Zechariah 10:3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats:
Whenever people are afflicted with unfaithful ministers, when God comes to visit these people, be will not only punish the ministers, but the religious leaders, the false professors in those churches, the he-goats who led the flock astray. Oh, what a plague and a curse will an unfaithful minister be found to have been at the last day! A well which only yields bitter water like that of Marah, merely mocks a temporary thirst; but a minister who does not preach the gospel, and who does not live the gospel, mocks the soul’s eternal thirst. Whatever I may be, God grant that I may never be an unfaithful preacher of his Word! Surely, if there be an innermost hell, a place where the soul’s feet shall be made more feet in the stocks of the pit than anywhere else, it shall be reserved for the man who, professing to be an instructor of the ignorant, and a leader of the flock, taught them falsehood, and led them out of the way. Pray the Lord save us from shepherd against whom his anger must be kindled!
Zechariah 10:3. For the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
As an expert horseman skillfully controls his caparisoned steel, and turns it according to his pleasure in the day of battle, and makes it obey himself alone, so doth the Lord rein in and direct his Church, so that she becomes like a "goodly horse in the battle."
Zechariah 10:3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats:
Whenever people are afflicted with unfaithful ministers, when God comes to visit these people, be will not only punish the ministers, but the religious leaders, the false professors in those churches, the he-goats who led the flock astray. Oh, what a plague and a curse will an unfaithful minister be found to have been at the last day! A well which only yields bitter water like that of Marah, merely mocks a temporary thirst; but a minister who does not preach the gospel, and who does not live the gospel, mocks the soul’s eternal thirst. Whatever I may be, God grant that I may never be an unfaithful preacher of his Word! Surely, if there be an innermost hell, a place where the soul’s feet shall be made more feet in the stocks of the pit than anywhere else, it shall be reserved for the man who, professing to be an instructor of the ignorant, and a leader of the flock, taught them falsehood, and led them out of the way. Pray the Lord save us from shepherd against whom his anger must be kindled!
Zechariah 10:3. For the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
As an expert horseman skillfully controls his caparisoned steel, and turns it according to his pleasure in the day of battle, and makes it obey himself alone, so doth the Lord rein in and direct his Church, so that she becomes like a "goodly horse in the battle."