Restoration of the City

Pastor Joe Fuiten, July 24, 2005

 

            I would like to use the message of the recovery of Judah from the Babylonian Captivity as a way to understand how God works with those who have been under some difficulty or judgment.  Let me first refresh the details.

            Babylon had taken to two southern tribes into seventy years of captivity.  God was using Babylon to judge his people for their ongoing sin and lack of obedience.  When God was ready to restore Judah, he began putting the desire of Jerusalem back into the hearts of the people and began making it possible for them to return.  He sent prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to speak to the people.

            Even though all this took place 2500 years ago, it does reveal something important about how God deals with us.

            I believe we are seeing a similar working of God’s spirit at Cedar Park.  I am looking to this past event to give us some guidance on how to cooperate with God in the present day.  Rather than reading the text, as we usually do, I am asking that you follow along in your Bibles as we consider the ancient story.

 

Scripture Reading:  Zechariah Page 669

            Have you ever felt like God was very distant or that you were separated from God because of something you had done?  Judah was in Babylon because of what they had done.  The opening lines of Zechariah’s prophecy we have the fundamental message of God.

 

1:1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo: 2 "The LORD was very angry with your forefathers. 3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty.

 

            This is the first thing to know about God.  It is always like that with God.  If we will come to him, he will come to us.  No matter how far gone you are, if you will come to God he will come to you.  Lots of people feel very condemned by what they have done.  They see their own failures.  The devil accuses them further.  The first message is that God will return to you.

            The second thing to know is what is expressed in verses 12-17.  He will come with mercy, as verse 16 says and with prosperity as verse 17 indicates.  The idea of mercy would suggest forgiveness.  I think most people can comprehend that.  But the idea of prosperity goes well beyond forgiveness.  Prosperity suggests blessing and favor.  It tells us that his forgiveness is not begrudgingly given.  It is not as though he forgives us, but with a snarl and a fierce warning about the future.  With God, the past is the past.

 

12 Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" 13 So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.'  16 "Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,' declares the LORD Almighty.  17 "Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.'"

 

            The third thing about God is that he does not desire a distant blessing.  He wants to be personally involved.  Zech 2 tells that story.  The city of Jerusalem will do well but God will be its fire without and its glory within.  He will protect them on the outside but his glory, his very presence, will be within the city.

 

Zechariah 2 2:1 Then I looked up-and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 I asked, "Where are you going?"  He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is." 3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: "Run, tell that young man, 'Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,' declares the LORD, 'and I will be its glory within.'

 

            What is the glory of a church?  It is more than its buildings and grounds.  It is the very presence of God.  When God shows up, there are all sorts of related blessings but the real blessing is God himself.

            The fourth thing is the transformation of the spiritual leadership.  Joshua was forgiven of his personal sins and given new clothes much like the prodigal of New Testament times.  God did this as a symbol of what Jesus would do when he came.  We all become priests of God.

 

3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes."  Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."  5 Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by. 6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.  8 "'Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.[1]

 

The fifth thing about God is that he supplies the means for something to happen.  The menorah represents the seven eyes of God that see everything.  The oil  is supplied by two living trees.  There is never an end to the oil because the supply is living and producing.  God will get it done.

            If you see only one carpenter with one plumb line, rejoice!  So what if it is only one little thing.  The important thing is that God will do it.  If we are only at the start or near the end, it does not matter.  We are as assured of victory at the beginning as we are at the end.  We know the outcome before it happens.  As God said to Joshua, the leader of Israel some 1,000 before this time, be strong and very courageous and do not be discouraged because I have given you the land.  If God has given us the victory already, then why be discouraged in the middle of the battle.

 

Zechariah 4 4:1 Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. 2 He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." 4 I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" 5 He answered, "Do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I replied. 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, O 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!'"  8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. 10 "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.  "(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)"

            I have taken this passage as a picture of what God wants to do here.  He wants to restore us.  He will protect us from those on the outside and be the glory of us on the inside.  Our leaders will find themselves renewed.  It will not just be for us but for the whole community.  God will use us, along with others, as his instruments in this region.

 


[1] Matt 2:23  “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene." It says "prophets" not "prophet."  Therefore Matthew must be referring to more than one prophecy.  But there is no passage in the Old Testament which says:  "He will be called a Nazarene."  How do we solve this?  The Hebrew word for "branch" is "nazar." Perhaps from this word the word "Nazarene" was derived.  Jesus was later known as "the Nazarene" sometimes in derision, sometimes by way of complement.  Cf. Matthew   26:71; John 18:5-7; 19:19; Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 22:8; 24:5; 26:9.