Abundance of Grace and Righteousness in Christ: the Zerubbabel and Jeshua connection

Believers, have you ever wondered how the prophecy of Zechariah to Jeshua and Zerubbabel and the Jews' resumption and completion of the building of the Temple of God after years of inactivity applies to you in Christ today? The account shows us how, before the devil can make any inroads into your life, he has to accuse you and get you to accept condemnation first! And everyone stands condemned without God's gift of righteousness in Christ.

The story is recorded in the Book of Ezra (please read this fantastic account!) but let's do quick a recap:

Cyrus, the king of Persia was led by God to send the Jews back to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild the Temple of God after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord by Jeremiah. Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah and Jeshua, the high priest, along with the Jews that returned from the captivity got to work and the workers they appointed laid the foundation of the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

The old enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that their descendants were building the Temple of the Lord, so they approached Zerubbabel and the other family heads, offering to help them build and pretending that they served the God of Israel. But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and their companions refused their offer. So these enemies started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to frustrate their purpose. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.

In the beginning of the reign of King Ahasuerus, they wrote an accusation against the Jews to the king. Also in the days of Artaxerxes, another king that reigned after Cyrus and before Darius, two guys named Rehum and Shimshai wrote a letter against Jerusalem to the king telling him that the Jews would no longer pay taxes or tributes to him if the city was built and so the king would have less money. They told him that the Jews were rebellious and that if he allowed their work to be concluded, he, the king, would no longer have dominion in that region. So the king wrote and stopped the building of the Temple of God. The accusers rushed with glee to Jerusalem to read the letter to the Jews and by "force of arms," made them quit building the Temple!

In chapter 5, it is recorded that Haggai and Zechariah prophesied in the name of God to the Jews, and Zerubbabel and Jeshua started building the house of God in Jerusalem, with the prophets helping them. But what did Zechariah prophesy that made them start building again? We see this in Zechariah 3 and 4.

Zechariah 3:1-5 - prophecy for Jeshua

"Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.

4 Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”

5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”

So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by."

Satan was standing to oppose the high priest, Joshua (Jeshua) who was clothed in filthy rags (menstrual rags in original Hebrew,) a symbol of his own righteousnesses from works of the Law. This was the high priest of Israel but God saw him as one wearing filthy rags, as it is written in Isaiah 64:4 "all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags..." Satan could oppose him because in and of Jeshua, he was not a righteous man, as none of us are of ourselves today. As such, condemnation and judgment follow Satan's accusations (fiery darts of the wicked one). This resulted in the accusations by the Jews' physical enemies and the enemies' success at stopping the work on the Temple.

But the Lord stripped Joshua of his own righteousnesses from works of the Law (filthy rags) and clothed him with rich robes. Notice that Joshua did nothing here. The Lord called and justified him. Only when believers are clothed in the righteousness of God which is a gift for all those who are in Christ will the weapons formed against them (Satan's accusations) never prosper and tongues that rise against them in judgment are condemned. We see in Romans 8:33 "Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies." It is God who makes us righteous.

Zechariah 4: 6-9 - prophecy for Zerubbabel

So he answered and said to me:

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:

‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’

Says the Lord of hosts.

7 ‘Who are you, O great mountain?

Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!

And he shall bring forth the capstone

With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

9 “The hands of Zerubbabel

Have laid the foundation of this temple;

His hands shall also finish it.

Then you will know

That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.

The prophecy to Zerubbabel made him see that the obstacles to the building of Temple of God cannnot be removed by human effort (today, our various efforts at giving and doing things in order for God to help us or anything we do in our own strength to fight off accusers and enemies) but by His Spirit. The capstone is the finishing stone of a structure. The Lord made Zerubbabel see that the project will be completed only by His Grace!

So what happened when Jeshua and Zerubbabel heard these prophecies from Zechariah and started work on the Temple of God again, conscious of their God-given Righteousness and Grace respectively? Their human accusers came forward to oppose them as usual, even informed the king of the work. Little did they know that like Haman in the story of Esther, that was to be their downfall! The king ordered the same accusers, enemies of the Jews, to make sure they, the Jews, received everything they needed for the work to be finished SHARP SHARP and from the coffers of the same enemies that were trying to stop the work! He even decreed that anyone who slowed the work down by not providing the needful things on time should be hanged!

Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jehoiachin, a king of Judah and governor of Judah received Grace to build the Temple of God. Jeshua, the high priest, received the gift of Righteousness and the Temple of God was built. Today, in Christ, we are kings and priests as it is written in Revelation 1:5-6 "...To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

In Christ, we have overcome all who stand in the way of our success. The accusations of Satan cannot neither stand nor prosper in our lives.

King-priests in Christ, like Zerubbabel we have abundace of Grace and like Jeshua, we have the gift of righteousnes and as it is written in Romans 5:17 "...much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)"

Believe Right and you will Live Right!