Zechariah, Chapter 8, verses 20-23
18 Joy and enlargement are promisedMatthew, Chapter 18, verses 1-5, 10
1 Christ warneth his disciples to be humble and harmless, 7 to avoid offences, and not to despise the little ones18
18:1 Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? - Which of us shall be thy prime minister? They still dreamed of a temporal kingdom.
18:2 And Jesus calling to him a little child - This is supposed to have been the great Ignatius, whom Trajan, the wise, the good Emperor Trajan, condemned to be cast to the wild beasts at Rome! Mar 9:36; Luk 9:47.
18:3 Except ye be converted - The first step toward entering into the kingdom of grace, is to become as little children: lowly in heart, knowing yourselves utterly ignorant and helpless, and hanging wholly on your Father who is in heaven, for a supply of all your wants. We may farther assert, (though it is doubtful whether this text implies so much,) except ye be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God:, except ye be entirely, inwardly changed, renewed in the image of God, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of glory. Thus must every man be converted in this life, or he can never enter into life eternal.Ye shall in no wise enter - So far from being great in it. Mat 19:14.
18:5 And all who are in this sense little children are unspeakably dear to me. Therefore help them all you can, as if it were myself in person, and see that ye offend them not; that is, that ye turn them not out of the right way, neither hinder them in it. Mat 10:40; Luk 10:16; Joh 13:20.
8 A promise that Jerusalem shall be restored, Zec 8:1-8.
That the whole church shall be established and increased, Zec 8:9-23.
8:20 People - Multitudes.
8:21 I will go also - The invited, shall with as much zeal embrace the motion, as others made it.
8:22 In Jerusalem - Literally understood, you have the first fruits of them mentioned, Act 2:10-12. Mystically, Jerusalem is the church of Christ. To pray - To perform all gospel - worship.
8:23 Ten men - That is, many men. All languages - No nation is any longer excluded. A Jew - To whom the gospel was first preached.We have heard - And now see, and are assured. That God - The true God, the only true God, whom to know is life eternal.