Ezra, Chapters 1,2,3,4,5 and 6.
This sermons explains how the the Israelites who had been captured by King Nebchadnezzer, who were returning to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem faced resistance. We will learn how God used King Cyrus of Persia(crowned as King of Babylon) in the process of restoring the temple of Jerusalem. I would also like to show how the enemies almost succeeded in frustrating the Israelites and how God interviened so that those who were trying to stop the building of the Lord's temple were the ones forced to help in providing labour, finances and other resources. We shall look into how their own accusations against the Israelites turned against them, just like the returning fierce allow back to the sender.
KING CYRUS DECREE
King Cyrus was the king of Persia, he conquered Babylon and therefore became known as the King of Babylon. He made a decree which can be called a law in modern terms, he decreed that all the Jews must return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. He said that the Lord had given him all the kingdoms and chosen him to build his temple in Jerusalem(Ezra 1 verse 2)
The Priests and the Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin returned to start the construction work(Ezra 1V5)
THE BULDING OF THE TEMPLE.
The Israelites knew the importance of this temple, that is where they used to offer their sacrifices to God who helped them to fight wars. The bulding of the temple was also like the reunion with their mighty God. Therefore all of them had the unified purpose to bulid the temple so that they can offer sacrifices to their God again.They left with gifts from their neighbours, articles given by king Cyrus which were in the old Israel temple before king Nebchadnezzer captured Israel. The Israelites started buliding the temple, they hired carpenters and bought cedar logs from the people of Tyre and Sidon. The work force was made of everyone who had returned from exile. The Levites who were 20 years old and above were put in charge, the whole work was supervised by Jeshua(Ezra 3V8-9)
The bible says that when the builders completed the foundations of the Lord's Temple, the Israelites celebrated with music to praise the Lord just like in the same way David danced when he saw the Ark of God returning. The elders cried when they saw the foundations of the temple(Ezra3 verses 10-13) They must have remembered the old temple, and how it bought victory to them when they made sacrifices to God. They remembered how they took the temple for granted before, to the extent of abandoning it and start worshipping foreign gods, their rebellion ended them in captivity, God allowed their enemies to capture them so they were taken as slaves to Babylon. I will not be surprised to see them crying, overwhelmed by the mercies of God who had given them another chance. He is a long siffering God, ever loving father, a forgiving God.
OPPOSITIONS
The enemy did not like to see the Israelites building the Temple because that meant his downfall. They grouped against it and started writing letters to King Artaxerxes so that he can stop the work. Those opposing were led by Bishlam, they were writing in Aramaic language and it was translated.
King Artaxexes was the king of Babylon who came after Xerxes and Xerxes took over from king Cyrus. He was not aware of the decree made by king Cyrus and those who may ask how check out how many leaders know the laws of their land by heart even now with all these modern technologies. The devil used this ignorance as a loophole to provoke King Artaxerxes so that he should hate the Jews. He likes this method dear leaders watch out, do not just harvest any anger from anyone else, examine each case, it might be the devil trying to fulfill his evil plans through you to hinder someone.
The enemies of the Jews wrote to Artaxerxes telling him that the Israelites are rebuilding the temple and this will put the king to the disadvantage because they will stop paying the tribute. I wonder if they were happy paying tributes themselves since they were also royal subjects of Babylon. The devil has this in mind as he is attacking you,TIFANANE in Chichewa, Malawi language meaning WE SHOULD SUFFER TOGETHER.
In their letter they called the temple rebellious and evil city, the devil uses strong words to finish you off. He knows where to press to provoke anger and cause distructions but i know my God, the God of Israel who turns evil into good!
The king received the letter and indeed got convinced to stop the construction work, that is after making enquiries about Jerusalem. He found out that it defeated many kings before. Therefore he ordered that the Jews should stop rebuilding the temple.
THE BUILDING RESUMES.
The Lord spoke again through the prophets, Zachariah and Haggai. They encouraged the Israelites to continue building the temple. The enemies approached them again and this time they got a reply from the Jews. They told them that their God has commanded them to rebuild before through the decree of King CYrus who put this as law in the books.
The enemies wrote another letter to King Darius who was the king of Babylon at that time, telling him that the Jews have resumed the building work and even challenging that it is a decree made by king Cyrus. The devil will always try his luck even if he knows he is lying, he is a father of lies and all his followers are liars, accusers of the brethrens. The enemies thought that king Darius will not check the previous laws and apply them on the case of the Jews.
The king found out that the Israelites were telling the truth, the decree was there and this is what he wrote back and decreed in return;
-Do not disturb the construction of the temple, let it be built on its original site where the Jews used to offer their sacrifices to God.
-Everyone is to help in the building of the temple, that is including those who have been writing the letters to stop the work.
-All the provinces must pay taxes to cover the costs of construction and they must also give provisions to the priests.
-The king ordered that anyone found violating these decrees must be flogged and his house must destroyed.
CONCLUSION
The bible says that the work was finished(Ezra 6 verse 15) and was dedicated to God with great joy and celebrations.
This teaches us that no matter how strong the opposition may be, if they are against God's plan, they will not succeed. No hand can remove even one finger of God. The devil will not be happy to see you reconciling with God, he knows he cannot touch you again if you make such decision. Therefore he will try to frustrate you. He will use all measures to stop you, castigating you by using powerful language, terminologies which will make you run out of words even forget your rights or arguments, but if you leave God to fight the battle for you, all enemies plans become nothing, God will use some of enemies weapons to help you fulfill your plans, it was the letters from the enemies of the Israelites which made king Darius to revisit the laws, in the end those enemies had to help building the Lord's temple, the work they hated and opposed before. When God said that the battle is mine it is because he knows how to turn bad situations for your own good.
What battles are you facing? may the plans of your enemies be brought to nothing by God, may they fast truck you progress instead, it will help to achieve that they wished to destroy.
Leave the battle in God's hands, allow the God of Israel to be your God because he is never too late, he shows up in time during battles and he can turn arround any situation.
