26. Appendix B to Session 6:
27. The preaching to begin in Jerusalem

2. The Christ to be killed in Jerusalem:

3. A key passage to start with is Zechariah 12:10-13:1

   "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. ¹¹ On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² […].13:1 "On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

5. 
   

In Zechariah 12:10, God is speaking of himself being pierced.  In fact, the plain reading is that God is to be killed, since after piercing him, the people then ‘mourn for him’.  Given what we have seen in our course so far, it should be clear that the passage speaks of the time when the Christ will be killed.

3. What’s more, we see from Zechariah 12:10-11 that the Christ will be killed in Jerusalem.  Notice from those verses that the inhabitants of Jerusalem pierce the Christ.  After killing him, they also mourn for him in Jerusalem.

The Spirit to be poured out in Jerusalem:

4. In Zechariah 12:10, the pouring out of the Spirit occurs on ‘the inhabitants of Jerusalem ’.

The Preaching to begin at Jerusalem:

5. Since forgiveness of sins is to come through preaching the name of the LORD (see Appendix A to Session 6), and since this ‘fountain’ for cleansing of sin is opened in Jerusalem (Zechariah 13:1), we conclude that the preaching had to begin at Jerusalem .

Fulfilment:

6. In terms of fulfilment, Jesus was killed in Jerusalem (just outside the city).  Also, Peter preached to the residents of Jerusalem after Jesus death.  He accused them of evil in killing the Christ.  And in one day, 3000 people ‘were cut to the heart’. (Acts 2:37, 41).  They mourned bitterly, just as Zechariah had predicted.
8. Further, Jesus knew about this Zechariah passage, and so he told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem, until they received the Spirit.  This is at the very end of Luke’s gospel:

Jesus said, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” ⁵⁰ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵² Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

8. In Acts chapter 2, this promise is fulfilled when the Spirit is received by the disciples in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

  By Michael Russell

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