Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

As we read these ancient prophecies, we will not only notice how exactly they have been fulfilled, but we will also try to learn the lesson that they are intended to teach us.

Zechariah 9:1-4. The burden of the Word of the LORD against the land ofHadrach andDamascus, its restingplace (for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel, are on the LORD). Also against Hamath which borders on it. And also Tyrus and Sidon, though they are very wise. And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and He will destroy her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. Alexander the Great besieged Tyre and utterly overthrew it. The citizens thought that their "strong hold" was impregnable, but they had at last to surrender to the mighty monarch whose attacks they had so long resisted. All the mercenaries whom they could procure with their heaped-up silver and gold could not avert the doom which the Lord had foretold and which, through the instrumentality of Alexander, He accomplished—"The Lord will cast her out, and He will destroy her power in the sea."

5-8. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear, Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remains, even he shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. And I will encamp about My house because of the army, because of him that passes by and because of him that returns: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with My eyes. When Phoenicia had fallen into the hands of the conqueror, there was no power able to avert the overthrow of Philistia. And Jerusalem would also have come beneath his sway had not the Lord miraculously interposed for its preservation. Alexander was restrained by a power which perhaps he did not understand, but which he could not resist, so he passed by the holy city of which the Temple of the Lord was the glory in the midst. They who are Divinely protected are in absolute safety even in the most perilous times. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it and is safe."

9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. You know how exactly this prophecy was fulfilled in our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem—when the multitudes welcomed Him with hosan-nas—probably the same crowds that soon hoarsely shouted, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

10. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak peace unto the heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea, even to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the earth. He shall yet be acclaimed as the universal Monarch, "King of kings, and Lord of lords," for, "of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end."

11, 12. As for you, also, by the blood of your Covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto you. This "stronghold" is very different from that of Tyre, which failed her in her hour of need. It is, indeed, that of which the Prophet Nahum wrote—"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows them that trust in Him."

13. For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you as the sword of a mighty man.Note well that it is the Lord who is doing all these notable deeds—bending Judah like a bow, fitting Ephraim to the bow as the archer presses his arrow to the string, and raising up the despised sons of Zion so that they may be able to overcome the proud sons of Greece! "The sword of a mighty man" owes its strength to the hand that wields it, and the sons of Zion are only mighty when the Lord holds them in His almighty hands and uses them as seems good in His sight.

14. And the LORD shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the South.Then how safe must the Lord's people be! And what terror must spread among their enemies!

15. The LORD of Hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour and subdue with slingstones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar There seems to be a hint here of the strange scene that was witnessed in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, when the unbelieving mockers said of the Spirit-filled disciples, "There men are full of new wine," but Peter repudiated the slander and declared that the wonder which the people could not comprehend was really the fulfillment of the ancient Prophecy, "It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh."

16. And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. See how many metaphors the Prophet was Inspired to use in a single verse in describing the Lord's chosen ones—"as the flockof His people; as the stonesof a crown...as an ensign upon His land." No human language can fully set forth all that their Lord thinks of them—and all that they are in His esteem!

17. For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! Corn shall make young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Zechariah 10:1. Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shallmake bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, grass in the fields for everyone. The atheistic philosopher of the present day laughs at such a verse as this and sneeringly asks, "What possible connection can there be between men and women praying to God and the showers of rain which fall upon the earth? Why," he says "according to the laws of Nature, showers fall at such-and-such seasons and if the atmosphere should not happen to be in such-and-such a state, all the praying in the world cannot produce a single drop of rain!" But faith can clearly see where reason is blind—and the prayer of faith moves the arm of God and the arm of God controls what the philosopher calls the "laws of Nature," and so the rain descends. Let us learn from this precept and promise, the power of believing prayer! Prayer has the key of Nature as well as the key of Heaven hanging at her belt! Observe also, that when we have received one mercy from the Lord, we are to go on to pray for another. These people must have had "the former rain," yet they were to ask for "the latter rain," also! And if you, dear Friends, have had "the former rain" of conversion, go on to ask the Lord for "the latter rain" of sanctification. If, in our Church fellowship, we have had "the former rain" of gracious additions to our numbers, we must ask for "the latter rain" by praying that God would continue thus to bless us. When we cease to pray for blessings, God has already ceased to bless us—but when our souls pour out floods of prayer, God is certain to pour out floods of mercy.

2. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, andhave told false dreams; they comfortin vain. Observe the readiness of man to forsake the great fountain of Living Waters and to make unto himself broken cisterns which can hold no water! Notice, too, that some sort of comfort may, for a time, be derived from a false trust, but it is

"comfort in vain." As a dream yields no comfort when a man wakes up and finds himself to not be rich—as he had vainly dreamed that he was—but miserably poor, so all confidence in the flesh, all reliance upon anything except the almighty arm of God, even if it should yield us temporary hope and consolation, will only make our grief the greater when its utter failure is discovered!

2. Therefore the people wend their way as a flock, they were troubled because there was no shepherd.The sheep that belong to Christ's flock will never find any true shepherd except He who is "the Good Shepherd." If, for a time, they should so lose their spiritual wits as to follow strangers—which, indeed, is not a natural thing for them to do, for "a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers"—they will meet with a thousand troubles because they have no shepherd.

3. My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the goatherds. Whenever people are afflicted with unfaithful ministers, when God comes to visit these people, He will not only punish the ministers, but the religious leaders, the false professors in those churches, the he-goats who led the flock astray! Oh, what a plague and a curse will an unfaithful minister be found to have been at the Last Day! A well which only yields bitter water like that of Marah, merely mocks a temporary thirst. But a minister who does not preach the Gospel and who does not live the Gospel, mocks the soul's eternal thirst! Whatever I may be, God grant that I may never be an unfaithful preacher of His Word! Surely, if there is an innermost Hell, a place where the soul's feet shall be made more fast in the stocks of the Pit than anywhere else, it shall be reserved for the man who, professing to be an instructor of the ignorant and a leader of the flock, taught them lies and led them out of the Way! May the Lord save us from shepherds against whom His anger must be kindled!

3. For the LORD of Hosts has visited His flock the house of Judah, and has made them as His royal horse in the battle. As an expert horseman skillfully controls his steed and turns it according to his pleasure in the day of battle, and makes it obey himself, alone, so does the Lord rein in and direct His Church, so that she becomes like a "royal horse in the battle."

4. Out of Him came forth the corner, out of Him the nail, out of Him the battle bow, out of Him every oppressor together Let us learn from this verse that everything comes from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Providence, as well as of Divine Grace. Those statesmen who are the cornerstones of the great building of State, must come from Him. Those Christian men and women of experience who seem to be as the cornerstones of our spiritual building must come from Him. Those who are as nails, upon whom weaker Christians seem to hang, come from Him. And whoever is, in the day of battle, like God's bow, must also come from Him, for apart from the Lord there is no strength, nor power, nor wit nor wisdom among all His people. We must learn, then, to lift up our eyes unto God and look to Him for all that we need whether it is political, social, or religious needs that are to be supplied—all must come from Him.

5. And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.The Jewish infantry often turned to flight the Syrian cavalry, and I may fitly compare the Apostles of old to humble fighters upon foot, while heathen and other philosophers were like mighty men on horseback! Yet they were turned back by the apparently weaker warriors of the Cross—and it is still so. We can well afford to give our adversaries every advantage that they can ask— let them have State patronage, let them have worldly dignity, let them have learning, let them have wealth—yet, in the name of God will we vanquish them, for the Truth of God is mightier than all the wisdom of man and the weakness of God is stronger than the greatest strength of man!

6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back, for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them. [See Sermon #2588, Volume 44—PERFECT RESTORATION.] See, Beloved, how the Everlasting Covenant is the great foundation of everything for the saints. "I am Jehovah their God," says He. The Lord has taken His people to be His own forever and, therefore, though He may seem temporarily to reject them, yet permanently and everlastingly He will hold them fast and acknowledge them as His people.

7. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yes, their children shall see it and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. Get a firm hold of this promise, Believers, and plead it! Are you dull and heavy, desponding and sad? Then plead this promise, "Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord."

8. I willhiss for theem, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased. The word, "hiss," is supposed by some to be an allusion to the Eastern custom of men who managed bees making a sound like hissing in order to gather them into the hive. Others, however, translate the word, "piping," as the shepherd pipes to his flock and they gather round him. In the words, "I will gather them, for I have redeemed them," we see that particular redemption is the groundwork of effectual calling those whom Jesus Christ has bought with His precious blood, the Holy Spirit will call by power out from the rest of mankind.

9-11. And I will sow them among the people and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria, and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; andplace shall not be found for them. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction. In the restoration of Israel, there is to be an even greater triumph than that which was achieved at the Red Sea.

11. And shall smite the wave in the sea, and all the deeps of the River shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away. For the Glory of God in the deliverance of His people is sure to be attended by another form of Glory in the destruction of His enemies! Christ is a sweet Savior unto God both in them that are saved and in them that perish.

12. AndI will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in His name, says the LORD.