One of my favorite sermons is, “It Seemed Like a Bad Idea At The Time,” which looks at Jesus’ lineage and the various characters who, by rights, shouldn’t even have been born, according to God’s laws. It begins with the first sixteen verses of the Book of Matthew, which lists the genealogy leading to Joseph, husband of Mary, mother of Jesus, and points out many of the births which, by rights, “should not have happened”. There were births out of wedlock, there was incest, there were relationships with foreigners, and — in the case of David and Bathsheba — adultery and murder. Anywhere along the line, if someone had come down with a case of the righteousness, the lineage leading to the ideal man to be parent to the Son of God would have been broken.
Now, on Monday, I mentioned the long list of names in the Book of Chronicles and asked, rhetorically, why God would put all those names in there. You could say the same about any of the many such lists in the Bible.
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.
— Matthew 1:12
Zerubbabel. Is that someone we should know? Is he someone else on that list of People Who Shouldn’t Have Been Born?
No.
Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.
So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.
— Ezra 5:1-2
Recall: Ezra had been granted permission to lead a group from Babylon back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple.
Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.”
— Zechariah 4:8-9
(In fact, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts.” That was a prophecy directed to Zerubbabel, as well. (Zechariah 4:6).)
So Jesus’ earthly lineage includes the man who laid the foundation for the temple, which had been destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar sacked it and carted most of the Jews off to Babylon.
Isn’t that what Jesus does in our lives? We’ve been sacked by the enemy: treasures that we had held dear have been taken away and we’re in captivity; and it’s Jesus who comes in — as a servant — and rebuilds it. It was already set up by God – engrained in the heritage of the Son of Man.
But this Biblical connection is about more than the “aha!” experience of seeing that Zerubbabel was part of Jesus’ lineage. It resonates in our own lives and the reality that God has a plan going down and each of us has a part in it. We may never know exactly what that part is, so it’s important to consider it and keep the Scriptural evidence in mind.
Zerubbabel had no way of knowing that his great-times-seven grandson would be the parent of the Son of God, who would lay the foundation to rebuild our spiritual temple, which many would have thought had been sacked beyond all recognition. He simply was put into a situation, presented his gifts to the Lord, and did what he had to do.
It’s the same with us. There are situations we find ourselves in, and have no idea why, what we’re doing there and what God’s playing at. That’s when we need to accept that it’s all part of a plan that may not come to fruition or make any kind of sense for generations to come. This we know: Zerubbabel was protected and God prospered him as he moved forward with the assignment, and God promises to do that for us, too. So when we say “Yes, Lord,” we’re not simply sacrificing ourselves for future generations. That’s already been done.
Two Minutes for Cross-Checking! 