Accurary of the Prophetic Word

Tuesday 23 March 2021

They will look to me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn. (Zechariah 12. 10)

All this happened in order for the scripture to be fulfilled :... "They will look to him whom they have pierced." (John 19. 36, 37)

Accuracy of the Prophetic Word

The prophet Zechariah announces in advance the crucifixion of the Messiah. One day, he writes, the people will look to "him whom they have pierced." They will mourn when they realize that they did not recognize their Messiah, and crucified him.

About five centuries later, the evangelist John recalls this text from Zechariah. Jesus was crucified, he expired, and a soldier pierced his side with his spear. This fact happened, we read, to fulfill this prophecy : "They will look to him whom they have pierced."

It is indeed Zechariah's, but the tense of the verb has changed. It is no longer the future, but the past : "the one they've pierced" becomes "the one they've pierced". What was yet to come in Zechariah's time is now a done deal, since a soldier has just pierced the side of Jesus crucified with his spear. Above the cross, a sign reads : “Jesus, the Nazarene, the King of the Jews” (John 19. 19). The crucified one is indeed the king, the awaited Messiah.

The prophet further announces that in a time to come the people of Israel will realize their error. If the crucifixion and the act of the soldier, announced by Zechariah, are fulfilled, the rest of the prophecy will also surely be fulfilled. When these people recognize Jesus as their Messiah, they will mourn bitterly over him realizing the sin they have committed...

The Word of God is precise, and whoever reads it carefully cannot help but be impressed. Let us be sure that everything she announces will be fulfilled to the letter (Mark 13. 31).

Source (The Good Seed)