Zechariah 12

Quest. How is faith wrought? Resp. By the blessed Spirit it is called the Spirit of grace (Zechariah 12:10), because it is the spring and efficient of all grace. Faith is the chief work which the Spirit of God works in a man's heart.

Question: What shall we do to obtain a penitential frame of heart? Response: Seek to God for it: it is his promise to give a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36) and to pour on us a spirit of mourning (Zechariah 12:10). Beg God's Holy Spirit.

There is a promise of a fountain opened for the washing away the guilt of sin (Zechariah 13:1). But see what goes before (Zechariah 12:10). They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for him (Isaiah 1:16).

Q. What follows hereupon? A. Hereby the soul feeling itself to be utterly lost is further and more kindly broken and humbled (Luke 19:10; Isaiah 61:1, 2, 3; Matthew 11:20; Zechariah 12:10). Q. What else is done by the Gospel in the working of faith?

According to that of the Apostle James, Is any afflicted among you, let him pray? Is any merry among you, let him sing (James 5:13)? 3. Thirdly, sacrifice is a broken and a contrite heart for his sins, and his daily failings he has committed against a crucified Jesus: when God p…

If it be the spirit of grace shed abroad in our hearts that does beget faith in us: then if we were passive in receiving faith, we are much more passive in receiving Christ, or the Spirit of Christ, that begetteth faith: for if we have no life to be active until faith come; we h…

No man can see his gifts and duties of sanctification in himself, but he must first have seen Christ by faith, the Spirit of Christ enlightening his understanding in the knowledge of him. As in case of mourning, to which many promises are made, no man can (with evangelical repen…

Therefore after those days, is as much as in those days; an indeterminate season for a certain. So, in that day, is frequently used in the Prophets (Isaiah 24:21, 22; Zechariah 12:11). A time therefore certainly future, but not determined, is all that is intended in this express…

I will not say, this is so essential to it, that he can in no sense be said sincerely to have repented, who has not separately and distinctly been exercised herein for some season; yet I will say, that the repentance of such a one will scarce be ever well cleared up to his own s…

See (Ezekiel 7:16), where true repentance is, there is a mourning for sin — All of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. And (Zechariah 12:10): They shall mourn, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness. (2 Corinthians 7:9): You sorrowed to repentance.

The grace which we must desire, is the spirit of grace and [reconstructed: supplications] (Zechariah 12:10), which is that gift of the Holy Ghost, whereby we are enabled to call to God for the pardon of our sins. A man having offended the laws of a prince, and being in danger of…

And so is the case with us by reason of our sins; we are God's debtors, indeed bankrupts before him, yet have we gotten a good surety, even the son of God himself, who to recover us to our former liberty was crucified for the discharge of our debt. And therefore good cause have…

Sometimes to exclude the fear and reverence of God, as if fear were an antiquated grace suiting only with a legal dispensation: whereas the children of God think the more grace, the more fear (Psalm 130:4), "There is mercy with you, therefore you should be feared," and (Hosea 3:…

1. This soul was by its first creation a spirit, and that in the substance or native kind thereof; and in that respect (considered apart from its union with the body) is in a more special manner allied to God, than all other creatures (but angels) are. You have the pedigree of m…

Make mourning as for an only Son, most bitter lamentation. Indeed, so deep and penetrating is this grief that the Holy Spirit borrows it to express the deepest spiritual troubles by it (Zechariah 12:10), They shall mourn for him, namely Christ whom they pierced, as one mourns fo…

They in such a time find how considerable their interest is with God, when upon their prayer they shall find relief suitable to every kind of danger they are in: the spirit of prayer upon the church is but the presage of their adversaries' ruin. When God seeks to destroy the nat…

There are several ways whereby the exercise of faith on Christ crucified, is effectual to this end. Looking to him as such, will beget holy mourning in us (Zechariah 12:10). They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn.

(Romans 8:15) We have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, that is, Father, and (Romans 8:26) likewise the spirit helps our infirmities: for we know not what to pray as we ought: but the spirit itself makes request. And (Zechariah 12:10) the Holy Ghost is called…

5. The grace to be desired The grace which we must desire, is the spirit of grace and deprecations (Zechariah 12:10). It is that work of the Spirit, whereby we are enabled to call to God for the pardon of our sins.

And a time of general holiness (Isaiah 60:30, "Your people shall be all righteous"). And a time of a great prevailing of eminent holiness, when little children should, in spiritual attainments, be as though they were a hundred years old (Isaiah 65:20), and wherein he that is fee…

Prayer, some suppose, is here to be taken synechdochically, for the whole of the worship of God; prayer being a principal part of the worship of the Church of God, in the days of the Gospel, when sacrifices are abolished: and so, that this is to be understood only as a prophecy…

Use 2. Take with this sin, acknowledge and seek pardon for it; it were a good token of some tenderness, to be mourning for enmity against Christ, and for undervaluing of him, as well as for drunkenness, fornication, theft, or any other gross sin. And where that gracious and righ…

Make a supposition, that a man in his madness should smite and wound his head, or wrong his Wife, his Father, or his Brother; when that fit of madness is over, he is more affected with that wrong than if it had been done to any other member of his body, or to other persons not a…

O what expression of tenderness! and to all these, is added a new robe, and a ring for ornament, and a feast, the fat calf is killed, and the Lord sings, and dances, Verse 23, 24, 25. Peter's denial of Christ brought him to weeping, flowing from the Spirit of grace poured on Dav…

And (Jeremiah 50:4), In those days, and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah, going and weeping, they shall seek the Lord. (Zechariah 12:11) And in that day, there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning o…

Object 10. But it is impossible I can be fitted with sorrow for sin or repentance, before I believe in Christ. Answer. We teach not that you must first repent, then believe; or first believe, then repent; but that some legal acts of sorrow, and bruisings of spirit, and self-desp…

When the soul has the Lord Jesus, the highest and chiefest cause of rejoicing it has, is, only its having of Christ (Galatians 6:14). If he has his part in Christ, that is his crown and his portion, he counts it a goodly portion, his lot is fallen into a pleasant place; if we ha…

Secondly, it serves to teach us all to bemoan our own estates, or the estates of any of ours, that we yet see in the gall of bitterness, lying in an estate of nature; is it yourself, or your father, or mother, or your children or servants? Whatever he be, be he never so good a n…

If the Psalmist speaks of it, he says, they were out of, and beyond themselves for joy, as in a comfortable dream; the news seemed to be too good to be true, and they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and if the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of the very same people, and the same time…

Surely such a house were a more blessed beautiful edifice than any prince's palace under heaven. It is the disposition of gospel-penitents to mourn every family apart, husbands and wives apart (Zechariah 12:11-12). And of gracious souls, to be like doves of the valleys, every on…

First, by beholding Christ crucified, we see our misery and wickedness. For our sins are the swords, and spears which have crucified him (Zechariah 12:10). Secondly, this sight brings us true and lively comfort: for beholding Christ crucified, we see Paradise as it were in the m…

The first is, to cast down everything in us, that exalts itself against God (2 Corinthians 10), as namely, to beat down erroneous reason, and rebellious affection, and to put a man out of heart with his chief delights, and with his own self. The second action is, to kindle in ou…

So then the true meaning of the present passage, in my opinion, is this: ‐Hitherto I have lived among you in humility and kindness, and have discharged the office of a teacher; and now having finished the course of my calling, I shall depart, and it will not be possible for you…

That the joy by which they are intoxicated may not excite the envy of believers, Christ declares that it will at length be turned into mourning and gnashing of teeth. He alludes, I think, to Zechariah 12:11-14, where God, informing them that a striking display of his judgment wi…

So it is with their Sorrow for their own Sins. Thus the Future gracious Mourning of true Penitents, at the Beginning of the latter Day Glory, is represented as being so secret, as to be hidden from the Companions of their Bosom; Zechariah 12:12-14. 'And the Land shall mourn, eve…

For (1) we are often called to behold Christ, and to look upon him; or it is promised that we shall do so, Isa. 45. 22. Zech. 12. 10. Now this beholding of Christ or looking on him, is the Consideration of him by Faith to the Ends for which he is exhibited, proposed and set fort…

Prayer, as it is the great engine whereby to prevail with the Almighty (Isaiah 45:11) so it is the sure refuge of the Saints at all times, both in their own behalf (Psalm 61:2) and also of others (Acts 12:5). It is a benefit which the poorest believer may bestow, and the greates…

Nor is it probable that our Savior was the next of kin to the reigning House of Judah; nor was it any wise needful he should be so; nor is there any promise to that purpose. His lineal descent was from Nathan, and not from Solomon: of that House was Zerubbabel the Aichmalotarche…

And when he shall hear that Messiah the Son of Joseph is slain, he shall say before the Lord, Lord of the world, I only ask life of you; for it seems that he shall be much terrified with the death of Ben Joseph. To this Messiah they assign all things that are dolorous, and inclu…

And where this is, no wars nor tumults can hinder, but that the persons enjoying it shall be preserved in perfect peace; and this if the Jews did believe, they would have experience of. 6. He has also wrought true spiritual peace and love between all that sincerely believe in hi…

First, it appears without controversy to be the greatest of all, because it was upon his children: a man's children are more than all that he has in the world: a man's children are himself, every child is the father multiplied; a son is the father's bowels: and therefore when Pa…

And then the bitterness also of the sufferings of Christ, are brought to mind. They look on him whom they have pierced and mourn, Zechariah 12:10. They remember his gall and wormwood; his cryes and tears; his agony and sweat, his desertion and anguish; his blood and death; the s…

Yea these Graces have the most eminent promises annexed to them, as Isaiah 57:15. chap. 66:2. with blessedness it self, Matthew 5:4. yea they are themselves the matter of many Gracious gospel promises, Zechariah 12:10. so that they are assuredly consistent with any other grace o…

This holds forth these things: 1. That there is an excellent courage and boldness, with which the believer is furnished beyond others; he is bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1), both in duties and sufferings. 2. That there is in believers an undauntedness of spirit, and an unconquera…

By moving of the bowels (or sounding, or making a noise, as the word is elsewhere translated, Isaiah 10:11 and 63:15) is understood a sensible stirring of the affections, when they begin to stound, and that kindly, and in a most affectionate manner, either severally, or jointly,…

We read of the voice of the Lord in power, the voice of the Lord in majesty, the voice of the Lord upon the waters, the voice of the Lord dividing the flames of fire, the voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness of Kadesh, breaking the cedars of Lebanon, and the like, which is t…

God does set a mark upon them that mourn in London for the sins of London, and however he may deal with them in regard of temporal calamities, be sure he will separate them, and preserve them from eternal destruction. Methinks, the fall of London calls for a mourning like the mo…

As it was with Paul after the Spirit of God had laid hold of him, then the next news is, "Behold, he prays!" so it has been in all remarkable pourings out of the Spirit of God that we have any particular account of in scripture; and so it is foretold it will be at the great pour…

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me." The same is promised again in Isaiah 59:21 and Isaiah 43:1, 2 and Zechariah 12:2, 3. So Christ promises the same, when he says, "On this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hel…

8. Divis. Some influences of Christ are fundamental, and simply necessary, and principally promised; some not fundamental, and less necessary. 1. The influences by which the Lord gives a circumcised (Deut. 30:6), an one and single (Ezek. 11:19, 20), a soft and a new heart and sp…