It’s Impossible

Called to Rebuild is another great book from Bob Emery. Bob compares the remnant, that returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in captivity, to today’s remnant who have a heart to rebuild and see the true church restored. This is the first of two excerpts. Want more information about Bob, click here. You can read the second excerpt here.

Another reason the building stopped was that the people had come to the conclusion that the task God had called them to was utterly impossible. Haggai 1:7, 8 reads, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Consider your ways!’ ‘Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified.’ says the Lord.”

As we step back and try to put the rebuilding of the temple in perspective by looking at it from the point of view of those who returned, we can easily see that the remnant could have had the overwhelming sense that what God had called them to do was just beyond their capacity to perform. God had not just called them to return to Jerusalem to build a temple, but they were called to rebuild Solomon’s temple. We read in 1 Kings chapter five that when Solomon built his temple, it took almost 185,000 laborers seven years to complete it and another 13 years to finish the royal palace and surrounding buildings. That doesn’t even take into account all the effort and expense David put into gathering all the materials, drawing up the plans, and getting everything ready before Solomon began.

By contrast, look at the remnant. They were only about 50,000 in number. They had been in captivity. They didn’t have the special tools, skills, or experience to do such a work. There were significantly less people involved in the work, fewer resources, and enemies all around harassing them and trying to get them to stop. And when they compared what they were doing with the former glory of Solomon’s temple and were told “to go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple,” their reaction was probably, “Yea, right!”

But is it any different today? Doesn’t living the Christian life or trying to recover a first-century type church experience sometimes seem just as impossible as the task of rebuilding Solomon’s temple must have seemed to the remnant?

The fact is that the Christian life is a life that is impossible to live. There is only one person in the universe capable of living it, and that is Jesus Christ himself. Consider these standards of Christian living:

-When your enemy strikes you turn the other cheek.
-Give thanks in all things.
-Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.
-Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.
-Wives submit to your husbands.
-Be angry, but don’t sin.

When people reach the point that they really see that what God is calling them to do is something that is impossible and unattainable, they usually respond in one of two ways. First, they might try harder. Those are the ones who think that if they resolve to pray more, fast more, give more, study more, go to more meetings, or join more committees that they might just be able to do all that God is asking of them. The second choice is to conclude that since what is being required is impossible, why not just stand back and let God do it all? Just quit, give up, withdraw from any Christian activity and just wait for God to supernaturally show up. Many people come to this point and conclude that the Christian life just doesn’t work. In the case of the remnant, some may have concluded that the same God who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, could also say, “Let there be a temple,” and there would be a temple! In principle, the second response for what to do in the face of an impossible task is probably closer to the answer than the first, but it can also lead to stagnation or doing nothing, which it did in their case. It took the prophet Zechariah to reveal the principle by which God works in relation to his people and put things in the proper perspective:

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. “What are you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands shall also finish it.”
ZECHARIAH 4:6-9

If we read this carefully, we will see that the problem of removing the mountain (the seemingly impossible task of completing and rebuilding the temple) would be accomplished by the Spirit. But immediately after reading that, we see that it would also be accomplished through the hand of Zerubbabel. God doesn’t expect us to overcome any impossible problem by ourselves. But neither is he going to do it all by himself without our participation. God will work, but he also wants to work with us. God’s work is a work by the Spirit, using our hands.

Sign up below to receive my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.