ReTurn, ReBuild, ReNew - The Prophets Speak and the People Listen

How disappointing. They were on a roll and some people, the enemies of Israel did all they could to stop the rebuilding of the temple. They thought they succeeded, but it was only a delay.

Today we are going to continue reading about what happened in chapters 5 and 6. I won’t read the entire passage, but you should follow up and do that at some point this week. I’m going to summarize a good portion of it and it is up to you to make sure I am telling you the truth about what it says. We have a lot of scripture to cover, so let’s jump right in.

Ezra 5:1–2 NIV

1 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. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

It’s been 15 years since the rebuilding of the temple was stopped. It stopped until the prophets Haggai and Zechariah gave a word from the Lord. Generally, when the Lord speaks through people, he brings the same message through multiple people. This was the case here.

The book of Ezra does not give us the prophesy to the Jews. Are you curious about what this word to them was. After 15+ years of the temple rebuilding not happening, what was said that they began that work again?

Let’s take a look at what Haggai said. Turn with me to Haggai chapter 1. The book of Haggai is near the end of the Old Testament. If you find the Gospels, the short book of Haggai is just 3 books back from Matthew.

Haggai 1:1–2 NIV

1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’ ”

God acknowledges what “these people” are saying. There is a very common phrase that people say to me. Not just one person, but several come to me and start a conversation with: “There are these people and this is what they are saying.” Often times it is a criticism or complaint.

My response to when someone tells me about what someone else is saying is always the same. Please tell those people to come and talk to me about this. I would love to hear what they have to say directly from them.

So, if you are a person who seeks out someone to talk to about someone else, let me encourage you to just go to that person direct. Especially if it is me or another leader in the church.

God uses this as a way to get their attention. This is a convicting opening sentence. “People are saying the time has not yet come…but what do I say about this?” Here is what God says:

Haggai 1:3–6 NIV

3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” 5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

You’ve been living in nice homes in the city while neglecting to rebuild the temple. All the while, you are unsatisfied with where you are. You are not fulfilling your destiny in coming back to Jerusalem. Verse 5 says to “Give careful thought to your ways.”

That is a word for you today. “Give careful thought to your ways.”

Are we on track with what God wants to do in and through us? “Give careful thought to your ways.”

Is there a level of dissatisfaction with what’s happening in our lives? “Give careful thought to your ways.”

Does it feel like we are on a treadmill that just keeps increasing in incline and speed and we just can’t keep up anymore? “Give careful thought to your ways.”

It’s not always our ways that are causing our dissatisfaction, and angst, but it never hurts to “Give careful thought to your ways.”

When we evaluate our ways, God will speak into those thoughts and offer a word of correction, a word of discipline.

In order to “Give careful thought to my ways,” I have to slow down long enough for the thoughts to manifest, to even ask the question.

Let’s continue…verse 7...

Haggai 1:7–11 NIV

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Ouch. God has just told them that they have missed out on blessing because they have ignored their purpose. I want to reiterate, just because life is hard, that doesn’t mean you are ignoring your purpose. The book of Acts is full of accounts where the disciples where beaten and in prison for walking out their purpose.

It doesn’t hurt to do again what verse 7 says...“Give careful thought to your ways.” When we do so honestly with the Lord, He will reveal the nature of our troubles. If our ways need to change, He’ll reveal that to us if we approach our ways with humility. And if our troubles are a trial we need to endure, then we ask for strength as we endure it.

Here is the people’s response to the prophetic word:

Haggai 1:12–15 NIV

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius,

The Lord stirred up His people. They came to Him with ready hearts and the Lord stirred them up and they began the work once again to rebuild the temple.

This wasn’t the end though. Their opposition did not just go away…let’s head back to Ezra 5, verse 3

Ezra 5:3–4 NIV

3 At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates went to them and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and to finish it?” 4 They also asked, “What are the names of those who are constructing this building?”

Again this work was questioned by the appointed leader, the governor. As a result of the questioning and the answers he got, He sent a letter to King Darius that is the rest of chapter 5 and it lays out all the facts. This one letter is very different from the previous letter in chapter 4. Here is how it ends:

Ezra 5:17 NIV

17 Now if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

The last time a letter was sent asking what to do, they got shut down. They restarted the building process in response to a word from the Lord. They had no idea how the king would react, how this would be accomplished since it had been so long since king Cyrus had sent them home to rebuild.

The key is that they not only heard the word from the Lord and received it, but they also acted. They began construction again right away. Let’s look at the response from King Darius in chapter 6…starting in verse 6...

Ezra 6:6–12 NIV

6 Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. 7 Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site. 8 Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. 9 Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, 10 so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons. 11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. 12 May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem. I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

Bam. That’s how you get something done. That’s how you get on the side of the Lord.

Remember, they had no guarantee on how the people around them would react. The promise was simply:

Haggai 1:13 NIV

13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.

This message is for us as well. He is with us. He is with you and He is with me. We can have confidence knowing that if the Lord is asking something of us, He doesn’t plan to leave us to our own wits, He plans to be with us every step of the way.

Here is the payoff…look what happens as a result of the Lord going ahead of them:

Ezra 6:13–18 NIV

13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. 14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. 16 Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

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