Comparing this chapter with the close of the
foregoing chapter, the comfortable promises here with the terrible
threatenings there, we may, with the apostle, "behold the goodness
and severity of God," (
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. 5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. 6 In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
It is a very comfortable but with
which this chapter begins, and very reviving to those who lay the
interests of God's church near their heart and are concerned for
the welfare of it. When we sometimes see the corruptions of the
church, especially of church-rulers, princes, priests, and
prophets, seeking their own things and not the things of God, and
when we soon after see the desolations of the church, Zion
for their sakes ploughed as a field, we are ready to fear
that it will one day perish between both, that the name of Israel
shall be no more in remembrance; we are ready to give up all for
gone, and to conclude the church will have neither root not branch
upon earth. But let not our faith fail in this matter; out of the
ashes of the church another phoenix shall arise. In the last words
of the foregoing chapter we left the mountain of the house
as desolate and waste as the high places of the forest; and
is it possible that such a wilderness should ever become a fruitful
field again? Yes, the first words of this chapter bring in the
mountain of the Lord's house as much dignified by being
frequented as ever it had been disgraced by being deserted. Though
Zion be ploughed as a field, yet God has not cast off his
people, but by the fall of the Jews salvation has come to the
Gentiles, so that it proves to be the riches of the world,
I. That there shall be a church for God set
up in the world, after the defection and destruction of the Jewish
church, and this in the last days; that is, as some of the rabbin
themselves acknowledge, in the days of the Messiah. The
people of God shall be incorporated by a new charter, a new
spiritual way of worship shall be enacted, and a new institution of
offices to attend it; better privileges shall be granted by this
new charter, and better provision made for enlarging and
establishing the kingdom of God among men than had been made by the
Old-Testament constitution: The mountain of the house of the
Lord shall again appear firm ground for God's faithful
worshippers to stand, and go, and build upon, in their attendance
on him,
II. That this church shall be firmly
founded and well-built: It shall be established in the top of
the mountains; Christ himself will build it upon a rock; it
shall be an impregnable fort upon an immovable foundation, so that
the gates of hell shall neither overthrow the one nor undermine the
other (
III. That it shall be highly advanced, and
become eminent and conspicuous: It shall be exalted above the
hills, observed with wonder for its growing greatness from
small beginnings. The kingdom of Christ shall shine with greater
lustre than ever any of the kingdoms of the earth did. It shall be
as a city on a hill, which cannot be hid,
IV. That there shall be a great accession
of converts to it and succession of converts in it. People shall
flow unto it as the waters of a river are continually flowing;
there shall be a constant stream of believers flowing in from all
parts into the church, as the people of the Jews flowed into the
temple, while it was standing, to worship there. Then many tribes
came to the mountain of the house, to enquire of God's temple; but
in gospel-times many nations shall flow into the church, shall
fly like a cloud and as the doves to their windows.
Ministers shall be sent forth to disciple all nations, and
they shall not labour in vain; for, multitudes being wrought
upon to believe the gospel and embrace the Christian religion, they
shall excite and encourage one another, and shall say, "Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord now raised among
us, even to the house of the God of Jacob, the spiritual
temple which we need not travel far to, for it is brought to our
doors and set up in the midst of us." Thus shall people be made
willing in the day of his power (
V. That, in order to this, a new revelation
shall be published to the world, on which the church shall be
founded, and by which multitudes shall be brought into it: For
the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. The gospel is here called the word of the
Lord, for the Lord gave the word, and great was the company
of those that published it,
VI. That a convincing power should go along
with the gospel of Christ, in all places where it should be
preached (
VII. That a disposition to mutual peace and
love shall be the happy effect of the setting up of the kingdom of
the Messiah: They shall beat their swords into
plough-shares; that is, angry passionate men, that have been
fierce and furious, shall be wonderfully sweetened, and made mild
and meek,
VIII. That the churches shall be constant
in their duty, and so shall make a good use of their tranquillity
and shall not provoke the Lord to deprive them of it,
IX. That notwithstanding the dispersions,
distress, and infirmities of the church, it shall be formed and
established, and made very considerable,
X. That the Messiah shall be the king of this kingdom, shall protect and govern it, and order all the affairs of it for the best, and this to the end of time. The Lord Jesus shall reign over them in Mount Zion by his word and Spirit in his ordinances, and this henceforth and for ever, for of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.
8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. 11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12 But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
These verses relate to Zion and Jerusalem,
here called the tower of the flock or the tower of
Edor; we read of such a place (
I. We have a promise of the glories of the
spiritual Jerusalem, the gospel-church, which is; the tower of the
flock, that one fold in which all the sheep of Christ are protected
under one Shepherd: "Unto thee shall it come; that which
thou hast long wanted and wished for, even the first
dominion, a dignity and power equal to that of David and
Solomon, by whom Jerusalem was first raised, that kingdom
shall again come to the daughter of Jerusalem, which it was
deprived of at the captivity. It shall make as great a figure and
shine with as much lustre among the nations, and have as much
influence upon them, as ever it had; this is the first or
chief dominion." Now this had by no means its accomplishment
in Zerubbabel; his was nothing like the first dominion either in
respect of splendour and sovereignty at home or the extent of power
abroad; and therefore it must refer to the kingdom of the
Messiah (and to that the Chaldee-paraphrase refers it) and
had its accomplishment when God gave to our Lord Jesus the
throne of his father David (
II. This is illustrated by a prediction of the calamities of the literal Jerusalem, to which some favour and relief should be granted, as a type and figure of what God would do for the gospel-Jerusalem in the last days, notwithstanding its distresses. We have here,
1. Jerusalem put in pain by the providences
of God. "She cries out aloud, that all her neighbours may
take notice of her griefs, because there is no king in her,
none of that honour and power she used to have. Instead of ruling
the nations, as she did when she sat a queen, she is ruled
by them, and has become a captive. Her counsellors have
perished; she is no longer at her own disposal, but is given
up to the will of her enemies, and is governed by their
counsellors. Pangs have taken her." (1.) She is carried
captive to Babylon, and there is in pangs of grief. "She goes
forth out of the city, and is constrained to dwell in the
field, exposed to all manner of inconveniences; she goes
even to Babylon, and there wears out seventy tedious
years in a miserable captivity, all that while in pain, as a
woman in travail, waiting to be delivered, and thinking the
time very long." (2.) When she is delivered out of Babylon, and
redeemed from the hand of her enemies there, yet still she is in
pangs of fear; the end of one trouble is but the beginning of
another; for now also, when Jerusalem is in the rebuilding,
many nations are gathered against her,
2. Jerusalem made easy by the promises of
God: "Why dost thou cry out aloud? Let thy griefs and fears
be silenced; indulge not thyself in them, for, though things are
bad with thee, they shall end well; thy pangs are great, but they
are like those of a woman in travail (