Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc30/v30800

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 9KB | 158 lines

30810
 #12-15 The people returned to God in the way of duty. In
 attending to God's ministers, we must have respect to him that
 sent them. The word of the Lord has success, when by his grace
 he stirs up our spirits to comply with it. It is in the day of
 Divine power we are made willing. When God has work to be done,
 he will either find or make men fit to do it. Every one helped,
 as his ability was; and this they did with a regard to the Lord
 as their God. Those who have lost time, need to redeem time; and
 the longer we have loitered in folly, the more haste we should
 make. God met them in a way of mercy. Those who work for him,
 have him with them; and if he be for us, who can be against us?
 This should stir us up to be diligent.
30814
 * Greater glory promised to the second temple than to the first.
 (1-9) Their sins hindered the work. (10-19) The kingdom of
 Christ foretold. (20-23)

 #1-9 Those who are hearty in the Lord's service shall receive
 encouragement to proceed. But they could not build such a temple
 then, as Solomon built. Though our gracious God is pleased if we
 do as well as we can in his service, yet our proud hearts will
 scarcely let us be pleased, unless we do as well as others,
 whose abilities are far beyond ours. Encouragement is given the
 Jews to go on in the work notwithstanding. They have God with
 them, his Spirit and his special presence. Though he chastens
 their transgressions, his faithfulness does not fail. The Spirit
 still remained among them. And they shall have the Messiah among
 them shortly; "He that should come." Convulsions and changes
 would take place in the Jewish church and state, but first
 should come great revolutions and commotions among the nations.
 He shall come, as the Desire of all nations; desirable to all
 nations, for in him shall all the earth be blessed with the best
 of blessings; long expected and desired by all believers. The
 house they were building should be filled with glory, very far
 beyond Solomon's temple. This house shall be filled with glory
 of another nature. If we have silver and gold, we must serve and
 honour God with it, for the property is his. If we have not
 silver and gold, we must honour him with such as we have, and he
 will accept us. Let them be comforted that the glory of this
 latter house shall be greater than that of the former, in what
 would be beyond all the glories of the first house, the presence
 of the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, personally,
 and in human nature. Nothing but the presence of the Son of God,
 in human form and nature, could fulfil this. Jesus is the
 Christ, is He that should come, and we are to look for no other.
 This prophecy alone is enough to silence the Jews, and condemn
 their obstinate rejection of Him, concerning whom all their
 prophets spake. If God be with us, peace is with us. But the
 Jews under the latter temple had much trouble; but this promise
 is fulfilled in that spiritual peace which Jesus Christ has by
 his blood purchased for all believers. All changes shall make
 way for Christ to be desired and valued by all nations. And the
 Jews shall have their eyes opened to behold how precious He is,
 whom they have hitherto rejected.

30823
 #10-19 Many spoiled this good work, by going about it with
 unholy hearts and hands, and were likely to gain no advantage by
 it. The sum of these two rules of the law is, that sin is more
 easily learned from others than holiness. The impurity of their
 hearts and lives shall make the work of their hands, and all
 their offerings, unclean before God. The case is the same with
 us. When employed in any good work, we should watch over
 ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions. When we
 begin to make conscience of duty to God, we may expect his
 blessing; and whoso is wise will understand the loving-kindness
 of the Lord. God will curse the blessings of the wicked, and
 make bitter the prosperity of the careless; but he will sweeten
 the cup of affliction to those who diligently serve him.

30833
 #20-23 The Lord will preserve Zerubbabel and the people of
 Judah, amidst their enemies. Here is also foretold the
 establishment and continuance of the kingdom of Christ; by union
 with whom his people are sealed with the Holy Ghost, sealed with
 his image, thus distinguished from all others. Here also is
 foretold the changes, even to that time when the kingdom of
 Christ shall overthrow and occupy the place of all the empires
 which opposed his cause. The promise has special reference to
 Christ, who descended from Zerubbabel in a direct line, and is
 the sole Builder of the gospel temple. Our Lord Jesus is the
 Signet on God's right hand, for all power is given to him, and
 derived from him. By him, and in him, all the promises of God
 are yea and amen. Whatever changes take place on earth, all will
 promote the comfort, honour, and happiness of his servants.
30837
 ** This prophecy is suitable to all, as the scope is to reprove
 for sin, and threaten God's judgments against the impenitent,
 and to encourage those that feared God, with assurances of the
 mercy God had in store for his church, and especially of the
 coming of the Messiah, and the setting up his kingdom in the
 world.

 * An exhortation to repentance. (1-6) A vision of the ministry
 of angels. (7-17) The security of the Jews and the destruction
 of their enemies. (18-21)

 #1-6 God's almighty power and sovereign dominion, should engage
 and encourage sinners to repent and turn to Him. It is very
 desirable to have the Lord of hosts for our friend, and very
 dreadful to have him for our enemy. Review what is past, and
 observe the message God sent by his servants, the prophets, to
 your fathers. Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your
 evil doings. Be persuaded to leave your sins, as the only way to
 prevent approaching ruin. What is become of our fathers, and of
 the prophets that preached to them? They are all dead and gone.
 Here they were, in the towns and countries where we live,
 passing and repassing in the same streets, dwelling in the same
 houses, trading in the same shops and exchanges, worshipping God
 in the same places. But where are they? When they died, there
 was not an end of them; they are in eternity, in the world of
 spirits, the unchangeable world to which we hasten apace. Where
 are they? Those of them who lived and died in sin, are in
 torment. Those who lived and died in Christ, are in heaven; and
 if we live and die as they did, we shall be with them shortly
 and eternally. If they minded not their own souls, is that a
 reason why their posterity should ruin theirs also? The prophets
 are gone. Christ is a Prophet that lives for ever, but all other
 prophets have a period put to their office. Oh that this
 consideration had its due weight; that dying ministers are
 dealing with dying people about their never-dying souls, and an
 awful eternity, upon the brink of which both are standing! In
 another world, both we and our prophets shall live for ever: to
 prepare for that world ought to be our great care in this. The
 preachers died, and the hearers died, but the word of God died
 not; not one jot or title of it fell to the ground; for he is
 righteous.

30843
 #7-17 The prophet saw a dark, shady grove, hidden by hills. This
 represented the low, melancholy condition of the Jewish church.
 A man like a warrior sat on a red horse, in the midst of this
 shady myrtle-grove. Though the church was in a low condition,
 Christ was present in the midst, ready to appear for the relief
 of his people. Behind him were angels ready to be employed by
 him, some in acts of judgment, others of mercy, others in mixed
 events. Would we know something of the mysteries of the kingdom
 of heaven, we must apply, not to angels, for they are themselves
 learners, but to Christ himself. He is ready to teach those
 humbly desirous to learn the things of God. The nations near
 Judea enjoyed peace at that time, but the state of the Jews was
 unsettled, which gave rise to the pleading that followed; but
 mercy must only be hoped for through Christ. His intercession
 for his church prevails. The Lord answered the Angel, this Angel
 of the covenant, with promises of mercy and deliverance. All the
 good words and comfortable words of the gospel we receive from
 Jesus Christ, as he received them from the Father, in answer to
 the prayer of his blood; and his ministers are to preach them to
 all the world. The earth sat still, and was at rest. It is not
 uncommon for the enemies of God to be at rest in sin, while his
 people are enduring correction, harassed by temptation,
 disquieted by fears of wrath, or groaning under oppression and
 persecution. Here are predictions which had reference to the
 revival of the Jews after the captivity, but those events were
 shadows of what shall take place in the church, after the
 oppression of the New Testament Babylon is ended.