Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets who were present on the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
(Zechariah 8:9)

The verse quoted above speaks of the house of God that was being built in Jerusalem. God was encouraging His people, through the prophet, to finish the work. Today God’s house is not made of stone materials like that one was, nor is it found in a particular city or nation but it is a spiritual house made of living stones and is found in all nations. It is the Church of Jesus Christ, His faithful ones.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of this house, the first Apostles then layed the foundation in building local churches throughout the world. Today men build upon that foundation until the temple of living stones is complete. According to God’s Word we are co-workers with Him, ministering life by the power of the Holy Spirit. God does the work of salvation, I must simply trust and obey Him when He speaks.

God went on to instruct His people in Zechariah 8:16, “these are the things you shall do”;

1) Speak the truth to one another – let the words of Christ be in our hearts and on our lips.

2) Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace – not only good words but good deeds that work by love for truth and for peace.

3) Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another – pride, greed , jealousy, envy, unforgiveness: all these cause a man to love a lie and hurt his neighbor. But Christ cleanses the heart of these things.

It’s time for us to hear His words and thus let our hands to be strong in this work and bring the temple to completion; no half-hearted effort will do. We must not look to human strength or reasoning, God will do it, ours is to pray and seek Him with our whole desire. Who knows but if we have come to such a time as this so that the last stone can be put into place?


In Christ,

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Ron Halverson

1Ch 12:32
And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

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D.Miller