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Out of Babylon to Zion

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 12, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 27.

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"Out of Babylon to Zion"

By Prof. Lucas A. Reed

XIV. The Vision of the Horsemen

THE first words of Zechariah's prophecy were given in the eighth month. The vision of the horsemen appeared to him in the eleventh month. Only three months, and God speaks a second time.
The prophet beholds a man riding upon a red horse that stood among the myrtle-trees. There are four of these horses and riders in all.
“I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”
The questions at once arise: Who are these horsemen? What is the meaning of the vision? What is the significance of the horses and their riders that stand in the myrtle-hedged valley?
The main features of the vision are very clear. We are told that the horses and horsemen are those whom God sends forth into the earth. They are the angel scouts that watch the interests of God's kingdom throughout the earth. “These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”
Why these angelic messengers are represented in the form of horsemen we may not be able to explain fully, yet certain considerations are evident. The horseman was the swiftest moving intelligent messenger known at that time. Therefore the celerity of the angelic messenger is no doubt typified. And again the horseman was the form of the most indomitable warriors of the period. The cavalry were at once the swiftest moving, the most difficult to battle with, the most valiant in appearance, of all the warrior troops.
And so the prophet is shown the swift moving, unseen messengers of the kingdom of God, the invincible cavalry of the Lord of Hosts. When Joshua was about to conquer the promised land, he was likewise reminded of the invisible army that would really fight the battles and give the substantial victories for the people of God. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, in this world; it is to him who has behind him, all unseen by mortal eyes, the invincible hosts of the Great King.
The man upon the horse in the myrtle-fringed bottom is later called the “Angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle-trees.” And the Angel of Jehovah is the one throughout all the Old Testament whom we find to be the Christ.
He appeared to Joshua as Captain of the Lord's host. Joshua did obeisance to Him as to God, and He commanded Joshua to remove his sandals, for the divine presence made even the ground upon which he stood holy. Josh. 5:14, 15.
This was the Angel that God sent before His people to lead them into the promised land. “Mine Angel,” God calls Him. “Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for My name is in Him.” Ex. 23:21. He had God's name. This could be true of none but Christ. And the whole matter is placed beyond the slightest opportunity of cavil by the declaration of Paul, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them [margin]: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4.
This Man, the Angel of Jehovah, “stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom.”
The time when the prophet had his vision was in the early spring, about the middle of March, when the woods were odorous with the bursting balsamic buds of the trees. Christ stood among the myrtle-trees; not the stately cedars nor the triumphant palms, but the lowly yet fragrant myrtles that were in the bottom.
We see at once that the myrtle signifies God's people at this time. They were lowly. The cedars and the palms of earth on the heights overshadowed and hid them. But down in the bottom of affliction and humiliation tho they were, and humble perhaps as the myrtle, Christ was among them. He stands amidst His people, identifies Himself with them, with their oppression and humiliation, and consoles and encourages them by His presence.
To the Angel of Jehovah that explained the angelic scouting of all the earth was reported, “Behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Here is the full account:
“And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
“Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?”
“Then the Angel of Jehovah”—the great Mediator—makes this plea: “How long wilt Thou not have mercy?”
What a contrast the times presented! Everywhere throughout the world peace and prosperity; in every city of every nation a picture of wealth, of opulence, of busy activity, save here at Jerusalem, the chosen hill of God, the specially favored spot of heaven—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah lay waste, as they had lain waste under the blight of God for practically seventy years.
Truly, if any spot should be radiant, this is the spot. But the city lies without walls, the temple is in ruins, the houses are broken down, the service of God is marred by the vast devastation.
Yet there is no mystery about it. The displeasure of God against His people and the temple and cities is due to the sins and idolatries of His chosen. This was all made plain in the preceding message of the prophet, “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.” Verse 2.
But our great Mediator takes up the plea, How long wilt Thou not have mercy where Thou hast had indignation these seventy years? And the answer comes, that there is to be a new order of things.
“And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.” Verse 13.
Let us get anew the situation in mind as it was at that moment. The people of God had been compelled by force and power to cease to build the temple. For a number of months the labor had stopped. The ruined stones of the temple lay there in all their vast desolation. God's people, disheartened, waiting, wondering, halted in a work given them of God. Balked by the mandate of a heathen prince, scoffed at, reviled, and triumphed over by their enemies the Samaritans, the people of God had wavered in their purpose, and had said: It is a mistake. Something is wrong in the reckoning. “The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.” Hag. 1:2.
But God speaks with encouragement. The people of God could see only the rocks and stones of a ruined city about them, and read only the command of Pseudo-Smerdis, the Persian usurper. But God could see beyond the present and the word of mortal prince to the rebuilt, glorified city of the coming days.
By an analogous vision to John in the first chapter of Revelation, He appears as one like the Son of Man “in the midst of the seven candlesticks.” The seven candlesticks are the seven churches (verse 20), and the seven churches betoken the church of Christ through all the sevenfold Gospel age. A candlestick was a fit token of the church to whom was given the privilege to hold forth the marvelous Gospel light. It was to be like a city set on a hill, not to be hid, holding forth the Word of life.
And just as appropriately the myrtle signified God's people in the days of the prophet Zechariah. The children of God had come to one of the darkest periods in all their national history, if we view it with mortal eye. They were down in the bottom of humiliation, the vale of sorrow. But the more you crush the leaves of the myrtle, the sweeter it sends forth its perfume. Even in this dark hour the light of faith would shine; even under the pressure of earthly might, God's people would yield the sweet odor of the holy life.
Christ stood amidst the myrtle that was in the bottom. Then as now His presence gives security, hope, and peace. “Lo, I am with you alway,” He says. No path of human experience but He is with us to lead us and to keep us. He is the Shepherd who leads His sheep; we shall not want. Even tho we pass down through the dark valley, we will fear no evil, for He is with us. His rod and His staff will comfort us.