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. Zech 4:6 (NLT)
Israelites, Broken Walls and Exile – The Spirit Series – Part 1
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8
Around 600 BCE, the Israelites were overcome and slaughtered by the Babylonians in a bloodthirsty and horrific war. Those who were not tortured and killed were taken captive and exiled to Babylon.
There, the Israelites lived among the Babylonians – with them, but not ‘of’ them. Decades later, the remaining Israelites were left only with their parents memories to recall their home; Jerusalem. They were told what it looked like, smelt like… how their parents and grandparents would buy food from the market, and pray at the Temple. Their history lived on through story: stories about the kings that had ruled and reigned, the years of war and the years of peace; how God had promised that he would establish his kingdom in their city, and that his light would shine from it. These stories were more than words and anecdotes: they carried a deep homesickness, a tangible heartache, and if you listened carefully, a whole lot of hope.
We meet Zechariah at a time where, through a series of miraculous and supernatural events, the Babylonian King, Cyrus, had decreed that the Israelites could return to their ruined city, rebuild it, and move back in. Those returning had never seen Jerusalem before. They were born in captivity in Babylon, a nation not their own, with only the wondrous stories of their parents to provide them with a ‘Jerusalem' framework.
But few of those stories would have prepared them for what they saw…
The city and temple were in complete ruin. Buildings left half standing by war and weather, were being eaten alive by vines and vegetation, being pulled back into the earth. It was a mere shadow of what it was. As they looked at their city for the first time, it would have dawned on them just how much work was ahead. Infrastructure, marketplaces, government, education… They would have to start again from scratch. Pioneer. There were no houses to live in, so they slept under trees and gazed at stars, woke in the dry heat or blistering cold. They spent their days digging wells and sewage pits, making bricks and clearing the ground. The miracle of their freedom and release from the Babylonians was also a gift that involved back-breaking hard work, and perhaps at times, was too much to bear.
There is a level of comfort in our brokenness – or exile. We can stay still, hunkered down, confined and restricted. When in this position long enough, moving with freedom can be challenging. You need to stretch out those legs, build strength into your mind and body, work through the pain, learn new skills, overcome fear… it’s no small feat.
Have you ever had that experience? Yearned for something your whole life, but when it's granted to you, you feel like you can’t keep up with it?
Breaking out of old ways and into new ones, even ones that you've hoped and dreamed for all your life, is something that takes courage, determination, and faith. You can’t force it. You can’t make it happen. Physical strength, intelligence, and knowledge won’t be enough to get you across the line.
You need spirit.
I know I’ve been quoting him a lot lately, but Ricard Rohr says, “We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.”
To go from being exiles and slaves in a foreign land, to being the rebuilders and pioneers of their home country, the only way the Israelites could make it work was to LIVE their way through the process.
It was in this season that God said to Zechariah, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,”
Go to Part 2 – Freedom and Hard Work »
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