Zechariah 12

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10, NKJV)

God’s desire has always been to be loved by His people. While we cannot probe into the reasons why God does what He does, it seems reasonable that God created man so that He could be loved. God could have created robots who had no choice in the matter. Instead, He created man; male and female He created them. And He endowed us with the ability and freedom to choose. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve could choose to love and obey God or they could choose to love and obey self. God respected their choice, although it broke His heart.

Likewise, God chose Abraham and His descendants to be His special people. He entered a marriage covenant with them on Mount Sinai. He gave them His commandments, which boiled down to loving Him with all their hearts and loving each other as they loved themselves. But they forsook His commandments, went their own way, made other gods, and worshiped them.

God sent prophets to call and to woo them back to Himself, but they rejected and killed them. So, God sent His only Son to show them how much He loved them, but they rejected Him also and crucified Him. So, God sent His Holy Spirit into the world to gather a bride for His Son and to find a people who would love Him. But He never stopped loving the Jews. Jesus wept over Jerusalem when He saw her desolation caused by her rebellion. Nevertheless, God has waited patiently for the restoration of His beloved Israel when He will heal her backsliding and remove her sin.

That is the glorious day that Zechariah saw. When Christ returns they will look upon Him and know that they pierced Him, rejecting and murdering their Messiah and Son of God. Today a veil is over their hearts and their eyes are blinded. But on that day, God will pour out on them the Spirit of grace and prayer, and they will mourn over their Lord as one mourns over the loss of an only son.

Then they will turn back to God and love Him with all their hearts. And somehow in the heart of God, it will all be worth it.