Who was Zerubbabel?

Happy Sabbath to all again! As I have brought up again, this is Pentecost weekend, and we try to give food in due season. This is a time to focus on Pentecost itself and God's Holy Spirit to prepare the way for services tomorrow that has to do with Pentecost. And so I do have a PowerPoint presentation because it is a subject that is quite thorough and nothing like graphics to be able to bring it into life and explain it to you. And I will begin mentioning that probably for over a week as I was meditating and praying about things, there was a scripture that constantly came to my mind. I couldn't get it out of my mind. It seemed like God was prodding me about it, and it's a scripture that we all know very well. Zechariah 14.6. It says, So he answered and said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by my might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. So this scripture has to do with God's Spirit. Something is important here. God was telling Zerubbabel that things were going to be accomplished, not through the power of man, not by his strength or riches or abilities. God was going to carry this out by his Spirit. And so there's a very important lesson and meaning behind this. But the first question I asked, Who is Zerubbabel? Who is Zerubbabel? I'd like to know, for curiosity's sake, has anybody ever heard a sermon given about Zerubbabel? Can I see? Okay, Bill has. That's good because it's not a person that you generally talk about much in scripture. And it's also a symbolic figure that is brought up in some prophecies. So again, the question we want to answer today is, Who is Zerubbabel? Why is he so important in the Bible? And what does that have to do with our own lives? So we begin, first of all, looking at the resume of Zerubbabel. His name means seed of Babylon or brought up in Babylon. That's the term we use, Babel or Babylon. So it just means the seed of Babylon because he was raised in this area. He was one of the men in captivity, of course, very, very young boy. And so he was brought, according to Josephus, the Jewish historian, before King Cyrus in chains. And he showed so much wisdom that King Cyrus respected him and gave him great favor, as it says in Ezra, Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Now, these are the people of the province who came back from captivity, of those who had been carried away back to Babylon and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah with Zerubbabel were Jeshua and others. The term Jeshua, Joshua, sometimes in Hebrew it's pronounced Joshua, but I'm not going to get into Hebrew here. I'm just going to talk about it just as we would in English because we live in this country. And so there's a transliteration from one language to the other. And so we usually use Joshua or Jeshua. And it means the Lord is salvation, just like Joshua does. Jesus is also derived from this name. But he presented himself before King Cyrus. Now, the resume says he was a descendant of King Jehoiakim in 1 Chronicles 3, 17 through 19. So he was of royal descent. He goes all the way back to King David. And he leads exiles back to Jerusalem after the King Cyrus Edict. We see Ezra chapter 2, 1 through 2, explains that.

He was the governor placed by Cyrus to go to Judea, establish the colonists that would come from Babylon. He was chosen by God, Haggai, chapter 2, verse 23. He helps build the altar in Jerusalem, Ezra 3, verse 2. He helps to rebuild the temple. And he was led by the Spirit of God for this great undertaking. You talk about being at the odds worse possible. He didn't have the money.

He didn't have the abilities that under Solomon, the first temple was built. He had everything going against him. And so God encouraged him and said, don't worry. I'm going to make up for all of this. I'm sure Zerubbabel must have just scratched his head. He said, how is God going to do this? We are at such a disadvantage. And you will see that. He went against all the odds and he triumphed. And he was an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah. He's part of the genealogy on both sides, on Mary's side and on Joseph's side.

So here we have a timeline to help us understand because it's hard to just read the book of Ezra, Nehemiah. Then you have Haggai. You have also Zechariah. These all are talking about Zerubbabel. But here you can see that Ezra 1 through 6 has to do with the history of what Zerubbabel did right here. And this was under King Cyrus of Persia, the Great Conqueror. He is known in history along with the Greats, Alexander the Great. This was Cyrus the Great. He's up there with Julius Caesar and Great Conquerors. He's the founder of the Medo-Persian Empire. And then Cyrus dies and Darius takes over. Sometimes renounced Darius, but Darius is the more correct name, King Darius. And he also authorizes Zerubbabel to continue working. Now, if you notice here, it says major opposition because Zerubbabel faced one after other opponent.

And we're going to see that once the altar was built, when they started laying the foundations on the new temple, that opposition was so strong that they persuaded the king of Persia to stop the work. And that happened. Zerubbabel could not continue. And he got a bit dejected and depressed over it and got distracted during that time. There wasn't a real work going on. People started building their own houses, taking care of their own interests. And so, God had to raise up two prophets to get them motivated again, to get that temple built. We're going to see that. So then, the latter chapters of Ezra has to do with Ezra coming with a group of close to 5,000 Jews. So, whereas Zerubbabel came with a little over 50,000 Jews, in the original return, Ezra brought another 5,000 Jews, probably about close to 20 years later.

And the work was stopped. Zerubbabel was able to finish the temple, but they didn't have the walls built. And so, it was an open city, subject to raids. And during the time of Ezra, the walls were not built. It was a very weak city. Couldn't really get things going. And that's when Nehemiah comes in under Artaxerxes. And it's Nehemiah that picks up the work and finishes the wall around Jerusalem, and it becomes the capital, and then it starts thriving. This is toward the end of the Old Testament period. But, Zerubbabel was the first one that arrived after 70 years of captivity. So, it took a lot of guts. He had a lot of opposition. It's interesting that he basically doesn't write anything. It's Ezra that is writing these memoirs about Zerubbabel. And so, here's another timeline. This is, it gives a bit of the dates. You can see here the 70 years of captivity, 605 to 537. Basically, give or take a year here or there, because it's hard to pin it. But there were 70 years of captivity. Jeremiah had prophesied. That would be the case. And then, when King Cyrus defeats the Babylonians, then he issues this decree that the Jews can return to Israel those that want to. And so, it's Zerubbabel, the prince of God's people, that returns and the temple is built. And basically, it took about 20 years to get that done. And then, 458, Ezra returns and the law is taught.

So, he continues with the reforms. And then, some close to another 20 years before Nehemiah is able to return and the wall is built. And so then, at the end of the Old Testament period, 432, is when Malachi is written, closing Revelation until John the Baptist, which are approximately 400 years. They call it the silent period between the Old and the New Testament. And during that time, of course, the Jews continue to thrive. They're under the Persian Empire. Then, Alexander the Great conquers this area of the world, defeats the Persian Empire. So, the Jews are under the Greeks for about 150 years. And then, one of the Greek kings, Antiochus Epiphanes, is the one that tries to stamp out Jewish religion. And then, you have the abomination desolation. And then, you have an uprising by the Jews. They finally defeat Antiochus Epiphanes. This is 165 BC. It took about three and a half years that the sacrifices were stopped. And then, they gained their independence for approximately 100 years under the Maccabee sons and descendants. And then, the Romans in 68 BC with General Ponpei comes in, and defeats the Jewish kings and establishes Roman rule. So, basically, when Jesus Christ comes into the story, it's under Roman rule. So, it went from Persian to Greek to independence, and then to Roman rule. Okay, that gives you a little historical background. Now, it was the king, Artus of Zis, who issued a decree to restore the local government in Jerusalem. And this is 457 that starts the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9, ending in A.D. 27.

So, if you have 457 years minus 483 years, which is the 497 times 70 weeks, minus the final week, gives you 26 A.D., but then plus the year zero, 27 A.D., the start of Jesus, the Messiah's ministry. So, right on the dot, from the decree to rebuild the whole city. It wasn't Cyrus' decree, because that was only a partial. This is the one where the city can really thrive and grow. All right, so in Ezra, chapter one, it's a story of how King Cyrus gave the news to the Jews about the permission to return to Jerusalem. They were elated after 70 years' captivity. I'm going to quote here Josephus, the historian and antiquities of the Jews, which he has on Cyrus. He says, for he stirred up, talking about God, the mind of Cyrus, and made him right thus throughout all Asia. Thus says Cyrus the king, since God Almighty has appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God, talking about the God of the Bible, which the nation of the Israelites worshiped. He didn't worship, but he recognized the true God.

For indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem in the country of Judea. This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies. For this prophet said that God has spoken thus to him in a secret vision, my will is that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land and build my temple.

Now, if what Josephus said was wrong, if it was false, people would have known about it. But history does not deny that such a decree happened. And we have a copy of a decree by Cyrus, and actually it was here in the Getty Museum about four years ago. It's called the Cyrus Cylinder. So I want to give you a little bit of archaeology because you're probably not going to hear this very often. But here's this prism or cylinder with cuneiform script.

It's called the Cyrus Cylinder. It was actually executed, ordered by him, records the conquest of Babylon in 539 BC by the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. He ruled 559 to 530 BC. Even before its discovery, Cyrus had been renowned as a benevolent and noble ruler. So when God used them, he softened them up, prepared them to be a different type of king than they had had in the past. So this, they call it the Axial Period in history. When King Cyrus takes over, and there is a change in the way governments are run and handled because he was benevolent, he was noble, he wasn't this hard dictator.

And so from this Persian period, they call it a moment when history changes and you don't have this dictatorship where you could care less. Just like remember how Nebuchadnezzar with the three young Jews, he threw him in the oven. And the other ruler had thrown Daniel in the lion's den. But Cyrus was known to be benevolent. He says the Greek historian Xenophon, about 430 to 354 BC, presented him as an ideal leader in his Syropedia.

So they recognized these historians, the noble virtues of Cyrus. While Old Testament texts praise Cyrus for bringing an end to the Jewish exile in Babylon, the cylinder provides a valuable complement to this legacy, for it records in Cyrus' own words how, on taking control of Babylon, he restored religious traditions and permitted those who had been deported to return to their settlements in and around Babylonia.

So he said, if you're living in this area, you're a captive, you're free to go back to your nation. And so when Cyrus gave that decree, and according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, once the Persian ruler pronounces a certain law, a certain decree, it can't be overturned. That's what the law of the Medes and the Persians. That's why you have to be very careful, because once you issued it, you could not retract it.

And so he decreed that the temple treasures be restored to the Jews and taken to Jerusalem. That's in Ezra chapter 1. Let's read a little bit. I don't want to go into so much, because it takes a lot of time, but Ezra chapter 1 verse 7 through 11. It says, King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods.

And Cyrus, king of Persia, brought them out by the hand of Mithredeth, the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheesh Bazar, the prince of Judah. Now, Sheesh Beshar is most likely the Persian name for Zerubbabel, because he's the one that goes. He's the one that takes these treasures. So just like, remember Daniel had his name, Belshazzar, that it was a Babylonian name. Well, here they have this. They're not 100% sure, because it could have been maybe a ruler that died, and then Zerubbabel took over. But it's most probable, just the Persian name. It says, this is the number of them, all of these temple treasures taken from Jerusalem.

Now they are given back to them. I'm not going to go into all of these golds, but it says in verse 11, all the articles of gold and silver were 5,400. All these, Sheesh Beshar, took with the captives who were brought from Babylon to Jerusalem.

And then it says in verse chapter 2, verse 2, it says, those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, and all of these. So again, it seems like it was just another name. One was Persian, as Daniel's name was Belchazar. And so all of these silver and gold, can you imagine a ruler doing that? Can you imagine the Vatican giving up all those treasures and maybe selling them to the poor? Very hard, right? But this king actually divested himself. All of this tremendous wealth. So it had to be because God had placed that in his heart and mind to do it. God was intervening through his Holy Spirit.

Cyrus recognized that God of Israel was the one that was behind him receiving the great authority and blessings in his battles.

Here's another rendition where the temple treasures were being received by the Jews under Zerubbabel. So here's another miracle that God did. The Jews thought, well, what are we going to do? We don't have money. We're captives. Where are we going to be able to decorate this second temple when we build it? God says, don't worry. I'll place those thoughts in the king. He's the one who has the rule of the Medes and the Persians. Once he decrees it, it can't be removed. And that was a great blessing to have King Cyrus personally overseeing this. And so in Ezra chapter 2, the Jews joyfully leave Babylon out of the Ishtar Gate, one of the eight great gates out of Babylon. This Ishtar Gate is actually in the Berlin Museum. They took it piece by piece and reassembled it. It's the actual thing. And this is the way the Ishtar Gate looks. But only a fraction of the Jews, some 50,000, decided to leave the comforts of Babylon under the Persians. They were doing quite well. They were prospering. So why did they want to go to this backwater place that was all ruins and you didn't have all the agricultural products. You didn't have, remember, at that time Babylon was one of the main capitals of the Persian Empire. They had everything going for them. So it was only 50,000, a fraction of the Jews that God put it in their hearts and their hearts were open to that. That they were willing to do so.

And so Ezra chapter 2 gives you a list of all of these people. And of course, these lists might sound boring, but actually for historians it's very important because it shows these are not fictional people. They have relatives. You can trace their ancestries. So it shows that this wasn't some figment of someone's imagination because here you have these genealogies and people lived who were part of that. They would have known if it was a lie or not. So this authenticates the biblical account.

And so we continue on here, the story of Zerubbabel. Now they had to take a very long and perilous trip to Jerusalem. See, all the way from Babylon to Jerusalem, a trip of many months. But since they had Cyrus's backing, it was like a passport. Nobody wanted to touch them because here the emperor had given his blessing and he sent troops along with them to protect them all along the trip. But just think how difficult it would have been to uproot yourself. People had been 70 years. They had gotten settled. It was a beautiful land. You had two huge rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. This is the area of Mesopotamia, which this was the granary of the world at that time. And it was very well developed. And here you are going to go back to this ruined place and up on the top of a hill in the Judean mountains. And you're going to have hostile enemies all around you. It took a lot of guts. But when God's going to do his work through his Spirit, he will touch people that will make those type of sacrifices. They're not thinking about their own material comforts at that time or else nobody would have done it. But here you had 50,000 led by Zerubbabel.

And Jeshua, or Jeshua, who was the high priest that accompanied them.

And so in the midst of these ruins, you see here all the Solomon's temple had been broken up. It was devastated by the Babylonians. Zerubbabel first oversaw the rebuilding of the altar. Ezra chapter 3 verse 2. It says, Then Jeshua, the son of Joseph Dac, and his brethren, the priest and Zerubbabel, the son of Shaltiel, and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its basis, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. And so these were people that had faith. God touched their hearts. That's why a person that has faith, the Bible, is not composed of suggestions. The Bible is composed of orders. God's commands are orders. You really take them seriously from our King. People that have been in the military know what it is to take orders. You can't question them. You follow them. And so God is our King, and we are Christian soldiers, and we have orders to carry out, just like Zerubbabel did at that time.

And so at least the altar was established. The offerings and sacrifices were carried out. That is why some people have said that you don't need another big temple, the third temple in Jerusalem now, to have sacrifices, because it is prophesied that before Christ returns, we will have sacrifices in Jerusalem. And it's a lot easier to establish an altar and start offering sacrifices. They've already set up the priesthood. They've got all of the vestments and all of the paraphernalia to carry them out, but they haven't gotten the permission yet to start the offerings. But they're getting closer and closer. And so here you have Jeshua, and you have Zerubbabel carrying this out.

So again, a little bit of historical context as they started laying the foundation for the temple. It says here, some of the Jews came back to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in the spring of 536 B.C. to rebuild the nation and the temple thanks to the decree of Cyrus. So they didn't do it by force. They didn't do it because they got together an army and fought their way to Jerusalem. It wasn't because they just all decided to do it. No, God placed in King Cyrus's mind something that looked so unlikely. That was to give up these treasures for these insignificant people in comparison to the whole Persian empire, that he was going to give them grace and favor.

And God placed it. He can put thoughts in people's minds whenever he wants to and persuade them to do things that they would ordinarily not do. They rebuilt the altar in that year. The next year, they laid the foundation for the temple. Things were going well. The older men like Haggai remembered the glory of Solomon's temple, which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar about 50 years before. Those elders remembered that the glory and were crying while they laid the foundation for the new temple. They saw how insignificant this is in comparison to Solomon's glorious temple made with silver and gold, all of the best wood from Lebanon. Now they had to get whatever they could to rebuild it. They became discouraged by the opposition from the Samaritans so the construction slowed down until King's murders finally stopped the work.

This is Darius, another name for him. 15 years after laying the foundation, about 520 BC, God called the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. King Darius approved the reconstruction again and God's temple was finally rebuilt. He had a couple of Darius in there. Darius I, Darius II. But the point is that this looks so unlikely. You look at it just on face value, it looked like it was never going to get done. You talk about people that were basically poor, they had been captives, here they had to build this with surrounding enemies, with really not many funds. But God said, I'm going to do it. You just do your part. I'll carry out my part. I will have you overcome all the obstacles in the way. And so we have a second prophet that God lifts up. It wasn't enough to just have one Haggai. Now you have Zechariah, who had returned with Zerubbabel from the Babylonian captivity there in Nehemiah 12, 4, and 16. It mentions him. He was a priest from the house of Levi. And God chose him to help Haggai stir up the people to rebuild the temple and restore true worship. Read that in Ezra chapters 5 and 6. By the way, it only takes like 20 minutes to read the whole book of Ezra and Nehemiah too, something. And then Haggai's just two chapters. Zechariah is 14. But it can be done in one sitting. I actually did that the other day. And so what happened? Well, they had opposition. Notice in Ezra chapter 4 verse 1, it says, Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do here. These are the Samaritans. They had a mixture, Babylonian belief with biblical belief. They said, Well, let's all get together. And we have sacrificed to him, to the God El, since the days of Ezra, the king of Assyria, who brought us here. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, You may do nothing with us to build a house from our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.

So they didn't accept that. You don't accept mixed doctrines. The Samaritans had Babylonian gods besides the God of Yahweh. They had a mixture, and that is fatal. That's like us, who keep the Sabbath saying, Well, let's just all get together at a Baptist church on Sunday, and let's all just fellowship together. It's not that important. We're all Christians, after all. No, no, you don't accept that. That's breaking God's commandments. You can't accept people that are breaking God's commandments and have the same fellowship, although you should be respectful and you should be nice to the people, but we've got our own work to build. We've got our own teachings to protect. That's what Zerubbabel said.

And so then, when they were rebuffed, verse 4, then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. So yes, keeping your church and your beliefs pure does have a price to pay. We're not going to be singing kumbaya with everybody. That's going to be breaking God's commandments. And you can see people turn on you when everybody just wants to have this ecumenism. Just all get together. Let's all just believe in Christ. It doesn't matter what day you keep. It doesn't matter if you keep feasts or not. All of this. So this happened during the time of Zerubbabel and later on Nehemiah. The same thing. The Samaritans came. Nehemiah rebuffed them as well. These were men of God. These are examples in the Bible that we should apply in our own lives, which is to be nice, to be gentle, to be courteous with other people, but to keep our truths pure, not mix them with people that are following pagan gods and pagan teachings.

You can imagine if 20 years ago we would have done this, how the church could have maintained its purity, but it wasn't the case. It happens time and time again. This principle of Zerubbabel. Shall we just get together and just look the other way and mix all kinds of beliefs together? That's not the biblical example. And so what happens? Chapter 4 tells us what happened. They slowed down the building. This in the beginning of Ahasuerus. I think that's the one that I mentioned. It wasn't Darius, the one. This is another name for the king. They wrote an accusation against inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes, also, all of these were just constantly putting lawsuits and mentioning how these people, Jews, had rebelled before against the Babylonians. And then they got the king to go along with them. Notice here in chapter 4, verse 23, now when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rium, Shimshai, the scribe and their companion, they went up and hazed to Jerusalem against the Jews, and by force of arms made them cease. Thus the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem, ceased. And it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

Chapter 5, verse 1, then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edo, prophets prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over there. So Zerubbabel and Jeshua rose up and began to build the house of God, which is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, helping them. So we come to this slide, which is the beginning of the book of Haggai. And it says here, the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. That's what Haggai was saying the people were saying in Jerusalem. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying, is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house, the temple, lie waste? And so they got the work going. Sometimes God needs to prod God's people into getting things done. Haggai and Zechariah had to rouse Zerubbabel to build the temple, for they were discouraged and distracted. God encourages them and tells them it is by his spirit guiding them that it will be done.

Notice in Zechariah chapter 4, the verse that we started with that is the one that inspired this sermon. Zechariah 4 verse 6 through 10. Now we're going to understand it in its proper context. It says, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Talking about all this opposition, because the Persian Empire had gotten now against them. Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plane. He says God's going to work it out where the Persians are no longer going to be in opposition. And he shall bring forth the capstone, which is the last stone placed as you finish the building, talking about the temple. And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it, blessed. God's going to bless that place. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple. His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? So people are looking and saying, Oh, we are so weak. We can't do the same work as the time of Solomon. Look at all the resources Solomon had. Look at this little work we have. It looks so small. It's despised by so many. What are you going to do? And so people could get into that attitude. And God is saying here, Who has despised the day of small things? If it's from God, He's going to carry it out. He's going to get the job done with many or with few, with many funds, with few funds, with great dynamic leaders or with other leaders that maybe don't have the same dynamism. And so with the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, Zerubbabel is inspired to get back to work on the temple with God's Spirit guiding them and them doing their part. So here you have the the plumb line to keep everything even. They had to measure everything. They didn't have these rulers that we have now. They used strings to measure things, but they got things done. People have always been intelligent. All of these great past constructions, the only ones of the seven wonders of the world that exist today of the ancient world, are the pyramids. But certainly Solomon's temple was one of those great wonders of the world that wasn't named but only a few of these great productions are still existing today. They are like footprints in the sand of time that have remained. And here people always had the ability to understand mathematics and people that were clever and intelligent. And so they got the work done. And so in comparison between Solomon's temple, which was planned and provided by King David, it was built by Solomon. It took seven and a half years. It was dedicated 13 years later. It was destroyed in 586 by King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon, and then Zerubbabel's temple, which is also called the Second Temple. After a 70-year exile, that was the first return of the 50,000 ordered by King Cyrus. It was built by Zerubbabel in 1516 BC, approximately. But it was smaller than Solomon's temple. It wasn't as ornate, didn't have the quality. And so a lot of people just looked at it and thought, oh, this is a sorry example of what they had before. Here's in comparison between Solomon's temple here and the Zerubbabel's temple was a bit smaller. Not much more because they used similar dimensions, but the materials, it was smaller. But actually Zerubbabel's temple, eventually taken over by King Herod, it ended up being this size in comparison to Solomon's temple.

And Haggai said that Zerubbabel's temple would be greater than Solomon's because Christ the Messiah entered into it. In Luke 2, 27, Jesus Christ came and they did the sacrifices in the temple. They presented Jesus Christ and the Messiah, God in the flesh, actually entered what was the second temple. He never actually physically entered the first temple. So it made it the greater glory, the second temple, because Jesus Christ often went there and sanctified it with His presence.

And so when the temple was dedicated, those that saw Solomon's temple and had seen, they belittled Zerubbabel's temple. Haggai 2.3. God says, well, how many of you saw that? And you think this is a small thing and it's not going to be as nice and as effective? And He says, no, I'm doing this. Through my spirit, I work in different ways. And then the second wave of immigrants came, which were under Ezra, the scribe. About 5,000 came. That's part of the book Ezra chapter 8 through 10. They celebrated the feasts, but they had not rebuilt the walls. So Zerubbabel did part of the work. He did finish the temple, but it was necessary to have the walls around the city to protect it.

So here are the big ideas in Ezra.

God's people rebuild the temple. 2.2. God reigns with supreme control, even over pagan kings. Never underestimate the power that God has. Sometimes you need a permit. Sometimes it looks like the boss is not going to give you the favor. Sometimes you're going through difficult times. You need help. Well, just remember, through God's Spirit, He can change and move people's hearts and minds.

Another lesson, God controls history and orchestrates events for His own purposes. Don't belittle the small things. And God keeps His promises. It might not be when you want it to be fulfilled, but He will carry out His promises. And God's people are allowed to return to Israel after years in exile. Now, here are some lessons to be learned that I went ahead and added. 1. God does things His own way. Don't despise the day of small things. 2. God puts thoughts in any powerful leader's mind He wants according to the stage of His plan.

Remember how He told Elijah that He doesn't have to have a big earthquake or a big storm? Sometimes it's a small, still voice. If He uses that small, still voice in the right heart and mind of a person, everything is going to be carried out. 2. We are going to be tested. If we follow God's will, we're going to be tested. We're going to be tried. There's going to be opposition. There's going to be people that are going to try to discourage you, people that want to distract you. Focus on other things. Build your nice things. You can have a wonderful life. Don't worry about God's work. Don't worry so much about what's going there. Focus on your own things. You deserve them. That's the way sometimes people think. 3. It is by God's Spirit that it will be carried out despite human failings, especially like Joshua had. Zechariah 3 talks about Joshua really having serious problems that he had to remove filthy garments. God says, remove them. I'm still going to use this person. He's still there and carry it out. Nobody's perfect. Everybody has something to repent about, but it doesn't mean God's not going to use you. If you go back, you clean your life, clean your act, and get going with what God wants us to do. 4. We will one day see and talk with Zerubbabel in God's kingdom, for he was faithful to the task. Yes, he's one of the men just like Nehemiah and Ezra. They are triumvirate. There are three key leaders at that time, along with Joshua, the high priest, but three that really stood out to carry out God's will under enormous opposition.

And number five, we also have a great work to do. That's the spirit of Pentecost we celebrate today.

Remember, both genealogies of Jesus Christ have Zerubbabel as an ancestor. Christ is the ultimate signet ring of royalty that Zerubbabel symbolized. So Zerubbabel was a type of a messiah at that time. He rescued God's people, got them to carry out God's will, but Christ is the ultimate signet ring of royalty, the descendant of Zerubbabel that truly fulfill the perfect and righteous ruler. And it says there is a lot of needless speculation about who Zerubbabel represents as a leader now. It's very sad to hear some of these leaders of small breakout groups in the Church of God saying, oh, I'm Zerubbabel, and this is going to be here, Joshua, and I have named myself to this post. You know, let's wait on that. Don't be presumptuous. The Bible doesn't put a name here of somebody in the 21st century who is this leader. It's very presumptuous and prideful to think that, oh, yes, I'm the symbolic Zerubbabel. We've got to be careful now. Certainly, I'm talking about the Churches of God now. And be careful with those that are masking and pretending to be Zerubbabel. Now, we do know quite a bit about what Zerubbabel symbolizes in prophecy. In Matthew 1, verses 11 through 12, it says, Josiah begot Jekoniah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon, and after they were brought to Babylon, Jekoniah begot Sheltiel and Sheltiel begot Zerubbabel. And Luke, that has the other genealogy, also has Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel. So, it was from Mary's lineage as well as from Joseph's lineage. They had this royal blood and from Zerubbabel. So, just real quickly, the symbolism in Zechariah 4 about Zerubbabel and Jeshua being symbols of the coming two witnesses, because it describes this lampstand and these two olive trees that they're receiving the oil from this lampstand. And it's a symbol of God's Holy Spirit, and that God used Zerubbabel and Jeshua to carry out His will through His Holy Spirit. In Revelation 11.4, it says, these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. So, those two final witnesses are going to be a type of Zerubbabel and Jeshua carrying out God's will in the end time. That we know because that's biblical and it's described here.

So, we have great doors that have been opened to get the gospel of the kingdom to the world. Yes, we're not creating a second temple, not something physical, but we have a work of God to do now. Revelation 3, 7 through 8 says, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, these things says He who is holy, He who is true. I've got to slow down a little bit because a translator, sorry, it's Revelation 3, 7 through 8, goes on to say, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it, for you have a little strength. You think Zerubbabel and Jeshua had a lot of strength? No, they were a small group, but they carried out God's will. They fulfilled the task. It says, because you have a little strength, but you have kept my word and have not denied my name. We have been faithful to God in what He has asked us to do. As Matthew 24, 12 through 14, it says, Matthew 24, 12 through 14, And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

So we don't need a temple right now, but we do need to get the gospel of the kingdom to this world.

This is the present work and the spirit of Zerubbabel and John the Baptist.

With that, I hope you know now, who is Zerubbabel?