Ezra 6:14
So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
God’s Word makes it clear that how we end is more important than how we start.
New beginnings, second chances, third chances - mercy upon mercy and grace upon grace is the story of how God interacts with His people through the duration of their lives. Yet how we finish is the most important part of our journey with our God, as an example of this truth just for a moment allow your mind to travel through the story of Samson.
The value for us in 2020 as we seek to meet our God in the writings of Zechariah, is the stated purpose of the prophecies of Zechariah, Zechariah was given Words from God to stimulate the people to finish the work they started. Haggai and Zechariah began their ministry in the same time period, the 2nd year of King Darius. They spoke to the same people- the Jewish people who had returned from the Babylonian captivity. They spoke Words from the same God, a holy God who wants to restore His people and establish them centered on his presence with them.
Yet Haggai and Zechariah are 2 very different prophets for Haggai seems very practical, focused on the here and now, feet on the ground, the rubber meets the road, get working. He ends His prophecy with a heavenly vision of God honouring their leader, but the gist of Haggai is focused on the here and now – he is the practical voice- talking about timber, wallets, grain, work, strength. He hits them hard about procrastinating and then deals with objections or obstacles that arise. We can relate.
On the other hand Zechariah can see God and see the spiritual world in an extraordinary way- he sees angels and talks with angels and angels talk with him, he sees angelic beings – the horses and horns and craftsman in this chapter – it is an amazing book full of mystery and spiritual sight. If you wanted to read Revelation and be blessed by it, one of the things you could do is read Zechariah first and the Revelation- you will recognize the parallels quickly.
Now we can lose ourselves in the visions- seeking to peer into the spiritual with Zechariah and I love to do that, I find people who have spiritual vision amazing – I am so limited in that area- But as we enter into this spiritual world that was revealed to Zechariah and journey along with him, let us agree together on something- let us agree together to not lose sight of the purpose of these visions- let us agree to not be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good – God’s purpose in giving Zechariah these insights is to encourage and to motivate us to be strong in our work on God’s house, to get us to finish the work! The bible is all about new beginnings- and yet it stresses the importance of how we end. It is how we end that counts – we must finish well.
Paul writing to the Philippians says in the first chapter that he is confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s confidence is not in himself, nor in the Christians in Philippi- His confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the builder of each of us. We are called to build as our Lord builds, we are to follow Him, we are to be His hands and feet- we are confident in His ability to complete that work- God can do it for sure – but will we do our part - will we work to the end, or will we stop before the end?
No comments:
Post a Comment