A Changed Heart and Some Persevering Men

I felt compelled to spend February in the book of Ezra and so I have been reading daily through the short 10 chapter book concerning the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem in Judah following the return from captivity in Babylon (among other things).  There is a wealth of issues to cover, so i'll take them as time permits in brief and hope that you will be encouraged from the reading of them to read through Ezra yourself, and be blessed.

Just two quick points today.  The first is a phrase that reaches out and slaps me across the face every time it appears in scripture.  I'm speaking here of the first two verses of the book:

"In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:"

Wow, it's amazing every time.  Cyrus king of Persia ruled over all the exiles from Jerusalem, taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzer, and had no intentions of letting them go back home.  Then something happened, no less than a miracle.  God, in keeping with what He spoke through Jeremiah, moved the heart of Cyrus.  Then the king sent them back home, and not only sent them back but sent with them silver and gold, goods and livestock and freewill offerings the temple in Jerusalem that was yet to be rebuilt.  So we see several things here.  God is not sitting up in heaven, having wound up the universe, just sitting back letting things happen as they will.  He is intimately involved.  You know, like what is written in Colossians 1:17 "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."  Not sitting back watching, but Sovereign over and in control of all things.  All things that God has said will come to pass - will come to pass.  Also, only God can change hearts.  Many fine arguments can be made to make someone consider changing their way of thinking about a certain topic, but no amount of human effort can bring about a change in another's heart.  This is a possible source of error for many people who rigorously pursue apologetics.  Obviously there is nothing wrong with study, with discovering the wealth of resources and evidences of God's existence in all aspects of human existence and with making arguments for God among people who do not believe.  However, we must be so very careful not to become so proficient in making arguments for God that we put ourselves in the place of God - believing that it is the argument and the arguer that turn people to God, moving to the place where we devote all our time to arguing for God that we neglect a relationship with God, spending a larger percentage of our time reading what other people say about God than we do reading what God Himself has revealed in His Word.  I thank God for the surge in interest and captivation by a new generation who have the largest abundance of resources in the history of the world at their fingertips, but we can have all that and still go astray.  Let us never forget that our commission from God is not to make converts, but to make disciples, and that only God can move the heart of man.  So we study to show ourselves approved, we stand up for the Truth and pray that God will have mercy and extend His grace to those He places before us, that He will shine the light of Truth into their heart that they may believe and confess in the Son and be set free so that we may have the privilege of continuing the process of discipleship all for His glory.

Second, we must persevere.  Paul speaks of finishing the race and keeping the faith as he implores Timothy to press on toward the prize.  We see in the first few chapters here an example of this lived out and recorded for our edification.  Consider Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak:

"When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.  Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel...Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation...though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid...Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.  They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia...As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimsai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.  Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of of the reign of Darius king of Persia.  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 Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them." (Ezra 3:1-5:2)


So much to say here so I will continue on this theme next time, but notice two things now.  First that these two men are mentioned by name as leading the building effort based on the decree of Cyrus king of Persia, whose heart was turned by the Lord, were forced to stop by the people of Israel who petitioned the then king Artaxerxes, and resumed the effort with the proclamation by the prophets of God (Haggai and Zechariah).  These two men persevered.  What an encouragement to us, that although there will be times when people (even the people of God) set themselves to discouraging and frustrating God's will that ultimately what God has decreed will come to pass.  It is reasonable to believe that the reason Zerubbabel and Jeshua did not lose heart and fall away is because they were not looking to their plan or their efforts.  How easy it would have been when the decree came down from King Artaxerxes to have exclaimed, "Oh no, our plans have been thwarted, why oh why did you stop us, Lord.  All we wanted was to rebuild your temple and worship you as you've commanded us to do.  We built the altar and offered sacrifices and yet you have abandoned us!"  Their confidence must have been in something beyond themselves.  It is also reasonable to believe that their confidence was in their Lord, not themselves.  They began building based on the decree by King Cyrus, but not because he decreed it.  Cyrus decreed the people be allowed to return and rebuild the temple.  Zerubbabel and Jeshua first built the altar and offered sacrifices to God, before setting the foundation for the temple.  There was something beyond King Cyrus driving these men, the God that moved the King's heart.  This is also why the men did not wait for another King to give them permission to return to building, the prophets of God spoke and they went back to work.  They served God, they placed their confidence in God, and God was with them.  More on these men and the prophets of God next time.