Our praise will keep, O Lord,
every footstool and field. Yet, beyond earth and field, That's a wonderful word. Mystic, sweet communion with
those on high. Oh, happy ones. and holy, happy ones. Aren't
they happy now? Like Virgie. She doesn't have
to listen to any more bad preaching. She's hearing the best. My, my,
my. The Lord himself will probably
preach from this book All right, this will be an immensely
profitable study through the books of Ezra and
Nehemiah. The book of Esther goes right
along with this, but we just recently studied that. We might do it again after we
get through this. It goes so well. I do hope you'll pay attention,
because you will have to. I'll lose you in the first five
minutes if you don't pay attention. This will be something of a history
lesson, Bible history. These are historical books, but
it's so much more. It is his story. His story. And it's so important
and so relevant to us now. This is not just an old history
book of the Jews, the State of Israel. This is so relevant.
I'll tell you how important this is. All of the prophets in the Bible, Nearly all of them, Jonah makes
no mention. There may be another one I'm
not aware of, but all of them, at least with one exception,
all of the Old Testament prophets were concerned with what's going
on here and made mention of it. All of them. Malachi was the
last, and he was, oh, a hundred, two hundred years after this
all took place. But all of the other prophets
were concerned with this, and either prophesied of it happening,
or were right in the middle of it, or looked back to it. All right, now what we're looking
at tonight? and this study in Israel is the captivity of the
Jews in Babylon captivity of the Jews in Babylon and the destruction
of Jerusalem and without going into detail like I said most
of the prophets warned that this would happen. Isaiah and Jeremiah
were the chief ones to warn about this, this is going to happen.
They said, they prophesied exactly what would happen. Moses, Moses
back, if you read yourself in Deuteronomy especially, Moses
prophesied of what happened here, or at least he warned the people
that if they If the Jews began to practice the abominations
of the world, if the Jews began to practice
the abominations, the religious practices, the heathen practices
of the world, Moses said, all these things are going to happen
to you. You're going to be taken captive. You're going to be—the
people, they're going to overcome you. And that's what happened. Some of the prophets lived during
this time. Daniel was in captivity. Remember? Nebuchadnezzar, Darius,
Darius. Ezekiel was in captivity. Jeremiah. You know, most of these
fellows were contemporary. They lived at the same time.
Most of them. Nearly all of them lived about
the same time. Do you know that? And this fall of Jerusalem, the
fall of Jerusalem began to happen during Solomon's reign. Do you
remember how that Solomon, his wives began to turn his heart
after other gods? Do you remember that? And do
you remember how that the kingdom of Israel was Parted then after
Solomon. Right, Ed? And two sons. It was separated then, wasn't
it? Israel and Judah. It was separated. All right? Can't have two kings. It won't
last. A kingdom divided will not stand. You've got to have one king. Just like you've got to have
one God. Right? Well, Israel did. It had two
kings. And it just deteriorated from
there on out. And then they had kings like Ahab. And he and his wife Jezebel.
And if those two characters don't apply now, who does? Huh? Everybody's more afraid
of Jezebel than they were Ahab. But that ain't relevant. And
Ahab and Jezebel were the ones that forced the people to worship
Baal. And the true worshippers of God
were in the minority. There were just a few here and
there who would not bow the knee. All right? Until finally, as prophesied,
Jerusalem was taken. Jerusalem was captured in the
year 597 BC. And then in the year 586, another
11 years or 10 years, 587, it was destroyed. The temple was
destroyed, the walls torn down, and the Jews were taken captive.
This King Nebuchadnezzar, who was the Babylonian king, King
of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, came in. Babylon just encompassed
the eastern world at that time, and they came in. You know, God
said, this is going to happen. You go after other gods, and
I'm going to turn you over. And it did. And so Nebuchadnezzar
came in, destroyed Jerusalem, leveled the temple, broke down
the walls, took the Jews to Babylon, took them captive. Many psalms
are written about the Babylonian captivity. The prophets, like
we were saying, many of them are talking and speaking of this
Babylonian captivity, especially Jeremiah. Babylon, by the way, a city. It was a great city. It lasted about 1,500 years. It was begun back 1,800 B.C. And Babylon is just about 50
miles south of Baghdad. That's interesting, isn't it?
All right. All right, what's the relevance
of all this to us? What's the relevance of all this?
Where's the gospel in all this? Like I said, this is, it's not
just a history lesson. All right, look over at Isaiah
44. Isaiah chapter 44. Where is the gospel in all this? Well, it's here, but it's hidden. Oh, is it here. And if the Lord
will open our eyes, open it up to us, honor our brother's prayer, to give us a message, we're going
to see it clearly. All right, Isaiah forty-four. Like I said now, the prophets
warned that this would happen, this captivity. And it was hidden in the prophecies. And the gospel is hidden in all
the prophets, as you know. The prophets, Christ said, bear
witness of me. Now, everything, and I've said
this before, everything that happened to the Jews, it applies
to belief. That's why God recorded what
happened to the Jews, you know? That's why they're written. What
relevance, Brother Stan, does that have to this people over
in thousands of miles over in that little eastern country who
have no, we have nothing in common. What relevance does that have
to me, a Gentile over in every way? That's why God wrote Paul
there, because it's a mirror It's a picture of believers. It's what all happened to the
Jews. Jerusalem, pictures of the church. Mount Zion, that
is the church we just spoke about. All right? And all this is a
picture of the church, the true Jerusalem. Isn't it called the
true Jerusalem? True Jews, believers are called
true Jews. All right? Like I said, if you
didn't pay attention those five minutes, you're gone. You're
a goner. You're free to leave right now if you're lost. No,
if you're lost, you stay here. But I'm trying to get your attention. All right, Isaiah prophesied
of a man named Cyrus. Look here at Isaiah 44. Look
at verse Isaiah forty-four. He prophesied. Now this fellow,
this hadn't happened yet. And Isaiah called him by name.
That's amazing, isn't it? Thus that saith of Cyrus, he
is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure. even saying
to Jerusalem, this is what Isaiah prophesied that Cyrus would say,
saying to, now this was a hundred years or so before, and even
saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple Thy
foundation shall be laid. Look at the next verse, in the
next chapter. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before
him. I will loose the loins of kings
to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not
be shut. That is, what he opens, no man
can shut. What he shuts, no man can open. This is a picture of Christ,
a picture of God. Turn back to Ezra. Now, we're going to spend a great
deal of time in these books, and I don't want to wear you
out here at the first, but let me say this, all right? I hope
you're still with me. or Peter, Paul, and John, who
were—they were New Testament prophets. They were New Testament
prophets. Really, they were, because they
prophesied. John certainly was, wasn't he? And they told of the
Antichrist, the spirit of Antichrist. It's already at work. Another
gospel. Idolatry, isn't it? They warned
about it, didn't they, Rick? They said, It's coming. It's
already started. Don't do it. Don't do like they
did. Warning the church. Don't get involved in their wicked
practices or you're going to become captive just like they
are. Same thing. As I quoted that quote to you
by Ron Trayvon, he who does not study history will repeat it. And the same thing now is happening. John in Revelation, John in Revelation
talked about Babylon, didn't he? All the way through. Read
it for yourself. All the way through and he talked
about Babylon. Who's Babylon? What's Babylon?
It's a city that's called the Great Whore or the False Church. false church and it has a city
that it's a city where it's where it's located on seven mountains.
Some of you might know where I'm talking about and all of
that later but the word Babylon means confusion city of confusion
remember the Tower of Babel Babylon city of confusion what that represents
is false religion. the religions of this world.
And now, just like Isaiah and Jeremiah and the prophets prophesied
that would happen to the Jews of old, right now the same thing
has taken place. Yet there are prophets, for lack
of a better word, there are preachers whom God has raised up to warn
us not to get caught up in what the people of this world are
doing. Now, it's so. Some of them laughed
at Jeremiah and Ezekiel, too, didn't they? Oh, Ezekiel, we
won't, we won't, you don't have to worry about us, didn't you? Huh? You see the relevance? And revelation
now is the end. It's Babylon. And everybody's
in bed with this Babylon. It's relevant, all right. But
he said, and somebody gave me a plaque one time with this verse
of Scripture. It's on my, it's in the study. He said that these men of God
are sent of God to, that they might recover those who are taken
captive. by Satan and his will, like Nebuchadnezzar took the
Jews to Babylon. All right, now all this is relevant,
all right? All right, so we have some principal characters here
in the book of Ezra. Cyrus is the first. He's the king. Cyrus is the king. He decrees what's going to be
done, the rebuilding the rebuilding of the temple. Cyrus decrees
it. The king decrees for the temple
to be built and the people to be set free. Reckon who that
is? The king, all right? There are
two others. I'm not going to tell you who they are. I'll tell
you in a little bit. All right? I'll give the whole thing away.
But these three, there's three now, and these three are one. These three are in this thing
together in this one work. The building, the rebuilding
of the temple, the bringing again of the people who were captive,
setting them free, bringing them back to the holy city. All right.
Ezra chapter 1, look at verse 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus,
king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be fulfilled. Jeremiah wrote of it too. along
with Isaiah. The Lord stirred up the spirit
of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout
all his kingdom and put it in writing. So this king purposed by God's
Spirit to do this. Verse 2, here's his purpose,
which he put in writing, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia,
The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth,
and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which
is in Judah. All right, in the beginning was
the Word. How did all this happen? How did all this come to mind? The Word. In the beginning, the
Word came to Cyrus. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And without
Him was not anything made which was made. God Almighty. Now,
this Cyrus represents God here. God who decreed, God who purposed,
God who plan to build his church, to let go his captives, his people,
to set the prisoners free, to restore them to their God, to
bring them to his holy city, Mount Zion. And he put it in
writing. He put it in writing. It's called
a covenant. God wrote it down. It's the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world. You said, I thought
Cyrus, we looked at Isaiah and you said that was Christ. And
here you say it's God. It is. Well, which is it? Yes. Is it Christ or God? Yes, it
is. The words God and God's words
are one and the same, isn't it? What God decreed, Christ did
too. And when Christ came down here to build it, we'll see Him
coming to build it in a little bit. When He came to build it,
well, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, rebuilding,
reconciling. God was manifest in the flesh.
God and Christ are one and the same. Cyrus represents them both
here. All right, now look at verse
3. Now, Cyrus said, Who is there among you of all his people?
His God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which
is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He
is the God. I like that. He is the God. Down
to verse 5, Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah,
and Benjamin, and the And the Levites, with all them whose
the Spirit of God had raised, chief men, priests unto God,
whom the Spirit of God had raised or sent to go up to build the
house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. All right, who does
this represent? Well, John, I was marveling when you
were reading Hebrews 1. I tell you, I was marveling. You see, God, in sundry times
and diverse manners, spake unto the fathers by prophethood. And these very words are spoken
over in Isaiah 6 when God said, Who shall go? Do you remember
what Isaiah said? He's one of the chiefs. He's
chief man. He's a priest unto God. He's
chosen of God. In whom the Spirit of God was,
he said, I'll go. I'll go, men filled with the
Spirit of God, like Isaiah, whom God raised up, the prophet, to
lay the foundation. To lay the foundation. What is
the foundation of the church? Yeah, you better say that. We
just sung it. And Paul said it. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus
the Lord. And Paul said in his letter,
and we build on the foundation. The apostles built on that foundation
men who also were chosen men in whom the Spirit of God was,
and they were sent to lay this foundation. All right? All right,
verse 7. Also Cyrus the king brought forth
the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had
brought forth out of Jerusalem. and had put them in the house
of his God. Here were these vessels of honor which Nebuchadnezzar
had defiled and took out of the temple and
used for his own wicked purposes, these vessels. All right? Look
over Romans 9 in case anybody is interested in what these vessels
are. Romans chapter All right, look over there quickly.
These vessels, like I said, had been defiled or taken captive
by this wicked ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, but Cyrus recovered these vessels. There's some with me here, you're
smiling, you know what I'm talking about. Cyrus restored these vessels
to their rightful place. Cyrus had the tarnish taken off. All right, look at Romans 9.
It says this very thing. Verse 22, What if God, willing
to show his wrath to make his power known, endured with much
longsuffering, vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that he
might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy
which he had before prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath
called vessels? All right, back to the text in
Ezra. And so it is. that our King and
our Christ decreed and numbered these vessels. He decreed to
restore these vessels back to the house of God and numbered
them. Look at that, look at verse eight. So these did Cyrus, king
of Persia, bring forth by the hand of Mithridat, the treasurer,
and numbered them, numbered every vessel and gave the number, numbered
them unto Shesh-bazar, the prince of Judah." Shesh-bazar, the prince of Judah. Read on. All right? And this
is the number of them. And then he began to give the
cost of them, or the price of them. thirty charges of gold,
a thousand charges of silver, nine twenty nine, thirty basins
of gold, silver basins of a second sort, four hundred and ten, other
vessels a thousand, all vessels of gold, silver, five thousand,
four hundred, all these did Schist, Bazar, bring up with them of
the captivity that were brought up from Babylon and Jerusalem. All right, here it is, here's
the story. These vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out
of the house of God and defiled to his own wicked uses in his
gods, in all manner of abominations, these vessels were used for.
Cyrus said, for bringing them back to their rightful use. And he numbered every one of
them. Not one of them was going to be lost. He put a price on them, and he
gave the number and the price to this fellow called Shesh-Bazar. Now you get in the picture. Is
the face coming into view? Numbered and given to this Prince
of Judah. Tell me something else about
this Shesh-Bazar. Look over chapter five, Shesh
Bazar. You don't know who this is yet,
do you? Yeah, you do, but you don't,
because I didn't. Now I do. All right. Chapter five, who is this Shesh
Bazar? Now the name, I looked the name
up, and you know what it means? I don't know. It's a secret. It's a Persian orator, it says,
and there's no meaning. God knows. All right? Secret name. All right, looky
here. Here's something else, another
description of this fellow. Chapter 5, verse 14. And this
is some—we're going to get into this later on. This is where
some enemies of the building of the temple—enemies tried to
deport it all, and they wrote letters, and this is one of those
letters describing what it was, what was going on, who it was
that was doing it. All right? Because they knew who it was.
They knew who this was. All right, verse 14, and they're
saying, The vessels of gold and silver of the house of God which
Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple, that was in Jerusalem,
and brought them into the temple of Babylon. Those did Cyrus the
king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered
unto one whose name was Shesh-bazar, whom he made governor." He's not only the prince of Judah,
he's governor. He's governor. All right? I'm going to mention a name now
that you know it's going to ring a bell a big bell a big bell
in your mind all right chapter two verse one now these are the
children of the province that went up out of the captivity
Of those which had been carried away, who Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, had carried away unto Babylon, and came again
unto Jerusalem, and Judah, every one unto his city, which came,
they all came with Zerubbabel." Who's Zerubbabel? He's Shesh-Bazar. same person, same person, exact same person. Sheesh, Zerubbabel is a Hebrew
name which means born in Babylon. In other words, the people knew
who this was. He had this Hebrew name, born in Babylon, this man
named born in Babylon, Zerubbabel. But he had a name that the king
had given him that nobody knew but the king. Shesh Bazar. And to him it was revealed. He
just had it revealed to him. It's the same person. The same person. All right, here
he is, this celebrable Shesh Bazar. He's the prince of Judah.
He is a governor of it all. He is builder of the temple.
He's the one who everybody's numbered with. Whose name was
first here? He started to name the names.
Who was first? Maybe we better go back and change
Isaac's name. Rick started to name I when they
were looking for a name. He wanted to name his son Zerubbabel.
But he didn't think his in-laws would hardly like that. You know, to tell the truth,
I don't think Jenny did either. But it sure means something,
doesn't it? Zerubbabel. He's builder of the
temple. He's the one with whom the people
have been numbered and the value of the people given to. He's
the one who gives them value. He's the one. All of them are
numbered with Him. They're all with Him. He's going
up. They're coming with Him. Isn't
that wonderful? The King. Now here it is. The
King has decreed the building of the temple and called forth
men to go for Him. All right? He called forth his
men, but he had one in his mind all the time. Just one. He said,
Who's going to go for me? He knew. He knew who was going
to build this thing now. He had one in his mind all along. Just right-hand man. Just right-hand
man. It's irrevocable. One who was
going to take charge. One in whose hands he was going
to place the whole thing. One upon whose shoulders the
whole thing would stand upon. One who would be in charge of
building the whole thing, without whom the temple would not be
built. Who would begin it, build it,
and Zechariah says, lay the headstone on it himself. We're going to
see a little while later, if we get to it, how Zerubbabel
laid the foundation These men didn't do it. Sir Rubble did
it. Cheshire Bizarre did it. And when the thing was finished,
and he oversaw the whole thing, did the whole thing, and when
it was done, he took this big headstone and laid it on there
with shoutings of grace. Grace unto you. Who is this? This is the Lord
Jesus Christ, Prince of Judah, no less. Governor. Governor. He's the governor. His name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. The government shall be on his
shoulders. The governor. The builder. The builder. The layer of the foundation.
John, you read it? You read it? When you started
reading that, I knew. I got the message. Listen to
this. God, who at sundry times in a
different manner, spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophet, but hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, given all things,
by whom he made the worlds. who be in the brightness of his
glory, and express the image of his person, upholding all
things." The word of his power, the superintendent. Except the
Lord built the building, they labor in vain at building. When
he had by himself, Zerubbabel built the temple, purged our
sins. And over in that same chapter,
it says, Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hath laid the foundations of
the earth. It's irrevocable. Why the secret name? I sat twelve inches off my seat
when I was studying there. Why the secret name for Zerubbabel? Why not just call him Zerubbabel
and leave it at that? Well, why not just call that
fellow name that was born over there in Bethlehem, born in Bethlehem,
why not call him just Jesus? Huh? Doesn't that describe him?
Just call him Jesus. Oh no. Oh no. He has a name which is above
every name, and it's secret to most people. Most just know him
by Jesus. Let me, while you're turning
to Revelation chapter 2, turn over to Revelation 2 and prepare
to jump here, all right? Revelation 2. Let me ask you
something. If I mention the name Melchizedek, Have you mean to? It doesn't come up. John, if
you went out on the street or in an average so-called church,
if you said, do you know anything about Melchizedek? Isn't he, wasn't he some king
somewhere or something in the Old Testament? That's not important. Oh, yes, he is. Yes, he is. He's been revealed to us, hasn't
he? Secret name. Secret name. What if I said Boaz? You just heard that name the first
time the other day. I'm so jealous. Rebecca went
all the way up to Ashland. You know what my father preached
on? She'd never heard it before. Boaz. I wanted to preach. But it doesn't matter who you
heard it from, but now you know who that is, don't you? And whatever
that name was. And Nancy just lights up every
time I say that. Why? Right there sits Ruth. Boaz. What if I said the name
Hadassah? Now, Sam, you typed it on tape. That was the name of the message
we were reading, and I don't expect you to remember it, really. Let me give you a little hint
who this was. See if you don't know who it
is. Hush. Don't say it out loud. This one
named Hadassah was loved dearly by the king, and this person's
people were sentenced to die. So this one named Hadassah became
the mediator between the king and her people and went into
the king and the king held out the golden scepter of acceptance
and righteousness and she was accepted on behalf of her people.
Now do you know who Hadassah is? Esther. What if I said this name and
you won't know this name because I had to look it up? Maybe you
will. Zeph Matt Payoneer. Zeph Matt Payoneer. You know
who that is? You know who that is now? Yeah,
you do. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. I'll give you a little hint. This one was loved by his father,
this person, loved dearly by his father, so much so that his
father gave him a distinguishing robe that set him apart from
the rest of his brethren. But he was hated by his brethren,
rejected of them, sold into slavery. But they meant it for evil, but
God did it for good. And God took him out of that
dungeon and set him at the right hand of the king himself. And
all those brethren had to come for him, come to him for their
very life and sustenance. Now do you know who Zeph-nath-paneah
is? Joseph. You didn't know that
was your name, did you? That's all right. Why? Do you see why? Do you see why God gave these
names, these secret names? Well, if you don't, let's look
at it. Look here at Revelation 2, verse 17. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him
that overcometh, what's overcoming? Believing. Believing. Faith. trust in Christ
and Christ alone. All right. He said to him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. It's hidden. And will give him a white stone
and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth save he
that receiveth. Melchizedek, Sherry. Melchizedek. Isn't that a wonderful name? Blessed art thou, cherub, flesh
and blood in your relativity. Shesh vashav. Seth, that pioneer. Hadassah. Hadassah! Hadassah! Isn't that wonderful? Doesn't
that cause your heart to leap? Secret name. Secret name. Oh, my. And look at all the names.
I've got to quit. What time does it start? I've got to quit. The tape hasn't
gone off yet, has it? Good. I've got time. Go back
to the text now. And I was going to have you turn
over to Revelation. I wanted to do it this morning.
I still didn't get to it tonight. It said that he had a name written
on his thigh that no man knew but he himself. And that name
was the Word. And who knows the name, but to
whom it's revealed? The Word. Isn't that amazing? Absolutely amazing. All right,
back to Ezra. Look at chapter 3 now. Look at
all the names. Chapter 2 gives the names. But
in chapter 3 now. No, no, no, no, no. Look at chapter
2, verse 64. Chapter 2, verse 64, now the
whole congregation together was 42,360. All right, now chapter
3, beginning with verse 8. Now, in the second year of their
coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, Ezra 3, verse 8,
in the second year, coming to the house of God at Jerusalem,
in the second month began Zerubbabel. the son of T.L.T.L. and Joshua. That's Joshua the
son. This is another person that's
involved in this building. Who do you reckon that is? Now one gave the decree and two
built it. Who's with Christ? When Christ
left who did he put in charge? That's exactly right. Exactly
right. That's who he's going to represent.
And the remnant of their brethren, the priests and Levites, and
all they that were gone out of the captivity of Jerusalem and
appointed to Levites from twenty years old and upward, to set
forward the work of the house of the Lord. Then stood Joshua
with his sons and his brethren, Cadmele and his sons, sons of
Judah, together to set forward the workmen in the house of God,
the sons of Hinnadad, with their sons and their brethren, the
Levites, And when the builders laid the foundation
of the temple of the Lord, they sent the priest in their apparel
with trumpets, and the Levites, the son of Asaph, with cymbals Praise the Lord after the ordinance
of David the king, just like David wrote, just like it's written.
That's the way they did it. And they sang together, by course,
in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he's good. For his mercy endureth forever
toward Israel. And all the people shouted with
a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation
of the house of the Lord was laid. And many of the priests
and Levites and chiefs of the fathers who were ancient men
that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house
was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And many of
them shouted aloud for joy, so that the people all around, they
could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise
of the weeping So the people shouted with a
loud shout, and a noise was heard afar off. And folks, I don't
know about you, but I do know about you. You're like me. Between
weeping over your sins and shouting for joy, from hearing the gospel,
I don't hardly smile with tears. And listen to this in Revelation,
I'll quit, Revelation 14 says this, and they sung, these singers,
they sung as it were a new song, a new song, before the throne,
before the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn
that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth.
These are they which follow the Lamb, which came with Jeroboam. and a singing and a crying and
a shouting. The foundation has been laid.
The temple's going up. He built his foundation.