7/7/2011 9:41:20 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The rebuilding of the temple Parts 1-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezra 2:68-3:13
Message of the verses: “68 Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for the work 61,000 gold drachmas and 5,000 silver minas and 100 priestly garments. 70 Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.
“1 ¶ Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. 3 So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. 4 They celebrated the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required; 5 and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of the LORD that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a freewill offering to the LORD. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, but the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not been laid. 7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the permission they had from Cyrus king of Persia.
“ 8 ¶ Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. 9 Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God. 10 Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel. 11 They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever." And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.”
There are three sub-sections under the main point in today’s SD. The first sub-point is entitled “Investing in the work” and covers the last three verses of Ezra chapter two.
I have highlighted a portion of verse sixty-nine from of Ezra two and this portion reminds me of 2Cor. 9:7 “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” There is really nothing said about the four month 900 mile journey that these Jewish people took from Babylon to Jerusalem, but it seems that when they go to Jerusalem they gave thank offerings to the Lord for the work of the temple. Now according to Nehemiah 7:70-72 both the tribal leaders and also Zerubbable game very generously and this set the example for the others to give. This is another example of why good leadership is so important, not only in the work of the Lord but in all other aspects of life.
The next sub-section is entitled “Setting up the altar” and covers verses 1-3 of Ezra chapter three.
The journey that these Jewish people took from Babylon to Jerusalem parallels the journey that Abraham took when he left that part of the world to travel to the Promised Land. There are some similar things that happened. There is nothing in the Scriptures that speaks of the actually journey itself in either case. Now the next similarity is what happens here in this section and that is the offering of a sacrifice on the altar. Now the altars were different but the point is that the first thing that both Abraham and these exiles did was worship the Lord. Jesus spoke of something similar when giving His sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
After restoring the altar to offer sacrifices on it Joshua (the high priest) then set up the daily sacrifices and also the offerings on special days and also the celebration of the different “feast” days. For a list of these feasts look at the 23rd chapter of Leviticus where this whole chapter tells all about them, and this also makes a wonderful study on how these feast days are a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for us.
These exiles could sacrifice to the Lord even though the temple was not complete yet for it was not these external things that mattered as much as what was going on inside their hearts as can be seen in these following verses: (1Sam. 15:22; Psalm 51:16-17; Hoses 6:6; Mark 12:28-34).
The last sub-point in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary he calls “Laying the foundation,” and it covers Ezra 3:7-13.
The exiles arrived the seventh month but did not begin work on the foundation of the temple until the second month of the following year, which meant they must have spent that time gathering supplies to do this work in preparation to rebuild the temple. This follows the pattern set by Solomon who started building that temple on the second month. That building of the temple was recorded and so was an example for the exiles to follow.
When you look at this picture in a spiritual way one could answer the question that David asks in Psalm 11:3 “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” Well they can begin a revival and lay the foundation again and that is what was going on here as not only the physical foundation was being laid but there was a spiritual foundation being laid as well.
One can see the unity as these exiles began this building, and even though there were different tasks for them to do they all had the same goal, the finishing of the temple in order to worship the Lord as they were instructed though the Law of Moses. The apostle Paul writes something similar in Philippians 2:2 “make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”
When the foundation was finished the people began to sing as instructed by King David. These were the Levites who led the singing and the worship when the foundation was laid.
After the foundation was laid there were some older people began to weep because the temple was smaller than the one Solomon, yet the younger men began to shout because the task was finished. When one thinks about it this temple would be there when the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth and He came into it and taught in it.
Dr. Wiersbe writes about how these different generations reacted differently after the foundation was complete: “It’s unfortunate when the unity of God’s people is shattered because generations look in opposite directions. The older men were looking back with longing while the younger men were looking around with joy. Both of them should be looking up and praising the Lord for what He had accomplished. We certainly can’t ignore the past, but the past must be a rudder to guide us and not an anchor to hold us back. God’s people are a family, not a family album filled with old pictures; they’re a garden, not a graveyard covered with monuments to past successes.
We have similar generational disagreements in the church today, especially when it comes to styles of worship. Older saints enjoy singing the traditional hymns with their doctrinal substance, but younger members of the church want worship that has a more contemporary approach. But it isn’t a question of accepting the one and rejection the other, unless you want to divide families and split the church. It’s a matter of balance; the old must learn from the young and the young from the old, in a spirit of love and submission (1Peter 5:1-11). When they were new, many of our traditional hymns were rejected for the same reasons some people reject contemporary praise choruses today. ‘But each class (the young and the old) should try to understand the other’s feelings,’ said Alexander Maclaren. ‘The seniors think the juniors revolutionary and irreverent; the juniors think the seniors fossils. It is possible to unite the shout of joy and weeping. Unless a spirit of reverent regard for the past presides over the progressive movements of this or any day, they will not lay a solid foundation for the temple of the future. We want the old and the young to work side by side, if the work is to last and the sanctuary is to be ample enough to embrace all shades of character and tendencies of thought.’” (Maclaren, Alexander. Expositions of Holy Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974 vol. 1, 77)
Spiritual meaning for my life today: What things must take place to have revival in the heart? Getting back to the foundations of the Christian life and making sure they’re solid: repentance, confession, prayer, the Word of God, obedience, and faith.
How does one get along with the different generations? Dr. Wiersbe writes the following as a suggestion to the answer for this question: “For some ‘change’ is a synonym for ‘compromise,’ but where there’s love, ‘change’ becomes a synonym for ‘cooperation with one another and concern for one another.’”
When I first became a believer in January of 1974 I heard something on a tape by a man named Howard Bell. Bell said the following “To live above with the saints we love awe that will be glory, but to live below with the saints we know, well that’s another story.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Begin to follow the steps written above to bring revival into my life.
7/7/2011 11:51:51 AM
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