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. Zech 4:6 (NLT)

Part One – Years Returned

70 years earlier, a war had raged against the Israelites. They were defeated and those who survived were carried off in captivity exiled to Babylon. All those years they lived among the Babylonians, with them but not of them. As they had children and the years continued to fly by, those who were originally from Jerusalem told their children stories of their home city. What it looked like, what it smelled like… how they would go to the markets and the temple, the kings that had ruled and reigned, the years of war and the years of peace… how God had promised throughout the ages that he would establish his kingdom in that grand city and his light would shine from it. Stories that carried a deep homesickness and heartache, and maybe, perhaps, a dash of hope.

Now, through a series of miraculous and divine events, the Babylonian King Cyrus had decreed that the Israelites could return to their ruined city and rebuild, re-inhabit and begin again. Most of those who ventured on this incredible journey back had never seen the city before. Born in Babylon, they had only heard stories of it, touched it only in their dreams. They could only imagine what awaited them back in Israel. And what a sight they would have been met with.

The city and temple were in complete ruin. Buildings half demolished, covered in vines as the land began to take over what was left. Hiding it away, pulling it all back into the earth. Infrastructure, marketplaces, government, education… They were ‘pioneering.’ They had to start again; overwhelmed with the task ahead, and not entirely sure where to start. They would have slept under trees gazing at stars, waking in the dry heat or blistering cold, spending their days digging wells and sewage pits, making bricks and clearing ground. What was a glorious miracle – being released and returned – was also back breaking hard work, and at times, too much to bear. There is a level of comfort found in our brokenness – or exile. A reason to stay still and hunker down. When in this position long enough, to start to move with freedom can be a challenge. You need to stretch out, build strength, work through the pain, learn new skills, overcome fear… it’s no small feat at all.

It was in this season that Zechariah had a vision. He saw a gold lampstand with a bowl on it, 7 other lamp stands, and two olive trees which supplied oil through the 7 lamps and into the bowl. Oil has always signified the ‘anointing’ and ‘spirit’ of God in the Old Testament. God was sending a message to the Israelites, and Zerubbabel (their leader), that there was no need to force the rebuilding – conjure up strength, manipulate and whip people into working. It would have been tempting for the leaders to force the remnant to work harder, drive them to finish sooner; push and demand and strive. But, just as the olive trees provided oil for the lamp stands, the spirit would move upon hearts and within bodies, strengthening them for the task ahead. Just as the Israelites didn’t need to revolt, or declare war upon Babylon and their King Cyrus to be set free, so the spirit would move again, and again, and again… and would keep on being a constant flow of strength and source of joy through their brokenness. Fulfilling weakness and sowing grace and love into the fabric of their lives.

Go to Part Two – Mountain Great