_The second burden, from Chapter xii-xiv.--Jerusalem and the
nations.--The conflict of the end.--The chiefs of Judah and the
strength promised to the feeble.--Nations destroyed.--Outpouring of
the Spirit and looking upon Jehovah, the pierced One.--The great
national mourning._
We have before us the second burden, which begins with the eleventh
chapter and closes with the fourteenth. The events seen in the first
burden, that is in chapters ix., x. and xi., were in part fulfilled,
but in the second burden we find prophecies which have seen no
fulfillment whatever; they are all future. There is only one prophecy
which is fulfilled, the one of the smitten shepherd at the end of the
thirteenth chapter. The great future events which are recorded in the
second burden are: The victory of Jerusalem over the hostile nations,
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the appearing and beholding of the
pierced One, the national repentance of Israel, the cleansing of the
nation, the final conflict and the Lord coming with His saints, the
complete overthrow of the enemies and the establishment of the
kingdom in the earth, with Jerusalem as a center. These three
chapters form indeed a glorious finale to the wonderful visions and
prophecies which Jehovah gave to the prophet. The fourteenth chapter
is the summit.
Not a few interpreters have committed the serious error and have
tried to find a fulfillment of these chapters somewhere, and if no
historical events could be made to suit the occasion, a spiritual
application had to be made and a spiritual fulfillment in the
so-called "Israel of the New Testament," the church, invented, which
of course never satisfies the prayerful student of the word.
In reading the twelfth chapter carefully, it will be seen at once
that here we have prophecies which not alone refer to Jerusalem and
Judah exclusively, but which cannot yet have seen a fulfillment. The
end of the chapter shows Israel's conversion. The Spirit is poured
out. They look upon the pierced One, Jehovah; repentance and
cleansing follows throughout the land. This brings before us the hour
of Israel's salvation, the same which the Holy Spirit unfolds through
Paul, in Romans xi. It is an event which will take place after the
fullness of the Gentiles will have come in (the church removed from
the earth). And so all Israel shall be saved; even as it is written,
There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer; He shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob: And this is my covenant unto them, when I
shall take away their sins (Rom. xi: 25-37). There is no saved
Israel now and there can be no national turning of Israel unto the
Lord at this present time, but when the Lord comes and they shall
look upon Him, that salvation will be at hand. This coming of the
Lord to Israel when they shall see His glory will be preceded by
nations rising against Jerusalem. Not one nation, but nations, will
make war once more with Jerusalem; nor will Jerusalem in that future
siege fall into the hands of the enemies, but the city and the people
will be victorious. The period of the Maccabees is not meant, nor is
there anything in the past which could even be a partial fulfillment
of Zech. xii. It is all future.
Let us look now at the details of the chapter. Thus saith the Lord,
who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the
earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (verse 1). The
speaker is Jehovah, the Almighty One who created the heavens and the
earth, and who formeth the spirit of man within him. Why such a
beginning of this second burden? To show that He who has given all
these promises is able to do it. Men may fail and are powerless to
give help. Indeed, Israel will be utterly helpless then when the
enemy comes in like a flood, but in that hour of extremity Jehovah
Himself, the Omnipotent One, the One through Whom and in Whom and for
Whom heaven and earth were created, will come, and in His majestic
appearing deliver Jerusalem and His people at last. But when He
appears for their salvation and they look upon Him, they see Jehovah
whom they pierced, Jehovah-Jesus, the One who was once rejected, but
who now comes in power and in glory. This first verse shows the
speaker in the entire chapter is Jehovah, and is one of the strongest
Old Testament passages which show that the Redeemer, the One who came
as an obedient servant to suffer and to die, is Jehovah.
Behold, I make Jerusalem a cup of reeling
To all the nations round about;
Upon Judah also shall it be,
In the siege against Jerusalem.
And it shall come in that day, I make Jerusalem
A burdensome stone for all the peoples:
All that are burdened with it shall be wounded;
All the nations of the earth shall gather against it.
(Verses 2 and 3.)
This brings us back to the first and second night visions concerning
the nations that are at ease, and thus helped forward their
affliction, the four horns which scattered Judah and Israel. The
ending three chapters bring out much of the details of what we saw in
the first three chapters in an outline. What an unfolding there is
now! Jehovah remembers Jerusalem and is jealous for her, and
Jerusalem is now to become a cup of reeling (like a drunken man) unto
all the nations round about. Isaiah long before Zechariah saw the
judgment coming. The cup of fury which Jerusalem drank is now to be
emptied by the enemies, and they will have to drink the cup of
reeling. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk from
the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the bowl
of the cup of reeling and drained it. . . . Behold, I have taken out
of thine hand the cup of reeling, even the bowl of the cup of My
fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. And I will put it in the
hand of them that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow
down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground,
and as the street to them that go over (Isaiah ii: 17, 22, 23). What
a wonderful harmony in the prophetic word! Jerusalem has been
drinking all along the cup of reeling, the cup of His fury, even
drained the cup; but while Jerusalem is thus drinking divine
displeasure, the nations, and with them that awful monstrosity called
Christendom, are getting ripe for the cup of wrath. A judgment is
hastening rapidly, and Jerusalem will be for the nations the cup of
reeling. We saw in the first night vision that the nations at ease
were condemned by Jehovah. He is sore displeased with them. They have
hurt His people and His inheritance. Terrible accusation against
Christendom too, which has always been and is now the great stumbling
block to the Jew, with its man-made institutions, creeds and
self-exaltation. The reader will understand we do not mean the
church, the one body; this is not applicable to true believers.
Man-made Christendom is the enemy of Jerusalem, and hates God's
loving thoughts for the peace of Jerusalem. If there is blindness in
part upon Israel, it is equally true that blindness is upon the
Gentiles. There is planning and scheming for expansion, world
reformation and possession in Christendom, which leaves out and
ignores completely God's purposes, and sets aside, as higher
criticism does, the oracles of God. No thought in Christendom that
Jehovah will ever make good His promises to the seed of Abraham,
therefore no thought of the Jew, no love for poor Israel; on the
other hand they are despised and hated. It is startling, indeed, to
see how Europe, the territory of the Roman Empire, which will form
yet the confederacy of kingdoms under one head, is at present boiling
over with antisemitism, and the heart of Europe, France, is the very
hotbed of it. There was never a time when antisemitism was so strong
and so universal as it is now at the end of the much boasted of
nineteenth century. What will it be when the salt of the earth, the
church, is removed? The restraint is then taken away and the outbreak
will come. The Jew is the thorn in the flesh of the nations; he is
hated and feared. However, the second and third verses of our chapter
do not speak of the enemies of Israel, as they are away from the land
of Israel, but the prophecies show the nations having come up against
the city of Jerusalem. Before this can be fulfilled Jerusalem must be
once more not alone inhabited by Jews, but be the city of the nation
again as it was in the past, a partial return of the Jews to
Palestine must have taken place, and great prosperity resting upon
their endeavors for a time. Mighty armies are seen then coming up
against the city and the land, and while in the land and in the city
there will be tribulation, the reign of the false Messiah, outside
the armies sent out by the confederacy of nations will be gathered.
It is of this gathering of the nations before Jerusalem in the
tribulation the great, the twelfth chapter speaks. In the exegesis of
the fourteenth chapter we will have occasion to describe this coming
siege of Jerusalem.
In speaking of these coming events it is necessary to bear in mind
that they have nothing to do with the church. Believers sometimes are
confused in this respect in not holding strictly to the coming of the
Lord for His saints, and the absence of the church in the earth
during the tribulation, and after this--His coming with His saints.
Because the Jews are not yet in possession of the land and Jerusalem
is not yet a Jewish city, some have reasoned that the coming of our
Lord must be a good ways off yet, and on account of these events not
being seen now, they say we cannot say that the Lord can come any
moment for His church. There is not one scripture which teaches that
before the Lord comes for His church the Jews must have returned or
Jerusalem be a national headquarter for Israel once more, etc. It is
true a partial restoration of the Jews in unbelief has commenced, and
there is a remarkable national awakening such as has never been
before, but the full development of this restoration will come after
the church has left the earth and has been joined to her Lord in the
air. An exodus of Jews will take place, the land will become theirs,
and the well laid plans and schemes of the present time will be all
carried out. Political combinations will be their chief hopes as well
as others for success. As Pharaoh of olden times did hasten after the
children of Israel when they had left his domain, so it seems the
nations will come after them and besiege Jerusalem. Everything is
getting ready for this. Let every believer rejoice in the blessed
hope that no saint will be in the earth when at last these sad scenes
of a passing dispensation are enacted.
In that day, saith Jehovah,
I will smite every horse with astonishment,
And his rider with madness:
I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah,
And every horse of the peoples I will smite with blindness,
And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart,
The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength,
In Jehovah of hosts their God.
In that day I will make the chiefs of Judah
Like a pan of fire among wood,
And as a torch of fire among sheaves;
And they shall devour all the peoples round about,
On the right hand and on the left;
And Jerusalem shall dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem
(verses 4-7).
These verses are descriptive of the calamity which will befall the
enemies of Israel. Jehovah will smite them. The stone falling from
heaven will smite the image at its feet and will pulverize it. The
enemies of Israel will suffer as complete a defeat and destruction as
Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. In pride and blindness they had
rushed on, and while pursuing Israel the face of the Lord looked out
of the cloud and confused the Egyptian hosts, and the returning
waters swept them all away, the horse and the rider and the chariots.
It is but a faint type of what it will be when Jehovah will roar out
of heaven, and His glory will appear. The slain of the Lord will then
indeed be many. Judah and the chiefs will be used in that judgment.
They shall be a devouring fire. The fourteenth chapter will lead us
into a closer investigation.
The following two verses speak of the order how the coming of Jehovah
will save His waiting people.
Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first,
That the glory of the house of David
And the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem
May not lift itself up over Judah.
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
And the feeble one among them in that day shall be as David;
And the house of David shall be as God (Elohim),
As the angel of Jehovah before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
That I will seek to destroy all the nations,
That came against Jerusalem (verses 7-9).
Judah will inhabit the land and many will dwell in tents, while
Jerusalem will be a strong and fortified city. The danger from the
hostile armies will be the greatest with the dwellers in the tents.
Accordingly, Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first. Jerusalem
will come next. The purpose is that the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem may not lift themselves up over Judah. The
house of David is especially mentioned. We have not had David brought
before the prophet in the night visions nor in the prophecies which
followed, but here in the twelfth chapter the house of David is
mentioned not less than five times, which is very significant. We
have the glory of the house of David in verse seven, the strength of
David and the supremacy of it in verse eight. The spirit of grace and
supplication is given to the house of David, and the family of the
house of David will mourn. Jews have a tradition which states that
the last descendant of the house of David died in Spain centuries
ago. There are no genealogies at present to prove that the kingly
house of David is extinct or not, but prophecies like the one we have
in consideration, and many others which speak of the prominence of
David and the house of David in the day when Jehovah will be
manifested, make it very clear that among the wandering sons of
Israel there are yet lineal descendants of the house of David. If
they do not know it themselves, Jehovah knows it, and they will know
it through Him. The feeble ones, literally the stumblers, among His
people in that day of manifestation will be like David. What a hero
David was! A man of war and strength conquering always and never
conquered. And now the stumbler in Israel, the weakest one, will have
strength and courage like David. And David shall be as God, as the
angel of Jehovah before them. This is a startling promise. A similar
word is found in Exodus vii: 1, And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I
have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy
prophet. The house of David will during the millennium be supreme in
rule and in glory. A lineal descendant of David, a prince, will sit
upon the throne of his father David and rule as a vice-regent of the
Lord Jesus Christ, whose throne is then in the heavens over the
earth. Thus in the earth the house of David will be as God and as the
angel of Jehovah before them (Ezek. xxxiv: 23, 24; xlvi.).
The closing verses of the chapter claim our special attention, for in
them we have a fundamental prophetic passage. The spiritual side of
the salvation of Jerusalem is now brought out.
And I will pour out upon the house of David,
And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
The spirit of grace and supplication;
And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced,
And they shall mourn for Him as the mourning for an only son,
And be in bitterness for Him as one in bitterness for the first-born.
In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem,
As the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
The mourning then is described as a universal one. All the families
will mourn; family by family apart, and their wives apart. Such a
mourning and weeping has never before been seen in the earth nor will
there be one like it again.
But why mourning and weeping? Should there not rather be joy and
feasting, gladness and hallelujahs? The hallelujahs will come during
the entire millennium, but the beginning will be mourning, national,
by Israel. The mourning is on account of Him, Jehovah, who has
appeared in His glory and whom they now behold. The long expected
Messiah has at last appeared, and He is Jehovah. His coming for their
salvation is as Daniel saw Him, after the last beast, the terrible
one, the nondescript with its ten horns and the little horn between,
had risen from the sea. I saw in the night visions, and, behold,
there came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a Son of Man, and
He came even unto the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near
before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, that all the people, nations, and languages should serve
Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass
away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Daniel vii:
13, 14). A cloud appears in the heaven over Jerusalem. It is at once
recognized as no common cloud, but as the divine glory cloud, (the
Shekinah, which had been with Israel of old and was always the sign
of Jehovah's presence with His people). We can imagine in some
measure how this sign will be welcomed by the remnant of Israel in
the hour of their extremity when there is and cannot be help from
man. The cloud speaks as of old, of divine interference. Our Lord
puts the whole scene before us when He said in His Olivet discourse,
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (what an awful
darkness that will be! well may then the rejecters of the Gospel seek
death from the wrath which is now coming), and the stars shall fall
from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then
shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He shall
send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall
gather together His elect (not the church) from the four winds, from
one end of heaven unto the other (Matthew xxiv: 29-31). The sign of
the Son of Man which is spoken of here will undoubtedly be the cloud
of glory which will bring Him from heaven to the earth. Some
believers in the coming of the Lord have mentioned the sign of the
Son of Man to be seen in the heaven as if that sign stood in relation
to the church and would be welcomed by believers, the saved ones, as
the sign that their redemption is now at hand. We read not long ago
in a pamphlet in which certain coming signs in constellation of
stars, etc., were mentioned, as being foretold in prophecy, and
teaching the church that the coming of the Lord must be at hand. This
is a mistake. There is nowhere in prophecy a sign mentioned appearing
in the heaven to show the church that the Lord is at hand. The
church, that is the one body, does not need such a sign. When the
sign of the Son of Man appears in the heaven there will be no more
church in the earth to see it. It will be "immediately after the
tribulation of these days;" the church will not be in that
tribulation. The sign is for Israel. Ezekiel beheld that glory which
is then to be seen in the heavens. I looked, and, behold, a stormy
wind came out of the north, a great cloud with a fire infolding
itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof
as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. And out of the
midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . And
above the firmament that was above their heads was the likeness of a
throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness
of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it
above. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire
within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward,
and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as if it
were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about
him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was
the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel i:
5, 26, 28). This vision will actually be seen by Israel in the day of
the manifestation of the Lord. He will return in like manner upon a
cloud as the glorified Son of Man as He went up into heaven. In Acts
i: 11, where the promise of His return is given, it is likewise to be
remarked that that promise does not present the Hope of the church,
our blessed Hope, as believers. It is very often used as speaking of
that Hope which is so dear to every believer's heart. However, the
promise given by the two men in white apparel, in Acts i., is a
promise to Israel. It is the coming in like manner as He went into
heaven, that is the coming of the Lord with His saints and not for
His saints. There is still another passage which is in close
connection with the appearing of Jehovah, the pierced One, in
Zechariah xii., namely, Revelation i: 7, Behold He comes with the
clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which have pierced Him
and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Yea. Amen.
This passage corresponds with the one before us in Zechariah. The
tribes in Revelation are the same as mentioned in Zechariah, and the
wailing in Revelation stands for the mourning with which the twelfth
chapter in Zechariah closes. What a scene that will be when at last
Israel will look upon Him! When the signs of His coming,--the coming
of the Redeemer--Jehovah increase, and His coming for their salvation
draweth nigh, perhaps their hearts will be gladdened, and there will
be rejoicing. They see the sign in the heavens and there will be the
glad shout, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah, this is
our God, we have waited for Him. And now they behold a person upon
that cloud. He is a Son of Man. Again they look and they see that His
hands and His feet and His side are pierced. Who can this be with
pierced hands, feet and side, who cometh thus in power and glory from
the heavens to save His people? The truth so long denied by them
flashes upon them, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,
the rejected One, the One who suffered that shameful death on yonder
hill, whose hands and feet were pierced, and from whose loving side
and heart the Roman spear drew forth blood and water. Jehovah-Jesus,
the pierced One, is seen again. There way up in the heavens He is
seen! Sun and moon have been darkened, as we quoted above from
Matthew xxiv., but instead of their light there flashes another light
over the heavens. The veil is lifted. God, Jehovah, has broken the
long, long silence. He speaks again. The proud nations tremble, fear
and trembling seize hold upon all the children of men. The day of
vengeance, the day of wrath, the day of burning and recompense is at
hand. All eyes are turned upward to behold that startling vision. The
cloud, and in that cloud a throne, and upon the throne the Lamb of
God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jehovah, the pierced One, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not alone are His eyes like a flaming fire, but
according to Habakkuk's vision (Habukkuk iii.), His glory covereth
the heavens, brightness is round about Him and rays (of glory) come
out of His hands and His side, and there was the hiding of His power.
Long, long ago David had by the Spirit of the Lord entered into the
sufferings of his Son, whom he called Lord, and in the Psalm which
begins with the cry of the forsaken One, My God, My God, why has Thou
forsaken Me? he speaks of His hands and His feet pierced. It is true
that the unbelieving Jews and all the enemies of a verbal inspiration
of the word of God, higher critics, etc., with them, have tried to
change the word "pierced" in the twenty-second Psalm, and make
something else out of it. But it is pierced and will be so in all
eternity. The One of whom David spoke came and was rejected,
suffered, sacrificed Himself to put away sin, was nailed on the
cross, and was pierced through. On the third day He was raised from
the dead, and for forty days He showed Himself in His glorified body
to His friends. In that body of the risen Lord the nailprints and the
pierced side were seen. Thomas, unbelieving as he was, and as such a
type of Israel abiding in unbelief still, would not believe the
testimony of his brethren, and demanded the return of the Lord and to
put his hands into His side and to see in His hands the prints of the
nails. The second time the Lord appears, and Thomas is called to His
side to touch His body, to see the nailprints. Convinced because he
sees he cries out, My Lord and my God! And when He took His own to
the mountain where He gave them His command and His blessing, when
His loving hands were spread out in blessing, they all saw the marks
of His passion in His hands and there in His side. And thus He went
into heaven, and while you read this, dear friend, He is there in the
Holy of Holiest, appearing now in the presence of God for us, the
all-sufficient One. Can then there be a doubt that when He does
appear again, the second time, to build the tabernacle of David which
is fallen down, that these marks of His suffering will not be seen?
They will be the marks for Israel. They will know Him by the
nailprints as the One so long rejected and hated without a cause.
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a little sample of what is yet to
be with the seed of Abraham. The light which shone around this
blinded, self-righteous Pharisee on his way to Damascus, a light
brighter than the Oriental noonday sun, will then shine out of heaven
in the Lord's own glory. The Voice which spoke to him, I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest, will speak again out of that light to the
prostrated nation. It does likewise remind us of the rejected brother
who became great and a saviour after his rejection by his own, and
who in loving words said to his brethren, so guilty and conscience
stricken, I am Joseph your brother. What a wonderful event that will
be when at last they that pierced Him shall behold Him. Suspended
somewhere in the air will be seen the vision of the Lord in His
glory, and thus every eye shall see Him. It will be the day when a
nation is born. The Spirit poured out, they will look upon Him, and
the great national mourning follows.
This great mourning will be like the mourning in Hadad-rimmon in the
valley Megiddon. To what events do these places refer? The second
book of Chronicles, chapter xxxv., verses 22-37, give us the history
of that great mourning. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face
from him (the King of Egypt), but disguised himself, that he might
fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the
mouth of God (these words are found in the twenty-first verse), and
came to fight in the valley of Megiddon. And the archers shot at King
Josiah; and the King said to his servants, Have me away, I am sore
wounded. So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him into
the second chariot that he had and brought him to Jerusalem; and he
died and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah
and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah,
and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their
lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in
Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Likewise in
2 Kings xxiii: 29. In Josiah's days Pharaoh-Neco, King of Egypt, went
up against the King of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and King
Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddon when he had seen
him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddon and
brought him to Jerusalem.
Hadad-rimmon was a village nearby in the valley of Megiddon. The
pious King Josiah died, pierced by an arrow on account of the evil
deeds of the nation. After his death there was a great mourning
because he had been slain, and his death was soon followed by greater
calamities, ending with the Babylonian captivity. The application to
the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming national mourning of the nation
every reader can make for himself.
It is interesting to read the Jewish interpretations of this
important chapter. We quote from the Babylonian Talmud: That
mourning, what was it about? Rabbi Yose and the Rabbis differ on the
point. The one says it is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is
killed; and the other says, It is for the _Yetzer Horo_ (evil desire,
sin), when it is killed. All is clear in the case of him that says,
It is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed, for then we
can understand what is written, And they shall look upon Me whom they
pierced, and they shall lament for Him (Zech. xii: 10). But in the
case of him that says it is for sin when it is killed? Would it be
mourning that is needed? Surely rejoicing would then be needed. Thus
expounded, Rabbi Jehudah, of the Western house, in the Messianic
times, the Holy One, blessed be He, is going to bring forth the evil
desire and slay him in the presence of the righteous and the wicked.
Unto the righteous the evil desire appears like a mountain, and unto
the wicked he appears like a hair. The righteous weep and the wicked
weep. The righteous say, How did we ever get the better of this high
mountain? And the wicked say, How is it that we did not get the
better of this hair? (Yalkut on Zechariah.)
The Jews have invented a double Messiah, one who is called the Son of
Joseph and the other the Son of David. The Son of Joseph is pierced,
and after He has been slain, Jehovah will send Messiah, Son of David.
It is not denied that the Son of Joseph is a Messiah, an anointed
One. This teaching is to solve the difficulties they have in
explaining the suffering Messiah and the victorious Messiah. We have
often talked with orthodox Jews for hours on the fact that there is
only one Messiah, and He whom they expect as Son of David is truly
the One who died and was pierced through for our sins. Human words
cannot describe the great mourning when at last it is known by His
appearing in the clouds, that Jesus, the Son of David, is the once
rejected stone and now become the head of the corner. The first verse
of the thirteenth chapter belongs to the twelfth. However, we will
leave it for the next chapter.