ZECHARIAH 9 (NOTES OF A READING)
ZECHARIAH 9 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC It is evident from this chapter, as from many others, that all blessing depends on the entrance of Christ in lowly grace, and the rejection of Him the case and ground of all judgment.
“Having salvation” shows that everything hangs upon Him. It is all within the compass of His own Person, and He will ultimately speak peace to the nations and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. But it has not pleased God that His power should be manifested in any public way yet, so His coming is in lowly grace, and is a great test for everybody. It was a test for Jerusalem, and they crucified Him, for the godly remnant and they received Him.
Rem In principle that extends to the ends of the earth.
CAC Everyone is tested by Christ, and by Christ as come in lowliness. So as we find here it is the prisoners of hope who get delivered. He came to open the prisons to those who were bound; wherever there were those who were conscious of bondage and looking for deliverance He set them free, and He is doing it still — on the ground of the blood [p. 530] of the covenant. The whole system of judaism had become a “pit wherein is no water”. The Lord’s invitation was to come to Him.
Ques Should not the assembly have an ever-increasing appreciation of the royal glory of Christ? Though not in display, He is for us the King of glory.
CAC And He has salvation, it is in Him, so whatever bondage we may be in there is power in Him.
Ques And would you not say this lack of water marks christendom today? God may be named but there is no reference to the mediatorship of Christ.
CAC Yes. God is mentioned, but not Christ. Religious people do not speak of Christ but of ‘Almighty God’. There is little sense of the wonderful mediatorship of Christ. It is indeed a pit with no water — just as true today as it was of judaism, and this mighty King comes to set prisoners free.
Rem “And he shall speak peace unto the nations”, is a wonderful thought.
CAC When He does it, it will be effectually done-the nations will have peace. All blessing now is found in a remnant.
Ques The expression, “daughter of Jerusalem”, does it speak of the remnant?
CAC They were able to appreciate the lowly King — that is, Zion, speaking of God’s sovereign mercy. The prisoners of hope can appreciate mercy. There are certain persons for whom nothing will do but mercy, and all Christ brings is for them.
Rem To such the Lord really becomes supreme, He becomes King, not in terms but actually.
CAC He really fills them in relation to God, “And they shall be filled like a bowl, like the corners of the altar”. There is a sacrificial vessel used to hold what is presented to God, so persons are vessels filled in relation to God. God likes full vessels and He has made provision for securing them in this way.
Ques Is there a connection between the covenant and [p. 531] the bowl?
CAC Yes. The prisoners being set free is all based on the covenant. Through the death of Christ there is entire liberation from every bondage, so that they can become bowls for the service of the altar, instead of being empty.
Rem It is cheering that God gets it today before He gets it publicly.
CAC Yes, He gets it in bowls today who are full of what is delightful to Him.
Rem It is the result of Christ being enthroned in the heart.
CAC Yes, He subdues everything in us that hinders us in serving God, if we let Him be King.
Rem The colt upon which He rode would exemplify that; “Upon which no man had ever sat”.
CAC The colt here brings in the thought of carrying Him in testimony. That is one side of the position, while the bowls are more the sacrificial side to be filled for God’s pleasure. It is what marks the assembly. Every brother and sister ought to be a full bowl. Everybody ought to be ashamed to come if he is not full. “None shall appear before me empty”. In the light of that we should be afraid. Seeing He has dedicated us for altar service and that it is all that He has done, it is enough to fill any heart.
In John He brings it all on the footing of resurrection, because there He raised Lazarus from the dead. It is in the light of resurrection, as here it is on the ground of His death. It is the Lord’s doing, He has brought it about — cf. verses 16, 17. The flock comes to light. “For how great is his goodness”; everything rests on the goodness of God. We cannot bring a thing to God that is not the product of His own goodness. “They shall be as the stones of a crown”. The saints are jewels to enhance His glory. We talk about the Crown Jewels sometimes — well, here they are! The most wonderful miracle has been brought about in any heart that appreciates Christ. Think of the precious character of Christ’s humanity. If we come before God full of Christ, He says, ‘You are My jewels’. No one could think of a creature adding anything to God, God adds to the creature. He adds all the preciousness of Christ to us. “To you therefore who believe is the preciousness”, and as being full of that we are very acceptable to God for the altar.
Ques Is that what being complete in Him means?
CAC It is all filled out of Him, and it is that or nothing — either the fulness of Christ, or nothing. If I have Christ, I have all that is in Christ. Many years ago a woman said to me, ‘I have had Christ for twenty years and I am just beginning to find out what there is in Him!’ The saints today are in the place of this, and God’s thought has not broken down. It is all because of His goodness and beauty. It is remarkable that it should speak of God’s beauty. There is something, speaking reverently, in the blessed God that is beautiful to the creature. Worship is the admiration of God, and this must be adoration. It is God presenting Himself in beauty to His creature and, of course, in Christ.
Rem “Worship Jehovah in holy splendour”.
Rem The meek and lowly character of His coming is not mentioned in John’s gospel.
CAC In John it is divine power in that Person in resurrection, so they hail Him as One in whom resurrection power dwelt, and that colours all our worship. There is that in Him that is greater than death.
Rem These moral characteristics would seem greater than His official glories, because they speak of His Person.
CAC All His official glory is hung on what He is personally, and to see the goodness and beauty of God expressed in Him in the gospels — that is real wealth in the soul.
Rem To see “God manifest in flesh”.
CAC Quite so. So as saints we are qualified to speak to God as those who admire His beauty. I think His graciousness is His beauty, the quality of divine Persons that prisoners who come up from the pit know how to appreciate. That is the moral beauty of the saints — salvation — no mark of the world on them.
Rem “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty” (Isaiah [p. 533] 33: 17).
CAC Very beautiful. It is a case of inheriting as entering into what God is restoring in these last days. He is restoring it now through the assembly. That is what is brought out in chapter 10 — His power to restore things when they have been lost. The greatest of all is assembly restoration. “I will save the house of Joseph and I will bring them back again ... and I will answer them”. And further on, “Their heart shall be joyful in Jehovah ... And I will strengthen them in Jehovah: and they shall walk in his name, saith Jehovah” (chapter 10: 6 - 12). It is God’s great pleasure in restoring His people to Himself.
Rem That makes the worshipping company.
CAC God has no pleasure in that which has departed from Him (chapter 10: 2, 3). There we see a general character of things in which God has no pleasure — vanity and false shepherds — so He takes the matter in hand Himself, and He speaks of restoring His people to a full appreciation of Himself. Well, we are living in a time when God is doing this-for the remnant of the assembly.
Ques In verse 17 how does the corn come in?
CAC It shows it is a well-nourished people who can take up these wonderful thoughts. God is suggesting something tonight that would do so, in what is Christ. Then the Spirit would sustain all that is subjective.
Ques The sons of Zion, would they come in here? God has His sons, strong and moving in dignity.
CAC God intends to bring this all about in the restoration of Israel, but He has not a smaller thought for the restoration of the assembly, including everyone that has the Spirit. He is restoring all this for our hearts’ profound delight, that there may be service to God.
Rem All the precious things are available at the close of the church’s history; the gold, the eye-salve, etc.
CAC We are really living in the best time there ever was. There never has been such a time and there never will be again. The millennium will not be half so wonderful as the present time. If God brings His people recovery, it is wonderful.
Rem He makes them as “his majestic horse” (chapter 10: 3).
CAC If so we shall be overcomers every time and never succumb to the influences of man. The covenant is the basis of everything. If we get away in our hearts from the death of Christ, we shall get away from all we have been speaking of. The corn (resurrection) becomes the food of the sons of Zion. The idea of the flock is not the value the flock gets, it is the owner who gets the gain of the flock. When God restores He does it properly, He restores to the very best.
In Matthew 13 it is the public history in the first four similitudes finishing with the whole mass being leavened. The woman does her deadly work too well. After that you get the similitudes of the treasure and pearl — what the assembly is to Christ. It is remarkable that He brings that in at the end. It is as if He says, ‘I have watched the seed, the mustard and leaven going from bad to worse in the church publicly, now I am going to effect something else. I am going to restore things to the treasure and the pearl. I am bringing My saints back to that’. So this is not so great as what He is effecting in the assembly today. So we should understand this from these scriptures, He is bringing His saints back to His best and choicest thoughts, that they might be overcomers in the strength of what God is for us.
Ques Is this greater than assembly privilege?
CAC It is the highest point in assembly privilege, is it not? To joy in God, there is nothing greater than that in eternity. It is a wonderful time we are living in and we do not want to miss it. There is something given now not known in the church since the day of the apostle.