Calvary Lutheran Church

Character Studies of the Old Testament: Zerubbabel

This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Alleluia. 

Ezra 3:1-5:2

Dear Christian Friends:

This morning I wish to conclude my four-part sermon series on “Character Studies from the Old Testament.” Three weeks ago, we investigated an incident in the life of Abraham who lived during the time of the patriarchs. Two weeks ago, we studied the life of Samson who lived during the time of the judges. Last time we looked at an incident in the life of Josiah who lived during the time of the kings. This morning we move on to the final period in the history of God’s Old Testament people when they had no kings or judges or patriarchs. Instead, they were ruled by foreign nations who had conquered them, and who eventually allowed them to return to their homeland as simple humble exiles. 

It wasn’t always like that, of course. Israel was once a world power under the reign of David and Solomon.  They had land and wealth and fame.  They had a magnificent worship structure that was one of the wonders of the world—the temple. But as the years went by they grew apart from God.  They became worldly-minded.  They chose to make treaties with their enemies rather than trust solely in God.  Their worship life was focused on mere outward ceremonies and physical buildings rather than upon a true relationship with God marked by an obedience to his law. In fact, many had even incorporated idols into their homes from neighboring heathens and traveling merchants. 

The prophet Isaiah was sent by God to warn them.  The prophet Jeremiah also warned them.  But they wouldn’t listen.  And just when they thought God wasn’t going to do anything, he brought disaster upon them. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, swept down from the north and defeated Judah in 586 b.c.  His armies destroyed Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and brought the Jewish survivors back to Babylon as slaves. And for 70 years Judah sat in captivity, just as Jeremiah had prophesied. 

But then the Babylonians were overthrown by the Persians.  And King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to their homeland just as Isaiah had prophesied.  Isaiah even mentions the Persian king, Cyrus, by name 200 years before he was born. You see, the Old Testament is obviously inspired by God since it predicts major world events that were fulfilled years later. 

So now the Jews were faced with a challenge.  It was an important, God-pleasing challenge to go back to their homeland, rebuild their lives, rebuild their cities, rebuild their nation, and rebuild their temple.  And it was a man by the name of Zerubbabel who first stepped forward and said, "Follow me, I’ll lead the way." 

CHARACTER STUDIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT: ZERUBBABEL

So who was Zerubbabel? I don’t know that you would ever want to name your child Zerubbabel. But his father was Shealtiel and his grandfather Jehoiachin. And Jehoiachin was the last king of Judah before its defeat by the Babylonians. So Zerubbabel was born into royalty.  Zerubbabel also was a descendent of David, and in Matthew chapter one Zerubbabel’s name is listed among the ancestors of Christ Jesus. So you see, Zerubbabel had to survive the destruction of Jerusalem and the defeat of Judah. He had to be carried off into Babylonian captivity. Then he had to return and establish God’s people in the land of Israel so that Christ Jesus could be born in Bethlehem 500 years later. You see, God is in control of both secular nations and individual personal lives.

About 50,000 Jews took up the challenge to return to Judah led by Zerubbabel. It took four months to get there. And the first thing they did was to start rebuilding the foundation of the temple.  Now notice this was before they build their own permanent homes (we are told that they lived in tents), before they built their cities, before they built a wall for protection, they put their worship structure first.  You see, after 70 years in captivity they had learned their lesson.  If their physical lives were to be secure and happy and successful, they needed to put their spiritual lives in order first, and that meant worshiping God.  

So they rebuilt the foundation to the new temple.  But their enthusiasm and their priorities began to change after a short time. We read in Ezra 3 that while some rejoiced that the temple was started, others wept because this new temple was obviously going to be of lesser magnificence then Solomon’s original temple that was destroyed.  And here now was the first tone of discouragement to set in.  They said, "Oh, we wish we had Solomon’s temple back."

At the same time, the Jews were starting to get heat from their neighbors around them.  These neighbors were a mixture, intermarriages of Jews, who avoided death and exile, with heathen who had moved into the void that the exile Jews left. They eventually became known as the Samaritans in Jesus’ day.  Oh, they claimed to worship the same God as Zerubbabel and the rest of the Jews.  And in one sense they did, they worshiped God, Jehovah, but they had added false doctrine from their heathen background.  

Now these Samaritans offered to help rebuild the temple, but the Jews refused.  Again, Zerubbabel and the Jews had learned their lesson in exile.  Don’t mix your religion with idols and false teaching. But besides the danger of false doctrine, the Samaritan’s motives in helping were not purely neighborly.  Their intent, we are told, was to disrupt the construction of the temple and the Jewish nation so that Israel would not become strong again. 

So when these Samaritans were denied access to Judah, they then began persecuting the Jews.  They hired men, whom we would call "lobbyists" today, to turn the Persian government against allowing the rebuilding project.  They started law suits and conducted night raids on Judah’s land and possessions.  And the result was that the people and Zerubbabel became afraid and discouraged, and they stopped building the temple.  They had a strong start but became discouraged and did not finish. 

And this happens a lot in our lives too. Oh, we had a strong start, full of enthusiasm and energy, but then something happened, obstacles fell in the way, some kind of trouble developed, or we were met with resistance, and we didn’t finish.  Maybe it was a major project like buying a house.  Maybe it was some goal we set in life.  Maybe it was finishing high school or college.  But it didn’t happen, not for lack of resources but for want of zeal.

When I first got out into the ministry I had every intention of writing a commentary on a book of the Bible. I figured it would take 150 to 200 pages to complete. I had already picked out the book I wanted to write on, it was to be Paul’s letter to the Galatians. I even started writing it, but 34 years later the unfinished manuscript still stood on my bookshelf, all three pages.

Oh, God sometimes uses failure to point us in another direction he wants us to go.  He sometimes makes the situation impossible to continue to a certain goal. Then we know that God’s answer is “No.” But he never uses pure discouragement. Discouragement is a purely human emotion, a sinful human emotion that we all have. Job had it when he was afflicted with a skin disease. Elijah had it as he sat in a cave for fear of King Ahab. John Mark had it when he deserted Paul on the mission field when things got tough. But discouragement is foreign to the New Man in the Christian life. The Christian life is one of hope in every situation of life. Peter wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (2 Peter 1:3). When Christ Jesus rose from the dead the word “discouragement” was removed from the Christians’ vocabulary in his everyday life.

But discouragement becomes especially a problem when it enters our Christian faith life.  Oh, we had a strong start.  We were baptized early in life.  We were brought up in a strong Christian home. We attended Sunday school and confirmation classes. We were married in the Christian church. But gradually we just lost interest. Life somehow got in the way. We began searching for something new, something different.  At the same time our faith was maybe being challenged.  Sins were tempting us with promises of riches and pleasure.  Perhaps professors, whom we viewed as very intelligent people, questioned our belief system.  And we gave up.  We didn’t finish the race. We maybe even lost our faith.  We all know people like that. Perhaps you were one of them.

You see, the devil never gives up or becomes discouraged in his goal to harm the church and destroy souls. Our struggle with discouragement is not against flesh and blood, it is not against people or our circumstances in life, but Paul tells us that our struggle with discouragement is “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). This is a battle with Satan and his evil demons. And for a spiritual battle we need to fight with spiritual weapons. That is why we continually return to this sword of the Word for encouragement.

That’s what happened to Zerubbabel and the Jews. They became discouraged, but God sent two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, who encouraged Zerubbabel and the people to finish the project. And because of their encouragement the work was resumed on the temple in 520 b.c. and the project was completed in 516 b.c., so that Jesus would be presented and circumcised in that very temple 500 years later. We all know the rest of the story.

My friends, Jesus did not give up or get discouraged with you and me. Jesus came into this world, and even though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He was despised and rejected my men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. But he was not discouraged. He came as the very Son of God with one goal, that all might have peace with God. And it would cost him the cross. It would cost him his life. But he gave it up willingly, even joyfully, “Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2,3). 

Are you in trouble? The psalmist wrote, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Are you grieving, depressed? Paul wrote, “We do not lost heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthian 4:16).  Are you sick or hurting? James wrote, “Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him . . . . The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:14-16).  Have you sinned grievously before the Lord?  James goes on, “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other. Are you dying? Jesus said to Mary and Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25). In every situation in life God in Christ gives us hope. 

And our greatest hope is Paul’s words to the Philippians, “Being confident of this, he (that is God) who began a good work in you (that is faith) will carry it on to completion (that’s eternal life in heaven) until the day of Christ Jesus (when Jesus Christ returns)” (Philippians 1:6). Jesus never gives up on us until we are with him in heaven.

Let us pray:

 Dear blessed Lord Jesus, we marvel at your control over nations and people. We have seen today how you used one man, Zerubbabel, to fulfill your promise to send a Savior to Bethlehem when the time was just right. Like Zerubbabel we may become discouraged or fearful in our everyday lives, and yes, even in our faith life. Forgive the times when we lost the good fight of faith and fell into sin, when we have not given worship our top priority. In your word you promise that if we resist the devil he will flee from us. You have admonished us to take up the shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. We implore you to bless our hearts richly with your grace through the Holy Spirit, giving us a strong faith and an overwhelming love for our Savior who never gives up on us. In your precious name we pray. Amen.