17th September 23 – Zechariah

I thank and praise God and also the elders for this
opportunity. Today our focus is on the book of Zechariah.
Before we go any further, I would like to play a video that
gives an overview about this prophetic book.
Playing of Video….
This book of Zechairah was written to warn and as well
encourage the people of Israel after their exile from
Babylon. Also most importantly the temple of God was
rebuilt when this book was written by Zechariah.
Here is a timeline of events about the temple. As we all
know the first temple was built by Solomon and Shekinah
the glory of God appeared during its dedication. It was a
glorious temple during that time. But after that Babylonian
king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple. After the
Jewish return from exile to Babylon, This second temple
was built by Zerubbabel, who is also from the royal line of
David. Later the same temple was refurbished by King
Herod. As we all know. During that time our Lord Jesus
was presented as a baby in this very same temple, later
when he was 12 years old he was found teaching in the
temple and then finally before his death and resurrection
he entered this temple as of King. That is what we
celebrate as palm sunday. Prophet Zechariah has also
recorded before about that event, even many years before
Jesus.
Ok, today our focus is about this temple… next slide.
So what is the main difference between the first and
second temple. In the first temple there was this Ark of
the covenant which brought the presence of the Lord. But
in this new temple there was no Ark of the Covenant.
History says that it was either taken away by King
Necbuchadnezar during his invasion or it could have been
hidden by some Levite priest and the Jewish people never
found that after their return from exile to babylon.
Next slide..
If you see the structure of the second temple, the most
holy place had a symbolic rock that once was considered
to be the place of the ark of Covenant… So literally the ark
of God was missing.
So because of this and many other reasons, Jewish
people considered this as a very simple temple when
compared to the first temple.
Next Slide…
But Prophet Zechariah and Haggai encouraged the people
by quoting two important verses that I would like to focus
on and take it forward.
In zechariah 4: 6.. It says “Not by might nor by power, but
by the Spirit of the Lord” also prophet Haggai says “The
Latter glory of this house will be greater than the former” –
Hagg 2:7
Zechariah encouraged the people by Saying the spirit of
the Lord will build this temple and also Haggai was telling
about the later glory of this temple. Although this temple
did not have the ark of God, God himself i.e Jesus himself
entered this temple and was glorified. Also we know what
happened when Jesus died the veil was torn apart and
also Jesus was speaking especially about this temples
destruction in the future, It was also destroyed in 70 AD by
the Romans.
Next slide….
In John chapter 2 vs 18-22, It’s very clear that Jesus
mentioned that his body is the true temple of God.
Because we know the clear presence of God ie the holy
spirit was on him. Jesus clearly told them that he will be
destroyed and he will come back to life as a new temple of
God. So what can we say about all these historic temples
built by Solomon, Zerubbabel . They were all destroyed
one day and were rebuilt. This is the clear representation
of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Next slide…
Here we see How Jesus was destroyed and rebuilt.. We
read this from Romans chapter 8 verse 11. Jesus died on
the cross but he was risen again by the Holy spirit. Not
only that, Paul says it very clear that in the same way we
are also going to be resurrected one day.
So what can we say.. Are we also the temple like christ.
Yes… we are also the temple of God..
Next slide…
2 Corint chapter 6 vs 16 to 18 says that we are the temple
of God.. Not only that God says that he is going to dwell
among and within us. But for that to happen God requires
us to give a commitment.. 1. We have to be set apart from
world 2. We should not be doing anything that God does
not want us to do. So our focus today is on how this is
going to happen.
Next slide…
Let us now see what happens in our christian journey in
comparison to this building of the temple. When we accept
our Lord Jesus and start to believe in him. Holy spirit
comes into our spirit and when he comes he starts us to
renew our mind and regenerate us. This should be
happening. We can compare this to what Zechariah told.
Not my power or might but by Holy spirit. We cannot lead
this christian life by our own power or might but it can be
done only by the Holy spirit. We cannot set apart
ourselves from this world or do anything that God wants
us to do. But through the help of the Holy spirit we can live
a life to God that is pleasing to him.
Then what happens at the end. We are formed as a new
glorious temple of God when we meet our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our Lord will surely say Well done! By faithful
servant. So I would also like to suggest 3 lessons for today
to understand how God wants us to build a new temple
and also How the holy spirit wants to work within us.
Interestingly I want to simultaneously compare the book
of James in the New testament. Because James has the
same thought from Zechariah in many ways.
Next slide..
The first lesson I would say is from Zech chapter 2 vs 7.
Here it clearly says to escape to Zion from babylon. Here
the spiritual meaning of Babylon is the world and Zion is
Heaven. So it clearly says we should escape. The word
escape means we are trapped in this world with all its
desires, pain and worries. So we need to get rid of those
and go to God’s kingdom. The same line of thought James
has in chapter 4 and verse 4. We should be set apart from
the world for God sake.
Next slide..
The second lesson is from Zech chapter 7 verse 9 and 10.
Here it clearly says about showing kindness to oppressed
people especially like Widows and orphans. We could see
the same line of thought in James chapter 1: 27..
So to understand this more I would like to quote an
example from the Bible. We all know about the incident of
stoning a prostitute woman, we can read about that in
book of John chapter 8. Interestingly this incident happens
in the temple of God. So we know what the scribes and
Pharisees were doing. They literally followed the word of
God. They followed the law more clearly. The laws given
by God to moses. So when Jesus is interpreting. He
should also be obeying God’s word isn’t. So he did not
simply say not to obey that commandment. But rather he
re-enforced the law by saying to them that whoever does
not have sin can throw a stone at her. But no one was
eligible. But Jesus was eligible to throw a stone. But he
did not do it, rather she advised her not to sin any more.
Think for a while if Jesus would have fulfilled the law, that
women would have never repented for her sin. Rather the
forgiveness of Jesus changed that woman. This is the new
covenant in Christ. We have to show kindness and be
merciful but at the same time like Jesus advised the sinful
women, we should also advise the oppressed to walk in
God’s ways.
Next slide..
The Thrid lesson is from Zech chapter 14 verse 21. Here
Zechariah talks about traders. There should be no traders
in the kingdom of God. Here we should understand the
spiritual meaning of traders. Traders are people who have
a compromising lifestyle. In short there won’t be any reality
in them.
To understand this I would like to quote 2 bible examples.
One is from the book of Acts chapter 5 we read about
Annias and Sapphira, the couple who cheated God. No
one forced them to give the money but they wanted to do
that as a show off to the Apostles but their intentions of
their heart was after money. Outside it appeared as if they
were bringing a huge sum of money but inside it was a
tricky plan. God hates this kind of attitude. Also another
example is from the old testament. We can read in 1
Samuel 15. God clearly wants to destroy all the things of
Amalek. But Saul tried to devise a plan.. He got the best
things of Amalek and wanted to give this as a sacrifice to
God.. That was not at all the plan of God. He wanted to
destroy everything. But why did Saul do this? We can also
read about it in the same chapter. He wanted to please the
people of his kingdom. God never allows these kinds of
intentions in his kingdom. He is against it. The same thing
James in chapter 4 vs 17 says if you know to do the good
and if you’re not doing that it will be a sin for us. So we
should follow to do good only then we can be found in the
kingdom of God. We should not have the traders mindset
like Annias, Sapphira and Saul.
Next slide..
So finally I would like to remind you of these 3 lessons
from the book of Zechariah. 1. We should escape this
world and should be set apart from the worldly things 2.
We should be kind to the oppressed people and at the
same time guide them to God. 3. We should not have a
traders mindset compromising the goodness of God.