CHAPTER 26

The same, and concerning the Call of the Gentiles. 

[Passage quoted, Zech. ii. 10, 11.]

AND this prophecy is like the former one, telling of the coming of the Christ to men, and the call of the Gentiles to salvation through Him.

"For I the Lord myself will come," He says, "and at My coming no longer Israel of old, nor one single nation of the earth alone, but many nations shall take refuge in the greater and high Lord, the God of Me Myself and of the Universe, to Whom fleeing the nations shall reap the great harvest of being called and actually becoming the people of God, and of dwelling in the midst of her that is called the daughter of Zion."

So it is common in Holy Scripture to call the Church of God on earth, as being as it were a daughter of the heavenly Zion. And this good news is told in the oracle which says: 

"Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Zion, because I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee." For we believe that God the Word dwells in the midst of the Church. As indeed He promised when He said, " Lo, I am with you all the days, until the end of the world''—and, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And when, He says:

"I the Lord Myself, do come and dwell in the midst of you; thou shalt receive a greater knowledge of God, for I the Lord will refer the cause of My being sent to men to My Father who sent Me. Thou shalt know that the Lord Almighty has sent Me unto you."

And then in such words as these the Lord Himself speaks about another Lord and God, "And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in my name shall they boast, saith the Lord." Who then are those who boast in the Lord?