Sat.’s Devo - The Great Reversal -

Read: Ezra 4:24-6:22; 1 Corinthians 3:5-23: Psalm 29:1-11; Proverbs 20:26-27 The building of the Temple had stopped, but the words of Haggai and Zechariah hadn’t. Zechariah begged them to not be like their forefathers who forgot the Lord and did evil. The Lord was determined to have his Temple built in Jerusalem. Haggai rebuked them for coming back to Jerusalem and building their own houses but not building the Lord’s house. Their words stirred up the heart of Zerubbabel who was the governor of Judah and Joshua who was the high priest and together with the prophets they began to rebuild the Temple. Judah was presided over by a satrap or viceroy, who at this time resided at Damascus. Though superior to the native governors of the Jews appointed by the Persian king, he never interfered with their internal government except when there was a threat against their peace. Tatnai, the satrap had probably been incited by the complaints and outrages of the Samaritans against the Jews. When he arrived, he asked them by whose authority were they building and what their names were. He was using intimidation tactics but they kept their courage. They told him that King Cyrus had issued a decree that the Temple should be rebuilt and had given them all the utensils Babylon had taken. He had instructed them to return and rebuild the Temple so that was what they we’re doing. Tatani told them they could keep rebuilding until he had heard back from King Darius his decision. He sent a letter to Darius telling him all this and Darius had his men search the archives to find out if there was such a decree ordered. They found the decree and sent back a memorandum stating that the decree did go out and a Temple to God was to be build on the site it was originally. Its height was to be ninety feet and its width ninety feet. Three layers of stone would be topped by a layer of timber all built at the expense of the royal treasury. He commanded that they leave them alone and not disturb the construction of God’s Temple. They were also to help them in anyway they could and pay for all the expenses and to give the priest whatever they needed in the way of sacrifices, animals, meal, oil and wine. Anyone who hindered them would have a plank taken from their own house and they would be empaled on it. Talk about a reversal! God not only defended them but caused their enemies to fear them and pay their way. The temple was completed on Adar three (March 12), the sixth year of Dariu’s reign. It was dedicated with great joy and many sacrifices. On Nisan 15 (April 21) they celebrated their first Passover meal and celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. In Corinthians, Paul continued his sermon. He explained the different roles of people in the Body of Christ. It is not the individual that we worship, but the God who enables us to work in the ministry. Paul laid the foundation for God’s building but the building was in each of them. We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We all build on the foundation of Christ in us. In the end it will stand the test of fire and what remains is the gold. Lord, thank you for divine reversals. We are praying for something as extraordinary as what you did in Ezra to happen in our nation.