Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20101010.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ezra: Following God For Reconstruction After Group Defeat
Part VIII: Overcoming Human Foes To God's Calling For Us
(Ezra 4:4-6:22)
  1. Introduction
    1. We believers in Christ may understand the importance of obeying the Lord in order to be blessed, but our resolve to heed Him can be greatly weakened if such obedience is opposed by difficult people.
    2. Nevertheless, even such opposition is to be countered for blessing, and Ezra 4:4-6:22 shows us the way:
  2. Overcoming Human Foes To God's Calling For Us, Ezra 4:4-6:22.
    1. We learned in our previous lesson that the ungodly Samaritans tried to hinder the returned exiles temple reconstruction effort by infiltrating their group in order to sabotage the work effort, Ezra 4:1-2.
    2. Israel's leaders under Zerubbabel and Jeshua countered the Samaritans, claiming the edict of emperor Cyrus of Persia dictated that they alone would build the temple without Samaritan involvement, Ezra 4:3.
    3. In response, these foes of Israel sent officials to the Persian emperor to try to stop the reconstruction of the temple all during the reign of Cyrus until the rise of king Darius, Ezra 4:4-5.
    4. These enemies of Israel succeeded in getting Ahasuerus (Xerxes I; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Ez. 4:6) to stop the work: they gave him a slanderous report, suggesting the Hebrews were as rebellious toward him as their Hebrew forefathers had been to the Assyrian and Babylonian rulers preceding the Persians, implying Ahasuerus should stop the work to squelch a potential Hebrew rebellion, Ezra 4:6-16.
    5. Ahasuerus studied his records and verified the rebellion of the Hebrew forefathers, and thus assumed the current generation of Jews was rebellious, and so ruled for a stop to the temple reconstruction effort, Ezra 4:17-21, 22. This in part motivated the Hebrews to stop this rebuilding of the temple, Ezra 4:23-24.
    6. On the other hand, there were internal SPIRITUAL problems among the Hebrews themselves that had led to this cessation of work, so God addressed them by the ministries of prophets Haggai and Zechariah:
      1. Ezra 5:1 reveals God raised up Haggai and Zechariah to prophesy to the Hebrews to direct them to continue their initial temple reconstruction effort.
      2. The returning Hebrews had shifted their focus from rebuilding the temple to lavishly decorating their homes, a materialistic sin that had also spawned the sin of cheating in their financial dealings, so God had disciplined them with financial hardship, Haggai 1:1-6 with Zechariah 5:1-4.
      3. Also, the new temple seemed so insignificant to many onlookers compared to Solomon's past temple, so the people's worldly values had led them to be de-motivated in the work, Hag. 2:1-3; Zech. 4:7-10.
      4. Then, the failure of the people to keep obeying God by working had spread an attitude of disobedience that hurt the nation's whole spiritual character, Haggai 2:10-14; Ibid., ftn. to Hag. 2:13; Zech. 7:1-14.
      5. Accordingly, Haggai and Zechariah rebuked and encouraged the people to repent of their materialism, worldliness and disobedient attitude to be blessed while they returned to the temple work, Ez. 5:2 et al.
    7. In response, the Persian governor, Tatnai, and his associates confronted the Hebrews for disobeying the ruling of Ahasuerus to cease working on the temple, Ezra 5:3; Ibid., ftn. to Ezra 5:3-4.
    8. However, GOD was with these obedient Hebrews, encouraging them not to be intimidated, so they kept on building in obedience to God and in violation of the will of the governor and his associates, Ezra 5:5a.
    9. Eventually, governor Tatnai sent a letter to king Darias, complaining the Jews told him that though their forefathers had rebelled against Persia's predecessors, they had an edict from Cyrus to rebuild the temple. Tatnai asked king Darius to verify these claims in his own records, and to give him a ruling, Ezra 5:6-17.
    10. Darius verified Cyrus' edict from his records, and supported it! He directed Tatnai and his associate governors to support the temple work out of their own regional tax revenues or be punished, Ezra 6:1-12! Israel's foes obeyed, and the temple was finished under the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah, Ez . 6:13-15!
Lesson: Though foes helped stop their God-assigned work, part of the stoppage cause was sin in God's people! When that was handled, God motivated His people and checked their foes so they could work!

Application: If we face formidable foes who oppose our fulfilling God's assignment, we must focus on our own walk with God and let Him embolden us and handle our foes that we might fulfill His calling!