Part 3 (1/2)
Some consider this to be the ninth vision of the prophet. It is, however, the Word of the Lord which comes to the prophet. There can be no doubt but the command was actually carried out and Cheldai (robust), Tobiah (G.o.d's goodness), and Jedaiah (G.o.d knows), gave their silver and gold, and crowns were made out of it and placed upon the head of Joshua the high priest. But the action had a much deeper meaning. It was a highly typical one. It must have astonished Joshua and the people to hear such a command, for the royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David. He must have understood that the whole command had a symbolical bearing.
Joshua hears it from the Word of the Lord that another person is only typified by him, ”Behold the man whose name is the Branch.” It is this man the Branch who will be a priest upon the throne. This, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the high priest Joshua is in itself very significant, for the meaning is, G.o.d is salvation, Saviour, Jesus. Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he stood there leading out Jesus of Nazareth before that tumultuous mult.i.tude, and when he said ”Behold the man.” If the a.s.sembled Jews had known the Scriptures they would have recognized the phrase. But how did he then come forth? He wore a crown of thorns upon His meek and loving brow, and the people gazed into the blood-stained face of the Lamb of G.o.d now ready to be placed upon the altar and slain. But once again it will sound forth, ”Behold the man,” for when He appears it will be after He has gathered His saints, and then He will come as the Son of Man in the heavens, and the sign of the Son of Man will be seen there. He will be crowned again, too, but not with the crown of suffering and shame, but with the crowns of glory. Thus he is seen in Revelation xix: 12 as wearing many crowns.
He comes to build the temple of Jehovah, bearing majesty, sitting and ruling upon His throne. He is now the builder of the spiritual temple which is composed of living stones (Eph. ii: 21; 1 Peter ii: 5). But when He comes again there will be the building of another temple. It is now no longer His Father's throne but His own, upon which He is a priest as well. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has now taken possession of His inheritance. The times of overturning are over and He whose right it is has come. There is a very instructive thought in the fact that the persons of the exile, as mentioned above, were to bring the silver and the gold out of which the crowns were to be made. The time will come when the whole exiled nation, so long scattered and peeled, though even in dispersion, the richest nation of the earth, will bring their silver and gold, their glory and their all and lay it at the feet of the King.
The CX Psalm will then find its fulfillment: ”Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek united the offices of a king and a priest in one person. ”For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High G.o.d, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first, being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Without father and without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of G.o.d; abideth a priest continually” (Heb. vii: 1-3). The whole will be realized in the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Perhaps the fourteenth verse will also find a literal fulfillment then after the crowning of the King by His own people who rejected Him once, and a memorial of that event will be seen in the temple throughout the millennium.
They that are afar off are now seen coming, and build not the temple of the Lord but in the temple. The Gentiles, of course, are they that are afar off and who are even now building in a certain sense in the temple of the Lord, but when He has returned and sits upon His throne this prophecy will find its final fulfillment. And when shall it all come to pa.s.s? An answer is given which refers us to the opening words of the first chapter. ”And this shall come to pa.s.s, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your G.o.d.”
In the whole command of the crowning of the high priest, Israel's future glory is likewise seen. Their great and high calling will be realized in that day when the man the Branch comes forth and turns away unG.o.dliness from Jacob. Israel will be as His earthly people like the Priest upon His throne, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. The kingdom has then come, and the will of G.o.d is being done in earth as it is done in heaven. And oh how blessedly for the believer's heart to think G.o.d's own thoughts and move in the purposes of G.o.d. Our own individual salvation eternally a.s.sured, we ought to cry continually ”Even so, come Lord Jesus.”--Amen, Amen!
CHAPTER VII.
_The question put to the Prophet concerning the Fast.--The Rebuke given and their Failure shown._
The night visions had come to an end. In them, as we have seen, the whole future of Israel, their restoration to the land and regeneration, as well as the theocracy and the judgments connected with it, were revealed. Nearly two years had pa.s.sed by since that memorable night of visions, and during these two years the people had, obedient to the heavenly visions and encouraged by them, built the house of the Lord. Soon the temple was to be completed and wors.h.i.+p once more to be restored. A question rose then in the minds of some of the people about the keeping of certain fast days by which they commemorated events of judgments upon their nation and city. The princ.i.p.al day of fasting was the day set apart for remembering the destruction and burning of the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
This day was kept by the Jews on the tenth day of the fifth month.
Messengers are sent with this question to the prophet, and this occasion is used by the Lord to give a new message to the nation through the prophet.
The seventh chapter is divided into three sections. 1. The occasion for the prophecy (verses 1-4). 3. The rebuke (verses 4-8). 3. Looking over the past (verses 8-14). But the seventh chapter does not answer the question put to the prophet. If a reader of the word stops reading with the seventh chapter, and does not continue to read the eighth, he will be much perplexed. The seventh and eighth chapters of Zechariah go together; in fact they should form only one chapter. The eighth chapter contains two sections. 1. Promises of blessings again and teachings concerning their walk (verses 1-17). 2. The solemn fast days will be no more; instead of them there will be feast days. Whole nations will seek the Lord and be joined to Israel. Thus the end of chapter eight answers the question of the people concerning the fast days. At the first glance we notice that these two chapters, though starting from a desire of the people in the prophet's day, are yet awaiting their final and greatest fulfillment. Israel still fasts and is still the forsaken. Still there is mourning and weeping over the departed glory, and once a year is the solemn fast kept which reminds the seed of Abraham of the sad fate of Jerusalem and the Temple, twice destroyed on the same day.
But let us glance at these sections in these chapters, and make a short comment on them.
_Chapter VII: 1-4. The question_--It comes from the people of Bethel.
The two men who represent the people have a.s.syrian names--Sherezer, meaning prince of the treasury, and Regemmelech, the official of the King. Perhaps they were born in exile and received their names there, and may have held the position indicated by their names. Their concern for a human inst.i.tution not at all commanded in the word of the Lord, as it was the case with the fast day in question, shows the lack of spirituality in them. They should have been more concerned about true obedience than with an insignificant ceremony. It has always been so with the people. When the Lord came He said to the leaders, ”Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew xxii: 24). And they are still concerned with ceremonials and know not the true obedience. But the same conditions, alas! exist too in Christendom. The question itself about weeping on that day for so many years shows that they were tired of it. It was a burden to them. If they had the true faith and in it obedience, they would not have come with that question at all, but with joy and gladness would they have looked to the future, and known that the promised restoration as seen by the prophet was surely to come.
_II. The reproof. Verses 4-7._--The word of the Lord comes now to the prophet. The message is for all the people and for the priests. The two fasts are mentioned. The one in the fifth month as already stated was the one in remembrance of the destruction of the city. The fast of the seventh month was kept on the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah xli). But why did they keep these fast days? Why do they keep these days indeed still? The Lord asks, ”Is it unto me, unto me?” No, it was not for the honor and glory of G.o.d, but their own selfish interests were at the bottom of it. Indeed G.o.d had never asked them to fast. These inst.i.tutions were manmade, and highly displeasing to Jehovah. And is it not so now, not alone with the Jews but with Christendom? Oh, the manmade inst.i.tutions and outward observances which only dishonor G.o.d and are for the selfish interests of the people! The eating and drinking, the fast being over, was not unto the Lord, but unto themselves. It was obedience the Lord required. Had they listened to the words spoken by the prophets they would not have been in captivity, there would have been no need for a solemn fast. Unbelief was at the bottom of it all, and so it is still with the nation in dispersion.
III. The closing verses of the seventh chapter _look over past history_. In the first place the Lord says what he desires to see done by them: True judgment executed, mercy and truth shown by every man to his brother, oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor, let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. These precepts were spoken to them by the prophets before the captivity. ”Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah i.) But they did the very opposite, and continued in an outward service without obedience of the heart.
This disobedience became their ruin and brought on the disaster. The description of their waywardness fits that people in their entire history. They refused to attend and offered a rebellious shoulder.
They made their ears too heavy to hear, their heart they made an adamant that they might not hear the law and the words which Jehovah of hosts sent by His Spirit. These conditions prevailed in a still intenser form when our Lord Jesus Christ appeared among them. At last G.o.d Himself put judicial blindness upon them and still their heart is like adamant, but that heart of stone will be removed at last by the Spirit of G.o.d and a heart of flesh given in its place. (Ezek. x.x.xvi).
And now follows the manifestation of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts.
He had cried and they did not hear, and now they called but He did not hear. The prayers of orthodox Judaism especially on their fast days are beyond description and pleading for mercy. Still there is no answer to the many prayers. ”Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.” (Is. i: 14, 15. ) Alas! it is wors.h.i.+p with the lips. The believing remnant alone in the future will be heard in their pleadings, and the Lord will send at last the salvation out of Zion, and the Deliverer will come who turns away unG.o.dliness from Jacob.
The fourteenth verse puts the dispersion and the judgment before us in a nutsh.e.l.l. They are whirled among all the nations whom they know not. The land itself becomes desolate behind them. As soon as the people leave whose land it is, the land flowing with milk and honey becomes a wilderness, and when they return it will be again the land of blessing.
What a testimony the land and the people is! Both speak of G.o.d's righteous judgment, and the truth of His word. A whole nation scattered among all the nations and still kept intact. Their land trodden down by the Gentiles, waste and desolate. The land mourneth, indeed. Prosperity will come to that land again, but not by human efforts and human wisdom. The attempts of unbelieving Israel now in transforming the wilderness may prove successful, and colonies after colonies will be established. The time of Jacob's trouble, however, will sweep it all away.
The question concerning the fast is answered in the next chapter. The great and wonderful future of the land, the people, and of Jerusalem, prosperity and blessing is clearly shown in it. No more mourning, but joy; no more shame, but honor; no desolation, but restoration and His people saved from the East and West, nations at last being converted through Israel's blessing and testimony. We will look at these promises and let them pa.s.s before us in our next chapter.
CHAPTER VIII.
_The Gracious Answer to their Question.--Promises of Blessing, Restoration, Prosperity and Salvation.--No more Fast Days.--Nations to be added to Jerusalem._
The eighth chapter contains the most blessed promises concerning the future of Jerusalem and the people Israel. Now the question concerning the fasts is answered in a way the pet.i.tioners never expected. The promises which are given in this chapter were only partially fulfilled in Zechariah's day in the returned and believing remnant, the actual fulfillment is still future. In the first night vision we heard the words, Cry yet saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. The eighth chapter gives the details of the promised prosperity. The perfect picture of Jerusalem's glorious future is unrolled before our eyes. Though still future, with the eyes of faith we can look at it and rejoice in the vision when at last the covenant keeping G.o.d of Abraham has established Jerusalem and made her a praise in the earth.