Zechariah 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. There is no subject of contemplation more delightful to a serious mind than the goodness of the Lord. The prophet had been, in the preceding verses, describing the appearance of Christ as King of Zion, as just, and having salvation. He had been speaking of the blood of the covenant, by which the prisoners of Divine justice are delivered, and invited to turn to the stronghold. He had described the salvation which God should work out for His people by the Messiah, when they should be as the precious stones of a crown, lifted up on high, and God would save and favour them as His jewels and peculiar treasure. The prophet's heart was so affected with the prospect of this mercy that he breaks out into the joyful acclamation, "How great is His goodness!" Learn that the Divine goodness in our redemption and salvation claims our admira tion and our praise. Here too we see the "beauty" of the Lord. How amicably His perfections shine in the dispensation of the Gospel; so that all who attend to it with serious minds will see and adore them. Here we observe mercy and truth meeting together, righteousness and peace greeting each other. Here, at the Holy Sacrament, we see the King of Zion, the image of the invisible God, in all His beauty, and He appears fairer than the children of men, and altogether amiable and lovely. Here also we see the goodness of the Lord; with what peculiar lustre this perfection of the Divine nature shines in our redemption by Jesus Christ. That goodness appears great if we consider how universally it extends: even to all mankind. Jesus is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. If we consider the objects of it; mean and miserable mortals, whose goodness cannot extend to Him. This goodness is to terminate in perfect and everlasting glory and felicity. The fountain of all our comforts and hopes is Divine goodness. The streams are plenteous, and various. They enrich, delight, and satisfy the soul, and they flow forever. (Job Orton.) Parallel Verses KJV: For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. |
    |