Fri.’s Devo - The Mind of Christ

Read: Ezra 3:1-4:23; 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4; Psalm 28:1-9; Proverbs 20:24-25 In the season of Tabernacles, the Israelites met in Jerusalem for a united purpose. They met to rebuilt the altar to sacrifice on. Even though they were afraid of the non-Jews living among them, they built the altar on its original site and began sacrificing on it. They celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles as was written in the law. Fifteen days before it (Feast of Trumpets) they began offering burnt offerings to the Lord. They hadn’t even layed the foundation of the Temple yet. They hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar lots from Tyre. They floated the logs down the Mediterranean Sea just as Solomon had done in his day. They began construction at Pentecost. All of the exiles were involved in some part of the rebuilding process. Those 20 and older were put in charge of rebuilding the Temple. When they had the foundation layed, the priests took their places and blew the trumpets. The Levites clashed their cymbals and sang about the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. All the people gave a great shout of praise. The older people who remembered the great Temple that Solomon built wept that the new Temple was so small but the others shouted for joy. The sound could be heard for miles. When their enemies heard that they were rebuilding a Temple to the Lord, they approached Zerubbabel to ask if they could help. Zerrbbbabel had descernment and wouldn’t let them help. So then they resorted to trying to discourage and frighten the people of Judah from completing their work. They bribed agents to work against them and to cause frustration and chaos. This went on until King Darius became king of Persia. Years later, Xerxes came to reign in Persia and the enemies of Judah sent a letter to the king. One of these enemies was Mithredath. He was mentioned in Ezra 1 as King Cyrus’s treasurer so he knew the edict to let them build a Temple, yet here he is trying to stop it. The letter was full of propaganda and lies. The letter called the city of Jerusalem rebellious and evil. It told the king that the builders had already built the foundation of the city and were building its walls. If it was allowed to continue the people would stop paying tribute to him. Since they were the king’s loyal subjects they challenged him to look back in the history of Jerusalem and they would see how rebellious the Jews had been in the past. The king sent back his reply. He had had his men search the history of Jerusalem and in fact found that what they wrote was true. It had been a hotbed of wars and insurrections. He ordered the building to stop and not be rebuilt except at his express command. As soon as they received the letter, they took it to the builders and commanded them to stop. In Corinthians, Paul explained that the world’s wisdom is soon forgotten. God’s wisdom is a mystery that was previously hidden but now it is ours to have because his spirit lives in us. We can know God’s thoughts and have his wisdom. He gives us his words to explain spiritual truths. People who aren’t spiritual cannot receive them or understand them. The wisdom of God sounds like foolishness to them. But we have the mind of Christ. Paul addressed their behavior when he visited them. They were like children who were jealous of one another and cliquey. He told them that that was how the world acted. Now he was giving them meat to eat because they were ready. Lord, may we walk in Your wisdom having the thoughts of Christ.