Zechariah 11:10-14 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.… The exact agreement of this prophecy with the event it predicts would be sufficient to render this chapter more than ordinarily interesting. But it has a still greater claim on our regard, since it contains the passage which I have chosen as the subject of this discourse, than which no prophecy is more clear, no prediction more close and circumstantial. To whichever prophet or to what particular book the passage before us may be attributed, its circumstantial and prophetic description of an extraordinary event connected with man's redemption cannot be denied. How trifling was the sum for which Judas sold his immortal soul. What could be his motive we at this distant hour can scarcely conceive. It has been said to have been avarice. But the sum of two or three pounds is surely too small a temptation even for the most covetous of mankind to betray and deliver to certain death his kindest friend and benefactor. The Gospel expressly tells us the crime originated at the instigation of Satan. Man's salvation was bought with a price. What that price was, let the service of the Church at this season describe. Not even for a moment can a sincere disciple of Christ forget the words of the Apostle: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (John Nance, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. |
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