After the Storm

II Four Explanatory Messages

B The Response

3 Restoration, Text: 8:1-17

Title: After the Storm

Introduction

We cannot understand Biblical prophecy apart from the fate of Jerusalem. The theme of this passage is God’s promises to bless Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city of God. Of course that means it is His dwelling, but it also means it is His throne wherever that is. Jerusalem has both an earthly location and a heavenly location. There is a Jerusalem that is below and a Jerusalem that is above. In Hebrews 12:22-24 the author reminds the Jewish converts who have believed in Jesus that they are no longer in the earthly Jerusalem. The hub of their faith is no longer on this earth and the earthly Jerusalem is no longer the center for their worship. He says, But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Likewise the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 4:25 and 26, 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. What this means to us is that in our understanding and interpreting the words of the prophets, like Zechariah, we must see that the promises regarding Jerusalem are not only speaking of Jerusalem in the present, but also of Jerusalem in the future: not only of an earthly but also of a heavenly Jerusalem. Thus if we trace the history of Jerusalem we begin with Abraham’s vision of a city whose builder and maker is God, to the establishment under King David, the glory under Solomon, the destruction by the Babylonians, the restoration after the captivity, the role in the crucifixion of Jesus, the final destruction under the Romans, the metamorphosis into the church as the city of God, and the final transformation into the heavenly city of Revelation 21 and 22. With this in mind we look at the promises of God regarding Jerusalem that it will be a place of sanctuary, safety, success and sanctity.

I Sanctuary

The idea of a sanctuary is initially mentioned in verses 1-3, and implied throughout the rest of the passage. God will be there, for we read, Again the word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.” This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.” Ezekiel was a prophet of the captivity and we read in his third chapter that the Holy of Holies, which contained the throne of God between the cherubim is moved. God had made Jerusalem and the temple the place of His throne for centuries and the Psalmists celebrated that fact. Zion was the place where the Lord dwelt, the temple was destroyed, and now the throne goes to Babylon where the people are, and carries the prophet with it. It says in verses 12-15, Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing. It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days —deeply distressed. The cherubim who guard the throne, seen in Ezekiel 1, have carried it to a foreign land. Here is the lesson for us as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4: 21-23 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. If God is not there it’s not His city, not His temple, not His church, not His people, and this proposition is for all time.

II Safety

Any place where God dwells is a safe place for those who trust in Him. In this passage God pictures that safety in verses 4-8, This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.” To the decimated inhabitants who had returned from Babylon this description would be too wonderful to believe, but as God says it will not seem marvelous to Him because, as we know, He is the God of the impossible. As you know the children of Abraham did not all return from the captivity and there was never a regathering equal to what is described here. In fact, the Jews were scattered all over he globe and especially in European countries in which many of them were later persecuted, harassed and tyrannized. Then in 1948 some people thought the creation of the nation Israel meant the regathering was taking place, but that is absurd given the fact that there are reputedly more Jewish People in New York than there are in Israel. So, what is the regathering? The city of God to which they are gathered is the church of Jesus Christ and the people gathered are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. Here there is true safety and shelter because Jesus said in John 10:7-10 and 27-30, Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full…My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

III Success

This restoration will be accompanied with success of every kind according to verses 9-13, This is what the Lord Almighty says: “You who now hear these words spoken by the prophets who were there when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty, let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built. Before that time there were no wages for man or beast. No one could go about his business safely because of his enemy, for I had turned every man against his neighbor. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty. “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. As you have been an object of cursing among the nations, O Judah and Israel, so will I save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.” On the one hand the attempts at rebuilding would be successful because God was removing obstacles. Internal struggles and rivalries would be ended. There would be ample supplies and compensation. There would be ample food, and their enemies who mocked their efforts would be stymied. Therefore they were to be strong and move forward. On the other hand their efforts would not result in achieving the former glory. The result would pale in comparison to the glory of the kingdom in the days of Solomon. This was the will of the Lord because he had something better planned. It was a city with Christ as the foundation, grace as the ruling principle and eternal glory as its future. It was a spiritual temple and a spiritual city and we call it the Church of Jesus Christ. It was a city built upon the gospel of Christ and the gates of hell could not overcome it. So the practical exhortations here apply not only to the Jews rebuilding after the captivity, but to us today as we endeavor to build the kingdom of God. Be strong, be fruitful, be a blessing.

IV Sanctity

Sanctified things are things set aside for a sacred purpose. The city is sanctified because God has made it so as we read in verses 14-17, This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity when your fathers angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord. That which is sanctified is protected and guarded and therefore there is no reason to fear. In the Bible God sanctifies places, things, and people. When he sanctifies people he is setting them aside to do His will. Thus, the residents of this city of God are commanded to do the things that God loves and not the things he hates. These are enumerated as public things, private things and priestly things. In our social relations we are to have just judgments. In our private lives we are to respect our neighbors, and in our faith we are to swear truly. Thus last command is more than simply telling the truth although it involves that. It is directed specifically at vows and pledges of allegiance to God. The history of Israel is a history of people who honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. This was swearing falsely. They said they loved God but they served themselves. As followers of Christ the same failure threatens us. Paul makes this very clear in his discussion in I Corinthians 10:1-10 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did —and were killed by the destroying angel. We being sanctified in Christ should remember that, “these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things.”