Zechariah 10
SIBZechariah 10:1-4
But, though the Lord has promised plenty, ye must supplicate him for rajus to effect it. Indulge yourselves therefore no more in idolatry and divination, which have so disappointed your fathers; and occasioned their miserable captivity and my wrathful destruction of their princes and priests. I have now recovered you from your captivity, and made you strong and courageous, and have joined you together as a body civil and ecclesiastic, and enabled you to defend yourselves and even harass your enemies: and quickly I will send you the Messiah, to found, fasten together, and defend, his gospel church, and destroy her enemies
Zechariah 10:5-10
Not only shall the Jews under the Maccabees valiantly defend themselves, and even enlarge their power, but, especially in the beginning of the millennium, they shall be wonderfully assisted by God; and, after long and marvellous preservation and increase in their miserable dispersion, they and the ten tribes shall, with great joy, be brought back to Canaan, and there serve the Lord; while the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Turks, who had formerly murdered and oppressed them, shall be debased and ruined. And in like manner shall God, by his lively and animated gospel ministers, call and subdue the Gentile nations to Christ, mercifully recover them from their long continued idolatries and delusions, render them his peculiar people, strengthen and comfort them by the influences of his Spirit, and effectually call them into his church, and thereby render her exceedingly extensive and numerous; and shall remove all obstacles, whether heathenish or antichristian, out of their way, and render them strong and active, regular and lively, Christians. 10 L
REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. X.—In our prayers we must follow the promises, and attend the providences, of God, requesting mercies both suitable and seasonable. And in this let us look to God only. Wandering after strange gods will but expose us to disappointment and trouble. Whether things distress or comfort us, it is God who directs them. All the power, that is either for us or against us, is of Him. His people become powerful and courageous when he affords them his assistance and presence. By him all enemies are easily overcome and obstacles removed. At his effectual call multitudes gather into his church from places the most distant. Marvellous then are her comforts, numbers, power, and preservation. And courageous, upright, and evangelical, the walk of her members. Nothing is wanting where JERHON is our strength, our song, and our salvation