John Piper on “Writing Religion Out of Our History”
The new Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, which is now where every visitor will arrive to see the nation’s Capitol, opened yesterday with 580,000 square feet of displays and $621,000,000 worth of history, but no God.
Tony Reinke on “What is Legalism?”
See the fundamental danger of legalism is not living with rules or not living by rules—whether you attend church every week or not, whether you drink wine or not. Legalism points to a much deeper heart issue.
Why Haddon Zerubbabel
Where does “Haddon Zerubbabel” come from? And how do I say “Zerubbabel”?
Haddon
The name “Haddon” is in honor of the great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892). To learn more about Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the best resource on the web is Phil Johnson’s Spurgeon Archive at spurgeon.org.
There, you can find (among other things):
- A very brief biography of Spurgeon (with links to a ton of other biographies)
- A slightly longer, but still concise, bio
- A whole huge archive of Spurgeon’s writings and sermons
If you want to read a good short book by Spurgeon, I highly recommend All of Grace, available online for free.
Spurgeon once said that the secret to his highly regarded preaching was this: “I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross.”
Zerubbabel
According to Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
ZERUBBABEL [zeh RUB uh buhl] (offspring of Babylon) — head of the tribe of Judah at the time of the return from the Babylonian Captivity; prime builder of the Second Temple.
Zerubbabel is a shadowy figure who emerges as the political and spiritual head of the tribe of Judah at the time of the Babylonian captivity. Zerubbabel led the first group of captives back to Jerusalem and set about rebuilding the Temple on the old site. For some 20 years he was closely associated with prophets, priests, and kings until the new Temple was dedicated and the Jewish sacrificial system was reestablished.
If you’d like to read more about Zerubbabel (and listen to his name pronounced), try these links:
- Zerubbabel leads the Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem and begins rebuilding the temple: Ezra 3-5
- Census of those who returned with Zerubbabel: Nehemiah 7, 12
- Prophecies concerning Zerubbabel: Haggai 1-2
- More prophecies: Zechariah 4
- Zerubbabel was also an ancestor of Christ. For his place in the genealogy, see Matthew 1:12-13 and Luke 3:27
Haggai 2:4-74 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. (ESV)
Zechariah 4:6-76 Then 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 of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (ESV)
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