Bible Commentaries

Zechariah 14:7

There are two principles in this promise, which do for the most part regulate all the dealings of God.

I. The first part is a principle of surprise. God delights to frustrate expectations. He introduces His power in a manner and at a moment the least anticipated. The day seems just passing—the darkness gathering—everything looks for night—when all in a moment the light kindles into more than meridian lustre. "At evening time it is light." Thus God keeps to Himself the sovereignty; man is humbled to the dust; reason is all put aside, and God's glory and God's love stand out all alone in the ascendant.

II. The second principle is that of patience. The blessing waits till the evening. It was not in hope's first beaming; it was not in the world's full glare; but in the quiet waiting-time it comes. When faith has been exercised, and graces have been tried, and the heart has been disciplined, do not doubt but that the morning's gifts, be they what they may, are as nothing to the evening's love. The sun may have been shining on you all the day through; still "at evening time it shall be light."

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 2nd series, p. 187.

References: Zechariah 14:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 160. Zechariah 14:8.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, pp. 183, 278; J. Wells, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. v., p. 205.

Zechariah 14:20

I. Let us inquire what holiness is. What precisely do we mean when we say of a man that he is holy? We imply not simply that he is virtuous, but rather that his virtue has a special and peculiar quality. The virtuous man regulates his conduct by moral principles alone, while the holy man maintains a close and constant fellowship with the living God. The one gives you a lofty idea of his own excellence, the other makes you feel the greatness and purity of God; the life of the one may be maintained without any thought of Jehovah, that of the other is entirely supported by the communion of his soul with God. The root principles of holiness are constant fellowship with God, and unreserved consecration of the soul and life to God.

II. Let us ask how this holiness is to be obtained. By no mere process of development or natural selection can the unholy man train himself into holiness. Neither can this change be accomplished by means of external rites. The Scriptures tell us with the utmost explicitness that we are regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost. In order to holiness, the sinner needs to be reconciled to God, and to be made like to God; these are the very things which are to be accomplished through his belief on the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost.

III. Where is this holiness to be manifested? In the text it is declared that it will be on the bells of the horses, and that is to be understood only as a specimen of a class. The horse is a common animal employed for ordinary purposes every day; and so the prophet would illustrate the principle, that under the new economy holiness would not be restricted to any person, place, or thing, but would characterise the believer's life in all occupations and under any circumstances.

W. M. Taylor, Limitations of Life, p. 175.

References: Zechariah 14:20.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 399. Zechariah 14:20, Zechariah 14:21.—J. Fraser, Penny Pulpit, No. 537. Zech 14—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 453.