Working Together Series

Musk oxen are herd animals, and groups of two or three dozen animals are sometimes led by a single female. Herds use cooperation to deal with attacks by arctic wolves. When threatened, they “circle the wagons” and array themselves with their young in the middle and their sharp horns facing outward toward their foes. A cornered musk ox can be a fearsome enemy, charging with its massive bulk and attempting to use its horns to deadly effect. (From National Geographic Musk Oxen online article)

When Musk Oxen work together the calves are protected. If even one Musk Oxen will break rank all the calves can be killed. There is a great need for unity among the heard. Guess what? The Lord’s people need unity too. In our passage Ezra chapter 3 the Lord’s people did work together!

The first two chapters of Ezra tells us that the exiled people returned to the promised land. But something even more important is taking place. The Lord’s people are returning to God. Now unity among the remnant group is essential.

Ezra is the story of how God takes a defeated people and moves supernaturally to send them back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. They will also rebuild the temple and revive true religion.

Solomon’s temple was destroyed and laid in ruin for 70 years. Then as prophesied by Jeremiah, God raised up a remnant to return to Israel. The Babylonian empire that conquered Israel and exiled the Israelites were themselves overthrown.

God moved the heart of the Persian King, Cyrus, to declare, orally and written a decree that Israelites in Babylon who desired should go back to Israel and rebuild the temple.

In Ezra Chapters 1 & 2 Zerubbabel leads the people back. It is a second Exodus of sorts. This time less than 50,000 came back. That is small when you consider the 1st Exodus was 600,000 men plus women and children. That brings the total to over 1 million that journeyed to the promise land in the 1st Exodus.

The Phrase in Ezra, “the Hand of God” sums up what was happening. The Lord was in this return. It was part of his masterplan.

The gracious hand of the Lord was upon Ezra. (Ezra 7:6,9)

The Lord Moved the heart of Cyrus. (Ezra 1:1)

The eye of the Lord was watching over them. (Ezra 5:5)

God is calling His people to a renewed emphasis on their religion. Ultimately this was about the relationship between God and His people. This included building a new temple. The overall theme is together we build. It was the Lord’s call, and it would require the Lord’s people to be united.

The story of Ezra with the rebuilding the temple is an encouragement to see how obstacles can be overcome when God’s moving hand is behind his people. There is power in the unity of God’s people working together.

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. (Ezra 3:1)

The rebuilding of the temple is going to require unity. They need everyone to be all in for this one. For the people of Israel to accomplish what God called them to do this remnant was going to do what should take the whole nation, but they needed to be unified. They needed to be together we build on this one.

When the Lord calls his people to a great work, the leader will need to build unity. The Musk Ox is our illustration. It does not mean the leader of the heard defends the wolves, it means the leader calls the heard to circle up and everyone must work as one.

That is why for us to accomplish what the Lord has called us to, we begin with a call of unity. We begin by working together like we are one unit. We are a family of God. A dysfunctional disjointed family will fail. A unified family will accomplish the task.

The 1979 Pittsburg Pirates won the world series. They lost 64 games that season but, good enough to make the playoffs. Then going into the playoffs they adopted the disco song by Sister Sledge, We Are Family. They worked together, they worked as one and went on to win the Word Series that season.

They believed that the unity of their team was the key to their great accomplishment. We are not a baseball team or a heard of Musk Oxen, but we need the unity they found to accomplish great things. We combine unity and dependence on God to accomplish great things for God.

As believers we are a family. We can be a unified family and attempt great things for God. We need to go in everything with faith in God and unity. That is what the remnant who returned to Jerusalem did. They gathered as one in Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.