That's good singing tonight,
two excellent hymns. Sunshine in my soul and he had
it in my soul. Robert Hawker said, Do you know
why God put Moses in the cleft of the rock? Because Moses could
not put himself in the cleft of the rock. If you will, let's
open our Bibles this evening once again to Ezra. Chapter 6, Ezra chapter 6, and let's begin
our reading in verse 14 through the end of this chapter. And
the elders of the Jews built it and they prospered through
the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son
of Iddo. And they built it and finished
it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according
to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of
Persia. And this house was finished on
the third day of the month Adar. which was in the sixth year of
the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the
priest and the Levites and the rest of the children of the captivity
kept the dedication of this house of God with joy and offered at
the dedication of this house of God and a hundred bullocks,
200 rams, 400 lambs, and for a sin offering for all Israel
12 he goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the priest in their
divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service
of God, which is at Jerusalem as it is written in the book
of Moses. And the children of the captivity
kept the Passover upon the 14th day of the first month. For the
priest and the Levites were purified together All of them were pure
and killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity
and for their brethren, the priest and for themselves. And the children
of Israel, which were come again out of captivity and all such
as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the
heathen of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel did eat and
kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy. For
the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king
of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the
house of God, the God of Israel. If you will, the words in verse
14, they prospered, that is in building the temple, they prospered
through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the
son of Edo. Those words have taken us to
those two prophecies, the prophecy of Haggai and Zechariah, and
we've studied from them now for several weeks. And we have looked
at seven of the nine visions which God gave Zechariah and
how that they were given to encourage the Jews. They prospered through
the prophesying. They prospered through the messages
of these two prophets that they were given from God. They saw
how they were given, we saw rather how they were given to encourage
the Jews to build with all of the discouragements that they
met with in building the house of the Lord. Yet they had encouragement
from the prophesying of these two prophets. The governor, Zerubbabel,
who led them back out of captivity, He laid the foundation of the
house of the Lord and he brought forth, as the prophecy had declared,
he brought forth the headstone shouting, grace, grace unto it. In other words, from the beginning
to the end, the building of the house of the Lord, it was all
by the grace of God, by the grace of the Lord. Now I want to look
at these verses that I've read here in Ezra tonight, and I want
to divide them into three divisions. First, The building of the temple
of the Lord was finished. Notice that in verse 15. And this house was finished.
Well, both verses 14 and 15. And the elders of the Jews built
it, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the
prophet and Zechariah the son of Idu. And they built it and
finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel.
and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius. And this
house was finished on the third day of the month, Adar. The building of the temple of
the Lord was finished. And I want to bring out four
things about this in those two verses. First of all, it was
finished, the building of the temple of the Lord, it was finished,
you notice first, according to the commandment of the God of
Israel. It was finished. The temple was
rebuilt. It was finished. The building
of the temple was finished according to the commandment of the God
of Israel. And I just asked us this question
tonight. Can there ever be any doubt?
Can there ever be any question that God Almighty's command of
purpose will not be done? It was finished according to
the commandment of the Lord God of Israel. In other words, this
was his commandment. This was his purpose, that this
temple be finished. Can there be anything that will
hinder, that will keep the temple from being built? Remember what
Nebuchadnezzar said when God taught him of his sovereignty? He said, none. None can stay
his hand. No one can stay the hand of the
Lord God Almighty. And the temple was finished according
to the commandment of the Lord God of Israel. Look with me in
Isaiah, just a moment, Isaiah chapter 46. Just to refresh our
memories of this truth, the temple The point I want to make is,
first of all, the temple was finished. And it was finished
according to the commandment of the Lord God of Israel. This
was His purpose. This was His command. And nothing
can stay His hand. Nothing can keep His purpose
from being accomplished because He is God. God Almighty. Not some want to be God, but
the true and living, sovereign God that He is, that He reveals
Himself to be here in the Word of God. Isaiah chapter 46 and
verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God. There's none else. I am God. And there's none like me, declaring
the end from the beginning. Remember the Scripture tells
us in Acts chapter 15, known unto the Lord are all his works
from the beginning of the world. From the beginning of the world.
God never learns anything. He's never taken by surprise. His purpose, they finished it. They finished building the temple
according to the commandment of the Lord God. could hinder
his work, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient
times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. And it was his pleasure
that that temple be built in Jerusalem. and finished on the
very day that we read it was finished. God's purpose. He does all his pleasure. And notice, calling a ravenous
bird from the east. That's Cyrus, isn't it? A ravenous
bird from the east. The man that executeth my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. So back in our text here in Ezra
chapter six, first of all, it was finished. The temple was
finished according to the commandment of the God of Israel. Now notice
the second thing. It was finished according to
the commandment of Cyrus and Darius. Verse 14 again. and they built it and finished
it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according
to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and of Artaxerxes, king
of Persia. Now I believe that title, Artaxerxes,
was like Pharaoh. In Egypt, all of the rulers were
named Pharaoh. And I believe the same is true
for the rulers of the kingdom of Persia or Derserxes. And what we have here is the
commandment of Cyrus. First of all, it was finished
according to the commandment of Cyrus, and it was finished
according to the commandment of Darius. Some read these last
words the commandment of Cyrus, the commandment of Darius, that
is, Artaxerxes, king of Persia. We're all familiar with the proverb
which tells us that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord,
and as the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. This work, this temple, was finished
First of all, according to the commandment of the God of Israel. Second, according to the commandment
of these two Persian monarchs. First of all, Cyrus, and we saw
that in chapter one of Ezra. And then later we see, I believe
it is in this sixth chapter, the commandment of Darius. When the enemies of the Jews,
remember, they sent word to try to hinder, to try to get the
king to put a stop to the building of the temple. And search was
made in the rolls, in the books, and they found that that commandment
of Cyrus, sure enough, had been given. And according to the law
of the Medes and the Persians, you remember, When a commandment,
when a law was made, it could not be changed. That's the reason Daniel ended
up in the lion's den, isn't it? The king loved Daniel, respected
Daniel, but he could not change that law that he had been tricked
into passing or executing. And so Daniel went into the lion's
den because he prayed. He asked something of someone
other than King Darius. But the point I'm making here
is the temple was finished according not only to the commandment of
the God of Israel, but also according to the commandment of Cyrus and
Darius. Here's a third thing. It was
finished through the labor of the Jews building. Verse 14,
and the elders of the Jews builded. The Lord's purpose was accomplished
through the sweat and through the hard work of the men of Israel. Look with me in Psalm 127 and
verse 1. Maybe you're familiar with this
text, but let's look over here. Psalm 127 and verse 1. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Now the Lord doesn't for
the foundation. The Lord doesn't put up the framework. Oh no, men do that. But the point is, unless God
blesses their work, it's not going to be built. It's not going
to be accomplished. It's going to come to nothing.
Those who build the house labor, yes. But apart from God's purpose
and God's blessing, their labor would only and always be in vain. The same thing about keeping
the city. Watchman. Except the Lord keep
the city. The watchman waketh but in vain. That doesn't teach that we shouldn't
have policemen, that we shouldn't have people who keep us safe. But without God's blessing upon
these people that do that job, it's all in vain. It all comes
back to God, doesn't it? It all comes back to God. Just
as we are seeing here, they finished the temple, yes. They finished
it first according to the commandment of the God of Israel. They finished
it second according to the commandment of these two kings. They finished
it thirdly according to the labor, the work of those who built it,
the Jews who built it on the temple. And then notice this
fourth thing here. It was finished through the prophesying
of Hagia and Zechariah. It all began, now listen, it
all began and it all depended upon God's commandment, upon
God's purpose. But the end included the means. The end. What do I mean by the
end? The temple was finished. That
was the end. God purposed that. But God's
purpose of finishing, of building the temple, also included the
means, the commandments of these kings. the labor of the Jews,
the preaching, the prophesying of these two prophets that are
named. Years ago, I was confronted a couple of
times with people saying, well, you believe people will be saved
no matter what. And my response was, when I had
time to think about it, save no matter what. Do you mean save
if Christ did not die? I don't believe that. I believe
that Christ had to die, that there had to be a sacrifice,
an atonement. Save no matter what, whether
people hear the gospel or do not hear the gospel. How can
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how can they
hear without a preacher? Fatalism. What we believe is
not fatalism, my friends. We believe the same God who ordained
the end, just like in this case. He ordained that that temple
be built, the work be finished, but He also ordained the means
to the end. And the same thing is true of
the saving of God's chosen people. There had to be a sacrifice offered
that satisfied the justice of God. There had to be a righteousness
that could be imputed to justify for those that God had chosen
to be saved. So that's my first point, the
building of the temple of the Lord was finished. Second, the
dedication of the temple of the Lord was with joy. Notice here
in 16 through 18, and the children of Israel, the priest and the
Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept
the dedication of this house of God with joy. offered at the
dedication of this house of God and 100 bullocks, 200 rams, 400
lambs, and for a sin offering for all Israel, 12 he goats,
according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set
the priest in their divisions and the Levites in their courses
for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written
in the book of Moses. The dedication of the temple
of the Lord was with joy." Now, three things. First of all, the dedication of the temple
was with joy or was with gladness. You remember we saw this many
months ago now, I believe, but when they first laid the foundation
When they first laid the foundation, they came back out of captivity
and they laid the foundation of this temple that was now finished.
You remember at that time, there was both joy and sorrow. There
was both shouting and weeping. But we did not read of any weeping
this time. We do not weep or read of any
sorrow this time. That was 20 years before. the time that we're reading about
now. 20 years earlier, when the foundation
had been laid, there was both joy and sorrow. But we must know
that those who expressed sorrow at that time, they were people,
they were men, who had seen the first temple. And I assume by
now, 20 years later, actually, 90 years, right, since that temple
had been destroyed. They're all gone. They've all
died off. And so those who are alive at
this time, they dedicate this temple with joy. And I know one
reason they dedicated it with joy is because they had worked
with their hands. They had sacrificed, no doubt.
They had done what they could to build this temple. And now
it's finished! What joy! What gladness was no
doubt in the hearts of the people when they met together for a
dedication service. And I believe they dedicated
this temple or they expressed their joy in several ways. First of all was singing. You
know, singing is just a part of our worship in which we express
our joy, isn't it? The scripture says the joy of
the Lord is your strength. No doubt they dedicated the temple
with joy, with singing, maybe even with dancing. I'm not going
to go there. But I know in the Psalms, And
I know that David the psalmist, he danced. He danced before that
Ark of the Covenant, didn't he? When they were bringing it to
Jerusalem, or bringing it into the city of David. No doubt their
joy was expressed by singing, by dancing, by feasting. I'm sure they had a big layout
spread on that particular day. And no doubt their joy was expressed
by giving of gifts. That's one way joy is also expressed,
isn't it? By sending gifts or giving gifts
unto others. Here's the second thing. The
temple was not only dedicated with joy, it was dedicated with
blood sacrifices. Verse 17. and offered at the
dedication of the house of God and 100 bullocks, 200 rams, 400
lambs, and for a sin offering, 12 he goats. The temple was dedicated with
joy. The temple was dedicated with
blood sacrifices. The bullocks, the rams, the lambs
that we read of here, they would serve for burn offerings, for
peace offerings, and for thank offerings, giving of thanks that
the work the building of the temple, it was finished. But
then there was the sin offering. 12 he goats, 12 tribes of Israel,
one goat for each tribe, there was the sin offering. And you
cannot help, when you read that verse, you cannot help but noticing
the sin offering is singular. The sin offering, look there
in verse 17. and for a sin offering. Not for
sin offerings. No, no. For a sin offering. This points us, of course, to
the Lamb of God. There's one sacrifice for sin. One sacrifice that puts away
sin. Once in the end of the world,
Hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself? There's one sin offering. Though
they used 12 egos, were offered their first sin offering. And
number three, the temple was dedicated according to the book
of God. What do I mean by that? The temple
was dedicated according to the law of God, according to the
book of God, according to the writings of Moses. They set the
priest, notice verse 18, they set the priest in their divisions. There was an order, there was
a division that was laid out in the law of God for the service
in the temple. And so they followed the word
of God. They followed the law of God. The temple service or order was
according to God's written word. And you and I, the lesson for
us is we must never forget that the written word of God is the
rule of our faith. That is our doctrine. but it's
also the rule of our practice. What are we to believe? We'll
find it here in this book. How are we to live? We'll find
it here in this book, just like they found the order for the
temple. Here's the third point of the
message. The feast of Passover and unleavened
bread were also kept with joy. We see that in verses 19 through
22. The feast of Passover and unleavened
bread were also kept with joy. Four things. Number one, these
feasts were kept at the appointed time, verse 19. And the children
of the captivity kept the Passover upon the 14th day of the first
month. That was according to God's word. Look back with me to Exodus 12.
This is the first Passover, Exodus 12. You know, people today, I'm talking
about religious people and so-called conservative churches. They just
feel free to bring in anything and everything that feels good
into the worship service. I mean, if it looks good, if
it feels good, no matter if it's taught in the Word of God, don't
worry about that. How foolish, how sinful. Our worship must be according
to the Word of God. They kept the Passover on the
very day of the first month, just as God had ordained and
had proclaimed. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 1
and 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto
you the beginning of months. That's the first month, isn't
it? The beginning of months. The first month. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Then down to verse 6. They take the lamb on the 10th
day and shut him up and now notice and you shall keep it up until
the 14th day of the same month What month was that the first
month what day was that the 14th day of the month? Notice back
in our text Verse 19, and the children of
the captivity, those who had returned out of captivity, kept
the Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. Number two, again, we see this
single character of the Passover here in verse 20. For the priest
and the Levites were purified together. All of them were pure
and killed. The Passover. The Passover. Just like there
in Exodus chapter 12. How many lambs were slain? There
had to be a lamb for each house. How many lambs were slain? And
yet, it's spoken of in the singular. Why? Because there's only one
Lamb of God. And the Passover was a picture
of the Lamb of God. In fact, the Apostle Paul, he
wrote, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. You know,
the Passover was a memorial service. Just like the Lord's Supper,
is a memorial supper. Our Lord said, do this in memory
of me. And God gave the nation of Israel
that memorial service, a Passover service. What were they to remember? Think about this. It was a memorial
service. What were the Israelites to remember
when they observed the Passover year after year after year, if
they obeyed God's commands? Every year they were to obey
it. What were they to remember? I think, first of all, they remembered
that redemption is by blood. We never get away from this,
do we? We never want to get away from this. God said, I have given you the
blood as an atonement, as a sacrifice. For without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. Every year they observe the Passover,
they remember redemption is by blood. Also, they would remember
it was blood that secured our liberty. While we were captives,
we were slaves in Egypt. We had hard taskmasters. Praise God by the blood of the
Lamb. We were set free. We were set
free. And there's only one thing that
sets a sinner free from the guilt of his sin, from the punishment
of his sin, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ. And then they
would remember a third thing. I'm sure other things, but I
thought of these three. they would remember it was the
blood that started our march toward Canaan. Started our march
toward Canaan. Now, it's the blood, when the
blood is sprinkled upon the heart of a sinner, that's when we began
our march toward heaven, right? Towards the Canaan land, the
land of milk and honey. Notice here in Ezra chapter 6,
a third thing. Look at those who ate the Passover. In verse 21, the children of
Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such
as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the
heathen of the land. So who ate the Passover? The children of Israel, some
from each of the twelve tribes. But also we see that Gentiles,
Gentiles who had separated themselves unto them, that is, unto the
Israelites, They had turned their back on idolatry, that's what
this filthiness stands for here, and they had come to believe
and to worship in the only true God, the God of Israel. I thought these that are mentioned
here, the words that Ruth spoke to Naomi became their words. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest, I will die,
and there be buried. They were called proselytes of
righteousness, Gentile believers. There were Gentiles who were
saved in the Old Testament. We know that, and here we see
an illustration of that. And then let me close with this. These feasts were kept with joy.
The Lord made them joyful. He made them joyful. They didn't
work it up. It wasn't some manufactured joy. Some cheerleader got them stirred
up so that It looked like they were filled with joy. No, they
were joyful because the Lord had made them joyful. The temple
was finished and its service was once again instituted according
to the word of the Lord and they were filled with joy. Turn to
one other place in closing. Look with me in Psalm 137. Now remember where they had been
captives. Babylon. Babylon. They've come back out of 70 years
captivity in Babylon. This psalm tells us, by the rivers
of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept. They were not joyful
there. They were captives. I sat down
by the rivers of Babylon when they remembered Zion, the church
of God, the Israel of God. We hanged our harps upon the
willows in the midst thereof. For they that carried us away
captive required of us a song. They made sport of them. Sing
us, sing us one of those wonderful songs, one of those beautiful
songs that you sang. and the temple. You call yourselves
the people of God, now sing us one of those beautiful hymns,
those beautiful psalms. No, they wasted us, they that
wasted us required of us mercy, saying sing us one of the songs
of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? But you see now in our text,
They're back in their land. The temple is finished, and they
were made glad. The Lord made them glad. I know they could sing now. They
could sing the Psalms, the hymns of Zion now. They couldn't sing
them in a strange land, but they could now. They were home, and
the temple was rebuilt, and the worship reestablished there.
May the Lord bless His word to all of us here tonight.