INTRODUCTION
The book we shall be examining for this topic is the book of Zechariah 4:10 which says,
"Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They 'll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place! Going back to the vision, the messenger-Angel said, "The seven lamps are the eyes of God probing the dark corners of the world like searchlights""-The Message Bible (Zechariah 4:10)
"For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and 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"- KJV (Zechariah 4:10)
This is one of the common bible verses in the bible, and we do often hear the preachers speaking to us on the need for us not to despise the days of the small beginnings (or starting).
I have however given my message a different topic, which I called "changed tune".
When musicians are playing, they may either signal to those handling the instruments that they intend to change the tune of the song they are singing, the change of tune may now be to a fast one or a slow one, or in a case where they cannot send signals to their instrumentalists, they will say it out that people will hear. I hope you grasp this? This is just to introduce you to what the prophet is saying here about changed tune, that the people who have been saying something about the on-going project before would say another thing. Interestingly what the people were initially saying were derogatory, what they were saying could not be written home about. Now if these kind of people will change their tune, they will say what could be written home about as per the on-going work of the temple.
Shall we for the sake of clarity bent over backwards on this verse, briefly talking about what led the people to this stage.
Bible students know that before the countries of Israel and Judah were plundered and destroyed by the enemies, they have gone into ostentatious sins, the chief of which was idolatry. The Lord had been repeatedly warning them to desist from such act but they have refused, according to prophet Jeremy, the Lord was rising up early to talk to them through his messengers, the prophets, but they have refused to listen, even at night the Lord would send his messengers to them, but yet they rejected God's messages and continued in their sinful state and status un-abated. (Jer. 7:13, 25; 11:7; 12:7)
Jer 7:13 “And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not”
Jer 7:25 “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them”
Jer 11:7 “For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.”
Jer 12:7 “I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies”
Our parents know the importance of early morning talk or discussion and late at night discussion, and this is what God was emphasizing to the people through the prophets, that despite the fact that they knew the import of early morning and late at night discussions, just as he did, yet they did not change.
Their recalcitrant position grieved the Lord, moved him to anger and he removed his banner of love and protection over them, allowing the enemies to come into the land. The enemies entered in full force, destroyed their cities and they did not spare the temple from being destroyed.
When these countries were overtaken by the enemies they were led to the slavery lands.
Kind Nebuchadnezzer who was the king of Babylon and the most powerful person on their then world led them away, and there they were as slaves. After Nebuchadnezzar died, his heir assumed the throne, after his heir was his grand son and on and on like that until Darius became the king, the most powerful person in the land.
When Darius became the king he did not destroy the structure put in place by his fore parents which was having governors to rule (oversee) certain countries subject unto the Babylonian kingdom. One of the countries under the leadership of King Darius was Israel and Darius the king appointed Sheshbazzar (Zerubbabel) to govern the land of Israel.
The bible dictionary says Zerubbabel is a Babylonian name called Zerubabili which means the seed of Babylon. Sheshbazzar who alongside others had been slaves in the Babylonian seat of power was given a name in line with religion of the land, just as we shall all remember that the same happened to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. These people were given other names in tandem with the culture, custom and religion of the land (Daniel 1:6-7). The same thing also happened to Esther (Esther 2:7).
Dan 1:6 “Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:”
Dan 1:7 “Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego”
Est 2:7 “And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.”
I thence presume after Zerubbabel had undergone the studies of the land of Babylon and had been found worthy in character and studies, the King, Darius, made him ruler (governor) who shall be overseeing the affairs of the people who had been left behind in the land of Israel and will be reporting back to him.
After being crowned governor, he was sent to the land by the king alongside other released captives into his custody. As this happened, off they left for the land of Israel.
I shall be explaining this topic under these headings:
I. Why despise?
II. Why did he start?
III. How could he complete the work?
IV. Applications
I. WHY DESPISE? Zerubbabel after he got to the land of Israel saw the position of the country and above all the deplorable state of the temple and he was moved to tears by what he saw and purpoted in his heart to do something on what he has seen. History had it that as fate would have it, King Darius at this time was battling with some enemies which prevented him from focusing on the land of Israel, vizaviz, supervising the work which he had commanded Zerubbabel to be doing then. As a governor, an officer, who is in direct contact with the king, Darius, he made use of the presenting opportunity, that is the shift in focus, shift of attention, of the king from him to start the work of rebuilding the temple.
After laying the foundation of the temple, the people who had knew that he had deviated started to despise him that he was wasting his time, he was doing what the king had neither commanded him to do nor commissioned him to do. Zerubbabel was despised by these people because according to them he was doing what was not in the constitution, what was not in the budget, what has not been approved. I hope we get it to this point?
II. WHY DID HE START THE WORK? As i have above explained that when this governor, Zerubbabel and others returned to the land of Israel, the state of the country and most importantly that of the temple had broken down, the governor and he decided to do something on what he has seen.
(a) ZEAL: The zeal to re-construct the house of God consumed him when he returned to the country. He knew that the country was a vast place and couldn’t be rebuilt within frame of months unlike the temple, he thus concentrated on the reconstruction of the temple, to get a place for God where his people would go to to commune with Yahweh their God and his God who had brought him back to the land safe and in good health. (Psalms 69:9; 119:139)
Psa 69:9 “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me”.
Psa 119:139 “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.”
(b) GRASPING THE OPPORTUNITY: The zeal to reconstruct the temple that had consumed him made him grasp the opportunity when it presented itself. And what was the opportunity? The opportunity was that the king was battling with some enemies then which took all his time, energy, intelligence, workforce, military etc.
When Zerubbabel saw this he quickly and promptly grasped it, using it to build the temple. May we not miss the presenting opportunity to make it in life in Jesus name. Amen.
Some of us are as we are at the moment because our fathers or parents failed to make use of the presenting opportunity that appeared to them years, decades back. I am not talking about illegal opportunities. I am talking about genuine and legal opportunities. When those rare opportunities appear then, they do not want to try, they prefer their low estate and thence the opportunity slipped off.
(c) SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE (OR UNITY): There is nothing anyone could achieve in life if the person does not have the backing, support of the people. Zerubbabel knew that the work cannot be done alone despite being the governor thus he confided in some people and carried them along. Interestingly those he confided in share his dream with him and they wholly supported the move. This support really helped him in carrying out the work and in succeeding in the work despite the few ones who were despising him for taking that giant stride.
For a family to breakthrough, all members of the family must support the leadership of the family. For a husband to make it, he will enjoy the support of his wife so also is the wife, for her to make it, her hubby must support him, anything short of this would result in set backs.
A student who shall make it will be supported by his/her teachers, an institution that shall make it will receive support from all stakeholders of the institution.
The disciples were able to make it because of the unity amongst them. Jesus Christ could come to world because of the support he received from God and the heavenly beings.
What is it that you and I have been doing but we have not been making it? We may need to check this area, what is the level of support we are receiving from our spouses? What is the level of support we are receiving from our business partners, from our friends, from our fiance or fianceé, from our siblings, from our colleagues etc? If the level of support is nothing to write home about, that may be the source of the set back and if not addressed, we may be at that position for a long while to come.
Support or unity is very, very important in all our undertakings in the world. The God who created the heavens and the earth when he wanted to form man, knew the important of support and he thus briefed others of what he wanted to do, he could have gone ahead with our creation without telling them, but yet he told them because he wanted us to know and learn the importance of support or unity (Genesis 1:26).
Gen 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
King Solomon, whom majority of the Theologians believed to have authored the book of Ecclesiastes was talking about the importance of unity in chapter 4 and verse 12 of the book when he said, "and if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a THREEFOLD CORD is not quickly broken". This is where unity subsists. lf a boyfriend and his girlfriend or fiance and his fianceé are in unity, you will see that even if they are not immediately succeeding, the support one receives from the second would be the fire, the enigma that would keep the other person on and on, and inevitably both of them. Now when they are in unity, they will keep their secret verily secret such that no one would know what's happening amongst them. That is the power there!
Now, looking at the word I emphasised in the book of Ecclesiastes 4:12 above, we shall see that when a family or spouses or dating partners are in unity, one will find it hard to break them because they are now like the three standed cords. A twined cord cannot be easily broken or cut as one will cut a twine that is single stranded. Is there unity in our relationship? Is there unity between you and your spouse?
In the bible’s documentation of the birth of Jesus Christ we all know that Joseph did not sell out his spouse, Mary, against all odds, against myriads of querying that may likely be coming to him then, that is unity. And I think unity also comes from understanding of one another. Which Joseph and Mary possessed while they were in courtship. Do you understand the partner you are dating?
The people gave Zerubbabel support as such he could continue the work.
III. WHY HE COULD COMPLETE THE WORK: (a) Zerubbabel and his team were able to complete the work of rebuilding the temple because after the revolt that rose against the king was doused and the king became fully aware of what governor Zerubbabel was doing, the king supported him and infact sent a message to the effect requiring everyone to join hands with him in seeing that the work was done and done to perfection. (Zech. 4:7)
Zec 4:7 “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.”
All those who had initially been despising Zerubbabel based on the fact that he had gone out of his boundaries, based on the fact that he was executing projects which the king did not tell him to execute were put to shame when they heard that the king had supported the dream of his governor.
I perceive that some of them would not believe when they hear that the king had approved the work, they will be saying it couldnt be, they will be saying they were saying that to make the people happy, they would be saying those people were telling Top of Form
the populace what they wanted to hear just like our politicians today do tell the populace what they wanted to hear and they would not tell them the truth.
In this position and disposition were some of those people who were despising Zerubbabel were until they received an authenticated message from Babylonian seat of power, where the king resides. The king officially wrote them so that it would be clear to the doubting minds that he has indeed approved the work and not only approving, that he will equally support the work financially and in other ways to see that the work is not delayed and it is completed to time (Ezra 1:1)
Ezr 1:1 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”
The mountain of doubt was removed and there was no iota of doubt again as per whether the king would grant the continuation of the work or nay.
(b) The Spirit of God as said by the prophet Zechariah in verse 6 started to work and it was by this Spirit that the work could be continued as well as being perfected.
"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6)
When governor Zerubbabel started the work of the temple, the prophet had approached him by the word of the Lord that the Yahweh Lord has seen his zeal to rebuild the temple and that he should continue with the work. The work was at first approved by Yahweh God because the work was in tandem with the will of God. When our works are in consonance with the will of God, nothing could stand in its way of execution.
After the prophet had uttered this, the prophet now told the governor that he needs to caution, what should he be cautious of? He should be cautious of self, he should not rely on himself, he should not rely on the arms of flesh because the arms of flesh will fail him. This was what the prophet said by the word of God. We all know that when one wants to start something like that there is every tedency that one will say that even if it means i be desposed for starting this, I dont mind, one may say even if I lose my life for embarking on this project, I dont mind. And anyone who is nurturing such notion or thought would definitely want to prepare for war, would want to combat those who may want to come and stop him from doing that work. This God had seen, and the need for him to send his servant the prophet to the governor that he should not be afraid, that the work would be perfectly done. Albeit, in doing (executing) the work, he must not rely on his might nor the might of anyone at that, he must not rely on his human power, because by doing this the work would not be done. What would however make the work to be perfectly done is the Spirit of the Lord God Almighty, the prophet stated. May I also add that does the prophet or God by this word then means that Zerubbabel and others should go to bed and not employ their human might and power into the on going construction work? The answer to this is No, God does not mean that. What he meant was that they should not rely on human strength, wisdom and power to overcome the enemies but they should put their trust in God to see them through what they have started. When Governor Zerubbabel heard this he allowed the Spirit of God to take control although the physical preparations and arrangements were not stopped because they were by faith counting on God to crown those preparations. When God discovered the disposition of his servant, governor Zerubbabel towards this, he stirred up the spirit of the king to support the work after the king had been relieved from the troubles, enemies confronting him. (Ezra 1:1)
Ezr 1:1 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”
(c) Divine Supplies: King Darius issued out command that the work should not be stopped but that all hands should be on deck to see to the completion of the started work. When an executive order had been issued, others had no option other than supporting the project by bringing (supplying) to them all they needed for the work.
IV. APPLICATION
(a) Marital: You may have been despised by family members and friends on whom you want to marry..., or may be you have even married the person people despised you on..., this is the word for you today that all who have despised you would say another thing about you and that marriage when they see what God is doing in your family.
(b) Academics: You may have been despised on the kind of course you are doing in the college of Education, Polytechnic, University, saying such course(s) is not lucrative in our land, and you have been counselled to change the course, but you yet insisted in continuing with the course, and now, they are watching to see what will happen to you after you have finished the course. Do not be afraid, trust in the Lord as did Zerubbabel and those people will start saying another thing about you in a short while.
(c) Fellowship: this Youth Fellowship may have been despised by some people, they may have been saying the fellowship will die a natural death, I want us to have it in mind that as long as we continue to allow the Spirit of the Lord to lead us, that wishful thought of theirs would not see the light of the day because the fellowship would grow from might to might in Jesus name. Amen.
(d) Business: You may be new in the business you are doing and it seems as if all is not falling into place for you, and now the enemies have started to despise you saying, a business she or he knows little or nothing about she or he has entered into it, it is true at the moment, but always know that we do not bring anything into the world, and I know if you open your eyes very well, you will sure overcome the present presenting challenges and even overtake those whom you have met in the trade. All you need is openness to learn, openness to the Spirit of God, and things will change. Do you know that we cannot learn everything about a trade from a master or tutor during training, when we get into the field we would meet different things and then our intelligence would be swung into action.
May I stop here? People will change their tune on what we are doing when we allow the Spirit of God to take control, in allowing Spirit to take control we are not saying we will stand idle, no, but we are saying the Spirit of the Lord will remove all obstacles, all barriers that may want to debar us from advancing in life....
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