Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/121

 the rendering in the Authorised Version, which is supported by almost all modern scholars, is doubtless the true one.

" These that stand by " as we see by comparing the expression with ver. 4 are the angels, who were in attendance on the Angel of Jehovah, and who " stood before Him " ready to carry out His behests. The promise is usually limited by Christian commentators to signify that God would yet give to Joshua, and to the priesthood generally, fuller and nearer access to Him than they possessed hitherto, or than was possible in the old dispensa tion; but the Jewish Targum is, I believe, nearer the truth when it paraphrases the words, " In the resurrection of the dead I will revive thee, and give thee feet walking among these seraphim." Thus applied to the future, the sense of the whole verse would be this: " If thou wilt walk in My ways and keep My charge, thou shalt not only have the honour of judging My house and keeping My courts, but when thy work on earth is done thou shalt be transplanted to higher service in heaven, and have places to walk among these pure angelic beings who stand by Me, hearkening unto the voice of My word" (Ps. ciii. 20, 21). Note the " ifs " in this verse, my dear reader, and lay to heart the fact that, while pardon and justification are the free gifts of God to all that are of faith, having their source wholly in His infinite and sovereign grace, and quite apart from work or merit on the part of man, the honour and privilege of acceptable service and future reward are con ditional on our obedience and faithfulness: therefore seek by His grace and in the power of His Spirit to " walk in His ways and to keep His charge," and in all things, even if thine be the lot of a " porter "" or " doorkeeper " in the House of God, to present thyself approved unto Him, in remembrance of the day when " we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad " (2 Cor. v. 10).

But there are still greater and more wonderful promises following, in vers. 8 to 10; and to rouse Joshua, and us