The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 50

Vere. 7-10.-Enco..vragement to <Jluri,stian wcwkers. I. TnouGn TRE WORK Dl!I DERIDED, IT rs Goo's WORK. Therefore we a.re sure it is right and good. We cau throw ourselves into it with a.11 our hee.rt. Patience. What is of God cannot fail, IJ. THOUGH THE DIFFICULTIES BE GREAT, THEY ARE CAPABLE OF BEING OVEROOIIIEe Difficulties are a test. They show what spirit we are of. 'l'hey separate the chaff from the_ wheat. Remember "Formality " and "Hypocrisy" in the' Pilgrim's ProgresR.' D1fficult1es &re a. c}w)),enge. They put us on our mettle. Courage mounteth witl1 occasion. Once we can say, "It is our duty," nothing should daunt \is (Acts v. 29 ; u. 24). In A.D. 1800 Napoleon wanted to cross the Alps with his army into Italy. He asked Me.rescot, chief of the engineers, "Is it possible?" He replied "Yes but ,vith difficulty." "Let us, then, set out," wa.s the order of the great captain (1,Cor. ix. 25). Difficulties a.re our ea,'11,(,atwn. It is not ease but effort that makes men. "Our antagonist is our helper," said Burke. "He who has battled, were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he who could stay at home from t~e battle, concealed among the :pr~vi~ion-waggons, or even resting unwatchfully, ab1dmg by the stuff" (Carlyle). So 1t 1s mall spheres of activity. "To overcome, we must conquer a.s we go." Difficulties lead us to a deeper and truer appreciation of our dependence upon God (Rom. v. 3-5; viii. 31, 37). Ill. THOUGH THE PROGRESS BE SMALL, ULTIMATE SUCCESS IS CERTAIN. God's Word is sure. He is truth, and cannot lie. He is love, and cannot betray. He is almighty, and cannot be defeated. The laying of the foundation-stone, in his Name, implies the completion of the structure; and, by faith, we already hear the shoutings and the jubilant cries as the work is finished. "Grace, grace unto it I "-F. Vers. 1-10.-Man as a student ef the Divine revelatwn and a doer of Divin1, work. " And the angel that talked with me," etc. " It is needful to keep in mind that all these successive scenes were presented to the mind of the prophet in vision ; and that each vision was distinct, forming a whole of itself, independently of the scenery of those which preceded it, although not so as to preclude connection in the lessons taught, &nd occasional reference (such as we shall find in the one now before us) to the earlier in the latter. The fourth in the series of visions, then, was now closed; and at the close of it, the prophet represents himself as, having fallen into a kind of reverie arising from its disclosures, or from some particular part of them, by which his mind was absorbed aud unconscious of aught that might be passing around him. From this state he was roused, as the first verse indicates, by the touch and the voice of the ministering angel, and his attention arrested to a new scenic repre- sentation, and the explanation of its meauiog" (Wardlaw). I have to confess that the more I look into this vision, as well as into the previous visions, the more I feel my utter inability to attach a satisfactory meaning to all the strange and grotesque i;ymbols that are presented. And my sense of inability has been deepened as I have examined the explanations that have been put forth by biblical critics-some most fanciful and absurd, and many most conflicting. Indeed, it requires a Daniel to interpret dreams; the objects in a dream are generally so unnaiural, grotesque, shadowy, and shifting, that men seldom try to attach any definite idea to them. I may regard this passage as setting before us man in two aspects, viz. as a student of the Divine revelation, and as a doer of the Divine purposes. L As A STUDENT OF THE DIVINE REVELATION. "I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold. with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, aud seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon tbe right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereat'. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are the&ti, ruy lord?" This candelabrum made of gold, with a bowl on the top, its seven lamps and seven pipes, et.c., is taken by most expositors to represent the Church of God, and popular preachers go on to draw analogies betV1·een the candlestick and the Church. Of course, this is easy work. But the Church of God, as the phrase is, has not, alas I been very golden or very luminous. 'l'he ideal Church is all this. '£he candlestick 011, IV, 1-14,] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH, 47