The Spirit of grace and of pleading

Verse 10 is an extremely important passage. “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (v 10). (1) At the end of the battle of Armageddon, God will pour out the Holy Spirit upon the people of Israel. The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of grace and of pleading.” The New Japanese Bible translates this as “the spirit of compassion and prayer.” The meaning is the same. (2) The Holy Spirit plays the role of bringing salvation to the people of Israel and therefore is called “the Spirit of grace (the Spirit of compassion).” (3) Furthermore, because the Holy Spirit gives the people of Israel a spirit of supplication (a spirit of prayer), He is called “the Spirit of pleading (the Spirit of prayer).” Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the people of Israel will experience spiritual transformation. They will look upon “the One whom they pierced.” Since it says, “they will look at Me,” we understand that the speaker is Christ. Christ was pierced with a spear. John records this event. “Yet one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:34). “For these things took place so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken.’ And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look at Him whom they pierced’” (John 19:36-37). When the people of Israel come to understand that Christ is their Savior, they will plead with Christ to return to them (they will pray earnestly). This is the picture of the national conversion of the people of Israel.

The bitter weeping

When the people of Israel realize how great a sin it was to continue rejecting the Messiah, they will weep bitterly. Their mourning will be “like one mourning for an only son, … and weep bitterly over Him.” However, this mourning will not end in vain.For the conversion of the people of Israel will lead to the Second Coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Millennial Kingdom. Passages that prophesy the conversion of Israel include Isaiah 32:13-20; 44:3-5; Joel 2:28-32; and Acts 2:16-21. The salvation of Israel is a condition for the Second Coming. Blessed are those who pray and labor for both Gentile evangelism and Jewish evangelism.