The Yale expositor., 1905-10-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON v, FOURTH QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, OCT. 20.

The prophets Haggai and Zechariah
were strengthened and commissioned
by God to encourage the people to re-
sumo work upon the temple, which we
saw in last weeks lesson was hlndered
by the adversares. So the governor
and the priest and the people came and
did work in the house of the Lord of
Hosts, their God, In the twenty-fourth
day of the sixth month in the second
year of Darius the king. and it was
finished In the sixth year of Darius
alag. I. IA, 10; Ezra vi. II. 15).
Zechariah was strengthened by a
series OF eight or nine visions, granted
TO him, seemingly, in one night. and in
our lesson chapter we have the fifth
of the series. First he saw horses and
their riders among myrtle trees in a
valley and was taught that, though
Israel returned from captivity was
lowly and depressed, the Lord was
caring for her and would prosper her.
Then he was shown that for every de-
stroyer and scatterer OF Israel there
was restorer repairer; for every
horn n carpenter, and we cannot help
thinking of the carpenter of Nazareth.
In the third vision he was shown that
Jerusalem would be rebuilded and pro-
tected and many nations hlessed
through Israel chapter iD. Next he
was shown that, though Israel was
versary had reason TO accuse her. the
Lord would stand for her and stand
by her and remove her iniquity and
give her peace chapter iiD.
In our lesson chapter he is shown
how, Notwithstanding all hindrances,
Israel shall be a bright and steady
light before all nations and lisa. *
1-3, shall be fulfilled. "The Lord sha.
arise upon thee, and His glory shall
be seen upon thee. and the ma
tons shall come to thy light, and kings
10 the brightness Of thy rising" The
vision of the candlestick or lamp stand,
all Of gold, with its seven lamps. takes
us back to the tabernacle and its can
dlestick and on to the seven golden
candlesticks Of Rev. /, which latter we
are told, are the seven churches, in the
midst of which the risen Christ is seen.
Whether II be Israel or the church, we
see the oneness Of Christ and His peo-
pie and that they are nothing apart
from Him.
In the two olive trees, or anointed
ones. through which the oil is supplied
to the lamps, we see a priest and a
king, for only such were anointed.
Typically we see every true priest and
king, as well as Joshua and Zerubba-
bel, OF our lesson. But these only
point us TO the true Melchisedec, who
shall sit and rule. priest upon His
throne wi, 49,, in the final restoration
of Israeli No might nor power of man
shall do this. but the zeal of the Lord
OF Hosts by His Spirit Qsa. tx, q. SO in
all the visions the prophet is shown
what the Lord will do in spite Of all
hindrances. Il do not this for your
sakes, o house of Israel. but for mine
holy names sake which We have pro-
famed, saith the Lord God"
We need Just what the prophet
learned and wrote for our benefit, for
llC uiN anu
the work goes slowly, yet the Lord
shall not fail nor be discouraged Qsa.
xiii, A., and those who dwell with Him
for His work need never be discour-
aged either. During the time of Israel's
blindness and rejection, which Is now
drawing to a close, the Lord is gather
ing from al nations the material. the
living stones, for the temple, the
church, which is His body (Eph. H.,
1921; Pet Ii, 8; Acts XIV, IA, but the
work seems to be hindered by unbelief
and false doctrine and many things.
The only miracle recorded bs the
four evangelists, the feeding Of the
5000, sets before us very strikingly the
present conditions. The multitudes
have no bread. The disciples say, Send
them away" but the Lord says, "Give
We them to eat" Philip. forgetting
that our Lord fed millions In the will
derness and brought water from a
rock, says that It cannot be done. and
even IL they had 200 pence, an impos-
sible sum of money, they could only
give every one little John VII.
Philips view of the case reminds us
of verse of our lesson with its great
mountain In Andrews remark con-
corning the lads loaves and fishes,
What are, they among so many?" we
see an illustration of despislng the day
of small things Verse 10), and from both
we learn that He who always knows
Just what He will do John vi. " would
have us see no one but Himself and,
losing sight of possibilities and prob
abilities, rely upon Him 10 perform all
His purposes in His own time and way.
We may feel as downcast and I'M
worthy as Israel lid. but If we know
Him as our priest and king He VIII
make us shine rs lights in the world
IN the midst OF crooked and perverse
generation Phll. ii. 10 and by us
gather out from the nations the living
stones for His temple. How shall we
shine and thus be Of use to Him In
helping forward the work of complet-
ing the church. His body? We must
first know Him rs our anointed priest
who. having offered Himself sacri-