THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH

[nChrist]

THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

(Zechariah 11:1-17; Zechariah 13:5-9.)


IF these two passages are read together, it will be observed that they give some remarkable foreshadowings of the ministry of the Messiah to his flock of the chosen people, as well as to those other sheep of which He spake, as not of that fold, but which He must bring, that they should become one flock, one Shepherd (John 10:16).

Five hundred years before Judas sold the true Shepherd for thirty pieces of silver -- the price of a slave -- and then, seized with remorse, flung the price of blood upon the Temple pavement, that scene had been enacted in the streets of Jerusalem, freshly risen from their ruins. There is prophecy in action, as well as prediction; and the Holy Spirit often led the prophets to embody in striking deeds the conceptions of the future which had been impressed on their own minds.

At the time of which we write the Jewish people seem to have been specially unfortunate. Joshua and Zerubbabel had both passed away, and the rulers and priests who had succeeded them were actuated by the most violent passions. They resembled fire devouring the cedars of Lebanon, or the axe by which the oaks of Bashan are felled. They slew the flock for the fleece, and the people became a prey to their rapacious appetite for self-aggrandisement. "They that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not." Hand was raised against hand, the rich plundered the poor, the rulers (his king, Zechariah 11:6) smote the land with their violence and injustice, and every weaker one was delivered over to the oppression of high-handed wrong.

It was under such circumstances that Zechariah felt called upon to become the shepherd of Jehovah's harried flock, and to stand in the breach which should have been filled by faithful and righteous men. Whether Israel generally recognised his pastoral authority does not appear; but he realized strongly the call of God, and fed the flock of slaughter, verily the most miserable of sheep (Zechariah 11:7, R.V., marg.).
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

Two staves were in his hand: the one a club to beat back the beasts of prey; the other the crook, with which to extricate any of his charge that might be entangled in pit or thicket. The one was called Beauty, or Grace; the other Bands, or Union. These were the rod and staff of which David had sung in earlier days, and they represent God's perpetual attitude towards his sheep. He ever deals with them in abundant grace; He is united to them, as they should be united to each other, by the bonds of everlasting love.

Three shepherds, which probably stand for the threefold office of Priest, Prophet, and King, had already failed in the difficult work of restoring order to the disturbed and distressed land. There had been an inalienable disagreement between the Divine Spirit and them. "My soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed Me."

After a brief effort to reclaim Israel for its true Shepherd, Zechariah renounced the attempt, saying, "I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them which are left, eat every one the flesh of another." He broke his staff of beauteous grace, and cut it asunder; as though the tender love of God had withdrawn from its long wrestle with indomitable pride and self-will. As he did so, the poor of the flock that gave heed unto him, knew that he was acting in accord with the word of the Lord (Zechariah 11:11).
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

Then came the crucial test. The prophet challenged the people to appraise his services, to give him their estimate in money value. "I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear." This incident may have taken place in the Temple, as he stood with his remaining staff in hand, face to face with those that held priestly office, though they lacked the priestly heart. In contempt and scorn, they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. "There, prophet of God," they seemed to say, "take that! Thy services are as worthless to the community as those of some obscure menial employed in the lowest service!" A goodly price indeed for a man's prayers and tears, for a heart of compassion, and a life of absolute self-surrender! "Cast it unto the potter," said the inner voice; and, as for this people, they shall pass into the hand of rulers, who shall eat the flesh of the fat, and drive them along paths so rough and flinty that their hoofs will be torn in pieces -- a prediction which had a terrible fulfilment in the days of Antiochus and of Herod the Great.

Thereupon the prophet also broke in pieces the other staff, Bands, that the brotherhood between Judah and Israel might be broken in symbol, as afterwards in reality. How evidently that brotherhood is broken to-day! The Jews among us are the descendants of Judah and Benjamin; but where are the ten tribes?

In the following paragraph (Zechariah 11:15-17) there is a further evident reference to the terrible reign of Antiochus, whose cruelties towards the Jews instigated the heroic uprising of the Maccabees and their adherents, and led to deeds of faith and prowess, which will be for ever famous in the annals of the world.

Five centuries passed, and Jehovah made one last effort to reclaim his wandering sheep, who were "distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Full of grace and truth, fresh from the bosom of the Father, Jesus was sent to gather the flock, which had been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. It was already a flock of slaughter when He began his ministry. The dark 'shadows of that awful storm of disaster and destruction, which was, within a period of forty years, to sweep Mount Zion bare, had already commenced to brood ominously over the devoted race. If his gracious offices had been recognised and accepted, that slaughter might have been averted. With his staff of grace and his crook of love, the Good Shepherd might have brought his flock from out the dangers that threatened it, and realized the ancient prediction of Ezekiel: "I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie clown in a good fold, and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel." But they would have none of Him. He would have gathered them as the hen her brood, yet they would not. Therefore He was compelled to break his rod and staff, and abandon them to the results of their sin. He was compelled to abandon his earnest endeavours, and, quitting the Temple, uttered the ominous words, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord " -- a prediction which probably refers to the period described in the last chapter of this book. As Jesus withdrew from the Temple, the last effort of Jehovah to save Israel as a nation was frustrated; the greatest of her prophets had failed, and the last barrier to the catastrophe of descending judgment was removed.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

It was at this juncture that the nation was challenged to appraise the worth of the Saviour's ministry. Between Judas and the priests a monstrous bargain was struck, "They weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver." This meagre dole of the priests stands in grim contrast to the priceless gift of Mary's ointment, at which Judas cavilled; but for this, and so little as this, the Messiah was sold, betrayed, and done to death.

Rejected by his own -- the people whom He ardently longed to save -- and forsaken by his chosen followers, the Good Shepherd went forth alone to meet the sword. Not the sword of Caiaphas, or the priests; not the sword of Pilate, or the Romans; not the sword of impending justice -- but the sword of righteous retribution for the sins of Israel, and the sins of the world. Jew though He were by birth, He was more. The Son of Man, the second Adam, the Lord from Heaven -- such are the designations placed on his head, like many crowns. It was as the representative of the race that He went to receive into his own heart the penalty which, like the sword of Damocles, hanging by a hair, impended not over Jerusalem alone, but over the world. He had heard the mysterious summons sounding through the courts of the Temple, and along the corridors of time, "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the Man that is my Fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts. Smite the Shepherd."

That sword had flashed in the hand of the Cherubim at the gate of Eden; had turned every way to guard the path to the Tree of Life; had threatened to pursue the transgressing pair, with its relentless edge. It was the sword of justice, the two-edged sword of the Word of God, which avenges disobedience with death. For four thousand years it had slept in its scabbard, pacified, if we may say so, by the Divine assurance that the mercy shown to men would be reconciled with the due acknowledgment of the righteous demands of a broken law. But it could not sleep for ever. God's promise must be redeemed, and his guarantee made good; and so, in the fulness of the time, Jesus was set forth as a propitiation, showing the Divine righteousness in passing over sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God, and enabling God Himself to be just, and the Justifier of those that have faith in Jesus.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

When our Lord was arrested in the garden, condemned by his judges, and, finally, nailed to the cross; when his heart broke with uncontrollable and unfathomed grief; when the soldier took a spear and pierced his side -- simultaneously with these outward scenes there was the awakening of the sword of Divine justice, which pierced and laid bare his heart. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with his stripes we are healed." We cannot penetrate the deep mystery which veils the cross, or understand how the suffering of the Shepherd could be counted as equivalent to our bearing the results of our sins. It is difficult to comprehend the transference of penalty from a sinful race to the sinless Substitute. But it is impossible to read the inspired statements that describe the death of Christ without realizing that, in some way, which we shall, perhaps, understand in heaven, He met and satisfied the claims of violated law, so that it can ask no more. The quotation of this verse by our Lord Himself on the threshold of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:31) indicates, with unerring precision, its reference and fulfilment; and we believe that because the sword was plunged in his heart, it will sleep for ever. The law is magnified and honoured, as it could not be by the destruction of a race. However much we prize the death of Christ, our Lord, as an example of patience and self-sacrifice, we must never forget that He did for us what we never could have done for ourselves in magnifying, satisfying, and honouring the claims of the Divine law.

It is interesting to notice how our Lord quotes this summons to the sword. The prophet hears it addressed directly by the lips of God, "Awake, O sword, against MY Fellow;" but in the thought of Jesus, it was not a dumb and impersonal agent merely, with power of automatic or self-prompted action, but an instrument in his Father's hand. In his lips the quotation stands: "I will smite the Shepherd." With Him there was no vague abstraction or impersonality. It was not an attitude or quality of the Divine nature, such as justice or righteousness, that drew the sword from its scabbard, and plunged it in his heart.. He even refused to see Judas, Caiaphas, or Pilate. Passing by all these secondary causes, He sped into the very presence of the Father, and realized that the cup was mixed, the death of the cross arranged, and the sword wielded by Him. This enabled Him to bear his unutterable woe with yielded will and acquiescing heart.

In this, O child of God, learn a life lesson. In all anxieties, in troubles that men may cause to thee, refuse to consider thyself a prey of their wild will, as though thou weft a storm-driven leaf; but dare to believe that what God permits to come is his appointment, and that amid all the plottings and machinations of human malice runs a Divine purpose.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

The infinite meaning and value of the death of the Cross are indicated by the three significant appellations with which the Sufferer is addressed.

My Shepherd. -- Mark that emphatic MY. It is as though Jehovah would contrast the Shepherd of his choosing with those that had been selected by human caprice. His David's against the people's Sauls. From out of the family of man, God has drawn, and is drawing, certain who are attracted by a special affinity to his Son, wrought in them by his Holy Spirit; and these are accounted his flock, and are entrusted to his pastoral care. They were the Father's; but the Father has made them over to the Son, according to Christ's own words: "Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me, and these have known that Thou didst send Me." Distinguished from the rest of men -- because they hear the Shepherd's voice, know, and follow Him -- these enjoy immediately and intimately his pastoral care. He guides them over the wolds of time, feeding them on the green pastures, and beside the still waters; conducting them through darksome gorges and dangerous glens; defending them from lion and bear with rod and staff; and even in the realms of glory not ceasing to be their Shepherd. They follow Him even deeper into the heart of eternity, where the fountains of life first break forth into sight.

This thought for the sheep committed to his custody possessed the mind of the Great Shepherd on the night in which He was betrayed, when He went forth to meet Judas and the arresting band. Placing Himself between them and the frightened little group that cowered behind Him, He said, "If ye seek Me, let these go their way." If He had been an hireling, when He saw the wolf coming, He would have fled; but because He was God's Shepherd, He stood between his own and peril, as He always will do in every dark hour that may menace us between this and the safety of the gates of pearl.

We have a strong claim on Jesus, because He is God's Shepherd, the representative of the Divine care, the custodian of the Divine honour. In every prayer for help, we may remind Him that He stands to us as the gift and sponsor of the Divine faithfulness. He must be to us all that God Himself would be.

My Fellow. -- When our Lord quoted this text in the upper room, as He rose to leave it, He stopped before He reached these words. But the omission was not due to any hesitation on his part to appropriate them. He knew that He was Jehovah's Fellow, else He would never have in-eluded the Father with Himself in the significant pronoun, We. "We will come, and make our abode with Him." He counted not equality with God a prize to be grasped at.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XII.  THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

And it was the fact of his being Jehovah's Fellow that made his death of such infinite worth. Man could not have redeemed his fellow; but the infinite Lawgiver Himself, taking to his heart the penalty of his own broken law, afforded it the greatest possible homage and satisfaction.

Surely there is a designed contrast between Fellow and Hosts. God is the Lord of many Hosts, in heaven, and earth, and sea; but He has only one Fellow. All the Hosts of angels and nature had not availed of the work for propitiation-this He must do Himself; and He did it in the person of Jesus.

THE MAN. -- " The Man that is my Fellow." By his tears and anguish, by the pains of death and the article of dissolution, his humanity was attested. And how real, how tender, how near they make Him to us all. No man so abject and sinful but may approach Him, when he is numbered with the transgressors, and hangs in death between two malefactors. Would you touch God through his Fellow, then touch yonder dying Man. The gulf is bridged; the yawning chasm is spanned. By the grace of the one Man we may now receive the abundance of grace, and reign in life, here and hereafter.

Beware how you treat this blessed Man. Still men sell Him for thirty pieces of silver; tread beneath their wanton feet his precious blood; and do despite to his grace. Still they prefer their thirty paltry silverlings to his matchless worth. Would that their blind eyes were opened to see the matchless glory and beauty of Him who stands at their door to knock.

The disciples were scattered when their Shepherd was taken. He had foreseen this: "Behold the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered, every one to his own, and shall leave Me alone." And it seemed as though the hand of God was against them, to their utter undoing in the dread hours that followed. But who shall tell the woes that befell the chosen people that had rejected the Messiah! The disciples wept for but a little space, and their sorrow was soon turned into joy. But the Jews succumbed beneath the woes, which, within forty years, befell their nation. It came to pass in all the land, that two parts were cut off, whilst the remainder passed through the fire, and have been passing through it ever since. Nor can it be otherwise, until they acknowledge Jesus as their true Shepherd, and allow Him to fold them, and humble themselves to become the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIII.  THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

(Zechariah 12:1-14, Zechariah 13:1-9.)


THERE is unusual solemnity in these opening words, as though to assure us that there can be no doubt as to the sufficiency of the Speaker to carry into effect all that He is about to unfold. "Thus saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him."

The vision itself refers to a time yet future, though perhaps not far away, when the Jewish people shall have returned to their own land, but still in unbelief. Indeed, it is supposed by some that they will be in actual league with some awful impersonation of Antichrist, in accordance with Daniel 9:27. For some reason, for the present veiled in mystery, the anti-Semitic hate with which some of the nations of Europe are already smitten will then become universal, "and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against Jerusalem." But their confederacy will be overwhelmed with infinite disaster. Such is the burden of this threefold affirmation: --

"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about" (Zechariah 12:2).

"I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples" (Zechariah 12:3).

"In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a torch of fire in a sheaf" (Zechariah 12:6).

Immediately upon this, an assurance is given that in that awful day, more fully described in the succeeding chapter, the Lord shall save, and the Lord shall defend (Zechariah 12:7-8 ); In clouds the long-rejected Messiah, accompanied by his Bride -- the Church -- will appear to the succour of his brethren, as Joseph interposed on the behalf of his; and, as they behold Him seated at the right hand of power, and coming, as He told Caiaphas He would, in the clouds of heaven, they will appropriate the old refrain, prepared by Isaiah for this very occasion; when He shall swallow up death in victory, and take away the reproach of his people from off all the earth: -- " Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation'' (Isaiah 25:9). "Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him. Even so, Amen." Then the Lord Jesus will slay the lawless one with the breath of his mouth, and bring Him to nought by the brightness of his coming. And then the solemn and awful threatenings of this passage will take effect: "It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIII.  THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

Let us now turn from this side of the picture to consider the threefold effect that this interposition will have on the Jews themselves: --

"In that day shall there be a great mourning" (Zechariah 12:11). "In that day there shall be a fountain opened" (Zechariah 13:1). "It shall come to pass in that day, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land" (Zechariah 13:2).


I. A GREAT MOURNING.

Notice the certainly of this announcement. "There shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem." There is no hesitation in the prophet's speech. He is as sure as the apostle Paul, when he says, "So all Israel shall be saved." This is a solemn reflection for the traveller, as he perambulates the streets of Jerusalem, or visits the piece of ancient wall by which the Jews wail weekly. There shall be a great mourning, not because the Turk has desecrated the sacred places, nor because the rains of bygone days affront with their yawning gaps, nor yet because of the bitter sufferings of the much-hated race; but each for a personal rejection of the Messiah, who was driven through those streets and crucified without the gate.

The Comparison. "As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon." At this spot the good King Josiah, whose reign had been the only gleam of brightness in the period between the reign of Hezekiah and the downfall of the State, was done to death by the Egyptian arrows. Jeremiah, the prince of lamenters, lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of him in their lamentations. There never had been such universal and heartrending sorrow since Israel became a nation, as that which arose when the royal chariot drove through Jerusalem bearing his dead body for burial; but such grief is the only symbol adequate to express that coming national agony, when Israel shall look on her rejected Lord and mourn.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIII.  THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

Yet another metaphor is pressed into service. The anguish with which a parent mourns for his only son, the bitterness of sorrow for a firstborn, is heartrending in any land, and among all peoples; but it is peculiarly so in an Eastern --  a Hebrew home. Yet the bitter mourning which is one day to fill Jerusalem will be like that -- as it was in the land of Egypt, when every family mourned over the death of its firstborn.

It will be universal. From the highest to the lowest of the court -- for Nathan here stands for the youngest of David's sons; from the highest to the lowest of the priestly order -- for Shimei stands for the least conspicuous of the priestly clans; all the people that remain shall be bowed in one common act of contrition. It is much to see one prodigal stricken with remorse -- what will it be when a whole nation beats on its breast, and bewails its sins! Every wind laden with dirges, all the open spaces black with prostrate forms, all eyes wet with tears, the sombre shadow of the funereal pyre flung over all.

It will be lonely! "Every family apart, and their wives apart." Excessive grief seeks seclusion. It brooks no distraction; its attention is too absorbed with the object of its agony to have thought for anything beside. It did not seem surprising to her friends, when Martha arose from a houseful of mourners, and hastened away. They whispered, "It's natural enough: she wants to be alone. She goeth to the grave to weep there." So this mourning will isolate people. Each will feel personally concerned; each will feel as though chiefly responsible; each will take to his own heart the crucifixion of the Messiah, and will turn the' Miserere into a wail of personal confession. "I have sinned; I pierced his hands and feet;! am of all men most miserable, and of all sinners the chief."

It will be due to a vision of the mediatorial sufferings of Jesus. "They shall look on Him whom they pierced, and they shall mourn." There is no doubt as to the application of these words, for as the beloved apostle stood beside the cross, on which only the precious casket of the Jewel -- the body of our Lord -- remained, and saw the soldier pierce his side, as the blood and water issued forth, he was reminded by the Holy Ghost that this Scripture was being fulfilled (John 19:34-36).

This is the fact which the Spirit of God delights to use for the breaking of our hard hearts. They are broken on the broken heart of Jesus. They are pierced by the sight of His piercing. They mourn when they look on Him whom they pierced.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIII.  THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

There are two kinds of sorrow -- the one to death, the other to life. The first considers the penalty of our wrongdoing; the second the Person against whom the wrong has been done. The one is largely selfish, dreading only the scorpion whip and the sting of flame -- it would cease in a moment if these were withdrawn; the other is altogether regardless of consequences that may accrue to itself, and bitterly laments that shame and sorrow have been brought to the heart of Jesus, so true, so tender, so altogether lovely.

Sinners seeking forgiveness often appear to think that they must bring some meed of sorrow as a condition of acceptance with the Saviour. If only they can feel an adequate sorrow for sin, they may surely bring their tears as a price for his mercy, as a reason for his salvation. But we can never feel an adequate sorrow for sin. To wait for this will be to wait for ever. To postpone coming until the tear-bottles are full, will be to postpone for ever. Besides, the spiritual philosophy of the matter is that we shall never get the right sorrow for sin till we see Jesus, and are admitted into the intimacy of his love. The tears that we do not need to weep over come, not before, but after conversion. It was after the poor sinful outcast had been forgiven that she washed the Saviour's feet with tears. It was when Jesus turned and looked upon Peter that he went forth to weep bitterly. We must come to Christ as we are, not trying to realize what sin is, not seeking to be smitten with adequate grief, but just accepting his finished work and trusting Himself: after this will come the forth-pouring of our grief. The eyes that first look to Him for salvation may be tearless, but they will not long remain so. The first act may be largely one of the will; but the last will be of the emotions. When we have looked on Him whom our sins pierced, we shall mourn as one mourneth for his only son, and be in bitterness as one in bitterness for his firstborn.

Let us distinguish, then, between Repentance and Penitence. The one is the child of the will; the other of the heart. We repent when we turn from sin to Christ; we are penitent when we meet his eyes, as Peter did, and go out to weep bitterly. To repent is the definite act of the moment; but penitence will accompany us to the very gates of heaven, only to flee away before the light of eternal blessedness.
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIII.  THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

The Agent in producing this mourning is the Holy Spirit. "I will pour . . . the Spirit of grace and supplication." Conviction of sin is the special work of the Holy Spirit. He uses the truth as his sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow. He particularly takes the truth of the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus, and presents that to the conscience, pressing home the evil of rejecting such a Saviour, such pity, such holy, yearning love, until the soul understands what sin has cost the Lord, and melts, as icebergs do when they float down into Southern seas.


II. A FOUNTAIN OPENED.

On the day of Pentecost Peter pointed to those cleansing streams. "And Peter said unto them; Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." With marvellous force and eloquence John Bunyan brought out the force of those words, "every one of you." "But I struck Him on his head with the rod: is there any hope for me?" Every one of you, saith the apostle. "But I spat in his face: is there forgiveness for me?" Yes, is the reply, for every one of you. "But I drove the spikes into his hands and feet, which transfixed Him to the cross: is there cleansing for me?" Yes, cries Peter, for every one of you. "But I pierced his side, though He had never done me wrong; it was a ruthless, cruel act, and I am sorry for it now: may that sin be washed away?" Every one of you, is the constant answer. Repent, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin. if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your consciences!

And as it was at the beginning of this era, so it shall be at its close -- with this difference, that whereas then some few thousand souls only stepped into the fountain, at last a whole nation, the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, shall wash there and be cleansed. Then the words of the apostle Peter, spoken centuries ago in Solomon's porch, will be fulfilled, when Israel repents and turns again; her sins will be blotted out, and there will come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and the restoration of all things, "whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began" (Acts 3:21).
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THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIII.  THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

III. THE DESTRUCTION OF IDOLATRY.

The names of the idols will be cut off out of the land, and the prophets and unclean spirits will be caused to pass out of it. It is not enough for God to forgive. He must deal with the sources of all the waywardness and backsliding of his people. There will be, therefore, a strong and radical dealing with idols, prophets, and demons.

The thoroughness of there drastic measures is brought out in an imaginary vignette of a household scene in those happy days. It is supposed that the son of Godly parents, who have lately mourned for their sins apart, and been delivered from them, suddenly feels himself called upon to assume the role of a prophet. He encourages people to come to him to detect the culprit in some theft or murder, or to cause the rain to fall on the parched ground, or to perform magical rites over the sick, or call up the dead -- to do, in fact, what Balaam wanted Balak to do, when he sent for him across the desert. The tidings come to his parents, who are so devoted in their adherence to God, that they would rather lose their child than allow him to pursue his evil, God-dishonouring work in their home. "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.' It would not be possible to discover a stronger way of affirming the absolute transformation that will finally come over the Jewish people, when their devotion to God shall overpower their natural love to their children.

The passion against idolatry and false prophets would become so intense, that the practisers of arts which had imposed on the credulity of the people would be ashamed and afraid to own their profession. "The prophets shall be ashamed, every one of his vision, when he prophesieth, neither shall they wear a hairy garment " -- this being the special dress of the sons of the prophets, by which they were at once recognised.

If a township of people should rise against a man suspected of being a prophet, he would vehemently protest that they were mistaken, and that he was no prophet. Trembling for his life, because so certain of the temper of his accusers, he would make any subterfuge to escape suspicion. "I am a tiller of the ground, for I have been made a bondman from my youth."

If, finally, in the pursuance of their hot inquiry, they discovered marks on his body, which indicated that he had been previously convicted and branded for following the calling of a prophet, he would rather assign them to the hands of his friends than dare to admit that he had ever been suspected of claiming to be a prophet. "One shall say unto him, What are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends!"

This inquiry and reply have often been associated with the marks of the nails in the hands of Christ. But this is not the natural reading of the passage, which can only be attributed in the sense above given; the evident drift of the passage being to show that there will be such a. revelation of the evil wrought by the prophets, and so strong an antagonism against them, that those suspected of being such will be prepared to evade the charge at any cost, knowing that if it is established against them they may expect but short shrift. This will be a deliverance indeed, which shall be radical and final. But if God is prepared to do so great and perfect a work for his ancient people, let us give Him no rest until He has utterly abolished our idols also, and purified us unto Himself  -- people for his possession, zealous of good works.
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[nChrist]

THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIV.  "THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS"
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

(Zechariah 14.)


IT is impossible to regard this mysterious and sublime prophecy as having been already fulfilled. There is nothing in the story of the Maccabees, nor in the fall of Jerusalem beneath the arms of Titus, which at all adequately fulfils the conditions of the prophet's words. When have all nations been gathered together against Jerusalem in battle? When has the Mount of Olives rent in twain for the flight of the besieged? What day that has ever broken from the East has fulfilled the description of (Zechariah 14:6-7)? At what time of their chequered history have the Jews gathered the spoils of their enemies in battle; gold and silver, and apparel, in great abundance? Of course, it is possible to put metaphorical and spiritualizing interpretations on all these touches. But to do so is to jeopardize the whole force and value of prophetic Scripture. If the predictions of the Advent of our Lord in the days of his humiliation were so literally fulfilled, why should we suppose that the predictions of his Second Advent in great glory must be treated as metaphor and trope? Surely we are justified by the minute accuracy of the former fulfilment to expect as exact a fulfilment of prophecies which are still awaiting accomplishment. When it is built, the new Jerusalem shall comply with every line of the Architect's plan, as communicated to the prophet.

Following, then, the successive features of the prophet's delineation, we learn that a time is coming when the nations of the world -- which: to adopt a modern phrase, may indicate the concert of European powers -- will be gathered against Jerusalem in battle, that city being held by the Jews, as yet in unbelief. And we can hardly doubt that Zechariah is here anticipating the same events as are described by Ezekiel, when the great nations of the north come against "the land that is brought back from the sword, and gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, to take the spoil and to take the prey" (Ezekiel 38, 39.).

At first this invasion shall be completely successful. "The city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished": hell let loose, and no restraint exerted on the excesses of the infuriated soldiery. Then will the Lord appear to his people, as He did to the typical Jew on the road to Damascus. "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle." "Behold," says John, referring to the same event, "lie cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him." "In that day," to quote Ezekiel's vivid and striking imagery, "saith the Lord, when Cog shall come against the land of Israel, my fury shall come up into my nostrils. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hail-stones, fire, and brimstone. And I will magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make Myself known in the eyes of many nations."
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[nChrist]

THE PROPHET OF HOPE - STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH
XIV.  "THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS"
BY F.B. MEYER, B.A.

It is impossible to doubt that, at that time, there will be a literal appearance of the rejected Saviour. Where his feet often stood in the days of his flesh, they shall stand again. "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the East. The Lord my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee." In other words, there shall be a glorious and literal fulfilment of the reassuring words of the two men, who, clad in white and glistening raiment, stood beside the apostles on Olivet.

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? This Jesus, which was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven' (Acts 1:11). "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill ' (Isaiah 25:9-10).

It was when his brethren were in their greatest straits that Joseph made himself known unto them; and when the Jews are in their dire extremity, they will cry aloud for help and deliverance from Him whom they rejected. That memorable scene in the ancient land of the pyramids will be reproduced in all its pathos, when the long-rejected Brother shall say to his own brethren after the flesh, "I am Jesus, your Brother, whom ye sold unto Pilate: and now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye delivered Me up to be crucified; for God did send Me before you to preserve a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance" (see Genesis 45:1-15).

When this final reconciliation shall have taken place; when the mutual blessings and embracings have effaced the memory of the bitter past; when the chosen people shall have recognised their great Deliverer- -He will set Himself to deliver them. It may be that they will recognise Him in the act of their deliverance. The cleaving mountain shall make a way of escape, as of old time the cleaving sea. On that memorable day -- " one day, which is known unto the Lord, not day, and not night"; when the cold and frost Zechariah 14:6, R.V., marg.) shall mingle with the throes of earthquake (Zechariah 14:5); when the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood; when atmospheric and cosmical convulsions, accompanying the crisis, give evidence of its momentous character, as the pangs of the travail-hour in which the new age is being born -- God will destroy the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. How touching and significant are the prophet's words: "It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." The day of Israel's history has been long and stormy. For the most part, heavy storm-clouds have brooded over her national life, emitting from age to age thunder and deluges of rain! but already there is a rim of light on the horizon, and this is destined to grow until it dispossesses the brooding darkness. The sun shall yet break out and bathe, the whole landscape with warm and glowing radiance. "At evening time it shall be light."
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