Let us turn once again to the
Word of God in that portion of scripture that we read in Zechariah
14, and directing your attention for a while this evening to verses
6 and 7. Zechariah 14, 6 and 7, but it shall come to pass that
at evening time it shall be light." The Minor Prophets often not
an easy part of Scripture for us to understand. Remember how
Peter himself acknowledges that in the writings of his fellow
apostle Paul there are many passages that are difficult to understand,
to interpret, and he speaks of those who rest those scriptures.
Well, God preserve us from resting his word in any sense, but we
do acknowledge that there are dark and difficult sayings to
be found here in the book of the prophet Zechariah. And yet,
this is part of that Word of God, all written for our instruction,
as Paul says to the Romans. Well, what of the passage that
we read? How are we to understand and
to interpret it? Well, there was certainly an
historic fulfillment, a literal fulfillment, we might say, Zachariah ministering, of course,
after the Babylonian captivity, ministering really at the end
of the Old Testament dispensation, and then we come to that period
between the two Testaments, a period of some 300 odd years, and it's
the time of the Maccabees, and some would say that here in verse
4 there is a reference to events that occurred at that particular
period where we read of his feet standing upon the Mount Olives
before Jerusalem on the east and how the Mount of Olives shall
cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west
and the very great valley and half the mountain shall be moved
toward the north and half of it toward the south, it says."
Now, that's not to be understood literally when we think of the
fulfillments that occurred in that particular historic period. It was the time of the Ptolemies. after the Persian Empire had
fallen, of course, and it was Cyrus who had issued that decree
permitting the Jews to return to Jerusalem. But after that
return, the time came when the Persian Empire was overthrown
by that of the Greeks. and I'm sure we're familiar with
the name of Alexander the Great and how his conquest stretched
throughout the Middle East even over to India. But the Grecian
Empire was short-lived and then there was a division and there
were two particular kingdoms, the kingdom of the Ptolemies
and of the Seleucids. And the Ptolemies were there
round about the region that we would call Palestine, the Holy
Land. And mention is made in the prophecy
of Daniel, again another book that's difficult and hard for
us to understand and interpret, but there in the book of Daniel
we read in chapter 11 and again in chapter 12, of the abomination
that maketh desolate. The reference is to the actions
of the king of the Ptolemies, Antiochus Epiphanes, when he
would burn swine flesh upon the altar, the brazen altar, at the
temple there in Jerusalem, the abomination that maketh desolate,
how the Ptolemies did very much persecute the Jews. And that was the period of the
Maccabees. And here, in this fourth verse,
there is a promise that even in the midst of all those persecutions,
God would make a way whereby his people would be able to escape
from Antiochus, Epiphanes, and other wicked rulers who would
be raised up at that particular time. Well, that is, say, some
of the commentators to be understood with regards to the historical,
the immediate context in which the word of Zechariah has its
application. But then also really the scripture
here looks beyond the intertestamental period. It looks forward to the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in verse 4 it is his feet
that will ultimately stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives
when God in the fullness of the time was pleased to send his
only begotten Son. And now the Lord Jesus Christ
as we come to the end of his ministry speaks of the fall of
Jerusalem. Some 40 years after the crucifixion
of Christ. In the year 70 we know how that
the Roman armies, the legionaries under the General Titus laid
siege to Jerusalem and Jerusalem fell. And that surely is being
spoken of here in the second verse. I will gather all nations
against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken. and
the houses rifled and the women ravished, and after the city
shall go forth into captivity." Captivity, that's not the Babylonian
captivity that had already occurred, this is events that were to come
at a later period, even the year 70. And so, really here we have
a passage, highly symbolic, that is speaking to us of the of the
Gospel day, the days after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And some, even commenting on
verses 6 and 7, say that this is a reference to the Dark Ages. and then the coming of the great
day of the Protestant Reformation. These verses that I want us to
consider in verses 6 and 7 are, say, some to be understood literally
in terms of that that was accomplished. when that great movement of the
Spirit of God, the greatest revival since the day of Pentecost, came
to pass at the time of the Protestant Reformation. But ultimately,
as we come to consider these two verses, verses 6 and 7, I
really want us to think in terms of the spiritual significance
of these words. and what application they have
unto us. I don't think it can be disputed
that the passage is speaking quite clearly of the Day of Grace,
the Gospel Day. Behold, we read in verse 1, the
Day of the Lord cometh. What is the Day of the Lord?
It is that period after the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ and
look at what it says in verse 8 be in that day that living
water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former
sea and half of them toward the hinder sea. In summer and in
winter shall it be, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth.
In that day there shall be one Lord and his name one." That
is speaking of this gospel day. Behold, now is the accepted time.
and behold now is the day of salvation." We go back to the
previous chapter, and there at verse 1, in that day there shall
be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. We have this expression,
in that day, behold the day of the Lord, and so forth. we're
being directed to the Lord Jesus Christ and as we come to look
at these two verses 6 and 7 it shall come to pass in that day
that the light shall not be clear nor dark but it shall be one
day which shall be known to the Lord not day nor night but it
shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light Here then
we read of light and darkness, and I want us to consider that
light and darkness in terms of God's method of grace, the way
in which he is pleased to deal with his people even in this
gospel day. I was struck by a statement that
occurs in one of the sermons of J.C. Philpott where he makes
the observation that we can only understand the true spiritual
meaning of God's Word by some experience of it. We can only
understand the true spiritual meaning of God's Word by some
experience of it. That doesn't mean that we interpret
it in the light of our experience, but it often does come to us
as the key whereby we can understand our experience of the grace of
God. We know that whatever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through faith and comfort of the Scriptures,
might have hope. These things are written for
our learning. It's interesting sometimes to look at the context
historically. Those remarks that I just made
concerning the days of the Ptolemies, that's very interesting. But
what is the significance of God's Word in relation to ourselves? And so, tonight as we look at
these two verses, I want to seek to say something with regards
to God's method. of dealings with his people,
and to say something of the mystery of those dealings of God, and
how in those dealings there is a strange mixture. There is that
that is in some ways to us inexplicable
in the way in which the Lord is pleased to deal with us. First
of all, though, to say something with regards to the mystery. We read here at the end of verse
7, it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. Now what sort of a statement
is that? At evening time it shall be light. At evening time we expect the
darkness. Evening is the end of the day.
The dusk is coming on, the night follows, and yet it says at evening
time it shall be light. Does it not remind us that there
is that that is quite paradoxical with regards to the Christians
experience. And as those who know anything
of the Lord we live to prove that truth there is much that
is strange and mysterious. Ralph Erskine says in his Gospel
Sonnets, I'm in my own and others' eyes a labyrinth of mysteries. Oh, it is a mysterious, it is
a strange, perplexing life that the Christian has to live. And now Paul himself is the proof
of that, that man who we read of as a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe. And now he is brought when writing
to the Corinthians to defend himself, to defend his ministry.
There were those who had crept in, they were opponents of his,
they were false teachers, and all under the sovereign hand
of God he must write and he must defend himself and his ministry
to the Corinthians. And so what does he say there
in 2 Corinthians 6? Verse 9 speaking of his experiences
as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold with you
as chastened and not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing
as poor, yet making many rich as having nothing, and yet possessing
all things." What strange contradictions these are, and yet there are
principles there to be drawn from what Paul himself has experienced. Principles that apply to the
experiences of all the people of God. Oh, remember how he has
that thorn in the flesh. which he seeks the Lord, that
it might be removed from him, but it was not to be. There was
a purpose in it. What does he say there again
in 2 Corinthians 12? When I am weak, then am I strong. When I am weak. In all his own
innate weakness, he lives to prove the gracious strength of
the Lord. And so it is with the Christian.
And here we have this statement at the end of verse 7, that at
evening time it shall be light. One thinks also of that, I suppose,
one of the best known of all of Mr. Philpott's sermons on
Isaiah 18, 5 and 6, entitled Winter for Harvest. In the realm of nature we look
for the harvest to follow the summer. But in that sermon Philpott
makes the point that in the realm of grace it is so different,
it's so paradoxical. The harvest follows the period
of winter in the soil. And here we have this statement
then, this rather contradictory statement, that at evening time
it shall be light. Oh, unto the upright there ariseth
light in the darkness, says the psalmist. And now that is so
true when it comes to the beginning of the Lord's dealings with us,
because before the Lord begins with us, with those who are dead
in trespasses and in sins, we know nothing, we feel nothing
spiritually, we are as all other peoples are, We're in that sad
condition, the consequence of the transgression of our first
parents, the result of the fall of Adam and Eve. Who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. We're all those who
inherit a fallen nature. We're dead in trespasses and
in sins. But then, When the Lord is pleased
to come to us in his mercy and in his grace and to do a work
in our souls, and there's a gracious awakening, there is a paradox. We immediately feel what we are.
We feel our deadness. Or we feel that we are enveloped
by all the darkness of our sins. It's a strange, strange place
to be. And now we have that verse in
Isaiah 59 and verse 10, We grope for the wall like the blind,
says the prophet, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble
at noon as in the night. We are in desolate places. When
the Lord begins with us, the first thing we feel then is that
darkness. how Moses says in his great prayer
in the 90th Psalm, Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest
return ye children of men. Oh God shows us what we are and
it is then darkness. It's darkness in our souls. It's
deadness in our souls that we're made now to feel and we have
to confess it. The Apostle says we have the
sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves
but in God that raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great
a death and doth deliver in whom we trust he will yet deliver
us. We constantly need those deliverances. But it all begins in that day
of grace when the Lord first comes to us to show us something
of ourselves and something of our condition. The mystery, the
mystery of God's dealings, the method of grace that God is pleased
to employ. And yet, in the midst of all
that darkness, at evening time, it shall be light. or the light, you see, cannot
be comprehended by the darkness. The light cannot be overcome
by the darkness. The Lord is beginning. And what
is the Lord doing? He is showing us ourselves in
order that we might be brought to look to himself. But thinking
of the mixture that we find in these strange dealings of God
with our souls. We know that the gospel is a
ministration of light. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
declares, I am the light of the world. We have those various
I am statements in the gospel according to John, the Lord Jesus
revealing himself as the great I Am, Jehovah. He is Jehovah,
Jesus. And amongst those I Am statements
he declares, I am the light of the world. And remember how when
we read of the commencement of his ministry there in the region
of Galilee, after his his baptism after his temptations
in the wilderness. There in Matthew 4.13, leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the
sea coast in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtalim, that he might
be fulfilled, which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
The land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the
sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which
sat in darkness saw great light. To them which sat in the region
and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Here is the beginning
of that ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now it is the
same in the individual's experience. What is true there with regards
to that region is in some measure true in God's dealings with individual
believers. How that dawning in the soul
is often so gradual a thing. Peter speaks of how the day dawns
and the day star resets. The day star arises in the soul. But then after that day star,
we read of the son of righteousness, arising with healing in his wings. But there's a certain progression
there. That's the pattern that we see
in nature. And so the light comes. Although
there is that period of the realization of what we are, there's that
sense of all the darkness and deadness of our sins. Yet by
the grace of God we are then brought to prove that we are
made light in the Lord. When the light shines in the
midst of all the darkness of our souls, when there is that
revelation of the Lord Jesus, God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, Paul says, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But that Gospel day that has
now come into our souls, with the Son of Righteousness arising
with healings in His beams, that day is not altogether to us a
perfect day. Because we find that there are
those periods of darkness yet. There's opposition. We find it
in this world. Why, last Lord's Day we were
considering those words at the end of John 16. In the world,
says the Lord Jesus, ye shall have tribulation. And that cannot
be avoided. In this world there will be opposition
to the people of God. there will be difficult days,
there will be dark days, and there's not only the opposition
from without, there's that corruption that is yet within us, there's
that old nature. And how that old nature lost
us, and it lost us against that new nature. How the Apostle speaks
of his own experience here in Romans chapter 7, crying out
in all the agonies of his soul, the good that he would, he did
not, the evil that he would not, that he did, he felt himself
to be so wretched, and yet he had known the grace of God, he'd
had that blessed experience of a revelation of the Lord Jesus
in his very soul. Oh, but what sad feelings must
have come over Paul, the flesh lusting against the spirit, the
spirit against the flesh, and these contrary one to the other,
and he could not do the thing that he would." Opposition without,
corruptions within. He says again to those Corinthians,
now we see through a glass darkly. Isn't that what we read of here,
it shall come to pass him that day. that the light shall not
be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known
to the Lord, not day nor night. But here is the comfort. It shall
come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." The
light must ultimately prevail. But the Christian's experience
is one in which he finds there is this peculiar mix in the way
in which the Lord deals with his people. Look at the language that we
have in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 11 and verse 8,
it says, If a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet
let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. What are we to make of these
statements? Why are they left on record? They're there for
our learning. that we, through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Well, this is the
goodness, this is the grace of God towards us. Think of those words again that
we have at the end of Isaiah chapter 50, "...who is among
you that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his servant,
and walketh in darkness, and hath no light, Let him trust
in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his guard. Oh, there
is the child of God. He sometimes has to walk in terrible
darkness. What is he to do is to trust
in the name of the Lord, his God. This is God's way. and this
is where we find so much comfort when we come to a book like the
book of Psalms because it unfolds to us something of the experiences
of the Lord's children as recorded in Holy Scripture and David knew what he was often
to be in dark places often in the depths and yet Abel to look
to the Lord, to cry to the Lord, to call upon the Lord. This is
his experience. It's not just a theoretical religion
that David has, or others of the Psalmists. There in the 101st
Psalm, he cries out, I will sing of mercy and judgment. There's the mix, you see. A strange
mixture. On the one hand, mercy, on the
other hand, judgments. or the language of dear Samuel
Rutherford, with mercy and with judgment my web of time he wove,
and I the Jews of sorrow were lusted by his love. I'll bless
the hand that guided, I'll bless the heart that plant, when thrown
where glory dwelleth, in Emmanuel's land. Oh, it's there in heaven
that these matters will be made clear. we've been again by the
preacher in Ecclesiastes in the day of prosperity he says be
joyful but in the day of adversity consider for God hath set one
against the other that a man should find nothing after him
there are different days but there are these strange experiences almost half-life,
we might say. It shall come to pass in that
day that the light shall not be clear nor dark. But it shall
be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night.
But it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light."
Oh, there's the purpose of God in all of this, in all these
strange mixtures of experiences. Look how many times in these
verses we have the word shall. It shall come to pass that the light shall not be clear
nor dark. It shall be one day which shall
be known to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come
to pass that at evening time it shall be light. Six shalls. Remember what God says, I will
and thou shalt know. Oh, it's the sovereignty of God. It's the purposes of God. We
read in Psalm 55 of the man who has no changes. Because they
have no changes, therefore they fear not God. But in the midst
of all the strange mix of experiences being spoken of in this text,
we see that those who have changes are ultimately brought to look
to the Lord only for light at evening time, in the midst of
all their darkness. At evening time it shall be light. Why is it so? Because in all
of these things God is that one who is sovereign. There in Psalm
74. Psalm 74, 16 and 17. The day is thine, the night also
is thine. Thou hast prepared the light
and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders
of the earth. Thou hast made summer and winter. Now, that's
true in nature, but it's also true in grace. It's true in all
the ways of the Lord, in all His dealings with His children. Oh, there's the purpose of God
here. And see how there is a blessed harmony in that sovereign purpose
of God. What does it say at the beginning
of verse 7? It shall be one day. It shall
be one day, or the day shall be one, as the margin reads. You see, God's decree, God's
purpose, is really singular. Theologians might speak of the
decrees of God, because of course we're living in time and in space,
and there are a succession of events. God is working out His
purpose day by day, moment by moment, but God dwells in eternity. And there is that sense in which
we have to recognize that that purpose is but one purpose. Verse 9, it says, "...the Lord
shall be king over all the earth. In that day there shall be one
Lord, and His name one." Oh, there is a blessed simplicity,
really. Although there's a mystery in
God's dealings, and there's a strange mix in God's dealings with us,
yet there is also a blessed simplicity, because God is that One whose
name is One. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. Though He be three distinct persons,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There
is a unity in the Godhead, of course there is, and there is
a blessed harmony here. And what is that great purpose
of God? Ultimately it is His own glory, for of Him and through
him and to him be all things to whom be glory forever and
ever." The language of that great doxology of the Apostle at the
end of Romans chapter 11. Those previous chapters he's
been saying so much about the sovereignty of God and that's
how we conclude that all section of him, through him, to him are
all things. It's all for the glory of God
and all therefore for the good of His people. The glory of God
is ever the good of His children. We know, Paul says, that all
things work together for good to them that know God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. God's glory,
that is the good of His saints. And when we think of the perplexing
experiences that are indicated in the words of this text, this
strange day, this day of grace, and yet the peculiar method of
God's dealings with his people, there's a certain brevity, is
there not, when it comes to any troubles that the believers experience. We read of one day. It shall
be one day. And it reminds us of the language
of Peter when he speaks of the trying of faith. There in 1 Peter
1.6 he says, Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness
through manifold temptations. And there we need always, when
we come to God's Word, to examine the words, the beauty of our
authorized version, the literalness of the rendering, the faithfulness,
to the original autographs. Every word is important. And
what does he say there in the opening chapter of that first
epistle? He says, now, literally just now, at this very moment,
now for a season, now for a little while, a small period of time,
now for a season. If needs be, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations. Oh, it's only as God sees it
to be necessary, that His dealings with us are so perplexing, bewildering. But it is a short period of time,
you see. It shall be one day. It shall
be one day. And there is the promise here
also of God's presence in the midst of all this experience.
It shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord. Oh, the Lord is that one who
knows all things. He knows the end from the beginning. The Lord is that one who knows
his own. the Lord knoweth them that are
His, says the Apostle." All the Lord has foreknown them, He has
known them from all eternity. Whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. The
Lord knows His people. And as the Lord knows His people,
He knows everything about them, He knows their very frame, He
is the One who has created them. And so we have that assurance
in Psalm 103, Like as a father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear Him. He knoweth our frame, He knoweth
our frame, He remembereth that we're dust. Why He made man out
of the dust of the earth, such a feeble, frail creature. He knows. He knows everything
about us. He knows His people. He knows
their frame. He knows all their experiences.
And isn't Job brought to acknowledge that and to confess that blessed
truth? He knoweth the way that I take.
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as God. And so it
is here, it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall
not be clear nor dark. Many things that we can never
understand or we find so inexplicable we can only commit them to the
Lord but it shall be one day. We shall be known to the Lord
not day nor night but it shall come to pass that at evening
time it shall be light. Or there's something here you
see to to comfort God's people in the midst of all his dealings
with them. David says it so beautifully
there in Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me,
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. The Lord is there One day
we shall be known to the Lord. Isn't this really what the hymn
writer Joseph Hart is referring to when in the hymn we have that
line, though our cup be filled with gore, there's something
secret sweetens all. What is it that sweetens the
experiences of the people of God? It's the Lord. The Lord
is in these things. This is the method of His grace.
The path of the just. It's as a shining light that
shineth more and more onto the perfect day. The Lord is preparing
His people. When Christ makes that great
statement, that great I am statement, I am the light of the world,
he that followeth me says, shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life. Well, it might seem to us to
be darkness, but really in the midst of all these things, we
have that promise of the Lord's gracious presence, that assurance
that He is fulfilling His own gracious purpose. It's all for
His glory. It's all for the good of His
people. And this promise that we find
at the end of the text, it shall come to pass that at evening
time, it shall be light. When to us it seems that it's
going to be total darkness, yet then is it not a truth that the
Lord Himself is pleased to come to appear? And it's our privilege
of course to call upon Him, to cry to Him, to seek His face,
and to pray that He will ever deal with us in those ways of
mercy and of grace. Will the Lord be pleased to bless
His truth to us. Now, before we come to prayer
again, let us sing the hymn 748. The tune is
Deep Harmony 869. In darkness born I went astray, and wondered from the gospel
why, and since my Saviour gave me sight, I cannot see without
His light. So poor and blind and lame I
am. My all is bound up in the Lamb,
and blessed am I when I see my spirit's inmost poverty." 748.