And you will also find this that before Zerubbabel, before the almighty power of Jesus, these mountains will become a plain and thus we learn to sink into the depths of self-abasement and put the crown upon the head of him to whom it alone rightly belongs.

Ide shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace unto it.

What is literally meant by these words? Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the temple, but it had been at a standstill for several years.

The Lord therefore promises by his prophet Zechariah that the hands of Zerubbabel which had laid the foundation should also put on the headstone or the last stone in the roof and that the temple should stand forth complete towering in all its beautiful proportions and all its sublime grandeur.

This is the historical meaning
of the prophecy.

But we have a spiritual and experimental meaning couched under it.

The spiritual Zerubbabel, Jesus, the Lord of life and glory, whose hands have laid the foundation stone of grace in the heart, will accomplish the work and bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings of grace, grace unto it.

One, there are two senses in which the spiritual Zerubbabel brings forth the headstone one.

When Jesus reveals himself with divine power to the soul and thus completes the spiritual building, making the heart a temple for God to dwell in.

For until Christ is manifested in the conscience, and his love, blood, and grace are sealed with a divine witness upon the heart, the headstone is not brought forth, nor are there shoutings of grace, grace unto it.

The building is begun a vire but not finished.

The walls are raised up, but the roof is needed to keep out the wind and weather.

The temple is not completed for the Lord of the temple to come in and dwell there until the top stone is fitted in.

How many of God’s dear children are in that state? Zerubabel has laid the foundation in their conscience.

There is a work of grace begun in their heart.

There are testimonies, signs, tokens, promises, evidences.

Yet the headstone is not brought forth with shoutings of grace, grace unto it.

The last stone is not yet laid on.

The arch lacks the keystone, so that they cannot say, “My Lord and my God.

” And because the headstone is not brought forth with shoutings, they are troubled, distressed, exercised, tossed up and down with fears, that they are not the Lord’s building.

For they think that if the work were of the Lord, it would have been finished long ago.

But look at the temple.

Consider the long time it took to finish.

Look at what an interval took place between laying the first stone and putting on the roof.

What exercises the spiritual Israel must have had in those days, and how often must the souls of those who loved Zion have sunk within them when they looked at the unfinished walls? Many doubtless were the size, cries, and groans that went up from the people of Israel, that the Lord would complete the temple.

And
many anxious inquiries among themselves, “Shall we ever see the headstone brought forth? Shall we ever behold the Lord’s house completed? So spiritually, how many of God’s dear people are troubled in their minds and go on questioning, doubting, and fearing perhaps for years because they have no clear testimony in their conscience that their sins are pardoned, are unable to cry, “Aba, Father,” or say, “The Lord is their God.

” But he that has laid the foundation of the temple will also complete it.

Shall the heavenly architect commence and not complete? Shall his enemies ever mock him and say, “He began to build and was not able to finish.

” Luke 14:29 30.

Shall not grace finish what grace began? The promise is express being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Phil 1:6.

The mountain of doubt, fear, unbelief, questionings, perplexities shall before Zerubabel in his own time and way become a plain, and he will bring forth the headstone thereof with such sweet revelations of his blood and love that the soul will shout, “Grace! Grace!” unto it.

But why is the repetition? Oh, there is a sweetness in it.

Grace begins the work and grace completes it.

Grace applied the law and grace reveals the gospel.

Grace killed and grace makes alive.

Grace wounded and grace heals.

Grace laid the foundation and grace brings forth the top stone.

Thus, grace reigns first and grace reigns last.

Yes, every stone in the temple is laid by the hands of almighty grace.

One grace that would not express half the feeling of the soul.

Grace, grace must be redoubled as though the soul were under the necessity of repeating it.

Grace, grace, for nothing but grace could ever have laid the foundation.

and nothing short of grace could ever have brought forth the headstone.

Two, but there is another meaning of the word.

For the temple shadowed forth not merely the work of grace upon the heart, whereby the bodies of God’s people become the temple of the Holy Spirit, but also the whole church of God, who are living stones in that temple, which will one day shine forth in all its beauty and glory, and of which Solomon’s temple was but a feeble and imperfect type.

Zerubbabel has laid the foundation below.

And in each successive soul that he takes to glory, there is another living stone laid in the glorious temple above.

But the headstone is not yet brought forth.

There are many of the stones yet buried in the quarry.

Others are being hewed out of the rock and dug from the hole of the pit.

Others are being chipped and hacked to bring them into some fitting shape.

and others already squared and fashioned to occupy their destined place above are lying for a short time amid the pairings, chippings and rubbish.

The headstone is not yet brought forth with shoutings, but when the last vessel of mercy shall be safely gathered in, and the great, the glorious, the living temple shall stand forth in all its beautiful proportions and sublime grandeur.

When Zerubabel, the heavenly architect, who laid the first and each successive stone, which binds in the roof and completely fastens the building, the arches of heaven will ring with shoutings, and there will be one universal burst of joy and exaltation from the redeemed throng of grace, grace unto it.

The sound of good works will not be heard there.

Creature righteousness will not be extolled there.

There will be no discordant clink of man’s axe and hammer.

There will not be a semicorus half round the throne above singing the praises of human piety and creature exertions.

But there will be one universal song of harmony extolling sovereign superabounding grace.

And if the Lord does not teach us the first note of the song of the lamb here below depend upon it.

We shall never sing it hereafter.

But oh, what harmony will come in a full body from the heavenly choir, when there will not be one discordant note, nor one jarring sound, but all will be in sweet melody.

And grace, grace will still be the song throughout the countless ages of eternity.

But what a deal of exercise and work upon the conscience it takes to make a man feelingly join in that note.

What depths of man’s depravity must be known as well as heights of redeeming mercy? What an acquaintance is needed with the workings of a fallen nature? What troubles, exercises, perplexities, and temptations has the soul to wade through? And what testimonies and deliverances to experience before it is fit to join in that triumphant song.

Now, if the literal temple had been built up without any trouble whatever, if all had gone on smooth and easy, there would not have been any shouting of grace, grace when it was finished.

But when they saw how the Lord had brought a few feeble exiles from Babylon, how he had supported them amid and carried them through all their troubles, and how he who laid the foundation had brought forth the headstone, all that stood by could say, “Grace, grace unto it.

” It was these very perplexities and trials that made them join so cheerily in the shout and made the heart and soul to leap with the lips when they burst forth with grace, grace unto it.

And who will shout the loudest hereafter? He who has known and felt the most of the aboundings of sin to sink his soul down into grief and sorrow and most of the super aboundings of grace over sin to make him triumph and rejoice.

Who will have most reason to sing grace, grace, the lost and ruined wretch who has feared that he should go to hell a thousand times over and yet has been delivered thence by sovereign grace and brought to the glory and joy of heaven.

No other person is fit to join in that song.

And I am sure no other will join in it, but he who has painfully and experimentally known the bitterness of sin and the evil of a depraved heart.

And yet has seen and felt that grace has triumphed over all in spite of the devil, in spite of the world, and in spite of himself and brought him to that blessed place where many times he was afraid he should never come.

Something has shifted in Jerusalem tonight.

A tragedy that no one saw coming.

When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Amos 3:6.

And tonight, with the dust of Jerusalem still rising, that scripture no longer feels like an ancient warning.

It feels like the voice of God echoing through the smoke of a wounded city, calling us, forcing us to reflect on our sins and the sins of our land.

If we truly believe that God governs the nations, then we cannot pretend that calamity unfolds outside his hand.

And if we believe that he is righteous, then we must admit he does not strike a penitent without cause.

We as a people have wandered far.

Our country’s mine, yours, are stained with rebellion.

And now, through the devastation that has shaken Jerusalem, God is speaking again.

The fields of the world grow thin, conflicts multiply, and famine knocks on doors once thought secure.

The trumpet of warning has sounded not only in Israel, but across the nations, and our own consciences must testify that this judgment is not undeserved.

If my heart were as tender as it should be, I would lift my voice like a trumpet and spare no one, including myself, declaring the truth of our transgressions.

For the question trembling over Jerusalem tonight is the same question trembling over us.

How long will we ignore the God who calls us back? And if this message stirs something in you, if it awakens even a small hunger to discern what God is doing in these days, then stay close.

Share this word.

Let others hear it and remain with us as we watch and pray.

These are not ours to drift alone.

Look around our land.

What do you see? Vice standing tall and unashamed while righteousness retreats into the shadows.

Cities drowning in pleasure, distraction, and noise, yet starving for holiness.

Mouths filled with cursing.

Hearts numb to the weight of eternity.

Greed hoarding what it can never keep.

Corruption scheming for what it does not deserve.

Luxury flaunting her feasts while humility starves.

Entertainment replacing worship.

Screens replacing scripture.

noise replacing prayer.

Cards and bedding tables are touched more often than the word of God.

Fleeting amusements carry more excitement than the call of the spirit.

The outcome of a sports match matters more to many than the destiny of their souls.

Families no longer pray.

Children grow up unrestrained, trained by a world that mocks repentance.

Entire crowds wear the name Christian, yet live as if God were a myth.

Church services are attended lightly, even carelessly, as though we gather to pass time, not to face eternity.

And beneath this thin layer of religion, lies a deeper danger, a quiet unbelief that steals into hearts like smoke.

Jerusalem’s tragedy tonight is not only a wound, it is a mirror.

every community, every soul.

He announces judgment not only to a city of stone and ancient walls, but to a world that has forgotten him.

And the question is no longer distant or theoretical.

It stands before us now with trembling urgency.

Will we hear the warning? Will we turn? Or will we wait for the next judgment to fall? Alas, has that holy faith born from the labor, blood, and death of the son of God, carried forward by apostles and countless martyrs, entrusted to us as the very hinge of
eternal life? Has that faith become so small, so trivial in our generation that even in these days of trembling, men still approach its most sacred moments without seriousness or fear? Look around you.

Even as Jerusalem lies shaken, its streets dusted with sorrow.

The Middle East burns with tension, nations groan under unrest.

The earth quivers beneath ancient fault lines, and yet crowds chase the vanities of time as though nothing eternal were at stake.

They hurry after pleasures, but remain numb to the reality of a world beyond this one.

A world into which every soul must soon pass when flesh and dust can no longer hold

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