In this section we see a great emphasis placed upon the word of God spoken. A phrase like thus says the Lord of hosts occurs again and again. In these thirteen verses it occurs eight times. God has spoken, and it is the duty of His people to hear Him. “Again the word of the …
Rumble Tumble Sermons
“Never suffer truths to fall from you pell-mell. Do not let your thoughts rush as a mob, but make them march as a troop of soldiery. Order, which is heaven’t first law, must not be neglected by heaven’s ambassadors” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 77).
The Discipline of Joy and Gladness
As mentioned in the last installment, we have finished the first section of the book of Zechariah. Two great oracles occupy the latter half of the book. The first is contained in chapters 9-11, and the second is in chapters 12-14. But before we come to these oracles, we need to cover the didactic portion …
Preaching Inside a Theology Bubble
“He is great upon the ten toes of the beast, the four faces of the cherubim, the mystical meaning of badgers’ skins, and the typical bearings of the staves of the ark, and the windows of Solomon’s temple: but the sins of business men, the temptations of the times, and the needs of the age, …
Those From Far Off
We now come to consider the conclusion of the first portion of the book of Zechariah. In doing this, we need to make sure we have mastered the import of these visions, so that we will be able to understand the great oracles with which Zechariah concludes the book. “Then the word of the Lord …
Paint More Than the Nose
“It is not true that some doctrines are only for the initiated; there is nothing in the Bible which is ashamed of the light . . . All revealed truth in harmonious proportion must be your theme . . . Do not insist perpetually upon one truth alone. A nose is an important feature in …
Four Horses
In the previous vision God has spoken about how judgment begins with the household of God. But this does not mean that judgment never comes to the enemies of God. Here we turn to discover that the purposes of God in judgment are consistently displayed throughout the entire earth. “Then I turned and raised my …
Pulpit Bombast
“It is infamous to ascend your puplit and pour over your people rivers of language, cataracts of words, in which mere platitudes are held in solution like infinitesimal grains of homeopathic medicine in an Atlantic of utterance” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 74).
Delayed Judgment Is Not Mercy
God has promised blessings to Israel, but we have seen that His blessings are always covenantal. This means that we may never walk away from our obligation to live in the way that God commands, knowing always that He gives His beloved what He commands. Grace enables us to walk rightly; it does not waive …
And When You Run Out of Things to Say, Go On to the Next Verse
“The surest way to maintain variety in to keep to the mind of the Holy Spirit in the particular passage under consideration. No two texts are exactly similar; something in the connection or drift of the passage gives to each apparently identical text a shade of difference. Keep to the Spirit’s track and you will …