SCRIPTURE: Zechariah 1
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
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. [Zechariah 1:16]
Through Zechariah, God explains how He will restore His people after they have been punished, after they have repented.
The temple, symbol of God’s loving relationship with His people (i.e. He lives among them in His house), will be rebuilt.
But whenever we hear a reference to the temple (or God’s house), our focus needs to be on the sacred relationship, not the building.
It is God’s union with humanity, and not the physical building, that God values.
(Which is why the building was destroyed, the Jews had been more focused on the building than on the relationship, and forgot God).
To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” [John 2:16-17]
Once again the Lord has to deal with messed up perspectives on the temple.
Jesus chases the money-makers and their wares out of the temple.
When challenged by the religious leaders (who felt they were honouring the temple),
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. [John 2:19-21]
Now this answer is mysterious, if we focus on the building.
But if we recall that the building was a symbol of God’s intimate relationship with us, and that Jesus in a body is ‘God with us’, then this makes more sense.
God’s concern has always been for a loving relationship with all people [see Mark 11:17, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”]
The nations destroyed their temple, but they did not destroy their relationship with God.
The Jewish leaders killed Jesus’ body, but they did not kill God’s relationship with us!
Any attempt to undermine or ruin God’s special bond with humanity will always end in failure, for “in three days” God will restore it again.
Zechariah’s words show how God will one day restore that special relationship.
This is the vision, this is the dream, that compels all believers!
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” [Revelation 21:3-4]
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. [Revelation 21:22]
PRAYER:
Lord, one day everyone will enjoy perfect fellowship with You in Your world. This is what we were made for, this is what my heart yearns for. Come quickly!