Zechariah 13:7
“Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn my hand against the little ones. (NIV)
Zechariah 13:7-9 and Luke 2:8-20
Considering today is Christmas Day, I will attempt to tie our current prophecy that pertains to the death of Jesus to the birth of Jesus. While they aren’t really related, they are at the same time completely related. The birth of Jesus is meaningless if not for his death that saved the world. We celebrate today because “today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you” (Luke 2:11). It’s the fact that he is our Savior that makes today so special.
Zechariah 13:7 was fulfilled in many ways in the life of Jesus. We have already discussed that Jesus came as God in the flesh as the “man who is close to me.” We have also discussed that Jesus came to us from God as a sacrifice. God summoned his sword to strike his only Son because as Luke says, Jesus is our Savior. His crucifixion saves us from the punishment that our sins deserve and makes us right with God. So we celebrate the birth of our Savior today.
Zechariah 13:7 also tells us that “the sheep will be scattered” on the day that God strikes His shepherd. Jesus draws our attention to this prophecy right before he is arrested:
“Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’” (Matt 26:31).
This prophecy was fulfilled the night of Jesus’s arrest. His disciples scattered and hid:
“In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted him and fled” (Matt 26:55-56).
The sheep did indeed scatter that night. They had lost their shepherd. They didn’t know that all of eternity hung in the balance as Jesus was carried away to be tried and crucified. They knew he was the Messiah but they misunderstood the mission. So they deserted him and scattered. After all, they were just sheep.
I find it more than interesting God’s fascination with shepherds and sheep. Zechariah 13:7 uses the shepherd and sheep analogy but it’s not the only one by far. The Psalms and the prophets are full of shepherd and sheep typology. God is described as the shepherd caring for His sheep:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters” (Ps 23:1-2).
“Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock” (Ps 80:1).
“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Isa 40:11).
“As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness” (Ez 34:12).
Jesus also told countless parables depicting himself as the shepherd tending his sheep. He even called himself the Good Shepherd:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Scripture might use the shepherd/sheep relationship to describe our relationship with God more than any other. It seems to be the perfect analogy for Jesus to explain His love for us. So it should come as no surprise when Jesus is born that God sends his angelic welcoming party to a group of shepherds to announce the birth of His son. More than anyone else, God wants the shepherds present on that first night that Jesus comes to earth. The Good Shepherd has arrived!
Many scholars say that the angel of the Lord announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds to further signify that Jesus came for all people. The angel even said so:
“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’” (Luke 2:10-11).
After all, if the angel of the Lord says that Jesus was born for the lowest of all people – shepherds – then he was obviously born for the rest of us as well. But I don’t think that’s how God sees it. God doesn’t measure our worth as the world does. I think God announced the birth of the Messiah to shepherds because they were the ones most worthy to hear it. Jesus would grow up to say:
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God” (Matt 5:8).
The shepherds saw God that night because they were pure in heart. They heard the message from the angel of the Lord, they were given a glimpse of heaven as a great company of angels appeared to them and then they were obedient to God and did as they were told. They went and found their Savior and spread the message that Jesus had arrived to all who would listen:
“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2:16-18).
The shepherds were exactly who Jesus came for – the ones who were pure in heart. They were the perfect example of obedience who would tell the world that the Savior had arrived. Jesus had arrived to save us just like a shepherd saves his flock:
“The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock” (Zech 9:16).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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