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In 516 BC King Cyrus of Persia was prompted by God to make a formal proclamation that the Israelites were to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, which had laid in ruins since for the last seventy years. The Israelites responded by gathering in Jerusalem and, led by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, rebuilt the altar, began making sacrifices as was their duty, and rebuilt the foundations of the temple, which prompted them to praise God with almighty shouts of praise, and to weep in repentance and humility. We now join this account at chapter four of Ezra, in which the Israelites encounter their first real obstacle - adversaries on all sides! This happens essentially in three parts, which is how we will look at it today. I will not quote the entirety of the text here, but Scripture is beautiful so I would encourage you to read what God said rather than just rely on my insights!

Opposition (Ezra 4:1-5)

What happens in this passage is a stern warning to all Christians today; if we are following the God of the Bible then we will face opposition. Ezra 4:1 describes a group of people as 'the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin' - that is simply their title! Today there are many who are simply 'the adversaries of Christians'; sometimes without even realising it they go out of their way just to oppose Christianity in any way they can. Some very large websites exist where the sole purpose is to rise up against Christianity - why? If someone believes that Christianity is false, why do they feel the need to put so much time and energy into opposing it? The unfortunate truth is that we will never be free from people like Richard Dawkins, who seems to make a living out of being an atheist - they existed in Ezra's day and still do today! One sobering thought that I was reminded of when reading this is that if we are not receiving opposition then it is because Satan doesn't see us as a threat so leaves us alone.

The biggest warning, however, comes in Ezra 4:2; the adversaries claim, 'we worship the same God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to Him'; sometimes our biggest adversaries call themselves Christians and probably do not realise that their ministry is actually opposing the gospel! There is occasion sometimes for us to refuse the help of someone who could hinder the work of the Kingdom, and we must be discerning to identify when our 'Christian' friends and family members give bad counsel; I will never forget a friend of mine who started sleeping with her husband before they got married because of a bad interpretation of Scripture; my prayer is for those who receive bad counsel from them - let us not be those who fall into the trap that Satan would set for us!

When the adversaries are turned away in Ezra 4:3, the reaction is to turn the whole of society against the Christians (Ezra 4:4), even going so far as to bribe counsellors in Ezra 4:5 - we live in a society that has already been turned away from Christianity in the name of tolerance. We should never let society draw us away from, or dilute, the truth; instead, we should be a good witness to society, and pray that they recognise that Jesus Christ is the God of the Bible!

The letter (Ezra 4:6-16)

The adversaries' next course of action begins with a fascinating description - check out Ezra 4:9-10: a long list of the Christians' opposition headed up by Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe, most of which would normally be doing battle with one another! Jesus says in Matthew 12:30, 'whoever is not with me is against me' and it is true! As Christians we will see sometimes the most unlikely collaborations (such as a commander and a scribe) oppose us; the gay pride march and the stiff-necked politicians unite to declare their hatred of Christianity. This collaboration write a letter to King Artaxerxes, which actually is not about the building of the temple but rather describes how the Jerusalem of ancient history was rebellious - how often do we get attacked as Christians for things which are nothing to do with us? 'I can't believe in Jesus because all wars are started by religion - look at the Crusades.' We should be prepared for opposition internally so we are not affected by it - whether what people are saying are facts or not, they are irrelevant - Jesus Christ is Lord!

Persecution (Ezra 4:17-24)

King Artaxerxes is easily swayed however, most probably due to the financial implications mentioned in Ezra 4:13 that Jerusalem will not pay taxes, and he replies saying that he wishes the building to be stopped in Ezra 4:21. The truly worrying thing from this final part of this passage is the response that Rehum, Shimshai and the rest of the gang make; 'they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease' (Ezra 4:23). We should never forget that sometimes people are just looking for any chance they can get to prevent Jesus' work - they should only have needed to show the letter, as we saw in Ezra 4:3 that the Jews did as the king had commanded them.

So what should our response be? I would encourage us to pay heed to James 1:2-4 and 'count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' It is never easy to undergo opposition, but we will so should use it as a chance to honour the name of Jesus!

I'll leave you with this thought, inspired by Billy Graham: sometimes those who oppose us will be telling us how we are failing, and often we should ignore it and rise above the criticism. However, sometimes they might actually be correct, and if we are offending unbelievers then we are probably hindering, rather than helping the gospel. Billy Graham's challenge was this: 'How can I turn my critics into coaches? Only someone who is completely secure in who he is and where he is going can have that sort of outlook toward those that can be quite harsh and often unjustly cruel.'

"Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life" from Tom Kelley

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