ReTurn, ReBuild, ReNew - Laying New Foundations

We are back in our series of messages from the book of Ezra. This series of messages is about how the nation of Israel ReTurned from Exile, Rebuilt the temple and the city of Jerusalem and renewed their relationship with God the Father. Within each of these words that start with re, are words that are key for us to understand what God is up to.

The first is turn. As followers of Christ, our first commitment was to turn from our sin and turn to Jesus. In a way that is what has happened with the nation of Israel as they’ve spent time in exile. They’ve turned in order that they might return to the city.

Build - Our God is a God of building. Not of a God of buildings, but a God of building. All through scripture, we see God positioning His people in such a way to build their faith, build their relationship with Him and with one another. I just so happens that sometimes someTHING gets built as well like a temple, an arc, the church...

Then there is New. God is always doing something new. Not new to Him, but new to us…look at these verses:

Isaiah 43:19 NIV

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Jeremiah 31:31 NIV

31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

Mark 2:22 NIV

22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

God wants to do a new thing, but we must be ready to re-turn so that we can re-build and from there re-new our faith and trust in Him.

Our passage today is from Ezra 3, starting with verse 7. Before we go there, I want to refresh what we read last time…let’s read verse 3:

Ezra 3:3 NIV

3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices.

Regardless of the fear, they trusted God and did what He commanded of them. Although they were surrounded by those who wanted to do them harm, they followed through on beginning the process of rebuilding. The offerings they brought were exactly what was commanded of them. The process to ultimately restoring Jerusalem had begun.

Let’s not read verse 7:

Ezra 3:7 NIV

7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.

In order to complete the project, materials, resources and talents were needed. This is the preparation phase. They were putting in place those things needed to rebuild the temple. It would not happen overnight and it would not happen without a cost. They began putting the parts and pieces into place to fulfill the vision they had to rebuild the temple to its former glory.

Ezra 3:8–9 NIV

8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. 9 Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.

Like any good project, someone needs to supervise. The Levites were chosen and we see here a few of those chosen. Keep in mind these were chosen to oversee the entire rebuilding of the temple. The first item to build is the foundation:

Ezra 3:10–11 NIV

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

I love that this is here. So often, we don’t take the time to celebrate milestones on the way to the ultimate goal. This was a major accomplishment. They took the time to celebrate the laying of the foundation. After decades in exile, they were back in Jerusalem and finally got started with building and they say of the Lord: He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.

This song of praise was not just for the moment that foundation was complete. It was for all those moments Israel was in exile. God’s love endured then. God’s love endured when they were rebuilding the altar while in fear of those around them. Now at the completion of the foundation, God’s love endures. And when the temple is finished, God’s love endures. Because God’s love endures forever.

Let’s read what happens next:

Ezra 3:12 NIV

12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.

What a contrast. Before anyone gets the idea that they older folks were just grumpy curmudgeons, let me give you some context. The previous temple constructed by Solomon spared no expense. The best of the best was used. The foundation stones were flawless and it took many years to build. Now this version of the temple was quickly built with the resources that were provided. These resources were just a fraction of what was available to Solomon.

There was a longing and a remembering of how beautiful and grand the first temple was. Now that they saw what they were going to end up with, they longed for what was.

I imagine some of the sorrow was a result of remembering how they got there. The temple’s destruction was judgement for Israel not following the Lord as they should. Sorrow for their actions is normal.

Those who saw the previous temple were in sorrow while those who had never seen the temple rejoiced. Isn’t that pretty typical. On one hand those who had the best weep because of they are getting something less, while those who never had, rejoice because they finally have something.

Let me say that there is nothing wrong with either response as long as the perspective of our response is correct.

If the older people are weeping because the young people just don’t get it and how could they settle for something so ugly and inferior, then they have the wrong heart. If instead they weep because they remember what it was like and that they lost what it was because they lost sight of their faith in God and that the younger generation are missing out because of that, that is a repentant sorrow.

Likewise, if the young folks are cheering and rejoicing because of how great they are and how they’ve made the temple better than those old people…that is the wrong heart. I believe instead they are rejoicing because they’ve finally been able to see a new temple rise. Something they’ve wanted since hearing the stories of the temple and the city from their birth in exile.

I love this next verse:

Ezra 3:13 NIV

13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

It really didn’t matter if the source of the sound was joy or sorry. The noise, the sound was just so great. In a way their voiced blended together to create a sound that announced the temple foundation has been laid.

It was an announcement to the world around them. God was moving among his people. The world was put on notice.

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This new foundation would be that which they would ultimately build the temple. A foundation must be square and true. It is the basis by which the size of the the structure will be determined. If the foundation is 100x100, they can’t build a build that is 200x200.

While this foundation would indeed be something they would stack logs and stone on to complete a new temple, there is a greater foundation they are celebrating. Remember, the rebuilding started with an offering. Then before a single stone was laid for the temple, they set aside an altar where they could come and do business with the Lord, where they could come and get right with the Lord. This was a greater foundation than any they could have laid.