It May Seem Impossible

There are times in life when things may seem impossible. Our destination may seem to be a long way off but God, through His word, offers us encouragement that it is not impossible and will surely come to pass. Today I want us to be encouraged that the impossible will come to pass.

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Background

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In 586 BC, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem and taken most of its inhabitants into exile (2 Kgs 25:1–21). The Bible describes how Jerusalem was burned and plundered. They took all of the gold, silver and other important vessels of the the temple away into Babylon. They burned the temple, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. They broke down the walls around Jerusalem and they carried the people away into exile although they left some of the poor to care for the vineyards and fields.

Despite this catastrophe, God promised through various prophets to restore the people to the land (Jer 25:11–12; 29:10; Ezek 36:24). The partial fulfillment of this promise occurred in 539 BC, when the Persian king Cyrus allowed the Jews in exile to return to the land and to rebuild the temple (compare the so-called “Cyrus Cylinder”; 2 Chr 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–4). The Cyrus Cylinder is important because it shows that the common elements of ANE royal propaganda were also used by the Persian conqueror: for example the cylindar speaks about restoration of the temples, good care for the gods, the return of the captured exiles and the statues of the deities. This is how the Bible describes the situation as well and was what led to the Jews being able to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

Though the Jews were initially enthusiastic to undertake these two tasks of returning and rebuilding, they soon encountered internal and external opposition. This caused construction work on the second temple to stop until the second year of King Darius (Ezra 4:24). Following Haggai and Zechariah’s exhortation for the Jews to finish what they had started, construction restarted in 520 BC (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). Thus Zechariah the prophet appears on the scene in 520 BC. The temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius (515 BC; compare Ezra 6:15). The prophet Zechariah was sent by God to encouarge the people at a time when they were coming off 70 years of exile.

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An Exalted Jerusalem

Zechariah starts his message with a reminder to the exiles who have returned to the land. He reminds them that it was the stubborness and rebelliousness of their ancestors that caused them to go into captivity. God reminds them that they were warned what would happen and that He had made good on that warning;

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Zechariah 1:5–6 NLT

“Where are your ancestors now? They and the prophets are long dead. But everything I said through my servants the prophets happened to your ancestors, just as I said. As a result, they repented and said, ‘We have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He has done what he said he would do.’ ”

These returning exilees had experienced first hand that when God gives a royal decree it is certain to take place. In the same way, through the experiences of God’s dealings with us, we know that He is righteous and that His word comes to pass.

But we know that if God brings His word to pass in discipline, He will certainly bring it to pass in times of mercy.

This deep experience with God’s discipline allows the people to also trust in the messages of hope that The Almighty had proclaimed through Zechariah.

At a time when Jerusalem lay in ruins before their eyes, all throughout the book Zechariah speaks to them about a time when Jerusalem will be exalted.

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Zechariah 1:16–17 NLT

“ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I have returned to show mercy to Jerusalem. My Temple will be rebuilt, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and measurements will be taken for the reconstruction of Jerusalem.’ “Say this also: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The towns of Israel will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem as his own.’ ”

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Zechariah 8:20–23 NLT

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let’s worship the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing. “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”

When our physical eyes tell us one thing God’s word opens our spiritual eyes to see the certainty of another.

The exilees receive a message like this while they are standing before a hole in the ground where the temple used to be.

What once seemed an impossibility was now within their grasp. They would soon see Jerusalem thrive.

But even beyond the immediate, Zechariah showed them a time in the distant future when Jerusalem would be exalted above all other nations.

They worked diligently with this fresh hope despite the circumstances being less than ideal.

How will we respond when our circumstances are less than ideal but the word of God is clear about our exalted future?

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In His Method and Timing

Zech is filled with great expectations delivered for the encouragement of the returning exiles. Earlier we spoke about the proclamation of Cyrus and the Cyrus cynlinder. Here is how the Bible describes his proclamation.

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2 Chronicles 36:22–23 NLT

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”

You may be temtped to read a passage like that and think that Cyrus has decided to put his faith in the God of Israel as the Most High, a true devotion to the Creator, but this is not the case. The fact is that God used an evil king to accomplish His purpose. Cyrus was interested in his own agenda, to spread propaganda throughout the empires and put himself forward as a noble ruler, gaining the favour of all gods and peoples. You see, he did this for many nations that were captured by Babylon.

The truth is that God uses a mortal ruler with evil and selfish intentions to accomplish His purpose. He raised Cyrus up and accomplished His purpose in the proper time. This is in fact how God displays His soveriengty and command of the universe. We might ask, “why doesn’t God simply snap His fingers and stop all the madness in the world?” I don’t think anyone has a perfect answer to this question for His ways are above ours, but in my opinion it seems to me that God has decided to administer His rule on the principles of justice and due process and it is His strict adherece to His own principles that appears to us as ‘delay’ or ‘inaction’.

I was once on a work trip with an athiest colleauge and we got into a spirited conversation. Ultimately it came down to this very issue, my colleauge said;

“with all the evil in this world why isn’t God doing anything about it? I can’t believe in a God like that.”

And my response was;

“Ah but God is doing something about it, in fact He gave up sent His only son for the sake of His creation. So, He is doing something about it, but it is just that you don’t like His decisions on how to deal with it and the timeline that He has decided to implement those decisions.”

As God’s people in this world we need to be submissive to His method and His timing in all things.

The people were brought back from captivity after a long 70 years when God used a pagan ruler like Cyrus to bring it about. And God didn’t return them with a large army to fight off those that opposed the rebuilding of the temple, no, the people tried to start but had to wait years before the opportunity presented itself.

However, this message of method and timing is not only for God’s people. This message is for all of God’s creation. Zerubbabel was one of the captives who returned to Jerusalem and he was one of the main leaders of the people of Israel who desired to build the temple. A message of encouragement was given to him through Zechariah.

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Zechariah 4:6–7 NLT

Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’ ”

You see, this message of method and timing is also for the enemies of God to come to terms with. Even they must realise that nothing is truly accomplished by human will. Here Zerubbabel is told that it is God’s Spirit that determines the outcome of man and because of that he can be assured, encouraged, confident that nothing will stand in the way of the rebuilding of the temple becuase the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it!

This is an encouragement for you as well. When we face opposition from men that would prevent us in worshipping our king we must remember that the sovereign God of the universays it is not by might nor by power but by only by His Spirit.

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The Day of the Lord

An exalted Jerusalem might seem impossible for those now building the temple. But through Zechariah the Holy Spirit reminds the people that in the future they won’t have to rely on their own strength, for on that day the Lord will fight their battles.

Tine doesn’t permit a full investigation into the topic so a cursory review will have to suffice. The Scripture uses a range of descriptions for The Day of the Lord.

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“The Day of the Lord’s Judgment”

“The Day of the Lord’s anger” (Lam 2:22; Zeph 2:2–3)

“The Day of the Lord’s wrath” (Zeph 1:18)

“The great and terrible Day of the Lord” (Mal 4:5)

“In That Day or On That Day” (Zech 14.6)

There are also certain themes we see conntected with this day;

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Cosmic Events (Zech 14; Joel 2); Darkness (Joel 2:2; Amos 5:18–20; Zeph 1:15); Fire (Joel 2:3; Zeph 1:18; Mal 4:1; see also 2 Pet 3:10); War (Joel 2:7; Zeph 1:14–16); The Lord of Hosts (armies) (Isa 13:4; Amos 3:13; Zeph 2:9–10); Imminence (Isa 13:6; Ezek 7:7; 30:3; Joel 1:15; Zeph 1:7, 14; Obad 1:15); Renewal (Isa 35:1–10; Joel 3:18–20; Amos 9:11–12; Zeph 3:12–20; see also 2 Pet 3:13).

The Bible indicates several “days” of the Lord will have taken place before the final judgment arrives. The prophets warn the northern kingdom of Israel as well as the southern kingdom of Judah that they will be defeated by a foreign power if they do not return to the Lord. Their days of judgment seemingly takes place when the Assyrians attacked and destroyed Israel in 722 bc. and the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 586 bc.

In other words the Day of the Lord is a theme referring to God’s judgement and invovlement in His creation. Only the context will determine whether the Day of the Lord is referring to the final judgement or to another judgement. Nevertheless, in all of these instances in history of God bringing judgement we will find a glimpse of an ultimate Day of the Loard still to come.

The Day of the Lord doesn’t have to be a single day. If I said to you, “back in my day I was top of my class”, then first of all I’d be lying, but second I don’t mean that back in that 24hr period. So we need to allow language to have the proper flexibility where called for. When God used Babylon to judge Jerusalem, there was a process to that and it didn’t happen in a single 24hr period. Nebuchadnezzar’s army came, camped, sieged, built a seige wall, starved the people in Jerusalem over a period of time, and then broke into the city and destroyed the temple (2 Kings 25).

But the main point for us regarding the Day of the Lord is that although it may seem impossible to the small hopepless band of exiles, Zechariah says that they don’t have to worry about their lack of strength, because one day God Himself will fight for Israel. This must have been a real source of encouragement for the people.

You see, this is what the people faced in oppostion:

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Ezra 4:4–7 NLT

Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne. Years later when Xerxes began his reign, the enemies of Judah wrote a letter of accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Even later, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, the enemies of Judah, led by Bishlam, Mithredath, and Tabeel, sent a letter to Artaxerxes in the Aramaic language, and it was translated for the king.

What did they say in the letter? They said:

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Ezra 4:13 NLT

And the king should know that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, it will be much to your disadvantage, for the Jews will then refuse to pay their tribute, customs, and tolls to you.

And the king responds back;

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Ezra 4:21–22 NLT

Therefore, issue orders to have these men stop their work. That city must not be rebuilt except at my express command. Be diligent, and don’t neglect this matter, for we must not permit the situation to harm the king’s interests.”

And so the result;

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Ezra 4:23–24 NLT

When this letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai, and their colleagues, they hurried to Jerusalem. Then, with a show of strength, they forced the Jews to stop building. So the work on the Temple of God in Jerusalem had stopped, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.

So this lasted from King Cyrus all the way to King Darius of Persia - in other words - this opposition started from 539bc and lasted 20 years! And no only were the enemies against them, the book of Nehemiah tells us that there were people within Israel itself who did nothinig but complain and naysay.

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Nehemiah 4:10–11 NLT

Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.” Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, “Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.”

Sometimes those within our closest circles will be the ones wearing us down. The oppostion was so strong that the people had to rebuild with swords at the ready, half building half watching.

And this is backdrop when God sends Zechariah and Haggai, in 520bc to tell these returned exiles not to give up! You can now appreciate the power of Zechariah’s future prophecies in passages like these;

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Zechariah 12:3 NLT

On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.

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Zechariah 14:3–5 NLT

Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.

This rag tag group of exiles with opposition on all sides from the strongest empires on earth are being told the Day of the Lord’s wrath is coming and He Himself will come down in judgement.

I can imagine this would have been almost impossible for the people to believe given their circumstances. But God sends a timely word for His people to encourage them. They had to really be questioning what God was doing on His throne up there in Heaven - “Lord, why rescue us out of the stronghold of Babylonian captivity, through a miracle only for us to fail in restoring your worship?”

This is the lesson for us. Sometimes God puts opposition in our paths, opposition outside the camp and within the camp, to see if we will trust Him and allow us to exercise our faith in His sovereignty.

But we can be assured just as they were that there is a Day of Judgement coming. Have faith, Jerusalem will be exalted was the message. Our house of praise will be rebuilt. The fallen sukkah of David will be restored.

I spoke earlier about the spiritual eyes we need to have. We need to recongise that when the people of God face opposition on earth it is because their enemies are following the orders of their god. As spiritual people we need to understand that there is a spiritual realm where the adversary seeks to oppose those determined to do God’s will.

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Zechariah 3:1–2 TLV

Then he showed me Joshua the kohen gadol standing before the angel of Adonai and the satan, standing at his right hand to accuse him. Adonai said to the satan, ‘Adonai rebukes you, the satan. Indeed Adonai, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. Is not this man a brand plucked out of the fire?’

The enemies of the exiles didn’t want the people to rebuild the temple, offer woship and be cleansed from their inqiuity. Here we see the reason the earthly enemies of the returning exilees were sending letters of opposition to the kings. It is because in the spiritual realm in heaven the great accuser was standing in opposition to the cleansing of their representative, Joshua the High Priest, to prevent him from being purified. But what does God say, he rebukes HaSatan and declares, Joshua should be clean from iniquity and temple worship restored. And as God delcared it in heaven it evenutally became a reality on earth as the exilees were encouraged to continue and eventually they did rebuild the temple 5 years later in 515bc.

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A Future Hope

When the returning exiles came to Jeruslem, the old temple that Solomon built no longer existed but they wanted to offer sacrifices to the Lord. And so the first thing the people did was build the altar and commenced sacrifices morning and evening as required in the Torah. Their desire was so strong to worship God that they did this despite the presence of their enemies. Ezra tells us;

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Ezra 3:3–4 TLV

They set up the altar on its fixed resting place despite their fear of the peoples of the lands and they offered burnt offerings on it to Adonai, both the morning and the evening sacrifices. They also kept the Feast of Sukkot as it is written and offered the prescribed number of daily burnt offerings according to the requirement for each day.

You’ll notice that they began doing this around the festival of Sukkot. So here we have a remnant, defeated, bruised and now threatened doing whatever they can to worship and celebrate the feast. As mentioned, this was around 539bc. Fast forward 20 years and God sends Zechariah to bring the message of a future hope.

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Zechariah 14:16 TLV

Then all the survivors from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot, and to celebrate Sukkot.

Here the very enemies of God will go up to Jeruslam in honor of the King. It’s as if Zechariah is saying don’t be afraid of these people who threaten for there will soon come a Sukkot when the very enemies of God will bow their knee and join in worship every Sukkot to offer me my offerings!

We of course know who this king is that they will worship. The ultimate future hope that Zechariah speaks about all throughout his prophecies is that of a Davidic king, a branch of David, one who was pierced whom the Jewish people will mourn for. Yeshua is the one we hope for.

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Revelation 7:9–10 NLT

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

One day we will wave the Palm Branches, the Lulav, before our king Yeshua.

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Revelation 7:15–17 TLV

For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His Temple. The One seated on the throne will shelter them. They shall never again go hungry, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

We will stand in his temple before his throne and he will shelter us, be a Sukkah for us. This is related to the word for sukkah in the greek. And just as Zechariah says on that day living waters, mayim chaim, will flow out of Jerusalem so we learn here that Yeshua our king will guide us to springs of living water.

This is our future hope just as it was theirs.

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Conclusion

The bible tells us how they gave praise and thanks when they laid the foundation of the temple. They sang a song; “For He is good, For His mercy upon Israel endures forever”. When we celebrate the feast and sing hodu l’adonai ki tov, ki l’olam chasdo we are participating in a long standing tradition linked to the people of God throughout the ages.

Just as they held on tightly to the visions, to the hope, to the promises let us also hold on tightly. What seems impossible for men is not impossible for God. Jerusalem will again be exalted.

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Zechariah 8:4–6 NLT

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem’s streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play. “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The turth is, that when we read the word impossible in english, the word in Hebrew is actually is Peleh. We’ve spoke about that word before.

“All this may seem too wonderous to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it too wonderous for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”