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Q&A: How Zechariah 12 Relates to the Crucifixion of Jesus
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. – Zechariah 12:10, 11 (emphasis mine)
Our Q&A this time around comes from the combox regarding this post on John MacArthur and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 12. It’s a good one, to wit:
I’m confused, the Zechariah verse says “…so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born.” But on the day Jesus was crucified the Jews didn’t mourn or weep bitterly. They still rejected him that day.
Verse 11 says, “The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the grievous mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.” This didn’t happen on that day either, among the Jews. It was more like good riddance!
I’m not seeing how these verses in Zechariah relate to the day Jesus was crucified.
First, in order to answer your question, we need to first identify who the ‘they’ are in the phrase “they will mourn for Him,” and “they will weep bitterly over Him”.
From John MacArthur’s viewpoint, it will either be a present or a future generation of geo-political Jews. Yet, this will not do, for neither was born or present on the day of the crucifixion of Christ, were they? Remember, if we are going to take this ‘literally’, the ‘they’ would need to be physically present at His crucifixion!
Now, what I’ve just said should be considered a straw man and for this reason: the passage doesn’t say the ‘they’ will mourn and weep for Him on the very day He was crucified, but it does say that ‘they’ will mourn and weep for Him in that day. (Zech. 12:2-4) What’s that? What does ‘in that day’ mean?
It means the entire time that the Gospel is proclaimed or preached, and believed. We’re talking about the Church here, the entire body of Christ, the body of the redeemed from every age.
Look to Scripture.
First, God affirms unequivocally through the Apostle John (19:34-37) that yes, this has been fulfilled.
Secondly, remember that the Gospel was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8) as well as all other Old Testament saints. They are part of the Church body.
This passage in Zechariah never once limits the mourning and weeping to a future generation of Jews, nor to the Jews present on the physical day of Christ’s crucifixion – unless they had been redeemed already and therefore, part of the body of the Church, which if that’s the case, they did mourn and weep indeed.
Everyone in every age who has been redeemed has looked upon the Savior and realized by the grace and revelation of God, that they – we – are the ones whose sin nailed Jesus to the Cross. We , that is, our sin, by being born in the first Adam, pierced Jesus’ hands and feet to the cross. The Church. And we have mourned and wept and shed tears in repentance and faith about that crucifixion and rejoiced in His finished work on our behalf. We also rejoice that our eyes were opened to that fact.
The confusion that seems most prevalent regarding chapter 12 of Zechariah is, and continues to be the interpretation by dispensationalist in forcing a presupposed system of theology on a much simpler revealed purpose of God: the Church. Specifically, and please note, this passage never says it refers only to the Jews present on the day of Christ crucifixion. Put yourself in that box, and nothing will result but a disarray of theological unrest.
After all, God has had one purpose from all eternity: the redemption of the elect, the Church itself. One purpose, not two.
Looking on Him whom “they have pierced” is never assigned to the geo-political Jews of Christ’s day. No, the entire body of the redeemed from every age is referred. Those who say otherwise dispute the clear revelation of Scripture, and are a danger to the Church body.
5 Pt. Salt 
JT,
Thanks for the continued exposing the pre-mil dangers. If we had a proper view of Revelation, the Church and the end it would in my opinion lead to a greater focus upon holiness, sharing of the Gospel etc.
H
Joel, you make some good points here. One that it was ALL of us who nailed Jesus to the cross by our sin. I agree.
Assuming you’re correct in everything else you say about “who” and “when”, it still leaves me with questions. How do you deal with all the references to Israel in these passages?
You said, “This passage in Zechariah never once limits the mourning and weeping to a future generation of Jews, nor to the Jews present on the physical day of Christ’s crucifixion – unless they had been redeemed already and therefore, part of the body of the Church, which if that’s the case, they did mourn and weep indeed.”
But all these verses seem to be talking about a widespread conversion among Jews – the likes of which we’ve not yet seen:
Zech 12:12 – “ALL ISRAEL will weep…”, “The family of DAVID will mourn, along with the family of Nathan, the family of Levi, and the family of Shimei.” v. 14 “Each of the surviving families from Judah will mourn separately…”
And verse 13:1 says, “ON THAT DAY (suggesting a future day – that we haven’t yet seen), a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and defilement.”
Romans 11:25b – 26a says, “Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will last only until the complete number of gentiles comes to Christ. And so ALL Israel will be saved…”
These verses in Romans suggest that this will happen after the complete number of gentiles come to Christ – and we know that hasn’t been completed yet because gentiles are still coming to Christ.
I mean, if I read these verses fairly literally, they all seem to point to a future day of widespread conversions specifically among the Jewish people. I’m just curious how you would get around what seems to be the glaring obvious.
I’m not discussing this with you in any way trying to be argumentative, because I can see you really have a heart for God and staying as true to his Word as humanly possible – and I appreciate your time and interest in discussing it. But the conclusions you’ve come to aren’t the ones I would come to after a plain reading of these passages. So, I’m just really curious – how you would explain what I see as a very clear pointing to Jews at some future date.
Thanks!
“This passage in Zechariah never once limits the mourning and weeping to a future generation of Jews, nor to the Jews present on the physical day of Christ’s crucifixion.”
It may not, but it could be just those “who saw him pierced”
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
There are those who believe this has already happened. It happened in 70 AD. Those who saw Christ pierced mourned 40 years later, when the temple was destroyed.
Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mark 13:30 Luke 21:32