At our most recent General Assembly I was excited to participate in a session where we were challenged to consider locations for planting at least twelve new churches in the next fifteen years (40 by 2040). Sometimes I field questions about why I am part of a smaller family of congregations instead of something down the road, but passion for mission and for the purity of preaching the Gospel of Grace are part of the answer (that and you are all fantastic folks to fellowship with that I love dearly). New Zealand needs faithful, multiplying churches preaching the Reformed Faith to all around.
The returnees from exile were also starting something new, rebuilding what had been destroyed and ruined. For them, it was a time of excitement and initial progress. A time of worship of God, who was making it happen and just because he deserves it. But also, for some, a time of mourning for what had been before. This passage encourages us to look forward with anticipation to God’s promises rather than back as we build God’s house, his church, in these days.
After rebuilding an altar and resuming the proper sacrifices and worship of God which the Law of Moses required, the Israelites also resumed the festivals like the Feast of Tabernacles, remembering God’s faithfulness and provision in their ancestors’ wilderness wanderings. It must have been a powerful reminder to them as they tented among ruins, relying on God to provide once again.
While offerings had recommenced, “the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid” (v.6). The needed wood was not easy to find in Jerusalem’s surroundings, but Lebanon produced fine cedars (it’s on Lebanon’s flag today). So using some of King Cyrus’ grant, they gave money to the masons and carpenters and provisions to the Tyrians and Sidonians in exchange for Lebanese Cedar logs (v.7), just as with Solomon’s Temple (2 Chronicles 2:16).
After six months, the timber arrived. Zerubbabel and Jeshua assigned the Levites aged 20 and older to take charge of the building project (v.8). But note that it was “all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity” who joined in their own ways in this work (v.8). This was a task which came with initial enthusiasm and unity, and participation from all the returnees.
This was no DIY project. It required organisation and supervision, and Jeshua the high priest, his family, and the Levites provided that oversight so the builders kept on task (v.9).
The progress brought with it a desire to praise God. “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel” (v.10).
Here, God was fulfilling promises spoken through Jeremiah decades before. No wonder they started singing Psalm 100 (v.11, cf.Ps.100:5). They were remembering God’s goodness in the past, and seeing it again in their present day. God’s covenant promises were being fulfilled again so “all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid” (v.11).
But not all. “Many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy” (v.12) because they could remember the older, grander temple, and what had been lost.
While all were making a great noise heard far away (think of a stadium crowd), it was hard to distinguish between the joy and the tears (v.13). In front of the Temple foundations were good and bad remembrance. One that springs to opportunity, the other that sits still to remember what was lost.
Sitting in a nation which can no longer reasonably claim to be Christian and would not do so if pressed, we might be tempted to take the same posture. Especially those of us who remember what felt like better days in the past, when outward practice seemed closer to the Judeo-Christian ethic. We might mourn the loss of denominations that abandoned Biblical faithfulness for cultural acceptance. But that would be a wrong type of remembrance, and not from wisdom (Ecclesiastes 7:10).
Instead, we should look back with thankfulness for God’s past goodness and faithfulness, and step out in faith confidently expecting God to act again today and tomorrow. Has God built and preserved his church? Yes! Will he do so again today and tomorrow? Absolutely! Will God provide the means if we trust in him and ask? If it is his will to bless our labours, of course!
God is building the foundations of his house again today, in faithful churches across the world. He will build his kingdom, and multiply his congregations of praisers and worshipers, because he is a God who keeps his covenant promises.