780. ZEC 13:7. THE AWAKENED SWORD

Zec_13:7. The Awakened Sword

"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones"’97Zec_13:7.

Our text contains a most solemn and affecting prophecy of the Saviour’s sufferings. We cannot misunderstand it, inasmuch as Jesus distinctly applied it to himself, when he received with his disciples the sacramental emblems of his death. "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad," Mat_26:3, &c. Our text refers,

I. To the personal divinity and glory of the Saviour.

God speaks of him as "his fellow." Such language is never applied to the most distinguished saints. Moses was God’s exalted servant, and Abraham was styled the "friend of God." David was a man after God’s own heart, but nothing is ever said of the loftiest saints at all equal to this. Such language is never applied to angels, or the highest orders of the celestial hierarchy. It is never applied to any but Christ, "the anointed of God."

(1.) In the psalms and prophets we meet with the like phraseology. In the forty-fifth psalm, the Son is thus addressed, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever," &c. So again in 93rd and 110th. "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Isaiah in two very sublime prophecies refers to the deity of the Redeemer: "And a virgin shall conceive," &c. And again, "Unto us a child is born," &c. (2.) The Saviour taught the same truths concerning himself, Joh_10:30, &c., "I and ray Father are one," &c. So also to Philip he said, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father," &c., Joh_14:9.

(3.) The apostles clearly made known the Godhead of Christ. "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," &c., Php_2:6. So Rom_9:5, "Who is God over all, blessed for evermore." So also the apostle John, Rom_1:1 : "In, the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And in the First Epistle of John, 1Jn_5:20, he describes the mission of the Son of God, and then says, "This is the true God and eternal life," &c. It is clear, therefore, that Christ in his divine nature claims a perfect equality with the Father. He assumes the eternity of the Father;’97the power, the glory, the majesty, the dominion, and the immutability of Deity, as his own. And God requires that all men should honor the Son, even in the same manner, and to the same extent, as they honor the Father. Notice in the text,

II. The perfect humanity of the Saviour in connection with his Godhead.

"The man that is my fellow." The manhood of Jesus is too manifest to need proof. The first prediction describes him as the "seed of the woman." He was to be both "the root and offspring of David." As a man, the place and time of his birth were predicted. And thus the apostle, "In the fulness of the times God sent forth his Son," &c. We often see both the evidences of his divinity and humanity in the course of his life and mission. As a man, you see him in the weakness of infancy lying in a manger. As a God, he receives the homage of the Eastern sages. As a man, he was weary and hungry. As a God, he multiplied the loaves, and fed the thousands in the desert. As a man, he endures reproach; as a God, he awed the multitudes, so that they were astonished at his doctrine. As a man, he drank the deep cup of grief, and was tempted and buffeted by the evil one; as a God, he was transfigured on the mount, performed miracles of the highest grandeur, expelled demons, stilled the tempest, and raised the dead. As a man, he was betrayed and arrested by the rude soldiery; as a God, he overwhelmed them by his voice; and when he said, "Whom seek ye?" they fell as dead men at his feet, Joh_18:6. As a man, you see him suffering and dying on the cross; but his deity is attested by the rending of the veil, the quaking of the earth, the tearing of the rocks, and the darkening of the sun, so that the centurion exclaimed, "Surely this was the Son of God." As a man, his mangled remains were interred in the prepared sepulchre, where they rested in the gloomy region of the king of terrors; but as a God, he dismantled himself of his burial clothes, rolled away the stone, and rose in glorious triumph over death and the grave. As a man, we see him conversing with his disciples, and eating with them; as a God, he ascends in the angelic cloud, and is received back to the throne of his glory, where he pits exalted to exercise his reign and rule, until his enemies become his footstool.

III. Our subject refers to the mediatorial office and work of Christ.

"God’s shepherd."

(1.) As a shepherd, he was sent to collect together the wandering and lost sheep of the human race. Men had wandered from God,’97wandered on the mountains of darkness, unbelief, and peril of endless death. He came, therefore, "to seek and to save that which was lost."

(2.) As a shepherd, he came to provide a fold for his gathered people. He came that men might have restored unto them the enjoyment of God’s grace, and the blessings of holiness and love. And in effecting this he designed to establish a church in the world over which the celestial motto might be written, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill towards men."

(3.) As a shepherd he came to redeem his sheep, and obtain for them eternal life. See Joh_10:11, Joh_10:15, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." Christ is the great shepherd, the head and ruler of the church. But this will lead us to notice,

IV. The sufferings by which his mediatorial work was effected.

"Awake, O sword," &c.

(1.) The instrument of his sufferings was the sword. The infliction of just punishment,’97righteous suffering. Now Christ suffered unrighteously as a holy person, or righteously as a guilty person, or substitutionally as a righteous person on behalf of others. Now this is the scriptural view; he freely gave himself for our sins, and cheerfully took our iniquities upon him, so that with his stripes we might be healed. Hence as the surety, he suffered that the claims of God’s violated law might be honorably and fully met. "He suffered the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."

(2.) It is implied that the sword had long slumbered. Now this was literally the case. Sin had existed in its wrath-deserving guilt for four thousand years. One dispensation after another had passed away, until, at length, the crisis of solemn retribution arrived, when Christ was to present his own body as an offering for transgression, and thus magnify the law, and make it honorable.

(3.) The mandate to the slumbering sword was given by Jehovah. He said, "Awake," &c. So that the sufferings inflicted by the Jews, and by the powers of darkness were permitted. He allowed them to have their own hour of darkness and triumph. But especially does this refer to those agonies which Christ endured immediately from God. When, alone in the garden, he was seized with horror, and uttered the awful exclamation, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful," &c. Oh, yes, then did Christ feel the sword sheathed in his own soul. "Then his soul was made an offering for sin," &c., Isa_53:10.

V. Observe the circumstances predicted concerning the sheep of Christ during the Messiah’s sufferings.

1. The disciples of Christ were to forsake him;

. "The sheep were to be scattered." Now this was minutely fulfilled, for all Christ’s disciples forsook him and fled, so that he literally trod the winepress alone. None assisted him in his mediatorial work.

2. His timid and fearful followers were again to be restored.

The term "little ones" is that which Christ gave to his disciples, Mat_18:10, &c. Now these little ones, though frail, weak, and erring, were remembered by their Lord. To the most guilty the tidings of his resurrection were sent, for the angel said, "Go, tell his disciples and Peter," Mar_16:7. He afterwards breathed his own peace upon them; he gave them many assurances of his love, and finally imbued them with the Holy Ghost for their great work. Thus did he turn his hand, in restoring mercy upon the little ones.

Application

Learn,

1. The extreme evil of sin. It is not seen so vividly in the torments of the lost, as in the agonies of Christ.

2. The preciousness of redemption. "Redeemed not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ."

3. The individual interest we should seek in the mediatorial office and work of Christ. Are we his sheep; saved in him; loving and following him?

4. The only hope for the sinner. Rejecters of Christ must bear the awful weight of the sword in their own persons forever and ever.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS