Don't Despise the Plumb Line in the Mud Text: Zechariah 4:8-10
Introduction: The Discouragement of Small Beginnings
We live in an age of impatience. We want spectacular results, and we want them yesterday. We want the worldwide reformation without the centuries of faithful plodding. We want the oak tree, but we despise the acorn. We want the finished temple, gleaming in the sun, but we cannot stand the sight of a muddy foundation, a few scattered stones, and a handful of discouraged men. And because of this, the modern church is frequently tempted to despair, or, what is worse, to adopt the world's methods for achieving worldly results, mistaking impressive statistics for the blessing of God.
The people in Zechariah's day were in just such a state. They had returned from exile, full of grand visions of a restored Jerusalem and a glorious new temple. But reality hit them like a cold rain. They were a small remnant, surrounded by hostile neighbors. The foundation they laid seemed pathetic compared to the glorious memories of Solomon's temple. The old men who remembered the first temple wept when they saw the foundation of the second, and their weeping was so loud it mingled with the shouts of joy from the younger generation (Ezra 3:12-13). It was a day of small, discouraging things. The work had stalled for years due to opposition and their own lethargy. It would have been easy to conclude that God's great promises had fizzled out.
Into this swamp of discouragement, God sends this word through His prophet Zechariah. It is a word of rock-solid encouragement, but it is not the kind of encouragement our flesh craves. It is not a promise of instant, flashy success. It is a promise of divine accomplishment through human faithfulness in the mundane. It is a command to see the world not as it appears to our cynical eyes, but as it is in the sight of the God who governs all things. This passage is a foundational text for a robust, optimistic, and patient eschatology. It teaches us how God builds His kingdom, and it is a vital corrective to every brand of Christian pessimism that looks at the state of the world and concludes that God must be losing.
God's method has always been the same: He plants mustard seeds. He hides leaven in the dough. And here, He lays a humble foundation through a faithful man, and He promises that the same hands that started the work will be the hands that finish it. This is a promise that extends far beyond the second temple; it is the pattern for the building of Christ's Church, the true temple of God.
The Text
Also the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, these are the eyes of Yahweh which roam to and fro throughout the earth.”
(Zechariah 4:8-10)
Guaranteed Completion (v. 8-9)
The prophecy begins with a direct, unambiguous promise from God.
"Also the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you.'" (Zechariah 4:8-9)
Notice the certainty here. This is not a pep talk. This is a divine decree. The same hands that began the messy, foundational work will be the same hands that place the final capstone. God is the great Finisher. What He starts, He completes. This is a profound principle that echoes throughout Scripture. Paul tells the Philippians, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). God does not abandon His projects halfway through.
The promise is tied to a specific man: Zerubbabel. He is the governor, a descendant of David, and the civil magistrate tasked with this work. This is important. God works through means, and He works through delegated authorities. The work of rebuilding the temple was not going to happen by a miracle out of the sky. It was going to happen through the calloused hands and steady leadership of Zerubbabel. This is a rebuke to any pietistic nonsense that spiritualizes everything to the point of inaction. God calls men to pick up real tools and lay real stones.
Zerubbabel's name means "seed of Babylon." He was born in exile, a child of the judgment. Yet God raises him up to be the instrument of restoration. This is a picture of the gospel. We are all born in a foreign land, children of wrath. But God, by His grace, appoints us to be builders in His kingdom. Zerubbabel is a type, a forerunner, of the great Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the hands of Jesus that laid the foundation of the Church on the cross, and it is His hands that are building it now, and it will be His hands that place the final capstone when He returns in glory. The Church is not a human project destined to fail; it is a divine project guaranteed to succeed.
The completion of the temple would serve as a sign: "Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you." Prophecy is verifiable. God puts His own reputation on the line. When this comes to pass, you will know that the word was from God. This is not blind faith; it is faith with its eyes wide open, resting on the demonstrated faithfulness of a God who keeps His promises. When God's people see the work finished, their faith in His Word and His prophet is vindicated and strengthened.
The Divine Perspective on Small Things (v. 10a)
Verse 10 contains one of the most potent and frequently misunderstood encouragements in all of Scripture.
"For who has despised the day of small things?" (Zechariah 4:10a)
This is a rhetorical question, and the implied answer is, "You have. Many of you have." The old men were weeping. The neighbors were mocking. The builders themselves were discouraged. They looked at their feeble efforts, their limited resources, and the sheer scale of the task, and they despised it. They saw the smallness and interpreted it as failure. They mistook the seed for the final harvest.
This is the constant temptation of the saints. We look at our small church, our struggling family, our faltering efforts at evangelism, our tiny sphere of influence, and we despise it. We compare our beginning to someone else's middle. We want the kingdom to come with thunder and lightning, and instead, God gives us a mustard seed and tells us to go plant it. We want to charge hell with a water pistol, and God hands us the water pistol and tells us to get to it.
But God's question is a sharp rebuke to our faithlessness. Who are you to despise what God has ordained? Do you think God is embarrassed by small beginnings? The entire history of redemption is a history of small things. God chose a childless old man, Abraham, to father a nation. He chose the smallest of nations, Israel, to be His people. He chose a shepherd boy, David, to be king. He chose a virgin in a backwater town to bear the Messiah. And the Messiah Himself came as a helpless baby, born in a stable. The kingdom of God began with twelve unimpressive men. If you despise the day of small things, you despise the characteristic way God works in the world.
This is the engine of a postmillennial worldview. We do not believe the kingdom advances by cataclysmic ruptures, but by slow, organic, inevitable growth. Like leaven in a lump of dough, it works quietly, pervasively, until the whole is leavened. The world scoffs at this. They see the church as weak and irrelevant. And many Christians, sadly, have bought into the world's press clippings. But God asks, "Who has despised the day of small things?" Do not be that person. Do not despise the faithful preaching of the Word to a small congregation. Do not despise the catechizing of your children around the dinner table. Do not despise the small acts of obedience. These are the stones with which God is building His glorious temple.
The All-Seeing Eyes and the Plumb Line (v. 10b)
The verse then pivots from the human perspective of despising to the divine perspective of rejoicing.
"But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, these are the eyes of Yahweh which roam to and fro throughout the earth.” (Zechariah 4:10b)
While men are weeping and despising, God is rejoicing. What does He rejoice to see? Not the finished product, not yet. He rejoices to see "the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel." A plumb line is a builder's tool. It's a weight on a string used to determine if a wall is vertically true. It is a symbol of God's unyielding standard of righteousness, justice, and truth. God isn't looking for impressive size; He is looking for faithful alignment with His standard. He is delighted to see His man, Zerubbabel, not cutting corners, not fudging the measurements, but carefully and faithfully building according to the divine pattern.
This is a massive encouragement. Our task is not to produce spectacular results. Our task is to be faithful to the standard, to hold the plumb line of God's Word against every area of our lives, our families, our churches, and our culture. God is not pleased by a large, crooked wall. He is pleased by a small, true wall. Faithfulness is success. The world measures by size, budget, and influence. God measures by the plumb line.
And who sees this faithful work? "These seven... the eyes of Yahweh." The number seven in Scripture represents fullness and perfection. These seven eyes represent God's perfect, exhaustive, omniscient providence. Nothing escapes His notice. His eyes "roam to and fro throughout the earth." This is the same imagery used in 2 Chronicles 16:9, which says the eyes of the Lord move throughout the earth "to show himself strong for those whose heart is loyal to him."
This is not the cold, detached omniscience of a philosopher's god. This is the watchful, engaged, and strengthening gaze of a covenant Father. When you are being faithful in your small corner, when you are holding up the plumb line of Scripture against the crooked walls of this world, when you feel unseen, forgotten, and despised, you must remember the seven eyes. The Lord sees. And He does not just see; He rejoices. The gladness of God is the fuel for the perseverance of the saints. Your quiet faithfulness in the day of small things is a source of joy to the sovereign Lord of the universe. He sees Zerubbabel with the plumb line, and He is glad. He sees you with your Bible open, teaching your three-year-old, and He is glad. He sees you refusing to compromise at work, and He is glad.
Conclusion: From Foundation to Capstone
This passage is a charter for Christian cultural and eschatological optimism. It gives us the pattern for God's work. It begins with a divine promise of completion. It is carried out by faithful men in the day of small things. It is measured not by worldly metrics but by the divine plumb line of God's Word. And it is all done under the watchful, rejoicing eyes of our sovereign God.
The context of this promise is the famous declaration just a few verses earlier: "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Yahweh of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). The temple will not be finished by a bigger budget, a better political climate, or a more impressive army. It will be finished by the Spirit of God working through the faithful, plumb-line obedience of Zerubbabel. And the Church will not conquer the world through worldly might or political power. The mustard seed does not become a great tree by might. The leaven does not spread by power. It is the quiet, inexorable work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel and the faithful obedience of God's people.
Zerubbabel is a type of Christ, the great builder. The physical temple he built was a shadow of the true temple, the Church, which is the household of God (Eph. 2:19-22). The hands of Christ laid the foundation at Calvary. His hands now hold the plumb line, building His church through His Spirit and His Word. And His hands will one day place the capstone, and the universe will ring with the shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" (Zech. 4:7).
Therefore, do not despise the day of small things. Do not grow weary in well-doing. Pick up your plumb line. Be faithful where God has planted you. The seven eyes of the Lord are upon you, and He is glad. The one who began this work will surely finish it.