"For who hath despised the day of small things?" (Zechariah 4.10)

Who or what are the small things? When is this day? These are some of the questions on meeting this scripture.

First we should look at the writer Zechariah and what was happening in the land of Israel at that time. Zechariah, meaning 'God has remembered', was a prophet in Israel writing in around 520B.C. This was after the return of the Israelites to the promised land following their 70 year exile in Babylon. It was during the period when they were rebuilding the Temple. In fact the rebuilding of the Temple was started under Zerubbabel who is mentioned in chapter 4 of Zechariah. We are given to believe that that Zerubbabels's temple was inferior to that of Solomon's. It was only 60 cubits high, a half that of Solomon's temple although broader being 60 cubits rather than 40, also there was no Ark of the Covenant or Urim and Thumin, so it is presumed that from the beginning, that it would be inferior. There was probably some sense of disappointment. Haggai 2.3 reflects this when it says, "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory ? and how do ye see it now ? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?". Simply put it was smaller and less glorious.

The suggestion here is this is the day of small things and that Christians are part of that work. The apostle Paul himself said in Acts 26.22 that he witnessed "both to small and great"1 Cor.1.26-27, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world." Or to put it another way, this time is the Gospel age, in which we live, and applies to ordinary people.

We ought not to be surprised. In most of the people God worked with, in some way, were small, like the nation of Israel. During the New Testament times, Jesus was born into a humble family of carpenters, not in a palace and Peter was just a fisherman from Galilee. It was a small beginning, but sufficient to build a "little flock". (Luke 12.32)

Let's look upon some of the parts of the picture in more detail and see if and how they could refer to us. Firstly verse 7, in Zechariah 4 it talks about a headstone. A headstone or keystone in architecture appears to be an arch or a top stone of a vault, which supports the weight above it. This could easily picture our Lord Jesus. 1 Peter 2.5-6 says "Jesus Christ...Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded". Therefore we get the literal temple picturing the spiritual temple. Heb.9.11 talks of Christ being an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, not of this building. Eph.2.19-22 "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto and holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" 1 Cor.3.16 says "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Jesus therefore is the headstone and foundation of the church, and this day if we build upon his pattern, then we can be the little stones which make up the building.

The headstone would be brought forth with "shoutings, crying grace". During the building, this could have been the joy with which the foundations of this second temple were greeted once the foundations were finished. It says "they sang praises together", "all the people shouted with a great shout" and recorded "the noise of the shout of joy" (Ezra 3.11-13). But where does the grace come from? John 1.14 "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth". Then John the Baptist goes on to say of Jesus, "Of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ".

The link here is that we rejoice and give thanks because of God's grace that came to us via Jesus Christ. The statement in Zechariah talks about shouting for grace. But if we take the supposition that it is the day of small things then when hymns are sung, they could be said to be "grace shoutings" and we rejoice in the grace that has been shown to us, which we have done nothing to deserve. Don't we rejoice and sing praises.

The olive trees (v.11) are another feature of Zechariah 4. What are they and do they have any impact upon the day of small things? Verse 14 of Zech.4 has already told us that the olive trees are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. One suggestion I read of this was that they relate to the Old and New Testaments now. This would make sense for us, that as far as we are concerned now, that they reveal so much to us of God's plan and character, especially if we call ourselves students of the bible. The two parts of the bible are relevant to us small things as, where would we be without them? But what would it have represented then, given that this was written after the Babylonian captivity, could it be the law and the prophets, the former being the Pentateuch and the remainder including prophecies. Some commentators say that at the time they would relate them to Joshua the priest and Zerubbabel the governor. Other commentators now say it represents Christ and the Holy Spirit. It seems however similar to Moses and Elijah as in the transfiguration. One representing the law, and the other the prophets, who wrote about the coming of Christ and the promises of things to come. They bear witness to God. One looking back one pointing forwards. However the picture has its backdrop with the building of the second temple, where there was previously the tabernacle and then the Temple built by Solomon. We have the scriptures of us being stones as part of a temple. Could it be that the Bible is a witness and those of the household of faith also a witness, one that is yet continuing and being acted out every day? One etched in the past still acting as a witness. 2 Cor.3.6 which says we are able ministers of the New Testament. The Bible is as the building and we the users, the congregation, believing in that record written two thousand and more years ago.

Zechariah was sent to encourage the Israelites while telling them not to expect prosperity, but nevertheless telling them that God would be with them, if they were faithful, and in their small way they would be accomplishing his purposes at that time. This is not unlike the story of Samson (Judges 13. 5), who began to deliver Israel from the Philistines. And through Samson this limited work was done.

Here are a few examples of Britons who did their small work in the "day of small things".

John Wycliffe was a radical man for the 14^th century. He was convinced that people should be able to read the Bible in their own language. To that end he translated the Bible into English, albeit from the Vulgate version in Latin rather than from the earliest Greek manuscripts. He thought that the Bible alone is authoritative. He felt the church should be poor like they were in the days of the apostles at a time when the established church, the Roman Catholic Church, was very rich and when those in the upper echelons of the Catholic Church in this and other countries lived like dukes and nobleman. He sent his own poor priests, 'the Lollards' out to preach. He believed in justification by faith, though this is largely accredited to Luther however it seems Wycliffe realized this doctrine. His quote goes as follows, 'If a man believe in Christ , and make a point of his belief, then the promise that God hath made to come into the land of light shall be given by virtue of light of Christ, to all men that make this the chief matter.' It roughly says if anyone believes in Christ and makes it the chief matter of his life then God will come into his life because of Christ. Also it seems he believed the elect of God were those predestined to be so. This was a great change where they reckoned you had to be part of the Catholic Church in those days to be saved and could be excommunicated, as if that would exclude you from being of the elect. Wycliffe saw it was possible whether you were in those days a Pope, Archbishop, King or queen had no correlation to whether you were part of the elect and that no person on earth can decide who is of the elect. This last idea has resonance with the day of small things because being a big thing does not help you.

It could be seen that Wycliffe may have been a small thing of the day. He was not wealthy, had limited power. Yet he had zeal, he worked, educated and did what he could and his path in the early days of Protestantism sets us on a path where we can be today.

I picked up a little old book, 'The Memoirs of Dr.John Edgar by his sister Minna'. It is a small book being only 64 pages and as small as the hand of a little child. But nevertheless in the course of her narrative managed to touch upon important subjects like, 'where are the dead?', concerns about non-believing family members and how our faith comes into play when someone close in our natural or spiritual family dies. Her book only described reaching only a small fraction of those living in Britain, but showed they responded to the prompting of the spirit and the knowledge of the plan of God and they went forth and embraced the life that God had given them here with enthusiasm.

What can we learn from Zechariah? We can encourage each other. The Jews were discouraged whilst rebuilding the Temple. After they got started enthusiastically, the pace slowed and the work rate fell. Therefore it is possible that we can be discouraged. A warning for our time comes from the Laodicean messenger (Rev.3.14-22) which cautions us about being lukewarm, when we could be hot or cold.

At that time, other peoples around them tried to discourage them. The local Samaritans tried all sorts of things to interrupt the work. This seems to be like the world in Britain where people are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Tim.3.4) There is a general disregard for Christian ideas. Christian ideas are held in little value. The way religion has been used to justify wars as holy wars, is one of many reasons why people have rejected religion in general. But this should not get us down.

Jesus himself in John 16.33 said "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world". Jesus himself had tribulation. Isa.53 foretold the tribulation. In verse 9 it says he made his grave with the wicked, he was in prison as in verse 8, verse 12 says he was numbered with the transgressors. The death, the world accorded him, was as if he were there lowest, we may even suggest a humiliating death in public like some public entertainment, nearly all dignity stripped away, the death of a small person. But here we get another contrast between small and great. In verse 12 of Isa.53 it says he will get "a portion with the great".

Other contrasts of small and then great come in 1 Cor.15.53 which says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality". See where we all start small. The plaque of John Edgar's coffin, 'sown in weakness, raised in power' following this idea of starting small and being small now in this age.

God said Zerubbabel's temple would be finished and it was finished. Also the spiritual temple will be finished when the last member has made their calling and election sure (2 Peter 1.10). Phil.1.6 says "being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ".

It seems we are in such a day and the things we do can be called small things. We have the benefit of the scriptures to help us and the grace of God to start us on our road and as surely as the second temple was finished according to the standard the Lord wished it, so this spiritual temple will be finished. Also we can take encouragement from the examples of others in this scriptures to finish our course knowing the commendation in Luke 19;13 to "occupy till I come".

NAC