Rebuilding the Altar

 

February 23, 2021

 

Ezra 3:1-7

 

Rebuilding the Altar

When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.   Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.   They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening.   And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required,  and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord.   From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.   So, they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

 

When is fear not the opposite of faith, only when fear brings us to acknowledge that it is not about us, it is about God.  The Jewish people fear their neighbors who were pagan worshippers of gods who could not see or hear, you know gods that have no power to change a person's heart, to heal, or to instill peace in a person's life.

 

God put into the hearts of the people to rebuild the temple, and it was God who had put into the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to provide what was needed to see the workers had what was needed to do so.  But as we have been told often by our teachers, when you see God moving in an area that brings Him praise, it is a wise person that joins that work.  The people of Israel as a whole joined the work by giving money and labor to do so.

 

The Church needs more today than ever to be reminded, that it is not about them, it is about being still and seeking the Lord's face, and joining in the building of His Kingdom, not an earthly kingdom.  Many in America who goes by the name Christian, are about an earthly kingdom, not an eternal kingdom.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice