The One They Pierced

Date: Friday, July 24, 2026

Today in Church History: John Newton was born on July 24, 1725. Initially a slave trader turned Anglican clergyman, he is famous for writing the hymn "Amazing Grace". His dramatic conversion and later abolitionist work is a profound Christian witness of God's universal love for all of humanity.

Readings: Zechariah 12, 14 | Psalm 22

Few Old Testament verses have the force of Zechariah 12:10: God says of Jerusalem, “they will look upon me, on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.” The pronouns shift from “me” to “him” in a grammatical mystery that points to a mystery beyond grammar: the pierced one is somehow God Himself. John’s Gospel quotes this verse directly at the cross (John 19:37). Centuries in advance, Zechariah hands us a preview of Good Friday.

Chapter 14 zooms out, describing a day when “the Lord will be king over all the earth” (14:9) and living water flows from Jerusalem, healing everything it touches. Piercing gives way to reign; wounding gives way to living water. Zechariah gives us the flow of the whole gospel story compressed into two chapters.

Are you convinced yet that the Bible points directly to Jesus?! It’s fitting that today’s Psalm is paired to this prophecy. Psalm 22 was the psalm that Jesus prayed as he hung on the cross.

Devotional Prompts:

• How does knowing the “pierced one” was prophesied centuries in advance strengthen your confidence in Scripture’s authority?
• What does it mean for you personally that wounding, in God’s story, always gives way to healing water?

Prayer: Pierced Savior, thank You for entering our abandonment so completely that You could redeem it from the inside. Let Your living water flow into whatever feels wounded in me today, and turn my mourning toward Your reign. Amen.