Ezra 1:1-4
“1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The Lord put it into the mind of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation
throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:
2 This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Whoever is among His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 Let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”
Who would have thought that a pagan king, who himself knew very little about the God of Judah would have allowed them to rebuild their temple let alone decree that it should be done. Not entirely sure if this would have been out of character for a Persian king or not. One thing I read this week mentioned where the Babylonians believed in moving people when they conquered kingdoms the Persians only cared that they paid a tribute and remained loyal. It also came in response to a prophecy from Isaiah that was given some 150 years prior.
Isaiah 44:28
“who says to Cyrus, “My shepherd, he will fulfill all My pleasure” and says to Jerusalem, “She will be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Its foundation will be laid.”
Regardless of whether it was in character or not, prophecy foretold it and God turned the heart of the Persian king Cyrus. In doing so God had Cyrus give the Jews freedom to return home, freedom to build the temple, and had those that they were living with give them gold, silver, food, etc… for the trip and for the temple. What a change in tune after being hauled away and in exile away from their home for some 70 years. They Jewish people are heading home with the goal of building the temple and restoring their community.
God using a pagan king was a way for God to remind His people and anyone else paying attention that ‘He will use whatever it takes to finish His plan to build a perfect community where He can be with His people forever, even a sinful pagan king who knows nothing about Him.’
Why did God guide the Persian king Cyrus to build God a temple? Why was this so import to the Almighty God? Why was it such a big deal?
The temple is a sign of God’s passion. If you remember God’s passion, His desire, and the reason He created us was so He could dwell with us. God wants to be in a relationship with each and every person ever created, and the temple is a symbol of that passion.
There is a problem with God’s passion and the state of His chosen nation while in exile. The Jewish people were no longer worshipping at the temple, they were no longer offering sacrifices, they were no longer able to be in His presence. They no longer dwelt with God! Sin was separating God’s people from being with Him. Not having the temple was leading to a major problem, sin was keeping God and His people apart.
In the long run the solution to the sin problem was the coming of Jesus Christ, His Birth, Death, and, Resurrection. That was not going to happen for another 5 centuries or so. Until then the solution to God’s problem was to rebuild the temple and reinstitute the sacrificial system so that people could once again be in the presence of the One True God.
The people were returned home with plans in place, they knew what God wanted. They saw God’s problem as their problem.
Ezra 3:1-3
“3 By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people gathered together in Jerusalem. 2 Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers began to build the altar of Israel’s God in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. 3 They set up the altar on its foundation and offered burnt offerings for the morning and evening on it to the Lord even though they feared the surrounding peoples.”
The people of God were following God’s will. The altar was restored the foundation of the temple was being rebuilt, things started off good. If you read this week’s chapter you will recall that the people began good, but lost focus. Life interfered with rebuilding the temple and what was a big problem for God, became more of a nuisance for the people. What happens when something is just a nuisance, it gets ignored. Think about that squeaky screen door, it will squeak for a long time before it gets fixed. A broken water heater on the other hand gets taken care of immediately as not having hot water is a big problem when you are getting ready for church or to go to work.
God’s people no longer saw the building of the temple as a major priority and it sat. Instead of working on the temple that was down the road, they wanted to get their own homes built. For 16 long years the temple sat as homes and communities were built. It was an abandoned construction site in the middle of town, with weeds growing all over. Those 16 years was long enough for every visitor from surrounding nations to look at the temple in Jerusalem and think that the Jewish people did not take their God or His temple very seriously. Think of the message it sends to the kids growing up in Jerusalem. At first they saw their parents and neighbors working hard to build the temple and then they just walked away from it. Not the messages they, we, or God want to be shared.
God loving His people and wanting to be with them raised up a prophet, Haggai, to call His people back to their task of building God’s temple.
Haggai 1:1-6
“1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “The Lord of Hosts says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” 3 The word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” 5 Now, the Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways: 6 You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to become drunk. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.”
Haggai is reminding the people of God that they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. He is hitting them pretty hard. You have your nice house, you have spent a lot of time and energy trying to build yourselves up. You are working hard, but it never seems to be enough. You harvest little. You never have enough to eat or drink. Your clothes don’t keep you warm and your money does not go far enough. In short they got distracted by their own things and set God’s needs aside. The people in Jerusalem got their priorities all mixed up.
How many of us can relate with our priorities getting out of whack? If I were to list my personal priorities the top couple would be in this order.
1. My personal relationship with Jesus Christ
2. My family
3. Ministry
4. Work
I would think most people sitting in this room would rank theirs similarly. If you priorities are in this order, does your life always reflect it? I know mine does not. Work has a tendency of interfering with just about everything. Ministry can get easily get in the way of family time. The hustle and bustle of life and how crazy it gets at times can interfere with the time I spend with God, which means things are interfering with my first and most important priority. I am sure most of you can relate.
I have yet to meet someone who loves Jesus who deliberately decided to ignore God. What tends to happen is that people let things get in the way of their top priority and slowly drift away from Him. It was not a decision, but they let things get in the way, the kids, the job, demands from others, stress, and just about anything else thrown their way. It starts slowly and at first efforts are made to keep their top priority number 1, but it can continue to slip until it is no longer on the list. This is exactly what happened to the people in Jerusalem and God got sent Haggai to get their attention and call them back. If we let God slip out of the number one spot He has ways of getting our attention.
Think about it for a moment, can you recall a time in your life when you achieved some goal or accomplished something that you thought would make you happy and it did not? Can you think of a time that you got everything you wanted, but it left you wanting? These feelings could be God’s way or trying to get your attention.
I am not saying that every bad thing in life or period of wanting is punishment by God. Don’t think that every time that something bad happens to you that God is punishing you. Most of the bad we encounter in this world is part of living in a sinful world. The Bible tells us that rain falls on the just and the unjust, but sometimes in life if we seem to be hitting one obstacle after another with no end in sight. It maybe that God is trying to get your attention.
The simple fact is, when we put our priorities over God’s priorities, life becomes empty and meaningless. Putting our priorities above God’s is a sin.
Charles Spurgeon wrote “God doesn’t allow His children to sin successfully.”
God loves us to much to allow us to continue down a path of sin and will do everything He can to get our attention.
God sent Haggai to remind the people of Jerusalem just that. He was telling them, ‘STOP, examine your ways, you need to change your priorities!’ Haggai’s job was to remind the people that their priorities need to match Gods. It was their wake up call. They heard the call and got back on track fulfilling the purpose of God. They put God back as their first priority.
Matthew 6:33-34
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Jesus tells us to seek First His kingdom and God will take care of everything else.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “If we put the first things first, we get the second things thrown in; but if we put the second things first, we lose both the first and second things.”
God needs to be first and foremost in our lives! We need to make sure that we do not let the things of the world, our jobs, our toys, our families, our medical issues, in short our lives, interfere with following God’s priorities. If He has called you to something, you need to do it!
The prodigal son repented and left
the pig slop.
Jonah repented and got out of the
fish guts.
The Jews repented and finished the
temple for God.
Do you need to repent and return to god? Is God speaking to you through a season of testing? Are you being distracted from God’s purpose for your life?
Commit to making God’s priority your priority!
Thanks for reading,
Robert
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