Our pace
begins to quicken, and our hearts beat ever faster as our anticipation moves
toward completion. There is an excitement that gathers as the days pass by. Day
nine has arrived. Our preparations continue as we study selections from
Zechariah 2 and Luke 1. In these passages we will discover that it has always
been God’s intention to dwell with man. The mode has changed over the
centuries, from garden, to tabernacle, to temple, to Incarnation, but His
intent has always been the same. God desires humanity to come around Him as His
family of worshipers.
Zechariah,
the Prophet, not to be confused with any of the other 27 men who have the same
name in the Scriptures, sought to encourage the Jewish people in the
post-exilic period which began in 539 BC when Cyrus the Persian King allowed
the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem. Zechariah’s book dates from 520 BC
and his audience was made up of dispersed Jews who remained in exile, and those
who had returned to Jerusalem. A major point of emphasis for him was the
rebuilding of the Temple – the center of worship and the focal point of God’s
Presence. As the Holy Spirit inspired Zechariah to write, his focus was surely
on the rebuilding of an earthly temple precisely where Solomon’s temple had
stood before the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC. Indeed, his prophecy of a
new earthly temple came to pass. But, as is often the case, the first partial
fulfillment is eclipsed by a more ultimate and complete fulfillment. As we read
chapter 2, verses 10 through 13, two “fulfillments” should come into view: the
rebuilding of the earthly temple which began in 516 BC, and the coming of the
Messiah, which is, of course, the more absolute meaning of the prophecy.
Zechariah 2:10-13
“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I
will live among you,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will be joined with
the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you
will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit
Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be
still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy
dwelling.”
Zechariah 2:10 opens with great words
of encouragement for those who have returned to Jerusalem and those
contemplating it. Speaking for God, the prophet declares that the Lord is
coming back, and he will dwell with them again! Since the first temple had been
destroyed, God’s people were dispersed into Babylon where they became slaves.
They felt distant from God and abandoned. The temple was so thoroughly
associated with God’s Presence. After all, it was built according to God’s
specifications to be His dwelling place (1 Kings 6:11-13). And, the Holy of
Holies was to be God’s residence as He sat enthroned between the angels on the
Ark of the Covenant (2 Kings 19:15, 1 Chronicles 13:6, Psalm 99:1). All of that
was gone! And beyond that, the sacrificial system that maintained the covenant
relationship with God and His people was dissolved. No temple meant there could
be no sacrifice! Not only was the temple gone, so was the Ark of the Covenant
and their entire religious system. Zechariah’s announcement would have been
especially welcome news! Imagine the excitement when the people heard that the
Lord was coming back to dwell with His people!
Next, God
says that on that day, many nations will be joined with Him and become His
people. While the Jewish people were fine with Zechariah’s first prophecy, this
second idea would have been a bit problematic. They preferred the exclusive relationship
they had with God and would have balked at any notion of including other
nations within the covenant. In the words of John Wayne, “There’s just not
enough room in this town for both of us.” We don’t want any Samaritans here.
And we surely don’t want any Gentile dogs! The Jewish people had forgotten the
promise made to Abraham that His family line would be blessed and be a blessing
to all the nations (Genesis 12:3). This blessing was upgraded to a covenant in
Genesis 22:16-18. After Abraham’s obedience to God in offering his son Isaac,
God said, “I
swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have
not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the
seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you
have obeyed me.” Abraham’s
offspring, including the Jewish people, should have welcomed the fulfillment of
this long standing covenant promise of God. But, they were focused on
themselves. Not only were they uninterested in including outsiders, they were
repulsed at the thought! Sadly, Zechariah’s prophecy of many nations joining
God’s family would have to wait for a future fulfillment.
Zechariah
went on to quote the Promised One, saying, “I will dwell among you and you will know that the Lord
Almighty has sent me to you.” This is tabernacle and temple
language. How interesting that the Lord Almighty will send the Promised One
(note the use of “I”) to dwell with the people. This was the place of Yahweh.
But now, God’s place is being given to the Promised One – as if they are
equals. This must have caused the original audience to scratch their heads!
Verse 12
restates God’s commitment to reclaim this returning remnant as His own, and to
reestablish Jerusalem as His place of inhabitance. Then, a command is given for
all to be silent, for the Lord is rising up from His holy dwelling. This is
reminiscent of two passages calling for silence before God. Habakkuk 2:20 says,
“The Lord is
in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” Revelation 8:1 says that after the seventh seal
was opened, “there
was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” This passage is also
in the context of the heavenly temple. The Jews would have understood that
Jerusalem and the Temple would be restored and God would be with them again!
So, we have
seen how Zechariah’s original audience would have interpreted this passage. How
should we understand it? First, the prophet says, the Lord is coming to dwell
with His people. John 1:14 declares, “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling
among us.” Zechariah goes on to
say that many nations will become a part of God’s covenant family. Galatians
3:28 states, “There
is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:12-14 says, “…remember that at that time you were separate from
Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of
the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For
he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” Zechariah then reiterates
that the Promised One will dwell among God’s people and they will know He is
sent from God. John 1:14, as we noted, claims that Jesus came to dwell among
us. It goes on to say, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only
Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 14:20
states, “On
that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am
in you.” Now that is the height
of the Lord “dwelling” with us, and us “dwelling” with the Lord. Finally,
Zechariah says that God will reestablish His people and reclaim Jerusalem, and
all the earth will be silent before Him because He has arisen from His holy
temple. Revelation 21:1-3 declares, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I
saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the
people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself
will be with them and be their God.” The
people reclaimed by the Lord turns out to be the New Covenant people of God,
described as the new Jerusalem, and as the bride. Ephesians 5 tells us the
bride of Christ is the Church. Indeed God’s dwelling is with men! Clearly, the
ultimate fulfillment of Zechariah 2:10-13 is in the Lord Jesus and His
Incarnation – by which He makes His dwelling with us. Let there be no doubt!
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the
angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be
married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was
Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly
favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and
wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do
not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and
give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and
will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne
of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his
kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I
am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be
called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a
child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her
sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s
servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel
left her.
Luke 1:26-38 tells us how all of this came to pass. To begin, Luke places
this event in some context. He says it took place in the sixth month of
Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Zechariah, (not to be confused with the prophet) her
husband, was a priest. While tending to his temple responsibility, at the hour
of prayer and “burning
of incense”, Zechariah was
visited by the Angel Gabriel. This heavenly messenger’s word to Zechariah was
that he and Elizabeth would bear a son! His name was to be John, and he would
be the forerunner to the Messiah!
The angel
Gabriel appeared one other time at the “hour of prayer”. In
Daniel 9:21, Gabriel came to Daniel at the hour of the evening sacrifice, also
known as the hour of prayer. His message to Daniel was an interpretation of a
dream concerning the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah! How interesting
that Gabriel seems to be exclusively the bearer of news about the coming of the
Messiah!
There is one
other connection worth noting, and this one is with the Zechariah 2 passage.
The hour or prayer or sacrifice also included a period of thirty minutes when
the temple fell silent. Remember, Zechariah 2:13 records that God required
silence before Him for He was arising from His temple. And as we learned from
that passage, the Promised One was coming to dwell with God’s people. With
Zechariah the Prophet, the Prophet Daniel, and the Father of John the Baptist,
the half hour of silence coincides with messages concerning the coming of the
Messiah. To add to this, In Revelation 8:1, when the seventh seal is opened,
silence falls over heaven for thirty minutes! Is this just a coincidence?
Hardly!!
So, in the
sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel appears to Mary, Elizabeth’s
cousin. What do you think his message to Mary might be? It should be no
surprise that He is bearing good news about the Messiah – just as he did with
Daniel and Zechariah. Mary is identified as a virgin, as a descendent of David,
and as one highly favored, or full of grace. First, concerning Mary’s virgin
birth, Isaiah 7:14 prophesies that “…the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us,” which draws our
attention back to the prophecy of Zechariah 2:10. Identical words are used –
that God will dwell with man. Second, Mary is in the line of David. God
promised David that he will never fail to have a successor on the throne (1
Kings 9:5). And third, as one highly favored, Mary, was about to be graced with
one of the greatest responsibilities ever bestowed upon a human. She was to
become the mother of the Lord Jesus. It was Jesus who would fulfill the
covenant with David and Jacob, and His reign would be eternal!
Mary was
obviously troubled by this. Who wouldn’t be? After all, she had not known a
man. Gabriel would explain everything to her. Even though she was a virgin, she
would be with child after the Holy Spirit would come upon her and overshadow
her. This is a Divine union resulting in the birth of One fully God and fully
man. The One to be born would be called the Son of God. Mary’s response to the
Angel reveals her deep reverence and trust in God. She says, “May your word
to me be fulfilled.”
In 70 AD,
the temple would lay in ruins once again. But from the scattered rubble and the
ashes would emerge the new temple – the Church of Jesus Christ. Now, we are the
temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Peter wrote that we, “…like living
stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,
offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5) Because of the Incarnation, God
Himself is with us!
The Lord
is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence. (Habakkuk 2:20)
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