“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple;
his hands shall also finish it.” (Zech. 4:9, NKJV)
In the previous teaching we clearly pointed out that in the Spirit, the Bride is a home of God. If this building is then “fitted together” (Eph. 2:21; 4:16; Ps. 122:3), it means that we need to be similarly coupled together, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). We need to be “moved to perfection” (Heb. 6:1, CAB). How this happens/is built is the focus of this teaching.
The first temple Solomon built was destroyed in 586 BC. For many, many years Israel, the covenant people, found themselves in the midst of a religious crisis. The prophet Haggai addresses this precarious situation, and admonishes them, accusing them of building their own houses and not the house of God (Hag. 1:4 & 8), and that this is the reason several misfortunes have come across their way. The rebuilding of the second temple then becomes a natural or typological example of how the spiritual third temple is built. We thus need to read the process of building the second temple in typological terms, and translate it into the spiritual process through which God erects the final temple of His Bride.
It all begins with an urgent prophetic call: “Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.” (Ezra 5:1-2).
The rise of Zerubabbel as the builder of the new temple is immensely important. Zechariah prophesies about this in Zech. 4:9-10: “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? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
Correctly understanding the symbolism of the book of Revelation, including being able to correctly interpret all the elements related to the originating of the New Jerusalem in chapter 21, requires a very close reading of the book of Zechariah. [This will be discussed at a later point, but readers who wish to make a study of this can turn to Marko Jauhaiainen’s excellent text, The Use of Zechariah in Revelation.]
The prophetic manifestation of the New Jerusalem lies in the typological figure of Zerubbabel.
- Selah: Try to find out what the meaning and implication of Zerubbabel’s name is.
- Read: 21-22; Prov. 9.
- Memorise: 9:10.
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read Jauhaiainen’s book, mentioned above.
