WWUTT 719 The Building Can't Be Stopped?

The Return from Exile and the Rebuilding of the Temple

The people of Judah were told to rebuild the house of God. It was the Lord God that told them to do this, and even though there were rulers on earth that tried to stop them, they couldn't do anything about it, for the Lord was with them when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our Old Testament study, we've been in the book of Ezra. Today looking at chapter 5. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Catching you up on the story thus far, this is of course right after the Babylonian exile.

The Jews have been allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild it, its walls, and of course the temple under the direction of Zerubbabel. Now Zerubbabel is the rightful heir to the throne of David. He would be Judah's next king.

But there was a curse that was given in Jeremiah chapter 22 verse 30 upon the line of Jeconiah. It says that none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.

And indeed, Zerubbabel never actually becomes king. He's just a governor or an authority figure, but he does not sit on the throne of David. The king that is next to come is going to be Christ, even though that's a few hundred years away.

Now we know that's where this is headed, but the people of Judah at this particular time don't realize that Christ is going to be the next king to sit upon the throne of David. They're still anticipating maybe God will restore this kingdom to glory once again.

Even the disciples of Jesus were expecting that. When you read at the start of the book of Acts when Jesus went with them up on the Mount of Olives right before he was about to ascend into heaven, the disciples asked him, Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

And Jesus responded, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

So understand the question that the disciples were asking. They were looking toward a kingdom that was like the one David ruled over or Solomon ruled over the United Kingdom. But Jesus was saying to them, no, the kingdom that you were going to build is even greater than that because you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, that capital city, also Judea and Samaria, the two locales that made up the United Kingdom.

And Jesus said to the end of the earth, this is the description, not of a Israel that occupied a certain landmass there on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus was making a reference to the Israel of God, the church, as Paul described it in the book of Galatians called the church, the Israel of God.

So this was the kingdom that Jesus was sending his disciples to build by the sharing of the gospel. And they had the power to do this by the Holy Spirit that was going to be given to them. This is the Holy Spirit that we all have.

We who are followers of Jesus have the spirit of God dwelling within us. And so what we are anticipating is not an earthly kingdom, but the heavenly kingdom that is to come. And just as the Old Testament faithful were anticipating that heavenly kingdom, which the writer of Hebrews talks about in Hebrews chapter 11.

Haggai and Zechariah Encourage the Work

In the meantime, we are seeing the rebuilding of Jerusalem here in the book of Ezra. And I'm going to come to Ezra chapter five. Right at the very beginning, we have a couple of names that might look familiar to you if you are familiar with your canon.

So Ezra chapter five, beginning in verse one. And now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

This is the same Haggai and Zechariah who have books of the Bible named after them. Now, occasionally we see some of these names pop up and then we'll go, oh, that looks familiar. There's a book of the Bible named after that person, but it won't actually be the same person.

Well, in this case, this is actually the same Haggai and Zechariah whose prophetic books we will read later on in Old Testament canon. So I'm going to go on here in verse two, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them. Remember, in what we read last week is that building efforts had begun. The foundation of the temple was laid. Sacrifices were made on the altar for the forgiveness of sins.

But then the rebuilding efforts were stalled when the people to the north, the Samaritans, complained about what the Jews were doing. They sent a letter to Artaxerxes and Artaxerxes sympathized with them.

They said, yep, these Jews, they're troublemakers. So they put a stop to what the Jews were doing, the building that they were doing there in Jerusalem, even though it had initially been made by Cyrus, king of Persia, the decree that he issued that that the Jews were supposed to be allowed to do this thing.

And what we read at the end of chapter four last week is that the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. Well, when you go to the book of Haggai, you see the prophecy that Haggai gives is in the second year of Darius, the king.

That's the way that Haggai begins. Chapter one, verse one. In the second year of Darius, the king in the sixth month on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehoshaddak, the high priest.

Thus says the Lord of hosts. These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet. Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.

And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.

You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins while each of you busies himself with his own house.

Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him.

And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai the messenger of the Lord spoke to the people with the Lord's message, I am with you, declares the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.

And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. So even though this issuance was made for the people of Judah to stop working on the house of God, Haggai and Zechariah come and they give their support to Zerubbabel and the people of Judah, as though to say to them, have no fear, the Lord is with you.

The decree that was initially made is still in effect, with Cyrus king of Persia sending you back to this place, and it was by the providence of God that this was done. It is not by the authority of any man that you have the chance to rebuild the house of God.

It is by the blessing and the grace of God himself. Therefore build and do so in fear of the Lord and not in the fear of man, for the Lord's message is, according to Haggai 113, I am with you, declares the Lord.

And if God is for us, who can be against us? As Paul says in Romans chapter eight, therefore the people of Judah had nothing to fear with the Lord on their side and they could continue this effort. In fact, they were to continue this effort before they were to strive at building their own houses, which they would be doing in vain.

And the Lord would not bless them if they're building their own homes while the Lord's house remained in ruins. So this is the message that was given by the prophets to, uh, Zerubbabel and by the blessing of God, the work would indeed continue.

So you can take the book of Haggai and insert it after those first two verses of Ezra chapter five, knowing that the Jews motivation for continuing to rebuild was because the Lord, their God told them to and said, I am with you.

And the Jews knew that if God is for us in this effort, if it was his providential decree from the very beginning that brought us back here to rebuild the temple of God, then no one can stop us from doing this.

Darius Confirms the Decree to Rebuild

So let us continue reading here, Ezra chapter five, beginning in verse three. At the same time, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river and Shethar and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus, who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?

They also asked them this, what are the names of the men who are building this building? But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

This is a copy of the letter that Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river and that Shethar, Bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province beyond the river sent to Darius the king.

They sent him a report in which was written as follows to Darius, the king, all peace, be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones and timber is laid in the walls.

This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus, who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? We also asked them their names for your information that we might write down the names of their leaders and this was their reply to us.

We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.

However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus, the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt and the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon.

These Cyrus, the king took out of the temple of Babylon and they were delivered to one whose name was Shesh Bazaar, whom he made governor. And he said to him, take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.

Then this Shesh Bazaar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And from that time until now, it has been in building and it is not yet finished. Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus, the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem and let the king send us his pleasure in the matter.

You know, it's always interesting to me that these guys referred to the God of the Hebrews as the great God, especially since they were pagans. So why did they refer to him as the great God if they didn't worship this God?

Well, it's because they had multiple gods and the Hebrews only worshiped one God. They had multiple temples that they had built, but the Hebrews were building only one temple to their one God. And so this God who proclaimed to be God over all was therefore the great God.

And through the prophet Isaiah says, I alone am God and there is no other. There was none before me. There was none after me. So even all the pagan rulers, the governors, the say traps, et cetera, et cetera, in this surrounding region, even they all understood the God of the Hebrews as the great God, though they didn't worship him.

They knew him as great. Furthermore, you had those people to the north, the Samaritans who knew this God, but they just worshiped him as one of many gods, even though they knew God proclaimed himself to be the one true God.

They had the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And it's in Deuteronomy, chapter six, where God says, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.

You will worship the Lord God only and you will have no other gods. They had the Ten Commandments, Exodus, chapter 20, repeated again in the book of Deuteronomy. And yet they they had this this syncretism form of religion in which they worshipped multiple gods, including the Hebrew God.

So this is just some of the reasons why they would indeed respond to the God of the Hebrews as the great God, though they didn't actually worship that great God. God was continuing to show his power, his providence, his sovereignty through the people of Judah as they rebuilt his temple, even against a decree that they should stop.

The Temple Is Finished and Dedicated

So here we are in chapter six with the decree of Darius in response to Tatani's letter to King Darius. So chapter six, verse one, then Darius the king made a decree and search was made in Babylonia in the house of the archives where the documents were stored.

And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Medea, a scroll was found on which this was written a record in the first year of Cyrus, the king Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem.

Let the house be rebuilt the place where sacrifices were offered and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be 60 cubits and its breadth shall be 60 cubits with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber.

Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury and also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place.

You shall put them in the house of God. Now therefore Tatani, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethar, Bosani and your associates, the governors who are in the province beyond the river, keep away.

Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God.

The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue. The tribute of the province from beyond the river and whatever is needed, bulls, rams or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine or oil is the priest at Jerusalem require.

Let that be given to them day by day without fail that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a dunghill.

May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree. Let it be done with all diligence.

Boom, God continuing to work his providence even through these rulers that the house of the Lord would be rebuilt in Judah and indeed everything that Haggai and Zachariah had said to Zerubbabel and the people of Judah was fulfilled.

Verse 13, then according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tetani, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethar, Bosani and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered and the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet and Zechariah, the son of Ido.

They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and at a Xerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king and the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the returned exiles celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

They offered it the dedication of the house of God, 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the, in the book of Moses.

So not only was God supporting Judah in this effort to rebuild his house, it was done very quickly for years. That is a really fast building project for, uh, for the temple of God in particular, considering how long it took it, it took to build it in the first place.

But all of the Kings provided the materials that were needed to be able to build and furnish this house and even offer sacrifices to God. And all of this was by God's guiding hand. Let's finish up chapter six on the 14th day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover for the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together.

All of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles for their fellow priests and for themselves. It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile and also by everyone who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for the Lord had made them joyful and had returned the heart of the King of Assyria to them so that he added them in the work or sorry, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Christ Will Build His Church

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16 on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This building effort that began with the disciples, the apostles there at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, which we read about in Acts chapter two, is a work that continues to this day.

The church of God being built on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God who came from heaven, who lived a perfect life, who died on the cross for our sins ascended again into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God so that all who believe in his name and worship him are forgiven their sins and given eternal life and for every person who turns from the sinfulness, the wickedness, the depravity, the filthiness of this world and is cleansed by Christ.

Another person is added into the membership of Christ's church. Another stone is added on the top of that structure that is being built into a holy house unto the Lord and this work will not be stopped until the Lord Christ returns when his bride will have been perfectly purified and sanctified for the bridegroom and we will join with him forever in glory.

So Christ is building his church through the power of the gospel. The gates of hell will not prevail against it and it is by God's sovereignty that he has decreed this and it is being done and if God is for us, who can be against us?

My friends, the church faces all kinds of adversity every single day from people that wish to slander us, speak evil against us, who ridicule us. We have those who claim to be of us, but then they leave the church and they hurl their own slander against the church.

We have false teachers that attempt to lead us astray, wolves that come in within our midst and then there are people even around the world that attempt to put Christians to death and will physically beat and persecute people of faith for what they believe and the God whom they follow.

But even though we face adversity like this, we know that this effort to build the church will not stop for it is by the decree of the Lord God that he would build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Romans 8 .1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So take heart my brothers and sisters, the Lord is on our side.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.