When the King Speaks: Turning Adversaries into Allies

Choice to Return & Rebuild — (Ezra 1-3)

In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Persian, also known as Cyrus the Great, captured the city of Babylon. This made the Persian Empire the largest empire up to this point in history.

Upon his defeat of Babylon, Cyrus made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom releasing all the captives from the bondage of Babylon and allowed them to return to their homelands and he makes a statement that “the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”

He then asks who is there left among them of God’s people and encouraged them to return home to Jerusalem and to rebuild the House of God.

Now, at this point the exiled Children of Israel had a choice to make. They could return to their homeland, free of bondage and oppression or they could remain where they were.

You have to keep in mind here, they have been in bondage now for 70 years. To some of the younger ones, this is all they have ever known; this was their homeland. For some of the older ones, being able to go home was a blessing but undoubtedly there was probably some fear of the unknown as well.

What will our homeland be like after 70 years? Will there be work? Will I have somewhere to live? What will we do for food? No doubt, all these questions flooded through their minds.

But the Bible says at his point, a remnant of roughly 50,000 men, women, children and servants, led by a man named Zerubbabel, left for Jerusalem to begin the rebuilding process.

After their 500+ mile journey, they began by rebuilding the altar of God first so that they could reinstitute the sacrificial offerings. Then in the second year of their return, they began to rebuild the foundations of temple.

As the foundations were being laid, the remnant of God’s people gathered around to celebrate the progress that was being made. Some who had been in Jerusalem and witnessed the first temple wept, while others shouted aloud for joy! The Bible says there was so much of each going on that you couldn’t discern between the two but it finishes chapter three out by saying that the people shouted with a loud shout and it was so loud that the noise was heard afar off!

So we have here in the second year of Cyrus the great the foundations of the House of God beginning to be laid. But it’s at this point the remnant of the Children of Israel begin to run into some opposition!

Look with me starting in Verse 1 of Chapter 4 as we see the Conflict & Resistance of the other peoples in the land.

Conflict & Resistance — (Ezra 4:1-5, 24)

So we leave off Chapter 3 with a great shout that could be heard afar off the Bible says, right? Well guess what? That got some of the surrounding people’s attentions!

Notice what the Bible says here in chapter 4 verses 1-5.

So the people surrounding them get mad because the Children of Israel won’t allow them to help in the rebuilding process and no doubt the only reason they wanted to help to begin with was to disrupt and hinder the process.

But the Bible says here that they “weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building. They even hired counsellers against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

Now you have to stop right here and fast forward to verse 24 because the next few verses are out of order chronologically and without doing some major studying you can get messed up in your understanding really quickly!

But look down with me at the last verse here of Chapter 4.

So because of all the hindrances from the surrounding peoples, the work on the House of God ceased until the second year of Darius, king of Persia.

Now after Cyrus the Great passed in the year 530 B.C. his son Cambyses took the throne for the next 8 years from 530 B.C. - 522 B.C. For unknown reasons, Cambyses commits suicide in the year 522 B.C. at which point king Darius the Great or Darius the I takes the throne.

Now Darius was an even greater king than Cyrus. He extended the Persian Empire and set up different forms of government and really made the Persian Empire a very successful Empire.

And it’s under king Darius’ rule that we pick up here chapter 5.

So we’ve had roughly 17 years since Cyrus allowed the Children of Israel to return home and start the rebuilding process on the House of God but as we ended in Chapter 4, the process had stopped due to fear of the surrounding peoples in the land, right.

Well, during this 17 years of downtime, God sends two prophets to encourage the people to continue the rebuilding process. These prophets were Haggai and Zechariah.

And He apparently struck a nerve and a conviction to restart fell upon Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Look with me at verses 1-2 of Chapter 5.

Conviction to Restart — (Ezra 5:1-2)

For 17 years the rebuilding process had halted and the House of God set idle until God had had enough!

Let me read you really quickly Chapter 1 of the Prophet Haggai’s message to the Children of Israel!

God was tired of seeing the people worry about their own houses and not His and what they didn’t realize is the fact that they were suffering because of it!

He basically says the people, the reason you aren’t making any progress is because you are neglecting my work first!

You are trying to put your needs ahead of my needs and it just don’t work like that friend! Take care of my needs and I will supply your needs, Amen!

How many of us do this same thing? We worry about our needs and in the process neglect the needs and requests of God?

And the reality is, if we will be honest with ourselves this morning we know that we do it and also that our lives are suffering because of it!

I’ve said this many, many times when God is not in that top position in our lives everything else will slowing begin to fall apart but when we place Him back on top where He belongs, we will start to slowly see everything fall back into place!

So the Spirit of God stirs among the people and the work on the House of God restarts!

But lo and behold, it never fails when you’re trying to be obedient to God, the adversary isn’t too far away to try and halt your progress!

Look at verses 3-17.

Conflict & Resistance Round 2 — (5:3-17)

Acts 5:29 — Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

This time it’s the governor of the area and his comrades that try to hinder the rebuilding of the House of God.

If you will remember, earlier in the message I mentioned that when king Darius took over that he set different forms of governments which allowed and helped him to keep order and peace and also to grow the kingdom and make it stronger.

One of the main things he did was to set up governors over certain areas. So, no doubt this fellow Tatnai here, was the one who had been set up over this region and if I had to guess, these other folks it’s speaking of here are the ones who came tattling to him that the Children of Israel had begun rebuilding the House of God.

As we seen here, he questions them as to who gave them permission and when he didn’t get the answer he wanted he decided he’d just go the king about it!

After all, the king is the most powerful person in the world at this point, right? The thing he wasn’t counting on was the fact that the one over the king wasn’t of this world, Amen!

He is the God of heaven and earth! And it’s He that moves the hearts of men, Amen!

So we see Round 2 of Conflict and Resistance. Now let’s move on to Chapter 6 and look at the Consolation of the Ruler.

Consolation of the Ruler — (Ezra 6:1-12)

New Living Translation Chapter 6

stay away from there! 7 Do not disturb the construction of the Temple of God. Let it be rebuilt on its original site, and do not hinder the governor of Judah and the elders of the Jews in their work.

So, king Darius not only tells them to leave them alone but he goes on to tell on Tatnai they are to help with the financing of the rebuilding process and the provision of sacrifices! And if that weren’t enough, he then makes a decree that anyone who harms them or the rebuilding process should be hanged and his house made into a dunghill!

My how the tables have turned!

Don’t you just love how God works!

Now, let’s finish it out by looking at the Completion of the House of God.

Completion of the House of God — (Ezra 6:13-22)

The House of God is completed, the people make sacrifices and keep their feasts. They purify themselves in the sight of their Holy God and give thanks for He had delivered them from bondage, from opposition, from peril, and provided them with everything they needed to rebuild His house!

What a mighty God we serve this morning, Amen!

Application for the Saved

Now, some of you are sitting here thinking to yourselves…that’s a really great story preacher but how does it apply to me today?

Well, as I was thinking upon this and studying it, for the saved person sitting here this morning it means this…there are going to be times in your life when like the children of Israel you stray from the commands of God. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’ve exiled yourself from the presence of God and He seems distant to you.

And maybe the King is speaking to you this morning saying come home! Quit living in exile and come back to me! Just like the Children of Israel, you have a choice to make this morning. Will you continue to live in exile or will allow the conviction of the Holy Spirit to draw you back to Him?

Just as God used the prophets Haggai and Zechariah here to encourage the people to continue with the job He had for them, I want to encourage you this morning to put Him back in that number one position in your life and get back in the saddle and get to work for Him!

Listen, if you are a born again child of God this morning friend, your work for Him isn’t over until He says it’s over, Amen!

If you’re still sitting here today, it’s because God has a purpose for your life here on this side of eternity! He’s not done with you yet, Amen!

And listen, just as the Children of Israel faced opposition here, you’re going to face opposition in your walk with God! Sometimes it may be the devil that ole adversary of God that’s trying to stand in your way of getting God’s job done and other times, it may be you that’s standing in the way!

If it’s you that’s the one standing in your own way this morning friend, get out! Submit to the call of God upon your life and allow Him to work through you!

And if there is someone or something else that’s standing in your way this morning let me read you one more chapter of scripture for encouragement!

Isaiah 54.

For the child of God this morning…no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper! And every tongue that shall rise against the in judgment thou shalt condemn! This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord!

Isn’t it good to know this morning friend, that no matter what artillery of hell that old adversary throws against you, no matter what slanderous things he says about you, HE WILL FAIL FOR WE ARE THE SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD!

And I love how it says there that our righteousness is of him! When the devil goes throwing blame for our mistakes, Jesus steps in and says yeah I got this. I paid for that sin and that sin and that sin! Yeah that ole Bro. Bobby tends to make a blunder of things but he’s covered by my blood! Though his sins be as scarlet, in the eyes of my Father he is as white as snow!

Praise God for the overcoming blood of the Lamb this morning, Amen!

Application for the Lost

Now, that we’ve looked at how it applies to the saved, let’s finish it out by looking at how it applies to the lost.

I want you to remember the title of today’s message…When the King Speaks: Turning Adversaries into Allies.

You see, the Children of Israel were in exile when God spoke to King Cyrus and told him to basically let His people go, right?

Now, if you are sitting here and lost this morning, you are also like these Children of Israel but in a different way. At this point in your life you are living in exile from the one true King and you have a choice to make.

Will you continue in exile and one day when you draw your last breath be exiled from God forever or will you choose to come to Him today and trust in His Son Jesus and be saved forever more?

Now, before you answer that, let me also say, that just like the Children of Israel, you are going to face opposition from the adversary. Right now even at this very moment, the adversary is trying to keep you from coming to God.

He’s probably saying something like, “oh you don’t need to trust in Jesus today, there’s plenty of time to do that” or “don’t go up front because every one will look at you and make fun of you” or “don’t believe anything this crazy guy says! This is all just a bunch of nonsense!” or it could be “oh, you’re too young to get saved” or “you’re too old to get saved” or maybe it’s “you’ve done too many bad things to be saved. you need to clean your life up before getting saved.”

Sound about right?

You see, the children of Israel were faced with a choice…continue in exile or go home where their God was calling them to be.

And I believe this morning, God is calling someone here to come home! But the opposition is doing everything within his power to stop you from coming! My prayer is that as conviction fell upon those who returned home to begin rebuilding, I pray that same power of conviction will fall upon you as we give the invitation here in just a second.

And dear friend if it does, if you hear the King of King’s and Lord of Lord’s speaking to your heart telling you that you need to be saved, won’t you make the right choice and come!

You see the second part of today’s title plays an important part in your salvation…turning Adversaries into Allies.

Right now, if you haven’t ever put your faith in the one and only Son of God, Jesus, then you are an Adversary of God for the Bible says,whosoever will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God and then in John Chapter 3 it says for the Son of Man came not into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already!

You see, if you have never put your trust in Jesus, then at this very moment you have chosen to be against Him! You have chosen to be His adversary!

But dear friend let me make one thing plain this morning, God would rather you be His ally!

The Bible says, it is not God’s will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance!

God would much rather have you as an ally instead of an adversary this morning but ultimately the choice remains with you!

God paid the price for your sins with the blood of His only begotten Son on cross at Calvary and all you have to do this morning to be saved is to believe upon Him and call upon Him to save you!

Romans 3:23 — For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:10 — As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 6:23 — For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 10:9 — That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Romans 10:10 — For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 — For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The King has spoken, and I believe He’s wanting to turn some adversaries into allies this morning. The choice now belongs to you. What choice will you make?