ReTurn, ReBuild, ReNew - An Enemy Halts the Rebuilding

The nation of Israel was granted favor by King Cyrus of Persia to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and the city. In the process, God would renew their faith and trust in Him.

Last week, we covered the last half of Chapter 3 where they just finished the temple foundations. Here is what we ended with:

Ezra 3:11–13 NIV

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. 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. 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.

There were mixed emotions. Those who had seen the previous temple were sad that this younger generation would never see the glory and greatness of the first temple, while the younger generation were celebrating the rebuilding of the temple, something they probably thought was only a dream…that it would never come to pass in their lifetime.

But ultimately, the sound of both the wailing and shouts of joy were an announcement to the surrounding peoples that God’s people were back and God was on the move through them.

That is the backdrop for today’s passage. When God is on the move, you will often also see opposition rise up to meet God’s movement. In some cases it can even seem like the enemy is winning against what God wants. It only SEEMS that way. God will always ultimately have His way.

There is nothing you or I can do about that. Our only option is to decide whose side we will end up on when the dust settles. Even in the midst of what looks like defeat, God is still moving and positioning His people right where He wants them.

As we read through Ezra 4, we are going to see a few tactics of the enemy to try to oppose what God is doing through His people. These tactics haven’t changed. They are still used today and we must be aware of them. If we are not, we may get blindsided and surprised. Just know that even if we are blindsided and surprised, God is not. In those moments, we still hold fast to our faith in Him to ultimately persevere.

Let’s read in Ezra 4, starting at the beginning...

Ezra 4:1–2 NIV

1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

Here is tactic #1…appear as an ally or a friend. Show up in the time of need, gain trust and then take advantage of the situation.

This is a very good tactic to use if someone is desperate for a friend or ally. Someone who is desperate is vulnerable to trusting the wrong person.There is a saying that I like…Trust, but verify.

We can’t live life being distrusting of everyone around us. That leaves us lonely and isolated. There is wisdom though in knowing who it is that is trying to help or be your friend. This is why we as a church perform background checks and get to know a person before allowing them to serve in certain areas of the church.

The second tactic here is to use partial truths. The enemies said that they seek God and offer sacrifices. This was true, but what they left out is that they seek all kinds of gods and sacrifice to all kinds of things. They were not following just after God, in fact, the God of the nation of Israel was not even in the top few being worshipped by these people.

While we don’t get to read about their motives in these 2 verses, their true motives come out in just a bit.

Here is how the leaders of the rebuilding effort responded:

Ezra 4:3 NIV

3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”

This might seem a little counter productive. They really needed all the help they could get to rebuild. They didn’t have all the manpower they needed…a few extra hands would have certainly made the work go quicker, but they turned it down.

Some might see this as a pride issue…we don’t want anyone else to be able to take credit, but that wasn’t the reason. These leaders knew who these people were by reputation and did not want any of their kind part of this rebuilding effort.

Let me just say that there might come a time where we as a church will turn down help because of the questionable motives of those looking to help. It certainly won’t be because we don’t need the help, it will be because the Holy Spirit will prompt us to say no thank you. A rebuilding effort has no place for those who will just seek to undermine and fight progress all along the way. A rebuilding effort needs all involved to be headed in the same direction. Especially one like we are reading about where external forces want the effort to fail. If we cannot be united in the same direction, if we are fighting each other, what hope do we have to fight off those who wish us harm?

Then the true nature of the help is revealed:

Ezra 4:4–5 NIV

4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. 5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Here we have 2 more tactics of the enemy.

***Put verse 4 up***

In verse 4 they tried to discourage and instill fear. I don’t know about you, but I can sense this as a tactic towards God’s people today. Towards those who want what is right and what is good. Discouragement and fear are all around.

This happens by distraction. Our focus becomes what is going on in the world around us about rather than about the hope that Jesus offers. I know that I am the most discouraged and fearful when I take my eyes off Jesus - when I get distracted and am not focused on His Word, His person, His Being and what He has called me to.

The enemy wants nothing more than for us to be distracted. To be fighting the wrong fight. You ever feel like you are fighting the wrong fight? Why do we do that? Because it’s easier to fight the wrong fight than it is fight the right fight.

Verse 5 tells us that they bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans.

When you are doing God’s work, the enemy will pull out all the stop to try to stop it. This includes using officials to get things off the plan. I think it can be a sign that you are doing the right things for the Lord when it seems like the whole world is against you.

The nation of Israel returns to Jerusalem to Rebuild the temple and renew their relationship with the Lord and here is what is happening:

The enemies of God’s people try to infiltrate their ranks,they tell half truths, they try to discourage God’s people. They instill fear of physical harm and when all of that didn’t work, they got the local officials involved to work against them and frustrate their plans.

God’s people…if the world seems to be against you, then it probably is. It probably means God has you on a path of conflict with the enemy. Don’t shy away from it, lean into it, because I’ve read the rest of the book and I know who wins.

Let me be clear, I am not saying we look for conflict, but if conflict comes and we are doing what God has called us to, then we can have confidence that the Lord will fight the fight for us. I am also not saying that if things go well, we are not in the Lord’s plan. There are times when God just seems to open every door along the way…we just walk through those doors and continue to stay true to what God is calling us to do.

I originally thought I would read this entire chapter, but I want to summarize it instead and then read the last 2 verses.

From this point, a letter gets written to the king to tell him that if he let’s this rebuilding happen, then he’s going to lose out on taxes and control. The king agrees with these half truths and gives authorization to shut down the rebuilding.

Here is the result:

Ezra 4:23–24 NIV

23 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. 24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

It gives a time frame for the standstill. The enemy thinks he’s won, but this is just a temporary stop to the work. It would continue. God’s people never lost sight of the goals, the plans, the work that God had for them. They just had to wait. We’ll read about the turnaround in the next chapter.

The turnaround happened because God’s people never lost sight of what God called then to do.

I think if we as a church want to continue to move forward and see God move, we cannot lose sight of what God wants us to do.

We have been given the greatest message of hope the world has ever known. A hope for each and every soul on earth. A hope that is in Jesus. Jesus left this command for us:

Matthew 28:19–20 NIV

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What will it take for Crossroads to speak this message of hope to those that need to hear it? We have not been that successful in getting people to come to this building in order to hear that message. If they won’t come here, then we need to go where they are.