I saw by night
The night vision
The anointed One of God and His kingdom are the centre and axis about which the fiery wheel of all Zechariah’s revelations and imagery turns.
The vision in our text is both beautiful and consoling. Consider--
I. The time when it was seen.
1. The time. “By night.” Primarily he meant natural night, while men slept. At that season the Lord came to him, opening the prophet’s spiritual eyes, and causing to pass before him, like a pictured scene in bright and glowing colours, a sublime and cheering vision. The words “by night” may remind us of the circumstances of the time at which the vision was given. Apply the words, by way of accommodation, to the spiritual night of Christendom. For night in a spiritual sense is only dreadful when we are deprived of spiritual vision, when the eyes of the understanding are darkened. It is night, when with sufferings upon us, we do not recognise the hand that inflicts them. There is another kind of spiritual night more fearful still. David feared it when he said, “Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.” Yet even here there may be vision in the darkness, and this is a favour indeed.
II. What did the prophet behold? It was a precious vision. Afterwards he hears the explanation of it. The vision was fraught with consolation and promise. Zechariah beholds a man; that man is Christ, the Angel of the Covenant. The times of Zechariah needed a helper in the character of a man, and a “man of war”; for it was a season of war and tumults. Zechariah beholds Him upon a red horse. And Christ, like a man riding upon a horse, stands ready to fly with speed to the help and defence of His people. The prophet speaks of the myrtle trees. True believers are trees which Christ Himself has planted; trees of righteous ness, fast rooted in the ground of His merits, and thriving by the grace of His Holy Spirit. Such are all the children of God here on earth. The man among the myrtle trees “stood”; the Lord abides among His people. (F. W. Krumreacher, D. D.)
Behind Him were there red horses, speckled, and white--
Zechariah’s vision of the horses
I. The name of this parabolic vision. “The Word of the Lord.” Thought is invisible, and must be clothed in some form of words. God’s greatest thought about men was revealed to us by His Son in human flesh.
II. The time when the prophet received this “Word of the Lord.” “In the night.” God has often chosen the night season to reveal His mind to His servants. At night men are more free from impressions from the outside world. The darkness and stillness of night throw the mind in upon itself.
III. The meaning of the symbolic Word.
1. The “red horses” symbolise coming war.
2. White horses symbolise victory.
3. Speckled horses set forth the variety of the Divine dealings, of that mingling of mercy and judgment which had been intended to lift them up to a high level among the nations of the world.
Lessons--
(1) The Church triumphant is intended to minister to the comfort of the Church militant.
(2) The child of light walking in darkness is under the guidance of the angels of light.
(3) God’s silence at sin is not God’s forgiveness of sin. (A London Minister.)
The vision of horses
I understand that all these horses had riders. There were, then, a troop of horsemen; but the prophet says that one appeared as the chief leader, who was accompanied by others. These horsemen had returned from an expedition; for they had been sent to review the whole world and its different parts. He therefore says that they had returned from their journey, and also that the whole earth was quiet, that men enjoyed peace and tranquillity everywhere. It seemed a very unbecoming and strange thing that the faithful alone should be oppressed with adversities, while others lived in peace and enjoyed their pleasures. There follows at length an answer from God. I regard this as the object--that horsemen were presented to the prophet that he might know that God does not remain shut up in heaven, and neglect the affairs of men, but that He has, as it were, swift horses, so that He knows what things are everywhere carried on. The prophet here ascribes to God the character of a chief sovereign, who inquires respecting all the affairs of men. It is, indeed, certain that all things were fully known to Him before He created angels, but God assumes the character of man in order that He may more familiarly instruct us As God did not intend to exhibit in full light what He afterwards in due time taught, the vision appeared in the night. And to the same purpose is what he says respecting the angels, that they were in a dark or deep place, and that they were among the myrtles. Some think that their being in a deep place and thick shade designates the state of the people, being that of sorrow and of joy; for though quietness in part was restored to the people, yet much darkness and much perplexity remained in their affairs. There was one angel more eminent than the rest, and in this there is nothing unusual, for when God sends forth a company of angels, He gives the lead to some one. If we regard this angel as Christ, the idea is consistent with the common usage of Scripture, for Christ, we know, is the head of the angels. With regard to the different colours, the prophet, no doubt, understood that they designated the offices allotted to angels, as some convey God’s benefits, and others come armed with scourges and swords. The design of the vision is not doubtful; it is, that the Jews might be assured that the distresses which they at present endured would not be perpetual, that there was a hope of the temple and the city being rebuilt, because God had returned into favour with the people. The prophet teaches at the same time that the building of the temple was not to be expected, but as an instance of God’s gratuitous favour, and this doctrine ought also to be extended to the state of the Church at all times, for whence comes it that the Church remains safe in the world except that God indulges us according to His infinite goodness? (John Calvin.)
The rider in the myrtle grove
By the myrtle grove is signified the covenant people, the nation of Israel, and by its being in a low place is indicated their then depressed and sad condition. In the Hebrew mind the idea of modest beauty and freshness was associated with the myrtle; and hence we find this introduced as symbolical of the Church under the reign of the Messiah, when “instead of the briar,”--the symbol of the world under the curse--“shall come up the myrtle tree.” The Jewish nation, though at that time in a state of depression and affliction, was fair in the sight of God, was destined to endure and flourish, and was ere long to be visited by Him in mercy and restored to prosperity. This is specially indicated here by the standing among the myrtle trees of the mounted rider. He is described as the Angel of Jehovah; no other than God manifest in human form; the same Being who, in the fulness of time, came to our world as the Angel of the Covenant. For the consolation and encouragement of the people, the prophet had to tell them that, depressed as was their condition, the Angel of the Lord, the Leader, the Protector, the Redeemer of Israel, was still in the midst of them. He was ready to ride forth in their defence, and to send judgment on their adversaries. This was indicated in the vision by His being mounted on a red horse, the symbol of war and bloodshed. The Angel of the Lord is with them also as their Intercessor with God. Hence He appears in this vision as making intercession for them, beseeching God to have pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; and now that the time of chastisement was at an end, that He would be gracious to them, and grant them full restoration and establishment in their own land. And through Him also came the comforting answer to the people, In this vision the Angel of Jehovah speaks directly and immediately to the invisible God; but to the prophet He speaks through the angel interpreter. God declares His zeal for His people, His indignation against their enemies, and His determination to do good unto His people, and enrich them with His bounty. He is not an indifferent spectator of what happens to them. He watches over them with a constant jealousy, solicitous for their well being, and ready to resent all attempts to injure them. His own He will never forsake. When the deepest abyss of calamity seems to be reached by them, when the darkest hour of their sorrow throws its shadows over them, the Angel of the Lord, He who ever encamps round them that fear Him, will suddenly appear on their side, and will deliver them from all their enemies. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
The man among the myrtles
As the Jewish people are usually regarded by the prophet in their theocratic character, as the form in which the Church then existed, the general doctrines of these visions are applicable to the Church in every form in which she exists. Some of the doctrines as set forth in this vision are--
1. The Church is externally an humble and lowly thing, neglected, often despised by the gay and wicked world, a grove of myrtles, rather than the cedars of Lebanon (Zechariah 1:8).
2. She has, however, an unseen glory that the world knows not of; for Christ dwells in her midst, full of love, invested with all power, sending His angel messengers to do His work, and preparing everything for her final triumph (Zechariah 1:8-9).
3. The hour of darkest desolation to the Church, and of haughtiest triumph to her enemies, is often the very hour when God begins His work of judgment on the one and returning mercy on the other (Zechariah 1:11).
4. Christ intercedes for His people when they need it most, and His intercession is always prevalent (Zechariah 1:12-13).
5. God will have all our hearts, for He is jealous of sharing His glory with another (Zechariah 1:14).
6. God often uses instruments to chastise His people, which, when He has done with them, He breaks and casts into the fire (Zechariah 1:15).
7. The Church of God shall yet triumph over every obstacle and vanquish every foe (Zechariah 1:16).
8. The promises and threatenings of God, though slow, are sure. They have eternity for the range of their fulfilment (Zechariah 1:17).
9. The head of the Church is at once human and Divine. He is called here “a man” (Zechariah 1:8), and the “Angel of Jehovah” (Zechariah 1:12). But the Angel of Jehovah is a Divine Person--even Gesenius admits this, and the Babylonish Talmud declares that “this man is no other than the Holy One.” But if Divine and human, He must be God and man in one person. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
The second vision
The next vision was full of comfort. As the little group of returned exiles looked nervously out on the mighty world, empires, which surrounded and threatened them, they were filled with alarm. How could they cope with them? There were Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, of the nations whom Nebuchadnezzar had settled in Samaria; Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, so ready in their use of the pen to exert influence on the great kings beyond the river, to make the work of temple building cease; and the reactionary influences at work in the far distant court, always adverse to the resuscitation of a subdued nation, like the Jews, which had given such proofs of inveterate independence. Beneath the irresistible pressure of these hostile forces the work of temple building had already ceased for fifteen years, and there was every fear that the new resolve to arise and build would meet with similar opposition and a similar fate. There was singular appropriateness, therefore, in the prophet’s vision “Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, four horns.” In the language of a pastoral people like the Jews, the horn naturally represents the pride and power of the ravager and oppressor of the flock. The number “four” reminds us of the cardinal points of the compass, and indicates that, wherever the people turned, there were foes, which were sworn to resist their attempt to renew their national life. On the north, Chaldea, Assyria, and Samaria; on the south, Egypt and Arabia; on the west, Philistia; and on the east, Ammon and Moab. And it is probable that the Spirit of God looked beyond these to the four great Gentile monarchies, which have occupied, and still occupy, the “Times of the Gentiles,” and which were represented in the four metals of Daniel’s vision, or in the four great beasts, which one after another emerged from the sea. As yet Babylon and Medo-Persia alone had arisen; Greece and Rome, the latter including the kingdoms of modern Europe, were to come. We must not forget that God Himself gave these world-powers their authority. He says, in Isaiah, “I was wroth with My people; I profaned Mine inheritance, and gave them into thine hand” (Isaiah 47:6-7). And in Daniel He lifts the veil and shows that the world rulers represent not flesh and blood merely, but malign and mighty spirits that actuate and inspire them (Daniel 10:13-20). As long as God’s people are perfect in their loyalty and obedience towards Him, they need fear the power of no adversary whatsoever; but when there is a break in the holy connection which binds Him and them in an inviolable safety, it seems as though all the forces of evil are set free to bear down on and ravage them, until their chastisement is completed, and they return to their first love. If we were asked to name the four horns which are ravaging the Church in the present day, we should not hesitate to say that they are priestcraft, worldliness, Christian science, and spiritualism. In every life there are similar experiences. Sometimes, when we lift up our eyes, we find ourselves begirt with opposition and threatened by hostile powers. Think of the martyr host who have witnessed for God in every age, and who could reiterate the words of the greatest Sufferer of all. “Many bulls have compassed Me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round about; they gape upon Me with their mouth as a ravening and a roaring lion.” Ignatius, who complains that his custodians were like “ten leopards, who only wax worse when they are kindly treated”; Blandina, the girl slave; Germanicus, the noble youth; the Waldenses, whose wrongs roused Cromwell’s wrath and Milton’s muse; the Netherlands, in their long conflict with Philip, when the leaders saw their homes covered again by the ocean from which their ancestors had redeemed them; Madame Guyon, beset by husband, mother-in-law, servants, and priests; Samuel Rutherford, and hundreds of his time, harried by the fiercest and most insatiable hate; William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the English Bible; John G. Paton, beset with savages--these are specimens of a multitude, which no man can number, of every nation, and kindred, and people, who have seen the vision of the four horns. But there is something beyond; and surely it is not without significance that the prophet says, “The Lord showed me four carpenters” (or smiths, R.V.). We have no difficulty in descrying the sources of alarm for ourselves; but we need a Divine hand to reveal our assured deliverance. “And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray Thee open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” For Babylon, the “carpenter” was Cyrus; for Persia, Alexander; for Greece, the Roman; for Rome, the Gaul. Very different from each other, very ruthless and unsparing; but very well adapted for their work. Commenting on this passage, the late C.H. Spurgeon said: “He who wants to open an oyster must not use a razor; for some works there needs less of daintiness and more of force; providence does not find clerks, or architects, or gentlemen, to cut off horns, but carpenters. The work needs a man who, when he has work to do, puts his whole strength into it, and beats away with his hammer, or cuts through the wood that lies before him with might and main. Let us not fear for the cause of God; when the horns become too troublesome, the carpenters will be forthcoming to fray them.” Remember how in every age He has found His appropriate messenger. Athanasius frayed Arianism, and Augustine Manichaeism; Luther frayed the power of the pope in Germany, and rough Hugh Latimer in England; Wesley and Whitefield frayed the religious indifference of the last century. When Haldane went to Geneva, he frayed the scepticism which was destroying the Helvetian and Gallio Churches. The Lord knows where to find His servants, and when the pre destined hour strikes, there will stand the workman ready. Oh, child of God! there have been many horns engaged in scattering thee. Year after year they have wrought sad havoc in thy plans, and cost thee bitter tears. But thine Almighty Friend is greatly displeased that they have hurt thee more than His purposes of chastisement required, and He has resolved that they shall be frayed. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
God’s government of the world
Amongst the various manners in which God revealed Himself to men of old, visions were perhaps the most frequent and impressive. He appears to the prophet in six distinct visions. The visions were marked by these four characteristics. They were
(1) Mental. Unlike all other creatures on the earth, man has an inner visual organ; he can see with his mind. This is seen in poets, such as Milton, Spenser, etc. Allegorists, such as Bunyan, etc. They were
(2) Symbolic. Strange and grotesque objects were seen. These objects were all symbolic; they had a spiritual significance. They were
(3) Divine. All men, unless they are utterly destitute of the poetic sentiment, have visions sometimes, not only sleeping but waking visions. But seldom, perhaps, are these visions Divine. They were
(4) Prophetic. They point here to the future of God’s moral kingdom upon the earth. Men of lofty, sanctified genius, often in their visions have a glance of “things that are to come.” This vision seems to give us a glance into God’s moral government of the world. It takes us behind the veil of phenomena, and shows us principles and agencies that move, fashion, and control all.
I. It is carried on in connection with mysterious agencies. What did the prophet see? “I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and He stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom: and behind Him were there red horses, speckled, and white.” Who are these? Unfallen angels and sainted men. These by millions stand near His throne, prompt to obey His behests. In relation to these agents two thoughts are suggested--
1. That they are under the command of a transcendent mind. Most expositors regard the man on the red horse, and who stood among the myrtle trees, as no less a personage than the Angel of the Covenant, the Great Messiah. This same man appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mature, to Jacob before his meeting with Esau, to Noses at the burning bush, to Joshua at Jericho, with the sword drawn in His hand. Here He is on the “red horse,” emblem of war. He is a great moral chieftain. Another thought suggested is--
(1) That there are varied orders. “Behind Him were there red horses, speckled, and white.” This is the troop that followed the man. When the eyes of Elisha’s servant were opened, he beheld a “mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” Horses are emblems of force and fleetness. In Christ’s army there are hosts, mighty in power and swift in motion. “Are they not all ministering spirits?” How infinitely varied are God’s ministers--varied in kind and measure of faculty, in experience, attainment, and aspect too--thrones, principalities, powers, and dominions. In relation to these agents it is suggested--
2. That the whole world is their sphere of action. “These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”
(1) They “go to and fro” through the earth. They are ever journeying; some are swift as lightning in their speed; some of them are “full of eyes,” and see all things.
(2) They know the state of the world. “We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” “At rest,” not in the rest of righteousness, not in the repose of goodness, but in carnal security and sin. Another fact suggested in relation to God’s government in the world is--
II. That it has not only difficulties, but an interpreter also. “Then said I, O my lord, what are these?”
1. The difficulties of God’s government. What are these? The prophet understood not these strange appearances; and in amazement he exclaims, What are these? What thoughtful man has not asked such a question as this concerning the Divine government over and over again? “What are these? What are these elements, forces, laws, existences, events? What are they? Are they messengers of mercy or justice? O my lord, what are these?” We are all moving in mystery.
2. The interpreter of God’s government. Who answered the question “The man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they.” Some other creature, the angel that talked with them, was asked first; but the answer came not from him, but from the man, Christ Jesus. In Revelation 5:2, “a strong angel” is represented as crying with a loud voice concerning the mysteries of God’s government, inquiring who was able to “loose the seals”; but no one was found in heaven, in earth, or under the earth worthy to “open and read the book.” There was only One found. “It was the Lamb in the midst of the throne.” Christ is the only interpreter of God. He is the Logos.
III. That it is especially concerned in the interests of His people. His people are supposed to be here represented by the “myrtle trees.” The Jewish Church at this time was not like a forest of stately cedars, but a grove of myrtles, fragile and obscure.
1. These seem to be the centre of Divine operations on the earth. Now, in the myrtle trees is the “man riding upon a red horse.” And in the myrtle trees were the “red horses, speckled, and white,” the whole troop was there. The “myrtle trees” seemed to be the centre of all the agents. From it they started on their mission, and to it they returned. The true Church is the temple, the residence of God Himself.
2. The object of special intercession. “Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?” The duration of their captivity in Babylon. Who is the angel that makes this appeal? It was He that “ever liveth to make intercession for us.” “If any man sin, he hath an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
3. The subjects of the Divine communication. “The Lord answered the angel that talked with me, with good words and comfortable words.” The prophet is here commissioned to proclaim--
(1) God’s zeal on behalf of Jerusalem. “Cry thou saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts.”
(2) His displeasure for the enemies of Jerusalem. “I am sore displeased with the heathen.” His merciful purpose was to bestow blessings on Jerusalem. “Therefore thus saith the Lord,” etc. (Homilist.)