This was originally posted on July 31, 2005. At the time I was in full time ministry on Capitol Hill ministering to those in positions of influence in the American government. In the midst of ministering I also began to wrestle with the intersection of American Christianity and the American government, with the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the New Rome. That wrestling birthed this post.

For this 2008 July 4th week I thought it was appropriate to, once again, reflect on where the Jesus’ community derives it’s power and hope, and hopefully put that hope in proper perspective over and against the willy-nilly salute to everything red, white, and blue. While ancient and Jewish, this story from Zechariah and Zerubbabel is instructive to us 21st century Americans on this day of patriotism.

So he 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 Almighty.

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Some background information on the Book of Zechariah and situation of the children of Israel is in order. Zechariah preached to the first generation after the return to Judah from Babylonian exile. In 536 B.C. the temple foundation was laid, but due to local opposition, the work was discontinued for sixteen years. In 520 B.C. God raised up Zechariah and Haggai to stir up the nation to complete the rebuilding of the temple. Also during this time, the Israelites were experiencing economic hardship, which was caused by the fact that, with no temple in operation, the land was still polluted from their former sins and would not produce well.

In this book, God reveals to Zechariah a series of eight visions to encourage Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the other inhabitants of Judea, as they rebuilt the temple and continued to reestablish their national life. In 1:8-17, God is assuring these leaders that the time is right, it was safe to begin the rebuilding effort. After a decade and a half of opposition from their enemies and hard economic times, the riders patrolled the earth and found it to be at rest. Because the earth was at peace, the temple project could now proceed and prosperity would return (1:16,17). The vision in chapter 4 is similarly meant to encourage and reassure the leaders of God’s provision and protection, particularly Zerrubbabel.

Verses 2-3 show a golden lampstand with seven spouts, a bowl supplying each of the seven lamps, and two olive trees on either side of the lampstand. This artifact was a duplicate of the one used in the former temple and the likes of which would be used at the completion of the second. The seven lamps were supplied by a bowl in the middle of the lamp, which continually fed the lamps through seven secret pipes; the lamps were never wanting, nor were they ever glutted, rather they kept on burning clearly and constantly. Likewise, there were two olive trees, one on each side of the lampstand, that were so fat and fruitful that of their own accord they poured plenty of oil continually into the bowl, which by two larger pipes dispersed the oil to smaller ones and so to the lamps.

In this vision, it is striking how the principle of God’s provision and protection for His projects is illustrated. Nobody needed to attend this lampstand, to furnish it with oil; the oil tarried not for man, nor waited for the sons of men. The scope of this vision is to show that God easily can, and often does, accomplish his gracious purposes concerning his people and movement by his own wisdom and power, without any supplication or effort of man. Though He makes use of men and their instruments, He neither needs them nor is tied to them, but can do His work without them. This seems to be the articulated interpretation of the vision by the angel in verse 6.

Surely you have heard this oft quoted verse, “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” It has risen to the level of cliche and is often used to engender appreciation and awe of God’s power and influence. But I wonder how much we really believe in this Spirit, especially the unmight and unpower nature of that Spirit, or rather the anthropocentric nature of these two descriptives. In the heat of the effort to rebuild the temple, the Lord of hosts was reminding Zerubbabel and the rest of Israel of their story and God’s past demonstration of His Spirit.

Israel’s story is one of bondage, release, capture, release. Always, they were put in exile or bondage because they forsook their YHWH, the Lord of hosts. And always they were released because of God’s faithfulness and the Israel’s repentance. Consider these words from Matthew Henry’s Commentary which paint the theme of this story and picture of the Spirit of God at work in their narrative:

Israel was brought out of Egypt, and into Canaan, by might and power; in both these works of wonder great slaughter was made. But they were brought out of Babylon, and into Canaan the second time, by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts working upon the spirit of Cyrus, and inclining him to proclaim liberty to them, and working upon the spirits of the captives, and inclining them to accept the liberty offered them.

It was not the power and might of the people of Israel in either Egypt or Babylon, but the Spirit of the Living God moving among the circumstances of their narrative and hearts of their captures. The people were powerless, but YHWH was powerful. The Israelites were weak, but Jehovah was mighty. God’s children were powerless and weak out of the limitations of their humanity, but the Lord of hosts was powerful and mighty out of the infiniteness of His Spirit. And what is done by God out of His Spirit stands in opposition to visible force, to the human concept of might and power.

The work of God is often carried on very successfully when yet it is carried on very silently, and without the assistance of human force; the gospel-temple is built, not by might or power (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal), but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, whose work on men’s consciences is mighty to the pulling down of strong-holds; thus the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man.

This is the exact concept of The Politics of Yeast: recapturing the Ecclesia’s silent power of Love through the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. For whatever reason, God desires to partner with His people to restore things on earth to the way in which they were originally intended to be, as they already are in heaven. The power of the Spirit is unleashed through the Ecclesia loving the world with the gospel and living incarnationally. The Church forsakes Her identity when She whores Herself to Power and Might, the Minions of the Prince and Power of this world. And I fear She has.

In some previous posts on the status quo (post 1 and post 2) efforts of the Church to influence Capitol Hill, I tried to provide some anecdotal evidence (which I realize does a poor job of establishing a normative situation), which I think reeks of Might and Power. Please understand, I do not doubt that Christian political groups, their leaders, and individual American Christians have pure motives in their efforts. I am sure they are motivated out of a conviction of the Supremacy of Christ and the truthfulness of the Word of God. But there is a significant difference between the conviction of the need for ends and the means for reaching them. We need a broad, deep Kingdom vision for Capitol Hill and America, rather than one as myopic as the Republican or Democrat party.

You could think of plenty of antitheses to illustrate the point: it is one thing to be convicted that a clinic should not perform abortions, and quite another to spew forth words of hatred and anger in protest of those clinics (I was going to say, “and quite another to blow it up” but thought the example would be slightly over the top); it is one thing to be convicted of the sanctity of marriage, but quite another to prance around with “God Hates Fags” signs or sit on a national TV show and claim 9/11 was God’s punishment for all the homosexuals; it is one thing to pat yourself on your back after signing your name and address to an “action card”, but quite another to spend three days praying and fasting for the gospel and God’s kingdom-reality to invade the Capitol Hill community; it is one thing to name-call Ted Kennedy or Bill Frist, and quite another to pray for their restoration in Jesus Christ. I could go on and on, but I sense a severe disconnect within the Church right now over what efforts are of Might and Power, and which are of the Spirit, the Lord of hosts.

I close these thoughts in no better way than by inking the word’s of Matthew Henry himself: “When instruments fail, let us therefore leave it to God to do His work himself by His own Spirit.”

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
jeremy