Zechariah 1:7-11 On the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius… The anointed One of God and His kingdom are the centre and axis about which the fiery wheel of all Zechariah's revelations and imagery turns. The vision in our text is both beautiful and consoling. Consider — I. THE TIME WHEN IT WAS SEEN. 1. The time. "By night." Primarily he meant natural night, while men slept. At that season the Lord came to him, opening the prophet's spiritual eyes, and causing to pass before him, like a pictured scene in bright and glowing colours, a sublime and cheering vision. The words "by night" may remind us of the circumstances of the time at which the vision was given. Apply the words, by way of accommodation, to the spiritual night of Christendom. For night in a spiritual sense is only dreadful when we are deprived of spiritual vision, when the eyes of the understanding are darkened. It is night, when with sufferings upon us, we do not recognise the hand that inflicts them. There is another kind of spiritual night more fearful still. David feared it when he said, "Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit." Yet even here there may be vision in the darkness, and this is a favour indeed. II. WHAT DID THE PROPHET BEHOLD? It was a precious vision. Afterwards he hears the explanation of it. The vision was fraught with consolation and promise. Zechariah beholds a man; that man is Christ, the Angel of the Covenant. The times of Zechariah needed a helper in the character of a man, and a "man of war"; for it was a season of war and tumults. Zechariah beholds Him upon a red horse. And Christ, like a man riding upon a horse, stands ready to fly with speed to the help and defence of His people. The prophet speaks of the myrtle trees. True believers are trees which Christ Himself has planted; trees of righteous ness, fast rooted in the ground of His merits, and thriving by the grace of His Holy Spirit. Such are all the children of God here on earth. The man among the myrtle trees "stood"; the Lord abides among His people. (F. W. Krumreacher, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, |
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