Soccer balls can explode.

Last week I was on a soccer field for a youth soccer practice when something unexpected happened - a soccer ball exploded!

It sounded like someone fired a gun or an old car had backfired. It was a loud noise that echoed across the fields. When I looked up to see what happened, several young soccer players were scrambling away from the noise. The loud explosion scared them and sent several kids running the other direction.

Essentially, the soccer ball was over inflated to the point of bursting. It had way too much air pressure and it didn't take much for it to POP!

Zechariah 13 describes a scene where people are scattered. It describes an image of people on the run just like those kids on the soccer field when they heard the explosion. 

"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me," declares the Lord of hosts. "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13.7).

Written centuries before the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, this prophecy is fulfilled on the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Matthew 26 records the scene on the Mount of Olives where Jesus tells his disciples that they will be scattered when he is put to death. Jesus Christ fulfills these prophetic words of Zechariah through his atoning death on Calvary. 

After Christ's hasty trial, he is tortured and then executed on the cross. Yet, none of his disciples, his close friends, are present. Even Peter, the brash and bold leader is hiding from the local leaders because he is afraid of what they might do to him.

It was for these friends who abandoned him that Jesus died. He died for sinners who were hopeless without him and faced God's judgment for their sin. It was for people like you that Jesus Christ gave up his life - so that your sins might be forgiven, your guilt removed, and your future life secure because of his atoning death.