Zechariah 13

It is the best weapon-salve, it heals at a distance: though Christ be in heaven, we may feel the virtue of his blood healing our bloody issue. 2. And it is cleansing: it is therefore compared to fountain-water (Zechariah 13:1). The Word is a glass to show us our spots, and Chris…

He rejoices over them with joy, and rests in his love (Zephaniah 3:17). They are his refined silver (Zechariah 13:9). His jewels (Malachi 3:17).

Let the wicked forsake his way, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And Christ's blood is a fountain set open for sin and uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). Mercy does more overflow in God, than sin in us; God's mercy can drown great sins, as the sea cove…

Lord, be my God in covenant. The Lord has made an express promise, that upon our prayer to him, the covenant shall be ratified, he will be our God, and we shall be his people (Zechariah 13:9). They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them; I will say it is my people, and th…

What communion has light with darkness? And that we may keep our souls pure, (1.) have recourse to the blood of Christ: this is the fountain set open for sin and uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). A soul steeped in the brinish tears of repentance, and bathed in the blood of Christ, i…

4. Means, for pardon, sound repentance: repentance and remission are put together (Luke 24:47). There is a promise of a fountain opened for the washing away the guilt of sin (Zechariah 13:1). But see what goes before (Zechariah 12:10).

Tell him it is true, he may, and that this is some comfort to you — that he may have glory out of your death and destruction, who never yet had it out of your life. But yet desire him to consider this before he thrusts his sword into you: that he did first sheath it in his Son's…

And so did John Baptist, Matthew 3:4. Yea, the false Prophets went so arrayed, that they might the rather be respected of the people, Zechariah 13:4. And, our Savior Christ saith, The false Prophets shall come in sheep's clothing, like the true Prophets; when as indeed, they are…

And God himself speaks the same of his children. (Zechariah 13:9) They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people (now mark the echo) and they shall say, the Lord is my God.

3. God calls the righteous the excellent of the earth (Psalm 16:2). Or the magnificent, as Junius renders it; they are the spiritual phoenixes, they are the cream and flower of the creation; they are purior pars mundi, the purer part of the world, double-refined (Zechariah 13:9)…

Nevertheless it is true in all the elect having the spirit of grace, and prayer: for when God in the ministry of the word being his own ordinance, says, Seek my face: the heart of God's children truly answers, O Lord, I will seek your face (Psalm 27:8). And when God shall say, Y…

3. In respect of His having had a hand actively in them; and as he was the chief party that pursued Christ; it was He that was exacting the elect's debt of Him; therefore the Lord looks over Pilate and Herod to Him; and says to Pilate you could have no power over me except it we…

And we know that we cannot be free of temptations in this life; yet we pray not to be led into temptation, which is not so much, that the body of sin may be fully rooted out of us, and inherent sanctification may be perfected in this life, as that we may be delivered from guilt…

His going forth is from everlasting, though born at Bethlehem; so the bud of the Lord, and the fruit of the earth (Isaiah 4:2). The man God's fellow (Zechariah 13:7), and in many other places the union of the two natures is asserted. 2. He is the beloved Son.

The second part of instruction is a real and lively teaching, when God made Paul in his heart to answer the calling, according to that in Psalm 27:5: "When you said, 'Seek my face,' my heart answered, 'I will seek your face, O Lord.'" And in Zechariah 13:9: "He shall say, 'It is…

It is further said, we must restore in the spirit of meekness. The word spirit is added, because it proceeds from the spirit of God, who is both the worker and continuer thereof: as on the contrary, the spirit of jealousy (Numbers 5:14), the spirit of error (1 John 4:6), the spi…

After having treated of the restoration of the Church, the prophet, in order to prevent the minds of the godly from being overwhelmed with despair by the extreme distresses which were already at hand, declares, that when the government has been brought into a state of confusion,…

How shall they believe in him of whom, etc. The sum and sense of these words is this: namely, that we are after a sort dumb until the promise of God open our mouth to pray. Which order also he notes in the prophet Zechariah in these words: I will say to them, you are my people,…

And the difficulties of religion are often represented in Scripture as being the trial of professors, in the same manner that the furnace is the proper trial of gold and silver; Psalm 66:10, 11. Thou, O God, hast proved us, thou hast tried us, as silver is tried: Thou broughtest…

For it the blood of Bulls and of Goats, and the Ashes of an Heyfer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifyes to the purifying of the Flesh, how much more shall the Blood of Christ purge our Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God. And hence the whole Work of Sanctification…

What you, my wife? Is your hand upon me in my own house, might Job say? The Prophet brings in one questioning, What are these wounds? And Christ answering, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends (Zechariah 13:6). The height of enmity is thus expressed, A man's…

The choicest saints have been afraid, and amazed at the beauty of an angel; and the stoutest sinners have trembled at the glory of one of those creatures in a low appearance, representing but the back parts of their glory, who yet themselves in their highest advancement do cover…

The uniting of the natures of God and man in one person, made him fit to be a savior to the uttermost. He lays his hand upon God by partaking of his nature (Zechariah 13:7), and he lays his hand upon us, by being partaker of our nature (Hebrews 2:14, 16), and so becomes a daysma…

Hence the Father became his God — which is a covenant expression, Psalm 89:26, Hebrews 1:5, Psalm 22:1, Psalm 40:8, Psalm 45:7. So was he by his Father designed to this work, Isaiah 42:1, Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 49:9, Malachi 3:1, Zechariah 13:7, John 3:16, 1 Timothy 1:15. Thus the…

This blood answers all the typical institutions for fleshly purification and therefore has a spiritually purifying, cleansing, sanctifying virtue in itself as offered and poured out. Hence it is called a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, Zechariah 13:1 — a fountain re…

It would be a license to sin, if his sins were remitted before committed. 3. A right to the remission of daily sins, or free leave to make use of the fountain of mercy, that is always running, and is opened in the house of God for the comfort of believers (Zechariah 13:1): In th…

Therefore we may lay claim to him as a man to his patrimony or inheritance to which he is born, and say, Lord, you are mine. (Zechariah 13:9) I will say it is my people: and they shall say the Lord is my God. As God owns an interest in them, so they own him; he is my God.

This is the constant method of God: first to show man his sin then his Savior; first his danger then his redeemer; first his wound, then his cure; first his own vileness, then Christ's righteousness. We must be brought to cry out unclean, unclean, to mourn for him whom we have p…

And therefore it was that our Savior was pleased to receive our nature even from the vilest of sinners, that he might show himself a Savior from all sins (Matthew 1). Hence also his blood is called a fountain set open for Judah and Israel, to wash in, for sin, and for uncleannes…

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance and separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of his people according to the number of the children of Israel, for the Lord's portion is his people Israel, the lot of his inheritance: You are the temple of the livin…

For sin is the transgression of the law, and Christ was manifested to take away our sins: therefore (verse 6) whoever abides in him sins not: Christ came to take away sin, and therefore he that abides in Christ cannot abide in sin; and (verse 8) The Son of God was manifested to…

Oh sinners, let your eyes be a fountain of tears; weep for those sins which are so many, as have passed all arithmetic; this water of contrition is healing and purifying. 2. The bath of Christ's blood; this is that fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1). A…

Caesar took it unkindly that his son Brutus should stab him — and you, my son? May not the Lord say to us, These wounds I have received in the house of my friends (Zechariah 13:6)! Israel took their jewels and earrings and made a golden calf of them; the sinner takes the jewels…

(4.) The same Covenant made with Abraham is made with the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:16): I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Which is prophesied of the Gentiles under the New Testament in Ezekiel 11:17-20, Ezekiel 34:23-25, Jeremiah 31:31-36, Jeremiah 32:36-40,…

Only there is a warrant to say that the Covenant is everlasting: first, because it goes beyond time and stands with the dead in Christ (Matthew 22:32); second, because two great promises of the Covenant — the rising of the body and life everlasting — are fulfilled after time is…

Q. What way is God ours? A. By Covenant (Ezekiel 34:24; Genesis 17:7; Jeremiah 32:38; Zechariah 13:9). But he is not ours as if we had some gifted right and dominion over him, as we have over the creatures.

In fact, he has by their fall brought in a more glorious order, when he that sits upon the Throne says, Behold I make all things new (Revelation 21:5), and it is said (2 Peter 3:13), Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells…

No doubt, Christ God-Man is in Covenant with God, being a person designed from eternity, with his own consent, and in time yielding to that, and yet he stands not in that covenant-relation that we stand in: as we shall hear. Argument 1. What argument does prove that there is a p…

4. They differ in the subject, matter: The Covenant of Redemption is, 1. who shall be the surety of Redemption to undertake for man? Here am I, says the Son, your fellow (Zechariah 13:7). 2. What shall be his work?

There was indeed in Christ a two-fold fullness and perfection of all spiritual excellencies; first the natural all-sufficient perfection of his Deity, as one with his Father in respect of his Divine nature: for his glory was the glory of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:1…

Christ said to that weeping woman, Thy sins which are many are forgiven, (Luke 7:47). Pardons are sealed upon soft hearts: O you whose head has been a fountain to weep for sin, Christs side will be a fountain to wash away sin, (Zechariah 13:1). Hast you repented?

9th Commandment: You shall not bear, etc. He breaks this commandment: who envies at the prosperity of his neighbor (1 Timothy 6:4); who seeks only his own good report; who is suspicious (1 Corinthians 13:5); who gives rash or hard sentence against others (Matthew 7:1); who takes…

It was not for the righteous, that needed him not, but for the poor sinner that condemns himself, and knows he cannot save himself. Paul says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief (1 Timothy 1:15): and (Zechariah 13:1) There is a fountain open…

And the third, from that particular, and most significant metaphor of gold tried in the fire; by which I here understand, a real and solid work of grace, evidencing itself to be so, in all the proofs and trials that are made of it; for whatever is probational to grace, and puts…

'What delight can I take in their duties when the faith, fervor, humility, and holy seriousness of their spirits is wanting in them?' 'I will therefore refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried; and they shall call upon my name, and I will hear them; and I…

When the possessed child is brought to Jesus, and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tore him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming: the Devil and the unclean spirits are not thrown out of a person, or land, but they must rage and foam. 1. The Lord says (Zechariah…

Thirdly, That which makes a calling warrantable, is, when it is attained to by warrantable and direct means, when a man enterprises not a calling, but in the use of such means as he may see God's providence leading him to it: so Amos manifests his calling against the High Priest…

They loved to be contrary to the people of God, and yet because there are families, and they mourn, and sundry families, they mourn, therefore that which is the act of these various families, is accounted the act of the whole land. And indeed so far was this mourning the mournin…

One truly zealous person, in the time of such an event, that seems to have a great hand in the affair, and draws the eyes of many upon him, may do more, through Satan's being too subtle for him, to hinder the work, than a hundred great, and strong, and open opposers. In the time…