The sermon preached by the Rev. G. Hamstra at the 1993 Annual General Meeting.

'And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn' (Zechariah 12.10).

Three Great Concerns

The Written Word

In the world and in the church of our day, we have three matters of great concern. The first one regards the written word of God. It still needs to be brought to many countries. Various nations are yet without Scriptures. Other nations have relatively few copies of the Word of God. In the countries where we have the Bible we ought to have a deep appreciation for the Word, and we must remain faithful to it for it is the word of majesty and glory. It is given unto us that it might make us wise, even unto salvation.

The Gospel

The second concern we have is the Gospel. If I am not mistaken, and I wish I were, there is very little faithful Gospel preaching today. Many preachers compromise with the natural man, and then the Gospel does not shine forth in all its glory and beauty.

A faithful Gospel sermon has three points. In the first place it speaks of the necessity of salvation. This is often neglected or misunderstood. Man must know about his fall in Adam. Original sin is often ignored. For the most part it is no longer in our dictionaries. It is in our Confessions, but we do not speak about it enough. If we do not understand the significance of the fall and our relationship with Adam, how can we have faith in Christ, the second Adam?

The great neglect today in preaching is the need of the sinner. By and large, there is very little concern and compassion for the lost. Many preachers do not dare to tell how deeply man has fallen for fear of losing their church members. However, no parishioner is helped or served when we compromise in this regard. We must know our need. 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick' (Matthew 9:12).

The second point in the preaching of the Gospel is that we must point out the suitability and the all sufficiency of the Saviour. When we see our sin as it truly is, we long for a suitable physician, one. who saves unto the uttermost. The more we see of our disease of sin, the more we need to hear about the excellency and glory of Christ, the Remedy. He saves the chief of sinners; He saves a Manasseh, a Mary Magdalene, the thief on the cross, and a Saul of Tarsus. Christ, the only Saviour, is suitable in the deepest need and for the greatest sinner. He is an all sufficient Saviour!

In the third place, we must hear more about the beauty and excellency of Christ. Very little do we describe from the pulpit, to our shame, the beauty of Emmanuel, the beauty of the Saviour. 'He is altogether lovely.' Even if there were no heaven nor hell, there still would be nothing in the world more to be desired than Christ. He is 'the chiefest among ten thousand'. There is no greater beauty to be conceived than the glory revealed in the Christ of the Garden of Gethsemane and of the Cross of Calvary. There is no greater excellency than that which we find when our hearts and minds are enlightened in the knowledge of Christ. He wrought mercy in harmony with justice. He gave His life as the Just for the unjust. So He satisfied the justice of a Holy God. He made the Law honourable. The Gospel must be proclaimed without compromise and in all its purity and fullness.

The Holy Spirit

The third great concern we have today, and it is indeed a serious one, is, we need in a special way the Person and the Work of the Holy Spirit. There is a great drought in this regard. There is much ignorance. Many do not realize that in order to know Christ, Christ needs to be applied to the heart by the powerful operations of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the only and all-sufficient Saviour; however, we cannot know Him apart from the special grace of the Holy Spirit. Many are presumptuous in this regard and act as if they know.

However, they have not been humbled by the Spirit, they have never become nothing, that Christ might become All. The need of the Holy Spirit, who can fully express it? If, today, we only understood a little of the urgency of this need, we would be daily on our knees pleading with the Lord: 'Oh Lord, be pleased to remember us, and pour out Thy precious Holy Spirit, that we may see light in Thy light'.

With this special need in mind, the need of the Holy Spirit, we have chosen the subject for this day and we return to that beautiful text in Zechariah 12:10, 'And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn'. This most marvellous promise concerns the coming of Christ, the Messiah.

There are many Messianic prophecies in Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah spoke with great beauty and power about the Messiah. He spoke more than any other prophet regarding the coming Redeemer. In Isaiah 53 we have such a wondrous view of the suffering Servant of the Lord. In this chapter the prophet tells us for whom Christ died. He died for the people of His eternal good pleasure. 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities'. Isaiah testifies very clearly regarding substitutionary atonement, an important doctrine much neglected in our day.

Now Zechariah is also speaking much about Christ. There is one truth in this regard that is mentioned by Zechariah, but not by Isaiah. We find this in the words of our text. Isaiah foretold the sufferings of Christ. Zechariah does that too, but he goes further. 'They shall look upon me whom they have pierced' (Zechariah 12:10). The people of Israel are the instruments, according to Zechariah, of the crucifixion. Isaiah speaks regarding the cross. However, this was not like Zechariah, foretelling that the Jews themselves were the instruments in crucifying the Lord of Glory.

In the Acts chapter 2 we find the fulfilment of this promise when three thousand are pricked in their hearts and are converted. This promise is still fulfilled today when we become poor and needy sinners in the sight of God.

Now we want to look at our text and consider, with the help of the Lord, briefly six matters:

1. The Author of the Promise;
2. The Promised Blessing;
3. The Remarkable Consequence;
4. The Deep Sorrow;
5. The Blessed Recipients; and
6. The Precious Giver.

1. The Author of the Promise

The Author of this promise is God Himself. The promise begins with these remarkable words, 'I will'. Many Biblical promises begin with this expression, 'I will'. For instance, we read in Zephaniah 3:12, 'I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LoRD'. We find the first 'I will' in Genesis 3:15. When in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had fallen away from God, they deserved death, even eternal death. However, there the first 'I will' was promised. That was a sovereign 'I will'. There was nothing in Adam and Eve to move the Lord to give the promise. The promise came sovereignly from the Lord Himself. It was a word of infinite grace. That is the wonder.

The promise before us was also a promise to unworthy sinners. It was not a promise to good people, but to sinful people. When the Lord says, 'I will', then that is a powerful 'I will', a sovereign 'I will', an irresistible 'I will', and a gracious 'I will'. No one can stop such an 'I will'. All the opposition of hell cannot undo a sovereign 'I will'. All the enmity that can live in a human heart against God cannot undo a Divine 'I will'. When the Lord says in grace 'I will', He will and will never fail. He will never take His Word back. What a wonder, 'I will put enmity', 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy'! I will redeem enemies, I will save hell-worthy, guilty sinners who have no rights, who are altogether unworthy and lost.

What a gracious wonder, the Author of this promise is God Himself! He says, 'I will pour out'. To pour out does not mean that He will give a little. The Lord could also have said, 'I will give a few drops'. We know again in these last weeks what a pouring rain means. Here the Lord promises, 'I will pour out'. I will not give little of My Spirit, but I will give much of My Spirit. What a marvel, never forget it! The Lord promised to give much to hell-worthy sinners. Some preachers have only a Gospel for saints. The Biblical Gospel is a Gospel for sinners: lost sinners, undone sinners, sinners in need and in danger. Here is a word of God, 'I will pour out'. I will not be scanty, but I will give in a rich measure. See how richly the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost! How greatly did the disciples benefit, how did they rejoice in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

What a wonder occurred: three thousand men who were enemies of Christ, who had cried out seven weeks earlier, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' They pierced Christ in anger, but by His Holy Spirit Christ pierced them in love and mercy. With His convicting power He broke their enmity. How great a wonder is grace: hardened hearts are broken! 'I will pour out.' The Author of this promise is a God who can do great wonders!

2. The Promised Blessing

Today we so often trust in the arm of flesh. We desire great, new things. We want gifted speakers and tremendous orators. We long for something special. But do we know today that special blessedness that lies in the Lord Himself? 'I will pour out.' We could ask the question, 'What will the Lord pour out?' or, 'What is promised here?' However, it is more appropriate to ask, 'Who is promised here?' for it is not something, but Someone-a Person-that is promised; even a Divine Person: The Holy Spirit-the heavenly Teacher of all God's children. 'I will pour out the spirit of grace and of supplications.' God cannot give a greater gift than the Holy Spirit. Neither can man receive a greater gift in his heart than God the Holy Spirit.

In the Garden of Eden, God the Holy Spirit dwelled in the hearts of our first parents. God was on the throne in the human heart, but by reason of the Fall we lost those great riches. By nature, we are no longer a temple of the Holy Spirit. We became a ruin, a ruin that cannot restore itself. Another temple had to be built and that temple had to be broken down. Christ had to come, He had to become a ruin, so that ruined temples may again be restored in the favour of God, and so become dwelling places of the Holy Spirit. This happens when the Lord converts a sinner: God the Holy Spirit again receives the highest place in the heart.

Now the Holy Spirit is called here 'the spirit of grace and of supplications', a very fitting name. In the Hebrew language, the words for grace and for supplications have the same root word. Grace means here a desire for grace. The application of salvation begins with desires for grace. The word 'supplications' is related to the word 'grace'. The supplications are supplications for grace. When grace is applied to our hearts, we begin to pray for what we miss. Then we do not know how to seek or to find. This causes us to pray for help from Above. 'Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law' (Psalm 119:18).

The special value of the grace of the Holy Spirit lies herein, that this grace is irresistible. By nature we are deep within our hearts enemies of God. Irresistible grace alone can subdue this enmity and make us bow before the Lord. Then we learn to plead for grace, and so poor sinners are made willing in the day of God's power. The Spirit of God has a purifying effect. He is wise and patient. There is no injustice in Him. His love is very precious. He makes us sincere and humble. We can never receive more valuable teaching than when we are taught by this heavenly Instructor.

3. The Remarkable Consequence

What are the consequences of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? They are remarkable. 'They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.' Human language must fail here to describe what is then experienced. To see by the grace of the Holy Spirit, God-to see the Lord, that great God whom we have pierced by our sins- is a humbling experience. The Spirit of Pentecost gives a view of the crucified Redeemer. Our sins have nailed Him to the Cross. Here we learn to know the true nature of our sinful existence. Without the Spirit's grace, we do not know the true nature of our sins. However, when the Lord shows us who and what we are, we begin to realize that our sins have crucified the Lord of Glory.

By nature you and I do not know what sin is. We may know that we do sin, we may also realize that one sin is worse than another, but we do not know what sin is until the Lord opens our eyes. Sin is enmity against God; it is hatred against God. Sin is wanting God off the throne and desiring man, that is sinful self, to be on the throne. When the Lord reveals to us the true nature of our sins, then sin becomes to us the most bitter thing in the world. Once we see what sin is, and what distance it causes between the Lord and our soul, we say, 'I never understood this, that sin was crucifying the Lord of Glory'. This is what the Jews have done in Jerusalem, they cried out, 'Crucify him, crucify him'. But we are not better than these Jews. We have exactly the same nature. What a sight that is, to look upon God, God who is holy, God who is just, and God who always does good!

This is what a convinced sinner sees; he does not only see that God is holy and just, but he also sees that God is a well-doing God. He acknowledges, 'God has never done me any harm. He has showered so many blessings on me, but what have I been to Him? An enemy, an enemy of grace, an enemy of my Maker and Benefactor, an enemy of the One who has kept me alive through so many dangers, an enemy of the One who daily provides me with so many good things'. Oh what a sorrow comes then to the heart! 'They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one that mourneth for his only son.' Indeed, this remarkable sight of Christ causes a holy mourning and a deep sorrow.

4. The Deep Sorrow

Such a view of Christ fills the heart with a holy sorrow. This sorrow for sin is not merely a vague sentimental feeling that is soon forgotten, but it is deeply lodged in the heart. Zechariah points so plainly to the genuine nature of the sorrow. He compares it, and Hebrew language is concrete, with the sorrow of a father and mother who have lost an only child. Who can describe such a sorrow? True sorrow for sin is a godly sorrow and lives deep within the heart.

The following verses describe the sorrow more fully. In verse 11 we are reminded of the death of King Josiah and the mourning of Hedadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. Israel and Judah mourned more deeply for the God-fearing King Josiah than for any other king (David and Solomon included). The reason for this was that Josiah was the last God-fearing king. The concern of the people of God was that with the death of this king, God's favour would also depart from them. When we experience the sorrow caused by a look at the crucified Redeemer, we have a special appreciation and sacred concern for the favour of God. It is considered as most important. Then there is in the heart a sorrow after God and a longing for His favour. We realize that by nature we are without the favour of God arid that we have forfeited it.

In the last three verses of this chapter we learn that this sorrow is of a very personal nature. Various families are named. Each family mourns separately. Sometimes sorrow may be caused by the sorrow of another person; however, this is not the case here. This sorrow for sin is on a very personal level. Everyone weeps on account of his own sin. This is the godly sorrow that works a repentance to salvation, never to be repented of.

In the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, the deeply sorrowing find their relief. Their sorrow changes into joy: a joy that passes all understanding. How precious is that grace of the Holy Spirit, whereby we receive a saving knowledge of Christ, the Fountain of life! When Christ is revealed to the soul as the Way, the Truth and the Life, a deep peace comes to the heart: peace with God; and we learn to walk in the ways of the Lord.

It is such an unspeakable rich blessing when the Lord grants us by His Word and Spirit that holy sorrow and when He Himself changes our sorrow into joy. Many consider this sorrow as something too negative and too somber. Yet, there is a joy in this sorrow that is better than all the joys of this world. How blessed are they who may know the secret! The Spirit of grace and of supplications causes us to flee to the Christ of the Scriptures. By God's grace we learn to realize that we cannot live without a Surety, Advocate and Saviour. By the selfsame grace we learn to confess: 'He is altogether lovely'.

What a wondrous mercy it is when our darkness changes into light, when Christ reveals Himself to the soul; what precious consequences does it have! How different becomes our life; the Lord is now with us in His love and favour, and we may walk with Him! Then we experience that the Lord heals the wounded heart, and He heals it so tenderly. The Saviour knows our every sorrow. What a wisdom and love does He reveal to us! How sympathizing is His nature! When we have tasted of His love, then we have the desire that everyone we know may seek and find this self-same Christ. We want to recommend the way of salvation, the wonders of Christ's grace, to everyone we meet. We say, 'If I can be saved, then everybody else can be saved. I was such a helpless case. There was none so dark and hopeless'. The wonder is so rich, Christ looks down upon sinners, altogether lost and helpless. He reveals Himself as the Saviour of the lost, and in His precious love He gives Himself. One cannot stay quiet about so great a change and so blessed a salvation. Now you may say, 'Who are they that receive such great mercies?' Let us now consider:

5. The Blessed Recipients

Indeed, the recipients of so great a grace are richly blessed. Who are they? What kind of people did receive the Spirit of grace and of supplications? Upon whom is the Spirit poured out? Do these blessed people have any good of themselves that the Lord does favour them so richly? No, not at all. The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem received the Spirit's grace. The house of David was the royal family, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were the common, ordinary people. They all belonged to the sinful race of Adam. They were altogether unworthy of the fulfilment of this promise. This was so in the days of Zechariah, when the promise was given. Many had a form of religion, but denied the power thereof. This was even more so when the promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. The recipients of the Spirit's grace were guilty of the greatest crime ever committed. Peter spoke about it in his sermon: 'That same Jesus, whom ye have crucified'. Quite often we are tempted to think that we must become worthy or even something special in order that the Lord may send us His rich mercies. But these three thousand that were converted on the day of Pentecost had nothing special. They were great and unworthy sinners. They had crucified the Lord of glory. Again, we may be inclined to think that when the Lord pours out His gracious Spirit, He will do it to the worthiest and best people of the church. But the Lord pours out His Spirit out of free grace. None of those who received the Spirit could say, 'Ah, we were a little bit more worthy than others'. They could only say, 'How foolish we were'. I hear one of them say, 'I was present when Christ in His great compassion healed my sick brother. But when He stood before Pilate, I was one of those who cried out, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Oh, what a shame, how could I ever do that?' I hear another person on that same day of Pentecost say, 'I stood near the cross and I heard that most gracious prayer, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do'. I was so impressed by this loving petition, but alas, later when others mocked Him, I was so unkind and cruel that I joined the scoffers'. Three thousand were pricked in their hearts; however, they were not better than others. When the Lord grants His grace, He never does so because we deserve it. We know this theoretically, but oh that we may know this practically! No one will ever receive the Holy Spirit because of any worthiness in self. It was and it always will be on account of the precious Giver, who wrought grace by His atoning death.

6. The Precious Giver

In conclusion, let us once more take a look at the precious Giver of this special Gift. The Giver—who pours out the Spirit of grace and of supplications—is the One whom we have pierced. Whose hands pour out the Holy Spirit? They are the same precious hands that have been nailed to the tree of Calvary. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. On the cross of Calvary, Christ earned the right to pour out His Holy Spirit. After the resurrection He said, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth' (Matthew 28: 18). He has power to pour out the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. He did this on the Day of Pentecost. All the worthiness lies in Christ. So if you plead for the grace of the Holy Spirit, and I hope there is much pleading here today, do not plead anything of self lest it be your wretchedness; do not plead any merit. Do not say, 'Lord, I have served Thee so long, I have done this and I have accomplished that'. Rather plead, 'Lord, I have altogether forfeited this precious mercy, but I plead the only pleading ground, Thy love revealed at Calvary'.

Have you received this grace of the Holy Spirit? Has this grace brought you to the feet of Christ? Has this grace brought you to a saving knowledge of Christ? Then you will give all the glory to the Father, who drew you with everlasting love, and to the Son, who redeemed your soul, and to the Holy Spirit, who was your Guide to Christ. What a glory it is, to know grace! I know of no greater treasure than the grace of God applied to a sinner's heart. If you are still without this grace, seek it. There is no greater search in life than the search for the living waters. The Spirit of grace and of supplications can lead you. He can unite you to a living Saviour, who speaks of peace and pardon to the heart. Remember, when you desire to be blessed by the Spirit of grace and of supplications, there is no better pleading ground than the love of Christ revealed at Calvary, AMEN!

Edited for online publication. Last updated 19 February 2024.