Okay, now we're looking at Ezra
this evening, continuing in our study in the book of Ezra. Tonight,
we're looking at chapter five. Now, whenever I start looking
over a portion of Scripture, one of the things that I always
am on the lookout for is a title to the message. You know my manner
in the way I present and introduce. I always try to find a title
for the message. Well, what caught my eye as I
was considering these Scriptures and trying to consider a title
was what is found in verse 5. But the eye of their God was
upon the elders of the Jews that they could not cause them to
cease. The eye of their God. Now, does God have an eye? Well,
not a physical eye like we have, but he has all-knowing eyes,
the eyes of the Lord, where the eye of their God was upon them. Now, to a believer, that's a
comfort. To the enemies of God, that's
a danger. What a comfort that is to every
believer The Almighty God always has His eye of omniscience upon
us. Now what does omniscience mean?
God knows everything. He knows everything. Known unto
God are all His works from the beginning. His eye of care and
concern are upon His people. Notice, upon their God, the eye
of their God was upon them, his people. Our Lord, when he arose
from the dead and gave his final instructions to his apostles,
he said, I have all power in heaven and earth. Go and preach
the gospel to everyone. And he said, and lo, I'm with
you always. His eye was always on them. Wherever
they went, He went. He went with them. Now I found,
if you'll notice there in the marginal reference on verse five,
you see the reference there, Psalm 33, 18, you see that? Those
are good helps. But don't turn, let me just read
it to you. The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon
them that hope in His mercy to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine. The eye of the Lord is upon those
who believe Him, those who fear Him, and it's a reverential fear
of love. The eye of the Lord is upon them,
those that hope in His mercy to deliver their soul from death.
And then off of that reference, I found this reference in Psalm
34. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. Now, who
are the righteous? Those in Christ. And His ears
are open unto their cry. I often think of that Psalm 139,
where David talks about the Lord knows all about me. My down-sitting,
my uprising, he said, lo, there's not a word in my heart, but O
Lord, you know it all together. Thou hast set me behind and before,
that knowledge is too wonderful for me. Aren't you glad the eye
of the Lord is upon us always? When you're awake, when you're
asleep, when you're at work, when you're at home, the eye
of the Lord is always upon his people. Now, last time we left
the temple work in our last message at a full stop. It says in Ezra
4 verse 24, then ceased the work of the house, which is at Jerusalem,
and so it ceased. Remember, they were forced to
stop working. Some say between the end of that
chapter to where the work began again in Ezra chapter five verse
one, some of the commentators say that it was 10 to 15 years
the work was stopped. The people continued working
on their personal houses of which we read in Haggai or Haggai chapter
one, the Lord complained to the people, well, you keep building
your houses. You have put a ceiling in your
house, but now my house, it's still in ruin. And you go about
your own business and not seeking to do the business of the Lord.
Now we know it was hindered, the work of the temple was hindered
by the wickedness of the Samaritans. Remember in chapter 4 verse 5,
if you want to look back over there, they hired counselors
against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus. They hired people to frustrate
them and to put a stop to the work. But, as I pointed out last
time, it being God's work, it shall be revived, and here we
have in this chapter the account of it being done. I like what
the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1, being confident of this very
thing, being confident of this very thing, God who hath begun
a good work in you, He will get it done. But the work of the
Lord shall be completed by the will and power of God, and it
was. It was. Turn to chapter 6, four
years later. in chapter 6 verse 14, And the
elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying
of Haggai and Zechariah the son of Adu. And they builded and
finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel,
according to the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes,
king of Persia, all the different pagan kings, all joined in. And the house was finished on
the third day of the month, Adar, which was the sixth year in the
reign of Darius the king. So, what God starts, He finishes. It will be completed. Now, let's
look back at verses 1 and 2. Then the prophets Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah the
son of Adu prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem
in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them Then rose up Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, to begin
to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. And with them
were the prophets of God." Now, I think this is interesting.
Helping them. The prophets of God. Did they
actually do the physical labor and the work? I don't know. But
I kind of think they had a hand in it somehow. Maybe they were
good supervisors, watching over the building, making sure that
the work was done. Then that caught my attention,
the prophets of the Lord preached to the Jews. Now, it is a good
sign that God has mercy in store for a people when he raises up
and sends a messenger of God with the word of the Lord. That's
a good sign. When the Lord intends to show
mercy to a people, he raises up a prophet and sends that prophet
to the people. He said, my word will go forth
and it will accomplish my purpose and it will prosper where into
I send it. The temple of God The temple
of God, especially spiritually speaking, the building up of
the kingdom of God is not done with secular, earthly, and worldly
force, but rather through the preaching of the word of the
Lord, which is the power of God unto salvation. Remember Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the
power of God unto salvation. And then the Apostle Paul writes
this in 2 Corinthians 4. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. I found this scripture over in
the book of Zechariah. Now don't turn, let me just read
it for you. Zechariah was the other prophet, and here's what
he said. In Zechariah chapter four, verse
six. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel,
saying, not by might nor by power, nor by power, but by my Spirit,
saith the Lord." You see, this spiritual kingdom is not done
with worldly force, but rather by the power of God, the Word
of the Lord. That's why we don't use carnal
things, worldly things, but these things that God has ordained,
the preaching of the gospel. I had a phone call today, and
most of the phone calls I get on my local number here usually
are numbers that are crazy. I've got to where I don't even
pick the phone up anymore because it's just, most of it is scam
phone calls. But I looked at the ID and it
was a local number from over here in town. Well, I picked
it up and answered it. And he said, this is so-and-so from
the Expo Center. He said, we're going to have
a big, we're going to have big singing, big singing. We're going
to have a lot of singing. It's called the Church Night
Out or the Church Power Night Out or something. And he said,
I'm just calling to let you know that we want to invite everybody
and let all the churches know we're going to have big singing.
I asked him, I said, what about preaching? I said, you're not
going to have any preaching? I said, God doesn't build the
kingdom of God through singing, preaching, preaching. I said,
oh, did you invite me or did you call to schedule me to preach
in that meeting over there? Is that what you called me for?
And he said, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, I called you
so you'd know about the singers. Okay, thank you. You see, they're
not interested in preaching, it's entertainment. It's entertainment
what they're interested in. I'm interested in what God has
to say, aren't you? They prophesied unto the Jews,
and they did so, it says there, in the name of the God of Israel. In the name of the God of Israel
who sent them. Now, when we go preaching the
gospel, we do so being sent of God. And we go with His message,
don't we? We go with His message. I mean,
we don't go and just make up things. We go with His message. He gave those 70 men very plain
instruction, go and declare the kingdom of God. Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul said, I
charge you before God. Preach the word. Preach the word.
Preach the word. Find Isaiah 52. All of those
sent of God. Now listen to me. I'm not stretching
this. Find Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52. All those sent of God have the
same message. Every preacher sent of God has
the same message. Here it is, Isaiah 52, 7. How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publish peace, that bringeth good tidings of
good, that publish salvation. We're preaching Christ. That
saith unto Zion, thy God reigns. You see, those who are sent of
God with God's message, they all preach the same thing. God
is on the throne, God is almighty, God is sovereign. They preached
that Christ is all in salvation and they preached that salvation
is of the Lord. The Apostle Paul put it this
way, we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. Now,
I like what Charles Spurgeon, a famous preacher in England,
he had a grandfather who was also a preacher. And Charles
Spurgeon was scheduled to preach a meeting in a certain place
and somehow he was delayed or hindered. And so they asked his
grandfather, he was there in the meeting, if he would substitute
and start preaching until his grandson, Charles Spurgeon, showed
up. Well, the old man got up and took his text and started
preaching, and I don't know how long he preached, but yonder
there, the door came open and he saw his grandson, Charles
Spurgeon, come in. And he said, oh, I'm glad to
see my grandson here. He said, now, he's a much better
preacher, but he can't preach a better gospel. And that's the
way we go. There are many who are better
preachers, but they cannot preach a better gospel because it's
just one message. I like what Haggai says over
there in Haggai 1.13, said, these are the Lord's messengers in
the Lord's message. We have the Lord's message. We
don't compromise it, change it, alter it. We just declare what
God has already said. Now, that being so, leads us
to verse 2. Then, I guess we could entitle
the message, Then and Then, couldn't we? Then rose up Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedec, and they
began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem. And with
them were the prophets of God helping them. Now, what stirred
them up? What stirred them up to get back
to the Lord? Bidding. Preaching. Preaching. Thus saith the Lord. Then rose
up Zerubbabel and Joshua to begin to build the house of the Lord.
And the prophets of God, they were right there. They were right
there every day. I don't know how many bricks
they laid or how many nails they put in the wood, but they were
right there watching the work of the Lord. And don't you know
that they were prophesying and preaching while the men were
working? I just know they were. It says
in Haggai 1.14, the Lord stirred them up through the prophets
of God. Stirred them up. That's what
we need. We need to be stirred up. How
good and pleasant it still is today to see the Lord's people
stirred up by the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Stirred up, stirred up. That's
generally, generally I'm saying, that's generally how the Lord
does it and the preaching of the gospel is designed to that
end, to stir us up. I thought of this example. You
remember the two men on the road to Emmaus? And the Lord Jesus
Christ declared the gospel unto them. And when the Lord departed from
them, they said, did not our heart burn within us while he
talked to us by the way, while he opened unto us the scriptures? That's what stirs us up. It's
not that singing, all them quartets and that whoop-dee-doo. They're
going to have a big whoop-dee-doo over there. You just might as
well go hear a rock concert. You just might as well go hear
a hard metal band or Conway Twitty or somebody else. It's not going
to do anything but just pump up the flesh. That's all it's
going to do. Preaching. Preaching. When I told that man
on the phone, I'm going to come over there and preach the meeting.
Oh, no, you're not. We don't want any preaching.
Not over here. Now, I knew he wasn't calling,
but I wanted to make a point with him. The Lord uses preaching,
not singing. He didn't tell the apostles to
go out into all the world and sing them in, did he? He had
to go preach the gospel. Now, don't get me wrong, I love
singing old hymns, and David wrote many psalms, and we sing
unto the Lord a new song of redemption, worthy is the Lamb. But again,
when we sing, it's all about him, isn't it? and we do so in
a way that's reverent. This, what they call gospel singing
anymore is no different. I mean the beat of it, the sound
of it, if you just change a few words, I mean it's Led Zeppelin
all over again. Who is Led Zeppelin? I don't
know. Some kind of rock and roll guy or something. It's just nonsense what it is.
Now, verse 3, 4 and 5, back in Ezra chapter 5, at that time
came to them Tatni, the governor on this side of the river, and
Shethar-Bodni, and their companions, and said unto them, Who commanded
you to build this house? Now again, When the people of
God start doing the work of God, they run into opposition. Who
commanded you to build this house and to make this wall, to build
up this wall? And they said to them, what are
the names? They said unto us after this
manner, what are the names of the men that make up this building?
I mean, we want your name. We're going to report you to
the king. Again, as soon as their hearts
were stirred up by the Spirit of God through the prophets of
God, through the work of the Lord, an evil spirit stirred
up the enemies of God against it. Who commanded you to build
this house? What are your names? And so it
goes today, when the gospel is clearly and plainly declared,
when the Lord Jesus Christ is lifted up, and His atonement
declared, that it's a complete and definite atonement for His
people. Successful, I love that word.
his atonement successful. All for whom he died, he justified. Always when the gospel is clearly
declared, the enemies of the gospel will always clamor and
rage, even so much You remember Stephen when he preached the
gospel there in the book of Acts chapter seven, that they ran
on him and gnashed on him with their teeth like a pack of wild
dogs. And then after they were done
gnashing on him with their teeth, they picked up rocks and stoned
him to death. What did Stephen do? He preached
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't tell me people
don't hate the gospel. Don't tell me people don't hate
God. Yes, they do. Satan never rages over the preaching
of morality for righteousness. Never. He likes people being
more moral and to cause them to trust their morality for salvation. But the moment you preach righteousness,
imputed through Christ alone, you've got a battle on your hands.
I guarantee you if I went over to that singing group, that over
there at the expo center, and preached the gospel of the grace
of God, they'd run me out of that place. I'd have to fight
my way out. I guarantee it. They'd have to
call the cops. Those religious people would gnash on me with
their teeth. They would. I'm not overstating
the matter. All hell is up in arms to disrupt
the gospel and put it to an end when the kingdom of God is preached
and declared. Satan doesn't mind people being
moral. He transformed himself into an angel of what? Light
and righteousness. Now, what's going to happen but
the eye of God, verse 5. That little word, but, isn't
that a big word, but, but, the eye of their God was upon the
elders of the Jews that they could not cause them to cease
in the work. The eye of God was upon them,
their God. It's the eye of His providence,
the eye of His eternal decrees. The eye of his purpose smiled
upon them with favor. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If it be of God, as Gamaliel
said, if it be of God, you can't overthrow it, lest you fight
against God. And that ain't going to happen.
God before us, who can be against us? Now, I found a couple of
references. I'll give them to you. Don't
turn, we'll just read them. 2 Chronicles 16, 9, about the
eye or eyes of the Lord. The eyes of the Lord run to and
fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the
behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. How is our
heart perfect toward Him? By faith. The second reference
is Zechariah 4.10. For who hath despised the day
of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zub, the rubbable. Talking about
the builder, the rubbable, the plummet. That's what you use
in building. With those seven, they are the
eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth. The eye or eyes of the Lord were
upon them. And then we know this scripture,
Revelation 5 verse 6. And I beheld and lo in the midst
of the throne and the four beasts, in the midst of the elder, stood
a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns, seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth,
his eyes upon his people. He never takes it off. I know
Mama always has an eye out for her children. I mean, there may
be a bunch of children playing out there in the yard, and she
may be kind of generally looking at all the children, but Mama's
got an eye for that child, or Daddy has an eye for that child.
How much more does God our Father have an eye on His people? I told a friend of mine recently
who I talked to, I've known for many, many years, almost 40 years,
and he was asking me how it is that
I'm here. and not out there in the mountains
still head over heels in works religion." And I said, you know
the answer. You know the answer. It's the
Lord who's made us to differ. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I'd still be out there with all my brothers and sisters,
hugging up to works religion had it not been for the grace
of God who called me out of darkness unto his marvelous light. One
old writer said this, our eye upon him by faith, looking to
Christ, and his eye upon us will keep us to our duty serving him
and encourage us when difficulties come. That's good, isn't it? I believe that was Matthew Henry,
our eye upon him by faith and his eye upon us will keep us
to our duty serving him and encourage us when difficulties come. He
said, my grace is sufficient. We are kept by the power of God.
Now here's the third thing, in verse six down to verse 10, we
have the enemies of God, Tatni, he's mentioned there, Tatni the
governor, and Shethar Bosni with his companions, are for Sakites,
which are on this side of the river, sent unto Darius the king,
and they sent a letter to him, be it known unto you, verse 8,
the king, that we went into the providence of Judea to the house
of the great God, which is built with great stones and timber
is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on and prospereth. Then asked we the elders, and
said unto them, Who commanded you to build this house, and
to make up these walls? Verse 10, We asked their names,
and to certify thee, that we might write the names of the
men that were the chief among them. Now, so they get together,
and again, like they did before, only these are different men,
sent letters to hinder the word and work of the Lord. these leaders
of the Samaritans are adversaries like those before, and again
they bring charges against Judah and Benjamin, but some way in
a milder complaint than what was brought before, but their
desire was still the same. Their aim and goal was still
the same, to stop the building of the temple of the Lord, because
that would put an end to their abundant idolatry. You remember
back before, the other enemies and adversaries said in Ezra,
Chapter 4 verse 12, they said, this is a rebellious and a bad
city. These are bad men in a bad city. But here, I kind of like what
they say. In verse 8, these enemies here
and adversaries of the gospel, they did acknowledge some things,
be it known unto the king that we went into the providence of
Judea to the house of the great God. Now that's interesting,
isn't it? To the house of the great God.
I like what they said, they called the house, the house of the great
God. There's none greater than our
God, is there? He said, I'm the Lord, there
is none else. He has great salvation for great
sinners, doesn't he? He is the great God. And at least
these enemies acknowledge that God is God. They knew the Lord
Jehovah was greater than their puny, impotent God or the gods
of Baal. Verse eight. The second part
of verse eight, they acknowledge that the work goeth fast on,
and I like this word and underscore it, it prospers. It prospers
in their hand. It prospers in their hand. We read over here, or over here
in, don't turn, let me just see if I can find it. In chapter 6 verse 14, the elders
of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying
of Haggai and Zechariah. They prospered through prophesying,
through preaching, through preaching of the gospel. Now that word
prosper is a word that we find through the scripture and is
often used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 52 verse
13, behold, my servant shall deal prudently and the word there
is prosper. He shall prosper. Pleasure of
the Lord, Isaiah 53. Surely the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. And then the prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ in Jeremiah 23, 5, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I'll raise unto David a righteous branch,
and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. Christ is our king who shall
prosper. And then they're questioned,
verse 9 and verse 10, We ask, who commanded you to build and
what are your names? And it reminded me of this scripture.
If you want to turn with me, you can, but find the book of
Acts chapter four, when Peter and John healed that cripple
in the temple. What did the Pharisees want to
know? Acts chapter four, verse seven.
And when they set them in the midst, they asked, by what power,
by what name have you done this? Then Peter filled with the Holy
Ghost said unto them, you rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man by what means he's made whole, be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead
even by him, that this man stand here before you whole. This is
a stone which was set at nought of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Now, in closing, I want to give
you these five things found in verse 11 down to verse 16. Now, when they asked that question,
Who commanded you to build? And what are the names of the
men who build? Look at verse 11. Verse 11 down through the
following scripture. And they returned us an answer. They returned us an answer. Now remember what the scriptures
teach about giving an answer? Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear to give an answer. Can you give an answer? Why? Well, salvation is of the Lord.
We have a good hope through grace. Now, I like what The answer they
give here, and there's five things. Verse 11, we are the servants
of God. We are the servants of the God
of heaven and earth. We are the servants of the most
high God. That's what he's saying. We are
the servants of God and the heaven and earth, and we're doing his
work. You see, they were not ashamed
to own who they were and what they were doing. As Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Over in Acts 16, we
find this scripture, the servants of the Most High God show us
the way of salvation. Paul called himself often the
servant of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ even takes
that title to himself, the righteous servant of the Lord. So these
men answer that question, who are you? What are you doing?
We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, the true
and mighty, almighty God. And then the second thing they
say, and builded the house that was
builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel
builded and set up. So here's the second thing they
say, we're doing nothing new. novel or different rather are
continuing in the work started by our great king of Israel Solomon
who set up the temple of God according to the will of God
the purpose of God with the plan of God and when we preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ it's nothing new or novel is
it It's the ancient gospel of God. It's the gospel of God.
It's as old as God. You see, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the eternal gospel. We read of the Lord Jesus Christ
being slain as a lamb who was sacrificed before Adam ever sinned. Before we knew anything of man's
fall, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a lamb, the remedy for the
ruin. Before there was any sin, He
was a Savior. You see, it's no new thing. We
preach the ancient gospel of the eternal God. We still declare
the one who is greater than Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold,
the greater than Solomon is here. And we preach Him, don't we?
We lift up the King. Thirdly, I like this too. Verse 12. You know what they
did? They confessed their sin. Didn't
they? But after that, our fathers provoked
the God of heaven under wrath. They didn't say, well, you know,
somebody else did it. Somebody else caused us to do
it. No, they said, we have sinned against God. We have provoked
the God of heaven under wrath. And he gave them into the hand
of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who destroyed this house
and carried the people away. It's our fault. It's our ruin. They didn't blame Nebuchadnezzar.
They blamed themselves. We have sinned against God. Isn't
that our confession? We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God, short of honoring Him. Over in chapter
9 of Ezra, there is a prayer found of Ezra. I think this is
a highlight to this book. When Ezra comes, and falls on
his knees, verse 6, verse 5, and spread his hands out before
the Lord. He said, I'm ashamed and blessed to lift up my face
to Thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head,
our trespasses grown unto the heavens. You see, there's a confession
of sin. You'll never know anything about
salvation until you know something about who you are. You see, we
deserve not salvation, but we deserve the wages of sin and
death. We deserve His wrath. If the
Lord sent me to eternal condemnation, that's exactly what I deserve. That's exactly what you deserve.
I don't want what I deserve. I want mercy. I want mercy. I want mercy. Here's the fourth
thing, but God. There's that word again. But
God, but God, look at verse 13. But in the first year of Cyrus,
king of Babylon, the same Cyrus made a decree to build this house. You remember he made a decree
to set the people free. He made a decree and commanded
them to rebuild the house. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead. And seeing that quickened us
together with Christ. Cyrus made a decree to deliver
the people, commanded them to rebuild the temple. It's only
by the grace of God that has made us to differ. What do I
have that he didn't give it to us? Who made you to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't receive? Here is the
fifth thing. The vessels also of gold and
silver, verse 14, and the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took
out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought in the
temple of Babylon, Baal, those did Cyrus king take out of the
temple of Babylon and they were delivered unto one whose name
was Shazbarzar. whom he made governor and said
unto him, take these vessels, go carry them into the temple
that is in Jerusalem, let the house of God be builted in this
place. Then came, said Bazar, laid the foundation of the house
of God which is in Jerusalem. Since that time, even till now,
hath it been building, yet not completed, not finished. The vessels in the temple of
Baal were delivered to the hands of the prince of Judah, Shadbarzai. It's the same man known as Zerubbabel,
who is the son of David, who is in the lineage of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who took those vessels, brought them back to
Jerusalem, and put them in the temple. And all that is a picture
of what Christ has done for us. He's been given vessels of mercy. That's what we are, vessels of
mercy. All that the Father has given to me, they will come to
me, and those that come to me, I will not in any way cast them
out. Our Prince of Judah carries us
all the way into the temple of God, into the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. and then takes us to glory, to
be with Him forever. Verse 16, Shazbarzar laid the
foundation of the house of God, which is in Jerusalem since the
time, even till now, it hath been building, yet is not finished. All things are in the hand of
our blessed Savior. This man is a type and picture
of Christ, our Prince, A peace Christ our King, who indeed has
all the vessels in His hand, who has laid the foundation and
who is the foundation. Remember the Lord said, I'll
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. Isaiah 28, 16, therefore thus
saith the Lord, God, behold, I lay in Zion for foundation
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
He that believeth on him shall not make haste, never be forced
out, never be ashamed. Shazbarzar laid the foundation
of the house of God. Christ is our foundation. May the Lord give us grace to
rest in him and trust him at all times. He said, come unto
me all you that labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Christ is
our peace. Christ is our salvation. He made
peace with his own blood.