God’s Word for You

Zechariah 12:1-3 The Lord forms the soul of man

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, August 30, 2022

12 An Oracle
  This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel:

An “oracle” is a burden, something carried between God and God’s people, usually as a condemnation of sins (2 Chronicles 24:25) or of sin more generally (Nahum 1:1; 2 Kings 9:25). The “burden” or responsibility of singing is also known with the same term (1 Chronicles 15:27).

Such oracles are neither rare nor overly common in the Scriptures, but come here and there in Isaiah and Jeremiah, and also in Ezekiel (12:10), Nahum 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Malachi 1:1; and previously in Zechariah 9:1.

This oracle is about the suffering which the true Israel would undergo after the time of Christ in the land of Israel and in other places, things we are made aware of in the Book of Acts and the writings of Paul.

This is what the LORD who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth and formed the spirit of man within him, declares: 2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that makes all the surrounding peoples stagger. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. 3 On that day when all the nations of the earth will gather against Jerusalem, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves.

First, the Lord comforts those who suffer by reminding us all of who he is and what he has done: It is the Almighty Creator who cares for us and who has us always in mind. He does not forget us. What part of man does he watch over in particular? It is that part of man that the Lord did not give to any other creature: the spirit of man within him. I might love a dog, a horse, a goat, or a kitten, but none of them has a spirit, a soul.

So: what will come to God’s people? Persecution is coming. All of those who attacked the Christians still living in Jerusalem after the Lord’s ascension into heaven (Acts 1:9) would “drink a cup” that would make them stagger like a drunken man, reeling and falling down. This is the same cup of wrath drunk by the enemies of God’s people in Isaiah 51:17 and 51:22. The Church will be a heavy stone. To attack it or to try to move it will cause the attacker pain and loss.

Since this message will continue in this chapter, we will stop here and notice a marvelous statement the Lord makes about creation and the conception of a human baby: “It is the LORD… who formed the spirit of man within him” (verse 1). God produced and formed the bodies of Adam and the animals from the soil (Genesis 2:7, 2:19), and Eve had been formed from Adam’s rib, but he breathed a spirit only into the man and his wife. Since then, the spirit of a person is created at the moment when the baby is conceived. It is there and then that God gives the soul to the new person’s body (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The Christian has this in mind when he considers a political issue such as abortion, but we also need to remember that the Roman Empire permitted abortion, but like almost all other countries (China excepted), abortions are only permitted and not commanded. A Christian will also want to remember the Fourth and Fifth Commandments, and not take up arms or violence against his government when things don’t seem to go his way. When a disciple tried to draw his sword to prevent Jesus’ arrest, he said, “Put your sword away” (John 18:11), “all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” We can live quietly in a nation that permits various sins, as long as we are permitted to worship and speak as God desires. Paul did not fly into a berserk rage when his favorite candidate failed to become Emperor, and neither should we.

Returning to the soul, it is that part of man that has faith (Psalm 35:3,9), even though we speak of faith being in the heart. Mary confessed, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46-47). The not-yet-born infant John leapt in his mother’s womb when he heard Mary greet his mother (Luke 1:41,44). The soul gives the body life (Genesis 2:7), and it cannot be destroyed (it returns to God after the body dies, Acts 7:59). The soul is the seat of human intelligence; it wonders and asks questions of God (Psalm 77:6); and the soul feels emotions (Psalm 6:3, 42:5; Matthew 26:38; Job 24:12). The soul gives us our personalities (Psalm 77:2); it desires to do good works (Job 30:25). The soul desires to worship God and to be with God: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord (Psalm 84:2; Psalm 35:9). The soul feels what the body feels and suffers when the body approaches death and dies: “My soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave” (Psalm 88:3; Job 33:28).

But there is even more. The soul of a wicked man becomes corrupt to the point where it delights in his abominations (Isaiah 66:3). The soul of the wicked goes to hell even before his body goes, to begin its eternal suffering before the body is restored and the man, body and soul, remains in torment forever. “The soul that sins,” said the Lord, “is a soul that will die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

Therefore we want to do whatever we can to win souls for Christ. “The Lord has set apart the godly for himself” (Psalm 4:3), so that when anyone calls out to him in faith, he will rescue them. To share Christ with a suffering, sinful soul is to call that soul back from the jaws of hell, to be filled with greater joy than any earthly delight (Psalm 4:7). To bring healing to the sick or hurting is a great honor and delight. To bring knowledge to those who just didn’t know is a pleasure of the best kind. But to bring Christ to someone who never knew him—this is what it is to be a vessel of the very gospel of salvation. What a privilege! What untold joy! Lord God, make me a tool that you can use even as you rescue my own soul from the pit. Save me, O Lord, as you save your whole Church.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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