Part 2
Israel had returned to the promised land from captivity. They were attempting to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. The rebuild was a difficult task as their enemies were attacking, and the nation had no resources. Zachariah wrote his book to encourage the Jews to finish the work God had called them to complete.
Zerubbabel was the leader of Israel. He was struggling with a task that seemed to be impossible. Amid the struggle, Zechariah received a vision meant to confirm that God was with Israel and would enable the nation to finish the rebuilding project.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
We use this verse to encourage people in the same sense that the angel gave it to encourage Zerubbabel. The Christian life is often challenging. It will even seem impossible at times, especially in the godless society we live in today.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
John 14:12
Jesus told His disciples that they would be able to do the same “works” that He did and that they would be able to do even greater ones. It is not humanly possible for any person to do the “works” that Jesus did! Obedience requires a dependence on the Holy Spirit and His anointing.
I have heard many messages over the years about the “greater works”. We spend time discussing them and attempting to understand what they are. Many interpretations may or may not be correct. The issue I see with our fixation on the “greater works” lies in the fact that there are very few people “doing” the works of Jesus. It seems like we should start with those before attempting to do the “greater works”!
Jesus healed the sick, opened blind eyes, and raised the dead. We do not see these things happening in most Christian meetings. I do not believe this will change until we first acknowledge that something is wrong with the Church. People will seek the supernatural if they think what we experience in our meetings is “normal” Christianity. One of our most significant challenges is that most people who identify as “Christian” are satisfied with the status quo. They do not want to be challenged and are content with attending service to check off a box showing they “attended” to the things of God on Sunday.
The average pastor is worried about litigation more than they are about being obedient to the commands of Jesus. Most of them will ask if we’ve visited the doctor when approached for healing prayer. I have had pastors pray for the medical staff and that God would “comfort” me. Can you think of one Scripture that instructs us to pray like this?
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matthew 10:8
Jesus did not tell His disciples to pray for the sick. He told them instead to go “heal” them. His instructions were very different from the way we operate today. We would be “healing” the sick instead of praying for them if we were doing the works that Jesus did. People flock to meetings where the Spirit of God is manifesting, and people are receiving miracles. The miraculous is missing in most churches, so we depend on marketing techniques to increase church attendance.
I believe that the miraculous is missing in our services because we have neglected the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is a mystery to most Christians. Very few seem to understand that the Holy Spirit is a knowable person desiring a relationship with us. Jesus ministered in partnership with the Spirit, and together, they used miracles to draw people to God.
2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
John 6:2
People flocked to Jesus’ meeting because they would have their needs met. He demonstrated the goodness of God by healing people’s bodies and delivering the demon possessed.
Jesus’ ministry was a demonstration of the goodness of God. He preached repentance and the Kingdom of God and then showed God’s goodness through the miraculous healings. His ministry focused on the needs of today, and our ministries seem to be focused mainly on the future. We preach repentance as a way of escaping hell instead of preaching it as the doorway leading to a blessed life today. God is just as interested in us having a good life as He is with us spending eternity with Him!
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