THE GOOD HAND OF GOD IN OVERSEEING HIS WORK-Part I

(EZRA 3:8-13)
Devotion #11


8Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. 9Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.
(Ezra 3:8-9)

As a supervisor over part of a department it is not always easy to keep up with who is doing what, but regardless it is my job. I have always viewed my job as an extension of the ministry which God has given to me; therefore I now see my supervisor role as an extension of my calling regarding pastoral work. Since God owns the whole world and all that is in it, then any assignment or task given to me is something which requires my utmost attention for His glory.

As we have been going through the book of Ezra we have seen great bravery from the outset. A willingness to answer God’s call through a pagan king to rebuild the temple (chapter 1), brave men gathering together and traveling to Jerusalem (chapters 1:5-2:70), and finally we have seen them begin to re-establish worship to Yahweh from the temple sight (3:1-7). At this point we will look at 3:8-9 and see the good hand of God in overseeing His work as they beginning the process of rebuilding the Temple. Remember that the theme in both Ezra and Nehemiah is, “The Good Hand Of God.” While the rebuilding of the temple is important in Ezra and the rebuilding of the wall is important in Nehemiah these are not the real goals. The real goal is the redemption of the community.

One of the things to look at is that there are three significant details to understand the timing of this event. First, it is being done at a very important junction in history. 1st Kings 6:1 notes, “Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.” According to the Jewish calendar the month of Ziv is the second month. It had also been almost four hundred years between the building of the first Temple and the rebuilding of this Temple here in Ezra. So four hundred years passed between the Exodus (the building of the Tabernacle) and the building for the first Temple. And four hundred years had passed between the building of the first Temple to this moment when the Jewish people would begin to rebuild the Temple. This shows that their history and the scriptures play a significant role.

Second, this is patterned very similar to the way Solomon organized things to work while building the Temple. 1st Chronicles 23:4-24 discusses this in detail. Particularly in verse 24, “These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers' households, {even} the heads of the fathers' {households} of those of them who were counted, in the number of names by their census, doing the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from twenty years old and upward.” As can be quickly illustrated here it was very important to this community of refugees that they do things precisely or according to the scriptures. Allow me to remind you also that I believe 1st and 2nd Chronicles along with Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther was a compilation work brought together for the defense of the Jewish people before the high courts of Persia. Therefore it was imperative for them to show continuity between the scriptures and their history.

The third thing which needs to be noted was the seasonal aspect. Ziv is the beginning of the dry season. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 states, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- 2A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. 3A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. 5A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. 6A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. 8A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.” Notice Ecclesiastes 3:3, “…a time to build up.” The Jewish people felt it was time to build and since God through Cyrus has brought them back for that reason it would not take much imagination to sense their purpose for being there.

It is also important to note two things regarding the overseers. They were to direct the work and supervise the workers. In order to direct the work they would tell them what should be done, who should do it and how it should be done. Remember this is the Temple they are rebuilding so things had to be done a specific way for a specific reason. When they supervised the workers they were making sure things were being done according to the instructions which had been given to them. They were in total cooperation with one another in this matter. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1-16, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 7But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." 9(Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” What the men in Zerubbabel’s time understood dealing with the rebuilding of the Temple Paul visualizes as a way of life. It was going to take cooperation. Sometimes we may not agree with each other on specifics (i.e. when Jesus is coming back; did the church begin in Matthew 16 or Acts 2; how is communion served and when; or how church administration should be set up) but as long as basic Bible doctrine which is important to the Gospel and the salvation of men’s souls is agree too, then we can move forward in unity. Some hills are worth fighting for, some are worth dying on, while others have no use but to throw rocks from and run away. Here in Ezra the people were going to have to work together to get this done.

So what can be learned from all of this? First we need to understand things from both a Biblical and historical view. Regardless of what some may say, the two do not always see eye to eye. The Bible is our most important guide. It is the very words of God to us. It is inerrant and sufficient to guide us through life on both a personal and global scale. It gives us insight as to who God is, how He works and often why He may choose to do things. With a proper understanding to God’s word you can never go wrong. However there are times when things are not so clear in the Bible and for that we may turn to history. This helps us see where others made mistakes or even overcame issues. Second, we need to understand that God has placed authorities over us even in church work. The pastor and staff is placed there to oversee the work of God and to help keep things at an accountable level. Without the pastors and staff, people would be allowed to do anything and confusion would soon set in. As can be seen from the Ephesians 4 passage above, God is a God of order and does not want things to work in a chaotic way. Last, we must learn to work together. While pastors and staff maybe there to direct the work, they are not there to dictate what kind of work is to be done. Those of us who know Jesus as Savior all have the Holy Spirit who is the one who is to lead us in what part of the mission we are to be involved in. The staff is there to make sure that things are done Biblically, morally, and ethically. This also means we are to learn to work together. What you are passionate about may not be what God lays on my heart. I have seen people struggle with this through the years and after many years of heart searching and attempting different things, one day God brings something along which clicks with that person. Now those people are serving the Lord in a way that He desires. This also brings back the whole “There is an appointed time for everything” scenario from Ecclesiastes 3:1. The important thing is that we should be about our Fathers business sharing the Gospel with everyone we come in contact with.