Imagine standing amid the ruins of a once-glorious temple, the air thick with determination and hope as the first stones of a new foundation are laid. Our journey through the Book of Ezra reaches a climactic turn in Chapter 3, where the Israelites, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua and fueled by prophetic words, commence the sacred task of rebuilding their temple. This episode peels back the layers of this historic moment, revealing the deeply spiritual process of constructing not just a structure, but a renewed relationship with God. We place the altar, the symbol of sacrifice and repentance, at the center of our discussion, drawing a stirring parallel to our own lives where the ultimate sacrifice of Christ demands that our bodies—our personal temples—be grounded in worship and sanctity.
As we cast light on the importance of a strong foundation, you'll discover how the ancient act of celebrating the temple's cornerstone resonates with the joy we find when our lives are anchored in faith and action. With echoes of Jesus' teachings on building upon solid ground, this episode is an invitation to reflect on your spiritual bedrock, nurturing a resilience that can withstand life's tempests. And as we contemplate the power of worship and sacrifice, we explore how ordinary lives, like those of the Israelites, become vessels for extraordinary testimonies. Together, we pray for the fortitude to not just endure but to emerge victorious through the grace of God, as we embrace our calling to be living sacrifices and witnesses of His love in the world.
Imagine standing amid the ruins of a once-glorious temple, the air thick with determination and hope as the first stones of a new foundation are laid. Our journey through the Book of Ezra reaches a climactic turn in Chapter 3, where the Israelites, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua and fueled by prophetic words, commence the sacred task of rebuilding their temple. This episode peels back the layers of this historic moment, revealing the deeply spiritual process of constructing not just a structure, but a renewed relationship with God. We place the altar, the symbol of sacrifice and repentance, at the center of our discussion, drawing a stirring parallel to our own lives where the ultimate sacrifice of Christ demands that our bodies—our personal temples—be grounded in worship and sanctity.
As we cast light on the importance of a strong foundation, you'll discover how the ancient act of celebrating the temple's cornerstone resonates with the joy we find when our lives are anchored in faith and action. With echoes of Jesus' teachings on building upon solid ground, this episode is an invitation to reflect on your spiritual bedrock, nurturing a resilience that can withstand life's tempests. And as we contemplate the power of worship and sacrifice, we explore how ordinary lives, like those of the Israelites, become vessels for extraordinary testimonies. Together, we pray for the fortitude to not just endure but to emerge victorious through the grace of God, as we embrace our calling to be living sacrifices and witnesses of His love in the world.
Speaker 1:
All right, ezra, chapter 3, we're only one study into the book of Ezra, but the last book we actually hit here on Wednesday nights, the book of Daniel. It's a good place to uh jump off to the book of Ezra from the book of Daniel, uh, because it follows that time period. Uh, god had warned the people for hundreds of years through the prophets to repent, uh, turn from idolatry and sin, and they didn't. And so God sent the babylonians. The babylonians came and took uh the southern nation of judah captive for 70 years, just like jeremiah. The prophet had said in jeremiah 29, 10 that it would be 70 years captivity in babylon. And that time has come and gone. And now the Persians are the ruling empire. And Cyrus we saw in chapter one. He tells the people they are fully allowed to go back to Jerusalem, their homeland, to rebuild the temple. And that, of course, was a response to a prophecy that Isaiah had given in I think chapter 43, 44, around there that a man named Cyrus Cyrus by name will set the temple back. And Isaiah gives that prophecy 150 years before Cyrus is even born. So all these things are kind of coming together. It's no surprise to God that the people would go back to Jerusalem, that Cyrus would proclaim that they should rebuild the temple and offer sacrifices, and some have done it. Chapter 2 is a list of names and numbers there of people and families who had went back to Jerusalem. Now it's a pretty big number somewhere around 49,000, I think but it's not all that big considering how many people there were that stayed back in Babylon. So a remnant goes back to Jerusalem. Stayed back in Babylon, so a remnant goes back to Jerusalem Under two leaders. We saw a civil leader named Zerubbabel and a religious leader, the high priest, joshua, and they go back to rebuild the temple and in chapter three we see it all begin to come together. Now it's going to take a long time before that temple gets built. They're going to be through a lot of tough times, a lot of opposition, but this is where it all starts.
Speaker 1:
In chapter 3, verse 1, they jump in when the seventh month had come. The children of Israel were in the cities. The people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel and his brethren, 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. Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening, burnt offerings.
Speaker 1:
So they start the rebuilding of the temple, that place of worship. They start it by building furniture. Really, I mean, you have to kind of consider this. The altar was a piece of furniture that went in the temple Seems rather strange if you're going to build a house to start by, you know, building a table or a couch or something like that. But here they, they, it's, it's a piece of furniture, it's, it's detached from the building itself and they, they set that altar down there. Now, this reminds us that the place of worship isn't anything without the place of sacrifice. The people went right to building that altar before they did anything else, before they laid the foundation or anything, because they knew they needed sacrifice.
Speaker 1:
They could look back rather easily on the last 70 or so years and say you know what? We were in Babylon? Because we sinned. They knew it. They knew their ancestors had sinned. They were sinful people and God was very patient. But they went to Babylon because of their sin and so as they came back to Jerusalem, they understood they had sin to deal with, they had separation from god. Um, we look in the book of nehemiah and you get a little better picture of it that the city of jerusalem was in ruins, uh, the temple non-existent. But the wall was so bad that when nehemiah um, quite, a, quite a while after this point, when nehemiah comes back, he can't even get around the wall without having to get off of his donkey in certain parts, because it was just blocks and bricks everywhere. It was torn down. So when they looked around, they saw how their sin had done all this. This was judgment for the way they had lived. So they knew they needed a sacrifice and it's a great picture for us. We had talked last week about the fact that, yeah, this is a historical book. The place of worship, the temple, was rebuilt in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:
But for us, the application perhaps a good application is to look at our own lives, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, that our own lives are a place of worship 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Paul says do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So Paul here says you know the temple a place of worship. So Paul here says you know the temple a place of worship. Your body is a life of worship. He says glorify or worship God in your life, in your body, in the things that you do. So we have this application on us, right, we're building a life of worship. Our life is a place of worship to God. But here's where the the parallel is right. Our life of worship isn't worth anything until we first come to the place of sacrifice. I think that's why it's so important that they started with that place of sacrifice. They knew they had sin to deal with.
Speaker 1:
And you know, a lot of times I don't think we ever really intend this, but and I was really good at this, I feel like I was pretty good at this with youth ministry. I think youth ministry it's easy to slip into this where you go. Hey, kids, here's what you need to do Start reading your Bible. It's a good thing to read your Bible, by the way. Why don't you be serious during worship? Really get into worship, kids. Why don't you sing? It's good to be a part of worship. You know that stuff you're listening to. Let's just get rid of that. It might be a good idea to get rid of some of the stuff we're listening to for sure. Listen to the lyrics and see what it talks about. Those are all good things, but a lot of times I would start there. Read your Bible, get into worship, you know. Maybe go on a missions trip, do these things and then you'll be a better Christian. Now, those things are all good to do.
Speaker 1:
It's kind of hard to find the balance in this, you know. But the thing is, if you don't personally come to the place of sacrifice the cross right, I mean, there's no other place of sacrifice for us than the cross. If you don't come to the cross, it doesn't matter what you do, it's not going to be a place of worship. There is no worship unless you come to the cross. It's filthy rags, right. You have to come to the cross, and that's another danger we kind of have.
Speaker 1:
I see youth ministry sometimes in that light. I see worship ministry sometimes in that light. We see somebody and we go oh, you play the guitar, oh, you know how to play chords. Come lead worship at our church. You know I'm not saying this is the way it always is, but there's this danger where sometimes people have no idea who God is. They've never come to the cross and yet we go oh, here, build worship for us. And then you get something that's really ugly. You know when the youth guy is just man, he's just cool and man, he's athletic, but he has no idea who God is. Right, that's a dangerous spot where the worship leader can just shred and knows how to work the lights, you know, but it's like there's no idea of who God is or what salvation is all about. Man, there's no worship in that and it becomes a nightmare, right?
Speaker 1:
Um, they start with the place of sacrifice, and that's just so important. I know it just seems kind of like empty to say that, but we have to come to that place of sacrifice personally, each one of us. We have to see what Jesus has done for us personally, or there is no life of worship. And so the people here, they start with the place of sacrifice and they begin to offer the morning and the evening sacrifices. In verse 4, they also kept the Feast of tabernacles as it is written and offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance. For each day. Afterward they offered the regular burnt offering and those for new moons and the appointed feasts of the lord that were consecrated and though, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid, so they observed the Feast of Tabernacles. A few other things there, but the Feast of Tabernacles, and that one, of course, has a place in our heart, right, because in October could be September, could be October, but in the fall we go camping, right, and I think we've all been there.
Speaker 1:
We remember, as they remembered, the people's faithlessness there in the Book of numbers, and the wilderness wondering that the people didn't trust God. Uh, the people, um, you know, wouldn't believe God, and so they didn't go into the promised land. They wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years. They were unfaithful. That's part of the feast. It's kind of funny to celebrate that. You know, a feast where we remember how we're all just so unfaithful, you know. But then you remember God's faithfulness right, and they celebrate and they remember the water from the rock. They remember the fire, the pillar of fire that would lead them through the wilderness. They remember the manna, how God, every day, would provide for them, but remembering that during that time they were completely faithless, they didn't deserve to go into the promised land. They wandered around until every single one of them, 20 years and older, was dead, except for Joshua and Caleb. And even though they were faithless, god was still faithful to take care of them. And that's what that Feast of Tabernacles was all about.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's that time of year here in Ezra, chapter three, and they celebrate that feast with all the sacrifices and it hadn't been done for a long time. They remember God's faithfulness. Now, that's a great thing to remember when you're starting you know a project. Like they were the temple. Hey, we're not faithful. Look at this place, jerusalem, it's in ruins. We're not faithful, but you know what? God's going to be faithful to us and to himself. His word, he's going to be true.
Speaker 1:
And they banked on that. Not a bad thing to do. For sure, they offered those sacrifices, they offered burnt offerings and they banked on that. Not a bad thing to do, for sure, they offered those sacrifices, they offered burnt offerings. Burnt offerings are a symbol of you need a cough drop? Uh-oh, there you go. Burnt offerings, right. They're a symbol of our life totally given over to God, totally consumed by God. The burnt offering is a real heart thing. And so the people during this time they were considering those heart things, burnt offerings and offerings to God, verse 7,.
Speaker 1:
They also gave money to the masons not those masons, but brick workers, masons and the carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the permission which they had from Cyrus, king of Persia. So here they're doing a little bit of prep work, you know, they're doing a little prep work for the temple. They're gathering wood and stones, they're hiring people gathering wood and stones. They're hiring people. Notice, there they send drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa. Now, kind of interesting. So they would take these cedar logs and they would, you know, offer. They would you know offer, they would give uh supplies to the people of tyre and sidon for, uh, these great big cedar logs the cedars of lebanon were, were known around the world and and they would float them down, uh, the coast there to joppa right, joppa, there on the coast, actually a very beautiful place. If you, a couple of us, have gone, joppa is a great place. It's built right there on the coast and you can see the, the ocean and and it's it's really beautiful, um, but they would float these logs there. Now, of course, also joppa known for another guy, jonah right. Uh, jonah went from joppa and he was taking a boat to where was that? Tarshish right, and so you know just a little bit of background there for Joppa, but they would float these logs in.
Speaker 1:
Now, the cool thing here is that this is exactly the way it was when Solomon built the temple. I think we've been reading about it in our reading plan, but at any rate, it's exactly the way Solomon did it. He sent to his friend Hiram and he got these great big cedars for the building of the temple, and they did the exact same thing, followed that pattern. Not a bad idea. Now look at verse 8.
Speaker 1:
Now, in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of god at jerusalem. Zerubbabel, the son of shelteel, joshua or yeshua the son of jehoshadak, and the rest of their brethren, the priests and levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to jerusalem, began to work and appointed the Levites, from 20 years old and above, to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. Then Joshua, yeshua with his sons and brothers, cadmel and his sons and the sons of Judah arose at one to oversee those working on the house of God the sons of Hanadad with their sons, their brethren, the Levites. When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priest stood in their apparel, with trumpets, and the Levites, the son of Asaph, with symbols to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel, and they sang responsibly, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his mercy endures forever toward Israel. Then all the people shouted with a great shout and they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid sacrifice and the altar to building the, the temple of of the foundation of the temple. There, there it is the foundation of of the temple foundation.
Speaker 1:
Right, I've gotten to see a couple homes put together. But you know how important a foundation is, a good foundation. You know, on this house we wanted to do everything we could to keep it from cracking everywhere, and so I don't know if any of you were here and you remember that but there was a big hole dug. It's like an Olympic-sized swimming pool and it was definitely deep right under this house. And we brought in dirt from other places with the idea that, you know, if we bring in some good dirt and dig deep and put that concrete down deep, the foundation would be better. Now, apparently we still missed out on this one.
Speaker 1:
But a foundation means everything with a building. If you build a foundation out of I've always been used to saying this it's silly, I know, but jello right, if you built a foundation and your foundation was jello, the house is only going to be as good as that foundation. Right, the foundation here of the temple is laid and it's not glorious, really, is it? When you build a foundation, you're kind of like let's get on with the real stuff, build some walls, you know, but the foundation is is so important, not glorious, but totally necessary. Um, they went through the work of it right here, they oversaw it and they did their best to build that foundation to the temple and they celebrated it. But for us, I don't know about you, but I immediately go to Jesus.
Speaker 1:
Uh, matthew, chapter seven, the end of the sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says now, I've given you all this, but you can be a wise man or a foolish man. You can be a wise person or a foolish person. The foolish person builds their house on a lousy foundation, right, just sets it up on sand. Jesus says and when the winds come and the storms come, of life, the house falls because the foundation is lousy. But then he says the wise man builds his house on the rock a good foundation. And the same storms come and the same winds blow, but the house stands strong. And we're all thinking of songs that go with that story. Right, the wise man built it. Okay, you're thinking about it, and and and.
Speaker 1:
Yet Jesus says that foundation is important. But then Jesus goes on to say at the end there he says and so is everyone who hears my word and does the things that I say, and that's important. Right, it's not just a cute story about a wise man and a foolish man in a house that falls, in a house that stands. He says the good foundation is somebody who hears my words and does them. If we're going to build a life of worship, we need a foundation, and it comes down to God's word. It comes down to hearing God's word. You could say, reading God's word, hearing God's word. No, however, you want to get God's word into your heart, you have to get it in, but then you have to do it, and that is important, right? It's kind of like faith without works is dead. Hearing without doing is pointless, right. So Jesus says if you hear God's word and you base your life on it, it's like building a strong foundation and we're reminded of that here as they get down to business of building this temple that a foundation is important to know what God has said about things, to know what he specifically says about things, but not just to know it, but to do it. It's kind of funny we can know all the right answers and still not do it sometimes, and that, of course, is dangerous. That's faith without works being dead. And so we see this foundation here and they go through the whole process of building the foundation. It's worth it, right, to build your life on God's foundation, whatever part of your life. You're building to build it on God's foundation and to actually do it.
Speaker 1:
But then we see the response and it's really sweet to see. Just imagine these guys and gals are coming back and there's probably not like a ton of them, they're a little lonely there. I suppose they're going to be attacked and there's going to be some persecution in chapter four. But they're doing this and they're singing songs right, verse 11, they sang responsibly and they're singing songs right Verse 11,. They sang responsibly praising and giving thanks to the Lord. Half the people would sing one verse and then, you know, then other people would respond to the rest. You know, maybe it was. You know, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, and then the other people say his mercy and his favor. This was really one of the most popular songs of the time, I think, because you see it throughout David's life, this actual passage here. So it's like a song they all knew and they sang it responsibly, very sweet.
Speaker 1:
And notice that people shouted with a great shout Praise the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord Very exciting, verse 12. Lord, very exciting Verse 12, but many of the priests and Levites and heads of the father's houses, old men who had seen the first temple, right. So they got to be over 70 at this point. If they were seeing the first temple. Some of the older priests and Levites and the heads of the houses had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the older priests and Levites and the heads of the houses had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the temple was laid before their eyes. So so we see what's going on, as, as these older men who have gone all the way from Babylon and they've come back, they see the foundation and they go. That's really cool. But, man, you should have seen it the first time. You should have seen it when it was covered in gold, you know.
Speaker 1:
And Solomon's temple was, you know, a wonder of the ancient world, you know. And here they look at it and they go. It's not as big as it was before, it's not as grand as it is. How could it ever be? They're reminded of their sinfulness and just the destruction that was all around them. So these older men, when they saw this, they just start crying, and it makes good sense. We can't really blame them for that. As they look back on what it used to be, they just start crying.
Speaker 1:
But notice, some of them cried with a loud voice, wept with a loud voice, yet many shouted aloud for joy. So then you see the other group of people, the younger crowd, that had never been to Jerusalem before and this was like a great experience. We're getting back to our roots. Here's the temple. We did it, we, you know. We got together, we laid the temple foundation. Here we go, let's do it.
Speaker 1:
And they shout for joy. You know, uh, and, and it's a great response they're just excited about what God's going to do. Now. They don't know chapter four yet. Right, that's the realist in me. I'm one of the old guys probably. They don't know chapter four, that it's going to be hard, but they're just excited that God's doing something. I think they're probably right and I'm probably wrong. But many shouted for joy.
Speaker 1:
But look at verse 13. And this is sweet when people get together so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout from of joy, from the noise of the weeping of the people. For the people shouted with a loud shout and the sound was heard afar off. And that's pretty picturesque, isn't it as old guys are weeping, oh, and the young guys are shouting, yeah and and, and you couldn't tell one sound from another. They just sounded like they were all making noise, you know, and that's pretty good. I guess that's kind of fellowship. We kind of balance ourselves out somewhat, you know. But I love that the shout was heard afar off.
Speaker 1:
Now again, chapter four, the response those people afar off. They hear the shout and they go. We got to do something about this. These guys are dangerous, right, but, but it's a witness, right, a witness of what God was doing in their lives and it's really sweet to see, because God really does want to build us up. You know, and I think the best place to really land on this is to come back to that altar.
Speaker 1:
You know, every time you would go into the temple, temple, you would have to first get past the altar of sacrifice, that place of just confessing sin, forgiveness of sin, but not just that. Burnt offerings god. Because of this, like romans says, in light of god's mercies, we ought to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Here. I am god, all you've for me, and I just want to offer my life to you, I want to offer my day to you, whatever it is, you know, and that response is where worship really starts in our life.
Speaker 1:
Um, uh, so, god, um, I just think about this group of people that you brought back to the place you had promised them, and that place where you promised to put your name and God, we even look and we just trust that you're going to do it again. But what a sweet thing that you wanted to do a work in their lives and through their lives. Just normal people like us and God. You wanted to do a work in their lives and through their lives. Just normal people like us and God. You wanted to make that place better. Um, god, thank you that you're the same today as you were then.
Speaker 1:
God, you use just average people to to make a difference in the world, to even be heard, um, and a witness, god, um, I know you want to do that in our lives too. So, God, whatever you want to work and use in our lives tonight, I pray that you would do that. I pray that we would just always be brought back to the cross, not that we need to get saved again or anything like that, but, god, that we would just remember that we would then live our lives in the light of your goodness and your mercy to us, and that it would be a living sacrifice, a life of worship. God, thank you so much for this time, and I just pray you give us strength to do the things that are in front of us the rest of this week, to not just get through it, but to be more than conquerors in you. God, be with my friends, go with them, pray in Jesus' name, amen, thank you.