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diff --git a/36216.txt b/36216.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a171e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/36216.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5263 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Studies in Zechariah, by Arno C. Gaebelein + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Studies in Zechariah + +Author: Arno C. Gaebelein + +Release Date: May 24, 2011 [EBook #36216] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G. Richardson + + + + +STUDIES + +IN + +ZECHARIAH. + + +BY + +A. C. GAEBELEIN. + +_EIGHTH EDITION._ + +PRINTING BY + +FRANCIS E. FITCH, INC, + +47 BROAD ST., NEW YORK. + + + + +Copyright 1911, by A. C. Gaebelein. + + + + +FOREWORD TO THE EIGHTH EDITION. + +This little exposition of the Prophecies of Zechariah was written +almost 15 years ago. We are thankful to God that it has been a help +to so many. The sixth edition has been sold and a seventh has become +necessary. + +We were somewhat reluctant to print another edition. When this book +was written the writer did not at all have a clear vision in the +prophetic Word concerning the great predicted end events of the times +of the Gentiles. Like so many others he did not distinguish between +the personal Antichrist and the King of the North. He then held the +view, which is still taught by many, that the first beast in +Revelation xiii is the personal Antichrist. This belief led into +incorrect views about that part of Revelation. + +Since writing the book it has pleased the Lord to give the writer +better light on these great prophetic unfoldings and for this reason +some of the interpretations given, especially on pages 135, 136 and +137, are no longer looked upon by the author as being scripturally +correct. In our later books "The Harmony of the Prophetic Word" +"Joel," and especially "Exposition of Daniel," the truth as revealed +in Prophecy concerning the two beasts and the King of the North, is +given. We therefore request the reader to consider this when studying +this volume. + +We are sure the Lord will continue to bless the simple unfolding of +the greatest Post exile Prophet. So little is written on this great +book that we feel that we should not withhold this imperfect +exposition from the students of the Word of Prophecy. May the Lord +continue to bless it. + +A. C. GAEBELEIN. + +Sept. 30, 1911. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Zechariah, the name of the prophet whose visions and prophecies we +desire to study, is not an uncommon name in divine history. Its +meaning is _Jehovah remembers_. He is called the son of Berachiah, +_Jehovah blesses_, the son of Iddo, _the appointed time_. There is +here, as in many other instances in the Bible, a great significance +in the Hebrew names. The name of the grandfather of Zechariah (who +probably brought him up, as his father must have died early), his +father's name and his own read in English translation, _the appointed +time_, _Jehovah blesses_, _Jehovah remembers_. The Holy Spirit has +inspired these very names; they are in themselves a commentary to the +prophecies and visions God gave to Zechariah, for they speak of an +appointed time of God's blessings for Jerusalem and of His loving +remembrance. + +Zechariah was born in Babylon in the captivity, for when he returned +to the land of his fathers he was but a child. Like some other +prophets he was a priest as well as a prophet. His work as a prophet +was commenced by him when he was a young man, for thus he is called +in one of the visions. The time of his opening address to the people +is two months after Haggai had opened his lips in Jehovah's name. +Haggai received the word of the Lord in the sixth month in the second +year of Darius, and Zechariah in the eighth month of the same year of +the reign of that King, about 520 before Christ. + +Both prophets had the same thought given, namely, to encourage the +Jewish remnant in the blessed work of rebuilding the house of the +Lord. This work had suffered an interruption; the Samaritans were the +cause of it. They had applied to join in the work, but as the remnant +considered them idolators and as not belonging to God's people, the +application was rejected. These Samaritans tried after that in +various ways to hinder the rebuilding, which had so blessedly begun. +At last they succeeded in obtaining a decree which forbade the +building of the Temple. All work had to be stopped and ceased for +about fourteen years. But when the King who had forbidden the +prosecution of the work had died and Darius became King, the building +of the Temple was once more made possible. The leaders of the people +in the enterprise were Serubbabel and the High Priest Joshua. But +again they were hindered from the outside, while on the other hand +the people themselves had lost much interest and possessed no longer +that love and zeal for God's house, which was so prominent after +their return. Thus Haggai said: _This people say, It is not the time +for us to come, the time for the Lord's house to be built. . . It is +a time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth +waste_. Haggai, chapter 1. + +In that critical moment these two prophets made their appearance, and +God gave them visions of comfort and glad tidings to encourage the +disheartened, selfish and unbelieving people. + +The visions and prophecies of Zechariah, however, do not only give an +assurance that there could be no failure in the work the remnant had +taken up anew, but more than that in them the glorious future of +Jerusalem and Zion is unfolded. They lead up to the grand finale of +the history of God's ancient people, the time when Israel, redeemed +and restored forever, will sing the grand and glorious Hallelujah. + +It is, of course, true that Zechariah did a blessed work for the +people who lived in his day; he had a special mission to perform and +succeeded in it, but the Spirit of God in the message of comfort for +that time gives the history of events then in a distant future. The +Babylonian captivity of Israel foreshadows their greater dispersion +in which they are to-day wanderers all over the earth, and the +restoration which took place in the time of Zechariah is highly +typical of that coming restoration for which we hope and pray. + +Zechariah may therefore be fitly called the Prophet of the +Restoration. Surely it is a deplorable blindness in some teachers of +the Word, who see in the book of Zechariah nothing but past history, +and who claim that all has been fulfilled in the return of the small +Jewish remnant from the captivity, and whatever promises of mercy +given to Jerusalem and the land of Judah find now their spiritual +fulfilment in the church. + +It will be our aim in a series of studies in Zechariah to consider +mostly the relation of these visions to the end of this age, and the +beginning of the next, the millennial glory. We shall find that +instead of the book of Zechariah being all fulfilled prophecy, as +some would have it, it is indeed mostly unfulfilled, and even some of +the prophetic promises which on the surface seem to have been seen a +fulfilment, were only in part realized. And how important at this +time to study the book of Zechariah! We are living in the time when +that greater restoration with all its events forerunning and +connected with it are about to come to pass. It is needless to say +that we firmly believe that Zechariah wrote all of the book which +bears his name. + +Several of the Jewish commentators confess an inability to explain +the book. The well-known Jewish commentator Solomon Ben Jarchi +(generally known by the name Rashi), says: "The prophecy (of +Zechariah) is very dark, for it contains visions much like dreams, +which want interpreting, and we will never succeed in finding the +true meaning until _the Teacher of righteousness arrives_." Abarbanel +makes a similar confession. + +We praise God that the Teacher of righteousness has come, even the +Spirit of Truth, who guides into all truth and reveals the things to +come. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_The Opening Address of the Prophet to His Nation. The Night Visions +and Their Meaning. The First Night Vision._ + +The opening address of the prophet (chapter i: 1-6) forms an +excellent introduction to the visions of comfort and warning which he +had and revealed to the people. It is a very pointed and earnest call +to repentance: _The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers._ +They were disobedient and stiff-necked. The former prophets, Jeremiah +and Isaiah, had called them to turn from their evil ways, but they +did not hear. And now, where are the fathers? They had passed away +like the disobedient ones in the wilderness; God's judgment and +displeasure had overtaken them. But the faithful God of Abraham, +Isaac and Jacob, whose gifts and calling are without repentance, +comes once more to His chosen people, the seed of Abraham, and the +Spirit, through Zechariah, speaks a direct message to return, and +utters the promise that the Lord will also return unto them. _Thus +saith the Lord of Hosts: Return unto me saith the Lord of Hosts, and +I will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts._ + +The name Jehovah appears three times in this short exhortation. Each +time the name is in another connection. Jehovah speaks, they are to +return to Jehovah, and Jehovah will return to them. Surely in profane +literature such a repetition would be rejected as useless and +superfluous, but in the Book where every word and phrase is +God-given, we cannot pass it by as having no significance. Like in +many other passages in the Old Testament we have here a revelation of +the one God as Father, Son and Spirit. This revelation was often made +in divine history, and when the measure of Israel's apostacy was at +last filled up, they had indeed rejected Jehovah in rejecting +Jehovah-Jesus, and also Jehovah, the Spirit. And while this +exhortation was one for Zechariah's contemporaries, it is the great +exhortation to the Jewish remnant for all times. The nation having +forsaken Jehovah in His revelations as Father, Son and Spirit, will +have to return and listen to Jehovah who speaks, to Jehovah whom they +rejected, and Jehovah in His merciful and loving manifestations will +return to them as a nation and to their land. + +This return of Israel to which Zechariah exhorts will take place in a +set order clearly revealed throughout the word of God. We hear in +Romans ii. that Paul speaks of a remnant according to the election of +grace. That remnant is the remnant which turns to Jehovah now during +this dispensation, and, of course, all Jews who are now turning to +Jehovah-Jesus, and to whom Jehovah, the Spirit, also comes, are +_members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ_. As soon as the +_church_, the witnessing body in the earth, is removed by that +glorious event which is our blessed hope, another Jewish remnant is +called, and that remnant will be Jewish throughout, "keeping the +commandments and having the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ." Of +course that remnant will have returned to Jehovah, and will be the +witnessing and the _suffering_ body in the great tribulation. The +believing and longing cry of that remnant, "Blessed is He that cometh +in the name of the Lord," will at last welcome Him, the Pierced One +and King of Israel as well as King of Glory, to this earth, and then +the remnant of the nation in all lands will turn to Him. This is the +divine programme for Israel. + +After these opening words, delivered probably to the assembled +people, Zechariah received his wonderful night visions. They were not +mere dreams, but the events which he describes passed before him in +visions. He saw them all in one night. They are eight in number, and +have not found many interpreters. They were not only given in one +night, but just as one followed rapidly the other, so are they all +closely connected, and giving events which are to follow one after +the other. That we have here a revelation which may fitly be termed +_the Apocalypse of Zechariah_ is unquestionable. After all these +visions had passed, Joshua, the High Priest, is crowned with two +crowns foreshadowing Him who is to be a Priest upon His throne. This +crowning is a climax in Zechariah's night visions which lead up to +that coronation. Divine interference in behalf of Jerusalem and the +land of Judah, God's displeasure upon the nations for their +abominations, and the overthrow of Israel's enemies are clearly +depicted in the first two night visions, while in the others we see +the promised prosperity returning to the land, God's glory appearing +once more, the nation once more inhabiting the land and cleansed from +their guilt, filled with the Spirit, wickedness judged, Babylon set +up and overthrown, and the chariots of God appearing. + +The first night vision is especially suited for a close study for our +times, for the events and conditions in that first vision are a true +picture of the peculiarities of the times in which we live. Indeed we +are rapidly nearing the fulfillment of this first night vision. + +This is the vision: Zechariah sees a man riding upon a red horse and +he halts in a valley among myrtle trees. He is surrounded by a large +army of angels upon red, sorrel and white horses, and the man upon +the red horse becomes the centre of the hosts of heaven. The angels +give their reports unto the man in the midst, who is also called the +Angel of the Lord. These angels had walked to and fro through the +earth (like the evil spirit and his demons, Job i., so the good +angels walk to and fro through the earth), and they report to the +Angel of the Lord, telling him that all the earth sitteth still and +is at rest. Prosperity and peace seems to be what the angels saw, but +over against this bright picture there is the dark scene--Jerusalem +trodden down, the house of the Lord unfinished, a persecuted +suffering remnant. + +And now the Angel of the Lord becomes the intercessor for Jerusalem +and turns to Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts sitting upon His throne. _O +Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on +the cities of Judah against which Thou hast had indignation these +three score and ten years?_ He receives an answer of comfortable +words. God is once more jealous for Jerusalem, and very angry and +sore displeased with the nations, the nations who are in greater part +responsible for the condition of His inheritance--they _have helped +forward their affliction_. God promises to return to the city with +prosperity, and that the house shall be built in it, and the Lord +shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. + +The first question which arises in the interpretation of this vision +is concerning the person who leads the angelic hosts. He is called a +man riding upon a red horse. This does not mean that he was nothing +but a man, but it means that he appeared in the vision to Zechariah +as a man, he had a human body. Later he is called the Angel of the +Lord, and as such, he acts as successful intercessor for Jerusalem, +and receives a loving answer from Jehovah. The leader must have been +a divine person incarnate. The name Angel of the Lord is one of the +Old Testament names for the _Son of God_, and there can be only one +satisfactory interpretation of who the rider upon the red horse is, +and that is, He must be the Son of God. There are three chief reasons +for this interpretation. In the first place, the color of the horse +which He rode was red; this denotes blood, and is the color of the +Son of God, for He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of +the world, and He is the Lion from the tribe of Judah, who will arise +and slay His enemies, coming to judge the nations (Isaiah lxiii). He +is the Leader as well as the Centre of the heavenly hosts, for to Him +all power is given in _Heaven_ and in the earth, and all things are +in His hands; and in the third place, the intercession which the +Angel of the Lord makes is the intercession which belongs to the Son +of God. The heavenly company comes to a stop in a deep valley, and +the Angel of the Lord stands there among the myrtle trees. + +Jewish interpretation (in the Yalkut) says: He was staying among the +myrtles which were in the _Metzullah_ (depths). Now myrtles +(Hadassim) mean nothing else than saints, as it is said (Esther ii: +7), and He was bringing up Hadassah (Esther), and the depths means +nothing else than Babylon. We believe this as correct an +interpretation as any. Myrtles denote lowliness and sweetness, and +the dark, dreary valley stands for persecution, suffering, and being +outcast. All this was true of the remnant, and it is true as well of +the church. What a comfort it must have been to the patriotic prophet +and to all true believers among the returned exiles, to learn that in +that vision it was made so clear that Jehovah, the Angel of the Lord, +was with them in all their lowliness and suffering. The Angel, who so +wonderfully delivered their father Jacob, and whom he called the +Angel the Redeemer, and who had so often appeared in the miraculous +events of the past, this same Angel, with all the army of heaven at +His command, was still with them, though the cloud of glory was +missing. + +May we not forget that the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God, our +blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is still with His people +Israel. He has indeed not cast them away, whom He foreknew. He is +their King and their Priest, and for all we know, the mighty angels +who are under His direction, may be assembled now as they were in +Zechariah's vision, and He Himself ready to reveal His love and mercy +to Jerusalem. + +And what is the report of the angels to their leader? They have +walked to and fro through the earth, they have found nothing but +prosperity. All the earth sitteth still and is at rest, the nations +at ease, a perfect picture of prosperity. The nations are seen in a +flourishing state, but His nation is in trouble and His inheritance +laid waste, the nations having like wild beasts trampled it into the +dust. While the large cities of the nations are increased and have +plenty, the city of a great King is forsaken. History shows that +indeed at that time there was no war, but peace everywhere and +prosperity enjoyed selfishly by the nations. Should not these nations +have an interest in that land and in that people? But they were +living for their own ease and comfort. What does it matter if there +is yonder a poor and suffering people? + +Prosperity, universal prosperity, and with it universal peace, is the +cry at the close of another century, and will be more so as we +advance towards the end of this age. Civilization, world conquest, +commercial extension and a universal peace, seem to be the leading +thoughts among the nations of our times. Truly it is realized by some +that our boasted civilization, liberty and prosperity is nothing but +a smouldering volcano which may burst open at any moment and make an +end of all boasting, but the majority of the people even in +Christendom are sadly deluding themselves with idle dreams. And what +of God's thoughts and His eternal purposes? What of His oath-bound +covenant promises? They are being misinterpreted, set aside and +forgotten. Thus it will continue till the climax is reached, so +clearly foretold in the second Psalm, + + "Why do the nations rage + And the peoples imagine a vain thing? + The kings of the earth set themselves + And the rulers take counsel together, + Against the Lord and against His anointed. + Let us break their bands asunder + And cast away from us their cords." + +This is a true picture of the nations as the King of Kings at last +will find them when He returns with and in His glory. The great sin +of the nations, which is _Anti-Semitism_, will be considered later. + +The nations at ease, prosperous and increased, and Jerusalem trodden +down, the land waste and desolate, in the hands of the enemy, is the +mark of this age up to its end. + +But now comes the interference of Him who sitteth in the heavens. The +angel of the Lord intercedes and cries to the Lord of Hosts, "How +long?" It has been so much overlooked that He who is our Intercessor, +the Great High Priest in the Heavens, is, according to the flesh, of +the seed of Abraham, and He stands there in His place in His +glorified humanity. If the High Priest in the Old Testament carried +upon a breast-plate nearest to his heart the names of the twelve +tribes of Israel, may we not assume that the true High Priest, who is +the King of Israel as well, has them just as near to His loving +heart? He loves His own, and longs for the time when they will crown +Him Lord of all. And is it not very significant that the Spirit at +this present time teaches so many children of God to pray for the +peace of Jerusalem, that He may establish and make Jerusalem a praise +in the earth? The Spirit and the Bride say "Come," and surely the +dearest thought in the Saviour's heart is being laid upon the hearts +of His children, in whom the Spirit dwells, to pray and intercede +with Him for the peace of Jerusalem. This prayer, heard from so many +lips to-day in the church waiting for her Lord, is but an echo of His +"How long?" and prayer for His people. + +The interceding angel of the Lord is not left without an answer from +the Lord of Hosts whom he has addressed in behalf of Jerusalem. It +must be noticed that the answer is not the one which Jehovah gives to +the angel of the Lord, but the answer is transmitted by the Lord +through another angel who talked with the prophet. _So the angel that +talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of +Hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great +jealousy._ Then follows the message in its details. _And I am very +sore displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was but a +little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore +thus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my +house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of Hosts, and a line shall +be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith +the Lord of Hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread +abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose +Jerusalem._ We desire to take up separately some of these comfortable +words. We firmly believe that the time of their fulfillment is not +only at hand, but that we are really living in the days when God once +more remembers His suffering people and is about to rise in judgment +upon His and their enemies, and turn in mercy to Zion. + +First then stands the declaration that God is jealous for Jerusalem +and for Zion with a great jealousy. The word used in the original for +jealous means burning, and is correctly translated with that word, +for jealousy is a burning emotion. Men are jealous of that which is +their own when it is in the hands of another or in danger of being +taken away and misused. In this sense God is likewise jealous of His +own. Jerusalem is His city, the city of a great king; Zion is His +holy hill, and Israel His own people. All has fallen into the hands +of the Gentiles and is injured by them. His people scattered and +dispersed, the holy hill desecrated and Jerusalem trodden down by the +Gentiles. True, God has permitted it all, prophets have spoken of it, +and their prophecies concerning Jerusalem's desolation have all been +literally fulfilled, but now God is seen to rise and to claim once +more in great jealousy that which is His Own. We look away from the +partial fulfillment of this prophecy in Zechariah's time. God looked +down from heaven then, and His eyes beheld the sad picture of the +desolate land, the unfinished temple and the disheartened and +punished people. At the end of our dispensation, God looks down from +heaven, and while the nations are prosperous and at ease, He sees His +city controlled by His enemies. The holy hill of Zion, where Jehovah +revealed Himself so often, has become the place of idolatry. His name +is not honored but dishonored. Indeed, the Land and Jerusalem +attracts once more the attention of the world. Nations are desirous +of owning the Land and gaining a foothold there. The visit to +Palestine of the German Emperor, the representative of Lutheranism +and the avowed friend of one of the darkest characters of our times, +the man whose throne seems almost unshakable, and who holds the Land +in the grasp of his bloody hands, is highly significant. All the +other nations have watched this visit, and Zionism especially +rejoices in the fact of the friendship of the Protestant Emperor with +the Sultan and hopes much from it for the realization of its well +planned schemes. It is to be expected that as the end draws nearer, +Palestine will become the great centre around which the nations +gather. Scheming nations, religious and political ambitions for world +rule and world power, and connected with it Commercialism, which +seems to become more and more the god of this world, are the +programme for the near future, and upon the entire scene are the eyes +of the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, and with His burning eyes He +looks on with jealousy for Jerusalem and very great jealousy for +Zion. (Joel ii: 18.) + +These are only the opening words of the revelation which is given to +Zechariah. It is God's attitude. Zechariah hears now a very plain and +important statement from the lips of the interpreting angel. The +statement is threefold. + +1. _I was but a little displeased._ Jehovah is speaking concerning +His inheritance that He was, on account of their apostasy and +idolatry, but a little displeased. This was primarily true of the +Babylonian captivity. It was but for a moment God was angry. It is so +now, though the children of Israel have been in dispersion for +well-nigh twenty centuries, but still it is true even now. _For a +small moment have I forgotten thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my +face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I +have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer._ His displeasure +with His people is never final, it is only temporary. This is clearly +seen in the entire Word of God. If it were final, if God would be +displeased forever with Israel, we might just as well close the +Bible, join the higher critics and end in unbelief, apostasy and +perdition. _I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have +scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will +correct thee with judgment and will in no wise leave thee +unpunished._ (Jeremiah xxx: 11.) + +2. _They have helped forward their affliction._ The Lord is now +speaking of the nations who are at ease. He holds them responsible +for a greater affliction than He really had designed to come upon His +people. By their attitude towards chastised Israel they have made +their affliction much worse than God meant it to be. Of course, it +was true during the seventy years God's people spent in Babylon, but +how much more true is it in the dispersion which has been their lot +for so many sad centuries. + +Where shall we begin in treating the awful truth which is put here in +such simple language? Where shall we find words earnest enough to +picture the terrible facts in connection with it and sound a warning +for our times? Some time ago a person said, "The Jews are to-day more +stiff-necked and blinder than ever before." Who has made them thus? +Surely judicial blindness and hardness of heart; ears which do not +hear are given by God, but, alas, the nations, or so-called +Christendom, have helped forward their affliction; they have made +matters worse a thousand times, and Satan, who hates Israel, has been +the author of all things calculated to increase the affliction of +poor down trodden Israel. Surely the increased stiff-neckedness and +the increased blindness is one which is traceable to the nations. +Every reader knows something of the history of the Jews, what it has +been since they left the home land--a long, long tale of suffering, +tears and blood. Most unjust outrages have been committed against +them; torture upon torture; the stake and worse than that; and all in +the name of Jesus. It is a shameful history. Many a time Jews, after +hearing the Word preached, have stood up and opened in answer this +awful book of history with its blood-stained pages, asking the +question, "Can He be our Redeemer, whose followers have treated us +thus in His name?" And not a few can tell us of their own sufferings +in being banished from foreign lands. Hardly a month passes without +some new outrage upon the generally harmless and innocent people in +Eastern Europe. Cruelty, injustice, wickedness and crime are +practiced against them, and thus their affliction has been increased. + +The same is true of the counterfeits of the Christian religion. Is it +a wonder that the Jew turns away in disgust from religions which +demand worship of pictures, statues, holy places, etc.? Satan has +used it all to keep Israel from a true knowledge of Him, who is the +King of Israel. And in Protestant lands the Jew does so rarely see +that pure and true love of Him who came to fulfil the law and in whom +God as love has been manifested. Instead of treating the Jew as a +brother, beloved for the Father's sake--nay, for Jesus' sake, who was +a Jew according to the flesh--he has been despised, ridiculed, +ostracized and treated as inferior to Gentiles. Still there are worse +days coming yet. The nations of Christendom in the past have helped +forward their affliction, but Satan, through these very nations, will +once more afflict Israel--once more stretch out his hand to touch the +nation of destiny. As never before in the history of the world, God's +own chosen people--the Jews--make themselves felt, and correspondingly +as never before the Gentile nations are getting ready to rise up +against the Jew to down him if it were possible. The enemy, thus +prophecy tells us, will try to exterminate the wonderful nation +through nations who are doomed to destruction. This is still future. +However, these coming events are rapidly approaching. Anti-Semitism +is increasing all over the world, and only God's Spirit and the +prayer of the Church keeps back the outbreak which will mark the +beginning of Jacob's trouble. (Jeremiah xxx: 7.) + +3.--_I am very sore displeased._ This is God's anger with the nations +who have sinned against His people. The crowning sin of the nations +is Anti-Semitism, which means anti-Bible, anti-Christ and anti-God. +If Christendom would believe the Word of God it could never be the +enemy of Israel. Our age will end in the judgment of nations, and +that judgment will be on account of the sins committed against His +people. For behold in those days and in that time when I shall bring +again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations +and will bring them down into the valley of Jehosophat, and I will +plead with them there for my people and for my heritage, Israel, when +they have scattered among the nations and parted my land. (Joel iii: +1-3.) Haste ye and come all ye nations round about and gather +yourselves together thither; cause thy mighty ones to come down, O +Lord; let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of +Jehosophat; for there will I sit to judge all nations round about. +Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get ye down, for +the wine-press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is +great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day +of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon +are darkened, the stars withdraw their shining, and the Lord shall +roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens +and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge unto His +people and a stronghold to the children of Israel. (Joel iii: 17, +etc.) For behold the Lord will come with fire, and His chariots shall +be like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke +with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord plead and by His sword +with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. (Isaiah +lxvi: 15.) This judgment of nations is likewise referred to in +Matthew xxv. by the lips of our Lord. Generally the last part of that +chapter is taken to mean the universal judgment, the great white +throne. This is an error. _The Son of Man shall come in His glory and +all the angels with Him._ Thus the passage reads: _Then shall He sit +on the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all the +nations, and He shall separate them one from another as the shepherd +separateth the sheep from the goats._ The judgment takes place and +nations are punished and rewarded according to their treatment of the +brethren of the Son of Man, the King of Glory. + +At that time, when the enemies of Israel are overcome and punished +for their wickedness, Israel, once more miraculously saved, will +break forth in praise of the Lord and sing the glorious psalms of +victory which to-day are still prophetic. If it had not been the Lord +who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would +have swallowed us up alive when their wrath was kindled against us; +then the waters would have overwhelmed us, a stream would have gone +over our soul; then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. +Praise to Jehovah! who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our +soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler! The snare +is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who +has made heaven and earth. (Psalm cxxiv.) + +The words which follow, and which are really the good and comfortable +words, contain the divine programme of the restoration of His people +Israel. What is mentioned here in a few sentences is given in detail +in the fourth and fifth night vision as well as in the closing +chapters of the prophet. _I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies._ +This does not mean a spiritual return or a return of God's mercies to +Jerusalem only, but it means likewise His literal return when He +appears the second time; and connected with this second appearing of +the great Jehovah in Jesus Christ will be seen the Shekinah cloud as +Israel had it in the wilderness and the first temple. This is seen in +the second chapter. The Lord had withdrawn from His people. _I will +go away and return to my place._ (Hosea v: 15.) _For behold your +house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see +me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the +name of the Lord._ (Matthew xxiii: 38, 39.) The Lord being absent in +His person from His people, Israel is forsaken, the land desolate. +There can be no true restoration of Israel till He has come whose +right it is. + +So many good people think that the present Zionistic movement of the +Jews is that promised salvation for the scattered nation. This is not +so. It is an attempted restoration. Here in the good and comfortable +words Zechariah hears, the return of the Lord stands first. Then His +house is to be built. While it meant in the prophet's time the +building of the second temple, it means in connection with the coming +restoration the building of that great millennial temple which +Ezekiel saw in visions and describes in detail--the temple which will +be indeed a house of prayer to all nations, and the glory of this +latter house shall be greater than the former. The rebuilding of the +city of Jerusalem is next in order. A line is to be stretched forth +upon Jerusalem. The city is enlarged, for from henceforth Jerusalem +is to be the centre of the earth. (Ezekiel xxxviii: 12.) _My cities +in prosperity shall overflow._ The blessing will not be confined to +the Temple and to Jerusalem, but there will be an overflow, and all +the cities in the land will flow over with prosperity. _For the Lord +shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will +make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the +Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the +voice of melody._ (Isaiah li: 3.) + +Oh, happy time! when wilt thou come? Even so come, Lord Jesus, our +Lord and Israel's King! Other visions will show us that Jerusalem +will then indeed be a praise in the earth, for many nations will then +be joined to the Lord, and the streams of living waters will overflow +and bring joy, salvation and healing to the nations around who join +in the Hallelujah chorus of Jeshurun. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_The second night vision. The four horns and the four smiths. The +third vision. The man measuring Jerusalem. Restoration and glory of +Jerusalem foretold._ + +The second night vision of Zechariah is closely connected with the +first. In the first vision the time is given when the Lord will turn +in mercy to Jerusalem--the time when the nations are at ease, and, +having helped forward the affliction of His people, are ripe for +judgment. The scenes have passed away, and now the prophet lifts his +eyes again and he sees _four horns_. The question he asks of the +angel is answered by him, that _these are the horns which have +scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem_. Then _four smiths_ appear, +and the angel informs the prophet that _these are come to fray them_ +(the four horns), _to cast down the horns of the nations which lifted +up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it_ (chapter i: +18-21.) The four horns are the powerful and proud enemies of the +people of God. Why four horns? Some have said because the enemies of +Israel have come against the land and Jerusalem from all four +cardinal points of the compass, and have scattered the people east +and west, north and south. Others mention different nations who were +at Zechariah's time in existence and instrumental in scattering +Israel. The horn is a symbol of power and pride, and in prophecy +stands for a kingdom and for political world power. The ten horns +which Daniel saw on the terrible fourth beast rising from the sea +denote ten kingdoms, and in Revelation xvii: 12 we read, "The ten +horns that thou sawest are ten kings." The four horns in this second +vision must be therefore kingdoms--world powers. The number four, as +it is well known to every student of the prophetic Word, is found +twice in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar's great image was divided +into four parts, each standing for a world power, namely: the +Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Graeco-Macedonian and the Roman +power. The latter is still in existence and will be till the stone +smites the image at its feet and pulverizes it. Daniel's vision +(chapter vii) brings before him four mighty beasts, the last having +ten horns, just as the limbs of the image ended in feet with ten +toes. With such a revelation in the book of Daniel it is very easy to +understand that the four horns can mean nothing else than the same +powers of Gentile rule and supremacy existing during the entire time +when the kingdom has been taken from Israel. These four world powers +are horns. They unite strength and pride, and are bent upon +scattering Israel. They are the enemies of Israel, and therefore the +enemies of God. And now the four smiths appear on the scene to fray +them--to cast down the horns of the nations. Four horns are overcome +and broken down completely by four smiths. It does not follow that +the four smiths must be four other powers. The vision seems to teach +two facts: first, the horns will be broken and cast down; and in the +second place, God has for every hostile power which has sinned and +sins against his people a corresponding greater power to overcome it, +break it into pieces and cast it down. However, we believe the vision +will have its fulfillment in the time of Jacob's trouble. The +elements of all the four world powers will then in some way be +concerned in the onslaught on Jerusalem--a confederacy of nations; +representatives of many nations will come up against Jerusalem, and +it will be then that the four horns are broken by the four smiths and +the casting down will be done. + +The third night vision is one of the most interesting and +instructive. As the third one, it forms the climax of the good and +comfortable words which were spoken concerning Jerusalem. The number +three stands in the Word of God for resurrection, life from the dead. +Thus in Hosea, concerning Israel, "After two days Thou wilt revive +us, and on the third day Thou wilt raise us up" (Hosea vi: 2). In +this third vision Zechariah sees the glorious restoration of Israel, +which has been the burden of so many prophecies, and the glory which +is connected with that restoration. In this night vision Zechariah +hears of a restoration and of a glory which has never yet been +fulfilled in the history of God's people. Those teachers of the Word +who see in Zechariah's night visions nothing but fulfilled prophecy, +cannot answer certain questions satisfactorily, and their only refuge +must be a spiritualizing of this restoration. Another thought before +we take up this third vision. The vision of restoration comes after +the enemies of Israel have been cast down. That prophecy might be +fulfilled; prophecy about a believing, suffering Jewish remnant; +prophecy concerning Jacob's trouble, etc., a mock restoration, +generally termed a restoration in unbelief, is to take place. There +can be no doubt whatever that we are privileged to see the beginning +of this restoration of part of the Jewish nation to the land of the +fathers in unbelief: It is one of the signs of the nearness of that +event for which the Church hopes, prays and waits--"our gathering +together unto Him." The world and the lukewarm Christian does not see +it, but he who loves the Word and lives in the Word, has eyes to see +and a hearing ear and knows what is soon coming. The true +restoration, however, will only come as it is seen so clearly in +these night visions after the enemies have been overcome, the horns +cast down, the image smashed--in other words, after the Lord has +come. + +We may divide the third night vision into two parts. In the first +part a man is seen with a measuring line measuring Jerusalem, and the +restoration of the city and its enlargement is promised; and in the +other part promises of blessings are given as well as glimpses of the +glory which will attend the restoration. + +Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. The prophet +asks him, Whither goest thou? And he answers, _To measure Jerusalem, +to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof._ +There is nothing here which indicates that the man who starts out to +measure the city is identical with the man on the red horse of the +first vision. This man here seems to be only a person appearing to +impress the coming enlargement of Jerusalem upon the prophet's mind. +Similar visions where measuring takes place are found in Ezekiel xli, +where the temple of the Millennium is measured, and in Revelation xi, +where a reed is given to John to measure the temple of God, which is +the temple standing in Jerusalem during the time of Jacob's trouble. +Here in Zechariah's vision it is the measuring of Jerusalem. What +Jerusalem is it? Of course, the Jerusalem in Palestine, which will, +in its restoration, become the centre of the earth. In the new earth, +after the thousand years, there will be another Jerusalem in the +earth, the new Jerusalem come down out of heaven from God (Rev. xxi: +2). Of this new Jerusalem we read, "And the city lieth four square, +and the length thereof is as large as the breadth: and he measured +the city with a reed twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the +breadth and the height thereof are equal" (Rev. xxi: 16). Here is the +measurement of the new Jerusalem: As long as it is broad and +extending upward into the air. What a wonderful city that will be, +the glorious centre of a new heaven and a new earth, our home for all +eternity! The man in Zechariah's third vision measures only the +length and the breadth of the city because in the coming restoration +of Jerusalem there is no height to be measured. + +Now follows the appearing of another angel who meets with the one who +had been speaking to Zechariah, and he brings from the throne of God +a message for the prophet. He said, _Run, speak to this young man +saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, by +reason of the multitude of men and cattle therein._ The influx of men +and cattle to Jerusalem will be so enormous that the city must be +enlarged and it will spread out into the plain. Another prophet, the +seer of Israel's glorious future, Isaiah, has spoken likewise of this +enlargement in the following beautiful words: "As for thy waste and +desolate places, and thy land which has been destroyed, surely now +shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed +thee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement shall yet +say in thine ears, The place is too strait for me, give place to me +that I may dwell" (Isaiah xlix: 19, 20). Notice the city is to be +inhabited as villages. This denotes the peace which Jerusalem will +then enjoy. A blessed security for the city which for so long a time +was trodden down by the Gentiles. There will be no walls. No need of +walls to shelter men and cattle, for the enemies of Israel have been +scattered and broken down, the warfare of Jerusalem is accomplished. +At the end of the Millennium, which will have been a thousand years +of unbroken peace for the land which for thousands of years knew no +peace, Satan, with Gog and Magog, will come against the land and its +inhabitants. This last final struggle the Holy Spirit revealed +through the prophet Ezekiel (chapters xxxviii and xxxix). It is +interesting to notice there the condition of the land and the people +as the enemy who comes up against the land finds them: Thus says the +Lord God: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come +into thy (enemy) mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device: and thou +shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go +to them that are quiet, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling +without walls, and having neither bars nor gates: to take the spoil +and to take the prey: to turn thine hand against the waste places +that are now inhabited, and against the people that are gathered out +of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the +centre of the earth (Ezekiel xxxviii: 10-12). What a wonderful Word +our God has given us! How everything is harmony! Zechariah's vision +shows what Jerusalem will be in the beginning of the Millennium, and +Ezekiel, by the Spirit of God, puts before us the same conditions at +the end of the thousand years. + +The reason of Jerusalem's peace, security and prosperity will be the +glory of the Lord. This glory will be in the midst of the city, and +will also form a wall of fire around the city. For I, saith the Lord, +will be unto her a wall of fire round about the city, and I will be +the glory in the midst of her. Glory and defence are here combined. +They always go together. This has been in a degree already the happy +lot of Israel in the past, for He guided them with His glory. It was +a cloud by day and a fire at night by which the Lord had revealed +Himself to His people, and out of that glory cloud He protected them +and punished their enemies. How much greater will that glory and +defence be in that time of fullness when Israel is no longer a +disobedient, stiff-necked people, but the holy people, the kingly +nation. What a glory that will be when the King comes back with His +kingly glory, attended by the many, many brethren who have suffered +with Him and now share His glory! What a glory that will be when He, +who is our life, will be manifested, and we with Him in His glory! It +will be unspeakable glory. Cry aloud and shout thou inhabitant of +Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. And +it shall come to pass, that He that is left in Zion and he that +remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is +written among the living in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed +away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the +blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the blast of judgment +and burning. And the Lord will create over the whole habitation of +Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the +shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory shall be +spread a canopy. There shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the day +time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and +from rain. (Isaiah iv.) This glory during the Millennium will no +doubt not only hover over the land, but will be visible over the +entire earth, and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover +the earth as the waters the sea. + +It is interesting to see how Talmudical literature falls in with +these thoughts. A few quotations from these old writings of the Jews +will no doubt be acceptable to the reader. Rabbi Isaac Napcha says: +The Holy One said, I kindled a fire in Jerusalem (in wrath) Lament. +iv: 11, and I am going to build her up again with fire, as it is +said, "I will be unto her, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round +about. He that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution." The +Pesikta Rabethi has this: What is this: "And for a Glory I am in the +midst of her." Is it not the case that the glory of the Holy One is +none other than on high, as it is said, "His glory is above the +heavens." The glory is in order to show every creature in the +universe the superior excellence of Israel, since it is on their +account that the Holy One brings down the Shekinah from the highest +heaven and lets it dwell in the earth. + +We have now in the vision a continued description of that happy +condition of Jerusalem and all that is connected with it. First, we +notice the summons for the Jews who are then still in dispersion. +_Ho, ho, flee from the land of the North, saith the Lord, for I have +spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. +Ho, Zion, escape that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon._ + +It is not to be expected that when the glory appears and the King of +Glory comes again and His feet stand there on the Mount of Olives, +that the entire Jewish nation will then live in the land. This will +not be the case; only a part of the nation was restored in unbelief, +and in the midst of them a believing remnant, whose faith, suffering +and salvation we hope to describe later. Two-thirds of all the +inhabitants of the land will be swept away in the great tribulation. +After the Lord has come, the others will be restored. It is +significant that the land of the North is mentioned here, Late; in +the eighth chapter, we read: "I will save my people from the East +country and from the West country," but those living in the land of +the North come first. Of course, Babylon was meant as far as this +vision had anything to do with the restoration which had taken place +in part from the Babylonian captivity. The North country, which +figures in the coming restoration, is not Babylon, but another land. +Russia is directly north of Palestine, and in this northern land, the +territory once inhabited by Gog and Magog, about one half of the Jews +now living have their homes. About six millions of Jews are living +to-day in European and Asiatic Russia. Their deplorable condition in +that land of the North is well known, and there, likewise, the +national awakening has been the most marked and Zionism has its most +ardent advocates. A large multitude is getting ready in the North +country for a mighty exodus. Like their forefathers in Egypt, they +will flee from the land of the North, and thus prophecy is literally +to be fulfilled. + +Zion is to separate from the daughter of Babylon. What is Babylon? We +hope to answer this question and give a description of her when we +come to consider the seventh night vision, the woman in the Ephah. In +this third vision of restoration we hear next what is to take place +after the glory. The expression "after the glory" means undoubtedly +the glorious appearing of the Lord coming with all His saints, +sitting upon the throne of His glory, and His glory thus manifested. +_After the glory hath He sent Me to the nations which spoiled you: +for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye._ Who is the +one who is being sent to the nations? It is without a question He, +whom the Father sent. He sent Him once, the only begotten, into the +world in the form of a servant, when He made Himself of no +reputation, but Jehovah will send Him again. And when He again +bringeth in the Firstborn into the inhabited earth He saith, And let +all the angels worship Him. (Heb. i: 6, 7.) The Father sends Him +again to establish His glory, and after the manifestation He is sent +to the nations which spoiled Israel. All Scripture speaks of this. +While He will in His coming overcome the armies of nations who are +gathered in that day against Jerusalem, He will likewise continue, +after His glory, to judge nations. He will rule in the midst of His +enemies. He will do that among the nations what the second psalm +declares, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt dash +them in pieces like a potter's vessel. _For, behold I will shake Mine +hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them._ +In this rule and judgment the Lord of glory will be assisted by the +saints. Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? (1 Cor. +vi: 2.) Israel will likewise be used in that judgment. While He is +the lion of the tribe of Judah who now roars to the dismay of all His +enemies, Israel, His people, becomes the lioness. "Behold the people +riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion does he lift himself up. He +shall not lie down till he eat the prey and drink the blood of the +slain." (Numbers xxiii: 24.) Israel will then no longer be the tail +but has become the head. The true form of government for the earth +has been restored, a Theocracy through His chosen and restored +people, the seed of Abraham. Things will then be changed completely. +The nations shall take them (the children of Abraham) and bring them +to their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the +land of the Lord for servants and for handmaids, and they shall take +them captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their +oppressors. (Isaiah xiv: 2.) Strangers shall stand and feed your +flocks and aliens shall be your vine dressers. (Isaiah lxi: 5.) + +We must not overlook the loving words concerning Israel, He that +toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye. Israel is the apple of +the eye of God. Through Moses God declared the same truth. He kept +him as the apple of His eye. (Deut xxxii: 10.) In Hebrew the pupil of +the eye is called the gate, because through it enters the light. Thus +Israel is the pupil, the gate, through which the light has come and +comes, for salvation is of the Jews. And what is so sensitive, so +delicate and easily injured as the apple of the eye? And against this +apple of the eye of God the nations and Christendom have sinned. May +we believing Gentiles understand more fully that Israel is the +beloved one and may we be kept from doing harm to His people. + +The overcoming of the enemies of Israel, the spoiling of these +nations which spoiled Israel, and all that is connected with it by +the sent One of God, the Son of God will be the evidence for Israel +that Jehovah has sent Him. _And ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts +has sent Me._ The same statement is repeated in this vision, but we +shall see in another connection. It is, so to speak, constitutional +with the Jew that he wishes to see and then believe, and surely he +will see and believe, or rather know, when the Lord comes. + +In the tenth verse of the second chapter of Zechariah we read now +that the daughter of Zion will sing and rejoice. The reason of her +song and joy is, _For lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of +thee._ To-day orthodox Jews are chanting in Hebrew the magnificent +psalms which speak of a coming deliverance and manifestation of God's +glory, but it is only with their lips, and the heart is still +hardened and the eye blinded. The dark night is rapidly approaching, +the night in which a believing remnant of Jews will fulfill much of +that suffering, waiting, and blessed assurance of salvation which is +so clearly outlined in the psalms. And after that, the whole nation +will break out in mighty songs of joy, and while there, in the +Father's house, the blood-bought hosts will sing their hallelujah, a +delivered, cleansed and spirit-filled nation in the earth will shout +her hallelujah, in which nation after nation will join, till at last +it has been done what seer after seer saw and heard, the earth as +well as the heavens filled with His glory, the Kingdom come, and His +will done in the earth as it is done in Heaven. + +Again, the promise is given that the Lord will dwell in the midst of +her. How is this to be understood? Will the Lord dwell continually in +person, after his second coming, in Jerusalem? Will He be seen there +in His Holy Temple by all who come up to Jerusalem? Some Scriptures +indicate that He will be present in His blessed person at different +seasons. The strongest statement in this direction is Zechariah xiv: +16. In this passage we have the fact of a yearly coming up to +Jerusalem of nations (probably representatives of nations) to worship +the King, and that at the feast of tabernacles. His throne, no longer +His Father's throne, upon which He sits now, but his own throne +during the Millennium, will no doubt be in the New Jerusalem which, +as a bright and glorious vision, will be seen then by all who live in +the earth way up in the firmament, and the angels of God _ascending_ +and descending upon the Son of Man. A vice-regent, a Son of David, +will occupy David's throne in Jerusalem. The Glory of the Lord will +appear in the Holy City, and the new name of Jerusalem will be +Jehovah Shamah, the Lord is there. It is impossible to give the +details of these glories, for they are not clearly revealed. It is +enough to know that the Church, His Body, shall truly be united with +her glorified head, and meet her Beloved, her Bridegroom and her +Lord. It is enough to know that Israel will surely see the King in +His beauty and crown Him Lord of all. Even our brightest imaginations +will not reach the glories of that day. Indeed, not half has been +told. + +The Lord cometh to dwell in Zion. _Many nations shall join themselves +to the Lord in that day and shall be My people._ This promise is +likewise followed that this will be evidence from which the people +will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Him. How often the orthodox +Jew has come to us and told us that when Messiah comes all their +enemies will be cast down--there will be peace for Jerusalem and the +nation Israel; and then saying, Ah, where is that peace?--behold our +enemies! When Messiah comes we shall know Him by what He does for us +in overcoming our enemies. Likewise the orthodox Jew will say, Where +are the many nations who join themselves to the Lord, the nations who +worship the Lord of Hosts? When Messiah has come, he will say, We +will know Him by the fact that nations shall join themselves unto the +Lord. It will hardly do to tell the well informed Hebrew that there +are now Christian nations in existence. Thus the Jew waits for the +fulfillment of these prophecies at some future time, and seeing them +accomplished he hopes to know then his Messiah and King. Only the +small remnant, according to the election of grace, sees Him now by +the eyes of faith--Him who is altogether lovely, and in whom alone +these prophecies can find their fulfillment. To-day individuals from +Jews and Gentiles are joining themselves to the Lord, but in that day +of His appearing and manifestation nations will be converted, and +many nations shall go and say, "Come ye and let us go up to the +mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will +teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths." "Lift up thine eyes +and see: they all gather themselves together--they come to Thee. Thy +sons shall come from far and thy daughters shall be carried in the +arms. Then thou shalt see and be lightened, and thine heart shalt +tremble and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be +turned unto thee. The wealth of the nations shall come unto thee, the +multitudes of camels shall cover thee--the dromedaries of Midian and +Ephah, they all shall come from Sheba; they shall bring gold and +frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord." (Isaiah +lx:4-7.) Only then will India and China, South America and Africa be +won to Christ and the world converted to God. But the land of Judah +is to be the portion of the Lord (verse 12). + +This vision of restoration and the coming of glory ends with one of +the sublimest exhortations in the Word of God. _Be silent, all flesh, +before the Lord, for He is waked up out of His holy habitation._ The +exhortation does not belong really to the restoration. It is an +appeal to all flesh to be silent before the One who is raised up--the +coming One. Now is the time when God is silent. He is silent to the +wicked deeds of men. He is silent in regard to the nations who are +treading down Jerusalem and who are scattering Israel. The flesh +speaks now and is not silent, and the language it speaks is rebellion +against God and against His Anointed. And louder and louder speaks +all flesh, and in the midst of a boasted civilization, at the dawn of +a new century, the days of Noah and the days of Lot are at hand. +Gain, pride, possession, expansion, is the universal cry--a mad hunt +after Mammon is seen in individuals and in nations; and while the +flesh speaks thus, and its language becomes more and more defiant, +God keeps silence. But our God shall come and keep silence no longer. +Rapidly His day--the terrible day of the Lord--is approaching; the +day in which He will roar out of Zion. Oh, what a hush there will +come upon those that dwell in the earth when the darkened sun and the +falling stars will herald the approach of a God who will keep silence +no longer. Oh, dear reader, Jew or Gentile, listen! The signs of the +times truly tell us that the Lord who is to come must have already +_risen_ from His holy habitation. He is coming. Soon He will gather +His saints unto Himself before the day of wrath breaks, when neither +gold nor silver will deliver. Wilt thou not become silent before Him, +the coming One? Will not every reader yield himself to that wooing +spirit of Him, whose power does silence the flesh? Be silent all +flesh! He is waked up out of His holy habitation! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_The fourth vision.--Joshua the high priest accused by Satan, but +cleansed by the angel of the Lord--The branch.--The stone and the +sewn eyes upon it.--The coming peace._ + +The fourth vision is like the first and second, closely connected +with the foregoing one. It gives the crowning event of Israel's +restoration. The prophet recognizes in the figure which is seen by +him Joshua the high priest, who is standing before the angel of the +Lord, while at his right hand stands Satan to oppose him. Joshua was +not clothed with his clean, priestly robes, but he wears filthy +garments. Jehovah rebukes Satan and terms Jerusalem a brand plucked +from the fire. After the accuser is rebuked, the filthy garments of +the high priest are removed, his iniquity is forgiven, and he is +clothed with festal raiment. The prophet is so carried away with the +vision that he asks that a clean mitre is to be put upon his head. +And now, after the high priest is thus clothed, the angel of the Lord +charges him with an important message: If thou wilt walk in My ways +and keep My charge, thou shalt judge my house and also keep my +courts. I will give thee access among those standing here, etc. The +servant--the branch--is promised, and the stone which is laid before +Joshua is to have seven eyes. The iniquity of this land is to be +removed in one day, and the vision closes with the peaceful scene, +every man inviting his neighbor under the vine and under the fig +tree. + +The authorized version has a superscription for this chapter. "Under +the type of Joshua the restoration of the _church_ is promised." This +is not alone very misleading but also erroneous. No restoration of +the church is necessary, and as far as fallen, apostate Christendom +is concerned, there is no promise of restoration, but the Lord will +spew her out of His mouth. Others speak of this vision as a type of +the justification of the sinner, but we need not spiritualize Old +Testament visions to get assurance of our justification. The Epistle +to the Romans is sufficient for that. The High Priest Joshua stands +here for Jerusalem and for the sinful nation Israel. The calling of +Israel to be a nation of priests is too well known, so we need not to +enlarge on it. But it is a nation stiff-necked, disobedient, unclean +and defiled. Disobedience and sin have been the cause of Israel's +misfortune and Jerusalem's ruin. What would be a restoration of +Israel to the land without a healing of their sins and a regeneration +of the nation? It is this divine forgiveness and cleansing of the +nation, which so many prophets uttered in Jehovah's name, which is +here so wonderfully shown in this vision. Like the priests in the +temple, standing before Jehovah, thus Joshua and Israel is before the +Lord. Though Joshua is standing before the Lord in filthy garments, +yet he is still the High Priest. The filthy garments do not change +the office to which God had called him. Oh, wondrous truth, which we +meet all through the Word! Israel, though in dispersion and in sin, +is still the priest, called by Him who is a covenant-keeping God! And +is it not a perfect picture of Israel as it is yet to-day? A priest, +but defiled and unclean. In Isaiah lxiv we have part of that +wonderful prayer which the remnant of Israel is yet to utter. It +begins with that sublime prayer, Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the +heavens, that Thou wouldest come, that the mountains might flow down +at Thy presence. And then follows the confession: We are all become +as one that is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted +garment. Alas, how little Israel knows at this present time of such a +confession. On the day of atonement the lips confess sin and +unrighteousness in similar words, but it is still the lips and not +the heart. But at last Israel will confess her guilt and the +bloodguiltiness like David did. + +In the vision Satan is seen. This is not the enemy who at Zechariah's +time tried to hinder the rebuilding of the temple, but it is Satan, +the old serpent, the accuser of the brethren, the adversary. He is +the enemy of Israel. He has tried in the past to hurt and to destroy +the nation of destiny. He knows the purposes of God concerning Israel +better than many a learned doctor of divinity, and therefore, he has +opposed that people and opposes them still. His opposition has been +mostly through nations. How much could be said on this topic! The end +of this age will reveal the enemy of Israel, the adversary, as never +before in the history of the world. There is to be war in heaven; +Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the +dragon warred, and his angels, and they prevailed not, neither was +their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast +down, the old Serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the +Deceiver of the whole world, he was cast down to the earth and his +angels were cast down with him. (Rev. xii: 7-9.) His wrath will be +directed against Israel and Jerusalem. It is the time of which Daniel +spoke. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince +which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a +time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to +that same time. (Daniel xii: 1.) Once more Satan will try to destroy +the people, but the Lord shall rebuke him. Israel will be again, as +so often before, like a brand plucked out of the fire. So it has been +in the past. Way back when Israel was in Egypt and God was about to +send the deliverer, He called Moses from out of the burning +bush--Israel's true type, burning, but never consumed. Oh, how the +fire of persecution and adversity has been raging, but again and +again the hand of God snatched the burning brand out of the fire at +the right moment. The Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem will rebuke +Satan. This has not yet come. The coming Lord will commission an +angel out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in +his hand. And he will lay hold on the dragon--the old Serpent which +is the Devil and Satan--and bind him for a thousand years, and cast +him into the abyss and shut it and seal it over him. (Rev. xx: 1, 2.) +Then follows the cleansing of Israel and the new charge, all so +clearly given in this vision. + +The filthy garments are removed by those that stand before the angel +of the Lord. The iniquity is taken away, and in place of the filthy +garments there is the rich apparel and the fair mitre upon the head. +How blessedly all this is waiting for its fulfillment in Israel's +regeneration! When He appears after the times of overturning, He +whose right it is, His people Israel will be found by Him in true +penitence, acknowledging their offence. It will be a national +repentance, a mourning on account of Him, which Zechariah describes +in detail in the twelfth chapter. + +This will be followed by national cleansing, forgiveness of sin for +the entire remnant which is left, and the new birth of the nation by +the outpouring of the Spirit. Israel is the nation to be born in a +day (Isa. lxvi: 8). This great miracle of divine grace, the +regeneration of Israel by the blood of the once rejected King, is +spoken of again and again in the Word. The Church has taken it all +for herself or spiritualized these promises. We can refer only to a +few: "He will turn again and have compassion upon us; He will tread +our iniquities under foot; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the +depths of the sea" (Micah vii: 19). "I will take you from among the +nations and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into +your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall +be clean. (How _ridiculous_ that teachers and preachers refer to this +text in defence of _sprinkling_ as a mode of baptism.) From all your +filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart +also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I +will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you +a heart of flesh" (Ezek. xxxvi: 24-26). "I, even I, am He that +blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and I will not +remember thy sins" (Isa. xliii: 25). "I have blotted out, as a thick +cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me +for I have redeemed thee. Sing, oh ye heavens, for the Lord has done +it; shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing ye +mountains, oh forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord has +redeemed Jacob and will glorify Himself in Israel" (Isa. xliv: 22, +23). And this is Israel's triumphant song: "I will greatly rejoice in +the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me +with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of +righteousness, as a priest decketh himself with a garland, and as a +bride adorneth herself with her jewels" (Isa. lxi: 10). + +And now comes a very solemn charge. _Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: if +thou will walk in my ways, and if thou will keep my charge, then thou +also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep likewise my courts, I +will give thee places to walk among these that stand by._ + +Israel was disobedient and did not keep the first charge. It is now +repeated. It is likewise conditionally as was the first, but no +apostasy can follow, for a complete healing has made that impossible. +In analyzing this charge, we see clearly what Israel's earthly +calling is and wherein Israel's millennial glory and work will +consist: (1) _Judging_ in the house of the Lord, and from there +ruling and judging of nations, by Israel the head of the nations. The +Church will be higher than this, sitting with Him in His throne, and +likewise judging, being with the glorified Head over it all; (2) +Israel will _keep His courts_. In the new millennial temple there +will be ordinances, and that temple will be a house of prayer for all +nations, while the Church will be in the temple above; (3) Israel +will have _places to walk_ among these that stand by. This may have a +double meaning--walking among the ministering angels which will +ascend and descend upon the Son of Man, and places to walk among +those that stand by--the nations. Israel's cleansing will take place +not in heaven but in the earth, and nations as well as angels will be +witnesses of it. Among these nations redeemed Israel will have places +to walk. The Church will occupy the many mansions in the Father's +house, and go in and out in blessed fellowship with the Lord of glory +and all His saints; and, perhaps, for all we know, there may be +places to walk for the Church in distant worlds. + +The whole redeemed and restored nation will then be a miracle. _Hear +now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before +thee, for they are men which are a wonder: for behold I will bring +forth my servant the Branch._ + +The Jews are now God's standing miracle, but how much more will they +be a wonder when the Spirit has filled them! They will heal the sick +and do the same works Jesus their Elder Brother did. What will then +come to this sin-cursed earth through Israel's fullness? A +miracle--life from the dead. But never before He, whose name is the +Branch, appears. Oh, how necessary it is for us to be reminded that +it will take place when He appears and the Branch is brought forth. + +Next comes the _stone laid before Joshua_, and upon the stone seven +eyes, and engraving is seen on it. Generally this stone is +interpreted as meaning Christ. One of the names of Christ is--a +stone, a rejected stone, corner stone, a precious stone, etc. The +true believers are likewise termed stones, living stones. The stone +in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, falling out of heaven, smashing the image +and becoming a great mountain which filled the entire earth, is both +Christ and His kingdom, which is not of this earth (it is and comes +from above). However, it seems to us that the only correct +interpretation of the stone upon which are the seven eyes is that it +means Israel restored, and as such, the nucleus of the kingdom of God +and His Christ in this earth. The seven eyes speak of the sevenfold +Spirit which will be upon Israel; the engraving of the stone stands +for the beauty and glory with which God will bless His covenant +people. That this interpretation is the only correct one becomes at +once evident when we reach the closing sentence of the ninth verse, +_and I will remove the iniquity of that land one day._ What land? It +is Israel's land, and therefore the whole vision must stand in vital +connection with His people. The one day, of course, in the first +line, must be that day when Christ died for our sins and Israel's +sins as well, when the veil was rent. But alas, the Jews cried then, +"His blood be upon us and upon our children!" How terribly this awful +prayer has been answered! Truly the blood has been upon them and +their children. But soon--oh may it be very soon--another day will +come when the blood shall be once more upon them and their +children--when the blood shall cleanse and wash away Israel's +sin--one day when Calvary's blood, the blood of the Son of God, will +remove the iniquity of that land and its inhabitants. + +All is waiting for that. There can be no kingdom of God in the earth, +no conversion of the world, no millennium before Israel has been +cleansed, redeemed, restored, and the iniquity of the land is +removed. This all-important truth is likewise mentioned in a few +words at the close of this, the fourth night vision of the prophet: +_In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his +neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree._ This is the picture +of prosperity, peace and love. No prosperity and peace till the +millennium has come, no millennium until Israel is restored; no true +restoration of Israel until the Lord comes with His saints. What +Zechariah hears about that blessed time of peace Micah and other +prophets received also from God, "Every man shall sit under his vine +and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid" (Micah iv: +4). + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_The fifth vision.--The candlestick and the two olive trees.--The +great mountain becoming a plain.--Zerubbabel the prince finishing the +house of the Lord._ + +The first three chapters of Zechariah are the foundation of the +entire book. The events in these chapters are again and again touched +upon in the following visions and prophecies of Zechariah. For this +reason have we paid special attention to these three chapters, which +speak so clearly of the time of Israel's restoration, the restoration +itself and the different events connected with it, and much which +might be said on the visions of the prophet which now follow can be +omitted, as the reader has the key to the situation in the studies +made. + +There was a rest for the prophet between the fourth and fifth night +vision. He had fallen into a deep sleep. He may have been overcome by +the grand and important visions, and is now awakened by the angel +with the question, "What seest thou?" The new vision is a very +striking one. A golden candlestick appears before the seer. An oil +receiver is seen on top, from which the oil flows to the seven lamps +of the candlestick through seven pipes. Two olive trees stand +alongside of the candlestick and hang their fruit-laden branches over +the golden bowl, filling it with oil, which flows through the seven +pipes into the seven lamps. The question of the prophet, "What are +these, my Lord?" is answered by the angel with this statement, "This +is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might and not by +power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, oh +great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Be a plain! He shall bring forth +the topstone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it. The hands of +Zerubbabel who have laid the foundation shall also finish it, and +they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel +--even the seven. The eyes of the Lord shall run to and fro through +the entire earth." For the third time the prophet asks for information +about the two olive trees and receives the answer: "These are the two +sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." + +The vision of the candlestick and the two olive trees is one of the +most difficult in the Bible and needs prayerful and thoughtful study. + +The general interpretation is that the golden candlestick represents +the Church, that she is the golden light-bearer, so valuable and +precious. She is the light in the dark world. The oil and the seven +pipes are the Holy Spirit who fills the lamps of the candlestick; the +two olive trees, Joshua and Zerubbabel, Priest and King. The victory +which the Church is to gain is one not by power or might but by His +Spirit, etc. This interpretation seems to fit in with a number of +passages in the New Testament, the seven candlesticks in Revelation +first chapter and the teaching of the New Testament about the Holy +Spirit and His work. However, it is hardly a satisfactory +explanation. We do not doubt for a moment that the Church is +represented by a candlestick, especially the Churches; or rather, the +Church in her seven periods. Of course the Holy Spirit's type is oil, +and He is the one who accomplishes the work, etc. All this we do not +and cannot doubt for a moment, but after considering it all it does +not satisfy us, and we feel that we must look for a better and a +deeper meaning of the fifth night vision. If its fullest meaning is +the Church and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, how could +it be then harmonized with the first night visions of Israel's +restoration? The above interpretation seems to us overlooks entirely +the fact that the vision of the candlestick being given with the +others in one night, must be connected with them in some way. In +other words, the vision of the golden candlestick must have some +relation to the restoration of Israel. + +We desire to call attention to the fact that the vision is one which +speaks of perfection, completion, fullness. The perfect and divine +number seven is found three times in the vision, seven lamps, seven +pipes, and seven eyes. The seven lamps are united to one stem, this +is union, and above it, is a golden bowl. The Spirit conquers, and +not power or might does it, but His power. The great mountain becomes +a plain. The topstone is brought forth and crowns the building which +is finished by Zerubbabel. Shoutings, "Grace, grace, unto it," are +heard, and the seven eyes run to and fro the whole earth. It is a +vision of fullness and accomplishment. The candlestick shines and +sheds its glorious light, its pure gold glitters and reflects the +light of the seven lamps. The bowl is filled with oil, and the two +olive trees give a continual supply. The high mountain removed, the +temple finished, joy and victory abound. The candlestick in the +vision is exactly like the one in the tabernacle, only the two olive +trees are something new. The candlestick in the tabernacle represents +Christ, the Light of the world, and is likewise a type of the Jewish +theocracy. Theocracy, the government of this earth by the immediate +direction of God, is once to be established, and when it is, it will +be like a bright and glorious candlestick shedding light and +dispersing the darkness. We think the _Yalkut_ on Zechariah (a Hebrew +commentary), is not so very far out of the way when it says, "The +golden candlestick is Israel." It seems to us very clear that the +vision represents the Jewish theocracy restored, Israel in their +glorious inheritance as the light of the world. But what about the +Church as a candlestick? The Lord is seen in Revelation to walk among +_seven_ candlesticks, which represent the seven Churches and +prophetically the seven periods of this dispensation, ending with +Laodicea. The end of this age will not be a bright and glorious +candlestick, filled with oil, conquest and glory, but it will be +failure and the removal of the candlestick which failed in giving the +light. The nominal Church is far from being the light of the world, +and Christendom nears rapidly a dark and dreary night. The true +believer, who is filled with the Spirit, of course, is the light of +the world as an individual, he reflects the light and glory of His +Master, and thus every child of God is a light. But the home of the +true Church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not the earth, to +remain here permanently, but her home is the Father's house, her +destination, union with her glorified Head and sharing His glory. +Israel and Gentiles will be left in the earth, while the Church is +with her Lord. When He appears, the King of Israel and King of Glory, +it will not be to re-establish the Church in the earth, for she is to +sit with Him in heavenly places, but Israel, His beloved people, will +become the light-bearer, the light which is to enlighten the Gentiles +and fulfill its original calling. It is a true saying, whatever is +spoken of Christ is also spoken of His Church, and it is just as +true, whatever is spoken of Christ is also spoken of Israel. Of the +coming Messiah, we read in Isaiah xlix., "I will give thee for a +light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end +of the earth," but this is likewise true of his brethren according to +the flesh, Israel will be a light to the Gentiles. + +The candlestick of pure gold, precious, and uniting seven lamps +filled with oil, represents Israel's glorious fullness. All will be +united under one Head, and no longer seven candlesticks and confusion +of religions teachings, but there will be one Shepherd and one fold. +This will be accomplished not by power or might but by His Spirit. He +will accomplish God's blessed purpose in Israel by the wonderful +outpouring which is promised through Joel, and which was only +partially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and never +since. The Jew feels still in some degree his mission, and what else +is this awakened national life as it is now known by the name of +Zionism, than a reaching out for it. But there is still the blinding, +money, political powers, in reality their enemies, different +influences and combinations are looked upon by them as the means to +bring about that which is born into every Jewish heart--supremacy and +rule. It is not by power or might, but by the Spirit. He will come +yet upon the nation and fill them with His blessed power as He filled +once their own rejected Brother Jesus, and what He was Israel will be +for the nations left in the earth. Zerubbabel, who is now mentioned, +was Israel's prince at the time of Zechariah. A mountain is seen +which is before him, a mighty obstacle, but it sinks and falls, +becomes a plain. The Hebrew has it in the form of a command--"Be a +plain!" The mountain represents a kingdom, a power, and seems to +stand here for anti-Christ and His power. Zerubbabel as prince is the +type of the Prince of Peace, Israel's King. His hands have laid the +foundation, just as Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the temple, +and just as Zerubbabel finished it, bringing forth the headstone +which crowns the new house of the Lord, thus Jesus of Nazareth, the +King of the Jews, who has laid the foundation and who is the +foundation, the precious stone, He will finish it. He is the Author +and Finisher, and it is all grace. When the foundation of the temple +was laid there were mighty shoutings, and likewise when it was +finished. The priests and the Levites sang one to another in praising +and giving thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy +endureth forever toward Israel, and all the people shouted with a +great shout (Ezra iii: 11). What shoutings there will be when at last +the fullness of the Gentiles is come in and all Israel is saved, when +the headstone will be brought forth, what mighty hallelujahs will be +heard in the heavens and in the earth, praising--grace--all of grace. +Without pointing out the other details of this vision which are now +easily understood, we desire to make a few remarks on the two olive +trees standing at the right and at the left of the candlestick +supplying the same with oil. There can be no doubt that these sons of +oil, as they are called, represented Joshua and Zerubbabel, living at +the time of Zechariah, the one the priest and the other the king. +What deeper meaning is here? It is probably the easiest explanation +to say that these two olive trees are types of Him who is a Priest +upon His throne and whose blessed Person will supply the candlestick +with the oil, His own Spirit! + +These two olive trees are likewise seen in Revelation, the eleventh +chapter. Here they are the two witnesses who give their testimony +during the great tribulation in Jerusalem, and who stand in direct +relation to that theocracy which is then about to be established in +Israel. We believe that these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, the +same who appeared with our Lord upon the mountain of transfiguration. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_The vision of the flying roll--The vision of the woman in the +Ephah._ + +The three remaining night visions are of a different character. The +first visions the prophet had were visions of comfort for Jerusalem +and the dispersed nation, the overthrow of Babylon and all their +enemies, divine forgiveness and the theocracy restored. Now follow +the last three visions, and these are visions of judgment. Judgment +precedes Israel's restoration, and is very prominently connected with +it. + +The sixth night vision is the one of the flying roll. The prophet's +eyes seem to have been closed after the fifth vision, for we read, +"And I lifted up my eyes again." The flying roll he sees is twenty +cubits long and ten cubits broad. The interpreting angel tells the +prophet that it is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the +whole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on this side +according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that +side according to it. The Lord of hosts has brought it forth and it +is to enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him +that sweareth by His Name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge in the +midst of His house and consume it, both its wood and its stone. + +That this vision means judgment is evident at the first glance. +Ezekiel had a similar vision. "And when I looked, behold, an hand was +sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it +before me; and it was written within and without: and there was +written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe" (Ezek. ii: 9, +10). Ezekiel was to eat that book. This reminds us at once of the +books in Revelation (chapters v. and x.), which are likewise +connected with God's judgments in the earth. The flying roll is +written on both sides, signifying the two tables of stone, the law of +God. Stealing and swearing falsely are mentioned because the one is +found on the one side of the two tables of stone, and the other on +the other side. However, it is no longer "Thou shalt not," but on the +flying roll are written the curses, the awful curses against the +transgressors of God's law which are now about to be put into +execution. The curse is found in its awful details, as it refers to +an apostate people, in Deuteronomy xxvii. and xxviii. The roll is of +immense size, and on it are the dreadful curses of an angry God. The +vision must have been one of exceeding great terror. Imagine a roll, +probably illumined at night with fire, moving over the heavens, and +on it the curses of an eternal God--wherever it moves its awful +message is seen; nothing is hid from its awe-inspiring presence. It +reminds one of the fiery handwriting on the wall in the king's +palace. Surely such an awful judgment is coming by and by, when our +God will keep silence no longer. One of the sublimest judgment +Psalms, the fiftieth, mentions something similar to this flying roll. +"When thou sawest a _thief_, then thou consentedst with him, and hast +been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy +tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother; +thou slanderest thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, +and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one +as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before +thine eyes" (Psalm 1: 18-21). The flying roll stands undoubtedly in +connection with wickedness, theft and false swearing, as it is found +in so many forms in unbelieving Israel, but it finds also a large +application in the judgment of wickedness throughout the earth in the +glorious day of His appearing. + +But the roll enters the house of the evil doer and remains there to +punish not only the wicked persons but also to consume the timber and +the stone. This may stand for the two facts: the secret places will +be entered in that judgment, and it will be a thorough judgment which +will consume all that is connected with wickedness. In Leviticus xiv. +we read of the cleansing of the leper, that the leper's house which +was infected was completely destroyed. Elijah's sacrifice was +consumed by fire, and not alone the sacrifice but also the wood and +the stones and the very water. God's fire will again fall from heaven +to consume the wood, hay, and stubble, nothing will be hid. Oh, what +a burning day that day of the Lord will be when His well earned +curses will be carried out, and none can escape. + +Another application still of this vision of the flying roll may be +made in connection with the established theocracy during the coming +age. However, space forbids an enlargement. + +The next vision is one of great interest and not a little difficulty. +It claims our attention more than any of the other visions. In it we +see again wickedness and judgment. The angel now calls the prophet's +attention to some startling vision. He sees an ephah going forth. And +he said, this is their aim (literally _aijn_ eye) in all the land. +And, behold, a round piece of lead was lifted up, and this is a woman +sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness; +and he cast her in the midst of the ephah, and cast the weight of +lead in its mouth. And I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and, behold, +two women came forth, and the wind was in their wings, and they had +wings like stork wings, and they lifted up the ephah between earth +and heaven. And I said to the angel that talked with me, Whither are +these taking the ephah? And he said to me, To build for her a house +in the land of Shinar; and it shall be established and settled there +upon its own base. + +That we have here a most striking and intensely interesting vision is +at once evident. Alas! that so few students of the Word should pass +it by without digging down to the depths and comparing scripture with +scripture to find its true and final meaning! The vision is generally +taken to mean wickedness in connection with Israel, and having its +fulfilment in their captivity. Many other interpretations have been +advanced which are, however, unsatisfactory. We have to look deeper +and give this vision a very prayerful study. After much study and +research we believe that the whole vision is identical with the final +_Babylon_, the great harlot of Revelation, her fall and judgment, and +all that is connected with it--wickedness put away, sealed up, the +wicked one destroyed, and Satan chained. + +What are the leading figures in the vision? An ephah--which is a +Jewish measure standing here for commerce. The aim (eyes) of all the +land (or earth) are upon it. Commercialism is very prominent in +Revelation in connection with the full measure of wickedness, the +climax of ungodliness. In Revelation xviii merchants are mentioned +who have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Then the +merchants are seen weeping, for no man buys their merchandise any +more. And then a long list follows, including _all the articles of +modern commerce_. Compare this with the awful description of the last +times in James v. Rich men are commanded to weep and howl, for +miseries are come upon them. They heaped treasure together for the +last days, and it was a heaping together by fraud, dishonesty in +keeping back the hire of the laborers. They lived in pleasure +(luxuriously) and been wanton. Indeed, here is that burning question +of the day, capital and labor, and its final outcome, misery and +judgment upon commercialism, riches heaped up, and all in wickedness. +In Habakkuk ii: 12 the woe of judgment of that coming glory of the +Lord is pronounced upon him that buildeth a town with blood and +establisheth a city by iniquity! The people are seen laboring for the +fire and wearying themselves for vanity. Luxuries, increase, riches, +etc., are mentioned in the second and third chapters of Isaiah, +chapters of judgment. Other passages could be quoted, but these are +sufficient for our purpose. They show us that the climax of +wickedness as it is in the earth when judgment will come, and +Israel's time commences once more, will be connected with commerce, +riches and luxuries. The ephah points to this. + +In the second place let us notice that in the _midst_ of the ephah +there is seen a _woman_. She is called wickedness. The Hebrew word +wickedness is translated by the Septuagint with "_anomia_". We find +that the Holy Spirit uses the same word in 2 Thes. 2: 8, and then +shall be revealed the wicked one (anomos) whom the Lord Jesus will +slay with the Spirit of His mouth. The woman in the ephah personifies +wickedness. She has surrounded herself with the ephah and sits in the +midst of it. Have we not here the great whore having a golden cup in +her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication? +Undoubtedly. This woman is the type of evil and wickedness in its +highest form. Let us glance at that wonderful description of that +woman in Revelation. She is the great whore sitting upon many waters. +She sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, +having seven heads and ten horns. The woman is arrayed in purple and +scarlet decked with gold, precious stones and pearls. Upon her +forehead is seen her name, Mystery, BABYLON the Great, the mother of +harlots and abominations in the earth. She is drunk with the blood of +the saints. The woman in the ephah represents the same great whore, +Babylon the great. This becomes at once clear when we take into +consideration that the woman in the ephah is carried swiftly away and +a house is built for her in the land of _Shinar_, and it shall be +established, and set there upon her own _base_. Now the land of +Shinar is _Babylonia_. There it is where the God-opposing power has +its home and when it will end in final and total destruction. + +But it is certainly worth the while to follow this up. The first city +erected after the judgment of the first age was the city in the plain +of Shinar. There they built a city and in it a tower, whose top was +to reach into the heavens, to make themselves a name. Self, worship +of the creature, had reached its climax, and confusion and judgment +came swiftly. The Babylon of the Revelation is the very same attempt, +only in its fullest development. It is Cain's city--human strength, +human wisdom, stored in it. A number of the wicked generation, after +the confusion of tongues, remained in the land of Shinar as +inhabitants of Babylon. In it wickedness, idolatry, luxuries, earthly +glory and commerce prospered. Only a few of the inspired descriptions +of ancient Babylon may be mentioned here: The Golden City, Isaiah +xiv: 4. The lady of Kingdoms, Isaiah xvii: 5. Stand now with thine +enchantments, and with the multitudes of thy sorceries, wherein thou +hast labored from thy youth, Isaiah xlvii: 12. The praise of the +whole earth, li: 41. Babylon! a golden cup in the Lord's land, that +made all the earth drunken, the nations have drunken of her wine, +therefore the nations are mad, Jeremiah li: 7. It is the land of +graven images, and they are mad upon their idols, Jeremiah l: 38. O +thou that dwellest in many waters, abundant in treasures, Jeremiah +li: 13. Babylon was in splendor and outward glory for the kingdoms of +the world, God opposing what Jerusalem was for the land. Jerusalem is +the city of a great King and Babylon may be termed the city of the +prince of this world. According to Herodotus, the walls of Babylon +were 60 miles in circumference. They were 87 feet thick and 350 feet +high. The city had 25 gates made of solid brass. The city contained +676 squares, beautifully and symetrically arranged. The river ran +through the city, surrounded by high walls, and in it were brass +gates and steps leading to the river banks. A wonderful bridge +spanned the river. No such city ever stood in the earth again. Even +the great cities of our days--Paris, London, New York and Berlin--do +not reach the splendor, luxury and wealth of ancient Babylon. The +king's palace had a wall around it six miles long. The hanging +gardens were considered the wonder of the world. The waterworks of +Babylon, supplying the immense city and its hanging gardens from the +river Euphrates, were more powerful and larger than any modern water +supplies. A Roman historian gives a vivid description of the city. + +Nothing could be more corrupt than its morals, nothing more fitted to +excite and to allure to immoderate pleasures. The rites of +hospitality were polluted by the grossest and most shameless lusts. +_Money dissolved_ every tie, whether of kindred, respect or esteem. +Drunkeness and the grossest immoralities were practised in public. + +The worship of Babylon was idolatry, and it is a fact that all +idolatry can be traced to Babylon. She is the mother of all +abominations. Babylon was destroyed, but has a promise of restoration +and return of her glory before her final and total destruction comes. + +Roman Catholicism is generally taken to be the Babylon of the +Revelation. It is more correct to say Rome is an offspring of +Babylon. Ancient Babylon had a religious ceremonial like the Rome of +to-day, Indeed, the ancient Babylonian worship is revived in modern +Rome. Babylon is the mother and Rome is the living daughter; while +Rome again has her daughters--the "isms" of Christendom. Babylon +means concentration and confusion. A boasting, high minded +Christendom--Roman and so-called "Protestant"--is rapidly nearing its +awful apostacy and judgment. The cry, so popular in our times--the +Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men and of a social +Christianity--is really the cry of old, Let us make us a name; it is +concentration. Money, riches and commercialism play a very important +part in the popular religious enterprises. All is getting ready for +Laodicea--increase in riches and proud boastings. Influential men, +money, etc., control the affairs of Christendom. Error and loose +morals are spreading in every direction. Great schemes are planned; +institutions of learning--in which infidelity, in the form of higher +criticism, is taught--are erected and endowed by the "church" with +millions of dollars, as if this earth were to be the home of the +church for ever. The twentieth century is prophesied to become the +most glorious, and one would not know where to stop if all the +beautiful air castles and promises of would-be prophets were to be +named. The supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race, its civilising +influences and power for good, etc., are harped upon at present as +being a mighty factor in the final conversion of the world. But in +the midst of this boasting Christendom, heaping their bricks together +for their proud tower, blindness has already become greater than the +blindness of the Jews. In the midst of Christendom, the sorceries and +idolatries of ancient Babylon are being strangely revived and leading +many astray. The luxuries of Babylon, fostered by modern inventions +and commercialism, are seen on all hands. One only needs to study +statistics to see what this "Christian nation" expends a year for +luxuries and what for the preaching of the gospel, the only power for +salvation. The near future will undoubtedly bring the long looked-for +union of churches, concentration for reformation, lifting up of +humanity, etc., etc., and when man in his own thoughts and making +himself a name seems almost to have succeeded, He who sitteth in the +heavens and who laughs at their foolish efforts will no longer laugh +but will speak once more in His wrath, and Babylon will fall. Whoever +has eyes opened by the Word and the Spirit, must see how well the +_woman_ has succeeded in putting the leaven of error and wickedness +into the fine flour, and the leaven is doing its perfect work in +leavening the whole lump. + +But we must return to the vision. The ephah is carried, and in it the +woman, by two women with wings of storks into the land of Shinar, and +there a house is built and it is established on her own base. Babylon +as it is described in the Revelation xvii and xviii can hardly mean +exclusively corrupted ecclesiastical systems, apostate Christendom as +it is seen to-day. The Babylon of the Revelation is still future, and +its fullest development falls in the time when the body of the Lord +Jesus Christ is no longer in the earth. + +It is remarkable that certain prophecies concerning Babylon in Isaiah +and Jeremiah have not yet been fulfilled. If we hold to a literal +interpretation of the Scriptures then of necessity Babylon is to be +rebuilt. The desolations of Babylon prophesied by these two prophets +have not yet taken place. The destruction is to be suddenly by fire, +and that destruction has never been. Still more startling is the fact +that the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon and its +final destruction are identical with Revelation xvii and xviii. The +vision of the ephah and the woman in it being swiftly carried to +Shinar and housed there upon her own base, as well as other +prophecies concerning Babylon, point to an actual rebuilding of +ancient Babylon as a great commercial center and world power as well +as religious centralization. There are many indications in this +direction in our times. Railroads are planned to India. Russia is +advancing in the same direction. Maybe the restoration of the Jews in +_unbelief_ as it has commenced will hasten such a project as it has +been already mentioned by statesmen, an international center for +commerce and arbitration in central Asia. It concerns the true +believer very little what the final Babylon will be. He does not +belong to it, neither to the present Babylon as it exists in +Christendom; nor will he see the future Babylon, for the Lord will +then have gathered His saints. The removal of the church from the +earth will bring about a great change, and all that is to be done +will be done swiftly, indicated by the stork's wings. What men in +that gross darkness, when the light of God, His Spirit, and His +praying church is removed, will do in their rebellion against God and +His Anointed no human being can now estimate or imagine. Finally, the +vision of the ephah and the woman, so to speak, sealed up in it, may +denote also the overthrow and judgment of wickedness. Babylon fallen, +cast down. Anti-Christ, the man of sin, slain by the brightness of +His coming. Satan chained in the pit for a thousand years. The last +vision of the prophet is likewise a vision of judgment, followed by +the crowning of Joshua with the double crowns of silver and gold. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_The Last Night Vision of the Prophet.--The Vision of the Four +Chariots Coming from Between the Mountains of Brass.--The Crowning of +Joshua with Crowns._ + +The prophet lifts up his eyes again and sees four chariots which come +out from between two mountains which were of brass. In the first +chariot the horses are red, in the second they are black, in the +third white, and in the fourth speckled bay. The angel explains that +these are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from +standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black and the white +horses go forth into the north country, the speckled go to the south +country, and the bay went forth and sought to go that they might walk +to and fro through the earth, and so they did. The last verse of the +vision reads: "And he called me and spake to me, saying, Behold, +these that go forth in the land of the north have caused my spirit to +rest upon the land of the north." + +We notice first the similarity of the last vision with the first +contained in the opening chapter of Zechariah. The visions opened +with the hosts of heaven upon red, speckled and white horses, having +walked to and fro through the earth. We learned from the first vision +that its meaning was judgment; that God was displeased with the +nations, and is once more jealous for Jerusalem and ready to turn in +mercy to Zion, and the hosts of heaven are seen in that first vision +preparing for judgment. In the last vision the chariots of judgment +are seen coming forth to sweep over the earth, to be followed by the +crowning with crowns of the high-priest. The riders of the first +vision may be termed the advance guards of the judgment, but the +chariots now put the divine decrees into execution. The riders halted +in a valley amidst a myrtle grove, but the chariots rush forth to +execute their terrible work from between two mountains of brass. +These mountains mean undoubtedly Mount Moriah and the Mount of +Olives. They rush through the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The brass is +mentioned to denote the firmness and stability of these mountains, +which shall never be moved. We do not think that in the four chariots +there is an allusion to the four world-powers. The judgment of them +is now come. The stone is falling and smiting the image at its feet +and pulverizing it, putting it completely out of existence. The +chariots are God's powers, agencies for judgment in the earth, which +will pass swiftly along, shown by the fast running chariots. In Rev. +vi the seven seals are opened, and there go forth the four terrible +riders upon white, red, black and pale horses. The riders in the +Apocalypse are the riders which go through the earth during the great +tribulation, but in the eighth night vision of Zechariah we see the +chariots of God's wrath. The vision falls in the time when heaven +opens and He appears riding upon a white horse, His name Faithful and +True, coming in righteousness to judge and to make war. Wonderful +vision of Him who is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood! He is +followed by the armies of heaven upon white horses, all clothed in +fine linen white and clean. "And out of His mouth goeth a sharp +sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule +them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the +fierceness and wrath of almighty God" (Rev. xix). Immediately after +the appearing of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with all His +saints, "An angel is seen standing in the sun, and he cried with a +load voice, saying, to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, +Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; +that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the +flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit +upon them, both free and bond, both small and great." How terrible +that wrath will be, what awful work these chariots will work in +slaying the ungodly, rebellious people, and spoiling the armies of +military Christendom no human pen can describe. "Before Him went the +pestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. He stood and +measured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the +everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. +The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation. Thou didst +march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the nations +in anger" (Hab. iii). O how our hearts as believers should praise our +God and our Lord Jesus Christ who has delivered us from that wrath to +come. And while the tribulation is not yet, and wrath will come after +the tribulation, how should we redeem the time and witness of that +great salvation to Jew and Gentile, and teach in the words of the +second Psalm, "Kiss the Son." His wrath shall soon be kindled. The +time is short, and soon the scenes of terror, tribulation, and wrath +will be enacted in the earth. The removal of the Church from the +earth will be the signal for the beginning. + +The angel interprets to the prophet that the chariots are the four +spirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord +of the earth. These agencies for wrath were with God standing before +Him the Lord of all the earth, but now at His command they descend to +scatter death and destruction. They go forth in sets, and the north +country and south country both so prominent in the prophetic word are +mentioned. The bay horses, however, are not confined to one +direction, they go through the entire earth. At last in the judgment +of the land of the north the Spirit is caused to rest. The overthrow +of the enemies of Israel is complete and the Spirit is quieted. How +long may the wrath last and for how long may the chariots do their +deadly work? Perhaps longer than we now think. The millennial reign +of Christ, as foreshadowed in the bloody rule of David, followed by +the peaceful reign of Solomon, may teach us lessons in this +direction. The night visions have ended. They may be termed the +Apocalypse of Zechariah. Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation go together +in a wonderful harmony and explain each other. Alas! that just these +three parts of the Bible should be so little studied and so little +understood. + +The long night of visions for the young prophet Zechariah had passed +by and the noise of the speeding chariots had left his ears. The +morning must have been when he opened his eyes after beholding such +wonderful things, and now the Word of the Lord comes to him. + +A command is given to the prophet, which has a sublime prophetic +meaning. The command will surely be once more carried out by Israel +on that glorious morning when the Sun of righteousness has risen +after a dark and dreary night of sin and tribulation as well as wrath +is past. What is the command? Take from the exiles, from Cheldai, +from Tobiah, and from Jedaiah, and go thou on that day, go into the +house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they have come from +Babylon. Take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the +head of Joshua the son of Josedek, the high priest, and speak to him, +saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold a man whose +name is Branch, and from his place he shall grow up and build the +temple of Jehovah. Even He shall build the temple and bear majesty, +and shall sit and rule upon His throne, and shall be a priest upon +His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And +the crowns shall be to Chelem, and to Tobiah, and to Jedaiah, and to +Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah. +And they that are afar off shall come and shall build in the temple +of Jehovah, and ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to +you, and it will come to pass if ye will hearken unto the voice of +Jehovah your God. + +Some consider this to be the ninth vision of the prophet. It is, +however, the Word of the Lord which comes to the prophet. There can +be no doubt but the command was actually carried out and Cheldai +(robust), Tobiah (God's goodness), and Jedaiah (God knows), gave +their silver and gold, and crowns were made out of it and placed upon +the head of Joshua the high priest. But the action had a much deeper +meaning. It was a highly typical one. It must have astonished Joshua +and the people to hear such a command, for the royal crown did not +belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David. He must +have understood that the whole command had a symbolical bearing. +Joshua hears it from the Word of the Lord that another person is only +typified by him, "Behold the man whose name is the Branch." It is +this man the Branch who will be a priest upon the throne. This, of +course, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the high priest Joshua +is in itself very significant, for the meaning is, God is salvation, +Saviour, Jesus. Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he stood +there leading out Jesus of Nazareth before that tumultuous multitude, +and when he said "Behold the man." If the assembled Jews had known +the Scriptures they would have recognized the phrase. But how did he +then come forth? He wore a crown of thorns upon His meek and loving +brow, and the people gazed into the blood-stained face of the Lamb of +God now ready to be placed upon the altar and slain. But once again +it will sound forth, "Behold the man," for when He appears it will be +after He has gathered His saints, and then He will come as the Son of +Man in the heavens, and the sign of the Son of Man will be seen +there. He will be crowned again, too, but not with the crown of +suffering and shame, but with the crowns of glory. Thus he is seen in +Revelation xix: 12 as wearing many crowns. + +He comes to build the temple of Jehovah, bearing majesty, sitting and +ruling upon His throne. He is now the builder of the spiritual temple +which is composed of living stones (Eph. ii: 21; 1 Peter ii: 5). But +when He comes again there will be the building of another temple. It +is now no longer His Father's throne but His own, upon which He is a +priest as well. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has now taken +possession of His inheritance. The times of overturning are over and +He whose right it is has come. There is a very instructive thought in +the fact that the persons of the exile, as mentioned above, were to +bring the silver and the gold out of which the crowns were to be +made. The time will come when the whole exiled nation, so long +scattered and peeled, though even in dispersion, the richest nation +of the earth, will bring their silver and gold, their glory and their +all and lay it at the feet of the King. + +The CX Psalm will then find its fulfillment: "Thou art a priest +forever after the order of Melchizedek." Melchizedek united the +offices of a king and a priest in one person. "For this Melchizedek, +king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning +from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; to whom also Abraham +gave a tenth part of all; first, being by interpretation King of +Righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of +Peace. Without father and without mother, without descent, having +neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the +Son of God; abideth a priest continually" (Heb. vii: 1-3). The whole +will be realized in the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Perhaps +the fourteenth verse will also find a literal fulfillment then after +the crowning of the King by His own people who rejected Him once, and +a memorial of that event will be seen in the temple throughout the +millennium. + +They that are afar off are now seen coming, and build not the temple +of the Lord but in the temple. The Gentiles, of course, are they that +are afar off and who are even now building in a certain sense in the +temple of the Lord, but when He has returned and sits upon His throne +this prophecy will find its final fulfillment. And when shall it all +come to pass? An answer is given which refers us to the opening words +of the first chapter. "And this shall come to pass, if ye will +diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God." + +In the whole command of the crowning of the high priest, Israel's +future glory is likewise seen. Their great and high calling will be +realized in that day when the man the Branch comes forth and turns +away ungodliness from Jacob. Israel will be as His earthly people +like the Priest upon His throne, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a +peculiar people. The kingdom has then come, and the will of God is +being done in earth as it is done in heaven. And oh how blessedly for +the believer's heart to think God's own thoughts and move in the +purposes of God. Our own individual salvation eternally assured, we +ought to cry continually "Even so, come Lord Jesus."--Amen, Amen! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_The question put to the Prophet concerning the Fast.--The Rebuke +given and their Failure shown._ + +The night visions had come to an end. In them, as we have seen, the +whole future of Israel, their restoration to the land and +regeneration, as well as the theocracy and the judgments connected +with it, were revealed. Nearly two years had passed by since that +memorable night of visions, and during these two years the people +had, obedient to the heavenly visions and encouraged by them, built +the house of the Lord. Soon the temple was to be completed and +worship once more to be restored. A question rose then in the minds +of some of the people about the keeping of certain fast days by which +they commemorated events of judgments upon their nation and city. The +principal day of fasting was the day set apart for remembering the +destruction and burning of the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. +This day was kept by the Jews on the tenth day of the fifth month. +Messengers are sent with this question to the prophet, and this +occasion is used by the Lord to give a new message to the nation +through the prophet. + +The seventh chapter is divided into three sections. 1. The occasion +for the prophecy (verses 1-4). 3. The rebuke (verses 4-8). 3. Looking +over the past (verses 8-14). But the seventh chapter does not answer +the question put to the prophet. If a reader of the word stops +reading with the seventh chapter, and does not continue to read the +eighth, he will be much perplexed. The seventh and eighth chapters of +Zechariah go together; in fact they should form only one chapter. The +eighth chapter contains two sections. 1. Promises of blessings again +and teachings concerning their walk (verses 1-17). 2. The solemn fast +days will be no more; instead of them there will be feast days. Whole +nations will seek the Lord and be joined to Israel. Thus the end of +chapter eight answers the question of the people concerning the fast +days. At the first glance we notice that these two chapters, though +starting from a desire of the people in the prophet's day, are yet +awaiting their final and greatest fulfillment. Israel still fasts and +is still the forsaken. Still there is mourning and weeping over the +departed glory, and once a year is the solemn fast kept which reminds +the seed of Abraham of the sad fate of Jerusalem and the Temple, +twice destroyed on the same day. + +But let us glance at these sections in these chapters, and make a +short comment on them. + +_Chapter VII: 1-4. The question_--It comes from the people of Bethel. +The two men who represent the people have Assyrian names--Sherezer, +meaning prince of the treasury, and Regemmelech, the official of the +King. Perhaps they were born in exile and received their names there, +and may have held the position indicated by their names. Their +concern for a human institution not at all commanded in the word of +the Lord, as it was the case with the fast day in question, shows the +lack of spirituality in them. They should have been more concerned +about true obedience than with an insignificant ceremony. It has +always been so with the people. When the Lord came He said to the +leaders, "Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a +camel" (Matthew xxii: 24). And they are still concerned with +ceremonials and know not the true obedience. But the same conditions, +alas! exist too in Christendom. The question itself about weeping on +that day for so many years shows that they were tired of it. It was a +burden to them. If they had the true faith and in it obedience, they +would not have come with that question at all, but with joy and +gladness would they have looked to the future, and known that the +promised restoration as seen by the prophet was surely to come. + +_II. The reproof. Verses 4-7._--The word of the Lord comes now to the +prophet. The message is for all the people and for the priests. The +two fasts are mentioned. The one in the fifth month as already stated +was the one in remembrance of the destruction of the city. The fast +of the seventh month was kept on the anniversary of the murder of +Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah xli). But why did they keep these fast +days? Why do they keep these days indeed still? The Lord asks, "Is it +unto me, unto me?" No, it was not for the honor and glory of God, but +their own selfish interests were at the bottom of it. Indeed God had +never asked them to fast. These institutions were manmade, and highly +displeasing to Jehovah. And is it not so now, not alone with the Jews +but with Christendom? Oh, the manmade institutions and outward +observances which only dishonor God and are for the selfish interests +of the people! The eating and drinking, the fast being over, was not +unto the Lord, but unto themselves. It was obedience the Lord +required. Had they listened to the words spoken by the prophets they +would not have been in captivity, there would have been no need for a +solemn fast. Unbelief was at the bottom of it all, and so it is still +with the nation in dispersion. + +III. The closing verses of the seventh chapter _look over past +history_. In the first place the Lord says what he desires to see +done by them: True judgment executed, mercy and truth shown by every +man to his brother, oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the +stranger nor the poor, let none of you imagine evil against his +brother in your heart. These precepts were spoken to them by the +prophets before the captivity. "Wash ye, make you clean; put away the +evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to +do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, +plead for the widow" (Isaiah i.) But they did the very opposite, and +continued in an outward service without obedience of the heart. + +This disobedience became their ruin and brought on the disaster. The +description of their waywardness fits that people in their entire +history. They refused to attend and offered a rebellious shoulder. +They made their ears too heavy to hear, their heart they made an +adamant that they might not hear the law and the words which Jehovah +of hosts sent by His Spirit. These conditions prevailed in a still +intenser form when our Lord Jesus Christ appeared among them. At last +God Himself put judicial blindness upon them and still their heart is +like adamant, but that heart of stone will be removed at last by the +Spirit of God and a heart of flesh given in its place. (Ezek. xxxvi). + +And now follows the manifestation of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts. +He had cried and they did not hear, and now they called but He did +not hear. The prayers of orthodox Judaism especially on their fast +days are beyond description and pleading for mercy. Still there is no +answer to the many prayers. "Your new moons and your appointed feasts +my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. +And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; +yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full +of blood." (Is. i: 14, 15. ) Alas! it is worship with the lips. The +believing remnant alone in the future will be heard in their +pleadings, and the Lord will send at last the salvation out of Zion, +and the Deliverer will come who turns away ungodliness from Jacob. +The fourteenth verse puts the dispersion and the judgment before us +in a nutshell. They are whirled among all the nations whom they know +not. The land itself becomes desolate behind them. As soon as the +people leave whose land it is, the land flowing with milk and honey +becomes a wilderness, and when they return it will be again the land +of blessing. + +What a testimony the land and the people is! Both speak of God's +righteous judgment, and the truth of His word. A whole nation +scattered among all the nations and still kept intact. Their land +trodden down by the Gentiles, waste and desolate. The land mourneth, +indeed. Prosperity will come to that land again, but not by human +efforts and human wisdom. The attempts of unbelieving Israel now in +transforming the wilderness may prove successful, and colonies after +colonies will be established. The time of Jacob's trouble, however, +will sweep it all away. + +The question concerning the fast is answered in the next chapter. The +great and wonderful future of the land, the people, and of Jerusalem, +prosperity and blessing is clearly shown in it. No more mourning, but +joy; no more shame, but honor; no desolation, but restoration and His +people saved from the East and West, nations at last being converted +through Israel's blessing and testimony. We will look at these +promises and let them pass before us in our next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_The Gracious Answer to their Question.--Promises of Blessing, +Restoration, Prosperity and Salvation.--No more Fast Days.--Nations +to be added to Jerusalem._ + +The eighth chapter contains the most blessed promises concerning the +future of Jerusalem and the people Israel. Now the question +concerning the fasts is answered in a way the petitioners never +expected. The promises which are given in this chapter were only +partially fulfilled in Zechariah's day in the returned and believing +remnant, the actual fulfillment is still future. In the first night +vision we heard the words, Cry yet saying, Thus says the Lord of +hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and +the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. The +eighth chapter gives the details of the promised prosperity. The +perfect picture of Jerusalem's glorious future is unrolled before our +eyes. Though still future, with the eyes of faith we can look at it +and rejoice in the vision when at last the covenant keeping God of +Abraham has established Jerusalem and made her a praise in the earth. +It is a grand and glorious prophecy which is before us, and while we +now consider it as believers and members of His heavenly people, we +may well think of the time when He, who is our Lord and Israel's +King, shall come and we with Him, and when in Him all these blessings +will be carried out. Not long ago we saw teachings on this chapter +consisting of entirely spiritual applications for believers' comfort, +prosperity and increase, etc. The New Testament contains all the +comfort and blessing for believers, and we need not rob Israel of +promises belonging to them and connected with their future. + +We divide the chapter into eight sections, which we will now briefly +review: + +1. _The Restoration Announced._ Verses 1-3. The jealousy of the Lord +for Jerusalem is again stated, like in the first chapter, I am +jealous for Jerusalem (14th verse). Here, however, is the word fury +added. The Hebrew verb signifies, I have been and am still jealous of +her with great fury. The fury denotes the wrath which fell upon the +ungodly nations, the horns of the second night visions, which are now +passed out of existence, broken to pieces. Now to Jerusalem, no +longer trodden down by the Gentiles, the enemies being scattered, the +Lord Himself has returned and His glory is seen there again. It had +departed, but now the sign of his presence and favor is again given. +The city becomes a new city, called The City of Truth. How different +this name is from the others which Jerusalem bore and which so +fittingly described her fallen condition and abomination. She was +called the city which had grievously sinned, like an unclean woman +(Lament. i: 8, 17), a harlot and a murderer (Isaiah i: 21) +spiritually called Sodom and Egypt (Rev. xi), but now a new name is +given her, The City of Truth. He who is the Truth has turned the lie +and ungodliness from Jacob, and truth is the characteristic of the +city. The mountain of the Lord of hosts becomes the holy mountain. + +2. _Jerusalem will have Rest and be Largely Inhabited._ Verses 4 and +5. What a picture in comparison with the former desolation! Jerusalem +was forsaken and a desolation, a city of heaps. It is even so now, +few cities of the earth present such an awful misery as modern +Jerusalem does. It will all be changed, and just as great as the +misery and desolation was the blessing and the increase will be. Old +men in the streets, bowed down by old age, and alongside of them boys +and girls who run about in childish play. No more fear, they shall +dwell safely and none shall make them afraid. The increase in +descendants is even now very great among the Jews and the city is +rapidly becoming a Jewish city again, and thus everything is +preparing for the final conflict. Only after Jerusalem's warfare is +ended will there be peace. + +3. _They are Brought back from the Captivity._ Verses 7, 8. When they +heard of a restoration they thought this very marvelous. Had they not +been scattered into the four winds? Could they ever be brought +together again? Therefore the Lord says, Because it is marvelous in +the eyes of the remnant of this nation in those days, shall it be +marvelous in My eyes also? saith the Lord of hosts. At this present +time Jews and Gentiles doubt the promises of restoration, it is +marvelous in their eyes. But He who scattered Israel will gather them +again. He knows also where the so called Lost Tribes are, the house +of Israel, and we need not try to help God to find them. When the +time comes He will bring them all back. In the second chapter we +noticed that the North Country is mentioned, and we called attention +to the fact that the North Country, Russia, is inhabited by nearly +one-half of the entire Jewish race. In that land the persecutions are +the greatest and also the desire for a return to the land. The +restoration in unbelief is one especially from the Jews in the North +Country. Here in the eighth chapter the East and the West countries +are mentioned, the far East, India, China, etc., and the West, our +own country and the isles of the sea. The rich Jews may now be +satisfied in the countries, away from the homeland, where they +prospered, but at last they will return and the Lord will send +fishers to fish them and hunters to hunt them out. (Jer. xvi: 16.) +The Gentiles will bring them back to their own land (Isaiah lxvi: +20). All will then be His people and He will be their God. + +4. _The Land is Blessed.--Fruitfulness and Plenty.--The Remnant to +Possess all these Things._ Verses 9-12. What a contrast there is now +seen! For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire +for beast. . . Little fruit was had from the ground, there was +nothing for man and beast. . . Neither was there any peace to him +that went out or came in on account of the affliction. . . There was +no rest, no peace, but uncertainty and affliction. Those that went +out from the land had no peace, and they that came into the land +found no peace. The curse said, No rest for the sole of their feet, +and how literally it has been fulfilled. Again the people seek a +resting place in the land without their God and their Saviour, all in +the confidence of the flesh. They will succeed in their restoration +plans only to find themselves at last in greater difficulties and +facing worse afflictions than ever before. Then every one will be +against his neighbor (verse 10). Money spent by the millions in +building channels for irrigation, planting of trees and vines, +building railroads, etc. (just what modern Zionism proposes and has +undertaken to do), may succeed in transforming the land in spots into +a fruitful garden, but the time of Jacob's trouble will sweep that +all away. The Lord will be gracious to the very land in the day of +His manifestation. There will be a seed of peace, the vine will give +her fruit, the ground her increase, the heavens their dew. They shall +build houses and inhabit them, they shall plant vineyards and eat the +fruit of them (Isaiah lxv: 21). For ye shall go out with joy and be +led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills shall break forth +before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap +their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the firtree, and +instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be +to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut +off (Isaiah lv: 12-13). The remnant of the people left after the +great tribulation will inherit this all. + +5. _The Curse Changed into Blessing._ Verses 13-15. They had been a +curse among the nations, but now at last the nations of the earth +blest in the seed of Abraham. As He had punished them so He blesses +them now. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God, speak ye +to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is +accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of +the Lord's hand double for all her sins (Isaiah xl: 1, 2). Literal +were the curses threatened concerning Israel and Israel's land, +literally they were all fulfilled. And are there not many more +promises of blessing for the people and for the land spoken by the +same true and faithful God who uttered the threatenings and carried +them out to the very last? And will not the Lord fulfill these +promises of blessing literally to the minutest details? Assuredly He +will. It is remarkable that this simple truth is not seen and +understood in Christendom of to-day. According to the popular idea +God has punished the Jews and will continue to do so, and the church +has taken Israel's place and inherited all the blessings. It is this +false notion which is responsible in a great measure for the dreadful +confusion existing in Christendom. The thing against which Paul +warned is practiced in Christendom, Boast not against the branches. . +. Be not highminded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural +branches (Jews) take heed lest He also spare not thee (Gentiles). God +is able to graft them (Israel) in again. (Romans xi.) + +6. _Israel will be a Holy People._ Verses 16 and 17. These are the +words ye are to do, speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, +execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; let none of +you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor and love no +false oath, for all these are things which I hate, saith the Lord. +Untruth, false oath, speaking one against the other are +characteristic sins of Israel. But the character of the nation is now +to be entirely changed. They are now indeed to be a holy people, with +hearts circumcised, loving God with all their hearts and their +neighbors as themselves. A new heart also will I give you, and a new +spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart +out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will +put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye +shall keep my judgments and do them. (Ezekiel xxxvi: 26, 27.) + +7. _No more Fast Days, but Feast Days._ Verses 18 and 19. The fast of +the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the +seventh and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy +and gladness and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and the +peace. This is now the answer to their question. The fasts of the +fifth and seventh month were the fasts commemorating the burning of +the temple and the taking of the city by Nebuchadnezzar, and the +other the anniversary of the murder of Gedeliah and his friends. The +fast of the tenth month was kept in remembrance of the siege of +Jerusalem which was commenced in that month and the fast of the +fourth month was kept on account of the taking of Jerusalem. These +fasts commemorated therefore all national calamities. A greater +calamity happened of course later when at the same time Jerusalem was +destroyed by the Roman armies, the temple and the city burned to the +ground and not a stone left upon another. The Jews are still keeping +national fasts on account of these calamities. Not alone in Jerusalem +are there Jews and Jewesses going to the small piece of ancient stone +masonry, which is said to be all left of the magnificent temple in +Jerusalem, to mourn there especially on the ninth day of Ab, but the +mourning among the orthodox Jews on that day is world-wide. In the +synagogues of Russia and New York, San Francisco and in South Africa, +everywhere where there are orthodox Jews the Lamentations of the +prophet Jeremiah are chanted in a mournful tone. But the time is +coming when all will be changed. With Jerusalem rebuilt and +peacefully inhabited, a temple full of God's glory, and over it all +the heavenly glory and the angels of God ascending and descending +upon the Son of Man, there will be no more need of fasting and +mourning, but all will be changed in gladness and joy. The Songs of +praise which are found at the close of the book of Psalms will then +undoubtedly be sung by restored Israel. + +8. _The Conversion of the World and Conquest for the Lord will follow +Through Converted and Restored Israel._ Verses 20-23. These verses +have often been spiritualized. How much harm there is done by taking +such words and promises out of their connections and fitting them to +a time and people for which they were never meant. Can God give His +blessing to such teaching of His Word? We believe not. Thus saith the +Lord of hosts, It shall yet be that nations will come, the +inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go +to another saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to +seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. And many peoples and strong +nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray +before the Lord. This the world has not yet seen. Individuals have +turned to the Lord, and His own are gathered out of all nations and +languages, but such a picture as it is seen here has not yet been +seen. The conversion of peoples and strong nations is still future. +It will not come by modern missionary efforts, consisting not alone +of preaching, but as it is done to-day, by educational work in +heathen countries, as well as other humanitarian institutions, such +as hospital work, orphanages, etc. Nations can never be converted by +these efforts, nor has God given His Church promises that nations and +the world is to be converted by the preaching of the Gospel of grace. +Individuals, of course, are converted and will be converted by the +Word faithfully preached. A people is thus taken out for His name. +And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After +this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, +which is fallen down (Israel's time commencing again, in restoration +and regeneration) and I will build again the ruins thereof and I will +set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all +the nations upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth +all these things. (Acts xv: 14-17.) It is sad to think that +Christendom ignores such a revelation of the divine purpose and order +and goes on in entirely different lines. We are living now in the +time of the outcalling of a people, the Church, the body of the Lord +Jesus Christ is formed. When that body is completed, which does not +mean the conversion of the world, the Lord will come for His +outcalled saints and then with His saints in glory. This will be +followed, according to the words of the prophets, as we have so +clearly seen in these studies by the building again of the tabernacle +of David and all that is connected with it, and then the residue of +men, the nations, will seek the Lord. It is also to be noticed that +these nations will seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and worship +there before Him. This means that Jerusalem will become the great +center of not alone world government but also of worship. The last +chapter in this book of Zechariah shows nations coming up to +Jerusalem on the feast of tabernacles. + +The last verse of the eighth chapter is the grandest of all. Thus +saith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall be that ten men shall +take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold +of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, we will go with you for we +have heard that God is with you. This shows clearly what so often is +doubted, namely, that the Jew converted and filled with the Spirit +will be the instrument for the conversion of the nations. At this +present time when a poor Jew shows himself, even in a so-called +Christian (?) land like ours, he will occasionally be followed by ten +men or more who will mock him and call him names and perhaps assault +him (by no means a rare occurrence). But it will all be changed in +the day of Israel's glory. It will then be known that Israel is the +blessed people, and ten men out of all languages will beseech the Jew +to take him along to the most blessed spot in the earth, to +Jerusalem. + +Thus ends one of the most striking prophecies concerning the future +of the Seed of Abraham and Abraham's land. How strange that so few +Christian people care to study these sublime revelations, which tell +us how true and faithful our God is and which make it so clear and +plain that the Bible is divine, the Word of God. May He teach us, who +love these truths, who love Him and His appearing, who is not only +Our Hope but Israel's Hope as well, may He teach us more and more to +know His thoughts and purposes and to find our delight in them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_The Second Part of the Prophecies--The First Burden--Judgment upon +Hadrach, Hamath, Tyre and Sidon--His People Kept--The King of Peace +and Righteousness Announced--Victory over the Enemies._ + +With the ninth chapter begins the second part of the book. In it God +shows through the prophet new and glorious visions of the Kingdom, +the conflicts which His people Israel will have, their victories and +final deliverance, ending with the sublime visions in the fourteenth +chapter. The Deliverer, the King Messiah, is seen here likewise, +suffering, rejected, pierced and slain, the Shepherd is smitten and +rejected, false shepherds take charge of the flock, and calamities +follow till the true Shepherd appears again and they look upon Him +whom they pierced. The Gentiles are seen at last coming up to +Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts. Like the first part +of the book, we have in the second a series of prophecies which are +progressive, leading up higher and higher till the whole purpose of +God is made known, and the summit of Glory to God in the Highest, +Peace on earth, is reached, in the establishment of the Throne of +Jehovah in and over the earth. Oh, how blind man is! that he passes +by the thoughts of his God and does not consider them, nor find +delight and pleasure in them. The words of man are read and studied, +and the Word of God is set aside. The great mass in Christendom is +wise in their own conceits and hastens on to the great waking up, +when it will be too late. It is for the few to look into these things +and to know the secrets of our God. Let us do it faithfully and +prayerfully. + +Twice in this second part of Zechariah we meet with the phrase "The +burden of the Word of Jehovah." The first time it stands in the +beginning of the ninth chapter, and the second time in the twelfth +chapter. We may conclude from this that the ninth, tenth and the +eleventh chapters were given as one prophecy, and the twelfth to the +fourteenth were perhaps given some time later. + +The land of Hadrach against which the first burden in chapter ix. +commences cannot be correctly located. Its close connection with +Damascus and Hamath show that the land of Hadrach must have been a +province of the Syrian kingdom then in existence. The Phoenician +cities Tyre and Sidon are next, and then mention is made of four +Philistine cities. Against these, Syria, Phoenicia, and the cities of +the Philistines, a great calamity and overthrow is prophesied by +Zechariah. They are conquered by the hosts of an enemy, and the rich +treasuries of Tyre are heaped together in the streets--silver as the +dust and gold as the mire--the bulwarks are smitten, and she herself +consumed by fire. From there the conquest goes on rapidly to the +Philistinian cities, and the King of Gaza perishes. The question +arises, What conquest and calamity is this? Is it accomplished or is +it still future? History records one great conqueror who rapidly +overthrew the countries and cities mentioned in this burden. +Alexander the Great and his expedition so successfully carried on is +undoubtedly meant here. All students of the prophetic Scriptures know +how prominently he likewise stands out in the Book of Daniel. The +young monarch, after the battle of Issus, besieged and quickly +captured Damascus. Sidon was easily taken, but Tyre resisted him some +seven months and was burned to the ground. Gaza and the other cities +came next. Thus the burden of the Word of Jehovah as uttered here by +Zechariah was literally fulfilled in the Syrian conquest of Alexander +the Great. However, history tells us that the armies of the youthful +monarch passed by Jerusalem a number of times without doing harm to +the city. This is remarkable, and in accord with the prophecy of +Zechariah, for we read in the eighth verse, "And I will encamp +against mine house, against the army, against him that passes through +and returns, and no oppressor shall come over them any more, for now +I have seen it with mine eyes." + +The Jewish historian Josephus gives a very interesting account of the +oppressor, and how Alexander the Great punished the Samaritans, and +the reason why he did not besiege and conquer Jerusalem. The account +which Josephus gives is so important that we have to quote from it. + +"After the destruction of Tyre, the conqueror marched against Gaza, +which was razed to the ground. While Alexander was at the siege of +Tyre, he sent to demand the surrender of Jerusalem. The High Priest +sent an answer in which he stated that Jerusalem had entered into an +alliance with the Persian monarch. After taking Gaza, Alexander +advanced suddenly against Jerusalem. Jaddua, the High Priest, and the +entire city were much frightened. But in a vision God told the High +Priest to be of good cheer, to decorate the city and open the gates +wide, and to go forth in his priestly robes with all the priests in +his train, and the people of the city clad in white garments. Jaddua +obeyed and the doors were opened, and the astonished enemy beheld a +startling spectacle. No sooner had Alexander seen the High Priest in +his gold embroidered robes with the holy name engraved on the turban, +then he fell upon his face and worshipped. His attendants were +greatly astonished. The Syrian kings who stood around feared that +Alexander had lost his reason. One at length asked why he, whom all +the world worshipped, should do homage to the High Priest of the +Jews. Alexander replied that he did not worship the High Priest but +his God. In a vision in Macedonia that figure in that very dress +appeared to me. He exhorted me to conquer Persia. Alexander entered +with the priest into the city to offer sacrifices. The High Priest +then acquainted him with the prophecies of Daniel, showing that a +Greek was to overthrow the Persian empire." The account is without +doubt a correct one, and we relate it here because this prophecy of +the Alexandrian conquest shows the wonderful escape of Jerusalem that +the oppressor shall not come over it. + +However, it is to be noticed that the eighth verse says that no +oppressor shall come over them _any more_. This puts before us again +the final deliverance of Jerusalem and Israel's land as it is seen in +the last chapter. It is said that history repeats itself, but divine +prophecy again and again announces events for the near future, and in +it is seen a foreshadowing of other events, and the original prophecy +awaits a greater and final fulfillment. The sentence quoted, that no +oppressor shall come over them any more, brings the first burden of +the word of Jehovah in connection with the coming final deliverance +of Israel when they shall be planted upon their land, and they shall +no more be plucked up. A final destructive visitation will be upon +the enemies of Israel and Jerusalem; in fact, many of the ancient +foes of Israel are seen revived in prophecy in the latter days then +to be swept away, while Jerusalem will again be miraculously saved. +In our exposition of the fourteenth chapter we hope to show the +details of this. + +The second section of the ninth chapter, verses 9-11, which is so +closely connected with the burden from verses 1-8, strengthens the +above exegesis. Who would say that verses 9-11 have seen a complete +fulfillment? The greater part of it is still future, and so it is +likewise with the third section of the ninth chapter. Let us quote +first verses 9-11: + + Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, + Shout aloud daughter of Jerusalem, + Behold thy King cometh to thee, + Just and having salvation, + Meek and riding upon an ass, + Even upon a colt, the she-ass's foal, + And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, + And the horse from Jerusalem, + And the battle bow shall be cut off, + And He shall speak peace unto the nations, + And His dominion shall be from sea to sea, + And from the river to the ends of the earth. + As for thee also, for the sake of thy covenant blood, + I send forth thy prisoners from the waterless pit, + Return to the stronghold--Prisoners of hope + Even to-day I declare I will render double unto thee. + +This stands in contrast to the Grecian conqueror, and it needs no +proofs that the coming King whom Zechariah beholds is the King +Messiah. The Jews acknowledge it as such. One of the greatest Jewish +commentators says (Rashi): It is impossible to interpret it of any +other than King Messiah. An interesting fable is based upon this +prophecy, and well known among orthodox Jews. Rabbi Eliezer says, +commenting on the words lowly and riding upon an ass, "This is the +ass, the foal of that she-ass which was created in the twilight. This +is the ass which Abraham our father saddled for the binding of Isaac +his son. This is the ass upon which Moses our teacher rode when he +came to Egypt, as it is said, And he made them ride upon the ass (Ex. +iv: 20). This is the ass upon which the Son of David shall ride." +Other interesting quotations could be given from Jewish writings, but +this is sufficient to show that the Jews believe it to be a Messianic +prophecy. And what blindness that they do not see Him who is the +Messiah; but is not the so-called "higher criticism" existing to-day +in Christendom being taught in churches and schools, that there are +no Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, much greater blindness? +Alas! so it is, and the outcome can be nothing else in the end than +the denial of the divinity of our Lord, or Unitarianism. + +Every reader of the new Testament knows that this prophecy is quoted +in the Gospels. Let us look to the Gospels and see its application. +First, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter xxi: 5: All this was done +that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, +Tell the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, +and sitting upon an ass, upon a colt the foal of an ass. The context +shows a great multitude there crying, Hosanna to the Son of David: +Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the +highest. But soon the cry is changed into, This is Jesus the prophet +from Nazareth of Galilee. Notice the Holy Spirit quoting from +Zechariah leaves out the sentence, "He is just, having salvation." +This is not an error, but it is the divine right of the Spirit who +gave the prophecies in olden times to apply them correctly in the New +Testament. In the Gospel of Mark in the eleventh chapter there is +likewise the description of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, but +Zechariah is not quoted. The same is true of the account given by +Luke, chapter xix., and here He is mentioned as the King that cometh +in the name of Jehovah, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. In +the fourth Gospel, chapter xii: 15, the account of His coming to +Jerusalem is much shorter than in the other Gospels. It says there, +Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, thy King cometh, sitting upon an +ass's colt. + +We see from this that the four Gospels give each an account of the +entry of the Lord into Jerusalem; two of them quote from Zechariah +and the other two do not. The quotations themselves are differing +from the prophecy in Zechariah ix. in two respects. The first words, +Rejoice greatly, is not at all used. In Matthew it is, Tell the +daughter of Sion, and in John, Fear not daughter of Sion. The +sentence, He is just and having salvation, is left out in both. + +A superficial exposition of the Word claims that Zechariah's prophecy +was fulfilled in the event recorded by the Gospels. As far as His +entry into Jerusalem is concerned, riding upon the colt the foal of +an ass (and note in Matthew it is shown that both the colt and the +ass are brought to Him. He could ride of course only upon one, but +the she-ass had to go along in fulfillment of prophecy), and the way +He came, meekly, in this respect the prophecy was fulfilled. This +entry of the Son of Man into Jerusalem was His formal presentation to +Jerusalem as its King, but, as stated above, the Messianic cry of +welcome Blessed is He, soon changes into, Jesus the prophet from +Nazareth in Galilee, and that again in the final cry of rejection, +Crucify Him, crucify Him! There was no salvation for Israel then, and +no kingdom for Him, hence no rejoicing is mentioned in the +quotations. + +It is His second coming to Jerusalem as the Son of Man in His glory +which will bring the fulfillment of Zechariah ix: 9-11. True, the +colt, the she ass's foal, will not be the animal He rides, but He +will come upon a white horse followed by the armies of heaven. He +comes then truly for Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy, Just is He +having salvation (marginal reading, Victory). There will be again the +welcome cry of the 118th Psalm, Blessed is He that cometh in the name +of Jehovah, preceded by the plea, Hosanna, save now. + +The tenth and eleventh verses show clearly that the prophecy is yet +to be fulfilled and can be only fulfilled in the coming of the Son of +Man in His glory. One of the reasons why modern Judaism rejects Jesus +of Nazareth, and does not believe Him to be the promised Redeemer, is +in this prophecy. Rabbi F. De Sola Mendes, of New York, brings in a +little book, "A Hebrew's Reply to the Missionaries," the following +argument: "We reject Jesus of Nazareth as our Messiah on account of +His deeds. He says of Himself: 'Think not that I am come to send +peace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword,' etc. But +we find that our prophets ascribe to the true Messiah quite different +actions." Zechariah says (ix: 10), He shall speak peace to the +nations. Jesus says He came to send the sword on the earth; whereas, +Isaiah says of the true Messianic time, "They shall beat their swords +into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall +not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any +more." + +Of course the Jew is right in expecting the literal fulfillment of +this prophecy, and it will be fulfilled when He comes again and the +restoration of all things will follow, as spoken by the mouth of all +his holy prophets. + +When He appears again, in like manner as He went into heaven, that is +not for His saints but with His saints, there will be peace for +Ephraim and for Jerusalem, and the kingdom is then restored to +Israel, that is, to the house of Judah and the house of Israel. The +chariot, the horse, and the battlebow will be cut off. + +Not alone will He bring peace to the covenant people but to the +nations. He will speak peace. "And He shall stand, and shall feed His +flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of +Jehovah His God, and they shall abide; for now shall He be great unto +the ends of the earth. And this man shall be our peace" (Micah v: 4, +5). There will be abundance of peace (Ps. lxxii: 7). His dominion +will be from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. + +The prisoners of hope to be released, by the blood of the covenant, +from the pit wherein there is no water, is the nation whose captivity +is now ended. How strange that people should take a passage like this +and interpret it as meaning the restitution of the wicked and the +ungodly from the pit. There is nothing taught in the Word like that +which some people term a larger hope. The restitution (restoration) +of all things is not left to the fanciful interpretation of the human +mind, but is clearly defined by the Word itself, as spoken by the +prophets. In the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel xxxvii, Israel's +complaint is, Our hope is lost. But when He is manifested, who is +indeed the Hope of Israel, the prisoners (the captives), will be +released and cleansed. Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes +from tears. . . . "There is hope for thy latter end, saith the Lord, +and thy children shall come again to their own border" (Jer. xxxi: +17). The exhortation to return to the stronghold follows. Israel will +then sing, "He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry +clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings" (Ps. +xl: 2). Double will be rendered unto them, as promised, "Speak to the +heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is +accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of +the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Is. xl: 2). "For your shame +ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their +portion; therefore in their land they shall possess double; +everlasting joy shall be unto them" (Is. lxi: 7). + +And now we come to the third section of this chapter. The scene +changes once more. The chapter commences with scenes of war, strife, +battles and overthrow, and it ends with scenes of war and words of +cheer for Zion. In the middle stands the King and His advent, the +kingdom of peace, which He will establish. + +Alexander's successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Zion's successful +resistance, is undoubtedly the first fulfillment of the third +section. The Prophet Daniel speaks likewise of this terrible man of +sin, Antiochus Epiphanes (chap. viii). Not like Alexander, passing by +Jerusalem, he invaded the land of Judah, and endeavored to force the +idolatry of Greece upon the Jews. Entering Jerusalem, he slew 40,000 +of the inhabitants, and a larger number were sold as slaves. He then +entered the temple, seized the rich treasures stored there, and +commanded a big swine to be sacrificed upon the altar of +burnt-offering, and with the blood the sacred place was defiled. A +bitter struggle commenced, for Antiochus tried to exterminate the +Jews and their religion as well. Every observance of the Jewish +religion was forbidden, the Sabbath had to be profaned, and unclean +food had to be eaten. Idols were set up in the temple. Instead of the +Jewish feasts, the feasts of idols, with all their shocking +abominations and immoralities, were introduced, and the Jews were +forced to join in them. Thousands suffered martyrdom. But all at once +a few people stood up against the abominations, the Maccabeans, and +in a struggle lasting about twenty-five years, they fought +successfully against the enemies. Miraculous victories were achieved, +and thousands and tens of thousands of the idolators slain, and +Jerusalem and the land freed from the abomination. + +This terrible visitation of the land and the wonderful victory of the +Maccabeans is foretold by the prophet in the closing verses of the +ninth chapter. We will quote the passage: + + "I bend for me Judah and fill the bow with Ephraim, + And I will stir up thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece, + And make thee like the sword of a mighty man. + Jehovah shall be seen over them, + And His arrow shall go forth like lightning, + And the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet. + He shall go with whirlwinds of the South. + The Lord of Hosts shall cover them; + They shall devour and tread down slingstones, + And they drink and make a noise as from wine, + And they shall be filled like bowls, as the corners of the altar. + And Jehovah their God saves them in that day, as the flock of + His people; + For jewels of a crown shall they be, glittering over His land, + For how great is His goodness and how great His beauty! + Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine maidens." + +But again we have to remark that this prophecy is only partially +fulfilled. The terrible tribulation of the land of Judah when +Antiochus Epiphanes invaded the land, is but a type of the great +tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble. Antiochus Epiphanes, in his +awful fight against Jehovah and the Lord's people, is a type of the +final Antichrist, and the Jewish saints slain by him are types of the +Jewish saints which will be beheaded during the tribulation. Jehovah +will fight then, as it is stated here, against those nations in that +day (Zech. xiv). The remnant of Israel will then be victorious. Thus +everything is seen in this chapter in a past fulfillment, but only +partial, and in it a future fulfillment, which will be complete. + +We cannot leave this chapter without calling attention to the blessed +statement: + + "For jewels of a crown they shall be, glittering over His land." + +The slain who suffered martyrdom are meant, and all those who fought +for Jehovah's name and honor. May not the statement in Hebrews xi. +refer to this time? "Others had trials of mockings and scourgings, +yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were +sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword they +went about in sheepskins, in goatskins: being destitute, afflicted, +evil entreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in +deserts and in mountains and caves and the holes of the earth" (Heb. +xi: 36-39). + +And all will find a repetition during the coming tribulation. But the +time for reward has not yet come. The throne of glory is not yet +revealed, and the jewels, the saints made up in a crown, glittering +over the land are not yet seen. But the assurance is given, "They +shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my +jewels" (Mal. iii: 17). "Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the +hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God" (Isa. +lxii: 3). "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the +witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not +worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his +mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and +reigned with Christ a thousand years." Revel. xx: 6. Oh, blessed hope +of all the saints! To be with Christ in Glory, in His throne, and +sharing His rule. In that day of manifestation, when Christ our life +is manifested, and we shall be manifested with Him in glory--glory +never ceasing, but ever increasing, in the countless ages to come, +redeemed sinners will be the jewels of His crown, and He shall see +the travail of His soul and be satisfied. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +_More Blessings promised to Judah and Israel.--The Nation +Victorious.--Judah and Ephraim blessed, gathered and restored, and +their enemies overcome._ + +The tenth chapter continues to unfold Israel's future blessings and +restoration, and in it Ephraim, the house of Israel, is especially +mentioned. The chapter begins with a contrast. In the first verse +there is a call to prayer, and the assurance of an answer given; in +the second verse the idols are mentioned which Israel worshipped and +which give no comfort. + +Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. The former rain +and the latter rain are often spoken of in the Word. It is of course +first to be understood of the natural rain coming from the clouds +upon the land. The rain withheld and the land becomes a desert, the +rain given and the land flows again with milk and honey. I will give +you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the +latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine and thine +oil. . . . Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived, +and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the +Lord's wrath will be kindled against you and He shut up the heavens, +that there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest +ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. +(Deut. xi: 14-17.) + +The first rain came upon the seed placed into the ground, while the +latter rain was necessary to ripen the fruit. Israel's sin, unbelief, +disobedience and apostacy have shut the heavens and keep them shut so +that there is no rain and the land is a wilderness, waste and +desolate. An abundance of rain is promised to them when Jehovah +appears again. Much of late has been said that Palestine becomes +fruitful once more. It is said that the statistics show that during +the last years the rainfall has increased by so many inches. This +statement is denied by others. Some believers make much of this +rainfall and think that it is a sign of His coming, an indication +that God's favor is being restored to the land. This is incorrect. +The abundance of rain, the latter rain, is not promised for the land +at this present time, but it will come after the great tribulation, +and is closely connected with the manifestation of the Lord from +heaven in the clouds. The fruitfulness as it is seen now in the +land--by no means general, but only in spots--is brought about mostly +by artificial means, such as irrigation. During the great tribulation +there will be no rain. (Rev. xi: 6.) Modern Zionism, in its +God-dishonoring unbelief, with its immense resources of wealth and +influence, may succeed in transforming the land of the Fathers. +Indeed this is their scheme--building railroads, channels for +irrigation, factories, mines, institutions of learning, etc. But the +great tribulation will sweep it all away once more, and disaster will +come swiftly when the plan of a Jewish Kingdom, without Him who is +the King of the Jews, seems to be realized. It is not for the +believer to look now for the promised latter rain. All this looking +for signs has a tendency to foster the idea that the church will pass +through the tribulation. If that were the case we might well look to +the signs around us and look (as some believers do) where Antichrist +is to come from. + +The latter rain stands in connection with the Lord's manifestation +for Israel. Let us know, follow on to know Jehovah: like the morning +His coming is sure, and He shall come like the rain for us, like the +latter rain watering the earth. (Hosea vi: 3.) O ye children of Zion, +rejoice and be glad in Jehovah your God; He gives you the former rain +in a just measure, and sends you in showers the early and the latter +rain as in times of old. (Joel ii: 23.) It is time to seek Jehovah, +until He come to rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea x: 12.) But the +latter rain is also a type of spiritual blessings. It includes all +the blessed promises in spiritual things, and especially does it +stand for the full harvest which comes in after the heaven is opened +and that great outpouring of the Spirit takes place. (Joel ii: 28.) +It is unscriptural to expect now in this time such a latter rain, +just as it is unscriptural to expect now the rain upon the land of +Israel. How many prayers there are now in Christendom, well meant +undoubtedly; prayers for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, prayers +for a new Pentecost, even prayers for the outward manifestations; all +these prayers have no scriptural foundation, and cannot be answered +now in the dispensation in which we live. There will be the latter +rain, the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh; but it stands in +connection with the day of the Lord and with God's earthly people. + +Truly, as the beginning of Zechariah x. has it, in the time of the +latter rain there will be prayer for it, but the prayer does not come +from the lips of church-saints, but it comes from the lips of the +Jewish remnant. The assurance is given that Jehovah will send the +showers of rain, and before they come He will create the lightning. +The lightnings stand for His wrath and judgment, which will proceed +before the showers of blessing. In His coming He will be like the +lightning falling from the clouds. + +The second verse puts before us another picture. The apostacy of the +nation and their idolatry are now brought before us. The original +word for idols is teraphim, and these were household gods, which were +consulted by them. Spiritism (or as it is also called Spiritualism), +this awful delusion so strong in the last times, is not a new thing. +We can trace it to the remotest ages, and the nations which are still +in the darkness of heathendom still practice it. It is very powerful +in India and in China, and upheld by the father of lies from where it +springs. Israel knew it likewise, and was closely connected with its +abominations. The teraphim were little figures which in some way by +movements or mysterious noises gave an answer to questions. Men did +then go about as sorcerers, and mediums had visions and dreams. +Hearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your +dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak +unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the King of Babylon. They +prophesy a lie unto you. (Jer. xxvii: 9.) Let not your diviners that +are in the midst of you deceive you. . . . I have not sent them, +(Jer. xxii: 8, 9.) What an awful sin it was that Israel could thus +join themselves to idols and practice the abominable things. Soon the +punishment fell upon them and they were carried into captivity, as +the second verse states. Therefore they have wandered like a flock, +they are oppressed because there is no shepherd. Jehovah had been +rejected by them, and in this rejection is seen the rejection which +followed when they rejected the Son. Here Hosea iii: 4 is to be taken +into consideration. The children of Israel shall abide many days (the +dispersion in which they are now) without a king and without a +prince, without a sacrifice and without an image, without an ephod +and teraphim. The next verse speaks of their conversion in the latter +days. During their dispersion they will have neither the old worship +of Jehovah nor will they hold any longer to the teraphim and ask +guidance of them. How truly it has all been fulfilled, However there +is a word which the Lord spoke, which is here likewise to be +mentioned. It is one of the many misunderstood passages in the New +Testament. We find it in Matthew xii: 43-45. When the unclean spirit +is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and +findeth none. Then he saith I will return to my house from whence I +came out; and when he has come he findeth it empty, swept and +garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits +more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the +last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be +unto this wicked generation. The unclean spirit of idolatry had left +the nation after the return from the captivity, but there is in that +wicked generation at last a return of the same evil spirit with seven +others worse than the spirit of idolatry, and the last of that man +(unbelieving Israel) is worse than the first. This seems to us is the +true application of this passage. Israel is rapidly nearing the time +when unclean spirits with idols will have control over them. He who +comes in his own name, the false Messiah, the devil's masterpiece +with all his delusions and lying wonders, will be worshipped by them +and the outcast demons will enter the house again. This is clearly +seen in Zech. xiii: 2. It shall be in that day (after the nation has +looked upon the pierced one), saith Jehovah of hosts, I will cut off +the names of the idols from the land, and they shall be remembered no +more; and also the prophets and the spirits of uncleanness will I +cause to pass out of the land. A return to teraphim, sorcery, +divination, etc., is already noticeable in our day. The superstitions +of talmudical Judaism are many, and the modern revival of the ancient +teraphim, in Spiritism, through mediums, tables, etc., finds not a +few followers among the Jews. What will it be when the man of sin is +in the earth? All the world will wonder after the beast. + +In verses 3-5 we see once more the events which belong to Israel's +future. Mention is made first of the House of Judah. Against the +shepherds His anger is kindled, and the he-goats will be punished +(false leaders of the people and their enemies.) Then Jehovah visits +His flock, the house of Judah, and He will make them like His goodly +horse in war. Like heroes they are treading down the foes. They fight +successfully against the enemies, for Jehovah is once more with them +and the day of vengeance has come, and the riders on horses are put +to shame by them. The parables of Balaam tell us what Israel will be +at last, and how like a young lion they will spring upon the prey. +Even now in dispersion the Jew inspires terror and is feared by the +nations. This fear, which produces anti-Semitism (so strong in our +times), has a good reason, for they will soon be the head of the +nations and no longer the tail. + +The words in the fourth verse, From him (Judah) the cornerstone, from +him the nail. . . have been differently interpreted. The nail is in +the oriental house a large pin, often very beautifully ornamented, +and the most costly things are hanged thereupon. And I will fasten +him as a nail in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne +to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of +his father's house. (Isaiah xxii: 23, 24.) The Shemeth rabbah, a +Jewish interpretation, says on this verse, this is King David; as it +is said, the stone which the builders rejected is become the chief +cornerstone. Some say it is spoken concerning the Lord, that He is +the cornerstone and the nail. It refers to Him no doubt, but what is +spoken of Him finds also a fulfillment in restored Israel. Thus +Israel is yet to be the cornerstone upon which everything rests in +the earth, and the nail upon which hangs the glory. + +The rest of the chapter speaks of restoration of the house of Judah +and the house of Israel. The house of Judah will be strengthened, and +the house of Joseph (the ten tribes) will be saved. Ephraim, standing +likewise for the house of Israel, shall become like a hero, and their +heart shall rejoice, and their sons shall see and rejoice, their +heart shall exult in Jehovah. I will hiss to them and will gather +them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they did +increase. And I will sow them among many peoples, and in far +countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall +live and return. (Verses 7-9.) Their bringing back will be from the +land of Egypt and from Assyria. With it is the judgment of the +nations; they will be cast down and the restored people shall walk in +His name. + +The prophecy brings before us the old question concerning the ten +tribes or the house of Israel. These tribes are generally called the +"lost tribes," and as such they have been found perhaps a hundred +times by as many different persons. The North American Indians, the +Afghans, the Nestorians, tribes in the interior of Africa as well as +in China, and even the Hottentots of South Africa, have been declared +to be the lost tribes. We believe that this looking for the lost +tribes and to locate them is something against which the Holy Spirit +warns when He declares, But avoid foolish questions and genealogies +and contentions and striving about the law, for they are unprofitable +and vain. (Titus iii: 9.) Neither give heed to fables and endless +genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edyfing which +is in faith. (1 Tim: 1-4.) We think it wrong to go into such +speculations on matters which the Lord purposely has hid in His Word. +We would have nothing else to say on this topic were it not for a +very strange teaching which has fascinated many minds and which has +become very popular both in England and in America. We have reference +to the so-called Anglo-Israel theory. According to this theory the +lost tribes have been found in the Anglo-Saxon race, and that God has +kept His promises made to the house of Israel and fulfilled them and +fulfills them now in the two nations, America and England. It is a +theory, and the Word of God is used to prove it. This may be done +with any theory, and scripture twisted out of its place can be made +to prove almost anything. Anglo-Israel is a delusion, and it is +strange that so many believers have become infatuated with it and +suffer consequently from it. The theory is based upon a very serious +mistake in the exposition of the prophetic Word. All through prophecy +we find promises which belong to the house of Israel (and to Judah +likewise), the conflicts, the victories over their enemies, temporal +blessings, etc. These promises are to be realized in the latter days. +The phrase "latter days," however, is misunderstood, and believed to +be the days in which we live; while in fact the latter days are still +future and have not yet been reached. Prophecies which are spoken +concerning the future are looked upon as already fulfilled. + +In this way the ninth verse in our chapter is misunderstood, And I +will sow them among the peoples, and in far countries they shall +remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. This +passage is often quoted in Anglo-Israel literature, and is always put +down as being fulfilled in the Anglo-Saxon race. We claim that it has +not yet been fulfilled, but will be fulfilled when the house of Judah +has been restored, and they as well as the house of Israel are in the +land and form one people, God's earthly kingdom people. This is true +of all the promises which Anglo-Israelism claims to have found a +fulfillment. + +It is true they are now scattered among the nations and the Lord +knows them and He knows where they are and in due time He will send +hunters to hunt them out and fishers to fish them in (Jer. xvi: 16); +and they will be brought back to the land upon horses and in +chariots, etc. (Isaiah lxvi: 20.) After that they will be sown among +the peoples. They are then in the far countries and increase as they +did before and are a blessing to the nations and not a curse. Their +seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the +people, all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the +seed which the Lord has blessed. (Isaiah lxi: 9.) Judah's return will +be from all directions, but according to the tenth verse Ephraim will +be brought back from Egypt and Assyria. Anglo-Israel is a very poor +Ishmael attempt to help God to keep His promises. + +When all this takes place the Lord will pass through the sea and +there will be affliction. The Nile is mentioned, and in Assyria the +pride will be brought down, no sceptre any longer in Egypt. Only then +after this manifestation will they walk (Judah and Israel) in His +name, and not before. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +_Scenes of overthrow and slaughter.--The Shepherd with the two +staves, Beauty and Bands.--He is rejected.--The thirty pieces of +silver.--The foolish shepherd and his punishment._ + +The eleventh chapter presents a very dark scene. So far we have seen +that the prophet saw in visions and heard from the Lord nothing but +blessings and mercies for Israel, restoration both national and +spiritual, overthrow of all their enemies, destruction of the world +powers, establishment of the theocracy and world conquest; but now +the scene changes completely. That which precedes all these blessed +events, the events for which indeed the earth and groaning creation +is waiting, is now unfolded in all the terrible details, Israel's +apostacy and dreadful punishment on account of the rejection of the +Shepherd, and instead of Him there is given a foolish shepherd. + +We will briefly review the entire chapter before taking up the study +of it in details. The first three verses contain a sublime +description of the visitation which was to come upon the land of +Israel. In the fourth verse the nation is seen as a flock of +slaughter, and the buyers who slaughter them are not guilty, and +their sellers are getting rich by it. The inhabitants of the land are +not spared; all is waste and there is no deliverance. In the seventh +verse the reason of all this judgment is seen. The Prophet does a +symbolic act. As a shepherd he represents the good Shepherd of +Israel, the Messiah. He comes to save them from the terrible +calamity, but he is rejected. The shepherd has two staves, Beauty and +Bands. He breaks one first and asks his price, and they offer him the +price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver, which he at the word of +Jehovah casts from himself. The second staff is broken. Instead of +the staves the Prophet takes the instruments of a foolish shepherd, +undoubtedly weapons of destruction. They perish, they stray, they are +wounded, they suffer and are devoured. At last the foolish shepherd +is punished. This is a birdseye view of the chapter. We will consider +the details under three divisions: The judgment upon the land and the +slaughter of the flock; the cause of it. The Shepherd rejected and +set aside. And in the third place the foolish shepherd. + +_I. The judgment upon the land, the temple, and the slaughter of the +flock (verses 1-6)._ + + Open thy doors, Lebanon; + Let the fire devour thy cedars. + Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; + Because the lofty ones are spoiled. + Howl, oaks of Bashan, + For the high forest is come down. + A voice of the howling of the shepherds: + For their glory is spoiled. + A voice of the roaring of young lions, + For the pride of Jordan is spoiled. + +What an awful picture these three verses present to us, and how +sublime the language! Everything is swept away by a mighty +conflagration. It starts among the lofty cedars of Lebanon; the fir +tree is its prey, and the oaks of Bashan as well as the high forest +come down, and it ends at the Jordan. In the midst of it is heard the +howling of the shepherds and the roaring of the young lions. We have +in these three verses a description of the terrible and complete +judgment which was to fall and which has fallen upon the land of +Israel on account of their disobedience and wickedness. The +destruction of the temple by fire is of course included in this scene +of burning and devastation. Jewish interpretation sees especially in +these verses the prophecy of the destruction of the temple in +Jerusalem. The following is a quotation from the Talmudical tract +Yoma. "Our Rabbis have learnt from tradition that forty years before +the destruction of the temple the lot never used to fall to the right +hand but to the left. The lamp of the evening light would not burn, +and the doors of the temple used to open of their own accord, until +Rabbi Yochanan, the son of Zakkai, rebuked them. He said to it, O +Temple, Temple, why art thou terrifying thyself? I know well that thy +end is to be destroyed, for already Zechariah, the son of Iddo, hath +prophesied, _Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let a fire consume thy +cedars!"_ As the time of Jerusalem's overthrow and the devastation of +the land drew nearer, after the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ +and His apostles, strange signs in heaven and earth were seen in +Jerusalem and throughout the land. They were signs of warning of the +coming doom, and must have had a special significance for the remnant +of Jewish-Christians who still were in the doomed city. Josephus +mentions a series of these signs: "A comet which had the appearance +of a huge sword hang over the city for a whole year. While the people +were assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the sixth hour of +the night, a sudden bright light shone about the temple. On +Pentecost, when the priests entered by night into the temple they +said that they heard many voices proclaim, Let us depart hence. A +certain Jew, the son of Ananus, began suddenly to cry in the temple: +'A voice from the East and a voice from the West! A voice from the +four winds! A voice against Jerusalem and against the Temple! A voice +against the bridegrooms and the brides! A voice against the whole +people!' Day and night in the narrow streets he repeated this cry in +a loud voice. He was severely beaten. He uttered neither shriek nor +pain nor prayer for mercy, but raising his sad and broken voice he +cried at every blow of the scourge, 'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!' For four +years the son of Ananus paid no attention to anyone, and never spake +excepting the same words, Woe to Jerusalem! He neither cursed anyone +who struck him nor thanked anyone who gave him food, but continued to +cry, 'Woe, woe to the city and to the temple!'" (Milman's History of +the Jews, Vol. II.) The above event spoken of in the tract Yoma, +which the pious Rabbi Yochanan thought to be in fulfillment of +Zechariah xi:1, is also mentioned by Josephus. He says, "The eastern +gate of the inner temple, which was of brass and very heavy, and had +been with difficulty shut by twenty men, was seen to open by itself +about the sixth hour of the night." + +Once more Jerusalem is to be compassed about by armies and then there +will be signs in earth and in the heavens. Earthquakes will shake the +city, mountains will sink down and valleys will be exalted, the sun +will be darkened and the moon turned into blood, fire and smoke will +arise. The climax of it all will be the manifestation of the Lord who +will overthrow Israel's enemies. + +Other interpreters among the Jews declare that this prophecy speaks +of the destruction of the temple. + +The correct interpretation is that it includes all the devastation of +the land, the burning of the temple, the slaughter of the flock, the +spoiling of the shepherds, the Jewish leaders and the complete +overthrow of the land and of the people. How awful the fulfillment of +the prophecy has been! The Lord's voice full of tears cried, long +after Zechariah's mournful vision, "If thou hadst known, at least in +this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are +hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee that thine +enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and +keep thee in on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground, +and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one +stone upon another." The measure was full. After terrible wars +amongst themselves, the fire advanced in the direction from Lebanon, +in the form of the Roman army full of vengeance, spreading ruin and +misery wherever they went, till after a long and dreadful siege +Jerusalem fell, the temple was burnt, and over a million human beings +were slain. Not one stone was left upon another. Up to now this +judgment has been the most appalling, the tribulation then, the +greatest; but there is another tribulation coming of which the former +destruction of Jerusalem is but a faint type, and that tribulation +which is even now so close at hand will find a climax in the day of +wrath, the day of vengeance of our God. The next three verses speak +of the flock of slaughter and the last attempt divine love made to +save the doomed nation. Zechariah is commanded to feed them. + + Thus saith Jehovah my God; + Feed the flock of slaughter; + Their possessors slay them and are not guilty: + And they that sell them say, + Blessed be Jehovah, for I am getting rich; + Their own shepherds pity them not. + I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; + I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hands, + And into the hand of his king: + And they shall smite the land, + And out of their hand I will not deliver them. + +What a dreadful condition of the sheep of His pasture, the lost sheep +of the house of Israel, God's flock! Even so it was, strangers ruled +over them, and they were their prey, getting rich on them and not +guilty. Still worse their own shepherds, the civil and ecclesiastical +rulers of the nation, spared them not. God had indeed given them up. +Well may we stop and think for a moment of the apostacy of +Christendom and its final overthrow and judgment so clearly seen in +the book of Revelation. Even now the flock of slaughter is seen and +all getting ripe for the day of wrath! + +The action of Zechariah by divine command, like the crowning of the +high priest in the sixth chapter, is a typical one. Zechariah is a +type of the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. The disobedient +nation, the flock of slaughter, had taken God's servants and beat one +and killed another and stoned another. When He sent servants more +than the first, they did unto them in like manner (Matt. xxi: 35). +After this came the last attempt of divine love. God sent His Son as +a Shepherd to seek and feed the lost sheep. He was not accepted, but +they rejected Him. We will consider this now in the second section. + +_II. The Shepherd set aside and rejected (verses 7-14)._ + +"So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the most miserable sheep. +And I took to myself two staves; the one I called Beauty, the other I +called Bands; and I fed the flock. And I cut off the three shepherds +in one month; for my soul became impatient with them, and their soul +also abhorred me. And I said, I will not feed you: the dying, let it +die; and the cut off, let it be cut off; and the left over, let them +devour each the flesh of the other. And I took my staff, Beauty, and +cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with +all the peoples. And it was broken in that day, and thus the wretched +of the flock who gave heed to me knew that this was the word of +Jehovah. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my wages; +and if not, forbear. So they weighed as my wages thirty pieces of +silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it unto the potter; the goodly +price at which I am valued of them. And I took the thirty pieces of +silver, and threw them into the house of Jehovah, to the potter, Then +I broke my second staff, Bands, that I break the brotherhood between +Judah and Israel." + +Much has been written on this difficult passage. The very first +sentence in the paragraph speaks of divine love. He came, the mighty +God, the everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, in the likeness of +man, as a servant and a gentle shepherd to feed the miserable ones. +Looking at the multitudes who followed Him when He had come, He was +moved with compassion, for they were distressed and scattered as +sheep having no shepherd (Matt. ix: 36). True shepherds indeed they +had not. Prophets sent by Jehovah had long before ceased to come, and +those who ruled them were miserable leaders of the blind, concerning +whom Jehovah spoke through Ezekiel, "Woe unto the shepherds of Israel +that do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You +eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the +fatlings, but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not +strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither +have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again +that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was +lost" (Ezekiel xxxiv: 3-5). But now Jehovah Himself has come to be +their Shepherd, "Behold, I Myself, even I, will search for My sheep +and find them out" (Ezekiel xxxiv: 11). And when He came and God was +manifested in the flesh, He turned indeed to the most miserable of +the sheep--the publicans and the outcasts, sinners and harlots, +gathered around Him. The Prophet as the type of the good Shepherd has +two staves. The one is called Beauty (marginal reading, +graciousness). The second one is Bands. The Shepherd carries a staff +to protect and guide His flock. In the second Psalm the returning +Lord is seen shepherding the nations with a rod of iron, but here the +two staves cannot mean instruments for correction, but they are the +staves of comfort and love. God's mercy and favor are clearly +indicated in these two staves. The first one, Beauty, which is cut +asunder first, and that before the wages of the Shepherd, the thirty +pieces of silver, are given, stands no doubt for the gracious offer +with which the King, preaching the kingdom, came among His people, to +His own. He proclaimed that which prophets had spoken before, God's +mercy and love, long promised, now to be carried out. He Himself had +come to redeem His people and deliver them from their mighty enemies +as well as from the false leaders. But the offer, the kingdom +preaching, is rejected, the staff, Beauty, is cut asunder, the +covenant with the peoples (Amim in Hebrew), His own, is now broken. +The kingdom is to be taken away and given to another nation. After +the breaking of the staff, Beauty, there comes the giving of the +wages, the thirty pieces of silver. The Shepherd who broke the staff +is treated like a slave. + +The second staff in His hands, Bands, speaks of union, binding +together, bringing into fellowship. It typifies the priestly side of +the good Shepherd who died for the flock. This staff is broken after +the thirty pieces were given for Him, and cast into the temple. They +cried, Away with Him! we have no King save Caesar! Crucify Him! His +blood be upon us and upon our children! The cross bears the +superscription, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, and +from the lips of the rejected King and Shepherd there came the prayer +for His people, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. +The doom came not at once upon the nation. Once more the love of the +Shepherd is preached to the miserable sheep, and the remission of +sins offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it ends in +rejection too; no bringing together into One followed. The foolish +shepherd appears next, and after him the good Shepherd will appear +again with His two staves, Beauty and Bands, kingdom and mercy, +bringing and binding together. He will then be a Priest upon His +throne. This interpretation is the most satisfactory one, and in +harmony with the entire scope of Zechariah's visions and prophecies. + +Who are the three shepherds to be cut off in one month by the +Shepherd? Are they persons or not? Many answers have been given to +these questions, and many theories have been advanced to solve the +difficulty. It is not necessary to mention any of them. The three +shepherds are not persons, but they stand for the three classes of +rulers which governed Israel, and were in that sense shepherds. We +read of these shepherds in Jeremiah ii: 8, priests, rulers, and +prophets. The Lord likewise mentions them in Matthew xvi: 21, elders, +chief priests and scribes. When He came He was indeed weary with +them, and denounced their hypocrisies and wickedness. They in turn +hated and abhorred Him, and conspired to put Him to death. The Lord +Himself cut them off. He pronounced His woes and judgments upon them, +but the judgment was not at once carried out. When Jerusalem was +taken their rule came to an end and they were cut off. + +But there are mentioned the wretched of the flock that gave heed unto +the Shepherd, and they knew that it was the word of Jehovah. These +wretched ones are the faithful ones who followed the Shepherd, the +small remnant. (Compare with chapter xiii: 7.) The others who +rejected the King and the Shepherd were indeed not fed, but were +dying and cut off. + +The wages of the good Shepherd, thirty pieces of silver, and these +thrown into the house of Jehovah to the potter is to be considered +next. Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave who had been +killed. If the ox gore a manservant or a maidservant, the owner shall +give unto their master thirty shekels of silver (Exodus xxi: 32). Oh, +what unfathomable love! The Lord from heaven became like a slave. The +love He looked for He found not. It was refused to Him, and instead +He was insulted, mocked, and treated like a miserable slave. There +was one of the twelve who was called Judas Iscariot. He went to the +chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me, and I will +deliver Him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of +silver (Matt. xxvi: 14). The money at the command of Jehovah is +thrown away by the prophet with indignation, into the house of +Jehovah, to the potter. Perhaps the prophet never knew the real +significance of his act, but we know it from the New Testament. Then +Judas which betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented +himself and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief +priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent +blood. But they said, What is this to us? See thou to it. And he cast +down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed and hanged +himself And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, It +is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is the price of +blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potters' field +to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called the field of +blood unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by +Jeremiah, the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of +silver, the price of Him that was priced, whom certain of the +children of Israel did price, and they gave them for the potters' +field, as the Lord appointed me (Matt. xxvii: 3-9). How striking the +fulfillment. However, here is a difficulty. In Matthew it is stated +that Jeremiah spoke the prophecy, and Zechariah's name is not +mentioned at all. How can this be explained? + +The prophecy certainly as it was fulfilled was not given by Jeremiah +at all, but through Zechariah. There can be doubt that his name +should appear here instead of Jeremiah, but that Jeremiah's name is +quoted must have a meaning. Rotherham in his translation of the New +Testament makes a foot note in which he says, "Zech. xi: 12, 13: +Perhaps as included in a scroll headed by Jeremiah." But this is not +satisfactory. The question would be if there is anything in Jeremiah +which could have a connection with the typical action of Zechariah. +There is a similar action in Jeremiah, which, as a whole, speaks of +the same event which Zech. xi: 13 has, and which is seen in +fulfillment in Matt. xxvii. Read in Jeremiah the eighteenth and +nineteenth chapters. The word "_Topheth_" in Jeremiah means an +unclean place, a burial ground. It seems as if Jeremiah's name +appears here so as to call attention to the fact that the prophet +spoke of the event likewise, and that Zech. xi. and Jer. xviii. and +xix. must be compared and read together. + +_III. The foolish shepherd (verses 15-17)._ + +And Jehovah said to me, Take unto thee again the instruments of a +foolish shepherd. For, behold, I raise up a shepherd in the land; the +perishing he will not visit, the scattered ones he will not seek for, +the wounded he will not heal, the strong he will not feed, but he +shall eat the flesh of the fat, and their hoofs he will break off. +Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword upon +his arm and upon his right eye. His arm shall be utterly withered and +his right eye completely blinded. + +The prophet now impersonates another shepherd, one who is foolish and +wicked, and in his hands he does no longer hold the staves of Beauty +and Bands, but the instruments of the foolish shepherd to wound and +to hurt are in his possession. This foolish shepherd is the opposite +from the good shepherd. He came to heal, to seek, to save, and to +feed, but the foolish shepherd scatters, does not heal, nor does he +feed the flock; but he eats the flesh of the fat. The description of +this false shepherd is like the description of the shepherds in Ezek. +xxxiv., as quoted before. Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the gathering +of the flock is future still, but before He gathers the lost and +scattered sheep of Israel and brings them back to their land and +gives them the one Shepherd and David His servant, there will be +false shepherds. The true One rejected, the nation becomes the prey +of the foolish shepherds. Poor, blinded Israel! How many wicked +shepherds they have had, and how often the prey of wicked leaders. +False Messiahs appeared among them again and again to find strong and +numerous following. Still the foolish shepherd, the last one, the +very embodiment of Satan himself; the accuser, has not yet come. +Forerunners there have been many. Herod was one of them, but not that +man of sin, the son of perdition who will appear and be worshiped as +God, right before the King of kings and the true Shepherd of His +flock appears to slay that wicked one with the breath of His mouth +and by the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. ii.). The Lord said, I +am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall +come in his own name, him ye will receive (John v: 43). That one who +comes in his own name has not yet come, and when at last he is here, +it will be for Israel the time of greatest trouble and tribulation +for all them that inhabit the earth. The third section of our chapter +finds its complete fulfillment in the Antichrist, the false Messiah, +the beast, the little horn, the leader of the enemy, the false prince +of Israel; thus the foolish shepherd is called throughout the +prophetic word. The dreadful punishment will be executed upon the +foolish shepherd in the day of the Lord's coming with His saints for +the salvation of His people Israel. + +The eleventh chapter in Zechariah is the darkest in Israel's history. +The night began with their apostasy and rejection of the Lord of +Glory, their own brother, their loving Shepherd, the Lord Jesus +Christ. It ends in darkness greater still under the regime of the +foolish shepherd. But the morning cometh after that dark night, and +Israel's sun will never set again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +_The second burden, from Chapter xii-xiv.--Jerusalem and the +nations.--The conflict of the end.--The chiefs of Judah and the +strength promised to the feeble.--Nations destroyed.--Outpouring of +the Spirit and looking upon Jehovah, the pierced One.--The great +national mourning._ + +We have before us the second burden, which begins with the eleventh +chapter and closes with the fourteenth. The events seen in the first +burden, that is in chapters ix., x. and xi., were in part fulfilled, +but in the second burden we find prophecies which have seen no +fulfillment whatever; they are all future. There is only one prophecy +which is fulfilled, the one of the smitten shepherd at the end of the +thirteenth chapter. The great future events which are recorded in the +second burden are: The victory of Jerusalem over the hostile nations, +the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the appearing and beholding of the +pierced One, the national repentance of Israel, the cleansing of the +nation, the final conflict and the Lord coming with His saints, the +complete overthrow of the enemies and the establishment of the +kingdom in the earth, with Jerusalem as a center. These three +chapters form indeed a glorious finale to the wonderful visions and +prophecies which Jehovah gave to the prophet. The fourteenth chapter +is the summit. + +Not a few interpreters have committed the serious error and have +tried to find a fulfillment of these chapters somewhere, and if no +historical events could be made to suit the occasion, a spiritual +application had to be made and a spiritual fulfillment in the +so-called "Israel of the New Testament," the church, invented, which +of course never satisfies the prayerful student of the word. + +In reading the twelfth chapter carefully, it will be seen at once +that here we have prophecies which not alone refer to Jerusalem and +Judah exclusively, but which cannot yet have seen a fulfillment. The +end of the chapter shows Israel's conversion. The Spirit is poured +out. They look upon the pierced One, Jehovah; repentance and +cleansing follows throughout the land. This brings before us the hour +of Israel's salvation, the same which the Holy Spirit unfolds through +Paul, in Romans xi. It is an event which will take place after the +fullness of the Gentiles will have come in (the church removed from +the earth). And so all Israel shall be saved; even as it is written, +There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer; He shall turn away +ungodliness from Jacob: And this is my covenant unto them, when I +shall take away their sins (Rom. xi: 25-37). There is no saved +Israel now and there can be no national turning of Israel unto the +Lord at this present time, but when the Lord comes and they shall +look upon Him, that salvation will be at hand. This coming of the +Lord to Israel when they shall see His glory will be preceded by +nations rising against Jerusalem. Not one nation, but nations, will +make war once more with Jerusalem; nor will Jerusalem in that future +siege fall into the hands of the enemies, but the city and the people +will be victorious. The period of the Maccabees is not meant, nor is +there anything in the past which could even be a partial fulfillment +of Zech. xii. It is all future. + +Let us look now at the details of the chapter. Thus saith the Lord, +who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the +earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (verse 1). The +speaker is Jehovah, the Almighty One who created the heavens and the +earth, and who formeth the spirit of man within him. Why such a +beginning of this second burden? To show that He who has given all +these promises is able to do it. Men may fail and are powerless to +give help. Indeed, Israel will be utterly helpless then when the +enemy comes in like a flood, but in that hour of extremity Jehovah +Himself, the Omnipotent One, the One through Whom and in Whom and for +Whom heaven and earth were created, will come, and in His majestic +appearing deliver Jerusalem and His people at last. But when He +appears for their salvation and they look upon Him, they see Jehovah +whom they pierced, Jehovah-Jesus, the One who was once rejected, but +who now comes in power and in glory. This first verse shows the +speaker in the entire chapter is Jehovah, and is one of the strongest +Old Testament passages which show that the Redeemer, the One who came +as an obedient servant to suffer and to die, is Jehovah. + + Behold, I make Jerusalem a cup of reeling + To all the nations round about; + Upon Judah also shall it be, + In the siege against Jerusalem. + And it shall come in that day, I make Jerusalem + A burdensome stone for all the peoples: + All that are burdened with it shall be wounded; + All the nations of the earth shall gather against it. + (Verses 2 and 3.) + +This brings us back to the first and second night visions concerning +the nations that are at ease, and thus helped forward their +affliction, the four horns which scattered Judah and Israel. The +ending three chapters bring out much of the details of what we saw in +the first three chapters in an outline. What an unfolding there is +now! Jehovah remembers Jerusalem and is jealous for her, and +Jerusalem is now to become a cup of reeling (like a drunken man) unto +all the nations round about. Isaiah long before Zechariah saw the +judgment coming. The cup of fury which Jerusalem drank is now to be +emptied by the enemies, and they will have to drink the cup of +reeling. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk from +the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the bowl +of the cup of reeling and drained it. . . . Behold, I have taken out +of thine hand the cup of reeling, even the bowl of the cup of My +fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. And I will put it in the +hand of them that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow +down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, +and as the street to them that go over (Isaiah ii: 17, 22, 23). What +a wonderful harmony in the prophetic word! Jerusalem has been +drinking all along the cup of reeling, the cup of His fury, even +drained the cup; but while Jerusalem is thus drinking divine +displeasure, the nations, and with them that awful monstrosity called +Christendom, are getting ripe for the cup of wrath. A judgment is +hastening rapidly, and Jerusalem will be for the nations the cup of +reeling. We saw in the first night vision that the nations at ease +were condemned by Jehovah. He is sore displeased with them. They have +hurt His people and His inheritance. Terrible accusation against +Christendom too, which has always been and is now the great stumbling +block to the Jew, with its man-made institutions, creeds and +self-exaltation. The reader will understand we do not mean the +church, the one body; this is not applicable to true believers. +Man-made Christendom is the enemy of Jerusalem, and hates God's +loving thoughts for the peace of Jerusalem. If there is blindness in +part upon Israel, it is equally true that blindness is upon the +Gentiles. There is planning and scheming for expansion, world +reformation and possession in Christendom, which leaves out and +ignores completely God's purposes, and sets aside, as higher +criticism does, the oracles of God. No thought in Christendom that +Jehovah will ever make good His promises to the seed of Abraham, +therefore no thought of the Jew, no love for poor Israel; on the +other hand they are despised and hated. It is startling, indeed, to +see how Europe, the territory of the Roman Empire, which will form +yet the confederacy of kingdoms under one head, is at present boiling +over with antisemitism, and the heart of Europe, France, is the very +hotbed of it. There was never a time when antisemitism was so strong +and so universal as it is now at the end of the much boasted of +nineteenth century. What will it be when the salt of the earth, the +church, is removed? The restraint is then taken away and the outbreak +will come. The Jew is the thorn in the flesh of the nations; he is +hated and feared. However, the second and third verses of our chapter +do not speak of the enemies of Israel, as they are away from the land +of Israel, but the prophecies show the nations having come up against +the city of Jerusalem. Before this can be fulfilled Jerusalem must be +once more not alone inhabited by Jews, but be the city of the nation +again as it was in the past, a partial return of the Jews to +Palestine must have taken place, and great prosperity resting upon +their endeavors for a time. Mighty armies are seen then coming up +against the city and the land, and while in the land and in the city +there will be tribulation, the reign of the false Messiah, outside +the armies sent out by the confederacy of nations will be gathered. +It is of this gathering of the nations before Jerusalem in the +tribulation the great, the twelfth chapter speaks. In the exegesis of +the fourteenth chapter we will have occasion to describe this coming +siege of Jerusalem. + +In speaking of these coming events it is necessary to bear in mind +that they have nothing to do with the church. Believers sometimes are +confused in this respect in not holding strictly to the coming of the +Lord for His saints, and the absence of the church in the earth +during the tribulation, and after this--His coming with His saints. +Because the Jews are not yet in possession of the land and Jerusalem +is not yet a Jewish city, some have reasoned that the coming of our +Lord must be a good ways off yet, and on account of these events not +being seen now, they say we cannot say that the Lord can come any +moment for His church. There is not one scripture which teaches that +before the Lord comes for His church the Jews must have returned or +Jerusalem be a national headquarter for Israel once more, etc. It is +true a partial restoration of the Jews in unbelief has commenced, and +there is a remarkable national awakening such as has never been +before, but the full development of this restoration will come after +the church has left the earth and has been joined to her Lord in the +air. An exodus of Jews will take place, the land will become theirs, +and the well laid plans and schemes of the present time will be all +carried out. Political combinations will be their chief hopes as well +as others for success. As Pharaoh of olden times did hasten after the +children of Israel when they had left his domain, so it seems the +nations will come after them and besiege Jerusalem. Everything is +getting ready for this. Let every believer rejoice in the blessed +hope that no saint will be in the earth when at last these sad scenes +of a passing dispensation are enacted. + + In that day, saith Jehovah, + I will smite every horse with astonishment, + And his rider with madness: + I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, + And every horse of the peoples I will smite with blindness, + And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart, + The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength, + In Jehovah of hosts their God. + In that day I will make the chiefs of Judah + Like a pan of fire among wood, + And as a torch of fire among sheaves; + And they shall devour all the peoples round about, + On the right hand and on the left; + And Jerusalem shall dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem + (verses 4-7). + +These verses are descriptive of the calamity which will befall the +enemies of Israel. Jehovah will smite them. The stone falling from +heaven will smite the image at its feet and will pulverize it. The +enemies of Israel will suffer as complete a defeat and destruction as +Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. In pride and blindness they had +rushed on, and while pursuing Israel the face of the Lord looked out +of the cloud and confused the Egyptian hosts, and the returning +waters swept them all away, the horse and the rider and the chariots. +It is but a faint type of what it will be when Jehovah will roar out +of heaven, and His glory will appear. The slain of the Lord will then +indeed be many. Judah and the chiefs will be used in that judgment. +They shall be a devouring fire. The fourteenth chapter will lead us +into a closer investigation. + +The following two verses speak of the order how the coming of Jehovah +will save His waiting people. + + Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first, + That the glory of the house of David + And the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem + May not lift itself up over Judah. + In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; + And the feeble one among them in that day shall be as David; + And the house of David shall be as God (Elohim), + As the angel of Jehovah before them. + And it shall come to pass in that day, + That I will seek to destroy all the nations, + That came against Jerusalem (verses 7-9). + +Judah will inhabit the land and many will dwell in tents, while +Jerusalem will be a strong and fortified city. The danger from the +hostile armies will be the greatest with the dwellers in the tents. +Accordingly, Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first. Jerusalem +will come next. The purpose is that the house of David and the +inhabitants of Jerusalem may not lift themselves up over Judah. The +house of David is especially mentioned. We have not had David brought +before the prophet in the night visions nor in the prophecies which +followed, but here in the twelfth chapter the house of David is +mentioned not less than five times, which is very significant. We +have the glory of the house of David in verse seven, the strength of +David and the supremacy of it in verse eight. The spirit of grace and +supplication is given to the house of David, and the family of the +house of David will mourn. Jews have a tradition which states that +the last descendant of the house of David died in Spain centuries +ago. There are no genealogies at present to prove that the kingly +house of David is extinct or not, but prophecies like the one we have +in consideration, and many others which speak of the prominence of +David and the house of David in the day when Jehovah will be +manifested, make it very clear that among the wandering sons of +Israel there are yet lineal descendants of the house of David. If +they do not know it themselves, Jehovah knows it, and they will know +it through Him. The feeble ones, literally the stumblers, among His +people in that day of manifestation will be like David. What a hero +David was! A man of war and strength conquering always and never +conquered. And now the stumbler in Israel, the weakest one, will have +strength and courage like David. And David shall be as God, as the +angel of Jehovah before them. This is a startling promise. A similar +word is found in Exodus vii: 1, And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I +have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy +prophet. The house of David will during the millennium be supreme in +rule and in glory. A lineal descendant of David, a prince, will sit +upon the throne of his father David and rule as a vice-regent of the +Lord Jesus Christ, whose throne is then in the heavens over the +earth. Thus in the earth the house of David will be as God and as the +angel of Jehovah before them (Ezek. xxxiv: 23, 24; xlvi.). + +The closing verses of the chapter claim our special attention, for in +them we have a fundamental prophetic passage. The spiritual side of +the salvation of Jerusalem is now brought out. + + And I will pour out upon the house of David, + And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, + The spirit of grace and supplication; + And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced, + And they shall mourn for Him as the mourning for an only son, + And be in bitterness for Him as one in bitterness for the first-born. + In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, + As the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. + +The mourning then is described as a universal one. All the families +will mourn; family by family apart, and their wives apart. Such a +mourning and weeping has never before been seen in the earth nor will +there be one like it again. + +But why mourning and weeping? Should there not rather be joy and +feasting, gladness and hallelujahs? The hallelujahs will come during +the entire millennium, but the beginning will be mourning, national, +by Israel. The mourning is on account of Him, Jehovah, who has +appeared in His glory and whom they now behold. The long expected +Messiah has at last appeared, and He is Jehovah. His coming for their +salvation is as Daniel saw Him, after the last beast, the terrible +one, the nondescript with its ten horns and the little horn between, +had risen from the sea. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, +there came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a Son of Man, and +He came even unto the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near +before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a +kingdom, that all the people, nations, and languages should serve +Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass +away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Daniel vii: +13, 14). A cloud appears in the heaven over Jerusalem. It is at once +recognized as no common cloud, but as the divine glory cloud, (the +Shekinah, which had been with Israel of old and was always the sign +of Jehovah's presence with His people). We can imagine in some +measure how this sign will be welcomed by the remnant of Israel in +the hour of their extremity when there is and cannot be help from +man. The cloud speaks as of old, of divine interference. Our Lord +puts the whole scene before us when He said in His Olivet discourse, +But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be +darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (what an awful +darkness that will be! well may then the rejecters of the Gospel seek +death from the wrath which is now coming), and the stars shall fall +from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then +shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the +tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming +in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He shall +send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall +gather together His elect (not the church) from the four winds, from +one end of heaven unto the other (Matthew xxiv: 29-31). The sign of +the Son of Man which is spoken of here will undoubtedly be the cloud +of glory which will bring Him from heaven to the earth. Some +believers in the coming of the Lord have mentioned the sign of the +Son of Man to be seen in the heaven as if that sign stood in relation +to the church and would be welcomed by believers, the saved ones, as +the sign that their redemption is now at hand. We read not long ago +in a pamphlet in which certain coming signs in constellation of +stars, etc., were mentioned, as being foretold in prophecy, and +teaching the church that the coming of the Lord must be at hand. This +is a mistake. There is nowhere in prophecy a sign mentioned appearing +in the heaven to show the church that the Lord is at hand. The +church, that is the one body, does not need such a sign. When the +sign of the Son of Man appears in the heaven there will be no more +church in the earth to see it. It will be "immediately after the +tribulation of these days;" the church will not be in that +tribulation. The sign is for Israel. Ezekiel beheld that glory which +is then to be seen in the heavens. I looked, and, behold, a stormy +wind came out of the north, a great cloud with a fire infolding +itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof +as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. And out of the +midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . And +above the firmament that was above their heads was the likeness of a +throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness +of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it +above. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire +within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward, +and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as if it +were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about +him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of +rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was +the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel i: +5, 26, 28). This vision will actually be seen by Israel in the day of +the manifestation of the Lord. He will return in like manner upon a +cloud as the glorified Son of Man as He went up into heaven. In Acts +i: 11, where the promise of His return is given, it is likewise to be +remarked that that promise does not present the Hope of the church, +our blessed Hope, as believers. It is very often used as speaking of +that Hope which is so dear to every believer's heart. However, the +promise given by the two men in white apparel, in Acts i., is a +promise to Israel. It is the coming in like manner as He went into +heaven, that is the coming of the Lord with His saints and not for +His saints. There is still another passage which is in close +connection with the appearing of Jehovah, the pierced One, in +Zechariah xii., namely, Revelation i: 7, Behold He comes with the +clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which have pierced Him +and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Yea. Amen. +This passage corresponds with the one before us in Zechariah. The +tribes in Revelation are the same as mentioned in Zechariah, and the +wailing in Revelation stands for the mourning with which the twelfth +chapter in Zechariah closes. What a scene that will be when at last +Israel will look upon Him! When the signs of His coming,--the coming +of the Redeemer--Jehovah increase, and His coming for their salvation +draweth nigh, perhaps their hearts will be gladdened, and there will +be rejoicing. They see the sign in the heavens and there will be the +glad shout, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah, this is +our God, we have waited for Him. And now they behold a person upon +that cloud. He is a Son of Man. Again they look and they see that His +hands and His feet and His side are pierced. Who can this be with +pierced hands, feet and side, who cometh thus in power and glory from +the heavens to save His people? The truth so long denied by them +flashes upon them, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, +the rejected One, the One who suffered that shameful death on yonder +hill, whose hands and feet were pierced, and from whose loving side +and heart the Roman spear drew forth blood and water. Jehovah-Jesus, +the pierced One, is seen again. There way up in the heavens He is +seen! Sun and moon have been darkened, as we quoted above from +Matthew xxiv., but instead of their light there flashes another light +over the heavens. The veil is lifted. God, Jehovah, has broken the +long, long silence. He speaks again. The proud nations tremble, fear +and trembling seize hold upon all the children of men. The day of +vengeance, the day of wrath, the day of burning and recompense is at +hand. All eyes are turned upward to behold that startling vision. The +cloud, and in that cloud a throne, and upon the throne the Lamb of +God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jehovah, the pierced One, the +Lord Jesus Christ. Not alone are His eyes like a flaming fire, but +according to Habakkuk's vision (Habukkuk iii.), His glory covereth +the heavens, brightness is round about Him and rays (of glory) come +out of His hands and His side, and there was the hiding of His power. +Long, long ago David had by the Spirit of the Lord entered into the +sufferings of his Son, whom he called Lord, and in the Psalm which +begins with the cry of the forsaken One, My God, My God, why has Thou +forsaken Me? he speaks of His hands and His feet pierced. It is true +that the unbelieving Jews and all the enemies of a verbal inspiration +of the word of God, higher critics, etc., with them, have tried to +change the word "pierced" in the twenty-second Psalm, and make +something else out of it. But it is pierced and will be so in all +eternity. The One of whom David spoke came and was rejected, +suffered, sacrificed Himself to put away sin, was nailed on the +cross, and was pierced through. On the third day He was raised from +the dead, and for forty days He showed Himself in His glorified body +to His friends. In that body of the risen Lord the nailprints and the +pierced side were seen. Thomas, unbelieving as he was, and as such a +type of Israel abiding in unbelief still, would not believe the +testimony of his brethren, and demanded the return of the Lord and to +put his hands into His side and to see in His hands the prints of the +nails. The second time the Lord appears, and Thomas is called to His +side to touch His body, to see the nailprints. Convinced because he +sees he cries out, My Lord and my God! And when He took His own to +the mountain where He gave them His command and His blessing, when +His loving hands were spread out in blessing, they all saw the marks +of His passion in His hands and there in His side. And thus He went +into heaven, and while you read this, dear friend, He is there in the +Holy of Holiest, appearing now in the presence of God for us, the +all-sufficient One. Can then there be a doubt that when He does +appear again, the second time, to build the tabernacle of David which +is fallen down, that these marks of His suffering will not be seen? +They will be the marks for Israel. They will know Him by the +nailprints as the One so long rejected and hated without a cause. + +The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a little sample of what is yet to +be with the seed of Abraham. The light which shone around this +blinded, self-righteous Pharisee on his way to Damascus, a light +brighter than the Oriental noonday sun, will then shine out of heaven +in the Lord's own glory. The Voice which spoke to him, I am Jesus +whom thou persecutest, will speak again out of that light to the +prostrated nation. It does likewise remind us of the rejected brother +who became great and a saviour after his rejection by his own, and +who in loving words said to his brethren, so guilty and conscience +stricken, I am Joseph your brother. What a wonderful event that will +be when at last they that pierced Him shall behold Him. Suspended +somewhere in the air will be seen the vision of the Lord in His +glory, and thus every eye shall see Him. It will be the day when a +nation is born. The Spirit poured out, they will look upon Him, and +the great national mourning follows. + +This great mourning will be like the mourning in Hadad-rimmon in the +valley Megiddon. To what events do these places refer? The second +book of Chronicles, chapter xxxv., verses 22-37, give us the history +of that great mourning. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face +from him (the King of Egypt), but disguised himself, that he might +fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the +mouth of God (these words are found in the twenty-first verse), and +came to fight in the valley of Megiddon. And the archers shot at King +Josiah; and the King said to his servants, Have me away, I am sore +wounded. So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him into +the second chariot that he had and brought him to Jerusalem; and he +died and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah +and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, +and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their +lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in +Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Likewise in +2 Kings xxiii: 29. In Josiah's days Pharaoh-Neco, King of Egypt, went +up against the King of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and King +Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddon when he had seen +him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddon and +brought him to Jerusalem. + +Hadad-rimmon was a village nearby in the valley of Megiddon. The +pious King Josiah died, pierced by an arrow on account of the evil +deeds of the nation. After his death there was a great mourning +because he had been slain, and his death was soon followed by greater +calamities, ending with the Babylonian captivity. The application to +the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming national mourning of the nation +every reader can make for himself. + +It is interesting to read the Jewish interpretations of this +important chapter. We quote from the Babylonian Talmud: That +mourning, what was it about? Rabbi Yose and the Rabbis differ on the +point. The one says it is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is +killed; and the other says, It is for the _Yetzer Horo_ (evil desire, +sin), when it is killed. All is clear in the case of him that says, +It is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed, for then we +can understand what is written, And they shall look upon Me whom they +pierced, and they shall lament for Him (Zech. xii: 10). But in the +case of him that says it is for sin when it is killed? Would it be +mourning that is needed? Surely rejoicing would then be needed. Thus +expounded, Rabbi Jehudah, of the Western house, in the Messianic +times, the Holy One, blessed be He, is going to bring forth the evil +desire and slay him in the presence of the righteous and the wicked. +Unto the righteous the evil desire appears like a mountain, and unto +the wicked he appears like a hair. The righteous weep and the wicked +weep. The righteous say, How did we ever get the better of this high +mountain? And the wicked say, How is it that we did not get the +better of this hair? (Yalkut on Zechariah.) + +The Jews have invented a double Messiah, one who is called the Son of +Joseph and the other the Son of David. The Son of Joseph is pierced, +and after He has been slain, Jehovah will send Messiah, Son of David. +It is not denied that the Son of Joseph is a Messiah, an anointed +One. This teaching is to solve the difficulties they have in +explaining the suffering Messiah and the victorious Messiah. We have +often talked with orthodox Jews for hours on the fact that there is +only one Messiah, and He whom they expect as Son of David is truly +the One who died and was pierced through for our sins. Human words +cannot describe the great mourning when at last it is known by His +appearing in the clouds, that Jesus, the Son of David, is the once +rejected stone and now become the head of the corner. The first verse +of the thirteenth chapter belongs to the twelfth. However, we will +leave it for the next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +_The fountain against sin and uncleanness opened--Idols and false +prophets destroyed--The smitten Shepherd and the sheep scattered--The +Remnant saved--Two-thirds cut off and a third part refined by fire._ + +As mentioned in the closing sentence of the exposition of the last +chapter, the first verse of the 13th chapter belongs to the 12th +chapter. The division of the Bible into chapters is very often at +fault and helps much to obscure the real meaning. "In that day there +shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the +inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for Uncleanness." That day will +be the day when they have looked upon Him, Jehovah, the pierced One, +and the fountain which is opened is the same blessed fountain of +which the saints now sing: + + "There is a fountain filled with blood + Drawn from Emanuel's veins, + And sinners plunged beneath that flood + Lose all their guilty stains." + +The fountain was indeed in existence throughout all the long +centuries of Israel's dispersion. But Israel in blindness did not see +it, only the remnant according to the election of grace did realize +the precious blood of the Lamb of God, which has taken away the sins +of the world. Now all is changed. Upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem +and the house of David the Spirit is poured out. They have seen Him +who is the first-born among many brethren, the second Adam, the One +who is the Head of a new creation, and the blood of Him, the Lord +Jesus Christ, is now cleansing them from all sin and uncleanness. +Their guilt is pardoned and all unrighteousness and impurity is +completely removed. This great event is everywhere spoken of in the +Old Testament. We had it under consideration in the third chapter, +containing the night vision of the cleansing of Joshua, the High +priest. In that vision the blood which cleanses was not mentioned. +Now, however, it is seen, that the cleansing is by the blood of the +Lamb. It is the same precious blood which cleansed and washed the +glorified saints. The great multitude, which no man can number, out +of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues; the saints +arrayed in white robes with palms in their hands, who washed their +robes in the blood of the Lamb, and who appear with Him. And while +they sing their song of praise, Salvation unto our God which sitteth +on the throne and unto the Lamb, Israel will be washed by the same +blood and join into the song of worship heard from the glorified lips +of the saints of God. In the 103d Psalm we have a prophetic +expression of what Israel will rejoice in when that fountain is +opened. The cleansed nation will break forth and sing: + + "Bless Jehovah, oh my soul, + And all that is within me bless His holy name; + Bless Jehovah, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits. + Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, + Who healeth all thy diseases, + Who reedeemeth thy life from destruction, + Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." + +The cleansing and healing of Israel in that day will be complete and +final. No more going back to sin and apostasy after that. Now they +are indeed a holy people, a kingdom of priests. Perfect healing is +theirs, not alone in spiritual things, but also healing from their +diseases. Jehovah is their healer the moment He, as the Sun of +Righteousness with healing under His wings, has risen upon them. "And +the inhabitant shall not say I am sick; the people that dwell therein +shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Isa. xxxiii: 34). "Neither will I +hide My face any more from them; for I have poured out My Spirit upon +the house of Israel, saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel xxxix: 29). "And +the Redeemer shall come out of Zion, and unto them that turn from +transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. And as for Me, this is My +covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and +My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy +mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy +seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever" (Isa. lix: +20, 21). "For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a +joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people, and the +voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of +crying" (Isa. lxv: 19). + +The cleansing of His people is followed by the cutting off of the +names of the idols from the land of Israel. The false prophets who +were indwelt by the spirit of uncleanness are destroyed. It is the +consequence of the outpouring of the Spirit upon Israel. The entire +paragraph beginning the 13th chapter speaks of this: + + "And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, + I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, + And they shall no more be remembered; + And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits + To pass out of the land. + And it shall be if a man still prophesy, + His father and his mother who begat him shall say to him, + Thou shalt not live, + For thou hast spoken a lie in the name of Jehovah; + And his father and his mother who begat him + Shall pierce him through when he prophesieth. + And it shall be in that day the prophets shall be ashamed + Each of his vision when he prophesies; + And shall no more put on a hairy mantle to lie, + And shall say I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground, + For a man has sold me from my youth. + And one shall say to him + What are these wounds between thine hands? + And he shall answer, those with which I was wounded + In the house of my lovers" (verses 2 to 6). + +We have seen before in the 10th chapter that Israel will return to +idolatry in the last days. The unclean spirit of idolatry which was +cast out will at last return with seven others and will find the +house empty, swept and garnished. And the evil spirit, with the seven +others more evil than himself; will enter in and dwell there, so that +the last state of Israel becometh worse than the first. This will +happen to this evil generation. This section of the 13th chapter +makes it very clear that when the fountain is opened against sin and +uncleanness, that idols will have been in the land, and false +prophets prophesy there immediately before the manifestation of the +Lord from heaven; for how could the names of the idols be cut off +from the land if there were none there? Palestine may well be put +down now as the great centre of false worship. Greek and Latin +crosses are seen on all sides in Jerusalem and other places, while +saints, holy houses and places are worshipped and adored. On the spot +where the Lord's house stood, there stands to-day the mosque of the +false prophet. All is idolatry. Of course when the Lord returns these +false temples will be destroyed, and the Greek and Latin idolatries, +as well as Islam, will forever pass out of existence. There will be a +purging of the land from these abominations. This may be included in +the prophecy here. Still, it is the people of Israel who are +especially concerned in the prophecy before us. The land has often +been the scene of idol worship, and the people engaged in that which +Jehovah despises. It will be so again, only in a much worse form, +when false prophets who are inspired by the unclean spirit, and +demons themselves will be their guides. + +We must look to Revelation for a key. It is well known to all +students of the prophetic word that all which comes after the third +chapter in the last book of the Bible is future still. We are yet in +the things which are present. When the Lord has taken the Church to +Himself then the great visions, tribulations, wrath and judgment will +be fulfilled. Aside from the scenes in heaven we learn from +Revelation the events in the earth during the great tribulation which +ends with the wrath from heaven. + +Now in the 9th chapter and the 20th verse of Revelation we read, And +the rest of mankind which were not killed with these plagues repented +not of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons +and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and +of wood; which can neither see nor hear nor walk. Scripture is to be +explained by scripture. The Holy Spirit declares through Paul the +very same when he writes in 1 Timothy iv: 1, "But the Spirit says +expressly that in the latter times some shall fall away from the +faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils +through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies branded in their own +conscience as with a hot iron." For this cause God shall send them +strong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all might +be damned which believed not the truth, but have pleasure in +unrighteousness (2 Thess. ii: 11, 12). + +These words have not yet been fulfilled, nor has the time come. Truly +there are many indications around us. Doctrines of demons are seen in +more than one respect. Mysterious influences are felt in the earth. +The hindering power, the Holy Spirit, is still present, and He is +keeping back the full manifestation of evil (2 Thess. ii: 7). But +when at last He has gone, in the removal of the body, then darkness +indeed will cover the earth. The unclean spirits, and who can count +their numbers, will be thrown out of heaven into the earth and take +possession of mankind. The voice from heaven declares, Woe for the +earth and for the sea, because the devil is gone down unto you, +having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time (Rev. xii). +When our Lord was in the earth preaching the kingdom of heaven He +found many persons in the possession of demons, evil spirits, who had +complete control of them, and He cast them out. Some cried out in +terror, demanding to know if He had come to torment them before the +time. They knew Him as the One who would at last send them to their +final doom. But when He comes again in His glory from heaven, +conditions will be a great deal worse. Satan and his hosts will be in +the earth, having deceived the inhabitants of the earth, and seducing +with lying wonders and strong delusions those who would not believe +the truth, and lead them back to idol worship and to the carnal +abominations connected with such a worship. Spiritualism, Christian +Science, Buddhism in the very midst of Christendom, as well as the +sect of devil worshipers in Paris, London, and Berlin, are but faint +samples of the gross darkness which will be when the Church has been +removed. There is no human mind which can imagine the condition of +things during that time of tribulation, nor is there a pen which +could describe the delusions and wickedness which will then flourish +for a short time in this world. + +What praises, then, should be in the hearts of the Saints for having +escaped that tribulation and the wrath to come. No, the Lord will +never leave His Church in the earth when Satan and his demons have +control. The presence of the Church in the earth makes it impossible +that these days can come. But while this will be true in the earth +generally, the land of Israel will be the center of that great storm, +and there the false worship, idolatry, will be established. It is to +be remembered that a part of the nation will have been restored to +the land in unbelief, and will rebuild a temple, which is the fourth +temple. Sacrifices are brought again, but they are an abomination, +and the Lord hates them. The 66th chapter of Isaiah in its beginning +speaks of this fact. We have to turn once more to the book of +Revelation to find there a commentary. In the first quotation from +the book we learned of the conditions in the earth in a general +sense, but when we read the 13th chapter we find ourselves on Jewish +ground, in Jerusalem. In that chapter we read of the worship of one +who is termed the dragon, and this dragon gives power to a beast, who +is likewise worshiped. And there was given him a mouth speaking great +things and blasphemies; and there was given him authority to continue +forty and two months (verse 5). . . And all that dwell on the earth +shall worship him, everyone whose name hath not been written in the +book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of +the world . . . (8th verse). After this we read in the 11th verse of +a second beast. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; +and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And +he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight, and +he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first +beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great signs, that +he should even make fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in +sight of men. An image of the beast is made. And he deceiveth them +that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him +to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the +earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which hath the +stroke of the _sword_ and lived. And it was given unto him to give +breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the +beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship +the image of the beast should be killed (14th and 15th verses). We +see here a trinity revealed. The first is the dragon, the second the +beast, and after that beast, which is called the first beast, the +other, or the second beast. The dragon is the father of lies, the +devil, the first beast is his son, the Antichrist, and the second +beast is the evil spirit, which causes the dwellers in the earth to +worship the beast. It is the trinity of evil as it is yet to be seen +in the earth, and worshipped by those who rejected the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Spirit. This beast is the false Messiah. The one of +whom we read in 2 Thes. ii. The son of perdition, he that upholdeth +and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is +worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself +forth as God. Now this is the great abomination of the great +tribulation. The 13th chapter of Revelation speaks, as we have seen, +of Antichrist having received a deadly wound by a sword, but he +lived. It was a miracle that he lived. The dragon gave him power to +overcome it. But not alone does he raise up the beast again from +death, but he imparts life to the image of Antichrist, which is to be +worshipped, so that it could speak, and all who refuse to worship the +image are to be killed. Antichrist is a perfect counterfeit of the +true Christ. The devil will then place him before the world as a +substitute of Christ. The wound of the beast was made perhaps by +those who pretended to love him. With the light from Rev. xiii, Zech. +xiii becomes very plain, for the false prophets and idols mentioned +in our chapter are connected with the winding up of this +dispensation. The sixth verse does not speak of the Lord Jesus +Christ. It is generally taken to be a Messianic prophecy and often +quoted as such. The context, however, shows beyond a doubt that the +person mentioned is the false prophet. And one shall say to him--the +false prophet--What then are these wounds between thy hands? And he +shall say, Those for which I was wounded in the house of my lovers. +Nowhere is this prophecy quoted in the New Testament as being +Messianic. Surely if it had any reference to the Lord, the Holy +Spirit would have quoted it somewhere in the New Testament. We have +here the description of the false shepherd, the Antichrist, the beast +with the deadly wound. Of course there will be many false Messiahs in +that day when Antichrist reigns. False messengers, lying prophets, +with their delusions will go throughout the land and to the nations +likewise. But when He appears whose right it is, Antichrist, all +false prophets, and all the idols will be forever cut off and the +land will be thoroughly cleansed of all these abominations. If it +were possible that a man after this manifestation should still +prophesy (speaking falsely, a lie in the name of Jehovah), his own +father and mother would slay him for it. The true Shepherd is now +seen once more in the closing of this chapter, and with him mention +is made of the remnant. + + "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, + And against a man, My fellow, saith Jehovah of Hosts; + Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, + And I will bring back My hand upon the little ones. + And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah, + Two parts therein shall be cut off and die, + And the third shall be left therein. + And I will bring the third part through the fire, + And I will refine them as silver is refined, + And will try them as gold is tried; + He shall call upon My name and I will answer; + I will say, It is My people, + And he shall say, Jehovah is my God." + +The question comes to every student of the word, why is here an +interruption in the events which we have followed and which are given +chronologically? Why is there no continuation bringing out other +phases of Israel's salvation and the coming of the Lord? The change +is very abrupt, and there is a going back to events which are the +events of His first coming and His rejection. The solution of the +difficulty would be almost impossible if we would interpret the sixth +verse of the wounded one as referring to the Lord, the Messiah. But +the fact that in the sixth verse we have the person of Antichrist +answers the question which we have asked. The change and the +interruption is made to show the contrast between the Good Shepherd +and the false shepherd. The devil's masterpiece had been in the +earth; perhaps he pointed to his wounds in his hands and to the fact +that he was dead and became alive again, and mockingly he spoke of +Jesus of Nazareth and His claim of having been dead and now living. +The true Shepherd has appeared. He too is pierced, but He was pierced +for their sins, and to make the whole complete a new thought is +brought out which has not been seen so far in Zechariah. It is the +same as in Isaiah liii, the suffering One, who is a man, and called +My fellow, the fellow of Jehovah of Hosts, Jehovah Himself; who +speaks here, and what does He speak? The sword is to work against His +Shepherd and against His own Fellow. The blessed mystery of the +atonement is thus brought out. Indeed it is the heart of the Gospel +here. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, +that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have life +eternal. The Lord, laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It speaks of +Him, the forsaken One, the Son of God, forsaken in the hour of His +agony, the sword upon Him and against Him. In the New Testament we +find the passage quoted in the Gospel of Matthew, 26th chapter and +13th verse: Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended +because of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the +Shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. In the +last verses of the 13th chapter we have once more teachings +concerning the remnant. These verses are not alone applicable to the +remnant and the sheep in the time when our Lord was in the earth and +immediately after he had suffered, they are not alone applicable to +the remnant, which was in Jerusalem when the Roman armies came for +destruction, but the application is to be made in connection with the +people living in the land when Antichrist will reign, and the +suffering of the remnant, the one-third, and the glorious privileges +of that remnant are likewise future. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +_The last conflict--Jerusalem surrounded by armies and besieged and +taken--Jehovah's intervention--The escape of the remnant--Living +waters flowing out of Jerusalem--The enemies punished--The remnant of +nations live as worshipers in Jerusalem--Jerusalem the holy city._ + +The last chapter in Zechariah is a very important one. It is a grand +summing up and description of the events which stand at the close of +the great tribulation, and as such it is one of the most striking +chapters in the Old Testament. Post-millennialism surely fails here +in trying to find some explanation for these prophecies. The chapter +is unfulfilled throughout. Anyone who does not acknowledge this has +only one other way of interpretation, and that is to spiritualize the +whole and make out of it the development of the Church, the holiness +of the Church, etc. this, of course, is a failure and cannot be done. +The only true way of interpretation is the literal one, and that will +teach us that the events seen in this chapter are future. This ought +to be seen by any reader of the Word of God at the first glance. +There is no siege and capture of Jerusalem in history which +corresponds to the siege and capture which stands in the beginning of +this chapter. The Lord never intervened in behalf of Jerusalem in the +way that it is said here in going forth and fighting against those +nations, nor did His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives for the +purpose of completely destroying the enemies of His people. The whole +chapter is of such significance that we have to take it verse by +verse and illustrate it by many scriptures taken from different parts +of the prophetic word. + + _Verse 1._ "Behold a day cometh for Jehovah when thy spoils shall +be divided in the midst of thee." + +The time when this prophecy will be enacted is here given. A day is +coming for Jehovah. Now it is man's day and God keeps silence, but +His day, the day of Jehovah, is coming and will be a day of +manifestation, glory, and power. "That day is a day of wrath, a day +of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of +darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness" (Zeph. +i: 15). "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy +mountain; let all the inhabitants in the land tremble, for the day of +Jehovah cometh, it is nigh at hand" (Joel ii: 1). "There shall be a +day of the Lord upon all that is proud and haughty" (Isa. ii:4). The +great tribulation is about past, and now when Jerusalem is not alone +besieged but taken, the spoil being divided by the victors in the +midst of the city, and when the enemy seems to have succeeded, then +the day for Jehovah will come and He will roar out of the heavens. + + _Verse 2._ "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem for battle, + And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women + shall be ravished, + And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, + And the residue of the people shall not be cut off." + +This puts before us the last scenes of the times of the Gentiles, the +great conflict which in Daniel and other prophecies is likewise +described. There are difficulties, especially in regard to +Antichrist. If he is then in Jerusalem, and sitting in the temple, +worshipped as God, having complete control of Jerusalem, how can he +be the leader of the hostile armies of the nations which come against +Jerusalem? It is nowhere said that Antichrist is to have this place +in the temple for any length of time. We likewise do not know the +exact time when he will thus be worshipped. He hears while away from +the land of the appearing of the two witnesses in Jerusalem, their +success in preaching, and that many Jews become believers in Him who +is the Hope of Israel. He invades the land, takes the city, and slays +the witnesses. The armies of the nations are associated with him. +Daniel gives the history of these events. (Daniel xi.) + +The armies which gather against Jerusalem in that day are the armies +of the confederation of nations, sprung out of the territory of the +old Roman Empire. It was stated not long ago from post-millennial +sides that this in itself was beyond belief. How could it be possible +that the progress of civilization could be arrested to such an +extent, that the nations of Christendom would unite to march up +against the Holy City? The Gospel leaven (?) was at work as never +before, and it would be impossible that these nations who will become +more and more thus leavened could be occupied with such a campaign. +This indeed is the thought of man, but the word of God speaks in an +entirely different language. True the leaven is at work, but truth is +not leaven, but leaven is evil. We must not forget that Jehovah +Himself says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. + +Much reminds us here in chapter xiv of Egypt, and we shall have to +refer a number of times to the story of Israel's deliverance from the +house of bondage. Pharaoh, though he had witnessed the judgments of +God upon his own land, tribulation and wrath, yet he rushed on in +blindness to his doom. So it will be once more with the antisemitic +nations. Blinded they will be, though they have also witnessed +tribulation and wrath. Perhaps special commercial and financial as +well as political interests are at stake, and will be the causes of +the campaign against the land and the city. Joel iii speaks of this +gathering of nations: "Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare +war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let +them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks +into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come all ye +nations round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause +Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir +themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat, for there will I +sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for +the harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the +fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes +in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the +valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars +withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter +His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: +but the Lord will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to +the children of Israel." + +The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is to be considered in +connection with the last chapter in Zechariah, for it relates to the +same events. Some take Matthew xxiv as having been in part fulfilled, +others as being now fulfilled. Both are incorrect. The chapter will +be fulfilled after the church is taken from the earth to be with the +Lord in the air. "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that +ye be not troubled, for these things must needs come to pass; the end +is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against +kingdom; there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But +all these things are the beginning of trouble. Then shall they +deliver you up unto tribulation and shall kill you, and ye shall be +hated of all nations for My name's sake." . . . All this is +predictive of the great tribulation. The twenty-fourth chapter of +Matthew makes it clear that there will be a Jewish-Christian +remnant--not church--in the land, and a testimony will be given by +them. (See verse 14 and compare with Revelation xiv: 6, 7.) Neither +Zechariah xiv nor Matthew xxiv has seen a fulfillment. Jerusalem has +never been besieged by all nations, nor was only a part of the people +destroyed in its last siege by Titus. + + _Verse 3._ "Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those + nations, + As when He fought in the day of battle." + +The hour of their extremity has come and this brings the +intervention. The great tribulation in its beginning found a good +part of the Jewish people restored in unbelief in the land. Jerusalem +had become again a Jewish city, and a temple stands in the city. The +tribulation ends with Jerusalem taken, ruin once more, terrible +slaughter and suffering, and in the midst a remnant hopeful, waiting +for salvation from above. When there seems to be no escape Jehovah +will appear and fight against those nations. The heavens will be +opened and Jehovah's glory and power manifested. It will be as it was +in the day of battle. + +"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt and he +pursued after the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went +out with an high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the +horses and chariots of Pharoah and his horse-men, and his army +overtook them encamping by the sea. . . And the children of Israel +cried unto the Lord . . . And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye +not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will +work for you to-day. . . The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall +hold your peace. . . And it came to pass in the morning watch that +the Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the +pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the +Egyptians. . . . The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the +sea. . . . There remained not so much as one of them." (Exodus xiv.) +"Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou +King Jehosaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear not ye, neither +be ye dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is +not yours, but God's. Ye shall not fight in this battle, set +yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you" +(2 Chronicles xx: 15-17). These are only two samples of what Jehovah +will do in His day and how He will save His people. In Matthew xxiv +we find the intervention in the twenty-seventh verse, "For as the +lightning cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west, +so shall be the coming of the Son of Man." + + _Verse 4._ "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount + of Olives, + Which is before Jerusalem on the east; + And the Mount of Olives shall be parted in the middle, + Toward the east and toward the west, a great valley, + And half of the mountain shall be removed northward + And the other half southward." + +The east, the place where the sun rises, is made prominent in this +manifestation. From the east to the west the lightning flashes, thus +shall be the coming of the Son of Man. + + "God cometh from Teman, + And the holy One from Paran + His splendor covereth the heavens, + And the earth is full of His glory" (Habbak. iii). + +Teman is the country of the sons of the east, and Paran the desert +region extending from the frontiers of Judah to the borders of Sinai. +But there towards the east from Jerusalem stands a mountain. It +overlooks the whole city, and right in front, there is the valley of +Jehosaphat, the valley where the nations are assembled (Joel iii). +What a view from this mountain top! There is the city, and its +burning ruins are seen, there are the camps of the nations, with +their banners and cannons gathered now in fear and in trembling, for +the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Immediately after the +tribulation of these days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon . . +. and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. +And now He Himself has descended from the heavens. His blessed feet +stand again upon the Mount of Olives. He stands upon the mountain, +and perhaps on the very spot where He stood centuries, many +centuries, before, after His passion and His resurrection when He +blest His disciples and had been removed from them with outstretched +arms. There stood the two heavenly visitors in that day with their +message, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking into heaven? +This Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come +in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven." A long, long time +past. Has He forgotten His promise? No, the hour had not come. But +men disbelieved the word of promise, I will come again. "And in the +last days mockers came with mockery, walking after their own lusts, +saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the days that +the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the +beginning of the creation" (2 Peter ii: 3, 4). But now the Lord has +come. He, the Son of Man, in His glory, is seen plainly from the city +and from the valley, and with Him the heavenly company, His saints. +The moment His feet touch the Mount of Olives there is an earthquake +which splits the mountain into two halves, and a great valley is +formed between these two parts. "The mountains quake at Him, and the +hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world +and all that dwell therein" (Nahum i: 5). As in the day of battle +when the Egyptian hosts were destroyed and He divided the sea, thus +will He divide the mountain and make a way for His trusting people, + + _Verse 5._ "And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains, + For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; + Ye shall flee as you fled before the earthquake, + In the days of Uzziah, King of Judah: + And Jehovah my God shall come, + And all the saints with Thee!" + +The valley is the way by which the remnant will flee from the city. +The earthquake is mentioned only in another passage in the prophets. +Amos received the words of the Lord and the visions two years before +the earthquake. The details of the earthquake are not mentioned. +Perhaps the pious in the city, the Messiah-expecting Jews, hoped then +that the Promised One would appear, and they fled from the city. It +was during the reign of Uzziah (Jehovah is strength) that it +happened. + +Jehovah who shall come refers us back to the fourth verse, where He +stands upon the Mount. Here He is seen not alone in His +manifestation, but His saints are with Him. It is an exclamation of +joyous surprise, All the saints with Thee! There above the Mount of +Olives a startling picture is seen. Countless human beings, +glorified, gathered out of all languages, nations, tribes and +countries, great and small, in white and shining robes, are seen +flowing down from the opened heaven. What multitudes! No man can +count them. What light and what glory! Brighter than the noonday sun. +And, oh! what hallelujahs, what wonderful singing in joy and praise +and adoration! When the shepherds were on the fields near Bethlehem +they heard the angels' song, but when He comes again there will be +singing and rejoicing, grander still. Then it will be indeed, Glory +to God in the highest, Peace on earth, good will towards men. The +singing of the redeemed will be heard. The mighty angels will not be +silent in their wake, and all the armies of heaven will escort the +King of kings and Lord of lords upon white horses. What a scene in +view of the places where He once suffered and died, and beheld by the +nations and Israel! + +And every saint will share His glory then. Oh, wonderful grace for +redeemed sinners, which lifts them up to such glory, to come with the +Son of Man in His glory, and to share His throne. Why is there now so +little praise with His own, His redeemed ones? Why so often coldness? +Perhaps if we would gaze more into these visions of glory it would be +different, and there would be not only praise but in all the +wilderness experiences joy and patience, the patience of the Lord +Jesus Christ. Thus He, our Lord, the Leader and Perfecter of faith, +went through this life. "Who for the joy that was set before Him +endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right +hand of the throne of God." And when the Lord comes with His saints +the remnant of Israel leaving the city will not be silent. Their song +will be, "Lo, He is our God; we have waited for Him; we will be glad +and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of +the Lord rest" (Isaiah xxv: 9). + + _Verses 6 and 7._ "And it shall come to pass in that day + That the light shall not be with brightness and with gloom, + And the day shall be One. + It shall be known unto Jehovah. + Not day and not night + And at evening time there shall be light." + +Many different interpretations of these two verses have been +attempted, most of them in spiritual teachings. The details of the +coming manifestation, can hardly be now all understood. This seems to +be clear in regard to the above that we have a prophetic description +of the phenomena in nature, in the heavens in that day. The +Septuagint translates, There shall not be light, but cold and ice. +This translation is incorrect. That day will be a day of darkness, +gloominess, followed by twilight and ending in the bursting forth of +a new light. "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore +would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light" +(Amos v: 18). "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord +God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken +the earth in a clear day" (Amos viii: 9). "The sun shall be turned +into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible +day of the Lord come" (Joel ii: 34 ). It is the same as in Matthew +xxiv, the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars. It +will be one day, a peculiar day, such as has never been before. In +the hour of His agony upon the cross there prevailed a darkness over +Jerusalem and the land; the same will be the case in His +manifestation and will inspire terror. At evening time the light will +shine, the Son of Righteousness, now fully risen, with healing under +his wings. + + _Verse 8._ "And it shall be in that day + That living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, + Half of them to the eastern sea + And half of them to the western sea. + In summer and in winter shall it be." + +Living waters flowing out from Jerusalem speak of the blessings which +the Lord will give through the city and the inhabitants to the +nations of the earth. Jerusalem established will indeed be a praise +in the earth. The Holy Spirit has been poured out and living waters +flow from the place which is the center of the world. The living +waters will never stop flowing. It will be for summer and winter. +What a fruitfulness there will follow. The whole earth will be +fruitful then, not alone in nature but in spiritual things. "For as +the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the +things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will +cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the +nations. Out of Zion there shall go forth the law and the word of the +Lord from Jerusalem. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be +glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. It shall +blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory +of Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and +Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our +God" . . . (Isaiah xxxv). "And he brought me back unto the door of +the house (the millennial temple); and behold waters issued out from +under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the +house was toward the east; and the waters came down from under, from +the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. Then brought +he me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the +way without unto the outer gate by the way of the gate that looketh +toward the east; and behold there ran out waters on the right side. . +. . Now when I had returned, behold upon the bank of the river were +very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto +me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go +down into Arabah, and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea +shall the waters go which were made to issue forth, and the waters +shall be healed" (Ezekiel xlvii). The waters flowing from the +threshold of the house empty into the sea . . . representing the +nations of the earth, and they receive healing and life. + + _Verse 9._ "And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that +day shall Jehovah be one and His name one." + +The true form of government is established. Jehovah is King. His +throne is then established over the earth, and from that place He +rules over all the nations in righteousness. The shepherd with the +rod of iron and the saints share this rule, while in the earth Israel +governs with a Prince of the house of David at their head. True unity +has come. The shameful divisions of Christendom, the work of the +enemy, the harvest of the flesh ended in a mock union of a Fatherhood +of God and brotherhood of man. Man attempts now to bring about a +unity of the race and unity in religions. He the glorified Head of +His body and His blessed atonement is denied. True Christendom ends +in a unity, under one head, but he is the Antichrist. In that day of +His coming again in glory there will be His name One, and He will be +known as the One God, and worshipped as such. Idolatry is abolished. +The abominations connected with it have ceased. Satan, the seducer of +the nations, is chained and seduces the nations no more. Confusion is +forever ended. "Then will I return to the nations a pure language, +that they may call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve Him with one +consent" (Zeph. iii: 9). + + _Verse 10._ "All the land shall be changed like the plain + From Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, + And she shall be lifted up and dwell in her place, + From Benjamin's gate unto the gate of the first place, + Unto the corner gate, + And from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine presses." + +It is of little profit to understand the exact location of the places +mentioned in this verse; there is some difficulty in doing that. The +prophecy shows that in that day when the Lord has appeared there will +be a great change in the surface of Palestine. Everything will become +a plain. Now it is a land of mountains and hills. But then the hills +and mountains will be lowered and become a plain. Jerusalem, however, +is lifted up, and is seen shining in her earthly splendor and in it +the magnificent temple. In the midst of the millennial Jerusalem in +the earth will be another high place, still higher than the city. It +is the glorious Mount Zion. "But in the latter days it shall be that +the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of +the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills" (Micah iv: +1). Upon this high place the glory will rest. Thus it will be seen +and cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. "And the Lord will +create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her +assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of the flaming +fire by night; for over all the glory shall be spread a canopy" +(Isaiah iv: 5). From that high and glorious place in the earth the +communications and intercourse between the heavenlies and the earth +will perhaps take place, it will be the ladder upon which the angels +of God ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. + + _Verse 11._ "And they shall dwell therein, + And there shall be no more curse, + But Jerusalem shall dwell safely." + +The happiness of the Jerusalem in the earth. The curse is entirely +removed. While now Jerusalem is one of the most miserable places in +the earth, desolate and forsaken, and during the tribulation it will +be the place of misery, sin, and curse, it will become the most +blessed place in the Millennium. The Lord will show forth there His +great lovingkindness, and all the blessings we have reviewed in the +visions of Zechariah will all be fulfilled. "There shall be no more +thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his +days; for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner +being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build +houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the +fruit thereof. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall +not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree shall be the +days of My people and My chosen people shall long enjoy the work of +their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for +calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their +offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call +I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf +and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like +the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor +destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord" (Isaiah lxv). But +that wonderful city in the earth, the city of Jerusalem, in all her +blessing, joy, peace, prosperity, praise, and worship, is but a faint +type of that still more glorious Jerusalem which is then above. The +new Jerusalem, our glorious home, dear reader (if you are in Christ), +is then in the air, and at the end of the thousand years it will come +down and find its eternal resting-place in the new earth. + + _Verses 12-15._ "And this shall be the plague + With which Jehovah will smite all the nations + That have warred against Jerusalem: + His flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, + And their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, + And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. + And it shall be in that day + There shall be a great confusion among them from Jehovah, + And they shall lay hold everyone on his neighbor's hand, + And his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor, + And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, + And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered, + Gold, and silver and apparel in great abundance. + And so shall be the plague of the horse, + Of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, + And of all the beasts that shall be in those camps as this plague." + +This is the description of the dreadful punishment which will befall +the enemies in that day. It is to be read in connection with the +third verse, the Lord fighting against those nations, and the +punishment will be upon them when He appears. Thus it is seen in +Revelation xix. He appears, and after His appearing there is the +scene of punishment of the enemies. "And I saw an angel standing in +the sun; and he cried with a loud voice to all the birds that fly in +mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of +God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, +and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and them that +sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond and small +and great" (Rev. xix: 17, 18). What an awful judgment it will be! In +Ezekiel we have likewise a description of it. It is however to be +remarked that the vision of Ezekiel xxxviii and xxxix speaks of the +judgment which will fall upon the rebels of the last revolt at the +end of the thousand years. Still that second punishment is +foreshadowed in the first. "And thou, Son of man, thus saith the Lord +God, Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the +field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves upon every +side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great +sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and +drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the +blood of the princes of the earth. . . . And ye shall be filled at my +table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and all men of war, +saith the Lord God" (Ezek. xxxix: 17-23). + +"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that +have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither +shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all +flesh" (Isa. lxvi: 24). + +How wonderful the prophetic Word is! What a harmony! How dare men who +call themselves Christians deny its divinity and infallibility? The +wealth of the nations belongs then again to Israel. The nations +spoiled them, and now all the riches of the Gentiles become theirs. +Even so it is now during their dispersion. The nations who persecuted +and robbed the Jews during the middle ages have become the most +miserable and impoverished, while the Lord has given greater riches +to the Jews, and often drawn from the very countries who stole their +goods. From Egypt of old they came forth laden with silver and gold. +It will find a repetition, only on a grander scale, in the day of +their restoration. Now in unbelief and in dispersion they are the +richest of all nations. Oh! that the nations would now understand +it--the nations called Christendom--that "they are laboring for the +fire, and wearing themselves with vanity" (Habak. ii: 12), and that +the wealth and glory accumulated by them will fall a prey to the +Jews. "Ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and to their glory +shall ye succeed" (Isa. lxi: 6). + + _Verse 16._ And it shall come to pass + All that is left of the nations which came against Jerusalem + Shall go up from year to year + To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, + And to keep the feast of Tabernacles. + +Nations will be left after the tribulation and the wrath--this is +clear from many passages of the Word. In the New Testament we have +the statement made at the first council in Jerusalem. "Brethren, +hearken unto me; Simeon hath rehearsed how God at first did visit the +Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this +agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After these things +I will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, which +is fallen; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set +it up; that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the +Gentiles, upon whom my name is called," etc. (Acts iv: 15-18). Number +one is the visitation of the Gentiles, a calling out of a people for +His name, and we are still living in number one. Number two is His +return, the building again and setting up of the tabernacle of David, +which can only come after the calling out of a people is accomplished +the fullness of the Gentiles come in; and number two and the events +connected with it we have learned from the studies in Zechariah. Then +follows number three, the residue of men seeking after the Lord. In +verse 16, they that are left of the nations correspond with the +residue of men in Acts iv. The temple will then stand in Jerusalem as +the house of glory and a house of prayer for all nations. There will +be a perfect worship, grand and glorious, and it will not be confined +to Israel, but the nations will join in it. We may learn perhaps from +this verse that the Lord will leave every year once His place on His +throne over the earth and come down to Jerusalem and show Himself in +His glory before the worshipping multitudes in the earth, as He is +seen in the New Jerusalem above. The occasion is the feast of +Tabernacles. It is the millennial feast. It is a feast kept in +remembrance of Israel's wanderings through the wilderness for forty +years and all their subsequent wanderings. It stands also for the +ingathering of the full harvest. A feast of joy, praise, and +thanksgiving. The Jews keep it to the present day, though few know +the full meaning of it. Every year when it comes again they read this +14th chapter of Zechariah. It is strange indeed. What a glorious +feast that will be, kept there in Jerusalem, when the fullness at +last has come! The fullness of the Gentiles has been gathered in, and +is in the New Jerusalem; the fullness of Israel has come in the +earth, and their receiving has been life from the dead, and the +Gentiles know the glory of the Lord. Some find a difficulty here in +the fact that it is stated that the nations, the residue of men, are +to come up to Jerusalem, and the difficulty is that it will be +impossible for all of them to do that. It is not at all necessary +that every individual must go up to Jerusalem once in a year. Perhaps +every nation will send representatives to the feast of Tabernacles, +and they come in the name of the different nations and bring their +presents. This seems to be indicated in the visit of the wise men +from the East, who came to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King +(Matthew ii). They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, In Isaiah +lx: 6 we read of the coming of the Gentiles to Jerusalem when the +Lord has come again. They shall come from Sheba; they shall bring +gold and frankincense (the myrrh is left out here, for it speaks of +suffering), and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. As the wise +men who came to Bethlehem were representatives of nations, so during +the Millennium the nations will send delegations to the feast of +Tabernacles. What a scene that must be! How crowded Jerusalem will be +by those from Greenland and from the interior of Africa, from India +and the islands of the sea, as well as from the nations which +composed the Roman empire. The ends of the earth have seen the +salvation of God, and now their praise is heard in the city and +mingling with the psalms sung by His own redeemed people. + + _Verses 17-19._ And it shall be that whoso of all the families + of the earth + Shall not go up to Jerusalem + To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, + Upon them there shall be no rain. + And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, + Upon them shall be none. + There shall be the plague + Wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations + Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles. + This shall be the sin of Egypt, + And the sin of all the nations + Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles. + +This is the other side. All those who refuse will be punished, and +the punishment will be very swift. From this and other prophecies it +is seen that not everything will go so smoothly as it is generally +believed during the Millennium. God's messengers in that day will be +the Jews going forth to proclaim the truth of God, and what preachers +they will make! Still some will be forced to submit. The end of the +thousand years brings a revolt from the side of the nations, which is +not a small matter. "And when the thousand years are finished, Satan +shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive +the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and +Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as +the sand of the sea" (Rev. xx: 7, 8). + +From this we see that many of the nations, Gog and Magog, are only +too willing to side once more with the enemy, and to shake off, if it +were possible, the yoke of the rule of Jehovah's earthly people. + +The last two verses we have to consider make the whole prophecy +perfect. It is the declaration that Jerusalem will be holy. + + In that day there shall be on the bells of the horses + Holiness to Jehovah, + And the pots in the house of Jehovah + Shall be as the bowls before the altar. + Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah + Shall be holy unto Jehovah of Hosts. + And all they that sacrifice shall come + And take of them and sacrifice therein, + And there shall be no more Canaanite + In the house of Jehovah of Hosts in that day. + +The most holy person in Israel, the high-priest, carried the +inscription, "Holiness to Jehovah" around his mitre, but now even the +little bells of the horses bear that inscription. In that temple +which stands during the Millennium sacrifices will be brought, but +there will be no difference in the vessels, which are used in +Jerusalem, the meanest and smallest will be holy. In one word all +will be holy, all will be consecrated to Jehovah. What a perfect +service that will be of the people which are then, in truth, a holy +people. Application can be made of this to believers now. Surely +everything the saint has, and his whole life, must be thus +consecrated to Jehovah, to the Lord. No Canaanite will be there, +nothing unclean. The Vulgate translates the word Canaanite with +merchant. It stands, however, with everything that is unclean and an +abomination. The city will be completely purged from it. + +And of the new Jerusalem it is written, "There shall in no wise enter +into it any thing unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a +lie; but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life. . . . +Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the +murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a +lie." (Rev. xxi: 27 and xxii: 15.) + +We have reached the end of the visions and burdens of Zechariah, the +son of Iddo, the prophet, who, indeed, may be termed the Prophet of +Glory. We praise our Lord for what He has taught us in these studies, +and for His Spirit, who guides His children into all truth and shows +us things to come. May he use this volume for the edification of the +saints and for a better understanding of the words of prophecy. We +are living on the very threshold of the fulfillment of all these +visions and words. Soon He will come for His saints, and even now the +Spirit groans within us. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Studies in Zechariah, by Arno C. Gaebelein + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH *** + +***** This file should be named 36216.txt or 36216.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/2/1/36216/ + +Produced by Keith G. 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