And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, 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 first-born. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of IIadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 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; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Here is the great Gospel promise of the New Testament dispensation; as Christ, with all his fulness, was the promise of the Old. And had the Prophet Zechariah been raised up by God the Holy Ghost, to have brought the Church of Jesus this one promise only, every true believer in Christ would have found cause to bless the Lord for the ministry of this man, through every period of the Church. This was, and is the great blessing in the charter of grace, which Jehovah promised Christ as God-man-Mediator in that covenant, as the result of his great undertaking. The Father engaged to give it to the seed of Christ, and to his offspring. And to this the Lord Jesus had an eye in all he told the Church concerning the Holy Ghost, and his seven-fold gifts, which should take place after his departure and return to glory, when he had finished redemption. See Isaiah 44:1-5 and Isaiah 59:21. Hence all those blessed assurances of Christ we meet with in his farewell Sermons. John 14:1; John 15:1 and John 16:1 Chapter s; in which the blessed Jesus hath so particularly described both the person and offices of God the Holy Ghost. I would beg the Reader to look at those scriptures I have referred to, and then read the account of the first outpouring of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, in confirmation of the same. Acts 2:1. throughout. And, as an antidote and preservative against the infidelity of the present adulterous and sinful generation, look at those scriptures also which tend to confirm the same, in assuring the Church, that the indwelling residence of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of believers, was promised in all ages of the Church, from the first descent of the Spirit, after Christ's ascension, until Christ shall again return in glory. See Ephesians 4:8-13; 1 Corinthians 12:1 throughout. Acts 19:2; Romans 8:9-17. When the Reader hath paid all due attention to those several portions of the word of God, let him look attentively to this blessed verse of Zechariah. Let the Reader observe upon whom the effusions of the Holy Ghost is promised to be poured out; namely, the house of David, even our. Almighty David, Christ; and the whole inhabitants of his Church, Jerusalem; that is, both Jew and Gentile, agreeably to the Father's promise. Isaiah 49:6. I beg the Reader next to observe the characters marked of those blessed outpourings; namely, the spirit of grace, and of supplications. By the spirit of grace, we may include the whole gifts of God the Holy Ghost, teaching, illuminating, comforting, directing, and blessing the seed and offspring of Christ, in the knowledge and love of all the persons of the Godhead, for their merciful manifestations in the covenant of redemption. And by the spirit of supplications, must comprize the whole of prayer and praise, in the exercise of all those goings forth of the soul of a believer upon the person, work, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Psalms 43:3-4; Romans 8:26-27; The verse then goes on to describe the result of the Spirit's work in the heart; and they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him. Here we have not only a sure and unerring prophecy of Christ's being pierced, but also a blessed prophecy of a work to be wrought by the Holy Ghost in the heart of all his redeemed. The believer is led by that grace poured out, so to look to Christ, as One whom we have pierced; that is, to see that our sins became the cause of Christ's death. And the soul on whom the Holy Ghost pours out of his gracious influences, so beholds Christ, and so regards the cross. Not the Jews, not Herod, not Pontius Pilate, but my sins (the soul will then say) that crucified the Lord of life and glory. Hence will follow the mourning as for an only son, a bitterness as for a first born; that is, sincere heartfelt sorrow; nothing feigned, but real, deep, and lasting. The mourning is so great as to be compared to that in the sorrow of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo. Some have thought that two seasons of Israel's mourning are here referred to, The first in the destruction of the Benjamites, at the rock Rimmon. See Judges 20:45-47. And the other, in the instance of Josiah, killed at Megiddo. 2 Kings 23:29-30. But the Reader should further observe, that this mourning under the Spirit's operations, is described, not only as a general mourning, in which the whole land. that is, the whole family of Christ, both Jew and Gentile, mourn; but special, and personal mourning. Sin is a personal thing, and therefore every individual child of God, groaning under sin, will feel that true sorrow, which a view of Christ on the cross, dying for sin, must and will occasion. The families apart, and their wives apart, seems to intimate; that these gracious impressions are to themselves secret and retired. The heart knoweth its own bitterness. Proverbs 14:10. The ministers, the house of Levi, are said to weep between the porch and the altar. Joel 2:17. Such is the spirit of grace and supplication, and such are the gracious effects!