_When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer, and Regemmelech, and their men to pray before the Lord _ THE LEFT ONES IN CAPTIVITY It must be observed that though all had not so much courage as to return to their own country as soon as leave was given them, they were not yet gross despisers o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me?_ REBUKE OF MERE CEREMONIES God had, through successive ages, exhorted the Jews to true repentance, and condemned their dissimulation, that they might not think that true religion was made up of fasting and of similar things. Fastings being of themselves of n... [ Continue Reading ]
_Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets _ GOD’S WORD BY FORMER PROPHETS Doctrine-- 1. External performances of external duties of religion are nothing in God’s sight, where there is not study of obedience to all His revealed will, nor will howling under mis... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone _ THE DISEASE AND CURE OF THE HARD HEART A man does not become profligate or altogether wicked at once. One vice makes way for another. The people in Zechariah’s time had arrived at such a prodigious height of vice, that it is said, “Yea, they made... [ Continue Reading ]
_I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts _ GOD REFUSING TO HEAR PRAYER I. The negligence of men. 1. They do not hear the dispensations of God in His providence. 2. They do not hear the invitations of God by His servants. 3. They do not hear the commands of God in His Word. II. The judgment o... [ Continue Reading ]