From "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" this week

Advent reading

From George Whitefield (page 12)

"And as, my brethren, the time for keeping this festival is approaching, let us consider our duty in the true observation thereof, of the right way for the glory of God, and the good of immortal souls, to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; an event which ought to be had in eternal remembrance." 

From Martin Luther (page 26)

"We must both read and meditate upon the nativity.  If the meditation does not reach the heart, we shall sense no sweetness, nor shall we know what solace for humankind lies in this contemplation.  The heart will not laugh nor be merry.  As spray does not touch the deep, so mere meditation will not quiet the heart.  There is such richness and goodness in this nativity that if we should see and deeply understand, we should be dissolved in perpetual joy."

Advent 2010 #2 - Craft

I have been inspired by the lovely Ali to have a go at making some of these...

So, you will need...

red and green cellophane

pipe cleaners (red or green - or gold - half a pipe cleaner per decoration)

jaffas - three per decoration

mint leaves - two per decoration

Cut the cellophane into squares, allowing at least an inch border right around each lolly.

Twist the cellophane around each lolly.  Or invite a friend over to do the twisting bit for you...

...which will leave you free to work some magic with the pipecleaners.  First take three wrapped jaffas and bind them together with the pipecleaner.

Add one mint leaf...

...and then the other.

Secure tightly with the pipecleaner, and there you have it!  Sweet little table decorations.

And if you get a friend to help, you can make lots and lots of them, in the time it takes to watch a DVD together.

Enough to give away as sweet little treats for the children in my Scripture classes at school today.

Advent 2010 #1 - Reading Material

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  Christmas is coming.

My ideal Christmas would probably involved sending and receiving Christmas cards - because despite the bad press they get, I think they are a lovely way to show gratitude for the year past, express hope for the year to come and remind people of the joy it is to celebrate the birth of our precious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - and then on Christmas day, go to church and catch up with the family for a cup of tea and a mince pie or two. 

Of course it isn't that straight forward.   There are lots of extras.  And in amongst all the extras I find it all too easy to take my eye off the ball.  I lose my focus on Jesus.

So this year, while our boys are reading through the first 24 or 25 chapters of The Jesus Story Book for their Advent calendar readings, I am looking forward to reading my way through Come Thou Long Expected Jesus - a book of 22 readings focussing on the events of the Christmas story, mostly excerpts from longer pieces penned by the greats of old (Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon) through to the modern greats (John Piper, Time Keller and JI Packer) and lots in between.  The list of writers is impressive and the chapters are short.  Perfect! 

I came upon this little book from the good reviews it received here, here and here and have had it tucked away in my bookshelf for most of the year, waiting for December to arrive.  I am looking forward to catching a few minutes every day for a chapter of this book with a cup of tea, praying that it will help me to keep my eye on the ball and give Right perspective to the unusual amount of activity that this time of year seems to generate. 

And I hope it lives up to expectation because I have given away about eight copies during the year for birthday presents - so quite a number of my friends will be reading along too.  But for now, I'm off to church and after that I'd better go and dig out the boys' Advent calendar and get that ready for the 1st December!

Perspective for a weary heart - Octavius Winslow

The Lord’s people are emphatically a weary people. It is a “weary land” through which they are passing- it is no marvel that they should be faint, even though pursuing.  Here is the cause of the greatest weariness.  Not more truly does the “whole creation groan and travail in pain,” than does he who “bears about with him the body of sin and of death, day by day.” It is indeed to him a continual and unrelievable pressure. “Who will deliver me from the body of sin and of death?” is his constant and mournful cry.  It is the union of the opposites in him that creates his burden.  Life and death- holiness and sin- grace and nature- are in perpetual, and often fierce combat.  In this lies the inward conflict.  This is the fight of faith.  Until life was breathed, and holiness was created, and grace was given, there were no oppressions, and no warfare, and no weariness.  Think of this, you burdened and oppressed saints of God!  Let this thought fall like a sunbeam upon your gloomy and saddened spirit.  Let it cheer you in your cloudy and dark day. 

HT: The Octavius Winslow Archive

The fall of Jerusalem

Over the weekend I finished reading Jeremiah.  The final chapter is about the fall of Jerusalem in 587BC.  Here is a portion from Jeremiah 52:12-27

On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings—all that were made of pure gold or silver.

The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed. Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.

The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city. Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.

So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

This is well written history.  It is plain and matter-of-fact.  An objective description of what took place.  And yet despite the plain style of writing, it's a deeply moving passage.  Ever since the great rebuke, I have trained myself to read the detail in the harder bits of the Bible (a.k.a. some of those long, tedious descriptions) slowly and carefully and have come to love passages like the painstaking accounts of the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and the detailed buildng plans of the Temple in Kings and Chronicles.  The beautiful and extraordinary detail in these plans is important because these were the places where God would dwell - these were physical spaces that needed to be fit for a King. 

And here in Jeremiah, described in very plain language, it is all plundered and destroyed.

This week I have been reading Lamentations.  If the end of Jeremiah was moving, Lamentations is raw grief.  This is the more human description of the fall of Jerusalem - the eye witness account and the personal response, written in poetic form, probably by Jeremiah.  There's horror, pain, sorrow, remorse, repentance, an acceptance of God's righteousness and right to judge and running wonderfully through chapter three, deep faith in God and hope in Him despite desperate circumstances.

This is a really amazing section of Scripture.  It describes an important moment in Biblical history but it also gives a stunning portrait of the human experience - of the hope we have if we choose Life (that can sustain us in our earthly life even under the most extreme of situations) and the consequences we face if turn our backs on Him.

 

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Good courage for memorising Scripture

Now, speaking of John Piper and memorising Scripture, I have said before that I think memorising Scripture is important.  Really important.  But I don't do it.  I have small spurts of enthusiasm for this task but they are short lived.  I find memorising Scripture really difficult.  For one thing I just plain have a bad memory - which would probably be improved for taking up this type of activity!  And I am conscious of the fact that I don't pray before trying to memorise Scripture - and I expect Satan would quite like to see all of us defeated in this task.

But the other reason I struggle - the reason I give up before I have even started - is that I don't retain a lot of what I memorise over the long term and this discourages me.  At my best I had the aim of memorising two verses per week.  For a while it is possible to memorise, review and retain a stash of verses. But it soon reaches a point where the number of verses to review becomes too great and then I give up.  If I can't review them I won't be able to remember them.  And if I can't remember them then there is no point in trying to memorise them in the first place.

John Piper memorises Scripture every day during his quiet time.  If that was only one verse per day, that would be 365 verses a year!!

So I was relieved and encouraged to read this John Piper's response to the question, "How do you keep from forgetting Scripture after you've memorised it?"  Said John Piper...

I don't. But practically, what can you do to keep it as long as you can? There is only one word. Review.

Review, review, review. There is no way to memorize Scripture that keeps you from losing it. Some people don't lose anything. Some people have traps in their head that just hang on to it. But only 1 in 10,000 people can do that. Average folks like me have to work real hard to memorize the first time, and then recurrently review to keep it. So I memorize verses every day, and I forget them every day.

This morning I re-memorized a verse. I finished Deuteronomy and ran across a verse that I memorized years ago. Maybe I memorize it once a year, because I read the whole Bible once every year.

The verse is Deuteronomy 33:26. "There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, and through the skies in his majesty." So, I've got it memorized. I probably will forget it in a week. That verse is hard for me to remember.

I've memorized that verse probably five times in five years. I forget it because I don't use it as often as some verses. So, I jot it down on a little piece of paper and carry it in my pocket, pulling it out during the day once or twice. If I try to nail it so that it is useful for me over the long haul, I keep it and review it.

A practical thing I would suggest for people to do, is decide what cluster of text they want to always be at their disposal. For me I could name Psalm 46, Psalm 23, Psalm 1, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, a cluster of texts surrounding justification, 1 Peter 4:11—"let him who serves serve in the strength that God supplies, that in everything God may get the glory through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the dominion forever." This is the most quoted verse as we move into worship at Bethlehem.

So for my soul, for the warfare of my life, and for ministry in hospitals and counseling sessions, I want a cluster of texts at my disposal. Decide what those are, put them on a piece of paper, and review them until you have them down. I'll give you a little story.

My first or second year of pastoring I was called to the hospital—quickly. I went without my Bible. Rollin Erickson's wife just had a heart attack. I walk into a room of probably 20 family members that didn't know if she was alive or dead—as she is in surgery. Rollin gave me a big hug and said, "John, give us a Word from the Lord." Now, if I had my Bible I would have opened it to a Psalm or something. I didn't have my Bible, and for whatever reason at age 35 my mind went blank.

I felt so humiliated. It was horrible. Here are 20 people, and the husband of a dying woman says, "Give us a Word from the Lord." I can't even remember what I said. I probably said, "Let's pray," and tried to paraphrase some Scripture. I went home and got on my knees that afternoon. I said, "Lord Jesus, that will never happen again." I opened to Psalm 46—"God is our refuge and strength." I have been able to quote Psalm 46 verbatim for the last 28 years. I decided that Psalm 46 is going to be in my head because it is so useful all the time.

The answer is, review. But don't try to do that with every verse you learn. You should be learning hundreds of Bible verses by heart, and forgetting 90% of them. But then you get to them again and relearn them, and they are still with you because you learned them once. Somehow they will function to get out into your life.

But really nail down a cluster of soul strengthening words.

That is a great comfort.  Time to get back on the horse.

HT: Desiring God.

Less is More

John Piper says,

I [do not] want to give the impression that I think there is virtue in reading many books. In fact one of my greatest complaints in seminary was that professors trained students in bad habits of superficial reading because they assigned too many books. I agree with Spurgeon: “A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed, lapping at them.” God save us from the allurement of “keeping up with Pastor Jones” by superficial skimming. Forget about “keeping up.” It only feeds pride and breeds spiritual barrenness. Instead devote yourself to boring in and going deep. There is so much soul-refreshing, heart-deepening, mind-enlarging truth to be had from great books!

I actually think that for some people this point is not true.  I know a few people who can devour a lot of material quickly and then process and retain what they read effectively.  In fact I am married to one such person.  But for me, Piper's quote rings true and is an encouragement.  I read pretty slowly and I don't seem to be able to make a lot of time for reading in any case.  So to choose a few really good books and read them slowly and carefully works for me.

From John Piper's Brothers, We are Not Professionals
HT: Desiring God blog

Ten things that make me happy

The lovely Ali has tagged me.  The brief - to list ten things that make you happy.

1. Living life secure in the knowledge that Jesus died for me.  This glorious hope undergirds all else.

2. Sharing life with the three gorgeous people in this photo.

Being on holidays at the beach with them is pretty good too. 

3. Reading the Bible first thing in the morning, cup of steaming hot tea by my side, while the house is still quiet.  (The house is quiet but that doesn't mean everyone is still asleep.  Small people get to stay in their rooms until 7am and that is what makes this possible.)

4. Letters - writing them, sending them, receiving them.  Epistolary novels make me happy too.

5.  Speaking of books...reading, time to read and as of recent times, receiving a book in the post from The Book Depository.  (Gilead by Marilynne Robinson awaits me for holiday reading.  October can't come too quickly!)

6. Listening to this CD - especially the first disc.  Loudly if possible.  And singing along with it. 

7. Praying with other people.  Especially precious is time spent praying with my prayer triplet - a group of eight (counting is a small problem...but we are good at praying) who have been praying together in some formation or other depending on who is in town since 1997, at first weekly, then fortnightly and now monthly.  Always special.

8. Flowers.  Especially of the cottage garden variety.  Nice in a vase.  But even nicer in a garden.

9. Cups of tea shared with friends.

10.  Blogging.  And being tagged.  Thanks Ali!

What makes you happy?  I tag Sarah, Helen and Jean.

God is always good

Yesterday I was reading the beginning of Job and lingered over a comment he made to his wife.

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10) 

It reminded me of a time when I learned an important truth about God - that God is always good.  Thankfully at the time I learned this lesson I was spared trouble, save a small amount of embarrassment. 

It was a time when I was asked to give a testimony at a church event, with the aim of being an encouragement to the church family and maybe sparking some interest in God for those who came as guests.

I had decided to talk about how God was at work in my life at that time, rather than describe how I became a Christian, but on the morning of the event I still had no idea what I would say.  As I drove to work I prayed earnestly that God would give me some direction - I was running out of time!  And pretty soon that prayer was answered. 

As I sat at the traffic lights, waiting for them to turn green, I heard the screech of brakes, the sound of metal hitting metal, the tinkle of smashing glass.  Once, twice, three times.  A four car pile up and had there been sufficient momentum, I would have been the fifth car, but by God's grace, my car remained untouched.  The lights turned green, I drove off (that sounds a bit irresponsible as I write it now...I wonder if I should have stayed at the scene??) and praised God that He had spared me from being involved in that traffic accident - and praised God that I now knew what I would talk about that evening.

As I spoke that evening of the morning's traffic accident, I kept using the phrases, "God was good" and "God was with me."  Over and over.  And eventually I brought my story round to the goodness of God, that He should send His Son to die for me that I might have eternal life in Him. 

At the end of the evening, as I walked back to my undamaged car, a dear woman approached me and said, "Meredith, that was a great talk.  But I have a question for you.  If your car had been hit this morning, would God still be good?  Would God still have been with you?"

I still wince at that oh so gentle rebuke.  Because she is right.  God is good.  Even if my car had been the fifth car in that pile up, or even the first to be hit and so sustaining the greatest amount of damage, even if I had been injured or even killed that day - God is good.  Because trouble of one sort or another WILL come.  Traffic accident.  Ill health.  Fractured relationships.  Unemployment.  Poverty.  Death.  But for those who love Him, life with all its goodness and troubles, is lived upon the foundation of hope - that God will bring them home to Himself through the work of His Son on the cross.  That is the good constant with which we live, despite what happens to us in our day to day lives.

God is always good.

Something to do when you're not feeling well

The following is today's reading from  Morning Thoughts by Octavius Winslow.  In some ways it seems almost preposterous and insensitive to post it, sitting here in fine health.  It is one of those "easier said than done" things.  And yet I think they are wise words - the sort of passage to reflect on during the good times and tuck away in your heart against the day when ill health will surely strike.

“Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2

Is it true that God, by setting you aside from active engagements, has set you aside from all duty and labor? We do not think so. Is it too much to say, that He is now summoning you, though to a more limited and obscure, yet to a higher and holier, because more self-denying and God-glorifying, sphere of duty? Your present loss of health has brought with it its high and appropriate duties, obligations, and employments. It bears an especial message from God to you, and through you to others. Contemplate the work to be done in your own soul, and the testimony through this which you are to bear to the power of Divine grace, to the sustaining energy of the Gospel, and to the character of God; and I ask if the lone chamber of sickness has not its special and appropriate duties, responsibilities, and work, equally as difficult, as honorable, and as remunerative as any which attach to the sphere of activity or to the season of health?

You are called upon now to glorify God in a passive, rather than in an active consecration to His service. Graces hitherto perhaps dormant, or but feebly brought into play, are now to be developed and exercised to their utmost capacity. Patience is to be cultivated, resignation is to be exhibited, faith is to be exercised, love is to be tried, and example is to be set; and are not these great, holy, and sublime achievements? Who will affirm that there is no sermon to be preached from that languid couch, that sick-bed; yes, and it may be more solemn, more searching, more full of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, than the pulpit ever preached.

The Church and the world have now the testimony of one passing through the present and personal experience of what he speaks. A sick-room is not the place for theorizing upon truth and eternity. All transpiring there is stern reality. The dust of human applause is laid aside, the breath of adulation is hushed, the flush of excitement has faded, and the delirium of an admiring throng has passed away; the artificial gives place to the true. All is as real and solemn as eternity.

Deem not yourself a useless cumberer, because sickness has incapacitated you for active labor. God has but changed your sphere of duty, transferring you, doubtless, to one more glorifying to Himself. Receive, then, with meekness your Heavenly Father’s dispensation, which, while it has set you apart from the Lord’s work, has set you apart more exclusively and entirely for the Lord Himself. Your great desire has been to glorify Him: leave Him to select the means which may best advance it.

You have thought of health and activity, of life and usefulness; of being a champion for the truth, a herald of salvation to the ignorant and the lost, a leader in some high and laborious path of Christian enterprise; but He has ordained it otherwise. And now by sickness and suffering, by silence and solitude, He is giving you other work to perform, which shall not the less secure your usefulness, and promote His glory.

Preparing for the Prophets

About fifteen years ago I was the co-leader of a Bible study group for the very first time.  One of the things we did that year was an overview of the Bible.  While the other leader (my minister, who was teaching me the craft of leading Bible studies) and I were planning these sessions I remember declaring, "I will do ANY section of the Bible for these studies but please don't make me do the Prophets." 

The troubles I have grappling with this section of the Bible are not new!  In just over a month's time I will be up to the Prophets (major and minor) with the Bible reading plan I have been using this year.  In order to finally have some success understanding in this part of the Bible, I have done some preparatory work.  Actually understanding the context of these books is likely going to be a key ingredient to understanding!!  Should have done this years ago!!  So below, some basic contextual information for each of the Prophets, major and minor, with thanks largely to The Lion Handbook to the Bible.

First though, some key dates.

The schism between Judah (the Southern Kingdom) and Israel (the Northern Kingdom) - 922BC

Israel carried off into exile to Assyria - 722BC

First deportation of Judah to Babylon - 597BC

Second deportation of Judah to Babylon - 586BC

Edict of return by Judah to Jerusalem - 538BC

Isaiah
with a message to - Judah
during the reigns of - Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah
when - 740 -700BC
Summary of message - Isaiah speaks to the nation under the threat of Assyrian invasion, preaching of God's righteousness, warning of the judgment on sin and comforting his people with the knowledge of God's love, His longing to forgive and telling of all the glories in store for those who remain faithful.

Jeremiah
with a message to - Judah
during the reigns of - Josiah through to Zedekiah
when - 627 - 580BC
Summary of message - Jeremiah speaks to Jerusalem as they face the Babylonian invasion, warning them of the coming disaster and appealing to them to turn back to God.

Lamentations
Not one of the prophets, but a book found in their midst.  Probably written by Jeremiah.  The first four poems are written by an eye witness to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army in 587BC.  The laments express a grief not simply over the suffering and humiliation of his people but over something far deeper and far worse, that God has rejected His people because of their sin.

Ezekiel
with a message to - Judah
during - the period of exile
when - 593 -570BC
Summary of message - Ezekiel inspires the Judean exiles in the plains of Babylonia.  He sees God in all his awesome majesty, all seeing and all knowing and people's sin in all its blackness.  He carries the weight of one who must give warning to the individual concerning the danger of sin or else be held accountable - that we have individual accountability before God.

Daniel
with a message to - Judah
during - the period of exile
when - 605 -530BC
Summary of message - Daniel serves God before the kings of Babylon and records a series of visions of future events.

Hosea
with a message to - Israel
during the reigns of - Jereboam II until just before the fall of Israel to Assyria
when - 760 -730BC
Summary of message - Hosea expresses God's love to his faithless pople.  What Israel's idolatry means to God - how He continues to love and long for His people to return to Him - Hosea learns through bitter personal experience, as his own wife betrays and deserts him.

Joel
with a message to - Judah
during the reign of and when - unknown.  Dates range from the 8th century BC through to the 4th century BC, which is quite a range!
Summary of message - Joel picks up the theme of "the day of the Lord" when God will finally judge the world and its people.  It is a message of devastation and new life - a timeless message for all generations.

Amos
with a message to - Israel (Interestingly Amos was from Judah but sent by God to speak to Israel)
during the reigns of - Jereboam II until the fall to Assyria
when -  760BC
Summary of message -  Amos denounces the social and religious corruption present in Israel and warns of God's impending judgment.

Obadiah
with a message to - Edom
when - 500BC
Summary of message - Obadiah prophesies against Edom's pride.  Edom regards its strongholds as invincible.  Obadiah foretells the return of Israel to possess a greatly extended land including Edom.  (The Edomites are the descendants of Esau.)

Jonah
with a message to -  Ninevah (in Assyria)
when - possibly 770BC
Summary of message - Jonah takes God's message to Ninevah and records the city's reprieve.

Micah
with a message to - Judah
during the reigns of - Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah
when - 737 - 690BC
Summary of message - Micah denounces Samaria and Jerusalem - the rulers, priests and prophets and also the corruption, dishonesty in business and religious sham present.  God's judgment will fall on Samaria and Jerusalem but Micah sees a glorious future when Jerusalem will become the religious centre of the world and Bethlehem will see the birth to a great David to rule over God's people.

Nahum
with a message to - Ninevah (in Assyria)
when - 593 -570BC
Summary of message - Nahum prophesies against Ninevah and predicts its destruction.

Habakkuk
with a message to - Judah
when - not entirely clear but close to the Babylonian invasion
Summary of message - Habakkuk debates God's justice, battling with the problem that while God's people seem to suffer, the wicked go free.  Current events face him with this problem in a particularly acute form.  God had announced that he will use the Babylonians - a far more wicked nation - to punish his own people.  Habakkuk, a man of faith, questions God.

Zephaniah
with a message to - Judah
at the beginning of the reign of - Josiah
when - 627BC
Summary of message - Zephaniah pronounces God's judgment on Judah, prophecying immediately after the reigns of evil Manasseh and Amon and before Josiah launches his great programme of reform in 621BC.

Haggai
with a message to - Judah
during - the return to Jerusalem after the exile
when - 520BC
Summary of message - Haggai gives encouragement to rebuild the temple - but it has permanant relevance because his concern is not only with the physical rebuilding of the temple but with restoring priorities.

Zechariah
with a message to - Judah
during - the return to Jerusalem after the exile
when - 520 - 518BC
Summary of message - Zechariah presents visions of judgment and glory.  He distils the wisdom of many of the earlier prophets and brings the events of the far future into sharper focus, including references to the Messiah (which are fulfilled in the life of Christ.)

Malachi
with a message to - Judah
during - the return to Jerusalem after the exile
when - 460 - 430BC
Summary of message - Malachi recalls the people to right priorities, written either just before Nehemiah is made governor or during his absence later on.  Times are tough and the promised prosperity has not been realised.  The people feel let down and are showing an increasingly casual attitude towards worship and to the standards God has set.

[Photo from Microsoft Office Online Clip Art]

But the older men wept

This week I have been reading Ezra.  The exiled Jews are returning to Jerusalem.  The first thing to be done is to rebuild the temple that was destroyed so that their worship of the LORD, as laid down by Moses, can recommence.   Once the foundation has been laid, Ezra describes the scene.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD :

"He is good;

his love to Israel endures forever."

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. 

Ezra 3:10-13

That very tender verse of the older men weeping always stands out to me.  I looked in a few commentaries and there isn't a great deal written about it.  Mainly some thoughts that this verse brings into question the dating of Ezra.  And the fact that the men were not weeping for joy.

It could simply be that they were grieving the fact that this temple would never be as grand as the original.  The former temple that King David so dearly wanted to build for his LORD but didn't because God said, "No David, you have shed too much blood in your lifetime.  But I will grant your son a reign of peace and he can build it for me."  The temple that David carefully planned and for which he painstakingly gathered all the materials - timber from the cedar forests of Lebanon as well as gold, silver, iron, bronze and stone in incalculable quantities - and amassed workmen, craftsmen and artisans and all the money needed to see it built, ready for his son.  The temple that took Solomon seven years to build - the glory and splendour of which was renowned in all the lands.  The temple that was used as a place of worship but at other times was sickeningly defiled. The temple that was vilely desecrated and then tearfully, earnestly and reverently restored, time and again. The temple that was finally pillaged, burned and destroyed as the people of Judah were carried off into exile. 

Were the older men weeping because they could remember the old temple in all its glory?  Weeping because they knew the new temple would never match the grandeur of the former one?

Or does it go a little deeper?  Is it more than just about the building?  Are they weeping because this seemingly feeble attempt will not come close to the glory of the former temple - and therefore will not be worthy of the LORD they desire to worship within its walls?  Is there a heartfelt, conscience stricken grief that goes deeper than aesthetics?

A little time after the foundation is laid, Haggai the prophet comes to the people with a message from God, one that initially reflects the grief of the older men.

Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 
Haggai 2:3

But then he says,

'But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the LORD. 'Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the LORD, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.'
"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." 
Haggai 2:4-9

This "present house" is not a building, grand or otherwise, to be found in a city.  This "present house" is Jesus.  It is good to be reminded how deeply blessed we are to live this side of the cross - to know what happened next and how ultimately it didn't matter that the new foundation was built with smaller and inferior blocks of stone.  But as I draw close to the end of the history books in the Old Testament for this year, how very moving it is to picture the older men who had seen so much - the destruction of the temple, the exile, the return to Jerusalem and now the laying of a new foundation - standing there weeping in the midst of great rejoicing.

Maybe tomorrow...

So much to say.  So little time to write anything down.  Maybe tomorrow.
But in the meantime, just letting you know that I have turned the comment moderation back on.  It isn't that I don't trust you.  You have all been very well behaved.  But I like to try to reply to most comments and it's just easier to keep track of them this way.