Re-Building God’s Temple – Ezra chapter 1

Bible References:  Ezra 1:2-4; 7-11; Isaiah Isaiah 44:28

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus.  The heart of kings is in the hand of the Lord. We need to look for the Lord to lead us; lead in the Church and the world. Cyrus was a king God used to help restore Israel back to the land.

God wants us to be part of witnessing the morality of God to the world.  Jesus came so God could deal with our sins; let God deal with your sins and we are to get on with what God wants us to do.

Cyrus made a proclamation that the gentiles were to assist Israel through gifts to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and he proclaimed the greatness of God.

Today, the story is God rebuilding the temple - you, me, Christian people God wants us to look to God to find the way.  God’s offering us freedom; we have a walk with Jesus Christ.  It starts when we accept Him.  Be a world-changer – those who went from Babylon to Jerusalem.  Put yourself into God’s hands, not sitting in our sin.  Those bound by sin can be made free by Jesus Christ. Many who hear the joyful sound of the Gospel stay in sin in Babylon.  Some love their sin and sit in it; there are others who rise above it and take hold of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel offer will not be made in vain; some will take up the offer.  Isaiah 44 – nearly 150 years before Cyrus was born, God through Isaiah, wrote about Cyrus.

Many people are anointed in the Old Testament to be ‘lord’ (not a capital letter) and they are raised up by God to be the Lord’s “lord” for a specific purpose.  Cyrus was NOT an Israelite, yet he was the Lord’s ‘lord’.  A messiah at the time of Cyrus was not The Messiah (The Lord’s Messiah – JC)

As a Christian we are to walk with the Lord; not stay in our sin.  Jesus Christ has dealt with our sin.  Our walk is about our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Shesbazzar (Zerubabel) was tasked with taking the articles of gold and of silver to Jerusalem when the Jews went from Babylon.  In the Old Testament, God lived in the temple in Jerusalem.  Today as New Testament Christians, God lives in the temple (the body of Christ – our bodies; not a building).  The articles for the temple had meaning in the Old Testament, and it would a goo study for Christians to review.  The temple as the time of Ezra was just rubble and that’s what they used to rebuild.  Man sees the outward appearance, but God sees the heart.  Our outward appearance may be rubble, but God can rebuild our lives out of the rubble.

So, do we hand the steering wheel of our lives over to Jesus Christ, letting him take control, or do we hold on so tightly thinking we’ve some control?