Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
Parallel Translations
-
Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
-
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
-
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Zechariah 1:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 12:5 yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:
- 2 Peter 3:2-4 that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
- Job 14:10-12 But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up, so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
- Psalms 90:10 The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Ecclesiastes 1:4 One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.
- Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
- John 8:52 Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’
- Acts 13:36 For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, was laid with his fathers, and saw decay.
- Hebrews 7:23-24 Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death. But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain In what we considered yesterday Zechariah reminded the Jews…
In what we considered yesterday Zechariah reminded the Jews of the conduct of their fathers, in order that they might not, by their continued sins, bring on themselves new punishments. Many interpreters think that the sentiment contained at the beginning of the fourth verse is now confirmed, your fathers, where are they? for it seems t them that God is here exulting over the Jews — “Think now what has happened to your fathers; are they not all gone and destroyed?” They suppose also that the Jews answer, taking the latter clause as spoken by them, “The Prophets also, have they not perished? Why do you mention to us the fathers? There is no difference between them and the Prophets; it is not therefore a suitable argument.” And then in the third place, they consider that God refutes the answer given by the Jews, “But my word and my statutes, what I had entrusted to the Prophets, have not been without their effect.” This view of the passage has been adopted by many, and by all of the most ancient interpreters; and those who followed them have been disposed to subscribe to it. But more probable is the opinion of Jerome, who understands the latter clause of false Prophets, — “Your fathers and your Prophets, where are they?” as though God thus reproved the Jews: “See now, have not your fathers miserably perished, and also the Prophets by whom they were deceived?” Thus Jerome thinks that the object in both clauses is to shake off the delusions of the Jews, that they might not harden themselves against God’s judgments, or give ear to flatterers. This interpretation comes nearer to the design of the Prophet, though he seems to me to have something else in view.
I join the two clauses together, as they may be most fitly united — “Your fathers and my Prophets have both perished; but after their death, the memory of the doctrine, which has not only been published by my servants, but has also been fully confirmed, is to continue, so that it ought justly to terrify you; for it is very foolish in you to enquire whether or not the Prophets are still alive; they performed their office to the end of life, but the truth they declared is immortal. Though then the Prophets are dead, they have not yet carried away with them what they taught, for it never perishes, nor can it at any age be extinguished. The ungodly are also dead, but their death ought not to obliterate the memory of God’s judgments; but after their death these judgments ought to be known among men, and serve to teach them, in order that posterity may understand that they are not presumptuously to provoke God.” This seems to be the real meaning of the Prophet.
Read full note →
By saying, Your fathers where are they? and the Prophets do they live for ever? he makes a concession, as though he had said, “I allow that both your fathers and my Prophets are dead; but my words are they dead?” God, in a word, distinguishes between the character of his word and the condition of men, as though he had said, that the life of men is frail and limited to a few years, but that his truth never perishes. And rightly does he mention the ungodly as well as the Prophets; for we know that whenever God punishes the despisers of his word, he gives perpetual examples, which may keep men in all ages within the boundaries of duty. Hence, though many ages have passed away since God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, yet that example remains, and retains its use to this day; for the ruin of Sodom is a mirror in which we may see at this time that God is the perpetual judge of the world. Since then the ungodly have perished, the punishment with which God visited their sins ought not to be buried with them, but to be ever remembered by men. This is the reason why he says, “your fathers are dead: this you must admit; but as they had been severely chastised, ought ye not at this day to profit by such examples?” Then he says, “my Prophets also are dead; but it was my will that they should be the preachers of my truth, and for this end, that after their death posterity might know that I had once spoken through them.” To the same purpose are the words of Peter, who says, that he labored that the memory of what he taught might continue after he was removed from his tabernacle.
“As then,” he says, “the time of my dissolution is at hand, I endeavor as far as I can, that you may remember what I teach after my death.” (2 Peter 1:15.)
We now perceive the object of the Prophet.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Though your fathers be dead, yet God’s judgments in…
Though your fathers be dead, yet God’s judgments in punishing them ought still to be before your eyes: and though the Prophets be dead, yet their doctrine remaineth forever, 2 Pet. 1:15.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 1:5 Your fathers, where [are] they? and the…
Zec 1:5 Your fathers, where [are] they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
Ver. 5. Your fathers, where are they?] Is not the grave their house? have they not made their beds in the dark? are not they gone down to the congregation of all living? Job 30:23. Every man should die the same day as he is born; as being born a child of death; the wages of sin is death, and this wages should be paid him down presently. But Christ begs their lives for a season, 1Ti 4:10; he is the Saviour of all men, not of eternal preservation, but of temporal reservation. But what a sad thing is it for men to die in their sins, as these in the text and their nephews did, Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24. How may such men, on their deathbeds, say to their sins, as Charles V did of his honours, victories, riches, Abite hinc, abite longe, Go, go, get you out of my sight (Mornaeus); or as Cornelius Agrippa, the conjuror, did to his familiar that used to accompany him in the shape of a dog, Abi a me perdita bestia, quae me perdidisti, Begone, thou wretched beast that hast wrought my ruin (Joh. Manl.). Petrius Sutorius speaks of one that, preaching a funeral sermon on a religious man (as he calls him), and giving him large commendations, heard at the same time a voice in the church, mortuus sum, iudicatus sum, damnatus sum, I am dead, judged, and damned. The devil preached Saul’s funeral, 1Sa 28:19, though David made his epitaph, 2Sa 1:19-27.
Read full note →
And do the prophets live for ever?] Those false prophets (so Jerome senseth it) that cried peace, peace, to your fathers, and made all fair weather before them, when the fierce wrath of God was even ready to burst out upon them as an overflowing scourge. But they do better that understand it of God’s true prophets, who are dead indeed (for wise men die as well as fools, Psa 44:10, good men die as well as bad, Eze 21:4, yea, good men often before the bad, Isa 57:1), but their words died not with them; the truth of their prophecies not only lived for ever (for ever, O Lord, thy word is stablished in heaven, Psa 119:89), but struck in the hearts and flesh of their perverse hearers like the envenomed arrows of the Almighty throughout all eternity. Wicked men may, as the wounded hart, frisk and skip up and down when the deadly arrow sticks in their ribs, but not so easily shake it off, Haeret lateri lethalis arundo.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Your fathers, where are they? but where are your…
Your fathers, where are they? but where are your disobedient fathers? Are they not buried in a strange land? Did they not die of those diseases? Were they not consumed with famine and the sword, as was menaced against them?
And the prophets: some apply this to the false prophets who promised peace, but where are they now? But it is better understood of the true prophets, who died as others; they do not nor must live always to warn you.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Your fathers, where are they?.... They are not in…
Your fathers, where are they?.... They are not in the land of the living; they perished by the sword of the Chaldeans, or died in captivity:
and the prophets, do they live for ever? meaning either the false prophets, as Hananiah and Shemaiah, Jer 28:17 or the true prophets of the Lord; and the words may be considered as a prevention of an objection the people might make, taken from their prophets dying in common with their fathers; and so the Targum paraphrases them, "and if you should say, the prophets, do they live for ever?" which is followed by Jarchi, and embraced by many interpreters: the answer is, it is true they died; but then their words live, and have had their full accomplishment.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Where are they - But where are your disobedient…
Where are they - But where are your disobedient fathers? Were they not consumed with famine and sword, as I threatened them? Do they live - The prophets died as others; they must not live always to warn you.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Your fathers, where are they?] Israel has…
Verse 5. Your fathers, where are they?] Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans.
The prophets, do they live for ever?] They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Your fathers, where are they? - The abrupt solemnity…
Your fathers, where are they? - The abrupt solemnity of the question seems to imply an unexpected close of life which cut short their hopes, plans, promises to self. “When they said, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them” 1Th 5:3. Yet not they only but the prophets too, who ministered God’s Word to them, these also being human beings, passed away, some of them before their time as people, by the martyr’s death. Many of them saw not their own words fulfilled. But God’s word which they spake, being from God, passed not away.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Always. He seems to hint, that after Malachias prophets…
Always. He seems to hint, that after Malachias prophets would be sent no more till Christ should appear; or, that God’s word should be fulfilled (ver. 6.) though the prophets were dead. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Your fathers . . . and the prophets, do…
Your fathers . . . and the prophets, do they live for ever?--In contrast to "My words" (Zac 1:6), which "endure for ever" (Pe1 1:25). "Your fathers have perished, as was foretold; and their fate ought to warn you. But you may say, The prophets too are dead. I grant it, but still My words do not die: though dead, their prophetical words from Me, fulfilled against your fathers, are not dead with them. Beware, then, lest ye share their fate."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5, 6. The lesson conveyed by these two verses,…
5, 6. The lesson conveyed by these two verses, which must be taken together, is the same as that contained in the words of Isaiah (Isa_40:6; Isa_40:8), “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field … The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” There, however, the lesson has reference to God’s word of promise, for comfort (comp. 1Pe_1:24-25). Here it has reference to His word of threatening, for warning.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Fathers . . . prophets.—To show the evil…
(5) Fathers . . . prophets.—To show the evil result of the obstinate disobedience of their fathers, the prophet asks, “Your fathers, where are they?”—i.e., they are perished through their iniquity. To this the people answer, “But the prophets, do they live [or did they go on living] for ever?”—i.e., the prophets, who did not sin, they are dead too; so what is your argument worth?
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain To compel them to listen to the warning, he…
To compel them to listen to the warning, he asks them, Your fathers, where are they! What became of those who paid no heed to the admonitions of the prophets? Have they not suffered dire calamities and perished miserably? And the prophets, do they live forever? They can teach and threaten no longer. It is true that the seers who warned your fathers are no more, but did not their words come true (see ver. 6)? Jerome referred these words to the false prophets, resting, doubtless, on Jer_37:19. But it is more natural to refer them to the "former prophets" mentioned above and in the following verse.
Are we better than our fathers?
Read full note →
I "FATHERS" IMPLIES SUCCESSIVENESS. Changes are constant. Not a whole generation together, but men go, as they come, one by one. Seems common to all existences. Necessary also. If all lived on, there would not be room for the ever-increasing multitudes. Part of God"s great plan for the education of the race.
II "FATHERS" IMPLIES INTERDEPENDENCE. There is a close relationship between fathers and children. Physically, mentally, and even morally, we are to a large degree what others have made us. "How shall a man escape from his ancestors, or draw off from his veins the black drop which he drew from his father"s or his mother"s life?" (Emerson). "Tis law as steadfast as the throne of Zeus, Our days are heritors of days gone by. (Aeschylus)
And as we have been influenced by the past, so we shall influence the future. Our children not only receive a certain impress from their birth, but ate moulded for good or evil by the teaching and example of their parents, and by the environment of their daily life.
III "FATHERS" IMPLIES RESPONSIBILITY. "Be not as your fathers." There should be reflection and choice of the good, Whether we are better or worse is a difficult question. The term "fathers" is indefinite. We should fix some point for comparison. But where? Our immediate fathers, or those of earlier times? Besides, difficult to get evidence for a fair comparison. History defective. Tradition unreliable. The "fathers" stand out like hills enshrouded in mist, or as stars that take a glory from being far. Besides, who are to judge? Ourselves. Then risk of partiality. We naturally lean to the party to which we belong. Suppose you take the old. They are apt to side with the past. Their day is over. Their vigor is gone. They dwell on what has been done. Rarely will you find an old man who does not say, "The former days were better". (Ecc_7:10) Suppose you take the young. They side with the present. The world is all before them. They are eager for the strife. "Yearning for the large excitement that the coming years would yield." But in any case, our judgment is liable to be affected by circumstances. Our own state, the love of society, the spirit of the age, influence us largely. (cf. Elijah, 1Ki_19:4) Are we better than our fathers? There is no question but we ought to be. Progress is the law. We have the higher advantages. The great thoughts and the great deeds of others should inspire us. We are the "heirs of all the ages," In some respects we are certainly better. As to food, clothing, habitations, means of education, political and social rights, intercourse with other nations, and so forth, there has been an immense advance. But what availeth this, if morally and spiritually we stand, not higher, but lower than our fathers? "Christ is our Hope." Individually we are bound to strive after a better life, and thus we can best influence society. There may be much in our past that is bad; but it is past; and let us take hope. If there are sins, they are forgiven. If there are bad habits, they have been broken off. It there are failures, they have been retrieved. We can look on. Stirred with a holy ambition, sustained by precious promises, animated by noble examples, we can press on to the brighter and better days to come. Our standard should be, not the conventional standard of the Church or the day, but the perfect law of Christ. F. (Mat_5:20-48)
The transitoriness of life.
I COMPARED WITH THE PERMANENCE OF THE EARTH. Objects of nature remain. There are changes, but they are not so great within the limit of our brief lives as to attract much notice. "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever". (Ecc_1:4)
II COMPARED WITH THE CONTINUITY OF THE RACE. The individual withers; families disappear; kingdoms decay and fall; but the race of man remains. Our life is as a tale that is told, but the story of the generations of the past reaches back beyond our ken.
III COMPARED WITH THE IMMENSE LABOUR BESTOWED ON MEN. What a preparation going before! What long and arduous toils there have been to fit us for our place and our work! and then how short the time we have for accomplishing anything! How often early promise fails, and the dear hopes cherished are disappointed!
IV COMPARED WITH THE EXPECTATIONS FORMED. What plans, schemings, enterprises! What high ambitions! And yet how little is achieved! Man"s promise is always better than his performance. Once, perhaps, we took a forward place; our names were on the lips of many looked to win great fame. But the end is "vanity.
V COMPARED WITH THE IMMORTALITY OF GOD"S WORD. Fathers and prophets alike pass away. They cannot continue by reason of death. "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you". F. (1Pe_1:24, 1Pe_1:25)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Your fathers, where are they?
Zec_1:5
Your fathers, where are they?
Read full note →
And the prophets, do they live forever?
The mortality of Gods instruments
1. The mortality of the instruments which God employs for carrying on His cause in the world. At the time these words were spoken, the patriarchs of antiquity, the seers of after times, the evangelical Isaiah, the plaintive Jeremiah, the vehement Ezekiel, all had been gathered to the tomb. There is no exemption from the stroke of mortality for the most valuable instruments of Gods service. Their death subserves the Divine purposes, and the interests of men, as well as their lives. The removal of ministers makes way for a greater variety of gifts and graces to be exercised in the ministry itself; and thus that irrepressible love of novelty which seems to be one of the instincts of our nature is provided for. How glorious does our Lord Jesus Christ appear, in carrying on His cause, not only in spite of, but in the very midst of, and even by, the ravages of death. It is a bright manifestation of His power, to work by such feeble, fallible, mortal creatures as we are; it is a still brighter display of His wisdom and power to make even their death subserve His cause. There is much in this view of our subject at once to encourage the timid and to repress the vain. Christ can do much with the weakest instrument; and He can do altogether without the strongest.
2. What there is, and how much, which, when these instruments are removed, survives the wreck of mortality, and perpetuates itself through the time to come. It was the proud boast of Horace, I shall not all die, much of me will escape death; and it has proved true. What remains of these men?
(1) Not only their graves, but their own immortal selves, their deathless spirits. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We are already come to the spirits of just men made perfect. They are assembled in the presence of their Lord, rejoicing with ineffable delight in their mutual recognition, in their sublime intercourse, in their joint adoration.
(2) Their names, their character, and their examples still survive. Eminent piety, combined with eminent usefulness, retains, like the rose, its beauty and its fragrance after death. In their characters and examples we have the best part of themselves. The remembrance of departed piety is sometimes more serviceable than even the contemplation of it was while it was yet living.
(3) The principles on which these worthies acted survives. These they derived from the Bible, and not from any human theories of civilisation, philosophy, or philanthropy. Your fathers when they died left you an unmutilated Bible. Not a single promise lies interred in their graves. But, in some eases, the Bible is professed, while its truths are denied; it is, in a certain way, held in gross, while it is rejected in detail. Our fathers dealt not in vague generalities, philosophical speculations, or in evasive reserves.
(4) Though the founders of the Society (London Missionary) have long since departed, the cause itself survives.
3. The means to be employed to carry on the work begun by our forefathers. Some fear the cause of missions will not live. Others think public attention will be diverted from the cause by the surpassingly great, various, and absorbing events of the times in which we live. It is a most remarkable, instructive, and impressive feature of the times that there is a conspicuous parallelism between political convulsion and social disorganisation on the one hand, and moral action and reformation on the other, between the destructive and the constructive forces, between the shaking and crumbling of the things that were ready to vanish away and the rising up of those things which cannot be shaken and are intended to remain. Shall we suffer this passing age to draw off our attention from the cause of Christian missions? That would be to lose our interest in the cause, when all things seem preparing the world for its full and final triumph.
4. We must unite appropriate and adequate means to our confidence of final success.
(1) A more intelligent apprehension, a deeper conviction, and a more solemn sense, on the part of the whole Church, of the design of God in its erection and continuance in this world, as His witness and instrument for the conversion of the nations. In so far as the Church is a missionary Church, she is a true Church. What is the duty of the whole Church is the duty of every section and part of it. But the Church has not yet done, and is not even now doing, her duty.
(2) If our zeal be the offspring of our piety, there is necessary for the continuance and extension of the missionary enterprise, an increase of spiritual religion. We want intelligence warmed with holy enthusiasm: a religion of life, of power, of love, and of a sound mind; a religion combining something of the enthusiasm of prophets, the zeal of apostles, the self-denial of pilgrims, and the constancy of martyrs. Eminent piety is essential to eminent usefulness. (J. Angel James.)
Lessons from the death of our fathers
The death of our fathers reminds us--
1. Of our own mortality.
2. Of our own obligations.
3. Of our fathers principles.
4. Of our prospects of reunion with them.
5. Of the grandeur of immortality. (G. Brooks.)
Prophetical succession
I. The law of human mortality and succession is full of suggestion. Death is the law of all life, vegetable and animal, as well as human. Had man not sinned, the mortality of his human body would probably have been the same. The death to which sin doomed man was spiritual, not fleshly death. He could scarcely have remained permanently in a world subject to the conditions of this. The death of the body is sorrowful enough, because of our human affections and sensibilities. The prophets die. Even their high vocation does not exempt them from the law of death. It may be that God would teach us that He can do His work without the best and greatest. Instead of Stephen God raises up Paul. A prophets work may seem indispensable to an age, yet he dies.
II. Is there not high benefit in the prophetical succession? If the wise and experienced die, they give place to the young and ardent, who, with fresh impulse and newer lights, enter into their wealth of wisdom. Else might the prophet become a stereotype. The wisest may outlive their wisdom, and the most useful their usefulness. Sometimes the greatest are the greatest hindrance. Every generation rises to higher and broader spiritual conception than its predecessor. Whether is the greater evil, the mistakes of impetuous youth, or the paralysis of incapable age; the zeal without knowledge of experience, or the knowledge without zeal of over caution; the Radical revolutionist, who would make all things new, or the Conservative revolutionist, who stands still in the stream of advancing thought and spirituality--the one too fast for his age, and the other too slow? Have we not a great law of compensation in the succession of Gods prophets, especially as the generations overlap each other, and the Church possesses both at the same time? (Henry Allon, D. D.)
On the instructions to be derived from recalling the memory of our fathers
It is a tribute which we owe to the memory of our earthly parents, to recall them occasionally to our thoughts. The hope of this was a source of consolation to them amidst the cares of life.
1. By meditating on the fate of our fathers, we are reminded that we too must die. It is a fortunate circumstance in the nature of man, that, though his Maker hath formed him a mortal being, the idea of his dissolution doth not continually haunt his mind.
2. We learn what are the objects that are most worthy of pursuit. The good which our fathers have done remains forever. It remains to embalm their memory, and to exalt their name.
3. We learn to imitate our fathers. The grave of a good man is a scene of much instruction and improvement.
4. We become reconciled to our own departure. The region beyond the grave is not a solitary land. There your fathers are, and thither every other friend shall follow you in due season. Therefore let your hearts be glad, let your glory rejoice, let your bodies also rest in hope. God will show you the path of life. (W. Moodie, D. D.)
Your fathers, where are they?
Primarily, these words were intended to carry along with them a warning import to those to whom they were originally addressed, as to the folly of following on in the footsteps of those of their ancestors who had been taken away from all connection with time in the midst of careless inconsideration. The prophet does not pronounce as to where the fathers were. He knew that their bodies were consigned to deaths dark domain, and reduced to inanimate matter. But where are their immortal spirits? The prophet leaves it as an open question, Where are they? We may have forebodings, but we are not the arbiters by whom any ease may be decided. It must be left in the hand of Him to whom alone the right belongs to pronounce, and who will judge righteous judgment. Think now of those of our fathers who lived and died in the faith of the Gospel.
1. They are not where they once were.
2. They are not where we are.
3. They are where they desired to be.
4. They are in the place for which they made preparation.
5. They are where they never would have been, but for the finished work of Christ, as their Representative and Substitute.
6. They are where they will be forever.
7. They are where they will be very glad to see us.
It may be added, and we shall be very glad to see them. (T. Adam.)
Our fathers
I. The people addressed. The visible Church, who lived in the typical land of promise, and under the Old Testament dispensation. It was declared or delivered, by the prophet from God, toward the close of the Babylonish captivity and exile. The fathers are represented as including those with whom the Lord had been sore displeased, and the people addressed are their descendants in the flesh, who inherited from their births their evil nature, were encompassed with their high privileges, and laden with their proportionate responsibilities. The prophets appear to signify those really sent of God, who spake His true Word, and no vision out of their own hearts.
II. The intention or object of the questions proposed. The inquiry is not after the existence of the absent fathers. It doth not touch the truth of the immortality of the souls of the prophets. It regards the mortal existence of both the fathers and the prophets on earth. The inquiry calls a fact to the recollection of the people addressed, which relates to their immediate or remote ancestors. Where are they? Not with you now, to influence you. The Church is suffering the loss of the benefit of their labours. The questions are put for the health and profit of the souls of the hearers, or for their greater condemnation, if they will not receive warning.
III. The permanent use of the record, as God speaks by it to us, and in our circumstances. We have been a highly favoured people, and we have long possessed manifold means and privileges, of a religious and spiritual nature; and in many cases, it is trusted, have, through distinguishing and sovereign grace, derived from the use of them profit unto eternal salvation. Let us make these inquiries matter of admonition for comfort and profit. (William Borrows, M. A.)
The invisible world
The difficulty of giving a sort of general reply to the question contained in the text, is much diminished by this particular fact, that the Scripture itself has assigned a fixed and determinate place in the world of spirits to the soul of every human being. Consider--
I. The case of those who have died without penitence and faith.
1. Those who have died without repentance are gone to a state in which the wicked are no longer the prosperous. In this world guilt is often successful, at least for a season.
2. The Impenitent and unbelieving are gone to a state in which they have no longer any hopes of escape, or means of approach to God.
3. Our impenitent fathers are gone into a state in which God is known only as the God of vengeance.
II. The case of those who have died penitent and believing.
1. They are no longer in a state of trial and affliction.
2. They are gone into a world where temptation never enters.
3. Where doubt and despondency never come.
4. Where their infirmities and corruptions cannot follow them. Application--
(1) If such are the glories of the one state we have been contemplating, and such the miseries of the other, what thanks are due to that Redeemer who has, of His own unmerited mercy, and by the sacrifice of His own life, rescued us from the anguish of perdition, and thrown open to us the gates of the mansion of God?
(2) Remember that, very shortly, the question we are today putting about others will be put about ourselves. Another generation shall soon arise who will ask, with regard to you and me, Your fathers, where are they? (J. W. Cunningham, A. M.)
Improvement of death
I. Some general observations.
1. No distinction which men wear m society can possibly exempt them from the stroke of death.
2. Although our ancestors have departed this life, we are not altogether to entomb them in oblivion. Many reasons may be assigned why we should preserve them in recollection. To many of them we were bound by the ties of natural affection. To others we are allied by official connection. We have entered into their labours. The monuments of their industry lessen our toil.
3. Though these distinguished deceased have left this world, they are still in some state of conscious existence. Probably the souls of the departed enter at once either into bliss or woe.
II. The best improvement we can make of prominent persons deaths.
1. By a serious remembrance. Not merely of their persons, but of their characters, and the labours in which they were engaged during their mortal sojourn.
2. Diligent inquiry, as to whether we have reaped any solid advantage from the ministrations in which they were engaged; and as to the manner in which we treated the servants of God while they were fulfilling their course.
3. Imitation of their holy example. There is always a limitation we must put when speaking of human example: so far as he followed Christ.
4. Earnest prayer in connection with bereavements.
5. By preparation to follow the devoted servants of God to the place where they now dwell.
6. Cherishing a devout expectation of reunion with the departed servants of God, in a world of future glory and perfection. (J. Clayton.)
The death of the old
1. The first thing that the words suggest is obviously the great law, under which we receive and possess existence--that we must die; the law of mortality, under which we were born. We will not enter into the curious question, whether man would have died if he had not sinned. It is better to look at death in its moral and spiritual aspect. It is thus continually represented to us in Scripture. It is not a part of Gods plan; it is a thing engrafted upon His original constitution. Death is the shadow of sin. This great, black, dark substance, that we call sin, comes in between man and the bright light of Gods countenance, and casts its shadow over man. That shadow is death. Death is but the symptom of a spiritual disease; it is not so much the grand disease of our nature, as it is the symptom of a deeper-seated disease. And God applies His remedy to the core of the disorder. He redeems from sin.
2. Apply remarks specially to the death of a very aged person. Note the amazing power of the principle of life in man. It is so wonderful to think that a human body, with its nice and delicate organisation, should go on sleeping and waking, toiling and working, without intercession and without rest, for ninety or a hundred years. What a thing it would be if any man constructed a piece of mechanism that should go on in that way! But the individual man, though he is a wonderful, complex machine, considered in himself, is only one little wheel in a greater and a larger structure, that is, the whole species; and the species--such is the wonderful power of life--death cannot touch. However we may talk about death, the power of vitality is greater; even in man, and in the present world, life is stronger than death. Another thought is, that though there be this wonderful power of vitality, old age in general is not in itself very desirable. In general, very great age is only an additional affliction put to the ordinary ills of life. Nature does a great deal, independent of religion, to bring men to be willing to die. But where there is religion, and a good hope through grace, and a trust in the Divine mercy, the language and feeling of a man often is, I would not live alway. The very aged man stands alone. He outlives his friends; and what is worse, he outlives the capacity of forming new attachments. The fact is, that second childhood is very much like the first. The child is interesting but to a few. The aged cannot very well sympathise with new hearts and new persons, new modes of thought and feeling. How different it is with God! Generation after generation cometh, and He has His fresh and young affection for every generation as it comes. And every generation may come to Him, and look up to Him, with the same cordiality and the same confidence as the first. The last thought is, that we are struck by the death of a very aged person being uncommon. We speak of it as extraordinary. It throws us back upon the general law, that men do not all die at one particular time. There is no day, no fixed date, up to which all men are to live, and beyond which none can survive. If a fixed date for each individual had been assigned, the punishment of sin would have been made unendurable. It is a most beneficent dispensation that there is no fixed date. But the price to pay is that we must be prepared to see death occur at all ages.
2. There are limits to human probation and the Divine forbearance. You will see this by referring to the context. Your fathers and the prophets are dead; their probation terminated. The agents and the objects of the Divine mercy equally die. There is something very affecting in this. Zechariah says, Remember, you are living under the same law. Probation has limits; forbearance has limits.
3. The power and perpetuity of Gods truth, in contrast with the mortality of man. This is seen by connecting the words that follow. The prophet lives in his utterances. A true thought is a Divine and immortal thing. What has come from the breast and bosom and mind of God, and has been uttered, lives, and there is power in it. Men change, their feelings change, their minds alter, their sensibilities and sympathies pass away; but the Gospel is fresh to every generation. The Word of God, in its substantial essence, continues, and is the life and food of the Church. (Thomas Binney.)
An inquiry after dead relations
By fathers is meant fathers of our flesh, the active instruments in the hand of God of our being, the secondary causes of our being. Where are they? Are they here? No. Are they anywhere? Yes. We know where their bodies are. Their souls are somewhere. The prophets, do they live forever? No.
(1) They may not, if they would. They come within the compass of the universal decree. They are made up of the same ingredients, they have the same demeritorious cause of death as others, namely, sin. And their Lord and Master will do without them, as He does without others.
(2) They would not, if they might. Two things put the saints in general, and ministers in particular, upon a desire to be gone; the happiness they shall then be instated in, and the troubles and miseries they shall then be freed from. Do the prophets live forever? Yes. Though not in their persons, they do in their successors. Though not in this world, yet in a better. If prophets and righteous men did not in the other world live forever, the joys and glories of that world could not be said to be perfect. In the other world they must needs live forever, for otherwise the virtue and efficacy of Christs blood and righteousness would be very much lessened. They must needs live forever, for the Church of Christ in the other world will still retain the same names and honourable titles of Christs body, Spouse, and subjects as they have here. He cannot be a Father without children; a King without subjects; a Bridegroom without a bride; a Relate without a correlate. What can put an end to their living in those upper regions of glory? Sin cannot. Death cannot. Devils cannot. And to be sure, God will not. (Benjamin Hands.)
Our mortal character
Not a year passes away, hardly a week or a day, without some striking monition of our uncertain tenure of earthly existence.
1. These inquiries of the text seem to furnish a strong intimation of the mortal character of our present existence. The prophet bade the Jews look back, and consider what had become of their fathers. The great and the good, the noble and the mighty, the teacher and the taught, the prophet and the people, have gone the way of all the earth. There is no exception of age or station, of occupation or condition, to this appointment of the Most High, in consequence of the transgressions of men. There is something painfully affecting in the ravages of death. The fact is painful and humbling, more especially as it is the undeniable proof of the fallen character of our race--of that native corruption which has descended from Adam, who, though created in the likeness of God, begat a son in his own likeness, and that a sinful and degraded one.
2. But is the contemplation of death only painful and humiliating? Is there not a light to irradiate the tomb? May we not regard the inquiries of the text as the language of faith and hope? Surely the dark valley will open into the brightness of eternal home. We sorrow not as those who have no hope. A glorious prospect is opened beyond the tomb. Those who have departed in the Lord are in His safe keeping. Our fathers are not taken away forever. They are only removed before us, and anticipate us in the enjoyment of the Lords presence. The hope of immortality has cheered many a believing soul amid the pains of life and the sufferings of death.
3. Looking back upon the Christian life of our fathers, we should follow their faith, and act up to their teaching, and pray that a double portion of their spirit may rest upon us. We are responsible for the teaching of Divine truth with which we have been blessed. (John S. Broad, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Zec_1:5. Fathers] have perished; their fate should warn you.…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zec_1:5. Fathers] have perished; their fate should warn you. But you may object, the prophets also are dead, and apparently their words died with them.
Read full note →
Zec_1:6.] No; the threatenings take hold; overtake them as one flying from the foe. The words and statutes (decrees) of God uttered by the prophets reached them like arrows shot forth, and fulfilled threatened punishment (cf. Deu_28:15-45). Thought] Decreed to do (Lam_2:17).
Zec_1:7.] The general plan of the nine following visions (ch. Zec_1:8 to end of ch. 6) is first to present the symbol; then, on a question being put, to subjoin the interpretation. Though the visions are distinct, they form one grand whole, presented in one night to the prophet’s mind, two or three months after the prophet’s first commission [Fausset].
Zec_1:8-17.] Vision first. A man] i.e. an angel in the shape of a man (Zec_1:11-12). Riding] Swift in execution and help; leader of those who follow, and to whom they report. Red] Colour of blood; vengeance to be inflicted upon the foes of Israel (cf. 2Ki_3:22; Isa_63:1-2; Rev_6:4). Myrtle trees] Symbol of Israel; not a stately forest, but a low shrub, fragrant in smell and beautiful in leaf.
Zec_1:8. Behind] horses. Red, speckled (bay), and white] the symbol of victory. These are agencies employed by God, and the colour may indicate the nature of their mission [cf. Lange].
Zec_1:9. My lord] The one who answers the prophet, the angelus interpres, whose sole function was to enlighten the prophet, and cause him to understand the vision.
Zec_1:10.] The angel of Jehovah replies, and not the interpreting angel.
Zec_1:11.] The riders themselves then state the result of their mission. Walked] with unceasing activity (cf. Job_1:7) in God’s errands. Still] Hindrances to restoration removed. Persian wars had ceased, and at that time (Zec_1:1) universal peace reigned over the earth; tranquil (Jdg_5:26). This statement of peace contrasts with the prostrate condition of Israel, and gives occasion for intercession.
Zec_1:12. How?] Intercession. 70 years] does not imply that the period predicted (Jer_25:12) was just closing, for it had already expired in the first year of Cyrus (Ezr_1:1). But the people were in a sad state; though restored, the capital in ruins (Neh_1:3) and the work hindered.
Zec_1:13.] Jehovah, the angel of Zec_1:12. Words] which promise good, i.e. salvation (cf. Jos_23:14; Jer_29:10). “In Zec_1:14-17, the first two of which assert Jehovah’s active affection for his people, and the latter two his purpose to manifest that love in the restoration and enlargement of Jerusalem” [Lange]. Jealous] for Jerusalem, which is wantonly injured. Displeased] with nations careless and secure, confident in their own strength and prosperity. To Israel anger was only a tittle; to the heathen it was fatal.
HOMILETICS
LESSONS FROM THE LIVES OF THE FATHERS.—Zec_1:5-6
The two questions in Zec_1:5 are meant as denials, and are intended to anticipate the objection which the people might have raised to the admonitions in Zec_1:4, to the effect, that not only the fathers, but also the earlier prophets, had died long ago; and therefore an allusion to things that had long since passed by could have no force at all for the present generation. Zechariah neutralizes this objection by saying: Your fathers have indeed been long dead, and even the prophets do not, or cannot, live for ever; but notwithstanding this, the words of the earlier prophets were fulfilled in the case of the fathers. The words and decrees of God uttered by the prophets reached them, and they were obliged to confess that God had really done to them what he threatened [Keil]. We have—
I. A motive to activity. Your fathers and the prophets who taught them are dead. No man lives for ever. Others have worked and lived where we dwell; but ministers, teachers, and parents are gone, and their hearers after them. Our course will be finished soon. Hence this is our day of service. It becomes us to redeem the time, to be active and diligent in serving God ourselves, and urging others to serve him.
II. A testimony to the truth of God’s word. Your fathers are not here, but we have their testimony. My words took hold upon them, and they confessed their power in twofold experience. “According to our ways and according to our doings.” If they rebelled they felt the threatening, and if they returned the promise was fulfilled. God’s providence ensures the accomplishment of his word, and compels the acknowledgment of that accomplishment from those who feel it. God is faithful and unchangeable in his purpose. “The word of the Lord endureth for ever.”
III. A warning against apostasy. The fate which overtook the fathers is pointed out as a warning to them.” “Where are they?” They are dead; but did they escape the punishment due to their sins? No; in mournful confessions we have acknowledgments of the fact. There may be delay, and the sinner may think that he will escape; but sooner or later the word will catch him, stick in his heart like an arrow from the Almighty. The transgressor will be made to confess, “Mine iniquities have overtaken me.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec_1:6. I. The message of God proclaimed by his servants. Unchangeable in its nature. “My words and statutes,” i.e. decrees, given with Divine authority; “which I commanded.” II. Men trying to escape from this message. The words took hold, i.e. overtook them, when fleeing from them in hatred and rebellion. III. The humble confession of men when caught by the word. “Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us,” &c. They have to confess the truth of God, and expose their folly when it is too late. Men should be wise in time. “The Lord is righteous, for we have rebelled against his commandments.”
According to our ways. An acknowledgment—
1. Of the truth of God.
2. The desert of sin; and
3. The certainty of retribution. Sin sweet in taste, but bitter in fruits. Lessons:—
1. Consider the warnings of God.
2. Recognize the hand of God in the punishment of men. “ ‘Like as the Lord of hosts,’ whose power is irresistible, ‘thought’ (devised, determined with himself, and accordingly denonuced by the prophets) ‘to do unto us,’ who did not the words which he commanded us (Jer_11:8), ‘according to our ways,’ which were always grievous (Psa_10:5), ‘and according to our doings,’ that were not good (Eze_36:31), ‘so hath he dealt with us;’ for he loves to retaliate, and to render to every transgression and disobedience a just recompence of reward (Heb_2:2).” [Trapp].
HOMILETICS
THE MAN AMONG THE MYRTLES, OR THE DIVINE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCH. Zec_1:8-13
The prophet received his visions not in a dream, but when spiritually conscious; at night, when most still and free from worldly cares, and most susceptible for Divine communications. In this first vision we have the protection of the Church of God in its weak and dangerous condition.
I. Jesus Christ is in her midst. “Behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom.” The presence of a great personage should give confidence. “Fear not, thou carriest Cæsar.” But “God is in the midst of” the Church; “she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.”
1. Standing to defend her. “He stood” as in his own residence (Psa_132:14).
2. Riding to help her. Riding in speed, upon a red horse, to inflict vengeance upon her foes (cf. 2Ki_3:22; Isa_63:1-2; Rev_6:4).
3. Interceding on her behalf. “O Lord of hosts,” &c. (Zec_1:12). He was deeply touched with the report given, and with the contrast between the condition of the heathen at ease and that of the Church in desolation. Hence he prays (a.) for mercy. “Wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem?” (b.) For a full display of mercy. The work, long delayed, had only just begun. Much more remained to be done for the city, the country, and the people. As God had executed the threatening, so a fulfilment of the promise is desired.
II. Angels are employed on her behalf. “What are these?… These are they whom the Lord hath sent to and fro through the earth. We have a craving for the knowledge of creatures above ourselves. No system of religion separates the seen from the unseen world. Hence all the various doctrines and theories of angels. In Scripture alone is our natural longing satisfied. We learn that God is pleased to use the agency of supernatural beings; that these heavenly watchmen continually walk about Zion, or visit distant parts of the universe, to counteract the work of Satan (cf. Zec_2:11; Job_1:7), to guard his people, and minister to the heirs of salvation (Heb_1:14). Consider—
1. Their number;
2. Their work; and
3. Their obedience. Why despair, like the servant of Elisha? Angels are sent to help when God is pleased with us. “Behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about.”
“They fight for us, they watch and duly ward,
And their bright squadrons round about us plant;
And all for love, and nothing for reward,
Oh! why should heavenly God to man have such regard” [Spenser].
III. God’s providence defends her. Most commentators take the troop and the colour of these horses as symbolic of the dispensations of Divine providence. Observe—
1. The nature of Providence. “The peculiar nature of the dispensations is indicated by the colour of the horses, and the armour and appearance of the riders” [Hend.]. The red horse to-day in conflict and suffering; soon will the Divine Leader ride in triumph on the white horse.
2. The order of Providence. Red horses “first,” speckled and white follow. Without pressing the point too far, we see wars, famines, and pestilence end in victory. Most wonderfully did God prepare political events, in the restoration from Babylon and in the coming of Christ, for the special condition of his Church. Quietness may reign in all quarters except in the Church. Divine justice may seem to sleep; but it is only the calm before the storm. Amid sufferings and perplexing providences, believers may cry, “How long?” But the uncreated angel intercedes; “comfortable words” shall be heard, and the darkness of the night shall be forgotten in the glory of the day. “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Zec_1:8. The myrtle trees in the bottom, from their fragrance and lowness, probably symbolize the Church, as at once yielding a sweet odour, and in a low estate or lowly. The natural habits of the myrtle make it the fitter emblem [Pusey]. The Church of God is hidden, secreted as unobserved in a valley. There is the idea of tranquil security; the myrtle grove in the valley is calm and still, while the storm sweeps over the mountain summits. In the metaphor we have perpetual growth. The myrtle is always green, sheds not her leaves. The Church has ever a verdure of grace, sometimes most verdure when winter is sharpest. Here we have the emblem of peace, and a significant token of victory (Spurgeon).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Zec_1:5. Your fathers. While we shrink with self-diffident dread from the thought of apostasy from Christ and from God, let us see to it that in our different conditions and relations in life—in the family, in the church, in general society—we be found filling up our fleeting day of life with increasingly active devotedness, “not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,” that so, when it shall, in our turn, come to be said of us, “Where are they?” the recollection of our lives by those who survive us may not be an entire blank [Wardlaw].
Zec_1:6. Overtake. Heathen reminiscence of God’s justice acknowledged. “Rarely hath punishment with limping tread part with the forerunning miscreant” (cf. Hor. Od. iii. 9) [Pusey].
Zec_1:8-11. Angels. Angels are men of a superior kind [Young]. They bear his will about to every part of the universe. This is their delight. They bless God, who vouchsafes thus to employ them. But when they have fulfilled God’s message, then they return back to him by whom they were sent forth, and stand before him, drinking in fresh streams of life and strength and purity and joy from his presence [Hare].
Zec_1:11. Their office was not a specific or passing duty, as when God sent his angels with some special commission, such as those recorded in Holy Scripture It was a continuous conversation with the affairs of men, a minute course of visiting, inspecting our human deeds and ways, and a part of the “wonderful order” in which God has “ordained and constituted the service of angels and men” [Pusey].
Zec_1:12-13. That same Christ, who is on earth in spirit on the red horse, is in heaven in person, pleading before the throne. He pleads—he pleads for mercy. Mercy that sent him to earth; mercy is his petition now. He pleads for present mercy. His cry is, “How long?” Eighteen hundred years is it since my blood was offered, and yet my kingdom has not come. Observe the objects of his intercession; he pleads for Jerusalem and Judah. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.” And must he not prevail? Church of God, if thou canst be rejected, yet he cannot be. No! in the name of him who loves, and lives, and pleads before the eternal throne, let us set up our banner; for God has given the victory into our hands in answer to the pleadings of his Son [Spurgeon].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Zec 1:5 - Zec 1:6.
Zechariah
DYING MEN AND THE UNDYING WORD
Read full note →
Zec 1:5 - Zec 1:6.
Zechariah was the Prophet of the Restoration. Some sixteen years before this date a feeble band of exiles had returned from Babylon, with high hopes of rebuilding the ruined Temple. But their designs had been thwarted, and for long years the foundations stood unbuilded upon. The delay had shattered their hopes and flattened their enthusiasm; and when, with the advent of a new Persian king, a brighter day dawned, the little band was almost too dispirited to avail itself of it. At that crisis, two prophets ‘blew soul-animating strains,’ and as the narrative says elsewhere, ‘the work prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah.’
My text comes from the first of Zechariah’s prophecies. In it he lays the foundation for all that he has subsequently to say. He points to the past, and summons up the august figures of the great pre-Exilic prophets, and reminds his contemporaries that the words which they spoke had been verified in the experience of past generations. He puts himself in line with these, his mighty predecessors, and declares that, though the hearers and the speakers of that prophetic word had glided away into the vast unknown, the word remained, lived still, and on his lips demanded the same obedience as it had vainly demanded from the generation that was past.
It has sometimes been supposed that of the two questions in my text the first is the Prophet’s-’Your fathers, where are they?’ and that the second is the retort of the people-’The prophets, do they live for ever?’ ‘It is true that our fathers are gone, but what about the prophets that you are talking of? Are they any better off? Are they not dead, too?’ But though the separation of the words into dialogue gives vivacity, it is wholly unnecessary. And it seems to me that Zechariah’s appeal is all the more impressive if we suppose that he here gathers the mortal hearers and speakers of the immortal word into one class, and sets over against them the Eternal Word, which lives to-day as it did then, and has new lessons for a new generation. So it is from that point of view that I wish to look at these words now, and try to gather from them some of the solemn, and, as it seems to me, striking lessons which they inculcate. I follow with absolute simplicity the Prophet’s thoughts.
I. The mortal hearers and speakers of the abiding Word.
‘Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?’ It is all but impossible to invest that well-known thought with any fresh force; but, perhaps, if we look at it from the special angle from which the Prophet here regards it, we may get some new impression of the old truth. That special angle is to bring into connection the Eternal Word and the transient vehicles and hearers of it.
Did you ever stand in some roofless, ruined cathedral or abbey church, and try to gather round you the generations that had bowed and worshipped there? Did you ever step across the threshold of some ancient sanctuary, where the feet of vanished generations had worn down the sand-stone steps at the entrance? It is solemn to think of the fleeting series of men; it is still more striking to bring them into connection with that everlasting Word which once they heard, and accepted or rejected.
But let me bring the thought a little closer. There is not a sitting in our churches that has not been sat in by dead people. As I stand here and look round I can re-people almost every pew with faces that we shall see no more. Many of you, the older habitués of this place, can do the same, and can look and think, ‘Ah! he used to sit there; she used to be in that corner.’ And I can remember many mouldering lips that have stood in this place where I stand, of friends and brethren that are gone. ‘Your fathers, where are they?’ ‘Graves under us, silent,’ is the only answer. ‘And the prophets, do they live for ever?’ No memories are shorter-lived than the memories of the preachers of God’s Word.
Take another thought, that all these past hearers and speakers of the Word had that Word verified in their lives. ‘Took it not hold of your fathers?’ Some of them neglected it, and its burdens were upon them, little as they felt them sometimes. Some of them clave to it, and accepted it, and its blessed promises were all fulfilled to them. Not one of those who, for the brief period of their earthly lives, came in contact with that divine message but realised, more or less consciously, some blessedly and some in darkened lives and ruined careers, the solemn truth of its promises and of its threatenings. The Word may have been received, or it may have been neglected, by the past generations; but whether the members thereof put out a hand to accept, or withheld their grasp, whether they took hold of it or it took hold of them-wherever they are now, their earthly relation to that word is a determining factor in their condition. The syllables died away into empty air, the messages were forgotten, but the men that ministered them are eternally influenced by the faithfulness of their ministrations, and the men that heard them are eternally affected by the reception or rejection of that word. So, when we summon around us the congregation of the dead, which is more numerous than the audience of the living to whom I now speak, the lesson that their silent presence teaches us is, ‘Wherefore we should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard.’
II. Let us note the abiding Word, which these transient generations of hearers and speakers have had to do with.
It is maddening to think of the sure decay and dissolution of all human strength, beauty, wisdom, unless that thought brings with it immediately, like a pair of coupled stars, of which the one is bright and the other dark, the corresponding thought of that which does not pass, and is unaffected by time and change. Just as reason requires some unalterable substratum, below all the fleeting phenomena of the changeful creation-a God who is the Rock-basis of all, the staple to which all the links hang-so we are driven back and back and back, by the very fact of the transiency of the transient, to grasp, for a refuge and a stay, the permanency of the permanent. ‘In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne’-the passing away of the mortal shadow of sovereignty revealed the undying and true King. It is blessed for us when the lesson which the fleeting of all that can flee away reads to us is that, beneath it all, there is the Unchanging. When the leaves drop from the boughs of the trees that veil the face of the cliff, then the steadfast rock is visible; and when the generations, like leaves, drop and rot, then the rock background should stand out the more clearly.
Zechariah meant by the ‘word of God’ simply the prophetic utterances about the destiny and the punishment of his nation. We ought to mean by the ‘word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,’ not merely the written embodiment of it in the Old or New Testament, but the Personal Word, the Incarnate Word, the everlasting Son of the Father, who came upon earth to be God’s mouthpiece and utterance, and who is for us all the Word, the Eternal Word of the living God. It is His perpetual existence rather than the continuous duration of the written word, declaration of Himself though it is, that is mighty for our strength and consolation when we think of the transient generations.
Christ lives. That is the deepest meaning of the ancient saying, ‘All flesh is grass. . . . The Word of the Lord endureth for ever.’ He lives; therefore we can front change and decay in all around calmly and triumphantly. It matters not though the prophets and their hearers pass away. Men depart; Christ abides. Luther was once surprised by some friends sitting at a table from which a meal had been removed, and thoughtfully tracing with his fingers upon its surface with some drop of water or wine the one word ‘Vivit’; He lives. He fell back upon that when all around was dark. Yes, men may go; what of that? Aaron may have to ascend to the summit of Hor, and put off his priestly garments and die there. Moses may have to climb Pisgah, and with one look at the land which he must never tread, die there alone by the kiss of God, as the Rabbis say. Is the host below leaderless? The Pillar of Cloud lies still over the Tabernacle, and burns steadfast and guiding in front of the files of Israel. ‘Your fathers, where are they? The prophets, do they live for ever?’ ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever.’
Another consideration to be drawn from this contrast is, since we have this abiding Word, let us not dread changes, however startling and revolutionary. Jesus Christ does not change. But there is a human element in the Church’s conceptions of Jesus Christ, and still more in its working out of the principles of the Gospel in institutions and forms, which partakes of the transiency of the men from whom it has come. In such a time as this, when everything is going into the melting-pot, and a great many timid people are trembling for the Ark of God, quite unnecessarily as it seems to me, it is of prime importance for the calmness and the wisdom and the courage of Christian people, that they should grasp firmly the distinction between the divine treasure which is committed to the churches, and the earthen vessels in which it has been enshrined. Jesus Christ, the man Jesus, the divine person, His incarnation, His sacrifice, His resurrection, His ascension, the gift of His Spirit to abide for ever with His Church-these are the permanent ‘things which cannot be shaken.’ And creeds and churches and formulas and forms-these are the human elements which are capable of variation, and which need variation from time to time. No more is the substance of that eternal Gospel affected by the changes, which are possible on its vesture, than is the stateliness of some cathedral touched, when the reformers go in and sweep out the rubbish and the trumpery which have masked the fair outlines of its architecture, and vulgarised the majesty of its stately sweep. Brethren! let us fix this in our hearts, that nothing which is of Christ can perish, and nothing which is of man can or should endure. The more firmly we grasp the distinction between the permanent and the transient in existing embodiments of Christian truth, the more calm shall we be amidst the surges of contending opinions. ‘He that believeth shall not make haste.’
III. Lastly, the present generation and its relation to the abiding Word.
Zechariah did not hesitate to put himself in line with the mighty forms of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Hosea. He, too, was a prophet. We claim, of course, no such authority for present utterers of that eternal message, but we do claim for our message a higher authority than the authority of this ancient Prophet. He felt that the word of God that was put into his lips was a new word, addressed to a new generation, and with new lessons for new circumstances, fitting as close to the wants of the little band of exiles as the former messages, which it succeeded, had fitted to the wants of their generation. We have no such change in the message, for Jesus Christ speaks to us all, speaks to all times and to all circumstances, and to every generation. And so, just as Zechariah based upon the history of the past his appeal for obedience and acceptance, the considerations which I have been trying to dwell upon bring with them stringent obligations to us who stand, however unworthy, in the place of the generations that are gone, as the hearers and ministers of the Word of God. Let me put two or three very simple and homely exhortations. First, see to it, brother, that you accept that Word. By acceptance I do not mean a mere negative attitude, which is very often the result of lack of interest, the negative attitude of simply not rejecting; but I mean the opening not only of your minds but of your hearts to it. For if what I have been saying is true, and the Word of God has for its highest manifestation Jesus Christ Himself, then you cannot accept a person by pure head-work. You must open your hearts and all your natures, and let Him come in with His love, with His pity, with His inspiration of strength and virtue and holiness, and you must yield yourselves wholly to Him. Think of the generations that are gone. Think of their brief moment when the great salvation was offered to them. Think of how, whether they received or rejected it, that Word took hold upon them. Think of how they regard it now, wherever they are in the dimness; and be you wise in time and be not as those of your fathers who rejected the Word.
Hold it fast. In this time of unrest make sure of your grasp of the eternal, central core of Christianity, Jesus Christ Himself, the divine-human Saviour of the world. There are too many of us whose faith oozes out at their finger ends, simply because they have so many around them that question and doubt and deny. Do not let the floating icebergs bring down your temperature; and have a better reason for not believing, if you do not believe, than that so many and such influential and authoritative men have ceased to believe. When Jesus asks, ‘Will ye also go away?’ our answer should be, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.’
Accept Him, hold Him fast, trust to His guidance in present day questions. Zechariah felt that his message belonged to the generation to whom he spoke. It was a new message. We have no new message, but there are new truths to be evolved from the old message. The questionings and problems, social, economical, intellectual, moral-shall I say political?-of this day, will find their solution in that ancient word, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.’ There is the key to all problems. ‘In Him are hid all the treasures and wisdom of knowledge.’
Zechariah pointed to the experiences of a past generation as the basis of his appeal. We can point back to eighteen centuries, and say that the experiences of these centuries confirm the truth that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world. The blessedness, the purity, the power, the peace, the hope which He has breathed into humanity, the subsidiary and accompanying material and intellectual prosperity and blessings that attend His message, its independence of human instruments, its adaptation to all varieties of class, character, condition, geographical position, its power of recuperating itself from corruptions and distortions, its undiminished adaptedness to the needs of this generation and of each of us-enforce the stringency of the exhortation, and confirm the truth of the assertion: ‘This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him!’ ‘The voice said, Cry. And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of our God shall stand for ever.’ Three hundred years after Isaiah a triumphant Apostle added, ‘This is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.’ Eighteen hundred years after Peter we can echo his confident declaration, and, with the history of these centuries to support our faith, can affirm that the Christ of the Gospel and the Gospel of the Christ are in deed and in truth the Living Word of the Living God.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.