September 16, 2019 – Zechariah 13:7

“Awake, O 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.”
—Zechariah 13:7

Did the sword of divine justice smite the Shepherd, and at the same time [remove] all his outward comforts?74 Then learn that the holiest people have no reason to despond though God should at once strip them of all their outward and inward comforts. In one day Christ loses both heavenly and earthly comforts. Now as God dealt with Christ, he may at one time or other deal with his people. You have your comforts from heaven; so had Christ. He had comforts from his little flock; you have your comforts from the society of the saints, comfortable relations, and so on. Yet none of these are so firmly settled on you that you may not be left destitute of them all in one day. God took all comfort from Christ, both outward and inward—and are we greater than he?
Should the Lord deal thus with any of you, the following considerations will be seasonable and relieving.
First, though the Lord deal thus with you, yet this is no new thing; he has so dealt with others, yes, with Jesus Christ who was his equal. How little reason have we to complain?
Secondly, this befell Jesus Christ so that the similar condition might be sanctified to you when you are brought into it. Jesus Christ passed through such conditions on purpose that he might take away the curse and leave a blessing in those conditions, in preparation for the time that you would come into them.
Thirdly, though inward and outward comforts were both removed from Christ in one day, yet he did not lack support: “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:32)—with me by way of support when not by way of comfort. Your God can in like manner support you when all tangible comforts shrink away from your soul and body in one day.
Remark that this comfortless, forsaken condition of Christ immediately preceded the day of his greatest glory and comfort. It was so with Christ, it may be so with you. Therefore act your faith on this, that the most glorious light usually follows the thickest darkness. The louder your groans are now, the louder your triumphs hereafter will be. The horror of your present will but add to the luster of your future state.
—John Flavel