THE MESSAGE OF ZECHARIAH
Number 30
THE RESULT OF REJECTION OF CHRIST
Zechariah 11:4-14
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THESE verses give a tragic and sobering account of the end of the nation of Israel as the chosen and protected people of God. This prophecy, given over 400 years before its fulfillment, gives the sad account of the final judgement of God on Israel for their persistent refusal of all God's overtures of grace and love. In the prophecy we see God's final act of supreme grace and love in sending his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as he promised to be their Saviour, but when they reject him so cruelly, there is no holding back the just wrath of God, which falls with devastating consequences upon Israel. The prophecy is not an easy one to understand and appreciate and so I have felt the only way I can tackle it is to take each verse in turn for explanation, and then draw together what we can learn from it in some observations at the end.

The prophet is placed in the position of the servant of God, Jesus Christ, and so appears in the prophecy as typifying Christ.

THE MEANING OF THE PASSAGE.

Verse 4 speaks of Christ being sent to feed or pasture the flock marked for slaughter. This points to the fact that Israel, because of their continued turning away from God and rebellion against God were a people marked for judgement, but that they were given one last opportunity to repent. The Messiah would come as promised and he would provide salvation. If this was rejected, as it was, only judgement remained.

Verse 5 provides a vivid picture of the judgement when and as it came. The buyers and sellers spoken of here can be none other than the Romans who were God's instruments in judgement. They treated all those whom they conquered as means for their own advantage and for their own enrichment. Here the phrase "and go unpunished" expresses the fact that the Romans were not guilty for the execution of God's judgement, but no doubt for the way they executed it. The shepherds refer to the Jewish rulers, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who oppressed the people in their own way, and led them astray. This last sentence is ironic speaking of the fact that these leaders did the work of the Romans, even though they hated the Romans.

Verse 6 expresses the reason why God purposed judgement on Israel, though the reason is given so they may take hold of the last opportunity to repent. When God says "I will no longer spare the dwellers in this land" he is expressing the fact that the sins of the people had been so continual and massive that judgement could not be delayed any longer; but the fact that this explanation is given shows God's grace that he still warns them with the hope they might repent and receive their Messiah. Giving over the people to their neighbour speaks of internal and destructive strife. Giving over to the king expresses the external domination of the Romans. The awful nature of the suffering that would come is described as oppression, and God warns that at this point he will not this time, as he has done so often before, come to rescue the nation.

Verse 7 describes the ministry of Jesus when he lived and died. Jesus obeyed God and came to feed the flock like a shepherd, and was ready to give his life for the sheep. He came to the people who were marked for slaughter, and came so that they may have this last opportunity to repent. However he comes specially for the  oppressed or the humble of the flock. These represent the remnant in Israel who still held fast in faith to Jehovah and looked for their salvation in their promised Messiah. We have these described so vividly in the opening of St. Luke's Gospel. God had always promised this redemption for the people of faith who clung to the faith of Abraham. In order to do this pasturing of the faithful, Jesus took two shepherd's crooks, one called favour and the other called union. Favour represented the continuing of God's favour to the nation, which preserved the nation from being destroyed until the Messiah had fulfilled his task of redemption. Union represented the holding together of the Jewish nation until this work of redemption had been accomplished.

Verse 8 describes the work of Christ. The three shepherds represent the three offices in the Jewish nation - prophet, priest and king. The purpose of these offices in the nation was to hold the nation together and keep the people in the way of the Lord. Sadly those who held these offices so often were false in their office and failed Israel, and led them astray. Jesus got rid of these shepherds by taking these offices upon himself, so making the Jewish expression of these offices redundant and obsolete. That he did it in a month expresses the fact that he did it over a short period of time, that of his earthly ministry. A month is neither a day not a year, but something in between. The second part of this verse describes how Jesus was received by the Jews. They hated him and grew weary of him. They wanted him out of the way, which led to them crucifying him.

Verse 9 expresses the final abandonment of the Jews by Jesus. He ceased to be their shepherd and so the special protection the nation had known as God's special people was removed. The devastating result of this is described in the three ways this disaster was experienced. The people died from pestilence and famine; they perished on account of war, and they killed each other by internal strife - they ate each other's flesh.

Verse 10 describes the action of God which caused this to happen. Christ breaks his staff Favour, and so the protection God had given Israel all down the centuries was removed, and the judgement then could flood in. The moment Christ had completed his act of redemption and rose from the dead, the staff Union was broken. At that time God revoked the covenant he had made with the nations, that is he removed the protection he had given to Israel by holding back the nations of the world from harming Israel.

Verse 11 tells us that this revoking of the protection of Israel was taken away after Christ had fulfilled his work of redemption. The rest of the verse was fulfilled in a remarkable way during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. For some unaccountable reason he lifted the siege for a short period of time, and this allowed the Christians to escape from the city and fly to Pella for safety.

Verse 12 speaks of Christ's seeking of his reward from the Jews. The reward is described by Isaiah in chapter 53 that he would see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The words of Jesus here are ironical. They had no intention of turning to Christ and receiving his salvation, so Jesus expresses their rejection by telling them to keep it - in other words keep themselves away from Christ. Instead their contempt of Christ was reflected in the amount of money they paid to Judas. This represented a contemptuous sum. It was the price of servant who had been gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). This records the final rejection of Christ by the Jews.

Verse 13 shows what was done with this contemptuous sum of money. The potter had his shop  in the valley of Hinnom because the best clay was found there. This valley was polluted in the eyes of the Jews because idolatry was once practiced there. To cast something in the potter's field was to designated it as unclean. This is what they thought of Christ.

Verse 14 describes the final break up of the Jewish people. Christ breaks his staff Union which expressed his keeping the nation together as a people and a nation, and so opening discord and hate between Jew and Jew.

APPLICATION OF THE PROPHECY.

What are the lessons we may learn from this prophecy?

In the first place let us learn again the wonder of the goodness and grace of God. The fact that this prophecy was given by God such a long time before the events took place, gave ample opportunity for the Jews to read it, and take advantage of this warning, and so repent and turn back to God. Even when Christ came, in the midst of his denunciation of the Pharisees and Sadducees he reiterated this warning. The parable of the tenants in the vineyard is one example. We are told that the Pharisees and the Sadducees knew Jesus spoke of them, but instead of benefiting from this warning, they simply grew more angry and hardened in their hate of Jesus.

In the next place we have a sad and painful illustration of the sinfulness of humanity. The Jews here are only a picture of the overall state of the human mind and heart. Humanity is in rebellion against God, and hates the ways of God. Such is the corruption within all of us, that we turn away from God even when we are clearly wooed in love by God. Humanity is in the state it is in, simply because of this inward corruption and rebellion, which can only be removed by Christ and his salvation.

Then there is a warning to the church of today. The Jewish nation at the time of Christ were the church of that day. They upheld all the institutions of their religion. They had been so busy in upholding there religion that they had added all sorts of added interpretations to their religion handed down from Moses, that keeping all the rules was a massive task, yet they really tried to perform them all. When Jesus described the Pharisee praying in the temple, what the Pharisees told God he had done was all true. He did give to the poor. He did fast rigorously. He was meticulous in observing his religion. Paul describing his life as a Pharisee in Philippians as a meticulous outward holiness that few could claim. Yet in all this the Jews failed to understand the true nature of God's holiness, and failed to understand that God was concerned with the state of our inner souls and being, which could be, and was, vile, even though outwardly there was so much rectitude and right.

Paul also describes the true Christian in Philippians 3:3 "For it is we who are the circumcision (the true people of God), we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh." The true Christian is one whose worship is governed and direct by the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. The true Christian is one whose whole trust and confidence is in Christ alone, and so glories in Christ as the lover of their souls, their Redeemer and Saviour, their God and Lord. The true Christian trusts in Christ alone, and loves Christ because of his great love for us, and so lives for Christ. The true Christian is one who has no confidence in the flesh, that is in our own efforts to gain favour with God, and understands that we have no merit that is acceptable to God, and so takes the place of the humble sinner before God, pleading only for mercy, but confident that mercy is given through Christ.

The church today, at least in England, is busy and active and showing an outward life which is so impressive, but does the church reflect the Christianity that is expressed by Paul. Is Christ gloried in it, so that all who come within the orbit of the church see Christ as the center of our worship and life? Paul determined not to know anything but Jesus Christ and him crucified, but does the church today?

Then it seems to me that the end of the Jewish era and nation as described in this prophecy, and the awful judgement that ensued is a picture of the the final judgement at the end of the world. The only difference will be that the judgement then will be complete and end this world. We live today as if the world is going on for ever, but it is not. Even though there are many warnings of this we still will not face the fact of it. Neither will our world face the fact of sin and judgement. The church fails the world. We do not preach that there is no salvation except in Christ, and that God will judge sin, and judgement will fall except we repent and turn to Christ for his mercy.

The last thought is this that even though the end of the Jews as the chosen people of God happened, after Christ had completed his work of salvation, and even in the judgement that followed,. individual Jews are not forgotten in the mercy of God. They have the same opportunity and invitation as we do to receive Christ and believe on him, that we and they may be forgiven and become the children of God. We who are not Jews have no place for arrogance. We are sinners just as the Jew is. We all deserve condemnation, death and hell. Our only hope is Christ just as he is for the Jew. If we know the love of Christ and his salvation let us be urgent in prayer that God may give us another chance, and pour our his reviving Spirit so that before it is too late millions may see their need, repent and believe.