The Temple and the Word

<p>THE TEMPLE AND THE WORD </p> <p>This is the continuing story of God’s people under Zerubbabel returning home to rebuild the temple that was broken down. This story also includes the later arrival of Ezra upon the scene, returning with up to two thousand more exiles, to be part of the rebuilding, but not of the temple his time, but of the rebuilding of God’s Word into the peoples’ hearts. There are parallels in this story of Israel experiencing a reset of their place as God’s people in the Earth, and the Church today experiencing a reset as a witness for God in the Earth. Their world had come to a standstill just as the world we live in today is in crisis and has also come to a standstill. However there is no standing still in God’s purpose to rebuild and restore his people and to take them forward into his purposes.</p> <p> </p> <p>God moved the hearts of secular world rulers (Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes moved history for Zerubbabel and Ezra and later Nehemiah) to allow, even encourage and help, the Jewish people to return home. He used these unlikely allies to fulfill His promises of restoration for His people.  Proverbs 21:1 – “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”</p> <p> </p> <p>It was not only in the kings but in the officers, and the mostly indifferent bureaucracy where God moved men’s’ hearts for His purpose. This is also a time for us to encounter unlikely sources of blessing. This is the wonder of God really working all things together for the good of those who are called by His name. These are times for a new kind of expectation of the unexpected. These are times to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and mercy.</p> <p>Zerubbabel had now laid the foundation of the temple. But there was no temple and there was no real city, and there were no walls – and that meant they were open to enemy attack, and they had to learn how to deal with that. Stories of the glory of Solomon's temple began to breed discouragement that they could