Sat.’s Devo -Rebuilding the Temple

Read: Ezra 3:1-4:23; 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4; Psalm 28:1-9; Proverbs 20:24-25 The Jews who resettled in Israel met to discuss their mission of rebuilding the Temple. The priests Jeshua and Zerubbabel wanted to rebuild the altar even though they were afraid of the people in the region who were not Jews. They did rebuild it and began sacrificing the daily offerings and celebration the feasts as Moses had prescribed. The first feast was the Feast of Tabernacle which was so applicable since they were rebuilding the tabernacle of the Lord. They had logs floated down from Tyre to build the Temple just as David had done. They hired stone masons from Tyre and Sidon just as David had. They began construction around the Feast of Passover and all the priests helped in the project. It was supervised by Jeshua and his family. When they had built the foundation they sounded the trumpets just as David had done. They praised the Lord and sang, “He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!” The people rejoiced and the sound of praise could be heard over the sound of crying of the people who remembered the first Temple. This was nothing compared to its greatness. The enemies of Israel tried to join them so they could stop their work but were not allowed to help. Instead the did everything they knew to frustrate their building. They continued their badgering through the reign of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and finally Artexerxes. During the latter reign, the enemies led by Bishlam. Mithredath, and Tabeel sent a letter to Araxerxes in their language. It implored him to look into the history of Jerusalem and see that it has bee a city of much rebellion and trouble. If it continued to be rebuilt, the people would rebel against the king and he would lose his power over that region of the world. So Artaxerxes agree and sent a letter back telling them to stop the work. So the work was stopped for a time. In Corinthians, Paul explained the difference between the world’s way of thinking and the spirit’s way of thinking. The world will never be able to comprehend the way of the Lord because they have not been given eyes to see into that realm. But we as Christians have. Our way looks foolish to them because they cannot comprehend it. We have been given the mind of Christ so we can think like God thinks if we tune in to the Spirit. In Corinthians, they were living like the world and being jealous of one another and quarreling among themselves. He told them that this was not how people filled with the Spirit of God act. Lord, may we be filled with your Spirit and not be afraid to stand up for You. May we live in harmony and not be jealous or envious. May we walk in the mind of Christ.