Turn in your Bibles to Zechariah 11. I want to ask you a question as you’re turning. How many have heard one sermon at least in their life, on Zechariah 11, prior to this morning? Has anybody heard a message? Okay, we have one so far. Can I hear two? Two, alright. So we’ve had a couple folks who have heard a message from Zechariah chapter 11. But just two. Isn’t that amazing? It is very likely that this will be the last message in Zechariah 11 that you will ever hear. Isn’t that amazing? I want to say that because one, it’s exciting! Let’s grab hold of the time we have because this might be the only time you’ll be with the communion of the saints, thinking about this passage. It is a sobering passage. It’s not a passage you’d choose for Mother’s Day. It’s not a passage you’d choose for some of these special days. It’s not an easy passage. But it is God’s Word. We just said we believe in God’s holy Word and we believe every part of it. At Bethany, we’re committed to what is called expository preaching, that is preaching the Bible verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph. We believe that because we believe how precious every word is. We believe that God ordained to write every word to feed us and to help us. So Zechariah 11. I wanted to give that sort of preamble because as we read it together, it’s going to be like, what is this talking about? It is a hard passage to understand, but it’s a really, really sober message to receive that exalts Jesus, the Messiah. So here we go.

Remember that we’re in this oracle that God gave to Zechariah, beginning in chapters 9 and 10. This oracle presents a Messiah that is coming and He is going to come in glory to rescue His people. So the mood has been upbeat, but then there is a drastic change of mood in the message that Zechariah is called by God to give.

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! 2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! 3 The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is
ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

4 Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. 17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

Wow! Remember as we enter into this, God is speaking to a people who had been in exile for seventy years as a result of disobedience. God caused the Babylonians to come into their land, burning down all the cities, capturing and enslaving the peoples. For seventy years, that was their state underneath the judgment of God for their idolatry. Now God brings them back into the land. There is some hope. The temple is being rebuilt. They’re entering into the land that God had promised them. There are thoughts about a new nation. Now God is giving encouragement. “Keep building the temple. Ultimately you’re going to keep building the walls. You’re going to become a nation again.” But now in chapter 11, He tells them about a future time when they’re going to reject the shepherd who God sends to them to feed them and to nourish them, and how God is going to give them over to a false shepherd. It’s sort of a devastating note. So there is encouragement, but there is also reality. All of this is under this theme of God calling His people, “Return to Me! Return to Me! I’m sovereignly working. Return to Me and I will open up my arms to you. I will bless you.” With every passage, I pray that God would multiply the minutes like loaves and fishes. This is particularly true today. I feel like we’re going to be a bit behind, but let’s see what the Lord does for us today.

God chose this little parcel of land that we call Israel, over every other place in His massive created universe to be the specific location where God, the Creator, works redemption for His people and where He exalts His eternal Son as Messiah-King. On several occasions I’ve had opportunity to go to God’s Holy Land. On some of those occasions, we were privileged to have a Jewish guide named Eiki to help us understand more of the history, the geography, the happenings and the people. Eiki is a Jewish man who often travels with Christian groups to these various places where Jesus ministered and served and performed miracles.

While in the shepherd fields of Bethlehem, Eiki hears of Jesus’ virgin birth. While in the town of Capernaum, Eiki hears of Jesus’ making the lame man walk. While in the countryside of the Gerasenes, Eiki will hear of Jesus setting this demon-possessed captive free. While standing at what is likely Golgotha, he hears of Jesus being pierced through for our transgressions. While looking at a first century tomb near Jerusalem, Eiki hears that Jesus’ body did not undergo decay. All of these historic events that have taken place in real places and real time were all prophesied in a book that Eiki reveres, the Old Testament Scriptures. At each trip we seek to engage Eiki with the Gospel of Jesus. We know many other groups before us and many other groups after us have done so. We pray that he would see Jesus to be the Messiah who brings salvation to everyone who believes.

On one of our trips, we asked him directly, “Eiki, why do you not believe that Jesus is the Messiah?” He answered quickly. He said, “That’s easy. Because when the Messiah comes He will bring peace on the earth.” The evidence of this promised peace as having not yet come is everywhere. It appears in the bombed out places in that land. It appears with the presence of armed guards on nearly on every street corner. It appears in the security check points and the wall that separates areas controlled by the Jews from areas controlled by the Palestinians. Eiki looks at this lack of peace in his land and he thinks “When the Messiah comes He will bring peace on the earth. Peace is not on earth, therefore, the Messiah has not yet come.”

To Eiki’s objection, I would respond with two thoughts. First is Eiki is not entirely wrong in his understanding of the Messiah. God indeed promises a future Messiah who will create a literal peace on this literal planet called earth. He will bring peace among the nations of the world. It’s right for us to hold onto these promises as real and as dear. For instance, Isaiah says that when the Messiah comes

Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

Has that happened yet? The answer is no. Nations are still learning war every day, every moment. God promises a literal peace among literal nations on a literal planet called earth when the Messiah comes.

Secondly, Eiki is tragically wrong about Jesus. He is tragically eternally wrong about Jesus! If Eiki does not turn from his rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, his error will keep him under God’s just condemnation. He will not receive the covenant blessings that God promises to Israel, the covenant blessings of the forgiveness of sins, of life eternal, of a future and a hope. Embracing Jesus as the Messiah is absolutely necessary to receive the promised blessings from God. That’s true for Eiki. That’s true for me. That’s true for you. Paul writes

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.

I love that! Every one of God’s promises finds their Yes in Him.

2 Corinthians 1:20 …That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

If we are to receive the benefit of any of God’s promised blessings, it’s going to be a no, no, no, to us until we embrace Jesus. Then Jesus is the door through which every other promise is yes. This promise is mine! This promise is marvelously mine.

Eiki is wrong about Jesus because he demands that the Messiah bring peace on earth immediately when He comes. But the Scriptures that prophesy the coming of the Messiah do not demand this. In fact, the New Testament reveals that that’s not the way God is unfolding His plan. There appears to be a puzzle described in the Old Testament, related to the Messiah that the Old Testament writers couldn’t quite understand, but the New Testament writers do. The Bible clearly prophesies a Messiah who will bring peace by vanquishing all the nations that oppose God. Yet the Bible clearly prophesies a Messiah that will be despised and rejected, that will be pierced through, that will be killed in order to bring life, in order to provide a sacrifice for sin.

Today, we open up our Bibles to Zechariah 11. Here we are reminded how much God the Father loves to talk about His Son, specifically His Son as Messiah. He loves to talk about His Son as the Messiah. It’s all over the place in the Old and the New Testament. Here’s the truth. True worshippers value God’s Messiah above everything else. When we hear a message about the Messiah, we get really excited because the things that God values enough to tell us are the things that we receive with great joy, with great anticipation, knowing that every promise, every benefit from God is bound up in this person who is the Messiah, who is Jesus. Jesus would say

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

The word “Christ” is the Greek word “Messiah.” True worshipers value God’s Messiah above everything else.

I thought this week as we were approaching this passage that is seldom read, seldom preached, the Bible itself will have little interest to people who have no interest in the Messiah. The Bible is not primarily a self-help handbook for living a successful life now. The Bible is not primarily a book of morals to help us be kind to our neighbors. The Bible is not primarily a book of psychology that helps us to live the best version of ourselves. The Bible is not primarily a book of sociology that helps us solve the problems of poverty or race. The Bible is primarily a book that introduces us to the God who is three in One, the God who created us in His image for His glory. He is the God who provides redemption to overcome the great problem, which is my sin, so that I can know God and know His Son Jesus Christ. That, in and of itself, is the very definition of eternal life.

The Bible is primarily a book that shows us how we can overcome this disaster that sin wrought in our relationship with God. It shows us how we can be reconciled to God and worship Him as God. The chief end and purpose of our whole lives is not connected to finding more meaning in this temporal world that is passing away. The chief end of our lives is to enjoy God and glorify Him as God. For that reason, we open up Zechariah 11 with great joy. Zechariah is a wonderful help toward that end of seeing this Messiah and reveling in Him. If you are taking notes this morning, we are going to focus on four key truths related to the Messiah.

Truth #1: The Messiah will save His people Israel.

Skip back to Zechariah 9 for a moment. We’re just going to pick up some of this that took place last week.

Zechariah 9:9-10 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Remember this is a small group of people who have returned to a homeland, but they have no walls in their cities. They’ve been slaves for the past seventy years. They have no status. They have no king. They have no nation. The Persian king gave them permission to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. This temple, while it’s being built, it’s not glorious like Solomon’s temple was. They’re wondering, “Do we have a future as a nation? Will we as a people remain on the earth?” Here, God says, “Yes. There is going to be a Messiah, my Messiah, who is going to come. So, rejoice O daughters of Jerusalem!” Who are the daughters of Jerusalem? The answer is the daughters of Jerusalem. We don’t have to make things harder than they are. They are people who are born as Jews, who have this place called Jerusalem as their capital city.

God says, “Rejoice! Your King is coming to you.” There is going to be a future where the King comes into Jerusalem to establish His rule and reign not just over Jerusalem, not just over Israel, but over the whole world. All the nations will be at peace because of Him. His rule will be from the River Euphrates all the way to the ends of the earth. Such is this Messiah. “Rejoice,” he says to this people. “I know you don’t see it now. It seems like such a really small thing. It seems like you wonder whether it’s even going to work out for the future. Rejoice because this is my promise. My Messiah is coming.”

We know that Jesus fulfilled the first part of this prophecy on the Sunday before His crucifixion, of Him coming humble and riding upon a donkey. On that Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem literally mounted on a donkey, fulfilling the literal prophecy of Zechariah. On Jesus’ first coming, He does not, however, rule from sea to sea. That glorious happening will be fulfilled at His second advent. So in the New Testament, we discover that there is a first and second coming to accomplish the fullness of the prophecies made regarding the Messiah. What a day! Skip forward to verse 16.

Zechariah 9:16 On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.

Isn’t that a wonderful hope to a people who are not like jewels in a crown? They’re just nobody’s. He says, “Here is what is going to happen. The king is going to come and you as people will be like jewels in His crown.” Let me ask you, if you were a king and you had a crown that was filled with jewels, what would you think of those jewels? Would you value them? Would you want to show them? Would you like to wear the crown to show that they are part of the radiance of your glory? That’s what He is saying. The Jewish people, daughters of Jerusalem are jewels in the crown of this king. He says that’s who you’re going to be when the king comes. There is a future.

Zechariah 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!

The whole nation of Israel will be saved on that day, when the Messiah comes in power. The Messiah will save them from their sin. The Messiah will save them from the oppression of other nations. Look at chapter 10. He says when that future comes, when the Messiah comes to rule,

Zechariah 10:1 Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain, from the LORD who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.

In other words, He is going to save this and make it so beautiful, so lush, so prosperous. Go ahead and ask Him for blessing in this desert land. Ask Him for blessing of rain and He is going to send rain. So the people will be blessed spiritually in this reconciled, wonderful relationship with God where they will know Him and the knowledge of the Lord will flow like rivers across the face of the earth. But they will also be saved from the curse of working in a little fruitless place that is a desert, all because of the power of the Messiah. The Messiah, when He comes, is not just a spiritual king, but He is a literal physical king in a literal physical place. He will rule over the whole earth, but He rules and reigns from this city called Jerusalem, fulfilling the promises of the Abrahamic covenant.

I love Amos! Let me just read from Amos because Amos sort of fleshes out this ask-for-rain kind of encouragement. He says this about that day, the day when the Messiah will come to rule.

Amos 9:13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

What a picture! If you’re working as a farmer, what does it mean for the ploughmen to overtake the reaper? And for the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed? You’re treading grapes and they’re laying down seed so fast and yet the person reaping is actually overtaking the one who is planting. So it’s a picture of before it’s even planted, you’re already harvesting. That’s what it’s going to be. Isn’t that amazing? He goes on to say

Amos 9:13 …the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
I know that’s tough for some Baptists, but… (Laughter!)

Amos 9:13-15 …and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

Did you catch that? He says they will never again be uprooted out of their land. They were uprooted out of their land often throughout history and to the present day. Has this happened yet? The answer is no. The Jews have been uprooted from their land since 70 AD all the way until 1947. That’s a long time! It’s almost 1900 years. 1947 is only a shadow of the fulfillment because they haven’t received the fullness of the promise of that land. So why would God do this? Look at Zechariah 10:6-7.

Zechariah 10:6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,

He says, “Do you want to know why I’m going to do this? Here’s the reason. It’s because I’m going to have compassion on them. That’s the reason why. It’s not because they deserved it. It’s not because it’s a reward for good behavior. It’s because of the love of God and because I have compassion on them.”

Zechariah 10:6 …and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.

He says, “I have bound my very person to this people.” It’s through this people that all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. You and I as Gentiles have received the Gospel because of this people, because of God’s blessing upon this people. He says they’re going to be my people again.

Zechariah 10:7 Then Ephraim

Ephraim is another name for Israel.

Zechariah 10:7 …shall become like a mighty warrior, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and be glad; their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD.

I love that! This nation, their hearts will rejoice in the Lord when the Messiah comes. Chapter 10 closes with this delightful promise.

Zechariah 10:12 I will make them strong in the LORD, and they shall walk in his name,” declares the LORD.

That’s the whole nation. I’m going to make them strong in the Lord, in their relationship with God, in their worship of God, in their service of God. This is going to be a people who are like, “We’re all about the Messiah. We’re all about God. That’s who we are as a people.” They’re going to walk with me. That’s means there is going to be a relationship with me, a real relationship where they know me. That’s eternal life.

The key blessing that flows from God’s covenant with Israel is that they will walk with the Lord. They will worship Him. They will know Him. Here’s the truth. Salvation comes through God’s Messiah! If you want to have this, where you are strong in the Lord and you walk with the Lord, and you know the God who created you, salvation comes through God’s Messiah. That’s the message of chapters 9 and 10. The second truth however, leads us to chapter 11 and it’s a hard truth.

Truth #2: The Messiah will be rejected.

It is prophesied. Chapter 10 ends with this bright ray of hope. Chapter 11 begins with a dark cloud of gloom. Chapter 10 describes what will happen to the Jews when they accept the Messiah who comes in power. Chapter 11 describes what will happen to the Jews when they reject the Messiah who comes in humility.

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!

Lebanon is just north of Jerusalem. What a contrast to chapter 10, verse 1, where he says to ask for rain. Now he says open your doors. Why? Because there is a fire coming. It’s just futile. You might as well just give up. To try to close your door, try and get your hose out just trying to put this out, don’t even do that. Just open your door and burn it up. That’s how hopeless this devastation is going to be. He says just open your doors, Lebanon. It’s going to be such a flame that the cedars of Lebanon, they’re the strongest and most robust kind of trees, will be devoured. Then he says

2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled!

In other words, he says if the cedars fall because of this fire that is consuming it, what chance do pine trees have? He says pine trees just wail. He is taking a picture from the north all the way to the south and he is saying this destruction is going to just enter. We’re going to discover why it’s going to come, but he first describes that this destruction comes. I believe that all of these events have been fulfilled in 70 AD when God sent a devouring fire of judgment upon Israel for her rejection of the Messiah when He came humble and seated on a donkey, and they crucified Him.

In 70 AD, there was such a brutal decimation of this nation that it never rose again until 1947 as a nation. Think of the world population in 70 AD and in that period when Rome just set their anger against this rebellious people. Over 1.3 million Jews lost their lives in devastating ways. Think of that! 1.3 million people died at the hand of violence, shutting up the city with such devastation that inside the city, the historian Josephus tells that the people were literally eating each other. They were literally eating their children because there was no other hope. Do you catch what happened in 70 AD? Zechariah is prophesying that this is what is going to happen because you reject the Messiah. He goes on to say

3 The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined!

This is the leadership of Israel, who thought they were doing right by resisting Rome.

The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

Ruined, ruined, ruined! It appears three times. This message had to unnerve the people of Zechariah’s day. Remember they were a people who just came out of the Babylonian exile and its invasion. Now they’re being told that there is going to be an even worse invasion that is in the future. It had to unsettle them. Why would God do this? Why would God give hope and then tell them this really destructive message about a devastation that is going to come upon them in the future? The answer is because this whole message of Zechariah is stated in chapter 1. He says “Return to me.” Don’t get lax. It’s the nature of mankind to get lax about God and say, “Okay, God has me. I’m blessed now. Let’s move on with my life and my priorities.” God says, “Return to me and I will return to you. Don’t let me be moved from the very center place of your life and of your community.” Yet, He knows that is exactly what is going to happen.

In verse 4, God says, “Zechariah, I’m going to ask you to be a human illustration. You are going to act as a sermon that I am going to preach to my people.” He is given two parts to play throughout the rest of Zechariah 11 in this unfolding drama of God’s plan. In the first part, Zechariah is to play the part of God’s future Messiah, the true shepherd, the Good Shepherd. That is verses 4-14. Then Zechariah is to change costumes and he is to put on the costume of an end-time false shepherd who the New Testament describes as the Anti-Christ.

4 Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

That’s fascinating! He says, “Zechariah, I’m going to ask you to be the shepherd because it’s your life now that I’m going to use to be a message, a living illustration of this message.”

Let me ask you, when Jesus came the first time, He was born of a virgin and lived out the first 30 years of His life in obscurity and then He opens up His public ministry. When Jesus came to minister to the people, the Jews, the first time, did He know that the Jewish people would reject Him? What do you think? The answer is absolutely yes! He absolutely knows that. It’s not as though He said, “Well, let me see. I’ll play this out and I’ll be there. I’ll offer myself as the Messiah. They might accept me and they might not.” No, He knows exactly what they’re going to do and He knows that because God set this prophecy 500 years earlier in Zechariah. He says be a shepherd to who? The flock that is doomed for slaughter.

Now, we’re going to discover more specifically why this flock is doomed for slaughter. They are doomed for slaughter because they’re going to reject the Messiah. That is what is prophesied. That’s what God says is going to happen. Zechariah makes this clear in verses 12 and 13, for instance, when they demonstrate their disregard for their shepherd, the shepherd God gave them, the good shepherd who offers life by giving 30 pieces of silver as a wage. God teaches us that the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews was known by God, indeed, foreordained by God for the purpose of showing His amazing grace to His people, Israel, and to the whole world. God tells us that even before the Messiah arrives, the people as a whole will not receive Him. Yet, He is going to show, “I’m going to be faithful. That rejection is going to suffer judgment, but I’m not giving up on my promise.” That’s the point. Here’s what John says as he opens up Jesus’ life story. Jesus, the Messiah

John 1:11-12 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

5 Those who buy them

I believe he is speaking about the Romans.

slaughter them and go unpunished,

So that is going to happen. It has happened in our time already.

and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’

This, I believe, is the Romans mocking Israel’s God as they slaughter the flock. I’ve become rich! They say that they have God on their side. Blessed be the LORD. I have become rich. Again, this is these who buy them and who sell them.

and their own shepherds have no pity on them.

Now he is talking about the religious leadership I think, particularly, of Israel. They have no pity on the people. They only care about themselves. Isn’t that what we see when we read the Gospels? Now he gives the reason that the Roman leadership and the religious leadership are able to get away with the mistreatment of the Jewish people. How are they able to get away with this? Here’s the reason.

6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD.

God says, “It’s because I’m withdrawing my mercy.” That’s why there is such devastation even among their own leaders.

Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”
The Jews of Zechariah’s day know that God ordained for Babylon to be His instrument of judgment. Now they are hearing that there is going to be a future judgment because of a future rejection of the Messiah. What pain to think of this! Yet again, we’re reminded that the purpose of the pain is to awaken them so that they would receive the blessing of the Lord. “Return to me, says the Lord of hosts and I will return to you.” That’s the promise throughout this book.

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders.

This is Zechariah saying I’m now living out my sermon. I’m feeding. I’m leading the flock. It’s a flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders, the Roman leaders. He says

And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep.

Here again, Zechariah knows he is to be a picture of a future Messiah. We know that Messiah to be Jesus. Zechariah says when the Messiah comes He is going to have two staffs in his hands. One is called Grace and the other is called Union. The grace is the grace of God that undeserving sinners don’t deserve, but are being offered through the Messiah. The other is Union, union with God Himself. We’re going to know God. We’re going to be reconciled to God. We’re going to be one with God. He’s going to be our God and we’re going to be His people. That’s what he promised all the way back in Moses’ day. I’ll be your God and you will be my people. There will be a union between us. The shepherd is offering this. He has these two staffs to lead the people toward those very outcomes. Then he says in verse 8

8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds.

There are forty different interpretations of what that means. So let’s start them. (Laughter!) I believe it just simply means that the three shepherds are these three offices that the leadership of Israel have always held; prophet, priest, and king. The Messiah destroys those offices as being held by humans anymore because He holds onto them. I believe that’s what this is talking about.

But I became impatient with them,

This is the people now, who are rejecting the Messiah.

and they also detested me.

What does he mean by impatience? He’s saying, “I’ve long suffered rejection and rebellion and disobedience. There is a time though for justice, and now is the time. I’m no longer going to stay my hand. I would have been right to exercise justice early, but I’ve been mercy, mercy, mercy, patience, patience, patience, endurance, endurance, endurance, and now this is the time when I’m taking that off. What’s their response going to be? Well, they’re going to detest me.” So the sheep detest the shepherd. He’s going to allow a day when he allows just punishment to fall upon his people.

9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd.

What an awful word! We are sheep. We need to be lead to green pastures. We need to be fed. We need to be protected from beasts to which we are vulnerable. There is only one shepherd who is not a hireling. He cares for us so much that Jesus would say in John 10, “I lay down my life for the sheep. I give to them life, abundant life. That’s why I’ve come. I have favor or grace in one hand and I have union, union with God in the other. But you detest me. You turn away from me. You treat me as worthless. I will not be your shepherd.” What a hopeless thing, to be a person without a shepherd! What a hopeless thing. We’re on our own. Make your best life now. Why is all this gloom happening? Well, let’s keep reading.

What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.”

Again, that literally took place in 70 AD in Jerusalem.

10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I made with all the peoples.

That’s the law covenant, where God says you obey me and I will bless you. That’s my relationship with you. You see, Israel, when this old law covenant is broken, they need a new covenant. That’s the new covenant that Jesus institutes in His first coming. So that covenant says “You’re my special people if you simply obey me. It’s not because you deserve to be rewarded for your obedience. It’s because I just want to bless you. So you obey me and I’m going to bless you.” He says that has been annulled. That’s been set aside. That’s not the way you receive blessing.

11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.

Why all this gloom?

12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them.

I think the phrase lordly price is sort of sarcastic.

So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.

Notice all of these details.
14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Zechariah is asking, “I am representing the Messiah, but how much do you guys value me?” They said about thirty pieces of silver. “We’ll keep you around for that.” Zechariah knows he is not speaking about himself in his time. He is speaking about the Messiah. How much do you value the Messiah? 30 pieces of silver. 30 pieces of silver was what was required to pay if you had a slave that was gored by an ox. So it’s a lowly price. It’s not a lordly price. A slave that has been gored by an ox is worth 30 pieces of silver. That’s the point and that’s how much we value you. We’re not saying we don’t value you at all. We value you at 30 pieces of silver. It’s not a total rejection, but it is a total rejection because it’s a refusal to acknowledge the infinite worth of the shepherd.

We know that Zechariah is pointing us to the value that Israel will place on the future Messiah because Matthew 27 tells us about this prophecy being fulfilled by Judas and the chief priests. Judas says, “How much is the Messiah worth to you?” 30 pieces of silver. He gives 30 pieces of silver. Isn’t it interesting that it is 30 pieces? How often have you been given 30 pieces of silver? How often does that happen in history? Zechariah prophesies that it’s going to be 30 pieces. It’s not 31. It’s not 29. It’s 30 pieces of silver. 500 years later, 30 pieces of silver is exactly what is given to Judas. Then Judas, overcome by remorse because he recognizes what he did after Jesus’ crucifixion, he comes back and says, “Take it back.” No, we’re not going to take it back. He throws it back into the house of the Lord. How often have you thrown 30 pieces of silver into the house of the Lord? Then what do they do? They gather it up and say we can’t keep this. This is blood money, and they buy a potter’s field with it. How often does that ever happen? Again, all of this is amazing to point us to the veracity, the glory, the truth of the Messiah being the Messiah and that Jesus is this one.

Let me ask you the question though, how much is the Messiah worth to you? Judas lost the blessing of his Messiah for 30 pieces of silver. The chief priests thought it was a “lordly price.” Jesus would ask the question

Matthew 16:26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

He’s writing it to a nation who is rejecting him. What does it profit a man if he would gain the whole world and lose his own soul? In that very context, he says

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Why would anybody do that? Why would anybody be willing to die in order to gain the Messiah? The answer is they see the worth of the Messiah. They see the worth of the true shepherd. That’s the only reason.

The application is simple. Let us value Jesus above everything. Let us exchange Jesus for nothing. It’s always heart crushing to think how little men and women exchange for Jesus the Messiah. Jesus offers His very self. He offers Himself to be a Shepherd who lays down His life for us. He gives us eternal life to all who would believe. What do we exchange for Him? What is our price? For some, it’s a little partying. For some, it’s a little sexual pleasure. For some, it’s a little success in this world. “I’ll ignore and turn away from my relationship with Jesus so I can gain this world, gain this career and gain this hope.” For some, it’s a little bit of greed. For some, it’s a little illicit relationship. For some, it’s a little dishonesty. “I’m going to turn away from the value of the Messiah because a lie helps me right now.” Here’s what Jesus said when He entered the city on that day on the donkey.

Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

You won’t see me again until I return in power. When we turn away from Jesus the Messiah, we abandon all God’s blessings found in Him and we invite God’s judgments. Remember the people on the day which this Romans leader said,

John 19:14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

The people cried out and it was the chief priests, the religious leaders leading the charge.

John 19:15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Do you see what they’re doing? They’re exchanging the true shepherd for a false shepherd. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!

The third truth, and I know our time is gone, but I’ll do this very quickly.

Truth #3: The Messiah will give His people to false shepherds.

This is pointing to a future day beyond 70 AD, to a future day that God is going to bring about because of the rejection of the true shepherd. He says, “Okay. You reject the true shepherd. I’m going to give you a foolish shepherd and this foolish shepherd is going to be devastating to you. You don’t want to follow the true shepherd. I’ll give you over to such delusion that you’re going to believe someone who says that they have your interests in mind, who says that they can offer you peace and offer you all these things the Messiah brings, but in the end, he is going to turn on you and he’s going to crush you.”
Again, the New Testament talks about that person as the Antichrist. He is spoken of in the book of Revelation in great detail. He is spoken of in the prophet Daniel. Here’s the truth. If we reject the Messiah as our Shepherd-King, God allows us to be deceived by shepherds and leaders who will harm us. Sometimes I look at some of the lies that people believe today and I scratch my head. Some lies that the world brings seem believable, but some lies just seem like, really? Are people actually lining up behind this lie and embracing it? How could rational, reasonable people made in the image of God, believe some of these lies? Here’s the answer. When we reject the Messiah who is the way, the truth and the life, there is no lie that we’re not vulnerable to. There is none! Let’s not be thinking, “I’m protecting myself because I’m a rational, reasonable person.” No, there is no lie that we are not vulnerable to when we turn away from the value of our Messiah.

17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!

He’s not talking about the foolish shepherd because for a while, he seems to triumph.

May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

In other words, and Revelation talks about this in great detail, he’s going to be delivered a fatal blow. Again, he is a man that is able to do miracles and he is super eloquent and super winsome. He is going to return from this sword striking his arm and his right eye, but his end is ultimately to be crushed and to be thrown into the lake of fire, in Revelation 19. So this worthless shepherd won’t prevail on his own purposes. He’ll be utterly defeated by the true shepherd. But to the people, God is saying this foolish shepherd is going to do you great harm. He’s not going to be like the good shepherd that I sent. I want to end on a high note that

Truth #4: The Messiah will rule over the whole world.

I’m going to take us to Zechariah 14 for a couple reasons. One is, Josh is preaching that chapter, so this is the only chance I have to talk about it. (Laughter!) But here, look at chapter 14. The first statement was that the Messiah is going to save His people, Israel. But now, this explodes in Zechariah and he says

Zechariah 14:9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

A future day is coming when God fulfills all the blessings He promised to the nation of Israel, but more, that through the nation of Israel, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. God will have His Messiah glorified as King, as Savior, as Shepherd. He is going to take His rightful place on the throne of David in Jerusalem and He is going to rule. His rule is not merely a spiritual reign. It’s a literal reign where real earthly kings bow their knees to Jesus, acknowledging before everyone that Jesus is worthy. Amen? (Amen!) I asked you, who is Jesus to you? Here’s what Jesus says about Himself.

John 10:10-11 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

I want to close with two applications. Both of these have to do with worship. First, treasure the true Messiah-King. Return to Him! Treasure Him! Ask yourself, do I really treasure the Messiah? Or is Jesus, 30 pieces of silver is substantial to me? It’s not that He is worth nothing, but He’s not worth everything. Here’s what Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like.

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

He says, “Everything in my life is worth obtaining this treasure.” The treasure is the Messiah, the King of the kingdom. In case we didn’t catch it, Jesus says

Matthew 13:45-46 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

He said, “Jesus is worth everything. I’m taking up my cross and following Him because He is the true shepherd.” Nothing in all the world is as disastrous as failing to value Jesus. A lot of things get in the way. Our families can get in the way. Our jobs get in the way. Our health can get in the way. Our pleasure can get in the way. Some really good things can get in the way. Here’s the issue. If we have Jesus as the one of infinite value, all these other blessings are added to us.

The last application I would encourage you is to look with hope for the Messiah-King to return! Look with hope. Jesus says, “Wait for me. Long for me.” Paul talks about

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Let’s love His appearing. Let’s think about this future day. The day is not now, but the day is coming. A return to the Messiah is a return to hope. Let us be people of hope.