The Jews in exile, returned to their promised land under the blessing of king Cyrus, to rebuild their temple. But they were a threat to their neighbours. After complains from the neighbours, they stopped the building, and started focusing on building their own homes. The prophet Haggai then gave them a warning from God that they should stop setting up nice homes for themselves, while God’s dwelling place were in ruins. The prophet Zechariah followed that up, with a word of judgement from God, about their history of turning away from God, upon which the Angel of the Lord interceded for them at the myrtle bush. So the Lord said that He’ll have mercy on them – that they should rebuild the temple, and that He Himself with be the wall of fire around them, while the city was having no wall of protection against their angry neighbours. He then declared that the temple would be build not by might or power, but through the working of His Spirit. This gave their leaders boldness to build again, in the face of fierce adversity.
Marelize shares on how God’s word was fulfilled there, and applies it to us as Christians when we receive assignments from God, even after we have made mistakes in our understanding of the assignment. She links God’s protection as a wall of fire, to a vision she had recently of a rib cage, of its protection around the most important organs in our bodies.
Ezra 3-5 Hag.1:4-11 Zec.1:16 Zec.2:4-5 Isa.54:17 Isa.5:4 Isa.26:1-4
For more on the prophetic meaning of the myrtle bush, see Ester Anointing Oil and Harvest Time Anointing Oil