Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit

This will be the last blog for year 2013. What started as a new year resolution has turned into a year of learning discipline and many blessings. I have managed to fulfil my commitment to write a blog every week and some. I can only attribute it to the work of the Holy Spirit. There had been times when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matthews 26:41). So this is an appropriate verse to end the year:

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.
(Zechariah 4:6)

I have heard this verse preached on many times over the years. Typically it is used by missionaries to encourage Christians to trust God's Spirit to do the work which we cannot do ourselves, like saving others. It also causes us to be humble and to give praise to God when the miracle has happened - friends turning to Christ!

The context of this verse has to do with Zechariah's vision in chapter 4 verses 2-3:
“I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

And the angel explained what it meant (verses 6-9):
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’” Then the word of the Lord came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

Against all odds, Zerubbabel managed to lay the foundation for the temple in Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians. According to Wikipedia "Zerubbabel was a governor of the Persian Province of Judah (Haggai 1:1) and the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate (next to the last) king of Judah. Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews, numbering 42,360, who returned from the Babylonian Captivity in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia (Ezra). The date is generally thought to have been between 538 and 520 BC. Zerubbabel also laid the foundation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem soon after." "Elias Bickerman speculates that one of the reasons that Zerubbabel was able to rebuild the Temple was because of “the widespread revolts at the beginning of the reign of Darius I in 522 BC, which preoccupied him to such a degree that Zerubbabel felt he could initiate the rebuilding of the temple without repercussions”."

It seems to me that to do the impossible task of rebuilding God's temple Zerubbabel needed first of all a capstone (mentioned twice in this chapter). Now what is a capstone? According to The Christian Post: "When a stone arch is built, a stone is placed in the center at the top, holding the arch together. It is the focal point of the arch. It is what holds the arch together. Without the capstone, the arch would crumble. This is what Jesus is - the capstone of the church. He is at the top and in the center. He holds the church together. Without Jesus, there would be no church. Without Jesus, the church would crumble."

Jesus devoted considerable amount of time teaching (and proclaiming the good news) in the temple courts in Jerusalem (Luke 20). When the religious authority challenged his authority, he referred to this Psalms:
‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?
(Ps 118:22, Acts 4:11)

Again The Christian Post has this take home application (I have changed the third person to the personal pronoun):
"For the individual Christian, Jesus is the capstone - if I allow Him to be. He is the capstone of my life. He is at the top and in the center of my life. He holds me together - mentally, physically and, most important, spiritually. Without Him, I am nothing. Without Him, I would have no hope. Without Him, life is a meaningless, fruitless turmoil that ends abruptly and eternally in death."

"Is Jesus my capstone? Is He my primary focus in everything I do? Is He the most important thing in my life? Is He what holds me together? Is He my hope, my salvation? If not, isn't it time I let Him be?"