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Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
I hope you’ve had the experience of being part of a group that, after great planning and sustained effort, over a long period of time, finished a major project together. If so, do you remember the wonderful sense of accomplishment? There are many great examples of this in Biblical history, but let’s rejoin the rebuilding of the second Temple in Jerusalem and today cross the finish line with them!
Yesterday we watched as a shocking letter arrived in Jerusalem from Babylon. King Darius was the author of this letter, and he wrote in response to a request that a search be made to validate this reconstruction work the Jewish exiles were doing on the Temple mount. From a scroll found in the regional capital city Ecbatana, Darius was able to confirm the details of the edict King Cyrus had issued about 20 years before, ordering the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. (Ezra 6:1-10)
Not only did Darius re-affirm this rebuilding project but amazingly, shockingly, he ordered that those standing in opposition to the project should instead work diligently to supply everything needed by those rebuilding and ALSO by the Priests for the religious functions of the Temple! (Ezra 6:8-10)
In addition, King Darius apparently assumed there may be some reluctance to fulfill his orders and so he added this warning: “Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house, and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble.” (Ezra 6:11) Wow! Now that’s even more severe than the worst capital punishment in our day isn’t it!?
Clearly both King Cyrus, the emperor of the entire Medo-Persian empire, and King Darius, the king of the Babylonian kingdom, were determined that the Jewish Temple be rebuilt and fully re-established in the daily worship of the God of Israel.
This is a unique moment in history, especially Israel’s history! It’s quite the opposite of most of middle east history, including today, when Israel has almost always been surrounded by nations determined to see Israel’s destruction and even extinction!
King Darius’ decree continued with this closing desire: “May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem! I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.” (Ezra 6:12) Now friends, pause and ponder the global, historical, significance of this declaration from King Darius written in about 518bc. But how do you think King Darius knew anything about the God of Israel? Do you remember God’s strategic work to be sure HIS Name would be honored and known even during the time of His judgment on Jerusalem and the exile of His people to Babylon and Persia?
Just as in the days of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, God wanted His name to be honored in Babylon by the Jewish exiles; and by the Babylonian & Persian peoples; but also, and especially, by the Babylonian leaders!
God’s prophet Ezekiel was God’s spokesman to those thousands of Jewish exiles in Babylon and across the Persian empire. We have 48 chapters of his messages from God in our Bible.
Jeremiah, whom God had left back in Jerusalem, was God’s final messenger in the last years before Jerusalem was destroyed, and then he wrote letters to those exiles, declaring God’s purposes for them! Jeremiah 29 is one example of Jeremiah’s 52 chapters of God’s messages in our Bible.
But God worked especially through DANIEL, God’s prophet who’d been taken as a child captive in 605bc from Jerusalem to Babylon. (Daniel 1:1-7) As we saw, in Daniel’s autobiographical book which bears his name, God protected and quickly promoted Daniel to the very highest positions in the Babylonian kingdom. Jewish Daniel was a highly respected advisor to Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and all his Babylonian successor Kings down to conquering King Cyrus. (Daniel 1:21).
But we must be careful here. The King Darius of Daniel’s experience with the lion’s den, (Daniel 6) in 538bc, is not the same King Darius who sent this shocking letter to the Jewish exiles in Jerusalem in 518bc. About 20 years of time separate these two Kings with the same name.
Daniel was God’s primary missionary to Kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus and the first Darius, and Daniel would have been in his 80’s when this Darius came to power! (Daniel 5:30) For a few years, God used Daniel to teach Darius about the history and significance of God’s people Israel; God’s Temple and the uniqueness of the God of Israel.
The Babylonian royal archives would have had many accounts of Daniel’s dealings with these Babylonian kings. The Darius who wrote this powerful letter in Ezra 5 was, I believe, powerfully influenced by the God honoring REPUTATION of Daniel, the wise Jewish advisor to the Babylonian kings, even two decades later!
Clearly the King Darius in Ezra 5,6 was powerfully moved by the Spirit of God to exert his authority to assure God’s Jerusalem Temple would be rebuilt! So, my friends, if you are about Daniel’s age, please consider you may be in the “prime time” of your life. You may have spiritual maturity and great wisdom gained in your long life, which God may use to powerfully impact many people whose lives you touch, even of different generations! Don’t be shy or bashful, speak God’s truth, share your life experiences which have led you to understand the power of God in your life! Leave a powerful spiritual legacy which will speak long after you are gone from us.
Ezra tells us the work on the Temple progressed with passion as this amazing letter from King Darius was received and implemented! “Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates and other associates carried it out with diligence! So, the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of prophets Haggai and Zechariah.” (Ezra 6:13,14)
Do you see it my friends? God combined the political power of King Darius and other political leaders, with the influence of men with spiritual authority, the prophets Haggai & Zechariah, and the rebuilding work of the Temple flourished!!
Consider for a moment the spiritual environment of your city. Is God stirring among leaders in your part of the world so that political leaders and business leaders and education leaders and spiritual leaders might work together, under God’s guidance, for the good of the people where you live? If you are a leader, are you part of such a movement?
As Ezra wrote these next words it must have been with great joy: “They finished building the Temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia! The Temple was COMPLETED on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.” (Ezra 6:14,15) This historic date was March 12, 515bc. That’s 24 years after Cyrus issued his original edict freeing the Jewish exiles to return and rebuild Jerusalem. (Ezra 1)
Oh my, what an accomplishment! I imagine spontaneous celebrations spread all across the city and region and plans were immediately undertaken for a great dedication ceremony. We’ll look at that event tomorrow.
For today, let’s stand in awe of how God accomplished this remarkable rebuilding of His Temple with great participation from influential leaders of that day, most of whom were not Jewish but recognized the unique greatness of the great God of Israel!
Let’s join their celebration of our Forever Good God, with this song, and I’ll meet you back here tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Ezra 6:8-16.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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