We have here a word of encouragement sent to the Jews when they were building the temple after their return from captivity. We shall, in the few remarks which we intend to make, notice four things.
I. — The need there was for encouragement.
II. — Those to whom the encouragement was sent: “Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the people of the land.”
III. — The encouragement itself: “Be strong for I am with you.”
IV. — The duty enjoined on the people thus encouraged: “Be strong and work, saith the Lord.”
They received this encouragement in order that they might not be idle, but might be up and doing, doing the work of the Lord. We also need encouragement in our day in the work of the Lord. We are now on the last day of the feast about to separate, and each and all of us ought to be engaged according to our abilities in doing something for the Lord, and if we are stirred up by His Spirit to do His work, there is no doubt this word will encourage us as sure as the Jews.
I. — The need there was of the encouragement given. They had great need of being encouraged when they had so many discouragements, and we shall notice a few of these. No sooner these people returned from Babylon than they set their hearts on the work of the Lord — you remember it was because of their neglect of that work they were sent into captivity, and they learned a lesson during their long captivity — no sooner, then, the Lord returned their captivity than they began first to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and thus we read that the foundation of the temple, which was destroyed and reduced to ashes by the enemy, was laid, and that they were purposing to continue to build on that foundation, to carry on that good work which they had begun. But Satan was, you may be sure, very much displeased when he saw the people upon whom he prevailed so to provoke the Lord as to send them into captivity, setting their hands again to the work of the Lord. Had they begun to worship the idols for which the Lord chastised them he would have let them alone, but when he sees any putting their hand to the work of the Lord, he is sure to make every opposition in his power. Satan is a spirit and a creature, and there is no doubt as a spirit he does a great deal of evil inasmuch as he has access to the spirit of man. But he cannot oppose the work of God in every way and every manner as a spirit, and therefore he used men, and he uses those that are likely to be the more successful in opposing the work of the Lord. In this instance he uses the governor that was sent by the king of Babylon to Samaria, and his servant, Tobias. It is thus the children of the world are wise in their own generation. There is something that cannot be called wisdom, but which is like it in the Prince of darkness. He knows very well what instruments to use when he begins to combat against an individual soul, or a church, or a nation. He knows very well what instruments are more likely to be successful in doing his work. The first thing that discouraged the Jews was this, that they were opposed in the good work in which they were engaged. This reached their hearts, and this is the first thing that discouraged them. And by whom was the opposition made? It was made by the Samaritans with the governor Sanballat at their head. Who were the Samaritans? They were a mixed people. They were neither purely Jews nor purely Gentiles. They were made up of both. If you read at your leisure the fourth chapter of Ezra you will find that they were a people whom, when the Jews were removed from their own land, the king of Babylon brought from his own kingdom to plant in their place. All the Jews were not taken to Babylon, there were some left, and the children of these Gentiles and Jews were the Samaritans. Samaria was the chief town of the ten tribes, as Jerusalem was the capital of Judea. These people then, of a mixed race, the children of Jews and Gentiles, dwelt in Samaria, and offered the first opposition to the re-building of the temple. Observe what method they took. They came forward first, when they saw the Jews beginning to build the temple and to engage in the service of God, and they offered to unite with them, and to co-operate with them. Well, some might think that it was a very unwise thing of the Jews in their weak condition to refuse the co-operation of the Samaritans. But they did refuse it. And these Samaritans, when they came forward and offered to co-operate with the Jews, used the argument that they served the same God as the Jews, and that for a long time, since they were taken by their king from Babylon. This then was an argument they used. But the Jews were justified in refusing to have anything to do with them in building the temple, and why? It was true, no doubt, that they to some extent (at least outwardly) worshipped the same God as the Jews did, but they were idolaters at the same time, and the Jews learned before they came out of captivity to say, by sad experience, “What have we any more to do with idols?” They knew very well that if they accepted the offer made by the Samaritans, who worshipped idols as well as the living God, they would be soon again sent back into captivity. Well, when the Samaritans saw that they were refused, they made it evident that they were not worthy of being entrusted to do anything in such a solemn work as the work of God. They showed that they were enemies. When they saw that they were refused they began to do everything in their power to discourage the hearts and to weaken the hands of the Jews in building the temple. That is what they did, and it proved that they had no love for the work of God, but because they saw that the Jews were doing a great work, and were doing it by the authority of King Cyrus, they wanted, from some motive or other, to have a hand in that work. When they saw that they were refused they used various means to put a stop to the building of the temple. Oh! what was the meaning of this? A people seemingly so eager and so desirous of building the temple, and yet when they saw that their offer was rejected, they tried to put a stop to the building of the house of God. They showed the very spirit that Cain manifested when he found that the sacrifice which he offered up to God was rejected, and he found himself personally and his services rejected by the Lord. Had they been the true people of God, even although they were rejected, they would try to do in a separate position what they could to encourage the work of God in the world. Well, they used various means to put a stop to it, and they succeeded in putting a stop for a time to the building of the temple. They complained of the Jews, as you may see in the fourth chapter of Ezra and the fourth chapter of Nehemiah. They reported in high quarters that the Jews were a rebellious people, and that they now showed their rebellion in the work in which they were engaged. They not only sent complaints to high quarters to provoke the king so as to command that the work should be stopped, but they also mocked these people. Ah! such is the spirit of those who are not sincere, notwithstanding their professions. That which they cannot bring to pass by power they try by mocking. They begin to mock the work of the Lord. I am not going to dwell upon this, but simply to mention it to show that this was a great discouragement to those who were stirred up to begin such a glorious work as the building of the house of the Lord. We may mention also, before we proceed, that there is a great cry in this age for union. Well, here was a proposal for union. The Samaritans came forward and offered to unite with the Jews, and they used as an argument: “We serve the same God, but with us you will be stronger.” Not at all, you will be weaker. It is a good thing, my friends, when the cause of God is prosperous, and when the Spirit of God is poured down upon the people from on high, and when the kingdom of God is enlarged in the world, it is a good thing then to have union, and I believe when the Millennium will come there shall be union. I mean by union that there shall be only one denomination. You ask what denomination it shall be. Well I am prepared to tell that, and when I do tell it I don’t guess, I just tell it from the Word of God; it will be the denomination which the apostles left in the world, and that is — Presbyterianism. The apostle Peter, writing to the elders, says, “Who am also an elder (a presbyter).” There will be union, my friends, when the Millennium comes. There will be a union, a glorious union, in the course of a hundred years hence, but it is too soon yet. It is a good thing for the people of God to be united, and for those who profess the Christian religion to be united in the truth, but there are times when God sees that instead of there being one denomination in the world there should be more than one. Yea, he commands divisions at certain times. How is this? Well, I have been thinking about it. I think it was a wise thing of Jacob, when returning from Padanaram to meet his brother Esau, to divide his one company into two; and why? “Lo,” he says, “if he whom I fear smite one company, the other shall escape.” And as, my friends, that was of the wisdom of a creature in that way and in that instance, so it is of the infinite wisdom of God that sometimes instead of there being one denomination there are more. Why? When the devil shall attack one denomination with errors of various kinds to overthrow the cause of God, another denomination shall escape. You will find this was the way in which the truth of God was preserved in past ages. It was not by one great denomination where all were united together, but by little companies that were set apart, just as Jacob divided his company. In this back-sliding age there is a cry for union. Ah! union and error is an awful thing. Union and the truth is a glorious thing. I mention this in connection with the proposal that the Samaritans made here to the Jews to unite with them in carrying on the work of the Lord.
There was another thing that discouraged them, and what was it? The Lord rebuked them for neglecting to carry on the work which they had begun. We see, in the first chapter, that a stop was put to the building of the temple, that the Jews were forced to stop it for a time, yea, for a long time, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years. Well, that was a long time for the work of the Lord to stand still, and we may be sure, my friends, that this would be a hard thing for any that had the work of God at heart, unless they were in a back-sliding state. When they saw that a stop was put to the work, and that one year passed and another year passed, they came to the conclusion in their own minds, a conclusion to which they had no warrant to come to from the word of the Lord, “Certain things are going against us, and it appears this is a sign that the time has not yet come to build the temple.” Here the Lord rebukes them. He sends his prophet Haggai to rebuke them. “Then came the word of the Lord, by Haggai, the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” The Lord reminded them that they made careful provision for worldly matters, and that they ought to be as careful about spiritual matters and the work of the Lord. “Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled houses?” Ye have built your own houses. They had got indifferent about the house of the Lord. So do sinners in regard to the salvation of their souls. How many, my friends, how many, young people especially, delay in this way. “The time has not yet come for me to seek the Lord. I am too young yet.” But the Lord comes with this rebuke to you, my friend, and he says, “Is this a time for you then to attend to worldly matters and mislay the most important matter in that way? Is this a time for you to attend to the comforts of your body to the neglect of your soul? Is it a time for you to attend to the things that concern this life, and neglect the great salvation?” “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” Ah! my friends, there is teaching here for all. God rebukes the Jews for their backwardness in His works, for the conclusions which they drew from the opposition made to them, and for the stop they allowed to be put to the work of the Lord. They said, “The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord.” Now is the accepted time for us, and now is the day of salvation. To-day, to-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. We know not what a day may bring forth. We are now in the land of mercy, in the land of the living. We are now where the arms of a mighty Saviour are stretched forth to receive us even although we be the chief of sinners. But to-morrow we may be as naked spirits before the great Judge, and to whom then shall all these worldly goods belong? Yea, it was said to another, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.” That man had no time to attend to the concerns of his soul, and yet he was very active in thoughts and in actions regarding the things of this world, but God called him a fool, and told him that very night his soul should be required of him. This was then the rebuke, and they profited by it, for it is said that “the people did fear before the Lord.”
There was a third thing that discouraged them, and this is spoken of too by the prophet in the second chapter. “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory, and how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?” They thought that, although they should be allowed to build the house, it would be as nothing in comparison with the great and glorious temple built by Solomon. The Lord spoke their thoughts and their minds when He said, “Is it not in your eyes as nothing?” Not only their enemies said it was a poor thing, but even they themselves, and especially those of them who saw the first temple. There were some of the people who had been taken in their youth to Babylon, and who remembered the glory of the first temple. When the foundation of the second temple was laid these were weeping, while the others, who never saw the great temple that Solomon built, were rejoicing, so that the noise of joy and the noise of sorrow could not be distinguished. There were those who wept and those who rejoiced. It is naturally discouraging to the Lord’s people to think of the great days that are past, when the Lord’s people were many in gospel lands, when there were many gospel ministers, many godly men and women, many godly young and old, and to observe now to what extent the Lord has left the earth. He still calls one here and there, “one of a city and two of a family,” yet is it not a thing that discourages the true people of God when they think of the great days that are past? But, my friends, we must not despise the work of the Lord however small it is. We should indeed seek to see more of it, seek that Christ should increase more and more, but we ought not to despise the day of small things. The people here who were discouraged by the thought of the littleness of the second temple compared with the first were greatly mistaken. The Lord told them there was no reason for this discouragement at all. This was the third thing. “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory, and how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?” Well, these were some of the things that discouraged the Jews, and called for a word of encouragement from the Lord. “Yet,” notwithstanding all these things, “now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work; for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.”
II. — Those to whom the encouragement was sent. Who were they? Some of them are mentioned by name, others are mentioned as “all the people of the land.” Zerubbabel was governor of Judea, and it was a mercy from the Lord that when a heathen king granted them liberty to return to their own land they were not to be governed by Sanballat, no, but by one of themselves. You see, the Lord has the hearts of kings and of peoples in his hand, and when he turns the captivity of His church in any age, He will show favour in various ways; and this was one of the favours which he gave to the Jews, that He set over them not a Sanballat nor a heathen governor, but Zerubbabel, one of themselves. Upon Zerubbabel lay the burden, at least outwardly, of the government of the cause of God’s church. He was not a king but a governor under Darius himself and those that succeeded him. Upon Joshua, the high priest, lay the burden and the responsibility of the service of God. It says a great deal for the governor of the Jews and for the high priest that they are mentioned by name here. What are we to learn by this, that they are thus mentioned? That, as they got such responsible work, so they must have felt grieved more than others that the enemies had put a stop to the work of the Lord. This should be so. When the cause is opposed in any land all the children of God must feel it, but ministers of the gospel should feel it more. Paul says, “Brethren, pray for us.” Speaking of his own troubles he says, “Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” Now, I say it should be so, that the public servants of the church should bear the weight and the burden of God’s cause more than others. I say, if you are a believer you feel wounded in heart when you hear that anything is done to discourage the work of the Lord, but I say also that the ministers of Christ must be more grieved than you. And it should be so. It should be so according to the responsibility of the calling in which they are: they must feel it more than others. I was thinking that these two represent the public ministers and governors of the church of Christ: they represent those who ought to bear more of the burden of the Lord than others. I was thinking these two were mentioned by name, just for the same reason that Christ mentioned the name of Peter when sending the message to tell He was risen from the dead. “Tell the disciples,” said He. Well, Peter was a disciple. “Tell the disciples and Peter that I am risen.” Why was Peter mentioned? Ah! Peter had greater need of hearing about the Saviour than the rest of the disciples. He was more cast down; he had denied Christ. He was grieved in heart, and it was not an ordinary message that would raise him up who was so much bowed down, and so, although the message was for him in common with all the disciples, there is a special message sent to himself. “And all the people of the land.” Not only are Zerubbabel and Joshua mentioned, but also “all the people of the land.” By “all the people of the land” here, we are to understand those mentioned in the first chapter and twelfth verse. After the prophet had given the message, and after they were called to consider their ways and the dealings of the Lord with them in providence, “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.” They took to heart the message of the Lord. There were other people in the land, such as the Samaritans, but by “all the people” is meant those who took an interest in the building of the temple, and whose spirits were stirred up to do what they could to advance the good work that they had begun. This message or word of comfort to them is also sent to all those who take to heart the word of the Lord, and who are stirred up from their indifference to do something that souls might be saved and that Christ might be glorified, that His kingdom might come, that sinners might be converted, and that the people of God might grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If your heart has been stirred up by the Spirit of God in this back-sliding age — so as to engage in the work of the Lord, to be fervent in spirit at the throne of grace, and doing what your hand finds to do that Christ might be glorified, that His kingdom should come, and that the testimony for the truth might be left to coming generations — this word of encouragement is sent to you as sure as it was sent to Zerubbabel and Joshua, and all the people of the land. It was not sent to any but those who needed it. “They that are whole need not a physician.” The Lord never applies the balm to a whole skin, He never binds up a whole heart. He binds up the heart that is broken, and He never sends a word of comfort but in a time of need. There are threatenings in the Word of God, and there are promises, and there are encouragements — all these are dispensed by Him whose they are. “Strengthen the weak hands, confirm the feeble knees; say to them that are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong.'” This word of comfort is sent to you who feel discouraged at every opposition made to the work of the Lord, or to the souls of God’s people whom you know, or to His cause in the world. Even in the most distant parts of the world, if you are a living stone in the building, if you are a living member in the mystical body of Christ, when one member suffers you sympathise with that member, you suffer with him; when one member rejoices you rejoice, and when one is honoured you feel happy with that member. Ah! my friends, God’s people — members of Christ’s mystical body — are not like a wooden leg in a man’s body. You see, a wooden leg may appear to be a part of the body, but really it is not; it has no sympathy with the body. Those who are merely nominal Christians, nominally the people of God, they are just like a wooden leg which cannot sympathise with the body, which cannot feel although you were to pierce it with the sharpest instrument.
(To be continued)