Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3088
“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, says the LORD of Hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn My hand upon the little ones.” Zechariah 13:7.
WE are sure that we understand this passage, for we have our Lord Jesus Christ’s application of it to Himself—“All you,” He said to His disciples, “shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” It is always well, when we are considering a text in the Old Testament which we think may refer to Christ, if we can be certified that it does so by some declaration of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, or by some testimony from the lips of the Master, Himself, as we have in this case.
The passage seems to me to be best illustrated by a description I once heard from one of our Lord’s servants who pictured a tempest as gathering in the heavens, the darkness deepening and, by-and-by, came the thunder and lightning, and the storm shook the earth. He saw before him a towering mountain, with its peak lifted high up towards Heaven. At the foot of it lay a sheltered hamlet. The storm seemed all concentrated around the mountain’s brow that was the center of the battle of the elements. That lofty peak seemed to be split and broken to shivers by the dread artillery of God. The hamlet down below was in comparative peace—only some gentle drops of rain fell on it, fertilizing its fields. And he who gave the illustration said, “That peak was the Christ of God, Jesus the Substitute and Surety of His people, standing in our place, on whom burst the full tempest of Jehovah’s wrath, that the soft drops of pity and of Grace might fall on the people for whom He suffered.”
Looking at the text in that light, we have, first, the thunder of the tempest—“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, says the Lord of Hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” Then we have the soft and gentle shower—“I will turn My hand upon the little ones.” There is the war-note first, the crack and clang of conflict and then it is peace, with the music of rest and joy.
I. First, then, LET US WATCH THAT TERRIBLE STORM.
And let us notice, first, the Victim upon whom it fell. According to the text, the sword was to awake against One who is called by God, “My Shepherd,” and who is further described as “the Man that is My Fellow, says the Lord of Hosts.” We gather, therefore, that Jesus, who suffered in our place, holds the office of a Shepherd, a Shepherd appointed by God, and sent by Him to take care of the sheep. It is not my objective, at this time, to speak at length upon this office
of the Lord Jesus Christ, [Mr. Spurgeon preached many Sermons upon Christ’s office as Shepherd, including the following— Sermons #995, Volume 17—THE SHEEP AND THEIR SHEPHERD; #1877, Volume 32—OUR OWN DEAR SHEPHERD; #2120, Volume 35—THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS—OR, SHEEP WHO SHALL NEVER PERISH and #3006, Volume 52—“THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD”] but
just to remind you that, as Jacob, when he was shepherd to Laban, was responsible for all the flocks under his care, so has God committed His own chosen flock into the hands of Jesus, “that great Shepherd of the sheep,” and He has become responsible for them. They will pass again under the hand of Him that counts them, and He will say to His Father, “Here I am, and the sheep that You did give into My hand. Of all that You gave Me, I have lost none.” It is Christ’s office to keep His sheep even to the end, and to lead them at last to lie down upon the hilltops of Heaven, not one of them having been lost by the way. Dear Friend, let us exult in this relationship between Christ and His people! We are as weak and foolish and as full of needs as sheep can be, but we have a Shepherd who perfectly understands us, who so loves us that He will preserve to the end even the very least among us!
I want to dwell now upon the personal description of Christ that is given by the Lord of Hosts Himself—“the Man that is My Fellow.” We never wish to deny the real Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not always possible to speak of that Manhood without making some mistakes, but for my part, I believe the mistake of falling short of a description of full and proper Manhood is far more frequent than the mistake of carrying that description too far. Jesus Christ felt as we feel, suffered as we suffer and was tempted in all points like as we are. He was a Man as to His body and He was a Man as to His soul. He was born as we are and from Infancy grew to Boyhood, and “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” He reasoned as we reason, but without the evil bias which the Fall has given to our judgment. He lived as we live, only without that tendency to evil which has come to us through our natural depravity. In everything that is included in pure Manhood, Christ was one with us. Sin was not present in the first ideal of manhood, and it was not present in Christ—“in Him was no sin.” Do not, I pray you, ever set Jesus Christ up so high as to imagine that His Manhood was not like yours, so that He cannot sympathize with you—for then you cannot sympathize with Him! And the next thing will be that you cannot love Him, and that you cannot trust Him and that you cannot come unto Him and have fellowship with Him. Believe, Beloved, that He was in all points such as you are with the exception of your sin. He had infirmities such as you have, though they were sinless ones. He felt just such aches and pains as trouble you and the depressions and downcastings that vex your spirit. Yes, He who stood in our place was a Man! The Law demanded that man, who had done dishonor to it, should also vindicate it—and it was so, for the Son of Mary stood in the gap on our behalf. The second Adam, the true representative Man, stood there to render unto living Justice full payment of the debt which the first Adam, representing us, had incurred!