LivePrayerSermon 3489. Encouragement for the Depressed
(No. 3489)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1915.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 27TH, 1871.
"For who has despised the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10.
ZECHARIAH was engaged in the building of the Temple. When its foundations were laid, it struck everybody as being a very smalledifice compared with the former glorious structure of Solomon. The friends of the enterprise lamented that it should be sosmall-the foes of it rejoiced and uttered strong expressions of contempt! Both friends and foes doubted whether, even on thatsmall scale, the structure would ever be completed. They might lay the foundations and they might raise the walls a littleway, but they were too feeble a folk, possessed of too little riches and too little strength, to carry out the enterprise.It was the day of small things. Friends trembled. Foes jeered. But the Prophet rebuked them both-rebuked the unbelief of friendsand the contempt of enemies, by this question-"Who has despised the day of small things?"-and by a subsequent prophecy whichremoved the fear.
Now we shall use this question at this time for the comfort of two sorts of people-first, for weakBelieversand, secondly,for feeble workers. Our objective shall be the strengthening of the hands that hang down and the confirming of the feebleknees. We will begin, first of all, with-
I. WEAK BELIEVERS.
Let us describe them. It is with them a day of small things. Probably you have only been lately brought into the family ofGod. A few months ago you were a stranger to the Divine Life and to the things of God. You have been born-again and you havethe weakness of an infant. You are not as strong, yet, as you will be when you have grown in Grace and in the knowledge ofour Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the early day with you and it is also the day of small things. Now your knowledgeis small. My dear Brothers and Sisters, you have not been a Bible student long-thank God that you know yourself a sinner andChrist is your Savior! That is precious knowledge, but you feel now what you once would not have confessed-your own ignoranceof the things of God! Especially do the deep things of God trouble you. There are some Doctrines that appear to be mysterious,that are very simple to other Believers, but are depressing to you. They are high-you cannot attain to them. They are to youwhat hard nuts would be to children whose teeth have not yet appeared. Well, be not at all alarmed about this! All in God'sfamily have once been children! There are some that seem to be born with knowledge-Christians that come to a height in Christvery rapidly. But these are only here and there. Israel did not produce a Samson every day. Most have to go through a longperiod of spiritual infancy and youth. And, alas, there are but few in the Church, even now, who might be called fathers!Do not marvel, therefore, if you are somewhat small in your knowledge.
Your discernment, too, is small It is possible that anybody with a fluent tongue could lead you into error. You have, however,discernment, if you are a child of God, sufficient to be kept from deadly errors, for though there are some who would, ifit were possible, deceive even the very elect, yet the elect cannot be deceived, for, the Life of God being in them, theydiscern between the precious and the vile-they choose not the things of the world-but they follow after the things of God!Your discernment, however, seeming so small, need not afflict you. It is by reason of use-when the senses are exercised-thatwe fully discern between all that is good and all that is evil. Thank God for a little discernment- though you see men astrees walking, and your eyes are only half opened-a little Light of God is better than none at all! Not long ago you werein total darkness. Now if there is a glimmer, be thankful, for remember where a glimmer can enter, the full noontide can come-yes,and shall come in due season! Therefore, despise not the time of small discernment.
Of course, you, my dear Brother or Sister, have little experience. I trust you will not fake experience and try to talk asif you had the experience of the veteran saints when you are as yet only a raw recruit. You have not yet done business onthe great waters. The more fierce temptations of Satan have not assailed you-the wind has been tempered as yet to the shornlamb-God has not hung heavy weights on slender threads, but has put a small burden on a weak back. Be thankful that it isso! Thank Him for the experience that you have, and do not be desponding because you have not more. It will all come in duetime. "Despises not the day of small things." It is always unwise to get down a biography and say, "Oh, I cannot be rightbecause I have not felt all this good man did." If a child of ten years of age were to take down the diary of his grandfatherand were to say, "Because I do not feel my grandfather's weakness, do not require to use his spectacles, or lean upon hisstaff, therefore I am not one of the same family," it would be very foolish reasoning! Your experience will ripen. As yetit is but natural that it should be green. Wait a while and bless God for what you have.
Probably this, however, does not trouble you as much as one other thing, you have but little faith, and that faith being small,your feelings are very variable. I often hear this from young beginners in the Divine Life, "I was so happy a month ago, butI have lost that happiness." Perhaps tomorrow, after they have been at the House of God, they will be as cheerful as possible,but the next day their joy may be gone! Beware, my dear Christian Friends, of living by feeling! John Bunyan puts down Mr.Live-by-Feeling as one of the worst enemies of the town of Mansoul. I think he said he was hanged. I am afraid he, somehowor other, escaped from the executioner, for I very commonly meet him-and there is no villain that hates the souls of men andcauses more sorrow to the people of God than this Mr. Live-by-Feeling! He that lives by feelings will be happy, today, andunhappy tomorrow-and if our salvation depended upon our feelings, we would be lost one day and saved another, for they areas fickle as the weather and go up and down like a barometer! We live by faith, and if that faith is weak, bless God thatweak faith isfaith and that weak faith is truefaith! If you believe in Christ Jesus, though your faith is as a grain of mustardseed, it will save you, and it will, by-and-by, grow into something stronger. A diamond is a diamond, and the smallest scrapof it is of the same nature as the Koh-I-Noor, and he that has but little faith has faith, for all that! It is not great faiththat is essential to salvation, but faith that links the soul to Christ, and that soul is, therefore, saved! Instead of mourningso much that your faith is not strong, bless God that you have any faith at all, for if He sees that you despise the faithHe has given you, it may be long before He gives you more! Prize that little, and when He sees that you are so glad and thankfulfor that little, then will He multiply it and increase it- and your faith shall mount even to the full assurance of faith!
I think I hear you also add to all this the complaint that your other Graces seem to be small, too. "Oh," you say, "my patienceis so little. If I have a little pain, I begin to cry out. I was in hopes I should be able to bear it-bear it without murmuring.My courage is so little-the blush is on my cheek if anybody asks me about Christ-I think I could hardly confess Him beforehalf a dozen, much less before the world. I am very weak, indeed." Ah, I don't wonder. I have known some who have been strongby reason of years and have still been lacking in that virtue. But where faith is weak, of course, the rest will be weak.A plant that has a weak root will naturally have a weak stem and then will have but weak fruit. Your weakness of faith sendsa weakness through the whole. But for all this, though you are to seek for more faith, and consequently for more Grace-forstronger Graces, yet do not despise what Graces you have. Thank God for them! And pray that the few clusters that are nowupon you may be multiplied a thousand-fold to the praise of the Glory of His Grace. Thus I have tried to describe those whoare passing through the day of small things.
But the text asks, " Who has despised the day of small things?" Well, some have, but there is a great comfort in this-Godthe Father has not He has looked upon you-you with little Grace, and little love, and little faith-and He has not despisedyou! No, God is always near the feeble saint. If I saw a young man crossing a common alone, I would not be at all astonished,and I would not look round for his father. But I saw today, as I went home, a very tiny little tot right out on the Common-apretty little girl, and I thought, "The father or mother are near somewhere." And truly there was the father behind a treewhom I had not seen. I was as good as sure that the little thing was not there all alone! And when I see a little weak childof God, I feel sure that God the Father is near, watching with wakeful eyes and tending with gracious care the feeblenessof His newborn child! He does not despise you if you are resting on His promise. The humble and contrite have a word all tothemselves in Scripture, that these He will not despise!
It is another sweet and consoling thought, that God the Son does not despise the day of small things. Jesus Christ does not,for you remember this word, "He shall carry the lambs in His bosom." We put that which we most prize nearest
our heart, and this is what Jesus does. Some of us, perhaps, have outgrown the state in which we were lambs, but to ride inthat heavenly carriage of the Savior's bosom-we might well be content to go back and be lambs again! He does not despise theday of small things.
And it is equally consolatory to reflect that the Holy Spirit does not despise the day of small things, for He it is who,having planted in the heart the grain of mustard seed, watches over it till it becomes a tree! He it is who, having seen thenew-born child of Grace, does nurse, feed and tend it until it comes to the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Theblessed Godhead despises not the weak Believer! O weak Believer, be consoled by this!
Who is it, then, that may despise the day of small things? Perhaps Satan has told you and whispered in your ear that suchlittle Grace as yours is not worth having, that such an insignificant plant as you are will surely be rooted up. Now let metell you that Satan is a liar, for he, himself, does not despise the day of small things! I am sure of that because he alwaysmakes a dead set upon those who are just coming to Christ. As soon as ever he sees that the soul is a little wounded by conviction.As soon as ever he discovers that a heart begins to pray, he will assault it with fiercer temptations than ever! I have knownhim try to drive such a one to suicide, or to lead him into worse sin than he has ever committed before. He-
"Trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees."
He may tell you that the little Grace in us is of no account, but he knows right well that it is the handful of corn on thetop of the mountain-the fruit of which shall shake like Lebanon! He knows it is the little Grace in the heart that overthrowshis kingdom there.
"Ah," you say, "but I have been greatly troubled lately because I have many friendswho despise me, because though I can hardlysay I am a Believer, yet I have some desire towards God." What sort of friends are these? Are they worldly friends? Oh, donot fret about what they say! It would never trouble me if I were an artist, if a blind man were to utter the sharpest criticismon my works. What does he know about it? And when an ungodly person begins to say about your piety that it is deficient andfaulty, poor Soul, let him say what he will-it need not affect you! "Ah," you say, "the persons that seem to despise me, andto put me out, and tell me that I am no child of God, are, I believe, Christians." Well then, do two things-first, lay whatthey say to you, in a measure, to heart, because it may be if God's children do not see in you the mark of a child, perhapsyou are not a child! Let it lead you to examination. Oh, dear Friends, it is very easy to be self-deceived and God may employ,perhaps, one of His servants to enlighten you upon this-and deliver you from a strong delusion! But, on the other hand, ifyou really do trust in your Savior, if you have begun to pray, if you have some love to God-and any Christian treats you harshlyas if he thought you a hypocrite, forgive him-bear it! He has made a mistake. He would not do so if he knew you better. Saywithin yourself, "After all, if my Brother does not know me, it is enough if my Father does. If my Father loves me, thoughmy Brother gives me the cold shoulder, I will be sorry for it, but it shall not break my heart. I will cling the closer tomy Lord because His servants seem shy of me." Why, it is not much wonder, is it, that some Christians should be afraid ofsome of you converts, for think what you used to be a little while ago? Why, a mother hears her son say he is converted. Amonth or two ago she knew where he spent his evenings and what were his habits of sin, and though she hopes it is so, sheis afraid lest she should lead him to presumption. And she rejoices with trembling and, perhaps, tells him more about hertrembling than she does about her rejoicing!
Why, the saints of old could not think Saul was converted at first! He was to be brought into the church meeting and received-Iwill suppose the case. I should not wonder before he came, when he saw the elders, one of them would say, "Well, the youngman seems to know something of the Grace of God-there is certainly a change in him. But it is a remarkable thing that he shouldwish to join the very people he was persecuting-perhaps it is a mere impulse. It may be, after all, that he will go back tohis old companions." Do you wonder they should say so? I don't! I am not at all surprised. I am sorry when there are unjustsuspicions. I am sorry when a genuine child of God is questioned. But I would not have you lay it much to heart. As I havesaid before, if your Father knows you, you need not be so broken in heart because your Brother does not! Be glad that Goddoes not despise the day of small things!
And now let me say to you who are in this state of small things, that I earnestly trust that you will not, yourselves, despisethe day of small things "How can we do that?" you ask. Why, you can do it by desponding! I think there was a time when youwould have been ready to leap for joy, if you had been told that God would have given you a little faith!
And now you have got a little faith and, instead of rejoicing, you are sighing, and moaning, and mourning! Do not do so. Bethankful for moonlight, and you shall get sunlight! Be thankful for sunlight, and you shall get that Light of Heaven whichis as the light of seven days! Do not despond lest you seem to despise the mercy which God has given you! A poor patient thathas been very, very lame and weak, and could not rise from his bed, is at last able to walk with a stick. "Well," he saysto himself, "I wish I could walk, and run, and leap as other men." Suppose he sits down and frets because he cannot? His physicianmight put his hand on his shoulder and say, "My good fellow, why, you ought to be thankful you can stand at all! A littlewhile ago, you know, you could not stand upright. Be glad for what you have-don't seem to despise what has been done for you."I say to every Christian here, while you long after strength, don't seem to despise the Grace that God has bestowed, but rejoiceand bless His name!
You can despise the day of small things, again, by not seeking after more. "That is strange," you say. Well, a man who hasgot a little and does not want more-it looks as if he despises the little! He who has a little light and does not ask formore light, does not care for light at all. You that have a little faith and do not want more faith-do not value faith atall-you are despising it! On the one hand, do not despond because you have the day of small things, but in the next place,do not stand still and be satisfied with what you have! Prove your value of the little by earnestly seeking after more DivineGrace! Do not despise the Grace that God has given you, but bless God for it-and do this in the presence of His people. Ifyou hold your tongue about your Grace and never let anyone know, surely it must be because you do not think it is worth sayinganything about! Tell your brothers, tell your sisters, and they of the Lord's household, that the Lord has done gracious thingsfor you! And then it will be seen that you do not despise His Grace.
And now let us run over a thought or two about these small things in weak Believers. Be it remembered that little faith issaving faith, and that the day of small things is a day of safe things. Be it remembered that it is natural that living thingsshould begin small. The man is first a baby. The daylight is first of all twilight. It is by little and by little that wecome unto the stature of men in Christ Jesus. The day of small things is not only natural, but promising. Small things areliving things. Let them alone, and they grow. The day of small things has its beauty and its excellence. I have known somewho in later years would have liked to have gone back to their first days. Oh, well do some of us remember when we would havegone over hedge and ditch to hear a sermon! We had not much knowledge, but oh, how we longed to know! We stood in the aisles,then, and we never got tired! Now we need soft seats and very comfortable places-and the atmosphere must neither be too hotnor too cold! We are now getting dainty, perhaps, but in those first young days of spiritual life, what appetites we had forDivine Truth, and what zeal, what sacred fire was in our heart! True, some of it was wild fire and, perhaps, the energy ofthe flesh mingled with the power of the Spirit, but, for all that, God remembers the love of our espousals and so do we remember,too! The mother loves her grown-up son, but sometimes she thinks she does not love him as she did when she could fondle himin her arms. Oh, the beauty of a little child! Oh, the beauty of a lamb in the faith! I dare say the farmer and the butcherlike the sheep better than the lambs, but the lambs are best to look at, at any rate! And the rosebud-there is a charm aboutit that there is not in the full-blown rose. And so in the day of small things there is a special excellence that we oughtnot to despise. Besides, small as Grace may be in the heart, it is Divine- it is a spark from the ever-blazing sun! He isa partaker of the Divine Nature who has even a little living faith in Christ. And being Divine, it is immortal! Not all thedevils in Hell could quench the feeblest spark of Grace that ever dropped into the heart of man! If God has given you faithas a grain of mustard seed, it will defy all earth and Hell, all time and eternity ever to destroy it! So there is much reasonwhy we should not despise the day of small things.
One word and I leave this point. You Christians, don't despise anybody, but especially do not despise any in whom you seeeven a little love to Christ. But do more-look after them, look after the little ones! I think I have heard of a shepherdwho had a remarkably fine flock of sheep-and he had a secret about them. He was often asked how it was that his flocks seemedso much to excel all others. At last he told the secret-"I give my principal attention to the lambs." Now you elders of thechurch, and you, my matronly Sisters, you that know the Lord, and have known Him for years, look up the lambs! Search themout and take a special care of them! For if they are well nurtured in their early days, they will get a strength of spiritualconstitution that will make them the joy of the Good Shepherd during the rest of their days! Now I leave that point. In thesecond place, I said that I would address a word or two to-
II. FEEBLE WORKERS.
Thank God there are many workers here tonight, and maybe they will put themselves down as feeble. May the words I utter bean encouragement to them, and to feeble workers collectively! When a Church begins, it is usually small and the day of smallthings is a time of considerable anxiety and fear. I may be addressing some who are members of a newly-organized Church. DearBrothers and Sisters, do not despise the day of small things! Rest assured that God does not save by numbers, and that resultsare not in the Spiritual Kingdom in proportion to numbers! I have been reading lately with considerable care, the life ofJohn Wesley by two or three different authors in order to get, as well as I could, a fair idea of the good man. And one thingI have noticed-that the beginnings of the work which has become so wonderfully large were very small, indeed. Mr. Wesley andhis first brethren were not rich people. Nearly all that joined him were poor. Here and there, there was a person of somestanding, but the Methodists were the poor of the land. And his first preachers were not men of education. One or two wereso, but the most were good outdoor preachers-head preachers, magnificent preachers as God made them by His Spirit-they werenot men who had had the benefit of college training, or who were remarkable for ability. The Methodists had neither moneynor eminent men, at first, and their numbers were very few. During the whole life of that good man, which was protracted forso many years, the denomination did not attain any very remarkable size. They were few, and apparently feeble, but Methodismwas never so glorious as it was at first- and there were never as many conversions, I believe, as in those early days.
Now I speak sorrowfully. It is a great denomination. It abounds in wealth-I am glad it does. It has mighty orators-I rejoiceit has. But it has no increase, no conversions! This year and other years it remains stationary. I do not say this becausethat is an exceptional denomination, for almost all others have the same tale. Year by year as the statistics come in, itis just this. "No increase-hardly hold our ground." I use that as an illustration here-this Church will get in precisely thesame condition if we do not look out-just the same state! When we have not the means, we get the blessing-and when we seemto have the might and power-then the blessing does not come. Oh, may God send us poverty! May God send us lack of means andtake away our power of speech if it must be, and help us only to stammer, if we may only thus get the blessing! Oh, I craveto be useful to souls, and all the rest may go where it will. And each Church must crave the same. "Not by might, nor by power,but by My Spirit, says the Lord." Instead of despising the day of small things, we ought to be encouraged! It is by the smallthings that God seems to work, but the great things He does not often use. He won't have Gideon's great host-let them go totheir homes-let the mass of them go! Bring them down to the water-pick out only the men that lap-and then there is a veryfew. You can count them almost on your fingers- just two or three hundred men. Then Gideon shall go forth against the Midianites!And as the cake of barley bread smote the tent, and it lay along, so the sound of the sword of the Lord and of Gideon at thedead of night shall make the host to tremble and the Lord God shall get to Himself the victory! Never mind your feebleness,Brothers and Sisters! Never mind your fewness, your poverty, your lack of ability! Throw your souls into God's cause, praymightily, lay hold on the gates of Heaven, stir Heaven and earth, rather than be defeated in winning souls-and you will seeresults that will astonish you! "Who has despised the day of small things?"
Now take the case of each Christian individually. Every one of us ought to be at work for Christ, but the great mass of uscannot do great things. Don't despise, then, the day of little things! You can only give a penny. Now then, He that sat overby the treasury did not despise the widow's two mites that made a farthing. Your little thank-offering, if given from yourheart, is as acceptable as if it had been a hundred times as much! Don't, therefore, neglect to do the little. Don't despisethe day of small things. You can only give away a tract in the street. Don't say, "I won't do that." Souls have been savedby the distribution of tracts and sermons! Scatter them, scatter them! They will be good seed. You know not where they mayfall. You can only write a letter to a friend, sometimes, about Christ. Don't neglect to do it! Write one tomorrow! Remembera playmate of yours-you may take liberties with him about his soul from your intimacy with him. Write to him about his statebefore God, and urge him to seek the Savior! Who knows?-a sermon may miss him, but a letter from the well-known school companionwill reach his heart. Mother, it is only two or three little children at home that you have an influence over. Despise notthe day of small things! Take them tomorrow-put your arms around their necks as they kneel by you-pray, "God bless my boysand girls, and save them"-tell them of Christ now. Oh, how well can mothers preach to children! I can never forget my mother'steaching. On a Sunday night, when we were at home, she would have us round the table and explain the Scriptures as we read,and then pray-and one night she left an impression on my mind that never will be erased, when she said, "I have told you,my dear children, the way of salvation, and if you perish you will perish justly. I shall have to say, 'Amen,' to your condemnationif you are condemned." And I could not bear that! Anybody else might say, "Amen," but not my mother!
Oh, you don't know-you that have to deal with children-what you may do! Despise not these little opportunities. Put a wordin edgeways for Christ-you that go about in trains, you that go into workshops and factories. If Christians were men who wereall true to their colors, I think we should soon see a great change come over our great establishments. Speak up for Jesus!Be not ashamed of Him! And because you can say but little, don't refuse, therefore, to say that, but rather say it over 20times, and so make the little into much! Again, and again, and again, repeat the feeble stroke, and there shall come to beas much result from it as from one tremendous blow! God accepts your little works if they are done in faith in His dear Son.God will give success to your little works! God will educate you by your little works to do greater works-and your littleworks may call out others who shall do greater works by far than ever you shall be able to accomplish! Evangelists, go onpreaching at the street corner! You that visit the low lodging houses, go on! Get into the room and talk of Jesus Christ thereas you have done. You that go into the country towns on the Sabbath and speak on the village greens of Christ, go on withit! I am glad to see you, but I am glad to miss you when I know you are about the Master's work! We don't want to keep thesalt in the box-let it be rubbed into the putrid mass to stop the putrification. We don't want the seed forever in the cornbin-let it be scattered and it will give us more! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, wake up if any of you are asleep! Don't let anounce of strength in this Church be wasted-not a single grain of ability, either in the way of doing, or praying, or giving,or holy living! Spend and be spent, for who has despised the day of small things?
The Lord encourage weak Believers, and the Lord accept the efforts of feeble workers, and send to both His richest benedictionfor Christ's sake. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ZECHARIAH 7; 8:9-22.
Verse 1. Andit came topass in the fourth year ofKKing Darius, that the Word ofthe LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth dayofthe ninth month, even in Chisleu. God's Prophets were not always in the spirit, and when the Word of God came to them, itwas a notable day, and they marked it in their diary! I think that we, too, who are not Prophets can remember some specialtime when God's Word was peculiarly precious to us. We can put down "the fourth day of the ninth month."
2, 3. When they had sent unto the house of God, Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, and tospeak unto the priests which were in the house ofthe LORD of Hosts, and to the Prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifthmonth, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?On that day the Jews had kept a fast to commemorate the terriblecalamity which happened to the Temple in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Now these people were living away in Babylon and it occurredto them that, as the Temple was now being built and Jerusalem was restored, it was a question whether they ought to keep thatfast any longer since it was not kept by Divine command. It was a fast of their own inventing-and the question was whetherthey ought not to abandon it when things had so changed. So they sent messengers to the Temple to inquire of the priests andof the Prophets, and to pray to God, Himself. When we have a difficult question lying on the conscience, it is well to settleit, and not allow it to rest on the heart unsatisfied.
4, 5. Then came the Word ofthe LORD of Hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people ofthe land, and to the priests, saying,When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto Me, even toMe?There is the point! You can fast to self. You can fast to your own pride. If we have no thought of honoring God in ourfasting, there is nothing in it. The question is, "Did you at all fast unto Me, even to Me?"
6. And when you did eat, and when you did drink, did not you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? If a holy feastis not kept with a view to God, it is not kept at all! It is a feast to yourselves. You have missed the mark altogether.
7. Should you not hear the words which the LORD has cried by the former Prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity,and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? Well, what was that word? Zechariah hasit fresh from God, and he states it.
8-10. And the Word ofthe LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaks the LORD ofHosts, saying. Execute true judgment, andshow mercy and compassion, every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor thepoor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart This is what God said- most just, most fit for Godto require of His people.
11, 12. But they refused to listen, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, so that they should not hear. Yes,they made their hearts as an adamant stone lest they should hear the Law, and the words which the LORD of Hosts has sent byHis Spirit by the former Prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD ofHosts. And well there might! When God requireswhat is so just and so commendable, and men will not yield and will not even hear about it, they deserve that God should growwrathful with them.
13. Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear; says theLORD ofHosts. The punishment of sin seems to be according to the sin itself. If men will not hear God, neither will God hearthem!
14. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not Thus the land was desolate after them,that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. Now, in the next Chapter, the Prophet goeson to speak not so much of the people's sin as of God's resolve to have mercy upon them. He speaks with gentle warnings andwith loving promises.
Zechariah 8:9-22.
Verses 9, 10. Thus says the LORD ofHosts: Let your hands be strong, you that hear in these days these words by the mouth oftheProphets, which were in the day that the foundation ofthe house ofthe LORD ofHosts was laid, that the Temple might be builtFor before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went outor came in because ofthe affliction: for I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor See into what a state sin brought Israel?There was no bread, no work, no wage, no peace. Every man was the enemy of his neighbor!
11. But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, says the LORD ofHosts. He would change everythingand give them happiness and prosperity.
12. For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavensshall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of thispeople to possess all these things. God can turn our estate as easilyas a man turns his hand.
"The Lord can clear the darkest skies, Can give us day for night." As the wheel revolves, so can the whole fortune of a manchange speedily under the kind hand of God!
13. Andit shall come topass, that asyou were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, andhouse ofIsrael; so will I saveyou, and you shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. The Jew had become the very model of a curse. "Youare as cursed as a Jew," said the enemies of Israel! But God would make them to be the very model of a blessing, so that menwould say, "You are as blessed as they of Israel."
14. 15. For thus says the LORD ofHosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, says the LORDofHosts, and I repented not: So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fearyou not It is a very instructive and encouraging passage. When God threatened to punish His people, He did it. He did notplay with words. He punished them and repented not. And so when God promises to bless His people, He will not run back fromHis Word, but He will carry out every jot and tittle of it in the blessing of His people!
16, 17. These are the things that you shall do: Speak you every man the truth to his neighbor: execute the judgment of truthand peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: forall these are things that I hate, says the LORD. He will have His people true, even if they swear to their own hurt. Theymust not change. They are to speak the truth, though a thousand calamities should be let loose thereby! May God make us atruth-loving, truth-speaking, truth-doing people!
18. And the Word ofthe LORD ofHosts came unto me, saying-This is the point that I call your attention to. You had the questionwhen I began to read-here is the answer.
19. Thus says the LORD ofHosts, The fast ofthe fourth month, and the fast ofthe fifth, and the fast ofthe seventh, and thefast ofthe tenth, shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.Hereis an answer to more than they asked for! The messengers only inquired about one fast-what they should do with it-namely,the fast of the fifth month. But they get instruction upon three other fasts. If you come to God's Word upon any point, youwill not only be resolved upon that point, but you will be guided in many other ways, for God's Word is full of instruction-andthey that are willing to be taught of it shall become wise in all ways. So now they are told that these fasts were to be turnedinto feasts.
20. 21. Thus says the LORD ofHosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities.And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORDofHosts: I will go also. It is a fine thing when we invite other people and can always say, "I will go also." There are manypeople who say, "Do as I do, not as I say!" But if our example keeps pace with our precept, there will be power in our precept."Let us go," they said-and he that said it added, "I will go also."
22. Yes, many people andstrong nations shall come to seek the LORD ofHosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.And itis so, even now. We have received our religion from a Jew. We believe in One who was of the seed of Abraham. We rejoice inHim as also the Son of God, and many nations come crowding about the Christ of God.