Construction Site Or Warzone?

Last week I mentioned how I believe that God is calling us to rebuild our fellowship after a series of setbacks. This means that our church is currently sitting smack dab in the middle of a spiritual construction site. I remember how I once pastored a church where we built a multipurpose facility; and for the longest time, our church grounds were a hot mess! It looked like a warzone! You may not realize it, but when it comes to anything that results in building the kingdom, then that construction site becomes a warzone. When God’s people start getting serious about seeing people saved, restoring lives, and bringing glory to Jesus Christ, then Satan becomes angry and we enter ground zero for his attacks.

This morning, as we look at the reconstruction of the temple and the wall of Jerusalem, we’re going to discover how entering a spiritual reconstruction project has thrown us onto the battlefield. We are not only going to see how this occurs, but we’re also going to learn how we can defeat our enemy, the devil, and go on to accomplish the Lord’s will for our church. So, let’s get started with our first passage, which is Ezra 3:8 and verses 10-11.

Construction Begins (Ezra 3:8, 10-11)

8 Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the LORD . . . 10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

In verse 8, we see that those who had begun work on the house of the Lord, or the temple of Jerusalem, “had come out of the captivity.” The captivity spoken of here was the Babylonian exile of 587 B.C., in which the Lord allowed Judah and the holy city of Jerusalem to be conquered by the Babylonians.

Both the temple and the city wall were demolished, and many of God’s people – not all, but many – were taken captive and hauled off to Babylon. They were basically put in to reeducation camps and then integrated into society. God allowed this defeat to occur because His people had started worshipping false gods and idols. Here, in the Book of Ezra, we see that some of the people had returned from the exile being led by Zerubbabel, and upon return they decided to start rebuilding the Lord’s house. This pilgrimage and laying of the foundation took place around 458 B.C. (1)

The laying of the foundation of the temple was heralded with an assembly of priests, the blowing of trumpets, the clashing of cymbals and through singing, praising and shouting. This was a worship celebration in which the people acknowledged God’s presence among them, and they praised Him and gave thanks by saying, “He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel” (v. 11).

If our congregation happened to be in a building program and had a groundbreaking ceremony, this event would include a declaration of God’s goodness, the singing of praises, and the acknowledgement of the Lord’s presence among us. Such an event would demonstrate a new sense of enthusiasm for what God is about to do in our church and community. And this should be our response any time that God speaks and says, “Rebuild!” We should have both reverence and excitement! But, let me warn you that Satan doesn’t like it when we get serious about something that glorifies the Lord. So, let’s now look at Ezra 4:4-5.

Satan Discourages Progress (Ezra 4:4-5)

4 Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, 5 and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

When God’s people get excited about kingdom business, Satan begins to scheme; and he will send in his counselors to discourage and confuse. What’s interesting about these counselors who frustrated the people is that, if you go back and look at verse 2, they claimed to worship the Lord, just as the descendants of the captivity did. But there was a huge difference between those who had returned from Babylon and those who had escaped deportation.