Beginning Again

When God Speaks, His People Respond (vv.1-2)

We’ve spent the last two weeks going through these prophecies…in a brief overview:

Haggai’s message — you’ve neglected God’s house for the sake of your own affairs.

Zechariah’s message — will you be a people, a generatiion that obey’s the Lord and experiences covenant blessings under God’s good rule?

The catalyst for work to begin again on the temple seems to be the prophetic ministries of Haggai and Zechariah. In this sense, it is commendable that the people are responding to the word of God.

It’s a good thing to remember that “Every “spiritual advance” or movement forward that mankind has ever made, from the days of Abraham to the expansion of the church, has started with “a word from the Lord.””

This is a wonderful reminder that God intends to rouse and stir His people through His word. If the work is to last, it must rest on God’s word as both its point of origin and inspiration. And, the prophets encourage them every step of the way. Sometimes, when need a word of encouragement, and sometimes a word of rebuke, but it all needs to originate with God and His word.

When God’s People Respond, His Presence Enables their Obedience (vv.3-5)

Some Persian officials show up, questioning the work that the remnant has now be stirred to resume. These officials seem to be more neutral that those listed in chapter 4, and they appear to possess no knowledge of Cyrus’ decree. It could be that they have come to their positions after the initial return from exile.

Their question seemed to birthed from legitimate concern, not to impede the work like we saw previously. As a matter of fact, history tells us that Darius’ first few years were rocky, so a foreign people working here would’ve naturally raised concerns for the local Persian authorities.

The questions seem legitimate and less-than-hostile — who authorized this, and who is doing the construction? Today, we might ask who the General Contractor is, and to see the permits.

But, the point Ezra is making for us here is this: Work is started and maintained here not due to human effort, but because God was with His people. While scholars have made much of the Persian authorities not halting the work of the Jews, the text reminds the reader that all of this took place because the eye of their God was on them.

God’s People View Life through the Lens of of their Relationship with Him (vv.6-12)

The tone of this letter stands in contrast to the one found in the previous chapter. There is a decent summary of the inspection (vv.8-9) which includes factual touches like the timber...in the walls. While no indication is given as to whether the the Persian leaders were sympathetic to the Jews or simply doing their diplomatic duty, neither actually matters, for we already know that God’s eye was with them.

The report that follows is thorough and well organized: it gives a.) an account of the inspection of the work; b.) questions concerning the Jews; c.) a detailed account of the Jew’s answer; and d.) a request for Cyrus’ records to be checked by Darius, and for a response on the matter from the King. The part I think we should key in on here is the Jew’s answer and how this plays in to their relationship with God.

First, they’ve obeyed the word of the prophets, at least for now, and notice what we see in Ezra 5:8 “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, notice how they’ve started to understand life in terms of their relationship to God. The work is prospering, yes, but more than that, look at Ezra 5:11-12 “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.”

While there may have been no reckoning of monotheism from the Persian rulers, the remnant certainly responded with an answer that indicated they did: we are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. Make no mistake, this was not a reference to a local deity, but the one true God. It is also interesting that they did not list their individual names but rather collectively answered as the servants of...God. An odd marker to us for sure, for we are a society bent on individuality often to the detriment of our collective identity.

It is commendable that at this point, the Jews were open about their allegiance to YHWH. One of the characteristics of allegiance to God and a solid testimony is boldly admitting one’s allegiance to YHWH.

The people were servants of the God who ruled over all of creation, and such a God deserved a temple built (actually rebuilt -- the project restores what was already His 500 years earlier) and dedicated to His worship.

God is Sovereign over all Peoples (vv.13-17)

The time stamp in the first year adds legitimacy to the remnant’s claim and allows a genuine search for the decree to be made. Because permission was given by Cyrus, the had permission from the king himself. Everything was legal. But more than just being legal, it was divine. Remember Ezra 1:1 “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:”

By the Spirit of God, to the mind of a pagan king, and from the mind of a pagan king to the written law of the land — God’s people could rebuild a temple to their God. This is an answer to one of the primary questions asked by the Persian authorities: it was Cyrus the king who gave us permission to rebuild the house of God. Well, at least from a human standpoint, but we’ve read the rest of the story. This is God’s sovereignty on display.

The theological truth is furthered: Taking articles out of a temple of a conquered nation further the claim that the nation served greater/inferior gods. Typically this would have included idols of the conquered gods, but YHWH’s temple contained no man-made images of God. And while yes: The presence of the gold and silver articles would have served as a validation of royal decree. It was common knowledge that the Babylonians raided temples and took the precious metals. The fact that these items were present in Jerusalem could only mean that a royal decree allowed them to return. But, it also serves as that subtle reminder that God Himself is not conquered by human forces or foreign “gods.” Rather, just as the Jews understand, they were exiled not because of a limit in God’s power, but because of their own moral failure. True to His word, however, the remnant has returned and with them, the gold and silver that was originally taken from the temple.

We must respond to God’s word. This means:

Being diligent students of God’s word.

Attentively listening to God’s messengers and weighing their message against God’s word.

Striving for obedience in every aspect of life.

We must trust and rely on God’s presence.

Let me state this in a question: What aspect of your life is dependent on God showing up?

Or again, how attuned are we at listening to the prodding of God’s Spirit and then responding accordingly? (How would this change even our daily conversations? Jokes? Music choices? TV? Etc.?)

We must see life in terms of our relationship with God.

Be holy because He is holy.

Find your identity in being a child of God (not your profession, not your provision, not your lineage (either as a parent or from your past)).

Understand that discipline comes to mold us into the image of Christ, and that hard thing you’re going through might be because God is trying to chisel some edges off of you!

We must faithfully keep going.

If God is sovereign,

Then He is sovereign over all peoples

At all times,

Which means we can faithfully move forward because He is orchestrating history to an intended end, and just like the Jews who worked on the temple centuries ago remained faithfully and kept pressing on, so too must we in order to obey God.