April 15, 2005

“THE LORD STIRRED THE SPIRIT OF THE KING”

Ezra 1-3

This morning we are embarking on a new series of sermons, taken from the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Now in case you’re tempted to ask “Who?” or more importantly, “Why?” I’ll tell you my reasons.

In view of my goal of providing the church with a balanced spiritual diet, we have just completed a series from the New Testament. Therefore it’s time to go back to the Old Testament. We’ve just finished an epistle, which is part of the didactic or teaching literature of the Bible. So I’ve chosen to go back to a narrative section of Scripture. Also, the last couple series I did from the Old Testament were taken from the very beginning of the history of the nation of Israel, tracing the history of the patriarchs in the book of Genesis. In Ezra/Nehemiah, we are leaping to the other end of the Old Testament in terms of Israel’s history.

On a more close-to-home note in terms of personal relevance, I have also chosen these two books because they contain the accounts of two massive building projects. In light of the fact that we are in the middle of our own building project, I thought it might be helpful to see what we can learn and what principles we can glean from these Old Testament building projects.

In order to set the stage for our study, I think it would be helpful to do a very brief review of the history of Israel to set the context. In our series on the patriarchs last fall, we left Joseph and his brothers and their families settled in Egypt. In the years that have passed since then, the people of Israel have experienced some incredible high points. The magnificent events of the Exodus as God freed them from Egypt through the plagues and then led them out through the Red Sea. The incredible events at the foot of Mt. Sinai as God established his covenant with the nation, and gave them the law through Moses, and the people worshipped as the mountain smoked and shook with the very presence of God. When they left Mt. Sinai, they carried the tabernacle as the visible presence of God went with them. They witnessed the mighty acts of God as Joshua led them into the Promised Land, and drove the other nations out before them. They experienced the heady days of the monarchy under King David and King Solomon. They saw the magnificent temple constructed in Jerusalem and the presence of God coming down to fill the temple.

But the history of Israel was also filled with many very low and very sad points. They spent forty wasted years in the wilderness because they failed to trust God’s ability to keep his promise. After the death of Joshua, they endured almost 400 years of chaos under the Judges, a time when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” After Solomon’s magnificent reign, his foolish son managed to alienate the 10 northern tribes so completely that they split the kingdom. There followed a succession of foolish and wicked kings who led the people into greater and greater sin and unfaithfulness to God. Judah experienced periodic spiritual revivals under the powerful preaching of the prophets and the occasional godly king. But the trend in the north and eventually in the south was inexorably downhill. Finally, at the end of his patience, God delivered the northern tribes of Israel into the hands of the Assyrians and they were carried into captivity in 722 BC, leaving a devastated land behind them. Judah survived another 130 years or so, but they failed to learn from the fate of their sister nation. They continued in their rebellion and false worship.

Listen to this description in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16. (Read)

Such sad words! “There was no remedy.” And so the text continues in verse 17: He brought up against them the kind of the Babylonians…

Actually, as we reconstruct the history, the Babylonians came against Judah in several waves or invasion. The first one, in 606 BC resulted in looting the best of Jerusalem’s treasures, and the captivity of the best of the people. Daniel and his friends were taken in this first wave. The Babylonians left a puppet government installed in Jerusalem. But as a result of several subsequent rebellions and invasions we come to this final description of what took place in the year 586.

It’s found in Jeremiah 52. Jeremiah was given the task of proclaiming the word of the Lord to the nation of Judah all during those final, terrible years. Here is how he describes the events in 52:4-9, 12-14. (Read)

It was a terrible time in the history of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 52 describes it factually. But let’s listen to the emotion of those days, described in poetry in the Book of Lamentations. (Read Lamentations 1:1-5)

Can you feel the deep sadness in those lines? Yet here is the incredible thing. Even in those very dark days of their history, God still gave his people reason for hope. Let’s look at these verses, also taken from the book of Lamentations. (Read Lamentations 3:19-26, 31-33, 4:22)

In fact, through the prophets, God gave some very specific details about how and when these days of exile would end. He actually gave a name and some specific dates or times. Look at Isaiah 44:24 and 28. (Read) Did you see that name given there? Keep in mind that this was written almost 150 years before Cyrus ruled. So specific is this prophecy that scholars who don’t believe in the power of God have come up with elaborate theories for how this section of Isaiah must have been written later, after the fact. God gives this ruler a name through Isaiah, and then he gives a specific time frame through Jeremiah. Read Jeremiah 29:10-14.

This history and these prophecies, then set the stage and the context for the period of history we will be studying in these next 2 months together. Keep them in mind as I read the opening words of the book of Ezra. Read Ezra 1:1-2.

Two things strike me as I read those verses. First is the fact that God keeps his promises. The key phrase there is “in order to fulfill the word of the Lord.” God had spoken and now he moves to fulfill.

This brings to my mind a verse from the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 55:11: So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

This verse is often quoted to show that the Bible is powerful and when it is preached or distributed, it will have an effect and accomplish God’s purpose. I certainly do not negate or deny the power of the Scripture or the effectiveness of preaching, but I really don’t think that is what God is saying in that verse. I think God is saying simply that whatever he says will happen, will happen. When he speaks, he always fulfills. God says a king named Cyrus will write a decree, then a king named Cyrus will write a decree. God says the exile will last 70 years, then the exile will last 70 years. “My words are not empty words. What I say, I will do.” And in Ezra 1:1-2, God did precisely what he said he would do.

The decree was made in 538 BC, the year after Cyrus and the Persians conquered Babylon. By the time the exiles reached Jerusalem and laid the foundation of the temple, it was 536 BC, exactly 70 years after the first captives were taken from Jerusalem in 606 BC. After many delays and difficulties, the temple was finally completed in 516 BC, exactly 70 years after Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 586 BC. When God says 70 years, he means 70 years. God means what he says. God keeps his promises.

The second thing that strikes me in these verses is that God is sovereign over the affairs of men. This truth is repeated over and over again in the Scriptures, but it is especially powerful here. We are told here that God “moved the heart of Cyrus.” The literal vocabulary is “God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king…” God didn’t just predict Cyrus’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem. He made it happen.

God is sovereign. Even in the darkest days of Israel’s history, God’s hands on the reigns of human events never slipped for even a second. And when the time was right, God stirred in his spirit and Cyrus made the proclamation. Let’s read the rest of it. (Read Ezra 1:3-4)

But God didn’t just stir up the heart of the king. He also stirred up the hearts of his people. Look at verse 5: Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites – everyone whose hearts God had moved – prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

We have to realize that lots of time had passed. Even for those who were carried to Babylon in the last wave of captivity and who returned in the first wave of returnees, almost 50 years had passed. Most of the returnees had been born in captivity. Jerusalem was just a place of stories and history for them. They were settled and comfortable in their new homes. Why uproot and make such a move? Because God stirred in their spirits. It’s the same phrase used to describe what God did in King Cyrus. This is God’s project. He is the one doing the recruiting. And those who couldn’t go, he stirred them up to give! So over 40,000 people rose up and went, carrying all their belongings with them.

Chapter 3 goes on to describe several key events in their first months back in the land. The first thing they did was to go back to their native villages and towns. (Read 2:70) You can imagine their excitement and emotion at returning to the villages and homes that they had been forced to leave. For many it was seeing a place they had only imagined from the descriptions of their grandparents and parents. But in their eagerness to get settled and pick up the threads of their lives again, they did not forget their purpose in returning. (Read 3:1) I love that phrase “they assembled as one man.” Any great project takes a united people.

In their unity they engaged in three significant tasks and events. The first thing they did was to reestablish their worship and sacrificial system by building the altar. (Read 3:2-3) The sacrifices and burnt offerings were at the heart of how they were taught by Moses to approach God. This is where they started.

The second thing they did was to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Read 3:4) I believe they celebrated this feast first, primarily because it was the next feast on the calendar after they came together, taking place in the 7^th month. But it was also a uniquely appropriate feast, focusing as it did on giving thanks to God for his provision and protection. This feast required them to live in tents or temporary shelters for a week, remembering the wilderness years, but also no doubt reminding these returnees of their own years in exile.

The third thing they did was to lay the foundations of the temple. Then when the foundations were completed, they had a great celebration. (Read 3:10-11)

It was a day filled with intense emotion. The writer describes the poignant scene. (Read 3:12-13).

Why were the older worshippers weeping? Some suggest that these older Jews who remembered the earlier temple could not help but compare it to the simpler and more scaled back version they were constructing, and they wept for the lost glory. I think that’s probably part of it. But I would paint a more global picture. They are standing around the foundations of the new temple. The fact that it is being rebuilt at all is a declaration of the faithfulness of God. Yet at the same time, they are surrounded by and standing on the rubble of the destroyed city. Maybe some of them could even hear the cries of the dying and the shouts of the looting soldiers still echoing in their ears. And they wept, because they realized that it had all come about because of the sins of the nation and their unfaithfulness to God. They grieved for all who had suffered and died. They were seared with regret for the lost years, the painful years of exile away from the temple and its worship rituals. God is good and God is faithful, but God is also just and God is also holy. And so this worshipping assembly shouted out for joy because of the faithfulness of God in reestablishing his temple foundations as he promised, and at the same time they recognized the holiness of God and wept for the sins of the nation that had brought his disciplining hand down upon the nation with such devastating and painful effect. And those listening could not distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping.

We will leave the story there. What lessons can we take away from this Scripture? Let me just pick out a few for us to ponder and take home with us.

First, God keeps his promises. Our faith is built on this rock, this reality. What he promises he will do. He will do it in his own way and in his own time. But he will do it. He will not fail. As I apply this to our building project, I cannot claim that God has specifically said he will build this building. But Jesus did promise that he would build his church. We know that God’s church is the people who gather to worship and serve him. But as he builds his church and his church grows in numbers, those people need a place to gather. We believe God wants this building to be expanded to contain his growing church.

Second, God is still sovereign over the affairs and kingdoms of men. I would also apply this to our project. We know that in the past, God worked through the rulers of this country to give us the use of this property for the churches. In the process of this new project, we will need many permissions and permits. Specifically, we are going to be requesting permission to put a grill fence around the area just outside the current wall, since the existing courtyard will be taken up by the new construction. We need God to grant us favor in the eyes of the rulers as we request this special permission. It is good to know that God is still sovereign over rulers and officials today.

Third, God is the divine recruiter. God is the active agent in these first three chapters of Ezra. No human leader emerges as remarkable. It is God who stirs the hearts of the people to go and to give so that the temple can be rebuilt. As we do the work and raise the funds, we must pray and trust God to stir the hearts of his people both in and beyond our local congregations to rally around and do their part.

Finally, We must not forget to praise God and give him the glory as he takes us through this project step by step. Until one day we will join in a great shout of praise to the Lord for what he has done.