The Messiah’s Redeeming Work

The Messiah’s Redeeming Work
Zechariah 13:1-6
August 27, 2023

A few years ago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invention Index conducted a poll, asking what five inventions Americans believed they could not live without.  The answers (in reverse order) were:

5. The microwave
4. The cell phone
3. The personal computer
2. The automobile
1. The toothbrush

Another survey found that the cell phone had supplanted the alarm clock as the most hated invention (but one that they can’t live without).

What do you need?  Food.  Air.  Air conditioning (shelter).  Clothing.  Relationships.  Opportunities to love and serve.  Church and worship.  And redemption.  You need redemption.  Our greatest need, says one theologian, “is a holy life, transformed and radiant in the glory of God.”  That is true of us and it is (and was) true of the nation of Israel as well.  She needs redemption.  And God has promised and has a plan to redeem the nation as a nation.

In Zechariah 12, we saw that God would save the entire nation of Israel physically (12:1-9) and spiritually (12:10-14).  Because of their repentance, He will save them by grace (12:10). In chapter 13, God exposes more specifics of how He will save Israel spiritually.  Very simply…

God will save Israel by forgiving and cleansing the nation.

Because the nation repented (12:10b), God will respond with two specific acts of salvation:  He will both grant them a gift and remove a difficulty…

1. What God Will Give to His Repentant People (v. 1)

• He will give forgiveness (v. 1a)
• He will give forgiveness to all Israel (v. 1b)

2. What God Will Remove From His Repentant People (vv. 2-6)

• He will remove idolatry (v. 2a)
• He will remove idolatrous prophets (v. 2b, 3-6)
• He will remove the source of idolatry (v. 2c)

Our Hope Now, and in the Future —

• Only God can forgive and God has made forgiveness available to all people (Rom. 3:23; 1 Jn. 1:9)
• God has cleansed us from all sin and unrighteousness
• God will remove every sin and sinful desire
• God will save His people — both Israel, and those grafted into Israel

Download the rest of this sermon on Zechariah 13:1-6.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.