Ezra 5 (Part 1) Bible Study (Rebuilding Begins Anew) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

Let's turn now in our Bibles to Ezra chapter 5.

Ezra 5 · chapter mention

Ezra chapter 5. It is believed that from the

Ezra 5 · chapter mention

time the restored exiles laid the foundation of the temple in

Jerusalem to the recommencement of the rebuilding of the temple,

16 years had passed. Think about that for a moment.

16 years of inactivity, 16 years of purchase materials lying

dormant, 16 years of these captives who have now returned

home, never reaching their full potential and worship because

the temple for so long remained as a slab for that duration of

time. Now, what was the reason for the

cessation of the temple's restoration?

Why did that work stop? Wasn't that the reason why God

brought the people from Babylon to the homeland?

Well, we learned it last week, didn't we, That it was a mixture

of discouragement, frustration, fear and persecution that led to

this rationale among the people to suspend the work.

And it didn't take very long until they became distracted

with other affairs. But look quickly at the last

verse of chapter 4, verse 24. It reads.

Then the work on the House of God that is in Jerusalem stopped

and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius,

king of Persia. So something took place in the

second year of the administration of Darius that

kick started the work of the House of God being rebuilt once

again. And it is in this new chapter,

Ezra chapter 5, where we are given the explanation.

Ezra 5 · chapter mention

We are going to learn what it was that sparked this renewed

interest and rebuilding this House of worship.

And here's what we're going to do tonight.

We're going to examine the 1st 5 verses of this chapter, but

we'll begin by reading the 1st 2.

So let's come now and look at Ezra chapter 5, verse one.

Ezra 5 · chapter mention

Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo

prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the

name of the God of Israel who was over them.

Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shialtial, and Joshua, the son

of Josidac, arose and began to rebuild the House of God that is

in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were

with them, supporting them. Father, we ask please, that You

would give us understanding that we may have life, not just

knowledge, not just information. We're praying for life to be

imparted into the depths of who we are.

Use this Bible study to that end.

We ask these things in the matchless name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. We should be excited just by

reading these first 2 verses for one main reason.

This is the first time that prophets appear in the book of

Ezra. Prophets, according to just

general observation of the Scriptures, are recognized as

one of the three main offices in the Old Covenant, alongside

kings and Who? Priests, good and prophets are

showing up here and now. We've already seen the royal

representation and who? Who's the person?

Zerubbabel very good, who was a descendant of David.

He never became a king, but he did operate as a leader.

And as we just read, we also see the priestly function in Jeshua

or Joshua. He's called Joshua and Haggai.

And now again we see these prophets appearing on the scene.

And one of the main differences between the prophets, kings and

priests is that with the prophetic office there is no

established succession. So if anybody wanted to function

as a priest, they had to come from which line?

Aaron, The line of Aaron. So that responsibility, that

role was inherited by blood. And if there was anybody who

would occupy the throne legitimately, at least they had

to come from the Davidic dynasty.

But here's what's interesting about prophets.

It wasn't a hereditary right. There was not a tribe nor a clan

set apart by God to serve as prophets.

It was something and someone rather had to be directly,

individually called by God. And that is why their emergence

should excite us, because their commissioning is unexpected.

And when they are summoned, when someone is crowned with the call

to be a prophet, they are speaking directly from God, and

oftentimes they are bringing fresh revelation from heaven.

And at this point, the Lord Almighty saw it fit to raise up

two main prophets. And to our great benefit, we

also learn as we continue in our Bible that God has also

preserved the messages of these two men of God to the same

audience and included it in this divine library.

So with that in mind, here's what we're planning to do.

I want us to take the time to look more carefully at the books

that bear the names of these men, these prophets that we just

read of, to see what they said more precisely that sparked

revival in this nation. And last week we looked very

quickly at the 1st 5 verses of the book of Haggai.

But let's return there and examine these words, his

message, more carefully and see what the Lord would say to us

through it. So Haggai chapter 1, let's turn

Haggai 1 · chapter mention

there and let's read from verse one.

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the

first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of

Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shaltiel,

governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high

priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts.

These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the

House of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came

by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses

while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the

Lord of hosts, consider your ways highlight something in your

mind, at least the dating the time stamp presented here in

verse one. Not only did Haggai come in the

second year of Darius the king, but he also began to speak in

the sixth month of that year. That is going to be helpful when

we go to the book of Zechariah. So just tuck it somewhere.

But for now, we have to determine the main issue that

Haggai is bringing to the people's attention.

And in the essence, it's this. They have misplaced priorities.

They justified their lack of commitment to the House of God

because of the opposition that they were experiencing.

And so to them, they thought, well, maybe this is not God's

will at this moment. Maybe this is his providential

way of letting us know to stop this lest we get into trouble,

lest we invite unnecessary affliction.

But that kind of thinking created an excuse.

It consoled their souls now to actually turn all their

attention and all their efforts to their own personal projects,

to the remodeling of their own estates and the improvement of

their own properties, while the temple was completely neglected.

So God by his Spirit begins to move in the heart of a man named

Haggai to raise him up, to go and confront them for their

complacency. And that's exactly what he does

here. And I couldn't help but compare

this generation, their heart, towards the House of God with

that of King David's, the man after God's own heart.

Do you remember what David himself said as he was living in

his palace and was experiencing universal peace in his world?

All his enemies were put to rest, all his foes were subdued,

and something, something moved him.

Well, let me remind you of his words from Second Samuel Chapter

2 Samuel 7:2

7, verse 2. David, it says here in verse 2

of that chapter said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in

a House of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.

What a difference. This generation in Haggai's day

were consumed with their panelled homes and neglected the

House of God David. Oh, this man loved God.

David, whether he was in the fields of Bethlehem watching his

father's sheep or was residing in a palace with pillars of

stone, was fixed on the Lord. He was absolutely moved by the

realization that God's presence dwells in something inferior to

me. Now he could have done

something. David, if he gave in to the

flesh, could have convinced himself to pursue further

endeavors for his own gain, for his own pleasure, with little

concern for God's house, if he just kept telling himself, well,

look, I'm the one who actually brought the ark from the

countryside to the new capital. Remember, it was, it was David

who did that. Once he gained the power, one of

his first things that he wanted to do was get the ark and bring

it to the capital. That's a God honoring endeavor,

isn't it? You would think that's enough,

right? Not for this man.

He was consumed with placing God's will, God's pleasure first

at every stage of life, even at the height of his comfort, his

power, and His luxury. Unfortunately, with with others

who profess Christ, the more they gain in this world, the

less they give to God. Often times it doesn't take much

for devotion to to waver. All it takes for some is the

acquisition of property, a new business, a new spouse, starting

a family, for them to get distracted to the point where

they neglect what matters the most.

And that's exactly what was happening in Haggai's day.

And this is just the beginning of his rebuke.

Look back at it with me at the close of verse 5.

Haggai urges the people to do what?

Consider your ways consider your ways a call not only to examine

their misplaced affections and ambitions, but to actually to

actually examine the consequences of their

priorities. Think think back over the years,

people of Judah and he helps them think.

Look what he says in verse 6. You have sown much and harvest

is little. You eat, but you never have

enough. You drink, but you never have

your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no

one is warm. And he who earns wages does so

to put them into a bag with holes.

I love this preacher, very direct.

And here's what he says. I'm highlighting something.

I'm bringing something to your attention that all your material

enterprises, all your strenuous labor, has yielded very little

reward, hasn't it? And this lack of fruit, the this

meager return on investment is not due to poor management

skills, by the way. It's not because you need

greater effort. I'm here to tell you that God

was behind it all. God is the one who put a stop to

multiplication, to your prosperity, to your growth.

And that's confirmed later. Scroll down to verse 10 of the

same chapter. Notice what He says.

Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the

earth was withheld its produce. And I have called God speaking

here, and I have called for a drought on the land and the

hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the

ground brings forth on man and beast, and on all their

laborers. I did it.

Now the language here should sound familiar to us.

Why? Because it echoes the warnings

of God from the law when he promised the people, if you live

in disobedience, if you begin to have idols, I will withhold some

of these things from you. That's explicitly found in in

the book of Deuteronomy. And hey, guy, like a good

prophet, reminds the people of God of what he already said.

So here's what he's saying. Hey, you, do you not realize

that in the past 16 years you've been living under God's

judgement, God has been judging you and you don't even recognize

that I'm here to tell you it's him?

Here's what dawned on me. This is this.

This actually jolted me that you had fruitlessness going on for

years, years, and yet this people were committed to their

ways. They didn't give up.

They kept working, they kept sewing, they kept waking up

early, they kept going to bed late.

And it's staggering, it really is, how determined we can become

when it comes to our material pursuits, when it comes to our

personal agendas. And yet when it comes to our

spiritual undertakings, we are much more tempted to give up, to

throw in the towel. I'm just going to go to another

church. This whole thing is not really

forming. You know, it's very, very common

for people to have enthusiasm at the start of a thing when it

comes to God's work, at least tends to wane over time,

especially when we're discouraged, especially when

we're disappointed. Here's what I see though with

this group when it came to their material desires, their dreams

in this life, their goals in this realm.

They've been going on for 16 years and they didn't stop until

Prophet had to stop them and show them the error of their

ways. And here's the thing, I

understand that one of the reasons why genuine hearted

believers would step away from whatever that it was that they

said that they would be committed to.

But if you really understood what God was asking of us,

discouragement would be less frequent.

It would Let me give you one example from the same chapter.

We didn't read this yet. Look at verse 7 of Haggai 1.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.

This is his second time saying that.

Consider your ways. And in verse 8, go up to the

hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take

pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.

You see, the the people were preoccupied with their pleasure,

not gods, with their glory, not gods.

And here's God saying, look, you were created for my pleasure.

You were created from my glory, and you will ultimately know

greater pleasure when you pursue mine.

But this also reveals something so deep about God's heart.

Let me ask you, this was Solomon's temple, more or less

impressive than the temple that people are going to build here.

More significantly more. In fact, you had the older men

of this generation weeping when they saw the blueprints for this

new temple. Are you kidding me?

This is what we're going to build in God's honor.

This isn't come close to what Solomon was able to come up

with. And yet the Lord speaks to this

same group and He tells them, if you build this house, I will

take pleasure in it. I will delight in it, knowing

full well that in man's eyes it would be inferior in many ways,

but to God he would still delight in it.

Why? Because what brings joy to the

heart of our God ultimately is wholehearted obedience.

Wholehearted obedience. This is what he's saying here.

I find it so amazing that God takes genuine pleasure in things

that men tend to despise or overlook.

And that should comfort each of us here who serve God.

Because as we do our best and perhaps look up from time to

time and think, really, what we do as a church doesn't measure

up to what that church is doing or what that ministry is

accomplishing, or what those servants of Christ and their

same gifting as mine are able to do in such a rate in terms of

reach and speed. Forget all that.

What they're going to build is going to pale in comparison.

And yet God says I will still take pleasure in it.

Because what He's really after is just our surrender and doing

what He's asked us to do, no matter what it brings about.

You can't determine the fruit of a thing but your faithfulness,

that's your choice. That's my choice, and that's

what God looks for. Well, we can say so much more,

but we'll have to wait until we study the book of Haggai.

But I do want to look at one more thing before we continue.

Let's look at the response of the people to this message.

So come down to verse 14 with me.

And the Lord stirred up the spirit of his Aruba Bowl, the

son of Shaltiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua,

the son of Jehozadak the high priest, in the spirit of all the

remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the

House of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the 24th day of

the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the

king. 2 Simple observations from these verses.

Just two. 1st The only way that you and I can see the people of

God truly excited to serve, to worship, to prioritize His

Kingdom is through the preached Word.

Notice that the stirring of the spirits of the leaders and the

remnant came after the word of the Lord was spoken through the

prophet. It was the word of God declared

that awakened the people from their slumber.

We cannot underestimate the power of the preached word.

And unfortunately you have many who are coming up with novel

ideas of how to create and I put that in air quotes.

Create revival and they're trying almost everything except

what? Opening the Bible, being

prayerful and dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit and

saying thus says the Lord, thus says the Lord.

That's all it took for this group.

The second thing to underline in our minds is the timing of their

obedience. What did we see in verse 15 on

the 24th day of the month in the sixth month?

Have we seen that before? We did back in verse one of the

same chapter, the 6th month in the second year of Darius the

king. So if we compare this verse with

verse one, then we learn that it took 24 days.

After 24 days of Haggai preaching, the people began to

work on the House of God. And perhaps the reason why it

wasn't sooner was because the people had to gather resources

and establish themselves and, you know, organize their

workforce. And that takes time.

But this is still remarkable. Here's what's so amazing as we

keep our minds on the power of the Word of God. 16 years of

lethargy, 16 years of laziness, 16 years of succumbing to the

opposition of the adversaries of Judah, 16 years of giving into

the obstacles was undone by the Word of God within a matter of

days. All the things that the Word of

God can do in a person's life. All the things that the Word of

God can do for anybody who has been bound for years, addicted

for years, lukewarm for years, callous for years, bitter for

years, just by sitting under the Word heralded, can do miracles

in such a short amount of time. This is just one of so many

examples of what the Word of God can do.

Why are we covering it in our churches?

Why are we replacing it? Why are we giving people

entertainment instead of exposition?

Why are we giving them plays instead of preaching?

It's a shame, It really is. God's Word can do miracles, and

we find it here. And let me tell you this, you

and I will never, ever, ever come close to a genuine

spiritual awakening on a local level or on a national level

unless the Word of God is in the forefront of our efforts.

Never. Anything else will be

artificial. Anything else will just be

emotion. It'll be short lived.

But the scriptures, oh, that's where the power is.

That's where transformation takes place.

So listen, you aspiring counselors, you need to know the

Word of God, Not your personal experience, not what you looked

at in books. That's all fine, but if it's not

charged with the Word of God, you're going to have little

fruit, genuine fruit in your ministry.

That's true for those who have Bible studies, those who are

serving the children of this church, those who are fathers in

this house, and you want to see the best in your spouse and in

your children. You need the Bible.

You need to know it, and you need to declare it unashamedly,

accurately, by the power of the Holy Spirit, only the Word.

But there's another thing important to under score about

the timing here. Look at the dating again in

verse 15. It was in the sixth month of the

second year. Why do we need to know that?

Well, let me remind you that back in Ezra 5, verse one, it

was Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Ido that were prophesying

to the people, and then they began to work.

So Haggai, we learned, began to preach in the second year, in

the sixth month of Darius the king.

But notice now how the book of Zechariah starts.

Let's go to Zechariah. It's right beside Hey Guy, Look

at Zechariah 11 in the eighth month, in the second year of

Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah,

the son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, saying.

So when did Zechariah begin preaching?

2 months after Haggai's sermon. 2 months after not only a Haggai

sermon, but after the people began rebuilding, because they

only started just a few days after Haggai was preaching.

So what would you expect the Lord to say through Zechariah to

a group of people, to a nation? Really, whose hearts have

already been softened by the word of the Lord and proved it

with practical application. What do you think I would say,

Well, let's find out. Verse 2 the Lord was very angry

with your father's. Therefore say to them, thus

declares the Lord of hosts, Return to me, says the Lord of

hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

What? Well, hold on, there's more.

Look at verse 4. Do not be like your father's, to

whom the former prophets cried out.

Thus says the Lord of hosts returned from your evil ways and

from your evil deeds, but they did not hear or pay attention to

me, declares the Lord your Father's.

Where are they? And the prophets?

Do they live forever? But my words and my statutes,

which I committed, my servants, the prophets, did they not

overtake your father's? So they repented and said, as

the Lord of hosts purpose to deal with us for our ways and

deeds, so has He dealt with us. Are you surprised?

You have every right to be because Zechariah's message two

months after the people obeyed what Haggai said was a message

of repentance. How do we make sense of this?

Imagine after 16 years of not working, two months into a

revival, the new preacher who's actually younger, if you read in

this book, Zechariah was a younger man, comes behind the

pulpit and he says you all need to repent.

Do we have a contradiction here? No.

We have a call to meditate. That's what we have.

And there are two possible answers to this.

Number one, it could be that not everyone among the remnant were

sincere and genuine in their hearts being given over to the

Lord even after all of this. So it's very possible like

today, for people to set apart time to participate, to

volunteer, to even give monetarily and their hearts not

really be for the Lord teaching us what God is not really after

your service. He's after your sincerity, he's

after your affection, your love, your desires.

That's what he wants, And so it could be that Zechariah was

raised up. Whereas Haggai was focused on

actually rebuilding the House of God, Zechariah now comes on the

scene to deal with the depths of the hearts of some.

You need to actually return to God.

You need to actually have a love relationship with your God.

Now here's the second possible reason for this, and it's more

likely that Zechariah's bold charge at this moment was

because after two months, the people's zeal begin to fade

away. Is that surprising to us?

No, it's not. It shouldn't be, at least for

some. We know the spark of enthusiasm

and excitement towards a spiritual discipline or a

ministry. All it takes is a few hours

before we get distracted again, let alone days or months.

So it could be that after two months the people began to lose

their zeal. And so God puts words in the

mouth of this man, Zechariah, and he says, go warn them,

preach to them, remind them of their history lest they risk

repeating it. And he does so faithfully.

Here's what moves me. The same source that ignited

this people to come back to their priorities is the same

source that would sustain them as they humbly receive the Word

of God, the word. You know, over the years I've

received sometimes invitations to be somewhere to preach.

And I understand that it comes from a a right heart to good

heart. Sometimes I'm asked, can you

come to preach? You know, we're looking for a

revival amongst our youth. Well, you know, I don't carry

revival in in my pocket or in my backpack or, you know, tucked

away in my notes. No preacher does.

But I understand. I understand that the goal and

the desire. But here's my concern.

I've learned this very, very early in ministry that you may

come, an evangelist may visit a church, a teacher may come for a

weekend to show the beauties and the wonders of the word of God.

But how is that same group of people going to be sustained?

Do you have a plan? Do you have, do you have people

raised up in that same church that's going to feed them and

speak to their hearts and provide them further nourishment

and warnings? And you know what I found, At

least in my world, that's rarely the case.

And So what do people do? Well, they just invite you for

the next year for the same thing that happened last year.

God is giving us wisdom here. The timing of Zechariah's

message instructs us about the importance of a continual

exposure to the Word of God. Not just an event and not just

on one particular weekend, but as a regular practice, as a

regular diet. That's why it's so important.

You men, especially, you listen to me very carefully.

If you're called by God to have a family, to have a wife and

have a children down the road, you need to be very careful

where you bring your family to church.

What church are you taking your family to?

How does that church handle the law of God, the word of God, the

gospel? Are they serious?

Are they frivolous? Are they shallow?

We see here that God raised up Haggai.

He spoke, it sparked. 2 months later, He raised up another man

of God. To do what?

To add fuel to the fire. And again, the source is no

different. The scriptures.

The scriptures. But there's more to learn from

this, and it concerns us as well.

Zechariah shows us here that it is our duty to regularly examine

our hearts, even in the midst of spiritual activity.

We all, each of us, each of us need to do regular inner

maintenance to see, Is my heart really in tune with God's heart

even while I'm doing all of this?

And I understand fully that there are some days better than

others. There's some days where you're

more excited, less tired, more ambitious than others.

And that's not to say that when those days come where you feel,

you know, tired, distracted or defeated that you call it quits.

Far be far be it from us to do such a thing.

But as as as a general call to look at the depths of our soul

and saying, where am I with God on a personal level?

Am I just going to the mechanical routines?

Zachariah shows us here as he speaks to this crowd.

Where is your heart? Are are you really, really,

really in step with the Lord even while you do all this for

the Lord? Because here's the thing,

backsliding starts in the heart. It starts in the heart.

This is start with somebody walking away from the church,

walking away from their service to the Lord.

Something happened long before that, and it's here.

So Zechariah gets to the heart. And here's the thing, if we

don't take that seriously, we're all in danger of repeating what

the Lord delivered us from, and that's possible for any of us.

And that's actually what we see back in Ezra 5.

So we have to go back and finish the rest of these verses.

Let's look again at verse 2. Then Zerubbabel, the son of

Shiael Tial and Joshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to

rebuild the House of God that is in Jerusalem.

And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Oh, I would love to say something about that last part,

but I won't. I want to bring to your

attention how the prophets are spotlighted here.

We read in Haggai how the the people with the leaders went

back to rebuild the House of God.

But in Ezra's record, he only highlights the leaders

Zerubbabel and Joshua. What does that tell you?

Well, it tells us many things, but at least one thing that even

the leaders of this time succumbed to the excuses and the

distractions that lulled the rest of the nation.

Even the leaders think about that.

A leader who was a descendant of David and the high priest at the

time were more worried about their personal lives in the

House of God. If it was true, then is it

possible for pastors today? You better believe it.

However, we can commend these leaders at the same time.

Why? Because both in Ezra's account

and Hey guys, they are mentioned as the first ones to respond

positively to the messages of the prophets.

They were the ones who humbled themselves, and the people

followed. That becomes especially clear in

Haggai, where the Spirit of the Lord stirred the spirits of the

leaders and then the people. What does that mean for us?

As important as the Word of God is, and as instrumental as it is

in seeing a potential move of God, we also cannot expect God

to do something in a place, at least generally, unless the

leaders are impacted. That's not to limit how God can

move into place, but there is a consistent pattern that when

leadership turns to God, people will follow.

And if we want to hope even for revival, it has to begin with

leaders. Any pastor, any father, any

overseer of any kind of ministry who consistently lives with a

stale heart, inevitably it's unavoidable, will have that

lifelessness translate into their ministries.

Dead pastors will make dead churches.

But when a leader's heart catches on fire, it has the

potential of melting the hearts of those around them.

So Zerubbel and Joshua, they responded, and the people

followed suit. The heat and the light from

those over them trickled. It impacted.

And here's the thing, as positive as that is, heat and

light also attracts pesky bugs. And that's what we find in verse

3 and 4. Let's read it.

At the same time, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond

the river, and Shatar, Bazani and their associates came to

them and spoke to them. Thus who gave you a decree to

build this house and to finish this structure?

They also asked them this, What are the names of the men who are

building this building? But the eye of their God was on

the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the

report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by

letter concerning it. It's not shocking at all, is it,

that for 16 years there is no indication that the adversaries

of the Jews harassed them or probe them when they were

working on their own houses. But the moment that they

prioritize God's house, the enemy slithered back into the

picture. Now we spent all of Ezra chapter

Ezra 4 · chapter mention

4 looking at the different schemes and the tactics of Satan

to try to hinder and harm the people of God as they want to

build something for his Kingdom. So we won't spend too much time

here, but let this serve as a reminder how persistent the evil

1 is, how strategic he is, how careful he is, how aware the

evil 1 is. And listen, all that should do

for you and I is be more motivated to becoming more

determined and more discerning. A quick comment about verse 4.

I'm curious, does anybody here read something other than the

ESV? You can lift your hand.

I'm just curious. OK, so here's what you'll find,

especially if you have the new King James or the NASB.

And there might be other translations out there.

There's a different rendering of this verse.

If you have those two translations that I just

mentioned, this verse, verse 4 might read in the following way.

Then, accordingly, we told them the names of the men who are

constructing this building. As if the narrator is showing

that the Jews complied and cooperated with the inquiry of

the Persian officials. So they said, what?

Who gave you a decree to build this house at the finish the

structure? And in some of those

translations, it's as though the narrator interrupts and says,

and the Jews gave the names of the ones who were in charge of

this endeavor. But there's a difference with

the ESV. The ESV puts it as though they

press them and asked what of the names of the men who are

building this building? Why the difference?

Well, it's a translation choice and one of the main reasons

because with the original language, there's a lot of

flexibility with the wording and I believe actually not because I

read and preach from the ESV, but because of the context the

ESV has it more accurately. Why?

Well, the same group is going to end up writing a letter to

Darius. That's the rest of the chapter.

And in their explanation, listen to how they recount their

exchange with the Jews. Scroll of verse 9 and 10 of Ezra

5. This is the these are the

officials writing to Darius. And here's what they say at this

point. Then we asked those elders and

spoke thus to them, Who commanded you to build this

temple to finish these walls? We also asked them their names

to inform you that we might write the names of the men who

are chief among them. You see that?

So in their own explanation, as they recount the the events they

tell Darius, we asked them their names.

And that's how the ESP puts it in verse 4.

The purpose, just to clarify any potential confusion.

That's why I brought that up. But let's come back to our

understanding of this passage. At this point, we would expect

the Persian officials to not only interrogate them, but to

tell them to stop working, stop working until we get

confirmation from Darius. But that doesn't happen.

They ask their questions. We learned later in the letter

that the people were kind. And we're going to learn a lot

in the new year of wisdom of how to deal with those who oppose us

and how we can even rightfully and righteously utilize the

freedoms that we have with our government if it's in favor of

our faith to actually gain more ground for the Kingdom of God.

But for now, we don't have any natural explanation to why these

executives didn't push further and demand them to cease.

But we are given a divine explanation and that's in verse

5. What does it say?

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they

did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and

then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

The eye of God was on them. Now, if you've read the Bible

faithfully and long enough, then you would realize that the

picture of God's eyes at work is very common.

And depending on the context, sometimes it denotes his moral

oversight over his creation. At other times it speaks about

his surveillance and his searching gaze for those who are

yielded and surrendered to him so that he can do something

special in and through them. And at other times, it simply

means, it simply explains his vigilant care and protection

over those who belong to him. And that's what we find here,

that there was a silent power from above animating from the

Lord that that could not be any more obvious than this.

Because the people here who are opposed to the Jews, they

couldn't go any further than their initial interrogation.

God was supervising this, God was protecting this.

And here's the beautiful thing that I want to end on.

This grace that these Jews experienced and realized is

something that we can know today for the rest of our lives, but

it's conditional. The Bible tells us that there's

something we have to do if we want to live with the

understanding and the the security that God has his eye on

my life. Can I show it to you?

Let's turn that together in Psalm 33, Psalm 33, and let's

begin in verse 16, Psalm 3316. The king is not saved by his

great army. A warrior is not delivered by

his great strength. The War Horse is a false hope

for salvation by its great might that cannot rescue.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those

who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul

from death and keep them alive. And famine, Look again at verse

18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is

on those who fear Him. You know what's amazing?

We didn't read it in Haggai one, but in Haggai one we read that's

ruble, Joshua, obey the Lord with the remnant, and they

feared the Lord. And we come to Ezra and we learn

that the eye of God was upon them, and we come to Psalm 33.

What do we have? Well, consistency.

That's what we have in the Bible, where the psalmist says

the eye of God, the watchful eye of the Lord, is on those who

fear Him. What does it mean to fear God,

to stand in awe of Him, and for those who hope in a steadfast

love? You know, if we're honest, many

of us can only know comfort in our walk with the Lord if we can

perceive what He is doing, if we can understand why he's allowing

something. But that's not the biblical way

of gaining peace. The biblical way is not being

able to identify his actions, his lack of intervention, but by

believing that though I may not see God's eyes on me, always the

eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him.

You may not be able to understand in the natural, the

whys and the hows, for how long and why not fast enough.

You may not be able to, but you don't have to.

All you need to understand is God's eyes on your life, and He

knows everything and He understands.

If you can really tap into that truth and absorb it and cling to

it, you will know great peace. You will know longevity.

You will know His sweetness, even in turbulence, even in

suffering. This is for our instruction.

We will look at the rest of this chapter.

If God should keep us on the earth in 2026, let's pray and

thank Him for these truths. Sometimes after hearing somebody

speak for close to an hour, it's good to just remain silent,

especially when it comes from God's Word.

Lord with the Psalmist, we agree.

I've seen a limit to all perfection, but your

commandments are exceedingly broad.

It never fails to astound us how deep and wide Your Word is.

And yet, Lord, we get the sense that we've only scratched the

surface of it. Thank you, Lord, for this place

filled with people who believe in the power of the Word of God.

And Lord, we just pray that we would never lose faith in giving

the Word and receiving the Word and living by the Word for those

hearts that are not alive in Christ.

We pray that what they heard tonight would be the catalyst

for their salvation for the one who was saved.

But it's been months, maybe even years of placing other things

before You. Help us realize that we are

putting our energy and our time into a bag with holes in it.

It will never satisfy. It will never sustain us.

Only when we prioritize Your Kingdom, your gospel, Your will.

So show us how to do that, Lord. Show us how to prioritize.

Show us the areas that we have elevated beyond their

appropriate place. Lord, we come now to give you

thanks in song for how you've spoken to us.

It's just amazing how even such a message was granted to us

leading into a new year, maybe a new start for all of us.

We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.

Let's stand Church, let's thank Him for speaking to our hearts.