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Thoughts of a saint and slave
by Sam Isaacson
Are you ready for some good meaty action? Men being real men and building things? Ezra 3:1-7 is a great passage of worship to God; I'd really recommend you to read it in full because I'll only quote a few verses here. There are many wonderful truths in this passage, so let's work through it together:
'As one man' (v1)
I absolutely adore this phrase in Ezra 3:1, 'the people gathered as one man'. The display of such unity that all the people together can be described as 'one man' is quite stirring - just imagine the united movement of the thousands upon thousands of Israelites, all descending upon Jerusalem at once - the sheer size of this movement is staggering and the effect must have been breathtaking! What stands out most, however, is the parallels this picture of Israel being 'one man' have with Paul's description of the church as 'one body' (1 Corinthians 12); indeed, the church in the New Testament is not simply a reflection of Israel in the Old Testament - they are one and the same! This unity by the Spirit (see Ephesians 4:1-6) is all the more challenging and exciting when we add the parallel with Israel's 'as one man'; when was the last time you observed the church (whether local or global) unite 'as one man'? With the many denominations and events spread across the many faces of the Christian faith, even within a small area there can appear to be divisions; local churches often see themselves as being in competition with one another. Should we not strive to recreate this incredible vision of uniting 'as one man'?
Leaders lead! (v2)
Although this point can be made based on many Bible verses it is, I feel, important to note here that the ones who lead do so strongly and assertively, and bring with them those around them; Jeshua brings his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel his kinsmen (Ezra 3:2). Of particular importance here is that the priests were the ones who led the way by modelling good service; pastors and deacons should always be the first to jump in and find a place to serve - Jesus is the perfect leader and gave incredible examples of how to serve effectively, and we should respond by modelling well, and also by submitting to God-given leadership.
Their duty (vv3-6)
The main content of verses 3-6 is a description of Jeshua and Zerubbabel ensuring that the many necessary sacrifices were being made. In fact, they began making sacrifices 'on the first day of the seventh month' (Ezra 3:6) - this in itself is clearly not that exciting, yet when you consider that this chapter began 'when the seventh month came', it is clear to see that the people of Israel wasted no time in recognising the purposes behind their call, and then fulfilling their duty to realise those purposes. You can imagine Jeshua and Zerubbabel casting such a strong vision that the men rose early to come to work building the altar, and then after the men had left for home after their hard day's work, they immediately set to work with the first sacrifice - as the day drew to a close the fire of the burnt offering must have been a beacon for rejoicing for the people of Israel - we'll see their celebration next week. We therefore should seek to imitate this keen attitude of recognising the purpose behind our gifts and ministries: to glorify the name of Jesus. Did the people of Israel wait until everything was absolutely perfect before the first sacrifice was made? No! It was on the first day - we too should not waste time, and be encouraged to worship Jesus at every available opportunity; perhaps the piano to accompany some singing is not in tune, or the drummer in the band is going to be late - should that stop us singing our songs of praise? Of course not!
Outsiders (v7)
This last section in the passage is rather interesting - the Israelites take the money and goods, gifted to them by king Cyrus to build the temple, and use it to pay unbelievers to bring timber - the two odd things here are that the Israelites used their resources to pay labourers rather than build the temple, and that they allowed unbelievers to aid in the building of the temple - what can this teach us? Firstly, we should use our resources wisely - rather than loving money we should seek to love God with our money (Luke 16:13)- this sometimes requires us to spend it on workers and other resources that may not necessarily be our first choice. However, we must seek discernment from the Holy Spirit and sometimes go for a 'quick fix' if the glory will go to God as a result. In addition, we can learn that God can, and will, work through unbelievers - just because they don't believe in Him does not mean He will not use them! In fact, sometimes God will prefer to use an unbeliever over a believer because that Christian may do more harm than good - remember that even demons believe in Jesus (James 2:19)!
This is the first half of chapter 3 - the second half is even more exciting and challenging so tune in next week for the next installment!
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