, had evil men who actually prophesied on one occasion by the spirit of God, that he who was circumcised and also bar mitzvahed is in the kingdom of God? [00:33:19] Nonsense. [00:33:21] You mean Amos, his far more evil father in law? Four or five times high priest. [00:33:29] Totally evil. [00:33:31] Even in the Talmud, no good thing is said about him. [00:33:36] You mean to tell me that Annas is in the kingdom of God because he was jewish? [00:33:43] It's a joke. Who are you trying to tell? You tried to convince me. [00:33:51] What about Manasseh? [00:33:55] What about achas? [00:33:58] What about all these others? No, my dear friends, the real Israel has always been within Israel. [00:34:08] But to come back to our subject, the consequences of understanding that somehow or other the jewish people will be saved at the coming of the messiah when they physically see him, means that the land and the nation are not important. Why bother your head about these things? What's wrong with you all? You're getting all excited about the economic situation in Israel, the boycott of israeli goods, the growing anti semitism. No need to be bothered about it. God's going to look after all of that. In the end, you get on with the job of the church. [00:34:49] Theres no need. And as for the land. This is ridiculous. They can divide it a thousand times. Doesnt mean a thing to God. [00:34:58] That means land. [00:35:00] Were no longer in that time when things were more physical. Were in the age of the spirit, the age of the eternal. [00:35:14] You've heard all this, I'm sure, before then we have also coming out of this, yet another consequence. Israel is a dead end. [00:35:26] That's an american term. Cul de sac is the english one. [00:35:34] English are extraordinary people. They like to use these french phrases, I don't know why, which they murder in their pronunciation. Anyway. Cul de sac, you understand? We hear it again and again. Israel is a cul de sac. Oh, these people go down there, they get lost to everything, get caught on this thing. There's nothing whatsoever to do with the purpose of God. Sidetracked in a sidewater, going round in circles, collecting clothes for Israel, praying for their economy. What a lot of nonsense. Businessmen trying to help them. Business. What ridiculous. [00:36:16] You've all heard it, I'm sure. [00:36:22] The fact, it seems to me, is that if we understand this little phrase, they shall look unto me, whom they have pierced, they shall look to me. [00:36:34] It infers, it implies that something happens within the jewish heart, something happens within the jewish mind, something that is revolutionary, something that can only be described as the work of the Holy Spirit. [00:36:53] When a change takes place in a whole mindset, a change takes place in a hard attitude. [00:37:05] So that there is for the first time understanding that Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God. [00:37:21] I have to say myself that it to me it is clear that we should understand this little phrase. And I will pour upon the house of David, upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look unto me, whom they have pierced. [00:37:43] Jesus as a person. [00:37:48] Jesus, his work has never been looked to in jewish circles. [00:38:00] Only at the very beginning, when the whole early church was jewish, and when saved by the grace of God, they saw Jesus as the fulfillment of the whole purpose of God, the centre and circumference of gods eternal purpose for this universe and for mankind and for the jewish people. Well, that's the first thing I want to say. I have to watch myself on time, as always. [00:38:33] But the second thing I want you to look at is the phrase whom they have pierced. Is this a correct translation? [00:38:42] Sometimes we are told by some that it's not, that it should be translated another way. The word in Hebrew, Dakar, can only mean pierced or pierced through. [00:38:57] That's the only meaning that this word has. And it says, they shall look unto me. Me. Isn't that incredible? [00:39:13] If it is correct, it is incredible because it is the Lord himself. How can you pierce the Lord? [00:39:23] How can you pierce, as it were, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of Israel? [00:39:33] They shall look unto me whom they have pierced. Pierced through. [00:39:44] What is the meaning of this? [00:39:48] This one who was pierced or pierced through in jewish history, who is he? [00:40:02] Now, of course, it is only natural because of the tragic history of the church's attitude towards the jewish people. [00:40:15] I would like to use the word Christendom and excuse the true church. [00:40:22] But when I remember Martin Luther and the book he wrote in 15, I think it was 25 against the Jews and their lives, which was republished by Goebbels in the thirties as official nazi propaganda without a single change or alteration to what Luther himself had written. [00:40:49] And in that terrible book, he said, let us burn their torahs, burn down their synagogues, and let us tear down their houses, take away their silver and their gold, and make them work by the sweat of their brow, because, he said, work will free them. And that phrase, arbeit macht Frey, was written over the concentration camp Gates. [00:41:27] Now, if someone says to me, do you therefore believe that Martin Luther was not a believer? No, I do not believe that. I believe he was a believer. [00:41:38] But somewhere or other, if it really was Martin Luther, and I have heard from one source now that they have discovered so many things written by Martin Luther, that he couldn't have written all of them, because he would have written one a day for so many years, that maybe this was a forgery in the name of. Well, if that is so, may Martin Luther forgive me. [00:42:01] I'm very glad to hear it. But it makes no difference to the fact that Christians used this terrible forgery or genuine work of Lutheran in their attitude toward the church. It is often felt in protestant circles that the Protestants were far more kind to the jewish people in nazi occupied Europe than the Catholics. That is nonsense. The Catholics saved far more jews than ever did the Protestants. [00:42:34] We are seeing the very same thing. But I'm digressing. We are seeing the very same thing in the church today, a kind of attitude towards Israel and towards. Towards the jewish people that writes them off as the trouble in society, as the vermin, as the poison in society, as the means of every evil thing. And there will come a day when Jews are persecuted again, when many in the church will sit by behind their curtains and do nothing, and they will be the next to suffer. [00:43:10] For it has always been the history of the church, that the jew suffers first and then the real believer, whether it was the inquisition or whether it was the crusades or whether it was Nazi occupied in Europe. You know, it is very interesting to me that Hitler wrote a letter to Martin Bormann, his deputy, and he said, in this letter, when I have dealt with the jewish people, I intend to deal with the Christians. [00:43:47] So all those Christians who hung up swastikas in their chapels and pictures of Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer, would in the end have suffered the same fate as the jewish people. [00:44:01] Anyway, that's a digression to come back. Who is this pierced one? In jewish history, surely there is only one. [00:44:13] Who is this pierced one? It is Jesus. [00:44:20] Now, I understand, as no doubt all of you do, the only way you will ever come to that understanding is by divine illumination. [00:44:30] When Jesus said to his disciples, whom do men say that I am? [00:44:36] And they said, well, maybe Jeremiah, maybe Elijah, maybe one of the prophets. And he said, and who do you say that I am? [00:44:46] And there was a silence. [00:44:49] And then Peter, in his normal way, acting, by the way, as the spokesman for the rest, they just kept their big mouths shut and got out of trouble. [00:45:01] He spoke and said, you are the messiah, the son of the living God. [00:45:09] And Jesus said, flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, Peter, but my father, who is in heaven, every person who has been truly saved has had the eyes of their heart touched by our Lord's heavenly Father. [00:45:31] It has been the work of the Holy Spirit that saved you. Not water on your head, nor bread or wine in your mouth. [00:45:41] It was the work of the Holy Spirit who touched the eyes of your heart and enabled you to see that Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God and the savior of the world. Now, divine illumination is a necessity, an essential necessity. [00:46:11] You cannot do without it. [00:46:19] Let me take you one step further. [00:46:22] Genuine repentance and genuine faith is the result of such divine illumination. [00:46:32] When God opens the eyes of your heart and you, for the first time, even if ever, very dimly, see that Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God, the saviour and the redeemer. [00:46:46] In that moment, into your heart comes a conviction of sin. [00:46:52] That's what's missing in modern Christianity. [00:46:58] Sadly, we have this kind of decision. Preaching. [00:47:05] Decide for Jesus. [00:47:08] It's like a presidential election. He'll do you good. He'll get a ticket to heaven. He'll get you out of hell and into heaven. Where is this in the gospel? [00:47:21] Everywhere. In the gospel, there is a command to repentance. Everywhere. In the gospel there is a command to turn away from your sin and turn to Jesus and to be converted. Do you understand? Because of this weak, this weak kind of conversion we have, where it's more a kind of decision I make for the Lord. Where are those agonizing conversions that people used to go through where for weeks they hung over hell almost in their minds and cried out to God for mercy until finally it dawned on them that they were justified by the work of the Lord Jesus. When you have a strong birth like that, you will be a strong child of God. You have all the attributes necessary for spiritual growth. But when you have a weak birth but Jesus son, if I may be so unkind as to put it this way, Jesus is some kind of char lady that cleans up the mess all the time for you. You make messes and go on making messes and he just comes behind you cleaning everything up and making things comfortable for you. You've got that kind of idea of Jesus. There is no laying down your life for his sake. In the gospels there is no falling into the ground and dying. There is no readiness for tribulation. There is no readiness to fight the good fight of faith. There is an inherent weakness within our birth. That means that we are, I hardly like to use the word disciples. [00:49:01] We are converted but we are not disciples. [00:49:09] Genuine repentance and genuine faith, what a wonderful thing it is when you see the Lord. Well, I must curb myself because we won't have enough time to finish properly otherwise. But you know, it is very interesting that when our Lord was, when he put them all in that boat and told them to go over alone to the other side and refused to go with them, the before you remember he was in the boat with them. Do you remember the story? Do you remember how they woke him up? People say, oh, poor Jesus, he was so tired. He was after all a human being. He fell fast asleep, worn out. Well, it is true, he may have been, I don't think so. I believe he went into that boat and deliberately went to sleep and then the storm blew up and they tried, they dont worry him, hes asleep, poor man. [00:50:08] And they bailed out the water as fast as they could and in the end they shook him and said, cant you, youve got no care for us. Were all drowning. Now I believe that the Lord really wanted them when the boat went down to say, now follow me. And they would have all walked on the water, but they were in such a state they would insert that he could only do one thing and he stood up and said, shush. And it stopped. And he said, how wonderful he is. With one word he stopped the storm. [00:50:44] It's a marvelous thing to know the Lord as the Lord who can stop a storm. But what do you learn from stopping a storm? [00:50:55] Only a fear of storm forever. Afterwards you are always petrified that maybe the Lord will go to sleep and this time not wake up. [00:51:12] But the second time the Lord refused to get in the boat. Isnt that interesting? He put them all in the boat and said, go on the ill meet you on the other side. [00:51:22] And then another storm blow up. And this time the boat nearly went down. And suddenly they saw someone walking on the sea. And the sea was huge waves and billows and the wind was colossal. [00:51:34] And they said, it's a ghost. It's a ghost. They thought some ghost had come to collect them. [00:51:41] If you know anything about jewish superstition, you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about. [00:51:47] It's a ghost come to collect us. [00:51:50] And then Peter said, you know what? I think it's the Lord. [00:51:55] So he yelled, Jesus through the wind and the waves. And Jesus yelled back, yes, it's me. [00:52:06] And then Peter said, if it's you, tell me to come. [00:52:12] And Jesus said, come. [00:52:17] And then Peter got over the boat, side of the boat and walked on the water. He'd never been to Bible college or theological seminary and learned how to walk on the water. He had never read a book. The four steps on walking on the water. [00:52:43] All that happened was he saw the Lord and he heard the Lord. That's all that was required. The moment he saw the Lord and he heard the Lord, something happened. And he did the impossible. [00:52:58] He walked on water. [00:53:02] Somewhere between that point of leaving the boat and reaching the Messiah, he suddenly thought to himself, what am I doing? [00:53:16] I'm walking on water. [00:53:19] Nobody ever walks on water. There is the law of gravity. [00:53:23] And immediately he began to sink. It's interesting that this happens again and again to us. When we want evidence for something, it's there. [00:53:35] You can't walk on water. [00:53:38] There's such a thing as the law of gravity. [00:53:42] And he sank before. Then he did the impossible. Now, what my point is, when you see the Lord with the eye of the heart and hear the Lord with the ear of your spirit, you do the impossible. [00:54:00] Every work of God in the history of the church which has shaken the whole establishment from top to bottom, turned it inside out and upside down and become a great movement of the spirit, has begun with doing the impossible. [00:54:20] And I could give you examples of this if you want them. [00:54:26] That monk that the Catholics called the drunken monk, Luther. [00:54:36] Amazing what happened. A man went and nailed his thesis on the door of that church and shook the whole of Europe. [00:54:51] Or I think of George Whitefield with one eye, a cast in his eye, one eye that way, another eye that way. [00:55:00] Born in a public house, his parents were public. And think of that you dear Christians. [00:55:12] Whenever he preached on sin, at least two people got convicted. [00:55:20] Because it was said of him, he always fixed his eyes on the people. [00:55:27] Who would have ever thought that the colonies on the other side of the Atlantic, as they were then called, and these isles would be shaken by the preaching of this man, or of John Wesley. So dry. [00:55:42] I've always been so sorry that they called Methodists Methodists instead of enthusiasts, because their first name was enthusiasts. [00:55:54] And then the old name before he was saved, Methodist. Now forgive me, those of you who are Methodists, I'm not getting at you. I'm just saying real Methodists are all enthusiasts. [00:56:07] They are real, the original charismatics. [00:56:12] Anyway, I must come back to my thing again. You will notice that it says, they shall mourn for him as for an only son, and be in bitterness for him as for a firstborn. And in the Hebrew, this little word only son, the word son is not there. It is hayahid, which means they will mourn for him as for an only one, actually meaning a unique one, someone who stands entirely on his own. [00:56:49] What a change will take place in the jewish mentality. [00:56:56] The firstborn. [00:57:00] Oh, there's so much in the word of God about the first Paul. Jesus is called the heir of all things, appointed by God to be heir. The heir of all things, an heir of God. [00:57:17] Joint heirs with Christ we are called, dear people of God. What a wonderful word this is. Unto whom they pierced. But I must finish now, quickly. I will pour the spirit of grace and supplication. The word supplication in the Hebrew is in the plural. [00:57:38] You could almost say supplications, but it means that the supplication was not just some small superficial inquiry, beseeching, but something that was colossal, consuming, taking the whole person up, as it were. Now listen carefully to this. [00:58:04] I will pour upon them the spirit of grace. Is it the spirit or a spirit? You will notice your versions. Some say the spirit of grace and of supplication. Others say a spirit. It doesn't matter. It means both. [00:58:22] You cannot have a spirit of grace and of supplication without the spirit of grace and supplication. [00:58:31] It is the work of the Holy Spirit to communicate the grace of our Lord Jesus to any sinner. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring about in a human being an inquiry, a seeking, an appeal, a beseeching, a readiness, at any cost, to seek the Lord. [00:59:00] Do you realize what this means? [00:59:03] How can this people, as some people say, be saved? The whole nation in one day, basing it in a false understanding of Isaiah, chapter 66 and verse eight. A nation shall be born in one day. That refers to the state of Israel on the 14 May 1948. How then do we understand this? [00:59:26] This pouring out of the spirit is not a one day job. It obviously is not. When they see Jesus and in that single moment of time they are saved. It seems to me perfectly clear that it is over a period of time when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the jewish people. [00:59:48] And then, because it is grace and supplication, the word means supplication for grace or for faith. [01:00:01] Now think. Think. [01:00:04] What does it mean? It means that in the midst of all these wars, of all this controversy, of all this hatred and misrepresentation, something is going to happen to the jewish people. And it will be the work of the Holy Spirit. The same work of the same holy spirit who led you to the Lord. [01:00:24] The same work that opened your blind eyes. Eyes to see who Jesus was. The same work of the Holy Spirit that brought into your heart the gift, the God given gift of faith. [01:00:39] This same holy spirit who brought you to a new birth. That you are a member of the family of God within the covenant circle of God. The same holy spirit who brought you into a union with God, God in the Messiah. This same holy spirit will do this incredible work in the jewish people. [01:01:05] Dear friends, isn't this amazing? Don't you think I find it amazing? [01:01:12] Did you notice the verses twelve to 14, which are for most people, unintelligible. All these families, husbands and wives apart. [01:01:24] The royal family at the establishment, the prophetic circle. Nathan. Then comes next the priestly families. Levi, and finally the Shimeites. That's the ones who sang. And finally you have an all of them, and all of them, husbands and wives apart. What does it mean? Normally we speak of husbands and wives together. So what is this? It is a reference to what we call in jewish circles the shiva, the seven day of mourning. When someone dies. [01:02:04] In that seven days of mourning, husbands and wives sleep in separate beds. In separate rooms even. Don't touch each other. In those seven days, you don't cut your hair, you don't cut your nails, you wash on a minimum, you sit on small stools. Everything in the whole of life is upside down abnormal for seven days. Oh, what a picture. What is this going to happen when Jesus actually returned? Well, it may be I'm wrong. Maybe it will be so. I don't know. All I know is I believe it's going to happen before and I believe that we are so near to it that Satan is mobilizing every single faction within his authority and power to destroy this people before there is a chance of their being saved. Just does. Hitler, by the demonic influence of Satan, tried to destroy this people to stop the nation coming into being. And in fact, God turned it around and it became the catalyst for the nation to come into being. So we are now heading for that time when Satan will do everything in his power to wipe out his people before their shall. Salvation can come to pass. [01:03:33] The covenanters and the Puritans, almost without exception, believed that the jewish people would be saved before the coming of the Lord Jesus and would become the last great testimony to the person and work of the messiah in world history. [01:03:53] That's a fact often forgotten. [01:04:01] Anyone who wants to pursue this, there's a little booklet by Ian Murray, a wonderful little booklet called the puritan hope. [01:04:10] Read it, it's worth it. [01:04:15] Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no repentance. Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no faith. Genuine faith. Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no new birth. Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no salvation. Beloved brothers and sisters, isn't this an amazing prophecy? [01:04:36] Do you realize that you and I are in the phase of world history in which this is to be fulfilled? We have seen the state recreated. We have seen Jerusalem become its capital. We are the witnesses of war after war, after war. All these things we have seen. [01:04:58] Oh, beloved friends, we need now to be mobilized as never before to stand for this isn't our battle. Remember that some Christians take this on and become exhausted and worn out. I feel a bit that way myself. [01:05:20] You know, you take things on which we shouldnt take on. Remember the governments on his shoulder, not yours. [01:05:29] Many of us, we feel we have to tell the Lord what to do and get very upset if he doesnt do it exactly as weve told him. [01:05:39] But the fact remains that you and I are to be in this battle, but we are to take our position to stand still and see the salvation of our God. [01:05:56] I do not have any doubt that this is where we are today. [01:06:01] And I have no doubt that, that the battle we are in now in Israel and in the middle east is all related to this one great point in the prophetic purpose of God, in the prophetic fulfillment. [01:06:25] I have no doubt about it. Brothers and sisters, you are not second class citizens. [01:06:33] You are those who have come already into the salvation of God by the same messiah, through the same finished work, by the same Holy Spirit, you have been brought into the salvation of God. [01:06:50] Just as at one time there were those amongst our people who prayed without ceasing for the Gentiles that they might be saved, and who did not only pray, but went to the ends of the earth, into Ethiopia, into Armenia, into India, right down to the south of India, to Gaul, to the British Isles, even to Spain. It is amazing they gave themselves. [01:07:24] They were for the most part, messianic believers. [01:07:29] Now that great work has gone on and on and on, and the multitudes and multitudes of gentiles have come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus. [01:07:42] Now it's your turn. [01:07:45] It's your turn to stand in the battle for the fulfillment of the purpose of God. Concerning the jewish people, there is no middle wall of petition. [01:08:00] Its gone. [01:08:03] There is no difference between a jew whos found the Messiah and a gentile whos found the Messiah. [01:08:14] I sometimes think there might be a little difference in intelligence. [01:08:24] I don't mean that unkindly, but I've noticed after so many years of working amongst Christians of gentile background that so few of them think, however, that's nothing. [01:08:45] Our intelligence can sometimes get in the way of the Lord instead of being a vehicle for the Lord. [01:08:53] But my dear friends, if you are a child of God, you are as much in this marvelous work of the Lord as anyone who has a jewish background. [01:09:05] And we are at a stage in the history of the fulfillment fulfilment of God's purpose, where one of the greatest prophecies of all is about to be fulfilled. [01:09:22] Is it any wonder that the whole world is in uproar? Is it any wonder that the Middle east is like a kind of conflagration? [01:09:34] Of course us not. [01:09:37] May the Lord help us. May he challenge us. [01:09:41] May he re equip us and re anoint us before the battle that lies ahead. Thank you.