Zechariah 1

2. In a bad sense, and so God is jealous of his people. 1. In a good sense, and so God is jealous for his people (Zechariah 1:14). Thus says the Lord, I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with a great jealousy. God has a dear affection to his people, they are his Hephsibah…

And like as when God makes this natural darkness and it is night, then the young lions creep forth and roar after their prey, as the psalmist says (Psalm 104:20-21): so do these roaring lions, now when God has withdrawn the light of his countenance and night comes on, and those…

Hence God gives him new revelations now in his glorified condition (Revelation 1:1). With respect hereunto he acted of old as the Angel of the Covenant with express prayers for the Church (Zechariah 1:12, 13). So the command given him to intercede by the way of petition, request…

So he did of old, and so he continues still to do. Our fathers where are they? and the Prophets do they live for ever? (Zechariah 1:5). The Prophets of old, the most eminent administrators under the Old Testament they were all mortal dying men, and while they lived in this world…

The second doctrine concerns God's decree, and it is this: It is concluded in the counsel of heaven, and [◊] has it in the thoughts of his heart, to repair the br[illegible] of his house, and to build such a Temple to himself, as is shadowed forth in this vision of Ezekiel. For…

God orders the interest and affairs of nations for those ends; and according to this disposition of affairs, Christ times his intercessions for his Church. The angels had been sent out to view the state of the world, and found it in peace (Zechariah 1:11): behold, all the earth…

As foam. The word that is translated Foam, sometimes signifies the foam that is in a man that is extreamly angry, so you have it in Zechariah 1:2. Oh the King when he was crost he was in a foam.

But at length God's wrath overtakes men. In (Zechariah 1:6), Did not my words take hold upon your fathers? I sent out my threatning words and you escaped a long time, but at length my word catcht hold of them.

Christ takes it hard, and weeps for it (Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:42), that he came down as a hen in the bush — (O but Christ has broad wings, far above the eagle) — and would have made sinners in Jerusalem his young ones, to nourish them with heat from his own bosom and heart; but…

Then how much more does Jesus Christ's intercession bind God's hands, and command all in heaven and earth? Therefore in Zechariah 1, you have Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, brought in interceding with the Father for his Church, and he speaks abruptly as one full of complaint…

If you would know who it is that can give this water of life, you shall read (John 4:10) that it is only the Lord Jesus; he it is only that goes to the Father, and sends his Spirit of grace into our hearts, unless he go to heaven, and send it down from heaven to us, it is not gi…

All which shows how God bridles and moderates the rage of Satan, and his evil influence. (2.) For his instruments God says (Zechariah 1:15): I am very sorely displeased with the heathen that were at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.…

The Lord complains by his Prophet Zechariah of the same unruliness of profane nations, who violently rushed upon his people to destroy them, though his wrath was not much moved against them. I am greatly angry, says he, against the careless heathen, for I was angry but a little,…

Indeed the very Angels spur on our diligence by their example to this affection of prayer. For one of them, as we read in Zechariah 1:12, prays with great fervency for the restoration of the Church. Till he repair.] Hence let us gather that these are two distinct benefits, first…

There is no probability in the opinion of those who refer this passage to that Zechariah who exhorted the people, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, to build the temple, (Zechariah 8:9,) and whose prophecies are still in existence. For though the title of the book…

The continuation of all your mercies and comforts, outward as well as inward, is the fruit of his Intercession in Heaven for you. For look, as the offering up of the Lamb of God a Sacrifice for sin, opened the door of mercy at first; so his appearing before God as a Lamb that ha…

A Well of water is discovered to Hagar, just when she had let the Child, as not able to see its death, Genesis 21. 16, 19. Rabshakh meets with a blasting Providence, hears a rumour that frustrated his design, just when ready to give the shock against Jerusalem, Isaiah 27. 7, 8.…

This then is that whereof the Apostle minds the Jews. God having promised to dwell among them by his glorious presence, from where the very name of Jerusalem was called, The Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:35), he who in and under that name was with them, as sent by Jehovah (Zechariah…

This is the Decree or Commandment mentioned in Ezra 6. granted by Darius, upon appeal made to him from his neighbouring Governours; and it was a mere revival of the Decree of Cyrus, the Roll whereof was found in Achmetha in the Province of the Medes, v. 2. And this is that which…

That is the running or going to and fro which is here meant in the text, it is a going to and fro to increase his knowledge, and inform himself of all things as he goes. The same word is used concerning the good angels (Zechariah 1:10). It is said there, that they were sent to w…

And he that reaps, receives wages, and gathers fruit to life eternal, that both he that sows, and he that reaps may rejoice together; and herein is that saying true, one sows, and another reaps. Though ministers die, yet their words live; indeed, their words take hold of men whe…

They are then rightly called the Angels of the Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:7), for they cover their faces (it is no blushing for sin) and their feet with wings (Isaiah 6) while they stand before and see the face of their sovereign and high Master; and so it is clear that the a…

5. Job gets no leave to swallow his spittle (Job 7:19). Precious Israel is plowed (Psalm 129:1) and her back made a field of blood; like two legs and a piece of an ear of a devoured sheep, plucked out of the mouth of a Lion (Amos 3:12), the man Christ a man of sorrows and acquai…

Now consider how terrible it will be▪ to have so many words of God, and such terrible ones too, as most of those are, to be brought in and pleaded against your Soul in that day: mountains and hills may depart, but these words shall not depart; He[•]ven and Earth shall pass away,…

First, he grieves and labors with us. Zechariah 1:12: The angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem? He speaks as one intimately affected with the state of poor Jerusalem.

3. Men are unreasonable in their oppositions, and will not relent, nor abate any thing of their rigor. (Zechariah 1:15) "I was a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction." They are still adding to the church's trouble, and would destroy those whom God would only…

Let it not seem strange, that temporal deliverance should be owned, as a comfort to God's people: partly, because they are acts of God's providence, and dispensations of his grace, sought not in a way of faith and prayer. Zechariah 1:17. "The Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and sha…

There is a fourfold wrath in this. 1. 'Tis the Lord's sore wrath and displeasure (Zechariah 1:2, 4). If one should expect love from another to do much for him, and he did not, it may be he would not take it as a sign of displeasure: but if he will not do a small thing, not speak…

You have a child taken away, there is the dark side; your husband lives, there is the light side. God's providences in this life are various, represented by those speckled horses among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8), which were red and white; mercies and afflictions are interw…

He has promised to make the stones of this House heavy stones, they shall burden all that touch them (Zechariah 12:3). He comes forth of the Myrtle trees in the bottom (his lowly people, in a low condition) with the Red horse following him (Zechariah 1:8). Upon this account he […

But it will be time enough to ask such on a sick-bed, or a dying hour, whether the words of the Lord delivered by their faithful Preachers have not taken hold of them. Some have confessed with horrour they have, as the Jewes, Zechariah 1:6. Like as the Lord of hosts thought to d…

O turn to me, and have mercy upon me. Our turning will make God turn, (Zechariah 1:3). Turn ye to me, says the Lord, and I will turn to you.

3. Their miserable condition calls for it: they are objects of compassion, and every tender heart cannot but condole them; nor is it like to be better with them till the happy day of their conversion comes. And well may we use a like expostulation which Christ, the Angel of the…

I shall not be able to handle all these several truths which lie in the words; those only which are of most importance and most suitable, may briefly be handled to you, and the first is, There is an appointed season wherein the Saints of the most eminent abilities, in the most u…

Jesus cured the leper: but how? Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him: so is the building of the temple given, but oiled with mercies (Zechariah 1:16). Therefore thus says the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it.

And if every day we are to pray for pardon of sin, then we are every day to put forth an act of faith, to apply the pardon of our sin. Secondly, we are every day to turn to God, for conversion is a continued act (Zechariah 1:3; James 4:8). Now we cannot draw near God daily, but…