Have you ever read 1 Kings chapters 18-19 when Elijah goes up against the prophets of Baal and then runs for his life from Jezebel? God gives him this amazing victory, Elijah destroys the prophets of Baal, God brings rain to the land for the first time in several years, and then Elijah runs for his life. He ends up in the wilderness, feeling depressed and defeated. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). He just had this supernatural experience over his enemies and he wants to give up and die? Yet I have been here so many times.
Last week I had an amazing experience with a missionary from Ethiopia. I was so filled with hope and joy in this new project. Nothing changed or has changed, yet after I came home, I immediately got down in the dumps. Maybe it’s because I went from sunny Orlando to snowy Denver. But whatever the reason, this has happened so often before. You go from a high high to a low low. Monday night and Tuesday morning I begged God for something encouraging from His Word and He took me to Ezra 3. In this chapter, the Israelites had just returned to their homeland after being exiled to Persia by Nebuchadnezzar decades earlier. The Persian King, Cyrus, had given them back the treasures that had been taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar and given them specific instructions on how to rebuild the temple. What a joyous occasion for the Israelites! God had given back what had been stolen from them and they were returning to the promised land under direct orders from the king of a country that had once been an enemy to them.
Starting in chapter 3, after the Israelites had settled back in their hometowns, they came together. Verse one says, “When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem” (emphasis added). Now, a friend of mine was talking about numerology in the Bible recently, and so I’ve been encouraged to look up the meaning of numbers when studying Scripture. According to Troy Brewer’s book, Numbers That Preach, seven represents perfection by the Spirit; that “God is doing something by His Spirit apart from any other source.” The number one represents unity. The Israelites were coming together as one (remember, at the time of their exile, they had been separated into two kingdoms–Judah and Israel) in a month that represented the supernatural working of God. The next few verses state:
Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.
Ezra 3:3-6
Three things stood out to me about these verses:
- “Despite their fear of the peoples around them…” (v. 3). The people who lived in Israel before this remnant came back were not friends of the Israelites. These enemies opposed the Israelites and spread lies and rumors about them when they tried to rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. But despite their fear, they made sacrifices to the Lord. How often have we let the fear of what others might think or say determine our worship and obedience? Second Timothy 2:12 states, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Yikes. But keep in mind that we haven’t faced anything that Jesus hasn’t already faced: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). Let’s not be surprised when people come against us when we’re obedient to the Word of God.
- They reinstituted the feasts and festivals (vv. 4-5). At this time, the Israelites were still under the Laws God had given through Moses. In fact, God had allowed them to be exiled years earlier because of their idolatry and disobedience to this very law. The returning Israelites understood that obedience to God’s Word was a must. I constantly hear people say, “Live your truth” as an excuse to live any way that pleases them. But as Christians, we must live God’s truth–which is the Bible. Sometimes the Bible is hard to understand, but we must allow the Holy Spirit to help us as we read; it is then that the Scripture comes alive and there is no doubt as to its authenticity and truthfulness.
- “Though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid” (v. 6). If this were me, in my human flesh, I probably would have built the foundation first. How can one worship and sacrifice without the proper work being done first? I’m the type of person who works first and worships later. That is so backward. Worship and the Word must come before work.
After reinstituting the feasts, they laid the foundation for the new temple but then a really funny thing happened: the older people who had seen the previous temple (the magnificent and beautiful temple Solomon built) began to weep. The younger people (who hadn’t seen Solomon’s temple) were just happy that they were going to have a temple at all and they were shouting for joy. But the older crowd was weeping. It got so bad that verse 13 states, “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.” Oh my.
We would all love to say we’ve never done what the older generation is doing in this verse, but we’re all guilty of it. We’ve gotten stuck in the past; sometimes to the point where we can’t move on to the future. Sometimes it’s a past trauma that hasn’t been dealt with. Maybe it’s the death of a loved one or the loss of a relationship. Sometimes I live in past mistakes that I have made. But more recently, it’s been stuck in an expectation of the past. I thought my life was going to go this way, but instead, it went that way. For me, Proverbs 19:21 is key, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” The apostle Paul was aware of this very human tendency to live in the past when he wrote to the Philippians, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (3:12-14).
Are we living in the past or are we pressing on toward the goal God has for us? I’m asking this question of myself this week. Jesus took not only our sins, but also our pain, suffering, and grief to the cross.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)
Jesus bore the burden for us. First Peter 5:7 says, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” We were made righteous when we gave our lives to the Lord; therefore, we don’t have to be shaken. Ever. In addition to the above, below are some Scriptures to encourage us to heal from the past and move forward toward the goals God has for us.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds.” (Jeremiah 30:17)
“Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” (Jeremiah 33:6)
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
“…Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
*All definitions for the numerology in this post come from Troy Brewer’s book, Numbers That Preach.