FOLKS

Folks

Zerubbabel”

Our lives are living testimonies and we are living epistles. Apostle Paul talks about this in Second Corinthians chapter three. Each of our lives is a living testimony to our walk with God. Through scripture you can look at another person’s life and gain insight and revelation that you can take and apply to your own life. As we look at other folks in the bible let’s remember 2 Timothy 3:16-17. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷ God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work (New Living Translation). About 3 weeks ago I had received the thought to look at Zerubbabel’s life as part of my “Folks” series. As I read and studied I kept feeling like what is wrong, what’s missing, why am I feeling like this, what is it that you want me to focus on Lord.

I prayed and invited the Holy Spirit into this message, and I was instructed to table it for now. This was a few weeks ago. So today at church, Grace Christian Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan my Pastor Jerry Weinzierl delivered a powerful message and immediately upon hearing it; I knew—Zerubbabel. Now my Pastor’s message was not about Zerubbabel (it was a powerful message about depression) but the Spirit highlighted a focal point about Zerubbabel’s life that I want to talk about. (You can listen to my Pastors message on gracesterling.com/messages aired on 11/14/21 11Am service).

Discouragement

I want to share an article I found online that speaks to the heart of this message. The Holy Spirit led me to google Zerubbabel and here is an article that stood out. It was as if the Holy Spirit did the job for me in a sense because this article speaks to the heart of the message. I was having a challenging time preparing this and was feeling strong resistance and opposition. Each time I would decide to complete it, I would come under strong attack. It was as if I was living this message out. The attack was grueling and relentless. The accuser was bombarding me trying to prevent this word from going forth. There was distraction after distraction, but I knew this had to be released.

The thing about friendship and intimacy with God its that we can be open and honest. I said, Lord I’m having a really hard time, what is going on. He said, “What is going on is that you, your life is the message”. It was a time of vulnerability for me. An exposing my weakness and insecurity. The attacks that were coming were so vicious and gruel, lies of the enemy sent to defeat me and thwart the plans and instructions of God. I could not rely on my own strength but had to rely completely on Jesus. I felt the sting of past hurts and railing accusations try to resurface. I am accustomed to spiritual battles, but this was on another level. The Holy Spirit had told me previously don’t be moved by increased attacks that were coming and that I was protected, and God is delivering me out of them all. I was forewarned, God allowed me to see and hear in the Spirit the plots, plans, discussions and conversations. I experienced an overwhelming sense of betrayal.

However, the Spirit of intercession rose up in me and as I prayed for my accusers, I found myself praying the Father’s heart toward them. I felt the love of God for them, and I declared the plans and purposes of God over their lives. I decreed a strong hedge of protection around them, prayed for tender hearts toward God and that they would come to a place of surrender to God, and yield to the Holy Spirit. I decreed they would develop the fruits of the Spirit. What God showed me through this experience, well He showed me several things, is that when you fix your gaze on Jesus you will not fall, you will not sink, you will not drown, you will not stop, you will not shrink back, you will not withdraw. You will maintain your focus. You will focus on the Assignment, focus on the task you have been given by God to do.

Your Position in the face of Opposition

Opposition comes with its first cousin discouragement knocking on your door. You will focus so intently on Jesus that you will be aware of the opposition, but the opposition will not shake you. You will hear the faint sound of the knock, but the knock will hear your high praises to God. As you fix your gaze on Jesus, His radiant love will surround you, engulf you and fill you. You will see yourself through His eyes. You will hear his voice of assurance, reassurance, and encouragement. You will be so aware of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in you, that opposition will be small in your eyes. Discouragement will shrivel at your awareness that you carry the glory of God, a glory carrier.

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-3). When God commissions you and gives you Assignment to Build. Then you set your gaze and Build.

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Here is insight from the article Zerubbabel written by Brett Burrowes. Retrieved from The Intercessor Vol.19 No. 3. “Zerubbabel was the descendant of David who was appointed to be leader of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem (1 Chr. 3:19; Ezra 2:2). He had been commissioned by God to rebuild the temple (Ezra 3-6,Haggai,Zech. 4:6-10). This was no small task, since the temple was no ordinary building, but the place in which God’s glory came down and dwelt among the people. The temple was the place where heaven came down and touched the earth, where God communed with human beings, the place to which prayers were directed and from which they were answered. Under the old covenant, the temple was the place God’s Spirit dwelt; it was the visible sign that the Jews were the chosen people of God.

So to build a house suitable for God to dwell in was no small task. It must have felt overwhelming, especially since the other nations dwelling in the land around them far outnumbered them, and they opposed the rebuilding of the temple. In fact the Scripture says that they felt a dread of the peoples around them (Ezra 3:3). Dread is not simply a passing fear or anxiety, but an intense paralyzing fear of what will happen, combined with the sense that you are powerless to prevent it. When you dread something, you just want to put it out of your mind and not think about it and pretend it’s not there. There’s a gnawing in your stomach, a tension in your shoulders, and a feeling of impending doom that doesn’t go away. This is how Zerubbabel and the Israelites felt about their neighbors around them”.

Zerubbabel was a person like us. He was given a commission by God, but he became discouraged by all the obstacles and opposition he encountered. How many times have we thought we were pursuing God’s will in our lives only to experience frustration after frustration? We start to think: What’s the point? If God were really behind this, why aren’t things working out? Why does God allow this? Doesn’t He hear my prayers? The temptation is to give up in the face of obstacles and just to try and live out a comfortable life without getting too many people around us upset. After all, isn’t living at peace with our neighbors an admirable goal? Just let nothing disturb our comfort, least of all some commission from God. But God has a way of making things uncomfortable for us if we disobey.

But it is precisely in these situations that God calls us to trust Him. Facing the fact that these nations (and as we shall find out, enemies) were far more numerous and powerful than they were, Zerubbabel nevertheless chose to put his trust in God, and he built an altar to the Lord and began to lead the people to worship Him (Ezra 3:2-3). He feared the Lord more than He feared the nations around them. He moved from mere soul feelings to spirit, from a feeling of dread and panic to an attitude of trust and obedience toward God. Of course his feelings probably did not change, but his actions did: he chose to obey God, build the altar, and begin work on the foundation of the temple.

When the foundation of the temple was built (Ezra 3:8-13), however, Zerubbabel and the people became discouraged. Although many rejoiced at the completion of the foundation, those who had been alive when the first temple was still standing wept openly (3:12) because it was obvious that this second temple would not even approach the splendor and beauty of the first. They were deceived by what their own hands had produced, impressed not by what God was accomplishing through them, but by the outward appearance of the temple. Had they been concerned with the things of the Spirit, they would have realized that no matter how beautiful the first temple had been, it had been filled with the sin and idolatry of the people, which had driven God’s presence from it in the first place (Ezek. 8-10).

This new temple, as unimpressive as it may have appeared, would be the new place of God’s dwelling, which is the true and only glory of any temple. In fact, speaking through the prophet Haggai, the Lord agreed with the people that the second temple was unimpressive outwardly: Does it not seem to you to be nothing? (Hag. 2:1-3). Instead God promises that His presence will be in their midst, which is what He had promised in the first place when they had left Egypt almost a thousand years before (2:4-5). It is God’s presence, not the outward trappings, that makes the temple glorious.

But the people also became discouraged because the peoples around them began to oppose the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4). At first they offered to help, but the offer was not entirely genuine. These peoples around them had been moved by the king of Assyria to the land of Israel several hundred years before and it was customary for people to begin worshipping the gods of that land in addition to one’s own when moving into a new land. So they were not lying when they said they worshipped and sacrificed to the God of Israel (Ezra 4:2). More likely, however, is that by joining in with the Jews in the building of the temple they would overwhelm the Jews by their sheer numbers and the Jews would loose their distinctiveness as a people. In other words, remove the threat that the Jews posed to them by absorbing them.

In our culture, it is not so much the threat of persecution and torture that threatens Christians, but the temptation to allow oneself to be absorbed into the world and accept its standards. Instead of seeking to have our moral standards transformed and renewed by God’s Word, we passively accept the standards of society around us, because everyone else is doing it. But once we choose Satan’s way, we don’t know where he will take us. If we give ourselves over to him, he will begin operating us and we will begin doing things we didn’t dream we could do. By giving ourselves over to Satan and his ways, we become vessels unfit for God’s use and become weapons in the enemy’s hands (Rom. 6:12-13).

Fortunately, Zerubbabel and the people refused the help of the nations around them, telling them that they have nothing in common (Ezra 4:3), obeying God’s command to come out and be a separate and holy nation (Exod. 19:6; Isa. 52:11; Ezek 20:34, 41). Zerubbabel perceived that God and Satan have nothing in common, and that there can be no agreement with the temple of God and the temple of idols (2 Cor. 6:15-16). Fortunately Zerubbabel and the Jews were not deceived and did not allow the purity of God’s people to be mixed with the idolatrous Satan-operated peoples around them. If Zerubbabel had allowed them to help, then the temple would have been just another building, for God will not dwell in the midst of a nation of idolaters.

Had these people been true worshipers of the God of Israel, Zerubbabel would have welcomed them, but he knew their real motives, which were exposed when they tried to discourage and frighten the people into discontinuing work on the temple and when they bribed the Persian officials to hinder the work (Ezra 4:4-5). As long as you don’t cross Satan in a nice person, you won’t see how nasty he can be. Once you do, however, the nicest person will pour out all sorts of venom that comes from the evil spirit which operates from within. These people revealed the true spirit of their hearts when they falsely accused the Jews of being rebellious and seditious in a letter to the Persian rulers (Ezra 4:6-16). That this was Satanically motivated cannot be doubted, since it is Satan who is the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10; Job 1-2; Zech. 3:1-2).

But if this mistreatment comes from Satan manifesting himself through people, why does God allow it? Isn’t God more powerful than Satan? Hasn’t God promised to crush Satan under out feet (Rom. 16:20)? Why do we have to go through such troubles at all? Why doesn’t God just take care of these sinful people? Of course we are such basically good people that we wouldn’t want God to take their lives, just remove them to a safe distance so they don’t bother us anymore. We need to remember that apart from the blood of Christ and His Spirit, we would be just as sinful as they are. Maybe we were the difficult people once that others had to put up with patiently and trust God in spite of us.

Zerubbabel and the Jews did not press on rebuilding the temple. Rather than trust God and oppose the opposition, work on the temple stopped for ten years (4:24). One could say they stopped because of a decree from the king, but then a few years earlier Daniel defied the king of Babylon rather than disobey God, a fact that many of these Jews may have witnessed personally. But this time they allowed the dread they had felt earlier to overpower them. Although they began with the desire to obey God, they allowed themselves to be mastered by a fear of what men could do to them. They were willing to obey God to a point, but they were not yet willing to risk the wrath of the Persian rulers. They knew what kind of response they would get, but they weren’t yet willing to trust God completely. As the old hymn goes: Those who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true. By not trusting Him wholly, they did not experience the faithfulness of God to deliver them out of their troubles.

But despite their lack of faith, God was faithful, and He sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to call them back to obedience (Ezra 5:1). Haggai rebuked the people for living in luxurious paneled houses while God’s house remained in ruins (Hag. 1:3). Because of the opposition they had experienced, the people had given up hope and were saying to themselves: it is not yet time for the temple of the Lord to be rebuilt, despite God’s command to the contrary (Hag. 1:2). They focused on making their own lives comfortable with paneled houses instead of doing the hard thing and obeying God. Their own comfort became more important than rebuilding God’s temple. Deep down I’m sure many of us have thought that doing God’s will was too hard: I’ll do what I can but if I run into difficulty, it is obviously not yet time to do whatever it is that God has commissioned us to do. But that is just a spiritual excuse to cover up our unbelief and disobedience.

What Zerubbabel and the Israelites failed to realize, however, is that these difficulties were really God’s opportunities to manifest His power and strength. Driven to the end of their own abilities and strengths, they ought to have looked to God to be their strength instead of  wallowing in self-pity, self-comfort, and despair. The frustrations and the obstacles are no obstacles to God, after all. He is the Lord of the universe; He can get a tiny little building in Jerusalem built in no time. The real obstacle was never the enemies outside them but rather their unbelief, their failure to believe that all the resources they ever needed were in God Himself and not in themselves and their puny little efforts to build the temple. The opposition of Satan through the peoples around them was God’s calling card to faith, God’s opportunity to reveal His glory in a way that exceeded anything in the first temple. So the Lord tells the people through Haggai: I am with you, and stirs up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest and the spirit of the people and gets the job done (Hag. 1:13-15). Through the prophet Zechariah, the Lord tells Zerubbabel that it is not by might nor by force, but by My Spirit, says the Lord that the temple will be rebuilt and completed by Zerubbabel’s own hands (Zech. 4:6, 8), no matter how impossible the task might seem.

After all, greater is the spirit within Zerubbabel than the spirit which is in the peoples opposing him (see 1 John 4:4). The obstacles and opposition which appeared like a mountain before Zerubbabel will become like a level ground (Zech. 4:7). So when we step out in faith and obey in what God has commissioned us to do, trusting that His Spirit in us is the real Doer in us and through us, we can believe that every obstacle we encounter is simply His opportunity to manifest His glory in overcoming it. The obstacles are simply there to get us to despair of trusting in our own (Satan’s) puny efforts, and to trust that the power of God is in us to accomplish the task He has set out for us.

So Zerubbabel really was a person like us. He struggled with the same ‘doubts and fears as the rest of us, even if he was the royal descendant of David. He endured the same temptations, obstacles and opposition from others, as we do. And just like us, he needed to depend upon the supernatural power of God to rebuild the temple, the task which God had commissioned him to accomplish. But today God has commissioned us in an even greater task than that of Zerubbabel. That task is to build the temple of God’s people: In Christ the whole building is joined together to become a holy temple in the Lord, and in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22).

The new temple is the body of Christ in today’s world. God now dwells not in a building made by the hands of men (Acts 7:48) but in the hearts and lives of His people (1 Cor. 6:17, 19). But like the temple in biblical times, our temple can be defiled by disobedience, unbelief and compromise with the world. When we disobey, we allow Satan to contaminate us and misuse us, not only as individuals, but as whole communities. So God commands us: “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor. 7:1). In such an evil and sin-obsessed world, the task of rebuilding and purifying Gods temple from Satanic misuse might seem hopeless, but we must remember the words of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty (Zech. 4:6). [Brett has an M.A. in New Testament and a Th. M. in Biblical Theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is finishing his doctorate at the University of Durham in England. He is also teaching at Nyack College in Nyack, New York, and is a Teacher-Sharer.] The above shared article was retrieved from The Intercessor website.

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The Temple foundation was then quickly completed, and another round of celebration followed. But soon, two problems arose. A few old men remembered Solomon’s glorious Temple and were saddened at how much smaller and less glorious this one was. Also, some enemies of the Jews tried to infiltrate the workforce and stop the building with political pressure. Fear caused the work to grind to a halt. The people went to their homes, and 16 years passed.

We do not know what Zerubbabel did during this time. His discouragement, following those first months of excitement and accomplishment, must have been deep. Those feelings eventually hardened into hopelessness. So, God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to be Zerubbabel’s encouraging companions. They confronted the people’s reluctance and comforted their fears. The work began once again with renewed energy and was completed in four years.

God is in Control

Zerubbabel, like many of us, knew how to start well but found it hard to keep going. His successes depended on the quality of encouragement he received. Zerubbabel let discouragement get the better of him. But when he let God take control, the work was finished. God is always in control. We must not let circumstances or lack of encouragement slow us from doing the tasks God has given us. This is a personal lesson I received from looking at Zerubbbabel’s life. When God gives you an Assignment to Build, Build. Build despite the opposition. Build a dwelling place or habitation for God within you. Build despite frustration, depression, fear, opposition. This does not mean ignore the frustration, depression, fear, opposition, or anxiety—look it straight in the eyes so to speak and deal with it. Bring it into the light, take it out of the dark, secret place.

Zerubbabel’s Strengths and Accomplishments:

• He led the first group of about 50,000 Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem from Babylon
• Completed the rebuilding of God’s Temple
• Demonstrated wisdom in the help he accepted and refused
• Started his building project with worship as the focal point

Zerubbabel’s Weaknesses and Mistakes:

• Needed constant encouragement
• Allowed problems and resistance to stop the rebuilding work

Lesson from Zerubbabel’s Life:

• A leader needs to provide not only the initial motivation for a project, but the continued encouragement necessary to keep the project going
• A leader must find his/her own dependable source of encouragement
• God’s faithfulness is shown in the way he preserved David’s line

Notes from Tyndale Life Application Study Bible.

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In closing I want to add that while we all need each other and this is by God’s design, we also must be able to pull ourselves up and encourage ourselves in the Lord. There may be times when there is no one else to encourage you at that moment. However, our most gracious and loving God has given us a remedy for this. Our greatest encourager is the One within. En—-Courage. The Holy Spirit gives us courage and reminds us that we are not alone. The Holy Spirit will send someone along side of us to provide encourage and then we will in turn—-pour our encouragement on the next person. It’s like a childhood game we used to play called, ‘Tag’. When you get tagged the friend would say, You’re it. Meaning it’s your turn now.

Lay the Foundation and Carry On

We build encouragement by laying a good foundation. Almost immediately after arriving in the new land, the returning exiles built an altar. The people began worshiping God even before the Temple foundations were laid. After many years in captivity, they had learned their lesson—they knew that God does not offer special protection to people who ignore him. They had been carried away captive by the Babylonians when they were relatively strong; now they were few, weak, and surrounded by enemies. If ever they needed to rely on God’s power, it was at this time. They realized the importance of obeying God from the heart, and not merely out of habit. If we want God’s help, we are undertaking a task, we must make staying close to God our top priority. (Ezra Chapter 3).

You might think that when they returned from exile the first thing they would do is build up the military system and wall for protection. But instead they started to build the Temple even before the city wall of protection. The Temple was used for spiritual purposes while the wall was used for military and political purposes. God had always been the nation’s protector, and the Jews knew that the strongest stone wall would not protect them if God was not with them. They knew that putting their spiritual lives in order was the priority. (All of this information was retrieved from Zerubbabel’s Profile- and Zechariah chapter Notes in Tyndale Life Application Study Bible, KJV).

Key Verses

Key Verses:

• ⁴ Then I asked the Messenger-Angel, “What does this mean, sir?” ^5-7 The Messenger-Angel said, “Can’t you tell?” “No, sir,” I said. Then he said, “This is God’s Message to Zerubbabel: ‘You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,’ says God-of-the-Angel-Armies. ‘So, big mountain, who do you think you are? Next to Zerubbabel you’re nothing but a molehill. He’ll proceed to set the Cornerstone in place, accompanied by cheers: Yes! Yes! Do it!’” Zechariah Chapter 4 (The Message Paraphrase).
• “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring for the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it” Zechariah 4:6,7 KJV
• Zechariah Chapter 4:⁶ So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. ⁷ “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”

Takeaway from Zerubbabel

What is Your Project? What are You Working On? What are You Building?

1. Put God first when you are building, dealing with a task, planning, working on a project, etc.
2. Remember God is in control—–Worship Him.
3. When it’s time to build or rebuild, don’t expect everyone to be on board (If it’s just you and Jesus go forth and build). Some people may not be attached to your Assignment, just do the work.
4. Exile in Babylon represented a place of captivity, a defeated place, a place of rebellion toward God. Many of the people wanted to stay, even when they could be set free. You tell them “Bye” ….and keep it moving.
5. Your gift will make room for you. Zerubbabel’s life and his leadership skills positioned him.
6. Make sure you lay a spiritual foundation; they worshipped God, First.
7. When problems arise, and the enemy brings opposition do not let fear discourage or stop you, remember that God is still in control.
8. If the opposition causes you short term-temporary delay, Cancel it, take authority over it (Jesus said…Matthew 18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.), and do what God instructed you to do; make the enemy pay you back seven fold (Proverbs 6:31) and declare Zechariah 10:6 “I will strengthen Judah and save the tribes of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them.
9. When God sends His prophets to encourage you, Receive them. (He sent his prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage Zerubbabel and the people, and the work was completed).
10. God will put a word in the prophet’s mouth for you, “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring for the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it” Zechariah 4:6,7 KJV

You are Graced for the Assignment—Build!

God Loves You

Jesus said, “You Must Be Born Again”!

Are You Saved/Eternal Life?

Yes———————————————————————–Good, Great, Hallelujah——-Grow—Grow—Grow

No————————————————————————God loves You, Jesus secured your Salvation on the Cross—Get Saved Today-

Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9 and Romans 10:13: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Go! Walk the Talk