Will you turn to the Prophet Zechariah?
This is the second book of the Old
Testament, the second from the end.
The last one is Malachi, and Zechariah is
just before Malachi.
Before we look at the particular book of
Zechariah we have open before us, I think
it is appropriate to give a little recap
of the panorama we have been looking at,
and it has indeed been a panorama.
We have been considering this lovely record of
how the Jews were permitted to rebuild again
their ruined temple, and also their ruined city.
And we have seen it to be a
picture of revival.
It is not the building of the temple,
but the rebuilding.
We have seen that the saints of God
are builded together to be an habitation of
God by the Spirit.
As living stones are added to Jesus, so
this temple grows in which he himself dwells
and from which he expresses himself to the
world.
But just as that temple of old was
reduced to ruins and rubble, so has the
house of the Lord in some measure lain
waste.
Corporately it is only too true.
The house of the Lord is nothing what
it was intended to be, and all because
of man's sin and above all man's unbrokenness,
the accumulation of the centuries.
But not only corporately but individually, in one
degree and another we have to confess, I
am no temple of God, as I should
be.
This old temple in which the Spirit is
meant to dwell, in all to a greater
degree, has been lying waste.
But the Jews were taken captive, they were
told, for only seventy years.
Now that's a long time.
They hoped it was only going to be
two full years and they'd be back.
No, Sir Jeremiah, it's going to be seventy.
And during that seventy years, as the generation
died off in Babylon, they gave up all
hope.
It was a vague thing, they vaguely remembered,
but they could see no possibility of that
thing ever happening.
But it did.
And on God's clock the time to wave
us are, and even the set time had
come.
And sure enough, as that seventy years drew
to an end, Daniel was set a-praying,
and maybe others too, wise men who understood
by books what that seventy-year prophecy was.
And above all, the Babylonian Empire was overthrown
and the Persian Empire took its place and
the first emperor was Cyrus.
Somehow or other he'd come under divine influences,
and I rather think it was due to
the testimony of that wonderful man, Daniel.
And the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus,
and he began to realise that if he
was on the throne it was only because
the God of Heaven had put him there.
And he had the astonishing revelation that the
God of Heaven was the God of this
little nation, Jehovah.
And he conceived the desire to build again
God's house, and he issued the edict, and
all who would were permitted to return to
that ruined land, taking with them the vessels
that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple, and
also gathering silver and gold from other Jews
that didn't feel right at that particular stage
to return.
And under Joshua the high priest, and Zerubbabel
the governor, there was that first return of
the exiles, some fifty thousand.
And what a sight confronted them as they
saw it, it was enough to make their
hearts sink, but they set to work, and
the first thing they did was to establish
the altar of the Lord again.
And the burnt offerings, and they did it
for fear of the people round about, they
had to know that their relationship with the
God of Heaven was right, and there was
the indication, the altar, the burnt offerings going
up every day, that they were now in
relationship with God again.
And then they proceeded to dig the foundations,
and a great day it was when they
got those foundations dug, they had really begun
on the work for which they had returned.
And then it was the enemies round about
came and tried to harry them, and eventually
they sent up to Babylon, and I imagine
by that time perhaps Cyrus had gone and
another king was there, and they said, this
city is a rebellious city, you search the
records and see, and your kingdom is going
to suffer damage if this goes ahead.
And they searched the record, and sure enough,
there was a bad record there, and the
message came through that they were to cause
the building of that temple to cease.
And so it was they came by force
and with power, and compelled them to give
up.
And it remained unbuilt for thirteen years, just
the foundations.
And so it would have remained, they felt
they couldn't go forward because of this great
mountain of opposition, this force and power against
them.
And it never would have been built but
for the ministry of two prophets that God
raised up, Haggai and Zechariah.
We shall look at what they had to
say in a moment.
And because of their ministry, and it was
mainly a ministry not only of challenge for
having left that house for thirteen years, because
God held them responsible, although they had a
good excuse.
You haven't got to lie down to opposition,
and if perhaps for a year or two,
but not for thirteen years.
Well it was very convenient, they could get
on with their own houses, and Haggai challenged
them about that, and likewise Zechariah, and as
a result, the people resorted to building again.
And with them were the prophets of God
helping them, and they defied the opposition.
And then you remember that extraordinary story of
how the opponents came again, and they gave
a rather different testimony this time, they said,
oh we're a decimated people, it's our own
fault.
The God of heaven who had provoked him
to wrath, that's why we've been captive.
But Cyrus, years ago, gave the edict.
And so it was they searched, and they
sent, and they found indeed there was the
old time record.
And those enemies got an answer they didn't
expect, that they were to let those Jews
alone.
Indeed they were to go further, they were
to provide everything they needed out of the
king's taxes.
And if any man opposed them, let his
house be pulled down, and him hanged on
gallows on it, and let the whole place
be made a dunghill.
And so they had to obey.
And the unbelievable thing happened.
And in no time at all, the house
was completed.
And we read, and they prospered through the
prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah.
They were the crucial ones in the rebuilding.
Then we passed on to see Ezra come
on the scene.
And the new king Artaxerxes was as favorable
as Cyrus, and he came with great wealth
to beautify the house of God and with
authority to the people the other side of
the river, only to discover the grievous sin
to which they had fallen.
He was told that the people of Israel,
the priests and the Levites, had not separated
themselves from the people of the land, but
had intermarried with pagan women, and were doing
according to their abominations.
That was our subject last morning.
And you remember the broken-hearted Ezra and
the tremendous prayer he prayed, and the effect
of his broken-heartedness upon the people they
began to weep to, and they were willing
to put that matter right.
And we saw that we've got to look
at our Ezra, Jesus, him whom we have
pierced, and mourn for him, not for what
our sin might have cost us, but what
it's cost him.
And thus it is, these things that can
come, and we try to apply it all,
that could absolutely wreck any little revival we
may have experienced, can be dealt with before
God.
And there the book ends, that's it, with
the putting right of this thing.
But the story doesn't end there, the story
then goes on to Nehemiah.
And twelve years later, he comes from Babylon,
and likewise with royal authorization.
It's a wonderful story.
The time to favour Zion, even the set
time has come.
And Nehemiah's concern is not the temple, that's
been rebuilt, but the walls, the walls, the
walls.
The walls were still broken down, and the
gates still burnt with fire.
And so the story, the same story, goes
on into Nehemiah.
And the natural thing would be for us
to follow the story into Nehemiah.
It's as helpful and as full of application
for us as that part in Ezra.
And twelve years ago, when I took these
passages in the tent at Clevedon, I remember
I did just go into Nehemiah a little
bit in order to give us the completion
of the story, the rebuilding of the walls.
But this morning I don't want to do
that.
It really is another study altogether.
I remember Bill Butler took Nehemiah years ago,
also at Clevedon, but not Ezra.
But we don't want to do that just
now, that's another wonderful study.
But I want to go back to that
period in the story we've already considered.
And so, when having built the foundations, their
enemies opposed them and got that authorisation from
Babylon to cause them to stop.
And they came with force and power to
stop them.
And they had no force or power with
which to match their force and power.
And so the work on the house of
the Lord ceased for thirteen long years.
And as I've already said, it was only
through the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah that
they ever started the work again.
And that is what I want to consider.
Not so much the ministry of Haggai as
the ministry of Zechariah.
We've dealt a bit, I think, with Haggai,
and his was a ministry of challenge.
He said, you run everyone to your own
house, building for yourselves sealed houses, while the
Lord's house lies waste.
Therefore the heavens over you are staid from
dew and the earth from fruit, and you're
having the difficult condition you have because my
house, says God, is still lying waste.
It was a very important challenge, they had
to see how illogical it was to look
after number one when they'd come back to
rebuild the house of God.
And that was enough to get them moving
in the right direction.
But Zechariah's was different.
Zechariah's ministry was a ministry of encouragement.
You know, there was everything to discourage the
Jews, and especially their leaders, Joshua, the high
priest, and Zerubbabel, the governor.
What they were faced with was just rubble
and hostile nations around, and they could well
not give up.
As far as I know, they'd had encouragement,
they'd got means up to a point, but
it was a very hard time, and all
the time they were being harried by their
opponents.
And as I say, they had everything to
discourage them, and to cause them to think
meanly of themselves in the light of the
work that they had to do.
And I want to tell you, if you're
discouraged, the devil's got you.
He doesn't need to do much else, just
depress you, just to get you discouraged, and
he knows he's put you out of action.
And these men had to be lifted out
of that, and that was the great ministry
of these two prophets, and in particular of
Zechariah.
D.L. Moody said that he'd read the
Bible through from cover to cover, and he
had discovered, he'd never discovered, how did he
put it, that God could do anything with
a man who were discouraged.
And if God's going to deal with you
at all, he's got to deal with that.
Especially those of us engaged in the work
of the Lord.
There are mountains of discouragement among Christian workers,
among our ministers, in their churches, in their
parishes, just what the devil wants.
And for that reason, God's house is not
being rebuilt again.
And God knows how to minister to us
in that need.
And he did it through Zechariah.
Just a glance can see the type of
positive message that this man came with, in
chapter 1, 14 to 17.
Chapter 1.
So the angel that communed with me said
unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem,
and for Zion with a great jealousy, and
I'm very displeased, I'm so displeased with the
heathen that are at ease, for I was
but a little displeased, and they helped forward
the affliction.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord.
Now you listen, you Jews that are so
down and think, well, there's not much hope.
I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies.
My house shall be built in it, saith
the Lord of hosts, and a line shall
be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, the plummet line.
Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, my city through prosperity shall yet be
spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort
Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
You don't think so.
I want to tell you, it's going to
happen.
And the Lord, and I'm telling you that.
I'm full of hope if you aren't, saith
the Lord.
I can see it all rising again, and
prosperity coming to this decimated land.
That was wonderful.
Oh, let it go on, Zechariah.
Have a toast a bit more.
Oh, a whole lot more to tell you.
And he piled it on, and he piled
it on.
In chapter 8, verse 6, there's a lovely
little bit.
Chapter 8, verse 4.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall
yet old men and old women dwell in
the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with
his staff in his hand for very age.
And the streets of the city shall be
full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if it
be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant
of this people in these days, should it
be also marvellous in mine eyes?
If it's more than you can believe it
could ever happen, it's not more than I
can.
And so it is so often, God wants
to come to those that have begun to
be Christians, begun to rebuild the temple, workers,
or just fulfilling their allotted course in life,
to tell you you're on something bigger than
you realise.
And as far as God's concerned, the issue
is never in doubt.
Indeed, he likes to give you, to start
with a situation like that.
There's a very dear friend of ours in
America, a young evangelist and his wife, a
beautiful brother, I love him to come over.
His wife is one of the most glorious
pianists you've ever heard, and he's a beautiful
singer and song leader, but above all he's
an evangelist.
And they go round taking missions in one
of these mobile car homes, because they have
two little children.
And a few years ago, he heard the
words of love, he gazed upon the blood,
and evangelist that he was, he got a
new peace with God, and his whole ministry
changed, and there was a new fruitfulness.
But luckily, the doors for evangelism, strangely, seemed
to be closing, and there wasn't quite that
special touch from heaven upon his evangelistic work,
and he became greatly discouraged, and he wondered
if God had forgotten him.
He was still in the old ground as
far as he knew with God, and yet
there was a sort of diminution of the
work that God was giving him to do.
And then he had a terrible internal illness,
a tremendous surgery, but he was spared, but
it took him a long time to recover,
and that further discouraged him.
God had finished with him, so the devil
told him.
And then he had a most extraordinary sort
of word from the Lord, very specific, didn't
tell his wife, he just kept it in
his heart, you are to go to Colorado.
He was living in Louisiana, in the deep
south.
He'd been through Colorado, had a meeting or
two up there, but nothing more.
And the Lord spake other words of encouragement
to his little wife, and when they shared
these words one with another, they were so
thrilled, and just as soon as he was
well enough, they went to Colorado.
He knew one minister, the minister was delighted
to hear that they were coming there to
live, and lend a hand.
But he said, I've got a little church
over there in the mountains, it's a log
church, and I'm really supposed to do that,
and it's too much for me, would you
take on that?
Well he said, maybe that's the reason why
God has sent me to Colorado.
And he went to a lovely log church,
with a congregation of seven.
He was thrilled a bit, it was a
man who was an evangelist, who didn't like
large crowds, and he never would have accepted
a congregation of seven, but for the fact
that God put his hand upon his work,
and then permitted that very serious illness.
I know it's not going to remain a
congregation of seven, I know God, the time
to favor that little bit of Zion has
come, and if he doesn't see the potentialities,
God does.
He can see the place changed, and doubtless
words have come to his heart to indicate
that's God's intention.
And this is what Zechariah, how he spoke
to those people in that terrible parlous situation.
You need encouragement.
That's why the Holy Spirit is called the
Comforter, I believe that word can be translated
as the Encourager.
The devil is a discourager of the brethren,
the Holy Spirit is the Encourager.
That which discourages doesn't come from the Holy
Spirit.
He searches, he convicts, but never discourages.
He is the great Encourager of the saints,
and he gives them solid ground for comfort,
because he points to Jesus and his blood.
And so it was, this message came, and
it never would have moved forward, but for
the fact that that message did come.
And I want to tell you, you're not
going to move forward, and yet, unless you
too are open to receive like messages of
encouragement.
It isn't a favour that God does for
you, it isn't you who's all, please encourage
me.
He takes initiative.
You think he's finished with you, you think
he's got no more for you.
It's he who takes initiative and presents you
possibilities and prophecies.
And yours it is to believe them, and
to begin to cooperate with the God who's
thought it all out.
Now there are two chapters here, along this
line, chapter 3 and chapter 4.
Chapter 3 is the message of encouragement that
was sent to Joshua the high priest.
And chapter 4, the message of encouragement that
was sent to Zerubbabel the governor.
And if the people were discouraged, their leaders
were even more discouraged.
Leaders?
What are we leaders of?
And who are we?
And they were really down.
And so, Zechariah brings to them the prophecy
of how God saw them.
They saw them as one sort of person,
themselves as one sort of person, God saw
them quite other.
And they'd either got to accept their own
mean view of themselves, or God's.
Chapter 3, and he showed me, this is
Zechariah speaking, Joshua the high priest standing before
the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing
at his right hand to accuse him.
Yes, he's called the accuser of the brethren.
Revelation tells us of Satan accusing the brethren
before their God, day and night, and here
he is doing it in the Old Testament.
And this is the vision that Zechariah has,
which he communicates.
And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord
rebuked thee, O Satan, even the Lord that
has chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee.
Is not this a brand plucked out of
the fire?
Now, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and
stood before the angel.
And maybe it was those filthy garments that
Satan was accusing him of.
But as Jehovah himself says, he's a brand
plucked out of the fire, it's not surprising.
His garments are filthy, and got fire stains
and much else upon them, but he's a
brand that I plucked.
And thus it is, Jeremiah saw Jehovah rising
to the defence of this high priest whom
Satan was accusing.
And I believe he accused himself, he said,
I'm no high priest.
In the old times you used to have
garments for beauty and glory, but I haven't
got any, I've only got this.
And he felt so unworthy.
High priest, don't, for goodness sake, call me
high priest, I'm no high priest.
And he had a mean view of himself,
but his hands were weak to prosecute the
work, and so this vision was given to
Zechariah to communicate to him.
And he was given to see that Jehovah
was not joining in the accusation.
He probably thought Jehovah was.
But he was doing the very reverse.
What though the accuser roar, of ills that
I have done, I know them all, and
thousands more, Jehovah findeth none.
Oh, what a message.
And there's Jehovah, rebuking the one who's pointing
out the deficiencies of Joshua, which he knew
only too well.
Now Joshua, as I say, was clothed with
filthy garments and stood before the angel.
And he answered and spake unto those that
stood before him, take away those filthy garments
from him.
And he said unto him, behold, I've caused
thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I
will clothe thee with a change of raiment.
And I said, let them set a fair
mitre, a turban upon his head.
He hadn't got one up to then.
So they set a fair turban upon his
head, and clothed him with garments, and the
angel of the Lord was standing by, simply
delighted, simply delighted, look at him, here's a
high priest for you.
That's how God sees him.
Doesn't see himself like that, but that's how
God sees him.
He's not to go on with filthy garments.
Yes, there's some truth in what Satan may
say, but after all, he's a bran pluck
from the burning.
He's only in process of being made what
he's going to be.
But he's mine.
Take him away.
And you clothe him with a change of
raiment.
Please turn the cassette over now.
Do not fast wind it in either direction.
Clothe him with a change of raiment.
And so that's how it is with us.
Oh, my dear friend, you stand before the
Lord and Satan is there to accuse you,
and you get a reflection of that accusation
in your own conscience, of what he's saying
up there.
You have a mean idea of yourself, of
the low possibilities.
They don't love you and perhaps you don't
love them very much.
The work I'm called to, very little is
happening, nothing much.
But I want to tell you, Jehovah's on
your side.
Jehovah is on your side.
And he would tell you, to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly, his faith is counted to him
for a righteousness which he doesn't otherwise possess.
If you've got the weeniest little bit of
faith, that God is the God that justifies
the ungodly, that he's the friend of sinners
in Jesus, that teeny weeny bit of faith
in grace is counted for you, did you
but know it, for a righteousness before God
which is unassailable.
God says, I'm not looking at those dirty
rags, take them off him.
I'm choosing to impute to him righteousness apart
from the law.
Righteousness bought with the precious blood of my
son and you cannot be better arrayed, more
right with God than what the blood makes
you when you take a sinner's place.
It says that Christ, who of God, is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and rejection.
Behold him there, we sang, the risen man,
my perfect spotless righteousness.
That's how dear John Bunyan got out of
darkness when he thought for two years he
committed the unforgivable sin.
He was getting right with God, being able
to hold on to the promises and then
the accusations came upon him again.
And he was in his garden and he
heard a voice, almost audible, thy righteousness is
in heaven.
He's wondering, am I really right with God?
Am I right with God?
Your righteousness is in heaven.
He said, where's that come from?
He went into his house, turned his bow,
tried to find where that was written and
the nearest he could find was, who of
God, Christ of God, is made unto you
wisdom, righteousness.
He's my righteousness.
As another hymn says, now we see in
his acceptance but the measure of our own.
So dear, so very dear to God, dearer
you cannot be, the love wherewith he loves
a son, such is his love to you.
Christ is your righteousness.
Clad in him, you can't be better arrayed.
He is counted to you for righteousness.
That little bit of tiny confidence in grace
is counted to you for a righteousness which
you don't otherwise possess.
If God says that's true, it's true.
And you need to have this message of
the gospel applied to you as a believer
and so do I.
Wonderful verse in Jeremiah 50 verse 20.
Jeremiah 50 verse 20.
In those days, and in that time, saith
the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be
sought for, and there shall be none, and
the sins of Judah, and they shall not
be found.
For I will pardon them whom I reserve.
Oh, Joshua needed to hear that.
The iniquity of Joshua shall be sought for,
and there shall be none, and the sins
of Judah, and they shall not be found.
So you see this great gospel truth is
to be found in the Old as well
as in the New Testament.
Turn back to Numbers chapter 23 verse 21.
Numbers 23, 21.
You know, this is the story where Balak
has hired the false prophet Balak to curse
the people of Israel who were coming into
his land.
And he took him up to a high
vantage point and said, have a good look
at them.
Now Balak, a great big whopping curse upon
them, because they are too big for me.
But he found he couldn't curse them, could
only bless them.
Verse 20 he says, Behold, I have received
commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and
I cannot reverse it.
Balak.
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither
hath he seen perverseness in Israel.
The Lord his God is with them, and
the shout of a king is among them.
He says, I want you here to curse
them, not to bless them.
He says, I can't help it.
This is what God says.
But we've had such a story of their
behaviour, those Israelites.
They provoked him to anger again and again
in the wilderness.
But that didn't change the grace of God
toward them.
And when this man wanted to curse them,
he had to confess, he hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel.
And the one who's always telling you what
a fainter you are, and how weak, how
ineffective, is a liar.
It's the devil.
The accuser of our brethren.
And you've got to welcome into your heart
this positive message of grace.
What though the accuser roar, of ills that
I have done, I know them all, and
thousands more.
Jehovah findeth none.
And you get busy.
You move as one who is in that
relationship to God.
And he says, if you go on like
that, walking close to me, I'm going to
give you places to walk.
Among them that stand by, you're going to
have access into the holy of holies.
You're going to be my servant.
Wasn't that a wonderful message that was given
him?
In other words, grace wants you to see
yourself bigger than you think you are.
Back of you there are sources of heaven.
So often grace needs to tell us that
we are smaller than we think we are.
And you're so excellent, you think, and you're
no candidate for grace in that case.
But there are other times when grace presses
it upon you, you're bigger than you think
you are.
You're joined to Christ, just as the branch
is to the vine.
I'm joined to Christ.
I know he's mine.
Oh, you say, apart from him I'm nothing.
Yes, I know, that's true, but you're not
apart from him.
It's very good to tell yourself, apart from
him I can do nothing.
And you've got evidence of the nothing that
comes when you're in any degree apart from
him.
But listen, in actual fact, you're not apart
from him.
Just as the branch is to the vine.
You are joined to Christ.
And you may know he, he is mine.
And if you don't know it, the devil
does.
He doesn't want you to know it.
And that's the reason why he pours in
his accusation.
Dear John Newton, oh, what a man.
I know we always think of him only
as the author of amazing grace.
But there are equally other great hymns.
Be thou my shield and hiding place, that
sheltered in thy side I may my fierce
accuser face and tell him thou hast died.
You go up to that pulpit, dear man.
You couldn't get so thrashed.
And there's old Snooks frowning away, your arch
critic.
And all the time you're looking at him
out of one eye.
And all the time you're listening to your
sermon through his ears.
We've got to get out of this.
You've got to know God before me.
None can be against me.
And my dear friend, fellow minister, if you
are in a parish, which seems so hard,
preach evangelistically.
Preach the lost.
Now I know in Baptist churches they're more
what we call eclectic, the gathering out of
the saved, and very often pretty well on
a Sunday morning at least they're all the
saved ones there, but not in our state
church.
I don't care how evangelical it is, there
are always some of the nommals going for
them.
Sweetly.
Or let the others criticize you.
And I would suggest you do something.
Why don't you ask God to give you
a soul the first Sunday you get back
from here.
And go a little further.
And Lord, and another one the second.
And another one the third.
I mean to say, they're delivered into your
hands for half an hour.
And there's someone innocent of all those people
that don't like what you've been doing and
criticize you.
They're just fumbling their way.
They have no assurance and you've preached the
word of the grace of the gospel.
And you know, you'll find you're building the
house of the Lord again.
So this was the message that was given
to Joshua by Zechariah.
But he had another message of great encouragement
for Zerubbabel.
Go back to Zechariah, one from the end
of the Old Testament, chapter four.
And the angel that talked with me came
again and waked me, as a man that
is wakened out of his sleep, and said
unto me, What seest thou?
And I said, I've looked, and behold, a
candlestick, all of gold, with a bowl upon
the top of it, and its seven lamps
thereof, and seven pipes to the seven lamps
which are upon the top thereof, and two
olive trees by it, one upon the right
side of the bowl, and the other upon
the left side thereof.
So I answered and spake to the angel
that talked with me, saying, What are these,
my Lord?
Then the angel answered, Knowest thou not what
they be?
I said, No, my Lord.
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying,
This is the word of the Lord.
Unto whom?
Not to Joshua, unto Zerubbabel.
He's in charge of the building side.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
This is God saying it.
He sees it done, if Zerubbabel doesn't.
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof, with
shoutings crying, Grace, grace unto it.
And all that is going to be done,
going back to verse six, not by might,
the might of many, the might of an
army.
That's what it means in the Hebrew.
I've got it in my margin.
Not by might of many, nor by the
power of one superman, but by another way
altogether.
That mountain that's been in the way, stopping
you going forward, is going to be sunk
into a plain.
Not by might or power.
You've been complaining you haven't got any might
and power to match their might and power.
You don't need any might and power.
I'm going to do it in another way
altogether, by my spirit.
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto
thee, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the
foundation of this house, his hands shall finish
it.
And thou shalt know that the Lord of
hosts hath sent me unto you, who hath
despised the day of small things.
Don't you despise the day of small things?
Small things can grow into great things.
But it was pretty small, small was happening
in Israel.
Don't despise it.
Who hath despised the day of small things?
For they shall rejoice, and she shall see
the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.
With those seven, they are the eyes of
the Lord, which run to and fro through
the whole earth.
There are all sorts of obscurities, as is
usual with apocalyptic prophets, you know, ones that
have these visions, and speak of the end
days.
Well, it doesn't matter if you don't understand.
The seven eyes, by the way, is the
Holy Spirit.
The seven eyes are the seven spirits of
God.
And because it's seven, it's meant to indicate
the ubiquitousness of the Holy Spirit's operations, the
everywhere-ness.
The seven eyes.
And they're looking around and they're working on
your behalf, Zerubbabel.
Now, isn't this great?
Yes, they had a mountain in front of
them.
They came by force and power to stop
them.
And they said, well, that's it.
And you've got a situation like that.
There's a mountain in your way, as a
Christian, as a Christian worker.
And you say, well, we just can't go
forward.
The time to build the house of the
Lord is not yet.
We've got to wait for a more propitious
time.
Well, how long are you going to wait?
Thirteen years?
They did.
And he was told, oh, to encourage his
faith and to get him moving.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, not even before the Lord, before
Zerubbabel, who had such a mean view of
himself, you're going to become a plague.
And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof,
Grace.
Grace into it.
Amazing grace.
The thing is being done.
And it was done not by power or
might, but by God's Spirit.
You know the story.
We thought about it.
They gave the right testimony this time.
The sinner's testimony.
Oh, we're a chastened people.
But grace has been shown us, and Cyrus
gave that edict.
They said, Cyrus gave that edict?
We'll search and see.
We will.
They got what they didn't expect.
It was there.
And every conceivable help was dispatched to them
from Babylon.
And these very men had to implement those
gracious designs.
And sure enough, before Zerubbabel, it became a
plague.
And the house was built.
There's a Methodist hymn, Give Me the Faith.
How is it, Wesley?
Now, stand up and say it, Wesley.
Wesley's an inveterate Methodist.
And he knows every one of Charles Wesley's
hymns.
Recite that little bit for us.
No, no, just that first bit.
And sink the mountain to a plain.
Give me the childlike praying love that seeks
to build thy house again.
And that in spite of mountains.
And I want to say, don't you think
this is a prophetic word for you?
You know your situation.
The other one, I'm going home, in the
South World with this.
You're going to sink the mountain to a
plain.
I've been having a mean view of myself.
I haven't seen myself as part of Christ,
as a branch as a part of the
vine, as a limb as a part of
the body of which Christ is the head.
I've been lying down to it, and being
worried by criticism.
But I'm going to go on, Lord, with
the Gospel.
The PCC, they can be nattering away, but
I'm counselling a new one who's just been
saved in the next door room.
Sorry, folks, I...
I tell you, what does it matter what
they say?
The house of the Lord is being built
again.
And this was the encouragement.
This is what we need.
And if we have to repent at all,
all sorts we have to repent of course,
but one thing is to repent of discouragement.
Lord, I'm sorry.
I've been listening to the devil.
I picked up the telephone, and I thought
it was you.
Talking to me.
It wasn't a very cheerful message that came
down the line.
I've realised it was the devil on the
line.
You want to know the right number to
get through to heaven.
You heard the story of George Verwer.
He's a great lover of us.
He's longing to get and join us.
He nearly did on one occasion, then he
got caught in another part of the world
for a moment.
But I heard him give his testimony.
When he first began as a very young
man, a scripture distribution on the streets.
And he was doing it on the streets
of Los Angeles, giving out Christian literature.
And it was rather a bad district.
He got to a very sleazy part of
it.
And there was advertised in a theatre, dirty
old theatre, a strip-tea show.
He said, I haven't seen one of them.
And you know, he went in, paid his
money, and sat down and began to watch.
And as he sat there, the Holy Spirit
pierced his heart.
Oh, he knew he'd gotten away from God.
He got out quickly.
He wanted to get right with God, didn't
know how to fight, what to do.
And there he saw a telephone kiosk.
He went across.
He picked up the receiver.
And he made his confession to God.
He needed something to make it definite.
That's the way he did it.
Oh, he didn't spare himself.
He confessed to God.
And you know, he got through.
And he got the right answer.
I don't know what the number was.
Actually, someone, when I told this story, wrote
me a letter and gave me the number.
I forget what it was, where he got
it from the book, but anyway.
But sometimes you pick up the telephone and
it's the wrong voice.
And you've believed it.
And you've wanted to quit.
There's ground for returning to the Lord.
Back into the sunlight.
Back where the blood cleanses.
Now, we must quickly draw to a close.
So, this passage goes on.
Verse 11.
Then answered I and said unto him, What
are these two olive trees upon the right
side of the candlestick and upon the left
side thereof?
And I answered again and said unto him,
What be these two olive branches which through
the two golden pipes empty the golden oil
out of themselves?
And he answered me and said, Knowest thou
not what these be?
And I said, No, my lord.
Then said he, These are the two anointed
ones that stand by the Lord of the
whole earth.
They are the two anointed ones who empty
the oil out of themselves into the bowl
and in turn to the lampstand.
Now, who were the two anointed ones?
Oh, something very important, you see.
Angels and archangels.
Could it be a prophecy of Jesus?
No, it wasn't.
The two anointed ones from whom the oil
was being poured in God's view were Joshua
and Zerubbabel.
What a title to be given.
The two anointed ones that stand by the
Lord of the whole earth and it's they
that are ministering from God the Holy Spirit
to the situation.
Once again, you're bigger than you think you
are and you've got to rise to your
stature.
And I want to tell you that's the
thing that will convict people.
Your boldness.
When they saw the boldness of Peter and
John, the authority with which they speak, they
were not terrified of the Sanhedrin.
They took knowledge of them that they're being
with Jesus.
You're going to win.
You may not be a Christian worker yet.
You may be a young Christian that you're
witnessing.
You're standing for God in that place, in
that home.
You're going to win.
They're more with you than are against you.
You're more special to God than you think
you are.
He called you by more exalted names than
you would dare to call yourself.
You're one of the anointed ones that stand
by the Lord of the whole earth.
I'm not conscious of it but I'm going
to try and believe it.
You don't have to be very strong in
your manner.
Just that sweet, confident way in which you
speak of Jesus to somebody.
To those parents who are unsympathetic.
You're not terrified of your adversaries.
And this is that which is going to
get us on the job again.
Of building again the house of the Lord.
Both in ourselves and in others.
Which we've been in danger of quitting.
We've been slowing down.
And I believe if you go home from
Southwell with this sort of message ringing in
your ears go back to it yourself sometime.
Soak in it.
Claim it for yourself.
You're not in dirty rags.
You're clad with Christ and His righteousness.
You're as right with God by His blood
as He is.
Yes, there are failures.
But so what?
If the blood of Christ is sufficient for
God it's surely sufficient for you.
You don't need to take a stick to
yourself.
Be honest by all means.
But don't stay there.
Dare to believe.
And go on.
And you don't know what beauty will be
seen on you by others.
You don't know how sinners may even almost
well, tremble.
We want them to be drawn but they
know they can't pay it very fast and
lose God's with you.
And so I believe the rebuilding of that
ruined temple owed more to Haggai and Zechariah
the prophet than anything else.
And sure enough it came to pass.
Not only was the temple rebuilt but in
spite of all the opposition of Sanballat the
horror knight.
A lovely name.
Nasty man.
Sanballat the horror knight.
He was a real horror.
In spite of it all the walls were
rebuilt and Zion was established again.
Amen.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, we want to thank Thee for
Thy holy word.
It comforts us.
It really comforts us.
And you said it's meant to.
Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our
learning that we through patience and comfort of
the scriptures might have hope.
We want Thee to send us back with
hope with a spring in our step.
Comforted by all that we've seen of Thy
grace for sinners manifested in this and many
another portion.
And Lord there are some unsafe ones and
they need comfort.
They are struggling so hard and they can't
make it.
Dear Holy Spirit point them to the Lamb
point them to Jesus and may not one
go home without the blessed assurance that Thou
art theirs that Jesus is mine.
We give Thee thanks in Thy dear name.
Amen.