Zechariah 2

2. It imports the relation of a husband (Isaiah 54:5). your Maker is your husband. If God be our husband, he esteems us precious to him as the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). He imparts his secrets to us (Psalm 25:14).

God has a dear affection to his people, they are his Hephsibah or delight (Isaiah 62:4). The apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). To express how dear they are to him, and how tender he is of them, Nihil charius pupilla oculi, Drusius. They are his spouse, adorned with the jewels of…

As when one string in a lute is touched, all the rest of the strings sound: When God's children are stricken, his bowels sound. He that touches you touches the apple of my eye (Zechariah 2:8). 4. If God be our Father, he will take notice of the least good he sees in us; if there…

Question. But how can it stand with Christ's glory now in Heaven, to have a fellow-feeling of our miseries and temptations? Answer. This fellow-feeling in Christ arises not from any infirmity or passion, but from the mystical union between him and his members (Zechariah 2:8). He…

They, which thus know each other, love each other, delight in each other, must needs be distinct; and so are they represented to our faith. And for the other sort of actings the Scripture is full of the expressions of them; see Genesis 19:24; Zechariah 2:8; John 5:17; 1 Corinthi…

At the Tabernacle of the Congregation will I meet with the people, says the Lord, there will I meet with the children of Israel. And the Tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory, and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God (Zechariah 2:10, 11; Ezekiel…

For these words, says the Lord, are often used in the third person, to express him to us whom in all our duties we regard, when God himself is introduced speaking. See Genesis 19:24; Zechariah 2:8, 9. And he who called to Abraham the second time, ver. 15. is the same with him wh…

When he says, for I was hungry, he means his poor and distressed members upon earth: and thereby he signifies to us that the miseries of his servants are his own miseries. Thus the Lord says in Zechariah, He who touches you, touches the apple of my eye (Zechariah 2:8). And when…

Though they are scoured with affliction, yet it is to make them brighter (Daniel 12:10). 5. God calls them the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). The apple of the eye is the tenderest part of the eye, to express God's tenderness of them, says Salvian.

Rule 2. Remember that this God in whose hand all creatures are, is your Father, and is much more tender over you than you are or can be over yourselves. 'He that touches you, touches the apple of my eye' (Zechariah 2:8). Let me ask the most timid woman: is there not a vast diffe…

2. There was a stated holiness in the time of the Law in some places. And thus some have observed, that we find but three places that were holy in this respect, the land of Canaan, called the holy land (Zechariah 2:12), the city of Jerusalem, called the holy city (Matthew 5:4 an…

And as to his providences, wherein his sovereignty is also manifested. It is said (Zechariah 2:13), Be silent O all flesh before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his habitation. It is spoken of his providential working in the changes of kingdoms, and desolations that attend…

The Church, as Tertullian speaks, is nothing else but Christus explicatus; and as considered in union with Christ, is called Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12). 'Tis the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). A tender and beloved part.

Certainly this notes that God aimed at more by the land of Canaan than merely to possess them of so much ground. Further, yet there are divers titles that are given to this land; it is called a holy land in (Zechariah 2:12), and it is called a good land in (Numbers 14:7), that w…

Let us therefore be assured that we are so under the protection of God, that whoever does us wrong, shall have God for his enemy. 'He that hurts you,' says the Lord, 'hurts the apple of my eye' (Zechariah 2:8). He also testifies that he dwells in the midst of the Church (Psalm 4…

This place is worthy our diligent observation, for God here shows the great care he has over his chosen, seeing he is as greatly moved with the wrongs done to them, as with those which are directly against his own Majesty. As in Zechariah he witnesses, that as often as his child…

We must therefore comprehend all these things together, if we will attain to the true meaning of the Prophet's words. And in this sense it is that Zechariah, Malachi, and Haggai do encourage the people touching the hope of their estate to come, while they thought they lost so mu…

He is full of bowels, as the word in James 5:11 signifies. Yea, there are not only bowels of compassion in our God, but the tenderness of bowels, like those of a Mother to her sucking child, Isaiah 49:15 He feels all our pains as if the apple of his eye were touched, Zechariah 2…

It is also granted, that there was in Vision sometimes signs or representations of the Person of the Father, as (Daniel 7). But that the Son of God did mostly appear to the Fathers under the Old Testament, is acknowledged by the Antients, and is evident in Scripture: See (Zechar…

For it is evident that he of the three that spoke to Abraham, and to whom he made his supplication for the sparing of Sodom was Jehovah the Judge of all the world, v. 22, 25. And yet all the three were sent upon the work, that one being the Prince and Head of the Embassy; as he…

Hence the things spoken of him in the Old Testament, are to carnal reason full of seeming inconsistencies. As for instance, it is promised of him that he should be the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), of the seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:18), and of the posterity of David; and ye…

First, by preferring the promised relief and remedy above all the present glory and worship of the Church; directing it to look above all its enjoyments to that which in all things was to have the pre-eminence. See Isaiah 2:2; chapter 4:2-5; chapter 7:13-15; chapter 9:6-7; chapt…

So verse 5, when God is angry with his vineyard and will destroy it, it is thus expressed, I will (says he) take away the hedge thereof, that is, I will take away my protection from it. In the same sense (Zechariah 2:5), I will be (says God) a wall of fire round about; that is,…

The devil fain would, but by his own confession could not, break over that hedge to touch Job, till God's permission made a gap for him. Yea, he not only makes a hedge, but a wall about them, and that of fire (Zechariah 2:5). He sets a guard of angels to encamp round about them…

And why are the nations at ease? Holy sovereignty should meeken and silence all men (Zechariah 2:13): Be silent, O all flesh before the Lord. Supreme sovereignty cannot err; and the faith of this quiets the heart under all sufferings; Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:15): What shall I say?

First, by direct descriptions of his glorious person and incarnation. See among other places, Genesis 3:15; Psalm 2:7, 8, 9; Psalm 45:2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Psalm 68:17, 18; Psalm 110; Isaiah 6:1, 2, 3, 4; chap. 9:6; Zechariah 2:8; John 1:1, 2, 3; Philippians 2:6, 7, 8; Hebrews 1:1, 2,…

Which notes (says Calvin) God's assiduous and constant help and succour, which is extended in all dangers, as constantly as the Sun arises. And this assiduous succour to his people, and their great security thereby, is set forth in the Scriptures by a pleasant variety of Metapho…

He speaks as one intimately affected with the state of poor Jerusalem. He has bid all the world take notice that what is done to them is done to him, Zechariah 2:8 — to the apple of his eye. Second, in gracious supply he abounds.

These prayers, if sincere, are never in vain; if they profit not others, they promote the kingdom of God in ourselves. 2. The preservation and defense of the churches already planted, frustrating the plots and power of the enemies: that God would be a wall of fire round about th…

There are in the Word of God promises that we may believe, and then, promises because we do believe: promises to invite faith and hope; and then, promises because we believe in God, and hope in his word; promises for faith, and to faith. As for instance, God has promised to be a…

This is what it means to keep close to God, and hold fast our integrity. Elsewhere the Lord expresses himself to be a wall of fire round about his people (Zechariah 2:5), which should affright at a distance, and consume near at hand. In those countries, when they lay in the fiel…

God takes us for his portion, and therefore you should take God for your portion (Deuteronomy 32:9), For the Lord's portion is his people. (Zechariah 2:12) And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. If God shall choose a comp…

So that sin is against the good of man, in putting out the sight of his eyes, which is worse (in a spiritual sense) than if it had put out the eyes of his body. Man's eyes are very dear to him, God expresses the tenderness he has for his people by this, that they are to him as t…

The secure sinner who is so far from seeking and coveting deliverance that he will not take it when it's offered, but is content to be in the prison of his natural condition and to lie in the bolts and [illegible] of his sins still. Of this temper were those Jews in captivity th…

The wicked are but lumber serving only to cumber the ground; but God's children are his jewels, locked up in the cabinet of his decree from all eternity. God's children are the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8) — very dear and tender to him — and the eyelid of his special provide…

It is God then that is here called the Savior of all by deliverance and protection in danger of which the Apostle treats, and that by his providence, which is peculiar towards believers; and what this makes for a universal mediation I know not. Now the very context in this place…

He does as it were glory in him against the wickedness of the world; and Christ in them, and they in him, are all the glory of this world. So (Zechariah 2:8) Christ was in the pursuit of the collection of his people from their dispersion: what seeks he after; what looks he for?…

First, by direct descriptions of his glorious Person and incarnation. See among other places, Genesis 3:15; Psalm 2:7-9; Psalm 45:2-6; Psalm 68:17-18; Psalm 110; Isaiah 6:1-4; Isaiah 9:6; Zechariah 2:8; John 1:1-3; Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 1:1-3; Hebrews 2:14-16; Revelation 1:…

And namely, that there shall no evil come to them, neither any plague shall come near their dwelling: because he will give his Angels charge over them, to keep them in all their ways. Again, that he will be a wall of fire, round about his people (Zechariah 2:5), that he will ext…

In the government hereof he most eminently shows his glory, and exercises his power; join here his works, with his word, what he has done, with what he has promised to do for the conservation of his Church, and people, and you will find admirable issues of a more special provide…

Q. 2. How is this providence exercised towards mankind? A. Two ways: first, (a) peculiarly towards his Church, or Elect, in their generations, for whom are all things; secondly, (b) towards all in a general manner, yet with various and divers dispensations. (a) Deuteronomy 32:10…

Q. 2. How is this providence exercised towards mankind? A. Two ways: first, (a) peculiarly towards his Church, or Elect, in their generations, for whom are all things: secondly, (b) towards all in a general manner; yet with various and divers dispensations. (a) (Deuteronomy 32:1…