RESET REBUILD
We shared last week about Israel returning home to Jerusalem after seventy years of being in bondage in Babylon, and now the 50,000 exiles are under the leadership of Zerubbabel who was in charge of the rebuilding of the temple which was destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar had demolished the city of Jerusalem . The first thing that they did was the rebuilding of the altar of sacrifice which launched them into a new future. I likened this reset for God’s people at that time to the r...
RESET REBUILD
We shared last week about Israel returning home to Jerusalem after seventy years of being in bondage in Babylon, and now the 50,000 exiles are under the leadership of Zerubbabel who was in charge of the rebuilding of the temple which was destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar had demolished the city of Jerusalem . The first thing that they did was the rebuilding of the altar of sacrifice which launched them into a new future. I likened this reset for God’s people at that time to the reset we can prepare ourselves for at this moment in history Everything had come to a standstill for them –There are parallels in this story in Israel’s experiencing of a reset of their place as God’s people in the Earth, and the Church’s experiencing of a coming reset of taking its place as a witness for God in the Earth today.
The next thing for Zerubbabel to do was to survey and lay down the foundation of the temple. There was not only no foundation and no temple there was no real city, and there were no walls – and that meant they were open to enemy attack, and they had to learn how to deal with that. Pressures that came from having to re-settle had drained their energies, and comparisons to stories of the glory of Solomon's temple began to breed discouragement that they could never rebuild this temple as glorious as that one, if at all.
Where do you start? It is hard to get started when there is discouragement. But they knew they had to just start. They were facing a time of enormous change but they had started with the right project – the altar of sacrifice, and then came the temple foundation, and after that there would be the temple.
It was going to be hard work, and that never changes because hard work will always be hard work, but what does change is our faith. That is based on knowing that God is with us and God is for us, no matter what comes against us. Zechariah who was a prophet of Judah at the time was directed by God to encourage and instruct Zerubbabel.
Zechariah 4:2-10 "This is God's message to Zerubbabel: `Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty-- you will succeed because of my Spirit, though you are few and weak.' 7 Therefore no mountain, however high, can stand before Zerubbabel! It will flatten out before you! You have laid the foundation of this Temple and you will finish building it with its capstone in its place shouting 'grace and thanksgiving' for God's mercy, declaring that all was done by grace alone. (Then you will know these messages are from God, the Lord Almighty.)"… Another message that I received from the Lord said: 10 Do not despise this day of small beginnings, for the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin, to see the plumbline in the hand of Zerubbabel.
FOUNDATIONS AND THE CORNERSTONES
In relation to architecture, a cornerstone is traditionally the first stone laid for the foundation of a structure, with all the other stones laid in reference to that. The cornerstone marks the geographical location by orienting a building in a specific line of direction.
I would like to read a Scripture from Isaiah is quoted in the Gospels and Epistles about Jesus being the cornerstone and foundation of the Church.
Isaiah 28:16 Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will be ready.’ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line;
THE FOUNDATION
The Church is God’s living temple today, the Body of Christ, and Jesus is the foundation upon which our lives, individually and corporately are being rebuilt and restored. When the church shares the common foundational apostolic and prophetic truth of growing up together into His life we begin to occupy that precious ground of truth and are called to build upon that foundation.
1Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Part of the reset of the Church is the rebuilding together upon that foundation of apostolic and prophetic truth that brings the unity that is called the ‘unity of the faith’.
Ephesians 4:13 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
The unity of the faith is not defined solely by articles of faith agreed upon by the different councils of the Church .These have been gifted to us through the centuries, because as true and substantial as these may be, they can tend to represent the ‘complete’ fund of the knowledge of God. I personally embrace these confessions of faith as part of sacred tradition, but I do not see them as exhausting the work of the Holy Spirit in leading us into ALL truth as he reveals Jesus to us through his word.
The unity of the faith is simply the expression of the life of Christ being lived out individually and corporately wherever we are and whatever ethnic or cultural background we have. There have been times in the past when there was the need for the reset of reformation throughout the history of the church because of misleading doctrines of man made errors of emphasis or self serving agendas. There are doctrines based on valid Scriptures that are not necessarily part of that foundation in the sense that for the time being they remain veiled or obscure, like what will be the lifestyle management structure of the millennium? Arguments and uncertainties abound about these Scriptures that bring division, not unity. I have a real certainty about the millennium – It is that whatever the millennium will be, it will be nothing like what I would have imagined.
There are foundational doctrines that become distorted because they are more about ‘my will be done’ rather than ‘thy will be done’. The doctrine of the power of Jesus for forgiveness and salvation itself becomes narrowed and limited to a predestined ‘elect’. Doctrines of healing become demands of healing from God just by quoting a verse of Scripture at him, whether or not the person actually gets healed. I see a prayer for healing get answered when I see a person actually healed. God does these things of course when he WILLS them to be done. I do not see these failed acts of misled zeal as always the craftiness in deceitful schemes mentioned in that verse from Ephesians above, but rather as an incomplete understanding of faith. People get possessed by an idea, and it can be a good idea, but it is not a God idea, and the idea ends up possessing them They become possessed by an idea that brings agonizing striving for it to succeed and just as agonizing justification for its many failures. An idea is incomplete when it it’s manifestation in reality is not completed, and so that person’s faith life is incomplete. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and shared this concern with them.
2Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from the simple and pure devotion to Christ.
THE CORNERSTONE AND THE PLUMBLINE
The plumb line touches the foundation spot on at the Cornerstone – Jesus. Everything becomes straight up and down when it comes from heaven to earth through Jesus and then touches us and goes back to Heaven through Jesus, without who we can do nothing, and through whom we can do all things. When the plumb line is dragged across to some point on the field of that foundation where one of those incomplete ideas of faith is energized by our urgency to see something supernatural happen that plumb line is not straight up and down anymore - there’s an angle.
The plumb line speaks of the vertical touching of Heaven and earth and about how that can be measured in our lives. We are part of both Heaven and earth through Jesus and The Holy Spirit. The plumb line plumbs the depth of our alignment with The Holy Spirit’s revelation of God’s Word to us, and our harmony and devotion to Jesus. So that is both about the knowing of God through his Word and in the living out of his life within us.
Not only do we need to ponder the wonder of receiving the life of Jesus into our lives, but more importantly to marvel at and deliberate upon the desire of Jesus to receive us into his life and to share with him in his loving and obedient life with The Father.
Deliberate on the simple truth of who God is through the revelation of what the Word (Logos) says that HE says about HIMSELF.
Jeremiah 9:24 I anyone wants to boast about anything let them boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and uprightness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
There are some things coming out of this that you can say to yourself about God;
ONE – You love me with an everlasting love. That teaches me to love.
TWO – Your justice means that I receive mercy and am accepted despite my shortcomings. Your justice also means that because you love me you will discipline me so that I can say ‘You are right (always) and I am wrong (mostly) – and that teaches me about repentance.
THREE – Your uprightness means that you will always guide me in the path of your wisdom and truth and provide your best for my life. That teaches me about faith and trust in your supernatural work on my behalf in the world of the unseen.
The Cornerstone (the foundation stone, or setting stone) is where the plumb line from Heaven touches the foundation on the earth. Jesus is the Cornerstone of the foundation where Heaven touches the earth. That is where the perpendicular measurement is spot on. Any other place on the foundation can be pushed out of alignment! The closer you get to Jesus the better the reading.
Many times in the Old Testament people placed a stone to mark a special place of orientation or remembrance of a work of God. Jacob placed his head upon an anointed stone and had the vision of a ladder reaching to Heaven. The anointed stone is the place where Heaven touches the earth.
God tells Zerubbabel that it is not by might or power or human strength but by the Spirit of God, that the work would be completed. He tells him to shout 'grace and thanksgiving' for God's mercy, declaring that all was done by grace alone. Grace means that it is not our power but the empowering presence of The Holy Spirit which flattens out the mountains before us.
God tells Zerubbabel to ‘despise not the day of small beginnings for the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin,’. So make a start to reset and rebuild through grace and thanksgiving and see the work begin. I remember sharing to people in church some time ago about deliberating upon the desire of Jesus to receive us into his life and to share with him in his loving and obedient life with The Father, to deliberate on the simple truth of who God is through the revelation of what the Word (Logos) says that HE says about HIMSELF – his Steadfast love and justice and uprightness etc. and to do it for ten or fifteen minutes at a time - no prayer requests, just deliberating on God – meditation if you like. I though maybe I’m putting too big a yoke on these dear people. Then I found myself saying – Look, try it for ten seconds whenever you can. I was incredibly blessed to get feedback from someone who said that this had been lifechanging for them. We start NOW. The reason we procrastinate is that we despise small beginnings and never make a start because there’s always something more important to do – well not this time.
(What reason do you have to not accept Jesus as your best friend?)
