WAIT ON THE LORD

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” They also asked, “What are the names of those who are constructing this building?” But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.

This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates, the officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. The report they sent him read as follows:

To King Darius:

Cordial greetings.

The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people are building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.

We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

This is the answer they gave us:

“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

“However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’

“So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”

Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Memorandum:

In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.

Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.

Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:

Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.

Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.

I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Ezra 5 and 6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Chapter 4 ended, the rebuilding of the temple had come to a dead stop. You’ll recall that the enemies of Israel that lived around Jerusalem had petitioned the King of Persia, King Artaxerxes, to order the Israelites to stop building. They based their request on a claim that Jerusalem had been a city which had been rebellious and problematic for past kings. To support their claim, they asked the king to look it up and see that they were telling the truth.

And so King Artaxerxes did just that and found that there had been problems in the past and he believed the assertion that allowing the people of Israel to rebuild would result in a loss of control for Persia and the Israelites withholding taxes and tributes. The king issued a decree for the construction to cease and his order was carried out.

I think we often times see this happen to us. In the midst of doing what we see as good works in the name of the Lord, we sometimes find ourselves under siege by others. I have always believed that I can assess how well I am doing in following the Lord’s will by seeing how many attacks come my way in the midst of carrying out His plan. The more attacks from the enemy signals to me that I am on the right track.

Face it, one of Satan’s main goals is to derail every good and perfect thing that God is trying to do. And he more often than not, will do so by going after those who are carrying out God’s wishes.

Fast forward to the next chapters of Ezra however and you will see reinforcement to the truth that God will always claim victory over the enemy. And so will those who faithfully serve Him.

What we find in looking at the scriptures is that the people of Israel didn’t force the issue. They didn’t build in defiance to King Artaxerxes. No, they waited. They waited on the Lord to show them the way to victory.

As we look at the passage, we see the temple construction restarted after the “Jews in Judah and Jerusalem” received a prophesy from the prophets Haggai and Zechariah “in the name of the God of Israel.” Upon receiving the prophesy, “Zerubbabel…and Joshua…set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem” with the “prophets of God…supporting them.”

Well, you know the enemies of Israel were not going to stand by and allow this to happen. We read where “Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates” went to the Israelites and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” and “What are the names of those who are constructing this building?”

Another confrontation but something was different this time around. Scripture tells us that “the eye of…God was watching over the elders of the Jews and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received.” Darius was the new king of Persia.

And so Tattenai, Shethar-Bozenai, and their associates wrote a letter to King Darius. After telling the king that the temple was again being rebuilt, the enemies of Israel told him they had asked about who had authorized the construction to resume and who was leading the efforts. They then provided the following as the response from the Israelites:

“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.

“However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’

“So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”

Note how the Israelites started by saying whose authority they were under. It wasn’t Persia or any ruler of a region surrounding Jerusalem. No, they identified themselves as “servants of the God of heaven and earth.”

As we deal with matters in life, we would be well served to remember this. We are under God’s authority first and foremost…the God of heaven and earth. Yes, we might work under worldly authorities but none supersede the authority of the God Almighty, the Lord Most High.

The Israelites then went onto tell of how Jerusalem was first destroyed and how they were taken into exile. Note that it happened because their “ancestors angered the God of heaven” who in turn “gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar…king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.”

But that wasn’t the end of the story. Note how what came next was conveniently left out by the enemies of Israel when they first petitioned King Artaxerxes. They hadn’t mentioned to the king that King Cyrus had “issued a decree to rebuild this house of God”, removing “from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon.” Cyrus had also “gave them…Sheshbazzar whom he had appointed governor” and ordered him to “Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.”

Israel was saying in essence, “If the truth be known, we were rebuilding under the direction and permission of Persian leadership.”

And so King Darius, the current Persian king, ordered a search of the archives to see if Cyrus had issued the decree as stated and the claim was validated. This led Darius to send the following guidance to Tattenai:

“…stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.”

But that wasn’t all…

For the enemies of Israel weren’t just to not get in the way of the temple construction. They were to provide the following to the “elders of the Jews”:

1. “Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.”

2. “Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.”

The enemy was now the provider of what God required. The enemy was now finding themselves where they didn’t want to admit they were…under the authority of the God of heaven and earth.

And they had better not violate the orders given. For if anyone did, the king decreed that they were to be impaled on a “beam…pulled from their house.” Further, their house would be “made a pile of rubble.”

Finally, and you have to love this, Darius acknowledged the God of all in his closing words saying, “May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.” In other words, God would pass judgment on anyone who violated the decree or sought to stop God’s house from being rebuilt.

The people of Israel, once stopped, waited patiently for God to act and bring victory over their enemies. And God delivered.

We read where the temple was “completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius” which led the “people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles” to celebrate the “dedication of the house of God with joy”, offering “a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.” They also “installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses” and “on the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover” as well as the “Festival of Unleavened Bread.”

What a joyous time for the people of Israel…a time they had waited for. An exiled people had come back around full circle, restored by God victorious over their enemies and restored with a new temple to worship and rejoice in.

Do you feel today like your enemies are holding the upper hand on you?

I encourage you to wait on the Lord and remain faithful to the God of heaven and earth who has a plan. In His time, He will use His authority to bring you to victory as you carry out His good and perfect direction, ensuring His holy and righteous way is carried out.

Do this and you, like Israel, will be brought to the place of worship and rejoicing in victory as God shows your enemies who is really in control.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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