THE GOOD HAND OF GOD IN OVERSEEING HIS WORK DEALING WITH THOSE WHO OPPOSE THE WORK OF GOD-Part 3

The Enemy's Out Lash-Part A
(EZRA 4:1-6)

1Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, 2they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' households, and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here." 3But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers' households of Israel said to them, " You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us." 4Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. 6Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.


Have you ever ticked someone off by opposing them? In the past I have always prided myself on being able to argue a Jehovah Witness down when they approach my door. In fact I have always enjoyed the fact that I could do it using their own Bible. However, as the scriptures say, pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). God will in time bring someone your way that will knock you on your hills. Such was the case one Saturday morning when a knock came to my door. There stood a well dressed black woman with the New World Translation in her hand. I proceeded down my normal path of logic to dispel Jehovah Witness doctrine when she angrily stopped me saying, “How dare you insult me like this when all I was showing favor to you by bringing the word of God to you!” Naturally I was taken back and that morning the score stood: Me: Unnumbered, the JW: 1.
Whenever we oppose those in the wrong, no matter how often we have done it, eventually there will be a backlash. The same is true here in Ezra 4. The people have returned from 75 years of captivity and now have the opportunity to rebuild and start over when the enemy arrives. After using discernment and noting their help was unneeded, the enemy turns to deploy his weapons on the people.
The first thing which should be noted is that they used discouragement. It says in verse 4, “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah…” Discouragement is simply taking courage away from somebody. Here they are taking courage away from the people to rebuild the temple and later the wall and the city (v. 21). More than likely they would do this by laughing at them, making fun of what is going on, dispelling the importance of what was happening, and ridiculing the work.
Throughout my life discouragement was often used, not to do evil things, but keep me from succeeding. I have had family members who did not want me to succeed in areas as a child and then as a young adult. My greatest discouragement came in 2000 with my divorce. To this day I still struggle to open the Bible I used to cherish in order to find God’s daily will for my life. While that is fading everyday, it still slaps me in the face. And then there are those who have been discouraging to me regarding the ministry.
The enemy of our souls wants us discouraged so that we cannot connect with the will of God. The Bible says regarding Satan the thief of our lives that he, “…comes to steal, and to kill, and destroy…” However Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, “…came that…” we “…might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). The forces of evil will discourage us from knowing God through Jesus Christ as Savior. In the end it will lead to eternal damnation. For those who know Christ as Savior, the enemy will use evil desires to sift from us the grand opportunity to live and do what God wants. As a result not only will we not receive eternal rewards, but because others will come to Christ, which is the eternal reward. The result of us falling for temptation in regards to the lost is their eternal damnation.
Question: Which are you? Do you know Jesus as Savior? Have you come to the point where you understand that you are a sinner lost in need of a Savior, on your way to Hell? Do you understand that Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary, suffered, bleed and died for your sins, taking your place in judgment before God? Do you understand that He physically rose from the dead three days later to give you eternal life? If not then today you need to repent (turn from yourself and sin) and believe (totally trust) that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal salvation? If you haven’t done this let’s start a dialogue and talk about what it means to become a Christian. Just e-mail me at bedevotedministry@att.net and we will start to talk.
For those who are saved what about you? Are you allowing Satan to discourage you? Is your life filled with those you will ridicule what you stand for and what you believe? Does it seem as if when you try and do well nothing really matters? Then allow me to encourage you from the words of Paul the apostle in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” To use the words from Bill and Ted’s Great Adventure, “Party on Dude!” Don’t let Satan or this world get the best of you!


God Bless,

Steven Swaim

(All Bible verses quoted come from the New American Standard Version)