Fifty years from now they will still be proclaiming that the only Name that gives life and hope.

Zechariah 4:1-14

November 15, 2009

A look ahead

            In 1962, Decca Recording Company had the opportunity to sign a contract for the Beatles.  They rejected the idea, commenting, “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

In 1925, Harvey W. Corbett of the American Institute of Architects said, “Fifty years hence automobile traffic will have entirely disappeared from the surface thoroughfares of New York City, and people will be shot through tubes like merchandise.”

In 1977, Ken Olson of the Digital Equipment Corporation said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

In 1900, writing in Ladies’ Home Journal, John Watkins correctly predicted air conditioning and long distance telephone by 2000. But he also predicted that “strawberries as large as apples will be eaten by our great-great-grandchildren for their Christmas dinners a hundred years hence.”

A 1950 Popular Mechanics article predicted that homes of the future would have plastic furniture, rugs, drapes and floors that could be cleaned with a garden hose. The magazine said by 2000 we would wear thin rayon underwear that chemical factories would buy to convert into candy.  “Why would we want to?” is my question.

In 1963, Bobby Thompson, age 7, was quite convinced that by 1980 we would all be living the life depicted on the Jetsons cartoon show.

A couple of months ago we opened a cornerstone that had been sealed for fifty years to see what people fifty years ago wanted to leave behind as a memorable record.  For the most part, the response was a collective yawn.  The most interesting item was a set of stock certificates, which a well-meaning individual placed there in hopes they would be of significant value.  One or two might have been, except that they have long ago been declared lost or stolen.  A good lesson in enduring value, right?

Ever since, I’ve been wondering what we might put back in the cornerstone that might be a little more interesting fifty years from now than an old newspaper or denominational record.  Here’s one idea – how about a list of predictions of what 2059 might be like?  Two weeks from today we are going to invite people of all ages to give your predictions – about communication, transportation, politics, the church, whatever.  You can write whatever you want, as long as you’re willing to include your name.

Let’s give those who follow us something to smile about.

Prophet of hope

One of the misconceptions about the biblical prophets is that their primary role is to predict the future.  The vast majority of prophetic material is about the present.  Some of it is about the past.

Zechariah is one of the few prophets who specializes in the future.  He makes some rather confident predictions.  Hundreds of years later, he was one of the most commonly quoted prophets in the New Testament, because his prophecies were spot-on.  He still speaks powerfully to us today.

Zechariah and Haggai, last week’s prophet, were contemporaries.  They were a kind of tag team, urging and encouraging the building of the temple in 520 B.C.  Haggai was older, and more direct:  “Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house” (Haggai 1:7). 

Zechariah’s approach was much different.  He’s dealing with the same situation, but he’s a big picture guy – focus on both the “big” and the “picture.”  He’s a picture guy because he loves the visual – visions, symbols, images.  He’s a big picture guy because his message of hope, though it includes the project under way, includes so much more.

The lampstand and the olive trees

I wish we could take time to look at all of Zechariah’s visions of hope.  They are really quite interesting.  The one that caught my attention this week was the one in chapter four. Let’s examine it verse by verse.

Verse 1 – An angel awakens Zechariah to show him the vision.  This is not a dream, but a vision, for which he is fully awake.

Verse 2,3 – The angel asks the question, “What do you see?”  Zechariah describes what he sees.  Maybe it looks something like the artist’s rendering, maybe not.  He sees a solid gold lampstand with a bowl on top and seven lamps.  There is some disagreement among Bible translations and interpreters about the next part. He either sees one channel going to each lamp, or he may see seven channels going to each of the seven lamps.  Maybe even he sees seven lamps each with seven pinches for wicks.  On either side of the lampstand is an olive tree.

Verse 4 – Zechariah is inquisitive.  “What are these, my lord?”

Verse 5 – The angel seems surprised Zechariah doesn’t know.

Verse 6 – This is the heart of the vision.  Zerubbabel is the governor, descended from the royal line of the kings of Judah.  He is the political leader in charge of rebuilding the temple.  The angel gives Zechariah arguably the most memorable one-liner in his book, “Not by might (resources, i.e. weapons, wealth, organization, efficiency) or power (resolve, determination) but by my Spirit (what God purposes to do, how he decides to accomplish it, and when it fits his timetable), says the LORD.”

Verse 7 – The angel continues, “What are you, O mighty mountain?  Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.”  A mountain is an obstacle, but God will flatten it.  “Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it!  God bless it!”  In other words, the building will be finished to joyful praise.

Verses 8-9 – The “hands” of Zerubbabel both start and finish.

Verse 10 – “Who despises the day of small things?  Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hands of Zerubbabel.”  Apparently there were detractors and pessimists.  There are always those who say it can’t be done.  Or won’t be done.  Or the job is too far over our heads.  But the angel insists it will be done, and the leader will be Zerubbabel.

The rest of the passage is about interpretation.  At the end of verse 10 there’s a parenthesis about “the seven.’ Seven is the number of completion, so the seven-ness of this vision represents God’s complete and universal knowledge and power.

Verses 11-12 – Zechariah wants to know about the trees, the branches, and the pipes.

Verse 13 – The angel asks again, “Do you not know?” It’s not so much that he’s insulting Zechariah as he’s building anticipation for what comes next.  C. S. Lewis uses that same device in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 

Verse 14 – The angel explains that the trees represent the leadership anointed by God – prophet and priest.  Zerubbabel and Joshua.

These seven lights represent Israel, who, as Zechariah makes plain elsewhere in his book, is God’s light to the whole world.  But Israel needs a source of energy outside itself.  The Spirit of God supplies this oil, but he does so using human instruments – leaders God raises up to call the people to action.

I love Zechariah!  He’s SO my favorite minor prophet.  He’s so practical and positive.  The people are taking on a task that is daunting.  There is opposition all around.  There are those within the ranks who insist it can’t be done.  It’s already been started and stopped once. 

Zechariah will not let any of that crush hope and faith.  He reminds the people it never was about human resources or resolve.  When God wants it done, it will be done.  The Spirit has inspired Zechariah to proclaim that the “when” is now.

His whole book is full of what “will” happen –

·        “My house will be rebuilt” (1:16).

·        “The LORD will again choose Jerusalem” (2:12).

·        “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day” (3:9).

·        “Zerubbabel’s hands will complete it” (4:9).

·        “Every thief will be banished from the land” (5:3).

·        “Those who are far away will come and help build the temple” (6:15).

·        “The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing” (8:5).

·        “Never again will an oppressor overrun my people” (9:8).

·        “Their hearts will rejoice in the LORD” (10:7).

·        “I will pour out on the house of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication” (12:10).

·        “They will call on my name and I will answer them” (13:9).

·        “On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name” (14:9).

If you were keeping track, that’s 12 of 14 chapters where there is at least one clear promise of hope through Zechariah.  Even then, I gave you only a sampling.  There are over 100 “will’s” in Zechariah.  He is the prophet of hope.

What I really like about Zechariah is how that hope first addresses the project and problems of today – addressing their felt needs – but then it broadens to the big picture of the coming day of the LORD and even the name and character of God.

That is a reason for hope.  Last night after I had finished most of my weekend preparation, I picked up a book my daughter Cara had recommended to me.  She’s in a Clinical Counseling program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC.  This book, titled Shattered Dreams, by Larry Crabb, is about our disappointments not only with life but with God, whose goal, or so it seems to us, should be fulfilling our dreams because he loves us so much and he’s so powerful.

On page 43 of that book, Crabb tells the story of sitting with a group of friends on January 1, 2000.  One of the friends had just learned earlier in the day that she had a fast-growing tumor behind her right eye, likely malignant.  The Scripture Larry Crabb shared with the group that night, with the immediate mountain of cancer and the broader perspective of the turn of the millennium was from Zechariah 14:9.  “His Name the only Name.”  Crabb says it was this book that Jesus turned to on the night of his greatest agony – in the Garden before his arrest.

Zechariah has a way of lifting us out of our current preoccupation with projects and problems, of throwing images and visions before us that say, “Yes, God will take care of that,” but God is about so much more.

What do you see?

Zechariah inspires me to offer a few predictions of my own about the year 2059.  All of them, of course, should be followed by the conditional, “unless the Lord comes back,” or, as we used to say when I was growing up, “if the Lord tarries.”

With Zechariah as my inspiration, I’ll make my predictions positive, bold, and big picture.  I’ll also follow his examples in using images – the images all around you.

What do you see in the nave windows?  Each window includes the fleur-de-lis, representing the Trinity.  Fifty years from now, they’ll still be seeking and finding a personal relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Each window also includes the Messianic Rose, a symbol of joy (Isaiah 35:1).  Whatever there is in your life right now to cause discouragement and despair, the promise of the gospel is that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Look in the medallions (the top) of the nave windows.  What do you see? 

·        A chalice – they will still be celebrating communion;

·        A Bible – it will still guide what they believe and how they live;

·        Blades of grass – they will still be growing and reaping a harvest of souls;

·        The cross – it will still be central to the church’s message;

·        The scallop shell – they will still be baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;

·        The star – they will still be coming to worship him (Matthew 2:2);

·        The lily – they will still be telling how the lily bulb that withers to near dead before coming to life again represents what God can do;

·        The crown – they will still be proclaiming Jesus Christ is Lord and King.

What do you see in the transept windows?  The tongues of fire, representing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Those who follow us will still be using their gifts to serve and leader. 

The cross and crown represent those are faithful to death.  People will still be born in this church, and they will still die.  But so many will be loyal and faithful.

In the other transept is the open book, representing the Bible.  Christians have been squabbling about the Bible for 2,000 years – but we’re still reading it, still preaching it, still trying to live by it.  And so it will be fifty years from now.

Then there’s the fountain, representing the vision in Revelation of living water.  This church will still be proclaiming him as the source of life.

What do you see in the balcony window?  The shepherds worshiping Jesus in the manger.  Fifty years from now they’ll still be telling the story of Christmas.

What you do see, front and center?  The Last Supper and the risen Christ.  In this place the death and resurrection of Jesus will still be preached as the way for humanity to seek and find God, eternal life, and hope.

What do you see above him?  The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  Economic prosperity will rise and fall, jobs will come and go.  But he will still be there.

What do you see, all around him?  The shields of his apostles, representing how those men lived their lives and, in many cases, how they died.  Most of us in this room will be dead in fifty years.  Maybe they will remember our names and maybe they won’t.  But they will read in our words a desire to do the right thing, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

What do you see on the altar?  The letters “IHS,” the first three letters in the Greek name of Jesus.  Fifty years from now they will still be proclaiming that his name is the only Name that gives life and hope.

What do you see?  Do you see reasons to give up, to stop trying, to run away?

Zechariah didn’t.    He opened his eyes and saw symbols of life, visions of hope, reasons to build, to dream, to serve, to give.

He wanted the people to give it everything they had.  At the same time he wanted them to remember it’s never by might or by power.  Fifty years from now the church – this one and the Church worldwide – will still be inventing new ways to make it by might or by power. 

They will still be inventing new methods, applying the world’s wisdom, jockeying for position and influence.  This is a lesson we never seem to get right.  They’ll look back on our time and see where we were trying to get it done by our own resources and resolve.  They’ll be doing the same thing, just in different ways.

But they will still be there.  And this church will still be there.  Because it’s not by might or by power, but by God’s Spirit.  When he’s doing his work, there is always reason for hope.

Amen.