“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”  1 Corinthians 3:16

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”  Romans 12:1-2

We had a dear friend who worked as a civilian on the Air Force base that employed most of our friends’ dads, including our own.  So, we heard a lot of stories about how work on the base was unfair at times.  As a computer tech, our friend was assigned to trouble shoot and solve tech problems.  His complaint was about the changing security rules depending on the supervisor you had to deal with in order to get in to do his work.  “Tell me the rules and I’ll play your game so I can do my work,” was his mantra of frustration, but the rules continued to change depending on who you talked to.

Our dads told us often of people who didn’t have enough talent or energy (lazy) to do the day-to-day work being advanced from the work pool into a supervisory position with more pay only because they couldn’t or wouldn’t do the daily work that needed to be done.  Unfair?  Surely, but that didn’t stop our dads who loved God and worked hard regardless of what was going on around them.  They were men of integrity who worked to please God first with their lives.   They were also men who were the “go to” for younger men and women in training.

So, where am I going with this and what does it have to do with the message of God to His people?  God tells us through Zechariah that as the Temple is rebuilt so must our lives be rebuilt, following the renewed thinking of what God wants for us with how He wants us to live our daily lives.  We make life hard with our disobedience.  God makes life simple. Our bodies which include our hearts, minds and souls are Temples where He wants to come to live. 

Have we cleaned house lately, making God’s temple, our lives, a great place to live?

Zechariah 8, The Message

Rebuilding the Temple

8 ^1-2 And then these Messages from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I am zealous for Zion—I care!
    I’m angry about Zion—I’m involved!”

* * *

God’s Message:

³ “I’ve come back to Zion,
    I’ve moved back to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s new names will be Truth City,
    and Mountain of God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    and Mount Holiness.”

* * *

^4-5 A Message from God–of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Old men and old women will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in.”

* * *

⁶ A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Do the problems of returning and rebuilding by just a few survivors seem too much? But is anything too much for me? Not if I have my say.”

* * *

^7-8 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I’ll collect my people from countries to the east and countries to the west. I’ll bring them back and move them into Jerusalem. They’ll be my people and I’ll be their God. I’ll stick with them and do right by them.”

* * *

^9-10 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Get a grip on things. Hold tight, you who are listening to what I say through the preaching of the prophets. The Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies has been reestablished. The Temple is being rebuilt. We’ve come through a hard time: You worked for a pittance and were lucky to get that; the streets were dangerous; you could never let down your guard; I had turned the world into an armed camp.

^11-12 “But things have changed. I’m taking the side of my core of surviving people:

    Sowing and harvesting will resume,
    Vines will grow grapes,
    Gardens will flourish,
    Dew and rain will make everything green.

^12-13 “My core survivors will get everything they need—and more. You’ve gotten a reputation as a bad-news people, you people of Judah and Israel, but I’m coming to save you. From now on, you’re the good-news people. Don’t be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I’m doing.”

Keep Your Lives Simple and Honest

^14-17 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“In the same way that I decided to punish you when your ancestors made me angry, and didn’t pull my punches, at this time I’ve decided to bless Jerusalem and the country of Judah. Don’t be afraid. And now here’s what I want you to do: Tell the truth, the whole truth, when you speak. Do the right thing by one another, both personally and in your courts. Don’t cook up plans to take unfair advantage of others. Don’t do or say what isn’t so. I hate all that stuff. Keep your lives simple and honest.” Decree of God.

* * *

^18-19 Again I received a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“The days of mourning set for the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be turned into days of feasting for Judah—celebration and holiday. Embrace truth! Love peace!”

* * *

^20-21 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“People and their leaders will come from all over to see what’s going on. The leaders will confer with one another: ‘Shouldn’t we try to get in on this? Get in on God’s blessings? Pray to God-of-the-Angel-Armies? What’s keeping us? Let’s go!’

²² “Lots of people, powerful nations—they’ll come to Jerusalem looking for what they can get from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, looking to get a blessing from God.”

* * *

²³ A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“At that time, ten men speaking a variety of languages will grab the sleeve of one Jew, hold tight, and say, ‘Let us go with you. We’ve heard that God is with you.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God cares enough about us to confront how we live so we can rebuild our temples, our lives, His holy residence of His presence, so that what we do is pleasing to Him, declaring His glory! 

God is Truth.  Jesus came as the Person of Truth.  When we accept, believe, and repent of our sins to Jesus, we become Truth tellers!  “Tell the truth, the whole truth, when you speak. Do the right thing by one another, both personally and in your courts. Don’t cook up plans to take unfair advantage of others. Don’t do or say what isn’t so. I hate all that stuff. Keep your lives simple and honest.”—God

When we tell the Truth, the whole Truth of the Good News of God love, mercy and grace while lifting the Name of Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives, something happens!  People, broken and betrayed by the world, desperate for Truth, are drawn to us!  Simply speaking, they are drawn to God in us!

And I love these words, “From now on, you’re the good-news people. Don’t be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I’m doing.” 

How? Read God’s Words, ask for wisdom, seek God first in the morning before other thoughts overwhelm your day, present ourselves to God as an offering with no strings attached, willing and ready to obey what God says.  This is the temple in which God likes to reside and abide.

“Embrace Truth; Love peace!”

Lord,

I pray for Your Holy Spirit to help me clean my own temple.  Cleanse my heart, renew and transform my mind, refresh and feed my soul while restoring the joy of your salvation at work by you in me.  Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen