Some Return
Thru The Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 8 viewsduring the exile some return to Jerusalem
Notes
Transcript
During the Exile we see some of the Jews were faithful to be obedient to the living God
After years of being in Exile
We see some return to the home land
Ok so lets get some history right
Israel was taken into exile in 772BC
Judah is take into exile in 597BC
The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 586BC
In 539BC and 538BC we see the first people return to Jerusalem
I can show you my source is the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible
But rather than getting into the weeds on dates and such
Lets look at the promises of God
10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.
That before they were even completely exiled God had promised they would return to this place
So let me just jump right into today
That God still fulfills his promises
No matter where you are, that God is still very much faithful to fulfill what He has promised
Here we see that He has promised to bring back His chosen people to their promised land
And church in the same chapter God confirms that promise
14 ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
God will restore those people whom he sent to exile
See God sent them to exile because they refused to obey His commands
What a great Father we have in God
It makes sense right, as a parent you punish your child for not doing what they are supposed to do
For not following the rules, but you don’t leave them in that state forever do you
No you eventually restore them back into a right relationship with you
Which is exactly what God has promised to do to His chosen people
I will bring you back
I want us to see what happens when they return
Anyone every played like survival games or role player games
When you start the game
You usually need to build some sort of shelter or protection
In any sort of survival situation the rule of 3 comes into play
3 min without oxygen or in icy water
3 hours without shelter in a harsh environment
3 days without water
3 week without food
So it would make sense with the first people who returned from exile started to build the wall
They would need some sort of shelter and some sort of defenses because people didn’t and still don’t like the Jews
So you would think they would build the wall, they would build houses first
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: 2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 ‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 ‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’ ”
They went and built the temple before anything else
This is a people group who has come back from being in captivity and meeting the people who were left after the wall, the city and temple were all destroyed
Your first fleshly desire would be some sort of safety and shelter
And yet church the first thing they did was rebuild the house of God
Why do you think that is so important
They understood what it meant for God to be their salvation
This is a total dependence of God unlike what most of us experience today
This is a reliance on the God of the universe that honestly we probably don’t experience today
They knew and understood that for them to survive in a land that had just been destroyed and to survive after just being carried off into captivity
They didn’t need a wall that they could build
They didn’t need houses that they could build
They needed a place to meet with and worship the one true living God
Because out of God came shelter
Out of God came refuge
Out of God came defense and protection
With out God it is just only what you can produce
And let me tell you what you and I can produce ourselves is nothing compared to what God can and will do when we press into that relationship with Him
To do that though requires faith unlike we have probably experienced before
God as our shelter
Shelter
noun
a place giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger.
verb
protect or shield from something harmful, especially bad weather.
a shelter gives protection from danger, gives protection and is a shield
Church if ever there was a description of God it is this
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
That the Lord is a shelter
And available to those who would seek the Lord
God is the one giving protection from a lost and fallen world
God is a shield that protects in difficult and dangerous times
When you think of how you have been protected in your life some of it may be physical, and mental or emotional
But when we seek the Lord we get to enter into His own shelter place
And Gods shelter provides us protection from a harsh world
See the world say do whatever you want and how ever you want
The World say there is no truth and everyone is right and no one is wrong
The world will tell you your feelings are truth no matter what anyone or anything else says
God’s shelter provides protection from that
It is done though by spending time in His shelter
To dwell with in the presence of the Lord
To live in the presence of the Lord
To do that we must spend time with Him
Today that looks like spending time in church
Spending time reading
Spending time praying
They understood the building the Temple first a place to worship the Lord was building the right foundation
Which is exactly what spending time with Jesus does
Gives us a right foundation
Even though the world will tell you no you need a wall as protection
They were building a solid foundation in the temple
They understood that God was their refuge
4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.
Let them take shelter in your wings
That the Lord would provide shelter to His people
a refuge is defined as a place of safety and protection
What a beautiful definition of who God is a place a safety and protection
Come to God in your time of need
Seek out the Lord and He will be found
Church to know that we can find physical safety, mental, safety and emotional safety in the arms of Jesus
That is where we run to first
To know and understand that we serve and follow a God who goes before us
That is what it means to have God as our refuge
That we can run to Him and find safety and protection
Those that returned I think understood that because they built the temple first
That not only were they building a place to meet the God of the universe and have a place to worship but to know and understand that this is our refuge when the people around us don’t really like us
Do you understand that the physical safety is only going to be what you can do physically and you can be physically safe
But the deeper issue here is a refuge like no other
That God is the author of safety
That God is the ultimate place of protection
Those that returned understood that their first priority was God and God alone
Church our first priority is God to remember the promises of God
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
That God is our protection
That God is our safety and defense
Today is no different
That in a world that is lost and dark and against an enemy that seeks to steal and kill and destroy your entire life
Our response is to run to Christ and His word
It is in Christ that we find safety, protection, refuge
It is why we focus so much on our relationship with Christ
Just like the Jews who returned built the temple first
That is why we focus so much on building your personal relationship with Christ
Spending time and being obedient so that we can go out and share the hope that is in us
See once you have built the temple and spent time dwelling in Christ
we are to go out
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
That is what happens after you have built the temple
We are to go out and share the Gospel with those around us
That is what we are called to do and after dwelling with Christ
We are to go and do
Last Thursday we had our prayer meeting
Not planned but the theme of our prayers was give us a desire to share the Gospel with the lost
Give us a heart for lost people to see them walk out of the darkness
Those that returned from exile were building the temple first because they knew and understand that that was their priority
That God goes before them just like He does with us
But with the temple built they would be able to surive in a lost and broken world
Just like any chance you have at surviving and for sure thriving is only with Christ
So as we come to a close this morning
Maybe this morning you need to start the foundation of a relationship with God
Maybe you have never trusted Jesus this morning
Would you for the first time come to Jesus repent of your sin and trust Him
Or church maybe like the exiles you have had a relationship with Christ and have been in exile
As you come to Christ and return like the exiles you need to spend sometime building the temple
Maybe this morning you need to rededicate your life to Christ
maybe you just need to spend sometime in prayer
the alter is open
NOTE - they build the temple first and foremost because
God is our shelter
God is our refuge
God is defense
God is our oxygen
God is our water and food
