Let's turn now in our Bibles to Ezra chapter 5.
It is believed that from the
time the restored exiles laid the foundation of the temple in
Jerusalem to the recommencement of the rebuilding of the temple,
16 years had passed. Think about that for a moment.
16 years of inactivity, 16 years of purchase materials lying
dormant, 16 years of these captives who have now returned
home, never reaching their full potential and worship because
the temple for so long remained as a slab for that duration of
time. Now, what was the reason for the
cessation of the temple's restoration?
Why did that work stop? Wasn't that the reason why God
brought the people from Babylon to the homeland?
Well, we learned it last week, didn't we, That it was a mixture
of discouragement, frustration, fear and persecution that led to
this rationale among the people to suspend the work.
And it didn't take very long until they became distracted
with other affairs. But look quickly at the last
verse of chapter 4, verse 24. It reads.
Then 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. So something took place in the
second year of the administration of Darius that
kick started the work of the House of God being rebuilt once
again. And it is in this new chapter,
Ezra chapter 5, where we are given the explanation.
We are going to learn what it was that sparked this renewed
interest and rebuilding this House of worship.
And here's what we're going to do tonight.
We're going to examine the 1st 5 verses of this chapter, but
we'll begin by reading the 1st 2.
So let's come now and look at Ezra chapter 5, verse one.
Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo
prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the
name of the God of Israel who was over them.
Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shialtial, and Joshua, the son
of Josidac, arose and began to rebuild the House of God that is
in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were
with them, supporting them. Father, we ask please, that You
would give us understanding that we may have life, not just
knowledge, not just information. We're praying for life to be
imparted into the depths of who we are.
Use this Bible study to that end.
We ask these things in the matchless name of Jesus Christ.
Amen. We should be excited just by
reading these first 2 verses for one main reason.
This is the first time that prophets appear in the book of
Ezra. Prophets, according to just
general observation of the Scriptures, are recognized as
one of the three main offices in the Old Covenant, alongside
kings and Who? Priests, good and prophets are
showing up here and now. We've already seen the royal
representation and who? Who's the person?
Zerubbabel very good, who was a descendant of David.
He never became a king, but he did operate as a leader.
And as we just read, we also see the priestly function in Jeshua
or Joshua. He's called Joshua and Haggai.
And now again we see these prophets appearing on the scene.
And one of the main differences between the prophets, kings and
priests is that with the prophetic office there is no
established succession. So if anybody wanted to function
as a priest, they had to come from which line?
Aaron, The line of Aaron. So that responsibility, that
role was inherited by blood. And if there was anybody who
would occupy the throne legitimately, at least they had
to come from the Davidic dynasty.
But here's what's interesting about prophets.
It wasn't a hereditary right. There was not a tribe nor a clan
set apart by God to serve as prophets.
It was something and someone rather had to be directly,
individually called by God. And that is why their emergence
should excite us, because their commissioning is unexpected.
And when they are summoned, when someone is crowned with the call
to be a prophet, they are speaking directly from God, and
oftentimes they are bringing fresh revelation from heaven.
And at this point, the Lord Almighty saw it fit to raise up
two main prophets. And to our great benefit, we
also learn as we continue in our Bible that God has also
preserved the messages of these two men of God to the same
audience and included it in this divine library.
So with that in mind, here's what we're planning to do.
I want us to take the time to look more carefully at the books
that bear the names of these men, these prophets that we just
read of, to see what they said more precisely that sparked
revival in this nation. And last week we looked very
quickly at the 1st 5 verses of the book of Haggai.
But let's return there and examine these words, his
message, more carefully and see what the Lord would say to us
through it. So Haggai chapter 1, let's turn
there and let's read from 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 Shaltiel,
governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak 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 highlight something in your
mind, at least the dating the time stamp presented here in
verse one. Not only did Haggai come in the
second year of Darius the king, but he also began to speak in
the sixth month of that year. That is going to be helpful when
we go to the book of Zechariah. So just tuck it somewhere.
But for now, we have to determine the main issue that
Haggai is bringing to the people's attention.
And in the essence, it's this. They have misplaced priorities.
They justified their lack of commitment to the House of God
because of the opposition that they were experiencing.
And so to them, they thought, well, maybe this is not God's
will at this moment. Maybe this is his providential
way of letting us know to stop this lest we get into trouble,
lest we invite unnecessary affliction.
But that kind of thinking created an excuse.
It consoled their souls now to actually turn all their
attention and all their efforts to their own personal projects,
to the remodeling of their own estates and the improvement of
their own properties, while the temple was completely neglected.
So God by his Spirit begins to move in the heart of a man named
Haggai to raise him up, to go and confront them for their
complacency. And that's exactly what he does
here. And I couldn't help but compare
this generation, their heart, towards the House of God with
that of King David's, the man after God's own heart.
Do you remember what David himself said as he was living in
his palace and was experiencing universal peace in his world?
All his enemies were put to rest, all his foes were subdued,
and something, something moved him.
Well, let me remind you of his words from Second Samuel Chapter
7, verse 2. David, it says here in verse 2
of that chapter said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in
a House of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.
What a difference. This generation in Haggai's day
were consumed with their panelled homes and neglected the
House of God David. Oh, this man loved God.
David, whether he was in the fields of Bethlehem watching his
father's sheep or was residing in a palace with pillars of
stone, was fixed on the Lord. He was absolutely moved by the
realization that God's presence dwells in something inferior to
me. Now he could have done
something. David, if he gave in to the
flesh, could have convinced himself to pursue further
endeavors for his own gain, for his own pleasure, with little
concern for God's house, if he just kept telling himself, well,
look, I'm the one who actually brought the ark from the
countryside to the new capital. Remember, it was, it was David
who did that. Once he gained the power, one of
his first things that he wanted to do was get the ark and bring
it to the capital. That's a God honoring endeavor,
isn't it? You would think that's enough,
right? Not for this man.
He was consumed with placing God's will, God's pleasure first
at every stage of life, even at the height of his comfort, his
power, and His luxury. Unfortunately, with with others
who profess Christ, the more they gain in this world, the
less they give to God. Often times it doesn't take much
for devotion to to waver. All it takes for some is the
acquisition of property, a new business, a new spouse, starting
a family, for them to get distracted to the point where
they neglect what matters the most.
And that's exactly what was happening in Haggai's day.
And this is just the beginning of his rebuke.
Look back at it with me at the close of verse 5.
Haggai urges the people to do what?
Consider your ways consider your ways a call not only to examine
their misplaced affections and ambitions, but to actually to
actually examine the consequences of their
priorities. Think think back over the years,
people of Judah and he helps them think.
Look what he says in verse 6. You have sown much and harvest
is 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.
I love this preacher, very direct.
And here's what he says. I'm highlighting something.
I'm bringing something to your attention that all your material
enterprises, all your strenuous labor, has yielded very little
reward, hasn't it? And this lack of fruit, the this
meager return on investment is not due to poor management
skills, by the way. It's not because you need
greater effort. I'm here to tell you that God
was behind it all. God is the one who put a stop to
multiplication, to your prosperity, to your growth.
And that's confirmed later. Scroll down to verse 10 of the
same chapter. Notice what He says.
Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the
earth was withheld its produce. And I have called God speaking
here, 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
laborers. I did it.
Now the language here should sound familiar to us.
Why? Because it echoes the warnings
of God from the law when he promised the people, if you live
in disobedience, if you begin to have idols, I will withhold some
of these things from you. That's explicitly found in in
the book of Deuteronomy. And hey, guy, like a good
prophet, reminds the people of God of what he already said.
So here's what he's saying. Hey, you, do you not realize
that in the past 16 years you've been living under God's
judgement, God has been judging you and you don't even recognize
that I'm here to tell you it's him?
Here's what dawned on me. This is this.
This actually jolted me that you had fruitlessness going on for
years, years, and yet this people were committed to their
ways. They didn't give up.
They kept working, they kept sewing, they kept waking up
early, they kept going to bed late.
And it's staggering, it really is, how determined we can become
when it comes to our material pursuits, when it comes to our
personal agendas. And yet when it comes to our
spiritual undertakings, we are much more tempted to give up, to
throw in the towel. I'm just going to go to another
church. This whole thing is not really
forming. You know, it's very, very common
for people to have enthusiasm at the start of a thing when it
comes to God's work, at least tends to wane over time,
especially when we're discouraged, especially when
we're disappointed. Here's what I see though with
this group when it came to their material desires, their dreams
in this life, their goals in this realm.
They've been going on for 16 years and they didn't stop until
Prophet had to stop them and show them the error of their
ways. And here's the thing, I
understand that one of the reasons why genuine hearted
believers would step away from whatever that it was that they
said that they would be committed to.
But if you really understood what God was asking of us,
discouragement would be less frequent.
It would Let me give you one example from the same chapter.
We didn't read this yet. Look at verse 7 of Haggai 1.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.
This is his second time saying that.
Consider your ways. And in verse 8, 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 see, the the people were preoccupied with their pleasure,
not gods, with their glory, not gods.
And here's God saying, look, you were created for my pleasure.
You were created from my glory, and you will ultimately know
greater pleasure when you pursue mine.
But this also reveals something so deep about God's heart.
Let me ask you, this was Solomon's temple, more or less
impressive than the temple that people are going to build here.
More significantly more. In fact, you had the older men
of this generation weeping when they saw the blueprints for this
new temple. Are you kidding me?
This is what we're going to build in God's honor.
This isn't come close to what Solomon was able to come up
with. And yet the Lord speaks to this
same group and He tells them, if you build this house, I will
take pleasure in it. I will delight in it, knowing
full well that in man's eyes it would be inferior in many ways,
but to God he would still delight in it.
Why? Because what brings joy to the
heart of our God ultimately is wholehearted obedience.
Wholehearted obedience. This is what he's saying here.
I find it so amazing that God takes genuine pleasure in things
that men tend to despise or overlook.
And that should comfort each of us here who serve God.
Because as we do our best and perhaps look up from time to
time and think, really, what we do as a church doesn't measure
up to what that church is doing or what that ministry is
accomplishing, or what those servants of Christ and their
same gifting as mine are able to do in such a rate in terms of
reach and speed. Forget all that.
What they're going to build is going to pale in comparison.
And yet God says I will still take pleasure in it.
Because what He's really after is just our surrender and doing
what He's asked us to do, no matter what it brings about.
You can't determine the fruit of a thing but your faithfulness,
that's your choice. That's my choice, and that's
what God looks for. Well, we can say so much more,
but we'll have to wait until we study the book of Haggai.
But I do want to look at one more thing before we continue.
Let's look at the response of the people to this message.
So come down to verse 14 with me.
And the Lord stirred up the spirit of his Aruba Bowl, the
son of Shaltiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua,
the son of Jehozadak the high priest, in 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 24th day of
the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the
king. 2 Simple observations from these verses.
Just two. 1st The only way that you and I can see the people of
God truly excited to serve, to worship, to prioritize His
Kingdom is through the preached Word.
Notice that the stirring of the spirits of the leaders and the
remnant came after the word of the Lord was spoken through the
prophet. It was the word of God declared
that awakened the people from their slumber.
We cannot underestimate the power of the preached word.
And unfortunately you have many who are coming up with novel
ideas of how to create and I put that in air quotes.
Create revival and they're trying almost everything except
what? Opening the Bible, being
prayerful and dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit and
saying thus says the Lord, thus says the Lord.
That's all it took for this group.
The second thing to underline in our minds is the timing of their
obedience. What did we see in verse 15 on
the 24th day of the month in the sixth month?
Have we seen that before? We did back in verse one of the
same chapter, the 6th month in the second year of Darius the
king. So if we compare this verse with
verse one, then we learn that it took 24 days.
After 24 days of Haggai preaching, the people began to
work on the House of God. And perhaps the reason why it
wasn't sooner was because the people had to gather resources
and establish themselves and, you know, organize their
workforce. And that takes time.
But this is still remarkable. Here's what's so amazing as we
keep our minds on the power of the Word of God. 16 years of
lethargy, 16 years of laziness, 16 years of succumbing to the
opposition of the adversaries of Judah, 16 years of giving into
the obstacles was undone by the Word of God within a matter of
days. All the things that the Word of
God can do in a person's life. All the things that the Word of
God can do for anybody who has been bound for years, addicted
for years, lukewarm for years, callous for years, bitter for
years, just by sitting under the Word heralded, can do miracles
in such a short amount of time. This is just one of so many
examples of what the Word of God can do.
Why are we covering it in our churches?
Why are we replacing it? Why are we giving people
entertainment instead of exposition?
Why are we giving them plays instead of preaching?
It's a shame, It really is. God's Word can do miracles, and
we find it here. And let me tell you this, you
and I will never, ever, ever come close to a genuine
spiritual awakening on a local level or on a national level
unless the Word of God is in the forefront of our efforts.
Never. Anything else will be
artificial. Anything else will just be
emotion. It'll be short lived.
But the scriptures, oh, that's where the power is.
That's where transformation takes place.
So listen, you aspiring counselors, you need to know the
Word of God, Not your personal experience, not what you looked
at in books. That's all fine, but if it's not
charged with the Word of God, you're going to have little
fruit, genuine fruit in your ministry.
That's true for those who have Bible studies, those who are
serving the children of this church, those who are fathers in
this house, and you want to see the best in your spouse and in
your children. You need the Bible.
You need to know it, and you need to declare it unashamedly,
accurately, by the power of the Holy Spirit, only the Word.
But there's another thing important to under score about
the timing here. Look at the dating again in
verse 15. It was in the sixth month of the
second year. Why do we need to know that?
Well, let me remind you that back in Ezra 5, verse one, it
was Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Ido that were prophesying
to the people, and then they began to work.
So Haggai, we learned, began to preach in the second year, in
the sixth month of Darius the king.
But notice now how the book of Zechariah starts.
Let's go to Zechariah. It's right beside Hey Guy, Look
at Zechariah 11 in the eighth month, in the second year of
Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah,
the son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, saying.
So when did Zechariah begin preaching?
2 months after Haggai's sermon. 2 months after not only a Haggai
sermon, but after the people began rebuilding, because they
only started just a few days after Haggai was preaching.
So what would you expect the Lord to say through Zechariah to
a group of people, to a nation? Really, whose hearts have
already been softened by the word of the Lord and proved it
with practical application. What do you think I would say,
Well, let's find out. Verse 2 the Lord was very angry
with your father's. Therefore say to them, thus
declares the Lord of hosts, Return to me, says the Lord of
hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
What? Well, hold on, there's more.
Look at verse 4. Do not be like your father's, to
whom the former prophets cried out.
Thus says the Lord of hosts returned from your evil ways and
from your evil deeds, but they did not hear or pay attention to
me, declares the Lord your Father's.
Where are they? And the prophets?
Do they live forever? But my words and my statutes,
which I committed, my servants, the prophets, did they not
overtake your father's? So they repented and said, as
the Lord of hosts purpose to deal with us for our ways and
deeds, so has He dealt with us. Are you surprised?
You have every right to be because Zechariah's message two
months after the people obeyed what Haggai said was a message
of repentance. How do we make sense of this?
Imagine after 16 years of not working, two months into a
revival, the new preacher who's actually younger, if you read in
this book, Zechariah was a younger man, comes behind the
pulpit and he says you all need to repent.
Do we have a contradiction here? No.
We have a call to meditate. That's what we have.
And there are two possible answers to this.
Number one, it could be that not everyone among the remnant were
sincere and genuine in their hearts being given over to the
Lord even after all of this. So it's very possible like
today, for people to set apart time to participate, to
volunteer, to even give monetarily and their hearts not
really be for the Lord teaching us what God is not really after
your service. He's after your sincerity, he's
after your affection, your love, your desires.
That's what he wants, And so it could be that Zechariah was
raised up. Whereas Haggai was focused on
actually rebuilding the House of God, Zechariah now comes on the
scene to deal with the depths of the hearts of some.
You need to actually return to God.
You need to actually have a love relationship with your God.
Now here's the second possible reason for this, and it's more
likely that Zechariah's bold charge at this moment was
because after two months, the people's zeal begin to fade
away. Is that surprising to us?
No, it's not. It shouldn't be, at least for
some. We know the spark of enthusiasm
and excitement towards a spiritual discipline or a
ministry. All it takes is a few hours
before we get distracted again, let alone days or months.
So it could be that after two months the people began to lose
their zeal. And so God puts words in the
mouth of this man, Zechariah, and he says, go warn them,
preach to them, remind them of their history lest they risk
repeating it. And he does so faithfully.
Here's what moves me. The same source that ignited
this people to come back to their priorities is the same
source that would sustain them as they humbly receive the Word
of God, the word. You know, over the years I've
received sometimes invitations to be somewhere to preach.
And I understand that it comes from a a right heart to good
heart. Sometimes I'm asked, can you
come to preach? You know, we're looking for a
revival amongst our youth. Well, you know, I don't carry
revival in in my pocket or in my backpack or, you know, tucked
away in my notes. No preacher does.
But I understand. I understand that the goal and
the desire. But here's my concern.
I've learned this very, very early in ministry that you may
come, an evangelist may visit a church, a teacher may come for a
weekend to show the beauties and the wonders of the word of God.
But how is that same group of people going to be sustained?
Do you have a plan? Do you have, do you have people
raised up in that same church that's going to feed them and
speak to their hearts and provide them further nourishment
and warnings? And you know what I found, At
least in my world, that's rarely the case.
And So what do people do? Well, they just invite you for
the next year for the same thing that happened last year.
God is giving us wisdom here. The timing of Zechariah's
message instructs us about the importance of a continual
exposure to the Word of God. Not just an event and not just
on one particular weekend, but as a regular practice, as a
regular diet. That's why it's so important.
You men, especially, you listen to me very carefully.
If you're called by God to have a family, to have a wife and
have a children down the road, you need to be very careful
where you bring your family to church.
What church are you taking your family to?
How does that church handle the law of God, the word of God, the
gospel? Are they serious?
Are they frivolous? Are they shallow?
We see here that God raised up Haggai.
He spoke, it sparked. 2 months later, He raised up another man
of God. To do what?
To add fuel to the fire. And again, the source is no
different. The scriptures.
But there's more to learn from
this, and it concerns us as well.
Zechariah shows us here that it is our duty to regularly examine
our hearts, even in the midst of spiritual activity.
We all, each of us, each of us need to do regular inner
maintenance to see, Is my heart really in tune with God's heart
even while I'm doing all of this?
And I understand fully that there are some days better than
others. There's some days where you're
more excited, less tired, more ambitious than others.
And that's not to say that when those days come where you feel,
you know, tired, distracted or defeated that you call it quits.
Far be far be it from us to do such a thing.
But as as as a general call to look at the depths of our soul
and saying, where am I with God on a personal level?
Am I just going to the mechanical routines?
Zachariah shows us here as he speaks to this crowd.
Where is your heart? Are are you really, really,
really in step with the Lord even while you do all this for
the Lord? Because here's the thing,
backsliding starts in the heart. It starts in the heart.
This is start with somebody walking away from the church,
walking away from their service to the Lord.
Something happened long before that, and it's here.
So Zechariah gets to the heart. And here's the thing, if we
don't take that seriously, we're all in danger of repeating what
the Lord delivered us from, and that's possible for any of us.
And that's actually what we see back in Ezra 5.
So we have to go back and finish the rest of these verses.
Let's look again at verse 2. Then Zerubbabel, the son of
Shiael Tial and Joshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to
rebuild the House of God that is in Jerusalem.
And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
Oh, I would love to say something about that last part,
but I won't. I want to bring to your
attention how the prophets are spotlighted here.
We read in Haggai how the the people with the leaders went
back to rebuild the House of God.
But in Ezra's record, he only highlights the leaders
Zerubbabel and Joshua. What does that tell you?
Well, it tells us many things, but at least one thing that even
the leaders of this time succumbed to the excuses and the
distractions that lulled the rest of the nation.
Even the leaders think about that.
A leader who was a descendant of David and the high priest at the
time were more worried about their personal lives in the
House of God. If it was true, then is it
possible for pastors today? You better believe it.
However, we can commend these leaders at the same time.
Why? Because both in Ezra's account
and Hey guys, they are mentioned as the first ones to respond
positively to the messages of the prophets.
They were the ones who humbled themselves, and the people
followed. That becomes especially clear in
Haggai, where the Spirit of the Lord stirred the spirits of the
leaders and then the people. What does that mean for us?
As important as the Word of God is, and as instrumental as it is
in seeing a potential move of God, we also cannot expect God
to do something in a place, at least generally, unless the
leaders are impacted. That's not to limit how God can
move into place, but there is a consistent pattern that when
leadership turns to God, people will follow.
And if we want to hope even for revival, it has to begin with
leaders. Any pastor, any father, any
overseer of any kind of ministry who consistently lives with a
stale heart, inevitably it's unavoidable, will have that
lifelessness translate into their ministries.
Dead pastors will make dead churches.
But when a leader's heart catches on fire, it has the
potential of melting the hearts of those around them.
So Zerubbel and Joshua, they responded, and the people
followed suit. The heat and the light from
those over them trickled. It impacted.
And here's the thing, as positive as that is, heat and
light also attracts pesky bugs. And that's what we find in verse
3 and 4. Let's read it.
At the same time, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond
the river, and Shatar, Bazani 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. It's not shocking at all, is it,
that for 16 years there is no indication that the adversaries
of the Jews harassed them or probe them when they were
working on their own houses. But the moment that they
prioritize God's house, the enemy slithered back into the
picture. Now we spent all of Ezra chapter
4 looking at the different schemes and the tactics of Satan
to try to hinder and harm the people of God as they want to
build something for his Kingdom. So we won't spend too much time
here, but let this serve as a reminder how persistent the evil
1 is, how strategic he is, how careful he is, how aware the
evil 1 is. And listen, all that should do
for you and I is be more motivated to becoming more
determined and more discerning. A quick comment about verse 4.
I'm curious, does anybody here read something other than the
ESV? You can lift your hand.
I'm just curious. OK, so here's what you'll find,
especially if you have the new King James or the NASB.
And there might be other translations out there.
There's a different rendering of this verse.
If you have those two translations that I just
mentioned, this verse, verse 4 might read in the following way.
Then, accordingly, we told them the names of the men who are
constructing this building. As if the narrator is showing
that the Jews complied and cooperated with the inquiry of
the Persian officials. So they said, what?
Who gave you a decree to build this house at the finish the
structure? And in some of those
translations, it's as though the narrator interrupts and says,
and the Jews gave the names of the ones who were in charge of
this endeavor. But there's a difference with
the ESV. The ESV puts it as though they
press them and asked what of the names of the men who are
building this building? Why the difference?
Well, it's a translation choice and one of the main reasons
because with the original language, there's a lot of
flexibility with the wording and I believe actually not because I
read and preach from the ESV, but because of the context the
ESV has it more accurately. Why?
Well, the same group is going to end up writing a letter to
Darius. That's the rest of the chapter.
And in their explanation, listen to how they recount their
exchange with the Jews. Scroll of verse 9 and 10 of Ezra
5. This is the these are the
officials writing to Darius. And here's what they say at this
point. Then we asked those elders and
spoke thus to them, Who commanded you to build this
temple to finish these walls? We also asked them their names
to inform you that we might write the names of the men who
are chief among them. You see that?
So in their own explanation, as they recount the the events they
tell Darius, we asked them their names.
And that's how the ESP puts it in verse 4.
The purpose, just to clarify any potential confusion.
That's why I brought that up. But let's come back to our
understanding of this passage. At this point, we would expect
the Persian officials to not only interrogate them, but to
tell them to stop working, stop working until we get
confirmation from Darius. But that doesn't happen.
They ask their questions. We learned later in the letter
that the people were kind. And we're going to learn a lot
in the new year of wisdom of how to deal with those who oppose us
and how we can even rightfully and righteously utilize the
freedoms that we have with our government if it's in favor of
our faith to actually gain more ground for the Kingdom of God.
But for now, we don't have any natural explanation to why these
executives didn't push further and demand them to cease.
But we are given a divine explanation and that's in verse
5. What does it say?
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.
The eye of God was on them. Now, if you've read the Bible
faithfully and long enough, then you would realize that the
picture of God's eyes at work is very common.
And depending on the context, sometimes it denotes his moral
oversight over his creation. At other times it speaks about
his surveillance and his searching gaze for those who are
yielded and surrendered to him so that he can do something
special in and through them. And at other times, it simply
means, it simply explains his vigilant care and protection
over those who belong to him. And that's what we find here,
that there was a silent power from above animating from the
Lord that that could not be any more obvious than this.
Because the people here who are opposed to the Jews, they
couldn't go any further than their initial interrogation.
God was supervising this, God was protecting this.
And here's the beautiful thing that I want to end on.
This grace that these Jews experienced and realized is
something that we can know today for the rest of our lives, but
it's conditional. The Bible tells us that there's
something we have to do if we want to live with the
understanding and the the security that God has his eye on
my life. Can I show it to you?
Let's turn that together in Psalm 33, Psalm 33, and let's
begin in verse 16, Psalm 3316. The king is not saved by his
great army. A warrior is not delivered by
his great strength. The War Horse is a false hope
for salvation by its great might that cannot rescue.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those
who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul
from death and keep them alive. And famine, Look again at verse
18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
on those who fear Him. You know what's amazing?
We didn't read it in Haggai one, but in Haggai one we read that's
ruble, Joshua, obey the Lord with the remnant, and they
feared the Lord. And we come to Ezra and we learn
that the eye of God was upon them, and we come to Psalm 33.
What do we have? Well, consistency.
That's what we have in the Bible, where the psalmist says
the eye of God, the watchful eye of the Lord, is on those who
fear Him. What does it mean to fear God,
to stand in awe of Him, and for those who hope in a steadfast
love? You know, if we're honest, many
of us can only know comfort in our walk with the Lord if we can
perceive what He is doing, if we can understand why he's allowing
something. But that's not the biblical way
of gaining peace. The biblical way is not being
able to identify his actions, his lack of intervention, but by
believing that though I may not see God's eyes on me, always the
eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him.
You may not be able to understand in the natural, the
whys and the hows, for how long and why not fast enough.
You may not be able to, but you don't have to.
All you need to understand is God's eyes on your life, and He
knows everything and He understands.
If you can really tap into that truth and absorb it and cling to
it, you will know great peace. You will know longevity.
You will know His sweetness, even in turbulence, even in
suffering. This is for our instruction.
We will look at the rest of this chapter.
If God should keep us on the earth in 2026, let's pray and
thank Him for these truths. Sometimes after hearing somebody
speak for close to an hour, it's good to just remain silent,
especially when it comes from God's Word.
Lord with the Psalmist, we agree.
I've seen a limit to all perfection, but your
commandments are exceedingly broad.
It never fails to astound us how deep and wide Your Word is.
And yet, Lord, we get the sense that we've only scratched the
surface of it. Thank you, Lord, for this place
filled with people who believe in the power of the Word of God.
And Lord, we just pray that we would never lose faith in giving
the Word and receiving the Word and living by the Word for those
hearts that are not alive in Christ.
We pray that what they heard tonight would be the catalyst
for their salvation for the one who was saved.
But it's been months, maybe even years of placing other things
before You. Help us realize that we are
putting our energy and our time into a bag with holes in it.
It will never satisfy. It will never sustain us.
Only when we prioritize Your Kingdom, your gospel, Your will.
So show us how to do that, Lord. Show us how to prioritize.
Show us the areas that we have elevated beyond their
appropriate place. Lord, we come now to give you
thanks in song for how you've spoken to us.
It's just amazing how even such a message was granted to us
leading into a new year, maybe a new start for all of us.
We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.
Let's stand Church, let's thank Him for speaking to our hearts.