Today’s Scripture Reading (July 16, 2017):
Zechariah 1
On Saturday, September 4, 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked New
Zealand’s third largest populated urban area – Christchurch. Little did the
inhabitants of the city realize that it was merely the beginning of what would
end up being a cluster of earthquakes in the region. In a two-year period beginning on September 4, 2010,
Christchurch was hit with 4,423
earthquakes above the 3.0 magnitude level. The result of the earthquake cluster was a city that had been destroyed. Years later, there were still a number of questions that need to be answered about
the rebuilding of the city. And maybe the first question is what kind of a city is it that needs to be rebuilt. With the extensive damage in the city as a result of the movement of the earth,
the city could be simply rebuilt
reflecting the character of the old city,
or it could be completely and radically
redesigned, or a multitude of choices in between the two extremes. Because
of the earthquake cluster, options and opportunities
abound for the designers of the new city.
Jerusalem, the spiritual and
emotional center of Israel, had been destroyed be the Babylonians. Zechariah
begins his prophecy with a significant promise from God that his house would be rebuilt. But scholars have argued over what
that “rebuilding” really meant. For some, the meaning is obvious, and the construction of Zerubbabel’s
Temple was the fulfillment of the
promise. God’s house indicated the physical
temple in Jerusalem. For others, the meaning is still the rebuilding of a
physical temple, but the promise is not
fulfilled by the building of Zerubbabel’s Temple. And the argument is
that God never seems to fully accept the inferior temple that was built by the
returning exiles. The fulfillment of the
promise must, therefore, lie in the building of the mysterious third temple of
Ezekiel’s dreams. While Zerubbabel’s Temple was a step back for the people of
Jerusalem, Ezekiel’s Temple would have been a significant step forward. While
Ezekiel reflected many of the design elements that existed in the temple that
Solomon had built, Ezekiel’s dream temple was bigger with added features and
improvements over that of the destroyed Temple built by Solomon. So the
question is - if God was going to build his house, at least from our
perspective, is it not more likely that God would build a house more in keeping
with the one Ezekiel dreamed of than the one built during the reign of
Zerubbabel?
But for the Christian, there is
a third option. And it is more in keeping with the complete and radical
redesign model. God is not limited to a building that is filled with altars and places of sacrifice along with tools to
carry out that sacrifice. It is possible that God could dream beyond a temple
that contained a closed off section at one end called the Holy of Holies – the place where God lived and sat on
his throne. The radical redesign model simply argues that what God was speaking of as
the rebuilding of his house was the same temple that Jesus would later tell the
leaders in Jerusalem that they could destroy, but that God would restore in
three days. The only temple that really
fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah was the temple that was Jesus. And because
God’s Temple was Jesus, even when the Romans pulled down Zerubbabel’s temple it
was not that big deal – because God’s temple
still remained.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Zechariah 2
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