{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36216/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36216","id":"gutenberg_36216","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36216","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Zechariah -- Commentaries","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Keith G. Richardson\n\n\n\n\nSTUDIES\n\nIN\n\nZECHARIAH.\n\n\nBY\n\nA. C. GAEBELEIN.\n\n_EIGHTH EDITION._\n\nPRINTING BY\n\nFRANCIS E. FITCH, INC,\n\n47 BROAD ST., NEW YORK.\n\n\n\n\nCopyright 1911, by A. C. Gaebelein.\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD TO THE EIGHTH EDITION.\n\nThis little exposition of the Prophecies of Zechariah was written\nalmost 15 years ago. We are thankful to God that it has been a help\nto so many. The sixth edition has been sold and a seventh has become\nnecessary.\n\nWe were somewhat reluctant to print another edition. When this book\nwas written the writer did not at all have a clear vision in the\nprophetic Word concerning the great predicted end events of the times\nof the Gentiles. Like so many others he did not distinguish between\nthe personal Antichrist and the King of the North. He then held the\nview, which is still taught by many, that the first beast in\nRevelation xiii is the personal Antichrist. This belief led into\nincorrect views about that part of Revelation.\n\nSince writing the book it has pleased the Lord to give the writer\nbetter light on these great prophetic unfoldings and for this reason\nsome of the interpretations given, especially on pages 135, 136 and\n137, are no longer looked upon by the author as being scripturally\ncorrect. In our later books \"The Harmony of the Prophetic Word\"\n\"Joel,\" and especially \"Exposition of Daniel,\" the truth as revealed\nin Prophecy concerning the two beasts and the King of the North, is\ngiven. We therefore request the reader to consider this when studying\nthis volume.\n\nWe are sure the Lord will continue to bless the simple unfolding of\nthe greatest Post exile Prophet. So little is written on this great\nbook that we feel that we should not withhold this imperfect\nexposition from the students of the Word of Prophecy. May the Lord\ncontinue to bless it.\n\nA. C. GAEBELEIN.\n\nSept. 30, 1911.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\nZechariah, the name of the prophet whose visions and prophecies we\ndesire to study, is not an uncommon name in divine history. Its\nmeaning is _Jehovah remembers_. He is called the son of Berachiah,\n_Jehovah blesses_, the son of Iddo, _the appointed time_. There is\nhere, as in many other instances in the Bible, a great significance\nin the Hebrew names. The name of the grandfather of Zechariah (who\nprobably brought him up, as his father must have died early), his\nfather's name and his own read in English translation, _the appointed\ntime_, _Jehovah blesses_, _Jehovah remembers_. The Holy Spirit has\ninspired these very names; they are in themselves a commentary to the\nprophecies and visions God gave to Zechariah, for they speak of an\nappointed time of God's blessings for Jerusalem and of His loving\nremembrance.\n\nZechariah was born in Babylon in the captivity, for when he returned\nto the land of his fathers he was but a child. Like some other\nprophets he was a priest as well as a prophet. His work as a prophet\nwas commenced by him when he was a young man, for thus he is called\nin one of the visions. The time of his opening address to the people\nis two months after Haggai had opened his lips in Jehovah's name.\nHaggai received the word of the Lord in the sixth month in the second\nyear of Darius, and Zechariah in the eighth month of the same year of\nthe reign of that King, about 520 before Christ.\n\nBoth prophets had the same thought given, namely, to encourage the\nJewish remnant in the blessed work of rebuilding the house of the\nLord. This work had suffered an interruption; the Samaritans were the\ncause of it. They had applied to join in the work, but as the remnant\nconsidered them idolators and as not belonging to God's people, the\napplication was rejected. These Samaritans tried after that in\nvarious ways to hinder the rebuilding, which had so blessedly begun.\nAt last they succeeded in obtaining a decree which forbade the\nbuilding of the Temple. All work had to be stopped and ceased for\nabout fourteen years. But when the King who had forbidden the\nprosecution of the work had died and Darius became King, the building\nof the Temple was once more made possible. The leaders of the people\nin the enterprise were Serubbabel and the High Priest Joshua. But\nagain they were hindered from the outside, while on the other hand\nthe people themselves had lost much interest and possessed no longer\nthat love and zeal for God's house, which was so prominent after\ntheir return. Thus Haggai said: _This people say, It is not the time\nfor us to come, the time for the Lord's house to be built. . . It is\na time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth\nwaste_. Haggai, chapter 1.\n\nIn that critical moment these two prophets made their appearance, and\nGod gave them visions of comfort and glad tidings to encourage the\ndisheartened, selfish and unbelieving people.\n\nThe visions and prophecies of Zechariah, however, do not only give an\nassurance that there could be no failure in the work the remnant had\ntaken up anew, but more than that in them the glorious future of\nJerusalem and Zion is unfolded. They lead up to the grand finale of\nthe history of God's ancient people, the time when Israel, redeemed\nand restored forever, will sing the grand and glorious Hallelujah.\n\nIt is, of course, true that Zechariah did a blessed work for the\npeople who lived in his day; he had a special mission to perform and\nsucceeded in it, but the Spirit of God in the message of comfort for\nthat time gives the history of events then in a distant future. The\nBabylonian captivity of Israel foreshadows their greater dispersion\nin which they are to-day wanderers all over the earth, and the\nrestoration which took place in the time of Zechariah is highly\ntypical of that coming restoration for which we hope and pray.\n\nZechariah may therefore be fitly called the Prophet of the\nRestoration. Surely it is a deplorable blindness in some teachers of\nthe Word, who see in the book of Zechariah nothing but past history,\nand who claim that all has been fulfilled in the return of the small\nJewish remnant from the captivity, and whatever promises of mercy\ngiven to Jerusalem and the land of Judah find now their spiritual\nfulfilment in the church.\n\nIt will be our aim in a series of studies in Zechariah to consider\nmostly the relation of these visions to the end of this age, and the\nbeginning of the next, the millennial glory. We shall find that\ninstead of the book of Zechariah being all fulfilled prophecy, as\nsome would have it, it is indeed mostly unfulfilled, and even some of\nthe prophetic promises which on the surface seem to have been seen a\nfulfilment, were only in part realized. And how important at this\ntime to study the book of Zechariah! We are living in the time when\nthat greater restoration with all its events forerunning and\nconnected with it are about to come to pass. It is needless to say\nthat we firmly believe that Zechariah wrote all of the book which\nbears his name.\n\nSeveral of the Jewish commentators confess an inability to explain\nthe book. The well-known Jewish commentator Solomon Ben Jarchi\n(generally known by the name Rashi), says: \"The prophecy (of\nZechariah) is very dark, for it contains visions much like dreams,\nwhich want interpreting, and we will never succeed in finding the\ntrue meaning until _the Teacher of righteousness arrives_.\" Abarbanel\nmakes a similar confession.\n\nWe praise God that the Teacher of righteousness has come, even the\nSpirit of Truth, who guides into all truth and reveals the things to\ncome.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n_The Opening Address of the Prophet to His Nation. The Night Visions\nand Their Meaning. The First Night Vision._\n\nThe opening address of the prophet (chapter i: 1-6) forms an\nexcellent introduction to the visions of comfort and warning which he\nhad and revealed to the people. It is a very pointed and earnest call\nto repentance: _The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers._\nThey were disobedient and stiff-necked. The former prophets, Jeremiah\nand Isaiah, had called them to turn from their evil ways, but they\ndid not hear. And now, where are the fathers? They had passed away\nlike the disobedient ones in the wilderness; God's judgment and\ndispleasure had overtaken them. But the faithful God of Abraham,\nIsaac and Jacob, whose gifts and calling are without repentance,\ncomes once more to His chosen people, the seed of Abraham, and the\nSpirit, through Zechariah, speaks a direct message to return, and\nutters the promise that the Lord will also return unto them. _Thus\nsaith the Lord of Hosts: Return unto me saith the Lord of Hosts, and\nI will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts._\n\nThe name Jehovah appears three times in this short exhortation. Each\ntime the name is in another connection. Jehovah speaks, they are to\nreturn to Jehovah, and Jehovah will return to them. Surely in profane\nliterature such a repetition would be rejected as useless and\nsuperfluous, but in the Book where every word and phrase is\nGod-given, we cannot pass it by as having no significance. Like in\nmany other passages in the Old Testament we have here a revelation of\nthe one God as Father, Son and Spirit. This revelation was often made\nin divine history, and when the measure of Israel's apostacy was at\nlast filled up, they had indeed rejected Jehovah in rejecting\nJehovah-Jesus, and also Jehovah, the Spirit. And while this\nexhortation was one for Zechariah's contemporaries, it is the great\nexhortation to the Jewish remnant for all times. The nation having\nforsaken Jehovah in His revelations as Father, Son and Spirit, will\nhave to return and listen to Jehovah who speaks, to Jehovah whom they\nrejected, and Jehovah in His merciful and loving manifestations will\nreturn to them as a nation and to their land.\n\nThis return of Israel to which Zechariah exhorts will take place in a\nset order clearly revealed throughout the word of God. We hear in\nRomans ii. that Paul speaks of a remnant according to the election of\ngrace. That remnant is the remnant which turns to Jehovah now during\nthis dispensation, and, of course, all Jews who are now turning to\nJehovah-Jesus, and to whom Jehovah, the Spirit, also comes, are\n_members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ_. As soon as the\n_church_, the witnessing body in the earth, is removed by that\nglorious event which is our blessed hope, another Jewish remnant is\ncalled, and that remnant will be Jewish throughout, \"keeping the\ncommandments and having the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.\" Of\ncourse that remnant will have returned to Jehovah, and will be the\nwitnessing and the _suffering_ body in the great tribulation. The\nbelieving and longing cry of that remnant, \"Blessed is He that cometh\nin the name of the Lord,\" will at last welcome Him, the Pierced One\nand King of Israel as well as King of Glory, to this earth, and then\nthe remnant of the nation in all lands will turn to Him. This is the\ndivine programme for Israel.\n\nAfter these opening words, delivered probably to the assembled\npeople, Zechariah received his wonderful night visions. They were not\nmere dreams, but the events which he describes passed before him in\nvisions. He saw them all in one night. They are eight in number, and\nhave not found many interpreters. They were not only given in one\nnight, but just as one followed rapidly the other, so are they all\nclosely connected, and giving events which are to follow one after\nthe other. That we have here a revelation which may fitly be termed\n_the Apocalypse of Zechariah_ is unquestionable. After all these\nvisions had passed, Joshua, the High Priest, is crowned with two\ncrowns foreshadowing Him who is to be a Priest upon His throne. This\ncrowning is a climax in Zechariah's night visions which lead up to\nthat coronation. Divine interference in behalf of Jerusalem and the\nland of Judah, God's displeasure upon the nations for their\nabominations, and the overthrow of Israel's enemies are clearly\ndepicted in the first two night visions, while in the others we see\nthe promised prosperity returning to the land, God's glory appearing\nonce more, the nation once more inhabiting the land and cleansed from\ntheir guilt, filled with the Spirit, wickedness judged, Babylon set\nup and overthrown, and the chariots of God appearing.\n\nThe first night vision is especially suited for a close study for our\ntimes, for the events and conditions in that first vision are a true\npicture of the peculiarities of the times in which we live. Indeed we\nare rapidly nearing the fulfillment of this first night vision.\n\nThis is the vision: Zechariah sees a man riding upon a red horse and\nhe halts in a valley among myrtle trees. He is surrounded by a large\narmy of angels upon red, sorrel and white horses, and the man upon\nthe red horse becomes the centre of the hosts of heaven. The angels\ngive their reports unto the man in the midst, who is also called the\nAngel of the Lord. These angels had walked to and fro through the\nearth (like the evil spirit and his demons, Job i., so the good\nangels walk to and fro through the earth), and they report to the\nAngel of the Lord, telling him that all the earth sitteth still and\nis at rest. Prosperity and peace seems to be what the angels saw, but\nover against this bright picture there is the dark scene--Jerusalem\ntrodden down, the house of the Lord unfinished, a persecuted\nsuffering remnant.\n\nAnd now the Angel of the Lord becomes the intercessor for Jerusalem\nand turns to Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts sitting upon His throne. _O\nLord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on\nthe cities of Judah against which Thou hast had indignation these\nthree score and ten years?_ He receives an answer of comfortable\nwords. God is once more jealous for Jerusalem, and very angry and\nsore displeased with the nations, the nations who are in greater part\nresponsible for the condition of His inheritance--they _have helped\nforward their affliction_. God promises to return to the city with\nprosperity, and that the house shall be built in it, and the Lord\nshall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.\n\nThe first question which arises in the interpretation of this vision\nis concerning the person who leads the angelic hosts. He is called a\nman riding upon a red horse. This does not mean that he was nothing\nbut a man, but it means that he appeared in the vision to Zechariah\nas a man, he had a human body. Later he is called the Angel of the\nLord, and as such, he acts as successful intercessor for Jerusalem,\nand receives a loving answer from Jehovah. The leader must have been\na divine person incarnate. The name Angel of the Lord is one of the\nOld Testament names for the _Son of God_, and there can be only one\nsatisfactory interpretation of who the rider upon the red horse is,\nand that is, He must be the Son of God. There are three chief reasons\nfor this interpretation. In the first place, the color of the horse\nwhich He rode was red; this denotes blood, and is the color of the\nSon of God, for He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of\nthe world, and He is the Lion from the tribe of Judah, who will arise\nand slay His enemies, coming to judge the nations (Isaiah lxiii). He\nis the Leader as well as the Centre of the heavenly hosts, for to Him\nall power is given in _Heaven_ and in the earth, and all things are\nin His hands; and in the third place, the intercession which the\nAngel of the Lord makes is the intercession which belongs to the Son\nof God. The heavenly company comes to a stop in a deep valley, and\nthe Angel of the Lord stands there among the myrtle trees.\n\nJewish interpretation (in the Yalkut) says: He was staying among the\nmyrtles which were in the _Metzullah_ (depths). Now myrtles\n(Hadassim) mean nothing else than saints, as it is said (Esther ii:\n7), and He was bringing up Hadassah (Esther), and the depths means\nnothing else than Babylon. We believe this as correct an\ninterpretation as any. Myrtles denote lowliness and sweetness, and\nthe dark, dreary valley stands for persecution, suffering, and being\noutcast. All this was true of the remnant, and it is true as well of\nthe church. What a comfort it must have been to the patriotic prophet\nand to all true believers among the returned exiles, to learn that in\nthat vision it was made so clear that Jehovah, the Angel of the Lord,\nwas with them in all their lowliness and suffering. The Angel, who so\nwonderfully delivered their father Jacob, and whom he called the\nAngel the Redeemer, and who had so often appeared in the miraculous\nevents of the past, this same Angel, with all the army of heaven at\nHis command, was still with them, though the cloud of glory was\nmissing.\n\nMay we not forget that the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God, our\nblessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is still with His people\nIsrael. He has indeed not cast them away, whom He foreknew. He is\ntheir King and their Priest, and for all we know, the mighty angels\nwho are under His direction, may be assembled now as they were in\nZechariah's vision, and He Himself ready to reveal His love and mercy\nto Jerusalem.\n\nAnd what is the report of the angels to their leader? They have\nwalked to and fro through the earth, they have found nothing but\nprosperity. All the earth sitteth still and is at rest, the nations\nat ease, a perfect picture of prosperity. The nations are seen in a\nflourishing state, but His nation is in trouble and His inheritance\nlaid waste, the nations having like wild beasts trampled it into the\ndust. While the large cities of the nations are increased and have\nplenty, the city of a great King is forsaken. History shows that\nindeed at that time there was no war, but peace everywhere and\nprosperity enjoyed selfishly by the nations. Should not these nations\nhave an interest in that land and in that people? But they were\nliving for their own ease and comfort. What does it matter if there\nis yonder a poor and suffering people?\n\nProsperity, universal prosperity, and with it universal peace, is the\ncry at the close of another century, and will be more so as we\nadvance towards the end of this age. Civilization, world conquest,\ncommercial extension and a universal peace, seem to be the leading\nthoughts among the nations of our times. Truly it is realized by some\nthat our boasted civilization, liberty and prosperity is nothing but\na smouldering volcano which may burst open at any moment and make an\nend of all boasting, but the majority of the people even in\nChristendom are sadly deluding themselves with idle dreams. And what\nof God's thoughts and His eternal purposes? What of His oath-bound\ncovenant promises? They are being misinterpreted, set aside and\nforgotten. Thus it will continue till the climax is reached, so\nclearly foretold in the second Psalm,\n\n   \"Why do the nations rage\n   And the peoples imagine a vain thing?\n   The kings of the earth set themselves\n   And the rulers take counsel together,\n   Against the Lord and against His anointed.\n   Let us break their bands asunder\n   And cast away from us their cords.\"\n\nThis is a true picture of the nations as the King of Kings at last\nwill find them when He returns with and in His glory. The great sin\nof the nations, which is _Anti-Semitism_, will be considered later.\n\nThe nations at ease, prosperous and increased, and Jerusalem trodden\ndown, the land waste and desolate, in the hands of the enemy, is the\nmark of this age up to its end.\n\nBut now comes the interference of Him who sitteth in the heavens. The\nangel of the Lord intercedes and cries to the Lord of Hosts, \"How\nlong?\" It has been so much overlooked that He who is our Intercessor,\nthe Great High Priest in the Heavens, is, according to the flesh, of\nthe seed of Abraham, and He stands there in His place in His\nglorified humanity. If the High Priest in the Old Testament carried\nupon a breast-plate nearest to his heart the names of the twelve\ntribes of Israel, may we not assume that the true High Priest, who is\nthe King of Israel as well, has them just as near to His loving\nheart? He loves His own, and longs for the time when they will crown\nHim Lord of all. And is it not very significant that the Spirit at\nthis present time teaches so many children of God to pray for the\npeace of Jerusalem, that He may establish and make Jerusalem a praise\nin the earth? The Spirit and the Bride say \"Come,\" and surely the\ndearest thought in the Saviour's heart is being laid upon the hearts\nof His children, in whom the Spirit dwells, to pray and intercede\nwith Him for the peace of Jerusalem. This prayer, heard from so many\nlips to-day in the church waiting for her Lord, is but an echo of His\n\"How long?\" and prayer for His people.\n\nThe interceding angel of the Lord is not left without an answer from\nthe Lord of Hosts whom he has addressed in behalf of Jerusalem. It\nmust be noticed that the answer is not the one which Jehovah gives to\nthe angel of the Lord, but the answer is transmitted by the Lord\nthrough another angel who talked with the prophet. _So the angel that\ntalked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of\nHosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great\njealousy._ Then follows the message in its details. _And I am very\nsore displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was but a\nlittle displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore\nthus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my\nhouse shall be built in it, saith the Lord of Hosts, and a line shall\nbe stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith\nthe Lord of Hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread\nabroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose\nJerusalem._ We desire to take up separately some of these comfortable\nwords. We firmly believe that the time of their fulfillment is not\nonly at hand, but that we are really living in the days when God once\nmore remembers His suffering people and is about to rise in judgment\nupon His and their enemies, and turn in mercy to Zion.\n\nFirst then stands the declaration that God is jealous for Jerusalem\nand for Zion with a great jealousy. The word used in the original for\njealous means burning, and is correctly translated with that word,\nfor jealousy is a burning emotion. Men are jealous of that which is\ntheir own when it is in the hands of another or in danger of being\ntaken away and misused. In this sense God is likewise jealous of His\nown. Jerusalem is His city, the city of a great king; Zion is His\nholy hill, and Israel His own people. All has fallen into the hands\nof the Gentiles and is injured by them. His people scattered and\ndispersed, the holy hill desecrated and Jerusalem trodden down by the\nGentiles. True, God has permitted it all, prophets have spoken of it,\nand their prophecies concerning Jerusalem's desolation have all been\nliterally fulfilled, but now God is seen to rise and to claim once\nmore in great jealousy that which is His Own. We look away from the\npartial fulfillment of this prophecy in Zechariah's time. God looked\ndown from heaven then, and His eyes beheld the sad picture of the\ndesolate land, the unfinished temple and the disheartened and\npunished people. At the end of our dispensation, God looks down from\nheaven, and while the nations are prosperous and at ease, He sees His\ncity controlled by His enemies. The holy hill of Zion, where Jehovah\nrevealed Himself so often, has become the place of idolatry. His name\nis not honored but dishonored. Indeed, the Land and Jerusalem\nattracts once more the attention of the world. Nations are desirous\nof owning the Land and gaining a foothold there. The visit to\nPalestine of the German Emperor, the representative of Lutheranism\nand the avowed friend of one of the darkest characters of our times,\nthe man whose throne seems almost unshakable, and who holds the Land\nin the grasp of his bloody hands, is highly significant. All the\nother nations have watched this visit, and Zionism especially\nrejoices in the fact of the friendship of the Protestant Emperor with\nthe Sultan and hopes much from it for the realization of its well\nplanned schemes. It is to be expected that as the end draws nearer,\nPalestine will become the great centre around which the nations\ngather. Scheming nations, religious and political ambitions for world\nrule and world power, and connected with it Commercialism, which\nseems to become more and more the god of this world, are the\nprogramme for the near future, and upon the entire scene are the eyes\nof the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, and with His burning eyes He\nlooks on with jealousy for Jerusalem and very great jealousy for\nZion. (Joel ii: 18.)\n\nThese are only the opening words of the revelation which is given to\nZechariah. It is God's attitude. Zechariah hears now a very plain and\nimportant statement from the lips of the interpreting angel. The\nstatement is threefold.\n\n1. _I was but a little displeased._ Jehovah is speaking concerning\nHis inheritance that He was, on account of their apostasy and\nidolatry, but a little displeased. This was primarily true of the\nBabylonian captivity. It was but for a moment God was angry. It is so\nnow, though the children of Israel have been in dispersion for\nwell-nigh twenty centuries, but still it is true even now. _For a\nsmall moment have I forgotten thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my\nface from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I\nhave mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer._ His displeasure\nwith His people is never final, it is only temporary. This is clearly\nseen in the entire Word of God. If it were final, if God would be\ndispleased forever with Israel, we might just as well close the\nBible, join the higher critics and end in unbelief, apostasy and\nperdition. _I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have\nscattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will\ncorrect thee with judgment and will in no wise leave thee\nunpunished._ (Jeremiah xxx: 11.)\n\n2. _They have helped forward their affliction._ The Lord is now\nspeaking of the nations who are at ease. He holds them responsible\nfor a greater affliction than He really had designed to come upon His\npeople. By their attitude towards chastised Israel they have made\ntheir affliction much worse than God meant it to be. Of course, it\nwas true during the seventy years God's people spent in Babylon, but\nhow much more true is it in the dispersion which has been their lot\nfor so many sad centuries.\n\nWhere shall we begin in treating the awful truth which is put here in\nsuch simple language? Where shall we find words earnest enough to\npicture the terrible facts in connection with it and sound a warning\nfor our times? Some time ago a person said, \"The Jews are to-day more\nstiff-necked and blinder than ever before.\" Who has made them thus?\nSurely judicial blindness and hardness of heart; ears which do not\nhear are given by God, but, alas, the nations, or so-called\nChristendom, have helped forward their affliction; they have made\nmatters worse a thousand times, and Satan, who hates Israel, has been\nthe author of all things calculated to increase the affliction of\npoor down trodden Israel. Surely the increased stiff-neckedness and\nthe increased blindness is one which is traceable to the nations.\nEvery reader knows something of the history of the Jews, what it has\nbeen since they left the home land--a long, long tale of suffering,\ntears and blood. Most unjust outrages have been committed against\nthem; torture upon torture; the stake and worse than that; and all in\nthe name of Jesus. It is a shameful history. Many a time Jews, after\nhearing the Word preached, have stood up and opened in answer this\nawful book of history with its blood-stained pages, asking the\nquestion, \"Can He be our Redeemer, whose followers have treated us\nthus in His name?\" And not a few can tell us of their own sufferings\nin being banished from foreign lands. Hardly a month passes without\nsome new outrage upon the generally harmless and innocent people in\nEastern Europe. Cruelty, injustice, wickedness and crime are\npracticed against them, and thus their affliction has been increased.\n\nThe same is true of the counterfeits of the Christian religion. Is it\na wonder that the Jew turns away in disgust from religions which\ndemand worship of pictures, statues, holy places, etc.? Satan has\nused it all to keep Israel from a true knowledge of Him, who is the\nKing of Israel. And in Protestant lands the Jew does so rarely see\nthat pure and true love of Him who came to fulfil the law and in whom\nGod as love has been manifested. Instead of treating the Jew as a\nbrother, beloved for the Father's sake--nay, for Jesus' sake, who was\na Jew according to the flesh--he has been despised, ridiculed,\nostracized and treated as inferior to Gentiles. Still there are worse\ndays coming yet. The nations of Christendom in the past have helped\nforward their affliction, but Satan, through these very nations, will\nonce more afflict Israel--once more stretch out his hand to touch the\nnation of destiny. As never before in the history of the world, God's\nown chosen people--the Jews--make themselves felt, and correspondingly\nas never before the Gentile nations are getting ready to rise up\nagainst the Jew to down him if it were possible. The enemy, thus\nprophecy tells us, will try to exterminate the wonderful nation\nthrough nations who are doomed to destruction. This is still future.\nHowever, these coming events are rapidly approaching. Anti-Semitism\nis increasing all over the world, and only God's Spirit and the\nprayer of the Church keeps back the outbreak which will mark the\nbeginning of Jacob's trouble. (Jeremiah xxx: 7.)\n\n3.--_I am very sore displeased._ This is God's anger with the nations\nwho have sinned against His people. The crowning sin of the nations\nis Anti-Semitism, which means anti-Bible, anti-Christ and anti-God.\nIf Christendom would believe the Word of God it could never be the\nenemy of Israel. Our age will end in the judgment of nations, and\nthat judgment will be on account of the sins committed against His\npeople. For behold in those days and in that time when I shall bring\nagain the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations\nand will bring them down into the valley of Jehosophat, and I will\nplead with them there for my people and for my heritage, Israel, when\nthey have scattered among the nations and parted my land. (Joel iii:\n1-3.) Haste ye and come all ye nations round about and gather\nyourselves together thither; cause thy mighty ones to come down, O\nLord; let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of\nJehosophat; for there will I sit to judge all nations round about.\nPut ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get ye down, for\nthe wine-press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is\ngreat. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day\nof the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon\nare darkened, the stars withdraw their shining, and the Lord shall\nroar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens\nand the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge unto His\npeople and a stronghold to the children of Israel. (Joel iii: 17,\netc.) For behold the Lord will come with fire, and His chariots shall\nbe like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke\nwith flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord plead and by His sword\nwith all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. (Isaiah\nlxvi: 15.) This judgment of nations is likewise referred to in\nMatthew xxv. by the lips of our Lord. Generally the last part of that\nchapter is taken to mean the universal judgment, the great white\nthrone. This is an error. _The Son of Man shall come in His glory and\nall the angels with Him._ Thus the passage reads: _Then shall He sit\non the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all the\nnations, and He shall separate them one from another as the shepherd\nseparateth the sheep from the goats._ The judgment takes place and\nnations are punished and rewarded according to their treatment of the\nbrethren of the Son of Man, the King of Glory.\n\nAt that time, when the enemies of Israel are overcome and punished\nfor their wickedness, Israel, once more miraculously saved, will\nbreak forth in praise of the Lord and sing the glorious psalms of\nvictory which to-day are still prophetic. If it had not been the Lord\nwho was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would\nhave swallowed us up alive when their wrath was kindled against us;\nthen the waters would have overwhelmed us, a stream would have gone\nover our soul; then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.\nPraise to Jehovah! who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our\nsoul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler! The snare\nis broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who\nhas made heaven and earth. (Psalm cxxiv.)\n\nThe words which follow, and which are really the good and comfortable\nwords, contain the divine programme of the restoration of His people\nIsrael. What is mentioned here in a few sentences is given in detail\nin the fourth and fifth night vision as well as in the closing\nchapters of the prophet. _I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies._\nThis does not mean a spiritual return or a return of God's mercies to\nJerusalem only, but it means likewise His literal return when He\nappears the second time; and connected with this second appearing of\nthe great Jehovah in Jesus Christ will be seen the Shekinah cloud as\nIsrael had it in the wilderness and the first temple. This is seen in\nthe second chapter. The Lord had withdrawn from His people. _I will\ngo away and return to my place._ (Hosea v: 15.) _For behold your\nhouse is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see\nme henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the\nname of the Lord._ (Matthew xxiii: 38, 39.) The Lord being absent in\nHis person from His people, Israel is forsaken, the land desolate.\nThere can be no true restoration of Israel till He has come whose\nright it is.\n\nSo many good people think that the present Zionistic movement of the\nJews is that promised salvation for the scattered nation. This is not\nso. It is an attempted restoration. Here in the good and comfortable\nwords Zechariah hears, the return of the Lord stands first. Then His\nhouse is to be built. While it meant in the prophet's time the\nbuilding of the second temple, it means in connection with the coming\nrestoration the building of that great millennial temple which\nEzekiel saw in visions and describes in detail--the temple which will\nbe indeed a house of prayer to all nations, and the glory of this\nlatter house shall be greater than the former. The rebuilding of the\ncity of Jerusalem is next in order. A line is to be stretched forth\nupon Jerusalem. The city is enlarged, for from henceforth Jerusalem\nis to be the centre of the earth. (Ezekiel xxxviii: 12.) _My cities\nin prosperity shall overflow._ The blessing will not be confined to\nthe Temple and to Jerusalem, but there will be an overflow, and all\nthe cities in the land will flow over with prosperity. _For the Lord\nshall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will\nmake her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the\nLord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the\nvoice of melody._ (Isaiah li: 3.)\n\nOh, happy time! when wilt thou come? Even so come, Lord Jesus, our\nLord and Israel's King! Other visions will show us that Jerusalem\nwill then indeed be a praise in the earth, for many nations will then\nbe joined to the Lord, and the streams of living waters will overflow\nand bring joy, salvation and healing to the nations around who join\nin the Hallelujah chorus of Jeshurun.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n_The second night vision. The four horns and the four smiths. The\nthird vision. The man measuring Jerusalem. Restoration and glory of\nJerusalem foretold._\n\nThe second night vision of Zechariah is closely connected with the\nfirst. In the first vision the time is given when the Lord will turn\nin mercy to Jerusalem--the time when the nations are at ease, and,\nhaving helped forward the affliction of His people, are ripe for\njudgment. The scenes have passed away, and now the prophet lifts his\neyes again and he sees _four horns_. The question he asks of the\nangel is answered by him, that _these are the horns which have\nscattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem_. Then _four smiths_ appear,\nand the angel informs the prophet that _these are come to fray them_\n(the four horns), _to cast down the horns of the nations which lifted\nup their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it_ (chapter i:\n18-21.) The four horns are the powerful and proud enemies of the\npeople of God. Why four horns? Some have said because the enemies of\nIsrael have come against the land and Jerusalem from all four\ncardinal points of the compass, and have scattered the people east\nand west, north and south. Others mention different nations who were\nat Zechariah's time in existence and instrumental in scattering\nIsrael. The horn is a symbol of power and pride, and in prophecy\nstands for a kingdom and for political world power. The ten horns\nwhich Daniel saw on the terrible fourth beast rising from the sea\ndenote ten kingdoms, and in Revelation xvii: 12 we read, \"The ten\nhorns that thou sawest are ten kings.\" The four horns in this second\nvision must be therefore kingdoms--world powers. The number four, as\nit is well known to every student of the prophetic Word, is found\ntwice in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar's great image was divided\ninto four parts, each standing for a world power, namely: the\nBabylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Graeco-Macedonian and the Roman\npower. The latter is still in existence and will be till the stone\nsmites the image at its feet and pulverizes it. Daniel's vision\n(chapter vii) brings before him four mighty beasts, the last having\nten horns, just as the limbs of the image ended in feet with ten\ntoes. With such a revelation in the book of Daniel it is very easy to\nunderstand that the four horns can mean nothing else than the same\npowers of Gentile rule and supremacy existing during the entire time\nwhen the kingdom has been taken from Israel. These four world powers\nare horns. They unite strength and pride, and are bent upon\nscattering Israel. They are the enemies of Israel, and therefore the\nenemies of God. And now the four smiths appear on the scene to fray\nthem--to cast down the horns of the nations. Four horns are overcome\nand broken down completely by four smiths. It does not follow that\nthe four smiths must be four other powers. The vision seems to teach\ntwo facts: first, the horns will be broken and cast down; and in the\nsecond place, God has for every hostile power which has sinned and\nsins against his people a corresponding greater power to overcome it,\nbreak it into pieces and cast it down. However, we believe the vision\nwill have its fulfillment in the time of Jacob's trouble. The\nelements of all the four world powers will then in some way be\nconcerned in the onslaught on Jerusalem--a confederacy of nations;\nrepresentatives of many nations will come up against Jerusalem, and\nit will be then that the four horns are broken by the four smiths and\nthe casting down will be done.\n\nThe third night vision is one of the most interesting and\ninstructive. As the third one, it forms the climax of the good and\ncomfortable words which were spoken concerning Jerusalem. The number\nthree stands in the Word of God for resurrection, life from the dead.\nThus in Hosea, concerning Israel, \"After two days Thou wilt revive\nus, and on the third day Thou wilt raise us up\" (Hosea vi: 2). In\nthis third vision Zechariah sees the glorious restoration of Israel,\nwhich has been the burden of so many prophecies, and the glory which\nis connected with that restoration. In this night vision Zechariah\nhears of a restoration and of a glory which has never yet been\nfulfilled in the history of God's people. Those teachers of the Word\nwho see in Zechariah's night visions nothing but fulfilled prophecy,\ncannot answer certain questions satisfactorily, and their only refuge\nmust be a spiritualizing of this restoration. Another thought before\nwe take up this third vision. The vision of restoration comes after\nthe enemies of Israel have been cast down. That prophecy might be\nfulfilled; prophecy about a believing, suffering Jewish remnant;\nprophecy concerning Jacob's trouble, etc., a mock restoration,\ngenerally termed a restoration in unbelief, is to take place. There\ncan be no doubt whatever that we are privileged to see the beginning\nof this restoration of part of the Jewish nation to the land of the\nfathers in unbelief: It is one of the signs of the nearness of that\nevent for which the Church hopes, prays and waits--\"our gathering\ntogether unto Him.\" The world and the lukewarm Christian does not see\nit, but he who loves the Word and lives in the Word, has eyes to see\nand a hearing ear and knows what is soon coming. The true\nrestoration, however, will only come as it is seen so clearly in\nthese night visions after the enemies have been overcome, the horns\ncast down, the image smashed--in other words, after the Lord has\ncome.\n\nWe may divide the third night vision into two parts. In the first\npart a man is seen with a measuring line measuring Jerusalem, and the\nrestoration of the city and its enlargement is promised; and in the\nother part promises of blessings are given as well as glimpses of the\nglory which will attend the restoration.\n\nZechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. The prophet\nasks him, Whither goest thou? And he answers, _To measure Jerusalem,\nto see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof._\nThere is nothing here which indicates that the man who starts out to\nmeasure the city is identical with the man on the red horse of the\nfirst vision. This man here seems to be only a person appearing to\nimpress the coming enlargement of Jerusalem upon the prophet's mind.\nSimilar visions where measuring takes place are found in Ezekiel xli,\nwhere the temple of the Millennium is measured, and in Revelation xi,\nwhere a reed is given to John to measure the temple of God, which is\nthe temple standing in Jerusalem during the time of Jacob's trouble.\nHere in Zechariah's vision it is the measuring of Jerusalem. What\nJerusalem is it? Of course, the Jerusalem in Palestine, which will,\nin its restoration, become the centre of the earth. In the new earth,\nafter the thousand years, there will be another Jerusalem in the\nearth, the new Jerusalem come down out of heaven from God (Rev. xxi:\n2). Of this new Jerusalem we read, \"And the city lieth four square,\nand the length thereof is as large as the breadth: and he measured\nthe city with a reed twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the\nbreadth and the height thereof are equal\" (Rev. xxi: 16). Here is the\nmeasurement of the new Jerusalem: As long as it is broad and\nextending upward into the air. What a wonderful city that will be,\nthe glorious centre of a new heaven and a new earth, our home for all\neternity! The man in Zechariah's third vision measures only the\nlength and the breadth of the city because in the coming restoration\nof Jerusalem there is no height to be measured.\n\nNow follows the appearing of another angel who meets with the one who\nhad been speaking to Zechariah, and he brings from the throne of God\na message for the prophet. He said, _Run, speak to this young man\nsaying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, by\nreason of the multitude of men and cattle therein._ The influx of men\nand cattle to Jerusalem will be so enormous that the city must be\nenlarged and it will spread out into the plain. Another prophet, the\nseer of Israel's glorious future, Isaiah, has spoken likewise of this\nenlargement in the following beautiful words: \"As for thy waste and\ndesolate places, and thy land which has been destroyed, surely now\nshalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed\nthee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement shall yet\nsay in thine ears, The place is too strait for me, give place to me\nthat I may dwell\" (Isaiah xlix: 19, 20). Notice the city is to be\ninhabited as villages. This denotes the peace which Jerusalem will\nthen enjoy. A blessed security for the city which for so long a time\nwas trodden down by the Gentiles. There will be no walls. No need of\nwalls to shelter men and cattle, for the enemies of Israel have been\nscattered and broken down, the warfare of Jerusalem is accomplished.\nAt the end of the Millennium, which will have been a thousand years\nof unbroken peace for the land which for thousands of years knew no\npeace, Satan, with Gog and Magog, will come against the land and its\ninhabitants. This last final struggle the Holy Spirit revealed\nthrough the prophet Ezekiel (chapters xxxviii and xxxix). It is\ninteresting to notice there the condition of the land and the people\nas the enemy who comes up against the land finds them: Thus says the\nLord God: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come\ninto thy (enemy) mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device: and thou\nshalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go\nto them that are quiet, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling\nwithout walls, and having neither bars nor gates: to take the spoil\nand to take the prey: to turn thine hand against the waste places\nthat are now inhabited, and against the people that are gathered out\nof the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the\ncentre of the earth (Ezekiel xxxviii: 10-12). What a wonderful Word\nour God has given us! How everything is harmony! Zechariah's vision\nshows what Jerusalem will be in the beginning of the Millennium, and\nEzekiel, by the Spirit of God, puts before us the same conditions at\nthe end of the thousand years.\n\nThe reason of Jerusalem's peace, security and prosperity will be the\nglory of the Lord. This glory will be in the midst of the city, and\nwill also form a wall of fire around the city. For I, saith the Lord,\nwill be unto her a wall of fire round about the city, and I will be\nthe glory in the midst of her. Glory and defence are here combined.\nThey always go together. This has been in a degree already the happy\nlot of Israel in the past, for He guided them with His glory. It was\na cloud by day and a fire at night by which the Lord had revealed\nHimself to His people, and out of that glory cloud He protected them\nand punished their enemies. How much greater will that glory and\ndefence be in that time of fullness when Israel is no longer a\ndisobedient, stiff-necked people, but the holy people, the kingly\nnation. What a glory that will be when the King comes back with His\nkingly glory, attended by the many, many brethren who have suffered\nwith Him and now share His glory! What a glory that will be when He,\nwho is our life, will be manifested, and we with Him in His glory! It\nwill be unspeakable glory. Cry aloud and shout thou inhabitant of\nZion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. And\nit shall come to pass, that He that is left in Zion and he that\nremaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is\nwritten among the living in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed\naway the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the\nblood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the blast of judgment\nand burning. And the Lord will create over the whole habitation of\nMount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the\nshining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory shall be\nspread a canopy. There shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the day\ntime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and\nfrom rain. (Isaiah iv.) This glory during the Millennium will no\ndoubt not only hover over the land, but will be visible over the\nentire earth, and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover\nthe earth as the waters the sea.\n\nIt is interesting to see how Talmudical literature falls in with\nthese thoughts. A few quotations from these old writings of the Jews\nwill no doubt be acceptable to the reader. Rabbi Isaac Napcha says:\nThe Holy One said, I kindled a fire in Jerusalem (in wrath) Lament.\niv: 11, and I am going to build her up again with fire, as it is\nsaid, \"I will be unto her, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round\nabout. He that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.\" The\nPesikta Rabethi has this: What is this: \"And for a Glory I am in the\nmidst of her.\" Is it not the case that the glory of the Holy One is\nnone other than on high, as it is said, \"His glory is above the\nheavens.\" The glory is in order to show every creature in the\nuniverse the superior excellence of Israel, since it is on their\naccount that the Holy One brings down the Shekinah from the highest\nheaven and lets it dwell in the earth.\n\nWe have now in the vision a continued description of that happy\ncondition of Jerusalem and all that is connected with it. First, we\nnotice the summons for the Jews who are then still in dispersion.\n_Ho, ho, flee from the land of the North, saith the Lord, for I have\nspread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.\nHo, Zion, escape that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon._\n\nIt is not to be expected that when the glory appears and the King of\nGlory comes again and His feet stand there on the Mount of Olives,\nthat the entire Jewish nation will then live in the land. This will\nnot be the case; only a part of the nation was restored in unbelief,\nand in the midst of them a believing remnant, whose faith, suffering\nand salvation we hope to describe later. Two-thirds of all the\ninhabitants of the land will be swept away in the great tribulation.\nAfter the Lord has come, the others will be restored. It is\nsignificant that the land of the North is mentioned here, Late; in\nthe eighth chapter, we read: \"I will save my people from the East\ncountry and from the West country,\" but those living in the land of\nthe North come first. Of course, Babylon was meant as far as this\nvision had anything to do with the restoration which had taken place\nin part from the Babylonian captivity. The North country, which\nfigures in the coming restoration, is not Babylon, but another land.\nRussia is directly north of Palestine, and in this northern land, the\nterritory once inhabited by Gog and Magog, about one half of the Jews\nnow living have their homes. About six millions of Jews are living\nto-day in European and Asiatic Russia. Their deplorable condition in\nthat land of the North is well known, and there, likewise, the\nnational awakening has been the most marked and Zionism has its most\nardent advocates. A large multitude is getting ready in the North\ncountry for a mighty exodus. Like their forefathers in Egypt, they\nwill flee from the land of the North, and thus prophecy is literally\nto be fulfilled.\n\nZion is to separate from the daughter of Babylon. What is Babylon? We\nhope to answer this question and give a description of her when we\ncome to consider the seventh night vision, the woman in the Ephah. In\nthis third vision of restoration we hear next what is to take place\nafter the glory. The expression \"after the glory\" means undoubtedly\nthe glorious appearing of the Lord coming with all His saints,\nsitting upon the throne of His glory, and His glory thus manifested.\n_After the glory hath He sent Me to the nations which spoiled you:\nfor he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye._ Who is the\none who is being sent to the nations? It is without a question He,\nwhom the Father sent. He sent Him once, the only begotten, into the\nworld in the form of a servant, when He made Himself of no\nreputation, but Jehovah will send Him again. And when He again\nbringeth in the Firstborn into the inhabited earth He saith, And let\nall the angels worship Him. (Heb. i: 6, 7.) The Father sends Him\nagain to establish His glory, and after the manifestation He is sent\nto the nations which spoiled Israel. All Scripture speaks of this.\nWhile He will in His coming overcome the armies of nations who are\ngathered in that day against Jerusalem, He will likewise continue,\nafter His glory, to judge nations. He will rule in the midst of His\nenemies. He will do that among the nations what the second psalm\ndeclares, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt dash\nthem in pieces like a potter's vessel. _For, behold I will shake Mine\nhand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them._\nIn this rule and judgment the Lord of glory will be assisted by the\nsaints. Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? (1 Cor.\nvi: 2.) Israel will likewise be used in that judgment. While He is\nthe lion of the tribe of Judah who now roars to the dismay of all His\nenemies, Israel, His people, becomes the lioness. \"Behold the people\nriseth up as a lioness, and as a lion does he lift himself up. He\nshall not lie down till he eat the prey and drink the blood of the\nslain.\" (Numbers xxiii: 24.) Israel will then no longer be the tail\nbut has become the head. The true form of government for the earth\nhas been restored, a Theocracy through His chosen and restored\npeople, the seed of Abraham. Things will then be changed completely.\nThe nations shall take them (the children of Abraham) and bring them\nto their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the\nland of the Lord for servants and for handmaids, and they shall take\nthem captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their\noppressors. (Isaiah xiv: 2.) Strangers shall stand and feed your\nflocks and aliens shall be your vine dressers. (Isaiah lxi: 5.)\n\nWe must not overlook the loving words concerning Israel, He that\ntoucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye. Israel is the apple of\nthe eye of God. Through Moses God declared the same truth. He kept\nhim as the apple of His eye. (Deut xxxii: 10.) In Hebrew the pupil of\nthe eye is called the gate, because through it enters the light. Thus\nIsrael is the pupil, the gate, through which the light has come and\ncomes, for salvation is of the Jews. And what is so sensitive, so\ndelicate and easily injured as the apple of the eye? And against this\napple of the eye of God the nations and Christendom have sinned. May\nwe believing Gentiles understand more fully that Israel is the\nbeloved one and may we be kept from doing harm to His people.\n\nThe overcoming of the enemies of Israel, the spoiling of these\nnations which spoiled Israel, and all that is connected with it by\nthe sent One of God, the Son of God will be the evidence for Israel\nthat Jehovah has sent Him. _And ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts\nhas sent Me._ The same statement is repeated in this vision, but we\nshall see in another connection. It is, so to speak, constitutional\nwith the Jew that he wishes to see and then believe, and surely he\nwill see and believe, or rather know, when the Lord comes.\n\nIn the tenth verse of the second chapter of Zechariah we read now\nthat the daughter of Zion will sing and rejoice. The reason of her\nsong and joy is, _For lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of\nthee._ To-day orthodox Jews are chanting in Hebrew the magnificent\npsalms which speak of a coming deliverance and manifestation of God's\nglory, but it is only with their lips, and the heart is still\nhardened and the eye blinded. The dark night is rapidly approaching,\nthe night in which a believing remnant of Jews will fulfill much of\nthat suffering, waiting, and blessed assurance of salvation which is\nso clearly outlined in the psalms. And after that, the whole nation\nwill break out in mighty songs of joy, and while there, in the\nFather's house, the blood-bought hosts will sing their hallelujah, a\ndelivered, cleansed and spirit-filled nation in the earth will shout\nher hallelujah, in which nation after nation will join, till at last\nit has been done what seer after seer saw and heard, the earth as\nwell as the heavens filled with His glory, the Kingdom come, and His\nwill done in the earth as it is done in Heaven.\n\nAgain, the promise is given that the Lord will dwell in the midst of\nher. How is this to be understood? Will the Lord dwell continually in\nperson, after his second coming, in Jerusalem? Will He be seen there\nin His Holy Temple by all who come up to Jerusalem? Some Scriptures\nindicate that He will be present in His blessed person at different\nseasons. The strongest statement in this direction is Zechariah xiv:\n16. In this passage we have the fact of a yearly coming up to\nJerusalem of nations (probably representatives of nations) to worship\nthe King, and that at the feast of tabernacles. His throne, no longer\nHis Father's throne, upon which He sits now, but his own throne\nduring the Millennium, will no doubt be in the New Jerusalem which,\nas a bright and glorious vision, will be seen then by all who live in\nthe earth way up in the firmament, and the angels of God _ascending_\nand descending upon the Son of Man. A vice-regent, a Son of David,\nwill occupy David's throne in Jerusalem. The Glory of the Lord will\nappear in the Holy City, and the new name of Jerusalem will be\nJehovah Shamah, the Lord is there. It is impossible to give the\ndetails of these glories, for they are not clearly revealed. It is\nenough to know that the Church, His Body, shall truly be united with\nher glorified head, and meet her Beloved, her Bridegroom and her\nLord. It is enough to know that Israel will surely see the King in\nHis beauty and crown Him Lord of all. Even our brightest imaginations\nwill not reach the glories of that day. Indeed, not half has been\ntold.\n\nThe Lord cometh to dwell in Zion. _Many nations shall join themselves\nto the Lord in that day and shall be My people._ This promise is\nlikewise followed that this will be evidence from which the people\nwill know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Him. How often the orthodox\nJew has come to us and told us that when Messiah comes all their\nenemies will be cast down--there will be peace for Jerusalem and the\nnation Israel; and then saying, Ah, where is that peace?--behold our\nenemies! When Messiah comes we shall know Him by what He does for us\nin overcoming our enemies. Likewise the orthodox Jew will say, Where\nare the many nations who join themselves to the Lord, the nations who\nworship the Lord of Hosts? When Messiah has come, he will say, We\nwill know Him by the fact that nations shall join themselves unto the\nLord. It will hardly do to tell the well informed Hebrew that there\nare now Christian nations in existence. Thus the Jew waits for the\nfulfillment of these prophecies at some future time, and seeing them\naccomplished he hopes to know then his Messiah and King. Only the\nsmall remnant, according to the election of grace, sees Him now by\nthe eyes of faith--Him who is altogether lovely, and in whom alone\nthese prophecies can find their fulfillment. To-day individuals from\nJews and Gentiles are joining themselves to the Lord, but in that day\nof His appearing and manifestation nations will be converted, and\nmany nations shall go and say, \"Come ye and let us go up to the\nmountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will\nteach us His ways and we will walk in His paths.\" \"Lift up thine eyes\nand see: they all gather themselves together--they come to Thee. Thy\nsons shall come from far and thy daughters shall be carried in the\narms. Then thou shalt see and be lightened, and thine heart shalt\ntremble and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be\nturned unto thee. The wealth of the nations shall come unto thee, the\nmultitudes of camels shall cover thee--the dromedaries of Midian and\nEphah, they all shall come from Sheba; they shall bring gold and\nfrankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.\" (Isaiah\nlx:4-7.) Only then will India and China, South America and Africa be\nwon to Christ and the world converted to God. But the land of Judah\nis to be the portion of the Lord (verse 12).\n\nThis vision of restoration and the coming of glory ends with one of\nthe sublimest exhortations in the Word of God. _Be silent, all flesh,\nbefore the Lord, for He is waked up out of His holy habitation._ The\nexhortation does not belong really to the restoration. It is an\nappeal to all flesh to be silent before the One who is raised up--the\ncoming One. Now is the time when God is silent. He is silent to the\nwicked deeds of men. He is silent in regard to the nations who are\ntreading down Jerusalem and who are scattering Israel. The flesh\nspeaks now and is not silent, and the language it speaks is rebellion\nagainst God and against His Anointed. And louder and louder speaks\nall flesh, and in the midst of a boasted civilization, at the dawn of\na new century, the days of Noah and the days of Lot are at hand.\nGain, pride, possession, expansion, is the universal cry--a mad hunt\nafter Mammon is seen in individuals and in nations; and while the\nflesh speaks thus, and its language becomes more and more defiant,\nGod keeps silence. But our God shall come and keep silence no longer.\nRapidly His day--the terrible day of the Lord--is approaching; the\nday in which He will roar out of Zion. Oh, what a hush there will\ncome upon those that dwell in the earth when the darkened sun and the\nfalling stars will herald the approach of a God who will keep silence\nno longer. Oh, dear reader, Jew or Gentile, listen! The signs of the\ntimes truly tell us that the Lord who is to come must have already\n_risen_ from His holy habitation. He is coming. Soon He will gather\nHis saints unto Himself before the day of wrath breaks, when neither\ngold nor silver will deliver. Wilt thou not become silent before Him,\nthe coming One? Will not every reader yield himself to that wooing\nspirit of Him, whose power does silence the flesh? Be silent all\nflesh! He is waked up out of His holy habitation!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n_The fourth vision.--Joshua the high priest accused by Satan, but\ncleansed by the angel of the Lord--The branch.--The stone and the\nsewn eyes upon it.--The coming peace._\n\nThe fourth vision is like the first and second, closely connected\nwith the foregoing one. It gives the crowning event of Israel's\nrestoration. The prophet recognizes in the figure which is seen by\nhim Joshua the high priest, who is standing before the angel of the\nLord, while at his right hand stands Satan to oppose him. Joshua was\nnot clothed with his clean, priestly robes, but he wears filthy\ngarments. Jehovah rebukes Satan and terms Jerusalem a brand plucked\nfrom the fire. After the accuser is rebuked, the filthy garments of\nthe high priest are removed, his iniquity is forgiven, and he is\nclothed with festal raiment. The prophet is so carried away with the\nvision that he asks that a clean mitre is to be put upon his head.\nAnd now, after the high priest is thus clothed, the angel of the Lord\ncharges him with an important message: If thou wilt walk in My ways\nand keep My charge, thou shalt judge my house and also keep my\ncourts. I will give thee access among those standing here, etc. The\nservant--the branch--is promised, and the stone which is laid before\nJoshua is to have seven eyes. The iniquity of this land is to be\nremoved in one day, and the vision closes with the peaceful scene,\nevery man inviting his neighbor under the vine and under the fig\ntree.\n\nThe authorized version has a superscription for this chapter. \"Under\nthe type of Joshua the restoration of the _church_ is promised.\" This\nis not alone very misleading but also erroneous. No restoration of\nthe church is necessary, and as far as fallen, apostate Christendom\nis concerned, there is no promise of restoration, but the Lord will\nspew her out of His mouth. Others speak of this vision as a type of\nthe justification of the sinner, but we need not spiritualize Old\nTestament visions to get assurance of our justification. The Epistle\nto the Romans is sufficient for that. The High Priest Joshua stands\nhere for Jerusalem and for the sinful nation Israel. The calling of\nIsrael to be a nation of priests is too well known, so we need not to\nenlarge on it. But it is a nation stiff-necked, disobedient, unclean\nand defiled. Disobedience and sin have been the cause of Israel's\nmisfortune and Jerusalem's ruin. What would be a restoration of\nIsrael to the land without a healing of their sins and a regeneration\nof the nation? It is this divine forgiveness and cleansing of the\nnation, which so many prophets uttered in Jehovah's name, which is\nhere so wonderfully shown in this vision. Like the priests in the\ntemple, standing before Jehovah, thus Joshua and Israel is before the\nLord. Though Joshua is standing before the Lord in filthy garments,\nyet he is still the High Priest. The filthy garments do not change\nthe office to which God had called him. Oh, wondrous truth, which we\nmeet all through the Word! Israel, though in dispersion and in sin,\nis still the priest, called by Him who is a covenant-keeping God! And\nis it not a perfect picture of Israel as it is yet to-day? A priest,\nbut defiled and unclean. In Isaiah lxiv we have part of that\nwonderful prayer which the remnant of Israel is yet to utter. It\nbegins with that sublime prayer, Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the\nheavens, that Thou wouldest come, that the mountains might flow down\nat Thy presence. And then follows the confession: We are all become\nas one that is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted\ngarment. Alas, how little Israel knows at this present time of such a\nconfession. On the day of atonement the lips confess sin and\nunrighteousness in similar words, but it is still the lips and not\nthe heart. But at last Israel will confess her guilt and the\nbloodguiltiness like David did.\n\nIn the vision Satan is seen. This is not the enemy who at Zechariah's\ntime tried to hinder the rebuilding of the temple, but it is Satan,\nthe old serpent, the accuser of the brethren, the adversary. He is\nthe enemy of Israel. He has tried in the past to hurt and to destroy\nthe nation of destiny. He knows the purposes of God concerning Israel\nbetter than many a learned doctor of divinity, and therefore, he has\nopposed that people and opposes them still. His opposition has been\nmostly through nations. How much could be said on this topic! The end\nof this age will reveal the enemy of Israel, the adversary, as never\nbefore in the history of the world. There is to be war in heaven;\nMichael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the\ndragon warred, and his angels, and they prevailed not, neither was\ntheir place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast\ndown, the old Serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the\nDeceiver of the whole world, he was cast down to the earth and his\nangels were cast down with him. (Rev. xii: 7-9.) His wrath will be\ndirected against Israel and Jerusalem. It is the time of which Daniel\nspoke. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince\nwhich standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a\ntime of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to\nthat same time. (Daniel xii: 1.) Once more Satan will try to destroy\nthe people, but the Lord shall rebuke him. Israel will be again, as\nso often before, like a brand plucked out of the fire. So it has been\nin the past. Way back when Israel was in Egypt and God was about to\nsend the deliverer, He called Moses from out of the burning\nbush--Israel's true type, burning, but never consumed. Oh, how the\nfire of persecution and adversity has been raging, but again and\nagain the hand of God snatched the burning brand out of the fire at\nthe right moment. The Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem will rebuke\nSatan. This has not yet come. The coming Lord will commission an\nangel out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in\nhis hand. And he will lay hold on the dragon--the old Serpent which\nis the Devil and Satan--and bind him for a thousand years, and cast\nhim into the abyss and shut it and seal it over him. (Rev. xx: 1, 2.)\nThen follows the cleansing of Israel and the new charge, all so\nclearly given in this vision.\n\nThe filthy garments are removed by those that stand before the angel\nof the Lord. The iniquity is taken away, and in place of the filthy\ngarments there is the rich apparel and the fair mitre upon the head.\nHow blessedly all this is waiting for its fulfillment in Israel's\nregeneration! When He appears after the times of overturning, He\nwhose right it is, His people Israel will be found by Him in true\npenitence, acknowledging their offence. It will be a national\nrepentance, a mourning on account of Him, which Zechariah describes\nin detail in the twelfth chapter.\n\nThis will be followed by national cleansing, forgiveness of sin for\nthe entire remnant which is left, and the new birth of the nation by\nthe outpouring of the Spirit. Israel is the nation to be born in a\nday (Isa. lxvi: 8). This great miracle of divine grace, the\nregeneration of Israel by the blood of the once rejected King, is\nspoken of again and again in the Word. The Church has taken it all\nfor herself or spiritualized these promises. We can refer only to a\nfew: \"He will turn again and have compassion upon us; He will tread\nour iniquities under foot; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the\ndepths of the sea\" (Micah vii: 19). \"I will take you from among the\nnations and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into\nyour own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall\nbe clean. (How _ridiculous_ that teachers and preachers refer to this\ntext in defence of _sprinkling_ as a mode of baptism.) From all your\nfilthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart\nalso will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I\nwill take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you\na heart of flesh\" (Ezek. xxxvi: 24-26). \"I, even I, am He that\nblotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and I will not\nremember thy sins\" (Isa. xliii: 25). \"I have blotted out, as a thick\ncloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me\nfor I have redeemed thee. Sing, oh ye heavens, for the Lord has done\nit; shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing ye\nmountains, oh forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord has\nredeemed Jacob and will glorify Himself in Israel\" (Isa. xliv: 22,\n23). And this is Israel's triumphant song: \"I will greatly rejoice in\nthe Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me\nwith the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of\nrighteousness, as a priest decketh himself with a garland, and as a\nbride adorneth herself with her jewels\" (Isa. lxi: 10).\n\nAnd now comes a very solemn charge. _Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: if\nthou will walk in my ways, and if thou will keep my charge, then thou\nalso shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep likewise my courts, I\nwill give thee places to walk among these that stand by._\n\nIsrael was disobedient and did not keep the first charge. It is now\nrepeated. It is likewise conditionally as was the first, but no\napostasy can follow, for a complete healing has made that impossible.\nIn analyzing this charge, we see clearly what Israel's earthly\ncalling is and wherein Israel's millennial glory and work will\nconsist: (1) _Judging_ in the house of the Lord, and from there\nruling and judging of nations, by Israel the head of the nations. The\nChurch will be higher than this, sitting with Him in His throne, and\nlikewise judging, being with the glorified Head over it all; (2)\nIsrael will _keep His courts_. In the new millennial temple there\nwill be ordinances, and that temple will be a house of prayer for all\nnations, while the Church will be in the temple above; (3) Israel\nwill have _places to walk_ among these that stand by. This may have a\ndouble meaning--walking among the ministering angels which will\nascend and descend upon the Son of Man, and places to walk among\nthose that stand by--the nations. Israel's cleansing will take place\nnot in heaven but in the earth, and nations as well as angels will be\nwitnesses of it. Among these nations redeemed Israel will have places\nto walk. The Church will occupy the many mansions in the Father's\nhouse, and go in and out in blessed fellowship with the Lord of glory\nand all His saints; and, perhaps, for all we know, there may be\nplaces to walk for the Church in distant worlds.\n\nThe whole redeemed and restored nation will then be a miracle. _Hear\nnow, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before\nthee, for they are men which are a wonder: for behold I will bring\nforth my servant the Branch._\n\nThe Jews are now God's standing miracle, but how much more will they\nbe a wonder when the Spirit has filled them! They will heal the sick\nand do the same works Jesus their Elder Brother did. What will then\ncome to this sin-cursed earth through Israel's fullness? A\nmiracle--life from the dead. But never before He, whose name is the\nBranch, appears. Oh, how necessary it is for us to be reminded that\nit will take place when He appears and the Branch is brought forth.\n\nNext comes the _stone laid before Joshua_, and upon the stone seven\neyes, and engraving is seen on it. Generally this stone is\ninterpreted as meaning Christ. One of the names of Christ is--a\nstone, a rejected stone, corner stone, a precious stone, etc. The\ntrue believers are likewise termed stones, living stones. The stone\nin Nebuchadnezzar's dream, falling out of heaven, smashing the image\nand becoming a great mountain which filled the entire earth, is both\nChrist and His kingdom, which is not of this earth (it is and comes\nfrom above). However, it seems to us that the only correct\ninterpretation of the stone upon which are the seven eyes is that it\nmeans Israel restored, and as such, the nucleus of the kingdom of God\nand His Christ in this earth. The seven eyes speak of the sevenfold\nSpirit which will be upon Israel; the engraving of the stone stands\nfor the beauty and glory with which God will bless His covenant\npeople. That this interpretation is the only correct one becomes at\nonce evident when we reach the closing sentence of the ninth verse,\n_and I will remove the iniquity of that land one day._ What land? It\nis Israel's land, and therefore the whole vision must stand in vital\nconnection with His people. The one day, of course, in the first\nline, must be that day when Christ died for our sins and Israel's\nsins as well, when the veil was rent. But alas, the Jews cried then,\n\"His blood be upon us and upon our children!\" How terribly this awful\nprayer has been answered! Truly the blood has been upon them and\ntheir children. But soon--oh may it be very soon--another day will\ncome when the blood shall be once more upon them and their\nchildren--when the blood shall cleanse and wash away Israel's\nsin--one day when Calvary's blood, the blood of the Son of God, will\nremove the iniquity of that land and its inhabitants.\n\nAll is waiting for that. There can be no kingdom of God in the earth,\nno conversion of the world, no millennium before Israel has been\ncleansed, redeemed, restored, and the iniquity of the land is\nremoved. This all-important truth is likewise mentioned in a few\nwords at the close of this, the fourth night vision of the prophet:\n_In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his\nneighbor under the vine and under the fig tree._ This is the picture\nof prosperity, peace and love. No prosperity and peace till the\nmillennium has come, no millennium until Israel is restored; no true\nrestoration of Israel until the Lord comes with His saints. What\nZechariah hears about that blessed time of peace Micah and other\nprophets received also from God, \"Every man shall sit under his vine\nand under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid\" (Micah iv:\n4).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n_The fifth vision.--The candlestick and the two olive trees.--The\ngreat mountain becoming a plain.--Zerubbabel the prince finishing the\nhouse of the Lord._\n\nThe first three chapters of Zechariah are the foundation of the\nentire book. The events in these chapters are again and again touched\nupon in the following visions and prophecies of Zechariah. For this\nreason have we paid special attention to these three chapters, which\nspeak so clearly of the time of Israel's restoration, the restoration\nitself and the different events connected with it, and much which\nmight be said on the visions of the prophet which now follow can be\nomitted, as the reader has the key to the situation in the studies\nmade.\n\nThere was a rest for the prophet between the fourth and fifth night\nvision. He had fallen into a deep sleep. He may have been overcome by\nthe grand and important visions, and is now awakened by the angel\nwith the question, \"What seest thou?\" The new vision is a very\nstriking one. A golden candlestick appears before the seer. An oil\nreceiver is seen on top, from which the oil flows to the seven lamps\nof the candlestick through seven pipes. Two olive trees stand\nalongside of the candlestick and hang their fruit-laden branches over\nthe golden bowl, filling it with oil, which flows through the seven\npipes into the seven lamps. The question of the prophet, \"What are\nthese, my Lord?\" is answered by the angel with this statement, \"This\nis the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might and not by\npower but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, oh\ngreat mountain, before Zerubbabel? Be a plain! He shall bring forth\nthe topstone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it. The hands of\nZerubbabel who have laid the foundation shall also finish it, and\nthey shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel\n--even the seven. The eyes of the Lord shall run to and fro through\nthe entire earth.\" For the third time the prophet asks for information\nabout the two olive trees and receives the answer: \"These are the two\nsons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.\"\n\nThe vision of the candlestick and the two olive trees is one of the\nmost difficult in the Bible and needs prayerful and thoughtful study.\n\nThe general interpretation is that the golden candlestick represents\nthe Church, that she is the golden light-bearer, so valuable and\nprecious. She is the light in the dark world. The oil and the seven\npipes are the Holy Spirit who fills the lamps of the candlestick; the\ntwo olive trees, Joshua and Zerubbabel, Priest and King. The victory\nwhich the Church is to gain is one not by power or might but by His\nSpirit, etc. This interpretation seems to fit in with a number of\npassages in the New Testament, the seven candlesticks in Revelation\nfirst chapter and the teaching of the New Testament about the Holy\nSpirit and His work. However, it is hardly a satisfactory\nexplanation. We do not doubt for a moment that the Church is\nrepresented by a candlestick, especially the Churches; or rather, the\nChurch in her seven periods. Of course the Holy Spirit's type is oil,\nand He is the one who accomplishes the work, etc. All this we do not\nand cannot doubt for a moment, but after considering it all it does\nnot satisfy us, and we feel that we must look for a better and a\ndeeper meaning of the fifth night vision. If its fullest meaning is\nthe Church and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, how could\nit be then harmonized with the first night visions of Israel's\nrestoration? The above interpretation seems to us overlooks entirely\nthe fact that the vision of the candlestick being given with the\nothers in one night, must be connected with them in some way. In\nother words, the vision of the golden candlestick must have some\nrelation to the restoration of Israel.\n\nWe desire to call attention to the fact that the vision is one which\nspeaks of perfection, completion, fullness. The perfect and divine\nnumber seven is found three times in the vision, seven lamps, seven\npipes, and seven eyes. The seven lamps are united to one stem, this\nis union, and above it, is a golden bowl. The Spirit conquers, and\nnot power or might does it, but His power. The great mountain becomes\na plain. The topstone is brought forth and crowns the building which\nis finished by Zerubbabel. Shoutings, \"Grace, grace, unto it,\" are\nheard, and the seven eyes run to and fro the whole earth. It is a\nvision of fullness and accomplishment. The candlestick shines and\nsheds its glorious light, its pure gold glitters and reflects the\nlight of the seven lamps. The bowl is filled with oil, and the two\nolive trees give a continual supply. The high mountain removed, the\ntemple finished, joy and victory abound. The candlestick in the\nvision is exactly like the one in the tabernacle, only the two olive\ntrees are something new. The candlestick in the tabernacle represents\nChrist, the Light of the world, and is likewise a type of the Jewish\ntheocracy. Theocracy, the government of this earth by the immediate\ndirection of God, is once to be established, and when it is, it will\nbe like a bright and glorious candlestick shedding light and\ndispersing the darkness. We think the _Yalkut_ on Zechariah (a Hebrew\ncommentary), is not so very far out of the way when it says, \"The\ngolden candlestick is Israel.\" It seems to us very clear that the\nvision represents the Jewish theocracy restored, Israel in their\nglorious inheritance as the light of the world. But what about the\nChurch as a candlestick? The Lord is seen in Revelation to walk among\n_seven_ candlesticks, which represent the seven Churches and\nprophetically the seven periods of this dispensation, ending with\nLaodicea. The end of this age will not be a bright and glorious\ncandlestick, filled with oil, conquest and glory, but it will be\nfailure and the removal of the candlestick which failed in giving the\nlight. The nominal Church is far from being the light of the world,\nand Christendom nears rapidly a dark and dreary night. The true\nbeliever, who is filled with the Spirit, of course, is the light of\nthe world as an individual, he reflects the light and glory of His\nMaster, and thus every child of God is a light. But the home of the\ntrue Church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not the earth, to\nremain here permanently, but her home is the Father's house, her\ndestination, union with her glorified Head and sharing His glory.\nIsrael and Gentiles will be left in the earth, while the Church is\nwith her Lord. When He appears, the King of Israel and King of Glory,\nit will not be to re-establish the Church in the earth, for she is to\nsit with Him in heavenly places, but Israel, His beloved people, will\nbecome the light-bearer, the light which is to enlighten the Gentiles\nand fulfill its original calling. It is a true saying, whatever is\nspoken of Christ is also spoken of His Church, and it is just as\ntrue, whatever is spoken of Christ is also spoken of Israel. Of the\ncoming Messiah, we read in Isaiah xlix., \"I will give thee for a\nlight to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end\nof the earth,\" but this is likewise true of his brethren according to\nthe flesh, Israel will be a light to the Gentiles.\n\nThe candlestick of pure gold, precious, and uniting seven lamps\nfilled with oil, represents Israel's glorious fullness. All will be\nunited under one Head, and no longer seven candlesticks and confusion\nof religions teachings, but there will be one Shepherd and one fold.\nThis will be accomplished not by power or might but by His Spirit. He\nwill accomplish God's blessed purpose in Israel by the wonderful\noutpouring which is promised through Joel, and which was only\npartially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and never\nsince. The Jew feels still in some degree his mission, and what else\nis this awakened national life as it is now known by the name of\nZionism, than a reaching out for it. But there is still the blinding,\nmoney, political powers, in reality their enemies, different\ninfluences and combinations are looked upon by them as the means to\nbring about that which is born into every Jewish heart--supremacy and\nrule. It is not by power or might, but by the Spirit. He will come\nyet upon the nation and fill them with His blessed power as He filled\nonce their own rejected Brother Jesus, and what He was Israel will be\nfor the nations left in the earth. Zerubbabel, who is now mentioned,\nwas Israel's prince at the time of Zechariah. A mountain is seen\nwhich is before him, a mighty obstacle, but it sinks and falls,\nbecomes a plain. The Hebrew has it in the form of a command--\"Be a\nplain!\" The mountain represents a kingdom, a power, and seems to\nstand here for anti-Christ and His power. Zerubbabel as prince is the\ntype of the Prince of Peace, Israel's King. His hands have laid the\nfoundation, just as Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the temple,\nand just as Zerubbabel finished it, bringing forth the headstone\nwhich crowns the new house of the Lord, thus Jesus of Nazareth, the\nKing of the Jews, who has laid the foundation and who is the\nfoundation, the precious stone, He will finish it. He is the Author\nand Finisher, and it is all grace. When the foundation of the temple\nwas laid there were mighty shoutings, and likewise when it was\nfinished. The priests and the Levites sang one to another in praising\nand giving thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy\nendureth forever toward Israel, and all the people shouted with a\ngreat shout (Ezra iii: 11). What shoutings there will be when at last\nthe fullness of the Gentiles is come in and all Israel is saved, when\nthe headstone will be brought forth, what mighty hallelujahs will be\nheard in the heavens and in the earth, praising--grace--all of grace.\nWithout pointing out the other details of this vision which are now\neasily understood, we desire to make a few remarks on the two olive\ntrees standing at the right and at the left of the candlestick\nsupplying the same with oil. There can be no doubt that these sons of\noil, as they are called, represented Joshua and Zerubbabel, living at\nthe time of Zechariah, the one the priest and the other the king.\nWhat deeper meaning is here? It is probably the easiest explanation\nto say that these two olive trees are types of Him who is a Priest\nupon His throne and whose blessed Person will supply the candlestick\nwith the oil, His own Spirit!\n\nThese two olive trees are likewise seen in Revelation, the eleventh\nchapter. Here they are the two witnesses who give their testimony\nduring the great tribulation in Jerusalem, and who stand in direct\nrelation to that theocracy which is then about to be established in\nIsrael. We believe that these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, the\nsame who appeared with our Lord upon the mountain of transfiguration.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n_The vision of the flying roll--The vision of the woman in the\nEphah._\n\nThe three remaining night visions are of a different character. The\nfirst visions the prophet had were visions of comfort for Jerusalem\nand the dispersed nation, the overthrow of Babylon and all their\nenemies, divine forgiveness and the theocracy restored. Now follow\nthe last three visions, and these are visions of judgment. Judgment\nprecedes Israel's restoration, and is very prominently connected with\nit.\n\nThe sixth night vision is the one of the flying roll. The prophet's\neyes seem to have been closed after the fifth vision, for we read,\n\"And I lifted up my eyes again.\" The flying roll he sees is twenty\ncubits long and ten cubits broad. The interpreting angel tells the\nprophet that it is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the\nwhole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on this side\naccording to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that\nside according to it. The Lord of hosts has brought it forth and it\nis to enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him\nthat sweareth by His Name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge in the\nmidst of His house and consume it, both its wood and its stone.\n\nThat this vision means judgment is evident at the first glance.\nEzekiel had a similar vision. \"And when I looked, behold, an hand was\nsent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it\nbefore me; and it was written within and without: and there was\nwritten therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe\" (Ezek. ii: 9,\n10). Ezekiel was to eat that book. This reminds us at once of the\nbooks in Revelation (chapters v. and x.), which are likewise\nconnected with God's judgments in the earth. The flying roll is\nwritten on both sides, signifying the two tables of stone, the law of\nGod. Stealing and swearing falsely are mentioned because the one is\nfound on the one side of the two tables of stone, and the other on\nthe other side. However, it is no longer \"Thou shalt not,\" but on the\nflying roll are written the curses, the awful curses against the\ntransgressors of God's law which are now about to be put into\nexecution. The curse is found in its awful details, as it refers to\nan apostate people, in Deuteronomy xxvii. and xxviii. The roll is of\nimmense size, and on it are the dreadful curses of an angry God. The\nvision must have been one of exceeding great terror. Imagine a roll,\nprobably illumined at night with fire, moving over the heavens, and\non it the curses of an eternal God--wherever it moves its awful\nmessage is seen; nothing is hid from its awe-inspiring presence. It\nreminds one of the fiery handwriting on the wall in the king's\npalace. Surely such an awful judgment is coming by and by, when our\nGod will keep silence no longer. One of the sublimest judgment\nPsalms, the fiftieth, mentions something similar to this flying roll.\n\"When thou sawest a _thief_, then thou consentedst with him, and hast\nbeen partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy\ntongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother;\nthou slanderest thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done,\nand I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one\nas thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before\nthine eyes\" (Psalm 1: 18-21). The flying roll stands undoubtedly in\nconnection with wickedness, theft and false swearing, as it is found\nin so many forms in unbelieving Israel, but it finds also a large\napplication in the judgment of wickedness throughout the earth in the\nglorious day of His appearing.\n\nBut the roll enters the house of the evil doer and remains there to\npunish not only the wicked persons but also to consume the timber and\nthe stone. This may stand for the two facts: the secret places will\nbe entered in that judgment, and it will be a thorough judgment which\nwill consume all that is connected with wickedness. In Leviticus xiv.\nwe read of the cleansing of the leper, that the leper's house which\nwas infected was completely destroyed. Elijah's sacrifice was\nconsumed by fire, and not alone the sacrifice but also the wood and\nthe stones and the very water. God's fire will again fall from heaven\nto consume the wood, hay, and stubble, nothing will be hid. Oh, what\na burning day that day of the Lord will be when His well earned\ncurses will be carried out, and none can escape.\n\nAnother application still of this vision of the flying roll may be\nmade in connection with the established theocracy during the coming\nage. However, space forbids an enlargement.\n\nThe next vision is one of great interest and not a little difficulty.\nIt claims our attention more than any of the other visions. In it we\nsee again wickedness and judgment. The angel now calls the prophet's\nattention to some startling vision. He sees an ephah going forth. And\nhe said, this is their aim (literally _aijn_ eye) in all the land.\nAnd, behold, a round piece of lead was lifted up, and this is a woman\nsitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness;\nand he cast her in the midst of the ephah, and cast the weight of\nlead in its mouth. And I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and, behold,\ntwo women came forth, and the wind was in their wings, and they had\nwings like stork wings, and they lifted up the ephah between earth\nand heaven. And I said to the angel that talked with me, Whither are\nthese taking the ephah? And he said to me, To build for her a house\nin the land of Shinar; and it shall be established and settled there\nupon its own base.\n\nThat we have here a most striking and intensely interesting vision is\nat once evident. Alas! that so few students of the Word should pass\nit by without digging down to the depths and comparing scripture with\nscripture to find its true and final meaning! The vision is generally\ntaken to mean wickedness in connection with Israel, and having its\nfulfilment in their captivity. Many other interpretations have been\nadvanced which are, however, unsatisfactory. We have to look deeper\nand give this vision a very prayerful study. After much study and\nresearch we believe that the whole vision is identical with the final\n_Babylon_, the great harlot of Revelation, her fall and judgment, and\nall that is connected with it--wickedness put away, sealed up, the\nwicked one destroyed, and Satan chained.\n\nWhat are the leading figures in the vision? An ephah--which is a\nJewish measure standing here for commerce. The aim (eyes) of all the\nland (or earth) are upon it. Commercialism is very prominent in\nRevelation in connection with the full measure of wickedness, the\nclimax of ungodliness. In Revelation xviii merchants are mentioned\nwho have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Then the\nmerchants are seen weeping, for no man buys their merchandise any\nmore. And then a long list follows, including _all the articles of\nmodern commerce_. Compare this with the awful description of the last\ntimes in James v. Rich men are commanded to weep and howl, for\nmiseries are come upon them. They heaped treasure together for the\nlast days, and it was a heaping together by fraud, dishonesty in\nkeeping back the hire of the laborers. They lived in pleasure\n(luxuriously) and been wanton. Indeed, here is that burning question\nof the day, capital and labor, and its final outcome, misery and\njudgment upon commercialism, riches heaped up, and all in wickedness.\nIn Habakkuk ii: 12 the woe of judgment of that coming glory of the\nLord is pronounced upon him that buildeth a town with blood and\nestablisheth a city by iniquity! The people are seen laboring for the\nfire and wearying themselves for vanity. Luxuries, increase, riches,\netc., are mentioned in the second and third chapters of Isaiah,\nchapters of judgment. Other passages could be quoted, but these are\nsufficient for our purpose. They show us that the climax of\nwickedness as it is in the earth when judgment will come, and\nIsrael's time commences once more, will be connected with commerce,\nriches and luxuries. The ephah points to this.\n\nIn the second place let us notice that in the _midst_ of the ephah\nthere is seen a _woman_. She is called wickedness. The Hebrew word\nwickedness is translated by the Septuagint with \"_anomia_\". We find\nthat the Holy Spirit uses the same word in 2 Thes. 2: 8, and then\nshall be revealed the wicked one (anomos) whom the Lord Jesus will\nslay with the Spirit of His mouth. The woman in the ephah personifies\nwickedness. She has surrounded herself with the ephah and sits in the\nmidst of it. Have we not here the great whore having a golden cup in\nher hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication?\nUndoubtedly. This woman is the type of evil and wickedness in its\nhighest form. Let us glance at that wonderful description of that\nwoman in Revelation. She is the great whore sitting upon many waters.\nShe sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,\nhaving seven heads and ten horns. The woman is arrayed in purple and\nscarlet decked with gold, precious stones and pearls. Upon her\nforehead is seen her name, Mystery, BABYLON the Great, the mother of\nharlots and abominations in the earth. She is drunk with the blood of\nthe saints. The woman in the ephah represents the same great whore,\nBabylon the great. This becomes at once clear when we take into\nconsideration that the woman in the ephah is carried swiftly away and\na house is built for her in the land of _Shinar_, and it shall be\nestablished, and set there upon her own _base_. Now the land of\nShinar is _Babylonia_. There it is where the God-opposing power has\nits home and when it will end in final and total destruction.\n\nBut it is certainly worth the while to follow this up. The first city\nerected after the judgment of the first age was the city in the plain\nof Shinar. There they built a city and in it a tower, whose top was\nto reach into the heavens, to make themselves a name. Self, worship\nof the creature, had reached its climax, and confusion and judgment\ncame swiftly. The Babylon of the Revelation is the very same attempt,\nonly in its fullest development. It is Cain's city--human strength,\nhuman wisdom, stored in it. A number of the wicked generation, after\nthe confusion of tongues, remained in the land of Shinar as\ninhabitants of Babylon. In it wickedness, idolatry, luxuries, earthly\nglory and commerce prospered. Only a few of the inspired descriptions\nof ancient Babylon may be mentioned here: The Golden City, Isaiah\nxiv: 4. The lady of Kingdoms, Isaiah xvii: 5. Stand now with thine\nenchantments, and with the multitudes of thy sorceries, wherein thou\nhast labored from thy youth, Isaiah xlvii: 12. The praise of the\nwhole earth, li: 41. Babylon! a golden cup in the Lord's land, that\nmade all the earth drunken, the nations have drunken of her wine,\ntherefore the nations are mad, Jeremiah li: 7. It is the land of\ngraven images, and they are mad upon their idols, Jeremiah l: 38. O\nthou that dwellest in many waters, abundant in treasures, Jeremiah\nli: 13. Babylon was in splendor and outward glory for the kingdoms of\nthe world, God opposing what Jerusalem was for the land. Jerusalem is\nthe city of a great King and Babylon may be termed the city of the\nprince of this world. According to Herodotus, the walls of Babylon\nwere 60 miles in circumference. They were 87 feet thick and 350 feet\nhigh. The city had 25 gates made of solid brass. The city contained\n676 squares, beautifully and symetrically arranged. The river ran\nthrough the city, surrounded by high walls, and in it were brass\ngates and steps leading to the river banks. A wonderful bridge\nspanned the river. No such city ever stood in the earth again. Even\nthe great cities of our days--Paris, London, New York and Berlin--do\nnot reach the splendor, luxury and wealth of ancient Babylon. The\nking's palace had a wall around it six miles long. The hanging\ngardens were considered the wonder of the world. The waterworks of\nBabylon, supplying the immense city and its hanging gardens from the\nriver Euphrates, were more powerful and larger than any modern water\nsupplies. A Roman historian gives a vivid description of the city.\n\nNothing could be more corrupt than its morals, nothing more fitted to\nexcite and to allure to immoderate pleasures. The rites of\nhospitality were polluted by the grossest and most shameless lusts.\n_Money dissolved_ every tie, whether of kindred, respect or esteem.\nDrunkeness and the grossest immoralities were practised in public.\n\nThe worship of Babylon was idolatry, and it is a fact that all\nidolatry can be traced to Babylon. She is the mother of all\nabominations. Babylon was destroyed, but has a promise of restoration\nand return of her glory before her final and total destruction comes.\n\nRoman Catholicism is generally taken to be the Babylon of the\nRevelation. It is more correct to say Rome is an offspring of\nBabylon. Ancient Babylon had a religious ceremonial like the Rome of\nto-day, Indeed, the ancient Babylonian worship is revived in modern\nRome. Babylon is the mother and Rome is the living daughter; while\nRome again has her daughters--the \"isms\" of Christendom. Babylon\nmeans concentration and confusion. A boasting, high minded\nChristendom--Roman and so-called \"Protestant\"--is rapidly nearing its\nawful apostacy and judgment. The cry, so popular in our times--the\nFatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men and of a social\nChristianity--is really the cry of old, Let us make us a name; it is\nconcentration. Money, riches and commercialism play a very important\npart in the popular religious enterprises. All is getting ready for\nLaodicea--increase in riches and proud boastings. Influential men,\nmoney, etc., control the affairs of Christendom. Error and loose\nmorals are spreading in every direction. Great schemes are planned;\ninstitutions of learning--in which infidelity, in the form of higher\ncriticism, is taught--are erected and endowed by the \"church\" with\nmillions of dollars, as if this earth were to be the home of the\nchurch for ever. The twentieth century is prophesied to become the\nmost glorious, and one would not know where to stop if all the\nbeautiful air castles and promises of would-be prophets were to be\nnamed. The supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race, its civilising\ninfluences and power for good, etc., are harped upon at present as\nbeing a mighty factor in the final conversion of the world. But in\nthe midst of this boasting Christendom, heaping their bricks together\nfor their proud tower, blindness has already become greater than the\nblindness of the Jews. In the midst of Christendom, the sorceries and\nidolatries of ancient Babylon are being strangely revived and leading\nmany astray. The luxuries of Babylon, fostered by modern inventions\nand commercialism, are seen on all hands. One only needs to study\nstatistics to see what this \"Christian nation\" expends a year for\nluxuries and what for the preaching of the gospel, the only power for\nsalvation. The near future will undoubtedly bring the long looked-for\nunion of churches, concentration for reformation, lifting up of\nhumanity, etc., etc., and when man in his own thoughts and making\nhimself a name seems almost to have succeeded, He who sitteth in the\nheavens and who laughs at their foolish efforts will no longer laugh\nbut will speak once more in His wrath, and Babylon will fall. Whoever\nhas eyes opened by the Word and the Spirit, must see how well the\n_woman_ has succeeded in putting the leaven of error and wickedness\ninto the fine flour, and the leaven is doing its perfect work in\nleavening the whole lump.\n\nBut we must return to the vision. The ephah is carried, and in it the\nwoman, by two women with wings of storks into the land of Shinar, and\nthere a house is built and it is established on her own base. Babylon\nas it is described in the Revelation xvii and xviii can hardly mean\nexclusively corrupted ecclesiastical systems, apostate Christendom as\nit is seen to-day. The Babylon of the Revelation is still future, and\nits fullest development falls in the time when the body of the Lord\nJesus Christ is no longer in the earth.\n\nIt is remarkable that certain prophecies concerning Babylon in Isaiah\nand Jeremiah have not yet been fulfilled. If we hold to a literal\ninterpretation of the Scriptures then of necessity Babylon is to be\nrebuilt. The desolations of Babylon prophesied by these two prophets\nhave not yet taken place. The destruction is to be suddenly by fire,\nand that destruction has never been. Still more startling is the fact\nthat the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon and its\nfinal destruction are identical with Revelation xvii and xviii. The\nvision of the ephah and the woman in it being swiftly carried to\nShinar and housed there upon her own base, as well as other\nprophecies concerning Babylon, point to an actual rebuilding of\nancient Babylon as a great commercial center and world power as well\nas religious centralization. There are many indications in this\ndirection in our times. Railroads are planned to India. Russia is\nadvancing in the same direction. Maybe the restoration of the Jews in\n_unbelief_ as it has commenced will hasten such a project as it has\nbeen already mentioned by statesmen, an international center for\ncommerce and arbitration in central Asia. It concerns the true\nbeliever very little what the final Babylon will be. He does not\nbelong to it, neither to the present Babylon as it exists in\nChristendom; nor will he see the future Babylon, for the Lord will\nthen have gathered His saints. The removal of the church from the\nearth will bring about a great change, and all that is to be done\nwill be done swiftly, indicated by the stork's wings. What men in\nthat gross darkness, when the light of God, His Spirit, and His\npraying church is removed, will do in their rebellion against God and\nHis Anointed no human being can now estimate or imagine. Finally, the\nvision of the ephah and the woman, so to speak, sealed up in it, may\ndenote also the overthrow and judgment of wickedness. Babylon fallen,\ncast down. Anti-Christ, the man of sin, slain by the brightness of\nHis coming. Satan chained in the pit for a thousand years. The last\nvision of the prophet is likewise a vision of judgment, followed by\nthe crowning of Joshua with the double crowns of silver and gold.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n_The Last Night Vision of the Prophet.--The Vision of the Four\nChariots Coming from Between the Mountains of Brass.--The Crowning of\nJoshua with Crowns._\n\nThe prophet lifts up his eyes again and sees four chariots which come\nout from between two mountains which were of brass. In the first\nchariot the horses are red, in the second they are black, in the\nthird white, and in the fourth speckled bay. The angel explains that\nthese are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from\nstanding before the Lord of all the earth. The black and the white\nhorses go forth into the north country, the speckled go to the south\ncountry, and the bay went forth and sought to go that they might walk\nto and fro through the earth, and so they did. The last verse of the\nvision reads: \"And he called me and spake to me, saying, Behold,\nthese that go forth in the land of the north have caused my spirit to\nrest upon the land of the north.\"\n\nWe notice first the similarity of the last vision with the first\ncontained in the opening chapter of Zechariah. The visions opened\nwith the hosts of heaven upon red, speckled and white horses, having\nwalked to and fro through the earth. We learned from the first vision\nthat its meaning was judgment; that God was displeased with the\nnations, and is once more jealous for Jerusalem and ready to turn in\nmercy to Zion, and the hosts of heaven are seen in that first vision\npreparing for judgment. In the last vision the chariots of judgment\nare seen coming forth to sweep over the earth, to be followed by the\ncrowning with crowns of the high-priest. The riders of the first\nvision may be termed the advance guards of the judgment, but the\nchariots now put the divine decrees into execution. The riders halted\nin a valley amidst a myrtle grove, but the chariots rush forth to\nexecute their terrible work from between two mountains of brass.\nThese mountains mean undoubtedly Mount Moriah and the Mount of\nOlives. They rush through the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The brass is\nmentioned to denote the firmness and stability of these mountains,\nwhich shall never be moved. We do not think that in the four chariots\nthere is an allusion to the four world-powers. The judgment of them\nis now come. The stone is falling and smiting the image at its feet\nand pulverizing it, putting it completely out of existence. The\nchariots are God's powers, agencies for judgment in the earth, which\nwill pass swiftly along, shown by the fast running chariots. In Rev.\nvi the seven seals are opened, and there go forth the four terrible\nriders upon white, red, black and pale horses. The riders in the\nApocalypse are the riders which go through the earth during the great\ntribulation, but in the eighth night vision of Zechariah we see the\nchariots of God's wrath. The vision falls in the time when heaven\nopens and He appears riding upon a white horse, His name Faithful and\nTrue, coming in righteousness to judge and to make war. Wonderful\nvision of Him who is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood! He is\nfollowed by the armies of heaven upon white horses, all clothed in\nfine linen white and clean. \"And out of His mouth goeth a sharp\nsword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule\nthem with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the\nfierceness and wrath of almighty God\" (Rev. xix). Immediately after\nthe appearing of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with all His\nsaints, \"An angel is seen standing in the sun, and he cried with a\nload voice, saying, to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven,\nCome and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;\nthat ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the\nflesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit\nupon them, both free and bond, both small and great.\" How terrible\nthat wrath will be, what awful work these chariots will work in\nslaying the ungodly, rebellious people, and spoiling the armies of\nmilitary Christendom no human pen can describe. \"Before Him went the\npestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. He stood and\nmeasured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the\neverlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow.\nThe sun and the moon stood still in their habitation. Thou didst\nmarch through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the nations\nin anger\" (Hab. iii). O how our hearts as believers should praise our\nGod and our Lord Jesus Christ who has delivered us from that wrath to\ncome. And while the tribulation is not yet, and wrath will come after\nthe tribulation, how should we redeem the time and witness of that\ngreat salvation to Jew and Gentile, and teach in the words of the\nsecond Psalm, \"Kiss the Son.\" His wrath shall soon be kindled. The\ntime is short, and soon the scenes of terror, tribulation, and wrath\nwill be enacted in the earth. The removal of the Church from the\nearth will be the signal for the beginning.\n\nThe angel interprets to the prophet that the chariots are the four\nspirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord\nof the earth. These agencies for wrath were with God standing before\nHim the Lord of all the earth, but now at His command they descend to\nscatter death and destruction. They go forth in sets, and the north\ncountry and south country both so prominent in the prophetic word are\nmentioned. The bay horses, however, are not confined to one\ndirection, they go through the entire earth. At last in the judgment\nof the land of the north the Spirit is caused to rest. The overthrow\nof the enemies of Israel is complete and the Spirit is quieted. How\nlong may the wrath last and for how long may the chariots do their\ndeadly work? Perhaps longer than we now think. The millennial reign\nof Christ, as foreshadowed in the bloody rule of David, followed by\nthe peaceful reign of Solomon, may teach us lessons in this\ndirection. The night visions have ended. They may be termed the\nApocalypse of Zechariah. Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation go together\nin a wonderful harmony and explain each other. Alas! that just these\nthree parts of the Bible should be so little studied and so little\nunderstood.\n\nThe long night of visions for the young prophet Zechariah had passed\nby and the noise of the speeding chariots had left his ears. The\nmorning must have been when he opened his eyes after beholding such\nwonderful things, and now the Word of the Lord comes to him.\n\nA command is given to the prophet, which has a sublime prophetic\nmeaning. The command will surely be once more carried out by Israel\non that glorious morning when the Sun of righteousness has risen\nafter a dark and dreary night of sin and tribulation as well as wrath\nis past. What is the command? Take from the exiles, from Cheldai,\nfrom Tobiah, and from Jedaiah, and go thou on that day, go into the\nhouse of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they have come from\nBabylon. Take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the\nhead of Joshua the son of Josedek, the high priest, and speak to him,\nsaying, Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold a man whose\nname is Branch, and from his place he shall grow up and build the\ntemple of Jehovah. Even He shall build the temple and bear majesty,\nand shall sit and rule upon His throne, and shall be a priest upon\nHis throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And\nthe crowns shall be to Chelem, and to Tobiah, and to Jedaiah, and to\nHen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah.\nAnd they that are afar off shall come and shall build in the temple\nof Jehovah, and ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to\nyou, and it will come to pass if ye will hearken unto the voice of\nJehovah your God.\n\nSome consider this to be the ninth vision of the prophet. It is,\nhowever, the Word of the Lord which comes to the prophet. There can\nbe no doubt but the command was actually carried out and Cheldai\n(robust), Tobiah (God's goodness), and Jedaiah (God knows), gave\ntheir silver and gold, and crowns were made out of it and placed upon\nthe head of Joshua the high priest. But the action had a much deeper\nmeaning. It was a highly typical one. It must have astonished Joshua\nand the people to hear such a command, for the royal crown did not\nbelong to the high priest but to the descendant of David. He must\nhave understood that the whole command had a symbolical bearing.\nJoshua hears it from the Word of the Lord that another person is only\ntypified by him, \"Behold the man whose name is the Branch.\" It is\nthis man the Branch who will be a priest upon the throne. This, of\ncourse, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the high priest Joshua\nis in itself very significant, for the meaning is, God is salvation,\nSaviour, Jesus. Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he stood\nthere leading out Jesus of Nazareth before that tumultuous multitude,\nand when he said \"Behold the man.\" If the assembled Jews had known\nthe Scriptures they would have recognized the phrase. But how did he\nthen come forth? He wore a crown of thorns upon His meek and loving\nbrow, and the people gazed into the blood-stained face of the Lamb of\nGod now ready to be placed upon the altar and slain. But once again\nit will sound forth, \"Behold the man,\" for when He appears it will be\nafter He has gathered His saints, and then He will come as the Son of\nMan in the heavens, and the sign of the Son of Man will be seen\nthere. He will be crowned again, too, but not with the crown of\nsuffering and shame, but with the crowns of glory. Thus he is seen in\nRevelation xix: 12 as wearing many crowns.\n\nHe comes to build the temple of Jehovah, bearing majesty, sitting and\nruling upon His throne. He is now the builder of the spiritual temple\nwhich is composed of living stones (Eph. ii: 21; 1 Peter ii: 5). But\nwhen He comes again there will be the building of another temple. It\nis now no longer His Father's throne but His own, upon which He is a\npriest as well. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has now taken\npossession of His inheritance. The times of overturning are over and\nHe whose right it is has come. There is a very instructive thought in\nthe fact that the persons of the exile, as mentioned above, were to\nbring the silver and the gold out of which the crowns were to be\nmade. The time will come when the whole exiled nation, so long\nscattered and peeled, though even in dispersion, the richest nation\nof the earth, will bring their silver and gold, their glory and their\nall and lay it at the feet of the King.\n\nThe CX Psalm will then find its fulfillment: \"Thou art a priest\nforever after the order of Melchizedek.\" Melchizedek united the\noffices of a king and a priest in one person. \"For this Melchizedek,\nking of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning\nfrom the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; to whom also Abraham\ngave a tenth part of all; first, being by interpretation King of\nRighteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of\nPeace. Without father and without mother, without descent, having\nneither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the\nSon of God; abideth a priest continually\" (Heb. vii: 1-3). The whole\nwill be realized in the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Perhaps\nthe fourteenth verse will also find a literal fulfillment then after\nthe crowning of the King by His own people who rejected Him once, and\na memorial of that event will be seen in the temple throughout the\nmillennium.\n\nThey that are afar off are now seen coming, and build not the temple\nof the Lord but in the temple. The Gentiles, of course, are they that\nare afar off and who are even now building in a certain sense in the\ntemple of the Lord, but when He has returned and sits upon His throne\nthis prophecy will find its final fulfillment. And when shall it all\ncome to pass? An answer is given which refers us to the opening words\nof the first chapter. \"And this shall come to pass, if ye will\ndiligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.\"\n\nIn the whole command of the crowning of the high priest, Israel's\nfuture glory is likewise seen. Their great and high calling will be\nrealized in that day when the man the Branch comes forth and turns\naway ungodliness from Jacob. Israel will be as His earthly people\nlike the Priest upon His throne, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a\npeculiar people. The kingdom has then come, and the will of God is\nbeing done in earth as it is done in heaven. And oh how blessedly for\nthe believer's heart to think God's own thoughts and move in the\npurposes of God. Our own individual salvation eternally assured, we\nought to cry continually \"Even so, come Lord Jesus.\"--Amen, Amen!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n_The question put to the Prophet concerning the Fast.--The Rebuke\ngiven and their Failure shown._\n\nThe night visions had come to an end. In them, as we have seen, the\nwhole future of Israel, their restoration to the land and\nregeneration, as well as the theocracy and the judgments connected\nwith it, were revealed. Nearly two years had passed by since that\nmemorable night of visions, and during these two years the people\nhad, obedient to the heavenly visions and encouraged by them, built\nthe house of the Lord. Soon the temple was to be completed and\nworship once more to be restored. A question rose then in the minds\nof some of the people about the keeping of certain fast days by which\nthey commemorated events of judgments upon their nation and city. The\nprincipal day of fasting was the day set apart for remembering the\ndestruction and burning of the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.\nThis day was kept by the Jews on the tenth day of the fifth month.\nMessengers are sent with this question to the prophet, and this\noccasion is used by the Lord to give a new message to the nation\nthrough the prophet.\n\nThe seventh chapter is divided into three sections. 1. The occasion\nfor the prophecy (verses 1-4). 3. The rebuke (verses 4-8). 3. Looking\nover the past (verses 8-14). But the seventh chapter does not answer\nthe question put to the prophet. If a reader of the word stops\nreading with the seventh chapter, and does not continue to read the\neighth, he will be much perplexed. The seventh and eighth chapters of\nZechariah go together; in fact they should form only one chapter. The\neighth chapter contains two sections. 1. Promises of blessings again\nand teachings concerning their walk (verses 1-17). 2. The solemn fast\ndays will be no more; instead of them there will be feast days. Whole\nnations will seek the Lord and be joined to Israel. Thus the end of\nchapter eight answers the question of the people concerning the fast\ndays. At the first glance we notice that these two chapters, though\nstarting from a desire of the people in the prophet's day, are yet\nawaiting their final and greatest fulfillment. Israel still fasts and\nis still the forsaken. Still there is mourning and weeping over the\ndeparted glory, and once a year is the solemn fast kept which reminds\nthe seed of Abraham of the sad fate of Jerusalem and the Temple,\ntwice destroyed on the same day.\n\nBut let us glance at these sections in these chapters, and make a\nshort comment on them.\n\n_Chapter VII: 1-4. The question_--It comes from the people of Bethel.\nThe two men who represent the people have Assyrian names--Sherezer,\nmeaning prince of the treasury, and Regemmelech, the official of the\nKing. Perhaps they were born in exile and received their names there,\nand may have held the position indicated by their names. Their\nconcern for a human institution not at all commanded in the word of\nthe Lord, as it was the case with the fast day in question, shows the\nlack of spirituality in them. They should have been more concerned\nabout true obedience than with an insignificant ceremony. It has\nalways been so with the people. When the Lord came He said to the\nleaders, \"Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a\ncamel\" (Matthew xxii: 24). And they are still concerned with\nceremonials and know not the true obedience. But the same conditions,\nalas! exist too in Christendom. The question itself about weeping on\nthat day for so many years shows that they were tired of it. It was a\nburden to them. If they had the true faith and in it obedience, they\nwould not have come with that question at all, but with joy and\ngladness would they have looked to the future, and known that the\npromised restoration as seen by the prophet was surely to come.\n\n_II. The reproof. Verses 4-7._--The word of the Lord comes now to the\nprophet. The message is for all the people and for the priests. The\ntwo fasts are mentioned. The one in the fifth month as already stated\nwas the one in remembrance of the destruction of the city. The fast\nof the seventh month was kept on the anniversary of the murder of\nGedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah xli). But why did they keep these fast\ndays? Why do they keep these days indeed still? The Lord asks, \"Is it\nunto me, unto me?\" No, it was not for the honor and glory of God, but\ntheir own selfish interests were at the bottom of it. Indeed God had\nnever asked them to fast. These institutions were manmade, and highly\ndispleasing to Jehovah. And is it not so now, not alone with the Jews\nbut with Christendom? Oh, the manmade institutions and outward\nobservances which only dishonor God and are for the selfish interests\nof the people! The eating and drinking, the fast being over, was not\nunto the Lord, but unto themselves. It was obedience the Lord\nrequired. Had they listened to the words spoken by the prophets they\nwould not have been in captivity, there would have been no need for a\nsolemn fast. Unbelief was at the bottom of it all, and so it is still\nwith the nation in dispersion.\n\nIII. The closing verses of the seventh chapter _look over past\nhistory_. In the first place the Lord says what he desires to see\ndone by them: True judgment executed, mercy and truth shown by every\nman to his brother, oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the\nstranger nor the poor, let none of you imagine evil against his\nbrother in your heart. These precepts were spoken to them by the\nprophets before the captivity. \"Wash ye, make you clean; put away the\nevil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to\ndo well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,\nplead for the widow\" (Isaiah i.) But they did the very opposite, and\ncontinued in an outward service without obedience of the heart.\n\nThis disobedience became their ruin and brought on the disaster. The\ndescription of their waywardness fits that people in their entire\nhistory. They refused to attend and offered a rebellious shoulder.\nThey made their ears too heavy to hear, their heart they made an\nadamant that they might not hear the law and the words which Jehovah\nof hosts sent by His Spirit. These conditions prevailed in a still\nintenser form when our Lord Jesus Christ appeared among them. At last\nGod Himself put judicial blindness upon them and still their heart is\nlike adamant, but that heart of stone will be removed at last by the\nSpirit of God and a heart of flesh given in its place. (Ezek. xxxvi).\n\nAnd now follows the manifestation of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts.\nHe had cried and they did not hear, and now they called but He did\nnot hear. The prayers of orthodox Judaism especially on their fast\ndays are beyond description and pleading for mercy. Still there is no\nanswer to the many prayers. \"Your new moons and your appointed feasts\nmy soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.\nAnd when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you;\nyea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full\nof blood.\" (Is. i: 14, 15. ) Alas! it is worship with the lips. The\nbelieving remnant alone in the future will be heard in their\npleadings, and the Lord will send at last the salvation out of Zion,\nand the Deliverer will come who turns away ungodliness from Jacob.\nThe fourteenth verse puts the dispersion and the judgment before us\nin a nutshell. They are whirled among all the nations whom they know\nnot. The land itself becomes desolate behind them. As soon as the\npeople leave whose land it is, the land flowing with milk and honey\nbecomes a wilderness, and when they return it will be again the land\nof blessing.\n\nWhat a testimony the land and the people is! Both speak of God's\nrighteous judgment, and the truth of His word. A whole nation\nscattered among all the nations and still kept intact. Their land\ntrodden down by the Gentiles, waste and desolate. The land mourneth,\nindeed. Prosperity will come to that land again, but not by human\nefforts and human wisdom. The attempts of unbelieving Israel now in\ntransforming the wilderness may prove successful, and colonies after\ncolonies will be established. The time of Jacob's trouble, however,\nwill sweep it all away.\n\nThe question concerning the fast is answered in the next chapter. The\ngreat and wonderful future of the land, the people, and of Jerusalem,\nprosperity and blessing is clearly shown in it. No more mourning, but\njoy; no more shame, but honor; no desolation, but restoration and His\npeople saved from the East and West, nations at last being converted\nthrough Israel's blessing and testimony. We will look at these\npromises and let them pass before us in our next chapter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n_The Gracious Answer to their Question.--Promises of Blessing,\nRestoration, Prosperity and Salvation.--No more Fast Days.--Nations\nto be added to Jerusalem._\n\nThe eighth chapter contains the most blessed promises concerning the\nfuture of Jerusalem and the people Israel. Now the question\nconcerning the fasts is answered in a way the petitioners never\nexpected. The promises which are given in this chapter were only\npartially fulfilled in Zechariah's day in the returned and believing\nremnant, the actual fulfillment is still future. In the first night\nvision we heard the words, Cry yet saying, Thus says the Lord of\nhosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and\nthe Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. The\neighth chapter gives the details of the promised prosperity. The\nperfect picture of Jerusalem's glorious future is unrolled before our\neyes. Though still future, with the eyes of faith we can look at it\nand rejoice in the vision when at last the covenant keeping God of\nAbraham has established Jerusalem and made her a praise in the earth.\nIt is a grand and glorious prophecy which is before us, and while we\nnow consider it as believers and members of His heavenly people, we\nmay well think of the time when He, who is our Lord and Israel's\nKing, shall come and we with Him, and when in Him all these blessings\nwill be carried out. Not long ago we saw teachings on this chapter\nconsisting of entirely spiritual applications for believers' comfort,\nprosperity and increase, etc. The New Testament contains all the\ncomfort and blessing for believers, and we need not rob Israel of\npromises belonging to them and connected with their future.\n\nWe divide the chapter into eight sections, which we will now briefly\nreview:\n\n1. _The Restoration Announced._ Verses 1-3. The jealousy of the Lord\nfor Jerusalem is again stated, like in the first chapter, I am\njealous for Jerusalem (14th verse). Here, however, is the word fury\nadded. The Hebrew verb signifies, I have been and am still jealous of\nher with great fury. The fury denotes the wrath which fell upon the\nungodly nations, the horns of the second night visions, which are now\npassed out of existence, broken to pieces. Now to Jerusalem, no\nlonger trodden down by the Gentiles, the enemies being scattered, the\nLord Himself has returned and His glory is seen there again. It had\ndeparted, but now the sign of his presence and favor is again given.\nThe city becomes a new city, called The City of Truth. How different\nthis name is from the others which Jerusalem bore and which so\nfittingly described her fallen condition and abomination. She was\ncalled the city which had grievously sinned, like an unclean woman\n(Lament. i: 8, 17), a harlot and a murderer (Isaiah i: 21)\nspiritually called Sodom and Egypt (Rev. xi), but now a new name is\ngiven her, The City of Truth. He who is the Truth has turned the lie\nand ungodliness from Jacob, and truth is the characteristic of the\ncity. The mountain of the Lord of hosts becomes the holy mountain.\n\n2. _Jerusalem will have Rest and be Largely Inhabited._ Verses 4 and\n5. What a picture in comparison with the former desolation! Jerusalem\nwas forsaken and a desolation, a city of heaps. It is even so now,\nfew cities of the earth present such an awful misery as modern\nJerusalem does. It will all be changed, and just as great as the\nmisery and desolation was the blessing and the increase will be. Old\nmen in the streets, bowed down by old age, and alongside of them boys\nand girls who run about in childish play. No more fear, they shall\ndwell safely and none shall make them afraid. The increase in\ndescendants is even now very great among the Jews and the city is\nrapidly becoming a Jewish city again, and thus everything is\npreparing for the final conflict. Only after Jerusalem's warfare is\nended will there be peace.\n\n3. _They are Brought back from the Captivity._ Verses 7, 8. When they\nheard of a restoration they thought this very marvelous. Had they not\nbeen scattered into the four winds? Could they ever be brought\ntogether again? Therefore the Lord says, Because it is marvelous in\nthe eyes of the remnant of this nation in those days, shall it be\nmarvelous in My eyes also? saith the Lord of hosts. At this present\ntime Jews and Gentiles doubt the promises of restoration, it is\nmarvelous in their eyes. But He who scattered Israel will gather them\nagain. He knows also where the so called Lost Tribes are, the house\nof Israel, and we need not try to help God to find them. When the\ntime comes He will bring them all back. In the second chapter we\nnoticed that the North Country is mentioned, and we called attention\nto the fact that the North Country, Russia, is inhabited by nearly\none-half of the entire Jewish race. In that land the persecutions are\nthe greatest and also the desire for a return to the land. The\nrestoration in unbelief is one especially from the Jews in the North\nCountry. Here in the eighth chapter the East and the West countries\nare mentioned, the far East, India, China, etc., and the West, our\nown country and the isles of the sea. The rich Jews may now be\nsatisfied in the countries, away from the homeland, where they\nprospered, but at last they will return and the Lord will send\nfishers to fish them and hunters to hunt them out. (Jer. xvi: 16.)\nThe Gentiles will bring them back to their own land (Isaiah lxvi:\n20). All will then be His people and He will be their God.\n\n4. _The Land is Blessed.--Fruitfulness and Plenty.--The Remnant to\nPossess all these Things._ Verses 9-12. What a contrast there is now\nseen! For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire\nfor beast. . . Little fruit was had from the ground, there was\nnothing for man and beast. . . Neither was there any peace to him\nthat went out or came in on account of the affliction. . . There was\nno rest, no peace, but uncertainty and affliction. Those that went\nout from the land had no peace, and they that came into the land\nfound no peace. The curse said, No rest for the sole of their feet,\nand how literally it has been fulfilled. Again the people seek a\nresting place in the land without their God and their Saviour, all in\nthe confidence of the flesh. They will succeed in their restoration\nplans only to find themselves at last in greater difficulties and\nfacing worse afflictions than ever before. Then every one will be\nagainst his neighbor (verse 10). Money spent by the millions in\nbuilding channels for irrigation, planting of trees and vines,\nbuilding railroads, etc. (just what modern Zionism proposes and has\nundertaken to do), may succeed in transforming the land in spots into\na fruitful garden, but the time of Jacob's trouble will sweep that\nall away. The Lord will be gracious to the very land in the day of\nHis manifestation. There will be a seed of peace, the vine will give\nher fruit, the ground her increase, the heavens their dew. They shall\nbuild houses and inhabit them, they shall plant vineyards and eat the\nfruit of them (Isaiah lxv: 21). For ye shall go out with joy and be\nled forth with peace, the mountains and the hills shall break forth\nbefore you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap\ntheir hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the firtree, and\ninstead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be\nto the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut\noff (Isaiah lv: 12-13). The remnant of the people left after the\ngreat tribulation will inherit this all.\n\n5. _The Curse Changed into Blessing._ Verses 13-15. They had been a\ncurse among the nations, but now at last the nations of the earth\nblest in the seed of Abraham. As He had punished them so He blesses\nthem now. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God, speak ye\nto the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is\naccomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of\nthe Lord's hand double for all her sins (Isaiah xl: 1, 2). Literal\nwere the curses threatened concerning Israel and Israel's land,\nliterally they were all fulfilled. And are there not many more\npromises of blessing for the people and for the land spoken by the\nsame true and faithful God who uttered the threatenings and carried\nthem out to the very last? And will not the Lord fulfill these\npromises of blessing literally to the minutest details? Assuredly He\nwill. It is remarkable that this simple truth is not seen and\nunderstood in Christendom of to-day. According to the popular idea\nGod has punished the Jews and will continue to do so, and the church\nhas taken Israel's place and inherited all the blessings. It is this\nfalse notion which is responsible in a great measure for the dreadful\nconfusion existing in Christendom. The thing against which Paul\nwarned is practiced in Christendom, Boast not against the branches. .\n. Be not highminded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural\nbranches (Jews) take heed lest He also spare not thee (Gentiles). God\nis able to graft them (Israel) in again. (Romans xi.)\n\n6. _Israel will be a Holy People._ Verses 16 and 17. These are the\nwords ye are to do, speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor,\nexecute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; let none of\nyou imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor and love no\nfalse oath, for all these are things which I hate, saith the Lord.\nUntruth, false oath, speaking one against the other are\ncharacteristic sins of Israel. But the character of the nation is now\nto be entirely changed. They are now indeed to be a holy people, with\nhearts circumcised, loving God with all their hearts and their\nneighbors as themselves. A new heart also will I give you, and a new\nspirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart\nout of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will\nput My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye\nshall keep my judgments and do them. (Ezekiel xxxvi: 26, 27.)\n\n7. _No more Fast Days, but Feast Days._ Verses 18 and 19. The fast of\nthe fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the\nseventh and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy\nand gladness and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and the\npeace. This is now the answer to their question. The fasts of the\nfifth and seventh month were the fasts commemorating the burning of\nthe temple and the taking of the city by Nebuchadnezzar, and the\nother the anniversary of the murder of Gedeliah and his friends. The\nfast of the tenth month was kept in remembrance of the siege of\nJerusalem which was commenced in that month and the fast of the\nfourth month was kept on account of the taking of Jerusalem. These\nfasts commemorated therefore all national calamities. A greater\ncalamity happened of course later when at the same time Jerusalem was\ndestroyed by the Roman armies, the temple and the city burned to the\nground and not a stone left upon another. The Jews are still keeping\nnational fasts on account of these calamities. Not alone in Jerusalem\nare there Jews and Jewesses going to the small piece of ancient stone\nmasonry, which is said to be all left of the magnificent temple in\nJerusalem, to mourn there especially on the ninth day of Ab, but the\nmourning among the orthodox Jews on that day is world-wide. In the\nsynagogues of Russia and New York, San Francisco and in South Africa,\neverywhere where there are orthodox Jews the Lamentations of the\nprophet Jeremiah are chanted in a mournful tone. But the time is\ncoming when all will be changed. With Jerusalem rebuilt and\npeacefully inhabited, a temple full of God's glory, and over it all\nthe heavenly glory and the angels of God ascending and descending\nupon the Son of Man, there will be no more need of fasting and\nmourning, but all will be changed in gladness and joy. The Songs of\npraise which are found at the close of the book of Psalms will then\nundoubtedly be sung by restored Israel.\n\n8. _The Conversion of the World and Conquest for the Lord will follow\nThrough Converted and Restored Israel._ Verses 20-23. These verses\nhave often been spiritualized. How much harm there is done by taking\nsuch words and promises out of their connections and fitting them to\na time and people for which they were never meant. Can God give His\nblessing to such teaching of His Word? We believe not. Thus saith the\nLord of hosts, It shall yet be that nations will come, the\ninhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go\nto another saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to\nseek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. And many peoples and strong\nnations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray\nbefore the Lord. This the world has not yet seen. Individuals have\nturned to the Lord, and His own are gathered out of all nations and\nlanguages, but such a picture as it is seen here has not yet been\nseen. The conversion of peoples and strong nations is still future.\nIt will not come by modern missionary efforts, consisting not alone\nof preaching, but as it is done to-day, by educational work in\nheathen countries, as well as other humanitarian institutions, such\nas hospital work, orphanages, etc. Nations can never be converted by\nthese efforts, nor has God given His Church promises that nations and\nthe world is to be converted by the preaching of the Gospel of grace.\nIndividuals, of course, are converted and will be converted by the\nWord faithfully preached. A people is thus taken out for His name.\nAnd to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After\nthis I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David,\nwhich is fallen down (Israel's time commencing again, in restoration\nand regeneration) and I will build again the ruins thereof and I will\nset it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all\nthe nations upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth\nall these things. (Acts xv: 14-17.) It is sad to think that\nChristendom ignores such a revelation of the divine purpose and order\nand goes on in entirely different lines. We are living now in the\ntime of the outcalling of a people, the Church, the body of the Lord\nJesus Christ is formed. When that body is completed, which does not\nmean the conversion of the world, the Lord will come for His\noutcalled saints and then with His saints in glory. This will be\nfollowed, according to the words of the prophets, as we have so\nclearly seen in these studies by the building again of the tabernacle\nof David and all that is connected with it, and then the residue of\nmen, the nations, will seek the Lord. It is also to be noticed that\nthese nations will seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and worship\nthere before Him. This means that Jerusalem will become the great\ncenter of not alone world government but also of worship. The last\nchapter in this book of Zechariah shows nations coming up to\nJerusalem on the feast of tabernacles.\n\nThe last verse of the eighth chapter is the grandest of all. Thus\nsaith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall be that ten men shall\ntake hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold\nof the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, we will go with you for we\nhave heard that God is with you. This shows clearly what so often is\ndoubted, namely, that the Jew converted and filled with the Spirit\nwill be the instrument for the conversion of the nations. At this\npresent time when a poor Jew shows himself, even in a so-called\nChristian (?) land like ours, he will occasionally be followed by ten\nmen or more who will mock him and call him names and perhaps assault\nhim (by no means a rare occurrence). But it will all be changed in\nthe day of Israel's glory. It will then be known that Israel is the\nblessed people, and ten men out of all languages will beseech the Jew\nto take him along to the most blessed spot in the earth, to\nJerusalem.\n\nThus ends one of the most striking prophecies concerning the future\nof the Seed of Abraham and Abraham's land. How strange that so few\nChristian people care to study these sublime revelations, which tell\nus how true and faithful our God is and which make it so clear and\nplain that the Bible is divine, the Word of God. May He teach us, who\nlove these truths, who love Him and His appearing, who is not only\nOur Hope but Israel's Hope as well, may He teach us more and more to\nknow His thoughts and purposes and to find our delight in them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n_The Second Part of the Prophecies--The First Burden--Judgment upon\nHadrach, Hamath, Tyre and Sidon--His People Kept--The King of Peace\nand Righteousness Announced--Victory over the Enemies._\n\nWith the ninth chapter begins the second part of the book. In it God\nshows through the prophet new and glorious visions of the Kingdom,\nthe conflicts which His people Israel will have, their victories and\nfinal deliverance, ending with the sublime visions in the fourteenth\nchapter. The Deliverer, the King Messiah, is seen here likewise,\nsuffering, rejected, pierced and slain, the Shepherd is smitten and\nrejected, false shepherds take charge of the flock, and calamities\nfollow till the true Shepherd appears again and they look upon Him\nwhom they pierced. The Gentiles are seen at last coming up to\nJerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts. Like the first part\nof the book, we have in the second a series of prophecies which are\nprogressive, leading up higher and higher till the whole purpose of\nGod is made known, and the summit of Glory to God in the Highest,\nPeace on earth, is reached, in the establishment of the Throne of\nJehovah in and over the earth. Oh, how blind man is! that he passes\nby the thoughts of his God and does not consider them, nor find\ndelight and pleasure in them. The words of man are read and studied,\nand the Word of God is set aside. The great mass in Christendom is\nwise in their own conceits and hastens on to the great waking up,\nwhen it will be too late. It is for the few to look into these things\nand to know the secrets of our God. Let us do it faithfully and\nprayerfully.\n\nTwice in this second part of Zechariah we meet with the phrase \"The\nburden of the Word of Jehovah.\" The first time it stands in the\nbeginning of the ninth chapter, and the second time in the twelfth\nchapter. We may conclude from this that the ninth, tenth and the\neleventh chapters were given as one prophecy, and the twelfth to the\nfourteenth were perhaps given some time later.\n\nThe land of Hadrach against which the first burden in chapter ix.\ncommences cannot be correctly located. Its close connection with\nDamascus and Hamath show that the land of Hadrach must have been a\nprovince of the Syrian kingdom then in existence. The Phoenician\ncities Tyre and Sidon are next, and then mention is made of four\nPhilistine cities. Against these, Syria, Phoenicia, and the cities of\nthe Philistines, a great calamity and overthrow is prophesied by\nZechariah. They are conquered by the hosts of an enemy, and the rich\ntreasuries of Tyre are heaped together in the streets--silver as the\ndust and gold as the mire--the bulwarks are smitten, and she herself\nconsumed by fire. From there the conquest goes on rapidly to the\nPhilistinian cities, and the King of Gaza perishes. The question\narises, What conquest and calamity is this? Is it accomplished or is\nit still future? History records one great conqueror who rapidly\noverthrew the countries and cities mentioned in this burden.\nAlexander the Great and his expedition so successfully carried on is\nundoubtedly meant here. All students of the prophetic Scriptures know\nhow prominently he likewise stands out in the Book of Daniel. The\nyoung monarch, after the battle of Issus, besieged and quickly\ncaptured Damascus. Sidon was easily taken, but Tyre resisted him some\nseven months and was burned to the ground. Gaza and the other cities\ncame next. Thus the burden of the Word of Jehovah as uttered here by\nZechariah was literally fulfilled in the Syrian conquest of Alexander\nthe Great. However, history tells us that the armies of the youthful\nmonarch passed by Jerusalem a number of times without doing harm to\nthe city. This is remarkable, and in accord with the prophecy of\nZechariah, for we read in the eighth verse, \"And I will encamp\nagainst mine house, against the army, against him that passes through\nand returns, and no oppressor shall come over them any more, for now\nI have seen it with mine eyes.\"\n\nThe Jewish historian Josephus gives a very interesting account of the\noppressor, and how Alexander the Great punished the Samaritans, and\nthe reason why he did not besiege and conquer Jerusalem. The account\nwhich Josephus gives is so important that we have to quote from it.\n\n\"After the destruction of Tyre, the conqueror marched against Gaza,\nwhich was razed to the ground. While Alexander was at the siege of\nTyre, he sent to demand the surrender of Jerusalem. The High Priest\nsent an answer in which he stated that Jerusalem had entered into an\nalliance with the Persian monarch. After taking Gaza, Alexander\nadvanced suddenly against Jerusalem. Jaddua, the High Priest, and the\nentire city were much frightened. But in a vision God told the High\nPriest to be of good cheer, to decorate the city and open the gates\nwide, and to go forth in his priestly robes with all the priests in\nhis train, and the people of the city clad in white garments. Jaddua\nobeyed and the doors were opened, and the astonished enemy beheld a\nstartling spectacle. No sooner had Alexander seen the High Priest in\nhis gold embroidered robes with the holy name engraved on the turban,\nthen he fell upon his face and worshipped. His attendants were\ngreatly astonished. The Syrian kings who stood around feared that\nAlexander had lost his reason. One at length asked why he, whom all\nthe world worshipped, should do homage to the High Priest of the\nJews. Alexander replied that he did not worship the High Priest but\nhis God. In a vision in Macedonia that figure in that very dress\nappeared to me. He exhorted me to conquer Persia. Alexander entered\nwith the priest into the city to offer sacrifices. The High Priest\nthen acquainted him with the prophecies of Daniel, showing that a\nGreek was to overthrow the Persian empire.\" The account is without\ndoubt a correct one, and we relate it here because this prophecy of\nthe Alexandrian conquest shows the wonderful escape of Jerusalem that\nthe oppressor shall not come over it.\n\nHowever, it is to be noticed that the eighth verse says that no\noppressor shall come over them _any more_. This puts before us again\nthe final deliverance of Jerusalem and Israel's land as it is seen in\nthe last chapter. It is said that history repeats itself, but divine\nprophecy again and again announces events for the near future, and in\nit is seen a foreshadowing of other events, and the original prophecy\nawaits a greater and final fulfillment. The sentence quoted, that no\noppressor shall come over them any more, brings the first burden of\nthe word of Jehovah in connection with the coming final deliverance\nof Israel when they shall be planted upon their land, and they shall\nno more be plucked up. A final destructive visitation will be upon\nthe enemies of Israel and Jerusalem; in fact, many of the ancient\nfoes of Israel are seen revived in prophecy in the latter days then\nto be swept away, while Jerusalem will again be miraculously saved.\nIn our exposition of the fourteenth chapter we hope to show the\ndetails of this.\n\nThe second section of the ninth chapter, verses 9-11, which is so\nclosely connected with the burden from verses 1-8, strengthens the\nabove exegesis. Who would say that verses 9-11 have seen a complete\nfulfillment? The greater part of it is still future, and so it is\nlikewise with the third section of the ninth chapter. Let us quote\nfirst verses 9-11:\n\n   Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion,\n   Shout aloud daughter of Jerusalem,\n   Behold thy King cometh to thee,\n   Just and having salvation,\n   Meek and riding upon an ass,\n   Even upon a colt, the she-ass's foal,\n   And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,\n   And the horse from Jerusalem,\n   And the battle bow shall be cut off,\n   And He shall speak peace unto the nations,\n   And His dominion shall be from sea to sea,\n   And from the river to the ends of the earth.\n   As for thee also, for the sake of thy covenant blood,\n   I send forth thy prisoners from the waterless pit,\n   Return to the stronghold--Prisoners of hope\n   Even to-day I declare I will render double unto thee.\n\nThis stands in contrast to the Grecian conqueror, and it needs no\nproofs that the coming King whom Zechariah beholds is the King\nMessiah. The Jews acknowledge it as such. One of the greatest Jewish\ncommentators says (Rashi): It is impossible to interpret it of any\nother than King Messiah. An interesting fable is based upon this\nprophecy, and well known among orthodox Jews. Rabbi Eliezer says,\ncommenting on the words lowly and riding upon an ass, \"This is the\nass, the foal of that she-ass which was created in the twilight. This\nis the ass which Abraham our father saddled for the binding of Isaac\nhis son. This is the ass upon which Moses our teacher rode when he\ncame to Egypt, as it is said, And he made them ride upon the ass (Ex.\niv: 20). This is the ass upon which the Son of David shall ride.\"\nOther interesting quotations could be given from Jewish writings, but\nthis is sufficient to show that the Jews believe it to be a Messianic\nprophecy. And what blindness that they do not see Him who is the\nMessiah; but is not the so-called \"higher criticism\" existing to-day\nin Christendom being taught in churches and schools, that there are\nno Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, much greater blindness?\nAlas! so it is, and the outcome can be nothing else in the end than\nthe denial of the divinity of our Lord, or Unitarianism.\n\nEvery reader of the new Testament knows that this prophecy is quoted\nin the Gospels. Let us look to the Gospels and see its application.\nFirst, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter xxi: 5: All this was done\nthat it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,\nTell the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek,\nand sitting upon an ass, upon a colt the foal of an ass. The context\nshows a great multitude there crying, Hosanna to the Son of David:\nBlessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the\nhighest. But soon the cry is changed into, This is Jesus the prophet\nfrom Nazareth of Galilee. Notice the Holy Spirit quoting from\nZechariah leaves out the sentence, \"He is just, having salvation.\"\nThis is not an error, but it is the divine right of the Spirit who\ngave the prophecies in olden times to apply them correctly in the New\nTestament. In the Gospel of Mark in the eleventh chapter there is\nlikewise the description of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, but\nZechariah is not quoted. The same is true of the account given by\nLuke, chapter xix., and here He is mentioned as the King that cometh\nin the name of Jehovah, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. In\nthe fourth Gospel, chapter xii: 15, the account of His coming to\nJerusalem is much shorter than in the other Gospels. It says there,\nFear not, daughter of Sion; behold, thy King cometh, sitting upon an\nass's colt.\n\nWe see from this that the four Gospels give each an account of the\nentry of the Lord into Jerusalem; two of them quote from Zechariah\nand the other two do not. The quotations themselves are differing\nfrom the prophecy in Zechariah ix. in two respects. The first words,\nRejoice greatly, is not at all used. In Matthew it is, Tell the\ndaughter of Sion, and in John, Fear not daughter of Sion. The\nsentence, He is just and having salvation, is left out in both.\n\nA superficial exposition of the Word claims that Zechariah's prophecy\nwas fulfilled in the event recorded by the Gospels. As far as His\nentry into Jerusalem is concerned, riding upon the colt the foal of\nan ass (and note in Matthew it is shown that both the colt and the\nass are brought to Him. He could ride of course only upon one, but\nthe she-ass had to go along in fulfillment of prophecy), and the way\nHe came, meekly, in this respect the prophecy was fulfilled. This\nentry of the Son of Man into Jerusalem was His formal presentation to\nJerusalem as its King, but, as stated above, the Messianic cry of\nwelcome Blessed is He, soon changes into, Jesus the prophet from\nNazareth in Galilee, and that again in the final cry of rejection,\nCrucify Him, crucify Him! There was no salvation for Israel then, and\nno kingdom for Him, hence no rejoicing is mentioned in the\nquotations.\n\nIt is His second coming to Jerusalem as the Son of Man in His glory\nwhich will bring the fulfillment of Zechariah ix: 9-11. True, the\ncolt, the she ass's foal, will not be the animal He rides, but He\nwill come upon a white horse followed by the armies of heaven. He\ncomes then truly for Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy, Just is He\nhaving salvation (marginal reading, Victory). There will be again the\nwelcome cry of the 118th Psalm, Blessed is He that cometh in the name\nof Jehovah, preceded by the plea, Hosanna, save now.\n\nThe tenth and eleventh verses show clearly that the prophecy is yet\nto be fulfilled and can be only fulfilled in the coming of the Son of\nMan in His glory. One of the reasons why modern Judaism rejects Jesus\nof Nazareth, and does not believe Him to be the promised Redeemer, is\nin this prophecy. Rabbi F. De Sola Mendes, of New York, brings in a\nlittle book, \"A Hebrew's Reply to the Missionaries,\" the following\nargument: \"We reject Jesus of Nazareth as our Messiah on account of\nHis deeds. He says of Himself: 'Think not that I am come to send\npeace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword,' etc. But\nwe find that our prophets ascribe to the true Messiah quite different\nactions.\" Zechariah says (ix: 10), He shall speak peace to the\nnations. Jesus says He came to send the sword on the earth; whereas,\nIsaiah says of the true Messianic time, \"They shall beat their swords\ninto ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall\nnot lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any\nmore.\"\n\nOf course the Jew is right in expecting the literal fulfillment of\nthis prophecy, and it will be fulfilled when He comes again and the\nrestoration of all things will follow, as spoken by the mouth of all\nhis holy prophets.\n\nWhen He appears again, in like manner as He went into heaven, that is\nnot for His saints but with His saints, there will be peace for\nEphraim and for Jerusalem, and the kingdom is then restored to\nIsrael, that is, to the house of Judah and the house of Israel. The\nchariot, the horse, and the battlebow will be cut off.\n\nNot alone will He bring peace to the covenant people but to the\nnations. He will speak peace. \"And He shall stand, and shall feed His\nflock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of\nJehovah His God, and they shall abide; for now shall He be great unto\nthe ends of the earth. And this man shall be our peace\" (Micah v: 4,\n5). There will be abundance of peace (Ps. lxxii: 7). His dominion\nwill be from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth.\n\nThe prisoners of hope to be released, by the blood of the covenant,\nfrom the pit wherein there is no water, is the nation whose captivity\nis now ended. How strange that people should take a passage like this\nand interpret it as meaning the restitution of the wicked and the\nungodly from the pit. There is nothing taught in the Word like that\nwhich some people term a larger hope. The restitution (restoration)\nof all things is not left to the fanciful interpretation of the human\nmind, but is clearly defined by the Word itself, as spoken by the\nprophets. In the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel xxxvii, Israel's\ncomplaint is, Our hope is lost. But when He is manifested, who is\nindeed the Hope of Israel, the prisoners (the captives), will be\nreleased and cleansed. Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes\nfrom tears. . . . \"There is hope for thy latter end, saith the Lord,\nand thy children shall come again to their own border\" (Jer. xxxi:\n17). The exhortation to return to the stronghold follows. Israel will\nthen sing, \"He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry\nclay, and He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings\" (Ps.\nxl: 2). Double will be rendered unto them, as promised, \"Speak to the\nheart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is\naccomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of\nthe Lord's hand double for all her sins\" (Is. xl: 2). \"For your shame\nye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their\nportion; therefore in their land they shall possess double;\neverlasting joy shall be unto them\" (Is. lxi: 7).\n\nAnd now we come to the third section of this chapter. The scene\nchanges once more. The chapter commences with scenes of war, strife,\nbattles and overthrow, and it ends with scenes of war and words of\ncheer for Zion. In the middle stands the King and His advent, the\nkingdom of peace, which He will establish.\n\nAlexander's successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Zion's successful\nresistance, is undoubtedly the first fulfillment of the third\nsection. The Prophet Daniel speaks likewise of this terrible man of\nsin, Antiochus Epiphanes (chap. viii). Not like Alexander, passing by\nJerusalem, he invaded the land of Judah, and endeavored to force the\nidolatry of Greece upon the Jews. Entering Jerusalem, he slew 40,000\nof the inhabitants, and a larger number were sold as slaves. He then\nentered the temple, seized the rich treasures stored there, and\ncommanded a big swine to be sacrificed upon the altar of\nburnt-offering, and with the blood the sacred place was defiled. A\nbitter struggle commenced, for Antiochus tried to exterminate the\nJews and their religion as well. Every observance of the Jewish\nreligion was forbidden, the Sabbath had to be profaned, and unclean\nfood had to be eaten. Idols were set up in the temple. Instead of the\nJewish feasts, the feasts of idols, with all their shocking\nabominations and immoralities, were introduced, and the Jews were\nforced to join in them. Thousands suffered martyrdom. But all at once\na few people stood up against the abominations, the Maccabeans, and\nin a struggle lasting about twenty-five years, they fought\nsuccessfully against the enemies. Miraculous victories were achieved,\nand thousands and tens of thousands of the idolators slain, and\nJerusalem and the land freed from the abomination.\n\nThis terrible visitation of the land and the wonderful victory of the\nMaccabeans is foretold by the prophet in the closing verses of the\nninth chapter. We will quote the passage:\n\n   \"I bend for me Judah and fill the bow with Ephraim,\n   And I will stir up thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece,\n   And make thee like the sword of a mighty man.\n   Jehovah shall be seen over them,\n   And His arrow shall go forth like lightning,\n   And the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet.\n   He shall go with whirlwinds of the South.\n   The Lord of Hosts shall cover them;\n   They shall devour and tread down slingstones,\n   And they drink and make a noise as from wine,\n   And they shall be filled like bowls, as the corners of the altar.\n   And Jehovah their God saves them in that day, as the flock of\n      His people;\n   For jewels of a crown shall they be, glittering over His land,\n   For how great is His goodness and how great His beauty!\n   Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine maidens.\"\n\nBut again we have to remark that this prophecy is only partially\nfulfilled. The terrible tribulation of the land of Judah when\nAntiochus Epiphanes invaded the land, is but a type of the great\ntribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble. Antiochus Epiphanes, in his\nawful fight against Jehovah and the Lord's people, is a type of the\nfinal Antichrist, and the Jewish saints slain by him are types of the\nJewish saints which will be beheaded during the tribulation. Jehovah\nwill fight then, as it is stated here, against those nations in that\nday (Zech. xiv). The remnant of Israel will then be victorious. Thus\neverything is seen in this chapter in a past fulfillment, but only\npartial, and in it a future fulfillment, which will be complete.\n\nWe cannot leave this chapter without calling attention to the blessed\nstatement:\n\n   \"For jewels of a crown they shall be, glittering over His land.\"\n\nThe slain who suffered martyrdom are meant, and all those who fought\nfor Jehovah's name and honor. May not the statement in Hebrews xi.\nrefer to this time? \"Others had trials of mockings and scourgings,\nyea moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were\nsawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword they\nwent about in sheepskins, in goatskins: being destitute, afflicted,\nevil entreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in\ndeserts and in mountains and caves and the holes of the earth\" (Heb.\nxi: 36-39).\n\nAnd all will find a repetition during the coming tribulation. But the\ntime for reward has not yet come. The throne of glory is not yet\nrevealed, and the jewels, the saints made up in a crown, glittering\nover the land are not yet seen. But the assurance is given, \"They\nshall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my\njewels\" (Mal. iii: 17). \"Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the\nhand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God\" (Isa.\nlxii: 3). \"And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the\nwitness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not\nworshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his\nmark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and\nreigned with Christ a thousand years.\" Revel. xx: 6. Oh, blessed hope\nof all the saints! To be with Christ in Glory, in His throne, and\nsharing His rule. In that day of manifestation, when Christ our life\nis manifested, and we shall be manifested with Him in glory--glory\nnever ceasing, but ever increasing, in the countless ages to come,\nredeemed sinners will be the jewels of His crown, and He shall see\nthe travail of His soul and be satisfied.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n_More Blessings promised to Judah and Israel.--The Nation\nVictorious.--Judah and Ephraim blessed, gathered and restored, and\ntheir enemies overcome._\n\nThe tenth chapter continues to unfold Israel's future blessings and\nrestoration, and in it Ephraim, the house of Israel, is especially\nmentioned. The chapter begins with a contrast. In the first verse\nthere is a call to prayer, and the assurance of an answer given; in\nthe second verse the idols are mentioned which Israel worshipped and\nwhich give no comfort.\n\nAsk of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. The former rain\nand the latter rain are often spoken of in the Word. It is of course\nfirst to be understood of the natural rain coming from the clouds\nupon the land. The rain withheld and the land becomes a desert, the\nrain given and the land flows again with milk and honey. I will give\nyou the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the\nlatter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine and thine\noil. . . . Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived,\nand ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the\nLord's wrath will be kindled against you and He shut up the heavens,\nthat there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest\nye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.\n(Deut. xi: 14-17.)\n\nThe first rain came upon the seed placed into the ground, while the\nlatter rain was necessary to ripen the fruit. Israel's sin, unbelief,\ndisobedience and apostacy have shut the heavens and keep them shut so\nthat there is no rain and the land is a wilderness, waste and\ndesolate. An abundance of rain is promised to them when Jehovah\nappears again. Much of late has been said that Palestine becomes\nfruitful once more. It is said that the statistics show that during\nthe last years the rainfall has increased by so many inches. This\nstatement is denied by others. Some believers make much of this\nrainfall and think that it is a sign of His coming, an indication\nthat God's favor is being restored to the land. This is incorrect.\nThe abundance of rain, the latter rain, is not promised for the land\nat this present time, but it will come after the great tribulation,\nand is closely connected with the manifestation of the Lord from\nheaven in the clouds. The fruitfulness as it is seen now in the\nland--by no means general, but only in spots--is brought about mostly\nby artificial means, such as irrigation. During the great tribulation\nthere will be no rain. (Rev. xi: 6.) Modern Zionism, in its\nGod-dishonoring unbelief, with its immense resources of wealth and\ninfluence, may succeed in transforming the land of the Fathers.\nIndeed this is their scheme--building railroads, channels for\nirrigation, factories, mines, institutions of learning, etc. But the\ngreat tribulation will sweep it all away once more, and disaster will\ncome swiftly when the plan of a Jewish Kingdom, without Him who is\nthe King of the Jews, seems to be realized. It is not for the\nbeliever to look now for the promised latter rain. All this looking\nfor signs has a tendency to foster the idea that the church will pass\nthrough the tribulation. If that were the case we might well look to\nthe signs around us and look (as some believers do) where Antichrist\nis to come from.\n\nThe latter rain stands in connection with the Lord's manifestation\nfor Israel. Let us know, follow on to know Jehovah: like the morning\nHis coming is sure, and He shall come like the rain for us, like the\nlatter rain watering the earth. (Hosea vi: 3.) O ye children of Zion,\nrejoice and be glad in Jehovah your God; He gives you the former rain\nin a just measure, and sends you in showers the early and the latter\nrain as in times of old. (Joel ii: 23.) It is time to seek Jehovah,\nuntil He come to rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea x: 12.) But the\nlatter rain is also a type of spiritual blessings. It includes all\nthe blessed promises in spiritual things, and especially does it\nstand for the full harvest which comes in after the heaven is opened\nand that great outpouring of the Spirit takes place. (Joel ii: 28.)\nIt is unscriptural to expect now in this time such a latter rain,\njust as it is unscriptural to expect now the rain upon the land of\nIsrael. How many prayers there are now in Christendom, well meant\nundoubtedly; prayers for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, prayers\nfor a new Pentecost, even prayers for the outward manifestations; all\nthese prayers have no scriptural foundation, and cannot be answered\nnow in the dispensation in which we live. There will be the latter\nrain, the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh; but it stands in\nconnection with the day of the Lord and with God's earthly people.\n\nTruly, as the beginning of Zechariah x. has it, in the time of the\nlatter rain there will be prayer for it, but the prayer does not come\nfrom the lips of church-saints, but it comes from the lips of the\nJewish remnant. The assurance is given that Jehovah will send the\nshowers of rain, and before they come He will create the lightning.\nThe lightnings stand for His wrath and judgment, which will proceed\nbefore the showers of blessing. In His coming He will be like the\nlightning falling from the clouds.\n\nThe second verse puts before us another picture. The apostacy of the\nnation and their idolatry are now brought before us. The original\nword for idols is teraphim, and these were household gods, which were\nconsulted by them. Spiritism (or as it is also called Spiritualism),\nthis awful delusion so strong in the last times, is not a new thing.\nWe can trace it to the remotest ages, and the nations which are still\nin the darkness of heathendom still practice it. It is very powerful\nin India and in China, and upheld by the father of lies from where it\nsprings. Israel knew it likewise, and was closely connected with its\nabominations. The teraphim were little figures which in some way by\nmovements or mysterious noises gave an answer to questions. Men did\nthen go about as sorcerers, and mediums had visions and dreams.\nHearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your\ndreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak\nunto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the King of Babylon. They\nprophesy a lie unto you. (Jer. xxvii: 9.) Let not your diviners that\nare in the midst of you deceive you. . . . I have not sent them,\n(Jer. xxii: 8, 9.) What an awful sin it was that Israel could thus\njoin themselves to idols and practice the abominable things. Soon the\npunishment fell upon them and they were carried into captivity, as\nthe second verse states. Therefore they have wandered like a flock,\nthey are oppressed because there is no shepherd. Jehovah had been\nrejected by them, and in this rejection is seen the rejection which\nfollowed when they rejected the Son. Here Hosea iii: 4 is to be taken\ninto consideration. The children of Israel shall abide many days (the\ndispersion in which they are now) without a king and without a\nprince, without a sacrifice and without an image, without an ephod\nand teraphim. The next verse speaks of their conversion in the latter\ndays. During their dispersion they will have neither the old worship\nof Jehovah nor will they hold any longer to the teraphim and ask\nguidance of them. How truly it has all been fulfilled, However there\nis a word which the Lord spoke, which is here likewise to be\nmentioned. It is one of the many misunderstood passages in the New\nTestament. We find it in Matthew xii: 43-45. When the unclean spirit\nis gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and\nfindeth none. Then he saith I will return to my house from whence I\ncame out; and when he has come he findeth it empty, swept and\ngarnished. Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits\nmore wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the\nlast state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be\nunto this wicked generation. The unclean spirit of idolatry had left\nthe nation after the return from the captivity, but there is in that\nwicked generation at last a return of the same evil spirit with seven\nothers worse than the spirit of idolatry, and the last of that man\n(unbelieving Israel) is worse than the first. This seems to us is the\ntrue application of this passage. Israel is rapidly nearing the time\nwhen unclean spirits with idols will have control over them. He who\ncomes in his own name, the false Messiah, the devil's masterpiece\nwith all his delusions and lying wonders, will be worshipped by them\nand the outcast demons will enter the house again. This is clearly\nseen in Zech. xiii: 2. It shall be in that day (after the nation has\nlooked upon the pierced one), saith Jehovah of hosts, I will cut off\nthe names of the idols from the land, and they shall be remembered no\nmore; and also the prophets and the spirits of uncleanness will I\ncause to pass out of the land. A return to teraphim, sorcery,\ndivination, etc., is already noticeable in our day. The superstitions\nof talmudical Judaism are many, and the modern revival of the ancient\nteraphim, in Spiritism, through mediums, tables, etc., finds not a\nfew followers among the Jews. What will it be when the man of sin is\nin the earth? All the world will wonder after the beast.\n\nIn verses 3-5 we see once more the events which belong to Israel's\nfuture. Mention is made first of the House of Judah. Against the\nshepherds His anger is kindled, and the he-goats will be punished\n(false leaders of the people and their enemies.) Then Jehovah visits\nHis flock, the house of Judah, and He will make them like His goodly\nhorse in war. Like heroes they are treading down the foes. They fight\nsuccessfully against the enemies, for Jehovah is once more with them\nand the day of vengeance has come, and the riders on horses are put\nto shame by them. The parables of Balaam tell us what Israel will be\nat last, and how like a young lion they will spring upon the prey.\nEven now in dispersion the Jew inspires terror and is feared by the\nnations. This fear, which produces anti-Semitism (so strong in our\ntimes), has a good reason, for they will soon be the head of the\nnations and no longer the tail.\n\nThe words in the fourth verse, From him (Judah) the cornerstone, from\nhim the nail. . . have been differently interpreted. The nail is in\nthe oriental house a large pin, often very beautifully ornamented,\nand the most costly things are hanged thereupon. And I will fasten\nhim as a nail in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne\nto his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of\nhis father's house. (Isaiah xxii: 23, 24.) The Shemeth rabbah, a\nJewish interpretation, says on this verse, this is King David; as it\nis said, the stone which the builders rejected is become the chief\ncornerstone. Some say it is spoken concerning the Lord, that He is\nthe cornerstone and the nail. It refers to Him no doubt, but what is\nspoken of Him finds also a fulfillment in restored Israel. Thus\nIsrael is yet to be the cornerstone upon which everything rests in\nthe earth, and the nail upon which hangs the glory.\n\nThe rest of the chapter speaks of restoration of the house of Judah\nand the house of Israel. The house of Judah will be strengthened, and\nthe house of Joseph (the ten tribes) will be saved. Ephraim, standing\nlikewise for the house of Israel, shall become like a hero, and their\nheart shall rejoice, and their sons shall see and rejoice, their\nheart shall exult in Jehovah. I will hiss to them and will gather\nthem, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they did\nincrease. And I will sow them among many peoples, and in far\ncountries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall\nlive and return. (Verses 7-9.) Their bringing back will be from the\nland of Egypt and from Assyria. With it is the judgment of the\nnations; they will be cast down and the restored people shall walk in\nHis name.\n\nThe prophecy brings before us the old question concerning the ten\ntribes or the house of Israel. These tribes are generally called the\n\"lost tribes,\" and as such they have been found perhaps a hundred\ntimes by as many different persons. The North American Indians, the\nAfghans, the Nestorians, tribes in the interior of Africa as well as\nin China, and even the Hottentots of South Africa, have been declared\nto be the lost tribes. We believe that this looking for the lost\ntribes and to locate them is something against which the Holy Spirit\nwarns when He declares, But avoid foolish questions and genealogies\nand contentions and striving about the law, for they are unprofitable\nand vain. (Titus iii: 9.) Neither give heed to fables and endless\ngenealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edyfing which\nis in faith. (1 Tim: 1-4.) We think it wrong to go into such\nspeculations on matters which the Lord purposely has hid in His Word.\nWe would have nothing else to say on this topic were it not for a\nvery strange teaching which has fascinated many minds and which has\nbecome very popular both in England and in America. We have reference\nto the so-called Anglo-Israel theory. According to this theory the\nlost tribes have been found in the Anglo-Saxon race, and that God has\nkept His promises made to the house of Israel and fulfilled them and\nfulfills them now in the two nations, America and England. It is a\ntheory, and the Word of God is used to prove it. This may be done\nwith any theory, and scripture twisted out of its place can be made\nto prove almost anything. Anglo-Israel is a delusion, and it is\nstrange that so many believers have become infatuated with it and\nsuffer consequently from it. The theory is based upon a very serious\nmistake in the exposition of the prophetic Word. All through prophecy\nwe find promises which belong to the house of Israel (and to Judah\nlikewise), the conflicts, the victories over their enemies, temporal\nblessings, etc. These promises are to be realized in the latter days.\nThe phrase \"latter days,\" however, is misunderstood, and believed to\nbe the days in which we live; while in fact the latter days are still\nfuture and have not yet been reached. Prophecies which are spoken\nconcerning the future are looked upon as already fulfilled.\n\nIn this way the ninth verse in our chapter is misunderstood, And I\nwill sow them among the peoples, and in far countries they shall\nremember me, and with their children they shall live and return. This\npassage is often quoted in Anglo-Israel literature, and is always put\ndown as being fulfilled in the Anglo-Saxon race. We claim that it has\nnot yet been fulfilled, but will be fulfilled when the house of Judah\nhas been restored, and they as well as the house of Israel are in the\nland and form one people, God's earthly kingdom people. This is true\nof all the promises which Anglo-Israelism claims to have found a\nfulfillment.\n\nIt is true they are now scattered among the nations and the Lord\nknows them and He knows where they are and in due time He will send\nhunters to hunt them out and fishers to fish them in (Jer. xvi: 16);\nand they will be brought back to the land upon horses and in\nchariots, etc. (Isaiah lxvi: 20.) After that they will be sown among\nthe peoples. They are then in the far countries and increase as they\ndid before and are a blessing to the nations and not a curse. Their\nseed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the\npeople, all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the\nseed which the Lord has blessed. (Isaiah lxi: 9.) Judah's return will\nbe from all directions, but according to the tenth verse Ephraim will\nbe brought back from Egypt and Assyria. Anglo-Israel is a very poor\nIshmael attempt to help God to keep His promises.\n\nWhen all this takes place the Lord will pass through the sea and\nthere will be affliction. The Nile is mentioned, and in Assyria the\npride will be brought down, no sceptre any longer in Egypt. Only then\nafter this manifestation will they walk (Judah and Israel) in His\nname, and not before.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n_Scenes of overthrow and slaughter.--The Shepherd with the two\nstaves, Beauty and Bands.--He is rejected.--The thirty pieces of\nsilver.--The foolish shepherd and his punishment._\n\nThe eleventh chapter presents a very dark scene. So far we have seen\nthat the prophet saw in visions and heard from the Lord nothing but\nblessings and mercies for Israel, restoration both national and\nspiritual, overthrow of all their enemies, destruction of the world\npowers, establishment of the theocracy and world conquest; but now\nthe scene changes completely. That which precedes all these blessed\nevents, the events for which indeed the earth and groaning creation\nis waiting, is now unfolded in all the terrible details, Israel's\napostacy and dreadful punishment on account of the rejection of the\nShepherd, and instead of Him there is given a foolish shepherd.\n\nWe will briefly review the entire chapter before taking up the study\nof it in details. The first three verses contain a sublime\ndescription of the visitation which was to come upon the land of\nIsrael. In the fourth verse the nation is seen as a flock of\nslaughter, and the buyers who slaughter them are not guilty, and\ntheir sellers are getting rich by it. The inhabitants of the land are\nnot spared; all is waste and there is no deliverance. In the seventh\nverse the reason of all this judgment is seen. The Prophet does a\nsymbolic act. As a shepherd he represents the good Shepherd of\nIsrael, the Messiah. He comes to save them from the terrible\ncalamity, but he is rejected. The shepherd has two staves, Beauty and\nBands. He breaks one first and asks his price, and they offer him the\nprice of a slave, thirty pieces of silver, which he at the word of\nJehovah casts from himself. The second staff is broken. Instead of\nthe staves the Prophet takes the instruments of a foolish shepherd,\nundoubtedly weapons of destruction. They perish, they stray, they are\nwounded, they suffer and are devoured. At last the foolish shepherd\nis punished. This is a birdseye view of the chapter. We will consider\nthe details under three divisions: The judgment upon the land and the\nslaughter of the flock; the cause of it. The Shepherd rejected and\nset aside. And in the third place the foolish shepherd.\n\n_I. The judgment upon the land, the temple, and the slaughter of the\nflock (verses 1-6)._\n\n   Open thy doors, Lebanon;\n   Let the fire devour thy cedars.\n   Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen;\n   Because the lofty ones are spoiled.\n   Howl, oaks of Bashan,\n   For the high forest is come down.\n   A voice of the howling of the shepherds:\n   For their glory is spoiled.\n   A voice of the roaring of young lions,\n   For the pride of Jordan is spoiled.\n\nWhat an awful picture these three verses present to us, and how\nsublime the language! Everything is swept away by a mighty\nconflagration. It starts among the lofty cedars of Lebanon; the fir\ntree is its prey, and the oaks of Bashan as well as the high forest\ncome down, and it ends at the Jordan. In the midst of it is heard the\nhowling of the shepherds and the roaring of the young lions. We have\nin these three verses a description of the terrible and complete\njudgment which was to fall and which has fallen upon the land of\nIsrael on account of their disobedience and wickedness. The\ndestruction of the temple by fire is of course included in this scene\nof burning and devastation. Jewish interpretation sees especially in\nthese verses the prophecy of the destruction of the temple in\nJerusalem. The following is a quotation from the Talmudical tract\nYoma. \"Our Rabbis have learnt from tradition that forty years before\nthe destruction of the temple the lot never used to fall to the right\nhand but to the left. The lamp of the evening light would not burn,\nand the doors of the temple used to open of their own accord, until\nRabbi Yochanan, the son of Zakkai, rebuked them. He said to it, O\nTemple, Temple, why art thou terrifying thyself? I know well that thy\nend is to be destroyed, for already Zechariah, the son of Iddo, hath\nprophesied, _Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let a fire consume thy\ncedars!\"_ As the time of Jerusalem's overthrow and the devastation of\nthe land drew nearer, after the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ\nand His apostles, strange signs in heaven and earth were seen in\nJerusalem and throughout the land. They were signs of warning of the\ncoming doom, and must have had a special significance for the remnant\nof Jewish-Christians who still were in the doomed city. Josephus\nmentions a series of these signs: \"A comet which had the appearance\nof a huge sword hang over the city for a whole year. While the people\nwere assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the sixth hour of\nthe night, a sudden bright light shone about the temple. On\nPentecost, when the priests entered by night into the temple they\nsaid that they heard many voices proclaim, Let us depart hence. A\ncertain Jew, the son of Ananus, began suddenly to cry in the temple:\n'A voice from the East and a voice from the West! A voice from the\nfour winds! A voice against Jerusalem and against the Temple! A voice\nagainst the bridegrooms and the brides! A voice against the whole\npeople!' Day and night in the narrow streets he repeated this cry in\na loud voice. He was severely beaten. He uttered neither shriek nor\npain nor prayer for mercy, but raising his sad and broken voice he\ncried at every blow of the scourge, 'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!' For four\nyears the son of Ananus paid no attention to anyone, and never spake\nexcepting the same words, Woe to Jerusalem! He neither cursed anyone\nwho struck him nor thanked anyone who gave him food, but continued to\ncry, 'Woe, woe to the city and to the temple!'\" (Milman's History of\nthe Jews, Vol. II.) The above event spoken of in the tract Yoma,\nwhich the pious Rabbi Yochanan thought to be in fulfillment of\nZechariah xi:1, is also mentioned by Josephus. He says, \"The eastern\ngate of the inner temple, which was of brass and very heavy, and had\nbeen with difficulty shut by twenty men, was seen to open by itself\nabout the sixth hour of the night.\"\n\nOnce more Jerusalem is to be compassed about by armies and then there\nwill be signs in earth and in the heavens. Earthquakes will shake the\ncity, mountains will sink down and valleys will be exalted, the sun\nwill be darkened and the moon turned into blood, fire and smoke will\narise. The climax of it all will be the manifestation of the Lord who\nwill overthrow Israel's enemies.\n\nOther interpreters among the Jews declare that this prophecy speaks\nof the destruction of the temple.\n\nThe correct interpretation is that it includes all the devastation of\nthe land, the burning of the temple, the slaughter of the flock, the\nspoiling of the shepherds, the Jewish leaders and the complete\noverthrow of the land and of the people. How awful the fulfillment of\nthe prophecy has been! The Lord's voice full of tears cried, long\nafter Zechariah's mournful vision, \"If thou hadst known, at least in\nthis thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are\nhid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee that thine\nenemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and\nkeep thee in on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground,\nand thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one\nstone upon another.\" The measure was full. After terrible wars\namongst themselves, the fire advanced in the direction from Lebanon,\nin the form of the Roman army full of vengeance, spreading ruin and\nmisery wherever they went, till after a long and dreadful siege\nJerusalem fell, the temple was burnt, and over a million human beings\nwere slain. Not one stone was left upon another. Up to now this\njudgment has been the most appalling, the tribulation then, the\ngreatest; but there is another tribulation coming of which the former\ndestruction of Jerusalem is but a faint type, and that tribulation\nwhich is even now so close at hand will find a climax in the day of\nwrath, the day of vengeance of our God. The next three verses speak\nof the flock of slaughter and the last attempt divine love made to\nsave the doomed nation. Zechariah is commanded to feed them.\n\n   Thus saith Jehovah my God;\n   Feed the flock of slaughter;\n   Their possessors slay them and are not guilty:\n   And they that sell them say,\n   Blessed be Jehovah, for I am getting rich;\n   Their own shepherds pity them not.\n   I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah;\n   I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hands,\n   And into the hand of his king:\n   And they shall smite the land,\n   And out of their hand I will not deliver them.\n\nWhat a dreadful condition of the sheep of His pasture, the lost sheep\nof the house of Israel, God's flock! Even so it was, strangers ruled\nover them, and they were their prey, getting rich on them and not\nguilty. Still worse their own shepherds, the civil and ecclesiastical\nrulers of the nation, spared them not. God had indeed given them up.\nWell may we stop and think for a moment of the apostacy of\nChristendom and its final overthrow and judgment so clearly seen in\nthe book of Revelation. Even now the flock of slaughter is seen and\nall getting ripe for the day of wrath!\n\nThe action of Zechariah by divine command, like the crowning of the\nhigh priest in the sixth chapter, is a typical one. Zechariah is a\ntype of the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. The disobedient\nnation, the flock of slaughter, had taken God's servants and beat one\nand killed another and stoned another. When He sent servants more\nthan the first, they did unto them in like manner (Matt. xxi: 35).\nAfter this came the last attempt of divine love. God sent His Son as\na Shepherd to seek and feed the lost sheep. He was not accepted, but\nthey rejected Him. We will consider this now in the second section.\n\n_II. The Shepherd set aside and rejected (verses 7-14)._\n\n\"So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the most miserable sheep.\nAnd I took to myself two staves; the one I called Beauty, the other I\ncalled Bands; and I fed the flock. And I cut off the three shepherds\nin one month; for my soul became impatient with them, and their soul\nalso abhorred me. And I said, I will not feed you: the dying, let it\ndie; and the cut off, let it be cut off; and the left over, let them\ndevour each the flesh of the other. And I took my staff, Beauty, and\ncut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with\nall the peoples. And it was broken in that day, and thus the wretched\nof the flock who gave heed to me knew that this was the word of\nJehovah. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my wages;\nand if not, forbear. So they weighed as my wages thirty pieces of\nsilver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it unto the potter; the goodly\nprice at which I am valued of them. And I took the thirty pieces of\nsilver, and threw them into the house of Jehovah, to the potter, Then\nI broke my second staff, Bands, that I break the brotherhood between\nJudah and Israel.\"\n\nMuch has been written on this difficult passage. The very first\nsentence in the paragraph speaks of divine love. He came, the mighty\nGod, the everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, in the likeness of\nman, as a servant and a gentle shepherd to feed the miserable ones.\nLooking at the multitudes who followed Him when He had come, He was\nmoved with compassion, for they were distressed and scattered as\nsheep having no shepherd (Matt. ix: 36). True shepherds indeed they\nhad not. Prophets sent by Jehovah had long before ceased to come, and\nthose who ruled them were miserable leaders of the blind, concerning\nwhom Jehovah spoke through Ezekiel, \"Woe unto the shepherds of Israel\nthat do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You\neat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the\nfatlings, but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not\nstrengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither\nhave ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again\nthat which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was\nlost\" (Ezekiel xxxiv: 3-5). But now Jehovah Himself has come to be\ntheir Shepherd, \"Behold, I Myself, even I, will search for My sheep\nand find them out\" (Ezekiel xxxiv: 11). And when He came and God was\nmanifested in the flesh, He turned indeed to the most miserable of\nthe sheep--the publicans and the outcasts, sinners and harlots,\ngathered around Him. The Prophet as the type of the good Shepherd has\ntwo staves. The one is called Beauty (marginal reading,\ngraciousness). The second one is Bands. The Shepherd carries a staff\nto protect and guide His flock. In the second Psalm the returning\nLord is seen shepherding the nations with a rod of iron, but here the\ntwo staves cannot mean instruments for correction, but they are the\nstaves of comfort and love. God's mercy and favor are clearly\nindicated in these two staves. The first one, Beauty, which is cut\nasunder first, and that before the wages of the Shepherd, the thirty\npieces of silver, are given, stands no doubt for the gracious offer\nwith which the King, preaching the kingdom, came among His people, to\nHis own. He proclaimed that which prophets had spoken before, God's\nmercy and love, long promised, now to be carried out. He Himself had\ncome to redeem His people and deliver them from their mighty enemies\nas well as from the false leaders. But the offer, the kingdom\npreaching, is rejected, the staff, Beauty, is cut asunder, the\ncovenant with the peoples (Amim in Hebrew), His own, is now broken.\nThe kingdom is to be taken away and given to another nation. After\nthe breaking of the staff, Beauty, there comes the giving of the\nwages, the thirty pieces of silver. The Shepherd who broke the staff\nis treated like a slave.\n\nThe second staff in His hands, Bands, speaks of union, binding\ntogether, bringing into fellowship. It typifies the priestly side of\nthe good Shepherd who died for the flock. This staff is broken after\nthe thirty pieces were given for Him, and cast into the temple. They\ncried, Away with Him! we have no King save Caesar! Crucify Him! His\nblood be upon us and upon our children! The cross bears the\nsuperscription, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, and\nfrom the lips of the rejected King and Shepherd there came the prayer\nfor His people, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\nThe doom came not at once upon the nation. Once more the love of the\nShepherd is preached to the miserable sheep, and the remission of\nsins offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it ends in\nrejection too; no bringing together into One followed. The foolish\nshepherd appears next, and after him the good Shepherd will appear\nagain with His two staves, Beauty and Bands, kingdom and mercy,\nbringing and binding together. He will then be a Priest upon His\nthrone. This interpretation is the most satisfactory one, and in\nharmony with the entire scope of Zechariah's visions and prophecies.\n\nWho are the three shepherds to be cut off in one month by the\nShepherd? Are they persons or not? Many answers have been given to\nthese questions, and many theories have been advanced to solve the\ndifficulty. It is not necessary to mention any of them. The three\nshepherds are not persons, but they stand for the three classes of\nrulers which governed Israel, and were in that sense shepherds. We\nread of these shepherds in Jeremiah ii: 8, priests, rulers, and\nprophets. The Lord likewise mentions them in Matthew xvi: 21, elders,\nchief priests and scribes. When He came He was indeed weary with\nthem, and denounced their hypocrisies and wickedness. They in turn\nhated and abhorred Him, and conspired to put Him to death. The Lord\nHimself cut them off. He pronounced His woes and judgments upon them,\nbut the judgment was not at once carried out. When Jerusalem was\ntaken their rule came to an end and they were cut off.\n\nBut there are mentioned the wretched of the flock that gave heed unto\nthe Shepherd, and they knew that it was the word of Jehovah. These\nwretched ones are the faithful ones who followed the Shepherd, the\nsmall remnant. (Compare with chapter xiii: 7.) The others who\nrejected the King and the Shepherd were indeed not fed, but were\ndying and cut off.\n\nThe wages of the good Shepherd, thirty pieces of silver, and these\nthrown into the house of Jehovah to the potter is to be considered\nnext. Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave who had been\nkilled. If the ox gore a manservant or a maidservant, the owner shall\ngive unto their master thirty shekels of silver (Exodus xxi: 32). Oh,\nwhat unfathomable love! The Lord from heaven became like a slave. The\nlove He looked for He found not. It was refused to Him, and instead\nHe was insulted, mocked, and treated like a miserable slave. There\nwas one of the twelve who was called Judas Iscariot. He went to the\nchief priests and said, What are you willing to give me, and I will\ndeliver Him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of\nsilver (Matt. xxvi: 14). The money at the command of Jehovah is\nthrown away by the prophet with indignation, into the house of\nJehovah, to the potter. Perhaps the prophet never knew the real\nsignificance of his act, but we know it from the New Testament. Then\nJudas which betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented\nhimself and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief\npriests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent\nblood. But they said, What is this to us? See thou to it. And he cast\ndown the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed and hanged\nhimself And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, It\nis not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is the price of\nblood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potters' field\nto bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called the field of\nblood unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by\nJeremiah, the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of\nsilver, the price of Him that was priced, whom certain of the\nchildren of Israel did price, and they gave them for the potters'\nfield, as the Lord appointed me (Matt. xxvii: 3-9). How striking the\nfulfillment. However, here is a difficulty. In Matthew it is stated\nthat Jeremiah spoke the prophecy, and Zechariah's name is not\nmentioned at all. How can this be explained?\n\nThe prophecy certainly as it was fulfilled was not given by Jeremiah\nat all, but through Zechariah. There can be doubt that his name\nshould appear here instead of Jeremiah, but that Jeremiah's name is\nquoted must have a meaning. Rotherham in his translation of the New\nTestament makes a foot note in which he says, \"Zech. xi: 12, 13:\nPerhaps as included in a scroll headed by Jeremiah.\" But this is not\nsatisfactory. The question would be if there is anything in Jeremiah\nwhich could have a connection with the typical action of Zechariah.\nThere is a similar action in Jeremiah, which, as a whole, speaks of\nthe same event which Zech. xi: 13 has, and which is seen in\nfulfillment in Matt. xxvii. Read in Jeremiah the eighteenth and\nnineteenth chapters. The word \"_Topheth_\" in Jeremiah means an\nunclean place, a burial ground. It seems as if Jeremiah's name\nappears here so as to call attention to the fact that the prophet\nspoke of the event likewise, and that Zech. xi. and Jer. xviii. and\nxix. must be compared and read together.\n\n_III. The foolish shepherd (verses 15-17)._\n\nAnd Jehovah said to me, Take unto thee again the instruments of a\nfoolish shepherd. For, behold, I raise up a shepherd in the land; the\nperishing he will not visit, the scattered ones he will not seek for,\nthe wounded he will not heal, the strong he will not feed, but he\nshall eat the flesh of the fat, and their hoofs he will break off.\nWoe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword upon\nhis arm and upon his right eye. His arm shall be utterly withered and\nhis right eye completely blinded.\n\nThe prophet now impersonates another shepherd, one who is foolish and\nwicked, and in his hands he does no longer hold the staves of Beauty\nand Bands, but the instruments of the foolish shepherd to wound and\nto hurt are in his possession. This foolish shepherd is the opposite\nfrom the good shepherd. He came to heal, to seek, to save, and to\nfeed, but the foolish shepherd scatters, does not heal, nor does he\nfeed the flock; but he eats the flesh of the fat. The description of\nthis false shepherd is like the description of the shepherds in Ezek.\nxxxiv., as quoted before. Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the gathering\nof the flock is future still, but before He gathers the lost and\nscattered sheep of Israel and brings them back to their land and\ngives them the one Shepherd and David His servant, there will be\nfalse shepherds. The true One rejected, the nation becomes the prey\nof the foolish shepherds. Poor, blinded Israel! How many wicked\nshepherds they have had, and how often the prey of wicked leaders.\nFalse Messiahs appeared among them again and again to find strong and\nnumerous following. Still the foolish shepherd, the last one, the\nvery embodiment of Satan himself; the accuser, has not yet come.\nForerunners there have been many. Herod was one of them, but not that\nman of sin, the son of perdition who will appear and be worshiped as\nGod, right before the King of kings and the true Shepherd of His\nflock appears to slay that wicked one with the breath of His mouth\nand by the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. ii.). The Lord said, I\nam come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall\ncome in his own name, him ye will receive (John v: 43). That one who\ncomes in his own name has not yet come, and when at last he is here,\nit will be for Israel the time of greatest trouble and tribulation\nfor all them that inhabit the earth. The third section of our chapter\nfinds its complete fulfillment in the Antichrist, the false Messiah,\nthe beast, the little horn, the leader of the enemy, the false prince\nof Israel; thus the foolish shepherd is called throughout the\nprophetic word. The dreadful punishment will be executed upon the\nfoolish shepherd in the day of the Lord's coming with His saints for\nthe salvation of His people Israel.\n\nThe eleventh chapter in Zechariah is the darkest in Israel's history.\nThe night began with their apostasy and rejection of the Lord of\nGlory, their own brother, their loving Shepherd, the Lord Jesus\nChrist. It ends in darkness greater still under the regime of the\nfoolish shepherd. But the morning cometh after that dark night, and\nIsrael's sun will never set again.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n_The second burden, from Chapter xii-xiv.--Jerusalem and the\nnations.--The conflict of the end.--The chiefs of Judah and the\nstrength promised to the feeble.--Nations destroyed.--Outpouring of\nthe Spirit and looking upon Jehovah, the pierced One.--The great\nnational mourning._\n\nWe have before us the second burden, which begins with the eleventh\nchapter and closes with the fourteenth. The events seen in the first\nburden, that is in chapters ix., x. and xi., were in part fulfilled,\nbut in the second burden we find prophecies which have seen no\nfulfillment whatever; they are all future. There is only one prophecy\nwhich is fulfilled, the one of the smitten shepherd at the end of the\nthirteenth chapter. The great future events which are recorded in the\nsecond burden are: The victory of Jerusalem over the hostile nations,\nthe outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the appearing and beholding of the\npierced One, the national repentance of Israel, the cleansing of the\nnation, the final conflict and the Lord coming with His saints, the\ncomplete overthrow of the enemies and the establishment of the\nkingdom in the earth, with Jerusalem as a center. These three\nchapters form indeed a glorious finale to the wonderful visions and\nprophecies which Jehovah gave to the prophet. The fourteenth chapter\nis the summit.\n\nNot a few interpreters have committed the serious error and have\ntried to find a fulfillment of these chapters somewhere, and if no\nhistorical events could be made to suit the occasion, a spiritual\napplication had to be made and a spiritual fulfillment in the\nso-called \"Israel of the New Testament,\" the church, invented, which\nof course never satisfies the prayerful student of the word.\n\nIn reading the twelfth chapter carefully, it will be seen at once\nthat here we have prophecies which not alone refer to Jerusalem and\nJudah exclusively, but which cannot yet have seen a fulfillment. The\nend of the chapter shows Israel's conversion. The Spirit is poured\nout. They look upon the pierced One, Jehovah; repentance and\ncleansing follows throughout the land. This brings before us the hour\nof Israel's salvation, the same which the Holy Spirit unfolds through\nPaul, in Romans xi. It is an event which will take place after the\nfullness of the Gentiles will have come in (the church removed from\nthe earth). And so all Israel shall be saved; even as it is written,\nThere shall come out of Zion a Deliverer; He shall turn away\nungodliness from Jacob: And this is my covenant unto them, when I\nshall take away their sins (Rom. xi: 25-37). There is no saved\nIsrael now and there can be no national turning of Israel unto the\nLord at this present time, but when the Lord comes and they shall\nlook upon Him, that salvation will be at hand. This coming of the\nLord to Israel when they shall see His glory will be preceded by\nnations rising against Jerusalem. Not one nation, but nations, will\nmake war once more with Jerusalem; nor will Jerusalem in that future\nsiege fall into the hands of the enemies, but the city and the people\nwill be victorious. The period of the Maccabees is not meant, nor is\nthere anything in the past which could even be a partial fulfillment\nof Zech. xii. It is all future.\n\nLet us look now at the details of the chapter. Thus saith the Lord,\nwho stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the\nearth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (verse 1). The\nspeaker is Jehovah, the Almighty One who created the heavens and the\nearth, and who formeth the spirit of man within him. Why such a\nbeginning of this second burden? To show that He who has given all\nthese promises is able to do it. Men may fail and are powerless to\ngive help. Indeed, Israel will be utterly helpless then when the\nenemy comes in like a flood, but in that hour of extremity Jehovah\nHimself, the Omnipotent One, the One through Whom and in Whom and for\nWhom heaven and earth were created, will come, and in His majestic\nappearing deliver Jerusalem and His people at last. But when He\nappears for their salvation and they look upon Him, they see Jehovah\nwhom they pierced, Jehovah-Jesus, the One who was once rejected, but\nwho now comes in power and in glory. This first verse shows the\nspeaker in the entire chapter is Jehovah, and is one of the strongest\nOld Testament passages which show that the Redeemer, the One who came\nas an obedient servant to suffer and to die, is Jehovah.\n\n   Behold, I make Jerusalem a cup of reeling\n   To all the nations round about;\n   Upon Judah also shall it be,\n   In the siege against Jerusalem.\n   And it shall come in that day, I make Jerusalem\n   A burdensome stone for all the peoples:\n   All that are burdened with it shall be wounded;\n   All the nations of the earth shall gather against it.\n      (Verses 2 and 3.)\n\nThis brings us back to the first and second night visions concerning\nthe nations that are at ease, and thus helped forward their\naffliction, the four horns which scattered Judah and Israel. The\nending three chapters bring out much of the details of what we saw in\nthe first three chapters in an outline. What an unfolding there is\nnow! Jehovah remembers Jerusalem and is jealous for her, and\nJerusalem is now to become a cup of reeling (like a drunken man) unto\nall the nations round about. Isaiah long before Zechariah saw the\njudgment coming. The cup of fury which Jerusalem drank is now to be\nemptied by the enemies, and they will have to drink the cup of\nreeling. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk from\nthe hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the bowl\nof the cup of reeling and drained it. . . . Behold, I have taken out\nof thine hand the cup of reeling, even the bowl of the cup of My\nfury; thou shalt no more drink it again. And I will put it in the\nhand of them that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow\ndown, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground,\nand as the street to them that go over (Isaiah ii: 17, 22, 23). What\na wonderful harmony in the prophetic word! Jerusalem has been\ndrinking all along the cup of reeling, the cup of His fury, even\ndrained the cup; but while Jerusalem is thus drinking divine\ndispleasure, the nations, and with them that awful monstrosity called\nChristendom, are getting ripe for the cup of wrath. A judgment is\nhastening rapidly, and Jerusalem will be for the nations the cup of\nreeling. We saw in the first night vision that the nations at ease\nwere condemned by Jehovah. He is sore displeased with them. They have\nhurt His people and His inheritance. Terrible accusation against\nChristendom too, which has always been and is now the great stumbling\nblock to the Jew, with its man-made institutions, creeds and\nself-exaltation. The reader will understand we do not mean the\nchurch, the one body; this is not applicable to true believers.\nMan-made Christendom is the enemy of Jerusalem, and hates God's\nloving thoughts for the peace of Jerusalem. If there is blindness in\npart upon Israel, it is equally true that blindness is upon the\nGentiles. There is planning and scheming for expansion, world\nreformation and possession in Christendom, which leaves out and\nignores completely God's purposes, and sets aside, as higher\ncriticism does, the oracles of God. No thought in Christendom that\nJehovah will ever make good His promises to the seed of Abraham,\ntherefore no thought of the Jew, no love for poor Israel; on the\nother hand they are despised and hated. It is startling, indeed, to\nsee how Europe, the territory of the Roman Empire, which will form\nyet the confederacy of kingdoms under one head, is at present boiling\nover with antisemitism, and the heart of Europe, France, is the very\nhotbed of it. There was never a time when antisemitism was so strong\nand so universal as it is now at the end of the much boasted of\nnineteenth century. What will it be when the salt of the earth, the\nchurch, is removed? The restraint is then taken away and the outbreak\nwill come. The Jew is the thorn in the flesh of the nations; he is\nhated and feared. However, the second and third verses of our chapter\ndo not speak of the enemies of Israel, as they are away from the land\nof Israel, but the prophecies show the nations having come up against\nthe city of Jerusalem. Before this can be fulfilled Jerusalem must be\nonce more not alone inhabited by Jews, but be the city of the nation\nagain as it was in the past, a partial return of the Jews to\nPalestine must have taken place, and great prosperity resting upon\ntheir endeavors for a time. Mighty armies are seen then coming up\nagainst the city and the land, and while in the land and in the city\nthere will be tribulation, the reign of the false Messiah, outside\nthe armies sent out by the confederacy of nations will be gathered.\nIt is of this gathering of the nations before Jerusalem in the\ntribulation the great, the twelfth chapter speaks. In the exegesis of\nthe fourteenth chapter we will have occasion to describe this coming\nsiege of Jerusalem.\n\nIn speaking of these coming events it is necessary to bear in mind\nthat they have nothing to do with the church. Believers sometimes are\nconfused in this respect in not holding strictly to the coming of the\nLord for His saints, and the absence of the church in the earth\nduring the tribulation, and after this--His coming with His saints.\nBecause the Jews are not yet in possession of the land and Jerusalem\nis not yet a Jewish city, some have reasoned that the coming of our\nLord must be a good ways off yet, and on account of these events not\nbeing seen now, they say we cannot say that the Lord can come any\nmoment for His church. There is not one scripture which teaches that\nbefore the Lord comes for His church the Jews must have returned or\nJerusalem be a national headquarter for Israel once more, etc. It is\ntrue a partial restoration of the Jews in unbelief has commenced, and\nthere is a remarkable national awakening such as has never been\nbefore, but the full development of this restoration will come after\nthe church has left the earth and has been joined to her Lord in the\nair. An exodus of Jews will take place, the land will become theirs,\nand the well laid plans and schemes of the present time will be all\ncarried out. Political combinations will be their chief hopes as well\nas others for success. As Pharaoh of olden times did hasten after the\nchildren of Israel when they had left his domain, so it seems the\nnations will come after them and besiege Jerusalem. Everything is\ngetting ready for this. Let every believer rejoice in the blessed\nhope that no saint will be in the earth when at last these sad scenes\nof a passing dispensation are enacted.\n\n   In that day, saith Jehovah,\n   I will smite every horse with astonishment,\n   And his rider with madness:\n   I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah,\n   And every horse of the peoples I will smite with blindness,\n   And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart,\n   The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength,\n   In Jehovah of hosts their God.\n   In that day I will make the chiefs of Judah\n   Like a pan of fire among wood,\n   And as a torch of fire among sheaves;\n   And they shall devour all the peoples round about,\n   On the right hand and on the left;\n   And Jerusalem shall dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem\n      (verses 4-7).\n\nThese verses are descriptive of the calamity which will befall the\nenemies of Israel. Jehovah will smite them. The stone falling from\nheaven will smite the image at its feet and will pulverize it. The\nenemies of Israel will suffer as complete a defeat and destruction as\nPharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. In pride and blindness they had\nrushed on, and while pursuing Israel the face of the Lord looked out\nof the cloud and confused the Egyptian hosts, and the returning\nwaters swept them all away, the horse and the rider and the chariots.\nIt is but a faint type of what it will be when Jehovah will roar out\nof heaven, and His glory will appear. The slain of the Lord will then\nindeed be many. Judah and the chiefs will be used in that judgment.\nThey shall be a devouring fire. The fourteenth chapter will lead us\ninto a closer investigation.\n\nThe following two verses speak of the order how the coming of Jehovah\nwill save His waiting people.\n\n   Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first,\n   That the glory of the house of David\n   And the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem\n   May not lift itself up over Judah.\n   In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;\n   And the feeble one among them in that day shall be as David;\n   And the house of David shall be as God (Elohim),\n   As the angel of Jehovah before them.\n   And it shall come to pass in that day,\n   That I will seek to destroy all the nations,\n   That came against Jerusalem (verses 7-9).\n\nJudah will inhabit the land and many will dwell in tents, while\nJerusalem will be a strong and fortified city. The danger from the\nhostile armies will be the greatest with the dwellers in the tents.\nAccordingly, Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first. Jerusalem\nwill come next. The purpose is that the house of David and the\ninhabitants of Jerusalem may not lift themselves up over Judah. The\nhouse of David is especially mentioned. We have not had David brought\nbefore the prophet in the night visions nor in the prophecies which\nfollowed, but here in the twelfth chapter the house of David is\nmentioned not less than five times, which is very significant. We\nhave the glory of the house of David in verse seven, the strength of\nDavid and the supremacy of it in verse eight. The spirit of grace and\nsupplication is given to the house of David, and the family of the\nhouse of David will mourn. Jews have a tradition which states that\nthe last descendant of the house of David died in Spain centuries\nago. There are no genealogies at present to prove that the kingly\nhouse of David is extinct or not, but prophecies like the one we have\nin consideration, and many others which speak of the prominence of\nDavid and the house of David in the day when Jehovah will be\nmanifested, make it very clear that among the wandering sons of\nIsrael there are yet lineal descendants of the house of David. If\nthey do not know it themselves, Jehovah knows it, and they will know\nit through Him. The feeble ones, literally the stumblers, among His\npeople in that day of manifestation will be like David. What a hero\nDavid was! A man of war and strength conquering always and never\nconquered. And now the stumbler in Israel, the weakest one, will have\nstrength and courage like David. And David shall be as God, as the\nangel of Jehovah before them. This is a startling promise. A similar\nword is found in Exodus vii: 1, And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I\nhave made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy\nprophet. The house of David will during the millennium be supreme in\nrule and in glory. A lineal descendant of David, a prince, will sit\nupon the throne of his father David and rule as a vice-regent of the\nLord Jesus Christ, whose throne is then in the heavens over the\nearth. Thus in the earth the house of David will be as God and as the\nangel of Jehovah before them (Ezek. xxxiv: 23, 24; xlvi.).\n\nThe closing verses of the chapter claim our special attention, for in\nthem we have a fundamental prophetic passage. The spiritual side of\nthe salvation of Jerusalem is now brought out.\n\n   And I will pour out upon the house of David,\n   And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,\n   The spirit of grace and supplication;\n   And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced,\n   And they shall mourn for Him as the mourning for an only son,\n   And be in bitterness for Him as one in bitterness for the first-born.\n   In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem,\n   As the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.\n\nThe mourning then is described as a universal one. All the families\nwill mourn; family by family apart, and their wives apart. Such a\nmourning and weeping has never before been seen in the earth nor will\nthere be one like it again.\n\nBut why mourning and weeping? Should there not rather be joy and\nfeasting, gladness and hallelujahs? The hallelujahs will come during\nthe entire millennium, but the beginning will be mourning, national,\nby Israel. The mourning is on account of Him, Jehovah, who has\nappeared in His glory and whom they now behold. The long expected\nMessiah has at last appeared, and He is Jehovah. His coming for their\nsalvation is as Daniel saw Him, after the last beast, the terrible\none, the nondescript with its ten horns and the little horn between,\nhad risen from the sea. I saw in the night visions, and, behold,\nthere came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a Son of Man, and\nHe came even unto the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near\nbefore Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a\nkingdom, that all the people, nations, and languages should serve\nHim; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass\naway, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Daniel vii:\n13, 14). A cloud appears in the heaven over Jerusalem. It is at once\nrecognized as no common cloud, but as the divine glory cloud, (the\nShekinah, which had been with Israel of old and was always the sign\nof Jehovah's presence with His people). We can imagine in some\nmeasure how this sign will be welcomed by the remnant of Israel in\nthe hour of their extremity when there is and cannot be help from\nman. The cloud speaks as of old, of divine interference. Our Lord\nputs the whole scene before us when He said in His Olivet discourse,\nBut immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be\ndarkened, and the moon shall not give her light (what an awful\ndarkness that will be! well may then the rejecters of the Gospel seek\ndeath from the wrath which is now coming), and the stars shall fall\nfrom heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then\nshall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the\ntribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming\nin the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He shall\nsend forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall\ngather together His elect (not the church) from the four winds, from\none end of heaven unto the other (Matthew xxiv: 29-31). The sign of\nthe Son of Man which is spoken of here will undoubtedly be the cloud\nof glory which will bring Him from heaven to the earth. Some\nbelievers in the coming of the Lord have mentioned the sign of the\nSon of Man to be seen in the heaven as if that sign stood in relation\nto the church and would be welcomed by believers, the saved ones, as\nthe sign that their redemption is now at hand. We read not long ago\nin a pamphlet in which certain coming signs in constellation of\nstars, etc., were mentioned, as being foretold in prophecy, and\nteaching the church that the coming of the Lord must be at hand. This\nis a mistake. There is nowhere in prophecy a sign mentioned appearing\nin the heaven to show the church that the Lord is at hand. The\nchurch, that is the one body, does not need such a sign. When the\nsign of the Son of Man appears in the heaven there will be no more\nchurch in the earth to see it. It will be \"immediately after the\ntribulation of these days;\" the church will not be in that\ntribulation. The sign is for Israel. Ezekiel beheld that glory which\nis then to be seen in the heavens. I looked, and, behold, a stormy\nwind came out of the north, a great cloud with a fire infolding\nitself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof\nas the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. And out of the\nmidst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . And\nabove the firmament that was above their heads was the likeness of a\nthrone, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness\nof the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it\nabove. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire\nwithin it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward,\nand from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as if it\nwere the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about\nhim. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of\nrain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was\nthe appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel i:\n5, 26, 28). This vision will actually be seen by Israel in the day of\nthe manifestation of the Lord. He will return in like manner upon a\ncloud as the glorified Son of Man as He went up into heaven. In Acts\ni: 11, where the promise of His return is given, it is likewise to be\nremarked that that promise does not present the Hope of the church,\nour blessed Hope, as believers. It is very often used as speaking of\nthat Hope which is so dear to every believer's heart. However, the\npromise given by the two men in white apparel, in Acts i., is a\npromise to Israel. It is the coming in like manner as He went into\nheaven, that is the coming of the Lord with His saints and not for\nHis saints. There is still another passage which is in close\nconnection with the appearing of Jehovah, the pierced One, in\nZechariah xii., namely, Revelation i: 7, Behold He comes with the\nclouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which have pierced Him\nand all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Yea. Amen.\nThis passage corresponds with the one before us in Zechariah. The\ntribes in Revelation are the same as mentioned in Zechariah, and the\nwailing in Revelation stands for the mourning with which the twelfth\nchapter in Zechariah closes. What a scene that will be when at last\nIsrael will look upon Him! When the signs of His coming,--the coming\nof the Redeemer--Jehovah increase, and His coming for their salvation\ndraweth nigh, perhaps their hearts will be gladdened, and there will\nbe rejoicing. They see the sign in the heavens and there will be the\nglad shout, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah, this is\nour God, we have waited for Him. And now they behold a person upon\nthat cloud. He is a Son of Man. Again they look and they see that His\nhands and His feet and His side are pierced. Who can this be with\npierced hands, feet and side, who cometh thus in power and glory from\nthe heavens to save His people? The truth so long denied by them\nflashes upon them, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,\nthe rejected One, the One who suffered that shameful death on yonder\nhill, whose hands and feet were pierced, and from whose loving side\nand heart the Roman spear drew forth blood and water. Jehovah-Jesus,\nthe pierced One, is seen again. There way up in the heavens He is\nseen! Sun and moon have been darkened, as we quoted above from\nMatthew xxiv., but instead of their light there flashes another light\nover the heavens. The veil is lifted. God, Jehovah, has broken the\nlong, long silence. He speaks again. The proud nations tremble, fear\nand trembling seize hold upon all the children of men. The day of\nvengeance, the day of wrath, the day of burning and recompense is at\nhand. All eyes are turned upward to behold that startling vision. The\ncloud, and in that cloud a throne, and upon the throne the Lamb of\nGod, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jehovah, the pierced One, the\nLord Jesus Christ. Not alone are His eyes like a flaming fire, but\naccording to Habakkuk's vision (Habukkuk iii.), His glory covereth\nthe heavens, brightness is round about Him and rays (of glory) come\nout of His hands and His side, and there was the hiding of His power.\nLong, long ago David had by the Spirit of the Lord entered into the\nsufferings of his Son, whom he called Lord, and in the Psalm which\nbegins with the cry of the forsaken One, My God, My God, why has Thou\nforsaken Me? he speaks of His hands and His feet pierced. It is true\nthat the unbelieving Jews and all the enemies of a verbal inspiration\nof the word of God, higher critics, etc., with them, have tried to\nchange the word \"pierced\" in the twenty-second Psalm, and make\nsomething else out of it. But it is pierced and will be so in all\neternity. The One of whom David spoke came and was rejected,\nsuffered, sacrificed Himself to put away sin, was nailed on the\ncross, and was pierced through. On the third day He was raised from\nthe dead, and for forty days He showed Himself in His glorified body\nto His friends. In that body of the risen Lord the nailprints and the\npierced side were seen. Thomas, unbelieving as he was, and as such a\ntype of Israel abiding in unbelief still, would not believe the\ntestimony of his brethren, and demanded the return of the Lord and to\nput his hands into His side and to see in His hands the prints of the\nnails. The second time the Lord appears, and Thomas is called to His\nside to touch His body, to see the nailprints. Convinced because he\nsees he cries out, My Lord and my God! And when He took His own to\nthe mountain where He gave them His command and His blessing, when\nHis loving hands were spread out in blessing, they all saw the marks\nof His passion in His hands and there in His side. And thus He went\ninto heaven, and while you read this, dear friend, He is there in the\nHoly of Holiest, appearing now in the presence of God for us, the\nall-sufficient One. Can then there be a doubt that when He does\nappear again, the second time, to build the tabernacle of David which\nis fallen down, that these marks of His suffering will not be seen?\nThey will be the marks for Israel. They will know Him by the\nnailprints as the One so long rejected and hated without a cause.\n\nThe conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a little sample of what is yet to\nbe with the seed of Abraham. The light which shone around this\nblinded, self-righteous Pharisee on his way to Damascus, a light\nbrighter than the Oriental noonday sun, will then shine out of heaven\nin the Lord's own glory. The Voice which spoke to him, I am Jesus\nwhom thou persecutest, will speak again out of that light to the\nprostrated nation. It does likewise remind us of the rejected brother\nwho became great and a saviour after his rejection by his own, and\nwho in loving words said to his brethren, so guilty and conscience\nstricken, I am Joseph your brother. What a wonderful event that will\nbe when at last they that pierced Him shall behold Him. Suspended\nsomewhere in the air will be seen the vision of the Lord in His\nglory, and thus every eye shall see Him. It will be the day when a\nnation is born. The Spirit poured out, they will look upon Him, and\nthe great national mourning follows.\n\nThis great mourning will be like the mourning in Hadad-rimmon in the\nvalley Megiddon. To what events do these places refer? The second\nbook of Chronicles, chapter xxxv., verses 22-37, give us the history\nof that great mourning. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face\nfrom him (the King of Egypt), but disguised himself, that he might\nfight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the\nmouth of God (these words are found in the twenty-first verse), and\ncame to fight in the valley of Megiddon. And the archers shot at King\nJosiah; and the King said to his servants, Have me away, I am sore\nwounded. So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him into\nthe second chariot that he had and brought him to Jerusalem; and he\ndied and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah\nand Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah,\nand all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their\nlamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in\nIsrael, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Likewise in\n2 Kings xxiii: 29. In Josiah's days Pharaoh-Neco, King of Egypt, went\nup against the King of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and King\nJosiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddon when he had seen\nhim. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddon and\nbrought him to Jerusalem.\n\nHadad-rimmon was a village nearby in the valley of Megiddon. The\npious King Josiah died, pierced by an arrow on account of the evil\ndeeds of the nation. After his death there was a great mourning\nbecause he had been slain, and his death was soon followed by greater\ncalamities, ending with the Babylonian captivity. The application to\nthe Lord Jesus Christ and the coming national mourning of the nation\nevery reader can make for himself.\n\nIt is interesting to read the Jewish interpretations of this\nimportant chapter. We quote from the Babylonian Talmud: That\nmourning, what was it about? Rabbi Yose and the Rabbis differ on the\npoint. The one says it is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is\nkilled; and the other says, It is for the _Yetzer Horo_ (evil desire,\nsin), when it is killed. All is clear in the case of him that says,\nIt is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed, for then we\ncan understand what is written, And they shall look upon Me whom they\npierced, and they shall lament for Him (Zech. xii: 10). But in the\ncase of him that says it is for sin when it is killed? Would it be\nmourning that is needed? Surely rejoicing would then be needed. Thus\nexpounded, Rabbi Jehudah, of the Western house, in the Messianic\ntimes, the Holy One, blessed be He, is going to bring forth the evil\ndesire and slay him in the presence of the righteous and the wicked.\nUnto the righteous the evil desire appears like a mountain, and unto\nthe wicked he appears like a hair. The righteous weep and the wicked\nweep. The righteous say, How did we ever get the better of this high\nmountain? And the wicked say, How is it that we did not get the\nbetter of this hair? (Yalkut on Zechariah.)\n\nThe Jews have invented a double Messiah, one who is called the Son of\nJoseph and the other the Son of David. The Son of Joseph is pierced,\nand after He has been slain, Jehovah will send Messiah, Son of David.\nIt is not denied that the Son of Joseph is a Messiah, an anointed\nOne. This teaching is to solve the difficulties they have in\nexplaining the suffering Messiah and the victorious Messiah. We have\noften talked with orthodox Jews for hours on the fact that there is\nonly one Messiah, and He whom they expect as Son of David is truly\nthe One who died and was pierced through for our sins. Human words\ncannot describe the great mourning when at last it is known by His\nappearing in the clouds, that Jesus, the Son of David, is the once\nrejected stone and now become the head of the corner. The first verse\nof the thirteenth chapter belongs to the twelfth. However, we will\nleave it for the next chapter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n_The fountain against sin and uncleanness opened--Idols and false\nprophets destroyed--The smitten Shepherd and the sheep scattered--The\nRemnant saved--Two-thirds cut off and a third part refined by fire._\n\nAs mentioned in the closing sentence of the exposition of the last\nchapter, the first verse of the 13th chapter belongs to the 12th\nchapter. The division of the Bible into chapters is very often at\nfault and helps much to obscure the real meaning. \"In that day there\nshall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the\ninhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for Uncleanness.\" That day will\nbe the day when they have looked upon Him, Jehovah, the pierced One,\nand the fountain which is opened is the same blessed fountain of\nwhich the saints now sing:\n\n   \"There is a fountain filled with blood\n      Drawn from Emanuel's veins,\n   And sinners plunged beneath that flood\n      Lose all their guilty stains.\"\n\nThe fountain was indeed in existence throughout all the long\ncenturies of Israel's dispersion. But Israel in blindness did not see\nit, only the remnant according to the election of grace did realize\nthe precious blood of the Lamb of God, which has taken away the sins\nof the world. Now all is changed. Upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem\nand the house of David the Spirit is poured out. They have seen Him\nwho is the first-born among many brethren, the second Adam, the One\nwho is the Head of a new creation, and the blood of Him, the Lord\nJesus Christ, is now cleansing them from all sin and uncleanness.\nTheir guilt is pardoned and all unrighteousness and impurity is\ncompletely removed. This great event is everywhere spoken of in the\nOld Testament. We had it under consideration in the third chapter,\ncontaining the night vision of the cleansing of Joshua, the High\npriest. In that vision the blood which cleanses was not mentioned.\nNow, however, it is seen, that the cleansing is by the blood of the\nLamb. It is the same precious blood which cleansed and washed the\nglorified saints. The great multitude, which no man can number, out\nof every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues; the saints\narrayed in white robes with palms in their hands, who washed their\nrobes in the blood of the Lamb, and who appear with Him. And while\nthey sing their song of praise, Salvation unto our God which sitteth\non the throne and unto the Lamb, Israel will be washed by the same\nblood and join into the song of worship heard from the glorified lips\nof the saints of God. In the 103d Psalm we have a prophetic\nexpression of what Israel will rejoice in when that fountain is\nopened. The cleansed nation will break forth and sing:\n\n   \"Bless Jehovah, oh my soul,\n   And all that is within me bless His holy name;\n   Bless Jehovah, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.\n   Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,\n   Who healeth all thy diseases,\n   Who reedeemeth thy life from destruction,\n   Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.\"\n\nThe cleansing and healing of Israel in that day will be complete and\nfinal. No more going back to sin and apostasy after that. Now they\nare indeed a holy people, a kingdom of priests. Perfect healing is\ntheirs, not alone in spiritual things, but also healing from their\ndiseases. Jehovah is their healer the moment He, as the Sun of\nRighteousness with healing under His wings, has risen upon them. \"And\nthe inhabitant shall not say I am sick; the people that dwell therein\nshall be forgiven their iniquity\" (Isa. xxxiii: 34). \"Neither will I\nhide My face any more from them; for I have poured out My Spirit upon\nthe house of Israel, saith the Lord God\" (Ezekiel xxxix: 29). \"And\nthe Redeemer shall come out of Zion, and unto them that turn from\ntransgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. And as for Me, this is My\ncovenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and\nMy words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy\nmouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy\nseed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever\" (Isa. lix:\n20, 21). \"For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a\njoy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people, and the\nvoice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of\ncrying\" (Isa. lxv: 19).\n\nThe cleansing of His people is followed by the cutting off of the\nnames of the idols from the land of Israel. The false prophets who\nwere indwelt by the spirit of uncleanness are destroyed. It is the\nconsequence of the outpouring of the Spirit upon Israel. The entire\nparagraph beginning the 13th chapter speaks of this:\n\n   \"And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts,\n   I will cut off the names of the idols from the land,\n   And they shall no more be remembered;\n   And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits\n   To pass out of the land.\n   And it shall be if a man still prophesy,\n   His father and his mother who begat him shall say to him,\n   Thou shalt not live,\n   For thou hast spoken a lie in the name of Jehovah;\n   And his father and his mother who begat him\n   Shall pierce him through when he prophesieth.\n   And it shall be in that day the prophets shall be ashamed\n   Each of his vision when he prophesies;\n   And shall no more put on a hairy mantle to lie,\n   And shall say I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground,\n   For a man has sold me from my youth.\n   And one shall say to him\n   What are these wounds between thine hands?\n   And he shall answer, those with which I was wounded\n   In the house of my lovers\" (verses 2 to 6).\n\nWe have seen before in the 10th chapter that Israel will return to\nidolatry in the last days. The unclean spirit of idolatry which was\ncast out will at last return with seven others and will find the\nhouse empty, swept and garnished. And the evil spirit, with the seven\nothers more evil than himself; will enter in and dwell there, so that\nthe last state of Israel becometh worse than the first. This will\nhappen to this evil generation. This section of the 13th chapter\nmakes it very clear that when the fountain is opened against sin and\nuncleanness, that idols will have been in the land, and false\nprophets prophesy there immediately before the manifestation of the\nLord from heaven; for how could the names of the idols be cut off\nfrom the land if there were none there? Palestine may well be put\ndown now as the great centre of false worship. Greek and Latin\ncrosses are seen on all sides in Jerusalem and other places, while\nsaints, holy houses and places are worshipped and adored. On the spot\nwhere the Lord's house stood, there stands to-day the mosque of the\nfalse prophet. All is idolatry. Of course when the Lord returns these\nfalse temples will be destroyed, and the Greek and Latin idolatries,\nas well as Islam, will forever pass out of existence. There will be a\npurging of the land from these abominations. This may be included in\nthe prophecy here. Still, it is the people of Israel who are\nespecially concerned in the prophecy before us. The land has often\nbeen the scene of idol worship, and the people engaged in that which\nJehovah despises. It will be so again, only in a much worse form,\nwhen false prophets who are inspired by the unclean spirit, and\ndemons themselves will be their guides.\n\nWe must look to Revelation for a key. It is well known to all\nstudents of the prophetic word that all which comes after the third\nchapter in the last book of the Bible is future still. We are yet in\nthe things which are present. When the Lord has taken the Church to\nHimself then the great visions, tribulations, wrath and judgment will\nbe fulfilled. Aside from the scenes in heaven we learn from\nRevelation the events in the earth during the great tribulation which\nends with the wrath from heaven.\n\nNow in the 9th chapter and the 20th verse of Revelation we read, And\nthe rest of mankind which were not killed with these plagues repented\nnot of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons\nand the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and\nof wood; which can neither see nor hear nor walk. Scripture is to be\nexplained by scripture. The Holy Spirit declares through Paul the\nvery same when he writes in 1 Timothy iv: 1, \"But the Spirit says\nexpressly that in the latter times some shall fall away from the\nfaith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils\nthrough the hypocrisy of men that speak lies branded in their own\nconscience as with a hot iron.\" For this cause God shall send them\nstrong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all might\nbe damned which believed not the truth, but have pleasure in\nunrighteousness (2 Thess. ii: 11, 12).\n\nThese words have not yet been fulfilled, nor has the time come. Truly\nthere are many indications around us. Doctrines of demons are seen in\nmore than one respect. Mysterious influences are felt in the earth.\nThe hindering power, the Holy Spirit, is still present, and He is\nkeeping back the full manifestation of evil (2 Thess. ii: 7). But\nwhen at last He has gone, in the removal of the body, then darkness\nindeed will cover the earth. The unclean spirits, and who can count\ntheir numbers, will be thrown out of heaven into the earth and take\npossession of mankind. The voice from heaven declares, Woe for the\nearth and for the sea, because the devil is gone down unto you,\nhaving great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time (Rev. xii).\nWhen our Lord was in the earth preaching the kingdom of heaven He\nfound many persons in the possession of demons, evil spirits, who had\ncomplete control of them, and He cast them out. Some cried out in\nterror, demanding to know if He had come to torment them before the\ntime. They knew Him as the One who would at last send them to their\nfinal doom. But when He comes again in His glory from heaven,\nconditions will be a great deal worse. Satan and his hosts will be in\nthe earth, having deceived the inhabitants of the earth, and seducing\nwith lying wonders and strong delusions those who would not believe\nthe truth, and lead them back to idol worship and to the carnal\nabominations connected with such a worship. Spiritualism, Christian\nScience, Buddhism in the very midst of Christendom, as well as the\nsect of devil worshipers in Paris, London, and Berlin, are but faint\nsamples of the gross darkness which will be when the Church has been\nremoved. There is no human mind which can imagine the condition of\nthings during that time of tribulation, nor is there a pen which\ncould describe the delusions and wickedness which will then flourish\nfor a short time in this world.\n\nWhat praises, then, should be in the hearts of the Saints for having\nescaped that tribulation and the wrath to come. No, the Lord will\nnever leave His Church in the earth when Satan and his demons have\ncontrol. The presence of the Church in the earth makes it impossible\nthat these days can come. But while this will be true in the earth\ngenerally, the land of Israel will be the center of that great storm,\nand there the false worship, idolatry, will be established. It is to\nbe remembered that a part of the nation will have been restored to\nthe land in unbelief, and will rebuild a temple, which is the fourth\ntemple. Sacrifices are brought again, but they are an abomination,\nand the Lord hates them. The 66th chapter of Isaiah in its beginning\nspeaks of this fact. We have to turn once more to the book of\nRevelation to find there a commentary. In the first quotation from\nthe book we learned of the conditions in the earth in a general\nsense, but when we read the 13th chapter we find ourselves on Jewish\nground, in Jerusalem. In that chapter we read of the worship of one\nwho is termed the dragon, and this dragon gives power to a beast, who\nis likewise worshiped. And there was given him a mouth speaking great\nthings and blasphemies; and there was given him authority to continue\nforty and two months (verse 5). . . And all that dwell on the earth\nshall worship him, everyone whose name hath not been written in the\nbook of life of the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of\nthe world . . . (8th verse). After this we read in the 11th verse of\na second beast. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;\nand he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And\nhe exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight, and\nhe maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first\nbeast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great signs, that\nhe should even make fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in\nsight of men. An image of the beast is made. And he deceiveth them\nthat dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him\nto do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the\nearth, that they should make an image to the beast, which hath the\nstroke of the _sword_ and lived. And it was given unto him to give\nbreath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the\nbeast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship\nthe image of the beast should be killed (14th and 15th verses). We\nsee here a trinity revealed. The first is the dragon, the second the\nbeast, and after that beast, which is called the first beast, the\nother, or the second beast. The dragon is the father of lies, the\ndevil, the first beast is his son, the Antichrist, and the second\nbeast is the evil spirit, which causes the dwellers in the earth to\nworship the beast. It is the trinity of evil as it is yet to be seen\nin the earth, and worshipped by those who rejected the Father, the\nSon, and the Holy Spirit. This beast is the false Messiah. The one of\nwhom we read in 2 Thes. ii. The son of perdition, he that upholdeth\nand exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is\nworshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself\nforth as God. Now this is the great abomination of the great\ntribulation. The 13th chapter of Revelation speaks, as we have seen,\nof Antichrist having received a deadly wound by a sword, but he\nlived. It was a miracle that he lived. The dragon gave him power to\novercome it. But not alone does he raise up the beast again from\ndeath, but he imparts life to the image of Antichrist, which is to be\nworshipped, so that it could speak, and all who refuse to worship the\nimage are to be killed. Antichrist is a perfect counterfeit of the\ntrue Christ. The devil will then place him before the world as a\nsubstitute of Christ. The wound of the beast was made perhaps by\nthose who pretended to love him. With the light from Rev. xiii, Zech.\nxiii becomes very plain, for the false prophets and idols mentioned\nin our chapter are connected with the winding up of this\ndispensation. The sixth verse does not speak of the Lord Jesus\nChrist. It is generally taken to be a Messianic prophecy and often\nquoted as such. The context, however, shows beyond a doubt that the\nperson mentioned is the false prophet. And one shall say to him--the\nfalse prophet--What then are these wounds between thy hands? And he\nshall say, Those for which I was wounded in the house of my lovers.\nNowhere is this prophecy quoted in the New Testament as being\nMessianic. Surely if it had any reference to the Lord, the Holy\nSpirit would have quoted it somewhere in the New Testament. We have\nhere the description of the false shepherd, the Antichrist, the beast\nwith the deadly wound. Of course there will be many false Messiahs in\nthat day when Antichrist reigns. False messengers, lying prophets,\nwith their delusions will go throughout the land and to the nations\nlikewise. But when He appears whose right it is, Antichrist, all\nfalse prophets, and all the idols will be forever cut off and the\nland will be thoroughly cleansed of all these abominations. If it\nwere possible that a man after this manifestation should still\nprophesy (speaking falsely, a lie in the name of Jehovah), his own\nfather and mother would slay him for it. The true Shepherd is now\nseen once more in the closing of this chapter, and with him mention\nis made of the remnant.\n\n   \"Awake, O sword, against My shepherd,\n   And against a man, My fellow, saith Jehovah of Hosts;\n   Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered,\n   And I will bring back My hand upon the little ones.\n   And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah,\n   Two parts therein shall be cut off and die,\n   And the third shall be left therein.\n   And I will bring the third part through the fire,\n   And I will refine them as silver is refined,\n   And will try them as gold is tried;\n   He shall call upon My name and I will answer;\n   I will say, It is My people,\n   And he shall say, Jehovah is my God.\"\n\nThe question comes to every student of the word, why is here an\ninterruption in the events which we have followed and which are given\nchronologically? Why is there no continuation bringing out other\nphases of Israel's salvation and the coming of the Lord? The change\nis very abrupt, and there is a going back to events which are the\nevents of His first coming and His rejection. The solution of the\ndifficulty would be almost impossible if we would interpret the sixth\nverse of the wounded one as referring to the Lord, the Messiah. But\nthe fact that in the sixth verse we have the person of Antichrist\nanswers the question which we have asked. The change and the\ninterruption is made to show the contrast between the Good Shepherd\nand the false shepherd. The devil's masterpiece had been in the\nearth; perhaps he pointed to his wounds in his hands and to the fact\nthat he was dead and became alive again, and mockingly he spoke of\nJesus of Nazareth and His claim of having been dead and now living.\nThe true Shepherd has appeared. He too is pierced, but He was pierced\nfor their sins, and to make the whole complete a new thought is\nbrought out which has not been seen so far in Zechariah. It is the\nsame as in Isaiah liii, the suffering One, who is a man, and called\nMy fellow, the fellow of Jehovah of Hosts, Jehovah Himself; who\nspeaks here, and what does He speak? The sword is to work against His\nShepherd and against His own Fellow. The blessed mystery of the\natonement is thus brought out. Indeed it is the heart of the Gospel\nhere. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,\nthat whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have life\neternal. The Lord, laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It speaks of\nHim, the forsaken One, the Son of God, forsaken in the hour of His\nagony, the sword upon Him and against Him. In the New Testament we\nfind the passage quoted in the Gospel of Matthew, 26th chapter and\n13th verse: Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended\nbecause of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the\nShepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. In the\nlast verses of the 13th chapter we have once more teachings\nconcerning the remnant. These verses are not alone applicable to the\nremnant and the sheep in the time when our Lord was in the earth and\nimmediately after he had suffered, they are not alone applicable to\nthe remnant, which was in Jerusalem when the Roman armies came for\ndestruction, but the application is to be made in connection with the\npeople living in the land when Antichrist will reign, and the\nsuffering of the remnant, the one-third, and the glorious privileges\nof that remnant are likewise future.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n_The last conflict--Jerusalem surrounded by armies and besieged and\ntaken--Jehovah's intervention--The escape of the remnant--Living\nwaters flowing out of Jerusalem--The enemies punished--The remnant of\nnations live as worshipers in Jerusalem--Jerusalem the holy city._\n\nThe last chapter in Zechariah is a very important one. It is a grand\nsumming up and description of the events which stand at the close of\nthe great tribulation, and as such it is one of the most striking\nchapters in the Old Testament. Post-millennialism surely fails here\nin trying to find some explanation for these prophecies. The chapter\nis unfulfilled throughout. Anyone who does not acknowledge this has\nonly one other way of interpretation, and that is to spiritualize the\nwhole and make out of it the development of the Church, the holiness\nof the Church, etc. this, of course, is a failure and cannot be done.\nThe only true way of interpretation is the literal one, and that will\nteach us that the events seen in this chapter are future. This ought\nto be seen by any reader of the Word of God at the first glance.\nThere is no siege and capture of Jerusalem in history which\ncorresponds to the siege and capture which stands in the beginning of\nthis chapter. The Lord never intervened in behalf of Jerusalem in the\nway that it is said here in going forth and fighting against those\nnations, nor did His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives for the\npurpose of completely destroying the enemies of His people. The whole\nchapter is of such significance that we have to take it verse by\nverse and illustrate it by many scriptures taken from different parts\nof the prophetic word.\n\n   _Verse 1._ \"Behold a day cometh for Jehovah when thy spoils shall\nbe divided in the midst of thee.\"\n\nThe time when this prophecy will be enacted is here given. A day is\ncoming for Jehovah. Now it is man's day and God keeps silence, but\nHis day, the day of Jehovah, is coming and will be a day of\nmanifestation, glory, and power. \"That day is a day of wrath, a day\nof trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of\ndarkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness\" (Zeph.\ni: 15). \"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy\nmountain; let all the inhabitants in the land tremble, for the day of\nJehovah cometh, it is nigh at hand\" (Joel ii: 1). \"There shall be a\nday of the Lord upon all that is proud and haughty\" (Isa. ii:4). The\ngreat tribulation is about past, and now when Jerusalem is not alone\nbesieged but taken, the spoil being divided by the victors in the\nmidst of the city, and when the enemy seems to have succeeded, then\nthe day for Jehovah will come and He will roar out of the heavens.\n\n   _Verse 2._ \"I will gather all nations against Jerusalem for battle,\n   And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women\n      shall be ravished,\n   And half of the city shall go forth into captivity,\n   And the residue of the people shall not be cut off.\"\n\nThis puts before us the last scenes of the times of the Gentiles, the\ngreat conflict which in Daniel and other prophecies is likewise\ndescribed. There are difficulties, especially in regard to\nAntichrist. If he is then in Jerusalem, and sitting in the temple,\nworshipped as God, having complete control of Jerusalem, how can he\nbe the leader of the hostile armies of the nations which come against\nJerusalem? It is nowhere said that Antichrist is to have this place\nin the temple for any length of time. We likewise do not know the\nexact time when he will thus be worshipped. He hears while away from\nthe land of the appearing of the two witnesses in Jerusalem, their\nsuccess in preaching, and that many Jews become believers in Him who\nis the Hope of Israel. He invades the land, takes the city, and slays\nthe witnesses. The armies of the nations are associated with him.\nDaniel gives the history of these events. (Daniel xi.)\n\nThe armies which gather against Jerusalem in that day are the armies\nof the confederation of nations, sprung out of the territory of the\nold Roman Empire. It was stated not long ago from post-millennial\nsides that this in itself was beyond belief. How could it be possible\nthat the progress of civilization could be arrested to such an\nextent, that the nations of Christendom would unite to march up\nagainst the Holy City? The Gospel leaven (?) was at work as never\nbefore, and it would be impossible that these nations who will become\nmore and more thus leavened could be occupied with such a campaign.\nThis indeed is the thought of man, but the word of God speaks in an\nentirely different language. True the leaven is at work, but truth is\nnot leaven, but leaven is evil. We must not forget that Jehovah\nHimself says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem.\n\nMuch reminds us here in chapter xiv of Egypt, and we shall have to\nrefer a number of times to the story of Israel's deliverance from the\nhouse of bondage. Pharaoh, though he had witnessed the judgments of\nGod upon his own land, tribulation and wrath, yet he rushed on in\nblindness to his doom. So it will be once more with the antisemitic\nnations. Blinded they will be, though they have also witnessed\ntribulation and wrath. Perhaps special commercial and financial as\nwell as political interests are at stake, and will be the causes of\nthe campaign against the land and the city. Joel iii speaks of this\ngathering of nations: \"Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare\nwar; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let\nthem come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks\ninto spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come all ye\nnations round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause\nThy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir\nthemselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat, for there will I\nsit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for\nthe harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the\nfats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes\nin the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the\nvalley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars\nwithdraw their shining. And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter\nHis voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake:\nbut the Lord will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to\nthe children of Israel.\"\n\nThe twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is to be considered in\nconnection with the last chapter in Zechariah, for it relates to the\nsame events. Some take Matthew xxiv as having been in part fulfilled,\nothers as being now fulfilled. Both are incorrect. The chapter will\nbe fulfilled after the church is taken from the earth to be with the\nLord in the air. \"Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that\nye be not troubled, for these things must needs come to pass; the end\nis not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against\nkingdom; there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But\nall these things are the beginning of trouble. Then shall they\ndeliver you up unto tribulation and shall kill you, and ye shall be\nhated of all nations for My name's sake.\" . . . All this is\npredictive of the great tribulation. The twenty-fourth chapter of\nMatthew makes it clear that there will be a Jewish-Christian\nremnant--not church--in the land, and a testimony will be given by\nthem. (See verse 14 and compare with Revelation xiv: 6, 7.) Neither\nZechariah xiv nor Matthew xxiv has seen a fulfillment. Jerusalem has\nnever been besieged by all nations, nor was only a part of the people\ndestroyed in its last siege by Titus.\n\n   _Verse 3._ \"Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those\n      nations,\n   As when He fought in the day of battle.\"\n\nThe hour of their extremity has come and this brings the\nintervention. The great tribulation in its beginning found a good\npart of the Jewish people restored in unbelief in the land. Jerusalem\nhad become again a Jewish city, and a temple stands in the city. The\ntribulation ends with Jerusalem taken, ruin once more, terrible\nslaughter and suffering, and in the midst a remnant hopeful, waiting\nfor salvation from above. When there seems to be no escape Jehovah\nwill appear and fight against those nations. The heavens will be\nopened and Jehovah's glory and power manifested. It will be as it was\nin the day of battle.\n\n\"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt and he\npursued after the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went\nout with an high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the\nhorses and chariots of Pharoah and his horse-men, and his army\novertook them encamping by the sea. . . And the children of Israel\ncried unto the Lord . . . And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye\nnot, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will\nwork for you to-day. . . The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall\nhold your peace. . . And it came to pass in the morning watch that\nthe Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the\npillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the\nEgyptians. . . . The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the\nsea. . . . There remained not so much as one of them.\" (Exodus xiv.)\n\"Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou\nKing Jehosaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear not ye, neither\nbe ye dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is\nnot yours, but God's. Ye shall not fight in this battle, set\nyourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you\"\n(2 Chronicles xx: 15-17). These are only two samples of what Jehovah\nwill do in His day and how He will save His people. In Matthew xxiv\nwe find the intervention in the twenty-seventh verse, \"For as the\nlightning cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west,\nso shall be the coming of the Son of Man.\"\n\n   _Verse 4._ \"And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount\n      of Olives,\n   Which is before Jerusalem on the east;\n   And the Mount of Olives shall be parted in the middle,\n   Toward the east and toward the west, a great valley,\n   And half of the mountain shall be removed northward\n   And the other half southward.\"\n\nThe east, the place where the sun rises, is made prominent in this\nmanifestation. From the east to the west the lightning flashes, thus\nshall be the coming of the Son of Man.\n\n   \"God cometh from Teman,\n   And the holy One from Paran\n   His splendor covereth the heavens,\n   And the earth is full of His glory\" (Habbak. iii).\n\nTeman is the country of the sons of the east, and Paran the desert\nregion extending from the frontiers of Judah to the borders of Sinai.\nBut there towards the east from Jerusalem stands a mountain. It\noverlooks the whole city, and right in front, there is the valley of\nJehosaphat, the valley where the nations are assembled (Joel iii).\nWhat a view from this mountain top! There is the city, and its\nburning ruins are seen, there are the camps of the nations, with\ntheir banners and cannons gathered now in fear and in trembling, for\nthe heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Immediately after the\ntribulation of these days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon . .\n. and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens.\nAnd now He Himself has descended from the heavens. His blessed feet\nstand again upon the Mount of Olives. He stands upon the mountain,\nand perhaps on the very spot where He stood centuries, many\ncenturies, before, after His passion and His resurrection when He\nblest His disciples and had been removed from them with outstretched\narms. There stood the two heavenly visitors in that day with their\nmessage, \"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking into heaven?\nThis Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come\nin like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.\" A long, long time\npast. Has He forgotten His promise? No, the hour had not come. But\nmen disbelieved the word of promise, I will come again. \"And in the\nlast days mockers came with mockery, walking after their own lusts,\nsaying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the days that\nthe fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the\nbeginning of the creation\" (2 Peter ii: 3, 4). But now the Lord has\ncome. He, the Son of Man, in His glory, is seen plainly from the city\nand from the valley, and with Him the heavenly company, His saints.\nThe moment His feet touch the Mount of Olives there is an earthquake\nwhich splits the mountain into two halves, and a great valley is\nformed between these two parts. \"The mountains quake at Him, and the\nhills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world\nand all that dwell therein\" (Nahum i: 5). As in the day of battle\nwhen the Egyptian hosts were destroyed and He divided the sea, thus\nwill He divide the mountain and make a way for His trusting people,\n\n   _Verse 5._ \"And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains,\n   For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal;\n   Ye shall flee as you fled before the earthquake,\n   In the days of Uzziah, King of Judah:\n   And Jehovah my God shall come,\n   And all the saints with Thee!\"\n\nThe valley is the way by which the remnant will flee from the city.\nThe earthquake is mentioned only in another passage in the prophets.\nAmos received the words of the Lord and the visions two years before\nthe earthquake. The details of the earthquake are not mentioned.\nPerhaps the pious in the city, the Messiah-expecting Jews, hoped then\nthat the Promised One would appear, and they fled from the city. It\nwas during the reign of Uzziah (Jehovah is strength) that it\nhappened.\n\nJehovah who shall come refers us back to the fourth verse, where He\nstands upon the Mount. Here He is seen not alone in His\nmanifestation, but His saints are with Him. It is an exclamation of\njoyous surprise, All the saints with Thee! There above the Mount of\nOlives a startling picture is seen. Countless human beings,\nglorified, gathered out of all languages, nations, tribes and\ncountries, great and small, in white and shining robes, are seen\nflowing down from the opened heaven. What multitudes! No man can\ncount them. What light and what glory! Brighter than the noonday sun.\nAnd, oh! what hallelujahs, what wonderful singing in joy and praise\nand adoration! When the shepherds were on the fields near Bethlehem\nthey heard the angels' song, but when He comes again there will be\nsinging and rejoicing, grander still. Then it will be indeed, Glory\nto God in the highest, Peace on earth, good will towards men. The\nsinging of the redeemed will be heard. The mighty angels will not be\nsilent in their wake, and all the armies of heaven will escort the\nKing of kings and Lord of lords upon white horses. What a scene in\nview of the places where He once suffered and died, and beheld by the\nnations and Israel!\n\nAnd every saint will share His glory then. Oh, wonderful grace for\nredeemed sinners, which lifts them up to such glory, to come with the\nSon of Man in His glory, and to share His throne. Why is there now so\nlittle praise with His own, His redeemed ones? Why so often coldness?\nPerhaps if we would gaze more into these visions of glory it would be\ndifferent, and there would be not only praise but in all the\nwilderness experiences joy and patience, the patience of the Lord\nJesus Christ. Thus He, our Lord, the Leader and Perfecter of faith,\nwent through this life. \"Who for the joy that was set before Him\nendured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right\nhand of the throne of God.\" And when the Lord comes with His saints\nthe remnant of Israel leaving the city will not be silent. Their song\nwill be, \"Lo, He is our God; we have waited for Him; we will be glad\nand rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of\nthe Lord rest\" (Isaiah xxv: 9).\n\n   _Verses 6 and 7._ \"And it shall come to pass in that day\n   That the light shall not be with brightness and with gloom,\n   And the day shall be One.\n   It shall be known unto Jehovah.\n   Not day and not night\n   And at evening time there shall be light.\"\n\nMany different interpretations of these two verses have been\nattempted, most of them in spiritual teachings. The details of the\ncoming manifestation, can hardly be now all understood. This seems to\nbe clear in regard to the above that we have a prophetic description\nof the phenomena in nature, in the heavens in that day. The\nSeptuagint translates, There shall not be light, but cold and ice.\nThis translation is incorrect. That day will be a day of darkness,\ngloominess, followed by twilight and ending in the bursting forth of\na new light. \"Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore\nwould you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light\"\n(Amos v: 18). \"And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord\nGod, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken\nthe earth in a clear day\" (Amos viii: 9). \"The sun shall be turned\ninto darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible\nday of the Lord come\" (Joel ii: 34 ). It is the same as in Matthew\nxxiv, the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars. It\nwill be one day, a peculiar day, such as has never been before. In\nthe hour of His agony upon the cross there prevailed a darkness over\nJerusalem and the land; the same will be the case in His\nmanifestation and will inspire terror. At evening time the light will\nshine, the Son of Righteousness, now fully risen, with healing under\nhis wings.\n\n   _Verse 8._ \"And it shall be in that day\n   That living waters shall go out from Jerusalem,\n   Half of them to the eastern sea\n   And half of them to the western sea.\n   In summer and in winter shall it be.\"\n\nLiving waters flowing out from Jerusalem speak of the blessings which\nthe Lord will give through the city and the inhabitants to the\nnations of the earth. Jerusalem established will indeed be a praise\nin the earth. The Holy Spirit has been poured out and living waters\nflow from the place which is the center of the world. The living\nwaters will never stop flowing. It will be for summer and winter.\nWhat a fruitfulness there will follow. The whole earth will be\nfruitful then, not alone in nature but in spiritual things. \"For as\nthe earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the\nthings that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will\ncause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the\nnations. Out of Zion there shall go forth the law and the word of the\nLord from Jerusalem. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be\nglad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. It shall\nblossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory\nof Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and\nSharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our\nGod\" . . . (Isaiah xxxv). \"And he brought me back unto the door of\nthe house (the millennial temple); and behold waters issued out from\nunder the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the\nhouse was toward the east; and the waters came down from under, from\nthe right side of the house, on the south of the altar. Then brought\nhe me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the\nway without unto the outer gate by the way of the gate that looketh\ntoward the east; and behold there ran out waters on the right side. .\n. . Now when I had returned, behold upon the bank of the river were\nvery many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto\nme, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go\ndown into Arabah, and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea\nshall the waters go which were made to issue forth, and the waters\nshall be healed\" (Ezekiel xlvii). The waters flowing from the\nthreshold of the house empty into the sea . . . representing the\nnations of the earth, and they receive healing and life.\n\n   _Verse 9._ \"And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that\nday shall Jehovah be one and His name one.\"\n\nThe true form of government is established. Jehovah is King. His\nthrone is then established over the earth, and from that place He\nrules over all the nations in righteousness. The shepherd with the\nrod of iron and the saints share this rule, while in the earth Israel\ngoverns with a Prince of the house of David at their head. True unity\nhas come. The shameful divisions of Christendom, the work of the\nenemy, the harvest of the flesh ended in a mock union of a Fatherhood\nof God and brotherhood of man. Man attempts now to bring about a\nunity of the race and unity in religions. He the glorified Head of\nHis body and His blessed atonement is denied. True Christendom ends\nin a unity, under one head, but he is the Antichrist. In that day of\nHis coming again in glory there will be His name One, and He will be\nknown as the One God, and worshipped as such. Idolatry is abolished.\nThe abominations connected with it have ceased. Satan, the seducer of\nthe nations, is chained and seduces the nations no more. Confusion is\nforever ended. \"Then will I return to the nations a pure language,\nthat they may call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve Him with one\nconsent\" (Zeph. iii: 9).\n\n   _Verse 10._ \"All the land shall be changed like the plain\n   From Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem,\n   And she shall be lifted up and dwell in her place,\n   From Benjamin's gate unto the gate of the first place,\n   Unto the corner gate,\n   And from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine presses.\"\n\nIt is of little profit to understand the exact location of the places\nmentioned in this verse; there is some difficulty in doing that. The\nprophecy shows that in that day when the Lord has appeared there will\nbe a great change in the surface of Palestine. Everything will become\na plain. Now it is a land of mountains and hills. But then the hills\nand mountains will be lowered and become a plain. Jerusalem, however,\nis lifted up, and is seen shining in her earthly splendor and in it\nthe magnificent temple. In the midst of the millennial Jerusalem in\nthe earth will be another high place, still higher than the city. It\nis the glorious Mount Zion. \"But in the latter days it shall be that\nthe mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of\nthe mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills\" (Micah iv:\n1). Upon this high place the glory will rest. Thus it will be seen\nand cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. \"And the Lord will\ncreate over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her\nassemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of the flaming\nfire by night; for over all the glory shall be spread a canopy\"\n(Isaiah iv: 5). From that high and glorious place in the earth the\ncommunications and intercourse between the heavenlies and the earth\nwill perhaps take place, it will be the ladder upon which the angels\nof God ascend and descend upon the Son of Man.\n\n   _Verse 11._ \"And they shall dwell therein,\n   And there shall be no more curse,\n   But Jerusalem shall dwell safely.\"\n\nThe happiness of the Jerusalem in the earth. The curse is entirely\nremoved. While now Jerusalem is one of the most miserable places in\nthe earth, desolate and forsaken, and during the tribulation it will\nbe the place of misery, sin, and curse, it will become the most\nblessed place in the Millennium. The Lord will show forth there His\ngreat lovingkindness, and all the blessings we have reviewed in the\nvisions of Zechariah will all be fulfilled. \"There shall be no more\nthence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his\ndays; for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner\nbeing an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build\nhouses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the\nfruit thereof. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall\nnot plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree shall be the\ndays of My people and My chosen people shall long enjoy the work of\ntheir hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for\ncalamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their\noffspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call\nI will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf\nand the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like\nthe ox, and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor\ndestroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord\" (Isaiah lxv). But\nthat wonderful city in the earth, the city of Jerusalem, in all her\nblessing, joy, peace, prosperity, praise, and worship, is but a faint\ntype of that still more glorious Jerusalem which is then above. The\nnew Jerusalem, our glorious home, dear reader (if you are in Christ),\nis then in the air, and at the end of the thousand years it will come\ndown and find its eternal resting-place in the new earth.\n\n   _Verses 12-15._ \"And this shall be the plague\n   With which Jehovah will smite all the nations\n   That have warred against Jerusalem:\n   His flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,\n   And their eyes shall consume away in their sockets,\n   And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.\n   And it shall be in that day\n   There shall be a great confusion among them from Jehovah,\n   And they shall lay hold everyone on his neighbor's hand,\n   And his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor,\n   And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem,\n   And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered,\n   Gold, and silver and apparel in great abundance.\n   And so shall be the plague of the horse,\n   Of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass,\n   And of all the beasts that shall be in those camps as this plague.\"\n\nThis is the description of the dreadful punishment which will befall\nthe enemies in that day. It is to be read in connection with the\nthird verse, the Lord fighting against those nations, and the\npunishment will be upon them when He appears. Thus it is seen in\nRevelation xix. He appears, and after His appearing there is the\nscene of punishment of the enemies. \"And I saw an angel standing in\nthe sun; and he cried with a loud voice to all the birds that fly in\nmid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of\nGod; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains,\nand the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and them that\nsit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond and small\nand great\" (Rev. xix: 17, 18). What an awful judgment it will be! In\nEzekiel we have likewise a description of it. It is however to be\nremarked that the vision of Ezekiel xxxviii and xxxix speaks of the\njudgment which will fall upon the rebels of the last revolt at the\nend of the thousand years. Still that second punishment is\nforeshadowed in the first. \"And thou, Son of man, thus saith the Lord\nGod, Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the\nfield, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves upon every\nside to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great\nsacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and\ndrink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the\nblood of the princes of the earth. . . . And ye shall be filled at my\ntable with horses and chariots, with mighty men and all men of war,\nsaith the Lord God\" (Ezek. xxxix: 17-23).\n\n\"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that\nhave transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither\nshall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all\nflesh\" (Isa. lxvi: 24).\n\nHow wonderful the prophetic Word is! What a harmony! How dare men who\ncall themselves Christians deny its divinity and infallibility? The\nwealth of the nations belongs then again to Israel. The nations\nspoiled them, and now all the riches of the Gentiles become theirs.\nEven so it is now during their dispersion. The nations who persecuted\nand robbed the Jews during the middle ages have become the most\nmiserable and impoverished, while the Lord has given greater riches\nto the Jews, and often drawn from the very countries who stole their\ngoods. From Egypt of old they came forth laden with silver and gold.\nIt will find a repetition, only on a grander scale, in the day of\ntheir restoration. Now in unbelief and in dispersion they are the\nrichest of all nations. Oh! that the nations would now understand\nit--the nations called Christendom--that \"they are laboring for the\nfire, and wearing themselves with vanity\" (Habak. ii: 12), and that\nthe wealth and glory accumulated by them will fall a prey to the\nJews. \"Ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and to their glory\nshall ye succeed\" (Isa. lxi: 6).\n\n   _Verse 16._ And it shall come to pass\n   All that is left of the nations which came against Jerusalem\n   Shall go up from year to year\n   To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts,\n   And to keep the feast of Tabernacles.\n\nNations will be left after the tribulation and the wrath--this is\nclear from many passages of the Word. In the New Testament we have\nthe statement made at the first council in Jerusalem. \"Brethren,\nhearken unto me; Simeon hath rehearsed how God at first did visit the\nGentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this\nagree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After these things\nI will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, which\nis fallen; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set\nit up; that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the\nGentiles, upon whom my name is called,\" etc. (Acts iv: 15-18). Number\none is the visitation of the Gentiles, a calling out of a people for\nHis name, and we are still living in number one. Number two is His\nreturn, the building again and setting up of the tabernacle of David,\nwhich can only come after the calling out of a people is accomplished\nthe fullness of the Gentiles come in; and number two and the events\nconnected with it we have learned from the studies in Zechariah. Then\nfollows number three, the residue of men seeking after the Lord. In\nverse 16, they that are left of the nations correspond with the\nresidue of men in Acts iv. The temple will then stand in Jerusalem as\nthe house of glory and a house of prayer for all nations. There will\nbe a perfect worship, grand and glorious, and it will not be confined\nto Israel, but the nations will join in it. We may learn perhaps from\nthis verse that the Lord will leave every year once His place on His\nthrone over the earth and come down to Jerusalem and show Himself in\nHis glory before the worshipping multitudes in the earth, as He is\nseen in the New Jerusalem above. The occasion is the feast of\nTabernacles. It is the millennial feast. It is a feast kept in\nremembrance of Israel's wanderings through the wilderness for forty\nyears and all their subsequent wanderings. It stands also for the\ningathering of the full harvest. A feast of joy, praise, and\nthanksgiving. The Jews keep it to the present day, though few know\nthe full meaning of it. Every year when it comes again they read this\n14th chapter of Zechariah. It is strange indeed. What a glorious\nfeast that will be, kept there in Jerusalem, when the fullness at\nlast has come! The fullness of the Gentiles has been gathered in, and\nis in the New Jerusalem; the fullness of Israel has come in the\nearth, and their receiving has been life from the dead, and the\nGentiles know the glory of the Lord. Some find a difficulty here in\nthe fact that it is stated that the nations, the residue of men, are\nto come up to Jerusalem, and the difficulty is that it will be\nimpossible for all of them to do that. It is not at all necessary\nthat every individual must go up to Jerusalem once in a year. Perhaps\nevery nation will send representatives to the feast of Tabernacles,\nand they come in the name of the different nations and bring their\npresents. This seems to be indicated in the visit of the wise men\nfrom the East, who came to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King\n(Matthew ii). They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, In Isaiah\nlx: 6 we read of the coming of the Gentiles to Jerusalem when the\nLord has come again. They shall come from Sheba; they shall bring\ngold and frankincense (the myrrh is left out here, for it speaks of\nsuffering), and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. As the wise\nmen who came to Bethlehem were representatives of nations, so during\nthe Millennium the nations will send delegations to the feast of\nTabernacles. What a scene that must be! How crowded Jerusalem will be\nby those from Greenland and from the interior of Africa, from India\nand the islands of the sea, as well as from the nations which\ncomposed the Roman empire. The ends of the earth have seen the\nsalvation of God, and now their praise is heard in the city and\nmingling with the psalms sung by His own redeemed people.\n\n   _Verses 17-19._ And it shall be that whoso of all the families\n      of the earth\n   Shall not go up to Jerusalem\n   To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts,\n   Upon them there shall be no rain.\n   And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not,\n   Upon them shall be none.\n   There shall be the plague\n   Wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations\n   Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.\n   This shall be the sin of Egypt,\n   And the sin of all the nations\n   Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.\n\nThis is the other side. All those who refuse will be punished, and\nthe punishment will be very swift. From this and other prophecies it\nis seen that not everything will go so smoothly as it is generally\nbelieved during the Millennium. God's messengers in that day will be\nthe Jews going forth to proclaim the truth of God, and what preachers\nthey will make! Still some will be forced to submit. The end of the\nthousand years brings a revolt from the side of the nations, which is\nnot a small matter. \"And when the thousand years are finished, Satan\nshall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive\nthe nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and\nMagog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as\nthe sand of the sea\" (Rev. xx: 7, 8).\n\nFrom this we see that many of the nations, Gog and Magog, are only\ntoo willing to side once more with the enemy, and to shake off, if it\nwere possible, the yoke of the rule of Jehovah's earthly people.\n\nThe last two verses we have to consider make the whole prophecy\nperfect. It is the declaration that Jerusalem will be holy.\n\n   In that day there shall be on the bells of the horses\n   Holiness to Jehovah,\n   And the pots in the house of Jehovah\n   Shall be as the bowls before the altar.\n   Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah\n   Shall be holy unto Jehovah of Hosts.\n   And all they that sacrifice shall come\n   And take of them and sacrifice therein,\n   And there shall be no more Canaanite\n   In the house of Jehovah of Hosts in that day.\n\nThe most holy person in Israel, the high-priest, carried the\ninscription, \"Holiness to Jehovah\" around his mitre, but now even the\nlittle bells of the horses bear that inscription. In that temple\nwhich stands during the Millennium sacrifices will be brought, but\nthere will be no difference in the vessels, which are used in\nJerusalem, the meanest and smallest will be holy. In one word all\nwill be holy, all will be consecrated to Jehovah. What a perfect\nservice that will be of the people which are then, in truth, a holy\npeople. Application can be made of this to believers now. Surely\neverything the saint has, and his whole life, must be thus\nconsecrated to Jehovah, to the Lord. No Canaanite will be there,\nnothing unclean. The Vulgate translates the word Canaanite with\nmerchant. It stands, however, with everything that is unclean and an\nabomination. The city will be completely purged from it.\n\nAnd of the new Jerusalem it is written, \"There shall in no wise enter\ninto it any thing unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a\nlie; but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life. . . .\nWithout are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the\nmurderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a\nlie.\" (Rev. xxi: 27 and xxii: 15.)\n\nWe have reached the end of the visions and burdens of Zechariah, the\nson of Iddo, the prophet, who, indeed, may be termed the Prophet of\nGlory. We praise our Lord for what He has taught us in these studies,\nand for His Spirit, who guides His children into all truth and shows\nus things to come. May he use this volume for the edification of the\nsaints and for a better understanding of the words of prophecy. We\nare living on the very threshold of the fulfillment of all these\nvisions and words. Soon He will come for His saints, and even now the\nSpirit groans within us. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.","title":"Studies in Zechariah","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":52663}