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Zechariah
Chapter Thirteen
Zechariah 13
Chapter Contents
The Fountain for the remission of sins, The conviction of
the false prophets. (1-6) The death of Christ, and the saving of a remnant of
the people. (7-9)
Commentary on Zechariah 13:1-6
(Read Zechariah 13:1-6)
In the time mentioned at the close of the foregoing
chapter, a fountain would be opened to the rulers and people of the Jews, in
which to wash away their sins. Even the atoning blood of Christ, united with
his sanctifying grace. It has hitherto been closed to the unbelieving nation of
Israel; but when the Spirit of grace shall humble and soften their hearts, he
will open it to them also. This fountain opened is the pierced side of Christ.
We are all as an unclean thing. Behold a fountain opened for us to wash in, and
streams flowing to us from that fountain. The blood of Christ, and God's
pardoning mercy in that blood, made known in the new covenant, are a fountain
always flowing, that never can be emptied. It is opened for all believers, who
as the spiritual seed of Christ, are of the house of David, and, as living members
of the church, are inhabitants of Jerusalem. Christ, by the power of his grace,
takes away the dominion of sin, even of beloved sins. Those who are washed in
the fountain opened, as they are justified, so they are sanctified. Souls are
brought off from the world and the flesh, those two great idols, that they may
cleave to God only. The thorough reformation which will take place on the
conversion of Israel to Christ, is here foretold. False prophets shall be
convinced of their sin and folly, and return to their proper employments. When
convinced that we are gone out of the way of duty, we must show the truth of
our repentance by returning to it again. It is well to acknowledge those to be
friends, who by severe discipline are instrumental in bringing us to a sight of
error; for faithful are the wounds of a friend, Proverbs 27:6. And it is always well for us to
recollect the wounds of our Saviour. Often has he been wounded by professed
friends, nay, even by his real disciples, when they act contrary to his word.
Commentary on Zechariah 13:7-9
(Read Zechariah 13:7-9)
Here is a prophecy of the sufferings of Christ. God the
Father gave order to the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he
freely made his soul an offering for sin. As God, he is called "my
Fellow." Christ and the Father are one. He is the Shepherd who was to lay
down his life for the sheep. If a Sacrifice, he must be slain, for without
shedding of the life-blood there was no remission. This sword must awake
against him, yet he had no sin of his own to answer for. It may refer to the
whole of Christ's sufferings, especially his agonies in the garden and on the
cross, when he endured unspeakable anguish till Divine justice was fully
satisfied. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This passage
our Lord Jesus declares was fulfilled, when all his disciples, in the night wherein
he was betrayed, forsook him and fled. It has, and shall have its
accomplishment, in the destruction of the corrupt and hypocritical part of the
professed church. Because of the sin of the Jews in rejecting and crucifying
Christ, and in opposing his gospel, the Romans would destroy the greater part.
But a remnant would be saved. And if we are his people, we shall be refined as
gold; he will be God, and the end of all our trials and sufferings will be
praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Zechariah》
Zechariah 13
Verse 1
[1] In
that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
A fountain —
The blood of Christ.
Opened —
The spouse is to Christ a fountain sealed, but Christ is to sinners a fountain
opened.
Inhabitants of Jerusalem — The inhabitants of Jerusalem are all to whom the gospel is preached.
For uncleanness —
For purging away all manner of sins and uncleannesses.
Verse 2
[2] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I
will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be
remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass
out of the land.
Cut off — I
will utterly destroy idols and idolatry.
The prophets —
The false prophets.
The unclean spirit —
The devil who sets the false prophets to work.
Verse 3
[3] And
it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and
his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou
speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat
him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
Prophesy —
Falsely.
His father —
His dearest friends.
Shall thrust him through — That is, shall wound, shall chastise him with stripes that may leave
their marks behind.
Verse 4
[4] And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one
of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment
to deceive:
A rough garment —
Such as the true prophets were wont to wear.
Verse 6
[6] And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he
shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
With which I was wounded — To recover me from ruining myself and others by imposture, see verse 3.
Verse 7
[7]
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow,
saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered:
and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
O sword —
Afflictions, persecutions, and the cross.
My shepherd —
Who is my faithful shepherd, and will lay down his life for my sheep.
My fellow —
This speaks Christ; man with us, and God with his father, God-man in one
person.
The shepherd —
This great and good shepherd.
Turn mine hand —
God will turn his hand in favour, and for protection will keep the new, and weak
disciples.
Verse 8
[8] And
it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein
shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
Two parts —
Not precisely two, but the greater part shall die a temporal death, by the
sword of Titus, or in eternal death under unbelief.
The third — A
remnant, the lesser part, shall escape or be preserved.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Zechariah》
13 Chapter 13
Introduction
Verses 1-6
Verses 1-9
Verse 1
In that day there shall be a fountain opened, etc.
The Fountain of Life
To what can the prophet refer but the exclamation of John, “Behold
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.”
I. Explain the
promise.
1. The fountain. This image holds forth the Redeemer. In distinction
from creatures, which are “cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water,”
He may well call Himself the “Fountain of living waters.” He shall possess a
plenitude Himself. The fulness of the Christian is derived and limited: it is
the fulness of a vessel. The vessel is supplied from the fulness of a fountain.
This fountain is the Lord Jesus. His fulness is original and boundless. It is
the fulness of a spring.
2. The fountain was to be opened. A fountain, sealed would be
useless; it would only provoke desire. What would the Saviour’s excellencies
and benefits be to us if unattainable and inaccessible? The fountain was
actually opened in His sufferings. The apostles laid it open doctrinally, in
their preaching and in their epistles.
3. This fountain is opened for sin and for uncleanness. There had
been provisions for ceremonial pollution, under the Mosaic economy. The brazen
sea. Ten layers. See also the Pool of Siloam. Sin is uncleanness. Its very
nature is contamination. Sin is a pollution the most deep and diffusive. The
very conscience is defiled. It is the “abominable thing.” But there is a
fountain that washes out even the stains of the soul,--and of sin. And it was
opened for this very purpose.
II. To improve the
truth contained in the promise. Five classes have a relation to the truth
before us.
1. The ignorant. Such as cry, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”
2. The presumptuous. Antinomian perversion is worse than mere
ignorance.
3. The self-righteous, who hope to cleanse themselves in some other
way.
4. The fearful. For it is no easy thing to satisfy the conscience of
awakened sinners.
5. Those who by faith have applied to the Saviour, and who know by
experience that there is indeed a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. (William
Jag.)
The fountain for sin
I. What they
needed. Two things: deliverance from guilt and condemnation, and deliverance
from sin’s impurity. These are the very blessings for which our text represents
provision has been made. The fountain is opened “for sin and for uncleanness.”
The former meaning “guilt,” the latter “pollution.” The whole context prohibits
our regarding the language as referring to anything ceremonial. The guilt,
contracted, and requiring remission, is the guilt of “piercing,” that is, of
putting to death the true, divinely promised. Messiah, and the “uncleanness”
points to those unholy and hellish principles and dispositions in the soul from
which the guilt originated, by which the fearful act was prompted. The guilt
was deep. The depth of moral debasement and violence was fearful from which
they who had been guilty of it required to be purified.
II. How these
blessings are provided for them.
1. What is the fountain? It is a twofold figure, comprehending the
grace of Christ’s Spirit as well as the virtue of Christ’s blood, cleansing as
well as forgiveness. Theme blessings are always found in union. Christ died
that sinners might be both pardoned and purified; and the two designs were
emblematically indicated by the mingling of the blood and water that flowed
from His pierced heart. The fountain means at once the blood of Christ’s
atonement and the grace of Christ’s Spirit; the one required for forgiveness,
and the other for regeneration and cleansing: the two, however, being
inseparable; the faith which interests in the pardoning virtue of the blood,
being the product of the grace of the Spirit, and the grace of the Spirit effecting
the renewal and sanctification of the soul by means of the doctrine which makes
known the pardoning virtue of the blood: it being the same faith, under the
agency of the same Spirit, which at once justifies and sanctifies. And it is
thus that the blood is represented as the means of purifying as well as of
procuring pardon.
2. When was this fountain opened? When Christ died; when His blood
was shed on the cross, for the remission of sins; when the blood and the water
flowed in union from His pierced side. While strictly and properly, the
fountain was opened then,--it might be said to have been opened from the time
when it came first to be needed,--from the time when man sinned. It was then
opened by anticipation. The first promise opened it. The moment man became a
sinner he needed the two blessings of pardon and sanctification.
3. How is it here said to be opened “in that day”? The answer is,
that although there have now and then, since the judgments of God overtook the
Jewish people for their unbelief, been instances of Jews brought to acknowledge
Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour, and to obtain salvation by faith in Him; yet
to the large mass of that dispersed, and for the time divinely abandoned
people, the fountain has not been open. It has been sealed; sealed by
themselves, and for their unbelief judicially sealed by God. When the time of
mercy arrives the fountain shall, in God’s providence and by God’s grace, be
opened for their cleansing from their guilt and their pollution. It is said of
them, “They shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn.”
4. For what purpose? Two--the washing away of guilt, and the washing
away of moral defilement. Both these purposes were in the mind of God, as to be
alike effected by the mediation of the Son. That the guilt of sin might be
fully taken away, and thus the sinner escape its punishment, atonement was
necessary.
5. For what persons? not simply for the restored of Israel,--but for
the “house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The idea thus conveyed
is that of all ranks, from the royal occupants of the palace to the tenants of
the meanest dwelling. All shall be stricken through with the conviction and
alarm; all shall feel the bitterness of contrition; all shall mourn. And for
all, in like manner, the fountain shall be opened. All shall need it. All shall
have access to it. All shall avail themselves of it. (Ralph Wardlaw, D. D.)
The best fountain
It is a beautiful thing to see a fountain playing. Fountain in the
text is the best fountain. What is meant by this fountain? It means the blood
which Jesus shed when He hung upon the cross. It is in consequence of what
Jesus then suffered--the blood He shed, and the death He died--that God pardons
the sins of men, and saves their souls. It is the best fountain--
1. Because it is easy to get at. No long journey is needed. You may
find it everywhere.
2. It never changes. Other fountains are sometimes in full play, and
sometimes very feeble. Illustrate by the Pool of Bethesda. This is always the
same.
3. Because of its wonderful powers. Some fountains cure diseases and
restore health. This is designed for the souls of men. This has a wonderful
cleansing power, and a wonderful healing power, and a wonderful preserving
power against the worms of pride and selfishness that may imperil our souls, as
they do the good ships; a wonderful beautifying power, and a wonderful saving
power. (R. Newton, D. D.)
Christ our fountain
I. Wherein is
Christ a fountain? When it is said Christ is our fountain, it holds forth two things:
1. Fulness. A fountain is not like a cistern; a cistern may be full,
but the fulness of it may be emptied; so may the fulness of a fountain too, but
then a fountain, or a spring, fills itself again immediately. So doth not a
cistern. A cistern may be full, but it doth not rise up and run over, as a
fountain doth, and that continually. For this reason the corrupt nature in us
is compared to a fountain (Jeremiah 6:7)--bubbling up in vain
thoughts, inordinate desires, corrupt affections. Now, in Jesus Christ there is
a fulness, and it is a fountain-fulness (Colossians 1:19), fulness--all fulness,
and all fulness dwelling, and by the good pleasure of the Father. What is He
full of? The two things that our poor souls have most need of towards the
making of us happy. Merit and righteousness for justification; and spirit and
grace for sanctification. He hath merit enough; His merit is of infinite value,
sufficient to take away all sin (Hebrews 7:25)--able to save. He hath
Spirit enough, to sanctify us throughout, to break the power of every lust, to
strengthen us to every good word and work. He is such a fountain as can open in
us a fountain, springing up into eternal life (John 4:14; John 1:16).
2. Uses--fulness. A fountain is of great use. What striving was there
in Abraham’s time, and Isaac’s time, and Jacob’s time, about wells of water (Genesis 21:1-34; Genesis 26:1-35). When Achsah was to ask
a boon of her father Caleb, Give me, said she, springs of water ( 1:15). Were we to ask but one thing of
our heavenly Father, there were reason it should be, Lord, give us a fountain.
Why, blessed be His name, He hath given us one. Not only springs of water,
useful for our outward man, a land of springs, like Canaan but a Christ, a
Christ for our souls. A fountain of water is useful for three things--
II. What kind of
fountain is the Lord Jesus? As a cleansing fountain He hath these properties.
1. He is full, He hath enough wherewithal to cleanse us; merit
enough, spirit enough. Under the law they had cleansing appointments as to
ceremonial pollutions, but ours is beyond theirs. They had blood, but it was
but the blood of bulls and goats, and that in a bason only; but we have the
blood of the Son of God, not in a bason, but a fountain full of it. They had
water; one particularly, called the water of purification, made of the ashes of
a red heifer. Open and free as to terms. We say--What is freer than a gift? He
is the gift of God (John 4:10), the free gift (Romans 5:1-21.), the unspeakable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15). Though thou
hast no worthiness, no matter, He is worthy. Cordial acceptance makes Him ours.
He forgives freely (Isaiah 43:25).
2. The only fountain. Besides Him there is no other (Acts 4:12). We may think, perhaps, as
Naaman--“Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the
waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?” (2 Kings 5:12). But no other fountain
will do.
III. The
application, in four particulars.
1. Here is matter for thanksgiving to God, who--
2. Here is matter for conviction. Convincing! Of what? Of your need
of this fountain to wash in. That which is unclean doth certainly need washing;
but thou art unclean, I mean, thy soul, thy mind, thy conscience; inwardly,
spiritually. I am sure thou wast so by nature; born in guilt and filth; like an
infant weltering in blood and pollution (Ezekiel 16:1-63). And art thou washed?
When, and how? And by whom, and with what? I am sure that every sin thou hast
committed hath added to that original pollution, and hath made thee more and
more filthy (Psalms 106:39; Matthew 15:19-20). Even vain thoughts (Jeremiah 4:17). So is the world also (James 1:27). Nay, our best duties have
their pollutions (Isaiah 64:6). But there is one particular
kind of sins, those against the seventh commandment, that is especially called
uncleanness. And have we been in no sort guilty of that, neither in thought,
word, nor deed? (Philip Henry.)
The fountain opened
I. A fountain.
Water is much valued in the East. We cannot wonder that spiritual blessings are
so often exhibited to us in Scripture under images borrowed from water. These
images found their way at once to the understandings and feelings of Jewish
men. The Lord Jesus is meant by the text. He is represented as a fountain for a
particular purpose; not for the thirsty to drink from, but for the unclean to
wash in. Here again the text carries us into eastern climes. Bodily ablutions
are much more common there than among us. With the Jews, too, they partook
sometimes of a sacred character. The prophet mentions two things, sin and
uncleanness, but he has only one in his mind--sin under the figure of
uncleanness. Does uncleanness degrade whatever it touches? So has sin degraded
us. Is uncleanness a disgusting and loathsome thing? If there is anything
disgusting in the universe, it is sin. When God calls it by this name, He represents
it as some thing which He cannot bear to look upon. In the text is a remedy for
this hateful evil. It is a suitable, a real, effectual remedy for it. It is a
fountain that can remove uncleanness, and is intended to remove it. This
fountain is nothing else than the precious blood of God’s own dear Son. That
blood was shed for us. As water removes uncleanness from the body, so does this
blood remove the guilt of sin from the soul. It does away with it, frees the
soul from it, makes our condition as safe, and in the end as happy, as though
we had never sinned. This effectual remedy for sin is here described as an
abundant, lasting remedy. Thousands may wash in it, and it will be as
everflowing as ever, able to cleanse thousands and thousands more.
II. For whom this
fountain is intended. For the Jews first, then for all others.
1. The utter insufficiency of all rites and ordinances to cleanse the
soul from sin. Who were these men? The very men to whom pertained the law, with
all its sacrifices. When guilt oppressed or conscience disquieted them, they
could in a few minutes be in their temple, and sharing in its sacrifices and
service. But the text addresses them as if they were the very heathen. All
their legal ordinances could not expiate their guilt. I is the same with our
Christian sacraments. God has ordained them, not to take away sin, but to keep
us mindful of it, and of that blood which can take it away.
2. We are taught here the all-sufficiency of Christ’s blood to
cleanse the soul. There is no guilt too great for the blood of Christ to wash
out, no sinner whom He cannot recover and save.
III. The time when
this fountain shall be opened to these sinful men. “In that day.” The day of
our Lord’s crucifixion. They point also to a day yet to come, when the Jews as
a nation shall be brought to repentance and the reception of Christ. Learn--
1. There can be no real knowledge of Christ without repentance.
2. Wherever there is real repentance there also will God give in the
end a real knowledge of His salvation. Would that we might all learn from this
Scripture to seek for ourselves a deeper consciousness of sin, a more heartfelt
and abiding sorrow on account of it! (C. Bradley.)
The fountain for sin and uncleanness
The prophet leads us to consider the legal uncleannesses so much
and so fully developed in the Old Testament, and leads us through them to look
at the great disease of sin--the leprosy of the soul.
I. The great
uncleanness--the spiritual leprosy of the soul. This is that that defileth a
man. It is not poverty; it is not sickness nor disease--however terrible or
however sinful. That which defileth a man. This inward leprosy maketh a man an
offence to God. This evil pervadeth the world, and yet men are as insensible of
it as if there were no truth in it.
II. A fountain open
for sin and for uncleanness. The fountain is the blood of Jesus. A bubbling
fountain, ever full, ever abundant.
III. This fountain
is said to be opened. Formerly, this fountain exclusively belonged to the
priests and to the Jews; now, it is for the whole house of David, and for all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. There it stands, a fountain without cover, open
and free for the very vilest. (J. H. Evans.)
The fountain opened
The text contains one important prediction which was fulfilled in
Christ. It relates to the consequences of His death, with regard to His people,
and shows of what great importance this event was to the whole Christian
Church. The accomplishment shows with what confidence and comfort we may rely
on the great doctrine of the atonement which it involves.
I. The promise of
provision to be made against the effects of sin.
1. The prophet speaks of a fountain to be opened. A fountain is
properly the source or spring head of waters. Springs or fountains are called,
“living,” when they never cede or intermit, but are always sending forth their
streams.
2. The blood of Christ was shed expressly, by appointment of God, and
by covenant with the Son of God, for the expiation of human guilt, and for the
cleansing and purifying of sinful men.
3. There is an inexhaustible fulness and sufficiency of merit in this
blood of the Redeemer for the complete expiation of human sin. In its atoning
and cleansing properties, the blood of Immanuel is as infinite as the mercy of
God which it procures for sinners, and for the exercise of which it prepares
the way.
4. This blood of Jesus Christ may he appropriated to the case and
wants of any sinner that comes. Sinners may apply believingly to this blood,
and obtain from it, not only the cleansing they require, but also plenteous
forgiveness, substantial peace, and animating hope.
II. The persons for
whom this provision against the effects of sin is promised.
1. By this expression the prophet intended primarily God’s ancient
people, the Jews. But the Jews, as the peculiar people of God, were a type of
Christians, and His people everywhere, It is no presumption in us to conclude,
as we have already assumed, that this promised provision is intended for us.
2. The double phrase may denote both rich and poor in God’s Church.
III. The time when
the promise was to be verified. The promise was actually fulfilled on the day
of the Saviour’s crucifixion on Calvary. (J. Jaques, M. A.)
The opened fountain
The application of this prophecy to Messiah is beyond all doubt.
It contains the announcement of a divinely appointed and effectual remedy for
the guilt and misery of man.
1. The certainty of this provision. “There shall be a fountain.”
2. The perpetuity of this provision.
3. The freeness of this provision.
4. The sufficiency of this provision. (W. G. Barrett.)
The Lord Jesus Christ a fountain
I. In what sense
may the Lord Jesus be depicted as the fountain opened? In opposition to those
many broken cisterns of human invention to which men are prone to apply. In opposition
to those rivulets, those brooks, which are occasionally good, but which soon
flow away and are lost. Under the law there were various layers prepared for
the purpose of purifying from ceremonial guilt and pollution. Jesus is a
fountain in opposition to all these types and images. The Lord Jesus is the
fountain, because He Himself in His own power, in His own essence, contains
inexhaustible and perpetual fulness.
II. For what
purpose the Lord Jesus is this fountain. For sin and for uncleanness. All sin
is uncleanness. Repeating the expression gives more enlarged views of the
efficacy of faith, and the grace of our Lord. For the purpose of giving comfort
and peace to the believer the terms are doubled. This fountain cleanses not
only from the guilt of sin, but also from the accusing and terrifying power of
sin in the conscience.
III. To whom is it
opened? “The house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem.” In the East there
were often contentions over fountains; this one is free to all. An open
fountain, to which all ranks, all stations, all ages, all conditions, may
repair. (Archdeacon Law.)
The fountain opened
I. The fountain
that is opened.
1. The plenitude of Divine grace. It is not a wasting stream, that
soon exhausts its store, but a never-failing fountain, ever flowing in
plenteous supplies for every demand. The Lord Jehovah is emphatically styled,
“The God of all grace.” Millions have been refreshed by this fountain, and
still it is undiminished. There is “enough for all, and enough for evermore.”
2. The freeness of Divine grace. It is not a fountain sealed up, and
forbidden; but freely opened and accessible to all. None are excluded from
participating its richest blessings (Revelation 22:17). No personal merit, or
moral worthiness, is required in its willing recipients.
II. The period when
it was opened. “In that day,” etc. When this expression occurs in the prophetic
writings, it generally refers to the actual appearing, or spiritual reign of
the Messiah. But we ought to notice respecting this fountain, that--
1. It was virtually opened in the original scheme of redemption.
According to God’s gracious promise to mankind, Christ is called, “The Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world.”
2. It was actually opened in the mediatorial work of the Redeemer.
When the fulness of time was come, Christ was manifested in the flesh, to
accomplish the will of God, and procure the salvation of sinners. He then fully
opened this fountain, by fulfilling all righteousness in His own
person--becoming the propitiation for our sins--rising again for our
justification--ascending to heaven to be our Advocate with the Father--and
diffusing an enlarged dispensation of the Holy Ghost; it was ministerially
opened in the labours and writings of the Apostles, as “ambassadors for Christ”
(1 Corinthians 1:23-24; 1 Corinthians 1:30); and it still
continues open.
III. The people to
whom it is opened. “The house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” It
is very evident--
1. This fountain was primarily opened to the Jews. To the Jews Christ
was promised, and to them He came as His own people, according to the flesh.
His personal ministry was generally confined to them; and He commanded His
apostles to open their commission at Jerusalem, and preach the Gospel first to
the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Luke 24:46-47).
2. This fountain is now graciously opened to the Gentiles. The
blessings of the Messiah were not to be confined to the Jewish Church, He was
sent to be a light of the Gentiles, and for salvation to the ends of the
earth.” “By the grace of God He tasted death for every man.”
IV. The purpose for
which it is opened. It is “for sin and for uncleanness.” This implies--
1. A fountain is opened for the expiation of sin. The death of Christ
was a perfect sacrifice, by which an atonement was made for the sins of
mankind.
2. A fountain is opened for the destruction of sin. It must not only
be sacrificially expiated, but personally destroyed. The Son of God effects
this destruction by the merit of His death, and the operation of His grace (Titus 2:14). All sin is moral
uncleanness, and spreads its infectious disease through every power, both of
body and soul. The ceremonial purifications under the law were emblematic of
the efficacy of this fountain (Hebrews 9:13-14). (Skeletons of
Sermons.)
The fountain opened
The fulfilment of this prophecy has never yet taken place, and
will probably be considerably posterior to our times. Though not fulfilled to
the Jews, yet, to us the fountain is opened.
I. What is this
fountain? The ancient Jews had their sacrifices, and purifying oblations. They have
now been long without a sacrifice and a priesthood. We are not to understand
that these Levitical fountains will be opened again, as some have dreamed. The
blood of animals might be an instituted means of taking away a ceremonial
guilt, which yet left the sinner as he was before, in regard to the Governor of
the world; but it had no fitness to take away moral guilt, because it failed in
the two great principles of a true atonement,--a manifestation of the evil of
sin, and a demonstration of God’s righteous government. These meet in Christ,
who is the true fountain.
II. Its efficacy.
In the removal of “sin and uncleanness.”
1. Sin is the “transgression of the law.” The law is transgressed in
three ways,--by a violation of its precepts, by a neglect of its injunctions,
and by a defect in its observance. Bringing all under the penalty of death.
2. Uncleanness (margin, “separation for uncleanness”). Allusion to
arrangements in the Levitical system; typical of the manner in which sin
separates between the soul and God.
III. The day when
the fountain is opened. The day of our Lord’s crucifixion. The day when the
Gospel is first preached in a heathen land. The day when a “Spirit of grace and
supplication” is poured out. Whenever a penitent mourns. In every means of
grace, that pardon may be repeated, and our sinful nature cleansed. We need
never attend any of the ordinances of religious worship without receiving a
renewed application of the blood of Christ, and a fresh communication of
sanctifying grace. (R. Watson.)
The fountain opened
In the text the prophet anticipates the personal manifestation of
the Messiah, and the unspeakable benefits to mankind from His atoning
sacrifice.
I. The fountain
that is opened. Fountain is a metaphor. It represents the mediatorial character
of Christ. As the source and medium of salvation to the human race. A fountain
opened implies--
1. The plenitude of Divine grace. It is a never-failing fountain,
ever flowing in plenteous supplies for every demand.
2. The freeness of Divine grace. It is not sealed, but freely opened,
and accessible to all.
II. The period when
it was opened. “In that day.” This expression, in the prophetic writings,
generally refers to the actual appearing, or spiritual reign of Messiah. It
refers to Christ’s assumption of our nature, and sacrifice for our sins.
1. It was virtually opened in the original scheme of redemption.
2. It was actually opened in the mediatorial work of the Redeemer.
III. The people to
whom it is opened.
1. This fountain was primarily opened to the Jews.
2. It is now graciously opened to the Gentiles.
IV. The purpose for
which it is opened. It is “for sin and for uncleanness.” This implies--
1. A fountain is opened for the expiation of sin. The death of Christ
was a perfect sacrifice, by which an atonement was made for the sins of
mankind.
2. A fountain is opened for the destruction of sin. The ceremonial
purifications under the law were emblematic of the efficacy of this fountain. (C.
Simeon, M. A.)
The new economy of grace
It is not to the advent of a person, or to the occurrence of any
historical event, that the prophecy in the beginning of this section refers:
what is announced is the establishment of the economy of grace, the bringing in
of the kingdom of God, free access to which should be given to all, small and
great. There was provision made for the cleansing from sin and uncleanness of
all without respect of persons; the Jew first, but also the Greek. The
manifestation of this was by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who came
to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; but it is the thing done rather
than the doer of it that is here announced. It is for the house of David and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem that this fountain is said to be opened. They seem
to err grievously, however, who infer from this that this prophecy refers to
the final conversion of the Jewish people. The prophets are wont to describe
the new dispensation in language borrowed from the condition and usages of the
old, and we interpret them aright when keeping this in view, we understand
their descriptions, not as representations of simple historical facts, but as
serving as the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, and as finding their
fulfilment in crises and conditions of the kingdom of God on earth. They go
upon the presumption that the Israel of God was never to be abolished, that its
continuity was never to be interrupted, that though the outward national Israel
might be cast off, because of their rejection of the Good Shepherd, the true
Israel, the reality of which the other was but the symbol, the Israel that was
really Israel, should continue forever. This idea our Lord and His Apostles
adopted, and in their teaching and administrations carried out. (W. L.
Alexander, D. D.)
A fountain for sin
Remission of sins and sanctification, purging away the guilt of
sin by the grace of God in forgiving sins through Christ’s blood, and the
virtue of His blood applied by the Spirit, and laid hold upon by faith, for
purging all uncleanness of sin; this is compared to a springing fountain made
open to all, in opposition to the small measure of water carried into the
temple for legal washings. This benefit will be very conspicuous toward
converted Israel, when the Redeemer shall turn iniquity from Jacob.
1. The great and chief privilege of the Gospel is remission and
purging of sin, which, as they are only attainable through faith laying hold on
Christ’s blood and the grace of God offered through Him in the Gospel, so
without these, no other advantages by the Gospel will avail much, or be
comfortable.
2. The free grace of God toward lost man, and the virtue of Christ’s
blood is a treasure inexhaustible, and which cannot be overcome, with the
greatness and multiplicity of sin in those who flee unto it, for it is a fountain
or spring.
3. Pardon and virtue for purging of sin is not only purchased, and
the way to it made patent, by the death of Christ, giving access unto God
through Him; but is held forth in the offer of the Gospel and ministry of the
Word, that none may pretend ignorance, nor any who need it seclude themselves
from so free an offer, “A fountain opened.”
4. As the greatest must be in Christ’s reverence for this benefit,
even those who have greatest gifts and are rulers of others, so the meanest in
the Church, however they be not equal to others in gifts, yet have a like
interest with them in this saving benefit.
5. When the Lord pours out upon His people the spirit of repentance
and humiliation, it is a forerunner of ample manifestations of the grace of
God, in opening up the treasures of the Gospel by the ministry of the Word, and
in granting of pardon, and growth in purity. For, when “the land shall mourn,”
“ in that day there shall be a fountain opened.” (George Hutcheson.)
A word full of Gospel
The twelfth chapter of Zechariah is principally occupied
with the indications of some particular day. Thus, we read again and again: “In
that day” (verse 3); “In that day” (verse 4); “In that day” (verse 6); “In that
day” (verse 8); “In that day” (verse 9); and “In that day,” in the opening of
the thirteenth chapter--“In that day there shall be a fountain opened.” The
reference is not in reality to some particular day; the day was not the same,
the calendar was filled with that particular day, and yet the day was singular
from all other days round about it. In all the previous instances we find
nothing equal to the music that is discoverable in the opening of the
thirteenth chapter. We read, “In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome
stone”; “In that day I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider
with madness”; “In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth
of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf”; “In that day
shall there be great mourning in Jerusalem”; but now, in the thirteenth
chapter, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened for sin and for
uncleanness”--a fountain of water, a living fountain, hidden all the time in
the rock; not a new fountain, the fountain was always there, but not always
open; its existence was recognised by many a ceremonial action. We read of
water in the Book of Numbers that is known in the literal Hebrew as “the sin
water,” that is to say, the water that was applied to the cleansing of moral
and spiritual offences, We delight to give an evangelical interpretation to
this fountain. We call Jesus Christ the Son of God, the fountain that was
opened for sin and for uncleanness. He offered to make men clean, He offered to
refresh the souls of men with living water; He is described as the Water of
earth, or the Water of heaven. David did not open the fountain, the fountain
was opened in his house; the very grammar suggests an external and
superintending act. In this living fountain we recognise God’s supreme miracle.
For whom is the fountain opened? For a special class, and for that class only.
It is not opened for Pharisees, righteous persons, or those who would carve
their own way to heaven. This fountain is opened for sin and for uncleanness.
Is any man conscious of sin? Here is the fountain. Has any man sat down by
rivers of water and taken to him soap and nitre, and tried to cleanse his life
of sin stains, and has consciously and pitiably failed in his attempt? Here is
the fountain opened for uncleanness. Have we tried this fountain? Until we have
tried it we cannot condemn it; until we have gone to it and sat beside it and
invoked the spirit of its Creator, we cannot tell what virtue it possesses. (Joseph
Parker, D. D.)
The fountain of life
Old mythology tells of one who discovered in his wanderings a
fountain of peculiar qualities, and on bathing in it, found himself endowed
with immortality. In the Holy Scripture this fiction is turned into solid fact.
The Saviour’s fulness is original and boundless; the fulness of a spring always
flowing and never diminished. The whole abundance of God’s free grace is poured
unto us from this unfailing source. The fountain of life was opened on the day
when the Divine Redeemer suffered and died for us. During the brief period of
our Saviour’s ministry, the fountain flowed in partial streams, but at His
death it was fully and forever opened. The Mosaic law had made ample provision
for ceremonial pollution, and there were pools, like that of Siloam, where
bodily disease might be cured, but the soul must be washed in another fountain.
The stains of sin were so deep and so pervading, that even the conscience
itself was defiled, and “the everlasting benediction of God’s heavenly
washing,” could alone render the soul meet for His presence and glory. Such provision,
accordingly, has been made, and a fountain has been opened for sin and for
uncleanness. There are those who hope to cleanse themselves by some methods of
their own. Would God have opened this fountain, if any other would have
sufficed? The fountain stands open in the means of grace; in the invitations of
God’s Word; in the nearness, the power, the grace of our adorable Lord and
Saviour. (John N. Norton.)
The gospel age
I. It is a “day”
for the abounding of sin cleansing influences.
To the Jews, washing from sin and ceremonial impurity was an idea
with which they were well acquainted. It was enjoined by the law (Numbers 8:7, see also Ezekiel 36:25). That sin and uncleanness
are in the world. This is a fact written in all history, patent to every man’s
observation and consciousness.
2. The removal of sin is the world’s great necessity. Its existence
is the cause of all the miseries of the world, physical, social, political,
religious.
3. Provision for its removal abounds. “A fountain opened.” Sin and
uncleanness are not an essential part of human nature. Men have lived without
sin, and men in heaven do now. It is a mere stain on human nature, separable
from it, and the means of separation are provided, provided in the Gospel. It
is a fountain.
This implies--
1. Abundance. It is not a rill, a brook, a lake, but a fountain. What
is the fountain? Infinite love. This implies--
2. Freeness. Flowing, ever open to all. This implies--
3. Perpetuity. The hottest sun does not dry up the fountain. It has
an under connection with the boundless deep.
II. It is a “day”
in which idolatry shall be utterly abolished. What a blessed age will that be,
when all men on the face of the earth shall have their souls centred in love
and devotion on the one great and common Father of us all!
III. It is a “day”
in which all false religious teachings shall cease. “And I will cause the
prophets and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land,” etc.
1. False religious teachers are great curses to a community. This is
implied in the promise here of their destruction. They deceive souls on the
most vital of all points.
2. False religious teachers may become objects of indignation even to
their nearest relations. Thank God there is an age of reality coming, an age
when men will recoil from shams as from “demons vile.”
3. False teachers will on this “day” be ashamed to exercise their
mission. If any false prophets should continue to exercise their function, they
will have to do it--
Should their disclaiming be questioned, they will take shelter in
falsehood. “And one shall say unto Him, what are these wounds in Thine hands?
Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My
friends.”
Christ cleanses as well as forgives
A criminal, condemned by our law to die, can only be spared by the
King empowering the Home Secretary to reprieve or pardon. Even then to remove
the stain that must always rest upon that person’s character is utterly beyond
the power of them both. How different with Jesus. His power is unlimited. He
not only is able to forgive sins, but He can cleanse away every trace of guilt,
and present us faultless unto God.
The cleasing fountain
“A fountain,” says James Bailie, “not a stagnant pool or a
sluggish canal, but a torrent, a waterfall. God’s love flows forth like a great
river over the Rock of Ages. Men bathe in that fountain, and their sins are
swept away into the dead sea of God’s forgetfulness. God has pardoned
transgressions, the very recital of which would have utterly destroyed our
faith in human nature. One of the strongest proofs of Divine origin of
Christianity is that it has received in its embrace liars, swindlers, and
adulterers, and having cleansed and purified them, made them ornaments of
society.”
The remedy near at hand
Do you know that the wound that Hedley Vicars received before
Sebastopol was not necessarily fatal? It was a wound that was very common, and
a wound over which the surgeons had complete control, yet he died. How was it?
It was because, in the hurry and haste of the march in the grey morning from
the heights of the Crimea, the tents where the stores were, were left behind.
Had there been a bandage near, had there been lint and cotton wool near, Hedley
Vicars would have been saved; but he bled his life away before they could reach
the tents. Ah, David tells you today that the tents where God’s supplies are,
are never too far away. Blessed be God, the bandages, and lint, and healing
efficacy of the blood of Christ, are not confined to Calvary, where it was
shed. Here it flows. Oh, plunge into the fountain that was opened for sin! (John
Robertson.)
The sense of sin
The sense of sin, we are told, is weaker today than it once was.
Are we quite sure, if we could penetrate beneath the crust of men’s reserve? An
American humorist has put it, but oh! so truly, “In his heart of hearts no man
can have much respect for himself.” In our heart of hearts, in our moments of
colloquy with ourselves, when we feel ourselves to be in the presence of
another whom we cannot name, we accuse ourselves, and there is no escape from
the accusation and its penalty. The sense of sin may be outwardly weaker, but
you are always upon safe ground if you appeal to the condemned conscience that
is in every man. We have seen our life is marred by the presence of sin; and
that mournful fact is not partial but universal. Touch the man and you touch
one who has been seared and scored by the presence of an enemy, and that enemy
is sin. (R. J. Campbell, B. A.)
Verse 6
What are these wounds in Thine hands?
The Christianising of Christianity
Christ, or Christianity--the system of thought and life which
bears the name of Christ--has been injured by its friends, more, perhaps, than
by its enemies. The process of Christianising modern Christianity is a process
of purification, of elimination, of dropping what is inferior, of what is a
mere misrepresentation; a process of exalting those great spiritual principles
that Christ brought into the world, and for which He gave His life. The
question is asked, Why is it that Christianity has not yet conquered the world?
Christianity did not succeed in the East, its triumphs were only in the West,
and we are hearing on every hand today that the forces of Christianity in the
Western World seem to be spent. We are even told it is not holding its own
against the advancing intelligence of Europe and America. I don’t believe these
objections are true. I believe real Christianity is conquering and has
conquered. I believe that real Christianity is holding its own against this
advancing intelligence. I do but mention these objections to call attention to
the process that is going on in these days--the process of eliminating from
this current popular Christianity that which is unreal in it, and does not
belong to it. The first great mistake of the Church was the association of Christianity
with the State. Christianity ceasing to be a spiritual religion, and becoming
simply a political system allied to the existing Government. Christianity was
made into a vast secularised power. Hardly had Christianity time to show what
was in it, and what it could do, than the stormy barbarisms of Europe broke
upon it, and a wild sea of barbarian tribes surged and heaved where once the
cultured fields of the Old World had been. There was thus destruction of
civilisation, and there could be no greater proof of the vitality that was at
the heart of Christianity, than the fact that after this storm had spent
itself, the Church was the only power that raised its head. The sight that met
the Church might have appalled the stoutest heart. Half-naked savages were
masters of the world. As we look back on the conversion of the barbarians, it
was very wonderful, but at the same time most unsatisfactory. It is idle to
blame the past. It is the very genius of Christianity to take the world as it
finds it, and bring out of its evils and errors some love of goodness and
truth. Hallam says, “Had religion been more pure, it would have been less
permanent, and Christianity has been saved by means of its corruptions.” The
corruptions of medievalism encased the spiritual truths of Christ which were
too pure and lofty for that generation to receive. The Church consecrated
almost all the ceremonies of the barbarians, and absorbed a great many of their
superstitions. Medieval Christianity is not the Christianity of Christ. It is
an amalgam; a union of three things,--the simplicity of Christ; Roman
imperialism; and barbarian superstitions. There was, at the time of the
Reformation, a great protest against Roman imperialism, and a grave protest
against the barbarian superstitions; and these protests are going on today. On
the political side it is going on in all Protestant countries. On the religious
side, it is the movement which aims to bring to the front what is distinctively
Christian. So that when it is said that Christianity has spent its force in the
West, that it is not holding its own against advancing intelligence, that
missionary triumphs are not so great today as in the apostolic era, we must
remember that Christianity has not yet had time to free itself from the alliance
with the State, nor yet had time to free itself from barbarian superstitions;
and that this process is going on today. It is a process that we can all see
going on before our eyes. (K. C. Anderson, D. D.)
Christ wounded in the house of His friends
Wittingly or unwittingly, through a culpable negligence or haste,
Christ is wounded in His cause, or in His spiritual body, in the house of His
friends.
1. He is wounded when Christians grow cold in zeal, slack in duty, or
forgetful of their solemn vows. They show indifference, ingratitude,
selfishness.
2. When His cause is injured by the unbecoming conduct of His
followers. Scandal in the Church is scandal heaped upon His name.
3. When indifference is shown by them to the success of the
instrumentalities by which His cause is promoted. These instrumentalities are
vital with Christ, as though His blood flowed through them, and His voice spake
by them, and His heart beat in them. He is in the word, the sermon, the prayer,
the praise.
4. By inattention to the Gospel, with its messages of duty, its
invitations and exhortations.
5. By their lack of sympathy and cooperation within their sphere,
with the institutions of charitable beneficence for the spread of the Gospel.
6. When Christians, instead of keeping the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace, treat one another with superciliousness and bitterness; when
their intercourse is not marked by that gentleness and forbearance which the
Gospel requires. Here looks may be daggers, and words blows. And are there not
those who, by inconsistent conduct, by neglect of the ordinances of the
sanctuary, by worldliness, by passion, by unbrotherly feeling and act,
dishonour their profession, disregard their solemn vows, and do injury to the
cause of Christ? Is it not a fact, that all the assaults of infidelity, all the
rage of profanity, all the recklessness of vice and crime, do far less to check
the power of the Gospel than the scandals and offences of professed disciples?
(E. H. Gillet.)
The unkindness of friends
I. Who is the
person mentioned as being wounded? No other than the great God, our Creator and
Redeemer, the “Man Christ Jesus.” It was this mysterious man, this God-man, of
whom the prophet inquires in the words of our text, “What are these wounds in
Thy hands?”
II. What is meant
by being “wounded in the house of his friends”? This “fair world” is meant by
“the house of His friends.” “All things were made by Him.” The house of His
friends was His own house; He built it for them; He came into it because He had
a right to; He came into it to do them good, to save them from their wickedness
and woe; but they wounded Him, and cast Him out. You all know the history of
the Divine Jesus, who was “wounded for our transgressions.” In what sense can
they be called His “friends” who used Him thus? I may call a man my friend in
one or both of two senses.
1. Because he acts a friendly part towards me, though I have not
deserved it; or,
2. Because I act a friendly part towards him, though he has not
deserved it. A man may be a friend to me; or I may be a friend to him. Christ
calls us friends, because He was a friend to us, though we were no friends to
Him.
III. What is meant
by its being mentioned that He was wounded in the hands? By the feet are
signified the ways or goings of a man, his moral conduct. By the hands are
signified the works of a man, or the deeds of his life in general. The hands
are the instruments of the heart, or will, or mind, or soul. In the house of
His friends, Jesus was taunted with all His good deeds. His hands were pierced,
because He wrought His Father’s will; and His feet were nailed because He chose
His Father’s ways.
IV. What think you
of the Creator and Proprietor of the world being thus dealt with by His
ungrateful creatures? Nevertheless, He deigns to designate them by the gracious
name of friends. What think you of the human beings who could persecute to
death the benefactor that was come to bless them, to buy them with His blood?
Can you possibly be guilty of their crime? Every evil deed you do crucifies the
Lord of Glory. (W. H. Henslowe, M. A.)
Wounded by friends
The prophet says, that such would be the discipline among the new
people after having repented that each in his own house would chastise his sons
and relatives: and it is an evidence of perfect zeal, when not only judges
perform their office in correcting wickedness, but when also private
individuals assist to preserve public order, each according to his power. We
may gather from the answer what proves true repentance. “Say will” one (it is put
in definitely), or it will be said, “What mean these wounds in Thine hands?”
Then He will say, “I have been stricken by My friends.” The prophet shows that
those who had previously deceived the people, would become new men, so as
patiently to bear correction; though it might seem hard when the hands are
wounded and pierced, yet he says that the punishment, which was in itself
severe, would yet be counted mild, for they would be endued with such meekness
as willingly to bear to be corrected. Some apply this to Christ, because
Zechariah has mentioned wounds on the hands; but this is very puerile; for it
is quite evident that he speaks here of false teachers, who had for a time
falsely pretended God’s name. As then they say, that they were friends by whom
they were smitten, they acknowledge themselves worthy of such punishment, and
they murmur not, nor set up any complaint. (Marckins, Adam Clarke, and
Henderson, agree with Calvin in repudiating the notion that this verse is to be
understood of the Crucifixion of our Saviour,--a notion commonly entertained by
papal expositors.) (John Calvin.)
Wounded by friends
There is no wound so painful as the wound inflicted by a familiar
friend. The secret devices of the hireling may be anticipated. The blows of an
avowed foe can be healed. The neglect of the proudly indifferent can be
endured. But the slight of a friend, the faithlessness of the lover, inflicts a
wound for which earth provides no cordial and no balm. “Mine own familiar
friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel
against me.” when, in the palace of the High Priest, in the dim light of the
early morning, “one of the officers, which stood by, struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand,” the wound was only skin deep; but when in the outer court of that
same palace a friend called Peter was saying, “I know not the man,” the wound
was attended with an agony. When the chief priests and elders “gave large money
unto the soldiers” to induce them to give false witness, the pangs of the crucifixion
were intensified; but when “Barnabas also was carried away with dissimulation,”
our Lord was crucified afresh. I am not doubting the friendship; nay, it is
essential to my purpose that we should quietly assume its sincerity and its
strength. I am not now dealing with masked foes, who wear the King’s livery,
who have caught the King’s tones and expression, but who are inwardly fiercely
and determinedly hostile to His claim and dominion. No, I speak of His genuine
friends, friends as genuine as Simon Peter, and I want to speak of some of the
ways in which we sorely wound Him when He abides beneath our roof.
1. We wound our Lord by our destructive zeal. Zeal is a very
essential element in the religious life. It is as welcome a thing in the
indifferent world as a warm fire on a winter’s night. Zeal is genial and
heartening. It keeps the affections fresh and radiant; it provides the
requisite atmosphere in which all the powers of the life can attain their
maturity. If the flame of zeal be in any way corrupted it works against the
kingdom of our Lord. If the fire of zeal be kept clean it is the friend of
life, if it become unclean it is the friend of death. The pure fervour may so
easily become an evil fever! when we assume we are working in hallowed zeal.
“Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him, because
he followed not with us.” How friendly was the disposition to the Lord, and how
strong and decisive the act! A fiery zeal for truth was being corrupted into a
clouded passion for sect. “Master, wilt Thou that we call down fire from heaven
to consume them?” How zealous, and yet how blind! It is always so much easier
to burn your enemies than to convert them. You know what kind of armour is used
by an illiberal zeal. In the supposed interests of the Kingdom we use methods
of misrepresentation, misinterpretation, exaggeration--I do not say wilfully,
for that would place us outside the ranks of the Master’s friends, but blinded
by our perverted zeal--and the issue of such warfare is not the discomfiture of
the devil but the wounding of the Lord. We detach things from their context.
2. We wound our Lord by our thoughtless kindness. “And they brought
unto Him little children, that He should touch them and the disciples rebuked
them.” The disciples acted in presumed kindness to their Master, and yet how
unkind was the ministry! They were protecting the Lord because He was tired,
saving Him from the embarrassment of the multitude. Their purpose was right;
the means they employed were thoughtless. And it frequently happens that even
when our deeds are right, the manner in which we perform them is offensive. We
can wound the Lord by the clumsy way in which we serve Him. There are some men
who boast of their want of refinement. We are responsible to God both for the
man and the manner. It is not enough that we serve Him; we must serve Him in a
way that will make no wounds. “Let your light so shine!” It is not enough that
the light is shining; we are to take pains that it shines in the right way.
There are well-meaning men who throw their kindness at you. All such kindness
wounds the Lord Himself. “What are these wounds in Thine hands?” They are the
wounds the Master received from the clumsy kindness of His friends.
3. We wound our Lord by our faithlessness when in the warfare of life
the odds are against us. It is easy to be His friends when He walks along the
palm-strewn ways of Jerusalem, and everybody vies with everybody else in
acclaiming Him the King of Glory. But when the crowd melts away, and the
minority is very small, it is so easy to become ashamed of the leader and to
say: “I know not the man.” Our true friends are revealed when we are “down.”
The nightingale is lovely, not because his song is sweeter than the note of the
thrush, but because he sings in the night. And this is just our Lord’s
friendship; He is at His best when we are at our weakest. If I am in company,
and the intercourse is unseemly, am I a friend of the Lord or a deserter? I
would far rather be called a prig by the men of the world than be known as a
faithless friend of my Lord. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
The wounds of Jesus
The wounds of Jesus speak more eloquently than words.
I. Of what do they
speak to us?
1. Of the love of God. How full the Bible is of messages of God’s
love.
2. Of sin.
3. Of forgiveness, intercession, and atonement.
II. To whom do
these wounds speak?
1. To the children of God. To the advanced Christian ripe for glory.
To him they speak of the heavenly perfection to which the Captain of our
salvation attained through the suffering of which they are the sign. To those
just starting out in the Christian life. To such they point to the path of
suffering for His sake; that by the fellowship of suffering we may also be
united with Him in His glory. To those who have been unfaithful and neglectful
of duty. To these they speak reproach, that they have wounded the Lord afresh,
and the voice of tender appeal that they may repent and return to Him.
2. To the doubting, trembling inquirer who has not yet accepted the Lord
as his Saviour, and to the hardened unbeliever.
III. By whom
inflicted? The text says they were received in the “house of His friends.” You
ask how the friends of Christ may wound Him?
1. By indifference. The present indifference of the Church greatly
wounds the Divine heart of our Lord.
2. By opposition. Many things that are being done by His professed
followers are out of harmony with His desires, and therefore must wound Him.
3. By preferring other persons and other things to Him. He wants the
first place in the hearts of all His disciples, and not to give it to Him
wounds Him. (J. I. Blackburn, D. D.)
Verses 7-9
Verse 7
Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd
The sword of Jehovah smiting His Shepherd
We have our Lord’s own authority for applying this passage
to Himself.
I. The description
here given us of Him. In looking at the terms in which our Lord is here
described, we are struck at once with the natural manner in which they bring
together His Divine and human nature. This mode of describing Him is of
frequent occurrence in the Old Testament. It seems as though the Holy Spirit
exulted beforehand in that union of the two natures, which was to be
accomplished in His nature, and wished the ancient Church also to foresee and
exult in it. In the text, He is described in the same twofold character. He is
a man, and yet “the man that is My fellow,” saith the Lord of hosts. “My
fellow” signifies “my equal,” “my companion.” It is expressive of our Lord’s
Divine equality with the Father, and His eternal existence with Him. It
intimates exactly what St. John afterwards plainly declared,--“The Word was
with God, and the Word was God.” But He is man as well as God. Not, however,
originally, naturally man, as He was God. Here is an anticipation of a
character He afterwards took on Him. And this assumption of our nature was
necessary for the work of suffering He had to go through. In this human nature,
He is set forth in the text under a third character. He is a shepherd. So
called because the charge of His people devolves upon Him; because He performs
towards them a shepherd’s part, watching over, providing for, and guiding them.
He is called God’s shepherd, because the flock under His charge is God’s flock,
a flock committed to Him by God, to be rendered back by Him to God again. Happy
they who are fed by Him.
II. the command
given by Jehovah. It is couched in figurative and highly poetic language. The
Lord places Himself on the throne of a king or magistrate. They who bear these
offices have often a sword near them as an emblem of their authority, and if
need be, a ready instrument to execute any sentence they may pass on the
guilty. Here the Lord describes Himself as suddenly addressing the sword near
Him, and calling on it to smite, not the guilty but His own Son, and Him as
shepherd.
1. We see in it that the sufferings of our Lord were divinely
appointed. The persecuting Jews indeed were willing agents in all they did
against Him. They did it voluntarily; yet they did “whatsoever God’s hand and
God’s counsel had determined before to be done.”
2. Here, too, we see that the sufferings of our Lord were most
severe. Man can inflict much misery, but his power is limited. When God calls
off our attention from man as the author of our Lord’s sufferings, and directs
it to Himself, we feel at once that our Lord must be a most severe sufferer.
The language of the text conveys this idea forcibly. It is sword--not a scourge
or a rack. It is “smite”; strike hard. Mark the word “awake.” It implies that,
up to this hour, the sword of Jehovah had been sleeping. Now it is to awake, to
rise up in its vigour and majesty. It is to strike in the greatness of its
strength.
3. The text represents our Lord’s sufferings as surprising. Against
whom? The very Being of all others, whom we should have expected Him to shield
from every sword. The Being who is the nearest and dearest to Him, the man that
is His fellow. To add to our surprise, the Lord seems to afflict Him, not
reluctantly, but willingly; yea, more than willingly, almost eagerly. He is
well-pleased in this thing for “His righteousness’ sake.”
III. The
consequences which are to follow the execution of this coward.
1. The shepherd is to be smitten, and the sheep, frightened at the
violence done to Him, are to be scattered.
2. The smiting of this shepherd is to be followed by a signal
interposition of Jehovah in behalf of the scattered sheep. “I will turn My hand
upon the little ones.” This term represents to us the feeble and helpless
condition of our Lord’s followers at the time of His crucifixion. These timid
disciples of our Lord were strangely kept together, in spite of their unbelief
and fears, after His crucifixion, and sheltered from every danger. And we know
what the early Church soon became. It was a wonder in the world, itself doing
wonders.
Look at the practical purposes to which we may turn this text.
1. To strengthen our faith in Holy Scripture. I do not allude to the
predictions we find in it, which were afterwards so exactly fulfilled. I refer
rather to that beautiful harmony of thoughts and expression, which exists
between this verse of the Old Testament, and another passage of the New.
(Compare the passage John 10:1-42.)
2. The fearful evil of sin. There are moments when we cannot read
this text without an inward shudder--it exhibits the great Jehovah to us in a
character so awful, and in an attitude so dismaying. He is represented as an
offended Judge, calling for, and eager for the sacrifice of His own dear Son.
Evidently, the evil of sin is a reality; the Divine justice is a reality; the
inflexible unbending character of God’s law is a reality; his determination to
punish every breach of it, everywhere throughout His wide universe, is a
reality. The cross of Jesus Christ proclaims all these things to be most solemn
realities.
3. The perfect safety of all who are indeed resting for safety on our
crucified Lord. You have nothing to fear from this awful God. In the greatness
of Him whom He here commands to be smitten for you, you may see the
sufficiency, the completeness, and more than that,--the grandeur and glory of
the atonement He has made for sins. (C. Bradley.)
Jehovah’s sword
I. The commission
given to Jehovah’s sword.
1. Whom was it to smite?
2. In whose hand was it to inflict the stroke?
II. The grounds and
reasons of this commission.
1. To show His indignation against sin.
2. To reconcile justice with mercy in the salvation of sinners.
III. The effects and
consequences of it.
1. The immediate effect was the scattering of our Lord’s disciples.
2. The ultimate effect was their restoration and recovery. (G.
Brooks.)
The Passion sermon
It is the observation of SS. Austine and Gregorie, that the four
beasts mentioned by St. John mystically represent the four main acts of Christ,
or works of man’s redemption, His Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and
Ascension. I have to do with a prophecy somewhat dark before the light of the
Gospel shone upon it. “Awake, O Sword,” etc.
I. The speaker,
“the Lord of hosts.”
II. The speech. “O
Sword.” As all the creatures are God’s soldiers, so when He employeth them
against man they are called His swords. When the Lord is pleased to execute His
wrath He never wanteth instruments or means. Of the blow here threatened, God
Himself is the Author. God never awaketh His sword to smite, but for sin. In
this shepherd there was no sin of His own. “Against My Shepherd.” Popish
writers say that a shepherd should have three things, a scrip, a hook, and a
whistle. This Shepherd is the good, the universal Shepherd. Daniel says,--The
Messias shall be slain, but not for Himself, “God hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all.” The first and main cause of the Shepherd’s slaughter is, our sins.
“The man.” Hebrews have four words for man--Adam, red earth; Enesh, a man of
sorrow; Ish, a man of a noble spirit; Geber, a strong man. “My fellow,” for in
Him the Godhead dwelleth bodily: and yet a man. God’s fellow to offer an
infinite sacrifice for all mankind, and a man that He might be Himself the
sacrifice killed by the sword that is now awake to smite Him. Consider this,
and tremble, ye that forget God. The Shepherd is smitten; if you look to it in
time, it may be for you; if not, a worse disaster remaineth for you than befell
these sheep. (D. Featly, D. D.)
The character and sufferings of Christ
I. The character
of Christ, as here represented.
1. God’s Shepherd (Psalms 23:1). Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20). Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). The term shepherd is
relative, and refers to His followers, whom He calls His sheep (John 10:16). It expresses His tender care
over them, which is always proportioned to their peculiar trials, temptations,
etc. (Isaiah 40:11). He expresses also His love
to them, infinitely surpassing the love of the sons of men. He died for the
sheep (John 10:15).
2. God’s fellow--His equal. They are one in essence, intimately and
essentially one. They are one in power, When on earth the Son did the works His
Father did. One in honour and glory. His sacrifice was voluntary. As Jehovah’s
equal, He had an absolute right and propriety in Himself, and could lay down
His life, and take it up again, when He pleased (John 10:17-18).
II. The awful
mandate here given against God’s Shepherd and God’s Fellow. “Awake, O Sword,
smite the Shepherd!” The command proceeds from the Eternal Father, whose
justice demanded the death of our Lord (Isaiah 53:10). Divine justice had no
demands on Christ, simply considered as the Son of God; only when viewed as our
voluntary substitute.
1. The principal scenes of sorrow were in the Garden of Gethsemane.
2. Also in the hall of judgment.
3. Calvary was the place that witnessed the dreadful deed.
III. The effect to
be produced. “The sheep shall be scattered.”
1. By the sheep are meant the disciples of our Lord.
2. Jesus foretold that His disciples would forsake Him. It was fully
accomplished (Matthew 26:56).
IV. Behold the
tender compassion of a gracious God. He promises to turn His hand upon the
little ones. Little ones who at that time had but little knowledge of human nature,
little faith, and little courage. See God’s gracious dealings with the apostles
and disciples of Christ. Thus He will deal also with all the faithful followers
of Christ. Improvement.
1. Behold in this awful transaction the displeasure of God against
sin.
2. As Divine justice is fully satisfied by the tremendous sufferings
of Jesus Christ, here we behold sufficient ground for a sinner’s hope of
pardon. Jesus hath died; the sinner may be forgiven (Romans 3:25). (T. Hannam.)
The character of Christ as the Shepherd of Israel
That this text contains clear and remarkable revelation of the
Saviour no one of spiritual discernment can hesitate to believe. It is one of
the clearest of those prophetic testimonies which declared to the Church
beforehand “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”
I. The description
here given of the Saviour.
1. My Shepherd. What precise view of the Saviour’s place and
character is this expression intended to convey? The expression significantly
points to His mediatorial character and work. It reminds us that a people have
been committed to His hands--that He has graciously undertaken on their behalf
and that, in the whole matter of their salvation, He is their head,
representative, surety. Whatever is affirmed in the text concerning Him is
affirmed in this view of His character and work. The ideas suggested by this
title as to the benefits derived by His people from the exercise of His mediatorial
offices are full of interest and comfort to the children of God. Why is He
designated “My Shepherd”? Because He was appointed and commissioned by the
Father, in the counsels of eternity, to execute this office.
2. The man. Believers, in their zealous regard for the glory and
honour of the Divine Redeemer, sometimes lose the comfort to be derived from a
believing contemplation of the man “Christ Jesus.” The righteousness wrought
out was wrought out in the nature of man.
3. The fellow of Jehovah. The equal of Jehovah. “God was manifest in
the flesh.” This is the crowning of truth in the doctrine of salvation.
II. The view of
God’s dealings. Our thoughts are directed to the immediate infliction of the
Father’s wrath. He pierced Him even to the soul, till the sword of infinite
justice was satisfied with blood. Learn--
1. Every word in the text is comforting and instructive to the sheep
of Christ.
2. There is precious light in this subject for awakened and trembling
sinners.
3. There is here a lesson of solemn warning to careless sinners. (Robert
Elder, A. M.)
Messiah smitten
We know what was the transaction in which this prophecy was
fulfilled; we know the awful epoch which that transaction bears. We hasten to
no imaginary scene, but to a true historic one--to an actual time in the
calendar of the world’s ages.
I. The character
of the victim. We perceive in His character--
1. Manhood, “found in fashion as a man.” Man, as never man otherwise
could be. Man by a most astonishing process of condescension and self-diminution.
2. Mediation is included. As the shepherd guards his flock, and
perils his own life for its rescue and deliverance, so we are considered as
entrusted to the hands of Christ, that He may ward off every danger from us to
which we are exposed. How far reaching is His sympathy! How touching is His
care.
3. Co-equality is supposed. If He be the associate and compeer of the
Lord of hosts, then it may suggest the emulation of His honours, the expression
of His glories, the assimilation of His deeds, and the concentration of His
affections.
II. The peculiarity
of the action. The “sword” is the emblem of state, of authority, of power, of
justice, or retributive execution.
1. This person is the subject of Divine complacency.
2. This person was the object of the Divine infliction.
The sword is not the weapon of correction, of momentary
chastening; it is the instrument of vengeance and of wrath. The same personage
is the subject of Divine complacency and of Divine infliction. How is it
explained? Christ is without sin. He is relatively liable for certain
penalties, to which He subjects Himself voluntarily and solely. Substitution is
the simplifying principle of all. We cannot place the doctrine of atonement on
any other than the vicarious principle. See then--
The Shepherd of the flock smitten
Observe that it is God the Eternal Father who gives the decree for
the smiting of the Shepherd. “Saith the Lord of hosts.” We have no sympathy
with the unguarded language of those who speak of God as an avenging deity, whose
wrath can be appeased and propitiated only by offerings of blood. Love is a
thing that cannot be bribed. God’s love needed not thus to be purchased. That
love was the primal cause of all blessing to His creatures. The manifestation,
however, of love on the part of a great moral Governor must be compatible with
the exercise of His moral perfections. God’s justice, holiness, righteousness
must be upheld inviolate. While mercy and truth go before His face, justice and
judgment must continue the habitation of His throne. As the Omnipotent, God
could do anything. So far as power is concerned, He could easily have dispensed
with any medium of atonement. But what God, as the Omnipotent, could do, God,
as the holy, just, righteous, true, could not do. He could not promulgate laws
and leave the transgressor to mock them with impunity. Was there, then, in the
case of guilty man, any possible method by which the honour of God’s name and
character and throne could be preserved intact, and yet the transgressor be saved?
Reason is silent here. The principle of substitution--the innocent suffering
for the guilty--is one undreamt of in earthly philosophy. The Shepherd has been
smitten. The Divine honour has been upholden. Mercy and truth have been
betrothed before the altar of Calvary; God hath joined them together for the
salvation of the human race, and that marriage covenant never can be
disannulled. Justice is now equally interested with love in the rescue of the
fallen. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Christ smitten by the Father
I. The person to
be smitten.
1. He is Jehovah’s fellow. He is in equality with God.
2. He is man. His humanity--His manhood--are as distinctly affirmed
as His Deity and His equality with God.
3. The title given to Him as the Son of man--the Shepherd.
II. The sword which
is to wake against Him.
1. What is this sword? It is the sword of Divine justice.
2. What are we to understand by its awakenings? Every manifestation
of God in punishing sin is as nothing compared with the manifestation in
Christ’s sufferings.
3. Who demands this sword, who calls for its awakening? “The Lord of
hosts.” The crucifixion as much as the exaltation of Christ was “the Lord’s
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.”
4. What was the sword to awaken to? It was to smite unto death.
III. The reasons why
it was said, “awake, o sword, against the victim.” It was to make manifest
Divine justice, that there should be no connivance with the enormity of sin.
IV. The effects
which followed. “The sheep were scattered.” But they were brought back again
from their dispersion. (J. Stratten.)
The fellow of Jehovah
I. The terms in
which our Lord is described.
1. The man that is the fellow of Jehovah.
2. Jehovah’s Shepherd.
II. The command
given in reference to Him.
1. It relates to sufferings divinely appointed.
2. It relates to sufferings most severe.
3. It relates to sufferings most surprising.
III. The
consequences which are to follow the execution of this command.
1. The dispersion of the sheep.
2. A signal interposition in their behalf. (G. Brooks.)
The solitariness of Christ’s death
Four things to consider.
1. The commission given to the sword by the Lord of hosts.
2. The person against whom it is commissioned.
3. The dismal effect of that stroke; and
4. The gracious mitigation of it. Doctrine--That Christ’s dearest
friends forsook and left Him alone in the time of His greatest distress and
danger.
3. The grounds and reasons of this scattering. God’s suspending
wonted influences and aids of grace from them. They would not have done so had
there been influences of power, zeal, and love from heaven upon them. But how,
then, should Christ have “trodden the wine press alone”? As God permitted it,
and withheld usual aid from them, so the efficacy of that temptation was great,
yea, much greater than ordinary. As they were weaker than they used to be, so
the temptation was stronger than any they had yet met withal. It is called,
“Their hour and the power of darkness.” That which concurred to their shameful
relapse, as a special cause of it, was the remaining corruptions that were in
their hearts yet unmortified.
4. The issue and event of this sad apostasy. It ended far better than
it began. They were scattered for a time, but the Lord turned His hand upon
them to gather them. Peter repents of his perfidious denial, and never denied
Him more. All the rest like wise returned to Christ, and never forsook Him any
more. And though they forsook Christ, Christ never forsook them.
Inference--
1. Self-confidence is a sin too incident to the best of men. Little
reason have the best of saints to depend upon their inherent grace, let their
stock be as large as it will. Shall we be self-confident after such instances
of human frailty?
2. A resolved adherence to God and duty, though left alone, without
company, or encouragement, is Christ-like, and truly excellent.
3. Though believers are not privileged from backslidings, yet they
are secured from final apostasy and ruin.
4. How sad a thing it is for the best of men to be left to their own
carnal fears in the day of temptation.
5. How much a man may differ from himself, according as the Lord is
with him or withdrawn from him.
6. The best of men know not their own strength till they come to the
trial.
7. The holiest of men have no reason either to repine or despond,
though God should at once strip them of all their outward and inward comforts
together. (John Flavel.)
The flock scattered
I. The person here
represented is smitten by the sword of divine justice. This is none other than
the Messiah, the Christ. To Him alone can the language here used to describe
the object of the smiting apply. No other being but He is at once man and the
fellow of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts; and He alone is the Shepherd whom God
promised to set over His people Israel to feed them as a flock.
II. The stroke
inflicted on Him. This was the deadly stroke of Divine justice. The sword had
long slept in its scabbard, but when the fitting time arrived God summoned the
sword to awake and do execution on the appointed victim. There is but one event
to which the command here given can be understood as pointing--the slaying of
Him who, as God’s Shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep. Wherefore was He
thus smitten? Because, though Himself sinless, He bore the sins of others. The
flock had gone astray, and incurred the penalty of apostasy, and He, the
Shepherd, had come to give His life for theirs.
III. The consequence
to the flock of this smiting of the Shepherd. It was twofold. The sheep were to
be scattered, but God was to turn back His hand over the humble and meek ones
of His flock. The former of these applied to the dispersion of His disciples as
consequent on His crucifixion; the other was realised when the Lord, having
been raised from the dead, showed Himself to individuals and to groups of them.
But though preserved and rescued, Christ’s little flock would not escape all
trouble and suffering. God would bring them through the fire, and refine and
purify them in the furnace of affliction. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
God’s government of the world
I. As bringing
penal ruin upon many.
1. The destruction of their leader. In the Bible language political
religious leaders are represented as shepherds. It was applied to Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28). The person defined is
represented as “the man that is my fellow.” Dr. Keil’s rendering is, “the man
who is my neighbour”; and Dr. Henderson’s, “the man who is united to me.” Who
is this man? On this question there are different opinions. “Calion thought it
was Zechariah himself, as representative of all the prophets, and that the
prophecy referred only indirectly to Christ. Grotius, Eichhorn, Bauer, and
Jahne apply it to Judas Maccabeus, Ewald to Pehak, Hitzig to the pretended
prophets spoken of in the preceding verses.” The expression “my fellow” does
not necessarily mean one who is equal in nature and character, but rather one
who has the fellowship of interests and aims. Evangelical writers, however,
apply the language to Christ without much critical examination and without
hesitation. They do this mainly on the ground that Christ Himself quotes the
passage on the night in which He was betrayed, as an illustration of what was
immediately awaiting Him (Matthew 26:31). He does not say that the
prophecy referred to Him, but merely that the passage was about being
illustrated in His history. The shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep
scattered. This, indeed, is a common fact in the history of the world; when the
leader is gone the fold is scattered. Our point is that God often brings
sufferings on a people by striking down their leader. There are few greater
calamities that can befall a people than when nations lose their shepherds and
leaders, or when churches lose their pastors. Even when families lose their
heads the loss is incalculable. Here is--
2. The dispersion of the flock. This comes to most communities when
the true leader is taken away. The removal of a leader in a family, a parent,
often leads to a scattering of the children. The scattering is a great evil.
Unity is strength and harmony; division is weakness and disorder. When
communities are broken up and dispersed the various members often place
themselves in antagonism with each other, and rivalries, jealousies, and
envyings run riot.
3. The ruin of multitudes. “And it shall come to pass, that in all
the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the
third shall be left therein.” Probably this refers primarily to the destruction
of two-thirds of the inhabitants of Judea by the Roman arms, and the famine or
the pestilence and other destructive influences which are the usual
concomitants of all wars. Thus the afflictions of the great majority of the
human race here represented as the two-thirds of a community come upon them as
the retribution of justice--the Divine sword here invoked. They are not
disciplinary, but penal. “They are cut off and die.” Here we have God’s
government of the world.
II. Bringing
remedial discipline to a few. “And I will bring the third part through the
fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,” etc. The very calamities
which were penal, and utterly ruinous to two-thirds of that population, were
morally disciplinary and improving to the remaining third. In the one case they
were the strokes of the “sword” of justice. In the other the calamities were
but fire in the “pot of the refiner.” These by the purifying, influence of
trials--
1. Pray and are heard. Shall call on My name, and I will hear them.
2. Are accepted of God as His people.
They acknowledge their relationship. “I will say it is My people,
and they shall say, the Lord is my God.” Conclusion. This doctrine stands out
in sublime prominence--that afflictions which are penal and destructive to the
many are remedial and merciful to the few. (Homilist.)
Verse 9
And I will bring the third part through the fire
Trials and triumphs of the Christian
This chapter, though consisting of nine verses only, is a little
Gospel.
In some of the preceding verses are to be found all the particulars of the
Gospel--such as, the substitution of Christ as a sacrifice in behalf of His
offending people, the satisfaction made to Divine justice by His death, the
purification of the Church through sanctified afflictions, the blessed
privileges and intercourse they are allowed to enjoy with their God and Father,
through our Lord Jesus Christ. The text was fulfilled when the nation was
destroyed by the Roman army, and when, amidst all the dreadful scenes which
were then beheld, He preserved His own people. This is the primary meaning of
the text, but it refers also to the dealings of God with all His people, in all
generations of the Church, down to the end of time. The words describe the
trials and triumphs of God’s people. The trials which come before their
triumphs in some cases, and the triumphs which accompany their trials in
others.
I. The trials of
the children of God. “I will bring them through the fire.”
1. This implies that He will bring them into the fire. Afflictions
are our lot. They are what we must expect. We may resist them, avoid them, be
angry with them, harden our hearts under them, ascribe them to second causes,
but we cannot escape them.
2. The nature of afflictions. They are called “fire,” which denotes
the severity of the Divine chastenings. Afflictions must be felt, or they are
not afflictions. If we do not feel, the end of these afflictions is not
answered.
3. The end and design of affliction. “I will bring them through the
fire.” God does not chastise for the sake of chastising. Fire is searching, and
fire is purifying.
II. The triumphs of
the Christian.
1. Ultimate deliverance. It is a happiness to know that He can bring
you through, and a still greater happiness to know that He will bring you
through.
2. Communion with God. They that belong to God make their requests
known to Him. He has commanded and encouraged them to do this. In this we may
win a triumph.
3. Covenant relation to God is another part of the Christian’s
triumph. God owns them in adversity. There is no backwardness on the part of
the believer to own the relationship when God says that it exists. (W.
Thomas.)
As silver is refined
“I saw in Rome,” says a modern writer, “an old coin, a silver
denarius, all coated and crusted with green and purple rust. I called it rust,
but was told that it was copper, the alloy thrown out from the silver until
there was none left within; the silver was all pore. It takes ages to do it,
but it does get done. Souls are like that. Something moves in them slowly, till
the debasement is all thrown out. Some day, perhaps, the very tarnish shall be
taken off.” Well, there is this alloy, this tarnish in all of us, and the
education of life is to purge it all away--by sorrows, by disappointments, by
failures, by judgments--
“By
fires far fiercer than are blown to prove
And
purge the silver ore adulterate.”
(Great Thoughts.)
God’s method of dealing with His people
The wisdom, sovereignty, and power of the Supreme Ruler are
nowhere more clearly and impressively set forth and illustrated than in the
fundamental methods which mark His government of mankind. What these methods or
principles are it is not difficult to determine from Scripture and providence.
And the choice of methods and the disclosure of them are made for the purposes
of instruction and moral discipline. Among these methods are the following--
1. Agencies wholly inadequate, seemingly, to accomplish purposes so
grand and infinite.
2. Instruments, “weak” and “foolish” in themselves, chosen to
“confound things that are mighty”--the wisdom, philosophy, pride, and wealth of
the world.
3. God’s method is one to compel faith--the whole structure of the
Supernatural rests on faith.
4. The Divine method is the method of severe discipline. By the way
of the Cross to the Crown! Fellowship in suffering the condition of joint
heirship in glory. “Whom He loves He rebukes and chastens.”
5. God’s method is one of slow growth and development. Light, grace,
prosperity, favour, discipline, as we can bear it.
6. God’s method of dealing has respect to that system of rewards and
punishments which forms a part of His moral government. Sin and misery, virtue
and happiness, obedience and reward, are so conjoined in this life that no man
can mistake the will of God, or reasonably doubt that the law of eternal
rectitude is bound ultimately to prevail.
7. Occasionally by “terrible acts of righteousness” God reveals Himself
to the nations, “that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel.” (Homiletic
Monthly.)
I will say, It is My
people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God--
Intercommunion between God and man
What a vivid representation this passage affords of the
personality of God! Here He appears as One who thinks, observes, feels, and
purposes; a far higher and juster view of the Eternal Power than that which
sees only abstract law behind and above Nature. And how striking is the
intercommunion here pictured between the Creator and His creatures! Owing to
man having been made in the Divine image, he is capable of spiritual
intercourse with his Maker. And what a delightful intimacy distinguishes this
communion!
I. The voice of
God--“It is My people.”
1. My rightful people. The Lord of all asserts His authority, puts
forward His claim. This is a view of religion often overlooked. We are God’s by
right.
2. My loved people. We hear in this utterance the tone of affection.
There is a touching tenderness in the possessive “my,” in such expressions as
“my friend,” “my father,” “my son,” “my husband,” “my wife.” So here, when the
Lord says, “My people.”
3. My redeemed people.
4. My sealed people. It is usual to mark property with the owner’s
name. It is by the renewed character and the obedient life that the Lord’s
property in His own people is most surely attested. “The Lord knoweth them that
are His,” and, “Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from
iniquity.” Religion may be regarded as consisting of man’s acknowledgment of
God’s revelation; an acknowledgment which is first of the heart--when it is
faith; next of the language--when it is confession; and further, of the
life--when it is obedience.
II. The voice of
man. “The Lord is my God.”
1. This cry is a response to the Divine assurance. It is the faithful
echo to the heavenly voice.
2. The Lord alone is our God, whom we honour supremely. None other
divides our heart with Him.
3. The Lord is our God to trust. The greatest and most pressing need
of man in this life is One upon whom his weakness and helplessness can
absolutely rely.
4. The Lord is our God, to appropriate and enjoy. What gladness fills
the soul when a long hoped for discovery has been made, a long sought treasure
found, a long lost friend recovered!
5. The Lord is our God, to serve and glorify.
6. The Lord is our God forever. Our God is the eternal God. (J. R.
Thomson, M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》