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Zechariah
Chapter Three
Zechariah 3
Chapter Contents
The restoration of the church. (1-5) A promise concerning
the Messiah. (6-10)
Commentary on Zechariah 3:1-5
(Read Zechariah 3:1-5)
The angel showed Joshua, the high priest, to Zechariah,
in a vision. Guilt and corruption are great discouragements when we stand
before God. By the guilt of the sins committed by us, we are liable to the
justice of God; by the power of sin that dwells in us, we are hateful to the
holiness of God. Even God's Israel are in danger on these accounts; but they
have relief from Jesus Christ, who is made of God to us both righteousness and
sanctification. Joshua, the high priest, is accused as a criminal, but is
justified. When we stand before God, to minister to him, or stand up for God,
we must expect to meet all the resistance Satan's subtlety and malice can give.
Satan is checked by one that has conquered him, and many times silenced him.
Those who belong to Christ, will find him ready to appear for them, when Satan
appears most strongly against them. A converted soul is a brand plucked out of
the fire by a miracle of free grace, therefore shall not be left a prey to
Satan. Joshua appears as one polluted, but is purified; he represents the
Israel of God, who are all as an unclean thing, till they are washed and
sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Israel
now were free from idolatry, but there were many things amiss in them. There
were spiritual enemies warring against them, more dangerous than any
neighbouring nations. Christ loathed the filthiness of Joshua's garments, yet
did not put him away. Thus God by his grace does with those whom he chooses to
be priests to himself. The guilt of sin is taken away by pardoning mercy, and
the power of it is broken by renewing grace. Thus Christ washes those from
their sins in his own blood, whom he makes kings and priests to our God. Those
whom Christ makes spiritual priests, are clothed with the spotless robe of his
righteousness, and appear before God in that; and with the graces of his
Spirit, which are ornaments to them. The righteousness of saints, both imputed
and implanted, is the fine linen, clean and white, with which the bride, the
Lamb's wife, is arrayed, Revelation 19:8. Joshua is restored to former
honours and trusts. The crown of the priesthood is put on him. When the Lord
designs to restore and revive religion, he stirs up prophets and people to pray
for it.
Commentary on Zechariah 3:6-10
(Read Zechariah 3:6-10)
All whom God calls to any office he finds fit, or makes
so. The Lord will cause the sins of the believer to pass away by his
sanctifying grace, and will enable him to walk in newness of life. As the
promises made to David often pass into promises of the Messiah, so the promises
to Joshua look forward to Christ, of whose priesthood Joshua's was a shadow.
Whatever trials we pass through, whatever services we perform, our whole
dependence must rest on Christ, the Branch of righteousness. He is God's
servant, employed in his work, obedient to his will, devoted to his honour and
glory. He is the Branch from which all our fruit must be gathered. The eye of
his Father was upon him, especially in his sufferings, and when he was buried
in the grave, as the foundation-stones are under ground, out of men's sight.
But the prophecy rather denotes the attention paid to this precious
Corner-stone. All believers, from the beginning, had looked forward to it in
the types and predictions. All believers, after Christ's coming, would look to
it with faith, hope, and love. Christ shall appear for all his chosen, as the
high priest when before the Lord, with the names of all Israel graven in the
precious stones of his breastplate. When God gave a remnant to Christ, to be
brought through grace to glory, then he engraved this precious stone. By him
sin shall be taken away, both the guilt and the dominion of it; he did it in
one day, that day in which he suffered and died. What should terrify when sin
is taken away? Then nothing can hurt, and we sit down under Christ's shadow
with delight, and are sheltered by it. And gospel grace, coming with power,
makes men forward to draw others to it.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Zechariah》
Zechariah 3
Verse 1
[1] And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before
the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And he — The Lord represented to me in a vision.
Standing — Ministering in his office.
The angel — Christ.
Verse 2
[2] And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O
Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a
brand plucked out of the fire?
The Lord — Christ, as a mediator, rather chuses to rebuke him in
his father's name, than in his own.
Is not this — Joshua.
Verse 3
[3] Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood
before the angel.
With filthy garments — The emblem of a poor
or sinful state.
The angel — Christ.
Verse 4
[4] And he answered and spake unto those that stood before
him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said,
Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee
with change of raiment.
And he — Christ.
Unto those — Ministerial angels.
I have caused — What angels could not take away,
Christ did; he removed the filth of sin, the guilt and stain of it.
With change of raiment — Clean and rich, the
emblem of holiness.
Verse 5
[5] And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So
they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the
angel of the LORD stood by.
I said — Zechariah takes the boldness to desire that for
Joshua, which might add to his authority, and he asks the thing of Christ.
A fair mitre — The proper ornament for the head
of the high-priest.
With garments — All the garments which
appertained to the high priest.
The angel — Christ.
Verse 6
[6] And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
Protested — Solemnly declared.
Verse 7
[7] Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my
ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and
shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that
stand by.
My charge — The special charge and office of
the high-priest.
Judge — Be ruler in the temple, and in the things that pertain
to the worship of God there.
Keep — Not as a servant, but as the chief, on whom others
wait, and at last thou shalt have place among my angels.
Verse 8
[8] Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy
fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will
bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Thy fellows — Thy associates in the priestly
office.
That sit — As assessors in a council.
Wondered at — The unbelieving Jews wonder at
them; at their labour and expense in attempting to build such a house.
Bring forth — God the Father will bring forth a
much more wonderful work.
The Branch — The Messiah.
Verse 9
[9] For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua;
upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof,
saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one
day.
Behold — Behold (pointing to a particular stone) that stone
which I have laid in the sight of Joshua.
Upon one stone — On that stone are seven eyes,
probably so placed, that they may look many ways; so it was a more exact emblem
of Christ, and of his perfect knowledge and wisdom.
I have removed — I have pardoned the iniquity of
this land at once. The temple, founded on such a corner-stone, guarded and
watched over by all-seeing Providence, is the blessing and honour of that
people, whose sins are all forgiven.
Verse 10
[10] In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call
every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
In that day — Of removing the sins of my
people.
Shall ye call — Ye shall invite one another to
refresh yourselves with the sweet fruit of the vine and fig-tree. When iniquity
is taken away, we receive precious benefits from our justification, more
precious than the fruits of the vine or fig-tree. And we repose ourselves in
sweet tranquillity, being quiet from the fear of evil.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Zechariah》
03 Chapter 3
Introduction
Verses 1-10
Verses 1-7
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing
Joshua the priest
We learn from the Book of Ezra (Ezra 2:36-39) that among the exiles who
returned with Zerubbabel from Babylon, were Joshua or Jeshua, and 4289 priests.
But they were in a sorry plight--their character is described by the prophet
Malachi; and it was in sad contrast, as he suggests, to the original type of
the priesthood represented in Phinehas. As a judgment on the priesthood, the
whole body had fallen under great reproach (Malachi 2:9). The sense of shame becomes
more acute when we stand before the Angel of the Lord. “He shewed me Joshua,
the high priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord.” In the world’s twilight
much may pass muster which, in the light of that sweet, pure face, must be
utterly condemned. Garments which served us well enough in the short, dark
winter days are laid aside when spring arrives; they will not bear the
searching scrutiny of the light. In the ordinary life of our homes, we are less
particular of our attire than when, on some special occasion, we have to
undergo the inspection of stranger eyes. Thus we are prone to compare ourselves
with ourselves, or with others, and to argue that the habit of our soul is not
specially defiled. Alas! we reason thus in the dark. But when the white light
of the throne of God breaks on us, we cry with Job: “If I wash myself with snow
water, and make my hands never so clean, yet wilt Thou plunge me in the ditch,
and mine own clothes shall abhor me.” The more we know of God, the more we
loathe ourselves and repent. What is to be done under such circumstances?
Renounce our priesthood? Disclaim its God-given functions? No: remain standing
before the Angel. He knows all--we need not shrink from His searching eyes--but
He loves infinitely. He has power to make our iniquity pass from us, and clothe
us with change of raiment--that white linen which is the righteousness of
saints. It is at such moments, however, that our great adversary puts forth his
worst insinuations.” Satan standing at his right and to be his adversary. Since
he was cast out of his first estate, he has been the antagonist of God, the
hater of good, and the accuser of the brethren. He discovers the weak spots in
character, and thrusts at them; the secret defects of the saints, and proclaims
them upon the house tops; the least symptom of disloyalty, inconstancy, and
mixture of motive, and flaunts it before God’s angels. He is keen as steel, and
cruel as hell. Ah, it is awful to think with what implacability he rages
against us! When we pray, he is quick to detect the wandering thought, the
mechanical repetition of well-worn phrases, the flagging fervour. When we work
for God, he is keen to notice our desire to dazzle our fellows, to secure name
and fame, to use the Cross as a ladder for our own exaltation instead of our
Master’s. “Is this,” he hisses, “the kind of service which Thy chosen servants
offer Thee?” And when, like Job, we do bear trial patiently and nobly, the
great adversary suggests that we do it from a selfish motive--“Doth Job serve
God for nought?” Satan cannot reach the Son of God now, save through the
members of His body; but he misses no opportunity of thrusting at Him, as he
accuses them. Let us notice the intervention and answer of the Angel of the
Covenant.
1. It is spontaneous and unsought. Before Joshua had time to say,
“Shelter me,” his faithful Friend and Advocate had cast around him the
assurance of His protection, and had silenced the adversary. “The Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan.” As the Aaronic Priest, He died; but as the Melchizedek Priest,
He ever lives to make intercession on our behalf; and as the torpedoes of the
enemy are launched against us, He catches them in the net of His intercession,
and makes them powerless to hurt. Before we call, He answers.
2. It is founded on electing grace. For He says: “The Lord that hath
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.” Before ever He chose her, He must have foreseen
all that she would become, her backslidings and rebellious, her filthy
garments, her wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; but, notwithstanding
all, He set His heart upon her. Satan could allege nothing which the Advocate
had not weighed in the balances of His Divine prescience. He had realised the
very worst before making His final choice. Yes, thou great adversary, thou
canst not tell our Lord worse things about us than He knows; and
notwithstanding all, He loves, and will love.
3. Moreover, it has already done too much to go back. The point of
the metaphor which follows is very reassuring. “Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire?” You have been writing all the morning at your desk, answering
letters, assorting papers and manuscripts, destroying much that there was no
need to keep. After two or three hours of work, there is a heap of papers which
you wish to destroy, and you place them in your stove or fireplace, the fire
kindles on them, and they begin to blaze. Suddenly, to your dismay, you
remember that there was a cheque or note amongst them, or a letter with an
address, or a paper which has cost you hours of work. As quick as thought you
rush to the kindling flames, and snatch away the paper, and attempt to stay the
gnawing edge of flame. But what an appearance the paper suggests! It is yellow
with smoke, charred and brittle round the edges, scorched and hot, here and
there are gaps--it is a brand plucked out of the fire. Would you have snatched
it out if you had not valued it? And, after you have taken such pains to rescue
it, is it likely that you will thrust it back to destruction? And would Jehovah
have snatched Israel out of Babylon, and expended so much time and care over
her, if at the end He meant to destroy her? The fact of His having done so
much, not only proved His love, but implied its continuance. What depths of
consolation are here! As we look back on our lives, we become aware of the
narrowness of our escape from dangers which over whelmed others. We have been
involved in companionships and practices which have ruined others
irretrievably; but somehow, though we are charred and blackened, we have
escaped the ultimate results. We have been plucked out of the burning. What can
we infer from so gracious an interposition, except that we have been preserved
for some high and useful purpose? (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Help and opposition
I. The position of
the high priest.
1. He stands before the Angel of the Lord.
2. He stands before the Angel of the Lord as an accused person.
3. He stands before the Angel of the Lord as an accused person, to
pray.
II. The opposition
of Satan.
1. It was prompt.
2. It was directed against Joshua as the high priest.
3. It assumed the form of accusation against Joshua.
4. It was intended to interrupt or thwart Joshua in his prayer. (G.
Brooks.)
Joshua and Satan
Israel was then what Christendom is now; and the prophet in this
chapter must be considered as instructing not the house of Jacob alone, but the
whole family of God in Christ. The vision of Zechariah is a solemn picture of
what is now going on. Taking the vision to refer to the Christian Church,
inquire into the truths which it involves, and how it tallies with external
events. Trace its reality in the dispensation of the Gospel. Illustrate from
the manifestation of Christ to the Gentile world. The Church ever comes before
us as a community enlarging its borders, absorbing into itself human belief,
supplanting other modes of worship. But there is another side of the picture.
The Christian history is full of the opposition and violence with which the
onward march of the Cross has been uniformly encountered. The lives of
Christian missionaries are ever lives of risk and pain. Such is the external
history of the propagation of the Gospel. Where lies the cause that after
eighteen hundred years Christianity has not conquered a majority of the human
race? The cause of Christianity is the cause of Christ. The resistance of the
devil has been partly open, but his resistance has been secret and stealthy: it
has mainly sought to undermine rather than cast down; to weaken from within
rather than assail from without. A chief cause of the slow progress of the
Gospel among men has been, the want of unity. This is seen in sectarian
separation, and in diversity of doctrine. The history of the world, of the Church,
yea, of every individual soul, is but the outward result of the mystic vision
of Joshua the high priest, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
(J. R. Woodford, M. A.)
Joshua the high priest before the Angel of Jehovah
This vision is of less obvious interpretation than the preceding,
perhaps for the reason that its truth lies nearer the deepest throbbings of the
human heart. A sense of sin and a feeling of hopeless ill desert are among the
deepest emotions of a heart that has been touched by the Holy Spirit. This is
the ever-recurring state of the heart both individually and collectively,
because it rests on the ever-during relations that connect man with God. A
sense of sin fairly awakened produces despair if we are thrown back on the resources
of reason. We cannot hope in God, for we tremble before His justice. Thus it
was with the Jewish Church at this time. They felt that they had sinned, and
hence had no ground in themselves to hope for God’s favour. They knew that
their priests had also been unfaithful, and hence they had no hope in them.
Why, then, go forward with the temple, when both priest and people must defile
rather than hallow its courts? These were the suggestions of Satan, to deter
them from their work. God will not accept so vile and faithless a heart, so
lame and mutilated a service as you render Him, says the tempter, therefore you
had better abandon it all, and enjoy sin at least, if you cannot enjoy
holiness. This brings us to the heart of the vision. It is designed to show the
people of God that their personal demerit is no ground for distrusting the
mercy of God, for He receives them not because of their own righteousness, but
that of Another; and that at this particular period the unworthiness of the
priesthood was no reason for their destruction and the overthrow of the temple,
as they were typical, and the end of their instruction was not yet served. (T.
V. Moore, D. D.)
Christ the advocate of His Church and people
This part of the vision has respect to Joshua and his accuser. It
exhibits Joshua--
I. With respect to
his condition. View him--
1. In his office. High priest. One part of his duty was to consult
the Divine will in matters of difficulty. Another part was to intercede on
behalf of the nation. Possibly he was now before God, confessing the sins of
the people, and pleading for that pardon which a God of mercy is ever ready to
bestow.
2. In what place was Joshua executing his office? The temple was not
built, and the particular place is not named. He was “standing before the Angel
of the Lord.” This was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Covenant.
II. His enemy.
Satan means adversary. Look at--
1. The actings of the adversary. Satan stood at Joshua’s right hand.
But why? To resist him. But he might do this either by tempting Joshua or by
accusing him. The right hand was the usual place for accusers in public.
2. What were his motives for accusing Joshua? His motives as a
tempter we can well understand; but what were his motives for accusing Joshua
of negligence in the work of God? Did Satan then wish that the work of God
should go on vigorously?
III. His advocate,
Jehovah Himself. The Lords defence of Joshua is grounded--
1. In His love toward the Church.
2. On His past mercy to Joshua. The defence which the Lord Jesus
makes for His people now is substantially the same as it was then. Past mercies
are grounds of Christian confidence, and should be viewed as pledges of future
blessings.
IV. The apparel of
Joshua. “Filthy garments.” Probably the garments worn in the time of captivity.
1. His dress was unsuitable.
2. Suitable apparel was provided for him. “I will clothe thee with
change of raiment.” The righteousness of Christ is to all, and upon all, them
that believe. Ask--
The great contention
I. Joshua’s
ministry and defence.
1. He stood to minister before the Lord. Whereby we learn--
2. He stood as a defendant, as one accused, to answer for himself and
others. The sins of the age were then general, such as, neglect of building the
temple, marrying strange wives, etc.
II. Satan and his
work against Joshua.
1. He withstands us as a tempter. If we do our duty, Satan is at our
right hand to hinder us; if we do not our duty, he is there to accuse us. He
stands at the working hand. Usually, the more work the more temptation, and the
more public the work the more sharp and eager the temptation.
2. He opposes as an accuser. He resisted Joshua by stirring up the
Samaritans to hinder the building of the temple. He resisted him in his
ministry, by accusing him of his failings. What these were we may guess.
III. The
advocate--the Lord. Christ is the Church’s Advocate. Satan is at our right
hand; Christ is at God’s right hand. Joshua does not plead his own cause; he
answers by his Counsel, his Advocate pleads for him.
IV. The double
foundation of this victory.
I. God’s gracious
election. “The Lord which hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee.” The doctrine of
adoption by free grace is the strongest weapon that we can wield against the
malice of Satan.
2. Joshua’s past deliverance. “Is not this a brand plucked from the
fire?” Past mercies are pledges of more. If God snatch out of the fire, He will
bring unto His temple: if He lay a foundation, He will bring forth the
headstone. (Bishop Reynolds.)
The vision of Joshua
1. The representative characters of the high priest and of Satan.
Joshua represents the Jewish nation, especially the godly people in it. His
filthy garments were emblematic of the moral defilement of the nation, and of
their low and poor condition. Satan is the representative of all evil forces.
He represents the majority of this world, but the minority of the universe.
2. The motives which at this time brought them into God’s presence.
It is implied that the high priest was there to plead for his nation. Satan was
there to oppose this restoration to God’s favour,--to bring forward reasons why
it should not be granted.
3. The reason why the promise and the symbol should have their
perfect fulfilment. One life, or one act in a life, is sometimes of such a
nature or character as to send down a blessing to future ages; it seems to
gather within itself all the wisdom or all the goodness of the past, and to
bring them all into a centre of blessing for the present and the future. The
life of God’s Son, and especially His death upon the Cross, gathered up all
that had been shadowed forth in the prophets and priests of old. His perfect
life and sinless death and intercession were sureties that the promise given to
the Hebrew people, through Joshua, should certainly be fulfilled. The vision
embodies the blessed results of Divine forgiveness through the life and death
of Christ, which are so beautifully set forth by the greatest of Old Testament
prophets, Isaiah (see chaps, 11 and 12).
Learn--
1. Evil spirits may plead with God against men, as the good plead for
them. Many human beings send up desires against the prosperity and happiness of
their fellow men.
2. The man who would be a benefactor of his fellow creatures must be
an intercessor for them.
3. The elect of God are those who fulfil the conditions of fellowship
with God. Divine forgiveness springs from Divine grace, but the proof that it
has reached us must be found in the fact that we fulfil the only conditions
ripen which it is granted. (Outlines by a London Minister.)
God’s method of salvation
1. Joshua, before the Angel of the Lord, represents a sinful people.
2. God saves through instrumentality. There are two classes: the
good, who stand by all beneficent influences; and Satan, all that hinders good,
evil spirits, bad men, corrupt hearts. The day of Gospel grace is neither day
nor night. It is a conflict of contending forces. We live between Ebal and
Gerizim. Everyone who undertakes anything good will find agencies obeying the
command, the Angel of the Lord assisting. And He will find Satan standing at
his right hand,--the place of power--to resist him.
Reflections--
1. We observe the same method of work in the natural world, and in
civil society, as in the Church. All are the work of one God.
2. Why does God permit sin? He works by the balance of contending
elements everywhere.
3. The position of an unsaved sinner is as when a chief falls wounded
between two contending armies: both fight for him. For which does he fight? (J.
S. Fulton.)
Joshua
The Church is a holy priesthood. Regard Joshua as
representing the humble, penitent believer.
I. Joshua in his
difficulties. Standing before the Angel of the Covenant. No careless person,
but a poor sinner Seeking to stand before the Lord Christ. Satan is near him as
his accuser. When the sinner awakened stands before the Angel Jehovah, how
often does the devil, by doubts and insinations, seek to turn him aside.
So the Angel Jehovah becomes his helper.
II. The Lord’s
account of Joshua. Scorched, but delivered by power, the Sinner saved by grace.
The powerful hand of the Lord, by His Word, in His providence, by the work of
the Holy Spirit on the heart, has arrested and plucked him from the burning.
III. The relief at
hand. The Angel of the Covenant answers Satan’s accusations. Joshua had special
holy garments pro vided for him. But even these were filthy and polluted. He
must be stripped and reclothed.
IV. The happy
results. The pure mitre conspicuously a part of the priest’s dress. The angel,
etc., stood by to help and comfort, to put Satan to flight, to counsel and to
direct, to be his guide as well as his deliverer. We now stand before the Angel
Jehovah, the messenger of light and life and glory, when we come into His house
of prayer; and we must stand before Him when He cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see Him. (E. Auriol, M. A.)
Joshua the high priest
The visions of Zechariah were intended to encourage the rebuilding
of the temple. The resumption and successful prosecution of the work upon the
temple devolved not less upon the ecclesiastical than upon the civil power.
Zerubbabel and Joshua must cooperate. The former was ready; the latter needed
to be extricated from the Slough of Despond.
1. At the opening of the vision the prophet saw Joshua standing to be
judged before the Angel of God.
him. There is
no lack of accusers. God’s people are always at the bar of judgment, and alas,
they have little enough to say for themselves. Guilty is the plea.
2. Next in the vision the Lord Himself appeared to vindicate Joshua.
He stands as the champion of His people; His ear is ever open to their cry. He
is the champion of all the weak and humble.
3. Then, in the vision, the prophet saw Joshua arrayed in garments
white and clean. “I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Nor was this
enough. “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.” Thus was he encouraged to
exercise anew and with increased diligence the functions of his priestly
office.
4. The vision closes with the words of a solemn compact or covenant,
for the sealing of Joshua’s restoration to service. The promise of perpetual
blessing is conditioned on patient continuance in well-doing. To him that hath
shall be given. A covenant would scarcely be a covenant were there no stone of
remembrance. Here the stone had seven eyes in it. “Branch” interprets it. Under
this title the Messiah was frequently mentioned. Thus the name of Christ
Himself is set as the seal of His covenant with Joshua and his people. (D.
J. Burrell, D. D.)
Joshua the high priest
Joshua appears to Zechariah in his dream,--Israel’s
representative, clothed not in the splendid priestly attire, with its
immaculate purity and costly jewels, but in garments worn and soiled,
symbolical of the nation’s sins. Before the humiliated priest is the Angel of
the Lord, and at His right hand is Satan. The question is, which shall conquer,
the Angel or the adversary? But not long is the question unanswered. Joshua is
as a brand plucked from the burning. Israel, despite her sins and her
familiarity with the tempter, shall be saved and forgiven. Then, when
reclothed, the faithful monitor urges upon Joshua the necessity of obedient,
whole-souled service. And then comes the promise of the greater High Priest,
the Branch of David, the Messiah Himself, and the stone of the new theocracy,
with its seven eyes running to and fro throughout the world, and finally the
millennial peace, when Israel shall sit in peaceful forgetfulness of all her
tribulations, under her own vine and fig tree. The dream yields important
lessons.
1. The representative function of the priesthood. Joshua stood for
Israel. The soiled clothes in which he appeared indicated that both the
priesthood and the people were leading lives which were not altogether in
accordance with the Divine will, and from other sources we know that the priests
of that day were given over to worldliness and materialism. While the priest
can hardly fail to take somewhat of the tone of his life and character from the
people to whom he ministers, it is also true that, because of his high position
as a moral teacher and guide, he is under peculiar obligations to give the tone
to his people, and determine in a large measure by his own words and life the
standard of their lives.
2. The truth of angelic influence and guardianship. Joshua between
the Angel and the adversary. The human soul facing the right and the wrong. But
the Angel prevails. The temptation may be a mighty one, the guilt may be great,
but Satan is never allowed to go unchallenged. No child of humanity is ever
left alone under the power of evil. He may sometimes feel alone. He may get so
low in the pit, may become so hardened in sin, that he loses all sense of God’s
presence, and feels that there is no help for him in this world or the next.
But God cannot, even for an instant, leave one of His children wholly, alone
with the powers of evil.
3. Another lesson is, that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. The
occasion of this vision was doubtless the discouragement of some of the more
thoughtful Israelites, on account of their national sins. The exciting experiences
since the return had tended to hold their minds to material interests, and make
them forget their spiritual obligations. Notwithstanding the tendency to
formalism under an established order of things, it is probably true that
religion reaches its highest spiritual ideals under conditions which are not
liable to frequent changes. But God does not forsake His children. He is with
them always in the form of a searching and rebuking conscience. When the nation
or the individual begins to feel deep down in his heart that a great wrong has
been done against God and conscience and truth, then, and not till then, is the
way open for forgiveness and restoration. Note the last scene of the vision.
Strange enough, we find coupled with this revelation of the Divine heart the
prophecy of the Messiah, who Himself was that Divine heart made flesh, and
clothed with the features of humanity. Under Him shall the iniquity of the land
be removed and the millennium shall dawn. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Joshua the high priest
I. A great
adversary of God’s people brought before us. It is strange how every good work
meets with resistance in this world. He Who would effect reforms, especially in
religion, has to stand alone, at least, at first, with none enlightened or
brave enough to give their support. “I am sometimes,” wrote Robertson, “tempted
to doubt whether any one who tries to open people’s eyes in religion is to be
reckoned as a sublime martyr or an egregious fool. The cross, or the cap and
bells? Certainly, had it not been for One, I should say the cap and bells.”
Paul was accounted a fool for Christ.” Wickliffe, Luther, and all great,
reformers have borne the same antagonism, and many prophets have cried out, Who
hath believed our report?”
“Truths
would you teach, or save a sinking land!
All
fear, none aid you, and few understand.”
Even in such a work as the rebuilding of the temple it was so. And
the Bible lifts the veil and lets us see that behind the human actors there are
malignant forces at work,--a truth which, though mysterious, is sustained by
history and experience.
II. Opposed to the
adversary is the faithful and unchanging God. While there is such conflict
before truth and godliness prevail, yet the victory is sure. God’s servants
have to wrestle with principalities and powers, but greater is He who is for
them than all who can rise up against them.
1. God’s interposition is a restraining of evil. “The Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan.” He wounds the head of the dragon; puts checks upon the forces
which threaten the Church and cause of Christ; turns the weapons forged against
her into instruments of retribution to her enemies.
2. God encourages and aids His servants. Joshua is forgiven, clothed
in festal garments, crowned with a clean mitre, assured of success, and promised
future freedom of approach. There is enough of encouragement for those who take
the Lord’s side, if only they will use it.
III. The promise of
a Divine Saviour and King. Every book of the Old Testament, either by word or
type, predicts a coming Christ who is now arrayed in the attributes of God, and
now represented as a suffering but conquering Servant. It was a promise which
had many partial fulfilments in God’s anointed servants before He was
incarnated in Jesus. But Jesus was the Christ of whom others were only figures
and signs. He was the Branch extolled by Isaiah, and predicted by Zechariah.
The vision still points to a future in which all prophetic hopes will be
fulfilled. (T. Vincent Tymms.)
The hinderer rebuked
I. Satan the
adversary of the awakened soul.
1. The person who is resisted. This is the exact picture of an
awakened soul: he comes and stands before Christ, clothed with his filthy
garments, conscious that in himself he is lost, but resting on the Saviour’s
power and willingness to save. Wherever we see a soul living in sin and
departure from God, there we may see the work of Satan. But wherever we behold
a soul forsaking sin, and seeking to live a holy and consistent life, there we
behold the work of the Holy Ghost. Consequently, when Satan rises up to resist
the sinner he rises up to resist the Holy Ghost.
2. The manner of, Satan’s resistance. There is allusion to the
customs of ancient courts of justice, in which the accuser always stood at the
right hand of the accused. How does he resist him?--
4. Satan hinders by suggesting that Christ is unwilling to save,
since you have so often spurned and rejected Him.
5. And by suggesting that repentance is too late.
II. The Lord Jesus
Christ as the Rebuker of the adversary. He is the high priest within the veil,
the sinner’s Advocate. Notice the manner in which Satan is silenced. Two ways--
1. God’s sovereignty. “The Lord hath chosen Jerusalem.” God’s choice
is without repentance.
2. The soul Satan desired to have was already beyond his reach.
“Plucked out of the fire.” (A. W. Snape, M. A.)
The good man an interceder
Regarding the vision as a symbolical revelation of Joshua, in his
representative aspect as the high priest of the Jewish people then existing, we
feel authorised to infer from it two or three ideas touching the intercessory
functions of good men while on earth.
I. That the good
man, in his intercessory functions on earth, has to bear before God the moral
imperfections of his race. Joshua had on “filthy garments.” This was evidently intended
to represent the corrupt state of the Jewish people. The seventy years’
captivity had not purified them; for now, instead of setting themselves to the
work of rebuilding the house of the Lord, they were taken up with their own
personal concerns, and excusing themselves by saying, “The time is not come.”
Here, then, is a characteristic feature of a good man’s intercession while on
earth. He has to bear the imperfections of his fellow creatures before God. And
does not this benevolent feeling lie at the basis of all moral excellence?
There is not a saint nor an angel in heaven, we suppose, who does not desire
the progress of kindred spirits; and what is this but intercession? But that
which distinguishes the intercession on earth is, that we have to remember the
moral corruption of our race. In heaven there is no defilement. All there are
either clad in the robes of pristine holiness, or in garments washed and made
white by the cleansing influences of redemptive love. But here all are in
“filthy garments,”--garments stained by sensuality, worldliness, idolatry,
falsehood, and dishonesty. Here the pious parent has to appear before God for
sinful children, the minister for sinful people, and the pious sovereign for a
sinful nation.
II. That the good
man in his intercessory function on earth has to contend with a mighty
spiritual antagonist. The existence of some mighty spirit or spirits, who are
determined foes of truth, virtue, and the happiness of man, is rendered more
than probable by a number of considerations, independent of the testimony of
the Bible. Such, for example, as the general belief of the race, the
conflicting phenomena of the moral world, the unaccountable opposite
impressions of which all are conscious. Now, this enemy stood up to resist Joshua
in his intercessions. And who will say that he is not now specially active with
the good man when he draws near to God? In how many ways may he hinder our
prayers? Sometimes he may suggest to us, even in the very time of our prayers,
doubts as to the existence of God; we may be tempted to ask, Are we sure that
there is a God? May not the idea be a delusion, for who has ever seen or heard
Him? Or, granting His existence, he may suggest whether He would condescend to
attend to the affairs of an individual. Or granting that He does exist, and
that He attends to the prayers of some, Satan may suggest that I am too
worthless for His notice, that It is presumptuous for me to address His awful
Majesty; I am too great a sinner ever to be attended to. This, again, is a
peculiarity of our intercessory functions on earth. In heaven, we presume, no
enemy will intrude on our devotions, no Satan will stand up to resist as we
appear before God. No power there to darken our faith with cloudy doubts, nor
to cool the ardour of our devotions!
III. That the good
man, in his intercessory functions on earth, has the special assistance of a
Divine helper. Whilst Satan stood up against Joshua there was One who stood up
for him; the Lord--called also, “the Angel of the Lord.” The scene illustrates
two thoughts concerning the help rendered.
1. It was rendered sympathetically. “Is not this a brand?” etc.
Consider the suffering to which they have been subject. Christ is full of
sympathy.
2. The help was rendered effectually. The old “filthy garments,” the
emblem of impurity and guilt, were taken away, and he was clothed in other
garments; that is, their guilt was removed, they were restored from their
degradation. And the “mitre,” the emblem of dignity, was put on their head.
They were raised once more to the glory of an independent nation. See
By nature and by grace
The Jewish Church is represented by its head, the high
priest Joshua; various objections are brought against it, but the Lord
overrules them all, declaring His will, that it shall be restored to His
favour, notwithstanding its past guilt or present degradation. This transaction
represents to us the way in which every true child of God becomes a partaker of
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
I. The Christian’s
woeful condition by nature.
1. He is exposed to condemnation. It is the condition of us all.
Conscience acknowledges this. The Christian, in himself, has no reply to the
accusations of Satan.
2. He is an object of God’s abhorrence. Indicated in Joshua’s filthy
garments, offensive in the Lord’s sight.
3. He is on the very brink of destruction. A brand actually in the
fire.
II. His happy
estate by grace. In spite of every hindrance, Joshua is accepted--the Christian
is saved.
1. His conviction is quashed. It is not urged that there are no
grounds for condemning him. The charges are tacitly allowed to be true. But at
the critical moment there is an arrest of judgment. The accuser is for bidden
to proceed,--“the Lord rebuke thee.” There is no ground for this exemption,
save the Lord’s free and unmerited choice.
2. He is clothed afresh, through the merits of the Saviour, and with
the graces of the Spirit of God. The filthy raiment of guilt is what we cannot
lay aside, but Christ took it away. And He brought in an everlasting
righteousness.
3. He is effectually saved from ruin. Inquire whether this
all-important change has taken place in you. (J. Jowett, M. A.)
The Lord, the Defender of His people
Here is represented unto the prophet Christ, who is the Lord, taking
the defence of Joshua, and by His intercession (acting as the angel of the
Lord) pleading that Satan may be rebuked, confounded, and restrained in his
malicious and cruel design to destroy them whom God had chosen, and them who,
having been almost consumed in trouble, were miraculously plucked out and
preserved from total ruin. Doctrine
1. Christ, in His office of mediation and intercession, is the strong
refuge of the Church against Satan, who is sufficient to oppose all his
machinations, being Himself God equal with the Father, zealous for and
affectionate to His people and their weal, and the Father being engaged to help
Him and His by virtue of the covenant.
2. Albeit the ground of Satan’s accusation of the Lord’s people
before God, and in their own consciences, may be true and just, yet his
insatiable and cruel malice in prosecuting that controversy to their
destruction, and casting out of God’s favour, is so far from being Christ’s
allowance, that it is hateful unto Him, and will be effectually suppressed by
Him. This is imported in His intercession--“The Lord rebuke thee,” or restrain
thy malice, and make void thy intention.
3. The Lord’s election of and free love toward His people is that
whereby they are allowed to answer Satan’s temptations, which otherwise might
be heavy upon them. And where the Lord hath chosen and purposed to do good unto
a people He will also have a care of their ministers for their sake. This we
are taught from Christ’s first reason of intercession--“The Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem, rebuke thee.” God having chosen them, Satan’s bill (how true soever)
could not be heard to destroy them, or to reject Joshua their minister.
4. Though the people of God may be cast into painful and hard
trouble, and may be kept in it till it come to some extremity that they may be
purged, yet shall they certainly be rescued and brought out again; for so was
it with Joshua, and this remnant, “a brand pluckt out of the fire,” a stick
half burnt, and yet thought worth the pulling out.
5. As the former afflictions of the Lord’s people do so endear them
to Christ’s heart that He will not hear Satan’s accusations, so His eminent
appearing for them in trouble is a pledge that He will not destroy them, but
perfect His work notwithstanding Satan’s machinations; or this is the force of
the second reason of Christ’s intercession, “Is not this a brand pluckt out of
the fire?” As if He had said,--Should My anger smoke yet against My people who
are already almost consumed by it, and whereof they yet bear the marks? Should
I not make an end of pleading with frail flesh and shall I prove so foolish a
builder as when I have appeared, in bringing them out of consuming trouble,
giving them a remnant to escape, I should again forsake them, and let all My
pains be in vain? (George Hutcheson.)
Joshua the high priest
Sin in act or in heart takes all the meaning and joy out of God’s
richest promises and gifts. So it prevented the Israelites from appropriating
the former gracious words until its baleful influence was removed by the fourth
vision of our lesson. It is a vision of free forgiveness for the nation.
Joshua, the high priest, represents Jerusalem and the people. His filthy
garments are symbols of their sins, and his clean raiment is a pledge of their
pardon.
I. The adversary.
Who was the great opponent of those afflicted Hebrews? Was it the nations
around? Or was God Himself against them? The vision reveals their true enemy.
It was neither of these, but the great adversary of souls; he who tempted
Christ, the prince of darkness. The foe of man is Satan, not man; much less
God, who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save it. The
very names of this enemy betray his character. The Hebrew word Satan means
“adversary.” And here, exemplifying his name, he is standing at Joshua’s right
hand “to be his adversary.” When did he ever do a deed or suggest a thought
really to help or bless a man! The assaults of Satan are well timed. It was
when Joshua stood in foul raiment, symbol of the moral uncleanness of the
people, and when the bright hopes of the returning exiles were fading away,
that Satan seized the opportunity to accomplish their ruin. The days of sin,
failure, despair find him at hand to do his fatal work. God’s past dealings
with us are a pledge of the future, an assurance of final victory.
II. Pardon. How
vivid and repugnant sin must have become under such a symbol. The garments were
not coarse, or old, or worn and soiled with use, but filthy. By such striking
symbolism God taught His chosen people to hate sin. This was no euphemistic
language softening and covering the wrong-doing, but rather a proclamation of
it. Sin masked under the forms of fashion or elegance is doubly dangerous. With
garments so filthy, but one thing can be done. They cannot be covered up. The
blackest spots cannot be sponged off--as men try to do with their guilt; for
every thread of the clothing is defiled. Moreover, the wretched man seems
powerless to remove the unclean garments. In fact, they are part of him, they
are his life, his character, himself. God must work the deed which shall free
him from the burden of his sins. “Take away the filthy garments and clothe him
in fair raiment,” “I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee.”
III. Subsequent
life. Pardon was never intended to be the end of effort or of progress.
Accordingly, the Angel of Jehovah does not pardon Joshua and dismiss him; but
rather pardons and then hastens to declare solemnly: “Thus saith Jehovah of
hosts: If thou writ walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge,” then
thou shalt have the honour of priesthood, with its authority and its free
access into God’s presence. After pardon comes obedience. The order cannot be
reversed. Joshua’s previous efforts to obey were vain. Only with the consciousness
of forgiveness can there be full and unconstrained obedience. But after one is
pardoned, walking in God’s ways is the condition of further blessing. Not that
God who has forgiven once is unwilling to forgive again. He is love, and His
mercies are everlasting. But a man cannot wilfully and constantly transgress
God’s law, and continually and lightly seek forgiveness. Upon the high priest
there was an especial obligation to careful obedience. He was in a sense God’s
representative. His office carried with it wide influence for good or evil.
Before God, indeed, all are under the same supreme law of right. But towards,
their fellow men, some are under heavier obligations than others. The
obligation rests most heavily on the representative of God, the teacher or
preacher whose influence is wider than that of one in a humbler sphere, and
whose opportunity to help and guide is greater. Our opportunity to serve man is
the measure of our responsibility to man. A larger promise limited to no man or
family is now introduced by the emphatic words, “Hear now . . . for behold.” It
is an old promise renewed. From earliest ages the hopes of all godly Jews had
centred about one dim future figure, ever expected, ever receding. Moses spoke
of Him as a prophet, the highest ideal in his mind. David sang of Him as a
righteous king, the loftiest conception of man in that age. The coming One was
pictured as the servant of Jehovah, and as a sprout growing up out of dry
ground from the stump of the fallen house of David. But still He was the hope
of Israel. The lowly names by which He was known became transformed into titles
of honour and glory. “Behold I will bring forth My servant, the Branch.” That
promise has been fulfilled to us. And when we, like Zechariah, would urge as a
motive for action God’s greatest gift, we must speak of that same Servant, of
His life and death and resurrection. Wonderful power in human life. His name
brought fresh zeal and courage into the feeble remnant under Joshua and
Zerubbabel twenty-five hundred years ago. It has never lost its power. This
great promise of the Branch, pledge of the continued care and favour of
Jehovah, is naturally accompanied by more definite promises of immediate help.
The seven eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth and are
the symbol of perfect watchfulness, shall be directed to each stone, of the
temple now building under great difficulties. More than that, He will “engrave
the graving thereof,” He will give the stone its beauty. He will both watch and
work with His people. Man’s work is ever incomplete. In spiritual matters, no
less than in temporal, our work needs and certainly receives its vitalising and
beautifying power from Him who transforms the elements into flower and fruit.
Peace and prosperity complete the picture of the future of the forgiven people.
Everyone shall call his neighbour to come and sit under his fig tree.
Righteousness and peace with God were doubtless included in this favourite
Hebrew thought, but temporal peace, with all its glorious blessings, was the
chief element in the anticipated reign of the Messiah. Some of the loftiest
conceptions of the Jewish religion are found in these verses. Each is a shadow
of a vastly greater and more inspiring truth which is familiar to the Christian.
(G. R. Hovey, D. D.)
Verse 2
Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
A firebrand
The fire meant here is the fire of sin. Sin is a fire which
destroys the comfort of mankind here, and all the joy of mankind hereafter.
Nothing can be more suitable to burn in a fire than a “brand.” It is not a
branch just taken from the tree, fresh and full of sap; it is a brand--dry,
sere timber, fit for the burning. And what does this indicate but man’s natural
heart, which is so congenial to the fire of sin? As the firebrand fits with
fire, so does the sinner fit in with sin. We read of a brand “in the fire.” Not
lying on a heap, but burning and blazing in the fire. Does not this portray our
condition? We began very early. Disobedience to parents, angry tempers, petty
falsehoods,--these were the first catchings on fire of the brand. We have
blazed away merrily since then. What with the lusts of the flesh, or pride, or
unbelief, or some other form of departing from the living God, how many are
like the firebrand, blazing and flashing in the flame! There is, however, a
fair side to the picture. We have here a “brand plucked out of the fire.”
Sinners these, who though they have still within them the propensity to sin,
are no longer in the fire of sin. They have been taken away from it. They sin
through infirmity, but wilful sin they do not commit. The fire that once burned
within them has been quenched. They are rescued from that fire which once
threatened their everlasting destruction. They are brands still; but brands no
longer in the fire. The force of the passage seems to lie in the words,
“plucked out of.” The Christian does not escape by his own free will. He is
plucked out of his peril. To be plucked out there needs a hand quick to rescue.
Every believer in the Lord Jesus is a trophy of the strength as well as of the
mercy of God. The question of the text will bear three renderings.
I. The sense of
wonderment. “Is not this,” etc. The words are spoken of Joshua, the high
priest. There was such astonishment at his preservation that, with hands
uplifted, the question was asked, “Is not this man just like a firebrand
snatched from among the glowing coals?” This marvel is not confined to Joshua.
Was there ever a man saved by grace who was not a wonder? Out of the state of
our natural depravity we have been plucked, so that every man who is delivered
from its sway may well say,--“Am not I a brand plucked out of the fire?” Each
Christian knowing his own heart, and having a special acquaintance with his own
peculiar setting sin, feels as if the conquest of his own sin by the grace of
God were a more illustrious trophy of that grace than the conquest of a
thousand others. There are instances so uncommon that they excite surprise in
the minds of all who hear. In the cases of extraordinary conversion, one of the
first is the salvation of the extremely aged. Exceptional, too, is the
conversion of people who have been accustomed to hear the Gospel from their
youth up, who, though not perhaps absolutely aged, have nevertheless been
receiving Gospel privileges without any result. Over in the Bankside, I am
told, when a man is first put inside a boiler, while the rivets are being
fastened, he cannot stop long, the noise is so dreadful, but after a time the
boiler maker gets so used to the horrible din that he can almost go to sleep
inside. And so it really is under any ministry where the people get Gospel
hardened. There have been cases of gross sinners in which this marvel has been
still more exciting. Can we pass over the case of some who have given
themselves up to sin, to work it with greediness? There is a wonder which I do
see, but not often. It is when a self-righteous religious man gets saved.
II. Take the text
by way of inquiry or hope. When a sinner’s eye is suffused with tears, and a
sigh breaks forth, “Alas! woe is me!” you may say, “Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire?” for the tear of morrow for sin is a blessed omen of mercy’s
dawning. The sigh of penitence and the prayer of the seeking are evidences of
grace. When the poor soul at last, driven by necessity, throws itself flat at
the foot of the Cross, and rests its hope wholly and alone on Jesus, then we
may say of it, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” And when, in the
midst of many a conflict and soul struggle, the heart still flings away its
idols, and hopes to love Christ, and vows, in His strength to be devoted to His
service, we may say again with pleasure, “Is not this a brand plucked out of
the fire?” I would invite you to think over the signs of grace, and if you see
them in yourselves you may be able to answer this question with joy.
III. And what a
question of defiance this is. Do you not catch the idea of the text? There
stood Joshua, there stood the angel of the Lord and here stood the adversary:
“If God has plucked him out of the fire, you can never put him in again.” It is
a defiance full of majesty and grandeur. It reflects a gorgeous lustre on the
past. If God has chosen him, dost thou think to undo the Divine decree? God
hath snatched him from the fire, determined to save him. God has done that
which is the earnest and the token of his perfect safety. Then, beloved in
Christ, dread not all the temptations that may attack you. God will not leave
His purpose half accomplished. He will not be disappointed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The rescued brand
This is the Divine description of a justified and converted man.
The words present at once to our view the sinner’s worthless character by
nature, his dangerous and dreadful condition while in this natural state, and
the fulness of unmerited grace and love of which he has been made the subject.
Joshua was here the representative of all the true people of God. Like him,
they are all “brands plucked out of the fire.” Against them all the same power
of Satan is employed to resist them. In behalf of them all the same boundless
grace is exercised on the part of the Lord God. The rescued brand forms the
subject of our discourse.
1. How unprofitable and worthless in himself. A brand! Useless for
any purposes of man; having no value annexed to it in his estimation. Is not
every unrenewed sinner precisely this in the sight of God? As a fallen creature
man cannot be profitable in the eye of God. No creature can ever render
anything to the Creator which shall merit a continuance of blessings bestowed
by Him.
2. How dangerous the condition in which this brand was found. The
fire from which he was plucked refers to those everlasting burnings which are
his heritage in a world of recompense. All earthly woes are temporary. These
sorrows are unchangeable and eternal. Under this tremendous load the
unconverted sinner now lies, condemned and perishing, as a brand burning in the
fire. The wrath of God abideth on him. None can appreciate the dangers of an
unconverted soul, but they who have been plucked from the fires in which it is
still consuming.
3. How glorious and worthy of praise is that Divine power which can
pluck this brand from the fire, and transform it into an eternal monument of
love, and a vessel of everlasting holiness! In the midst of the ruin of the
world, and the guilt of man, God proposes to the ungodly a reconciliation to
Himself.
4. How infinite is the extent of that love, of which this brand is
the object. The foundation of all our hope is, that God’s love is infinite and
free. His love can pardon the greatest and most multiplied transgressions.
5. How precious is the Christian’s ground of hope, the glorious union
of Divine power and Divine love, in the work of his salvation! The same
hand which plucked us from the fire will carry us to the temple. The man who
has found peace with God has no enemy in the universe to fear.
6. How inestimable is this privilege of being the objects of God’s
unchangeable love! (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
Danger and deliverance
I. The danger. The
brand is--
1. Fit for the fire.
2. Scorched by the fire.
3. Destined to the fire.
4. Unable to deliver itself from the fire.
II. The
deliverance.
1. Its author.
2. Its completeness.
3. Its permanence.
4. Its benefits.
III. The
exclamation.
1. With regard to the speaker, it expresses triumph.
2. With regard to the enemy of souls, it hurls defiance.
3. With regard to the spectators, it challenges admiration.
4. With regard to the person delivered from the danger, it demands
gratitude. (G. Brooks.)
A suggestive question
Under the form of an interrogation, the language of the text is
capable of being differently understood.
1. It may be considered as conveying a seasonable reproof to an
insulting enemy. It is as if God said, Amidst all his imperfections and
failings, thou hast nothing to do with him. I claim a property in him, and will
assert it.
2. As expressive of exultation and triumph. “Is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire?” I rejoice in him as such. He is a pattern of My long
suffering, a monument of My grace.
3. The expression carries with it the force of an affirmation. It is
a brand plucked out of the fire.
I. To whom may
this language be applied? To all Who are finally saved. There are some to whom
it is more immediately applicable.
1. Such as great and heinous transgressions, when converted from the
error of their way and turned effectually to God.
2. Old and accustomed sinners may be viewed in the same light, when
they are brought to repentance and to believe in Jesus.
3. There are some whose cases were despaired of by their friends.
4. Pardoning mercy has in some instances followed upon an
overwhelming sense of guilt and distressing apprehensions of Divine wrath.
II. Notice the
propriety of the description.
1. A brand plucked out of the fire was once a brand fit for the fire.
2. A brand plucked out of the fire was very near being consumed.
3. A brand plucked out of the fire retains some evidence of the
dangerous situation.
4. The brand plucked out of the fire is no way instrumental to its
own deliverance. There it must lie and burn if some kind hand do not snatch it
thence. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The sinner rescued from perdition
Reverse this question, and ask, Is this a brand plucked out of the
fire? The text was a sort of challenge to Satan to deny the riches of Divine
grace in the salvation of the Israelitish Church, now rescued from the furnace
of Babylon. It was a question put concerning them figuratively, for the whole
Church of Jesus Christ, and for every individual member of it. Bring the
question home, “Am I a brand plucked out of the burning?” Consider the
importance of being able to come to a clear decision upon this point.
I. Your danger as
sinners. A state of sin is a state of imminent danger.
1. Sin is destroying your bodies, and will at last destroy your
souls.
2. Every sinner is in danger of the law of God.
3. The terrors of a guilty conscience are a fire.
II. The wondrous
deliverance effected.
1. The sinner is delivered by Divine grace from that dreadful
sentence, which is literally destruction begun in the heart.
2. The deliverance signifies to be rescued from the raging violence,
the destructive power of sin in our heart.
3. This deliverance signifies to be rescued from the burning stings
of inward guilt.
III. The act of
deliverance. “Plucked out.”
1. Here is exhibited God’s own sovereign will and purpose.
2. The act of rescue points to the direct personal interposition of
the Saviour.
3. The deliverance is to be viewed in its individual application by
the Holy Spirit.
IV. The different
emotions this divine and miraculous deliverance should excite.
1. Exultation. Admire the grace of God in your salvation.
2. Confidence. Learn to trust both for yourselves and for others.
What cannot Divine grace do! (The Evanglist.)
The brand plucked out of the fire
It is a “brand,”--nothing better; dry, sapless, lifeless,
profitless; and such is man. If a brand and lifeless, then powerless. Can a
brand quicken itself to life? How can it live? It has lost the principle of
life. All our efforts to restore ourselves to the dignity we have lost, and to
the state from which we are fallen, are utterly abortive. How little men know
their spiritual powerlessness, because they will not make trial of it. But the
brand is also worthless; it is only fit to be cast into the fire; it has no
utility. And such is man. It may seem a hard thing, but God says it, that the
natural man is at best enmity against God. And if enmity against God, is not
his moral nature loathsome? It is a brand “out of the fire”; it is black and
scorched. So is every sinful son of man. The soul that sinneth, it shall die, A
“brand” is fitted for the flames. It is combustible it is dried up, so as to be
ready to ignite into flame. And so sin assimilates man to hell, makes him more
susceptible of “the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched.”
The “brand” is already scorched in the fire. It has been in the fire; it has
been “plucked out of the fire.” What is hell? Sin unmitigated, unabated by the
fear of God, and unassuaged by any kindlier feeling or appliance, sin
consummated, sin left to itself. Leave a man to himself, and he needs no other
hell. But there is hope for this brand. It is “plucked out of the fire.” Was it
not grace, sovereign grace that rescued it? What is there in a brand that God
should expect anything from it in return? Yet it is taken out of the fire that
it might be transformed into a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,
that He might be glorified. What a blessed change passes on the sinner whom God
delivers! (Hugh Stowell, M. A.)
A rescued brand
Here Satan is presented to our view as the accuser of the
brethren. He does his work in the court of conscience; at the bar of public
opinion; and before the Divine Judge. Here Satan accused Joshua to one who was
his Advocate as well as his Judge. Christ rebukes Satan; alleges God’s
election; and points to Joshua as a trophy of power, guided by sovereign mercy.
I. A vivid and
impressive description of Joshua’s original character as a sinner. “A brand.” A
piece of wood which has been purposely prepared for burning. A sinner, as a
brand, is one in every way fitted for destruction. The wicked have a
suitableness to the place and the experience assigned to them by God. There is
an adaptation of desert, and of character. Their experience results from their
character. They have in themselves the causes of misery--a deranged system.
They war with everything, and therefore are warred against by everything.
II. An account of
the situation, under law, and in actual experience, in which Joshua had been.
“In the fire.”
1. The brand is one plucked out of the fire, then it must have been
in it.
2. By fire, understand the destruction and misery which are the fruit
of sin.
3. The sinner is already under condemnation; spiritually dead; he
feels the elements of misery in his breast. He feels the oppressiveness of the
thought of God. He draws pain from without. He already suffers as a sinner.
III. A description
of the character which Joshua now sustained. “A brand plucked out of the fire.”
Such a brand has on it the marks of burning. The believer retains marks of his
once lost condition. In his conscience, which still accuses. In his heart,
where are the remains of spiritual derangement and death. In his body, which is
mortally affected. In his moral character, which is disfigured. In his very
righteousness, which is imputed. In his life, which is derived. Brands plucked
from the burning shall be the eternal character of believers.
IV. The agency
through which Joshua was delivered. It was not by himself. The brand retains
the burning flame. Salvation is wholly of God--of grace: in its origin; its
purchaser; its application. Man takes offence at this, being self-righteous.
The believer rejoices in this. God has thus the glory of salvation.
V. The manner in
which God rescued Joshua. He plucked him out of the fire. Indicative of
haste--we thus rescue a precious manuscript, accidentally thrown into the fire.
God is in haste, for man’s guilt is increasing; his depravity is deepening; he
is descending with time’s flight; his fate is awful! (James Stewart.)
A brand plucked out of the fire
Satan is represented in the context as an accuser of his brethren.
He brings serious charges against Joshua, the high priest. He never committed a
greater folly. The Lord never fails to come to the defence of the redeemed. The
Lord represents Joshua as a trophy of sovereign grace. “Is not this a brand
pluckt out of the fire?”
I. If this figure
means anything, it means that unsaved sinners are in the fire. “Is not this a
brand pluckt out of the fire?” We are accustomed to think of hell as something
in the future. There is a sense in which this is true, but it is not all the
truth. It is not at death that bad men enter into hell; they are there already.
II. If this imagery
means anything, it means that unsaved sinners have a natural affinity for the
flame that consumes them. A brand is a piece of wood that readily catches fire.
The sinner is meet for destruction. See how eagerly men yield themselves to the
sins which consume them.
III. If this imagery
means anything, it means that rescue from the devouring element is only
possible by Divine interposition--“Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire?”
A brand in the fire will remain there until it is utterly consumed unless it is
taken out. Salvation is a Divine act. “By grace are ye saved.”
IV. If this imagery
means anything, it means that saved sinners retain the marks of the burning.
Forgiven, saved, but scarred. Even in heaven there will be evidences of the
flame.
V. If this imagery
means anything, it means that delay in the matter of rescue is infinitely
perilous. Plucked out of the fire. There is no estimating the possibility of
sin. There is enough latent fire in any unregenerate heart to effect its ruin.
The flame which is smouldering in the concealed places of human life may be
even more ominous than that which blazes forth under the open heavens. These
facts should have a twofold influence.
1. They should serve to awaken alarm in the unsaved, and arouse the
saved to the intensest solicitude and zeal for their rescue. The human brand is
not a dead piece of wood. He has reason, judgment, sensibility, will. He needs
to be made to realise his peril.
2. There is no time for dallying. The service is urgent. (B. D.
Thomas.)
Verse 4-5
Take away the filthy garments from him
Removal of guilt
Zechariah was shown the state and condition of God’s Church in his
day, and the change wrought upon that Church; a change that must be wrought on
all that belong to the Lord God Almighty, and which is wrought by Divine power
and grace alone.
Here is a scenic representation of Gospel truth. “Joshua was clothed in filthy
garments.” Why did he so appear, and in such a presence? That his condition,
and yours, and mine, in the presence of a Holy God, may be likened to filthy,
polluted, unclean, defiled garments. “Satan stood at his right hand to resist
him.” This alludes to the prevailing custom of placing an accused person before
a bar of justice, and bringing his accuser upon his right hand to prefer the
charge against him. Satan is the “accuser of the brethren.” Having rebuked
Satan, our Advocate addresses Himself to them that stood by. “Take away the
filthy garments from him.” This is the Old Testament description of the removal
of guilt, the manifestation of salvation by grace. We must in this manner go to
God in our filthy garments. Wait not to try to change your heart, as you would
your raiment. Prayer is necessary, but prayer is no qualification; repentence
is necessary, but repentance does not qualify for God’s mercy. Come, poor
self-condemned sinner, just as you are. The filthy garment is removed from
everyone whose heart is moved by God’s grace, though he know it not. What is
represented by the change of raiment? The clothing with righteousness of our
blessed Redeemer. The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is a robe long
enough to cover the sinner completely, it is as broad as the law of God; those
that are enrobed in it need fear no stormy blast, either through their journey,
or at their journey’s end There is nothing to be compared in importance, to us
all, with the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the full, perfect, and complete
Saviour of our souls. (A. Hewlett, M. A.)
So they set a fair mitre
upon his head, and clothed him with garments--
The mitre of priesthood
This book was written in the midst of a process of reconstruction.
The people, or at least a handful of the people of Israel, had come back from
Babylon to a ruined city, but by the guidance and leadership of Zerubbabel and
Joshua, and those prophets of God, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the little
handful or remnant of the people commenced to reconstruct their state, their
city, and temple. It was of little use to build the temple while the priesthood
was so degraded as Malachi tells us it was. The priests offered upon the altar
of God contemptible sacrifices--they were content to bring to it the halt, the
lame, the blind, such as they would not bring to their governor. They looked
upon the whole service they rendered as hardly worth their care and energy, so
ill were they repaid. You will notice at the end of the chapter we read that
Joshua and his fellows were men for a sign, that is, they were types of the
spiritual priesthood of the present time. We may not exercise our priestly
office any more than we exercise our royal prerogative; yet in God’s sight we
have a spiritual faculty of standing between God and man, speaking to God for
man and to man for God. Is it not a fact that there are men and women here who
are priests, but they need to be reconstructed, who are called to exercise this
spiritual prerogative, but they have not a fair mitre upon their head? “Let
them set a fair mitre upon his head.”
I. We consider the
persons thus adorned, lest any here might suppose that they could not claim the
fair mitre. You will see it is Joshua who receives the fair mitre, the person
who at first stands before us clothed with filthy garments. Filthy garments
always indicate some slur upon the character, some stain on the white robe of
the dress of the soul. It may be that you are sensible that your robe is
soiled, and as you come to the searching light of God’s angel--the angel of
God’s presence--you are more than ever conscious of the wrinkles in your white
robe. When you first came to the Cross of Christ you washed your robes and made
them white in His blood, but you have failed to keep them so. The father sits
down at the family altar, takes the old Bible and turns over its leaves, but
all the time that he essays to act as priest of the family he is conscious that
during the past twenty-four hours he has soiled his garments by impure thoughts
or wrong imaginations. It may be that some young man here, who, indeed, is a
true child of God, has allowed the sin of foul impurity, of unclean desire, to
stain his robes; some housewife here has yielded to that today which soils her
garments. But even you, in your filthy garment, may yet by the grace of God
receive the fillet, the mitre. You will notice not only was Joshua clothed with
these filthy garments, but he was the object of Satan’s accusation; Satan stood
beside and indicated his disgrace. Do you not suppose the great accuser still
does this? When just now you bowed in prayer, and your thoughts, were wandering
to your pleasure or business, Satan saw it and said, “Christ, do You notice
there is not one in all those people truly in prayer?” And when your minister
speaks and his motives are vanity or pride, again the evil spirit stands to
accuse us; he says to Christ, “Here is Thy chosen servant, but it would be
better for me to cast him out of Thy hand and find another to do Thy work
better.” And so there is never a negligence, a sin, or a fault but what Satan
catches it and casts it upon Christ, because he can wound Christ best by
showing up our filth and sin. You will notice also that Joshua was like a
charred brand: you know how a piece of wood put in the fire will soon blacken
and be consumed; a precious letter, a banknote, or cheque, by mistake has been
taken by your servant to your wastepaper basket and put into the furnace, and
when taken out it is so blackened, yellow, or charred, as to be almost
undecipherable; and I suppose I am speaking to plenty of men here who have the
marks of fire upon them. But though charred as you are, He will pluck you from
the burning, and is prepared this very night to adorn your brow with this
fillet, this mitre of His Holy Spirit which will equip you to exercise your
power as a priest of God.
II. I ought to mark
the prepratory process, because one has often found, in talking to people about
the blessed Holy Spirit, that there has not been any deep preparatory previous
work, and it is quite impossible for you to receive the appointing of the Holy
Ghost unless you have submitted yourself to the previous work of that same
Spirit. Whilst the Holy Spirit of Pentecost is more especially the Spirit of
power, He is also the Spirit of cleansing, purification, and sanctification.
There is a previous process, but with God that process need not take long. This
process is indicated in the vision thus: “He said, Behold, I have caused thine
iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” And
we are told at the close of the chapter that God can put away the iniquity of
man in a single day. Imagine all the sin rising over England, Scotland, and
Wales today; this little island surrounded by our four seas; imagine and
remember God says He can put away the sin of a land in one day, and that day
was when Jesus died. If the Lord during His three hours’ crucifixion was able
to expiate and put away the sin of the world, how long will it take for Him to
expiate the sin which is already expiated? Will you allow Him now, the great
High Priest, to put away your filthy garments, to cause your guilt to leave
you, and to give you instead the sense of God’s forgiveness? That
is not all. The there must come a moment in a man’s life when he stands before
the angel of God, when certain habits which he once permitted are shown to be
altogether unworthy of his Christian character, and he puts off the works of
the flesh. You see things in a different light. I feel that the man who does
not drop habit after habit, indulgence after indulgence, is not growing; just
as a tree may tell us its age by the rings of wood, so we can mark the growth
of a man by what he has dropped. I am not here to tell you what to give up, it
is not my purpose to add commandments to the decalogue, but to say that a man’s
growth is determined by what he is prepared to renounce. He does not think it
hard to renounce them, because he is receiving so much more; he drops the less
to take the better. Just as when we come to the moment of death I do not
suppose we shall think about dying, because the radiant light of that world
beyond will attract us, and reaching out our two hands towards it, before we
know we have died, we shall have passed into heaven. So now we are attracted
always by the heavenly vision. O Christ, cause these habits, associations,
indulgences, which have been rotting our heart and holding us back, cause these
things to pass. Then there is a change of raiment: you must put on the Lord
Jesus; make no provision for the flesh, but put on the perfect character of
Jesus Christ. This is the deep truth that we do not all remember, I think; we
are more anxious for the negative than the positive; more taken up with what we
give up than with what we take on. You see here is Joshua: when I began to
speak, he stood there clothed with soiled garments, and Satan stands beside
him; but the scene is altered now, the filthy garments have been dropped. He
has been bathed in water, and he is clothed with fair and beautiful robes, the
emblem of some soul here. Satan has vanished, there is no further record of his
accusing Joshua, because Christ had rebuked him; and when Christ throws the
aegis of His protection round a soul, then Satan sneaks away. Christ has said,
“I have chosen this man, plucked him as a brand from the fire, and am not
likely to cast him back. Avaunt.” And ashamed and disappointed he sneaks away.
And so the soul that stood ashamed and downcast, knowing every sneer of the devil
was true, now looks into the face of the blessed Angel--Christ--and says, “O
Advocate, Priest of God, O most blessed lover of my soul, what can I render to
Thee for Thine advocacy and intercession, by virtue of which the very tempter
is vanquished?”
III. Still, though
Satan is gone, Joshua wants the crown of the priesthood, the insignia, the
mitre of the priesthood. The mitre, you know, as worn by the bishop, is golden.
It is an emblem of the ancient idea of the cloven tongues of fire, but is a
faint rendering of the Greek, for on the day of Pentecost the fire came as a
glow of light or fire into the room, and then there was distributed a flame
upon each meekly bowed head. But still the mitre is the emblem of the ancient
thought. The mitre, fillet, or turban, if you compare this with Leviticus and
Numbers, and these again with the epistles, stands without doubt for the
anointing of the Holy Spirit, not for the bishop alone, but for every one of
us. You cannot do priestly work until you have got it; you cannot plead with
God as intercessor, and cannot speak to men with power until you have got your
fair mitre. You may have your clean robe, but if you have no mitre, you are
unable to act as priest. The Lord Jesus for thirty years had a stainless robe
of purity and beauty, and as He walked on the hills round Nazareth in
intercourse with His Father, there was in Him neither spot nor blemish; yet I
think I shall be within the confines of preaching the Word of God when I say
that in a sense our Lord had not the fair mitre upon His head until He went
down into the Jordan and was baptized, thus identifying Himself with man; then
having fulfilled all righteousness, as He came up out of the water, beneath
that blue sky, the Spirit of God, in the fitting emblem of a dove’s wing, came
upon Him, and the fair mitre abode upon His head. He went forth into Galilee
and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” So when He left the Church of
God He blessed them and said in effect, Peter, John, and the rest of you, tarry
in Jerusalem until you get your fair mitre; and though they have been cleansed
with fellowship with Him, and by His most precious blood, they waited together
in the upper room, until that mystic sign to which I have alluded--the fair
mitre--was put upon the head of one hundred and twenty, and upon many since
then. Many a soul I have had to do with has spent long years with white robes,
but without the fair mitre. You must have the anointing power of the Holy
Spirit of Pentecost if you are to do the Church’s work in the world. It is
noticeable that Zechariah said, “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.”
Zechariah, you have no right to say that--an angel should do it; you are
a prophet, and Joshua is a priest, and there used to be antagonism between the
prophets and the priesthood; but Zechariah said, “Let them put a fair mitre
upon his head,” and they did. The prophet and priest are united by the Holy
Ghost. How can you have it? Not by agonising, not by wrestling and struggling,
but by first receiving, because Jesus Christ, the angel of Jehovah, waits to
give it. There is nothing He wants more to give you than this. You ask me how
you know when you have got it? I will tell you. You receive it by faith; you
received forgiveness without emotion; you must not gauge your reception by
emotion, or you will be disappointed: emotion must not be trusted. You receive
it by faith; you may receive it now, at any moment. The indication you have got
it is not emotion: it is two things. First, a new sense of the sweetness of the
presence of Jesus; for the Holy Spirit never reveals Himself, but always
reveals Christ. Secondly, a quiet power over other men. These are “men for a
sign.” and I close with one most precious promise: Hear now, O Joshua the high
priest, if thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge--I give
this as a parting message,--“then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt
also keep My courts, and I wall give thee places of access among these that
stand by.” This is not got by wrestling, but by trusting; so will you be
brought within the tuner circle of Christ’s presence. Let them set a fair mitre
upon his head.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verse 6-7
The Angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua
A charge to young ministers
I.
What
the great Head of the Church requires of you.
1. Personal piety. “Walk in My ways.” This phrase denotes the whole
of practical and experimental godliness. There can be no true piety without a previous
scriptural conversion, a moral, universal, spiritual change; a change of the
principles, of the mind, of the affections, of the heart, of the conduct, and
of the life, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and obtained by faith in Christ
Jesus. Every unconverted minister is an intruder into the sacred office. The
dignity of your office does not discharge you from all the obligations to
personal holiness; but it binds those obligations upon you with superadded
weight and force. Then he men of integrity. Cultivate a devotional spirit. Be
clothed with humility. Be grave and serious. Be cheerful, but take care that
cheerfulness noes not degenerate into levity. The piety of some ministers has
serious blemishes, against which you will do well to guard yourselves. Such as
envy, which is the vice of little minds. Or a disposition to retail slanders.
In order to maintain your personal piety it will be necessary for you every day
to renew your acts of dedication to God.
2. A faithful discharge of your ministerial and pastoral functions.
Your office may be called the “charge of the Lord,” because you received it
from Him, and are accountable to Him for the discharge of its functions. In
order to keep this charge, you should well understand its nature. It is
Christian theology, which you have to teach to mankind; and you cannot teach it
to others unless you well understand it yourselves. It is the well-informed,
well-instructed divine who alone can adorn the sacred profession and edify the
Church of Jesus Christ. Avoid a controversial style of preaching, for that is
generally unprofitable, and unpopular too. You should be faithful, zealous, and
laborious preachers, ever randy to declare “the whole counsel of God.”
3. In this charge is implied the faithful performance of pastoral
duties. The exercise of a pure discipline over the societies (Churches)
entrusted to your care A Church without discipline is like a garden without a
fence. The clue administration of pastoral advice and counsel is another of our
duties.
II. The import of
those promises made to you. Dignity and authority in the Church of God is here
promised to faithful ministers. Continuance in office is another promise. And
it is further promised that they shall at length be translated to nobler
stations in the heavenly world, where they shall become companions of angels.
Allow me to charge you then to give attention to all these things. I have not
exhorted you to pursue unattainable objects; they are all well within your
reach. Redeem the time. And “be thou faithful unto death.” (Edward Grindrod.)
God’s promise to Joshua
The design of God’s promises is to quicken us to diligence in the
work which He hath given us to do.
I. What is
required of Joshua; or how he was to behave. He was to “walk in God’s ways, and
keep His charge”; which signifies a general care to be religious himself, and a
faithful performance of the duties of his particular station.
II. What is
promised to Joshua in consequence of so doing.
1. That he should be continued in his office.
2. At length he should be preferred to a nobler station, in which he
should be the companion of angels.
It does not mean that angels should guard and preserve him in all
his goings and undertakings. The most natural and easy sense of the words is,
that they refer to a future state, and mean that Joshua should at length be
joined to the angels in heaven. Most of the Jewish writers paraphrase thus, “I
will raise thee from the dead, and place thee among the seraphims.” This is a
most delightful and instructive idea of the heavenly world--walking among the
angels. Heaven is the stated abode of these glorious, wise, and happy spirits,
who are superior to men; therefore they are called the angels of God in heaven.
God intends that all His faithful servants on earth should at length dwell and
walk with them. Reflect what an honour and happiness this will be. Consider
what excellent beings they are in themselves. And consider them as those who
have been ministers of God to the world, the Church, and ourselves.
Application--
Cleansing, obedience, service
Let the Christian notice well God’s order in these verses.
It is cleansing first, then obedience, next service. All through the Bible the
cleansing is with a view to the other two; and if these two fail to be seen in
the Christian’s character he will lose the first, for all practical purposes. A
cleansed soul will be a holy soul. A cleansed soul will be an obedient one, and
will love to serve. Then, Christian, “work out your own salvation” by putting
no hindrance in the way of “God working within you both to will and do.” Live
upon Christ, and let nothing come between your continued eating the flesh and
drinking the blood of the Son of Man. This is living upon Christ; and if your
soul lacks it your obedience and your service will cease. The measure of
blessing to another’s soul will be the measure of Christ living in your own;
and the measure of Christ living in you will be the measure of your love to
Him, and your own personal assurance of His love to you. You must translate the
generally acknowledged fact of His love into a living fact in your own
experience. And remember that the measure in which you think about Christ, and
in which your thoughts about Him have power over your personal character and
your daily life, is the measure of your religion. This, and no more than this,
is the extent to which you are a Christian. This, and no more than this, is the
extent to which there will be any reality, any power, any real blessing in your
service to others, or anything pleasing to God in your obedience. May God make
you real--stamp Divine reality on everything within you, and in all your
outward life! (F. Whirfield, M. A.)
A place of access
“I will give thee a place of access.” We owe this beautiful
promise to the Revised Version (Zechariah 3:7), for in the Authorised
Version the text has quite a meaningless rendering. “I will give thee place to
walk among these that stand by.” The immediate reference of the promise is, of
course, to Joshua, the high priest. It was his privilege and his duty, clothed
in white linen, to enter the most holy place once a year, there to make
atonement for the sins of the people. Instead, however, of this great office
being fulfilled, the prophet sees Joshua clothed in filthy garments--the type
of his own sins and of those people of his “standing,”--with Satan at his right
hand to be his “adversary.” it appeared impossible that such a high priest, or
such a nation, should ever be permitted to draw near the living God. Then comes
the symbolic action of the prophetic vision. The filthy garments are taken away
by command of God, from Joshua, and are replaced by “rich apparel,” the mitre
of high priestly office is set on his head, and the promise is made--made both
to him and to his people--“I will give thee a place of access.” In spite of
Israel’s unworthiness and sin, God Himself would permit His people to draw near
to Him. Such were the original scope and meaning of these words. “I will give
thee a place of access.” How little we realise the great privilege of this
great promise! To say that we can draw near to God is only to utter one of the
commonest of all truisms; but familiar as the truth may be to us, let us never
forget that there was a time when it would have been regarded as the strangest
and most incredible of all truths. A Jew was never permitted in his own person
to come near to God; he had to approach the Most High from a distance, and even
the high priest himself was only allowed the privilege of a place of access
“once in” each year. Such were the awful holiness and the ineffable majesty of
the Most High, and such the terrible sin and guilt of man, that no human soul
dared to draw near the consuming fire. God was a God “far off” and not “nigh”
to a Jew. There was no “place of access” opened for all the world. We do not
wonder, therefore, at the exaltation and rapture with which the author of the
Epistle to the Hebrews dwells on what Christ had done, in opening a “new and
living way” to God, even into the holy place, by His blood, and on the fact
that His sacrifice for sin makes it now possible for the sinful and guilty with
“boldness to enter into the Holiest.” It was the fulfilment of the promise of
the text, “I will give thee a place of access.” And this is the astonishing
privilege of every child of man today. Howsoever unworthy and sinful he may be,
still through the blood of Jesus, he may freely draw near to God. He may stand
in the presence of the Eternal. He may speak face to face with God, and hear
God speak to him. “In Christ Jesus,” to use St. Paul’s words, “we that once
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (G. W. Barrett.)
Verse 7
I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by.
The right of entry
The prophet has just been describing a vision of judgment in which
the high priest, as representative of the nation, stood before the angel of the
Lord as an unclean person. He is cleansed, and clothed, and a fair priestly
garment, with “Holiness to the Lord” written on the front of it, put upon him.
And then follow a series of promises, of which the climax is the one that I
have read. “I will give thee a place of access,” says the Revised Version,
instead of “places to walk”; “I will give thee a place of access among those
that stand by”; the attendant angels are dimly seen surrounding their Lord. And
so the promise of my text is that of free approach to God, of a life that is
like that of the angels that stand before His face. So, then, the words suggest
to us--
I. What a
Christian life may be. There are two images blended together in the great words
of my text: the one is that of a king’s court, the other is that of a temple.
With regard to the former, it is a privilege given to the highest nobles of a
kingdom--or it was in old days--to have the right of entree, at all
moments and in all circumstances, to the monarch. With regard to the latter the
prerogative of the high priest, who is the recipient of this promise as to
access to the Temple, was a very restricted one. Once a year, with the blood
that prevented his annihilation by the brightness of the Presence into which he
ventured, he passed within the veil, and stood before that mysterious Light
that coruscated in the darkness of the Holy of Holies. But this High Priest is
promised an access on all days and at all times; and that He may stand there,
beside and like the seraphim. This Priest passes within the veil when He will.
Or, to put away the two metaphors, and to come to the reality far greater than
either of them, we can, whensoever we please, pass into the Presence before
which the splendours of an earthly monarch’s court shrink into vulgarity, and
attain to a real reception of the light that irradiates the true Holy Place,
before which that which shone in the earthly shrine dwindles and darkens into a
shadow. Our lives may on the outside thus be largely amongst the things seen
and temporal, and yet all the while penetrating through these, and laying hold
with their true roots on the Eternal. Our Master is the great Example of this,
of whom it is said, not only in reference to His mysterious and unique union of
nature with the Father in His Divinity, but in reference to the humanity which
He had in common with us all, yet without sin, that the Son of Man came down
from heaven, and even in the act of coming, and when He had come was yet the
Son of Man which is in heaven. Such a conversation in heaven, and
such association with the bands of the blessed, is possible even for a life
upon earth.
II. Let us consider
this promise as a pattern for us of what Christian life should be, and, alas!
so seldom is. There is no greater sin than living beneath the possibilities of
our lives, in any region, whether religious or other it matters not. Sin is not
only going contrary to the known law of God, but also a falling beneath a
Divine ideal which is capable of realisation. And in regard to our Christian
life, if God has flung open His temple gates and said to us, “Come in, My
child, and dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide there under
the shadow of the Almighty, finding protection and communion and companionship
in My worship,” there can be nothing more insulting to Him, and nothing more
fatally indicative of the alienation of our hearts from Him, than that we
should refuse to obey the merciful invitation. What should we say of a son or a
daughter, living in the same city with their parents, who never crossed the
threshold of the father’s house, but that they had lost the spirit of the
child, and that if there was no desire to be near there could be no love! So,
if we will ask ourselves: “How often do I use this possibility of communion
with God, which might irradiate all my daily life?”
III. Again, my text
suggests to us what every Christian life will hereafter perfectly be. Some
commentators take the words of my text to refer only to the communion of saints
from the earth, with the glorified angels, in and after the resurrection. That
is a poor interpretation, for heaven is here today. All that here has been
imperfect, fragmentary, occasional, interrupted, and marred in our communion
with God, shall one day be complete. And then, oh! then, who can tell what
undreamed of depths and sweetnesses of renewed communion and of intercourses
begun, for the first time then, between “those that stand by,” and have stood
there for ages, will then be realised?
IV. Lastly, notice,
not from my text, but from its context, how any life may become thus
privileged. The promise is preceded by a condition: “If thou wilt walk in My
ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then . . . I will give thee access among
those that stand by.” If we are keeping His commandments, then, and only then,
shall we have access with free hearts into His presence. But to lay down that
condition seems the same thing as slamming the door in every man’s face. But
let us remember what went before my text, the experience of the Priest to whom
it was spoken in the vision. His filthy garments were stripped off him, and the
pure white robes worn on the great Day of Atonement, the sacerdotal dress, was
put upon him. It is the cleansed man that has access among “those that stand
by,” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Verses 8-10
They are men wondered at
Christians a wonder
Joshua and his fellow worshippers were wondered at, both by the
idolatrous Chaldeans and the unbelieving Jews, for their faith in the Divine
predictions during the period of their captivity; that Jerusalem should be
rebuilt, the temple worship restored, and that they should return again to
their own land.
Good men are not less an object of wonder now than they were then. There is something
in their principles and pursuits which men in general cannot easily understand,
and they know not to what cause it should be ascribed.
1. Ministers of the Gospel are often a wonder both to themselves and
others. It is wonderful that God should condescend to employ weak and sinful
creatures in so sacred a work as publishing articles of peace between heaven
and earth. Infinite wisdom saw fit to lodge this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of us. Considering
likewise the mean opinion which good men entertain of themselves, the treatment
they are likely to meet with, the difficulties and trials to which they will
necessarily be exposed, it is not a little remarkable that they should be
induced to engage in the work of the ministry. Yet it is wonderful how such are
carried through their work, and enabled to persevere, notwithstanding all the
discouragements they meet with, from within and from without. The success that
at any time attends the ministry may very properly be regarded as matter of
astonishment.
2. The same sort of singularity attaches to all real Christians who
walk in newness of life, and exemplify the genuine spirit of the Gospel.
3. There is something in the very nature of religion that is
mysterious and strange.
My servant the Branch--
The world’s wants and God’s provisions
I. The world wants
a moral helper, and in the Gospel one is provided. Morally, man is enslaved,
diseased, exiled, lost to the great uses and purposes of his being. God has
provided a great Helper, here called His “servant the Branch.” In Isaiah we
have these words, “Behold My servant whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul
delighteth.” He is the “Branch,” God is the Root, and all holy souls are
branches, deriving their life, beauty, and fruitfulness from Him; but Christ is
the “Branch,” the oldest Branch, the largest Branch, the strongest Branch, the
most fruitful Branch, etc. He is the Branch on which there hang clusters of
perennial fruits for the “healing of the nations.”
II. The world wants
Divine guardianship, and in the Gospel it is provided. “Behold the stone that I
have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes.” What is here
meant by the “stone”? Not the foundation stone of the temple, which was now
being rebuilt, for that had been laid long before. “The stone,” says Keil, “is
the symbol of the kingdom of God, and is laid by Jehovah before Joshua, by
God’s transferring to him the regeneration of His house and the keeping of His
courts (before lip-hire in a spiritual sense, as in 1 Kings 9:6, for example). The seven
eyes which watch with protecting care over this stone are not a figurative
representation of the all-embracing providence of God; but, in harmony with the
seven eyes of the Lamb which are the seven Spirits of God (Revelation 5:6), and with the seven eyes
of Jehovah (Zechariah 4:10), they are the sevenfold
radiation of the Spirit of Jehovah (after Isaiah 11:2), which show themselves in
vigorous action upon this stone, to prepare it for its destination.” Perhaps
the meaning is, that upon the kingdom of Christ, here symbolised by the stone,
God’s eyes are fixed (engraven) with deep, and settled interest. “The eye is
the natural hieroglyphic for knowledge; and ‘seven’ as every reader of the
Bible is aware, is the number used to denote completeness, perfection. Seven
eyes denote the perfection of observant knowledge; and as the ‘eyes of Jehovah’
mean Jehovah’s observation and knowledge, His ‘seven eyes’ express the
perfection of both--omniscient observation.” Two thoughts are suggested--
1. God has a special interest in Christ and His followers. His eyes
are on the “stone,” there in all their completeness, seven. He has a general
interest in the universe, but a special interest here.
2. God has a settled interest in Christ and His followers. The eyes
are said to be engraven on the stone, not written in mere ink.
III. The world wants
moral purification. In the Gospel it is provided. The iniquity of the land of
the Jews was multiform, aggravated, immeasurable; but in one day provision
should be made for its removal; the day on which Christ died upon the Cross.
“Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
IV. The world wants
spiritual repose. In the Gospel that is provided. Mr. Henry says, “When
iniquity is taken away--
1. We reap precious benefits and privileges from our justification;
and
2. We repose in a sweet tranquillity, and are quiet from the fear of
evil.” (Homilist.)
For behold the stone that
I have laid before Joshua--
The stone before Joshua
That stone was Christ. Take the clauses of the verse in
succession.
1. Behold the stone which I have laid before Joshua, “He that built
all things is God.” He built the temple of nature. More august and glorious far
is the temple spoken of here. Its foundation stone was laid by God Himself in
Zion. He laid it when the great Antitype Himself came, and gave His life a
ransom for many. He laid it anew, in the Zion above, when Christ was exalted on
His mediatorial and priestly throne, a name given Him that is above every name.
He shall finally consecrate and glorify it as the “headstone of the corner,” on
the great day, in presence of the Church triumphant.
2. “Upon one stone shall be seven eyes.” Observe, it is “one stone.”
One Mediator. “‘ By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified.” See that one stone laid by the Divine Builder! The sun needs no
glittering taper to add to its light; the ocean needs no tiny drop to add to
its volume. Let the giant deed of Christ’s doing and dying stand forth in all
its peerless, solitary grandeur. What mean the seven eyes? Seven was a sacred
number with the Jews, probably from being first associated with the seven days
of Creation. It would seem to denote--
3. “I will engrave the engraving thereof.” Carvings on stone were
frequent in ancient times. In Nineveh, Babylon, Egypt, it was the old method of
inscribing a nation’s annals. These “stone libraries” are dug up fresh as they
were chiselled and entombed many thousand years ago. Once engraven on the heart
of love, you are on His heart forever. An alternative rendering of this
metaphor is, “I will open the openings thereof.” “I,” says God, “will unlock
the fountains in that sealed stone, that the waters of salvation may gush
forth.” He opens the fountains every time His glorious Gospel is proclaimed.
4. “And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” This
doubtless points onwards to the day of days. In the Mosaic and ceremonial
dispensation of the Jews, iniquity was typically removed. But all was a shadow,
till the true Anti typical Surety and Scapegoat Himself came to remove iniquity
“in one day,” by having the sins of His people laid on His guiltless head. It
was a momentous “one day,” the day waited for by all time. The stone was
smitten, the fountain was unsealed. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Jesus Christ, the stone whereon are seven eyes
The text is highly figurative language.
I. The description
of this ‘‘stone.” Joshua may be the representative of the whole priesthood, or
of the Church at large. We take the latter idea. Therefore the stone is laid
before Joshua,--or the Church of God.
1. The stone. By which I understand Christ. A precious stone.
Precious to the Father, to angels, to the fully redeemed, and to us. A precious
stone, because God has chosen it as the foundation of His Church. It is a
cornerstone. He is a foundation stone. He is a tried stone.
2. The situation of the stone. It is not a stone of human production.
It was laid in God’s everlasting love. In the Old Testament rites and types and
shadows. In prophecy. It is to be laid before the Church even now.
3. The Builder. It is the “stone that I have laid.” God in Trinity is
the builder. The Father is the builder of the Church designedly. The Son is the
builder of the Church really. The Spirit is the builder of the Church
efficiently.
II. The eyes fixed
upon this “store.” “Seven eyes.” Some refer this to the operations of the
Spirit of God. Prefer to take it as the eyes of all, friend and foe, that are
placed upon our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The eye of the Father is upon this stone: in eternal council, when
the everlasting stipulations for the salvation of the Church were entered into.
2. The eye of the Spirit was upon Him. The Spirit of God taketh the
things of Christ and revealeth them unto the soul.
3. The eyes of angels are fixed on Christ.
4. The eyes of all the saints in heaven are fixed on Christ.
5. So are the eyes of the Church on earth.
6. And the eyes of the wicked, on earth and in hell.
III. The engraving
of this stone. The names of the Lord’s people are said to be written on stones,
or in books. Our names are written on the palms of Christ’s hands, denoting our
security. Upon His shoulders, to denote the support that we receive from Him.
On His heart, explanatory of His love.
IV. The removal of
the Church’s sin. By God the Father, through the Mediator. God has imputed all
our sins to Jesus Christ, and removed them in one day. (T. Bagnall-Baker, M.
A.)
The cornerstone of the Church
Christ is promised as He who is represented by the temple, and who
is the ground and cornerstone of His own Church, and the rock on which she is
built, bearing all the burden of the fabric, concerning whom is promised that
God’s infinite providence shall be about Him and His Church, Himself endued
with perfect wisdom to see to and care for all His members, and that by the
effects and rays of the glory of God shining in Him, He shall draw all eyes to
Him, and keep them on Him; as also that He shall be so polished and adorned by
God, as shall be marvellous to the world. Doctrine--
1. Christ the Mediator is not only a part of the spiritual building,
making up one Christ mystical with all His members, and the eminent and most
excellent part of it, but the very foundation of His Church’s being, upon whom
all the Church and every particular member thereof is and must be built, and
without whom they cannot subsist; for, He is “the stone laid before Joshua.”
2. As Christ in His office of mediation is a means of the Father’s
appointment, by Him to derive happiness to the Church, and establish her in it;
so whoever despise and reject Him, yet the Father will have Him high and
eminent in that building.
3. As Christ hath all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge employed
for seeing to the condition, and finding out the way of happiness for His
people, in every case and exigency, signified by seven eyes (which is a number
of perfection) engraven on that one stone: and as the vigilant providence of
God is always intent upon Christ as Mediator, and for His sake upon the welfare
of His Church and kingdom as being His chief delight, signified also by seven
(or many) eyes fixed over that one stone, so also is Christ, as Mediator,
God-man, revealing the Father in Himself, and as the support and upholder of
His Church, so glorious and excellent as may draw all to admire Him, and to fix
their expectation on Him, as the only choice and refuge of lost sinners, and
will do so to all the elect, which is also signified by seven eyes fixed on that
one stone, admiring Him, and having all their expectation from Him.
4. The beauty, excellency, and furniture of Christ the Mediator, is
Divine and rare, and He is the ornament, glory and storehouse of all the
spiritual building, being, as God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, and
the express image of His person (Hebrews 1:3). His humanity also being
adorned with the gifts of the Spirit without measure, and with all Divine
perfections in so far as the human nature is capable; withal His sufferings for
His people (as so many curious engravings) speak not a little His beauty to
those who have interest therein. This is signified by our Lord’s engraving the
graving of this stone, polishing it as a precious jewel, and adorning it by His
art. Two benefits are promised to flow from Christ the Priest to His people;
the first whereof is, remission and purging away of sins by the sacrifice upon
the Cross, once for all, which needs not to be repeated as the Jewish
sacrifices were. This is promised to the whole elect and mystical body of
Christ, figured by the Jews and their promised land, beside what peculiar
relation it may have to them and their land, that their sins, being taken away
by Christ, should not hinder Him to favour them, nor the land for their sake;
but should be looked on in due time, not as polluted, nor possessed and overrun
by enemies.
Behold, I will engrave the
graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts--
No engraving without wound
That is, of the stone, upon which were to be seven eyes, and which
intends the Messiah, the foundation laid in Zion. To engrave is to pierce and
cut. When He became a Man of Sorrows, when He said, “Reproach hath broken My
heart,” then was this Scripture fulfilled. As there is no engraving without
wounding, so to engrave is to embellish and beautify. And He was made perfect
through suffering. The richest display of His graces; the acquirement of the
dispensation of the Spirit; the dominion He exercises in our nature; the
prerogative of judging the world in righteousness; and the praises He will
inhabit through eternal ages--all these resulted from His sufferings. “Because
He was obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, therefore God hath
highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name.” To a person
unacquainted with the process, the pruning of the tree; the cleaving of the
ground with the ploughshare; the operation of the chisel on the stone would
look like an effort to injure or destroy. But look at the thing afterwards.
Behold the vine adorned with purple clusters. Survey the field, yielding the
blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear. Examine the carved work, when the
sculptor has achieved his design, and fixed it in its proper place! Christians
are sometimes perplexed and discouraged because of their trials: They know not
what God is doing with them. They fear He is angry, and going to crush and
destroy. But they are His workmanship. He is preparing them for their
destination in the temple of His grace. These trials are applied to qualify and
advance them. They will all perfect that which concerneth them. Howard was
taken by the enemy and confined in prison. There he learned the heart of a
captive. “It is good for me,” says David, “that I have been afflicted.” (William
Jay.)
Verse 10
Under the vine and under the fig tree
Messiah’s times
Thus inspiration characterises the reign of the Messiah.
It was to be distinguished by three things.
1. Enjoyment. The very image is delightful. Vines and fig trees were
much prized in the East. They afforded at once delightful fruit for the taste,
and refreshing shade from the heat. Persons therefore regaled themselves under
their branches and leaves,--and thus the expression in time came to signify
happiness. And blessed are the people that know the joyful sound. Wherever the
Gospel came it was received as good news, glad tidings, and it was said of the
receivers, that they walked not only in the fear of the Lord, but in the
comforts of the Holy Ghost.
2. Liberty. Slaves and captives did not sit under their vines and fig
trees. Nor did proprietors in time of war. They were liable to the surprises of
the enemy. Then they disappeared from these loved, but no longer safe,
retreats. In Messiah’s days “Israel shall be saved, and Judah shall dwell
securely.” What have His subjects to fear? Their souls shall dwell at ease.
They are free indeed. They are kept by the power of God.
3. Benevolence. “Ye shall call every man his neighbour under the
vine, and under the fig tree.” There is nothing like selfishness here. They are
anxious that others should partake of their privileges. There is no envy here;
there is no room for it. Here is enough for all. If we are Christians indeed,
our happiness, instead of being impaired by the experience of others, will be
increased by it. Let me invite all that come within my reach to that mercy
which I have found. (William Jay.)
The times of Gospel peace
A second benefit is the taking away of all trouble, and the fear
of trouble, which sin procures; and the giving of peace, represented by peoples
walking abroad, and daring, in the open fields under shades, to invite and call
one another to feasts and enjoyment of the fruits of peace; which promise is
spiritually performed to all the elect when they are assured that God is at
peace with them; and is sometimes outwardly performed to the Church, when it is
for her good, beside what Israel may expect when they shall turn to Christ.
Doctrine--
1. True and sound peace comes only from Christ, and from the sense of
the pardon of sin through His blood, which those who have fled to Christ ought
to take as their allowance to rest confidently upon, whatever danger there be,
and feed upon as the choicest of dainties and feasts.
2. As outward peace and tranquillity in the visible Church and
nation, where it is a great merely if it be well improven; so it shall not be
wanting when it is for her good: for this promise is put in her charter for
that also, and left in the hand of her wise and tender Guide, to dispense it as
He sees may be for her profit, being the “Lord of Hosts,” to make it
forthcoming for her when He pleaseth.
3. As it is a token of a blessed and thorough peace, when with
outward and foreign enemies God removes intestine dissensions; and as amity
among the inhabitants of a nation, especially in the Church, is a blessing and
favour in its own kind; so true, spiritual peace ought to be entertained and
improved by mutual godly society, and communication of conditions and
experiences for common edification. This is signified to us in that peace,
whether inward or outward, is described by “calling every man his neighbour,”
living in amity, and inviting to mutual feasts and banquets. (George
Hutcheson.)
The stone with seven eyes
The prophet Zechariah, for the length of his prophecy, has rather
more than a usual number of allusions to Christ. Among these is the one
contained in the passage before us. The language is metaphorical, and derived
from the arts of architecture and engraving.
I. The stone with
seven eyes. It is generally allowed that this refers directly to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Some, however, understand it of Zerubbabel. But if it be allowed to refer
to him primarily, yet only as a type of Christ; for it is the same person who
is styled “the Branch” in the preceding verse, in Zechariah 6:12, and in other places where
Christ is undoubtedly intended.
1. There are numerous allusions to Christ under the metaphor of a
stone (Exodus 17:6; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Psalms 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Ephesians 2:20).
2. Upon this stone were to be seven eyes. Seven appears to have been
a sacred number among the Jews, and one denoting perfection. Hence we read of
the “seven golden candlesticks”--”the Lamb with seven horns and seven
eyes”--the “seven Spirits of God”--the “book with seven seals”--the “seven
lamps”--the “seven phials”--and here, of the “stone with seven eyes.” Eyes are
explained by commentators to signify intelligence and wisdom. Eyes of the Lord
are to be understood of His omniscience. “The ways of man are before the eyes
of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings” (Proverbs 5:21). “The eyes of the Lord are
in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (chap. 15:3). “He that formed
the eye, shall He not see?” (Psalms 94:9). Now, as seven in the
Scriptures denotes perfection, we are doubtless, by the expression in this
place, to understand that the attributes or qualities signified by it are
infinitely perfect, forasmuch as they are ascribed to God. It is then, at
least, an exhibition of one of the attributes of the infinite Jehovah. Let this
be borne in mind, for we shall soon see Jesus Christ possessing this attribute.
3. By these eyes “being upon this stone” some suppose that we are to
understand the eyes of the Father beholding the Son. But may we not rather
suppose that the seven eyes being upon the stone were designed to signify that
the perfections represented by them should be imparted to and become identified
with it? And may not this be what is intended by the expression, “I will
engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts”? And may we not, then,
suppose that this is an exhibition, by a most beautiful figure, of the
incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ? The engraver was “the Lord of hosts.” And
says John, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father). fall of grace and
truth” (John 1:14). The things engraved on this
stone were the infinite perfections of the Godhead.
II. The work to be
accomplished. “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” The whole
stupendous work of human redemption centres in one single point;--it was
effected by one single act, and that act the work of one single day. The one
act which secures it is the sacrificial offering of Himself. The day on which
it was effected was the day on which Christ suffered, “the just for the
unjust.” Whatever, therefore, was said by way of promise, whatever was revealed
by prophecy, or whatever was exhibited by the rites of the Jewish economy, all
pointed to and centred in the death of Christ the whole scheme of human
redemption was consummated by the one offering of Christ upon the Cross! O my
soul, what a day of interest was that to the world! We have heard of a day on
which a world was involved in the waters of a flood. We have heard of a day on
which whole cities were reduced to heaps of smoking ruins. We have heard of a
day on which one decisive battle determined the fate of empires; yea, and we
have heard of a day on which the tyrannical yoke of foreign usurpation was
broken, and the sweet sound of liberty heard throughout this vast republic. But
what are all these in comparison of that day when all heaven, in breathless
silence, paused and, with an interest” commensurate with the importance,, of
the work beheld the achievement of “the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel”?
III. The effects
winch follow. “In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man
his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.” Here is, then--
1. A spirit of general benevolence. This is a legitimate fruit, or
one of the effects of the great atonement applied to the heart of man. The
first step towards the restoration of society to proper principles of feeling
and action is to remove that principle which first disorganised society, and
which still promotes enmity and separation between man and man. As love is the
ruling principle of the soul, all sordid views and selfish interests are
excluded from the heart of the Christian, and he looks abroad upon all mankind
with a heart flowing with benevolence. He rejoices in the prosperity of the
prosperous, and tenderly sympathises with those who are in adversity. In a
word, he has learned to call every man his neighbour. But wherever this
principle is found in the heart it cannot remain inactive. Hence--
2. A spirit of association. It is not enough for the true Christian
that he has peace, order, and happiness within the sanctuary of his own breast,
nor yet that he feels a spirit of general benevolence towards all mankind. The
language of his heart is, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His
benefits towards me?” The principle of which he is possessed, and by which he
is actuated, ever prompts him to “every good word and work.” Eating together
was by the ancients considered a mark of peculiar respect. It was a ceremony
used not only as a testimony of mutual friendship, but also for the
confirmation of covenants, in the transaction of civil and religious affairs.
The place chosen and sanctioned by custom for these purposes was the shade of
the vine and of the fig tree. The fruit of these was much depended upon both
for nourishment and comfort. Beneath their shade, therefore, was an appropriate
place for the interchange of friendships, and especially for the purpose of
devotion. When, therefore, any one invited his neighbour under the vine and
under the fig tree, it was a testimony of his love, and the expression of a
desire that his neighbour might with him partake of all the temporal and
spiritual blessings of which he himself was a partaker. But viewing these
expressions in their more immediate reference to the effects of the great
atonement, they very clearly designate the spirit by which every true Christian
is actuated towards mankind. It was this spirit, in all its infinite perfection
and fulness, which moved the Father to “give His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” It was
the same love that moved the Son to “give Himself for us, that He might redeem
us from all iniquity,” and that He might “break down the middle wall of
partition” which separated man from God, and man from man; “and in himself of
twain to make one new man, so making peace.” It is the existence and operation
of this spirit, in the hearts of the ministers of Christ, which stimulates them
to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”--to invite
and entreat sinners to be “reconciled to God.” It is the existence and
operation of this spirit which leads Christians to unite their efforts and put
forth their energies in the cause of man. Improvement--
1. That the Christian hath a strong foundation for his faith. In the
first part of this subject we have seen that Jesus Christ, by both prophets and
apostles, is laid in Zion for a “sure foundation.” He therefore, who believes
in Him with a heart unto righteousness, shall not be confounded.
2. We learn from this subject the great privilege of the children of
God. Whatever obstacles lay in the way of our salvation, on account of original
sin, was “removed in one day” by the death of Christ.
3. Finally, we learn from this subject the duty of every Christian.
Was it said that in the day when iniquity should be removed “every” (Christian)
“man should call his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree”? This
prophecy, then, clearly points out the duty of every lover of Christ. Think not
that this duty belongs exclusively to the ministers of the Gospel (Noah
Levings.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》