V ers. 6, 7.-" If" and "then;" or, the great things of Go!Es promises. I. THE GREAT IN C!lill.ACTER. How described. L Obedience. Life regulated by the Divine will. " Walk in my ways." 2. Fi,d,elity of se'fvice. Life devoted to God's glory. So Moses (Heb. iii 5). II. THE GREAT IN HONOUR. Not place, or outward distinction, or arbitrary rewards. "KnighthoodB and honours borne without desert are titles but of scorn" (Shake- speare). Three things. 1. "Judge my house.'' 2. "Keep my courts." 3. "Walks among those that stand by.'' Dignity. .Power with God and power with man. Society of the noblest. III. THE GREAT IN BLESSEDNESS. Freedom of soul. Holy living. Harmonious development. Grandest fellowship. Immortal hope. The promises of God are gracious in character, elevating in purpose, faithful in. fulfilment.-F. Ver,, 8.-Portents. "Men wondered at." There are times when there are signs in the heavens and on the earth-prodigies which rouse attention. So in society. There are men who stand out from others. 'l'heir characters have a ~pecial significance. Their lives are prophecies. Perhaps most of the great men of the Bible were of this sort. So here- L REPRESENTATIVE OF THEIR GENERATION, They breathe the spirit of the age, The evil and the good, of their times, are seen in them at the highe8t. "There were giants in those days." II. AnoMDRATE GREAT FORCES. Powers have been at work for long that come out. Embodied. We see the height to which corruption ma.y rise, Int.ellect without couscienee, passion without principle, power without God. Or it ma.y be otherwise. Men of aenius aoo resc,lutiou faithful to the truth, ardent for the good of their brethren -reforu~;,rs, profeBSc,rs, martyrs, whose glory was to live not to themselves, but to God. HI. FoREBflkDOW COMING J0DGIIIENT. Like Pharaoh, they have been raised up for Goo's glory. Like tJlJI Jews, they are" eusamples" of God.:ij judg~ente. What they CH. Ill, 1-10,] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH.
do, what they en/fer, what they enjoy, are as forecasts and foreshadowings of what will be, on to the perfect end. Often eucb men obtain a certain worship. "There is so much of chance in warfare, and such vast events are connected with the acts of the single individual, that the proper temperament for generating and receiving super- stitious impressions is naturally produced" (Coleridge). But they are "for our ndmonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come."-F. Vers. 8-10.-Messiah's mission. I. THE TIME OF BIS COMING DIVINELY FIXED. There was the ancient promise, and long-waiting generations came and went. Manifold changes. Overturning of kingdoms and dynasties. The old stock of David seemed as good as dead. But life preserved. "Branch " destined to spring and bud in his season. There i11 "a time to every purpose" (Eccles. iii. 1). Christ came "in the fulness of time." II. THE 0HABA0TER OF HIS WORK DIVINELY APPOINTED. "Servant." Christ came to do the will of the Father. As the Law was bidden in the ark, so the law of God was hidden in his heart. What God ordained, he freely chose. What God commanded, he delighted to carry out. He never wavered, never wearied. Why ? Because the work given him to do accorded both with eternal righteousness and the highest good of man. Faithful even to the death of the cross. III. THE RESULTS OF HIS MINISTRY DIVINEL y SETTLED. Removal of sin. upbuilding of the Church of God in the strength of righteousLess and the beauty of holiness and the· joys of love. What he began he would surely finish. Solomon's temple was "finished," and king and people rejoiced with great joy. Zerubbabel's temple was also to be "finished," and this should be a sign and seal of the forgiveness of past iniquity, and of the outshining of God's favour on the land. So these prophesy of greater things to come. Christ's exulting cry on the cross, "It is finished!" proclaimed the opening of heaven to all believers, the new heaven and the new earth, and the restitution of all things.-F. V ers. 1-6.-The good man on earth in his intf!l'cessO'T'y function. " And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right band to resist him," etc. Our prophet here delivers to the Jews who had been restored from Babylon a vision which be bad witnessed, in order to encourage them in the work of rebuilding the temple. The scene of the vision seems to have been the precincts of the temple. He saw Joshua, the high priest, standing before the Lord on their behalf, robed in "filthy garments." He saw "Satan," the great enemy of humanity, oppose him in his intercessory engagements; but Satan was, nevertheless, rebuked by Jehovah; and the seer beard a Divine voice commanding the •; filthy gar- ments" to be taken away from the priest, declaring the removal of his iniquity, com- manding a "mitre" to be put on bis head, ordering him to be clothed in a new raiment, and promising him other blessings if he would but " walk" in the "ways " of God. Regarding the vision as a symbolical revelation of Joshua, in bis representative aspect as the bigh priest of the Jewish people then existing, we feel authorized to infer from it two or three ideas touching the intercessory functions of good men while on earth. I. THAT THE GOOD MAN, IN ms INTERCESSORY FUNCTIONS ON EARTH, HAS TO BEAB BEFORE Goo THE MORAL IMPERFECTIONS OF HIS BACE. Joshua. had on " filthy gar- ments." This was evidently intended to represent the corrupt state of the Jewish people. The seventy years' captivity had not purified them; for now, instead of setting themselves to the work of rebuilding the house of the Lord, they were taken up with their own personal concerns, and excusing themselves by saying, " The time is not come" (Hag. i. 2). Here, then, is a characteristic feature of a good man's intercession while on earth. He bas to bear the imperfections of his fellow-creatures before God. Intercession itself we consider to be an obligation resting on all minds, in all worlds, for ever. Prayer, either for self or others, is not confined to earth. What is prayer for self but a living seme of dependence upon God? And where is there a virtuous mind in the universe without this sense? 'fhis, indeed, lies at the root of all true religion. And what is prayer for others, or i11tercession, but a deep, loving sympathy with them, a desire for their highest interests? And does not this benevolent feeling lie at the basis of all moral cxcellenco '? There is not a saint nor an angd in heaven, we suppose, 36 THE ROOK OF ZECHARIAH. [oH. III. 1-10,