We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

How do you respond to Zechariah 12:10?
“when they look on the one they have pierced, they shall mourn for him…”
Hundreds of years before Christ was born it was declared that he would be pierced (cf. John 19:24–27). Detailed prophecies such as this one help convince us that Jesus is the Messiah hoped for in the Old Testament. The ministry and crucifixion of Jesus are the centerpieces of world history. Everything else revolves around these. So God takes extraordinary care to ensure that they unfold in just the right way. And to prove that he is behind it all, he announces many of the details of his plan centuries ahead of time, as we have already seen.
Nothing shows forth the sovereignty and wisdom of God as gloriously as does the detailed way Christ’s ministry and crucifixion fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. We compromise the wisdom and sovereignty of God, however, if we reduce such prophecies to “crystal ball” previews of the future. God’s power and wisdom are more amazing if they allow for open-ended free decisions than if God needs to have everything settled ahead of time to accomplish his plans.
To ensure that this or any other prophesied detail of Christ’s life comes to pass, the Lord would have to know that someone at the time of the crucifixion would have freely developed the sort of character that would, in the right circumstances, carry out the prophesied action. But, as we saw was the case of Joseph of Arimathea (see How do you respond to Isaiah 53:9?), God would not have to predetermine who that “someone” would be. At any given moment in history many people undoubtedly have such a character. The Lord need only find one and providentially direct his freely acquired character to act out in accordance with his prophesied end (Prov. 16:9).
Prophecies such as this one do not exalt a special divine ability to foresee an exhaustively settled future. They rather exalt God’s unfathomable wisdom and the remarkable power he has to use it. Most importantly, they demonstrate the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that his life, death and resurrection were orchestrated by God for the purpose of redeeming humanity from its sin.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism, Responding to Objections
Verse: Zechariah 12
Related Reading

When Did Jesus Bind the Strongman?
Question: In Luke 11:21-22 Jesus said: “When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.” My question is, when…

The (Spiritual) War on Terror
Jesus’ ministry was a ministry not of resignation but of revolt. He was about revolting against the cruel tyranny of a world ruler (Satan) that was oppressing God’s people. He was about seeking to give back to people, and to win back for his Father, what the enemy had stolen and destroyed. He was about…

How do you respond to Exodus 21:12–13?
“Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.” Compatibilists sometimes argue that this passage shows that fatal accidents are acts of God. The Hebrew does not…

How do you respond to Genesis 25:23?
The Lord told Rebekah, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” (cf. Rom. 9:12–16) Old Testament scholars agree that the author (and later, Paul in Romans 9) has the descendants of Jacob and…

How do you respond to Isaiah 53:9?
Speaking of the suffering servant Isaiah says, “[T]hey made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich…” As with most evangelical exegetes, I believe that Isaiah 53 constitutes a beautiful and stunning prophetic look at the person of Jesus Christ. The most impressive feature of this prophecy is that the suffering servant…