A Man with a Mission

 

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

—Zechariah 4:6

Have you ever heard the name “Zerubbabel”? He is a very important individual in the history of the Jewish people.

Sometime between 538 B.C. and 520 B.C., following the nation of Babylon carrying off the Southern Kingdom of Judah—Judah consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, plus the priestly tribe of Levi—Zerubbabel led a group of Jewish people back to the land from which they had been captured. Among his many accomplishments, Zerubbabel laid the foundation for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.

An important person in Zerubbabel’s life was the Prophet Zechariah. It should be no surprise then, that Zechariah pens these words found in Zechariah 4:1-6:

Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

You can imagine the pressure that Zerubbabel felt to bring to fruition the restoration of Jerusalem, the return of the Jewish people from captivity, and the construction of the new Temple. But, a word comes from God, given through the angel to Zechariah and, ultimately, to Zerubbabel.

And, what was that message: “You can’t do this alone. You must rely on God’s power. Only through the powerful intervention of the Holy Spirit can you achieve what God has placed in your heart to do.”

As followers of God through His Son, Jesus, we “Christ’s-ones” need to recognize that Zechariah’s word can easily apply to us today. As we begin a new day, we need to rely on the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Whatever God may have put in our hearts to do, we will be able to accomplish it only by fully relying on the power of the Spirit.

 

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