Zechariah 9:11 As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Enlarge on the Gospel promise in immediate connection with the text. It calls on the daughter of Zion to rejoice in the coming of the Saviour. It describes His character; the nature of His kingdom; the means by which it shall be spread; and the extent of it. The deliverance of the Jews from captivity was a step towards the coming of Messiah, and the earnest of it. Just as, through the remembrance of His covenant with Israel by blood, God delivered the Jewish Church, so through the "blood of the everlasting covenant" does He deliver His people under the Gospel. I. THE PRISONERS AND THEIR PRISON HOUSE. "Thy prisoners." This most aptly describes the state of those who are convinced by the Spirit of God of their lost and undone condition, and who are looking only for wrath. The prison house of such is described as "the pit wherein there is no water"; i.e. no comfort, no peace. No way of escape is apparent, and if the prisoner remain in it, he dies. But, though the pit is deep and horrible, yet the prisoner's voice can be heard, when he calls for deliverance; and his voice is never unheeded. Therefore let all prisoners cry mightily unto Him that is able to save. II. THE WAY OF DELIVERANCE. Justice must be satisfied ere the mouth of the pit can be opened. This is implied in the expression — "the blood of the covenant." Jesus covenanting to shed His blood for their ransom — the Father covenanting to accept this ransom, and to set the prisoners free on account of it. Enlarge on this covenant as a covenant of promise, the greatness, the freeness, the sureness. How is this belief, this trust in the promise, brought about? Faith by hearing, hearing by the Word — the Spirit of God applying. (John D. Lawe, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. |
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