Zechariah 4:7-9 Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings… Treat the text as designed to encourage the believer in the assurance of his final salvation, in strong confidence of continuing and upholding power, to be vouchsafed to him. I. THE HONOR OF GOD IS CONCERNED IN A PERSUASION OF OUR FINAL SAFETY. 1. In all spiritual temples the command to build, and the means to build, and the laying the foundation for the building, originate solely with God Himself. How unlikely then that God should forsake the work of His own hands. God is the author of that spiritual temple which is to be raised from the ruins of our degraded humanity. Man is as powerless to work a change in his own spiritual affections as he is to fix a new sun in the heavens, or to divert the course of the trackless deep. 2. The honour of God is concerned in the accomplishment of this work, by the multiplied succours which He has provided for carrying it on. We discover a constant regard to a law of progression. Whether God be ripening a blade of grass, or forming a world from the shapeless void, there is to be a beginning, a continuance, and an end. The building up of the soul into a holy temple in the Lord is no exception to this law. God will take His own time, .and work in His own way. II. THE BUILDING OF THIS TEMPLE WILL REDOUND TO THE GLORY OF CHRIST. Zerubbabel is a type of Christ. 1. There is a promise on the part of Christ to His people, that He will work in them all needful grace to keep them faithful unto the end. 2. Christ is concerned in our final victory, because the believer's triumphs form an integral part of His own. Conclusion — (1) Be as confident with regard to the completion of the work as if it were altogether of God. (2) Be as diligent in working out that accomplishment as if it were altogether your own. (Daniel Moore, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. |
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